Beauty in the beast world

[Forbidden Mountains]

Green mountains stretched far and wide, with the sun just now rising in the back of the hills, waking up the entire world. The birds chirped while beavers came out of their borrows. Apart from that, the only sound that could be heard was the steady stream of water hitting the rocks and creeks while fishes swam inside it.

In the middle of this nature's wonder, a small and humble cottage rested camouflaging its presence with green creepers coating the roof. The house couldn't be seen if one didn't come near. It was more of a hideout than a house.

However, the residents thought otherwise. For them, this was their first real home.

"What are doing so early in the morning?" Asked Theodore as he stepped outside the cottage still drowsy with sleep. He had tucked his mate to sleep some more before coming out. She caught chill very easily.

While the one that was addressed, Garrison continued with his movements and spread a grass net in a particular area of the stream as he answered, "Fishing, Iria had been craving them now that she can consume meat"

"Oh," Theodore understood. His mate had become pregnant not long after they fled from the Beast City. From then on, she had been going through bouts of morning sickness that left her incapable of eating certain foods. She wasn't able to keep most of the food in and grew weak, and the fish meat was the worst of them all, even though she liked Fish the most. Roasted Fish cooked by Gary was one of her favorite foods.

"Then you cook that for Iria" Theodore suggested, "I'll go and hunt something for you and me"

Garrison gave a curt not. The males couldn't satiate their hunger just by fish. They wanted more of a tougher and leaner meat. A mountain Bison would feed them well. It was a difficult catch but he had seen no other hunter better than Theodre in his life. That made him recall Noah, that lad was a great hunter. Better than others. It made sense, his kind was born to hunt.

"Gary?" His trail of thoughts came to a halt when he heard his mate's sweet voice. He hoisted up the net and secured the catch onto a tree trunk before turning to his mate. His heart warmed seeing her standing there full with his cubs. She looked absolutely beautiful.

"It's cold, get inside, Love," Gary said as he, too, walked inside their home with the fish he had caught.

Once in, he lit up the fireplace by throwing in new wood and returned after making sure that the smoke was properly going through the chimney.

Iria sat on one of the wooden chairs that her mates had cushioned to make sure that she was comfortable. She reclined back with a hand on her bulging stomach and observed her mate as he started to prepare the fish to roast it.

"How are you feeling, Love?" Garrison asked as he descaled the fish inside a stone container filled with water. On the hearth, he kept water to boil so that it was drinkable for his mate. He and Theodore digested most of the things, but that was not the case with Iria.

"I feel tired," Iria replied to Gary's previous question, "Nothing out of the ordinary." Her only pregnancy while carrying Lyra was not that easy on her and with added stress from Gregory and those after, the gem. It was a miracle that she was alive. Remembering those incidents still pained her to her core. But what hurt the most was that her chance of spending time with her newborn was snatched away from her. Iria wished no other mother to ever go through something like that.

Gregory...the man that she thought was her best friend, betrayed her in the worst way possible. If only he talked about his worries more openly, Iria would have tried to understand him. Even if she couldn't love him and think of him becoming her mate, someone else would have. She knew that it was not that easy....nothing was easy in this beast world and importantly Males, they rarely changed their minds once they set eyes on a woman. But Iria couldn't help but think about the Ifs. What if he realized that she was never going to be his and accepted it? Those were all her hopes and dreams because nothing like that would become a reality.

Gregory will never change so the one that had to change was herself. To keep her daughter, herself, and her mates safe, she had to hide from those who sought them ill indefinitely. Sometimes, she thought about letting him become her mate and being done with it, but she had to think. Will Gregory really accept becoming one of her mates? The man who hated Theodore and now Gary...would he really accept their presence beside her? Iria was a hundred percent sure that he wouldn't.

Sometimes she felt like Gregory's obsession with killing Theodore exceeded his love for her. Maybe he himself couldn't see it clearly, but she could. His hatred for Theo was beyond everything else in his life. More than wanting to possess her, he wanted to possess something that Theo had. He wanted to snatch Iria for himself because that would hurt Theodore.

Iria didn't know what occurred between them before she arrived in the beast world, but it was clear that it was not something pleasant.

"Here" Her haze broke when she felt a salty taste on her lips. Gary was holding a piece of roasted fish between his fingers and urged her to eat, "Go on, taste it"

Iria parted her lips and nibbled on the fish at first to make it wouldn't repulse her before taking a full bite. She was okay and the fish tasted good as always, "It's tasty. I think I can eat more"

That was all it took for Garrison. He quickly put another fish on the hearth before returning to his mate. He carefully separated the soft meat from the tricky bones before feeding it to his mate. Iria ate heartily. Something that she hadn't had the chance to do since she found out that she was pregnant.

"I want the eye." She asked for her favorite part, and her mate gladly fed it to her.

Soon, Theodore returned with his hunt and smiled seeing his mate. He put away his hunt to clean it later and washed his hand with a little wood ash. It was his mate's orders; she told him that it was to stay clean. While he didn't mind the smell of fresh kill on his hands, his mate definitely did.