Chapter 227: Not Even Pretending Anymore

"We’ll just have to be a bit more careful than usual, but you don’t need to worry about that," Nathan Lockwood said. If they really were to go out, it certainly wouldn’t be just the two of them.

Nathan Lockwood combed his fingers through Zoe Pierce’s hair as if smoothing an animal’s fur. "So, want to go have some fun?"

With him extending the invitation so plainly, Zoe Pierce had no reason to hesitate.

She nodded in agreement.

Other than Planet B36, Zoe Pierce had never been to any other resort planets.

Strictly speaking, they hadn’t gone to Planet B36 for a vacation, but had used it as a cover to investigate what happened to her parents.

Although things didn’t turn out quite like she’d originally guessed, and they ended up discovering a few other things.

All in all, she never got to enjoy a real vacation.

She had now adopted a rather zen attitude about recovering her past memories.

She wasn’t so desperate to recover her memories anymore. It was best to just let nature take its course.

So, if they were really going on vacation, it would be a completely new experience for Zoe Pierce.

That afternoon, the three of them arrived as expected.

A robot opened the door.

The moment Chase Shaw walked in, he saw the two of them sitting on the sofa, a gap of nearly half a meter between them.

It was a classic case of protesting too much.

The moment they stepped inside, they smelled it: the scent of Alpha and Omega pheromones mingled together. It was faint, but it hadn’t fully dissipated and was impossible to ignore.

Aaron Xavier raised an eyebrow as he entered. "You’re not wearing a barrier patch, are you?"

Zoe Pierce touched the back of her neck. ’No wonder I felt like I’d forgotten something.’ Ever since Nathan Lockwood had temporarily marked her, she hadn’t put anything on her glands.

"Is the scent that strong?" Just as Zoe Pierce was about to get up and grab a suppression patch, Nathan Lockwood reached out and pulled her back down.

"Don’t wear one," Nathan Lockwood said. "It’s not good for your glands to be covered by a barrier patch all the time. Let them breathe."

He then looked at Aaron Xavier. "Deal with it."

Aaron Xavier clicked his tongue, not liking the way Nathan Lockwood was acting.

Miles Sherman sat to the side. "Post-marking pheromones won’t affect us. Don’t worry."

It’s the pheromones of an *unmarked* Omega that are irresistible to Alphas.

But once an Omega has been marked by an Alpha, that allure diminishes drastically, affecting only the Alpha who did the marking.

The reason Zoe Pierce had still worn a suppression patch after being temporarily marked by Aaron Xavier was because her glands were having issues back then, and there was no telling when his pheromones might wear off.

Now that her body was back to normal, her cycle could be calculated as usual.

After hearing their explanations, Zoe Pierce relaxed and didn’t move.

"Zoe and I were just talking about finding some time to go on vacation," Nathan Lockwood began, once everyone was seated. "To somewhere that isn’t too famous, but has a great environment."

Nathan Lockwood completely dismissed the places Quentin Ford had recommended.

Being famous meant there would be too many tourists.

With the five of them traveling together, who knew what might happen behind the scenes. It was best to avoid crowds.

"Do you have anywhere in mind?" Miles Sherman asked, looking at Zoe Pierce.

She had to have a preference, whether for historical ruins or something else entirely.

When she thought of "vacation," the first things that came to Zoe Pierce’s mind were sun and sand.

Doing nothing, just comfortably sunbathing on the water in a small, transparent boat.

Back on Earth, she used to enjoy relaxing activities like going on nature retreats in the forest. But ever since arriving in Interstellar Space, her days were spent either trekking through forests for joint exams or searching for hidden secrets in mountain ranges.

Now, she had absolutely no interest in forest-related activities.

She even had this conditioned response that nothing good ever happened in the mountains.

All of which made her want to go to a beach even more.

So, when Miles Sherman asked, Zoe Pierce answered without a moment’s hesitation, "The beach."

Aaron Xavier narrowed his eyes. "Could it be... you just want a legitimate excuse to check out our bodies?"

Zoe Pierce was taken aback by his comment. "Huh?"

Aaron Xavier shrugged. "I know you want a look. You can just say so, no need to be coy about it."

Zoe Pierce grabbed a throw pillow from behind her and chucked it at him.

Aaron Xavier muffled a laugh.

It wasn’t as if Zoe Pierce hadn’t seen all their bodies before.

To put it crudely, she’d seen, touched, and had her fun with every single one of them.

She couldn’t be bothered to respond to Aaron. Chase Shaw spoke up, "My family has a private estate on Harvestfall."

He activated his Intelligent Brain and pulled up some photos.

Beneath an orange sky lay a body of water so clear you could see the bottom. The surface was as transparent and smooth as a pane of glass.

"Harvestfall is a Tier-2 planet, I believe," Nathan Lockwood said.

Aaron Xavier pulled up a photo of his own. "What about this one? This beach isn’t bad either."

Aaron’s photo was much wilder. Zoe Pierce could see him surrounded by large, unidentifiable fish.

"This place has a lot of underwater caves. It would be fun to explore."

"We could also go cliff diving."

That all sounded a little too intense. Zoe Pierce unhesitatingly chose Chase’s suggestion. "Harvestfall sounds perfect."

Aaron looked at her, confused. "It’s not as intense as a Mecha dive."

Zoe Pierce figured Aaron still didn’t understand the meaning of "vacation." A vacation meant doing nothing and just resting.

His proposed itinerary looked packed and exciting, but it completely defeated the purpose.

She ignored his slightly disappointed expression with a clear conscience.

"I’ll have a Starship prepared," Nathan Lockwood said calmly. "Since we’re going for pleasure, there’s no need to take a public vessel."

"It’s safer," he added.

The others understood.

They set the date for one week later.

*

When the agreed-upon time arrived, Zoe Pierce and Nathan Lockwood were the first to get to the port.

Aaron and the others weren’t far behind, arriving within the scheduled time.

Once everyone had gathered, they boarded the Starship.

Being quite perceptive, they all sensed that this was the same Starship they had traveled on before.

Its most distinct feature was that the entire cabin section had rooms for only the four of them—and no extras.

"Nathan, you’re not even going to pretend anymore?" Aaron licked his lips, crossing his arms as he asked.

Four rooms, but five people.

Nathan Lockwood’s fingers worried the web of his thumb. "Pretend what? Zoe’s staying with me."

’In a completely sealed environment like this, what was the point of putting on an act?’

’Once they got to Harvestfall, it would still be just the five of them. There was really no need for a charade.’

Aaron even suspected that Nathan had agreed to this trip so readily just to deliberately flaunt this in their faces.

After all, Zoe Pierce still seemed to care about propriety, whereas Nathan couldn’t care less.

Chase glanced over but said nothing. Instead, he gave Aaron a little push. "Let’s go."

Aaron looked at him in disbelief. "Chase, you’re not going to say anything at all?"

Chase stared straight ahead. "Since when are you the type to play by the rules?"

’So what if Nathan and Zoe were sharing a room? Unless they were stuck to each other’s side every second of every day, there would be plenty of opportunities to exploit.’