BOOK 8. CHAPTER 3: SURPASSING EXPECTATIONS

Drawing out Pyros as a halberd, Jake’s crafted shield floated off to the side. His mythic, rune-covered Champion Vestments covered him, looking like some kind of retro-futuristic robes of red and gold. It was rigid and plated across the heart and with a fiery orb where his hearthian core was in the center. His helmet protected his face, but did not get in the way of his view, both due to magic, but also his Umbral Gaze.

Jake took on the Resonant State of the Sage, but took on Ophelia’s melee half of the restrictions. This meant that he would gain some strength from her being limited on the sidelines, without having many limitations himself. He didn’t like Ophelia being limited much for his need to take on other states because then it might limit their usage by far too much, and he’d be too concerned to use them.

Bree stood across from him, her auril heart beating heavily and sending pulses of the green auril throughout her body. Her already large body grew, and the woman was nothing short of imposing. She started at twelve or so feet tall, and much like Vesuvius, she grew as the flames from her hearth vines and hearth were stoked within her chest to be taller and more massive than that.

Her plant bodysuit was made of extremely compressed, tiny, intricately woven fibers. When auril ran through it, it could become extremely rigid and strong. When not, it was actually pliant and soft. It was like a strange combination of the properties of kevlar and microfiber, providing substantial protection and yet could grow along with Bree to any size. It was an amazing defensive material, and it was difficult to reproduce, but they were trying to add the insights from her weave to their own bodysuits.

Bree was huge in comparison to Jake, even with his enhanced size from entering the second Tier. She wasn’t as tall and large as Avalara’s form because the other girl’s battle avatar could also grow quite significantly, but her Presence alone was substantial. Jake felt like he was facing a difficult boss, or thinking back to when he faced that giant snake when he fought the Champion of Apophis, the comparison was pretty close. Only Bree was all rippling muscle or thick, corded and braided, thorny vines.

Tendrils of vines started weaving off of her, sending flames into the air from the numerous flowers opening. Despite it being a sort of duel, even in fights against Jake, he kept his Divine Reinforcement buff on the participants. It helped them improve faster, and even if they were reliant upon it, it helped them get used to their capabilities in all sorts of battles.

The dueling and arena-styled fixture was tuned for different levels of isolation, able to simulate things like all buffs being canceled at the start of battle, or allowing certain things to persist like Jake’s Champion Presence. The girls were all watching from the snack area, recovering from their bouts and talking about them.

When facing such a large target, Jake often started the battle the same way: he used Giant’s Growth on himself. It was simply too difficult to defend in melee, with such a size and weight disparity. Her fist was much larger than his head, and she could practically pick him up in her grip like an oversized action figure. And Bree would grapple her targets–it was often how she would overcome Ophelia’s martial superiority.

He infused Pyros with his hearth flames, enchanting it for battle. The inertia dampening runes were one of the most important he added, allowing him to remove some of the weight from Bree’s deadly attacks. Supernatural sharpness and piercing capability were added as well, making his halberd’s blade even more deadly.

Jake had long-since improved the inertia dampening on his shield, but Bree’s punches were still too heavy to stop her blows. Part of it was her spirituality, the power of the Divine Essence within her, and the other was the manifestations and mana she used. Nevertheless, they helped Jake bridge the gap, and his hearthblade was plenty dangerous besides.

Even when Jake parried Bree’s fist, vines were shredded off her arm as the sharp, fiery implement scraped across her dense flesh. Her rapid healing and regeneration of her vines quickly replaced what was lost, and Jake continued his own attacks and counters.

Jake had trained with Ophelia plenty, and while it was still clear she was ahead in her skill, especially in part due to her Technique, he was no slouch. He routinely competed with Tanda’s capability, as well as Bloodberri’s in melee to keep himself sharp.

Bree was clearly faster and stronger with her fiery, bestial might empowering her, but Jake used his superior reach and leverage of his polearm to keep her at length. Her charges were met with him bracing his weapon against the ground, a counter-thrust if she impaled herself would be devastating. Bree’s vines whipped to crash into him, along with her tail being added to the mix, but he met them with his shield or a careful slash of his halberd.

Despite the vines being woven or having auril running through them, his hearthblade extending his already long halberd would sheer right through them. The auril combined with his hearthflames within his body to empower the strength of it, and the runes on his armor enhanced him further thanks to his enchantments.

The wounds on Bree built, but these starting attacks of Bree’s were only a greeting. Frowning, she suddenly backed off for a moment with a questioning look.

