PTBC chapter 47

The moment Xia Yan stepped onto the second floor, the scent hit him.

It was the smell of Xu Cong’s pheromones—sandalwood. It filled the villa, oppressive and overwhelming. The chaos and distance on the first floor had masked it earlier, but now, each step Xia Yan took made the scent heavier, more suffocating, like a spider web glistening with dew, wrapping tighter and tighter.

By the time he reached the third floor, it felt like a predator’s lair, forewarning of danger.

Xia Yan stopped in front of a door.

Behind it, the overwhelming aura of an Alpha’s pheromones radiated outward, a primal warning to stay away, a clear indication of the beast locked within. Even Omegas were advised to avoid Alphas during their heat periods for fear of being pulled into their dens and ravaged.

But the reality was, without an Omega, an Alpha’s heat period felt like abandonment. The physical and psychological agony was unbearable. It wasn’t uncommon for Alphas to harm themselves under such conditions.

Xia Yan stared at the door, his mind swirling.

He knew the smart choice was to stay away. As an Omega, he was now more vulnerable than ever.

But he couldn’t just leave. Not when it was Xu Cong.

The man who, years ago, he had traveled across oceans to surprise with a dreamlike Christmas, just to see him smile.

And now, years later, it felt like déjà vu. He found himself standing in front of another door, ready to knock once again.

Three knocks.

Each one louder than the last.

“Xu Cong.”

Xia Yan called his name.

There was no response from the other side of the door. That wasn’t surprising, but Xia Yan knew the person inside had definitely heard him. Calmly, he peeled off the suppressant patch on the back of his neck. The thin patch fluttered to the ground, and the omega’s pheromones, sweet as honey, began their irresistible lure to the alpha behind the door.

He would bet his life that Xu Cong was standing right behind that door.

Xia Yan took out his phone and dialed Xu Cong’s number.

From inside, he heard the faint sound of a phone ringing.

But it wasn’t until half a minute later that the call was answered.

“Xu Cong, open the door,” Xia Yan commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Indeed, Xu Cong was standing right at the door.

The moment Xia Yan stepped onto the third floor, Xu Cong had sensed his presence. With each step closer, it felt as though a hand was tightening around his heart.

The omega was like an irresistible dessert, placed tantalizingly within reach. Xu Cong could open the door right now, pull the omega into his arms, and devour him. He would kiss Xia Yan as if savoring a cake, consuming him completely, tears and all.

But instead, Xu Cong stood frozen by the door. His hand rested on the handle, his rationality fraying like a burning thread. Red veins spread across his eyes as he fought to keep his composure, yet he couldn’t bring himself to press down on the handle.

“Don’t mess around. Who told you to come up?” Xu Cong’s voice was calm, betraying none of the chaos raging in his mind. His thoughts were a jumble, as if pierced by countless needles.

He continued, “Didn’t I tell you to leave with the other guests? Don’t be reckless, Xia Yan.”

Xia Yan knew he was being reckless.

If word got out, people might first send Xu Cong into isolation and then send him to a mental hospital.

But he still told Xu Cong, “Cut the crap. Open the door. Without an omega to soothe you, are you planning to hurt yourself? Don’t think I don’t know you.”

Xu Cong had a history of this.

Despite his composed and gentle demeanor, deep down, he harbored a streak of madness that was likely tied to his high-level alpha status. His tolerance for pain was extraordinary.

One year during his heat period, Xia Yan had witnessed Xu Cong slash his hand open, bloodied and raw, just to stay conscious.

There was still no response from inside the room.

Xia Yan’s patience was wearing thin. He kicked the door. “I said open the door! Don’t make me take it off its hinges!”

Xu Cong’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

He stared intently at the door, his eyes growing redder. The scent of roses seeped through the cracks, wrapping around him like flames, searing his reason and drawing him closer.

He thought he had already given Xia Yan a chance to run.

He had even pretended to be calm and persuasive, urging Xia Yan to leave.

He would hold himself back. He wouldn’t drag Xia Yan in here. After tonight, Xia Yan would still walk away unscathed, untainted by his madness.

That was the last bit of mercy he could offer Xia Yan.

But Xia Yan didn’t take it.

Xu Cong closed his eyes briefly. In that single moment, he sincerely repented in his heart. He had lured in the one person who was most kind and forgiving to him.

And in the next moment, he turned the handle.

