Marked, Denied, and Claimed Anyway

Wu Qie found himself surrounded by people.

At some point, a freshly compiled first-round physical training statistics sheet had been stuffed into his hands.

Everyone’s time to reach the summit, as well as the time spent completing the additional one hundred push-ups after reaching the top, had all been recorded.

No matter which school the coaches came from, they all wanted to know the gap between domestic students and the top-tier American league training grounds.

After all, this kind of data wasn’t easy to obtain online.

They didn’t need to know too much.

Standing in front of them was once a four-star player.

He only needed to use himself as a benchmark.

Wu Qie tried hard to recall how long it had taken him to do one hundred push-ups back then.

It was too long ago.

He couldn’t remember at all.

Beside him, Zhao Shu was asking something completely unrelated.

“When can we arrange to switch rooms for me and Pei Qingyu?”

“Would noon work?”

It was like when you were trying to focus on work, and a large dog at your feet kept nudging your hand with its nose, trying to get you to promise when you’d take it out to the park.

Wu Qie suppressed the urge to kick him away.

He held a pen in his hand and drew a long line across the writing board in front of him.

Everything below the red line represented results that were far too lacking.

Not getting any response, the Alpha who had already been half-doubting his words since yesterday—“I already said I don’t like him anymore”—now clearly lost his patience.

He muttered, “Are you even listening to me?”

He reached out, trying to grab the pen from the black-haired Beta’s hand.

But at the moment he lowered his head unintentionally, he suddenly saw the section of pale neck exposed beneath his gaze.

Very close to the gland, there was a faint red mark.

The young Alpha’s pupils contracted sharply.

His muttering stopped abruptly.

He suddenly reached out with his slightly sweaty hand, snatched the writing board from the Beta, and dragged him in front of himself.

Wu Qie: “?”

Before he could even ask what was wrong, the Alpha’s sharply defined nose had already pressed close to his neck, inhaling deeply.

The warm scent of sweat, mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible tequila-like note, rushed into his nose.

Wu Qie: “What are you doing?”

The fresh mountain air of the morning suddenly felt thick and muddled.

Somewhere, an Omega from an unknown school started shouting about distributing breakfast.

People around them began moving quickly.

The mountaintop fell into slight chaos.

Wu Qie was dragged by Zhao Shu behind a large rock at the edge of the mountain.

The rock was cold in the morning and damp with dew.

As his back pressed against it, the chill quickly seeped into his bones.

The black-haired young man let out a soft, uncomfortable sound.

Then he felt the chest pressing down on him—burning hot.

The Alpha lowered his head.

Without any warning, he forcefully covered Wu Qie’s lips.

In the black-haired Beta’s widened eyes of shock, he saw the young Alpha’s eyes flushed red.

They were burning with jealousy that had stripped away all rationality.

Jealousy.

And perhaps also anger at being deceived, and grievance.

At this point, there was no longer any need to avoid the issue.

The tongue invaded, drawing out the Beta’s breath.

Sweat covered the faint cinnamon toothpaste scent.

Zhao Shu felt that even this tasted sweet.

Perhaps even sweeter than the vague sweetness of an Omega’s scent.

“Zhao—”

The tip of his tongue brushed across the sensitive palate.

Under the iron grip,

he could clearly feel the person pinned between himself and the rock trembling uncontrollably.

Sourness and sweetness intertwined in contradiction, like swallowing strong liquor on an empty stomach, burning fiercely through the chest.

The Alpha’s overwhelming possessiveness roared within him.

All for a single, clear goal.

Liar.

He wanted to cover the Beta entirely with his own scent.

So the liar could no longer go out and deceive others.

That was what a liar deserved.

He indulged himself, staining the lips red.

He didn’t care whether others would notice what they had done once they left this cover.

If they noticed, so be it.

It would be even better if they did.

The Alpha’s eyes burned red.

When the Beta finally came back to his senses,

he stomped hard on Zhao Shu’s foot and pushed him away.

The curse stuck in Wu Qie’s throat.

He stared in shock at Zhao Shu,

who was now looking at him with an aggrieved expression.

