Snow caught Averik’s sleeve between her teeth and refused to give it back. He tugged once. Snow planted both front paws deeper into the sofa cushion, eyes fixed on him while her tail thumped against the armrest.
"Greedy little bastard."
Snow huffed without letting go. Averik almost pulled harder, then thought better of testing his new strength on a coat and an old sofa. He released the fabric and worked his fingers into the winter-thick ruff below her left ear. Snow immediately let go and shoved her head into his palm as though she’d won something important.
The house felt different after Unit 1, although nothing in the room had changed. Same low table. Same patched heating pipe clicking in the wall. Frost still feathered the lower corners of the window.
He was the part that had changed. Even sitting still, he could feel the Star Core inside him, less like an object than a second center to his body, heavy and quiet. Sounds separated more cleanly than they had yesterday: Snow’s breathing, the heater, cloth shifting near the wall.
Averik looked up. Evelyn had taken off her pale winter coat and stood a few steps from the sofa, one shoulder near the wall. Her silver hair was tied loosely down her back, red ends resting over the dark fabric at her waist. She had watched him play with Snow for long enough.
Averik rubbed Snow once between the ears and stood. Evelyn’s eyes followed him across the room. He stopped close enough that she had to tip her face up, planted one hand on the wall beside her head, and settled the other against her cheek.
Her gaze held his for a second before dropping. Soft. Yielding. Waiting.
Averik studied her face. "I’m giving you one last chance. Roderic’s dead, and my Talent isn’t exactly promising. If you want a different life, take it."
Evelyn’s lashes lowered further. "I don’t want to."
He stroked his thumb along her cheekbone. "If this is because you think you owe me, or because my parents took care of you when you were little, they’re dead too. There’s no debt left to pay."
Her brows pinched faintly. "I don’t want to."
Averik let the silence sit there.
Snow shifted on the sofa behind him. One claw clicked against the wooden frame.
"Then at least live the way you want," he said. "Not the way you think you’re supposed to."
Evelyn finally looked up again. "I don’t want to."
He stared at her. Same answer. Different question every time.
Averik moved his hand from her cheek to her chin and raised it. "You love me?"
"Yes," Evelyn answered quickly.
"Are you sure that’s love?" His thumb touched the edge of her lower lip. "You’ve been beside me since we were children. You’ve looked after me, cooked for me, followed me around, serving me, put up with my shit. Maybe you’re just used to it."
The answer came so quickly she nearly stumbled over it.
"I’m sure. I love you. I love you very much." Her voice lost some of its careful softness as the words gathered speed. "I don’t care about anyone else, or anything else. If Averik asks it... Evelyn can kill everyone in the fortre—"
Averik caught her lower lip lightly between thumb and forefinger.
She stopped.
"Yeah, yeah." He lifted one corner of his mouth. "My sweet Evelyn."
Her cheeks warmed.
’If that’s really what you want... then fine.’ His thumb released her lip and traced it instead. ’Because I want you too.’
The admission felt stranger inside his own head than Awakening had.
Averik had spent years distrusting anything that looked too unconditional. People wanted privilege, shelter, status, protection, access. Those made sense. Evelyn looking at him as though staying was the simplest thing in the world had never made sense.
Maybe it didn’t need to.
"If that’s what you want," he said, "then stay."
Her expression softened.
He continued before she could answer. "Because I love you too."
Evelyn stopped breathing. That got him.
Averik’s smile widened just a little. "And I’m making you my wife. You’ll be mine completely."
Her eyes went wide. "R-really?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You look surprised."
His thumb moved over her cheek. "Why? You don’t believe me? Or you aren’t happy?"
"No! I mean, yes, I believe you. I..." Her hands rose, stopped halfway to his chest, then finally settled there. "Evelyn is very happy. Very, very happy. Finally..."
The last word came out smaller than the rest.
Averik leaned in and kissed her.
Barely.
Her lips had just started to answer when he pulled back.
Evelyn followed him on instinct and caught nothing but air.
A hint of accusation entered her eyes.
He kissed her again.
Another soft touch. Another immediate retreat.
She chased him again and missed. "Averik..."
He did it again.
This time Evelyn was ready for him. She rose onto her toes as soon as their mouths touched.
Averik still got away first.
