Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 404 - Reward Not F- Oh, There It Is

A block later, I can finally slide out of my rising shamelessness and pay a bit of attention. Listening to them talk of the morbid details, while keeping my eyes and nose on the streets, I try to stop being sensitive over the points of contact between Kyrie and I.

"Disease from corpses is not a concern unless a thaw comes... or for the biohazards that died in still warm homes. But we already arranged to recover the large animal cremators from the largest livestock medical institute in the neighboring county."

"No complaints from me, you and your people are trying to do a hell of a lot for us all. And you’re letting those of us that can help actually do it instead of just babysitting. Oh, uh, I mean. Nothing wrong with babies? Congratulations, Citra."

"She says thank you."

I most certainly did not, I only huffed at the disparity between being worried over for my opinion while trying not to think of being rubbed roughly on my stomach. With not her hand, bur her very... athletic abdomen that my son has been stuck to.

> Not even specifically in a sexual request. Just something akin to a hug but with more firmly pressing skin? Ugh, it feels like Vrika’s old desires for constant zero-distance are just melting into mine. Could that spirit have not taken them with it when it ran off? <

As we passed one structure, I noted the lines on the ice that suggested a team had been here. Which is also when I realized the werewolves were being used as... ’sled dog’-men?

Their prints were all in the very center and claw gouges were deep in the way that suggested they were pulling and tugging the weight from a stop.

"Seventy-seven casualties in that building alone."

"It’s a shame that getting everyone to listen didn’t work. I tried to call in as many favors and trusted officials as I could. And did a lot of things that we would have been sued for if things did not end up this severe."

Hearing the wry sadness in her tone while scratching at the side of my ribs, I just let her have this one without reacting. Even though it sounded like she was questioning the authenticity of my assumption of immediate danger.

As it was, the storm took just a bit to fully kick up. If it had taken a month, or more, to really get and stay cold... well, then she would have been the wolf who cried to move the sheep who could still see green grass out on the other side.

Besides, it feels good - and the physical attention is lessening all that other nonsense going on in my head and body. Just a bit. So I can easily forgive a CEO hedging her bets and not going all in on timing.

At least as long as this feels enjoyable.

> If my friend were here, they would be judging the platform I’ve built to stand on. <

Stomping on the neck of the white wolf plush, I focus back on reality and on the solid upper section of the apartment building. Above the door and snowpiles, paint markers had been placed. The drone accompanying us spins around to face me and seems to notice what I’m looking at.

"The hot pink X represents confirmed dead by our scout drones, yellow triple crescents for strong biohazard, and the blue circle when spun around each means a recovery team has been present and dealt with it."

Dealt with seems like a practical enough phrase. Though my eyes catch on a shape tucked against the snowbank that proves professionalism in disaster of any scale has limits.

A hand, frozen and fingers curled, sticks out about three inches. Plodding over, my paw pushes down near it to show more of the hidden body.

"...I’ll mark it as an infraction on their team."

Claire’s voice steals the speaker again for a hard-toned statement before Tess comes back in a quiet, even less energetic voice.

"People are trying their best. I believe that. But we do need to make sure there is not a pattern of... slacking. Or mistakes. It could mean that our worker’s mental states are not doing so good."

Of course they are not. Tens of thousands have succumbed to horrible deaths and the living have to sift through that. Many of whom probably know friends, family, or just neighbors within these bodies.

Treating humans like perfect machines and expecting excellence in the middle of ongoing doom is the very reason I want nothing to do with leadership. Because I know that I know no other way.

I wasn’t taught to have compassion for our subject’s individuality. The closest to it came from my time learning about the pantheon, from a tutor that was replaced after six months.

> If anything, I’m starting to think the Queen Mother and even her King, in his own way, did their best to kill what existed. Parents who needed a cog that fit the royal ideal. <

"Make sure the counselors are getting time to speak and time to process for themselves. And Claire?"

"Yes, boss?"

"Talk to me later. I know you don’t like-"

"Hate. I hate headshrinks. But I’ll heart-to-heart with you. When we get the time."

It sounded like she meant it, but also like she’ll avoid it. Well, I feel like I’m going to need some alone time away from this silly wolf soon, so if I have to kick her out to make them talk together again...

Look at me. Helping others solve their problems while doing my best to avoid my own. Quite a change from who I was before leaving more than a month ago.

...Sarcasm is no fun by myself.

"The water pipe failures and undraining sewage backup seems to be... a bad concern. A lot of the buildings being marked with yellow are due to that."

"Is that so?"

"Dr. Lang and some of the other medical professionals that were sheltered say that dysentery from everyone being stuck with their own filth, combined with inability to appropriately rehydrate, took more lives in the last days than the CO buildup accidents ever did."

"Another thing I wish people listened to. It was part of the winter blackout preparedness warning pamphlets sent out."

> Feels like doing anything other than dragging *everyone* to safety was just condemning them to their own bad choices. I’m a little surprised she didn’t just do that. <

I suppose maintaining an entire city population in the underground or in shelters was impossible from the start. It would have created different problems.

"At least with the cold, like you said, we mostly don’t have to worry. About animals or insects consuming the dead and spreading disease. There were a few swarms of rats, but-"

The sound from the drone cut out when it was suddenly crushed under the weight of a massive-

"I thought your storage space had a bear in it? Where did *this* come from? That last Task?"

Whining, I try to suggest that nothing about this was intentional... and try to not admit that her sudden claws still pressing into me due to her surprise was at all *exciting*. The tangle of Apocalypse System blue within my vision unfurls for this reward, informing me that this is...

Exactly what it looks like.