Chapter 24: Snow Leopard Foot Warmer

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Baby… did he just give me a new name?

“Did that strange uncle scare you just now?” Lu Yao’s voice, softened by his sideways position, no longer carried its usual cold and flat tone. It came warm and gentle, like the touch of a plush pillow. “Let’s ignore him. We’ll just turn the temperature down so you don’t get too hot and start shedding fur.”

But Lu Yao would end up feeling cold. The snow leopard gave a worried whimper, twisting his body as though to refuse. Yet Lu Yao pulled him into his arms and held him tightly, the leopard’s paws pressed against his chest.

When he noticed the leopard’s hind legs still kicking with surprising strength, Lu Yao slid one leg out from under the blanket, bent it, and pressed it lightly over the snow leopard to pin him down. At last, the great cat went quiet.

The air outside the blanket was cool, but the leopard’s body was so warm that, pressed against his skin through his pajama pants, Lu Yao no longer felt chilled. He kept one arm wrapped around the snow leopard and his leg braced over him, trapping the cat snugly in his embrace. Reaching out with his free arm, he summoned the smart control screen behind the snow leopard and lowered the room’s temperature to sixty-one degrees before breathing out and nuzzling his cheek against the leopard’s neck.

The snow leopard’s temper was far steadier than the kittens Lu Yao had raised in the past. If he had dared to force a brand-new cat into cuddles and kisses back then, he would have been clawed for sure.

What Lu Yao thought of as well-behaved, however, left Zhou Yunchen completely frozen. Lu Yao was hugging him. Lu Yao’s leg was locking him in place. Lu Yao had buried his face against his neck, rubbing against him.

The faint fragrance surrounding Zhou Yunchen carried a subtle sweetness, as though tinged with fever-warm air. With Lu Yao’s knee pressing against his stomach, rising and falling with each breath, Zhou Yunchen no longer knew how he was supposed to breathe himself.

“Purr… purr-rumble… rr.” The big cat’s rumble came out broken and uneven.

Lu Yao shifted, pushing his face into the thick fur at the snow leopard’s chest and drawing in a deep breath. His sense of smell had failed him—he couldn’t actually scent anything. But sniffing a cat was about the act itself. Whether or not he could smell anything hardly mattered. What counted was doing it with the right amount of reverence.

Warmth seemed to rush into his nose, setting his fevered head burning even hotter, though his spirit eased and grew calm. Sniffing a cat was good. Sniffing a cat was wonderful. Sniffing a cat…

Zhou Yunchen realized that the omega nuzzling and burrowing into his chest, nearly blowing his brain into sparks, had finally gone still. On instinct, he tilted his head and brushed his forehead against Lu Yao’s. When he realized what he had just done, he immediately drew back in a panic—only to see that Lu Yao had fallen asleep again.

Since he was asleep… maybe… maybe just one more touch wouldn’t hurt. Surely Lu Yao wouldn’t notice. Cautiously, the snow leopard lowered his chin and rubbed against the crown of Lu Yao’s head.

Lu Yao slept straight through to nightfall. When he woke, the snow leopard was still nestled obediently in his arms, with no sign of wanting to escape. He rubbed the cat’s ears, rising from bed to the sound of a soft whimper. Taking his temperature, he found it still at 100.2°F. His fever hadn’t fully broken, even though the medicine should have worked by now.

Puzzled, Lu Yao frowned. He washed up, straightened himself out, and even pushed a tube of nutrient solution into his system, preparing to give himself another shot of antipyretic. But when he checked again, his temperature had already dropped.

Looking back at the snow leopard stretched neatly across the bed, he remembered that cats carried naturally higher body heat than humans. Holding the leopard in his sleep must have transferred some of that warmth to him.

Crossing the room, he rubbed the big cat’s head before leaving the bedroom for his study. Deus had sent him a report that needed his review.

The moment he sat down at his desk, he heard the soft thud of leopard paws tapping against the metal floor. He turned and found his great cat padding toward him with a blanket clutched in his jaws. Meeting Lu Yao’s gaze, the leopard stopped at the doorway and sat down obediently.

A second later came the quick patter of smaller paws. Torque darted in with a plaintive meow, squeezing between the leopard and the doorframe before bounding across the room and leaping onto Lu Yao’s lap.

Lu Yao stroked the kitten’s back but kept his eyes on the blanket in the leopard’s mouth. He beckoned. “Come here.”

The leopard padded forward and laid the blanket in Lu Yao’s hands. He hadn’t dressed after getting out of bed, and the chill was setting in. But how had a cat, never taught, known that his master was cold enough to need a blanket?

Lu Yao draped it over his shoulders, warm and soft, then tapped the leopard’s pink nose. “Good boy. What are you, a spirit in disguise? Going to turn into a person next?”

Even knowing it was a joke, the snow leopard stiffened and settled silently at Lu Yao’s side. Warmed again, Lu Yao returned to his work, lifting Torque from the desk and placing him gently on the floor.

“Meow…” Torque’s voice came out thin and pitiful.

But Lu Yao was already working, his heart firm as iron against the kitten’s charms. After all that effort to reach him, Torque had only earned a few pets. Now he glared through the gap between the chair legs at the great leopard who had stolen Lu Yao’s attention.

The snow leopard blinked his pale gray eyes, serene and unbothered. Slowly, he was beginning to understand how to draw Lu Yao’s gaze without lowering himself to quarrel with kittens.

Just as Torque was about to give up, Lu Yao slipped one bare foot beneath the leopard’s thick fur. His toes were icy, and when he discovered the warmth of the cat’s belly, he tucked both feet into that perfect heater, swiveling his chair toward the leopard without ever lifting his eyes from the glowing report on the screen.

Lu Yao seemed to do it all unconsciously, his focus still entirely on his work.

But Zhou Yunchen… Zhou Yunchen stared at Lu Yao’s smooth, delicate ankles, then lifted his gaze to the flawless jawline gleaming in the light. He felt himself melting into the floor, a puddle of flattened leopard. And Lu Yao idly kneaded that puddle beneath his toes, soft and pliant.

Author’s Note:

Lu Yao: (My feet are warm. Very comfortable.)

Zhou Yunchen: (My spouse is stepping on me. Perfect.)

 

 

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