7.10.2049 Choi Yoonsun’s SUV

  Choi Yoonsun took the wheel as they piled into the SUV. Yoon Taeha called shotgun before anyone else could; the rest were forced to cram themselves into the back seats. Kang Jeonhyun looked uncomfortable, and that alone gave Taeha a strange kind of satisfaction. Park Minjae, however, sitting pressed against him, seemed over the moon. His approach was deliberate, though he claimed it was only because of the lack of space and that he needed to lean on Kang Jeonhyun.

  Yoon Taeha had noticed it before, especially after the Hyeonmu-gate: Park Minjae sought Kang Jeonhyun’s affection more than anyone else did. His stomach twisted at the thought of Minjae having feelings for him. Was it jealousy? Or was it simply the idea of Kang Jeonhyun’s attention going anywhere else that made him nauseous? The image of the two of them on top of each other certainly didn’t ease his discomfort.

  He wondered how horrible a person he was to be thankful that alpha–alpha couples were still frowned upon. He should be accepting of all kinds of people, but Kang Jeonhyun with someone else felt like a stab to the chest, one his healing ability would never fix.

  Choi Yoonsun poked his arm.

  “If you frown like that, your face will age faster. What’s bothering you?”

  “Just wondering about my life choices.” Yoon Taeha muttered.

  “Us hunters don’t get many choices. Just let life guide you instead of worrying about things.”

  Yoon Taeha glanced back from the side window. Kang Jeonhyun was staring out the window, brows furrowed as if he were frowning at nature itself. Someone kicked the back of Taeha’s seat. He turned to see Kim Jaeseong grinning like a child.

  He couldn’t help but laugh at Jaeseong’s childishness, but something shifted. A chill crept into the air. Kang Jeonhyun’s jaw tightened as he watched the two of them. The others noticed the slight pheromone release, it was subtle, but unmistakable. It was as if he were telling the rest to back off.

  Choi Yoonsun took the hint and turned the radio up, drowning out the uncomfortable silence that followed.

  7.10.2049 Hwaryeong Lake Hunter Retreat

  The journey wasn’t long. Before they knew it, they were at Hwaryeong Lake. The park had a separate hunters’ area, as some were treated as celebrities of sorts, and this section, created by the Association, existed to protect their privacy. At the gate, Choi Yoonsun opened the car window and handed his badge to the guard, who peered inside, clearly recognizing a few faces, then waved them through.

  The SUV drove past the gates down a bumpy dirt road until they reached the retreat village. Yoon Taeha had never seen anything like it.

  Tents large enough to house whole teams. Wooden terraces. A grill. They headed into one of the tents. The real beds inside made his jaw drop.

  “Now this is what I call glamping!” Park Minjae announced as he threw himself on a neatly made bed.

  “What happened to building your own tent and enjoying the wilderness?” Yoonsun sighed.

  Yoon Taeha nodded. He had spent his fair share of time in the wild during his first years in military school. It was very different from what he saw now. Instead of comfy beds, they lay on the grass with the sky as their ceiling. Rain or shine, it didn’t matter, they had to camp out. They called it training.

  Kim Jaeseong noticed his expression and hugged him from behind.

  “Let’s go in the water,” he whispered into his ear. Yoon Taeha turned his gaze back to him and nodded.

  “You’re going to catch a cold!” Park Minjae called after them.

  “Relax, we’re only dipping our feet,” Jaeseong replied, already dragging Taeha outside by the arm.

  They sat on a rock by the shore and rolled their trouser legs up to their knees. It was October, yet strangely warm. Warm enough that everyone had abandoned uniform layers for lighter clothes. Taeha hadn’t had time to change yet; he shrugged off his uniform jacket and was left in rolled-up trousers and a white T-shirt.

  Even as he dipped his feet in the water, he was distracted, staring at Kang Jeonhyun in a hoodie and jeans. It was a sight he had never expected to witness. The man’s expressionless face combined with a relaxed outfit. It shouldn’t have suited him, but it did.

  Kim Jaeseong took advantage of his distraction and pulled him straight into the lake. Witnessing this, Kang Jeonhyun moved before thinking, taking two steps forward, then stopped when Taeha managed to pull himself up, laughing so hard he could barely breathe. He splashed water on Jaeseong in retaliation. They wrestled in the water for a while, genuine laughter filling the warm October air. Jaeseong hauled Yoon Taeha over his shoulder and spun him once, then threw him back into the water.

