Galateya watched as Sage dropped to all fours, spine realigning, digitigrade legs and Phase-Shift adjusting her body to a more quadrupedal stance. The Skinwalker's vulpine, black nose pressed close to the forest floor, nostrils flaring.

  "Mmm, there's his sweat," Sage murmured, tail swishing excitedly. "One yummy human."

  The fluffy, red tail.

  Galateya could not stop staring at the tail.

  It swayed back and forth like a ticking metronome, and unfortunately for Galateya's concentration, it drew her eyes directly to... To Sage's posterior.

  Stop looking, Galateya commanded herself. This is inappropriate. You're supposed to be hunting, not... not...

  The athletic leggings Sage wore left absolutely nothing to the imagination. The fabric clung to every curve, every contour, highlighting the perfect roundness of…

  By the Slayer's sword, focus on something else!

  Except there was nothing else to focus on. Sage was right there, on all fours, tail wagging, and every movement caused her... her assets to shift and bounce in ways that Galateya's brain categorized "distractingly catastrophic to professional hunting expeditions".

  The leggings were practically painted on. Due to them and the angle Galateya could see... everything.

  Leviathan's cunt, Galateya thought desperately, those leggings are leaving absolutely NOTHING to interpretation.

  The accursed fabric had formed an extremely detailed outline of Sage's anatomy. The wet spot darkening the center made it even worse… or better? No, definitely worse. Definitely inappropriate to notice. Definitely shouldn't be cataloging the shape and…

  Stop. Stop it right now! You are a paragon of Justice. You have standards. You have dignity. You do NOT stare at your future Knight's...

  But her eyes wouldn't cooperate. They remained locked on the hypnotic sway of Sage's tail and the misty valley that lay beneath it.

  This is a tactical observation, Galateya tried to rationalize. I'm simply noting potential weaknesses in her hunting stance. The leggings could cause chafing during extended pursuit. The visible... moisture... might indicate overheating. These are legitimate concerns for her… performance.

  Her Justice sense immediately called bullshit on that entire rationalization. She was full of lies.

  Sage's tail swished, butt swaying and Galateya caught herself leaning slightly to the left to maintain optimal viewing angle.

  No. NO. This is unacceptable. I am better than this. I am a Taniwha! I am JUSTICE! I am... Slayer damn it!

  "Did you say something?" Sage called back without looking up.

  "M-must you be in THAT pose?" Galateya squeezed the words out.

  "I'm determining things," Sage stated.

  "What have you determined?" Galateya managed with a slightly strangled voice.

  Sage's ears rotated like fluffy, cute radar dishes, tracking distant forest sounds. "For starters, your boyfriend is walking in circles. See?" She traced a claw along the ground, indicating faint impressions in the pine needles. "He's making loops around the parking lot. Trying to confuse the scent trail. Clever boy."

  "Not my boyfriend," Galateya let out, forcefully forcing her eyes up to focus on Sage's ears instead. The ears were safe. Ears couldn't be inappropriately attractive. Fuzzy triangular—

  The ears twitched adorably. They were VERY fluffy. Red. Sparkly.

  Bitable.

  "A good try," Sage laughed. "Alas, he's dealing with a master huntah. Do you want him to be your boyfriend for real? Cus I can arrange it, warm him up for you." The Skinwalker butt swayed with extra emphasis that made Galateya's concentration evaporate.

  "I… that's… we're supposed to be hunting," Galateya protested, scales flushing with undulating purple-pink waves. "Delivering... justice!"

  Again, so many lies.

  She wasn't delivering any justice. At this rate she was drowning in the bootylicious bear-trap that was the view of Sage on all fours.

  "Multi-tasking!" Sage chirped. "I can track as an ocean of fox and conduct relationship therapy simultaneously as a human." She climbed over a fallen log, following the scent trail, and Galateya had to physically restrain herself from whimpering at the view. "You're avoiding the question, which means the answer is… Yes."

  "The answer is… Complicated," Galateya ground out.

  "Complicated how? You either want to date him or you don't."

  "It's not that simple! There's," Galateya gestured helplessly, "Uhhmmm, political obligations. Blood bonds. My great-grandmother's expectations. The fact that he already has TWO girlfriends who actually chose him instead of being forced into—"

  "Okay, wowzah, much to unpack there," Sage interrupted, "Real talk? The political stuff is noise. What does YOUR heart want?"

