Since he had not been expecting to have a guest, the room he typically used for his omegas was not ready. He preferred not to have anyone in his own bedroom, since the scent of sex often lingered and he did not want to have it invade his space. His arousal had calmed somewhat, now that he was no longer able to touch or smell the omega, but it still bubbled inside him with an anticipation he had never felt for his sexual partners before.
He reached into the storage drawer under the bed and pulled out the condoms and water bottles. He considered some of the other equipment in the drawer, including the silk ropes that were coiled inside.
He had purchased them when he first decided on the plan he created for handling his sexual urges. It seemed prudent to have restraints when allowing an unknown party into his private chambers, but he'd never actually used them. None of the omegas he'd taken to his bed had ever affected him enough that he would not have been able to immediately overpower them, should they have been sent as part of an assassination attempt. Equally, he'd never had any desire to use them for pleasure. Sex was perfunctory, an obligation of his biology rather than something of actual interest.
He closed the drawer, leaving the ropes untouched. If they became necessary, he knew they were there. Something about this omega was prickling his instincts in ways the others had not.
He went to the armoire, and pulled out the white collar with the jade pendant that was hanging there. He replaced the collar each time, but the pendant was always the same. He felt a low thrum of possessive arousal at the thought of fastening it around Mo Xuanyu's throat. He laid it on the nightstand.
He looked at his watch. It had already been ten minutes. Mo Xuanyu should have been escorted here by now.
He removed his jacket and hung it over the back of the chair.
There was no sound of footsteps in the hall.
He undid his cufflinks, placing them on the bureau, then unbuttoned the cuffs of his white silk shirt.
Irritation flickered through him. He was not a man used to being kept waiting.
He poured himself a glass of water, sipping it slowly. The smallest curl of doubt snaking its way through his mind. Mo Xuanyu had come to his club, wearing his collar (even if Lan Wangji hadn't been the one to give it to him).
It had now been more than twenty minutes. His phone went off, and Lan Wangji recognized it as that of the bar. There could only be one reason for the call.
His lips tightened against the snarl he felt as he realized that Mo Xuanyu was not coming. He slammed the glass down, glaring at the choker on the bed before answering the call.
"What happened," he bit out, already walking towards the door before the bartender began to speak.
He arrived on the main floor of the club to find Mo Xuanyu gone, and the entire room dead silent.
"Where. Is. He." Lan Wangji's voice had been coldly furious as he looked around at his men. Wen Chao was nowhere to be seen, and if he had left with Mo Xuanyu, Lan Wangji was going to make sure the Wen alpha remembered his place in the hierarchy. And that his own men remembered they were here to enforce his rules. The scent of his anger was filling the room. He was not known for losing his temper, and the entire club seemed to be holding its breath to see what would happen.
Su She's face was pale, clearly sensing the danger, but he made the very poor choice of trying to bluster his way through.
"The omega? He left. Which was all for the best. He was drinking . And I caught him talking with another alpha. He was flirting with anyone who looked at him. He was clearly not an appropriate companion for Hanguang-Jun." Su She said, his chin lifted up as though he were trying to look down on everyone, despite Lan Wangji being half a head taller than him.
"I am not interested in your opinions on my private life. Why did he leave?" Lan Wangji's voice was cold and sharp as a razor's edge.
Su She flinched, and did not meet his gaze, nor answer his question. Instead, he glared at the bartender as though to keep him quiet.
The man nodded to Lan Wangji. "Check the video feed. It happened here."
Lan Wangji turned his cold gaze to Su She, who was still avoiding his eyes. It was too late for a simple sign of submission to placate him.
"You will go and kneel in the meeting room." Lan Wangji's voice was cold and controlled. He gave a look to two of his other men, indicating they were to ensure the man complied. He would watch the video and determine the appropriate punishment.
Lan Wangji's lips compressed into a thin line watched the video footage of Su She and 'Mo XuanYu' at the bar, but his face was otherwise expressionless. He had always known that Su She was one of the weaker members of his organization. He should have refused his uncle's request to have the man work at the club, but he had been lenient. Now he was going to have to deal with the man's insubordination and incompetence.
The Lan organization was as strong as it was because discipline was always enforced. If people felt like they could defy orders, or that there was no cost to disloyalty, the organization would be taken down either by the authorities or rival organizations in a heartbeat. Discipline was the root, and it was Lan Wangji's job to ensure no one in his organization forgot it.
Every member was allowed exactly one fuckup, unless it cost another member of the organization their life. Su She had just used his one mistake up. After this, the consequences would be more… permanent.
Lan Wangji ran his hand along the long, bamboo stick he often used for discipline. He had sent one of his men to track down Mo Xuanyu. He hadn't been gone long. The cameras on the outside of the club had shown the direction he was going, and he had left on foot. He would make sure Su She apologized, once he was in a condition to do so.
Su She was kneeling in the very same meeting room that Mo Xuanyu had been in less than an hour ago.
Unlike his interrogation of Mo Xuanyu, however, the floors would need cleaning when Lan Wangji was done with Su She. The beta was lucky this was only his first infraction.
"What do you mean, 'you can't find him'?" Lan Wangji asked the man who had been sent to retrieve Mo Xuanyu. Dealing with Su She had not slaked his frustration enough to keep back the snarl from his voice.
The man flinched, not used to seeing any emotion displayed on his boss's face.
"I… I mean… we can't find him. He just vanished !"
Lan Wangji looked coldly at the man, who shrank under his gaze. "The man was alone and on foot. He left less than fifteen minutes before you went out to find him. We have access to the municipal cameras."
The man bowed repeatedly. The angle was sloppy. It did not help his case. "I know! I know! This one apologizes." The man bowed even lower. "We checked all the cameras. He went out of range on one of the cameras and then he just… never reappeared!"
