Letting go of self-restraint 2 - All that is missing is a little one

Chapter 29

Wen Ning watched in horror how Wei Wuxian put both hands on his stomach and faltered. The older boy looked broken and completely exhausted. Then his knees gave up, his eyes closed and he was falling. The Dafan Wen disciple managed to dart forward just in time to somewhat cushion his fall.

"Young Master Wei!" Wen Ning was calling out desperate for any reaction from the Yunmeng Jiang sect disciple but the other remained unresponsive to his pleas. He laid him down as gently as he could and started checking if the baby was alright. He sighed out in relief when he was rewarded by an almost indistinctive kick, it was too weak for comfort but he knew it was the best he was going to get right now.

"Could it be my fault? Did I push Young Master Wei too far too quickly? Would it have been better if I left him in his cave and stayed to take care of him instead of dragging him out and close to forcing him to come with me to Yiling? I feel like I have completely disregarded his fears and feelings... And look what happened." Wen Ning was chastising himself.

These past few days also took a toll on him, he was tired and emotionally drained. At this point, he did no longer know if he would be able to get his brother-in-law to safety. It was already dark and he could not see the town any more, the inhabitants probably went to sleep early, there was no light in the distance. The temperature was also dropping steadily.

Wen Ning tried to pick up Wei Wuxian's lifeless body and somehow heave it back up on the donkey but he could not do it, he almost dropped him in the process. He was afraid he would hurt the older boy with any more desperate attempts, so he abandoned the idea. Instead, he put both blankets over the body of the Yunmeng Jiang sect disciple to keep him as warm as possible; he was not even shivering anymore which was a clear warning sign of just how exhausted his body truly was.

Wen Ning was contemplating his current options: "I cannot get Young Master Wei to Yiling at this point. I could either leave him here and try to get some help or stay with him and wait for him to wake up. I am afraid of leaving him here all alone; the area is supposedly safe but one can never know, I cannot risk him being attacked while he is completely defenceless. I am also not sure whether I could find him once I leave, it would be hard to get back in the darkness of the night... We could easily miss the right place and then Young Master Wei would be in even greater danger, he would not survive the night being left here all alone.

Perhaps if I light up a fire... I would then find this place more easily. It would also keep Young Master Wei warm. Yes, I will do that, I have no other option at this point. I only hope that the fire will not attract undesired attention, be it from humans or any night creatures. I could probably set up some talismans. I am not an expert but I should still be able to provide some protection for the time I will be gone."

With his plan set, he started the preparation. He went back to the forest to gather some wood and soon enough, there was a warm fire burning next to the laying Wei Wuxian; not too close though for it could be dangerous if the older boy started moving around, even with how unlikely that was.

In the dancing light, he started drawing protection talismans. It took him several tries to get them right and even more time to prepare enough of them to protect the surrounding area.

When he was finally finished, he got up to set a kind of barrier. Suddenly, his knees became weak and his body started burning from the inside, his pheromones filled the air in a second. It took his huddled mind a while to put his thoughts together; in the frantic search for his run away brother-in-law he completely forgot about his upcoming heat. Now he was completely useless to the other, he would not be able to make it back to Yiling in his current condition.

He crumbled to the ground, utterly incapable of continuing with his task of setting up protection. He turned to face Wei Wuxian with difficulty, his body was not obeying him anymore as it should. He watched the Yunmeng Jiang disciple's pale face and started sniffling, on the verge of tears: "Why did my heat had to come right now? I still have to insure that Young Master Wei will get to safety, he is in grave danger. And I am just laying here, pitying myself! That is not going to cut it! I need to be strong to protect the two lives beside me. I need to get up, set the protection barrier and go to Yiling to bring help.

I cannot be stopped by my heat right now! The price of failure would be too high. I need to try and control or overcome my weakness; Young Master Wei was doing it his whole life... now I need to be strong for him..."

He had heard about several techniques of controlling one's heat in the past but he had never tried to supress his heats himself, he never needed to. Now however, it was a life or death situation, he had to succeed at all costs. He started breathing slowly and deeply, as if he was meditating, and concentrated on ignoring his body's needy reactions.

It seemed to him like hours have passed before his heat subsided and he stopped releasing pheromones. He was completely exhausted, both body and soul, it was extremely taxing to restrain his heat. His admiration for the older boy only grew, he could not imagine himself being able to always stay in control; the heat was still there, at the edge of his consciousness, just waiting for his concentration to drop to manifest itself fully again.

Keeping his self-restraint in check, he slowly got back up and continued with placing the talismans. He was almost finished when he heard a rustling sound nearby. He was startled by it and his mind was immediately preoccupied by who or what it could be, his concentration slipped from controlling his heat and it came back with renewed strength.

Wen Ning was sure he would not be able to will it away soon enough to face whatever was coming. He tried but failed miserably; instead, he scrambled to position himself between the still unconscious Wei Wuxian and the incoming threat and waited for it to come into view.

He nearby cried out in relief when he could finally distinguish who it was; it was Jiang Cheng, with dishevelled hair and clothes in disarray, he came quickly running to his bonded Omega, hugged him and released his calming pheromones. Wen Ning could no longer hold himself back, all the tension of the last hour rushed in and he started bawling his eyes out.

Jiang Cheng seemed to be taken aback and not knowing what to do, for a second, he looked like he wanted to scold the younger boy. The Dafan Wen disciple shuddered, he was not in any state to face his husband's anger right now. He was surprised when instead, the Yunmeng Jiang sect leader continued to hug him a bit awkwardly, whispering into his ear: "Wen Ning, it is alright, I am here now, please calm down."

Wen Ning felt immense relief, he knew that everything would be fine now that his husband was here, he would get both him and Wei Wuxian to Yiling safely. He just needed to explain about the other Omega to him before the older boy's temperament would complicate the situation further, making his brother do something rash and waste all his efforts.