Chapter 34

“Nian‑nian, did you dirty your little underwear too?” he asked lazily.
“Mm.” Zuo Nian answered, “You were too wet.”
When he turned his head to look, that cool, ascetic face was still as restrained as ever—but the words coming out of his mouth were anything but. Somehow, though, he sounded like he was stating the most ordinary fact in the world.
“I didn’t mean to…” Zuo Nian said faintly, dazed.
“I know.” The answer was brief. His movements, however, were anything but—slowly, steadily pushing in, grinding against him without a hint of mercy.
Zuo Nian was starting to come apart. He was sure the air‑conditioning must be set too high; he was so hot he was sweating again, and every slow motion made his breathing shorter.
The Alpha was like a predator with its prey caught between its teeth. He wasn’t in a hurry to devour, only to play—to make his prey submit willingly, to beg. His patience was frightening. Bit by bit, he wore down the last of Zuo Nian’s reason, forcing him to feel every spark of sensation that climbed up from the base of his spine.
“Gege, aren’t you… going to… go in?” Zuo Nian finally stammered out between breaths.
The drunken haze of tequila pheromones had gone to his head. His lover’s touch had sent him spinning.
“Go in where?” the Alpha asked, feigning ignorance.
*He’s terrible,* Zuo Nian thought. *Even a fool like me knows where you’re supposed to go at a time like this, and he’s still pretending not to understand. He’s doing it on purpose to make me say it.*
“Mm?” When he didn’t answer, the Alpha pulled back a little—but his pheromones surged even stronger, washing over him in waves.
Eyes rimmed red, Zuo Nian bit his lower lip and glared at him in wounded reproach.
Realizing that Duan Baisui had no intention of caving and would really keep teasing him like this, Zuo Nian surrendered. Leaning up, he pressed a kiss to the Alpha’s lips and said obediently, voice soft and sweet, “Please… fully mark Nian‑nian.”
“Do you know what a full mark is?” Duan Baisui asked with a low laugh.
“I know…” Zuo Nian closed his eyes, savoring the tangle of their breaths. “It means… it means forming a knot, having babies. Nian‑nian took health class. I know everything…”
The “torment” went both ways. Watching his lover lose himself was just as irresistible a temptation.
The last thread in Duan Baisui’s mind finally snapped.
He cupped Zuo Nian’s jaw and crushed their mouths together. This mouth—so good at whispering sweet words, so good at calling him *Gege*—was going to be the death of him if he didn’t shut it up.
Their pheromones mingled and wound together. Zuo Nian started crying again, kicking weakly, saying it hurt, saying he felt too full, calling him a bad Gege.
Duan Baisui didn’t move. Under the bright light, he simply watched—drank in every detail of his lover.
Zuo Nian’s sobs were tiny, like a kitten just weaned off milk—soft, hiccuping sounds. He was a complete, beautiful mess.
All Omegas believed that crying like this would make an Alpha soften.
In truth, it did the opposite.
In the midst of intimacy, tears were the best spice. They only made a man more excited—especially when they spilled from eyes as beautiful as Zuo Nian’s.
His gaze had gone unfocused, fixed on the ceiling. His back was arched high, his legs locked around the Alpha’s waist. The light above swung dizzily in his vision. He couldn’t even describe what he was feeling—somewhere between the tearing pain and a sharp, bone‑deep pleasure.
He saw a hunger in Duan Baisui’s usually cold eyes, a heat that traced over every inch of him. So this was what it meant for someone’s gaze to be *possessive*.
The sticky sounds wouldn’t stop. After crying for so long, his throat was raw and his eyes burned. Clutching at Duan Baisui’s arm, he trembled and begged, “Gege, please… spare Nian‑nian. I really can’t anymore… wuwuwu… Nian‑nian’s going to die…”
Duan Baisui pulled him upright so they faced each other, cradling him close. He kissed his face with aching tenderness. “Didn’t you say you wanted a full mark?” he coaxed. “If I stop now, there won’t be a knot. Is that really all right?”
Once again, Zuo Nian was talked around. Bouncing helplessly in his arms, he choked out, “Th‑then… I’ll leave it to Gege…”
“Relax a little, baby. Don’t you like it?” Duan Baisui whispered.
Zuo Nian’s eyes flew wide. That tightly guarded “no‑go zone” was being opened to him bit by bit. Only now did Duan Baisui truly understand why men liked to murmur sweet nothings in bed—because the answers they got were so beautifully, devastatingly honest.
“Wh‑who’s your baby…?” Zuo Nian’s voice broke apart on the words.
“You are,” Duan Baisui said gently. “Nian‑nian is my baby.”
Heat spilled through him again.
The last defense of his body gave way completely. There was no retreat now. He was taken in, fully claimed—his final fortress broken down by his Alpha with not a scrap left.
A shy, helpless sound slipped from his throat. His fingers left red marks all over Duan Baisui’s back.
