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Unknowingly, Chi Cheng had fought with himself because while he loved smelling himself on Suowei, he knew that his Alpha overstepped. And when he could no longer smell Suowei… when he could no longer feel Suowei… He knew two things:
He wants his scent on Suowei permanently. Consensually. Obsessively.
And that Suowei was no regular omega; he had been a fool to underestimate him. He won’t make the same mistake twice.
His Alpha and natural mindset agreed then and there; Suowei had to be theirs.
If he wasn’t such a hesitant coward, Suowei would still be next to him, and they’d never have to experience the grief of watching their fated’s retreating back.
—
Suowei ended up chartering a private flight. He felt too ill and overwhelmed by unknown scents.
He pressed the button on his armrest, calling forth a short stewardess with her blonde hair pulled into a neat bun.
“How may I help you?” She asked politely, hands folded manneristically and a slight tilt to her head.
“More blankets, a glass of hot water, and an eye mask, please,” he said softly, listing off the things he needed.
She simply responded with a nod of her head and a quick, polished turn of her heels. When she returned, she helped arrange the blankets, one over his already covered shoulders and another in his lap. “If you’re sick, we can send over one of the crew to watch over you if you’d like.”
Suowei took a sip of the hot water and nodded. “I’ll try to rest,” he said while pulling out another syringe. “If I stop breathing, tell the person watching over me to not panic or hesitate; I will need this immediately.” Her eyes widened, but she took the syringe with a slight shake to her thin fingers. “And I expect this to only stay between us three; if somehow this gets past the privacy of this flight, I’ll make sure it’s taken care of accordingly. Do you understand?”
She nodded quickly, once and sharply. “Yes, sir.”
Suowei finished his glass, and before he slid the eye mask on, she returned, sat on the sofa adjacent to Suowei, and held the syringe next to her thigh.
He couldn’t help the small chuckle that slipped forward, locked behind his stoic face and pressed frown. He’ll give it to the beta; she took the responsibility as her own and ensured his secret would stay between him and her.
Sixteen hours later, he’ll be reunited with Xiaoshuai and his mother, and maybe, just maybe, they can help regulate whatever chaos has brewed within.
Suowei awoke with a gasp, his lungs on fire as if he had held his breath under freezing water.
At first, all he could feel was the rolling sweat down his spine and dripping from his forehead, then he felt the intense chill through his veins. His fingertips felt numb, yet filled with painful static.
When he opened his eyes, everything was dark; with a slow realization, he finally tore off his eye mask as his chest moved with the enormous breaths he was taking in.
Before him, the stewardess was kneeling on one knee, her eyes rounded with worry as she looked up at him. She held the emptied syringe in her trembling hands.
Surprisingly enough, the beta was releasing distressed hormones. Suowei could smell the slight burning of ivory, and while that smell alone would normally make him incredibly sick, something told him to calm the girl.
He tried to release some calming pheromones but halted when he noticed his internal call was frozen; he had no access to his Omega. Instead, he lifted a hand from his burrito of covers and shakily pressed his palm to the back of her hand. “I’m okay,” he said in a soft voice, trying to assure her. “Thank you,” he said even more gently as he slowly pried her fingers off the syringe and slipped it away from her grasp; he tossed it into his bag and took a deep, studying breath.
“Where are we?”
She blinked at his question, paused, and then inhaled. “We have about thirty minutes left in the air; afterwards, we have to wait for clearance to disembark. You should be out of here in no more than two hours. Can I get you anything?”
“Heat packs and more hot water,” he said with a shiver.
As she moved to stand, his grip tightened marginally. “Thank you.”
“It’s my job, sir.”
Suowei nodded once. “Call my emergency contact; tell him I’ll be touching down soon and I need assistance,” he says softly and then levels a serious look with her. “Tell him I cannot regulate myself.”
She inhaled sharply, nodded firmly once, and then she was off.
