My Beastly Fertility System Chapter 65: The Level 3 Stranger

Fiona clung to his arm, practically glowing with pride.

"This is my beast mate, Jeffrey! He's a Level 3 beastfolk—incredibly powerful!"

One of the females leaned toward her friend and whispered.

"How many beast mates does Fiona have now? It's got to be quite a few."

Her friend whispered back, "Including Gavin, that's six. This makes number seven."

Their voices weren't loud, but Jeffrey heard every word. His eyes narrowed, and displeasure flickered across his face as he glanced at Fiona.

A chill shot through Fiona. She scrambled to explain.

"Jeffrey is Level 3—obviously, he's my first mate! The rest are bumped down!"

She watched his expression from the corner of her eye the entire time.

Jeffrey seemed satisfied. His hand slid from the back of her head down to her spine in a slow, deliberate stroke, and sure enough, Fiona preened like a dog that had just been praised.

"Jeffrey, let me introduce you to my mother! She'll be so thrilled!"

Fiona grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the crowd.

As much as Jeffrey fed her vanity, the hungry looks the other females were giving him made her blood boil.

Jeffrey was hers.

They headed straight for Hazel's cave, but the chief wasn't home. One of her mates told them she'd gone to Claire's.

Fiona's eyes lit up. She pulled Jeffrey toward Claire's cave.

Hazel was standing in Claire's courtyard. Claire was leaning against the cave entrance, talking to her from a distance.

"Mom! I'm back! So this is where you were!"

Fiona called out.

The moment Hazel saw her beloved daughter alive and well, the weight on her chest finally lifted.

She rushed forward.

"Fiona! Where have you been? Do you know how many places I've searched these past two days?"

She'd just been negotiating with Claire, asking Zane to lead a hunting party outside the settlement to search for Fiona.

Claire had refused, citing the deadly blizzard.

Leaving the settlement during the cold season was suicide.

Now that Fiona was back in one piece, Hazel no longer needed to ask Claire for anything. Her voice gained several degrees of confidence.

Fiona soothed her mother first, then turned to Claire with a look of theatrical surprise.

"Oh! Claire, you're here too! I didn't even notice you. So sorry!"

Her smile was completely fake.

Claire's gaze drifted past Fiona to the unfamiliar male beastfolk approaching at a leisurely pace. Only then did she look at Fiona.

If you weren't going to use your eyes, you could at least donate them.

She didn't bother engaging with the clown.

Every instinct she had was screaming that the stranger was dangerous.

Fiona, getting no reaction, let venom flash through her eyes for a split second—then pulled the male forward.

"Mom, this is Jeffrey. He's my first mate from now on!"

Hazel froze when she saw the three beast marks on Jeffrey's face. This was her first time—in her entire long life—seeing a Level 3 beastfolk in the flesh.

The sheer aura rolling off him was enough to make her skin crawl.

She managed a nod, but unease churned in her gut. Could Fiona really handle a beastfolk like this?

Seeing Fiona's radiant, ecstatic face, Hazel swallowed her concerns.

Jeffrey's gaze, the instant he drew close, locked onto Claire.

She was leaning against the stone at the cave entrance, her snow-pale skin almost glowing against the winter backdrop. Her dark hair was pinned up loosely, and when her gaze drifted over him, it carried a cool detachment that brushed against his heart like a passing breeze.

Her figure was exquisite, with soft curves in all the right places. Not overfed and lumpy like Fiona, not bony and flat either. Petite, lush, perfect.

A beauty like this, in a backwater clan?

Jeffrey's idle interest sharpened into genuine fascination. Coming here had been the right call.

His smile deepened. His eyes stayed on Claire, and when he spoke, his voice was smooth as velvet.

"Beautiful female. I'm Jeffrey. Your name is Claire, isn't it? What a lovely name."

Fiona stared, speechless with fury.

Jeffrey barely gave her the time of day—and now he was being warm to Claire?

She'd brought him here to flaunt her Level 3 mate. Now, she was regretting it.

That shameless female!

Claire ignored Fiona entirely, studying Jeffrey with an appraising eye.

In human form, she couldn't tell what his beast shape was. But his overall impression screamed sinister—feminine, obsessive, deeply off-putting.

And beneath everything else, there was a faint metallic smell clinging to him. Like old blood.

"Mm."

Claire turned to Hazel.

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back in."

She moved back into her cave.

This Level 3 stranger's gaze had been glued to her the entire time—looking at her like she was something to be owned. She wanted away from him.

Fiona planted her hands on her hips.

"Claire, could you be any ruder? Don't you see? Jeffrey is a Level 3 beastfolk!"

Claire paused.

Level 3—the highest rank a beastfolk could achieve.

Advancing from Level 2 to Level 3 was extraordinarily difficult. Level 3 beastfolk were vanishingly rare, and many beastfolk went their entire lives without meeting one.