"Oh, my sweet girl, look at me," Roxy murmured, crouching down to her level. "Of course you are going to see him very soon. He isn’t gone forever. He is just going to school to learn how to be a big, strong dragon."

Iris sniffled, her violet eyes incredibly wide and vulnerable as she looked at her mother. "But the peaks are so far away."

Roxy smiled, her thumb gently brushing away a stray tear from the little girl’s cheek. "They are far for little legs, yes. But do you know who has the biggest, fastest wings in the entire Beastworld?"

Iris blinked, her gaze slowly shifting past Roxy’s shoulder to look at the towering Dragon Alpha standing nearby. "Papa Zarek?"

"Exactly," Roxy whispered conspiratorially, leaning in close. "And whenever you miss him too much, your Papa Zarek can scoop you up, fly you right over those snowy mountains, and we can go visit him. We can bring him extra honey pastries. How does that sound?"

The profound, agonizing sadness in Iris’s beautiful eyes instantly vanished. A bright, gap-toothed smile broke across her face, her tiny wolf tail wagging happily beneath her heavy winter coat. She threw her arms around Roxy’s neck, burying her face into her shoulder.

"I love you, Mum," Iris mumbled happily into the fur.

Roxy closed her eyes, breathing in the sweet, innocent scent of her daughter, her heart swelling until it physically ached. "I love you too, my darling."

"Alright, my little terrors," Torian’s booming, cheerful voice suddenly echoed across the courtyard, accompanied by a massive, theatrical shiver. "The sun is up, but my tiger stripes are freezing! Let’s get inside before Caspian turns into actual ice!"

Caspian gasped in mock offense, but the distraction worked perfectly. The doors of the Iron-Wood Manor were thrown open, and the entire family flooded back into the glorious, roaring warmth of the grand hall.

What followed was an afternoon of pure domestic bliss.

The terrifying males completely stripped away their armor and surrendered entirely to the chaotic demands of their children. Roxy sat cross-legged on the plush, massive fur rug positioned directly in front of the blazing stone hearth, little Fedor cooing happily in her lap, and simply watched her breathtaking family exist.

A few feet away, Torian was currently acting as a living, breathing jungle gym. The White Tiger lay flat on his stomach, his broad shoulders shaking with deep, rumbling laughter as the wolf twins, Axel and Onyx, engaged in an assault on his back. They were scaling his massive arms, trying to pin him down.

"Is that all you got, pups?" Torian challenged, easily lifting Onyx into the air with one hand while Axel tried to place him in a miniature headlock. "My grandmother bites harder than that!"

Suddenly, Tyara, the baby tiger cub, landed squarely on Torian’s thick neck and immediately sank her tiny, razor-sharp teething fangs directly into his ear.

No one even knew where he had come from.

"OW!" Torian yelped, though he immediately reached up to carefully support the feral cub so she wouldn’t fall. "Okay, the little princess definitely bites harder!"

Across the room, Caspian had conjured a magnificent, floating stream of crystal-clear water. The aquatic magic bubbled and danced in mid-air, forming the shapes of tiny, shimmering sea creatures; this was only happening because Nerissa had bestowed him with an artifact.

Little Zale sat on the floor, his webbed hands clapping in absolute delight as he popped the floating water-fish, giggling uncontrollably as the gentle droplets splashed over his pale cheeks.

Caspian watched his son with tender adoration that it made Roxy’s breath catch in her throat.

Kaelen was sitting on the floor with his long legs crossed. Sitting securely between his knees was little Iris. The massive Wolf Alpha was currently holding a delicate ivory comb, meticulously and gently brushing the tangles out of Iris’s hair.

His icy blue eyes were completely focused, his touch unbelievably soft as he wove her dark locks into a perfect, intricate braid.

Right beside them, Syris was entertaining Tanith. The Snake King held a vibrant, blooming winter rose in his elegant fingers. With a soft pulse of his magic, he changed the petals from crimson to bright blue, then to gold, earning a gasp of pure wonder from Tanith.

Now that Drax wasn’t here to answer all her questions, she had to stick close to her father, their hibernation was very close.

It was a beautiful, quiet nod to Ren’s illusionary legacy, and Syris performed it with a gentle smile.

Roxy leaned back against the plush rug, letting out a long, shuddering sigh of pure contentment.

Characters in a book, she thought, remembering Abaddon’s mocking voice. Let him try to say that to my face now.

There was nothing in the universe that could fabricate the genuine, devastatingly gentle look in Kaelen’s eyes as he tied a ribbon into his daughter’s hair.

There was no algorithm that could produce the raw, booming joy of Torian’s laugh. This love was messy, loud, chaotic, and entirely, undeniably real. It was a fortress of warmth that the Demon King’s cold red mist could never penetrate.

As the afternoon slowly bled into a soft, snowy evening, the frantic energy of the children finally began to wane.

The wrestling matches ceased. The magical water displays faded. One by one, the little ones succumbed to their exhaustion. Dena and the Alpha Kings moved quietly through the room, carefully scooping up the sleeping children and carrying them upstairs to the nursery, tucking them into their warm beds for the night.

Roxy remained on the rug by the dying embers of the fire, transferring a deeply asleep Fedor into the woven bassinet resting beside her. She stretched her aching back, her muscles incredibly relaxed for the first time in over a week.

Suddenly, a large hand gently wrapped around her waist from behind.

Roxy gasped softly, but all her instincts immediately settled as the familiar, intoxicating scent of Zarek enveloped her. He knelt behind her, his broad chest pressing firmly against her back.

He leaned down, pressing his lips to the sensitive skin just beneath her ear, letting out a low purr of satisfaction.

"They are finally asleep," Zarek murmured, his deep voice a gravelly whisper that sent a sudden, electric shiver directly down her spine.

Was he drunk?

Roxy smelled the stench of rice wine.

"Mhm," Roxy hummed, leaning her head back against his thick shoulder, closing her eyes. "They played so hard today. It was beautiful, Zaza. Thank you for giving them this."

Zarek’s arms tightened around her waist, his hands slid slowly upward, his thumbs resting gently against her ribs. The possessive, dark heat in his golden eyes was palpable, practically burning through the fabric of her dress.

He was aroused. That was one thing that Roxy knew.

He slowly stood up, bringing her to her feet with him. He didn’t let her go. Instead, the Dragon King smoothly, silently pulled her away from the fading warmth of the hearth, guiding her into the dimly lit, private alcove of the grand hallway, completely out of sight from the rest of the Manor.

Roxy turned in his arms, looking up into his handsome, rugged face. The domestic softness of the afternoon had entirely vanished from his expression. In its place was a fierce, raw, and overwhelmingly intense hunger that made her pulse violently jump.

"You were breathtaking today," Zarek whispered, his large hands cupping her face, his thumbs gently stroking her cheekbones. "Watching you watch our family... It makes me happy, Roxy. It makes me want to claim you all over again, right here against the stone."

Roxy’s breath hitched, her cheeks flushing a brilliant shade of scarlet. "Zarek..."

"I mean it," Zarek rumbled, leaning in until his lips were a mere millimeter from hers. His golden eyes locked onto her brilliant green ones hungrily that it gave Roxy goosebumps. "I want to build an army of love with you, my Queen."

He brushed his lips softly, agonizingly slowly against hers, before pulling back just enough to look deeply into her eyes.

"We should start working on another baby," Zarek declared. Before she could even process the shock, his arrogant, wicked smirk returned. "We can leave them here and have the time all to ourselves where it all started!"