Chapter 69: Episode 69: Cornered by Syris

Roxy’s finger hovered over the ’NO’.

Logic screamed at her to walk away. She had four babies at home waiting for her. She had a wolf king who was already insecure and a Dragon King who incinerated problems first and asked questions never.

Bringing home a stray dog was one thing, but bringing a half-dead serpent prince with ruptured venom sacs was going to bring disaster.

“No,” she whispered to herself. “Absolutely not. I am not running a house for dangerous mythological creatures.”

Even though I gave birth to two.

[TheSassyGoddess says you might as well enjoy two dicks at the same time.]

Roxy shivered at the thought.

She began to lower her hand, ready to grab her basket of chickens and sprint back to the safety of Kaelen’s arms.

But then, Syris let out a broken whimper. His massive tail gave a weak twitch of agonizing pain; he was pathetic and was dying alone on the grass.

Roxy felt pity for him.

It was an annoying, persistent feeling that made it physically painful for her to ignore his suffering.

“Dammit,” Roxy cursed, squeezing her eyes shut. “Damn this bleeding heart. Damn the system. And damn you, Slither-Boy.”

She jabbed the middle finger into the air.

[ YES ]

[Quest Accepted: The Serpent’s Salvation.]

[Reward: Unknown.]

[Consequences: Likely headache-inducing.]

“I’m just going to patch him up,” Roxy breathed aloud to the empty forest. “Stabilize him, leave him just one chicken, and bail. I am not taking him home.”

She dropped to her knees in the grass, ignoring the ache in her knees and the dirt on her skirt. She opened her inventory and pulled out her [Medical Kit – Tier 3].

“Okay, buddy, let’s see the damage,” she muttered, pulling on latex gloves.

Up close, the wounds were horrific. The scales on his flank were shredded, exposing raw flesh and broken ribs underneath. The blue bioluminescent blood was everywhere, pulsing weakly from a deep gash that looked suspiciously like a tiger’s claw mark.

Was he fighting with a tiger?

“System, I need the coagulation powder and a regenerative pill.”

She worked quickly, her hands steady despite her racing heart. She poured some of the powder into the open wound. The bleeding stopped instantly, the blue liquid turning into a thick, gel-like scab.

She put on other areas, especially on his lower-body snake part.

Next, the small pill that she thought she would never use. She raised it and looked at the snake man with a complicated gaze.

She leaned, “Open up,” Roxy commanded, pinching his jaw.

He didn’t react, and his jaw was locked tight, clearly unconscious. So Roxy had no choice but to do this instead.

She pried his mouth open, noting the sharp retractable fangs, and shoved the pill down his throat, massaging his neck until a reflex kicked in and made him swallow.

There was nowhere in hell she was going to give mouth-to-mouth to a reptile.

It took seconds for the raw flesh to knit itself together. New, vibrant emerald scales covered the newly formed skin. Within a minute, the mortal wound was nothing but a faint scar against the green.

“Okay,” Roxy breathed, peeling off her gloves and tossing them in the bushes. “That’s my good deed for the decade. I’m out.”

She stood up, grabbed the handle of her chicken basket, and turned to leave.

She took one step. But before she could even take one step, something cold and heavy clamped around her legs, and before Roxy could even scream, the ground rushed up to meet her, but she didn’t hit the grass.

She landed on something firm and cold.

Roxy gasped, the air knocked out of her lungs. She found herself pinned against the very creature she had just saved.

His arms were smooth and cool, wrapped around her waist, locking her against him. She looked up, ready to unleash a torrent of verbal abuse.

But the words died in her throat the moment her eyes met his open ones.

They were mesmerizing. Up close, they weren’t just neon green; they were multifaceted jewels, swirling with shades of toxic lime, emerald, and a deep, abyssal black slit pupil. They were alien, devoid of any human warmth, yet utterly captivating.

[TheSassyGoddess clicks her tongue, saying This is the kind of man she would like to ride.]

His curly, long seaweed hair closed around his face.

He was devastatingly beautiful.

