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Shen Wei had lived for enough millennia that he remembered when the mountains were young. He had seen the forests shed their first leaves, the beginning blush of autumn. He had seen the fire of a god’s heart spread across the land and collected the fragments with reverent fingers. He had seen the rise of people, watched buildings grow higher and higher until they scraped the very heavens like pillars of the Earth.
And now, he had seen the soul of Kunlun— the mountain god, his love, his mentor, worth the world and all his lonely years— shine from the eyes of a cat.
A sleek black head rubbed against his fingers, gossamer fur running over his hand. “Yunlan?” He asked, quiet and disbelieving and tentative. The cat— Yunlan, Zhao Yunlan was purring across his lap— let out a meow in answer.
He didn’t know how, but Zhao Yunlan managed to make the sound flirtatious.
“Can you understand me?” A tiny head dipped down in a nod, the gesture strange on a cat’s body. Sharp pinpricks of sensation burst across his thighs as Yunlan began to kneed the fabric of his pants, claws digging deep. Shen Wei paid them no mind— Yunlan had already carved a place in the depths of his black heart, and Shen Wei would take any pain he chose to give.
Still, he felt exasperation rising in his throat. Shen Wei closed his eyes and asked for patience. He had only been gone for two days. How Zhao Yunlan had managed to get himself turned into an animal in that time, he did not know. How the man— cat, he amended, looking down at fluffy ears— had ended up in Shen Wei’s apartment, he did not know.
But he would find out, and when he caught the culprit— well, whoever had dared use their powers on Zhao Yunlan would regret it dearly.
He stood, collecting the cat in his arms with gentle hands. He could hardly leave him unprotected while he searched for the culprit, and— and Shen Wei would never tire of holding Yunlan close, be he man or beast. He’d drop him at the SID. Perhaps the team would have more information about how this had happened.
The cat clawed his way up Shen Wei’s jacket, playfully settling across his shoulders with a puff of displaced air. Warmth seeped into his bare neck. Shen Wei’s breath caught in his throat— whether from fondness or the fur pressed against his mouth, he didn’t care to guess.
He already knew the answer.
Getting to the SID took a few precious minutes, and Yunlan used all of those shamelessly, curling against Shen Wei and purring until his suit jacket was coated in a thick layer of fur and his heart was thoroughly melted.
As Shen Wei stepped into the building, he felt a fissure of disquiet. There was a frantic air in the SID, something on the knife edge between annoyance and worry. Zhu Hong was pacing, red lips pursed angrily. Chu Shuzhi was leaning against a wall, a snarl half formed, while Guo Changcheng hovered beside him hands reaching out for the other man before he pulled them back.
What had gone wrong? Shen Wei flexed his palm, readying a power blacker than ink. He would lay down his life for Yunlan with a smile, and the man adored his team. Nothing would threaten this place under his vigil.
“Professor Shen!” The team’s attention drew to Shen Wei like he was a lodestone. He glanced around, demure behind the lens of his glasses.
Lin Jing looked up, squinting across Shen Wei’s shoulders with confusion and a raised eyebrow before worry swamped his expression. “Professor Shen,” he began again. “Chief Zhao isn’t answering his phone.”
Shen Wei blinked. Looked down at the cat happily making itself at home across his shoulders. Blinked again. “That is worrisome.”
He did not miss the perturbed expressions passing between the team. They had expected more worry, he was sure— and they would have been right, had Zhao Yunlan not been purring into his ear. He smoothed a hand over silky fur and asked. “Are there records of Chief Zhao’s movements over the last few days?”
The worry in the room evaporated into something like embarrassment. There was a low cough, and a gentle shuffling of feet, but no one would meet his eyes. Shen Wei fixed a cool gaze on Da Qing, the most likely to talk— if only from exasperation. Finally, the cat rolled his eyes and spoke. “He was at Professor Shen’s apartment.”
