Si Muye fought to suppress the desire welling up inside him, his throat tight.
"A Yue, are... you alright? How are you releasing such a strong scent in your sleep? I..."
He was on the verge of losing control.
The scent was just like the day she gave birth, only even stronger. To him, it was absolutely deadly!
He had almost lost control just moments ago, nearly pinning her in his arms to unleash the beastly desire that was gnawing at his very bones.
Hearing this, Shen Yue took a quick sniff of herself and was instantly mortified.
’Damn it!!’
’I had a wet dream, and it was so realistic that I actually released my female pheromones. No wonder Si Muye is flushed and burning up...’
She cleared her throat. "Uh, sorry about that. I was having a nice dream."
As she spoke, she looked at him through the dim moonlight.
"Are... you okay?"
Si Muye’s throat was tight. Watching her cherry-red lips open and close left him parched.
He shook his head and managed to force out a question:
"A Yue, are you... thinking about... you know..."
’He didn’t have to guess what kind of "nice dream" she’d had.’
’He wanted to ask if her heat was starting. Was that why she was having dreams like this?’
’So, she wanted... it.’
Being asked so directly made Shen Yue’s face flush.
But then she saw Si Muye’s nervous, bashful expression, and a smirk played on her lips. She decided to tease him.
"A little. What’s a girl to do? You’re the only male here. Want to help me out?"
BOOM!
Si Muye felt the blood rush through his veins. His face turned so red it looked like it might burst.
Shen Yue moved closer, the rich, sweet scent from her body flooding his senses. Her cherry-red lips parted, brushing against his cheek as her warm breath washed over him.
"Do you?"
Si Muye’s Adam’s apple bobbed so hard it ached. His chest heaved, and he didn’t dare to look at Shen Yue, his fists clenched in a mix of nervousness and excitement.
’She was asking him... if he wanted to?’
The atmosphere suddenly turned charged and intimate, and even the air in the cave seemed to grow warmer.
Si Muye’s heart pounded like thunder. His eyes darted around, unsure how to respond.
Shen Yue’s fiery gaze pinned him in place, leaving him nowhere to hide from his own embarrassment.
’He so badly wanted to say it.’
’Yes.’
’He wanted her.’
Suddenly...
"Pfft—"
Shen Yue burst out laughing. "Alright, I was just teasing. Look how nervous you are. Since I’m so ugly, I won’t force you!"
Si Muye froze. ’She was teasing him?’
Immediately, he tried to explain himself.
"No, that’s not what I meant! You’re not ugly. I..."
’She’s not ugly,’ he thought.
’He wanted to be her man.’
’But the words got stuck in his throat. They were too embarrassing...’
’How could he possibly say something like that?’
Shen Yue understood. Conquering a Great Knight with S Class Spiritual Power would be a huge asset and very beneficial to her, but it couldn’t be rushed.
After all, getting him to willingly become her Beast Husband—to be bound to her for life—was something any male would need time to accept.
「Meanwhile.」
In the royal palace of the Undersea Kingdom.
Lan Cangyue awoke from his dream-weaving, sensing the lingering fragrance where she had been. A greedy, unsated look filled his eyes.
A smirk touched his lips.
’This time, the dream-weaving was a success. He had finally seen his little Female Master.’
’It was just a shame she was woken up before he could fully have his way.’
Still, her presence in the dream had been enough to soothe him, and the worst of his mating heat had subsided.
A mermaid’s mating heat can only be calmed by the Female Master who marked them. That was why, during this recent bout of heat, he had tried several times to weave a dream and summon the Female Master who had left her mark on him, hoping to be with her again.
He also wanted to see just what the little thing who dared to bite and scratch him back in Beastification City actually looked like. After all, ever since that night, he had developed a taste for her and couldn’t get enough.
He thought of her night after night.
This time, he had finally seen her. Though her face remained blurry, he would never forget her scent—it was etched into his very bones.
He fiddled with the Dream Relic Pearl in his hand, which now contained the pheromones Shen Yue had left behind in the dream. He took a light sniff and murmured:
"Little one, you’ll be seeing me very soon!"
