A Taste for You - Chapter 2

“Can you stand on your own?”

Qin Wei greedily drew several breaths against you before straightening with a show of frailty.

The instant you released him, he collapsed forward again. His heavy, burning body drove you down onto the sofa.

You managed to brace one hand against his chest while reaching for the suppressants on the coffee table.

Your pheromones carried only an abstract sense of sweetness. Anyone who smelled them would feel a trace of sugar bloom inexplicably on their tongue, only for it to vanish a moment later.

Your scent had never affected anyone. You did not even suffer from heats, so you had no use for suppressants yourself.

The two syringes on the table had been left behind by a friend.

Qin Wei followed your reaching hand and narrowed his eyes at the label: *For Omega Use Only.*

His thoughts were sluggish. He did not understand the mistake until you had already driven the needle into the gland at the back of his neck.

Your kindness rested entirely on the belief that Qin Wei was an Omega in trouble.

That was his first thought.

His second was: *Qin Wei, you’re finished.*

A man who survived at gunpoint for a living had just allowed an Omega to inject him without the slightest defense. He had neither dodged nor felt even a spark of resistance.

“Do you feel better?”

Qin Wei remained sprawled over you, unresponsive.

“Has the suppressant expired?”

Before you could check the date, he knocked the empty syringe from your hand, snatched up the second one, and plunged it into your scent gland.

The faint sting passed in an instant.

Then hot, damp lips and tongue descended upon the spot, carefully licking away the bead of blood welling from the puncture.

The blood was saturated with your pheromones. Qin Wei felt as though someone had stuffed a mouthful of honey between his lips, sweetness sinking all the way into his heart.

He brushed your hair aside and tested his teeth against your skin.

However defenseless you might be, you knew a scent gland was not something another person could touch at will.

“Stop.”

A shudder raced from the back of your neck through your entire body. Your limbs went weak, and your trembling voice carried no force at all.

Qin Wei paused, then slowly pushed himself off you.

His lashes lowered, concealing the hunger in his eyes.

With immense restraint, he dragged his gaze away.

“I’m sorry. Your pheromones made me uncomfortable.”

He explained his behavior as destructive aggression caused by the incompatibility of two Omegas’ scents.

Your mind was still fogged by the tingling radiating from your gland. You accepted the excuse without examining it, fled into your bedroom, and locked the door.

Qin Wei stared darkly at it.

His tongue traced one canine as he savored the sweetness fading from his mouth.

Something this delicious deserved to be tasted slowly—one bite at a time.

The next morning, Qin Wei prepared breakfast and thanked you with grave sincerity.

He had already realized that your heart held endless tolerance for Omegas, so he used that weakness to weave a suitably tragic past.

He told you he had escaped from a cruel, perverted Alpha. His parents were dead, he had nowhere to live, and his health had never been good.

Then he covered his mouth and broke into a violent cough without warning. Bent double, he gasped between spasms as if he might convulse at any moment.

You patted his back. Veins stood out on his forehead, mist clouded his eyes, and tears clung to his lashes. The strain colored his pale face with a sickly flush.

The moment Qin Wei saw worry and sympathy in your eyes, he staged a perfectly timed “breakdown,” buried his face against your shoulder, and began to “sob uncontrollably.”

The lingering memory of what he had done to your scent gland made you flinch away.

Then morning light fell over his exquisite face. Wet with tears, he seemed soft and luminous, a shattered angel.

He was so pitiful. How much must an Omega have endured to escape an Alpha?

You stopped retreating and awkwardly rested a hand on his back. His body trembled beneath your palm as he wept.

“It’s all right,” you soothed. “You can work at my dessert shop for now. If you can’t find a place to live, you can stay here too. Things will get better.”

Qin Wei’s lips curved against your shoulder. Behind your back, he idly wound a strand of your hair around one finger.

His expression held the wicked amusement of a predator playing with its prey, yet his voice remained choked with gratitude.

“Thank you. You’re such a good person.”