Angry

The air froze, and the standoff remained deadlocked.

Forced to meet Si Jinyan's gaze, the emotions in Chi Li's eyes gradually turned cold as well. Yet the fingertips hanging at his sides trembled slightly. That was fear.

He absolutely could not go with Si Jinyan. Si Jinyan was a dangerous mutant, and dangers as treacherous as a mire surrounded him.

He could sense Si Jinyan's emotions through pheromones, and Si Jinyan could sense his as well. No matter how calm Chi Li appeared, the faint pheromones leaking from him still betrayed him.

Si Jinyan noticed Chi Li's fear.

Si Jinyan's chest tightened. Countless people loathed and feared him. He knew that.

After a moment, Si Jinyan suddenly loosened his hold on Chi Li slightly and released the hand gripping his chin.

Chi Li was wound taut. He instinctively leaned forward, trying to put some distance between himself and Si Jinyan.

Si Jinyan paused, but in the end, he merely wrapped an arm around Chi Li's waist.

Si Jinyan's voice came from behind him, low and hoarse, carrying an imperceptible weariness. "Come back with me. I won't do anything. I won't hurt them."

He needed Chi Li.

Very badly.

Chi Li lowered his eyes to the hand at his abdomen. The dark markings on Si Jinyan's wrist were hidden in the night, barely visible.

He could not see Si Jinyan's expression, but he clearly felt the change in Si Jinyan's emotions—his pheromones had become unstable, sharp and tense one moment, soft and gentle the next.

It was as if he was trying to show weakness, to please him. When that thought surfaced, Chi Li was startled too, and something strange rose within him.

What was this strange feeling? Chi Li suddenly could not make sense of it.

But a moment later, Chi Li thought of something, and his heart suddenly began pounding.

After considering it, Chi Li spoke coldly. "I won't go back with you."

He said slowly, "I can't go back with you right now."

Si Jinyan stared at him, and Chi Li stared back.

While Si Jinyan was not paying attention, Chi Li hooked the gun that Si Jinyan had initially flung away and that had slid nearby during the fight.

However, Chi Li had still underestimated Si Jinyan—or overestimated himself. Before he could pick up the gun and aim it at himself, Si Jinyan had already seized his wrist.

Perhaps Si Jinyan had noticed Chi Li's intention several seconds earlier.

Chi Li watched as Si Jinyan's eyes suddenly narrowed. A few seconds later, his golden vertical pupils began to expand. Like a beast adapting to the night, they gradually occupied his entire black irises.

Pheromones surged toward him. It was Si Jinyan's anger.

Chi Li's heart pounded violently with unease.

"So, you want to threaten me?" Si Jinyan clenched his wrist, along with the gun in Chi Li's hand. "In this way?"

The wrist holding the gun was gripped between them. Then the muzzle turned, pointing at Chi Li's chest.

The hard muzzle pressed against his chest. As long as Si Jinyan pulled the trigger, the bullet could pierce straight through his heart.

Chi Li's breathing quickened. The thought of using himself to threaten Si Jinyan had only flashed through his mind.

Si Jinyan's gaze darkened. "Why did you suddenly have this idea? Why did you think that threatening me this way would make me let you go?" The muzzle pressed harder against Chi Li's chest, and Chi Li's heart slammed fiercely against his ribs.

He had not been completely certain. He had merely sensed something strange in Si Jinyan's behavior and recalled a thought he had once discarded and denied.

His identity had been exposed. As an alpha, he no longer had any value in stabilizing Si Jinyan's illness—unless he injected the omega disguise agent again. But that would be enough to make Si Jinyan, time and again...

—If he were in Si Jinyan's position, he would act without hesitation.

Si Jinyan's pheromones in the air began to grow strange. A thin sheen of sweat appeared on Chi Li's forehead, his breathing became abnormally heavy, and an unnatural flush rose over his exposed skin.

Si Jinyan slowly approached him and repeated, "Do you think threatening me this way will work?"

Chi Li realized why his body was becoming strange and backed away. "Pheromones... Stop releasing your pheromones!"

His body weakened under the susceptible pheromones, while a part of him that should have remained quiet reacted noticeably.

He was being forcibly driven into a susceptible period.

Because of his pheromone defect, Si Jinyan was often in a susceptible state. An enigma was unaffected by an alpha, but due to the mark, Chi Li would be affected.

Si Jinyan said, "I've indulged you too much."

Chi Li retreated to avoid Si Jinyan until his body hit the wall. With nowhere left to retreat, Si Jinyan cornered him.

Only then did Si Jinyan answer Chi Li's earlier question. "You guessed right. I've already marked you."

As an alpha, his symptoms after being marked were naturally different from an omega's. Documented cases of an alpha being marked by an enigma were even rarer.

Chi Li had believed that, as an alpha, it was impossible for him to be marked by Si Jinyan, another "alpha."

After leaving Si Jinyan, he had not noticed anything unusual and had not gotten tested. With Si Jinyan absent, he was unaffected, and his condition was no different from before.

But only now did he truly feel that he had already been marked.

Anger surged violently from the depths of his heart. He was an alpha, yet Si Jinyan had marked him!

And because of it, he had uncontrollably entered a susceptible period in a situation like this?!

Chi Li practically ground out each word through clenched teeth. "Si. Jin. Yan."

He did not want to investigate exactly how Si Jinyan had marked him. If he could, he wanted to tear Si Jinyan to pieces.

Si Jinyan's eyes lowered slightly. When he lifted them again, the emotions stirring in their depths had already been hidden away.

Si Jinyan said flatly, "I hadn't wanted to do this, Chi Li."

Si Jinyan's gaze darkened. "You should learn your lesson."

The pheromones around them grew increasingly dense.

Chi Li did not know that there was a corpse outside the window. That person had originally been after Chi Li, but Si Jinyan had discovered him.

By then, Chi Li could no longer take in anything. No matter how strong his will was, he was still affected by the relentless, all-pervasive susceptible pheromones.

Si Jinyan knelt halfway before him, undid Chi Li's clothes, and gripped him, while his pheromones surged even more fiercely toward that spot.

Chi Li noticed Si Jinyan's actions. The veins on his forehead throbbed as he tried to knock Si Jinyan away, but that strength was negligible to Si Jinyan.

Chi Li's back tensed against the wall.

There was nowhere for him to retreat, not even anywhere to vent his fury.

Before him, Si Jinyan's golden pupils had filled his black irises completely. The dark scales along his neck gleamed with an eerie luster. In the night, he looked like a demon risen from hell.

Si Jinyan was still magnifying his desire.

Then a thought crashed into Chi Li's mind, jolting him awake. His eyes flew wide as he began to struggle. An unnatural emotion had risen within him—that desire made him unable to stop himself from wanting to get close to Si Jinyan.

Chi Li struggled. "Get out... Don't touch me..."

Si Jinyan's clothes were perfectly neat, while Chi Li's were in disarray. He did not even have the strength to stop Si Jinyan. He could only clench his teeth, trying to stay conscious.

A muffled groan was trapped in his throat. Si Jinyan noticed, released his hand, leaned forward, and gripped Chi Li's jaw.

The air between their breaths immediately filled with the scent of blood.

A kiss heavy with blood.

Two pheromones that should have repelled each other became uncontrollably entwined.

Chi Li felt in despair as his body fell into the net Si Jinyan had woven...