Chapter 290 - 291 - Trust or not to trust
Yunfeng was pacing.
Back and forth across the narrow stretch of the room, his steps were light, but his body was tense. His teeth sunk into his bottom lip as he chewed it raw, over and over. His hands wouldn’t stop twitching at his sides. The air in the house was thick, suffocating—every inhale tasted like dust and sweat and the faint metallic tang of fear. The walls seemed to press in closer with every passing second, the ceiling lowering like a slow, inevitable weight.
This... this was the worst possible situation.
They were surrounded. Outside this house, soldiers lurked, eyes watching, waiting. Yunfeng didn’t know when, or even if, they would strike. And that was the problem—not knowing.
He had seen the way they moved—disciplined, silent, like shadows shifting just beyond the tree line. They weren’t here by accident. This wasn’t a routine patrol. They had been sent. And they were waiting for something.
Inside, their strongest people were compromised.
Shao—powerful, quick, deadly—was lost in his rut, unstable and unable to even recognize allies, much less protect anyone. Yunfeng had tried to approach him earlier, only to be met with a snarl, a flash of teeth, a warning growl that sent him stumbling back. Shao wasn’t Shao right now. He was a beast, a weapon without a wielder, and that made him dangerous to everyone—including himself.
And Jai... poor Jai, Yunfeng thought with a flinch... he had slipped into heat. He wouldn’t be able to focus, much less control his powers if things escalated. Jai was curled up in the farthest corner of the house, shivering, sweat-drenched, his breathing ragged. His usual sharp wit and steady hands were gone, replaced by a trembling mess of instincts and desperation.
That left Muchen... and himself.
And Muchen, right now, was pregnant.
The thought made Yunfeng’s stomach turn. He clutched at his gut, as if shielding the small life inside him would somehow make this all feel more manageable. Muchen was strong—stronger than most—but pregnancy had weakened him. His reflexes were slower, his stamina drained. He couldn’t fight like he used to. And if something happened... if the soldiers stormed in...