Mistakenly Marked – Chapter 26
by Little PandaBarging In
“She needed more direct soothing.”
“Did you see that just now? The air was practically gunpowder.”
“Oh, I saw. This episode’s ratings are locked in.”
“But wasn’t it a bit much?”
At the recording venue, several directors had their heads together, debriefing the first half of the taping.
A staff member came over, sat down, and gulped down some mineral water.
“I just went to Bo Suiqing’s lounge to run the second-half rundown with her, and guess what — ‘the artist is temporarily unavailable.’ Wouldn’t even open the door for me.”
“What’s that about?”
“Is it the balloon-pass game earlier in the studio? Lu Yan accidentally fouled and smacked her hand — did Bo Suiqing take offense and want to walk out of the taping?”
“No way… I remember Bo Suiqing being the consummate professional.”
“Professional, my foot. Just count how many times she’s cold-shouldered that musician surnamed Xu right on camera. I’d say she probably can’t stand Lu Yan, and she’s throwing a tantrum to skip out on the taping.”
“But I saw Lu Yan apologize to her the second the game ended. And Lu Yan’s people, just to be friendly, even helped us prepare water for Bo Suiqing.”
“Hmph — don’t be so naive, any of you. An ‘accident’ here, an ‘apology’ there — who knows if any of it’s sincere.”
“Exactly. That swing Lu Yan took at her hand didn’t pull any punches. Bo Suiqing’s hand still looked injured, didn’t it?”
“Hey, hey — enough gossip, all of you. Go press her again in a bit, see what the artist actually intends. Don’t hold up the second half of the taping.”
Through the gap beneath the door, several shadows flickered past. Footsteps drew near, then receded.
Xiao Nan turned back toward the woman leaning in the corner of the sofa. “Suiqing-jiejie, does it still hurt that much?”
No answer.
On the black leather sofa, the woman in pink-and-white athletic wear was curled into the corner of the couch, clutching the just-emptied suppressant syringe. Sweat seeped from her trembling, slender fingers, slicking the barrel until it slipped from her grip and dropped to the floor.
Xiao Nan swiftly bent to scoop up the empty syringe and toss it into the trash. Turning back, she saw the sweat welling endlessly from the woman’s pale forehead, and her voice shook with panic. “Suiqing-jiejie, this can’t go on… I’ll get security right now and have them take you out of here!”
Bo Suiqing caught the hem of her shirt.
Shook her head.
She’d assumed it was momentary discomfort — rest a little, and it would pass. Instead it had kept worsening. Even the suppressant had done nothing.
Surging pheromones collided inside her body; the gland at her nape stabbed as if pierced by needles.
…Why?
She’d been marked by Xu Jialuo only last night. Her pheromones had never been this stable.
Unless something external was at work. But she’d been so careful — she hadn’t eaten a thing. Only… that cup of water.
Someone must have tampered with the water. Some drug that sent pheromones out of control.
Physiological tears soaked her thick lashes. Bo Suiqing bowed her head into the sofa and bit down hard on her lower lip.
Too wretched. She couldn’t be seen like this. This had been premeditated — the moment she opened that door, a lens could be waiting anywhere to capture her image and spin something ugly out of it.
…She needed…
Needed something more effective than a suppressant… a stronger soothing…
Xiao Nan was a beta; she couldn’t smell the pheromones Bo Suiqing was steadily losing the strength to contain. She only saw the ever-composed, ever-elegant woman with her lashes half-lowered, half-conscious, looking very nearly on the verge of tears. Even that time she’d been running a high fever, she hadn’t looked this bad.
Remembering what Manager Song had said, Xiao Nan scrambled for the phone in her bag. “Suiqing-jiejie, I’ll call Manager Song right now…”
Mid-motion, she noticed the screen of Bo Suiqing’s phone, fallen onto the sofa, light up.
“Suiqing-jiejie, someone sent you a message.”