Her lips stayed parted. The look she gave him was somewhere between wounded dignity and naked need.
He smiled.
"That’s cruel," she whispered.
"Mm?"
Her fingers tightened in his shirt. "Averik... Evelyn wants it."
That was enough.
He took her mouth properly.
Evelyn made a small sound against his lips and surged into him so hard her back met the wall. Averik caught her waist before the impact could become more than a dull knock, then kissed her deeper. Her restraint vanished almost immediately. She sucked his lower lip, chased his tongue, and pressed herself against him with none of the shy hesitation she’d had a moment earlier. "Mm~"
Averik slid one hand down her side.
Her breath caught when his palm crossed her hip.
He rubbed between her thighs through her trousers.
Wet enough that his fingertips came away shining.
Averik looked at them, then raised his hand between them. "What’s this?"
Evelyn’s gaze dropped to his fingers.
The blush spread all the way to her ears. "I... couldn’t hold it." She swallowed. "I’m too happy."
"Lick them."
Her eyes flicked up to his.
Then she leaned forward without another word.
Her tongue slid over his finger first, slow at the tip, then along the length. She drew the second one into her mouth beside it and sucked, eyes still on him. "Mm~"
Averik pulled his fingers free and kissed her again. His hand went down between them at the same time.
This time he pushed beneath the waistband.
Evelyn jolted when his fingers reached her pussy. "Ah...!"
She was already so wet that he didn’t need to tease for lubrication. He dragged two fingers through the slick folds once, then pressed inside. Squelch.
"Averik..."
He curled them.
Her knees bent. "Ngh...! There..."
Averik kept her against the wall with his body and worked his fingers harder. Evelyn’s hands moved from his shirt to his shoulders. Her nails caught there, holding on as his hand moved faster. Squelch. Squelch.
"Ah... ah...!"
Snow was still on the sofa.
Evelyn noticed. Averik felt the exact instant her attention shifted past his shoulder. Her face went even redder.
He twisted his fingers inside her. Her eyes snapped shut. Whatever embarrassment had survived died there.
"Averik... more. Please..."
He gave her more.
His thumb found her clit while his fingers drove in rough, controlled strokes. Evelyn’s thighs started trembling around his wrist. Wetness ran over his knuckles and down into her already soaked trousers. "Mm—ah! Ah...!"
"You’re making a mess."
"I know..."
"Do you?" He hit the same spot again.
Evelyn’s answer broke into a gasp.
Her pussy clamped around his fingers hard enough to slow them. "Averik, I... I’m—"
He didn’t let her finish. His hand drove once more, fingers curled. SQUIRT!
Evelyn cried out as hot wetness burst around his hand and soaked through the front and inner thighs of her trousers. "Ahhh...!"
Her legs gave. Averik caught her around the waist and let her slide down the wall instead of dropping, until she sat trembling on the floor with his fingers still buried inside her. He kept them there through the last hard squeezes.
"Mm... ah... Averik..."
When he finally pulled his hand free, her body gave another small shudder.
Averik looked at the wetness coating his fingers. Then he licked them clean.
Evelyn stared. The look on her face made him laugh under his breath. "What?"
She covered part of her face with one hand. "Nothing."
"Liar."
Her mouth curved behind her fingers.
Averik returned to his seat, resting one arm across the sofa back.
Evelyn stayed near the wall for a moment, breathing through the last tremors in her legs.
Snow raised her head when Averik sat. He looked at the wolf, then at Evelyn’s soaked trousers. "Look, Snow. Your mother pissed herself in her pants."
Evelyn’s head snapped toward him. "Averik."
He ignored her. "Very beautiful, isn’t she?"
Snow’s head lifted higher. Both ears angled forward. She gave one low, familiar huff, and her tail tapped the sofa once.
Averik nodded. "Exactly."
Evelyn pressed her lips together, apparently deciding whether arguing with both of them would make this worse.
"She is beautiful," Averik said. "Sweet too. Most of the time."
Evelyn lowered her hand from her face.
He glanced at her. "I love her."
The embarrassment vanished from her expression so fast it was almost unfair.
Averik reached over and rubbed Snow’s head. The wolf leaned into his palm.
He’d come home intending to test Beast Tamer.
