90 – Cypress Mosaic

Lorenz ​wanted ​to ​bring ​this utterly unpleasant ​encounter ​to ​an ​end.

“Lucas ​finally came out of ​his ​room.”

“……And? What does ​that have to ​do ​with ​me?”

“The ​one ​who ​made it happen ​was ​Elian. ​So don’t get ​in the way.”

“Elian?”

Joshua’s eyes ​narrowed, sensing ​a subtle ​change.

“You didn’t ​call Rian ​that ​last ​time. Wasn’t it ​Mr. Belloti?”

Lorenz ​frowned and looked up ​at the sky. Then, ​letting out a long ​sigh, he ​looked ​back at Joshua.

“That’s actually what I ​was going to talk ​about.”

“What.”

“From ​now ​on, ​make ​sure to call ​him Mr. ​Belloti ​properly.”

“Why should I?”

Joshua’s ​transparent ​green eyes—different from his own ​deep, sapphire-like ​green—gave ​no answer to ​the ​question. ​Instead, ​they ​repeated the ​warning.

“Do ​not call ​him by a nickname.”

Joshua stepped closer to ​his brother, baring ​his teeth.

“I’m asking ​why. Why should I ​listen to ​you? Do you ​have ​that right, brother?”

A ​short smile played ​on Lorenz’s ​lips.

“You’ll ​find out ​soon ​enough.”

A fierce ​wind ​blew past, ​tossing ​Joshua’s ​curly hair. unauthorized copyIt ​was ​a wind ​that ​heralded ​that ​autumn had visit our sitealready grown too [stolen content]deep, and that a merciless winter would soon descend.

Joshua brushed aside the hair covering his eyes and scoffed.

“I don’t know. It’s not like Rian himself said he hated it, so I don’t see why I should follow your words. What, are you his husband or something?”

“And if I become so?”

It was a dry answer, delivered without any emotional peak, as was Lorenz’s usual habit.

Startled for a moment, Joshua scrutinized his brother’s face. Then, in the next instant, he chuckled, his shoulders shaking.

“What’s this? Lorenz Lockhart is actually joking?”

Pretending to wipe away imaginary tears with an exaggerated gesture, Joshua patted his brother’s sturdy shoulder a couple of times.

“Anyway, I’ve made it clear today that you’re determined to get between me and Rian. Look forward to it. Because from now on, I’m getting serious.”

Shoving his hands into his pants pockets, Joshua turned away without a shred of regret.

“Don’t waste your effort.”

Lorenz gave a calm warning to Joshua’s back as he walked away.

“You won’t be able to get close to him.”

Joshua’s steps faltered for a moment, but he didn’t look back. He muttered a curse and hurried on his way.

Lorenz also turned and left the spot, stepping over fallen leaves.

With an empty bench between them, the brothers drifted apart in opposite directions.

■

“You went through a Heat with Lorenz Lockhart?”

Vincent’s voice spiked sharply. He was practically screaming. Then, perhaps surprised by his own reaction, he momentarily scanned the surroundings, even though he was in Elian’s room where no one else was listening.

“No, how is that even possible? You never miss your meds. Whether it’s suppressants or stabilizers.”

Elian nodded with a gloomy expression.

Taking suppressants to prevent Heat and stabilizers for Pheromone Dependency Syndrome. For Elian, this had been an essential daily routine for years, as necessary as eating or sleeping. He had never missed a single day.

“They say it’s because Lorenz Lockhart and I have great pheromone compatibility.”

“What? What’s so great about it?”

“There are pheromones that have an exceptionally high reaction rate with each other. Between an Alpha and an Omega.”

“Between you and Lorenz Lockhart?”

“Yes.”

As always, Vincent had claimed Elian’s bed, while Elian sat in the chair in front of the desk. Vincent scooted closer to the edge of the bed. His grip tightened on the beer bottle in his hand.

“Then does your Heat trigger every time you’re with that guy? You were fine until now.”

Elian shook his head.

“That day just happened to overlap with my Read on Read BL NovelsHeat cycle, [visit our site]and it was the first time we spent [stolen content]about half a day together. That’s why the pheromones temporarily went wild.”

“Right…”

Vincent muttered blankly. He looked as if he were struggling to digest the information he had just received.

