Chapter 85: Mine? Another nickname?
The distance between the Whispering Ravine and their main den was shrinking rapidly.
According to the tracking, Kulu was already entering the outer perimeter of the mountain. Hana was about to tap an icon on the corner of her tablet to adjust the secondary pair of drones when a massive shadow suddenly blotted out the light overhead.
A heavy thud shook the wet stone of the ledge, followed by a violent gust of wind that sent the waterfall’s mist spraying directly over them.
Hana didn’t even look up from her screen immediately. She just watched the live feed as the camera captured the sudden displacement of air, and then shifted her gaze to the giant, scaled form that had just landed right in front of them.
Caspian stood there, his obsidian wings folding tightly against his back, his chest heaving as he exhaled a low, steaming breath. His golden eyes were wide, scanning Hana from head to toe with an intense, territorial urgency before he finally settled down.
"I came back," Caspian rumbled, his voice deep and vibrating through the ground. "The first and second batch are secured in the cold section of the den. I didn’t want to leave you here with the rats for too long."
Hana finally lowered the tablet a fraction, staring at the massive dragon king with a deadpan expression.
"So that’s why you flew past us like your tail was on fire?" she asked, her voice dry. "You nearly clipped my drones."
Caspian tilted his head, his nostrils flaring as he looked at the little buzzing machines hovering nearby. "The metallic insects flying with the bird?"
So he did see them. How does his vision work? Caspian was flying so fast but he seemed to have seen the drones. Does everything around him move in slow motion when he’s that fast?
"Hana, those things are too slow. If something attacks you, they cannot bite." He puffed his chest out. "I will protect you."
"They aren’t meant to bite, you big lizard, they’re meant to watch," Raiden chimed in, stepping out from behind Hana and flashing his father a mocking, brilliant grin. "But do try not to knock them out of the sky with your clumsy wings. Mine spent a lot of energy making them work."
Mine? Another nickname?
"Mine?" Caspian’s brow tilted up. He didn’t seem to register the rest of what Raiden had said but had caught on to the nickname.
"What? Hana’s my mate, so of course I can call her mine." Here we go.
"Hana," Capsian faced me but I kept my gaze on the tablet. "Did you let this rat call you mine?"
Nope. But don’t drag me into this. I’m busy. And with that, she ignored them and let them argue nonstop. She was too focused on watching Kulu land in front of the den where the boars they left behind to stand watch began to help him take off the goods like a group of well trained tacticians.
While that was going on, she moved the drone about to search the perimeters for any suspicious individuals.
Hana found some beastmen hurdled and talking about how they were trying to get into the human female’s favor, and some others waiting to see her fail, loads of bull crap. And then one particular younger lizard that just didn’t know when to quit boasting.
What should I do with you, Vane?
Vane was currently leaning against a boulder just outside the den’s outer perimeter, crossing his arms and gesturing proudly as three smaller lizard-kin females listened to him with wide, rapt eyes.
"I’m telling you, the King’s fire is just the beginning," Vane boasted, tossing his head back so his dull charcoal scales caught the light.
His voice carried through the drone’s high-sensitivity audio receiver with crisp, crisp clarity.
"This whole operation with the metal cave is basically a tribute to our family’s greatness. It’s a dragon rite, you see. Once I establish my own territory and complete my hunts, I’ll be bringing these exact same fancy, shiny things into my own den. A dragon of my status deserves nothing less than—"
Thud.
The heavy sound of a foot striking the earth made Vane’s sentence die instantly in his throat. His posture stiffened, a comical look of sheer panic flashing across his sharp features.
Sera stepped out from the thicket, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. Her yellow eyes were slitted into angry needles, and her tail was twitching against her legs with an ominous, violent rhythm.
"What did I say about opening your mouth to other females, Vane?" she growled, stepping right into his personal space, her ears flattening back against her hair.
Vane’s bravado evaporated so fast it was almost pathetic. He practically tripped over his own feet backing away from the boulder. "Sera! Babe! I was just... I was explaining the architecture! The geopolitical structure of the Peak! You know, standard prince business!"