In that moment, he understood at last: they had completed the most sacred of rituals. They belonged to one another.
An Alpha’s knot was slow—agonizingly so. He burned so hot that Zuo Nian thought he might really fall apart, some part of him wanting to flee.
But the man before him cupped his face and brushed light kisses over his brows, the bridge of his nose, whispering love into his ear.
So he stayed.
Just before he blacked out, the only thing left in his vision was Duan Baisui’s utterly satisfied face.
The heat lasted five days.
Zuo Nian drifted in and out, never fully awake, never fully gone. For the first time, he learned just how terrifyingly strong an Alpha could be. Every time he came to, Duan Baisui was as composed as ever—and in no hurry to let him go.
The man who’d once been cold as an iceberg now seemed determined to melt him completely.
But what did that matter?
Zuo Nian liked him this way—liked giving himself over, body and soul, his jealousy and love and every first time, all of it to Duan Baisui.
They had given themselves to each other. They had become the most important person in each other’s life.
When that wild stretch of time finally passed, Zuo Nian began to surface.
Duan Baisui no longer teased him with pheromones. He knew Zuo Nian was at his limit now. The moment he saw him, Zuo Nian would dive under the covers like a little turtle and refuse to come out.
Knowing he’d gone too far these past two days, Duan Baisui finally reined himself in.
He carried Zuo Nian to the bathroom.
In the big double soaking tub, Zuo Nian sat in front of him. The gland at the back of his neck was red and swollen, covered in overlapping bite marks.
So this was what happened when you faced the person you loved—every shred of composure and pride dropped. All you wanted was to pull him apart and swallow him down, to fuse him into your bones and blood so you would never part again. To make him wholly, utterly yours. To let no one else lay a hand on him.
That was an Alpha’s possessiveness at its most deranged.
Duan Baisui brushed a fingertip over the side of his neck. “Does it hurt?” he asked.
Utterly drained, Zuo Nian slumped against him. “It hurts…” he mumbled.
“I bought medicine,” Duan Baisui said. “I’ll put some on you later.”
“Okay~”
Right now, every inch of Zuo Nian carried his scent. It was a declaration of ownership to the entire world. From now on, anyone who came near would know at a glance that he already had an Alpha, that he was not someone to covet.
After lifting him out of the tub, Duan Baisui dried him carefully with a towel and carried him back to bed.
This time, he finally let him put on pajamas, no longer leaving him bare and at his mercy.
Duan Baisui fetched the ointment and dabbed it gently over the marks.
Curled up small, clutching his beloved doll, Zuo Nian muttered, “Bad Gege… Nian‑nian could’ve opened the shop today. But you… you wouldn’t let me get out of bed. Now I have to miss another day of business.”
Duan Baisui couldn’t help laughing. “Then I’ll ‘patronize’ you today,” he said. “I’ll buy something from you. That counts as doing business, doesn’t it?”
Zuo Nian puffed out his cheeks. “But Nian‑nian doesn’t have anything to sell you right now.”
“Sure you do.” Capping the ointment, Duan Baisui started to lean down again.
Quick as a flash, Zuo Nian stuck his doll between them like a shield. “Nian‑nian isn’t for sale,” he cried. “Nian‑nian can’t be sold. Gege will wear me out.”
Taking advantage of the opening, Duan Baisui dropped a kiss on his wrist instead. “This counts too,” he said, amused. “How much, Boss Zuo?”
Zuo Nian blinked. “This… counts?”
“It counts.”
He thought for a moment. “Then… five yuan?”
“How much?!”
In Duan Baisui’s view, a kiss from Zuo Nian was worth five thousand, fifty thousand—even five hundred thousand. Anything but five *yuan*.
“Is that too expensive?” Zuo Nian asked anxiously.
“How much does your little shop usually take in a day?” Duan Baisui asked instead. A businessman with no concept of money—what was he going to do with him?
Proudly, Zuo Nian said, “On a good day, I can make a thousand.”
“And on a bad day?”
“…Five.”
Duan Baisui: ……
He had a meeting that afternoon and couldn’t stay home.
All the way to the office, his mind kept wandering. Luo Yin reminded him that there was a dinner engagement that night—one that had been set long in advance and couldn’t be canceled.
“Mm,” Duan Baisui said mildly. Then he sent Zuo Nian a message: *I might be home late.*
He hadn’t done it on purpose. He just… didn’t want Zuo Nian waiting for him for nothing.
The reply came quickly: *Okay~ Nian‑nian was going to sleep in the guest room tonight anyway. You don’t have to worry about me, Gege.*
The lazy Alpha straightened in his seat at once, fingers flying over the screen. *Why the guest room?*
The little “typing…” indicator blinked and blinked. He stared at it, waiting.
At last, the answer appeared: *Gege hits people too hard at night!*
*When did I ever hit you?* Duan Baisui wrote back, baffled.
*Hitting my butt counts!* Zuo Nian replied.