(In case you guys forgot the side stories and want to reread it, it spans from Chapter 206 to 214 and Chapter 264 to 272. This is the continuation.)

The bass from the speakers vibrated in the soles of my shoes, but it felt like it was coming from miles away. I stood there, swaying, my skin slick with a heat that no evening breeze could cool. My eyes strained to focus, and that’s when I saw them.

​The four of them were lined up at the bar like a firing squad in silk ties. They looked bored, detached, their AirPods cutting them off from the screeching hypocrisy of the party. It was the one place I shouldn’t be, yet my legs had brought me right to the center of the trap.

​Seo-Jun was the first to shift. He didn’t even look up at first, but his shoulders tensed as if he’d caught a scent in the wind that didn’t belong. He pulled one AirPod out, the white cord dangling against his tan neck, and turned his head. When his red-tinted eyes landed on me—standing there in that ridiculous white suit, trembling and drenched in a cold sweat—his grin didn’t just appear; it sharpened.

​"Well, look at what the cat dragged in," he murmured, his voice cutting through the haze in my head.

​He didn’t wait for an answer. He reached out and grabbed my wrist, his fingers clamping down like a vice. His skin was unnaturally hot, or maybe I was just that cold. The contact sent a jolt through my system that made my knees buckle. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

​"You look like you’re about to fall apart, Jo-Pil," he said, pulling me a half-inch closer. "And you smell... heavy."

​The moment his words hit the air, the silence at the bar shattered. Jin-Yeok stood up so fast his chair screeched against the floor, his eyes instantly locking onto Seo-Jun’s hand on my arm. Even Min-Cheol stopped spinning his drink, his youthful face clouding over with something dark and possessive.

​But it was Ki-hoon who moved last. He took out his own AirPods, his gaze dropping to my white-knuckled grip on the bar counter. He didn’t say anything at first, but the air around him seemed to thicken, a heavy, suffocating pressure that made it even harder for me to catch my breath.

​"Let go of him, Seo-Jun," Ki-hoon said, his voice low and dangerous.

​"Why? I found him first," Seo-Jun countered, his thumb deliberately brushing against the racing pulse in my wrist.

​I looked from one to the other, my vision blurring. I wanted to tell them to stop, to tell them I just needed to get to my room, but my throat felt like it was filled with sand. All I could feel was the weight of their eyes and the heat clawing its way into my chest.

The pressure of their combined stares felt like a physical weight on my chest, pinning me to the spot more effectively than Seo-Jun’s hand ever could.

My breath was coming in short, ragged hitches, and I could feel the heat behind my neck beginning to throb, pulsing in time with the frantic beat of my heart.

​Jin-Yeok stepped forward, his shadow falling over me. The polished, gentlemanly smile he usually wore was gone, replaced by a tight, focused intensity. He didn’t look at the party; he looked at the sweat beading on my forehead and the way my glasses were slipping down the bridge of my nose.

​"He’s not a trophy for you to fight over, Seo-Jun," Jin-Yeok said, his voice dropping into a register that made my skin crawl.

He reached out, his hand hovering near my shoulder, not quite touching but close enough that I could feel the radiation of his own Alpha scent—sharp, like cedar and cold rain.

Then he added, "He can barely stand. Look at his eyes."

​"I am looking," Seo-Jun shot back, his grip tightening. "I’m looking at someone who’s been hiding a very delicious secret. Aren’t you, kitten?"

​He leaned in, his nose inches from the side of my neck, taking a deep, deliberate breath. I flinched, my whole body jerking as if I’d been burned. The instinct to bolt was screaming in my ears, but my legs felt like they were made of lead.

​"Stop it," I rasped, the word barely audible over the thump of the music behind us.

​Min-Cheol slid off his barstool, his movements fluid and cat-like. He walked around to my other side, effectively boxing me in. He wasn’t smiling anymore.

The ’child’ I’d sat with in the study lounge was gone; in his place was someone who looked at me like I was a problem he intended to solve.

​"You’re making a scene," Min-Cheol whispered, his blue eyes darting to the students watching us from the dance floor. "And you’re making him suffer. If he’s going to break, it shouldn’t be out here where everyone can see."

​"Then we take him inside," Jin-Yeok suggested, his hand finally dropping onto my shoulder. It was a heavy, possessive weight.

​Suddenly, a large, calloused hand clamped down on Seo-Jun’s wrist—the one holding me.

​We all froze. Yes, including me.

​Ki-hoon hadn’t moved an inch from his spot, but his arm was extended, his grip on Seo-Jun so firm that I saw Seo-Jun’s fingers involuntarily twitch and loosen on my skin. Ki-hoon’s face was a mask of cold stone, his eyes dark and bottomless.

​"I told you to let go," Ki-hoon said. It wasn’t a suggestion this time. It was an ultimatum.

​The air between the four of them turned static, thick with the pheromones of four dominant Alphas all pushing against each other for territory. For a second, I thought they were going to tear each other apart right there on the marble floor.

​I looked up at Ki-hoon, my vision swimming, and for the first time, I didn’t see the "monk" or the quiet loner. I saw a man who was just as dangerous as the rest of them, his jaw set in a hard line.

​"Jo-Pil," Ki-hoon said, his voice softening just a fraction as he looked at me. "Can you walk?"

​I tried to nod, but the movement made the world tilt. I felt myself slipping, my knees finally giving out as the last of my strength evaporated. I waited for the impact of the floor, but it never came.

​Instead, I felt a pair of strong arms scoop me up before I could hit the tiles. I couldn’t tell whose they were—everything was a blur of white suit fabric and the confusing, overwhelming scent of four different Alphas—but I felt the sudden, dizzying sensation of being carried away from the edge of the roof, away from Lady Ahn’s laughter, and into the dark, quiet belly of the building.