After Differentiating into an Alpha, I Marked My Love Rival - Chapter 19

After Ji Yongshu finished speaking, she didn’t hear her wife’s response, making her feel even more wronged. Tears welled up in her eyes as she gazed at Jiang Zhiluo with reddened eyes.

Perhaps no one could remain unmoved when the person they love looks at them with teary eyes—Jiang Zhiluo was no exception.

Her heart ached so much she didn’t know what to do. Her brows furrowed tightly, and she wished she could rush to the Ji family immediately to hold the woman on the other side of the screen tightly in her arms.

If only she could really do that.

Jiang Zhiluo’s expression turned slightly dazed as she listened to Ji Yongshu softly calling her “wife” in her ear. For a moment, it felt like her sweetest dream had come true.

As if she had truly become Ji Yongshu’s wife.

But soon, Jiang Zhiluo snapped back to reality.

Ji Yongshu was merely in the throes of her rut and had mistaken her for her wife after catching her scent.

Once the rut ended, Ji Yongshu would likely forget everything that had happened during this time.

Many alphas didn’t remember what they did during their ruts.

During this period, they acted on instinct, often doing many irrational things. After the rut passed, their innate pride and need for control made them forget those embarrassing experiences.

At first, Jiang Zhiluo felt a pang of loss, but then she realized—even if she said something she shouldn’t now, Ji Yongshu probably wouldn’t remember it once she regained her senses.

She wouldn’t remember.

Jiang Zhiluo heard her heartbeat grow faster, the longing and impulse in her heart urging her to part her lips and whisper in response, “I… I can’t come home yet.”

“Be good and wait for me, okay?”

Taking advantage of Ji Yongshu’s rut made Jiang Zhiluo feel both guilty and ashamed. But once the words left her mouth, she couldn’t help feeling as if she really were Ji Yongshu’s wife—as if they were a devoted alpha-omega couple.

Let’s just treat this as a dream!

Jiang Zhiluo closed her eyes, her face flushing with embarrassment. Clutching her phone tightly, as if throwing caution to the wind, she continued, “I’m not abandoning you…”

Ji Yongshu reacted strongly to these words. She suddenly tightened her grip on the orange plush toy in her arms, and the tears she’d been holding back burst forth like a broken dam, streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks.

Jiang Zhiluo had never seen her like this before. Startled by Ji Yongshu’s sudden tears, she instinctively reached out a finger, wanting to wipe the alpha’s tear-streaked face.

But when her fingertip touched the cold screen, she remembered—she didn’t have the ability, nor the right, to do such things.

Her hand froze mid-air before slowly lowering. Pressing her lips together, she pushed aside the inappropriate sense of loss and softly comforted, “Jiejie, please don’t cry anymore, okay?”

Seeing her cry like this made Jiang Zhiluo want to rush to Ji Yongshu without a second thought and fulfill her every need.

Her breathing hitched for a moment. Digging her nails into her palm until crescent-shaped marks formed, she had no choice but to rely on the pain to suppress her impulses.

She couldn’t go.

Ji Yongshu obediently hugged the orange plushie, nuzzling her nose against it. After catching a whiff of its fragrant tea scent, she reluctantly let out a soft hum.

Then, right in front of Jiang Zhiluo, she pressed her cheek against the plushie, even pressing light, intermittent kisses against the two little leaves on its head.

Jiang Zhiluo’s breathing instantly grew more erratic.

Her gaze locked onto Ji Yongshu’s movements, her fingers clenching so tightly that her nails nearly dug into her palms.

She actually—!

Ji Yongshu’s actions might have been unconscious, but to Jiang Zhiluo, they felt like a deliberate hint.

Because she, too, loved kissing the orange plushie like that.

Jiang Zhiluo stared at Ji Yongshu’s lips, and for a fleeting moment, it felt as though those kisses weren’t landing on the plushie—but on her own lips.

A fleeting touch, brimming with lingering tenderness.

The faint scent of tea lingered in the air, and Jiang Zhiluo quickly pressed a hand over her scent gland. The skin beneath her fingers was scorching hot.

A light press of her fingertips sent a dull ache through her nape, as if she’d been bitten.

Her body was already in the throes of heat, and with the person she loved carelessly flaunting her allure right in front of her, Jiang Zhiluo couldn’t help but be affected.

