“Rough?”
Lanbo repeated Bai Chunian’s question in a low murmur, seemingly not fully comprehending. A glance at Bai Chunian’s distant eyes made him flinch, his body prickling, and he instinctively hugged himself.
Bai Chunian sat up, reaching to lift the fin three inches below Lanbo’s abdomen.
Lanbo grabbed his wrist. The Omega’s arm was wrapped in bandages up to the fingertips, muscles subtle but strong. They struggled evenly at first; after a few rounds, Lanbo gained the upper hand. He pressed Bai Chunian down, tail curling around both legs, hands with webbing pinning the Alpha’s wrists above his head.
Lanbo lowered his head, golden hair brushing his cheeks, chest rising and falling with breath, eyes locked on the Alpha.
Strong emotions made controlling one’s gaze difficult—same for a merman. His eyes were bloodshot, faint red veins snaking across the sclera. He was clearly trying to control his hunger and anxiety.
Bai Chunian lay on his back, staring up at the domineering omega looming over him, a mix of bewilderment and thrill on his face.
“So fierce… are you trying to finish me off?” Bai Chunian laughed easily even with his hands pinned, still in a vulnerable position. “Help me take this off.”
Seizing a moment while Lan Bo was distracted, Bai Chunian released a sharp surge of oppressive pheromones, stimulating Lan Bo’s glands. He wrenched his hands free, flipped over, one hand pressing down on Lan Bo’s flat abdomen, the other forcefully lifting the fin beneath Lan Bo’s belly.
All the organs of a human omega were present in Lan Bo, only positioned differently. Beneath the fin was a small, pale pink orifice, which Bai Chunian recalled had originally been just a thin slit. Now it had widened slightly, its edges marked with a faint scar from a previous stitch, still inflamed and prone to infection.
Lan Bo’s eyes widened in surprise, his body suddenly still and obedient, shyly attempting to cover the exposed area, a flush creeping across his cheeks.
Bai Chunian, however, gritted his teeth and pushed Lan Bo’s hands aside, a soft snort escaping him. “How many times have you been messed with, huh?”
Lan Bo froze, only to be roughly grabbed by his hair and forced upright. Bai Chunian, seemingly enraged, let his oppressive pheromones spill uncontrollably, hitting the vulnerable omega’s glands. Like a rabid dog, he sank his sharp alpha teeth into Lan Bo’s neck and glands, drawing blood that speckled the white sheets.
“You think you deserve to escape after trying to kill me? Didn’t expect that, huh? You behave and stay here, and you think I can’t take you out? Happy now?”
“Myself? I’d rather do it myself,” Bai Chunian muttered in a fevered haze, unaware of his own words. His hands slipped, tugging on Lan Bo’s fin, leaving a white streak along the thin tissue.
Lan Bo cried out, agitated and insulted, yanking Bai Chunian’s hand away and releasing a surge of oppressive pheromones in retaliation. Claws shot from his fingertips, digging into Bai Chunian’s chest as he leaned close, teeth sinking into the side of Bai Chunian’s neck.
The vengeful nature of a merfolk was unmatched in the ocean—any harm inflicted had to be returned in kind. Bai Chunian’s chest was marked, losing a fifth of his blood.
Lan Bo fought to control the raging anger and agitation within him. After a tense standoff, he released Bai Chunian, hooking his tail around the wooden spiral staircase, moving his body away from the bed, and climbed to the second-floor bedroom without looking back, curling under his thin blanket.
Bai Chunian sat slumped on the bed for a while, rubbing his face to clear his mind, stepped out onto the balcony for fresh air, and touched his neck, the dried blood stuck to his fingers, several bite marks still visible.
After a few cigarette butts had accumulated at his feet, he quietly returned upstairs. Lan Bo had wrapped himself entirely in his thin blanket, curled into a tight ball.
Bai Chunian switched on the air conditioning in the second-floor room, set it to sixteen degrees Celsius for cooling. As he left, his foot brushed against something hard on the carpet. Squatting, he picked it up—a pearl, cool and slightly icy to the touch.