"Then he either went into a building or got in a car," Lan Wangji said, frustration lancing through him. How were his men this incompetent? This should have been a simple task. It was not hard to find one man. His people were supposed to be professionals. Failure was unacceptable.
"We checked. Some of the cameras on the adjacent blocks are at an angle that you can see the occupants of the cars. He wasn't in any of them. And the buildings are all businesses, and they had already closed. All the doors were locked."
"Keep looking. He has to be somewhere," Lan Wangji bit out.
Either Mo Xuanyu had a key to one of the buildings or he was laying down in the back of one of the cars to remain unseen. It didn't matter. He would know everything about the man when he heard back from his government contact in the morning. He'd decide then what to do about it.
His control on his temper was slipping, and the feeling was very foreign to him. He had not struggled this hard to maintain his emotional control since he was a child. His fists clenched, and he forced them to loosen. Anger would not find him the omega. Emotions were unproductive. He was better than this.
He drew a breath as he turned and walked to his rooms. It was late. The day had been a disaster from the time he got the news about the mysterious deaths, and it was only getting worse. That was probably why the omega's disappearance was getting under his skin so much. He'd already been on edge.
He quickly skimmed through the messages he'd received while he'd been dealing with the situation. It was well past close of business, so there was nothing requiring his immediate attention. He would end this ridiculous day and be fresh and clear-headed in the morning.
He turned on the shower to heat and stripped off his clothes with harsh, precise movements, placing them neatly in the clothes hamper.
Mo Xuanyu had been just a potential fuck. He did not matter. Lan Wangji was probably just feeling some anachronistic alpha urge to chase his omega, triggered by the threat of someone targeting criminal organizations.
As the Dragon Head of the Lan, responsibility for the safety of his people and reputation of his organization rested on his shoulders. It was a duty he took seriously. He needed to stay focused.
His odd reaction to the omega was exactly the sort of over-response his regimented sexual activities were supposed to prevent. Clearly, there was a flaw in his approach that he would need to rectify.
He stepped into the shower, letting out a soft breath as the hot water struck his skin. He felt the heat penetrate his muscles, easing some of the tension that had been coiled in him all day.
Clearly, something about his regimen for handling his sexual impulses was lacking. He had faced stressful situations in the past, and it had never affected him. He took the sandalwood soap in his hands, lathering it up so the fragrance filled the bathroom, mingling with the steam from the shower. The familiarity of it took some of the edge off his anger, letting his thoughts focus more.
Yes. When he thought about it, his last few partners had definitely been lackluster. Maybe he needed to adjust the profile he was looking for. Someone a little less soft, maybe a bit taller. A fragment of the residual anger in his body morphed into a small thrum of low-level arousal.
This was a simple adjustment to make. It would not disrupt his schedule in the slightest. He scrubbed his shoulders and the back of his neck, feeling the contamination of the day's frustration being washed from his skin. He moved his soapy hands down, cleaning his torso, over the defined ridges of his abdomen.
He took pride in his body.
It was disciplined and strong in a way that few were. The physical edge he had honed in his youth had saved his life more than once, and maintaining it had become as ingrained in him as breathing.
Sex was just another form of maintenance. He would see if Mo Xuanyu was interested in coming to the club with an actual invitation. By morning, his men would have found him. Despite walking out, there had been no doubt about Mo Xuanyu's responsiveness to Lan Wangji's touch. He would fulfill the basic need Mo Xuanyu had come to the club for, wearing Lan Wangji's mark.
Lan Wangji lathered more soap onto his hands.
The reminder of how Mo Xuanyu had looked dressed in white caused the banked arousal from earlier in the day to begin to simmer again, along with the anger of finding the man gone. The fault had mostly been Su She's, but Lan Wangji wouldn't be averse to tying the omega to his bedposts and taking him apart for walking out on him. The alpha in him really wanted to hear the man beg for it, wanted to fuck him over and over, have Mo Xuanyu writhing beneath him as he pounded into him.
The thought brought the residual anger and arousal colliding in his body as he slid his hands lower, where his dick was rapidly filling out, hanging thick and heavy between his thighs. He closed a large, soapy hand around his cock, the image of clever, silver eyes watching him.
Undisciplined.
He rarely felt the urge to masturbate. It was not typically satisfactory, and often took an annoying amount of time to reach fulfillment.
He ignored his erection, spending no more time cleaning it than any other part of his body. He would not give in to such base desires, especially when - with no omega pheromones - it was unlikely to have a lasting effect. The buzzing frustration and restlessness in his blood was merely a symptom of his schedule being disrupted. He timed his conjugal appointments to avoid the tediousness of needing to masturbate. His schedule had been thrown off, and Mo Xuanyu had stirred his arousal but left before slaking it.
He rinsed the soap from his body, and toweled himself off. His erection showed no signs of flagging, which irritated Lan Wangji. He had not worked this hard and risen to this level in one of the most powerful crime families in China by wasting time on such pursuits.
When his men found Mo Xuanyu, he would instruct them to invite the omega to his club the next evening, so he could work him out of his system properly and focus on the task at hand.
Except, in the morning, he found out that there were no records of Mo Xuanyu anywhere . Not even in the government databases. Nothing on his name, which was somewhat expected. But even a search of his face came up empty, and that was significantly more concerning. According to the authorities, the man did not exist in any public record. He had never been photographed for any sort of student or government ID. No drivers license. No passport. No record of birth.
Nothing.
Who or what was Mo Xuanyu?
Lan Wangji delayed his trip back to the family compound a full two hours to review every minute of footage from the moment Mo Xuanyu entered the club to the moment he left. He spoke with everyone who had interacted with him.
