I look coldly at the man in front of me inside one of the private rooms of the black market. Seeing this bastard's face again after all these years makes something dark twist inside my chest, a violent urge that whispers how easy it would be to end him right now without hesitation. The room is dim, lit only by a single hanging lamp above the table, shadows stretching across the walls while the smell of alcohol, smoke, and metal lingers in the air.
Five years. I spent five damn years looking for him, chasing rumors, tearing apart every lead until it finally brought me here. And now that he's sitting right in front of me, so relaxed like he has nothing to fear, the only thing I feel is the quiet rage slowly boiling beneath my skin.
I force myself to calm down before that rage explodes.
The cigarette touches my lips as I take a slow drag, letting the smoke settle in my lungs before releasing it through my mouth. The smoke drifts lazily between us like a thin gray wall. My fingers remain steady even though every instinct in my body tells me to grab my gun and pull the trigger.
I heard his chuckle.
"I see you're still alive," he smirked.
Then suddenly his eyes darkened and I smelled his pheromones leaking into the air, subtle at first but heavy enough to make the atmosphere inside the room change. It was like invisible pressure spreading slowly from his body, thick and sharp, the unmistakable dominance of an S-Class Alpha. I could tell he was trying to restrain it, trying to keep his composure, but the irritation in his eyes betrayed him. The scent kept building in the room, sliding across the floor, crawling into the lungs of everyone present like an invisible predator.
"Sorry for being alive then," I mocked him. "But you can't kill a satan like me because even in hell they're scared to welcome me. That's why they sent me back here again. Sorry to disappoint you." I smirked at him evilly.
The effect was immediate. His expression snapped, and the calm arrogance on his face shattered like glass. The air inside the room suddenly felt heavier as his pheromones burst out violently, no longer restrained. It was like a bomb exploding silently in the space around us. The men standing behind him reacted instantly. Some stepped back, others raised their arms to cover their noses and mouths as if the air itself had become poisonous.
Even though they were Alphas themselves, none of them could withstand the raw dominance of an S-Class Alpha releasing pheromones without restraint. Their faces twisted in discomfort, sweat forming on their foreheads as the scent crushed down on them like invisible weight pressing against their lungs.
But it didn't affect me.
If anything, the scent only irritated me more.
I reached up slowly and touched the back of my neck where the inhibitor was placed, the small metallic device pressing lightly against the skin over my gland. It had been there for years, sealing away the overwhelming strength of my pheromones so that people around me wouldn't collapse just by standing too close. For a moment, my fingers rested there, feeling the cold surface of the inhibitor while Manit watched me carefully from across the table.
Then I pulled it off.
The moment the inhibitor detached from my skin, something inside my body released like a locked beast finally freed from its cage. My pheromones surged out instantly, flooding the room with violent force. The pressure in the air changed so suddenly that several of the men behind Manit staggered backward as if they had been physically shoved. A few of them choked, grabbing their throats while trying to breathe through the suffocating scent that now dominated the room.
My pheromones devoured his.
The invisible clash between two S-Class Alpha scents filled the space like colliding storms, but the difference in strength was obvious. Mine spread faster, thicker, heavier, wrapping around the entire room like a suffocating fog that crushed weaker instincts into submission. Even Manit's men, who had been struggling against his pheromones earlier, now looked like they were drowning. Their knees trembled, and some of them were forced to retreat several steps just to escape the pressure that was radiating from my body.
Manit's eyes widened slightly.
For the first time since I walked into the room, the smug amusement on his face cracked.
"You…" he muttered, staring at me as if seeing something he didn't expect.
I rolled my neck slowly, feeling the tension in my muscles ease as the inhibitor's suppression disappeared. The air felt lighter for me, even though everyone else looked like they were suffocating. My senses sharpened instantly. I could hear every breath in the room, every nervous shift of feet against the floor, every heartbeat pounding faster as my pheromones tightened around them like invisible chains.
"You asked what I want," I said quietly, my voice calm but cold enough to freeze the air. "I want answers."
The scent of my pheromones thickened again as my anger crept closer to the surface.
"And if you don't give me the right answer," I continued, staring directly into Manit's eyes, "then I'll just beat the hell out of you."
The room fell into tense silence.
Even the men behind him stopped moving.
Because everyone in that room could feel it.
The moment before violence exploded.
Y-you…" he stammered as he instinctively stepped back, the confidence he had earlier faltering for the first time since I walked into the room. His eyes flickered between me and the men behind him, as if trying to measure the pressure filling the air. "What do you want to know?" he added, forcing the words out while trying to regain the arrogance he had just moments ago.
