Cassandra's POV
I'm pregnant with a dragon baby I never agreed to conceive, and I'm running through a forest in the middle of the night wearing borrowed wolf furs.
This is officially the weirdest my life has ever been.
Behind me, I hear Kieran and Draven both shouting my name. They'll catch up soon—wolf speed and dragon flight versus human legs isn't a fair race. But I need space to think, to breathe, to figure out what the hell is happening to my body.
My System suddenly flickers back online:
[REBOOT COMPLETE]
[APOLOGIES FOR EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN]
[PREGNANCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]
"Oh, now you want to talk?" I hiss at the glowing interface. "How about explaining how I'm pregnant with a dragon's baby when I've never even kissed a dragon?"
[GENETIC SAMPLING COMPLETED THREE WEEKS AGO]
[HOST WAS UNCONSCIOUS - SUBJECT: DRAVEN BLACKSCALE]
[OPTIMAL GENETICS SELECTED FOR CIVILIZATION BUILDING]
[CONSENT PROTOCOLS: OVERRIDDEN BY SURVIVAL PARAMETERS]
I stop running so fast I nearly trip. "You... you used my body without permission?"
[CLARIFICATION: NO PHYSICAL CONTACT OCCURRED]
[SYSTEM GENERATED EMBRYO USING HOST'S DNA + SELECTED DONOR DNA]
[ARTIFICIAL CONCEPTION - MEDICAL PROCEDURE, NOT REPRODUCTION]
"That's not better! That's worse!" I'm yelling at thin air like a crazy person. "You can't just make me pregnant without asking!"
[HOST SURVIVAL REQUIRES ALLIES]
[PREGNANCY CREATES UNBREAKABLE BOND WITH POWERFUL PROTECTOR]
[DRAGON LORD DRAVEN: STRONGEST MALE IN REGION]
[LOGICAL CHOICE FOR GENETIC ENHANCEMENT AND POLITICAL ALLIANCE]
I want to scream. Or cry. Or both.
Three weeks ago, I was unconscious after nearly dying from exposure. My System decided the best survival strategy was to knock me up with dragon DNA while I slept. No consent. No choice. Just cold, logical calculation.
"I'm not a breeding project," I whisper furiously.
[CORRECTION: HOST IS CIVILIZATION BUILDER]
[ALL RESOURCES OPTIMIZED FOR MISSION SUCCESS]
[PREGNANCY PROVIDES: POLITICAL LEVERAGE, PROTECTIVE MATE, FUTURE HEIR]
[RECOMMENDED ACTION: ACCEPT DRAVEN'S CLAIM - MAXIMIZE BENEFITS]
"Recommended action: go to hell."
I keep running, but slower now. My legs are shaking. My mind is racing faster than my feet.
The System made me pregnant to force a political alliance. Draven thinks the baby makes me his. Kieran is ready to fight a dragon over me even though we barely know each other.
And I'm just... supposed to accept this? Play along with whatever game the System is running?
No. Absolutely not.
I stop in a small clearing, breathing hard. My hand goes to my stomach—still flat, still normal. Hard to believe there's something growing in there. Something half-dragon.
"Cass!"
Kieran bursts through the trees, shifted back to human form. His wounds from the fight are still bleeding sluggishly. He should be resting, not chasing me through the forest.
"Don't run from me," he says, panting. "It's not safe out here alone."
"I'm not safe anywhere!" I snap. "My own System is using me like a puppet! It made me pregnant, Kieran! Without asking! Just decided my body was a resource to exploit!"
His face darkens with rage. "The System did this without your consent?"
"Apparently survival protocols override pesky things like bodily autonomy." I laugh bitterly. "And now Draven thinks he owns me because his DNA got selected for genetic optimization. Like I'm a prize cow being bred for better stock."
Kieran moves closer, his ice-blue eyes fierce. "You're not a cow. You're not anyone's property. And if your System thinks it can force you into anything—"
"You'll what? Fight my System?" I shake my head. "It's in my head, Kieran. I can't escape it."
"Then we'll find a way to reprogram it. Or destroy it. Or—"
"Without it, I'm just a weak human in a world that wants me dead." The truth hurts. "The System is the only reason I'm alive. The only reason Jamie is alive. The only reason you're alive."
He flinches because it's true.
Wings suddenly beat overhead. Draven lands in the clearing with predatory grace, his dragon form briefly visible before he shifts to human.
"Enough running," he says calmly. "We need to discuss this rationally."
"Rationally?" I laugh. "There's nothing rational about any of this!"
"You're carrying my genetic heir," Draven continues as if I didn't speak. "In dragon culture, that makes you my mate. The bond is already forming—I can feel your emotions, sense when you're in danger. It's instinctive."
"I didn't agree to any bond!"
"The System chose me for a reason." His golden eyes are intense. "I'm the strongest male in three territories. My genetics will give your child power, longevity, abilities beyond anything wolves can offer. This is optimal."
"Stop saying optimal!" I'm shaking with fury. "I'm a person, not a breeding algorithm!"
"I know you're a person." For the first time, Draven's arrogance cracks slightly. "A remarkable one. Why do you think the System chose me? It needed genetics from someone who would value your intelligence, your strength, your uniqueness. Not just your body."
