Coye 4.6 (Patreon)

I ended up splitting the bully chapter in half (again) because it's easier to edit and do third drafts this way lol. That being said, I am very happy I am doing the third drafts. This was probably the most fun chapter to work on as of yet, and I am in love with how the Bitches are turning out.

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Chapter 6 - Lightning Rod

Coye sat down between Coco on his left and Tiph on his right, feeling like a goldfish before sharks. Neither respected his personal space. Coco got up in his face, growling as if she expected him to try and take her gravy. The other girl teased him by subtly resting her hand on his upper thigh. Tiph was drawing little patterns through his trousers with the tip of her finger, apparently enjoying how uncomfortable it made him feel.

Across the table, Britni continued to leer at Coye as Marlie idled with her work. Shayla noticed that a moment didn't go by when Britni didn't seem to be staring at him. It wasn't an angry glare like Coco's, but it also wasn't a friendly look. Britni was on the verge of saying something, only for Coye to save her the trouble and surprise her by starting the conversation.

"So, uh... how did your quest go?" Coye asked, wincing away from Tiph as he tried to stay calm.

"Not that I see why you'd care, but it didn't go too bad," Britni snipped back at him, answering his polite question with blunt rudeness.

"Aww," Tiph grinned. "Were you, like, worried about usss?"

"Well, yeah," Coye looked away and frowned, embarrassed. "You guys were gone a lot longer than Dorothy thought you were gonna be, so-"

"Dorothy?" Marlie repeated without looking up from her short sword. Once she drew attention to it, the others also noticed what was strange about his sentence.

"Hooold on there, Squirt... did you just call the boss chick by her name?" Tiph held back a laugh, which became a futile endeavor once Coye's cheeks started filling with a flush. "Oh my Gods, you totally did. Wooooow. Like, what's up with that, huh? Did you bend her over the front desk and give her the D, you little stud?"

"W-What?! N-No! I-" Coye jumped a few inches out of his seat, thrusting his hands defensively to deny the accusation. Unfortunately, this sent him backward into Coco's personal space- an area known commonly as the danger zone.

Whenever anyone got too close for her liking, there was only one way the girl knew how to react.

"Too close!" Coco barked as she gave him a half-serious warning bite. It was on Coye's neck this time, and he punctuated it with a girlish moan.

"Ah! Coco, d-don't!" He whined and started to rub his sensitive and throbbing bite mark as soon as she let him go.

"Respect Coco's personal space, and I- uh... and Coco won't bite. Unless she wants to!" Britni's pet stumbled with her pronouns, but upon correcting herself, she earned another reward from her Mistress.

It would've tasted like bacon if Coco had the patience to chew it.

Britni smiled and leaned across the table, drawing Coye's increasingly perverse wandering eye into the depths of her cleavage. She was surprised at how blatant Coye was about it but suspiciously kept quiet on his desire for a good view.

"Hah! Is this true, loser? Are you getting some bonus quests from that hag?" Britni laughed. "For real, though. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the only way for her to get someone to even look at her. I mean, like, really? Have you seen that hair of hers? I've killed Frost Giants that groomed their armpit hair better than she grooms her actual hair!"

Tiph joined Britni over a long laugh. Since everyone else was doing it, Coco also joined in with a stilted laugh of her own. She tried to cover up her confusion by laughing louder than them both, yet succeeding only in making it all the more awkward. Marlie only shrugged and nursed her beer thanks to a straw inserted under her mask.

Coye's fist tightened as they laughed. Britni and Tiph often made cruel japes at Dorothy's expense. This was nothing new, and yet... he was emboldened today. Something made him want to stand up for her, like a spark of inspiration in the back of his mind.

"Hey- don't say that kind of stuff about her. It's not very nice." Coye said. The air around him grew tense as the laughter stopped. He began to feel like he'd just made a mistake and a costly one at that.

Britni's eyes narrowed as she observed him coldly. "Why're you suddenly so defensive, huh? Did something happen between you?"

"No, I mean," Coye looked off to the side and felt his courage shrink. "You guys were gone for two weeks. I dunno, a lot happened." He rushed through excuses, making himself seem even shadier. "Besides, I've known her for two years. I-Is it really that weird for me to be on a first-name basis with my boss?"

The frosted color of Britni's eyes was suddenly accentuated by sparks of electric blue. The air around the Guild started to stink of ozone- a common enough occurrence whenever Britni's temper began to run afoul. Given how quick she was to anger, it was a smell Coye found overly familiar.

"A lot happened, huh?" Britni clicked her tongue. "Wow. By Odin's beard, that's one hell of a loaded sentence. You better fill me in if you know what's good for you, loser."

