Chapter Text
"You!" Xiao Zhan gasped, staring up at the unsettling man from his wedding reception. He cradled his bump protectively as he knelt on the ground, trying to shuffle away from the man who was smirking at him.
"Me!" the alpha replied with a mean smile. "Looking good, pretty boy,” he sneered.
"Let me go,” the omega demanded. “I don't know what my hus- what Yibo is paying you, but I'm leaving. And he's not going to be happy with how rough your men were," Xiao Zhan added, sticking his nose in the air with false bravado. "It's in your best interest to let me go, really. I won't say anything if you take me back right now."
"Really," drawled the older man wryly. "How generous of you."
He gestured to a seat, and Xiao Zhan shuffled over, sitting as far away as possible and trying to shrink into himself as the car kept driving inexorably towards its unknown destination.
Xiao Zhan licked his lips nervously. This had to be Yibo's doing. Yibo knew his mate had left, he had been watching him constantly. Yibo had just been toying with him, all this time.
"He is going to be so furious with me," the omega thought with a sinking heart. He hated how much the idea of upsetting Yibo affected him. His omega side just made him want to crawl back to his husband and never leave, wrapped safely in his arms. But the thinking, anxious part of Xiao Zhan reminded him how invasive and manipulative the alpha had been.
Xiao Zhan groaned internally as pieces kept falling into place while the car kept moving inevitably towards their unknown destination.
"How can I know you’ll stay mine and not keep whoring yourself out in bars, trying to find some other alpha to fuck?" hissed in his ear in a deep voice. Those flashes weren't dreams after all. They had been such a strange, obsessive dark fantasy playing on repeat in Xiao Zhan’s head, but they weren't his imagination filling in the blanks from his heat. The only fantasy was Yibo being sweet and innocent.
"He was watching me the whole time," Xiao Zhan thought mournfully. "What even happened to those men?" His eyes were wide as he contemplated awful thoughts, but he shook it off, refusing to let his imagination run wild. The omega would demand explanations from his husband when he got to where they were going.
As they pulled up to a warehouse, Xiao Zhan glared at the older alpha who leered at him, gesturing for the omega to exit the car first. He stumbled out, and a waiting goon grabbed his arm, steadying him as Xiao Zhan muttered a quick thank you.
The omega followed the older alpha inside, folding his arms across his chest and attempting to only show impatience despite his growing sense of dread. “So, where is he?” Xiao Zhan asked in a cool tone, trying to stay calm. Had he misread the entire situation?
“I’m sure your husband will be joining us soon,” the older alpha smirked. “And me and my men will be ready for him.” He gestured to some of the men near the door holding guns, and Xiao Zhan’s mouth went dry.
“I don’t understand,” he said dumbly, and the other man scoffed.
“Clearly,” he sneered, motioning towards a chair in the corner. Xiao Zhan walked over to sit in it, lowering himself carefully on trembling legs.
Xiao Zhan’s nerves were getting the best of him, and he shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. “I thought you worked with his family.”
The older man rolled his eyes. “Nobody works with that family. They treat everyone like dirt under their feet.” He smirked at the nervous omega. “You don’t remember me at all, do you?”
Xiao Zhan shook his head quickly. “No, should I?”
The alpha shrugged. “You wouldn’t even be married to that asshole if I wasn’t around. Maybe I owe you an apology. Idiots like you end up screwed over one way or the other though, so I won’t beat myself up over it.”
“Great?” Xiao Zhan said, thoroughly confused.
“My name is Li Shen. You thought you were saving Yibo from me,” the man said flatly. “We were having a talk in an alley, you thought you’d get involved? Jog any memories?”
Xiao Zhan’s jaw dropped. “Wait, that was you? You were mugging Yibo?”
“No!” Li Shen shouted. “God, you’re such a dope, no wonder he was able to hide all this from you for so long. Did you ever figure it out, or am I really going to have to spell it all out for you?”
The omega glared back at him. “I guess you have to spell it out for me,” Xiao Zhan snapped. “What exactly does Yibo’s family do? Why did you kidnap me? What’s going on?”
“What’s going on,” huffed the alpha, patting his forehead with a handkerchief and calming down from his abrupt explosion, “Is that your husband is going to get what’s coming to him. I’m doing you a favor, really.”
“Gee, thanks,” Xiao Zhan snapped.
Li Shen just shook his head, looking pained. “You know, I told you that I wouldn’t forget what you did, and then it just went right out of your head. Too busy messing around with an underage teenager, huh?”
Xiao Zhan turned bright red. “I never!” he growled, and the other man scoffed.
“I bet,” Li Shen leered as Xiao Zhan glared at him.
One of the men strode up to him, whispering in his ear. His face brightened and he nodded, dismissing the other man.
“Your husband knows you’ve been taken,” Li Shen grinned toothily at Xiao Zhan. “Guess the kid is running around panicking. Wonder what he’ll think when he finds out I didn’t take you in the first place. Think he’ll be happy to know that you were going to leave him?”
Xiao Zhan’s face flushed. “What’s going on in our relationship is our business,” he said frostily, and the other man laughed.
“Do you know what a big deal it was the last time this happened?” he smirked at Xiao Zhan, who stared at him with confusion. The alpha didn’t continue, though, clearly waiting for the other man to ask.
The omega rolled his eyes. “Fine, what the hell are you talking about?” he finally asked after a few minutes, curious.
Li Shen cocked his head. “You really don’t know anything, do you?” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “They run the Beijing triad, you stupid omega. You married into it and never had any idea. What did you think they did? Run orphanages? Sell cookies?”
The alpha eyed Xiao Zhan incredulously, scoffing. “Did Yibo come back smelling like butter and sugar, or did he smell like blood?”
“He smelled like Yibo, you asshole,” Xiao Zhan replied, his mouth dry. “Fuck, Peng Chuyue was right. I am such an idiot.”
Li Shen rolled his eyes. “The reason it matters, Xiao Zhan, is that when this happened before, it was years before things calmed down again,” he said impatiently. “And I want to be in control when this happens, not deal with the repercussions after like last time. Because it was always going to happen. You’re just too weak, and you make him weak too.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Xiao Zhan cried. “You’re not making any sense. What happened?”
The alpha smiled condescendingly, walking over to stand in front of Xiao Zhan’s chair as he tried not to shrink away from the looming gang boss. “His mother did the same thing you just did. Came to her senses and ran away. She abandoned them both and tried to disappear.”
Xiao Zhan’s heart sank. “I- I thought she died,” he stammered.
“Oh, she did,” the alpha agreed, cackling and sending chills down Xiao Zhan’s spine. “She ran back home, thinking her parents would protect her, and while Wang Lei tried to get to her in time, a rival killed her and the rest of her family to show Wang Lei that they meant business.”
Xiao Zhan froze. “They, they what?”
The man threw back his head and laughed, clearly in a good mood. “You really have no idea what waters you’re swimming in, omega.” He shook his head in amazement. “I’m really just putting you out of your misery. You aren’t made for this kind of world. Nothing good comes to being married to a Wang. They only bring misery, pain and death.”
Xiao Zhan felt faint. Not only had he married into the mob, not only had his husband stalked him and invaded his privacy for years, but now he was going to die in a warehouse along with his child and his mate.
“Please don’t find me, Yibo,” Xiao Zhan wished to himself. “I’m sorry that our child is going to die because I didn’t realize how much danger I was in. But please, please don’t find me, Yibo.”
Li Shen had lived too long, Yibo decided. He should have died back in the alley almost five years ago.
