Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 123: Episode : What the Predators would do for her.
"Is that all?"
Roxy stared at Zarek, blinking rapidly. She looked at the Dragon King, then at the others. They weren’t looking at her with annoyance or exhaustion. It was almost as if they were looking at her as if she had grown a second head.
But seriously, girl, I would also look at you that way.
A wave of relief washed over her.
"Yes," Roxy breathed, clutching the bottle of vanilla extract to her chest like it was the Holy Grail. "Yes! That’s all! Milk, eggs, ice. That’s the mission. If you get those, we can make frozen happiness."
"Consider it done," Torian announced, adjusting his silk collar. He looked at the window. It was pitch black outside. A blizzard was howling. "We will return before the moon hits its zenith."
They didn’t say goodbye. There was no time for sentiment. This was an emergency operation. The door slammed shut. The balcony doors rattled as Zarek launched himself into the night sky.
Suddenly, the cabin was quiet.
Roxy stood in the middle of the room, clutching the vanilla. The silence was heavy, but for the first time in twenty-four hours, it wasn’t suffocating.
"Mama?"
A small, sleepy voice drifted from the doorway.
Roxy turned. Drax was standing there, rubbing his eyes, holding his stuffed wolf by the leg. Behind him, the triplets, Axel, Onyx, and Iris, were waddling forward, sleepily.
"Dada gone?" Axel asked, yawning wide enough to show his little canines.
"Yes," Roxy whispered, her heart softening. The frantic energy of the craving was starting to ebb, leaving behind a heavy, warm exhaustion. "Dada gone to hunt for... for the magic cream."
"Cream?" Iris perked up.
"Come here," Roxy murmured.
She retreated to the bed, her chaotic nest of towels and shredded robes. She climbed in, and the children followed instantly. They were like heat-seeking missiles.
Axel curled up against her. Onyx sat by her feet, resting his head on her ankle. Iris crawled right onto Roxy’s chest, listening to her heartbeat. Drax wedged himself under her arm, sighing contentedly.
Roxy lay back, staring at the ceiling. Her hand rested absently on the small swell of her stomach.
"Just a few minutes," she whispered to the empty room. "I’ll just rest my eyes until they come back with the ingredients."
Her eyelids felt like weights. The scent of vanilla from the open bottle on the nightstand drifted over her, lulling her into a deep, sugar-dreaming trance.
Outside, the Beast World was waking up to a nightmare.
Usually, winter nights were quiet. Predators slept, conserving warmth. Prey hid in burrows. But tonight, the Kings were hunting.
In the West Valley, a herd of Horned Cows was sleeping peacefully in their barn. They were massive beasts, known for their temper and their razor-sharp horns. Even wolves usually avoided them.
The barn door exploded inward.
The Alpha Bull snorted, scrambling to his feet, ready to charge the intruder.
He froze.
Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the moonlight reflecting off the snow, was Kaelen. The Wolf King wasn’t in his beast form, but his aura was terrifying. He was panting, his hair wild, his eyes glowing with a maniacal need.
"I come for the juice!" Kaelen barked, pointing a finger at the terrified herd.
The Bull mooed in confusion. Juice?
"The milk!" Kaelen corrected himself, realizing he sounded insane. He grabbed a metal bucket he had brought from the cabin. "The creamy kind! Who has the best fat content? Step forward!"
The cows huddled together, trembling. They had expected to be eaten. Being interrogated about their fat content was infinitely more confusing.
"Fine! I will check you all!" Kaelen roared. He didn’t kill them. He moved through the herd like a whirlwind, expertly (and surprisingly gently) milking the most terrified cows in history.
The cows screamed.
Dying would have been way better than facing this humiliation.
Miles away, on the jagged peaks of the Razor Mountains, a different terror was unfolding.
The Eagles were the lords of the air. Their nests were built on vertical cliffs, inaccessible to flightless beasts.
That was an insult to Zarek.
Zarek appeared on a narrow ledge, directly in front of a massive eagle nest. The mother eagle, a bird with a twenty-foot wingspan, shrieked, fluffing her feathers to protect her clutch.
"Silence," Zarek commanded, smoke curling out of his nostrils. His white robes whipped in the wind. "I am not here for war! I am here for trade!"
The eagle blinked.
Zarek released a basketful of small fish into the nest.
He breathed with pride. "In exchange, I require your unfertilized eggs! The freshest ones! Do not give me the ones with beaks inside! I need the yolk!"
The eagle stared at the fish. Then at Zarek. Then at the fish again.
She used her beak to nudge three large, speckled eggs toward him. She didn’t know what had gotten over the Dragon King, but it was better to do this trade than lose her life.
"Excellent business!" Zarek declared. He scooped up the eggs, wrapping them delicately in his claw. "You have served the Dragon King well! Enjoy your meal."
He vanished, leaving a very confused eagle staring at a pile of fish.
Torian, on the other hand, went to find ice in the glaciers. But Roxy was picky. She didn’t just want frozen water. She wanted clean ice.
He knew the perfect cave, but he had to claw through a resistance before he could get it. Despite the biting cold that seeped through his claws, Torian was able to get into the cave, and he was happy.
The ice in here was ice that had been frozen for a thousand years, untouched by dust or dirt.
"Perfect," Torian growled.
He didn’t chip it. He slammed his massive claws into the glacier, cracking a chunk the size of a carriage.
He lifted it effortlessly. It was heavy, cold, and pure. And pushed it into a cabin.
He turned toward the cabin. It was overkill. and ridiculous. But it was for her.
They all met at the front door of the cabin.
Kaelen arrived first, covered in straw and smelling distinctly of barnyard, but triumphantly holding two buckets of frothing, high-fat milk.
Torian appeared a second later. His hair was windblown, and he looked pale as if he was about to freeze the next second.
Zarek landed on the diary with a heavy thud, depositing the eggs into a small patch of grass gently.
Syris slithered up the steps, shifting back to human form, holding a bouquet of mint leaves.
They looked at each other. They were panting. They were disheveled. They looked ridiculous.
But they were triumphant.
They opened the front door quietly, trying not to make too much noise, but unable to hide their excitement. They marched through the living room, thinking of how much happiness Roxy would show them.
They reached the bedroom door. It was slightly ajar.
"Roxy?" Torian called out softly, pushing the door open with his elbow. "We have returned! We have the ingredients! Prepare the..."
His voice died in his throat.
The four men crowded into the doorway, their arms full of ingredients, their faces ready to receive the praise and adoration of their Luna.
But the room was silent.
The fire had burned down to glowing embers, casting a soft, orange light over the bed.
Roxy was there. But she wasn’t waiting for them. She was fast asleep.
She was buried under a pile of children. Axel was drooling on her shoulder. Drax was snoring softly into her ribs. Onyx was using her ankle as a pillow. And Iris was sprawled across her chest, rising and falling with Roxy’s deep, rhythmic breaths.
Roxy’s mouth was slightly open. Her hair was fanned out on the towels. The bottle of vanilla was still clutched loosely in one hand, but she had clearly lost the battle against exhaustion hours ago.
The four Kings stood in the doorway, frozen. They looked at the sleeping pile and then looked at each other.
