"I doubt she raised you to do this." Belle gestured at the cups of milk, our state of undress, and the cow-print lingerie scattered across the bed.
"Fair point."
Naomi curled against Belle, seemingly content despite her earlier embarrassnt. "How long do we have left in here?"
I checked the tir. "About fifteen minutes."
"Just enough ti to talk strategy for tomorrow," Belle said, all business despite being nearly naked.
"Or..." I let my gaze travel over both their bodies.
"Strategy," Belle insisted, though her lips twitched with amusent. "The gate is tomorrow. We need a plan."
I sighed dramatically. "Fine. Business before pleasure."
"More like business after pleasure." Naomi’s unexpected joke made both Belle and laugh.
"Look who found her voice," Belle teased, poking Naomi’s side.
"I’ve always had a voice." Naomi swatted her hand away. "I just choose when to use it."
"Well, use it now," I said, turning serious. "Tomorrow’s gate determines our ranking going into winter evals. Blair’s team won’t make it easy for us."
The mood shifted as we transitioned from intimacy to strategy. Belle sat up straighter, all traces of playfulness vanishing.
"Blair’s made you a personal project," Belle said. "She’s tracking every detail. Your physique. Your abilities. The way you move. She’s trying to figure out the pattern."
"So let her track." I stretched back against the pillows. "Whatever theory she’s building won’t match reality."
"That’s not the concern." Belle propped herself up on one elbow. "The concern is what happens when soone actually guesses the truth. When they figure out your System isn’t normal."
The words landed like stones dropping into still water, ripples spreading outward. I’d been riding the rush of power and sex and survival so hard that I hadn’t stopped to consider what ca after discovery. What happened when soone connected the dots.
"Best scenario, they study like a rare insect," I said slowly, working through the possibilities. "They pin to a board and dissect how I work. Worst scenario is ssier."
Neither of them needed the explicit answer. This world didn’t tolerate unexplained power very well. Too many variables. Too many threats. Anomalies got contained or eliminated, depending on who found them first.
"Tomorrow you use Wave Motion exclusively," Naomi said, her soft voice carrying unexpected firmness. "Nothing that would tip anyone off to your real capabilities. Nothing unusual."
"Keep it straightforward," Belle confird. "We clear the gate fast and clean. Minimum drama. We collect the cores. We lock in our team ranking. That’s the mission."
"Understood. Standard operation. No flash. Just results." I filed the instructions away, knowing they were right but already cataloging the scenarios where I might need to break those rules.
"And Jace?" Naomi reached for my hand. "Don’t die."
I squeezed her fingers. "Not planning on it."
"None of us are planning on it," Belle said. "But gates don’t care about plans."
The reality of tomorrow’s danger settled over us, dampening the previous levity. We would enter a dinsional tear filled with hostile entities, paralytic venom, and environntal hazards. People died doing this all the ti.
But we had advantages others didn’t. Belle’s enhanced detection. Naomi’s Silver-tier powers. Jordan’s shadows. And —whatever the hell I was becoming.
"We’ll be fine," I said with more confidence than I felt. "The Midnight Foxes are on a roll. One more gate isn’t going to stop us."
Belle’s expression softened. "Look who’s beco the optimist."
"Not optimism. Strategy." I smiled. "And having the two best Silver and Bronze assets a guy could ask for."
"Assets?" Belle threw a pillow at . "Is that what we are now?"
"You know what I an."
The tir on the Private Sanctum beeped softly, warning that we had two minutes remaining.
"Ti’s almost up," Naomi observed.
"Yeah." I looked at the four cups of essence, now secured in my Vault. Eight hundred and fifty points. Over eight days of additional life. And both won would receive powerful buffs from the extraction session.
"So," Belle drawled, stretching languidly. "Sa ti tomorrow?"
"Greedy." I tapped her nose.
"Strategic," she countered with a smirk.
The tir beeped again. One minute.
"We should probably get dressed," Naomi said, looking around for her discarded clothes.
Belle made no move to cover herself. "Why bother? We’re just going back to Jace’s room."
"Because Hikaru could be there," I reminded her.
"Fine." Belle rolled off the bed with exaggerated reluctance. "But I’m keeping these." She held up the cow-print lingerie. "Souvenir."
"Be my guest."
We dressed quickly as the tir counted down. Belle and Naomi back in their normal clothes, in my pajama pants. The lingerie disappeared into Belle’s bag.
"Ready?" I asked as the final seconds ticked away.
Both won nodded.
"And Jace?" Belle caught my arm. "Thanks."
"For what? The milk harvesting or the orgasms?"
"For taking this seriously," she clarified. "The gate tomorrow. Us."
Sothing tightened in my chest. "Always."
The Private Sanctum dissolved around us, reality rushing back in like a tide. We stood in my bedroom, exactly where we’d been forty-five minutes ago.
Except now, my Vault was full. My life counter showed over eleven days remaining. And two powerful won had just received significant buffs that would last through tomorrow’s crucial gate.
All in all, a productive evening.
"Well," Belle stretched, cat-like and satisfied. "I need to go study for Vale’s quiz. See you both bright and early."
"Night, Belle." Naomi’s voice carried warmth.
Belle paused at the door. "Oh, and Jace? If you ever get cow-print lingerie again, I’m telling Aurora."
"She helped pick it out."
Belle stared, then burst into laughter. "Of course she did. You two deserve each other."
She left, her laughter echoing down the hallway.
Naomi remained, standing awkwardly in the middle of my room. "I should probably go too."
"You don’t have to." I sat on the edge of the bed. "You could stay."
Her eyes widened slightly. "Like... overnight?"
"Unless you’re worried about your reputation." I grinned. "Which, after what we just did, seems a little late."
Naomi hesitated, then moved toward . "What about Hikaru?"
"He doesn’t care. Probably won’t even co back tonight."
"Okay then." Naomi nodded, decision made. "I’ll stay."
I pulled back the covers and patted the space beside . She climbed in, fitting herself against my side like she belonged there.
Maybe she did.
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