BANG! BANG!
With a rough sound, the old wooden door finally flew open.
Relying on the faint light from the hallway that spilled into the room along with the dust, Yoonwoo rushed inside frantically.
The first thing that caught his eye was Lee Minjae, sprawled carelessly on the bed, delirious.
His naked body was flushed red as if he were running a fever.
His hair, soaked with cold sweat, was stuck to his cheeks, and his unfocused eyes were staring into space as he gasped for air.
He was, by anyone’s definition, an Omega in the midst of a heat cycle.
“Ugh…! Omega pheromones…! They’re filling the room!”
Joowon, who had followed him in, pinched his nose and frowned.
But Yoonwoo’s attention was focused entirely elsewhere.
‘Dojin, where is Dojin…?!’
His gaze scanned the room urgently.
And finally, he spotted a figure huddled in the darkest corner of the room. Intuition told him that shape was Dojin, and with a heart-stopping sense of terror, he ran toward him.
“Dojin!”
As he got closer, the sight of him was devastating.
His entire body was drenched in cold sweat, and red blood flowed from his lips, likely from biting his tongue.
His arms were covered in red scratches and bloodstains, as if he had clawed and pinched himself with his own nails.
Above all, his forehead… it was torn and bleeding profusely, as if he had slammed his head against the wall repeatedly.
Yet, like someone incapable of feeling pain, he was still murmuring, “Yoonwoo… Seo Yoonwoo…,” and continued his attempt to bang his head against the wall.
Yoonwoo felt the breath leave his lungs at the horrific sight and burst into uncontrollable tears.
Desperately, he wedged his hand between the wall and Dojin’s forehead to stop him from hitting it again.
He felt a violent pain in the back of his hand from the blunt impact, but he didn’t care.
“Dojin! Pull yourself together! I’m here! You’re okay now!”
Yoonwoo pulled Dojin into a tight embrace, stroking his face with his free hand while sobbing uncontrollably.
“Dojin, what is this…. Why are you hurt so badly…. I’m here, you’re really okay now…. Please… please pull yourself together…!”
His tear-choked screams echoed tragically through the dark room.
Dojin, who hadn’t even had focus in his eyes, seemed unable to recognize Yoonwoo, who was hugging him and crying.
But as the familiar, comforting scent of Yoonwoo permeated the tip of his nose, his clouded eyes very slowly began to regain a glimmer of light.
“…Chief…? Are you… really… Chief…?”
Dojin asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes! It’s me, Dojin! It’s me! You’re okay now!”
Yoonwoo cradled his face, nodding repeatedly while shedding tears.
Dojin stared at Yoonwoo blankly for a long time, then, feeling a surge of relief, he began to cry himself and pulled Yoonwoo into his arms with all his might.
“Why… why did you come now…. I missed you…. I was so… so scared…. Chief….”
He buried his face in Yoonwoo’s chest and wept sorrowfully like a child.
Yoonwoo’s very existence was the only light that had kept Dojin holding on in the hellish time he had just endured.
Yoonwoo, too, patted Dojin’s back and cried along with him.
As the two of them held each other and wept for a long time, Dojin suddenly pushed Yoonwoo away and spoke.
“Chief… I’m… a bit dangerous right now. Get out of here quickly. I’ll… I’ll somehow calm down and get out on my own. Please…!”
“Dojin, you’re in a rut right now. How can you do this alone!”
Yoonwoo took his hand and said firmly.
“I will… I will help you.”
A fleeting fear crossed his mind: ‘What help can I, a Beta without pheromones, be to an Alpha in a rut?’
But he shook his head.
Even if he couldn’t offer much help in dissipating Dojin’s pheromones, he could at least calm him down before the drug took full effect.
And he didn’t want to leave him alone while he was in such agony, slamming his head against the wall.
However, Dojin desperately shook his head and pushed Yoonwoo away once more.
“No! Absolutely not! I’m not in my right mind right now! I… I don’t want to hurt precious Chief with my own hands! Please… please go out and… bring me… bring me a suppressant… okay?”
His eyes were filled with pleading and pain.
He was currently feeling an uncontrollable rampage of instinct.
Yoonwoo’s heart broke at his desperate state, but he made a cool-headed judgment.
“Dojin, even if you take a suppressant now, it won’t take effect immediately. Besides, there’s nowhere to get one right away….”
He turned his head toward Joowon, who had been watching the two with a devastated expression from the moment they entered.
“Joowon. I’m sorry to ask, but could you please take Lee Minjae on the bed and leave? And please find us a suppressant.”
At those words, Joowon’s eyes filled with deep defeat and self-reproach.
Having been watching them silently, Joowon nodded without a word.
