Lan Bo was utterly exhausted. He slept the entire journey, sprawled across Bai Chunian’s lap. Midway through, Bai Chunian’s leg went numb and he considered shifting position. But looking at the omega’s peaceful sleeping face, he drifted off into lazy thought and forgot to wake him.
In fact, Lan Bo slept deeply because Bai Chunian had been continuously releasing soothing pheromones along the way. For an omega, an alpha’s calming pheromones were the finest sedative.
“What am I to you?” Bai Chunian murmured, brushing back his golden hair and stroking his pale lashes.
No answer came. He turned his head and stared out the window in silence.
The armored vehicle pulled into the Alliance Medical Department parking lot. Nurses wheeled a stretcher over to receive Lan Bo, but he clung to Bai Chunian and refused to get down. The more they tugged, the more he resisted.
“I will go in with him.” With difficulty, Bai Chunian lifted Lan Bo using his cuffed hands and carried the clinging merfolk into the injection room.
Lan Bo disliked the hospital’s disinfectant scent. He twisted his body to avoid examination, completely uncooperative.
“He has a severe infection in his lower body,” Bai Chunian said, holding Lan Bo against his chest while firmly pressing down his thrashing tail. “There are ulcers and tears. Should you disinfect first?”
A nurse cautiously lifted the fin that covered the three inches below Lan Bo’s lower abdomen to inspect the injury. She frowned and spoke softly. “It is serious. We will need to clear the pus before disinfecting. The torn tissue cannot be sutured for now.”
When the fin shielding his lower body was lifted, Lan Bo suddenly stilled. Tilting his head, he realized Bai Chunian was watching him. His cheeks gradually flushed red. As before, he tried to reach down and cover the part that embarrassed him.
“Do not move.” Bai Chunian’s expression hardened as he scolded gently.
“En?” Lan Bo blinked, then tentatively tried again to lower his hand. Bai Chunian seized both slender wrists and pinned them above Lan Bo’s head, holding him in place for disinfection.
Lan Bo disliked having his fin lifted and his privacy exposed. He turned his face away in displeasure.
When the disinfectant-soaked instrument probed inside to examine the wounds, Lan Bo shuddered violently. A sharp cry tore from his throat as his body struggled fiercely. Bai Chunian trembled as well but lowered his head and held him fast. “Do not move.”
The nurse could not help feeling sympathy. “There are many small wounds inside, which is why it hurts like this. There is no alternative—he must endure it. How did it become this severe?”
“Me,” Bai Chunian replied. “I will be gentler with him in the future.”
Hearing the alpha say that, the nurse frowned, feeling even more pity for the unfortunate merfolk omega who had evidently chosen poorly. The alpha looked refined and handsome—who would have guessed he harbored violent tendencies in that regard?
The flush drained from Lan Bo’s face, replaced by pallor from the pain. His thin wrists struggled within Bai Chunian’s grip, pale skin reddening where it was restrained.
“You… be good.” Bai Chunian bent over him, pressing him down with his body. He lowered his head to kiss Lan Bo’s nose and the corner of his eye, releasing soothing pheromones and murmuring near his ear in a coaxing whisper.
“Baby.”
He plucked a pearl from Lan Bo’s rain-damp lashes with his teeth.
Lan Bo stopped struggling. He hiccupped softly as he savored the pleasant-sounding title, then turned and wrapped his arms around Bai Chunian’s neck, baring his back to let him stroke the fin along his spine.
Bai Chunian patted his back and ran his hand over the folded fin there.
He was obviously still just a little fry who needed his father to hold him, yet he talked about having lived for ages. Children always liked to pretend they were grown. Reassured, Bai Chunian continued releasing calming pheromones for him.
The disinfection took ten minutes. Lan Bo was in so much pain that he fiercely resisted the nurse coming anywhere near him again, curling into a ball and rolling all over the hospital bed.
Bai Chunian sat patiently at the bedside, blocking the edge of the mattress with his body so the wildly rolling fish-ball would not tumble onto the floor.
There came two soft knocks at the ward door. Bai Chunian glanced back at the small window in it. A familiar face appeared outside— the president of the Omega Alliance had arrived.
Like a student caught by the homeroom teacher keeping watch outside, Bai Chunian sprang up cautiously. Yan Yi pushed the door open and entered, holding a bouquet of white rugosa roses, which he set on the low cabinet beside Lan Bo’s bed.
“Boss.” Bai Chunian pulled out a chair for President Yan, then retreated somewhat stiffly to stand by the windowsill, his gaze drifting as he occasionally glanced outside.
Yan Yi tapped the tabletop. Bai Chunian snapped upright on reflex and turned back, forced to meet Yan Yi’s eyes. “I know I was wrong.”
“You still don’t.” Yan Yi leaned back slightly in his chair, fingers tapping lightly on the table. “You disobeyed regulations and my orders, formed an illegal team during the exam, injected a developing experimental subject with AC hallucinogen, and then pushed your score to a record high so everyone is talking about you. Are you trying to get yourself shot for treason?”
Bai Chunian lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Sensing the hostility in the omega who had entered, Lan Bo immediately uncurled from his fish-ball shape. He arched his back toward Yan Yi, raised the fin along his spine, his entire body flushing warning red as he bared sharp teeth and claws in threat.
Seated steadily in his chair, the president released a faint strand of sweetly scented oppressive pheromones.
The instant Lan Bo’s gland sensed that sweet-tinged pressure, he instantly withdrew his flared spines. His furious red tail faded back to blue. He obediently curled into a ball and rolled to the corner of the bed, burrowing into the blankets and pretending nothing had happened.