  They climbed out of the water slowly. From the porch, Jeonhyun watched Taeha walk toward him, white shirt plastered to skin, chest visible beneath the soaked fabric. He swallowed, face flushed. He grabbed a towel without thinking and approached.

  Looking closer at Yoon Taeha made it worse; he felt his pheromones spike. Kim Jaeseong’s reaction was instant, instinctive. The playfulness vanished from his face in a snap as his sharp gaze locked on Kang Jeonhyun, chin up, shoulders squared. The pheromones were too obvious for an alpha not to notice; there was suddenly no space between the two men. Kang Jeonhyun’s scent was pushing, and Jaeseong’s was answering it.

  Pheromones were never subtle between alphas. Although recessive alpha pheromones were not completely harmless, dominant alpha pheromones were toxic to other alphas, territorial. It was a protective mechanism, but also a way to mark omegas as their own without imprinting. It served as a warning for other alphas not to touch their prey.

  Kim Jaeseong stepped forward and placed his hands firmly on Taeha’s shoulders. His expression toward Kang Jeonhyun was openly hostile for a second, masked with a smile an instant later as he turned back to Taeha, carefully keeping his attention.

  Yoon Taeha only felt a familiar warmth and thought nothing of it. He didn’t realize Kim Jaeseong had covered him with his own scent, shielding him before he could even notice Kang Jeonhyun’s. Jaeseong’s pheromones were well controlled, challenging Jeonhyun while remaining friendly and warm toward Taeha. He was the image of pure control and discipline.

  Noticing the physiological reaction in his pants, Kang Jeonhyun threw the towel at Yoon Taeha and walked away so quickly that the man, still completely oblivious to the situation, didn’t have the chance to thank him.

  It wasn’t only the spike and embarrassment that bothered Kang Jeonhyun. It was Jaeseong’s reaction: instinctive, possessive, protective. Jeonhyun didn’t know whether to be relieved by the distance it created between them or furious that someone else was pursuing Taeha.

  Yoon Taeha didn’t realize that Kim Jaeseong’s feelings toward him weren’t only friendly. He believed every flirtatious comment and attempt to be nothing more than teasing. But just because Taeha didn’t notice it didn’t mean the others didn’t. The twins were following the situation from afar, wishing they had popcorn at hand.

  “A thousand won on the lieutenant,” said Ryu Seojin.

  “Ten thousand on Jaeseong,” Ryu Seoyeon answered. “Hyung’s oblivious, and Jaeseong treats him warmly. Unlike our grumpy snowman.”

  “That grumpy snowman is melting, bruh.”

  Ryu Seoyeon chuckled at his brother’s comment, but he was still certain he was right. He wondered how Yoon Taeha could be so oblivious to the situation. There were two alphas circling him. Maybe three. The man at the training grounds had seemed too friendly with him, and it bothered Ryu Seoyeon.

  “You’re thinking of that officer, right?” Ryu Seojin said, as if he had read his brother’s mind.

  “I can’t shake the feeling that something about that man… something just feels off.”

  “We’ll find out eventually, won’t we? We’ll keep watch. We always do.”

  “I was against having an omega on the team at first,” Ryu Seoyeon said quietly. “I like hyung. I just don’t know how this ends with two possessive alphas here and another at work.”

  “Thank whatever deity is in charge that we were born betas.”

  Kang Jeonhyun rushed to the tent but still peeked through the curtain. Yoon Taeha wrung water out of his shirt. Jaeseong stepped in and draped a zip-up hoodie over his shoulders.

  “Thank you, Jaeseong-ah.”

  “Whatever for my hyung.” They laughed together.

  Yoon Taeha had never expected to find a friend in Special Ops. Before the Jujak-gate incident, his friends had been his colleagues, and those colleagues were no more. For the past two months, work had distracted him from his loneliness. But these people gave him the warmth he had been missing, even if he hadn’t known it himself. Even Kang Jeonhyun, cold as he was, warmed something inside him.

  Kang Jeonhyun, however, at that moment was trembling, trying to keep his pheromones under control. Watching them stand that close stirred something in him, ugly and instinctive. An urge to separate them, to physically pull Jaeseong away.

  For a moment, Yoon Taeha looked toward the tent Kang Jeonhyun had disappeared into but couldn’t bring himself to go in and thank him. Things were improving between them, slowly, and he was terrified of being pushed away again. His stomach churned as he saw Park Minjae walk into that tent instead of him.

