Felicity's Beast World Apocalypse-Chapter 96: Jealousy

Two days from Vineyard, the air tasted like rain and iron.

The highway had given way to low hills and dying orchards. In the distance, vines strangled abandoned farmhouses, their windows dark and watching. The world felt closer to something living again, and that closeness made every instinct sharper.

They stopped at sunset.

Felicity pressed her palm to the cracked asphalt, and her space opened like a breath released.

Golden light poured outward. Grass replaced rubble. The air softened. Lanterns flickered to life overhead.

Only the husbands stepped inside. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The seam sealed behind them.

Silence settled, thick but not hostile.

Felicity stood in the center of her space, braid over her shoulder, fox ears twitching in that way that meant she was pretending not to be nervous.

Damien was the first to shed the shape of the road.

His onyx scales shimmered faintly along his collarbone before smoothing back into skin. Even in human form, there was something serpentine in the way he moved fluid, coiled, watchful. His dark hair fell loose over one eye, and his gaze tracked every shift in the room like prey might appear at any second.

Victor stood tall near the lantern line, white hair pale against the twilight of her space. The suggestion of wings lingered behind him, black and white feathers fading slowly into nothing. His red eyes reflected the gold light sharply.

Ivan sat down without ceremony, silver hair catching the glow. There was weight to him even at rest. A grounded steadiness. The lion in him showed in the breadth of his shoulders and the quiet dominance of the way he occupied space.

Voss remained standing, broad frame outlined against the grass, wolf ears angled forward, tail low and still. His gaze was fixed on Felicity, not the others.

No Snow Team.

No distractions.

Damien broke the quiet.

"This isn’t working."

Felicity folded her arms instantly. "You all say that like you rehearsed it."

Victor’s mouth curved faintly.

Ivan didn’t smile.

Voss didn’t move.

Damien stepped forward, slow and deliberate. "You’re tired."

"I’m not."

"You are," he replied calmly, voice low and smooth, like silk sliding over steel. "You hide it."

Her ears twitched.

Victor spoke without looking at Damien. "You fell asleep during my sentence yesterday."

Felicity gasped. "You were talking about supply routes."

"And?" Victor’s brow lifted slightly.

Ivan’s mouth curved faintly. "She also fell asleep on me the night before."

Damien’s gaze shifted, sharp.

"I was comfortable," she protested weakly.

Damien’s eyes darkened. "You had two nights with Ivan."

Ivan’s silver eyes flicked toward him. "You’re counting."

"Yes."

The honesty didn’t come with heat. It came with something heavier.

Victor tilted his head slightly. "It isn’t only him."

Felicity’s eyes moved to Victor slowly. "You too?"

He met her gaze evenly. "I prefer structure."

"That means control," Ivan translated quietly.

Victor did not deny it.

Felicity looked at Voss last.

He was still watching her.

Not accusatory.

Not wounded.

Just measuring.

"You’re quiet," she said softly.

His wolf ears shifted slightly. "You can’t do every night."

The bluntness made her tail flick.

"You’ll burn out," he continued.

Her ears lowered just a little.

Damien’s voice slid in smooth. "And I didn’t enjoy hearing it, unless i can join, unless its my turn later."

That hung in the air.

Felicity blinked. "Hearing what?"

Victor’s red eyes narrowed faintly.

Ivan exhaled through his nose.

Damien didn’t elaborate.

He didn’t have to.

The thinness of walls. The way sound traveled. The fact that jealousy in a post-apocalyptic rooftop wasn’t dramatic it was survival instinct sharpened too fine.

Felicity’s face went pink.

"That’s not fair," she muttered.

"It isn’t about fair," Damien said. "It’s about balance."

Ivan nodded once. "Little fox, you try to give equally every time. That’s not sustainable."

"I like being with you, i love you all" she insisted.

Victor’s gaze softened by a fraction. "We know."

"And that’s the problem," Damien added.

Silence fell again, Wind stirred the lanterns overhead.

Voss stepped closer at last, boots pressing into the grass.

"No sex every night."

The words dropped heavy.

Felicity made a choking sound.

Damien’s lips twitched slightly.

Voss didn’t look embarrassed. He didn’t look smug. He looked practical.

"Our fox will be exhausted," he said evenly.

The possessiveness in our wasn’t loud.

It was certain.

Felicity covered her face. "You are all impossible."

Victor crouched in front of her. "Rotation."

Damien nodded. "Fixed nights."

Ivan added quietly, "Mandatory rest."

"And group activities," Damien said, glancing sideways at Victor, "stay spontaneous."

Victor’s eyes flicked to Felicity. "Unless she asks."

