Chapter Text
They were stealing his work.
At first Wei Ying wasn’t sure. It might have been accidental or just an oversight. Since he was a junior and his work needed to be signed off, it had made sense it was under his supervisor's name. At least it had at the start.
Getting his official status within the company had been trying. He was an omega in an alpha and beta dominated field, and prejudices clung on tight in the world of Golden Orchid bio-tech.
But now, two years in, the excuses no longer made sense. It was abundantly clear.
They were stealing his work.
*
Wei Ying sat in the upper management office, facing three unpleasant smelling alphas. All too convinced of their own importance and not shy about rudely expressing it. In an attempt to be respectful towards him, they’d brought an omega girl down from finance to chaperone. But she appeared to be clueless about what was happening and no help at all. No representative from HR sat on his side. They were firmly siding with management across the table. The message they were sending was loud and clear.
“You won’t be here long enough to publish anyway,” his line manager, Zhou Minghai, said dismissively. “You ought to be grateful for the opportunity you’ve been given here. We’re doing you a favor by taking this off your plate. Why would you want the stress of publishing? Your role here is to support your senior colleagues, not compete with them.”
Wei Ying stared at him. To effectively admit everything in such an uncaring way, stunned him. Then slowly, the acknowledgement that he’d been right began to clear his mind. He wasn’t crazy. They had stolen his work and they’d done it intentionally. The fact they weren’t even bothering to hide it showed the confidence in their crime. Rage began rapidly filling him.
“What do you mean, I won’t be here long enough? This is my career you’re trying to derail,” Wei Ying told them sharply.
“Wei Ying, let’s not waste each other's time,” the HR representative said, smirking at him. “You should be focusing on tasks that better suit your temperament.”
Wei Ying felt himself turn cold. So it wasn’t just because he was junior. They were taking credit for his work because he was an omega?
These alphas didn’t see him as a colleague, but a placeholder, in the way of someone else. He was a joke to them. He could see the amusement in their eyes, the way they thought he would just crumble and back down.
Immediately he began to pick up on the increase of scent in the room. It had turned unmistakably smug.
His chaperone looked affected too, leaning away from the table.
“That’s discrimination,” Wei Ying reminded them. “And even worse, it is against my secondary gender, which I will remind you is protected in the workforce.”
A mocking laugh made Wei Ying grip at the paper in his hands.
“You can complain all you want, Wei Ying, but no one is going to believe you.”
Zhou Minghai, was a squat shaped alpha man, with a miserable face and an oily smile. He was the senior manager for Wei Ying’s department, and the one who had dismissed his concerns constantly. Zhou Minghai had tried every trick he could muster to convince Wei Ying to be quiet. But once Wei Ying had threatened to involve HR, the meeting had finally been arranged.
“I can prove it,” Wei Ying told him. “I know you took my name off the draft paper and put others on it. Then you presented my work as team generated. You did it repeatedly. Now you’re trying to steal my Lotus Model. But I won’t let you. I have evidence and I will take it to a lawyer.”
Zhou Minghai laughed, and the others joined him. As if Wei Ying were nothing but here for their amusement. To be used for his ideas and thrown aside.
The anger burned inside Wei Ying, deeper and deeper until it was raging.
“You’re an omega, Wei Ying. No one is going to take your word over ours. It would be better to make a deal with us today and go back to your desk.”
The stink of the alphas made him feel sick. Their puffed up egos flooded the room with a revolting putrid smell. It clogged his nose and felt like grease on his skin.
“This is theft,” Wei Ying said, trying to be firm, but feeling his voice growing small. The imposing odour was speaking to the omega in him. Submit and shut up, their collective scents yelled.
“No lawyer will take your case,” Zhou Minghai told him dismissively. “You couldn’t afford one anyway. Do you think this company couldn’t bury you? Be serious Wei Ying, you were lucky to be hired in the first place. Now do yourself a favour. Put away unrealistic expectations and be more practical.”
Wei Ying’s mind blanked. Indignation pooled inside him until all he could see was red. A burning heat of blind fury towards the injustice he was suffering.
“Being omega does not mean my work is adversely affected. It must be exemplary if you’re stealing it!” he snapped.
“Stealing is a strong accusation,” the other alpha from HR chipped in, finally speaking. He smiled and Wei Ying recoiled. He was foul. “But you can’t help it, I know. We understand. You’re emotional.”
Wei Ying stared at him. Yeah, that wasn’t wrong. He was emotional. He was filled with seething anger!
“I will take legal action on this,” Wei Ying warned. “I’m not joking.”
“Wei Ying, you’re only proving our argument. Omegas don’t belong in the workplace. They’re best kept at home,” Zhou Minghai said, pleased with his own sense of importance. “And as I said, no one will take your case.”
