Surrounded by Five Beast Lords novel Chapter 41

Chapter 41 Supernatural Ability Upgrade

Clive didn’t answer right away. He just reached over and took the long–handled steel ladle she’d been about to use on the pot.

His fingers were lean and strong, every knuckle sharply defined, and the way they closed around the metal handle carried a strange, almost effortless grace

“Water’s about to boil. Careful.” His voice came out low, stripped of its usual edge.

Dora’s hand froze mid–motion. Her fingertips grazed the back of his hand as he took the ladle.

A faint, electric tingle shot up from the point of contact, and her heart stumbled over its own rhythm.

“Okay,” she said softly, pulling her hand back. Her fingertips curled inward on their own, a small unconscious flinch she didn’t catch.

Dora pulled out a whole case of instant pasta and dumped the noodles, along with every last seasoning packet, straight into the pot.

After spending time with them in the training zone, she had a pretty good read on their appetites. Every single one of those guys was a bottomless pit, and one or two packs per person wouldn’t even come close to cutting it.

Within seconds, a thick, aggressive aroma of grease and spices filledrose from the steam and filled the air.

For beastfolk raised on nothing but nutrient drinks, that smell was practically a siren call.

But something else hung between the two of them now, something beyond the scent of food, invisible and slow–coiling, threading itself through every quiet breath.

Clive picked up a steel ladle and began stirring the pot in even, unhurried circles.

His broad shoulders tipped forward, and the black fabric of his shirt pulled taut with each motion, tracing the lean, sculpted lines of his back.

Morning light caught his profile. The hard cut of his jaw, the straight bridge of his nose, thin lips pressed together in concentration, long lashes throwing a faint crescent of shadow beneath his eyes, and veiling whatever lay in those dark, fathomless depths.

Dora stood just behind him to one side, and her gaze drifted to him before she could stop it.

Watching him stir the pot with that quiet focus, it was hard to reconcile this silent, helpful man with the one who had torn through swarms of alien beasts in the training zone, wreathed in lightning and shadow like some war god come down from the sky.

Right now, he was just a guy helping her cook a simple meal. That softness, that unexpected domesticity radiating off him, crept into a corner of Dora’s chest and settled there uninvited.

The faded scar across his chest, which she had caught a glimpse of once, flashed through her mind.

So did those late nights when he took watch alone, sitting by the dying campfire with his face tilted toward the stars, his silhouette so still it ached to look at.

So did the way he fought, like he had nothing left to lose, like he meant to burn himself down along with everything in his

path.

All of those fragments were now layered over the quiet figure stirring soup in front of her, weaving into something contradictory, complicated, and impossible to look away from.

Clive seemed to sense her watching. He didn’t turn around, but the ladle slowed for half a beat, and his Adam’s apple dipped once.

What surfaced in his own mind was how fair she had been in distributing the crystal cores the day before.

How sharp and steady she was when she laid out a plan. How her eyes had turned mischievous and soft at the same time while she bathed Lioren, all of the easy warmth she showed Elmer without even trying.

With him, though, she always seemed to tread carefully.

He wanted to lean in, just enough to catch that faint sweetness she carried, the one that, for reasons he couldn’t name, made everything inside him go quiet.

“Salt.” Clive’s voice cut through the charged silence, low and a little rough.

Dora snapped back to reality and waved him off. “No, no salt. I already added the seasoning

Their eyes held for a beat too long.

Ability Upgrade –

Across the campsite, Lioren batted–a pebble back and forth with one lazy paw while his amber cat eyes tracked every move at the cooking station. His tail gave a single, irritated flick. ‘What a show–off, he thought, watching Clive.

On the other side of camp, Elrner poked his head out of the tent with half–closed eyes just in time to catch Clive stepping away from the stove and heading for the table.

His gaze drifted to Dora’s ears, which had gone faintly pink at the tips, and his light brown eyes narrowed to slits. ‘Laying on the charm the second I wasn’t looking, he thought. ‘Sneaky snake.’

But the moment the bold, unmistakable smell of instant pasta hit him, Elmer practically launched himself out of the tent. His face was lit up with barely contained excitement, a flush creeping across his cheeks. His light brown hair seemed to catch the morning light with extra shine, and his whole body radiated a buzzing, wide–awake energy.

He said, “Morning, Dora. Wow, that smells amazing. What is it?”

He leaned over the pot with wide, curious eyes, looking every bit like a puppy who’d just caught a whiff of a steak bone. Lioren heard the commotion and played it cool, pretending he’d just woken up as he sauntered over with that lazy, unbothered grace of his.

Overnight, his frame had filled out in a way that was impossible to miss.

The gaunt, bony look from before was gone, replaced by a sleek coat that caught the light and a stride that carried the effortless power only a big cat could pull off.

He hopped onto his designated crate, gave the bowl of golden, curly pasta a sidelong giance, and let his nose twitch twice. The tip of his tail flicked once, which was about as much enthusiasm as one could expect from him.

“Everybody’s up! Come eat breakfast.” Dora set four steaming bowls of instant pasta on the table, and the rich smell filled the room. “It’s called instant pasta. I dug up the recipe from an old cookbook, so give it a try.”

Everyone settled into their usual seats without a word.

Elmer took one bite, and his eyes went wide. “Oh man. This is good. Like, really different.” He shoveled another forkful into his mouth. “This is incredible.”

He practically inhaled the rest, slurping through the bowl at a pace that made his opinion crystal clear.

Clive ate with a measured calm, though his pace was anything but slow.

‘Hard to say how many more of these foods Dora can pull out of thin air,‘ he thought. ‘None of it belongs in the interstellar world, but every bite is loaded with crystal energy. The woman just keeps getting more mysterious.’

Lioren pawed at the pasta in his bowl, taking small, deliberate bites while wearing an expression that suggested he was merely gracing everyone with his willingness to sample thé meal.

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