“No templates this time, Chief?”

Jake smiled. “I plan on using my mana for something else. Besides, you never seem all that impressed when I win that way.”

Bree frowned. “No, I am, and that’s the truth… It’s just, I know that my sisters wouldn’t be…”

Jake nodded. “I wanted to win in a way that would impress even the old Bree.”

Bree’s smile grew wide, and she started to look excited. She dashed in after Jake, and now her punches came faster and harder as she laughed. “I want to see this! You better fight harder then!”

Jake surrounded himself in a cloak of hearthflames, and used them to move him faster much like his flight. He kept ahead of her, and continued his efforts to stab and counter her powerful swings. Dodging one of her punches to the side, he brought his polearm down powerfully, aiming to chop down into her chest.

Bree’s tail was a very effective, powerful weapon in her arsenal. With just a shift of her hips and a flick of her tail, the blunt implement on it would snap around and smash into whatever she wished like a crack of a whip. The force behind it was devastating, and she would regularly enhance it with an auril manifestation of an anklyosaurus auril beast’s tail, the spiritual energy enhancing the blow further. Bones would be crushed, flesh would be bruised, or–weapon’s trajectories would be altered.

With a crack, her tail smashed into his polearm and deflected it to the side. More vines swarmed out of her, ready to latch and wrap around him to disarm him. His floating shield blocked them with a flare of flames, and he dodged out of the way, resetting the fight.

In Fhesiah’s State of the Sage, Jake found his hearthflames moving much more smoothly. Establishing runes when using them was so rapid that it was a significant strength, so he had come up with several strategies that took advantage of this. The most offensive of which, was something he called Hydra, named after the multi-headed monster, which often had draconic heritage besides.

Three runes formed above Jake as he swung his polearm and stabbed, his shield redirecting her tail. A vine whipped toward one of the runes, but Jake was ready–his hearth flames formed a barrier in front of them, as mana was guided in from the surrounding area and he formed the runes rapidly.

Sensing their danger, Bree drew up her flames, filling herself with monstrous strength. She blitzed toward Jake, her fists, claws, and tail weaving a series of attacks with a heavy weight behind each blow as her vines whipped. During this exchange, more runes added to the ones already floating with every instant.

But Jake and Ira were ready for this series of attacks. Releasing a breath of the void which wrapped around the giant woman like a blanket, Bree’s connection to Avalara weakened, to where the manifestations of her spirit were barely improvements to her attacks. ȐаNồ𝔟Ɛ𝒮

Like before, Jake met her attacks with his dangerous hearth blade, shredding her vines and redirecting her attacks with superior reach and leverage, his skill gained from practice with Ophelia shining. A vine whip struck his forming rune, but without its manifestation, the pure mana was barely even disrupted, and Jake was able to smooth over it and refill the runes.

Even while she was on the attack, a weave of vines was created of a thick shield in preparation for defense. The first three groups of runes finished coalescing, and Bree’s eyes widened as three manifestations of dragons appeared. Blood’s flames of darkness, and Avalara and Tanda’s deathly flames were released, infused with Jake’s Dao of Family. She interposed the shield in front of her as she hid behind it, but the weight of the flames shredded her vine shield, and the deadly fire invaded her body and set her alight.

Her immense vitality fought off the deathly energies, but Jake moved on the offensive instead. The runes on his armor blazed brightly, as Bree tried to defend and counter his slashes and stabs, the giant woman forced to mitigate the damage with dodges deflections. Wounds piled up on her body, even as the deathly flames invaded her and tore away at her, as well as prevented more vines from forming easily.

And three more groups of runes were already coalescing, Jake’s Hydra reforming. The void wore off and Bree’s tail whipped to take one out, but his shield was ready, deflecting the blow. In an attempt to win the fight, she leaped at Jake, her giant body blurring toward him and her fists morphing into large canine maws made of vines and flesh.

The Hydra attack was not ready. Backing off now would mean not only would he have to start the spells over, but much of the hearth mana would likely be lost entirely. Bree probably thought he would teleport here, but Jake had prepared a spell within his hearth, by merely focusing on it for a moment over forming the runes to the spells faster.

Runic Magic: Wave of Force crashed into the giant woman, along with an empowered thrust of his halberd’s spike, which stopped her body’s inertia in its tracks. He dodged and retreated as she continued her assault, but a vine with a plant-maw bit down harshly onto his shoulder, along with a manifestation of a dinodog biting him. This crumpled the armor around his shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain.

