Lu Zhixia rarely got angry at anyone. She might put on a fierce front sometimes, and most people would cower in fear.
But Shen Wanqing was the sole exception. She provoked Lu Zhixia time and again, over and over.
Shen Wanqing wasn’t afraid of her in the slightest. Worse, she always knew exactly how to get under her skin. Lu Zhixia was so furious she felt like she might explode.
She vented wildly without a care for Shen Wanqing’s feelings, a complete hysterical mess. Shen Wanqing had called her a rabid dog cub in a fit of rage.
So Lu Zhixia bit down for real, marking her frantically while leaving teeth marks all over.
The more Shen Wanqing tried to protect certain spots, the more determined Lu Zhixia was to claim them—like some defiant rebel child going out of her way to do the opposite. It fit her perfectly.
At first, Shen Wanqing endured it in silence. But eventually, the pain must have been too much, because she let out an involuntary whimper.
Lu Zhixia ignored it. Her anger hadn’t subsided yet; whether it hurt or not was Shen Wanqing’s problem.
In her eyes, this was all Shen Wanqing’s own doing. She’d poked and prodded, brushing every single one of Lu Zhixia’s reverse scales.
Before returning to the country, Lu Zhixia had sworn to herself she’d be a model citizen. Now she spat on that notion.
In this day and age, a good conscience was for cowards—doomed to get trampled.
Lu Zhixia pinned Shen Wanqing down hard, refusing to let her get up. She knew what Shen Wanqing was capable of, so this time she tied her to the table leg.
Shen Wanqing could only lie there and take it as Lu Zhixia tormented her. Lu Zhixia laughed like a madwoman.
She deliberately spewed the most humiliating, crude words she could think of—the nastier or more vulgar, the better.
She didn’t just curse Shen Wanqing out; she turned the venom on herself too.
If she was a dog, then Shen Wanqing getting marked by one made her no better.
Lu Zhixia’s figure was still in top shape—her waist slim without an ounce of excess fat, muscles defined, lines sleek and beautiful.
Now it was covered in scratches from Shen Wanqing’s nails. The pain only fueled her frenzy, like she’d been injected with adrenaline.
She flipped and tossed relentlessly. With her hands bound, Shen Wanqing let her rage at first.
But later, just as Lu Zhixia was buried deep in the heat of it, Shen Wanqing suddenly sat up. Her hands shoved at Lu Zhixia’s chin, keeping her at bay.
Lu Zhixia had no idea how her hands had come free. Her body was still instinctively thrusting in marking motions, her gland in the midst of knotting—but Shen Wanqing blocked her. “Enough.”
Lu Zhixia tilted her chin up, breathing ragged, her body still twitching with need.
Then her ass got a sharp smack. Shen Wanqing pulled her into her arms and clamped down tight, immobilizing her.
With no room to move, they were pressed impossibly close. Shen Wanqing’s red lips glistened, plump and tempting.
Lu Zhixia leaned in on instinct, only to catch another slap—not hard, but enough to remind her of Shen Wanqing’s earlier words.
She wasn’t allowed to initiate a kiss. Burning with annoyance, Lu Zhixia watched as Shen Wanqing leaned in first with a searing one.
Lu Zhixia devoured her mouth like it was payback. Shen Wanqing didn’t yield an inch.
Their kiss turned into a fierce tussle, like a brawl. One pair of lips gave way first.
Blood tinged their teeth and tongues. Lu Zhixia hissed in pain, drawing a sharp breath, as Shen Wanqing’s touch softened into something tender.
The gentle entanglement drained the last of Lu Zhixia’s fury. She stood by the table, leaning against Shen Wanqing as her heaving chest slowly settled.
Shen Wanqing rested her forehead against it and murmured, “Do you really have to work overtime?”
Lu Zhixia looked down, her chin pillowed on Shen Wanqing’s head. “Yes,” she mumbled.
Her work wasn’t done yet. Having tumbled from the heights back to earth, Lu Zhixia took deep breaths to hasten her return to rationality.
The knot in her gland would take time to release.
They stayed like that, Shen Wanqing’s arms wrapped around her, nestling close.
