This Omega Knows How to Handle Her Alpha!

Arthur grabbed the Resistance member who charged at him.

He stretched out a long arm, hoisted the eighteen- or nineteen-year-old youth into the air, and spun to hurl him at the gun-wielding attacker. The two collided and tumbled to the ground in a heap.

Taking advantage of the moment, Annie ducked behind a pillar in the hotel lobby.

"Grab the woman!"

A sharp-eyed Resistance member immediately called out, "Don't let her tip off the Butcher!"

Who the hell would tip off Charles Lang?! Annie fumed inwardly: the Resistance didn't seem all that bright.

She quickly scanned her surroundings. The hundred-meter-wide hotel lobby was filled with youths dressed as civilians but clutching firearms—none of them looked like officers or leaders.

Their leader wasn't here?

Annie's mind raced.

Two Resistance members charged at her, but Arthur intercepted one of them.

The Alpha clenched his fist, the muscles in his back and biceps coiling to their limits before his arm snapped forward like a bullet.

The Resistance member reacted at the last second, dodging backward.

*Bang!*

Arthur's fist slammed into the hotel's partition wall, punching a hole straight through it!

The entire lobby went silent for a moment.

Even if the partition wasn't load-bearing, Arthur's strength was a fearsome display of force.

Even the man who had reached Annie froze for a second—and that gave her her opening.

"If we were Twilight's people," she shouted without hesitation, "wouldn't the Butcher already know your secrets? And would he have sent just two of us?"

The youth in front of her stopped in his tracks.

The tense Resistance members quickly caught on—if Charles Lang had known about them, he wouldn't have sent a man and a woman; he'd have sent an army of terrorists.

Finally getting it, are we?

Annie pressed her advantage: "We're here to join you."

Arthur finally lowered his guard.

He rubbed his knuckles and walked forward under the stunned gazes of everyone around. Even Annie couldn't help but glance at him twice: after punching through a wall, his knuckles were only slightly red.

Is this guy even human?! She marveled inwardly.

"My husband is from the Interstellar Federation," Annie explained rapidly. "Charles Lang has been searching for Federation citizens, which is why we got targeted. He wanted to recruit my husband into 'Twilight.' He was relentless about it—and then you attacked him, so we followed you... Whatever you are, maybe you can help us."

"The Butcher isn't looking for Federation people," the youth in front of her said without thinking.

"Then who is he looking for?" Annie pressed sharply.

"He's looking—"

"—Old Li, shut up!" someone warned from a distance.

Tsk. So close to getting the answer.

The man called Old Li looked to be only twenty-three or twenty-four, yet he seemed to be the oldest of the group.

He looked up warily at the silently approaching Arthur.

The towering Alpha moved like a wall, so it was no wonder Charles Lang had set his sights on him.

"What do you do?" Old Li asked.

Arthur's blue eyes cut to him. "Mercenary."

Annie breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

He got it!

Judging by the people lying in wait in the hotel, they were nothing more than Resistance grunts. Attacking without a second thought meant they couldn't be trusted with their real identities—at least not until their leader returned.

So the guy wasn't as dumb as he looked. He could actually think. Annie felt quite gratified.

"Where's your leader?" Annie asked.

Old Li fell silent.

A few Resistance members exchanged glances before finally lowering their weapons.

"He'll be back tomorrow," Old Li said cautiously. "You'll stay here. Don't leave."

They couldn't figure out exactly who these two were, but letting them go was out of the question—Annie and Arthur knew they'd attacked a Twilight officer. Under the circumstances, keeping them here really was the best option.

And that suited Annie perfectly.

She needed a place to stay tonight, and it looked like the Resistance's internal situation was complicated too.

This was a perfect chance to understand the situation.

Annie's mind was racing with calculations, but Arthur Kane cut straight to the point: "We want the most expensive room."

Old Li's expression turned very strange.

"The most expensive?" He gave Arthur a look that was hard to describe. "...Fine."

......

...

Five minutes later.

Annie stood in front of the hotel room door, completely speechless.