But the runes floating above him finally finished coalescing, the Tier 2 spells empowered by the flames of his family being cast.

Three dragon heads manifested and released their payload once more, the magical dragon heads roaring as they breathed onto Bree, and shredded the plant maw that had bitten onto Jake. This time, it was Ophelia’s Vajrafire, Berri’s holy light flames, and Fhesiah’s draconic flames, infused with Fhesiah’s flames of creation dao. The power was immense, and with a pained moan, Bree’s flesh was burnt and electrocuted, and her large body was sent flying through the air.

Despite all the damage Jake had just done, Bree wasn’t fully out of the fight. He had just spent most of his hearth flames and mana to accomplish such a feat. The battle-hardened woman actually spun and landed on her feet as she crouched defensively, vines already beginning to regrow on unburned paths and areas as her auril heart pulsed.

Bree prepared not just for defense, but her monstrous instincts blazed as she sought victory. A cornered animal was the most dangerous of all, and Bree was as deadly as they came.

Jake’s void cells quickly regenerated, his shoulder’s damage recovering within mere moments as he teleported behind her with Ira’s help, and stabbed toward her chest with Pyros. Bree was ready with her tail, attempting to wrap it around his ankle, and she swung her canine-mawed fist with a roar in a powerful haymaker.

Prepared for this, his hearth flames flared up around his ankles like a cloak, and he released his stored hearthflames within his bubble: Nessa’s. The frostfire shot out as a beam and engulfed her arm and shoulder, freezing it almost instantly, and his hearth blade pierced through the frozen arm and into her chest.

He had aimed for her heart, and as his blade touched it, the red beam from the fixture shot down, rejecting his blade while it covered Bree in a barrier. It was his win. Deathly energy infected vines sloughed off of her, along with charred flesh and plant matter, as her body regrew and was healed by the device.

Bree breathed heavily, her body shaking as the thrill and excitement of combat wore off–though, it actually looked like it was increasing, as her eyes met his. She was giving him a bit of bedroom eyes. After a few breaths, she closed them, taking a shaky breath as she calmed herself.

The dinodog plant woman was clearly elated by her loss. Jake had shown his strength, and even with her immense amount of experience and what she’d already done to improve, meant her respect and conviction she had in him had just increased once again.

He could feel over her bond just how much she enjoyed the battle, his cleverness, and his ability to overcome her advantages and immense skill by using his own. And without using Divine Energy. While she did not have a full Divine Trait, she was still benefiting from what remained from Brigid’s Essence within the Heroic Boar, an increase to her overall spirituality and empowering of nearly everything that she did.

Most of his wives could beat Bree, but only reliably by using their Divine Energy or Seals. Ophelia would usually be defeated by Bree’s sacrificial actions, giving up an arm or a leg to get a hold on her to create much more significant wounds. Tanda would try kiting for a time, but without Cyclic Resonance and Avenging Strike, but since her powerful finishers could really only be used for group battles, she had trouble ending the duel. Bloodberri would usually win as well thanks to her straightforward strength and superiority. After she mastered her new auril and nethril hearts, perhaps she’d win as reliably as Fhesiah or Avalara could–the two having access to a higher energy from their personal power alone.

Bree had told him it was highly likely that the Divine Energy itself would be disallowed for the duel with her sisters because it did not come from one’s self–it was not personal strength.

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Once again, this took some mental gymnastics because they had been born with a portion of their mother’s Divine Essence, and definitely didn’t earn it. They certainly wouldn’t be disabling the portion of their Divine Traits they had obtained from their mother, so how was that fair? It was yet another item that limited who could face them and for them to truly feel like it was their loss when they did.

Jake had just proven that even with their advantages in the rules, he would likely be able to stand against them. As for Ira, the familiar would hardly even be a consideration.

After the red beam had healed Bree enough, he said, “After a few levels, and a few improvements, do you think we’ll beat your sisters? I really don’t want to wait until we’re the peak of the Tier. I would really prefer if it was before the War Trial began.”

“Seeing your strength and how you fight now… I know we will win. But…” She trailed off, suddenly, frowning. Bree should be excited about this, but it was clear to him that this was related to her not selecting her Divine Trait.

Jake decided to ignore it, changing the topic for now instead. “Do you miss anything about your old body?”

