The Villain Saves The Male Lead

When Ren came to, he was in his own bed at home, with an anxious Fang sitting next to him and the three furballs clinging to him. Pax sat a little further away, his face dark and gloomy as he continued to type furiously on his laptop.

"You're up...?" Fang asked hoarsely as soon as he saw Ren's eyelids flutter open.

Ren felt a bit guilty at the sight of Fang's reddened eyes.

"Hey," he said softly. He tried to lift his arm and caress Fang's face, but found he couldn't move at all.

Ren frowned. "What happened?" he asked.

Pax came over. "You fainted in office three days ago," he told Ren. "There's seemingly nothing wrong with you, but you wouldn't wake up no matter what we tried. Fang and your fur babies have been worried out of their minds."

"Sorry," Ren said. "I don't know what's wrong...why can't I move?"

From the horrified looks on Pax and Fang's faces, Ren figured out that no one had expected that.

"I'll fetch Dr. Gordon," Pax said and rushed out of the room.

Fang grabbed Ren's hand. "You can't move at all?" he asked. "Can you feel my hand?"

Ren smiled comfortingly. "I can feel all my limbs, and your hand is a bit cold, my little darling. I think I'm a little too tired to move."

Fang burst into tears.

Ren couldn't bear it. Fang's distress was the ont thing that he hated most in this world, and knowing that he was the cause Fang's distress right now made him feel even worse.

Ren gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, trying to make his lethargic body move. With a monumental effort, he finally managed to sit up and pull Fang into a hug.

"You can move?! Were you just scaring me right now?!" Fang cried, shocked and angry.

Ren shook his head. "I just couldn't bear to see you cry," he whispered.

"I'm going to sit in front of you and cry everyday if that's what it takes to keep you awake," Fang muttered.

"Please don't," Ren pleaded. "I'll die of heartache if I make you cry everyday, my little darling."

"Then you have to get better," Fang told him. "I won't cry if you're healthy and happy."

Ren kissed his brow. "I'll do my best," he promised.

Fang frowned. "Dr. Gordon couldn't find anything. He said you're physically fine...so your illness...could it be related to magic?" he asked quietly.

Ren frowned as well and felt around for the magic in his body. A sudden surge of power nearly made him faint again. He'd never had a magic surge like this before...but he thought Fang's guess was likely to be correct.

The magic within him soared to a level that his weak body couldn't bear. In his previous life, he'd had a body tempered with nutrients and magical ingredients since childhood to be able to contain his power...but he'd forgotten that this wasn't his original body, no matter how similar they looked.

Ren felt something warm drip out of his nose and ears, and from Fang's horrified reaction, he could guess it was blood.

Snow, Smoke and Shadow jumped on Ren's chest and bit him hard, drawing blood. Ren couldn't summon any energy to throw them off...plus he thought that the fur babies were angry.

However, the magic flooding his veins and threatening to consume him subsided suddenly. The three furballs glowed and grew a little bigger, their eyes shining.

Daddy.

A small, kittenish voice spoke in Ren's head. He was astounded.

"Snow?!" he cried.

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!!

Two more excited childish voices spoke up in his mind.

"Smoke? Shadow? You guys...you can speak?!" Ren cried in shock. He'd never seen or heard of such a thing!

The three furballs looked up at him smugly.

Feel better, Daddy?

And that's when Ren realised that the magic surge was no longer hurting him. Had the three furballs absorbed his magic to help him?

"I do feel a lot better, my little ones," Ren said, rubbing their heads with gentle fingers.

We ate extra magic.

Tasty!

Ren could now distinguish which furball was speaking. Snow, although the youngest, spoke the best in a sweet kittenish voice laced with the inherent dignity of a feline. Smoke was the more sensible childish voice explaining what they'd done, and Shadow was just... simply childish.

Ren pinched himself hard, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. The resulting pain assured him that not only was he wide awake, but his exhaustion had completely disappeared.

Fang was staring at them with his mouth hanging open. "What happened? Why were you suddenly bleeding? Why did our babies grow bigger just now?"

Papa, Papa, Papa!

Fang was as shocked as Ren when the two puppies and the kitten clamoured in his head.

Ren and Fang looked at each other, shock and delight warring for dominance on their faces. Ren quickly explained what he had figured out had happened.

"You were right," Ren told Fang. "This body isn't fit enough to contain my magic."

Fang frowned again. "So... everytime you go into this sort of magic... overload...mode, Snow, Smoke and Shadow can absorb it?"

Ren shrugged. "I suppose so. No harm, right?" He grinned. "Our babies can now speak with us!"

Pax returned with Dr. Gordon just then.

Uncle Pax! Treat!

Shadow called happily. He was already displaying himself to be quite a glutton! It was not that Smoke and Snow were far behind - it was just that Snow liked to behave in a dignified manner and Smoke tended to be more serious than his twin, that's all.

Pax froze and shook his head as if to clear it. Ren and Fang exchanged an amused look and burst out laughing.

"You aren't hearing things," Ren said to Pax. "Our little Shadow just asked you for a treat."

Pax was gobsmacked. "How...? What...?! How's that even possible?!"

Ren smiled enigmatically and winked at him.