By Zephyria “Ash!”
Suddenly, Ashley turned pale and began to vomit. Seeing him instantly drop to his knees, retching and curling up, Koi cried out in surprise and rushed over.
“Ash, what’s wrong? Snap out of it, Ash!”
He called his name repeatedly, but Ashley’s seizure only worsened, not improving. Seeing him eventually struggling to breathe, Koi turned pale and looked around. But he soon became even more flustered.
Gone.
No matter how much he looked, it was the same. The person he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.
Angel had disappeared.
Koi, in a state close to panic, finally recalled. While he was distracted by Ashley, Angel had vanished. All that remained were the man who had brought Angel, Ashley, and himself. Even the man was completely unconscious and collapsed.
As he was about to frantically contact the front desk, leaving Ashley gasping and in pain, Ashley grabbed Koi as he stood up abruptly. Looking down in surprise, Ashley, forcing down the rising nausea, managed to speak.
“I, phone.”
“What?”
Koi, unable to properly understand the broken words, quickly leaned in to listen. Ashley, between ragged breaths, managed to spit out the words.
“My, mobile, phone, on, table.”
Following the direction his fingertips pointed, Koi’s gaze landed on his mobile phone. Rushing over, Koi snatched the phone and held it out to Ashley.
“Here, here.”
Haa, haa, Ashley gasped for air, his chest heaving, and opened the screen of his mobile phone. After pressing a few buttons, a refreshing breeze was felt, and a faint mechanical sound was heard.
The ventilation system installed throughout the spacious house activated all at once. Meanwhile, Ashley continued to retch. Seeing him spitting up bile-tinged saliva even though there was nothing left to expel, Koi, unsure what to do, quickly poured water into a cup and returned. By then, Ashley, who had been writhing on the floor in agony, had already lost consciousness.
“Ash!”
Koi quickly pulled him into an embrace and tried to give him water, but tilting the cup only made the water spill around his mouth; it wouldn’t go down his throat. He called his name repeatedly and shook him, but there was no response. Just as his heart sank, a voice came from the mobile phone.
“—Mr.? Are you alright? Mr. Miller?”
Hearing the repeated calls, Koi hastily answered the phone.
“Uh, Ash has lost consciousness. What should I do…?”
The other party paused for a moment and then said,
“What happened? Explain it briefly.”
Koi hesitated for a moment before finally confessing. He minimized the details about Angel and explained that Ashley had reacted this way after smelling the scent of an extreme omega. The other party then replied,
“I’ll be there soon. You don’t need to call an ambulance.”
Without asking who Koi was, or explaining who she was, the caller hung up. Koi was bewildered, but since Ashley had called the person first, he had no choice but to trust and wait.
She arrived not long after, just as she had said. And Koi learned the identity of the person he had spoken to on the phone.
The moment he saw her, Koi’s face drained of color, and his whole body froze. Although she looked much older than before, he recognized her instantly.
Don’t you actually like Ashley Miller?
It was Ashley’s father’s secretary.
* * *
As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, the people who flooded into the living room immediately surrounded Ashley. Koi was pushed aside and out of the way before he could do anything. He tried to push past them again to reach Ashley, but someone grabbed him. Startled, he turned around to see her, indeed, holding his shoulder.
“L-let go.”
Koi instinctively felt fear but managed to force out the words. However, she opened her mouth with the same expressionless face.
“There’s nothing you can do anyway, not now, not then.”
As always, she struck Koi where it hurt the most.
“You’re still useless, aren’t you? Junior ended up like this even with you here.”
It was so true that Koi couldn’t retort. Mere feelings of injustice couldn’t accomplish anything. But he couldn’t just back down either.
“Ash needs me.”
“No, Junior needs medical staff and hired help to handle the aftermath. People like them.”
The secretary glanced at them once, then looked back at Koi.
“Wouldn’t it be more helpful if you stayed out of the way?”