Coye silently stood his ground and lowered his head, wanting to move on from the topic as soon as possible. He didn't intend to give her any details she could further misconstrue. Things were dicey enough already.

When Britni realized Coye was holding his tongue, Shayla could sense a stiff spark flaring within her emotions for a moment before Marlie nudged her with her elbow.

"Cool it," she advised casually.

Britni stared at her friend and then sighed. "Whatever, it's not worth my time..." she huffed.

Shayla looked closer at the Half-Demoness. As far as she could tell, Marlie seemed mature, in stark contrast with her companions. Respect was earned, but there was still time for Shayla to change her mind.

Despite the unwarranted comments about Dorothy, and even if Britni was being her same old self, Coye was still interested in engaging with these girls. He was determined to attempt to understand and get to know them. If it didn't work, he could always go back to ignoring his bullies, but at least he could say he tried.

"So, what took you guys so long to get back?" Coye asked.

"Wasn't fight! Fight was easy!" Coco expressed.

Marlie looked up from her knife long enough to mumble, "The Cordyceppers had numbers. We had fire."

Smart. Coye appreciated their tactics. It was the same way he would've dealt with a host of Cordyceppers himself, providing it wouldn't start a wildfire. "Then, um… what happened?"

"Someone kept wandering offroad to gather ingredients for their drugs," Marlie said.

"Excuuuse me, bitch?" Tiph turned to Marlie and sounded off. "We never wander that far from town. When else was I, like, gonna get a chance to cultivate all those herbs, huuuuh? Besides, they're not for drugs. They're for furthering my research!"

"Yes, your drug research," Marlie dignified Tiph with a cursory glance, causing sparks to fly.

Tiph's typically friendly face warped- her smile became crooked, and her right eye twitched like mad. She almost looked ready to pull her weapon from its holster to bolster her point. Maybe she would've if Coco hadn't spoken up.

"There's more! Coco remembers that shady tavern! That drunk Gnome told Marlie about that magic sword hidden at the top of the Tower of Detours! Spent a whole day looking for it!" Coco barked, pointing to the very same shortsword the Half-Demoness was refining.

"Coco should remember what Marlie told her about keeping her mouth shut," Marlie suggested.

"No! You!" Coco barked and entered fight mode. The fur along the top of her tail bristled and stuck out, she showed off even more of her fangs than usual, and her claws began to glow with the primal scarlet energy of Bestial Arts.

"Bad girl," Britni disciplined her pet, causing Coco to lower her defensiveness. "You're, like, not innocent, either."

"Most innocent!" Coco grumbled as her ears lowered.

Tiph moved past her rivalry with the Half-Demoness for the moment and turned to Coco with a smirk. "Come to thiiiink of it, we had to keep running after you every time you spotted one of those Zoomerabbits."

"Prey is meant to be chased!" Coco declared. Her fierce tone was tempered by how her tail lowered, suggesting she felt at least slightly sorry over having wasted everyone's time. Or, more accurately, Coco felt bad only because she was called out.

Nobody was fooled- they knew she would do a naughty again.

Shayla broke her silence long enough to make an observation that was torturing her to no end. 'These chicks are so... dysfunctional. I don't see how they even get out of bed in the morning, let alone go out on quests together!'

"Freya, help me," Britni groaned as the squabbling reached a fevered pitch. She stood over the others, gave them a rousing glare, then spoke with conviction. "Would you all just, like, shut the fuck up with all your bitching? It doesn't matter who did what on the way back or how long it took. We killed all those overgrown fungi fuckers with fire and steel before they could overrun that village, and then we made it back home safe and sound. Just like we always do. After all," she smiled a cocky smile and pumped her fist into the air. "We're the Baddest Bitches around, aren't we?"

The group was silent as the question hung in the air, before each girl answered accordingly.

"The Baddest!" Coco parroted, mimicking her Mistress by pumping a paw.

"Like, duuuuh?" Tiph laughed scoffingly.

"So you keep telling us," Marlie shrugged.

Britni smiled and sat back down, satisfied and content with herself.

'Oh,' Shayla exclaimed. 'That's how.'

Although the Baddest Bitches were a collection of girls with drastically different agendas and interests, the Pixie understood now that for all her faults, Britni had a measure of leadership to her when it mattered. The way she spoke was loud enough to fill an entire mead hall, her voice booming like thunder yet somehow not overbearing. Britni was charismatic, commanding, and powerful and knew how to command respect. Even Shayla could feel a slight stirring in her tiny heart after hearing all that.

His question now answered, Coye smiled meekly and said, "W-Well, um, it's good to have you back."