Bo Suiqing lifted her lids and gazed blearily at the phone held out to her.
A notification in the message tray — prefixed by a little whale icon.
Bo Suiqing’s trembling finger swiped the screen open, but she couldn’t hold it steady; the phone slipped back onto the sofa. Xiao Nan hastily retrieved it and held it up before her face.
Bo Suiqing tapped in, and a stretch of lilting music filled the room.
Even though it was no time to appreciate music, Xiao Nan felt her attention caught by the melody. It’s so pretty… She snapped back to herself only after the music ended. “Do you want to reply, Suiqing-jiejie? I can help you.”
The swelling ache at her nape grew worse and worse. Bo Suiqing couldn’t concentrate; she could barely make out the rhythm of the music. If she replied, it could only be a few careless, scrambled lines. But she had no desire to fob the other person off. Bo Suiqing said quietly, “…No need.”
Xiao Nan nodded obediently and was about to say she’d call Manager Song instead, when she saw Bo Suiqing’s fingertip drift across the screen and open the contacts.
They were sorted by order added; the string of numbers at the very top was the most recent entry.
The contact note was a single character.
Xu.
Her fingertip all but touched it — then flinched away.
“Suiqing-jiejie, do you want to call this friend?”
Xiao Nan looked at it. She had no idea who this “Xu” was — but if Bo Suiqing wanted to call them at a time like this, they had to be someone who could help.
Pain gnawing at her nerves, Bo Suiqing answered half-consciously, “…Mm.”
But she didn’t move again.
They’d only just agreed… to meet tomorrow night. If she reached out now… would Xu Jialuo even be willing to come?
And yet.
She might not last until tomorrow night.
She wanted to see Xu Jialuo…
Now.
“Suiqing-jiejie, shall I dial for you? Driver-jiejie can bring them in!”
“…” Before she could get a word out, the stabbing pain in her nape surged violently. Seeing her face drain white in an instant, the little assistant panicked and decisively pressed the screen, dialing the call through.
A few seconds later, the call connected, and a woman’s voice came through.
Frantic, Xiao Nan cried out: “Miss Xu, I beg you — please come help Suiqing-jiejie!”
The recording studio.
In the space gone quiet, the anxious voice on the other end rang out with painful clarity.
“I’m her assistant — I don’t know what’s wrong, she suddenly got so bad—”
“The address.”
Xu Jialuo rose to her feet, one hand sweeping the trench coat off the back of her chair. “Tell me exactly where.”
The variety taping was being held in a shopping mall building, not far from the studio. Only, the venue had closed its doors early that morning, and several rings of fans still milled outside.
Driving up to the entrance, Xu Jialuo heard her phone ring again.
An unfamiliar number.
She picked up, and a girl’s voice — not an unfamiliar one — came through. “Miss Xu, I’m waiting on the side road by the east entrance.”
Xu Jialuo’s gaze swept across and caught the figure standing beneath a tree at the roadside.
Miss Zhang — the one she’d seen at the hospital.
The driver wore a staff badge issued to artists’ personal personnel. She froze for a beat at the sight of Xu Jialuo, then quickly produced another badge and handed it over. “Please follow me. I’ll take you in.”
Taking the badge, Xu Jialuo slipped it deftly around her neck one-handed and followed the driver successfully into the recording area.
She wore a black mask, a matching baseball cap pulled low, her long hair falling sleek as ink, veiling her features that much further. The dark, long trench coat was borne up by her tall frame; even with every color on her body muted to the extreme, she still drew plenty of sidelong glances. But she was covered thoroughly — no one could recognize her.
Long-legged and towering, she walked as if trailing wind; several times the driver had to jog to speed up and get ahead to keep leading the way.
They stopped at the lounge door. Catching her breath in small gasps, the driver knocked and said in a low voice, “I’ve brought her.”
The door was opened from inside. Xu Jialuo stepped in — and abruptly faltered.
