After the Scummy Alpha Marked the Crazy Beautiful Heroine - Chapter 38.1

Pei Jiuyao’s fingertips lightly traced over Chi Yang’s gland.

Soft, fragile. She knew how sweet the strawberries beneath it could taste, but now it had become a burning liquor.

That liquor trembled faintly in her palm.

Chi Yang wanted Pei Jiuyao to hurt her—only then could the restlessness and unease inside her ease a little.

As long as she pierced through, whether Chi Yang was an Omega or an Alpha, she would belong entirely to her.

Pei Jiuyao’s cold, sharp pheromones scattered through the air. Chi Yang let out a pained gasp.

She caught Pei Jiuyao’s wrist, turned back, and lifted her crimson eyes.

Her voice was forced steady, still carrying a veneer of coldness:

“More… wrap me in it. I want it.”

Pei Jiuyao had already learned to keep her pheromones under perfect control.

She released a little more—until Chi Yang let go of her hand, clutching the sheets instead, knuckles bone-white, a vein throbbing at her temple.

“Pei Jiuyao, mark me.”

Her tone was a command.

Chi Yang was clearly suffering, yet her ragged breathing carried threads of pleasure and desire.

This little lunatic… finally can’t hide it anymore?

Pei Jiuyao bared her canines and lowered her head toward her gland.

Chi Yang let out a trembling breath, her body shuddering.

She felt the faint scrape of teeth—

—only for them to withdraw.

A warm, damp tongue brushed across her gland, followed by a kiss, neither too light nor too heavy.

“Tonight I’m yours,” Pei Jiuyao’s husky voice murmured. “I’ll bite when I choose.”

“But tonight, I’ll only kiss you. No one else, all right?”

For a long moment, Chi Yang was silent. Then her voice broke, thick with tears:

“Am I awful? Boring? Nothing like what you imagined me to be?”

“How could you be?” Pei Jiuyao whispered, scattering light kisses down the back of her neck.

“When I first met you, you were like a flower frozen in ice. White or black, I didn’t care—I only wanted to crack that shell and bring you out. If you’re bad, if you’re willful, if you want to lean on me or act spoiled—”

“Show all of it to me. I told you, everything about you belongs with me.”

Chi Yang turned, lying flat beneath her.

Her lashes trembled, and a pearl-white tear slipped from the corner of her eye.

Pei Jiuyao brushed it with her fingertip, then pressed it to her lips.

The heat of her tears faded quickly, but the charged air between them burst into sparks.

Chi Yang lifted her head, hooked her arms around Pei Jiuyao’s neck, and kissed her. Teeth scraped against her lips, drawing blood, which her tongue swept away into the kiss.

When they parted, Chi Yang collapsed back onto the mattress, eyes shut, breathing hard.

Pei Jiuyao leaned her forehead against hers, then lifted her into her arms.

“Are you in pain?”

Chi Yang slowly opened her misted eyes, the corners flushed red.

Her face was pale from weakness, but her lips, swollen and bloody from their kisses, burned an even brighter red.

She sagged against Pei Jiuyao’s palm, then slumped against her shoulder, letting out a breathless laugh. Her fingers brushed against Pei Jiuyao’s lips.

“Is it the pheromones?” Pei Jiuyao asked.

Chi Yang’s pheromone level was lower than hers, and even Pei Jiuyao felt the strain.

For Chi Yang…

Pei Jiuyao’s eyes darkened. She picked up the inhibitor band from beside her and reached for Chi Yang’s wrist.

But Chi Yang tore free violently.

“I’m not wearing it,” her voice shook. “I want to smell you.”

Pei Jiuyao drew her pheromones back. “It’ll hurt you.”

“Why are you so stubborn?”

Chi Yang buried her face in the crook of her neck, her muffled voice breaking, carrying a sob:

“Why is there no scent anymore?”

Pei Jiuyao pulled her back by the nape, cupping her face.

The spoiled, tearful defiance vanished in an instant.

