Apex Predator - Chap 19
Shen Dai’s face immediately grew hot.
He grasped the hand that Qu Moyu had wrapped around his waist lightly, secretly interlacing his fingers with his own. He had wanted to reciprocate his affection, yet felt too awkward and embarrassed.
His fingers were deliberately squeezed by Qu Moyu, causing him to inhale sharply in pain. He wanted to withdraw his hand, but it was already fastened in place. Soft laughter came from beside his ear. His face grew even hotter, it was about to burn.
”It’s so faint…” muttered Qu Moyu unhappily. Seizing the pheromone-blocking patch by his teeth he peeled it off, then rubbed the pointed tip of his nose against the gland, as if breaking the mud seal on a jar of wine to release the long-imprisoned aroma. He inhaled deeply, allowing the weak fragrance of the epiphyllum to penetrate his lungs. It seemed that in an instant they were purified of the turbid air he had ingested throughout the day.
He turned Shen Dai’s chin and took in his supple petal-like lips, gently kissing them with earnest attention – this exquisite way of kissing was akin to taking one’s time to savour a dish.
Shen Dai felt his body relax. He closed his eyes, experiencing the sensation of the tips of their tongues chasing and colliding. His fingers were clasped by Qu Moyu with a modest amount of strength, causing him to feel as though he was firmly captured. And yet by restraining his own strength, Qu Moyu made his intention to seize the other party all the more ambiguous.
Licking his moistened lips, Qu Moyu asked, “Where did you run off to these past few days?”
“I went home to spend some time with my grandmother.”
“And here I was thinking you were embarrassed and didn’t dare see me.”
Shen Dai had no idea how to reply to these teasing words.
“See? You get embarrassed so easily,” said Qu Moyu, chuckling to himself.
“President Qu, I…”
“What should you call me?”
“…Moyu.”
“Mhm.”
Qu Moyu stroked his soft hair. With a bit of disappointment, he remarked, “You were a lot more eager during those three days.”
Trying to conceal his embarrassment, Shen Dai hastily explained, “It was because of heat. During that period, I tend to be a bit more…”
“A bit more what?”, Qu Moyu leaned close to his ear, then nipped his earlobe gently. “A bit more shameless? Well, I like when you’re a bit shameless.”
Shen Dai really wanted to jump out of the car.
Qu Moyu ran his hand down the line of his back, caressing him until it reached the tip of his spine. Then, in a beguiling voice, he added, “Still, I’d like it if you’d take a little initiative – don’t you know how to act a little spoiled?”
“I… I can learn.”
He snorted in amusement, “Even this needs to be learnt? You’re an Omega, isn’t it just instinct?”
Shen Dai blinked his eyes rapidly, “Maybe I’m just not used to it.”
“Then learn.”
Qu Moyu placed a kiss on his fair and delicate cheek.
“You have to learn to make me happy. For instance, to smile often when you’re in my presence, to take the initiative to get close to me, to act cute and spoiled, to be able to converse – of course, when I’m working you need to be sensitive to my moods. But when I require you…” Qu Moyu’s kisses gradually travelled lower, encircling that fragrance-emitting nape “…you have to be as shameless as you like.”
Saying this, he took a bite of the skin near the gland.
Shen Dai’s body trembled. He could not help but pull his shoulders away. He paused for a moment, then consciously put his arms around Qu Moyu’s neck and nestled himself in his broad chest.
If he had understood these words correctly, what Qu Moyu wanted was for him to learn to ‘please’ him. To please – this word was especially interesting; it did not imply an equal exchange of pleasure but one party trying to gain the favour of the other.
Therefore, when Qu Moyu had asked to be ‘pleased’, he had seemingly taken this for granted.
“Good boy. Do this well, and there’ll be a reward.” Qu Moyu smiled brightly and continued,
“Your grandmother has been ill, hasn’t she? With stage two cancer, and an upcoming surgery.”
Shen Dai stared at Qu Moyu in confusion.
