They are hiding sothing from .
Roxy stood in the center of the room, her brilliant green eyes scanning the faces of her husbands.
She wasn’t an idiot.
She could see the tiny fractures in their unity. The way Zarek’s jaw ticked. The way Ren’s vibrant green eyes kept darting nervously toward the floorboards. They were hiding sothing massive, but pushing them right now would only make them lie more.
She needed to divide and conquer.
"I understand," Roxy stated, her voice remarkably calm. She turned her green eyes toward the disheveled Fox King. "If Ren’s magic is still settling, he needs a quiet environnt to stabilize. I will be staying in Ren’s chambers for the rest of the night. Alone."
"Absolutely not," Torian imdiately rumbled.
The massive White Tiger Alpha stepped forward, his broad chest puffing out. His striking blue eyes narrowed into highly protective slits. "If the trickster is experiencing volatile, post-mating magical surges, I am not leaving you alone with him behind closed doors. I will stay in the chambers and stand guard. If his magic lashes out, I will suppress it."
"Torian," Roxy sighed, rubbing her temples. "You don’t need to stand guard."
"I am your mate. It is my literal purpose," Torian grunted stubbornly, crossing his thick arms over his chest.
Roxy realized that arguing with the Tiger using logic was completely futile. Torian operated on primal instinct and an overwhelming need to protect her. To bypass his Alpha defenses, she had to switch tactics entirely.
Roxy let her shoulders drop. She took a slow step toward Torian, looked up at him through her dark lashes, her brilliant green eyes softening into large, impossibly sweet pools of vulnerability. She tilted her head, her lower lip jutting out in a subtle, devastatingly cute pout.
"Please, Rian?" Roxy whispered, her voice incredibly soft and slightly breathy. She reached out, her small hands gently resting against the solid wall of his chest. "I am just so worried about him. I need to be with Ren tonight. Just the two of us, so I can make sure he’s okay. Won’t you let have a quiet night to rest?"
Torian’s shoulders sagged, and a ripple went down his spine as he lted.
He looked down at her pouting face, his chest heaving as a heavy sigh escaped his lips. He was completely, utterly whipped, and he knew it.
"Fine," Torian grumbled, his voice losing all its bite. He looked over at the bassinet, where little Tyara was fast asleep, her tiny blue eyes hidden behind fluffy white lashes. "I will watch Tyara. Kaelen and I will take the nursery duty. You... go rest for the night."
A bright, genuine smile illuminated Roxy’s face. She rose up on her tiptoes, pressing a sweet, lingering peck directly to Torian’s lips.
"Thank you, my fierce Tiger," Roxy murmured.
Torian flushed, a low, pleased purr vibrating in his chest. Satisfied that the primary obstacle had been addressed, Roxy turned back to Ren. She gently grabbed the Fox King by the sleeve of his torn erald Tang top and pulled him toward the heavy oak doors, completely ignoring the intense, warning glare Zarek was currently aiming at the back of Ren’s head.
The walk down the dimly lit corridor to Ren’s private chambers was entirely silent. Ren kept his head bowed, the heavy, suffocating weight of his fatal secret still crushing his chest.
They stepped into his sprawling, lavishly decorated suite. The air slled of burnt incense.
Roxy pushed the heavy door shut, flipping the iron lock into place.
The very microsecond the lock engaged, Roxy turned around, her brilliant green eyes flashing with fury.
Ren sensed the shift instantly. He took a nervous step backward, his green eyes widening in panic. "Roxy, my Queen, I—"
Roxy didn’t let him finish. She stalked forward with the terrifying, predatory grace of a seasoned General. Ren kept backing up, his heart hamring against his ribs as her intense gaze pinned him in place. He retreated until his shoulder blades hit the cool stone wall of the chamber. He had nowhere left to go.
Roxy closed the final distance. She stepped directly into his personal space, raising her arms and violently slamming both of her hands flat against the wall on either side of his head.
Ren flinched, completely cornered. He pressed his back against the wall, staring wide-eyed at the woman who had effectively trapped him.
"R-Roxy?"
"So?" Roxy demanded, her voice dropping to a whisper that left absolutely no room for escape. "What made you run out that way?"
