The drone was a silent, mechanical voyeur. Its high-definition lens pressed against the reinforced glass of the greenhouse, capturing a sight that should have been impossible.
Inside the green-tinted haze of the "Dead Zone," the hierarchy of the world was being dismantled.
Lu Rin's ink-black hair spilt over his shoulders like a silken shroud, his fingers buried in Gu Xun's thick hair, holding the Alpha's head in place with a strength that defied his slender frame. And Gu Xun (the man who had once been the iron-fisted crown of the Gu Pack) was arched back, his eyes closed in a state of pure, agonised ecstasy as Lu Rin's fangs remained buried in his neck.
A notification chimed on three hundred million devices simultaneously.
[BREAKING: IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY ANOMALY: IS THAT GU XUN?]
The feed wasn't grainy. It was crystal clear. The world watched in stunned silence as the S-class Omega's pheromones finally shattered the greenhouse's internal neutralisers. A visible wave of lavender-tinted mist (Lu Rin's concentrated Antarctic ice and blue lotus) hit the glass, obscuring the lens for a second before clearing to reveal the aftermath.
Lu Rin pulled back.
His lips were stained with a single drop of Alpha blood. His eyes, usually silver-lavender, were now a deep, predatory violet. He looked like a god who had just finished a feast.
On Gu Xun's neck, the wound didn't bleed out. Instead, it glowed. A jagged, beautiful mark in the shape of a closing lotus began to cauterise under the power of the S-class claim. The scent of sweet resin in the room was obliterated.
Suddenly, Gu Xun smelled like Lu Rin.
The Alpha let out a long, shuddering breath, his body collapsing forward. He didn't fall; he tucked his head into the hollow of Lu Rin's shoulder, sobbing openly. It wasn't the sob of a broken man. It was the sob of a man who had finally been given a home.
"It's done," Lu Rin whispered, his voice vibrating with the power of the successful reversal. He looked directly at the drone, his gaze chilling and absolute. He knew the world was watching. He didn't care. He wanted them to see.
He reached out and stroked Gu Xun's hair, his touch possessing a terrifying, new ownership.
"You are mine now, Xun. Even your blood recognises its master."
[FORUM: THE ICE LOTUS DEFENSE SQUAD: EMERGENCY THREAD]
Su Wanwan: OH MY GOD. HE DID IT. HE REVERSE-CLAIMED THE ALPHA! User445: Look at Gu Xun's face... he looks like he just won the lottery while being executed. AlphaHater99: He's wearing a permanent bite mark on a livestream. The Gu Pack elders must be having heart attacks. Su Wanwan: HEART ATTACKS? Look at the stock market! Gu Pack Corp just dropped another 20 points. They don't have an Alpha heir anymore. They have an Omega's Pet.
Back in the greenhouse, the fever was receding, replaced by the heavy, grounding weight of the bond.
Gu Xun pulled back just enough to look at Lu Rin. He ignored the drone. He ignored the fact that he was now the most shamed Alpha in the history of the country. He reached up, trembling, and touched the fresh, stinging mark on his neck.
"Thank you," Gu Xun rasped, his golden eyes shining with a light that was almost frightening in its devotion. "Thank you for taking me back. Even like this. Especially like this."
"Don't thank me yet," Lu Rin said, the ice returning to his voice as the biological haze cleared. He stood up, smoothing his cashmere coat, looking as if he hadn't just committed a biological taboo on national television. "You still have classes tomorrow. And you still have to sort the next three thousand vials."
Gu Xun stood up, his legs slightly wobbly but his spirit soaring. He felt a tether in his chest: a direct line to Lu Rin's heartbeat. It was a golden chain, and he wanted to polish every link.
"Yes, Rin-rin," Gu Xun said, bowing low. "I'll sort them. I'll sort the whole world if you ask me to."
As they walked out of the greenhouse, the doors were swarmed by reporters, students, and security. But when the doors opened, it wasn't the Alpha who stepped out first to protect the Omega.
It was Lu Rin who stepped out, his scent of Antarctic ice so sharp it physically pushed the crowd back five meters.
Gu Xun followed a half-step behind, his head slightly bowed, his collarbone exposed to show the fresh, glowing lotus mark. He looked at the cameras, and for the first time in years, he looked at his father (somewhere behind a screen in the Gu Estate).
He didn't say a word. He just pointed to the mark on his neck, then back to Lu Rin's retreating figure.
I'm his, the gesture said. And you can't have me back.
The reversal mark is official, public, and permanent. Gu Xun is no longer a "Golden Retriever" in spirit alone: he is biologically bound.
The aftermath of the livestream. Gu Xun refuses medical treatment for the bite, wanting to "wear it while it's fresh" to the university.