ALWAYS READ THE FREAKING CONTRACT

by peekodemeeko12

The story is inspired by Monster Musume No Iru Nichijou; Jackie was living in NY when the new bill to allow Extraspecies to live in the USA was passed. With the glanced over contract signed, Jackie is now the Host of a quickly growing number of Extraspecies. What can possibly go wrong taking care of predatory Extraspecies that can easily kill her? :D Cowritten by chaos-dark-lord.

38. Chapter 38

VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTICE! READ!

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Hello everyone. We basically re-did the entire past arc. It felt as if it was too fast to grasp into all that was going on around, and it was. So we basically went back to chapter 38 and reworked everything. YOU CAN START READING THE CHANGES HERE

ALSO:

Of our co-works, we will be focusing too on other 2 stories mostly, so you can check those while we upload the new chapter of the next one (we will be rotating between them and this) . The stories are:

'A-Theist'

It's in Chaos-dark-lord account, and the premise is that a hardcore atheist is brought to the realm of the gods to teach them about hoomans, but of course she is a rational atheist with lots of science knowledge and practical views.

'Duty of the red hood'

It's in Peekodeemeko12 account and it's our take on the redhood story, monster hunting, human nature, werewolves,vampires and other of creatures.

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Late at night Kroc laid soundly asleep with the other charges dreaming of a strange combination of colored dots moving and forming images that looked like aboriginal depictions in his mind. He let out a low hiss, finding himself not in control of his body or dreams, but he was clearly aware of what was happening. He couldn't try to force himself awake either to avoid whatever nightmare this was and he had a hard time discerning what was reality and what was not. What convinced him that he must be dreaming was the moving lights and colors dancing across within his mind in a way his eyes would not naturally be able to comprehend.

He remained still, feeling himself begin to get aggravated as he felt something fluid moving between the lights and colors, bringing up memories as though the presence was scanning them. He thought for the briefest moment that perhaps a mind reader was going through his mind and he struggled to resist the mental intruder as it pulled up memories of when Kroc ripped out Ale's throat. The lights paused in motion, centering its attention around this detail before he felt a vague sense of approval from whatever was scanning his memories.

The multicolored dots move like snake coils and he felt that he was being approved for getting a new crocodile tribal mark on his body to prove his strength to himself and the people around him. He stopped fighting his instincts, instead going with the flow of the strange presence that oddly enough felt reassuring in some way. In his mind he watched as the lights glowed brightly, showing the image of a white, battle scarred tiger and the passing of time before finding himself imagining a much stronger version of himself. Perhaps it was a leap in logic but he felt the urge to go and speak with Nikita about this and perhaps to ask the tiger for training, puzzling him further at the own conclusions he was coming to. He knew that it wasn't himself thinking this; but rather, something directing his thoughts to understand what was being conveyed to him.

He watched as the lights formed the outline of Oceania before focusing on Australia, watching as known alphas began appearing in his mind, not just the alphas of alphas, but also some regional or alphas - to the North a tasmanian devil, to the East a spider of some kind, to the West a kangaroo, to the South, a koala, some Equidna near the red desert, a thorny devil at the other side of the desert and so on, all the while getting the sense that if he trained himself with Nikita, he would be able to be officially named an alpha of Australia, or at least to some territory in it; which was one of the greatest honors that could be bestowed to an Extraspecies and something only the strongest or wisest achieved. Even with his lack of knowledge about Australian Extraspecies culture he could sense that. And now with Ale, one of his greatest obstacles out of the way, he was free to start pursuing a new dream; becoming an alpha himself and ensuring that nothing would beat him again sounded like a good plan.

Kroc did not question his instincts; Longwei had told him the old and wise 'rainbow serpent' would be contacting him, and this must be her. He could feel it - his dreams were never so livid before and he now had another goal to strive towards.

The lights slowly died down, leaving an ushering sense of approval in his mind before his eyes popped open, tiny slitted and regaining movement of his body. He loudly hissed and looked around the room, seeing all of the charges he was previously sleeping with on the other side of the room and cautiously staring at him. Kroc blinked, remaining still and silent. The other charges were alarmed by something but he wasn't sure by what. He stopped his hissing and remained still, listening and tasting his environment, sensing no immediate danger but let out a low barring hiss to warn anything potentially dangerous near them that he would rip them to shreds.

"I-Is Kroc feral again?" Eztli squeaked out, backing away behind Dumisa in alarm as Aleksey hissed in Kroc's direction as a fierce warning with Sabre by his side protecting the kittens.

Kroc perked up, surprised. They thought he was feral? "Not feral, mate." Kroc said before he sat up again, feeling a dull thumping ache in his mind as he reached up and rubbed his head, groaning at the spot of discomfort. "What happened? You all are pretty tense." Kroc noted, turning towards the other charges curiously.

"You were moving a lot and kicking around." Sabre said with some apprehension. "Your hissing and croaking woke everyone up."

"Was I?" Kroc asked, surprised. Normally he slept like a log and would wake up in the same belly down position he always had when sleeping, but it wasn't until now that he realized he was on his back - uncomfortably so. "Hm. Weird." He noted, wanting to ask Nikita to train with him but he was at a loss for what he could offer the large cat.

"You kept swinging your tail around, gecko." Dumisa hissed in annoyance with his arms folded. "You jolted me awake with a hard slap against my side; I'll definitely have bruising tomorrow." He frowned in annoyance.

Eztli peeked out from behind Dumisa, looking Kroc over with his ears pulled down. "You were making weird sounds so we tried waking you up but nothing worked."

"You are really heavy sleeper. We tossed water over you, poked you with the curtain rod from a distance, we tried tickles, tossing pillows or furniture on you, even gently nudging you too, but noooooo, you wouldn't wake up." Reza pointed out, somewhat admiring what a heavy sleeper he was.

Aleksey's growling softened but he remained over the basket of little sleepy kittens, flashing his teeth as a warning towards the crocodile. He disliked having the kitten being by so many other apex predators. With a soft, sore heaving growling sound he began calling for Sabre to come back to the safety of the other side of the room.

"Korc, are you sure you are all right?" Sabre asked with some worry, unsure how to react and shifting on her feet as if undecided to go back with her mate or if to approach Kroc.

"Hm." Kroc hummed without answering before letting out a bit of a strained chuckle, "I'm not too sure myself if I'm being honest." He admitted, thinking about the snowy environment Nikita would likely train him in. Kroc would have to be trained in an inside environment unless he had a special heating suit to keep him warm. He wondered why, what he assumed was the rainbow serpent, wanted Kroc to train in a cold environment, something he wouldn't likely be dealing with much.

"Do you want petting?" Eztli asked, glancing over at the sleeping host whose instincts were too dull to pick up on the crocodile who was thrashing in his sleep earlier.

Kroc glanced over at Jackie, pulled out of his thoughts about training with Nikita. He was sure that was what he had to do. "Nah, that's alright. Sheila is still asleep." He said with a sigh. Although being pet did sound rather nice. Having the sensation of being paralyzed certainly wasn't an enjoyable experience.

They all stared at Kroc silently before Dumisa's tail swung around, slapping Jackie's side and flipping her over before she let out a groaning sigh, flipping onto her back before sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Hey host, the crocodile is needy and wants some petting; needs it, actually. Do what you do." Reza waved his hand in a sort of petting motion, pointing at Kroc.

Jackie mumbled, rubbing her face and trying to wake up. "What's going on?" She asked, looking over at everyone sleepily while rubbing her sore side.

"Kroc had a nightmare. Go give him pets." Eztli said, coming up behind Jackie and trying to stand her up as her knees sleepily buckled.

"Waht? What nightmare?" Jackie asked, trying to wake up from her deep sleep. "Hold on, hold on, I'm still waking up." Jackie mumbled, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. Sabre suddenly grabbed Jackie bridal style, making the host jolt as the feline walked over to Kroc. She placed the sleepy host over the crocodile's lap before giving Kroc a small nuzzle "Host, pet him."

"Hmmm … okay … you had a nightmare?" Jackie asked, looking up at Kroc as she sleepily leaned against him before Eztli poked her side, waking her back up again.

"Pet Kroc, host. He looked feral when he looked up it was so bad." Eztli said with a concerned pout, glancing up at Kroc and studying his wider pupils now.

"Really? Kroc did?" Jackie asked, sounding as surprised as she was tired. "Well, it's fine. When we get back to the house I'll make some special seasoned meat for you." She said before she reached up, gently rubbing Kroc's neck.

"Did I look that bad?" Kroc asked, turning to the others who all nodded in agreement. "Hm. Sorry for the scare, mates." He apologized, looking down at Jackie as she sleepily began to nod off again. He stared at her warm little body, studying her soft form before he gently hugged her and enjoyed the warmth of her body heat for a little bit.

"Aleksey, I'm here to take you and the hooman. We are parting in 15 minutes so come now." Longwei spoke as he appeared in the doorway.

Everyone turned to look at the dragon but no one said anything. Eztli jumped behind Kroc and hugged him while hiding from Longwei, peeking out from behind the large crocodile at the scary dragon.

"Come now you too, hooman." Longwei said to Jackie in a harsh commanding tone.

Jackie nodded and went out of the door, too sleepy to process anything while telling everyone to behave and promising them seasoned meat chunks when they returned. However, Aleksey remained in the room, standing up but looking between Sabre and the cubs, his shoulders down as he emitted some soft sad prustens towards his mate.

"´Leksey … ," Sabre stood in front of him, looking longingly into his eye as he lightly bumped noses with her. Sabre tossed her arms around his frame to hug him tightly, purring and nuzzling him as aggressively as she could without hurting him.

"I'll miss you." Aleksey softly purred, gently licking her cheek.

Sabre returned the lick and kissed his neck while caressing his sides. "You'll be fine, right? I don't want you taking risks. There aren't any in the house but ... "

"Da, I be careful." He kissed her on the lips, tightening his hug. "You be careful too, take easy."

"I'll miss you." Sabre said softly and with her eyes bright with adoration and longing. "I'll miss you a lot."

"I miss more, mishka." Aleksey murmured, gently kissing her forehead.

"I'll miss you even more, Aleksey" She meowled, holding his hands.

"Niet, that not possible." He purred with another soft kiss before holding her waist and bringing her in closer. "I miss you far more."

"It's more than possible because I'll keep missing you every single moment." She sniffed. "I love you and I'll miss you."

"Niet. Concede; you will never miss as much as I miss you." Aleksey chuckled, hugging her tightly in his arms while grabbing her hips.

"No. You know I will miss you even more." She growled, leaning on him and pulling him for a kiss.

"I miss you and kittens. That already seven times more," Aleksey teased with a small nibble to her ear.

Sabre gasped in surprise and took a step back, looking up at her mate with a woeful expression.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but that is enough, Aleksey." Longwei spoke before wrapping a strong arm around Aleksey's arm before pulling him away with undeniable strength, gently carrying him away while the big tiger extended his arm towards his mate.

"I'll miss you, always. Remember that mishka." He meowled while emitting prustens and walking back with Longwei.

"I'll be thinking on you!" Sabre returned the calls, holding herself steady by the wall and looking at the tiger slowly move away from her all the way across the hall.

Aleksey kept on saying his goodbyes to Sabre while she kept on answering how much she loved Aleksey back until they disappeared at the far corner of the hallway.

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Jackie let out a very heavy sigh as she opened the door to the tiny car, stepping out and stretching out her cramped legs from the long ride home. The trip had started incredibly well; she could hardly believe that the council had sent a private jet to pick them up in to get back to New York. Well, they had first crossed a park portal like the ones the operatives used to storm the warehouse a few nights ago and it took them to some private hangar in the Canadian border, where they got onto the private jet to get back to New York. The difference in funding between the program and the council was astounding. However, once they reached New York they were transported in a tiny van provided by the program, and during the ride, Aleksey had kept on shifting as much as he could trying to look around through the windows while Longwei kept complaining about the awful conditions the program subjected Extraspecies to.

Finally, as they reached their destination Longwei allowed himself to hiss in displeasure, crawling outside of the car and then started to give the driver an earful about regulations and proper protocol regarding a bunch of numbered irregularities the program were supposedly breaking.

Jackie walked around to the other side, opening the door for Aleksey. "Do you need some help?" Jackie offered, holding out a hand for him to take.

"Niet." Aleksey said, getting out by himself with difficulty while looking around the garage, sniffing the air. "So … this place home, huh?" He said, sounding a little disappointed, stretching out as he could and then groaning at some sudden pain.

"Careful Aleksey." Longwei came to stand besides the tiger and eye him with some worry while the vehicle left. Both Extraspecies eyed everything carefully, Longwei with clear disdain and Aleksey with some curiosity. While Longwei complained how crappy and hooman it looked, Aleksey sniffed around, moving left and right and looking up and down as he examined everything he could about the house.

"Okay, I'm going to go open up the house for you to bring your stuff in." Jackie said as she turned into her shop, walking through the garage before going up the twisting metal stairs. She flipped out her key and opened the lock, pushing the door to open it but met unexpected resistance. She paused, confused before pushing harder against it, feeling it give ever so slightly before she braced herself and shouldered the door open, stumbling inside and letting out a small startled shout as she fell onto the bumpy ground.

