Chapter 4 Behave

Chapter 4: Be Good

"Ugh..."

Chen Su let out a slightly pained groan from his throat. Though it was just his chin being gripped, the sound he made carried an inexplicable sense of conquest.

Zhao Jinzong loosened his grip slightly.

Chen Su turned his head away, the red marks on his neck striking and alarming.

To have let himself get this messed up during a rut...

Zhao Jinzong's slender fingers traced from Chen Su's jaw down to his neck, his cool hand pressing against Chen Su's burning skin.

"Mmm..."

Chen Su kicked off the blanket, revealing a slender waist.

As his condition flared up, Chen Su curled in on himself, cold sweat beading on his forehead, his expression pained and distressed.

When the episode struck, Chen Su would lose consciousness and rationality, needing a partner, needing the comfort of scent. The moment Zhao Jinzong pulled his hand away, Chen Su grasped his wrist firmly, his fingertips trembling with the force.

This was a plea for Zhao Jinzong to stay.

Zhao Jinzong chuckled softly, his pupils narrowing.

He had gone straight to the Sheng family after work that day, dressed in formal attire. He unbuckled his belt—

He pulled Chen Su's hand off his wrist and tied it to the headboard!

Zhao Jinzong flipped the blanket aside. The silver-tasseled chain on his suit jacket brushed against Chen Su's knee—freezing cold, but Zhao Jinzong's hand was even colder. He caught Chen Su's restless foot and found something to restrain it, preventing the man from moving uncontrollably, wandering off, or seeking relief in a frenzy.

Zhao Jinzong placed his large hand on the back of Chen Su's head. "Be good."

...

Chen Su woke up the next day with his arm aching.

He looked up to find his right hand bound, but with a silk scarf underneath. His leather glove was nowhere to be seen, and his wrist was bruised purple—Chen Su, always in the lab, had pale, thin skin. Even wrapped in a silk scarf, marks were easily left.

Besides, he had been restless last night during a flare-up of his skin hunger... It was no surprise his wrist was bruised.

Chen Su struggled and broke free.

He sat up, rubbed his sore wrist, and dressed.

Memories from the night before flooded back, and Chen Su frowned slightly.

... He'd probably made a fool of himself in front of Zhao Jinzong.

When his condition hit, he lost all rationality. The only upside was that he hadn't snapped in public, and Zhao Jinzong was a decent guy.

Chen Su stood and buttoned his shirt with practiced poise. In under a minute, he'd pulled himself together and slipped back into his usual cold, efficient demeanor.

He felt a weird heat in his glands. He reached back and touched his nape, remembering he'd bitten Zhao Jinzong last night—drawn blood...

He might have... given Zhao Jinzong a temporary mark...

Chen Su's face darkened. He went to the bathroom to clean up. The red marks on his neck were impossible to cover, but his wrist was fine—he always wore gloves, and he could throw on a watch to hide the marks.

It was late. Chen Su didn't do late—ever.

He went downstairs to check out. The front desk clerk handed him a business card with gold trim and black edges: "Sir, the guy who booked the room for you last night asked me to give this to you. He said to call if you need anything."

Chen Su took the card. "Thanks."

The hotel was near the Detection Bureau, so Chen Su walked to work—rare for him.

The security guard spotted him from a distance but wasn't sure—Chen Su wasn't wearing a tie, and his clothes were all wrinkled. Even when Chen Su pulled all-nighters at the lab, he never looked this messed up, so the guard did a double take.

When he got closer, the guard recognized him and called out: "Inspector Chen, someone just dropped off a suitcase for you—said it's yours. It's in the guard station. Let me take you to pick it up."

Chen Su nodded. "Okay."

At the guard station, the guard handed him a sign-in sheet.

Chen Su glanced at the suitcase nearby and signed without a word.

The guard stared at Chen Su's right hand, his eyes widening.

He looked like he'd seen a ghost.

It was the first time Chen Su had ever taken off his glove in the Bureau. In two years, he'd never once taken off his gloves, and he'd never addressed the rumor that Sheng Beiqing's cock was tattooed on the back of his hand. Most people had just assumed it was true.

Today, half that rumor was busted.

There was no dick on Chen Su's hand—just ugly purple bruising from being tied up.

And on top of that, there was a strong, unfamiliar alpha scent on Chen Su.

It looked like Chen Su had just come out of his rut—with someone.

Chen Su reeked of someone else's scent—aggressive, like a high-level alpha.

The guard was confused. Hadn't Sheng Beiqing's seventh-day memorial just passed? Had Chen Su already found a new alpha? The rumors in the capital that their marriage was a sham—maybe they were true?

Alphas don't have compatibility—they can't soothe each other with pheromones. Most alphas don't choose same-sex partners because rut is a nightmare.

The guard kept staring at Chen Su's wrist. The new guy must be an alpha too, to have trashed him like that.

But this partner seemed way more twisted...

Chen Su took the suitcase back to his office, peeled off his left glove, put it on the desk, bent down, grabbed a fresh black glove from the drawer, bit the wrist, and slid his pale fingers into the leather with practiced ease.

There was a knock at the door.

Chen Su didn't look up. "Enter."

Xu Jing came in, looking dead tired. He'd pulled an all-nighter and finally finished the last batch of data. He dropped a stack of files on Chen Su's desk, his eyes drawn to the discarded black glove on the table.

"Good work."

Chen Su sat back, as stingy with words as always.

Xu Jing was an S2 alpha—he could definitely smell the heavy, chaotic scent on Chen Su. "'You...' Xu Jing's throat went tight."

Xu Jing's throat tightened.

Chen Su was reviewing the data, hand on the table, fingertips tapping—a little habit he had when reading.

Warm light from the window fell on Chen Su, finally bringing some warmth to his fair face, but his knitted brows still gave off a sense of unapproachable coldness. Lower down... Xu Jing saw the red marks on Chen Su's neck.

Chen Su had been married to Sheng Beiqing for a year and a half, and had never come to work with such marks.

Now that Sheng Beiqing was dead, ambiguous marks appeared on Chen Su's neck.

The pheromones on him were also all jumbled up...

Xu Jing reminded, "I remember your heat isn't scheduled for a few days. Why is your pheromone concentration so high? Did it come early? Do you need to take a break?"

"I don't need to."

Chen Su closed the file. "You can leave now."

Chen Su's tone left no room for negotiation.

Xu Jing hesitated, then left with a frown, closing the door behind him.

Beads of sweat formed on Chen Su's forehead, and the documents in his hand fell to the floor.

He was currently in heat.

He had a temporary marking from Zhao Jinzong, and his skin felt as if it were on fire, urging him to find Zhao Jinzong and ask for his pheromones.

Chen Su took two suppressants from the drawer and injected both into the back of his neck. Sweat soon covered his cold, pale face, and he looked utterly bloodless and extremely weak.

Chen Su threw away the syringes. With trembling fingers, he took out the business card from his pocket, looked at it for a moment, then threw it away.

Chen Su had burned his bridges.

He couldn't go to Zhao Jinzong.

But his body instinctively craved Zhao Jinzong's hands, his pheromones, and the memory of himself pleasuring himself in front of Zhao Jinzong last night. Desire tormented him over and over.

To end this suffering, Chen Su had only one way—remove the mark.