Somehow Evelyn had distracted him. ’Very effectively.’
The shape of the Path was still there inside him, understood in the same strange way he understood how to move Essence now. The knowledge didn’t feel learned. It simply existed. What it didn’t give him was any sense of what the first attempt would feel like.
Averik kept his hand on Snow’s head and reached for that function deliberately. The shape of Beast Tamer caught on her at once. There was no uncertainty in the connection: she was a beast, and his Path could reach her.
Nothing pushed him away. Snow only looked up, trusting and mildly curious while something far deeper than an ordinary command extended from him toward her. Averik followed the mechanism he understood.
The connection closed. For one strange heartbeat, Snow’s presence became impossible to mistake for anything else in the room.
Not her body. Not her breathing. Her.
The System opened in his mind
::···:::···:::···::
[Target Successfully Tamed]
::···:::···:::···::
Averik went still.
Snow’s tail moved once against the cushion.
’That was... easier than expected.’
Too easy to teach him much about resistance. But the bond itself was there.
He could feel the route for command and intent now. Clean. Direct. He knew what it was supposed to do. That didn’t mean he knew how far to push it, how quickly another beast might answer, or what fighting resistance would feel like.
Snow was the worst possible test for that. She already trusted him.
Averik turned his attention back into the bond. Beneath the simple command-route sat another possibility: he could ask what, exactly, he now owned.
He followed that intent, and then the information appeared in his mind
::···:::···:::···::
[Name: Snow]
[Species: Snow Wolf]
[Core: Star Core — Tier 5]
[Talent: Seeker]
[Path: Sequence 7 — Tracker]
[Affinity: Frost]
::···:::···:::···::
Averik read it twice.
"Tracker, and even frost affinity?"
Snow licked the side of his hand. He scratched under her jaw. "You’ve been holding out on me."
A soft laugh came from in front of him.
Evelyn had crossed the room while his attention was on Snow. She sank to her knees between his thighs.
Averik lowered his gaze to her.
Her trousers were still visibly soaked. Her face was calmer now, but there was nothing calm about the way she looked at him.
He glanced at Snow.
The new bond made the command almost absurdly simple.
He sent a simple command through the bond: ’go to the bedroom and stay there.’
Snow immediately hopped off the sofa. She crossed the room, nudged through the adjacent bedroom door, and disappeared inside without a backward glance.
Averik watched until her tail vanished around the frame.
Then Evelyn touched his knee and reclaimed his attention. "What does Averik want?"
He brushed his thumb over her cheek, then over the lips that had just asked him. "Use your mouth." His thumb pressed lightly against her lower lip. "You’re getting better with it."
Evelyn’s eyes softened. "Yes, Averik."
She opened his trousers and freed his cock.
Her first touch was her tongue. Slowly, tracing him from root to tip. Slurp.
Averik leaned back into the sofa.
Evelyn circled the head, kissed it once, then took him into her mouth. "Mm~"
Her cheeks hollowed as she sucked.
Averik gathered her silver hair in one fist, clearing it from her cheeks. The red ends spilled over his wrist. "Deeper."
She obeyed. Gulk.
Her lips slid farther down him. "Nnh..."
Averik guided her by the hair and set the rhythm himself. Evelyn followed eagerly. Down. Back. Tongue along the underside. Her hand closed around what her mouth didn’t cover and worked in time with her lips. Slurp... slurp.
"That’s it."
Her eyes lifted to him.
He pushed her lower.
Ghk. Evelyn gagged around him, throat tightening.
Averik held her there for a beat. Then released.
She drew back with a wet gasp, saliva shining across her lips. "Ah..."
He gave her barely enough time to breathe. "Again."
She smiled before taking him back. That smile did something unpleasantly effective to his self-control. Slurp. Gulk.
Her neck flexed as she swallowed around the next deep stroke. "Mmgh..."
Averik’s fingers tightened in her hair.
Evelyn pressed one hand against his thigh and went deeper on her own this time. Ggk.
He felt her throat take him almost to the base.
Averik exhaled hard through his teeth. "Fuck. That’s better."
The praise made a muffled sound vibrate around his cock. He felt it all the way down his spine.
Evelyn came up for air, breathing faster now. "Averik likes it?"
"You can tell."
