Chapter 102: Reaping What You Sow
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Shen Yao lowered his gaze, tears glistening at the corners of his eyes, but they weren’t tears of frailty. His eyes were calm, like the pure light of the moon.
He felt the warmth spreading around his neck.
Guan Shu, who had stubbornly refused to call him brother,’ was always the one to cry in front of him. Shen Yao had lost count of how many times he had wiped away Guan Shu’s tears.
Out of habit, Shen Yao began to lift his hand, but midway through the motion, he stopped.
Calmly, Shen Yao asked, “Does it really matter if it’s love or not?”
Guan Shu’s arms tightened further. If he didn’t hold onto Shen Yao, how could he be certain of his existence?
“…It matters.”
“Guan Shu.”
Shen Yao, however, placed his hand on Guan Shu’s shoulder. He tried to push away, but his efforts were in vain.
The embrace grew tighter and tighter. Shen Yao gave up and lowered his head, saying, “Placing one’s emotions on others isn’t the right thing to do.”
Finally, Guan Shu slightly loosened his grip. His nose was very close to Shen Yao’s, their gazes locked, incapable of containing any lies.
At such close proximity, all Guan Shu needed to do was lower his head slightly, and he could kiss him.
However, he only gazed quietly at Shen Yao for a long, long time, as if trying to make up for all the lost time.
He realized that he and Shen Yao were always missing each other. First, he had been away from Shen Yao for four years, and now he had missed two years of Shen Yao’s life.
Time wasn’t long enough; it had taken up half of the time they had known each other.
Guan Shu didn’t say anything more. He bent down, hooking his arm around the bend of Shen Yao’s knee.
Guan Shu carried Shen Yao upstairs, gently placing him on the bed, and then embraced him from behind, just like they used to, as if nothing had happened, and everything was peaceful.
After hearing the calm rhythm of Shen Yao’s sleeping breath, Guan Shu finally spoke:
“It’s not about dependence.”
“It’s just that I like you.”
***
“Bang!”
Shen Yao didn’t know how long he had been asleep when a noise at the window disturbed him. He furrowed his brows, his ears twitching involuntarily.
“Bang!”
Another muffled sound. Shen Yao finally groggily opened his eyes, realizing that Guan Shu was no longer in the bedroom.
Barefoot, Shen Yao walked to the window and pulled aside the translucent curtains. The first thing he saw was Dong Dong’s anxious face outside the window.
He slapped the window with force, his palms turning red from the impact. He gestured urgently through the glass—
“Open the window!!”
Worried that he might fall, Shen Yao pushed open the French window and asked, “What’s wrong? It’s dangerous standing here.”
Dong Dong’s gaze swept from his collarbone, and the loose pajamas couldn’t conceal the densely packed bite marks. He clenched his fist beside his leg for a moment, then without explanation, he reached out and grabbed Shen Yao’s wrist.
“We’re running out of time.” With a powerful tug, he pulled Shen Yao more than halfway out of the window and swiftly began tying a rope around his waist.
“Dong Dong…”
Before Shen Yao could finish his sentence, Dong Dong pulled him from behind, forcefully carrying him as they jumped from the second floor.
The houses here weren’t tall, and with the person behind him bearing most of the impact, Shen Yao only stumbled a few steps upon landing.
As soon as he landed, Dong Dong grabbed his arm and ran toward the beach. Shen Yao’s skin was tender, and the soles of his bare feet on the gravelly ground quickly began to bleed after running a few steps.
Shen Yao was, after all, an Omega, and his physical stamina wasn’t particularly strong. Falling out of sync with Dong Dong’s pace, his breathing became more erratic, and his glands inexplicably started to heat up.
In the end, he was almost entirely dragged along by the Alpha as they ran.
Dong Dong kept running ahead recklessly, like a knight rescuing a princess from the jaws of a dragon, until they reached a coastal cave. Only then did he catch his breath.
On the water’s edge, a small fishing boat was parked.
This was what he considered a safe zone. As the tension that had been holding him taut relaxed, Dong Dong turned to look at Shen Yao. It was then that he noticed Shen Yao’s bare feet.
The fumbling Alpha’s expression turned panicked. He awkwardly half-knelt down, grasping Shen Yao’s feet with both hands but unsure of what to do next.
He could only gingerly cradle Shen Yao’s feet, sharing his plan innocently:
“I stole money from home and also took the family boat. First, I’ll take you to a nearby island, and then we can go there to buy tickets.”
“Don’t worry… I’ve grown up on boats since I was young, I can handle this fishing boat. Don’t be afraid… I will definitely take you away, Shen Min…”
“I’m not called Shen Min.” Shen Yao’s foot on his knee moved slightly, indicating for him to let go. “Just like he said, I’ve been lying to you all along.”
Dong Dong’s expression froze for a moment, and he suddenly understood who the “he” mentioned by Shen Yao was. He stubbornly gripped Shen Yao’s ankle and lowered his head:
“It’s okay, none of that matters.”
“Whether you’re called Shen Min… or Shen Yao, I’ll still like you.”
Shen Yao had heard too many lines like this. He wouldn’t be swayed by them, so he lowered his gaze indifferently. He was about to speak frankly when his glands suddenly heated up again.
