"The King is very protective of his people, especially his mate," Lyra mumbled.
Her voice sounded distant, and there was a little pain in her tone when she spoke. Roxy looked at her a little too long.
[TheStoryWeaver looks at you with understanding.]
I am not dumb, I see it too. Turns out Lyra still thinks she has a chance with the Dragon King. Too bad his mine.
[TheWorldbuildingGod bonks you.]
Is there a way I can switch off this thing?
[Access Denied.]
Argggghhhh!!!!!
"What is there to be protective about?! He was holding flowers!" Roxy shrieked, pointing at the mess of the basket on the dirt. "He wasn't even trying anything else."
She grabbed the hem of her tiger-skin dress and marched toward the ridge. "Zarek! Get your scaly ass down right now!"
Zarek, who heard the angry call of his mate, flinched.
He landed in the field a moment later, the earth cracking under his weight as he shifted into his human form.
He looked at Roxy, his eyes shining, expecting praise. He had killed the intruder. He was a good king.
At least that was what he thought.
"The Wolves are getting bold. That was the third one this week." Zarek announced, pulling her close.
Roxy stopped in her tracks from pulling him away. "The third?"
Why had she never sensed them?
But then it all made sense to her. For the past week, Zarek had been disappearing for hours at a time. She thought he was hunting extra food for her cravings because he would always return with game.
Turned out this was what he was doing.
"You've been killing scouts?" Roxy asked, her voice rising. "Without telling me?"
Not like I can do anything about it...
"Why would I burden you?" Zarek frowned, genuinely confused. "You are breeding my child, you are also helping the females in the clan. It's all in my hands to kill the things that want to disturb you."
A vein pulsed on Roxy's head.
This was just making loads of enemies for the Dragon Clan. Through all the books she has read, the Dragon Clan was meant to be revered among all beastmen, not to be rivaled to the point of killing each other.
"It is murder!" Roxy yelled, poking him in his hard chest. "Zarek, that guy was holding a white flag! That means 'we want to talk', not 'we want a war'!"
"They do not want to talk," Zarek growled, not understanding what she was saying. He grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the ridge. "They smelled you from a distance. The wind carries your scent. And they could tell from the sky that you are with my heir, and this drives the other males mad. They want to steal you to feed their own."
He pressed her against a rock far away from the field, his eyes dancing with fury.
"And I don't share."
Roxy gulped but pulled her hand away; she had had enough romance all her life to be moved by his words.
"So your solution is to kill every male who shows up at the door?"
"We dragons are predators, Roxy..." Zarek spat. "The males are thieves. They are desperate. If their clan dies, their whole lineage dies. So he would drag you to his cold forests and lock you away."
I mean, if it's a cold Alpha with a sexy body– Damn it! Roxy, what the hell are you thinking? And oh my, my name on his lips sounds nice.
"And how is that different from you locking me in a cave?" Roxy shot back.
Zarek blinked, caught off guard by her words. He opened his mouth, closed it, then scowled. "My cave has everything. And me. It is better."
I decorated the place with my own hands.
She wanted to say those words so bad, but shut up instead.
Roxy groaned, rubbing her temples, suddenly feeling tired. "Zarek, listen to me. We are one clan. We have potatoes. We have radishes, salt. But we don't have everything. We need leather. We need wood. We need allies."
She gestured at the smoking pile of ash on the ridge.
"If you kill every scout, you aren't protecting us. You are starting a war. The Wolves travel in packs, right? If one goes missing, it's an accident. If three go missing?"
She glared at him.
"That's a declaration of war."
Zarek crossed his arms. "Let them come. I am the Dragon King. I will burn the forest down around their ears."
"And what about our child?" Roxy asked, her voice dropping to a cold whisper. "When the wolves attack in thousands? When the Tigers join in because they smell blood? Can you fight the entire world, Zarek? While I'm giving birth?"
Because I sure am not going to hang around, and be some delicious bacon for some beast.
Zarek froze. The mention of the hatchling pierced his rage like a needle. He looked at her round stomach, his expression shifting from arrogance to fear for the first time ever.
He might not have worked for the child, but it was the first child he had ever had. His heir.
"I..." He trailed off. "I protect."
"You're gatekeeping," Roxy corrected. "And you are doing it too hard. We need neighbors, Zarek, not corpses."
She walked past him, climbing up the ridge to where the bundle had spilled. Something shone among the items.
She picked up a stone. It was cool to the touch, carved with a symbol of a howling wolf.
[Item Identification: Token of the Moon Pack. Status: Diplomatic Gift. Value: High.]
[TheWorldbuildingGod stares at it with approval and says that this was going to go a long way.]
[TheStoryWeaver glares at the TheWorldbuildingGod.]
Roxy wanted to scream; she was bleeding internally from rage. But she swallowed it down and faced Zarek.
"See?" Roxy held it up. "He brought a gift. And you turned him into Barbecue."
Zarek looked away, his pride eating at him. How would he agree to it? They were predators; if they saw an intruder, they killed on sight.
It was only this female who would think the other way.
"We have to fix this," Roxy said. "Before the Alpha comes looking for his missing puppies."
Zarek came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, resting his chin on her head. He was still tense, but he was listening.
"The Wolf King is proud," Zarek rumbled against her hair. "He will not forgive the death of his kin."
So you knew that and still killed him anyway?
That's what her glare meant as she turned to him.
"Then we apologize," Roxy snarled.
Zarek stiffened as if the word apology was a taboo. "Dragons do not apologize."
"You will have to do it Zarek!" She snapped angrily.
But before she could formulate a plan, a sound cut through the air.