Chapter 165
Chapter 165: Her Scent Clung to Him, Triggering His Rut
Chong Ming’s golden eyes had gone deep and dark. He stared at Jiang Tea Tea sitting on his bed in the sleepwear he’d chosen—unguarded, relaxed, as if she had no idea how dangerous she looked. His throat worked as he swallowed. When he finally spoke, his voice came out hoarse.
“It’s ability backlash.”
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t sense danger at all. All she felt was that familiar, greedy flutter in her chest—the one that made her want to bite him.
She tried to sound calm, but curiosity won out. “Your backlash doesn’t look like anyone else’s. Other people either shift back into beast form right away, or they stay human and roll around screaming. You just… grow scales?”
A few scattered golden scales had surfaced on his face. More spread over his neck. His bare chest was dusted with them too, gleaming like hammered metal.
The sight made her mouth go dry. Half-dragon, half-human was delicious. Human with scales was delicious too. As long as he looked even a little dragon-like, it hit her appetite perfectly.
Chong Ming’s voice roughened. “It might be because of rank. Different ranks manifest backlash differently.”
Jiang Tea Tea patted the bed beside her. “Sit. I’ll stabilize your abilities and smooth your mental power.”
He sat and turned slightly toward her, forcing his voice steady. “Thank you.”
She shifted into business mode instantly. “No need. I stabilize Sui Xuan Chu and Huang Da Zhuang for free. For you, I’ll give you a ten percent discount. One session is one million star credits.”
“Fine,” Chong Ming said. “I’ll transfer it.”
Then he paused, gaze flicking to her hands. “I’ve awakened multiple abilities. When you stabilize me and smooth my mental power… do you need to get close? Touch my forehead or my dragon horns?”
His instincts screamed at him to pull her closer. His reason screamed back just as hard.
Jiang Tea Tea waved a hand with absolute confidence. “No. I don’t need physical contact to smooth mental power.”
Something in Chong Ming’s eyes dimmed. He curled his fingers into a fist, then loosened them again. “All right.”
Jiang Tea Tea gathered her magic power and sent it into him. It slid into his mental sea like a pale thread of light—and the moment she truly saw it, she clicked her tongue.
His mental sea was vast as an ocean, dark as midnight, and knotted like a ball of ruined thread. Four different ability paths were tangled together so tightly that most healers wouldn’t even know where to start, let alone survive the attempt.
Her magic power cut through the darkness like moonlight, finding the loose ends.
“Chong,” Jiang Tea Tea said, half-mocking, half-impressed, “you’re lucky you met me. With a mental sea like this, any other healer wouldn’t just fail—they’d hurt themselves.”
Chong Ming watched her with a stare so steady it felt heavy. “I feel lucky too.”
Jiang Tea Tea bared her teeth. “Good. Then don’t get any ideas about my cubs. Don’t try to take them from me. Understand?”
“Understood,” Chong Ming said, voice low. “I won’t fight you. The dragon hatchling will always be yours.”
Her mood brightened on the spot. “That’s more like it.”
She kept working, smoothing and untangling as she went. “Your mental sea has been clogged with old grime for too long. I’ll calm it down a bit today. After you pay, I’ll do half an hour for you every day.”
Chong Ming’s restraint was so tight it made his muscles look carved from stone. Veins stood out along his hands as he fought the urge to reach for her—to haul her into his arms, pin her down, and tear at the thin fabric of her sleepwear.
Jiang Tea Tea noticed his silence and narrowed her eyes. “What? You’re not answering—do you think I only care about your one million star credits?”
Chong Ming opened his hand and crooked two fingers at her. “Come here.”
Jiang Tea Tea glared. “I’m not a dog. What’s with that ‘come’ gesture?”
“It means come here,” Chong Ming said simply.
He looked so earnest that, against her better judgment, she leaned closer. “Why?”
The moment she moved into his space, her scent surged—fresh and floral, faintly bitter, like blossoms opening in the dark. She seemed completely oblivious to it.