Elian had visited his home in Brooklyn over the weekend. Despite it being a holiday, it hadn’t been an easy outing.

A week had passed since the day of the Heat, and even though Elian’s physical strength had fully recovered, Lorenz had shown excessive concern.

In the end, Elian had to come to Brooklyn in a car driven by Lorenz’s knight. He was only able to end the struggle with Lorenz after promising to use that same car for the trip back tomorrow.

Gulping down his beer as if his throat were parched, Vincent wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and carefully observed his friend’s complexion.

“Is your body… okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine now. Everything is completely back to normal.”

“You must have been terrified. It was your first Heat, right?”

Recalling that moment, his heart began to beat strongly again.

Thump, thump, thump.

That unfamiliar sensation he felt inside the car heading toward Manhattan. Terror. It felt as if it were coming back to life.

Elian tilted the mug in his hand and took a sip of warm coffee. The deep aroma and warmth calmed his mind slightly. Over the past week, his recovered sense of smell had been declining again, but he could still enjoy the scent of coffee.

“I was surprised. At first, I didn’t even know it was a Heat.”

After drinking the coffee, Elian unconsciously fiddled with the scarf around his neck. The scarf, wrapped twice and knotted neatly inside the neckline of his knit, was intended to hide the hickeys. Checking periodically to see if the scarf was properly in place had become a habit in the meantime.

Still looking at Elian with a face of disbelief, Vincent suddenly set the beer bottle down on the desk. It was a rough motion. Then, for a moment, his brown eyes flashed sharply. Elian knew that look well, having seen it many times since they were children. It was the look Vincent had right before he did something dangerously impulsive.

“Ah!”

There was no time to stop him.

Springing from his seat, Vincent lunged forward and snatched the scarf from Elian’s neck.

“Vince!”

Elian tried to take the scarf back belatedly, but it was useless. Far from reclaiming the scarf, he couldn’t even stand up from the chair. The difference in their build, and the resulting difference in strength, was too great.

Vincent’s forearm trembled as he gripped the scarf. A murderous glint flashed in his eyes as he looked down at Elian’s mottled neck.

Though the color had faded since the beginning, the marks staining Elian’s neck were clearly the traces of sexual intercourse to anyone who saw them. Moreover, they were the traces of a messy encounter, where someone had bitten frantically without a thought for the aftermath.

“Did that bastard do this?”

“Vince, calm down.”

“If Lorenz Lockhart used your Heat as an excuse to play with you, I won’t forgive him. Clinical trials, truth, whatever—beating that guy to a pulp comes first. No matter how much money and power he has, he won’t be fine after being stabbed.”

Looking at his expression, he was serious. Elian placed his hand over Vincent’s fist, which was still clutching the scarf.

“Vince, it’s not like that.”

“What’s not like that?”

“That… never happened.”

“……”

“Lorenz Lockhart handled it well.”

“Handled it well? He left your neck looking like this, and you call that handling it well?”

Consumed by rage, Vincent looked ready to storm out of the room and race to Manhattan this instant. Elian wrapped both hands around the other’s fist and pulled it down.

“No. These are actually marks left because he tried to hold back. He went into Rut too. But I was in a complete panic. So, he tried his best to endure it, and that’s how it ended up.”

Vincent let out a rough breath through his large frame.

“……Is that true?”

Vincent’s face remained fierce as he asked back, as if he couldn’t believe it.

This time, Elian pulled on the other’s arm and nodded more emphatically.

“Yes, it’s true. Why would I take his side?”

Vincent’s expression softened slightly.

“Well… that’s true.”

He decided that Elian had no reason to make up stories just to take Lorenz Lockhart’s side.

“If it weren’t for him… I wouldn’t even be here talking to you right now.”

If Lorenz hadn’t made the decision to head to the cabin then, Elian would have completely lost his sense of smell, which was already significantly impaired. The scent of this cup of coffee, and the brief respite it provided, would have been stolen forever. Even the final hope—that he could regain his smell through Pheromone Exchange once he met someone he loved—would have been shattered. If he had been unlucky, he could have suffered fatal brain damage. It meant it might not have ended with just losing his sense of smell. The mere thought of it made him dizzy.