In no time she returned with what Suowei asked for, including two new heated blankets that she added on top of the others. “He said to stay inside; the doctor will come,” she said lowly as she handed over the heat pack and hot water. He simply nodded in response, eyes slipping closed as he tried to will his body into accepting the artificial heat.
Instead of two hours, just fifty-two minutes after Suowei woke up, the door was opening with a hiss.
The white of a doctor’s coat came flitting in before the stern, familiar face followed. Dr. Jiang, Xiaoshuai’s mother, came in with a weight to her steps and frustration squaring her shoulders.
He wanted to make a joke to ease the situation, but his teeth jittered too much. Part of him wanted to cry into her bosom and soak in her scent.
“You finally come home, and you come to me in this state?” She grunted as she rudely ripped off the blankets from his form and tossed them behind her blindly.
Suowei had no time to complain; for the next moment, a heavily scented mylar blanket wrapped around him from head to toe.
“I should leave you to freeze, Wu Suowei,” she said through clenched teeth, her head shaking disapprovingly. “But, I have my oath to stand by, and my love for you is too strong. You are my son too, you idiot.”
She pressed down on the blanket, smoothing away any gaps before her hands braced his biceps. “Can you stand?”
Suowei nodded. “Don’t leave my side, please, Ma.”
She scoffed and hefted him up with a single sweep of mothering power. “As if. I have two stubborn boys in my grasp again; neither of you are leaving any time soon.”
During the ride, Suowei had fallen asleep surrounded by Ma Jiang’s calming vetiver pheromones and the slow trickle of heat.
This time, Suowei was woken up by the soft whispers next to him.
He was warm. Finally.
Upon opening his eyes, to his right stood Xiaoshuai and his mother. They are whispering between each other and passing even heavier messages telepathically. Suowei envied that part.
Even if Ma Jiang had never treated him differently, he always knew he’d never have that telepathic connection with her or Xiaoshuai because they were not blood.
He had unknowingly sighed and garnered their undivided attention.
Xiaoshuai had moved to sit on the side of the bed and bring Suowei’s hand into his own two.
Ma Jiang had sat in the now empty chair, shaking her head softly.
“Do you want to explain?”
Suowei inhaled, eyes shifting from Xiaoshuai to his mother and back; he repeated this a few times before he pressed his eyes closed. Keeping them closed so he didn’t have to see any disappointment, he spoke.
“I helped Chi Cheng with his rut… His Alpha latched onto me hard. I thought things would be fine, that things could be normal for a little while, and then I could deal with that after we returned. I don’t know what happened… Chi Cheng didn’t seem to share the same interest as his Alpha, and my Omega seethed with disgust; it was so angry that I had to make a choice.”
“You ran,” Xiaoshuai said softly, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of Suowei’s hand.
“I created distance,” Suowei corrected. “I figured if I left, our scents would eventually untangle, and Chi Cheng would have the space to straighten his Alpha out. I don’t care if he wants me or not, but I do care about the way he looked at me or the lack thereof,” Suowei said quietly.
He shifted, moving to sit up. Xiaoshuai leaned forward and adjusted the head of the medical bed to match his incline.
“Something felt off.”
Ma Jiang slid forward to the edge of her chair and leaned in slightly. “What do you mean, son?”
“Chi Cheng was unaware that his Alpha latched… He seemed uncomfortable, and it made the hair on his neck stand. My Omega bristled in anxiety and sheer uncomfortableness… but it wasn’t because the Alpha latched… It was because Chi Cheng didn’t feel the same. Somehow… I think…”
“Unknowingly, you were expectant and excited… You love him,” Xiaoshuai whispered softly.
Suowei lifted his eyes, and they glittered with unmoving tears. “I love Chi Cheng,” he admitted.
“And his Alpha?” Ma Jiang asked cautiously.
“I—” Suowei paused. “I don’t know… I don’t think Chi Cheng is in tune with his Alpha; they don’t coincide.”