None of it made any sense.
It is almost impossible to have no records in the system. Twenty years ago, it was easy. But now, with all of the facial recognition software used by so many companies and government agencies, it was an entirely different world. The list of possibilities of the type of person who could accomplish this was very short.
He could be a foreigner, who had entered the country illegally but still was fluent in local dialects. He could have been a child lost or abducted at a young age and intentionally kept out of the system to prevent discovery. Or he could be a very talented hacker who was able to remove his own identity from numerous, extremely sophisticated systems.
None of them would make any sense for why he would show up in Lan Wangji's club dressed as a fucktoy omega. Unless he had been sent to assassinate him, but then he would not have left. Yet reviewing the video footage showed that he did not try to steal anything. He did not try to go into rooms that were off limits. He did not talk to anyone or ask anyone questions about what they did.
He came alone and left alone.
None of it added up, and Lan Wangji had long ago learned to not overlook such inconsistencies.
All he had was more questions. There were no leads he could follow. Frustration surged through him. He wasn't used to failure. What was Mo Xuanyu's game? He looked once more at the video still of the man's face.
Confident. Intelligent. Beautiful.
And, evidently, a person who did not exist.
Lan Wangji's fingertips tingled at the memory of what the man's skin had felt like under his touch. Smooth skin over toned muscles. At the time, he'd thought that the scent of the man had overridden Lan Wangji's usually unshakeable control. So Lan Wangji had walked out of the room, trying to force the man into the role he'd held all of the other's he'd brought to his bed.
It had been a mistake, Lan Wangji realized. Mo Xuanyu wasn't like the others. And the next time Lan Wangji had him in his grasp, he wasn't going to walk away. He was going to get some answers.
And if his mind conjured up images of fucking the omega hard up against the interrogation room wall to get said answers, well...
He wasn't averse to that, either.
But there was news that took precedence over those thoughts. At the time when Lan Wangji was in the meeting room with Mo Xuanyu, another high profile member of a crime family had been killed. This time, it was a hit and run of one of the top captains in the Nie triad. There were no cameras on the street where it happened, and the stolen car that had struck him was found abandoned a few blocks away.
That left the Lan as the only family that hadn't been hit.
Lan Wangji walked into the meeting room at the Lan family compound, the Cloud Recesses. His brother and uncle were already there, waiting for him.
"There's been another killing," Lan Wangji said as he entered, not wasting any time as he handed a folder containing all the information they'd gathered on the four killings to Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren.
The men looked through them in silence for a moment, then Lan Xichen spoke.
"Jin Zixun's death is still officially being called an accident, but a camera in front of one of the buildings just before the crash showed him looking on his phone while the car was on Full Self-Driving mode. Teslas have some issues, but not like this. The building belonged to one of the Jin's brothels, though, so they were reluctant to come forward to the police, since the authorities were likely to ask for copies of the footage, and there were people entering and leaving that did not want their visits made public."
Lan Wangji nodded. Evidently his brother's contact inside the Jin had finally decided to share at least some information, now that things were becoming more public.
"The leak of the details of the Jin's involvement in the sex trafficking ring shortly after Jin Zixun's death was likely not coincidental," Lan Qiren said, his expression showing his distates for such activities. It was one area of 'business' that the Lan had always refused to touch.
Lan Xichen's mouth compressed into a thin line. "The public are now calling for an investigation, even though the source of the information has not been verified."
Lan Wangji looked sharply at his brother. The Jin had been involved in human trafficking since the beginning. It had been their main source of money for a long time. "You doubt it?"
Lan Xichen looked conflicted. "I just think that they have been trying to change their path, recently. And the person who leaked it could have their own agenda, and could have misrepresented things."
"The investigation into the missing people from the villages of Dafan and Yiling has been independently verified. The regions are poor, so it did not make national news, but there were reports at the time, and the authorities were informed. Now that there is public pressure, the investigation is likely to be more thorough."
"Hm," Lan Qiren agreed. "There was a group of Jin operatives killed in Yiling two years ago. They had been working with one of the orphanages there, taking some of the children that fit certain profiles. Some are speculating this was when the person first got involved. They are calling him the Yiling Laozu, because of it."
Lan Wangji's eyebrows rose. "Is there any evidence that the person is operating out of Yiling?"
Lan Qiren shook his head. "The Jin searched the area when it happened. There was no trace of whoever was behind it."
Lan Wangji frowned. That was shortly before he had taken over as head of the Lan Triad from his uncle. "I don't recall the incident."
Lan Qiren nodded. "It was not long after the Jiang massacre. A handful of Jin operatives being killed in the middle of nowhere was not significant, in the broader context."
Lan Wangji refrained from pointing out that it appeared to be quite significant. He would need to go through all of the materials from that time to see if anything else had been overlooked. He met his brother's gaze, and saw the same thought reflected there.
"Yao Zhiqiang's involvement in the Jin sex trafficking ring has been leaked to the public as well. People thought he had run away to avoid arrest until they found his body," Lan Xichen added. "The investigation shows Yao Zhiqiang drove off a bridge that was under construction. Somehow all of the warning signs had been removed, and the man simply followed where his phone navigational system was directing him and drove right off the bridge. But - at least according to his business associates - he wasn't supposed to be in that area at all. The phone seemed to have malfunctioned and wasn't directing him to where he actually had planned to go."
"Or it was hacked, by someone who knew Yao Zhiqiang was the kind of person to follow the instructions blindly," Lan Wangji said.
Lan Qiren glared at him for speaking ill of the dead, but Lan Wangji only arched a brow at him, daring to tell him he was wrong. Lan Qiren harrumphed, but said nothing.
