“Bang!”
The carved wooden doors were kicked open by Huo Shaoyan.
Inside the restroom, the rose scent was so intense it seemed almost tangible, crashing over him like a tsunami and drowning out all of Huo Shaoyan’s senses in an instant.
When he took in the scene before him, Huo Shaoyan’s deep black eyes locked onto the chaos.
General Manager Will, the portly man in an ill-fitting suit, lay unconscious on the marble floor with his arms and legs sprawled out, his face twisted in pain. And his precious little tyrant was slumped beside the sink, sliding weakly toward the floor. His cheeks were flushed with a sickly, seductive red, and his long legs were pressed together in visible discomfort.
The moment Huo Shaoyan saw Qi Xing like this, the rich, violent red-wine pheromone surrounding him could no longer be restrained. It transformed into countless sharp blades that exploded wildly through the air.
He couldn’t be bothered to spare the waste of space on the floor a glance. As he strode toward Qi Xing, he called his executive assistant, his voice cold as an asura crawling out of hell. “Bring a few more people. Come to the restroom on the birthday-banquet floor of the hotel. Dispose of the trash on the floor properly. By tomorrow morning, I want him to disappear from the Imperial City completely.”
After ending the call, Huo Shaoyan shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it tightly around Qi Xing.
He bent down, hooked one arm around Qi Xing’s shoulders, and slipped the other beneath his knees. With immense force and no room for argument, he lifted him into his arms.
“Shaoyan…” The instant he fell into that familiar embrace, Qi Xing let out a soft whimper.
His usually languid, peach-blossom eyes were hazy with moisture. His body had gone limp from the drug’s effects, but his soul, carrying more than five hundred years of accumulated cultivation, forced a thread of clarity through the fog.
He didn’t look weak in the slightest. Instead, he curved his lips into a slightly seductive smile and wrapped his slender arms tightly around Huo Shaoyan’s neck. “You’re… so slow.”
“Shut up.” Huo Shaoyan gritted his teeth, his face livid and his black eyes blazing with a furious, aching fire.
Holding Qi Xing, he hurried into the VIP presidential suite’s private elevator.
The instant the elevator doors closed, the cramped, sealed space became a locked powder keg.
The feverish rose scent began to mingle with the violent red-wine scent, their compatibility nearly insane in its intensity.
The drug’s backlash made this Omega body instinctively crave more. Qi Xing tugged irritably at the suit jacket wrapped around him, then burrowed bonelessly into Huo Shaoyan’s warm, solid chest.
“Hot… Shaoyan, I’m so hot…” Qi Xing’s voice was sticky and hoarse, filled with a dependence carved into his bones. His lips brushed unconsciously against Huo Shaoyan’s taut neck, and the hot breath he exhaled made the vein at Huo Shaoyan’s temple throb violently.
Huo Shaoyan said nothing. He only tightened his arms and used his pheromones to wrap Qi Xing up airtight, not allowing even a wisp of rose scent to leak into the hallway.
“Ding—”
The elevator reached the top-floor VIP presidential suite.
The room had spare clothes inside and had originally been booked in advance in case Huo Shaoyan drank too much that night. Now, it became a refuge for the two of them—and the starting point of their loss of control.
Once inside, Huo Shaoyan had intended to carry the little tyrant straight into the bathroom and put him under a cold shower to clear his head.
But the moment he reached the bedside, Qi Xing clamped both legs around his powerful waist like an octopus that had sensed danger. His hands clutched the collar of Huo Shaoyan’s white shirt with desperate force, refusing to let go no matter what.
“Don’t go in… No cold shower… I’ll get sick…” Qi Xing opened his dazed eyes. Tears born of physical distress clung to their corners, but his gaze remained fixed directly on Huo Shaoyan.
It was focused, deeply devoted, and nearly crazed with obsession—nothing like the eyes of a helpless person controlled by drugs.
One hand fumbled toward the back of his neck, irritated by the inconvenient scent-blocking patch that stood between them.
“Stop moving!” Huo Shaoyan growled, reaching for his wrist. But amid the tangle of struggling limbs, there was a soft rip, and the already crooked scent-blocking patch was torn away completely.
“Boom!”
In an instant, the purest and most intense top-tier rose scent erupted through the entire bedroom like a volcano.
It was the fragrance of a rose matured to perfection, carrying a seductive power that could steal a person’s soul. It ignited the predatory instinct of Huo Shaoyan, a top-tier Alpha, completely and utterly.
His reason teetered on the edge. Huo Shaoyan’s eyes turned bloodred, and with one forceful movement, he pressed Qi Xing onto the soft bed.
“Shaoyan…”
Qi Xing lay amid the gray-blue bedding. His midnight-blue velvet suit jacket had slipped halfway off during their struggle, and the collar of his white shirt hung open, revealing an exquisite collarbone so pale it seemed to glow.
