I got too close. I couldn’t help but lean in, wanting to kiss him.

His fingertips slid across my neck, stopping at my lips, preventing me from moving further. “You wanted milk tea from Fengcheng Road, right?”

With his other hand, he reached for my lower back, but instead of pulling me closer, he slipped my car keys away. A mischievous glint flashed in his eyes. “Wait for me to come back, and we’ll properly settle the matter of you listening to my thoughts, wife.”

Covering my burning face, I collapsed onto the lounge chair. Damn it! I had gotten used to him cracking jokes in his mind and forgot that this guy is actually a cunning alpha! Obediently, I headed into the trailer to take a shower.

However, just as I settled in, my assistant knocked on the door, telling me that paparazzi had caught a picture of Qiao Yunshen and the third male lead entering a hotel room together. As for the third male lead—he seemed to be an omega that Qiao Yunshen had once supported financially.

I kicked the hotel door open, but the room was empty. As I pulled open the bathroom door, a figure lunged at me. “Li Que, wuwu…”

Qiao Yunshen was soaking wet, but his forehead was burning. I knew something was wrong. It was his susceptible period. Alphas like him are usually stable during this time, but if it happens suddenly, it must be because of some sort of stress.

“Where’s the third male lead?”

Qiao Yunshen’s eyes glistened with moisture, and when he heard me ask this, he immediately puffed up like an offended cat. “Wife, I want to file a complaint! I just wanted to sneak in a shower, and he barged in on me!”

Who takes a shower in this weather? Oh. That’s why he ran so fast earlier. Qiao Yunshen continued with a pout, “I was raising him like a son, and he tried to steal his mom’s partner and sleep with his dad!”

“Do you think I’d let that happen? I knocked him out with one punch and loudly declared that I only sleep with Li Que!”

“Wife, praise me! Hurry, say I’m a good alpha.”

Me: …”You’re amazing.” After praising him, I felt something was off. Just moments ago, he was a hormone-fueled, cunning alpha, and now he’s acting like a silly, innocent sweetheart?

“What did the third male lead’s pheromones smell like?”

Qiao Yunshen furrowed his brows in disgust. “Ugh, it was an awful, nasty rotten peach smell!”

Got it. Qiao Yunshen is severely allergic to peaches. A combination of his allergic reaction and susceptible period was affecting his mental state. He stared at me with a lovestruck smile on his devastatingly handsome face.

Bluntly, he said, “Hehehe, wife, I want a smooch.”

Remembering how he denied me a kiss earlier, I jabbed a finger at his forehead. Who knew that with one poke, he lost his balance and fell to the floor, landing with a hard thud on his bottom? Tears instantly welled up in his eyes like a flood. “Wife, you pushed me? You hit me?”

“Am I a victim of domestic violence now? I’m a big, strong tiger, but I’ve been domestically abused?” Qiao Yunshen scrambled up, furiously searching his phone before tossing it away in defeat. “No one cares about me. I’m going back to the Northeast! There’s no alpha domestic violence shelter here!”

Me: … But then I thought, maybe in this silly state, Qiao Yunshen would let his guard down. It might make it easier to find out the reason behind his strange fantasies. I gently coaxed him, “Just now, you said you’re a tiger. What kind of bird am I?”

Qiao Yunshen frowned slightly, clearly unwilling to answer. I kissed his cheek.

“Northeast Tiger,” Qiao Yunshen replied crisply, pointing at me. “And you’re a golden canary.”

He showed a nostalgic expression. “I miss those summers from hundreds of years ago, when we were free to roam. We played around in the forests of the Greater Khingan Mountains, and when we got hungry, we’d cross into the rainforest and pick bananas.”

Me: … Sometimes, it’s really hard to deal with a silly alpha.

“Canaries would freeze to death in the Greater Khingan Mountains, and tropical rainforests are ecosystems found near the equator. They wouldn’t be in temperate regions.”

“Qiao Yunshen, we’re humans, not animals. After the founding of the country, monsters were banned from revealing their true forms. Could you at least make your fantasies more realistic?”

Qiao Yunshen swatted my hand away stubbornly. “Hmph, if you don’t believe me, I’ll show you!”

Me: “Oh.”

No sooner had I spoken than a pair of brownish-yellow ears popped out from the top of Qiao Yunshen’s head, twitching amidst his black hair.

Wait, what? On a human head, a pair of furry, moving ears?

I stood there, my mouth agape. Qiao Yunshen grabbed my hand and placed it on top of his head. His furry ears were soft, warm, and real to the touch.

I was too shocked to speak. The alpha I had shared a bed with all this time was actually… a monster?

Someone who could grow animal ears while still behaving like a human—that’s definitely a monster, right?

Stammering, I said, “A t-tiger…”

Qiao Yunshen stared at my face and suddenly pulled me into a hug. “Yes, I’m a tiger. Your tiger is here.”

“Little Sparrow, I didn’t protect you well.”

I patted his back, trying to comfort him. “You’ve always protected me well.”

Qiao Yunshen shook his head fiercely, choking up. “On that black soil, I was king for hundreds of years. Humans brought you to me, and then they destroyed you right in front of my eyes.”

“Such a beautiful canary, everyone wanted to imprison you, to break you, to ruin you. But before they could, you were my precious treasure, held in my hands.”

Huh?

Qiao Yunshen clung to my shoulder, speaking incoherently about things I couldn’t understand. He sounded so sad. Unable to bear it, I injected a suppressant into his neck. As he drifted off to sleep, I laid him down on the bed and silently watched his peaceful face, my mind a complete mess.

Qiao Yunshen isn’t one to lie. Maybe I really was a bird?

But I definitely don’t remember swinging from vines in a rainforest, screaming while picking bananas for him.

So, the only thing I can really confirm is the baby in my belly.

Should I get another ultrasound and see if it’s an egg or an embryo? Ugh, this is too much. Having made up my mind, I opened the door.

But just as I opened it a crack, a powerful force yanked me out.

A sharp sting spread across my neck. The third male lead smirked mockingly as he tossed aside an empty vial. Wasn’t he supposed to be unconscious from Qiao Yunshen’s punch?

“It really is that canary, just with a different face.”