Chapter Text
Wu Suowei had always believed, no, known, he was destined to be an alpha.
As a child, he’d boast about it to his mother with the easy certainty of someone who never considered another outcome. He stood taller than most boys his age, barked orders during schoolyard games, puffed his chest like a little general. “You'll see,” he used to say. “I’ll be an alpha for sure.”
But reality had a habit of ignoring his plans.
His eighteenth birthday came and passed in silence. No pheromone bloom. No rut. No scent. No designation. And then a week became a month, a month became a year, and the truth slowly settled in his bones like cold water.
He was a beta.
He told himself there was nothing wrong with it. Society didn’t scorn betas, after all they made up the majority of the population. But Wu Suowei’s ego didn’t care about statistics. Not after all the pride he'd carried. Not after all the expectations he'd let grow inside himself like roots.
The blow wasn't public. No one laughed at him. No one pointed fingers. But it stung just the same. The private humiliation of believing yourself to be one thing, only to find out you were wrong. It was a big blow psychologically and he had no one except himself to blame for that.
Still, he adapted. Reframed the narrative. After all, betas weren’t ruled by instincts. They didn’t fall under the spell of pheromones like alphas and omegas. No heats. No ruts. No primal need. Wu Suowei wore that like armor, told himself it made him freer, smarter—immune.
And then came Yue Yue.
An omega.
He hadn’t expected it. Falling for her. Letting her into his life. But she was beautiful, charming in that calculating way that made him feel chosen. For a while, he truly believed he’d proven something, that the alpha-omega pairing was overrated. That love didn’t need pheromones to thrive. That he, a beta, had won something usually reserved for alphas.
He clung to that idea like a lifeline.
And maybe he had to, because deep down, there were things about their relationship he’d refused to acknowledge. Things that he buried. The way she sometimes spoke to him like she was humoring a child. The way she never really listened. How she scowled when he touched her. How she used to look down on the gifts his mother gave. Hell, how she used to look down on him and his mother over all. They were there but he had refused to acknowledge them. Loneliness was a powerful drug. And Wu Suowei had always hated losing.
So he held on. He held on to the ship with tighter grip each time she drifted away despite knowing that there were holes in this ship. He held on.
Until she didn’t.
Yue Yue left him in the most humiliating way possible—cold, distant, unbothered. And the more Wu Suowei picked through the pieces of their relationship, the more he realized how much of it had been one-sided. It was Jiang Xiaoshuai, of all people, who helped him see it.
He hadn’t wanted to believe it at first, but Xiaoshuai didn’t sugarcoat things. He laid it out plainly: Yue Yue had treated him poorly, belittled him subtly, never respected him.
And the worst part? The man she left him for—the man she had probably been seeing before the breakup—attacked him.
She let it happen.
Wu Suowei hadn’t connected the dots at first. It took time. Time and bitter reflection. But when he did, something dark curled in his chest and took root.
Rage.
How could she walk away clean while he was left with wounds- physical, emotional, and otherwise? How was it fair that she could cheat, humiliate him, and then step into the arms of someone else like nothing had happened?
And not just anyone. No, she left him with the guy who attacked him and then dumped that guy to latch onto not just anyone, but Chi Cheng.
Oh Chi Cheng.
The first time Wu Suowei laid eyes on Chi Cheng, he was already irritated by the man’s existence. Tall, broad-shouldered, handsome in that effortlessly superior way that reeked of alpha confidence. Arrogant. Imposing. Smug. And unfortunately...undeniably attractive.
He hadn't wanted to admit it. After failing to be an alpha he had grown an inherent dislike for alphas. Its why even be it males or females, he always stuck to betas or omegas. Alphas he avoided like the plague but he couldn't deny the truth that that man was absolutely attractive with honey drip eyes and perfectly chiseled jaws. Looking at him at first glance made him curse as it is clear God did have favourites and he wasn't one of them.
Their encounters had been nothing short of disasters. Missteps, disastrous on his end with his own business ending in ruin. Each time they had met, the tension had been thick enough to choke on. The first time they met was a disaster but by the third time he was convinced someone had cursed him. How else could he keep encountering this perfect-yet arrogant-specimen who kept ruining his plans? He had actually found himself slightly obsessing over the man by the third encounter. But one random day on the street he saw Yue Yue wrapped around him. She didn't even last one week with the guy she had dumped him for and now she was with this walking alpha fantasy. It was a punch straight to Wu Suowei’s insecurities.
It lit something in him. Something sharp. Something that refused to be still.
That’s when the plan started forming.
He knew it was stupid. Knew it was petty. Knew it was twisted.
But he didn’t care.
How could she get everything she wanted, after what she’d done to him?
No, Wu Suowei never pretended to be a saint. And this plan, this wild, vindictive, desperate plan was bringing out the worst in him. The side that smiled sweetly while plotting destruction.
But he couldn’t stop.
He was going to seduce Chi Cheng. Make the arrogant alpha fall for him, a beta. Take him right out of Yue Yue’s arms.
“You do realize how hard it’s going to be to seduce an alpha away from an omega, right?” Xiaoshuai’s voice cut through his thoughts like a blade. Calm. Cool. Drenched in brutal realism.
If there was one good thing to come out of Yue Yue’s final betrayal, it was this unlikely friendship. Jiang Xiaoshuai—an omega with a razor tongue, soft hands, and eyes that saw everything. He’d taken Wu Suowei in without hesitation after the incident. Offered bandages, shelter, sarcasm, and food. So Yue Yue did one good thing for him. He’d become Wu Suowei’s lifeline in a way he hadn’t expected.
Before Yue Yue, Wu Suowei had never been close to an omega. He’d lost contact with most of his friends juggling three jobs to keep her happy. But Xiaoshuai didn’t demand anything from him except honesty. And maybe snacks.
Now he couldn’t imagine his life without him.
Wu Suowei looked up, finding Xiaoshuai’s gaze unwavering, laced with warning.
“Granted,” Xiaoshuai continued, “my research shows Chi Cheng prefers men for his lovers. So that helps. But… his current partner’s second gender is still an omega and you are a beta. Alphas are biologically inclined to stay with them. Rare, coveted… pheromonally compatible. You’re going to be swimming upstream.”
Wu Suowei didn’t answer immediately.
He knew Xiaoshuai wasn’t trying to dissuade him, just temper his expectations. He had seen him at rock bottom. Had watched him unravel. Had stayed.
So his caution came from care.
But all Wu Suowei could feel was fire. A fire that had been cold for too long finally catching again.
A challenge.
A dare.
A reason to prove he wasn’t forgettable.
He smirked.
“Then I’ll just have to make Chi Cheng forget she exists.”