Britni sneered. "It is, is it? Pft. Yeah, right. You were probably hoping we weren't coming back. Admit it."

"Uh... no, I wasn't. Didn't you hear me?" Coye frowned. "I said I was really worried about you all. Just because you guys won't stop messing with me doesn't mean I wish you'd all go die or something... geez. What kind of person do you take me for?"

Britni and the others stared at him. Not only did Coye mouth off at her instead of backing down like usual, but he also seemed hurt she would even imply such a thing. Genuinely so.

Rather than apologizing, Britni made this about something else. "You were worried about me? As if!" She slammed her fist down on the wooden table, causing an unintentional showcase of her power. A small streak of lightning arced into the wood upon impact, burning a badass trail onto its surface as the smell of charred ashes joined the ozone. "Are you looking down on me?"

"N-No, of course not, I-"

"I think he issss," Tiph egged her friend on, smiling as she fanned away the smoke coming up at her face.

"It's like you don't even know who I am!" Britni fumed and stood straight up, leering at him across the table. "Do I need to remind you, you stupid little loser?

"Remind the runt!" Coco contributed mainly to feel included.

"Here we go," Marlie sighed.

Coye felt embarrassed, knowing what was about to happen. There were few things Britni loved more than looking down on other people, and she just so happened to have a preferred method of doing so. She mounted the table and hovered over him, her legs spread wide in a dominant pose as she brandished her glowing, rune-inscribed, Svartalfheim-forged handaxe.

"I'm the last person in all the Realms you need to be worried about, fool! I laugh at your concern, for I am the proud granddaughter of Jarl Eirik- son of Jerrik, ruler of the Snaerwild Isles, Midgardian Ambassador to Karnalle, and the strongest leader the Leiptr-Vikings have ever known!" Britni's booming voice cried out.

If it were anyone else jumping on top of tables, they would have looked a fool in motley. Britni, though? She made it work- ensuring she was taken seriously as a more significant bolt of lightning struck her axe on command. In addition to calling thunder down from the sky, she seemed able to generate it from within as little sparks crackled across her body, creating fireworks whenever one bristled against any of her golden jewelry. Her curly hair fanned outwards, each strand becoming a bolt unto itself.

"Look upon my power! The skalds will sing of me, for I am the approaching storm! In my blood, the-"

"Heavily diluted," Marlie snuck in.

"Blood of Thor- son of Odin- himself surges through me thanks to my distant ancestor, the fair maiden Brita of Hroarsholt, whom the mighty God once blessed with a night of fruitful passion before absconding come morning! Do you know what that means, you lowly thrall?" She pointed to Coye.

"Uh..." Coye stared upwards with unblinking vigor.

"It means that... that..." Britni's composure broke subtly, blushing and looking slightly away from him. Her hand squeezed down on her axe's leather handle so hard it seemed liable to splinter. "I don't need you fussing over me for the rest of my life just because of... of... ugh, you know why!"

Shayla tilted her head, the over-the-top display now a footnote compared to whatever the heck the Viking just implied. Was Coye skimping on details? It sounded like he left something important out of his history with Britni.

It took him a second to snap out of his current state, and when he did, the boy shook his head and hunched forward with a significant blush painted across his face. "S-Sorry, Britni. Could you repeat that? I was, um, distracted..."

All the power surging through her ceased, and she stared at the boy in disbelief. She was more stunned than angry. "Are... you fucking... joking?!" She stuttered, Tiph laughing at her leader in the background.

To Coye's credit, he'd heard this rant several times over the last year. It was the same as it ever was, and each time it became easier to drone out. Despite the passion with which she delivered it, her speech came off as disingenuous to him. Like she was repeating facts mainly for her own benefit.

It wasn't because he was tuning out that he hadn't heard Britni, however. Coco was the one who figured it out first once a funky smell hit her nose. She looked at Coye. He didn't stink of fear and cowardice like he usually did whenever Mistress was in one of these moods. There was something else beneath the stink of ozone and the smell of his sweat. She already noticed he smelled sweeter than usual, which she assumed was a new perfume, but this wasn't that.

Coco figured out the source of the strange odor and opened her gaping mouth as she stared at Coye. There were a limited number of reactions the girl defaulted to when facing something she didn't know what to make of. Inspecting it with her paws was out of the question, as was a thorough mouth investigation, so she barked at him in a much louder and more aggressive tone than usual.

"Ugh," Marlie dropped her new toy to cover her pierced ears, then flared up at Britni to silently inform her that if she didn't silence her pet, then the Half-Demoness wouldn't be the only member of the Baddest Bitches wearing a face mask.

