Marking

It's official.

I hate traveling through the jungle. Between the bugs and this damn humidity making my hair go fuzzy, if not for my hairbrush and braids, I was close to vowing never to set foot in a jungle again.

Ahi's cold body was the only reason I wasn't sweating buckets everyday. And honestly, if it weren't for the fact others may see me, I would have probably lost the clothes and wrapped my naked body around him just to keep cool.

Of course, Ahi had been the only living creature I'd seen these past few days, except for all the plant life, but I knew there were others hanging around.

They were just very quiet, Ahi's presence likely scaring them into hiding.

It made things much easier travel wise and according to Ahi's estimates, we'd reach the village outskirts by tomorrow. I couldn't be more thankful for that.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy hiking and camping in the wilderness. However, this whole jungle thing was more of a game of survive against the predators than a relaxing time in nature. Not exactly my idea of a fun hiking trip.

Of course, it could just be the weather getting to me and I needed a more moderate climate.

Ahi suddenly came to a stop and set me down on a rock a few meters away from the river. He then moved back and held out a hand. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on. 

"Here." I said as I handed him my water bottle.

He nodded his head in thanks before slithering off to the river. I sighed, setting down my bag, as I wondered to myself why I thought telling Ahi about bacteria was a good idea.

If only I hadn't spoken about the filter in my water bottle, I wouldn't have been banned from going near the river. But my big mouth had to make bacteria sound so bad that Ahi wouldn't let me near river water.

He was even boiling water so I could bathe which meant I was stuck with sponge baths until we reached the village. I was seriously not built for long-term life in the stone age.

I flapped the front of my t-shirt back and forth, trying to dispel the heat, as Ahi took his sweet time carefully filling the bottle with some fancy left bowl thing used to normally hold water.

I don't know what kind of plant it was, but it's definitely some cheat code for this world.

"Gosh this damn heat…" I muttered to myself, wondering if I should lose the shirt.

I was wearing a sports bra underneath so it would look like I'm wearing a gym outfit with my leggings. And it wouldn't look so weird because females here wore tube tops if my beastworld knowledge was correct.

The only thing was I'd need to put a lot of sunscreen on, which was the other reason I stayed so covered. I only had one bottle and wasn't sure what I was going to do when it finished. I get sunburned quite easily, which is why I was being so careful.

But maybe it was the heat getting to me, but I decided to lose the shirt. If I got sunburned, I could always just use that boiled cabbage method.

With that in mind, I dug into my bag to find my sunscreen. I placed it on the rock next to me and removed my shirt just as Ahi was making his way back to me.

"Your water…" Ahi murmured as I was about to stuff my t-shirt in my bag.

I noticed a slight blush on his pale face, but decided to ignore it and instead took the bottle from him. If we were going to end up together, he'd have to get used to seeing me like this. 

"Thanks… By the way, can you help me put some sunscreen on my back?" I asked instead, ignoring the gutter my mind had ventured to for a moment.

"S-sure." Ahi nodded.

"Thanks." I smiled, putting down the water bottle before I handed him the sunscreen.

He placed some of the sunscreen in his hands, having seen me do this everyday, while I turned around and pulled my hair over my shoulder. 

However, nothing happened for a few minutes, making me confused. I turned my head to the side, seeing Ahi was staring at my back with a shocked expression. 

"Is something the matter?" I asked, wondering what was going on. 

Did I have some on my back? Fudge balls, don't tell me there's a bug on me?! If there is a spider on my back, I swear I'm gonna burn this damn jungle to the ground…

Ahi snapped out of his daze and blurted out, "You have a m-marking…"

A marking? What the hell was he going on about? I'd never mated with a beastman-

Then it hit me.

My dragon tattoo. I had gotten it on my 21st birthday after joking with my father that we should get matching tattoos. He had taken it seriously, despite his dislike for them, and had the tattoo be my birthday present.

I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about such an important thing! No wonder Ahi was the way he was. It probably looked like one of those mate marks. 

How was I going to explain this?

— — — 

Ahi gazed at the black dragon marking on Elisa's right shoulder blade, a sense of sadness filling him. But more than sadness, anger at himself boiled through him. How could he have been so stupid to think such a beautiful female like Elisa wouldn't have mates?

And powerful ones too.

It was no wonder she didn't know about elemental beastmen. Why would she look at them when she had a dragon as a mate? They were mythical beastmen, the rarest and most powerful kind of beastmen.

Elisa clearly loved this beastmen too and trusted him greatly seeing as the marking was on her back. And the thought only fueled his rage.

How could this beastman leave Elisa in such a dangerous place filled with ferals? He should have kept her in one of the beast cities for her protection. He wasn't dead since the marking was there, but he should've come for Elisa by now.

Was this why Elisa was trying to get to the village? Had her mate abandoned her? No, that wasn't possible. Dragons weren't rootless beastmen…

A warm hand suddenly touched his arm, bringing Ahi out of his raging thoughts for a moment. He glanced down to find Elisa standing there, holding his arm.

"Don't hurt yourself like that." Elisa murmured softly, pulling his hand away to show he had dug his claws into his arm, drawing blood. "It's not a marking, I promise. I don't have any mates."

Ahi gazed at her confused. "Not a marking… But how?"

"I guess to put it simply, my tribe has this thing called tattoos where people have markings drawn on their body for different reasons." Elisa explained. "The dragon is a tattoo I got with my father… I even have another tattoo."

Elisa tugged at what she called leggings, pulling it down slightly to show another marking on her hip. However, this marking was a flower and was the same color as the dragon marking.

Ahi had never heard of tattoos, but Ahi had never heard of or seen a lot of things Elisa had. Perhaps this was one of them too and the thought brought a sense of relief in Ahi.

"If you don't believe me, I can swear to the Beast God I'm telling the truth." Elisa exclaimed, misunderstanding his silence.

"No, I believe you." Ahi gave her a small smile. "Just don't tell others about the tattoo. Having that marking will give you some protection."

Elisa gazed at him, surprised. "Really?! Dragons exist for real?"

"Yes… But I'll explain that another time." Ahi stated, remembering the task he was going to do beforehand. "Now turn around so I can put this cream on."

Elisa pouted for a moment, making her look cute, before sighing, "Fine, but you better answer my questions afterwards."