Fated To Be His...

34. I don't love her...

Yibo didn't want to talk about the woman and his body froze as soon as Zhan mentioned the name. The nasty wrath that rose in his wolf was alarming even to Yibo and Yibo breathed through it, letting Zhan's scent ground him. "Let's not talk about her. My head is too messed up", he reasoned but seeing the look on Zhan's face he knew his little wolf wasn't going to let this go. "I can go ask her if that's what you'd prefer. One way or the other I'll find out what's going between the two of you. Should I be worried?"  "Gods, No!", Yibo burst out feeling his skin crawl at even the thought of being associated to YuQi and Zhan schooled his features. "Then why don't you tell me? I have seen her around you, I can sense she cares for you but what I don't get is why you attacked her that way. The marks on her neck were pretty ugly, Yibo. You aren't someone who is violent towards people in general. I need to know what pissed you off."  Yibo's heart iced over with fear by Zhan's question and he knew him stalling would only make Zhan more concerned. "It was about what she said to you that day at Hope. Nothing else."  

"She told me she loves you. Is that all? That is why you almost strangled her to death?", Zhan asked the question with a derisive snort and his thumb came to ease the frown on Yibo's face as he gentled his tone. "She told me she was by your side for five years. She is your pack member, maybe even a friend. You wouldn't hurt a friend like that, baby lion. Tell me, what happened?"  "Say that you won't get mad no matter what I tell you. You won't leave." Yibo knew he was being unreasonable but Zhan had no idea about the role YuQi had played in all of this. Yibo himself felt that he had cheated on Zhan in a way. The knowledge gutted him most nights and seeing Zhan disgusted by him or hating him was going to be no easier than dying. "I won't leave no matter what you say. Although, I need to know, do you love her?"  "Fuck, no!", Yibo yelled again and Zhan winced at he loud outburst before patting Yibo's shoulder. It was just a little thing but Yibo noticed how Zhan's body relaxed a bit after hearing the words. "Okay, that was the worst thing I could think of. So, speak up. Not knowing is way worse, Yibo. My imagination runs wild when I see you both together. I'd rather have the truth." 

Seeing the pleading look on his little wolf's face was more than what he could bear so the words tumbled off Yibo's mouth in a clipped tone. "YuQi can mimic scents. All she needs is a vague description and she can smell like whatever she wants or whoever she wants." Yibo raised his eyes to Zhan's and found the dark, almond eyes narrowed but he willed the next words out of his mouth. "When my wolf went feral, she came up with a solution. She said that she could copy your scent to help me. She used to sit by my side smelling of plum blossoms for hours and my wolf eased in her presence."  Zhan was silent for a long while and his voice was small when he spoke, "You mean you made another Omega imitate my scent and your wolf thought she was me?" There was no anger in Zhan's voice just pain and Yibo held Zhan harder thinking the Omega would push him away. "It wasn't like that", Yibo reasoned and stomped on the churning that rose within his gut.  "It's hard to explain. During those days, it was tough for my wolf to see reason. I couldn't control him any longer and I thought I was going insane."  Yibo let out a harsh breath and Zhan's hand covered Yibo's in support. "While we were held captive, Haoxuan and me often talked about what we would do if we ever made out of that hell. I had told him I would come to see you, ask for your forgiveness. I talked about you for hours and I guess I told him about your scent. When I went feral, Haoxuan thought he could contact you somehow but he didn't know how to and I was in no condition to speak. All I remember is the violent rage that I had succumbed to. That is when YuQi suggested that maybe the scent of my mate would calm me down. I knew she wasn't you. No matter how much she tried, she could never smell like you. She smelled too sweet, sickeningly sweet but it was all I had to remind myself of you. The thought that you were out there, that I would one day get to hold you again and scent you to my heart's content, it pulled me out of that rage."