Chapter 15: The Midnight Snack Attack

The “structural integrity test” was going well. Very well.

Kael was warm, eager, and intense. His lips were busy on Ren’s neck, and his hands moved over her ribs with a possessiveness that left Ren’s mind hazy.

“Kael,” Ren gasped, her fingers tangling in his white hair. “Wait. The door. We didn’t put a lock on the door.”

“No one enters,” Kael murmured against her skin, his voice rough with heat. “They fear me. I am the Alpha. If they interrupt, I eat them.”

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

A noise came from the new wooden door. It wasn’t a knock, but the frantic scratching of claws digging into the wood.

Kael froze.

Ren froze.

Sniff. Sniff. Whine.

“Is that…” Ren whispered. “Is someone sniffing the doorframe?”

Kael pulled back. His pupils were wide now, not with desire, but with a dangerous kind of annoyance. A low growl rumbled in his chest.

“I am going to kill something,” Kael stated calmly. “I am going to peel it, and you will cook it.”

He stood up and tried to fix his loincloth, which was barely staying in place. Then he marched to the door and threw it open.

“WHAT?!” Kael roared into the night.

Standing on the porch were five Grey Wolf Beastmen.

They looked worn out. Their fur cloaks were matted, their ears were torn, and they seemed like they hadn’t slept in days. But all their eyes focused on one thing:

The pile of pork rib bones Ren had tossed out the window earlier.

The leader, a wolf with a missing ear, looked up at Kael. He didn’t look terrified. He looked desperate.

“The smell,” the Wolf Leader rasped, drool visibly dripping from his jowls. “The sweet meat. We smelled it from the valley.”

“It is gone,” Kael snarled. “Leave. Or I make you into a rug.”

“Please,” the Wolf whined, sounding just like a desperate dog. “We are the Grey Wolf Scout Pack. We have not eaten in three days. The prey has moved south. We smell the magic bones.”

Ren peeked out from behind Kael’s massive back. “Did he say magic bones?”

The Wolf Leader saw Ren. His tail gave a traitorous little wag.

“Female!” The Wolf dropped to his knees. “The Fire-Cooker! Give us the bones! We don’t need the meat! Just the bones! We will gnaw them! We will polish them!”

Ren stared at the five grown men who were begging for trash.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Ren sighed. She walked past Kael, frying pan in hand. “Kael, stand down. They’re starving.”

“They are Wolves!” Kael argued. “They are fleas with legs! They are interrupting us!”

“They’re hungry dogs, Kael.” Ren looked at the Wolf Leader. “What’s your name?”

“Bark,” the Wolf said.

Ren blinked. “Your name is Bark?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, Bark. Here’s the deal.” Ren pointed the spatula at him. “I don’t give away free food. Not even bones. You want a snack? You work for it.”

Bark’s ears perked up. “Work? We hunt! We track! We fetch!”

“Fetch?” Ren’s eyes lit up.

She glanced at the thick, overgrown clearing around her new cabin. She needed a garden, a fence, and someone to dig latrines, because she was not going to keep using the woods.

“I need a perimeter fence,” Ren decided. “Dig holes. Place posts. Keep the wild boars out of my future garden.”

Bark looked at his pack. They looked at the rib bones.

“Deal!” Bark yelped.

One Hour Later

Kael sat on the porch steps, sulking. He was carving a piece of wood with his claws, glaring daggers at the wolves.

The romantic mood was gone, completely ruined by the smell of wet dog.

Ren was in her makeshift kitchen—a flat rock near the fire—boiling the leftover rib bones in a clay pot to make broth. She added some wild onions and yam ends.

Outside, the Wolves worked with wild energy. They dug holes faster than any machine, sending dirt flying everywhere.

“Good boy!” Ren called out as Bark placed a post perfectly upright. “Who’s a good boy? Bark is!”

Bark’s tail wagged so hard his whole body shook. “I am a good boy!”

Kael snapped the stick he was holding in half.

“You are praising the enemy,” Kael growled as Ren walked by to stir the pot.

