ITF Chapter57

The chest pressed tightly against his back felt like a wall of solid iron.

The Alpha, induced into heat by the drug, had already lost all capacity for thought, leaving only primitive, animalistic desire and the instinct to possess. Pinned into the cramped corner of the wall, fragmented, blood-stained images involuntarily flickered through Bai Heting’s mind, only to be violently broken apart by the sudden lunge from the person behind him.

He wanted to dodge forward, but his waist was gripped hard, pinning him back against that fiercely aroused member. The grip was so heavy it felt as if his bones would be crushed, and the sharp pain rushing straight to his skull finally allowed his long-delayed reason to return.

“You…” Gasping in pain, Bai Heting reached behind him to push at the man’s waist. He forced himself to steady his breathing before managing to speak, “You were drugged. Stop now, and I won’t hold it against you.”

Luo Congye could not hear his warning. He pressed Bai Heting’s head back against the wall and pried his legs further apart with his knee.

The scent of fir trees had never been so sweet. As if giving a reward, he leaned in to kiss Bai Heting’s back neck before sighing with the pleasure of conquest, “You smell so good.”

*

“Are you very cold?”

The youth did not answer.

He lay on his side on a tattered straw mat, leaving Luo Congye with nothing but a stubborn, shivering view of his back.

They had been traveling for several days straight. The wound on the youth’s shoulder had been neglected and was already showing signs of worsening; he had been running a fever since yesterday evening.

Luo Congye stood behind him, hesitating for a moment.

Through their interactions over the past few days, he had gained some understanding of this youth.

He had a strange temper and a cold personality, seemingly loathing any closeness with others.

Luo Congye took a few quiet steps forward, knelt behind the youth, and tentatively placed his hand over his shoulder.

Seeing that the youth did not resist, he carefully lay down right next to him, deliberately avoiding the festering wound on his back shoulder as he embraced him from behind.

This time, the youth unexpectedly did not snap at him.

What surprised Luo Congye even more was that the youth actually pressed his own hand over the arm Luo Congye had placed around his waist.

Luo Congye finally set his mind at ease, pressing closer to him and tightening his arm a bit to warm him with his own body.

After an unknown amount of time, in a state between sleep and waking, he dimly caught the youth’s soft, mutter-like whisper.

“Bread…”

Luo Congye immediately heard his own stomach let out a rumbling growl.

He swallowed his saliva and asked softly, “Are you hungry?”

The youth seemed utterly exhausted, or perhaps he was delirious from the fever as he still did not answer.

They had been sleeping out in the open and braving the elements for the past few days; there was no way they could find bread in a desolate place like this. Resolving to let go of impossible dreams, Luo Congye held the youth’s trembling form even tighter and slowly drifted back to sleep.

*

At the break of dawn, the rain finally stopped, and soft morning light crept in through the cracks of the tattered door of the wooden house.

Luo Congye suddenly opened his eyes amid a familiar yet strangely unfamiliar sweet fragrance, pausing for a moment to determine whether he was still in reality or trapped in a dream.

He gently withdrew his hand from Bai Heting’s waist, backed away a little, and moved his gaze mechanically.

The fragmented pieces of memory gradually returned to his mind.

Luo Congye’s body temperature was still scalding hot, but his heart had turned completely ice-cold.

He wrapped Bai Heting’s heavily bruised body in a piece of clothing that wasn’t too damp, then lifted him from the freezing floor onto the straw mat.

Just as he was about to stand up, his finger was suddenly hooked.

Bai Heting appeared to be awake already. He uttered a single word while looking at him, “Cold.”

His voice was very weak. Luo Congye did not dare to meet his gaze, remaining frozen without a reaction for a long while.

“Cold.” Bai Heting repeated once more.

Luo Congye had no choice but to lie down right next to him.

Before he could even raise his arm, Bai Heting had already reached out to embrace his waist and buried his face into his warm chest.

An Omega would develop a physiological dependence on the Alpha who marked them. Luo Congye understood well in his heart that everything the general was displaying at this very moment was solely because he had given him a temporary mark.

He had originally asked to see Bai Heting in order to bid him a proper farewell, but he had ended up ruining it.

He closed his eyes in despair, slowly lifting his arms to return Bai Heting’s embrace, and whispered, “Rest assured; once the mark fades, I will leave.”

Too late, you can’t leave anymore, Bai Heting thought absentmindedly.

He traced his hand upward along Luo Congye’s back. His fingers paused briefly at the back of his neck before sliding upward, where his thumb and forefinger closed around his chin, forcing it up.

“What did you want to report?” Bai Heting asked.

Failing to perceive his underlying intention, Luo Congye held him quietly for a moment, then spoke slowly, “I’m very glad that, back at the hunting grounds, it was me who found you and not someone else.”

Bai Heting let out a scoff.

This fool actually thought he would share a horse with anyone else…

“I love you.”

Bai Heting froze.

As if he hadn’t understood, he lifted his head from Luo Congye’s embrace.

Luo Congye’s chin ached under his grip. He raised a hand to cover Bai Heting’s, forcing a faint, strained smile as he said, “Are you holding me this tightly because you want to snap my head off?”

Bai Heting stared at him and remained silent.

That had indeed been his original plan.

Luo Congye’s smile faded, and the gaze he fixed on him returned to a calm serenity. “From the moment you saved me from the edge of the blade, I have been grateful to you, looked up to you, and adored you. By the time I understood what love was, I was already in love with you.”

But he quickly averted his eyes.

“And yet, I didn’t dare to love you. I can’t give you wealth, nor can I give you status, I can’t even…” He furrowed his brows, letting out a long, frustrated sigh. “…give you a beautiful little dagger.”

A flicker passed through Bai Heting’s eyes, and he seemed to fall briefly into a daze, his thumb unconsciously brushing the downturned corner of the man’s mouth.

“Don’t look at me.” Luo Congye said as he pressed Bai Heting’s head back down against his chest.

“I have nothing.” His throat seemed to choke up slightly, and he paused there for a long time. Finally, in a barely audible whisper, he said, “Aside from love, I have nothing at all.”

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