Reborn As A Beast Queen with Too Many Husbands to Pet novel Chapter 55

Chapter 55 Rokky’s Starting to Like Annelise

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Rokky lowered his gaze to his hands, then let one drift to his chest. This feeling was nothing like the first time he’d been bonded.

Back then, spirit energy rushing into his dried-out body had felt like rain hitting desert soil- an overwhelming first taste of something like life, which was why the mating impulse had hit him so violently.

Because of his condition, Rokky had always lived with a low-level hum of fear-fear that he’d lose control again, fear that bonding wouldn’t change anything, fear that no matter what, he’d end up a beast he couldn’t rein in.

So even after Annelise bonded with him, he’d kept himself on the edge of everything, emotionally and physically. When the fox, the rabbit, and the peacock talked among themselves, he never joined in. When they grew jealous of Snowball, he felt nothing at all.

He kept his head down, never daring to meet anyone’s eyes, thinking only about protecting his matriarch and taking care of her. That alone had felt like enough.

But now, after only a single day, he realized she hadn’t just saved his life-she’d warmed something much deeper. This mating impulse didn’t feel like instinct anymore. It felt like wanting to walk beside his matriarch for the long haul, like wanting to stay with her, no matter what came next.

Annelise had walked for a stretch before turning suddenly, eyes bright with mischief. “Rokky, can you scare off the beasts here with your beast aura? I was hoping to loot a few corpses without breaking a sweat and finish the 13-beast set.”

Rokky said it should be doable. After walking this far in, he could already sense the level of ferocity around them. The beasts here were stronger than the ones outside the mountains, but none stood out as exceptional. In fact, Rokky had eaten most of them before-just somewhere else.

“How about I hunt a little?” Rokky proposed. “Isn’t the saintess selection basically a hunting trial?”

“Oh, come on,” Annelise said, waving him off. “Don’t get hung up on semantics. Why waste the energy if we can loot them? Who could tell if you hunted them or found them on a mountain like this?”

Rokky hesitated, head bowed, voice tight. “But… wouldn’t that mean we’d be lying to the chief?”

Seeing the way the handsome man was twisting his hands together, Annelise couldn’t help

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17:34 Mon, Jan 26

Chapter 55 Rokky’s Starting to Like Annelise

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laughing softly. “So what if it’s deception? She hasn’t exactly been honest with everyone either.

“Back then, she said you were a monster that no one could bond with and wanted to burn you alive, but she never even verified it. She and her precious daughter definitely have something shady going on-I just haven’t dug it out yet.”

She stretched both hands behind her head, tilting her face to the sky as she thought, Being artful might sound bad on the surface, like using petty cleverness to gain benefits, but in adult society, it actually works remarkably well. It makes life easier, as long as you stick to where you draw the line.

And Annelise’s line had never been “never lie,” so really, what was the harm?

“Rokky, if you’re that dead-set on honesty, would you also tell them you clawed at those b*stards, so as to get yourself executed and me kicked out of the tribe to die alone out there?”

Rokky snapped his head up in response, heartbreak flashing across his face. “No, no- absolutely not. Anyone else, maybe, but not you… I-I won’t say a thing. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

He’d realized it then-how close he’d come to hurting his matriarch by being rigid for no

reason at all.

Annelise shook her head, helpless amusement in her smile. “Rokky, you don’t have to walk on eggshells. I wasn’t going to scold you or hit you. I just didn’t want you getting hurt. You’ve always been the kind of person who’d take the fall yourself before causing anyone else a headache.”

She felt a faint twinge of self-disgust at that thought. It seemed that only when she used herself as the example did Rokky truly pay attention, truly push back. She couldn’t even tell whether he loved her or not. All she knew was that she already cared deeply about him-far more than she should.

Right then, a thunderous roar ripped through the mountains-deafening, visceral, primal. Birds burst from the trees, only to drop from the sky like stones, stunned to literal death before they cleared the canopy. One nearly smacked Annelise’ face, but she yanked up her basket just in time to catch it.

“Whoa… It died of fear just like that!” Annelise blurted, stunned. “That roar was even louder than yours back at the pond.”

She turned and realized Rokky hadn’t moved. He stood frozen, fists clenched, body tight as a bowstring, lips pressed white.

“Rokky,” she said, eyes narrowing with concern, “are you scared of that roar?”

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17:34 Mon, Jan 26

Chapter 55 Rokky’s Starting to Like Annelise

She remembered Hudson curling into a shaking ball when Rokky roared.

A case of a stronger beast suppressing the weaker ones? she wondered.

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At that, she rushed toward Rokky and wrapped her arms around him, waiting to soothe him. She even imagined the sight of this fragile, gorgeous man with tears pooling in his eyes. However, her arms couldn’t even make it all the way around his broad chest.

What a firm chest. She swallowed reflexively before hearing Rokky speak. “Ms. Crawford, sweetie, I’m not scared. I’m just…”.

He cut himself off. What he hadn’t said was that his blood boiled, excited, wanting to fight the beast head-on.

But he quickly dug his sharp claws into his thigh. As five bloody gashes appeared, he stared at them and let out a heavy breath, using the pain to force that battle-hungry impulse back down.

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