Black-and-red decor, dim lighting, the floor cushions and bizarrely shaped "chairs"... and Annie refused to think about what "weapons and ammunition" were displayed in the exquisite cabinet beside the bed.

She'd calculated everything except for one thing: this was a couples' hotel. No wonder Old Li had given them such an odd look earlier!

Arthur: "...Switch rooms."

Annie grabbed his arm.

"The other rooms won't be much better," she sighed.

This was a mission, not a vacation. Who had time for themed-hotel sightseeing?

Time was tight and the mission came first—at least this mysterious themed king-size room was plenty spacious.

Annie tossed her backpack onto the leather sofa, shed her cloak and wind scarf, and pulled the mechanical bug out of her pocket.

"What are you doing?" Arthur frowned at the tracker.

"Recycling."

She pulled an old-generation data cable from the personal terminal on her wrist.

Now she understood why Meridian had sent her.

New Thebes's technology lagged the Galactic Empire by about half a century. An ordinary field agent would have had a serious problem just operating the equipment.

Luckily, Annie came from logistics.

The mechanical bug's system was outdated, which made it even easier to hack. She easily cracked Twilight's firewall, disabled Charles Lang's listening access, and took it for her own use.

Annie tapped her glasses frame, and the bug's control program popped up.

She turned her head. The lenses had scanned the hotel's entire electrical and network system on the way in, and even through walls, the glasses projected the cables and fiber optics in a virtual overlay.

She needed to find a port to connect the bug to the network.

Without a second thought, Annie shoved the mechanical bug into Arthur's hands. "There's a vending machine outside. Go buy something—anything—and when the opening slides open, drop it in. That'll get us connected to the hotel's network."

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Arthur didn't move.

"Because I need to operate the terminal simultaneously," Annie said. "It's a joint mission, Arthur."

"..."

He glanced at the mechanical bug in his hand.

Seeing that Arthur still wasn't moving, Annie stepped forward, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Please? Thank you?"

The tall man raised an eyebrow.

Did he not know what she was up to? Did she really think Arthur Kane was the kind of dog who'd wag his tail for a bone, and that an Omega's show of weakness would satisfy him?

But on the way in, Arthur had noticed the vending machine.

At a couples' hotel, of course it sold all sorts of couples' paraphernalia.

New Thebes was a traditional world—Omega women had to cover their hair and faces in public. If she went out to buy couples' supplies and the terrorists saw her, she could be executed for "unchastity." The Resistance's territory might be safer, but she'd still stand out like a sore thumb.

Better not to draw any attention right now.

Besides...

Going out in public was an Alpha's job, anyway.

Arthur snorted at her deliberately pitiful expression, but he still picked up the mechanical bug and headed out.

As long as he cooperated!

Annie was satisfied. She didn't care what Arthur thought—what mattered was the result.

The Alpha had barely stepped out the door when she opened the bug's network terminal.

The vending machine was only seven or eight meters from the guest room door. Arthur walked up to it. The garish pink machine flashed with gaudy lights, its array of assorted products lined up in rows.

He didn't bother looking, just tapped a random item on the panel and paid with his personal terminal.

The machine's dispensing slot opened in response.

Arthur slipped the mechanical bug inside. Back in the room, Annie received the gravitational-sensor feedback and immediately maneuvered the bug to flip over, its six legs climbing upward as the tiny listening-and-tracking device slipped into the vending machine's main unit.

Got it!

Annie spotted the backdoor on her virtual display and cracked it with ease. She was already connected to the hotel's network terminal by the time Arthur's randomly selected item had even fallen to the dispensing slot.

"Come back," Annie said from the doorway. "We're just about—"

A notification flashed in her glasses frame: someone was coming.

From the corridor's other end, a workroom door clicked open, and a familiar figure stepped out.

It was the Resistance member called Old Li.

Damn it.

Annie's heart sank by the door.

"What's wrong? I saw you standing by the monitor for a while," Old Li said as he walked over. "It jammed again?"

"N-no, it's fine!"

Annie called out through the cracked door, "What's taking you so long? Get back here."

Old Li: "Let me open the machine and take a look."

The item really was stuck, still not dropping to the dispensing slot. If he opened the machine to check, all their hard work feeding the bug in would be wasted.