Because Bo Suiqing was suppressing it with everything she had, her pheromones hadn’t yet spread past the door. But the instant she crossed the threshold, even with the barrier patch still on her nape, Xu Jialuo faintly sensed that something was wrong.
Her gaze swept down and caught the figure curled on the sofa.
Xu Jialuo turned her head and asked the assistant, who stood gaping in a daze, “What happened to her?”
“…”
Only when addressed did Xiao Nan finally come back to herself, stumbling over her words. “I—I don’t know. She said her gland suddenly hurt so badly… she’s already had a suppressant, but it doesn’t seem to be working.”
The curtains were drawn inside; the heavy fabric blocked out most of the light.
So the lamps had been switched on.
They fell upon the woman curled on the sofa, casting a faintly trembling shadow across the carpet.
Xu Jialuo frowned and stepped over, crossing that quivering shadow, and reached out to steady Bo Suiqing’s shaking shoulders.
She wanted her to raise her head — to see what state she was actually in.
The moment her fingertips made contact, she felt the scorching heat even through the fabric.
Her brow knit tighter of its own accord. Adding force to her hands, Xu Jialuo gripped Bo Suiqing’s shoulders and drew her upright.
The one being held didn’t struggle or resist in the slightest — she let herself be pulled along, body tilting softly backward, head rising, the back of her skull settling against the sofa’s backrest.
Under the overhead light, Xu Jialuo saw Bo Suiqing clearly as she was now.
The instant she saw, her mist-dark pupils contracted sharply.
Her temperature burned like this, yet the woman’s cheeks were utterly ashen — that porcelain-white face had all but drained of every trace of color.
Damp lashes hung limp and powerless; pale silver eyes glazed over with a vacant sheen.
The only two patches of color on her face: one, a moist red at the corners of her eyes — as if she’d already hurt so badly she’d secretly cried. The other, a lower lip bitten hard, crimson and faintly swollen, stamped with several deep tooth marks, a hair’s breadth from breaking skin and bleeding.
The hands gripping her shoulders loosened abruptly of their own accord. Xu Jialuo’s arm slid in behind them, gathering up the woman slumped on the sofa, her palm cradling a sweat-damp nape.
Just short of pulling her fully into her arms, she stopped short.
The mark, it seemed, didn’t only affect the Omega.
It affected her too.
The little assistant still stood at the back, staring blankly.
Only when the driver tugged her sleeve and murmured, “Let’s go wait outside,” did she come to, nodding in a fluster, and follow the driver out on light feet.
Still, as the door closed, she couldn’t help sneaking one more glance inside.
She saw the figure bent over the sofa’s edge, holding a posture visibly stiff, utterly motionless.
The door closed softly.
“Driver-jiejie… what on earth is going on?”
The little assistant pinched her own cheek, still half-dazed.
Then, having confirmed no one was around, she asked in a whisper, “Why would the person who came be Musician Xu?
“Suiqing-jiejie and Musician Xu… haven’t they always been at odds?”
She’d guessed the contact noted “Xu” might be a doctor, a bodyguard, some friend of Suiqing-jiejie’s she’d never heard of.
But never — not in a hundred guesses — would she have landed on Xu Jialuo.
Recalling the rare scene she’d witnessed outside the hospital ward that night, the driver, tight-lipped, shook her head. “I was about to ask you.”
“…”
Recalling the image of the musician grimly shoving the photographer back in that corridor, the little assistant shook her head just as tight-lipped. “I… don’t know either.”
“…”
The two exchanged a glance, then looked away, each nursing her own thoughts.
They took up positions on either side, left and right, and shut their mouths.
Standing guard in earnest, like a pair of door gods1.
Inside the lounge.
Pheromones spilled into the air without pause, flowing in chaos — then, with something like intent, gathering toward Xu Jialuo where she bent beside the sofa, coiling around her.
