Chapter 7: The unexpected Intruder

"You are trapped in my cage, Valentine. And I will never let you go."

For one endless heartbeat, time itself seemed to freeze.

The suffocating scent of Asher's pheromones saturated every corner of the preparation room, wrapping around Killian's senses like an invisible chain. His pulse thundered violently against his ribs, each beat drowning out the last fragments of reason clinging to his mind.

Across from him, Asher's vision blurred beneath the crushing fever. Every ragged breath scorched his lungs, every frantic heartbeat sent another wave of unbearable heat crashing through his body. His instincts screamed at him to submit, to stop fighting—but his pride roared even louder.

No...

He would rather collapse than surrender to Killian.

Before the echo of Killian's ice-cold, demonic whisper could fade away, Asher gathered every ounce of remaining strength in his body and slammed a violent push against Killian's chest. His muscles were going numb from the unbearable burning of the heat, and a current of liquid fire was coursing through his veins—yet his fierce urge to survive and his extreme hatred gave him an incredible, fleeting surge of strength.

As Killian lost his footing slightly from the sudden impact, Asher didn't waste a single second. He somehow dragged himself up from the floor and stood on his legs. But his legs were trembling violently, and with every step, it felt like he was about to collapse.

"Where did you think you were running off to, little beta?" Killian's voice growled through the darkness like a savage, predatory beast.

Asher didn't look back. Groping along the walls in the dark, he tried to run towards the heavy chemical storage racks lined up at the very far corner of the preparation room. A legendary fragrance was still oozing out of his body at a fierce pace—the intense intoxication of Celestial Sovereign Butterfly and Crimson Starlight Nectar. That fragrance enveloped the entire dark room in a primal frenzy.

Killian's blood was on fire by then. The dominant Alpha instinct within him had slipped into such a dark trance where logic, reason, or sense no longer existed. His golden pupils had turned completely pitch black. Without making a sound, he began to advance with silent footsteps, like a flawless wolf stalking its prey.

"There's no use hiding, Asher..." Killian's voice echoed from one end of the room to the other like a haunting whisper. "Your scent is dragging me straight to you. You can't escape anywhere from this hell of a preparation room with my scent all over you."

Shivering uncontrollably, Asher curled himself up right beneath a massive metallic preparation table. Pressing both hands over his mouth, he made a fierce attempt to muffle his wild, heavy panting. But the hot breaths escaping his chest and the sound of his whimpers from the agony of the heat were clearly audible in the dark. Tears streamed down his face. Out of humiliation, pain, and an unknown terror, his chest felt like it was tearing apart piece by piece.

Why did this happen to him? Why did he have to be an omega?... God, save him from this monster... Asher broke down crying silently in his mind. His entire body was drenched in ice-cold sweat. With the buttons of his shirt already torn off, reddish patches spread across his fair chest, and the veins on his neck throbbed with fever, as if a fire was burning beneath his skin.

With slow, heavy footsteps, Killian reached right beside that table. Even in the dark, he could sense exactly where Asher was hiding. He felt a supreme thrill of being close to his prey. Placing one hand on the side of the table, Killian leaned down and let out a mad, bone-chilling laugh.

"Got you..."

With lightning speed, Killian reached out his strong hand along the side of the table, gripped Asher's waist tightly, and yanked him out toward himself with an indescribable pull.

With a small, suffocated gasp, Asher crashed hard against Killian's rock-hard chest. Without giving him even a second's chance, Killian locked him within his powerful arms like an iron clamp. His hot, alpha breath lashed right against Asher's sensitive ear.

"Where did you think you were running off to, my sweet omega?" Killian whispered, a primal, all-consuming frenzy in his voice. "Your body is calling out to me, and you thought you could run away with this weak body? From now on, you belong only to me... my Sovereign Omega. You're going nowhere. No one can ever take you away from me."

Trembling, Asher stared right into his eyes and whispered with a broken, hate-filled voice, "I hate... I hate you, Killian... You're going to hell..."

The look in Killian's eyes grew even darker. His grip tightened so much that it became difficult for Asher to breathe. For a moment, both of them stood frozen. One was desperately seeking freedom, while the other was battling the primal instincts raging within him.

Right at that moment—

Someone began to pound furiously on the heavy iron door outside.

No words came from the outside. No shouts—just the ruthless, deafening blows of someone trying to break down the door, echoing through the silent corridor every second.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

All of Killian's romantic or demonic trance shattered to pieces in a split second. The muscles in his jaw tightened and bulged with rage. His pitch-black eyes flared up with extreme irritation.

Keeping Asher pinned tightly against his body with one arm, Killian suddenly whipped his head around to gaze through the darkness at the heavy metallic frame of the closed door. Outside, the relentless pounding on the door continued, still without a single word.

Boiling with rage and intense fury, Killian clenched his teeth and muttered a deadly, dark curse.

Asher struggled weakly within his grip, but the strength of Killian's arms was like an iron chain. He didn't let him go even a fraction of an inch; instead, holding him securely within the shield of his arms, he advanced toward the door with long, heavy strides.

Outside, the unknown figure was still shaking the door with thunderous force.

The pounding stopped the instant Killian's hand wrapped around the iron handle.

An eerie silence swallowed the corridor, so sudden it made the air feel unnaturally heavy.

Killian's instincts screamed that someone had been there only a heartbeat ago.

At the end of his patience, Killian violently yanked the heavy iron door of the preparation room wide open in one brutal motion.

"Who the fuck is there?"