Willing to Be for Her - Chapter 16

White steam billowed from the kettle’s spout, intensifying the cherry scent in the air and transforming it into a potent cherry wine.

“Ning Yiqing, you have a fever,” Luo Xuan said, staring at the woman who was so different from her usual self, unsure how to react. “I’ll go get you an inhibitor.”

Briefly regaining clarity, Ning Yiqing realized she was leaning on Luo Xuan and straightened up, but her legs gave way, pulling Luo Xuan down onto the carpet with her.

“The inhibitor isn’t working…”

The higher an Omega’s rank, the less effective inhibitors became. Unless they regularly switched between different types, the drugs often failed.

Luo Xuan wanted to call Lan Leren, but after fumbling around in a daze, she remembered she had come downstairs for water and hadn’t brought her phone.

The woman nestled in Luo Xuan’s arms, gasping for breath, her eyes rimmed with red, tears streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks. “Xiao Xuan, it hurts so much… my whole body aches.”

Ning Yiqing’s pheromones surged uncontrollably, filling the room with the scent of White Sandalwood. Luo Xuan couldn’t resist its pull.

The woman in Luo Xuan’s arms burned with an unnatural fever, even the cool, snow-blue Buddhist prayer beads she wore radiating heat.

It felt like some kind of unknown corruption.

“Ning Yiqing, does it hurt terribly? I’ll take you to the hospital,” Luo Xuan said, enduring the dizzying heat that coursed through her body. She lifted the woman into a horizontal carry, feeling her own Cherry Pheromone being released uncontrollably under the influence.

The torment of her Heat Period was eroding Luo Xuan’s rationality and willpower. She struggled to move toward the door, the tips of her ears flushed with a delicate warmth.

Ning Yiqing’s voice was hoarse from the fever. “Too late… it hurts so much…”

“But I can’t… mark you,” Luo Xuan’s voice trembled, remembering Ning Yiqing’s words.

In her delirium, the woman bit her crimson lips, gazing at Luo Xuan with tear-filled eyes.

“Mark?” Ning Yiqing’s dark hair cascaded down as her eyes gradually lost focus, tears tracing paths over her beauty mark. Her desperate plea sounded like a small animal’s cry for help. “You mark… me? So hot.”

Suddenly, a torrential downpour arrived as if on cue. Lan Leren drove her SUV slowly through the sudden deluge, heading to deliver documents to her boss.

These past few days, Luo Xuan had been running ragged, following Ning Yiqing to meetings across various government departments. She was utterly exhausted.

Not to mention Ning Yiqing’s own grueling schedule: personally attending banquets, conducting on-site inspections, and maneuvering through the wiles of seasoned politicians—a mental and physical drain.

As the heir apparent, she had to demonstrate her unwavering resolve and commitment to pioneering new frontiers.

But tonight’s rain was exceptionally violent. The lush cherry tree leaves in the villa’s courtyard, battered beyond endurance, hung precariously, threatening to fall.

The downpour had isolated Cherry Pheromone and White Sandalwood from the world.

Overwhelmed by pain, Ning Yiqing gripped Luo Xuan’s arm so tightly her fingertips turned white, leaving faint bl00d-red marks.

“Ning Yiqing, your phone. Call Lan Leren.”

After a brief struggle, they collapsed together onto the smoke-gray sofa.

The woman’s disheveled clothes lay crumpled around her waist, revealing a narrow, dazzlingly pale waist as supple as a vine soaked in spring water.

Kneeling halfway, Luo Xuan gazed at her in a daze.

Ning Yiqing’s beauty was the kind that stirred the imagination—pure, aloof, and subtly sensual. Though as unapproachable as a snow-capped mountain under a cold moon, she drew people to her like moths to a flame.

“You’re bleeding,” Ning Yiqing’s usually crisp, detached voice became soft and muddled.

Following Ning Yiqing’s gaze, Luo Xuan finally noticed a sharp cut on the index finger of her left hand, bl00d welling up and trickling down.

The warm, cherry-scented bl00d was nothing new to her. She instinctively reached for a tissue to wipe away the vivid crimson stain.

In the next moment, the kneeling woman leaned forward, her lips brushing against the thin calluses between Luo Xuan’s fingers and palm.

The bl00d stained the woman’s petal-like lips crimson, like the pure, radiant moon from the heavens, tainted by a bewitching, bloody aura, plunging into the abyss together.

This fleeting, restrained touch completely shattered Luo Xuan’s rationality.

Ning Yiqing’s eyes were half-closed, her smooth, delicate neck radiating a youthful innocence as it rested in the Alpha’s palm. Fingertips traced her skin, as if caressing a flawless jade ruyi scepter.

The sudden ring of a phone jolted Luo Xuan back to partial awareness. She frantically searched for the bite inhibitor she’d left in the living room.

Fortunately, there was another one in the drawer of the nearby side table. She tore open the packaging in a rush, but couldn’t manage to unfasten the inhibitor’s clasp.

“Xiao Xuan, I want cherry pie.”

The warm scent of White Sandalwood enveloped Luo Xuan, and the muzzle clattered to the floor.

“If you want cherry pie, there’s always some in the fridge. I’ll get it for you.”

“No time.”

Without the muzzle, Luo Xuan tasted the lingering sweetness between their lips for the first time. The White Sandalwood scent was clear and pure, like bathing in moonlight.

The phone continued to ring, but the occupants of the room seemed oblivious.

A dangerous comfort made Ning Yiqing struggle. Her Cherry Pheromone flooded the air like a tide, and she desperately tried to suppress her moans, clinging to the Alpha’s calloused fingers in her dazed state.

A faint sound of water.

Sharp fangs pierced Luo Xuan’s nape, the scent of bl00d and White Sandalwood flooding her nostrils.

The mark on her neck was now as red as a cherry, so tender it seemed it would break at the slightest touch.

The woman trembled from the pain and the permanent marking, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face as she struggled to stifle her wet whimpers.

The overwhelming stimulation nearly doubled her over, her usually composed face now strained with suppressed agony.

This uncontrolled, unexpected encounter seemed endless. Luo Xuan’s nape bled and healed repeatedly, while parallel wounds appeared on the Alpha’s back.

Ning Yiqing trembled violently, a fine, intermittent tremor that shook her entire body. Her eyes were closed, and she longed to beg Luo Xuan, yet shame kept the words locked in her throat.

As midnight approached, the wind and rain raged outside. The pheromone scent finally began to dissipate, and Ning Yiqing emerged from her extreme loss of control. The persistent stinging at the back of her neck and the lingering sweet cherry fragrance on her body both confirmed the truth:

Whether she wanted it or not, Luo Xuan had permanently marked her.

Ning Yiqing was accustomed to having everything under control—orderly, predictable, and pristine. Her life allowed no room for surprises, nor for any reason to break her own rules.

Luo Xuan felt the person beside her sit up and opened her eyes. She cautiously called out to Ning Yiqing, “Are you still in pain?”

Ning Yiqing stared at Luo Xuan, her gaze deep and unfathomable.

After a long silence, Luo Xuan lowered her head, but couldn’t resist glancing back up at Ning Yiqing.

The woman exuded an air of cold elegance and dignity. Even with her clothes disheveled and torn from the permanent marking, and tears still wet at the corners of her eyes, her expression remained calm, almost indifferent. Not even the fingers gripping the blanket trembled.

A faint furrow creased her brow, and her eyes were as deep and still as a bottomless pool. Her entire being radiated a purity that seemed inviolable.

Ning Yiqing didn’t look at Luo Xuan. Her voice was hoarse and icy, like that of a cold-blooded monarch wielding absolute power over life and death.

“Get out.”