Chapter 301: Get It Together, Chef

Exactly as she had expected, Vex was standing there, casually leaning against the thick trunk of a massive mushroom tree. He had that usual, infuriatingly handsome, smug trickster smile plastered across his face.

Somehow, Ren wasn’t the least bit surprised to see him. Of course, Vex could effortlessly sneak into the castle of the Snake King.

Ren crossed her arms, glaring at the towering beastman. “What do you want now, Vex?”

Vex’s orange eyes gleamed with a dark, predatory light. “You.”

Ren rolled her eyes. “Are you insane? You are standing in the middle of Syris’s garden. One scream from me, and you’d be done for.”

Vex pushed off the tree trunk and sauntered slowly over to her. “Oh?” Vex purred, his deep voice dropping an octave as he stopped mere inches from her. “I want to make you scream.”

Ren hated this beastman to the core of her being. But despite all of her justified hatred, she simply couldn’t help the overwhelming effect his words and his presence had on her body. Her heart was instantly hammering a frantic rhythm in her chest, the beats growing harder and faster the closer he got to her.

Vex tilted his head. “Are you cooking something?”

Ren lifted her chin, responding defensively. “What if I am?”

“I want some of it,” Vex demanded smoothly.

Ren let out a dry, incredulous laugh, huffing a breath of disbelief. “Why in the world would I give you any of my food?!”

Vex simply smirked. He began to slowly circle her, stalking around her small frame like a predator evaluating its prey. His three fluffy orange tails swished lazily behind him in deep amusement, occasionally brushing tantalizingly against the bare skin of her calves.

“I seem to recall…” Vex hummed, stepping right back in front of her. “You promised to pay me in daily meals for using my den in the tree as your home. And now, you are even building a village in front of it! It is the least you can do, right? There is no way I can return to my peaceful home now. Because of you, I am homeless.”

Ren clenched her fists tightly at her sides. Damn it. She did agree to pay him with meals.

“Fine,” Ren gritted through her teeth, glaring up at him. “I’ll share my food with you.”

Vex smiled. He reached out with his long, elegant fingers and gently tipped her chin up so she was forced to stare directly into his mesmerizing eyes.

“Thank you, my secret lover,” Vex murmured softly.

Ren’s face instantly flushed a brilliant red. She slapped his hand away from her chin. “I am not your secret lover!” she argued hotly.

Vex hummed thoughtfully, rubbing his slapped hand. “You are right. It is actually me who is your secret lover.”

Ren opened her mouth to argue but before she could, Vex swiftly pushed a shelled walnut directly into her mouth. He held the smooth nut firmly between his index finger and thumb, slipping his digits right between her parted pink lips and brushing intimately against her wet tongue.

“I can hear your stomach growling,” Vex told her softly. “You should eat something before cooking.”

Vex slowly withdrew his fingers from her mouth. He paused, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together, feeling the slick, warm coat of her saliva that coated his skin.

“I will be waiting for you right here in this garden,” Vex told her, his gaze dropping to her lips.

Ren chewed the crunchy walnut and swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry. “What if I just tell Syris you are hiding out here?” she challenged.

“You won’t,” Vex stated with unwavering confidence.

Ren narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?”

In a flash of movement, Vex invaded her personal space. Before she could even attempt to take a step back, his strong arm wrapped securely around her waist, yanking her forward until her soft body crashed flush against his muscular frame.

His face dipped down, his warm lips brushing lightly against her own trembling lips as he spoke.

“Because you want me exactly as much as I want you,” Vex whispered, his hot breath fanning across her mouth. He chuckled softly, a deep sound in his chest as he pressed her body tighter into his. “And of course, because you do not want to see me dead.”

Ren gasped. Pressed flush against his groin, she could feel the length of his arousal pressing insistently right into her stomach through the thin emerald silk of her dress.

One of Vex’s hands slid smoothly down her lower back. He firmly grabbed a generous handful of her soft ass cheek, groping and squeezing the plush flesh.

“Am I wrong?” Vex asked, his voice dripping with dark arrogance.

Ren’s entire body trembled. “Y-You are wrong,” Ren stuttered out, trying to push against his chest. “You should let go of me right now, or I swear I’ll scream.”

Vex wasn’t the least bit fazed by the empty threat.

His hand left her ass cheek, sliding brazenly up her ribcage to firmly grope her left breast. He kneaded the soft flesh perfectly into his palm, his thumb easily finding and flicking her hardened nipple through the silk.

Vex stared deep into her green eyes. For a fleeting second, the smug trickster completely vanished, replaced by a moment of raw sincerity in his gaze.

“If you really aren’t into me,” Vex asked softly, feeling her pulse beneath his palm, “why is your heart racing so fast for me?”

Ren aggressively bit her bottom lip. She refused to admit that she had even a single shred of romantic or sexual feelings for this fox! She hated him! He was a manipulative monster!

But as she looked up into his beautiful, sincere eyes, Ren realized she didn’t have the guts to look him directly in the face and say that she hated him. Because deep down, in the darkest, most confusing depths of her traitorous heart, she knew it was a lie.

So, instead of confessing, she bargained.

“I’ll keep you being here a secret,” Ren breathed, her chest rising and falling against his hand, “if you tell me how to get Kael’s beast form back.”

A flash of disappointment struck Vex’s eyes, but it hurt disappeared almost as fast as it had come. Vex finally dropped his hands from her breast and waist, taking a step backward.

“We can talk about the tiger over dinner later,” Vex told her smoothly, turning on his heel.

Ren released a shuddering breath she didn’t even know she was holding the second he disappeared. Her knees wobbled precariously. She could still feel the phantom touch of his hands kneading her breast and squeezing her butt.

Ren clutched her chest, feeling the erratic hammering of her own traitorous heart beneath her ribs.

“Get it together, chef,” Ren muttered to herself, desperately trying to fan the intense heat from her flushed face.

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