Whispers of the Beast Realm

New additions

"Seriously, I told you to push it, not punch the tree," Allmer sighed, shaking his head in mild exasperation. Well, yeah, he did say that. I winced, realizing my impulsive misunderstanding.

"Also, it won't be so easy to use the power. What you probably sensed was our bond. It gives a vague direction of where I am, but tapping into my power is a different league," Allmer explained, his tone holding a mixture of patience and encouragement. Now that he mentioned it, I did sense his presence but didn't feel any distinctive power.

"Just keep practicing. It can take weeks or even months. Females are generally able to use the mate's power when they feel their life is in danger, so yeah, it'll be hard," Allmer continued.

"But not impossible," I quipped, trying to maintain a positive outlook.

"Definitely not," Allmer replied, his demeanor relaxed. We spent the next few hours in practice, but unsurprisingly, there were no immediate results. Ace joined us at some point for a casual chat.

"Well, there have been quite a few new additions to the city in the last few days," Ace mentioned casually.

"New additions?" I asked, realizing that there were more males visible around.

"Yeah, a few villages of the eagle clan and tiger clan were attacked, so most people came here," Ace explained, providing insight into the recent developments in the city.

"Do eagle beastmen carry their mates and fly? Like you carried me?" I asked Allmer, intrigued by the idea.

"What, want a flying beastmen mate now, do we?" Ace teased, a mischievous grin on his face, and Allmer gave me a playful questioning look. The banter took me aback a little.

"Of course not! You know where my priority lies," I answered truthfully but with a hint of hesitation, surprised that Ace would bring up the mate topic so casually.

"Doesn't mean you can't have fun along the way," Ace continued teasing, and there was a subtle weight behind his words that I couldn't quite pinpoint. Perhaps it was because, after my emotional outburst the other day, we hadn't properly addressed the things I had hidden before.

At least, looking at Allmer's expression, I could tell he was growing a bit annoyed with Ace now. Even someone as slow as me in the romance department could detect the not-so-subtle flirty remarks from Allmer or the way he looked at me. I just hoped I wasn't being delulu and misinterpreting his attempts to... court me? I guess that's what beastmen called it here. And maybe, just maybe, I was starting to open up a bit to him in that area.

**Thank you so much for reading!