Patience rapidly thinning, Choi Seungcheol addressed Jaemin again. "Come back to me now, Jaemin, if you don't want to ruin your precious SPS. You don't want to leave all of these people out of jobs and starving, just because of your stubborn, foolish little tantrum, do you, my little conductor?"
But Kang Do-hyun refused to budge, still fully conscious of the growing quake in the thin hand he grasped.
"I know plenty. And Jaemin has sacrificed enough, for you, and for your twisted concept of 'love'. He's not going anywhere with a thief like you." He let out a derisive snort. "Why would he ever want to return back to you, after all the things you did to hurt him? You delusional piece of shit!"
Choi Seungcheol let out a short, cruel laugh of his own. "Hurt him? He wanted it, begged me to hold him and bond him. His omega knows true dominance when he feels it. In fact," his eyes narrowed with an intensity Do-hyun couldn't immediately place, "he would come to me right this moment, if I so desired it."
Do-hyun jaw tightened, his cedar pheromones settling with possessive confidence. The audacity of this man, to come in here after all the damage he had done to Jaemin, to the SPS, and invoke his claim. "Over my dead body, you demented fuck," he snarled.
But Choi Seungcheol only smiled, his expression chillingly victorious, before raising his chin. His entire posture shifted, growing even taller with controlled dominance, and the air grew heavy, suffocating, as his pheromones surged forth in a concentrated wave of black tea and bergamot that pressed against the very walls of the rehearsal hall and shot straight for his target.
"Come to me, my omega," he commanded, his words dropping in a low, terrifying growl that thundered in the ears of everyone in the hall, words that held the resonance of a thousand voices.
Before Do-hyun could react, he heard a strangled sound behind him. He spun, horrified, to see Jaemin's eyes, staring wide and filled with agonizing pain and shame as his entire body went rigid, his knees buckling slightly.
Then, he watched, aghast, as his omega took an involuntary, agonizing step in Choi Seungcheol's direction.
"... Jaemin?" Do-hyun's voice cracked.
This couldn't be happening. They had already been together so many times, even long after the rival scent of tea and bergamot had faded into seeming oblivion. Ever since Jaemin's heat had broken, his body had never shown any further signs of rejecting Do-hyun as his mate.
But Do-hyun had never actually bonded Jaemin through that final, sealing bite. Even in the most intense moments of their passion, when Do-hyun's fangs had extended and Jaemin had been arching into his touch, vulnerable and open underneath him, he had held back, not wanting to force the act onto Jaemin in an impulse of lust, when he knew what the man had already been through. He'd believed that, until Jaemin's trauma was completely healed, it would be enough for him to overwrite the scent of his mate's past.
The same scent that now enveloped the omega, twining around every inch of his body as it wrenched him forward.
When Jaemin took another pained, shambling step toward his tormentor, Do-hyun's wavering voice rose to a desperate shout.
"Seo Jaemin, what are you doing?!"
But Jaemin's eyes were fixed, pleading and desperate, as he moved still closer towards Choi Seungcheol, who simply stood there, waiting and victorious. Do-hyun's keen eyes caught a glimpse of fresh blood blooming on the pristine white collar of Jaemin's shirt, right at the nape of his neck where the old scar resided, and froze.
What the fuck was happening to him?
Kim Seojun, however, did not hesitate. Acting on impulse, he lunged forward to catch Jaemin's arm and yank him back with a sharp cry.
Even as the rest of the orchestra descended into protective chaos, rushing the stage to rally around Jaemin and shield him, Choi Seungcheol laughed, a loud, delighted sound of triumph that rang through the hall.
"You see?" he declared. "We are fated! He can pretend all he wants, but he will never be able to resist my call."
From the defensive circle that had formed around their conductor, the normally meek Jung Eunji gave a shrill cry.
"That wasn't a call, that was a command!" she cried in indignant panic. "You used an alpha command on our Conductor-nim!"
"Coward!" Han Chaewon shrieked. "You're no true mate, you're just a fucking bully!"
Even the usually stoic alpha Hwan Se-jin had something to say. "No real alpha worth his salt should be using commands like that!" he growled, features contorted with revulsion.
"Manipulation!"
"Coercion!"
Choi Seungcheol's eyes narrowed as the clamor of criticism rose, each voice stronger than the last.
"Quiet! You know nothing. This is between me and Jaemin alone." He straightened, preparing to unleash another command. "Jaemin, c—"
But the command never landed. Instead, his words cut off abruptly as Do-hyun's fist connected with his left jaw.
The sound of the punch, bone against bone, was a loud crack that echoed through the stunned rehearsal hall. Seungcheol stumbled back, his head snapping violently to the side as he lost his focused control on his pheromones.
A cry of alarm rose from among the musicians as Jaemin suddenly went limp, collapsing as Choi Seungcheol's command released its grip.
Do-hyun stood over him, his chest heaving, his entire body rigid and trembling with the raw, savage force he had just unleashed. The air around him was a cloud of violently sharp cedar, and his face was a mask of dark, scorching rage.
Choi Seungcheol staggered upright, touching his rapidly bruising jaw. His eyes, now blazing with animalistic fury, locked onto the other alpha who stood before him, coiled and ready to throw another of his tightly clenched fists. Yet, Choi Seungcheol remained strangely, terrifyingly calm.
"Using violence to get your way in conflict?" He clicked his bitten tongue, sucking the blood from his teeth and spitting it onto the floor. "You have only validated my point, Concertmaster Kang. Jaemin can never be with a brute like you. He is mine. And he will come to realize that in time." He gave a final, chilling smile. "My lawyers will be in touch."
Then, ignoring the shouts and the terrified musicians, he walked out.
Do-hyun watched him leave, pure, feral aggression pouring from him. His alpha screamed at him to give chase, to batter his rival into the stone threshold of the hall until all threat to his omega was totally annihilated. But his attention was quickly reeled back by a frantic yell from Kim Seojun.
"Sunbae-nim!" The urgent fright in his voice cut through the adrenaline of the confrontation. "Conductor-nim—Conductor-nim is—"
Jaemin had collapsed in Seojun's hold. His body convulsed violently, eyes rolling back in his head, cherry blossom scent spiking sharply with medical distress. His body, unable to take the strain of the two conflicting bonds inside him, had gone into seizure.