Something snapped in Wei Ying and it burst forth as if he were spitting venom. Words he had no business saying, but words he wanted to hit them like daggers. Words made to hurt.
“My husband will.”
There was silence for a beat, then more laughter. Cruel and full of genuine mirth at the pitiful prospect he was presenting them. An omega with no option but to cite their husband to come into battle. A husband he didn’t even have.
Their laughter made him cold. Wei Ying wanted to frighten them, give them back some of what they had tried to do to him. But now the words were out, the panic of his lie set in.
“And who is your husband? Some deadbeat lawyer who works in some rundown office downtown?”
Their mocking was painful. He was so tired of being treated like he was temporary, lesser, or ornamental. Tired of being talked over.
Tired of being told he should be grateful for scraps.
The need to fight back welled up inside him and instinctively, desperately, he found the only answer that felt safe.
“Lan Zhan. Of Lan and Associates.”
The room went silent.
For a second his own scent flared. He didn’t know Lan Zhan. How could he? But he’d seen him on the news, at the height of the Silent Verdict. The case that had cemented him as another brilliant lawyer in a family of brilliant lawyers.
But now the silence stretched on, absolute and suffocating. Wei Ying thought about the stupidity of what he’d just said and felt his pulse begin to race with a new sensation. A nervousness he didn’t recognise.
“Lan Zhan?” The alpha from HR asked. He turned to look at his fellow HR colleague.
Wei Ying could see the change on their faces. Everyone in that room knew that name. How could they not? Lan Zhan was the youngest of the Lan family. A powerhouse law dynasty that the whole world knew not to fight against. Not only did they fight on homesoil, but they took international cases too. Each of the Lan’s picked a speciality, like they were choosing a spot in a sports team and covering the field.
Lan Zhan worked in litigation.
“Yes, you might remember the Silent Verdict?” Wei Ying asked, enjoying the fear on all their faces.
It had been a wrongful‑prosecution trial that ended in an acquittal delivered in under ten minutes. The opposing counsel’s abrupt withdrawal afterward only cemented the case’s near‑mythic status. The fact it was rumoured to involve members of a very powerful crime syndicate also helped catapult Lan Zhan to notoriety.
It had also made Lan Zhan something of a celebrity for a time and kickstarted Wei Ying’s five year, and counting, crush on him.
“You’re lying. This isn’t on your employment file.”
“The Lans don’t take small cases.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
But the alpha voices were thinner now, shaky with doubt. Because if true, then they were already sunk.
Wei Ying shrugged and grabbed his notes. He stood and the omega girl next to him shot to her feet also, keen to escape.
“You can tell him that when he calls,” Wei Ying said as nonchalantly as he could manage.
Then he walked out. He heard the girl’s heels loudly click along behind him.
“Is your husband really Lan Zhan? The lawyer? He’s so rich, why are you working here? Why don’t you live with him?” she asked, rattling off her questions.
“You’re asking a lot of questions,” Wei Ying told her.
She shrugged, but didn’t seem to care that she was overstepping.
“I guess you don’t have anything to worry about do you? Your husband will have this sorted in an afternoon.”
“That’s right,” Wei Ying agreed.
“If I were you, I’d just leave and go be a kept spouse,” she said, looking at him with suspicion. “Weird that you work here.”
“Well… you’re not me.”
“Clearly,” she said, still confused. “Are you going to call him?”
“Are you going to listen in?”
The girl blinked at him, then finally had the good grace to look embarrassed.
“Oh right. Well… I’ll go back to work now. Bye Wei Ying.”
She bowed to him, short and abrupt and their alliance ended as quickly as it was forced to happen. But her question remained with Wei Ying. Was he going to call Lan Zhan? Maybe he could try and get a message to him? Warn him. Beg for forgiveness? Beg for help? Do something before this became a mess.
But in the end he did nothing but have an unrestful night's sleep, and then turn into work again the next morning feeling desperate.
—-
There was an unknown car in the senior management space. Something about it drew Wei Ying’s eye, and he tried not to stare. The rear windows were tinted, but there was definitely someone sitting in the front. A professional driver maybe? With a hat, a suit, dark glasses, the whole ensemble. It made him nervous and a voice in the back of his head began to whisper that this wasn’t coincidental.
As Wei Ying walked towards the building, he passed the car, and heard the doors open. Looking over his shoulder, the blood drained from his face as he realised who was now standing in the cold morning air and staring at him.
He wanted to run, but his legs felt frighteningly unsteady. So he froze, not knowing what to do. Clearly they had been parked outside for a while, which meant they’d been waiting for him.
Lan Zhan was as terrifying as he appeared on screen. Sharply dressed, intimidating, moving towards him like a shark after blood. Wei Ying’s neck prickled as Lan Zhan came closer. To his surprise, his omega scent suddenly sparked alive, hissing in his skin, making him hot and cold all at once. With panicked hands he pulled the collar up on his coat.
