The alarm echoed persistently through the rainforest. When Wen Zhao led his companions to the scene, they found a chaotic mess torn leaves scattered everywhere. In the center of the clearing, Parker stood clutching his destroyed emblem, looking as if he could grind his teeth to dust in fury.
“Why is it Parker?” Wen Zhao spotted the two figures and quickly pressed Aizel, who was about to step forward, into a crouch. “Did you see anyone else?”
“Wow, this Alpha pheromone scent is so… ahem, overpowering.” Aizel couldn’t help but cough, his noise drawing Parker’s attention. The two had no choice but to stand up from their hiding spot in the bushes.
Seeing yet another member of Lu Heguang’s team, Parker felt a headache coming on. Furious, he threw his emblem to the ground, cursing under his breath as he stormed away.
“He’s been eliminated.” Aaron picked up the emblem Parker had discarded. “It was cut with a knife. Could it have been our captain?”
“How should I know?” Wen Zhao was equally puzzled. They had spent quite some time making their way here, only to find the defeated Parker and his group. There was no sign of Lu Heguang, nor could they even catch a whiff of Salorian’s pheromones. “An Omega in heat should be easy to track, right?”
“There’s blood here.” Zuo Wei, sharp-eyed, pointed at the red stains on the ground. “It leads toward the river we passed earlier.”
“Let’s go check it out.” Wen Zhao grabbed both Aizel and Aaron, who were still examining the battlefield, and pulled them up. Leading the group toward the river, the closer they got, the more Aizel felt overwhelmed. “Did someone bring real firearms or homemade explosives in here? This smell. ahem…”
“Look, it’s the boss!” Cass shook Aizel’s shoulder, and everyone followed his pointing finger. Sure enough, they saw Lu Heguang with his back to them, scooping water from the river and pouring it over another person beside him.
Hearing the noise behind him, Lu Heguang glanced back. Seeing them already running toward him, he scooped another handful of water and poured it over Salorian’s back.
“Is that Aizel and the others?” Salorian tried to turn around, but Lu Heguang pressed his head back, turning it forward. Salorian grumbled, “I’m the one who got bitten and bled nonstop. What are you so angry about?”
“I’m angry at myself.” Lu Heguang took off his jacket and tossed it aside. It was covered in black mud, though there was no longer any need to use mud to mask their pheromones. He quickly removed Salorian’s jacket as well, throwing it on top of his own. Seeing that Sallorian’s shirt underneath was still clean, he took off his own only shirt and used it to dry Salorian’s back.
Hearing his answer, Salorian chuckled. “Even if anyone should be angry, it should be me. That little brat didn’t hold back at all when he bit me. If we hadn’t successfully masked our pheromones and taken down Parker, I’d have fought you. You have no experience at all.”
“Does the senior have experience?” Lu Heguang rinsed the shirt in the river twice, only to find it impossible to clean. He tossed it aside. Salorian instinctively wanted to say, “Of course, I’m your senior, how could I not have experience?” But the next moment, he remembered the kid was angry and had a sharp tongue. He wasn’t sure if he’d end up being mocked.
After all, Lu Heguang had witnessed him being rejected by a girl.
Salorian’s lips parted and closed, and just then, Wen Zhao and the others arrived beside them. The Omega decided not to dwell on this any longer: “Are you just going to stay like this?”
He lowered his gaze to the long knife wound on Lu Heguang’s waist, feeling a pang of guilt, when he heard Aizel ask, “Senior, has your heat passed?”
Lu Heguang looked up and exchanged a glance with Salorian, who nonchalantly averted his gaze. Lu Heguang had no choice but to wash his face with the flowing river water: “It should have passed. I can’t smell Senior’s pheromones anymore.”
“That’s good, that’s good. Did the captain eliminate Parker?” Kas breathed a sigh of relief, taking off his own jacket and handing it to Lu Heguang, who didn’t mind and put it on: “Yes, after I was taken away by the fog, I ran into them. Luckily, Senior helped me out, so we managed to take them down.”
