Chapter 67: Episode 67: A way to melt Kae’s Anger.

“UGHHHHH!!”

Roxy groaned the moment her eyes snapped open to take in the sunlight leaking from the window. Waking up felt less like rising from slumber and more like being resurrected.

She tried to sit up, only for her to hiss in pain.

“Mother of…” she fell back onto the pillow as a sharp bolt of pain shot through her hips and her lower back.

Someone should remind me never to choose Zarek again.

She pressed her lips into a thin line.

But I kinda loved it…

The memory of the sensations she felt yesterday could never be erased from her mind; it was the best she had ever had.

But her body felt like it had been snapped into two, rearranged, and then glued back together slightly to the left.

“Zarek! You overgrown, fire-breathing stamina monster! I hope you step on shit!” she cursed in a quiet voice at the ceiling, her voice raspy.

She shifted her legs gingerly. Everything was sore. Her inner thighs felt like they had been scrubbed with sandpaper. Her lips felt swollen.

“Ma!”

“Oof!” Roxy groaned as thirty pounds of dense, dragon-toddler mass landed directly on her solar plexus.

Drax straddled her stomach, beaming down at her with wide, golden eyes. He was clutching a wooden block in one hand and a half-eaten strip of jerky in the other.

“Ma up!” Drax commanded, bouncing once for emphasis. His hands were outstretched!

“Drax, honey,” Roxy wheezed, patting his leg weakly. “Please. Mama’s hips are currently out of order. Get off.”

“Play!” Drax insisted, raising the wooden block to her face.

Just as Roxy prepared to accept her fate as a climbing gym, a pair of large, calloused hands reached down.

Kaelen lifted Drax effortlessly by the back of his tunic. He didn’t say a word. He just plucked the toddler off Roxy like he was removing a tick and set him on the floor.

“Let her rest, Drax,” Kaelen ordered, his voice flat.

Drax pouted, but he obeyed the Wolf King, scuttling away to his corner.

Roxy let out a sigh of relief, looking up at Kaelen with a grateful smile. “Thanks, Wolfy. I feel like I got hit by a truck.”

Kaelen didn’t even look at her.

He turned and walked to the pups’ crib. He scooped up two pups in one arm and the third in the other, handling them with ease, but without his usual cooing.

It almost looked like he was frowning.

[TheSassyGoddess whispers into your ears, asking what you did to the poor guy?]

I don’t fucking know mehn, did I do something in my sleep?

He walked back to the bed and deposited the triplets next to Roxy. Then he turned on his heel and walked to the stove.

Without saying a damn word.

Roxy blinked. She propped herself up on her elbows, ignoring the protest of her muscles. The sudden drop in temperature in the room had nothing to do with the weather.

“Kaelen?” she called out.

He didn’t answer. The only sound was the clack-clack-clack of his knife chopping vegetables on the wooden board. He was chopping with a little more force than necessary.

“Okay,” Roxy whispered to herself, pulling the nursing blanket over her chest as Axel and Onyx immediately began to fight over the left breast. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

She nursed the babies in silence. Iris waited patiently for her turn, watching Roxy with an unnerving intelligence. Sometimes, Roxy used to ask herself what exactly her baby was thinking.

Kaelen returned a moment later with a wooden tray. He set it down on the bedside table.

It was breakfast. Perfectly seared steak, cut into bite-sized pieces, a mound of scrambled eggs with herbs, and a cup of the expensive milk tea Roxy loved.

He was taking care of her. He was feeding her. But he was acting like a butler serving a stranger.

“Eat,” Kaelen commanded, staring at the wall. “You need strength.”

“Kaelen, look at me,” Roxy said softly, reaching out to touch his wrist.

He flinched. It was subtle, a minute tightening of his forearm muscles, but she felt it. He pulled his hand away before she could make contact.

“I must check the perimeter,” Kaelen said stiffly. “Vorn reports movement near the southern ridge.”

“Wait,” Roxy said, her heart sinking. She looked around the cabin. “Where is Zarek? Did he leave already?”

Kaelen froze. His back was to her, but she saw his shoulders rise as he took a deep, sharp breath.

Slowly, he turned his head. His icy blue eyes finally met hers, and the raw, bleeding hurt in them knocked the air out of her lungs.

Damn, he was really sulking. What exactly happened?

“Zarek,” Kaelen repeated, the name tasting like ash in his mouth. “Always Zarek. You wake, and you ask for the Dragon. You bleed, and you call for the Dragon. You sleep…” his voice cracked, “…and you dream of the Dragon.”

