Chapter 126
“Gu Qian…”
Xiao Xiao didn’t want to go back with him, but in that moment, he didn’t even dare to shake his head, let alone refuse. From his previous experience, he knew he couldn’t provoke Gu Qian when he was like this. The only thing to do was to placate him, to go along with whatever he wanted.
But he really didn’t want to go.
He hadn’t even said a word, but Gu Qian was already displeased. Gu Qian reached out, wiping the tears from his face. “Why are you calling me by my name again?” he asked in a low voice. “We agreed you’d call me husband.”
Xiao Xiao immediately clamped his mouth shut and said no more. He was unsteady on his feet; the moment Gu Qian let go, he crumpled to the floor, his back against the bed. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
Gu Qian knelt in front of him, cupping his face in his hands. “Xiao Xiao,” he said, his expression serious, “call me husband.”
Tears streamed down Xiao Xiao’s face. After a long moment of hesitation, he finally managed a trembling, “Husband.”
“Good boy.”
Gu Qian smiled. He half-pulled, half-lifted him from the floor, then scooped him up, one arm under his armpits, the other under his knees, and carried him out. Gu Qian was a top-tier alpha; carrying a beta was effortless. “Don’t be scared,” he said as he walked. “I’m taking you home.”
Xiao Xiao was certain there was something wrong with Gu Qian. He wouldn’t be acting like this otherwise. But it was too late. He had already gotten involved with him, and now he didn’t know how to get away.
Xiao Xiao bit his lip, feeling a mix of helplessness, fear, and a little shame. After all, he was a grown man being carried like a princess by another grown man in the middle of the night. It was both intimate and humiliating.
But thankfully, it was late, and no one was around to see his shame. Besides, he had already lost all face. Never mind the embarrassment at the company over the last two years, just yesterday he’d gone out for a meal, only to end up being bitten by Gu Qian and taken to the hospital. His pride was completely gone.
Right now, his only fear was that Gu Qian would go crazy, or that he’d drop him. So, Xiao Xiao clutched tightly to Gu Qian’s clothes. This, however, made Gu Qian ecstatic. He loved seeing Xiao Xiao so completely dependent on him.
Gu Qian settled into the back seat with him in his arms. The moment the door closed, the driver started the car. Xiao Xiao knew they were heading back to that “home” that supposedly belonged to him.
What a joke. Gu Qian said the house was his, but he wouldn’t tell him the passcode. He couldn’t even get in or out without him. How was that his house?
Xiao Xiao bit his lip, hesitating for a long time before finally asking, “Can I go to work tomorrow?”
Although Gu Qian’s fit of madness had been short, he could still feel his overwhelming possessiveness. It was his own fault for getting involved with someone like this; he accepted that. He could play along with Gu Qian, he could agree not to make friends, but he had to have his basic freedom. So, his biggest worry right now was whether he could still go to work.
Sure enough, after he asked, Gu Qian’s expression seemed to shift. The atmosphere in the car instantly grew strange. After a long silence, Gu Qian finally spoke. “Isn’t it nice to stay at home and wait for me, Xiao Xiao?”
Xiao Xiao didn’t answer. He remembered Gu Qian calling him into his office a while back to ask for his opinion on the societal opposition to alpha-beta relationships. At the time, he hadn’t seen anything wrong with it and didn’t oppose it like the people online. He felt that as long as the alpha could respect their beta partner, everything else wasn’t a problem. Even if an alpha’s possessiveness and desires were strong, with respect and affection, a beta’s suffering would be much less.
But now, it seemed the opposition was right. Alphas simply couldn’t learn to respect betas.
Seeing Xiao Xiao’s silence, Gu Qian knew he was upset. He frowned, his voice taking on a placating tone. “You don’t like that kind of life, Xiao Xiao? If you don’t, you can still go to work like before. You’ve been promoted, after all. You’ll be my personal assistant, you can be with me all the time.”
Xiao Xiao froze. He looked up at Gu Qian and asked hesitantly, “When you offered me the promotion to be your personal assistant, was it… was it for this?”
Gu Qian nodded. “Yes.”
Xiao Xiao opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. He had thought the promotion was just a raise and had been happy about it for so long. Now he realized Gu Qian’s real intention wasn’t to give him more money, but to watch him every second of the day, to build an invisible cage for him with his own hands.
His eyes grew moist, and tears threatened to fall. He bit his lip to hold back a sob and didn’t say another word.
Gu Qian grew anxious. He pulled Xiao Xiao out of his arms and set him on the seat, holding his shoulders and tilting his chin up to force him to meet his gaze.
“You don’t like it, Xiao Xiao?”
