Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 712: Deal Secured

"At the price of our pride," Trisha stated with a flat tone. "Given that our pride has already been trampled to pieces on the floor of that studio, I’d say we are getting off cheaply."

Brittany buried her face against her knees. Her frame trembled repeatedly, prompting Trisha to reach out, placing a firm, steadying hand on the nape of her neck.

"I despise this," Brittany whispered.

"I am aware."

"I despise her."

"I am aware."

Brittany raised her head. Her face appeared swollen, her eyes raw, and she regarded the phone lying on the floor as if it were a primed explosive.

Finally, she picked it up and placed the call.

...

Nyx’s phone vibrated against her hip. She pulled it out, took one glance at the display, and answered without moving from the railing.

"We agree to the terms," Trisha’s voice emerged. It sounded tight and frigid—the voice of a woman forced to swallow jagged glass.

"And what about Trisha?"

Only silence followed.

"A wise choice. We commence within the hour. Ensure you arrive promptly. I will inform the guild to grant your entry."

The line disconnected. Nyx slid the device back into her pocket.

She gazed at the stars for a heartbeat before turning to head inside.

The chamber was dark and stuffy, lingering with the scent of people who had survived a battle and collapsed together. Bodies occupied the bed in the chaotic, unstructured heap of a group that had drifted into slumber without a word.

Luna, as per her nature, had migrated to the center; she was curled against Kaiden’s left side, her face pressed into his shoulder, one leg draped across his hip with proprietary intent. Aria had claimed his right arm as a pillow, her silver hair spilling over his chest, her breathing steady and slow.

Calypso lay stretched across the bottom of the bed like a cat grown to human size, her tail wrapped firmly around one of Kaiden’s ankles. Bastet had positioned herself perpendicular to everyone else, her head resting on Calypso’s stomach, her ears twitching in her dreams.

Nyx stood in the doorway, observing the scene with the detached, analytical gaze of a woman who had orchestrated such things before.

Then, she went to work.

She started with Luna. Nyx slid her hands beneath her and lifted with the practiced ease of someone handling a sleeping predator. A low growl rumbled through Luna, vibrating against Nyx’s wrists, yet she did not rouse. Nyx gently deposited her next to Bastet, where Luna instinctively rolled into the warmth, hooking an arm around the cat girl’s waist.

Aria proved more difficult, clinging to Kaiden’s arm with life-or-death intensity despite her comatose state. She eventually relented, a testament to her sheer exhaustion. 'This girl is a true yandere...' Nyx giggled as she settled Aria into the cluster of soft, breathing bodies.

Nyx finally slipped into the bed next to Kaiden, claiming him for herself at last.

She curled into him, her limbs sliding against his, her arm draped across his midsection. He radiated heat from both deep sleep and the women who had been piled atop him. The warmth seeped into her chilled skin, and she exhaled a breath she had held since the phone call.

Trapped in the darkness against him, she could afford to feel small.

She lay there, simply breathing, her cheek pressed to his shoulder and her palm resting on the flat plane of his stomach. His heart rhythm was steady and slow beneath her ear. The others breathed around them in a rhythmic symphony of deep slumber.

The woman who had just belittled two A-tier fighters to their faces pressed a soft, lingering kiss to the underside of Kaiden’s jaw, feeling the mounting tension within her finally dissolve.

"Kaiden," she whispered against his skin.

There was no response.

She kissed the edge of his jaw, then the hollow beneath his ear, her movements deliberate. Her touch drifted down, tracing lower with every pass.

"Kaiden." Her voice was softer now. She felt a flicker of guilt, which was truly absurd given that she had been the most ruthless person on the mountain an hour ago, yet now she felt wretched for interrupting her boyfriend’s well-earned rest.

He stirred. A low sound escaped his chest—more vibration than speech—and his arm instinctively circled her before his eyes even opened.

"Mm."

"Hello," she whispered.

His eyes found hers in the gloom, half-closed, heavy with sleep. His hand tightened on her arm, pulling her closer, and she went willingly, dissolving into his side until no distance remained.

"What time is it?" he murmured.

"Late. Or perhaps early. It depends on your perspective."

His thumb brushed the exposed curve of her shoulder where her nightgown had slipped. "Why are you still up?"

