Apex Predator - Chap 49

Shen Dai’s eyes quickly turned red. His lips trembled slightly. This sight of him looking so wounded and wronged stirred up a sense of discomfort within Qu Moyu.

Was the influence of pheromones really this powerful?

The more Shen Dai could affect his emotions, the more he resisted.

“Right. Nothing new at all,” repeated Shen Dai, a faint tremor in his voice.

He thought that confessing was a fiery combustion, but Qu Moyu had simply extinguished him like nothing at all.

Their inseparable closeness over the past few months had led to a few misconceptions on his part. He thought that Qu Moyu shared the same sentiments as he did. However little, however weak, at least they were something no one else had been able to obtain before. He was still somewhat special.

What a fantasy.

What was so rare about an Omega that liked Qu Moyu? What was so rare about his feelings? Because Qu Moyu wasn’t interested in him, he didn’t give a damn about his feelings for him – and didn’t give a damn about him either.

In Qu Moyu’s eyes, they were nothing more than “vague and illusory emotions”.

Qu Moyu had already given him his mark; They had already gotten married; They had an intimate relationship. And yet Qu Moyu still didn’t care about him. This was so utterly depressing.

He used to turn his nose up at Omega pheromone grading standards. Who would have thought that he would be feeling inferior now because of it? He couldn’t help but wonder: If he had been an S-class Omega, if his grade had been slightly higher, would the outcome have been any different?

Qu Moyu restlessly averted his gaze. “What else do you have to say?”

Shen Dai drew in a deep breath. His voice hoarse, he replied, “I’m aware that you don’t like me. I also know that you’re furious. But you can’t declare me guilty just like that. Even criminals have the right to defend themselves. Can you at least hear my explanation?”

Casting a sideways glance at Shen Dai, Qu Moyu replied, “Go on then, say it.”

“On the afternoon of the twelfth, I went back home. My Dad took my phone and went out. He said he had taken it by mistake. Clearly my phone had been tampered with during that period of time.” After he had said this, Shen Dai felt an overwhelming sense of shame. No one would wish for a father like his. On top of that, he still needed to air his family’s dirty laundry for the scrutiny of others. “My Omega father is a…very selfish person. He had me just to coerce You Xinghai. He used his parent’s house as collateral for his boyfriend’s loans which led to us being in debt for a huge amount of money. I never told my father about the relationship between you and I. But on the day of my grandmother’s operation, he saw us together from outside the hospital. And now I have no idea how he managed to get into contact with Qu Chengchen. Everything he does, he does only for the sake of money.”

As Qu Moyu listened on, his eyes narrowed.

“This is the extent of what I know. The rest I’ll uncover on my own.” Shen Dai sniffed and fought back the tears in his eyes. “I didn’t conspire against you, whether you believe me now or not. Anything is plausible, isn’t it? In which case, isn’t it also plausible that what I’m saying is true? Until we have a definitive answer, I don’t want to be wrongly accused.”

Qu Moyu looked at him coldly, “You want me to believe that you were framed by your own father? Even though the both of you stood to gain from this matter?”

“Yes.” Shen Dai continued, with difficulty, “I did hope that I could…get your mark. But I would never resort to such tricks to do it.”

Qu Moyu snorted. “I don’t have time for you right now. Once I’ve finished settling the important matters, I will investigate exactly what role you had in all this.”

Swallowing back his heartache, Shen Dai said in a low voice, “I was thinking of going home tomorrow. I want to confront my—”

“No.”

“…”

“I’ve already told you,” stated Qu Moyu. “You can’t let anyone know that I’ve marked you.” The expression on his face was stern, leaving no room for arguments. “On the side of the company, I’ll grant you a long leave of absence for medical reasons.”

Shen Dai widened his eyes. “So I have to remain here indefinitely?”

“That’s right.”

“For how long!” demanded Shen Dai, raising his voice.

“Until you remove the mark.”

As soon as this sentence was uttered, both of them held their breaths and fell into a silence.

This mark was a physical and spiritual bond between them. Once made, both sides would feel an emotional resistance towards breaking it, similar to how the brain would direct the body to prioritise safeguarding the brain.

Once Qu Moyu had finished speaking these words, an indescribable agony emerged from within him. Shen Dai, even more so, felt an excruciating pain in his chest.

The person he liked the most, his Alpha, wanted him to remove the mark, wanted to wipe clean whatever relationship they had between each other.

Qu Moyu masked his discomfort and suppressed whatever self-doubt he had. There was only coldness in his eyes. “I’ve already consulted with a doctor. In two weeks, we can test to see if you’re pregnant. If you’re not, we can remove the mark immediately. And if you are, you can have the mark removed after you get an abortion.”

Shen Dai staggered backwards by a step, his gaze fixed on Qu Moyu in disbelief. For a time he only felt numb.

Faced with that gaze that was so filled with pain and desperation, even Qu Moyu couldn’t bring himself to look Shen Dai in the eye. He cautioned himself that there was no need to be softhearted; This was nothing more than the influence of pheromones. How could he, Qu Moyu, passively allow himself to be manipulated by anyone? He would not be coerced by pheromones or let those who betrayed him achieve what they wanted.

Shen Dai looked at Qu Moyu’s tense and razor-sharp jawline, knowing that this man meant every word he said. He stammered in a soft, powerless voice, “Don’t treat me like this.”

He didn’t know whether there was already a life inside his belly, but supposing there was, that was both his and Qu Moyu’s child. They were married, shared a mark, and spent a period of time in perfect harmony together. How could Qu Moyu be this heartless?!

“Did you already forget the clause in the contract you personally signed and acknowledged?” The muscles on Qu Moyu’s face were quivering, as if he were trying to hold back something yet appearing somewhat ferocious. “You are not going to have my child. Even more than that, you shouldn’t have my mark. If you want something that doesn’t belong to you, then you need to pay the price.

Shen Dai unconsciously put his hand over his stomach. Though he knew his words were powerless, he truly did not know how else to defend himself at this moment from the vitriol coming from the person he loved.

After being marked, he would only become more fond of, more dependent on, and more obedient to his Alpha. While his genetic instinct was telling him to submit, his brain was telling him to resist. He bit down, and with tears falling silently from his eyes, he pleaded, “Moyu, don’t treat me like this.”

Clenching his fist, Qu Moyu replied, “You’ll do as I say. Do not make me repeat myself.”

Shen Dai’s chest was heaving with great force, his voice already choking up, he argued, “You can’t force me to remove the mark.

Qu Moyu rose to his feet. With his towering stature, piercing eyes, and oppressive top-grade pheromones, he cut a menacing figure. “What I have are ways of making you do it by ‘your own accord’”.

Having said this, he turned around and headed into the bedroom, violently slamming the door behind him.

Shen Dai stared at the door which had been shut in his face, in a daze, staring for a long time, until all of the warmth in his body had gradually dissipated. It was as if he had frozen to death on a spring day. In the past, he had eagerly awaited being able to walk through that door. Later, when he finally did, he believed that he had truly won the right to stay by Qu Moyu’s side.

And now, this door had been mercilessly shut in his face. It was like waking up from a dream. Everything lovely had turned into something unsightly to the eye.

That person who had saved him from ruin, had so gently taken care of him, had held his hand as they took a walk around his alma mater, and this person who was humiliating him, forcing him to abort his child and remove the mark – How was it they were the same?

The one who had saved him yet hurt him, who treated him gently yet cruelly – how was it they were the same?!