  Park Minjae, who had caught the scent, found Jeonhyun sitting on the bed, elbows on knees, face in his hands. Seeing the restless man in front of him, a knot twisted in Minjae’s stomach. He didn’t understand. Jeonhyun had hated Yoon Taeha, and now everything Taeha did seemed to shake him. He had never acted this way toward anyone else, not toward Minjae.

  He covered his nose with his hand to block the scent, an unwanted thought creeping in: if Kang Jeonhyun went into rut, would he let Minjae help him? Would he reject his pheromones? Maybe they were an exception. Could Minjae bottom for him, when he would never be able to top a dominant alpha?

  “If you keep staring like that, he’ll notice,” Park Minjae finally said, still covering his nose. He hoped Yoon Taeha would never notice Kang Jeonhyun’s feelings toward him. He wanted those feelings to himself.

  “Notice what?” Kang Jeonhyun knew exactly what he had meant, but he was never going to admit it.

  “Whatever.” Minjae sighed and walked out, disappointed he still couldn’t speak his feelings aloud, and even more that Kang Jeonhyun hadn’t asked for his help, though he knew it was a hopeless wish. He still wanted to be noticed by him.

  Kang Jeonhyun felt like he was swimming in dangerous waters. He walked to the shower building behind their tent, hoping a cold shower would clear his mind. His weakness was too obvious; others were noticing. Losing control was new to him, and he hated the fact that the reason for it was someone he was supposed to hate but couldn’t. It wasn’t only desire that made him weak. He was a high-ranking officer; he was supposed to be able to control this.

  “I’m acting like a rookie alpha, not an officer,” he muttered.

  The door opened. Yoon Taeha stared at the naked man in front of him and dropped his towel in shock. He was still dripping from the lake, his red hair plastered to his forehead. The others had urged him to take a warm shower before he caught a cold, so their vacation wouldn’t end in a hospital.

  “I… uh…” He stared at the man from head to toe, jaw dropping at the sight. His eyes widened. “So sorry!” He spun around to leave but slipped backward. He felt a pair of strong hands catch him from behind. He looked up. Water dripped from Jeonhyun’s hair onto Taeha’s cheeks as their eyes met.

  Kang Jeonhyun lifted him up. Noticing Yoon Taeha’s wandering gaze, he picked up a towel and covered his lower half. Taeha’s face burned bright red. He fled as fast as he could, leaving Kang Jeonhyun behind, speechless.

  He ran, chanting, “I pledge allegiance to the Unified Republic…”

  Think holy thoughts… give room for the Holy Spirit, let it in. Fuck! What was that!? That was not—that was a weapon of mass destruction! To think that’s supposed to enter—oh god. He bit his nails. Unholy thoughts, begone. Argh! I just wanted to wash the lake off, and this is what I get! Now I need a priest. I better find one and confess my sins. Better yet, have him perform an exorcism. Fuck this shit!

  Yoon Taeha reached the tent and finally acknowledged the business happening in his pants. He wanted to yell as loud as he could from the embarrassment. He burrito-wrapped himself in his blanket, knowing what needed to be done, but he couldn’t do it there, not while everyone else was just outside. He screamed into his pillow and toppled off the bed like a log. Anyone could come in at any second. The bathrooms were in the same building as the shower room, so there was no way he was going back there and risking bumping into Kang Jeonhyun again. He was the source of this physiological reaction, after all. He cursed under his breath until he finally gathered the courage to reach into his pants.

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  The image of the second lieutenant wouldn’t leave his mind. If he had stayed in the shower room, would something have happened? Would Kang Jeonhyun have touched him the way he was touching himself now? He felt his body react, dripping, as if he were in heat. He imagined Kang Jeonhyun’s touch all over him, wondering whether he would just surrender to him. He tried to be quiet, but the bed frame squeaked louder than he wanted.

  “Hyung!” He was startled as Kim Jaeseong entered the tent.

  “Aaaa!” Yoon Taeha yelled, wrapping himself tighter in his blanket. This was exactly what he had been afraid of.

  “What are you—? Oh…” Jaeseong chuckled. “Do you need help with that?”

  “Go. Away. You. Bastard,” Taeha cried.

  “Hey, we all do it, all right? What’s the big deal? Although I might have picked a more private spot, considering we’re all—”

  “I get it, just get out!”

  He heard a second voice approaching the tent.