He paused again, fingers picking at the threads of the white woven blanket on his lap. “I don’t judge him for that; I’ve never been one to connect with my Omega that well, but we at least had the same goals… and now I can’t even feel my Omega anymore… I just—”
“Wait.”
“You can’t feel your Omega?”
Both Xiaoshuai and his mother interrupted him, and he could only shake his head.
The stern look pulled over their mother’s features as she adjusts her glasses. “Step by step, tell me what you’ve done,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and stood.
. . .
At first, Suowei didn't get better. He had too many episodes of painful chills and intense cold that it rendered him immobile.
Xiaoshuai’s mother called it withdrawal. She said his body was protesting the suppressants, emotional shock, and distance of a certain latch. However, Suowei knew his body. This wasn’t an emptiness or a protest.
He could not feel his Omega; he had no scent. He had no connection.
That was worse than emptiness. It was a crowding.
Over time, the episodes faded, and then his Omega came back with a whisper. It was faint but still intact. His omegan instincts would surface in small, hesitant waves of need, ache, and searching. They’d stall, catching him mid-breath, as something pressed forward.
A little louder.
A little pertinacious.
As he got better, that something pressed a little more insistently.
Slowly he stopped craving touch and started craving response. Control.
The first time it happens, he’s playfully arguing with Xiaoshuai.
They’re in the stockroom of the clinic, throwing packaged bandages at each other, when a wave of sharp irritation freezes them both.
Xiaoshuai’s scent makes his nose twitch, and he lifts his head.
Xiaoshuai stares at him with his mouth slightly parted, his hand frozen in the air with the bandages crinkling as he tightens his fingers around the packaging.
“What?” Suowei snaps.
Xiaoshuai swallows. “Suowei… your eyes.”
Pushing past Xiaoshuai, he finds himself before the bathroom mirror. In his reflection lies a confirmation. His eyes were not onyx, nor were they amber.
Rose gold, metallic and warm, caught the lights like a warning.
Days later, his scent returns and then changes. Toasted vanilla burns out, replaced with something heavier and smoother. As if a glass of the most lavish bourbon slid over his taste buds, his scent takes on the aged, rich scent.
His scent didn’t beg. It sat heavily on the back of his tongue, commanding without force; it was waiting.
Xiaoshuai’s mother sat heavily with the advancements, knowing of a special distinction.
A superb rarity.
With no further understanding, she names it carefully:
“Zeta.”
With the subsidiary evolution, Suowei’s sickness faded, and what replaced it was terrifyingly calm.
—
Chi Cheng didn’t rest.
His Alpha paced within the restraints of their mind.
He had locked himself in his home trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
He continued to lock his Alpha away as he beat himself in.
Eventually his Alpha settled into this terrifying bundle. He no longer tried to surge; instead it waited, coiled and patient, ready to lash out.
One night Chi Cheng sat in the quiet of his home, head buried in his hands.
“We can’t let him get away, Chi Cheng. You need to accept me and get over our past. This is real. Suowei is ours,” his Alpha says.
“You can’t just decide that.”
“I didn’t, and you know that.”
Quiet whips through the air unmoored.
“Stop being a coward. You know the fates don’t lie. Accept me.”
Chi Cheng hesitates.
He then nods, inhaling sharply. “I accept you.”
Settled and grounded, they finally align as one; maroon streaks his irises.
—
The club hadn’t changed since the last time Chi Cheng had been allowed inside.
He had tried some time last month, only to be turned away by the bouncer. When he tried to argue, the manager slipped through the doors and shook his head. “Come back next month,” he had said, giving no excuse or explanation.
And it wasn’t like Chi Cheng didn’t try other sources. His calls were immediately directed to voicemail. Even Chengyu was of no help; he was too busy making up with his own Omega.
So here he was, pristinely dressed as if his nerves weren’t wreaking havoc throughout his complete system. He didn’t even know if he’d get the chance to see Suowei, but he had to try.
Thirty minutes in, nursing a glass of their special cocktail for the night, Chi Cheng had remained quietly observing each patron, hoping to see or smell Suowei.
