Chapter Text
The earthquake hits suddenly. One moment, Hua Yong is having a lovely afternoon of tea and cake with Mr Sheng. The next, the house rattles, walls creaking ominously, and a solid monolith of a bookshelf is careening their way. Mr Sheng chivalrously tries to protect Hua Yong, but when Mr Sheng’s strength falters, Hua Yong reacts without conscious thought—he leans forward and lifts the weight off his beloved. Shock glimmers in Mr Sheng’s eyes in the moments before he slumps unconscious in Hua Yong’s hold.
This, on its own, would be bad enough. But then it goes on.
Hua Yong carves out an exit through the caved-in building, dismantling even an impossibly reinforced door—only for a harder aftershock to strike, sending debris all around them and sealing them in. Hua Yong’s escaped the worst of it and covered Mr Sheng, but Mr Sheng is still unconscious from before. Alone, Hua Yong could get out, but given Mr Sheng’s condition… Hua Yong gathers his beloved close and blankets him in soothing pheromones while texting Chang Yu for aid, helpless in a way he rarely is.
When Mr Sheng’s eyelashes flutter, his awareness returning, all Hua Yong feels is relief. And then Mr Sheng takes him in, and flinches away. And Hua Yong’s lies collapse around him like the house just did.
“You! The bookshelf… Your pheromones!” Mr Sheng snarls, trying to put distance between himself and Hua Yong in their narrow space. “Stop spreading them, you—you’re not an Omega!”
Hua Yong’s suppressant patch has failed, not equal to the circumstances. His true scent is floating damningly between them.
“I will explain everything, Mr Sheng,” Hua Yong promises, attempting an earnest tone. “But not now. You’re injured. Half the house has crumbled, and we’re waiting for rescue. Let’s conserve our energy, all right?”
But Mr Sheng won’t be content with that. Mr Sheng recognises the orchid scent, and connects too many dots too fast. Mr Sheng is so smart. It’s inconvenient, at times like this.
“You’re that mysterious head of X Holdings, aren’t you?”
“Please don’t be angry, Mr Sheng.”
“And you… Was it you, the man at the hotel that night?”
“Please forgive me, Mr Sheng.”
“You think I can forgive all that? Who do you take me for, Mr Hua? Leave me alone!”
Mr Sheng growls at him, face hard, and this feels like an irreversible shift, a fissure spreading between them too quickly to control. Mr Sheng’s eyes don’t hold any love, only hurt. Hua Yong reaches out for him, anguished—
And Mr Sheng recoils from him. Mr Sheng is straightening up and drawing back from Hua Yong when another aftershock strikes, and he runs straight into a large piece of rebar now poised at his back.
Mr Sheng’s flesh tears with an awful sound.
“No!” Hua Yong shouts, hands clutching Mr Sheng’s sides.
Mr Sheng folds into him, shuddering. Blood spurts from his mouth. He gives a small, strangled rasp as he slides partway off the rebar.
“No,” Hua Yong repeats, panicked.
He grabs the steel rod in a ruthless grip, snapping it in two where it’s digging into Mr Sheng’s body. He holds Mr Sheng in his arms, cradling him with soothing pheromones and shielding him from all the pain they can.
“H… Hua… Yong…” Mr Sheng gasps, and then falls limp in a way that makes Hua Yong’s hair stand on end.
“Mr Sheng!” he cries, jostling his beloved in a manner that’s probably ill-advised. “Mr Sheng, wake up!”
But Mr Sheng doesn’t wake up. He stays slack in Hua Yong’s grasp. Blood flows freely from his back, and his pulse grows faint.
“You can’t die, Mr Sheng,” Hua Yong says, not recognising his own voice. “I won’t allow it! You can’t, you won’t—you’ll be happy with me, together, and we’ll live a long life, and you won’t be dying here.”
He checks his phone again, frantic, but there’s no reception. No sounds are coming in from the outside world—no indication of people starting to dig their rescue. Mr Sheng is bleeding out, and help isn’t here, and it’s only up to Hua Yong to save him, now.
“I love you, Mr Sheng,” he whispers.
Then he turns Mr Sheng, as gently as he can, and bites down on his gland. He sends Enigma pheromones into his beloved’s blood stream, willing his own strength into Mr Sheng’s body. An Enigma’s permanent mark is a powerful thing. He doesn’t know if it’s powerful enough to save someone in as dire a state as Mr Sheng, but he will make it so. Mr Sheng isn’t dying. Mr Sheng is staying here, with Hua Yong, warm and saved by Hua Yong’s love.
A white orchid blooms on the nape of Mr Sheng’s neck. Mr Sheng stirs, and gives a barely audible whimper. Hua Yong smiles, blood in his teeth, and settles Mr Sheng more carefully into his embrace, an Enigma’s soothing pheromones covering them both in a thick cloud.
