A Quiet Homecoming

Nightfall stripped away the harshness of the City of the Radiant Sun.

Inside the Governor's Mansion's courtyard, white walls, green shade, fountains, and tiled walkways all testified to the governor's extravagance.

Yet even now, Annie had yet to see Governor Hado himself appear. Countless soldiers in Twilight uniforms mingled with the other invited guests, coming and going.

Maids wove through the crowd carrying wine and fruit, while Charles Lang sat on the rim of the central fountain like a host, laughing and chatting with some richly dressed noble.

Amid the boisterous scene, Annie found Madam Hado stealing a moment of respite.

"Madam Annie," Madam Hado said, glancing around to confirm no one was listening, lowering her voice. "What happened during the day? I heard there was a firefight near the orphanage."

"...It was the Resistance," Annie relayed truthfully. "They were after me and Arthur. You didn't know?"

Madam Hado's eyes widened slightly.

The veil hid her face, but not her shock.

"I didn't know, Madam Annie," she said. "I can only assure you, this wasn't Boss He's doing."

Of course it wasn't Boss He!

If not for helping her, Annie and Arthur wouldn't even be at the Governor's Mansion.

Still, Annie wasn't surprised.

Just as she'd thought, the Resistance's factions didn't share intelligence among themselves—there were clearly multiple splinter groups.

She'd have to watch out not just for Twilight, but for hostility and attacks from the Resistance too.

At least Arthur had managed to snatch the private terminal from the operation's leader.

Back when she was changing clothes, Annie had already removed the chip from the terminal and installed it into the main unit on her wrist.

Time was tight. As she spoke with Madam Hado, she activated the program on her contact lenses.

"I'll report this to Boss He," Madam Hado said.

"...Not yet," Annie shook her head. "To avoid unnecessary complications—"

She didn't finish her sentence.

Arthur Kane strode forward, his tall frame conspicuous even in the crowded courtyard.

This time Annie clearly sensed him approaching. The Alpha's long arm swept out, and without giving Annie a chance to end her conversation, he pulled her into his embrace and carried her to a corner of the courtyard.

Annie instantly lost all her temper.

Can't you just say something or grab my hand?! Moving her around like this, and so effortlessly—it made her feel like a piece of furniture.

But before she could complain, Charles Lang, standing in the center, leapt up with his wine glass and landed on the edge of the fountain.

"Everyone! Everyone, hold on—hear me out."

The Red Badge swayed as he stood upright, raising his glass.

"Good news," he announced. "Just now, the higher-ups replied to my message. They say my little brother Arthur's traditional marriage is a fine thing! After twenty years, it's time we restored our old ways. He's very pleased."

Annie immediately looked up at Arthur.

At the same time, Charles Lang scanned the crowd and found the towering Arthur Kane tucked away in the courtyard's corner.

The Butcher shook his head helplessly—if Arthur were among the crowd, he'd have made him come up and say a few words.

Running off this far ahead of time was just his way of refusing to show his face.

"I must thank my little brother."

So Charles Lang raised his glass across the distance. "Arthur, this one's for you."

Arthur's brow furrowed.

With his name called, countless eyes in the courtyard turned toward him.

Before everyone, he kept one arm around Annie, reached to the side with the other, and took a glass of wine from a maid's tray.

"What did Madam Hado say?" Arthur's jaw brushed over the top of Annie's head.

"She said Boss He didn't know," Annie tilted her head. "You'll need to cover for me, Arthur—I'm cracking the chip from the private terminal."

Under the watch of the crowd, Arthur raised his head and downed the drink in one go.

He gave Charles Lang that face—the Butcher looked away, satisfied.

The courtyard grew lively again.

Arthur set the empty glass back on the tray and lowered his head.

The height difference forced him to bend down to close the distance with Annie.

"Hurry up," he urged.

Annie didn't need the reminder.

The Alpha's body heat pressed against her back as he nuzzled her hair with his jaw and cheek. It looked like nothing more than a newlywed couple showing off their affection in public, but behind her contact lenses, Annie was rapidly scanning the chip's code.

Decryption took time—and New Thebes' outdated technology only made things harder.

Not because it was difficult, but...

The chip was too old! A product of thirty years ago, its response speed simply couldn't keep up with Annie's latest tech.

