How Could an Alpha Possibly...

Si Jinyan looked at Chi Li's wounds. Large areas of his forearm and calf had been corroded, and the sight made Si Jinyan's heart ache. "Does it hurt?"

Chi Li raised his eyes to look at Si Jinyan. Si Jinyan could not possibly be unaware of how much more severe Chi Li's past injuries had been. If these wounds were on Si Jinyan, they would not even count as injuries worth mentioning.

Chi Li said nothing, but he was grateful that Si Jinyan had arrived in time. There had clearly been several signs something was wrong, yet he had failed to notice them and had been deceived by the Aberrant Form.

Chi Li looked at Si Jinyan and said sincerely, "Thank you."

Si Jinyan froze, seeming to take a moment to process it. "You don't need to say that." This had been his mistake to begin with, and he blamed himself deeply.

At first, Si Jinyan had merely been checking Chi Li's wounds. But after Chi Li said that, Si Jinyan somehow ended up lying on the bed as well, holding him in his arms.

Si Jinyan's pheromones surrounded Chi Li, soft and carrying a hint of tentative probing.

Chi Li pushed at Si Jinyan's arm. "That doesn't mean I'm not holding what you did before against you."

Si Jinyan acted as though he had not heard him.

At some point, Si Jinyan had shifted back into his half-human, half-fishtail form. By the time Chi Li noticed, Si Jinyan's tail had already wrapped around his ankle.

"Si Jinyan!"

Si Jinyan did not let go. Changing the subject, he slowly said, "Those Aberrant Forms were all humans, but they were artificially injected with a modified agent containing my genes."

Chi Li was shaken by this. He looked at Si Jinyan in