He couldn’t react like that, he had no right to respond like an omega. Not when his doom was upon him from a storm he’d called upon himself. But Lan Zhan kept staring, his eyes bright and focused on only him, and presence growing stronger. A match! His brain was screaming. Sounding every alarm inside like deafening bells. Potential mate, perfect match, submit, throw yourself upon him and give in!
As Lan Zhan neared him, Wei Ying’s weakened legs threatened to buckle underneath him. Maybe they wouldn’t recognise him? Maybe they would keep on walking?
“Good morning Wei-xiansheng,” the twin-like brother said, bowing respectfully. As if it were nothing odd at all to be greeting him in such a way. “I am Lan Huan, and my brother Lan Zhan, you of course already know.”
Wei Ying looked at him, eyes wide and terrified. He copied the greeting, but it was done with none of Lan Huan’s grace.
“I know,” he mumbled, too stunned to form a thought.
“Lovely weather today isn’t it? Doesn’t it just make you eager to investigate some illegal activity? Or is that just me?” Lan Huan continued, good naturedly, smiling as if they were old friends.
Wei Ying didn’t move. His eyes flicked from Lan Huan to Lan Zhan and his heart rate began to increase painfully. His whole body felt as if it was under attack. From the urge of his own hormones to uncontrolled fear, he felt dizzy and outside of himself.
“It’s my favourite pastime,” Lan Zhan answered, deadpan, no emotion, no expression. Just pure horrifyingly cold energy.
Still Wei Ying couldn’t move. What had they come to do to him? Why here? Why at his work? Why did his humiliation have to be so cruel?
“Better get started then,” Lan Huan said, cheerfully. “If Wei-xiansheng will stop staring, then we might go inside?”
“I’m not!” Wei Ying protested, his voice returning, panicked and shrill at the accusation. Embarrassed at his sudden outburst, he took a deep breath. “I’m not staring. I just don’t know why you’re here. You could have sent a letter. Or called. Or had me assassinated or something. Anything but this.”
Lan Huan smiled, but Lan Zhan didn’t react at all. Just kept looking at him.
“Hm… I hadn’t foreseen this sudden memory loss,” Lan Huan said, turning to see what his brother made of it. “A true mystery, what do you think? Amnesia this severe, is very rare.”
“Indeed,” Lan Zhan replied.
“Well, you had better tell him,” Lan Huan suggested. “Before he bolts and you never see him again.”
Wei Ying stopped breathing as Lan Zhan’s eyes pinned him, golden flecked and direct. His gaze left nowhere for Wei Ying to hide. His shame rose to the surface and he knew the alpha could sense it. He would know exactly what effect he was having on him. He could take hold of him now and Wei Ying would be powerless, wilting under his touch like a parched flower. Helpless and weak, staring up into those beautiful eyes as he was taken apart right here in the street.
Wei Ying’s shame was almost painful as he realised the outrageous dream he’d just allowed himself. Suddenly flushed and embarrassed, he looked away. How could he lose control of himself in such a mortifying way? What kind of mind control did this alpha have? How had he made him such a desperate omega? No alpha had ever caused such a terrible reaction in him before.
Wei Ying pulled at his coat and tried to tuck himself in further. Hiding his humiliation.
But it was too late. Lan Zhan’s eyes had grown a little darker, and as Wei Ying moved, he moved too. He was going to pen him in. Trap him. As Wei Ying swallowed and tried not to cry from how flustered he was, Lan Zhan leant forward to speak quietly into his ear.
“I am here to work for my husband.”
It was blunt. But not hostile. It was just flat. No hope of a joke or forgiveness. No anger, no flirting, nothing but his tormenting beguiling alpha scent that was killing Wei Ying.
Yet here Lan Zhan was, standing before him, knowing everything, and giving nothing away.
It hurt to be so pathetic in front of him. Had the company called Lan Zhan after his meeting? Was the company doing damage control? Had they been fishing for the truth? Wei Ying wanted to say something, to make Lan Zhan’s eyes soften. Wanted to beg for his forgiveness. But he couldn’t think of a single word. His mind was blank, because Lan Zhan had just purposely inhaled a deep breath of his betraying scent and was so very close.
The charged silence between them grew until it became horrendously unbearable and Wei Ying was forced to back away.
“We can discuss the finer matters of the situation at another time,” Lan Huan said, as if he was musing on a mystery. No reaction to the fact his brother was acting majorly inappropriately to a poor defenceless omega. “I believe there has been some less than legal activity occurring at Golden Orchid? Some rumors have reached us over the years, but no one ever reached out. Your technique to get noticed by our admin team is certainly… unique.”
Wei Ying shivered.
“Yeah… about that…” he said. “I…”
“Like I said,” Lan Huan interrupted. “You can explain later. For now, we are at your service.”
