Chapter 37: The Admiral’s Bite Marks

Crazy.

This person’s gone crazy.

Lucas bit his sensitive, fragile lips hard. He didn’t control his strength at all, biting so forcefully that Luo Ran, who was completely unprepared, had tears in the corner of his eyes.

Strictly speaking, this couldn’t count as a kiss — there were no loving words, nor was there an intimate exchange of breath.

Lucas just stubbornly held on to Luo Ran’s bottom lip to leave a mark.

The bite mark, clearly visible even on the flesh beneath his lips, was ambiguously erotic.

After Lucas tasted the sweetness of blood welling up from the bite, his hands tightened around Luo Ran further.

“A-Admiral…!” Luo Ran was shackled and unable to move. He looked at Lucas in disbelief, suddenly feeling as if he’d foolishly thrown himself into a wolf’s den.

This person…!

He’s crazy!

Luo Ran’s eyes widened as he watched the lion in front of him frantically lay claim to his territory.

Are all alpha like this when they’re in a rut?

After Lucas had his fill, he shifted down and slowly turned his gaze towards Luo Ran’s throat and nape.

Luo Ran was a beta, he shouldn’t have any glands there…

But Lucas still wanted to take a bite.

“Admiral, it… it’s me,” Luo Ran choked out in a low voice. “Admiral! I am your secretary!

“Admiral, please let me go first.”

Lucas might’ve felt annoyed, because he fixed his mouth on Luo Ran’s rolling throat, blocking all his words.

“Oof…” Luo Ran subconsciously raised his head as if he was being strangled, and his entire body was stimulated into agitation.

Luo Ran’s first reaction was to kick him away, but for one, Lucas’ strength wasn’t something a normal person could overcome, and for two… he didn’t want to attack Lucas at a time like this.

Lucas was about to move on to his nape, but Luo Ran’s hands were still held high above him and his legs were still pinned to the door, so he could only close his eyes, take a deep breath, and say, “It hurts.”

Lucas froze.

Luo Ran repeated, “It hurts…”

Lucas frowned faintly.

Luo Ran had bite marks on both sides of his collarbones, he had bloodstains on his lips, and his two wrists were covered in bruises and bite marks.

He looked humiliated.

Lucas regained consciousness, sluggishly released Luo Ran, and stared at him blankly.

Luo Ran also didn’t dare to move, for fear of stimulating the lion in front of him.

Lucas looked at Luo Ran for several seconds, then lowered his head and panted, “Get out.”

He clenched his fists and studiously avoided looking at him.

Lucas knew that he was like a monster who couldn’t control his own strength, so he hated touching others, but when it came to Luo Ran…

He couldn’t resist.

He didn’t want Luo Ran to be angry with him, to be annoyed with him, and wanted even less for Luo Ran to hate him. But the self-restraint he clung on to for a whole day disappeared into thin air the moment he saw him.

Luo Ran was silent for a long time. He didn’t leave after calming down, and only stepped closer, saying warmly, “Go to sleep, Admiral, I’ll stay with you, okay?”

Lucas froze again and stared at Luo Ran with wide eyes.

He’d thought…

Acting exactly the same as before, Luo Ran smiled and gently pushed Lucas’ arm. “Let’s go.”

Afterwards, Lucas laid on the bed, and when he turned his head, he saw Luo Ran wiping blood off his lips.

“You should’ve escaped,” Lucas said. “Or you shouldn’t have come in.”

“It’s fine.”

“…Will you get angry?”

“I won’t.”

Lucas’ gaze turned into a fierce glare. “Will you get angry then run away?”

“…I won’t.”

Lucas began to dig up old grievances. “Really? What did you talk about with Cyril yesterday?”

Luo Ran didn’t outwardly react at all, he replied seriously, “He wanted to eat together with you, so I said that I would beat him up if he came.”

Lucas was satisfied with this, but then asked, “Then what were you doing to smile so nicely for the eldest prince?”

“I didn’t… The eldest prince asked me to help them next time as well, but I said no, because I’m busy with the Admiral here.”

Lucas was completely satisfied.

He patted the bed next to him and said, “Come up, join me.”

He had a fierce look as he glanced at Luo Ran’s wrist, but the tone of his voice was a little contradictory.

