Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 261: Episode 259: What are they fighting for?

Roxy opened her eyes. The familiar, heavy timber ceiling of the Iron-Wood Manor’s master bedroom slowly came into focus, bathed in the bright, cheerful light of mid-morning.

How did she end up here?

Was the first thing she thought before she took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of fresh linens and pine. For a blissful, fleeting second, she felt perfectly rested. Then, she made the critical mistake of trying to shift her weight.

A piercing ache radiated from her hips, shooting down her thighs and up into her lower back. Roxy let out a sharp hiss, squeezing her eyes shut as the memories of the previous evening flooded her mind.

The way they went K.O on her.

She had clearly been carried back, washed, and tucked into the massive bed while she was unconscious. She was currently wearing a soft, oversized cotton shirt that definitely belonged to Kaelen, and the heavy furs were tucked securely around her waist.

I am never doing a double session again, Roxy groaned internally, rubbing her temples. Two days in a row. They are trying to kill me with pleasure.

Not that she didn’t like it.

Before she could wallow in her self-inflicted soreness, the heavy oak door of the bedroom creaked open.

Roxy braced herself, fully expecting one of the Alphas to stride in with a smug grin and a demand for round three. But instead, a much smaller, much sweeter parade entered the room.

It was her children. All of them.

Drax ducked his head as he stepped through the doorway, carrying Iris, sitting happily in the crook of his muscular arm, swinging her legs. Behind them came Axel, holding Tanith firmly by her tiny, pale hand, patiently helping her coordinate her chubby human legs as she waddled across the floorboards.

Bringing up the rear was Onyx. The usually hyperactive, bubbly wolf twin was walking uncharacteristically quietly, his blue eyes wide and cautious as he looked toward the bed, as if he was afraid of waking a sleeping bear.

They had clearly formed a coordinated strike team to come and keep her company.

Roxy’s heart melted. Every ounce of exhaustion and soreness vanished instantly. She didn’t want to play today, she barely wanted to sit up, but looking at their bright, hopeful faces, she knew she could never reject them.

"Good morning, my beautiful babies," Roxy cooed, pushing herself up against the mountain of pillows with a suppressed wince.

"Mama!" Iris cheered, nearly launching herself out of Drax’s arms.

Drax quickly set her down on the mattress, and Iris scrambled up to Roxy’s side. Axel lifted Tanith onto the bed, and the toddler immediately crawled into Roxy’s lap, babbling a happy string of nonsense. Onyx climbed up last, settling quietly near Roxy’s knee.

"We came to keep you company," Drax announced, taking a seat at the foot of the bed, his long legs dangling off the edge. "Papa Kaelen said you needed to rest, but we figured you might be lonely."

"I am never lonely with you guys around," Roxy smiled, kissing Tanith’s dark hair. She looked at the messy, bed-head states of her daughters. "Since you are all here, how about we do a little grooming? Who wants braids?"

Iris gasped, her black wolf ears perking straight up. "Me! I want a crown braid like a real Queen!"

"Alright, turn around," Roxy laughed.

For the next hour, Roxy brushed out Iris’s dark hair, carefully weaving it into a neat, intricate crown braid that made the wolf-pup beam with pride.

Tanith, lacking the patience for anything complex, received two tiny, somewhat crooked pigtails tied with scraps of silk ribbon.

Seeing the girls get pampered, the twin wolves couldn’t resist. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Mama," Axel nudged her arm, his tail thumping against the mattress. "Can warriors have braids too?"

"Of course," Roxy assured him, gesturing for him to turn around. "The fiercest warriors always keep their hair out of their eyes so they can see their enemies."

She gave Axel and Onyx tight, neat warrior braids along the sides of their heads. Even Onyx, who had been so quiet, finally cracked a massive, toothy grin as he admired his brother’s hair and felt Roxy’s gentle fingers working through his own.

While she worked, Drax took over the conversation. The teenage-looking dragon eagerly filled her in on everything she had missed over the last months.

"And then, the elder drakes tried to say that the western ridge belonged to them because of an old treaty," Drax explained, using his hands to map out the invisible mountain range in the air. "But Father told them that treaties mean nothing if they can’t defend the borders from the Harpies. They argued for three days. It was so boring, Mum. Pack politics is just old men yelling about rocks."

