This was… something meant only for the person one loved.
A pair of icy lips pressed against Bai Heting’s.
Bai Heting’s eyes widened seamlessly. Both his body and his breath were entirely frozen by this sudden touch of cold.
The hand hooked under his jaw applied considerable force, yet the kiss itself was extremely light and gentle; slow, careful, and almost reverent as it lingered against his lips.
These few seconds felt a century long. On the verge of suffocation, Bai Heting suddenly sucked in a massive breath of air.
Luo Congye pulled back a fraction, looking at him as he forced a bitter smile.
“What I am in agony over… do you understand now?” He murmured hoarsely.
Bai Heting remained dazed, appearing to comprehend, yet not quite understanding either.
He detested Alpha pheromones.
Alphas made up only a third of the population, yet their scent was omnipresent. Every Omega would involuntarily build up defenses upon smelling an unfamiliar Alpha’s pheromones; their physiological disadvantage forced them to stay tense at all times, never daring to relax for a single second.
But he liked Luo Congye’s pheromones.
Being with Luo Congye was comfortable.
Being held by him felt good, and making love with him… felt good too.
When Luo Congye hadn’t appeared in the welcoming lineup earlier that evening, Bai Heting had even felt an empty ache in his chest.
He had assumed Luo Congye felt the same way.
Yet Luo Congye actually said he was in agony.
As if determined not to let him reply, Luo Congye’s lips pressed down once more. This time, the kiss was fierce and urgent. He captured Bai Heting’s lips, but his inexperience made their teeth knock together awkwardly. Bai Heting lifted a hand to push him away, only to have his wrists seized and pinned back down again.
“You—mmph…”
Luo Congye threw a leg over him to pin his legs before shifting his body to trap the man completely beneath him. His tongue forced its way past those undefended teeth, sealing every unuttered reprimand straight back down Bai Heting’s throat.
Perhaps due to the lack of oxygen, or perhaps due to the crushing weight of the Alpha pheromones, the person beneath him gradually stopped resisting. Only then did Luo Congye release the tight grip on his wrists and lift his head.
Taking a moment to catch his breath, he whispered, “Let me go talk to Physician Zhou. He shouldn’t be too guarded against me.” He used the pad of his thumb to wipe away the glistening moisture from the corner of Bai Heting’s mouth. “Until the threat is eliminated, I will stay by your side as your personal guard.”
Trapped within the enclosure of his arms, Bai Heting was utterly unable to move. His lips had been kissed to a bright, flushed red. He glared up at him and snapped, “What exactly gave you the illusion that you can order me around?”
“Because I regret it.” Luo Congye’s tone was neither subservient nor overbearing as his fingers slid toward the side of Bai Heting’s face, gently stroking it a few times. “I regret my blind obedience. I should have gone with you last winter.”
Bai Heting’s face was flushed, but his expression remained cold. He pursed his lips and stayed quiet for a moment.
“Didn’t you say that being with me causes you nothing but agony?” He questioned him seriously.
Luo Congye stared at him blankly, then couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.
“Your heart… really is made of iron.” He lowered his head, leaning close to the corner of Bai Heting’s lips, and said in a very soft voice, “Just consider everything I said just now as the ravings of a madman.”
He actually had so many more questions he wanted to ask.
He wanted to ask if Bai Heting had run into danger, if he had been hurt, and how he had spent those three months.
And…
In the distant south, during those times when the suppressants failed, was there ever a single fleeting moment when he wished that Luo Congye could be by his side?
But he didn’t utter a single one of those questions. He merely lowered his head and captured those wet, soft lips once more.
Bai Heting, however, was thinking about something else.
He raised his arms to clasp around Luo Congye’s back while slipping his tongue out a fraction to clumsily respond to this lingering kiss.
Kissing Luo Congye felt good too.
He had also made a brand-new discovery: even without the fever of heat, his own body was capable of generating desire.
He arched his waist to rub against Luo Congye and slipped a finger inside the waistband of the young man’s trousers to hook downward, murmuring something indistinctly.
Luo Congye could just barely make it out; he was saying, “Take them off.”