Her gaze dropped to his cock, then back to his face. "Mm. I can."
She licked the head once and took him down again.
The next few minutes blurred into wet heat, changing pressure, and the pull of her mouth. Averik varied the pace instead of letting her settle into one comfortable rhythm. Sometimes he let her work. Sometimes he took her hair and decided how deep she went. Once, when she tried to pull back early, he held her for one extra heartbeat. Ghk...
Her fingers dug into his thigh.
Then he let her breathe.
"Ah... Averik..."
"Still want to serve me?"
Evelyn didn’t answer with words. She swallowed him again. That was answer enough.
Averik’s control began to thin.
Her tongue pressed under the head on the way up. Her hand tightened at the base. Then she took him deep again and swallowed around him. GULK.
"Shit." He held her hair firmly. "Stay."
Evelyn stayed.
His cock pulsed against her tongue. SPURT!
Evelyn swallowed around the first release without lifting her head. Gulp.
Another heavy pulse followed.
She swallowed that too, eyes watering slightly from the depth but never leaving his face.
Averik kept her there through the last throb, then let her pull back slowly.
Her tongue stayed against him until he slid free of her lips with a wet pop.
She swallowed once more. "Mm..."
Averik wiped a trace of wetness from the edge of her lips with his thumb. "Pretty wife."
Evelyn’s expression went soft enough to make the words worth saying.
Then she climbed onto him.
Averik settled deeper against the sofa while Evelyn straddled his lap facing him.
She had shed the soaked trousers and the rest of what was in the way. Pale thighs framed his hips. Her pussy was wet again, flushed pink and swollen against her pale skin, the soft folds shining before he’d even pushed inside.
Averik gripped her ass with both hands.
Large. Soft. Warm under his palms. "Look at you," he murmured.
Evelyn’s arms slid around his shoulders. "Mm...?"
He spread her enough to look between them. "Your pussy is fucking beautiful. So pink. So soft." His thumb dragged through the wetness gathered at her entrance. "And already soaked again."
Her face colored, but she pushed her hips toward his hand. "Averik made it like this."
"I know." He lined himself up.
Evelyn lowered onto him with a broken breath. "Ahh..." Squelch.
Wet heat swallowed him inch by inch.
Her pussy tightened before he was even fully inside, squeezing hard enough that Averik stopped for half a second just to feel it. "Fuck."
Evelyn trembled above him. "Averik..."
He pulled her down the rest of the way.
Clap. Her ass met his thighs.
"Ah!"
Averik kissed her before the sound faded.
Evelyn answered greedily. Her fingers slid into his hair while her hips started to move, but his hands closed over her soft ass and stopped her.
She made a questioning sound into his mouth.
"My pace."
Her lips curved against his. "Yes...Averik"
Averik lifted her.
Then pulled her back down. Clap.
"Nnh...!"
Her breasts bounced between them, huge and soft, brushing his chest with the motion. He caught one in his hand, squeezed, then bent to suck the nipple while he moved her again.
"Ah... Averik...!" Her pussy clenched around him.
Averik sucked harder.
Evelyn’s head fell back.
He licked across the nipple once, then slapped the heavy breast with his palm. SLAP!
"Ahh!"
The response around his cock was immediate. "There it is."
He drove her down harder. CLAP!
Evelyn gasped and grabbed his shoulders. "Deep..."
"Not yet." Averik dragged his lips along her neck, grazed the skin with his teeth, then claimed her mouth again before she could complain. He kept her on the edge of the deepest angle, enough to make her chase it with each downward movement, never enough to give her exactly what she wanted. "Mm... please..."
"Please what?"
"Deeper."
He squeezed her ass. "You can ask better than that."
Evelyn’s breath shook. "Averik... please fuck me deeper."
"That’s better." He lifted her higher.
Then he brought her down hard enough that his cock struck the deepest sensitive point she could take, a sharp, obscene sensation that felt womb-deep.
Evelyn’s whole body arched.
SQUIRT! Wetness burst around his cock and splashed across his lower stomach.
"AHH...! Averik!" Her pussy crushed around him.
Averik groaned into her throat. "Fuck. Squeeze me like that again."
He held her hips and repeated the same brutal depth. CLAP!
That deepest contact landed.
