Luo Hai didn’t answer.
He was using all his strength to suppress his trembling. The reaction was coming faster than he had anticipated. His legs were growing weak, struggling to support his weight. The overwhelming heat surged through his bloodstream, flooding every nerve.
He had to grip the window frame tightly just to keep himself from collapsing into a puddle in front of Eugene.
Even though the medication masked his scent, the situation was obvious.
In the span of three seconds, Eugene’s mind quickly processed, assessed, and reached the only viable solution.
He wrapped an arm around Luo Hai’s waist and pulled him into an embrace, swiftly moving back into the lecture hall they had just left. He shut the door behind them and locked it.
The entire sequence was so smooth that Luo Hai had no time to resist.
“You—” Luo Hai barely got a word out before Eugene lowered his head and sealed his lips.
The situation was beyond terrible.
He had gone into heat in the middle of an argument with Eugene—in a prison, in a hall next to the very podium he had just lectured from.
And now, he was locked in a room with a prisoner, a man he had wanted to punch just moments ago—being kissed, utterly powerless to resist.
Rage, fear, pleasure, and humiliation made every muscle in his body tremble, but the kiss tasted so good it drove him insane, so good that he couldn’t refuse.
Luo Hai closed his eyes, gradually giving up his struggle, letting Eugene soothe his restless turmoil with a kiss.
When the long kiss finally ended, their breaths mingled in the quiet, the hostility between them slightly easing, just enough for a conversation.
“When did it start…?” Eugene panted slightly, staring at Luo Hai’s face, now so close. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Don’t tell me it was during your speech—”
“No! What the hell are you thinking?” Luo Hai snapped, unable to bear it.
“Then why did it hit you so suddenly?” Eugene murmured, lowering his head to nip lightly at Luo Hai’s ear, earning a few small shivers. “You were fine all this time… why now?”
“It’s probably because, for such a long time, I’ve never been this angry before.” Luo Hai forced the words through his clenched teeth. “I don’t have a regular heat cycle. My pheromone fluctuations are extremely affected by my emotions.”
That was also why he had always tried to maintain his composure and keep his distance in both work and life.
To prevent his already fragile physiological system from suffering further shocks, he had spent years suppressing his emotions and maintaining an air of detachment from everything around him.
And yet, in just half a month, Eugene had repeatedly shattered his defenses, recklessly disrupting the balance he had so carefully upheld for years.
After listening, Eugene showed a thoughtful expression. He glanced at Luo Hai after a long pause. “So what you’re saying is… you got aroused just now because we were arguing?”
“No!” Luo Hai’s voice shot up in fury.
For the first time in his life, he felt that the abolished torture methods of the past actually had their merits.
Because until he met Eugene, he had never imagined that such a shameless, despicable, and infuriating bastard could exist in this world.
Luo Hai flung Eugene’s hand aside and reached for the locked door, but Eugene was faster. He grabbed Luo Hai’s wrist and pressed him against the wall.
“Let go.” Luo Hai’s voice was hoarse.
“Are you really planning to walk out like this?” Eugene leaned in close to his ear, his voice low, his hot breath stirring the strands of hair at Luo Hai’s temple. “With legs that can barely hold you up, letting everyone see your flushed face, the sweat on your forehead, and imagine what might have happened under your neatly pressed suit?”
Luo Hai’s body trembled uncontrollably, his breath growing heavier.
He shut his eyes, his fists clenching tightly at his sides. When he reopened them, his gaze was icy, his voice rough. “Don’t try using those lines you picked up from films on me. Save those fantasies for your right hand. Don’t expect me to play along with your act.”
Eugene was momentarily speechless, his usual grin twisting into a forced smile, his teeth itching with irritation.
The way this ice-cold prosecutor spoke was like poison distilled straight from arsenic—sharp, biting, and enough to make someone want to tear him apart, chew him up, and swallow him whole.
A sharp “clack” sounded. Luo Hai froze for a second before realizing that Eugene had taken the handcuffs from his pocket and cuffed his right wrist to the heating pipe above.
“You—” Luo Hai’s chest rose and fell sharply, but Eugene cut him off before he could say more.
“I know you have the key. It’s in your left pants pocket.” Eugene leaned in, his lips brushing against Luo Hai’s neck as he murmured, “If you really want to escape, just take out the key and unlock the cuffs. I won’t stop you.”
