The scent of morning coffee hadn't yet faded from the kitchen when Avery's phone vibrated against the marble counter. Noël glanced over from where he was placing breakfast dishes in the sink. He could feel something shift in the air the moment Avery read the message.
Avery's jaw tightened, brows furrowing just slightly. He exhaled through his nose, slowly, like a man trying to count to ten in silence.
"You okay?" Noël asked, drying his hands with a towel. "Is it another emergency?"
Avery didn't answer immediately. He locked his phone and placed it face down on the counter.
"Noel," he said after a long pause, voice lower than usual. "I need to step out for a bit. Shouldn't be long."
The calm in his tone was calculated—too calm. Noël's fingers froze on the edge of the towel. He knew that tone by now. It was Avery's version of emotional armor.
"…Is it serious?"
Avery looked at him, his eyes unreadable. "Just business. Stay here. Don't answer the door. Sylvie is still asleep and don't engage her if she gets annoying."
Noël gave a slow nod, but his worry didn't fade. The way Avery's shoulders were drawn tight, how he walked out without finishing his coffee, this was definitely something serious.
_____
The meeting wasn't at a boardroom. It was in the back of a sleek black Mercedes parked outside one of Cheng Group's private complexes. Inside, waiting like a spider in its web, sat Chairman Cheng—Avery's father.
"You look tired, son."
Avery didn't bother with pleasantries. "You called me here. What is it?"
Chairman Cheng smiled faintly, the kind of smile that never reached his eyes. "Straight to the point. That's what I always admired in you, Avery. Unfortunately, some of your recent choices suggest your instincts are… clouded."
"I'm not in the mood for riddles."
"Then I'll be clear," his father said, sliding a thick envelope across the leather seat. "That's the date. The venue. The finalized documents. The Wei family has been extremely cooperative."
Avery didn't touch the envelope. "I told you I'm not going through with that arrangement."
His father's gaze narrowed. "You don't get to tell me what you won't do. You're still the heir to this empire, whether you like it or not. And you'll marry Wei Yulan because it strengthens our interests across Asia."
"I don't give a damn about the Wei family."
"Then give a damn about your future. About your safety." The older man leaned closer. "Do you think I don't know about that Omega living in your penthouse? Do you think the board doesn't know? Your name is being dragged through whispers, Avery."
Avery's hand flexed on the leather seat. His voice dropped dangerously. "Say his name, and I swear—"
"I don't need to," his father interrupted coldly. "You're so blinded by… whatever obsession this is, that you're risking everything. I'm only going to say this once—cut that boy off, or I will."
Avery's breath stilled.
"I'm already working with someone in the Ministry of Population Control," Chairman Cheng continued, unbothered. "Special cases like his don't just vanish. Some scientists want him, he has not been see at the hospital for test samples for years. If I allow it, it will be easier for them to find him and they can take him away. Quietly."
"You wouldn't dare," Avery growled, his Alpha aura briefly flaring despite himself.
The older man didn't flinch. "Try me."
Avery wasn't surprised by how much information his father found out about Noel. Even the fact that he is a special Omega.
________
By the time Avery returned to the penthouse, night had already begun to fall. Noël met him at the door, smiling softly. "You're back. I saved you some dinner. Sylvie and I ate earlier."
But Avery didn't respond. He brushed past Noël and went straight to the living room, his energy unsettlingly quiet. Noël followed, concern knitting his brows.
"Avery…?"
"I need a drink," Avery muttered, tugging at his tie as he poured himself whiskey with trembling fingers.
The bottle clicked against the glass a little too hard.
"Avery," Noël tried again, walking up behind him. "Please talk to me. Did something happen?"
Avery turned to face him. The dim lighting sharpened the shadows on his face, highlighting how tense his jaw was, how much darker his scent had become—no longer wine and warmth, but wine and firewood. Burnt edges.
"I'm fine."
"You're not."
Noël's hand moved gently to his arm. Avery looked down at it. For a second, his expression was unreadable but then he stepped back.
"It's nothing you need to worry about," he said.
Noël's chest ached. He hated when Avery did this, shut him out under the pretense of protection. "I do worry. You don't have to carry everything by yourself."
Avery looked at him. Something about Noël's face, so openly worried, so gentle—it made something in his chest twist.
"…My father wants me to marry someone else," he said finally, voice rough.
Noël blinked. "Wait… what?"
"It's been arranged for years. I never agreed to it, but he's trying to force it now. He thinks… he thinks you're a liability."
Noël's throat went dry. "Because I'm an Omega?"
"Because you're you," Avery said, with a sudden burst of emotion. "Because you're different. Because you matter more to me than any of them ever could." He didn't want to mention the real problem which was Noël's background.
Noël stepped closer, trying to steady his own voice. "What are you going to do?"
