“I ended up quitting the job, you see…” murmured the other team’s head officer. His troubled expression spoke volumes.

Mark replied understandingly, “It must have been difficult finding another team to take over since gammas are the rarest of all.”

“That, too. If we end up transitioning, we could die or have years taken off our lives at the very least—as you probably know already.” The team head sighed and continued, “Worst case scenario, if you aren’t able to find someone to take over, our team will be able to come back in six months. We’ll be leaving everything in your care until then.”

Josh’s team had been in charge of guarding Chase for a similar reason a few years back. Back then, unfortunately, the gamma who was in charge of bodyguarding had transitioned. This forced the entire team on emergency leave, which created a security hole. Hence, Josh’s team was urgently brought in as a temporary replacement.

It didn’t seem too different this time. Josh doubted that they would be able to find a team to take over in three months.

Everyone else must have thought the same as Mark asked, “In any case, we can assume a maximum 0f six months, right? We’d rather have a clear date, too.”

“Yes… well, it probably won’t get extended. Maybe.” The team head nodded, leaving a leeway of possibility just in case. 

As Josh’s team followed behind the team head, they continuously looked around to get themselves accustomed to the areas where they would need to patrol. This meant checking out for any particularly shaded areas or places where someone might be hiding, places where they could secure a clear view of the general area, and any routes that someone could take to sneak in.

Just then, a woman met eyes with Josh and nodded in greeting. She was one of the team members of the previous security team who were now preparing to leave. She seemed quite restless as she walked by, busily talking about something with another one of her teammates.

They would probably all be gone before afternoon came. All the team members that could be spotted—without a single deviant—looked like they couldn’t wait to leave this place.

‘Ah.’ A faint sweet scent touched the tip of Josh’s nose. He didn’t seem to be the only one who had smelled it; he could see the other team members flinch. The team head, who was a gamma, continued walking nonchalantly, but everyone else was wavering.

“God damn it,” Isaac cursed softly from behind.

Everyone was an alpha other than Mark, who was a beta, and Josh, who was an omega. Even so, the temptation of the scent was strong to the point where even the alpha team members were bothered.

“What’s wrong, Josh?” asked Isaac, having seemingly noticed his peculiarity.

Josh quickly replied, “It’s nothing. Just a bit nervous.”

‘Did I take my inhibitors?’ he thought with his cloudy head. The only reason why Josh could hide his identity among his teammates until now was that his pheromones had a weak scent, and—thanks to that, perhaps—because he wasn’t greatly affected by alpha pheromones. It was even more like that ever since he had gotten imprinted. Both before and after, Josh never felt inconvenienced by the fact that he was an omega as long as he was careful about his heat.

Of course, this was all before he had smelled the pheromones of the very man who had imprinted him.

“All of you belongs to me,” the man had said.

For the first time, Josh came to realize what that meant. It was flabbergasting to think that the man who had told him such could sway him like this despite not even remembering it.

If he was affected this badly just from the lingering scent, he would have to take two, no, three times the meds as usual once he officially started working. Thanks to the imprint, Josh would be affected by that man many times worse than everyone else. He had already prepared himself for it, but he didn’t think that it would be this bad.

As Josh desperately tried to ignore the dizziness as they walked along, the team head, who was walking ahead, handed him something. “They’re candies that we like to eat. They should help dilute the pheromones that accumulate inside your body. I recommend that you eat those while you work. I personally can’t really tell, but apparently, it stops you from smelling the pheromones because the scent of the candy is strong enough to mask the pheromones.”

Everyone took candy from the team head’s palm. Josh took three and put them all in his mouth at once. He was so desperate that he could even chow down the thin layer of plastic wrapping that covered the candies.

“Oh, they’re spicy—” The team head tried to stop Josh, but he was too late. The tip of Josh’s nose became rapidly sore and something flashed before his eyes. Tears welled up in his eyes for a different reason from before.

As Josh coughed repeatedly, Henry glanced back and clicked his tongue. “The hell are you doing?”

Isaac, who was walking beside Josh, worriedly asked him if he were okay. Josh nodded with great difficulty. The inner linings of his mouth were basically paralyzed, but at least it cleared up his head.

As they were getting a quick tour around the house from the team head, the team head received a message over the radio. He gave a short reply into his headset before turning around. “Mr. Miller will be here soon. Let’s all head over together.”

Everyone busily followed after him as he quickly walked along. They were finally about to meet the man. Josh’s heart thrashed about scarily, and not just because of the quick pace. Josh wondered over his irregular breaths, ‘Will he remember me? How much has he changed? Will he be the same?’

‘How will I feel when I see him again?’

As they walked across the large front garden, the iron gate in the distance slowly parted, making a heavy sound. A black sedan emerged from beyond.