Roxy chuckled, tying off Onyx’s braid. "That sounds exactly like politics, Drax."

Something I never like, but here I am.

"I wish I could understand most of the adult things," Drax sighed, his broad shoulders slumping slightly. "Father always talks about leading, and trade routes, and ’Dragon Wrath.’ Half the time, I just nod and pretend I know what’s going on so he won’t yell."

Roxy’s heart squeezed. She reached out, placing a comforting hand on Drax’s knee.

"Don’t rush it, my brave boy," Roxy assured him softly, her green eyes meeting his own green ones. "You are growing up so fast. Too fast. But you don’t need to have all the answers right now. When you get older, the adult things will make sense. I promise."

Drax looked down at her hand, his fierce expression softening into something incredibly young and vulnerable. "I’m not in a rush," he murmured, his voice dropping so the younger pups wouldn’t hear. "I don’t want to be an Alpha yet. I want to continue being your baby for a little while longer."

"You will always be my baby," Roxy whispered fiercely, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. "Even when you are a hundred feet tall and breathing fire."

With the grooming finished, the children piled around her, demanding stories. Roxy happily obliged. She told them stories of her time on Earth, tales of birds that flew through the sky, massive towers of glass that scraped the clouds, and moving boxes on wheels that traveled faster than a cheetah.

To the Beastkin children, Earth sounded like a realm of unimaginable magic, and they listened with rapt, wide-eyed attention.

The peaceful domestic bubble remained unbroken until the bedroom door clicked open once more.

Syris glided into the room, carrying a large wooden tray laden with fresh fruits, warm bread, and a steaming cup of herbal tea. He looked rested, his pale skin glowing faintly in the sunlight, his vertical green pupils taking in the pile of children covering his mate.

"Good morning, my little mouse," Syris hissed softly, his voice a smooth, calming balm. He set the tray down on the bedside table. "I see you have already been thoroughly invaded."

"They are the best kind of invasion," Roxy smiled, accepting the cup of tea. She took a sip, the warm herbs immediately soothing her throat. "Did you sleep well, Syris?"

"Excellently," Syris replied, though a faint, amused smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "I have been a little bit sleepy these days, and it might be because I am getting close to my shedding period or something else."

Roxy frowned and was about to ask when he spoke again, "And the others seem to be using their strength more than they should."

Roxy paused, the cup halfway to her mouth. "What do you mean? Where are they?"

Syris gracefully crossed his arms, his tail giving a slow, deliberate swish across the floorboards. "The four Beast Kings are currently fighting it out in the living room."

Roxy frowned. "Fighting? Like, training?"

"Not training," Syris corrected, his smirk widening. "A word exchange. An incredibly loud, incredibly aggressive debate regarding how they claimed you and their stamina. It is highly likely it will soon escalate to physical violence and broken furniture."

Roxy blushed and stared at him. The serene, maternal warmth that had been floating in her chest for the last hour instantly evaporated, replaced by a sudden, spiking inferno of absolute rage.

She had just found out yesterday that a deadly, magical plague was marching toward their borders, threatening to turn them all into feral monsters. She had begged them to stay inside, to stay calm, to help her brainstorm a cure so they didn’t all die.

And instead of preparing for the apocalypse, they were downstairs arguing about who was better in bed?

"Are you serious?" Roxy whispered, her voice trembling with rising fury.

Syris nodded once. "Torian just threatened to throw Ren through the front window."

He knew what he was doing.

Roxy’s green eyes darkened. Drax, sensing the massive shift in his mother’s aura, immediately scrambled backward off the bed. Axel and Onyx whimpered, their wolf ears pinning flat against their heads as they instinctively winced away from her. Even Tanith stopped babbling, as she sniffled into Iris arms.

Their mother was so scary when she was angry.

Roxy didn’t care about the soreness in her hips anymore. She threw the heavy furs off her legs, her bare feet hitting the floorboards with a heavy, ominous thud.

"Are they fucking stupid?" Roxy yelled in anger. "What were they even fighting for?!"