It was his Alpha who found Suowei.
The call had reached out and surfaced the maroon in his eyes. He felt a small growl build and die in his throat.
Chi Cheng wouldn’t have recognized Suowei in the mass audience. He had changed.
His smell was different. Heady. Calling.
Yet…
There was an edge.
Bourbon.
Heat.
Authority.
When he turns in the direction of the calling, Suowei is already watching him.
He’s leaning against a velvet wall, arms crossed, spine straight.
Rose gold pierces Chi Cheng’s maroon.
There was no hesitation, avoidance, or retreat in those gorgeous eyes.
There was also no warmth.
Chi Cheng moves before he can even think, approaching Suowei automatically only to freeze halfway when Suowei lifts a single finger.
“You’re not my client tonight,” Suowei says calmly over the music. “Stay or leave.”
The Alpha in Chi Cheng bristles. His jowls snap in a faux bite, clinking his teeth together; however, it stills. The Alpha gives in to Chi Cheng.
They both know this isn’t defiance.
That was a command. Instruction.
Chi Cheng watched Suowei disappear as he retook his seat at the bar.
He’ll stay.
He’ll wait.
—
Every night the club was open, for three weeks, Suowei watched Chi Cheng root himself to the same chair at the bar. He’d arrive at the same time, stay for two hours, and then leave.
Suowei sat behind a desk, legs crossed elegantly and fingers thrumming against the surface of the marbled top.
“If Chi Cheng returns, bring him here. Even if I’m not in, tell him to wait.” Suowei says softly, yet commanding. “Do I have any messages from Shuai?”
The beta fumbled with the tablet. After Suowei’s acquisition of the club and overall change, everyone had acted differently around him. Alphas did double takes. Betas hesitated. Omegas froze. No one questioned his authority. No one challenged his change.
“Y—yes, just one. Xiaoshuai left a message stating he needed to speak with you as soon as possible.”
“Alright. You may go. Oh—remind Zhan to remove the rest of his stuff; it’s an eyesore.” After that, Suowei dismissed the Beta with a soft wave of his hand.
As Suowei stood, he smoothed the fabric of his silk shirt, adjusting the gaping V so it sat perfectly on his body. He made his way out of his back office and up to the balcony, where he could watch over the whole club.
— “You ass.”
Suowei snorted. “What did I do now?” he says with a soft roll of his eyes.
— “First, you have someone else taking your calls? Second, you didn’t tell me anything about the ownership change. Third, I miss you.”
Suowei smiled. “I’m busy, Shuai. You stayed home while I came back to do what I’ve always wanted to do but never could because I was an Omega.”
— “You could have still told me.”
“I could have, but it was a tedious process. Zhan always treated us with such care, but considering over three-quarters of the workers here are Omega, I figured this place would do better with someone who knew what they went through. Zhan wasn’t upset by it either; he’s ready to settle.”
Shuai sighs through the receiver.
“How are you doing? Have you told your Alpha the good news?”
— “I—yes, I did.”
Suowei can hear Shuai blush. He trailed a finger over the metal bar of the balcony rails, a soft smile gracing his features.
“And?”
— “He wants to move out here for a while. He wants to marry me and claim me. He wants to meet you and Mother.”
“If it’s in that order, then we have an issue. If Ma doesn’t knock sense into him, I sure as hell will.” Suowei pauses. “Did… Did you tell him about me?”
Shuai inhales softly.
— “I did. I still don’t see why it’s so important, but yes, he knows.”
“Shuai. It’s important to know so that when we do meet, he’ll have a warning for when I get possessive over you. We may be family, but what I am is not normal. I am unorthodox. Plus, you’re pregnant now… If I smell any distress tainting your nurturing scent, I might just kill him; we don’t know what will happen.”
Shuai chuckles.
— “Shut up. You’re right, we don’t know what could happen, but I believe you’re one with your Zeta. You would never hurt me or those I love.”