“Captain, you’re the best, and so is Senior.” Zuo Wei gave them a thumbs-up and smiled. “The biggest threat and the biggest problem are both solved. What do we do next?”
“Since Parker and his team have been eliminated, we’ll use their campsite.” Lu Heguang pointed to the open space not far away. “We don’t know if the fog will appear again, so we need to come up with a plan.”
Zuo Wei raised his hand: “I’ll figure something out.”
Everyone took on their respective tasks those responsible for tidying up the campsite went to clean it, while Zuo Wei and Aizel took out and organized the items from everyone’s backpacks. Salorian would leave early the next morning, so the extra portion of food among their supplies needed to be redistributed.
Everyone saw Lu Heguang’s wound, but no one asked if it hurt or if it needed treatment.
Because there was a ready-made “doctor” right there.
Lu Heguang buttoned up his training uniform, glancing at Salorian, who was staring at him. Just as a flicker of joy rose in his heart, he saw Salorian turn and walk toward the campsite.
Lu Heguang let out a long sigh, calming his thoughts. He didn’t know what effect the bite had on Salorian, but it certainly had a significant impact on him the surging desire to get closer, even closer, nearly exposed itself in his eyes. The faint floral scent mixed with the smell of gunpowder whispered that neither of them had forgotten what had happened earlier.
His teeth had pierced the back of Salorian’s neck, a sensation akin to exchanging souls. Lu Heguang suddenly stopped walking, wondering if he would have felt this way if the person he had bitten today wasn’t Salorian.
But as he thought this, Salorian’s face occupied all his thoughts. In that moment, he realized one thing even without pheromones, without everything that had happened today, without the heat, without the sensitive period.
He would still have fallen for Salorian.
Lu Heguang reached up and touched the bloodstain by his mouth that hadn’t been fully washed away. At this moment, his unique pheromones masked all the scents on the scene, and even Salorian’s pheromones were barely detectable under his suppression.
Perhaps everyone thought the bloodstain by Lu Heguang’s mouth was left from the fight with Parker and the others. Only Lu Heguang and Salorian knew the truth of the matter.
When Lu Heguang bit through the gland, he tasted a coppery sweetness that left him utterly captivated. Not only did his succubus tail twitch restlessly, but even the top of his head began to itch, as if something were about to sprout.
“Hey, Lu Heguang!” Salorian’s voice suddenly rang out. The Alpha, hearing his name, abruptly looked up. The Omega waved impatiently at him. “Hurry over here. If the wound gets infected, it’ll be harder to treat. Honestly, my exams end tomorrow. If I don’t take care of it now, when else are you going to wait.”
His incessant chatter helped Lu Heguang relax, yet the restless urge in his blood refused to fade. Perhaps he would continue wrestling with this impulse until he could get an answer from Salorian, but he wasn’t afraid he didn’t want to hurt Salorian again.
“Coming, senior.” Lu Heguang strode forward and was pulled by Salorian to sit on a large rock. The Omega retrieved the first-aid kit he had hidden earlier beneath the ferns and carefully began cleaning his wound.
As Salorian took out a bandage to wrap around Lu Heguang’s waist, the two inevitably drew close. Lu Heguang obediently raised his arms to make it easier for him, and it was then that he heard Salorian’s words: “I have something to tell you after dark.”
“Parker and the others really don’t mind there’s a dead crocodile east of the campsite!” Zuo Wei shuddered at the thought. “It’s practically turning into its own ecosystem!”
“We’re eating. Can you not talk about that?” Cass kicked him, snatching two pieces of meat from his lunchbox in annoyance. Their noisy bickering finally irritated Wen Zhao, who was trying to eat in peace. He smacked each of them on the head, and silence fell at last.
