I let out a low groan as I squeezed my eyes shut like that would stop the sound of arguing that had taken me out of an incredibly pleasant dream.

In my dream, I was surrounded by food as a fully cooked lobster roll grew wings and flew into my mouth. Before I could even finish it, a slice of chocolate appeared in my hand, practically begging me to eat it.

I let out a long sigh as my stomach let out a loud rumble in protest that my dreams weren’t actually filling it up.

To be fair, the guys weren’t really loud. There was no yelling or anything like that, but that didn’t make it any less annoying when it forced me to wake up before I was willing to.

I hated mornings, even if they started at two in the afternoon. So sue me.

"We already gave you extra time," I heard Wei Guang say flatly like he thought he would win the disagreement on tone alone. "Now we do things properly. Either cooperate with us, or I start assuming you have something to hide."

"Oh no," Lingyun replied dryly. "Whatever will we do?"

I ignored them, trusting that the guys could handle whatever was going on behind me for a moment.

Mostly because there were far more important things in front of me.

Specifically: Food.

A giant bowl of chips sat on the coffee table directly in front of the couch and beside where my head was resting on a pillow. Beside it was a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich thick enough that the bacon was practically falling out of the sides.

Four bottles of water sat nearby along with a coffee, a green tea latte, an orange juice, and an energy drink lined up neatly beside each other like someone had robbed an entire gas station refrigerator for me specifically.

All I was missing was the ice cream, but I had that in my space when I wanted it. I was more curious where the BLT came from. I didn’t think the guys had any bacon in the house.

My stomach growled hard enough that I almost got offended by it.

Almost.

The fight with the Butcher had burned through an absurd amount of energy. Honestly, I probably needed twice this much food if I wanted to recover properly before tomorrow.

Unfortunately for me, Wei was still in my house which meant that eating now was completely out of the question.

Hunger was weakness that could easily be exploited by others. After all, Wei Guang thought that he controlled my food supplies.

And I wasn’t about to sit there inhaling sandwiches in front of the military like a starving raccoon digging through garbage.

Absolutely not.

"She is unconscious," Wei continued sharply. "You expect me to believe that isn’t suspicious?"

"She was shopping all day," Lingyun replied. "You try carrying around ten bags and pretending not to judge people for buying throw pillows."

"That isn’t remotely the same thing."

"I stand by my belief that you are just jealous because you have never supported a woman through retail therapy."

I sighed softly before peeling the blanket off myself. If I wanted these men out of my house fast, I was going to have to get them out myself.

The couch shifted beneath me as I stood up and I was still half asleep as I turned to look at the commotion by the back door.

Then I froze, cocking my head to the side as found myself completely awake.

Checking my mouth for drool, I studied the ’situation’ a bit longer before I announced myself.

After all, this was the first time I had seen all four of my men with their shirts off.

They were freshly showered and cleaned up, the blood and dirt from earlier had disappeared, leaving behind bruises, shallow cuts, and enough muscle to make the three soldiers standing nearby suddenly look underdeveloped.

Huh. I should take them out more if this was my reward.

Chenghai stood beside the fireplace with his arms crossed over his chest while Zhenlan leaned calmly against the wall nearby. Lingyun had one arm slung lazily across Yuche’s shoulders while Yuche himself stood there looking completely unbothered by the situation despite the fact that he looked like the type of man mothers warned their daughters about.

The five soldiers around them all had weapons, but they still didn’t look nearly as intimidating as the four half naked guys.

I smiled slowly as I took a step forward. "Good morning, boys," I purred. My stomach took that moment to growl and I felt my head going light for a second, but I pushed it all aside. I could be weak later.

When there weren’t strangers in my house.

Every head in the room turned toward me immediately.

Wei looked relieved for exactly half a second before his expression tightened again.

The guys’ reaction was a lot different.

Lingyun grinned immediately while Chenghai visibly relaxed. Zhenlan’s eyes swept over me quickly like he was checking for instability while Yuche simply watched me calmly from across the room.

But I ignored all of them.

Instead, I reached down and unzipped the jacket I was wearing.

The fabric slid down my arms before I dropped it carelessly onto the floor beside me. A second later, the tight black shirt underneath followed too, leaving me standing there in nothing but a black sports bra and the black cargo pants that hung low on my hips.

The room went silent and I could feel everyone’s eyes on me like it was a physical thing.

Good.

I walked forward slowly, my bare feet silent against the hardwood floor as the men shifted automatically to make room for me. I stopped directly between Zhenlan and Yuche before finally looking toward Wei again.

"Is this enough?" I asked sweetly. "Or do you need to see more?"

One of the younger soldiers nearly choked.

Another looked deeply uncomfortable.

Wei’s jaw tightened hard enough that I thought his teeth might crack. "That’s not what I meant."

"Really?" I tilted my head slightly. "Because it sounded a lot like you were trying to see what everyone was hiding under their clothes. Not that I kink shame, of course. You do you. But do it to someone else."