Come Back with Me

Si Jinyan did not let go. He still held Chi Li captive, and the restrained yet poised-to-strike pheromones surrounding Chi Li made it perfectly clear that if Du Wei came in, Si Jinyan would attack without hesitation.

Without needing Si Jinyan to say more, Chi Li did not utter their prearranged code word. Instead, he consciously spoke up to send Du Wei away.

Until there was no longer any movement outside the door.

Chi Li felt the hand gripping his wrist behind him loosen slightly. Just as he was about to move, strong, solid arms wrapped around him again.

Every muscle in Chi Li's body tensed involuntarily.

Si Jinyan picked him up and held him face-to-face in his arms, Chi Li's back pressed against the headboard.

Perhaps seeing that Chi Li was no longer struggling, Si Jinyan finally released the arm he had been using to restrain him and instead wrapped an arm around his waist.

Chi Li distinctly felt the scales along Si Jinyan's neck brush against his skin. The cold, hard touch sent a faint shiver and dread through him.

Si Jinyan was doing everything he could to suppress the instincts stirring within him.

If Chi Li knew what Si Jinyan had gone through recently, or saw the patterns on the skin hidden beneath his clothes, he would know that Si Jinyan was in an extremely dangerous state.

The pheromones in the room weighed heavily upon Chi Li. Before him stood a vast unknown, and their brief contact had been enough for him to understand just how dangerous Si Jinyan was.

He waited for Si Jinyan's next move, but when Si Jinyan spoke, he merely said, "Let me hold you for a while."

There was an almost imperceptible exhaustion and dependence in Si Jinyan's voice.

The pheromones around them shifted with their owner, gradually becoming gentler. They tenderly brushed over Chi Li's skin and hair, trying to slowly draw the person before them back into their territory, restraining themselves, holding back, yet impatiently wanting to mark him.

Ever since just now, Chi Li had instinctively felt that he had overlooked something.

He finally remembered it. At first, he had not noticed—when he came into contact with Si Jinyan's pheromones, he no longer felt the stinging pain of rejection.

Once he realized this, he consciously focused on the dense pheromones around him. There truly was no more pain, as though the rejection between alpha and alpha had completely vanished at this moment.

How was that possible?

Chi Li's heart suddenly began pounding wildly.

When had it started?!

Why hadn't he noticed...

Remembering something, Chi Li abruptly shoved Si Jinyan away. Si Jinyan had not been on guard against him. At least, while Chi Li had quietly allowed himself to be held just moments ago, Si Jinyan had truly felt a kind of relaxation he had not experienced in a long time.

The next second, a fist carrying nearly all of Chi Li's strength slammed into Si Jinyan's face.

Chi Li did not stop. Anger surged up from the depths of his heart, followed immediately by a second punch.

This time, Si Jinyan was prepared. He seized Chi Li's hand, his gaze darkening.

The veins on Chi Li's forehead throbbed as he remembered that test report again.

Why had he suddenly stopped rejecting Si Jinyan's pheromones?!

And that test report!

"What the fuck did you do to me?!" Chi Li's furious roar rang through the room.

Si Jinyan was clearly an Alpha!

How could Si Jinyan have marked him?!

Every punch and attack Chi Li threw afterward was neutralized by Si Jinyan one by one, while Si Jinyan still managed with ease to reduce or avoid the noise of their fight.

A faint trace of confusion flashed through Si Jinyan's eyes, immediately concealed beneath his gloomy gaze.

Chi Li's emotions had always been stable. Even when Si Jinyan had forced him, he had rarely flown into the kind of rage he was in now.

Chi Li sensed the suppression from the pheromones on his shoulder grow heavier. His own pheromones pressed back, yet Si Jinyan remained composed, as though he had not been affected in the slightest.

Chi Li's breathing was rapid as he continued to demand, "What did you do to me? Why do I react to your pheromones..."

In the cave, in Si Jinyan's residence, Chi Li had been unable to stay conscious most of the time. Only Si Jinyan knew what he had done and what had happened.

Si Jinyan said, "Keep your voice down. You don't want to draw them in."

Chi Li clenched his back teeth, pressing his lips into a thin line.

Si Jinyan did not answer his question, which was the same as tacitly admitting part of Chi Li's suspicions.

It was as if Chi Li had punched an iron plate. The anger gathering in his heart had nowhere to go, while Si Jinyan remained completely unscathed.

He was helplessly pinned to the bed by Si Jinyan. Turning his head to look at the window, he asked hoarsely, "What exactly do you want?"

Si Jinyan said, "Come back with me, and I'll tell you everything."

After realizing that he no longer rejected the pheromones, Chi Li suddenly became more sensitive to Si Jinyan's pheromones. It was as though he could sense Si Jinyan's emotions through them.

Si Jinyan said softly, "Come back with me." As he spoke, his pheromones seemed to soften somewhat.

At those words, Chi Li's gaze turned cold, and he answered almost immediately, "No."

Mockery filled Chi Li's eyes. "How could I possibly go back with you?"

Si Jinyan had ten thousand ways to take him away, but none of them would involve Chi Li taking the initiative or agreeing willingly.

A dejected emotion suddenly came from Si Jinyan's pheromones, but it vanished in an instant, so quickly that Chi Li even doubted it had been real.

Pheromones descended upon Chi Li with suppressive force, and Si Jinyan's voice was low. "Whether you're willing or not, you're coming with me."

"Of course. Of course you have the ability to do that," Chi Li said indifferently.

After a pause, Chi Li added, "But if they find out I'm gone, they'll come looking for me."

Du Wei and the others would never simply let him disappear. Dead or alive, they would find him. Especially since he had vanished in the middle of a mission, Du Wei and the others would dig three feet into the ground to find him.

And once a powerful mercenary group set its sights on someone, they would not be easily shaken off.

Si Jinyan's brows furrowed slightly.

As if he had found an opening, Chi Li continued, "If you don't want trouble..."

Si Jinyan suddenly asked, "Are you that close to them?"

His words interrupted, Chi Li's eyes flickered with hesitation. After a pause, he answered, "Yes."

Si Jinyan asked again, "Do you care about them that much?"

Chi Li did not answer.

Behind him, Si Jinyan slowly moved closer to his ear.

Chi Li knelt on the ground as Si Jinyan twisted his arms behind his back.

Si Jinyan's chest gradually pressed against his back.

When Chi Li turned his head, he met a pair of golden slit pupils. Dangerous emotions flickered in them, and the nerves that kept Chi Li alert to danger suddenly tightened.

Si Jinyan's sharp, scrutinizing gaze made him uncomfortable. Chi Li wanted to look away, but Si Jinyan caught his jaw as though he had anticipated it.

Si Jinyan spoke in a low, slow voice. "I won't let them find you."

His voice was slow, yet carried a terrifying pressure. "And you won't have another chance to see them."

In the darkness, Chi Li was forced to stare into those beastlike golden eyes. His breathing unconsciously quickened under the suffocatingly heavy atmosphere.

Beneath his clothes, dark patterns rippled across the skin of Si Jinyan's back. Silver-black scales began emerging one after another as his agitation grew fiercer.

Si Jinyan stared at Chi Li, unable to control the desire and irritation in his heart. A voice inside him clamored: pull him into his arms, use his fishtail to trap his legs so he could not resist, then swallow him bit by bit...