The Tough Girl and Her Beast King Lovers novel Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Moving In

Chapter 11 Moving In

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“Have you notified the shaman healer and the elders yet? Mr. Whitehead finding love can wait. Bringing back life-saving spirit stones is what really matters!”

“Right, right. Go get the shaman healer, now!”

After getting their fill of gossip, the patrolling beastmen finally remembered their duties.

Riding on the wolf’s back, Laurel couldn’t hear any of the whispers at all. She was like a country bumpkin visiting a grand estate for the first time, craning her neck to look at everything with wide-eyed curiosity.

The tribe was far more advanced than she’d imagined.

Tall wooden palisades ringed the perimeter, casting mottled shadows in the sunlight.

Thick logs, as wide as thighs, were set tightly together, their tops sharpened into spikes and coated with pine resin to repel wild beasts. Every hundred steps or so, a beastman warrior stood watch.

The streets were paved with blue-gray stone slabs, worn smooth by years of footsteps and gleaming softly with a warm sheen.

A squad of strong warriors patrolled along the road, bone knives and horn whistles at their waists clinking with crisp sounds.

The Fenfrost warrior leading them was named Danny Burgess.

When he spotted Sebastian, he stopped short, froze for a moment, then gave a slight nod. A smile flickered in his sharp eyes. After scanning the street corners once more to confirm all was clear, he continued on.

At the center of the tribe was an open square spanning hundreds of feet, with a raised platform built on a solid stone base.

Ancient Fenfrost totem patterns were carved into its surface. 12 totem pillars stood around it, each topped with a crouching stone wolf.

Beyond that, mountain ridges rose and fell in the distance. Several narrow stone paths wound upward like silver serpents.

Caves carved into the mountainside dotted the slopes along those paths, stacked three or four levels high.

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Chapter 11 Moving In

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Laurel laughed softly. It felt like she was looking at apartment buildings in the beast world.

“Do beastmen live on all those mountains?” she asked curiously.

Fenfrost nodded. “Yeah. We live on the mountain to the southeast.”

A river curved past the eastern side of the tribe, fruit trees lining both banks.

At this time of year, bright red fruit weighed down the branches. Every so often, an overripe one would drop into the water with a splash, startling schools of plump silver-scaled fish.

Several males were tanning hides on stone slabs downstream, their hearty laughter sending gray-feathered birds fluttering up from the riverbank.

What amazed Laurel most was the appearance of the beastmen themselves.

They were generally tall and powerfully built. Most of the males stood over six foot three, heavily muscled, with sharp, striking features.

The female beastfolk were over five foot nine, tall and athletic, their bold curves and sun- warmed skin giving them a wild, untamed beauty.

Laurel glanced down at herself and sighed inwardly. Compared to them, she was barely five foot four, pale, and lacking any eye-catching curves. She felt like a skinny little sprout lost among towering trees.

Sebastian’s mountain had three levels in total. Disliking crowds, he lived in the cave at the very

top corner.

The entrance was small, but once inside, the space opened up dramatically.

Laurel stared blankly at the bare cave and found it a little funny.

The massive, three-hundred-square-meter cave held nothing but a quiet stack of over a hundred hides in one corner.

And that was it.

So this was a bachelor’s home.

Sebastian set down the two hide bags and asked carefully, “Where would you like to stay?”

He looked a bit nervous. “If you want, we can dig a new cave next to mine. That way we’d be closer, and it’d be easier to look after you.”

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Chapter 11 Moving In

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After living so long in cramped concrete boxes, Laurel felt oddly uneasy standing in such a vast, empty space. She asked timidly, “Can I stay here with you? The cave is so big. My voice echoes, it’s dark, and there’s no door…

“And there are so many unfamiliar beastmen on this mountain. I’d be scared of sleeping alone at night.”

Afraid Sebastian might misunderstand, she quickly added in a small voice, “I can cook and clean. I’m small, I don’t eat much, and I don’t take up much space. I won’t get in your way.”

How could that be a bother? Sebastian was ecstatic inside.

Outwardly, he stayed calm and replied gently, “As long as you don’t mind.”

He spread a clean hide on the ground and said to the little female, “Laurel, rest here for now. There are red fruits and dried meat. Have some to tide you over.

“There’s a spring-fed pond behind the cave. It’s mine,” he said, pointing outside. “You can get water there. I need to step out for a bit, but I’ll be back before sunset.”

“Where are you going?” The moment she heard he was leaving, Laurel grew anxious, completely missing the fact that he’d quietly started calling her by name.

“I don’t want to be left alone in such a big, dark cave.”

“There’s an outbreak in the tribe. Many of the cubs are sick.” He patted the back of her hand reassuringly and said softly, “I went hunting feral beasts in Wildborn North this time to get green spirit stones to treat them.”

He poured all the spirit stones from his pouch onto the ground, sorting out the green ones one by one. “I have to take these to the shaman healer’s cave. Be good and wait for me, okay? I’ll roast meat for you tonight.”

Laurel stared at the pile of green stones on the ground. There were at least 50.

Wow. Sebastian had gone on a real killing spree in Wildborn North.

She helped him pack up the green stones.

Then she watched as he dug out another pouch from the pile of hides in the corner, along with dozens of colorful spirit stones scattered on the floor, and pushed them all toward her.

In a gentle voice, he said, “These are my spirit stones. Take them all. Trade them for whatever

you want.”

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12:01 Mon, Apr 6