"I set something into motion."

That managed to wake him slightly. His gaze sharpened and he turned to face her properly. She could see his mind waking up, the gears turning as he calculated whether 'something' represented a crisis or a stroke of luck.

"The positive kind," she assured him, kissing his collarbone. "I received intelligence concerning Brittany and Trisha."

She recounted the details.

Her voice remained a low murmur meant only for him as she pressed closer, her fingers idly tracing patterns on his torso while she explained the contract mechanics. The mercenary loophole. The allowance system she wanted him to implement, where the two girls would receive operating funds from a discretionary account in his name, making none of the money technically their property. If Ashbound attempted to sue, the girls could declare bankruptcy and emerge unscathed because they owned nothing worth seizing.

"Maeve turned her own son into a destitute puppet just to leverage a contract clause," Nyx murmured. "We are doing the same, though for us, it acts as a shield rather than a cage."

Kaiden was wide awake now. His hand had moved to her hair, weaving through the pink strands as he listened.

"And the risk of criminal exposure?"

"That is precisely what I am counting on." Her fingertip drew a faint circle beneath his collarbone. "Think about it. Two A-tier women, already notorious for their public lives, suddenly buried in a million Chronos of debt with a seventy-two hour window. Someone within Ashbound leaked those meeting details. The numbers, the deadline, everything. And those two are precisely the kind of exotic prize that lecherous men like Maximilian crave. Young, powerful, desperate, and accustomed to the public gaze."

She allowed the implication to settle.

"I would wager everything that their phones have been flooded with offers from wealthy men who heard that two gorgeous A-tier fighters were suddenly up for grabs. And if even one of those calls violated the law—which they always do, because men of that ilk have no self-control—then Brittany and Trisha are sitting on evidence of solicitation linked directly to internal Ashbound leaks."

Kaiden ceased his idle play with her hair. His expression shifted.

"Any court hearing those recordings will prioritize the investigation into those calls far more than a breach of a confidentiality clause."

Nyx’s voice then dropped into that rich, velvet register she used when she was thoroughly enjoying herself. His brilliant space babe was in her element. "And even if the girls leaked the news themselves while panicking and contacting lawyers... what will Maeve do? Sue the legal counsel too? While Ashbound is already mired in scandal and under global scrutiny? Sue the awakened firms that represent dozens of influential clients? The few sponsors Ashbound might still have would flee if they did that."

"Meaning Maeve cannot afford to initiate a lawsuit," Kaiden realized.

"It means every effort she makes to enforce the contract pushes her closer to a criminal probe she cannot contain or toward total insolvency. The lawsuit serves as a deterrent. She pulls the trigger, and the weapon fires both ways. Even if everything goes badly, and they sue and win... the girls have no assets to seize. They are simply guildless mercs living on an 'allowance.'"

His hand grew still in her hair. Then he sighed, a sound of slow appreciation, and she felt his ribs expand against her chest.

"You orchestrated this tonight," he noted. "While everyone else slept."

"Mhm."

"You spotted the opening, formulated this intricate plan, and acted on it before the sun rose."

"Mhm." Her hand drifted lower, tracing the musculature below his navel. "You gain two A-tier fighters trained for years at another guild’s expense, bound to you by gratitude at virtually no cost. Their story becomes your content. Their salvation becomes your brand. And every Chronos they generate as independents is money Ashbound will never touch."

Her hand slipped beneath his waistband and closed around him, and she felt his immediate physical response as he thickened against her palm.

"You might be the most dangerous creature in this family," Kaiden chuckled.

"I appreciate that." She stroked him slowly, her grip soft, her thumb tracing the underside with the same patient focus she applied to strategy. "So, what do you think?"

"So, yes. Obviously yes."

Kaiden pulled her hand away from his length, and before she could object, he rolled her onto her back, pinning both of her hands above her head. Nyx blinked up at him, and the calm, poised confidence that had navigated the demands of two A-tier fighters and a midnight strategy session shattered into a breathless laugh.

"Kai, I wasn’t done explaining."

"You are now. Come here, you magnificent woman."

Nyx’s muffled protest and the subsequent breathless laughter served as the final sound before the moonlight enveloped them both.