Chapter 107: Strawberries
We’ve been traveling for a month already when we finally saw the Horned Owl Tribe and once again, we were surrounded by an armed group as soon as we stepped foot on their territory. We had no choice but to calmly ask the presence of their alpha.
Dylan walked forward and said, “We would like to talk to your alpha.”
“Alpha of the Sirens, what is your reason for stepping on this land?” one of the Horned Owls asked.
“Greetings old friend! I wish to request a place our people could stay before we can talk about the reason for our visit. We’ve traveled quite far and one of our females has just given birth,” Dylan greeted.
“Have you lost your mind, Dylan? Why would I accept regular beastmen in my tribe? They don’t belong here in the North,” he responded.
“They are not just regular beastmen, Aquil,” Dylan replied, then extended his hand to me and pulled me near.
“Let me introduce myself,” I whispered while pulling his arm
He smiled and nodded.
“I am Ari, goddess of the sun. Heed my words! Lower your weapons,” I ordered as I transformed to my passive – aggressive form.
They all dropped their weapons and knelt down to the ground.
“Greetings your highness. I am Aquil, alpha of the Horned Owl Tribe. We sincerely apologize for not recognizing you. Feel free to stay in our humble place as long as you wish,” he greeted, lowering his head to the ground.
“Rise,” I ordered.
“How many rooms would you like us to prepare?” he asked.
“Please prepare three rooms,” Dylan said.
I was baffled and asked.
“Why three?” I asked in a low voice.
“Because I need a separate room,” he answered.
“Why?” I asked again.
“Because… I always feel tempted when I’m with you. You wouldn’t like what would happen if I got out of control,” he whispered.
I was flustered remembering he was the wildest of the four despite looking so calm at normal times.
“Hmm… I see,” I mumbled nonchalantly, though my mind and emotion were a mess inside.
I grinned and let go of his hand, then ran to Tora and clung to her.
“I wish I could just stay with Tora only,” I mumbled while rubbing my face on Tora’s shoulder.
“Ari, stop marking her. That’s my wife,” my brother warned while chuckling.
“What? You won’t smell it anyway. Tora’s scent is more dominant. Hide her well when I’m away or many Ancient races might get fascinated with her scent,” I said while smiling at Tora.
“You’re so funny, Ari. Let’s go,” she said while laughing.
We followed the others from behind and left the carriage by the entrance of the territory. Aquil had his people move our things inside and asked us to rest in the rooms they’ve prepared while waiting for the dinner they were preparing.
I was baffled that Dillon also decided to stay in Dylan’s room. We were asked to label our rooms so that the tribesmen will know which room to knock to if needed. I told them that I’ll do the labeling-with a plan in my mind.
I wrote “Tor-Son” on Tora and my brother’s room, “Ari-Mac-Well” on our room and “Dyllon” on Dylan and Dillon’s room and drew heart shapes before and after their names.
“Haha! Ari, you’re so naughty. Why did you write it like that?” Tora asked, laughing at Dylan and Dillon’s room.
“Their names sounded similar anyway. It doesn’t hurt if we just combine them like this,” I grinned.
Basically speaking in this world, only couples combine their names in labeling a room so it would be quite awkward if two male names were placed together.
“A-Are you mad at us, honey?” Dillon asked while clinging to me.
“No. I just want to name it like that,” I chuckled and giggled while pulling away and dashing into my room, then locked it so he wouldn’t catch up.
“Honey! Seriously! Are you really not mad at me?” he asked while knocking on the door.
“Ari is already asleep! Please don’t disturb,” I shouted as I walked towards the bed.
Lowell and Macan were laughing at me while looking at me with amusement.
“Haha! Babe… I… I didn’t know… you’re this playful,” Macan said while trying to stop himself from laughing.
“Oh! Right! If they each had a child it would be hard to tell apart if not for their beast features and hair color.” I said while remembering their looks when they were young.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
“Ahem… They really do look similar because of their eyes,” Lowell chuckled as he pulled me to the bed.
