“No manners.”
He didn’t mean manners toward himself. He meant manners toward the Omega in that Alpha man’s arms.
“Haa…?! H-Haeil…-ssi… ah…!”
The Omega’s body trembled. It looked exactly like someone thrashing to survive inside a predator’s jaws. Left as-is, heat would flood his whole body until he couldn’t manage it on his own—or he might even pass out.
Annoying.
Baek Kanghyeon was not the type to interfere in other people’s private lives.
But this time he couldn’t help it. Because the image of that trembling Omega overlapped with his third brother, Baek Heeu.
So he stepped in before he even realized it.
Kanghyeon seized the man’s arm hard. At the same time, he pulled the Omega into his own embrace. To shield an Omega from pheromone violence and calm him, the quickest way was to wrap him in an even stronger Alpha pheromone.
Confirming that the Omega in his arms steadied at once, Kanghyeon finally looked at the Alpha man’s face.
Ah.
A sound of surprise nearly slipped out of his mouth.
What caught the eye first was the striking face.
Clear, chiseled features, a high bridge to his nose, and lips shaped in a way that seemed made to smile. The silver chain piercing with a small dagger charm also drew the gaze.
Then there was the height—close to 190—and muscles you couldn’t hide even under a shirt; unmistakably, an Alpha was an Alpha.
A flawlessly handsome Alpha.
But being that exceptional didn’t make pheromone abuse permissible.
Kanghyeon shot the Alpha staring at him a cold look.
“Do you not know basic decency?”
Even now, the man’s powerful Alpha pheromones were pouring out without end.
A dominant Alpha, then.
Compared to other Alphas, the man’s pheromones were plainly different in both quantity and quality. Even Kanghyeon felt the prickling enough to make him want to take a step back.
Instead of retreating, he let a devouring surge of pheromones roll out, as if to swallow the man whole. With two massive Alpha pheromones colliding, the Omega in his arms clung to him, shaking. A sharp light flashed across the man’s eyes as well.
Just then—when the air stung everywhere like it was throwing sparks— the man suddenly reeled his pheromones in. Then he stepped closer to Kanghyeon and, without warning, brought his face near Kanghyeon’s neck.
The sound of him inhaling—ssup—felt like the rasp of a tongue licking his nape.
Startled, Kanghyeon moved to shove him away, but his wrist was caught in a firm grip.
With lips drawn into a smile, the man asked quietly,
“What are you?”
His voice held not just interest but a clear note of puzzlement.
“You’re definitely an Alpha, but what is this scent…”
Before he finished, Kanghyeon shook off his hand. The man flexed his stinging fingers lightly in the air but kept staring straight at Kanghyeon.
Then the corners of the man’s eyes twitched. The smile at his mouth turned into a dissatisfied sneer.
“Fuck—first you’re the one begging to be hit with pheromones because it’s your kink.”
Only then did Kanghyeon look down at the Omega in his arms.
Through the fluttering bangs, he saw eyes glazed with heat. That gaze was fixed solely on Kanghyeon—just like his cock, poking up shyly as it rubbed restlessly.
Kanghyeon asked the Omega, who kept batting his big eyes at him,
“Is that true?”
“Huh?”
“I asked if what he said is true.”
The Omega started, then quickly looked back at the man. Since being pulled into Kanghyeon’s arms, it was as if he’d forgotten the man existed; his expression was honestly one of dismay.
“Ah, y-yeah… I, uh, do like… g-getting hit with Alpha pheromones. Haha…”
His face, already flushed, burned even redder as he mumbled. He even gave a bashful laugh as if recalling the pressure of the Alpha’s pheromones.
Judging by the Omega’s whole vibe, it didn’t look like he was lying out of intimidation.
Only then did Kanghyeon realize he’d meddled needlessly.
He’d heard that in certain BDSM play, people used pheromone violence. If they were enjoying it by mutual consent, he’d unintentionally doused them with cold water.
Then all the more reason you should’ve taken it somewhere shut away.
