Hana stripped a nearby vine for its sap and crushed a handful of silver-leafed herbs between two flat stones.
After that, she approached the man, but she was a bit wary of his size.
He was a dragon. What if he suddenly jolted up and attacked her? She could handle zombies, but she wasn't sure of a dragon beastman. He was in human form now, but what if he suddenly transformed?
The thoughts made her hesitate, but once she remembered her life depended on this, she shook the fear away and knelt before him, scanning him for the places he was hurt. It was mostly on his chest and thigh. So she rubbed the paste over his thigh and then to his chest.
"Don't die on me," she grunted, her hands covered in his hot, thick blood. "You're worth five hundred points, and I'm not losing my life over a lizard."
As the medicinal paste hit his bloodstream, the man's body jerked. The scales on his skin began to glow with a dull, orange heat. The wound didn't just stop bleeding; it began to knit together at a visible speed.
She exhaled, leaning back on her heels. The magical herbs were working wonders. If she had had this in her old world, she might not have had to be extra cautious with cuts. Well, they would all have died from the radioactive energy anyway.
"Okay. That's done. Now, pay up."
She reached out to shake his shoulder, but before her hand could touch him, his eyes snapped open. They were vertical slits of gold.
In a split second, he moved and used his sheer weight to pin her flat against the floor. His skin was burning hot, radiating a heavy, wild, and burning scent that made her skin prickle. Like, he had literally burned before he crashed-landed.
It had happened so fast that Hana didn't catch his movement at all.
"You… What are you doing?" she snapped, struggling against his grip. "I just saved your life! You owe me!"
The man leaned down, his face inches from hers. He was handsome, very handsome, but the expression on his handsome face wasn't one of gratitude. It was a dark, dazed hunger. His pupils were blown wide, and a low, rumbling vibration started in his chest.
"I know," he rasped, his voice sounding like grinding stones. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his thumb lingering on her jawline. "A life for a life. You saved me, little female. Now, I'll give my life to you."
He didn't sound like he was offering to be her guard in this unknown world, but sounded like he was claiming a prize with quite an arrogant and obnoxious tone.
"Wait—" she started, but his tail, thick and heavy, curled firmly around her waist, dragging her flush against his heated body.
The system tinged.
> [SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
> [Karmic Points: -1,249,500]
> [Warning: Interaction with Dragon King 'Caspian' has triggered a Primal Bond.]
Her face scrunched immediately. 'A primal what?'
Then, as if to make the situation a lot worse, the system screen flashed again, the blue light pulsing right in her face.
> [NEW MISSION: STRENGTHEN THE PRIMAL BOND]
> Objective: Complete the mating process with the Dragon Beastman.
> Reward: +1,000 Karmic Points.
> Failure to Comply: Reset to -1,250,000 Points and Physical Weakness Debuff.
Hana's eyes narrowed at the cruelty thrown at her.
"You've got to be kidding me."
She wasn't a virgin, but she wasn't a romantic either. In her old world, sex was a bartering chip or a momentary distraction from the fear of being eaten. It wasn't 'Primal Bonds,' and it certainly wasn't with a half-man, half-lizard who looked like he was about to melt the ground.
Caspian's grip tightened. His scales were fully visible now, tracing patterns up his neck and across his cheekbones. The heat coming off him was like standing too close to an industrial furnace.
It was not cool.
She looked from the scales on his shoulders running up the sides of his neck, then to the horns on his head, and to his pointy ears.
This… was not a joke.
"Little female," he rumbled, his head dropping to the crook of her neck. He inhaled sharply, his hot breath making her shiver despite her anger. "You smell like life. You smell so nice, like the forest after the first rain."
"I smell like a woman who's about to break your nose if you don't get off me," she snapped.
She tried to wedge her elbow between them, but it was like pushing against a solid rock wall. He didn't even budge. Instead, his tail tightened its coil around her waist, pulling her hips flush against his. The Primal Bond, or whatever it was, was making her feel a strange, connecting pull in her chest, a magnetic tug that made her blood hum in a way she hated.
"You saved me," Caspian whispered, his voice dazed but arrogant. "My blood recognizes yours. You are mine now."
Hana gritted her teeth. She looked at the 1,000-point reward. If she did this, she'd be closer to 1000 points closer to zero. If she didn't, the System would weaken her, and in a forest full of things that could crash-land from the sky, weakness was a death sentence.
She could not afford to be weak and vulnerable. That was the state she hated more than anything else.
She looked up at the dragon. He was terrifyingly strong, clearly out of his mind with fever and instinct, and yet, he was looking at her like she was the only thing left in the world. And god, he was handsome.
She reached up, not to embrace him, but to grab him by his dark hair and pull his face back so he had to look her in the eye.
"Listen to me, lizard," she said, her voice cold and steady. "I'm doing this for the points. Don't get any ideas about 'forever' or 'belonging.' This is a transaction. You understand?"
Caspian didn't seem to care about her words. He only saw her lips moving and followed them, thinking of how pretty they were. With a low, predatory growl, he leaned down and captured them.
Hana's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't readied herself yet, but what the heck, she just let him do what he wanted.