The Villain Saves The Male Lead

Ren remained untraceable for a week and no one knew where he was. His phone was off, he didn't respond to emails, his credit cards weren't used at all and after using all their sources to investigate where he could possibly have gone from the airport - Pax and Wolf were able to find out that Ren had chartered an aircraft to an island on the other side of the world. The island was remote and not well connected to any mainland. Wolf had gone off to the island to look for Ren, but it seemed that he'd left the island within a few hours of his arrival. After three days of searching meticulously, Wolf found the boatman who had ferried Ren to another island nearby. Wolf followed the trace and was led into a merry wild goose chase for several days until he finally located Ren in a small village in the dry, arid and oil-rich Sand Country, happily discussing a business deal with the ruling monarch over a luxurious meal.

Wolf was apoplectic with rage, but restrained himself from rushing in and beating up the errant Ren and destroying his business deal. If he really did that, his twin brother Pax would definitely beat him up. Sometimes he thought that Pax cared more about Sirocco than Ren himself!

So, Wolf reported to Pax that he'd managed to locate Ren and the said man was currently discussing a business deal in Sand Country.

"What do you want to do?" Wolf asked.

"Just observe him," Pax said. "If he looks like he's taking proper care of himself, don't take any action until I call back. I'll discuss the situation with Fang."

"All right," Wolf said, feeling a bit of distress for Fang. The boy was not only his disciple, but also like a little brother to him. Fang was insecure at the best of times, and with Ren running away like this...the poor kid must be heartbroken...and out of his mind with worry.

Wolf huffed. He really wanted to teach Ren a lesson. What if something had happened to Fang while this idiot Ren was off sulking?!

Fang, on the other hand, was faring better than Wolf expected. He was visiting a psychiatrist and a therapist, and in just a week, he found that his psyche was much more stable than before. He could calmly reflect on his earlier actions and he could appreciate Ren's tolerance even more now.

Snow, Smoke and Shadow had taken to clinging to Fang these days, as if worried that this parent might abandon them as well. However, since they had absorbed Ren's magic, they could feel that Ren was all right and not in any danger at the time, no matter what the distance. In their clumsy, baby words, since they hadn't grown enough to form complicated sentences yet, they managed to convey to Fang and Pax that Ren was far but ok, and that they couldn't pinpoint his location, but they would probably be able to do so when they grew bigger and absorbed more magic from Ren.

Fang smiled bitterly. He had offered his own magic to the fur babies, but they had rejected him, saying his magic was too little at the moment and he needed to power up. Fang had also managed to check Pax for magic, like Ren had done for him, and Pax indeed had some. Fang thought that since Wolf was Pax's twin brother, chances were that Wolf, too, had some magic.

"Are you really all right?" Pax asked Fang with a frown.

Fang had been calm and collected the entire time, going for his therapy sessions and going to school...and continuing his training as well. He did everything he was supposed to do. He even ate properly and from the lack of dark bags under his eyes, Pax surmised that he was at least getting some sleep. It was only much later that he would learn that Fang's restful sleep could be attributed to the three magical furballs that had somehow some into their lives and stolen their hearts.

Fang himself was quite surprised at how level headed he was, given the situation. If this had been before his therapy, he was sure that he would imagine that Ren was fed up of him and wanted to abandon him and had this run off. However, now he guessed that Ren was probably just sulking and would return when he felt better. It was also possible that Ren didn't want to negatively affect Fang because everyone knew that Ren's foul mood had the biggest impact on Fang and would often cause him to drown in a pool of anxiety.

The only thing that hurt Fang was that Ren didn't even try to find out how Fang was doing. A few months ago, if Ren had disappeared like this, Fang would likely have tried to kill himself. But now...was Ren so confident that Fang wouldn't try to harm himself? Or was it that he was confident that Pax and Wolf and Steward Paul and Dr. Gordon and the others would keep an eye on him? Or that Snow, Smoke and Shadow would cling to Fang and make him feel better?

Or... perhaps Ren couldn't bring himself to care about Fang's welfare anymore, Fang thought wryly. He'd certainly troubled Ren enough. Had it been anyone else, they would have abandoned Fang a long time ago - in fact, until he met Ren, hadn't Fang been abandoned over and over again? Shouldn't he be used to it by now?

Almost unconsciously, Fang's hand inched towards the fruit knife on the table in front of him. He picked it up in a daze, and brought it against his wrist. But the moment the knife touched his skin, there was a flash of gold and the knife bounced off.

Shocked, Fang got up from his seat and went to pick up the knife from the floor. He tried again, with the same result.. He tried several times, aiming at different parts of his body, but the knife kept bouncing off. He couldn't even scratch himself!