Leo told Daddy to say a few less words; although he had listened to Papa nagging for all these years, they had still lived together for half a lifetime.
Raison happily replied that, in the end, it was he who had wronged Asa; ever since becoming the tribe leader, the time he spent with his mate had decreased.
Seeing their harmonious family scene, Rowan sped up his eating.
After finishing the meal and sitting to listen to their small talk for a while, he excused himself to go back to the cave to rest first.
Seeing that the sky outside had turned dark, Asa told Leo to take him home, and Rowan had to agree.
On the way back, the two didn't say a word to each other.
Luckily it was close by, otherwise Rowan would have felt the atmosphere was somewhat strange, not as comfortable as when he was with Owen.
Leo watched the Omegina return to the cave, feeling something wasn't quite right. The moment Rowan opened the door, Leo seemed to smell the scent of a beastman.
But how could there be a beastman at Rowan's place? It must be that his nose was cold and no longer sensitive.
"Why does that beastman keep clinging to you? Stay away from him in the future." Owen, seeing it was that guy bringing the Omegina home again, couldn't help but speak up, looking at the Omegina with gloomy eyes.
He was the one who had snatched Rowan away, and this made Owen hold a grudge.
"Don't mind him, Asa asked him to take me home." Rowan comfortably leaned back on the stone bed.
"Oh right, how is your wound recovering?"
"It's almost healed, when are we going back?" Owen replied.
Rowan sat up: "Turn back into your original form, let me see."
Owen complied, and Rowan stepped back to make room for him.
The snake body filled the cave again; Rowan felt like he was raising a giant pet. He went down to check the recovery status of Owen's wounds.
The wings were undamaged; a few missing scales that hadn't grown back yet weren't a big problem. However, the recovery of the wound on the tail wasn't very optimistic.
Well, he would have to endure it these days. Rowan gently touched Owen's tail; Owen wanted to pull away but was held back.
Rowan turned to get the stone knife, heated it over the fire until it was very hot, waited for the knife to cool down a bit, then cut open the festering part of the tail to squeeze out all the pus.
He applied medicine and used beast skin to bandage it for Owen.
Owen tried to restrain himself, not resisting the Omegina. A snake's tail is a sensitive area with many nerve endings, so recovery is relatively slower.
"For the next few days, try not to move around randomly like before. Wait until the wound is fully healed, then we will go back." Rowan said.
Owen lowered his head in disappointment, his hatred for Leo constantly increasing, almost angry enough to lose sleep.
The next day, Leo woke up feeling like his body was falling apart. He lifted his beast skin shirt to check; several bruises had gathered on his chest.
He walked unsteadily too. What was going on?
When did he get injured? Clearly, he was fine yesterday. In the tribe, no one could injure him without making a sound.
A bad premonition rose in his heart, and he ran out to Rowan's place to check.
Leo stood outside Rowan's cave calling loudly. Not long after, he heard the Omegina's voice.
The door opened a crack, and Leo immediately squeezed inside.
"What are you doing? Coming to my place so early in the morning for what?" Rowan leaned his body to block him; a black shadow flashed past.
Leo withdrew his gaze from looking around: "Just came to check. I was worried a beastman might have snuck in, it's not safe. Yesterday I smelled a beastman's scent here."
"A beastman couldn't sneak in here. If there was anything unusual, I would certainly have discovered it. Did you smell it wrong?" Rowan denied it vehemently.
Leo walked past the Omegina, going inside to probe: "Still, better to check for safety."
"Then go ahead and look." Rowan followed behind him.
"Why did you cook so much meat? Can you eat it all by yourself?" Leo asked, puzzled, looking at the stone pot filled with beast meat.
Normally, an Omegina's appetite was very small; Asa ate even more than him.
Rowan calmly took a plate of dried vegetables and poured it in: "I received too much beast meat from the tribe. I can't eat it all, so I planned to cook it and freeze it, it's easier to preserve."
"Do you want to eat here?"
"Wait a moment, let me look around first." Leo clearly smelled a beastman's scent, but after searching everywhere and seeing no one, he looked toward the stone bed where the scent was stronger.
Rowan secretly gritted his teeth; why was this feline's nose so sensitive?
He forcefully pulled Leo down to sit by the stone pot: "Don't busy yourself in vain, eat first, or it will get cold. Besides, I'm the only one here, haven't you seen that already?"
"This... alright." Leo felt a sharp pain in his chest when Rowan pulled him. Could his sense of smell really be having problems?
"The smell you detected might be the smell of beast meat I haven't processed thoroughly. Does it smell fishy?" Rowan saw he was still not reassured.
Leo carefully sniffed for a while; indeed, the fishy smell of beast meat was stronger.
Carrying a belly full of questions, he ate breakfast at Rowan's place. He ate happily in his heart; this was the first time he had eaten so closely with the Omegina.
Gradually, he seemed to forget the purpose of coming here, leaving with a burp as he walked back.
Just as Leo left Rowan's line of sight, his footsteps suddenly paused. He turned his head to look deeply into Rowan's cave.
Rowan waited until Leo walked far away before locking the door tight. Owen flipped down from above where the smoked meat was hanging.
"That was my breakfast, why did you let him eat it?" Owen said angrily. He had been up there watching helplessly as Leo ate all the meat, and even smiled at the Omegina.
Owen regretted going easy on him; he should have beaten him until he couldn't get up.
Rowan saw he was in the wrong, so he roasted some smoked meat to coax this hungry beast: "Didn't you see I was distracting him? I'll roast something else to line your stomach."
Rowan used the charcoal in the stone pot to roast the smoked meat, slowly turning it over: "Do you guys, beastmen, all have a smell? Can other beastmen smell it?"
"A little. If one doesn't pay close attention, usually no one notices." Owen turned his resentment into appetite, using a stone knife to slash a few lines on the smoked meat vigorously, sprinkling more spices to let them soak in.
Normal beastmen wouldn't deliberately go around sniffing other beastmen's scents; no one was that perverted. They would rather smell the soft fragrance of an Omegina.
Leo, preparing to lead the beastmen to hunt, let out a loud sneeze.
Rowan suddenly leaned close to Owen's neck and sniffed carefully. He didn't smell anything special, just the characteristic cold scent of a cold-blooded animal, carrying a bit of the wild breath of a Beastman.
For an Alpha, the scent near the gland is the strongest, yet he couldn't sense much. Did Leo's nose have a detector attached?
The moment the Omegina leaned close, Owen's whole body stiffened, his mind went blank, and even his breathing stopped.
Rowan retreated to a safe distance and continued flipping the roasted meat: "I don't smell anything, but you should also pay a little attention. He is definitely suspicious; be careful these days."
"Okay..." Owen lowered his head and pressed his hand to his chest, looking shyly at the roasted meat. His heart beat fast as if it wanted to jump out, as if it were placed on burning charcoal.
After breakfast, Rowan went out as usual to receive the hunted beast meat.
Rowan avoided the crowd, and while no one was paying attention, quietly snuck towards the back mountain.
After wandering a few rounds in the back mountain, those small animals hid as soon as they heard a sound; the old method was no longer effective on them.
Rowan had to go deeper to see, leaving the usual hunting range.
A "crack" sound; the snow weighed down a tree branch.
Rowan looked up vigilantly; it turned out the accumulated snow was too heavy and broke the branch.
Rowan found a relatively spacious place, cut the throat of the prey in his hand, letting fresh blood flow out.
Throwing the prey in a conspicuous spot, Rowan found a large tree to hide in, quietly waiting for prey to take the bait.
After waiting for a while, a few small animals that liked to eat meat smelled the scent and came, only to be strangled by Rowan one by one.