Even though she had marked him once before, Bai Long was still nervous this time.
Especially after Lu Yue said her technique was poor—she felt even more hesitant, afraid to do anything rash.
“What’s wrong? I just taught you how to mark, didn’t I? Did you forget already?”
Lu Yue reminded himself this was a paid service, so he didn’t bother being overly polite anymore.
Seeing Bai Long standing there frozen, he turned his head, frowning impatiently.
“N-no, I didn’t forget.”
She stumbled over her words, her gaze fixed on the man’s flushed gland.
The air was thick with the scent of white cedar, leaving her mouth dry and her head spinning.
“It’s just… I don’t really know how to comfort you. It feels like my pheromones aren’t relaxing you—they’re making you feel worse.”
Proper marking requires soothing beforehand—like foreplay. It helps the Omega adjust and reduces their pain during the marking.
Bai Long hadn’t known this before, but earlier, while searching online about the dependency period, she had also looked up how to perform a complete temporary marking.
Lu Yue paused, clearly not expecting Bai Long to have done her homework this time.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, the tips of his ears beneath his hair burning red, and his breathing was erratic.
Actually, when he’d said it was uncomfortable earlier, he’d just been venting. Their pheromones were so compatible that even without any prior soothing, it wouldn’t have been that bad.
But he never expected Bai Long to take him seriously.
Lu Yue suddenly felt like he had shot himself in the foot. If he told her it hadn’t been uncomfortable, he’d look like a fool. If he said it was uncomfortable, she might hesitate to mark him again.
Under the girl’s anxious gaze, he opened his mouth, wanting to say something—but he didn’t know how to explain.
How could he explain that even though her technique was clumsy, even though she just rushed in and poured her pheromones into him without any finesse… he hadn’t found it uncomfortable at all?
If anything, it had felt more… pleasant.
Without teasing or caressing, the sweet strawberry scent, gentle as a spring breeze, had enveloped him completely. It was as if he himself had turned into a piece of candy, waiting for someone to peel away the thin, papery wrapper and taste what was inside.
But he couldn’t say any of that out loud.
After a long pause, just as Bai Long thought he was too uncomfortable to even respond, the man stirred slightly.
Pressing his lips together, he replied in a muffled voice.
“…So… besides pheromones, do you know any other ways to provide comfort?”
This was a question any Alpha who had taken basic biology would know—but he hadn’t expected Bai Long, a transmigrator with only half-baked knowledge, to be the exception.
For Lu Yue, this was already an obvious hint. Since he couldn’t openly say her pheromones made him feel good, he thought he’d suggest another method of comfort.
After all, he wasn’t thick-skinned—he couldn’t bring himself to spell it out any more directly.
But to his surprise, the girl shook her head blankly.
Lu Yue was speechless, caught between anger and frustration, wanting to grab a pillow and hurl it at her.
What’s wrong with this Alpha?! I’m being so clear—is she pretending to be clueless or is she genuinely this dense?!
If she didn’t know about marking, fine—I could understand lack of experience. But not knowing how to provide comfort either—that’s just ridiculous! If she already knew to look up “soothing,” why didn’t she search a little further?!
Lu Yue was not only physically feverish and weak—the lack of comfort while he was emotionally unstable made him feel miserable inside and out.
And the girl’s current expression, in Lu Yue’s already agitated state, felt no different from intentionally tormenting or teasing him.
It wasn’t entirely his fault for thinking so. Firstly, soothing was common sense. Secondly, many Alphas had… “kinks” when marking Omegas. Some called it “flavor,” others called it a “sick sense of humor.”
The thought made Lu Yue’s already unpleasant expression darken further.
“Fine. You don’t know how? Then I’ll teach you.”
Let’s see how long you can keep pretending.
Lu Yue forced a half-smile, propping himself up on the bed with his hands.
He was half a head taller than Bai Long, so with just a slight dip of his gaze, their eyes met directly.
“Turn around. Face away from me.”
Turn around?
Something felt off to Bai Long, but she didn’t want to provoke Lu Yue at this moment. So, pushing down her confusion, she quietly followed his instructions.
“Is this okay, Mr. Lu?”
“Lower your head a little more.”
The man’s voice came from above. Bai Long couldn’t see his expression, but she could sense the coldness in his tone.
There was also a kind of unspoken superiority, which made her uncomfortable, but she still complied.
“Mr. Lu, this feels really strange. I’m not used to it…”
Before she could finish, the person behind her reached out and brushed the hair away from the back of her neck, exposing the rarely seen gland clearly in Lu Yue’s view.
