"He's My Husband."

For a moment, the whole checkpoint went deathly quiet.

Even the soldiers who had their guns trained on Annie were stunned.

No one had expected her to break formation not to flee, but to throw herself at the suspect!

Everyone present turned to look at Annie, and at the Arthur Kane in front of her—

Her small frame clung to him, forcing Arthur to suppress his urge to attack.

He frowned deeply.

Federation agents were all military-trained, and Arthur's sun-kissed tan, paired with his dark hair, made his blue eyes stand out as especially clear and piercing. But at this moment, those beautiful blue eyes were filled with vigilance and confusion.

Their eyes met, and he spoke without thinking: "Who are you?"

Annie: "..."

The air solidified for another half second.

This guy... something was off with his head!

Even if Annie's hood and windbreaker hid her hair and face, preventing him from recognizing her immediately, as a battle-hardened agent, couldn't he at least guess she was here to help?

Annie was furious. Without hesitation, she raised her hand and slapped Arthur across the face!

She didn't hold back. A crisp "smack" echoed as the man's head snapped to the side.

"Are you... are you stupid?" Annie's tearful voice was laced with genuine anger. "You think pretending not to know me keeps me safe? If you don't make it to the City of the Radiant Sun, then I don't want to live either!"

As she spoke, she reached out and wrapped both arms around Arthur's neck.

Her delicate, fair wrists hung on him, her body pressed tightly against his chest.

Being this close startled Arthur. His face flashed with anger at being slapped, then surprise at the embrace.

But Annie had a practical goal.

The hug wasn't just to restrain his restless, ready-to-strike arms; it was also an opportunity to press the electric clasp hidden in her sleeve against the back of Arthur Kane's head.

This was Annie's invention, about the size of a pinky nail, capable of releasing a pulse signal at the right moment, enough to knock out an adult.

And the little device had its own anti-scan system; most equipment in the galaxy couldn't detect it. Convenient and effective, Meridian had quickly approved its production and equipped all royal agents with it, even giving Annie a bonus at the time.

She pressed it on Arthur because she was afraid he would lose control and attack, dragging her down with him.

But the soldiers of the "Twilight" organization had no idea what Annie was doing.

All they saw was a pitiful, petite girl rushing over to embrace this handsome man, sobbing loudly, and making a vow of shared death in fairly standard Galactic Common. They immediately understood the gist: these were young lovers.

People love gossip, even terrorists.

Several soldiers laughed out loud, chattering in the local dialect of New Thebes, seemingly teasing.

They didn't lower their guns, but they didn't shoot either. The bullets were still chambered, but their expressions and stances were no longer tense and confrontational.

Good, Annie breathed a sigh of relief internally. Goal achieved.

Meanwhile, Arthur Kane finally snapped out of it.

Annie's slap was fierce and precise. She lacked raw strength but made up for it with technique. The blow left a red mark on his handsome face.

He spat on the ground, then slowly turned his head, looking at Annie properly for the first time.

His azure eyes swept over her several times, with no less contempt and disdain.

"Crying and cursing me, what's that for? I'm not going to die," Arthur said coldly. "You're the one who rushed in to get yourself killed."

Annie: "..."

Great, that slap was too light!

He obviously meant she wasn't capable enough and was just throwing her life away by coming. But to everyone else, it sounded like Arthur scolding his partner who had risked her life to come to him.

This only made the terrorists whoop even louder. One of them even whistled and started walking toward Annie and Arthur.

Annie quickly scanned him: red hat, red scarf, fully armed, but with gear far more advanced than the regular soldiers. He didn't seem on guard like the others, instead holding his gun lazily, as if he weren't expected to fight.

More importantly, this man had a red badge pinned to his armor.

She pressed her lips together.

That was the insignia of a senior officer in "Twilight." The entire organization had barely a hundred people worthy of wearing that red badge.

A random checkpoint, and such an important figure shows up?

It seemed things were more troublesome than Annie had thought. She feared the Federation might already be compromised.

"Where did you two lovebirds come from, putting on a melodrama here?"

The Twilight officer spoke in accented Galactic Common, even patting the assault rifle slung around his neck. "Your boyfriend's right, aren't you afraid of death?"

Arthur scowled. "What's it to you—"

Annie, quick as lightning, slapped her hand over his mouth again.

