Xiao Zai had left himself relax into his mixed form, all the better to handle his rut, but now he could feel all the fur on his tail and ears stand on end at Chu Yun’s proximity.

What was he doing here? Hadn’t Xiao Zai scared him off?

“Leave!” he growled, sending out a wave of pheromones with his words. 

His black wolf ears stood up from his hair, the black fur blending in with the sleek hair strands around them. They twitched in the air, attuned to the most minimal sound from behind the closed door.

There was rustling from the other side, Xiao Zai could hear Chu Yun pressing his open palm against the door’s panel. “Stop being stubborn, I can help.” He stopped for a moment. “I won’t let you go too far.”

There was something in his tone that told Xiao Zai he was mostly trying to convince himself. 

“How are you going to stop me?” he asked, his voice gravelly. 

A pause, and then Chu Yun answered. “I have nine little helpers, remember?”

The image of Chu Yun’s tails fanning behind him like a peacock’s tail and his large, tapered fox ears, flopping sideways on top of his head came to his mind. Suddenly, it was all he could think about, and something inside him ached to see it again.

He was opening the door before he could even make sense of his own actions.

Chu Yun slipped inside, as if afraid Xiao Zai would change his mind.

His eyes widened when he saw Xiao Zai’s ears and tail. “Oh, I didn’t think…”

Whatever else he was going to say got lost between them in a groan as Xiao Zai wrapped his arms around him and threw him to the floor. He nosed along the divot between shoulder and neck, trying to get at where Chu Yun’s scent was stronger and warmer.

Chu Yun indulged him, for some time, but then his fingers sunk into Xiao Zai’s hair, and he pulled — hard.

“Bad dog,” Chu Yun said, his fingers still tangled into Xiao Zai’s hair.

When Xiao Zai could focus enough to look into Chu Yun’s eyes he found them yellow, shining like gold. His large white ears stood up from his head, and his tails supported his neck like a pillow. One of them pushed back against Xiao Zai’s shoulder.

The sight of his beast form made Xiao Zai’s mouth water. There was a natural seductiveness about Chu Yun that was as much artifice as it was genuine, but it increased tenfold when he was like this. When he smirked the sharpened points of his teeth glinted like pearls, his yellow eyes burned with an inner fire, and all his movements became languid — as if he was relaxing into a warm bath after a tiring day.

It was mesmerising. Xiao Zai hated how vulnerable it made him feel, but he was powerless to stop himself.

Chu Yun’s smirk widened, he ran his thumb along the corner of Xiao Zai’s mouth. “You’re drooling,” his tone was infuriatingly smug.

Xiao Zai took his thumb into his mouth and bit into the soft pad until Chu Yun hissed in pain and pulled it away.

His scowl was no less breathtaking than his smirk, and even better, it looked like a victory to Xiao Zai.

“You really are a dog,” Chu Yun chided.

Xiao Zai got hold of the collar of Chu Yun’s robes and wrenched each half to the side, exposing his chest to his hungry gaze and a tantalising triangle of bare skin all the way to his waist, where the sash still held the two halves of his outer and inner robes together.

“I am,” Xiao Zai said, giving in to his desire and dragging the flat of his tongue across Chu Yun’s heaving chest, one of his thumbs teasing Chu Yun’s small, beige nipple into a hard peak.

Below him, Chu Yun gasped. Xiao Zai pinched him, enjoying how his red lips fell open to let out involuntary gasps.

He squirmed, but Xiao Zai held him in place. “Do you want to know what I think?” Xiao Zai asked, whispering the words against the shell of Chu Yun’s ear.

“No,” Chu Yun said, redoubling his efforts, although his ‘little helpers’ remained oddly still.

Xiao Zai grinned. “I think you like this.”

Chu Yun bared his teeth in a snarl. “Don’t get ideas, I’m just here to help you because we’re married.”

Xiao Zai hummed, his face still pressed against Chu Yun’s neck. He let the hand on Chu Yun’s chest slide inside his robe, and under his waist sash, loosening it, making Chu Yun’s robes fall open around him like unfurling butterfly wings.

Xiao Zai lifted his head and looked down the expanse of Chu Yun’s body, drinking in the sight of his pebbled nipples, rising from his chest enticingly, the trim angles of his slender waist, and his bare legs still tangled in the fabric of his loose robes.

He ran a hand down the expanse of Chu Yun’s chest, and then slid it around his waist and under his thigh, making him gasp. He gripped the firm flesh in his hand and spread Chu Yun’s legs open.

A faint red blush dusted Chu Yun’s cheeks. His nine tails were squirming behind him, but did nothing to stop Xiao Zai’s ministrations.

Something screamed inside Xiao Zai to roll Chu Yun on his front and put his mouth on his nape and his cock inside him, until he submitted to Xiao Zai and went pliant in his arms.

An even louder voice reminded him that if he did that he would never be forgiven, and perhaps worse, he would have to live with himself afterwards.

His hands stilled on Chu Yun’s skin, at the same time a tremble went through him. What was he doing? His ruts were always painful, maddening affairs but he had never felt this out of control.

His fingers had gone slack on Chu Yun’s thigh, letting it drop back to the floor.

Chu Yun closed his fingers around Xiao Zai’s wrist, so hard it hurt.

Xiao Zai looked into his golden eyes and found them half-lidded, his mouth open on a gasp.

“Why are you stopping?”