  “Jaeseong!” Choi Yoonsun called. “What’s going on in there?”

  “Hyung is rubbing one out. Achieving inner peace,” Kim Jaeseong said, folding his arms and leaning on the tent pole.

  “Oh, okay.” Choi Yoonsun scratched his head. “Hey, Taeha! We all do it, all right? We’ll give you some privacy. If you need any help, just call us.” Both men exited the tent laughing. He heard Yoonsun yell again, “Omega maintenance break! No one disturb him!”

  “He’ll be done in seven minutes,” someone added, loudly enough for the words to reach the back of the tent. Yoon Taeha wanted to die of shame, but it wasn’t over. He heard footsteps coming closer.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you. You might want to tone down the pheromones. Half of us are alphas, and we need to sleep here tonight,” Kim Jaeseong whispered loudly. “And here’s a bottle of water for when you’re done. For aftercare. I reckon you’ll be thirsty.”

  Yoon Taeha had never been this embarrassed in his life, absolutely betrayed by biology. He couldn’t believe he’d been caught like that. The humiliation had softened the situation in his pants, and he pulled them back up. He wanted to cry, crawl into a hole, never come out. Then he sensed someone coming in again.

  “NO MORE VISITORS!” he yelled, and turned, expecting it to be Kim Jaeseong again with his god-awful jokes. To his surprise, it wasn’t his friend, it was the root of all evil. Kang Jeonhyun froze as he saw Yoon Taeha’s reddened eyes staring at him in shock. Taeha’s breath caught for a moment, convinced Jeonhyun knew everything.

  “Are you hurt?” He instinctively rushed to Yoon Taeha’s side, his hair still wet from the shower. Taeha’s eyes were still teary, but the man’s scent calmed him for a moment. He slammed his fist against Jeonhyun’s shoulder.

  “I hate you!” he cried, burning with embarrassment. Kang Jeonhyun grabbed his wrist before he could hit him again. No matter how Taeha was feeling, the sense of Jeonhyun’s intention to comfort him suddenly steadied him, leaving him staring at the man, mouth open.

  “You really are a piece of work, aren’t you?” Kang Jeonhyun managed an almost unnoticeable smile and patted Yoon Taeha’s head.

  The village had finally gone quiet. The only sounds reaching Yoon Taeha’s ears were the humming of the wind outside and Choi Yoonsun’s snoring. Park Minjae occasionally spoke in his sleep, but it was all very unimportant, probably about him living in a fantasy land.

  The earlier chaos had finally settled, but Yoon Taeha’s mind was still going over the events. He lay on his back, staring at the canvas ceiling, wrapped in his blanket. Every time he closed his eyes, it replayed: the shower room, water dripping from Kang Jeonhyun’s hair, the way his hands had caught him. His face burned all over again.

  He turned onto his side, then the other, as if he were uncomfortable in his own skin. It felt like his body was actively conspiring against him and nothing helped. His mind refused to let go, and sleep was too far away to reach.

  His eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness, and Kang Jeonhyun’s sleeping figure became clearer and clearer. He was asleep. Yoon Taeha couldn’t help but be afraid someone might notice him staring, but he couldn’t resist. His gaze shifted to Kang Jeonhyun’s chest, and he started counting every inhale and exhale, matching his own breathing to it.

  The man looked nothing like the rigid officer he was during the day. His face was relaxed, brows smooth, hair falling messily across his forehead. He looked peaceful. How was it possible for a man like that to exist? It was as if he had won the gene lottery.

  Yoon Taeha felt his chest tighten and his face flush. Slowly, horribly, his awareness drifted downward.

  “…Not again,” he whispered, horrified. He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the blanket higher, as if that could undo biology itself. He cursed every alpha in existence, the lake, the retreat, and especially Kang Jeonhyun and his stupid face.

  8.10.2049 Hwaryeong Lake Hunter Retreat

  Yoon Taeha was the last one to get out of bed. From the moment he opened his eyes, he started counting the hours they had left at the village. Everything around him reminded him of the events of the previous day. He dressed slowly, as if delaying would somehow spare him from facing the rest of the team. He already knew what was coming. There was no way they would leave him alone. The only thing he hoped was that Kang Jeonhyun had never gotten a whiff of what had happened.

  Stepping out of the tent, he started counting under his breath.

  “Five… four… three… two—”

  At one, Kim Jaeseong’s arm was already around his shoulders.

  “So… is the business still open, or did you shut it down for maintenance?”

