Su Qinglan froze.
That low and rough voice full of anger echoed behind her. Before she could even turn, a strong hand gripped her neck and slammed her against the cave wall. The hit made her back ache with a sharp pain.
She gasped, her body shaking from the impact. Her eyes went wide as she looked at the angry beast man in front of her.
"Hu Yan..." she croaked, her voice strained under his grip. "We can... talk nicely. No need to pinch my neck... I can’t breathe."
Her words were meant to soften him, to dissolve his hatred, and to show she had no hidden intentions. But instead of calming, the man’s face twisted darker, his eyes burning with fury.
"Talk?" His voice was low, and his teeth were clenched so hard that his jaw looked ready to crack. "After forcefully mating me, you dare come here again? Are you not afraid? I will kill you!"
The pressure on her neck increased, cutting off more of her air. Su Qinglan choked, her vision blurring at the edges.
"You can’t kill me..." she rasped. "I’m your mate. Killing females is a crime punishable by the Beast God."
The words slipped out without her even thinking, a desperate instinct more than logic.
But the moment they left her mouth, she regretted it.
Because Hu Yan’s fury only burned hotter. His grip tightened further, his sharp claws almost breaking through her skin. His gaze told her very clearly he didn’t care if the Beast God punished him. He didn’t care if he perished with her.
Su Qinglan’s heart thudded violently. This man wasn’t bluffing; he really would crush her throat if pushed too far.
"H-Hu Yan..." she gasped, struggling to speak. "Forgive me. Please... let’s forget the past, forget my mistakes. Let’s... treat each other better."
Her words came out fast and desperate.
"The deed is already done. You can’t leave me. If you sever the bond, you’ll become an evil beast. You know this." She forced herself to meet his eyes, even as fear squeezed her chest.
"So just... forgive me. I’ll treat you better. Or... if you don’t want that, we can ignore each other. I won’t bother you. I’ll compensate you. I’ll never be the stumbling rock in your future. You don’t have to follow me, and I’ll never remove your mark."
For a moment, silence. The cave air was heavy and suffocating.
Hu Yan’s eyes darkened, his stare drilling into her as if peeling her open to see her soul. Every word she spoke stabbed into him, not with comfort, but with more pain.
She was right; the deed was already done. He couldn’t undo the bond. If he killed her, he’d die too. If he severed it, he’d become a monster. His entire future had been tied, unwillingly, to this selfish female.
And now she stood there, begging forgiveness with words that sounded more like bargains. Offering freedom as if he were some pet she was gracious enough to release. Telling him to "pretend nothing happened."
Hu Yan’s chest rose and fell, his breaths heavy with rage. Disgust twisted his handsome features.
"Do you take me as a toy? Something you can use once and then discard?" His voice was cold, each syllable soaked in fury.
His grip suddenly released. Su Qinglan stumbled forward, coughing, her throat burning from the pressure.
But Hu Yan only looked at her with disdain. He jerked his hand back as if her skin had dirtied him, then wiped his palm roughly on his hide, like touching her was something foul.
Su Qinglan froze, speechless.
Her throat ached, her back stung from the slam, but her mind was stuck on his action. Did he really... find her that disgusting?
She had already given him the best option. She wasn’t like those overbearing females of this world. She was offering him his space, his future, and even his dignity. And yet... his face only darkened more, filled with hatred instead of relief.
Su Qinglan pressed a hand to her sore neck, staring at him with wide, bewildered eyes.
Was it really that bad? Could someone explain to her what went wrong here?
"Damn! what kind of mess the original owner had left for her," whatever she said only looks wrong. She really does not know how to handle this enraged beast of a man.
Hu Yan’s chest heaved heavily as he stared at the female before him. The more he thought about her words, the more a bitter taste filled his mouth.
So that was it? She wanted him just for one night, and after that he was not even worthy of being kept by her side. She could abandon him as easily as throwing away a broken stone.
His claws flexed by his side, and for a moment he wanted nothing more than to grip her neck again and end this suffocating rage boiling in his chest.
But the truth held him back, a truth more painful than his fury. He knew females were fickle; they were selfish and thoughtless, and they never truly cared about male beastmen.
No one would point fingers at her for what happened that night; no one would call her at fault for forcefully mating him. Instead, everyone would look at him as the shameful one.
They would say he did not cooperate; they would say he should have been honored to be chosen by a female, especially the daughter of the tribe leader. It was supposed to be his pride, his fortune.
But to Hu Yan, it was nothing but chains.
He did not want to live such a life. He did not want to follow behind a selfish female who only knew how to eat and command others around, who struck her best husbands without reason, and laughed as if it were nothing.
His case was even worse than others, because this female had been a bully since childhood. He had seen with his own eyes how she beat smaller cubs who had not even grown, how her sharp tongue and cruel hands never spared anyone, and now fate had tied him to her as if he were no different from her toys. She was heartless, and he hated that his life was bound to hers.
He could not believe her, not even when she promised freedom.
He wanted to believe that she would let him go, but deep down he knew it was impossible. If he refused to follow her, the tribe would rise against him. They would pressure her to remove his totem, to erase his bond, and if that happened, he would be turned into an evil beast.
Perhaps this was her plan all along; perhaps this was the reason she smiled so lightly while saying he didn’t need to bother with her. She wanted him to resist, to be branded disloyal, so that the tribe’s anger would fall on him and she could remove his mark without a single stain on her name.
Evil. This female was truly evil.
Hu Yan’s golden eyes burned with disgust as they swept over her face. He had no more words left for her, only a cold and endless loathing.
Su Qinglan shivered under the intensity of his glare. Damn it, she really wanted to cry...was glaring at her his new hobby or what? What did this beast man want now? Did she breathe wrong? Or maybe existing in front of him was enough to make him furious.
She had no idea that her so-called "good intentions" had, in his eyes, already transformed into something wicked.