"No. That was not my resolution." Ming Tao let out in a soft breath. In fact, he stayed away from mating with her for a long time even though Mira hinted countless times that she wanted to.

He had his reasons, one of them being the council meeting but he also needed to have a clear mind when dealing with matters concerning the two of them. He needed to know his actions was not as a result of lust but out of love. He needed to know he had changed fully and not only had it in his head.

He also needed to connect with Mira deeply. Ming Tao knew he was an emotional being and while mating would be freaking awesome for him whether it was imbued in emotional attachment or not, he wanted to fill that hole he had in his heart. A hole she created. And their first ight together was a history he would never forget. He would carve it into wooden boards and keep it sacred like a testament, just when all of this was over.

Jia Hao noticed Ming Tao’s face flush even more. The cheetah was silent yet was turning red. Jia Hao used his elbow to knock Ming Tao’s side. Not with too much force that it was painful but with enough force to make him feel the body contact.

Ming Tao grunted. He pulled a hand to his side. "What was that for?" He asked, the blood wine still lingered in his tongue.

"No dirty thoughts about my wife when I’m here." Jia Hao warned mockingly.

Ming Tao rolled his eyes and in a short while, the two of them began to laugh. This was nice, existing here without any worry was nice. Ming Tao never knew Jia Hao would forgive him after what he did but here he was in his own clan lands. Ming Tao felt glad and honoured.

"So tell me, why did you come? While I do enjoy your presence, seeing you was baffling." Ming Tao worded amidst laughter. The laughter was drifting to an end into cheerful communication.

"What? Want me to go already?" Jia Hao teased.

"Not at all. Just curious." Ming Tao stated. He understood the tease but chose to ignore it.

"Why? You do not think that I have traveled through several lands to come and pay you a visit? To see you?" Jia Hao had this dramatic tone in his voice that signalled he was jesting.

"Even with an arrow to my head, I would not believe that lie and accept it." Ming Tao uttered. This made Jia Hao burst out laughing.

"You underestimate me, Mighty cheetah." Jia Hao said.

"And you forget how much I know you, Lion King." Ming Tao responded. The two of them were going band for band in this banter and they both knew it would amount to no end if they continued. Two males could mess with each other with sugary words if they deemed it and these two were very well versed in the arts of talking like honey.

Jia Hao placed a flat hand on his chest like he had just been stabbed and made a face to carry the dramatic effect. "Oof. My heart is bleeding with such doubt."

Ming Tao placed a hand around his neck like it had been slit open with a spear and made choking noises. "And I am dead." He humoured. The two of them stopped to look at each other for a slight second and none of them could take this seriously. They laughed again, harder this time. Anyone seeing them would assume they were drunk with wine but neither of them were drunk, one was just half full while the other had eaten up to his neck.

The laughter ceased gradually and they became serious again. "Really, why have you graced me with your visit?" Ming Tao asked.

"I wanted to spend some time with my wife." Jia Hao confessed. "The cubs are ranting in my ears about seeing their mother and I wanted to come here myself first and seek your person before bringing the family."

"You could have sent any of your subjects for that, why does the Lion King bother himself with such task?" Ming Tao queried.

Jia Hao sighed, he believed he answered that question with the first statement he said but he repeated himself. "I wanted to see how she was doing myself not through the words of someone else."

"Did you fear that I would maltreat her?" Ming Tao asked with a raised brow. There was no firmness in his voice, just plain curiosity.

"Far from it. I thought of nothing. But after what I have seen so far, I must say that I am proud to have you as her other half." Jia Hao placed his hand over Ming Tao’s shoulder, leaning his arm over one shoulder and behind his neck till it fell on the other shoulder.

"Technically, I’m the second-fifth." Ming Tao muttered.

Jia Hao shrugged. "To-ma-to, to-mah-to." He said.

This made Ming Hao grin. "Thank you. I’m glad you can feel safe knowing she is with me. And please, I will be delighted to have your entire family here. When the time reaches that you choose to pay us a visit, send messengers to me first, I will arrange for some of my strongest warriors to accompany you on your return for extra aid. We want our true borns escorted safely."

Jia Hao stared at Ming Tao for a long second. The cheetah had no slight clue that his own child would be arriving soon. "Thank you." Jia Hao said.

"My pleasure." Ming Tao responded. Now, there was silence between them. Jia Hao scanned the environment with his eyes. He had been too invested in his conversation with Ming Tao that he got carried away before.

"I will be leaving soon. Most likely tomorrow morning." Jia Hao said.

Ming Tao turned to face him, removing Jia Hap’s hand from resting over his shoulders in the process. "Why so soon? You just arrived here." Ming Tao asked. Panic was in his voice. He wondered if there was something in his coat that chased Jia Hao away.

"I have urgent matters to take care of and I can see I won’t be needed here as much as I thought I would be." Jia Hao proclaimed, Mira was in good hands with Ming Tao and he was delighted to witness that first hand. "I will be back however. I am just not sure when." Jia Hao finished his statement.

Ming Tao sighed. "Whatever it is you have to do, I wish you the best." The ends of his lips made a curve. "Genuinely."

"Thank you." Jia Hao responded. He would break the news to Mira too before the night ended, but only after Mira had done what she was supposed to do. "And you too." Jia Hao added immediately. "Congratulations."

Ming Tao’s brows furrowed. He did not understand. "For what?" He asked.

"Everything. I have heard of something that will put an end to a crisis. That is huge." Jia Hao said to him. There was more to that of course, but that was for Mira to tell him.

"That is a massive thing we cheetahs yearn for and we still do not know how it will be but thank you." Ming Tao murmured. "It will be a blessing for generations to come if it succeeds and we will have no one but our wife to thank. She is the reason we have something to hope for. Without her, it would have been a lost cause with nothing to do to stop it." No one had ever really spoken about this crisis for years but it had worried the cheetah clan. Before, it was manageable and they were able to live through it but as the years progressed as the seasons constantly changed, the crisis became too much of an issue to ignore. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

This season would have been the worst for the cheetah clan so far, so it was truly a Miracle to have Mira bring something to serve as a solution. And everyone really wanted it to work. It had to.

Ming Tao let out a sigh, this was not something he had discussed with any of the ruling leaders in the beast world before, it was always a topic within his council.

"She truly is someone worth having by your side." Jia Hao thought aloud. This new her was by far the best thing. He could not understand it but he loved being with Mira. She knew how to complete a broken piece so effortlessly. "Ming Tao," Jia Hao called. His tone was serious and his face was firm. Ming Tao looked at the man whose entire facial expression and tone changed in an instant.

"Yes?" Ming Tao asked.

"I need to tell you something. Something serious. And I think it may be the answer to the problem your faced this morning." Jia Hao said.