Felicity's Beast World Apocalypse

Chapter 175: So Itchy

Pope clapped his hands once, breaking the tension as if it personally offended him. "Okay, but hear me out."

Kai leaned forward immediately, eyes lighting up. "No, no, let him cook."

"We found a church," Pope said, already committed.

Ash nodded once, like this was completely reasonable. "A real one. Mostly intact."

Sam circled lazily above them, voice drifting down. "Good structure. Good acoustics. Feels right."

"It does feel right," Kai added, far too serious. "Like spiritually correct."

Dawn stared at all four of them, his expression flattening in real time. "You cannot be serious."

"We’re rebuilding it," Pope continued, ignoring him entirely.

"For what?" Dawn asked, already regretting it.

Pope looked at him like the answer should have been obvious. "For her."

Kai gestured to the building Felicity ran into. "It’s about the light."

Ash crossed his arms. "Symbolism matters."Sam dipped slightly lower. "It’s not an obsession if it’s justified."

Dawn blinked once, then slowly dragged a hand down his face. "That is exactly what obsession sounds like."

"It’s not an obsession," Pope said calmly. "It’s direction."

"Its structure," Kai added.

"Its purpose," Ash finished.

"It’s light," Sam said again, like that alone explained everything.

Dawn looked between them, then briefly at Dimitri for help, but Dimitri was still with Victor, his authority spent elsewhere.

"...You are all extremely strange," Dawn said flatly.

"Thank you," Pope replied immediately.

"That wasn’t a compliment."

"It still counts."

None of them looked even slightly bothered. If anything, they looked more convinced.

Dawn exhaled slowly, already deciding he was not going to unpack that right now, not while everything else was happening, not while the air still carried the weight of what Voss had just explained, not while the leaders of both teams were actively trying to break each other in the background. And yet—

That wasn’t what was pulling at his attention.

Because Felicity had already disappeared inside. And despite everything, that was where people followed.

Exile moved ahead, his huge form slipping through the entrance with surprising speed. Legend followed, controlled but intent, and Marx trailed behind, quietly observant. Thane dropped lower, folding his wings as he entered, gaze fixed like he knew more than he said.

Dawn hesitated for half a second. Then followed anyway.

Attention shifted. The pillow fort drew more eyes than a fight between two apex leaders.

---

It wasn’t subtle anymore.

The shift had been building through the entire fight, but now it snapped into something sharper, something reckless, something that ignored the careful line both of them had been riding up until this point. Fire surged first, brighter, hotter, no longer controlled into clean blades but spilling outward with intent, and the ice followed immediately after, not separate this time but forced into the same structure, the same motion, the same strike.

Dimitri felt it change.

Dimitri’s domain tightened, nullification pressing in, but Victor didn’t stop. He forced both elements together, heat and frost grinding until they fused into something heavier, a single overwhelming push carrying everything he had.

"Don’t—" Dimitri started.

Too late.

Victor drove it forward.

The impact hit like a shockwave, the ground splitting wider as Dimitri was forced back for the first time, boots dragging through fractured earth as the combined force pushed him several meters before he anchored himself fully and crushed it down, nullification snapping shut over the technique like a closing fist.

Silence dropped.

Victor stood there for half a second longer. Then, he collapsed.

Dimitri caught him before he hit the ground, all satisfaction gone. "He pushed through," he called across both teams. "Too far. He’s breaking through levels."

Snow Team reacted immediately.

"Inside," Dimitri continued. "Get him inside. If he spikes again, he could jump, hell, he could hit one hundred, and don’t tell her"

That moved people. Fast.

Voss was already there. Damien followed. Ivan didn’t hesitate. They took Victor from Dimitri, turning toward Felicity’s space without a word.

Dimitri exhaled once, steadying himself as the focus slipped from battle to the strange calm inside. Inside the building, Felicity had no idea.

She knelt inside an aggressively elaborate pillow fort, blankets draped over makeshift frames, soft light filtering through fabric, shrinking the space, quieting it, making it feel safer than outside.

"This is amazing," she said, completely sincere, running her hand along one of the blankets as she crawled further inside.

Tommy looked far too proud of himself. "I told you."

"It’s huge," she said, peeking into another section, her voice echoing through the fabric tunnels.

Behind her, a few of the others who had followed in stood in varying states of confusion.

"...what am I looking at?" Dawn muttered.

"A tactical structure," Legend replied, completely straight-faced.

"It’s a blanket," Dawn said.

"It’s multiple blankets," Thane corrected quietly, gaze still tracking Felicity as she moved.