”Things like hospital care, surgery, post-operative care, supplementary chemotherapy, medicine – I am going to help you take care of all of it – as a reward for your ‘services rendered outside the scope of the contract’.“
At that moment, it could be said that Shen Dai’s emotions were mixed. He opened his mouth as if to speak. For a while he didn’t know what to say, hesitating for so long until the only thing left at the tip of his tongue was a barely audible “Thank you.”
There was no one that wanted to constantly be indebted to another person for help, especially the person they were infatuated with. It was too much of a moral obligation.
But to Shen Dai, there were many things on this earth that were far more important than his dignity, not least of all his family.
“You’re welcome.“
Qu Moyu had a thorough understanding of the art of control. The way he saw it, everything in the world was transactional. And just as interaction between matter followed the law of conservation of energy, relationships between people followed the law of karma; everybody wanted what they desired for the least effort possible.
The two spent the rest of the journey exchanging intimacies. Even as they stepped out of the car, the ambiguous feeling surrounding them still lingered. But Qu Moyu did little to avoid the gazes of the driver and housekeeper. Everyone was acting like business as usual. Of course, Shen Dai wasn’t going to make things difficult for himself, so he, too, pretended as if nothing had happened. Or perhaps since whatever could have happened, already happened, so what else was there for him to do?
Despite living at the Qu residence for three months, this evening was only the second time that Shen Dai ate with Qu Moyu in the dining room. Over dinner, Qu Moyu posed a few questions regarding matters at the Research Institute. This subject brought Shen Dai back into his comfort zone, so he was able to answer them with confidence and ease.
Qu Moyu, having finished his meal, was about to leave the table when he said to Shen Dai, nonchalantly, “I’ll come look for you after dinner.“ This was spoken neither loudly nor softly, neither boldly nor bashfully, but in the manner of a person completely at ease in his own domain.
In contrast, these words threw Shen Dai into a state of uneasiness. Returning to his bedroom, he flipped through a good dozen or so pages of unintelligible scientific literature before he managed to calm himself down. Then he took a shower, scrubbing himself so thoroughly that his skin turned red.
Damn, this wasn’t good. He never used to get so anxious this easily, but whenever it came to Qu Moyu, his anxiety would just skyrocket. Because back then wasn’t the same as now. Back then, he had lost all his senses under the influence of heat, whereas now, to be completely lucid, and for Qu Moyu and him to…… – he was going to need a bit of mental preparation.
As he came out of the shower, he noticed a few toiletries on the wash basin that hadn’t been there before. Turning back to look, he realised that even a few new bottles and jars had been added to the shower cubicle. Suspended on the wall hook was a bathrobe that clearly wasn’t his size.
He walked out of the bathroom and checked the wardrobe. Inside he spotted a few sets of loungewear belonging to Qu Moyu. And then there were the neatly arranged condoms and bottles of lubricant inside the drawer of the bedside table. Had all these been placed in the room during the few days that he was away?
The few vague fragments of memory that he had produced different answers.
He had been so tormented by carnal pleasure that he was on the point of losing consciousness.
During this time, Uncle Heng and Aunty Lan had entered the room periodically.
They brought meals and miscellaneous items, and also cleaned and tidied the room.
Meanwhile, Qu Moyu had also made a few calls, went over various contracts and used his laptop to attend a few videoconference meetings.
In fact, he had remembered much of those three days. It was just that being too ashamed to remember, he had subconsciously blocked it from his memory.
He recalled that the first time Uncle Heng came by: it was to bring condoms. The first time Aunty Lan came by: it was to bring over the bite stopper.
Qu Moyu had already started thrusting against his reproductive cavity, causing an intense amount of pain. It was a type of innate impulse of Alphas that would occur before ejaculation – the desire to enter the reproductive cavity to form a knot and plant the seeds of their future offspring. But that was absolutely something Qu Moyu would never do. It didn’t matter if it was condoms or the bite stopper, these were all for the sake of stopping this ‘impulse’, and preventing Qu Moyu from forming a genuine connection with him.
