An alpha’s scent was anything but friendly to an alpha in the susceptible period. Even though Ji Chenxi wasn’t overly sensitive to alpha pheromones, he still felt a sharp discomfort.
Unease tangled with territorial instincts, making him more and more irritable.
Part of him wanted to get closer to Chi Zhuo, to mark him hard and claim him, but at the same time, Chi Zhuo’s equally strong scent made him uneasy.
Rejection and closeness—two feelings that shouldn’t exist together—twisted into a single, confusing knot inside Ji Chenxi, something even he couldn’t name.
Marking didn’t soothe him. In fact, it drew out another alpha’s scent, mingling the sharp tang of tequila with rose, but they couldn’t truly blend. Not even close to the way Chi Zhuo’s scent had merged with his during the previous susceptible period.
Ji Chenxi frowned and murmured to him, “I… feel awful.”
As if that wasn’t enough, he leaned on Chi Zhuo’s shoulder and added pitifully, “Really awful.”
It was like a swarm of tiny creatures screaming and craving, but craving what, exactly?
Before Chi Zhuo arrived, he had wanted him desperately. Before smelling his pheromones, he had yearned for them. Now Chi Zhuo was here, his scent was all around him, he had even left a bite mark on Chi Zhuo’s neck and pushed some of his own scent into Chi Zhuo’s glands—yet still, he wasn’t satisfied. A hollow emptiness had been gnawing at him since earlier, and nothing seemed to fill it.
Chi Zhuo rubbed Ji Chenxi’s head and suggested, “How about an injection of inhibitor?”
Compared to him, the inhibitor would probably do the trick.
Susceptible period was brutal. Every single alpha kept inhibitors close, and even Chi Zhuo himself had relied on them in the past to get through it. But this wasn’t something he should have said to Ji Chenxi in the middle of his rut. The moment Ji Chenxi, who had been obediently clinging to him, even resting his head on his shoulder as a sign of trust, heard it, his brow furrowed immediately.
“Wait, what were you just saying?” Ji Chenxi lifted his eyelids, asking politely.
Chi Zhuo: “…”
He had this feeling that if he repeated himself, the person in front of him might flip out.
“Are you feeling really awful?”
Ji Chenxi let his eyelids drop again. “Yes… really awful.”
“Well then, what does little Chenxi need to feel better?”
Ji Chenxi hugged him a little tighter, burying his head against Chi Zhuo’s neck. “Hold me.”
They stayed like that for a while. Ji Chenxi still felt restless and uneasy, his body screaming and craving something—though at that moment, even he didn’t know exactly what it was.
Craving… but craving what?
The presence of the bite mark was strong. Following instinct, Ji Chenxi moved again to the back of Chi Zhuo’s neck. His fingers pressed lightly on the slightly reddened, swollen spot before politely asking, “Can I mark you?”
Chi Zhuo: “…No.”
The light press suddenly grew a little heavier. Even the pheromones that had been lingering around Chi Zhuo, wrapping him up before, now revealed their sharp edge again.
“Really… can’t I?”
“Weren’t you just saying you didn’t like it? Now you want it?”
Ji Chenxi frowned, looking pitiful.
Chi Zhuo let out a soft laugh, hard to tell if it was teasing or just gentle amusement.
“Can I mark you?” Ji Chenxi asked again, politely.
“Don’t ask. Asking means no.”
Though it sounded like a refusal, it was actually a sort of indirect agreement—like saying, don’t ask, just do it. If you ask, I’ll definitely refuse.
An alpha’s pride only allowed Chi Zhuo to ask once, “Want to bite one more time?” After that, there was no way he would ask a second time if he didn’t get an answer.
Chi Zhuo sighed silently. He truly hadn’t imagined that one day he would back down for someone—and that someone was an alpha.
Completely ruled by the susceptible period, Ji Chenxi’s scattered mind didn’t grasp Chi Zhuo’s deeper meaning. His alpha refusing to be marked had already been enough to hurt him, and now, after a little coaxing, it still wasn’t allowed.
All sweet talk.
If the other guy wouldn’t let him mark him, then he had to mark him.
With a sudden twist of strength, Ji Chenxi pressed Chi Zhuo face-down onto the bed, pinning him there. One hand locked Chi Zhuo’s wrists while the other forced his neck exposed, revealing glands flushed red and heavy with the scent of alcohol.
They had just been bitten, still swollen, with faint traces of blood where the bite had pierced the skin.
Ji Chenxi squinted at the sight, and the heart that had been iron-hard just moments ago softened slightly. He leaned down, the sharp scent of tequila wafting to his nose. An alpha’s instinct rejected another of its kind, the irritation already intense—but beneath that irritation, a subtle heat sparked at the familiar scent.
The sharp burn of alcohol was dizzying, tempting him to… take another taste.
Being pinned down wasn’t a good feeling. Chi Zhuo instinctively wanted to throw the person off him, but because it was Ji Chenxi, he held back. Ji Chenxi was in rut—one wrong move and he might burst into tears—and Chi Zhuo honestly didn’t want to see him cry.
That first glance earlier had already hit too hard.
He could clearly feel the hot breath coming closer, sprinkling lightly on his glands, carrying a faint tickle.
Chi Zhuo frowned, bracing himself for the pain that should come next, preparing for the sting at his glands. But after waiting for a while, that pain never arrived.