There was a moment of silence. Shen Wei turned calm eyes on the cat across his neck. How Yunlan managed to look both adorable and shameless, he did not know. But the purring increased in volume, rumbling across his skin like an earthquake.
Shen Wei hardened his gaze, resisting the urge to lean into soft fur. Apology very much not accepted. “Why was Chief Zhao there?”
The team shifted, an awkward silence ballooning out from the question.
“Sleeping?” Guo Changcheng offered the word up, tentative and timid. Chu Shuzhi slapped a hand over Little Guo’s mouth, curling an arm around him and tugging him close. He looked toward the ceiling, posture screaming Black-Cloaked Envoy, give me strength.
Lin Jing muttered. “That’s one word for it.” Zhu Hong elbowed him sharply in the ribs, but not before Da Qing had let out a huffing snort.
Ah.
Shen Wei pushed down the rush of heat that flashed through him, hot as a wildfire. He would have words with Zhao Yunlan later, after this mess was fixed.
And perhaps something else as well.
“Da Qing.” The cat tilted his head in response, expression curious. “Would you take care of my cat for a few hours?”
The boy looked exasperated. “Professor Shen, I don’t speak cat.”
Shen Wei took a quiet moment to appreciate the irony that the millennia-old King of Cats could not speak his native tongue. Knowledge lost to time— he supposed he understood that.
He pulled clinging claws out of his jacket and deposited a squirming Zhao Yunlan into Da Qing’s arms. He offered the two cats a serene smile, channeling every ounce of his exasperation into the look. He imagined it was a sight to behold. “I am in your debt.”
He turned, retracing his path outside with purposeful steps. The hunt began now. This issue had lasted long enough; Shen Wei wanted to see Yunlan’s smile again.
He had not suffered 10,000 years of loneliness to have that smile taken from him, even for a moment.
In Shen Wei’s wake, a cricket chirped, bringing luck in the beat of its song. The sound only annoyed Chu Shuzhi. He had no need for luck— Guo Changcheng’s smile alone could bring a lifetime’s worth, and he had suffered through too many of those heavenly-sweet looks already. Shuzhi wasn’t sure how much more he could take before something in him broke.
A frown— familiar like a well-worn shoe— climbed across his face at the Professor’s actions. “Suspicious.”
“Professor Shen didn’t seem worried at all.” Lin Jing whispered to the room at large— his voice carried far, echoing through the corners and into Shuzhi’s ears. He felt annoyance flash through him. Were they here to gossip or work?
“Let’s find the Chief first.” The words were reprimanding, but Shuzhi’s eyes were still fixed on the door. Something strange was happening if the Professor could be so calm with Zhao missing. Feeling a timid gaze across his skin, he took a deep and long-suffering breath. “What are you staring at me for?”
There was a sharp jolt from Little Guo, the movement close enough for Shuzhi to feel the displaced air. He didn’t care, he really didn’t, and he certainly didn’t move closer.
“Do you think they are having trouble?” Guo Changcheng shifted nervous hands over the strap of his bag. Slender shoulders scrunched up around his face as he spoke, unassuming in a way Shuzhi hated. “They seemed so happy together, maybe we should he-help.”
Shuzhi’s gaze could have frozen fire as he tilted his head to look at Guo. “I don’t care.” Little Guo immediately curled in on himself, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy.
Shuzhi ruthlessly shoved down the pang of guilt.
Across the room, the cat in Da Qing’s arms let out a mournful meow. “When did Professor Shen even get a cat?” Da Qing asked, plaintive.
Shen Wei stepped into his apartment with a swirl of black energy clinging to his suit and a hint of tension across his eyes. He slipped his glasses off— useless, they were a useless mask, Zhao Yunlan saw through them so easily— and began his search. He scoured the rooms from top to bottom but found little trace of foreign dark energy.
What he did find were traces of Zhao Yunlan scattered throughout the well-kept rooms and spotless flat. Everywhere— everything, really— was steeped in Yunlan, dear and beloved and the worst kind of tease.