Wei Ying didn’t know what to think about that. Were they being serious? They didn’t look angry. Or at least Lan Huan didn’t. It was impossible to tell what Lan Zhan was.
But why were they both here? The Lans worked on high profile matters. Not rumour mongering. And this was certainly far beneath Lan Zhan’s notice.
“Alright,” Wei Ying said, keen to get off the street and away from the people staring at them. “We should go inside.”
***
The entire building froze as they walked through the lobby. Wei Ying looked around at the stunned faces of his colleagues and felt a satisfaction he knew he had no right to feel. The Lan brothers' magnetism was naturally eye drawing. But his pull towards Lan Zhan was undeniably strong. He felt irrationally defensive about it, as if someone might call him out on his poor behaviour. So he followed them at a polite distance and watched in silence.
Lan Zhan, calm and precise, walked up to the front desk, and slid his business card across. It was unneeded, because the beta girl on reception knew exactly who he was.
“I am here regarding the mistreatment of Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan said, confident of himself and cold.
Lan Huan looked back at him, as if checking he hadn’t fled.
“Yes…Yes, Lan-xiansheng,” the beta girl said, obviously afraid of the two alphas before her. “I’ve been instructed to take you immediately to…”
“No. First I will speak with Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan said, firmly.
She looked surprised at his rebuff.
“Haven’t you already…”
“Are you enquiring about my private conversations?” Lan Zhan asked. His voice was low, accusatory, and the receptionist balked.
“No, no, of course not! Forgive me. I will inform management that you have arrived. Please, take these visitor passes.”
“Thank you,” Lan Huan cut in. “If we can trouble you for some refreshments also, that would be lovely. Early start this morning, no time for tea before we set off.”
The beta girl shot up on her feet and bowed from behind her desk. She didn’t look up again.
“Wei Ying, is your office private?” Lan Zhan asked.
“No, it’s shared,” Wei Ying replied, still feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes on him. “But there is a meeting room across the way. It’s always empty. Would that work?”
“Certainly,” Lan Huan said, smiling once again. “Lead the way.”
*
Wei Ying pressed his back into the corner of the lift in the hope of blending into the background. But disappearing seemed like a mercy not to be granted. Lan Zhan or Lan Huan stood side by side like a barrier between him and the world. Caging him in like an animal.
With every second Wei Ying felt his heart beating wilder and dangerously out of sync. He closed his eyes for a beat, but his mind just continued to distress him with inappropriate thoughts. He imagined Lan Zhan turning around, pushing him up against the wall, pulling at his collar and declaring, “I see that you feel the same.”
“You uh… didn’t have to come here,” Wei Ying mumbled, when he couldn’t stand the play of erotica in his head anymore. “Either of you.”
A slight smile appeared on Lan Huan’s face as he looked back at him, but it was Lan Zhan who answered.
“Then why call?”
Lan Huan’s smile became wider, as if this was causing him a lot of amusement.
“I didn’t…” Wei Ying said, confused. “I thought about it, but… what was I supposed to say? I assumed I was going to be fired today. I never imagined you would be waiting for me in the car park.”
“A-Zhan insisted we be here,” Lan Huan told him, still looking amused. “Luckily, I enjoy a bit of corporate litigation, if only to keep the old brain working. There is only so much criminal justice you can do before you need a break.”
Wei Ying frowned. That sounded so absurd that he was clearly not supposed to believe it.
“Lan Zhan insisted?” he asked. “Why?”
That was also a weird thing to say. Insisted? That word felt loaded somehow, as if it were a joke aimed at him.
“He was very firm on it.”
Wei Ying looked at Lan Zhan. He’d turned to face his brother, and Wei Ying could see his ear had coloured faintly pink. But his scent remained just as controlled. Intensified only because of their close proximity. Wei Ying felt the glands on his neck twitching again.
Lan Zhan seemed to shift in response to it, and the hand resting behind his back, clenched.
“Even if you don’t mind being here, this is an absolute mess and I’m really sorry,” Wei Ying said, adjusting his shirt collar again to disguise himself.
“We chose to come,” Lan Zhan replied, his voice tight, and somewhat different to before. The slight blush on his skin remained.
“Wei-xiansheng, anyone thinking they can mistreat you is about to be very afraid,” Lan Huan told him matter of factly. “Our family does not take kindly to threats.”
Wei Ying looked at his smiling face, and his mind chewed over the words better suited to a mob boss. So the Lan brothers were here to put the heavies on the company? They had turned up together as a show of force?
But why? Was there something he didn’t know?
He could feel Lan Zhan in his periphery now, as if he was leaking into his nervous system. Like he’d always been there. He was hyper aware of him, every breath, every little movement, heightened.
“I didn’t say what I did to use you. I didn’t think… I never thought you would actually show up here,” Wei Ying pleaded.