The nape beneath Xu Jialuo’s barrier patch had grown slightly warm.
It had been on a long time; the effect was starting to fade — nearly time for a change.
Xu Jialuo lowered her lashes, her gaze settling on the woman’s face, trying to rouse her toward some clarity. “Bo Suiqing.”
At her voice, a flicker of light passed through Bo Suiqing’s unfocused eyes. Curling lashes fought to lift, and she turned toward the sound.
“…Xu Jialuo…”
Red lips parted faintly, humming her name.
Just three syllables — yet threaded with an inexplicable, aggrieved choke.
Like coaxing. No — like a child who’d taken her lumps out in the world and suddenly caught sight of the person who’d back her up.
The fingers cradling her nape tightened abruptly — then swiftly eased, as if afraid of hurting her.
Xu Jialuo answered, “…Mm.”
Frowning, she asked, “Where does it hurt?”
Bo Suiqing gazed up at her, seeming to need several seconds to parse the question, then rasped out in fragments:
“…Pheromones… can’t… control them… gland… everywhere’s… hot… it hurts…”
Xu Jialuo had guessed as much beforehand.
Whatever situation had made Bo Suiqing call her here for help — the only thing she could actually help with was something pheromone-related.
Trembling fingertips felt out and clutched the hem of Xu Jialuo’s trench coat. Bo Suiqing turned her head, her cheek rubbing against her wrist, and wept in a low voice. “Give me a little… pheromones… soothe me…”
“…”
Xu Jialuo didn’t move, looking down at the Omega already far past lucid.
She thought of the words the other woman had blurted that time—
—”I want to keep a temporary-marking relationship with you.”
She had never agreed.
And yet the other woman seemed to have assumed she could command her at will.
One phone call — she hadn’t even needed to ask herself — and she was expected to come rushing.
The Omega ravaged by runaway pheromones — that face once so gorgeous and alluring, always sheathed in cool reserve, was now stripped of all disguise.
The corners of her eyes flushed red as cloud; frost and snow melted away, turned to shattered, brimming spring water pooling in her gaze.
Did she think that baring weakness like this, feigning defenseless dependence, would soften her — make her obedient—
“…Xu Jialuo…”
A drop of that spring water overflowed, slid down a porcelain cheek, and fell into her parted, water-reddened lips:
“…It really hurts…”
Before the words had even finished, Xu Jialuo — silent all this while — abruptly raised a hand behind her—
—and tore off the barrier patch at her own nape.
In a single breath, she felt her whole body wrapped in a scent of cool, sweet iced cherries.
The next second, rich red wine fragrance came surging out.
“Mm…”
Bo Suiqing tipped her head back, lips trembling, swallowing down the faintly salt tears.
Before she could finish swallowing, her bobbing throat was suddenly caught by slender finger-bones, gliding up along her neck to grip her chin, gently turning her face to one side.
Bo Suiqing’s eyes opened blankly. She let herself be arranged, head tilting aside — and abruptly her breath stopped.
Xu Jialuo’s kiss pressed, feather-soft, onto the side of her neck.
The burning skin was slick and tender — like silk, like petals.
It carried an Omega’s unique coolness, sweet but never cloying.
Kissing it was like pressing one’s lips to a chilled cherry pudding.
Xu Jialuo lowered her lashes a fraction, striving to control her pheromones.
And she stood ready at every moment: the instant she began losing control of herself, she would slap the barrier patch from her pocket back over her gland.
This was a first.
Since becoming an Alpha, Xu Jialuo had never deliberately tried to release these so-called pheromones.
The sensation was strange, and new.
Something as ungraspable as air, utterly intangible — yet it felt like tendrils, ribbons, vines, as if it could be fully commanded.
Only, right now, she was nowhere near able to control it well.
She could only keep her nerves strung taut, fighting to hold the status quo — not to slip any further toward losing her reason.