Luo Ran went up after hesitating a bit.

The bed was big enough for Luo Ran and Lucas to be separated by quite a distance, but they were technically sleeping together.

After nightfall, everything became silent. Moonlight flowed through floor-to-ceiling windows and fell onto the bed, softly framing two shadowy silhouettes.

Luo Ran saw Lucas staring at him in the darkness.

Noticing his mood, Luo Ran smiled, then reached out and gently held Lucas’ icy cold, hard metal hand.

“Admiral, I will always and forever be your secretary, until you are no longer an admiral.”

Lucas held on to the warm, soft hand in his grasp.

“I will always be your secretary. I will always protect you.”

The silver-haired man said this while haloed by moonlight.

Lucas’ heartbeat jumped.

He felt as if he’d just stepped off the battlefield after a slaughter, so excited that it was hard to calm down.

No, it wasn’t exactly the same.

After a moment, he said, “…I can make you fly with just one punch, I don’t need your protection.”

Luo Ran only chuckled. “That’s what you said before as well.”

Everything that happened tonight seemed to overlap with the events of yesteryear.

“Before? When?” Lucas frowned.

“You also made me a promise at that time, but you must have forgotten it.” Luo Ran shook his head. “It’s been too long.”

After that, Luo Ran didn’t speak any more. He and Lucas lay a little far apart, but their clasped hands crossed the distance.

Now, there weren’t any outsiders present and Lucas wasn’t wearing his gloves, so what Luo Ran held was cold metal without any warmth, but he didn’t mind.

“Good night, Admiral.”

With Luo Ran by his side, Lucas felt the uncomfortable feeling in his head ease a lot, and he slowly fell asleep.

On the precipice of sleep, Lucas thought, I still remember.

Luo Ran said he’d forgotten it, hmph, he remembered it clearly.

And the way Luo Ran cried, he remembered it even more clearly.

No, Lucas decided, tomorrow I must tell Luo Ran when we get up.

Tell him that he still remembered.

* * *

One night, many years ago, when Luo Ran just began working as a secretary for Lucas.

At that time, Luo Ran had short silver hair, he wasn’t as capable as now, and he couldn’t do many things well.

Someone blocked Luo Ran on his way home. Lucas didn’t remember who that person was, he only knew that they were bullying Luo Ran, maybe they’d been bullying him since they were classmates in school.

So Lucas chased that person away with a few punches.

“You always lived at the company and was afraid to go home because of this guy?” Lucas asked coldly. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“I…” Luo Ran lowered his head, subtly trembling and his face pale.

“Idiot.” Seeing him like that, Lucas took off his jacket and threw it onto Luo Ran’s head. “Next time, say something! Don’t just hide it, you’re my secretary now, I’ll protect you from now on.”

Then Luo Ran buried his head in the jacket as his shoulders shuddered and he began sniffling.

The sound was very quiet and restrained, but it was Lucas’ first time faced with such a situation. He swore under his breath and pinned Luo Ran with a glare. “You’re a grown man, why are you crying! Stop crying, take it back!”

Lucas didn’t know that the young man was like this because no one had ever said that to him before.

“I said, stop crying!” Lucas rubbed his nose. “I’ll promise you, alright? In the future, as long as I’m here, no one will be able to bully you.”

The young man hugged the jacket and cried, “And, I’ll protect you too.”

“Tsk,” Lucas smirked, standing in the moonlight like a ruffian, “just you? I can take you in one punch.”

—— XXXX ——

When Lucas woke the next day, his headache had improved a lot, and his restlessness almost completely disappeared.

As if it’d never been there in the first place.

He shook his head, then found that Luo Ran had already left.

Memories of the previous night returned, and Lucas recalled what he did to Luo Ran yesterday.

…He winced and rubbed his temples.

He would never act this way in his right mind, and never thought that he would lose control against Luo Ran last night, randomly biting and pulling him everywhere.

Why would he do that?

As an SSS alpha, Lucas had confidence in his control over his pheromones.

But last night’s events blatantly slapped him in the face.

From the time he changed his clothes to eating breakfast, Luo Ran never showed up.

But last night also ended fine so he wouldn’t be angry… right?

Lucas slowly frowned.

