Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 58: Episode : A House full of Kids.

Kaelen rushed forward, looking ready to snatch his children away. "You are not eating them; they are family."

Drax looked at the Wolf King. He tilted his head, his nostrils flaring. "Dog man."

"I am Kaelen," the Wolf King snarled, trying to look dignified while guarding a crib from a toddler. "I am... your step-father."

Zarek let out a snort of derision from the doorway.

Drax looked back at the crib. The black female puppy yawned, showing tiny, pink gums. Drax seemed fascinated. He reached in, not to poke, but to touch the soft fur.

"Soft," Drax whispered.

Then, his eyes narrowed. He frowned. He touched the puppy’s ear. It was cold compared to his dragon skin.

"Cold," Drax stated. "Puppy cold."

He looked at Roxy, concerned. "Ma? Puppy, cold." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"They’re okay, baby," Roxy explained. "They just need blankets. They aren’t fire dragons like you."

Drax didn’t seem convinced. He looked at the shivering puppies. A look of intense concentration crossed his face. He took a deep breath, his little chest expanding.

"No, Drax, wait—" Roxy started.

Drax opened his mouth and exhaled.

It wasn’t a stream of fire; he was too young for that, but it was a thick billow of black smoke mixed with sparks. He blew it directly into the crib, covering the triplets in a warm, smoky cloud.

Turning their faces black.

"FIRE!" Kaelen screamed, diving for the crib. "HE IS COOKING THEM!"

"He’s warming them!" Roxy shouted, grabbing Kaelen by the belt before he could tackle the toddler. "It’s smoke! Just smoke!"

The smoke cleared.

The triplets weren’t cooked. They were... sneezing.

The silver puppy shook his head, looking offended. But they didn’t feel cold again, but they were annoyed that their body had turned dirty.

Roxy leaned in to pick up the boy. "Speaking of which, we hadn’t named the triplets," she mumbled.

Drax looked at Kaelen, beaming proudly. "Warm!"

Kaelen stopped. He looked at the pups, who were now settling down, snuggling into the warmth Drax had provided. He looked at the dragon toddler, who was clapping his hands.

The Wolf King’s shoulders slumped. He looked at Roxy, his expression painted in surprise. He didn’t expect the little dragon to help.

"He... he helped?" Kaelen asked, sounding confused.

"He’s a big brother," Roxy smiled, ruffling Drax’s hair. "Just like how his mother is always available to help whenever it’s needed."

Zarek walked over, looking at the smoke-filled crib. He smirked.

"Good form," Zarek praised his son. "Next time, aim for the tail. It burns faster."

"ZAREK!" Roxy slapped his arm.

"What?" Zarek shrugged. "I am teaching him."

Drax reached into the crib again. This time, the black puppy nipped his finger.

Drax pulled his hand back, eyes wide. Then he laughed. "Bite!" Drax cheered. "Puppy bite!"

For a child who had just been bitten, he was enjoying it. Other children would have come and cried to their mother, but Drax’s eyes were twinkling like stars.

As if he were given a new toy.

"Okay, that’s enough cannibalism for one day," Roxy declared, scooping Drax up. "Who wants peaches? Zarek brought a whole sack."

She said, placing one of the pups back into the crib.

"Peach!" Drax cheered.

As Roxy carried him toward the table, she looked back.

Kaelen was leaning over the crib, checking the pups for burn marks, but he was also... smiling. Just a little.

Zarek was watching Kaelen with suspicion, but his hand was resting on the crib’s edge, as if guarding it alongside the Wolf.

***

If Roxy had to describe her life right now in one word, it would be: Loud. Extremely loud, the kind of loud that always calls for an earplug.

"No! No fire!" Kaelen’s voice boomed.

"He has to learn!" Zarek’s voice roared back. "He must learn to breathe fire, that is how we do things!"

"He is biting the table!"

"He is teething! It is natural!"

Roxy lay in bed staring at the wooden ceiling with dark circles around her eyes. It was 6:00 AM. At least that was what the system showed her. She had slept for approximately forty-five minutes in the last twenty-four hours.

Every time she tried to sleep at night, one of the pups would cry for food, and she had to feed them.

Beside her, in the [Rocking Bassinet - Tier 3], the triplets were finally asleep.

Well, two of them were.

The silver boy and the black boy were piled on top of each other like wrestling puppies who had passed out mid-fight. But the girl, the smallest one with the violet eyes, was wide awake.

She was staring at Roxy through the bars of the crib, as if she were trying to know everything about her mother.

Roxy felt closer to her daughter than her sons. It was as if she were a mirror to him.

"You," Roxy whispered to her daughter. "You are the quiet one. You are my favorite. Don’t tell your brothers."

The girl gurgled.

Something wooden shattered in the main room.

"Drax!" Kaelen yelled.

"Good hit, son!" Zarek cheered.

Roxy closed her eyes. "Ugh! Can’t someone just get some fucking sleep in here? No one told me about how chaotic it was to be a mother!"

Take me back to when I had no kids. I would shut my eyes to baby fever during ovulation.

She dragged herself out of bed. Her body was healing fast thanks to the [Phoenix Vial], but the mental exhaustion of managing a blended family of apex predators was taking its toll.

She walked into the main room. It was chaos.

Drax, her toddler dragon, was currently hanging from one of the ceiling rafters by his tail, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. He was giggling maniacally.

She never knew this child could be this active.

Below him, Kaelen was jumping up, trying to catch him.

"Come down, Little Prince!" Kaelen pleaded. "You will fall! You have no wings yet!"

Zarek was sitting at the table, peeling a peach with his claws, looking incredibly unbothered.

More like he didn’t give a fuck about what happened.

"He has scales, Wolf," Zarek said dismissively. "If he falls, he bounces. It builds character."

"He is still a child!" Kaelen snapped.

"ENOUGH!" Roxy shouted.

The room froze. Drax stopped swinging. Kaelen turned. Zarek stopped peeling.

They all looked at her.

"Good morning, my Queen," Zarek smiled charmingly, offering her a slice of peach. "You look... rested."

"Rested my foot, my head is aching," Roxy corrected, snatching the peach slice. "Drax, get down. Now."

Drax pouted, but he released his tail grip and dropped. Kaelen dove to catch him, but Zarek just held out a hand, and Drax landed perfectly in his palm.

"Show-off," Roxy muttered.

She walked over to the table and sat down. "Okay. Family meeting. We need to establish ground rules. And names. We have three nameless puppies in that room, and I am tired of calling them Thing 1, Thing 2, and The Princess."

Kaelen sat down instantly, his eyes lighting up. "Anything you name them, my Queen..."

Roxy didn’t need to think much; these names have been burned inside her head since she saw her babies in her arms.

"Axel, Onyx, and Iris," Roxy announced. She waited for them to say something, but Kaelen’s eyes lit up.

"I love it," he exclaimed, and Roxy nodded her head. Pleased.

"Of course you would! Now, onto the rules!"