Lan Wangji had never had any respect for the head of the Yao family. The man was a blowhard without an original thought in his body. It was a miracle he hadn't gotten his entire operation shut down years ago. It was only the protection of Jin Guangshan that had kept his organization afloat.
Whoever killed him must have known that.
"It takes a specific type of skill for these sorts of news releases to be untraceable, even by the authorities," Lan Wangji said. Cyber crime was not something the Lan had ever dabbled in. They were traditional in their operations, but perhaps that time had passed. It was frustrating that Lan Wangji had no internal resources to try to track the Yiling Laozu. Too much relying on other people's speculation and guesswork. They knew nothing about them, whether he was a single person or a group, male or female, much less what their agenda was. Still, the Yiling Laozu was as good a name as any to refer to the entity behind the killings.
"There was no release of information after Wen Zhuliu's death. Are we sure it is related?" Lan Xichen asked. "And the Nie guard. There's been nothing from that, either."
"Wen Zhuliu could just be the first step. He was Wen Ruohan's top enforcer. He usually brought him along as a bodyguard, or had him accompany his sons when they went anywhere. But it could be unrelated," Lan Qiren said.
Lan Wangji nodded in acknowledgement of the point. He had been thinking along similar lines "The causes of death for all of them are different. The only thing they have in common is that they all should be untouchable, and there was no hard evidence of foul play."
"Except for the Nie guard," Lan Qiren said, stroking his beard. "That was a clear murder. There was no evidence of who was behind it, but the authorities are getting involved now. Maybe whoever is behind this got impatient and made a mistake."
Lan Wangji thought about the meticulous planning that would have had to go into the other killings. The Nie guard's death didn't really fit. It took incredible skill to pull off the other deaths. The Nie guard could have been killed by anyone who knew his schedule and how to steal a car.
"Or someone else used the uncertainty about the targets to take an enemy out," Lan Wangji said.
Both Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren considered his words. It would be completely destabilizing if people started to use the mysterious Yiling Laozu as a scapegoat that would enable them to go after their own personal grudges.
"The Yiling Laozu must be found," Lan Qiren said. "And their agenda exposed. Relations between the main families are already becoming tense. After what happened with the Jiang, we cannot risk open warfare."
"Mm," Lan Wangji agreed.
The problem was, no one even knew where to start looking.
"The Nie are hosting their annual art gala this week," Lan Xichen said. "I will try to speak with Mingjue and see if he has heard anything."
Lan Wangji was relieved his brother was at least going to attend the gala. Social events had never been Lan Wangji's preference, though he was not sure how effective his brother would be at separating fact from fiction on any rumors he would hear. Lan Xichen was incredibly skilled in many ways, but he could be fooled by overtures of friendship. It was the main reason Lan Wangji had been chosen to be the next Dragon Head of the Lan Triad when his uncle had grown too old.
But his brother was good at maintaining friendly relations with people in power, and getting them to trust him, which was a critical asset for an organization that had lines of business on both sides of the law. If people wanted 'nice', then they could meet with Lan Xichen. Lan Wangji's job was to keep the family business secure.
He knew that people said that he had no emotions. But emotions had been the downfall of his father, and - if Lan Wangji hadn't intervened - would have been the same for his brother. People feared Hanguang-Jun, but they also trusted him completely to always keep his head and make the right call. Neither Jin Guangshan nor Wen Ruohan had the same trust from their organizations.
Having his brother handle the gala would give Lan Wangji more time to search through everything they had that could be tied to the Yiling Laozu. It was clear his uncle had overlooked some things.
Lan Wangji would not.
Given the destabilized situation, Lan Wangji decided to return to the club that same night. He took the files of all information relating to sex trafficking as well as of the Jiang family massacre that his uncle had. He would read them over the next few days to see if there was any other information that had been overlooked.
He was somewhat annoyed to find himself periodically checking the video feeds from the main floor to see if Mo Xuanyu returned. Of course, he didn't. He would be an idiot to come back to the club when it would be certain that Lan Wangji would have discovered his lack of identity by now. And - while Lan Wangji didn't know much about Mo Xuanyu - he knew for a fact the man was not an idiot.
It was unsettlingly quiet at the club, like the electric calm before a storm. Lan Wangji read through reams of his uncle's notes and printouts of articles or police reports. The massacre of the Jiang had been grim, with almost no known survivors. The records of the operation had been wiped so completely that it had been clear they knew it was coming, but had evidently miscalculated the timing of it. The only two known survivors were Jiang Fengmian's two children, both of whom he had kept mostly out of the illegal side of the operations. The son had inherited the family resort at Lotus Cove, but the other financial assets had been seized by the government. The resort would have gone under except for a large cash infusion that had appeared in a bank account set up in Jiang Yanli's name, with no known benefactor.
There had been rumors it had come from her former fiance, Jin Zixuan, but there were no records to confirm this and it would have been extremely unlike Jin Guangshan to have allowed it.
The records of the minor child trafficking ring in Yiling showed a very different profile from the current executions. The hotel where the Jin had been staying had been fully booked by them, with no one else allowed to stay at the hotel at the time. One of the maids had noticed that the room service meals that had been left outside the rooms for dinner had gone untouched, Hotel security had been told by the Jin to stay out of the rooms, even for cleaning, so they had not done anything until the following day.
When they entered the rooms, it had been to find each occupant dead in their own bath tub with their throats slit and the mark that the Jin used to brand their sex workers carved into their chests. The medical examiner had determined that all twenty men had died within two hours of each other, possibly less.
If it had been done by a single individual, they were an exceptional assassin. Lan Wangji was not certain he could have done it so quickly and without being detected, and he had been the lead enforcer of the Lan triad for over six years.