***
Hua Yong doesn’t know how long he’s kept up the comforting pheromones by the time they’re dug up. Mr Sheng is still alive—his pulse barely fluttering in his wrist, but there.
“Sir!” Chang Yu shouts, as soon as he sees them.
Emergency responders flock towards the two of them, and Shen Wenlang hovers uselessly by the side as Hua Yong steps out, still gently cradling Mr Sheng in his arms.
“Get hold of his medical team back at home,” Hua Yong tells Chang Yu. “I had to claim him. There will be consequences.”
Mr Sheng’s injury has everyone snapping into action, and he’s loaded into an ambulance in the blink of an eye. Hua Yong climbs in with him.
“Sir, you can’t ride in this vehicle,” a medic tells him.
Hua Yong levels her with a look, not letting up his soothing pheromones for a moment.
“I’m staying.”
“Sir—”
“He’s only still alive because I’m here,” Hua Yong snaps. “I’m his mate.”
“Sir, you’re both Alphas,” the emergency responder says, cautious, as if afraid to set him off.
Hua Yong doesn’t have time for this. Mr Sheng doesn’t have time for this.
“Watch his readings,” Hua Yong orders. Then he lets up the barrage of his pheromones for just one moment.
He’s already restarted the pheromone stream by the time the monitor next to Mr Sheng starts beeping urgently.
“I see,” the woman says, blanching, and gives the order for the ambulance to go.
“I’ll meet you at HeCi, sir,” Chang Yu manages to say before they leave. He’s already at the phone—hopefully, getting in touch with the doctors in Country P.
At the hospital, Hua Yong stays by Mr Sheng’s side as they wheel him into an operating room. It’s radically against protocol, but it’s also clear to all medical professionals present that Hua Yong is the only thing still keeping Mr Sheng’s heart beating. They don’t understand why his soothing pheromones work, but as long as they do, they can’t chuck him out of the room.
(They wouldn’t have been able to even if they tried.)
They urge Hua Yong, half-heartedly, to get his own minor injuries checked out, but those will heal on their own in hours. It’s unfair that Hua Yong, who can bear the hurt, is unharmed while Mr Sheng is barely holding on to life. Hua Yong has failed to protect him. Hua Yong will not fail him for one moment further.
The doctors get the rebar out of Mr Sheng’s back, and that operation goes about as well as it can—the head surgeon called in to attend to him—but they just can’t stabilise him. Hua Yong’s permanent mark has kept Mr Sheng alive by boosting his strength at a critical moment, but it’s got its downsides, too: Mr Sheng’s body is trying to go into heat. His system is trying to do too much, almost shutting down with all the conflicting impulses flooding in, and Hua Yong can’t get people to understand it, or believe it, or fix it fast enough.
Two hours later, Mr Sheng is still hovering between life and death, Hua Yong’s soothing pheromones a rope tethering him to this world. Hua Yong feels at the same time like he’s losing his mind and like his thoughts have never been clearer. When Chang Yu walks into Mr Sheng’s hospital ward with a surgeon from Country P in tow, Hua Yong doesn’t hesitate.
“I will be checking Mr Sheng out, and evacuating him to a different facility,” he informs the attending physician.
This provokes an incredible hue and cry. People swarm the room, trying to explain how impossible this is. Somehow, Mr Sheng’s secretary Chen Pinming also elbows his way into the ward, and adds his protests to the din.
Hua Yong doesn’t have the pheromones to spare for subduing them. He nods at Chang Yu, and then all naysayers are surrounded by black-clad guards.
“I have a helicopter waiting for Mr Sheng, with a team of doctors ready to go,” Hua Yong says, pleasantly. “He will not get the treatment he deserves here, as the past few hours have clearly shown me. I will be taking him away.”
Chen Pinming looks at him like he’s never seen him before.
“On—on what authority can you take Mr Sheng?” he demands, with misplaced bravery.
“He’s my mate,” Hua Yong says. Then he rounds on the local surgeon. “If you had an Omega patient here, unconscious, whose Alpha mate was present, would you not allow the Alpha to make critical decisions on his behalf?”
“Well, yes,” the man stutters, “but—”
“But nothing. I’ve given Mr Sheng my permanent mark. You can see it on his neck. Treat it as if Mr Sheng was an Omega in this situation. You can, and you will, release him into my custody.”
The idea of treating the famous S-class Alpha Sheng Shaoyou, President of Shengfang Biotech, as an Omega in any situation, never mind this one, clearly doesn’t land well with anyone present. Chen Pinming all but sputters, protesting that this is nonsense and making noises about summoning security. The doctors do seem sincerely worried about Mr Sheng’s health—but they’ve also proven themselves useless to Hua Yong, not quick enough to grasp the reality of Mr Sheng’s condition. He’ll be much better off in the hands of people who understand Hua Yong’s lifelong pursuit of him, and the physiological changes he’s undergone because of Hua Yong’s pheromones.