Evelyn convulsed in his arms. "Ah... ahhh...!"
SQUIRT! More wetness ran between them and down over his thighs. Her huge breasts bounced against his chest, and the soft flesh of her ass quivered in his hands with every hard drop of her hips.
Averik smacked her soft ass with an open palm. SLAP!
"Ngh!"
"Look at me."
Evelyn forced her eyes open.
He gave her one hard, wet kiss, then withdrew only enough to see her expression.
He drove her onto the same deepest point. SQUIRT!
Then her voice broke loose in a raw cry. "Averik...! Ahh... I can’t..."
"You are." The squeeze around his cock became hard enough to border on pain. Averik’s own breath broke.
Pleasure had gone from hot to vicious. Every squeeze dragged along his cock while Evelyn’s body shuddered over him, still trying to meet the rhythm he controlled.
He kissed her again. She sucked his tongue into her mouth, frantic now, no elegance left in it. "Mm... ngh..."
Averik rolled his hips upward as he pulled her down. Squelch. Clap.
"Ahh...!" Her ass trembled under his hands.
"You’re fucking soaked," he said against her lips. "Soft, pink, dripping all over me... and still squeezing like you want to keep my cock inside."
Evelyn nodded too quickly. "Yes... yes. Keep it inside."
Averik’s grip tightened. "Mine."
"Yours." The word came without hesitation.
He pushed her pace faster. Her hips struck his twice in quick succession. CLAP! CLAP!
Wetness squelched between them, and Evelyn’s voice broke apart with the rhythm. ""Ah... mm... Averik... ngh... ahh...!"
Her breasts bounced hard enough that Averik caught one again, squeezing the soft weight while his other hand kept her ass moving.
He could feel his climax building too fast now.
Evelyn’s eyes widened as his breathing roughened and his grip changed.
"Averik... you’re..." Her pussy squeezed again.
"Fuck." Averik buried himself as deep as he could and held her there.
He drove into that same womb-deep point one last time.
Evelyn’s body seized. SQUIRT! "AHHH...!"
Averik came with her. SPURT!
His cock throbbed deep inside her, the first heavy release flooding her already soaked pussy.
Evelyn clung to him, shaking.
His cock pulsed again inside her, another heavy SPURT! mixing into the wet heat. A third release followed before the first had settled. Semen flooded her already soaked pussy in heavy waves, filling her so completely that the pressure felt womb-deep while she milked him in hard, helpless contractions. "Mm... ah... Averik..."
He held her against him until the worst of the trembling passed.
Her forehead rested against his shoulder. His hands stayed on her ass, keeping her seated over him while his cock slowly softened inside that wet heat.
Neither of them spoke for a little while.
When Averik finally lifted her enough to pull out, semen followed immediately, thick white streaks leaking from her soaked pink pussy and sliding down between her thighs.
Evelyn looked down.
A breathless laugh escaped her. "Averik really did make Evelyn mess."
He leaned back and looked at her. "Me?"
She hid her smile against his neck. "Mm. Both of us."
That answer was acceptable.
***
Friday was almost disappointingly ordinary.
They slept. Ate. Let the house be a house.
Evelyn was his wife now, and after the intensity of the night before, the fact settled into the day more easily than Averik had expected. She moved around him much as she always had, except that sometimes he caught her looking at him and smiling for no obvious reason.
Snow bond remained present, a clean line of ownership and awareness in the back of his mind. Averik tested no new tricks. He had one successful Taming and no reason to mistake that for mastery.
By late evening, the three of them were back in the sitting room.
Snow lay near the sofa. Evelyn sat close enough that her knee touched Averik’s. Frost thickened along the window corners while Vardel settled into the deep quiet that came before midnight.
The moon beyond the glass was red.
It had always been red.
At midnight, the crimson deepened until the already-red moon looked as if fresh blood had been poured into the sky. Averik knew what that meant. The Blood Moon surge had begun.
He noticed the light first. Then Snow’s breathing changed. The wolf was still beside the sofa, but the easy sprawl had left her body. Her head stayed up, shoulders a little too rigid. "Snow?"
Her ears twitched toward him. A faint cold touched the bond.
Averik frowned. It wasn’t the clean chill of winter air. This came through the connection itself, a thin pressure sliding inward from Snow. Weak at first, then steadily less so.
