Josh came face to face with an unexpected man and his eyes widened in surprise. The man who always had a smiling face had no expression at that moment. He just looked at Josh with an unnatural face, like a mask.
"Grayson," Josh muttered absently.
Why is this man here? Before he had time to think, a chill ran down his spine. Instead of answering, Grayson suddenly stretched out his hand. Josh was suddenly dragged away by his collar, and his friends cried out in surprise.
"Josh!"
"What are you doing?"
"You bastard, can't you let go of Josh?"
Although they shouted and criticized him, no one came forward. They were just large ordinary people. Josh understood the situation of his friends. He also didn't want them to come forward, so he raised his hand to show his friends that it was okay.
"Let's talk about this. I'll listen as much as I can about it," Josh spoke as calmly as possible.
The pheromone scent emanating from Grayson bothered him earlier, but that was it. It was different, but not so different. No scent could drive Josh crazy like Chase's pheromones. Feeling a cold chill in his heart, Josh grabbed Grayson's hand that was holding his collar. He tried to force it off, but even though he was only holding it with one hand, he wouldn't budge.
What kind of power is this?
Josh, who was embarrassed, thought of Chase again. Chase also tried to attack Josh, and he couldn't deal with his strength. In that case, he had no choice but to use his skills. He grabbed his arm and was about to throw him down when he suddenly opened his mouth with an expressionless expression on his face that Grayson had never displayed before.
"Why aren't you answering the phone?"
"Phone?" Josh belatedly turned his head to the bag he had thrown away. Grayson also looked in the same direction. Josh turned his head back to Grayson, and Grayson returned his gaze again.
It was then. Tommy threw his helmet behind them. It flew quickly and hit Grayson squarely on the temple.
I should have done that.
Grasping Josh's collar with one hand, Grayson swung his free arm without hesitation. With a dull thud, his helmet flew into the distance and made a touchdown. Tommy and the other friends, who had boldly used violence to help Josh, had mixed thoughts at the same time.
I'm going to punch you.
I'm glad Tommy used a tool.
Everyone was confused, not knowing what to do with that situation, but Josh opened his mouth.
"If it's about him, I'll accompany you. If not, apologize to everyone."
Grayson didn't say anything for a moment. He quietly looked into Josh's eyes and opened his mouth in a low voice.
"Follow me."
With just these words, Grayson let go of Josh's collar as if throwing him. Reflexively, Josh took a couple of steps back, then quickly regained his balance and stood upright. Grayson turned around and started walking. Belatedly, Josh's friends gathered around him and started talking with concern.
"What? What happened?"
"Josh, are you in trouble? Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Who is that guy? He suddenly appeared, Josh. Do you really know him?"
Afterwards, there was a lot of shouting and questions pouring out from all over the place. But Josh didn't have time to answer each question individually. Instead, he equivocated his words and walked away.
"I'll tell you later. I'm sorry. I'll go first."
The remaining guys blinked in confusion as they saw him hurriedly walking away with his bag. Among the men who stood there for a while, both confused and worried, someone spoke.
"Did you see the color of his eyes?"
"Yeah..."
The other guy nodded with a puzzled expression. Everyone had the same thought, but couldn't say it out loud. A sweet scent still lingered around them, softly floating around.
***
Josh left his car in the school parking lot and got into Grayson's car. The two didn't say a word until they left school in the same car. Grayson, who sat in the driver's seat as if he had been driving himself, hastily took off the protective gear Josh was wearing, threw it in the back seat, and started the car as soon as he got into the passenger seat. Josh, who almost had an accident because the car started before he could properly close the door, let out a low curse, but held it back.
He opened his bag, took out his cell phone, and saw that he had over 30 missed calls. The last 20 calls had no caller ID. He knew without having to ask that it was Grayson's number. Josh opened his mouth, trying to suppress his mixed emotions of fear and anxiety.
"How do you know this place?"
"I stopped by your house," Grayson spoke before Josh could finish speaking. Inadvertently, Josh tightened his hand holding the cell phone. He quickly relaxed his strength before he could easily break it, and opened his mouth with difficulty.
"What's going on? Is he receiving treatment well? Is there a problem?"
It felt like if he said it out loud, it would become reality. Because of that, Josh couldn't find the courage to speak out about all the sinister thoughts floating around in his head. Even his name.
Grayson still had no expression. Only God can know what he was thinking. Grayson suddenly frowned, holding the steering wheel with one hand and putting the other hand down. Driving down a straight road with few cars passing by, he finally opened his mouth.
"His rut is here."
It was still a voice without any emotion at all. Grayson changed lanes and spoke to Josh, who was silently waiting for his next words.
"He managed to stabilize the pheromones to some extent, but it was all in vain because his rut came. Steward stayed up all night for three nights."
Honestly, it was none of Josh's business what Steward's situation was. He only cared about Chase's condition. He resisted the urge to repeat his next words, but Grayson continued to explain in a barely accented tone.
"He can't use any more medicine, and he won't have sex with anyone else but you. I came to get you because I had no other choice."
After a brief pause, he added. "They said he might die if left like this."
"I beg your pardon?" Josh was so taken aback that he asked again without realizing it.
Grayson glanced to one side as if something was bothering him, then stared straight ahead again.
"Steward said that omega pheromones are dangerous, but what can we do if he doesn't like them? Beta and alpha, he rejected them both, and he hasn't had a sip of water since yesterday."
"..."
"And this is what he's been saying."
Josh was dazed for a moment. Grayson added, glancing at him without even blinking.
"I really don't understand."
"Then why did you come?"
