and the gems scattered across the floor like drops of blood.
Luna's eyes flashed, her golden tail lashing behind her. "That was the FIRST gift Theo ever gave me," she snarled, her delicate features contorting with a fury that made even the strongest males step back.
"You think you're powerful? The Beast God watches. And he doesn't forgive." Her voice dropped to a whisper that somehow cut deeper than her scream. "
Theo and Alo lunged forward, teeth bared, but she sliced her hand through the air between them. "Kindness," she hissed, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper that froze them mid-step, "is key." Her eyes locked onto her target, unblinking.
"Someone broke you once. Made you this way." A cruel smile ghosted across her lips. "The dress can be mended. You cannot." She turned her back on them. "We're leaving. Don't follow."
Back at the honey stall, Luna's shoulders dropped an inch. Her tail, which had been bristling, smoothed against her thigh. She Sniffled, blinking rapidly as she turned to Theo.
Her fingers trembled slightly as they hovered over the ripped dress. "The dress tore," she whispered, eyes downcast. "But I can make it pretty again."
Theo's heart ached with conflicting emotions. His mate finally found stood before him with tears threatening to spill. The dress meant nothing, but Luna's pain clawed at something primal inside him.
Rage at whoever upset her warred with the tenderness her watery blue eyes evoked. His hands trembled slightly as he leaned down and kissed her tears. "It's ok, Luna," he whispered, his voice rough with suppressed fury. "I'm alright. All I need is you."
Alo stood beside her, his massive frame tense as a drawn bowstring. His nostrils flared with each breath, drinking in the scent of the woman who had dared approach his mate. The muscles in his jaw worked beneath bronze skin as he imagined tearing out her throat and those of her mates with his bare hands. It would be laughably simple.
But when he glanced down at Luna's delicate profile, the murderous impulse receded like a tide. He exhaled slowly through clenched teeth and stalked toward a nearby stall where amber honey nectar glistened in crystal decanters, determined to bring something sweet back to his gentle mate.
"I am getting you something sweet," he muttered darkly. "Before someone else decides to be foolish."
OH MY GOD SHE IS SO CREEPY.
Luna nearly stumbled.
Theo steadied her instantly, misreading the wobble as lingering distress.
Sprout continued gleefully.
WHY WAS SHE STARING AT YOUR BELLY LIKE THAT. WEIRD. OBSESSED. LOW TIER ENERGY.
Luna bit the inside of her cheek.
Not now.
NOT DONE.
Sprout's tone shifted, Conspiratorial.
EVIL PLAN INITIATED.
Luna's ears twitched.
What?
Tiny digital laughter crackled through her thoughts.
Hehehehehe.
I SET OFF A STINK BOMB ON HER.
Luna inhaled sharply.
Theo leaned closer. "What is it?"
She shook her head quickly, Nothing nothing nothing.
Sprout sounded unbearably pleased.
SHOULD LAST THREE DAYS. MAXIMUM HUMILIATION. MINIMAL COLLATERAL. YOU'RE WELCOME.
Luna's shoulders trembled, Not from tears.
From suppressed laughter.
Behind them, the red lipped woman's voice rose sharply.
"What is that smell?"
A pause.
Then another voice.
"Is that… sulfur?"
Luna had to clamp both lips together, her delicate nose wrinkling involuntarily at the assault on her senses.
Theo frowned slightly, scanning the crowd until his golden eyes locked on a figure draped in expensive silks that couldn't mask what lurked beneath.
Alo blinked once, then twice, his nostrils flaring as he fought the instinct to cover his face.
The wind shifted, carrying with it the unmistakable reek of rotting flowers and something putrid like meat left too long in the sun and it hit them all at once.
A foul, unmistakable stench rolled outward from that womans position like a curse made manifest.
Not subtle, Not survivable socially. Several of her bonded males recoiled instinctively.
One gagged, Another stepped back.
"It's not me," she snapped, face flushing red.
The smell intensified.
Sprout giggled again.
DIRECT HIT. TEN OUT OF TEN. I COULD ADD NOTES OF ROT NEXT TIME.
Luna made a strangled sound that she tried desperately to pass off as a sniffle.
Theo mistook it instantly.
He cupped her face. "Do not cry."
She shook her head violently, eyes watering for entirely different reasons.
