After the chaos unleashed on him, Travis ran out, dragging the two cubs along. God, he needed a bath—and those two messy cuties were taking one with him whether they liked it or not.
Like an oversized puppy, Derek began following him step by step. Travis had to stop, pause, and glare several times, yet the man would only freeze, pretend to examine some random thing, and continue trailing behind him like a suspicious shadow.
"Perfect. Now I have a stalker monitoring my movements. Not like I'm running away or anything. Chill, dude," Travis muttered, rolling his eyes. Tightening his hold on the twins, he continued walking until they reached the river.
The scene before him was as usual—utter chaos. The whole pride had gathered to bathe, naked and shameless, as if modesty had gone extinct centuries ago.
Travis really wasn't interested in seeing anyone's dick, especially not a crowd of muscular beastmen who seemed to eye him whenever he walked by. Stopping at the riverbank, he sighed, feeling oddly protective of the clear water.
"This poor river," he murmured. "Home to fish, frogs, and other innocent creatures, now turned into a public bathtub. If this gets polluted, it's game over for half the ecosystem."
But convincing a bunch of primal, half-naked lions to stop bathing here? Impossible. He'd probably get mauled for even suggesting it.
"Be our mama. I want you and Papa to take care of us," Henry mumbled suddenly, his voice small but clear.
Travis blinked. "Mama? Oh, no. Nope. Absolutely not." He was already traumatized enough by his temporary babysitting gig—there was no way he was signing up for a full-time parenting role.
"Sorry, cutie pie, but that's impossible. I'm not your mama. I'm just taking care of you for now," he said softly, still glancing around before finally stepping into the river.
"The fishes better forgive me," he sighed. "This is an emergency."
Tilda gasped as the cold water brushed her tiny feet. She loved it. The little cub squealed and tried to dive straight in, but Travis caught her by the scruff of her shirt.
"No, no, no! One at a time," he scolded. "If you go too far, the river might swallow you whole. Stay by the shore where I can grab you, okay?"
Tilda's ears drooped as she pouted, clearly unimpressed by Travis's safety rules. "Nooo, I want to go to the far side, Mama…" she whined, giving him her best puppy eyes, tail wagged sadly behind her.
Travis wasn't having it. "Nice try, sweetheart, but that's a hard no."
Seeing her plan fail, Tilda crossed her arms and frowned dramatically. Henry, on the other hand, was busy climbing onto Travis's shoulders, giggling while tangling and braiding his wet hair into a chaotic mess.
When he finally got them both to settle, Travis sighed in surrender and began washing himself along with the cubs. Splashes echoed around as he tried to keep them both from swimming too far, the morning sun glinting off the surface of the water.
A short distance away, hidden behind the thick bushes, Derek crouched silently—watching. His golden eyes followed every movement of Travis's hands, the way the sunlight danced across his skin, how the water clung to his form like silk. The sight of his soft midnight-blue eyes and the cubs laughing around him made Derek's chest tighten.
"Oh, he's ethereal… so damn gorgeous," Derek murmured under his breath, lips curling into a grin. "Guess I'm the luckiest man alive."
That grin turned mischievous as he started creeping closer, intending to surprise Travis. But before he could take a step, two lions emerged behind him, shifting into their human forms—and froze mid-motion when they saw their mighty king crouched in the bushes, smiling like an idiot.
The almighty, ferocious King of the Lions—out here spying on someone bathing? Smiling sheepishly? The sight alone could give them heart attacks. Derek was known to be prideful, rough, stubborn, and hot-tempered. Yet here he was, grinning like a love-struck fool.
"Uh, Your Majesty… what exactly are you doing?" one of them asked, voice trembling between confusion and disbelief.
Caught red-handed, Derek froze, the heat rushing to his face. He immediately crouched lower and began… counting the grass.
"Is he… counting grass?" the second whispered, blinking.
"I think so," the first replied, whispering back. "Maybe he's pretending to track something? Spirits help me, I've never seen him this embarrassed."
Realizing the act was useless, Derek groaned and straightened up, brushing invisible dust off his arms. "Say a word of this to anyone, and I'll kill you both. Dead serious."
The lions nodded vigorously, wishing they could erase the scene from their memories.
"Good," Derek muttered, glaring at them. His peaceful morning had just been ruined. "So, what was so important that you two had to interrupt me?"
"Your Majesty, we came because there's… trouble," one began, his expression darkening.
Derek sighed and started walking out of the bushes, the two men following behind him. "What kind of trouble?" he asked warily.
"It's about the food supply, sire. The hunting troupe just returned and reported that there's no game left in the forest. Nothing. It's like everything vanished overnight."
Derek frowned. "What? That's impossible. That forest's teeming with prey—deer, boars, even those stupid fat birds. Are you telling me the hunters couldn't catch a single thing?"
"They swear it, Your Majesty," the man said nervously.
Derek clicked his tongue. "Sounds like incompetence to me. You really woke me up for that?" He pushed the matter aside with irritation. "What else? Because if you don't have something worth my time, I might actually get pissed for ruining my morning."
The second man cleared his throat. "There's one more thing, sire. The omega female… she was struck by a bolt of lightning while trying to fetch food for her cubs. The healer says it's life and death now."
That made Derek stop cold.
An omega was too valuable to lose—rare, gentle, the heart of their pride. Without hesitation, Derek's expression hardened, and he strode forward with a commanding growl. "Take me to her. Now."
The two lions exchanged quick looks and ran ahead, leading their king toward the healer's den.
Minutes later, once the forest had quieted again, Travis was done washing the cubs. He stepped out of the river, dripping wet, his hair sticking to his forehead. But before he could grab his shirt, his body stiffened—frozen in place.
His vision blurred, and the world around him melted away.
Then, without warning, a powerful trance surged through him, pulling him into another realm—another time.
The sound of the river faded into silence.
He was no longer standing by the river.
He had been transported to a different timeline entirely.