Transmigrating to the BeastWorld,I Picked Up an Adorable BeastHusband!-Chapter 48: Should I get another mate?

Weijie, who had been standing behind her like a wall of muscle and heat, stiffened slightly at that.

Numa inclined his head. "On the day of your bonding ceremony, I will prepare a gift worthy of your caliber. Something from my own hands."

Ningning blinked.

"A gift? You don’t have to—"

"It is already decided." he said firmly, the tone of an elder who had seen too many to be argued with. "Refusing would wound me more than accepting."

"...Okay." She surrendered immediately.

"Then thank you in advance."

That seemed to please him.

"And." Numa added, glancing toward the cave entrance, "preparations are already underway. The fox tribe and the eagle tribe should arrive before the sun climbs high. I can already hear Hauk’s screech in the distance."

-_-

More socializing.

Ningning’s soul quietly left her body.

Behind her, Weijie’s expression had already darkened.

He did not care about gifts.

Did not care about the tribe.

Did not care about visitors.

All he wanted was to take his exhausted mate back to their cave, skin the goat he had hunted at dawn, roast the sweet fat slowly over the fire, and feed her until she stopped looking so thin and tired.

Everything else was noise.

Without another word, he simply bent and scooped her up again like she weighed nothing. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Hey—"

"We should leave." he said.

She didn’t even bother arguing this time.

Honestly... being carried wasn’t that bad.

The moment they stepped out of the recovery cave, the morning light spilled over them in pale gold sheets, cool air brushing against her face.

A surprising number of people were already outside, and when they saw her in Weijie’s arms, conversations quieted almost instinctively.

Eyes followed them.

Curious.

Grateful.

Respectful.

Some even slightly awed.

Ningning shrank a little.

Please stop looking at me like I resurrected someone, she thought. I just used medicine.

They had barely reached the main clearing when a loud, piercing screech ripped through the sky.

It was sharp and wild, echoing across the stone walls like a blade scraping metal.

At the same time, heavy drums began to pound from the outer paths, deep, rhythmic, announcing arrivals the old-fashioned way.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Heads tilted upward.

Shadows swept across the ground.

Ningning blinked and looked up just in time to see several enormous shapes descending from the sky, feathers catching the sunlight as they spiraled down in controlled dives.

Her jaw dropped.

"...No way."

Leaping from the cliffs and gliding down with massive feathered cloaks and bone-framed wings strapped to their arms, using the wind currents like predators.

The eagle tribe.

One of them broke formation and landed directly ahead of them in a clean, powerful crouch, dust swirling around his scandals.

When he straightened, Ningning’s brain stalled for a second.

Tall.

Long-limbed.

Sharp features like they’d been carved with a knife.

Obsidian eyes.

Dark hair tied high with feathers woven through it.

If Weijie was raw, primal strength, then this man was sleek and dangerous elegance.

Handsome to the point of being unfair.

Her eyes widened slightly.

...Okay.

She wasn’t blind.

Objectively speaking—

Should she perhaps take another mate?

More eye candy wouldn’t hurt, right?

Just for viewing purposes.

Purely aesthetic appreciation.

She snorted quietly to herself.

[What’s so funny?] Doudou asked lazily.

[If you go down the harem path, I will personally assign you a hundred children.]

Her smile died instantly.

-_-

That escalated fast.

"I’m not a breeding cow, you psycho," she muttered under her breath. "Relax. I don’t want a harem. I just appreciate visuals. I’m fine with Weijie. I’ll love him, okay?"

[Good. Because I’m very good at fertility optimization.]

"...Shut up."

Weijie glanced down suspiciously. "Who are you talking to?"

"No one." she said quickly. "Just... stretching my throat."

Weijie narrowed his eyes at her for a brief second longer, clearly unconvinced, but before he could press further, the man in front of them had already begun walking over.

No.

Not walking.

Striding.

Loose, confident steps that carried the same lazy dominance as a predator that had never once doubted its place at the top of the sky.

The feathers fastened along his shoulders rustled softly with each movement, sunlight sliding across the bronze of his skin and catching in the gold of his eyes.

Unlike the other eagle warriors who had landed and immediately gone to greet the elder, this one came straight for them as though everything else in the clearing was background noise.

Several women nearby straightened unconsciously.

A few even smoothed their hair.

Dana, who had been pretending not to look, suddenly began adjusting her clothes like she had somewhere important to be.

Ningning watched all of this with mild fascination.

...Wow.

So this guy was popular popular.

When he finally stopped in front of them, he didn’t bow or greet first like the others would when facing the snake tribe’s strongest male.

Instead, he tilted his head slightly and smirked.

"Why do you carry her everywhere like she cannot walk?" he said, voice low and amused. "Did her legs break, or did you grow more possessive since I last saw you?"

There was an easy familiarity in his tone.

Teasing.

Unfiltered.

The kind that only came from someone who wasn’t afraid of getting punched.

Weijie’s jaw tightened immediately.

"She is tired." he said flatly. "And you talk too much, Hauk. My ears hurt."

Hauk laughed.

Not offended in the slightest.

The sound was bright and unrestrained, drawing even more attention their way.

"So it really is true." he said, eyes finally sliding down toward Ningning with open curiosity. "The stone-faced snake actually chose a mate before the rest of us. When uncle told him to deliver the invitations, I thought he had eaten bad mushrooms."

Weijie’s arm around her tightened slightly.

"...Say what you came to say and leave."

"Impatient as always."

Hauk ignored the warning completely and leaned a little closer, studying Ningning openly now, not lustful like the other males had been yesterday, but sharp and assessing, like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

"This is her?" he asked.

"She has a name." Weijie replied coldly.

Hauk’s brow lifted.

"...Ah. You even defend her now. Interesting."

Then he looked directly at Ningning and, unlike most of the tribe who either stared too boldly or avoided her eyes out of awkward respect, he met her gaze evenly.