She blinked, confused and speechless as she saw her entire home covered in twisting vines and plants. With wide eyes she looked up, seeing greenery everywhere it shouldn't be. Her jaw dropped as she flicked on the light, better seeing the vegetation. The air was thick and humid with moss growing on the stairs, literal small trees in her living room, plants in all of the kitchen pots, bowls and cups, herbs growing in the corner of the rooms and a huge arrangement of hanging grapes in the rafters which to be honest looked great with exception to the fact it was inside of her home.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY HOUSE?!" Jackie shrieked in horror, almost having a heart attack as she imagined just how much time and effort she'd have to put into cleaning the leafy horror inside of her home.

Longwei shot up the stairs before bursting down the door, his claws looking ready for a fight before he paused, looking stunned at the state of the house. "Were the remodeling so ... thorough?" He said, puzzled as he looked around the house and felt the extreme temperature difference from the cold snow outside to the humid warmth inside. "They clearly did it without consideration for the different necessities of the charges." He huffed, disapproving.

"A proper jungle, but not good for cold weather extra species. I'd prefer a Taiga, colder forest." Aleksey looked up to the vines on the rafters. "But I impressed hot weather here while so cold outside."

"Th-This isn't how my house normally looks! I-I-I have no idea where all these plants came from." Jackie said, freaked out as she stared at the walls covered in vines.

Aleksey and Longwei glance at one another and share a small nod. They needed to seek out whoever was here and the stupid host already alerted them to their presence, annoyingly enough.

Longwei leapt up into the rafters silently, using the aerial advantage to slowly creep along and look for dangers there while Aleksey pulled out a large handgun from his bag before silently setting the bag down. Jackie stared at the gun in shock, opening her mouth to say something but Aleksey reaching over, pressing a finger against her lips to silence her as she stared at him in confusion before he winked at her and pointed to the ground, basically telling her to stay there. Jackie nervously frowned and nodded, wondering if she should call Smith and tell her about all the vegetation suddenly in her home.

As Jackie silently waited she heard Longwei and Aleksey exchanging a small series of grunts, chirps, growls and other such strange noises and vibrations that Jackie could feel over her skin. She had no idea what they were doing but they were clearly communicating with each other somehow in a way her charges never had before.

Jackie let out a soft sigh, glancing over at Aleksey before her eyes widened, watching some kind of plant man with bright fiery red hair and green skin stand clearly in Aleksey's view, leaning in and sniffing the tiger curiously. Jackie waited for Aleksey's gun to go off but it never did; Aleksey's eyes just passed right over the plant as he literally moved around him, oblivious to the fact the plant was alive at all.

"H-hey, guys, is that a … plant … man?" She asked, pointing out the plant man as he leaned over closer to Aleksey, sniffing his fur more fervently.

"You have the subtle scent of the great Heika over your person … deeply embedded." The plant man approached, sliding over the floor and rounding Aleksey. "You are a chosen one of her great hunter, thus I should not end you for entering her territory." He spoke as Aleksey jolted, alarmed and looked around for the source of the noise before he looked down, concentrating and staring the strange plant man in the eyes before jolting in startelement at the enemy having been so close to him. Longwei leapt from the rafters and grabbed Aleksey, pulling him away and stepping between the plant man and Aleksey quickly. Longwei sniffed the air and darted his eyes back and forth before concentrating harder before focusing on the plant Extraspecies for a brief moment.

"You, Jubokko. What are you doing here in this household?" Longwei asked, making sure the jubokko wouldn't come closer to Aleksey while his chilly breath reached the rare plant Extraspecies as a warning to keep his distance.

The jubokko moved back surprisingly fast at the threat of a cold breeze and then took a firm stand. "I am Naoki of whichever name my Heika upholds, I follow the all great and mighty Heika Sabre, the swift bringer of demise and death, and liberator of the captured. The storm of violent murder of the enemies of Extraspecies, the savior of the condemned, the fangs of the night and the claws of the sunset; she whose fangs are daggers, she whose her claws are knives, she whose tail is the silent fluffiness which whispers death in the night," he continued on, interesting the others as to who he was.

"What? Who you?" Aleksey flickered his ears in confusion but next he sneered, showing his fangs and becoming aggressive, quickly standing partially behind Longwei and aiming his weapon at the general direction of the Extraspecies plant, prepared to fight. "How you know Sabre?"

"Naoki is part of the plant type Extraspecies, a rare breed specific to the Japanese island. A Jubokko which was a species awoken by the blood of soldiers in a war long ago. They feed on the blood of creatures, most specifically hoomans and do not care for much other than caring for plants of their liking. It seems he was perhaps one of the escaped Extraspecies from the port raid not long ago." Longwei explained, now understanding what must have roughly happened while keeping Reza's long winded story in his mind. That blabbering noble must have told the jubboko the host's address, hence why he was there now. "Their kind tend to remain attached to a single territory and attract prey animals. They often make deals with predators to remain in their territory in exchange for attracting prey for the predators."

"But … but why are you here? Why did you turn my house into a horrible jungle? Do you have any idea how long it's going to take me to clean all this up?" Jackie asked, still stunned at what had become of her house in a few short days. The plants were even becoming entwined with the architecture, weakening the structure of her house. If left unattended it could tear her house apart!

"I'm merely taking care of the great Heika's den and garden as it is my duty to keep it lush and attract prey. I, as her gardener, must ensure all plants in the territory enhance the territory, also I get rid of any intruder, danger or random passerby as an assassin in case of needing fertilizer or if someone bothers, upsets or interferes with the Heika, however the quality of fertilizer around the zone is quite low." He crossed his arms. "However I managed to make the vines grow in this non appropriate weather and the flowers will bloom in a few short weeks. I might have to add some orchids, but I will first make sure perennial trees and bushes start growing outside to start attracting prey. Some frutal ones would serve.

"No, no absolutely not!" Jackie angrily cut in, "these plants are a distraction to my work and are in the way! It's a safety hazard that not only will trip up my charges but the new kittens too! I only have 3 days at best to clean all this crap up and have it ready for all of my charges by the time they get back!" Jackie shouted, her mind swirling around how much work she was going to have to do. "Now, get these stupid plants out of here so I can start cleaning." Jackie growled, absolutely pissed that her entire house was torn apart and filled with dirt in just a few short weeks of being gone.

Naoki's eyes slightly widened, showing his shock. "I did not realize my Heika's mighty bloodline has expanded. I must reorganize the house to attract smaller preys for the cubs." He said, reassessing Aleksey and figuring he must be Sabre's pollinator.

"Da, I Sabre mate." He proudly proclaimed. "I provide with much cubs for darling fluffy mate." He purred with a fan-boyish grin, thinking of his beloved mate.

"Yes, and I need to make this house presentable to them so get the plants out." Jackie growled, sounding more calm but looking rather pissed off.

"I … I did not consider cubs." Naoki bit on his finger, he then fixed his unblinking stare on Aleksey. "Oh … I see, that's why my Heika's scent in entwined with yours. You are one her concubines it seems … the cubs are going to need different plants around, maybe to attract smaller prey, or bigger ones for my Heika to hunt?"

"Look, this is my house so stop ignoring me. I decide how this house is run and having all these plants out here is going to impede my work taking care of Sabre and the cubs." Jackie pointed out.

"You dare question my Heika's liking of the proper acclimatization of her den?" Naoki turned to Jackie and raised his arm in a threatening way coldly staring at her with an unchanging expression.

"This is my home, Naoki, and I am Sabre's host. I'm supposed to take care of her. Do you have any idea how much I'm going to have to clean before they get back here?" Jackie angrily demanded. "And do you even know how thick Sabre's fur is right now? This weather will make her overheat constantly and no amount of cold baths will make her feel better over long exposure periods to heat." Jackie pointed out. "And how do you know if these plants are her favorite or not? Did she ever tell you what she liked and doesn't like? Because I know." Jackie snapped back at him, not feeling very threatened.

"You, jubboko, this hooman … ," Aleksey pointed towards Jackie. "She in charge of attending charges, Sabre, and to keep things clean and nice. She pet and brush fur, she keep den clean, and she care for other needs." He explained so the plant man could better understand her purpose.

"So this hooman is the appointed landowner of the Heika's territory and her personal maid and servant." The plant nodded. "I understand." He once more rose his hand, and all the plants around began moving on their own, slowly but with a clear shuffle of their leafs. "Where should be the general storage greenhouse then?"

Jackie's face drained of color as she stared at the moving plants, honestly freaked out by their seemingly independent movements. "U-Um … in the garage, for now." Jackie said, disliking the fact she was sacrificing her old workspace for these monstrous plants. "First start with the living room," she started, turning and seeing Longwei popping grapes off of the vines and munching on them, seeming to be ignoring them all, much to Jackie's confusion. " ... Longwei, what are you doing?" She asked, near speechless.

"I am eating this grapes. Is it not obvious?" Longwei didn't bother to look at the host as he continued to eat the little round fruits.

"Go ahead and consume those plant eggs." Naoki said, "spreading the seeds will be fine and moving the vines will be easier."

Jackie frowned in annoyance. " … fine, leave the grapes for now." Jackie sighed, seeing Longwei enjoying plucking them off the plant and eating them.

"Hey plant-man, do you have cherries, berries or strawberries? Wei-wei likes them a lot." Aleksey chuckled, quite amused. "He once got tiny wei-wei head stuck inside jar because he wanted lick the juices clean."

Longwei paid them no mind, busying himself with eating the delicious grapes considering how hungry he was from the trip.

Jackie stared at Longwei, tucking that piece of information into the back of her head. "Hey, what are we going to do with Naoki now?" Jackie asked Aleksey, seeing Longwei was ignoring them.

Aleksey laughed a bit. "Once wei-wei finishes grapes he call council coordinator. Meanwhile I go check rest of building." He said with a smile before, for a brief moment, getting very serious and intimidating. "And hooman, don't lose plant from view. If anything happen, scream and run." After that, he walked away towards the stairs, moving slowly in a silent stalking pace despite his wounds.

" … scary." Jackie admitted with a frown before glancing over at Naoki.

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With a very heavy sigh, Jackie finally stood up tall and proud, grinning over her cleaned house. It took hours but she was finally done. She picked up all of the cleaning rags and vacuum cleaner before pausing, noticing Longwei laying on the couch curling and surrounded by pillows looking rather calm. The host blinked, surprised to see him there since she didn't notice him there earlier. How long had he been there for? She picked up her things, deciding to ignore him for now as she walked down the hall by her room and put her cleaning tools away before hearing rummaging in her room.

Jackie looked inside, freezing as she saw Aleksey laying on her bed and rolling around on it with a deep set purr. But that wasn't the worst part of it - he was completely naked with only his bandages on his body. His tail flipped around as he sniffed Jackie's pillow before rubbing his face on it and lightly nibbling on the corner of it with a light smile on his face, completely enamored with what he was doing that he didn't notice Jackie by the door.

"Uh … Aleksey?" Jackie asked, seeing him turn his head her way. "W-Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" She asked, a little freaked out. At least with Eztli, since his fur was black, it was harder to see details but it was much easier to do so since Aleksey had lighter colored fur.

"Because clothes irritate wounds and it much too hot for clothes here." He heavily sighed in annoyance while flipping onto his back and nuzzling against the covers.

"O-Okay?" Jackie said, trying to concentrate on other things other than how Aleksey was rolling around on her bed naked, meaning she'd have to wash it, annoyingly enough. "What uh, are you doing rolling around my room for?" She asked, flicking on the light and walking inside.

"I scent marking over mate's scent." Aleksey happily purred, kneading on the fabrics happily.

"But … why my room?" Jackie asked, bewildered by Aleksey's actions. "Can you please not scent mark my room? This is my room, not yours or anyone else's. Go cover up Sabre's scent in her room." Jackie huffed as she walked over to Aleksey and gently pet him, trying to entice him off her bed so she could start herding him towards the door. "I don't want your smell in here."

"I'll get to that room eventually, da? But I'm going room by room, now this room and it has mate's scent too strong." He said while his lone eye's gaze turned sharp. "Why is mate's scent here so strong host? It should be stronger in Sabre's room, but scent here stronger due to time, that means Sabre spend more time here before self room. Why that?"

Jackie paused, looking down at the patchy furred tiger and thinking. Her room was, unfortunately, the mating chamber for Sabre and Jaska a while back - and Sabre had been in her room multiple times even to take naps, perhaps more than any other charge so it made sense that her room smelled like Sabre. Jackie was about to speak and tell him her room was a 'mating chamber' but that would be telling him that Sabre slept with his brother, Jaska, in this very room, not to mention other things Sabre would be embarrassed for anyone to find out about. Jackie's face reddened, already forseeing the horror of what would happen should she tell him about the 'mating chamber'. "Uh … n-no reason in particular, I guess. I imagine my scent is in their rooms too." Jackie stiffly said as she felt a cold sweat slowly rise to the surface of her skin.

