4.

After escaping from Skylar, Aslan went straight home without telling his friends who were still at the nightclub. He could not face Skylar again. He was mentally shaken by what had happened in the restroom.  Questions filled Aslan's mind. And what panicked him even more was the fact that Skylar was able to make Aslan feel submissive.

Aslan drove recklessly. Fortunately, it was late enough in the evening that the roads were less crowded with other drivers. Along the way, Aslan could feel his heart pounding uncontrollably. Skylar's breath, his deep voice and his touch. It was all still vivid in Aslan's memory.

"Fuck! Why do I keep thinking about that incident? Skylar, damn it! Who the hell is he?"

Arriving home, Aslan went straight to his room. Like every night, Allen was not home. Aslan was always in the house with only his servants and a few of his brother's men to watch over him.

In his room, Aslan took off all his clothes. He sniffed his own body, trying to find that nice scent Skylar had mentioned. He even sniffed the clothes he had worn earlier, but he couldn't smell anything. Aslan smelled nothing on him.

"Damn it! What the hell is he smelling?"

Aslan rubbed his face. His chest was still pounding. As Aslan walked past the large mirror in his room, he noticed that his face looked very red. Aslan stopped and looked at his face. The reflection of his red face in the mirror made Aslan even more anxious.

"What the hell?! Why am I..."

Ah, it was only fitting that Aslan felt his face burning. He did not understand. His body was overreacting just because of Skylar. Why was he like this? Aslan was used to adrenaline-pumping events, but he'd never felt so tense and anxious.

This was not good. This state made Aslan really feel threatened. As if Aslan was afraid that Skylar would hunt him down.

"Can an Alpha dominate another Alpha? Don't most of them prefer to avoid each other? Then why am I... argh!"

Aslan shook his head vigorously. "No, that can't be allowed."

Aslan rushed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He stood under the shower and let the cold water run over his naked body. He needed to cool his head. He also needed to stop the strange, unnerving throbbing in his body.

*

The next day, Aslan secretly made an appointment to see the doctor that afternoon. He said nothing to Allen, or even to the people who worked in their house. He went under the pretense of meeting his friends, when in fact Aslan had come to a hospital to be examined for his strange condition.

When Aslan met the doctor, he was at a loss to explain. The doctor he met was a woman in her 30s and an Alpha. Aslan deliberately chose to meet an Alpha because he thought the doctor might understand his condition better.

"Aslan Kennedy, right?"

Aslan nodded.

"I am Doctor Melody Reyes. Would you mind explaining your complaint, Mr. Kennedy?"

Aslan bit his lip. How could he explain? He did not even know what was wrong with his body.

"I... Um..."

"What do you feel? Is something wrong?"

Aslan let out a ragged breath. "Well, my body was wrong from the beginning."

Doctor Melody frowned. "I don't understand, Mr. Kennedy, could you-"

"Aslan."

"Pardon?"

"Just call me Aslan. I don't like my last name."

Doctor Melody nodded. "Oh, yeah. Right. Then what?"

"Ah, shit. I don't know how to explain this either."

"How about you start by explaining your body, Mr. Ken-Aslan?"

"I don't really understand, but the point is that I'm not functional. My second gender is an Alpa, but I don't function like a typical Alpha. I've never experienced a rut, I've never been aroused by an omega, and I can't smell pheromones. I guess I don't have any pheromones to subdue or dominate Omegas either."

Doctor Melody was surprised to hear this.

"How long have you had this condition, Mr. Aslan?"

"Since I was born, I guess. I don't know. During the second gender test when I was nine years old, I was identified as Alpha. But I never functioned as an Alpha after that. My father went through many medications and many strange tests, but to no avail. Most of them weakened my body. But..."

"But?"

Aslan rubbed his face. "This is rather strange. Someone said they smelled something nice on me, even though I wasn't wearing perfume at the time. I even tried to sniff my own body, even my worn clothes, but I couldn't smell anything."

"Is this person an Omega? Or maybe... Alpha?"

Aslan crumpled his pants when the question came up. He had no desire to tell this doctor anything about Skylar.

"O-Omega!"

Doctor Melody smiled. "That's good then."

Aslan frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Mr. Aslan, it is likely that your bodily functions are beginning to return. This omega may be the trigger. If you stay with this Omega more often, it's likely that your bodily functions will return completely. So you'd better..."

Aslan suddenly stood up. "I... I have to go."

Doctor Melody was surprised. "Mr. Aslan? What's going on?"

Aslan immediately stormed out of the consultation.

Aslan nibbled at his fingers when he returned from the consultation. Dr. Melody's statement made him think. Is it possible that Aslan's bodily functions are really returning?

*

Back at his apartment, Skylar and his friends were celebrating a friend's birthday. It was a simple event. No invited guests, no cake, no presents. Just snacks and a few bottles of alcohol.

Throughout the event, Skylar focused only on staring at his laptop screen, ignoring his friends who were partying to their hearts' content in his apartment.

"Sky, come on... What are you doing? It's Mike's birthday."

Skylar turned his head. Sean was sitting next to him, munching on fried peanuts. "What's going on? You seem to have a lot on your mind."

Skylar sighed. "Sean, do Betas have pheromones?"

Sean frowned for a moment, then laughed. "What kind of question is that?"

"Come on... I'm serious."

Sean shook his head. "No way."

"What about alphas? Can other alphas be attracted to the scent of their pheromones?"

"Are you crazy?!"

Skylar was confused. "What?"

"How can any Alpha be attracted to another Alpha's pheromones, Skylar? Fellow alphas just tend to avoid each other."

"Oh..."

Sean noticed Skylar's expression. "What is this really about?"

Skylar shook his head. "It's nothing."

Sean also shook his head. "I'll get back to them, don't stare at the laptop screen all the time, let's join in. This is your house."

Skylar nodded. "Yeah, I'll join you later."

After Sean left, Skylar went back to digging up information about Aslan. It was quite difficult to find detailed information about Aslan Kennedy and his family background, but Skylar was no novice, so even though it was difficult, he could still get it.

Skylar chuckled. "So, he's a real Alpha, huh? And he's from that Kennedy family, too. Pretty surprising."

Skylar stored all the information he got. He suddenly remembered the incident at the nightclub last night. Aslan's seductive scent and Skylar's desire to dominate him. How could that be possible?

"If he's from the Kennedy family, why does he claim to be a Beta? And I... Why am I responding to his pheromones?"

Skylar squeezed his own head. He was really dizzy. It's a law of nature that fellow Alphas usually feel uncomfortable when they inhale each other's pheromones, because Alphas always want to dominate each other. So why was Skylar attracted to Aslan's pheromones?

***