Severe forbidden thoughts crossed and lingered in his head as the image before him seemed to grow from bad to worse. Naked butts and bodies kept swarming around him in numbers. Unable to stand there any longer, he slowly swam away, making sure to sneak off right under their noses.
Thanks to them, his clothes were already wet. Gosh, can the day just end already? Only a day in this damn world and so many things had already happened.
From almost getting devoured by feral beastmen to getting his eyes dirtied by a shameless group of males who saw covering up as something forbidden—well, there goes his life. Shivering and shaking, he walked to the front of the large hut.
He was tired and weak but had no idea where to sleep. Others were heading to their homes, leaving only him behind, and since he came to this world, he hadn't made a single friend—except the fairy, who didn't count as "people," talk more of friends.
Now where the hell is that lion?
Remembering he was supposed to be looking after the kids, his eyes widened.
"Oh, fuck!!"
He ran back to the river and saw the two of them playing with a naked dude who kept shaking his ass continuously. His tail wagged in the air as he moved it, and the image wounded Travis's eyes so badly that he could literally kill to erase that embarrassing scene from his mind—but it was stuck there.
Picking up the two little cuties, he carried them back to the hut.
"Sorry, lovelies, but nighttime's here and you've got to sleep," Travis announced. Henry began kicking his little feet in the air.
"Nooo, I don't want to sleep now! I want to play—I'm not tired!" he pouted, but Travis didn't give in. No way that pout was working on him—he wasn't going to look.
Unfortunately, he did look. Those puppy eyes hit him, and both Henry and Tilda began punishing him with those adorable faces until he finally gave in.
"Fine, thirty minutes—but you're not going near that river. It's dangerous," he warned, watching as the two began chasing each other.
"Tag! You're it!" Tilda touched Travis, who groaned.
You've got to be fucking kidding him. Okay—maybe just once.
And like that, he went into a chase frenzy, pursuing the twin cubs as they ran all over the hut until midnight arrived.
*****
Meanwhile, at the tribe's village square, inside a huge hut similar to the one Derek stayed in, another was being crowded with lions and lionesses in their human forms. They all sat squatted on the ground, discussing with the seven elders of the tribe.
Derek sat amidst the elders, listening to what the people had to say.
"Something is happening that hasn't been recorded for years now," a lady stood up and said. She was enormous, with a long tail thick enough to serve as a rope for a tug-of-war. She held a basket in her hands—inside were fruits, all rotten to the core.
"All these are my harvest, but they're dead and decayed. Our lands are dying, and I'm afraid that if this continues, hunger will strike soon," she concluded and sat.
Just as she did, a male lion with a slightly chubby stomach and a bald head stood forward.
"We've been seeing cracks spreading up to the end of the Great River Euphrates. These are terrible signs, I fear. It's been slowing down our hunting groups since small animals no longer come out due to the damage to the forest," he voiced out.
A round of murmurs filled the ground. The room was crowded, and on their faces, you could see fear and panic—fear that their land might disappear into oblivion, that what once happened, killing lots of their kind, especially Omegas, would befall them again.
"My people," Derek began, "all these are signs of a disaster threatening to befall us. Thank goodness we're seeing the signs early, so we must battle it and secure our pride and clans.
Defend the barrier and strengthen the security. This isn't the time to slack off, for the survival of this pride is in our hands. While doing that, I will officially mark the visitor and make him my mate during the Moon Hunt."
Immediately after he made that declaration, a loud rumble filled the hut.
Murmurs and gasps filled the air.
"It's not possible! He's from the ape clan! We lions have never mated with apes—it would result in something abominable!" a man whispered, and others agreed.
"That visitor might be a witch. Who knows? Since his arrival, His Highness has been behaving strangely—he might have corrupted him!"
That statement made Derek growl, and his roar silenced them all—especially the man who spoke last.
The elders had been quiet all this while, listening and preparing their judgment.
"Visitor? Who is that?" a female lion elder asked.
"He's the one who saved my daughter from the cracks—and he rescued me too," Derek said as he stood and bowed before them. Some nodded, though a few disapproved but couldn't speak against their king.
"And you talk of claiming him? Do you know the consequences of mating with someone outside of our bloodline and clan? That has never happened, and you intend to break the rule?" a male elder questioned. He was a huge lion standing at the center among the others seated on an enormous bamboo bench.
As the argument grew, a female lion stood and spoke up.
"Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Your Highness, but it's regarding the visitor. We all saw what he did back in the forest, and we could feel his pheromones. I've never experienced anything so angelic and soothing before.
From my understanding, this problem we're facing—he might be the one to save us, our rescuer. I suggest we let them mate. He shows a divine quality that reminds me of our goddess Astrid, the story we were told since childhood. What if he's the divine savior?"
Once again, a wave of murmurs filled the hut.
"Goddess? Savior? Impossible! I can't believe it. He might be a witch—we can't know for sure," a woman sneered, her face scrunched with disgust.
No way someone from another clan could just come and take the position of Queen—a stranger they barely knew.
"So, to add to what she said," Derek continued, "he's an Omega—and you all know how rare Omegas are. With our falling population and only six cubs in the entire tribe, isn't this what we need? Then what's the reason for the discrimination?" he asked, confused and frustrated.
The room turned quiet as everyone began to reason with his words.
The Moon Hunt was only a week away—a very popular event celebrated throughout the beast world. It would take place at the imperial ground, a more civilized area where beasts of all kinds came to mingle and socialize, buying accessories and other goods.
Accessories were loincloths of all kinds—apart from that, they wore nothing else.
"Derek, you of all people should know our age-long tradition," the main elder finally spoke. "I'm afraid this won't be possible. We might look for another way, but for you to breed and mark him—it's spoiling the royal name. We can't allow it."
"So, based on what's happening," another elder added, "we shall find new land to cultivate, away from the cracks. As for the Moon Hunt, every male will join, including you, Derek—but not to claim the ape male. He's out of the option. This is our verdict. Any other issue can now be presented."
Derek's face turned grim as he heard the proclamation. He was forbidden from mating with Travis because, according to their twisted rules, Travis wasn't one of them.
Well, fuck that.
Such a pity he'd fallen in love with him. They could go eat their shit and come talk to him when he actually gave a fuck.
Throughout the rest of the meeting, nothing reasonable was discussed. The elders might have given a so-called solution to their problems, but to him, that wasn't a solution at all. To challenge them might cause uproar—he might be king, but their power still overruled the monarchy's, and that was annoying.
If the elders wouldn't listen, he just had to wait and let things happen on their own…
and that included taking Travis to the Moon Hunt.
Travis was his Queen, no matter what they said—
and there was absolutely nothing anyone could do to change that.