Suowei rolls his eyes, groaning lightly. “Go to bed, Shuai.”
— “Wait. Have you patched things up? Are you giving him a chance?”
“Shuai…” Suowei groans.
— “Seriously, Dawei… You still love him; take a chance.”
“I—”
Suddenly he smells Chi Cheng before he sees him. He watches as Chi Cheng is escorted away from the bar to the back rooms, with surprise evident on his face.
“Speak of the Alpha… We’ll see how he behaves.”
Shuai makes a noise of confusion.
“Nothing, Shuai. Get some rest, please. Listen to your body. I’ll call you on Sunday. I miss you too.”
Suowei makes his way back to his office. He enters to the potent smell of Gin and closes the door behind him.
With deliberate, controlled steps, he smoothly walks to the adjacent couch, perching a hip on the armrest. His eyes flick up and down Chi Cheng’s form where he sits, watching Suowei.
Suowei leans into the armrest with practiced ease, crossing one ankle over the other. The dim lighting catches the rose gold sheen of his eyes just enough to be unsettling.
“Every night, you come here, making your presence known. You came here expecting me to bite back, right?” Suowei says lightly and then chuckles dryly. “And here I am, allowing you into my space to see if you’d beg.”
Onyx switches to Maroon. Chi Cheng exhales through his nose. “You’re playing with me.”
“And if I was? You still stayed.”
Suowei pushes off the couch; he decreases the distance, stopping just far enough where he looks down on Chi Cheng. His scent rushes out, coiling deliberately, bourbon-warm. Teasing rather than striking.
“You’ve changed. You’ve accepted your Alpha finally, but you still think differently. Your Alpha wants to pin me down; I can see it,” Suowei murmurs. “But you… you want me to look at you like I used to.”
Suowei steps closer. He lifts a hand, dainty fingers tucking a loose part of Chi Cheng’s fringe away and slipping his fingers down the side of his face and resting under his chin.
“Which one deserves to be fed?” Suowei hums tauntingly.
Chi Cheng’s jaw tightens. They choose not to answer.
Suowei smiles, slow and indulgent. “Hands behind your back.”
Chi Cheng’s maroon eyes flash bright as his Alpha surges, quickly dimming as it hesitates.
Suowei leans in, lips barely brushing Chi Cheng’s ear. “You’ll behave for me, won’t you?”
Silence stretches. A pause of their breaths and positions.
Chi Cheng’s scent then cautiously ebbs away, drawing back as they comply.
Suowei steps back, eyes raking over Chi Cheng with open appreciation. “Good. You know how to listen. But—”
Suowei crouches, dragging a finger down Chi Cheng’s chest, stopping just short of where he could touch. “Don’t mistake this; I am simply deciding if you’re worth indulging.”
Chi Cheng swallows roughly; his voice is rough. “And?”
Suowei’s eyes soften, not out of kindness but from hunger.
With meticulous movements, carefully planned out to take the Alpha apart and leave him a breathless mess, unraveled and raw, Suowei pulled Chi Cheng’s pants and briefs down to his knees, mounted the throbbing rod, and fed his desires.
By the time Suowei was done with Chi Cheng, he pulled away, leaving the Alpha spent and shaking in restraint.
Suowei straightens his clothes as if nothing happened and offers a crooked smile.
“Next time I give in to you,” he says casually, “don’t be a coward. Align yourself.”
He pauses at the door, glancing back to the stunned Alpha with his bright rose-gold eyes.
“We’ll see who survives such honesty. You know your way out.”
After that, each encounter was one of testing boundaries. Pushing restraint. Feeding desires.
Chi Cheng continued to return and take what he’s given.
Suowei was training him.
Slowly, they started to grow close again.
Instead of the nonchalant exit Suowei took after their escapades, he slowly started to stay.
They’d rest together, arms wound around one another.
They’d talk, slow, soft murmurs of things they didn’t know.
Slowly, cautiously, things began to shift.
Then came the moment that would break or make them.
