The wagon rattled over the uneven forest floor, pulled by a massive, shaggy ox-beast that seed entirely indifferent to the chatter of the won behind it.
They always used it for transportation and he didn’t mind as long as they paid him with food and rocks to buy things from the beast market.
And the wolves never try to eat him because how do they move about their pregnant females?
Roxy sat in the back, her legs dangling off the edge, breathing in the cool air of the deep woods.
For the first ti in weeks, the air slled like freedom.
"I feel lighter," Roxy admitted, tilting her head back to catch a patch of sunlight filtering through the canopy. "Is it wrong that I’m happy to escape my own house?"
Mara, sitting opposite her on a pile of furs, chuckled dryly. She shifted her massive belly, wincing slightly as the wagon hit a bump.
"It is normal," Mara grunted. "Males are heavy creatures. They take up space. They take up air. Sotis, a female needs to breathe without having to deal with them all the ti."
Especially when all they think about is who is going to fuck next.
Roxy rolled her eyes.
She never said she hated it, but they always forget that I am not a beast like them.
The other two pregnant wolves, Sera and Yara, laughed in agreent.
"My mate growled at a butterfly yesterday because it landed on my shoulder," Sera rolled her eyes. "He said it was ’invading his territory.’ They are exhausting."
"Exactly," Roxy sighed, feeling a kinship with these won she hadn’t expected. "I love them. I do. But if Kaelen tries to feed one more piece of liver ’for the pups,’ I’m going to bite him."
The wagon slowed as the terrain changed. The towering Iron-Wood trees gave way to a landscape of rolling, moss-covered mounds. It looked like a giant had buried a collection of bowls in the earth.
And this made Roxy intrigued.
She was already bubbling with excitent to see the burrows.
"We are here," Mara announced, pointing a calloused finger. "The Burrows."
It didn’t look like much from the outside, just a series of large, reinforced arches carved into the hillside.
It slled like greenery and wet earth but that was all.
"The moles and badgers, built this place centuries ago," Mara explained as they approached the entrance. "But they rarely co to the main levels anymore. It attracted too many custors."
"Custors?" Roxy asked.
"Predators," Mara said simply. "Lions, Bears, Panthers... even Wolves. We all need goods. They built a platform to keep us all in one place, so we wouldn’t hunt them in their deeper tunnels. It is a Neutral Zone."
They drove the wagon into the main tunnel.
It was massive. The ceiling was reinforced with thick, woven tree roots that humd with bioluminescent fungi, casting the entire underground city in a soft, ethereal blue light.
Roxy’s eyes widened in awe, not believing what she was seeing right now.
Fucking hell, was this even possible for a world without technology?!
[Child]
Shut up you fucking bot, how can a fungi light up without electricity!
[Because it’s nature?]
Exactly!
The tunnel opened up into a cavernous underground plaza that made Roxy gasp.
It was like a subterranean cathedral. Stalls were carved directly into the stone walls, spiraling down three levels. But unlike the quiet, fearful place Roxy had imagined, this place was loud, vibrant, and dangerous.
It was a lting pot of the Beast World’s hunters.
Roxy saw a massive Bear shifter haggling over a pot of honey with a Raccoon rchant.
She saw a sleuth of Panthers inspecting polished obsidian daggers.
She saw Coyotes, Jackals, and even a few solitary Lions moving through the crowd.
"Stay close," Mara warned, her voice dropping to a protective growl. "Neutral ground ans no killing. It does not an no staring."
And stare they did. As the group of pregnant wolves moved through the plaza, heads turned. But it was Roxy who drew the most attention. She didn’t sll like a shifter. She slled of the Wolf King, the Dragon King, and the Serpent Prince.
To the predators in the plaza, she slled like walking, talking political trouble. Most of them wisely stepped out of her way.
"To the textile district," Mara commanded, steering them toward the lower level.
The stalls here were run by the braver neutral species, Porcupines and Armadillos who weren’t afraid of a stray claw.
Roxy found the "Soft-Grass" fabric imdiately. It was everything Mara had promised. Woven from underground fibers, bleached white, and combed until it was softer than any cotton Roxy had felt on Earth.
Oh my fucking God?! Like bruh? I am at loss for words.
Roxy couldn’t explain the excitent pulsing through every part of her being.
Her heart raced in excitent.
"Oh, this is perfect," Roxy murmured, rubbing the fabric against her cheek. "It breathes. It won’t irritate their skin."
She haggled with the Porcupine rchant, trading so of her System-store salt packets for five large bolts of the cloth. The rchant was delighted; pure salt was a luxury in the humid underground.