He knew who was behind his mate’s disappearance now. The man that was tied to the wall when Yufen had come in started shouting through his gag before Yibo ran out of the room, desperately trying to tell the young alpha something.
Yibo paused, staring coldly at the man struggling to get his attention. He had been captured from a minor rival gang, and Yibo was never planning on him leaving alive. It was just a question of cooperation and whether or not he suffered longer than he needed to.
Delaying Yibo from finding out what happened to his mate was a one-way ticket to a long journey of suffering. But apparently, this man was smarter than he had originally appeared. He knew that death was in Yibo’s eyes, and the luckiest man in the world managed to have just the right information to keep his life after all.
When Yibo pulled off his gag, promising he would regret it if he wasted Yibo’s time, the beta had immediately started babbling about Li Shen. Apparently, the ambitious alpha had big plans that he had been bragging about to the man’s boss. Plans to disrupt the Wang family by killing the heir. Li Shen had been following his Zhan-ge around for some time now, and Yibo’s stomach twisted into knots at the danger he had brought Xiao Zhan unknowingly into.
“How did he even get his hands on Zhan-ge?” Yibo huffed in frustration at Yufen as they raced to the Wang mansion, calling in other members of their crew. His father was away on business out of town, but it was a good place for the men to meet and strategize.
“What was he doing?” Yibo exclaimed, confused.
Yufen licked his lips, looking nervous, and Yibo stopped in his tracks. “What are you hiding, Fen-ge?” he asked softly. “What was Zhan-ge doing?”
“You can speak with him after we save him, Yibo,” Yufen assured him, trying to walk past Yibo to the car, and Yibo grabbed his arm, not budging an inch.
“Tell me,” he demanded, and Yufen sighed.
“He took a DiDi to the train station,” Yufen admitted, and Yibo closed his eyes.
It was all happening again.
The person he loved was leaving him again.
All he wanted to do was protect his mate. Protect his child. But Xiao Zhan didn’t want that. Xiao Zhan just wanted to leave.
For a moment, a black veil descended over his eyes and Yibo went cold with anger. “If he wants to leave me, then maybe he deserves this,” whispered a dark voice in his mind.
He trembled, his hands fisted at his sides, and took a deep breath. Then another.
“No,” Yibo told himself. “No,” the alpha said out loud. Yufen looked quizzical in response, unsure why he was saying ‘No,’ but also knowing Yibo well enough not to ask.
“What’s going on in our relationship is our business,” Yibo said firmly. “You’re right. I’ll speak with him after, but I need to save my husband first. I need to save my child.”
They arrived at the mansion. The servants were gone with Wang Lei out of town, and they waited for the other men to arrive. A phone call broke the silence, and Yibo scowled when he saw who it was.
“Let him go, Li Shen,” he said in lieu of a greeting.
The voice chuckled mockingly, “Congratulations, Yibo! You figured it out sooner than your husband.”
“Let me talk to him,” the young alpha demanded.
Li Shen tutted condescendingly; Yibo wanted to bash his head against the wall and see how it splattered. “Do you think you are in a position to demand things from me, Wang-shaoye? I have the reins in my hands, not you,” he sneered. “You’re going to play nice, so that nothing bad happens to your omega.”
“Li Shen,” Yibo gritted out, “I swear if you touch a hair on his head I’ll k—“
Beep!
Yibo punched the wall. “Fucker!” he shouted.
“Wang-shaoye, calm down,” Yufen said soothingly, keeping a healthy distance from the furious alpha.
“Don’t ask me to fucking calm down,” Yibo snapped, his eyes flashing a dangerous red. “That piece of shit dared to kidnap my mate. He’s going to fucking pay.”
Yufen nodded, keeping his eyes trained on the ground, not wanting to infuriate the angry alpha more than he already was.
The heir to the Beijing triad took a steadying breath, unclenching his fists. “Get the men to look through everything Li Shen owns. Find him, then tell me where he is.”
“Right away, Wang-shaoye,” Yufen responded quickly. “I’ll let you know as soon as we find out something.”
The older man fled the room to answer the door and let the others in, and Yibo leaned a hand on his desk. His legs began to tremble as the adrenaline dissipated, leaving him with an overwhelming fear.
“I can’t lose him,” Yibo muttered in despair, sinking into a chair and burying his face in his hands.
“Fuck, what if I already did?”
“Everything is still going smoothly?” Li Shen asked nonchalantly to someone on the other side of the phone. He paused, listening.
“Yeah, sure, tell him about the other warehouse and the two docks. He can search them to his heart's content,” Li Shen replied in answer to some question. Xiao Zhan had no idea what was going on, but from what little he could piece together, it seemed that the older alpha had been planning this ever since that night in the alley.
“To us it was the start of our relationship, to him it was… something worth obsessing over for almost five years,” Xiao Zhan thought bleakly, his hands absently rubbing his midsection.
“Need something?” a hulking beta asked him. It was the same man who had helped him when he tripped, and Xiao Zhan sighed, shaking his head.
“No, thank you,” he said softly, staring at the ground.
“Are you sure? When my mate was pregnant, she was constantly drinking water,” the man said quietly, and Xiao Zhan darted a glance at him nervously.
“I mean, if there’s some available,” he said hesitantly, and the man nodded quickly, leaving the room while Li Shen hung up the phone.
“Where is he going?” the gangster muttered to himself, glaring at the doorway. He swung his dark gaze to Xiao Zhan, who quickly looked away, swallowing nervously.
The man’s lips curled up and he stalked over to the omega, lifting his chin up with a meaty finger. “You’re attractive enough, I’ll give you that,” he smirked. “His mother was gorgeous too. The Wangs like their pretty things. But that’s all you’d ever be to him, you know that, right?”
Xiao Zhan glared at him. “I was trying to leave, what the fuck do you care?” he said, his voice clipped. “You could just let me go. That would piss him off enough, having me run away, and then no risk to you.”
“Ah, but I don’t care about risk, omega,” Li Shen sneered. “No risk, no reward. I want to own this fucking city, and the only way that happens is breaking your precious Yibo.” His fingers ran through Xiao Zhan’s hair and then tightened, tugging at it painfully while Xiao Zhan cried out. He tilted the omega’s neck at an awkward angle, forcing him to stare up into the alpha’s burning eyes.
“You’re the key. Just like his mother was.”
It was two hours of nothing. No gloating calls from Li Shen, no leads from any of Yibo’s men. The young alpha strode through the mansion halls stealthily, trying to think who he could reach out to for help, what he could do to find Xiao Zhan. He heard a voice down the hallway and walked towards it quietly.
“Yes, yes, everything is going as planned,” Yibo heard in a low voice. “The brat is panicking just as you planned, Shen laoban.”
Yibo’s fists clenched. “ Fucking finally,” he thought grimly. Finally he could do something other than sit and wait for something to happen. There was a pause in the conversation.
“Okay, the two docks and the warehouse, I’ll let them know those are possibilities. Checking all of them out should waste at least a few hours. Okay. I’ll reach out if anything changes,” Zhang Wei said quietly in the other room, his hand cupping the phone to keep his voice down, but not low enough. There were a few more meaningless exchanges before the older man hung up the phone, chuckling to himself.
“Something funny?” Yibo asked in a low voice, striding quickly into the room after sending a quick text to one of his men.
“Wang- Wang-shaoye,” the traitor gasped. The man was an older beta who had been with Yibo for years, having served his father for the twenty years prior. His father had assured Yibo that he was loyal, but that apparently was no longer the case. Yibo could see the older beta start trembling in his shoes.
