The Beta Wife Claimed by Competing Alphas - Chapter 12

The air seemed to freeze instantly. Lu Chong stared with a dark expression at Mu Yan and He Fan. As the pheromones of two Alphas clashed, neither man found the sensation pleasant.

Even Mu Yan, who could not smell the pheromones, sensed something was wrong. In the small space of a few square meters, the atmosphere was so heavy it felt impossible to lift one’s head.

However, neither Lu Chong nor He Fan intended to show weakness or discomfort in the face of the other’s scent. He Fan maintained a warm, sunny smile, his tone as relaxed as if he were greeting a long-lost friend. “Brother Lu Chong, it has been a long time.”

Lu Chong’s patience had long since evaporated. The moment he heard the two of them chatting and laughing in the hallway, he had been driven nearly mad with rage. He grabbed Mu Yan’s arm abruptly, pulling him into his chest with a rough motion, as if desperate to declare Mu Yan as his exclusive property.

Mu Yan staggered from the force of the pull, finding himself locked tightly within Lu Chong’s arms. He Fan was not intimidated; instead, he offered a polite smile, seemingly unbothered by the rudeness.

“Brother Lu Chong might not remember me. I was Brother Xiao Yan’s university roommate. I happened to run into him today, and since he was suffering from hypoglycemia, I wanted to see him home safely.”

Looking into He Fan’s gentle eyes, Mu Yan felt a wave of intense guilt. He Fan had helped him so much today, yet instead of returning the favor, Mu Yan was letting him endure this unwarranted hostility because of Lu Chong.

But Mu Yan was used to tolerating Lu Chong’s terrible temper. He did not challenge the rudeness, instead offering He Fan a helpless, apologetic smile. “I am sorry. My… my partner is in his rut right now, so he is not in a good mood. Let us treat you to dinner another day. I am truly sorry.”

He Fan smiled good-naturedly. “Brother Xiao Yan, your relationship is still as good as it was in university.”

Seeing He Fan so relaxed, as if everything were under his control, an involuntary surge of fury rose in Lu Chong’s chest. The scent of He Fan’s pheromones became exceptionally pungent.

Bergamot.

Lu Chong felt a vague sense that this scent was linked to unpleasant memories from the past. A feeling of nausea spread through him, but when he tried to trace the origin of that disgust, his mind seemed to stall momentarily.

“He told you to get lost. Did you not hear him?” Lu Chong spoke coldly, his tone blunt.

Before He Fan could respond, Mu Yan’s guilt intensified. He had no doubt that if he did not intervene, the Alpha—now as irritable as a wild beast—would escalate the verbal spat into a physical fight.

He whispered to He Fan, “I am truly sorry, I…”

He Fan smiled dismissively, his voice remaining peaceful. “Then I will be going. You do not need to apologize, Brother Xiao Yan. I am an Alpha too; I know the rut can be difficult. Though my own emotional fluctuations are never this extreme, everyone is different. Perhaps Brother Lu Chong’s rut is especially hard to endure.”

Both being Alphas, Lu Chong naturally heard the deliberate belittlement in those words. Mu Yan, however, was completely oblivious; he thought the other man was being considerate and continued to repeat his apologies to the “victim.”

The door slammed shut with a heavy thud.

The interior and exterior of the room were now two separate worlds. Lu Chong scooped Mu Yan up by the waist and threw him onto the sofa. The bag of Alpha suppressants sat on the coffee table, alongside a bowl of washed white strawberries still glistening with water.

In the brief moment Lu Chong let go of him, Mu Yan reached for the bag.

“Lu Chong… were you waiting for me to give you the injection? I am sorry, I did not know your rut had started. Let me give it to you now, okay?”

Lu Chong’s breathing grew rapid, his eyes turning cold and dangerous. Ignoring Mu Yan’s words, he pressed his palms firmly against Mu Yan’s shoulders, as if trying to crush him into the sofa cushions. He looked down at Mu Yan like a feudal lord judging a straying wife.

“Do you have any idea that you are covered in the scent of another man’s pheromones?”

Mu Yan’s hand trembled as he held the suppressant. Lu Chong was always terrifying during his rut, but he had never before made Mu Yan feel this bone-chilling fear.

“I am sorry… please, just calm down. I can explain. Let me give you the injection first.”

Lu Chong pinned Mu Yan’s slender wrists, along with the bag of medicine, against the sofa. Retaining just enough logic to control his strength, he pried Mu Yan’s fingers open and snatched the bag away. He hurled it; the suppressants shattered, scattering glass shards and medicinal fluid across the floor.

