CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER : 45 : MARRIED?

Luna’s blue eyes shimmered, a gloss of unshed tears making them almost too beautiful to look at. Her lips trembled, the corners drawn down into the kind of expression that could break stone hearts. Even her fluffy ears drooped low, framing her face like they were physically weighed down by sadness.

"Don’t kill him..." she whispered, her voice quivering, fragile like a snowflake about to melt.

Aiden looked at her — really looked — and felt the tight pull in his chest. That pleading gaze of hers wasn’t just adorable; it was lethal. The most dangerous skill in her arsenal wasn’t her claws, her speed, or her hybrid form — it was this. Those huge, watery eyes staring at him like he was the only thing in the world that mattered, as though the answer to her plea was the axis her entire heart spun on.

He sighed, shaking his head slowly. "Luna... he’s obviously not the boss."

Her ears perked ever so slightly.

"I never said we’re killing that thing." His tone was calm but edged with a certainty that made her blink in surprise.

For a moment, there was stillness. And then, in one swift, unrestrained motion, Luna threw herself at him — arms looping around his neck, her body pressing into his as if she was trying to fuse the two of them together. The sudden movement nearly knocked him off balance, but he caught her easily, chuckling low in his throat.

"Thank you, Master!" she beamed, her voice back to its usual bubbly warmth, all traces of her earlier sadness vanishing like mist under sunlight. Her tail was wagging so hard he could feel the sway of it behind her, brushing against his legs.

"You act like I’ve just promised you the moon," he teased, one eyebrow arched.

"You’re better than the moon," she said without hesitation, nuzzling against the side of his jaw like a shamelessly affectionate wolf pup. "The moon can’t kiss me, carry me, or cook me meat."

"Cooking you meat is what makes me better than the moon?" he smirked.

"It’s a very important factor, yes," she replied with complete seriousness, her tail still wagging.

Lysandra, who had been watching this from Auden’s other side, his arms still wrapped around her waist, crossed her arms with a sharp flick of her head. Her long blond hair swished behind her, and her cheeks were faintly tinged pink — though whether from the earlier kiss or from witnessing this sickening display of affection, Aiden couldn’t be sure.

"You two are... unbelievable," she muttered, though the faint pout on her lips betrayed more than irritation.

Aiden glanced at her. "Jealous again?"

"I am not jealous," Lysandra shot back a little too quickly. "I’m simply... observing."

"Observing what, exactly?" He tilted his head.

"How..." she fumbled for words, her blush deepening, "...how completely you let her wrap you around her little claw."

Luna grinned like a cat who had just stolen cream. "Oh, it’s not just me. He lets you do it too, Princess~"

"I most certainly do not—" Lysandra’s voice pitched up before she caught herself, cutting the sentence short. Her eyes darted anywhere but at him. "And besides... you— you kissed me first."

Aiden smirked. "Oh? You’re still stuck on that?"

"I-It was my first kiss, you insufferable human!" Lysandra blurted, her voice sharp with fluster. "Do you have any idea— any concept of what that means in my culture?! And then— and then—" She jabbed a finger toward Luna, "...you made me kiss her too!"

"That wasn’t my idea," Aiden countered, half-smiling. "If you wanted to save that part of your ’culture,’ you could have just said no."

"B-Baka...!" Lysandra turned away, her ears red now as well as her cheeks.

Lysandra turned away sharply, hiding her heated cheeks from his view, her voice a muttered mix of irritation and... something softer.

She hesitated for a moment, then, in an uncharacteristically small voice, said, "In my culture... if a man and woman kiss..."

That caught both Aiden’s and Luna’s attention instantly. They turned toward her, eyes narrowing slightly, not with suspicion but with focus. Lysandra swallowed, her blush climbing higher. "...They get married."

The word married seemed to ring in the air like a bell. The echoes made it sound louder than it should have.

