Fouls Prohibited

He had thrown himself into the net.

Even a saint couldn’t endure.

Huo Tinglan wrapped his arms around the thin, fresh, and tough young man and buried his canine teeth completely into the back of his neck.

The large amount of aggressive and extremely potent Alpha pheromones were injected without reservation. The heat was scorching, washing through the red and swollen Omega glands.

In the end, they were A-level pheromones, and if the strength was too high, it would affect the pain nerves after injection.

The back of his neck was hot and painful, and even though he had lost the strength in his limbs, Ye Ci still gritted his teeth and struggled. Dizzy and confused, he forcibly twisted his neck to one side, ignoring that Huo Tinglan’s teeth were still wedged in his flesh.

If he twisted at this time, Huo Tinglan feared that the light bite that was easy to heal might open up. 

Huo Tinglan would be heartbroken to death. He had sharp eyes and agile hands, and was quick to hold Ye Ci’s jaw, letting that pointy little jawbone grind into his bloody palm. He ignored the injury and only tightened his grip, reveling in the temporary marking.

“Hold still, bear with it,” Huo Tinglan coaxed in a hoarse voice, the shameless rhetoric that Alphas had used to mark their partners for thousands of years. Even he was not exempt, but he coaxed more affectionately and tenderly, “Just be patient, baby.”

Ye Ci shook, and the slender fingers that were clinging to Huo Tinglan’s shoulders flexed abruptly, tightening as if there was nowhere to vent their strength.

This indulgent title made him more embarrassed than the temporary mark, and almost woke him up from his confusion.

In fact, Huo Tinglan didn’t call him that often. In the last life, Ye Ci was too thin-skinned to bear such strong flirtation. 

It seemed to have been bottled up inside, and as soon as the gates were opened, he kept calling it, his voice low and hoarse like sandpaper against Ye Ci’s ear, filling the atmosphere with heat and shame: “Baby, Xiao Ci . . . . Baby . . . .”

Ye Ci’s ears were red, and he wanted to pull back, but he was restrained.

The fever was surging, and he was being coaxed by the highly compatible Alpha. He was unbearably and inexplicably excited, and even his toes curled.

Mentally, physically . . . . the undifferentiated immature glands had endured too much.

The moment the temporary mark was complete, Ye Ci whined like a kitten from his throat, kicked his bare feet spasmodically, and fainted in Huo Tinglan’s arms.

For susceptible Alphas, a temporary marking on the back of the neck was often just the beginning of a series of intimate behaviors. 

An appetizer.

The physical pain was relieved, but the spirit was not full. On the contrary, it enticed a greedy person to keep going.

Huo Tinglan embraced the bamboo-like youth in his arms and greedily sniffed the scent of spirits blended with vanilla. It was the smell that symbolized the completion of the temporary marking, and it was familiar and unfamiliar. It haunted his longing, and had soothed his mania and relieved his pain countless times.

A certain deep and surging emotion seeped into every breath he breathed. Heaving up and down in his chest like sea lanterns, the madness, the beastly desire, the vicious instincts . . . . gradually merged into monstrous love and shattered into salty white foam.

He held Ye Ci’s thin shoulders, his breathing still heavy and his eyes bloodshot, but with forbearance and love, he laid Ye Ci down flat like a piece of fragile porcelain and closed the collar of his pajamas for him.

Immediately, he grabbed the intercom phone on the side.

. . . . . .

Charity Private Hospital.

East Hospital Building on the third floor.

The newly admitted patient needed to rest. The Huo family had cleared the area, and except for room 305, there was no one in the other wards on the third floor. It was so quiet that you could hear the rustling of the willow branches in the wind outside the window.

Ye Ci had fallen into a deep sleep.

He had inherited Ye Hongjun’s small face. It was cold when he was awake, his countenance was like snow, and it only showed a little bit of childishness when he was sleeping and defenseless.

These two months, he had eaten very regularly and nutritiously. He had gained a few pounds, his bones were no longer so prominent, and his cheeks had a wholesome arc.