The final barrier separating him and Xia Yan opened.

The hallway light illuminated the dim interior of the room, which was saturated with the overwhelming scent of white sandalwood.

Xia Yan froze and looked up, meeting Xu Cong’s gaze.

He didn’t even have the chance to say anything—no time to ask Xu Cong how he was feeling—before Xu Cong pulled him inside.

The door slammed shut behind them with a resounding thud, shaking the chandelier overhead. The hallway was once again empty, filled only with the mingling scents of roses and white sandalwood, and the discarded suppressant patch lying on the floor.

“Ah…”

A cry of pain escaped Xia Yan’s lips.

He had underestimated just how beastly an alpha in their heat period could be.

The moment he was dragged inside, Xu Cong pinned him to the wall. What followed were kisses and bites—on his collarbone, his ears, his lips, his wrists. It was as if Xu Cong bore a grudge, as if he wanted to consume him whole.

Xia Yan’s jacket was thrown to the ground.

The metal cufflinks on his shirt dug into his skin, leaving marks, but he could no longer care.

All the while, Xu Cong was interrogating him.

“Why did you come in?”

Xu Cong pinned Xia Yan against the wall, his towering frame cutting off all escape. Xia Yan’s lips were already bleeding from Xu Cong’s earlier bites, the faint sweetness of rose-colored blood an irresistible lure, like a lighthouse to a storm-tossed ship, or the sun to a moth.

“Do you know what will happen now that you’ve come in?” Xu Cong stared him down, his voice heavy with tension. “Do you want to be permanently marked, Xia Yan? Barging into an alpha’s territory during their heat period—did all your biology classes go to waste?”

Xia Yan wanted to curse.

Who did he risk himself for, if not this idiot?

“How the hell was I supposed to know you’d act like such an animal?” Xia Yan snapped, exasperated. The words pulled at the corner of his injured lip, sending a sharp sting through him—another mark left by Xu Cong’s teeth.

He glared at Xu Cong with pure frustration.

The look made Xu Cong laugh.

“That’s right, we alphas in our heat period are animals. Did you just figure that out?” Xu Cong lowered his head, speaking right by Xia Yan’s ear. “You’ve been an alpha for over twenty years, and you don’t know this basic fact? And yet you still dared to walk in here.”

Xia Yan looked ready to explode with rage.

But Xu Cong didn’t give him the chance. Before Xia Yan could retort, Xu Cong silenced him with another kiss.

Pinning Xia Yan’s hands in place, Xu Cong deepened the kiss, his pheromones growing denser and more oppressive.

The invasive scent of white sandalwood surrounded Xia Yan, making his limbs weak and stripping him of the will to fight back.

“Xu Cong!”

Xia Yan struggled in his grasp, but Xu Cong’s strength had multiplied. His heat period had made him almost impossible to restrain. After a long, exhausting effort, Xia Yan finally managed to shout, frustration evident in his voice. He slapped Xu Cong hard across the face.
“I damn well didn’t come in here… for you to… to do this!”

Saying those words, Xia Yan already felt ashamed.

“Can you please calm down! What are you doing? I’m your captain!”

His final words were nearly shouted.

“Hah.”

Xu Cong, however, let out a low laugh, as if what Xia Yan said was amusing.

“Captain, don’t you know what an alpha in heat would do to an omega?” His fingertips lightly brushed the back of Xia Yan’s neck. “An alpha in heat would mark their omega. They’ll force them.

If the omega resists, they might even break their ankles… like a beast.”

His fingers slowly moved to Xia Yan’s lips.

He leaned closer to Xia Yan.

The distance between the two of them diminished, to the point where they could see their own reflections in each other’s eyes.

“Besides, didn’t you already know my feelings for you, Xia Yan?” Xu Cong asked softly. “You’re my 100% compatibility omega. The person I love. Even a saint wouldn’t resist such temptation.”

And he wasn’t a saint. He was a sinner with countless flaws.

Xia Yan’s entire body froze.

He never expected this secret he had worked so hard to suppress to be so casually exposed by Xu Cong.

He had tossed and turned, clinging to the faintest shred of hope that it was all just a misunderstanding, that it was the nonsense of the CP fanatics, that Xu Cong’s affection for him as a teammate had been misconstrued.

But now, Xu Cong’s straightforward and blunt confession gave him the answer.

It was all true.