Aleksey smiled, showing his fangs and not blinking at the host, locking gazes with her. "I predator, hooman. I know you uneasy all sudden at question. It suspicious, da?" He stopped smiling, his eye narrowing and his claws unsheathing as he stretching in a way that was far more intimidating than it should have been for a hurt feline. "Sabre scent very strong here. Too strong for not being her room. Why here so often?"

"L-Look, Aleksey it's really no big deal! Sabre just sometimes - often - likes to come in here and uh, de-stress away from the other charges. Apparently my scent is pretty neutral to them all and that makes my room comfortable to them." Jackie sheepishly explained before folding her arms, only thinking about how her room was a mating chamber while struggling to come up with a better excuse as to why Sabre's scent was so strong in her room. Aleksey was looking very scary and she was getting nervous about that. "I have no idea why they are so obsessed with my room and my 'neutral' scent but Sabre really likes it."

"Neutral for Extraspecies sensible senses mean 'completely non-threatening'," he curtly explained, his tail batting the bed as he got upset about Sabre finding Jackie's hooman scent so non threatening that was apparently comforting to her; at least he hoped that was the reason why. He would dread it if she was nostalgia about her old self, something he had not spoken about with her yet and that gnawed at the back of his mind.

Jackie stared at him, frowning and thinking about his explanation. "For some reason I feel almost insulted by that but also strangely flattered." Jackie admitted, unsure how to feel about that.

"Bratja's scent also strong around here, stronger than jaguars whose scent common here too." The tiger noted, waiting for her reaction more than her answer.

Jackie jolted a bit, already feeling herself cracking. But if she told him the truth, would he rip up her room in anger? What if he went feral after hearing what happened to his beloved mate? There was no way in hell was she going to do risk that - and neither would she give up Sabre's secret. "Y-Yeah. They come in here every now and then as well but less often lately since Sabre and Jaska aren't on entirely friendly terms." Jackie explained. "And Eztli … well, I'm not sure what he does in here to be honest. Probably just naps like the others do." Jackie admitted with a sheepish laugh.

"Common investigation would led to believe that suspicious host take advantage of charges in room by scent." Aleksey tapped his nose. "Maybe I should interrogate harder. I warn last time. I not as nice as Jaska." He said seriously and stepped off the bed.

"W-What?! Of course not!" She said, stepping back and tripping over a ball-like object. She fell back and onto the ground, startled as she looked up and saw one of Sabre's favorite cat toys, a small rod with a ball and feather at the end of it. Jackie gasped before quickly lunging forward and shoving it back underneath the bed while she nervously sweat and remained frozen in place with the tiger watching her obviously very suspicious movements.

Aleksey saw a glimpse of the suspicious object and laid back on the bed, now curious. "What you hiding under bed, host?"

Jackie stared up at him before nervously laughing but it was much too stiff to be natural. "N-Nothing." She said as her face heated up in embarrassment before looking away from the tiger's accusing stare.

"Why you blushing at something feathery?" He pawed in her direction. "I need to check, for safety reasons." He let himself slide off the edge of the bed, almost falling over Jackie as he rolled to see what was under the bed.

"W-Wait, Aleksey stop! S-Sabre wouldn't want you to know!" Jackie said, trying to get back in front of him to stop him from looking but he very easily pushed her back.

"Too late." He almost sang, his eye gleaming with mischievousness as his hand reached further in.

"D-Don't you want to respect her p-privacy?" Jackie asked, nervously sweating. This was another secret that Sabre probably wouldn't want anyone to know - and Aleksey seemed like the type of feline who liked to tease people.

"Da, but I must first ensure everything in house safe for her." Aleksey grinned, pulling out a small box of various cat toys and looking very confused before turning to the nervous host with a smug kitty smile, grabbing a little mouse toy and making it squeak. "Why host has suspicious cat toys under bed? And do tell how they relate to Sabre."

Jackie stared at the evidence, brightly flushing before she heavily sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "O-Ok, fine." Jackie huffed, knowing Sabre would be upset with her but hopefully this would distract him from Jaska and Sabre having been in this room. "Look, Sabre is often under a lot of stress so when she is very stressed out, she likes for me to pet her into a mushy state where she can relax. And in that state she, well, she likes to play with stuff like a kitten would. So I got her some personal cat toys that she can play with while I help her relax in the privacy of my room so the others don't find out." Jackie frowned.

Aleksey looked like a feline statue for some seconds before he burst out laughing, only stopping when he needed to catch breath as his would began to hurt. He then grabbed the toys and sniffed them, confirming they smelled like Sabre in general although a little of the jaguar too.

"Don't laugh at her." Jackie nervously frowned. "Everyone has a guilty pleasure or whatever to calm themselves down with."

"You have photos?" He asked with an eager expression, his tail swirling and his ears perked forwards. "There photos of cute mate looking adorable or funny? I know guilty pleasure, I like to munch on mate's hair or lovely fluffy tail," he admitted

Jackie chuckled at his comment as she fidgeted, holding in a snicker as she glanced off to the side. It's all out anyway and this was Sabre's mate. "Of course I have photos." She grinned. "But, but don't tell Sabre I told you about this, alright? She'd be upset - probably." Jackie frowned, trying to play this up a bit so Aleksey doesn't keep asking why Sabre's and Jaska's scents are so thick in her room. And, to be honest, she wanted to be on Aleksey's good side since he was Sabre's mate and all.

Aleksey purred and chuckled, showing a nice smile that somehow didn't seem innocent at all. He then pulled the blanket he had ben 'marking' from the bed and placed it over the floor before laying over it. "Host? Can you pet while showing me the photos?" He meowed, looking up at the hooman with big and disturbingly adorable kitty eyes.

Jackie hesiated, thinking about it. This was Sabre's mate and all; and he probably missed a lot about Sabre since he was presumed dead for so long and had been recovering without knowing anything about his beloved mate. So the least she could do is make him feel more comfortable. "Alright, sure. Just lay on your back," Jackie said, pulling out her phone and flipping to an album with her Extraspecies on it, going to the one labeled 'Sabre' so he could see them. She handed the phone to him as she pulled out a brush and began gently petting and grooming him while he eagerly took the phone.

Aleksey purred loudly like a fluffy motor and slowly clsoed his eyes at the screen bumping his nose to the first image before slowly checking photo after photo. "Sabre is adorable, da? Mate very fluffy and cute."

"She really is." Jackie chuckled, "she can be very particular though at times." Jackie noted with a shrug as she made sure to avoid his more vulnerable spots on his body.

"She also very smart and prepared, her coat has very defined pattern and she very lovely and cuddling, and capable, and … of course she though. She a strong bastet and very realistic and objective and … ," he went on a long list of description that went from the endearing and utterly in love to the practical and predator like. This was clearly the equivalent of a sicklove teen's admiration for a beloved person.

Jackie struggled to hold back her laughter, finding their love for each other to be genuinely adorable. She was so happy for Sabre that she had her mate back. Jackie happily continued to groom Aleksey, listening to his revving purrs as she massaged and pet his whole body - and in doing so, found his particular weakness; being pet on his inner thighs. Jackie sat by his legs and pet his inner thighs, listening to his revving purrs and watching his head tilt back in pleasure. Jackie did her best to not pay attention to how naked he was but it was pretty hard when his giant fluffy balls were right in her peripheral vision as she pet his weak spot; not only that, they were each as big a human fist, and that was not the only thing she could see. She was hoping to pet him to sleep and then maybe cover his hips up with a blanket or something since it was a little unnerving and distracting to her. Normally she wouldn't care but because his fur was white, she was able to see more unnerving details than she could with Eztli's black fur.

"Host … ," Aleksey started, spreading his legs even further and stretching with a soft purr, "I know what you are seeing, but I must warn, those belong to Sabre."

Jackie froze, startled by his remark before she burst out laughing, covering her mouth and snickering, "n-no no, I know that." She laughed before it died off into an awkward silence rather quickly. Aleksey and Jackie stared at one another as Jackie tried to think of a retaliating response but came up empty. " … Aleksey, please put some boxers or briefs on at least." She asked, looking away in embarrassment.

"Niet. Clothes harsh on wounds and it's too hot, but if host lowers temperature then I do put something on." He pawed.

" … not even a pair of loose boxers?" She asked with a frown.

"I no have that. I can take some pants or shorts from Bratja maybe though."

"Yes, please do that. It's awkward seeing people naked," she heavily sighed, pulling her hands away.

"As soon as host lowers temperature." Aleksey smiled cheekily. "Have you not see your charges naked?"

"No." She immediately said without thinking before she paused, "well, actually," she hesitated, thinking about it. "Eztli definitely and Dumisa too since he only really wears a shirt … oh, and Sabre a few times as well." Jackie admitted, trying to think of any other occasion she's seen someone else naked, "Reza normally doesn't really wear clothes either so I guess him too. And once with Kroc in his bath?" Jackie said, looking away and nervously paling as she realized she's seen just about everyone naked except for maybe Jaska.

"So why problem when seeing me naked?"

" … well to be honest, you have massive fluffy balls that could take me out if you turn the wrong way, so wearing a pair of boxers or something will help." She admitted with a frown. Jackie had to admit that it didn't feel like he was naked thanks to all the fur but it was awkward knowing those giant sacks of fur were his balls.

"Da, I big." He smirked.

"Your attempts to woo an individual part of a permanent mate pact is pitiful, hooman." Longwei spoke, stepping inside and narrowing his eyes at Jackie.

"That's not what I was trying to do." Jackie frowned, looking over at the dragon as she numbly rubbed the same spot on Aleksey's inner leg.

"Aleksey, you shouldn't let the hooman pet you so easily." The dragon said with some worry towards the hurt feline.

"It fine, wei-wei." Aleksey purred. "You here to check she no try anything but nice petting and grooming. But maybe you more convinced if host prepares food? We need meal and you can see how she prepares food for charges." He suggested.

"What would you like to eat? I've got chicken, duck, cow and pig right now in the fridge and freezer." Jackie asked, looking over at Aleksey.

"Just prepare what you would prepare for charges, but Wei-Wei likes fish." Aleksey suggested.

"I don't have fish." Jackie admitted. "Most of the charges eat either eggs, chickens, ducks, cows or pigs."

"But you do." Aleksey grinned, pointing towards one of Reza's tubes that passed by. "You have stash of fish around house."

"Those are Reza's fish. He insists on making the fish himself and won't let me cook any myself." Jackie lightly laughed, thinking about it. She never really bothered with fish since Reza normally took care of it and so she didn't have any flavorings to add to them.

Longwei rose an eyebrow. The hooman at least respected such wish from her charges, but why would a charge refuse to accept her cooking? It was something that required his attention. "I shall get the fish for you to prepare, hooman." The dragon said, turning towards the merman's room.

Jackie stood up and headed out the door, walking to the kitchen before she washed her hands. She pulled out one decent sized slab of beef, already thawed out, before she pulled out some special seasoned meat rubs for the meat. She went ahead and diced up the meat, tossing them into a large bowl before she began mixing in the flavors with the meat with her bare hands. She got a gallon of milk, splashing a bit of it in the bowl before better mixing it all together and making sure each bit of meat had an even but not overbearing layer of seasoning on the slices.

While the beef sat, Jackie gutted the fish Longwei caught before cutting off the meat of the fish and staring at it. She really wasn't sure what to do with it other than to serve it with a very light seasoning. She pulled out a light herbal seasoning, coating it gently before slicing it up as well. Once she was done she pulled out two plates, one for the fish and the other for the beef before setting the plates on the counter.

"There you go, all done." She smiled, nervously eyeing the fish, "if the fish doesn't turn out well then I apologize; I don't make much with fish in general since Reza normally takes care of that." She admitted but she was confident in her beef.

Longwei didn't bother answering. He sniffed the fish with a clearly disappointed look at its quality and then began taking small bites while Aleksey also sniffed his meal, taking a small bite before licking his whisker and diving straight into it.

"Now I know why charges are overweight." Aleksey laughed while passing Longwei a small chunk of his meat.

"Is it that greasy?" Longwei critically examined the piece Aleksey gave him and sniffed it before tasting it. His eyes tightened for a moment as he slowly chewed. It took him some moments to finish and when he did he looked at the remains of his bland fish before he passed it back to the host. "Hooman, put that seasoning on the fish while I go get more."

Aleksey laughed hard as the dragon went to catch more fish with all the dignity of a hungry reptile.

"I didn't think it would be a good combination with the fish but maybe it will be." Jackie said, taking the fish back. She rinsed the meat off and patted off the water before she rubbed in the flavoring, setting it back in time for Longwei to return with an armful of fish. Jackie took the fish and began preparing them before hearing a small clatter. She turned back around, finding both Aleksey and Longwei already done with their meals before she laughed in disbelief. "Th-that was so fast!"

"We need to try host cooking to ensure it secure; all meat and types." Aleksey grinned, pushing his plate forward. "So fill more, host. Longwei too." He said, sparing Longwei from having to ask the hooman for more food.

