Jason stood alone in the empty common room, the door to Mira’s quarters shut firmly behind her. The hearth was cold. The table was bare. The only light came from a single lantern hanging near the door, casting long shadows across the wooden floor.

He should have left. Mira had told him to get out. But his legs felt heavy, and his mind was still spinning from the conversation about licenses and dungeon crawls. So he lingered. Just for a moment to snoop around to see if there was something he could use in the future.

That’s when he noticed something at the side of the room.

A small scrap of fabric, crumpled near the leg of a chair. Dark purple. Silk, maybe. Jason squinted, stepping closer.

It was a pair of panties.

Not the kind Ylva wore—those were practical, plain, designed for movement. These were delicate. Lace-trimmed. The kind of thing someone wore to feel pretty, not to fight monsters.

Jason wondered who it belonged to. Mira was the only female in the group. Helga was a dwarf—bearded, broad, probably not the lacy-underwear type. So it had to Mira.

Jason was curious. He picked up the fabric with two fingers, holding it away from his body like it might bite him.

"Weird," he thought. "Why would she leave this here?"

Then another thought crossed his mind. Maybe he could give it to Ylva? She wasn’t the lace type either, but she might appreciate the gesture. Or she might claw his eyes out for giving her another woman’s underwear.

He was still weighing the risks when the door to Mira’s room swung open.

Jason froze.

Mira stood in the doorway, her amber eyes instantly locking onto the purple fabric in his hand. Her tail swayed slowly behind her. Her expression was unreadable.

Jason’s heart stopped. Then it started again, pounding so hard he was sure she could hear it.

He knew how this looked. A man alone in a room, holding a woman’s panties, inches away from where they had been lying on the floor. It made him look like a creep. A thief. Or worse.

He had to prepare an excuse. Something quick. Something believable.

"Is this what you like to do?" Mira asked, her voice calm. Too calm.

Jason’s mouth opened. No words came out.

He was lucky he hadn’t grabbed them yet—his fingers were still hovering, not quite touching. He could still pretend he was just looking. Inspecting. Not taking.

"What are you talking about?" Jason said, forcing his voice to sound casual. He turned his head slightly, shifting his gaze to something close to the panties—a scuff mark on the floor, a spiderweb in the corner. Anything but the fabric.

Mira didn’t rush to cover herself. She didn’t snatch the panties away. She didn’t even look embarrassed.

In fact, Jason noticed she was barely clothed.

She wore a thin, sleeveless top that ended just below her ribs, exposing her midriff. Her pants were low-slung, riding on her hips. Her fur was sleek, her movements unhurried.

She should have been rushing to put the underwear away. Instead, she just stood there, watching him with those half-lidded amber eyes.

"Bring it over here for me," Mira requested, tilting her head toward the fabric.

Jason’s brain short-circuited.

"Bring it over here." Jason thought to himself.

He had already had a lot of sex in this world. First with Ylva, then with Tauriel, then with Ylva again. And with how casually Mira was standing there, barely dressed, asking him to bring her underwear...

There was only one thing that came to mind.

"She wants me to—"

Jason swallowed hard. He grabbed the panties—properly this time, fingers wrapping around the silk—and walked toward her. His heart was pounding. His palms were sweating. He expected her to step back, to close the door, to create some distance.

She didn’t.

Instead, Mira stepped out of the doorway. Stark naked, he thought she had something on before but it was simply the light reflecting off her fur.

Jason’s eyes went wide. His feet stopped moving. His brain, which had been working overtime just moments ago, ground to a complete halt.

"W-Woah!" Jason stammered, holding the panties out like a shield. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Mira looked confused for a second. Her amber eyes glanced down at her own body—her bare chest, her exposed stomach, her long legs. Then she looked back at Jason, tilting her head.

"Oh," she said, as if just realizing something. "Is this your first time?"

Jason’s mouth fell open. "My first time—?! No! That’s not—I wasn’t—"

He took in her shape despite himself. Sleek muscle beneath midnight blue fur. A narrow waist. Curves that were subtle but unmistakable. She was beautiful, in the way that all catborn seemed to be beautiful—predatory and graceful at the same time.

Then he turned his head sharply, shoving the panties toward her with his eyes firmly fixed on the wall.

"Just take them," he said, his voice strained.

Mira’s tail flicked. She reached out and took the fabric from his hand.

"Thank you," she said simply.

Jason exhaled. His heart was still racing, but the immediate crisis seemed to have passed. She had the panties. He hadn’t done anything stupid. He could leave now, pretend this never happened, and—

The door to the common room swung open.

