Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

53. Marking Territory.

Cal was feeling really down in the morning too. He put on his mask of professionalism to meet with his... Parents. Not only did Shayley avoid him, but Ophelia was having breakfast with her friends. He also wasn't sure how to treat his undead parents. Who knew that the Western Shore questline was going to be an emotional punch in the gut like it was.

He just wanted to crawl into a hole for a day and gather himself. It would be full of cute things like puppies, micro griffons, fox pups, and Ophelias, all topped off with Shayley's inviting bosom while she played with his hair.

He needed to get all the particulars out of the way though. He wanted to set up Dragoonia as a refuge. It was out of the way and defensible. He just needed to isolate the island nation enough to keep his secret without making them feel like he was sweeping them under the rug.

Cal stood in front of the meeting room, alone. He had planned on doing this alone to begin with, but now he was dreading it.

"Oh Kami, help me through this." He prayed as he walked in the room. He was going to need a long vacation after all of this.

*

Gerald escorted both Queen Shayley and Lady Selene to the room were Cal had retired. He couldn't believe the titans he was surrounded by. Shayley and Selene duked it out to the point of destroying half of the courtyard in front of the shrine. Had Cal really been able to defeat Shayley twice. He had to admit that his raid on the Segaro sea was like nothing he had ever seen or could imagine.

Cal was a formidable opponent to be sure. Gerald was going to have nightmares for a long time. Shayley was the warrior queen and Selene was the head priestess of a dragon god. Watching them fight reminded them of the stories of the heroes of old. Gerald was strong, but his wife was on a whole different level. She might stand a chance against Selene, but Shayley wiped the floor with Selene, and Cal... was in a league of his own. He had stopped Gerald's blade with his bare hand.

The irony that he was acting as a guard for these titans wasn't lost on him.

Shayley pushed Selene from behind.

"But this is too soon! We- we just had our duel, I'm not ready. This is too much pressure, what if he rejects me?" Selene fussed using her heels to push against Shayley. "I need to do my make-up. I need to change my clothes. I need to take a bath. Queen Shayley!"

Shayley smiled like a teenage girl pressing her best friend into her first date with her crush. How Shayley had the strength to press another girl into a relationship with her future husband he wouldn't understand. Polygamy wasn't unheard of among royalty. There was always a chance that Shayley knew that there would be other wives.

Cal's daughter was a known Oracle, maybe she had something to do with this?

"Don't be nervous, you're the one that is going to be doing the biting. Literally." Shayley giggled. She was going to take her frustrations out on Cal's flesh too. In order for Selene to officially mark Cal as prey she was going to have to break Cal's skin with her fangs. He had thick skin and regenerated fast enough, she was going to sink her teeth into him until she felt better about this whole thing.

She knocked on the door to Cal's room while sinking her nails into the hesitant Selene's shoulder.

A sleepy Cal opened the door after a few moments of stumbling around. "Mm, hello?" He panicked when he saw Shayley, Selene, and Gerald standing at his door. "Shayley! What's going on?"

Shayley pushed Selene inside and followed inside slamming the door behind them.

"Shayley what is going on! No, wait. What are you doing?" Cal shouted from the other end of the door.

"Shayley, why are you holding him down like that?" Selene asked nervously.

"In order to claim his as your prey you have to sink your teeth into him, this way he can't run away." Shayley grunted.

"Ow!" Cal grunted.

"Sorry sorry sorry." Selene apologized nervously.

"No you have to bite him harder, it doesn't count unless you draw blood!" Shayley coached.

"Shayley wait, no Selene! Ow!" Cal protested

"Cal," Shayley growled and Gerald could feel the blood lust from outside the door. "Hold. Still."

"Yes ma'am." Cal whined. "No wait! OW! OW! OWWWWW! Whyyyyy?"

Gerald listened to Cal's shrieks of pain for the next hour. It was oddly therapeutic to know Cal was in such physical pain.