"Sure, sure just give me a bit to finish the fish." Jackie laughed before she cut up the fish and rubbed the seasonings on it before giving it to Longwei.

Jackie opened the large fridge, pulling out a much bigger pork cut before she began cutting it into chunks. She tossed them all into a large bowl and mixed in the seasonings before setting the large bowl in front of them. "Should I prepare some chicken and duck too?" She asked with a laugh.

"DA!" Aleksey immediately said. "Prepare sample of all you give to charges … what you give to charges? What Sabre like more?" He asked with a purr, twisting his tail around.

"Well, sometimes I feed them lamb or goat when I get the chance. And Sabre absolutely loves duck the best." Jackie grinned. "Anything that's on sale at the market I give them but I don't have any lamb or goat at the moment."

Aleksey grinned before looking at Longwei and noticing just how easily he had accepted being fed by a hooman; which meant he was far more than hungry. He smiled softly and then stood up to rub his chin on the dragon's shoulder before looking at Jackie. "Host. Prepare all the food you have. Even frozen ones. Wei-Wei hungry."

Longwei looked away with dignity and crossed his arms, huffing a few bubbles in the air before breathing cold over them to see them fall to the floor and crash. "I did not expect to be here for so long I would require to eat a main meal here."

"It fine, Wei-Wei." Aleksey tapped the dragon's back a couple times with a grin.

"There's no way you can eat that much." Jackie stated in disbelief. "I have at least 3 cow's worth of meat in there."

"Ha, Ha! He can eat even far more." The tiger laughed. "Once I heard uncle tell Longwei ate all cargo from an illegal whaling ship before sinking it."

"It would have been a senseless waste otherwise." Longwei confirmed.

"H-How many whales was that?" Jackie asked as her jaw dropped, trying to imagine a size comparison of a whale to Longwei's large dragon form.

"Not that many, fortunately." Longwei narrowed his eyes at her, looking at the hooman with disgust. "There are too few whales and hoomans keep hunting them, even daring enter Extraspecies territories to chase them. Such destructive creatures, not even respecting the hooman law their countries had agreed on." He hissed in disgust.

"Y-Yeah." Jackie agreed, nodding slightly with a frown. She didn't know much about whaling but knew that it wasn't very good, to say the least. The last she heard about the topic was when it came out that markets in Japan and South Korea were mislabeling dolphin and whale meat for beef. But other than that she wasn't very knowledgeable about whaling and the major problems it could cause.

"Da." Aleksey flickered his ears, tapping the plate to make noise and cut the bit of tension in the room and smiled. "But since Extraspecies took control of natural areas, incidents like that have ceased."

"Like in the Amazon, right?" Jackie asked, curious. "Illegal tree cutting has basically stopped completely in the Amazon because of the Extraspecies there, right?" She asked, trying to sound a least a bit intelligent to these two knowledgeable Extraspecies; even if it was only a vague reference made in the news she happened to hear in passing. She really needed to start paying more attention to the news.

"And poaching, illegal hunting, mining, even sand stealing." Longwei added. "But of course not many hoomans were smart to keep away from such uncontrolled activities." He smiled wickedly, showing his fangs. "No matter if it's the poorest or the richest hooman companies. Trespassing has been punished."

"Da," Aleksey smiled, pushing the dish again. "Although some alphas allow hoomans come in to forage, research or whatever by giving permits. Having those hoomans go clean up their trash as payment has been useful."

"I didn't know about that. That sounds cool." Jackie admitted with a smile, thinking about how helpful that could be.

"It is. And needed. Hoomans need to learn this world not their alone." Aleksey calmly said. "Of course that also helped cull the most polluting small villages that hunt for exotic fur or meat." He glanced at Longwei, noticing the dragon's slight shiver disguised under a minor stretch and then changed topic. "But still too much trash and damage from hooman industries. Anyways, host. Is the meat ready yet? We need to try all recipes."

"Culling?" Jackie questioned with a pale face.

Aleksey rolled his eye and scratched his chin. "Poorest hoomans much times are ones poaching, cutting trees and tossing trash for mere small coin. Without access to such the weakest may die, hopefully fast." He flexed his claws. "Hoomans do that too to their weakest people instead of taking responsibility. In any case, such activities illegal under many hooman law too, so any hooman who dare enter Extraspecies territory no missed. The world better without such."

"O-Oh." She said, startled and alarmed by his explanation. He, well, they and other Extraspecies talk about taking human lives as being so trivial and to them but it was probably the case with them. But then again, she was sure there were other humans who did the same thing regarding other humans. Which, as history showed, humans did do that - quite a lot, but they were called other things such as genocide and massacres in various different ways throughout most if not all human cultures. The thought somewhat depressed her, but it got her thinking and wondering if Extraspecies also 'culled' their own species. "Do Extraspecies cull their own people like humans do?" Jackie asked, curious.

"Does the hooman want to feel better about her wasteful and parasitic race if we did such?" Longwei huffed. "We certainly don't prolong an Extraspecies suffering just to feel better with ourselves, nor do we condemn those born with defects to an existence of pain."

"Niet, that not entirely so. We do torture when wronged; and I suppose us predators hunting herbivores could be considered culling the prey to a hooman." Aleksey pointed out with an amused chuckle.

"That is different. It its survival and merely sustaining one self." Longwei pointed out. "It's nothing like the things hooman's do." He then poked the bastet's nose. "Also we do not promote hunting herbivore Extraspecies anymore, Aleksey. Not unless it is in free lands."

"W-Wait, now I'm confused. So you really do hunt uh, Extraspecies that are prey if they are on free lands?" Jackie asked, confused and looking between the both of them with a clearly confused expression on her face before giving up for the time being. She'd try asking someone else to better explain this to her - the whole idea surrounding a chicken Extraspecies was honestly driving her insane and had been doing so for a while any time she lingered on the topic. "Would that not be considered culling?"

"Da."

"Bu- xing. No."

Jackie's eyes darted between the two of them and frowned, only getting more confused. "Okay, okay so wait, answer me this at least. To you two, in your own opinion, is an animal chicken the same as an Extraspecies chicken in your minds? Meaning they are free to hunt if they were both in free land?" Jackie asked, trying to simplify their logic for her to better understand.

"Niet." Aleksey looked indignated and Longwei looked infuriated.

"OF COURSE NOT, YOU FOOLISH HOOMAN!" Longwei snarled, huffing such cold air in her face that she had a thick layer of frost and mist covering her face. "And Extraspecies is an Extraspecies. Not an animal. Hoomans are closer to the animals they prey on. Mere smart and destructive monkeys, all of you! You don't have veils, an evolved jaw arrangement or anything else to indicate further development as Extraspecies do!"

Jackie staggered back as she quickly rubbed off her face from the freezing mist before she shivered, startled by his reaction. "That's not the comparison I was trying to make. I'm confused about how Extraspecies predators view their prey since a chicken is, you know, a chicken, and a chicken Extraspecies is different. I view an animal chicken and an Extraspecies chicken as being different but from how you're explaining it to me, you make it sound like both the animal chicken and Extraspecies chicken would be fair game for you to hunt and treat like prey, regardless of being an Extraspecies or not and solely on the grounds that they are a chicken. Am I wrong in thinking this?" She asked, now getting more confused than ever at why he is angry.

"Of course they fair game." Aleksey responded, confused while placing his hand over the dragon's shoulder to try and prevent Longwei from freezing the hooman host that his mate liked in one breath. In any other circumstance he would have let the hooman suffer Longwei's wrath but Aleksey's mate liked this hooman for whatever reason.

"Not since the great treaty, you rowdy cub." Longwei smacked Aleksey in the head with his tail. "At least not in any court or official territories."

"Ok," Jackie said, thinking about what he was saying, "so now, in your courts and official territories, predator Extraspecies are not allowed to eat or attack prey Extraspecies, right?" She asked. "I'm only asking because I had this discussion with my charges before and they confused me with their explanation.

"Obviously." Longwei growled. "We can't allow ourselves to threaten each other now that we allowed hoomans to become aware of our existence."

"But there are territories that allow such." Aleksey shrugged. "Prey sometimes go to test selves, as rites of passage, to train or even to die. It more honorable to be taken by a predator Extraspecies than waste one body and death meaninglessly."

"Herbivores should all be culled; every last one of them. They predate relentlessly." Naoki suddenly spoke up, making Longwei and Aleksey jolt in surprise as Jackie looked to her side, seeing Naoki standing there with a thousand yard stare in his eyes. "Herbivores are bringers of great destruction and horror. Their gluttony knows no bounds and their lust for vegetation is insatiable. They reproduce many in a single litter, and each of those in a litter can grow and reproduce exponentially once in an area filled with beautiful, innocent plants." Naoki spoke, trembling as he spoke of herbivores. "But predators can gracefully slow down herbivore destruction and provide safety for innocent plants allowing the world to be more green and full of life by bringing swift dead to the herbivore menace."

Naoki's expression was so filled with fear that Jackie couldn't help but each over and lightly pet his arm. "You uh, you alright, Naoki?" Jackie asked, sounding uneasy. "You look a little uh, murdery."

"Herbivores would devour you bit by while you wither away slowly in life. And they don't stop with you, they graze on every small weed and seed. Mighty predators don't even eat so often but herbivores never stop." Naoki seemed a bit yellow while saying all this.

"Don't worry Naoki, your Heika will protect you." Longwei calmed down, focusing on the jubboko for a second to see its state and looking at Naoki's general figure with soft reassurance. "You can stay in her territory and no herbivore here will eat a plant Extraspecies under her watch."

"Yes … my great heika is fearless and noble, strong and vicious. She will devour any creature, especially herbivores, that dare draw breath in this territory without her gracious consent." Naoki spoke continuing to tremble while staring off in the distance in fright.

"Yeah, herbivores would be scary to a plant Extraspecies; I've never thought of that before either." She admitted, now wondering if a basil plant Extraspecies tasted the same as a basil plant, or if herbivores indiscriminately saw them as being the same thing foodwise. She frowned as her head spun thinking about it.

"Host? Can you pet plant?" Aleksey asked curiously, already losing focus on the plant. "Or you too busy thinking about 'chicken' prey thoughts for plants?" He asked with a cheeky smile.

"To be honest I've never thought about petting a plant before." Jackie admitted, staring up at Naoki and wondering how that would even work. "I don't think plants exactly have a weak spot I could use either." She muttered in thought, staring at Naoki more critically now.

Longwei blinked, wanting to test if she actually could. He didn't remember any host petting a plant before. If it worked, Naoki would feel better and if it didn't then it wasn't a loss but rather a gain, meaning a single hooman couldn't possibly pet all kinds of Extraspecies. "Try to pet him, hooman."

" … but how?" Jackie asked aloud, more so to herself while staring up at Naoki. "Here, Naoki, come here." Jackie said, walking over to him. "I'm going to try and pet you."

"Why?" Naoki looked at her with his unblinking violet eyes, slightly tilting his head.

"Because you are distressed, and I pet any Extraspecies who is distressed in my house; with their permission, of course." She said, holding her hands poised and ready should he allow her to pet him.

"Hai, Hidenka." Naoki answered, seemingly sliding over the floor towards her.

Aleksey took out his phone and pointed it at the host to record, not even bothering trying to keep the plant in his field of vision which required too much focus. Later he would use this footage and show it to another plant Extraspecies so they could determine what happened.

Jackie reached up, very gently taking his jaws into her hands as she began to slowly pet him. Naoki emptily stared at her, watching as her hands moved around his body in a hypnotic fashion. His expression remained neutral before her hands came across a large blooming flower over his collarbone, making the plant shudder as she gently traced her finger around the base of the plant grafted into his skin.

"Hey … Naoki? Is this plant a part of you?" She asked, not remembering a flower like that being there before.

"No. While my body does not have plants blooming naturally from it, I am able to graft any plant I desire into my body and aide its growth before grafting it into a vine or tree, wherever the plant originated. It helps when trying to rehabilitate a flower previously damaged or injured since my body can produce the necessary parts to reconstruct and fix its beauty." Naoki explained, being noticeably more talkative when it came to his plants.

"That sounds amazing." Jackie admitted, fascinated with the flower as she began petting around to his back, finding another small bundle of flowers. She carefully rubbed the base of the flowers in his skin, feeling him leaning more and more of his weight against her before he slowly dropped down to his knees, allowing her and pet his face and the small bundle of seedlings that haven't grown passed his skin layer yet. She gently ran her thumb over the bumps, feeling him shudder before he slowly wrapped his arms around here and rested his head against her sternum with a soft sigh over his lips. Jackie smiled, gently brushing her finger over his face and mistakenly brushing by his lip, making him emit a small sound. She very gently rubbed her finger under his lower lip, feeling him hum before the buds on his body grew without warning, blooming into large beautiful flowers while the host gently held his head up. "Are you feeling better?" Jackie asked Naoki, tussling his hair a small bit.

"Hai. I see why the Heika keeps your hands ready for her pleasure." Naoki hummed, visibly looking more relaxed.

"What happened?" Longwei narrowed his eyes, once more trying to focus, seeing the plant remain still before naturally losing interest on it and his focus alongside such.