At first, Lu Yue had just wanted to tease her back—after all, no Alpha would actually do what he’d just asked.
But when Bai Long actually turned around and lowered her head, he was the one who couldn’t resist first—almost without thinking, he reached toward her pale neck.
The pheromones there were more concentrated than anywhere else. For an Omega on the verge of heat, still waiting for a second mark, it was like stumbling upon an oasis in a desert—an overwhelming, desperate thirst.
Lu Yue’s eyes flickered as he remembered how the girl had teased him earlier.
His expression darkened, and he pressed down on the soft gland with deliberate force, a small act of retaliation.
Unlike Omegas, who go weak at the touch of their gland, Bai Long’s immediate reaction wasn’t pleasure—it was a sharp sense of vulnerability, of territory being invaded, a mix of danger and rejection.
The moment Lu Yue’s hand touched her, Bai Long felt like her entire body had short-circuited.
Her breath caught, and she quickly reached up to grab his wrist.
This kind of demonstration brought her no comfort whatsoever—if anything, it only made her more restless.
Yes, restless.
Right now, she desperately wanted to find something—anything—to vent the heat building inside her.
“Mr. Lu, could you… not touch there? I… I’m really uncomfortable.”
The burning heat from her gland spread rapidly throughout her body. The only slightly cool spot was where her hand gripped Lu Yue’s wrist.
She swallowed and looked down at his well-defined hand.
“That’s normal. You’re in the irritability phase. Without proper soothing, it’s common to feel this way.”
Of course, the irritability phase could be managed with proper emotional control.
It was just that Lu Yue touching Bai Long’s gland had triggered it.
“Mm, soothing? Do Alphas need soothing too?”
Lu Yue looked at the girl before him, completely oblivious to everything, and now he believed her—about seventy to eighty percent—that she genuinely didn’t know how to provide comfort.
Even though she was flushed and dazed, on the verge of losing control, she could still hold back.
In the past, he would’ve been more than satisfied to have such a restrained, low-maintenance Alpha for temporary marking.
But now, instead of feeling pleased, Lu Yue was overwhelmed with frustration and irritation.
Liang Shen was right—if an Alpha remained completely unmoved by an Omega, it meant the Omega was being controlled one-sidedly, like being led by the nose.
He didn’t like that.
He needed Bai Long to mark him to get through his heats, but he also wanted her to need him in return.
Even if only during the marking.
With that thought, Lu Yue’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. He lifted his gaze to meet the girl’s amber eyes.
Those normally clear, pure eyes were now hazed with a misty glaze, as if drunk. She was nodding off slightly, her vision likely doubling.
“Of course.”
His voice dropped, low and soft, no longer carrying the earlier impatience or irritation. His tone was almost coaxing, like luring an inexperienced girl.
“Like Omegas, besides pheromones, physical touch can also provide a certain degree of comfort.”
“If you don’t believe me, you can try.”
So that was why touching Lu Yue’s wrist felt so soothing.
She blinked, and under the man’s encouraging gaze, she gently lifted his hand.
Then, tilting her head slightly, she slowly pressed her cheek against the back of his hand and rubbed it softly.
The girl’s skin was smooth, delicate, and burning hot, making Lu Yue’s fingertips twitch and his heart itch with an almost unbearable intensity.
“Feel better?”
“…Mhm.”
Bai Long answered a beat late. Even as she breathed in the crisp scent of white cedar, the heat simmering inside her didn’t ease much.
“But I still feel uncomfortable.”
Maybe because her mind was foggy, Bai Long was more open and honest than usual, without as much inhibition.
After rubbing her cheek against his hand enough, she let go of Lu Yue’s hand and looked up at him.
Her eyes were unusually bright, carrying a kind of barely concealed longing that made his breath catch.
Then she stretched her arms toward him.
“Mr. Lu… can I hug you?”
“…”
Lu Yue was silent for a long moment. Just as Bai Long tilted her head in confusion, he couldn’t hold back anymore and covered his burning face with his hands.
So cute…
…
But being cute comes with a price.
An Alpha in the irritability phase has terrifying stamina.
Last night, no matter how much Lu Yue struggled during the marking, she kept pulling him back, not stopping until he could no longer move, had no strength left, and his gland had gone numb and lost all sensation.
The morning sunlight was bright and warm, streaming through the window and filling the entire room with a clear, transparent glow.
Liang Shen, who had just finished his rounds, pushed open the door and was instantly startled by the intense pheromones inside.
