"Are you a dog? Why did you bite me?"
Caspian didn't apologize. A slow, arrogant smirk pulled at his lips. "I marked you. Now, every male in this forest knows who you belong to."
"I belong to myself," she snapped back, though her voice lacked its usual bite since she could still feel him pulsing inside her, moving with a slow and agonizing steady grind.
In that moment, between her shoulder blades, her skin began to itch and burn. It felt hot. So hot.
Then, a dark, intricate pattern bloomed across her back like ink spreading in water—a pair of folded Dragonwings, shimmering with a faint, obsidian glow.
She felt his heat, his exhaustion, and his fierce, arrogant satisfaction as if they were her own, and this was all possible thanks to the primal bond. It was annoying.
Caspian's forehead rested on her damp skin. He was trembling, his predatory energy finally spent.
Hana lay there, stunned and panting. 'It's over now, right?' She thought. Her neck stung, and her back felt heavy with the new mark. She was already planning how to kill him for the bite when the blue screen erupted in front of her face with a triumphant flare.
Ding!
> [MISSION COMPLETE: PRIMAL BOND STRENGTHENED]
> [REWARD: +1,000 KARMIC POINTS]
> [BIOLOGICAL SYNCHRONIZATION SUCCESSFUL]
> [STATUS: CONCEIVED—CONGRATULATIONS!]
> [BONUS REWARD: +2,000 KARMIC POINTS]
> [CURRENT BALANCE: -1,246,500 POINTS]
Hana's eyes widened until they hurt. She stared at the word Conceived as the reality of the 'transaction' hit her like a physical blow.
"Conceived?" she whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of fury and disbelief. "I saved a lizard for points... and now I'm a walking incubator?"
She looked down at the dragon man passed out on her chest. He looked peaceful, his hand still possessively clutched around her, and his thick tail wrapped around her waist.
"System," she hissed, her jaw locking tight as her body trembled in rage. "This was not what I signed up for. I want out."
The system dinged and sent her a [CONGRATULATIONS,] clearly mocking her with her own survival.
"Seriously," she raised a trembling hand and dropped it on her face. "I'm fucked." She swiped her hand down her face, exposing a broken smile on her lips as she stared at the sky. "I really should have just let the heart attack take me,"
The forest was quiet. Caspian's breathing was the only sound, heavy and satisfied against her neck. Hana lay in the crushed grass, the weight of him pressing the air from her lungs.
She was a survivor. She had outrun death, outsmarted gangs, and lived through the end of the world. But staring at that glowing blue screen, she felt a type of defeat that no zombie horde could ever inflict.
> [ADVICE: PROTECT THE EMBRYO TO ENSURE KARMIC STABILITY]
"Protect it?" Hana whispered. Her voice was flat. "I can't even get this darn oversized lizard off me."
Caspian stirred. The orange glow of his scales had faded, but he didn't move. He buried his face into her neck, right where he had bitten her. The mark there felt like a low, internal fever.
"My female," he rumbled.
"I told you," she snapped, shoving at his shoulder with the little strength she had left. "Transaction's over. Get off. You're heavy, and you smell like a forest fire."
Caspian raised his head. He didn't look like the dying mess she had found in the crater. He looked strong and far too pleased with himself. He ran a thumb over her jaw, his touch lingering on the bite mark.
"Little female,"
"Stop calling me that. My name is Hana." She snapped at him, and his face flushed at the introduction.
"The bond is sealed, Hana," he said. The way her name rolled out of his tongue made her skin itch. "My blood is in yours now. I can feel our spark growing."
He dropped a heavy, warm hand onto her stomach, and Hana froze. In the apocalypse, being pregnant was a death sentence. It made you slow. It made you a target. Her first instinct was to find a sharp rock and solve the problem before it started.
And that was the instinct she wanted to follow this time, too. That is, if the system hadn't intervened.
The System jumped in immediately to stop her.
> [NOTICE: Intent to harm the offspring will result in -500,000 Karmic Points.]
> [Current Balance: -1,246,500]
"You've got to be kidding me," she hissed at the air. "You're holding my soul hostage for some lizard eggs?"
Caspian frowned. "What are you talking about? Eggs? Our children will be dragons. The strongest in this forest."
"Great. I'll start a nursery then," she muttered sarcastically. She finally managed to wriggle out from under him and stood up.
As she moved, her back felt different. The dragonwing marks between her shoulder blades felt tight, like a second skin. She felt a weird tug in her chest that pulled toward the man still sitting in the grass. It was annoying.
She looked at her hands. They were covered in his already dried blood and crushed leaf paste. She had earned 3,500 points, but she felt like she'd traded her life for a cage.
"Fine," she said, looking into the trees. "If I'm stuck with this, I'm making it expensive. System. Shop. Unlock the tools."
The screen flickered, but the buy buttons didn't light up.
> [CURRENT BALANCE: -1,246,500 POINTS]
> [NOTICE: SHOP BLOCKED. DEBT EXCEEDS CREDIT LIMIT.]
Hana stared at the red text. She felt a vein throb in her temple.
"You've got to be kidding me. I just let a lizard mount me, and I can't even buy a damn knife?"
She looked at the million-plus debt. It felt like a mountain sitting on her chest. To get 3,500 points, she had to save a life, let the dragon shove his monster cock inside her, and conceive a child. At this rate, she'd have to save an entire civilization and pop out a literal army of dragons just to break even by the end of the month.
What else was this system going to demand? If it considered 'mating' a step toward being a better person, its moral compass was seriously warped.
"One million points in thirty days," she muttered, her voice cold. "What are you going to make me do next? Build a temple? Sacrifice my pride every hour on the hour? Just tell me already. How far will you make me go?"