“Wu Qie.”

“You’re a goddamn scammer.”

“?”

“Why don’t you take out your phone and look at what you told me last night?”

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“If you really don’t like him anymore, then tell me what this is—”

Wu Qie let out a confused sound.

“What is what?”

Zhao Shu reached out, grabbed his collar, and pulled it down irritably.

He stared at the red mark on the left side of his neck, frowning tightly.

“What is this mark on your neck?”

Wu Qie said, “Ah.”

“A mark? A mosquito bite.”

Zhao Shu let out a mocking laugh.

“Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“In winter, where would a mosquito come from?”

“I know what mosquito bites look like. When you touch them, they—”

His hand had already moved.

But the moment he touched the slightly raised bump in the center of the redness,

his rambling stopped abruptly.

Zhao Shu’s expression froze.

A moment of silence fell.

Wu Qie felt him lean closer against his neck again.

“I don’t need to think you’re an idiot.”

“You already are.”

Wu Qie said sincerely.

“Zhao Shu, when are you going to learn—”

“….”

“—to stop acting like a dog marking territory, kissing me whenever you feel like it?”

Wu Qie raised his hand and wiped his damp lips with his sleeve.

He rubbed too hard,

and the already soft skin now stung with a burning pain.

“When did you develop such a bad habit?”

“…How is this a bad habit?”

“Then… can you let me bite you once?”

Wu Qie thought he had misheard.

“Let you what?”

Zhao Shu looked at him with bright eyes.

“Bite once.”

Even though a Beta’s gland had degraded, it still existed.

If bitten, an Alpha’s scent could still be forcibly left behind.

Though it wouldn’t last long—

at most three or four days.

“What are you even thinking?”

Wu Qie was completely baffled.

“Why would I let you bite me?”

“There are too many Alphas here.”

“The moment you show up, they swarm you like starving dogs seeing meat.”

“Every single one of them—”

Wu Qie cut him off coldly.

“Every single one of them isn’t as perverted as you.”

“….”

Zhao Shu hesitated, then said in a negotiating tone,

“Can’t I really bite you?”

“Are you insane?”

“We’re not even done with the engagement yet.”

“Compared to others, at least I—”

“Zhao Shu.”

Wu Qie rubbed his face, exasperated.

“I understand that after everything, you suddenly realized that your Beta fiancé is quite decent and presentable.”

“But at the same time, I don’t have a heat cycle that requires an Alpha.”

“What exactly are you competing for here?”

When they came out from behind the rock,

Zhao Shu followed behind him like a wilted plant.

After Wu Qie said a few words to him,

he glanced at him a few times as if wanting to speak but holding back,

then reluctantly returned to the training group.

The second round of mountain sprints was about to begin.

Wu Qie found a rock to sit on and openly spaced out.

In reality, he was thinking about when Zhao Shu had changed from “let’s quickly break off the engagement” to “there are too many people around you, but I have to be first.”

A shadow passed in front of him.

The Alpha bent down and picked up a bottle of water from the crate beside his feet.

When he straightened up, he suddenly said,

“Pretty swollen.”

Wu Qie abruptly raised his head.

Holding the water bottle,

Pei Qingyu stood in front of him, smiling faintly.

“Is Zhao Shu really that bad at kissing?”

Wu Qie: “?”

The tone was light, completely unlike him.

—A person’s image could collapse again and again.

Like the Titanic that was said to never sink after hitting the iceberg, it split in two, and then sank three thousand meters into the ocean.

Wu Qie was stunned.

Pei Qingyu turned and walked away.

He returned to the team,

unscrewed the bottle cap,

and poured the water over his head.

In the early winter morning, when the temperature was only in the single digits.

After the third round of mountain training,

half the Alphas collapsed.

Sun Mi scoffed and said this was nothing.

Wu Qie, who had been sitting all morning until his backside hurt, said,

“We didn’t train people to death back then.”

“Adding some anaerobic training appropriately would be more reasonable.”

With that one sentence,

the boys were spared from the additional frog jumps and push-ups that had been planned.

