Wanderlust Beastkin, Beauty and the Beastkin

Perla’s Perspective

It was at that moment I sensed an odd feeling of being observed. I scanned my surroundings, but seeing nothing, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Is something bothering you?" Sam asked.

"No, I was just reminiscing about my first trip through here and got a bit spooked. You remember that lizard beastkin that attacked me right before we met."

Sam surveyed the area with a discerning gaze, and I gently placed my hand on his arm. "I’m probably just scaring myself with memories; I doubt anyone is here."

He took another look around before exhaling deeply. "Once Titus finishes up, I’ll ask him to check the area. My night vision is practically nonexistent, especially compared to his."

We talked about a variety of topics, but I couldn’t shake this unsettling sensation that someone was watching us, which definitely dulled the sparkle of our conversation. I wanted to be fully engaged because nothing is worse than trying to connect with someone who clearly isn’t interested. Especially now that we were supposed to be partners, even if it felt like it was just dropped on us out of nowhere. By the time Titus wrapped up, that eerie feeling had faded, but the guys were eager to push me back into his space.

Honestly, I had spent so much time in there lately that I almost wished it didn’t exist at all. I could probably name every little stone in that space. The night sky was too stunning to ignore, so the guys insisted I sleep near Titus. But let me tell you, he gets a bit too handsy in his sleep, so I quietly shifted over to Oliver instead. I still felt a bit awkward around Titus since we hadn’t crossed that line yet, and the whole fated mate thing was still a shock to my system. I was traveling with enough guys that it didn’t seem likely that there would be any trouble though.

However as it turned out, I was very wrong.

Beth’s Perspective

She looked me over again, and I felt an overwhelming urge to find something to hide behind. There was something deeply unsettling about that old woman; perhaps it was her sharp silver eyes, but every instinct in me screamed that she was dangerous and I needed to stay away from her. Yet, right now, I had no way to escape her presence. What did she want with the dead girl? What were they planning for me? Who was this Majesty they kept talking about, and why did I have to be cleaned up and prepared before meeting him? Why was it even necessary for me to meet him at all? Where were they taking Nancy, and why did I need to get in shape if this Majesty happened to take an interest in me? My mind was racing with so many questions...

I was led to the bath and got in while the four women converged on me like I was their prey and they were getting ready to pluck and skin me for dinner. I backed away from them, feeling uncomfortable with their proximity.

"We will bathe you."

"I can bathe myself, I’ve been doing it since I was five."

They paused and the same woman spoke up. "How unfortunate. Did you not have parents?"

"I have parents, they just believe in teaching independence and life skills from an early age."

"Why would a female such as yourself need life skills or independence? Did they think you incapable of catching a male’s attention?"

I found her comment both insulting and sexist to the extreme and was about to tell her so but was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

"Fine, you can wash yourself but don’t take long. His Majesty doesn’t like to be kept waiting." She turned on her heel and left the room with a huff, and the others filed in behind her.

As soon as they were out of the room, I peeked through a crack in the door and saw that there were burly guards on both sides of the door. I ran to the other side of the room and looked out the window to see that there were two guards stationed out the window too. How completely frustrating.

So there wasn’t anything else I could do but clean up and when I was done I looked around and spotted a towel and a short light pink dress made from three layers of opaque fabric that was so thin you could get a general idea of what was under it though it didn’t exactly show anything at least. I quickly put on the dress since there wasn’t anything else to wear except the same disgusting outfit that I had been wearing for the past few weeks.

I walked out of the room feeling self-conscious but it’s not like Nancy hadn’t made me wear things just as bad when we’d had sleepovers at her place. You couldn’t really see anything so whatever, it just wasn’t what I was comfortable wearing. Though it was kind of nice to get to wear pink for a change, I like the color pink. Though my parents never let me wear it.

The guards backed away to either side of the door, keeping a distance just far enough away to barely skewer me with their long spears, which was a pleasant thought. I walked past them and was suddenly flanked by the other ladies in their robes who corralled me forward. free𝑤ebnovel.com

Then, outside of a grand red double door, there were four guards stationed with fierce expressions on their faces as if they were about to pounce on anyone approaching. Just to the side of the room, there was the Old Hag with creepy eyes. As soon as she saw me, she looked me up and down in a way that made me feel somewhat violated, as if she were looking through me, assessing my worth.

She gave me a small smile, which was even more creepy than when she was scowling at me. Then she nodded at the guards on either side of the double doors, and they pulled them open at the same time.

Perla’s Perspective

I woke up feeling very disoriented and groggy, and once my eyes opened, I blinked them several times due to my confusion at what I was seeing. I was in a hole...in a cave? It was really dark, and no one else seemed to be around.

"Where the heck am I?" I whispered quietly, but my voice still echoed eerily against the white rocks along the wall.

I stood up on wobbly legs with my head spinning, and suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in the side of my neck. I put my hand on it and felt something wet, and when I pulled my hand back to take a look, I saw that my hand was covered in blood. How was I injured, and why was I bleeding so badly? I pulled a bandage out of my pocket and slapped it on my injury. I didn’t have anything to disinfect it with right now, and I didn’t have extra cloth, so I just pressed my hand against the injury for now to help the bleeding go down.

I walked a few steps before the world stopped tilting back and forth and I was finally able to properly see where I was and it was in that moment that my heart felt like it was trying to pound its way out of my chest and my adrenaline spiked. No, just no. I had to be misunderstanding what I was seeing, but it was clear that I wasn’t. Those weren’t white stones along the walls, they were gray stones covered in webbing.

Like the webbing you would see a spiderweb made out of but absolutely huge, the cave was covered in the stuff. For a spider to be big enough to create a web this large it would have to be absolutely enormous...just like the massive spider that was in the woods the day that I arrived in this world. I thought that that horrible incident was in the past and done. How am I in tis type of situation again? Where are the guys?

I looked through the gloom and thought that I saw some light in the distance, so I started heading that way. I made sure that I avoided all of the webs scattered around to make sure that I didn’t attract unwanted attention. I continued to wonder about the wound on my neck, picturing all sorts of scenarios, each worse than the last.

As I came closer to the light, I noticed that it wasn’t the outside that I was seeing but some luminescent stones. They were mostly clear with a light blue tint and they were glowing. As I approached them, I felt the distinct feeling like the mana that was in the mana filled pools but it was concentrated. I reached out to touch it.

Coming Next Time: Dangerous Men