The Beast Lands

Found

Madison curled into a ball for hours. Daybreak found her with chills and feverish delusions, but still she slept unmoving despite the pain that wrecked her frame.

Madison's dreams bombarded her with images and emotions. Nothing made sense, but she felt suffocated in an emotional ocean without a life vest. She felt freezing one moment then burning the next. Her skin was melting, the flames consuming her from her chest and spreading out and down her arms, torso, legs, head. She even felt as if her hair was awash in flames.

The sweat soaked body was shivering with the external cold as her insides melted from the internal changes occuring.

The wild animals in the surroundings could smell the shifting winds and sought shelter from the human in the tree. Her scent smells different, and different was dangerous.

Kevin encountered several wild animals leaving the jungle, looking for shelter. His internal radar would not stop blaring inside his head. Something was scaring the animals, and that something could already be tracking Madison. He rushed his steps further, following the scent his mate left behind. He had already lost the chief's mates, her smell would guide him now that he was immersed in the jungle.

A wild panther was running above him, jumping through the branches. If this predator was running away...Kevin transformed into his scorpion and moved quickly through the jungle, his senses stronger. He could smell her better, like a trail of patchouli mixed with her mate's masculine aroma, but the smell was off. The lily was off.

Her scent was changing, he needed to find her before that happened, otherwise he may lose her forever.

He had never heard of a person's scent changing. They could mix once mated, but that was a bouquet-a rose would still smell like a rose. So, why was her soothing patchouli smell changing...to a seductive jasmine scent...the closer he moved to his mate, the stronger the scent of jasmine, but with an alluring flavor to it.

This smell was calling out to someone. He tried to move faster, to get to her before another beast did, but scorpions are not known for speed, but for their protective abilities. He began to panic at thoughts of another male finding his sweet mate before he could get to her.

Madison was struggling to wake up from her nightmares. She needed her mates, her body had been calling for them for hours, but they never came.

Abandoned.

Her body recognized the signs, even through her transformation.

When Kevin bit Madison, she was marked by all four mates, a feat never before done with any female on the planet. The four combined essences were causing her body to alter, to adapt as their essence flowed into hers. Much as her mates began to share their abilities with each other, she was going through a similar process, but females were not designed to house male aura's.

The feelings of depression and self imposed seclusion was actually the fluctuating pheromones and hormones her body was absorbing, made more painful by her banishment and her own actions of leaving her family. The influx of changes made her weak, if she had been near her mates they would have been able to sooth her rioting emotions.

Her pain and suffering was caused by her mind's reaction to the poisons flowing through her veins, and until she neutralized it and pierced her aura, her very soul, back together she would be in pain.

Her body needed her mates, it was calling to them.

When they didn't come, her body's natural defense took over. If her mates no longer wanted her, then she would call new ones-the beast man's presence was needed. Better if her original four mates came, but even a stranger could help ease her suffering and help her internal transformation.

Madison was encased in a painful cocoon, the fever and chills a reaction to her change. If her mates did not come soon, she would not wake up, but die in a fiery hell of torture.

Her body released more pheromones, stronger ones, seductively calling any single beastmen to her. Madison was not aware of the changes, she was in pain and wanted it to end. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please forgive me..."

Kevin felt his heart lurch, his mate was dying...or was dead. Her beautiful and soothing lily  smell was completely gone.

He fell to the ground, his hard black shell frozen on the jungle floor. He would go to her body and return with her to the earth. They did not have any children together, so he was not needed without her. He got back up and followed the old smell to the river, almost buried in the odors and debris of the jungle creatures, but still there. He was a void, a person without any emotions; a walking corpse in search of his mate.

He could smell his mate all over the ground, the rocks...she had been here, but not now. He transformed into his human body so he could look from her point of view. Kevin walked over to where her body laid to drink water. He spread out his body and mimicked her actions, staring into the flowing water. He drank water as she did, then he turned over to his back. His pain at losing his mate...

Above him was a house...a house...in a tree...

Kevin jumped up and ran over to the tree, not needing the grooves that Madison found, and climbed up within seconds. He found the hinged door, pushed it open and entered to find his mate.

Her legs were a mess, the dried blood and scabs most heavily between her thick thighs and stomach. Her face and arms were cut as well, more scabs there and on her neck.

Her chest was moving, she was not dead.

But her smell was gone. His beautiful mate was not the same.

He walked over to her sweating form, the beads over her forehead and her wet hair spread over the makeshift bed. Her body was calling out to a mate, and his heart shattered. How much pain must she have been in for her body to call out anew?

