Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 320: Episode 318: Just a normal family.

"I will think about it," Roxy smiled warmly.

She leaned comfortably against Caspian’s shoulder, offering the two visiting Matriarchs a gracious, appreciative nod. "A grand celebration for Tyara sounds wonderful, Lyra. But let us survive the first week of her completely feral appetite before we invite the entire continent back to the Manor. She might try to eat the guest list."

Lyra and Mara both let out bright, understanding laughs.

"Take all the time you need, Queen Roxy," Lyra murmured, offering a deep, elegant bow. "The Dragon Peaks will be ready to celebrate whenever you are."

"And the Pack will bring the finest roasted meats," Mara added, her eyes shining with affection. "Rest well, my Queen. King Caspian, it was an unexpected honor."

With final, respectful farewells exchanged, the two females swept out of the grand parlor. They gathered their respective broods of energetic wolf pups and rambunctious young dragons from the front courtyard, ushering them into the waiting carriages and taking to the skies.

The heavy, iron-wood front doors were pulled firmly shut by the Manor guards, sealing out the cool evening air.

Torian and Zarek, having finished physically tossing Regent Titus and escorting his innocent family out of the territory, strolled casually back into the grand parlor. Torian looked deeply satisfied and proud of his mate.

Zarek, however, looked entirely unbothered. The towering Dragon simply walked over to the wooden table, picked up his abandoned silver goblet of spiced wine, and took a long, relaxed sip.

The political tension had vanished. The Manor was quiet again. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Roxy slowly turned her head away from the doorway. Her dark curls whipped over her shoulder. She locked her green eyes dead onto the Dragon King currently lounging by the table.

The ambient temperature in the parlor seemed to plummet ten degrees.

"Zarek," Roxy said. Her voice was a deadly, vibrating, dangerously soft whisper that made the hair on the back of Torian’s neck stand straight up.

Zarek paused mid-sip. He lowered the silver goblet, his eyes blinking in genuine, entirely oblivious confusion.

"Yes, my Queen?" Zarek grumbled, his deep voice rumbling through his broad chest.

Roxy didn’t say another word. She closed the distance between them before Zarek even had the chance to set his wine down.

Without a single ounce of hesitation, Roxy drew her hand back and smacked the Dragon Alpha squarely in the center of his massive, iron-hard chest.

"Ow!" Zarek barked, more out of sheer shock than actual physical pain. He stumbled back a half-step, wine sloshing wildly over the rim of his goblet. "Roxy, what in the blazing pits—?!"

"How could you?!" Roxy shrieked, unleashing the full, unadulterated weight of her fury. She didn’t stop with one hit. She launched a relentless, comical barrage of slaps, punches, and furious shoves against his broad shoulders and thick biceps. "You are the king! You are supposed to guard this pack! And you just sat there on the sofa drinking wine while a Tiger punched Caspian in the face?!"

"Roxy, wait!" Zarek grunted, frantically trying to backtrack away from her swarming fists. He was a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound apex predator with impenetrable scales, so her soft, human fists were doing absolutely zero physical damage, but he was entirely terrified of her wrath. He raised his massive hands, desperately trying to catch her wrists without bruising her delicate skin. "He told Titus to do it! The fish literally invited the punch!"

"I don’t care what he said!" Roxy roared, successfully dodging Zarek’s massive hands to deliver a stinging slap to his thick forearm. "Caspian is mortal now! He is exactly like me! He has fragile human bones, Zarek! Titus could have broken his jaw, he could have shattered his cheekbone, and you just sat there and watched!"

"He caught the second punch!" Zarek tried to defend himself, his draconic pride flaring as he backed into the heavy wooden table. "I knew he could handle himself! I was teaching the arrogant sea-snake a lesson about Surface politics! Roxy, listen to me—"

"I am not listening to you!" Roxy snapped, grabbing the thick collar of his dark tunic and shaking the massive warlord as hard as she physically could. "You let him bleed! Bad dragon! Terrible, awful, overgrown lizard!"

Sitting safely on the plush velvet sofa, Caspian applied the last of the cooling blue balm to his bruised cheek.

