Nick was intrigued after witnessing Oliver and Eli's reactions. He asked, "Is it that good?" Amber held out a bite for him to try. "Here, try it."
He took a bite and immediately regretted it! He had not eaten Spinach before and it tasted bitter in his mouth. He didn't want to waste the food that Amber made, so he swallowed it down without chewing and drank some water afterward.
He forced a smile and replied, "You should eat it all. It is good for you." Amber noticed his reaction and understood that cats don't like vegetables. She wondered if he would like cat nip.
She wanted to do some experiments next time she was in her world. Amber offered the others a bite, but they declined after seeing Nick's expression.
Blue Tang was the only one who might appreciate the salad, but he didn't want to take food away from Amber. She was pregnant and needed all the food she could get.
After a few hours, Amber checked the dough and found it had risen double its original size. All the beast men were in awe at how much it grew. They believed Amber when she said it was sort of alive.
Amber started to stretch and fold the dough into its shape. She cut it into two loaves. and used the flour on a clean stone surface to roll them into balls.
Amber asked Tyler to use his claw to cut and score the bread loves. She had Nick start a fire in the stone oven and had Oliver move the stone pots with the bread loaves into the oven.
She let them bake in the oven for about 20 minutes and checked the bread. It was hard to gauge the temperature, but the bread came out ok. It was not bad for her first attempt in the beast world.
Amber asked Nick to use some fur as an oven mitt to pull out the stone pots. She saw the bread was fully baked, so she let it cool before tasting it. "It will need to cool for at least an hour. We can cook the rest of the dinner in the meantime."
They made a feast with roasted meat, soup, and fruits for dessert. Amber started to think about all the recipes she wrote down for the sourdough starter.
Amber was excited to try sourdough pancakes the next morning. She read that the sourdough starter needs to be fed twice a day and each time the starter needs to be cut in half and discarded.
She wanted to make pizza for dinner tomorrow, but she didn't have any cheese. Maybe she could just use the dough, olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, basil, and oregano and make a bruschetta.
She was excited to try all the new recipes. It would make this year so much more enjoyable. She started to think about making a loaf of banana bread for Eli's birthday. He would love it!
She couldn't make a cake because she didn't have anything to make the frosting, but she could make other things like bread and muffins.
She would need to make a muffin tray. Maybe that could be a winter project. They needed activities to keep them entertained during the cold season.
Fred and Ray returned during dinner time. They were so happy to find out that Amber was pregnant! Ray was slightly jealous thinking it could have been his cub if he didn't blow it last time.
They were distracted when Amber offered them a piece of sourdough bread. They had never seen anything like it. They smelled it first. It smelled like the drink that monkey's made in trees only less sweet.
Fred asked, "Did Oliver make this in a tree?" Amber was confused, but Oliver responded, "It does smell similar to the drink we make in trees, but it is different. There are no fruits in this. It is called bread. Amber made it."
Amber was enlightened by Oliver's explanation. She remembered reading in her world about monkeys making wine in trees with fruit. She thought the bread did have yeast and that is what they were smelling.
Amber was curious and asked Oliver, "Do you have any of that drink that you make in a tree?" Oliver was happy to know that Amber was interested in him.
He responded, "Yes, I made some when you were gone. Let me go get some for you." Amber was going to tell him not to go, but he left too quickly.
She was curious about the monkey tree wine, but she wasn't sure if she could drink it during her pregnancy. She thought a sip or two would be fine. She wanted to taste it.
Oliver returned with a big stone bowl filled with murky-looking fruit wine. He gave Amber a cup filled with the fruit wine. Amber took it and was about to take a sip.
Nick stopped her and tasted it first to make sure it was safe. "He made this in a tree. Let me test it first." Amber gave him the cup. Nick took a big gulp and waited.
Oliver was quick to explain, "I have made this in my tribe for many years. It is safe even for pregnant women. Just don't drink more than one cup a day."
Nick didn't like the fruity taste, but it warmed his insides. He wasn't sure if it was safe for her to drink. He ordered the others to try it as well.
"Everyone, get a cup to try it and make sure it is safe for Amber to drink." They all got a cup and Oliver distributed the fruit wine to everyone.
Amber noticed the different reactions. Oliver seemed a little tipsy, but he was used to it so he didn't get drunk. Nick looked flushed. Blue Tang, Fred, Tom, and Tyler fell asleep quickly after drinking it.
Ray looked like he was ready to fight and tried to pick a fight with Nick. Nick knocked him out quickly. Barry started to dance. Eli wanted to try the drink, but Amber thought he was too young.
He kept trying, so she dipped a piece of fruit in the wine and let him taste it that way. He didn't like it as much as the fruit. He took the fruit and went to his room.
Amber sipped on her fruit wine with the fruit after dinner. She didn't drink much and had a low alcohol tolerance. The fruit wine was stronger than she thought.
She watched Barry dance and she thought of the dancing bears at the circus. She used to go to the circus with her mom and siblings when she was younger.
She remembered riding an elephant once when she was a little girl. She rode with her brother and it was fun being up high. She went up to Barry and started to dance with him.
She started to sing a little bit of I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston, as she felt tipsy.
"I wanna dance with somebody,
I wanna feel that heat with somebody,
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody,
With somebody who loves me."
Barry took this as her love confession and held her close to him. His brown eyes stared into hers and confessed, "Amber, I love you more than you will ever know. I have loved you since I met you and only love you more each day."
Amber was overwhelmed by his sudden confession and leaned closer to kiss him. Barry took the hint and leaned closer to capture her lips in a kiss.
He was so excited that Amber was finally accepting him. He picked her up and ran to his room. It was a long night!
Amber woke up the next morning hugging Barry with a new bear mate mark on her other shoulder. Amber was a little hungover and rolled over to try and get out of bed quietly.
She felt a large arm over her middle and turned to look into Barry's honey-brown eyes. "Good morning, Mate."
"Um, Good Morning, can you get me some tea? My head hurts." Amber was a little shy now that she remembered what happened last night.
She was a little tipsy and had mated with Barry. There were no one-night stands in the beast world. Once a beast man lost his virginity, he was mated for life.
He would never change his heart and would be faithful to his mate for the rest of his life. If the female decided she didn't want to be mated to him anymore, she could cut his mate mark.
If there were no feelings toward the mate, the mark would fade away and the beast man would die of heartbreak. Amber didn't want to abandon Barry or kill him.
She could only accept that he was one of her mates now. She never thought that coming to a different world would change her views on monogamy this much.
Including Barry, she had 5 mates! She couldn't believe it! She wondered what would happen when she went back to her world.