Bree arched her brow, seemingly confused about his line of questioning. “If I missed anything, I’d have been sure to include it–I made it myself, after all. I do miss my immense size in battle, and my sisters a bit, but those can’t be included. Thankfully, you can always buff me up and make me bigger, Boss,” she grinned.

And that was true. Jake could even use Tanda’s Rampant Growth, in addition to the Giant’s Growth buff now. “What do you like about your new one?”

“Hm. Well, I like how you look at it.” She winked at him with a small smile, and then gave it a bit more thought. “I have to say, it’s a lot more versatile than my last one was at this stage, and by a lot. It’s got everything. It’s sturdy, strong, and the fire burns powerfully in my chest and in my vines. I can nearly be as big or as small as I want, and the healing factor is nothing short of amazing. I’m proud of what I crafted.”

“You also seem to like that you can keep improving upon it. That wasn’t the same before when you were a dino cerberus, was it?”

“You’re right. Part of it is my knowledge now, but this body is much more…dynamic, and I like it. I’ve found joy in improving my body to match my tactics.”

“You didn’t seem to believe you’d be able to transform like this, thinking you’d make a new avatar instead. What changed?”

“Some of it was working together with Faye. Watching and analyzing her, I was able to create a skill much like hers. But it took a lot of work. I found that I really enjoyed crafting my body, making small improvements and alterations as we trained, and those tweaks led to being able to rapidly transform, and the weaving did lead to this special plant armor.”

Jake could feel the satisfaction wafting off of her over their bond. The woman had understated just how proud she was about it, and he knew just how much she had worked on it. She wove and forged her vines and the flesh within the dinodog body for years in their Sanctuary. And this was true before, when she was the boar, with her woven vine armor. It was like every time he had called Bree the Heroic Boar out, she had shifted herself slightly somehow.

He smiled at her. “It is a work of art, I must say. Are there no downsides, compared to your old dinodog body?”

Bree looked thoughtful for a moment. “Auril gets much of its strength from stored vitality, and a merging of our wills and the connection to Avalara. It is great, but mana does have advantages. I was larger, and the power and quantity of flames I could breathe out at once before was more, and that can matter. I can fight longer and harder in this form, but when we face my sisters, they might push those two advantages to overwhelm us.”

“I see, and I’m in agreement there when it comes to auril. Now, why haven’t you used the Divine Essence within you?”

Bree hesitated, frowning as she thought of a response. He could feel her reluctance, and so he was almost entirely certain when he spoke his next words.

“You want me to choose for you.” He said it as a statement, rather than a question.

Her eyes widened, and he felt shock over their bond. “You know?”

“I mostly guessed.” Jake frowned. “Was that really what you and your sisters wanted? To submit to the first male that could defeat and claim you, in all the ways possible? That doesn’t quite feel right to me, after everything you three accomplished, coming so close to true divinity.”

Bree hesitated. “It…wasn’t quite what we wanted before. But as we approached the peak, our thoughts on what would happen if we did find a mate were always in flux. A pair striving to reach divinity together is…” She froze, the Framework suddenly weighing down on her. After a sigh and a shaky breath, she continued, “It looks like, I cannot say. But… I can say that, becoming a Highlands beast with a portion of Brigid’s Essence… it made me feel… so many things, when you…marked me. And this… is one of the reasons why I have submitted myself to you.”

Jake knew that while Highlands beasts shared many similarities with Earth animals in terms of looks, they were very different. Like the beastkin themselves, auril beasts formed familial units, and actually shared a similar male to female ratio in addition to the size difference and temperament. It was one of the many reasons why the species a beastkin showed traits from were called their parentage–their origin was actually one and the same.

This meant that many females would be submissive both when it came to mating, but also their actions as a pack or herd. The males were often the leaders of these units, larger and stronger than their counterparts. There was plenty of variance among the Highlands animal kingdom, but this was more common than not.

Even though Jake never intended to beat up a beastkin girl and take her home, it was like it happened anyway.

He reached up and above him, to frame her cheek with his hand. Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes widened. “And you liked the way it made you feel. When I marked you.”

Her expression was full of need, her eyes large and her mouth open with her chest heaving. She was breathless, her voice full of emotion, “Yes…”

Jake remembered how empty she felt, as she had told the story of how she joined their family. The contrast between the desire and single-minded elation she felt just from his attention was shocking, and he could understand why she sought more of it.

“Kneel.”