All of them looked at her.

The weight of that attention stole her breath for a second.

"You’re treating this like a council meeting," she muttered.

"It is," Victor replied.

Damien folded his arms, scales faintly shimmering again along his wrist before disappearing. "You had one-on-one time with Ivan. I was jealous."

Ivan didn’t gloat.

Victor didn’t tease.

Voss’s jaw tightened slightly.

Felicity stared at Damien.

"You’re admitting that?"

"Yes."

It was simple. Direct, Her ears twitched.

"And you?" she asked Victor.

He held her gaze. "Yes."

Ivan’s silver eyes were steady. "I was not jealous."

Damien shot him a look.

Ivan shrugged faintly. "I was patient."

Voss finally spoke again, voice lower now. "I was not patient."

Felicity’s tail stilled.

There it was.

Just truth.

He hadn’t said it before. But he had heard enough. Watched enough. Measured enough.

"We’re two days from Vineyard," Victor said. "We stabilize now."

Damien nodded. "Two-day rotation."

Ivan agreed. "Rest in between."

Voss’s gaze never left Felicity. "And if you’re tired, you say it."

She swallowed.

She hated that they were right.

"I don’t want to become... scheduled," she said quietly.

Victor’s red eyes flickered faintly. "You won’t."

Damien stepped closer. "You are not a resource."

Ivan added, "You are not a prize to divide."

Voss finished it. "You are ours to protect."

Her throat tightened.

"Fine," she said at last. "Two-day rotation. Rest days. Group stays spontaneous unless I ask."

Damien inclined his head.

Victor nodded once.

Ivan’s expression warmed slightly.

Voss relaxed by a fraction, wolf ears easing back just a little.

Felicity flopped onto the grass dramatically. "You’re all overbearing."

Damien crouched beside her, dark gaze unreadable. "You like that."

She peeked at him through her lashes.

"...maybe."

They were nothing if not disciplined.

Victor moved to her other side, close enough that the heat of him pressed into the air around her. The faint outline of his wings shimmered behind him before settling, black and white feathers dissolving into nothing but presence. Ivan shifted at her feet, silver hair catching the lantern glow, his massive frame folding in with deliberate control. Damien lowered himself near her shoulder, movements fluid and quiet, something serpentine in the way he watched her even at rest. Voss stayed at her hip, broad and solid, wolf ears angled toward her like she was the only sound that mattered.

They anchored her.

Felicity lay back in the grass of her own making and felt their weight around her, the space warmer simply because they were in it. Her pulse picked up without permission.

"You make it sound like I’m breakable," she muttered, but her voice didn’t carry the bite she meant it to.

Ivan leaned forward slightly, forearms resting on his knees. His silver eyes softened but did not waver. "You are."

Her breath hitched.

"Not weak," he added, steady and firm. "Breakable."

Victor’s red gaze slid to her face, sharp and intent. "And rare."

Damien’s dark eyes didn’t blink. "And ours."

The word landed deep, heavy, not careless. Not thrown.

Claimed.

Felicity pushed herself up onto her elbows. "I don’t need to be carried everywhere."

Voss’s gaze lowered to her hands, then back to her eyes. "You don’t need to."

The pause was deliberate.

"We want to."

Her ears flushed.

Ivan’s voice dropped lower, richer. "When you stumble, and you pretend you didn’t, it makes something in me restless."

Victor’s jaw tightened faintly. "When you push yourself and refuse help, it feels wrong."

Damien tilted his head slightly, studying her as if she were something precious and infuriating at once. "You think letting us lift you makes you small."

Her throat tightened.

"It doesn’t," he continued. "It makes us feel powerful."

The honesty stole her breath.

Voss leaned closer without touching her, the heat of him close enough that she could feel it through the thin fabric of her cardigan. "When I carry you," he said quietly, "I can feel your heartbeat against me."

Her pulse immediately sped up.

"And I know," he continued, voice low and controlled, "that nothing is getting through me."

Her fox tail twitched helplessly.

Ivan shifted, one massive hand resting casually on the grass near her ankle, not touching but close enough that she felt the promise of it. "You being small in our arms doesn’t diminish you. It sharpens us."

Victor’s gaze darkened. "You don’t understand what it does to us."

She swallowed. "Then explain."

Damien’s lips curved faintly, not soft, not playful. Intent. "When you open this space and let us in, it’s the only place in the world that feels alive. When you let us stand around you, guard you, carry you, it gives that instinct somewhere to go."

Ivan nodded once. "The world ended. Our purpose didn’t."

Victor’s voice lowered further. "You are that purpose."