Chapter 16

Greyson was smiling, but the employees who saw his face broke out in cold sweat.

"No, we really don't know..."

"Give us some clue, how could we keep track of who did what in that situation?"

"Yeah, once a job is done, that's it. We don't bother analyzing who did well or poorly. Even if we look for someone who made mistakes, it's to prevent it from happening again, not to criticize anyone."

Though everyone offered reasonable arguments, these words held no interest for Greyson. His only concern was identifying which extreme Omega had released pheromones and knocked him unconscious then.

"Is this really everyone on the team?"

When Greyson deliberately pointed and asked, Wilkins said "Yeah" with a disgruntled face.

"Ah, Dane's missing."

At someone's words, everyone turned to look at him at once. Past the team members shooting daggers with their eyes, Greyson muttered.

"Dane?"

As he said the name with a slight twitch of his eyebrow, another team member snickered and responded.

"Yeah, the bastard who smashed your head with a fire extinguisher."

Snickers erupted from here and there. Greyson laughed too, but his eyes remained cold.

"He only tried, he didn't actually hit me."

"Ah, such a shame. He could have done it."

To the man who spoke with regretful sighs and jokes, Greyson smiled back and said.

"I think so too."

There was no need to ask what hidden meaning lay in those words. In the atmosphere that froze once again, Greyson emptied his remaining beer and looked around the group once.

"Excuse me for a moment."

They watched blankly for a moment as he turned and walked toward the bathroom.

"Why is that bastard looking for Dane?"

To Ezra who spoke first, others asked as if they had been waiting.

"Ezra, what happened then? We went along with you for now, but."

"Wasn't this his first clash with Dane today? Wasn't that bastard out of his mind then too? There wouldn't have been time to talk."

"What happened that made this bastard grind his teeth and come all the way here! Tell us quickly, we need to know to respond!"

"Wait, wait."

Faced with the flood of questions, Ezra held up both hands in confusion. Under everyone's gaze, he looked troubled.

"I don't know either. I just arrived at the scene with you guys."

"I wasn't there. Explain in detail."

Wilkins had been commanding from outside then. If he had known things would turn out like this, he would have gone in himself. Though he heard the incident report afterward, who rescued whom was generally completely irrelevant information. He couldn't understand what was happening with his team.

"Uh... well, that is... I followed Dane, and there was that bastard and two other victims. You know, those crazy twins... Those two were already out of it and only that bastard was fine. But somehow those two kept going berserk so we had trouble..."

"And then?"

When Wilkins urged impatiently, Ezra pointed in the direction Greyson had disappeared with a twisted face.

"Suddenly that bastard passed out."

"What? Why?"

"Suddenly?"

At this unexpected statement, everyone showed the same reaction. Ezra also shook his head helplessly.

"I don't know why it happened either. I didn't see it, but I think Dane did something."

"Dane? How?"

When someone asked curiously, another voice chimed in as if remembering something.

"Ah, come to think of it, didn't Dane serve in the military?"

"Right, he said he was deployed to the Middle East."

With that, the same thought occurred to everyone. He must have used some special technique learned in the military.

"Yeah, like on YouTube when they hit the neck like this to make someone pass out?"

When one person demonstrated a chopping motion, another shared his knowledge.

"They say if you grab somewhere here tightly, people pass out."

"There must be lots more besides that, right? Since he would have received special training."

Those gathered nodded in turn, forming a consensus.

"Anyway, when that guy passed out, the other two also calmed down from their frenzy... The two were rescued separately, and Dane and I threw that bastard out the window."

"...Could there be something wrong with his head because of that knockout technique?"

"No, looking at his personality, he might just be angry about being hit at all."

"Yeah, that would explain why Miller is trying to find Dane."

"So he's looking for the person who hit him. Then that 'thanks' he mentioned is actually revenge?"

When someone said this, Ezra stepped forward and added.

"That's why I tried to hide it somehow. There was already that incident during the day, if he finds out it's the same person who knocked him out then, he might really try to kill him."

While everyone understood, one person raised an objection.

"Even a Miller would have trouble getting away with murder."

"If it's Miller, he'd have plenty of ways without resorting to physical force."

The objection quickly died down. Eventually, their opinions converged into one. That absolutely, no matter what, they would keep secret the fact that Dane was the one Greyson was looking for.

On their loyalty to their life-risking colleague.

***

Idiots.

Greyson headed toward the secluded bathroom across the hall with a hardened expression. It was clearly obvious they were hiding something. Should he grab them one by one and break their fingers?

Though many methods came to mind, there was no guarantee they would tell the truth even then. There were countless studies showing torture wasn't effective for confessions. Unless it was for hobby or pleasure, there was no reason to go to such trouble. Above all, what mattered to Greyson was the truth. If it wouldn't help obtain the truth, he didn't want to waste time on such pointless acts.

So waiting was the only way after all.

It wasn't that he hadn't anticipated this situation. Wasn't that why he had specifically become a firefighter? Anyway, if he watched closely, he would find them eventually.

Thinking this way, he didn't feel tired at all despite the late hour. He could finally meet his destiny. Just that thought made his irritation disappear far away and instead filled his whole body with energy.

Despite failing every time, he would always get excited with expectation like this again. These moments of imagining someone approaching were the happiest times in Greyson's life. He might not be able to sleep properly until he discovered his destined one. Even so, he wouldn't tire at all. Because Greyson was facing the most important moment in his life.

Right now.

When he opened the door while whistling, something entered his view. A woman moaning while leaning forward with both arms against the wall, and behind her, a man moving his hips and his...

chest.

Greyson stood there without even blinking, staring intently at the man's large, firm breasts. With each movement, those luscious mounds tensed and relaxed repeatedly. Greyson watched entranced for a moment as the muscles rose firmly and fell.

The man's body was like a well-carved statue. Below the clearly defined six-pack abs, a heavy member appeared and disappeared, then appeared and disappeared again. The two were joined as one, and the man was entering and exiting while holding the woman's breast with one hand and her waist with the other.

Greyson vaguely realized he had mistaken the store's supply room for the bathroom. Though it was only a matter of seconds, when he belatedly recalled that he had been blankly watching others having sex, or more precisely, watching the body of the man who was intently thrusting into the woman.

Suddenly the man turned his head. A neat face somewhat flushed from sex entered Greyson's view. The moment the red-blonde hair and blue eyes were etched into his retina, the handsome brow furrowed as if annoyed.

Oh.

That was where the memory ended.