Yifan woke disoriented, his body sore in unfamiliar ways, wrapped in silk sheets that smelled like winter and ice. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was or what had happened. Then awareness flooded back—heat, Tianyu, the intensity of what they'd shared—and his face flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and residual arousal.
The room was different from the one where heat had first hit him. Tianyu must have moved him while he slept. This bedroom was even more luxurious, with floor-to-ceiling windows showing a mountain vista and dawn light painting everything gold and pink. The bed was enormous, clearly designed for an Alpha of Tianyu's size, and Yifan was currently sprawled in the middle of it alone.
His fever had dropped to a manageable 100.5°F—still elevated, but no longer the burning intensity of active heat. This was one of the clear periods Mo Ran had mentioned, the valleys between waves where his rational mind could function.
A soft knock preceded Tianyu entering, carrying a tray laden with food and tea. The Dragon King looked tired—shadows under his eyes, his usually immaculate appearance slightly disheveled. But he smiled when he saw Yifan awake.
"Good morning. How do you feel?"
"Sore. Tired. Clearer than before." Yifan accepted the tea gratefully, savoring the jasmine warmth. "How long was I out?"
"About four hours. Long enough for me to clean you up, change the sheets, and relocate us to better quarters." Tianyu set the tray on the bedside table. "You need to eat. Heat burns through calories at an alarming rate, and you'll need your strength for the next wave."
The food was simple but perfect—rice porridge with ginger, sliced fruit, soft bread with honey. Yifan's stomach growled, reminding him he couldn't actually remember the last time he'd eaten. Tianyu sat beside him on the bed, close but not touching, watching to make sure he ate.
"You moved me without waking me?" Yifan asked between bites.
"You were exhausted. I didn't want to disturb your rest." Tianyu's expression was soft. "The previous room needed cleaning anyway. Heat is... intense."
Yifan's face burned hotter, remembering exactly how intense it had been. "I must have been... I said things. Did things. I'm sorry if I—"
"Don't." Tianyu's hand covered his, gentle but firm. "Don't apologize for heat. For needing what you needed. For wanting me. There's no shame in any of it."
"I begged you to bond me."
"Yes. Multiple times. And I said no, because you deserve to make that choice with a clear head." Tianyu's thumb traced circles on the back of Yifan's hand. "Heat magnifies desire, but it doesn't create choice. When you choose me—if you choose me—I want it to be you deciding, not your biology."
The integrity of that stance still amazed Yifan. Most Alphas would have taken advantage, would have justified it as giving the Omega what they asked for. But Tianyu was holding to a standard higher than instinct demanded.
"Tell me something," Yifan said. "Something true. Not about being Dragon King or about our past life. Something about you, right now, that has nothing to do with destiny or politics."
Tianyu was quiet for a moment, considering. "I'm afraid," he said finally.
"Of what?"
"Of losing you again. Of not being enough this time either. Of watching you choose someone else because I'm too cold, too controlling, too damaged by waiting a thousand years." His ice-blue eyes met Yifan's, vulnerable in a way that seemed to cost him. "I'm afraid that you'll realize I'm not worth choosing, and I'll have to let you go because your happiness matters more than my need to keep you."
The raw honesty of it made Yifan's chest ache. "You think you're not worth choosing?"
"I think I'm an ancient being who went mad with grief and killed hundreds of people. I think I've lived so long in isolation that I don't know how to be a partner anymore, only how to be a king. I think I'm terrified every moment that I'll somehow fail you the way I failed before."
Yifan set down his tea and turned to fully face Tianyu. "You haven't failed me. Not once since I've known you. You've been patient when I needed space, present when I needed support, strong when I needed protection. You've put my autonomy above your own desire consistently. That's not failure, Tianyu. That's love."
"Is it enough, though? Am I enough?"
"I don't know yet," Yifan said honestly. "But I'm leaning toward yes. Every day, every interaction, you show me who you are beneath the legend. And I like what I see. I'm drawn to it. To you."
Tianyu's expression transformed—hope breaking through ancient wariness like sunlight through clouds. "You mean that."
"I don't say things I don't mean. Heat makes me desperate, but it doesn't make me lie." Yifan leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to Tianyu's lips. "Ask me again after heat ends. After I've had time to think clearly. But Tianyu—I'm strongly considering choosing you. Not because destiny demands it, but because you've earned it."
The kiss Tianyu returned was tender, reverent, tasting of promises and hope. When they parted, there were tears in the Alpha's eyes—just a few, quickly blinked away, but Yifan had seen them.