Without hesitation, she injected herself with a suppressant—so swiftly that no one would guess she had unconsciously released her pheromones just earlier that day.

After all, the alpha she loved wasn’t by her side. Letting her pheromones run wild would only bring her endless trouble.

Once the suppressant took effect, Jiang Zhiluo brushed aside her sweat-dampened hair and lifted her gaze to Ji Yongshu on the screen.

Only to find that the alpha had tossed the orange plushie aside at some point, leaving it abandoned by her legs. The woman who had just been cuddling and kissing it so affectionately was now entirely captivated by the omega on the screen.

Jiang Zhiluo didn’t know how to describe the look in Ji Yongshu’s eyes. Her lashes were still damp, her eyes rimmed red, but the innocence from before had completely vanished.

The alpha stared unblinkingly at her “wife,” her gaze greedily tracing the omega’s soft lips before trailing down to her slender neck. It lingered there for a long moment before finally settling.

Jiang Zhiluo mentally mapped where that gaze had stopped, and as realization dawned, a flush of embarrassment slowly spread from her cheeks down her body.

Ji Yongshu was looking at the side of her neck.

More precisely—her scent gland.

The alpha wanted to mark her.

Jiang Zhiluo took a deep breath, forcing herself to remember that Ji Yongshu was simply in rut—this was all a natural reaction.

Marking an omega was an alpha’s instinct.

Even if Ji Yongshu wanted to mark her, it didn’t mean she loved her.

Jiang Zhiluo repeated this to herself several times before finally calming her racing heart—though under the alpha’s unwavering stare, her body remained stiff.

“Wife,” Ji Yongshu murmured after a long silence.

Her voice was low and rough, like a whisper at the peak of passion. The air between them was so still that Jiang Zhiluo could almost feel the words brushing against her ear.

Her face was flushed beyond recognition, the blush never fading from start to finish.

Jiang Zhiluo hesitated for a moment before finally deciding to follow her heart, answering softly, “Mm.”

Upon hearing her response, Ji Yongshu’s eyes immediately lit up. She stared unblinkingly at the omega’s neck, her gaze filled with undisguised desire.

“I want you…”

Jiang Zhiluo took a deep, shaky breath and struggled to refuse, “No.”

Ji Yongshu pressed her lips together, no longer crying pitifully like before. Instead, she fixed the omega with a stubborn, fierce glare, her sharp gaze as if trying to pin Jiang Zhiluo in place.

“Why not?”

She couldn’t understand—the omega could give her that sweet, soothing pheromone to ease her discomfort, yet she stubbornly refused!

“Because I… I’m not in S City.” In her panic, Jiang Zhiluo blurted out a random excuse, hoping Ji Yongshu would stop looking at her like that.

The moment the alpha heard this, she tightened her grip on her phone and pushed herself up, the strap of her dress slipping off her shoulder in the process, revealing a glimpse of bare skin.

Jiang Zhiluo instinctively shut her eyes, but the image was already burned into her mind.

Sister…

Her breathing was utterly erratic.

Unaware of how alluring she looked at that moment, Ji Yongshu only wanted to get to the omega.

“I’ll come to you,” she said hoarsely.

Jiang Zhiluo, realizing she wasn’t joking, quickly opened her eyes and waved her hands frantically.

“Don’t come!”

She couldn’t bring herself to look at Ji Yongshu now, her gaze flitting around, refusing to settle on her.

When no response came after a long pause, Jiang Zhiluo reluctantly shifted her eyes back—only to meet Ji Yongshu’s cold, dark glare.

This was the first time she had ever seen such an expression on Ji Yongshu’s face. Even when the alpha had despised her the most, she had merely been cold and indifferent, unwilling to engage.

Never like this—ferocious, with a palpable aura of hostility.

Terrified, Jiang Zhiluo stammered, “S-Sister?”

The alpha stared at her with a venomous gaze for a long moment before letting out a cold laugh, her voice rough.

“You’re avoiding me.”

Her tone was absolute.

Before Jiang Zhiluo could react, Ji Yongshu continued,

“Are you with another alpha?”

Her voice was so fierce it seemed that if Jiang Zhiluo said yes, she would grab a knife and hunt that alpha down.

Jiang Zhiluo stared at her blankly. “What other alpha?”

Ji Yongshu’s expression darkened further, as if she had been waiting for this.

“None?”

She sneered. “Weren’t you still pining for that white moonlight of yours?”