"We have the cloth," Sera said, looking relieved. "And the ginger root for the nausea. Should we go?"
"Wait," Roxy said, her eyes catching movent in the center of the plaza. "What’s happening over there?"
The center of the Burrows was large. The crowd of predators were gathering around the rim, looking down with interest.
The ambient noise of the market faded. A rhythmic drumming began, not from a drum, but from feet stomping on the hollow wood of a stage.
"Ah," Mara murmured, leaning against a stone pillar. "The Foxes."
"Foxes?" Roxy asked, standing on her tiptoes.
"They are the entertainers of the Beast World," Mara explained, her tone less hostile than usual. "They do not have the strength of a bear or the numbers of a wolf. So they use charm and their beauty."
From the shadows of the lower tunnels, a figure erged into the spotlight of the glowing moss.
He was male. Slender, lithe, and breathtakingly beautiful. He wore a vest of dark crimson leather that left his chest bare, and loose trousers that flowed with his movents.
His hair was the color of a dying sun, a vibrant, burning orange-red tied back loosely.
He didn’t walk; he prowled. But it wasn’t a hunting prowl. It was a display.
He smiled at the crowd, his amber eyes sparkling with mischief. He held a wooden flute, but he didn’t play it. He tossed it into the air, spun, and caught it behind his back.
"They co here to find mates," Mara whispered. "The females of the Fox clan are picky. They demand agility. They demand grace. So the males co to the plaza to prove they are worthy."
The Fox began to dance.
It wasn’t like human dancing. It was a display of perfection.
He leaped into the air, spinning three tis before landing silently on one hand. He twisted, flipped, and flowed across the stage like liquid fire.
His movents were so fast, so precise, that he left afterimages in the air.
The female shifters in the crowd, Panthers, Coyotes, even the Wolves, watched with awe and lust. In the Beast World, movent was life. And this male moved like he owned the air.
He danced closer to the edge of the ring. He locked eyes with a female Leopard, winked, and then backflipped away just as she leaned forward.
"He’s a tease," Roxy laughed, clapping as he finished a dizzying set of spins.
The Fox stopped.
He stood in the center of the ring, chest heaving slightly, his skin glistening with sweat. His ears twitched. He turned his head slowly, scanning the upper level where Roxy stood.
He froze.
His amber eyes locked onto hers. He sniffed the air. He slled the Dragon. He slled the Wolf. He slled the Snake.
But beneath all that... he slled Her.
A slow, sly smile spread across his face. It wasn’t the practiced smile he gave the crowd. It was genuine. Intrigued.
He moved.
He didn’t stay in the ring. He leaped up the stone wall, finding handholds that shouldn’t exist, vaulting over the railing to land directly in front of Roxy’s group.
Mara growled low in her throat, stepping forward.
The Fox ignored her. He bowed low to Roxy, a sweeping gesture of respect.
"My Lady," he purred, his voice sounding like velvet. "You have the strangest scent I have ever encountered. It is... captivating."
He straightened up. With a flourish of his hand, a sleight of hand so fast Roxy missed it, he produced a small box from thin air.
It was made of dark, polished iron-wood, inlaid with shimring mother-of-pearl. It was exquisite.
He held it out to her.
"A tribute," the Fox said softly, his eyes searching hers. "For the one who shines brighter than the moss."
Roxy stared at him. She looked at the box.
"For ?" she whispered, confused. "I... I’m married. Very married. Like, three tis married."
The Fox laughed, a bright, musical sound. "Beauty is to be admired, regardless of ownership."
He placed the box gently in her hand. His fingers brushed hers, warm, electric, and soft, Roxy’s heart jolted.
She didn’t even realize that she had called the snake her husband.
"Open it when you are alone," he winked.
Then, before Mara could snap at him, he vaulted backward over the railing, dropping back into the arena to thunderous applause.
Roxy stood there, clutching the box, her face flushed.
"Well," Roxy said, looking at the box. "That was... intense. He’s quite the perforr."
She looked at Mara, expecting the Wolf to be annoyed or to scold her for accepting a gift from a stranger.
Instead, Mara was staring at the empty space where the Fox had been, looking shocked. The other pregnant wolves looked equally shocked.
Well that was quite the reaction.
"Mara?" Roxy asked. "What is it? Is it a bomb?"
"No," Mara whispered, shaking her head slowly. "You do not understand, Roxy."
She turned to look at Roxy, her expression that of confusion.
Why did Roxy attract more than one mate to her?
"The male foxes dance for everyone. They enjoy the attention. But they never give gifts. Not unless they are serious."
A/N: Welp! Roxy would regret ever coming to the market :D
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