Her knees, tail, and butt hit the ground so fast, if the ground wasn’t nearly unbreakable, he’d think there’d be a crater. And despite kneeling, her head wasn’t actually much lower than his own. And Jake was far from small, it was just that she started so much taller than himself. Bloodberri was the same size, Bree just had legs to put her head that much higher than his. Bloodberri often placed her torso level where Jake wanted it, and Bree couldn’t as easily do that.

Jake found the idea of picking a Path for Bree daunting. It was taking responsibility for her success, his choice influencing the very essence of her for what could be the rest of their lives.

And this was at least part of the reason Jake had never tried to min-max such things. His wives’ choices were their own, and his desire, his own path, was merely to support and guide them as they strove for the peak. He felt that motivation to exceed one’s own limits needed to come from within, and the way to do that was for them to make the choices that resonated with them the very most.

While they might be happy with Jake’s choices for them in the short term as they worked as a team, would they feel the same way years from now? Decades, even centuries from now? Not only that, but Hearth bonds were forever, persisting beyond reincarnation or other forms of afterlife. So these kinds of choices were ones that could stick with them even then, without significant effort.

Thankfully, he thought he already had a bit of a guide for Bree. He had researched many of the Divine, and Brigid even more than others, as she was one of his family’s patrons. Bree had received some of her Essence, and had even taken on aspects of her form. She lacked the bird beastkin form, but she had taken on a mesh of the wolf and bovine beastkin–the canine and triceratops.

These things had an influence on her resulting personality, but perhaps, these were simply the things that resonated with her the most. Otherwise, she’d have taken on more. And he bet that in some way, Isolyn and Ainora just might too, regarding Arawn and Lugh. Thus, Jake would take these aspects from Brigid, and reinforce them. Today, Jake was possibly creating a future goddess, by using his flames to guide her Divine Essence within her from an early stage.

Jake spoke with importance, his words carrying his resolve for his choice. “Seeking love and fulfillment, you submitted to me as your pack leader and joined my Clan. We will face your sisters together, and we will win their support. With or without it, you are now a part of my family. As the leader of your pack, your Chief, I will take responsibility for you and choose your Path, branding it onto your Hearth with my divine flames.”

Bree’s eyes were big, and her tail was down on the ground between her legs. Jake was strangely reminded of Tanda making her puppy-dog eyes. The joy and anticipation felt over their bond was intense, and she couldn’t wait to hear what he had chosen for her as her heartbeat picked up.

“I want your path, your essence to embody what you’ve already created, with a few changes. I want your body to evolve and transform, by being torn apart and rebuilt through battle and the hard work and creativity of the living forge that is your body. Auril’s endless vitality and spring fertility will be your strengths, your connection to our homeland empowering you as you listen to and sing the song of the world. By carrying the flames of your pack, your body and flames will be nurturing to your mate and your children and pack, but deadly to those that stand against them. You will be known as Bree the Savage Forgemother, a beast of a woman who creates and destroys with her powerful body and her flames. And perhaps most of all, you’ll be known as my mate.”

He retrieved another all hearts as one necklace, and placed it around her neck. She beamed like it was the greatest gift she had ever received, but Jake was far from done.

Gathering his hearth flames, he sent them into the center of her chest and into her hearth. He drew the demonic runes for the three words: Savage, Forge, and Mother, and it wasn’t just Jake’s flames that were infused as he did. Bree wove the Divine Essence she had stored, the enchantment branding her hearth perhaps forever.

Jake watched this process like a hawk with his Umbral Gaze, and so did Fhesiah with her Divine Sense. Weaving this essence was something that Bree was not allowed to teach them. But it seemed watching her do this was just within the limits of what she was allowed to do.

He was sure that by splitting this essence into such a vague moniker that it would weaken it somewhat compared to if he picked a singular focus. But he knew that there must be a reason why there wasn’t simply a ‘God of Strength’ or ‘God of Fire’ or anything like this. Sure, there were Divine who encompassed those domains under the Framework, but never only that.

Most Divine picked multiple aspects and domains, and he knew there must be several reasons for this. The most obvious was resonance. People were almost never so single-minded or focused, having many personality traits, goals, and values. And perhaps, by focusing so much on a singular aspect, they would become single-minded as well. A weakness, even when it came to fighting.

Motherhood, bestial evolution, fertility, the forge and the flame, these were the aspects Jake held firm in his mind as he inscribed the Savage Forgemother onto her hearth. These words were in their demonic rune form, embodying the dao and Jake’s understanding of the words, in addition to how he felt they meshed well with Bree and her Path. Such as how fertility was linked to both her plant’s growth and vitality, as well as her potential for motherhood as a dinodog beastkin.

