Chapter 105

With a low snort, Li Huan’s response to Jiang Li’s words was this:

Her scarlet tongue tip darted out as the cheek buried between Jiang Li’s neck slid downward from top to bottom.

The sensation was wet and slick, scorching hot and sticky. Her tongue rolled completely over the nape of Jiang Li’s neck, accompanied by the intimate press of skin against skin.

“It’s just… I like Li Li too much.”

Her breath spilled across Jiang Li’s skin as the other woman’s chin rubbed against the crown of Li Huan’s hair. The low murmur rose from the hollow of her collarbone, but the earnestness in those words was impossible to ignore.

Because she liked her, she couldn’t help doing those things. It wasn’t only about devouring her pheromones…

Li Huan’s scarlet tongue scraped lightly, and she gazed darkly at that expanse of pale skin. Her gums itched fiercely—she wanted to tear it right off and swallow it whole.

She likes me.

Perhaps it was the sight of Li Huan nuzzled so intimately into her neck that sparked a rush of stray thoughts, but Jiang Li seized on her words to fire back. “You’d still like me even if I seduced you and then abandoned you?”

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Huan sank her teeth in hard.

Jiang Li’s spine straightened from the sudden shock of pain before arching into a pained curve. She hissed softly as a sharp sting radiated from her collarbone, igniting an urge to pull away. But where could she retreat to?

Li Huan’s thighs pressed firmly against the small of her back, blocking every inch of escape.

She didn’t even want to think about bringing it up, not one bit.

Li Huan leaned back slightly. A foul mood ignited within her like dry tinder catching flame. Her palm pressed against Jiang Li’s neck, veins bulging as it tightened with her deepening smile—a smile laced with menace.

The throb of Jiang Li’s pulse was clear in her palm, a frantic beat entirely under her control.

No matter what, she could never escape.

In this moment, with Jiang Li utterly in her power, Li Huan allowed a sliver of the volcano buried in her heart to erupt. Perhaps it was a warning.

“Does Li Li want to do something like that again?”

She paused, then laughed softly as she dismissed the idea herself. “You can’t.”

No, she wouldn’t give Jiang Li another chance to leave.

Even if her body withered and her vitality faded away—even through those agonizing days of being cast aside, utterly forgotten and irrelevant—Li Huan refused to endure it again.

Not even death would steal this woman from her side.

If it had to end that way, better by her own hand.

The restraint on Jiang Li’s neck tightened gradually. Her breaths grew short and ragged. Staring at the person smiling cruelly before her, Jiang Li reached out a hand to stop her.

But the fingers clamped around her neck showed no hesitation.

The gesture was clearly interpreted as resistance, yet it achieved nothing. If anything, the grip only clamped down harder. Jiang Li narrowed her eyes, struggling to think clearly through the gaps in her labored breaths. There were sure to be bruises marring her neck now.

No, that wasn’t the pressing concern.

Pheromones churned wildly through the room, carrying the fury of a blizzard that lashed at their faces. Not a single corner escaped their siege, leaving no room to breathe.

“Li… Huan, calm down a little.”

The vise around her neck grew heavier still. Even those few strained words came out with difficulty from Jiang Li’s lips. Her fingertips dug involuntarily into the back of Li Huan’s hand, carving half-moons into her skin.

Bruises mottled the snowy white flesh—red streaks intertwining with the blue veins—but Li Huan seemed to have blocked out all pain, her grip unrelenting despite the damage.

Heart-chilling calls echoed, whispers from the depths of hell murmuring in Jiang Li’s ear.

“Li Li, be good. Be obedient.”

“I like you so much… Li Li…”

The hand locked around her neck seemed dead set on crushing her windpipe. Jiang Li called out Li Huan’s name again and again, but she just continued murmuring to herself.

“A Baby who wants to leave isn’t being good at all. She needs a little punishment, doesn’t she?”

“Don’t look at me like that, Baby. Yes, just like that… ah…”

“That’s it… good girl.”

Oxygen grew scarce. Jiang Li’s face flushed deep red from the deprivation, her eyes gleaming with painful tears—markings of the torment.

She couldn’t make out Li Huan’s expression, only felt the ruthless force bearing down between her neck. Jiang Li pounded and shoved, to no avail.

“Li… Huan…” An excruciating call forced its way out; even the whites of her eyes rolled upward from the agony. Deep down, Jiang Li knew she was enduring the full brunt of Li Huan’s wrath.

And it stemmed from the words she’d just spoken.

Five years ago, her departure hadn’t been met with indifference, as Jiang Li had assumed. On the contrary, it mattered intensely to Li Huan.

All that previous nonchalance, all those seemingly teasing remarks about other things—it had merely been a mask.

Li Huan cared desperately.

Cared to the point of murderous rage now.

Jiang Li couldn’t untangle her own swirling emotions or discern if that vicious smile still lingered on Li Huan’s face. She knew only one thing—

If she didn’t say something to satisfy her soon, she’d be choked unconscious. Or worse, dead right here.

“I… won’t… leave.” Jiang Li’s palms clamped onto Li Huan’s wrists with every ounce of strength she had left, seizing the barest sliver of breath to force the words out.

Tears of pain fluttered in her eyes. So pitiable, gasping beneath her hand—this woman belonged to her alone.

Whether pain or pleasure, life or death—it would all be decided by her.

Li Huan released her grip. Instantly, her arms filled with someone coughing uncontrollably. Jiang Li braced herself against Li Huan’s shoulder, gasping in desperate, ragged heaves.

She hadn’t even had the chance to settle the score yet, so Li Huan took advantage of the moment to do exactly as she pleased.

