HOYSE CHAPTER 69

Chapter 69 — Why

His chest ached, and an itchy heat crept under his skin.

It was hard to believe that someone as cool and untouchable as a fallen immortal would do this.

That scent, deadly and seductive, snagged the Alpha in him and pulled every restless, hungry, split-apart impulse to the surface.

Those urges had been running hot for days, and Rong Jing had been forcing them down.

He had not done it well, which was why he kept his distance from Gu Xi.

If he slipped now, all that space he carved out would vanish in an instant.

Pheromones pounded at him until the room tilted.

The dizziness felt like downing ten thousand bottles of erguotou. Even if he were made of iron, giving in would only be a matter of time.

Modern reason kept crashing against a body’s unstoppable instinct, gaining ground, then losing it.

Rong Jing could only stay still and hope Gu Xi would snap out of it.

Gu Xi, however, was like a stag driven wild by heat, diving straight into an Alpha’s arms. Whether he meant to or not, his fingertips cast a spell.

They lit small fires wherever they touched, sparking without soothing.

A rhythm that fed craving and drove a person mad.

The moment he felt Rong Jing stir, he shifted away, never letting him have it easy.

Any Alpha would be pushed over the edge by that give-and-not-give.

Right now Gu Xi was a little demon, unguarded and wicked, leading him down.

They had long forgotten Mo Dian at the door. When Rong Jing came in, he only meant to drag Gu Xi off the balcony. He shoved a wedge against the door and told Mo Dian to wait outside.

Mo Dian waited and then waited but still nothing. He eased the door open and leaned in.

The instant it cracked, wind rushed through like someone had blasted open blocked veins.

Outside lay a park, mountains in the distance. The studio hotel sat on the edge of the suburbs with pleasant scenery.

At night, the grounds were poorly lit.

The room was washed in deep violet, a little warm.

One person lay on his back while another person straddled him. Heat curled together with want.

At the sound outside, Gu Xi looked up, the softness in his eyes turning into a blade pointed at the door.

He had waited for this too long. He would not let anyone interrupt.

Mo Dian had been an assistant for years and knew Gu Xi too well.

He had never seen him like this. That look said only one thing: out.

Thunder braided thicker in the distance. Gu Xi, framed in shadow and light, was stunning.

In that instant, Mo Dian realized Gu Xi was not drunk.

He shut the door as if sleepwalking and almost by reflex, kicked away the wedge holding it open.

Then he thumped his chest with a fist.

Gu Xi, do you remember you are an Omega? How can you be the one… riding…

Something inside Mo Dian felt like it cracked.

With the barrier gone, a gust of cold air snapped back the thin scrap of reason Rong Jing had left. He knew that if he lost control now, things would change for good.

“Wait…” Even that was hard to say. He wanted to warn him, Gu Xi, you will regret this.

Gu Xi felt the place that had been aching finally climb out of cold ash and despair.

Rong Jing was not untouchable. Even if it was only his body, it was enough.

Rong Jing burned everywhere. He pushed at Gu Xi, careful not to use force, terrified of hurting him, all while trying to hold the man twisting in his arms. In that moment he wished he could split into a hundred selves.

He did not know how many seconds passed before the last bit of reason dissolved in the surge of heat.

The little demon blew like a volcano that had slept too long, flinging fire without restraint.

He poured everything he had into wrecking the man of iron.

Rong Jing’s final thread of restraint snapped.

He caught that teasing hand, pulled it in, and for the first time lowered his head and bit down, hard.

Gu Xi hissed and glared at him, eyes hooked and tangled.

Rong Jing’s gaze went red. He moved like a hunting cat, flipping them in one clean motion and reversing everything.

In his arms, Gu Xi looked pale and delicate, like a bead of dew waiting to be gathered.

Rong Jing did not waste words. He tore at his own collar with one hand. Buttons flew.

Inside, there was only the roughening of their breath and the small sounds slipping from Gu Xi’s lips.

Thunder cracked outside. The wild storm played like an orchestra rushing the strings.

