Beauty and the Beasts

Winston went to add firewood after bathing and eating. When he returned to the bedroom, Bai Qingqing was already asleep.

He quietly crawled into bed. Although his movements were extremely light and slow, he still woke her.

The temperature in the house was delightfully warm, but Bai Qingqing curled up with an uncomfortable expression and mumbled.

“Why has Qingqing been talking in her sleep these past few days?” Parker asked. “Is she having nightmares?”

“Saint Zach…” Bai Qingqing made the same mumbling sounds and curled up even more tightly.

Parker quickly hugged her and gently patted her back. Her expression then became much more relaxed and the sleeptalking stopped, perhaps because she felt the warmth of her mate.

“Saint what? She must be worried sick about An’an,” Parker said as he glanced at Winston, his blood instantly boiling.

If he didn’t choose to mate with her when he was poisoned, An’an wouldn’t be suffering this much now.

Winston’s ears perked up. He ignored Parker and suddenly tried to repeat Bai Qingqing’s words. “Saint Za-cha-ry…”

Parker asked in confusion, “What are you saying?”

“Saint Zachary!” Winston said with conviction this time. “Qingqing keeps repeating this phrase over the past few days. It must be something—or someone—she’s familiar with.”

“Someone?” Alarm bells instantly went off in Parker’s mind. “Who has Qingqing met over the past few days? She must have met a male the last time you took her to look at the iron-smelting room!”

Parker’s expression was frantic, and his eyes looked like they were about to spit fire. “Who? Who in the tribe has this name?” he asked.

“That’s impossible,” Winston suddenly interrupted him and clenched his fists tightly.

“It’s just a guess. There’s no beastman called Saint Zachary in the tribe,” Winston continued.

“It could be someone Qingqing knew in the past,” Parker said. He then reassured himself. “Qingqing can’t go back, anyway. No matter who she liked, she can’t bring that person over.”

“We’ll find out when we ask her tomorrow. She won’t lie to us,” Winston said firmly as he laid down beside Bai Qingqing with a tense expression on his face.

Upon inhaling her scent, the rage in his heart was immediately quelled as if it was ice melted by fire. He pulled his mate into his arms and rested his chin on her head before falling asleep.

Parker was one step too late and didn’t get to hug her. Seeing as he was weaker than Winston, he gritted his teeth, then turned around and hugged An’an.

…

The world was enveloped in grey mist, making it impossible to see one’s surroundings.

Bai Qingqing walked through the mist blankly, unable to find her way. “Where am I?”

“Where’s Parker and the rest?”

Just as she was confused, she heard a deep roar coming from the front that sounded very much like Winston’s.

“Roar~” It sounded like the beastman was running.

Delighted, Bai Qingqing quickly ran towards it. “Winston!”

The beast emerged from the mist. It wasn’t a tiger. It was an extremely majestic lion.

Bai Qingqing immediately stopped in her tracks and hesitantly stepped back.

The lion didn’t slow down and instead pounced on her.

“Ah!” Bai Qingqing screamed.

Instead of feeling pain like she thought she would, Bai Qingqing felt her body turn and land on the lion’s soft body.

Bai Qingqing immediately tried to get off the lion’s body, but the lion held her in place with its limbs.

Then, Bai Qingqing’s body moved towards the ground as the fleshy cushion underneath transformed from a lion into an uncle with a long golden beard that covered half his face.