“Why are you hiding?”

“I… I am not hiding,” Mu Yan’s voice shook, his eyes full of helplessness and confusion.

“You do not want me to touch you, but that roommate is fine? How long have you two been hooked up? Roommates? Did you sleep together back in university, too?”

Mu Yan froze. Even knowing that an Alpha’s mind is clouded and irrational during a rut, such a baseless slander was enough to humiliate him. It would have been one thing if Lu Chong only attacked him, but how could he say that about He Fan? He Fan had helped him deal with debt collectors out of a sense of justice; he had seen him home out of pure kindness.

After a few seconds of a blank mind, a slap landed on Lu Chong’s face before Mu Yan could even think.

“You are insane!”

The air went silent for a moment. Mu Yan was startled by his own reflexive action. “I am sorry. Does it hurt? I just… I truly have no relationship with him.”

Mu Yan did not have much strength, so the act was more of a psychological shock than a physical one. Lu Chong did not get angry; instead, he let out a dark laugh and pinned Mu Yan’s wrists down, overwhelming him on the sofa.

“You hit me for him?”

Lu Chong felt like the world’s biggest fool. While he had been feeling guilty and buying strawberries for Mu Yan, Mu Yan had been acting cozy with that damn roommate. While he had bought suppressants to save Mu Yan from pain, Mu Yan might have already slept with that bastard.

“I…” Mu Yan’s heart was hammering against his ribs. Even without smelling the pheromones, he was suffocating under Lu Chong’s possessiveness and violence. “I am sorry, I should not have hit you… but He Fan and I have nothing. You cannot…”

With a forceful pull, Lu Chong tore open Mu Yan’s collar. Compared to an Omega, Mu Yan’s body was thin and lacked allure. The marks Lu Chong had just left by pinching his waist quickly turned into dark bruises, a sight that felt revolting.

“Please, just calm down,” Mu Yan struggled, but he received no mercy.

Lu Chong had no intention of listening to reason. Like a beast trapped by lust, he hungrily kissed Mu Yan’s lips. It was less a kiss and more a punishment. He deprived Mu Yan of the right to breathe; Mu Yan’s face soon flushed a deep red, his chest heaving, his eyes turning wet.

Lu Chong’s grip on his waist hurt so much. Mu Yan’s vision blurred, and he could hear the thundering of his own heart. Just before he suffocated, Lu Chong let him go.

Unsure of what Lu Chong would do next, Mu Yan gasped for air, tears falling like broken pearls. Lu Chong is only being this mean because he is suffering from the rut and another man’s scent, Mu Yan tried to comfort himself. An Alpha’s possessiveness during a rut was naturally extreme; it was his own fault for not being more careful.

But this Lu Chong was so cruel. He was so terrifying. Mu Yan was truly afraid.

Lu Chong grabbed Mu Yan’s arms, pinning them behind his back, and stripped away the last of his clothes.

“Do not go in directly… Lu Chong! I am a Beta… I cannot handle it…”

A Beta’s body was dry and ill-suited for this. Even a normal rut was a form of torture for Mu Yan, let alone this one, where Lu Chong was losing control.

“You cannot handle it? From the way you hook up with so many Alphas, you do not look like someone who cannot handle it. Are you wishing your roommate and I would do you together?”

Mu Yan sobbed until he could barely catch his breath. He wanted to soothe Lu Chong, but he could not form a single sentence, only hiccuping and sobbing. Seeing him naked and crying, a sense of sadistic excitement replaced Lu Chong’s anger, or perhaps the two emotions merged.

Lu Chong’s cold fingers traced down Mu Yan’s spine. Mu Yan did not know what he was doing; the fear of the unknown made him shake even more violently.

“Lu Chong… please, I truly… cannot… Ah!”

Whether it was pain or tears, it was all given by him. Every groan or sob belonged to him. Mu Yan was his.

“Did that roommate of yours ever make you feel this good, hm?”

He bit down on the non-existent gland on Mu Yan’s neck, stubbornly trying to inject pheromones into a place that could never accept them.

Do not bite.

I am a Beta; I cannot be marked. Mu Yan’s head was buried in the sofa, his brain deprived of oxygen, his thoughts hazy.

If Lu Chong just wanted an object to vent his rut on, why did it have to be him? Wouldn’t an Omega, who could actually be soothed by pheromones, be better?

Mu Yan eventually lost his strength. Gradually, he stopped crying and struggling. Only after an especially violent motion from Lu Chong would his thighs tremble reflexively.

Lu Chong eventually grew bored of the lack of response. He increased his speed and formed a “knot” inside him.

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