Chapter 59: A warning

Orion lowered his gaze and studied Bunny’s sleeping face with quiet concentration.

Arched brows, round eyes, thick and curled lashes, soft lips pressed tightly together—she seemed to be having some irritating dream.

She muttered a curse under her breath: "Dog thief."

Then she rolled over in his arms and continued sleeping.

Who that "dog thief" referred to could be guessed even with one’s toes.

The guide was truly adorable. Orion watched so intently that he could not even bear to blink. He was still savoring the bubbling, overflowing happiness from the moment she had kissed him earlier.

"What are you doing holding my wife?"

An unfriendly question suddenly cut through the air.

Orion looked up. Liam stood in the doorway, staring at him with a distinctly hostile expression.

Wonderful. Old grievances and new ones had now piled together.

Liam walked over and, for the first time, carefully examined this snake from head to toe.

It was a complete re-evaluation.

Back when Bunny had dragged him by the ear and forced him to apologize to Orion, he had already sensed that something was off.

Sure enough, seeing it with his own eyes today confirmed it—the bastard had already sneaked all the way into the house.

They were still in the training room and he was already openly holding her. If he ever got a real opportunity, he would probably strip naked and scramble into the bed on his own!

Pretty-boy types like this never amounted to any good. All they did was sneak around and steal what wasn’t theirs.

With a cold face, Liam yanked Bunny straight out of Orion’s arms.

"Is my wife someone you’re allowed to hold?"

Orion stared at his now-empty hands. Instant desolation crossed his features. Although he was extremely displeased, Liam was her exclusive sentinel. He had no real standing to fight over her here.

He formed signs with his hands: "She’s asleep. Don’t wake her."

With his free arm, Liam shoved him away hard. The exaggerated cluster of ear piercings caught the light with a cold gleam that matched his rigid attitude.

"Don’t play the good guy in front of me. I’m warning you—stay away from my wife from now on, or I’ll turn you into snake soup."

After dropping the threat, he carried the still-sleeping Bunny away without looking back, leaving Orion standing alone in place, at a complete loss.

He hadn’t even done anything, yet he already got a death threat. Still, he kind of understood it. A sentinel’s possessiveness ran deep—especially in a young, hot-blooded boy like Liam.

He didn’t even take Cyrus seriously, even though Cyrus was constantly setting traps to mess with him.

Liam’s talent was exceptionally high and his strength equally formidable. At only nineteen years old, he was an extremely rare genius-type fighter, which was why he had always been arrogant and dismissive of others.

As the lowest-ranked SS-level in the base and a mute, Orion’s presence had always been far weaker than that of his same-rank younger brother. Before this, Liam had belonged to the category of people who wouldn’t even spare him an extra glance.

Of course, if they were rivals in love, that was a different matter entirely.

Orion had always been taciturn within the squad, quietly playing the role of the peripheral figure who obeyed orders, accepted assignments, and never competed for anything.

By all rights, he should have continued enduring Liam’s unreasonable behavior—he had already endured it so many times before.

Yet this time, for the first time, a thought rose in him that he no longer wanted to endure it. Not when it came to her.

***

When Bunny woke up, she found herself lying on a soft bed. A heavy arm was draped across her waist, holding her tightly.

She frowned and pushed at the arm. The moment she moved, Liam behind her woke up.

"What are you doing? Who said you could get into my bed?"

He was bare from the waist up, wearing only trousers—and Bunny absolutely could not allow a man to climb into bed still wearing outer pants!!

The newly awakened Liam looked drowsy, his young voice carrying a faint childish softness, "Actually, this is my bed."

Only then did she remember that she had installed an iris lock on her own room—only she could enter.

Still, she refused to lose face at such an important moment. "Just because it’s your bed doesn’t mean you can wear outer pants on it! Get down!"

Liam didn’t care. Shamelessly, he pressed closer, demanding a hug.

"Get lost. You stink of sweat."

He propped his chin on one hand. "Bunny, are you talking about yourself?"

Only then did she realize she was still wearing the training uniform that had been thoroughly soaked in sweat. Good heavens—these people didn’t even mind how dirty she was!

She immediately tried to get up and return to her own room to shower, but Liam pulled her straight back down.

"You can’t go out right now."

"Why not?"

He blinked his thick, dark lashes. "Sentinels from another tower have arrived at the base. Don’t go out yet."

Although only five of them had come and their strength was far from matching this squad’s, none of them wanted Bunny to show her face.

Because between sentinel towers, it was possible to snatch a guide.

That particular rule did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Terra military.

She couldn’t stand her own sweat stench any longer. "I need to go back to my room and shower."

"Then shower here."

She refused. "I don’t have any of my clothes here."

"Wear mine then."

Unable to argue him down, she rolled out of bed. Just as she loosened her hair and started toward the bathroom, the ground suddenly vanished from beneath her feet.

She was scooped up horizontally into Liam’s arms. Under the light, the black fang tattoo across his chest seemed to glow faintly.

"What are you doing?"

He pressed the tip of his tongue against a canine and flashed her a "well-behaved" smile. "We’ll shower together."