Shen Yuqing examined the hospital bed Pei Yiyan had vacated under the dim light. Alpha physiques were naturally larger than the other two genders, so their hospital beds were extra-wide.
But that didn’t mean two people could comfortably share one.
Just as Shen Yuqing was about to speak, Pei Yiyan seemed to realize something. He shifted back from the other side, his voice hoarse as he said, “I forgot your left arm is injured. You should take this side.”
Shen Yuqing simply leaned over to adjust his blanket. “I’ll sleep on the sofa bed. You rest properly. I’ll keep watch over you tonight.”
But Pei Yiyan reached out again, gripping Shen Yuqing’s hand and using it as leverage to sit up.
The bite mask covering his face protruded slightly, obscuring his mouth and nose. His muffled voice carried a stubborn note. “I’ll sleep on the sofa bed too.”
Pei Yiyan kept his eyes tightly shut the entire time a clear sign of discomfort.
Shen Yuqing could tell: Pei Yiyan absolutely refused to sleep without him nearby.
For a moment, he didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh. “Aren’t you a little too old to insist on sleeping together?”
Pei Yiyan pressed his lips together and stayed silent. After a long pause, he finally released Shen Yuqing’s hand and slowly lay back down. His fingers fumbled with the blanket, pulling it up until it completely covered his head.
A large lump formed on the bed. From Pei Yiyan’s behavior, Shen Yuqing understood he was sulking.
Truthfully, Shen Yuqing had noticed it too. Recently, Pei Yiyan’s feelings toward him seemed different an unusual dependency had taken root.
He had tried to avoid addressing it, but now it was clear: there was no avoiding it.
With a quiet exhale, he averted his gaze and turned to leave.
Though Pei Yiyan remained buried under the blanket, he tracked Shen Yuqing’s movements intently. The sound of retreating footsteps sent a wave of restless unease surging through him.
Before seeing Shen Yuqing again, he had been fine. But now, he found himself struggling to control his own actions.
Even worse he had started feeling this unbearable sense of insecurity.
His pheromones seeped into the blanket, but unlike before, they carried no aggression. Instead, they were tinged with something sour and wounded.
Yet the air filtration system quickly neutralized them. The beta nearby, already insensitive to scents, noticed nothing.
Then the other side of the bed dipped slightly. Someone had lain down beside him.
A resigned sigh. “I told you, this bed is too small for both of us.”
Their arms pressed tightly together, making it impossible to even turn over.
Shen Yuqing continued, “I should just sleep on the sofa bed.”
The sofa bed wasn’t large, but it was enough for one person.
But the moment he shifted to rise, the figure beside him moved faster throwing a leg over Shen Yuqing’s body and locking an arm around his waist. Without a word, Pei Yiyan buried his face against him.
The cold metal mask brushed against Shen Yuqing’s neck, making him flinch slightly. But the other man only tightened his grip, misinterpreting the movement as an attempt to leave.
His voice was petulant. “You already came up here.”
Meaning: Don’t go.
Shen Yuqing said, “The mask startled me with how cold it was. And with you clinging to me like an octopus, it’s not like I could go anywhere even if I wanted to.”
Pei Yiyan touched the bite-stopping mask on his face and replied, “I don’t want to wear it either.”
“Then take it off,” Shen Yuqing suggested. “It’s uncomfortable anyway.”
But Pei Yiyan didn’t move. Instead, he held Shen Yuqing tightly, just like he did when they slept at home. Despite being taller and broader than Shen Yuqing, he clung to him like Haolai, as if he wanted to break himself apart and melt into Shen Yuqing’s body a sign of extreme unease.
Then, a thought suddenly struck Shen Yuqing.
Back in physiology class, the teacher had explained that alphas and omegas experience rut and heat cycles.
During a rut, an alpha might behave completely differently than usual almost as if their personality had changed. Without proper soothing, they could become restless and hypersensitive. If their partner failed to reassure them of love or safety by the second day of their rut, the alpha might develop self-destructive tendencies or even force themselves on their partner.