Breathing lightly, he looked up at Huo Shaoyan, who towered over him, the lines of his face drawn taut from extreme restraint.
Qi Xing suddenly smiled. He raised his long, pale fingers and, with both distaste and unmistakable affection, touched Huo Shaoyan’s slightly grown-out buzz cut.
His fingertips skimmed the strands, sending a tingling sensation through them.
“Shaoyan… your hair is so prickly… It’s terribly ugly…” Qi Xing murmured hoarsely. Tears slid from the corners of his eyes and disappeared into his hairline. His voice was as light as a feather, yet fatally alluring. “But being held by you… still feels just as warm as before… I’ve waited so long for you…”
Those words became the fatal blow that shattered the last barrier of Huo Shaoyan’s reason.
“Qi Xing, you asked for this!”
Huo Shaoyan’s breathing fell completely out of rhythm. In that instant, his rampaging red-wine pheromone solidified, sealing off the entire bed and room with impenetrable force. He lowered his head sharply and buried his face deep in the soft hollow of Qi Xing’s neck.
The canine teeth of a top-tier Alpha sharpened at that moment, settling with perfect accuracy against the tender, flushed scent gland at the back of Qi Xing’s neck, throbbing wildly under the drug’s effects.
All he had to do was bite, and he could mark him completely. He could make this little tyrant belong to Huo Shaoyan alone, body and soul.
The red-wine scent and rose fragrance within their bodies intertwined and merged furiously as their limbs became hopelessly entangled.
Qi Xing’s long legs tightened instinctively. Feeling the heavy, powerful pressure of the man above him, he gasped in great gulps. There was no fear in his eyes. Instead, they were filled with the desire to be fulfilled, with a sensation that was both painful and pleasurable.
Mark him. Mark him now. Huo Shaoyan’s uncontrollable inner voice was screaming.
Just as Huo Shaoyan’s canine teeth were about to pierce the skin and complete the marking, he suddenly heard the faintest breathy sound from Qi Xing, almost a whimper of pain and discomfort.
That sound was like a bucket of ice water dumped over Huo Shaoyan’s head, dousing the desire burning in his mind.
Huo Shaoyan stopped himself by sheer force. In the end, he gave Qi Xing only a temporary mark.
He pushed himself up and looked down at Qi Xing in his arms. The drug had left his gaze unfocused, yet his eyes were still filled with Huo Shaoyan—and only Huo Shaoyan.
His breathing was rough, fine beads of sweat dampened his temples, and both hands were braced tightly beside Qi Xing’s ears. His knuckles had gone white from the strain and were even trembling slightly.
No.
He couldn’t take Qi Xing while he was confused and drugged by someone else.
He cherished this foulmouthed little troublemaker who loved to make a scene more than he cherished his own instincts.
“Damn it…” Huo Shaoyan cursed under his breath. With terrifying self-control, he forced the bloodred color from his eyes back down.
But he was still an Alpha. He couldn’t pull away completely.
Huo Shaoyan settled for the next best thing. Turning his head, he pressed his cool, thin lips in a series of kisses filled with fierce possessiveness over Qi Xing’s flushed forehead and damp eyes, finally sealing his soft red lips with his own and venting all his anger and love through that kiss.
At the same time, he gently suppressed his pure, rich red-wine pheromone, turning it into an airtight net that soothed and enclosed the agitated rose scent bit by bit.
This was not a rough marking, but the complete, unreserved soothing and tenderness of a top-tier Alpha.
After a lingering, heartbreaking deep kiss that nearly left him breathless, Qi Xing’s drug-induced heat finally began to subside under the comfort of their highly compatible pheromones.
The Omega’s instincts had been deeply satisfied, and exhaustion surged through his body all at once.
Like a cat that had finally found its safe harbor, Qi Xing’s nerves, tense for half the night, relaxed completely.
His beautiful peach-blossom eyes slowly closed. He rubbed his head against the hollow of Huo Shaoyan’s neck and sank into a deep sleep. Only his long fingers remained clenched around the hem of Huo Shaoyan’s white shirt, his knuckles faintly white, refusing to let go no matter what.
Inside the room, the storm gradually faded, leaving only the intertwined sounds of their breathing in the quiet night.
Huo Shaoyan remained bent over, looking down at the disheveled sheets, his own shirt pulled into a wrinkled mess with most of its buttons torn off, and the little tyrant in his arms, covered in red marks with a satisfied smile still lingering at the corners of his lips.
The anger and tension that had filled his chest vanished like smoke the instant he saw that sleeping face.
The CEO let out a helpless sigh, his eyes filled with exasperation and a tenderness too deep to see the bottom of. He reached out with his slightly rough palm and gently stroked Qi Xing’s delicate face, then lowered his head and kissed him on the forehead.
“You really have me wrapped around your finger, Little Xing.”