Chapter 111: Don’t Stay in the Sky…
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Heinrich’s hand froze midair. It was unclear whether the familiar voice had snapped him back to his senses, or if it was simply because Lin Xu had fully overpowered him. The drug in his system made his mind foggy, his vision shook unnaturally, and the figure in his grasp turned into a blur. The whole world felt like it was ringing with static. The only thing he could hear clearly was Lin Xu’s breath—and his low, cold, resolute voice.
Ten minutes earlier, the Crown Prince’s aide had escorted Heinrich to the lounge door, then excused himself to retrieve a change of clothes. Heinrich hadn’t suspected a thing upon entering. After all, this was the highly secure Imperial Palace.
But as soon as he stepped closer, a young omega had thrown himself at Heinrich’s feet, face flushed, clinging to his leg and moaning his name with a sticky, needy tone.
The air in the lounge was thick with the scent of white flowers. It wasn’t that Heinrich could suddenly smell an omega’s pheromones—it was a synthetic fragrance, some chemically-produced perfume that stifled the lungs and made his chest tight.
But the side effects of that white floral scent went far beyond suffocating discomfort. The moment it hit his nose, a wave of heat shot from his chest to the rest of his body like wildfire, rolling and tumbling, sending his mind into chaos. He’d been drugged. The scent had triggered a reaction in the poison laced into his system.
Heinrich stumbled. The omega clung to him even tighter, and alarms blared in his mind—this wasn’t some fragile human omega clinging to his leg; it was like a feral Zerg cub, small but deadly.
With his body no longer under the control of his mind, Heinrich’s deeply ingrained combat instincts kicked in. Without even looking, he reached out and grabbed the omega’s throat—muscle memory from years of training and battlefield experience taking over.
What little sanity he had left barely held back the impulse to snap the neck he was holding. The omega struggled in terror, but couldn’t break free from Heinrich’s grip. Just as Heinrich raised his other fist, ready to deliver the final blow, Lin Xu burst in. He grabbed Heinrich’s wrist mid-swing, saving Lanser’s life in the nick of time.
“Heinrich, let go. Now.” Lin Xu’s gaze locked onto Heinrich’s bloodshot eyes. His nostrils flared, his breathing was erratic, and his pulse was visibly racing. Something was wrong.
The moment he confirmed it, Lin Xu changed tactics. Dropping the calm tone, he twisted Heinrich’s wrist back while his other arm hooked around Heinrich’s neck in a chokehold. Muscles tightened as he hauled the much larger alpha backward.
Just as a sliver of clarity returned to Heinrich’s mind, his throat was seized. The sudden sense of danger from behind shifted his focus, and his grip on Lanser loosened. Lanser collapsed to the floor, coughing desperately. At the same time, Heinrich’s free hand lashed out toward the arm around his neck.
“Tch—” Lin Xu hissed in pain. He kicked Heinrich’s military boots, yanking him back and driving a knee into the man’s lower back, slamming Heinrich’s chest and face into the wall. Heinrich let out a low groan. His instincts told him to keep fighting, but Lin Xu leaned in close and whispered harshly into his ear. “Calm down.”
His neatly combed black hair brushed against the back of Heinrich’s neck, and the scent of honey from Lin Xu’s skin and hair flooded Heinrich’s senses. For a moment, it felt… familiar. Peaceful. Safe. Heinrich struggled briefly, then rasped out, “Lin Xu…”
Lin Xu didn’t ease the pressure on either his arms or his knee. “Are you calm now?”
Heinrich squeezed his eyes shut. The burning in his body and the dryness in his eyes wouldn’t fade. “Barely…” he muttered, then added, “I won’t attack anyone again.”
Slowly, cautiously, Lin Xu let go—only after making sure Heinrich had no intention of lashing out again. But Heinrich was still in bad shape. Sweat beaded at his temples, and it was taking everything he had to control his breathing and the urges trying to take over.
“What happened?” Lin Xu asked.
“I was drugged… probably with some kind of aphrodisiac,” Heinrich panted. “Lanser had the trigger agent on him.”
“Then let’s get out of this room.” Lin Xu cast a cold glance at the omega on the floor, then helped Heinrich out of the lounge. “Can you walk?”
Heinrich shook his head. He had regained control of his consciousness, barely. But the intensifying effects of the drug were still raging. Without Lin Xu holding him back, he didn’t know what awful thing he might’ve done.
“Then we’re going home,” Lin Xu said firmly, already calling Zhou Pingbo. After briefing him on the situation, he asked Zhou to bring Heinrich’s personal aircraft to the corridor’s side door. They would exit discreetly to avoid the alpha pheromones leaking from Heinrich affecting the guests in the banquet hall.
The corridor was thankfully empty for now. As Lin Xu spoke, Heinrich leaned forward and pressed his nose to Lin Xu’s hair, breathing in the honeyed sweetness with desperate hunger.
That scent did strange things—it both soothed and agitated him, stirring the chaos in his bloodstream like a constant undercurrent.
Lin Xu turned slightly and gently brushed his fingers over Heinrich’s tense temple, as if to comfort him. Then, holding his hand, he quickened their pace toward the side door. Suddenly, a burst of overlapping footsteps and loud chatter echoed from around the corner.
Lin Xu frowned and was about to change direction to avoid being seen, but the people rounding the corner called out to them— “Marshal Chu, Dr. Lin!”
Leo called out in a concerned tone—loud enough for Lin Xu to hear despite the distance between them. At the sound of the Crown Prince’s voice, Lin Xu and Heinrich had no choice but to stop and wait as Leo and his group approached.
Trailing behind Leo were several inner court officials and Imperial Guards. Though he wore the traditional white of the royal family, Leo didn’t walk at the front of the group.