Hua Yong doesn’t bother debating further. His protective detail ensures everyone’s compliance as Country P doctors sweep in to take Mr Sheng away on a stretcher. HeCi’s director, finally realising the extent of the crisis and identifying Hua Yong as a major shareholder in his institution, does his best to talk everyone down—but that is no longer Hua Yong’s concern. He follows beside Mr Sheng’s stretcher, soothing pheromones never wavering. He’s kept them up for hours already, and will do so for hours more, for whole days, for as long as Mr Sheng needs him.
Medical equipment beeps around them, tracking Mr Sheng’s weak breaths as the helicopter carries them to Country P.
***
Sheng Shaoyou wakes up as if swimming out of a fog. His mind is sluggish, and his body feels stiff and heavy and somehow far away. He blinks, bleary, and hears a delighted “Mr Sheng!”
There’s a hand holding his. “Mr Sheng,” repeats that familiar voice. “Mr Sheng, you’re waking up.”
The vague shapes and lights in front of Sheng Shaoyou finally resolve into something comprehensible. The first thing he sees is Hua Yong’s beautiful face. Hua Yong’s—somehow different face. Gaunter, and paler than it should be. Sheng Shaoyou is concerned about it for a moment before he inhales properly and gets a lungful of the orchid scent which—
Sheng Shaoyou’s heart stutters. Wait. This isn’t the lovely fragile Omega Hua Yong. This is the scheming liar Alpha Hua Yong, who was last aiming these soothing pheromones at Sheng Shaoyou in a collapsed building.
What is Hua Yong doing here? Where are they? What happened?
Clearly, Sheng Shaoyou was injured in the earthquake. He glances around to see that he’s now in a hospital of some kind. The room is equipped like a VIP ward; its wooden panelling and high, painted ceilings indicate that the facility was converted from a manor of some kind. He’s wearing a silky patient’s gown. There’s a large window on the wall, tulle curtains shielding the room from the sun. Sheng Shaoyou doesn’t recognise the place, which is odd—why isn’t he at HeCi?
He tries to pull his hand from Hua Yong’s grasp, but his body can barely move. Before he can try to articulate any questions or demands, the door opens to admit a rotund man in a white doctor’s coat.
“Mr Sheng, you’re awake at last,” he says with a smile. “You had us quite worried. Let’s see how you’re doing.”
Hua Yong keeps holding Sheng Shaoyou’s hand and staring at him with shining eyes as the doctor raises Sheng Shaoyou’s bed so he’s somewhat sitting up. The physician then checks Sheng Shaoyou’s vitals and gives him some honey water to moisten his throat.
“How are you feeling?” the doctor asks.
Awful.
“Fine,” Sheng Shaoyou rasps out.
“You were so hurt, Mr Sheng,” Hua Yong says, eyes filling with tears. “The rubble fell on you, and you were injured very badly. It’s been a whole week since then.”
A week!
“And what are you doing here?” Sheng Shaoyou snaps. “I told you I never wanted to see you again!”
The doctor gives an awkward cough. “Mr Hua saved you, Mr Sheng. If not for his quick actions—and his dedication in giving you his soothing pheromones, for multiple days, without a moment’s rest—you wouldn’t be with us right now. Your injury was life-threatening.”
Sheng Shaoyou’s insides give an unpleasant lurch. He… he hadn’t thought he’d come that close to dying. He does remember—pain, and darkness, and Hua Yong’s panicked shouts in his ear.
“Thank you,” he says stiffly to Hua Yong. To this stranger wearing a face he once loved. “But I’m fine now. You can stop with the pheromones.”
“Ah, I’m afraid I wouldn’t advise that yet,” the doctor says. “Mr Hua’s pheromones have been key to your recovery. Abruptly stopping them now could have adverse effects.”
“Why?” Sheng Shaoyou demands. He’s never heard of such a thing.
“I’m your mate, Mr Sheng,” Hua Yong says, and kisses Sheng Shaoyou’s fingers.
Sheng Shaoyou scoffs. He can’t stop Hua Yong taking liberties with his hand, and he’s currently too weak to kick him out of this room, but he doesn’t have to sit back and accept his bullshit.
“It’s true, Mr Sheng,” the doctor says, gently. “The injury you sustained during the earthquake was severe in the extreme. Mr Hua did the only thing that could possibly have kept you alive—he gave you his permanent mark. The influx of his pheromones allowed you to overcome the crisis.”
Sheng Shaoyou stares at the doctor, then at Hua Yong.
“What permanent mark? We’re both Alphas!”
“You’re not,” the doctor says, still in that horrible tone like he’s tending to a scared animal, or a child. “You’re an Alpha, Mr Sheng, yes. But Mr Hua is an Enigma. This means that he can give a permanent mark to anyone, of any gender. He gave it to you.”