He didn’t dare go in rashly—not just because he was wary of Lu Yue’s pheromones, but more because he was cautious of Bai Long’s scent.
Alphas had an instinctive aversion to each other, and Bai Long’s mental energy was particularly strong, especially during her irritability phase, which could easily affect others.
So he just stood by the doorway, gathering himself for a moment before glancing toward Lu Yue.
Lu Yue looked like a salted fish left to dry in the sun.
His whole body was wrapped in the blanket, lying face down on the bed, nothing exposed except his head.
But the exposed skin was flushed red, his eyes were damp at the corners—like a flower battered by rain, thoroughly worn out.
Even when he noticed Liang Shen had arrived, he only managed to lift his eyelids slightly, looking utterly drained.
“…Did you get assaulted?”
“Assault your mother. I just had a heat flare-up last night, so she gave me a second mark, that’s all.”
He shot Liang Shen an irritated glare, wanting to grab a pillow and throw it at him, but he subtly withdrew his hand, hiding the red marks Bai Long had left around his wrist.
“Just joking, why so touchy? If it weren’t for the ridiculously strong pheromones in this room, anyone would think you spent last night alone in here, pent-up and frustrated.”
Luckily, Liang Shen didn’t notice. Seeing Lu Yue annoyed, he rubbed his nose awkwardly.
“By the way, where’s Bai Long? Did she mark you and leave again without staying?”
Damn, this girl marks and runs—a real force to be reckoned with. With that level of self-control, she’ll go far one day.
Just as he was mentally complaining, the man lying on the bed spoke up, his voice muffled, interrupting his thoughts.
“She just left a little while ago.”
Liang Shen was taken aback. Seeing the man’s flushed cheeks, he slowly grasped the implication behind those words.
“She stayed with you all night?”
“…Sort of.”
Stay? More like did me all night.
Lu Yue took a deep breath and buried his burning face in the pillow, though the tips of his ears beneath his hair were still vividly red.
To be honest, even though Bai Long had been reckless last night after being provoked, if he had really wanted to stop her, he could have pressed the emergency button by the bed at any time to call someone in and pull her away.
But he didn’t. And not only that—when she regained some clarity after completing the second mark, he couldn’t stand seeing her so composed and in control while he was left in such a mess.
So, he had provoked her again, deliberately touched her gland again and again, deliberately provoking her until she took the initiative.
Afterward, not only was he utterly spent, he also held onto an equally exhausted Bai Long and refused to let go.
It was absolutely absurd.
He was almost thirty, yet he had acted like a reckless, hormone-driven teenager.
Probably feeling guilty for having seduced an innocent girl, Lu Yue barely slept the whole night.
Only when dawn broke and he sensed Bai Long waking up did he finally close his eyes, pretending to be sound asleep.
Bai Long must have been very confused when she woke.
She sat quietly on the edge of the bed, staring at him for a long moment, and only started getting ready to leave when she was almost late for her part-time job.
Before leaving, she even carefully tucked him in.
When she leaned close, her pheromones lingered around him, and he felt as if his tongue could taste their sweet, crisp fragrance.
Damn, an Omega who’s been properly taken care of really is different.
Seeing Lu Yue so unusually satisfied, Liang Shen—who had been single his whole life—felt sour enough to turn into a lemon.
Just as he was lamenting when he’d ever meet his own destined Omega, his gaze drifted to the side table and landed on a note pressed under a cup.
It was Bai Long’s handwriting.
“Lu Yue, looks like Bai Long left you a note.”
Hearing this, Lu Yue’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. From his angle, he couldn’t make out what was written on it at all.
“…Get it for me. I can’t get up right now.”
Alright, that’s enough.
I’m not blind. I can see you two had a ‘wonderful’ night.
Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Liang Shen waited until the pheromones had dissipated a bit before stepping in and pulling the note from the table.
He unfolded it and turned it toward Lu Yue so he could read it clearly.
The man who had been all shy and blushing a moment ago instantly darkened upon seeing the note’s contents.
He’d expected Bai Long to write something thoughtful like “rest well” or “let me know if you need anything.”
Instead, it was an IOU.
An IOU for the marks from last night when she had lost control.
【Mr. Lu, last night I owed you a total of five marks. Here’s my contact info. Feel free to call me anytime if anything comes up.】
【Don’t worry, I might not have money, but I’m a good Alpha. I don’t freeload qwq.】
“…F*ck.”
Damn, she really does see me as a gigolo.