To Kanghyeon, neither the Omega who wanted pheromone violence nor the man who’d brazenly dished it out in a public hallway where people came and went made any sense.
Still, there was no need to meddle any further. He despised needless noise.
He loosened his arm around the Omega.
“Seems I misunderstood. My apologies.”
“O-oh, no… It—it’s fine.”
Oddly, the Omega drew back slowly, like he didn’t want to let go.
As soon as the Omega let go, Kanghyeon shot the man a glare.
He looked like someone who lived next door. But even if it was in front of his own door, a floor corridor was a public space. Clinging to each other and making out openly like that was a problem.
“Be more careful from now on.”
Delivering the stiff warning, he turned and walked to his own door. A heated, dogged stare from the Omega trailed his back.
He already knew the door-lock code—Heeu had told him. But with them right there, he had no intention of leisurely keying in the numbers, so he just took out the key card.
Beep— The door recognized the card and clicked open.
As if to say he would no longer interfere in anyone else’s private affairs, the door that swallowed him in one bite shut with cold finality.
“Ah!”
The Omega, who still couldn’t tear his eyes off Kanghyeon’s door, suddenly let out a high cry. Someone had yanked brutally on the back of his shirt collar, choking him tight.
“Our vulgar little Omega’s got some nerve.”
The snort of laughter sounded downright grim.
“K-Kwon Haeil, cough! let—let go…!”
Haeil shoved the Omega toward the elevator just as he was about to say let go. Stumbling, the Omega coughed shallowly, then glared at Haeil as if to ask what he was doing.
“Go. Now.”
“Huh? Just like that? Why?!”
Flustered, the Omega reached out to him. Before that hand could even touch, a murderous surge of pheromones exploded—far more savage than before.
“—!”
The Omega sucked in a breath and hunched in on himself. His complexion went stark, enough to douse all the heat he’d had till now.
He understood then that this man, Kwon Haeil, had been indulging him quite a bit. The man’s rough pheromones were so overpowering and feral that even with his kink, he couldn’t withstand them.
“You killed the mood. Thanks to someone.”
Haeil didn’t bother to hide his displeasure at the Omega, who trembled with fear. His eyes had gone cold and vicious enough to look like he might tear the Omega to shreds at any moment.
The Omega backed away, step by hesitant step, then finally fled into the elevator. Buttons clacked under frantic fingers; then came the sound of the doors closing.
Even after the Omega vanished, traces of that sweet, heated scent still lingered in the corridor. Yet Haeil, as if he’d already forgotten the Omega existed, simply stared at Kanghyeon’s door.
Setting foot into the new home, Kanghyeon had no time to take in the interior, which was even larger than he’d expected.
Ding-dong—ding-dong—
Someone was leaning on the doorbell outside without a pause. They were so persistent that the clear chime never stopped.
Kanghyeon happened to be in the dressing room; he hung up his jacket and sighed. He could guess who had come to see him.
What a hassle.
For some reason, if he ignored this, it felt like they’d start pounding on the door itself.
In the end, without even loosening his tie, he strode to the front door.
Clack—
“What do you want?”
He tossed the words out the instant he opened the door.
As expected, the one at his door was the mannerless dominant Alpha, Kwon Haeil.
Wearing a bright, circling smile and a somewhat overbearing gaze, Haeil asked right off,
“Since when have you lived here? It’s been vacant.”
“I moved in today.”
“Mmm, yeah?”
Watching Haeil answer so leisurely, Kanghyeon narrowed his eyes a touch.
“You rang just to ask that?”
“Mmm, one more thing.”
Haeil tilted his head slightly and smiled. The chain of the piercing in his right ear gave a faint jingle.
For an instant, Kanghyeon’s eye twitched.
An overwhelming Alpha pheromone crashed down—meant purely to press an opponent flat. The placid air turned into a prickling, sparking charge.
Through that charged air he’d created, Kwon Haeil began to take the measure of something in Kanghyeon.