Chapter Twenty-Six: An intruder

Qin Mo didn’t make a show of it.

That was the thing that caught Wang off guard.

One moment the Beast King was standing there, surveying the small collection of belongings Wang and Lin Wan had carried into the valley.

The next, he had crouched down, picked up a bundled hide wrap and a clay pot, and began packing them together with the same quiet efficiency of someone who had done manual work all his life.

Wang stared at him.

Qin Mo didn’t look up. He just kept working.

Wang turned back to his own packing, but his mind was already moving.

He’s powerful. That much was obvious from the moment Wang had dropped to his knee and felt the full weight of Qin Mo’s aura pressing him. A male like that didn’t just dominate a room. He dominated the air itself.

And his background... Wang had heard from the Leopard Tribe elders during his time at the Mid-Year Festival to know that the Beast King’s lineage was something spoken about in careful, reverent tones.

He’s also not aloof.

Wang glanced sideways again. Qin Mo had moved on to folding Lin Wan’s spare wrapping cloth with more care than Wang would have expected from someone of his rank.

Wang felt something settle in his chest. Quiet. Certain.

He’s quite handsome too, he noted almost reluctantly. He would not be the kind of male Lin Wan would look at and immediately dismiss.

And then the thought that surprised him most of all.

I have never heard of the Beast King taking a female.

Wang tied off the bundle in his hands and straightened.

"Qin Mo," he said.

Qin Mo looked up without any particular urgency.

"Do you have a female?" Wang asked. "Or a candidate for the position?"

For a moment, something shifted in Qin Mo’s expression. Not surprise exactly. More like the look of someone who had been waiting for the question, although not from the person asking.

The regal weight that usually clung to him like a second skin was absent right now.

Standing here among bundles and hide wraps and clay pots, Qin Mo looked less like a king and more like any other male preparing to move camp.

"How do you bring yourself to do it?" Qin Mo asked instead of answering. His tone was straightforward, genuinely curious. "To select rivals for yourself?"

Wang didn’t hesitate. "Because it is better that I select them myself." He secured another bundle and set it aside. "Males I can tolerate being around my mate. Men who are worthy of her. If I leave it to chance, someone will scheme their way in. Someone I cannot trust. Someone who does not deserve her." Wang glanced at him. "This way, my family is built on people I chose. Not people who chose themselves."

Qin Mo was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded slowly,

He picked up the last of the items and was still for a beat before he spoke again.

"I am interested in Lin Wan," he said. It came out plainly. No decoration, no careful framing. Just the truth, set down the same way he had set down the bundled clay pot. "But I do not know if she will like me."

Wang looked at him.

Qin Mo met his gaze without flinching, but there was something in it. Not vulnerability exactly. Just honesty.

Wang turned back to his work, but the corners of his mouth had shifted slightly.

He’s worried about whether Lin likes him.

Not whether he was powerful enough. Not whether Wang would accept him. Whether Lin Wan herself would want him there.

Something warm and distinctly smug settled in Wang’s chest.

It had been one day. One day, and his female had already drawn the attention of the Beast King himself.

He said nothing. But internally, Wang was deeply, privately pleased with himself for choosing such an exceptional mate.

They worked in silence after that, comfortable with each others presence.

Then they both went rigid at the same time.

They felt the extra presence, close by

An intruder

Without exchanging a word, Wang and Qin Mo lowered what they were holding, slowly and soundlessly. They moved toward the cave entrance together, pressing close to the stone wall, using the rock to conceal themselves as they looked out.

Two males. Moving cautiously but not carefully enough.

Qin Mo’s eyes cut sideways to Wang. "Stay here," he said quietly. His voice had no room in it for argument. "Nothing enters while I’m gone."

Wang understood immediately. Lin Wan was inside.

He gave a single nod.

And Qin Mo was gone.

Wang remained at the entrance, every sense stretched outward, tracking the sounds beyond the stone. There was a brief commotion, short and quick.

Then silence.

Then he heard the sound of footsteps.

Qin Mo walked back through the cave entrance carrying two males, one slung over each shoulder, as easily as another man might carry bundles of firewood. He dropped them onto the ground in front of Wang with a heavy thud.

"They carried the scent of leopard," Qin Mo said, straightening. "Same as you. I assumed they were known to you."

Wang was already moving forward, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the two males on the ground.

His jaw tightened.

He knew those faces.

Da Jun. And beside him, Keal.

Wang’s expression went flat and cold. He opened his mouth, already knowing what he wanted to say.

That Qin Mo could do whatever he pleased with the two of them. That Wang had no use for males who had turned their backs on him when he needed them.

But before the words could leave him, both males stirred awake.

Keal’s eyes opened first.

The moment his gaze landed on Wang, something cracked open in his face. He scrambled upright onto his knees so quickly he nearly couldn’t manage it, his body clearly weakened, and pressed his forehead toward the ground.