The way Xu Cong looked at him, the special treatment—everything was real.

Xu Cong liked him.

This truth hit Xia Yan like a stone sinking to the bottom of his heart, draining him of strength. His face betrayed his shock, and for a long moment, he couldn’t find words to respond.

Xu Cong, however, just smiled as he looked at him. His dark, deep eyes seemed to glimmer with a cruel amusement.

“You should’ve known, Captain. You should’ve been more wary of me,” Xu Cong said, pulling Xia Yan into his arms. His lips brushed against Xia Yan’s earlobe and the small, red mole beneath it as he whispered, “When I told you to leave, you should’ve walked away without hesitation. You shouldn’t have been so kind.

Yes, you’ve saved me. The moment you walked in, all the pain I was feeling disappeared because of you. But the moment you stepped into this room, you crossed the line.

An alpha in heat could mark you, claim you. I could force you to open up to me,” Xu Cong continued, his hand sliding to Xia Yan’s waist.

His words were so straightforward and terrifying that Xia Yan felt his heart tremble violently.

For a moment, his breath faltered, and he genuinely feared that Xu Cong might mark him in the next second.

That he would become Xu Cong’s omega.

Because of his recklessness, he would be utterly claimed, forever unable to erase Xu Cong’s presence from his life.

Especially with Xu Cong’s hand resting on his lower back. Their figures, locked in the darkness, inseparable.

But in just two minutes, Xia Yan calmed down.

After a brief hesitation, in the dim light, he wrapped his arms around Xu Cong.

“You won’t do that to me,” Xia Yan said softly. “You don’t need to scare me with those words. I came in because I trust you.”

Xia Yan released more of his pheromones—a rare, gentle rose scent that seeped into Xu Cong’s sandalwood fragrance.

He said, “No matter the circumstances, you’ll stay rational. Because you’re Xu Cong. You’re my best…”

The word “friend” stuck in his throat, hard to say after Xu Cong’s confession.

Xia Yan paused and sighed.

“You’re someone very, very important to me. Someone who would never hurt me.”

He was certain of it.

He understood Xu Cong, just as Xu Cong understood him.

Xu Cong was the one who, even falling from great heights, would still shield him. The one who, despite being hit by a journalist’s camera, had protected him first.

His trust in Xu Cong was etched into his bones and blood, making it impossible for him to guard himself against him.

Xu Cong tightened his hold, gazing at Xia Yan’s completely trusting posture.

Every cell in his body screamed at him to claim Xia Yan, but in the end, he let out a helpless laugh.

The room was so dark, the curtains tightly drawn. Their faces were blurred in the shadows, yet Xu Cong could still see every detail of Xia Yan’s features, down to those star-bright eyes.

“You’re right.”

Xu Cong chuckled softly, his voice tinged with a helpless sigh, as if surrendering.

He looked at Xia Yan. “I could use my heat as an excuse to claim you, to make you carry my mark for life. But I can’t do it.”

His hand lightly grazed Xia Yan’s face, his knuckles brushing against Xia Yan’s lips. His dark eyes were shadowed yet burned with a deep fire.

He could see Xia Yan visibly relax at his words.

That made him laugh again.

He could easily tell what Xia Yan was thinking.

No doubt, Xia Yan thought he had calmed down. That despite the kissing and touching and even the confession, it could all be blamed on the cursed heat.

Once they left this room, Xia Yan could go back to insisting they remain “good brothers.”

And Xu Cong would have to play along.

But how could that possibly happen?

From the moment Xia Yan stepped into this room, from the moment Xu Cong planned this wrap party, there was no turning back for either of them.

Xu Cong gripped Xia Yan’s face, their eyes locking. In the dim room, his sharp, angular features and the madness in his gaze gave him an almost ghostly air.

“But you got one thing wrong,” he said, staring straight at Xia Yan.

His voice was so gentle, even sweet, as he said to Xia Yan, “I don’t want to hurt you, but there are a thousand ways to make you fully realize my feelings for you.”

Xia Yan didn’t understand the meaning of these words at first. He furrowed his brow, looking completely puzzled.

But soon, he understood.

Before he could react, Xu Cong easily subdued him, using his coat to bind him like a rope.

It left him momentarily unable to move.

Then, the sound of a metal zipper being pulled open echoed in the room.

A chill ran through him, and his heart followed suit, but the room was warm enough, hot even, that it made his face tense up.