A sickeningly sweet scent of pheromones filled the cave, carrying the fragrance of apricot blossoms that belonged to an Omega. Moreover, he also smelled the intertwined scent of Marjoram pheromones, which belonged to another Alpha.
Dong Dong’s actions abruptly stopped, and he raised his head, his face filled with shock. “You’re a…”
Shen Yao leaned against the cave wall, his pale cheeks flushed like a vibrant peach blossom. He erected his defenses, a stark contrast to Dong Dong’s never-before-seen look of indifference. In a cold tone, he interrupted him:
“Get out.”
Dong Dong’s grip on Shen Yao’s ankle was so strong it felt like he could shatter the bone.
He realized that Shen Yao wasn’t just an Omega; he was an Omega who had been recently marked.
Jealousy was creeping in, slowly turning into the straw that would break the camel’s back. Uncontrollable, he wanted to stand up, to kiss Shen Yao, to claim him.
Sweat coated his back from excessive restraint. Dong Dong took a deep breath, struggling to suppress his instincts. He turned around and walked out of the cave.
Shen Yao kept his eyes tightly shut. Every breath he exhaled felt scorching and blazing.
Perhaps due to the recent bonding with Guan Shu the previous day, the suppressive effect of the medication had worn off, and desire surged through him like waves.
He hadn’t brought anything with him when he came out. Leaning against the cave wall, his soft legs supporting him, he laboriously made his way towards another exit of the cave.
“Drip—”
The sound of water echoed. Suddenly, he heard hurried footsteps behind him. Shen Yao instinctively turned his head. Just as he was trying to get a clearer view of what was happening, an Alpha pounced on him like a predator.
“Thud!”
Shen Yao’s knees and hands slammed heavily onto the ground. His limbs were forcefully immobilized.
The scent of a youthful orange was heavy on the Alpha’s body, causing Shen Yao’s glands to heat up once again.
“No…”
Shen Yao’s hands pushed against the ground, struggling futilely, trying to break free from Dong Dong’s now irrational grasp.
His breath drew nearer and nearer, grazing his sensitive glands countless times. His glands were positioned directly in front of the Alpha behind him. With a simple motion of opening his lips, he could bite down.
However, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed in the cave again. Someone was approaching, chasing the scent of pheromones. The Alpha with reddened eyes, however, remained oblivious.
“Thud!”
Before he could sink his teeth in, the back of his head was forcefully struck by a rock, plunging him into a brief moment of unconsciousness.
However, the Alpha who had knocked him out didn’t let go. With clear knuckles, he held the rock aloft, showing no sign of satisfaction. He seemed intent on smashing it forcefully onto his head once more.
“Enough, do you want to cause a fatality?” Shen Yao spoke up to halt the situation. Rolling onto his back, he reached to adjust his disheveled clothes. Catching the scent of blood in the cave, he regulated his breathing, and then called out a name:
“Xu Yibai.”
As if his voice had flipped a switch, Xu Yibai suddenly loosened his grip. The rock he had clenched slipped from his hand, landing on the ground with a muffled thud that resonated throughout the cave.
“Thud!”
Xu Yibai’s movement to look at Shen Yao was slow, but his eyes reddened quickly. He knelt down, his knees knocking against the ground. It was as though he was numb to pain, trembling hands encircling Shen Yao in a tight embrace.
This was no illusion. His Shen Yao had returned to his side once again, and he was holding him once again.
Xu Yibai trembled uncontrollably, his speech incoherent:
“I’m sorry… Are you upset that I treated you that way? Are you angry that I gave you the rut suppressant? Is that why you angrily ran away from the wedding? But we’ve been together since we were kids… You know… I love you very much… I really love you…”
“I won’t… I won’t treat you like this again. I’m sorry… Yao Yao…”
“Don’t be mad at me, okay?”
“I’ll take you home… Come home with me…”
His words lacked logic, were disjointed, and even included events that had never happened between them. Xu Yibai’s memory seemed trapped in a chaotic confusion, where he was both the storyteller and the one lost within his own narrative.
Shen Yao’s expression was no longer composed. His hand hung at his side, his gaze distant for a moment.
“Drip-drip.”
Just as Shen Yao was taken aback, he followed the sound of footsteps and looked in the direction of the approaching figure—a tall Alpha was heading towards them.
“…Xu Yibai, he…” Shen Yao stared at him, piecing together the situation from Xu Yibai’s fragmented words. After a moment’s pause, he still asked, “What’s going on?”
Guan Shu, wearing military boots, stepped through muddy puddles as he approached them. His first action upon arriving was to bend down and attempt to separate Shen Yao from Xu Yibai by pulling at his arm.
“You could interpret it as him going crazy,” Guan Shu’s eyebrows furrowed with a cold sternness, his voice devoid of emotion. “Or you could see it as him reaping what he sowed.”
While Shen Yao was still processing Guan Shu’s words, a buzzing sound came from outside the cave. It was the sound of a helicopter hovering in the sky, and it was descending gently overhead.
He didn’t even need to turn around to know—
Yan Zhixing had also arrived.
Because these crazed hounds had noses that were keener than the others, Shen Yao had sensed it the moment he saw Guan Shu; he couldn’t hide anymore.
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