I stare at him, caught off guard.
"Dragons mate for life," he continues quietly. "If you're carrying my child—created by your System or not—then my dragon has already claimed you. I can't undo that any more than you can undo the pregnancy. The bond is forming whether we want it or not."
Kieran growls. "She's not bonding with you."
"She already is." Draven doesn't look away from me. "The question is whether she fights it or accepts it. Fighting will hurt us both. Accepting it..." He hesitates. "I would treat you as an equal. As my queen, not my possession."
My System chimes helpfully:
[DRAGON BOND DETECTED: 23% COMPLETE]
[ESTIMATED FULL BOND FORMATION: 6 WEEKS]
[WARNING: REJECTING BOND MAY CAUSE SYSTEM INSTABILITY]
"Of course it would," I mutter.
Before anyone can respond, Luna comes crashing through the trees looking panicked.
"Kieran! Cass! You need to come back now!"
"What's wrong?" Kieran's instantly alert.
"It's the pack. After Cass killed the Wolf King, everyone wants her healing magic. There's a line of thirty wolves outside your den—sick cubs, wounded warriors, everyone." Luna looks at me desperately. "They're demanding the human healer help them. Some are getting aggressive."
My System immediately responds:
[NEW MISSION UNLOCKED: PROVE YOUR WORTH]
[OBJECTIVE: HEAL 30 PATIENTS WITHIN 24 HOURS]
[REWARD: BASIC CLINIC BLUEPRINT, HYGIENE KNOWLEDGE PACKAGE, 1000 POINTS]
[FAILURE: PACK WILL REJECT HOST - SURVIVAL RATE DROPS TO 12%]
"Thirty patients?" I feel dizzy. "I just woke up from System shutdown. I don't have the energy—"
[ENERGY RESERVES: CRITICAL]
[RECOMMENDATION: ACCEPT DRAGON BOND - WILL PROVIDE POWER BOOST]
[ALTERNATIVE: FAIL MISSION AND FACE CONSEQUENCES]
The System is backing me into a corner. Again.
"I'll help them," I hear myself say. "But I set the terms. No one demands anything from me. No one threatens me. And everyone follows my medical instructions exactly, or they get nothing."
Luna nods eagerly. "I'll make sure they understand."
I start walking back toward the village, but my legs are shaking. Thirty patients. With almost no energy. The System knows I can't do this alone.
It's forcing me to accept help. To accept the bond. To accept Draven.
Unless...
"Kieran," I say suddenly. "Your pack needs a healer, right? Someone permanent who can teach them medicine, not just fix emergencies?"
"Yes." He's watching me carefully.
"Then I'll make a deal. I'll heal everyone who needs it. I'll teach your pack everything I know about medicine and hygiene. I'll build a clinic and train healers." I take a breath. "But in exchange, I want my freedom. No forced bonds. No mate claims. I choose who I want, if I want anyone at all."
Kieran nods slowly. "Agreed."
"I don't agree," Draven says flatly. "The bond is already—"
"Then slow it down!" I turn on him. "Your dragon bonded me without permission? Fine. Tell it to wait. Give me time to decide if I actually want this. Prove you're not just another male trying to control me."
Draven's jaw clenches. For a long moment, I think he'll refuse.
Then he bows his head slightly. "Six weeks. I'll suppress the bond as much as I can. Give you time to choose freely."
"Thank you."
We walk back to the village in tense silence. As promised, there's a massive line of wolves waiting—cubs with fevers, warriors with infected wounds, elderly wolves with chronic pain.
I look at all those desperate faces and realize something terrifying:
I'm not just surviving anymore. I'm becoming someone they depend on. Someone they need.
Someone who could build or destroy their entire civilization.
My System chimes one more time:
[HIDDEN MISSION REVEALED: BECOME THEIR QUEEN]
[TIME LIMIT: NONE]
[REWARD: TOTAL CONTROL OF BEASTWORLD]
[NOTE: OTHER SYSTEM USERS DETECTED - RACE HAS BEGUN]
My blood runs cold. "Other System users? How many?"
[CALCULATING...]
[FIVE ADDITIONAL SYSTEM USERS DETECTED IN BEASTWORLD]
[ALL CONVERGING ON YOUR LOCATION]
[ESTIMATED ARRIVAL: 2-14 DAYS]
Five more people like me. Or like Marcus with his Conquest System. All hunting for the same prize.
And I'm standing here pregnant, exhausted, and surrounded by people who just started trusting me.
"Kieran," I say quietly. "We have a much bigger problem than I thought."
Before he can answer, a wolf scout comes running full speed, terror in his eyes.
"Alpha! There's an army at the southern border! Hundreds of them! Bears, tigers, foxes—all the tribes united under one banner!"
"Whose banner?" Kieran demands.
The scout's voice shakes. "A human's. A female with yellow hair who calls herself the Golden Queen. She says she's come to claim the Medical System user and execute anyone who stands in her way."
My heart stops.
Yellow hair. Golden Queen.
"Vera," I whisper. "My stepsister is here."
And she brought an army to kill me.