Beauty in the beast world
Chapter 179: Foreign thoughts

Chapter 179: Foreign thoughts

Victor came out of his thoughts when he heard a sweet voice calling him.

"Victor....?" Lyra’s hazy eyes caught sight of a familiar silhouette near the door as soon she gained consciousness. She propped herself up and smiled at him. Seeing him safe calmed her mind.

Then her gaze fell on the black Panther beside her.

Killian looked up at her with moist eyes that made Lyra frown, "What’s wrong....?" She didn’t know why he was suddenly in his beast form. But his grief-filled eyes broke her heart. He looked so pitiful. Like a wounded puppy.

"Killian" Lyra hugged his head and kissed him on top of it.

Meanwhile, Victor on the other side felt his heart skip a beat seeing her beautiful smile. All of the dark memories that he remembered vanished into thin air and a bright smile adorned his face.

"Sweet girl!" He rushed towards his mate and embraced her, "I missed you..."

Lyra was caught off guard when Victor hugged her tightly. She released Killian and hugged Victor, "I missed you too..."

Killian growled in displeasure when she left him to hug Victor, so Lyra had no other choice than to cast him an apologetic gaze.

Then she pulled away from Victor and cupped his face. She seriously observed him looking for possible injuries but sighed in relief seeing him unharmed. He was fine excluding the subtle tiredness and Lyra guessed that it might be due to the journey.

As she tilted her head to the side, she saw Darcio near the door and frowned. She suddenly remembered that Darcio was not here before she fell unconscious and started to feel scared. Lyra recalled Xavier’s words and Darcio’s presence now increased her anxiety.

Victor noticed her behavior and followed her line of sight. Darcio was standing awkwardly near the door and Victor said, "You can leave Darcio. I will follow right behind you"

Darcio nodded before leaving. Victor then turned back to face his mate, "You stay here and rest. I will go and take a look at the cubs" he decided to not say anything about the little wings in his hands. Victor didn’t wish for her to know about such depressing things when she was already exhausted thinking about the cubs’ condition.

"I’ll come too" Lyra wanted to see her babies so she tried to get up but her movements came to halt when she felt a weight on her lap.

Looking down she saw Killian resting his head on her lap. She tried to move but Killian glared at her before snuggling close to her stomach.

Victor took this chance and got up from the bed while telling, "Sweet girl, you should listen to Killian and get some rest"

And without waiting to hear her response, he sprinted towards the door. But before leaving, he turned back at his mate and said, "Trust me, Sweet girl. I will save the cubs"

She looked as he left to follow Darcio.

Lyra sighed and looked at Killian. She wanted to pull his beast ears and scold him but was not able to do that when she felt his dampened mood.

Maybe due to the mate bond that they shared, Lyra could sense that Killian was sad. She scratched his fur and felt him snuggling even deeper into her embrace.

"I’m really okay sweetheart" she tried to coax him but his stubbornness was not something she could break and Lyra knew that. With her other mates, she got away with so many things by acting pitiful but that didn’t work with Killian. Her stubborn Panther loved her but he was strict when it came to matters regarding her health and safety.

She too somehow realized that her health was deteriorating. Lyra knew her body well. She didn’t fall ill many times but when she did, it was always serious. But she also had to admit that after consuming the soul crystal, she never fell ill.

So seeing her like this must have surprised her mates and she felt bad for worrying them. Killian’s concern was understandable, so she didn’t struggle anymore and continued to caress him.

Lyra decided to trust Victor’s words. His eyes were firm when he uttered those words and Lyra couldn’t help but believe him.

Whereas Victor descended the stairs and soon reached Noah’s room to only find Xavier and Darcio inside.

Victor looked down at the wings and glanced at Darcio, "How did you find out that this was inside the crystal?"

Darcio looked at him and replied, "It was not me your majesty. Prince Xavier was the one to melt the ice covering those wings"

Victor’s gaze fell on Xavier and later just shrugged, "I sensed that the crystal-like thing covering it is ice and melted it with my powers. And that ice was not a normal one but was induced with ice magic"

"Like yours?" Victor questioned.

"Yes," Xavier admitted. He didn’t find the reason to hide the truth. Normal ice would have melted due to heat but that was not the case. The ice covering the wings only melted when Xavier used his powers.

Victor frowned. He didn’t know why it was covered with ice magic but he only knew that his father purposefully plucked the wings from his brother. If not for Victor shifting into his beastman form, his father would have plucked his wings instead of his brother’

He didn’t know what to feel with this newfound information. The guilt of unintentionally killing his brother crept into his heart. It was not his fault, but Victor thought otherwise. If only he didn’t shift early then his brother wouldn’t die. If his brother didn’t try to save him from getting beaten, then maybe his brother would be alive.

As Victor got lost in his thoughts, Xavier too couldn’t help but think.

He was sure! The ice magic used to cover those wings was his uncle’

Xavier didn’t know why his uncle did that but he could somewhat guess that it must have been done to stop someone from misusing the spirit wings. Without breaking the ice magic, one wouldn’t be able to use the spirit wings.

Victor came out of his thoughts and looked back at the cubs. Without any more delay, he walked towards them and placed the wings on each of them. Then he closed his eyes and made a wish, "Save them..."

He was taking his chance. Victor didn’t know how to properly use the wings but something inside him urged him to do so. It was as though, something was compelling him and guiding him to make a wish.

The unknown knowledge that he never had rushed into his mind and that made Victor bite his fingers. With his eyes still closed, he dripped the blood from his fingers on the top of the wings.

Following that, a blinding light covered the space and after some moment, the light started to seep into the cubs’ bodies.

Xavier likewise retreated his powers from their body.

Darcio curiously looked at Victor and realized that the vulture king was currently receiving the legacy of his tribe. The knowledge that only kings of the vulture tribe could know was filling Victor’s mind.

After a few minutes, the light started to diminish and Victor opened his eyes.

He observed as the little wings on the cubs started to disappear. Without even his awareness, a lone tear left his eyes recalling his brother. He clenched his fist and tried to compose himself before looking down at the cubs.

’Blink Blink’ two pairs of reddish brown eyes stared at him.

’It was uncle Victor!’ They sprang on their little feet and softly growled at him.

"Ah! The troublemakers are up" Victor said with a relieved smile. And true to his words, the two troublemakers pounced on him making Victor catch him by their necks.

"Tsk tsk....you guys really are troublemakers," Victor said while clicking his tongue.

The two cubs wriggled in his hold and tried to bite him.

Victor put them back to the ground and said, "You mother is upstairs"

And that caught their attention. The brothers glanced at each other with a knowing look and sprinted out of the room to find their mommy.

Victor chuckled at their antics. Then his gaze fell on Xavier. He briefly nodded his head at the fox king, "Thank you for your help. The cubs wouldn’t have been saved without your help"

Xavier nodded back and started to walk out of the room. But something stopped him from moving further. His legs were rooted to their place and Xavier didn’t know what was happening to him.

He suddenly didn’t want to leave. It felt like he would lose something very precious if he left this place. He wanted to see someone.

These foreign thoughts troubled him to no end. Xavier felt pathetic to even think like this. ’What the hell am I doing?’ ’Am I really not able to leave because of her?’