CHAPTER 51: YOUNG LOVE

Serena watched from a distance along with the other beastwomen as Fay hid behind the oak tree with James. The young rabbit beastwoman confessed her feelings in hushed tones while they kept an eye out for others.

They were some distance away, so Serena couldn’t hear what exactly was being said. Which was fine by her. However, there was one thing she was curious about.

"Hey Wilma." Serena whispered at the other beastwoman, making Wilma shift towards her. "If James likes her why doesn’t he make his feelings clear?"

From what she remembered in the book and got from the original owner’s memories, beastwomen rarely initiated courtships unless they really wanted a beastman a lot.

Typically, it was the beastmen who proposed the courtship and the beastwoman who accepted or not. Which often led to them being mates. It made her curious as to why Fay was doing this and not James.

"He has." Wilma answered back in a low tone. "Well, more like shown his interest and was waiting for her to accept him or not... Beastmen here aren’t as pushy as some other clans. James would have waited forever for her, so she had to make the next move. Problem was her head. She doesn’t believe she’s good enough for anyone."

"And Macy taking interest in him didn’t help matters." Emma sighed, overhearing them talking. "Fay thought he was better off with someone else. We had to do something."

So that explained why they were awfully pushy about her talking to James, even if they were also overprotective of the youngest in their group. They were trying to show her the truth.

"It was getting a bit much." Ria added dryly. "She needs to learn to be more honest about her wants."

"Give her time, Ria." Grace joined in. "She’s not going to undo all that self-hatred in one night... We just have to push her onto the right path once in a while."

They suddenly heard a loud squeak and turned to find Fay running off into the village with her hands covering her face. James quickly followed after her until they disappeared into the night.

"Ah young love." Wilma murmured softly, placing a hand on her cheek. "I remember being so shy with my first mate too."

"You don’t think we should go after them..." Serena asked, a little concerned that they didn’t seem stressed about what they’d just seen.

Emma waved a hand. "They’ll be fine. Fay probably got overwhelmed knowing about James’ feelings. No point in running after them now. They’re best left alone."

"Unless you’d like to see how cubs are made." Ria joked, earning a light smack from Grace. She turned to the older beastwoman and murmured, "What? You know it’s going to happen eventually."

"I know..." Grace pursed her lips. "But does Fay even know... how to..."

"Don’t worry, I spoke to her already." Wilma answered calmly. "Told her everything she needs to know so it wouldn’t hurt. The males are no use talking to each other about these things. They believe giving each other tips will cause competition."

A collective eye roll went though the group and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were talking about. Sex. Serena, personally, wasn’t very experienced in it.

But the combination of her knowledge from reading in her past life, a handful of times Mark and her slept together and the original owner’s memories gave her enough information about the activity.

"Let’s just hope James is a quick learner." Wilma chuckled. "I did also have a word with him, so he also knows what he’s doing."

"No wonder he gets so jumpy around you." Grace muttered. "You must’ve shaken him with your words."

"Someone had to." Wilma shrugged. "I’m just looking out for Fay here."

"Fair enough." Grace sighed. She then glanced over at the party around them. "Anyway, I think we should start heading back... And maybe tell Matthew, he’s not going to get James back."

Wilma winced at those words. "Guess I’m going to need to find a replacement instead."

A bunch of footsteps pounded on the short, grassy floor as she spoke, making Serena turn her head to the side to see who was approaching them. She spotted a few rabbit cubs, Kiro and two adult beastmen walking over to them.

The younger beastman was holding a sleeping cub, maybe around three or four years old, with one arm, letting the cub rest on his shoulder while the older one was guiding the energetic cubs like a shepherd with sheep.

"Replacement for what?" The older beastman asked, overhearing Wilma’s words.

"For James. He’s meant to help serve food, but..." Wilma paused, glancing at the cubs running away. "Got busy with something else..."

Ria coughed to hide a laugh as Kiro ran over to Serena and introduced his new friends to her. She listened carefully to him, tuning out the conversation from the others.

That was until Wilma suddenly called out, "Serena, we’re going to go now. Matthew’s probably wondering where we are. Are you good heading back yourself or do you need help?"

"I’m good." Serena immediately answered.

Today’s events were enough for some time and she was glad to have a chance to get away. Once everyone said their goodbyes and Kiro promised to see his new friends tomorrow, the siblings headed back to the party alone in search of Theo.

They found him chilling on the outskirts with Rico and a few other rabbit beastmen, chatting about something. When the beastmen saw Serena and Kiro, they quickly said their goodbyes, giving them some time alone.

Once they were gone, Serena took a seat on a laid out fur and asked, "What were you guys chatting about?"

"Just Rico introducing me to some beastmen." Theo shrugged, settling down next to her. "And stuff about the garden... How about you? Meet anyone?"

He said the last part with a gleam in his eyes, knowing full well Serena wasn’t interested. She gave him a pointed look at his words.

She then sighed, "Not really. We were too busy dealing with another romance."

One she hoped to any and all the gods out there that it worked out after what she’d been through tonight.