Rise Of The Beast Queen: Elizabeth

Ch 53 Shield

Serena's males rush out into the relative safety of the tunnel, only to immediately see Tairen, of course they instinctively growl at the feral and prepare to attack, but quickly stop when they notice Liz being cradled in his arms and not only that but she's clinging to his neck and huddling against his chest. They stared in confusion until the dust settled enough for Liz to look around and notice them.

"Marvin?" Cough. "Wh... What are you guys doing here?" Cough. "Where's Serena?" Liz asked and tried not to snicker as Eryk started quickly waving his hand in front of her face trying to fan away any dust particles lingering in the air around her head, but was only really succeeding in stirring up another little cloud that he inadvertently blew into Tairen's face causing the ladders brow to crease as his scowling frown deepened. Marvin was temporarily stunned into silence as he watched their interaction, until his brain registered her question.

"She's trapped." He announced and Liz's eyes lost every speck of humor as her heart sank.

"What! Where? Is she hurt?"

"Back there. Tabby's mates won't let us get to her." He said with a whimper, his ears tucked down flat on his head and an ashamed expression on his face. Marvin felt like a failure to admit his weakness but he wasn't stubborn enough to let his male pride stand in the way of his mates best chance of being rescued.

"We'll help you save her. Tabby's reign of terror has to end." Liz said with conviction, though the words felt cliche leaving her lips, she meant them, this had to stop...
'But how? This is the beast world. There's no police. No jail. There is the law of the jungle. Survival of the fitest. But what does that mean for a woman/female in the beast world?' Liz wondered, then unconsciously turned her eyes up to Tairen to find him already staring at her.

Tairen had been originally glaring at the other males but after Liz spoke to them he knew they weren't likely a threat, though he still used his beast pressure as a warning to keep their distance. Since the moment he met her Tairen's found it quite difficult to keep his eyes off of this precious little female, her every expression fascinated him and he found himself wanting to know the meaning behind each and every one. When she finally turned his way and his dark eyes met hers, he saw the mix of emotions swirling there, he could see her anger and determination, but he didn't miss her unease or the nervous way she gnawed at her bottom lip.

Tairen didn't like seeing her worry like this, he wanted to go back to the lazy days they spent relaxing, when she was nagging her males, laughing, smiling and cooking him delicious food. His lips persed into a thin line, his brow wrinkled and with a growling hiss that sounded like some sort of deep cross between a snake and an alligator, Tairen passed Liz into the arms of a surprised yet elated Eryk. "Take her back." Tairen ordered, before he marched back into the caved in area.

As Tairen walked through the rubble he saw a few males dead, one that was only half crushed but was on the verge of dying, a couple others were pretty severely injured, like having one of their limbs crushed or pinned by large boulders. The few who managed to get through with only minor injuries were already trying to dig through the huge pile, trying to reach their mate.

Tairen was annoyed just looking at them, they obviously had no idea what they were doing and were once again just digging frantically without a thought. He didn't want to risk them causing any more cave-in's or being further nuisances so he attacked them. There were only 9 of Tabby's mates left but against just one male they were slightly overconfident in their numbers, if Tairen had infact stayed in his man form they might have had a slight chance, but that isn't how the turtle beastman fights.

Some would call his fighting style cowardly, others may call it brilliant, Tairen was just too lazy to bother with all that jumping around, high flyer nonsense. No. Tairen fought like a turtle. Not a ninja turtle or anything cool like that. No no no. A plain ordinary turtle. Tairen hid himself inside his shell and allowed the other males to close in and attack his hard shell that none of them were strong enough to break. A one striped male couldn't even leave a scratch on his tough leathery skin, while the two striped males could barely leave little nicks on his shell, only the three striped male that was left could actually be considered a threat, but even that was futile.

Tairen launched sneak attacks, striking out with his four clawed limbs and even nearly bit one male in half with his razor sharp beak, his movements were as fast as a lightning strike and before they could even think to defend or counter his limbs had already retreated back into the safety of his shell.