She not only got a small vent for her frustration but also shut down his threats. Annie raised her head to look at the officer: "He's not my boyfriend."

The officer raised an eyebrow. "Then what is he?"

She tightened her arms around Arthur's neck, pressing her whole body against him. Annie replied with utmost seriousness: "He's my husband."

As the words landed, the officer froze for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.

The soldiers around him also started muttering something. The officer listened for a moment, then grinned at Annie, baring his teeth. "They say, since you're married, you should kiss."

Annie shrank back against Arthur, clutching her windbreaker tightly.

She wasn't falling for that. In New Thebes' culture, an Omega couldn't easily show their face to strangers.

So Annie pretended to be hesitant. "...We have a marriage certificate."

"A marriage certificate?" The officer reached out his hand to Annie.

Thank goodness!

As long as she could submit the documents, anything would do.

Annie quickly raised her wrist. The senior Twilight officer took it and scanned it with the personal terminal on his own wrist. Her identity information immediately appeared on the virtual projection.

The officer hadn't expected that Annie wasn't lying.

"So this guy is a Federation local-born," he said, growing more surprised as he read through her info. "And you're an Imperial. Ha, that's a strange one, but you still got married?"

Even if this certificate were handed over to the Federation's intelligence division, no problem would be found.

Under Meridian's coordinated arrangements, Annie and Arthur's identities were flawless.

An Alpha of the Interstellar Federation fell in love with an Omega of the Galactic Empire during his travels and married on a neutral planet. What a beautiful love story.

But every love story needs some drama, so—because their marriage was opposed by both families due to conflicting allegiances—Annie was forcibly taken back to Spica by her powerful parents.

After immense effort, the young couple managed to overcome various obstacles, reconnect, and ultimately decide to elope and get married.

To avoid her family's tracking and interference, they chose the dangerous New Thebes as their hideout.

That sounded reasonable enough, and what surprised Annie was that Arthur Kane really was from New Thebes.

This made the "couple's" choice seem even more convincing.

The identity info didn't show the melodrama, but it did show the travel records Meridian had fabricated—within a year, Annie had just "married" Arthur Kane, then "flown" back to Spica from a neutral planet, and recently booked an urgent flight to New Thebes.

Anyone with half a brain could see this was a bride eloping for love.

The officer with the red badge read while clicking his tongue, clearly constructing some dramatic story in his head.

When he finished, he switched off his personal terminal and raised a hand to the soldiers behind him.

A dozen guns aimed at Annie and Arthur lowered at the same time.

Only then did Annie finally let out a breath.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

The officer crouched down, pulling at his pant legs. If not for the gun still swinging in front of Annie's eyes, this relaxed posture would make it seem like he was just chatting about everyday matters. "Your husband rode his motorcycle past the checkpoint. Not only did he refuse to stop, but when he was forcibly halted, his hands were covered in blood. He was nearly shot."

Arthur raised his eyes gloomily. "Sand bandits."

So he'd run into sand bandits, which left him bloody and drew the Twilight organization's suspicion.

Annie's mind raced. She quickly covered for him: "We... we ran into sand bandits, that's why he split off! We agreed to meet in the City of the Radiant Sun, and I caught a bus from a nearby town."

"Mm," the officer nodded. "It's normal to be upset when your Omega isn't by your side, but—"

He crouched down, deliberately leaning close to Annie and taking a deep sniff.

The exaggerated gesture made Annie step back involuntarily. "What are you doing?"

The officer looked at Arthur, who was still kneeling.

"There's no scent of pheromones, and you haven't marked her either, brother," he said.

Annie swallowed hard. "We haven't..."

The officer waved a hand at her, and she immediately shut up.

"A sweet little bride like this, so obedient and loving, and you can still hold back?" The officer grinned, reaching out to pat Arthur's cheek. "Are you even an Alpha, or are you impotent?"

He patted Arthur's face, light taps—"smack, smack, smack," three times.

The air froze instantly.

Annie had been guarding against Arthur snapping, but she hadn't expected this seemingly easygoing officer to provoke him outright!

Calling an Alpha—especially a male Alpha—impotent? That's like tossing a lighter onto a powder keg!

Annie watched in horror as the silent Arthur Kane raised his azure eyes.

Sigh.

