Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: A Sense of Threat
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Gavin's heat lasted a full week.
The day he was thoroughly marked, he went into intense heat two more times. After that, it dropped to once a day until, one night seven days later, he finally emerged from the haze. The tide of heat slowly ebbed from his body, and the exhaustion, soreness, and hunger he hadn't felt during his heat all came rushing back.
He was back to normal.
An Omega's heat came once a year. For younger ones, it might be more frequent, but never more than twice. If they conceived the first time, the second heat would naturally be delayed. Some Omegas would even prefer to get pregnant just to avoid it, rather than being pinned down and fucked dry for a full week.
Gavin sat up with a splitting headache and leaned against the rock, unable to stop himself from dry-heaving.
"—Are you okay?" Heinrich walked over and draped his jacket over Gavin's shoulders. He wanted to pat his back but froze when Gavin suddenly raised a hand to block him.
In that moment, Gavin was facing sideways, moonlight casting ambiguous shadows across his face. Neither of them spoke.
A moment later, he forced himself to his feet, steadied himself against the rock, and walked a short distance away. He sat down in the shadows and didn't move.
The silent rejection was unmistakable. Heinrich stood there for a while before quietly sitting down and gazing at him, his face an unreadable mask.
The moon had reached its zenith, a massive orb dominating half the sky. Its cold light pierced the wasteland. In the distance came faint howls—whether wind whistling over the plains or wolves baying at the moon, it was impossible to tell. From the foot of the rocky hill, the Milky Way stretched like a brilliant white sash across the night sky, vanishing into the hazy horizon.
They sat like that through the night.
Early the next morning, Heinrich went hunting. He returned with a few ground squirrels and wild rabbits, built a fire, roasted them, and handed Gavin two plump roasted rabbit legs. Unexpectedly, Gavin accepted them with a polite nod.
"Thanks."
Heinrich's icy blue eyes fixed on him. After a long pause, he suddenly asked, "What are you thanking me for?"
"For taking care of me."
Gavin said it smoothly, without a hint of reluctance or embarrassment. Heinrich knew he had steeled himself psychologically. After a night to process, he was once again the indomitable, flawless Celia. The physiological mark hadn't affected his mind at all.
"...I thought you didn't need anyone to take care of you." Heinrich turned his head away, his expression chilling as he stared into the fire.
"Accepting your own weakness and letting others care for you isn't anything to be ashamed of."
"Then heat—"
"It's not something I can control."
Gavin gnawed on the rabbit leg, tossed the stick aside, and wiped his hands with a few thorny leaves. He moved with natural grace, almost no sign of anything amiss. But Heinrich suddenly noticed a faint tremble in both his thumbs—barely visible unless you looked closely.
Something stirred in Heinrich's chest.
"Interesting?" he asked abruptly.
Gavin paused.
"Pretending to be calm and detached when you hate it deep down. Forcing yourself to accept those oh-so-reasonable, objective views without indulging a single selfish thought—is that interesting? You've been like this since the Alliance days, always holding yourself to some impossibly perfect standard, endlessly self-critiquing every word and action..."
"There's no such thing!" Gavin snapped. "Don't make shit up!"
But Heinrich strode forward and grabbed his hand, holding it up to his face.
"What do you want to say? You clearly want me to shut up—hell, you want to slap me across the face—but what comes out is 'thanks' and 'it's not like that.' You think I don't know you at all?"
Gavin's hand trembled uncontrollably in his grip. Seconds later, he swung a fierce punch!
A dull thud echoed. Heinrich's head snapped to the side.
Silence fell over the wasteland, heavy and unnerving. After a long moment, he slowly ran his tongue over the spot inside his mouth where his cheek had split.
"Satisfied?" Gavin asked coldly.
"..."
Heinrich slowly turned his head back. After a pause, he asked hoarsely, "You've disliked me for a long time now. Why?"
Gavin dodged the question.
"I'm no worse than anyone else. I've never disappointed you in anything. Why do you favor Aaron but barely acknowledge me? Konsettlin betrayed you, Caroline's a turncoat—why are you nicer to them than to me? If I've done something wrong, just say it. Pretending to be impartial when you despise me inside—do you know how nauseating that is? What I want isn't your fake commendations and awards, you know that?"
Gavin pressed back against the rock. Heinrich loomed right in front of him. Finally unable to evade, he frowned.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Heinrich stared into his eyes. They were so close that Heinrich could clearly see his own reflection in Gavin's pupils.
