Her Beasts

New Mates

Iris nervously sat in the chair as the first male came up to her. He had white hair and chocolate-brown eyes. He lowered to the ground on one knee and offered Iris a gift as he said

"I'm Greg from the snow leopard tribe. I'm a one-star celestial beastman with no element."

Iris awkwardly accepted his gift. Glancing down at it she found some delicate white flowers wrapped in a small white rabbit fur. Iris looked to Caspian, unsure of what she was doing.

"It's okay, I'm here. You can just hand me the gifts after you look them over and I'll put them away. You can just shake your head if you aren't interested. If anyone catches your eye or you have questions, let me know."

Iris was grateful as she heard Caspian's reassurances. She looked back at the male who was staring at her with a nervous expression as he waited for her answer. Iris felt guilty as she quickly shook her head.

The next to walk up was a slightly larger beast with reddish brown hair and brown eyes. He quickly kneeled before Iris and offered her his gift.

"Hello, I am Paul from the best tribe. I'm a two-star celestial beastman with no element."

Iris accepted his gift and opened the stone container to see honey wrapped in water-resistant leaves. Iris shook her head feeling bitter. It felt strange accepting this gift from other males when her heart was still dwelling on another.

Several more males came up one after another, each offering gifts. Surprisingly, a good number of the males who turned up were of a decent level. There were even a small handful who were three-starred beasts but did not have elements.

Iris hesitated on rejecting them as she felt she may not be able to find better here. However, her line was still quite long and she had only gone through a couple dozen beastmen.

Most beastmen offered Iris flowers, bone jewelry, furs, or foods they thought she might like. Iris began to feel numb and wanted to tune out their words when Caspian softly whispered

"I know it's a lot, but you should try to focus. These beastmen are offering to pledge their lives to you and it would be impolite to not give them your consideration."

Iris knew Caspian was right. Besides, she needed to find two new mates today. She could only be picky for so long and tuning out would not help matters.

Iris looked carefully at the next male to have arrived. This one had dirty blonde hair with green eyes. He thrust his hands forward, offering up his gift as he nervously said

"I'm Colton from the leopard tribe. I haven't awakened my beast yet....."

Iris looked at the grasses he had wrapped in a squirrel hide and quickly handed it off to Caspian. After nearly getting sick eating grass earlier, Iris didn't even want to look at grass anymore. Iris gave a brief shake of her head and the beastman quickly scampered away.

The deep and gravelly voice of the next beastman caught Iris's attention as he said

"Hello beautiful, my name is Ember. I am from the mighty Phoenix Tribe. I have five stars and the fire element."

As Iris took in Ember's golden blonde hair with red highlights and amber eyes like melted honey, she felt awe. This male looked quite proud and had an exotic air about him. Iris swallowed hard as she turned to Caspian.

"Yes, my little mate?"

Iris pointed to Ember as she said

"I think we should accept him."

Ember gave a warm chuckle as he went to stand beside Caspian.

"You haven't even opened my gift yet, love. Of course, I can understand why you'd want someone with my talents but it's quite unusual to not look at your admirer's gifts before accepting them into your family."