Chong Ming’s eyes stayed locked on her face. “Stabilizing me and smoothing my mental power costs you energy too.”
He swallowed, voice scraping lower. “You like my blood. You like my flesh. Do you want to bite me while you work, so you can replenish yourself?”
Jiang Tea Tea’s gaze dropped to his neck.
The side she’d bitten earlier still carried faint marks. The other side was clean—smooth skin with a scattering of golden scales like tiny coins catching light. Every one of them seemed to call to her, wordless and irresistible.
She swallowed hard and forced herself to sound coy. “I already bit you this morning and drank your blood. If I bite you again… is that really okay?”
“It’s okay,” Chong Ming said, steady and firm.
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes brightened. “I’m really going to bite, then.”
Chong Ming tilted his head, exposing his throat. His golden eyes held nothing but encouragement. “Come bite.”
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t consider the trap. She didn’t consider that she was the one stepping into it.
She only thought of being full.
Chong Ming’s hand slid behind her back and pulled. In the next breath, he guided her onto his lap—front to front, close enough that she could feel his heat through fabric.
“Like this is easier,” he said, voice ragged.
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t even pretend to resist. She straddled him, leaned in, and bit.
She knew how to do it now—small bite first, just enough to break skin and draw blood, then widen slowly. While she drank, her magic power kept moving, stabilizing and smoothing, teasing apart the knots in his mental sea.
Chong Ming wrapped one arm around her waist and braced her back with his other hand. Her scent clung to him, soaked into him, and lit him from the inside out.
The bite didn’t hurt. It was like a needle prick—only a faint sting, then a spreading numbness that turned into a slow, grinding torment.
And he wanted it.
He enjoyed it.
Memories of that night at First Hotel flashed through him with brutal clarity. Desire surged so hard it pushed more scales to the surface—neck, chest, arms, even down his legs where the robe hid them.
Half an hour crawled by.
Jiang Tea Tea finally withdrew her magic power and released his neck. “Check your mental power. How does it feel?”
Chong Ming opened his eyes, voice hoarse as gravel. “Very good.”
“Good.” Jiang Tea Tea shifted impatiently. “Then let go. Pay up.”
Chong Ming loosened his arms like it cost him something. Jiang Tea Tea slid off his lap and immediately opened her lightbrain, pulling up her payment code and shoving it right in front of his face.
“Pay.”
Chong Ming scanned it without a word.
A moment later, her lightbrain chimed.
One hundred million star credits.
Jiang Tea Tea froze, then snapped her head up. “You overpaid.”
Chong Ming’s voice stayed rough. “Consider it a pre-booking. You gave me a discount. I’m paying ahead before you become famous across the galaxy and raise your rates.”
Delighted greed flickered across Jiang Tea Tea’s face. She stared at her balance like it was a miracle.
Then she looked up just long enough to sneer. “At least you’ve got good judgment.”
Chong Ming watched her, breathing carefully through the desire she stirred without even trying. “From now on, when my abilities backlash and my mental power needs smoothing… it’s yours.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded briskly. “As long as the money is right, the dragon blood is plenty, and the dragon meat is available to bite—no problem.”
“Good,” Chong Ming said, voice low.
He stood, forcing his posture calm. “You sleep. I still have work to handle.”
Jiang Tea Tea flopped back on the bed like a satisfied cat. “Go, go.”
Then she pointed lazily at the light. “Turn it off for me.”
Chong Ming stopped, then came back.
Jiang Tea Tea opened her eyes to find him leaning over her, close enough that their breaths mingled. Her voice tightened. “Why are you back?”
Chong Ming’s gaze was deep, almost dangerous. His voice came out sand-rough. “To tell you something.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s heart jumped. “What?”
Chong Ming spoke slowly, as if each word cost him. “You smell amazing. You’re full of flower scent.”
His eyes flicked upward. “And your head bloomed again.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s breath caught.
Chong Ming’s voice dropped even lower. “Two flowers.”