gentle beast

45

Winter had come back?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu lifted a foot to take a step then brought it back. Her dark eyes looked at this strange male, “Did Ryan say anything else?”

Wilbur said: “Chief didn’t say anything else, just to have you follow me.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s fingers tightened on the door frame, clenching until they were white, and reluctantly said, “No. . . I’ll wait for Ryan to come see me.”

If this was the past, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu wouldn’t be so guarded in her heart.

But now she was in her “estrus” period and Ryan had just said that Winter couldn’t possibly come back from the east in such a short time.

As for how this beastman, how did he know about Pat? . . . The more Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu thought, the worse she felt about it.

Had Ryan told him? Or did he learn about it from somewhere else?

Did they know she was human?

Wilbur saw that the girl’s eyes were alert, her pupils dilating, and knew that she had guessed something. He could no longer deal with her. So he stretched out his claws and grabbed her.

Fortunately, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had been prepared and quickly closed the wooden door, using the latch inside to lock it.

Still, she couldn’t feel relief yet because as soon as she turned, she saw Wilbur jumping over the wall.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu staggered back and her brain quickly put things together, knowing this was a conspiracy. “Who let you come here? Where’s Ryan?”

Wilbur did not speak, only came to Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and raised his claws to pierce the back of her neck.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt the pain at the back of her throat and she passed out.

When she woke up again, she was in a shabby hut. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu sat on the bed with her neck in hand and looked around. She saw nothing in the room. There was only a bed and a table. The room was very poor and there was nowhere to even settle down.

Where was this?

Why was she here?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was full of doubt. She recalled that just before she was knocked out, wasn’t she with a beastman called Wilbur?

Her neck was still in pain and the beastman could have done it. Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu got out of bed and went to the door to look outside. She was still in the leopard tribe. The house was solemn and the land was flat. In the distance, the Camuda Valley continued to stretch and many leopards came and went.

But, it seemed the beastmen here. . . the majority of them were female.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and Ryan lived together in the front of the tribe, and most of the ones she met were male. She thought the females were scarce to the extent that they couldn’t be seen when walking down the street. She didn’t expect that the lived in an entirely separate place.

Most of the females were busy with their own affairs in the yard. No one noticed her sudden addition.

Why did Wilbur put her here? What was his intention?