Chapter 17
“Jiang Mo.”
The moment An Le saw Jiang Mo, he was overcome with terror. “No, no, let go! Let me go…”
Jiang Mo was very strong, pulling An Le into his arms.
An Le couldn’t break free, trembling in his embrace. “Let go…”
“Le Le, didn’t you see me at the Western restaurant? Is your eyesight still bad? It seems you haven’t been doing well these past two years, have you?”
Jiang Mo seemed agitated. He pulled An Le out of his arms, pressing his hands against the wall and pinching An Le’s tear-stained face, laughing, “I’ve told you many times, as long as you come with me, I’ll get your eyes treated. No marking, no marriage, it’s fine. Your parents would definitely agree, but you ran away!”
“Is it better out here than at the An family’s?”
“And, who was that alpha just now? Why was he so intimate with you…”
Jiang Mo sniffed An Le’s neck as he spoke, his expression changing from excitement to anger. “You let him mark you! You actually let him mark you!”
An Le’s scent glands no longer only held the scent of peach soda; there was also a strong, overpowering, and sickening alpha scent. Jiang Mo was so furious he wanted to rip open An Le’s scent glands and scrape away the disgusting pheromones from his blood!
Jiang Mo roared, his eyes red, “An Le, I was so good to you, and you wouldn’t accept it! Now you let another alpha mark you! Are you that cheap?!”
An Le could no longer stand, his face pale as he collapsed in Jiang Mo’s grasp, too weak even to cry, his eyes filled with terror.
Where was Lu Heng? Where was Lu Heng? Why hadn’t he come back yet?
At that moment, An Le longed for Lu Heng. If only Lu Heng would come back; if only Lu Heng would come back.
An Le felt himself being lowered into a chair, staring in terror at the furious Jiang Mo. At that moment, he could only see Jiang Mo’s anger; he couldn’t hear anything.
He felt pain in his scent glands. Jiang Mo ripped off his suppressant patch, rubbing it roughly, “It won’t come off! So dirty!”
He desperately grabbed Jiang Mo’s hand, trying to stop him, but to no avail.
“I’m not going to hold it against you this time. Come with me, and let’s get this marking removed!”
Jiang Mo, without ceremony, half-dragged, half-carried An Le to the door, opening it to reveal Lu Heng and a waiter.
The waiter, unable to open the door to deliver the dessert, had knocked and received no response, so he went to find Lu Heng.
The two had just returned when they encountered Jiang Mo trying to take An Le away.
Perhaps because of the marking, or perhaps because of something else, An Le felt dazed, as if he saw Lu Heng. He pleaded softly, “Mr. Lu…”
He had just called out when he felt someone grab his arm, and then he was in an embrace that felt safe, an embrace with a familiar scent he relied on.
He knew Lu Heng had really come back…
Though An Le was disoriented, he clung to Lu Heng like a lifeline, refusing to let go. This prevented Lu Heng from doing anything more than kicking Jiang Mo in the stomach.
Jiang Mo, arrogant and full of resentment toward the alpha who had marked An Le, became even more unwilling to back down. Ignoring the dull pain in his stomach, he grabbed a chair, smashing it toward Lu Heng while attacking with pheromones, “Who do you think you are? You dare to mark Le Le? Are you worthy?!”
Lu Heng was tightly embraced by An Le. An Le wasn’t doing well; he couldn’t let go, nor could he fight Jiang Mo.
He held An Le, dodging while provoking, “Oh really?”
Lu Heng smirked, his eyes fierce. “Worthy or not, he’s mine. What about you?”
Lu Heng didn’t even release his pheromones. He never took such a hothead like Jiang Mo seriously. He countered, “You think you’re worthy, so what?”
Lu Heng smiled, “An Le is mine.”
The words were full of sarcasm. Jiang Mo, already resentful, his eyes reddening, charged forward with the chair, only to be stopped by Li Jie, who had arrived on the scene.
The scene was chaotic. The waiter called the manager, who quickly activated the pheromone purifiers.
Lu Heng carried An Le slowly toward the exit.
Jiang Mo yelled angrily at Li Jie, “Get out of the way! Don’t block me!”
Li Jie, eager for a fight, cracked his knuckles, twisted his neck, and smiled excitedly, “Not a chance. Your pheromones are exhilarating! This is money, buddy! Come on, I guarantee I’ll beat you to tears!”
Jiang Mo: “You goddamn…”
—
When An Le regained consciousness, he was lying in Lu Heng’s arms, already in the car.
Lu Heng’s embrace and pheromones were truly reassuring. After regaining consciousness, An Le didn’t want to move. He deliberately remained silent, wanting to stay in Lu Heng’s arms a little longer.
But Lu Heng seemed to know his thoughts and asked softly, “Who was that?”
An Le flinched at the sound, then remembered Jiang Mo. He knew Lu Heng was asking him; he bit his lip, hesitating whether to speak.
But Lu Heng seemed impatient. An Le felt his shoulder being grasped and pulled from Lu Heng’s embrace, leaving him no choice but to sit up properly.
Lu Heng: “If you don’t speak, you can sit there by yourself.”
An Le quickly held Lu Heng’s arm, whispering, “It was… Jiang Mo, my… brother’s classmate.”
Brother?
An Yi truly didn’t deserve to be An Le’s brother.
Lu Heng looked at An Le with a mocking smile, ignoring Jiang Mo, saying, “Don’t call him your brother; he doesn’t deserve it.”
An Le mustered the courage to look up. The car was in the underground parking garage, the light dim; he couldn’t clearly see Lu Heng’s expression, but he could feel that Lu Heng was being kind to him.
He nodded slowly, “Mm, not brother…”
Lu Heng: “Now, let’s talk about Jiang Mo. What happened?”
When it came to Jiang Mo, An Le became nervous and instinctively wanted to burrow into Lu Heng’s embrace but was held by Lu Heng, unable to move.
His eyes were watery, and he whispered, “He… he…”
An Le was scared; he choked up and couldn’t continue.
Lu Heng released a stronger scent of pheromones, lowering his head to kiss An Le’s eye, “I told you, you can trust me. Tell me.”
An Le trembled, his eyes filled with vulnerability, “Th-then, Mr. Lu… could you… hug me?”
Lu Heng firmly refused, “No. After you tell me.”
An Le had no choice. Tears streamed down his face as he slowly lowered his head.
He remembered the first time he met Jiang Mo.
An Yi would occasionally bring Jiang Mo to their house. The alpha was tall and handsome, appearing sunny and harmless.
An Le, with a glimmer of hope, secretly sought help from Jiang Mo while the others were in the restroom, begging him to save him.
But Jiang Mo refused.
He thought Jiang Mo’s refusal was like everyone else’s—to stand by and watch. But unexpectedly, Jiang Mo took a step forward…