Chapter 66: Wildfire and Dry Tinder

Hearing the news, Lu Zhanxing’s body gave a small, involuntary tremor.

But he kept his cool, tilting his head slightly to ditch the concealed earpiece, slipping seamlessly back into his role as the doomed Omega about to be executed.

Two SUVs from the Omega Alliance roared onto the scene, blocking the sniper's line of sight. Right behind them came Shao Ye, solo in his ride. The guy drifted to a dramatic stop beside Lu Zhanxing, stepped out with all the swagger of a damn action hero, and sliced through the ropes binding him with a single, clean stroke.

“Don’t worry, we’re Omega Alliance,” Shao Ye said, his voice smooth, low, a reassurance that didn’t bother asking for trust. “We’re here to get you out.”

Lu Zhanxing’s eyes were still blindfolded, but that voice—it was one he’d been obsessing over for months, haunting his nights and whispering in his dreams. His entire body betrayed him with a faint but unmistakable shudder of emotion.

No time for words. Shao Ye grabbed his hand, dragging him into the car like it was the most natural thing in the world, and peeled out without so much as a glance back.

Meanwhile, the special forces team put on a decent show, firing off blanks at the two Omega Alliance cars like they actually gave a damn about stopping them. Once Shao Ye had cleared the area, the other two cars split up, scattering into different directions like shadows slipping into the night.

It wasn’t until Shao Ye had driven far enough to breathe easier that he realized the blindfold was still tied around Lu Zhanxing’s eyes.

“What the hell? Didn’t I cut the ropes? Why didn’t you just take it off yourself?” Shao Ye muttered, half to himself, half out loud.

Maybe the guy was still freaked out from his near-death experience. Whatever. Shao Ye reached over and ripped the blindfold off in one swift motion.

And froze.

Sword-sharp brows, piercing eyes that seemed to glow even in the dim light—Lu Zhanxing’s face hit him like a sucker punch straight to the chest. Shao Ye wasn’t used to seeing an Omega look like this. Bold, striking, unapologetically masculine in a way that made him double-take, and then stare just a little too long.

The guy didn’t say a word, just locked eyes with him, unblinking, like he was looking at a ghost or a god.

Shao Ye swore he caught a flicker of something raw and messy—relief?

Pain? Both?

Shit. Was this guy about to cry?

Shao Ye hated that. Couldn’t stand watching anyone cry, least of all someone who looked like this. A man like that shouldn’t have tears to shed.

“Hey,” he blurted, shifting awkwardly, “don’t stress, alright? I’m Omega too, same team here. We’re safe for now. Name’s Shao Ye. What about you? You got a name, or should I just keep calling you ‘bro’?”

Lu Zhanxing blinked, his lips parting like he had something to say but couldn’t get it out. Finally, his voice, low and shaky, broke the silence.

“…Ah Ye.”

Shao Ye’s brows knit together. “Ah Ye?” He echoed, caught off guard.

They’d only just met, and this guy was already throwing out the intimate nicknames?

It wasn’t exactly unwelcome, but it wasn’t normal either.

“Alright, fine,” Shao Ye muttered, still a bit thrown. “Ah Ye it is. So, you hurt? Any torture I need to know about? And, uh… do you even remember your own name?”

The voice that came from the backseat was low and rough, sliding like a blade across Shao Ye’s nerves. “Ah Ye, it’s me. Lu Zhanxing.”

The moment those words landed, Shao Ye slammed the brakes so hard the tires screamed. The car skidded down the winding mountain road for what felt like eternity, nearly kissing the edge of a sheer cliff before jerking to a stop.

His knuckles tightened around the steering wheel, skin stretched white with the force of his grip. The name “Lu Zhanxing” didn’t spark a single damn memory in his head, but he couldn’t ignore the strange coincidence: during his coma, he’d been calling this name over and over, according to Lu Yan.

Who the hell was this guy?

A friend of the original owner of this body?

An enemy?

Something worse?

Dragging in a breath, Shao Ye forced his voice into cold neutrality, though his mind screamed with suspicion. “Do we know each other?”

Lu Zhanxing nodded slowly, a maddening calm in his movements.

Shao Ye’s brow twitched, his patience snapping like dry twigs. “What’s our relationship, then?”

A pause. Then, like a thunderclap, Lu Zhanxing’s voice hit: “We’re married.”

Shao Ye’s brain short-circuited.

A marriage?

What kind of cruel cosmic joke was this?

His lungs seized, dragging in shallow, choppy breaths as his body caught up to the insult. Forcing composure, he hissed, “Who’s the husband, and who’s the wife?”

