​Caspian stepped closer, his heat radiating like a furnace. He followed Hana’s gaze to Kulu and scowled before letting out a low, predatory growl.

"He is pathetic now, Hana. Why do you look at him? The Boars can move the crates if the bird is too weak."

​Hana didn’t move. She continued to stare into space, her eyes glazed over as she processed the impossibly, annoying, stupid demand.

​Raiden tilted his head, his ears twitching as he watched her.

"Hana?" He moved into her line of sight, waving a hand in front of her face but she did not blink, simply scowling as if she planned to hit someone. "You’re doing it again. You’re staring at nothing and looking like you want to set the world on fire. What’s wrong?"

Caspian noticed it and something told him what was going to happen next would make him mad. He growled. Why? Because Hana had that same expression before letting the sly fox into their circle.

"Hana," he breathed, smoke gushing out from the corner of his mouth, but Hana finally snapped back to reality, her teeth grinding together.

Managing a possessive Dragon and a cunning Fox was already a full-time job of ego-massaging and physical endurance. Adding a depressed, vengeful Falcon to the mix felt like trying to juggle live grenades.

​She looked at her legs, then back at Kulu, not even responding to the dragon and fox that had tried to get her attention. She couldn’t. Her mind was too occupied. Twelve hours. She had twelve short hours to make that falcon hers. What a bother.

​She walked over to Kulu. He didn’t even look up when her bare feet appeared in his field of vision.

​"Get up," Hana said, her voice softer than before, but still carrying that iron edge.

​"Why?" Kulu whispered, his voice cracking. "So you can mock me more? So you can watch me carry your crates like a slave while she... while she laughs?"

​Hana rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to watch a man acting like such a wimp—especially one with such great specs.

She looked at his wings that were currently drooping down. Looked at his thick sun-kissed abs and that face... he was fit for more than just sulking.

With him, the work force would be way more efficient, even if she would dread the nights when she has to lie with him and the others.

If not for the fact that she has to copulate with her mates once every two days, she wouldn’t have had a problem with accepting him. She’d just have him mark her and leave him in a corner, though she was sure the system wouldn’t let her get away with it.

Hana sighed.

She reached out, her fingers catching his chin and forcing him to look her in the eye. His golden, hawk-like eyes were watery, filled with a raw pain that made her survivor’s heart twinge with an unwanted spark of empathy.

"What... what are you doing?" he asked, his voice cracking and somber as he looked into her brown eyes.

​"I don’t think I have use for you as a slave," Hana said, her voice vibrating with a new, forced intentionality. "But I have use for a King, a prince rather."

"You already have the dragon," He mentioned and her lips curled.

"Yes, but Caspian is far too entitled." She explained. "I want a man who isn’t whole. One who is broken. And right now, you’re the only one on this cliff who actually knows what it feels like to lose everything. That makes you dangerous. And I like dangerous things."

​Caspian’s growl became a roar. "Hana! What are you saying?"

​Hana ignored him. She kept her gaze locked on Kulu. She could feel the clock ticking. The system was demanding a bond, and if she didn’t want to spend the next five days being carried around like a sack of potatoes, she had to play the game.

​"You wanted to be a hero for a woman who used you because you were a fool," Hana whispered, leaning closer so the Elders couldn’t hear. "Forget that. How about you try being a Prince for a woman who will actually give you a throne?"

​Kulu’s breath hitched. For the first time, he actually looked at the marks on Hana’s body—the glowing black wings on her shoulder and the shifting pink tails on her back. He saw the power she held over the two beasts behind them and he shut his eyes.

He had no confidence in himself. He did not know if he was even worthy of being anyone’s mate, even if the saint of his tribe rejected him.

He had no friends in his tribe despite being the prince. They called him a fool, a pushover, and that was when he met Lira. He thought Lira was different. He thought she accepted him despite his shortcomings, but just like the rest... she played him for a fool.

Now looking into Hana’s eyes... he could not quite pinpoint it but there was a fire that no one had ever looked at him with.

A fire that made his throat burn.

She wanted him. But...

​"I... I am a failure," Kulu stammered.

​"Then be my failure," Hana countered, her wicked grin returning, though it was tinged with the stress of the quest. "I’m very good at recycling trash into treasure."

He dropped his head and did not say anything further. Hana did not know if that was a yes or no but there was no rush. The broken bird was not going anywhere. She wouldn’t let him.

​She looked up at the sky. Noon had passed. She had twelve hours to turn this vengeful, broken bird into her third pillar.

​"Caspian, Raiden, let’s go grab the crates," Hana commanded, turning her back on the stunned Falcon. "Kulu... you’re coming with me. Once this is all done, we’re going to have a very long talk about your future."

> ​[QUEST PROGRESS: 5% - THE PRINCE HAS BEEN NOTICED]

But even at that notification, Hana felt the phantom sting of paralysis in her calves and shivered. I am going to kill this system when I find its source, she thought, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the text flickering in the air.