In the morning, it was time to wash his face.

Huo Tinglan stood at his side, took off his watch, and rolled up the cuffs of his shirt. He dipped a towel in some warm water and wrung it out, then wiped Ye Ci’s forehead, the corners of his eyes, his cheeks . . . .

For the first time, he had received an A-level Alpha mark. Not to mention an undifferentiated Omega boy, even a fully mature older Omega would have inevitably fallen asleep for a day or two.

The intensity of A-level pheromones was too high, and was destructive to an extent. The body needed to repair itself and assimilate the new information during sleep, and in this way, adverse reactions would be alleviated a lot when the same A-level Alpha marked him next time.

Ye Ci had been asleep for three days. His physical examination results were normal for the moment.

But since he was marked by an Alpha in the middle of differentiation, it was difficult to say whether or not there would be any short-term repercussions. Therefore, doctors recommended that he stay in the hospital for observation for a period of time, so that his hormone fluctuation levels could be monitored 24/7 and treated at any moment.

His face was ticklish and wet . . . . as if he was being licked by a large dog.

Ye Ci frowned, his eyelashes trembled, and he opened his eyes abruptly.

He had slept so long that his awareness was lax, and he blinked a little hazily.

He saw the ceiling, walls, and bed sheets, an expanse of white.

There was also a hand with a few blue veins on the back of it. The cuffs of the fog-blue shirt were rolled flat and smooth. It was a mature man’s hand, but its movements were so soft, wiping his face with a damp towel.

Dazed, he followed the arm with his eyes.

Huo Tinglan was sitting on the edge of the bed looking at him. His eyes were dark, and except for tenderness, no other emotions could be discerned. The rest were buried very deeply.

He was like a frenzied hunter maintaining his calm. Having set up a thousand traps, he lay in the grass, quietly watching, waiting to see which pit the precious cub would fall into, so that he could follow him, pick up the soft bundle, and put it in his pocket.

Memories from before the coma gradually returned.

The family dinner.

Light beer.

Embracing in the back of the car.

. . . . . .

“Huo-shushu,” Ye Ci rubbed his eyes, “Why am I here . . . .”

Before a word could be said, the long-overdue memories from the safe room returned.

Like a metal wire that burned orange-red, the fine point unexpectedly stirred up the ashes into the shining whiteness of hot shame.

The hot pain on the back of his neck, the curled toes, tightly gripping arms and undulating chest muscles, the sweet and presumptuous sound of  “baby” that caressed his ears. “Baby,” “Xiao Ci,” and the intense, suffocating emotion in his eyes. So straightforward, so terribly blunt, like a mad beast that wanted to eat him alive. An Alpha in his susceptible period was actually like that . . . . Ye Ci couldn’t breathe. His chest still seemed to be restrained by a constricting arm, and his face flushed red. He rolled, slamming into the guardrail to avoid Huo Tinglan’s hand that was holding the hot towel. Stirred up like a girl dodging a scoundrel, if he hadn’t been fenced in, he would have rolled to the ground.

Huo Tinglan’s hand froze as if someone had agitated the wound, and he was stunned.

That palm was indeed injured. The bandage had been removed, but four dark red bloody scabs still remained.

Ye Ci glanced at it, and averted his eyes as if burned.

Huo Tinglan withdrew his hand and threw the towel away to show that he wouldn’t touch him, and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”

This apology came from the heart.

That night, he really didn’t mean to mark Ye Ci. He had crooked thoughts and wanted to sneak a mouthful of honey, but that was all.

Otherwise he wouldn’t have had to endure so hard at first.

If it wasn’t for Ye Ci coming to his door, perhaps he could have stopped himself from putting that little neck under those fangs dripping with greed . . . .