A chill runs down Sheng Shaoyou’s spine. A monitor next to him traitorously reveals his sped-up heartbeat. Hua Yong squeezes his hand, as if to bolster him. As if his presence could be at all comforting.
“Enigmas are a myth,” Sheng Shaoyou forces out.
“Fortunately for you, they are not,” the doctor says. “But we can leave that discussion for later. Suffice it to say that you survived thanks to your mate’s pheromones, and so it would be ill-advised to separate you now.”
His mate. Sheng Shaoyou’s hand twitches, his instinct to check on his gland. But he still can’t really move.
“I’ll be good to you, Mr Sheng,” Hua Yong assures him, gaze earnest and bright in his lying, deceitful, beautiful face. “I’ll take good care of you.”
Sheng Shaoyou turns his eyes resolutely away from him.
“If it’s been a week, I’ve been absent from my company for too long. Where’s my phone?” It’s not on the bedside table.
The doctor frowns.
“I wouldn’t recommend you to look at screens yet, Mr Sheng, much less to work. I don’t think I can overstate how grave your condition was. You have to give yourself time to rest. If you like, we can supply you with audiobooks to start.”
“Then just summon my secretary here,” Sheng Shaoyou says. “I can get an update from him directly.”
“You should not be working, Mr Sheng,” the doctor repeats.
“Just one update from Chen Pinming won’t kill me,” Sheng Shaoyou says drily.
“We can arrange a phone call with him in a couple of days, if you keep feeling better,” Hua Yong says placatingly.
“Just get him here,” Sheng Shaoyou demands.
“Well, that would not be very easy, Mr Sheng,” Hua Yong says. “I’m sure he’s very busy handling Shengfang Biotech’s affairs in Jianghu.”
Something about this wording snags at Sheng Shaoyou.
“Yes,” he says slowly. “He is busy handling Shengfang Biotech’s affairs, as he should be. In Jianghu, where we are.”
“Ah,” the doctor says. “I see where the misunderstanding lies. Mr Sheng, you are currently in Country P.”
This time, the feeling of unease is much stronger, wracking Sheng Shaoyou’s body with a small shiver.
“And why,” he says, aiming for as even a tone as he can manage, “am I in Country P?”
“We did try to treat you in Jianghu, Mr Sheng,” Hua Yong says, leaning forward. He still hasn’t released Sheng Shaoyou’s hand. “But the doctors there couldn’t help you well enough. We had to evacuate you here, where I have access to better experts and facilities.”
Yes. Yes, the head of X Holdings can presumably have anything he wants in Country P.
Sheng Shaoyou, however—
“What hospital am I in?” he asks, very calmly.
Hua Yong’s eyes fly wide.
“Oh, you’re not in a hospital, Mr Sheng,” he says. “You wouldn’t be as comfortable there. You’re at my main residence—didn’t I mention?”
Hua Yong gets up and draws the gauzy curtains aside to reveal rolling green hills outside the window. The scenery is calm, idyllic. Isolated. There’s not a single building around that Sheng Shaoyou can see.
Sheng Shaoyou is not recovering from his injuries in an unfamiliar Jianhu hospital. Sheng Shaoyou is squarely in the territory of a stranger who lied his way into his life, brought down the value of his business, withheld a life-saving drug from his father, raped him, and repeatedly assaulted his gland. He’s lying in bed in Hua Yong house, of which he doesn’t know where it is, in Country P, a place where Hua Yong controls everything. He doesn’t have his phone, his clothes, or even his shoes. And he can’t lift a finger to defend himself.
During this conversation, Sheng Shaoyou has felt indignant, disbelieving, and concerned. Now, for the first time, his chest swoops with actual alarm.
“Mr Sheng!” Hua Yong exclaims, back at his side in a second and stepping up the soothing pheromones. “You’re safe, I promise!”
That’s when Sheng Shaoyou realises that his control has slipped enough to let a sour tang of fear into his scent. Flushing, he tries to rein it in, but can’t. Somehow, this leaves him feeling more vulnerable than even lying here immobile has.
“Put away your pheromones,” he tells Hua Yong through gritted teeth. “I’m not a distressed Omega for you to comfort!”
But Hua Yong’s increased pheromones are working. The jagged edges of Sheng Shaoyou’s emotions are soothed away, and he’d be angry about it if cosy tranquility didn’t beckon him so strongly.
Before he knows it, he drifts off to sleep.
***
The next time Mr Sheng wakes up, he seems much stronger. His eyes are more alert, and he can even move a little, almost managing to hold his own bowl of congee. Hua Yong still spoon feeds him, in the end, with Mr Sheng clearly reluctant to allow it but having no choice.
Mr Sheng is so cute.
He is also stubborn.
“I have questions,” Mr Sheng announces, as soon as he’s eaten. “You owe me an explanation.”