“I’m just managing the workers,” Ren said, kissing the top of Kael’s white hair. “Don’t be jealous. You’re still the Alpha. They’re only the landscapers.”

Kael leaned into her touch despite himself. “They smell. And they are looking at your legs.”

“They are looking at the soup, Kael.”

Ren ladled the hot bone broth into five wooden bowls she had hastily carved (badly).

“Break time!” she yelled.

The Wolves dropped their tools and scrambled to the porch. They sat in a neat row, panting, eyes wide.

Ren set the bowls down.

Slurp. Slurp. Slurp.

The noise was amazing. In seconds, the bowls were spotless. Bark looked like he was in heaven.

“Warm,” Bark whispered, clutching his stomach. “The hunger pain… it stopped.”

He looked at Ren with pure admiration. He crawled forward and, before Kael could stop him, pressed his forehead to Ren’s boot.

“Pack Leader,” Bark declared. “We pledge loyalty to the Fire-Cooker.”

“Whoa, hold on,” Ren said, stepping back. “I’m not a Pack Leader. I’m just a cook. And I already have a tiger.”

Kael stood up, looming over the wolf. “She has a tiger. And the tiger is losing patience.”

Bark didn’t back down. He looked at Kael.

“Alpha Tiger,” Bark said seriously. “Your female makes the ’Soup’. It gives strength. The Grey Wolf Clan is starving. The ’Shadow Beasts’ have taken our hunting grounds.”

The air suddenly went cold.

Kael’s eyes narrowed. “Shadow Beasts? In the North Valley?”

Bark nodded grimly. “They are corrupted. Black blood. Red eyes. They do not eat to live; they kill to destroy. We ran. Many died.”

Ren felt a chill. “Shadow Beasts? Like… zombies?”

“Feral Ones,” Kael corrected, his voice grave. “Beasts who lost their minds to the Curse completely. They group together. They are a plague.”

He looked at Ren.

“If the Shadow Beasts are moving South… they will come for the smell of your food.”

Ren looked at her frying pan. Then she looked at her half-finished fence.

“So,” Ren said slowly, “I’m basically attracting every monster within a hundred miles?”

“Yes,” Kael confirmed.

Ren pinched the bridge of her nose. “Great. This is just perfect. I wanted to open a restaurant, not build a fortress.”

She looked at the five wolves.

“Bark,” Ren said firmly. “How many wolves are in your clan?”

“Fifty,” Bark said. “Strong fighters. But weak from hunger.”

Ren looked at Kael.

“We need an army,” Ren said. “We’ve got five tigers and fifty hungry wolves. Kael, let’s put them to work.”

Kael looked revolted. “We do not ally with dogs.”

“We do if we don’t want to get eaten by zombies,” Ren said. “I’ll cook. I’ll fix their hunger. You can lead them.”

She turned to Bark.

“Go get your pack and bring them here. I’ll make a stew that’ll put hair on your chests. In return, you fight for me.”

Bark howled—a long, piercing sound of victory. “For the Soup! For the Alpha Female!”

The wolves sprinted off into the darkness to fetch their kin.

Kael stood on the porch, watching them go. He wrapped his arms around Ren from behind, pulling her back against his chest.

“You’re dangerous,” Kael whispered. “You’re building a pack with soup.”

“It’s called soft power, darling,” Ren said, leaning her head back on his shoulder. “Now, are we going to finish that structural integrity test, or is something else going to interrupt us?”

Kael kicked the door shut with his foot.

“No more talking,” Kael growled, lifting her up. “The Wolves are gone. The door is shut.”

He walked her toward the pile of furs in the corner.

“And I’m still very, very hungry.”

[System Notification: Alliance Formed – Grey Wolf Clan (Mercenaries). Threat Level Rising: Shadow Horde detected. Days until arrival: 7.][Quest Updated: Build a Wall. Feed an Army. Survive.]

Ren sighed as Kael kissed her neck.

’Seven days to save the world,’ she thought as her eyes closed. ’I’m going to need a bigger wok.’

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