A few steps ahead of him strode a warm, handsome middle-aged alpha in an exquisitely tailored white formal uniform—the current monarch of the Marion Empire, Rowan Arsen. As the two parties came closer, Heinrich straightened and saluted the emperor.
Rowan had been about to gesture for Heinrich to dispense with the formalities when his gaze landed on Lin Xu’s face—and he froze. Lin Xu gave a polite nod, following Imperial custom.
Leo had no idea what had stunned his father. Confused but still composed, he stepped in to smooth things over. “The guards reported something unusual happening here. His Majesty and I were worried about Marshal Chu, so we came to check. Is everything all right, Marshal Chu?”
The tension radiating off Heinrich was impossible to miss. His alpha pheromones, agitated by the presence of so many unfamiliar alphas, flared with barely restrained aggression. He clenched his fists, trying to keep himself under control.
“There was… an incident,” Heinrich said tightly.
“An incident?” Leo looked genuinely surprised, glancing around the area. “Why is there an omega’s pheromone scent here?”
Lin Xu didn’t bother with political deflection. His voice was blunt and cold. “There was an omega in the lounge. He tried something underhanded but failed. He’s in a bad state now.”
His eyes flicked toward Leo. “I wonder what kind of punishment Imperial law assigns for drugging the Marshal of the Empire.”
Leaving that statement hanging in the air, Lin Xu turned and led Heinrich away, ignoring the shocked expression on Leo’s face.
Just then, Zhou Pingbo’s voice came through on the comms. “The catalyst used in this case—triggered through physical contact—couldn’t be countered with standard medical treatment. The only effective option was to purge it through the most basic, biological means, and quickly. Otherwise, the sustained high fever could damage Heinrich’s brain.”
Leo watched helplessly as Lin Xu and Heinrich exited through the side door. He turned to his father, anxious. “Father, what do we do now?”
The emperor jolted as if waking from a trance. He lifted his head suddenly, nearly stumbling backward. When the shock faded from his face, he looked at Leo with a strange mix of horror and disbelief.
“That was Lin Xu?” he asked, voice low and tight. Leo blinked, confused. “Yes, that’s him.”
“He and Heinrich Chu are mates?”
“They should be,” Leo replied. “Father, wasn’t that part of the arrangement you approved?”
How could the emperor not know the identity of the man caught in the very web they’d helped weave? But a storm had already begun churning in Rowan’s heart. He had always considered Lin Xu an utterly forgettable obstacle—not even worth looking into. He had never thought to take a closer look at the man’s file. But now… How—how could it be him!?
A cold sweat soaked Rowan’s back. He turned sharply and strode toward the lounge at the end of the corridor. The others, baffled, had to jog to keep up with him. With a loud bang, the emperor shoved the lounge door open. Lanser shrieked from where he had curled up on the cold floor. His face was streaked with tears, his neck mottled with purple bruises. His clothes were disheveled, but mostly intact—thankfully, nothing truly irreversible had happened yet. Leo hesitated at the doorway. “Father… What about our cooperation with Duke Paris’s plan?”
“That doesn’t matter anymore,” the emperor said, taking a deep breath. “Clean this up. I have more pressing things to deal with.”
– –
Once Lin Xu climbed into the pilot seat of the aircraft, he left Heinrich in the copilot’s chair—close enough to keep control if anything went wrong. But in such a sealed space, the heat and the scent of sweetness built up quickly and thick. The moment Lin Xu lifted the craft off the ground, Heinrich lunged, wrapping his arms tightly around Lin Xu’s shoulders.
The aircraft gave a sudden jolt in midair. One of the parking attendants on the ground radioed in, concern lacing his voice. “Dr. Lin, do you need assistance?”
“No.” Lin Xu’s reply was sharp and clipped. He immediately cut the transmission, not wanting the soft gasp that escaped his lips to be heard by some stranger on the other end.
The drug’s effects were still raging through Heinrich’s system, fraying the last threads of reason. Instinct took over—feral, dominant, and forceful. His broad hands began to yank violently at the buttons of Lin Xu’s tailored suit. The aircraft bucked again, this time dropping nearly five meters in a sudden, sickening plunge.
Lin Xu slammed his foot into Heinrich’s knee, shoving him back far enough to buy a second of space. His fingers moved swiftly, engaging the autopilot just in time to keep them from crashing to their deaths.
“Lin Xu…” Heinrich slurred his name, voice thick with need and confusion as he clawed at him. Out of nowhere, something cool and slightly rigid coiled around Lin Xu’s waist, locking him in place. His breath caught. The struggle grew harder.
“Heinrich, quit it,” he warned through gritted teeth. “We’re still in the sky…”
“Mmm…”
Heinrich seemed to hear him—sort of. He quieted just enough. The limbs Lin Xu had pinned down stopped thrashing. But just barely. Lin Xu could feel the silver-white dragon tail tightening around his waist, the pressure growing by the second. He was starting to suffocate. The pointed tip of the tail jabbed at him repeatedly.
He had been calm. Concerned, yes—but composed. Now, under the heat of Heinrich’s drugged state and the suffocating scent in the cabin, he felt no different from the man beside him. With effort, he wrestled his hand free and tapped the navigation screen, locking in a destination. The autopilot responded instantly, guiding the aircraft smoothly across the clear night sky.
Outside, the wind roared past the windows. Inside, Heinrich panted heavily, clutching Lin Xu’s waist with both hands and tail, then bit down on the fingers Lin Xu had just used to touch the glowing interface—as if he were a wild predator in the middle of a hunt.
“Easy…” Lin Xu groaned, gripping the restless tail tip. “Just hold on… just a little longer. Not in the sky.”
Author’s Note:
Just your typical lovers’ quarrel… with a not-so-typical setting.
