My Wolf Lord - Chapter 2

“I’m taller than you now, Sister Shu.”

My tongue pressed unconsciously against the back of my teeth. My mouth had suddenly recalled the sour candy he once slipped me as a prank.

I was on the track team, specializing in the five-thousand-meter race.

Do not ask. I had built up my own endurance by running with He Li when he was little.

After school, I was stretching beside the track when my best friend bumped my shoulder. “Shu Xun! Your gorgeous little brother is here to watch you train again!”

Apparently unable to find a seat, he had set his backpack on his knees and squatted beside the flag platform.

The moment he caught my eye, he lifted his head happily and waved.

Sweet and obedient, he looked like a puppy waiting for its owner to take it home.

Perhaps because of his beastkin blood, his hair had grown paler with age. It was dazzling whenever it swayed in the sunlight.

And then there was that face.

Many team members stopped warming up to stare at him.

I helplessly gestured for him to move farther away.

The last time everyone got distracted by him during practice, we had nearly caused a stampede. I did not want a repeat.

When training ended, He Li had vanished.

I wandered toward the school gate at an unhurried pace, assuming he was waiting for me in the convenience store as usual.

I crept inside, ready to startle him, but the boy who normally sat by the window with his chin in his hand was nowhere to be seen.

Yet his usual milk tea was still on the innermost table.

The owner looked up from behind the register. “Looking for that handsome boy who always waits for you here? Some boys called him outside. Come to think of it, they all looked older than him…”

“Thank you!”

I tore out of the store.

He was not hard to find. Several boys had cornered him in a nearby alley.

They looked like boys from my class. They were shoving his shoulders and snarling something at him.

Surrounded, He Li seemed to glance my way before looking aside again.

His gaze roamed over the boy nearest him. He murmured something, then smiled innocently. Excitement flared across the others’ faces.

Before I could charge in, someone punched him hard.

“He Li!”

The boy who hit him jolted away as if electrocuted when he heard me.

“Shu Xun… it isn’t what you think. You don’t know what he said…” the boy stammered.

“I only saw you throw the punch.” I grabbed He Li and pulled him away. His head had been bowed the whole time, as though he had suffered a terrible wrong.

“The Shu family will regret adopting him!” The jeering voice followed us like a poisoned arrow.

“You violent lunatic! What gives you the right to lecture us?” I frowned, frantically searching my brain for more ammunition, but He Li tugged my hand.

“Sister Shu, it hurts.” Speaking pulled at the cut on his lip, and I heard his quiet hiss of pain.

“Take me home, all right?”

His eyes were beautiful. I had always known that.

Beautiful enough to silence every flower in the world. Beautiful enough to steal a person’s soul.

Now they also held a strange fervor, as if the world reflected inside them were burning in perfect silence.

Those eyes were fixed unwaveringly on—

Me.

When I carried the first-aid kit into his room, He Li was crouched beside the bed with his head lowered, lost in thought.

“Sit up here.” I sighed and patted the soft mattress.

Only his dewy eyes moved. “I’ve caused you trouble, Sister Shu.”

“You have,” I said with my arms folded. His lashes trembled violently, so I continued, “You’re so outstanding that every parent corners me for advice whenever I attend a meeting. It’s a nightmare. What am I supposed to give them, your meal plan?”

His expression relaxed and softened. Taking advantage of the moment, I ruffled his fluffy hair and slowly asked, “Why were they picking on you?”

Then I worried the gesture treated him too much like a child and might annoy him, so I let go. “Forget it. You don’t have to tell me. Those people won’t show their faces at school again.”

I was halfway through withdrawing when he caught my wrist and drew it against his cheek.

“They said… I’d already learned to seduce people at my age. Otherwise, the Shu family never would have kept me this long.”

“He Li, don’t listen to their bull—” I stopped, stunned by the sight before me.

Sharp white animal ears rose from beneath his hair.

He had learned long ago to hide his beastkin traits to avoid danger, despite his young age. He never exposed them in front of anyone.

Except in moments of intense excitement.

Blood trickled from the untreated cut at the corner of his mouth. He casually licked it away with the tip of his tongue.

Inevitably, a damp trace remained on my wrist too.

As I met his gradually gilding eyes, it felt as though a vast flock of migratory birds swept through my heart.