"Well, I managed to pet a plant. I bet that's something not everyone can say." Jackie grinned in amusement.

"Mmhh … ," Longwei frowned, clearly disappointed although not angry given that an Extraspecies's woes had been soothed.

"What be weak spot for plant, host?" Aleksey asked curiously, taking a seat again.

"The skin around where he grafts flowers into his skin are sensitive; and so are his lips, I think, but I'll have to explore that more next time if he lets me." Jackie said, gently petting Naoki's head as he hugged her. He went down surprisingly fast.

"You enjoying Sabre's Hidenka, gardener?" Aleksey asked aloud.

"Yes … I seem to have made use of the great Heika's concubine." Naoki stated, sounding displeased. "Forgive me, Heika's concubine. I found myself lost in your pleasurable hands without permission from her great heika." Naoki spoke with a slight pout.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'm just happy you're feeling better." Jackie grinned. "And I can give relaxing pets to whoever is in my house, with or without Sabre's approval."

"No … that is not enough. I will soon gather together a remedy to make your skin soft and even more desirable than they are now as thanks." Naoki spoke, nuzzling his cheek against her palm. "And do not worry about my Heika. If she allows your presence in her territory she assumes you are performing your duties with her given permission."

"That would be nice, thank you." Jackie smiled as Naoki leaned back, leaning against the wall for support and just remained there for a bit.

"Host … the food." Aleksey ushed her as Longwei frowned.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'll get them ready now." She said with a shaky smile, happy they liked her food at least.

Longwei growled, turning towards the hooman in the room and pointed at her. "I will accept this under the Treaty 687 of Katmandu, article 1053 under section 5. As you are a registered host under a program it applies to you, including the consequences." He then expelled some small cold clouds. "However, I'm also obliged to tell you and ensure all cost will be reimbursed." He grumbled.

"Well, alright then." She said, curious if they could eat all that.

While the two hungry predators munched down on their meals, Jackie began pulling out huge, heavy racks of meat out from the large freezer and setting them into a large metal sink as she ran hot water over it.

"Human, what are you doing?" Longwei asked, confused.

"The meat is frozen, I have to thaw it out first which will take a few hours for each separate piece," she said before glancing over at the fridge, "well, it'll take quite a lot of hours to thaw everything in the fridge." She admitted with a sigh, "so once one's done I'll let you know."

"That would take too long." The dragon stood up and went to the meat, placing it all in one place and then taking a step back. He took a deep breath and then blew a great cloud of dense mist over the pile before shoving his red arm inside it and letting it up to boil the water in the air right there in mere instants while a puddle formed in the floor from the now unfrozen meat, remaining raw and uncooked.

Jackie watched in amazement as he set his red arm back down and took his seat again, letting her touch the tender meat. "That's incredible! And it's still raw, not cooked at all." Jackie said with wide eyed.

"Poor Wei-wei must be starving." Aleksey laughed hard, doubling over in enjoyment. "Like that time he went without eating for 3 months for spying mission but ended up so hungry he ate little hooman army he was supposed to spy on." The tiger crackled. "He burping guns up for month after and not able to shift to smaller wei-wei."

"I already told you that there was nothing else to eat there, so much that those hooman's were already eating each other." Longwei carefully grabbed the tiger's more complete ear. "Don't share such information in front of the hooman, Aleksey."

"But this hooman be mate's host. If mate, a royal, trust then we need give at least benefit of doubt, da?" The bastet purred, giving Longwei the big kitty eyes.

Longwei didn't answer him but he released the tiger's ear.

Jackie grinned, pulling the meat aside before she lined up he other meat on the counter. She quickly began cutting them up into cubes, tossing them into a large pot and sprinkling more and more seasonings onto them before giving them to Longwei, letting him eat them while Aleksey occasionally took a few pieces for himself.

Once Jackie had finally finished the last bit of meat she had with the seasoning she looked at the dragon, giving Longwei his 12th large bowl of meat which he quickly gulped down before holding the bowl out for more. He paused, however, glancing around the kitchen and frowned at the lack of meat for the hooman to prepare.

"You out of meat already?" Aleksey then patted Longwei's back.

"Sorry, Longwei. I'm totally out." Jackie said, staring at the dragon's gut in amazement. He was still hungry even after all of that? He had to have eaten the equivalent of 4 cows!

"Is such amount the minimum you store?" Of course he didn't say aloud he was still hungry.

"No, that was the maximum," Jackie heavily sighed. "I'm supposed to have a walk in freezer where the guest bedroom is in but they've delayed it for months. If I had that I might have had enough meat for even you, Longwei." Jackie laughed.

"Wei-Wei ... if you still hungry we just call nearest reliable place and pay by internet to remain anonymous. Program here would have meat provider and can send some goats and sheep at least." Aleksey suggested.

"Well hey, if you get me the meat then I'll prepare it. I still have the seasonings left." Jackie smiled.

"Very well." Longwei grabbed his super rugged hard phone and called, speaking in chinese and ordering a big load of meat.

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Three hours later and with arms pulsating from the rigorous workout she just endured by cutting up and seasoning all the heavy meats she just got in surplus, Longwei finally seemed satisfied by the meal he consumed. Jackie was exhausted but both ALeksey and Longwei appeared satisfied.

"So, you guys, what did you think of my cooking? Pretty good, huh?" Jackie grinned, not feeling exactly all that proud. All she did was buy some meat and rub seasoning on it but all of her charges treated it like it was the best meat they've ever had. It made Jackie wonder if they ever tried seasoning their own meals before coming to be charges.

"It far better than hospital food." Aleksey said with a pleased purr, licking some seasonings off his lips. "I pleased and Longwei too because he has not complained."

"It is of acceptable for Extraspecies consumption." Longwei said, not giving any more details but he seemed quite pleased.

"Good." Jackie grinned. "Good food makes a happy home." Jackie chuckled before she began washing the dishes by hand. "I'll finish cleaning up, so if you want to go and rest go ahead." She smiled, knowing that predators liked to nap while digesting.

"Da, we do that." Aleksey stood up and pulled Longwei with him towards the charges rooms, leaving Jackie alone.

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While laying over the polar bear skin, every so often Sabre rose her head to look at the door and then sighed, burying her nose on some old bandages that Aleksey had used. Sometimes she unconsciously emitted some soft sad growling calls. It hadn't been that long since her mate and the host had gone back to New York but it certainly felt like a long time to her.

After putting her kittens to sleep in their basket, she laid down again and began skimming through the messages of her phone quite slowly, ignoring everything and everyone around while well aware the other charges were peeking into the room at her through the crack on the door.

"The sheila is looking pretty down." Kroc muttered, staring at the female cat lying by her many kittens as they slept soundly.

"Hmph. I don't see why. Her mate is alive and healthy so what more does she want?" Dumisa miffed, annoyed that Sabre was so depressed just because her mate wasn't nearby her.

"It's love." Eztli claimed what should be obvious to them. "Real love, better than in my novelas because it's real, but it's so real that it hurts." He purred, staring over Sabre with large adoring eyes at the display of love she was putting off for Aleksey.

"Hm. Sounds boring." Reza admitted.

"I can hear you all, you know." Sabre sighed once more. "If you're going to just stare then better just come in."

"I don't understand why you are so depressed; your mate is alive and well." Dumisa scoffed, poking her tail and gently tugging on it for her attention. We are going back to the host in a few days and then you'll be back with him. I fail to understand why you are acting like this." He nagged in annoyance.

Eztli came by her side and laid besides her, purring and nuzzling her, happy as always. "Si, cheer up."

"I'm not depressed." She mumbled as she buried her face into the polar bear fur. "I … I just miss him a lot. You know, I thought he was dead, but he wasn't, and all that happened, and what if something happens?"

"Longwei is with him. Nothing is going to happen to Aleksey." Jaska spoke loudly from the entrance, hiding himself and not letting himself be seen as he reassured her.

Automatically Sabre growled a warning towards the door, standing up and perking her her fur, her fangs bared. Jaska, hearing her warning growl, heavily sighed.

" … da, I leave. But no worry about brother, Longwei take good care." Jaska spoke before his paws were heard fading down the hall.

"Stupid cat shouldn't bother being worried about you. Not after all the crap he pulled." Dumisa hissed in annoyance.

"But you also tried to kill Sabre - recently too. So why isn't she pissed at you too?" Kroc pointed out.

"Because Dumisa is my friend and because he cares for me. It was an accident and he made sure it was a dry bite. Plus he is a designer partner." Sabre puffed her fur and then went to crawl and lay over Dumisa's coils.

"Hm, hm hm." Reza said, nodding along. "I can't help but notice the double standard." Reza noted curiously.

"No, Rez. It's different." Sabre huffed.

"Well, think about it. Both Dumisa and Kroc have tried to kill you too and you don't go growling at them or trying to kill them back. Only Jaska, and you're being much harsher with him than the other two." Reza noted curiously, staring at her for her reaction. "Can you explain why that is? I don't get it personally." Reza said, trying to think about it.

Sabre growled before she suddenly burst out crying. "He abused me, and more than once, and he faked being Aleksey, and attacked me and Antain and tried to kick me out and the what and … ," she finally confessed her words were lost among her wails. From her view, Jaska had r**ed her and then attacked her on various occasions and tried to harm her in many ways, kicking her out and much more before the stupid heat made her need the help. She almost forgave him because she argued that everything had been a mix of cultural shocks, that maybe he had considered her a bastet all along instead of her real origins, but then he went and tried to kill her again after she accepted he had only been using her as a sex toy. She simply couldn't hold in all this anymore.

Everyone perked up, surprised that she was confessing all this to them and more so that she wasn't fighting more against Reza in this. If she had broken so easily then she really was super depressed.

But, unfortunately, Reza wasn't finished.

"And Kroc was a sociopath determined to murder his father and Dumisa is so afraid of someone leaving him that he would rather kill them than let him leave him. If you tried to leave he'd probably try to kill you again and Kroc, well, if his father was still alive then he'd do anything to rip him apart - including ripping you apart if you tried to intervene. So it seemed that Jaska, the one afraid of being left alone, is the one who got the short end of the stick, but Dumisa has a similar problem with that and has also tried to kill you. Is it only because you mated with Jaska that you were so hurt that he hurt you? In which case Aleksey should probably know that you were in love with Jaska to the point that you now hate him after he emotionally hurt you, which Dumisa had too but you don't love him and that is why you aren't trying to kill him for betraying you. So in other words, you genuinely love Jaska but now that he attacked you, you hate him deeply and now that Aleksey is back, you keep hating Jaska because it's easier for you to say that you hate Jaska while Aleksey is around than to say that you loved Jaska and he hurt you deeply by betraying you by hurting you. I'm really confused by mammals." Reza heavily sighed with a frown, crawling closer to hug the fluffy feline now that she had her guard down. She wasn't even listening to his carefully constructed explanation to take her defenses down so he could hug her fluffy body but, oh well. Her defenses were down now so he could go ahead and touch her fluff.

Reza had barely grabbed Sabre's flailing tail to pet when Eztli walked by his side and gave a fast lick followed by a suck to the merman's ear, making him shriek before fainting in pleasure right there on the floor. Reza hugged himself, blinded by pleasure as he rolled around on the floor in bliss. With the fish incapacitated, the jaguar purred and then trotted over to Sabre and gave her a big hug, accommodating in the lamia's hug too.

"Such a troublesome feline." Dumisa sighed, wrapping his body around Sabre and Eztli while being careful not to knock into the babies's basket nearby.

"It's alright, sheila. If you ever need anything, just ask." Kroc softly spoke with a soft smile, making sure to stay away from the cuddling since his body wasn't suited to something quite so nice. So instead, he watched over the kittens while the more cuddly charges helped make Sabre feel better.

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Jaska trotted down the hall, resisting the urge to join the 'pack' back in the room. He let out a low growl, despising how badly he wanted to follow his wolfish instincts while at the same time wanting to avoid Sabre, a rival bastet in the nearby room, although a rival bastet he had mated with and that those damn wolf instincts also insinuated as something far more confusing. The tiger couldn't help but be pissed at the situation he was in. Instead of joining the others he decided to look for his uncle to spend some time with the older tiger instead.

He walked up to Nikita's room, flickering his ear and hearing Nikita inside the room. "Uncle Nikita, can I join?" Jaska asked, waiting for his uncle's response.

"Jaska? Da, enter." Nikita called, opening the door to let Jaska into his humongous and lavished suite.

Jaska opened the door, entering the tiger's small territory and seeing a nice tall glass over powerful catnip vodka on the table. It appeared he had been drinking by himself for a bit while doing some business on his phone. "Thank you." Jaska said as he sat on the other side of Nikita, taking the bottle and pouring himself a shot. He needed a drink pretty badly.

Nikita, took a shot and accompanied Jaska in the drinking, not saying anything, knowing that would speak when he felt ready for it.

After a almost 10 minutes of drinking in silence, Nikita stood up, catching Jaska's attention. "Let us go for walk." Nikita said before he walked over to the door, opening it and stepping through before waiting for Jaska to follow.

