Beauty's Beasts
Chapter 157: That time.

Chapter 157: That time.

I’m really worried for mommy!" Josh sniffed thinking of their mother that they left back there.

Don’t cry. Mommy will be alright. Right now, we have to stay safe so that mommy won’t be sad." Fred spoke and Zain agreed with a nod.

If we were big like daddy, no one would be able to bully our mommy and us!" A small guy who was curled up like a ball couldn’t help crying. His whole body ached so much and his tummy was so empty and it kept growling.

I’m even hungry!!" Another of the younger ones complained.

Stop crying all of you!" Franklin reprimanded. If Lilly wakes up who of you will be responsible?" He asked and all the boys immediately stopped sniffing and whining.

Only the sound of growling stomachs kept echoing in the dark cave.

"Sorry. It’s shouting on its own. I didn’t make it." The one who cried over hunger defended himself. He was the glutton of the group and was chubby beyond repair.

"Don’t cry, Fatty. We won’t be angry with you." Josh consoled rubbing his shoulder to calm the little guy down.

The children kept exchanging talks in hushed voices. With their keen senses, they could hear the sound of battle in a distance from them.

This frightened them so bad that they begun to tremble.

Franklin, Fred and Frost had lost their daddy and they all saw it happen. It had been a very gruesome sight for their little hearts and now that daddy Ray was also out there fighting, their fear worsened.

Would he also not return? Then what of mommy? Would she be really safe?!

Fatty even forgot about his hunger and his pouted lips kept shaking as he held himself from crying.

*

At the battle.

Ray was riddled with wounds as the beasts surrounding him didn’t give him a chance to fight back. He kept snarling and despite bleeding so much, he didn’t give up the battle.

You love seeking death!" Ray snarled.

"The one who’ll be dying tonight is you and right after that, we will go and hunt down those cubs and kill them all!" The tiger like beast with a set of horns on its head growled with a dark chuckle.

Ha..." Ray sneered and jumped for that beast. It was the one that made him feel challenged among all the others that had surrounded him and he’d have an upper hand if he subdued it.

*

Enzo flashed past the encirclement of the bat beasts. Those things were huge, as big as a youth eagle beastman and the worst part was their numbers. They were as much as hundreds and they gave off an ominous feeling with their red eyes that glowed in the night

They had a disadvantage that they wouldn’t be able to tackle, only the day would save them.

A red haired female lay on the big eagle’s back unconscious. It had been long and she could no longer hold on.

Screech!!!!! Enzo let out a cry. If he could get a few eagle beasts in the vicinity to help him fend off these bats, he’d have a way to make it through the night.

Screech!

Screech!!!

Screech!!!!!

Many eagles from the neighbouring areas replied to Enzo’s call.

This made him sigh in relief but before he could, he instinctively tilted to the side dodging a sneak attack in a breathes time. But the red haired female was at the moment unconscious and slipped from Enzo’s back.

Enzo immediately dived and grasped the female with his claws and flashed right to untangle from the bat that had somehow dug it’s claws into his back, luckily, his skin was thick and only his feathers had been grasped.

Fuck off!!" He cursed holding the female in his one claw before flipping and using his other claw to slash at the humagous bat that was slightly smaller than him. He ripped it’s skin making it let out a cry before letting him go.

Enzo took this chance and ducked off as fast as he could. He was at a disadvantage in the night as there was no place for him to hide and the ground was also unsafe.

Not far from him, he could hear the sound of the wind being cut through. The enemy had caught up!

At the same time, the eagles he had asked for help came and immediately the two sides were engaged in a sky splitting battle. The eagles totaled to around fifty and their battle prowess was six rank and above. The bat beasts weren’t so lucky and were cut for battle. They needed up being shredded pitifully by the eagles.

The next morning.

When the sun begun to peek from the east, Enzo had managed to escape the radar of the bats and he was flying at a much more steady speed. The world below him was so big but even it’s vastness wasn’t enough to hide them and his mate. His worries doubled when he thought of the children that had escaped with Ray...were they okay?!

He could only hope against hope!

However, his heart couldn’t stop trembling violently at the scen of Ash’s last moments.

They had been caught off guard at that time and if it wasn’t for Sydney’s immediate intervention, even the children might have died! The numbers that came were overwhelming and were brutal in their attacks, their intention to kill.