"Gods, Coco! Shut up! Heel, girl, heel!" Britni shouted, but even that couldn't calm her. All it did was turn her vicious barking into a full-throated growl. She looked at Coye and pointed her axe at him. "What the fuck? Did you do something to piss off Coco, you little loser?!"

Coye shrunk in his seat and blushed heavily, scooting away from Coco and towards Tiph, who was more amused than anything else. "I-I don't know what's wrong- I-I'm sorry, Coco, I-"

"Horny!" Coco put as much distance as she could between herself and Coye, sliding all the way to the edge of the table as she bared her fangs at him. "Runt isn't scared of Britni like he should be! He's horny! Wants mating! HORNY!"

Coye's heart stopped.

"Oh... my... Gooooods-" Tiph burst out laughing so hard she worried for her bladder. This situation would've been hard to take seriously even when she was sober, but while high on Mellomilk Brew? It was a wonder her lungs didn't give out.

Marlie made a strange expression that might've bordered on the opposite of disinterest.

Britni just stared the stare of someone who wasn't there.

At first, Shayla was confused. Why the fuck would Coye be horny now of all times? Sure, he hadn't been drained since yesterday morning, but it didn't make sense for him to get randomly set off like this. And then she realized something she hadn't, thanks to all of the lightning and the dramatic declarations of Britni's storied ancestry. Shayla didn't know whether to laugh or to dread Coye's now imminent execution.

Maybe it would be alright if he remained evasive and blamed it on something random? Shayla was about to do as such before that possibility went out the window.

"What? D-Don't look at me like it's my fault you jumped on top of the table wearing a short skirt!" Coye insisted. "Not to mention you were going on about how I shouldn't look down on you. Where else was I supposed to look but up?"

For the duration of her entire speech, Britni's panties had been on full display. Coye was transfixed in his appreciation, like a moth to a flame. It didn't help that her choice today was so daring and bold. Britni was wearing a snow-leopard patterned thong that just so happened to have been riding up. Coye didn't see everything from that angle, but he saw more than enough.

Far more.

When the reality of his outburst struck him, Coye cursed himself and wondered why he spontaneously said something so stupid. Forget about Byng. Being cut up and turned into a pie would've been a preferable fate for whatever Britni would surely do in retaliation.

Coye and Shayla waited for something to happen- anything- and then Britni hopped off the opposite side of the table and stared away from his direction. This continued for eons until they heard the sound of heavy breathing. Then, Britni clutched her chest, swallowed a heavy lungful of air, and turned around. She was furious. Coye had never seen her so pissed, not without an entire thunderstorm brewing around her.

She walked around the table, all her friends watching her next move just as carefully as Coye.

"Scoot," Britni gestured with her head to Tiph, who was happy to give her the spot next to Coye.

Coye started to sweat as Britni sat down next to him. The fear was as exhilarating as it was worrisome. He'd never felt quite this way, but the tension was palpable, and his heart sped with a conflicted mess of emotions.

Britni slung her arm around Coye's neck and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"I gotta admit," she said, looking far into the distance. "Perving out on me right in front of all my friends? I didn't think you had it in you- that takes some real, Jotun-sized balls, there Coye. Massive ones. What do you think? Does that sound like you? Have you been hiding some legendary-sized balls from us the entire time we've known you? Huh?"

Coye's words caught in his throat while Shayla was thrown for a complete loop. What the hell did she want him to say? What was the correct answer here? Was there one?

He knew he should say something, but instead, he silently cursed his affliction that forced his mind toward more pressing matters. Britni was so close to him, and her soft breast poked against his right arm like this. She even smelled amazing- not a trace of ozone or sweat from traversing the road to be found. Her scent was similar to the fruity spiced mead she loved, with just a hint of honey.

He felt her long, painted nails digging into his sleeve. The pain focused him and cleared his mind enough for him to focus, saying, "I-I'm sorry, Britni. I misspoke just now, I-I... it was an-"

"An accident?" She suggested.

"Y-Yeah, I didn't mean to!" Coye foolishly latched on.

"You didn't mean to check out my panties?" Britni glared at him through the corner of her eyes.

"Yes! Honest!"

"Well, why the fuck not?!" Britni's voice boomed as she suddenly yelled, turned to face him, and got in really close. Her hand clutched his shirt, and she began shaking him as if she wasn't threatening enough. "Are my panties not good enough for you, you fucking loser? Huh? Or is it just that you can't man up and admit you were checking me out?!"

Tiph was all smiles and giggles, but Coco didn't like seeing her Mistress in such distress. It was that damn runt's fault for upsetting her- Britni was always like a different person around him. She lowered her tail and frowned but watched nonetheless.