“Kaelen, that’s not—”

“He is gone,” Kaelen cut her off, his voice dropping to a dull monotone. “He flew to the Peaks. He has something to do there and left you in my care. But do not ask me to be him.”

He turned and walked out the door. The heavy Iron-Wood slab slammed shut behind him with a loud thud that made the triplets jump and lose their latch.

Roxy sat there, stunned, a piece of steak halfway to her mouth.

“Oh,” she whispered.

[Host, you may have… slapped him in your sleep. Metaphorically and literally.]

“I did?” Roxy asked, horrified.

Why didn’t you fucking tell me that before?!!!

[System Playback: 04:00 AM. Subject Kaelen attempted affection. The host slapped Subject Kaelen and called him ’Z’. Ouch rating: 10/10.]

Shit!

Roxy groaned, letting her head thud back against the headboard. “I’m an idiot. I’m a terrible wife.”

She looked at the food Kaelen had made. Even in his anger, even in his heartbreak, he had cut the steak for her because he knew her hands would be tired from holding the babies. He had made her tea.

Guilt, heavy and suffocating, settled in her chest.

“I need to fix this,” Roxy decided, swallowing the lump in her throat.

She finished feeding the pups, burped them, and laid them back in the crib with a kiss for each fuzzy head. They drifted off into a milk-drunk sleep almost instantly.

Roxy dragged herself out of bed.

“Okay,” she muttered, pacing the small kitchen area. “How do I apologize to a Wolf King who thinks he’s second best?”

She could offer sex. That usually worked. But… no. That felt cheap. He didn’t just want her body; he wanted to know she saw him. He wanted affection.

Wolves were simple creatures, but Kaelen was complex. He valued service. He valued the Pack. He valued food.

“Food,” Roxy snapped her fingers. “Not just food. Comfort food. Something that takes time. Something that says, ’I spent three hours standing over a hot stove because you are worth it.’”

She opened the system shop.

She scrolled past the raw meats and the instant meals. She needed something hearty. Something crispy. Something that screamed love and clogged arteries.

Fried Chicken.

Not just fried chicken. Southern-style, buttermilk-soaked, double-dredged, crispy-skin fried chicken. With mashed potatoes and gravy.

It was a meal she hadn’t made since Earth. It was messy. It was time-consuming. And wolves loved bird meat. It was a delicacy here because catching birds required effort; they usually didn’t expend when a deer was easier.

“System,” Roxy commanded. “I need flour. The good stuff. I need paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, and black pepper. I need buttermilk. And a vat of oil.”

[Transaction Complete. Items added to Inventory.]

That was fast.

Roxy lined up the ingredients on the table. She had the spices. She had the bread. She had the oil. Drax followed her and watched out of curiosity, yet he didn’t touch.

But there was one problem.

She scrolled through the fresh meat section.

[Item: Mystery Bird Meat (Frozen) – 50 LP]

[Item: Ostrich Leg – 500 LP]

[Item: Dragon-Hawk Breast – 1000 LP]

Roxy frowned. “Mystery meat? Absolutely not. He deserves the best.”

She needed a chicken. A real, fat, juicy chicken. Or at least a pheasant. Something fresh. She looked out the window. Kaelen was by the fence, aggressively sharpening a spear. He looked miserable.

And her heart ached at the sight.

Roxy tied her robe tightly. She grabbed a basket, gave Drax a cute forehead kiss. “Watch over your brothers and sisters, okay?”

Drax giggled, finally feeling useful, “Ma, out?”

Roxy nodded her head, “I am going to make something delicious for the familyyyy!” Drax cheered! His eyes gleamed with hunger from the mention of food.

“Drax guard dogs!” he vowed, and Roxy giggled.

“Good boy.” After showering him with kisses and sitting him on the bed, she walked out onto the porch.

Kaelen didn’t look up, but his ears twitched. He knew she was there.

“Kaelen,” Roxy called out.

He stopped sharpening, but he didn’t turn

Roxy walked down the steps and stopped a few feet away from him.

“I’m making dinner tonight,” she announced.

Roxy stepped closer, resting her hand on his chest, right over his heart. Kaelen let her. She leaned up and kissed his cheek, the same cheek she had slapped in her sleep.

“I want to make a very delicious meal for you, Kaelen. Just for us. But I need the main ingredient.”

She looked around the Iron-Wood forest, not noticing the smile that had bloomed on Kaelen’s face.

Finally, she needs me….

“So, tell me, Wolfy,” Roxy asked, her eyes twinkling with a challenge. “Are there any chickens around?”

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