The words were joined by several others, the formations filled in as he created them and enchanted the rest of her hearth. This reinforced the traits within her that fit with his family, and what he felt embodied Bree.

When it came to fighting, he liked her dauntless demeanor, her strength, and her indomitable nature–outside of her pack. She accepted her losses within it gracefully, but in a true battle she would never accept defeat, and only go down with her claws tearing and maw biting, fighting for her pack until she burst into motes of light.

And within the pack, she showed her nurturing side. Whether it was his children or his wives, Bree displayed endless patience and wisdom for any task. He knew that while she had grown up a monster or beast, she had found a form of love for new aspects of life, and embraced them.

Perhaps it had come from Brigid’s Essence, but it did not matter. Not only was Bree also a daughter of Echidna and definitely valued motherhood, but she would make the love for these new aspects hers, finding her place within Jake’s family and pack.

And Jake had wanted to include the bestial evolution. He had seen the power of the Bloodwrought, and he thought it was fitting for her as one of Echidna’s daughters. The difference was that she was not drinking from a tainted well, the power being her own and would require true effort, not automatic, frenzied mutations. She would evolve more slowly, through her sacrifice through training and other efforts, as well as her reforging her own body consciously–something that fit the Hart family perfectly.

The essence eventually ran out as he finished the Hearth enchantments, the two forging something special together within her hearth. As it did, Jake felt something snap within him. The Framework released information into him, as he reached the first skill level in Hearthforging. While he was there, he realized that he could invest much more mana, and he pulled on his girl’s regenerated energies using his Energy Nexus, converting them into his Divine Hearth mana. He added Celtic knots to her hearth to link the runic formations he created, increasing his investment in her hearth.

As he finished his efforts, Bree was overcome with emotion. There was love and respect oozing over her bond from what they accomplished together, and he knew that if he pushed to form the hearth bond, she would accept it in an instant and without hesitation.

She had submitted to him in every sense of the word, and had left the decision up to him. Bree would go against her sisters and even make them enemies if Jake wanted.

But he didn’t. Jake valued family, and while it sounded like her sisters antagonized her somewhat, they only did it out of love and protectiveness. Even if their motivations and values appeared to be a bit twisted, their personal sacrifices for this duel only proved they cared about her happiness and success.

Bree’s auril heart beat heavily, singing a song of joy and pride. But changes were still occurring within her body, as the Divine Essence intermingled with their enchantments. The flames within her chest built, the beating of the heart acting like the bellows to the forge. The hearthvines that were interwoven within her body also shifted, metaphysical flames being woven into the very vines themselves.

Her green bodysuit of vines actually shifted in color, flames running through it, as auril did. The flames from Jake’s presence were carrying through it, her hearth accepting his Champion Presence. While it wasn’t the same as a hearth bond, it was as close as they could get, a gift that would hold her over until Jake could actually accomplish it in truth.

The bestial air that surrounded her increased, matching what he felt when he was around Bloodberri. Her weight on reality that Jake recognized as spirituality and divinity increased as her Essence took form. A pleasant, nurturing heat started to emanate from her as well. He could feel the love and respect she had for him, her deference and loyalty she had to his desires.

“Thank you, Chief. The Path you’ve chosen for me… It’s…beautiful. Wondrous. Words can’t…” Tears spilled down her cheeks, the joy overwhelming her. He could hear it in her auril heart’s song, Avalara sharing it with him.

He leaned forward to her kneeling form, and hugged her larger form to him. Jake was used to this from Bloodberri, but Bree had a special, greater heft to her as her body was compressed and extremely dense. It felt like he could hug her large body with all his strength, and Bree would only enjoy this.

The girls all clapped and cheered, happy for her as her Summoner’s Bond reached the fourth, and fifth level in one go. Their battle and hearth enchanting and forging was like a series of dates, their emotions finally matching their history together. While the girls were excited for Bree and wanted to rush forward to hug her, congratulate and welcome her, they held themselves back.

Because they all knew what was next, and Bree was already worked up. Her defeat and subsequent proof that Jake stood above his peers by enchanting her hearth, and acquiring this Hearthforging skill had filled her full of desire. Plus, the mated necklace, and she was more than a little excited, a heat filling her body. Her eyes were filled with need, giving him a pleading look.

“Worry not. You won’t have to wait any longer.”

He kissed her deeply, and teleported the two of them to the bedroom.