A question arose later as to why Grayson personally came to pick up Josh. It didn't seem like he had any other intentions, but that didn't stop him from thinking that Grayson had pure intentions. There was no answer to Josh's question for a moment. He still just stared straight ahead with an expressionless face.
When he got bored, Grayson let out a short sigh. Then his expressionless face became surprisingly alive. For the first time, Josh felt like he was alive. Next, Grayson opened his mouth.
"Chase is my little brother."
That was it. Grayson just drove without saying a word after that.
Suddenly, he remembered what Chase had said. Josh agreed with that, but at that moment it felt different. It was surprising to feel a sense of humanity now that his laughter and speaking style, which usually felt exaggerated like a play, had completely disappeared. If you constantly imitate emotions, will there come a day when you will actually feel them yourself?
Without knowing the answer, the car continued to drive down the endless road. Josh clicked aimlessly on his phone, trying to control his nervousness.
***
When the car finally arrived at its destination, they had been driving for over three hours. It wasn't Steward's lab or Chase's mansion. Josh got out of the car in confusion at the unexpected sight of only one mansion standing in a quiet landscape.
"I just bought it temporarily to help Chase stay there until he calms down."
Grayson got out of the car and spoke for the first time. The bodyguards guarding the large mansion here and there were all unfamiliar to him. Grayson didn't explain any further and went inside the mansion first. Josh, who followed behind, was momentarily distracted by the huge hall that came into view first. He felt both nervous and excited when he entered the mansion.
He stood still and looked around.
There was no human warmth inside the mansion. The security guards probably stayed in a separate building in the back. Only Chase was staying in the mansion. His mind was already tingling from the pervading sweet scent. Josh took out the bottle of medicine he always carried with him and quickly poured a few pills into his mouth. He shouldn't be distracted by pheromones until things will be resolved. As he swallowed the pill without any water, he heard footsteps approaching from the other side of the hallway.
"Mr. Bailey."
When he turned his head to hear his familiar voice, Steward, who appeared at that moment, approached him with a bright smile.
"You worked hard to get here. How have you been? You look good."
What he said seemed to be more like, 'You lived well without Chase.' Josh looked down at him, feeling his face harden. Steward casually took his hand, shook it as he pleased, and then let it go.
"You probably heard what happened on the way, right? Oh, he replaced all the bodyguards in case it was inconvenient. Fortunately, he was able to find a security team that could work for a short period of time. The existing team decided to stay on standby for now."
Steward smiled as if it was his credit. He looked like he was hoping for a compliment, but Josh had no intention of doing so. Actually, after coming that far, it was over.
All he could think was that things should happen the way they should. Why did it matter whether others knew or not? Just thinking about what would happen to Chase made his mind go blank.
Steward kept talking about how difficult it was to find such a remote mansion, how thorough the security was, and what happened during his commute to and from here. He even said that a squirrel living in an old tree growing at the back of the garden would come every morning to get acorns. Josh couldn't stand it anymore and cut him off.
"So how is Chase doing now?"
He did not even use the formal title 'Mr. Miller'. He already knew everything that had brought him here, so there was no reason to give him a chance to talk back and forth. As expected, Steward looked surprised for a moment, but soon returned to a smiling face.
"Sorry. That was a long introduction."
Josh thought he had deliberately waited until his patience had reached its limit, but he had no intention of using that as an excuse to waste time. Finally, Steward wiped his smiling face and brought up the real story.
"You probably heard something vaguely on the way, right? I'm not sure if Grayson explained it properly," he glanced behind Josh. Only then did Josh realize that Grayson had been following him. Because Grayson didn't say much.
However, Josh's attention was also completely focused on Chase.
Grayson was still walking a few steps away from them without saying a word. He also had a face where you couldn't tell what he was thinking, but Josh thought better of it. If he started talking nonsense again in that situation, he really wouldn't have tolerated him again.
He readily spoke to Josh, who turned his attention back to Steward.
"First of all, I injected nutritional supplements. He's not conscious right now, but as you know, that's an early symptom of memory impairment that extreme alphas experience when rut comes..."
As he walked down the long hallway, the pheromone scent became stronger. Josh clenched and unclenched his fist several times to keep from losing his temper. Steward continued his explanation.
"Chase has experienced this before, so it's a bit dangerous. If you have memory problems repeatedly like this, it can cause serious damage to your brain. He had a brain test the last time before his rut came, and to put it simply, it's on a dangerous borderline."
Finally, Steward stood in front of a closed door and looked at Josh.
"I thought that if his brain was marinated in pheromones one more time, it will really break down but then his rut came."
Josh unconsciously grabbed the door handle. Steward, who stopped Josh by holding his arm, warned him with an even more serious expression.
"If you feel like you can't bear it, you can stop. If the pheromones are not compatible, one of you might go crazy."
Josh looked at him blankly and then opened his mouth.
"Do you have any cigarettes?"
Steward looked puzzled at those words and took out a cigarette pack and a lighter from the pocket of his lab gown. The cigarette pack was almost full, with only one empty. Josh smiled briefly after taking it, and then he opened the door.
The door closed and only Steward and Grayson remained in the hallway. Steward, who had been looking at the closed door for a while, turned his head. Grayson still had his gaze fixed with an expressionless face.
"So, how was it? Did you feel anything?"
Grayson didn't answer for a moment, then said, "No," and opened his mouth. "I really don't know. Why would he go in there knowing it will be dangerous?"
Steward asked with his unchanging smile on his face. "What would you have done if Mr. Bailey had said he wouldn't come? If so."
Grayson tilted his head to one side and answered, "Chase doesn't like corpses."