If this had been the Yiling Laozu, then there was no way this had been his first kill. But if it had been a group, it was odd that no one had talked, and that there was no organization claiming the kills. It would have been a perfect opening to stake a claim on Yiling.
Lan Wangji went down to the main floor, as he always did as the evening grew late. It was important to be visibly in control of things, when rumors were spiraling.
His gaze drifted past the room where he had taken Mo Xuanyu, and he felt the frustration that had been building about the lack of information on the Yiling Laozu bleed into his frustration with the disappearance of Mo Xuanyu. His whole body was on edge in a way he was not accustomed to.
His schedule had been disrupted, both in his business and personal life. There was no way to immediately fix the former, but the latter was solvable. He had been planning on inviting another omega to the club. He would simply do so, and alleviate the oddly intense sexual frustration that was still churning in his system. It was likely due to the fact that he had never been turned down before. It was annoying, but fixable by simply bedding a different omega.
Mo Xuanyu was not what he had appeared to be, and Lan Wangji would be foolish to take him to his bed without learning who he was and what he was after, first.
After an hour in the main club, he retired to his private room to get ready for bed. He showered and changed into a pair of white silk sleep pants. Once in bed, he pulled up one of the apps he used for his hookups. He had a number of profiles saved that he had been considering before Mo Xuanyu's unexpected arrival.
Looking at them now, though, he couldn't understand why he had found them appealing before. They were all soft and pliant-looking. Beautiful, yes, but completely uninteresting. He would have to adjust his search parameters.
His phone chimed, with a text from one of the hook-up apps he used appearing, notifying him of a new profile that had been added that matched his browsing history. Lan Wangji frowned at the text. He never gave out his personal cell phone for any of the dating apps. He did not click the link that had been attached to it. He would call the company tomorrow and find out if they had sent it and - if so - make sure the number was removed from their systems.
The text felt off to him. He'd never received one before. And what 'browsing history' were they referring to?
The timing was… odd.
He opened the app on his phone without clicking the link, and sorted his search under 'newly added profiles' rather than doing a general search.
The first group of them included alphas and females, and none of them looked familiar or interesting. Lan Wangji narrowed the search to male omegas, which - while not rare were definitely a minority.
There were still many profiles, but there was one profile picture that had Lan Wangji's grip tightening on his phone. Mo Xuanyu. The account was created only hours ago.
The profile photo was cropped to show only the exaggerated arch of a narrow waist, curving into the lush swell of a toned ass. The man was wearing very familiar, thin white pants. The golden skin of the slender lower back was smooth, glistening over lean muscles as though an oil had been applied to his skin. Lan Wangji's hands curled into fists at the sight of the two dimples at the base of the familiar arched spine. He knew exactly what they felt like beneath his fingertips, how the man's body had responded instantly, arching to his touch. He'd had his hands on them less than two days ago. His dick was already starting to lengthen against the white silk of his sleep pants at the memory of it.
It already was showing significant activity, based on the tracker next to it that showed profile views. The app liked to target the alpha competitiveness by showing how many others were currently viewing an omega's profile, and how many times the omega had responded to an outreach. The thought of so many other alphas seeing Mo Xuanyu in Lan Wangji's outfit made something dark coil dangerously in his stomach.
Lan Wangji clicked on the profile to see if Mo Xuanyu had any other information. He noticed some text, but his eyes were immediately drawn to the other photos that filled his phone's screen. His stomach tightened, his hips flexing up instinctively at the sight of so much bare skin. Much more than he'd had the chance to view in the interrogation room.
The first photo appeared to be a selfie, based on the angle, and was of the same outfit, but from the front. He was laying down on a bed of white, rumpled sheets. It was clear he was not wearing a shirt in this, because it showed his entire stomach down to just below his hips.
There was a smear of dirt or grease across the defined abs, and also some marring the white of the pants. For some reason, seeing his clothes (even if he hadn't been the one to procure them for the omega, they were his ) so soiled and rumpled felt like a personal taunt. It was as though Mo Xuanyu had personally disrespected the symbol of Lan Wangji's protection and the mark of his interest.
The thin fabric did nothing to hide the shape of the omega's hard dick beneath it. His back was arched so the lower part of his spine didn't even touch the mattress, his legs bent at the knee so the cropped photo captured the V-like angle between the rise of his lower back, his ass, arched into the mattress, and his lean thighs.
Mo Xuanyu was taunting him, and flaunting himself to other alphas. Anger and arousal pounded through his body in a heady combination.
All Lan Wangji could think of was wrapping his hands around those thighs, prying them open and fucking into him ruthlessly. Punishing him for walking out. Punishing him for disappearing so completely. Disciplining him for getting so dirty in the clothes that marked him as Lan Wangji's. He realized his dick was rock hard, flushed and leaking, at the force of the image in his head.
It was dangerous.
Mo Xuanyu was an unknown entity. He hadn't made any moves against the Lan, so he wasn't marked as an enemy, but that did not make him a friend. He was a wild card, and Lan Wangji needed to be able to keep a clear head about it, but it was almost impossible for him to do so.
He placed a hand on top of the sheet where his erection was tenting the fabric. Instead of closing the app like he knew he should, he clicked on the next photo.
It showed Mo Xuanyu in the shower, the glass door fogged with steam, but the outline of his naked body was clear. His arms were raised to hold his long, black hair under the stream of the shower, his head tilted back. The shower door was just transparent enough to show the long cascade of soap bubbles sliding down his body. Lan Wangji knew the man's skin would be slippery with the soap, and it made him think about how it would feel beneath his hands, How tightly he would have to grip his hips to hold him steady while he fucked him, pinned against the shower wall so he couldn't get away again.
Lan Wangji tossed the sheets to the side, unlacing the drawstring of his pajama pants and pushing them down around his thighs. His dick was thick and hard against his stomach, and he hissed out a breath as his fist closed around it.