The air grew thick and heavy. Eugene’s pheromones spread like the rich aroma of strong liquor, his heated breath seeping into every corner of the space.
His slightly curled blond hair brushed against Luo Hai’s cheek, his nose, then his collarbone.
Luo Hai struggled twice against the cuffs, the sound of metal clinking softly. The veins on the back of his hand stood out against his pale skin.
He curled his fingers into a tight fist, then relaxed them, but in the end, he never reached for the key in his pocket.
…
Unlike before, once Eugene had cuffed Luo Hai’s wrist, he made no further moves.
He neither made a sound nor struggled, like an obedient rabbit, allowing Eugene to do whatever he wanted.
At first, Eugene didn’t notice anything unusual. Luo Hai’s body was warm and responsive, and he assumed the silence was just stubborn pride.
But halfway through, when he absentmindedly looked up, he noticed that the hand inside the handcuffs was completely soaked in blood.
Startled, he immediately grabbed Luo Hai’s hand and saw that a splinter from the wooden frame had deeply pierced his palm. It was impossible to tell how long it had been bleeding.
Yet Luo Hai showed no reaction, as if he didn’t feel the pain at all.
“What’s wrong?” Luo Hai asked hoarsely, sensing that Eugene had stopped.
Eugene stared at him in shock. “What do you mean, what’s wrong? Your hand is bleeding! There’s a splinter in the frame you were holding—don’t you feel it?”
Luo Hai glanced at his palm out of the corner of his eye, his tone lazy. “Oh. I didn’t notice. It’s just a small wound, a band-aid will do.”
It wasn’t just a small wound.
At least, not one a band-aid could fix.
Dark red blood flowed from the cut, running down his wrist and soaking the sleeve of his shirt. Just looking at it was alarming—there was no way he shouldn’t have felt it.
Eugene felt his throat tighten. A dull, persistent ache began pounding in his chest.
He knew that Luo Hai’s pain perception was normal. His senses were normal. In fact, as an Omega, he was even more sensitive than most people.
Eugene remembered clearly—when he first cooked congee for Luo Hai, he could eat a whole bowl at the same temperature that made Luo Hai frown, blow on it for ages, and coldly tell him to serve it cooler next time.
If this wasn’t a sudden loss of pain perception, there was only one other possibility.
His body was experiencing pain far worse than the wound on his hand—so much worse that he couldn’t even feel it.
Eugene grabbed Luo Hai’s chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. “Tell me, how do you feel right now?”
Luo Hai’s eyelids were half-lowered, his gaze hazy, as if covered by a thin veil. His voice was hoarse. “What, are you really like those guys in the movies? You can’t get hard unless someone calls out your name?”
“Don’t joke with me.” Eugene lowered his voice, gripping Luo Hai’s wrist. “Are you in pain?”
Luo Hai didn’t answer and averted his gaze.
His indifference ignited Eugene’s frustration in an instant.
“Tell me!” Eugene’s fingers instinctively tightened. “I was careful, and your body was responding. Why are you in pain?”
When the wound on his hand was squeezed, Luo Hai finally frowned, gritting his teeth—his expression clearly one of restrained pain.
“This world doesn’t revolve around you, idiot,” the prosecutor ground out between his teeth. “It’s the medicine I took.”
Eugene froze for a moment, then suddenly understood.
He had seen Luo Hai’s medication before, even helped him inject it. Luo Hai had said it altered his pheromones, giving them some Alpha characteristics.
Alpha pheromones naturally repel those of other Alphas, let alone someone like Luo Hai, whose body had been pushed to its limits by the drug.
Yet, at his core, Luo Hai’s body was still that of an Omega. Only a large amount of Alpha pheromones could stabilize his physiological system.
Which meant that every single time they were intimate, Luo Hai endured excruciating pain.
And he had never mentioned it. Not even once.
Eugene stared at him in silence, his movements halted, though his grip on Luo Hai’s wrist remained tight.
“Standing there in a daze won’t make me feel any better,” Luo Hai rasped. “I don’t need your pity.”
Eugene closed his eyes, exhaling slowly.
He reached into Luo Hai’s pocket and took out a key, unlocking the handcuffs with a soft click.
Luo Hai’s hand dropped limply onto Eugene’s shoulder, his blood staining Eugene’s prison uniform.
“I get it. I won’t ask again,” Eugene murmured, supporting Luo Hai by the waist. “But at least I can make sure you don’t get hurt any more than you already are.”
