Doing all that work without eating was asking to faint. Kulu descended near a quiet lake, placing her gently on a rock.

"Hold on, Hana. I will catch a fish for you right away. I heard heavy females like fish," he said, leaving Hana to wonder where he heard that from. Well, whatever it was, as long as she could eat it.

as she scanned the area for herbs to use as spice.

While he was catching fish, her eyes scanned the area, looking for herbs that could be used as spice.

Using a lighter she found in the bunker and had tucked into her waist strap, Hana started a small fire. When Kulu returned with the catch, she roasted the fish, eventually handing him one out of habit.

She was used to giving Caspian and Raiden a piece after she roasted, so now, it felt like she had to give Kulu. Her body just moved.

Well, it’s not bad. She thought as she began to eat her fish, but he looked at her with surprise.

Females don’t share their food. Especially pregnant females. They always have surplus from their many mates, but even then, they don’t share.

He couldn’t imagine a female sharing one when she had so little.

"What!" She asked, munching on the soft protein, but he looked down. Hana was definitely not like other females, and it made him want to know more about her.

Maybe... leaving his tribe to go with her was the best decision he could ever make.

Well, it wasn’t exactly a decision whether he was traded by his father. But he did not feel bitter about it.

As he began to eat the fish, he noticed the small teddy lying on the ground next to Hana. She had been clutching it for a while now, which made him wonder.

"Why do you hold onto that?" Kulu asked softly, his amber eyes reflecting the dancing orange flames of the cackling fire. "It has no spirit. It does not give you warmth or food."

Hana looked at the toy’s matted, blood-stained fur. It could definitely give warmth if it didn’t look like a horror doll right now.

"It would be good for kids," she said, her voice unusually quiet. "It’s a comfort. Where I come from, things like this usually help you feel safe." She lifted her head to look at the sky. "Especially when you’re alone."

She thought of the lonely nights in the basement as a kid. She sewed when she could and made a doll. It didn’t have neat stitches, and she pricked her fingers a lot of times, but it still came out well.

She held that doll. She cried with that doll. She laughed with that doll. Ah, was there ever a time she laughed?

Right, the times when she gave herself fantasies that the world was bad for just the moment. It would all get better soon.

One day, she said to herself, Mom and Dad will love me. And I’ll be able to play with Clara. I’ll show you to her so we can all play with you.

All delusions, though.

None of that ever happened. Her mom and dad used her as bait for the zombies afterwards, and chose to protect their darling daughter, Clara.

All her hopes and dreams died that night when she was nearly ripped apart by zombies, but she hardened her heart. She no longer looked at the world like a world she needed to earn recognition from.

They could all go to hell with their recognition. She was going to live, and she was going to survive the zombie apocalypse, even if it meant stepping on everyone else out there.

Hana’s grip on the doll hardened before she even realized it.

Kulu sat back, his wings folding tightly against his back. "My mother used to make things for me," he whispered, and she snapped back to her senses, freeing her grip on the teddy.

She almost ruined it.

"Not like that. She would tie sticks together with dry grass to make little men. She told me they would watch over my nest while I slept." A sad, small smile touched his lips. "She is gone now. I haven’t thought about those sticks in a long time."

Hana looked at him, seeing the prince who had been scorned by his own tribe and the son who still remembered the smell of dry grass.

"Why did you take me, Hana?" he asked suddenly, his voice cracking. "I am not a King like Caspian. I am not a genius like the fox. I am just a bird who lost his sky."

Hana reached out, her fingers brushing the rest of the herbs she had gathered to season the fish.

"I don’t care what the others think of you," she said, her eyes locking onto his. "You have strong and useful wings. Just like how you carried my cargo without getting tired and without complaining, I can find so much more that you are good at."

The fire crackled, its embers dancing in her eyes as she declared, "If you think you are not useful even now, I will make you useful, Kulu, and I will never put you in danger."

She checked the flickering blue window in her vision.

> [TIME REMAINING: 02 HOURS 10 MINUTES]

The urgency hit her fast, so she stood up and walked toward him, the heat of the fire pressing against her skin. Kulu looked up, his breath hitching as she stopped inches away.

"Hana? What are you doing?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"I need your mark, Kulu," she said, her breath coming in short, shallow bursts. "I want a primal bond with you. Right now. I want to know that you truly belong to me."

Kulu looked at her neck, where the dragon’s mark was etched, and then recalled her back, where he had spotted the fox’s tails. He felt a surge of something fierce and protective.

He, too, wanted to belong. He wanted to be among the ones who flocked around her. He wanted to be useful to her. He wanted to be hers.

"Where do you want it?" He asked, his deep voice coming out thinner than he wished.

"You decide," she whispered.

Kulu looked at her for a fleeting second, his breath caught in his throat as she had just given him the reins, something no one else had done.

"Then, pardon me... do not mind my boldness," Kulu murmured. He reached out, his large hands surprisingly gentle as he pushed her back against the soft moss.

Hana felt a flash of heat as he moved. He wasn’t acting like the shy prince anymore. He knelt between her legs, his face dipping low, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, and Hana gasped, her fingers tangling in his red hair as she bit her lip.

This time... it felt so sensitive that she could not pretend to be nonchalant even if she wanted to.

"Do you truly want to establish a primal bond with me, Hana?" he asked, his voice muffled against her skin.

A system alert flashed bright red in her mind. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

> [LOYALTY INCREASED: 99%]

> [PRIMAL BOND INITIATED]

"Yes," Hana breathed, her body humming with a strange, heavy tension. "Give me your mark, Kulu. Do it now."

Kulu let out a shuddering breath and said,

"As you command!" Then, he dug his teeth into her thigh, and her back arched to what seemed like pain but transformed into something else. Pleasure? Shock? She couldn’t quite name it, but it made her breathless, and her eyes stared at the world that was upside down behind her.

Finally, she was getting those fifty thousand points.