Siron frowned and pressed his lips tightly together at Lewis’s serious demeanor. After letting out a deep sigh, he once again snatched the phone from Lewis’s hand.
“I’m just going to reply to this. You heard it too. That bastard Baekgyeong called Anna’s workplace.”
Siron tried to respond firmly, but Lewis’s face darkening with gloom tugged at his attention, and gradually his voice softened.
“Wasn’t the whole reason we came all the way to Baggers City to get away from Baekgyeong?”
“Well... that’s true. But still, his mother died.”
“So?”
“I just feel like... taking myself away from him on top of that would be too much.”
“And what about me? Don’t you feel sorry for me, the one who gave you the best sex of your life until my dick turned black and blue?”
“Why the hell are you bringing that up now! It’s hot as hell already—do you want to piss me off?”
“You moaned under me for four days straight, and now your heart’s swaying toward another alpha? That’s cold, Bebe.”
Even though it was Lewis who had pinned Siron down, he was acting like Siron owed him something for what happened over those nights. Siron knew full well that you couldn’t compare a parent’s death with four days and nights of sex, but still—swept up in that strange mixture of childish stubbornness and needy clinging on Lewis’s face—he reluctantly set the phone down. He began fanning himself with a pamphlet, feeling like his insides were burning, and gave Lewis a warning.
“Let’s get one thing straight. Don’t assign any meaning to what happened. It was nothing but pheromones messing with us. And if you bring it up one more time, I’m kicking you in the junk.”
Lewis, who had been sulking through Siron’s words, suddenly lit up with an idea and said,
“Speaking of pheromones, Bebe, come here a sec.”
Siron leaned in warily, suspicion written all over his face. Lewis leaned in too, gently placing one of his tennis-racket-sized hands on Siron’s shoulder. Then he brought his face close to Siron’s jaw and neck, sniffing deeply.
“My pheromones are fading.”
“Huh?”
“I can barely smell myself on you anymore. It was strong right up until we got out of the motel.”
“You’re saying your pheromones rubbed off on me?”
“Yeah.”
During the long rut, Lewis’s pheromones had poured out intensely, practically searing themselves onto Siron’s skin. Like a perfume masking natural scent, Lewis’s far stronger pheromones had smothered Siron’s. The intense stimulus suppressed the weaker one, making the stronger stand out all the more.
“Well... yours are way stronger than mine, so that makes sense. Back when I worked at Curry King, even your sweat smelled like curry.”
“There’s one possibility. If you’re soaked in my pheromones, maybe other alphas won’t recognize you as an alpha.”
“And what about you?”
“I think I’m different. I’m so used to my own pheromones that when yours mix in, they stand out more.”
“What if it’s another alpha’s pheromones?”
“Same thing, probably. Even if Baekgyeong tries to cover you with his scent, I’m confident I’ll be able to pick yours out.”
Ever since becoming an alpha, Lewis had begun processing far more sensory information than before. Especially when it came to pheromone recognition—he was far beyond average. Even though Baekgyeong was the only point of comparison, Lewis instinctively felt that he was nothing like other alphas.
Not just pheromones on the wind—he could pick them up from objects that had touched trait-bearers, from the air where they’d stayed. Unlike the human olfactory system, which dulled with repeated exposure, his brain didn’t miss a single signal. Even in a room packed with dozens of alphas, he could distinguish and remember every individual pheromone.
“So your theory is—if you drench me in your pheromones, other alphas won’t be able to pick up on mine?”
Siron turned to fully face Lewis, worry etched all over his face.
“Yeah.”
“But... is that even necessary? If you do that, I might end up getting mistaken for an alpha too. I don’t like the sound of that.”
Siron rubbed his arm anxiously as he spoke.
“Can’t we just... not do anything, like we’ve been doing? No one else but you can smell my pheromones anyway.”
To Siron, who couldn’t sense pheromones at all, Lewis’s words sounded like meaningless speculation. Even when he tugged at his shirt and sniffed, all he could smell was the sour scent of sweat.
“What if you suddenly go full omega one day? If that happens with no preparation, can you handle it?”
Siron imagined himself being swarmed by a pack of alphas. A dark shadow of dread passed over his pale face.
