Kiss Me, Then.

015

During her years in logistics, Arthur Kane was Annie's living nightmare.

Whenever she saw that name, she knew the current assignment wouldn't be simple. He was the source of her overtime and the bane of her performance reviews.

And she never imagined she'd actually "marry" him in the truest sense of the word.

And that she'd also receive orders to kill him.

Just great, Annie thought sourly. Her old colleagues in logistics would have enough gossip to last a year.

And also...

Could New Thebes get any hotter?!

The Temple of the Rising Sun was located outside the City of the Radiant Sun, and even taking the governor's car, they had to climb the mountain on foot.

Annie, dressed in an elaborate wedding gown, trudged under the scorching sun, nearly fainting from the heat along the way.

It wasn't until she stepped into the vast, ancient temple interior, where a wave of cool air washed over her, that she let out a long sigh of relief.

These days, the Temple of the Rising Sun was heavily guarded by terrorists. Two soldiers struggled to push open the stone door, then slowly closed it again.

While the door was still ajar, Annie, with her back to the soldiers, yanked off the stifling veil.

Behind her, scraps of conversation drifted through the crack.

"The butcher has friends?"

"Heard he's from the same background as him. Tsk, a traitor's son turned traitor. Disgusting."

Annie froze.

What did that mean?

Charles Lang was from the same background as Arthur? Was he also a descendant of the old opposition, a victim whose parents died in the massacre? Then why would he join Twillight!

She looked up, startled. "Did you hear—huh?!"

Before she could find Arthur's blue eyes, a tall figure loomed over her from the side.

The ancient temple was dim, and Arthur's bent form blocked all light. Annie didn't even have a chance to struggle before Arthur scooped her into his arms with ease, as if she were a cat.

"The older one can't manage," Arthur said coldly, "too conspicuous."

True.

Charles Lang was about seven or eight years older than Arthur, and twenty years ago, he'd been a teenager—probably too old to qualify for the Interstellar Federation's refugee children program.

Pretty pitiful, Annie thought. Under Twillight's rule, Charles Lang's adolescent years must have been miserable.

But siding with the people who killed his parents was utterly unforgivable.

She leaned comfortably into Arthur's arms. As they went deeper into the temple, the air grew more humid and cool, and Annie felt she could finally catch her breath.

Climbing the stone steps to the top floor, the surroundings grew even darker.

The ancient temple was lit with traditional candles, and in the center lay a pool of over a hundred square meters, its tranquil surface reflecting the flickering candlelight.

No odd smell—it was running water.

No wonder it was so cool.

Annie's gaze settled on the single-plank bridge in the middle of the pool.

About thirty centimeters wide, it stretched straight across the pool from one end to the other. There was no other way across.

This must be what Madam Hado meant by "the trials," Annie realized.

Dressed in this wedding gown, Annie could barely walk, let alone cross a single-plank bridge. Of course, the Alpha would have to carry his Omega across.

It was quite traditional. Many planets had a bridge-crossing ritual in their marriage ceremonies, with the Alpha carrying the Omega across a bridge that symbolized a lifetime together.

Arthur knew this all too well, which was why he'd picked her up without a second thought.

"What about the next trial?" Annie pressed. "Since it's a wedding trial, it shouldn't be too dangerous, right?"

"Cut the chatter."

Arthur stepped onto the bridge, his footing steady, and said impatiently, "It's not like you have to walk."

Annie: "...This is your and my wedding, Arthur, I obviously need to know—"

"What?"

Her words cut off abruptly, drawing Arthur's attention.

Several anomalous signals flickered in Annie's contact lens. The system quickly decoded and compiled them, and multiple red frames appeared in her field of view.

Arthur noticed her interruption and followed her gaze upward.

In the next moment, the Alpha's pupils contracted sharply.

He came to a sudden halt on the bridge.

The long bridge shuddered at the abrupt stop, and Arthur Kane's body swayed, losing his balance.

"Hey, wait!"

Annie, cradled in his arms, felt the center of gravity shift. She was focused on decoding the anomalous signals when his body lurched. She scrambled to wrap her arms around his neck.

With a splash, they both tumbled into the pool!

Problem solved. Not only did Annie avoid heatstroke, she was instantly drenched through.

The heavy, intricate wedding dress became even heavier when wet, dragging her down until she sank to the bottom. Arthur fished her out, and Annie managed to stand.

Luckily, the pool wasn't deep, with the water just above her waist.

There was a good explanation for falling in water—it symbolized the couple sharing adversity. Only, they both ended up soaked like drowned rats.