Chi Yang’s pale face went cold, lashes lowering lifelessly.

Her light-colored pupils looked up at Pei Jiuyao; in a blink, the tears on her lashes slipped down, falling onto Pei Jiuyao’s hand.

As if she had suffered some unbearable grievance, yet refused to speak it aloud.

Cold and proud, yet fragile to the point of breaking—painful to behold.

“Pei Jiuyao, I want to smell you.”

It was like a deity lowering her proud head at last.

Pei Jiuyao wanted to offer her the moon.

“No,” she whispered. “It’ll hurt you. Be good.”

She clasped the inhibitor band around Chi Yang’s thin wrist, then rubbed the sharp bone beneath.

When she looked up again, Chi Yang’s lips were pressed tight, tears slipping down in fat droplets.

Pei Jiuyao reached to wipe them, but Chi Yang turned her head away, biting her lip.

“You’re lying,” she whispered. “You don’t like me like this.”

Pei Jiuyao couldn’t help herself—she pulled Chi Yang’s face back toward her.

“Then tell me. What kind of ‘me’ do you think I like?”

“Sweet, soft, and cute,” Chi Yang muttered. “A proper Omega.”

Pei Jiuyao pinched her puffy cheeks. “And what are you now? An Omega that bites?”

Chi Yang turned her head, eyes flashing with annoyance, and bit down hard on Pei Jiuyao’s finger.

Pei Jiuyao chuckled, teasing her tongue with a fingertip as she pulled her closer by the waist.

“And you? What do you like?”

“A soft, sweet Omega? Or a cold, domineering goddess who looks down on everyone? Or maybe that short-haired beauty we saw the other day?”

Every word struck with piercing precision.

“At least I’ve said I like you. You, on the other hand, have never said it back. Always taking and taking—what is it you really want from me?”

Chi Yang drew Pei Jiuyao’s finger to her lips, brushed a kiss against it, her gaze dark and bottomless.

There was a desperate obsession in her eyes, fleeting yet undeniable, before she pulled it back.

A self-mocking smile followed, the clarity slowly returning to her pupils.

“I want too much. I don’t dare say it out loud,” Chi Yang pressed her forehead to Pei Jiuyao’s, her fingers teasing her lips as she whispered, “I’m afraid you’ll be frightened.”

“If you insist on breaking through the ice—what if an angel lies above it, and a demon beneath? Which one would you choose?”

Pei Jiuyao’s fingers trailed along Chi Yang’s jaw, pinching her chin to tilt her face up.

“Chi Yang, what is it that you’re so afraid of?”

Her words made Chi Yang tremble faintly.

“And what if I said I want both?”

Chi Yang’s voice was low: “Would you stay with me forever, then?”

Pei Jiuyao’s lashes quivered.

She suddenly recalled what Chi Qing had once said in the hospital—

Chi Yang might look cold, detached, like nothing in the world could touch her, but in truth her possessiveness was frighteningly strong. That aloofness was only a mask to conceal the violent, twisted need beneath.

Why did the Chi Yang in the novel eventually turn dark? Perhaps because she had never been a fragile white flower to begin with. Peel away the façade of a lofty bloom, and inside might lurk a repressed, deranged soul.

Pei Jiuyao fell silent for a few seconds, then lifted her head and said quietly, “I’ll find a way.”

“Find a way…”

She expected Chi Yang to be dissatisfied with such an answer, but instead Chi Yang lifted her eyes and said, “That works too.”

“After all, you already said—tonight, I’m yours.” Chi Yang’s fingertips rubbed at Pei Jiuyao’s lips, the not-yet-healed wound stinging faintly.

She gave a soft laugh. “Miss Pei, tonight I want to fall asleep with your lips in mine.”

Pei Jiuyao’s face flushed red. She pinched Chi Yang’s waist lightly and raised her brows in a teasing smile. “Then should I let you sleep with my fingers in your mouth too?”

Chi Yang froze. Her face flamed crimson in an instant, the color spreading all the way to the tips of her ears.