“What are you going to do?”

Xia Yan finally realized something was wrong and struggled desperately, but it was useless. His wrists were bound by his coat, and there was no way he could break free in a short time.

Xu Cong gave him a glance, not even bothering to respond. His expression was calm, as if he were simply doing something entirely ordinary.

He half-knelt, bent down, and lowered his head, doing something that would haunt Xia Yan’s dreams for the rest of his life

…

The temperature in the room seemed to be rising constantly.

It was scorching, making it impossible to think clearly.

Xia Yan’s forehead was sweating, his sideburns damp, sticking to his face in strands.

He was on the verge of losing his mind.

He clenched one of his fists, desperately trying to stifle the sounds threatening to escape his throat.

He could hardly believe what he was seeing.

Xu Cong was… doing this to him.

Xia Yan wished he could just faint right then and there. This world must have been secretly reset by someone. The Xu Cong in front of him was no longer the person he once knew.

He wanted Xu Cong to stop, but he couldn’t make a sound. His body was far more honest than he was, unable to summon even the slightest bit of strength.

…

When it finally ended, Xu Cong was still impeccably dressed, even the buttons of his shirt barely loosened. He looked composed, effortlessly in control.

But he lazily smiled, even sticking out his tongue to let Xia Yan get a clear look at his current state.

Xia Yan couldn’t take it anymore. He raised his hand and slapped Xu Cong again across the face.

When the trembling of his body subsided and reason regained control, Xia Yan’s voice was still shaking.

“Are you crazy?”

He gritted his teeth and demanded an answer from Xu Cong.

Xia Yan slapped him with such force that Xu Cong’s face was turned to the side, leaving behind a red handprint, but he just nudged his tongue inside his cheek, showing no concern.

Calmly, he helped Xia Yan put his trousers back on, then moved closer to him. Xia Yan glared at him with pure fury in his eyes.

For a brief moment, Xu Cong genuinely felt a deep sense of sorrow. After all these years of hiding, of protecting Xia Yan, of playing the role of a pure-hearted good brother, they had still ended up here.

But did he regret it?

Not in the slightest.

He slightly curled the corners of his lips, but his eyes were like a stormy, muddy rain.

He said to Xia Yan, “I’m not crazy at all, I’m very clear-headed. Were you just feeling relieved? Did you think I still had some rationality left, that we weren’t at the worst possible point yet? That once tonight was over, you could deny my feelings for you, shift all the blame to the pheromones, and even claim that my confession was a result of being driven mad by your pheromones? Then we could still pretend everything is fine and continue to be good brothers who face the storm together?”

Xia Yan was at a loss for words.

Because for a brief moment just now, he had truly thought that.

His expression completely gave away his answer.

Xu Cong chuckled in a low voice, the sound making his chest vibrate.

“That’s impossible, Xia Yan,” he said softly, “After everything that just happened, can you still see me as a brother? Can you treat me the same way you always have?”

“I want you to never forget tonight, no matter whether you accept me or reject me.”

“I want you to see what kind of feelings I really have for you.”

“Crazy…”

The word flashed through Xia Yan’s mind.

His fists clenched for a moment, and for a second, he almost wanted to beat Xu Cong senseless, to knock some sense into him.

But when he looked up and met Xu Cong’s eyes, his clenched fists slowly loosened.

He didn’t know why, but as he looked at Xu Cong like this, his eyes began to redden, a thin layer of mist forming over them.

He was the one being confessed to.

He was the one who had gone through this humiliating experience.

But why, for a moment, did he almost feel the pain Xu Cong was going through?

The two of them just stared at each other for a long while. The mist in Xia Yan’s eyes grew thicker, almost on the verge of spilling over.

The mist felt like a blade, cutting Xu Cong’s entire body with pain, but he could no longer embrace Xia Yan or offer him comfort.

In the end, he was the first to look away.

He stood up, pulling out a black box from somewhere. He opened it, revealing a black muzzle and restraint gloves.

These were obviously specially designed for an alpha in their heat period, much more vicious than the usual versions.

There were even retractable spikes on them, which would stab into the skin if the alpha struggled too violently.

Xu Cong took them out and placed them in Xia Yan’s palm.

Amid the suffocating scent of sandalwood and rose, Xu Cong looked at him and softly said, “I’ve already given my confession, you can restrain me now.”