After making sure the Quadbear was settled, I mulled over what to do with the slime and spider. Monster Mage was itching for its next experiment, and so was I. Hexara might be a jackpot, but I wouldn't know until I had more data. At the very least, he could be a stud for future projects. But for now, experiment one was still ongoing. Chief question—how fast would the newborns be combat-ready?
Shyara's thoughts buzzed in my head. The outside world already knew a new species had been born. What was once a "maybe" was now a certainty. They were coming. Soon.
I was headed back to my room when Nyla ambushed me. No warning—just a full tackle to the ground.
Her eyes burned with a cocktail of anger, jealousy, and hurt. She pressed her nose to me, sniffing hard, a low growl rumbling in her chest.
Shit. I knew exactly where this was going.
"Nyla…?" I tried to keep the panic out of my voice.
The growl deepened. Through the bond, bitterness hit me like a wave—followed by the wet splash of a tear on my cheek.
"Why?" Her voice cracked with grief and fury. "Why do you smell so heavily of another female?"
I forced a smile I didn't feel. "Uh… I live with a few females, so—"
"You think I'm stupid?" Her voice was sharp, feral. I'd never heard her like this before.
"We talked about this," I said, trying to sit up. She shoved me back down, pressing her breasts to my chest, tails coiling around my legs. Her breath was warm at my ear, her tone sliding into a dangerous purr.
"Yes… but another female's scent overpowering mine? That's unforgivable."
She nipped my ear. My skin crawled—and not entirely in a bad way. This woman was a psycho. A hot psycho.
"Okay, yeah, I might have slept with Shyara, but that's it—"
Nyla's claws traced the scar on my chest—the one she'd given me. "When I did this… I thought you'd never accept me again. I was right. Things aren't like before." Her claws dug deeper.
"Lala—"
"Shhh. This scar is my shame. But it also marks you as mine."
My patience snapped. "No, Nyla. You belong to me, not the other way around."
Her tails flicked in delight, but her eyes still glimmered with challenge.
"Mmm… no. You're mine."
I grabbed her middle tail harder than I meant to. She yipped and collapsed onto my chest.
"You seem confused," I said, massaging the tail. "You're my possession. My weapon. My tool. Whatever I need you to be." My voice came out colder than I expected. "If I smell of other women, so what? That's my business. Your job is to be dripping with my scent, and only mine."
"Master, I would never—" she gasped, writhing.
The system pinged. Affection +20%. Status: Charmed (Major), Agitated, Aroused.
Holy shit. Is she a masochist?
"I can't… take anymore! Master, please—"
"Quiet. This soothes me. You'll put up with it."
She shuddered beneath me, breath ragged, until she finally collapsed in a trembling heap, lost in her own mess.
I stood, pulse still pounding, and walked toward the hall. Through the bond, I felt her satisfaction and submission… for now. But my heart was hammering. That was… scary.
I reached out to all three girls. Meet me at the cave entrance. We have things to discuss.
"Sure, sure," Shyara's voice rang back, tinged with jealousy and a very loud 'punish me too, Daddy.'
Yuki's response was ice cold—so cold I think I actually shivered.
Nyla whimpered that she needed a moment. I ordered her to move. Footsteps followed.
Good. Time to establish who's boss. War was coming, and if the troops didn't know who led, we'd break before the first real battle. That meant starting with my three closest allies.
Didn't help that I was probably in love with two of them and soul-bound to the third.
I sighed. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. In anime, the harem protagonist always had it easy.
"Anime's a scam," I muttered, heading for the entrance.