Instead of an answer, Lu Zhanxing’s hand shot out, gripping Shao Ye’s jaw with the kind of dominance that could suffocate. His lips crushed down in a kiss, stealing the air from Shao Ye’s lungs and any chance of a rebuttal. When he finally broke away, his voice trembled near Shao Ye’s ear, raw and desperate. “Ah Ye, how could you forget your man?”

“Fuck off!” Shao Ye’s instincts kicked in. He lashed out, his long leg slamming into Lu Zhanxing’s chest with enough force to send the man crashing against the car door. But even as rage flared, something deeper twisted in his gut—something darker, uglier.

That scar on his abdomen. A reminder that he’d carried a child. That this body had been through hell. And the man in front of him wasn’t some harmless Omega but a scheming Alpha who reeked of danger.

This whole situation? A trap. It had to be. Alphas like this didn’t stumble into anyone’s life by accident.

Shao Ye’s hand flew to the back of his neck, panic spiking as his fingers brushed bare skin. Shit. He’d forgotten to use a pheromone blocker.

His heart pounded, and the heat blooming from his nape told him everything he needed to know. His Omega biology was about to betray him, his emotions spiraling out of control.

An Alpha in close quarters like this? It was a recipe for disaster.

Screw this. He had to get out. Now.

Shao Ye shoved at Lu Zhanxing, his panic mounting when the man didn’t budge. “Get out of the car!” he growled, his voice laced with desperation. But Lu Zhanxing only tightened his grip, his dark eyes glinting with something dangerously close to possession.

When brute force didn’t work, Shao Ye’s fingers found cold steel. He whipped out his gun, pressing the barrel to his own temple, his voice ice-cold and steady. “Take one step closer, and I’ll end this here. I’d rather die clean.”

That wiped the confidence off Lu Zhanxing’s face. His expression cracked, fear bleeding through. “Wait! Don’t—don’t do this. I’ll back off. I swear.”

But Shao Ye’s grip on the gun didn’t falter. His breath hitched, a thin sheen of sweat slicking his brow as his body betrayed him further. The burning in his glands spread, heat licking up his spine. He was spiraling, his scent thickening in the air—dangerous, tempting, and completely uncontrollable.

The realization hit like a punch to the gut: he was about to lose the one thing he had left—control. And the Alpha sitting across from him? He was poised to take full advantage.

The air inside the car was thick enough to choke. Lu Zhanxing, gripping his gun with a white-knuckled fist, felt the trigger taunting him, daring him to mess up. His instincts kicked in before his mind could catch up—he released a thread of calming pheromones, hoping to leash the tension spiraling out of control.

But instead of defusing the bomb, he’d just lit the fuse. The moment Lu Zhanxing’s pheromones reached Shao Ye, it was like striking a match in a room doused with gasoline. The high compatibility between them hit like a live wire. Something inside Shao Ye snapped—his long-dormant glands exploded open, flooding the cramped car with the scent of iron flowers.

Lu Zhanxing’s pupils narrowed, his chest rising and falling like a storm rolling in. That scent, his scent—so that’s what iron flowers smell like. Shao Ye’s defective glands had finally fixed themselves, and now his pheromones were surging free for the first time ever.

Even soaked in the stench of Shao Ye’s fear, Lu Zhanxing couldn’t help the satisfaction unfurling in his gut. Drowning in his lover’s pheromones felt like a drug he never knew he needed.

But Shao Ye? He saw the almost euphoric expression on Lu Zhanxing’s face and froze. Panic clawed at his throat. What the hell kind of freak is this guy? This must be one of those psycho alpha scumbags his mother always warned him about. He had to get out, and fast.

Except there was no escape. Lu Zhanxing’s oleander-sweet pheromones swirled through the car, blending with Shao Ye’s and curling around them like a noose. Heat climbed up Shao Ye’s spine, his limbs going slack.

No. No, no, no. He knew what this was.

Or at least he feared it.

The realization hit like a freight train—this was it, wasn’t it?

His first pheromone release, and it had to be this intense?

Like a lifetime’s worth of pheromones were spilling out at once, all to tempt the alpha sitting far too close.

What kind of alpha could resist this?

Not Lu Zhanxing. Hell, his so-called iron will had already been shattered long before Shao Ye’s scent soaked into the car. Lu Zhanxing had a history of pheromone instability—doctor’s orders said only a highly compatible omega could stabilize him. But until now, Shao Ye’s broken glands had left them both barely surviving.

Not anymore. Now, the scent was maddening. Lu Zhanxing’s body reacted before his brain could rein it in, his eyes darkening with a predator’s gleam. He leaned in, his voice a low growl dripping with danger.

“Shao Ye, you’re in estrus.”

