Chapter 1

The senior I had secretly loved for years locked me in a basement.

He called me a rat, burned my face with cigarette butts, and surgically removed my scent gland.

He believed this was the only way to avenge his younger brother, who had been bullied.

When I finally died just as he wished, he fell to his knees, begging for my forgiveness.

1.

My body was burning, and my pale face was flushed with an unnatural heat.

"Please, mark me, or just give me a little of your pheromones..."

The room was filled with the sweet, heavy scent of peaches, and I knew my pheromones were leaking uncontrollably.

These were the symptoms of an omega's heat; only an alpha's mark or a release of pheromones could soothe the pain.

But Killian Graves tightened the iron chain around my neck, and the sensation of suffocation began to rise.

He backhanded me across the face, and the burning sting forced me back to a state of painful clarity.

"You disgusting freak, do you really think you're worthy?" Killian gripped my hair, his eyes bursting with raw hatred.

"People like you deserve to go straight to hell!"

"I want to tear you into a thousand pieces!"

His cold, cruel voice echoed above me.

I looked up at his familiar, handsome face, the physical pain in my face radiating deep into my heart.

It was hard to reconcile the gentle, warm-hearted senior I once knew with the dark, crazed man before me, yet they were the same person.

How did it come to this?

Killian, who had once reached out to save me from school bullies and became the light in my life, had turned into a monster who locked me in a basement and subjected me to endless verbal abuse.

"Senior, is there some kind of misunderstanding..."

Dark clouds seemed to swirl in Killian's eyes, his presence as menacing as an oncoming storm.

He gripped my chin with force.

"A misunderstanding? Ha, I've investigated everything."

"If it weren't to get revenge on you, I would never have gotten close to you."

"You know, your pheromones really smell repulsive."

"Leo Sterling, you make me want to vomit."

The word "disgusting" spilled from his lips, echoing in my ears like a curse.

Something shattered in my mind.

I heard my own voice, weak and trembling, as I asked:

"Why are you taking revenge on me? What did I ever do to you?"

Hearing this, Killian grew even more agitated; he grabbed my collar, his gaze filled with intense malice.

"There was a boy named Caleb Graves. He once asked you for help. But you? You ignored him."

"It drove him to jump off the school roof! Do you know he had a paralyzing fear of heights?"

The agony of my heat remained unmitigated, and my consciousness began to blur...

In the end, I heard Killian's voice as an inhibitor was jabbed mercilessly into my skin.

"Don't die yet. I'm going to torment you slowly, so you can feel the exact same despair he felt."

As my senses returned, I felt like a dying fish tossed back into the water, gasping for air as if I had just survived a disaster.

Caleb Graves...

The name sounded so familiar.

A moment later, I remembered who he was.

He was a victim of the bullying by a group led by Jaxson―just like me.

One day, while I was being shoved headfirst into a toilet, another beautiful boy was dragged in beside me.

His name was Caleb.

Jaxson grabbed his face with a wicked grin and said: "Not bad, he's got the look of someone who can serve." As he spoke, he began unbuckling his belt.

Caleb pressed against the wall, shivering, with nowhere to run.

He looked at me for help, but the next second, my own head was shoved back into the toilet. The foul, stinging liquid filled my nose, and I was unable to move a muscle.

Omega bodies are generally weak, making it impossible to fight off a strong alpha.

I'm sorry, I was powerless to do anything...

Later, I heard that Caleb, unable to bear the humiliation, leaped from the roof.

So, Killian transferred to this school just to avenge Caleb. He took care of Jaxson and his crew, and finally, it was my turn.

In those dark, sunless days, Killian had been the light sent from heaven, illuminating my world and dulling my suffering.

In the cramped storage room, I had been pushed onto the cold, bone-chilling floor.

Mocking laughter had come from all directions.

"Look at this pretty boy. I heard plenty of people have had him."

"Really? Isn't he just a public bus?"

Countless hands had groped my body as if I were nothing but a toy for sale at a market.

Killian had appeared like a hero, pushing them away.

How many times had I felt genuine gratitude for his appearance?

But it turned out his kindness was calculated from the start―it was just a step in his plan for revenge.

He believed in boiling a frog in water; he knew that suffering in increments was far more painful than a single fatal blow.