Chapter 117: Drafty Nether Regions

The climb began as a physical challenge. It quickly evolved into a psychological torture session.

The higher they climbed, the more the temperature plummeted. The air grew thin and sharp, biting at Ren’s exposed fingers and toes with invisible, icy teeth. The wind picked up, swirling around the massive trunk, whistling a mournful tune that sounded suspiciously like a funeral dirge.

Ren clung to the rough bark like a barnacle. Her knuckles were white, her fingers numb.

Every indentation in the tree was a battle. Vex, being a tall, agile beastman, had carved these handholds for his own stride. For Ren, who was significantly more vertically challenged, the gap between steps was a canyon.

“Hhhngh!” Ren grunted, trying to reach the next foothold.

She had to stretch. She had to really, really stretch.

She placed her foot on a knot in the wood and hauled herself up, forcing her legs into a near-split just to bridge the distance.

As she did, the heavy fur coat—her only shield against the world—flared open at the back.

Ren froze.

She could feel the cold night air rushing in, swirling aggressively around her bare legs and caressing the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. It was a draft that went straight to her core.

But the cold was the least of her worries.

She was painfully, agonizingly aware of who was climbing directly beneath her.

Vex wasn’t saying a word. The forest below was silent. But Ren could feel his gaze. It felt like a physical touch, heavy and hot, burning a path right between her legs.

’Oh god,’ Ren screamed internally, her face flushing so hot it could have melted the frost on the bark. ’I am basically giving him a gynecological exam from ten feet away! He can see everything! I am flashing the Fox Shaman my entire soul!’

She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, wishing she could dissolve into the bark.

“Don’t look!” she squeaked down, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and mortification.

“I am focusing on my climbing, Little Rose,” Vex replied smoothly from the darkness below. His voice sounded a little… strained. A little thick.

Ren didn’t believe him. Not for a second.

She scrambled for the next hold, her foot slipping on a patch of slick moss.

Scritch-slide.

“AH!”

Her heart stopped. Gravity grabbed her ankle, trying to yank her down into the abyss.

For a terrifying second, she dangled by three fingers and one toe.

“Got you.”

A warm hand pressed firmly against the sole of her foot, pushing it back onto the ledge. Vex was right there. His reflexes were god-tier.

Ren gasped for air, hugging the tree trunk, her cheek pressed against the rough wood.

“Don’t look down,” she whispered to herself. “Do not look down.”

She looked down.

It was a mistake. The forest floor was gone. It was just a gaping maw of blackness, a swallowing void where monsters lurked. The trees that had seemed so tall from the ground now looked like broccoli spears far below.

The vertigo hit her like a sledgehammer. The world spun.

’I’m going to die,’ she thought, tears pricking her eyes. ’I’m going to fall, splat on the ground, and Syris is going to find my naked pancake body in the morning.’

She needed to move. She needed to climb faster to end this nightmare of exposure and height. But her legs were shaking so hard they felt like jelly.

’Focus, Ren!’

She squeezed her eyes shut again. She put Kael at the forefront of her mind.

’Kael is up there. He’s hurt. He’s dying. If I don’t get there, he becomes a shadow monster.’

Then she thought of Syris. Syris, who was sleeping peacefully by the fire, unaware that his wife had snuck off into the night to meet up with a fox.

’I have to survive. For my beast husbands.’

Ren used those thoughts like fuel. She gritted her teeth, steeled her resolve, and gathered every ounce of bravery she possessed.

“Okay. One, two, move.”

She reached up. She stretched her legs wide—ignoring the breeze, ignoring the gaze, ignoring the shame—and climbed.

Hand over hand. Foot over foot.

The platform appeared above her like the gates of heaven.

With a final, desperate heave, Ren hauled herself over the edge of the wooden deck.

She didn’t stand up. She collapsed.

Ren flopped onto the smooth wooden floor of the treehouse, rolling instantly into a ball and pulling the massive fur coat tight around her shivering body like a cocoon.

“I did it,” she wheezed, her eyes closed, her chest heaving. “I’m alive.”

She lay there for a moment, letting the adrenaline bleed out of her system.

Ding!

[System Notification: Congratulations! You have reached the summit! Also, Alert: The Fox Shaman’s “Excitement Meter” has reached Critical Mass. Apparently, the view from below was 5-Stars. Expect turbulence!]

Ren’s eyes shot open.

A hand grabbed the ledge.

Vex pulled himself up onto the platform in one fluid, athletic motion. He didn’t look tired. He didn’t look winded from the climb.

But he looked… affected.

He stood up, the moonlight washing over his naked form.

A noticeable dust of red covered his usually pale cheeks. His chest was heaving slightly, his breath coming in short, sharp exhales. His orange eyes were dark, dilated, and fixed on her huddled form with a hunger that was palpable.

And then Ren looked down.

He was painfully, undeniably erect. His member stood at full attention, hard and throbbing against the cool night air.

It caught the light.

Ren’s eyes widened as she saw a distinct sparkle—a drop of pre-cum glistening like a diamond on the tip of his erection, reflecting the moonlight perfectly.

Ren gulped audibly, clutching the coat tighter around her neck.

She looked at the evidence of his arousal, then back at the terrifying drop off the edge of the platform.

She thought back to his ass and balls swinging in the wind earlier.

’I don’t know,’ she thought frantically. ’Was climbing ahead of him really the lesser evil?’

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