He laid it out like a harvest schedule, and the sheer bureaucratic audacity of it made Yanshi's teeth ache.
"Xiaoyue," he said, and the wolfkin's ears flew up, "gets bred at dawn, noon, dusk, and once at night, because she's little and she needs the qi most."
"MM, yes, thank you, Master~!!" Xiaoyue volunteered, already crawling over, already presenting, tail high.
"Hanya gets mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and the second half of the night, because her base burns hottest."
"You speak sensibly for carrion," the alpha rumbled, already unbuckling, already moving toward him with the slightly-frightening, slightly majestic focus of a queen going to her throne.
"And I," said Yanshi, sitting up, fire in her eyes despite the puddle she was sitting in, "get the dawn slot. Give me the dawn slot. And the dusk. And I'll take midday too, actually, since you're, since you're rationing, I am the FIRST wife, the den-mother, I get, I want..."
"You," said Tianlong, "get to watch."