Chi Cheng had grown used to their routine. He always left with an ache to stay rooted next to Suowei. An ache to own and be owned in return settled low in his gut, filling him to the throat with emotions that felt a little too overbearing for him and his Alpha.
By the time he realized just how far he had fallen for Suowei, the unthinkable happened.
Suowei went missing.
He and his Alpha had felt distraught when Suowei left for three days to return home; this was different.
Somehow, even in his lavish home, Bourbon called out to him, sticky sweet with a profound depth. When he turned to the club, he was told Suowei would not be in for quite some time, and from there he had lost contact with Suowei once again.
This time though… he had help on his side.
Chengyu, his best friend, was surprisingly engaged to Suowei’s brother.
Thankfully, the Omega gave up Suowei’s address, simply warning him to expect the unexpected and that if he hurt Suowei in any way, he’d be dead.
That is how he finds himself now, waiting as an all-glass elevator takes him up to the highest floor: a private penthouse.
When the elevator stopped, the doors did not open until he put in the access code given by Xiaoshuai; only then did the doors slide open soundlessly.
From the elevator led a small hallway to two doors; he pushed through.
As he stood in the wide-open main room, the scent called to him, punching him in the gut and nearly sending him to his knees.
Heat.
Suowei was in heat.
Disregarding the warning bells in his head, he steps forward.
The scent of heavy, rich Bourbon grew thicker with each step, slowing him down as it coiled into his lungs.
Standing in front of the door where the scent lay the thickest, Chi Cheng shook his head and blinked slowly a handful of times. When he enters, his step falters. His throat runs dry, and his fangs immediately elongate, desperate to claim.
“Suowei…” Chi Cheng murmurs, instinct sharpening as he stands by the gigantic bed in the middle of the room.
“Go away,” Suowei growls from under the blankets.
“You know I can’t do that,” Chi Cheng whispers. His Alpha pulled at his conscience, anxiously jittery with desire, need, and want.
Suowei peeks out from under the blankets, hair an absolute messy mixture of tousled and sweaty. Rose gold eyes streaked with striking amber narrowed as they raked over Chi Cheng.
Wordlessly, a hand slips out and grips his sleeve. Suowei wasn’t pushing him away.
“I don’t need you… I want you; do you know the difference?” Suowei asks, breath shallow and pupils blown wide.
“I do.”
“Then this is me telling you to be careful. Finalize your choice because if you enter my bed and turn me away after, again, you will not get another chance.”
Chi Cheng cups Suowei’s cheek before thinking better of it, and Suowei melts into his touch with a quiet, needy sound that punches straight through Chi Cheng’s control. He swallows dryly.
Suowei lifts his chin, nuzzling into Chi Cheng’s palm. It’s warm. Pliant. Aching.
Yet—
“There is no domination; instead, you get to be the one to hold me together,” Suowei whispers.
Chi Cheng swallows harder. “I understand.”
Suowei’s eyes then flicker, a melting pot of amber, onyx, and rose gold. “Then you can have me.”
Chi Cheng slowly removed his clothes under the watchful, heated gaze of the only man who remained embedded into his core. When Suowei lifts the blanket, inviting him in, he knew then there was never an option to retreat in his heart. He should have held onto Suowei months ago. He should have never been a coward.
Juxtaposed to a normal Omegan heat, Suowei never fell small to his heat; no, it makes him honest.
He clings, fingertips digging into Chi Cheng.
He begs, quietly, breathlessly, and so damn beautifully.
But his hands were never still, neither was his direction. Suowei guided Chi Cheng exactly how he wanted, how he needed. He chose the pace, the depth, the rhythm.
Chi Cheng belatedly realized that this was both better and worse than dominance.
Suowei was giving him trust wrapped around control.
On the third day of Suowei’s heat, it gets worse.
Chi Cheng had learned when to push and pull. He was taught when to take and when to wait.
In a small window of clarity, Suowei mounted Chi Cheng, his hands resting on Chi Cheng’s chest as his ass sat on his sturdy thighs.
