What Rowan didn't know was that that night, Owen didn't sleep at all but ran out to hunt all night long.
According to Owen's beliefs, if they hadn't become mates under the witness of the Beast God, they weren't qualified to sleep together; this was also a lack of respect towards the Omegina.
"My wounds need the beast form to recover, otherwise they will be very hard to heal." Actually, as soon as he said it, Owen regretted it.
He recalled the first day; the Omegina seemed completely unable to accept him sleeping in the cave in beast form, so before this, he had always kept his human form and slept on the floor.
Rowan was confused. Was this the self-healing method of beastmen?
"You guys... do you beastmen all heal injuries like that?"
Owen could only brace himself and reply: "That's right, we all recover like that."
"Alright, then just rest like that." Rowan had started to get used to Owen's beast form, so hearing him say that, he didn't object.
Seeing he didn't refuse, Owen felt reassured enough to transform into his beast form.
In an instant, the pitch-black snake body almost filled the entire cave; even the air seemed to become thinner.
Rowan was pressed straight against the stone bed, finally having a full realization of Owen's size.
Owen aggrievedly wiggled his body to adjust to a comfortable position. This cave was truly small, only suitable for the Snow Leopard tribe beastmen.
Rowan looked at the pitch-black mass filling the cave, feeling as if the whole cave had darkened; only Owen's eyes flashed with the characteristic golden light of a beast.
"Bear with it for a few days, wait until you are healthy again, then we will return."
Hearing that, Owen nodded happily, wishing he could immediately fly the Omegina away.
Rowan felt sleepiness wash over him, so he peacefully sank into sleep.
Owen listened to the Omegina's steady breathing, quietly coiled around the stone bed, steadily guarding by his side, and drifted into a sweet dream.
That night, Owen slept incredibly peacefully, as if wanting to make up for all the lack of sleep from before.
Rowan woke up according to his usual biological clock, but was forced to be stuck on the bed.
There was absolutely no place for him to put his feet down. He didn't want to wake Owen, who rarely woke up later than him; it seemed he had been very tired lately.
When Owen woke up, Rowan's patience had also reached its limit; if he didn't wake up soon, Rowan would have to check if he had fainted.
Owen comfortably turned back into human form, his eyes still drowsy.
Rowan hurriedly stood up, exercising his body which had become stiff from lying down.
"How do you feel?" He saw Owen's condition was much better than yesterday.
"Recovering quite well, don't worry, a beastman's body isn't that fragile." Owen sobered up from his drowsiness.
"Then for the next few days, just stay put in the cave, don't go anywhere," Rowan instructed.
If discovered by the Snow Leopard tribe beastmen, they would face endless trouble.
Owen rarely obediently listened to the Omegina's arrangement. He wasn't afraid of the Snow Leopard tribe's challenge, but he had to protect the Omegina's safety.
That reckless experience had taught Owen a deep lesson. As long as he could be with the Omegina, he had nothing to complain about.
After settling Owen, Rowan went out.
When going to receive the portion of prey for today, Rowan coincidentally met Yanan.
Yanan recognized Rowan at a glance and hurriedly walked fast to catch up with him: "Are you coming out to receive beast meat today? Why didn't Leo bring it over? Also, are you really not injured? Why did you suddenly want to stock up on healing medicine?"
"I told him not to bring it, it's too much trouble for him, and the healing medicine is just for precaution." Rowan actually didn't want to go receive it, but now with Owen added to the mix, it was different.
"Is that so? I still have a lot of medicine, if you need it, just ask me."
"Okay, thank you." Rowan didn't dare look directly into Yanan's clear eyes.
Seeing Yanan carrying something that looked heavy, Rowan helped him carry that portion back to the cave. After all, these prey were quite heavy; it was normal for an Omegina to be weak.
Yanan was very happy; this way he could stay with Rowan a bit longer to chat.
After taking Yanan home, Rowan excused himself and left, declining his invitation to eat together.
Rowan estimated the prey in his hand; this amount was surplus for him, but not enough for Owen's portion.
He thought for a moment then ran towards the mountain behind the tribe.
When Rowan returned with a full load of prey, Owen hurriedly came out to welcome him.
"Seems like this tribe treats Omeginas quite well," Owen said, looking at the pile of prey.
"Yeah, it's okay." Rowan didn't say much.
Just like that, two days passed. Owen felt very dissatisfied with the tribe's system.
Although the prey Rowan brought back every day was enough for two people to eat, the time he spent outside was getting longer day by day.
And these days, Owen suddenly had the feeling that he was being kept by the Omegina, only able to wait for Rowan to return to feed him, unable to go anywhere.
Asa noticed that lately, the state of his son, Leo, wasn't very good. He originally intended to let him speak up himself, but Leo didn't utter a word.
"What are you spacing out for while eating? Look at you frowning enough to squeeze a fly to death. I told you to come eat with me but you have that look on your face; did you encounter some difficulty you can't solve?" Asa took the initiative to ask.
Leo withdrew his gaze looking towards Rowan's cave, hurriedly shoveling a few pieces of meat: "Nothing. Oh right, has Rowan come over to eat with Papa lately?"
Asa saw his appearance; it didn't look like the tribe was facing any difficulties, so he must have encountered a setback with Rowan: "No. You brat, did you bully him? I haven't seen him come over to play for the last two days."
Compared to his son encountering a setback, he was more worried about Rowan being mistreated; that child truly made one's heart ache.
"I wouldn't dare. I also don't know why he won't let me bring meat over anymore," Leo said gloomily after being patted a few times by Asa.
"You don't know? I think it's because Elder Kain's youngest son, Arnold, has been clinging to you lately so you forgot everything else, even forgot my instruction to help look after the Omegina." Asa had actually long seen that Arnold had feelings for his son, and would be happy to see it happen.
It was just that this kid Leo wasn't enlightened; he kept saying he had regarded Arnold as a younger brother since childhood. Now that he was enlightened and liked Rowan, the other party didn't pay any attention to him.
Matters of young people should be left for them to solve themselves; he was old and shouldn't interfere too much.
Leo knew Arnold had been clinging to him very tightly lately. Clearly, he had already rejected him, and Arnold had also been cold to him for a period, yet he didn't understand why Arnold came to cling to him now. Perhaps he still wanted to treat him as a big brother and repair the relationship.
towards an Omegina, Leo couldn't just sternly say he wanted to cut ties, let alone Arnold being a younger brother he had taken care of since childhood.
"Arnold is just my younger brother, it's normal for him to like clinging to me. I must have annoyed Rowan. I'll go over there later to see and apologize properly." Leo quickly finished lunch, preparing to stand up and go to Rowan's place.
Asa pulled him back with one hand, stuffing some roasted meat into Leo's hand: "Let me go. You go bring some food to that old man who is so busy all day that his face can't be seen, otherwise he'll starve to death."
"I..."
"I what? He already doesn't want to see you, yet you still try to run over to bother him. Go quickly, let me go speak on your behalf." Asa sincerely viewed Rowan as his own child, but since he had already intended to refuse, he couldn't let Leo go bother him.
If Rowan got angry and didn't even want to visit this old man anymore, who would he complain to?
Leo had to take the roasted meat, dejectedly going to find Daddy: "Then Papa, remember to check for me if he's still angry at me."
"I know, get lost quickly, you stinky brat." Asa chased Leo out, then personally packed some dried meat to bring to Rowan.