Surrounded by Five Beast Lords novel Chapter 44

Chapter 44 Starco from the Sky

Chapter 44 Stareein From The Sky

Elmer’s voice shot up an octave. His light brown eyes went perfectly round, and a mix of shock and something close to alarm crossed his face.

“He sent you money? The guy’s been off the grid for years, and he just shows up out of nowhere?”

He’d heard Vivienne mention Lucian once, back when both families were setting up the engagement between Dora and Cassian.

Clive had been assembling the housing module nearby. His hands stified at the name, and he glanced over. ‘Lucian? The First Commander?‘ he thought.

Even Lioren, who’d been lounging in the sun by the module entrance, pricked his ears straight up. His amber cat–eyes shifted to Dora, sharpening with quiet scrutiny. ‘That Lucian? The one from High Command?‘ he wondered.

Dora snapped back to the present. Elmer was staring at her, eyes wide with shock and something close to suspicion, and she could feel two other gazes drilling into her with unmistakable intensity.

Part of her wanted to laugh. The rest of her just felt a headache coming on.

She set the Optical Brain checklist aside and stood up, keeping her voice light. “Alright, that covers part of the funding problem. Now we focus on building our new home.”

She paused for a beat, letting three very different stares land on her at once. “As for Lucian,” she said, meeting each of them with an easy grin, “I still need a beast mate, don’t I?”

Clive, set down his wrench and got to his feet. He dusted off his hands out of habit, though they were already clean, and walked over to her with the same unhurried calm he carried into everything.

His eyes dropped to the budget sheet on her Optical Brain. “How much are we still short?”

Dora turned toward him. His profile was sharp and brooding, and she caught herself staring a beat too long. “About a hundred thousand starcoin.”

He pulled up his own Optical Brain. His long fingers moved across the holographic display in a few quick taps.

A notification chimed on Dora’s Optical Brain almost instantly.

[Account *-7349 (Dora) transfer received 100,000.00 starcoin

[Sender: Clive Blackthorne]

[Note: Household expenses.]

Dora blinked at the screen.

Her balance had jumped from just over a hundred and forty thousand to well past two hundred and forty thousand in the span of a single breath.

She looked up at Clive, who stood there looking about as worked up as if he’d just handed her a stick of gum. Something about a man who dropped a hundred grand on “household expenses” without flinching was devastatingly attractive.

‘A hundred thousand starcoin, just like that. Is he really that loaded?‘ she wondered.

r

Clive met her startled gaze. His eyes were unreadable. “Get whatever you need.”

His glance drifted, almost casually, to Lucian’s transfer record still glowing on her Optical Brain screen.

He turned back toward the construction site before she could respond, but within minutes, a string of shipping confirmations started rolling in.

He’d ordered a top–of–the–line smart climate–control system, a whisper–quiet water–recycling purifier, a full smart kitchen suite, and even a residential treatment pod.

Dora watched another hundred thousand starcoin appear in her account alongside the growing stack of delivery receipts for high–end appliances.

She let out a low whistle. “Someone’s staking his claim as the alpha beast mate of the household.”

**

A compact cargo drone touched down at the edge of the homestead less than half an hour later and unloaded several tightly packed crates.

The construction bots she’d rented arrived with the same shipment.

Dora stood off to the side, watching the robots work.

Chapter 44 Starcor From the sky

Their mechanical arms hoisted heavy composite panels that would’ve taken two or three grown men to budge, slotting cach piece into its groove with pifipoint accuracy before the built–in welders locked everything into place within seconds She let out a quiet breath. “These robots are incredible.”

Elmer had been helping nearby, and his ears shot straight up.

He glanced at the busy robots, then back at Dora. A hint of wonder softened her profile, and a gleam sparked behind his light–brown eyes.

‘Dora likes smart robots?‘ he thought, filing the detail away instantry.

“We could use a butler–bot at home,” he muttered under his breath. “I’ll get one for Dora. She’d love that. Yeah. Perfect wedding gift.”

Lioren was crouched in a patch of shade, looking every bit the lazy supervisor as he watched the robots work. He’d caught all of it, though, from Dora’s quiet remark to the way Elmer’s eyes had lit up the second she said it.

His cat–eyes narrowed to slits. ‘These males and their sad, obvious little tricks to impress a female he thought with a silent scoff. A prickle of irritation crept in right behind it, threaded with something uncomfortably close to urgency.

He was already thinking about what he’d give Dora once he shifted back into his true form and stood before her as Lioren.

‘I’m going to outdo all three of them,’ he thought.

He frowned. ‘Dora’s really about to take a fourth beast mate this fast? And this one could be the First Commander of the military. I need to move, or I’ll lose my spot as her second beast mate. Maybe even drop to third.’

He’d be second. That was non–negotiable. Ahead of Elmer, no question.

The robots handled the main framework and heavy lifting, but the finer work fell to Clive and Elmer. Internal fittings, component adjustments, and smart–device installations all needed a hands–on touch that machines couldn’t manage.

Clive stood beside a composite metal wall panel that needed to go up.

He bent low, braced his arms, and powered it off the ground in one clean motion. Every muscle in his arms and shoulders bunched tight under his sweat–soaked shirt, deltoids and biceps standing out in sharp, carved relief.

His focus didn’t waver. Sweat and raw power radiated off him in waves, giving him an edge that ran equal parts cold steel and barely restrained aggression.

Dora was splitting her attention between her Optical Brain, where she’d been pulling up research and mapping out a plan, and the construction happening a few yards away.

She glanced up to check on the progress, and the sight that greeted her made her swallow hard.

‘Jesus, those muscle lines and that explosive power. Level 5 supernatural ability is no joke,’ she thought. ‘He’s hauling panels that heavy like they weigh nothing. How strong does a core have to be for that? And that waist…

Her gaze drifted lower, tracing the abdominal region where the strain had carved every contour into sharp relief. Even through his soaked tank top, one could make out a fortress of eight distinct abs, perfectly symmetrical and absolutely

textbook.

‘Wonder what they’d feel like under my hands,’ she thought, then caught herself mid–spiral. ‘Nope. Rein it in, Dora. What the hell are you doing right now.’

She yanked her gaze sideways and landed on Elmer instead.

Elmer was crouched on the ground, his head tilted back, and both arms raised overhead, locked in a precision weld.

The position stretched every muscle across his upper body to the point of full extension.

His arms carried long, fluid lines of lean, even muscle, and the effort had pulled his core tight enough that neat rows of abs showed faintly through the sweat–soaked gray fabric clinging to his torso.

Perspiration had darkened his cropped hair, and a few damp strands stuck to his smooth forehead and flushed cheeks.

He had his lips pressed together in focus, his eyes fixed on the joint with an intensity that gave off the kind of raw, unpolished magnetism only a college–aged guy could pull off.

What surprised her was how much Mr. Sunshine had been hiding under those clothes.

His muscle definition ran clean and sculpted, his skin carried a healthy bronze warmth, and sweat shimmered across every ridge and contour.

Males in the interstellar world had truly hit the genetic jackpot when it came to raw physical build.

‘So does this count as feasting my eyes on the premium selection?‘ Dora thought, then caught herself. ‘Oh, wait. I haven’s actually feasted on anything yet.‘

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