"So it was you,” he said mildly. The alpha casually rolled up his sleeves, he could smell the traitor's fear. “You’ve finally shown your true colors.” Yibo took slow steps as he assessed his prey, smirking while he backed the beta against the wall. “What was it that made you betray us, hmm?”
The beta sneered at him with false bravado. Yibo could see right through him, the man was ready to piss his pants.
“Do you know what happens to dogs who bite their masters?” Yibo asked in a dangerously quiet tone, leaning in closely and watching as Zhang Wei tried to become one with the wall. “They get put down,” the alpha whispered darkly, and in the blink of an eye, Yibo had one hand wrapped tightly around the beta’s neck, lifting him up so that the other man could only stand on his tip-toes.
The older man clawed at his hand, desperately trying to break free. Yibo laughed, the sound short and cruel as he choked the man.
“Zhang Wei,” Yibo dropped the older man, who began hacking and coughing on his knees. “You thought you could overthrow me. You thought you could outsmart me, Wei-ge ,” the young heir said mockingly, a pout on his lips. “You’ve underestimated this little brat. You thought just because my father knew that you were loyal to him meant that I thought you were loyal to me too. You thought you fooled me with your act, when that’s why you could never climb up the ladder. I knew I couldn’t trust you. You’re nothing but an insignificant dog plotting to bite the hand that feeds you, but what you’re going to get in return is just a bullet through your skull.”
The alpha threaded his fingers around the greasy locks and tugged, angling the beta’s head up and baring his throat, showing how completely vulnerable he was to the younger man. “We can do it the easy way or hard way, you decide,” Yibo purred.
The beta snarled at him and Yibo’s grin widened, red eyes shining maliciously. “Down, dog.”
Yibo hummed as he exited the room, nodding at the man he had texted, who was waiting just outside the door. “You know what to do,” he said nonchalantly as he walked away, the man’s eyes wide as he watched the alpha leave.
Yibo sighed as he caught his appearance in the window's reflection. The alpha was covered in blood. Xiao Zhan always got squeamish at the sight of blood. “I shouldn’t meet Zhan-ge like this,” he thought idly to himself.
“Wang-shaoye!” Yufen shouted to him from down the long hallway. Yibo halted in his tracks, one eyebrow raised. “We’ve checked everything Li Shen owned, and Xiao Zhan is nowhere to be found.”
“Round up the men and ready the cars,” Yibo ordered as he walked away from his stupefied subordinate. “I’ll be down in 10 minutes.”
“Zhan-ge won’t like it if he sees me like this. He’ll just freak out,” Yibo frowned, trying to ignore the voice in the back of his head telling him he had more to worry about than Xiao Zhan being upset about blood. “I have to make sure that I always look my best when I’m with him. Xiao Zhan deserves the best, and that’s me. Once this is over, I’ll be more careful. Everything will be fine. He’ll understand. He has to understand.”
The alpha clenched his fist, trying unsuccessfully to hold back a snarl . “I don’t care if I have to drag him back kicking and screaming, he’s not allowed to leave me. Not like her, it’s not going to happen again.”
Yibo quickly wiped off all the blood from his face, changing clothes and running back down the stairs to the waiting car. Just as they were pulling away, he received another phone call, and he answered it, gritting his teeth.
“Yibo-didi!” the voice boomed, and Yibo growled low in his throat. “I hope you are on the way to see us! Your precious husband is waiting for you to rescue him. He has been begging for you, in fact, it’s been so sad to watch him cry,” Li Shen said mockingly while Yibo took deep breaths, trying not to lose his temper. “My heart just breaks for him. You should come soon, Yibo, the clock is ticking.”
“So tell me where to find you,” Yibo said grimly, and the older alpha tutted.
“There there. I’m sure you have options. Come find me, show how smart you are,” Li Shen gloated. “Want to talk to your husband?”
“Yes,” Yibo snapped.
“Pretty boy, tell your husband how much you want to see him,” the older alpha called out, and Yibo swallowed, straining to hear something, but there was no sound.
“I said, say something,” he heard Li Shen order, followed by the sound of a slap and Xiao Zhan’s voice crying out.
“S- screw you,” came Xiao Zhan’s voice through the phone, hitching with a note of pain but still sounding angry.
“Leave him alone!” Yibo roared, and the other alpha laughed meanly.
“Tick tock,” Li Shen teased before hanging up.
Yibo took deep breaths and stared at the ceiling of the car, trying to calm down.
“Wang-shaoye?” Yufen asked hesitantly. “Where are we going?”
“The old fox still thinks his old tricks work on me,” Yibo muttered under his breath. His eyes snapped up, gaze fierce. “Go to my father’s old warehouse, the one next to the pier.”
“Yes, Wang-shaoye,” Yufen nodded.
“What’s there to laugh at?” Xiao Zhan asked with a frown, rubbing his reddened cheek while Li Shen laughed like a lunatic.
“What’s funny, omega,” Li Shen chuckled, “Is that your husband is going on a wild goose chase. He won’t find you at any of the places he’s looking. Still such a gullible kid. That brat is truly undeserving of the position as heir to the biggest triad in Beijing.”
“He’s the… of course he is,” Xiao Zhan choked out. “I’m such a fucking idiot. Did I ever know him at all?”
The man from earlier who had brought Xiao Zhan water came back into the room. “Everyone is in place and ready, Shen laoban,” he said respectfully, and Li Shen nodded at him, then raised an eyebrow.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he demanded, and the beta froze as he placed another glass of water in front of Xiao Zhan.
“Just bringing the prisoner water,” he said meekly. Li Shen glared at him.
“This isn’t a fucking hotel,” he snapped. “He’s going to die, you idiot. You don’t need to bring him water.”
“Yes, Shen laoban,” the beta said obediently, quickly leaving. The water glass was still by Xiao Zhan. The omega eyed it warily, but the older alpha just rolled his eyes and huffed, then paid attention to his phone.
Xiao Zhan carefully took a sip, then, getting no reaction from Li Shen, downed the whole glass. “At least I’ll die well-hydrated,” he thought glumly. Xiao Zhan was in a chair in the corner, and he really needed to pee, but he didn’t think it was a good idea to ask Li Shen for a bathroom break.
Despite the older alpha’s cruel words to Yibo on the phone, other than the slap, Xiao Zhan had remained physically unharmed and for the most part ignored. The older alpha hurt him in other ways, however. When he was bored, the other man delighted in telling Xiao Zhan things his husband had done, including killing quite a few people along with participating in a number of other illegal activities. Xiao Zhan’s head was swimming. How could he have thought Yibo was sweet and innocent?
“Did you, though?”
The thought ran through Xiao Zhan’s head, and he froze. Of course he thought Yibo was sweet and innocent. Xiao Zhan had been the bad one. Yibo had just… cuddled with him every time he came over, constantly nosed along his neck, rubbing his skin as much as possible against Xiao Zhan’s. Xiao Zhan had barely been able to hold himself back, and he hated himself for it. But he didn’t push Yibo away.
Had he really thought Yibo was just playing? The more Xiao Zhan examined it, the more he wondered. The omega had let the younger man do as he pleased, constantly crossing lines, barely on the edge of propriety. Xiao Zhan had let Yibo become the main person in his life within months of having met him. And even though Yibo acted sweet, even though Yibo gazed at him coyly, he had always known Yibo to push until he got what he wanted.