A thousand thoughts condensed into one: exhausting.

Back in internal affairs, every time the Federation sent Arthur on a mission, the Empire was always the first to know.

The reason was simple: Arthur Kane never hid his actions. He was a rabid dog; if violence could solve a problem, he'd never consider any other option.

The key was that Arthur was indeed strong. He always succeeded.

"Say that again?" Arthur stared coldly at the red-badged officer, speaking in a low voice.

Now, someone had provoked this mad dog!

"How dare you speak to Commander Charles like that?!"

A soldier behind the eight-man squad stepped forward angrily, leveling his rifle at the back of Arthur's head.

But Arthur just let out a dry laugh.

Then he moved without warning.

Before the gun muzzle even got close, Arthur raised his arm straight up.

His sturdy arm reached behind him, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, grabbing the barrel and forcibly bending it upward by a segment!

Annie's eyes widened in shock.

Was this even human?!

And the officer named "Charles" wore a triumphant smile.

Oh no.

Annie was still hanging onto Arthur!

The situation was rapidly spiraling, and her personal combat ability was no match for Arthur or this officer, so—

In a flash of lightning, Annie looked up and noticed the red badge only raised the rifle's stock.

Raising the stock? So he didn't want to kill Arthur; at most, he was just provoking him for fun.

This guy was a lunatic too! But once she confirmed that, Annie immediately had a plan.

Arthur had already stood up. He even had the presence of mind to give Annie a boost, pulling her petite form directly into his arms. Before Annie could react, her feet were already off the ground, and Arthur kicked the soldier behind him aside, the hand that had bent the gun barrel now turning toward the red badge.

Now!

Annie seized the moment and activated the electric clasp on the back of Arthur Kane's head.

The pulse silently released, and Arthur's swinging punch faltered, almost imperceptibly—

The next moment, Commander Charles's rifle stock slammed hard into his temple.

Arthur Kane fell to the ground instantly.

Annie, still held in his arms, tumbled down with him in a clumsy heap. It looked exactly as if Commander Charles's stock had taken him down.

The red-badged officer standing there was stunned too.

He hadn't expected such a tall, strong man to go down in one hit!

Commander Charles stared at the unconscious Arthur for a long moment, even nudging him with his foot. When he got no response, he burst into loud laughter.

"Putting on a show of defying Twilight, and he turns out to be a pushover?" Commander Charles laughed until tears came to his eyes. He re-hung the assault rifle around his neck and turned to look at Annie.

The officer crouched down in front of her again.

He leaned in, closed the distance, and sniffed near Annie.

"He hasn't marked you yet," Charles said with a smile. "It's not too late to change your mind. How about it? I've got plenty of Alphas with sharper heads than him for you to choose from."

Annie shuddered.

She and Arthur Kane had just met, their pheromone scents completely clean. Marked or not, one sniff told you.

Only Alphas and Omegas could smell pheromones, so...

The red badge before her was also an Alpha.

She was silent for a moment, then lowered her voice: "Come any closer, and I'll kill my husband first, then myself."

Commander Charles quickly raised both hands. "Whoa, no need for that."

With that, he stood up and took a few steps back.

"You're lucky, little bride, that you ran into me. I'm reasonable enough, and I don't have time to mess around with eloping youngsters," he turned and gestured to his subordinate soldiers. "Check the bus passengers' IDs. If there's no problem, let them go—oh, the driver's a local, right? Give a hand and help the little bride carry her big man out."

When he left the area, Annie only then realized that her hands were trembling uncontrollably from the tension.

It was only because she'd seen Charles raise the stock instead of the gun that she'd activated the electric clasp.

This red badge didn't intend to kill. True to his words, he was "reasonable enough."

But what did he mean by "no time"? It sounded urgent.

Now Annie was fairly certain that the Federation's side had leaked information.

Although that wasn't Arthur's fault, damn it—Arthur!

She secretly glared at the handsome agent lying unconscious on the ground.

He'd caused so much trouble the moment they met, and he wasn't cooperating. What were they supposed to do when they got to the city?

No, wait.

Annie's gaze drifted to Arthur again, lingering on his torso where the torn, stretched clothes revealed most of his strong, well-defined muscles.

Of course, she wasn't just checking out his chest! Annie realized this was a perfect opportunity to inspect the Federation agent's gear.