Bai Heting woke up half an hour ago.
The low, jagged ceiling of the rocky cave before his eyes left him momentarily blank. Only after a few seconds did his fractured memories and the aching soreness spreading through his entire body begin to slowly surface.
The chaotic jumble of memory shards caused his breath to hitch.
Bai Heting abruptly raised his hand and felt the back of his neck.
An inhibitor patch was stuck there, perfectly neat and tidy.
He peeled off the inhibitor patch and confirmed there were no wounds or bite marks at his gland. Only then did he begin to carefully observe his surroundings.
The cave floor was dry with no blood-stained clothing scattered all over the ground, and the pungent tequila pheromones had long since completely dissipated. He wasn’t wearing the hunting attire he had arrived in; his body felt clean and refreshed, and a brand-new coat was neatly folded on the ground by his feet.
Bai Heting spent some time piecing together the sequence of events based on his fragmented memories. Just as he stepped out of the cave, he caught sight of Qiu Chen’s back.
Seeing that Bai Heting didn’t respond, Qiu Chen called out softly, “General.” Then, he cautiously reminded him, “You might have accidentally ingested a little sugar pill.”
These words had been passed along to him by Luo Congye. “Little sugar pill” was a popular folk term; the pills were coated in sugar and commonly referred to by that name because they carried aphrodisiac effects. After Alphas and Omegas ingested the little sugar pill, they would be induced into heat. If the dosage were heavy, the user would also become delirious or even lose consciousness.
This thing was originally used by nobles to enhance pleasure in the bedchamber, but some Alphas also used it to deal with tough, hard-to-manage Omegas.
Bai Heting had already taken that possibility into account moments earlier. He had never experienced such a menacing, completely out-of-control heat before. Even on those nights without inhibitors when he endured it purely through willpower, he had never lost his sanity either, let alone…
Bai Heting cut off his train of thought and shook his head. “I didn’t leave any openings for those people to drug me.” He paused, then asked, “Who knows that my inhibitors occasionally fail?”
Qiu Chen’s expression grew increasingly grim. “Lin Ze has disappeared. Currently, it’s unknown whether he left on his own or met with an accident.”
Upon hearing that Bai Heting had been drugged yesterday, Qiu Chen had immediately sent word back to the mansion, arranging for people to thoroughly investigate the attendants in charge of the general’s meals, only to unexpectedly learn of the disappearance of the mansion’s physician.
Bai Heting also knit his brows. After a moment of thought, he added, “Go investigate the identities of those dead men, especially the one with a long scar on his face. Also, look into who is currently keeping cheetahs in private.”
Qiu Chen gasped in shock. “That leopard wasn’t wild?”
Bai Heting did not refute it. If the appearance of the leopard wasn’t a coincidence, then this was a premeditated hunt targeted at him. The other party knew him very well; they knew his route to the campsite, knew he would be drawn by that leopard, and even knew he had developed drug resistance to inhibitors.
Qiu Chen pondered, “You only brought six people with you this time; this is too unsafe. You should still—”
“Where is Luo Congye?” Bai Heting interrupted him directly.
Qiu Chen froze for a moment, clearly not expecting him to ask so abruptly. Bai Heting was a high-ranking noble, second only to the king and the crown prince; any use of coercion against him was a capital offense punishable by beheading. However, he absolutely dared not ask Bai Heting whether he had been forced, so he replied vaguely, “I have him imprisoned in another place, waiting for your orders to dispose of him.”
Bai Heting nodded. No trace of anger or pleasure could be seen on his face as he simply commanded, “Take me there.”
*
The two men rode on horseback, slowly following the river downstream. About a quarter of an hour later, Bai Heting spotted Luo Congye bound to a tree with his hands tied behind his back.
He was sitting on the ground with one leg bent, but his spine was held perfectly straight. He was still wearing the same jodhpurs from before with only a short-sleeved shirt on his upper body, and there were several scratched marks on his arms that had already been scabbed over.
Bai Heting averted his gaze and brought his horse to a halt about three or four meters away from him.
Those chaotic, absurd, and miserable scenes were once again stirred to life by those few scratch marks. He had been like a female beast in heat, insatiably begging for pleasure, even recklessly exposing the back of his neck entirely to an Alpha. There were a few times when he had already felt the Alpha’s teeth pressing against his gland.
Bai Heting unconsciously raised his hand and touched his own back shoulder.
But in the end, this Alpha had only kissed a knife scar on his right shoulder.
Unlike the first day of the autumn hunt, Luo Congye did not dodge his gaze this time. He tilted his face up, staring straight at Bai Heting.
Sunlight poured straight down. Unlike that dark, damp, rain-soaked night, Bai Heting was once again bathed in brightness.
The shade of the tree formed an invisible wall; he was inside the wall, and Bai Heting was outside.
Bai Heting looked down at him and said, “Go back.”
Luo Congye kept staring at him, the young man’s gaze as sharp as a hawk’s.
Bai Heting’s voice was no longer as raspy as when he had just woken up; it sounded composed and aloof, “Go back to the guard corps.”
Luo Congye’s expression barely shifted, showing little surprise, though he did lower his head. After a moment, he answered slowly, “Yes.”
That was the high-and-mighty Bai Heting. What on earth had he been fantasizing about?
As he hung his head, Bai Heting could no longer see his face, nor the hidden disappointment within him.
Bai Heting turned his head and said to Qiu Chen, “I’m heading back to the campsite. You take him out of the hunting grounds.”
