By Zephyria His body moved before he could think. Ashley screamed and threw a punch at him. The anger he had been holding back until now exploded all at once. He had endured and tolerated everything about himself until now. But he could never let it go if he called Koi a mutt.
He would smash that disgusting face. He would kill him. He would kill him. Ashley gritted his teeth and lunged at Father with all his might.
The man seemed to smile faintly.
“…Ugh!”
The fist he swung with all his strength cut through the air. His body swayed violently, losing its balance. By the time he realized that the man had easily dodged his punch by simply taking half a step back, Ashley had already fallen heavily to the floor.”Thump!” A deafening sound echoed in his ears. Ashley’s entire body slammed against the marble floor, but he felt no pain. He was half out of his mind, staggering as he tried to get back on his feet.
“……!”
Before he could even make a sound, a foot flew into his face, sending him sprawling again. Dominic didn’t give the fallen Ashley a chance to rise before stomping on his neck with one foot.
“Kuh…….”
Ashley gasped as his windpipe was instantly crushed. The tall man loomed over him, appearing gigantic. Ashley struggled to pry Dominic’s leg off his neck, but he wouldn’t budge.
Instead, Dominic pressed down harder, and Ashley’s vision began to fade to black. Despite this, Dominic calmly watched his son’s futile gestures as his hands flailed around his legs, and then he spoke.
“The only reason I tolerate your acting as you please is because you’re ‘Ashley.'”
*And because I’m ‘Dominic,’ too.*
Ashley thought, struck by the utterly cold tone, but he couldn’t even speak, let alone breathe. The pressure on his neck increased, completely cutting off his air supply. The pained groans that had been escaping him ceased entirely, and Ashley’s eyes rolled back in his head.
*At this rate, I’m definitely going to die.* Beyond his fading consciousness, Ashley suddenly wondered, *Will this man stand trial if he kills someone?*
*He would, like everyone else.*
*But the outcome won’t be the same. Guilt or innocence depends on whether you have an expensive lawyer.* What he wondered was whether this man would defend himself or use the countless lawyers at his firm. A pointless question as he was dying, though.
……Koi.
Just as he thought of Koi’s face for the last time, Dominic suddenly removed his foot.
“Cough, cough, hah.”
Ashley coughed painfully as oxygen flooded back into his lungs. It felt like someone was squeezing both of his lungs. He couldn’t bear the pain and coughed repeatedly, until he finally started to gag.
But only bitter stomach acid came up. Ashley bit his lip and groaned in agony, feeling another pain as the burning sensation scorched his esophagus.
Just as his breathing began to settle, Dominic leaned over him.
“……Ugh!”
Ashley couldn’t help but let out a stifled groan as his hair was suddenly grabbed. Dominic knelt beside him, half-sitting, and looked down at Ashley’s distorted face as he spoke.
“You should have just played with it for a while and thrown it away.”
His voice was lower and more subdued than usual. Ashley tried to pull Dominic’s hand off his hair, but Dominic only tightened his grip, pulling his head back even harder. Ashley let out a short scream, and Dominic whispered threateningly in his ear.
“I didn’t have you so you could mate with a mutt.”
Ashley tried to escape Dominic’s grasp, but his body, bent backward and pinned to the floor, wouldn’t cooperate. All he could do was glare at the man.
“Don’t you dare insult Koi.”
Ashley growled through clenched teeth, and Dominic lowered his gaze. He reached out with his free hand while still gripping Ashley’s hair. Only after Dominic grabbed his arm did Ashley realize what he was looking at.
“To leave something like this to protect a mutt like that.”
A rather large scar remained on the arm Dominic held. It was a mark from when Ashley had bitten himself to protect Koi during his Manifestation. A tiny flicker of pleasure sparked in Ashley’s heart as he saw Dominic’s brow furrow for the first time.
*I did the right thing. I did the right thing protecting Koi.*
“Even if that situation comes again, I’ll do the same thing.”
Ashley declared to him between ragged breaths. Dominic looked up from Ashley’s arm and stared at his face. His expression was as cold as ever, and Ashley was slightly disappointed.
Dominic tilted his head, releasing his arm, and whispered intimately, as if sharing a secret.
“No matter how much Pheromone you pour out, you’ll only regret getting serious with a half-wit who can’t even Manifest.”
“……Ugh!”