Jaska quietly followed him, admittedly feeling tense being beside him. After all that brainwashing he couldn't help but be tense but at the same time, he felt very comforted by his presence. Jaska let out a shaky breath, annoyed at his clashing instincts.

They stepped outside into the wintery garden, taking a small stroll in the harsh snowstorm outside. Their thick fur kept them plenty warm as they walked into the snow, enjoying the cool winds of the storm against their fur. Eventually they reached a small natural resting area within a thick forest of tree trunks where the trunks protected them from the harsh storms. Nikita let out a comforted sigh, taking a seat in the snow and enjoying the cold. Jaska did the same, letting out a heavier sigh before laying on his back and closing his eyes, feeling comforted by the snow tightly clutching him.

"Hmph. You still much like a cub." Nikita said with a small chuckle, watching Jaska lay in the snow like a small tiger cub would.

"Da." Jaska sighed before rolling onto his side with his back to Nikita, picking up some of the snow and nuzzling his face into the cold snow flakes. Jaska remained silent, wanting to know what Nikita wanted to talk about but also did not want to rush it. He felt very uneasy about what Nikita potentially wanted to talk to him about - which was obviously going to be about him attacking Sabre, a pregnant royal, in a feral rage. " … what going to happen to me, uncle Nikita?" Jaska asked in a quiet voice with his ears pulled back.

"You will finish term of contract and return back under jurisdiction and will receive needed therapy and treatment. But, punishment still pending." Nikita admitted with a frown.

Jaska heavily sighed. He knew that exile was a minimum requirement for attacking a pregnant bastet. Which, admittedly, would not be too terrible. There were plenty of other ways he could survive, although his heart was heavy at the fact he'd never be able to return to his homeland or to any Extraspecies territory unless he wanted to be killed. And the punishment will likely be worse for attacking a royal pregnant bastet.

"I not the one who chooses your punishment Jaska." Nikita remained looking at the snowy woods. "Although I bastet representative, I family and too close. Worse yet, crime was against a royal, so royal chooses punishment." He then looked at Jaska with a worried, almost pitying expression. "Punishment not easy or kind."

Jaska's eyes widened, mortified as he turned to Nikita to see his serious grave face. If that was the case then he would be executed for this. Sabre hated him and nothing would spare him from her wrath. And to be honest, he really did deserve it. He was a very sorry excuse for a bastet and soldier. From getting captured by hoomans and being experimented on, he was already a disgrace to all bastet kind.

"Jaska … you understand how bad this is? Experiment or not, this crime broke bastet and Extraspecies law. You attack already endangered species and almost expose us to humans." Nikita placed his big paw over Jaska's shoulder, leaning over and giving him a soft nuzzle - a very rare sign of affection. "Jaska, I love you as son. If it to me, I be forced to make death sentence, best I could do be to make it fast. But I would choose exile and hide you in some safe place."

" … I don't know." Jaska honestly answered, laying back down. "When I went feral … I was mad. I thought, I finally found mate who not mind that I experiment. When I saw her with sleeping by crocodile's side, I thought that she only used me to satisfy heat, and only because I was similar to brother Aleksey. I was in anguish, thinking I never find mate and never have ... pack." He barely spit out between his teeth. "I not know she royal, or pregnant at time, I only knew she former mate of Bratja. I wanted to know more of bratja, so I sleep with and try to find out more, and that led to attack. But that not change fact of what I did. I accept consequences." Jaska softly spoke with a hard expression, remaining still in the snow.

"Jaska, I try to advocate for you, and once you out of death row, I train you again, all over and more, as hard as needed to make you strong. I light and soft when you cub, but this time I'll make sure you get confident in self again, da?" Nikita grinned.

"It not necessary, uncle Nikita." Jaska said, sitting up with his back to Nikita. "Sabre hate me. She hate me a lot. She thinks I used and worse. I will die." He spoke, resigned to his fate. Perhaps dying with dignity can be the last thing he can do that's responsible to keep his pride as bastet by dying like one. He had been so irresponsible … allowing his capture, allowing the hoomans to experiment on him, allowing himself to hide from his uncle, allowing the host to touch his heart … and so many other things which were shameful for a bastet. He truly did deserve death. He wasn't good for anything else, after all. He was just a broken tiger with a broken mind, not good for anything other than dying to atone for his crimes.

Suddenly, Jaska felt a hard smack that punched him a meter away into the snow. Jaska whipped around, startled and alert as he stard into Nikita's terrifying expression. Against his feline instincts, his tail slipped in between his legs, lowering himself to the ground in front of the terrifying alpha.

"Jaska, no be so pathetic." Nikita growled, expressing his support and tough love as best a he could. "You still alive. "

"D-Da." Jaska said. He nearly forgot who he was talking to, the terrifying white fang of the winter. He always got what he wanted, no matter the price someone else had to pay or the corpses he would have to step over. But then again, he really did not think that Nikita could negotiate Jaska's life with someone like Sabre, who hated him above all else. His life was over, he already knew that - whether she spared him or not, and seeing the alternative was to train again with his uncle, he almost prefered dead.

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After having speak with Nikita, Jaska accompanied his uncle to go to the room where all the other Penske charges were resting. As soon as they arrived they saw all the guys cuddling around Sabre, whom seemed slightly distressed, and once she saw Jaska, she immediately roared and jumped in front of her cubs, ready to attack.

Nikita rose and eyebrow at Sabre's behavior and exhaled. "Come with me, my niece." Nikita said with a gentle smile, understanding this might be slightly different than what he anticipated at first.

Sabre looked at Nikita and calmed down somewhat under his slightly harsh gaze. She then eyed her cubs and shifted her gaze back to Jaska, contemplating before she looked at the guys. "Hey ... can you please look after my cubs for a bit? I'll be back soon." Without waiting for an answer she carefully placed her cubs in the basket between all the guys and then walked towards Nikita as Jaska moved sideways carefully.

All the charges nodded as she stood up to follow Nikita, and a couple of minutes after she left, the door opened again and Jaska came in, looking quite solemn while gazing down at the floor. The charges all stared and watched him in silence, planning to ignore him before he spoke.

" … you all very good housemates." Jaska said, staring emptily at the floor and not moving an inch, lis tail not moving at all. "You all not bad. It was nice … with everyone." Jaska said before he heavily sighed with long drawn eyes. " … luck wished." He spoke, his voice trembling a bit as everyone stared at him, puzzled by how emotional he was.

Everyone turned to look at each other, weirded out by this.

"Is the cat broken?" Reza asked, raising up from a bit to get a better look at jaska. "Well yes, he is, but I mean more than normal. He is shaking like a fish in soy sauce, well maybe not, a fish in soy sauce kinda twitches a bit more than shakes."

"He smells weird too." Dumisa noted, flicking his tongue into the air to taste it - Jaska's terrible fear.

"Why are you saying goodbye, mate?" Kroc rose his head, understand what this was about. He wasn't good at goodbyes either and a couple times he had been just as bad at it.

"Sabre really going to kill me." Jaska admitted, running a shaky claw through his fur. He made a horrible mistake of going feral and now that it came out that she was a royal, he was dead meat. The reality of the situation was quickly catching up to him, genuinely terrifying him.

"She does want to kill you but I doubt she will even get close to you." Dumisa shrugged his shoulders. "She's a strong female but even then she wouldn't pick a fight with you so quickly."

"Well, she wouldn't need to." Kroc growled with a low hiss, but he kept it quiet, feeling disturbed by how serious Jaska sounded.

Reza rested on the edge of the pool, tapping his chin in thought. "If you do die… I will finally be able to make that tiger sushi, right?"

"But Sabre is a nice bastet, she is super cute and nice." Eztli countered.

"You no understand. She royal bastet; she choose penalty, and penalty for attacking pregnant bastet is death, and she royal, so worse! Royal just need to choose way of death." Jaska admitted, his eyes getting misty as he struggled not to cry at his wretched existence and joke of a life.

Dumisa crossed his arms with a serious frown. "Mmhh … if that's the case … she just might."

"Bloody hell, mate. She'll actually do it too." Kroc said, looking disturbed. "You're messed up in the head, Jaska. Won't they take that into account?" Kroc asked as he tilted his head a bit. He wasn't sure what to think of experimented on Extraspecies but he knew that Jaska was not bad enough to deserve death.

"She be only one to judge and decide." Jaska began losing his composure, visibly shaking.

"So she can directly tell me to skin you well and prepare that delicious sushi?" Reza smiled. "Of course there's too much fur to skin and the meat is too hard in some places but I can still make something good, so don't worry, I'll make sure nothing is wasted."

"But Sabre is really nice. She wouldn't hurt Jaska … but he did hurt her, no?" Eztli lowered his ears. "She is scared of Jaska too, and well, she thinks he is dangerous to the cubs?" Very casually, Eztli went to lay besides the sleeping cub's basket in their pen over the polar bear rug. "I mean, she trusts us with the cubs." He noted, leaning in and gently kissing one of the babies, watching as they sleepily nuzzled with each other.

Jaska's shaking continued before he began tearing up, "take care of host and kittens, da? Since I no be around for later. I not even be good uncle, since I be dead uncle soon." Jaska said, his tears spilling over as he gripped his head, shakily breathing through his tears as he began gasping for air a bit.

Dumisa quickly grabbed the tiger and pulled him close, keeping him immobilized. "Check if he's drugged or something." He said, flicking his tongue near the tiger's mouth to try and taste for any poison.

Kroc stood up and checked the pupils of the tiger. "No more than usual, he doesn't seem high or anything."

"Let me check." Eztli went by and sniffed Jaska, licking him up a bit. "Nope. He is definitely not, trust me, I know about that." He then hugged Jaska. "Maybe he just needs cuddles?"

"I not drugged! I just saying goodbye will, da?" Jaska finally broke down and began crying. "I die soon, so I take chance to say goodbyes while still alive." Jaska said, his teeth chattering as he tried to wipe away his tears.

"You're not going to die, mate. Sabre isn't heartless." Kroc heavily sighed, mildly wondering if she really would go through with it. She had helped Kroc killed his father and she has been ready to destroy anyone that would so much as look bad at Antian, and she had s

ome reputation at the arena too. He gulped, but decided to not say any of that aloud and instead laid besides the mental tiger.

"Well, she can be." Dumisa honestly huffed, tightening his hug to stop the tiger from squirming around so much.

"Hey! We just need to convince Sabre to not be bad!" Eztli purred, giving Jaska a small happy bite and a tight hug.

"Yeah. Jaska messed up, but it wasn't bad. No one even died from him going feral." Kroc sighed with a shrug. "The sheela might agree if we all ask her, I hope."

"If we speak in your favor you owe us one a big one, cat." Dumisa crossed his arms and his tongue tasted the air and the fear and resignation Jaska emitted.

"Can I cuddle with the fluffy one now?" Reza asked while coming closer. "The host is not around, so I can cuddle and if I pinch him it won't matter because he will die, right?" He grinned.

"If he dies, I'll never eat any of your s***y sushi again, Reza." Dumisa miffed in annoyance. They would need everyone's support, including Reza's if Jaska was going to get through this alive.

Reza gasped in shock. "But he is going to die soon anyways." The merman waved his arms. "He hurt a royal, and anything less than a horrid and gruesome dead is not possible. If a royal says he dies, then he dies, it's law, even more, royal's words are above law." He then scratched his chin. "But on the good part, all the tiny little tiger bits will be easy to use in sushi and sashimi." Reza then looked solemnly at Jaska. "I'll make good use of your meat, I promise."

"Predator meat tastes bad." Kroc admonished with a frown. "So the cat's meat wouldn't taste good."

The noble merman looked at the crocodile with a serious expression, narrowing his eyes. "Challenge accepted. I'll make some delicious food out of whatever is left of him after the royal punishment is dealt."

"And you'll what, feed it to Jackie?" Dumisa scoffed. "What makes you think she'd eat tiger flesh? Hoomans dislike meat other than the usual cow, pig and chicken … I think." Dumisa muttered, pondering about what other major meats hoomans consumed.

"But … why can't Jaska be forgiven? We've all gone feral before and attacked each other so why is Jaska getting such a harsh punishment?" Eztli asked, confused.

Reza crossed his arms and sighed. "He attacked a pregnant bastet, that alone is super bad in bastet law. Its taboo. There aren't that many kities, you see?" He then suddenly encountered the ceiling or the walls to be very interesting to look at. "But worse, turns out our fluffy female kitty that licks ears wonderfully is a royal. That alone garners a death penalty. My mother said that royal cats were supposedly extinct, but it turns out the few ones left have been hiding in other extra species courts, and now that it comes to light that they aren't dead, they'll need to show power, and if one of them was hurt in any way, by a mad common cat at that, the least they can do is to deal the most horrible punishment they can think of, which will be supported by any other royal regardless of species. And its Sabs decision anyways, and since she hates this cat so much then his death is assured."

"You're a noble, Reza. Surely you hold some kind of influence even to royals." Dumisa frowned in annoyance.