Ren swallowed hard, the muscles in his throat bobbing frantically. He looked into her piercing green eyes, completely terrified. He couldn’t do it. He had to maintain the illusion, no matter how much it tore him apart.
Ren forced a mask of absolute, arrogant calm over his face. He summoned his signature, wicked trickster smile, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
"There was really nothing, my beautiful Queen," Ren murmured smoothly, attempting to project a relaxed charm. "Syris spoke the absolute truth. The heat fever overwheld my core. I just went berserk outside to burn off the excess magic so I wouldn’t accidentally bring the Manor roof down on your head. That is all."
Roxy’s green eyes narrowed into slits. She studied his face, cataloging the slight tremor in his jaw, the forced curve of his smile, and the way he was actively avoiding looking too deeply into her eyes.
The silence stretched, thick and suffocating.
Roxy knew he was lying. She knew Zarek’s furious glare in the parlor ant the Dragon was barely keeping his mouth shut. But she also knew that a Fox, by its very nature, would die before giving up a secret it was determined to keep.
Pressing him into a panic attack wouldn’t get her the answers she needed.
Roxy let out a long, heavy sigh. She dropped her arms, stepped back from the wall, and released the intense, suffocating pressure of her interrogation.
"Fine," Roxy stated coldly, turning her back to him to walk toward the center of the room. She paused, casting a dark, uncompromising look over her shoulder. "But mark my words, Ren. No matter what you are hiding from ... I will find out."
Ren let out a massive, shuddering breath, his shoulders slumping against the stone wall. A profound wave of temporary relief washed over him. He had survived the imdiate cross-examination.
Knowing he needed to rapidly change the dynamic before she resud her attack, Ren quickly pushed himself off the wall and moved to cajole her.
"I am hiding nothing but my absolute, undying devotion to you," Ren purred, his voice regaining its smooth, silken edge. He stepped up behind her, gently resting his hands on her waist. "Let draw us a bath."
Roxy didn’t argue. The bone-deep exhaustion was finally catching up to her. She offered a tight, single nod.
Ren’s private bathing chamber was just like the master bedroom. The massive, pond-like tub was sunken into the floorboards, lined with smooth, dark erald tiles that reflected the warm, flickering light of the surrounding candles.
Steam curled heavily through the air, carrying the soothing, fragrant scent of crushed lotus and warm sandalwood oils.
They stripped in silence, leaving their ruined clothing on the floor.
Roxy stepped down into the scalding, heavily scented water, letting out a soft sigh as the heat imdiately began to soothe her aching, tense muscles. Ren waded in behind her, the water rising to his chest. He grabbed a soft, woven sponge and a bar of rich lather, gently pulling Roxy back until she was resting comfortably against his chest.
For a long ti, the only sound in the bathing chamber was the soft splash of water as Ren tenderly washed the dried sweat and tension from her shoulders and arms.
It was a deeply intimate, quiet mont. The physical closeness was a stark contrast to the massive, invisible emotional wall standing between them.
Roxy closed her green eyes, leaning her head back against his collarbone. She felt the steady, rhythmic thumping of his heart against her spine.
Her mind drifted back to the master bedroom. To the violent, desperate climax. She rembered the sheer panic in his voice when he tried to pull away, and the terrifying, broken words he had scread before he finally surrendered and knotted her. I am not going to let this heat make you pregnant again so soon. I absolutely refuse.
The mory gnawed at her, a dark, incredibly painful insecurity festering in her chest. All of her mates were ferally possessive over the idea of expanding their pack. Zarek, Torian, Syris, Caspian, and Kaelen practically vibrated with pride over their own children. But Ren had looked at the prospect of a child like a curse.
The quiet intimacy of the bath finally broke her restraint.
Roxy slowly opened her eyes, staring blankly at the swirling steam rising from the erald water.
"Ren?" Roxy asked, her voice echoing softly, laced with a heavy, deeply vulnerable pain.
Ren paused, the sponge freezing against her shoulder. "Yes, baby?"
Roxy swallowed the lump in her throat, her fingers tightly gripping the wet rim of the tub.
"Why don’t you want to have kids with ?"
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