  “Customer satisfaction guaranteed!” the twins yelled in unison, as if they had planned it. Yoon Taeha slipped off his sandal and threw it at them. It was dumb to even hope it would hit, as their hunter quality was hyper reflexes.

  Choi Yoonsun stepped closer and handed the already mortified Yoon Taeha a cup of coffee. “Next time, put a sock on the tent pole so we know it’s occupied.”

  “I was dumb to think at least you’d let this go,” Yoon Taeha sighed, turning his gaze toward Kang Jeonhyun, who was sitting at the terrace table, scrolling through his phone while sipping his coffee.

  Choi Yoonsun leaned in closer and whispered, “Don’t worry. He knows nothing. We’re not that cruel.” He laughed.

  I want to die. Taeha thought.

  The day went slower than Yoon Taeha had hoped. There wasn’t much to do apart from strolling around, talking, eating, and playing outdoor games. The whole point of the retreat was to relax and bond with the team, but Taeha couldn’t help feeling like he needed a vacation from his team instead.

  He sat on the porch, observing his teammates, each busy with their own activities. Kim Jaeseong was playing ball with the twins, while Park Minjae was reading a book next to a napping Kang Jeonhyun on the sun chairs. Choi Yoonsun was chopping firewood, which he didn’t need to do, as the village provided it, but it was his way of displaying his masculinity. Lee Hyunwoo had been almost invisible the entire time, yet now he appeared every so often, carrying freshly chopped firewood to the common fireplace they didn’t even use.

  Lee Hyunwoo seemed very close to Choi Yoonsun. At times it felt like they shared a quiet connection the others didn’t quite grasp. During missions, Hyunwoo often seemed to understand Yoonsun’s needs and orders before they were even voiced. Not that he could hear them anyway.

  His face was unreadable, as always, and Yoon Taeha would occasionally catch him simply staring at the lake or the forest. Sometimes he stayed so still that birds could have perched on his shoulders, it was a wonder they hadn’t started building a nest on his head. His eyes did seem to drift toward Taeha now and then, but Taeha wasn’t sure if that was imagination, or a hope that they might bond in the future. There was no hostility there, but neither did he sense Hyunwoo wanting to get closer. There was no way for Taeha to even begin guessing what was going through the man’s mind.

  The hours passed just like that, and soon it was dinnertime. The sun was slowly setting, painting their surroundings in shades of orange. Yoon Taeha admired the view from the shore, Kim Jaeseong sitting beside him on the rock. Jaeseong held Taeha’s hand the way a lover would, though Taeha still brushed it off as teasing.

  Kang Jeonhyun watched them from farther away. The knot in his stomach had yet to ease, and Jaeseong showed no signs of letting him relax. Every flirtatious attempt toward Taeha felt like a deliberate stab on Jeonhyun.

  He was turning the pork belly pieces, chicken skewers, and different vegetables one by one on the grill. He did his chores loudly, unconsciously trying to distract himself from the annoying mood the two men were creating. Park Minjae appeared behind his shoulder.

  “Let me take over,” he said.

  Kang Jeonhyun handed him the tongs, although reluctantly, as if he couldn’t trust him with the food. It was a strange reaction from the man, who rarely showed emotion. For a moment Park Minjae was startled by the gesture. Still, he stayed close by, observing the meat rather than torturing himself by watching Yoon Taeha.

  “Don’t flip it yet,” he ordered Park Minjae. “If you press it, you lose the juices.”

  No matter how much Park Minjae liked him, even he found the commands annoying. He wanted to throw the tongs back at the man, but at the same time he wanted to be noticed, so he said nothing. Kang Jeonhyun’s gaze still occasionally shifted toward the shore. The last time he looked, their hands were no longer touching, and they were walking back toward the terrace.

  “Whoa! Lieutenant, I didn’t know you had such skills.” Kim Jaeseong pulled the obviously annoyed Kang Jeonhyun closer, placing an arm around his neck. “You’re full of surprises.”

  Yoon Taeha looked at the result in awe as Kang Jeonhyun handed him a plate. Taeha hesitated for a moment, trying to choose how to fill his lettuce wrap, and before he noticed, Kang Jeonhyun was doing it for him. The rest of the team remained speechless at the sight.

  “Since when do you grill like a professional?” one of the twins asked.

  His hands busy wrapping the lettuce, Kang Jeonhyun scoffed but didn’t leave the question unanswered.

