Lin Wan’s breath hitched, her lungs suddenly feeling too small for the air in the cave. The golden eyes in the shadows didn’t blink. They were steady, luminous, and possessed a weight that felt like a physical pressure against her chest.

Weiwei? she thought frantically, her feet rooted to the spot. Is this a feral? A rogue? Tell me something!

The silence in her mind was absolute. Weiwei was truly gone into the background. She was on her own now.

"You are making a great deal of noise on a doorstep that does not belong to you, little female," a voice rumbled. It was deep, like the grinding of tectonic plates, vibrating through the stone walls and into the very soles of Lin Wan’s feet.

Lin Wan swallowed hard, her mind racing. Didn’t Wang say this valley was a neutral territory? That no one owned it? She thought of all the work they had put into the foundation and the mud-mix. If this man owned the land, it means they are trespassing.

The thought of packing up and dragging Wang away to search for a new home after he had already lost his tribe made her stomach twist.

"I... I am sorry," Lin Wan stammered, her voice echoing in the gloom. "My male and I... we thought this place was empty. We didn’t mean to intrude on your territory. My male is away gathering materials right now. As soon as he returns, we will leave. We won’t bother you anymore."

The golden eyes shifted. "Leave? After you have already scarred the earth with your strange circles and your stones?"

The shadow moved, and for a moment, Lin Wan thought the cave itself was walking. As the figure stepped closer to the faint light of the entrance, Lin Wan’s breath caught for an entirely different reason.

The man was colossal, at least six foot seven, but he wasn’t clumsy. He was built with a terrifying, heavy sturdiness, his shoulders broad enough to block out the light.

He wore nothing but a dark hide wrap, exposing a chest and arms that looked as though they had been carved from the mountain itself. Lin Wan’s eyes darted to his upper arms, then his chest, searching for the stripes that would tell her his rank.

There were none.

His skin was smooth, bronzed, and completely unmarked. For a second, Lin Wan felt a flicker of hope, was he a low-rank? Or no rank at all? But the inkling in her gut told her the opposite. The air around him didn’t just feel still; it felt subservient. This man didn’t have stripes because he had no need for stripes, he already outranked it.

The man walked past her, ignoring her fear as if she were a small bird. He stopped at the cave entrance and looked down at the blueprints Lin Wan had drawn into the dirt, the circles, the dome skeletal structure, the foundation lines, the finished look. He stared at them in silence for a long time, his expression unreadable.

Finally, he turned back to her. "I am called Qin Mo," he said. The hostility hadn’t vanished, but it had been replaced by a sharp, piercing curiosity. "You will not wait for your mate’s arrival in the dirt. Come inside."

Lin Wan hesitated, her eyes darting toward the treeline where Wang had disappeared. "I... I should stay here. Wang will be worried if he returns and I’m gone. He’s a bit... protective."

Qin Mo’s mouth twitched, a shadow of a smirk that didn’t reach his cold eyes. "The silver leopard? He will find you. No one enters my sanctuary without my permission, and no one leaves it without me knowing. If he wants you, he will come to my door, and ask of you." His words gave no room for refuting.

He turned and began walking deeper into the darkness of the cave.

Lin Wan realized then that she didn’t really have a choice. To refuse a man who looked like he could crush boulders with his bare hands seemed like a fast way to meet the Beast Gods early. She quickly reached out and grabbed her tote bag where it was kept hanging, gripping the strap so tight and followed him, her heart thumping a frantic rhythm against her ribs.

As they walked, the cave didn’t get tighter. Unlike what she had thought, It opened up. The air grew warmer, smelling of blooming jasmine and fresh rain. Ahead of them, a soft, ethereal light began to glow, growing brighter with every step they took.

When they finally emerged from the tunnel, Lin Wan stopped so abruptly she nearly tripped.

"Oh..." she whispered.

They weren’t in a cave anymore. They were in a caldera, a massive, hidden bowl inside the mountain that was open to the sky. It was a literal paradise. Fields of flowers she had never seen, shimmering blues and glowing golds, carpeted the ground. A river, as clear as liquid glass, bubbled through the center, filled with fish that glittered like jewels.

And in the center of the greenery stood a house. It wasn’t a stone nest or a mud hut. It was built of dark, polished wood, with intricate carvings and a sweeping roof that looked like the wings of a bird. It was magnificent, blending perfectly into the trees around it.

Lin Wan felt a surge of awe, followed quickly by a crushing sense of inadequacy. She had been so proud of her mud-and-grass ’cob’ house, but compared to this, her project was a child’s toy.

"This..." Lin Wan turned to Qin Mo, her eyes wide. "You built this?"

Qin Mo didn’t answer. He simply climbed the wooden steps and pushed open the heavy door, gesturing for her to enter. "The mountain provides for those who know how to listen, Wan’er."

As Lin Wan stepped onto the polished wooden floor, she realized she had just walked into the most beautiful, trap in the Beast Continent.

Being entranced by the grandeur in front of her, Lin Wan ignored the fact that he called her by her name.