“Morning, Admiral!” Zhou Mingkai burst in. “I wanted to go horse riding with you yesterday but I heard that your cycle* arrived, so I didn’t disturb you.”

Lucas looked at his fried egg with a serious face, directly ignoring Zhou Mingkai.

“Bro! Bro!” As soon as Zhou Mingkai arrived, it became a lot noisier. “What’s going on? You’re still affected by your rut?”

“Yesterday…” Lucas frowned. “I was a bit much with Luo Ran.”

Zhou Mingkai internally sighed at the wonderful love on display, then said, “Isn’t this normal during a rut? If a beta or omega I like is in front of me during my rut, I wouldn’t be able to restrain myself.”

“I’m not an animal like you,” Lucas replied.

“…” At this unexpected attack, Zhou Mingkai exclaimed, “If you don’t have a reaction at the person you like during a rut, then you can’t do it!* Men can’t not do it, Admiral!”

…The person you like.

Lucas stopped.

Did he like him?

He’d never thought about it before.

He was too used to Luo Ran. Every muscle in his body and every neuron in his brain was habituated to Luo Ran’s existence.

So after finding out that Luo Ran liked him, Lucas felt happy and proud. Of course his secretary should like him.

This was a self-evident fact of life.

But maybe it shouldn’t have been so self-evident.

Lucas hesitated, then asked flatly, “What’s ‘like’.”

As a qualified alpha, Zhou Mingkai didn’t even need to think before answering, “Want to fuck.”

Lucas: “…”

Zhou Mingkai: “Otherwise?”

Lucas, expressionless: “Other than that.”

“Uh, liking is a kind of feeling, it’s hard to explain.” Zhou Mingkai grinned. “Generally, if you ask this question, then you already understand it in your heart. Whether you like it or not, and what counts as ‘like’, Admiral should already know.”

“Useless.” Lucas waved him away. “Fuck off.”

“…”

Zhou Mingkai shouted, “I brought white tea wine for you!”

Lucas paused.

He reached over and grabbed Zhou Mingkai’s bag.

Lucas’ eyes unconsciously revealed some amusement at the memory of Luo Ran drinking alcohol last time.

Zhou Mingkai’s heart burst into curses, thinking that Secretary Luo must be a monster to be able to have Lucas make this kind of expression.

In the end, Zhou Mingkai successfully mooched breakfast before he left.

Lucas put the white tea wine away then got up, intending to find Luo Ran.

It’s so late, Luo Ran still hasn’t got up?

In reality, Luo Ran had unusually… overslept.

After all, he hadn’t slept for an entire night, afraid that Lucas would have another episode. He only went back to his room at dawn, when he confirmed that Lucas would be fine.

And during the night, Luo Ran took advantage of the time Lucas was sleeping to discreetly use his pheromones to soothe him.

SSS omega could use their pheromones to soothe SSS alpha, and the reverse was also true.

With Luo Ran’s little actions, Lucas had a restful sleep, and even ended his rut early.

But as the one who used his spiritual energy for the whole night, Luo Ran slept all the way from dawn until now.

Lucas opened Luo Ran’s door and walked to his side. Luo Ran, hearing movement, struggled to open his eyes.

Still curled in his bedsheets, Luo Ran drowsily looked at Lucas.

Lucas’ ears became a little hot when he saw the markings on Luo Ran’s neck, wrists, and lips.

Damn.

They obviously didn’t do anything, but why did this make it seem like he was a beast?

“Admiral…?” Luo Ran’s voice was hoarse just after waking up. “Do you need anything?”

“Nothing,” Lucas replied, “you can keep sleeping.”

“Hm…”

Lucas hesitated, then, imitating Luo Ran, he stretched out his hand and rubbed at Luo Ran’s hair.

“Be good, go to sleep, I’m here.”

Translator:
I like the way the author treats Lucas’ metal hand. I mean, I’m not nearly a definitive voice on this or any other disability topic, but… I like how the author treats it similar to a personality trait, not something to pity him for, not something that defines him. It’s a bodily appendage that just happens to be made out of metal. I dunno. What do you guys think?

 

Footnotes:

Cycle [大姨夫]: lit. great uncle; the male counterpart to 大姨妈 (lit. great aunt), which is an euphemism for your periodYou know… that. ZMK is being dirty here.