His coat was draped across Shen Wei’s counter with a careless ease, the sight making the cold apartment feel lived in and warm. His shirt was crumpled beside Shen Wei’s bed, suggestive and tempting. Had Yunlan pressed his head across Shen Wei’s pillow and thought of him? Shen Wei certainly had, on his many lonely nights over the years.
His smell—
No, Shen Wei had to stop there. A covetous creature— a beast fed by love and devotion— was stirring under his skin. This sweet torment— it was too much for his long-suffering heart to take.
He sat on the couch with a thump, letting his shoulders slump. A crackle greeted him at the movement, and he reached down to find a lollypop wrapper trapped beneath the fabric of his pants. He smoothed it out with elegant fingers, feeling the glossy touch of plastic across his skin. In a moment of weakness, he brought it to his face and inhaled.
Strawberry.
Zhao Yunlan would be the death of him. Shen Wei closed weary eyes, feeling light catch across his face. It was a warm sensation but held no comfort, not then. It was time for drastic action.
The summons was unusual and sudden, coming with no warning and far off schedule. That didn’t stop Chu Shuzhi from loping to the meeting place, feet quick and light. It didn’t stop him from dropping into a respectful kneel before the dark robed-man, knees coming to rest on worn stone in a fluid motion.
Very little would stop that show of admiration.
The envoy spoke as Shuzhi knelt, dignified as ever. The words came especially fast today— “A prisoner has escaped and come to the surface. He is not dangerous, but he had broken the law.” A beat. “He has a transformative power, the ability to shift human into animal.”
The Black Cloaked Envoy paused, looking at Chu Shuzhi with an inscrutable expression. This was not unusual— the Envoy was many things, but transparent was not one of them— but he seemed to be waiting for something. Shuzhi shifted across the stone, hand to his chest in salute.
“Do you wish me to hunt him down, sir?” It seemed the logical question. He was a war dog, after all, the Envoy’s to send on the attack. He’d relish the opportunity to be of use.
Although— he’d have to miss dinner with Little Guo. Unbidden, thoughts of steaming food floated up, tickling his face with an imaginary scent. Guo had said he’d make xiao long bao, and the warm dumplings were beyond delicious, all the better coming from Guo. Missing it would be… unfortunate.
And that said nothing of Guo’s disappointment at his absence. Chu Shuzhi did not shudder at the thought of Guo’s hurt gaze— but it was a near thing.
“You miss my point. The prisoner may have something to do with Chief Zhao’s disappearance.”
Chu Shuzhi froze. An icy chill was creeping across his legs from the stone, heat leaching away from his body with the ability to care. No. No.
There was no way Professor Shen’s new cat was the chief.
And yet. That would be just like him, wouldn’t it?
He stalked into the SID and up to Da Qing— who was absently petting their new cat—with purposeful steps and an astonishing amount of irritation. He crouched down, face level with the beast sound asleep across the sofa. Sharp and loud and exasperated, he spoke. “Zhao Yunlan!”
Da Qing startled, “What?” But Shuzhi’s eyes were not on him. The cat blinked awake slowly, with a languid look that was all too familiar. On the brown leather, its black fur stood out like an ink stain.
Shuzhi spoke again. “Zhao Yunlan!” The cat meowed imperiously in response, and Shuzhi had his answer.
The Envoy had been right.
He stood without another thought, heading out the door.
“Wait, Old Chu! What’s going on?”
Shuzhi did not look back, nor did he slow as he responded. “I have a prisoner to catch.”
Two hours later— and with the intel of Lin Jing— Chu Shuzhi strode back in with a man slung over one shoulder like a bag of rice. His prisoner was covered in a cobweb of blue threads, thoroughly ensnared in a spider’s web of power. He slammed the man down— movements far from gentle— face first into the cold floor.
As a final insult, he planted a foot across the man’s back, casually threatening. “Fix this, before I make you.”