The breath came closer and closer. There were no sharp bite marks this time, just a gentle kiss.
After the kiss, a wet, warm sensation spread from his glands.
Chi Zhuo’s body shuddered violently, the tremor running all the way up his spine.
J-Ji Chenxi… had he just licked his glands?!
Chi Zhuo had braced himself for pain, but he hadn’t been ready to be licked. The intimacy from that spot made him instinctively want to struggle, to break free.
As Chi Zhuo tried to move, Ji Chenxi lightly bit the skin at the back of his neck.
Right now, he was like a big cat holding its prey—calm and satisfied, only tightening his grip a little when the prey moved, a warning not to struggle.
Having such a vulnerable spot held like that, Chi Zhuo was no longer willing to indulge him.
Ji Chenxi pressed down on Chi Zhuo’s hands while muttering vaguely, “Don’t move.”
To soothe his alpha, Ji Chenxi bit again into Chi Zhuo’s glands, injecting his own pheromones.
Chi Zhuo, still not calmed: “…”
Was this little alpha treating him like an omega?
Chi Zhuo felt annoyed at being treated like an omega, but couldn’t help finding the little alpha’s cat-like behavior amusing.
Speaking of cats…
Chi Zhuo, pinned to the bed, lifted his head to search for the snow leopard—and sure enough, at the edge of the bed, a pair of blue cat-like eyes met his.
Chi Zhuo: “…”
He buried his head again, but didn’t forget to send out his snake.
The little black snake slithered toward the big cat. Before the deliberately shrunken snake could reach it, the silver-white big cat lunged and pinned it under his paw.
After adjusting his angle, the big cat scooped the little snake on the bed into his mouth and lightly jumped to a new spot.
Before Chi Zhuo could even marvel that his snake was being treated just like him, Ji Chenxi spoke again, his voice muffled and full of grievance. “Your pheromones… they didn’t blend with mine.”
Chi Zhuo sniffed the air. The sharp tang of tequila and the soft sweetness of rose were half in conflict, half merging together, forming a slightly sugary scent.
“They did blend,” Chi Zhuo said.
At this moment, he was actually a little glad that something was wrong with his glands; otherwise, the two alphas would definitely have fought over who was dominating whose pheromones.
It didn’t take long for Chi Zhuo to realize that even if they weren’t completely rejecting each other’s pheromones, there would still be other problems.
This was a problem that always came up between two alphas: who was on top, and who was underneath.
When Ji Chenxi’s hand slid down along his neck and slowly began undoing his clothes, Chi Zhuo immediately sensed what was coming.
His body stiffened sharply. The physiological discomfort was immediate. Just moments ago he had let himself be pinned down, but now he couldn’t endure it. He tried to push Ji Chenxi off, but the little alpha didn’t loosen his grip—in fact, his marking teeth sank in a little deeper.
With his other hand around Chi Zhuo’s waist, Ji Chenxi seemed to mean to soothe what he considered his own.
But he didn’t know: Chi Zhuo could tolerate being marked, but he absolutely couldn’t tolerate being topped by Ji Chenxi.
The pheromones of an SSS-level alpha no longer held back—they poured out completely. His spiritual presence overflowed. When Ji Chenxi momentarily faltered under the intense, foreign pheromones, Chi Zhuo seized the initiative and pinned Ji Chenxi beneath him.
“No.” Chi Zhuo warned.
“Why not?” Ji Chenxi asked, staring at the blood trickling down Chi Zhuo’s neck, feeling even worse.
His marking teeth had pierced Chi Zhuo’s glands. When Chi Zhuo forcibly tore himself free, the teeth sliced a fresh cut into the gland.
Chi Zhuo lowered his head and looked at Ji Chenxi. There was no trace of the usual fragility of an alpha in the susceptible period on Ji Chenxi’s face now. Those eyes—without his smile, they weren’t hollow; without his coldness, they weren’t cruel. What filled them was naked desire, stained with aggression. He was craving something. After drifting in rut for so long, he urgently wanted something—maybe a release, maybe a night that could ease everything burning inside him.
But now, he had been rejected.
His prey would rather tear open his own glands than sink into it with him.
Chi Zhuo’s stiff body didn’t know how to react for a moment. The little rose was hurt.
“I think I could force you,” Ji Chenxi said softly.
Chi Zhuo hummed in response.
He mirrored Ji Chenxi’s earlier move, pressing both of Ji Chenxi’s hands together and pinning them down. The blood at his neck finally slid free, dripping onto Ji Chenxi’s cheek.
The silver-haired alpha, hair in a mess, let out a soft laugh. “But I don’t really want to. This kind of thing should be mutual. If I acted pitiful, would you give in?”
Chi Zhuo didn’t answer.
Ji Chenxi smiled. “I wouldn’t give in either. That’s what alphas are like—forceful, selfish, nasty enough to want to make the other side bend. We’re both awful like that. And maybe I’m… the worst of all.”
Alphas in the susceptible period got anxious, uneasy, driven by desire, and sometimes… self-repulsed.
Most alphas were confident to the point of arrogance. Alphas who hated themselves were rare. Yet now, Chi Zhuo had met one.
His tense muscles finally relaxed. He bent down and pressed a kiss to Ji Chenxi’s lips, carrying a clear sense of reassurance.
“Baby, don’t be like this. How about I use my hand to help you instead?”
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
