REN
This was not what I imagined.
Not the motorcycle race part—that part was spot on. We were at a bike race, location unknown to me, which meant whatever Mr Zhen says, goes. That is if I wanted to get home in one piece. Also didn't help that our phones were barred the moment we came within a one-mile radius. So my grand warning to him at the start of the journey—that I'd sent my location to my relatives—was silently rendered utterly stupid. No wonder he laughed when I said it… The fucking bastard!
But I digress.
My problem was not with the kind of event as it was with its magnitude.
Because how would you explain to me that the organizers of this race—which was an under-the-wraps thing, by the way—managed to block an actual freaking highway for it?! Yes, you heard me…
"Good evening, Mr Zhen." I heard an unfamiliar voice and I turned. Mr Zhen's window was rolled down, and on the other side of it, a man—very tall and muscular, most definitely a bouncer—had his head bent as he spoke.
"The others?" Mr Zhen asked coolly.
Others? My ears perked.
"Already here." Mr Zhen nodded, and without another word, his windows rolled up, and we were driving through the lifter barrier.
I sat frozen in my seat, my skin prickling with excitement. By others, did he mean…? Was I really going to meet the alpha from the other night? The day I'd been hoping for was finally here. I sucked in my lips to hold back a squeal as I focused on calming my racing heart.
Could Mr Zhen hear my heartbeat, though? You could never tell what abilities these high class alphas were born with. I peeked at him
from the corner of my eye. He didn't seem like he noticed anything. That was good….
But Z-Gen Alphas could… Their biology was just insane. Which meant I had to be extra careful if we happened to meet.
Would he remember that night though? Most importantly ,would he remember me? I hoped not…. Or should he?
Let's list out the pros and cons here. If he did remember, that could present an opportunity for us to get better acquainted. Like, 'hey,
remember me? The guy you rammed senseless after your car failed to do the job'…
That would be an amazing conversation starter… But on the flip side, what if
during the course of that night, he did figure out what I was? What if he'd actually been looking for me all this while, and I was just about to offer myself to him on a silver platter?
My skin still tingled, but in an entirely different way now. It started slow, but gradually, it was becoming harder to breathe.
What would I do then? Would I run—Now why would I put on such a pathetic show in front of a bunch of alphas? Or maybe I should just
abort the mission… Fake a stomachache or something. A stomachache would be a
perfect excuse, it would—
"Are you getting out anytime soon?" I jumped in my seat. With wide eyes, I turned to Mr Zhen who was holding my door open for me. I blinked. When did he even get out of the car?
We were parked in what looked like a VIP parking area. I could see people walking to take seats, some standing around bikes that were being hoarded in by large trucks. Somewhere in the middle, what looked like a bike show was going on while onlookers cheered.
Mr Zhen extended his hand toward me and my eyes slowly trailed down from his face, wondering if I should take it. Well, I was already here, wasn't I? With a sigh, I graced my face with a smile, placing my hand in his.
The air was cold. Like, fucking cold. It was a good thing I wore a jacket. Stepping outside, I could really feel the spiked energy around
me. The smell of fuel, sound of tires screeching on the tarmac, people engaging in conversation. For my first outing, this was quite the bar height.
Mr Zhen led me through the crowd—and by 'through', I meant the crowd literally parted for us to pass. Talk about presidential treatment… Was he someone important in this circle? Because, for a bunch of rich people to step aside for you— was it a 'The Web' thing? Did all these people know of his involvement?
Wutao, focus! This is hardly the time to be adding more fear to your plate. I held back a shudder, a skill I'd perfected over the years. Couldn't afford for Mr Zhen to notice.
I was pulled from my thoughts when he suddenly froze, causing me to almost bump into his back.
"Why are we suddenly stopping?…" My voice trailed at the end when I looked at his face. That look, let's just say I never expected to see that look on a face like Mr Zhen's. What was more shocking was that, it wasn't directed at me. That was the look I expected to see when Miss Jia Li mentioned how he kept showing up at my workplace looking for me. At least, that was how all my clients looked when they saw me.
But here Mr Zhen was, hooded eyes staring at something ahead, hand tightened in mine. I think I felt him shudder a bit. My frown deepened and I followed his gaze. What was he even looking at?
