"Knot-tying?" Ren repeated, her voice deadpan. She wiped a glob of rose-scented bubbles off her nose. "I'm not a boat, and I'm not a Scout. I don't need knots. I need you to turn around and walk away before I find out if a frying pan can dent a fox skull."
Vex blinked. His three fluffy red tails paused mid-swish.
He was the Fox Shaman, the most beautiful male in the valley. Females usually threw themselves at his feet and his tails. Now, this little hairless thing was threatening him?
"Feisty," Vex purred, snapping his feather fan open to cover a smirk. "I like a female who bites back. It makes the taming process so much more... stimulating."
"I am not an animal to be tamed!" Ren shouted, splashing water in his direction. "I am a human woman! I have a credit score! I pay taxes!"
"Taxes?" Kael growled, stepping forward until he was chest-deep in the water, blocking Vex's view of Ren entirely. "Is that a disease? Did the Fox give it to you?"
"No, Kael, taxes are...never mind." Ren groaned, shrinking down until the water was up to her nose. "Just make him leave. He looks like a magician who got rejected from Hogwarts."
Kael turned his glare on Vex. "She doesn't want your knots, Fox. She belongs to the Tiger Clan. Leave, or I will use your tails as a mop."
Vex didn't flinch. He looked at Kael with cool, calculating green eyes.
"You say she is yours, Kael," Vex mused, tapping his chin with his fan. "But I don't smell your mark on her. You haven't mated. You haven't bitten her neck. Technically... she is still wild prey."
He took a step closer to the water. "And wild prey is fair game for anyone."
Kael let out a roar that shook the leaves off the nearby trees. He lunged.
"Stop!" Ren shrieked.
She stood up.
It was a tactical error. She was naked.
Both men froze.
Kael stopped his charge. Vex dropped his fan. Four eyes (two gold, two green) locked onto her wet, glistening form as the water cascaded off her curves.
"Oh my god!" Ren realized what she'd done. She immediately dropped back into the water with a massive splash. "Don't look! Perverts! Eyes up! Eyes on the trees!"
[System Notification: Host has used ability 'Accidental Flashing'. Effect: Super Effective. Both targets are stunned. Lust Levels increasing rapidly.]
"Shut up, you useless voice!" Ren screamed internally.
Vex whistled low. "My, my. No fur at all. Like a peeled egg. How...beautifully delicate."
"That's it." Ren pointed a shaking finger at the bank. "Kael! Towel! Now!"
Kael, still dazed and looking slightly cross-eyed, blinked. "Towel?"
"The big dry leaf! Get it!"
Kael shook his head, snapping out of his trance. He glared at Vex one last time with a look that promised murder, then grabbed the large banana-leaf "towel" Ren had prepared.
He held it up, creating a wall.
Ren scrambled out of the water, shivering, and practically dived behind Kael. She snatched her cargo pants and tank top from the rock.
"Don't turn around!" she warned Kael as she hopped on one leg, trying to pull damp pants over wet skin. "If you peek, no bacon for a week!"
The threat of No Bacon was more effective than a knife. Kael stood rigid, staring straight ahead at Vex.
Ren dressed in record time. She marched out from behind Kael, fully clothed, hair dripping, holding her frying pan like a baseball bat.
"Okay," she announced. "Show's over, now get lost."
Vex didn't leave. He was sniffing the air again.
"That scent," Vex murmured, ignoring her hostility. "The bubbles. It smells like... Spirit Grass? No... Roses? But concentrated a thousand times."
He looked at Ren with a new expression. The lust was still there, but it was overshadowed by greed.
"You made that," Vex stated. "You used alchemy to turn grease and flowers into... that cleaning mud."
"It's called soap," Ren snapped. "And it's not alchemy, it's chemistry. Now shoo."
Vex's eyes narrowed. "Kael is a fool. He sees a mate to warm his bed. But you... you are a Shaman, aren't you?"
"I'm a Chef!"
"A Chef..." Vex tried the word.
He smiled. It was a dazzling, dangerous smile.
"I will leave for now, Little Rose," Vex bowed theatrically. "But the Fox Clan is always looking for talent. If you get tired of sleeping on rocks and smelling wet dog," he said, glancing at Kael, "come find me. My cave has fur pillows."
He winked.
Kael picked up a rock the size of a basketball and threw it.
Vex vanished into the ferns with a laugh, the rock smashing into the tree where his head had been a second ago.
"I hate him," Kael growled, his chest heaving. "I should have ripped his throat out."
"You missed," Ren pointed out.
"I gave him a warning," Kael lied. He turned to Ren, grabbed her shoulders, and pulled her close. "You are not going to his cave. Foxes are tricksters. And they have fleas."
Ren rolled her eyes, pushing against his chest. "I'm not going to anyone's cave! I want my own cave! With a door! And a lock!"
"You have my cave," Kael insisted. "And you have me. I am the lock."
He leaned down, sniffing her hair again. The rose scent was driving him crazy.
"You smell too good now," Kael grumbled. "Every male in the forest will smell you. I have to fix it."
"Fix it? How?"
"I have to mark you."
Before Ren could ask what that meant, Kael grabbed her waist, lifted her up, and rubbed his cheek aggressively against hers. Then he rubbed his neck against her neck. Then he rubbed his chest against her chest.
"Kael! Stop! You're wrinkling my tank top!" Ren laughed, trying to squirm away. "You're like a giant cat rubbing on furniture!"
"Now you smell like tiger again," Kael rumbled, satisfied.
He set her down, looking proud of himself.
"Come," he ordered. "You need to cook. The washing made me hungry."
"You just ate an entire boar!"
"That was a snack. Bathing is hard work."
Ren sighed, picking up her soap.
As they walked back to the tribe, Ren didn't notice the small, red fox eyes watching her from the high branches, nor the way Vex was carefully collecting the leftover soap suds from the riverbank into a small vial.
"Chemistry..." Vex whispered to himself, licking a sud off his finger. "Delicious."