The words hit Shao Ye like a gunshot. His whole body flinched, trembling uncontrollably. That voice—smooth as silk, sharp as a blade—was pure venom, and it dismantled the last shreds of his sanity.

“N-no, don’t come any closer!” His voice cracked as he clawed at the door handle, desperate to escape. He managed to tumble out of the car, legs shaking so badly he collapsed onto the dirt.

But there was no mercy.

Lu Zhanxing was on him in seconds, circling around the car like a wolf closing in on its prey. He hoisted Shao Ye up as if he weighed nothing, his breath hot against Shao Ye’s ear. “Relax. I’ll take care of it.”

“H-how?” Shao Ye slurred, barely coherent, his mind hazy with heat.

Lu Zhanxing didn’t bother with words. He carried Shao Ye to the car hood, setting him down with deliberate ease before his hands went to Shao Ye’s shirt, popping buttons one by one.

The night air bit at Shao Ye’s exposed skin, making him shiver as Lu Zhanxing’s lips descended—tracing a path from his brow, to his nose, to his mouth, before trailing lower. Shao Ye’s body betrayed him, trembling under Zhanxing’s touch, caught between the icy sting of the wind and the searing heat coursing through him.

Every kiss, every graze of lips and teeth, was a jolt of electricity. Shao Ye’s mind swayed between clarity and fog, his scalp prickling as Zhanxing took control. There was no escape, no reprieve—only the overwhelming force of Lu Zhanxing’s resolve and the wildfire consuming them both.

Shao Ye always thought he wasn’t into men—hell, he’d swear on it. But there was no arguing with his body’s raw, instinctive betrayal. The heat crawling under his skin didn’t lie, and worse, it wasn’t disgust he felt as Lu Zhanxing’s hands explored him. It was something dangerously close to craving. His body didn’t just accept Lu Zhanxing’s touch; it leaned into it, hungry and willing.

That twisted mix of shame and pleasure left Shao Ye teetering on the edge of losing himself completely. Just as he started to let go, his muscles finally unwinding, Lu Zhanxing’s next move hit him like a slap to the face. The bastard didn’t hesitate—his hands went straight for Shao Ye’s belt.

The chill of the car’s hood against his bare skin jolted him back, the ice-cold metal cutting through the haze. Panic climbed up his throat, his heart pounding out a terrified rhythm, but he couldn’t stop what was happening. Couldn’t even fight it. Being an Omega in heat was a cruel joke, a twisted kind of surrender—like tossing a dying fish back into the ocean. Instinct overruled everything.

And yet, somewhere in the mess of shame, fear, and raw, unfiltered lust, one thought clawed its way to the front of his mind: Why the hell didn’t I park somewhere less public?

Sunlight, an open road, passing cars—it was a nightmare. But stopping this? Impossible.

......

When Shao Ye came to, he was sprawled in the passenger seat, his head swimming, body still thrumming with unresolved heat. Lu Zhanxing was driving, the destination unknown, his focus on the road. Fuzzy, hazy, and not entirely conscious of himself, Shao Ye’s hand shot out, smacking right onto Lu Zhanxing’s thigh.

“Babe…” The word dripped from his lips, lazy and wrecked.

Screech——

The screech of brakes was immediate, tires skidding, the car lurching to a halt as Lu Zhanxing slammed on the brakes so hard they nearly crashed. A dangerous glint sparked in Lu Zhanxing’s eyes, sharp and predatory. Without a word, he killed the engine and lunged, catching Shao Ye off guard.

......

The next time Shao Ye woke, he was sprawled on a soft bed. The room was small, sterile, the hum of an engine confirming they were on a spaceship. Lu Zhanxing was wrapped around him, arms locked like steel bands. The guy slept like a rock, but Shao Ye, for reasons even he couldn’t explain, made his move.

Climbing on top of Lu Zhanxing, he crushed their mouths together in a kiss. That was enough to rouse the beast. Lu Zhanxing woke with a smirk, dark and feral, before flipping them in one smooth motion. Shao Ye didn’t stand a chance; he was pinned, at his mercy again.

......

The final time Shao Ye opened his eyes, water was splashing around him. The heat of the bath wasn’t the only thing soaking into his skin. Lu Zhanxing had him cradled in the tub, his hands gentle but thorough as he cleaned him up.

But Shao Ye? Oh, he wasn’t playing nice anymore. Mischief sparked in his eyes as he dipped his head under the water, escaping Lu Zhanxing’s grip, chaos bound to follow.

......

———TN: The author skips over the nitty-gritty details of the sex ride, leaving it to the imagination—a bold tease wrapped in deliberate ellipsis.