Beastmen Love-Chapter 22: Zin

The snake thought that it was a dead beastman, but it was a beautiful female.

He shifts to human form only from the waist up, showing a beautiful fair white skin, very long blond hair and a face that looked almost androgynous.

His eyes are a mix of yellow and red, like fire, and they looked at the female intensely until he noticed she was still alive.

He slithers to her and sees that her left arm has a bruise between her hand and elbow, her right arm has deep scratches.

He carries her in his arms and then brings her somewhere safe.

Astri wakes up the next morning, hearing someone calling her name.

"Astri! Wake up! Please!" She hears Claud in her mind.

"Claud.."

"Astri!! By nature.. You’re alive! I’m so relieved. I panicked when I couldn’t get in touch with you, it was like your mind was far from your body." He says so thrilled he wants to cry.

She looks around with her eyes and sees she’s in a cave.

"What happened, Astri?"

Memories of what happened starts to appear in her mind, then she starts to cry when she remembers what happened to Dieg.

Claud says soothing words, letting her cry, but wishing he could hug her right now.

Females normally don’t mourn much when they lose a mate, because they have other mates, they’re raised selfish and spoiled.

Astri wasn’t raised the same way. She feels she lost part of her heart like a male when they lose their females.

Astri moves her right arm to clean her wet face of tears. It was when she realized she was covered with something.

It has a scale texture, but smooth, and has a light yellow and white color. She sits down slowly and she’s in a kind of leaf nest, she looks to what is covering her again and she sees that she’s naked.

She covers herself shocked. She looks around and sees her clothes hanging, like they were put to dry.

She looks at the sheet covering her once more and thinks it’s a beautiful fabric.

"It’s not a fabric. It’s snakeskin." Claud says. She got scared. "Don’t worry. If he used his skin to cover you, it’s because he doesn’t want you dead."

It’s a downpour outside. She can’t leave now.

"You can’t leave now. How are your injuries?" Claud says.

"I have flesh wounds on my right arm and I think I broke my left arm. My chest hurts too."

"You drowned. You need to rest. Let’s wait for the snake beastman to arrive and ask him to bring you home. For sure Wayde is looking for you and he must be on his way there. He can sense your presence through your spousal mark." Claud speaks.

Her eyes filled with tears again thinking about Wayde, she misses him and she really wanted his warm and gentle hug now.

Claud stays with her like a presence in her mind, giving her the sensation of being held and consoled.

As Claud goes through her memories, he saw that a strong wind had hit them from nowhere before they were surrounded. Claud is sure that it was nature alerting Astri.

Those monsters weren’t there by chance either, not so many of them together.

After several minutes, Astri tries checking if her clothes are dry. They’re still umid.

"Don’t wear it yet. You can’t risk getting worse without being capable of looking after herbs." Claud says.

She just nods and sits down again, her broken arm is hurting in waves. She lays down again and hugs her broken arm like wanting her warmth sooth the pain.

Claud is so anxious, wanting to be there with her. All he can do is try to soothe her mind.

He already told his guards and temple assistant that he won’t be leaving his room that day, he will spend the most time he can with Astri and then when he can’t hold any longer he will rest.

"Thank you, Claud.. You’re the best."

"I’m doing nothing. I wish I was there."

"You know more than me that the biggest strength and weakness from someone is their mind. You being with me in my mind is healing me more than any medicine."

Claud felt a good warmth in his heart, he never wanted a mate because he knew he had a job that wouldn’t let him prioritize a female.

However, being smart and beyond others makes you feel like no one will fit with you. Deep inside he never wanted a mate, but with Astri it is different.

She’s young and has a lot to learn, a lot to see and discover as herself. Before, he wished to help her because he knew that she would free him, now he understood that she freed him just to feel the common feelings everyone feels.

"I’ll always be with you, Astri.. Always." He affirms to her and to himself.

Astri was almost falling asleep again when she heard movements outside. Then the snake beastman comes inside holding a big leaf as a bag.

She gets impressed with his looks, he’s naturally beautiful like a sun God. She didn’t imagine that snake beastmen could half shift too.

She sits down slowly and he looks at her. They lock their eyes for a few moments, like both got hypnotized by each other’s eyes.

She realized she was staring and blushed looking down.

"I’m glad you’re awake.." He says. She’s still using his snakeskin and is holding it in front of her chest. "I’m sorry I took your clothes off and you need to use my skin. I know it’s not good." He says, looking down.

"No. It’s beautiful. Really. Thank you for helping me." She speaks.

His eyes widened in response.

"She thinks my skin is beautiful and she thanked me.." He thinks.

"I brought fruits.. I smelled bird on you so I thought you could eat fruits. I can go hunt a prey if you don’t want fruits." He says.

"Fruits are perfect. Thank you."

She thanked him again, his heart beat jumped. Claud asks to see the fruits, so he deepens his connection with Astri and she asks the snake to bring the fruits to her.

He tells her which one she can use on her flesh wounds, and which ones she could eat to prevent her from getting sicker.

She takes the fruit he said she should use on her flesh wounds, then presses it on the floor to open it.

She tries to raise her left arm to pass its juice on her wounds but she cries in pain.

The snake beastman slithered to her quickly and takes the fruit from her hand.

"What do you want to do?" He asks.

"Put the fruit’s juice on my flesh wounds so it doesn’t get worse." She answers.

He squeezes the fruit on her arm and she tells him to stop when it’s enough.

"Thank you.."

Again she thanked him. Now he can’t stop looking at her, wanting to do anything for her just to hear her voice.

"Your left arm looks broken." He says.

"I think so too. It hurts so much."

"May I?" He asks, pointing at her broken arm.

"Sure.."

His hand is cold because he was in the rain, he wraps his hand and fingers on her arm weakly and his cold skin soothes the pain a little.

"Ah.. Thank you. But your hands are so cold. Won’t you get sick?" She asks.

"No. I won’t... What happened to you?"

She stays quiet for some seconds, getting sad again.

"You don’t have to answer. Sorry." He says sensing she was sad.

"No. Don’t apologize. Monsters attacked me and my.. mate. He was killed by them after he pushed me into the river to try saving me."

"I see.. I’m sorry. And your other mates?"

"I have one more mate. He’s a tiger. He traveled to trade skin clothes for salt." She tells.

"And this feather on your hair is yours?" He asks.

"No. It’s from a male who wants to be my mate." She answers.

He thinks that she has few mates for someone so beautiful. The monsters must have seen how beautiful she is and she was walking with only one mate, so they attacked her.

He helps her open the fruits that need to be open to be eaten. She eats until she doesn’t want anymore.

"You should rest. I’ll be guarding you." He says.

"Thank you.. My name is Astri. What’s your name?" She asks.

"Zin."

"Thank you for your help, Zin."

He nods. She lays down and after she falls asleep he keeps staring at her. She was the first female that ever talked to him without being scared or disgusted.

She’s using his skin and even said it’s beautiful. He thought he would have died before that happened.

Claud takes the opportunity to rest too, then he wakes up periodically to check if she’s awake.

That day she wakes up only to eat or go to the toilet when the rain stops a little.

Zin wanted to go help her, but she didn’t let him even if she knew he already saw her naked.