"I'm not," she managed, voice trembling.
Behind them, chaos erupted for completely different reasons.
"Did she step in something?"
"No, it's coming from her."
"Gods, that's disgusting."
That woman's composure disintegrated in real time.
"This is sabotage," she hissed, But no one touched her now. No one leaned close.
Her line of twenty proud males had formed a cautious half circle at a very respectable distance.
Luna's tail flicked wildly as she fought the urge to look back.
Sprout was wheezing.
OH THIS IS SO GOOD. SHE TRIED TO DIM YOU. NOW SHE SMELLS LIKE A DYING SWAMP RAT.
Stop it, Luna thought desperately.
Theo wiped at the corner of her eye again. "It is only fabric," he murmured.
That made it worse.
Because she could still hear the distant gagging.
Alo glanced over his shoulder once, nostrils flaring.
"…That is unfortunate," he muttered.
"I'm alright, really." Luna's fingers fluttered against Theo's forearm, her touch light as a butterfly's wings. She tugged gently, her ocean blue eyes darting toward the far end of the marketplace.
"Those stalls over there look interesting." Her golden tail swished behind her, betraying the urgency her voice tried to hide.
Sprout whispered gleefully in her mind.
MARKET CHAOS SUCCESSFUL. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO DEPLOY A SECONDARY HUMILIATION PROTOCOL?
Luna's shoulders shook again.
No.
ABSOLUTELY YES.
No!
Behind her, that woman was shouting at her own males while they maintained a polite, scent safe radius.
The valley would not forget this.
Luna tilted her face up to Alo, her lips curving into a smile.
"Up?" Alo rumbled, a deep chuff vibrating in his chest.
"Up," she confirmed with a nod.
Rising to her tiptoes, she pressed her lips softly against his cheek and murmured against his skin, "At least you smell divine."
Alo's breath caught. "Careful, little mate. Keep that up and we'll need to return to camp immediately."
Heat bloomed across Luna's cheeks. She'd forgotten how her slightest teasing reduced these powerful men to flustered boys.
Even stoic Theo's ears had turned crimson.
A giggle escaped her lips as she tried to compose herself, and Theo's large hand came to rest gently atop her head.
Luna grumbled under her breath while Theo's clawed fingers tangled in her golden locks, tugging just enough to make her wince. Across the bustling marketplace, merchants displayed bolts of shimmering silk in jewel tones that caught the midday sun, alongside burlap sacks overflowing with crystalline salt. The scent of ripe mangoes and cherries wafted through the air, their vibrant colors a stark contrast to the supple, cream-colored hide that would make perfect swaddling for her cubs.
Her hand drifted to her rounding stomach, a secretive smile playing on her lips. The excitement of these new lives growing inside her fluttered like butterfly wings beneath her palm, even as her first eggs still rested in its nest back home. She was excited but worried about this live birth.
It was different from the eggs, Different from the safety of shells and warm nests and patient waiting, This one would come through her.
Theo noticed the shift immediately.
He always did.
His hand slid from her hair to her waist, thumb brushing slow circles over the silk just above the curve of her stomach. His expression softened in a way no one else in the valley ever saw.
"You are thinking too loudly," he murmured.
Luna blinked up at him. "You can hear my thoughts now?"
"I can feel them."
Alo returned then, honey decanter in one hand and a strip of soft cream hide in the other. His eyes scanned her face first. Always her face.
"You're pale," he said quietly.
"I'm fine."
Both of them looked unconvinced.
The marketplace noise had resumed around them, but it was different now. Quieter near them. Careful. The earlier chaos had shifted something. The stink bomb humiliation still hung faintly in the air behind them, and Seryth's reputation was actively dissolving three stalls away.
But no one approached Luna again, No one dared.
Theo leaned down and pressed his forehead gently to hers.
The simple gesture stole her breath more than any public confrontation had.
"You do not have to prove anything here," he said softly.
"I wasn't," she whispered.
"I know."
Alo stepped closer behind her, his massive body a wall of heat. One arm slid around her waist, the other coming up to tilt her chin just slightly.
"Next time someone touches you," he said mildly, "I will not be so patient."
She flushed. "I told you. Kindness."
Alo's lips brushed her temple. "Kindness for you. Not for them."
Theo's wings shifted, shadowing her slightly from the sun. "We should return before sunset."