After what felt like being tossed and flipped around by a whole hurricane of pure tiger lust, Su Qinglan finally passed out. She didn’t even know when she fell asleep.
It was deep, warm sleep, the kind only a completely exhausted little fox would have after being thoroughly... destroyed. And she slept with this silly, blissed-out smile on her face.
She looked sweet and happy, completely unaware of the disaster she just lived through or the two disasters walking toward her cave.
Because not long after she fell asleep, two large shadows appeared at the entrance: Rong Ye and Han Jue.
The moment Rong Ye saw the scene, he froze. Hu Yan, that shameless striped maniac, was lying there looking ridiculously pleased with himself, cuddling their mate like a giant satisfied housecat.
The sight hit Rong Ye like a slap across the soul. His fluffy tail puffed up instantly. His fox ears shot straight up.
A red wave of betrayal hit him so hard he nearly tripped over his own footing. All the patience he had, all the waiting he did...gone. Burnt away. Vanished.
Hu Yan didn’t even get a warning.
Rong Ye stormed forward, grabbed Hu Yan by the arm, and dragged him off the stone bed with so much dramatic fury he almost slipped twice doing it.
"YOU! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME RIGHT NOW!" he yelled, nearly tripping over a rock as he dragged Hu Yan out of the cave.
Poor Hu Yan, who only wanted to cuddle and sleep next to his Lan Lan, could only blink as he got hauled away like a sack of potatoes.
But Rong Ye was too angry to notice anything except his own heartbreak and his bruised heart.
That left Han Jue alone in the cave.
And the nervous man nearly fainted on the spot.
His heart thumped so fast it felt like it was trying to escape his chest. He stood in the middle of the cave like a shy deer, his face red, his hands shaking. And then he made the mistake of looking at the bed.
Su Qinglan lay there, curled up, looking so small and delicate under a thin hide that Hu Yan had covered her with. Her scent still lingered in the air...sweet, soft, and warm, and it made Han Jue swallow hard. His inner beast twitched like it didn’t know what to do with itself.
As he stared, the hide slid down her body when she moved a little.
Han Jue’s soul left his body.
He practically jumped across the cave in one motion, scrambling to lift the hide back up. His brain was screaming. His hands were shaking.
He wrapped her up so fast and so clumsily that he somehow managed to tuck the blanket under her arms, legs, and who-knows-where. He didn’t care. She was covered safely. That was what mattered.
Only when she stopped shifting in her sleep did he finally breathe again, letting out a shaky and dramatic "Hhh—phew..." like he had just survived a battle.
Then, desperate to calm himself, he rushed to start cooking. His big hands worked quickly, trying not to make noise.
He knew Hu Yan must have tired her out to the point she could barely move. And that thought made his jaw clench for a second. A tiny, jealous spark flickered in his chest.
But then he swallowed it down and focused on the pot.
She would be hungry when she woke up.
He wanted to be the one to serve her warm food.
He wanted to be the reliable, gentle mate by her side.
So he stirred the pot quietly, glancing back at her every few seconds, making sure she was still sleeping peacefully... and that the hide didn’t slip again.
***
Su Qinglan woke up after who-knows-how-long.
She blinked once. Blinked twice. The cave was still dark.
"Eh? Still night? How long did I sleep...?" she whispered, confused.
Her brain felt like mush for a moment. Then, slowly... painfully... all her memories from earlier rushed back.
Every single spicy detail.
Her eyes widened. Then a blissful, silly smile spread across her face.
"Oh..." she whispered, cheeks heating up, "right... that tiger..."

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