Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 102: (Xmas Special) Baking the Solstice Cake

Day five of the Solstice.

The Daycare Kitchen was not designed for five large men, four chaotic cubs, one bunny, and a stressed Nanny.

It was designed for making sandwiches, not for cakes.

"Okay, listen up!" I shouted, waving a wooden spoon like a baton. "The Solstice cake is a delicate cake. It requires finesse. It requires patience. It requires you all to stop eating the ingredients!"

I pointed the spoon at Vali, who was trying to inhale a bag of chocolate chips.

"I am quality testing!" Vali argued, his mouth brown.

"You are quality destroying," I sighed.

Lord Rurik had been assigned the task of kneading the dough for the base.

"I shall defeat the flour!" Rurik roared.

He punched the ball of dough.

THWACK.

"Rurik, it’s not an enemy combatant!" I yelled. "It’s sponge cake! Be gentle!"

"I am gentle!" Rurik insisted. He slammed his fist into the bowl again.

POOF.

A cloud of flour exploded, covering Jasper in white dust.

"My respiratory system is compromised," Jasper coughed, wiping his glasses.

Archduke Cassian was in charge of measuring the sugar and spices. He had brought his own equipment: a digital scale, a set of tweezers, and a microscope.

"Add one cup of sugar," I instructed.

"Define ’cup’," Cassian demanded. "Is it a metric cup? An imperial cup? The density of this sugar varies by granule size. I must calculate the volume."

He began using tweezers to add sugar grain by grain.

"Cassian!" I groaned. "Just dump it in!"

"Chaos," Cassian hissed. "You bake with chaos, Primrose. It is disturbing."

King Caspian stood by the mixing bowl.

"I do not need a whisk," Caspian stated confidently. "I am the Lord of the Tides. I control fluids."

He raised a hand. The milk, eggs, and flour in the bowl began to swirl.

"Oh, that’s actually cool," Finn admitted, watching the batter spin in mid-air.

"See?" Caspian smirked at Rajah. "Efficiency."

"Show-off," Rajah muttered.

But then Orion walked in. "Father! The oven is hot!"

Caspian got distracted. His concentration broke.

SPLAT.

The spinning ball of batter lost containment and exploded outward. It hit General Rajah directly in the chest.

The kitchen went silent.

Rajah stood there, dripping with cake batter. He slowly wiped a glob of raw egg from his medal of honor.

"Oops," Caspian whispered.

"Run," Jax advised from the doorway.

Rajah didn’t run. He calmly walked over to the cutting board where the chocolate bars were waiting to be chopped.

He drew a dagger.

"I will chop the chocolate," Rajah growled, glaring at Caspian. "And I will pretend it is a fish."

CHOP. CHOP. CHOP.

He annihilated the chocolate with terrifying speed and precision.

"Good job, General," I squeaked, afraid to intervene. "Very... fine... chopping."

Finally, the cake was baked (miraculously). It was rolled (mostly by me). Now it was time for the frosting.

"Decorate!" Arjun yelled.

The cubs descended.

Luna and Clover placed little marzipan mushrooms carefully on the log.

Silas added dark chocolate shavings to make it look like a night forest.

Vali tried to put a gummy worm on it ("It is a nature log! Nature has worms!").

Orion misted the cake with water ("To keep it moist").

"Orion, no water on the chocolate!" I laughed, blocking the spray bottle.

We gathered around the table. The Solstice Cake looked... interesting.

It was slightly lopsided (Rurik’s kneading).

It was extremely sweet (Cassian’s measurements).

It had a few gummy worms poking out (Vali).

But it was done.

"A toast," Duke Lucien whispered, raising a glass of milk. "To the chaos."

"To the cake!" Vali cheered.

We ate. It was dense. It was messy. It was the best cake I had ever tasted.

As I wiped frosting off my cheek, I felt a napkin press against my face.

It was Rajah. He was cleaning me up, his expression grumpy but his hand gentle.

Then Caspian reached over and cleaned a spot Rajah missed on my chin.

"You missed a spot, General," Caspian noted. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"I was getting to it," Rajah snapped.

They glared at each other over the half-eaten cake.

"They are doing it again," Finn whispered to Jax.

"Let them fight," Jax grinned, stealing the last piece of cake. "More food for us."

The cake was decimated. The cubs were currently in a sugar coma on the rug.

Primrose looked around the room—at the lopsided tree, the flour-covered Warlords, and the sleeping children. Her heart felt full.