Tears rolled down Xiao Xiao’s cheeks. “If I say I don’t like it, will you let me go back to my old life?”
A flicker of pain crossed Gu Qian’s eyes. “Xiao Xiao, you’re with me now. You can’t go back to your old life. Unless you were an omega. After I permanently marked you, you could do whatever you wanted.”
“An omega?” Xiao Xiao let out a small laugh. “But I’m not an omega.” He wasn’t an omega, and thank god for that. If he were, after being marked by Gu Qian, he would never be able to escape him. Even if he could get the mark removed later, the surgery always caused irreversible damage to omegas.
Thank god he was a beta. He could never be permanently marked. As long as he wanted to, as long as he had the chance, he could escape from Gu Qian. He would never have to submit to him because of his pheromones.
“Is that so?” Gu Qian smiled, a hint of excitement in his eyes. “Then do you want to be an omega?”
Xiao Xiao shot him a look, thinking he really had lost his mind. Why would he ever want to be an omega? Other betas might, but he never would. He turned away, resting his head against the window and closing his eyes, refusing to say another word.
Gu Qian didn’t get angry. Instead, he happily pulled Xiao Xiao away from the window and back into his arms. “Don’t be scared, and don’t worry,” he said with a laugh. “Leave it to me. I’ll figure something out.”
Xiao Xiao ignored him, completely unaware of the terrifying thoughts running through Gu Qian’s mind. And since Gu Qian wasn’t as frightening as he had been when he bit him, his fear had subsided a little. Still, being forced to lie in Gu Qian’s arms, he couldn’t bring himself to be happy.
Suddenly, a hand touched his gland through the gauze. Before he could react, he heard Gu Qian say, “Be good, Xiao Xiao. Just sleep for a little while. We’ll be there soon.”
Xiao Xiao wanted to say that there was no way he could sleep in this situation. But before he could speak, he felt his eyelids grow heavy. He didn’t know what was happening. He instinctively bit his lip, trying to stay awake, but it didn’t work. Soon, his eyes closed, and he fell into a deep sleep.
Watching the beautiful beta sleep in his arms, Gu Qian’s lips curved into a smile. He took out his phone and made a call.
“What’s the progress?”
“We’re almost there, but the current drug has some side effects. We plan to reformulate it to perfect it as much as possible.”
Almost there. The words made Gu Qian incredibly excited, but the mention of side effects made him frown. “What side effects?”
“Although the drug can induce a beta’s gland to develop a second time, it quickly deteriorates afterward and will shorten the beta’s lifespan. So I recommend not using it for now. Wait until it’s perfected.”
The excitement in Gu Qian’s heart instantly turned to ice. “How long will it take to perfect?”
“Very soon.”
“Perfect it as soon as possible,” Gu Qian ordered. “The drug can’t have any side effects. Otherwise, your team won’t see a single cent beyond the research funding.”
With that, he hung up. He held the person in his arms and said helplessly, “We still have to wait. I’ve already waited almost two years, and we still have to wait. But, they said it would be soon.” As he spoke, he leaned down and kissed Xiao Xiao’s forehead, his gaze gentle and deeply affectionate.
When Xiao Xiao woke up, he found himself lying on a bed. He sat up slowly, dazed for a moment before realizing this wasn’t the room he had been in before. Curious, he got out of bed, opened the door, and looked around. It definitely wasn’t his “home.”
“Gu Qian?”
Barefoot, Xiao Xiao stood in the living room and called his name softly. He knew Gu Qian didn’t like it when he used his full name, but unless he was forced, he didn’t want to be so intimate.
It seemed Gu Qian wasn’t here. Worried that he was hiding somewhere to see his reaction, Xiao Xiao quickly checked all the rooms. Once he was sure no one was there, he went to the door, intending to sneak out. But just like before, the door had a passcode. He tried a few random numbers, but none of them worked. And his phone was gone.
Dejected, Xiao Xiao sat on the sofa and buried his face in his hands. Was Gu Qian really going to lock him up? What was he going to do?
His nose tingled, and his eyes grew red. The air in the room felt stuffy. He decided to go to the window and open it for some fresh air. But as soon as he stood up from the sofa, the whole house started to shake. Terrified, he instantly dropped to the ground, looking around in panic.
“What’s going on? Is it an earthquake?” Could he be that unlucky?
Thinking it was an earthquake, Xiao Xiao’s face went pale with fear. Just then, the door to the room opened. Gu Qian walked in calmly, carrying a bag.
Seeing Gu Qian act as if nothing was wrong, Xiao Xiao forgot all about the rift between them. He crouched in the corner of the sofa and asked, his voice trembling with fear, “Gu Qian, is it an earthquake? I… I can feel the house shaking.”
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