Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 193: Career Day and the Howling Classroom

The poor teacher of Class 1-A, a nervous Badger-Kin named Mrs. Higgins, was currently hiding behind her desk.

Today was Career Day.

Usually, Career Day involved a Baker bringing some bread, or a Blacksmith showing off a horseshoe. It was a quiet, educational afternoon.

But at Unity Academy, the parents weren’t bakers. They were Warlords, Assassins, and Kings.

Primrose stood at the back of the classroom, leaning against the wall with Caspian. She was chewing on a fingernail.

"We should have vetted them," Primrose whispered. "We should have done a dress rehearsal."

"It will be fine," Caspian whispered back, though he looked worried. "They promised to behave. Rurik even brushed his hair."

"Rurik brushed his hair with a pinecone, Caspian. That’s not hygiene; that’s landscaping."

---

"ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP, PUPS!"

Rurik kicked the classroom door open. He was wearing his formal furs, which meant he had fewer stains than usual. Beside him stood Vali (6), looking incredibly proud and holding a large stick.

Rurik marched to the front of the room. He didn’t use the chalkboard. He slammed a massive paw onto the teacher’s desk.

"I am Warlord Rurik!" he bellowed. "I run the North! My job is... surviving!"

The class of six-year-olds stared at him with wide eyes.

"Vali," Rurik barked. "Demonstrate the survival stance!"

Vali dropped to all fours and growled at a potted plant.

"Excellent!" Rurik praised. "Now, today I will teach you the most important skill in the Empire. Is it math? No! Math cannot save you from a bear! Is it reading? No! Bears do not care about your literacy!"

He grabbed the stick from Vali.

"It is The Howl."

Mrs. Higgins peeked over her desk. "Mr. Rurik... perhaps something a bit quieter? We have a library next door..."

"Nonsense!" Rurik laughed. "A silent wolf is a rug! Vali, lead the pack!"

Vali threw his head back. Awooooo!

It was a cute, high-pitched puppy howl.

"Pathetic!" Rurik encouraged. "From the diaphragm! Like you just stepped on a lego! Like this!"

Rurik inhaled. His chest expanded like a barrel.

AWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The sound shook the windows. A glass of water on the desk shattered. The Badger teacher squeaked and covered her ears.

But the kids? The kids loved it.

Suddenly, twenty six-year-olds were howling. Tiger cubs, lizard kids, birds—everyone was screaming at the ceiling.

"Yes! Chaos!" Rurik roared, wiping a tear from his eye. "This is music! Vali, you are the Alpha of First Grade!"

Primrose buried her face in her hands. "I’m going to have to buy new windows."

Next up was the Serpent Sector.

Cassian glided into the room. He looked disdainful of the chalk dust. Jasper walked beside him, adjusting his glasses. They looked like identical twins, separated by thirty years and a height difference.

"Greetings, students," Cassian said smoothly. His voice was a refreshing change from the screaming wolf. "I am Warlord Cassian. I control the magic and science of the Empire."

He placed a beaker of blue liquid on the desk.

"Today, Jasper and I will demonstrate a simple chemical reaction. Jasper, the hypothesis?"

Jasper stepped up on a stool. He cleared his throat.

"Hypothesis," Jasper stated. "If we mix Dragon-Root Powder with Condensed Mana Water, the expansion rate will be... significant."

"Correct," Cassian nodded. "Observe."

He poured a red powder into the blue liquid.

Usually, this experiment created a puff of smoke. A parlor trick.

But Cassian was a Warlord. He didn’t do small. And Jasper had accidentally used Concentrated Dragon-Root instead of Diluted.

Fizz.

Gurgle.

"Father," Jasper noted calmly. "The mixture is vibrating."

"It is supposed to vibrate, Jasper. Do not question the—"

BOOM.

A massive cloud of purple foam erupted from the beaker. It didn’t stop. It shot up to the ceiling. It overflowed the desk. It rolled across the floor like a gelatinous blob monster.

"Evacuate the perimeter!" Arjun shouted from the back row, grabbing his tactical backpack.

The kids screamed (happily) as the purple foam engulfed the front row.

Cassian stood there, covered in purple slime. His perfect robes were ruined.

"Fascinating," Jasper noted, writing in his notebook. "The reaction was 300% more volatile than predicted. I get an A."

Primrose sighed. "Caspian, use the Water Magic. Wash the class."

Caspian waved his hand. A gentle rain fell inside the classroom, dissolving the foam and cleaning the sticky students.

The Merchant and the Mechanic

After the foam incident, the class needed something safer.

Luna and Jax walked in. They were there for Clover.

