Damn! Damn! Chapter 37

However, since he was a guy whose mood could turn foul at any moment from something completely unexpected, Achim kept that possibility in mind as he parted his lips once again.

“I… have something to say.”

Michael tilted his head slightly. Taking that attitude as a sign to go ahead and speak, Achim said, still holding his neck:

“I heard that you gave me a pheromone shower.”

“From whom?”

“…”

As expected, it was a reaction that defied anticipation. Any ordinary person would have focused on the fact that they had been caught.

Achim stared blankly at him as he focused on the wrong thing, even after committing an act that would be illegal without the other party’s consent, and asked:

“Is that… important?”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Tell me who told you.”

Persistent bastard. Achim hurriedly looked down before he could accidentally glare at him.

Nils Koch.

Achim was about to spit out that now somewhat familiar name, but he suddenly shut his opened lips back together. Chewing it over, he thought the underlying intention behind the question was strange.

“It must be one of the guards.”

“…”

For a split second, Achim thought the man was like a ghost, but he quickly accepted it. The only variants inside the mansion who could smell his pheromones were the Alpha guards.

Achim gave a slow nod.

“That’s right, a guard.”

“…”

“…But I don’t know his name.”

“I saw him for the first time today.” Achim added a lie with an unnoticeable, fabricated expression.

“Is that so?”

Achim nodded toward him as he asked back languidly.

There was no telling what a guy like him might do. If Nils, whose only crime was helping him, suffered a bad fate, it was obvious he would feel nothing but pointless guilt. Even if nothing happened if he gave up Nils’s name, it was better to nip the bud of anxiety in the advance.

“The pheromone shower… I would prefer if you didn’t do it.”

He already didn’t know what to do with himself due to the attention pouring in from both inside and outside the mansion. Moreover, a wanted poster with his own sketch on it was already sitting squarely inside Achim’s mind, so he couldn’t help but think that this was more than enough for now.

“Hmm…”

Whether he understood that feeling or not, Michael let out a low hum at Achim’s words and closed the distance even further.

Because his eyes had dropped for a moment, a firm chest became visible through the parted robe, prompting Achim to smoothly shift his gaze to the side.

“The mark has almost disappeared.”

The moment he said those words, his large hand swept over his neck as if wrapping around it, making Achim flinch his shoulders.

Thinking he was trying to strangle him again, he snapped his head up, but contrary to expectations, Michael silently and gently swept his thumb near Achim’s Adam’s apple. His subtly distorted expression almost looked like he was looking at something pitiful.

Don’t tell me he’s regretting what he did. Just as Achim opened his mouth in inward surprise, Michael subtly opened his handsome lips.

“Then by what method should I leave a mark on you?”

“…”

“Even if I leave a mark like this, you’ll just be dying to hide it anyway.”

Achim quietly closed his open mouth. He immediately blamed himself, thinking he must have been crazy to have had such a delusional thought about him even for a moment.

“In times like this, an imprint would be useful…”

Achim’s eyes widened in astonishment at the words Michael muttered while holding his neck.

Crazy bastard. An imprint?

Of course, whether the guy kissed his neck or bit it, something like an imprint would never happen, but just the imagination of it gave him goosebumps.

Since neither a scar nor a pheromone shower seemed viable, to think the best thing he could come up with was an imprint. It was truly a most extreme and terrifying method.

He had heard plenty about an Alpha’s possessiveness. Perhaps even God, knowing that instinct, made something like an imprint possible. But to bring that up to him, a Beta? Even if it was just to claim ownership?

“…”

No matter how he looked at it, the guy seemed out of his mind. He had already known that, but…

As Linus said, this wasn’t at the level of ‘interest’, was it? Does it make sense to show such an absurd obsession over just a little interest?

“A mark… is it absolutely necessary to leave one?”

“…”

In response to Achim’s question, Michael just stared intently at him as if pondering for a moment.