He grabbed her up into his arms, rocking her back and forth. He could finally feel his heart beating again, the pain of nearly losing her made him flinch and hold her tighter. Madison's  painful sobs ceased as he held her, her body finally relaxing as she sniffed into his body.  Kevin looked at her markings, the beautiful feather, the masculine tooth, the print from Taylor...and his...a scorpion stinger with flowers.

She carried his mark and he didn't even know. She had suffered for more than three days, and he didn't know. How could he protect his female if she refused him?

He cried into her body, wrapping her more into his grasp, laying on the bed that smelled faintly of lily and patchouli , but strongly of jasmine.

***

Taylor watched Kevin leave without looking back. He tried to mind link Amon and Kaden again, but heard nothing back. The girls were sleeping in his arms, their legs hanging down as they were so long, but still loved being wrapped up in their daddy's arms.

He looked over at the two beasts that smelled faintly of his mate. "Tell me what happened. I can't leave, the girls need me here, please tell me what happened with my mate." His pain filled look was hard to watch.

The beasts sat at the door and told about Madison's actions, how she drew the design for the washing machine and asked them to help her. Giving the completed machine to another female. Sleeping in an empty home. The intense smell of blood coming from her. The limping form. Refusing to eat. They told him everything they saw and smelled, and even their reactions and the villagers' reactions.

The more the beast men talked, the more Taylor hurt.

"When the chief was escorting her out, she mumbled 'It was just tea' so quietly, then got on the back of Rax and they took off running."

Taylor stilled. What did she mean it was just tea? Did he cause this? Did his actions cause his mate to leave him?

"Thank you for informing me" Taylor said as he got up and walked to the master bedroom, where he laid the sleeping girls down. He transformed into his jaguar form and stalked the bedroom, contemplating the events. She had only been home a few days when she left. Was something else going on?

***

Kaden walked into the village with the comatose female and her one remaining cub. The beastmen looked at him with anger and turned their backs. Their actions were odd, but not unexpected. It would appear that he harmed his mate and cub, so they were showing their displeasure. He looked for the chief, finding him was easy. The man was the only alpha in the village.

He explained the situation and how he found the female and her cubs, two dead in the jungle.

Since she did not have a mate smell and she was unconscious, Kaden was held, politely, but with command, until she could wake up and confirm that he was not the beast that injured her. She did not wake up for two days.

During that time Kaden worked on showing the villagers how to make running water in their homes. He did this so that time would rush quickly, he missed his mate and wanted to see her again. He just got her back and she was gone again.

"Chief, if the female does not wake soon, I will need to breach trust and go back to my village. My mate and daughter are waiting for me." The look of envy as he mentioned his daughter was noticeable from the females and males that did not have any females but a lot of male offspring. Females of course were a lot more common than a hundred years ago, but it was still a joyous occasion when a female child was born.

"I understand, and having a mate and child at home is where you belong. But this female has been hurt and her cub is on the verge of death. Please, be patient so we can find out what happened. One more day." He asked for and Kaden relented.

The same day she woke up Amon entered the village with her deceased cubs in hand. He was not welcomed by the villagers due to his demon race. Kaden ran to his side, anxious to know why he was there. "Is Madison well? Why are you here?"

Amon looked at Kaden with defeat, he had banked on finding his mate with Kaden, but that was not the case. "She is gone. We thought, when you didn't return and she didn't return, that you were together. But, it had been several days and I couldn't wait any longer, I needed to know she was well." Amon's body shuddered with repressed fear and heartsickness.

The chief watched the two beast men with the same smells and understood that they shared a mate...often. He had heard of essences mixing if a female mated with more than one at a time, and now he was convinced that the story was true. They smelled identical.

***

Madison's body was not melting anymore. She could feel the breath leave her lungs without the feeling of ice cold flames entering and leaving. The self deprecating thoughts were gone, in its place was security and power. She felt renewed both body and mind. Her eyes opened to see the dark sepia toned chest of her mate, "Kevin" she said kissing his chest and neck, then his mouth. She felt his tongue enter her mouth, and his strength flowed into her. Hearing his mate call his name, Kevin tightened his hold more, kissing her soft lips with relief. 'Finally she is awake' he thought.

'That was new,' Madison paused to feel his...power flow into her body...she was different, she could feel it on a subconscious level.

She could smell his body more than she ever could before, and her own body. She pulled away from the kiss, "Let's go swim and clean off this sweat before going home."