There was nothing more he could say. The secretary, looking up at Koi biting his lip, released his shoulder. As the secretary brushed past him, Koi spoke.
“Why is Ash suddenly like this? You can tell me that, right?”
His voice carried more desperation than anger. The secretary looked up at him, and Koi quickly continued.
“Ash is an Alpha, so it doesn’t make sense for him to have a seizure from an Omega’s pheromones. Don’t Alphas and Omegas get… aroused when they smell each other’s pheromones? Then why is Ash like this?”
He hesitated, finding the word awkward to utter, and mentioned it. She quietly looked up at Koi. Not knowing what she was thinking, he grew anxious. Suddenly, she raised her hand. Koi, instinctively stepping back, watched as she extended her hand, then unexpectedly stroked his cheek. Koi froze in surprise, and she spoke in a surprisingly gentle voice.
“You’ve become a fine man, Conner Niles.”
Caught off guard, Koi blinked, unable to react immediately. She narrowed her eyes and muttered to herself.
“You wouldn’t even dare meet my eyes before, how commendable.”
Only then did Koi realize she was teasing him and shook his head, pulling his hand away.
“Answer my question first. What happened to Ash? Why is he reacting so strangely to Omega pheromones?”
His voice sharpening slightly, the secretary feigned surprise, raising her eyebrows. Then, she withdrew her hand from the air and instead swept her short hair behind her shoulder.
“For a normal Alpha, yes, they wouldn’t react with such disgust to Omega pheromones. It’s no different for an extreme Alpha.”
“…Then, is it because they are extreme Omega pheromones?”
“That’s not it.”
The secretary cut off Koi’s cautious guess with a single stroke.
“Junior reacts like this to any Omega’s scent. He can’t stand it. An Alpha who has seizures from Omega pheromones is truly absurd, but it’s the truth.”
Even though he understood everything she said, he couldn’t comprehend it. Why? Why? It doesn’t happen to other Alphas.
Why only Ash?
“What happened to Ash?”
To Koi’s trembling voice, she seemed to ponder for a moment before replying.
“You should ask Junior directly. I don’t think it’s my place to say.”
“Excuse me!”
Koi urgently called out to her as she turned to leave. The secretary stopped and looked back, and Koi hesitated before speaking.
“When Ash wakes up, if there are any pheromone scents remaining… will he react like this again?”
To his unconfident question, she replied with a blank expression.
“Probably, yes? He’s always reacted like this when he smells Omega scents.”
As she was about to turn away, the secretary paused, saying, “Ah.”
“It’s not ‘Excuse me,’ it’s Bernice. Miss Bernice.”
After giving her name, she readily walked away and approached the people administering emergency care. Koi was left standing there, blankly watching them.
* * *
Ashley reacting negatively to Omega scents.
Koi walked down the street, lost in thought. Amidst the bustling crowd, he felt he could do nothing and would only be a burden. He reluctantly left after telling them to contact him when Ashley woke up. His mind was a mess from the sudden turn of events. When he came to his senses, he realized he had been walking for a long time.
So, was it better that Ash was a Beta?
Then how had he been masking his pheromones all this time? Were all his partners Beta until now? He didn’t understand any of it…
He would just have to ask Ash directly when he woke up. But something still bothered him.
What if Angel’s words were true?
A chill ran down his spine.
If I am truly an Omega, then I am a danger to Ash.
His heart sank at that moment.
He might not be able to be with Ash anymore…
As he thought that far, a heat suddenly spread from within his body. Koi stopped in his tracks, gasping for breath. Blood surged dynamically through his body, his pulse racing. He felt dizzy and short of breath, but excitement overflowed from the tips of his toes to the top of his head.
He had felt this sensation before. The time he had been feverish and sick for days, thinking he had just caught a strange flu—that exact sensation had returned.
You’ll know when your heat cycle comes.
At that moment, Angel’s words flashed in his mind, and his vision turned white.