Behind her, Arthur took a step back.

As if unsatisfied with simply holding her in his arms, Arthur sat down on the ground, taking her waist in his hands and leaning back against the corridor steps in full view of everyone. This brought them even closer; the Alpha's breath brushed against the top of Annie's head, carrying a faint, mellow scent of wine.

He pulled her directly onto his lap.

Held in his arms, she looked like a gentle deer. Arthur buried his face against her neck, and through the cloak's fabric, with extreme patience, he brushed his lips against her gland again and again.

The pressure was light, but impossible to ignore.

It continued until the gland at the back of Annie's neck sensed the pressure, and the faint fragrance of lemon leaves wafted up.

She distinctly felt Arthur press against her skin and let out a satisfied sigh.

And he still didn't stop.

Arthur reached out and grabbed Annie's thigh.

Through the white robe, most of her flesh was gripped in the Alpha's hand. Annie turned to protest, but he used the motion to shift her from back-to-chest to face-to-face.

"What are you afraid of?" Arthur murmured. "You're my wife."

"..."

Annie understood instantly.

She followed Arthur's blue gaze peripherally and spotted an unfamiliar officer approaching with a wine glass.

No Red Badge—likely some ordinary officer stationed in the City of the Radiant Sun.

Charles Lang had just made clear that "the higher-ups" approved of this traditional marriage, which surely elevated Arthur Kane's "status."

It was natural enough for someone to want to curry favor with this young Alpha.

But Annie was still busy cracking the chip—she had no time to act along.

So...

"Pull down my scarf," she said softly.

Arthur's blue eyes flickered with hesitation.

But as he watched the officer move closer, the Alpha's face tightened, and he reached out anyway.

With one hand still on Annie's thigh, the other gently tugged at the cloth covering her face.

The approaching officer's foot caught mid-stride.

—On New Thebes, an Omega could not show her face freely.

Likewise, other Alphas could not look upon a married Omega's face—that was an insult and a challenge to the Omega's owner.

He wanted to ingratiate himself with Arthur Kane, not offend him.

The officer had no choice but to stop, watching helplessly as Arthur pressed the back of Annie's head toward him, as if about to kiss her.

Honestly—no sense of timing!

But an Alpha had the right to do whatever he pleased with his Omega. Even if it was inappropriate, the officer couldn't say a word. He could only turn and walk away awkwardly, embarrassed.

"He's gone," Arthur said. "Hurry up."

His hand remained clamped at the back of her neck, palm pressed against her gland, a warm sensation passing through the fabric.

It made Annie's pheromones even more distinct.

"Cracked to sixty-five percent," Annie said, looking at Arthur, and also at the virtual screen in her vision. "You can let go now."

Arthur didn't move.

Those blue eyes were so close, burning into Annie through the virtual projections of data and progress bars.

The bright moon hung overhead, casting silver light that wrapped the two in a cold white veil.

That veil seemed to seal off all the noise and commotion.

In that instant, their world went quiet.

Only each other's breaths, and the reflections in each other's eyes.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Annie closed her eyes first.

Just as she turned away, Arthur lowered his head.

What landed was not a kiss. The Alpha simply pressed his forehead against hers, lashes touching, the tips of their noses meeting.

Every breath was filled with the scent of pheromones—the metallic burn and the fragrance of lemon leaves intertwining in the air. Arthur swallowed, his voice hoarse in a way impossible to ignore: "Why are you so slow?"

Annie let out a long, quiet sigh.

"I'm cracking a chip, not tightening a screw," she said softly.

Time to wrap this up quickly. She flicked her wrist, and a data cable slid from her sleeve into her palm. Annie's soft fingertips brushed against the hem of Arthur's T-shirt.

Those lingering eyes snapped to alertness in an instant.

The killing intent from before surged back—Arthur seized Annie's wrist: "What are you doing?"

Federation agents' communication terminals were implanted at their sides. If Annie hadn't hacked into his once before, she wouldn't have been caught by the throat by Arthur that first time.

"If I wanted to hack your terminal, I'd have done it while you were unconscious during the day," Annie said bluntly. "Let me borrow your program."

Arthur's blue eyes stared straight at her, unmoving.

So exhausting!

