Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 362: Episode 360: Feeding Roxy

A/N: Welcome to a New Month! Expect mass releases from today to 3rd April <3

Roxy carefully placed them back into the wooden box and snapped the brass latch shut.

She rested her trembling hand over the Kitsune crest, her mind racing with the impossible, terrifying implications of Ren’s final message. A trickster always leaves a backdoor open.

What do you mean Ren?

She took a slow, shuddering breath, the faint, desperate spark of hope warring with the absolute, crushing exhaustion in her bones. She looked up at the towering Dragon Alpha still kneeling beside the mattress.

"Zaza," Roxy whispered, her raspy voice completely shattering the heavy silence of the master bedroom. She swallowed hard against the dry, aching lump in her throat. "I’m hungry."

It was a simple, biological admission, but to the King, it was the equivalent of a divine miracle. Zarek’s golden eyes widened, a massive, shuddering breath of profound relief escaping his chest.

The Matriarch’s core was demanding sustenance; she was choosing to survive.

And as if the doors of the royal suite had actual eyes, or, more accurately, as if the hyper-vigilant, terrified pack had been standing mere inches from the wood with their superhuman hearing entirely focused on her every breath, the doors immediately, softly creaked open.

A magnificent, chaotic procession of absolute domestic devotion flooded into the room.

Kaelen led the charge. He wore an apron. In his massive hands, he carried a sprawling silver tray laden with Roxy’s absolute favorite meals. Directly behind him walked teenage Drax, as he carefully balanced a steaming, cast-iron tureen of rich, golden winter broth.

Even little Iris had been enlisted. She trotted in right beside the towering drake, her beautiful violet eyes wide and incredibly hopeful as she carried a delicate porcelain plate piled high with sweet, honey-glazed pastries.

"Make way, make way!" Onyx whispered loudly, bounding into the room. The twin boys, Axel and Onyx, flanked the procession, their matching blue eyes shining with determined twin energy as they hauled heavy woven baskets overflowing with exotic, vibrant Beastworld fruits, bright purple star-figs and incredibly sweet, heavy golden melons.

The fuck? Who was going to finish all these?

Bringing up the rear were Syris and Torian. The Snake King and the White Tiger were expertly, seamlessly rolling in one of the sleek, highly advanced folding tables that had been part of the ’gods’ divine delivery the day before.

The Alpha Kings moved, transforming the foot of the bed into a five-star dining experience within seconds.

Syris and Torian locked the wheels of the modern table into place, providing the perfect, sturdy surface for the children and Kaelen to begin unloading the feast. Kaelen set the massive silver tray down, his icy blue eyes completely focused on the culinary presentation.

Torian immediately stepped forward, his broad chest puffing out slightly as he ignited the portable burner for the hotpot.

Within moments, the rich, intoxicating aroma of slow-cooked venison ribs glazed in crushed berries, and the spicy, bubbling scent of the hotpot filled with thinly sliced marbled meat and fresh root vegetables, permeated the heavy air of the bedroom. It was a feast fit for a goddess, prepared by the most lethal predators on the continent.

Roxy sat against the pillows, clutching little Fedor to her chest, her brilliant green eyes sweeping over the mountain of food and the desperate, exhausted, and incredibly hopeful faces of her family.

They were trying so hard. They had lost their brother-in-arms, but they were pouring every single ounce of their remaining, shattered souls into fixing her.

But the grief sitting heavily on Roxy’s chest was an impenetrable, suffocating wall. Looking at the empty space beside Torian where a certain red-haired trickster should have been standing, eagerly trying to steal a pastry from Iris’s plate, made her stomach violently twist into a sick, agonizing knot.

"I appreciate this, guys," Roxy murmured, her voice thick and cracking. She looked down at the pristine white sheets. "I really do. But... I don’t have the appetite right now."

The effect of her words was absolutely instantaneous and entirely devastating.

The warm, bustling energy in the master bedroom completely plummeted. The temperature seemed to drop to absolute zero. Kaelen’s broad shoulders immediately slumped, his icy blue eyes dropping to the floor in profound defeat.

Torian’s hand froze over the hotpot burner. Little Iris’s lower lip wobbled dangerously, her violet eyes welling with unshed tears as she looked down at the pastries she had carried so carefully.

They couldn’t soothe the Matriarch.

A heavy, oppressive silence fell over the room. No one dared to speak. No one moved.

And then, cutting perfectly through the thick, tragic tension, came a sound.

It was a massive, feral, and incredibly hollow rumble. The sound originated directly from Roxy’s stomach, echoing off the stone walls of the royal suite with the volume of an earthquake.

The absolute, paralyzing silence that followed the rumble was deafening.

Every single blue, golden, and green eye in the room slowly, simultaneously shifted from the floor directly to Roxy’s midsection.