“Let’s just try it. Think of it like an animal using camouflage to hide from predators. Besides, we were planning to test it anyway.”
“Test what?”
Lewis pressed the power button to roll the car windows up, then turned the engine off again.
“You forgot we were going to test if you react to an alpha’s normal pheromones?”
“...Right, we did say that.”
Siron had already proven painfully susceptible not just to alpha rut pheromones, but also to their saliva and semen. Having spent the past four days swallowed by an alpha’s rut cycle and experiencing synchronized arousal firsthand, it was time to find out if he’d also react to ordinary pheromones.
Siron slumped back, murmuring gloomily.
“I get that we need to test it, but... to be honest, I’m scared.”
“What are you scared of?”
Staring at Lewis with a mix of anxiety and dread, Siron mumbled softly.
“That it’ll work.”
Nodding in understanding, Lewis gripped Siron’s shoulder a little tighter and said,
“Bebe, if it does work, I’ll take care of it.”
“...That doesn’t strike you as a problem?”
“Feels more like a blessing than a problem.”
“Jesus. I’m not doing this.”
“Let’s just try it. Whether it’s a problem or a blessing, we can deal with it later.”
Lewis narrowed his eyes and stared at Siron’s twisted expression for a moment, then asked,
“Do you feel anything?”
“...Yeah. Just a little.”
“What’s it like?”
“Well... first off, it’s way too hot. Feels like sweat or something.”
“And?”
“It stings, and it’s hot... and kind of, I don’t know, kinky.”
Siron couldn’t bring himself to admit that his ass was starting to tingle. Instead, he swallowed dryly with effort and asked, his voice hoarse,
“How much pheromone are you putting out right now?”
“I’m squeezing it out. Like, just before coming.”
“God, that’s gross—but it makes sense.”
Siron stared quietly at the faint vein on Lewis’s forehead and the sweat dripping down his temple. The heat had swallowed the car whole. Humidity clung to the skin, and their clothes were already soaked. The suffocating air pressed in on them, thick with the fine particles of pheromones like powdered glass.
Siron felt like every breath he exhaled was hitting a wall of heat and pheromones and bouncing back at him in waves.
“Should we... check saliva response too?”
Lewis asked in a low, deliberate voice full of intent. Siron felt sweat slide down between his chest. He couldn’t bring himself to say yes or no, barely managing to steady his breath.
“I won’t get aroused. I’ll think of you as a rock and kiss you.”
Siron hesitated at Lewis’s promise, eyeing him with disbelief.
“...You mean it? You really won’t get turned on?”
“Wow. The rock talks.”
Siron burst into a spontaneous, childlike laugh. The sound made Lewis freeze for a second, holding his breath—then he exhaled carefully, steadying himself again.
“It’s a necessary test. ...Right?”
Lewis’s upper body slowly leaned toward Siron. The closer he came, the faster Siron’s heart pounded. The hand gripping his shoulder moved to the sweaty nape of his neck. At that moment, the oppressive heat vanished, replaced by a sharp jolt like electricity racing through his body, awakening every nerve.
“Yeah. It really feels like a nec—ah!”
Siron shrieked as something slammed against the car window. He shoved Lewis away like a reflex. Outside the car, Anna stood glaring at them with an expression full of disgust. Her muffled shout came through the closed window:
“I swear to God, I’m sick of this shit!”
Realizing they'd fallen under the spell of pheromones again, Siron scrambled to hit the power button and rolled down the windows, trying to gather his scattered senses.
“Was four days in a motel not enough?”
Anna leaned her elbow on the window frame and shot them a deadpan glare.
“W-We were just—”
“The community center lobby’s nice and cool. Why not go screw there instead of roasting yourselves in a car?”
“Pheromone testing! That’s what we were doing!”
“Oh yeah? Why don’t you test how fast you can peel off that parking violation sticker?”
Anna sneered at Lewis’s desperate excuse and slapped the sticker on the windshield with her palm. It was the warning notice they’d gotten while holed up in the motel. Silenced, the two of them sat like guilty criminals. Anna turned her head away, scowling as if the thick, stale heat inside the car made her sick.
She spoke curtly, her tone cold.
“We’re pulling out. Head home—now.”
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