“Thinking is not always required,” Lan Zhan replied bluntly.
Lan Huan nodded.
“Quite right. Thinking can sometimes be at our own detriment. If we think too much, we miss the moment. So in the spirit of not thinking too deeply, a-Zhan is here to rescue you.”
Wei Ying frowned and this time Lan Zhan’s expression towards his brother turned icy. Lan Huan continued to smile as if he hadn’t noticed. But before anything further could be said, they arrived at their floor.
Outside they were met with a gathering of very flustered and pale looking middle managers. Most Wei Ying knew by name, the others only by sight. But they all seemed keen to bow and welcome them.
“Stay close to me Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan instructed.
Lan Zhan didn’t touch him, but feeling him a breath away as they walked was distracting.
“Good morning,” Lan Huan said, as he led the way.
The collective anxiety around them affected Wei Ying’s nerves even more. He wanted to slink away to his own office and hide, as eyes began staring at him with suspicion. It was only when Lan Zhan gently touched his arm to keep him moving, that he realised he was currently flanked by two of the most powerful alphas in the city.
A bud of hope began to emerge inside his heart, as he looked from one terrified manager’s face to the next. Finally they were feeling like they had made him feel.
Afraid.
***
The office Wei Ying had identified as being available was uncomfortable. It was glass walled, the lights were too bright, and chairs were hard. Clearly it was designed to make those inside feel like they were on show, like fish in a bowl. But the Lans didn’t seem to mind. They simply sat down together on one side of the table and waited for him to sit at the other.
Wei Ying kept his coat on and sat heavily. He twisted his hands in his lap and avoided looking at either of them. But the way the Lans moved in sync with each other was difficult to ignore. Both set their phones on the desk. Both took out pens, notebooks, tablets from their briefcases and then waited for him to speak.
Lan Huan remained pleasantly smiling, Lan Zhan continued to be as stoic as before. Then mercifully, someone arrived with tea, a selection of snacks and broke the tension.
“Hungry?” Lan Huan asked, not waiting to be given an answer, but immediately serving everyone a variety of items. “Need to keep your strength up, we have a busy day ahead of us.”
“I feel kind of sick actually,” Wei Ying muttered. “They’re still spying on us out there. We should have gone somewhere else. I would have come to your office if you had asked me to.”
“Let them look,” Lan Zhan said uncaringly.
“The excitement will wane soon,” Lan Huan said, as if this was no big deal. “Management will keep people away. They won’t want an audience.”
Wei Ying considered that the brothers were probably used to being stared at, for many reasons, wherever they went.
“I doubt it,” Wei Ying added. “None of them liked me before this happened, so no one is out there cheering me on.”
“If popularity is what you were looking for, Wei Ying, then you chose the wrong husband,” Lan Huan told him matter of factly. “But that can’t be undone now.”
“It can’t?” Wei Ying asked as he was handed his tea. “Why?”
“That is not for me to explain. But while you have us here, why don’t you begin with a full account of what has been happening.”
“Why can’t it be undone?” Wei Ying asked again.
Lan Huan ignored him.
“I want the full details, nothing left out. I want you to be as clear as you can, expand on any industry jargon, and not assume that I know what you are referring to. That way, we can be sure we have all the facts, and no misunderstandings have occurred.”
“Uh…” Wei Ying hesitated.
Lan Huan was being very frustrating, but also oddly warm towards him, which only seemed to make this worse. Considering the reputation damaging claim he’d just made against his brother, it felt impossible that any of this was true.
Unless this was some good cop bad, cop play? That might be it.
“If I need you to explain anything, I will ask you to pause and go back,” Lan Huan added, picking up a pen and opening his notepad.
In contrast, Lan Zhan tapped his tablet. The screen lit up and he looked at Wei Ying in silence.
“You want me to start from the beginning?” Wei Ying asked. “Look, I don’t know who called you, but I’m guessing they filled you in on something?”
“What they said is irrelevant,” Lan Zhan replied bluntly. “Start from the beginning.”
Was he angry? He ought to be. But it was impossible to tell.
Wei Ying took a deep breath and tried to steady his mind. There was no point in continuing to speculate. For whatever the reason, Lan Zhan claimed to be here to help him. So he ought to let him.
“They stole my work.”
“The Lotus Model?” Lan Huan asked.
Wei Ying nodded. So they knew something of what had been happening.
“Yes. I created it, all of it.”
“Explain it,” Lan Zhan instructed.
“Well… It’s a predictive algorithm, which identifies people mostly likely to respond to different medical treatments.”
“Explain further.”
Wei Ying shuffled on his seat. He was hot with his coat on, but he didn’t dare take it off.
“Basically it significantly reduces trial costs and time. You test the right drug or treatment on the right type of person and you get the better results. Perfect for pushing advances in healthcare.”