  "My heart wants…" Galateya started, then crashed as she looked at the absolute unit of butt. The Taniwha Justice sense was screaming at her to be honest. "I don't know what my heart wants! I've been alive for less than a week outside the time bubble! Everything is overwhelming and…"

  "And Ash is hot and sweet and you're mad at him for ignoring you… Butt, ya also desperately want his approval?" Sage supplied helpfully.

  Galateya's scales went full-spectrum rainbow culminating with detonations of pink flowers and emerald moss across her mane. "I… Uhm, you… How?"

  "Many fox souls," Sage tapped her temple with a claw, finally standing up on two legs and turning to face Galateya. "Much vulpine wisdom from beyond the fox-graves."

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Thank the Slayer, she’s done with the butt-wagging, Galateya thought and then took it all back as Sage's perky chest. The PUSSY EATS U text struck her like a warship falling from orbit. The two very distinct points pressed outward, finished her off, setting her insides on fire.

  Are those... Galateya's thoughts derailed off-track completely. Are her nipples actually THAT perky or is it… Cold?

  It wasn't cold. It was a warm summer day.

  "So!" Sage said brightly, oblivious… Nope, definitely extremely aware of Galateya's mental deterioration. "Your boy went in circles for roun’ ten minutes, then headed..." She sniffed the air, turning slowly. "Northeast."

  "North... east..." Galateya repeated, struggling to relocate her eyes from the two peaks.

  "Yep." Sage bounced on her toes, which caused another catastrophic distraction in fortress-Galateya. "He's heading toward the lake, I think. Smart move. Water disrupts scent trails."

  "The lake," Galateya repeated, forcibly dragging her eyes up to meet Sage's sky-blue gaze. "Right. The lake. Water… Wet things."

  Galateya read about protagonists getting lost in each other's eyes in romance novels, but that was text, general filler, romantic linguistics. Surely no one actually experienced…

  Sage's eyes were bewitchingly blue. Deeper than the ocean she saw while descending from the Slayer’s Sword warship to Earth on the Keiy-glider frame. More vibrant than the sky. Like... like concentrated distilled summer afternoon, if summer afternoons could be liquified and poured into someone's skull. Little flecks of silver caught the light in their innards. Deeper in, far below in the abyss, hints of gold-amber-orange-red galactic spirals suggested… a living ocean, an ever-churning supercell storm of fox souls.

  "You good, T?" Sage asked, head tilting in an adorable, devastating vulpine fashion.

  Galateya felt her Justice sense flare, burning through the haze of distraction like a sword of fire through white fog. Power coiled in her chest, blossomed from her Fractal Engine heart, sharp and clarifying.

  She was Justice incarnate! She would not be defeated by Skinwalker seduction. She wasn't a human. She was a Taniwha Omnid, raised to act as a Frontenachii Commander!

  A shield of Justice. A Sword of Truth!

  No more dastardly seductive distractions!

  Galateya let mana flow through her aura, wrapping around her consciousness like armor. If honesty was her nature, then she would wield it like the blade it was meant to be. Gritting her teeth she pushed through the thickness of the local Astral, her entire body chafing like she was boiling from within. She pushed harder, pushed past her limits, not wanting to be bent with deception anymore.

  Her mind sharpened, clearing.

  "You're performing," Galateya struck. "You're hunting. Not just Ashcroft Clifford. You're hunting... me."

  Sage cutely pursed her lips. "I totally am. Is that... bad?"

  "Bad?" Galateya's voice resonated with sharp, extradimensional harmonics, shearing through the radiance of deception. "No. Not bad... Calculated. Every movement you make is designed to maximize visual impact. The way you dropped to all fours wasn't optimal for tracking… A true quadrupedal stance would have your back more level. You arched it. Deliberately. To emphasize your... assets."

  "Ohh so sharp," Sage teased.

  "The leggings," Galateya continued, Justice helping her plow onward. "You chose them specifically. You didn’t go for comfort or practicality. You have other pants. I saw them upstairs in your room… Worn jeans, comfortable sweats, etcetera. You picked these. The damned leggings which show the outline of your... everything!"

  Sage arched her eyebrow with a knowing grin, tilting her head the other way.

  "The wet spot," Galateya slashed with sharp verbiage. "That's not sweat from exertion. You're physically excited by this whole scenario. By having an audience. By performing seduction. By watching me struggle and stumble. I know that you can control your phase shift to cover up your bits, but you choose not to, instead making them extra prominent!"