“F-fix what?” The words were muffled in the floor. Fear bled up from them, threading into the air. Shuzhi didn’t care, pitiless before the guilty. “Please, just let me up!”
With his usual dramatic timing, Chief Zhao meandered forward on furry paws. He sat before the prisoner, his tail swiping back and forth behind him like a glorified broom.
Meow.
“Fix this.”
“Wait, no I can’t.”
Shuzhi snarled, the sound low and edging on inhuman. He dug deeper into the man’s back, leaning with all his weight and annoyance. A pained groan was music to his ears.
Guo’s tentative voice stopped him from making the man talk. “Uhm, Brother Chu?”
Shuzhi glanced back at Little Guo, murderous for the interruption. “What?”
“C-can I try talking to him?”
Shuzhi fixed him with a flat, assessing look. Finally, he stepped back, circling around like a hulking predator. He sent a warning glare at the man on the ground, gaze screaming Do not touch him. It was gratifying when the man shivered in response, fear making dark eyes wide.
He needn’t have bothered— it only took little Guo twenty minutes— and one heartfelt conversation— to convince the man to remove the curse. By the end of it, the prisoner looked touched, like he’d have a revelation before Guo’s unending kindness.
Shuzhi did his best not to stare even as something in him asked, for the hundredth, thousandth, time— how is he real?
With a puff of smoke, Zhao Yunlan appeared, naked and smirking. He stretched without an ounce of shame, long and slow with a sweet crackle of his spine. The sound echoed through the suddenly silent room. Shuzhi averted his eyes to the ceiling with a curse and rolled eyes.
Shen Wei did not. No, his gaze was drawn across long lines of muscle, silk-pale skin painted tight across a lean body, down, down—
Shen Wei caught himself, dragging a hot gaze up and away. Truly, Yunlan was beautiful, as statuesque as the mountains and as precious as imperial jade. He was also bare for the world to see, bare for the SID to see. That spurred Shen Wei into action, and he stripped off his coat, draping the thick fabric across Yunlan’s shoulders and holding the front closed with a possessive hand.
Zhao just grinned, a pleased smirk creeping up his face. “Ah Xiao Wei, thank you for preserving my modesty!” The words were teasing, far too playful. He nuzzled into the stiff collar, taking a deep breath of the fabric.
Shen Wei swallowed around a dry throat and tried not to sear the image into his mind. He failed.
Almost absently, innocently, Zhao commented. “You know, I think I remember this coat. From when I was, ah, sleeping”
A dark curl of heat flooded Shen Wei’s belly. The longing— the adoration, the overwhelming love that filled every iota of his being— twisted into something covetous and lustful. He coughed, the sound quiet in the cavernous room. “Chief Zhao, perhaps I should escort you home. You need rest, after such an ordeal.”
“Ah, the intuition of a handsome man.” He dug a lollypop from Shen Wei’s coat— how had it even gotten there? It had been two days—with sure hands and popped it into his mouth. The way it pulled at Yunlan’s cheek was… distracting. “Professor Shen is so wise, I’d be a fool to deny your advice.”
He hollowed out his cheeks and sucked, eyes locked on Shen Wei. Shen Wei stopped breathing, looked down in an effort to escape that enthralling sight. That was no help— the sight of bare skin beneath his coat equally captivating. He forced a demure smile across his face— his usual mask, reliable and oft-used— but it was no match for the beast that Yunlan had just awoken. It was a hungry, possessive thing that lived under Shen Wei’s skin. It roused rarely, content to slumber as Shen Wei pretended at peace.
Now it was clamoring to consume Yunlan, to ravish him and leave nothing behind. And Yunlan— Yunlan had to know this. He had invited it, teased it to the surface with remarks just like that. In the face of this sweet torment, Shen Wei did not have the strength to resist.
He stared with the eyes of the beast inside and said, “And you are no fool, Chief Zhao.”