  “My father used to take me out to barbecue often. He used to remind me to do it properly and not to rush.”

  A moment of silence followed, but Yoon Taeha raised his head to look at the man. Even with his eyes fixed on him, a distant memory rushed into his mind, one he desperately tried to brush away.

  The rest of the team knew not to question further, knowing family was not a topic to bring up in front of the Second Lieutenant. Choi Yoonsun got up quietly and moved back into the tent. He returned quickly, carrying a large Tupperware container, a wide grin on his face.

  “I made kimchi!”

  “You did what now? Did you become an ahjumma without us noticing? Are you retiring, pops?” the twins joked.

  “Laugh all you want,” Yoonsun said. “But don’t come crying to me when your partners throw you out because you’re useless in the kitchen.”

  Yoon Taeha cracked up laughing, then begged Choi Yoonsun to teach him.

  Night fell, and Yoon Taeha lay in his bed restless once again. His stomach was bothering him; he had obviously eaten too much. The large amount of alcohol they had consumed didn’t help either. Eventually, he got out of bed, noticing one person was missing from the tent.

  He stepped outside and found Kang Jeonhyun sitting alone on the porch. Taeha sat down next to him and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Without a word, he offered one. Kang Jeonhyun took it just as silently.

  A long while passed before either of them spoke. The village was quiet, the silence calming, something they both clearly needed. The smell of their cigarettes mixed with the lingering smoke from the earlier barbecue, making Taeha feel slightly nauseous. Kang Jeonhyun placed a hand on his shoulder, startling him.

  “You don’t look so well.”

  “I overate…” Taeha’s embarrassment was obvious. A faint smile tugged at Kang Jeonhyun’s lips as he took another puff of his cigarette.

  “Sorry for being so troublesome,” Taeha added.

  “You are not troublesome,” Kang Jeonhyun said. “Strange, annoying, overconfident, yes. But I wouldn’t call you troublesome.”

  “Seems like you’ve come to like me, sir,” Taeha said, his smile widening.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Admit it. You couldn’t sleep because you were thinking about me.” Yoon Taeha joked, unaware that he really had been the reason for Kang Jeonhyun’s anxiety. There was no answer.

  Encouraged, Taeha leaned his head against the man’s shoulder and began his usual blabbering.

  “Did you know rats, when confined in a box alone for a long time, eventually start eating themselves? And octopuses will sometimes eat their own arms if they’re stressed. It grows back, but still. Very inefficient.”

  Kang Jeonhyun remained silent, so Taeha continued.

  “Oh, and did you know male seahorses get pregnant? Which means biology has absolutely no respect for dignity.”

  Kang Jeonhyun turned his head slightly. “Male omegas can get pregnant too.”

  Yoon Taeha’s face flushed instantly as Han Yoonseo’s comment about babies with the surname Kang resurfaced in his mind. He instinctively leaned back, accidentally releasing his pheromones.

  Kang Jeonhyun noticed at once. His face flushed as well, but he didn’t pull away. Instead, he released his own pheromones, letting them tangle gently with Taeha’s, warm and unhurried. Neither said a word. They simply sat there in shared silence.

  Yoon Taeha let out a quiet exhale as his pheromones eased in Kang Jeonhyun’s presence. His heart was pounding so loudly he was sure Jeonhyun must hear it, but he didn’t react.

  “Breathing in for four seconds and out for six lowers heart rate,” Kang Jeonhyun said at last. He had noticed. Instead of pulling away, Taeha laughed softly.

  “That’s how they taught us to fall asleep quickly in the military.”

  13.10.2049, Seoul, Mapo-gu, Hunter’s Association Hospital

  “You called me.”

  Kang Jeonhyun sat down in the chair in Doctor Yoon’s office. She greeted him and ordered him to take his shirt off. The Second Lieutenant didn’t refuse.

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Well, if it isn’t my favorite Lieutenant!” Doctor Han walked in. “Doctor Yoon asked me to come in, hope you don’t mind.”

  “By all means,” Kang Jeonhyun sighed. “Pry into my health. It’s not like I have much of a private life anyway.”

  “Look at you, making jokes. Good for you!” Doctor Han slapped his shoulder.

  “Can you both stop?” Doctor Yoon snapped, harsher than usual. “I need to attach him to the analyzer.” She stared at the waves moving across the monitor, then pressed her face into her palms.

  “Is he dying?” Doctor Han asked, wiping a fake tear from the corner of his eye.