Qu Moyu only needed him as a convenient bed companion. This much was clear to him from the beginning.
That evening, Qu Moyu came over to Shen Dai’s room.
Shen Dai mustered up his courage and took the initiative to embrace him. Standing on tiptoe, he reached up for a kiss. The pair did not stop kissing as they made their way from the doorway and onto the bed.
So, it turned out that sex in a state of total awareness could also make one succumb endlessly…
The next day at work, Shen Dai could not stop himself from yawning for the first half of the day. Qu Moyu had only done it once the night before, but an Alpha’s stamina was really too formidable. Still tired and sleepy, he was once again almost late for work in the morning.
As he was in the middle of analysing some data, Shen Dai heard a commotion coming from beyond the laboratory door.
Looking outside through the window, he saw a few familiar figures, some of them from the research department, but also some from the main division. And then there was that one person he didn’t want to meet, but couldn’t ignore due to his exceptional stature and good looks: Qu Chengchen.
He knew that Qu Chengchen was here to inspect the laboratories involved in chemical production and likely would not go over to where he was, yet he still hid behind a filing cabinet. Though he still resented Qu Chengchen for the two times he had provoked him and for making things difficult, he knew that he was unable to do anything against a top-tier Alpha. After all, if you can’t deal with someone, then it’s better to just avoid them.
Not thinking that half an hour later, he would receive a knock on the laboratory door from the office director.
The office director had along with him a group of people. Rather solicitously, he asked, “Engineer Shen, President Qu mentioned that he would like to inspect this area as well. If you aren’t busy, can you pause what you’re working on for a while?
Cheng Zimei wasn’t in. Given that he was the only person in charge around, there was just no way for him to shirk off the responsibility.
He swept his gaze over to Qu Chengchen, whose expression he couldn’t quite read.
He said politely, “Good afternoon President Qu, Good afternoon to all the senior members of staff. If it doesn’t bore anyone, I’d like to explain some of the work that we do here.”
Shen Dai gave a tour of the laboratory. When he was finished with his explanations, he assigned a few trainees to entertain those with questions.
“Engineer Shen, so we meet again.” Qu Chengchen walked up in front of Shen Dai and gave a tactful smile.
”I feel quite bad for what happened the last time. I heard that you even had to go to the hospital afterwards?”
”It was nothing. I did too much overtime during that period so I was just a little tired.”
Shen Dai steeled himself up and looked directly at Qu Chengchen. At the very least, in front of so many people, and in his own laboratory no less, he still had that last bit of confidence.
”You didn’t trouble me at all, President Qu.”
”Oh? That’s good to hear. Otherwise, not only would I have undermined your presentation, but to subject you to pheromone interference on top of it – man, it would seem too much as if I were bullying you.”
“I don’t quite like the word ‘bullying’ either. It makes it sound as if we’re schoolchildren.”
With an insincere smile on his face, Shen Dai continued, “But whenever the two of you brothers scheme against each other, it’s always you who takes it out on me. So, what other word should we use for this kind of behaviour then?”
Qu Chengchen’s eyes flickered with astonishment. Suffice to say that over the course of his lifetime as a top-tier Alpha, or at least, ever since he had gone through the differentiation process, he had never once encountered an Omega who dared provoke him.
As the metaphorical kings of the jungle, top-tier Alphas would for the most part only be treated with deference by Omegas.
Just like the one standing right now before his eyes, who had always appeared quiet and obedient. Barring his external appearance, everything else about him corresponded with that of an average Omega.
Which is why, after seeing the obvious rage and contempt in Shen Dai’s eyes, he had begun to suspect that this Omega’s “quiet and obedient” demeanour was not meant for him, but only for the privilege of Qu Moyu.
1. don’t you know how to act a little spoiled? / to act cute and spoiled | The word used was sajiao (撒娇), to act childlike to get someone’s affection, but does not necessarily have a negative connotation. What Qu Moyu is asking is for Shen Dai to ‘sajiao’. He wants to be indulgent with Shen Dai!