And when Yibo had turned 18, Xiao Zhan knew, for sure, that Yibo wanted him. When he had his heat, when he had his ‘fantasy’ that hadn’t actually been a fantasy, part of why Xiao Zhan was so sure it was a fantasy is because he had dreamed about the exact same thing before.
Xiao Zhan, for years, had gotten through his painful heats with only a toy and thinking about a strong alpha with Yibo’s scent fucking him for hours. Now, when he was at most hours away from death, the omega finally admitted it to himself. Yes, during his fantasies, he had imagined it was an older, adult Yibo. Yes, he had cried out Yibo’s name. And when he fantasized, it hadn’t been the Yibo that his husband had pretended to be in his teens, playing innocent and shy. The fantasies had been the Yibo that he really was, possessive and dark and with sharp teeth, whispering filth into his ear as he claimed every bit of Xiao Zhan for his own. Xiao Zhan had always been dreaming about Yibo as Yibo had appeared in the heat they were mated.
That was the real Yibo, and Xiao Zhan had always wanted a mate exactly like him. How could he have been daydreaming and fantasizing about the real Yibo if the omega didn’t know, in his heart of hearts, who Yibo really was all these years?
Even now, revealed as a crime boss who had been watching him and probably keeping him single for years, as Xiao Zhan now realized, Yibo was everything he had fantasized about. Knowing now that Yibo was what he wanted in a mate, did the omega wish he had slept with other men in front of Yibo? Not really.
At least Yibo had waited. Yibo had been courting him the entire time they had known each other, with gifts of food, with as much touch as he could, and Xiao Zhan couldn’t help but feel a tug of affection at how much effort Yibo had put into their relationship when Xiao Zhan hadn’t even let himself see it for what it was.
When Xiao Zhan really examined it- how could he have married someone without knowing what his job was? How much of Xiao Zhan’s obliviousness was Yibo tricking him and how much was Xiao Zhan trying to fool himself?
Xiao Zhan sighed. None of this really mattered anyway, he and his child were about to die. Despite the lies, despite everything, he never stopped loving Yibo. He just wanted his child to be safe. He just wanted to live his life without fear that in any moment, his freedom would be ripped away from him. That’s why Xiao Zhan had run again, despite his promises to Yibo, despite his promises to Yibo’s father, and all he had accomplished was to run away from what he had always wanted.
Xiao Zhan wished he could tell Yibo that he loved him. He wished he could tell his alpha that he never stopped loving him, despite the pain. But, as always, it was out of Xiao Zhan’s control. The omega just hoped at least Yibo would manage to escape.
It was a thirty minute drive to get to the warehouse, and Yibo coordinated plans with his men over the phone between their cars as they drove. After he finished, he was stuck with only his thoughts, which quickly spiraled. The alpha hated how much everything was out of control. If only Xiao Zhan hadn’t run away. He had promised Yibo never to leave. He had promised his father. How could he do this?
Yibo tried to swallow down the bile rising in his throat. It all felt exactly the same, and as his mind returned to the worst day of his life, he wondered if soon the worst day of his life would be replaced with this one.
Yibo was eight years old. “Lucky number eight,” his mother giggled as she ruffled his hair while he blew out the candles on his cake.
“This is going to be the best year!” the young alpha exclaimed as his father spun him in the air, his mother beaming at him.
But it had quickly all fallen apart.
Over the next few months, Yibo kept finding his mother crying in rooms, empty glasses next to her. His father was out all hours of the day and night, and his mother just got more and more wan and listless. Yibo had tried to cheer her up, tried to dance and sing and bring a smile to her face, and his mother would smile sweetly at him, telling him that he was her favorite, he was her everything, he was her world.
It started with a nightmare. Yibo woke up crying, and he couldn’t stop, his wailing quickly bringing his mother to him from her bedroom. His mother soothed him, cradling the young alpha in her arms and trying to rock him back to sleep. Yibo told her that he dreamt she left him, and she promised that would never happen. She would never leave him, and if she went anywhere else, he would always come with her. They would go on adventures together, but he would never be alone.
But then, one night, Yibo woke up to his father shouting, and he quietly crept down the hallway, listening.
“Over my dead body,” his father roared. “Have you lost your mind?”
“I’m dying here,” his mother pleaded. “I’m so lonely without you. You come back home in the early hours of the morning, or not at all, and I'm always so afraid. I worry so much that something could have happened to you. What if you got shot, what if you got killed? What would I do? What would we do without you?” she broke off with a sob, burying her face in her hands while his father’s hard eyes softened.
“Baobao,” his father said gently, rubbing her shoulders with his hands, her body so frail and small under his own. “I’m fine. I know how to take care of myself. You should just take care of yourself and Yibo. I’m worried about you. I- I see the bottles, baobao. What do you need? What can I give you to make you happier?”
“You can let me go,” she said softly, looking up at him through long lashes. “I’m miserable. I hate knowing what you’re leaving to do. I hate that you want to turn our son into you. Let me take him, I don’t want our son to turn into...into…” she trailed off, a heavy silence hung over them before she continued, “Let us leave.”
His hands stiffened on her shoulders, “But I’m protecting you! Baobao, if you go, I can't…” His fingers tightened, and she whimpered in pain, flinching. At the sound, his father released her quickly, as if she was on fire, and he clenched his fists, striding to the other side of the room. He stared at the wall, refusing to look at her. “Leave if you want, but you don’t get Yibo. If you don’t love me anymore, if you don’t want to be here, then just go.”
“You know I can’t leave him,” she said brokenly, hanging her head, “You know he’s my everything.”
“But you can leave me,” he said in a flat voice.
“Haven’t you already left me?” she asked in a whisper. “You come back smelling like cheap perfume and blood.”
“Baobao, you know I’d never—” he said in a hurt voice, turning around to give her a wounded look.
“Maybe not,” she sighed. “But if you aren’t ever around to be my husband, to be his father, does it matter? Do these even matter to you?” She pointed to the claiming mark on her neck and then to the delicate golden band around her ring finger.
There was a long silence, and Yibo stayed quiet, huddled in the shadows. His father let out a frustrated growl and stomped out of the room, walking past Yibo without seeing him, grabbing his coat and slamming the door behind him. His mother just picked up her glass of wine and stared into the fireplace.
“You’ve already left me,” she said softly before taking a large swallow of the red wine and resting her head on the back of the chair, starting to cry.
Yibo swallowed. He did not understand why his mother was crying, why his father left without comforting her. So he just went back to bed, hoping his parents would be happier in the morning.
Everything would go back to normal, and they would still be a happy family.
Weeks passed, and his parents seemed their normal cheerful selves. Yibo wondered if it had been just another dream. His mother was quieter at night, her eyes hazy, her breath smelling sweet and sour at the same time, her lips red and stained with wine. His father was still largely absent, but the older alpha was constantly smiling and laughing with Yibo when he was around, though he avoided looking at his wife.
One day, his mother was bright and bubbly, and Yibo grinned. Finally, things were getting back to normal.
“What do you want to do, Yibo?” she asked cheerfully.
“Hmmm,” he pondered, tapping his chin emphatically, and she laughed.
“How about we make cookies?” she suggested, and he nodded wildly.
“Yes, cookies!” Yibo said happily, clapping his hands. They worked together, and she showed him how to cream the butter, how to measure out all the ingredients. He focused on trying to be the best helper, his tongue sticking out with concentration, and she was so bright, so lovely, so beautiful.
The cookies came out exactly right, and she let him have the first one. Yibo quickly gave it to her, beaming, and she laughed.
“My wonderful boy,” she said softly, taking a bite and grinning at him with her sweet smile. ”It’s perfect, just like you, Yibo.”