Hua Yong sighs. He supposes that he does. This was not how he’d meant to reveal his real identity. And he would rather not be having this conversation when Mr Sheng is still so pale against his pillows.
“I’m really sorry I lied to you, Mr Sheng,” Hua Yong says.
“What do you want from me?” Mr Sheng demands, a furrow between his perfect brows. A bitter aftertaste arises in his orange and rum scent. “I’ve been thinking about it, and trying to understand, but—I’d done nothing to offend either you or Shen Wenlang before we met, that I’m aware of. So why did you do all this to attack me?”
“Attack Mr Sheng?” Hua Yong protests, aghast. “How can you think I wanted you hurt?”
Mr Sheng stares at him in—Hua Yong doesn’t want to think it’s revulsion. It’s surprise, probably.
“You lied to me,” Mr Sheng repeats slowly. “For a year. Out of nowhere, with no provocation that I can see, you wormed your way into my life, and tried to destroy it. You messed with my head, you… you physically assaulted me, twice, and sabotaged my business. What was it all about? Did you want to bring down Shengfang Biotech?”
“I don’t care about Shengfang Biotech!” Hua Yong says. “Of course not!”
“Then why did you go that far to hurt me?” Mr Sheng says, looking raw as he does it, his beautiful eyes reddening in the corners, and something unspools in Hua Yong’s heart.
“Nothing that I did was meant to hurt Mr Sheng,” he whispers. “I love Mr Sheng. I did all of this because I love you. I knew you wouldn’t like me as I truly am, so I found out what Mr Sheng likes, and turned myself into the perfect Omega of his dreams—”
“You’re joking,” Mr Sheng says, blinking fast. “You—you made me into a fool, and twisted me around your finger! Were you laughing at me as you did it, that I was gullible enough to fall for every one of your sob stories? God, I suppose you were never even kidnapped—what is Shen Wenlang to you?”
“A business associate I’ve known for a long time.” Hua Yong waves a careless hand. “I invested in his company, and he owed me a favour, so he agreed to help me woo Mr Sheng.”
“Woo me,” Mr Sheng repeats, mouth twisting. Hua Yong wants to kiss it, kiss the consternation away. But now is likely not the right time. “Woo me by playing mind games, and targeting my company. How do you explain that, then?”
Hua Yong hesitates. All the events that shook Mr Sheng’s composure were a carefully calculated part of Hua Yong’s plan to lower his beloved’s defences and allow Hua Yong’s pheromones to affect him. An S-class Alpha isn’t conquered so easily! At his best, at his full strength, Mr Sheng could’ve put up a significant fight against Hua Yong’s biology invading his system. But cracks bloomed under stress. Every new blow widened those cracks, until Mr Sheng grew vulnerable—until Hua Yong’s pheromones could make their home in his body, even before the permanent mark.
And without all of this, would the permanent mark have taken so easily? Would Mr Sheng be alive today?
But Mr Sheng won’t like to hear this.
“I wanted Mr Sheng to become interested in the real me,” Hua Yong chooses to say. “I wanted to drive Mr Sheng towards the head of X Holdings. I… I hoped to reveal the truth on my own terms, one day, and be together with Mr Sheng as myself.”
This much is true.
“So you’re sticking to your story, huh,” Mr Sheng says, eyes dropping to his hands, clasped atop his quilt. “That you went to these lengths because you love me.”
Bitterness still clogs his scent. Hua Yong wants to erase it at all costs.
“I do love you!” he says, and takes Mr Sheng’s hand in his. “Mr Sheng, if you believe nothing else I say, please believe this. I love you. I always have. I’ve never wanted anyone but you. I developed mate-seeking syndrome, only wanting you… That’s why I couldn’t help myself that night. I was in my rut, and I lost control, and for that I’m sorry. But everything I’ve been doing, all these years, has been to win Mr Sheng. To be worthy of Mr Sheng. I only started the gland cancer research because Mr Sheng’s father got sick—of course I’ll give those treatments to him. Everything that’s mine is yours, Mr Sheng. Anything you want—just ask, and you will have it.”
“Then let me go,” Mr Sheng says and looks away, flinching slightly, like he regrets the words at once.
Hua Yong strokes a thumb over his knuckles. “But I’m not holding you here, Mr Sheng,” he says softly. “I’m just making sure that you recover. Of course we’ll go back to Jianghu when you’re ready. I’m just worried about your health.”
“Now you’re worried about my health,” Mr Sheng mutters. “Give me back my phone.”
“Maybe tomorrow, if you’re well enough,” Hua Yong says, smiling cutely, and gets up. “What would Mr Sheng like for dinner today? I’ll cook for you.”
“Stop,” Mr Sheng says, rubbing his temple and sounding suddenly very tired. “Just—stop pretending. You’re not a meek Omega. I know this already. You own all this. You practically own this whole country. You’ve got me here, where you apparently want me. I want to see your real face, not… more lies.”