They lay scattered across the mountaintop.

When they were about to descend,

a steady drizzle began to fall.

The overly energetic Alphas—along with a few Omegas—

were exhausted to the point they could barely lift their legs.

The muddy mountain path from the rain became the final straw.

They complained loudly,

and finally got half a day off.

Wu Qie followed the logistics team,

cleaning up leftover breakfast trash and empty water bottles.

When the rain grew heavier, he hid under a tree.

His phone lit up.

[sssssss: You don’t like Pei Qingyu anymore. Why?]

Wu Qie glanced toward the cave not far away.

Zhao Shu was sitting there with the others.

The messages kept coming.

This time, it wasn’t about bread or kittens.

He was messaging Wu Qie’s private account.

Wu Qie hadn’t told many people about it.

But he had told “sssssss.”

[W: None of your business.]

[sssssss: If you don’t like him anymore, there’s nothing you can’t say.]

[W: Just like you said, he isn’t the person I thought he was.]

[W: Attraction based on pheromones is real.]

[W: “Love at first sight” isn’t.]

[W: Between a Beta and an Alpha, it’s ridiculous.]

[W: Between Alpha and Omega, maybe it makes more sense.]

[sssssss: Is the reason you liked him and the reason you stopped liking him the same?]

[sssssss: He never said he was a good person.]

[sssssss: It’s unfair for you to like him on your own, then judge him on your own.]

Wu Qie almost laughed.

[W: None of your business.]

[W: Seriously, what does this have to do with you?]

[sssssss: You liked him because you thought he helped you for no reason.]

[sssssss: Why?]

[sssssss: That kind of liking is shallow.]

[sssssss: If he becomes that kind of person again, will you fall for him again?]

Wu Qie felt a headache coming on.

[sssssss: You’re bad at judging people.]

Wu Qie thought, that part wasn’t wrong.

[sssssss: Let’s make a bet.]

[W: What?]

[sssssss: He’s not as cold and fake as you think.]

[sssssss: Some things he just doesn’t find necessary.]

[sssssss: We’ll decide the stakes later.]

[W: I agree with the last four words.]

[W: Making bets is unnecessary.]

Wu Qie put down his phone,

feeling something strange about all this.

His phone died.

He walked over to Zhao Shu.

“Your things are in the locker room.”

“Go get them yourself.”

“The password is my birthday.”

Then he left.

Zhao Shu scratched his head, confused.

“What did he mean?”

Pei Qingyu stared at Wu Qie’s back without answering.

Zhao Shu frowned.

“Were you talking to him privately?”

Pei Qingyu said lightly,

“‘Privately’?”

“Is Teacher Wu some underground idol?”

Zhao Shu: “……”

Zhao Shu: “You know we haven’t broken off the engagement, right?”

Pei Qingyu: “Isn’t it just a matter of time?”

Zhao Shu: “No.”

“I’m not planning to break it off.”

On the way down the mountain,

something unexpected happened.

Duan Bairui slipped and fell hard.

His hands and legs were scraped, and blood ran down his pale legs.

The Omegas around began complaining.

The air grew tense.

Omega blood carried stronger pheromone scents.

The fragrance of plum blossoms spread.

The Alphas turned red-faced.

Wu Qie stepped forward to help.

But before he could reach him—

a cold, overwhelming scent swept through the air.

Like stepping from early winter into deep winter.

Pei Qingyu walked past him.

The surrounding Alphas instinctively stepped back.

He bent down and picked up Duan Bairui in his arms.

Snow and pine blended with plum blossoms.

Perfectly matched.

He glanced at Wu Qie.

After returning,

everyone discussed how compatible their pheromones were.

“They match so well.”

“Aren’t they basically a couple?”

Wu Qie passed by.

Expression unchanged.

He didn’t even eat lunch.

He grabbed a banana

and went to the locker room.

Waiting.

The door opened.

Pei Qingyu walked in.

He went straight to Wu Qie’s locker.

Entered his birthday as the password.

Click.

The door opened.

He took out the black notebook.

Then turned around and smiled at him.