"What's going on?!"

She looked up, and her contact lens automatically adjusted to brighten her vision.

Annie's eyes went wide.

In the dim light, the candles couldn't reach the temple's walls and ceiling. Without the lens, Annie wouldn't have been able to see anything.

But all around them, above them, were words.

Deeply carved into the stone bricks, then crudely smoothed over and chiseled away. The job of erasing the inscriptions had been careless, and the local script of New Thebes was translated into standard by Annie's lens.

"For love and freedom."

"Don't yield to extremists."

"This is the people's temple, a legacy of civilization—not a tool for Twillight's hegemony."

"We will topple the white terror."

Dense carvings, still showing the old opposition's protests after twenty years.

Though the Temple of the Rising Sun was a historic site that shouldn't be defaced, when it had already become a tool of terrorist rule, the "vandalism" of twenty years ago was itself a way of recording the history of the massacre.

Was any of this Arthur Kane's parents' handiwork?

She looked up at Arthur.

The Alpha had also steadied himself. He grabbed Annie's waist.

Her slender form was easily pulled to him in the water, his strong arms locking around her, forcing her to rise on her tiptoes.

Arthur Kane was also a drowned rat. The male wedding attire was much simpler—a loose white robe that was now thoroughly soaked, clinging to his chest and abdomen like wet cloth. The thin fabric did nothing to hide his tanned skin and muscle lines, making it look more revealing than if he were naked.

His body heat radiated through the fabric, along with a smell of scorched metal.

He was furious.

His emotions reached a peak, and the Alpha's pheromones released unbidden, invading Annie's nose.

His gem-like blue eyes scanned the entire ceiling, until Annie's body pressed against him.

Arthur lowered his head, his gaze icy to the extreme.

"You..."

Annie went from scorching heat to freezing cold. Her fingertips, clinging to his chest, trembled involuntarily.

Their eyes met, and Annie understood.

He wanted to kill her.

Of course!

If even Meridian had mentioned permission to kill, how could the Interstellar Federation not come to the same conclusion? Arthur Kane had killed countless high-ranking officials and politicians of the Galactic Empire. What was one more cooperative agent?

Besides, he'd wanted to kill her for a long time—he'd just never succeeded.

"Arthur," Annie said, remarkably calm while standing in the pool, "what are you hesitating about?"

The tall Alpha leaned down.

The ancient temple was dark, and his body blocked out the sparse candlelight. Backlit like that, even Arthur's usually light eyes seemed pitch black.

His intense pheromones swirled around her, enveloping her—not out of romantic desire, but murderous intent.

She was so fragile.

The ornate wedding gown almost buried her, the heavy fabric making her look less elegant and more like a gift wrapped up, waiting for Arthur to unwrap.

An Omega so fragile that Arthur could crush her with a single squeeze.

This was the perfect moment to do it.

The Resistance had already brought back the scientist who could develop the antidote. He could kill the enemy, break out of the temple, and take the scientist away.

And Madam Hado? The Resistance? The safety and freedom of the people in the City of the Radiant Sun?

What did that have to do with him? Arthur Kane had always operated this way: he took a mission, he completed it, simple as that.

But—

Arthur didn't make a move.

He hadn't returned in twenty years, thinking he could forget everything.

But when he saw the inscriptions across the ceiling, the Federation agent almost forgot how to breathe.

He kept his head down, eyes locked on the small, delicate figure before him, yet felt the half-erased carvings above were like so many eyes staring at him.

Arthur had sharp senses. Even in such darkness, he could still make out the words.

He recognized his mother's handwriting.

"For love and freedom."

The neat, elegant script wasn't just carved into the stone bricks—it was carved into Arthur's eyes, seared into his retinas.

He realized then that he couldn't kill her here.

Annie, so close, closed her eyes for a moment.

In her field of vision, a virtual projection read, "Anomalous signal analysis complete."

The red-framed boxes in her lens auto-zoomed and brightened, dispelling the optical camouflage to reveal the underlying shapes of cameras.

—Of course.

Annie wasn't surprised. Even if they kept out the riffraff, how could Twillight not install surveillance in such an important place?

"Don't hesitate."

She raised both hands, shifting her gaze from the ceiling back to Arthur's striking eyes.

As her cold fingertips circled his neck, the skin beneath them tensed. Annie eagerly pressed into him. "If you want to kiss me, then kiss me."

With that, she moved closer and, in front of the cameras, caught Arthur's lips with her own.