Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 104: (Xmas Special) The Great Snowball War

Day seven of the Solstice.

At the daycare yard,

The morning after the Tree of Stars, the snow was perfect. It wasn’t the dry, powdery stuff; it was the heavy, wet, packable kind that dreams are made of.

Primrose was drinking coffee and watching the cubs build a snowman that looked suspiciously like Lord Rurik (it was round and had twigs for eyebrows).

"It needs more muscle," Rurik boomed from the doorway, flexing his bicep. "The snowman is weak. I will make it stronger."

He marched outside.

SPLAT.

A perfectly formed snowball hit Rurik squarely in the back of the head.

The Warlord froze. He turned around slowly. The snow fell from his fur like dandruff.

"Who..." Rurik growled, his voice low and dangerous. "...dared?"

All the cubs pointed at Finn.

Finn, who was hiding behind a snowbank, squeaked. "It slipped! My hand spasmed! I have a medical condition!"

"A condition called ’About To Be Buried’," Rurik roared.

He scooped up an armful of snow. He didn’t make a ball. He made a boulder. He threw it.

KA-THOOM.

The snowball decimated the snowbank. Finn yelped as he was buried under a white avalanche.

"WAR!" Vali howled, diving for cover. "Dad has gone berserk! Everyone for themselves!"

"A snowball fight?" Archduke Cassian stood in the doorway, his monocle gleaming. "Inefficient. It is merely the transference of frozen water for the purpose of minor blunt force trauma."

SPLAT.

A snowball thrown by Arjun hit Cassian’s monocle.

"My lens," Cassian deadpanned, wiping the snow away. "You have compromised my vision."

He calmly removed his scarf and stepped into the snow. He raised a hand. Golden mana swirled.

"Jasper," Cassian called out. "Calculate the wind speed. We shall return fire with mathematical precision."

"Yes, Father," Jasper popped up from behind a snow-fort, holding a protractor. "Wind is 10 knots NW. Aim 15 degrees right."

"Fire," Cassian commanded.

He launched a volley of four magically hardened snowballs. They flew in perfect arcs.

THWACK. THWACK. THWACK. THWACK.

Jax, Finn, Arjun, and Silas all went down.

"Headshots," Jasper noted, checking them off on a clipboard. "Efficient."

"This is unfair," Primrose noted to General Rajah, who was watching with crossed arms. "They’re using magic and math. That’s cheating."

"War is never fair, Primrose," Rajah replied seriously. "But they are attacking my son."

He stepped off the porch. He didn’t run. He stalked across the yard like he was hunting prey. He didn’t make snowballs. He just grabbed fistfuls of snow and threw them with the speed of a fastball pitcher.

WHAP. Jasper went down.

WHAP. Finn was buried again.

"Dad!" Arjun yelled from behind cover. "Stop helping the Snakes! We are Tigers! We don’t ally with cold-bloods!"

"I am an equal opportunity assailant," Rajah called back, hitting Rurik in the chest.

Duke Lucien emerged from the house. He didn’t throw anything. He just stood in the yard, looking imposing.

"Silas," Lucien whispered. "The snow is bright. Use the shadows."

Silas nodded. He melted into the shadow of the house.

A second later, a pile of snow fell from the roof onto Cassian.

POOF.

The Snake Archduke emerged from the pile, looking less like a dignified noble and more like an angry snow-man.

"This means war, Panther," Cassian hissed.

"We are losing!" Ellia panted, diving into the main snow fort where Arjun and Vali were pinned down. "The Warlords are too strong! Rurik just threw a whole snowman at Jax!"

"We need a strategy," Jasper said, adjusting his snow-covered glasses. "Brute force is ineffective."

"I have a plan," Arjun grinned, showing his fangs. "Operation: Kingpin."

He pointed at the porch where King Caspian and Primrose were watching, drinking cocoa and judging everyone.

"The King," Arjun whispered. "He is a water mage. He can control snow."

"But he’s an adult!" Vali argued. "He will side with the Dads!"

"Not if we recruit him first," Ellia smirked. "Clover! Vali! You are the decoys."

Vali looked at Clover, who was happily making a snow angel in the middle of the battlefield, completely oblivious to the carnage around her.

"Clover!" Vali yelled, dodging a snowball from his father. "We have a mission! We need to run to the porch!"

"Okay!" Clover beamed. She stood up and started hopping.

Vali ran alongside her, shielding her with his body. A snowball thrown by Rajah aimed at Clover. Vali dove.

SPLAT.

He took the hit in the shoulder.

"My hero!" Clover clapped. "You are good at being hit, Vali!"

Vali blushed under his fur. "It is... nothing. For the Pack."

He grabbed her paw and they made a mad dash for the porch.

Meanwhile, Arjun and Ellia were flanking.

They were hiding behind a tree.

"My dad is watching the left," Arjun whispered, his breath clouding in the cold air. "Cassian is watching the right. We have to move when Rurik throws another boulder."

"Are you scared?" Ellia asked softly.

"Tigers are not scared," Arjun huffed. But his tail was wrapped nervously around his leg.

Ellia reached out and took his gloved hand. She squeezed the Safety Rock in her other pocket.

"It’s okay to be scared," she whispered. "We can be brave together."

Arjun looked at her. He saw the way the snow caught in her eyelashes. He saw her smile, fierce and kind. His heart did a little tumble that had nothing to do with the cold.

"Okay," Arjun said gruffly, squeezing her hand back. "Together."

They charged.

Caspian and Primrose watched as the cubs made their desperate push toward them.

"They are tenacious," Caspian noted, sipping his cocoa.

"They are about to be annihilated," Primrose winced as Rurik aimed a giant snowball at the approaching group.

"Father!" Orion suddenly stood up from where he had been observing. "The odds are 10 to 1 against the cubs. They require reinforcements."

Caspian looked at his son. He looked at the four massive Warlords about to crush the small children.

He set his cocoa down.

"Hold my scarf, Primrose," Caspian said.

He stepped down from the porch.

"Warlords!" Caspian’s voice boomed across the yard.

Rurik, Rajah, Cassian, and Lucien stopped and turned.

Caspian raised both hands.

"You have forgotten one thing," Caspian smirked. "Snow... is just frozen water."

His eyes glowed teal. The mana around him spiked.

Suddenly, every snowball on the ground—thousands of them—levitated into the air. They hovered there, a massive, white armada.

The Warlords looked up.

"Uh oh," Rurik muttered.

"Inefficient," Cassian whispered.

"Tactical error," Rajah groaned.

Caspian snapped his fingers.

FIRE.

It was a blizzard of snowballs. A wall of white descended upon the four Warlords. It was beautiful. It was devastating.

When the snow settled, four snowmen stood where the Warlords had been.

The cubs cheered. They rushed Caspian, hugging his legs.

"We win!" Finn shouted. "The Leviathan is our new leader!"

"King Caspian! King Caspian!" they chanted.

Caspian laughed, a sound of pure joy. He looked back at Primrose on the porch. He winked.

The Warlords dug themselves out, looking grumpy, cold, and completely defeated.

"That," Rurik spat snow, "was cheating."

"That," Primrose called out, raising her mug, "was teamwork. And also cheating. But mostly teamwork. Hot cocoa for the winners!"

It was a good day. A cold, wet, chaotic, perfect day.