"The females here won't bully Elisa, will they?" Ahi asked as he dropped a crocodile corpse on the ground.
It fell next to a pile of three other crocodile corpses Ahi and Xavier had taken care of already. Xavier wondered if they were related to the ones that had attacked Elisa, but wasn't completely sure.
The snake hadn't said anything, so he couldn't confirm it.
Mentally shaking his head, Xavier gazed down at the huge snake from a tree branch and answered, "Probably not. She's the only whole female in the village if you don't count Mary, so no one will try to bully her… Then again, there's Elder Williams' daughter."
He shuddered at the thought of the jaguar female, Anna. She was spoiled and mean, making some of the city females look like they had good personalities.
Which said a lot considering females from the city were the most entitled bunch he'd ever seen.
Even worse, Elder Williams was manipulating Anna into making him one of her males. Xavier knew the older male was doing that in hopes he would stay and hunt ferals for free as Anna's mate.
That way the village wouldn't have to pay a protection fee to the Grasslands City. Too bad Xavier was immune to her charms.
He could thank the city females for that. They had pulled enough schemes on him and others that Xavier vowed to die single rather than let some female control him.
"I see…" Ahi looked deep in thought. "That elder and his family seem to be a constant problem…"
Xavier sighed, leaping off the branch he was sitting on to stand next to Ahi. As his feet touched the ground, he transformed from his beast form into his male one.
"Killing them will only make the situation worse for Elisa." Xavier stated in a stern tone. "If you get chased out of the village, Elisa will never be allowed near another again. That is if you don't get killed and Elisa isn't taken from you by the other beastmen under the guise of protection."
Xavier hoped his reasoning would keep the snake from harming the village. Ahi didn't act like the type to act on instinct only. At least that's what Xavier had observed so far.
He really didn't need Ahi going on a killing spree in the village. Even if it would get rid of some awful beastmen. Females were too precious for one and if anything happened, Xavier would get the blame for not doing his job.
Then he'd have to answer to the Grasslands King…
"I won't harm anyone unless they harm Elisa." Ahi retorted, transforming the top half of his body. "I know how to control myself, even if I don't like certain things."
"Good, keep it that way." Xavier paused for a moment. "Anyway, break time's over. There are still some nests we need to clear before sundown."
"Alright." Ahi nodded his head in compliance. The snake then shifted back into his beast form and sighed, "Let's hope everything's fine back in the village."
Xavier gave the snake a funny look at his last comment, but decided it was probably because the snake was a lovesick beastman. Elisa would be fine.
There was nothing to worry about.
— — —
"Brother…" William growled in warning as he stepped closer to Freya and I. "Watch yourself."
Jasper stopped in his tracks, ears drooping in disappointment. "I-"
"Jasper?! How could you like this female?" Anna's shrill voice interrupted before he could say anything. "Can't you see something is clearly wrong with her for her to willingly take a feral mate. You're better off being my mate."
I gazed dumbfoundedly at Anna, not sure what to think of her confidence or need to constantly insult others. She wasn't ugly, a little chubby sure and in need of some personal hygiene, but she was still cute.
Honestly, a change in attitude would have all the males varying for her. Not that I was going to tell her that. It would just be a waste of air.
"Why would I want you as a mate?!" Jasper snapped at Anna, bringing back down to earth. "You're ugly!"
"I'm the prettiest female here!" Anna growled back. "How could you be so mean and say I'm ugly?! She's the ugliest!"
She pointed a finger in my direction before going off some more. It was like watching a bunch of eighth graders fight, the way those two kept arguing.
"Hey Freya…" I whispered, tapping the smaller woman on the shoulder. "Let's head inside before we lose any more brain cells watching this."
Freya turned to me, confused. "Lose brain cells?"
"Become dumb." I answered, spinning her around.
"I see…" Freya giggled as she walked back inside, my hands letting go of her before her mates got rid of them for me. "Their fights are dumb, but it's the only entertainment around here."
"Really? Do those two always fight?" I asked, a little curious.
"Yes." Freya nodded as we got inside, her mates following behind us. "They fight all the time. William told me they were best friends when they were cubs. Everyone expected them to be mates."
This story was really peaking the interest of the bookworm in me. I could tell this was going to be a good story. And it was better than going outside to watch those two yell insults at each other and others.
"What happened then?" I asked as we got back to the room we were in earlier.
"No one's sure what exactly happened between those two, but the day before Anna's coming of age ceremony, they were distant." Freya mused, sitting down. "Jasper ran off to who knows where and came back two years ago. Meanwhile, Anna began taking all the good looking males."
Damn, now I'm really interested in what happened. Too bad this was all Freya knew. I wondered what caused them to fight so badly it fractured their relationship…
"Ahem…" Freya's red-haired male coughed.
"Well, not all of them…" Freya side-eyed her mate. "I was lucky to get William when I did."
It took everything inside me not to burst out in laughter as William went red with embarrassment as he handed Freya some water while the red-haired male glared at him.
Before anyone could say anything else, Freya gazed at me with an excited expression, "But enough about that. Tell me more about Ahi and how he got you to like him."
Oh boy I thought I had dodged that conversation…