As I held my daughters in my arms and played with them for hours, I felt torn between how happy I was to be with them and how urgently I longed to rid the world of things that could harm them.

As I cradled the holstaurs in my arms, and as the bunny girls worked together to knock me over and tackle me to the ground to wrestle, the one word that kept repeating in my mind was “fragile.” As sweet and frisky as they were, they were so small, so soft, so easy to hurt. At one point I accidentally stepped on Flopsy's stompy little bunny foot, and my whole world came crashing down as I saw tears take shape in her eyes.

“Come here,” I said, scooping the child up in my arms and rocking her to and fro, “I’m so sorry, baby,”

Bonny was not as impressed as I was, though. “Flopsy, be more careful. You asked for that, don’t go making your father feel bad.”

Still, I held Flopsy tight to my cheek, feeling her ears twitch against my face, waiting for the moment when her tears became giggles.

“No fair,” Carrotina pouted, covered in dirt and grass stains as usual. “Step on my foot, too.”

***

That night, when I’d tucked the kids into bed and kissed the girls goodbye, I met Darkmaw outside Tater Town’s newly-constructed walls.

“What is it you wish to accomplish tonight?” she asked, eyeing me like the predator she was.

I smirked, noticing her lingering gaze. “I just want to kill some monsters,” I said, and I raised my arms up in the air, summoning my lance and calling Blue down with a whistle.

The scaly blue dragon-steed swooped down, and Darkmaw took a step back, clearly not trusting him as he appeared.

“Just killing monsters?” she asked.

“Well,” I said, looking her up and down, “I do need to familiarize myself with the new system mechanics—the Qualities, as they were called, I think.” I cleared my throat. “Sexy system voice, what are my four Qualities, again?”

“Inseminator—”

“Of-fucking-course,” I groaned.

“---Lancer, Dragoner, and Workhorse.”

I listened to her sultry voice rattle off those terms, nodding my head like a diligent pupil. “I’ve got it,” I said. “Before we head into the forest, let’s do some sparring.”

“Oh?” Darkmaw asked, clearly interested in the proposition.

“Yes,” I said, slapping Blue on the rump. “Blue here will be our referee. Got it, Blue?”

He snorted a bit of icy mist and nodded his head, neigh-screeching loudly enough to pierce my ears a bit.

Darkmaw definitely showed some reticence at that part of the arrangement, not commenting and looking only out of the corners of her eyes in Blue’s direction.

“Okay, what are the rules?” I asked. “You tell me, and I’ll adjust my plan for the fight accordingly.”

“Pull your punches, Apex Hero,” Darkmaw said. “I will certainly be holding back for you.”

I frowned. “Well, I mean obviously I’m not going to try and kill you, but we have to be able to test out my powers.”

“If something happens to you, May Belle will punch me into the next Age of Heroes,” she laughed. “Also—I don’t want anything to happen to you, either. If I were responsible—”

I held up my hand and rolled my eyes dramatically to demonstrate just how interesting I found those sentiments. “Okay. No weapons, limited magic, the goal is to wrestle the opponent to the ground and pin them in place for ten seconds.”

Darkmaw grunted her approval, a smile escaping her lips. “Very well,” she said. “I can live with these stipulations.”

We squared off in front of each other, unarmed with our hands out, ready to collide. I focused on my Workhorse Quality, the one that I associated with skills like Endure, feats of strength, and tolerance of pain. Whether or not that interpretation was about to hold water was another matter.

I drew a cold breath inside my lungs, focusing on the power of my Umbercore. I willed myself to be unbending, strong, and able to endure whatever punishment Darkmaw was about to dole out. I felt something activate inside me, though I wasn’t sure what, or to what extent.

She lunged when Blue gave the signal—shooting an icicle between our feet. I planted myself on the ground, striking the most stable pose that I could, a wide stance.

I caught Darkmaw by the palms as she rammed into me, her furry, wolfy hands squeezing my fingers hard. I twisted one of her arms around behind her, pirouetting her like she was a dance partner, ending up with her back pressed against my unarmored chest.

Inhaling, I assimilated her primal scent, and she laughed as she noticed.

“Your mind is ever on one thing,” she said.

“You’re right,” I said, “winning.”

I kicked out her legs, wrapped my arms around her waist, and fell backward, turning at the hip so that I landed on top of her, but she was strong. She fought back once we hit the ground, easily pushing my body off of hers. I gritted my teeth and drew ever deeper into my reserves of power, feeling my muscles bulge as I broke through her defenses, pressing my body entirely on top of hers. I wrapped my arms and legs around hers, and I thought I had her pinned.

But I am no professional wrestler. From that position, she was easily able to roll me onto our sides, and I cursed myself for not anticipating it.

She bit my shoulder playfully, drawing blood, and whispered in my ear, “What’ll you do for me when I win?”

“When I win, I’m gonna make you suck my cock and call me baby,” I said, laughing.

She laughed, too. “Then I’ll make you bury your face in my womanhood until I have my satisfaction. And you, too, must call me ‘baby.’”

“Good fucking luck” I grunted, I decided a new approach was in order. I was already wrapped around her, so I squeezed as tightly as I could, forcing the breath out of her body, feeling her back crack.

She dug her claws into my shoulder blades and bit my neck harder in response, and I felt blood streaming from the fresh open wounds.

Blue made a snort, signaling that he was getting concerned by the display of mounting violence. I didn’t disagree. The wounds we were both suffering were far from fatal, but things were escalating. I needed to get clever to win this one and lower the tension threshold back down to acceptable levels.

