Worthless

Clement snorted. "What do you take me for? A tyrant? I'm just trying to protect someone I see as a naive little brother from the clutches of a sheep in demon's clothing." 

Zeke froze. He had expected Clement to deny it, but she didn't. Wait. "Demon? Are you sure you don't need a mirror--"

"So, we have our deal." Clement raised her teacup. 

"Deal." Zeke hurriedly mimicked her. 

For unknown reasons, he felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He would worry that Jian Yu had a hard time working here, but he seemed well taken care of. 

He raised his jade eyes and watched the woman across from him. To be honest, they had actually never spoken a lot towards each other due to the feud between families, besides exchanging heavy jabs whenever they crossed paths. Being rivals against each other has been a tradition from one generation to another. 

Well, it turned out she wasn't as bad as the rumors. They actually just had a normal and decent conversation, which was surprising to him. 

Zeke placed the teacup back on the table and frowned at the book in his hand. Man, how embarrassing it was. He had been reading the book upside down. 

Once again, Zeke stiffened, trying to breathe in as little air as possible, totally aware of the mocking gaze Clement threw his way but he couldn't retaliate at all. 

Things were going quite well until Jian Yu kneeled beside the tea table and Zeke was soon getting a full blown whiff of the silverette's forest and leaves scent. 

He blinked and blinked. 

And he blanked. 

Because his stupid brain decided that this was the right and the most absolute moment to take over. 

Brain: Praise me! Praise me! 

Zeke: What have you done, you scoundrel!

The image of Jian Yu's burning face burned in his mind and he didn't hesitate to imprint it into his enormous memory space, storing it safely. 'The blush indeed looks good on him.' 

Something warm brushed against his fingertips, causing him to flinch heavily and he jerked backwards, dramatically. 

And it lingered. 

The place that was grazed upon, heat bloomed and had spreaded from there up to his head and Zeke's breath hitched. 

There were so many mini Zekes running around in his head holding the sign "Maintain distance! Maintain Distance!" and shouting the same written words with a megaphone too. 

Before he knew it, he was out of the room and sitting in the car, leaving Zero's estate with a heart that was beating so much faster, thumping inside his ċhėst, ready to burst. However, he was sure that in a split second before the door closed, there was something in Jian Yu's eyes that he couldn't depict but it sent shivers down his spine. 

For a long time. 

He even felt it at home. 

Like something bad was going to happen, a bad premonition. 

But since he never believed in the supernatural, Zeke merely dismissed it. 

In the next few days, it had been his mission to continue avoiding Jian Yu. 'Until he got over his rut' was what he kept reminding himself. But once the rut was over… 

Would it not just be the same thing? 

How was he gonna approach Jian Yu even without his rut biting his own tail? 

Could he keep doing what he used to? Approach him with a friendly smile and flirt like he usually was? Man, did you see his face that time? 

Did you see it or did you not? 

Zeke was strangling and slapping his other counterpart inside himself. 

Maybe he could make an excuse and said it was caused by his rut and he was thinking clearly? That might be quite reasonable but not enough to ask for forgiveness. 

'Argh!' 

Making a deal with Clement was just as useless as it was pointless. He didn't even have a clue on how to face Jian Yu after doing such a vulgar thing to him. He had just given a bad beginning and Zeke was terrified to know what it would be in the end. 

There was a saying "bad beginning makes a bad ending" and Zeke absolutely wouldn't want to even wish for a bad ending to happen. 

Even though the mission was starting to get rather difficult to do as it seemed he kept on bumping into Jian Yu more than ever as if the other guy knew he was avoiding him and deliberately trying to corner him. 

So, everything was fine. 

Until today. 

A hand slammed against the wall, just right beside his ears, startling the shit out of Zeke. His mind was blank and his pupils dilated. His nose was ȧssaulted by a smell he had tried his hardest to avoid. 

And all he could see were the other person's obsidian eyes and gently curved eyelashes. 

Zeke's shoulders stiffened and he cursed himself. His scheduled rut would take place in two days and he didn't want it to happen right now. He didn't know what would happen if he was thrown into a spontaneous rut and the possible harmful things he might do to the other. 

'Please get away!' 

***

Hi! Just to make it clear, as you all know each Alpha has different symptoms during their pre-rut. Some showed a higher form of aggression, elongated fangs, changes in eye colors might happen for a more dominant Alpha, Possessive behaviors, restless, aroused state, craving for unusual taste buds.

In Mika's case, during his pre-rut, he was restless, had an increase in appetite, and cravings. Possessive behavior might not occur as he didn't have someone he wanted as a mate yet. 

While in Zeke's, he grew more aggressive as he had been suppressing this instinct just to keep up the "friendly gentleman" aura. And because he had someone he considered to be his future mate, he became possessive, restless, and aroused whenever that person was close. 

I will make an auxiliary chapter to explain more in detail in the future.