The next photo was of a very wet Mo Xuanyu wearing what seemed to be a red mesh tank top pushed down around his hips. The photo was taken from behind him, from an angle that was from high above to show his body from the middle of his back on down. It was the perspective that a tall alpha would have, looking down at the man's ass from behind. The angle of the shot made the omega's legs look impossibly long and his ass look biteably curved. There were water droplets running down his skin, making the red mesh cling to his curves. The fabric concealed absolutely nothing, but it made Lan Wangji's fingers itch to peel it off him, and thrust his long fingers into the wetness between his cheeks.
Final photo was cropped to show the man's jaw, a long, slender throat, arched invitingly, ending in a sharply defined collarbone. This photo was purely flaunting the unmarked neck, bared in invitation to scent it. Or bite it. Lan Wangji's hand worked faster, his teeth clenched. Precum lessened the friction of his calloused hand over his sensitized cock. He closed his eyes, imagining fucking into Mo Xuanyu's smirking mouth as the man knelt at his feet, then dragging him up by his hair, turning him around, and fucking his perfect ass until the man begged him to stop.
He came, the cords on his neck stretched taut as ribbons of cum spurted all over his stomach in pulse after pulse.
When he finally came down, he reached over to the nightstand to grab a tissue to wipe up most of the mess. Despite having just climaxed, his body still felt restless and dissatisfied. The photos were no substitute for the real man, the way his skin had felt under his touch, the way his body had moved beneath him, the way his scent had clouded Lan Wangji's mind.
He realized that he didn't actually have to choose. He could be fully aware of Mo Xuanyu's potential danger, and still indulge in the man's body. He would not be stupid about it. He would not let his guard down.
He picked up his phone to see what other information he could find about 'Mo Xuanyu'. There was no address given, but there was a general location which appeared to be about three blocks from the club. Right about where Mo Xuanyu had disappeared.
There were no residential buildings there, and Lan Wangji recognized it for the taunt that it was.
"Shameless," Lan Wangji said, though - on a certain level - he had to admire the balls on the man. No one else would dare to bait him in such a way. Even other alphas treaded carefully around him.
The thought had barely formed before he found himself reading the profile description. The words caused a visceral spike of possessive anger to flood through him, blinding and unfamiliar in its intensity.
" Just had a date with an alpha who was supposed to rock my world, but he left me totally unsatisfied. Think you can do better? Looking for an alpha who's actually up to the task."
His hand tightened on the phone so much the screen almost cracked. Mo Xuanyu was playing a very dangerous game, and Lan Wangji was going to ensure he learned the consequences of doing so.
He wondered again at the omega's agenda. The text had definitely not come from the app. He was sure of it. He'd never received a text from them before and there was no way he would ever release personal information to a site like this.
Somehow, Mo Xuanyu had gotten his number while he had been at the club. It should have been concerning, because it was a serious breach in his security but at the moment all that mattered to Lan Wangji was that Mo Xuanyu wanted him to find his profile. He had given Lan Wangji a way to contact him. And - so far, at least - Mo Xuanyu had not responded to any of the other alphas who had responded to his profile.
Lan Wangji was a man who thought about his moves before he made them, and he was smart enough that his decisions were usually correct. He was not, therefore, used to regretting his actions. But in that moment, he regretted nothing more than the decision to walk out of that interrogation room without fucking Mo Xuanyu. Or - perhaps better - not dragging the man with him to his bed when he left.
It was not a mistake Lan Wangji would make again.
He was tempted to send a message to 'Mo Xuanyu's' account. But he knew the man was likely waiting for it. Why else would he have sent the text? The app did not notify anyone who had viewed their profile, so Lan Wangji decided he would wait until the next day to message him.
Mo Xuanyu wasn't going to call all the shots in this little dance, and Lan Wangji wanted to make sure the man knew it.
The next morning, Lan Wangji asked the head of security for the club how to trace a text from what was almost definitely a spoofed number. He was not surprised when he was informed that it was basically impossible. It did nothing to calm the slow bubbling frustration and impatience beneath his cool exterior.
The Lan family had no presence in cyber crime, and Lan Wangji had not felt the need to change that. He was rethinking his decision. Even if only for a defensive measure, he needed to get some hackers on his team. The problem was - as with hitmen - the good ones didn't really advertise themselves.
Su She was being careful to keep out of his way. Lan Wangji had been surprised the man had made it into work. He was known for calling in sick with even the most minor of colds, and Lan Wangji had not gone gentle with the punishment. He was skilled enough with the cane to ensure no broken bones or organ damage, but the bruises he'd left on Su She's back and forearms would be there for at least a week.
Something about the man had always not sat well with Lan Wangji, but - increasingly - he was beginning to think that Su She was more of a liability than he'd initially considered. It wasn't just that the man was arrogant without anything to back it up. Su She didn't get along well with anyone in the organization, and showed minimal respect to his superiors.
Lan Wangji had the sense that, if there were any way for Su She to leave the organization other than in a body bag, he would do it. Those were the most dangerous operatives to an organization, because they could easily be bought. If anyone offered Su She a payout large enough that he thought he could use it to get away and hide, he would take it.
Lan Wangji was not one to execute a man without evidence, though, so he would keep an eye on the man for a week or two before making his decision.
He was surprised when he was notified that Nie Huaisang had come to the club and was asking to speak with him. The Nie heir had only ever come to the club with his brother, and only for a prearranged appointment.
Lan Wangji went out to the main floor to greet him, and see what news Nie Huaisang brought.
"Hanguang-Jun!" Nie Huaisang greeted. He was dressed in a dark grey-green silk suit, carrying one of his signature fans.
