When an Alpha is Marked by One of His Own Kind

Chapter 29

Lu Zhe's voice was very low and quiet. His words were well-hidden beneath the clamor of the spectators in the arena stands around them.
They were currently passing through a hidden passageway. A dim blue glow turned the surrounding staff members into little more than hazy silhouettes. If one were to take a step or two away and turn just slightly, they wouldn't even be able to make out the shape of anyone else's face.

Strangely enough-

In the secretive atmosphere of that passageway, Shen Qiao walked very close to Lu Zhe. So close that their shoulders nearly brushed. And when he heard those words that sounded so like a confession, he suddenly got the inexplicable feeling that, in the dark, they were the only two people present.

It was a feeling of intimacy that was difficult to describe in words.

It felt almost as though, in that moment, all the staff members around them receded like the tide. The two of them were the only two people left, the only two souls who existed in the whole world. Their breathing and their heartbeats seemed closer and more in sync than ever before.

Even Lu Zhe's pheromones, which he had controlled so well, seemed to faintly drift past the tip of Shen Qiao's nose. That soft touch of cedarwood was as cold and crisp as ever. The scent was fleeting. When Shen Qiao tried to use his keen senses to focus in on it, the scent seemed to vanish. Only to suddenly resurface once more after he stopped actively chasing it.

He didn't know whether those pheromones were as vile as their owner, always out to deliberately provoke him, or if their rise and fall was only a figment of his own overactive imagination.

The passageway was like a dark road that soon came to an end, with the darkness scattered by the break of day. At the end of that road, blinding lights appeared.

In that place, Shen Qiao didn't make a single sound. He silently lifted his gaze to meet Lu Zhe's-

This person had an extraordinarily beautiful set of eyes, curving in at the insides and up at the outsides. His lashes were thick, dark, and long. They were so beautiful that they gave off a false sense of affection. Even passersby, caught up in those eyes, were prone to misconstruing the depth of that gaze as one which held boundless seas of deep emotions and adoration.

The mere act of gazing into those eyes could leave young, inexperienced men and women feeling like their hearts would race out of their chests.

And now, Lu Zhe's face had lost that superficial mask he once wore. Although he still wore a smile now, Shen Qiao could tell. Shen Qiao was the only one who could tell the difference between Lu Zhe's mask and the Lu Zhe who was earnest in his affections.

In that instant, Shen Qiao's mind inexplicably began to wander.

......

He remembered the day he learned of Lu Zhe's identity.

Shen Jinyi sat on a snow white vanity chair in the bedroom. Over and over again, she stirred the yin'er and lotus seed soup in a golden porcelain bowl with a white porcelain spoon. She kept her gaze down, not looking at him. The tips of her black eyeliner spread from the corners of her eyes in smooth, natural swoops. They were clearly drawn on, and her exquisite makeup only gave her delicate features an inordinately cold and indifferent air.

He had been called over by the housekeeper. At the time, he was standing in the doorway. When he faced his mother-one who hadn't given birth to him, one who seemed to have ascended beyond the feelings of blood ties-he felt an inexplicable sense of awe and intimidation rise up in his heart.

But Shen Qiao shrugged off that inexplicable feeling very quickly. The look of a respectful child returned to his eyes. Setting aside what Shen Jinyi had done to him in his youth, when she was in a psychologically unbalanced state, she had been the ideal mother throughout his life.