He hugged her, and she held him tight. She didn’t release him for a few minutes, until Yibo finally tugged away, confused.
“Mom,” he whined. “I’m not a baby.”
“I know, honey,” his mother told him, wiping at her eyes and smiling brightly at him. “You’re,” she licked her lips, her smile so big it almost looked fake to Yibo’s young eyes. “You’re growing up so fast.”
“I’m going to be just like Dad when I grow up,” he boasted, and her smile faltered for a moment, then became bright once more.
“Yes, Yibo,” she said gently. “I know.” She took a deep breath, stroking his face with a cool hand, and he leaned into her touch.
“Let’s play a game, my darling boy,” she told Yibo, her eyes shining, and he nodded quickly, excited to play a game with her.
“Go hide, anywhere you want, and I’ll come find you!” his mother exclaimed. Yibo jumped up, running out of the room as she began counting. “1… 2… 3…” Her voice got quieter as he sprinted to the huge backyard.
“She’ll never find me here,” he gloated to himself as he huddled in a small space inside a stand of bushes.
Minutes slowly passed, and his legs started feeling cramped. Yibo frowned as he stretched out his short legs one at a time, trying to work out the numbness from his uncomfortable position. How long had it been? Shouldn’t his mother have come to check the backyard yet? He looked up, noticing that the sky had gotten darker. How many minutes had he been waiting?
Yibo sighed. His mother was usually pretty good at this game. He went back inside, legs stiff and painful, and walked from room to room, calling out for her. “Mom? Mom!” He couldn’t find her anywhere. It was the day that the butler was off, the maids had already finished their shift, but where was she?
He frowned and finally called his father. “I can’t find her!” Yibo complained, and there was silence at the other end of the line, then a noise that Yibo hadn’t ever heard from his father before. It sounded almost like a sob, but when his father spoke, his voice was steady.
“Yibo, keep looking for her. I’ll be home soon.”
A few days later, the young alpha was standing in a newly bought suit, crying as he watched the coffin lowered into the ground, his father standing silent and cold beside him.
Yibo wondered, if he had hidden in a place that was easier to find, would she still be alive?
For a long time, Yibo hated her for leaving them. The day after the funeral, he found his father collapsed on the floor of the kitchen, drunk and crying, and it was months before his father left the house. Yibo was only eight, but his father’s men began to call him frequently to check on his father’s status.
His father’s good friend, Wang Han, came over every day, and together they would lift the older man from wherever he had fallen and put him to bed. Yibo found out later that his “good friend” was actually his Deputy, his right-hand man. It was only because of Han-ge’s loyalty that Wang Lei managed to keep control of the triad during his months of absence and the years of unrest that followed as he dealt with the men who rose to challenge him, thinking the alpha was weak.
Yibo was told his mother’s death was an accident, and he was 13 years old before his father told him what had happened to his mother and her family.
His father brought him to the same warehouse that Yibo was going to now. The head of the Beijing triad took the young boy into a room with four men, their wrists bound with rope, hanging from hooks attached to the ceiling. As they struggled, voices muffled through their gags, their bodies swung in the air, and 13-year old Yibo watched them with wide eyes. He was scared and wondered what was going to happen. He wondered why he was there.
His father walked slowly around the men, and Yibo finally learned the truth of how his mother died, and why. It hadn’t been a slow death, and it hadn’t been a painless one, and as Yibo and his father killed the greedy, stupid men behind her death, both father and son took their time. After that, Yibo became his father’s right hand man, training under Wang Han, who was the best mentor he could have ever asked for.
Yibo swore to himself that he would never let anyone make him as weak as his mother made his father, but only one year after those first kills with his father, the minute he had seen Xiao Zhan’s beautiful face, he was gone, it was all over for him. Yibo went home to tell his father, and his father looked him straight in the eye.
“Never tell him,” the crime boss said firmly. “I told your mother, and she couldn’t handle it. I know you’re angry at her, Yibo, but you should be mad at me.”
“Never!” Yibo exclaimed, frowning. “She left us!”
“She tried so hard, for so long, Yibo,” his father sighed. “She was too gentle for this kind of world. You and I, son, this is our world. It’s not a world for omegas. I should have protected her. You should protect him if you want to keep him. Don’t you want to protect him? Don’t you want to keep him safe?”
14-year old Yibo thought about it. “I do,” he realized.
“He was so brave, Dad, he thought,” Yibo laughed, “He thought he was saving me from that asshole, Li Shen.” He cackled. “That moron was scared away by a phone that wasn’t even on a call.”
His father eyed him sternly. “Yes, he’s a moron, but don’t take Li Shen lightly, Yibo. Dumb men do stupid things that hurt other people.”
Yibo waved him off. “Yeah, yeah. But you’re right, I do want to protect him. What do you think I should do?” he asked eagerly, and he and his father began to scheme.
Now, years later, it had all gone wrong anyway, despite all of their careful plans.
“We’re here, Wang-shaoye,” Yufen’s respectful voice interrupted his thoughts, startling him out of his reverie.
"Showtime,” Yibo thought to himself, taking a deep breath and getting out of the car. He handed Yufen his gun. “You know what to do,” he said calmly, and the man nodded firmly.
“See you soon, then,” Yibo told him, shaking his hand before walking away.
Li Shen frowned. He was calling Yibo to taunt him some more, but the spoiled brat wasn’t answering. He called Zhang Wei, and the other man didn’t pick up.
“What the fuck is going on?” he growled. The older alpha glared across the room at Xiao Zhan, who stared impassively back.
“You know I didn’t do anything,” the omega shrugged. “Sorry if Yibo is smarter than you thought.”
Li Shen huffed. “Yeah, right,” he grunted. Despite the brave words, Xiao Zhan couldn’t help a small smile as he watched the older man worry his lower lip between his teeth, looking nervous. The older alpha called in some men, ordering them to find out what Yibo was up to, and the men saluted before jogging out of the warehouse. It was just Li Shen and Xiao Zhan in the large, empty room, and the man started walking towards Xiao Zhan.
“Well, if he’s not answering the phone, I really don’t have much use for you,” the older alpha smirked, pulling out his gun.
Xiao Zhan closed his eyes. “This is it,” he thought to himself, taking a deep breath.
“Li Shen!”
Yibo’s voice was loud as he strode into the warehouse, hands raised in the air, the hulking beta from earlier walking behind him, gun pressed to his back.
Li Shen’s eyes widened and his lips curved into a smirk as he turned his back to the omega, who was frozen in fear.
“No!” he cried out. “Yibo, you shouldn’t have come!”
Yibo just looked at him with soft eyes, and smiled. “I said I’d always take care of you, Zhan-ge,” he said sincerely. “I’m never going to run away.”
Xiao Zhan’s heart broke in two at his words, the omega overwhelmed with emotion. “Yibo, please. Just go. It’s my fault, leave me here,” he insisted, “I’m not worth it.”
Li Shen clapped his hands, drawing back their attention to him, the man with the gun. “What a touching reunion!”
He pointed the gun at Xiao Zhan’s head, smirking as Yibo’s face turned red with anger. “It’s a shame I have to end this quickly. Now watch, Yibo. Watch how you aren’t able to save the person you love.”
Yibo waved a hand and a shot rang out, the booming noise bouncing off the walls.
Li Shen cried out in pain, dropping the gun from his injured hand and moving back against the wall, staying out of sight of the windows above.