Lan Wangji noticed several people watching the interaction. News of the latest killing must have begun circulating, with the Lan family now being the odd man out in terms of not losing members.
"Nie Huaisang," Lan Wangji replied.
He gestured for Nie Huaisang to follow him to one of the quiet tables towards the back of the club. Nie Huaisang looked around in a way that seemed almost flighty, but was actually very methodical. Lan Wangji thought the man often used the fact that he was an omega to make others disregard him. It was a mistake Lan Wangji was careful not to make. He had played go with the man when they were children, and knew exactly the kind of mind that hid behind those eyes.
"It's quiet today," Nie Huaisang commented as they took their seats.
"It's early," Lan Wangji replied.
"Hm," Nie Huaisang said, waving his fan slowly in front of his face as he watched Lan Wangji. The silence stretched for several moments, but Lan Wangji felt no need to fill it. If Nie Huaisang had come looking for conversation, he had approached the wrong Lan brother.
Finally, Nie Huaisang spoke. "I heard that Lan Xichen will be attending the gala on Friday."
Lan Wangji inclined his head slightly. The verification of his brother's attendance would not have necessitated a 6 hour trip by high speed train from Qinghe. And the trip would have been to see Lan Xichen in Cloud Recesses, not Lan Wangji's club.
"I think you might find it interesting as well," Nie Huaisang said.
Lan Wangji had never attended them in the past, so his assertion was interesting. He looked over to see Su She watching them closely. Nie Huaisang turned to follow his gaze.
"Not one of your favorites?" he asked, smiling behind his fan.
Lan Wangji did not acknowledge the (correct) statement, but focused on the earlier invitation.
"Brother usually handles large social events for the Family."
"Ah, yes. You have other obligations, don't you, Hanguang-Jun?" Nie Huaisang asked.
There was nothing about his words that explicitly stated he knew what Lan Wangji's role was in the Family, but - somehow - it was implied.
Su She was watching them, paying no attention to the happenings in the club around them. Lan Wangji motioned to one of his men, and they approached Su She and directed him to the other side of the club. The man was annoyed, but - after a glare in Lan Wangji's direction - he acceded.
"Do not play games," Lan Wangji said to Nie Huaisang. "Why are you here?"
Nie Huaisang fluttered his fan in a way that always made him look ineffectual, but the eyes locked on Lan Wangji shone with a keen, hard-edged intelligence.
"Hm. Direct as always. I'm here to continue our discussion from the other day, when you had to leave rather abruptly. With the most recent news, people are remarking that the Lan are now the only family who has not been targeted by our mysterious friend."
Lan Wangji narrowed his eyes. "Is that an accusation?"
Nie Huaisang's eyes widened theatrically. "Oh, no! I would never make such an accusation. Especially not here, in the dragon's lair, so to speak."
Ah. The man was no longer even trying to pretend that he didn't know.
"The Lan and the Nie have been allies for over a century," Lan Wangji said. It was both a reminder and a threat that such things could change.
Nie Huaisang looked at Lan Wangji for a moment, letting his facade drop.
"I know the Lan are not behind the executions."
Lan Wangji considered the certainty of the man's words carefully. There could be only one way he could be so sure.
"You know who is."
Immediately, Nie Huaisang's walls were back up, and he tittered and fluttered his fan.
"Oh! No, I mean, how could I? I don't know. I really don't know. But…," he paused. "It just seems as though the last act was a bit… different? Than the others."
Lan Wangji nodded slowly. He would get no more information out of Nie Huaisang than what the man was willing to give, so there was no point in asking. "Yes."
"It would be unfortunate if others saw this as an opportunity."
That was true, but it did not explain why Nie Huaisang was here.
"I have been trying to get in touch with someone. I have not been successful. But I have invited them to the gala." Nie Huaisang looked around the room seemingly idly. "I believe you would also like to get in touch with them."
There seemed to be an odd weight to the man's words, but Lan Wangji supposed it was no secret that basically every syndicate would like to 'get in touch' with the person going around picking off high ranking members of their organizations. Lan Wangji wondered if every sect had received a similar invitation. If Nie Huaisang knew Lan Wangji's rank, it would partially explain why he was speaking with Lan Wangji instead of Lan Xichen.
"Mm. I will attend with Brother."
Nie Huaisang smiled. "Excellent. And if you happen to get to speak with my… 'special guest' before I do, please let him know that I remember the seeds he shared with me."
Lan Wangji looked at Nie Huaisang, waiting for him to explain the strange comment, but the man simply fluttered his fan and changed the topic to the specific artists that would be displayed at the gala.
Later that night, Lan Wangji opened the app and found Mo Xuanyu's profile again. The omega had received over three hundred messages, and only responded to one. Lan Wangji frowned, wishing the app would let him know which alpha he responded to, and what the content of it was.
He typed out a message. It would be unlikely that Mo Xuanyu would return on his own to the club without an invitation, but the fact that the man had sent him a link to his profile could mean he would be open to it, if Lan Wangji contacted him.
If you were unsatisfied, perhaps you should not have left. Though, since you took the time to find out my phone number, perhaps you were not as dissatisfied as you claimed to be.
I will be at the club tomorrow night. I can let security know to admit you even without my token.
It was less than ten minutes later when he received a response.
Not the club
I don't like some of the people you have working for you at the club
You might want to consider replacing some of them.
Lan Wangji considered the response. It could be simply pointing the obvious incompetence of Su She, but it could be more. Lan Wangji would like to find out. It was unlikely that the man Nie Huaisang was searching for would show up with all of his enemies gathered in one, heavily fortified location. If Lan Wangji was going to spend a night out of town, he might as well make use of it.
I have an engagement in Qinghe Friday night.
