Two Alphas naturally repelled each other

Wu Jiangyuan kept walking. The closer he got to Pei Jinghe, the uglier Pei Jinghe's expression became.

"How did I never notice before?"

Wu Jiangyuan said regretfully, "So I have this much of an effect on you."

If only he had found out sooner, he could have made him sick sooner.

Pei Jinghe lowered his head, his hands slowly clenching at his sides. Out of Wu Jiangyuan's sight, veins snaked hideously along his arms.

Wu Jiangyuan stopped half a meter away from him and frowned in confusion. "Do you bathe in perfume?"

Why had an unusual fragrance suddenly wafted straight into his face?

The scent was distinctive without being particularly pungent, like Sichuan thuja growing on a seaside cliff, the chill of icy water mixed with a sweet, astringent note.

While Wu Jiangyuan was carefully sniffing the scent, Pei Jinghe had already stepped right up to him.

The scent grew stronger, so strong that Wu Jiangyuan instinctively sensed grave danger.

He finally realized something was wrong and furrowed his brow. "Are you releasing pheromones?"

This was clearly the scent of pheromones, and what was more...

An Alpha's!

So Pei Jinghe had taken the past few days off to undergo differentiation at home, and he had fucking differentiated into an Alpha!

Wu Jiangyuan's eyes widened in shock, and he started to back away.

But Pei Jinghe gave him no chance. He raised his head, his fringe obscuring his inscrutable eyes as his Sichuan thuja pheromones spread throughout the room.

He abruptly grabbed Wu Jiangyuan's shoulders and shoved him straight to the floor.

His body hit the floor with a dull thud-

Wu Jiangyuan had been ruthlessly knocked down by this newly differentiated Alpha who was nearly a head shorter than him. Worse, the guy was astonishingly strong, pinning him to the floor so he could not move.

His pupils dilated with shock, his mind full of bewilderment.

Wait... Pei Jinghe had actually... differentiated into an Alpha?

Wasn't he supposed to be an Omega?! What about him looked anything like an Alpha?!

And every bit of the restless pheromones filling the room proclaimed that their owner was a high-grade Alpha, on par with him.

Pei Jinghe braced a hand beside Wu Jiangyuan's ear and stared down at him, his lips curling into a sneer.

"You seem very surprised by the result of my differentiation."

Those words brought Wu Jiangyuan back to his senses. His feelings were very complicated right now.

The feeling was hard to describe, like meeting an online lover in person only to discover that what they whipped out was bigger than his.

He shifted his firmly pinned shoulders, his voice dropping. "Pei Jinghe, get off me."

"You provoked me first." Mockery colored Pei Jinghe's face, and his grip did not ease in the slightest.

Wu Jiangyuan gritted his teeth. "How was I supposed to know your pheromones were unstable?"

Sure, this was a common problem among newly differentiated Alphas, but how the hell was he supposed to know Pei Jinghe had just finished differentiating?

If he had known, he would never have stayed. No, he would never have come at all!

Pei Jinghe was indeed very unstable right now, especially with Wu Jiangyuan being an Alpha.

Two Alphas naturally repelled each other; there was no room for two tigers on one mountain. Right now, Wu Jiangyuan was like an outsider who had trespassed into his territory.

Most importantly, he could sense Wu Jiangyuan's pheromones. Even though they had not been released, they made him unbearably agitated.

He was so agitated that his head buzzed, and his grip on Wu Jiangyuan unconsciously tightened.

"Fuck." The grip on his shoulders hurt, and Wu Jiangyuan's temper flared too. "What are you trying to do? If you want a fight, I don't mind."

Pei Jinghe's brow furrowed deeply as he stared at Wu Jiangyuan's neck, his expression turning gloomy, his thoughts unknown.

He slowly released his grip.

Wu Jiangyuan quickly shoved him away and got up, rolling his shoulders. "You carry on with your differentiation. I'll leave you to it."

Without waiting for Pei Jinghe to reply, he turned and beat a hasty retreat.

When he was only a few steps from the door, a hand suddenly reached out from behind his ear, clamped around his neck, and forced him down.

Then a sharp pain shot through the back of Wu Jiangyuan's neck. Something sharp and wet bit through his skin, making his scalp prickle and his blood freeze on the spot.

He shot a hand out against the wall to keep from falling. As he steadied himself, the culprit let go at the same time.

"Pei. Jing. He!"

Wu Jiangyuan's expression was frighteningly dark. He turned around with a hand over the back of his neck, grinding down and swallowing his fury with every word.

He soon felt something wrong. When he lowered his hand to look, there was blood on his palm.

That damned bastard Pei Jinghe had bitten the back of his neck hard enough to draw blood, right over his gland.

"Do you have a fucking death wish?"

As an Alpha who had been bitten on his gland, Wu Jiangyuan felt ready to kill.

Pei Jinghe merely watched him coldly, flicking out the tip of his tongue to lick the trace of blood left on his lips into his mouth.

Wu Jiangyuan's fist slowly clenched. The next second, he charged forward and punched Pei Jinghe in the face.

"Fuck you!"

Pei Jinghe's face was knocked to the side, but he calmly turned it back, his expression entirely unchanged.

Only his lips were vivid red against his pale skin, eerily beautiful like a vampire's, his whole body exuding a bewitching, dangerous air of sickness.

His gaze was indifferent as he merely repeated, "You provoked me."

This fucking lunatic!

Wu Jiangyuan pulled back the hand itching to throw another punch. The pain in his neck would not let him stay any longer; the bite felt as though it were on fire.

"This isn't over."

Leaving those words behind, he strode away with a dark expression.

His thoughts returned to the present-

Wu Jiangyuan pulled himself out of his memories, turned off the shower, put on a bathrobe, and walked out.

Only after pouring himself a glass of cold water and drinking it did he calm his troubled heart.

He narrowed his eyes. After Pei Jinghe had bitten him back then, the rejection between two Alphas had been so severe that he had run a fever for several days after going home.

Once he recovered, he went to settle the score with Pei Jinghe, and the two of them fought to a stalemate.

That bastard had become a lot stronger after differentiating into an Alpha.

Wu Jiangyuan touched the back of his neck. Back then, at least it had only been a bite. This time, he had actually been temporarily marked.

And he kept feeling as though he had forgotten something important.

Apart from the night of the banquet, his memory told him that he had also smelled those resinous Sichuan thuja pheromones up close at some other point, but he could not remember any specifics.

But Pei Jinghe had only released his pheromones that night, so where had this extra memory come from?

The more Wu Jiangyuan thought about it, the more puzzled he became, and his stomach was growling with hunger too.

He put the matter aside for now and decided to take care of food first.

Too lazy to cook, he simply ordered takeout. After eating and dawdling a little longer, it was time for their appointment.

On days when he had nothing scheduled, Wu Jiangyuan dressed very casually. He simply threw on a hoodie and cargo pants, grabbed his car keys, and headed out.

When he saw Pei Jinghe this time, he was going to give the guy a thorough grilling.