"Fuck!"
I recoil so hard I nearly tip the piano bench over. My lip curls back in an instinctive, animalistic sneer of disgust, my throat closing up as I cough. It’s repulsive. It triggers every territorial instinct I have, making the hair on my arms stand up.
"Reel it in!" I snap, covering my nose and glaring at her. "Jesus, Soyoung. Are you trying to kill me?"
Soyoung dials it back, thankfully. The oppressive weight of burnt cedar lifts from the room, leaving me rubbing my nose and glaring at her.
"Interesting," she hums, tapping the horsehair of her bow against her chin. She looks like a scientist who just discovered a new, particularly stupid species of bacteria. "So, let me get this straight. You're nose-blind to a prime Omega who was practically dripping on the floor, but the second I let out a little Alpha dominance, you look like you’re ready to commit a felony."
"I've never reacted like that before," I admit, leaning back against the piano keys. A lowplinkechoes behind me. "Usually, other Alphas are just annoying. Background noise. That felt... personal."
"Personal," she repeats. She starts pacing, her combat boots squeaking faintly on the floor. "What changed? You were fine last week. You were bored, sure, but your nose worked."
She stops mid-step. She turns slowly, fixing me with a look that makes me want to check if my fly is down.
"That guy," she starts, pointing the bow at me. "Sihwan. Heisan Alpha, right? Not a Beta on steroids or a really confused Omega?"
"He's an Alpha," I confirm. "A Dominant one, allegedly. Though he whines enough to be questionable."
"Right. And you said you knotted him."
I feel a flush heat the back of my neck. I hate talking about this with her, but I nod. "Yes. We established that."
"Did you bite him?"
The question hangs in the air, suspended in the dust motes.
I open my mouth to brush it off, to sayno, of course not, I'm not a feral animal. But then the memory hits me. The haze of the rut, the overwhelming need to keep him there, the way his shoulder looked so pale and exposed against the dark sheets. I remember the taste of salt and copper. I remember the way his scream turned into a sob when my teeth sank in.
I didn't just nip him. I locked my jaw. I broke the skin. I wanted everyone who looked at him to know exactly whose teeth fit those marks.
I swallow, the phantom taste of him suddenly heavy on my tongue.
"Yes," I say, my voice sounding rougher than I intended. "I bit him."
Soyoung stares at me. She doesn't blink. A slow, incredulous grin spreads across her face, showing off her canines.
"You bit him," she repeats, savoring the words. "On the scent gland?"
"Shoulder," I correct, though I know it's close enough to count. "I wasn't exactly aiming. It was... heat of the moment."
"Uh-huh. Heat of the moment." She scoffs, shaking her head. She walks over and leans into my personal space, her dark eyes dancing with malicious delight.
"Okay, let's review the data, Einstein. You knotted him, which induces a biological high. You bit him, breaking the skin and mixing your saliva with his blood during climax. And now, less than a week later, you are physically incapable of smelling available mates, and you react to other Alphas with extreme territorial aggression."
She pokes me in the chest with the tip of her bow. Hard.
"You're an honors student, Donghwa. What does that sound like to you?"
The silence that follows is heavy, thick enough to choke on.
I stare at the scuffed toe of Soyoung’s combat boot. My brain, usually a well-oiled machine capable of deconstructing complex art theory or memorizing concertos in a week, grinds to a screeching, sparks-flying halt.
I try to find a loophole. I try to find the flaw in her logic. I want to tell her she’s insane, that biology doesn't work like that, that two Dominant Alphas can't just...clicktogether like Lego bricks just because one of them lost control and decided to act like a feral wolf for twenty minutes.
But the evidence is stacked against me like a brick wall.
The nose blindness. The sudden, violent urge to rip Soyoung’s throat out just for smelling like an Alpha in my vicinity. The obsessive, gnawing need to find Sihwan that’s been keeping meawake for six days straight. The way I didn't just want to fuck him, I wanted tokeephim.