Avery took a slow breath, then looked Noël directly in the eyes. "I'll fight him. Even if it kills me."
Noël opened his mouth to respond, but Avery suddenly pulled him close. Not a gentle hug—an intense, possessive one. Avery's arms wrapped around Noël's waist like he was trying to shield him from the entire world.
"I'm not letting anyone take you away," he whispered into Noël's hair. "No one."
And though his words were soft, his Alpha energy was not. It surged just beneath the surface—controlled, but dangerous.
Noël could feel it now, clearer than ever.
The quiet predator beneath the perfect CEO mask.
________
The house was quiet, unusually so. Noël had gone looking for his sketchpad, wanting to get a few things down before they slipped his mind. Avery had bought him a new set of fine-tip pens for Christmas, and for once, he'd actually been feeling inspired. But the pad wasn't on the nightstand or on the desk.
It had probably fallen behind the couch in the guest lounge upstairs. He remembered doodling there with Avery while watching an old French drama a few nights ago. He padded down the hall silently, not wanting to disturb Sylvie or Avery, who he assumed were still busy with something in the office.
He reached the corner just as a door creaked open as Sylvie was about to go out.
Sylvie's voice, sharp and clean like glass. "You're still being reckless."
Noël froze.
Avery didn't respond right away.
"Do you think he'll be safe once father finds out?" she continued. "Do you even know what you're doing, Avery?"
"I don't need your condescension right now," Avery said, his voice low, edged with something primal. The room seemed to thrum with a warning. "And I don't answer to him anymore."
There was a pause. Noël swallowed and took a step back, but not before hearing Sylvie's next words.
"You think that will matter? You think a man like our father who spent his life crafting a legacy will let his eldest son marry an orphan? A fragile Omega with no name, no background, no pedigree?" she spat. "Do you have any idea what the board will do when they find out?"
Noël felt something in his chest sink. His fingertips trembled slightly against the sketchpad he now held.
"I don't care about pedigree," Avery replied, but his tone had cooled, grown flatter. "I care about Noël."
"He's not strong enough for what comes with being your mate. You know that. If you really cared, you wouldn't drag him into our world."
There was silence.
Noël didn't wait to hear more.
He turned and walked down the hall quietly, returning to the bedroom without a sound. He closed the door, slid down onto the floor, sketchpad forgotten at his side.
________
That evening, Noël was quieter.
He still smiled when Avery spoke to him, still nodded at Sylvie when she passed by, still cleaned up after dinner and even curled up on the couch when Avery pulled him into his side.
But he wasn't really there.
His mind replayed Sylvie's words in an endless loop. No name. No background. A fragile Omega…
He felt exposed. Like a child playing house in a palace he didn't belong in.
When Avery kissed his hair and murmured, "You've been quiet today," Noël only smiled faintly and whispered, "Just a little tired."
Avery looked down at him for a long moment, eyes narrowing slightly as if trying to read through the lie.
But he didn't press.
He simply wrapped his arm around Noël's waist and kept him close.
______
Later that night, when they returned to their bedroom, Avery noticed it again.
Noël was brushing his hair in silence, seated on the edge of the bed like a doll carefully maintaining a routine.
"Did something happen today?" Avery asked, tugging off his cufflinks. "You're not… usually this quiet."
Noël hesitated. "No. I think the fireworks made me a little melancholic."
It was such a flimsy excuse. Avery didn't buy it. But he didn't call him out.
Instead, he studied Noël's expression—too composed, too polite. Like a stranger pretending to be someone he knew.
He turned toward the closet with a faint click of his jaw. "You don't have to pretend with me," he said. "Even if something's bothering you."
"I know," Noël replied, but the words came out too soft.
Later that night, after the lights were off and Noël's back was turned toward him in bed, Avery stared at the ceiling.
He knew something was wrong.
He could feel it in the way Noël's scent had shifted. It was less like the sweetness of vanilla and peaches, more like a faint anxiety clouding the air. But Avery didn't push. Not yet.
Because the timing was too dangerous.
His father knew.
That fact alone made his stomach coil with rage. He didn't know how, or when, but somehow that man had gotten information on Noël and if Sylvie had already heard about it, it meant things were escalating faster than he'd hoped.
Damn it.
He needed to be calm. Strategic. If he confronted Noël now, he'd only draw him deeper into the chaos. And right now, Noël needed safety. Distance from the Cheng family claws.
So Avery waited, jaw tight, arm flexed behind his head as he lay still in the dark, listening to Noël breathe. A distance had settled between them, something invisible, cold.
And he hated it.
Across the bed, Noël lay awake too, staring at the wall.
If you really cared, you wouldn't drag him into our world…
The words echoed in his mind again, and for the first time in a long while, Noël wondered if the love they were building could really survive the weight of an empire.
He wanted to believe it could.
But tonight… he wasn't so sure.