Beastmen Love-Chapter 133: Quimera

"Calm down." Astri tells them before they attack her with more questions.

They sigh, taking a deep breath trying to shut their mouths, because they know where it might lead.

"There’s something that you need to understand. You might not understand now, but you will need to understand someday. All of us, including Kangki, were created by Nature. It’s not because I am a Pegasus that I will understand all of Nature’s will. That I can’t make the wrong conclusions. When I arrived here, and saw all that shitty village, I was certain that they would never become what they are today. When I saw the Mermaids, I took the conclusion that there were devils in a female’s body, and now they’re changing. The difference between me, my father, and the others before me is that I don’t take conclusions and expose it because I know that if I affirm something, it might make things worse. People from Kangki’s time assumed that dark is where bad things are made, and they pointed Kangki as bad too and that ended up making him evil indeed because he was left alone. I could have become evil too, in the other world people would say I had a mental illness. If I didn’t have more strength to defend myself, people would have forced me to have sex because they saw me as a poor little thing that was only fit for their selfish desires and could dominate. I was poor, otherwise, it’s easy to convince someone who’s hungry with food. But I chose not to become evil."

Hearing that made their hearts ache, including Kangki’s. Wayde feels that now the answer fell on his head.

"Perspectives.." He says his realization.

"Exactly, love. Perspectives." She smiles.

"What is perspective?" Dieg asks.

"It’s a point of view. If I’m looking at a tree from the ground, and Lee’s looking from the sky, we will have different ways to look at it. But it’s not only about what we see but how we understand things." Claud explains.

"What do you mean?" Koa asks.

"If you ask me about water. I’ll say it’s dangerous because I can’t breathe underwater. But you will say it’s a safe place because you breathe underwater." Wayde explains to Koa, and enlightening everyone better.

"Oh my. I taught you well." She proudly says to Wayde, and he smiles back.

"But what does that have to do with this?" Dieg asks.

"Everything. If I ask you about the night. What would you say?" She asks.

"Dark. That we need to find a safe place to stay." Dieg answers.

"What I see is: Resting. Sleep. Calm. Time to recharge. Time to make love. All of you desire that the night comes quickly when it’s your turn in the line, right?"

They have to admit she’s right.

"All of us always looked at the bad side, but enjoyed the good side of it always." Claud says and she nods.

"And that includes my father, and the ones before him. They were not evil, of course not. They didn’t deserve to die, of course. Kangki didn’t deserve it too. They didn’t imagine that they were the ones feeding evil inside of Kangki." Astri tells.

"I must admit that I was starting to notice that this would end up happening with him. And that something good was inside of him too." Claud smiles.

"When did you notice that?" Kangki asks.

"When Yuki talked to you. That little one is amazing about feeling others’ energies."

Kangki smiles and agrees with him, then sighs.

"I know that what I did in the past was evil. And I know who I was. I’m not asking you to love me or to welcome me with wide-opened arms. I just ask you to not take Astri away from me. Because..." He says and then he feels his heart beating again. "I’m doing this for her. I’m becoming a Quimera again and helping with the balance for her. Because she saw who I really am and who I really was. If I’m not with her, I’m just a Monster."

The others are impressed to see Kangki talking that way. In other words, he admits that he loves Astri more than anything. Zin is the first one that goes to him and taps his shoulders.

"I know the feeling. The exact feeling. I’m a snake otherwise. I welcome you if you promise to protect this family like all of us." Zin says.

"Of course I will."

Astri imagined that Zin would relate to Kangki after hearing his story. The others also understand, even if they’re still attached to the memories of his evil side since he’s not entirely changed and also shows some aspects of a Monster.

"I trust Astri. And I’ve been watching you for some time. I can see that your soul is attracted to her, not to consume her, but for warmth. As a cub in search of its mother. I agree with you here." When Claud says that the ones who weren’t very sure about this decided to accept and trust him too.

Claud is sort of a leader for them, and he’s the wisest of them all, he wouldn’t do something he wasn’t entirely sure of Astri’s safety.