At that very moment, another was finding it impossible to control himself, also enticed by Shen Yue’s scent: Mu Silin, who had been lying in wait outside the cave.
Mu Silin fought to suppress the beastly desire surging through him. In all his years, he had never been so aroused.
Smelling the fragrance wafting from the cave, he found it hard to believe. How could this ugly female possibly emit such a deadly pheromone?
To him, the sweet scent was too stimulating, too exhilarating. It made the very blood in his veins boil and surge.
He remembered that day in Beastification City. It was this same sweet scent that had driven him beyond control, making him go berserk, destroy the entire Isolation Room, and pounce on this ugly female.
Just before he lost consciousness, he had held her sweet-smelling form in his arms and completely lost himself, wanting only to claim her as his own.
At the thought, Mu Silin swallowed hard. An uncontrollable heat flooded his dark green pupils, and his every breath was a hot wave.
The subordinate beside him was also struggling to suppress his own boiling blood.
"General, this... Miss Shen Yue’s scent is just too potent. I’ve never known a female to emit such a strong pheromone..."
Mu Silin’s mouth was parched, and the rims of his eyes had turned scarlet. The beastly desire buried within him was screaming to be let out.
’He, too, wanted to know. Why could this ugly female emit such a rich and powerful pheromone? He’d never smelled anything like it from another female...’
’It was just too deadly!!’
He glanced at his subordinate and saw the same excitement in the man’s eyes—the kind that preceded an uncontrollable outbreak of beastly lust.
It was the look of a male who was losing control of his instincts.
’Damn this woman. My subordinate is an A+ Level expert, second only to those with S Class Spiritual Power, yet she has him tormented like this.’
He barked coldly:
"Get a hold of yourself. As a member of the Black Panther Clan, how can you let yourself be swayed by a female’s pheromones?"
Hearing this, the subordinate blushed beet-red. After all, this female was the General’s Female Master; he couldn’t make a fool of himself in front of the General.
He quickly sobered up, striving to bring himself under control by using his spiritual power to suppress the surging heat in his blood.
Though Mu Silin spoke with such authority, his own body felt ready to explode. Smelling the sweet fragrance wafting from the cave, his Adam’s apple bobbed. He desperately wanted to pounce, to pin this damned woman beneath him and punish her fiercely.
At the same time, a nervous thought crept into his mind.
’Is that woman in heat? Is she in the cave with that bear, doing... shameless things?’
A strange anger flared within him at the thought. ’Damn that female! She just gave birth and she’s already this desperate to find a man?’
He clenched his fists, completely oblivious to the fact that he was jealous. The sour tang of envy and rage was practically overflowing.
Just as he was debating whether to rush into the cave and separate them...
...Si Muye suddenly burst from the cave entrance and bolted into the forest.
Mu Silin stared, dumbfounded, at Si Muye’s retreating back...
’What... was that about?’
’Looks like the bear ran off to suppress his beastly desire?’
’He didn’t do anything to that woman?’
Instantly, he breathed a sigh of relief.
’That made sense. Even if the woman went into heat and tried to seduce the bear, he probably couldn’t bring himself to do anything while looking at such an ugly face.’
...
Shen Yue didn’t give a second thought to Si Muye running out of the cave to suppress his beastly desire.
She was even more clueless that two other men outside had been nearly driven to beast-form by her female pheromones, tormented all night by a desire that kept them from sleep.
Shen Yue, for her part, had slept like a log. When she woke up, however, Si Muye still hadn’t returned.
She covered Dabao and Er Bao with a blanket, then decided to step outside the cave and stretch her legs.
But the moment she stepped out of the cave, she ran smack into Si Muye, who was just returning.
Shen Yue twisted her ankle and nearly fell, but Si Muye caught her by reflex.
The man’s powerful arms encircled her. His body was still damp with morning dew, and his firm abs pressed against her back, a cool sensation seeping through the fabric of her clothes.
But those abs were so hard they dug painfully into her back.
She couldn’t help but shiver. When she looked up, her eyes met Si Muye’s constricted pupils.