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2: The Predator's Interest

last update Date de publication: 2026-04-29 21:12:36

His finger on my chin was a brand. It was a question and a threat all at once, and my brain, the poor, overworked thing, was having a complete system shutdown. I was supposed to be groveling, pathetic, forgettable. I was not supposed to be intriguing. This was a critical script error.

"They told me you were a proud, foolish thing," he murmured, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through my bones like a tuning fork. It was the kind of voice that could convince you to walk off a cliff if it used the right tone. "But you don't look foolish."

He leaned closer, his gaze so intense it felt like he was peeling back my skin to see the terrified, transmigrated soul cowering underneath. "You look like you're running from something. Tell me, little Omega, what are you running from?"

My internal monologue, which usually had the decency to stay inside my head, decided to have a full-blown panic attack. Running from you, you glorified plot device! I'm running from the fifty-chapter expiration date stapled to this forehead!

But what I said was, "Running from my own incompetence, Alpha. I was told if I embarrassed myself tonight, my agency would drop me." I let my eyes dart away, as if ashamed. It wasn't even a total lie; the tabloids had basically said the same thing. I was just repurposing the truth. Call it method acting for my life.

Huo Yan's lips curved into a slow, predatory smile. It didn't reach his eyes. "Incompetence?" He released my chin, but only to trail his fingers down the side of my neck, stopping just over my frantically pulsing scent gland. My body, the traitorous wretch, shivered. "I don't think it's incompetence you're running from. It's something else."

[WARNING. Protagonist's interest is spiking. Host's survival probability is now at 42%.]

Forty-two percent? I'd been in this body for less than three hours and I was already barely halfway to a passing grade. This system had the optimism of a goth poet on a rainy day.

I needed to de-escalate. Fast. I needed to be so boring, so utterly pathetic, that his Alpha brain would lose interest and go find someone else to psychologically torment. Preferably the actual female lead.

"I... I should go," I stammered, taking a half-step back. His scent was doing weird things to my biology, and I didn't like it. It was like my Omega instincts were trying to curl up and purl while my sane, transmigrated soul was screaming "ABORT! ABORT!"

I turned to make my escape for real this time, but his hand shot out, wrapping around my wrist with a grip that was gentle yet absolute. There was no escaping it.

"I don't think so," he said, his voice dropping to a low, possessive growl. "You're the most interesting person here, Zhan. I've been watching you for the last hour."

My blood ran cold. Watching me? I was a potted plant! I was wallpaper! What kind of freakshow attention span did this guy have?

"You've been hiding in that corner," he continued, his eyes glinting with a dark amusement. "You haven't spoken to a soul. You haven't touched a drop of alcohol. You've been observing. That's not the behavior of a fool. That's the behavior of a strategist."

A strategist? Me? I was just trying not to get killed! This was like getting praised for your masterful escape plan when you were just trying to find the bathroom.

"I was just... overwhelmed," I lied, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. "Too many scents."

That was it. The classic Omega excuse. It was believable. It was pathetic. It was perfect.

Huo Yan leaned in so close that his lips were practically against my ear. His frosty scent engulfed me, and I had to fight the insane urge to nuzzle closer. "Your scent," he whispered, his breath hot against my skin. "It's not overwhelmed. It's... controlled. It's like you're holding your breath. Hiding. Why?"

Because if I let it out, it'll probably smell like "pure, unadulterated terror," you psycho!

Before I could formulate another pathetic lie, a voice cut through our little bubble of mutual terror.

"Huo Yan! There you are!"

We both turned. It was her. Lin Meng. The female lead. In person, she was even more saccharine sweet than I'd imagined, with wide, innocent eyes and a smile that probably cured puppies and small children. She was the human equivalent of a glass of warm milk.

She glided up to us, her eyes barely flicking in my direction before locking onto Huo Yan with adoring worship. "I was looking for you. The awards are about to start."

This was it. This was my out. The plot was reasserting itself. The ML and FL were about to have their moment. I was just the cannon fodder who was supposed to be forgotten.

I tried to subtly extract my wrist from Huo Yan's grip, but his fingers only tightened.

"Zhan was just telling me he wasn't feeling well," Hu Yan said, his voice smooth as silk, but his eyes never left mine. He was lying for me. Why? "I was just escorting him out."

Lin Meng finally gave me a proper look, a flicker of something—annoyance? pity?—in her eyes. "Oh. Well, I hope you feel better." It was the kind of well-wishing you gave to a cockroach you were about to step on.

"Thank you," I mumbled, playing my part.

But Huo Yan wasn't done. He turned back to Lin Meng, a charming, disarming smile on his face. "You go on ahead. I'll make sure our guest here gets to his car safely. I wouldn't want him to collapse on the way."

It was a dismissal. A polite, public dismissal of the female lead. Of the protagonist.

Lin Meng's smile faltered for a fraction of a second. A flicker of hurt and confusion crossed her face before she smoothed it over. "Oh. Of course. Well, don't be too long." She gave him one last adoring look and then walked away, a picture of wounded grace.

The plot wasn't just broken. It was being actively dismantled.

Huo Yan turned back to me, his predatory smile back in full force. "Now," he said, his voice dropping back to that low, private growl. "Where were we? Ah, yes. You were about to tell me what you're really hiding."

He started pulling me away from the main hall, toward a quiet, secluded corridor. My survival probability was probably plummeting into single digits. I was being dragged into the belly of the beast by a man who was supposed to be obsessed with someone else.

My plan was officially a spectacular failure. I hadn't just attracted the protagonist's attention; I had him completely derailed. And I had a sinking feeling that my "cannon fodder" role had just been upgraded to something far more dangerous.

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