Chapter 22

His colleagues were quite taken aback to see Ezra, who was usually calm and didn’t show much emotional fluctuation, return with a flushed face. What on earth is wrong with him?

“What’s wrong? Did something happen? What’s with you?”

“What took you so long? Did something happen with that bastard?”

“What did that bastard do to you? Tell us, we’ll all get revenge for you!”

The team members immediately surrounded Ezra and questioned him, but Ezra only glared at Grayson, grinding his teeth, and didn’t easily open his mouth.

“That bastard screwed me over, that’s all.”

So, what does that mean…?

The team members were dying of curiosity, but Ezra didn’t seem inclined to say more. Inevitably, another guy offered his own speculation.

“He must have said he wouldn’t come, right? So it took you a long time to bring him here by force…”

“That’s right.”

Ezra opened his mouth reluctantly. To the team members who were curious about how he had persuaded him, Ezra told them honestly.

“He was flirting with Beth and wouldn’t budge, so I told him what the Team leader said. That if he didn’t come, he’d be excluded from the Deployment. Then he thought about it for a moment and followed me.”

“Really? That worked?”

The team members looked at each other, surprised by that.

“What is it? I thought he’d prefer to stay in the office.”

“Right, wasn’t he just here to slack off?”

“Deployment makes you look cool. The Team leader understood Miller properly.”

“I didn’t know he was the type to care about that, it’s a bit unexpected.”

“He’s playing around with women almost every day, of course he has to look cool.”

“Ahem.”

While they were exchanging words, Wilkins cleared his throat to get their attention. As the gathered men shut their mouths and looked at him, he looked up at Grayson and finally spoke.

“I called you here because there’s something you need to do, Miller.”

Grayson looked down at him instead of answering. Since he seemed to be listening anyway, Wilkins cleared his throat again and added.

“Whether you know it or not, we all became firefighters after going through proper testing. That’s because you need tremendous physical strength and skill when you go to a fire scene. Your body, at least on the surface, passes the test. But there’s a huge difference between muscles that are actually used and muscles that are just for show.”

Then he meaningfully scanned Grayson’s body once before fixing his gaze back on his face. As if to say your body is just for decoration, frowning.

“Running into a burning building is risking your life. We’re responsible for each other’s lives. If you don’t do your part properly, the lives of other colleagues are also in danger. Do you understand what I mean?”

If he didn’t understand the gist of the long speech, he would be a moron.

“So.”

Grayson swept back his hair with a short sigh and said.

“The point is you want to test my physical fitness, right?”

“Well, yeah, that’s right.”

If Grayson refused here, saying, ‘There was no talk of that beforehand,’ there was nothing they could do. In fact, even the Station Chief didn’t know about it.

Instead, in that case, they were planning to call him all sorts of names like ‘coward,’ ‘chicken,’ and ‘soft muscle.’ Of course, Grayson Miller might not care at all about those words, but just the fact that he refused the physical fitness test would be enough to damage Grayson.

There was not a single lie in Wilkins’ words. They were entrusting their lives to each other, and because of that, firefighters who couldn’t do their part were bound to be weeded out of the group. Women were no exception. They also underwent the same training and testing as men to become firefighters. Each of them was a proud and confident firefighter, and the fact that he ran away without even going through that process would definitely be a pretty big minus.

This will inflict tremendous damage on Grayson Miller.

Everyone thought the same thing. If, by any chance, Grayson Miller accepted this offer…

“I understand.”

Grayson simply agreed.

“All I have to do is pass the physical fitness test, right? I’ll do it.”

Wilkins smiled slyly. Of course, they had a backup plan even in this situation.

“You just have to pass the track we’ve prepared. But.”

He deliberately stopped talking and looked back.

“Speed is also important, so one of our team members will be running with you. Dane!”

At the snap of his fingers, a red-haired man who had been standing far away sighed deeply. It was an openly annoyed reaction. But as if he couldn’t help it, he shrugged his shoulders and slowly walked forward.

Grayson’s eyebrows twitched briefly when he saw his face. The man’s red hair, with his solid shoulders and well-balanced physique, shone slightly in the sunlight. Dane stopped walking, clearly showing his annoyance.

With the two tall men standing in the middle, people’s eyes automatically turned to them. A silent current flowed between them.

Wilkins left Dane behind and declared with his chest puffed out.

“If you can beat Dane, we’ll recognize you as a team member too.”

“Ah…”

Grayson’s long eyes narrowed. He stroked his chin slowly, his gaze fixed on Dane’s face.

“This will be interesting.”

A golden light flashed in his deep purple eyes for a moment and then disappeared. He seemed to have quickly suppressed his anger towards Dane, but he couldn’t hide the deepened Pheromone scent.

A subtle, heavy scent permeated the air. A thick and intense, Dominant Alpha’s Pheromone. The moment the scent spread, Dane’s expression changed subtly. But he wrinkled his nose once, shrugged his shoulders lightly, and turned to Wilkins.

After that, Wilkins and everyone else headed to the physical fitness test site that had been prepared in advance.

“Haa…”

Dane, who was slowly following behind at the very end, sighed deeply and thought. …Annoying.

He felt a strong temptation to say that the yogurt he ate yesterday was spoiled and he had a stomachache and drop out now, but Wilkins looked back as if he could see right through it. He pointed to his own eyes with his index and middle fingers, repeated it twice towards Dane, and then turned his head again, and in the end, Dane had no choice but to trudge along.

Desire Me if you can

A few hours ago.

The heavy sound of metal clanging echoed rhythmically from one side of the physical training room.

Dane was lying on a bench, slowly lifting dumbbells. Veins bulged on his long forearms, and his shoulder and back muscles contracted tautly. Sweat streamed down his forehead, but he continued the repetitive motion silently with a blank face.

While he was concentrating like that, Dane, who heard about the absurd scheme, frowned terribly. He sighed, rubbed the back of his head wildly, and protested as if he was dumbfounded.

“Okay, that’s all fine, but why do I have to do it?”

Dane crossed his arms and twitched his eyebrows irritably. His voice was full of extreme annoyance. But as soon as that question was over, Ezra immediately took the words as if he had been waiting.

“Because you’re the best.”

Then another guy quickly jumped in.

“We can’t just end this plan in vain since we made it. So you have to do it.”

“It’s not enough for that bastard to just roll on the floor.”

“That’s right, we have to make him look unsightly. That way, that arrogant bastard will lose some of his spirit.”

“You’re the only one, Dane.”

“That’s right, you’re the most skilled among us, and your physique is comparable to that guy’s.”

They quickly drove the atmosphere in the direction they wanted.

How on earth should I accept this ridiculous situation?

Dane, dumbfounded by the opinions that seemed to have already been decided by everyone, looked at Wilkins. He showed him his palms up and spread his arms as if to say what is this, and Wilkins opened his mouth with a rather solemn face.

“I have the same opinion, Dane. Now that it’s come to this, I hope you can save our face.”

Then he slyly added, “Actually, I came up with this idea.” Dane immediately made a disgusted expression and pulled his body back. As if he didn’t even want to touch him.