That was when I saw him. Standing by a bike under a tent, about three meters away from us. A man who looked oddly familiar. A C-Gen Alpha. In his light-colored clothing, he kinda looked…pure? But then again, I work in a
pleasure house, so my bar for 'purity' was extremely low.
His head was bent, as he inspected the bike in front of him. There was a rigidity to his movement, almost robotic. Okay, but why was Mr Zhen acting that way? Was it the bike? Was it like his favorite bike, or something.
Just then, another person appeared beside the bike,—A D-Gen M-alpha— draping his arm around the first guy. I immediately recognized him. I couldn't remember his name, but he was one of the men from that video. Wait, did it mean the bent guy was also one of them?
"Yichen!" Yup, he definitely was. And his name still rang a bell. "Look, Long's here." The new guy announced while smiling at Mr Zhen, and the first guy finally stood up straight, giving me a good glimpse of his face. Just like in the video, he was stoic. He took just one look at Mr Zhen,—he didn't seem to have noticed me— nodded and went back to looking at his bike.
He really was robotic— did Mr Zhen just release a shaky breath? I turned to him with wide eyes. And at that moment, it clicked. I sucked in a sharp breath, my eyes jumping into a blinking frenzy when a memory
from our first session shot into my mind.
Mr Zhen's groans, his writhing , his moaning…
"Ah… Yichen!"
My jaw dropped. That Yichen? This was that Yichen? He was a freaking Alpha?! Mr Zhen seemed to have picked up on my realization, because he suddenly stiffened. The dazed look on his face suddenly vanished, and he
cleared his throat.
"Let's get going," He muttered, pulling me behind him. Mr Zhen, a D-Gen Alpha. The same one who was a member of an ABO purist group… He liked an Alpha? And when I thought I had no way out…
As we slowly got closer to the two, I couldn't wipe the smirk off my face. An Alpha and an alpha. That was totally unheard of. They both stood straight when they saw us approach. I saw the second guy's smile slowly drop as
his eyes met mine, the stoic one's eye twitched. They both stared straight into
my soul, and for the first time in my unapologetic life, I started to feel self conscious.
Okay, I was very much aware of the effect the lavender scent on me had on alphas in general, but these two looked a bit exaggerated. Either way, I went with it. We came to a stop when we got close enough.
"Ruiqing…Yichen," he whispered the second name. "This is Ren. He's…"
"An M-spec? Lang's in for a surprise." The man called Ruiqing cut Mr Zhen off, what looked like amazement on his face. Mr Zhen nodded in response, and smirked, looking pleased with himself. My eyes darted between the three men… Was
something going on that I wasn't aware of?
"Where did you find him?" The one called Yichen finally spoke. His voice was calm, but strong. He looked at me while he spoke, like he was assessing me.
"I have my ways" Mr Zhen's voice was soft when he replied, almost like he was seeking approval? What were they talking about?!
"You sneaky bastard… Trying hard to get in his good graces, I see." Mr Ruiqing scoffed and Mr. Zhen shrugged.
"Guess I'm better at your job than you are, detective." Mr Zhen retorted with a chuckle. I was sure I looked like a fool standing there
with a slowly fading smile on my face. But I didn't know what else to do. These people had a way of making you seem insignificant without even trying. Even a whole me!
"But where is Lang?" Mr Ruiqing asked, looking through the crowd. " I was with him just a few seconds ago." That name again. Who was Lang?
Just then, my body jerked backwards with a force. Before I could react, my back slammed into one of the bars of the tent, a hand immediately coming around my neck. What the hell?!
My hands went around my neck as well, trying to pull the fingers from around my neck. Efforts which were unsurprisingly pointless. The hand didn't squeeze though. It was just keeping me in place. But that didn't give
me any comfort.
My eyes darted around me. People didn't seem to notice, or they chose to ignore, I wasn't really sure. Where was Mr Zhen why wasn't he doing anything? My eyes found him, standing in the same spot. Nothing about his expression looked fazed, or bothered, same for the other two. Like I wasn't currently under attack... What?
That was when I smelled it. That intoxicating blend of smoke, black pepper and burnt amber. I shook out a breath. Then I felt a warm breath in my ears, before a chilling voice whispered.
"We meet again."