In severe cases, it could escalate into life-threatening situations though the danger was to the alpha, not the omega. The same applied to omegas during their heat.
Given Pei Yiyan’s current state, it was hard for Shen Yuqing not to suspect this was the case especially after the earlier pheromone outburst.
Shen Yuqing struggled to breathe under the tight embrace but still patted Pei Yiyan’s arm and said, “Let me check your scent gland, okay?”
Pei Yiyan hummed in agreement, loosening his grip and obediently turning over.
The room was dim, lit only by faint outside light, making it hard to see clearly. Shen Yuqing considered turning on a lamp but hesitated, remembering Pei Yiyan’s eyes were still sensitive. Instead, he activated the holographic screen from his wristband, its glow just enough to illuminate the back of Pei Yiyan’s neck.
A scent-blocking patch was still in place.
Shen Yuqing gently peeled back a corner of the patch. The scent gland looked mostly normal, just slightly redder than usual.
Pei Yiyan remained still, facing away. The two were already close, but now, with Shen Yuqing leaning in to examine his gland, he could feel the warmth of his breath against it making him shiver involuntarily.
Fortunately, Shen Yuqing didn’t linger long before pressing the patch back into place. Then he frowned slightly and muttered, “Why does this scent feel so familiar?”
It hit him then.
He had smelled this before on Haolai. At the time, he’d assumed it was just a new shampoo, but when he asked Xiao Zhao to find something similar, nothing matched. Eventually, he forgot about it.
But now, the scent was back stronger than ever.
So this was the smell of pheromones?
Shen Yuqing was stunned. Wasn’t he a beta? How could he smell Pei Yiyan’s pheromones?
Feeling the patch being reapplied, Pei Yiyan turned back and asked, “What did you just say?”
Shen Yuqing opened his mouth but hesitated, choosing silence first. Instead, he asked, “Does your gland hurt? It looks a little red.”
Pei Yiyan said, “It’s very hot, swollen, and a bit sore.”
That description alone sounded uncomfortable.
Shen Yuqing lay back flat. He wanted to say something more, but the next second, Pei Yiyan pressed close again, their positions returning to how they were before.
This made him think of Pei Yiyan at home something he had never paid attention to before, but today, he couldn’t ignore it.
He asked, “When did you first notice?”
Pei Yiyan was fully awake now, yet he clung to him without hesitation, which meant he must have done these countless times while conscious.
Pei Yiyan replied, “I woke up from a nightmare once and realized it then.”
Shen Yuqing pressed, “When was that?”
Pei Yiyan didn’t answer, which meant it had been a while.
He had kept quiet all this time, just going along with it.
Shen Yuqing patted his arm and circled back to the original question: “Do you want to take off your bite mask?”
Pei Yiyan finally responded slowly, “Afraid I might bite you.”
Shen Yuqing asked, “Are your glandular teeth coming in?”
Pei Yiyan pressed his tongue against two noticeably different teeth and hummed in confirmation. “They’re coming in.”
“But your gland isn’t fully healed yet. Why are you showing signs of a rut?” Shen Yuqing frowned. “Has this ever happened to you before?”
“No,” Pei Yiyan said. “Before, I was practically a beta.”
In the years since his gland was injured, he hadn’t experienced a single rut he couldn’t even detect his own pheromones anymore.
He was just as puzzled by why this time was so strange. A rut…
Even before his accident, his ruts had never been this intense. At worst, he’d feel feverish and uncomfortable, but a single injection and a good night’s sleep would ease the symptoms.
Before seeing Shen Yuqing today, he had been fine.
But the moment he heard Shen Yuqing’s name, something changed.
Especially when Wu Yi mentioned it he had felt an inexplicable hostility stir inside him.
After meeting Shen Yuqing, he had tried his best to restrain himself. But the closer he got, the more he wanted to press against him, hold him tight, as if only that could soothe the unease in his heart.
So it was his rut.
This rut was strange.