“Sounds like a wonderful creation,” Lan Huan commented.
“Thanks. But of course, the company only really cares about its profits,” Wei Ying continued. “Regardless of the health benefits, my model will help Golden Orchid secure millions in grant funding. Not only that, if published under my name, it would make my career. Like, gold-star make it, you know? I’d be taken seriously for once.”
“And this has been stolen from you?” Lan Zhan asked. “How?”
Wei Ying shuffled again, feeling uncomfortably hot and in desperate need of some fresh air.
“Alright, so, you have to hear me out, because it’s embarrassing,” Wei Ying said quietly.
“Why embarrassing?” Lan Zhan asked.
“Because I didn’t realise what they were doing! They stole my work and I just let them.”
The silence in the room was different. It seemed as though now a true wrong had been uncovered, the Lans were friendlier somehow. As if they’d seen the real enemy and had united.
“Wei Ying, trusting people to not commit crime, is not a failing,” Lan Huan said softly. “It’s what we should expect of everyone.”
“I know that. But it doesn’t change how I feel about it,” Wei Ying replied glumly. “It’s not like this is the first time I’ve been treated badly by… you know.”
Alphas, he wanted to say. But as he was sitting in front of two, he didn’t think that was helpful.
“This isn’t only about stealing your work,” Lan Huan told him, with a kind understanding. “We understand.”
Wei Ying raised an eyebrow as he looked up. What did they understand? Because he wasn’t sure he understood what had happened.
“It wasn’t obvious at first,” Wei Ying explained. “They made it seem like I was losing my mind. The first time I was suspicious, it was because they took my name off the draft. When I asked why, they said I needed to collaborate with someone senior to make sure there were no mistakes. I couldn’t present work in my probation.”
“I see,” Lan Zhan said, making far more notes than Wei Ying thought that required.
“But there were no mistakes. I know there were no mistakes. My senior colleague did nothing, except lock me out of the shared drive. He then submitted the proposal under his own name. I thought maybe it was an honest mistake, but when I complained, they told me I was misinterpreting things.”
Lan Huan’s smile had disappeared now.
“Did you document any of this happening?” he asked.
“Yes! I kept everything. All my old files. All my data-working. I screenshotted everything. I’ve got timestamps of my work too. I knew they were going to try and screw me,” Wei Ying paused, blushed and looked away. That had been a poor choice of words. “I mean… try and bury me. I just had a feeling.”
Lan Zhan leant forward slightly and Wei Ying froze in response. He had absolutely not meant to make any sort of suggestive comment, and Lan Zhan moving closer to him was too much to take. He flushed and sat further back.
“You were right to prepare.”
Wei Ying’s heart exploded with the praise.
Glorious alpha praise, that shot straight into his omega heart. Where it was greedily captured and allowed to bloom. His face flushed and he felt his scent respond again, this time even harder. His collar was growing increasingly damp and soon even the coat wouldn’t mask it.
Lan Huan smirked a little as he continued writing his notes, but when he looked up, he was serious.
“What happened is not a mistake, it is misconduct. You are a junior analyst, correct? As a junior member of staff, you are an easy target. Not to mention…” Lan Huan stopped, and waited for Wei Ying to understand him.
“I’m an omega, you can say it. I’m not naive. They tried to convince me to give everything to some alpha, because I’ll get married soon and I’ll leave the company,” Wei Ying said, folding his arms. “I didn’t go to all the trouble of studying and working just to marry someone and leave.”
“I see,” Lan Huan said.
The elephant in the room seemed to appear in everyone’s periphery. The contradiction of Wei Ying’s statement, and the claim he’d made to be already married, were polar opposites.
“Yet my brother was an appealing prospect?” Lan Huan continued. “Interesting.”
Wei Ying stared at him. Why exactly was he here? Lan Zhan he could maybe understand, had come to set things straight. But why bring Lan Huan with him? It wasn't like Lan Zhan needed the assistance.
“I should never have said what I said,” Wei Ying said, hoping he sounded contrite. “I panicked and I didn’t think you’d ever find out.”
He tried to find some forgiveness in their eyes, but only Lan Zhan was watching him now. They looked at one another for a while, neither moving.
“You set the parameters of my help,” Lan Zhan told him, finally breaking the silence. “You don’t get to make amendments now.”
Wei Ying blinked, slow and confused.
What?
“He would have helped you for far less,” Lan Huan added, turning over a page in his note book and ignoring the deathly sharp look Lan Zhan gave him. “However, usually people pay with money, rather than trap us with marriages.”
Released from Lan Zhan’s gaze, Wei Ying inhaled sharply.
“Trap? I'm not trying to trap anyone!”
“Like I told you already Wei-xiansheng, I was in the mood for a fun case. My brother was in the mood for something else it seems,” Lan Huan mused, with an air of frivolity. He waited for Wei Ying to react.