After flying for a while, Enzo came to a clearing and scanned around before gliding down and landing.

He lay the female onto the ground and immediately shifted into his human form. He embraced her in his arms and looked at her left chest only to see a blank space, something he wasn’t used to.

Ash.... his hands traced at the place that once held his friend’s mate mark, now it was no more! His anger seethed! If he didn’t have the duty of taking Sydney away, he’d definitely shred all those beasts till there isn’t anything left of them in this life.

*

Ray returned to the cave at the break of dawn. Apart from Franklin, all the other cubs had fallen asleep from both exhaustion and hunger.

Seeing him return, Franklin immediately jumped out and leaped at him his small body shaking. "You’ve returned!!!" His small voice shook.

Ray was forced to drop the prey from between his teeth and shift immediately to catch the small panther that had pounced over to him. "I said I’d return." He said gently stroking Franklin’s small fluffy ears. He let Lin down and looked at the other cubs that had all woken up.

"I got some food. We will eat and move out as soon as possible." Ray said and stepped aside. He immediately went over to Frost and took little Lilly from him. "Go eat, I’ll handle her."

Frost nodded and shifted into a small white panther. He went over to the prey Ray had got them and begun tearing at it with his teeth along with his brother.

At such a time, they didn’t have the pleasure of having their meals cooked.

Switching hands, Lilly immediately awoke with a cry but on seeing a familiar face, she stopped immediately her big black eyes coated with tears that fell freely. Hi...i got you something!!" Ray cooed and took out a ripe banana.

Immediately, Lilly begun to fragile her hands wanting to catch it.

Ray laughed and peeled it for her before passing it over. At this time, Lilly had a few teeth in her mouth and could eat soft foods aside from the milk. She was a smart child with keen eyes like her father’s and a sharp memory. But she still wasn’t sharp enough to understand this situation and after eating half of the banana, she begun to look around for her mother.

The children had been extremely hungry and the prey was handled by them after an hour to the point that all that was left was mere scraps.

Ray had dealt with the nearest attackers and now needed to move before another group caught up to them.

They successfully made it to the mountain without any mishaps on the way. They’d travel in the day and rest at night, following this pattern, days went by in a blur.

Whay gave Ray the assurance was the connection he had with Sydney. She was alive! As long as that was the case, finding her again in the near future was close to nothing.

Half a month later.

Lilly was crawling around in the temporary home inside a cave. The younger brothers were keeping her company and playing with her.

Ray sat outside the cave and looked at the mountain floor which was hundreds of kilometres away.

During their three month stay in this cave, he had managed to mark this territory as his and he also found out that there weren’t any dangerous animals or dangers nearby. This gave him a sense of relief as he’d on every three days go out to the mountain floor to see if there were any pursuers. If so, he’d kill them off and return.

The cycle kept rolling this way for three months but there was no sign of the others. Also, a deep sense of fear had been enveloping him.

Ahhhh!!!" A sudden scream had him jolt and look back into the cave in alarm.

Frost was holding onto Lilly’s hand as some black fog wrapped around her small hand pulling at her. Fatty had been scared and screamed.

Franklin and the others joined to help pull Lilly back but the fog waas stronger than them combined. Besides, they were in their human forms and hence their power was so weak!

.with a forceful tug, the whole line of twelve children were pulled into the black fog.

"No!" Ray’s heart fell into his throat as he leaped over desperately wanting to catch the children back but he only clasped air and the screams of the children disappeared with a whoosh!

The cave fell into dead silence.

Eyes wide in disbelief and desperation, Ray’s whole body shook before a peircing pain shot through his heart. He dropped to the ground as his body convulsed and twitched.

His eyes watered. Sydney...he wanted to call out but no voice left his lips.

*

Tsk tsk tsk... it’s only such a small piece! I’m really disappointed." A woman’s voice full of fury rang out.

In her hands was a blood covered stone he had just plucked out of a dead Sydney’s chest.

She sauntered all the way to a small alter like table and place that piece onto it.

Immediately, all the blood was sucked into the stone and all that was left was a cream white stone piece that was no bigger than a shell.

Compared to the other pieces on the alter, it was pitifully tiny! The woman gathered all the stones present and tried to piece them together but it couldn’t make up even a third of the original stone. But she wasn’t disappointed. She was a patient one.