"I'll keep earning it," Tianyu said roughly. "Every day. Every moment. I'll prove I'm worthy of being chosen by you."
They spent the next hour talking, carefully avoiding topics that were too heavy or emotionally charged. Tianyu told Yifan about the estate's history, about the staff members and their various personalities, about the gardens he maintained. Yifan shared stories about university life, about Qingqing's journalism adventures, about the peaceful simplicity of his life before everything changed.
It was comfortable, domestic, building connection beyond the physical intensity of heat. Learning each other as people rather than just as Alpha and Omega, Dragon King and Phoenix.
"The Council presentation," Yifan said eventually. "It was supposed to be today."
"Postponed." Tianyu's expression darkened slightly. "I notified them that you went into unexpected heat. They weren't pleased about the delay, but they accepted it. The new date is set for three days after your heat ends."
"They must be furious."
"Let them be. Your health and safety matter more than their political schedules." Tianyu's hand tightened on his. "Though I won't lie—this complicates things. The delay gives other Alphas more time to prepare their courtship strategies. Bai Yuchen has already sent three messages asking if he can 'offer assistance' during your heat."
Yifan's face wrinkled in distaste. "He wants to share heat duties?"
"He wants to establish a competing claim. Traditionally, any Alpha who helps an Omega through heat has rights to pursue courtship." Tianyu's eyes flickered with barely suppressed possessiveness. "I've informed him that your heat partner has already been selected and his services are not required."
"Good." Yifan surprised himself with how vehemently he felt about it. The thought of anyone but Tianyu helping him through this was repulsive. Whether that was heat talking or genuine preference, he wasn't sure. "I don't want anyone else. Just you."
"Just me," Tianyu echoed, something fierce and satisfied in his expression.
The next wave hit more gently than the first, giving Yifan time to recognize the signs—rising temperature, increasing sensitivity, the empty ache building low in his belly. This time, he wasn't caught off guard. He set down his tea and looked at Tianyu with clear intent.
"It's starting again."
"I know. I can smell it." Tianyu's eyes had already started glowing brighter, responding to Yifan's scent. "What do you need?"
"You. Exactly like before. But..." Yifan hesitated, then pushed forward. "Can we try something different this time? I want to see you. Really see you."
"What do you mean?"
"Show me your dragon. Not full transformation, but... more than just human. Let me see what you really are."
Something complicated crossed Tianyu's expression—uncertainty, vulnerability, hope. "Most Omegas find the partial transformation frightening. More Alpha, more predatory."
"I'm not most Omegas. I'm Phoenix. I want to see the Dragon who loves me."
Tianyu's control rippled. His eyes blazed pure gold, pupils becoming slitted like a serpent's. Scales spread across his shoulders and arms, iridescent blue that caught the morning light. His teeth elongated slightly into fangs, and when he flexed his hands, his fingernails had become talons that could easily tear through flesh.
He looked dangerous. Inhuman. Powerful beyond measure.
He looked magnificent.
"Beautiful," Yifan whispered, reaching out to trace the scales on Tianyu's arm. They were cool under his touch, smooth like polished stone. "You're beautiful like this."
"You're not afraid?"
"No. Should I be?"
"I could hurt you without meaning to. Claws, fangs, strength beyond human—"
"But you won't. You've proven you can control yourself even in the middle of heat. I trust you." Yifan pulled him closer. "Show me what it's like to be claimed by a dragon. Please."
The heat wave crashed over him then, stealing his breath, making his body flush and prepare. But this time, he wasn't afraid or overwhelmed. This time, he knew what was coming and welcomed it.
Tianyu moved with predatory grace, pressing Yifan back against the pillows. His scaled hands were careful despite the talons, mindful of delicate human skin. His mouth found Yifan's neck, fangs grazing without breaking skin—a tease, a promise of what he could do but wouldn't.
"Mine," Tianyu growled, the word more dragon than human. "My phoenix. My mate. Mine to protect, mine to pleasure, mine to keep safe."
"Yours," Yifan agreed, arching into the touch. "Show me. Claim me."
What followed was different from the first wave—more intense, more primal, the Alpha's dragon nature fully present. Tianyu's scaled body against his own, cold and hard and undeniably other. The careful control of claws that could kill, used instead to heighten pleasure. Fangs that could tear, used to tease sensitive skin without breaking it.
It should have been frightening. Instead, it was exhilarating.