“He’s in the mood for what?” Wei Ying asked, annoyed. “Murder?”
“Billable hours,” Lan Zhan said, making Wei Ying frown with confusion.
“But… I can’t afford your fees!” he exclaimed, panicked all over again. “I don’t have any money.”
“Then you can pay me another way,” Lan Zhan told him.
Wei Ying’s mouth dropped open in outrage. What the hell did that mean? Had all those freaky imaginings of before been planted there by Lan Zhan? Had he somehow scrambled his brain with his alpha presence? Twisted his rational thoughts into deranged passionate, sensorous, provocative, images… too tempting, too close…
“Wonderful!” Lan Huan said quickly, tapping his notepad for their attention and making Wei Ying jump. “That’s all arranged then. So… let me summarise for a moment. It seems to me that the CEO is not aware of what has been transpiring under his nose, and this has been a scam perpetuated by the middle management only. Would you agree?”
“I think so,” Wei Ying said, still flustered. “I don’t really know. I feel like if the CEO knew, he’d just cut me a better deal to get rid of me, right? Then again, why would he care who is publishing? It’s all the same to him. He gets the profits regardless.”
“That is what I think too. It’s unclear. But no matter, that is what a-Zhan will find out. For now, let’s continue. So… Management has removed your access to the files, taken your name from the draft paper and submitted it under a senior alpha. Anything else?”
Wei Ying sat up straighter.
“Yes, they used my slides in meetings to gain the grants. They didn’t credit me.”
“Rude of them,” Lan Huan commented.
“Yeah I know, right? Then I saw they reassigned some of my datasets to other researchers. They claimed in an email that my algorithm was “team‑generated” but it wasn’t! It was all me. No one helped.”
Lan Huan nodded.
“Sounds like they mean to fire Wei Ying before publication,” Lan Zhan said, not looking up from his own notes.
“Erase him before the Lotus Model becomes public?” Lan Huan answered. “Certainly. Because he’s an omega. He’s temporary and will be married soon. They don’t see him as a threat. They see him as disposable.”
“Easy to manipulate.”
“Easy to control,” Lan Huan agreed. “Good job you’re here to educate them. Other omegas might be manipulated into giving in, but not this one.”
Wei Ying listened to their back and forth, and felt seen. They knew him. They could see all of his shame and his desperation. How he’d been backed into a corner and the only way out was to play the very card he’d sworn never to use.
The alpha card.
The, calling-for-backup card. The run-into-the-arms-of-someone-powerful card.
Hiding behind the stereotypical expectations of his secondary gender. He was a disgrace to everything he had always stood for.
“Golden Orchid Biotech, their outward image is…” Lan Zhan prompted, trailing off so that Lan Huan could answer.
“Ethical, innovative, patient focused.”
“Reality?” Lan Zhan asked.
“Discriminatroy, hierarchical and quietly corrupt,” Lan Huan concluded.
“Wei Ying is a data scientist. His work must be exemplary, if it has been stolen,” Lan Zhan continued, as if this were a fact and not his opinion.
“Indeed,” Lan Huan agreed.
Wei Ying watched them both until his uncomfortableness began to burn. He was about to explode.
“Can you both stop talking about me like I'm not here? It's weird,” he snapped.
“No,” Lan Zhan told him abruptly.
Wei Ying remained silent for a beat before he remembered who Lan Zhan was. An alpha who inexplicably wanted to be a hero.
“What do you mean, no? Excuse you, but you can’t just come in here and tell me to be quiet. Who do you think you are? If you're gonna be like this, then you can get your stuff and get out. I don’t need your help.”
Lan Zhan put his tablet down sharply. Lan Huan laughed in an infuriating way, but neither went running for the door. Wei Ying looked at them both speechless at their audacity.
“Brother, I stand corrected, he is exactly the sort of person you have been looking for,” Lan Huan said, still amused. “Things are making more sense.”
“What are you talking about?” Wei Ying demanded. “What is making sense?”
“If you have all this evidence,” Lan Zhan said calmly. “Why didn’t you bring this claim yourself?”
“I already said, I can’t afford the fees,” Wei Ying grumbled, folding his arms.
“Lucky for you, fees are waived for the family,” Lan Huan informed him as if this were a given. “You know this. It’s why you claimed to be one of us.”
Lan Huan was teasing him as if it were nothing. Not daring to say anything more, Wei Ying kept his arms folded and waited him out. But the Lans were used to people trying to intimidate them, and Wei Ying knew he probably looked as scary as a kitten.
“Explain your job description,” Lan Zhan all but demanded, ignoring Wei Ying’s mood.
Wei Ying swallowed anything else he wanted to say and took a deep breath. At the end of the day, they claimed to be on his side, and if he had to pay for this with embarrassment, then he’d only brought it upon himself.