Fine, fine—the fact that he hadn't thrown her to the ground on the spot was already a huge improvement.

"The Resistance's chip uses an old Federation model," Annie had to explain. "Same underlying code as your terminal. So cracking it through your implants will be faster. And... I'll give you access to my channel too."

"..."

"Arthur," Annie softened her tone. "You and I still can't contact each other yet."

She was sitting on his lap, and she didn't even have his contact information—how ridiculous was that!

"Please?" Annie said with a pitiful look.

Arthur's anger flared instantly.

Putting on that act!

Her face was so close, delicate and innocent, her dark eyes full of grievance, as if Arthur had bullied her.

But this little Omega's hands were dirty—he'd been burned by her more than once.

Still, Arthur Kane really couldn't find a reason to refuse.

If she hacked him, he could have Peace Star check it over—no big deal. With that thought, he reluctantly let go.

Annie pulled up the hem of his T-shirt.

The fabric rustled, and moonlight illuminated the faint sheen of sweat on his tanned skin, coating his defined muscles in silver.

Her slender fingertips traced over the lines of his abdomen, and Arthur instinctively tensed.

The port was implanted at the Alpha's side. Her soft fingertips pressed into the gap, stirring between metal and flesh. The discomfort of the intrusion made Arthur's face tighten, and when Annie leaned in and used two fingers to pry the interface open, a strange, unsettling shiver shot straight through him.

This... was this right?

A soft click—the data cable connected.

Their terminals linked. Such a simple task, yet under this moonlight, with their pheromones blending, it felt loaded with meaning.

The memory of their wedding night surged uncontrollably, and then Arthur heard Annie's soft laugh.

"Missing it that much?"

Damn it!

Arthur snapped back to reality.

With the implant linked, of course she could "see" his thoughts.

At the same time, through the terminal, Arthur "heard" Annie's system reporting progress.

Sixty-seven percent jumped to seventy-five in an instant.

The data stream rushed in, making Arthur feel like all his implants were heating up. His breathing instinctively ragged, unwanted thoughts flickered through his mind.

Seventy-six, seventy-seven, seventy-eight.

The scent of pheromones grew stronger.

Annie leaned forward, lying against Arthur's chest, using her body to shield the data cable linking them.

The Alpha's brow beaded with sweat, his blue eyes unfocused from the overwhelming influx of data, lips slightly parted, as if the virtual characters were crowding his lungs too.

As if Annie hadn't just connected a data cable, but had plugged straight into his brain.

Kind of adorable.

Annie reached up, gently stroking his straight nose. That disconnected expression of his... was so close to the way he'd looked, utterly wrecked, on their wedding night.

Federation agents were full of implants—it was fair to say they were a third cyborg.

Who knows—maybe hacking a terminal really was something like their wedding night?

Riding the Federation's underlying code, the progress bar on the virtual projection finally hit one hundred.

In that instant, both of them "saw" the files on the chip.

A communication signal, an identity credential: Luke Garner, 28, native of New Thebes.

This was the detailed information on the suicide attack's leader.

He wasn't from the City of the Radiant Sun, and had no entry permit or records—the orphanage was outside the city, which was probably the closest this leader could get.

So Madam Hado hadn't lied; this man wasn't on Boss He's side.

And Luke Garner had plenty of weapons and men—that faction of the Resistance was more radical, and more powerful.

Good.

Finally, a force that could stand against Twilight.

"We need to inform Meridian and Peace Star," Annie murmured. "Arthur, find a way to get us back."

This was the Alpha's banquet; she was just a pretty ornament. To take action, she still had to rely on Arthur Kane.

But Arthur, now snapped out of it, simply reached out.

He didn't even unplug her data cable.

The two remained connected by that silver thread as his broad palm wrapped around Annie's chin, those blue eyes full of scrutiny and resentment.

"You had no reaction," he said. "Not once."

"..."

Pheromones surging, breaths mingling, even their consciousness linked.

But Annie's eyes stayed clear.

She looked at Arthur, teetering on the edge of anger yet not quite angry, and curved her lips.

Still not used to it?

She lay in his arms, like she was holding a beast poised to strike.

"Arthur," Annie countered, "what reaction did you want?"

It was time to seriously consider that question.