Chapter 206: A Different Kind of Wood

Ren turned to Syris, her expression concerned.

“Syris,” she asked gently. “Can you stand?”

Syris narrowed his eyes. The mere suggestion that he—the Snake King, the ruler of the Swamp—was so badly wounded he couldn’t stand, was insulting.

He stood up immediately.

“I am fine,” Syris declared, standing tall and regal.

Internally, his body screamed. His ribs protested, his skin pulled tight over his healing wounds, and his head throbbed. But he kept his face a mask of cool, unbothered elegance. He would rather swallow a cactus than look weak in front of the Tiger.

“Good,” Ren nodded, buying the act.

She turned to Viper.

“Viper,” Ren commanded. “Drag the elk outside. We need space to butcher it. Try not to bruise the meat.”

“Okay!” Viper hissed, pulling with all his might.

Ren turned back to her husbands.

“I need help making a cooking station,” Ren announced. “Kael, I need wood. Good wood. Hardwood that burns slow and hot, not the sappy pine stuff that makes the meat taste like air freshener.”

Kael nodded solemnly. “I will find the best wood.”

He turned and marched out of the cave, looking determined.

“And Syris,” Ren said, looking at the pale King. “You are my sous-chef. I need a second pair of hands to prep the fire pit.”

Syris arched a brow. He had no idea what she just said. But he followed Ren out of the hollow entrance without complaint.

Outside, the sun was beginning its super slow descent, casting long golden shadows through the trees.

Ren scanned the area.

“Here,” she pointed to a patch of low grass near a cluster of tall, dense shrubs. “This is good for a fire.”

She dropped to her knees and started gathering kindling—dry twigs, dead leaves, and small branches.

Syris stood there, watching her work. He wasn’t doing much “helping,” she hadn’t given him anything to do.

Ren spotted a perfect, flat round stone at the base of a particularly large shrub. It would make a great cutting board or a base for her pot.

“Ooh, perfect,” Ren muttered.

She crawled forward on her hands and knees. The stone was wedged under a root, so she had to bend down low, sticking her bottom up in the air to get the leverage to pry it loose.

Syris’ amethyst eyes widened.

Kael had added a “back flap” to the leaf skirt, yes. But leaves are light. And gravity is cruel.

As Ren bent over, the leafy flap fluttered to the side, betraying its duty completely.

Syris could see everything.

He gulped. He could see the smooth curve of her butt cheeks and the exposed, pink softness of her lady parts nestled between her thighs.

The wind blew gently, ruffling the leaves.

’Is she…’ Syris wondered, his throat going dry. ’Is she presenting to me?’

He had planned on waiting until they returned to the Swamp.

But right now? Looking at that view?

Under his tattered robe, Syris’ body reacted instantly. His “twin swords”—the unique anatomical feature of his species—stood at rigid attention, throbbing with sudden, painful need.

Ren finally wiggled the stone loose. “Got it!”

She stood up, brushing dirt off her hands.

Before she could turn around, a wall of cool, solid muscle pressed against her back.

Ren froze.

Syris wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him. He pressed his groin firmly into her lower back.

Ren’s eyes widened. She could feel them. Distinctly.

Both of them.

Her face flushed a bright, atomic red.

’Oh no,’ Ren realized with dawning horror. ’The skirt. I was crawling on the ground. I must have been flashing him like a neon sign that read “Let’s Mate”!’

The leaf skirt was so breezy she hadn’t felt the draft.

“Syris,” Ren squeaked.

“You are wicked,” Syris purred in her ear. “Tempting me like that.”

He began to rub against her, a slow, rhythmic friction that made Ren’s knees weak.

“I…” Ren stammered. “I was reaching for a rock! It wasn’t a seduce pose! It was a leverage pose!”

“I want to mate,” Syris hummed.

He lowered his head, his lips brushing the sensitive skin of her neck.

His skin was always cool to the touch, a stark contrast to Kael’s furnace-like heat. When his cool lips met her warm pulse point, a shudder of pure electric pleasure ran up her spine.

“Mmm,” Ren accidentally let a sound slip.

She was weak to this.

The System had rewarded her with an increase in her endurance/stamina buff after her sessions with Kael, which meant her recovery rate was superhuman. Physically, she wasn’t tired.

But mentally? She was terrified.

’I cannot handle the twin swords right now!’ Ren panicked.

She never felt happier about the custody arrangements. Imagine if she had to do this back-to-back every day just to keep the peace? She would die. It would be death by snu-snu for sure.

“I can’t!” Ren gasped, trying to wiggle away, which only made the friction better. “Syris, stop! Wrong time! Wrong place!”

“Why?” Syris groaned, nipping at her earlobe. “The sun is up. The day is long. We have time.”

“It’s reckless!” Ren hissed. “Kael is just in the woods! He could come back any second!”

“He is far away,” Syris argued, his hand sliding up her stomach to cup her leaf-covered breast. “And his hearing isn’t as good as it used to be.”

“I am needy,” Syris whispered, his voice dropping to a vulnerable, desperate growl that tugged at her heartstrings. “I have waited so long. I will be quick. I promise.”

Ren wavered just a bit.

’He will be quick…’ she thought.

[System: Do it.]

The voice in her head was not the voice of reason. It was the voice of doom and bad decisions.

[System: It could be a fun, little quickie behind that giant bush. Live a little, Host. The risk makes it spicier.]

’You are a bad influence!’ Ren scolded. ’What about Viper? Viper is right over there!’

[System: Viper got the elk’s antlers stuck in a vine thicket. He will be busy disentangling that mess for at least twenty minutes. I calculate a 95% probability of privacy.]

Ren bit her bottom lip.

Syris was groping her chest now, his thumb teasing her nipple through the thick leaf. His forked tongue flicked out, tickling the shell of her ear, sending shivers down to her toes.

“Please,” Syris whispered sinfully.

Ren’s resolve crumbled like a stale cookie.

She turned around in his embrace.

She looked up into his lust-filled amethyst eyes. They were glowing, hypnotic, and filled with a hunger that matched her own rising heat.

Ren placed a finger on his cool lips.

“You have to be very quiet,” she whispered.

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