I closed my eyes, ignoring the pain of her claws and fangs as her lustrous black hair covered my face and she managed to get on top of me. I summoned the power of the Inseminator Quality to make a surprise attack.

From where Darkmaw was sitting on my stomach, my dick was only a few inches away. I had a surprise in store for the Wolf General, one that she wouldn’t be expecting.

“Extension, go!” I shouted, and my cock burst from my pants, ripping them to shreds as it forcefully impacted Darkmaw’s back, sending her flying off of me, tumbling on the ground behind my head. I got back up, naked from the waist down, and that was enough of a distraction for her to hesitate as she started to get back up. Lunging, I landed on top of her stomach, grabbing her by the shoulders and throat, my cock extending through the valley of her cleavage and resting upon her lips. Her eyes crossed to look at it.

“Do I win?” I asked.

Muffled against my dick, she shook her head. “I could still pull a reversal on you at any moment.”

“Then why don’t you?” I grinned down at her.

Blue was watching in rapt fascination.

“Send the dragon-steed away,” she said, smiling coyly, then licking the head of my cock so that there was no mystery as to her intentions. “Let’s call it a draw.”

“Blue, buddy, why don’t you go for a walk and I’ll call you in a bit,” I said.

Blue gave me a knowing whinny and took off into the sky.

“Such a good wingman,” I said. “Literally, I guess.”

Darkmaw made good on her earlier threat, reversing our positions with a series of twists and presses that I wasn’t prepared for. But she dismounted me, spreading my legs with her hands at the knees, making a spot for herself between them. She stripped off her armor and got ass up, face down, inhaling the scent of my cock and balls as her eyes rolled back in a wanton look of satisfaction mixed with anticipation.

Her tongue darted out of her mouth, smaller and more maneuverable than I had imagined it would be, and started lightly teasing my sack.

“This is my first time tasting you,” she said.

“I’m going to enjoy fucking your brains out,” I grunted back at her.

But she stopped and shook her head, frowning and pulling back as though she’d just remembered something. “No—I can’t do this,” she said darkly.

“What?” I whined, “why the fuck not?”

“You need to truly defeat me—and you are not yet at your best, fully recovered, and familiar with your new skills. Furthermore,” she looked at the ground as she said this part, “Queen Marrowheart made me promise I’d be witness to your consummation with her.”

“So?” I asked, confused how that was relevant.

“So, she demanded that she have the right to mate with you first. As her daughter, I could only obey.”

I frowned. “Maaan—but my dick is, like, harder than a fucking diamond.”

Darkmaw frowned, offering nothing but a sigh. “I suppose maybe we could mutually pleasure ourselves?” she suggested. “You could stroke your cock for me, cumming on my body, and I could touch my quim so you can see how wet I am for you?”

“When life gives you lemons, mutually masturbate with those lemons,” I said, nodding like a wiseman. “Let’s do this.”

We ended up in an interesting position, with Darkmaw lying on her back, but with her knees and ass up as she started stroking her clit. Her hips were elevated, too, bringing my cock and her cunt closer. I was standing in front of her, looking down at the display, ready to aim my load of cum right into her pussy.

I started jerking up and down the length of my shaft as I stared at Darkmaw, her raven-black hair spilling out on the ground like a dark storm. First I was focused on her face, which was the height of eroticism, her lip bitten, her eyes dilated, her throat swallowing and jaw clenching. Beads of perspiration formed around her lips and forehead, and her breathing went heavy.

She was stroking her clit with a passion, staring directly into my eyes as she did it, hardly bothering to glance at my cock. I was immensely flattered by that, that the look of my face was enough to get her off. I felt more or less the same.

Still, I stole constant looks down at her delightful pussy, watching her dullest claw delve into her womanly chasm, hearing the lewd sounds of squishing and squelching echo in the night, silencing the crickets out in the fields. All that you could hear now was the sounds of her moans and her pussy juice stirring in her honeypot.

“You’re—you’re very handsome,” she said, focusing on my face as she fucked herself with her wolfy digits. She started writhing, and she locked her legs around mine, her lying, me standing, so that her ankles were hooked around the backs of my knees. “I enjoy the sight of you.”

“You’re fucking hot,” I grunted, holding nothing back. “The second I finish squirting in your mom’s pussy, I’m gonna ride you like the beast you are.”

She smirked, but her self-fucking pace only hastened at my words. “We’ll see about that,” she said.

Suddenly her eyes went wide, and I realized that what I was seeing on her face was the realization that she was about to burst. So was I. I chewed on the inside of my cheek to delay until the moment I saw her losing herself—and there it was.

Her voice went higher than I’d ever heard it. “Oh! Oh! I’m cumming, Apex Hero! I’m cumming!”

I didn’t announce my arrival. Instead, I just firebombed a multitude of hot loads atop her mound of pussy-flesh, watching it drip from her mons into the slit. Several more blasts hit her opening head on. She greedily shoved the wads of my creamy love inside her.

I fell to my knees and wrapped my arms around her back, pulling her up to my level. She was still shaking and cumming long after I had finished. I planted my lips on hers, kissing her gently at first, then going deeper.

“Are we still hunting for monsters?” Darkmaw asked, panting desperately.

I groaned. “Yes,” I said. “In, like, ten minutes.”

The Wolf General giggled. “Ten minutes it is.”