“By the way, has anyone seen the captain? I hope he hasn’t been taken by the fog again.” Allen spoke with lingering fear.
Zuo Wei glanced around and pointed toward the riverbank. “Over there, with Salorian. Probably summarizing everything that happened today.”
“Or maybe they’re flirting,” Aizel suddenly remarked. Everyone stopped eating and turned to look at him. Aizel blinked. “Don’t mind me, I was just saying…”
“See, I knew it,” Cass said, waving his makeshift chopsticks made from twigs. “I told you there was something between them.”
“So what if there is?” Zuo Wei, less sensitive to such matters, frowned. “Even if there is, it’s not like Wyatt hasn’t had cases of guides and their charges getting together over the years.”
“It’s different,” Cass said, glancing toward the riverbank as if feeling sorry for Lu Heguang. “That’s Salorian we’re talking about.”
“I feel like someone’s talking about me.” Salorian rubbed the goosebumps on his arm. Seeing Lu Heguang about to take off his only jacket to drape over him, he quickly buttoned it back up. “Just keep it on. I’m leaving tomorrow anyway. If you catch a cold after I’m gone, no one will be around to take care of you.”
“What did you want to tell me, senior?” Lu Heguang gazed at the shimmering surface of the river and asked softly.
Salorian picked up a small stone and tossed it into the river. The words that followed the next second struck Lu Heguang’s heart like a stone: “I know how you feel about me. It’s normal the universal gravitational rule between Alphas and Omegas. But I’m not right for you, and you know that. I hate.”
“You hate Alphas. I know.”
Salorian paused, then continued, “Then you shouldn’t waste your time on me. Spend that time trying things out with someone else. Don’t worry about the mark once you mark someone else, the mark on me will fade.”
Lu Heguang sighed, resting his cheek against his knees. Hugging his legs, he looked utterly pitiful. Salorian’s heart tightened had his words hurt the young man’s feelings again?!
“Hey,” Salorian poked his arm, catching sight of two teardrops falling into the moonlit river. The Omega gasped, bent down, and peeked under his arm, adopting a mischievous, almost childish posture as he looked up at him from below. “Wait, are you really crying?”
Lu Heguang blinked, and two more tears fell, landing on Salorian’s face. The Alpha’s eyes were red-rimmed. “How could you say something like that, Senior?”
Salorian: “…”
Damn, he really had made Lu Heguang cry!
“Sorry, sorry, I forgot you’re still in your sensitive period.”
“This has nothing to do with my sensitive period. What you said was just too heartless, Senior.” Lu Heguang sniffled, tears streaming down like they cost nothing. “Is our relationship really just a temporary solution to a problem?”
“Ah…”
“Will you forget about me once you go back?”
“Of course not. You’re still my mentee, after all.”
“Without that connection, will you forget about me then?” Lu Heguang pressed his lips together, tears causing ripples to spread across the river’s surface.
Salorian had no idea how to answer. Several times, words rose to his lips only to be swallowed back. Lu Heguang whimpered pitifully, “Will you change dorms, Senior?”
“No, no, I won’t.” Salorian finally seized an opportunity to respond, rushing to reassure him. “I don’t have the time to switch dorms. Alright, alright, stop crying…”
“Mm, thank you, Senior.” Lu Heguang lowered his head, wiping his tears on his knees, and mumbled, “Then can I pursue you, Senior?”
“I like girls.”
“I know, but that doesn’t conflict with my feelings for you.” Lu Heguang pressed on. “You can keep dating others. I won’t stop you.”
“Really?” Salorian blurted out before covering his mouth, why did he say that? “But I’ll be honest upfront: I really, really hate Alphas.”
“It’s fine,” Lu Heguang said firmly. “I don’t mind, as long as you’re willing to give me a chance. A gentleman’s word is his bond, Senior. You have to keep your promise.”
Salorian: “…”
Why did he feel like he’d been sold out and was still counting the money for the seller?