There was a longer pause this time, and Lan Wangji figured the man was going to say no. Qinghe was not close. It would take hours to get there even by high speed train. It was an expense that was insignificant to Lan Wangji, but he had no idea of the financial status of Mo Xuanyu. He typed a second message, in case that was the issue.
I could pay your train fare, if that is an issue.
This time, the response was almost immediate.
Ooh, is gege going to pay this one's way? Should I be flattered?
Lan Wangji frowned and typed.
If I require company, I often pay the expenses of my companion.
Another, longer pause followed. Finally, Mo Xuanyu responded.
If I go, I'll find my own way there.
The refusal to let him pay irritated Lan Wangji in the same way that having the man wear a replica of the clothing and jade token he usually provided his omegas did. Lan Wangji was used to being the one in control.
The man was not commiting to be there. Lan Wangji disliked ambiguity. But he wanted to see Mo Xuanyu for more than one reason so he forced himself to keep things cordial. There would be time for questions when he had the man in a place where he couldn't disappear again.
This is the hotel I will be staying at. I will leave you a key to my room at the front desk.
He considered the blatant taunting in the omega's profile, and found he couldn't quite bring himself to leave it at that.
If the key is not there, then I have found other companionship for the evening.
He closed the app, not wanting to get drawn further into the exchange. It was clear the man was not going to tell him anything useful, and Lan Wangji did not enjoy being toyed with.
He considered whether or not to also leave the jade token along with the ticket, but decided that - if the man showed up - Lan Wangji would prefer to tie it around his throat with his own hands.
The next day, Su She exhibited his typical pettiness and didn't show up at the club, calling in 'sick' instead. Lan Wangji told two of his men to keep an eye on Su She's apartment to ensure the man didn't leave or meet with anyone while he knew Lan Wangji was out of town.
He packed his overnight bag, adding a few extra items, then headed for Qinghe.
Lan Wangji scanned the room for possibly the hundredth time that night. It was good that his face never showed any expression, so no one other than his brother noticed it. Lan Wangji had contemplated many hours about whether or not to share what Nie Huaisang had told him with Lan Xichen, but had decided that he would not. He loved his brother, but sometimes he took people too much at face value and trusted where he should not.
Nie Huaisang also appeared to be equally on alert, though few could probably tell.
The dinner had concluded, and the open bar was flowing as people discussed both business and art. It was tedious. Senior members of the Wen and Jin sects were in attendance, but Lan Wangji was somewhat surprised to see Wen Xu here instead of Wen Chao. Typically, if it involved an open bar, Wen Chao volunteered to represent his family. Lan Wangji wondered if Wen Xu was there for the same reason he was.
It looked as though - whomever Nie Huaisang had hoped to lure here - the man had had enough sense of self-preservation to decline. It was not surprising.
Lan Wangji was somewhat more irritated that Mo Xuanyu had also not shown up. He had paid the man at the front desk of the hotel to notify him if the key he'd left was picked up by anyone, but - so far - Mo Xuanyu had been a no show. Lan Wangji felt his restlessness grow each hour that there was no word from either the hotel nor Mo Xuanyu. Lan Wangji had always been a man of restraint and control, but the next time he had Mo Xuanyu in his grasp, he was not going to let him go until he'd worked him out of his system. Thoroughly.
A waiter moved past, one of many servers carrying trays of drinks. Something about the man caught Lan Wangji's instincts to stir. He frowned, watching as the server continued to walk, effortlessly navigating the crowded room with the tray of drinks. At first glance, there was nothing about him that should have captured Lan Wangji's attention. His hair was perhaps slightly more unkempt in its high, messy bun, but he was wearing the same long, mid-thigh-length black tunic with its high collar that every other member of the staff was wearing. The unexceptional, loose pants beneath it were a dark green. Several of them were wearing black face masks, due to concerns about the latest flu going around. Even the man's scent had been indistinct as he walked past, though there was a slight note of something….
Lan Wangji's eyes narrowed.
He studied the man more closely, his eyes drawn to the arch of his slender neck. The way the man carried himself was familiar, even if he was not trying to draw the attention of the alphas in the room. Unlike the first time Lan Wangji had seen him.
He was walking towards Mo Xuanyu before he even realized it. A muscle in his jaw clenched as he saw Wen Xu reach up to pluck a drink from the tray he carried. Mo Xuanyu was about to turn away, when Wen Xu said something that made him freeze. It was not so abrupt that others might notice, but Lan Wangji had been watching him closely, and saw the way his back tensed, his head snapping back to look at the alpha who was now watching Mo Xuanyu with an intensity that had Lan Wangji's hackles rising. He hung back, wanting to see how it would play out.
Wen Xu continued speaking, and Mo Xuanyu remained perfectly still, his body rigid and wary. Wen Xu leaned close and whispered something in his ear. Lan Wangji's hand clenched into fists at his side. Mo Xuanyu had come to Lan Wangji's club, wearing his mark. He'd left, but he'd also made sure Lan Wangji saw the photos he'd posted. Now he was here, letting another alpha whisper in his ear instead of waiting back in Lan Wangji's hotel room.
Wen Xu reached over to the bar and wrote something on one of the napkins there, before slipping it into the front pocket of Mo Xuanyu's uniform. Mo Xuanyu said nothing, but allowed him to do it. Wen Xu looked him up and down one last time, gave him a slow smirk that had Lan Wangji's temper snapping, then left
Lan Wangji watched from the shadows as Mo Xuanyu quickly handed off his tray of drinks to another server, then disappeared down a hallway. Lan Wangji glanced around to make sure no one else had noticed the exchange, then followed.
That was the second Wen that Lan Wangji had seen Mo Xuanyu talking to, and he was going to get some answers.