Just like the first time he marked him, the hotel’s network collapsed and the power went out. In Shangjing the grid had been stable for decades; many young people had never experienced a blackout.

The whole hotel dropped into blackness. Stranger still, anyone who ran to the window to check other rooms found a faint sweetness in the air.

Alphas who caught that trace grew irritable at once. The anger rolled down entire floors. Now and then a roar broke out, strength turning savage.

Hotel staff went door to door with candles to check on guests. If an Alpha opened up, they met tight voices struggling to hold their temper.

Each one felt like a mountain bristling with fury.

The staff gritted their teeth and kept going. These two floors were reserved by the production. There were celebrities of all levels here, even top star Gu Xi, so they were extra careful.

At Gu Xi’s door, two attendants nudged each other until the Omega among them finally knocked.

“Hello, Mr. Gu, are you asleep?”

“Mr. Gu?”

They called a few times. No answer.

They did not know that just beyond that single panel of wood, Gu Xi was pressed to the wall, caught in a grip that would not yield.

The balcony doors were shut tight, trapping pheromones in this small space.

Clothes were scattered along their path. When he felt the Alpha turn as if to look, Gu Xi slapped a palm to the door. “Don’t.”

As if someone had spoiled the mood at the crucial second.

Strained, impatient.

The attendants traded glances. That did sound like Gu Xi but the tone was different.

He had never been arrogant, only a little distant yes, but had never been this curt.

They did not dare linger. They left a pair of candles and a handwritten apology, saying the front desk stood ready if needed.

Gu Xi turned back, cupped the Alpha’s dazed face, and leaned in.

He parted his lips and breathed, “Don’t look.”

Do not look at anyone else. Look at me.

With me, is it not enough.

The Alpha said nothing. His face looked almost the same, even his breathing stayed steady, only his hands moved faster, without mercy.

He took that drop of dew no one else could steal and drank it again and again, stripped it, soaked it, left no corner untouched.

Heat flooded the air.

What had been broken off before returned and gathered. They were just about to go on when both phones shrieked at once.

On the carpet, two bright screens blazed without shame.

If anyone had stared at the signal bars, they would have seen it.

A second earlier there was no service. In a blink, there was a full signal. It was eerie.

Gu Xi trembled. Fear trembled with him.

Afraid it would end in nothing again.

Rong Jing, who kept a gas mask at home to guard against Omegas.

A wall that had withstood a thousand assaults, flawless and seamless, had blocked him several times. Maybe that line had quietly become their law.

Without the final crossing, Gu Xi was like a soft vine in the thunder, nowhere to cling.

He did not know that, just like with his first marking, he was a crucial piece to this world. By choosing the fate of a cannon-fodder outside the script, his path had veered and veered again. Everything around him pushed back.

The thunder and the interruptions would keep coming, wave after wave. The “accidents” ahead would only grow fiercer.

This man was sand. The tighter he clutched, the faster it slipped away.

Gu Xi closed his eyes and waited for the sentence.

He never imagined that when he thought the warmth would leave, it stayed.

This time the Alpha stripped off his shirt, scooped up the two screaming phones without looking, tossed them into the bathroom, and shut the door with a kick. The ringing died.

He gathered the rigid-faced Omega into his arms.

A gentle touch smoothed down from his brow.

It felt like comfort, but everything else he did was rougher.

There was more knocking later, here and there, but no one answered.

A sharp bolt of pain made Gu Xi arch up, offering himself, and he leaned over the throat above him, the spot that had stolen his breath when he first saw it.

At last he left his mark there.

Ice and fire.

Flesh grew warmer with every moment.

Sinking and rising.

Steadily intensifying.

Every sound was swallowed by the muffled storm outside.

Within, bursts of lightning illuminated their forms time and again.

…

He did not know how long had passed.

In a sea of pheromones, when Rong Jing drew back, it felt unreal.

In a haze, Gu Xi reached for him again and was gently pressed down. A heartbeat later, the heat took him up again.

He was so tired he fell asleep before a thought could form.

Only one question drifted through his head.

Why?

Why only once?

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