She gave a low huff, half embarrassed, half annoyed. “As expected, I can never beat you when it comes to shameless words.”

Hooking her arms around Pei Jiuyao’s neck, she kissed her with desperate fervor.

The room became a wild sea, the small boat within tossed and battered.

When they finally broke apart for breath, Pei Jiuyao tapped Chi Yang’s soft lips with a fingertip and murmured, “You know, I once thought about eating you with strawberry jam.”

“Do you have any?” Chi Yang asked, eyes reddened.

Pei Jiuyao froze, startled. “…You’re serious?”

She instantly regretted it. If she had known, she would’ve bought some while shopping.

“I didn’t buy any.”

Chi Yang, still pressed against her, thought for a moment before suddenly rolling away. Barefoot, she dashed downstairs, leaving a trail of watermarks across the tiles.

She rummaged through her suitcase outside for quite a while.

No way… does she actually have strawberry jam?

Pei Jiuyao was just about to get up when Chi Yang came running back, barefoot again, holding something in her hand. She shook it with a little grin—

“Only this.”
It was strawberry hard candy.

“It’s still sweet.”

She tore open the wrapper, slipped the candy into her mouth, then stuck out her tongue to show Pei Jiuyao.

The translucent pink candy gleamed with moisture, sliding across her tongue.

Her expression said clearly: Come and taste me.

Pei Jiuyao’s eyes darkened. She pinned Chi Yang against the headboard, devouring every trace of sweetness until Chi Yang’s gaze went hazy and she melted weakly against the pillow.

Chi Yang gave a soft laugh, pulled the candy from her mouth, and tossed it aside with half-lidded eyes.

Sticky sweetness trickled down her skin.

She hooked a finger under Pei Jiuyao’s chin. “Fetch it back—with your mouth.”

Pei Jiuyao’s lips curved in a wicked smile. Her tongue traced down Chi Yang’s neck…

________________________________________

The next morning, neither of them almost woke up.

When Ye Ci entered the room, the living room was a complete mess, thick with the tangled scents of pheromones.

The sharp tang of alcohol mixed with a crisp, herbal freshness, so strong it felt as though two Alphas had fought through susceptibility right here.

She wrinkled her nose instinctively, turned her wristband to maximum filtration, locked Jiang Tian outside, and began gathering the clothes scattered across the floor.

Even then, she couldn’t help massaging her temples.

“Jie, time to get up.”

She honestly had no idea what kind of spell Pei Jiuyao had cast to make Chi Yang indulge her like this.

Last time, Pei Jiuyao’s susceptibility had already left Chi Yang covered in bite marks—that was bad enough.

An Alpha marked by another Alpha… utterly unthinkable.

She swallowed hard. Could Jie have actually… fainted from it?

Her voice rose. “Jie! Wake up, time to get up!”

Chi Yang stirred drowsily, rolling against Pei Jiuyao’s body. Her voice was still sticky with sleep. “What time is it?”

“Eight.”

“Eight!” Pei Jiuyao shot upright.

Ye Ci covered her forehead with one hand, turning to toss a piece of clothing at her.

Pei Jiuyao caught it and threw it on quickly. “Sorry, we overslept.”

“It’s fine, still half an hour left.” Chi Yang picked up her own clothes leisurely. “Lin Leyi overdid it last night and told us to come later.”

Pei Jiuyao couldn’t help grumbling, “Director Lin really is…”

But she stopped herself halfway.

Once dressed, she went to wash up, Chi Yang following behind, while Ye Ci called for room service.

“What is she, really?” Chi Yang asked, curious.

“Self-indulgent. Doesn’t care if it affects filming.”

“She’s always been like that. Big-name directors all have their quirks—Lin Leyi just happens to favor alcohol. Could be worse.”

This counts as better?

And how would you even know what she’s “always” like if this is your first collaboration?

Tch.

When Pei Jiuyao finished tidying up, the mess outside had already been cleared.

Ye Ci opened up breakfast, aired the room, then finally let Jiang Tian in.