  “This is exactly why Chief Han ordered you to stay away from each other,” Doctor Yoon hissed. She spun the monitor toward Kang Jeonhyun. “Do you see this?”

  “I’m no doctor,” he replied calmly. “I don’t quite understand what I’m supposed to be seeing.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Doctor Han muttered, lighting a cigarette. Kang Jeonhyun crushed it in his fist.

  “What are you not telling me?”

  “Your pheromones are a flying mess,” Yoon Jiyeon snapped. “No wonder you’ve been clashing with oppa constantly. This is so fucking ridiculous, I can’t even—”

  “Now, now, sweetheart,” Doctor Han said, patting her back. “First and foremost, he’s a patient.” He barely finished before her fist connected with his face.

  “Ow…”

  “Yeah!” she yelled. “A patient who imprinted on my brother!”

  Kang Jeonhyun froze. He understood the words, but somehow he didn’t. The room blurred. Every moment his pheromones had clashed with Yoon Taeha’s rushed back at once, every suffocating spike, every loss of control. That wasn’t what an imprint was supposed to feel like.

  “Doctor Yoon,” he said carefully, “I beg your pardon, but Lieutenant Yoon and I never—” He stopped. “And I never bit him. How can I imprint without a bite?”

  Doctor Yoon exhaled sharply.

  “Normally, you can’t,” she said. “A full imprint requires mutual consent and a bite. That’s what binds both sides.” She pointed at the monitor again. “But when pheromone exposure is strong enough, prolonged and repeated, it can trigger a partial imprint.”

  “It doesn’t bind the omega. It binds you.” Doctor Han added. “Think of it like this, a bite seals the bond. Pheromones alone can still carve its shape.”

  “Yeah,” Yoon Jiyeon continued, pointing at the different pheromone waves. “And this is why it’s worse. Your reproductive pheromones are incredibly low. If you were a recessive alpha, I’d tell you, sorry, no kids, consider adoption. But for a dominant alpha…” She hesitated.

  “For a dominant alpha what?” Kang Jeonhyun asked sharply.

  “It confirms the partial imprint,” Doctor Han cut in. “Sorry, Doc. You were struggling to say it. I get it, he’s intimidating. But hey, he’s about to be your brother-in-law—” Doctor Han hit the floor from Yoon Jiyeon’s second punch.

  “What does this mean?” Kang Jeonhyun asked, forcing himself to stay calm.

  “It means congratulations, we’re about to become family, or one of you has to die.” She leaned back in her chair and exhaled slowly. “As we discussed, an imprint is formed through mutual consent and a bite at the back of an omega’s neck. It’s more binding than marriage. There’s no undoing it. In your case, the imprint only occurred from your side, and I’m guessing it happened before oppa woke up from his coma.”

  “So what you’re telling me,” Kang Jeonhyun said slowly, “is that I’m bound to Lieutenant Yoon whether I want it or not.”

  Yoon Jiyeon nodded.

  “Does he know?” he asked quietly, clasping his hands together.

  “No,” she said. “And technically, this doesn’t affect him. He can live his life normally. You, however, need to stay close to him or you’ll start experiencing withdrawals.” Her eyes sharpened. “And let me say this again, the only way to break an imprint is death. And I’d stab you a thousand times before I let you kill my brother.”

  “I wouldn’t dare,” Kang Jeonhyun muttered. At some point, he had stopped worrying about himself. All that mattered now was how this would affect Yoon Taeha.

  “It’s your choice whether you tell him or not,” Yoon Jiyeon continued. “But the withdrawals are painful. You need his pheromones to survive. You might feel fine for days, weeks even, but it will all come crashing down eventually.” She paused. “Think carefully.”

  “Let’s keep this between us for now.” He said before walking out the door. Kang Jeonhyun stood. There was nothing left to ask

  “For what it’s worth, my mom hopes you’ll become part of the family.”

  Everything involving Yoon Taeha that could have gone wrong, had gone wrong. Neither of them had been ready to face the truth, and now Kang Jeonhyun was the one slammed with the cold reality of the situation. Did the partial imprint give him an excuse to stay close to him? Yes. He could take this secret to the grave if needed, but the urge to tell Yoon Taeha lingered. But he didn’t want that to be the reason. The battle inside him threw punches at him faster than he could dodge.

  A phone call interrupted his thoughts. It was brief, yet it changed everything.

  Fuck.