Exile hadn’t spoken. He didn’t need to. Because his attention had locked. The moment Victor was brought in, the space shifted. Not loudly. But completely.

Voss and Damien moved quickly, Ivan clearing space as they lowered Victor. Victor’s breathing was uneven, his body flashing with unstable bursts of heat and cold, his level spike not yet settled.

Felicity turned at the movement, her expression shifting instantly from curiosity to concern. "Victor?"

No one answered immediately. Because something else— hit first.

It started subtly. A shift in her breathing. A pause in her movement. Then, heat, and bloom.Felicity blinked once, her hand pressing lightly to her chest like she was trying to steady something that had suddenly gone off rhythm. "I—"

She stopped.

Her skin flushed, warmth spreading down her neck, breath quickening too fast to control. "I feel..." she tried again.

The space reacted before she did. Lucan was already moving.

His pupils widened, posture shifting as he reached her side. "Felicity," he said, voice low and sharp.

She looked up, unfocused, then fixed on him. "I’m hot," she said, voice soft but strained. "Really hot."

Her breathing hitched. Her body shifted. The air changed. Every man felt it.

Dimitri stepped in at that exact moment, just crossing into her space as the shift hit him as well, his expression tightening for the first time not from battle, not from strategy, but from something far more instinctive. "Control," he said immediately, voice low but firm, not directed at her— at them.

The reaction was across all of them. Tension snapped. Dawn’s jaw clenched.

Thane’s wings twitched once before locking still.

Exile didn’t move, but the pressure around him spiked.

Felicity didn’t notice any of it.

She had already moved closer to Lucan, her body leaning into him without hesitation, her fingers gripping lightly into his shirt as she tried to ground herself. "It’s itchy," she whispered, voice small now, strained in a way that made it worse. "I don’t like it," she moaned lightly, gripping his shirt.

Lucan’s arm wrapped around her instantly, pulling her in closer, his control holding but only just, his voice dropping as he leaned slightly toward her. "I’ve got you, shhh now." And around them, no one moved. Not because they didn’t want to. But if they did— something would break.

This was about to get a lot worse.

Felicity changed; it wasn’t soft. It was immediate, violent in the way it took her from one state to another without warning, like something had flipped inside her that didn’t belong to the same person who had been laughing in a pillow fort seconds ago.

She pressed into Lucan, gripping him with sudden urgency, breath uneven and shallow. Her skin flushed deeper, heat rolling off her in waves, her voice strained, edged and unfamiliar.

"I’m hot," she whispered and whined, but it broke halfway through, her words dissolving into a soft, shaky sound as she pressed closer. "It’s, everywhere luuuucan help me."

Lucan’s entire body locked.

Lucan’s jaw clenched, every instinct surging, but he forced it down and adjusted his grip.

"Look at me," he said, low, controlled.

She didn’t.

Her head tilted, breath hitching as her body shifted restlessly, unable to settle. "It’s itchy," she said, voice soft, nearly breaking. "I don’t like it... I don’t like it..."

And then she did something worse. She leaned into him again, but not just for comfort. For something else, something instinctive, something that didn’t belong to the girl they knew. She clawed at his shirt lightly, fingers tightening in the fabric like she needed to anchor herself to him or she might come apart.

A soft sound left her, not quite a word, more a broken little mewl that caught in her throat as her body pressed closer, heat rolling off her in waves that felt wrong, too much, too intense. "I’m hot," she whispered, voice uneven and breathless, her forehead dropping against him as if even holding her own head up had become too much effort. "Luuucan... I’m really hot."

Her hands shifted again, sliding against him in restless, searching movements, like she didn’t know what she needed but knew she needed something. "It’s too much," she murmured, her voice trembling now, soft and strained in a way that made it hard to listen to. "I need something cold... please..."

She pressed closer again without thinking, chasing any hint of relief, her body moving on instinct rather than thought. Her breathing hitched, uneven and shallow, and another small sound slipped out, quieter this time, almost embarrassed, almost pleading.

"I don’t feel right," she admitted, words slipping out between breaths, her grip tightening again like she was afraid he might disappear if she let go. "Everything feels... wrong... too much..."

And then, softer, barely there, like a thought she didn’t even realise she was saying out loud, "I want... I want your cubs..."

The words hung there, fragile and dangerous, and she didn’t even seem to realise what she had just said as she buried her face against him again, chasing warmth and relief at the same time, her entire body caught somewhere between need and confusion.

Lucan’s restraint snapped tight he moved. He turned and placed her directly into Exile’s hold.

"Take her."

Exile froze.