  "Seduction's my game, T-buns," Sage bowed. "I nom on your juicy desire. I gradually reshape myself to your needs and chew the radiance of ‘want’ pouring off your soul."

  "Weaponizing my attraction." Galateya deduced.

  "Weaponizing is such a chompy word." Sage pouted theatrically. "I prefer 'Milking.' The gap between what you want to project and what you actually feel. Right now? You're projecting 'serious hunter dragon Knight' while thinkin’ 'holy shit dat ass.' Dis dissonance? D’ass is my breakfast. Would you prefer me to milk you in a more direct way?"

  "What?" Galateya sputtered and then sliced the incoming attack with the Truth sword. More innate Skinwalker seduction. "Do I look like a bovine to you?"

  Sage's grin widened, showcasing a hint of sharp canines. "Naw, babe. You look like a whole-ass snack. A five-course meal. A Michelin-star dining experience featuring the finest dragon cuisine—"

  "Deflecting with humor," Galateya slashed with the Truth. "Every time I get close to a real point, you pivot to innuendo. It's a defense mechanism."

  The Skinwalker's ears flattened slightly. "Ouchies. Really coming for my throat here."

  "You said you wanted genuine companionship. Friends who see the real you. Well, here's what I see: You're not merely feeding on seductive trickery, you're terrified. Absolutely terrified that if you stop performing… If you let the mask slip for even a second… People will realize you're not actually worth their time."

  Sage's tail stopped wagging.

  "The leggings, the poses, the constant innuendo… It's armor. Manufactured personality. Armor… Yes. If everyone's busy staring at your ass, they're not looking deep enough to see whatever you think is horribly broken inside you."

  "Quadruple ouchies," the Skinwalker winced.

  Galateya tapped her chin. “You… Are seducing me, yes. However, you’re also seducing… yourself to rush things forward, because that's the only thing you know… how to do right. Seduce people online into being your fans. But in reality it doesn’t land right, does it? You met Ash a year ago and scared him away."

  Sanguine's face grew pale and wet, the snout elongating. "That's... fuck. That's mega harsh, T."

  "The Truth is a heavy burden," Galateya pressed on, Justice sense flaring bright like a lighthouse beam. "You gave him your number. You wanted him to call so badly. He did not. Because you came on too strong. You performed so hard that he thought you were fake."

  "Bahumbug," Sage crossed her arms, covering her chest. "Come on mang, do you want to be seduced, or no?"

  "You ate thousands of fox and one human soul and you're STILL lonely," Galateya pressed. "All those minds, all those experiences, and not a single one of them can fill the wind-swept tunnel, the chasm where genuine friendship should be."

  “Whoa whoa whoa!" Sage threw up her hands, flesh bubbling back to reveal more glistening skull. "Okay! OKAY! Time out! Truce! I tap out! You win the psychological warfare round, T-buns! I submit. Don't chop me anymore. You're right. You're completely right. I AM scared that nobody will like the real me. ‘Cause the real me is," She gestured at herself helplessly. "...is just some virgin wizard who eats souls and lives in a tower and sells bottled juices to weirdos on the internet to fuck with them all as ‘dats the only way she can interact with humans."

  Galateya's Justice flared. There was something there.

  Something deep.

  She stabbed again, attempting to cleave more truths from the sneaky fox. "Wizard?"

  "You know," Sage backpedaled visibly. "Like the meme... 'A person will be endowed with great magical powers and become a "wizard" if they reach the age of 40 without engaging in sexual intercourse. Except I'm a Skinwalker so the magic came first and the virginity is... ongoing."

  "You're a virgin?" Galateya dug into the statement.

  "Physically? Yes." Sage's skull face managed to look extra-embarrassed. "I mean, I've done plenty of stuff online. Cam shows, ASMR voice, other questionable shows, the whole digital experience. But IRL? With actual physical contact?" She made a circular gesture with her fingers. "Zero. Zilch. Nada. Someone looks at me IRL for more than five minutes and they cream themselves mentally, turning into a drooling mess. Not really conducive to a longer-term ‘ship outcome."

  There it was again.

  An edge of a distant... terrible something.

  Some vital Truth, a concealed revelation pivotal to understanding and properly judging the Skinwalker fox.