"Are you kidding?" Reza blinked. "My mother may be close to the mermaid queen, but I'm just a not so tragic runaway royal guard." He then smiled. "Although that is a tragedy in some way, despite being a noble I can't do anything. And convincing Sabre to not kill him would be easier, still impossible but more realistic. Besides, the mermaid queen already recognized Sabs, so she'll have to support any decision Sabre takes, which will surely be a horrible death."

"Well, since you are so useless now I suppose your sushi is just as useless if not more so." Dumisa sighed. "If the cat dies, I am permanently boycotting you and your sushi." Dumisa harshly hissed.

"M-Me too! If you're going to let Jaska die, then I'll boycott!" Eztli agreed, mortifying Reza. "C'mon Rez, help us convince Sabre."

"Same here, mate." Kroc nodded in agreement. "If the tiger dies, no one will eat your sushi again."

Reza looked on in horror at their announcement, suddenly and very seriously rethinking about the situation. "But I can't … as a noble, even a runaway one, I must support a royal, and she is our royal, you know? Yes, she is our Sabre, but she is a royal, so she is our royal. I think it won't be long before the other royals, the council or even other nobles force her to establish a court, even commoners will start to seek support and protection under her I think. And if we remain with her, we don't need to back or heed our representatives or anything because she is above them." He groaned.

Dumisa's eyes shined at the this new information that went straight to the front of his mind. Thought dealing directly with Sabre he could bypass his sisters entirely. Even if they were territorial leaders, they weren't even nobles, and not even the council would go so easily against a royal. He didn't know about that little trick, but now he had a plan. Well, regardless of how this played out he planned to stick to Sabre like glue after this.

Kroc blinked, surprised since he didn't know much about royals and was a little surprised at how much influence they held. But still, Sabre was just Sabre, right?

Eztli huffed and stomped his foot on the floor. "Reza, if you don't help us, we'll find a way to convince Sabre and the host to not eat your food never ever again."

Reza groaned again, then he tapped his fingers together. "I guess maybe I can remain neutral?"

"Not good enough, guppy. You need to help too." Dumisa smirked.

"Yeah. Besides, the host will be upset if Jaska dies. I wouldn't doubt that she'd never eat again out of her depression." Kroc noted.

Reza's lips trembled. "But … but … "

"That's right. When humans lose loved ones, they are hit very hard. Why, the host just might die of loneliness and sadness." Dumisa chuckled, enjoying the fish's horror.

"R-Really?!" Eztli gasped, startled as he fell for the ploy as well. "Then, you have to help, Reza! I don't want the host to die!" Eztli shouted, now scared for the host's life as well.

"I've heard that in tragic tales, b-but is it true?" Reza looked worried for once. His tail flipped back and forth nervously. He knew that hoomans were very emotional creatures since such fun tragic tales could be spun from them but he had no idea they could become that depressed over one death.

"Yeah. Hoomans mourn the most out of most races. They are very prone to depression when a loved one dies, in fact." Dumisa said with a grin. "So, will you help or not?" Dumisa asked, the he twisted his lip in a sly grin. "Besides, if Sabre decides to not get rid of this sad and mental furball, then you'd still be supporting a royal's decision because that would be her decision."

"I guess that is true." Reza nodded. "Very well, I'll help with this plan and contribute to the … what were we again? A pack? A school? A … what?"

"We are familia, sort of, I think?" Eztli purred, cuddling against Jaska. "Does it matter? Let's cuddle, Jaska needs hugs."

As the charges all hugged Jaska in a rather supportive way, Jaska felt his wolf instincts be calmed by the 'pack' that was helping him relax a bit more. He closed his eyes, nuzzling back against them while knowing that he was still a dead tiger. Sabre would never change her mind. As brilliant as a negotiator Nikita was, he would not be able to convince the royal bastet that he had hurt so much of letting him live.

"Tipped mena!" Antain cried before he made a leap over Jaska's face and head, climbing around the pile of predators to cuddle and groom the sad tiger, getting his hand under Jaska's fur to search for a small ribbon and then tying it on the tiger's head.

Jaska let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, enjoying what could very well be the last normal day for the rest of his short life.

Reza stared at the cuddly group before glancing out the door. Now was probably a good time to go pledge his loyalty to her since he didn't want to go home after his term was up. Hanging out with these tragedy stricken charges was too much fun.

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In a private booth on the Extraspecies side of the lodge, Nikita and Sabre were sitting in a private room with hot tea and snacks set out for the two of them to enjoy while negotiations, hidden behind a nice chat, took place. Nikita calmly drank his liquor while Sabre enjoyed her tea, staring up at Nikita and wondering what he wanted to talk about.

"You very close to charges, eh, Sabre? I surprised you allow other males near cubs so young." Nikita lightly chuckled, taking in a deep breath before taking another small shot of his favorite Vodka.

"Not just any other males, uncle Nikita." Sabre calmly took a sip of her tea, already sensing this was going to lead to something. "They are far more than friends. We've been through quite a bit and we trust each other. We are almost family so to say a pack."

"Family, hm? A family of different apex predators can be very difficult to manage." Nikita lightly smiled in a teasing way.

"Family in a way, yes. And hard to manage? The hosts helped to diffuse initial animosity, we did fought each other a bit at the start but we've gotten close enough to trust each other like we haven't trusted others." Sabre refilled his glass and her own cup. "I wouldn't trust anyone else close to my cubs unless I have a very good reason for it." She closed her eyes for a moment. "But now tell me what is the real issue you want to discuss, uncle Nikita. You have been rounding a topic, have you not?"

"I have, da. I want to ask what you plan for Jaska punishment." Nikita calmly said, taking another shot of strong Vodka.

"Jaska's punishment?" Sabre, almost imperceptibly, narrowed her eyes while hiding her snarl. "As the closest bastet representative … aren't you the one deemed to give the proper punishment according to bastet customs, uncle?"

"No, not this time. I too closely related, besides, Jaska attack pregnant royal, so decision with closest royal or royal victim choose for Jaska punishment. Before you give word, Sabre, what punishment will you give to nephew?" Nikita calmly asked.

"Tell me uncle… what would be the normal punishment?" Sabre asked with a very serious tone. It was clear she knew the answer but wanted the other bastet to say it aloud.

"Normally death." Nikita calmly stated without another word, letting the silence sink in for a bit.

Sabre calmly took a couple more sips of her tea, showing no expression, then, she placed the cup on the table. "Why would I deem the punishment to be any different that then? Or is it that I merely choose the method?"

"Because he brother of you mate." Nikita answered.

"He abused me, and then he attacked me more than once." She contained her growl, but even so, her rage burned cold but latent in the air. "He is the reason why Aleksey got so hurt too and, if nothing, he is still a danger to me and my cubs. How bad is it that I trust a family of different apex predators more than another bastet?"

"It bad. But I, Nikita Sviet, uncle in law, ask of you as personal … favor. I no want to lose family either." Nikita said, putting the vodka down and remaining silent as his tail methodical flipped back and forth.

Sabre remained in silent for a bit, preparing more tea for herself, filling her cup once more and then inhaling the infusion's scent. "You said it yourself, uncle ´Kita. That cat, an unstable experiment attacked a pregnant bastet, a royal at that. If you don't give the highest punishment, as a council member you'll lose respect and credibility, harming all your present and future plans. And I, as victim, and more so, as a royal in charge of it, can't give anything but the harsher penalty or else I'll look weak, easy to manipulate and gullible at best."

"Da." Nikita swallowed his alcoholic beverage. He had to admit, he needed to give her the respect she deserved. He almost expected her to spare him for the mere fact she was mated to his brother but she had no mercy for Jaska. That was certainly something he appreciated in a niece-in-law.

"I assume all this situation, in fact, all regarding me is not yet officially confirmed, si?" Sabre calmly eyed the little confectionaries on the table and grabbed one, her stern expression remaining in place. "After all, you are here on vacation and this, so far, it's a family matter until the existence of the new royal bastet is officially revealed to the rest of the council, even if some court has already acknowledged me and all important people know … details are not official."

"Yes, you correct. Since not yet official, punishment can change. I ask you kindly, as a parent, to exile Jaska rather than kill." Nikita asked in a polite tone, still surprised at her thoughtful comprehension of the situation.

"That is a favor favor I can't agree upon." The leopardess said quite straight forward before taking a cookie and eating it. Before the council member could say more or show his heartbreak, she continued, grinning. " … at least not for free." She winked.

"Oh." Nikita stated, studying her before wryly smiling. "There something specific you want?" Nikita asked, flicking his tail around in genuine interest and renewed hope.

"Yes, I don't want me or my cubs to be used and I imagine a bunch of individuals and groups are already planning how to do that." She crossed her legs and then leaned forward to place her elbow on the table and rest her chin on the back of her hand. "Quite frankly, I don't have many resources, but I think I may have a plan that will help me and will serve the council too. If implemented right, it might be useful for Extraspecies in general." She eyed Nikita and waited for his reaction.

"What you have in mind?" Nikita asked, curious about her plan.

"Simply to create an enclave inside of New York city." She took a deep breath and exhaled calmly, taking on a serious pose. "It would serve you as a way to keep hoomans from trying to get access to Extraspecies hidden cities. A place where all that curiosity can be directed without really intruding in the real territories, plus, it would serve as an economic special zone for commerce and goods that Extraspecies specialize in." She eyed the old tiger. "Even if you want complete separation from hoomans, some appearances should be kept up to avoid trouble, at least until your goals can be truly and fully implemented."

"Hmph. It true that council can implement such things, but best away. And true, it would be worth keeping up appearances for time being." He noted with a mischievous smile. "How this plan helps you?"

"As I've mentioned, I'm not leaving yet, and however safe Russia may be for Extraspecies, it's true that my position would be less … favorable to myself there, uncle. Not because of you, but because of the structure, specially as a royal." She gave him a new bottle of liquor. "But as a royal, I too have the possibility to establish some stuff, even something more important politically speaking than a mere territory, and if I were to find a place with appropriate characteristics for an enclave … I could remain independent, wouldn't I?"

"But you would still be vulnerable." Nikita frowned, worried for his niece-in-law's safety. "A royal surrounded by humans? I dislike the idea." He admitted.

"Not if such a place is made secure from its design and conception." She looked up to the older bastet, noticing his worried expression and feeling actually touched by such, yet also knowing that she walking on very thin ice. "From the council's perspective this is a great move. Having a royal forward would, a new one that is not buried in the other important Extraspecies affairs is a great show to hoomans and common Extraspecies while not really sacrificing anything. Also, to any Extraspecies in the enclave it will give security and a sense of territory, helping the place grow fast before hoomans can act in any counterproductive political way. Not even just that, I also have the perfect place in mind and the perfect initial plan. I even secured the cooperation of certain hooman coordinator that still is in a position to pass any adjustments needed. it will serve also to gather all those rogue extraspecies that are illegals so far by giving them a place to reside in."

"I must admit, that very impressive." Nikita admitted with a smile. "I like idea as council member, even if as family I do not. But if we do this, I request you take bodyguards I choose to protect you, nephew and cubs." Nikita asked, setting his condition.

Sabre nodded, beaming a big cheshire grin. "Of course, I also know very capable nannies … err ... bodyguards too, which I'm sure you will approve of, after all, they already went to help me and the other charges during that horrible and scary smuggling incident."

"And if I agree, you only exile Jaska?" Nikita asked with his ear flickering.

"Since you and Aleksey care for that cat … " Sabre huffed, crossing her legs and unsheathing her claws a bit, "You said he is mental and needs training, so I think it would be a good idea if you saw to such training, uncle Nikita. He may be many things, but he too is a trained operative, and I don't want anything to ever happen again to Aleksey."

"You want nephew to serve as bodyguard?" Nikita blinked, surprised at this turn of events but before he could ask her for more details there was a knock on the door.

"HEY! SABRE!" Reza shouted from the other side of the door, making Sabre jolt in surprise as Nikita glanced over at the door. "Since it turns out you a royal kitty and all that, can I enter your court? I will ask in the traditional protocol if you want but that is quite boring and long and all pledges of loyalty are silly, so why don't you accept a runaway noble? I promise to make good sushi and your favorite ponzu sauce to it. Please? And where are you setting up a territory? Back at the host's territory? Is it going to be your territory now? Will you have to fight the host for it? She'd be easy to take down but couldn't you at least make her a royal petter and leave her arms intact? Or something? She makes nice treats too, not as good as sushi but her seasonings are nice enough. If you don't want her, can I take her? I'd keep her in her place of course, and take all her pets if you don't want them. Maybe I could even give her a little cushion to sleep on at night, and I'd take super good care of her tooooo," Reza said from the other side of the door.

"Hmph. Already gaining followers?" Nikita chuckled. "A noble at that; very good." Nikita said as he took another shot while being at ease,e now knowing the fate of his nephew.

"Nya?" Sabre tilted her head looking between Reza and Nikita in confusion. "What? Reza? What is this?"