Yifan met the dragon's intensity with his own Phoenix fire, letting flames dance across his skin harmlessly, creating a visual display of fire and ice together. Their powers interacted, complemented each other, ice cooling fire and fire warming ice in perfect balance.
When Tianyu entered him this time, it was with more confidence, less careful restraint. He took Yifan thoroughly, claiming him in ways that felt primal and ancient, like something from a time before human civilization. The pleasure was overwhelming, transcendent, pushing Yifan beyond thought into pure sensation.
"Bite me," Yifan begged when he was close to the edge. "Mark me. Make it visible."
"Not the bonding bite," Tianyu growled, but his fangs found Yifan's shoulder, sinking in deep enough to leave a mark that would last weeks. The pain-pleasure of it sent Yifan over the edge, body clenching tight around Tianyu as he came with a scream.
The Alpha followed, knotting him thoroughly, and this time when they were locked together, Tianyu's dragon form remained visible. Yifan traced the scales on his chest, marveling at the reality of what he was—ancient, powerful, other.
"You really are a dragon," Yifan said softly.
"I really am." Tianyu's voice was gradually returning to normal, though his eyes still glowed. "Does that bother you?"
"No. It's part of you. Part of what I'm choosing." Yifan leaned up to kiss him. "I like all of you, Tianyu. Human appearance, dragon nature, everything between. It's all you."
"You humble me," Tianyu said quietly. "A thousand years I've existed, and you make me feel seen in ways I'd forgotten were possible."
They spent the rest of that day cycling through heat waves and clear periods, building intimacy with each interaction. Tianyu showed Yifan more of his dragon abilities—the way he could create intricate ice sculptures with a thought, how he could sense temperature changes from miles away, the ancient language dragons spoke that sounded like wind through ice.
Yifan reciprocated, showing Tianyu his still-developing Phoenix powers. Creating flame shapes, manipulating fire's color and intensity, the way his tears could heal minor injuries when he cried from overwhelm.
Between waves, they talked about everything and nothing. Tianyu's memories of ancient China, dynasties rising and falling. Yifan's modern education, the internet age, social changes. Finding common ground across millennia of separation.
"If you had to live as a human," Yifan asked during one clear period, "what would you want to do? Not as Dragon King. Just as a person."
Tianyu considered this carefully. "Teach, perhaps. History or art. Share knowledge with younger generations. Watch them grow and learn and become themselves." He smiled slightly. "Though I'd be a terrible teacher. Too impatient with students who don't try."
"I think you'd be a good teacher. You've been teaching me, and you're patient when I struggle with power control."
"Because you matter. You try. That makes all the difference."
On the third day of heat, during a longer clear period, Yifan's phone buzzed with messages. Tianyu had thoughtfully kept it charged and placed it within reach. Most were from Qingqing—increasingly worried texts asking if he was okay, if he needed help, if she should call someone.
"I should tell her something," Yifan said. "She's my best friend. She deserves to know I'm safe."
"What will you tell her? The truth is rather unbelievable."
Yifan composed a careful message: "I'm safe, I promise. I'm with someone who's taking care of me. Going through something medical but not dangerous. I'll explain everything when I can. Please don't worry. Love you."
Qingqing's response came quickly: "Someone? SOMEONE?? Shen Yifan, do you have a secret boyfriend??? Tell me EVERYTHING."
Despite the situation, Yifan laughed. Trust Qingqing to focus on the relationship implications. He texted back: "Maybe? It's complicated. But he's good to me. Really good."
"I want details when you surface from whatever this is. Happy for you, weirdo. Stay safe."
"Your friend seems nice," Tianyu observed, reading over his shoulder.
"She's the best. I wish I could tell her the truth. About all of this—supernatural world, Phoenix, you." Yifan set the phone down. "She'd probably think I'd lost my mind."
"Perhaps after everything settles, you could tell her. Carefully. With proper precautions." Tianyu brushed hair back from Yifan's forehead. "You shouldn't have to lose your human connections because of what you are. That's not fair."
"Would the Council allow it? Telling a human?"
"The Council doesn't control everything, despite what they think. And you're Phoenix—you have autonomy they can't easily challenge." His expression turned thoughtful. "Though we'd need to be strategic about it. Perhaps after you've formally chosen a mate, when your position is more secure."
The casual way Tianyu said "after you've chosen a mate" rather than "if you choose me" made Yifan's chest warm. The Alpha was trying not to pressure, trying to leave the decision genuinely open despite his obvious hope.