Roxy froze, a massive, blistering flush of pure heat creeping rapidly up her neck and instantly covering her pale cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut, her soul curling into a tight ball of sheer mortification.

Fuck, Roxy swore viciously in her own mind. That was so incredibly embarrassing. Before the Alphas could recover from the comedic whiplash of her biological betrayal, Dena practically threw herself forward from the shadows of the doorway.

"Oh! Let me take the young prince, my Queen," the wolf-shifter helper offered quickly, eager to break the awkward tension. "So that you can eat comfortably without spilling broth on him."

Dena reached out, her hands gently wrapping around the emerald-green blankets bundling the newborn Fox heir.

But as Dena attempted to lift the infant away from Roxy’s chest, a tiny, terrifyingly fast movement occurred.

Fedor’s tiny, pale hand shot out from beneath the wool. With a speed and a desperate, primal strength that completely defied his newborn status, his tiny fingers clamped directly onto the collar of Roxy’s silk sleeping robe.

"Oh my," Dena gasped in surprise, feeling the sheer, unyielding resistance.

As the young helper gently, carefully tried to pry the tiny, vice-like fingers from the silk to free the robe, Fedor’s fox ears instantly flattened flat against his messy red hair. The infant’s face scrunched up into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.

He opened his mouth and unleashed a frantic wail of absolute distress. He kicked his tiny legs, clinging to his mother’s robes as if Dena were trying to throw him into the abyss. He had already lost his father; He refused to be separated from Roxy for a second.

The sound of his screaming physically pierced Roxy’s heart.

"Dena, stop," Roxy commanded instantly, her maternal instincts violently overriding everything else. She swatted the helper’s hands away with a fierce, protective glare. "Let him be."

Dena quickly, fearfully complied, taking a massive step backward and bowing her head in apology.

Roxy immediately adjusted her posture, pulling the screaming, thrashing infant flush against her bare chest. "Shhh, it’s okay, Fedor. Mama is right here. I’m not going anywhere, my sweet boy. I’ve got you."

She gently guided him back to her breast. The moment he latched, the frantic, terrifying wails instantly ceased, replaced by a series of soft, greedy, and incredibly comforted whimpers. Fedor’s tiny, razor-sharp fingers remained firmly, permanently tangled in her silk collar, keeping her anchored to him.

Roxy let out a long, exhausted exhale, resting her chin gently against the top of his vibrant red hair. "I will just hold him."

Seeing that the crisis had been averted and the Queen was relatively settled, Torian stepped up to the edge of the mattress. The massive White Tiger grabbed the edges of the sleek, divine-gifted table.

With a smooth, effortless push, Torian rolled the table directly forward.

The modern design of the gadget was an absolute godsend. The base of the table slid perfectly beneath the elevated frame of the bed, while the tabletop hovered flawlessly right over Roxy’s lap.

It bridged the gap entirely, bringing the steaming hotpot, the glazed ribs, and the exotic fruits directly to her fingertips without putting a single ounce of pressure on her recovering core or the feeding infant.

It was as if the ’gods’ had specifically, mathematically foreseen this exact, chaotic scenario when they dropped the packages from the sky.

Roxy looked down at the feast hovering inches from her chest.

The steam from the golden winter broth wafted up, carrying the rich, savory scent of slow-cooked marrow and winter garlic directly into her nasal passages. The honey-glazed venison ribs practically glistened under the warm light of the chandeliers.

Her body, which had been pushed to the brink, demanded fuel. The grief was still there, a massive, bleeding hole in her chest, but the sheer, primal instinct to survive for her newborn son roared to life.

Roxy licked her dry, cracked lips. A low, completely unfiltered groan of sheer, absolute hunger escaped her throat.

She reached out with her free hand, her trembling fingers wrapping securely around the handle of a polished silver spoon. She dipped it deep into the heavy cast-iron tureen, scooping up a massive, fragrant portion of Kaelen’s winter broth and perfectly diced root vegetables.

She lifted the spoon, her mouth watering, absolutely prepared to devour the entire feast like a starving wolf.

But as she brought the silver spoon toward her lips, Roxy suddenly froze.

She slowly lowered the broth back toward the bowl. She lifted her brilliant green eyes, looking past the steaming hotpot.

Standing rigidly around the perimeter of the bed, forming an absolute, impenetrable wall of heavily armed, fiercely protective muscle, were Zarek, Torian, Kaelen, Syris, Caspian, Drax, and the children.

They were all standing perfectly still, their hands clasped behind their backs or hanging uselessly at their sides, watching her with bated breath.

None of them had moved to serve themselves.

Roxy let the silver spoon drop back into the tureen with a soft, metallic clink.

She shifted little Fedor slightly against her chest, her green eyes softening into a gaze of love as she looked at every single member of her beautiful pack.

"Aren’t you going to join me?"