59 Awareness V

Yuliang stared up at the ceiling as he sat up against the headboard of his bed, trying to process the load of information Yukio had presented to him in his two-hour long rant.

It was amazing how much he had missed out on while unconscious for just a week.

Which in itself was something incomprehensible to Yuliang because the last time he'd performed Energy Transcendence, it had only involved two injured patients and the Energy drain had knocked him out for about four weeks afterwards.

This time, he'd performed it on a shit-tonne more people than that for who knows how long and he'd only needed a week to recover?

It was un-fucking-believable. He needed to get the details from someone, maybe Eric, and record it in his journal to discuss it with granny when he got back.

On the other, more annoying, hand, he was actually famous now. Which sucked. The bulk of Yukio's complaints had involved being accosted by either random people or reporters. Yuliang's stomach filled with a mixture of anger and dread. Anger at the people who had harassed his brother and dread that he might potentially have to experience it himself. Thankfully, their university had taken care of the matter by closing the doors to the public, due to the disturbance to the students. So as long as Yuliang stays inside until this dies down, he should be fine.

Honestly, though, Yuliang didn't get what the big deal was. He understood that fame generally went hand in hand with being a Healer. There were too few of them in the country for them to not be a big deal, but this was a little premature wasn't it? He was still an intern. Could this not have happened after he got Certified and returned home so that he wouldn't have to actually deal with it?

"I know you were doing your job, brother, but it might have helped if you had just decided to go about Healing people the normal way, instead of using some obscure method," Yukio said, drily.

Yuliang shrugged, "Too many people were dying. I did what I had to."

Eric made a thoughtful sound. "How would you know that, Yuliang? You barely stepped inside before you started Healing," he commented.

"The smell of death," Yuliang said, tapping his nose. He'd spent too much around the dead and the dying in his life not to know the smell of it. The suffocating odour of a person's Life Energy leaking out.

"The smell of death?" Elys repeated, looking at him with big curious blue eyes.

Yuliang nodded. "Yeah. When you're more experienced, you'll become in tune with the subtle signs emitted by the bodies."

Eric sighs, "I keep forgetting that you're the only one between us with real-world experience working as a Healer."

Yuliang shrugged again. What could he say to that?

That brought his attention back to the matter of the two omegas.

This took a bit more time to comprehend, but Yuliang tried simplifying it the best he could to help himself process it.

To start with, the Rydel family and Eric's family were both Lycan families of aristocratic descent.

Eric was Conrad Rydel's betrothed, making him Elys' future brother-in-law.

Apparently during one of the times the two had come to check on him, Yuliang had somehow regained consciousness, transformed into his Lycan form and bitten them with intent to Claim, to which they had submitted.

Eric had submitted since he could not transform outside the full-moon and thought it was easier to submit than fight back with a borderline feral Lycan. However he assured Yuliang he was very happy with the situation and committed to the situation regardless of how it came to be.

Elys on the other hand was purely delighted by the situation and had none of the underlying tension that Eric tried to, but failed to hide. Regardless there wasn't much Yuliang could do about the situation now since they had submitted to him and his authority in the most primal and ancient way possible. As far as Yuliang knew, a Claim Mark was a contract sealed by the Will of Selene, something easy to form, but impossible to break.

Thankfully only other person present to witness the moment had just been Yukio. Yuliang couldn't imagine the disaster they would have at hand if normal humans accidentally discovered the existence of their species. They may look and act human in every way that counts, but they were fundamentally a different enough existence that lack of understanding may lead to fear or hatred. While a lot of stories romanticised the idea of were-creatures similar to Lycans, Yuliang highly doubted people would be as excited when faced with the real deal.

The clear jagged imprints of sharp teeth left behind on the back of Elys's ecstatically bared neck and the scarring on Eric's left shoulder stood sharply against the paleness of their skin.

Yuliang was unable to stop the embarrassing rumbling purr that the sight evoked, garnering amused reactions from the omegas present.

Yuliang shrugged, "I might not have been completely aware at the time, but my instincts have never been wrong. If I claimed you, it's because you were meant to be mine."

Elys buried his face in his hands, muffling incoherent words.

Eric laughed, "Gosh, Yuliang. Warn an omega before you say things like that!"

Yuliang looked at his brother in confusion.

Had his words been too blunt?

Yukio just snorted and rolled his eyes, silently assuring him that had not been the case.

Not too concerned, Yuliang inhaled deeply. Sweet notes of lavender and sandalwood, alongside the more familiar scent of apples; the base scents of his pack mates, more potent than he'd ever experienced before invaded his senses.

Their scents were now deeply ingrained in his brain, to the point that even the faintest trace on an object could be detected. When concentrating deeper, Yuliang could even feel the thrumming Energy that connects them to one another in a familial Pack bond.

Yuliang felt his teeth throb as his canines sharpened into points. He felt a tremble run through his body as he shifted to recline on the bed. Sighing, Yuliang embraced his first conscious transformation in three months, surrounded by the comforting scents of his Pack.