After Alpha Discovered Pheromone Hunger - Chapter 6
Chapter 6 – Addiction Attack
That suit would normally need to be dry-cleaned at a specialized service—expensive and delicate.
“It’s just a suit. Don’t worry about it.”
Pei Yu gently adjusted the jacket on Hua Che’s shoulders, tugging the lapels to conceal his exposed collarbones.
“Get some rest. Sleep well.”
“Thank you…”
As soon as the door clicked shut behind Pei Yu, the little fox wrapped in his Alpha’s jacket collapsed.
He had pushed himself past the breaking point. His body no longer obeyed him.
“What’s with the flush? Did that guest release Alpholixin on you?” the store manager asked gruffly, handing him the key, as per protocol.
Hua Che swayed on his feet, his mind swimming. The barrage of questions blurred in his ears. He could barely form a reply.
“Said… he didn’t…”
The store manager yanked the jacket off his shoulders and tore away the pheromone suppressant patch at the base of his neck.
The sudden rip stung sharply, the already-sensitive gland pulsing with fresh heat.
A heady wave of rose-wine pheromone burst into the air, thick and unfiltered, flooding the hallway.
The store manager—a Beta—was immune to scent, and didn’t flinch. He simply leaned in, inspecting Hua Che’s gland like a piece of merchandise.
Swollen but unmarked. Just a faint outline left by the patch.
“Tch. You look like this just from chatting and having drinks?”
He stepped back, voice laced with practiced disdain.
Hua Che’s ears twitched. He stared at the ground, gripping the key tightly. His eyes were red with unshed emotion, but hollow.
The manager kept muttering complaints behind him, but the words dissolved into a low buzzing in Hua Che’s ears.
He’d heard it all before. It barely registered now.
He pulled Pei Yu’s jacket back over his arm and mumbled a farewell before staggering toward his room.
The manager treated all the artists this way. He was only ever powerful when bullying those beneath him.
As Hua Che opened the door, his roommate—another young Omega artist, Fujiwara Yebai—was immediately hit by the heavy pheromones and burst into a coughing fit.
“Brother Hua Che?! What’s going on? Your scent is so strong…!”
He rushed over to catch Hua Che before he fell, helping him toward the bathroom.
“Ye Bai… help me… can you bring the herbal mix?”
“Okay, careful—floor’s slippery.”
Hua Che dumped the entire pack into the tub. The sharp, pungent herbal scent quickly overtook the rose-wine pheromone.
He slid into the bath, sinking into the scalding water. His chest burned at the contact, the red, swollen skin reacting violently.
The heat was almost unbearable, but the sharper pain was in his core—an ache rising from deep within.
The release of the girdle’s lock had triggered a full-blown pheromone crash. He twisted and shifted in the water, trying to find relief, but it only grew worse.
His breathing turned ragged. His control was slipping.
“Brother Hua Che… do you… need help?” Yebai asked tentatively, kneeling beside the tub, clearly overwhelmed.
“D-do you need tools or anything? I have new ones… never used…”
Hua Che shook his head, still panting.
“You know I don’t use those… I’ll be fine. Just… give me a minute.”
Yebai hesitated, then slowly backed out, closing the door behind him.
Alone, Hua Che finally let go.
“…haah…”
He sighed, sinking deeper into the bath, letting the potion sting his battered skin. The wounds on his chest had started to crack and bleed, the herbal solution making them sting all the more.
The mix was supposed to help—but it wasn’t enough.
His body didn’t want calming herbs. It wanted pheromones. Craved them.
Hua Che clutched the side of the tub and curled in on himself, trying to resist the overwhelming hunger surging inside.
He forced his tail under the water, pressed it down, coaxing the medicinal soak to do its job.
But it hurt. Every inch of him was oversensitized, too raw for even the potion to numb.
“Ugh… Why… isn’t it working yet…?”
His voice cracked, barely a whisper.
He shifted, trying to find a better position, half-kneeling to submerge more of himself.