“I am responsible for building predictive models. Cleaning datasets. Designing algorithms. Spotting patterns. Basically I'm the backbone of the research. The boring stuff no one sees happening, but has to be done for anything to work… I know it’s not the end of the world, but they stole everything. All I’ve ever wanted was a fair chance. If I hadn’t been an omega none of this would have happened.”
Lan Zhan fixed him with a very intense look and then matter of factly reminded him, “If you weren’t an omega, I wouldn’t be here Wei Ying.”
The tension suddenly built to a threatening pitch, ready to snap any second. Then, what he had been scared would happen, did. Wei Ying’s agitation suddenly peaked, and he couldn’t breathe. He was too hot, too flustered, and the unbearable heat of his coat began to suffocate him. With shaking hands he tried desperately to undo the zip.
“I can’t breathe,” he gasped, fighting with the coat.
Immediately both brothers were on their feet, but only one came near him. Wei Ying was vaguely aware that while Lan Zhan knelt down in front of him, Lan Huan had just left the room.
“Calm,” Lan Zhan told him firmly. “Stop moving.”
“I can’t breathe Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying gasped. “Get it off me! Get it off!”
Lan Zhan pushed his hands away and undid the zip in one clean movement. Suddenly freed from his coat, Wei Ying pulled at his shirt collar too, exposing his scent gland and gasping in lungfuls of air. There were tears in his eyes, and pains in his chest, as well as the burning in his blood. He could feel Lan Zhan’s hands now resting on his thighs, holding him steady on the chair. He remained knelt in front of him, close, concerned and projecting more of his alphaness. Wei Ying stared at him, then clamped his hands over both sides of his neck.
“Don’t,” he begged. “Don’t look!”
“I already saw.”
“Why did you look? That’s not okay Lan Zhan! I didn’t consent to this. I don’t consent to being in here alone with you.”
Wei Ying couldn’t believe Lan Zhan would allow such a social faux pas to occur, and in a glass walled room where everyone could see!
“No one will judge you. We’re married,” Lan Zhan reminded him.
“Are you nuts? We’re not married!” Wei Ying hissed at him, trying his best to appear rational and normal to anyone looking in. “Why are you doing this to me? I already told you I’m sorry. Why can’t you just accept that? Why are you torturing me? This has never happened to me before, so I know it’s you doing it.”
“You’re not sorry,” Lan Zhan told him.
His expression gave nothing away.
“I am! I’m very very sorry!” Wei Ying pleaded. “Can’t you stop this thing you’re doing?”
“I know what you are,” Lan Zhan said, making no sense to Wei Ying.
“What are you talking about?”
“I knew immediately,” Lan Zhan continued.
Wei Ying leant as far back as he could. Lan Zhan seemed to be getting closer to him, and he knew he couldn’t let himself fall into that trap. It was a trap with an unknown punishment awaiting him, and he didn't care to find out what it was.
“You knew what?”
“You are my match.”
Wei Ying’s eyes widened as he took in those words.
A match.
A pair that could be bonded and not just married. Lan Zhan could bite him and in theory, Wei Ying would enjoy it. Together they could have a bond far deeper than love. They could unlock a feralness in each other that was the envy of everyone else. They could be some of the lucky ones in life, because a bondmate was hard to find, impossible for most. Even with global databases, there was no surety.
Yet Lan Zhan was presenting it as if it were a promise.
Wei Ying shook his head.
“You’re really unhinged,” he whispered, too scared to speak.
But as Lan Zhan’s hands on his thighs began burning to slide upwards, his scent began its betrayal again. Wei Ying imagined those hands moving higher, firmly spreading him open. Moving up until they touched him, finding him hard and wanting and…
Blushing deeply, Wei Ying stood abruptly, knocking his chair back. He took a step away from Lan Zhan and turned his back on him. Only for something white to drift into his peripheral. An old-fashioned cotton handkerchief was being held out for him. So starched it had clearly never been used.
Wei Ying took it and dabbed furiously at his neck, wishing Lan Zhan would go away.
“Go get some air,” Lan Zhan instructed him.
This time his voice sounded a little broken. His movements were uncoordinated as he moved.
Wei Ying nodded, dazed by what had just happened, and made to put the handkerchief in his own pocket. But Lan Zhan pulled it from his hand. Surprised, Wei Ying didn’t protest. Just hurried out of the room without looking back.
He passed Lan Huan on his way, who called after him with concern. But he wouldn’t stop, and escaped into the stairwell breathlessly. Wei Ying ran down a couple flights before his dizziness won and he sat down heavily on a step with his mind spinning.
Lan Zhan had taken that handkerchief back.
An alpha had his scent.
And he’d not fought it.
He’d just given it away. He’d given a lot away, and Lan Zhan had seen it.