Free Web NovelChapter 39: Chapter 39 Together?
Lie Lang’s words struck Xue Yao harder than the kiss itself. She stared at him blankly, still unable to believe what she had heard, before her body finally reacted and she hurriedly crawled to the other end of the bed as though the space between them could wash away the humiliation.
Her lips were swollen and slightly painful, but when her gaze landed on Lie Lang’s bleeding lower lip, she almost felt a tiny bit satisfied.
’Disgusting? He called kissing me disgusting? Then why did he kiss me in the first place? Did I beg him? Did I drag his head down? This grumpy wolf is really unreasonable!’
She pressed the back of her hand against her lips, glaring at him with eyes full of grievance and anger. "If you found it so disgusting, then why did you kiss me?"
Lie Lang wiped the blood from his lower lip with his thumb, his golden eyes dark and cold as they shifted briefly toward the window. The anger in them had not faded at all. If anything, it seemed even heavier than before.
"We were being spied on," he said, his voice low enough to make Xue Yao’s heart skip. "The elders sent people to watch."
Xue Yao froze for a moment before immediately turning her head toward the window. The curtains were still moving slightly, but there was nothing outside anymore.
Her lips parted in disbelief before she turned back to him, anger rising all over again. "Then you could have said so! Do you not have a mouth? You could have whispered it instead of suddenly kissing me like a hungry ghost."
Lie Lang’s gaze darkened. "You wouldn’t shut up long enough for me to say anything."
Xue Yao choked. For a brief second, she actually tried to remember if she had given him any chance to explain. Unfortunately, the memories that came back were not very helpful. She had accused him, scolded him, insulted his health, threatened his clan with a biohazard, and bitten his lip. Her expression stiffened slightly, but she quickly recovered and lifted her chin.
"That is not the point. The point is, you kissed me without permission." She pointed at him with a serious expression, her swollen lips making her look even more aggrieved. "Listen carefully, Alpha Lie Lang. Never in your life should you kiss me again. I also find you repulsive, very repulsive."
To prove her point, she leaned to the side and made a fake vomiting gesture. "Bleh... just thinking about it makes my stomach uncomfortable."
Lie Lang’s brows furrowed. His eyes stayed on her for a moment too long, and before Xue Yao could react, his hand suddenly reached out and grabbed her ankle.
"Ah!" she cried out as he pulled her back across the bed with frightening ease.
Her body slid over the soft fabric before she could even struggle properly, and the next second, his large palm was already on her face, roughly rubbing across both of her cheeks.
"What are you doing?!" Xue Yao shouted, her hands flying up to push him away, but his strength was far beyond hers. His palm moved over her cheeks again and again, smearing the dark clay marks until they spread across her face. "Stop! Stop! My face! Are you trying to wipe off my skin too? I just got this face back!"
Lie Lang said nothing. His expression remained cold as he continued wiping until the neat cat-like markings Lan Shu had drawn were completely ruined.
By the time he was satisfied and finally let go, Xue Yao’s face was no longer decorated with three neat lines on each side. The black clay had spread across her cheeks, the corner of her jaw, and even close to the side of her nose, making her look as though she had rolled her face through a burnt cooking pot.
Xue Yao immediately sat up and touched her face with trembling fingers. When she saw the black stain on her fingertips, her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Why did you do that?!" Her voice almost cracked. "Do you wolves have a problem with beautiful faces? First the maids turned me into a catfish, now you are trying to turn me into charcoal again!"
Lie Lang wiped the remaining black clay from his hand with a cloth beside the bed, his voice calm and cold. "It is for your own good."
"For my own good?" Xue Yao almost laughed from anger. "How is ruining my face for my own good? Did I ask you to protect me from beauty?"
"If the markings remain neat, you would be incapacitated. And although you are supposed to have some markings it is not these as they are seen as taboos. The wolf clan are soul enemies with the cat clan." His gaze lifted to her face again. "And if your face is messy, they will think I touched you."
Xue Yao’s mouth slowly fell open. For a brief second, her anger paused as his words sank in. Then her face turned even darker. "So you decided to use my face as evidence while saving me?"
Lie Lang did not deny it. "Yes. It is safer this way."
Xue Yao gasped and covered her chest as though she had suffered a heavy blow. "Safer for whom? You? The elders? The spies? What about me? My face has been suffering since this afternoon. First I was called ugly by pups, then I found out I looked like burnt firewood, then the maids drew whiskers on me, and now you have smeared everything like I lost a fight with a chimney. My face has really suffered in this wolf clan."
Lie Lang ignored her complaint as if he had already decided that arguing with her was useless.
He turned his head slightly toward the window again, listening for a few breaths before the sharpness in his gaze eased by a fraction. "They have moved farther away, but they have not left completely. Tonight, we’ll stay in this room. If they suspect anything, the elders will only make things worse."
Xue Yao slowly lowered her hands, her expression becoming cautious again. "Stay in this room?" Her gaze immediately darted to the bed beneath them, then to him, then back to the bed. "Together?"
"Yes."
Her eyes widened. "No."
Lie Lang’s face remained expressionless. "This is not a discussion."
"It should be. My personal safety is involved." She shifted back again, silently calculating the distance between herself and the door. ’Should I use the Sticky Smelly Socks now? If I throw it at his face, will he faint? No, he is an Alpha. What if he doesn’t faint and only gets angrier? What if he rips my throat out before fainting? That will be a very embarrassing way to die.’