"We need a picture," Primrose announced suddenly.

The room went silent.

"A... pitcher?" Lord Rurik asked, looking around. "For the milk? We have one."

"No, a picture," Primrose corrected. "A frozen image. To remember this moment. On Earth—I mean, in my hometown—we take them during festivals."

"You wish to freeze time?" Duke Lucien asked from the shadows, his voice silky and dangerous. "That is high-level chronomancy. Dangerous."

"No, not literally freeze time," Primrose laughed. "Just... capture the visual. So we can look at it later and remember how Vali got a gummy worm stuck in his ear."

"It is not stuck!" Vali yelled, pulling the worm out. "I was saving it for later!"

Archduke Cassian stood up, wiping sugar from his immaculate robe.

"I believe Primrose refers to a Visual Echo," Cassian stated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, hovering crystal lens. "I use this to document crime scenes. But it can be adapted for social gatherings."

"Great," Primrose clapped her hands. "Everyone, squeeze in! By the tree!"

It was a logistical nightmare.

Rurik tried to flex in the back.

Caspian stood tall and regal, holding Orion.

Cassian and Lucien stood stiffly on the sides.

Rajah stood next to Primrose, looking grumpy but present.

The cubs piled in the front.

"Say ’Cheese’!" Primrose shouted.

"Why cheese?" Vali asked. "I want ham!"

"Say ’Ham’!"

"HAM!"

FLASH.

The crystal flared. A moment later, a small, shimmering card materialized in Cassian’s hand. The image moved slightly—Vali laughing, Rurik flexing, Caspian looking at Primrose instead of the lens, and Primrose herself looking exhausted but happy.

"It is... acceptable," Cassian noted, handing it to her.

Primrose tucked it into her pocket. "I’ll treasure it forever."

As the group dispersed to clean up the wreckage of the kitchen, Primrose noticed General Rajah standing by the window, staring out at the blizzard. He looked isolated, even in the crowded room.

She walked over to him.

"General," Primrose said softly. "I tried to call the Palace earlier. I invited Princess Leonora to join us for the cake."

Rajah stiffened. His ears pinned back.

"And?" he asked, his voice tight.

"She declined," Primrose said. "Which is strange. Leonora loves the cubs. And she... well, she usually jumps at the chance to see you."

Primrose leaned against the wall, watching him closely.

"Rajah. Why isn’t she here?"

Rajah gripped the windowsill. The wood groaned under his strength.

"I... am at fault," he admitted, his voice rough gravel. "I said something hurtful to Leonora. I mean... the Princess Leonora."

"You called her by her name?" Primrose raised an eyebrow.

"Briefly."

Primrose sighed. "I don’t know what might have happened between you two, but you should apologize. Also... Rajah, Leonora loves you with all her heart."

Rajah flinched as if she had slapped him.

"I just hope you can see that," she continued, her tone gentle but firm. "She would do anything for you. And you... you are looking anywhere but at her. It’s almost like you are running away or something."

Rajah closed his eyes.

Running away.

Suddenly, a memory flashed in his mind. Not of the war, not of his late wife, but of a sunny garden twenty years ago.

A young Lioness girl with golden eyes, laughing as she tried to braid his tail. She had been the only one who didn’t fear his claws. She had been the sun.

My heart, Rajah realized with a jolt. It beat a thousand times faster when I was with her back then than it ever has on the battlefield.

He opened his eyes and looked at Primrose.

"Is it..." he started, the question hanging in his throat. Is it Primrose I want? Or is she just the escape hatch from the terrifying reality of loving a Lion?

"Think about it, Rajah," Primrose whispered. "Don’t lose the sun because you’re afraid of the burn."

She patted his arm and walked away.

Rajah didn’t move. He watched her go.

He watched her walk straight to Caspian.

The King was struggling to wipe a smudge of chocolate off Orion’s nose. Primrose laughed, taking the napkin and doing it for him.

Caspian looked down at her.

It wasn’t a look of escape. It wasn’t a look of convenience.

It was a look of absolute, terrifying devotion.

And the way Primrose looked back at him—soft, unguarded, comfortable...

Rajah felt a cold weight settle in his stomach.

She looks at him like he is her home, Rajah thought. She looks at me like I am a friend who needs help.

He looked at the empty space beside him where a certain Princess should have been.

Did I make a mistake?

For the first time, the Tiger General felt truly, utterly defeated.