Somewhere behind them, Ivy’s head popped up from where she’d been, and Fluffynugget, mid-chew on what looked like a suspiciously large mushroom, froze in place. Both had identical deadpan stares that could’ve been carved from the same block of disbelief.

"Huhhhh!? Married?!" Luna barked out, her jaw dropping. She whipped her head toward Aiden like she’d just heard she’d won a lifetime supply of meat skewers. "Master, I want to marry you right now!"

Lysandra instantly went on the defensive, cupping her own flushed face as if to physically hold in the storm of feelings threatening to escape. Little heart-shaped illusions — entirely out of her control — floated faintly in the air around her, shimmering before popping like soap bubbles. She looked halfway between mortified and giddy.

Aiden’s lips curled into a lopsided smirk as he looked at her. "So... we’re married, huh."

"Only huh?!" Lysandra burst out, voice pitching sharply. "Don’t you dare ’huh’ me! Take responsibility!"

He let her glare at him for a beat longer before answering, voice steady, warm, and deliberate. "I will take responsibility."

Her eyes widened. Even Luna blinked in mild surprise at the way he said it — not as a joke, not dripping with sarcasm, but with a certainty that felt solid enough to stand on.

"Responsibility," he continued, straightening slightly, "isn’t just a word in my book. If I’ve taken a step that binds me to someone — no matter how small or large — then I’ll walk the path to the end. I don’t half-finish anything. Not a promise. Not a fight. Not a relationship." His eyes softened, but only just. "So yes, Lysandra... if this means we’re married in your culture, then I’ll accept that. And I’ll live up to it."

The princess’s lips parted, her pupils dilating in a way she didn’t even notice. Her heart felt like it had been lightly squeezed by something both terrifying and wonderful at once. She looked away quickly, as though she could hide from her own emotions. "...baka."

Aiden then turned toward Luna. "Alright. Your turn. How do you get married in your culture?"

Luna’s tail twitched once before she blushed, the tips of her ears going pink. "W-Well... it’s not very... romantic," she admitted, fidgeting with her fingers. "We... get a few wolves together. They fight amongst each other. The strongest gets to marry the woman." She scratched her cheek awkwardly. "Well... it’s just... breeding. They don’t actually... care."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Doesn’t that make us married already?"

"Eh?" Luna blinked at him.

"Didn’t I save you from your group, when they wanted to kill you? Didn’t I already prove I’m the strongest?"

For a moment, Luna just stared at him, mouth slightly open. Then her eyes went glassy, and her breath hitched in a sudden rush of emotion.

"Master..." she whispered. Then, without warning, she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his torso so tightly it was almost hard to breathe. "Master is my husband!" she declared through a mix of tears and comic over-the-top sniffles, her tail wagging like a storm behind her.

From the side, Ivy raised both hands and shouted in pure mischief, "Congratulations, you three!"

"Three?!" Lysandra immediately snapped, whipping her head toward Ivy. "I’m not—" She stopped herself mid-denial when she realized the way her hands were still subconsciously gripping the hem of her dress, her cheeks still warm from earlier. "...I guess I am too."

Aiden exhaled through his nose, a small, amused smile tugging at his lips as the heated bickering, flustered glares, and tail-wagging affection swirled around him like a storm he’d long since learned to weather.

And then—without warning—he hooked an arm around each of their waists and gave a light but decisive tug.

The move caught both women off guard.

With twin yelps—one sharp and indignant from Lysandra, one startled but bubbly from Luna—they toppled with him. Aiden eased his weight down to the ground, letting his back hit the ground, and in the next moment he had both of them resting against him. His head tilted back just enough to meet their equally bewildered stares.

"Let’s take a rest," he murmured with a low, satisfied tone. "My beautiful wives... we’ve still got a boss to kill."

Luna didn’t need to be told twice. Her reaction was instantaneous—she tucked her legs in and nestled her head onto his chest like she’d been waiting for this all day. The steady thump of his heartbeat seemed to calm her instantly; her tail slowed its frantic wag to a slow, content sway.