“Men! Get them!” he shouted before Yibo tackled him to the floor, but nobody entered the warehouse at his call as shots began firing outside.
The two alphas grappled each other on the ground, trading punches and kicks as each tried to gain the upper hand. The beta who had been holding a gun to Yibo’s back raised his gun, trying to aim at Yibo, but the two alphas were moving around too much for him to get a clear shot.
Xiao Zhan ran over to him, grabbing his arm, and the beta turned quickly, looking conflicted as he lowered the gun.
“You were good to me.” Xiao Zhan begged, “Please don’t hurt my husband. He never did anything to you. Just go.”
The beta appeared uncertain, then stared back at the two men fighting on the ground. He pressed his lips together, nodding firmly.
“Good luck,” he said softly, patting Xiao Zhan’s shoulder gently before running out a side door. Xiao Zhan didn’t hear any gunshots as he left, and the omega hoped he made it out safely.
Xiao Zhan turned back to the fight, gasping and crying out as punches and kicks landed on his mate. He felt so powerless, unable to do anything but watch, and wondered what was going on outside the warehouse. He bit his lips, looking around, and his eyes widened as he saw the gun that had fallen from Li Shen’s hands and been kicked to the side in the scuffle.
The omega chanced a glance at the two fighting alphas, and then shut his eyes, flinching as Yibo’s head snapped back from a heavy punch from the other man. Li Shen was out of shape and older, but still much larger than Yibo, and between Yibo’s youth and energy and the older alpha’s experience and bulk, they were evenly matched, their desperation making them even more brutal in their attacks.
Xiao Zhan crawled over to pick up the fallen weapon. It was heavy and his hands trembled. He stood up, the metal cold in his hand as he pointed it towards the two men.
“Stop! Please stop!” the omega shouted.
The two fighting alphas ignored him, growling and punching, and he aimed to the side and pulled the trigger, a shot ringing out as a bullet hit the wall. The recoil made him yelp, but he held on tightly with both hands.
The men froze at the gunshot, halting their movements.
“Stop or I’ll shoot!” Xiao Zhan bluffed, brandishing the gun, and Li Shen raised his hands in the air.
“Ge!” Yibo cried out, starting to move towards him.
“Wait, Xiao Zhan, think about it!” the older alpha interjected quickly as Yibo stopped and glared at the other man. “You were running away from him. He’s going to kill you when he gets his hands on you. You disrespected him in front of all of his men. He can’t just let that go.”
“He’s lying, Zhan-ge,” Yibo said fiercely, taking a step towards Xiao Zhan, but the gun moved with Xiao Zhan as he turned towards Yibo, and the younger alpha froze in place as the omega licked his lips, looking nervous. They were in a tense triangle, and Xiao Zhan for once had all the power, though he had no idea what to do with it.
Xiao Zhan knew he still loved Yibo, but did Yibo still love him? Li Shen was right. Xiao Zhan did just run away from his husband. He broke his promises to his husband and his father-in-law, and it just so happened that they were two of the most powerful men in the underworld of Beijing. Would Wang Lei make an example of Xiao Zhan? Would… would they hurt his child?
“You’ll never be free of them unless you take care of this now,” the older alpha shouted, and Xiao Zhan gulped, the gun wavering in his hands. “He’s been stalking you, controlling you for years. Do you know how I knew you left?”
Both Yibo and Xiao Zhan stared at him, Yibo looking furious, and Li Shen smirked. “My man has been surveilling you since Yibo first decided you were his, Xiao Zhan. Do you like that? He watched you for years, and Yibo put him in place to do it. He never saw your heats though, Yibo kept those all to himself.”
Xiao Zhan flushed at his words, and Yibo vibrated with rage as Li Shen leered.
Yibo growled, taking a step towards Li Shen, and Xiao Zhan cried out, “Stop!” He held the gun tightly in his hands, eyes darting between the two men as he took quick breaths, trying to stay calm.
“Zhan-ge!” Yibo exclaimed, hurt, and Xiao Zhan bit his lip.
“I, I’m sorry I ran, Yibo,” Xiao Zhan told Yibo hesitantly, a tear running down his cheek. “But you shouldn’t have—”
“I know, I know, Zhan-ge,” Yibo said soothingly, holding his hands up in an effort to calm the frightened omega. “We can talk about it.”
“Ha!” Li Shen said scornfully. “Do you know why my man betrayed Yibo, Xiao Zhan?”
“W- why?” Xiao Zhan asked tentatively.
“Because he had a temper tantrum after you got a boyfriend and he started playing around with a knife. That man had been loyal for over two decades to his father, but the spoiled brat started cutting his men up because he was angry they weren’t watching you closely enough. You’re going to trust him around your child? You think he’s going to be forgiving of all this?” the older alpha cajoled.
“Is- is that true, Yibo?” Xiao Zhan’s voice trembled, and he whimpered as Yibo lowered his head, looking ashamed.
“It- yes, it’s true,” Yibo admitted, staring at the ground.
Xiao Zhan’s eyes widened in shock, his hand automatically flying to stroke his belly. “How could you just hurt people like that? How can I ever trust you?” Xiao Zhan implored him, and Yibo looked up at him with dark, shining eyes.
“See, omega?” Li Shen hissed, pointing at Yibo, “You never knew him at all. Is this the person you want to raise your child with? Give me the gun, you'll never have to see him again. You can be free. This is the only chance you have.”
The younger alpha quickly darted a glare at Li Shen, before turning his gaze back to the omega, his eyes softened. “Zhan-ge, you said when I came in that I should leave. Why?” Yibo asked in a low voice.
“Because I, I didn’t want you hurt,” Xiao Zhan said softly. “I still love you.”
Yibo took a small step towards him, ignoring the gun and keeping his hands up.
“I love you too, Zhan-ge. I’ve always loved you. You know that, don’t you?” Yibo asked gently, and Xiao Zhan worried his lower lip between his teeth. The young alpha took another step forward.
“You know you can’t trust him,” Li Shen called out. “You never even knew who he was!”
“You know me, Zhan-ge,” Yibo insisted. “You’ve always known me. Maybe not what I did, but you know I would never hurt you. You know I’ll always protect you.”
Xiao Zhan’s eyes filled with tears as he nodded, and Yibo took the final steps towards him, wrapping a hand around the gun and taking it from his shaking hands. The young alpha threw his other arm around Xiao Zhan’s shoulders, pulling him into a fierce hug and Xiao Zhan cried against his neck.
“That was a mistake, Xiao Zhan,” Li Shen said darkly. “He’s only going to hurt you.”
Yibo ignored him, training the gun on the other alpha but focusing on his mate.
“I’m here, Zhan-ge,” he murmured in a low voice, moving his arm to wrap around the omega’s waist, feeling the elder slump against him in relief.
“Yibo... I’m sorry,” Xiao Zhan whimpered.
“Let’s talk later, ge. But close your eyes and hold onto me, okay?” the young alpha asked Xiao Zhan, who nodded.
“Okay,” Xiao Zhan replied, burying his nose in the crook of Yibo’s neck and inhaling his mate’s scent, calming him.
“Cover your ears,” Yibo told him, and Xiao Zhan did what was asked of him.
Yibo dropped a kiss on his mate’s head, breathing in his sweet, clean scent and taking a deep breath before directing his gaze back to Li Shen, his eyes merciless. The older alpha snarled at him.
“You had the chance to run away,” Yibo said impassively. “You could have just let him go. You could have not taken him in the first place.”
“Fucking brat,” Li Shen spat out. “You’ve just been handed everything, and you don’t deserve any of it.”