Lu Zhixia’s arms dangled at her sides. She tilted her chin up slightly, squinting at the light overhead, and murmured, “Shen Wanqing.”
“Mm.”
“What do you want from me, exactly?” Lu Zhixia didn’t get it—she kept provoking her like this. “Do you really just need a bed partner?”
Shen Wanqing was gorgeous and loaded; alphas were a dime a dozen for her. Why cling to Lu Zhixia of all people?
“You’re my sister, after all.” No sooner had the words left her mouth than her waist got a retaliatory scratch. She pouted. “Says the one in this position. Appropriate much?”
It really wasn’t—her gland was still locked inside Shen Wanqing.
Shen Wanqing caught her breath, then pulled back a little to meet her eyes seriously. “Let me be straight with you.”
The truth was, Shen Wanqing’s pheromones were unique; they only matched Ambergris Pheromone. She draped her arms over Lu Zhixia’s shoulders and laid it out. “In other words, your pheromones only match mine.”
Lu Zhixia blinked, dazed, her scrambled brain struggling to process the idea of perfect exclusivity.
“Meaning our heat periods can only be endured together, smoothly.” Shen Wanqing spelled it out crystal clear. “Wanting me, needing me, the urge to mark me—it’s all normal. It’s perfect compatibility on a pheromonal level.”
She blinked, then asked a beat late, “So, are you still like that with me?” Her cheeks were flushed bright red, as if she were shy. Even the stray hairs at her temples had grown damp.
“Of course.” Shen Wanqing curved her lips into a smile. “Haven’t I made it obvious enough?”
Lu Zhixia’s brain short-circuited completely, and she blurted out, “Then why don’t we become lovers? Why just bed partners?”
The words were out before she could catch them. Her eyes flickered as she fumbled for words. “I mean—we, uh, in the future…”
“You like me?” Shen Wanqing countered.
Lu Zhixia shook her head at once.
“There you go, then.” Shen Wanqing gave a faint smile. “You don’t like me, so how could we be lovers?”
Lu Zhixia furrowed her brow. It was a bit circular, but she managed to untangle it. She turned her head away, voice laced with dissatisfaction. “But you don’t like me either.”
There was a hint of grievance and complaint in her tone. Shen Wanqing tilted her head, studying her face.
She refused to meet her gaze, twisting her little face away until she was on the verge of spinning her whole head around—like something out of a horror flick.
“Lu Zhixia.” Shen Wanqing called her name. She stayed silent.
Shen Wanqing pinched her chin, forcing their eyes to lock. “We don’t even know each other.”
It was true. Lu Zhixia had no comeback. In the end, all she could do was grumble petulantly, “You just want my body. You’re such a perv.”
She thought back to the person Sirius was looking for—all those criteria practically tailor-made for her. She asked point-blank, “The person you’re looking for… it’s me, isn’t it?”
Shen Wanqing burst out laughing. Her fingertip scratched lightly at Lu Zhixia’s small chin as she teased, “So, wanna be Sister’s Little Dog?”
Lu Zhixia’s ears burned hot again. She whipped her face away and mumbled, “Look, my temper’s not great. I can’t live off a woman.” She paused, then nodded as if affirming her own words. “Yeah, my bones are too hard for that.”
“Haha.” Shen Wanqing threw her head back in open laughter. She wrapped her arms around Lu Zhixia, acting every bit the coquettish schoolgirl. “Then just live off me whether you like it or not.”
Lu Zhixia had never heard that phrase before. Shen Wanqing explained that it meant freeloading shamelessly, with total confidence—like you deserved it and were above it all. As she spoke, she poked Lu Zhixia’s side. “I think you’ve got a real talent for it.”
Talent for freeloading? Don’t you just need to be completely shameless? Lu Zhixia puffed out her cheeks in indignation.
Shen Wanqing wiggled her pretty fingertip and explained with perfect seriousness, “There are plenty of shameless people out there. But one who’s the universe’s super invincible thunderbolt-spinning, exploding-with-heroic-flair, dashingly suave peerless big Fierce A? That’s only you.”
Lu Zhixia ducked her head in mortified fury. She’d actually memorized that ridiculous string of nonsense Lu Zhixia herself had written.