Hua Yong momentarily wavers, unsure what expression to adopt. A pout would be his first choice, but Mr Sheng doesn’t want him to put on sweet Omega airs. Mr Sheng should certainly not see the dead-eyed stare Hua Yong might direct at other people. How to strike the right balance?
He lets his features soften, letting his very real affection shine through in a measured dose.
“Of course, Mr Sheng,” he says. “Anything for you.”
***
In the first few days, Sheng Shaoyou spends a lot of his time sleeping. His body really has been through a lot—they weren’t kidding about the injury—and he finds himself sluggish and his bones heavy, pain shooting through his back when not kept at bay by a mixture of drugs and Hua Yong’s pheromones. Hua Yong is there all the time, inescapable, his presence a medical requirement and a constant thorn in Sheng Shaoyou’s side.
Hua Yong no longer wears the fake demure airs of an Omega, his wardrobe changing alongside his designation. Now, he dons black more often than not, the look in his eyes sharp, his movements full of confident grace. It suits him, in a way Sheng Shaoyou wouldn’t have expected. Hua Yong still plays at devotion—always so near, smiling tenderly, saying sweet words, looking stupidly beautiful despite the haggard cast to his features.
Sheng Shaoyou’s injury has clearly taken a toll on him too. He’s at least that emotionally invested.
His orchid scent curls around Sheng Shaoyou, cocooning the worst of his anger away.
On the fourth day, Sheng Shaoyou is better enough that the doctor allows him a respite from Hua Yong’s pheromones. They’re still needed, but less; Hua Yong just has to scent him multiple times a day, and that will apparently tide him over.
Sheng Shaoyou needs to be scent marked often. Like a particularly fragile Omega.
He prefers not to dwell on that thought. Or on the bite that sits on his gland.
Sheng Shaoyou still hasn’t set foot outside the suite he’s in—the medically equipped bedroom and the attached bathroom—but he’s finally been cleared for screens, so now he can read to his heart’s content. He still can’t work, and that is made very clear to him when Hua Yong comes back with his phone.
Sheng Shaoyou is not allowed to use his phone unsupervised. This is, allegedly, to make sure he doesn’t strain himself working. He does want to work, is the thing, so they’re not entirely wrong to be watching him, but he’s a grown man. He doesn’t need babysitting, he doesn’t need coddling, and he doesn’t need someone dictating his every move.
But he can’t stop Hua Yong from doing this, or anything else. He grits his teeth and accepts Hua Yong’s presence along with the phone.
“President Sheng!” Chen Pinming exclaims, relief and surprise on his face when Sheng Shaoyou video-calls him. “How are you? I’ve been so worried!”
He looks it, too. Sheng Shaoyou might be seeing a few grey hairs.
“I’m fine,” Sheng Shaoyou says. “I’m recovering well. How are things at the company?”
“Everyone knows that you got badly injured,” Chen Pinming says. “The circumstances of it were… We hoped you were all right! It’s just… when Mr Hua took you away…”
Sheng Shaoyou tenses, trying to keep his scent from souring. “Yes?”
“I didn’t know where he was taking you!” Chen Pinming bursts out. “Mr Hua said you were mates, and he checked you out of the hospital, and he wouldn’t listen to anybody—”
Hua Yong leans into the camera view and gives Chen Pinming a friendly little wave. Chen Pinming chokes on his words.
Hua Yong’s pheromones swirl around Sheng Shaoyou. Sheng Shaoyou can’t deny his own scent has an acrid note in it when he asks:
“Who else knows? About what happened?”
Chen Pinming looks confused.
“The—the hospital staff who were present. And Secretary Chang. And President Shen.”
“You didn’t tell anyone at the company?”
“I… There were questions. Rumours. I couldn’t answer where you were. Secretary Chang said, he… he convinced me not to start a search, and I… was I wrong? Should I have told the board?”
“No!” Sheng Shaoyou says. The last thing he needs is this clusterfuck getting out. It’s honestly bad enough that Chen Pinming knows—that all these people do. That they heard Hua Yong declare how he’s Sheng Shaoyou’s mate, while radiating Alpha-like pheromones.
“Mr Sheng,” Hua Yong says, and the orchid scent grows stronger. “Remember, stress isn’t good for you.”
Sheng Shaoyou’s shoulders relax in spite of himself. Damn Hua Yong.
“What are the shareholders saying?”
“Everyone is naturally concerned, especially given that you’ve been out of reach, so they’ll be glad to hear you’re doing better,” Chen Pinming says. “Your brother, President Shaoqing, did try to talk to them, but they wouldn’t hear him out. The projects are on track. Don’t worry, sir, we’ll hold the fort till you get back. When… when do you think it will be?”
“When he’s recovered,” Hua Yong interjects coldly. “Mr Sheng, it’s time for lunch.”