His soaked tail flopped over the edge, dripping with heavy herbal water. The potion rippled with each of his movements, lapping against his skin in agonizing waves.
The stimulation was too much.
His knees buckled, and he collapsed back into the water with a splash.
“Uuhh…”
Hot liquid filled his nose and ears. For a moment, everything went black. His lungs seized, throat burning with the bitter taste of potion.
As he sank, the thought drifted through his mind—maybe it’d be easier to drown like this.
But his hand flailed instinctively and caught the jacket hanging nearby.
No—this jacket had to be returned to Professor Pei.
“Khh-cough!”
He dragged himself back up, coughing violently, choking on the bitter herbal brew.
His throat burned. His body convulsed with the urge to vomit, and he gagged several times.
Eventually, he slumped over the edge of the tub, the soaked suit clenched in his hands.
He stared at it for a long moment, then let out a dry, bitter laugh.
That’s all it takes to want to survive?
He had nearly drowned, and the thought that stopped him was returning a coat.
The potion was starting to take effect—slowly dulling his body, numbing his nerves. But the need for pheromones still pulsed beneath it, buried rather than resolved.
He didn’t know how long the drugs would work. Or how long he could keep forcing himself through this cycle.
Will there be a next time?
The future felt impossibly far away.
He stayed like that, half-hanging out of the tub, the suit clutched in his hand, staring into nothing.
The steam had faded. The potion had gone cold. He didn’t move.
“Brother… Brother Hua Che?”
A small voice peeked through the door.
Fujiwara Yebai—a much younger Omega from Sakurazuru—poked his head in.
“You okay…? You’ve been in there a long time, I was getting worried…”
His tone was formal, overly polite.
Hua Che stirred, managing a weak smile.
“You really think I’d drown in a little tub like this?”
Though honestly, it had almost happened.
“Your face… and ears are a mess… let me help you wash up.”
Yebai reached in with a towel and the shower nozzle.
“It’s okay,” Hua Che murmured, gently taking the shower from him.
“It’s late. Get some rest. I have the day off tomorrow, so I can sleep in.”
“O-okay… Just be careful, okay? I’ll wait for you to come out before I sleep.”
Hua Che chuckled.
“Alright, alright. Also—I told you, you don’t have to use honorifics with me.”
Yebai scratched his cheek, sheepish.
“I know… but I’m used to it. Everyone here expects it.”
He glanced back at Hua Che one more time, then left quietly.
“That kid…” Hua Che murmured with a fond sigh, adjusting the water temperature.
His legs were still weak. His body still ached, pheromones still seeping from his skin, but he couldn’t worry about that now.
He focused on gently rinsing his fluffy fox tail with the shower.
He’d been in Lingguan long enough to be considered a veteran, even though he was only twenty.
He had a reputation—soft-spoken, mature, dependable.
Especially around the younger artists.
Even though, in truth, his life had been the hardest of them all.
The sound of the shower filled the bathroom as his mind drifted.
How many years has it been since I ran to this foreign land?
Time had become a blur. He vaguely remembered being small, barely up to anyone’s waist.
His Alpha father had made enemies—debts, danger. Men with axes had come crashing through their door. He remembered that.
He and his Omega father had escaped in a rotting boat.
Then a storm hit, and the boat lost its way.
When he woke up, his father was gone, and he was pulled from the sea by kind strangers.
He couldn’t understand the language here. He wandered the streets, begging, starving.
“Can I have something to eat…?”
Now that he thought about it, he’d only said that because he heard the Lingguan store manager speaking in Shenzhou dialect.
“I’ll give you food. Shelter. But it’s not charity. You’ll train, and work for me.”
The man handed him a pill.
“You’re a bit old to start, but with those ears and tail, you’ll be popular. Don’t worry—I’ll make you one of the best.”
Back then, the little fox hadn’t even known what the word “artist” meant.
But for a bowl of eel rice, he swallowed poison.