"Britni," Marlie called out, causing the Viking to briefly lower her rattled femboy. Coye was a little surprised. She'd never interfered with Britni messing with him, so why now?

"What?" Britni scoffed. "After fucking me with his pervy, long-lashed eyes, he deserves this!" She continued shaking Coye with one hand and then extended the pointer finger of her other toward the center of his chest. A wicked grin appeared on her face as it approached. "And this, too!"

The tip of her finger began to spark.

Coye knew what was coming next, and even though Britni never went far enough to actually hurt him, saving this maneuver for catching him off guard or as an intimidation tactic, he reflexively twisted out of the way all the same. This defensive wiggling cost him far more than he could have foreseen. By moving his body out of the way, Britni's finger jabbed straight down on his nipple the exact moment she jolted him with a tiny current of electricity.

"Hyaahn?!" Coye's everything shivered. His body convulsed, twitching like jelly as he produced a sound comparable to a cat in heat. He panted like mad in the aftermath, his face suddenly sloppy and red.

Shayla gasped, not at the act itself, but because she could sense just how much this little pervert of hers liked what had just happened.

Britni dropped him, her face a red, embarrased mess once she realized what she'd just done. Tiph's struggle for air continued, Coco was instinctually interested in the boy's lewd mating call, while Marlie raised an eyebrow. If Shayla didn't know any better, she'd almost guess Marlie had just chuckled.

Coye felt ashamed. This was even worse than when Byng saw him without pants on the day of their date. Back then, he wanted nothing more than to crawl up in a ball beneath his sheet and cry the day away. Now, he wanted more. Wait, no. That wasn't right... what he wanted was to do the crying under the sheets thing for a week straight.

It wasn't like he liked how shameful it felt being zapped in the nipple in front of his bullies. Honest.

"D-Don't ever make such a girlish sound ever again! You got that?!" Britni shouted.

"I-I can't help it...!" Coye whined, his hand instinctually going to rub his tender nipple.

"Poooor little Squirt," Tiph said from behind the hand covering her laughs. "You, liiike, need some help with that, or what?"

"Tiph!" Britni shot a glance at her companion as Coye blushed harder and stared at the ground.

"Sounded like Runt was trying to attract male!" Coco barked, narrowing her eyes with suspicion.

Coye swiveled around, "It was a reflex!"

"This loser is a lot of things, but he isn't gay, you dumb bitch! He was just checking out my panties!" Britni defended Coye atop the strangest hill, Shayla noted.

"Coco only likes being called bitch sometimes! Other times it's hurtful!" Coco made a low whine at her Mistress to evoke sympathy.

"You're just saying that so I'll give you a treat," Britni rolled her eyes, not falling for it.

"Am... not!" Coco lied.

"He's not just horny," Marlie broke her silence, grabbing everyone's attention with that soft voice of hers which demanded others listen close. "This goes deeper than that. Something is fundamentally different about him." she said.

Coye recoiled as he felt Marlie's burning eyes peering into his heart of hearts. Looking at her was even harder than it usually was, and he shied away. Shayla noticed that despite her continually keeping Britni in check and seemingly being more on his side than any of the others, Marlie was the Baddest Bitch who unsettled him the most.

"Get reaaaal," Tiph dismissed her. "People don't change. He's probably allllways been like this."

"I- uh, Coco thinks Runt is different today, too! Never made that noise before!"

"I-I'd like to see you get shocked there and not make a noise, too!" Coye fought back against the Beastgirl, only for it to get turned against him.

"I bet you woullld," Tiph teased. "Still, I guess it's possible something happened while we were away. Maybe he really did fuck what's her faaace?"

"If not her, someone," Marlie speculated. "It would explain too much."

Coye blushed at the accusation, stumbling, "N-No! Dorothy has nothing to do with this!"

Britni had heard enough beating around the bush. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now. She was twitching with anger, anticipation, and a mix of more suspicious emotions that Shayla had a hard time unraveling.

"We told you what we got up to while we were away, loser. I think it's high time you did the same..." Britni began to spark unconsciously once again, her words growing fierced and her face increasingly desperate. "My friend over there is saying you got laid, and if there's one thing I know about that bitch," she gestured at her thumb with Marlie. "It's that she's not often wrong! I'm giving you one chance to just be upfront and tell me, Coye, so you better make the fucking most of it. I couldn't give less of a shit if it's Witless Whittle, some hooker on Lettimore street, or even if you put your dick in some monster from the woods-"

'Hey!' The monster from the woods felt personally insulted.

Britni gritted her teeth and looked away, unable to finish her sentence while still looking at Coye. "All I'm saying is... is that if you got some action then you better fucking tell me! NOW!"