Ethan POV
"Can we wash ourselves first? I feel uncomfortable," Caelum asked. Everyone nodded in agreement, and we decided to take a quick bath together, except for Lily.
Lily sat beside the lake with Leo, Leon, and Ren, the trio of cubs babbling and playing together. God knows what they're up to.
We all took off our animal skirts and jumped into the lake. I watched everyone swimming around, talking to each other. Then I looked back at Lily and noticed her cheeks were red.
I swam towards the shore and asked, still in the water, "What happened, Lily? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay," she replied, looking at me through her eyelashes. Her hazel eyes glanced at me sneakily, checking me out.
I smirked. Now I understood what happened. Is she checking us out?
"What are they doing?" I asked, laughing, as I noticed the cubs pulling each other's hands and giggling.
"Brother, come here!" Suddenly, Sebastian shouted from behind. I gave Lily a smile and swam towards Sebastian.
"Sebby, why did you call me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We're discussing where we should build our new house since our old one got destroyed," he said.
But suddenly, I was pulled underwater. I looked at the culprit helplessly. "Charles, we were discussing something important."
"Important?" He raised an eyebrow, his golden eyes looking at us.
"About our house," Caelum explained.
"Oh," his eyes grew sad as he looked at us. It's the second time our house has been destroyed.
"But where will we stay now?" Rosa asked, coming closer. I caught a whiff of a flowery scent as his wet red hair stuck to his fair, soft face.
"We can go back to the Fox tribe," I suggested, but Arnold shook his head.
"They've already spread fake news. If they see any of us, they'll catch us," Arnold said.
"For the time being, why don't we build a secret cave?" Luciano suggested, running his hands through his wet hair.
"I think it's a good idea," Sebastian agreed.
"Me too," we all chimed in.
"We also need to speed up to save your friend," Luciano added.
"Yeah, but we can't casually enter the Beast City when we're all wanted," Caelum pointed out.
"Lily mentioned disguises. Let's ask her after we freshen up," Luca suggested, and my eyes unconsciously looked at his long tail in the water.
I really love his blue and pink tail. It looks beautiful and ethereal.
"Can we talk about Lily? It's cool how she looked When she sat on Tornado," Charles said with sparkling eyes.
"My wife is a goddess," Rosa nodded, blushing. "I'm glad I found such a beautiful and powerful wife."
I agreed with him. She was beautiful and kind. She even accepted me despite knowing I was already mated once. Most Belles hate second-hand beaus.
"Lucky guys," Arnold smiled. But for some reason, I felt like he smiled forcefully, with envy in his eyes. I shook off the thought as I washed my long brown hair.
Luca was lucky. His hair was very short, making it easy for him to fight. It looked cool, especially when it grew and reached his forehead. He used to sulk when Relly cutted his hair initially for treatment, but now he really likes his short hair.
And my eyes fell on Sirius, who was listening but looked so distant. Thankfully, he had also helped us a lot. I knew he had issues with Luca, but we still needed to thank him.
"Thank you, Sirius, for helping us," I said, and he raised his eyes and nodded.
His eyes were cold and emotionless.
"Yeah, thank you, Sirius," everyone echoed their gratitude.
Finally, Luca swam towards Sirius, and I felt the environment turn cold. I looked at Rosa, and he was shivering, rubbing his arms.
So I'm not the only one.
"Sirius," Luca spoke, and Sirius's jaw clenched. His black eyes were like an abyss, silent and scary. His red lips opened, and I could see his snake- fangs.
Sparks flew between them, and Sirius's eyes hissed as Luca smiled breathtakingly. "Thank you for helping us. You're always my good friend."
"Yeah, I'm always a good friend," Sirius calmed down suddenly, speaking.
I don't know what's going on between them.
After we washed, Lily washed separately and changed into clothes that Luciano had made for her.
She always wore her clothes when she was in the house, but outside, she wore what we made.
"We need to find a safe place," Luca said, looking worried. "Today was the last day of the Sparky season, and we need to find a good place before the Heating season starts."
"Why?" Lily asked, her face showing curiosity.
"In the Sparky days, we all have nights. But suddenly, when the Heating season starts, it damages our skin," Luca explained. Lily made an "oh" face and nodded in understanding.
"You want to come with us too?" Luciano asked Sirius, who nodded in response.
I felt uncomfortable. I didn't want to be mean, but the way Sirius looked at Lily made me want to punch his face. However, I forced a smile as we transformed into beasts and stored our fur in the space. Lily sat on Luciano's back, Caelum carried Rosa on his back, and Luca, who couldn't run fast, sat on Charles's back. Charles loved giving rides on his back. According to him, he didn't feel lonely when he ran alone.
We all started running in one direction, because we have space, food and water wasn't problem for us.
28 January 2024
Sunday
Thank you for reading! I appreciate your support, and I tried my best to write a longer chapter as you guys requested. 🤗