A straight, aristocratic nose, and pale lips that were slowly curving into a smile that was somehow both beautiful and deeply unsettling.

For a moment, Roxy forgot to breathe. She forgot the chickens. She forgot her husband’s. She just stared, entranced by this cold, glittering predator.

Syris smiled wider, showing the tips of those needle-sharp fangs.

Then, his tongue flicked out.

It wasn’t a human tongue. It was long, dark, and forked. It slid out quickly, grazing against Roxy’s cheek, tasting the sweat and fear on her skin. It was cold and wet, a shocking violation of her personal space.

The trance shattered.

“GAH! Gross!” Roxy shrieked, disgust etched on her expression.

She began to thrash, pushing against his cold chest, kicking her legs against the massive coils of his tail.

“Let me go! Get off me, you overgrown garden hose!”

Her struggles only made it worse. The tail tightened instantly, squeezing her legs together until her knees ground against each other. His arms constricted around her waist like iron bands, squeezing the breath from her.

He drew her closer until their noses were almost touching. His breath smelled faintly of fruits and raw meat.

“If you keep moving, little bird,” Syris whispered, his voice a sibilant hiss that vibrated against her chest, “I might decide to skip the pleasantries and swallow you whole right now. It is much easier to eat something that is not wiggling.”

The threat, the sheer, arrogant audacity of it, snapped something in Roxy. The fear evaporated, replaced by the fiery indignation of a woman who had just wasted expensive medical supplies on an ingrate.

She stopped thrashing. She glared right into those terrifying green eyes.

“Are you serious right now?” Roxy snapped. “Eat me? I just saved your miserable, scaly life, you asshole! You were bleeding out five minutes ago!”

Syris blinked.

He looked down at himself. He saw the remnants of the blue blood on the leaves, but his side… his side was whole. He took a deep breath, a breath that should have been impossible with his collapsed lung. There was no pain.

This tiny, noisy, warm-blooded creature had brought him back from the brink of death.

The shock of it made his grip slacken. His tail loosened just enough.

That was all Roxy needed.

She shoved herself away from his chest, coughing as air rushed back into her lungs. She didn’t wait for an apology. She grabbed the chicken basket, spun around, and bolted.

“Nope. Nope. Nope,” she chanted, sprinting through the reeds. She was not going to end up as snake chow. Not today.

She ran hard, adrenaline fueling her muscles, the edge of the forest and safety just a hundred yards away.

But Roxy was human. And Syris was a Serpent Prince.

Something massive hit her from behind, wrapping around her waist and lifting her off her feet before she could take another step.

“Put me down!” Roxy screamed, kicking at the air.

The world spun again. This time, she was slammed against the rough bark of a large Iron-Wood tree.

The massive emerald tail coiled around her body and the tree trunk, pinning her arms to her sides, cocooning her so completely she couldn’t move an inch. Her feet dangled uselessly above the ground.

The chicken basket fell, spilling four confused, squawking hens that immediately scattered into the bush. There went dinner.

Roxy glared up as Syris slithered up the tree trunk, his human torso looming over her. He braced his hands on the bark on either side of her head, trapping her completely.

Those neon eyes were no longer confused. They were glittering with a dark, terrifying amusement. He leaned in close, his forked tongue flicking out to taste the air near her ear.

“You run fast for something so small,” he mused, his voice dropping to a low, intimate rumble that sent shivers down her spine, shivers that felt disturbingly familiar.

“Let me go,” Roxy demanded, though her voice shook. “I have two mates. They will tear you apart if I’m not back soon.”

Syris chuckled. It was a dry, rasping sound deep in his throat.

“The wolf is loud. And simple,” Syris leaned closer until his cold lips brushed against the shell of her ear. “They do not know how to touch you in the dark.”

Roxy froze. Her heart stopped.

“What?” she whispered.

Syris pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. His expression was possessive, knowing, and deeply unsettling.

“Did you think it was a dream, little bird?” he hissed softly, his gaze dropping to her lips. “Have you forgotten the way I made you writhe in your sleep several times?”

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