Before Ashley could say anything, Dominic pushed him away and stood up.
“Get him treated.”
As soon as he turned around and gave the order, a secretary, whose presence Ashley hadn’t even noticed, moved. Ashley belatedly realized that she had been clinging to the wall like a shadow. He was bewildered by Dominic’s retreating figure, but the secretary approached him, checked his condition, and spoke.
“We’ll have to give you the injection again.”
She spoke matter-of-factly, as usual, and took out her cell phone to give instructions to the butler. Immediately, the butler entered the room with servants and helped Ashley back into bed.
And when Ashley saw the house doctor pressing an alcohol swab on his arm with a sigh, he realized that the needle had come out, and that was why he had bled so much.
Ashley blankly watched the servants frantically cleaning up the pool of red blood on the floor as the doctor said to him.
“I’ll put it back in the other arm. Don’t take the injection out again, or you might really have to get your arm amputated.”
After delivering the grim warning, he reconnected the IV and injected Ashley’s other arm. Ashley grimaced, recalling the pain and agony he had felt when he regained consciousness.
“Do I really have to get this?”
The secretary answered his question.
“Of course. Unless you want to go crazy from the Pheromones messing with your head.”
Ashley swallowed a curse and closed his mouth instead. The secretary, who had been silently watching him, spoke.
“If you had just obediently suppressed your Pheromones, Mr. Miller wouldn’t have been so harsh.”
“……Are you saying I upset him by defying him?”
“That’s part of it.”
The secretary continued in a businesslike manner, responding to Ashley’s sarcastic chuckle.
“He doesn’t like how much you treasure that child.”
*Mutt.*
His voice, filled with contempt, echoed in Ashley’s ears. So that was it. Dominic was annoyed that Ashley liked and trusted Koi, who was from a low-class, insignificant family, so much.
Of course, he would be. Even Al thought that man was beneath him.
Only then did Ashley realize why Dominic had thrown him into the Pheromone party.
He was testing him. To see how deep Ashley’s feelings for Koi were. And Ashley had failed the test miserably, which had angered Dominic.
The secretary continued.
“Wouldn’t it be best to just play around for a while and then break up? Mr. Miller wouldn’t care too much if it was just that.”
Ashley didn’t want to take his anger out on her, but he couldn’t stand the sarcasm.
“You can say that so easily because you’ve never loved someone this much in your life.”
She didn’t know. How could anyone know? How passionately Koi and Ashley loved each other. That they only had each other.
The secretary spoke without any change in expression at Ashley’s rude tone.
“Well, there’s nothing more foolish than believing that a teenage love will last forever.”
Her answer was far from what Ashley had expected. The secretary continued in a still businesslike tone to him, who had inadvertently distorted his face.
“More than anything, you’ve Manifested, and he hasn’t. Do you think a Beta can be with an Alpha or Omega? Wouldn’t it be better to give up for his sake?”
Ashley paused for a moment. Her words kept hitting him where it hurt.
“You can only be called an adult if you know how to let go when you truly love someone. Of course, you wouldn’t know since you’re not an adult.”
The doctor, who had finished the treatment, anxiously watched them. The secretary ignored him and spoke to Ashley.
“Besides, isn’t it strange? He should have Manifested or mutated a long time ago with that much Pheromone, but he hasn’t changed at all?”
“So, what are you trying to say?”
Ashley finally ground out, gritting his teeth. Each of her words kept stabbing at his heart. Even the most painful parts.
“He’s spent days with a Manifested Alpha and has been constantly covered in Pheromones, but the fact that he still hasn’t Manifested could mean that he’s strongly rejecting it.”
Ashley was defeated by the words that brought up the thoughts he had been trying so hard to bury. He hadn’t Manifested long ago, and he lacked knowledge about species. He couldn’t help but be shaken by the secretary’s words.
“……Is that true?”
His voice, asking after a pause, was devoid of confidence. The secretary said casually.
“Well? Shouldn’t you keep all possibilities open?”
*Why hasn’t he Manifested?* How great would it be if he could answer this question? But no one knew the answer. The secretary released the doctor, who had finished his work, without wasting any more time.
“Thank you for your hard work. You can go now. Well, Mr. Miller, please call me if you need anything. Goodbye.”
The secretary left the room with the doctor, as if there was nothing more to say. Ashley was finally alone, but his heart was more turbulent than ever.