Chapter 256 Mate Bonding

She had been so focused on tool safety and learning curves and construction timelines that she had forgotten one very basic, very critical fact about the beasts she was working with.

They were inhumanly strong.

The pink bamboo, with nearly twice the cellular density of standard bamboo, the material that had taken Tera a little bit of effort to cut even with the sharp blade, was parting under their hands like regular wood under a power saw.

Pink dust filled the air as they sawed through, and the males were emerging from the haze looking like they’d been rolled in rose-coloured flour, grinning with the manic satisfaction of creatures who had just discovered they were very, very good at something.

"TERA!" Ermin shouted from somewhere inside the pink fog. "I HAVE FINISHED MINE! ALL OF THEM!"

He’d cut twelve stalks to spec in less than two minutes.

Tera stood there, mouth slightly open, watching her careful hour timeline collapse into rubble.

This was wonderful!

The task would be completed much sooner!

{PervyGoddess says the males look very attractive covered in pink dust}

{BeastWorldAddict agrees but for wholesome reasons}

[( ’’?°ヮ°? )]

Tera laughed.

Her amusement aside, she decided to buy goggles for the males. It wasn’t safe for them to have the dust entering their eyes.

- ※ - ※ - ※ -

It was in the midst of the cutting fiesta that Calis had subtly gone to meet Xavi and Ermin to try to befriend them. For a wolf who didn’t understand the concept of having friends, he found himself a bit flustered, and not knowing what to say greatly embarrassed him.

Ermin and Xavi had been surprised and nearly felt sorry for Calis when the wolf leader swiftly excused himself to go mind his own business.

Since there was still time, Tera had given them a few more tools to strip some bamboo down into strips that would be used to bind the poles together.

Calis had been carrying out this task when Xavi appeared beside him.

This surprised the wolf leader.

"You’re gripping too high," Xavi said, nodding at the bamboo in Calis’s hands. "Move your hand down. It splits cleaner."

Calis blinked, adjusted his grip, and pulled. The bamboo split in a smooth, even line.

Xavi sat down beside him without being invited and picked up a stalk of his own.

Calis didn’t know what to do with this.

"These things are strange," Xavi said, examining the stalk in his hands. "I have never seen this type of plant before."

Calis nods. "Me too."

Xavi smiled fondly. "I can’t wait to see what Tera wants us to turn this into."

Calis’ mood brightened. If it was to talk about Tera, communicating with her other mates would be easier.

They had known her for longer, so they would be able to tell him more about her too.

A pause. Xavi split another stalk. Calis split his.

"Your wolves work hard." Xavi looked at the wolves chattering with the clan members and working away.

Calis glanced up, feeling a bit proud. "They are trying. Thank you."

Xavi laughed. "You should have seen us the first time Tera handed us one of her strange things. It was funny, and it took a while for us to get things done."

A gentle look settled over Calis’ face as he noticed his wolves hard at work.

Ermin tiptoed towards them at that very moment. He slightly pouted as he had seen Xavi and Calis chatting from afar and wondered what they were discussing and why he was kept out of the discussion.

He drifted closer by degrees. First to lean against a nearby tree. Then to pick up a bamboo stalk of his own, splitting it in silence a few paces from where Calis and Xavi sat. Then, eventually, he was close enough that the three of them were working in the same loose circle.

Both males looked at Ermin. Calis was surprised that he too had joined him, while Xavi was amused, especially since Ermin’s tail was swishing as if he hadn’t come here on purpose.

A comfortable silence settled over the three of them as they worked.

Eventually, Calis paused and looked up, his gaze landing on Tera.

Xavi and Ermin followed his eyes to see her too.

She was standing near the centre of the work site, hands on her hips, watching the other males pick and pull the bamboo apart. She was gently teaching a group of males how to weave and twist it into a sturdy rope.

She wasn’t correcting anyone. Neither was she shouting directions or rushing to fix someone’s mistakes.

She was smiling and seemed to be enjoying what she was doing.

Tera had always been happy when supervising, but she had been stressed. Her face had an oddly relaxed and calm look now, and it especially made Xavi and Ermin happy.

Ermin smiled. "She is not carrying everything by herself today."

Xavi nodded.

For the first time since the construction had started, Tera wasn’t running herself thin trying to manage every detail. The males were working, and she didn’t bother to focus on some groups since they were doing a good job.

A shared understanding passed between Ermin and Xavi. While Calis was glad to see Tera happy, he didn’t entirely understand why her first two mates looked like that.

It took him a few more seconds to understand a bit of it.

The first few times Tera had helped his pack, she had shouted a lot and had to correct many mistakes. Now there were fewer mistakes to correct, which made her relaxed.

It made him feel bad about how his wolves, especially the elders, had previously disturbed her.

Then Calis sat straight.

"From today, I think we should make the others do their work properly too, so they don’t disturb Tera so much."

Xavi and Ermin nodded.

"That is true," Xavi agreed.

Ermin flicked his tail. "Yes, let’s be checking in on the others so no one is waiting for her to fix anything."

From that point forward, every time a wolf hesitated or a clan member slacked, one of them was there before Tera could even notice. A firm hand on a shoulder, a quiet correction, a look that said "let’s figure it out" without bothering the female who was finally enjoying the process from the very beginning.