Yibo's lips curled into a half smile. “You’re right there, asshole. He’s more than I ever deserved. You should be thankful for my mate, though. If he weren’t here, I’d be taking my time.”
“You’re telling me to be grateful? Fuck you,” the older alpha retorted.
“Have it your way,” Yibo said coldly, and he fired, his mate flinching in his arms but staying tucked into his side, face pressed against his skin.
Yibo closed his eyes, holding Xiao Zhan tightly against him and holstering the gun as his men finally rushed in, having taken care of the last of Li Shen’s men.
“It’s over, baobei,” he said softly, turning Xiao Zhan so his back was to the mess on the floor. The omega pulled his head up from the alpha’s neck, staring into his eyes.
“Let me take you, home, Zhan-ge,” he entreated his mate, who took a deep breath and nodded. Yibo led him out carefully. Xiao Zhan studiously avoided looking behind him at what was left of Li Shen, and Yufen nodded at Yibo as the young alpha ushered his mate into the car, assuring Yibo he’d take care of the cleanup.
On the drive home, Xiao Zhan cradled his bump, glancing over at Yibo who gazed out the window into the darkness with a troubled expression.
The omega looked down, feeling nervous. He wasn’t sure what to say.
“Sorry I ran away because I was scared you were a criminal who watched me for years?”
“Thank you for murdering someone who was trying to kill me to hurt you?”
Xiao Zhan sighed. He really didn’t know what to say.
A silence loomed over them the duration of the ride. Xiao Zhan was jostled out of his thoughts when the car pulled up to their apartment building. Yibo stepped out first and the omega gratefully accepted his helping hand. Yibo’s hand rested on his lower back, and he guided Xiao Zhan into their home. The omega felt numb as Yibo led him inside, locking the door after him.
Xiao Zhan looked around the penthouse. This was their home, a sanctuary they had created together. He walked into the nursery, gazing silently at the colorful murals on the wall and stroking his belly. One hand reached out tentatively to touch the painted lion before quickly dropping his hand back to his side. They were going to raise their little one in here, in their perfect home, and it all had fallen apart.
“Zhan-ge,” Yibo called out hesitantly and Xiao Zhan turned around, raising an eyebrow as he saw the usually confident alpha fidget with his fingers in the doorway.
“Yibo?” the omega replied, waiting with bated breath as Yibo moved steadily closer, taking slow halting steps until he stood right in front of him.
“Zhan-ge,” Yibo swallowed before sinking to his knees on the floor in front of the omega, who gazed down at him with shocked, wide eyes.
“Zhan-ge, please,” Yibo begged, looking up at him with dark, glittering eyes as his arms encircled Xiao Zhan’s belly. “Please don’t leave me. I can’t bear the thought of you leaving me again. Please, baobei. I can’t…” he shuddered, laying his head to rest on Xiao Zhan’s bump. “I can’t live without you both. Please don’t make me. I can’t lose you too.”
Xiao Zhan blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to keep the tears from falling and failing almost immediately. He knew that Yibo was a proud alpha. Yibo never begged for anything, he always just took what he wanted. Usually the omega delighted in his possessive gaze, his demanding touch, but knowing what he knew now, he was so frightened that the alpha would overwhelm him, would take everything from him.
Yibo had been manipulating him for years, but now the young man was showing a side Xiao Zhan had never seen before. His mate knelt, his neck exposed, his eyes desperate as he gazed up at Xiao Zhan from the floor.
“I don’t- I don’t know what to do, Yibo,” Xiao Zhan confessed. “The cameras, the lying, the violence.” He swallowed, then said, “I love you, and I’m so afraid of you.”
Yibo flinched, rocking back on his heels, his hands resting on Xiao Zhan’s hips lightly. “Zhan-ge, you never have to be afraid of me,” he insisted. “You’re my world, you’re my everything.”
“If I’m your everything, how could you lie to me all these years, Yibo?” the omega asked softly.
“Did you really want to know?” Yibo shot back, and Xiao Zhan took a sharp breath.
What could Yibo have told him? Should he have confessed earlier and tried to be with Xiao Zhan before he turned 18? No, that would have just made things more complicated and hard for Xiao Zhan, who was already conflicted.
Did Xiao Zhan want to know about Yibo’s involvement with the underworld? No, not at all. He found it terrifying, and his brief experience tonight did not change his mind. Did he love the alpha anyway, despite his involvement? Yes, Xiao Zhan admitted to himself. Yes, he did.
“No,” Xiao Zhan confessed. “I guess I didn’t. But I had to know anyway, Yibo. This is my life too. I don’t think what you did was right, but…” he flushed at the idea that Yibo had heard him call out his name during his heats while using the toy on himself. “I guess I understand not being able to control yourself completely. I’ve been pretty conflicted about our relationship since we met too.”
“Yeah, I- I know,” Yibo said quietly, looking nervous. “I don’t want to lie anymore, Zhan-ge, but I’m glad I knew you were my mate so early. It helped us get to the right place to be together, even if…” his voice trailed off.
“Even if we made some bad choices along the way,” Xiao Zhan finished, and Yibo nodded.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I’m sorry, Zhan-ge. There won't be any more cameras. I’ll let you go anywhere, do anything you want. You aren’t my prisoner, I’m just so scared to lose you like— I’m so scared to lose you,” he finished awkwardly.
Xiao Zhan carded a hand through Yibo’s dark locks. “I’m not your mother, Yibo,” he said gently, and Yibo dropped his head, letting out a broken sob as Xiao Zhan wrapped his arms around the other man’s head, cradling him against his stomach.
“But you keep running away,” Yibo wailed, wrapping his arms tight around Xiao Zhan, his voice muffled against the other man’s skin. “You keep leaving me just like she did. She died, and you almost did too. You and our baby!” He let out another sob into Xiao Zhan’s stomach, and Xiao Zhan stroked his hair, his short nails running along Yibo’s scalp as the young alpha’s body shook while he cried.
The omega closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry for making you relive that, Yibo. I was so confused and scared. You wouldn’t tell me anything, and you never told me what you did for work. Things just kept getting more suspicious, and I felt like I couldn’t trust you anymore.”
“If I had told you, you would just have run away. Ge, you always run away,” Yibo muttered, looking up at Xiao Zhan through wet lashes.
“And you've always hidden things from me, Yibo,” Xiao Zhan retorted. “The cameras, the lock change. The alphas in the bar, what happened to them?” He braced himself, but Yibo just shrugged.
“Nothing, Zhan-ge, I just told my men to make them leave. That’s all they did. Threaten them and get them to leave. I just—” he bit his lip, “I just couldn’t stand someone else being with you. I know that’s not fair but I knew you were meant to be mine and it was so hard to wait. But you were worth it, Zhan-ge. You’re always worth it. And,” Yibo hesitated, then pushed forward. “And I think we were worth it. When I turned 18, when you had your heat, it was worth every ounce of pain, every moment I waited for you. Don’t you think so too?” he asked, his eyes vulnerable, and Xiao Zhan closed his eyes before nodding.
“Yeah, Yibo," Xiao Zhan admitted. “You’re my everything too.”
Yibo shot up from the floor, cupping Xiao Zhan’s cheek in his hand. “Please don’t throw this away, Zhan-ge. I promise things can be different. If you won’t keep running, if you’re willing to listen, I’ll tell you everything. I won’t hide anything from you that you want to know.”
Xiao Zhan searched his eyes, and he saw nothing but honesty and sincerity shining from Yibo’s dark gaze.
