Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Eighty-five

"STOP. I'll take you to her! Just stop before you kill us all!" Yelled Mitchell at the overpowered snake.

And just like that, the rumbling stopped, the pressure eased and every male in the space that could finally move, ran for their lives. The females also wanted to run, but with nowhere to go, they huddled around Bart who still had Rosa in his arms. He at least seemed like he might lead them to safety since he wouldn't leave his mate down in the depths of this hell.

"Well?" Lance hissed when the scorpion didn't immediately move to guide them.

Mitchell wiped his sweaty brow. When this snake discovered what he had done to Bailey, his life would be forfeited. He needed to lead them to her and then run as fast as he could to his father's side. They may have the same level of marks, but St. Zachary had to be older. He'd never heard of a beast living as long as his father had, and Mitchell had travelled extensively on his father's orders. There was no way his father would lose.

With a half-plan in place, he turned on his heel and led the males back to his quarters. With a stroke of his hand the walls let them through. The path would normally have taken them days without such capability. It was the whole reason they'd helped Tristan get his fourth mark. It was a plan that was now put to the wayside with Mitchell leading them all where they needed to go.

Mitchell led them to his room, but something was wrong. Not one of them, not even the Scorpion King could feel her presence behind the veiled door. Mitchell, forgetting his plan to run, manipulated the wall and ran inside with Bailey's mates following behind. Inside, only a wolf pelt and the scent of her estrus were the only evidence that she had ever been there. 

There was one additional scent that made three sets of eyes look at the scorpion with killing intent.

Sensing his impending death, Mitchell jumped to the far side of the room with his hands up placatingly. "W-wait! If you kill me, you'll never find her! You can't sense her anymore right? I know where she is."

Winston was the one to break first. He shifted an pounced on the male, pinning him beneath his huge claws to the floor. The tiger snarled and opened his maw wide as though to bite the male's head off in one go.

"WAIT!! It wasn't me!! I swear!" Mitchell pleaded.

A cold, unfeeling voice even more intimidating than his father's spoke. "What wasn't you? The smell of Bailey's blood and the disgusting odor of sex or the fact that she's no longer here? Hmm? Which one insect? Though I think no matter how you answer, you won't be living to see tomorrow." The snake's pupils were nearly invisible slits. His lips were downturned in a grimace and his teeth were all sharpened points.

Though Mitchell didn't fail to notice the irony, he used Bailey's argument against them, "You can't kill me. She accepted me. Are you really going to risk her hating you forever for killing me? I am hers now just as you are. I'll take you to her, but you have to let me go."

Winston pressed harder on the male's chest preventing him from protesting further.

Though he'd rather bite of his own tongue, Lance said, "Let him up."

Winston and Tristan both growled at him, and surprising everyone, Lance growled back. "I said let him up! Once he takes us to Bailey, we'll ask her how she wants him roasted. Now hurry up."

Tristan, having been fairly quiet this whole time spoke up. "We can't take the females any further and since you have someone with the skill you need to get around, I'll lead Bart and the females out to the Oasis above ground. We'll wait for you there."

Mitchell looked at the fox in bewilderment. How the hell did someone like him know of the oasis? He didn't have time to ask though. All males agreed and the group split up. 

Though now there were only two beasts following him, Mitchell did not stray from what he promised and led Winston and Lance into the deepest parts of the inverted castle.

***

I don't know when I'd fallen asleep, but it hadn't been very restful. I woke to the sound of shifting sand. A male I didn't recognize came through the sand and without saying a word to me, tried to drag me off the bed and pick me up.

I flailed a little to unbalance him, "Let me go! I'll go nowhere with you!"

His grip on me tightened and I whimpered at the pain. It felt like my bruises had bruises.

A gravelly voice finally addressed me as more than a piece of baggage. "I'm taking you to the ancient one. Your presence has been demanded."

"Where's Mitchell? Who is the ancient one and what does he want with me?" I barraged him with questions but like a mindless automaton, he simply tucked me under one arm and carried me out of the room. The pressure on my stomach made me upheave the mystery meat but even that didn't stop the scorpion from taking me to St. Zachary.

After thirty minutes of dizzying movement, I was plopped unceremoniously on my ass in front of a scorpion thirty feet tall. Its carapace was gray and cracked and its eight purple eyes glimmered in the darkness with intelligence.

I felt all the blood drain from my face. Fear sent trembling shockwaves through my body and I nearly pissed myself. The asshole was leaking beast pressure like a punctured can of soda.

A voice void of feeling addressed me. "Are you the fox female that can raise the dead?"

Fuck. No matter how I answered that question I was screwed. If I said yes, then he'd show me his mate's body and tell me to do bring her back. If I said no, he's squash me where I sat. I only had one thing that might make him think twice.

I raised my right-hand showing Mitchell's mark. "I am the Scorpion King's mate. It would be unwise to kill me if you think me incapable." It wasn't much of a trump card, but I was hoping he wasn't eager to make his son experience losing his mate the same way he had. And then stupidly, I told the truth, "As to your question, whether I can raise the dead or not depends on how long they've been dead and how they became that way. The fox female I brought back had only been dead mere moments. Her body was mainly intact and only her heart had stopped working properly. She was lucky."

A pincer moved faster than I could see and wrapped around my middle, picking me into the air. I screamed as the hard shell cut into the skin at my waist.

He ignored my pain and brought me closer to his main eyes on the top of his head. "You think I wouldn't kill you because my son had his way with you?"

I gasped back through gritted teeth as blood dripped down my hips and thighs, "I was h-hoping that would b-be the case."

Then he laughed and as he laughed, he shifted into his human form that looked eerily like Mitchell except for the color of his eyes. His hair was long and wild and it tickled my skin as he held me in his arms like a bride, walking us into the room his monstrous body had been protecting.

It was like a walk-in refrigerator. Ice coated every surface and in the very middle, a corpse lay on a stone bed where a tiny blue bead hovered above her beautiful face. She was Sleeping Beauty, but I hoped this beauty would never have to wake into this nightmare of a reality.

Then pressure, not unlike what I felt from Zachary made the walls around us rumble. Ice cracked along the walls and chips of stone fell from the ceiling. As quickly as it began, it stopped.

Zachary set me down on the cold floor and moved to the corpse on the bed. "Just wait a little longer Chris. I have something to take care and then I'll make this fox bring you back to me." He kissed the strawberry blond on the lips and turned to me. "Stay there fox and use that little brain of yours to think of how to bring her back. If you fail, even if you are my son's mate, I'll kill you." Then he turned on his heel and left me trapped in the icy room, naked with only the dead for company.