I'll just kiss you, not bite

Moonlight streamed tenderly through the old glass window.

"Jiang Lan, relax. Don't be nervous." The man's low voice sounded right beside Jiang Lan's ear.

A scattering of kisses landed on the back of Jiang Lan's neck, making his fingertips curl as he clutched the white sheet beneath him.

His throat tightened with nerves, and his voice trembled a little too:

"Wen Zhiyan... are you going to bite me?"

Wen Zhiyan pressed close, delicate kisses to the faintly throbbing gland at the back of Jiang Lan's neck:

"Why would I? You're not an omega."

But in fact, Wen Zhiyan had lied.

The rich scent of ebony and amber, tinged with spicy tobacco, filled the entire room.

Tugging, resistance, tangled limbs.

Jiang Lan raised an arm and braced it against Wen Zhiyan's chest. With a forceful push, he rolled over and pinned Wen Zhiyan beneath him.

He looked at Wen Zhiyan in the moonlight.

Cool brows and eyes, a high nose bridge-perhaps because his skin was so pale, even his naturally light-colored lips looked a little crimson against it.

The slightly upturned corners of his eyes curved beautifully with pleasure.

His thin silk pajamas hung slightly open, exposing a broad expanse of firm, full, beautifully shaped chest muscle.

He looked exquisite and distinguished, entirely out of place in this cramped, shabby room.

Jiang Lan loved Wen Zhiyan's pitiful yet sanctimonious appearance to death.

He lowered his head to kiss Wen Zhiyan, keeping his eyes open, his gaze happening to meet Wen Zhiyan's long, dense lashes.

Jiang Lan lifted his head slightly, his tone carrying a hint of reproach and teasing:

"How does an alpha end up prettier than an omega?"

With that, he caught Wen Zhiyan's lower lip between his teeth again, applying a little force in punishment as he murmured:

"And you dare lie to me?"

Wen Zhiyan wasn't angry at being bitten. He merely smiled and wrapped his legs around Jiang Lan's waist, then suddenly exerted force and pinned Jiang Lan beneath him again.

Kissing Jiang Lan's ear, he coaxed, "Lan, I'll just kiss you, not bite."

Any clearheaded adult would have refused to believe him.

But Jiang Lan believed him.

Unable to refuse Wen Zhiyan's request, he rolled over onto his stomach on the bed and briefly closed his eyes:

"Go ahead."

Agonizing pain spread from the back of Jiang Lan's neck.

Jiang Lan's eyes flew open. Gasping for breath, he jolted awake in his hospital bed.

The light overhead was so dazzling that he could barely open his eyes.

He took a deep breath, his voice a little hoarse:

"What time is it?"

Seeing him jolt awake, the woman keeping watch beside him dimmed the bedside lamp further, pulled out two tissues and handed them to him, then checked her wristwatch:

"Two forty-seven in the morning. Jiang Lan, you had another nightmare."

Jiang Lan wiped the sweat from his forehead with the tissues and denied it:

"That wasn't a nightmare."

It wasn't a nightmare.

It was his first time with Wen Zhiyan.

And in fact, that time, Wen Zhiyan hadn't been deranged enough to try to mark him, an alpha.

The agonizing pain at the back of Jiang Lan's neck had only been because his pheromones were still in a disordered state after his rut.

The woman didn't understand, but she didn't ask further. She merely said:

"The doctor said you're not getting any younger, and you should find a highly compatible omega sooner rather than later.

You could satisfy your physical needs and find emotional comfort, without landing yourself in the hospital every time you go into rut. Two birds with one stone, and everyone's happy."

Jiang Lan raised an eyebrow:

"Ji Wanxing, why does that sound like something you said, no matter how I listen to it?"

Ji Wanxing pursed her lips without denying it:

"No, seriously, Jiang Lan, I just don't get it. What other alpha doesn't start dating as soon as they come of age and get married in their twenties? By your age, their kids are already running around."

"What are you doing? Keeping yourself chaste?"

Ji Wanxing wasn't wrong. In today's society, alphas were still a rare gender.

They were generally tall and handsome, capable and aggressive.

As long as their personalities weren't too awful, attracting an omega's favor was extremely easy.

In an era when alphas and omegas generally married young, older male alphas like Jiang Lan, approaching thirty and still all alone, were already uncommon.

But Jiang Lan didn't seem to care.

He took a cigarette from beside the bed, held it between his lips, and lit it with a flint-wheel lighter that looked rather old and cheap, saying indifferently:

"Who could possibly be worth me keeping myself chaste for?"

After speaking, he also picked up the small tweezers on the bedside table and pushed the wick of the ebony-and-amber-scented candle into the remaining melted wax.

Ji Wanxing snatched the cigarette from Jiang Lan's hand and stubbed it out in the ashtray beside them, then opened a bottle of vitamin A-and-D calcium milk and shoved it into his hand:

"Even an alpha can't take this kind of abuse. I'm still counting on you to live longer and make me big money. Get it together and don't die young."

Jiang Lan was amused. "Do you have to make everything sound so unpleasant?"

Ji Wanxing sneered. "The more unpleasant part is still to come. Jiang Lan, I accepted that show for you."

At those words, the smile that had just been on Jiang Lan's face immediately collapsed.

Ji Wanxing was talking about an all-celebrity dating reality show.

As one of the most eligible single alphas in the entertainment industry today, Jiang Lan had already received invitations from the production team no fewer than three times.

"I'm not going. Whoever wants to can go."

Ji Wanxing was firm. "You're going, whether you like it or not."

As Jiang Lan's manager, Ji Wanxing didn't actually have to force him to participate in a show he didn't want to do.

Looking at his utterly resistant, cowardly expression, she softened her tone. "The higher-ups are putting pressure on me. What can I do?"

"The company made the decision. There's too much profit involved. Vice President Chen came to see me personally and said just one thing."

Jiang Lan tipped up his chin, signaling for Ji Wanxing to continue.

Ji Wanxing looked at Jiang Lan. "He told you to do as you're told."

Back then, in his haste to debut, Jiang Lan had signed a ten-year contract with the company on oppressive terms.

Although he had little autonomy, the company hadn't been entirely unreasonable. They had never shortchanged him on resources and had even specifically assigned Ji Wanxing, a top-tier manager, to guide him as a newcomer.

Ji Wanxing was a beta, but she worked with more decisiveness and vigor than many alphas.

Through one stumble after another, she had managed to bring Jiang Lan all the way to where he was today, making him one of those at the very top of the entertainment industry.

But no matter how popular or capable Jiang Lan was, as long as the contract remained in effect, he had no choice but to obediently follow the company's arrangements.

"When do I join the production?"

Jiang Lan first swore, then leaned against the headboard and began drinking his vitamin A-and-D calcium milk as though he had nothing left to live for.

Ji Wanxing pulled up the documents, checked the arrangements for joining the production, then looked at Jiang Lan:

"Tomorrow."

Let me clarify something.

The story uses flashbacks. In the past, the bottom doted on the top; in the present, the top dotes on the bottom. The tables turn.

The breakup wasn't Wen's fault, which is why Jiang Lan has always kept thinking about Wen Zhiyan.

Neither of them is a doormat. Wen's devotion to the relationship is more passionate than Jiang Lan's, but goes unseen.