Chu Yun didn’t expect Xiao Zai to flat out refuse him, not after what had happened between them at the palace.

“Why not?”

Xiao Zai averted his eyes. “I’m just not interested. I’ll handle it on my own.” He walked away from the stables, leaving Chu Yun behind. 

Chu Yun remained rooted to the spot, incredulous about what had just transpired. He couldn’t believe Xiao Zai was rejecting his offer.

What’s more…he was sure that Xiao Zai was attracted to him. He didn’t completely understand it, considering they were both alphas, but Xiao Zai had said as much when he was drunk, back at the brothel in Lanzhou, and his actions in the palace the day before all but confirmed it.

So why?

It wasn’t like Chu Yun was suggesting Xiao Zai mark him or anything. In his mind he imagined he’d give Xiao Zai a friendly handjob, and maybe a little kiss. Both as a token of appreciation, and as a way to bind Xiao Zai to him even more.

He watched Xiao Zai’s silhouette disappear in the distance, all the while thinking to himself that he would still find a way to change his mind.

—

The next day it became obvious early on that Xiao Zai was trying to avoid Chu Yun. Every time Chu Yun tried to approach him he found a sudden reason to be somewhere else. 

Chu Yun felt as if he had spent most of the day chasing Xiao Zai, with nothing to show for it.

He hoped that Xiao Zai would at least condescend to have lunch with him, but he had no such luck.

Instead he ate with Hua Nanyi in his bedroom.

She didn’t understand his frustrations. “This lowly servant thinks his Grace is being dramatic as fuck,” she gestured with her chopstick, and then added, “respectfully.”

Chu Yun just rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t bother,” he sighed, “I just don’t know why he’s being so stubborn.”

Hua Nanyi narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you sure you don’t know why?”

Chu Yun gestured vaguely. “I have some ideas…” but he didn’t like entertaining either of them.

The truth of the matter was that Chu Yun hated being told ‘no’. In many ways it was much worse than being given orders. 

Still, it only increased his determination to get Xiao Zai to agree. He still hadn’t shown Chu Yun his wolf form, and Chu Yun hated being at a disadvantage. 

“Maybe you could just wait for night to fall and sneak into his room?” Hua Nanyi suggested, slightly concerned about the look in Chu Yun’s eyes.

“I know you’re a beta, and therefore don’t understand how all of this works,” Chu Yun said, with some exasperation. “But that would be…,” he winced and shook his head, “awful, let’s leave it at that.”

He had been furious when he thought Xiao Zai had tried to take advantage of Chu Hean during his heat, he would never turn around and try to do the same to him during his rut. 

No, he needed to have permission, and he knew there was a way to get it.

Suddenly, Hua Nanyi’s expression shifted. “Are you hearing that?”

Chu Yun wasn’t, not at first, but then he heard the faint sound of claws on wood.

“That fucking cat,” he said, getting up to his feet and walking to the door.

Sure enough, there was a little ball of fluff on the other side, one of its paws still raised in the air. It meowed at Chu Yun, its little eyes disappearing into slits and its mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth glinting.

Sighing, Chu Yun picked it up by the ruff and brought it into the room. “And then there’s this,” he said, depositing the little kitten on the table in front of Hua Nanyi. “What am I going to do with him? He doesn’t say anywhere we put him, and doesn’t like the outside.”

Hua Nanyi reached towards him, and almost got swatted for her efforts. “Aggressive little thing.”

“I’m almost convinced that Gu Wei instructed it to try and kill me in my sleep.”

Hua Nanyi snorted. “That sounds reasonable.”

Chu Yun ignored her and focused on the kitten again. “I still don’t know what I should call it.” He tried to reach towards the white kitten, who tried to swat his hand just as it had done to Hua Nanyi. “Stop, stop you little monster.”

“Hey, that’s a good name, Xiao Yao!” Hua Nanyi said, smiling openly.