I laid down to take some rest while contemplating on something.
“Right! Lowell… Why don’t you call me something else? Mac calls me babe, Dillon calls me honey and Dylan calls me dear. You’re the only one calling me just by my name,” I asked, trying to distract myself.
“What do you want me to call you then?” he asked while I was still indulging in my thoughts.
“I want strawberries,” I mumbled, looking blankly somewhere.
“Do you want me to call you strawberry?!” he asked in confusion.
“Wait, what? N-No… I-I mean… I-I want to eat strawberries,” I stammered, realizing that I was dazing while I was still in the middle of a conversation.
The two males burst into laughter and I felt embarrassed.
“Never mind! I’m sleepy..,” I said embarrassedly as I sunk my face on the pillow.
“S-Sorry… That was quite amusing. I’ll check if I can find some. Wait here in a bit,” Lowell giggled as he kissed my shoulder before going away.
“Babe… Is there something wrong? You really seemed out of it,” Macan asked.
“I just feel weird and felt like I missed out something,” I mumbled as I looked at him.
“Take some rest. You might just be tired,” Macan said while kissing my forehead so I closed my eyes and took a nap.
When I woke up, Lowell was already back with a basket full of strawberries. I sat down and took the basket while rubbing my eyes without uttering a word.
“Aquil went here to ask if you and Dylan can have a private conversation with him, but you’re still sleeping soundly so we didn’t wake you up,” Lowell said.
“What about… Dylan?” I asked while munching on the strawberries.
“Dylan already went with him earlier, he hasn’t got back yet since then,” answered.
“Babe, eat slowly. No one’s gonna take away your strawberries,” Macan whispered while helping me to remove the leaves.
“Don’t eat too much, it’s almost dinner time,” Lowell added.
“I have no appetite for dinner. I just want to eat some strawberries,” I said.
“Are feeling under the weather?” he asked.
“I feel like I’m having premenstrual syndrome,” I mumbled.
“What’s that?” Lowell asked.
“It’s a condition of females in our previous life wherein they feel strange things in their body like mood swing, stomach cramps, backache and a lot more before their monthly bleeding,” Macan explained.
Lowell was deep in thought and said, “But she never had those before and it’s im-”
“I know. I’ll call Dylan and a healer,” Macan intercepted then rushed outside.
“Lowell? Why are you trembling? It’s normal for females in our previous life to have these symptoms so please don’t worry. Also, please boil some ginger with sugar. I’ll just take a nap for a little more,” I asked.
“I’ll wake you up when it’s done,” he whispered and left the room.
I was so sleepy for some reason. They tried to wake me up a few times to drink some tonics and eat a small amount of food then I went back to sleep again.
When I woke up another time, everything was quiet except Dylan, who was hovering over me whispering words that my mind couldn’t process due to drowsiness.
He pressed his lips against mine while holding my left hand on the side and using his left hand to hold on the headboard that he almost broke while gripping tightly.
I suddenly felt energetic as our tongues intertwined so slid my right hand from his neck to the back of his head.
“Did I wake you up?” he asked with a trembling voice as he pulled away and sat beside me and turned his back.
I rolled to the side and slid down to hug him as I mumbled, “Did I worry all of you again? Sorry… I feel better now.”
He’s still trembling as he held my hand on his waist and mumbled with a trembling voice, “Rest some more. The moon cover will happen soon and I have no idea what your sister is planning.”
“Okay… Where are the others? It feels so lonely sleeping alone,” I mumbled.
“They’re outside. Would you like me to call them?” he asked.
I tightened my embrace and mumbled, “I’ll call them. Don’t go.”
“Dillon… Lowell… Macan… Please get in..,” I mumbled as I used my power to talk to them telepathically.
“Babe? You’re awake?” Macan asked as they all walked in the room.
I sat down drowsily and mumbled, “I want to sleep with everyone.”
I couldn’t see their reaction because my sight was blurry because of drowsiness, but they all surrounded me as I laid back down and went back to sleep.