“I didn’t mean to give you a temporary mark.” Huo Tinglan looked straight at Ye Ci, not begging for leniency, not shirking responsibility, not coercing. The pain of being tormented during the A-level susceptibility period, Ye Ci’s negligence in throwing himself into the net, the gentle care he had shown Ye Ci these past two months . . . . he didn’t mention a word of it.

“I lost control. I’m sorry.”

He only apologized for his own mistakes.

Like a drowning man clinging to driftwood, Ye Ci grasped the metal guard rail on the edge of the bed, alertly watching him from the corner of his eye.

Huo Tinglan had come to the hospital to take care of this person and had not dressed up. With a few strands of hair drooping over his brow, he wore a casual shirt without a tie, with one button undone. His temperament made him seem a few years younger, not in line with the “shushu” that Ye Ci was used to calling him. His straight collar bones gradually disappeared into his collar, and his muscles propped up that fog-blue shirt material, expensive and sensual . . . .

His ears roared, suddenly flushed with blood.

Appropriately dressed, sober expression, honest and sincere tone . . . . Ye Ci turned his face away, as uneasy as if he had looked at a yellow book.

“. . . . Xiao Ci,” Huo Tinglan called to him softly, “I’m really sorry.”

Ye Ci’s Adam’s apple bobbed and he gave an mm-hm, saying faintly, “I don’t blame you.”

He had forcefully broken into the basement during Huo Tinglan’s susceptible period. His intentions were good, but had led to these consequences, and it was difficult to say that he bore no responsibility.

Replace him with any A-level Alpha that night, and it would have been impossible for them to remember not to mark him.

There was nothing to say. He didn’t blame anyone.

“Really,” he emphasized again in a whisper.

Then, without saying a word, without looking at anyone, he picked and rubbed at the metallic paint on the guard rail he couldn’t get through, making his fingers red.

The precious cub froze in place, curled into a small ball, didn’t give a reaction, and didn’t fall into any traps.

There was no telling what was going on in that little head.

He hid himself again.

The possibility of all his previous efforts going down the drain made Huo Tinglan feel a rare anxiety in his heart.

Feeling as if two sharp eyes were patrolling his face like ice chisels, attempting to find a weak point and defeat him in one fell swoop, Ye Ci hurriedly lowered his head, lay down, and wrapped himself with a blanket.

He had experienced the power of Huo-shushu’s insight.

“I’m still, still tired, I want to sleep for a while.” The voice was muffled by the blanket as it urged: “You go, go do your own thing.”

Only a few strands of fluffy black hair poked out from the blanket, laying on the pillow like whiskers.

“Okay.” Huo Tinglan closed his eyes and got up to stand beside the bed, his voice low. “Call me anytime, your phone is on the bedside table, and it is fully charged.” After a pause, he spoke again, “With your current situation, you can be discharged from the hospital as soon as tomorrow. Your school midterm exam was yesterday and today . . . .”

The figure under the blanket moved slightly.

Ye Ci attached great importance to the midterm exam, and had been looking forward to the improvement of his score to give himself a boost.

“. . . . I requested an alternate exam paper.” Huo Tinglan had guessed this. Fearing that Ye Ci would be disappointed, he comforted him in a gentle voice, “The difficulty is very close to the first exam. The scores can be used for reference, and you can take the test yourself once you have time.”

The person under the blanket was silent for a few seconds, as if calming down a certain emotion, and his voice trembled a little when he spoke again: “Thank, thank you, Huo-shushu.”

“You’re welcome.” Huo Tinglan smiled, was quiet for a moment, and leaned over slightly. He lightly touched the ends of Ye Ci’s hair outside the blanket with his knuckles.

Under the blanket . . . .

Ye Ci didn’t notice Huo Tinglan’s small movements, and only covered his two small, thin ears in vain. It seemed that in this way, he could block from his ears the sweet and presumptuous “baby” in his memory, and could contain that electric current that penetrated from the top of his skull, down his spine to the soles of his feet . . . .

Nibbling away until his bones were limp and numb.

But he couldn’t ward it off, couldn’t stop it.

His heart was beating fast.