The hideout wasn’t very big, but Ren was busy cleaning up the ss and brushing away dirt, moving around with a lot of energy. At so point, he gave Kestrel a bunch of golden flowers he found during their trip, hinting that she could relax and sit in a corner for a while.
The golden petals looked like tiny lanterns. When she plucked them, she found bell-shaped parts filled with a good amount of sweet liquid. A gentle taste would make her mouth sweet for a short ti.
Kestrel got really into it, sitting in the corner, slowly enjoying one flower after another. Only when she had enjoyed all the sweet liquid from the bunch of flowers and saw Ren still working hard did she understand his hesitancy.
So she called out to Ren, "You should take a break."
When they first arrived at the hideout, Ren was the one watching over their group without sleeping. The second ti, they went through their heat cycle. After it stopped, Kestrel had dozed off, while Ren stayed alert, making sure they were safe.
So, Kestrel, sitting in the corner, waved Ren over and pointed to her legs.
Even though it was her first romantic experience, she wasn’t shy about taking action. Since starting this adventure, she was resolved to be a reliable mate.
Almost everyone these days grew up watching countless romantic shows. There were nurous scenes where the betas offers their leg as a pillow for the tired alphas, a move both kind and loving, sothing that seed expected when in a relationship.
Kestrel was really good at copying what she saw.
Clearly, Ren beca tense hearing her suggestion. He stayed still in the small cave for a while, his nervous deanor making him look a bit clumsy.
That look easily showed his mixed feelings: being both shy and anxious, yet really wanting to sit down next to her.
Without the influence of the heat cycle, he had to gather a lot courange to walk those few steps to Kestrel’s side, finally letting himself lie down and hesitantly resting his head on her soft legs.
Truthfully, they knew each other well, and they had worked together many tis. There were many tis when they leaned on each other’s shoulders during tough tis. They had taken care of each other’s injuries quite a few tis, and they had been used to being close physically.
But sothing seed totally different after the passionate night. Now, even a small touch or the slight brush of fingers made them feel a bit electric, spontaneously bringing back mories of the monts filled with sweat and passion.
Ren’s hair was really soft. In the dark hideout, the shadows made it hard to see his face, hiding his emotions. From where Kestrel was sitting, she could only see the pale outline of his jaw and a bit of an ear poking out from his hair, with the earlobe blushing red.
Kestrel gently played with that soft hair, the cool, short strands slipping through her fingers over and over.
She realized she wasn’t great at speaking her mind, and maybe her personality wasn’t all that friendly either. But at least in these quiet and calm monts, she could show her feelings through her actions as much as possible.
She stroked his soft hair, giving Ren monts of gentle care and affection. Kestrel wished that when he looked back on their ti together, it wouldn’t only be filled with tough tis. He should be able to recall not just struggles but also monts filled with happiness and delight.
Ren rested his head on Kestrel’s legs, enjoying her fingers running through his hair. After a while, Kestrel heard him say softly, "You... can do anything to ."
During their ti together, they had beco quite used to connecting on a deep, emotional level.
Whenever Kestrel felt different emotions coming from Ren, she could often pick up on his varied, sotis weird, thoughts.
"You can do anything to ," he told Kestrel. "You don’t need to worry too much, there’s nothing I don’t like, and thinking about it later feels nice."
As he spoke, his face hidden in the shadows, his earlobes turned so red they looked almost ready to bleed. Kestrel could even tell that his toes were curling up from embarrassnt, but he still managed to make his feelings known.
"I’m an alpha, with a sturdy body and strong emotional resilience. I’m not that easy to hurt; you don’t need to fret over little things."
"You just need to... do what makes you happy."
"Ah, understood."
Kestrel’s fingers softly tapped Ren’s broad back, casually and gently, urging him to relax and sleep. "I’m doing it, I’m doing what I want to do—loving you," said Kestrel.