“If I ever find a camera—” he started, and Yibo shook his head quickly.
“Never,” he vowed. “Anything, Zhan-ge, I’ll do anything and everything to keep you. To keep us.”
“Just honesty, Yibo,” Xiao Zhan said softly. “And I need you to be around more. I want us to be a family. But if you aren’t ever around to be my husband, to be our child’s father, does it matter?”
The words, echoing what his mother had told his father that awful night as she cried and he left, took Yibo’s breath away, and he shuddered at how close he was to following in his father’s footsteps.
“You’re right, baobei,” Yibo said fervently, tilting Xiao Zhan’s chin down to gaze directly into his eyes. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to be with you more. You mean the most. Both of you do. Nothing matters more to me. Absolutely nothing.”
Xiao Zhan’s eyes filled with tears again at Yibo’s words, and he stared up at the ceiling, trying not to cry.
“Zhan-ge, look at me,” Yibo crooned, and Xiao Zhan lowered his head, tears streaming as his eyes met Yibo’s soft gaze. “Baobei, let’s start over. Let’s stop acting like my parents and start being more like yours.”
Xiao Zhan’s eyes widened, and Yibo nodded quickly. “I saw them, Zhan-ge. At the wedding, at the reception. They love you so much, but whenever they weren’t looking at you, all they saw was each other. Let’s have a love like theirs.”
Xiao Zhan threw his arms around Yibo’s neck and Yibo inhaled, reveling in his scent as he felt the older man melt against him.
“I’d like that,” Xiao Zhan sniffled, his voice muffled against Yibo’s neck. Yibo’s arms wrapped around him as he held the omega in a firm embrace.
“No, stop!” Xiao Zhan cried out, and Yibo growled at him.
“Never!” he declared, and Xiao Zhan rolled his eyes, slapping at his hand with a spatula.
“Why are you always so impatient?” he complained, but the omega couldn’t hold back a grin as his alpha pressed against his back and nuzzled into his neck, his teeth scraping over the bond mark before pressing a gentle kiss as Xiao Zhan sighed.
“How am I supposed to hold myself back from my mate and from his cookies. It’s too much for any one human to bear!” Yibo protested, cackling as Xiao Zhan raised an eyebrow.
“Who said you had to hold yourself back from your mate?” Xiao Zhan said archly. “I just said the cookies needed to cool for ten minutes. I didn’t say we couldn’t do other things in the meantime.”
“Is that so, Zhan-ge?” Yibo purred. His hands started roaming over Xiao Zhan’s body as the omega rubbed his ass back against the other man, letting out a moan as he felt Yibo's hard length pushing insistently between his cheeks, only held back by the thin fabric of their clothes between them.
Suddenly, there was a cry from the other room, and both men froze.
“Well, maybe we don’t have ten minutes,” Xiao Zhan said sheepishly, and Yibo grinned, kissing Xiao Zhan sweetly on the neck before walking towards the nursery.
“I’ll take care of her, Zhan-ge, it'll just be a minute,” he promised, before shooting Xiao Zhan a sinful smile. “I’ll be back soon for dessert.”
Xiao Zhan’s cheeks flushed but he purposefully licked his lips, watching his husband’s eyes darken before turning to finish putting the cookies on the cooling racks.
The last year had been a complete change for their relationship, and if it wasn’t yet as deep and strong as his parents, it was on its way towards it. Yibo had stayed with Xiao Zhan for a week following the abduction, the men completely baring themselves to each other and coming clean about everything they possibly could. It was hard for Xiao Zhan to reconcile the man he loved with some of what he was told, but he nodded and accepted it, loving Yibo for all the good and all the bad.
“Everything is different now,” Xiao Zhan told himself, nodding. “I’m so lucky.” There was no longer anything nagging at the back of his mind, and if he let Yibo keep his work life vague, if he smiled and shook hands with scary, respectful men that Yibo introduced him to and didn’t ask what they did together, if he ignored what caused the occasional scrapes and cuts on his husband’s fingers while he cleaned and bandaged them, that was a choice Xiao Zhan now made willingly.
With Yibo’s full support, he quit his job and started his own graphic design studio. He worked out of his home, taking commissions. Xiao Zhan didn’t even need to advertise, his clients kept showing up by word of mouth and references. Between Yibo’s enthusiastic praise and Xiao Zhan’s quality work, the omega stayed busy, able to take projects that piqued his interest while rocking his baby to sleep as he designed branding on his computer for a variety of businesses. Xiao Zhan’s life was becoming everything he wanted it to be, and he couldn’t be happier.
As Yibo swung Wang Yue in the air above him, he hummed a song, and A-Yue chortled happily, a pudgy hand in her drooling mouth. Yibo couldn’t be happier with how life was going, and being honest with Xiao Zhan took such a weight off his back. The omega stopped by his work frequently to bring him lunch, whether it was at a warehouse or an office building. While they both had an unspoken agreement to not discuss what exactly he was working on, not having to hide anything from Xiao Zhan was a weight off the young alpha's mind.
The week they had spent together, confessing all their secrets, had been one of the scariest things Yibo had ever done, but by the end of it, still seeing the love shining in his mate’s eyes, Yibo felt happier and more secure than he had ever been. He hadn’t been able to come completely clean about everything, but he had been able to share most of his darkness, and that would have to be good enough. Now it was just him, Xiao Zhan and Wang Yue against the world, and nothing would separate them. No matter what.
“Your birthday is coming up, Yibo,” Xiao Zhan commented, walking into the nursery to join them. The omega was unable to stop a broad grin as he watched his husband’s finger held firmly in Wang Yue’s grubby paw while the gangster cooed at her. “Want anything in particular?”
“You know what I want,” Yibo said with a smug smile.
“Yeah yeah, I'll make your ‘Zhange-cake’,” Xiao Zhan said, huffing a laugh and smiling at the alpha fondly. He froze a moment, a sad look in his eyes, then brushed it off, forcing a smile at his husband.
“What’s wrong, baobei?” Yibo asked worriedly, placing A-Yue carefully back in her crib and walking over quickly to hold his mate.
Xiao Zhan shook his head. “It- it’s fine,” he said quickly. “It’s just that our parents have already met A-Yue, and they love her very much, and that makes me really happy."
"But?" Yibo asked, confused.
"But... I was just wishing Da-ge was here to meet her too," Xiao Zhan confessed. "It’s been almost four years now, and it all happened on your birthday and it just crosses my mind this time of year, that’s all.”
Yibo’s arms were tense around him, and Xiao Zhan looked at his husband curiously. “Are you okay, Yibo?”
“Yes, Zhan-ge,” Yibo assured him. “I just, um, I hate that you’re always going to associate my birthday with the loss of your good friend. Do you want to tell me more about him?” he suggested hesitantly.
Xiao Zhan gave Yibo a tremulous smile. “Yeah, Yibo, I think I would. It would be good to think of the happy times, and not just dwell on the last time I saw him at the police station,” Xiao Zhan said, taking a deep breath. “I was so lucky to have you with me that day. I don't know what I would have done without you.”
Yibo rubbed his shoulders, and Xiao Zhan leaned back into his embrace. “I’ll never know what he got involved with, or what awful people killed him, but I know he’d be happy that I’m here now, with you and our baby," the omega said with certainty. "I just have to leave the sadness in the past and be happy with what we have now. I just need to move forward.”
“Of course he would be happy for you,” Yibo said sweetly, kissing his cheek. “And that sounds perfect. Let’s move forward together.”
“Together,” Xiao Zhan agreed.