Kaelen stepped inside first, his massive scaled body filling the doorway. Helga followed close behind, her shield clanking against the frame.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Kaelen’s yellow eyes swept the room. He saw Jason standing stiffly near Mira’s door, his face flushed, his hands empty. He saw Mira standing in the doorway, completely naked, holding a pair of purple panties.

The reptile’s scarred snout wrinkled. His tail stopped moving.

Helga’s dark eyes went wide beneath her braided red beard. Her hand drifted toward her warhammer.

No one spoke.

Jason’s brain screamed at him to say something—anything—but every word that came to mind made the situation worse.

"This isn’t what it looks like."

"She asked me to bring her underwear."

"I was just leaving."

Jason thought about all of this but they all sounded like lies. Because they were lies. Or at least, incomplete truths.

Mira, to her credit, showed no embarrassment whatsoever. She simply turned, walked back into her room, and closed the door behind her. The soft click of the latch was the loudest sound in the world.

Kaelen’s yellow eyes slowly shifted from the closed door to Jason’s face.

"Little meat," Kaelen rumbled, his voice low. "What did we just walk into?"

Jason raised his hands. "Nothing. I swear. She dropped her... thing. I picked it up. That’s all."

Helga snorted. "You expect us to believe that?"

"I don’t expect anything," Jason said, his voice steadier than he felt. "But that’s the truth."

Kaelen stepped closer. His massive frame blocked the lantern light, casting Jason in shadow. The reptile’s nostrils flared.

"You smell nervous," Kaelen said.

"I smell nervous because one very large, and one very armed person just walked in on me standing outside a naked woman’s door."

Helga’s lips twitched. "Fair point."

Kaelen grunted. He turned and walked to the table, pulling out a chair and sitting down heavily. The wood creaked under his weight.

"Sit," he said, pointing at the chair across from him.

Jason sat.

Helga remained standing near the door, her eyes flicking between Jason and Mira’s closed door.

Kaelen leaned forward, his yellow eyes boring into Jason’s. "I like you, little meat. You’re funny. You’re not afraid of me. That’s rare." He paused. "But I don’t like people who cause trouble in my lodging."

Jason met his gaze. "I’m not causing trouble."

"Mira is my guildmate. My friend." Kaelen’s voice dropped. "If you hurt her, I will break every bone in your body. Slowly."

Jason swallowed. "I’m not going to hurt her. I barely know her."

Kaelen studied him for a long moment. Then he leaned back.

"Fine," he grunted. "But if I find out you’re lying..."

"You won’t."

Helga pushed off from the door and walked to the table, dropping into a chair beside Kaelen. "Kid’s got balls, I’ll give him that. Only an idiot would try something with Mira."

Jason blinked. "I didn’t try anything!"

Helga shrugged. "Sure."

The door to Mira’s room opened again. She stepped out, now fully dressed in her leather armor, her daggers strapped to her hips. Her amber eyes swept the room, taking in Kaelen, Helga, and Jason.

"Problem?" she asked.

Kaelen shook his head. "No problem."

Mira walked to the table and sat down, her tail curling around her legs. She didn’t look at Jason.

"Good," she said. "Because I was just helping him with his license application."

Jason’s head snapped toward her. "What?"

Mira met his eyes. There was a hint of amusement in her gaze. "The temporary waiver. You need a guild sponsor. I told you I’d talk to Kaelen."

Kaelen’s brow furrowed. "You’re sponsoring him?"

"He’s useless now," Mira said flatly. "But he might be useful later. And he’s entertaining."

Helga snorted. "Entertaining isn’t a skill."

"It is when you’re stuck in a dungeon for three days."

Kaelen was quiet for a moment. His yellow eyes flickered between Jason and Mira. Then he shrugged his massive shoulders.

"Fine," he said. "He can come on the crawl. But he stays in the back. He does what he’s told. And if he dies, I’m not carrying his body out."

Jason nodded quickly. "Deal. Thank you."

Mira pulled out the parchment from earlier and slid it across the table. "Sign here."

Jason picked up a quill—he didn’t even know where it came from—and scrawled his name on the line. The ink was still wet when Mira snatched the parchment back.

"Welcome to the worst decision of your life," she said.

Jason forced a smile. "I’ve made worse."

Kaelen let out a rumbling laugh. "I like him."

Helga shook her head. "This is going to end badly."

Mira stood up. "Probably. But it’ll be interesting."

She walked back toward her room, pausing at the door. Her amber eyes met Jason’s one last time.

"Next time," she said, "just ask."

Then she disappeared inside, closing the door behind her.

Jason sat frozen in his chair, Kaelen’s yellow eyes still watching him, Helga’s dark eyes still judging him.

He had survived but barely.

"What the fuck did she mean by that?"