The Beta Dominates Alphas

Chapter 88: Meeting in A Wild World (1)

Seeing Ren running toward her, Kestrel felt a wave of excitement from her tendrils together.

"Ah, the fish."

"It’s Little Fish!"

"Yeah!"

"Wow, wow."

"He’s running, too."

"He’s cute."

"I’m so excited."

"I want to touch him."

Ren ran so fast that Kestrel thought he might rush over and hug her tight. But, at the last moment, he stopped at a polite distance. Standing there, he looked at Kestrel for a while, then reached out and lightly touched the bandage on her hurt face.

"How did you get hurt?" he asked. His voice was rough and scratchy, very unlike his usual soft tone.

His touch was very gentle. It felt like a thin leaf on a branch had brushed over her face, making Kestrel feel a tickle.

Ren’s bare hand, which had touched Kestrel, was covered with dried blood scabs and deep injuries, much worse than the scratch on Kestrel’s face. But his look, fixed on Kestrel, was full of sadness. It seemed as if he had never seen blood before, and even a minor wound could upset him.

Seeing someone familiar in such a dangerous place made Kestrel feel unexpectedly happy. Even though she usually didn’t talk much, she now felt like chatting more than usual.

The two of them found shelter in an empty house, sharing what they had seen and learned since coming into the area.

During the "day", all the lights and sounds in the houses along the street disappeared, making them look like abandoned buildings, making it safer to hide inside them than on the street.

The light inside the house was dim. The half-closed blinds let in a bit of daylight from outside, creating crisscross shadows on the table by the window. A faint fog hung outside, and the world was very quiet, like a chilly morning.

The two of them sat at the table by the window. Ren found two cups, cleaned them, boiled water in the kitchen, and made some tea he had brought with him. He also took out several sweets from his pocket, and put them all in front of Kestrel.

The scene here was plain, two people in chaos, their bodies covered in injuries and blood.

Kestrel held a cup of hot tea, with only a few scattered pieces of candy in front of her. She needed to stay sharp, as scary threats sometimes roamed by downstairs, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the get-together at her family’s home a few days ago. She couldn’t help but daydream, if Ren had been at that gathering, it might have felt like this—sitting together, talking, very relaxing.

She revealed her psychic incarnation for Ren to see, showing him the one that had been cut.

The normally soft smile on Ren’s face, as he held his tea, stopped when he saw the tenderil’s wound. His stare was locked on the tendril, a look that made Kestrel feel sad, as if she didn’t just lose a tendril but had a deadly injury.

"It’s okay. It will grow back," she said, explaining a bit about psychic incarnations, even though, as a seasoned Alpha, Ren must have known.

A serious injury could make the psychic incarnation vanish, impacting the life of the owner, but regular wounds would heal slowly over time.

The tendril that liked Ren the most whimpered and for the first time, didn’t hurry to get on to him. It seemed to feel that its cut-off side was ugly, so it didn’t want itself to be seen, and thus sulking and pulling back.

Ren raised his hand—now healed and back in his black glove—as if wanting to touch the tendril, but after some hesitation, he didn’t. Instead, he quietly released his orca. The tiny orca hovered in mid-air, lying calmly next to Kestrel’s knee. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

Kestrel sensed Ren’s genuine restraint. She didn’t know why this alpha would feel so conflicted, since she didn’t mind him touching her tendrils.

Anyway, as soon as she saw the orca, Kestrel brightened, her fingers gently stroking its completely black back. The feeling was soft, wet, slippery, and springy, so nice that she wanted to bite her lip. freewebnσvel.cøm

The little orca stayed still under her touch, letting out a soft cry. Kestrel felt a warmth in her heart. Not long ago, she felt her humanity was slipping away after being in this strange, cold world for too long. However, in this moment, under the cover of a frosty morning, holding a cup of hot tea, with candy and a familiar orca next to her—even in the Polluted Zone—Kestrel felt human again.

Her hurt tendrils had no hesitation, climbing up the orca’s tail with squeals and cries. The tendril that lost a large part struggled, its leftover suckers working hard to make him wriggle and climb onto the fish it loved so much.

It had been hurt and felt upset, whimpering all the way. It curled, twisted, dug, and rubbed in every way it could. The orca closed its eyes, tolerating its whims, even flipping over in mid-air to show its white belly, only occasionally letting out a low whale song.

The psychic incarnations went off to play in a corner. Ren turned his face a little, his eyes falling on the street outside the closed window.

Kestrel noticed the long line of blood on his ear and neck. He must have gone through a long battle. His ears, the corners of his mouth, his hair, all were covered with blood that hadn’t been fully cleaned. Half his body looked as if soaked in blood, his right hand hadn’t been lifted.

"Was it a psychic attack?" Kestrel asked him.

Ren glanced at her, nodding. He took a sip of his warm tea, restoring a bit of warmth to his body.

In last night’s fight, he endured a severe psychic attack. His mind still felt like it was being poked and stirred by a red-hot iron nail, causing waves of sharp pain - but that was okay now, he felt everything was getting better because he found the person he was looking for, who was safe and sound.

While the tendrils were playfully engaging with the orca, Ren was quite unsettled, unsure of what to do. Luckily, the blood stains on his face hid his emotions.

Once the tendrils touched the orca’s skin, Ren’s heart, which had been anxiously pounding, was finally able to relax.