He then took a small case out of his inner jacket pocket and quietly placed it on the table.
It was a high-intensity Alpha rut suppressant.
“…I carry it as a standby. Use this.”
Joowon said in a low voice.
His gaze did not meet Yoonwoo’s.
With that, he finished by wrapping Minjae in a blanket that had been thrown under the bed, picked him up, and left the room without a backward glance.
After Joowon and Minjae left, only Yoonwoo and Dojin remained in the room.
Yoonwoo carefully supported the staggering Dojin and sat him on the bed.
Then, he fed him the pill Joowon had left behind and said in a very soft but firm voice.
“Dojin, look at me.”
Dojin, his face twisted with pain and desire, managed to look at Yoonwoo.
Yoonwoo didn’t avoid his eyes, instead meeting them directly as he cupped Dojin’s cheeks.
Then, he slowly climbed onto his lap and began to unbutton his clothes, one by one.
“Chief…! No…! Please… don’t do this…!”
Dojin tried to push Yoonwoo down in terror, but Yoonwoo suppressed his resistance with his body and whispered into his ear.
His voice was trembling, but it was firmer and more sincere than ever.
“Dojin, look at me. I… I didn’t want to convey my feelings like this, either.”
His voice held a sense of resolution along with the sadness.
“But because I like you. I want to be by your side, not anyone else. I want to be the one who can comfort you, even without pheromones. So… give me a chance.”
He lightly bit Dojin’s earlobe and blew a hot breath onto his neck.
Dojin gasped at Yoonwoo’s sudden seduction and the sweet scent radiating from his body.
While he was anxious that Yoonwoo might get hurt by his rough strength, he felt his own blood boiling at the bold action.
Yoonwoo whispered words of temptation into the ear of Dojin, whose eyes had lost focus and whose face was flushed crimson, in a voice small enough for only him to hear.
In an instant, as if he could no longer bear it, Dojin let out a rough gasp, changed positions, and pinned Yoonwoo beneath him.
His eyes had already shifted into those of a complete Alpha.
He roughly devoured Yoonwoo’s lips and rained passionate kisses upon him.
Then, he pulled out his hot, rigid shaft and rubbed it against Yoonwoo’s heated body.
“Haa… haa…. Yoonwoo… Yoonwoo….”
His lips were hot and rough.
As if trying to quench a thirst he had endured for a long time, he swallowed Yoonwoo’s tender lips, and his tongue, which had intruded without room for resistance, softly scoured the inside of Yoonwoo’s mouth.
Yoonwoo felt suffocated by his sudden and intense kiss, but he didn’t dislike it.
Instead, he felt primal senses he had unknowingly forgotten waking up within the clumsy yet sincere passion.
Their kiss grew deeper and hotter.
The air in the room became dizzyingly rich, thick with the sounds of their ragged breathing and wet lips colliding, the dense pheromones of the Alpha, and Yoonwoo’s sweet scent.
“Hng… ah…. Dojin….”
Dojin’s hot hand dug into Yoonwoo’s thin shirt, gripping his smooth waist.
Every place his touch landed, a thrilling jolt ran through him, and Yoonwoo, without realizing it, wrapped his arms around Dojin’s neck, responding to his kiss.
Dojin explored him even more fiercely at Yoonwoo’s reaction.
His lips descended from Yoonwoo’s lips to his neck, then to his collarbone, leaving red marks on his pale skin.
Yoonwoo couldn’t keep his mind straight from his hot caresses.
His whole body flushed, his breath quickened, and his head felt like it was turning white.
Dojin’s body was still being governed by drugs and instinct.
His touch, gripping Yoonwoo’s slender body as if to break it and exploring his delicate skin, was rough and impatient.
Yoonwoo shivered at the Alpha’s powerful grip.
But immediately, in the flushed eyes of Dojin looking down at him, he discovered deep affection and longing toward himself, alongside the desire that seemed to have stripped him of reason.
He decided to trust Dojin.
Dojin took off his own clothes, then cautiously but quickly removed Yoonwoo’s.
Yoonwoo also surrendered his body to his touch, tracing his solid physique.
The moment their bare skin touched, the temperature in the room seemed to flare even hotter.
Dojin pressed his body completely against Yoonwoo’s, breathing hot air onto his ear as he whispered.
“Yoonwoo…. Haa… it feels… it feels so good…. I’m going crazy….”
His voice was submerged in desire, but within it was an earnestness toward Yoonwoo.
Dojin gently rubbed his hot, swollen manhood between Yoonwoo’s legs, gauging his reaction.
Yoonwoo gasped at the explicit caress and gripped Dojin’s shoulders tightly.