For instance, she gently combed through Jiang Li’s disheveled strands of hair, some plastered messily to her face.

A little cat promising never to leave again—whether truth or lie, it was utterly endearing.

As a reward, Li Huan gave her heaving back a few soft pats.

“Good girl. It’s over now.”

Who was to blame for her being like this!?

The hand stroking her back was entirely unlike the brutal force that had gripped her neck moments before. Gentle strokes glided over her skin, as if Li Huan had completely forgotten that she’d been the cause of all this misery.

“Were you trying to strangle me to death just now?” It was impossible not to be angry. Jiang Li seized Li Huan’s collar and yanked her forward, fury flashing in her eyes.

The utter deprivation of breath. The pleas falling on deaf ears. The pheromones encircling her without mercy.

She really was a pervert.

Li Huan nodded without denial at first, then shook her head after a beat.

“I wouldn’t strangle Li Li to death.”

Her fingertip brushed over Jiang Li’s skin, tender as a breeze. Unfazed by her collar being grabbed, she tapped the corner of Jiang Li’s eye and rubbed lightly.

“I just wanted to make Li Li behave.” The back of her hand grazed Jiang Li’s cheek as Li Huan chuckled softly, tilting her head. “A small punishment.”

“Punishment?” Jiang Li echoed, laughing bitterly in outrage.

By what right did Li Huan think she could punish her? What had she even done wrong?

The anger in Jiang Li’s eyes boiled like a volcano on the verge of eruption, with no room left for restraint.

With a soft hum, Li Huan regarded the fuming woman before her. After a moment’s thought, she tugged her own collar down further and turned her head, baring the snowy expanse of her own nape to Jiang Li.

The pale, taut skin stretched invitingly. Offering herself up as a plaything for venting, Li Huan invited her. “If you want to, you can punish me too.”

She wouldn’t get angry at any “lesson” from Jiang Li, so she brushed her hair aside and leaned her neck toward the stunned woman.

“Want to punish me?”

Pervert…

Jiang Li gained crystal clarity on the twisted nature of the person before her.

A vast swath of creamy skin laid bare without reservation, even as she coyly asked if Jiang Li wanted it. And all while her pheromones were thick enough in the air to induce a haze.

Such utter hypocrisy.

The pheromones assaulting her nostrils grew ever denser. To avoid succumbing to the heat this woman was provoking, Jiang Li slapped her palm against Li Huan’s nape and shoved her forcefully down onto the sofa.

“Pull back your pheromones. I’m not as…” Her tongue curled in disdain as she glared expressionlessly at Li Huan, enunciating each syllable with icy clarity. “Perverted as you.”

It was supposed to be a punishment for her, but to Jiang Li, it felt more like torture of her own.

Scolded and shoved onto the sofa without ceremony, Li Huan showed no anger or hurry. Her eyes curved into happy crescents—deep down, joy bloomed regardless.

She knew her own nature all too well: volatile, mad, obsessively clinging… the last type any ordinary person would choose as a lover.

Especially since the one she’d fallen for was a pampered Eldest Miss, heir to every luxury Li Huan could offer, stunningly beautiful, endlessly gentle, and beloved by all.

Li Huan had no “shining qualities” with which to compete on equal footing. So she’d resolved to drag Jiang Li into her own abyss first—to make her see the real her.

Lowly tactics be damned.

“I’m a pervert, but Li Li can’t abandon me, okay?”

She hugged Jiang Li’s waist tight and murmured coaxingly by her ear. Despite the pleading tone, the hand pressing firmly against her nape lent it a coercive edge.

With a low scoff, Jiang Li leaned backward. Ignoring the hand still clamped on her neck, she settled directly onto Li Huan’s thighs and looked down at her from above.

When those gentle features hardened into a cold stare, the Eldest Miss’s inherent arrogance shone through. Jiang Li said nothing more, merely drifting her question lightly. “On what basis?”

She had endless options. Why choose Li Huan?

“Because you like me?”

“Rejected.”

“Because you kept me as a mistress before?”

“Not anymore.”

“Do you still need my help now?”

“No need.”

One question, one denial. Li Huan’s every reason was shot down in turn.

“Because you kept me before, but because my body was too weak, you never actually claimed me!” Cupping Jiang Li’s cheeks, Li Huan met her gaze with utter sincerity. “Don’t you want to settle that score?”

Her stare burned with intensity, genuinely fretting over Jiang Li’s prior “losses.” An Alpha spouting such things? No matter—she saw nothing wrong with it.

As long as she could chain her to her side.

Whether shaken by those words or drawn in by some unspoken lure, Jiang Li didn’t answer right away.

Seizing the opening, Li Huan whispered seductively into her ear, one temptation after another.

“I was the pretty canary you locked away back in your high school days. Are you really going to sit back and watch someone else steal me?”

“Touch me, hm? You like it, don’t you? Look how beautiful it’s grown now—don’t you want to devour it?”

“Those red marks on your neck are so deep. I went way too far… shouldn’t you punish me for it?”

Her hands climbed Jiang Li’s shoulders as she nipped lazily at her earlobe, murmuring through sultry words. Tilting her head toward the flushed shell of Jiang Li’s ear, Li Huan’s smile brimmed with delight.

The hand she’d guided to her chest began to knead in earnest with each coaxing phrase, sending tingles racing through them both.

Jiang Li tumbled straight into the trap Li Huan had woven. The soft flesh yielding under her palm scrambled her thoughts entirely.

For an AO pair with perfect compatibility, once the fire ignited, how could it ever burn out?