Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan

The snake guards slithered away down the dark corridor, leaving Ren and Altair standing alone in front of the massive obsidian door that led into Syris’ nest.

Ren stepped up to the imposing entrance. She raised her small fist and tried to knock politely, but the solid volcanic stone was incredibly hard, and her knuckles barely produced a dull, muffled thump.

She leaned her face close to the cold stone. "Syris?" Ren called out in a quiet, hesitant tone.

She was acutely aware that the Snake King was currently in a terrible, brooding mood, and the absolute last thing she wanted to do was upset him further by being loud and obnoxious. She waited a few seconds, but there was no answer. She wondered if he was already asleep.

[System: Host, snakes are not exactly known for their excellent hearing. Unless you plan on headbutting the door, you need to call a lot louder.]

Unfortunately, Altair did not share Ren’s cautious, polite patience.

Before Ren could even raise her hand to knock again, the golden eagle leaned forward. Using his head, he unceremoniously shoved the heavy obsidian door.

With a deep, grinding scrape of stone on stone, the heavy door easily nudged inward, leaving a gap wide enough for a person to slip through.

Ren’s green eyes widened. "Altair!" she whisper-scolded, waving her hands frantically at him. "You can’t just barge into a someone’s bedroom like that!"

A deep, irritated groan echoed from the pitch-black interior of the room.

Ren instantly froze. She held her breath, her heart hammering against her ribs. She stood perfectly still, listening closely. There was the distinct sound of furs shuffling against stone, and then... complete silence.

It was quiet again.

It didn’t seem like the Snake King had fully woken up or realized the door had actually been opened.

Ren let out a small sigh of relief. She turned back to the giant bird.

"Okay, I am going in," Ren whispered quieter than before, pointing a strict finger at the stone floor. "You need to stay out here. Syris isn’t in a good enough mood to meet you right now. Do not wander around. Just sit."

Altair blinked his silver eyes slowly, then obediently tucked his massive wings and sat down right by the door frame.

Ren smiled brightly at him. She gave him two enthusiastic thumbs-up, mouthed a silent ’okay’, and carefully slipped her small body through the narrow opening Altair had made.

The second she stepped inside the nest, the atmosphere drastically changed. It was pitch black and incredibly, overwhelmingly cold. Even through the indestructible silk dress, Ren could somewhat feel the sharp, nipping chill of the room raising goosebumps on her bare arms.

She rubbed her arms, squinting into the darkness as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the incredibly low light.

Just as the faint, blurry outlines of the stone furniture began to materialize in her vision, a tall shadow suddenly lunged at her.

SLAM!

Ren was violently shoved backward. Her spine collided hard against the heavy obsidian door, forcefully slamming it completely shut. An incredibly strong hand clamped tightly around her neck, completely knocking the breath straight out of her lungs.

Ren’s eyes went wide with pure, unadulterated terror, but she forcefully bit her tongue, swallowing her scream. She was deeply frightened, but if she screamed, Altair would instantly barge through the door.

Pinned against the stone, Ren finally got a look at her attacker.

It was Syris, but he looked completely bizarre. The Snake King was heavily covered from head to toe in thick layers of shed snakeskin and furs. Even his beautiful face was entirely wrapped up like a prehistoric mummy.

Because Ren had generously applied the System’s scent-masking spray earlier, Syris couldn’t smell her scent. Plunged into the freezing darkness of his room, he was acting on pure instinct. He had sensed the sudden, warm shift in temperature entering his territory and attacked the intruder.

"S-Syris!" Ren choked out, her hands desperately gripping his thick, wrapped forearm. "It’s me!"

Even though her voice sounded incredibly strained and breathless under his tightening grip, the Snake King recognized it instantly.

Syris flinched violently. He immediately withdrew his hand from her throat as if he had just been burned.

"Ren?!" Syris gasped, taking a step backward. "I am sorry! I didn’t know it was you!"

Completely ashamed of his reaction, Syris immediately turned around. The Snake King trudged across the freezing room, slumping miserably back onto the massive pile of thick furs covering his large stone bed.

Ren leaned against the door, gently rubbing her throat and coughing lightly to clear her airway.

