Desire Me If You Can [Novel] - Chapter 25

The punch landed squarely on Grayson’s face, and his tall body swayed violently. After a few seconds of silence, the startled birds took flight all at once, alarmed by the sudden noise.
By the time the faint sound of flapping wings faded away, Grayson, who had staggered back, slowly turned his head.
When his face came back into view, Dane faltered for the first time. Those deep purple eyes were gleaming with an eerie light. They flickered, momentarily tinged with gold, then returned to purple, only for the gold to swirl back in again, repeating the cycle.
“Pffft. Hehehe.”
An unsettling laugh escaped Grayson’s lips. At the same time, an overwhelming wave of pheromones radiated from his entire body. Flowing involuntarily, it was clear that he was overflowing with excitement, unable to control himself.
Dane instinctively shuddered and took a step back.
This guy really seemed like a madman.
“Ahahahaha, hahaha, hahahaha!”
He was laughing. Laughing as if he were so delighted he might die from it. As proof, Grayson’s body trembled violently once before he slowly, but firmly, clenched both fists.
“Now it’s self-defense.”
With that, he launched himself forward at an astonishing speed.
Straight toward Dane.
More time had passed than expected, slipping away without notice. Wilkins anxiously glanced the watch on his wrist and then back at the hill.
“Aren’t they taking too long?”
Someone spoke up, and another replied,
“That’s what I’m saying. They should have been back by now, even if they took the longest possible route.”
“It’s strange that even Dane is late. Did something happen?”
“No way. What, a firefighter needing to rescue another firefighter? And that firefighter being Dane, of all people?”
Despite their back-and-forth, they couldn’t hide their lingering worry. Among them, DeAndre nervously bit his fingernails. A considerable amount of time had passed since Dane and Grayson disappeared behind the hill.
DeAndre, too, had fully expected his request to be carried out there. The problem was that it was taking far too long.
What the hell is going on? Surely nothing’s happened to Dane… right?
He kept glancing anxiously in the direction they’d vanished, hoping nothing had gone wrong.
Thwack!
With a loud sound, Dane staggered heavily and a startled groan escaped his lips. He almost tumbled down the slope.
The area, with its steep incline, led to a cliff so deep that even a glance down sent chills down the spine. If he rolled down and couldn’t stop himself in time, he would fall below, resulting in at least a broken bone, or worse, death.
Maybe picking this spot was a mistake.
For the first time, he questioned his choice, but there was no time to dwell on it. Grayson immediately followed up with a kick.
Contrary to expectations, Grayson was surprisingly agile and used his body well. He might have learned various martial arts under some reputable instructor. While that wasn’t true, Grayson was no ordinary opponent, enough to make Dane, who knew little about him, make such assumptions.
I thought he was just a spoiled rich boy who did nothing but play around.
This is bad.
Dane had no choice but to acknowledge his miscalculation. If he’d known things would escalate this much, he should’ve charged at least 100 dollars. Hadn’t he already done more than $38.25 worth of work?
He regretted it now. He felt a surge of annoyance that he now had to exert himself further just to escape. Wasting energy on pointless endeavors like this was what he hated most in the world. He shouldn’t have gotten involved in this idiotic plan in the first place!
Regret washed over him like a tidal wave, but there was no time to wallow in sentiment. Dane quickly ducked to avoid Grayson’s attack, and at the same time, planted his hand on the ground, swept his leg wide, and hooked Grayson’s ankle.
Grayson, who had been attacking with one leg raised, easily lost his balance and fell. Dane didn’t miss his chance and pounced on top of him.
For a while, the two grappled on the ground, rolling around in the dirt. When Dane landed a punch on Grayson’s face, Grayson grabbed Dane’s neck and slammed him to the ground. Dane, with his neck in Grayson’s grip, crossed his long legs over him, twisting out of the chokehold with an armbar and breaking free.
As he continued to press down on Grayson with his legs, the man flailed his arms beneath him, trying once again to strangle Dane’s neck.
He’s quite skilled for an ordinary person, with his decent build and some strength.
But it’s no use.
Dane thought, smirking even as blood trickled from his nose.
He hadn’t spent three years in the military for nothing. No matter how skilled a mere civilian might be, what could they do against a professionally trained former soldier?
The outcome was all but decided. Dane planned to knock Grayson unconscious and head back down first. He’d already done more than enough-far too much, in fact. He could explain the situation, and the others could either drag Grayson down, or maybe the guy would wake up and stumble down on his own.
Either way, he and this guy were never destined for anything good. Not that Dane would want a “good encounter” even if offered-he’d refuse it outright-but this was already the third time he’d had to knock him unconscious. Maybe it really was time to just up and leave this town.
He didn’t believe in destiny or anything like that. But constantly running into and getting tangled up with this guy was far from a good sign. And Grayson wasn’t exactly a good person either.
He had knocked this crazy, filthy-rich psychopath, who had been laughing and dominating Omegas with his pheromones even while handcuffed in a burning mansion, to the ground three times already, using pheromones and fists. Sure, this time it was a paid request he had accepted, so he couldn’t complain…
Damn it, listing it all out made him even more annoyed. Ever since this guy showed up, nothing good had happened at his peaceful workplace. He might have to seriously discuss leaving town with Darling soon.
Just as he thought that and applied one last bit of pressure, Grayson suddenly grabbed his arm. Dane thought it was a last-ditch effort, but what happened next was beyond anything he’d anticipated.
With monstrous strength, Grayson yanked Dane toward him. Caught off guard for just a moment, Dane tumbled down the slope alongside Grayson.
***
The test, which had started in broad daylight, showed no signs of ending even as the sun began to set low
in the sky. Everyone gathered there was staring anxiously at the hill.
Finally, unable to hold back any longer, Ezra spoke up urgently. “Shouldn’t we go check on them? What if there’s been an accident?” Starting with those words, voices of concern followed from all around.
“This is taking way too long. Something must have happened! There’s no way Dane would be this late.”
“If someone’s injured, the sooner we rescue them, the better. Even someone like Dane can’t do much if luck’s against him, right?”
“Miller can fend for himself, but we’ve got to save Dane!”
The flood of outcries left Wilkins in a bind. He was just as worried as the rest, but as the one who’d set this whole thing in motion, it wasn’t easy for him to take action. Still, trying to calm them with “Let’s wait a little longer” had reached its limit. There was no more time to waste.
Once the sun set, even searching a small hill like this would become difficult. It was better to move as quickly as possible. As he mulled over finding the right moment to act, an unexpected voice suddenly cut
through.
“What are you all doing gathered here? If you’ve got free time, you should be training your stamina instead of standing around gossiping!”
At the stern reprimand, they all turned around in unison. As expected, the chief stood there, glaring at
them with a face full of anger.
“Well, you see, Chief…”
Ezra struggled to come up with an excuse, but it wasn’t easy. Seeing him flounder, Wilkins took
responsibility and stepped forward.
“We apologize. We were conducting Miller’s physical test.”
“Physical test? For Miller? Without even telling me?”