“You never asked… you never questioned it, but they call it Zeta. I will never be your normal Omega. There is so much that no one knows or understands just yet about Zetas, so I can be a mystery one day and clear as glass the next,” he says softly, licking at his puffy lips.
“If you accept me, all of me, you need to know that I know nothing about who I am; I am simply listening to what I want—my Zeta and I. I have not lost myself one bit; if anything, my Zeta allows me to feel everything… to want everything. I told you before, I don’t need you, but I do choose you. I want you.”
Suowei leans in close until their foreheads rest together. His eyes slip closed as he breathes in Chi Cheng. “Say something.”
Chi Cheng exhales, reverence breaking through composure.
“I accept all of you,” he says.
Chi Cheng accepts Suowei verbally with no Alpha growl or command. Just truth.
“I can’t lose you again… I choose you, too, if you allow it.”
Suowei inhales sharply, brushing away a lone tear that slipped down the side of Chi Cheng’s face. “What I’m offering you cannot be undone, Chi Cheng. You have to be sure you—”
“I am sure. I have never wanted something so much; I will never want this undone. I am aware of what you’re giving me and what I’m giving you in return.
Suowei blinks, exhaling through his nose deep and deliberate. He then bares his neck.
“Then claim me,” he says quietly. “Understand, this is not because of what we are, but because I choose to let myself be yours.”
“And I am yours,” Chi Cheng whispers. He basks in the silence of a rare moment of stillness before his strong hands gripped Suowei’s waist, holding him steady. Their hot breaths mingled together, ragged and synced, the air filling with heightened arousal and need; the confession lingered.
Chi Cheng’s maroon eyes locked onto Suowei’s, dark with passion. Chi Cheng moved, pressing his face into the vulnerable curve of Suowei’s neck, offered up like a gift. He leaned in and brushed his lips along the pulse point and over Suowei’s scent gland. It was a soft, gentle press that pulled a sweet whimper from Suowei’s throat.
Chi Cheng’s mouth then opened wider, teeth grazing the smooth skin as his tongue licked a slow, deliberate path. He didn’t bite yet. It could wait.
With a careful hand, soothing down every notch of Suowei’s sweaty spine, he gripped his cock, stroking the hard shaft and spreading the residual mess of previous orgasms and copious slick. Slowly he guided himself back into the velvety chambers of Suowei’s depth, his return home echoing with a nice, perverse squelch.
With a firm thrust upward, he drove his cock deeper into Suowei’s soaked chasm, his walls fluttering wildly around the familiar intrusion. Suowei cried out, nails digging into Chi Cheng’s shoulders as he sank down fully, impaling himself on Chi Cheng’s rigid length.
Chi Cheng’s hips bucked in response, meeting each of Suowei’s drops. Suowei kept their chests together as he bounced on Chi Cheng’s cock, setting an almost punishing rhythm, fueled by pure animalistic drive.
Chi Cheng groaned. “You’re still so fucking tight,” he said, hissing into Suowei’s ear. One hand slid up to tangle in Suowei’s sweat-soaked hair, pulling his head back to expose more of his neck. He ran his nose along the column before opening his mouth and latching on again. He sucked hard enough to bruise, mottling the sweat-sweet skin even more. His other hand kneaded Suowei’s ass, spreading his cheeks and thumbing along his soft, soaked, puffy rim.
Suowei whined loud, dropping his hips fully until their bones felt like they were kissing. He changed the movement into this dirty, circular grind. His cock, trapped between their bodies, throbbed untouched and positively leaking between their abdomens. Chi Cheng was caught between a growl and a groan as his knot slowly began to swell, pressing insistently against Suowei’s rim, tickling and stretching the red puffiness there.
“S—Suowei…” Chi Cheng groaned as his knot pushed through and then swelled fuller, locking them into a frenzy of thrusts and rolls. Suowei’s slick increased, steadily trickling out around each movement, turning it into a froth.