Seeing Old Li about to bend down and open the touch panel, Arthur suddenly moved.

He kicked the vending machine directly!

"Hey!"

The sudden crash made Old Li jump straight up from his crouch. "What are you doing?! That machine's expensive! What if you break your stuff?"

Arthur looked annoyed. "It's mine. What's it to you if I break it?"

As he spoke, the touch panel flashed green, and with a clatter from inside the machine, the stuck item dropped. Arthur pulled it out of the slot—

It was a collar.

All black leather, with a tacky, ostentatious heart hanging right in the center. The packaging even had a huge line of text: Adjustable neck size, for men.

Arthur: "..."

Old Li: "......"

The Resistance member's face twisted into a complicated expression.

He looked at the tall, burly Arthur, then at Annie peeking out from the guest-room door with an eager, expectant look.

He'd thought this was just a normal Alpha-female, Omega-male pairing—who knew they had these kinds of dynamics! Old Li's gaze at Annie changed completely.

"W-well, you two have fun then," he said with an awkward chuckle. "Don't get too carried away. Take care of yourselves, buddy. Don't hurt yourself."

With that, Old Li patted Arthur on the shoulder, waved awkwardly, and hurried off.

Annie, who had watched the whole scene, was thoroughly impressed.

That was thrilling, unexpected, and a total stroke of luck. The Resistance member had come over because he'd noticed something—he'd even said he'd been watching the monitor.

Annie had been fully prepared to spin a cover story, but who could have guessed that all suspicion would be dispelled by what Arthur bought!

Arthur returned to the room with a dark face, shutting the door behind him and tossing the item aside like a hot potato.

"Ahem," Annie smoothly changed the subject to business. "We're connected to the network. We can listen in now."

She turned on her personal terminal's speaker and lowered it to the minimum volume.

The sound from the monitoring room came through clearly.

A door creaked open—Old Li must have gone back.

"What happened?" someone asked.

"The Alpha's purchase got stuck, that's all," Old Li complained. "Was that worth making me run over?"

Someone in the monitoring room snickered. "What'd he buy?"

Old Li: "Don't even mention it. He's built like a tank, but who knew he had those tastes! Man, no wonder he specifically asked for this kind of room. This Omega really knows how to handle her Alpha!"

Arthur: "..."

Annie could hear Arthur grinding his teeth right next to her ear! She held up a hand. "Shh."

"If they really are just ordinary mercenaries, fine. They don't seem to know what we're up to—they thought the Butcher was searching for Federation people."

Then, after another round of laughter, the other voice dropped low.

"That scientist really is from the Federation, though."

Scientist? Annie tilted her head.

The people in the monitoring room kept talking.

"I don't know if Fly managed to rescue him. That diversion cost us a dozen or so brothers..."

Old Li sighed.

"If he's rescued, it's worth it. The gene weapon Twilight's developing could make every Omega on the planet infertile within three months. They're trying to commit genocide! If that scientist really can develop an antidote, then even if Twilight actually uses the gene weapon, we'll have a way to fight back."

The words hit the room, and it fell into dead silence.

Annie's heart lurched.

Those few exchanged sentences from the Resistance had laid out the whole picture clearly.

No wonder Twilight had started searching for Federation people. No wonder high-ranking officers were prowling around outside.

The Galactic Empire and the Interstellar Federation had cooperated for the first time ever because they feared Twilight's gene weapon. And now they were saying someone could develop an antidote?

Without a second thought, Annie activated the communication system on her glasses—

But the next instant, Arthur Kane snatched her glasses off her face.

"What?!"

Annie looked up in shock, meeting Arthur's crystal-blue eyes, mere inches from her own.

"You want to notify Meridian," he said coldly.

Damn it.

She realized it instantly.

From what the Resistance had said, the scientist was from the Federation.

If an antidote was developed and the Interstellar Federation got its hands on the gene weapon's formula, they could use it against the Galactic Empire and defeat their millennia-old enemy.

All they had to do was make sure the Empire never learned the antidote existed.

Arthur wanted to silence them all!