The bar street glowed with dazzling lights. Clear water channels ran along both sides of the bluestone pavement, with aquatic plants swaying gently.
Tonight, the Dilapidated Bar was unusually quiet, its doors tightly shut.
Only a single flower-shaped chandelier lit the counter. Empty bottles lay scattered, rolling into corners, only to be dragged back by Xia Jingtian, who drunkenly tipped them into his mouth.
There was only one alpha sitting at the bar. The entire place reeked of alcohol and the intense M2 pheromone scent of baby’s breath flowers.
“Boss, get me a bottle of whiskey.” Xia Jingtian leaned against the counter, looking sober, though his eyes had already lost their focus.
Gu Wei sat on a sofa in the corner, pounding hard on the gland at the back of his neck. Finally losing control, he collapsed into the couch, burying both his head and gland under a pillow to resist the wild, out-of-control M2 pheromones.
“Whiskey your ass!”
—
Streetlights flickered on along the road, and traffic gradually thinned.
Yan Yi was shoved into the passenger seat, the seatbelt snapped on by Lu Shangjin with rough force, pinning him in place like prey caught in a trap.
“What are you doing…” Yan Yi reached to loosen the belt, but his wrist was seized in a firm grip.
Lu Shangjin’s face was dark. Driving one-handed, he aggressively overtook the cars ahead like a raging beast.
“That hurts. Focus on driving.” Yan Yi pried his fingers off one by one. “You can’t overtake here.”
“Your gland hasn’t even recovered, and you’re still messing around?” Lu Shangjin shot him a glance through the rearview mirror. When he saw the bruised finger marks on Yan Yi’s pale neck, his hand curled into a fist and slammed irritably against the steering wheel.
Yan Yi shifted slightly away from him, holding the seatbelt. “Why are you angry? Even if you hadn’t come, I could’ve—”
“Could’ve what?”
Lu Shangjin stared ahead, his expression growing darker. “Your gland is already priced at 2.5 billion on the black market. When I’m not around, can’t you keep a lower profile?”
“…Sorry.” Yan Yi turned his gaze away.
Then, in the reflection of the window, he noticed Lu Shangjin’s left hand—a platinum wedding ring, lost for years, was now back on his ring finger.
Yan Yi froze for a moment, staring at it, then slowly shifted his gaze to Lu Shangjin’s cold profile.
Suddenly, a car ahead made a sharp turn. Lu Shangjin slammed the brakes and cursed under his breath.
The jolt strained his neck. As he reached back to steady it, he accidentally touched the injection mark of the suppressant in his gland and sucked in a quiet breath.
That was the source of his violent agitation.
The combative instinct in an alpha’s blood had been awakened. A cunning, vicious spider had successfully provoked him.
Yan Yi lurched forward, gripping the seatbelt. A box from the back seat was thrown to the floor by inertia.
“What fell?” Yan Yi glanced back.
A bouquet of roses dusted with silver glitter spilled from the box. A few loose petals reflected in his pale gray eyes, which seemed to glow softly like rippling water under passing headlights.
The moment passed. He lowered his gaze, hiding the fleeting trace of envy.
“Are they… for someone?” Yan Yi looked down at the wrinkled corner of his clothes from the earlier fight, smoothing it absentmindedly.
Being misunderstood twice within an hour, Lu Shangjin took a deep breath, then sharply turned the wheel, swerving into a narrow road and stopping beside an abandoned fountain in a deserted park.
“Get out.” He turned off the engine and leaned back against the headrest, closing his eyes briefly.
Yan Yi thought he was about to be left behind. He hesitated, biting his lip. “Okay.”
The moment he got out, Lu Shangjin followed, grabbed the bouquet of silver-thread roses from the back seat, then lifted Yan Yi in one arm and set him on the edge of the dry fountain.
Caught off guard, Yan Yi sat there stiffly. His rabbit ears flushed red and hot as he looked up in confusion—only to have the large bouquet suddenly placed in his arms.
Lu Shangjin looked extremely irritated. Bracing his hands on the fountain edge, he caged Yan Yi within his arms, like a hawk looming over a captured white rabbit, his sharp gaze cutting across every inch of him as if deciding where to start.
“They’re for you. All for you.” Lu Shangjin bit down hard on Yan Yi’s soft lips, his grip tightening around his slender waist until Yan Yi trembled softly in his arms. Only then did he release him.
“Got it?” Lu Shangjin raised a brow.
Yan Yi blinked, eyes full of confusion. He wiped a trace of saliva from the corner of his lips, clutching the bouquet carefully. His mind was blank, yet something in his chest hummed faintly.
He stared at Lu Shangjin, trying to read something in those cold, irritable eyes—but whatever was there was buried beneath overwhelming possessiveness.
“…Are you jealous?” Yan Yi pressed his lips together, still surprised.
Lu Shangjin fell momentarily speechless.
A faint smile appeared on Yan Yi’s lips as he hugged the bouquet tighter.
“These must be expensive.”
“If you like them, I’ll have someone deliver a bouquet every day.”
It wasn’t anything valuable anyway.
That sentence dulled Yan Yi’s smile again. “No need. This is enough.”
“The ring…” Yan Yi gently touched the ring on Lu Shangjin’s left hand. “You didn’t lose it?”
“Hmph.” Yan Yi’s compliance gradually soothed Lu Shangjin’s restless anger. He pulled the bouquet out of Yan Yi’s arms and tossed it aside, then drew him close, pressing him against his shoulder.
Reluctant to let go of the flowers, Yan Yi was pulled into his embrace, immediately surrounded by the mixed scent of narcissus and tobacco.
Lu Shangjin lowered his head to examine the gland at the back of Yan Yi’s neck. It was still a soft, pale pink, giving off a warm, milky candy scent.
The moment his lips touched it, a faint electric shiver ran through Yan Yi’s body. He froze, then closed his eyes nervously.
The expected pain of fangs piercing his gland never came. Yan Yi waited quietly, but Lu Shangjin only left a barely-there kiss before pulling away.
“Let’s go eat.” Lu Shangjin pinched Yan Yi’s soft cheek. Perhaps due to his race, even at twenty-seven, his skin was still as smooth as tofu.
Yan Yi picked up the fallen petals and tucked them back into the bouquet, then carried it to the back seat, deliberately sitting in the corner to avoid Lu Shangjin’s gaze in the rearview mirror.
He carefully arranged each rose, restoring them to their fresh bloom, even placing the fallen petals back into the box.
Inside was a card from the flower shop, printed with a routine greeting. Yan Yi quietly slipped it into his pocket, placing it together with his pregnancy test report.
“What are you looking at?” Lu Shangjin couldn’t see what he was holding from the mirror.
“Nothing.” Yan Yi put away the report and card, gently resting a hand on his abdomen. He pulled the flower box closer, letting the baby share the scent of the roses their alpha father had given him.
“…Don’t give flowers to other omegas, okay?”