"And how will we tell others about him? He’s starting to smell like a lion. A Quimera is a lion type of beast?" Dieg asks.

"I’m half horse, half bird. He’s half lion, half dragon. So we could tell others he’s a lion, yes." Astri answers.

"We tell those who don’t know Astri that she’s an eagle. And Claud is a Centaur." Lee says to Kangki, who nods in acknowledgment.

"Dieg died once, and most people don’t know his name. We call him Kyle outside." Cyprian explains, and that makes Kangki completely confused.

"Died? What do you mean?" Kangki asks.

Astri explains what happened to Dieg. Kangki is amazed to know that someone was capable of coming back from the dead and being reborn just with the desire of the soul of being with his mate.

"I have many to learn from you, then." Kangki tells Dieg.

"All of us." Claud smiles.

"Why?" Dieg asks, confused.

"You showed great determination and the biggest proof of love for making Nature give you life again. All of us need to learn from you because this is the kind of love she deserves and needs."

Dieg smiles a little shy, because everything he wanted was to be with Astri, but he’s happy to know that his companions respect him this much.

"What about people who already saw Kangki as a Monster King?" Beau asks.

"The truth. The ones who saw him as a Monster know who I am." Astri answers.

"You should wear clothes like me, so people don’t question your beast mark." Claud says.

"Can I go now?" Astri yawns.

"Sure, love. Go sleep. We will talk to him about the rules." Wayde says and then kisses her forehead.

"Hum. Got it."

She kisses all of them good night, she giggles kissing Dieg again when he jumps on the line again. Kangki felt his heart beat strongly again when she kissed him, but he could kiss her all day if he could.

"How’s the transformation? I can feel you’re distressed." Claud asks Kangki.

"Painful. My heart was dead long ago. Monsters don’t have a heart, and our bodies are only vessels that are fed by energy and kept together with blood. My body is starting to work like a beastmen, and every heartbeat hurts." Kangki answers.

"I’m sorry but I have to ask. You wanted to live forever, and that’s why you hunted her. Being her spouse will fulfill your wish. Why should we believe that we can trust you since you can kill all of us?" Koa asks.

"Don’t believe it if you don’t want it. I don’t care. Not being a Monster anymore makes me have no power to control Monsters. Before I had a little chance to win a fight against her because I could use the Monsters’ energies against her at the same time. Now I can’t beat her by myself, and I don’t want to."

They stay in silence for some time and decide to move on. Lee explains the rules and Kangki memorizes all of them thoroughly.

Zin explains the nuances of the rules since he knows that the others won’t tell him.

"We’re 10 already. For our mind’s sake, kill any male who tries to conquer her." Lee whines, making the others laugh.

"She’s immortal. She might have even more spouses than Queen Deanora." Beau says.

"F*k no!"

"We need to become stronger if we want to keep her protected. That’s what we need to worry about. She’s not a female who actively looks after spouses like others. If she was like that, she would have more than 40 spouses since she’s beautiful and healthy." Cyprian speaks, and sighs. "Wayde, Tyr, Lee, Zin, and Dieg learned their powers. The rest of us still need to learn our powers. I believe that the ones who didn’t find their powers should spend more time with her. What do you think?"

"It’s more than clear now that Astri knows all our powers and is going to be the one that will teach you how to understand it. I agree with changing the shifts but just for some rounds. It’s not fair because all of us want a chance to have a litter." Tyr says.

"I agree. It was supposed to be time with her to get to know your energies. If you want to just make love to her I will steal her away again." Lee speaks, crossing his arms.

Kangki is already getting tired of them, so he starts walking away.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Lee asks, stopping Kangki.

"Watch Astri. Are we finished?" Kangki asks, raising an eyebrow.

They’re finished but most of them are not very comfortable with Kangki sleeping next to them.

"Let’s go. It’s my turn to sleep next to her, and I miss my spouse." Claud says walking away.

"It’s my turn too." Koa says excitedly.

All of them go to the bedroom, and find their places to sleep. They let Kangki choose where he will be, but Kangki doesn’t quite feel welcome there yet so he only sits at the corner where he can see Astri.