Hana felt a vein bulge on her forehead. She had accepted the quest now, but thinking about it deeply, it made her very mad.

The system was really out to get her. Kulu was by no means small and adding a third after what those two did to her the previous night... she didn’t really need to have that five-day paralysis punishment to not be able to get out of bed for five days.

And moreover... Kulu was someone who had offended her.

She touched the shallow cut on her cheek. The blood had dried, but the sting remained—a constant reminder that the man she was supposed to ’mate’ with was the same one who had just tried to slice her open.

Her survival instincts were screaming at her to gut him, not bed him. But she took in a deep breath to let the survival instincts take a hike.

​Beside her, the air began to simmer, wrapping around her like a hot blanket and she turned.

​Caspian’s obsidian scales were shimmering with a dangerous, orange light. He stepped between Hana and Kulu, his massive frame blocking her view of the Falcon.

​"No," Caspian rumbled, the sound vibrating in the very rock beneath their feet. "Hana, I have listened to you. I have bowed. I have even humored these... birds. But I will not stand by while you invite the one who drew your blood into our nest."

​He turned his head slightly, his white-hot eyes glaring at Kulu before turning them back to stay on Hana.

"He is a bottom-feeder. A weakling who couldn’t even protect his own heart. You are a Queen, Hana. MY queen. Why do you insist on collecting trash?"

​"Caspian," Hana called, her voice like shards of ice. "Move,"

​"I will not," he growled, his tail lashing behind him, cracking a nearby stone. "If you want a third, I will find you a warrior. I will find you a beast that hasn’t insulted the silver of your skin with his filth. This... thing... does not deserve to breathe your air, let alone touch you."

​Hana looked at Caspian’s black scaled shoulders. He was trembling with a rage she hadn’t seen since before. This wasn’t just jealousy; it was a deep, primal hatred.

To Caspian, Kulu was a traitor to the hierarchy, a filthy bird who had dared to leave a blood stained mark on the face of his mate.

"I will rather tear him apart," he growled.

​Raiden, usually the one to smooth things over, was uncharacteristically silent. He stood a few paces back, his nine tails held low and still. His green eyes were sharp, darting between the dragon’s fury and Hana’s still expression.

He didn’t protest like Caspian, but the way he dug his nails into his folded arms told Hana everything she needed to know. He didn’t want this either. But he had no voice to speak when he had also intruded on the dragon’s circle.

Let the dragon do all the talking.

​"You think I want this?" Hana hissed, her voice low enough that only her mates could hear. She stepped around Caspian, forcing him to look at the cold, calculating fury in her own eyes. "He cut my face, Caspian. He insulted me in front of everyone. Do you think I’ve forgotten that?" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

​She gestured toward her cheek. "I want to break his wings and throw him off this cliff. But I have a path to follow. A progress bar that won’t move unless I have the keys. And right now... he is a key."

​"A key I can melt!" Caspian roared.

​"And then we’re locked out!" Hana retorted, her voice rising. "I cannot and will not explain myself to you two! I am exhausted, I am hungry, and my face is bleeding because your ’reputation’ brought a fight to my door! You will do as I say, or I swear by the stars, I will find a way to lock you both out of the cave tonight and leave you in the dirt."

​The threat hung in the air, heavy and jagged. Caspian’s jaw tightened, his throat glowing orange as he swallowed a retort.

He looked at Kulu—who was still kneeling, looking like a man who had lost his soul—and then back at Hana.

"Why do you want his mark, Hana?" He asked, his voice almost quiet.

"I do not want his mark, Caspian. I need his mark. This is a life and death situation." Taking him in was worth 50,000 points and those would take me a long way.

Though I am not very fond of him, I must set my hatred and hard feelings aside until I succeed in getting him to mark me of his own will.

"We have all made mistakes at some point in our life, and I’m sure Kulu regrets what he did, right, Kulu?" I asked and he shamefully nodded his head. "See? A person needs to be forgiven at least once in their life for a mistake they wish they had not made. So, I will forgive him this time and groom him to be a better beast, one who respects me and doesn’t throw insults at me."

Kulu’s feather dropped slightly and I turned to Caspian.

"So, Caspian, you have to endure. And maybe I’ll let you do the ’grooming’ to make him into a better beast who can ’serve’ me." I reached for him and placed my hand on his simmering chest.

Caspian looked at my hand on his chest and then at my face, looking at my eyes as I gave him a task he could not refuse.

He grabbed my hand and then brought it to his lips to kiss it.

​"Fine," Caspian spat, the word sounding like a curse. "But if he touches you before I have had my fill of his blood... I will not care about anything else, Hana. I will end him."

"Sure. Do what you want."

​Hana turned away from the dragon’s bloodlust and turned back to Kulu. She felt a wave of nausea. She hated this. She hated the system, she hated the white lotus watching from the shadows, and she especially hated the fact that she had to play nice with the man who had scarred her.

​"Kulu," Hana said, her voice devoid of any warmth. "I’m going to give you one chance to be useful. If you fail me even once—if you look at that woman again or if you dare to raise a wing in my presence—I will let the dragon finish what he started."

​She leaned in, her eyes boring into his.

"Do you understand?"

​Kulu looked up at her, his golden eyes wide and trembling. He could feel the dragon’s killing intent and the fox’s cold calculation, but more than that, he felt the terrifying, magnetic pull of the woman standing over him.

​"I... I understand," Kulu whispered.

> ​[QUEST PROGRESS: 15%]

> [TIME REMAINING: 11 HOURS 42 MINUTES]