Haicheng.
On the eve of the wedding, the sea breeze carried the unique damp saltiness and warmth of the tropics, rhythmically slapping against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the seaside villa.
Shen Qingzhou had just stepped onto the balcony, not yet having time to fully feel the cool night wind blowing against his face, when a body as scorching as fire pressed firmly against his back. Huo Xingran hugged him tightly from behind, with such force that it felt as if he wanted to knead the person in his arms into his own bones and blood.
Shedding the restraint and pretense he maintained before others during the day, the top-tier Alpha's long-suppressed, scorching orange-scented pheromones erupted like a dam bursting. In an instant, with a sense of destruction-tinged predatory possession, they completely and seamlessly enveloped Shen Qingzhou.
"Professor..."
Huo Xingran buried his face deep into the crook of Shen Qingzhou's neck, his voice low and hoarse, sounding nothing like the pampered large canine he usually portrayed. His warm, thin lips rubbed ambiguously against that delicate skin, and his sharp canine teeth—no longer able to hold back—nuzzled soothingly against the Omega gland that was radiating a faint, cool scent of fir.
Even through the thin blocker patch, the dangerous suggestion belonging exclusively to a high-tier Alpha was so clear that it made Shen Qingzhou's entire body stiffen.
Shen Qingzhou's long, slender fingers gripped the white marble railing of the balcony. Under the aggressive proximity of the other, his spine—hidden beneath the silk robe—tensed segment by segment. He tilted his head back slightly, attempting to avoid the scorching breath that left him somewhat oxygen-deprived, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible tremor amidst its coolness: "Huo Xingran... stop messing around. Tomorrow is the wedding, don't be unruly."
"I'm not messing around, Qingzhou."
Not only did Huo Xingran not retreat, but he turned Shen Qingzhou around, gripped his supple, slender waist, and—sliding one hand behind his knees—lifted him off his feet, forcefully laying him down on the wide rattan lounge chair on the balcony.
The moonlight was like silver, spilling unreservedly onto Shen Qingzhou. Due to the sudden movement, the deep-blue silk robe fell open in disarray, revealing a vast expanse of fair, exquisite collarbones that seemed to glow in the moonlight.
Huo Xingran loomed over him, bracing his hands on either side of Shen Qingzhou, trapping him firmly between his body and the back of the chair.
The boy's flamboyant golden hair was slightly messy in the night wind, and the "puppy eyes" were now devoid of any docility; instead, they burned with two clusters of beast-like possessiveness that threatened to incinerate all reason. He leaned down, nuzzling his nose against Shen Qingzhou's in an intimate yet tyrannical gesture, staring down at him:
"Do you remember that line you drew in the middle of this bed with a pillow a year ago?"
Mentioning the "borderline" of years past, Huo Xingran let out a low, deeply sexy chuckle from his throat. He tilted his head slightly, his scorching lips pressing against Shen Qingzhou's heating earlobe, and gave it a wicked nip with his teeth:
"Back then, to prove I was a qualified assistant and to keep you from thinking that Alphas were beasts who only thought with instinct, I had to perform a hundred risk assessments in my heart just to cross that line and kiss you. For over a year, I've been as obedient as a house dog you've tamed, Professor Shen."
"But tonight is the eve of the wedding."
The boy's palm traced the edge of the silk robe upward, his skin rough with calluses from years of experiments, sending tiny ripples of goosebumps across Shen Qingzhou's skin. His eyes were stunningly hot, and every word felt laden with lingering desire, slamming into Shen Qingzhou's nerve endings:
"That line—I'm not just going to cross it tonight; I'm going to wipe it out completely. My high-tier Alpha rut has arrived... tonight, I don't want to hold back."
The scent of orange candy in the air turned completely volatile in that moment. This was the mental power of a top-tier Alpha carrying absolute legal possession and ultimate desire. The sound of the sea waves seemed to grow distant, leaving only the sound of their intertwined, increasingly heavy, and ragged breathing on the balcony.
Shen Qingzhou sank into the soft cushion, his glasses having fallen off somewhere long ago. He was devoid of his usual cold, aloof air, his beautiful phoenix eyes now veiled with a layer of shimmering mist.
He looked at the handsome face above him—a face belonging to a boy full of stubbornness and certainty.
He looked into those eyes, filled with possessiveness, yet waiting for his final permission.
In the silence, Shen Qingzhou suddenly lowered his head and smiled. He looked like a glacier willing to melt for the blazing sun.
He didn't push him away, nor did he use cold discipline to restrain him as he usually did. Instead, Professor Shen's fair, slender arms slowly rose, and his long fingers, with a gentleness that held a fated, inevitable pull, proactively... wrapped around Huo Xingran's neck in the moonlight.
He tilted his head back slightly, exposing the most vulnerable and fatal stretch of his fair neck completely to the boy's sight and teeth.
"Then..." Shen Qingzhou looked at him, his long lashes fluttering, his cold voice finally completely saturated with a sticky hoarseness, "...don't hold back, Student Huo."
Boom.
The final gate of reason was shattered in an instant by the Omega's proactive invitation.
Outside the window, the sea waves roared on, just as they had a year ago. But this time, the borderline had vanished completely.