As night took over, the stars spread out across the sky in a stunning show. The burning heat at daytime quickly dropped, and beautiful fresh flowers covered the ground again.

Wearing black clothes, Ren sprinted through the open field, rushing past many flowers with a bunch of petals flying up behind him. The big shadow of his orca floated in the air, following him.

Kestrel sat on the orca’s back, flying under the star-filled sky. She constantly looked at Ren, who was running in front, noticing the petals breaking under his feet, watching how his back curved as he bent forward while running, and admiring the power and elegance in his body movements.

In storybooks, they often said that fairies were either nice or mean; in the same way, people often labeled betas as either good or bad betas: The good ones were naturally gentle, thoughtful, and nice, while the bad ones had many mean habits, like enjoying hurting beautiful princesses and being cruel and manipulative to others.

Kestrel thought to herself, feeling that maybe deep down she was a "bad beta". When Ren had willingly agreed to tie his hands, something hidden inside Kestrel came out. She wanted to be gentle with him, but at the same time had a strong desire to playfully annoy him. Simple touches weren’t enough; she wanted to leave her own unique marks on him.

Ren was a person who was good at controlling himself and being patient, but the more he held back, the more Kestrel wanted to see him let go. The quieter he was, the more she wished to hear sounds that he couldn’t hold back escaping from his mouth.

As a result, she got better at it, slowly allowing herself to be more relaxed.

Ren was running in front of the orca, staying close to her, but he never turned to look at her. Kestrel could even see the noticeable marks on his wrists.

He had a strong, controlled energy inside him. Running past the field of flowers, his moves were simply breathtaking. He looked remarkable, fascinating when fighting and magical in his run. Even the day before, in the dark corners of the underground cave, he had been extremely charming.

The intimacy happened the day before was their first time, and deep inside, Kestrel felt she shouldn’t have behaved like that. She questioned if her true self was somewhat like a wild animal, with sharp teeth and tangled tendrils, hiding a darkness that wanted full control.

She had bitten into his skin, tasting the drops of blood with her tongue, carefully observing his every reaction, seeing him as he became fully excited, shaking uncontrollably. Finally, his voice became scarily raspy, his eyes showed confusion as he kept saying things he normally wouldn’t say.

At that moment, she realized she should have stopped, but just like she couldn’t control her tendrils earlier, she found herself entirely unable to stop herself.

The wet sounds of Kestrel’s moving tendrils combined with his broken breaths, making everything get too wild.

Luckily, Kestrel was a beta, capable of understanding Ren’s true feelings every moment. She realized that what he was saying out loud didn’t really match what he actually wanted. She knew that, just like her, every bit of him was enjoying the pleasure.

To sum it up, it was all because of the heat cycle that came on so easily, leading them to these crazy moments.

Right now, both of them were totally happy, both physically and mentally. Even the strange stars and flower field of the Polluted Zone had turned into something beautiful to look at.

Kestrel felt like she had changed, experiencing a fresh tingling feeling, a connection with someone else, which helped her psychic incarnation grow and mature. The Kraken, usually hidden in confusion and never fully shown, was slowly emerging from the vast emptiness, moving with the waves, becoming clearer and stronger, with full and steady features.

The relationship between alphas and betas was often talked about as something magical and very beneficial for alphas. But based only on what Kestrel was experiencing, it was a happy and rewarding experience for both of them. She didn’t just enjoy physical happiness but also felt a spiritual satisfaction, an increase in psychic energy, giving her a peaceful and stable attitude as she looked towards what was coming next.

This time, they started their journey in the middle of the night and were moving quickly. Even though it was still very dark, they could already see the bright rocks on the roof of their shelter from a distance. But in the middle of the vast field of flowers, right before the roof that represented a temporary safe place, there was a huge and impressive corsair.

Mantidale was a weird yet pretty Polluted Zone, kind of like a theme park. There were big fields of flowers with huge rides, which still looked bright and colorful even after being burned by flames over and over.

The giant corsair was very colorful, decorated with bright lights, rocking gently under the stars, making squeaky noises. But at the very top, there was a half-hanging shell dangling upside down.

It looked a lot like the one they saw hanging from the Ferris wheel earlier, like a whole skin that had been shed by a huge creature. But this one looked more like a person, with human legs, dried and partly see-through, a whole shed skin swinging softly in the air.

From a distance, it looked like a massive human figure hanging upside down from a high place. Even though it had been under the hot sun all day, it still hung there, looking quite creepy.

They wondered if there might be a huge, annoying mutant sleeping underneath the ground.

Just like before, Ren and Kestrel didn’t hear any noises or feel any emotions nearby.

The flowers there were blooming everywhere, and the pretty corsair was moving back and forth gently.

However, it was not clear what kind of dangerous things were hidden under the flower field.

Ren and Kestrel stopped walking for a bit, looking around before they opened up the map they were holding.

To stick to their original plan, they would have to go past where the corsair was. But to stay away from any dangerous conflicts, they would need to choose a different path.

Even though they had enough time to go around, detouring meant they wouldn’t be able to meet up with Nicole and her team anymore.

From where they were, it didn’t look like there had been any fights in that spot, which probably meant that Nicole and her team went around it, though it was hard to tell how they avoided it.

Ren and Kestrel looked at each other. This was the first time they really looked at each other since they came out of the underground cave, their looks briefly meeting before separating.

Ren felt like a tiny jolt of electricity went through him, making his skin feel all tingly. He quickly looked away, showing a place on the map with his finger. "I think I’d go this way if I were them. Since they have someone experienced like Raymond with them, they probably chose this path," he said.

"It seems like we have to take a chance," Kestrel agreed.

So, they chose to skip the shelter that was closer and go to one that was further away.