Yuche’s blood was boiling.

Which was honestly inconvenient considering the situation he was now finding himself in. But the picture of Rouxi straddling him like that in the back seat, feeling the head of the body pressing hard against his cock?

Yeah, that was living rent free in his head. Probably for the rest of his life.

Zombies were dragging themselves across the highway toward them, the air smelled like blood and rotting flesh, and somewhere in the middle of all that, he was standing there with a hard on that refused to go away no matter what he did.

And the worst part was that he knew that she knew what she was doing.

The little smirk she had given him before climbing out of the SUV, pressing even more against his chest, whispering in his ear.... it all proved that she knew the effect she had on him.

And somehow, he didn’t mind nearly as much as he normally did.

Yuche swallowed hard as he watched her stroll toward the horde like she was taking a Sunday walk through a park instead of heading straight into a wall of undead monsters. The zombies surged faster the closer she got, their bodies jerking and stumbling over each other while the little monster vine tore through them in flashes of green.

She didn’t even flinch.

The vines coming from her hands moved differently than the baby’s did. Bigger. Sharper. With what looked to be hundreds of thinner strands of green shotting from the center of her palms before spearing directly through skulls with wet cracking sounds.

Zombies collapsed around her one after another, their bodies hitting the pavement almost casually while she kept walking forward.

Like none of this mattered.

Like she had done this a thousand times before.

"Jesus Christ," Lingyun breathed softly from beside the SUV.

Yuche didn’t answer.

Because for the first time since the apocalypse started, he understood exactly how wrong all of them had been.

They thought they were protecting Rouxi from the outside world.

Meanwhile it was the outside world that should have been terrified of her.

One of the zombies managed to get close enough to swing at her from the side. A thick vine erupted directly from the pavement beneath it, wrapped around its throat, and ripped the entire upper half of the corpse backward hard enough that the spine snapped.

Rouxi wrinkled her nose.

"I don’t like to be touched," she muttered at the twitching remains before stepping over the body without slowing down.

Yuche’s mouth twitched.

God.

She was amazing.

"That’s not my Rouxi," Zhenlan murmured softly from beside him, his hands curling into tight fists as they continued watching her dominate the highway.

"Good," replied Yuche, his voice just as soft as his eyes continued to track the woman in front of him. He adjusted himself slightly through his pants before moving forward, no longer able to stay away. "Then you can watch me make her mine."

The growl that left Zhenlan’s chest was low enough that most people probably wouldn’t have noticed it.

But Yuche did.

Before the older man could say anything else, Yuche was already gone.

He strolled toward the woman who somehow had four dangerous men completely twisted around her fingers without even trying. The zombies noticed him immediately, several turning away from Rouxi to lunge in his direction.

One of them made it three steps before Yuche grabbed its skull with one hand and slammed it hard enough into the side of an abandoned car that the entire window shattered.

The body dropped.

Another zombie came from the left and Yuche drove his fist straight through its chest almost absently, his attention never fully leaving Rouxi.

Interesting. He wasn’t even a fighting type, but he was strong enough to win without needing to tap into his metal powers.

-------

"I hate playing catch up," announced Lingyun from where he stood beside Zhenlan, taking Yuche’s spot when the other man had left. He stretched his neck from side to side like he was trying to work out a cramp even as his eyes stayed glued to Rouxi’s back.

The easy smile he always wore around her was completely gone now as bloodlust rolled off him in waves that were so heavily that even the nearby zombies reacted to it instinctively.

Somewhere along the way, the younger man had pulled two blades seemingly out of nowhere.

Zhenlan had no idea where they came from.

"Don’t worry about your ward," Lingyun added casually as he walked past Zhenlan toward the highway. "I’ll be sure to take very good care of her."

Then he disappeared into the zombies.

The change was immediate.

Lingyun normally fought like someone having the time of his life.

Fast movements, laughing, talking shit even in the middle of dangerous situations. But the man carving his way through zombies now looked cold. Efficient. The blades in his hands flashed a fiery red color every time they moved like his powers were making the blades come to life.

He was severing limbs and heads so quickly that several bodies didn’t seem to realize they were dead... again... yet.

Zhenlan stared at the scene unfolding in front of him and felt something ugly twist in his chest.

He hated this feeling.

Not because Rouxi was strong.

No.

Because the woman walking through the horde wasn’t the little girl he remembered anymore.

That Rouxi had worn pretty pink dresses, was spoiled, but never really pushed for more than he was willing to give. She threw temper tantrums because she understood that she was safe and could get away with it.

He knew he was too overprotective of her, but every time he saw her with one of her boyfriends, and she had a lot, it was like a punch to his heart. There was one that had become abusive and he had taken care of it before the police could, but for the most part, he had stayed back and let her live her life.

That was where the pool house came in. A place that was far enough away to help his possessiveness but close enough to keep her safe.

But this Rouxi, the one in front of him, was different.

She was confident. Dangerous. Like a flame that would burn him if he got too close. But looking at her now, in her element? He was more than willing to be burned.

And the thoughts he was having now compared to the ones he used to bury deep in his chest?

Night and day different.

He had no idea when it happened, how it happened... and he didn’t know where to go from here..

"I don’t like this," Chenghai murmured beside him quietly.

Zhenlan dragged his gaze away from Rouxi long enough to glance at the other man. "Which part?"

"All of it."