After Sheng Shaoyou relinquishes the phone, his hands shake, for some reason. Perhaps it’s the strain of thinking about the affairs at work. Or maybe Hua Yong’s interference has upset him. Or maybe the issue lies with suddenly getting this window into the world outside this room. This, the universe confined to the walls Sheng Shaoyou is in, with its doctors and its orchid scent and its gentle, oppressive care, has felt… unreal. But the real world continues out there, with demands on Sheng Shaoyou for when he gets back. And he’ll have to return to it, with Hua Yong’s mark on his neck. With people who know about it.
“Shh,” Hua Yong says, kissing Sheng Shaoyou’s forehead. “I’ll bring your tea.”
***
A week into Sheng Shaoyou’s stay at Hua Yong’s house, an unfamiliar doctor comes to visit. He’s younger than the others, tall and slender, with an expression that’s hard to read.
“I just want you to double-check that Mr Sheng is dealing well with the permanent mark,” Hua Yong tells the newcomer. “I told you how the claiming went.”
“Yes, you did,” the man says, and then focuses on Sheng Shaoyou. “Mr Sheng, I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. My name is Cai Hong. My half-brother Hua Yong has told me a lot about you.”
“Half-brother?” Sheng Shaoyou asks, curious despite himself. This is his first time meeting any of Hua Yong’s family.
(He never did meet the sister who needed surgery at HeCi. It’s obvious now that she never existed.)
“Same mother, different fathers,” Hua Yong says. “Cai Hong is a few years older and nags a lot. But he’s an expert on glands and pheromones, so he’s not entirely useless.”
Cai Hong sighs, but there’s clear fondness in his gaze. “I wish I could say the same about you. As it is, you need to clear out and leave me with my patient.”
Hua Yong’s whole body seems to sharpen. “You can check on him with me here.”
“And with you here, he might not be as honest. Don’t you want him to recover well?”
Sheng Shaoyou blinks, not having expected any brother of Hua Yong’s to advocate on his behalf. Still, he’s grateful—all other examinations have happened under Hua Yong’s watchful eye.
Hua Yong looks between them, evidently displeased.
“I’ll be right outside,” he announces, somehow making it sound threatening, and marches out the room.
“All right, Mr Sheng. Let’s see how you’re doing,” Cai Hong says, opening his medical case.
He draws Sheng Shaoyou’s blood, and immediately puts it through some manner of a portable machine. While that’s whirring in the background, he turns back with a vaguely apologetic expression.
“I’m afraid I do need to take a look at your gland.”
It grates on Sheng Shaoyou to have the sensitive spot poked and prodded, but he’s an Alpha with a mark on him. He’s not surprised this warrants observation.
“Hmmm,” Cai Hong says finally, sounding pleased. “Let’s go over your blood test results.”
He’s clearly checking for something specific, because he nods again over whatever numbers he’s seeing on the little display screen.
“Your pheromone levels are settling, with the new bond,” he announces. “The circumstances in which you received the permanent mark were… traumatic, but your body seems to be adapting well. On that note—”
“Is it really a permanent mark?” Sheng Shaoyou interrupts, without meaning to. “I’m an Alpha. I know Hua Yong said he’s an Enigma, but...” But a part of Sheng Shaoyou still hopes that someone will tell him this is an April Fool’s joke.
Cai Hong, however, nods.
“My little brother’s constitution is truly unique. Vanishingly few Enigmas have ever been recorded, and even less is known about them—which has made Hua Yong’s medical history quite odd, I assure you.” He sighs. “This is actually why I became a doctor. I wanted to be able to help my brother—not all medication works on him, you know, as he metabolises it so quickly. Not that he often needs it… But I digress. Yes, my brother is an Enigma. And yes, he’s given you his permanent mark, which has ramifications for your own biology.”
“What ramifications, exactly?” Sheng Shaoyou asks, mouth dry.
“You have received some of his strength,” Cai Hong says. “You were already exceptionally powerful as an S-tier Alpha, but a bond with Hua Yong has elevated you beyond others of your class. Short of Hua Yong, or another Enigma, no human will surpass you when it comes to physical strength, or the speed of your healing, or your ability to purify poisons. Surely you have realised that your recovery from a life-threatening injury has proceeded far more quickly than one would normally expect. The fact that you lived at all is down to Hua Yong’s mark.”
“He’s been—feeding me his pheromones,” Sheng Shaoyou says, the words feeling like a confession even though this fact must be all over his medical file.
“Yes.” Cai Hong frowns. “The truth is, your marking didn’t go as it should. Normally, after getting a permanent mark, the affected person will go into heat. However, in your case, a grave injury interfered with this process. Your body was torn between conflicting impulses, trying to deal with the injury but also to go into heat at the same time. Your bondmate’s pheromones were the only thing that could keep the attempted heat under control.”
“I’m sorry, but you keep saying heat,” Sheng Shaoyou says, bunching up the blanket in his hands. “I’m an Alpha.”