Suddenly, Kestrel’s tendrils started to buzz excitedly:
"Wow."
"Wow, seriously."
"So deep."
"Being so straightforward once opened up, I really like it."
"The poor guy must be overwheld. His emotional state is like a turbulent sea."
The light in their hideout was faint, and the sounds of crackling fire ca from the ground above. Letters from their friends were in their hands, and a bunch of golden petals lay scattered at their feet. The sweet sll of the nectar mixed with the strong aroma of beta pheromones, filling the tiny space.
Kestrel’s fingers continued to gently pat, and slowly Ren’s tense muscles began to relax, his shoulders loosened, and his breath beca deep and steady.
Little beams of soft sunlight drifted across the stone wall at the cave’s entrance, until they eventually faded away.
As the stars filled the night sky once more, the pair resud their journey, moving quickly. During their break, they had managed to rest well, both ntally and physically rejuvenated, although it seed their teammates ahead hadn’t been as fortunate.
During their journey, they noticed more and more signs of battles that had taken place.
In a journey where ti was of the essence, facing so many battles was really dangerous. But these leftover signs were just reminders of what happened before, things they couldn’t change.
Also, as their friends had cleared the way before them, getting rid of all the dangers, Kestrel and Ren could continue their journey pretty easily and in good shape.
Further along their path, Ren suddenly halted. He found a broken chanical arm lying among a bunch of flowers on the ground. The tal arm was ripped and broken into pieces, with a big chunk missing from the wrist area, showing a bunch of burnt wires and tal tubes.
The arm that lay here had been burned badly by the bright sunlight, losing its shiny tal look, now looking more like a dark piece of burnt wood. The remaining fingers looked pretty weak, laying under the lively, moving flowers.
It was Rakan’s arm.
They had no idea what sort of fight had happened here, one that caused Rakan to leave behind his chanical arm.
Kestrel and Ren reached the next place to hide.
After seeing Rakan’s separated arm, they ran as fast as they could, holding onto hope and quickly opening the roof, eager to see their friends again.
But, when they opened the roof cover, the shelter was quiet, with no one there to greet them.
The abandoned shelter looked even ssier than the last one, with even more rubbish everywhere, along with bandages stained with blood, used food wrappers, and empty dicine bags.
This ti, the note left for Kestrel was from Raymond. Raymond’s handwriting was neat and tidy, not filled with as much emotion as Nicole’s, but reading it made Kestrel think of him, and his blue eyes.
Dear Kestrel,
Back at the last hideout, we laughed at Nicole for leaving you a ssage, saying that there was little chance you’d co across these notes by accident. But now, here I am doing the sa thing as her.
The thought that you and Ren might be safe and could potentially find these ssages we left, really calms my mind.
We’re in a tough spot right now. Olivia and Rakan are really hurt. What’s freaking us out the most is Nicole; she’s been hit with so mysterious psychic powers ever since we got here, and she keeps passing out and waking up again.
We had hoped to stay here for a "day and night", to sync up with you guys, but the mont we stepped in, we felt sothing was wrong here.
There’s so weird strong psychic energy here from we don’t know where, and it keeps ssing with Nicole.
Nicole’s been fighting a lot on this trip, plus helping us, the alphas, heal and stay sane. She’s super tired now. We don’t know who’s targeting her. Stuck in this place with no escape, we can’t shield her. So, we plan to get out of here once it’s night, heading to Mantidale, hoping to find a solution there.
Maybe we’ll face even scarier stuff there, or maybe we’ll run into you guys.
Kestrel, I had a bunch of other things to say to you, but it feels like those words aren’t necessary. You, being a beta, are really understanding and kind, always knowing how thankful I am for you deep down.
To sum it up, I’ll always cherish that ti, during the big flood in my psychic world, when you stood on a bamboo raft and saved the little lion cub from the water. But what sticks with more is the positive change you brought with you.
You helped us see the true bond between alphas and betas.
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