But mercifully — perhaps because she had marked Bo Suiqing — Bo Suiqing’s pheromones caused her no discomfort at all.
On the contrary, she could feel the other woman’s pheromones twining with hers, guiding her own scent, which had been careening wildly about, gradually toward stillness.
…
It wasn’t entirely loathsome.
This feeling — this feeling, at this moment.
Her arm tightened gently around the Omega’s lightly trembling waist. Xu Jialuo veiled the faint light in her eyes and continued.
A familiar pattern of kisses, one after another.
Her spine shivered with each. Bo Suiqing closed her eyes, unable to bear it; when she opened them again, her thick lashes wore a fresh layer of glistening wet.
…
Should she really tell Xu Jialuo…
Kissing like this was completely against the rules…
The instant Bo Suiqing instinctively moved to bite her nearly-rubbed-raw lower lip again, the hand at her chin beat her to it, fingertips pressing against her lips, forestalling her.
…How… could you…
Too ashamed to make a sound, wanting only to bite down and endure, Bo Suiqing tipped her head back and squirmed on instinct, trying to shake off Xu Jialuo’s fingertip.
Instead, Xu Jialuo abruptly released her — the arm cradling her withdrawn as well — and straightened up.
The soothing cut off; the pheromones only just quieted began to churn again.
Leaning against the sofa, Bo Suiqing looked toward Xu Jialuo, lost.
Standing sideways to her, Xu Jialuo’s calm face betrayed nothing readable.
She merely drew a sanitizing wipe from her coat pocket and began cleaning her hands.
…
As if she’d just touched something dirty.
“…”
Bo Suiqing froze. Once it registered, she turned her face away, the tip of her nose stinging fiercely.
The next instant after the tears fell — having finished wiping her hands, Xu Jialuo bent down again, frowning at Bo Suiqing, who had started crying anew, and pressed a tissue to the corner of her eye.
Her vision suddenly blocked by the tissue, Bo Suiqing raised her gaze in a daze, catching only a blur of Xu Jialuo lowering her head once more.
When the kiss alighted again on the side of her neck, fingertips — clean, sanitized, carrying a faint trace of alcohol — slipped into her mouth and held down her teeth.
At her ear sounded Xu Jialuo’s voice, blurred with something like impatience. “Stop biting your lip.”
“…”
The voice was very cold.
The pad of the finger at her teeth was probing, its force very light.
Lashes trembling like butterfly wings, Bo Suiqing reached out, gently wrapped Xu Jialuo’s wrist, and answered in an obedient voice, “Mm.”
The kisses, conducted in the name of soothing an Omega, resumed.
Bo Suiqing tipped her head back, panting in small breaths. Whimpers she no longer suppressed escaped one by one, and her tongue-tip glided unconsciously, again and again, over Xu Jialuo’s fingertip.
Each time it touched, she had the illusion that the kiss at her neck grew a shade heavier.
But…
“It’s not enough… Xu Jialuo…”
The Omega twisted her head aside, trying to bare her vulnerable nape. “Please…”
She needed more direct soothing.
“…”
Xu Jialuo understood.
But she didn’t answer.
Bo Suiqing looked up at her blearily; after a few seconds, she dimly regained some calm.
Right.
Xu Jialuo had never agreed to her.
That so-called temporary-marking relationship — it had only ever been her own wishful thinking.
Bo Suiqing slowly released her grip on Xu Jialuo’s wrist.
Her eyes had gone fully dark when Xu Jialuo’s muffled voice reached her: “The wound hasn’t healed yet.”
Bo Suiqing started. She understood the meaning behind the words; her eye sockets heated, and she clutched at Xu Jialuo’s sleeve again, lying in a small voice, “I… don’t mind the pain…”
“…”
Xu Jialuo said nothing — only reached over, slipped beneath the collar half-lost in Bo Suiqing’s spilled curls, and let her calloused fingertip graze the still-faintly-swollen gland.
“…Mm!”