"No ’good to see you’?" Ren teased gently, her voice raspy as she walked toward the bed. "No ’I missed you, my precious mate’? No welcome back kiss?"

She stopped at the edge of the stone bed, her brows furrowing in deep confusion as she looked down at the sulking King. "Why are you dressed like that? Are you really that cold?"

Ren climbed up onto the massive fur bed and sat down right beside his bundled-up form. She reached out with her small hand, fully intending to pull the ridiculous snakeskin wrap away from his face so she could look at him.

But Syris’ lightning-fast reflexes caught her wrist mid-air, gently but firmly keeping her hand away.

Ren frowned. "Syris, let me go. I want to see your face."

Syris immediately reached up with his other hand, entirely blocking her path. "You cannot see me," he told her, his deep, velvety voice muffled and profoundly sad through the thick wraps. "I am ugly right now."

Ren stared at the bundled-up snake beastman, thinking he was being absolutely ridiculous.

"Ugly?" Ren scoffed, raising an eyebrow. "Are you covered in bumps? Warts? Did you break out in a nasty swamp rash?"

"No," Syris answered miserably.

"Then you are just fine for me to see," Ren argued, trying to yank her wrist free.

But Syris was completely adamant, holding her hands securely away from his covered face.

Ren let out an exasperated sigh.

To her, Syris was undeniably her prettiest husband. He possessed delicate, glowing, ethereally pale skin, breathtakingly beautiful amethyst eyes, and incredibly silky, long black hair. His features were soft and gentle, like that of a young woman.

His beauty was just so entirely effortless. She would literally kill to look half as pretty as him. Even with a thorough, ten-step Korean skincare routine, she couldn’t look a quarter as perfect as the Snake King naturally did!

Ren was incredibly stubborn. If he thought he was going to hide from her for three days, he was dead wrong. She was absolutely not going to leave him alone.

"Take it off!" Ren demanded.

With a sudden burst of energy, Ren tackled him into the bed.

Syris let out a muffled shout of surprise as Ren crawled on top of him. They spun and twisted wildly across the mountain of furs.

Syris was desperately trying to hold the snakeskin wrap tightly over his head, using his strength to block her, while simultaneously trying to be incredibly gentle so he wouldn’t accidentally crush his tiny mate.

Ren was an absolute menace, flailing her limbs, grabbing at his robes, and using her entire body weight to pin his arms down as they rolled over the stone bed.

Eventually, the chaotic tumbling came to a halt with Ren straddling him, breathing heavily. She was sitting completely on top of him.

As she shifted her weight to catch her breath, she suddenly froze.

Pressing insistently against her butt, right through the thick layers of his snakeskin robe, she could distinctly feel the thick, rigid length of his twin swords.

Ren smirked in the dark. A wicked, incredibly devious idea rapidly blossomed in her brain.

No matter what species they were, all men shared the exact same, easily exploitable weakness.

Instead of reaching for his masked face again, Ren deliberately shifted her hips downward. She settled herself directly over his throbbing erection and slowly, deliberately began to grind her hips against him in a circular motion.

Ren instantly bit her bottom lip to trap a moan. The sensation was absolutely electrifying. Even through the thick snakeskin robe, she could feel the distinct, swollen ridge of one of his hemipenes perfectly aligning with her cunt, rubbing an exquisite friction directly against her sensitive clit with every rotation of her hips.

"Ren..." Syris released a deep, trembling moan, his entire body shuddering beneath her.

His iron-clad defense completely shattered. Driven purely by overwhelming lust, Syris’ hands immediately slipped from her wrists, traveling frantically down her waist to grip her hips.

His long fingers dug into her soft flesh as he forcefully bucked his own hips upward, moving her to grind against his twin swords significantly harder and faster.

The blistering heat rapidly pooling between her thighs was intoxicating, threatening to pull her under. But Ren refused to allow herself to get lost in the overwhelming pleasure just yet.

She was on a mission.

Capitalizing perfectly on his lust-drunk distraction, Ren reached forward with lightning speed, and forcefully yanked the thick snakeskin wrap completely off of his face.