Her next breath came rougher. One front leg trembled. Averik sat forward. "Stay close."
The command crossed the bond, and Snow obeyed immediately. She stepped toward him, but one paw slipped half an inch. Her claws scraped the wood.
Scrrk.
A low sound crawled out of her throat. It wasn’t anger. It sounded like pain.
Evelyn was already on her feet. "Averik."
"I feel it."
The cold in the bond thickened.
Averik’s jaw locked.
Snow shook once from shoulders to tail. Her breathing turned harsh, each inhale dragging through clenched teeth. The pressure coming through the bond pushed harder, no longer a thread but something invasive enough that his Star Core reacted on instinct.
His entire body tightened around it.
Tier 5 mattered. He could feel that much. Whatever was pressing into him didn’t simply roll through his body and soul unopposed. ’It’s fucking hurt.’
Averik sucked in a breath. "Shit."
Snow whined.
The sound cut through him harder than the cold.
He dropped one hand to the wolf’s neck. Her fur felt normal. Her body beneath it did not. Muscles kept tightening and releasing in small involuntary waves.
The new bond carried more of that wrongness every second. ’It’s coming through her.’
He still didn’t know exactly what the pressure was. He knew the route.
Averik pushed intent back down the bond.
He sent three blunt commands through the bond: ’Stay with me, don’t run, and don’t bite.’
Snow stayed where he had ordered. The strained growl continued, but she made no move to turn on him. Her body still shook.
Obedience wasn’t the problem.
"Of course." Averik laughed once, without humor. "Of fucking course the first beast I tame starts poisoning me through the bond before I’ve had her for a day."
"Don’t let go of her," Evelyn said.
Her tone had changed completely. No softness now.
She moved to his side and planted one hand against his upper chest.
Averik felt the moment her protection settled around him. He saw nothing, but the pressure around his body shifted as her Sentinel power claimed him as something to guard. Holy warmth followed it.
The cold forcing its way through Snow’s bond didn’t disappear, but its edge dulled enough for Averik to breathe without his lungs trying to lock.
"Better?" Evelyn asked.
"Less terrible."
Her mouth tightened.
Averik almost smiled. Almost.
Then Snow convulsed.
Her claws tore four shallow lines through the floorboards as she fought for footing. SKRRK!
The bond slammed cold into him.
Averik’s vision blurred for half a second.
His Star Core surged as his whole body tightened against something foreign that had no business being there.
It wasn’t enough to stop it. Evelyn’s Holy protection flared hotter around him. "Averik!"
"I’m here." His own voice sounded wrong in his ears.
Snow gave a strained growl and pressed herself against his leg because he’d told her to stay close.
Averik gripped the thick fur along her shoulder.
His gaze dropped to Snow as another tremor ran through her.
Killing her wasn’t happening. "No," he muttered.
Evelyn looked at him. "What?"
"Nothing. Keep doing that."
Beyond the window, the red light deepened another shade.
Cold pressure surged with it.
Averik swore and bent over Snow as if he could physically pin the cold pressure back inside her by force. "You useless fucking moon. One good thing. That’s all I asked for. One." His teeth clenched as another wave hit. "First my Talent, now this. What’s next? The house catches fire in the snow?"
Evelyn’s fingers pressed harder against his chest. "Averik, focus."
"I am focused. I’m also pissed off."
Snow’s breathing hitched. The bond twisted.
For the first time, real panic cut through Averik’s anger. The pressure wasn’t only touching his body anymore. It was deeper.
Something cold scraped across the edge of his soul, searching for purchase.
Averik’s hand spasmed in Snow’s fur. ’No.’
His Core answered with everything it had.
So did Evelyn.
Holy warmth pressed around the invading cold, protecting him without reaching whatever was tearing through Snow. Her face had gone pale with concentration, but her hand didn’t shake.
Snow did. The wolf’s legs folded.
Averik caught her before her head struck the floor. "Stay."
Snow stayed. Her whole body trembled in his arms.
The cold flooded the bond again.
This time something inside Averik moved that had never moved before. Not Star Core, somewhere beneath it, something else moved.
And Then The System opened in his mind.
::···:::···:::···::
[Bloodline Awakened: Primordial Frost Devil]