He pressed his lips together, desperately fighting the urge to smile. Having the fierce, terrifying Queen of the Iron-Wood physically defend his honor was the greatest, most incredibly validating experience of his newly mortal life. He looked entirely too smug.

Before Zarek could formulate another desperate excuse, the back doors of the Manor swung wide open.

"Alright, boots off in the mudroom!" Kaelen’s authoritative voice echoed from the hallway. "Do not track dirt onto your mother’s clean rugs!"

The Wolf Alpha strode into the parlor, entirely unaware of the domestic violence currently taking place. Right behind him marched the younger generation of the Iron-Wood. Drax, Axel, Onyx, and Iris filed into the room, their faces flushed and sweaty from an intense, hours-long play session in the backyard.

The children stopped dead in their tracks.

They stared wide-eyed at the center of the room. Roxy was currently hanging off Zarek’s massive bicep, furiously scolding him while repeatedly smacking his shoulder, her dark curls flying wildly.

Zarek was frantically trying to defend himself, looking completely flustered and trapped against the table.

For a normal human family, walking in on their mother physically attacking their father would be a cause for deep psychological alarm.

But these were Beastworld children. They operated on a completely different set of pack dynamics.

Onyx’s wolf eyes instantly lit up like literal fireworks. The pup dropped into a fighting stance, a massive, feral grin spreading across his face.

"Are we fighting Papa Zarek?!" Onyx barked, vibrating with sheer, unadulterated energy.

"Attack!" Axel yelled at the top of his lungs.

Pure chaos erupted in the grand parlor.

The children didn’t hesitate. They swarmed the Dragon Alpha like a pack of highly coordinated, feral hunting hounds. Axel launched himself across the rugs, diving low and wrapping his thick, sturdy arms directly around Zarek’s right knee, biting down playfully on the leather of his boot. Onyx tackled his left leg, successfully anchoring the massive warlord to the floorboards.

"What in the—get these pups off me!" Zarek roared, his eyes widening in absolute horror as the wolf twins completely immobilized his lower half.

Drax, despite being a teenager and the self-appointed general of the nursery, completely abandoned his stoic discipline; he shrugged.

This would be his only chance to get his hands on his father.

The dragon-shifter let out a booming laugh, charging forward and throwing his arms around Zarek’s thick neck in a secure, wrestling headlock, using his developing draconic weight to pull his father downward.

Even little Iris joined the fray. The sweet, innocent wolf pup giggled furiously, running up and aggressively throwing her worn stuffed rabbit directly at Zarek’s face. It bounced harmlessly off his nose.

Roxy stepped back, panting heavily, her chest heaving as she watched the sheer, absolute madness unfolding before her.

Zarek was groaning loudly, completely buried under a mountain of energetic, biting, wrestling children, desperately trying not to crush any of them while simultaneously enduring Drax’s chokehold and the twins’ relentless ankle-biting.

Roxy pushed a stray, sweat-dampened curl out of her face. She took a deep, shuddering breath, intending to call the children off now that her point had been thoroughly made.

But then, she heard it.

A distinct, arrogant snicker. Followed by a deep, chest-rattling chuckle.

Roxy slowly turned her head.

Standing near the stone fireplace, Torian was grinning so widely his sharp white fangs were completely exposed. Beside him, Ren was leaning casually against the wall, laughing entirely out loud from behind his elegant hand.

Syris had an incredibly rare, highly amused smirk plastered across his pale features. Kaelen was chuckling softly by the doorway, shaking his head at the chaos, and Caspian was sitting on the sofa, absolutely beaming with smug satisfaction.

They were all watching Zarek get beaten up by his own family, and they found it entirely unapologetically hilarious.

Roxy’s breath hitched. Her green eyes narrowed into lethal, terrifying slits as she locked onto the five highly entertained Alpha Kings.

The laughter died in Torian’s throat. Ren’s vibrant green eyes suddenly widened in sheer panic. Syris instantly dropped his smirk.

Roxy cracked her knuckles, the sharp sound echoing over the children’s joyful shouting. She took a slow, deliberate step toward the fireplace.

"You have the urge to laugh?" Roxy hissed, her voice dripping with absolute zero menace. She raised a single, commanding finger and pointed it directly at the floorboards at her feet. "Come here!"