Chapter 243: Inside and Outside the Door

But you had to admit, was this change really a welcome one?

It was just that, for it to happen at this critical juncture, it made it hard for anyone to know how to face her.

It felt wrong to act one way, and just as wrong to act another.

"Zoe Pierce, are you..."

He’d only gotten halfway through his sentence when Zoe Pierce seemed to guess what he was about to say.

She asked in return, "Is it that obvious? The change in me?"

’How did they all figure it out so quickly?’

Aaron Xavier froze. Now he knew there was definitely something he was missing. His feeling hadn’t been an illusion.

"A little." It was just something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Something you could only sense after spending every day together.

Nathan Lockwood and Chase Shaw knew that Zoe had recovered her memories, but they hadn’t had a chance to tell Miles Sherman and Aaron Xavier since they’d all met up.

"I’ve recovered my memories. All of them," she explained again.

Aaron Xavier paused, the connection to her recent fainting spell immediately clicking into place.

But, selfishly, he wished she hadn’t recovered them. She had seemed happier before.

Having a room full of Alphas was both a good thing and a bad thing.

At least for now, Zoe Pierce couldn’t ask any single person to stay behind alone.

In truth, she was still a bit dazed about her spiritual power being discovered ever since she woke up.

Deep down, she knew what she would have to face, but she still craved intimate contact with them.

She could find a certain kind of solace in it.

A sense of security.

’If I were to hug them one by one, how long would that take?’ She couldn’t calculate it.

She even found herself wanting to smell Nathan Lockwood’s pheromones.

She tilted her head back, licked her lips, and her gaze drifted unconsciously toward Nathan Lockwood.

Everyone was staring at her, so they naturally noticed where her gaze landed.

Chase Shaw, standing off to one side, let his eyes move between the two of them before deciding to just ask, "Want to smell some pheromones?"

Zoe Pierce looked up. "Am I going to get to a point where you all understand me without me saying a word?"

A large hand stroked her long hair. "It’s normal."

An Omega naturally grows dependent on their Alpha after a temporary marking. It had already struck them as strange that she hadn’t shown any signs of it at first, especially under these circumstances.

However, it was impossible for the others to leave. If they left Nathan Lockwood alone with her right now, it would be too conspicuous.

So, everyone had to stay.

And an Alpha releasing their pheromones would make the other Alphas uncomfortable. Weighing the pros and cons, the only suitable place was the bathroom—an enclosed space.

Even Aaron Xavier just parted his lips but said nothing.

Nathan Lockwood didn’t say much either. He simply stood and took Zoe Pierce’s hand.

’This situation is a little strange...’

As she was pulled into the bathroom and the door was shut, Zoe Pierce felt a strange twinge of guilt.

But Nathan Lockwood just laughed at her. "And here I thought you’d really gotten braver."

Turns out she was just as timid as ever.

He suddenly lifted Zoe Pierce onto the washstand and wrapped his arms tightly around her. The scent of his canine pheromones began to well up.

Zoe Pierce trembled in his arms.

Then her own arms wrapped around him.

"I’ve just gotten greedier." Mentally, she was growing more dependent on them, craving them more.

Nathan Lockwood lovingly kissed her ear. "It’s okay. You can be even greedier."

’What would being "even greedier" entail?’ Zoe Pierce wondered. ’Could there be anything more excessive?’

In truth, just this was more than enough to satisfy her.

Once she was enveloped in that scent, Zoe Pierce’s dependence on Nathan Lockwood reached its peak.

"Nathan Lockwood... I want more pheromones..."

She lowered her head, revealing the back of her neck and the faint protrusion there.

’My gland wants pheromones, too.’

She gave Nathan Lockwood a little push, hopped down from the washstand, and turned her back to the mirror.

The man was half a head taller than her. He unzipped the back of her collar, revealing more of her skin.

He kissed her neck from behind.

’In a moment,’ Zoe thought, ’his canines will break my skin.’

In the mirror, he was fair-skinned and handsome, tall and statuesque.

"Nathan Lockwood, do you know about vampires?"

’Looking at him like this, there was an uncanny resemblance.’

’Except one drinks blood, while the other injects pheromones.’

’Maybe more like a venomous snake?’

His canines pierced her gland. Her shoulders tensed up, and her hands, braced on the washstand, tightened their grip unconsciously.

But in less than two seconds, she could feel that scent she loved spreading from within her body.

It was like the comfort of soaking in a hot bath.

She went soft in Nathan Lockwood’s arms.

*

「Outside the bathroom.」

The dorm room, spacious for one but rather crowded for several people, was now completely silent.

Aaron Xavier’s gaze was fixed on the tightly closed door.

"How long are they going to be in there?"

Aaron Xavier felt the scene before him was giving him a flashback to that other night, only this felt even worse.

’He had no idea what Nathan and Zoe were doing in the bathroom.’

’How far would they go?’

’This was even harder to endure than knowing about the marking.’

Chase Shaw had also opened his Intelligent Brain and was playing some game he would never normally touch. It was the only way to distract himself, however briefly.

’He never thought they’d one day be running cover like this.’

"Nathan knows his limits," Miles Sherman said.

He had opened a book, but when Aaron Xavier looked up, he saw that Miles’s gaze was fixed on a single, unmoving point.

’He wasn’t reading at all; nothing was sinking in.’

’Just a pathetic attempt at self-deception.’

"Why can’t there be four Zoe Pierces?" His imagination running wild, Aaron Xavier had reached the point of spouting nonsense.

’One for each of us. That would be perfect.’

’We could do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted.’

He laid his head on the table out of boredom. "Are we going back to live at the school? That’s not going to be convenient, is it?"

’Things would be even more taboo at school.’

The thought that his turn wouldn’t come for another six months or so left Aaron Xavier at a loss for what expression to wear.

He had just promised Zoe Pierce he would be good.

But now his baser instincts were about to overwhelm the part of him that had made that promise.

’It’s not logical. Suppressing these feelings for half a year would only make the craving stronger.’

Miles Sherman and Chase Shaw couldn’t ignore this potential risk either. Hearing Aaron’s words, Miles gave up the pretense of reading and said, "She’ll have to stay for at least a month."

"The experiments, check-ups, and investigative interviews will take at least a week or more."

So no matter what, Zoe Pierce had to stay at the school for half a month.

This was the first month where her life was not her own.

It wasn’t something they could choose.

’Why can’t we ever get a proper, relaxing holiday?’

’There’s always one thing after another waiting for us,’ Aaron thought. ’We can’t even get a worry-free vacation.’

’And the worst part was, they couldn’t refuse any of it.’

"Thinking about it, things were more relaxed after the joint exams." Aaron thought for a moment and realized that was the only comfortable time they’d had. No one was nagging them, they were completely free. If they hadn’t voluntarily gone to Planet B36, none of this would have happened.

’What was I doing back then?’

’Oh, right. I think I was having a barbecue.’

’Thinking back on it now, I was such an idiot.’