L*ck Me If You Can

Chapter 196

Ashley tensed the hand gripping Koi’s shoulder, then released it. Just a light push was enough to send Koi falling back onto the bed. His knees bent halfway, legs dangling off the edge, and Ashley leaned over him. With one knee on the mattress, Ashley looked down at Koi from above, his face completely expressionless—like a mask.

Koi felt his heart tremble, but in a different way than before. He wanted to escape, but his body wouldn’t move. It was as if he’d become a pedestrian frozen in place before an oncoming car. All he could do was lie there and stare at Ashley.

Ashley’s gaze slowly swept over Koi’s body. As if he wouldn’t miss even the faintest trace of something left behind.

But there was nothing. He had stripped Koi completely, not even leaving the underwear, inspecting his bare body thoroughly—yet no new injuries were found.

He should’ve felt relieved. But he didn’t.

Ashley’s rage had now lost direction and began to spiral, lashing out in all directions.

“A-Ash...”

Koi called out urgently. In Ashley’s eyes, flashes of gold flickered and faded in rapid succession. Koi almost bolted upright to run. It wouldn’t be difficult—just shove Ashley away and sprint out. He didn’t even think about whether Ashley would catch him right away, or if pushing him would be pointless, or what he’d do afterward if he somehow succeeded. None of that crossed his mind.

Ashley gripped Koi’s arm tightly and bit into his neck with ferocity. The sharp pain made Koi scream without meaning to.

“Ah—! It hurts! It hurts, Ash! Stop it!”

He screamed again and again, but Ashley didn’t respond. He bit Koi’s shoulder, chest, arms—anywhere he could. As if he were about to devour him. Koi had never been this afraid of him before. Ashley’s golden eyes, biting down on Koi’s trembling, pale form, had completely lost their human color.

Was this a rut?

Koi reflexively swallowed dryly—but he was wrong. Ashley was completely sane. He knew exactly what he was doing. And that’s what made it worse—what drove him mad.

“Why...”

Ashley lifted his head, burying his nose in one of the bite marks he left as he inhaled deeply. With a dazed look, he opened his mouth.

“Why isn’t there any reaction?”

He couldn’t understand it. He had flooded the room with pheromones, yet Koi hadn’t reacted at all. He must’ve manifested—so why wasn’t he affected? Why isn’t he responding to my pheromones? Why?

“It’s because...”

Koi swallowed again. Realizing what Ashley meant, recognizing the look in his color-shifted eyes, he spoke with difficulty.

“I’m... a Beta. I’m sorry.”

Ashley let out a stunned scoff. That couldn’t be. Back then—that was definitely a womb. He had been sure that his child was in Koi’s belly.

But now he was saying it wasn’t? That it was all a mistake?

“Don’t lie to me.”

Ashley muttered through clenched teeth. Then, baring them, he bit Koi’s earlobe.

“Agh—!”

A scream unlike any Koi had let out before burst from his mouth. Ashley had bitten him all over before, but this time the pain made everything go black. The soft skin tore quickly, blood flowing out. Koi thrashed, finally trying to push Ashley away, but Ashley didn’t budge and continued biting and sucking on his ear.

When he finally lifted his head, Ashley’s heart collapsed beneath a tangle of devastation and despair.

“The mark...”

He mumbled like a man who had lost everything.

“There’s no mark...”

Koi stared at him wide-eyed, unable to make sense of what had just happened. But Ashley’s eyes were still fixed on the ear. Blood was flowing from it—but it was just a wound. Not a mark.

“Ow—! It hurts! Stop it, stop, please stop!”

Koi kept screaming, but Ashley bit the ear again, over and over. Still, the result was the same. No mark appeared. All that remained was Koi’s wrecked ear and his tear-streaked face.

“Ha...”

Ashley let out a short breath, more a sigh than anything else. He almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity.

Koi has never once responded to my pheromones.

A forgotten truth suddenly returned to his blank mind. From the moment Ashley manifested, Koi had been exposed to his pheromones several times. And every single time, the result was the same. Koi had never once reacted. Not even once.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

And that wasn’t all. Ever since earlier, Ashley hadn’t been able to catch any scent from Koi. He had sniffed him repeatedly, buried his nose all over his body—but no pheromonal scent emerged. Only the faintest trace of skin, and the sweet pheromone scent Ashley himself had released. That realization drove him insane.

But I know I smelled it before.

In a near-panic, he remembered.

It was always there—your scent.

That pheromone pulling me toward you.

Ashley felt like he was about to lose his mind.

So why can’t I smell anything now? Am I the one who's crazy? Am I dreaming? What the hell is going on?

“Ash...”

Koi spoke in a trembling voice. Ashley, breathing heavily, slowly looked down. Koi was staring up at him with a deathly pale face. A low sigh escaped Ashley’s mouth. Only then did he fully realize what he had just done.

Koi’s body was covered in bruises and bite marks of all [N O V E L I G H T] sizes. All left by him. If any new ones appeared, he would know—of course he would. Ashley remembered every tiny detail about Koi.

Yes, he knew it all.

Even those eyes, filled with fear.

Ashley thought—and the memory it stirred disgusted him.

The same eyes Koi used when looking at his father.

“...Ha.”

Ashley sighed again. He wanted to laugh, but his face twisted like he was about to cry. Seeing that expression, Koi’s heart dropped. Ashley never cried, and yet Koi didn’t know what to do. He reached out with both arms.

“It’s okay, Ash. I’m okay... It doesn’t hurt, really.”

Trying desperately to calm him, Koi repeated the words again and again. And that only made Ashley feel more pathetic. Even though he had reduced Koi to this, he was still trying to comfort him. When it was Ashley who should’ve been apologizing.

“...I love you.”

Ashley finally spoke after a long pause, his voice rough and low as he whispered into Koi’s ear. Koi stiffened, then pulled him into a tight embrace and replied,

“I love you too. You’re the only one for me.”

His voice trembled with desperation.

“Nothing happened. I would never do something like that with someone else. The only one I love is you... Please believe me.”

Please, Koi added, and Ashley muttered in a voice drained of all strength,

“I believe you.”

His voice was still limp and hollow.

“I don’t doubt that you love me.”

But Koi felt even more anxious. Ashley had said he loved him, that he didn’t doubt Koi’s sincerity—he’d said it over and over. So why did it feel like this? It wasn’t the same as before.

What changed?

Then, from somewhere in the back of his mind, another voice echoed. Now you’re both adults. You’ve shared everything. Koi tried to reassure himself.

But the crack had already formed in his heart. Ashley’s expression had etched itself into his memory, stuck like something clinging to his cornea. While still holding Ashley close, Koi opened his mouth with difficulty.

“I’m sorry... for being a Beta.”

No matter how much pheromone Ashley poured out, it was useless. The fear that this might destroy their relationship again filled Koi with helpless despair.

“I wish I had manifested like you.”

“No, Koi.”

Ashley replied without hesitation to the sorrowful mumble.

“Whether you’re a Beta or an Omega doesn’t matter to me. Honestly, if you’re a Beta, that’s even better.”

Koi hesitated, then asked,

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Ashley answered shortly.

“I don’t need Omega pheromones.”

He muttered like he was making a promise to himself. As if to reassure him, Ashley hugged Koi’s body tightly and took a deep breath.

Still, he couldn’t smell a thing from Koi.