B+Bs: To Stand In A Beast's World

111. Attempt

The visit from the crocodiles was not the most exciting thing to happen that spring.

Bai Qingqing was no longer under the tiger queen's strict protection. The four guards unofficially resigned to focus on pursuing the young woman and devote all of their time to her. It wasn't anything different than what they had been doing, they just simply lost the pretense of acting as guards.

Gordon was accepted as her first mate and Bai Qingqing was revealed to be pregnant. The former guards had not been disheartened by this turn of events. All except one anyway.

Parker was forced to face the reality that he truly couldn't be her first for anything. While he did mope around a little, he soon found his resolve to continue. Qingqing would be his mate, he'd accept no other. That's what he decided as he reconciled his desire for monopoly.

But the former guards were hardly Qingqing's only suitors. Many flocked to her on a daily basis, keeping Qingqing very busy. She couldn't even take a walk without being swarmed. She learned just how much of a boon Grace's protection had been after she lost it. But there was no going back and she had to learn to handle her own problems now.

Qingqing wasn't the only female going through struggles of that nature. Nora continuously wrestled with herself over what she wanted from her life. The males didn't wait for her to come to terms with her emotions, making for many strained encounters.

She ended up picking the weakest male she could find because she simply could not hunt on her own and Grace's care was waning.

It was both an emotional and logical choice for her. If he was already so weak, he would not live long, and she wouldn't get attached to someone she knew wouldn't live long. He would also have a harder time forcing her to do anything, she reasoned. While she had yet to earn a mark, she was stronger than any female she'd ever met in her life, excluding Grace. And with Grace's rules in place, she should be fine.

Once Nora selected one, the other beasts got excited. It wasn't long before she accepted a rootless beast as well. Although he was also quite weak, having only one stripe.

The stronger males could not fathom Nora's selections. Why choose the weaker ones when there were many strong ones vying for her attention? They wouldn't come to know since Nora wasn't one to share those kinds of things easily.

Nora, on the other hand, was relieved to choose a rootless male. He couldn't form a bond with her which meant she wouldn't feel any pain when he died. This, although a sad thing to any other, relieved her greatly.

As they were getting later into the spring, an incident occurred. News of the feral village having female residents spread. This led to a group of ferals attacking. It wasn't like all ferals would band together and hold hands. It was a finders-keepers type of mentality and they were playing for keeps.

...

Shuu heard the howls and skidded to a stop. He'd been running patrols all night to increase security and now it seemed to be paying off.

His ears twitched as he picked up the message.

North and...west. Unknown number, but more than ten.

Shuu spun on his heels and lifted his head into a howl.

"I'll go north," he said. "Rest, West."

Shuu shifted and quickly shared with the tigers in his group. They passed the message along before they moved to the north.

Shuu intercepted an unknown tiger and engaged in battle immediately. There was no hesitation on either beast's part. Shuu was familiar with the scents of all beasts in the village. Any other was foreign and he would treat them as a threat. He would not talk to them unless they made an effort to talk first.