The heat waves continued through days four and five, building in intensity. Yifan's memories from his past life became clearer, more insistent. He would find himself lost in recollection mid-conversation, reliving moments from a thousand years ago with such vivid clarity it felt like the present.
Loving Tianyu in that garden, the Dragon King younger-seeming but fundamentally the same—patient, devoted, fierce in his protection of what he considered his.
The politics that had tried to tear them apart, Council members arguing that Phoenix must be neutral, must not strengthen one territory over others through bonding.
The forced choice—submit to bond-breaking magic or die. The Phoenix's certainty that death was preferable to betraying the mate they'd chosen freely.
Walking into purifying fire, Tianyu's screams echoing behind them, the certainty that they'd be reborn and find him again.
"I'm sorry," Yifan whispered during one clear period, tears streaming down his face from the force of the memories. "I'm so sorry I left you. Sorry you had to watch. Sorry you were alone for so long."
"Shh, it wasn't your fault. You made the only choice you could with honor." Tianyu held him close, rocking slightly. "And you came back. You kept your promise. You're here now, and that's all that matters."
"I left you alone for a thousand years."
"And I'd wait a thousand more if that's what it took. Time means nothing compared to you."
The vulnerability of those moments, the emotional intimacy of sharing grief and memory and regret, bonded them in ways that transcended the physical. By day six, Yifan knew with certainty that his choice was already made. He just needed heat to end so he could say it clearly, definitively, with no possibility of anyone claiming biology had influenced his decision.
On the seventh day, as heat finally began to break, as his fever dropped and the waves grew gentler and farther apart, Yifan lay wrapped in Tianyu's arms and felt complete in a way he'd never experienced before.
"One more day," Tianyu said softly. "Tomorrow you'll be clear-headed, and then you can rest, recover, and decide what you want without heat clouding your judgment."
"I already know what I want," Yifan said.
"Tell me after heat ends. When you're certain."
"I'm certain now."
"Then you'll still be certain tomorrow. And I'll still be here, waiting to hear it." Tianyu pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I can wait one more day after waiting a millennium."
That night—the seventh night—Yifan's heat broke completely. He woke on the morning of day eight feeling normal for the first time in a week. His temperature was 98.6°F. His body was sore but not uncomfortably so. His mind was clear, sharp, entirely his own.
Tianyu was awake already, sitting in a chair by the window, watching the sunrise. He'd clearly not slept well—or perhaps not at all—standing guard over Yifan's rest. When he noticed Yifan stirring, he came over immediately.
"How do you feel?"
"Normal. Clear. Myself again." Yifan sat up, stretching carefully. "Heat's over?"
"Completely over. You made it through." Tianyu's smile was tired but genuine. "You were magnificent. Seven days of heat, and you remained yourself throughout. Strong, brave, beautiful."
"I had help. Considerable help." Yifan reached for his hand. "Thank you. For everything. For taking care of me, for respecting my boundaries, for being exactly what I needed."
"It was my honor." Tianyu squeezed his hand gently. "Now—rest, recover. You need proper meals, time to let your body heal, space to think without me hovering."
"What if I don't want space? What if I want you to stay?"
"Yifan—"
"I know what I'm saying. I know my mind is clear. Stay, Tianyu. Keep staying. Because I'm choosing you."
Tianyu's breath caught. "You're certain? You can take more time—"
"I don't need more time. I spent a week with you, saw you at your most intense and your most gentle. I know who you are. And I choose you." Yifan brought their joined hands to his lips, kissing Tianyu's knuckles. "Not because of past life bonds or destiny or politics. Because you're kind and patient and you love me enough to protect my autonomy even when it hurts you. Because I trust you. Because when I imagine my future, you're in it. That's my choice, made freely and clearly. I choose you, Long Tianyu."
The Dragon King's face transformed—millennia of wariness and fear and loneliness cracking open to reveal pure, radiant joy. He pulled Yifan into his arms, holding him like something precious and impossibly fragile.
"I choose you too," Tianyu said roughly. "I choose you every moment, every breath, every heartbeat. Thank you. Thank you for choosing me."
They held each other as sunlight filled the room, two beings who'd loved and lost and found each other again across time itself. The path ahead would still be complicated—the Council presentation, the politics, the other Alphas who would challenge Tianyu's claim.
But facing it together felt possible. Felt right.
And when Tianyu finally pulled back enough to kiss him, it tasted like promise and forever and coming home.