It was almost shameful how easy it was for Tairen to beat the remaining few males and once they were all either dead or incapacitated he turned to the rubble pile and began digging. Tairen used his shell as a brace to hold the rubble mostly stable until he was able to shift the rocks in place to hold it up. After a relatively short time he bust through the opposite side, leaving a fairly unstable tunnel in his wake.

Tairen shifted back to his man form as he took in the scene, one female in tears on the floor, hovering over an unconscious male curled up by the wall. While the other female, who he recognized as the one who had been trying to get away from them, had an ugly scowl on her face as she hid behind another injured male. Tairen knew Liz wanted both females, for two completely different reasons and he was going to bring them to her, he took a step closer only for the male to react.

Earon lunged forward, hoping beyond hope that luck would allow him to catch the terra marked male by surprise... but luck wasn't on his side, being only a two striped beast, he wasn't even close to a match against the terra marked feral beastman. With a single swipe of Tairen's arm Earon was sent flying into a cave wall, the impact was so great that the sound of bones breaking could clearly be heard even by the females.

When Tairen turned his cold dark gaze onto Tabby she quickly ducked behind Serena and fisted her hand in Serena's hair to hold her in place like a shield. Then Tabby had the nerve to try to offer Serena to him like a consolation prize, "Take her! She'd be a good female for you to play with... or she's young and... and I'm sure could bare you some cubs..." Tabby pled hysterically, as the stench of fear rolled off of her in waves.

Serena's whole body broke out into a cold sweat after hearing Tabby's words, just looking at the male in front of her was terrifying, not counting the thought of what he could do to her, but what overwhelmed her more than the fear was anger. Anger at Tabby for the years of torture and abuse. Anger at Tabby's mates for taking part in her schemes. Anger at her own mates for not being strong enough to protect her. And anger at herself for not being brave enough to stand up to her or leave the tribe. Complete overwhelming and only semi-irrational anger flooded through her and Serena lashed out, flailing her body, trying to pull away, ignoring the painful feeling while adrenaline began shooting through her veins. "Let me go!"

"Stop it!" Tabby yelled at Serena and shook her harshly, already overwhelmed just trying to keep her nerve and stay standing in front of the terra marked male. Although Tairen hadn't moved, he increased his beast pressure causing both females legs to shake and Tabby screamed. "No! Stay back or... Or I'll claw her face!!!" But Tabby didn't get a chance to make good on that threat since in the next breath she felt a painfully tight grip on her leg.

Tabby yelped in surprise and looked down to see a large calloused hand with a death grip on her calf, attached to an unnaturally long arm. She sneered disgustedly at Hank's blood covered face, then scoffed and used her other foot to stomp on his arm. "Let g.Aaahhhh!!!!" Tabby words were cut off and turned into a scream as Tairen used her distraction to rush forward, smack her clawed hand away, then grabbed the forearm of the hand that was fisted in Serena's hair.

Unfortunately for Tabby, Tairen being a feral he had no compassion for females, so he didn't bother controlling his strength... That's the reason Tabby screamed, because her bones couldn't withstand the force of his grip and cracked under the pressure.

As soon as Tabby's fingers loosened in her hair Serena pulled away, not even caring about the pain as a few dozen strands were ripped out. She tried to move away, but again unfortunately, Tairen didn't care about what either female wanted to do, he tried to be gentle as he scooped Serena up in one arm, but she shrieked and tried to get away from him...

Serena's mates were finally about to rush in to help rescue their mate when they heard her scream, but their actions were too little too late, because as they tried to enter the unstable tunnel they nearly ran face first into the intimidating male. Tairen stalked out of the cavern with Serena crying hysterically and being carried like a sack of potatoes under one arm, while Tabby was grunting, shrieking and crying out in pain, clawing at Tairen's hand, trying to make him release the death grip he had on her.

"Th... That's our mate... Give her to me." Marvin tried to demand but with only a passing glare Tairen ignored him like he wasn't even there and walked out of the cave completely, where he found Liz surrounded by the remaining members of the Fierce Claw Tribe.