Clover was bouncing on her toes. She held up her sparkly pink backpack.

"Hi everyone!" Clover squeaked. "This is my sister Luna and my... uh... Uncle Jax!"

"Uncle is fine," Jax winked.

"I am a Merchant," Luna explained, her long bunny ears twitching nervously as she addressed the crowd. "My job is to make sure everyone has what they need. Food, clothes, toys."

"Boring!" a Hyena kid shouted from the back.

"Merchants also control the supply of candy," Luna added sweetly. "And I brought samples."

She opened a box. Chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil.

The class cheered. The Hyena kid sat down and looked respectful.

"And I," Jax stepped forward, spinning a wrench on his finger, "am a Fox. I fix things. And sometimes..."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small remote.

"...I make things fly."

He pressed a button.

Through the open window, the Ring-Drone 3000 (minus the dart gun) buzzed into the room. It was carrying a basket of cookies. It hovered over the desks, dropping cookies onto the students’ plates with precision.

"Whoa," the kids gasped.

"Robots!" Rurik shouted from the back. "Shoot it down! It’s a spy!"

"Sit down, Rurik," Primrose commanded.

Clover beamed. She looked at Luna and Jax. She looked at her classmates eating the chocolate and cookies. For the first time, being the Runt didn’t feel small. It felt rich.

---

Finally, it was time for the Panthers.

Lucien was not on the schedule. He hated public speaking.

Silas (6) walked to the front of the room. He stood there. He stared at the class with his large, violet eyes.

He didn’t say anything.

The class waited.

Mrs. Higgins waited.

Rurik waited.

Silas reached into his pocket. He pulled out a shadow. Not a shadow puppet—an actual piece of darkness that he had solidified.

He molded it in his hands like clay.

He made a cat. Then a bird. Then a perfect replica of Mrs. Higgins.

The shadow-figures danced on the desk, acting out a little silent play.

Then, Silas clapped his hands.

Poof.

The shadows vanished into smoke.

Silas bowed.

"Thank you," he whispered.

He walked back to his seat.

From the darkest corner of the ceiling rafters, a slow clap echoed.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Everyone looked up. Lucien was hanging upside down from a beam, looking like a terrifying bat in a suit.

"Adequate," Lucien said. Then he melted into the shadows and disappeared.

"Was that... a parent?" Mrs. Higgins squeaked, looking faint.

"That was just the janitor," Primrose lied quickly. "Don’t worry about it."

The Sovereign’s Turn

"And finally," Mrs. Higgins announced, trembling slightly. "We have a special guest. The Mother of... well, everyone."

Primrose walked to the front. Her nine silver tails fanned out behind her, knocking over the chalkboard eraser.

"Hi," Primrose smiled. "I’m the Sovereign. But before that, I was a Chef."

She didn’t bring magic. She didn’t bring weapons.

She brought dough.

"Who wants to learn how to make a pretzel that looks like a dragon?"

The chaos of the day—the howling, the explosions, the robots—all faded. Because if there was one thing kids loved more than noise, it was playing with their food.

For the next hour, the Unity Academy wasn’t a school for Warlords. It was a bakery.

Rurik tried to make a pretzel-wolf (it looked like a blob).

Cassian analyzed the yeast fermentation.

Vali ate the raw dough until Luna stopped him.

---

As the bell rang, the parents gathered outside the classroom. The room was destroyed. There was water damage, purple stains on the ceiling, and flour everywhere.

Mrs. Higgins looked like she had aged ten years in three hours.

"So," Primrose asked the teacher, flashing her most charming smile. "How did we do?"

Mrs. Higgins adjusted her glasses. She looked at the happy, messy children. She looked at the terrifying Warlords who were currently high-fiving each other.

"Well," the teacher sighed. "No one died. And the Wolf Warlord didn’t eat the hamster. I suppose... it was a success."

"Success!" Rurik cheered. "We conquered education!"

Caspian walked up to Orion, who was covered in flour and purple foam.

"Did you have fun, shark-bait?"

Orion nodded vigorously. "Dad! Vali taught me how to howl! Listen!"

Orion took a deep breath.

Squeeeeeak.

It sounded like a rubber duck being stepped on.

Caspian laughed and picked him up. "Ferocious. The ocean trembles."

As they walked back to the carriage, Primrose leaned against Caspian.

"We survived Career Day," she murmured. "But next year... we are banning explosives."

"And howling," Caspian added.

"And Rurik," Primrose agreed.

"I heard that!" Rurik shouted from the front of the line. "You can’t ban the Alpha! I am the PTA President!"

"Oh god," Primrose groaned. "He knows what the PTA is."