Mission: Protect Xiao Zhan (Completed)

ARC 4: Marked 2

Xiao Zhan's greatest displeasure was being an omega. Time and time again, he had been made to feel helpless under the pressure of an alpha and this time was no exception. Just because they were the stronger ones, they felt they could have any omega they wanted.

Xiao Zhan was not just an omega but one of the few pure-blooded omegas left in existence. He was born of an omega father and omega mother but they died in an accident when he was a few months old. His omega mother had an alpha sister, who was married to an alpha male. She was unable to get pregnant no matter how hard she tried so she was happy to take Xiao Zhan in after the death of his parents.

Zhan lived a normal life, well taken care of by his new alpha parents until he turned 14. The older he got, the more handsome he looked. Being pure blooded, he constantly gave off the mild scent of pheromones, not strong enough to make an alpha go into heat but strong enough to make them long for him. His aunt termed him a moving disaster.

When Zhan approached adolescence, he knew nothing of how to control his hormones. The first time his hormones went haywire, his new alpha father fell under the influence. His alpha mother came in at the right time, just before her husband had his way with Zhan and injected them both with inhibitors. Her husband apologized profusely, it was not his fault as his instincts had kicked in but it didn't stop there. Zhan's pheromones were simply irresistible, Xiao Zhan just had to walk past him to make him to make him react.

When his alpha mother found out her husband could hardly control himself when he was around Xiao Zhan, she sent him to a boarding school, to keep him away from her husband, giving him a load of suppressants. Living in an all-boys hostel, Zhan was prone to many attacks. His pheromones constantly leaked out as he hadn't learned to control it and the youngsters could hardly control themselves. An alpha, Darren Wang, had a beta father who was a doctor so he knew a lot about hormones and their cycles. He helped Xiao Zhan calculate his cycle and administer his inhibitors in time. Zhan and Darren soon became best of friends.

Too much of everything is bad, too much of inhibitors made one resistant to them. Xiao Zhan found out inhibitors no longer worked on him one day in a mall. He was then 22, freshly graduated from school. He accompanied Darren to the mall to go get supplies. He had been living with Darren and his parents since his aunt didn't want him back in her house.

They were done shopping but Darren forgot to pick up a bag. He returned to get it. On his way back, he came across a commotion, a group of alphas were fighting. He could tell an omega was in heat and quickly took his suppressants. As he got closer, he found out that the omega in question was Xiao Zhan. His clothes were almost completely ripped off his body, his skin had bruises all over and he face was covered in tears and snot. The alphas around were all affected by his scent and the betas weren't strong enough to help. The only reason Xiao Zhan had not been brutally taken was that the alphas were too busy fighting themselves over him. Darren alone could not fight off more than 50 alphas so he did the only thing he could at the moment, he marked Xiao Zhan temporarily.

Marking an omega temporarily was easy. An alpha simply had to bite into his gland which was located on the side of their neck. The bite should be deep enough to puncture the gland and allow the alphas secretions to mix with the omega's but not deep enough to completely rupture the gland. Temporary marking had to be done once every month else it would fade off.

Marking him made Xiao Zhan give off Darren's smell and helped the alphas regain their rationality. While a few people came to help, others simply accused him of getting what he deserved. 'How can an unmarked omega in his 20s move freely amongst the crowd?', most omegas got marked quite early but Zhan had not found a person he trusted enough to mark him. These remarks only made Xiao Zhan detest his omega status even more.

This was a temporary fix and both Darren and Xiao Zhan consented to it. It had been 4 years since then and Darren had marked him every month. The time to get marked was getting closer but Zhan had encountered a problem. Darren had started dating an omega lady called Li Qin and she hated the fact that Darren left his mark on Zhan. She had called Xiao Zhan to ask him to let Darren be, she claimed to be speaking as 'one omega to another'. It felt like she was sharing her man with someone else. Xiao Zhan hated nothing more than to be a burden to others, especially because of his omega status. Just when he got off the call with Li Qin, he was yet to absorb the shocking realization that he was back to square one and that he would be going into heat in about a week, an alpha came from no where and kissed him! Xiao Zhan hated his life.

Zhan fought to free himself from the alpha's grip but to no avail. The whole thing took about 30 seconds but it was more than enough to make him realize how weak he was compared to an alpha. He had almost forgotten this helpless feeling. He now realized how much he had depended on Darren's smell to get along all these years.

By some sheer dumb luck, this alpha suddenly let him go. This had never happened, he always had to depend on someone else to rescue him when an alpha got a hold of him. he gathered his strength and shoved the alpha away.

"You swine! Get a grip of yourself. If you're in heat, go find someone else to mate with. Can't you see I've been marked?", again Zhan realized he had depended indirectly on Darren's smell to brag. The alpha was stunned, he looked like he was hurt by Zhan's words. Xiao Zhan felt bad but if he apologized to this alpha, who was going to apologise to him? The alpha attacked him!

"Who? Who marked you?"

Xiao Zhan had some across a fair share of alphas but this was the first one he had paused to give a second glance. His pheromones were not overbearing like other alphas, even a lot better than Darren's. This alpha looked quite younger than him and his face was...perfect. The kind of face he pictured when he imagined his future partner. Zhan felt his knees go weak gradually under the alpha's gaze. Yibo was subconsciously using his pheromones to suppress him. Yibo's emotions were all over the place, it had been so since he left the last world. Seeing Zhan again but finding him already marked, this feeling was so similar to losing him.

For the first time, Xiao Zhan wanted to stay and chat with an alpha but this alpha looked like he was going to lose his rationality. Xiao Zhan could feel his own breaths getting harsher, it was getting harder for him to breathe.

"You, your aura...it's imposing. Stop it, this... what you're doing is a crime... you're hurting me".

'Hurting him', how could Yibo afford to hurt this man? He closed his eyes and tried his hardest and put his emotions under control. By the time he opened his eyes, Xiao Zhan was nowhere to be found.