I'm here

Ji Chi did not answer Huo Jin.

Instead, he raised his hands and cupped Huo Jin's face.

His fingertips stroked Huo Jin's face, his thumb brushing lightly over his lips.

He held Huo Jin's jaw and slowly leaned in to kiss him.

Huo Jin's breathing grew low and heavier.

"Chi Chi..." Huo Jin pushed Ji Chi away slightly.

The scents of plum wine and cold purple sandalwood entwined.

One was stronger than the other. The domineering scent of plum wine challenged that cool fragrance, shattered it, then circled back to draw it into its own domain.

That was his.

Huo Jin's pheromones belonged to him.

Ji Chi flicked out his tongue and licked the peak of Huo Jin's upper lip.

There was tenderness in Huo Jin's dark eyes, but also something untamed, like a wild beast.

Once the false disguise was torn away, the man beneath, raw and bloody, had long since rotted through. His gaze sharpened, which Ji Chi took as reluctance and displeasure.

Seeing Huo Jin like this, Ji Chi's eyes filled with hurt again.

"You don't like it."

"You said yourself you wouldn't move around." Huo Jin's voice was low and stern.

"Be good, Ji Chi."

Ji Chi puffed out his cheeks slightly, but he was obedient enough. He nestled in Huo Jin's arms and stopped moving, his hand resting against Huo Jin's abs.

"You clearly want it so much."

"Why won't you?"

Huo Jin held him close. "Be good. I'll hold you while you sleep."

Ji Chi spent that entire night pressed against Huo Jin, never leaving his side for a moment.

But by the next day, the suppressant had completely worn off.

Everything spun out of control.

Huo Jin had never imagined Ji Chi could be like this. He also witnessed an entirely different kind of allure in him.

Ji Chi took off his pants and, wearing only Huo Jin's shirt, kissed him awake.

"Huo Jin... Huo Jin..."

"If you won't have me, do you want me to go find an Omega?"

"Like last time..."

"I'm ordering you... I'm ordering you..."

Huo Jin had never been a gentleman either. No one could keep up a disguise forever. Everything had become sordid, and there could be no worse outcome than this. What are you afraid of, Huo Jin?

The man in his arms shrank back, trembling all over.

Huo Jin gripped Ji Chi's jaw. "You want to kiss me, don't you?"

Ji Chi's hands lay above his head, one knee slightly raised. "I do."

The instant he finished speaking, warm lips sealed over his, and Huo Jin swallowed the lingering note of his languid, petulant voice.

"Huo Jin..."

Huo Jin's hand brushed lightly against Ji Chi's waist.

"I'm here."

"Don't be afraid."

When Ji Chi woke again, Huo Jin was gone. Huo Jin's bed was too large; with one person missing, it felt vast and empty, and a hollow feeling washed over him. All that remained beside him were insubstantial pheromones. The moment Ji Chi opened his eyes, he began looking everywhere for Huo Jin.

He was deeply unsettled and irritated.

There was not even any lingering warmth beside him.

With his senses amplified several times over, the moment Ji Chi realized this, helpless panic flooded every inch of his nerves.

He was afraid.

Not seeing Huo Jin frightened him.

He threw back the covers and ran out without even putting on shoes.

The cold tiles beneath his feet sent a chill into his bones.

He searched the enormous house for Huo Jin.

Even after looking everywhere, he still could not find him.

Ji Chi stood in the living room, and without warning, the world began to spin.

Huo Jin was nowhere in the kitchen, on the balcony, in the bathroom, or in any of the rooms.

Ji Chi's chest heaved. Distraught and helpless, he had nothing to hold on to.

His entire body crumpled to the floor.

One of Huo Jin's jackets lay on the living room sofa. When Ji Chi saw it, he gathered it into his arms.

The pheromones on it were faint.

Ji Chi did not like that.

He curled up on the floor, clutching the jacket, with what little sense of security he had.

It shattered into dust that even the wind could carry away.

A few minutes later, the door opened.

Huo Jin returned from outside to find Ji Chi sitting on the floor, clutching his jacket.

He carried two bags of groceries. The white plastic bags did not quite match Huo Jin's air of being untouched by worldly concerns. Warm sunlight fell on his elbows and trailed down his forearms to the colorful lollipops peeking out of the white plastic bags.

Hearing the noise, Ji Chi lifted his unfocused eyes.

The instant he saw Huo Jin, he scrambled unsteadily to his feet and ran toward him.

Huo Jin stared at Ji Chi's bare feet, his brows drawn tight.

The moment Ji Chi reached him, Huo Jin wrapped an arm around him and lifted him with one hand.

His slightly reddened feet left the floor.

The Alpha was neither small nor light, and being held did not make him look dainty. Instead, the atmosphere was charged with tension.

"The floor is cold," Huo Jin said gently, with a hint of reproach.

Ji Chi wrapped both arms around Huo Jin's neck and buried his head against it. "I'm going to slap you."

Huo Jin had not expected those words to greet him. The young master in heat always managed to say all sorts of things that made no sense. "Do you like slapping people that much?"

"You were wrong," Ji Chi told him, his tone making it clear that Huo Jin had not merely been wrong, but outrageously, absurdly wrong.

Huo Jin wanted to laugh. He really had been wrong; he should not have left him alone. "Go ahead and hit me."

Ji Chi lifted his head and looked at him accusingly. In the end, he brought his face close to Huo Jin's and nuzzled his cheek gently, soft and silent.

"I'm never talking to you again."

Huo Jin's arm trembled as he held Ji Chi.

Oh no. He really was angry.