Ezra asked Dane with a disgusted look,
“Why, why is he like that? Was he on drugs?”
It was because of the pheromones, but it would be difficult for Ezra, a Beta, to understand. He could smell pheromones and intellectually understand their effects on Alphas and Omegas, but he couldn’t experience it firsthand.
“That son of a bitch…”
Dane muttered under his breath. In this situation, releasing pheromones could only be interpreted as a deliberate act of humiliation.
“Drag him out, even if you have to force it. It’s too dangerous to waste any more time.”
At Dane’s words, Ezra and the other firefighters rushed forward. They tried to grab the man, but the naked twin only thrashed and screamed, refusing to cooperate.
“Wait, hey! The mansion is collapsing!”
“We have to get out! Get a grip!”
“Grab his arm there, lift him up! No, not there!”
Even with three strong men struggling with him, he wouldn’t budge. He fought back, hitting and pushing the firefighters in their gear, making things even more difficult.
There was only one reason why this man was acting so frenzied.
Pheromones.
And the one responsible was sitting there leisurely, watching the spectacle as if enjoying a highly entertaining circus act.
He must have done this countless times before. He must have watched with fascination as others went mad and cried out under the influence of his pheromones. The fact that he’s doing this even now proves that this man is completely filled with malice.
It was unclear whether it was just some kind of sick game for Extreme Alphas or a pastime for those who hung out with him, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.
“Hey.”
A low voice suddenly called out from behind, making Grayson freeze. Hidden by the thick smoke, he hadn’t noticed someone standing right behind him. Just as he instinctively turned to look, the voice spoke again.
“Don’t be a nuisance.”
The voice, which had sounded like someone gritting their teeth, ended abruptly. Then, amidst the acrid smoke, an unbelievably fresh scent spread through the air.
…Huh?
Grayson faltered for a moment. A refreshing fragrance, both gentle yet soothing, filled the air, melting away all the tension in his body at once. His vision suddenly darkened, and before he could react, his entire body collapsed. At the same time, the powerful pheromones he had been releasing vanished instantly.
“Got him!”
Right on cue, the firefighter who had been grappling with the now-motionless twin hoisted him up. Though he still struggled weakly, his strength had clearly drained. After the firefighters carrying him on their shoulders disappeared, Ezra hurried over to Dane.
“What just happened? And why’s this guy acting like this?”
Dane replied indifferently to the bewildered Ezra,
“He probably inhaled too much smoke.”
“Ah.”
Ezra readily accepted the explanation and nodded. He tried to lift the man, but it wasn’t easy. The blond man was enormous, easily over two meters tall. It was too far to carry such a large body. Ezra, already exhausted, was out of breath, when Dane, who was helping to carry Grayson, suddenly said,
“Let’s throw him.”
“What?”
Ezra looked back in surprise, and Dane continued calmly,
“Let’s throw him onto the air mattress. If we try to drag him out, we’ll end up dead too.”
He wasn’t wrong. The fire had already spread throughout the house, and no one could guarantee their safety on the way to the stairs leading down.
“Let’s go to the window.”
With Ezra’s agreement, they hurried into the nearest room. They opened the window and leaned out. Fortunately, the firefighters tackling the flames below quickly spotted them.
“Air mattress! We need a mattress!”
Dane yelled as he positioned the dead weight they were carrying on the windowsill. Seeing the man still unconscious, Ezra said worriedly,
“We need to get him on oxygen soon, at least let me give him my mask…”
“Drop him.”
Completely ignoring Ezra’s attempt to remove his mask and put it on Grayson’s face, Dane interrupted flatly. And before Ezra could even understand what he meant, Dane abruptly grabbed Grayson and pushed him out of the window.
“W-Wait! Together, together!”
Ezra hurriedly grabbed Grayson’s limp body and, after confirming that the air mattress was in place, let go. Right after, Dane and Ezra escaped the burning house. The fire continued to rage for another hour before it was finally extinguished.
***
When Grayson woke up, he was lying in a hospital bed. He lay still for a moment, trying to recall what had happened. Just as he vaguely remembered that the mansion had caught fire, the door to his hospital room opened, and someone entered.
“Ah, you’re awake.”
As Grayson sat up awkwardly, the nurse quickly approached his bed and began checking his vital signs.
“Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere? You’re fine, aside from inhaling a bit of smoke. You can be discharged whenever you’d like. Do you have any questions? Any discomfort?”
At the kind inquiry, Grayson blinked, confused, then frowned and looked up at the nurse.
“How did I get here?”
“The paramedics brought you in. You were unconscious, so we ran a lot of tests, but everything came back normal. You must have been very tired.”
The nurse chuckled, adding a joke. But it wasn’t true. Grayson asked with a serious expression.
“That’s all? Nothing else happened?”
The nurse tilted their head with a smile. Having gained no useful information, Grayson dismissed the nurse. Left alone, he went over his memories again.
What was that?
He couldn’t stay calm as he recalled his last memory before losing consciousness. Grayson practically jumped out of bed and paced around the room. He clearly remembered releasing an enormous amount of pheromones, enough to overwhelm even the twins’ pheromones. So the room should have been filled with only his own scent, mixed with the acrid smoke.
But it was definitely there. A scent that wasn’t his. A completely different scent.
The scent that emanated from behind him was definitely something he knew. A scent he had smelled a long time ago, not just the scent of an ordinary Omega…
An Extreme Omega’s pheromones.
Grayson had smelled it before. Because the Omega who had given birth to him was an Extreme Omega. As a child, Grayson would often pester him to let him inhale that scent. Unlike ordinary Omegas, Extreme Omegas could fully control their pheromones, either concealing them completely or releasing them at will to throw Extreme Alphas into turmoil. Just like what had happened to him.
There’s one of them among the firefighters.
His heart began to race violently. Unable to calm down, he paced the hospital room frantically, running a hand through his hair.