—A face desperately hiding frustration, humiliation, resentment, and disappointment.
"...It's fine," he rasped. "Just tell me why you don't like me."
The wasteland sky was overcast. A salty tang carried on the wind, and thunderclouds rumbled faintly in the distance.
The rainy season was coming.
"I don't know," Gavin said after a long silence. Finally, he murmured, "But you make me feel threatened."
Heinrich slowly released his hand and stepped back half a pace. A flood of emotions surged through him, leaving him speechless.
It was normal for an Alpha to feel threatening—the stronger the Alpha, the more intimidating. It stemmed from their innate dominance and protective instincts toward Omegas. In fact, when the Omega Protection Association helped with mate selection, it was a key criterion, indicating the Alpha's quality and reproductive potential.
Normally, Alphas didn't sense intimidation from each other. Betas did, but it only elicited submission and admiration. Omegas usually avoided the aura, but during heat, it drew them in—like a powerful hormone stimulant.
But Celia was the exception.
Celia was a Beta who towered above Alphas. He'd commanded armies for years, his decisiveness and discipline etched into his bones. He was completely immune to Alphas' natural intimidation—in fact, he could overpower them. So when he encountered Heinrich, whose abilities and presence far exceeded the average Alpha, his reaction wouldn't be submission like a normal Beta's.
It would be revulsion.
Heinrich yearned for him, couldn't resist drawing closer—but the closer he got, the more threatening he seemed. Like a lion approaching a human: even if the lion meant no harm, how could the human not fear it?
This instinctive aversion hadn't faded even after his reincarnation.
For the next two days, Heinrich said little. He hunted, cooked, found water sources, and followed underground streams uphill, searching for signs of civilization.
Without his pressure, Gavin's attitude softened considerably. The two days after his heat, he ran a low fever and struggled to walk. Thanks to Heinrich's meticulous care, the fever broke on the third day, and their pace picked up.
Though their relationship remained tense, it wasn't outright hostile. On long marches, they'd chat to pass the time. At night, Heinrich slept nearby, eyes fixed on Gavin's silent silhouette in the moonlight. His mind churned with scattered thoughts: Would he get pregnant?
What kind of child would we have—like him or like me?
Would he stay if there was a child? What if he didn't want it?
Many Alphas would be overflowing with protectiveness, terrified their Omega might suffer. Heinrich didn't worry much about that. He knew Celia's abilities surpassed his own. The real challenge was keeping him from walking away.
Force him to stay? Confine or detain him? Impossible—Celia's position was too sensitive. If it leaked, the Empire's political foundation would crumble. Besides, Heinrich couldn't imagine Celia imprisoned. He wanted him as a mate, not an enemy.
Beg him sweetly to stay? Laughable. Celia had led armies for over a century—would a few words sway him?
Heinrich racked his brain and found no solution. He obsessed over it daily until a bleak thought took root: What if they just wandered the wasteland forever? If the road never ended, they'd never part.
—But that was Heinrich's delusion, of course. Gavin wouldn't allow it, and neither could he truly abandon the Empire.
The Emperor was gone, but there was Aaron. Aaron couldn't, then Isaac. Isaac couldn't, then the Imperial Parliament. But to toss away the vast empire forged by billions of soldiers' blood over a century? That would make him the greatest sinner in galactic history.
Fate ensured Heinrich's delusion remained just that—and mercifully, it didn't last long.
After two weeks trekking the wasteland, the desert faded. Shrubs thickened, and ahead stretched unbroken vegetation. Following surface streams upstream for half a day, dense settlements finally appeared—a modestly sized town.
Gavin gazed at it for a long time, frowning. "Do you think this is still the Gemini system?"
Heinrich hesitated. "Doesn't look like it."
He supported Gavin as they approached the town gate. Along the way, they saw only scattered pedestrians, heads down and hurrying past in ragged clothes. No Empire-style household shuttles or skimmers—everyone walked the potholed stone roads, not even talking to each other.
The "gate" was just a two-story building. No sentries, no checkpoints, not even a basic fingerprint scanner. A few pedestrians slipped inside heads down and vanished down the desolate road.
Heinrich and Gavin exchanged a glance, both seeing the surprise in the other's eyes.
"Shall we check it out?" Heinrich's tone was full of deference.
Gavin started to nod, then realized why Heinrich was hesitating—because he suspected this wasn't the Empire!
Gavin's eyelids twitched. He jerked his head up to meet Heinrich's gaze. They stared at each other before the gate for a long moment before he finally nodded.
"—Okay."