Suowei’s inner muscles milked Chi Cheng greedily. Chi Cheng’s hand slipped from Suowei’s hair to a tight grasp on his nape, his thumb pushing into his scent gland as he captured Suowei’s mouth in a bruising kiss. Their tongues tangled into an intimate tango as he fucked up harder into Suowei’s depths, his cock pressing into a tight border with an insane heat just behind it.
Suowei broke the kiss with a sob, forehead falling back to Chi Cheng’s as his breaths heaved from his chest from a mixture of pain and pleasure.
“Chi… I need you… Push harder, fill me up. Claim me,” he commanded and begged at the same time. His voice broke but held a steady power behind each syllable. His body arched, creating a debauched curve to his spine as Chi Cheng did just as he was told.
He drove harder and faster into Suowei. His cockhead punched into that heat until it gave way, and then his cock was surrounded by a heat nearly intolerable. He groaned loudly as Suowei cried out.
Chi Cheng’s control frayed, his eyes shining a bright maroon as his knot inflated fully, locking them together. His mouth returned to Suowei’s neck, and his arms wrapped around the other in a tight, protective hold. He snarled, ground deep and then slammed in one last time as best as he could. There in Suowei’s deepest chasm, he released. Hot come spurted from his cock, flooding Suowei’s depths and creating a sweet swell just under his navel.
The heat was too much and sent Suowei over the edge. He came untouched, ropes of useless seed spilling between the pressed torsos, his passage spasming and spewing clear slick; Chi Cheng’s come was locked into his womb.
Finally, Chi Cheng gave in. His lips found Suowei’s scent gland, and with a possessive rumble, both excited and anxious, he sank his fangs in.
It’s deep, intentional, and final.
Suowei arches into Chi Cheng’s hold, anchoring Chi Cheng against his neck with a shaking hand fisted in his hair.
Blood pools into Chi Cheng’s mouth as the claim seals instinct and choice together in an irrevocable act.
Suddenly, a flash of heat and gold erupts around them.
Fated.
Soon he will see how a mark brands itself beneath Suowei’s navel: two snakes intertwined, luminous and blinding. The scales of the brand will catch the light like molten metal. He will see how they coil in perfect symmetry, neither dominant nor submissive. Equal.
Chi Cheng will see his as well, just over his left pectoral where the same sigil burns into his skin, mirrored and complete.
. . .
Light spills in slowly, filtered through thick curtains and catching on golden marks.
Suowei wakes first. Slightly aching but fully aware.
Chi Cheng is still asleep beside him, one arm heavy over his waist and his breath even.
Suowei looks down and trails fingers over the warm mark. It pulses in response, not answering in ownership but rightfulness. He presses his fingers into the shining gold, trailing lightly over the image, grounding himself in the reality of belonging.
He feels whole.
Chi Cheng stirs when Suowei shifts, eyes opening immediately in a panic, first sharp, then soft as they land on Suowei.
“It was real? You’re still next to me?”
Suowei huffs quietly, smiling fondly. He recognized the fear immediately. “I could ask you the same.”
Chi Cheng smiles, small and unguarded. Childlike, yet wary. “I don’t think I’m capable of leaving.”
Suowei studies him for a moment and then reaches out to trail fingers over the matching mark on Chi Cheng’s chest. The gold responds to his touch, brightening and glittering, the twin snakes aligning as if recognizing themselves.
“Me either,” Suowei says, admitting softly.
Chi Cheng covers Suowei’s hand with his own. “Thank you for coming back… Thank you for giving us another chance.”
Suowei simply pressed a peck to the corner of Chi Cheng’s lips, resting his head on top of their hands over Chi Cheng’s mark.
If you ask Suowei, latching was never something to fear.
He had once believed that distance was the only way to keep them both safe.
Now… Now he knows better.
Some bonds don’t cage; they anchor.
And for the first time in his life, Suowei doesn’t feel like he’s fighting alone.
He feels seen.