“You are, certainly, in most ways,” Cai Hong agrees. “But now that you bear Hua Yong’s permanent mark, your body has been adapting to accommodate your mate. More specifically, your ruts will become heats, and synchronise with my brother’s. This is the flip side of the bond for you—while it gives you extra strength and resilience, it does also adjust your body to be more… compatible with him. In fact, the extra strength and resilience are part of this. After all, not everyone is built to survive an Enigma’s rut,” he adds delicately.
Sheng Shaoyou feels, momentarily, like his body is very far away, and his attempts to breathe have nothing to do with it. Some crazed part of him wishes for the comfort of Hua Yong’s soothing pheromones, and he stamps that out as hard as he can. Hua Yong is the reason why he’s like this. He’s turned him into some… some… freak of nature. An S-tier Alpha who will go into heats, who will accommodate his mate.
He remembers a dark room, and a hand effortlessly holding both his wrists. Lift your ass up. I’m going to use it.
Is that going to be his life, now?
“Mr Sheng,” Cai Hong calls out, but the soft address drowns under the sound of the door banging open.
Hua Yong bursts into the room, bringing soothing orchid with him, and instantly settles by Sheng Shaoyou, drawing him in by the shoulders.
“Mr Sheng! I’m here. You’re all right.”
Sheng Shaoyou, nonsensically, relaxes into him. The fact that his greatest source of comfort is also the source of all his problems is fucked up on a level he can’t articulate.
Cai Hong regards them carefully. “I apologise if I spoke too bluntly, Mr Sheng. I know it’s a lot to take in at once.”
“It’s fine,” Sheng Shaoyou says.
“It’s not,” Hua Yong mutters, almost vibrating with tension. “I trusted you with him, Cai Hong.”
He kisses Sheng Shaoyou’s temple, and Sheng Shaoyou momentarily closes his eyes. There’s an awful, weak part of him that wants to cry. But he won’t do it, not with these people here.
“Was there something else you wanted to check today?” he asks tonelessly.
Cai Hong gives a long sigh.
“Mostly, I wanted to assess the progress of your pheromones in light of your aborted bonding heat. It will still come, you see—quite soon, I should say. It will perforce be an abnormal one, but it’s needed to reset your system. After that, if all goes well, you’ll settle into a normal heat cycle. And until it comes, I strongly advise against sexual intercourse. The heat will be an indication that your body has healed enough. To do anything before then is to take a risk.”
Sheng Shaoyou can’t help his flinch. Cai Hong talks about Sheng Shaoyou’s sexual intercourse with Hua Yong like it’s normal, like it’s inevitable. Sheng Shaoyou hasn’t even considered the consequences of the permanent mark that far. He thought… he doesn’t know what he thought.
“We’re not going to do anything Mr Sheng doesn’t want,” Hua Yong says, stroking the nape of Sheng Shaoyou’s neck.
Sheng Shaoyou drags a deep breath in.
“And if I don’t… if I don’t want any of this. The mark. The bond. Can it… be removed?”
It’s like the air gets sucked out of the room, that’s how still and quiet it gets. Hua Yong freezes next to him. Absurdly, Sheng Shaoyou feels bad for hurting him, but he has to know.
“A gland operation like this can be fatal,” Cai Hong says, face solemn. “There have been very few successful cases, as severing the bond usually involves removing the gland altogether. The consequences have generally been grievous, and the survival rate is low. The chances get worse the stronger the affected parties are. And no one that we know of has tried rooting out a bond with an S-tier individual, never mind an Enigma.”
Sheng Shaoyou digs his nails into his palms.
Hua Yong slips from his spot next to Sheng Shaoyou and drops to his knees near the bed, grasping Sheng Shaoyou’s clenched fists.
“Mr Sheng, you can’t,” he says, frantic. “I’ll give you anything you want, anything, but you can’t endanger your life like this. I won’t survive it. Seeing you in that earthquake was bad enough. You almost died while I was holding you. I can’t lose you. I won’t. I refuse. I’ll give you anything you want, but this whole world would not survive it if Mr Sheng died and left me.”
Sheng Shaoyou meets Hua Yong’s gaze, and finds desperation there. Real, like little about him has been.
“Fine,” he says, closing his eyes. “I won’t.”
He doesn’t actually want to die. But in the hours that follow, when he lies in bed and watches the trees rustle outside as the sun travels across the sky, he wonders if he did die, in that earthquake. Sheng Shaoyou, S-class Alpha, proud leader of Shengfang Biotech, protective boyfriend to the most stunning Omega in the world… he’s gone. In his place is left a misshapen creature—Sheng Shaoyou, S-class Alpha-Omega who belongs to the Enigma head of X Holdings, languishing in Country P and needing to be soothed by his protective mate.
He wonders what his father would say, if he could see him now. What anyone would say, if they knew. And how soon they will find out.