The afternoon sun hung low in the sky when Parker arrived back at his home to find Bai Qingqing outside with another female. He did not recognize the other. He did notice that there were no dots covering up Bai Qingqings beauty. "Didn't I say not to remove those?!" He hissed.

Bai Qingqing cowered. "I'm sorry, but Chia-"

-SMACK-

Bai Qingqing looked up to see Chiaki standing right in-front of Parker, who had a bright red hand print on his cheek. "Bastard!"

"What?" He was shocked, this female had slapped him. Slapped him hard.

"You have no right to tell Bai Qingqing what she can and can't do! And forcing her to put fake freckles all over her face to make her "ugly"? You are stupid! What kind of beauty standards are you going off of?!" Behind her Bai Qingqing meekly said 'That was my idea.' but Chiaki chose to ignore it, Parker after all had still agreed.

"Feh." Parker grabbed Chiakis wrist roughly, he hadn't meant to be rough though. However he was surprised when the female jerked her wrist away with enough strength to pull free from his grasp.

"Don't touch me." She warned him.

He blinked owlishly at the angry female who was putting off an almost tangible aura. Males often used their beast aura in the same way as a threat. He looked at Bai Qingqing, who looked away from him the moment their eyes met. Had he really hurt her with... words? There weren't any words to ask forgiveness, not when hurting a female. "I- I only want to keep her safe." He protested.

"Keep her to yourself you mean!"

"Of course! I found her, she will be my female."

"I don't know where you got it into your head that you could force any female to be your mate, because from everything I've been told it's Bai Qingqing who chooses her partner. And from what I've seen, all you have done is try and make sure she hasn't gotten any options but you!"

Parkers ears where drawn back tightly against his head as with each accusation the female in-front of him backed him away with the force of her words and... that aura, was it her mates power? He glanced at the mate mark on her, it was a winged lion viewed from the side. A lion could easily kill a leopard. Parker had two beast stripes though, it might even the match... but he didn't know how many stripes this other male had. He could still be outmatched. By the feel of the power coming off the female, he would loose in a one-on-one fight with this females mate.

"I understand!" He raised his hands in defense.

"You had better!" Finally Chiaki touched him, just a single poke to the chest.

Suddenly there was a flurry of white feathers. Qianhuang wrapped his arms around Chiaki from behind as his mate seethed at the Leopard male. "Chiaki, are you alright?" He asked in concern. "Was this male harassing you?"

"No, he wasn't bothering me." She said. "He's just got nothing but fluff between his ears."

Qianhuang didn't understand what she meant, but settled on not being threatening to the other male. "Of course."

Chiaki looked at Bai Qingqing. "Do you want to stay here?"

Bai Qingqing blinked. She was... getting a choice? "I- I don't have anywhere to go. I mean Harvey might let me stay-" Parker began to growl. Chiaki gave him a pointed look and Qianhuang narrowed his eyes at Parker too. He didn't like the threatening display towards his mate. "He's the village healer." Bai Qingqing finished. "I don't know though, he seems to like me too."

Chiaki nodded. "It's up to you Bai Qingqing."

"I can- stay here?" It was a question, Bai Qingqing simply didn't have the nerve to make the choice for herself.

Chiaki sighed. "Yes, you can still stay here with Parker. But, and this is a big but, he has no say over what you choose to do. I want you to come visit me at out home tomorrow, too. Okay?"

Bai Qingqing nodded. "I can stay here." This time it was a statement. Bai Qingqing thought she was okay staying here with Parker now that she saw others would stand up for her.

"I think we will join you for dinner." Chiaki stated. "We will of course contribute food for the meal."