Noah couldn’t help but once again remember the memories Blackie shared with him, and his two amber eyes moistened.

Before he could register what he was doing, he grabbed Levi’s chin and made the other face him. “I won’t die,” Noah proclaimed solemnly. ‘I really won’t die. I have Blackie.’

Blackie: (눈_눈) ‘Oh? Now you remember how useful this system is? Then how come I remember you constantly doubting this lord’s abilities and even asking for a mute button?’

Noah didn’t have the chance to continue his pledge because as soon as he made the first move, it was as if all hell broke loose.

As if a tight string had snapped within Levi, his previously motionless form abruptly enveloped Noah within his arms. His left arm wrapped around Noah’s waist and lower back, his hand stealthily gliding over Noah’s round bottom to rest on his hip. Meanwhile, his right arm slid over Noah’s back to press him into Levi’s hot, bare chest so tightly it was as if Levi wanted to embed the smaller body into his own.

Levi pressed his lips firmly shut to contain the urge to kiss his baby senseless, closed his eyes to prevent himself from being tempted by his baby’s alluringly pink cheeks. All that was left was his nose and the light, clean scent emanating from his baby. Levi buried his face in Noah’s fluffy hair and inhaled deeply.

Noah, whose face was now rubbing the smooth and hot skin of his brother-in-law’s bare chest, was justifiably both flustered and thunderstruck. All kinds of different feelings roiled inside of him chaotically until they could only come out in the form of a deep blush. However, what he felt more deeply than all of that, was heartache. How did he not realize just how sentimental and sensitive this outwardly cold brother-in-law actually was?

He liked Astar Levi, really liked him, but it would seem that the other liked him far more than that.

No, perhaps this wasn’t a question of like.

To Noah, Levi was someone whom he truly liked very, very much, but he didn’t need him.

However, to Levi, to this loner wolf whose world contained only a handful of people, Noah was an existence that he didn’t just like, but desperately needed.

“It’s a promise!” Noah’s muffled and nasally voice revibrated against Levi’s chest. “I really won’t die! I am not speaking empty words!”

Thinking the other might not believe his promise, Noah could only explain Blackie off as something else, “You know how you have a sharp instinct for danger?”

Noah felt Levi subtly nod, his nose brushing against Noah’s scalp. The soft and ticklish sensation made a shiver run down Noah’s spine.

Noah closed his eyes, trying to ignore the unfamiliar sensations coursing through him and concentrate on what he wished to convey to Levi. “I, too, have an instinct about these sorts of things.”

Noah couldn’t see Levi’s response, but he could intuitively feel his question.

“My instinct is telling me I won't die. That's why I'm not afraid. Even if death is staring me right in the eye.”

Levi’s right arm let go of Noah, and Noah took the opportunity to push himself away from Levi’s chest far enough to look up. “Do you think that surviving three terrorist attacks is all a lucky coincidence? It might look like that, but…”

…But would Levi let go of his precious this easily?

Noah’s eyes locked with Levi’s, and his voice abruptly died down.

Levi’s left arm still held Noah firmly inside his embrace. The other moved to pinch Noah’s chin, locking his head in place.

One looked up, the other looked down, their noses nearly touching.

Noah’s breath hitched in his throat, and his amber eyes widened into saucers.

Levi’s hot breath puffed against Noah’s lips, but it was his gaze that left Noah feeling like he had been singed.

Those pools of blue should have had either a calming or a chilling quality of water, but instead, they rippled like the stormy sea, about to swallow him whole.

“Mmm? You were saying?” When Levi’s deep and husky voice reached Noah’s ears, an uncontrollable shudder shot through his body.

The callused fingers pinching his chin were comfortably warm, yet the places they touched burned. Their rough texture stimulated all of Noah’s senses. Strong but gentle. Coarse yet comfortable.

It became hard to find his voice, “As-as-as I was saying…” Noah’s stuttered, “It-it might look like-like a coincidence… but… but…”

“Mn?” Noah felt Levi’s murmur revibrate, the rumble passing from Levi’s naked chest to his own hands. Noah forgot to breathe, he shrunk his pink neck, trying to hide his burning face, but Levi refused to let go.

Feeling cornered, panicked, and confused, Noah pushed against Levi’s sturdy chest, but the sensation of his fingers sliding over those smooth muscles only made his mind go into an even more exaggerated frenzy. He struggled to break free like a fish caught in a net, frantically trying to widen the distance, desperately searching for his voice, but his thoughts were a jumbled mess impossible to be voiced with words.

His flustered yet helpless state woke up every predatory instinct in Levi’s body. His breaths grew heavy, his blood restless. His boxers grew tight, and the blanket covering them could no longer hide what was underneath.

The friction caused by his darling’s wiggling sent tingles of pleasure down his spine, like gentle gusts of breeze, only serving to further stoke the flames.

Ah, he knew that lying in the same bed with his baby could only lead to a single outcome.

Yet he still wasn’t willing to pass on this opportunity to get closer to his darling.

Levi felt his baby’s soft fingers press against his chest, inadvertently touching everywhere in his desperate attempts to push him away. Every single piece of skin graced by those ten slender fingers itched as if ticked by a feather. Those white hands left trails of scorching heat in their wake, the kind of heat that was both immensely pleasurable and yet at the same time, so very unbearable.

It wasn’t enough! He needed those fingers to touch him, but not there! That wasn’t the right spot!

Recognizing that he was on the verge of snapping, his reason mere moments away from going offline, Levi used the last vestiges of his self-control to let go of the delicious meal in his arms.

As soon as his hold loosened, Noah pushed himself out of his arms.

Levi grasped the blanket covering his lower half, hiding his trembling fingers beneath while simultaneously giving the bulge another explanation – ‘not my dick, but just my fists’.

With Levi’s long fingers no longer rubbing against his chin and his own fingers no longer feeling the sexy lines of the other’s muscles, Noah felt like he could breathe again. His wide limpid eyes darted around, looking everywhere but at Levi, every visible inch of his skin pink like it had been steamed.