With their glands pressed tightly together, the two shared a rare, relatively calm conversation.
Lu Zhixia had come to terms with reality. She was her own gland’s master, but that gland only submitted to Shen Wanqing.
The same went for Shen Wanqing—but Lu Zhixia didn’t realize it. Puzzled, she asked, “Why are you always so breezy about it? It feels like I’m the only one getting tortured.”
“You’re so silly. You can’t even play it cool.” Shen Wanqing planted a kiss on her little ear, her smile deepening. “People fake it long enough, it becomes habit. Eventually, you fool even yourself.”
It sounded kind of tragic. Lu Zhixia had Shen Wanqing repeat all the terms they’d agreed on. “You remember them?”
Shen Wanqing not only remembered them—she recited them word for word.
First, the two of them would officially begin their bed-partner relationship starting now.
Second, whenever one had a need, the other would satisfy it to the greatest extent possible.
Third, during Heat Periods, they must cooperate unconditionally.
From then on, neither party could form a Marking relationship with anyone else—this included deep Markings and anything beyond.
Fifth, they should maintain the bed-partner relationship until one of them met someone they actually liked.
Additionally, their connection was strictly limited to bed partners. They wouldn’t interfere with or pry into each other’s lives outside of that.
Beyond these points, any decision to end the relationship required friendly negotiation and mutual agreement. Neither could unilaterally terminate it.
Supplementary clause: Any conditions I propose in the future, you must obey unconditionally.
Lu Zhixia shook her head furiously as she listened. “You hear yourself? That’s an unequal treaty. Even a dog would shake its head at that.”
Shen Wanqing laughed, delighted. She tugged playfully at Lu Zhixia’s ear. “How are you this adorable?”
“It’s not adorable. I’m just so mad I’m shaking my head.”
Shen Wanqing was fine with her objections. She didn’t beat around the bush, laying it out plainly. “Tonight, I heard you say you like playing the field. You don’t want to get married.”
“You like marriage?”
Lu Zhixia hadn’t given it much thought before. Her parents’ marriage was nothing special; she’d never romanticized it.
But meeting Shen Wanqing had sparked an inexplicable possessiveness in her. She wanted to claim her for herself.
The one official, legal way to possess someone indefinitely? Marriage.
Lu Zhixia fell silent. Shen Wanqing curved her lips into a smile and asked, “Do you want to marry me?”
She ducked her head uncomfortably, her ears practically steaming in the warm cradle of that palm. In a voice too soft to catch, she murmured, “Who can predict the future?”
“Exactly.” Shen Wanqing chimed in agreement. “The future’s full of unknowns, so why not live in the now?”
Lu Zhixia hated beating around the bush. Precision was her creed, even in her translation work—every word had to land just right. But some things lingered like mist, impossible to pierce.
No matter how hard she strained, the view stayed hazy. Their future, hers and Shen Wanqing’s, was just as unclear.
Lifting her gaze, Lu Zhixia’s eyes gleamed. “Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“When we kiss, does your mind go completely blank?”
“No.”
Disappointment crashed over Lu Zhixia. So it was just her—the one whose thoughts evaporated. That had to mean Shen Wanqing didn’t like her, not one bit.
Still, she wasn’t ready to concede. She pressed forward. “We can be bedmates. But the specifics? I need time to mull them over. We’ll hammer out the details later.”
Shen Wanqing nodded. Her eyes drifted down to where their glands met. She reached out, gave it a gentle press, then looked up. “How much longer?”
“What?” Lu Zhixia bristled.
“Why so fierce?” Shen Wanqing teased, poking the base of her gland. “Hm? Hm?”
Lu Zhixia seized her hand, holding it still. In a frosty tone, she declared, “I only soften up for my girlfriend.”
Shen Wanqing’s smile widened, unruffled. “Lu Zhixia doesn’t need to go easy on Shen Wanqing. But Mi Xiu? She’d better pamper President Shen.”
In the end, Shen Wanqing still held all the cards.
Lu Zhixia’s teeth ground together. “So all those perks you dangled earlier—they’re mine now, right?”
Shen Wanqing’s eyes sparkled, her smile turning downright alluring. “Does that mean you’ve agreed to be Big Sister’s little dog?”