"You no know?" Nikita asked, pouring himself another shot. "Extraspecies often seek to join a court or a territory under a strong alpha. Royals often have legions of loyal followers. Only alphas and royals gain significant followers, enough to protect territory and fight for territory. I have 103,023 followers currently, they have followers too, most live in upper Siberia which protect territory for me while I out. I support and protect them as whole. That is ruling of great alpha. And their followers support me too." Nikita proudly explained. "I not have more because I no royal or even noble. Royals get support from their races too." He chuckled with some proud delight. "Followers are individuals royals or alphas collect overtime, gaining loyalty. They do as royal or alpha ask, protecting territory and making commerce or else. How many followers you have?" Nikita asked, curious.

"Eh?" Sabre blinked again, flicking her ears in complete confusion, still processing this information. "But I don't have … ?"

Reza quickly came to hide behind Sabre, hiding from the scary tiger. "She has me, probably the other charges and mmhh … oh yes, those nice warriors that went to help Kroc at the port. Hey Sabre, I can skin that cat that hurt you if you want me to. Because you're taking me in, right?" He grinned.

"Well, I … ," Sabre stuttered, for once being bombarded with far more responsibility and power than she wanted, which was far more dangerous and troublesome.

"Excellent! Well, I'll go back now to prepare that sushi, bye-bye." Reza claimed before crawling out of the room to avoid Nikita's gaze.

"Shall we continue negotiations?" Nikita asked, raising his glass while Sabre gulped and nodded.

For the moment Sabre ignored the followers thing and concentrated in her original plan. She explained it in detail and asked for the cooperation and investment, Nikita replied and asked about visiting and training right for the cubs, which Sabre dosed properly, all while keeping Jaska's life in the periphery and not mentioning Jackie. She kept some cards hidden, but after a while, plans got outlined and prepared as she counted on Nikita fulfilling his word, which to Extraspecies was as strong as a written contract, or so she hoped.

"I must say, niece-in-law, you know how to negotiate." Nikita smiled cheerfully, almost purring while drinking some more of the special catnip vodka he brought to the snow lodge. She was certainly ruthless in negotiations and that would serve her well in the years to come, especially when dealing with the other royals. Aleksey indeed had found a good mate.

"Thanks, uncle ´Kita." She smiled, taking a sip of water before standing up. "I'll assume we'll begin with everything as soon as possible."

"Da." Nikita nodded.

"Alright." The leopardess purred, quickly bumping noses with the older cat while holding her breath to not get drunk on the alpha's manly scent. "I'll be back to the room now, then."

She waved goodbye and then went away, leaving Nikita to make the appropriate phone calls. Sabre walked down the hallway with quiet steps, all was planned and laid out and seemed to be going in a good way so far, however there was still that loose end of a striped menage, and however much she dreaded having to be even near that horrible cat to tell him the news as Nikita had requested, she had too. She just needed to find where he was first, which hopefully was far away from her cubs. But, now getting anxious, she decided to go check on the cubs just in case.

The moment she stepped through the door she paused, seeing everyone staring at her with a pouting expression while they all hugged Jaska tightly in the middle of them all, of the which looked emotionally dead to the world.

"Sabre, you can't kill Jaska, please!" Eztli shouted with tears in his eyes, bounding over to her and tightly hugging her while he cried. "Please don't kill him, he's not a bad cat! He just made mistakes!" Eztli sobbed against her while hugging her tightly.

"He's right, sheela. Sure, the tiger was stupid but that doesn't mean he should die for it." Kroc agreed with a stiff nod.

"Exactly. He may be a mentally impaired feline but he's one of us, one of our 'hooman' family members. Killing him would be rather petty of you, considering all the mistakes you made as well." Dumisa said, holding Jaska tightly in his coils.

"Hm~ yes, I enjoy the drama Jaska makes so I want to keep him around." Reza said, not sounding very enthusiastic at all.

Sabre huffed, fakely betrayed at the other charges. "So Jaska turned you all against me?" She huffed as the charges stared at her, waiting or her word on what Jaska's punishment will be.

Reza seemed to sense her annoyance, so he very subtly dragged little Antain over in front of him, using Antain as a little shield to use against the feline in case she went feral from rage. But then again, a little fluffy fox would only distract her for a moment but that was all he would need to escape an angry kitty.

"Come menace, Uncle Nikita told me I should tell you about your punishment." With a new growl Sabre moved back outside. As a precaution, she took a few steps back. "Don't get too near or I'll rip you apart."

Jaska very heavily sighed, hanging his head slightly before he removed himself from the embrace of the charges. "Niet, that enough. I go now." Jaska said with a quiet breath of air. He needed to face the consequences; he knew that. No more running from this. He needed to take responsibility and if he needed to die for that then so be it.

Sabre walked ahead, often taking glances backing growling each time until they arrived to a conference room. It wasn't one of the big convention ones but it certainly was large and neutral enough for her to enter and go straight to the left to position herself at a corner where she waited for the tiger to enter. Plus, she had confirmed this particular room was isolated to keep privacy. It was starting to make sense why Smith had chosen this lodge in particular.

Jaska entered the room and shut the door, earning a cautious hiss from Sabre before he went to the other edge of the room, where he sat in the furthest corner away from her as he quietly awaited his sentencing with a grim frown on his face. Before she could speak, however, he spoke up.

"I … I truly sorry, Sabre. I only wanted information on brother, but ended taking advantage of you for more than that. I not mean to hurt you." Jaska apologized with his gaze fixated on the ground. He was not looking for remorse or mercy. He understood the implications and was ready to accept the consequences.

"You were worse than awful to me, Jaska." She hissed, her fists shaking as her fur puffed out in anger. "I hate you, I hate you the most out of anyone else on this entire planet." She snarled.

" … da." He simply answered, emotionlessly staring at the ground with a frown. His fate was already sealed. All he can hope for now was a fast death.

With a hard and cold voice, Sabre spoke as stoically as she could manage . "You are going back to train with Nikita." She took a moment in silence, calming herself down.

" … what?" Jaska said, blinking in surprise as he tried to process what she just said.

"You are also in a permanent probation. First and foremost, you must NEVER touch me or get near me or my cubs in any way." She began growling again, her eyes narrowing and her pupils stretching.

"Da, that easy." Jaska said with a sharp nod. He doubted his brother would want him to go anywhere near her or the cubs anyway. Afterall, he was 'mentally unstable' with all the wolf DNA in him, which he understood. He was still loved, but they were being rightfully cautious of him.

"That's not all, menace!" Sabre hissed, walking cautiously towards the door, nervous or angry. "Never talk to me unless spoken to first, never let yourself be groomed by the host before the host comes to groom me or Aleksey or my cubs because I don't want your scent on or near the host while I'm being groomed. Never be in the same room as I am, don't breathe my air and if I allow you, you can have five minutes of Aleksey's time a day at any time of the day at my choosing, if I even let you be with him that day. You are as dangerous to him as to anyone else." She made a brief pause to take a breath and continue. "Never do anything for or with the cubs unless they are in immediate peril from some other force and never, ever touch Antain even if Antain is burying ribbons in your stupidly thick fur."

"Da." Jaska agreed, nodding along with her ridiculous rules. He would follow them; it was the least he could do for nearly killing her and for her not to kill him horribly, although he knew some of those were impossible to fulfill entirely and maybe, if he couldn't get close to the cubs or Antian, they would come to play with him on their own, maybe. Still, he was very confused to say the least about not getting the death sentence. "But why you spare life?"

Sabre crossed her arms. "Not that you deserve to know but I made a deal with Nikita in exchange for your life. You are also going to finish your contract's term before going back to train with Nikita until he thinks you are … better." Once more she narrowed her eyes and puffed her tail, making it lash around. "And I only did it because it's useful for my plan and because Aleksey doesn't want you dead although you deserve it."

Jaska stared at her in shock. So she really was going to allow him to live even after almost killing her and her unborn cubs? Jaska was in a stunned state of mind before he shook it off, letting the words of her conditions sink into his mind before he frowned. Training with his uncle was almost worse than a death sentence, especially now that he was probably going to be forced back to square 1 of training with other newbies. " … I wish you would have killed me instead." Jaska said as his ears lowered, imagining all of

the horror his uncle was going to put him through for this.

"I'm also keeping it secret that you are a horrible brute abuser that hurts former mates and pregnant bastet." She growled with utter disgust and bottled anger. "If no one knows you attacked me then I don't need to pass official judgement to allow Reza to skin you slowly as he wouldn't mind, or at the very least have you exiled, alienated and segregated as your uncle asked me to. And get this in that thick and brutish skull you damn menace, I'm doing this for Aleksey, the most loving and caring mate anyone could ask for, the one and only that you dared impersonated. He wouldn't like you dying."

Jaska remained in his stunned silence, hardly able to believe his ears. He wasn't going to be killed? He could barely wrap his mind around it. No one that he has heard of has ever lived to tell the tale of hurting a royal, let alone a pregnant royal.

"And I repeat, stay away from me and my cubs." She hissed.

"Da, I no go near cubs." He nodded in agreement. While he did wish to be a good uncle, he'd have to wait until they're older and when they're curious about him. He imagines when they're old enough they'd chase him around a bit, which he honestly thought would be fun.

"Beyond that, there is another thing. NEVER mention that 'certain information' about my origins. Do you get it?" She puffed her fur as much as it could puff, the information about her experimentation was her biggest possible loophole. "If anything, the one reason above all that I'd have for getting rid of you, it would be to maintain that information quite. I was a f***ing imbecile for telling you about it. I should've never trusted you." Her eyes seemed to water a bit.

"Da, I no tell no one." Jaska agreed with a nod, suddenly remembering that indeed, she was an experiment too. "You family now, and so I no tell no one." He assured her. "Just keep brother happy." He asked.

"So you'd talk if Aleksey wasn't alive?" Sabre growled, narrowing her eyes again, shocking her head.

"Niet. I never tell even when thinking brother gone. None my business telling others about experiment." He said, correcting himself.

"But it was your business to use me and try to kill me." Her pupils contracted and her claws began coming out as her tail lashed from side to side.

"Would you not do same to learn about Aleksey?" Jaska growled in annoyance before his expression softened. "I regret hurting you. I go feral because of own problems, and I not do it again."

"Nothing guarantees that you won't. I don't trust you, menace. But I trust you care about your sorry excuse for a life to keep away from me." Sabre sniffed.

"I not do again. I thought before we mates, I desperately wanted mate, and you seem to like me. So when I thought you mates with Kroc, I lost it. But now, you mates with brother, again. I see you love bratja and bratja loves back a lot. I happy brother has you as mate and I no attack again." He assured her. "I keep away as far as I can. No more converse unless you initiate. I not go near room or kittens or you."

"To be honest." Sabre started, trembling a bit before biting her lip, taking a deep breath. "I thought we could be so too. But you never said anything, so I thought you were satisfying your lusts … and after you went feral, I thought I was nothing more to you than a warm hole for your misshapen thing. You said that, and then you attacked." She hissed in anger before quieting herself. "You going feral clearly showed me what you really thought of me, so I'm not going to believe anything nice you say now or ever." She hissed, harshly glaring at him a couple tears coming from the edge of her eyes. "If you dare to break this agreement, I will find a way to make you wish you were dead." She hissed with such a seething rage that it made him flinch.

"I understand." Jaska said, glancing away in a submissive sort of way. He was annoyed to be submitting to a female smaller than he was but she was annoyingly fierce. Or maybe it was the royal blood in her that agitated him so much? Had that always been the case perhaps? He mildly wondered if that's why she acted so fierce and unforgiving. Although … it did seem that she had a misconception about how Extraspecies go feral but he feared for his life if he tried to explain it better to her now. There might be another moment for it or maybe someone else would explain it to her. After all, in reality she really didn't know that much about Extraspecies."

"You are going to fulfil a duty so you're not just a worthless lump of wasted space. You are going back to Nikita to train and once you are finished, you are going to become a bodyguard for Aleksey and protect him from anything that could hurt him. That is the only way you'll be usable, menace." She hissed. "I'm sure Reza told you about my plan. Be grateful I'm still letting you be a part of it, albeit a small part for my mate's sake." She hissed.

"Da. Least I can do for causing much trouble." Jaska softly smiled, and took a step forward as if to shake her hand to agree with this deal. "thank you … sister-in-law?" Jaska teasingly said, not sure if he was using the hooman term right.

Sabre's pupil's constricted and she hissed immediately. "Don't get near me!" She hissed before she then carefully took a couple steps back, sliding away from the room and running back towards her cubs.

Jaska stared at her before looking away, letting her escape out of the room. It was clear she was still suffering when he was around. It was trauma, he knew it well, didn't he? After all, she had passed through experiments and losses too, so she was having posttraumatic stress, and it seemed she was projecting it all on him. She needed healing too, and it would take a long time probably, but for now, this was as good as they could be, and he was alive, although the thought of going back to the hell his uncle called training maybe was indeed a punishment worse than death.

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Peeko: … it's midnight, I'm slepy ;-; enjoy 3 reviews regarding the newly added material and your opinions would be much appreciated - thank you :3

Chaos-dark-lord: We are releasing the whole arc, so readers will have lots to enjoy.