A pained, muffled cry from Bo Suiqing—
—hastily smothered.
Covering it poorly: “That’s not… because it hurts.”
Xu Jialuo still said nothing.
Even after twenty-some years as a beta, she had always known how thoroughly pheromones could command a person.
In extremes, they could twist an Alpha’s face into something feral — turn them into a brute with no control over themselves.
They could just as well make an Omega disregard pain itself to chase that vaporous, ungraspable rapture.
Dimly, Bo Suiqing seemed to hear a fretful sigh.
It must mean refusal.
Bo Suiqing’s whole body went rigid.
So Xu Jialuo didn’t want a temporary-marking relationship with her—
Bo Suiqing’s eyes flew wide; her half-finished thought snapped clean through.
A powerful arm wound around her waist and pressed her into an embrace.
A kiss — hot, wet, steeped in dense wine fragrance — descended onto her gland.
“What’s going on, everyone?”
The woman in yellow-and-white athletic wear walked up to the huddled directors, asking with a sweet smile, “Aren’t we starting the second half of the taping yet?”
“Ah… Teacher Lu.” The nearest director cleared his throat. “Please wait just a moment — there’s… a bit of a situation right now. Shortly, shortly we’ll resume taping as normal.”
“A situation?” Lu Yan tilted her head, smiling. “What situation?”
“Uh…”
“Oh, that’s right — come to think of it, I haven’t seen Teacher Bo Suiqing since a while ago. Is she still in her lounge?”
“…Yes.” The director smiled weakly. “Teacher Bo is a bit unwell; we’re giving her more time to recover. Would you rest over to the side for now, Teacher Lu? We’ll begin very soon.”
“Unwell?” Lu Yan covered her mouth, feigning exaggerated surprise. “Then I should go check on Teacher Bo!”
So saying, she turned and beckoned the trailing camera operator. “Let’s go over together.”
The director who’d first spoken froze, raising a hand to stop them — only for a colleague to tug at his hem.
“Isn’t this a great hook? And the artist wants to go herself — let the camera follow and see. Maybe we’ll catch some interesting footage.”
Outside the lounge, the little assistant in the plaid shirt and the driver in her uniform stood to either side, guarding the door in silence.
The lounge was well soundproofed; the sounds within were clearly being held down, only the most fragmentary noises escaping now and then.
What exactly was going on in there — impossible to make out at all.
And precisely because they couldn’t hear, imagination ran all the more wild.
The thought-bubbles over their heads swelled and swelled, the imagery growing more and more R-rated—
—until a voice punctured them.
“This is Teacher Bo’s lounge, isn’t it?”
With the woman’s voice came a tramp of footsteps around the corner.
Lu Yan at the head; behind her a camera operator hoisting a camcorder, plus one more staff member Lu Yan had brought herself—
—holding up a phone, filming too.
Xiao Nan started — instantly on alert.
And she understood at once why Suiqing-jiejie had refused to go out earlier.
Striding forward, the little assistant threw out an arm to block them. “This way is my artist’s lounge. She’s resting — please don’t disturb her.”
“Still resting?”
Lu Yan performed her surprise. “I’d always heard Teacher Bo was the industry’s model of professionalism. How is it that now, resting away, she’s completely disregarding the taping schedule?”
“Suiqing-jiejie isn’t feeling well. A little more rest and she’ll be fine.”
“Really? If she’s truly unwell, can a short little rest restore her completely?”
Lu Yan pointed at the crowd that didn’t exist behind her and sighed.
“All these staff members are waiting. Teacher Bo can’t throw tantrums like this.”
“Don’t talk nonsense — Suiqing-jiejie isn’t throwing a tantrum at all—”
“If this is about my accidental foul earlier, then I apologize to Teacher Bo once again.”
Before the camera, Lu Yan bowed, deep and solemn.
Rising, her voice turned aggrieved.
