Wolf

"Are you letting her go just like this, Sire?"

Jun Fengmian voiced his thoughts in wary when he saw the conflicted gaze in Jun Yihan's eyes.

"I'm not." Jun Yihan glanced towards him, "But she shall come to me if she deems me worthy."

With his power alone, if Jun Yihan ever wanted to take her away by force, then nobody could stop him. He could lock her away and make her his priceless treasure, hidden away from everyone else but him. He could do so if he wished, but Jun Yihan would never even consider seizing her by force.

He wanted Bai Ruoxi to love him on her will, not because she had to or because he wanted her to.

Jun Yihan believed if he tried, one day she would bear for him the same feelings she once had towards Gu Yin, or maybe, even deeper.

Later in the evening, Bai Wangshu finally stepped up onto the stage and gave quite a long speech about the history of Bai & Li Enterprise. He talked about how his wife and him had singlehandedly built their company from scratch.

By doing so, he was also indirectly drawing a line towards the four clans. Bai Wangshu wanted to make it clear that he had no intentions of seeking help nor wanted to associate with them.

Jun Fengmian frowned when he heard Bai Wangshu's subtle yet outspoken comments. But that was the most he could do regardless of how he disliked it. He couldn't possibly lay a hand on Bai Ruoxi's family.

After a few more minutes of talking, Bai Wangshu finally called his granddaughter up the stage.

It went without a saying that a certain nonchalant man's cold eyes immediately flickered when his eyes once more caught the sight of Bai Ruoxi. He followed her every step as she stood up from her seat and gracefully walked onto the stage.

"Xi'er, you're so big now, it felt like it was just yesterday when you crawled up to my laps and fell asleep." Bai Wangshu's sentence brought laughter to the whole room, yet Bai Ruoxi could only shake her head in embarrassment.

"With this coming of age ceremony, I'm glad to announce that Bai Ruoxi will be succeeding Bai & Li Enterprise. And starting from today onwards she will be taking the lead as the CEO."

Murmurs and chatters immediately spread across the room along with faces who bluntly expressed their disbelief.

"Chairman Bai, how could you decide it by yourself?! This isn't a light matter and needs further discussion!" A man stood up and voiced his thoughts loudly. He was one of the board members and the uncle to Bai & Li Enterprise's current CEO.

Bai Wangshu glanced towards him, "Well, Mr. Zhao, I hope you didn't forget that it is still the Bai's who own nearly sixty percent of the company shares, so technically, this company is ours. We have the right to do as we pleased."

His remark immediately caught President Zhao tongue-tied. Although Bai Wangshu sounded unreasonable, he was entirely correct. The Bai Family owned Bai & Li Enterprise after all.

After the hall quieted down, Bai Shizhen proceeded to hand the diamond key pendant to Bai Ruoxi, officially marking her an adult and also the successor.

Bai Ruoxi was about to give her speech when she suddenly felt goosebumps arose on her skin.

Her eyes immediately darted around in search of the uncomfortable source of gaze but she found none.

"That's her? The one Jun Yihan is obsessed with?"

Two shadows were perfectly hidden in the further side of the festive lawn, their eyes slightly narrowed to get a better sight of the woman.

"Her looks are above average, but still, she's not worthy of him. Furthermore... do you smell it?"

"Yes, I do." The other man stuck out his snake-like tongue and licked his lips. "She reeks of a wolf."

"Who reeks of a wolf?"

A sudden cold voice was heard from their backs. The two startled men immediately jumped forward, distancing themselves from him.

"Who are you?!" The man hissed. It was impossible that someone managed to sneak behind their back without them realizing. If he did, it only meant one thing.

His power was superior!

"Ah, turtles." The mysterious man perked up the side of his lips, forming a smirk full of mockery. "Seems like the lots of you do have a hobby in poking your necks into other people's business, hmm? Shall I flip you on your back?"

"Curse you!"

One of the men launched forward in rage. But before he even managed to take a step closer, a dagger had already pierced through his forehead.

"Xia Jianhong!"

The other man cried out, but before he managed to do anything, a dagger had also landed on his temple. He then fell back as his companion did.

The mysterious man stepped out from the shadow and let moonlight shone on his face. A pair of chilling golden eyes flickered dangerously. "Nobody is allowed to let the wolf out of its cage--" a smirk bloomed on his lips. "--yet."

"Are you done?"

A sudden chilling voice rang, causing the man to turn around cautiously.

"Young Master Jun," the man called before slightly nodding his head. "I'm done."

Jun Yihan narrowed his eyes and scrutinize the person in front of him. His lips were a thin line before he finally parted them, "Why are you here?"

The man averted his eyes, "Can't I be here?"

Jun Yihan ignored his words, "They ordered you to kill her."

The man was silent. He opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "But I won't, that's why I need to take her away."

"Why?" Anger was vivid in Jun Yihan's voice.

"You know damn well why, Jun Yihan!" He snapped.

Unknown to those outside of the four clans, the underworld had-- or used to have another ruler. They called themselves the wolves belonging to Guardians.

They didn't associate themselves with everyone nor accepted help from anyone. The Guardians were intelligent and fierce, but they were loyal and independent. They had lived truly as wolves.

But decades ago, all of them suddenly vanished. There wasn't anything left belonging to the wolves that the four clans could find. It was truly as if they were never even there.

But then, Jun Yihan found him.

According to him, the wolves were told a prophecy regarding their extinction, thus had they gone into hiding. And the cause of their demise was to be... Bai Ruoxi.