Her Beasts

Stronger

Ember did not have as strong of a sense of smell as other types of beastmen. Thus, he had to use other ways to track prey like footprints and his bird forms greater sense of sight. Ember followed Iris's tracks to the riverside and then felt confused when he saw they did not continue on the other side of the river.

Deciding the only other way she could have gone was through the river, Ember shifted into his beast form. He took flight as he kept himself low enough to notice any new tracks. When he finally noticed some, he followed them to a tree where they seemed to disappear.

Flying up and searching the branches, Ember finally found his terrified mate. Ember transformed once again and scooped Iris into his arms, checking her for injuries. Iris touched his face gently as she reassured him

"I'm okay. I'm so glad you were the one that found me. I feel so guilty...... I..... I abandoned Basil and ran away. I don't know if he's okay..... I just..... I wasn't confident I could protect myself. Ivy's mates were too many....."

Iris began to sob heavily as she explained this. She had felt so useless and vulnerable and had been consumed by guilt the moment she stopped running. Ember shushed her as he rubbed her back.

Ember wasn't too sure how to comfort her, but figured it'd be best to just bring her home. Basil would be able to comfort her far better than he could. With that, Ember jumped carefully out of the tree and took off towards home.

By the time they returned to the tribe, most of Ivy's mates had been removed from the scene. Still, Ember kept Iris's head buried in his neck, shielding her from the bloody scene. Before tribe leader James could say a word, Ember shot him a harsh glare that shut him up.

Ember was sick of their shit and thought James was a lousy tribal leader. Usually, by now, someone would try to overthrow such a horrid leader who was selfish and didn't take care of his people. However, Ember didn't feel it was his job to interfere since he wasn't even officially a part of their tribe. It is, after all, best to leave artic wolf affairs to artic wolves.

When Ember returned to their home, Basil was sitting on the couch looking worried. When he saw Iris, he headed over to her side quickly as he exclaimed

"Thank goodness you are okay! I was so worried. You aren't injured anywhere are you?"

Iris began to cry again as she responded in between sniffles

"You aren't mad at me.... for abandoning you.... to be killed.... by Ivy's mates? I'm so sorry! Wahhh!!!!"

Basil accepted Iris from Ember as he carried her over to the couch. Basil tucked Iris's hair behind her hair as he explained

"Of course I'm not mad at you! You have nothing to apologize for. It's my fault for not being able to protect you to the point that you had to run away."

Ember interrupted to add in

"Running away was the smart move. We would happily die to protect you. It's useless if we are overwhelmed by enemies and can't keep them away from you if you just stay still. At least, if you run away, we have a chance of finishing the fight and finding you again later. If they got a hold of you or killed you, it would all be over.

Don't worry, I won't put you in that position again. Caspian can go to market alone or with all of us. I clearly can't trust you to be safe with too few mates. I don't know how Caspian managed by himself for so long."

Basil kissed Iris's head as he gently rocked her in his arms. Basil could not argue with Ember's logic. It was simply too dangerous to leave Iris so open to attack. Basil knew it didn't help that he was only level four and wasn't an elemental like Ember. He couldn't help but feel like he was far too weak to adequately protect Iris on his own.

Ember cleared his throat as he explained

"I don't want to go out hunting until Caspian returns. Eat the plants and jerky you have at home. Tribe leader James seems like he wants to avenge his daughter's mates who died. I'll have to keep guard tonight."

With that, Ember went outside their home to guard the entrance. Basil couldn't argue the matter when he knew Ember was correct. Basil could only try to care for Iris and keep her entertained for the night.

Basil got Iris some clean bath water and prepared her a cup of chamomile tea with honey to help her relax. Basil tried to comfort Iris by acting flirty and teasing her with his tail as they played games and snacked on jerky and greens.

Iris seemed to cheer up a little by the time it was time to tuck in for bed, which made Basil happy. When she was deep asleep, Basil slipped out of the room and went to talk to Ember.

"We need to work on keeping Iris safer. You are a level five fire elemental, which is sufficiently stronger than my level four no element beast. Plus, you can fly, which gives you additional advantages. I used to fight in the combat arenas in order to help me raise my combat level and I know that fighting those stronger than you helps you level up faster.

I think we should start having daily spars between the three of us so that we can get stronger in the future. If nothing else, we should be able to sharpen our combat skills so that we can better protect Iris. Don't worry, I won't hold it against you as long as you don't kill me. I don't want to put her through this again....."

Ember found that he understood Basil's commitment to becoming stronger better than anything else about the vixen. Ember had always fought hard to become strong and hated it when others defeated him, but he would always come back for more with the goal of surpassing his previous self. Ember nodded as he patted Basil's shoulder. He would be pleased to teach his family how to become stronger for their mate's sake.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Want to support the author? Check out my Patreon! For $5 / month you can get full access to my works including early access to the newest chapters, ad-free reading of previously posted chapters, and the author's notes.

patreon.com/AutumnPlunkett