“I only ask that Teacher Bo forgive my careless mistake and continue the taping — please don’t take out your anger on the other staff because of me.”
Though she’d never beaten the award-winning Bo Suiqing back then, she was still an actress of respectable craft.
A few sentences, and even the camera operator believed her.
Flaring with indignation, he shoved Xiao Nan. “Quit just standing there blocking — go ask your artist whether she’s taping or not!”
Caught off guard, Xiao Nan staggered several steps; before she could slam into the wall, the driver caught her in time.
Challenging him: “What was that for?”
“Who shoved anyone? She stumbled on her own—ah!”
The young, slender-looking driver moved with decisive crispness — one shove sent the burly camera operator staggering back several steps too.
“You!”
“What? Didn’t you stumble on your own as well?”
“Fine — asking for trouble, huh? If the artist throws her weight around, no wonder her staff are trash too!”
The camera operator snarled it out and charged forward to throw open the lounge door.
“Film it — let the whole audience see whether your artist is sick or staging a walkout!”
“Don’t open it!”
Xiao Nan knew the lounge door couldn’t be locked from inside — one push and it would swing open.
She rushed over to grapple with the camera operator, but didn’t have the strength.
The driver immediately followed, blocking him together with her.
Behind them, Lu Yan exchanged a glance with the staff member she’d brought; the latter got the message at once and came over too—
—feigning persuasion while pushing at the door as well.
The scene turned two-against-two, tangling into separate scuffles.
Lu Yan’s eyes lit. Sighting her moment, she strode over and seized the door handle in one grip.
“No—!”
Xiao Nan cried out — too late.
As the door was about to swing open, Xiao Nan threw herself over with everything she had, grabbing at Lu Yan as the door gave way — and slapped her hand onto the light switch.
Busy fending off the little assistant lunging at her, Lu Yan, head twisted aside, hadn’t yet made out the scene inside the lounge when the room, stripped of its light, went abruptly dark.
But she smelled it at once — the scent of pheromones, dense and unmistakable.
Of everyone present, only Lu Yan was a B-class Alpha; the others couldn’t smell pheromones, noticed nothing amiss, and never looked into the lounge.
Xiao Nan was pulled away again by the staff member, and the group went on scuffling in the corridor.
Only Lu Yan remained standing at the door.
…An Alpha’s pheromones — in superstar Bo Suiqing’s lounge!
The so-called hardest-to-flirt, coolest apex Omega of the entire industry — secretly fooling around with an Alpha in her lounge!
And caught by her!
Giddy with the explosive discovery, Lu Yan’s mouth split open in a grin. She jerked her head up to peer inside.
She would see exactly who it was. She would seize Bo Suiqing’s leverage — and use it to threaten her!
In the darkness, blurred figures were faintly visible on the sofa — someone seemed pinned beneath another, head buried at her neck…
…What were they doing?
Before Lu Yan could see clearly, the tall figure with its back to her abruptly gathered the person on the sofa into her arms and turned around.
Positions swapped — the one who should have faced her was shielded inside the embrace, completely hidden.
Then, one hand pressing the person in her arms, soothing the Omega’s shivering spine as if to calm her, that tall figure slowly raised her eyes and met hers.
In the darkness, Lu Yan collided abruptly with a pair of golden pupils—
—beautiful, keen, brimming with flowing light, like a divine miracle.
The next instant, the pheromones of an apex Alpha — potent enough to buckle the knees of her own kind and black them out — came crashing down like a colossal pouring waterfall, engulfing her head—
The gland at her nape screamed under the unbearable load. Lu Yan’s eyes blew wide in terror; she had no time to say a thing—
And dropped, ramrod-straight, to the floor.
The author has something to say:
A bit of personal canon: only apex Omegas and apex Alphas can shift eye color when their pheromones or emotions fluctuate violently. Xiao Bo’s was written earlier — hers turns peach-blossom pink.
Goodnight, muah
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