Beauty and the Beasts

“No… it’s not like that. Winston was protecting us.” Bai Qingqing’s voice quivered a little, and her ears were trying their best to pick up the sounds from outside. She prayed: Please, Parker, please don’t come up now.

 Alas, it seemed like one’s worst fears always had a way of materializing. The instant that thought struck her, Parker’s voice entered their ears.

 “Darned Snake, let go of Qingqing. Don’t startle her. I was the one who insisted on mating with her. If you want to take it out on someone, come at me.” Parker howled at the door with his teeth flashed.

 Curtis released Bai Qingqing and charged to the door with a swoosh sound. Parker instantly turned around and sprinted off. As he ran, he transformed into his beast form and leaped down the railings.

 Bai Qingqing chased after them. One snake and one leopard landed on the ground, and the next moment, they got into an intense brawl.

 Alright, more accurately speaking, it was a one-sided fight with Curtis solely raining blows upon the leopard.

 Genuinely scared that Curtis would kill Parker, Bai Qingqing hurried down the stairs. However, in her haste, she accidentally knocked into a muscular and firm body. As her head was lowered, she bumped her head and her mind went blank from the impact momentarily.

 “Qingqing?” Winston grabbed Bai Qingqing’s shoulders to hold her steady.

 Bai Qingqing shook her head and looked towards Winston, anxiousness evident in her tone. “Parker and Curtis got into a fight. Quick, help to break them up!”

 Winston gazed downwards. He instinctively wanted to act according to Bai Qingqing’s wishes, but his body had started moving, before halting for some reason.

 “Don’t worry, Curtis doesn’t have killing intent,” Winston said. Although the privileges he enjoyed from being Bai Qingqing’s guardian gave him satisfaction, he had to admit he was jealous of Parker.

 With everything Parker had, watching Curtis teach him a lesson gave Winston a kick.

 Parker started sprinting, but every two steps he took, Curtis would send him flying with his tail. Courage mounting with every failure he suffered, he climbed to his feet and continued running. Making abrasion sounds as his tail scraped the dry and cracked ground, Curtis’s sturdy scales reflected a cold glint.

 The sun had just set, and there was still residual light all around. The three moons had already made their appearances in the skies.

 The air was hot and dry. As snakes were poikilotherms¹, they were easily affected by the heat. However, this level of heat wasn’t cause for fear for four-striped beastmen like Curtis. It was just that they had a more acute instinctive ability to pursue good fortune and avoid disaster than ordinary snake beastmen, so Curtis felt very uncomfortable in such an environment.

 After sending Parker flying with his tail once more, Curtis looked up at the skies.

 Although it was dusk, the skies were still strikingly bright. Curtis’s pupils speedily narrowed into blood-vessel like vertical slits. His narrow and bloody eyes clearly reflected the image in the skies; they were clean, yet gave off a hint of inauspiciousness.

 …

 Parker came back by himself, hobbling all the way up the stairs. With blood-stained fur by the corners of his lips, he walked into the bedroom and fell onto his nest with scarcely any breath left.

 Bai Qingqing, no longer in the mood to continue giving him the cold shoulder, wiped the traces of blood from the corners of his lips using a faded and lined towel. She whispered, “I told you not to do it, but you wouldn’t listen. Look what happened.”

 Parker transformed into a human, and as his fur shrunk into his skin, the traces of blood were now clearly evident by the sides of his mouth. Bai Qingqing easily wiped off the blood.

 “I want to have a litter of leopard cubs with you.” Parker gazed at Bai Qingqing with golden eyes that appeared to be misted, perhaps due to his injury. An aggrievedness could be detected in his tone. “Your snake babies with Curtis are already so big.”

 So what if he was walloped? Even in other families, fights would frequently occur when males vied to copulate with the female. The relationship between him and Curtis was already considered harmonious.

 Bai Qingqing could no longer bear to reprimand him. Now armed with experience, she started to rub at Parker’s bruises.