Chu Yun picked up the cat by the ruff again, watching it squirm in the air. “It does suit him,” he narrowed his eyes and pulled the cat’s tail out of the way, “he is a him, he doesn’t just look like one.”

Without warning Hua Nanyi brought her palm down on the tabletop, rattling the teacups and making Chu Yun drop the kitten, who landed on the floor with a hiss.

“I know, why don’t you go talk with your husband about finding a name for the cat.”

Chu Yun was about to dismiss her idea as preposterous, but then thought better of it. The cat was a gift from Xiao Zai’s dam, it would be rude if Chu Yun came up with a name for him all on his own. As far as excuses to get Xiao Zai to stop running away from him went, it wasn’t the worst one — or the most stupid.

Except the kitten had disappeared the moment Chu Yun dropped it, skittering away somewhere, probably crouching under some piece of furniture.

Chu Yun pointed a finger at Hua Nanyi. “Great idea, and since you came up with it, you should go and find the cat.”

—

Hua Nanyi did eventually find the cat, which she delivered into Chu Yun’s hands with a large dose of recrimination.

“I think you should consider naming him Big Monster instead.”

The back of her hands were covered in scratches, and while Chu Yun empathised, he had more important considerations: “it doesn’t sound as good.”

In any case, he wrapped the kitten in about two lengths of silk, neutralising his claws if not his powerful meow.

Armed with his hostage, he went in search of Xiao Zai. As expected, he wasn’t easy to find, and it seemed he had earned a measure of loyalty from the servants while Chu Yun was distracted.

For some reason they were all very tight-lipped when Chu Yun asked them if they had seen him.

It was frustrating, but at the same time, something about searching all over the estate for Xiao Zai excited Chu Yun. It was like a treasure hunt, one Chu Yun intended to win.

He eventually found Xiao Zai in the library, cleaning off the dust of several bamboo strip scrolls, and organising them in shelves.

He tried to hide it but his shoulders stiffened the moment he heard Chu Yun’s voice.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Chu Yun said, smiling to himself.

Xiao Zai didn’t turn around, keeping his back to Chu Yun. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

His dispassionate tone was amusing, Chu Yun liked it when he played hard to get. For once, Chu Yun was actually being kind, trying to do him a favour, and Xiao Zai kept refusing him.

This close to his rut, Xiao Zai’s scent was stronger than ever, and it permeated the whole room. Normally, Chu Yun would be extremely uncomfortable in the presence of an alpha sending out such strong pheromones, but Xiao Zai’s wolfberry wine scent merely tingled his senses.

“We have to talk about this,” Chu Yun said, extending the cat towards Xiao Zai. “We have to come up with a name for him.”

Xiao Zai gave him a look from the corner of his eyes. “And we have to do this now?”

“The cat is a gift from your dam, it would be impolite for us to keep ignoring it,” Chu Yun said, the lie smooth on his tongue.

One corner of Xiao Zai’s lips ticked up. It wasn’t a very convincing lie, but Chu Yun was determined to stick with it.

“I heard you were asking around for me.”

What was going on that the servants Chu Yun hired himself were more loyal to Xiao Zai than to him? He had to keep a closer eye on things.

“I was thinking about calling him Little Monster,” Chu Yun said, ignoring Xiao Zai’s remark.

Slowly, Xiao Zai slotted the scroll in his hands into the shelf, and turned around to face Chu Yun. There was something in his eyes, similar to that silver gleam Chu Yun had seen in the gloom of the closet in the palace. It made his mouth turn dry.

Xiao Zai took the kitten from Chu Yun’s hands and placed it on the floor, letting it free himself from his prison of silk.

Chu Yun was looking up into Xiao Zai’s eyes, and so was unprepared when he wrapped his hand around one of his wrists and slammed him against the shelf.

“Why are you so determined to test me?” Xiao Zai brought his face close to Chu Yun’s, his warm breath ghosting across his lips.. “Be careful that you don’t bite more than you can chew.”