Help! Five Beast Alphas Want To Breed Me!!(BL)-Chapter 220: Zerana

Selthía;

I stare at the fireplace in my bedroom as my mind wanders.

My familiars curl around me, and their soothing presence only helps my mind sink deeper and faster in thoughts.

A thin jade red serpent around my wrist, coils loosely as his tiny breaths warm my skin. He flicks its tongue, tasting my mood.

Sensing restlessness... Sensing distraction, and pokes his head up to look at me, and I smile.

"I’m fine..." I whisper to it as I gently stroke his head.

Lúmira tightens her cool around my waist in hopes of bringing me peace, but my mind had long since slipped away from this room.

Since the moment I stepped in here, my mind kept circling back to the boy.

Elián.

That child... 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

I had seen thousands of people... from warriors soaked in blood, nobles dripping in entitlement to simpletons riddled with hypocrisy. None of them felt like this boy.

None of them have ever carried such gentle openness, such... softness that isn’t corrupted by pride or pretence.

Even his expressions don’t lie. Every emotion was... visible, honest, unguarded... everything about the boy was a language I found myself reading too easily.

He seems so pure... but not in the way a fragile thing is pure.

No. This one has depth. Depth and quiet strength.

Lúmira could sense it coming earlier. Although the boy’s spirit is bruised, battered, shaken... he’s still standing.

Still trying. Still polite. Still curious... still so innocent.

Conversing with him during dinner made something old inside me ache.

That boy doesn’t seem to deserve the horror he has faced.

A wedding turned battleground... Forced to be apart from your family...

I don’t know much about him, but I’m annoyed that someone with such a bright soul has faced pain.

Then again... pain only comes for those with hearts big enough to break, doesn’t it...

Well... not this one. Not anymore... not while under my roof at least.

"He must be protected," I whisper into the silence of my room, and my serpents lift their heads at the sound of my voice.

It had been years...decades...since I felt this strange... warmth trying to penetrate every wall I’ve ever built.

Why am I so concerned for a boy I just met?

I have spent a lifetime replacing softness with silence, kindness with caution, warmth with... distance.

But at the dinner table with that boy... Something shifted.

Something I had buried stirred... Something I have always fought against and won with Zephan and Zethar... I couldn’t even put up the fight this time.

Zephan and Zethar learned over the years to accept my distance... but this boy seems like the kind that doesn’t take no for an answer.

He seems like a puppy who would fill your life with warmth with, or without your permission...

I don’t know if that’s a good thing or...

My thoughts pull to a stop when a familiar aura brushes against my senses... warm, steady, and scented like vanilla, and a lucid dream.

Zerana.

Even before she touches the door, I feel her...

The serpents around me lift their head towards the door, recognising her aura instantly, and I turn my gaze to the door as well.

The door opens with a soft creak, and Zerana steps in. She isn’t in her usual jumble of attire. The ones she always wears when she’s running about studying, making discoveries, experimenting, or attending to the wounded.

No, right now she’s in a simple, navy blue nightdress that stops right above her knees.

"Hi..." She whispers with a small wave as she shuts the door behind her.

"You came," I note, and she shrugs.

"You were nice to them..." She replies, and I smile as I stare at the beautiful young woman.

I stare at her long, slender legs, then at the curve of her hips... how her nightdress swayed and gathered just right around her waist.

My eyes travel higher to her breast... to her nipples, which are pressed against the fabric of the dress around her chest.

My gaze goes higher to her smooth shoulders... to the beautiful red scales that line the top of her chest, just above her breasts, and then to her face. Her usually messy, curly hair has been held up into a loose bun...

Her small lips have this delicate pink shade to them. Her freckles are sitting proudly over her nose, and her eyes... her beautiful brown eyes glimmer under the crystal light.

"You’re not going to invite me in?" She questions, and I smile as I stand up.

With one sway of my wrist, my familiars vanish.

"You know you do not need an invite, Zerana..." I speak as I walk over to her, and she smiles at me.

I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her to me.

"Did you have a good day today?" I question, and she bites her lower lip as she stares up at me while her fingers take interest in the pendant around my neck.

"Hmm..." She replies with a nod, and my smile grows.

"I hoped so..." I reply, and she smiles at me before I lean in to kiss her.

The kiss is soft, delicate... and tender.

One thing I’ve grown to love about my moments with Zerana is that nothing is ever rushed.

Moments with the people you love should be slow... deliberate... enjoyed in every second. Not rushed and gone in a blur.

"I discovered a new flower today." She whispers, and as soon as I pull back, I can’t help my amused scoff.

My Zerana.

Always ready to talk about herds and medicine at any moment.

This woman can take a pause in the moment of sex to tell me about some scientific breakthrough she’s made.

"Really?" I reply, and she nods.

"Yeah. I’m still studying it, though. I think it can help cure burn scars. It’ll be good to keep finding these medicines, you know? For Nagarians who can’t practice magic." She replies, and I nod as I scoop her into my arms and begin to walk over to the bed.

"And how toxic is this new flower?" I question, and she pauses.

I look down at her and find her trying to avoid my gaze.

That’s when I notice the badges on her arm have grown a bit higher.

I pause.

"Zerana, please don’t tell me you tested it on yourself," I speak, and she steals a glance up at me.

"Okay." She replies, and my jaw drops.

"Zerana!"

"It was only a little, I promise! I made paste out of it and wanted to check..." She replies, and I sigh.

"Did it work?" I as she gives me a boxy grin.

"It did... until it didn’t?" She replies, and I raise a brow. "I’m not done with the formula yet. When I am..." She begins, and I roll my eyes as I continue back to the bed.

"Okay, little miss. I won’t let you touch me tonight unless you let Zikrón use his venom to heal any damage you may have caused yourself." I note, and just then, Zikrón, my red-scaled beauty, appears around my shoulders.

He hisses at Zerana and she pouts.

"But I’m fine..." She whines, but I’d be damned if I listen to this maniac who loves experimenting on herself.