"Mmm... warm," she hummed softly, cheek pressed to him as though she could sink into him entirely.

Lysandra, however, froze in place for a heartbeat—her mind a swirl of what is happening, why am I letting this happen, this is improper, this is...—before the warmth beneath her palm registered. She was resting her hand against his chest, fingers splayed slightly, feeling the steady rise and fall of his breathing.

She hesitated. And then, almost shyly, she lowered herself as Luna had, resting her head just above his shoulder.

The moment her cheek touched the fabric of his shirt, she realized just how tired she actually was. Adrenaline had been carrying her for hours, but now, with the faint scent of his skin and the grounded, reassuring solidity of his frame beneath her, the fight seemed to drain from her muscles.

Aiden didn’t miss the subtle shift in her posture—the way her rigid shoulders eased just a fraction. He smiled faintly and, without ceremony, slid his arms around both of them. One arm looped under Luna’s shoulders, pulling her closer; the other settled around Lysandra’s waist, his thumb idly brushing against her side in a way that was more grounding than teasing.

"See?" he murmured, his voice a lazy rumble. "Much better than standing around pretending we’re not tired."

Luna let out a happy, content noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a wolf’s quiet whine of satisfaction. "Master’s chest is the best pillow..."

Lysandra made a faint scoffing sound, but it lacked all bite. "...Your arrogance truly knows no limits."

"Is that a complaint?" he asked without opening his eyes.

"...No," she admitted quietly, her fingers curling slightly against his shirt.

The air between them shifted. The tension from before—the joking, the teasing, the mock outrage—gave way to something quieter.

Luna’s breathing slowed until it matched his own rhythm. Lysandra, though she would deny it if asked, found herself matching it too.

"You know," Aiden began after a few minutes, his voice breaking the stillness but not disturbing it, "this is the first time in a while we’ve all been... still I mean after our 30 minutes nap, obviously."

"That’s because you don’t stop moving," Lysandra murmured without lifting her head.

"And because someone," Luna piped up, her voice muffled slightly against him, "keeps attracting trouble like a piece of meat attracts hungry wolves."

He chuckled. "You two make it sound like I go looking for trouble."

"You do," they said in unison, then blinked at each other over his chest.

Aiden smirked. "Maybe trouble just likes me."

"Or you like trouble," Lysandra countered, though her voice was softer now, almost drowsy.

They lay like that for a while longer, the edges of the moment blurring in a kind of peace none of them wanted to admit they needed.

It was Luna who broke the quiet first, her voice sleepy but carrying a note of smug satisfaction. "Master, you said ’wives.’ That means we’re both your wives now, right?"

Aiden cracked one eye open to look down at her. "You two were the one who declared me your husband. I’m just keeping up."

Lysandra huffed faintly. "You’re entirely too comfortable with this situation."

"Should I be uncomfortable?" he asked.

"...No," she admitted after a pause that lasted just a moment too long.

His smirk widened just a fraction. "Good. Then let’s just enjoy this while we can."

Neither of them argued.

Luna shifted slightly so that her arm draped over his midsection, holding him as though she could anchor him in place by sheer will alone. Lysandra, for all her protests about propriety and dignity, mirrored the gesture, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder.

The warmth between them, the steady breaths, the quiet of the forest... for a moment, the looming danger of the "boss" ahead felt far away. And in that stolen sliver of time, there was nothing to fight, nothing to prove—only the simple comfort of being together.

Eventually, Aiden let his eyes drift shut entirely, his arms tightening just enough to make them both feel secure against him.

"Rest now," he murmured. "When we get up... we finish this."

And for once, neither Luna nor Lysandra had a comeback—only the sound of their breathing, in sync with his, as the three of them lay tangled together on the quiet dungeon floor.

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END OF Chapter : 45 : MARRIED?

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A/N: From the next Chapter, the main story continues. And read this story on the official site, and not from NovelHall or NovelBin.

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