As Achim stared back with wide eyes, Michael suddenly let out a chuckle, rested his tilted cheek against his palm, and said:

“Not necessarily.”

“…”

Achim involuntarily lost his mind staring at the face where a smile softly spread out. Then, as if snapping out of it, he shook his head and roughly rubbed his cheeks with his palms as if washing his face.

“Shall we sleep for now?”

Achim, who had been vigorously rubbing his cheeks, flinched and froze his movements.

“…Together?”

When he asked while cautiously making eye contact, Michael just blinked his narrowly curved eyes as if asking why he was stating the obvious.

While Achim stood frozen and hesitating, Michael suddenly snatched his wrist firmly.

“W-Wait…!”

Michael strode forward just like that.

Realizing too late that the man’s patience wasn’t long, Achim was practically dragged toward the bed.

Thrown onto the bed by the brutal strength, Achim tried to push his body up right away, but he had to glue his head to the pillow before he could even attempt it. This was because a solid arm that shot out from behind him in an instant wrapped around his waist and pulled him in.

You crazy…!

As the man stuck close right behind his back, Achim held onto the arm wrapped around his waist with a pale face.

It was just as he was straining every nerve to break free from the trapped embrace. He felt the arm wrapped around his waist tighten even more, and a soft but firm voice flowed into his ear.

“Don’t waste your energy on bothersome things.”

“…”

At those words, Achim felt his strength instantly deflate.

To his bruised pride, the guy knew exactly how to break his spirit. He had personally reminded him that even if he exerted his strength here, he might manage to get out of the bed at most, but he wouldn’t be able to leave the bedroom.

Only then did Achim give up and relax his body, and a low chuckle could be heard from behind his back.

Damn it. Just as Achim swallowed a curse, the man seemed to readjust his grip on his waist and pulled him even closer to his side. At the same time, as something heavy pressed between his buttocks and his waist, Achim’s eyes went round. Wait, was there a water bottle on the bed?

It was just as Achim subtly twisted his body at the uncomfortable and unfamiliar sensation.

“…”

Suddenly, the dream he had a few days ago flashed through his mind.

…No way.

Achim turned his creaking neck to look at the spot where he overlapped with him.

“…!”

Achim’s eyes snapped open, and he quickly whipped his head back to look straight ahead.

Water bottle, my foot. Because they were stuck so tightly together, there wasn’t even room for a palm to fit. Shockingly, the thing he had assumed to be a water bottle was a part of the guy, and it was resting right between his buttocks and waist.

Of all things, he was wearing a thin pair of pajamas, while the guy was only wearing a robe. Moreover, that robe might have even slipped open!

Fuck. Fuck!

Achim squeezed his eyes shut and subtly pulled his lower body forward.

However, it was an impossible distance to avoid the guy’s lower half, which was the size of a water bottle.

Just as Achim subtly pulled his lower body forward once more, a languid voice that instantly jolted him awake pierced his ear.

“I won’t touch you, so stop doing useless things and just sleep.”

“Because I don’t have a hobby of forcing myself on people.” Michael added an hard-to-believe statement.

At the words that were rather lacking in credibility, Achim rolled his eyes here and there with an anxious look.

“However.”

“…”

“The day you come here of your own accord.”

It was before Achim could even swallow his saliva. Michael moved his lips, which were pressed against the back of Achim’s head.

“I won’t endure it like I am now, so come prepared.”

At those words, Achim nodded his head flat out. Since there would be no reason for him to seek out his bedroom himself, it didn’t seem like an unfavorable condition. He figured he could just endure the discomfort down below for a bit until he fell asleep.

“If you understand, go to sleep now.”

“Yes.”

Achim answered submissively.

Only then did he feel at ease. The force in the arm wrapped around his waist remained the same, but perhaps because his tension had dissolved, his eyelids, which felt like they would never close, gradually lowered as time passed.

Was I always this tired?