“Master, this must not proceed further. Your honoured parents have been informed and will arrive shortly.”

“Simply confirm that all was revealed to them, and let this be done with.”

“Fortuitously, I was not the one to bear the tidings. When you lay in your prolonged unconscious state, Norma grew frantic and felt compelled to inform your parents, lest your condition worsen.”

“You are the only Beta within my counsel so tell me truly, what is your judgement of all that has transpired?”

Hun’s lawyer paused before answering. In such matters, a single ill-judged word might cost him either his master’s trust or cast him as a predator in the eyes of Omegas and Alphas alike. “Master,” he began cautiously, “I confess I know little of what becomes of an Omega who grows attached to an Alpha’s scent. Yet I commend you for your courage in declaring your intentions. Even so, not all would wish to be courted in such a manner. You have tormented this man for years, and he has never ceased to perceive you as his tormentor. It may take time before he believes the sincerity of your desire. But, should you remain steadfast, he may at last accept his fate as an Almega.”

Hun’s brows furrowed. “Can he sue me for concealing his condition?”

The lawyer inclined his head slightly. “Forgive me, master, if I respond with a question of my own — why did you employ your pheromones upon him?”

Hun hesitated. “Because, no matter how I cornered him, he refused to bend.”

The lawyer chuckled softly. In his eyes, this man, formidable though he was, now resembled one hopelessly stricken with first love. And yet, as one well-versed in the bonds between Alpha and Omega, he knew that here both parties had erred. Hun ought not to have deployed his pheromones, just as Uta ought not to have scented the flowers with his own, Recessive though he may have been.

“What if he carries your child?”

Hun’s expression darkened. “His companion, whom I have come to regard as a reliable source, mentioned that he visits the hospital to cleanse himself. That possibility is therefore void.” He hesitated, then confessed in a quieter tone, “It was a two-way encounter. I am… still sore in some places.”

An uncomfortable silence descended. It was the first time Hun had shared so much with anyone, a sign of the desperation gnawing at him for Uta’s attention.

“Shall I summon the physician again?”

“No.” Hun’s ears burned. “Pretend you heard nothing.”

“But, master, if you were to conceive—”

“He is a Recessive, and I am a Dominant,” Hun interrupted, his voice clipped. “If conception is to occur, it will be with him, now that he is an Almega.”

“Even so, master, he could bring charges against you for taking advantage of him, for transforming him into an Almega against his will. Almega pheromones are considered an addictive drug by Abnormals, their sharpness perceptible even to Betas.”

“This is precisely what I desired. How else am I to keep him bound to me, if not by this means?”

“Master,” the lawyer pressed gently, “if your feelings are earnest, choose another path. Your present course only deepens his resentment toward you.”

Hun abruptly rose to his feet. “This discussion shall resume another time.”

“M-Master—”

Hun let out a long, weary sigh. “It has been a taxing day, would you not agree?”

The lawyer merely nodded and smiled faintly, understanding the signal to withdraw.

When the door shut, Hun’s composure faltered. He knew his lawyer spoke the truth, but pride forbade him from yielding. What else could he have done? From the first moment he laid eyes upon Uta, he had been drawn to him, recognising his scent as one recognises destiny, a privilege unique to Dominants. And though he feigned indifference, he watched Uta closely, until he discovered that the flowers he delivered carried his pheromones, proof that Uta was emitting them without realising it.

At first, Hun assumed Uta was simply oblivious, until he learned he was a Recessive. That meant Uta had grown accustomed to Hun’s scent and did not perceive his own emissions. At that realisation, Hun seized the chance, for once in his life, he could savour an Alpha’s scent openly. And before he knew it, he had grown addicted to it. Soon after, his heat descended upon him with violent force than before, flooding the mansion with pheromones so potent that Norma had to evacuate the household staff.

And it was then, of all times, that Uta arrived with flowers, unaware that the estate lay empty.

The scent of an Omega in heat calls to any Alpha, Dominant or Recessive, and Uta instinctively followed it to its source, answering it with his own pheromones. What followed was fast, fevered, primal. Hun overpowered him, yet, like any Omega, he longed afterwards to be held and soothed. It was then that Uta first knotted him.

When it was over, Uta had fallen into unconsciousness for hours, and upon Norma’s return, Hun had him moved discreetly to a hotel. The next morning, Uta appeared as if nothing had occurred, which enraged Hun, for it could only mean, to his mind, that Uta was like any other Alpha, flitting from partner to partner without remorse.

’For a time, I cursed myself, even regretted what had transpired. An Omega in heat marking an Alpha without consent, no wonder Dominants loathe one another, whether Omega or Alpha. We are threats not merely to others but to ourselves, and to every Recessive we meet.

And yet, all I wanted was for you to see me, to look at me and no one else. Instead, you treated me as a burden.

Every day since, I have returned to that night in my mind, to the touch, the taste, the knot. Is this what it means to be Dominant? To remember what one longs to forget, and to ache all the more for it?

Each time you came to deliver flowers, I resolved to tell you. Yet each time I beheld your face and saw only resentment, I crushed the hope within me, until it became unbearable to keep nurturing it. Every day you wore the same polite smile, one that barely veiled your hatred.

Sometimes, I wish you had been aware of my agony. Your very existence is pleasant and painful at equilibrium.'

A knock at the door dragged Hun from his thoughts. Norma’s voice floated through.

“Master, your parents have arrived.”

“I shall be down in twenty minutes.”

“Yes, master, but they are not alone. They have brought with them another gentleman, in a wheelchair. They introduced him as your betrothed’s father.”

‘Coach? Why would he come with them?’

“Make that five minutes.”

“At once, master.”

No sooner had Norma’s footsteps faded than Hun hastened to the washroom, splashing water upon his face. He swallowed supplements to steady his pheromones, lest they spill unchecked. His parents might be Betas, but his coach was not, and such an offence would be unforgivable.

“It seems the pace has been quickened,” Hun murmured to his reflection. “Luck favours me, then. This means you cannot escape me, Uta.”