"You were trying to flash your looks to get more mates," Sera hissed, baring her fangs at the three lizard females, who didn’t need to be told twice—they scurried away into the rock crevices like startled mice. "If I catch you bragging about a den you haven’t even dug yet to anyone else, I’m biting your tail off. Do you want to see if the human girl left me any tips on how to handle you?"
"No, no! It’s crystal clear, love!" Vane stammered, raising his hands in total surrender. The mere mention of Hana seemed to make his ribs ache in sympathy.
Hana rolled her eyes, a completely deadpan expression settling on her face as she watched the domestic drama play out through the screen.
Idiots, she thought. At least he knows better than to touch my inventory. If Vane had actually been trying to undermine her or stir up trouble, she would have sent Caspian down to ground him permanently.
But simple mating squabbles? That wasn’t worth the battery power it took to live-stream it.
Behind her on the ledge, the territory dispute between her own two airheads was reaching a crescendo.
"She didn’t stop me from saying it, did she?" Raiden’s voice was full of smug satisfaction. He deliberately fanned out his bright pink tails, letting them brush mockingly against Caspian’s black scaled forearm. "Silence is a quiet agreement, lizard. You should learn the language of courtships before you lose your scales."
"A rat does not have claims," Caspian rumbled, his chest heaving as the air around his jaws shattered with heat. His golden eyes slit into dangerous needles. "Hana is the master of the Peak. She does not belong to a trickster who runs from his own shadow. She belongs to no one. She said it herself."
"Well, that’s—"
Hana completely tuned them out, letting them bark at each other nonstop as she swiped her fingers across the tablet interface. She had zero intention of being dragged into their petty contest. She was far too focused on watching Kulu on the secondary feed.
At the den’s entrance, the Boars she had left behind to stand watch were handling the cargo like a group of well-trained logistics specialists. They efficiently unhooked the massive, heavy-capacity batteries from Kulu’s specialized harness, stacking them precisely in the designated shaded zone.
With Kulu safely grounded and the cargo secure, Hana shifted the drone’s controls. She steered the quadcopter away from Vane and his angry leopard mate, sending it on a much wider, systematic sweep to search the outer perimeters of the Peak.
She needed to map out every single blind spot, thicket, and hidden ridge in the area if she was going to build a community.
No one—and nothing—was going to surprise her in her own territory.
"Hana!" Caspian suddenly called out. "Tell this rat fox that you belong to no one so he can stop making claims."
Hana looked over her shoulder. She could just keep ignoring it but then Caspian might decide since she was being silent about it, he too, could make a claim to her as well and start parading with the mine nickname.
It was annoying just thinking about it.
And then there was that organge glow in his throat. He was going to burn something very soon if she didn’t do anything. My
"I belong to myself," She said with an even tone. "But you all belong to me."
The sudden drop in temperature on the ledge was almost comical.
Caspian’s jaw snapped shut, the orange glow that had been flickering deep within his throat instantly snuffing out.
His massive obsidian wings, which had been flared to intimidate the fox, froze mid-air before slowly pressing flat against his back.
He stared down at her, his slit-pupil golden eyes blinking in a state of absolute, dazed processing, and he gulped.
It almost felt like... he didn’t hear that right.
Beside him, Raiden’s triumphant, smug grin froze entirely. His nine pink tails, which had been swaying in a hypnotic, mocking fan, went rigid, sticking straight up like a cluster of startled bristled brushes.
His long fox ears twitched, pinning forward as he stared at her, his brain completely short-circuiting over the data override she had just delivered.
"What?" Raiden blinked, his smooth, purring voice entirely stripped of its usual theatrical rhythm. He pointed a finger at his own chest, his emerald eyes wide. "We... what?"
What? Is this the first time I’m saying this? They should already know this by now.
They were being so dramatic.
"You heard me," Hana said, her voice remaining perfectly flat and clinical as she turned her eyes right back to the tablet screen.
Her thumbs made a swift, sweeping gesture across the holographic grid, sending the secondary drone into a wider orbital scanning pattern over the eastern ridge.
"I don’t belong to any of you. But from the moment you marked me as my mates, and established a primal bond, your labor, your power, and your compliance became part of my inventory. You are assets under my management. Therefore, you belong to me. Got it?"