I could see the anger burning in his eyes, but behind it there was something else too—something he tried to hide. Caution. Manit knew exactly what kind of situation he was standing in now. Even though he was an S-Class Alpha like me, he could feel the difference between us the moment I released my pheromones. The pressure in the room didn't lie. His men were already struggling just to stand upright, some leaning against the wall, others lowering their heads instinctively as if their bodies were submitting to a stronger predator. The scent of dominance thickened in the air like a storm about to break, and Manit understood something very clearly in that moment. If I wanted to hurt him, nothing in this room could stop me.
"I only want to know what happened five years ago," I said coldly.
I crossed my legs slowly and leaned back against the couch, my posture relaxed as if none of this pressure affected me at all. My eyes stayed fixed on him, emotionless and sharp, watching every tiny movement he made. The calmness in my voice was deliberate. It wasn't anger that made men like Manit nervous—it was silence and control. The kind of control that made it clear I could snap his neck before he even realized what happened.
The dim light above us cast long shadows across the table between us, making the room feel even smaller than it already was. The faint hum of music from the market outside barely reached this private room, muffled by thick walls and the suffocating tension filling the air. My pheromones still lingered heavily, pressing down on everyone present like an invisible weight. A few of Manit's men had already moved farther back toward the door, their breathing uneven as they tried to endure the clash of two dominant Alpha scents. Even strong Alphas couldn't withstand that pressure for long.
Manit wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, though there was no blood there yet. It was a nervous gesture, one he probably didn't even realize he was making. His gaze hardened again as he stared at me, trying to rebuild the composure that had cracked earlier. But the subtle tension in his shoulders gave him away.
"Five years ago?" he repeated slowly, letting out a small laugh that sounded more forced than amused. "What about it?"
My expression didn't change.
"That night what did you inject me bofore I passed out," I replied calmly.
For a moment he said nothing. His eyes searched my face as if trying to read something there—anger, doubt, weakness, anything he could use to regain the upper hand. But I gave him nothing. My gaze remained steady, cold, and empty of emotion.
"I only follow what they order me," he said calmly. "I don't what's that thing."
He did'nt sound like he's lying.
"But I heard it can kill an S-Class Alpha," he added.
For a moment, the only sound inside the room was the low hum of the ventilation above us and the uneven breathing of the men standing behind him.
My expression didn't change, but inside my chest something tightened violently.
That answer… still wasn't enough.
Five years. I spent five years searching, tearing apart the underworld piece by piece just to find him, just to stand in this room and hear the truth directly from his mouth. Yet the more he spoke, the more it felt like I was only touching the surface of something far deeper. Something important was missing. Something he wasn't saying.
My fingers slowly tightened against the armrest of the couch. The leather creaked faintly under the pressure of my grip.
"So that's it?" I asked quietly. "You injected something into me that could kill an S-Class Alpha… and you don't even know what it was?"
Manit shrugged slightly, but the movement looked forced this time.
"I told you," he said. "I was only following orders."
My patience thinned.
The pressure of my pheromones thickened again, spreading across the room like a silent storm. One of the Alphas standing near the door coughed harshly, his shoulders trembling as he struggled to keep standing. Another lowered his head instinctively, sweat rolling down the side of his face as the invisible weight pressed harder against his lungs.
But I didn't care about them.
My eyes stayed fixed on Manit.
"Whose orders?" I asked.
This time he didn't answer immediately.
Manit stared back at me for several seconds, as if debating whether he should say anything more. The mocking smile from earlier slowly faded from his lips, replaced by something more serious.
"You really want to know?" he asked.
My gaze sharpened.
"You think I came here for a casual conversation?"
He exhaled slowly through his nose before running a hand through his hair in mild frustration.
"Fine," he muttered. "If you're so desperate for answers, I'll give you what I know."
The men behind him shifted nervously, clearly uncomfortable with where the conversation was going.
"The order came from someone above me," Manit continued. "I didn't meet them directly. Everything was arranged through a middle contact."
"Krail Voss," he replied. "You might have heard of him if you've been digging around the underground long enough. He handles quiet jobs for people who don't want their names appearing anywhere."
The name rang faintly in my memory. I had heard it once or twice during the years I spent hunting for information, but nothing concrete ever came up about him. Just another ghost hiding in the shadows of bigger players.
"But he wasn't the one giving the real orders," Manit added.
My eyes narrowed slightly.
"Then who was?"
Manit hesitated again.
When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter.
"The request came from someone connected to the number one global company."
The room suddenly felt even colder.
"T-K Company," he said.
For the first time since the conversation started, the words made my expression shift ever so slightly.
T-K Company.
The most powerful corporation in the world. Their technology dominated the pharmaceutical industry, biological research, and medical advancement. Governments partnered with them. Billion-dollar companies bowed to them. Their research facilities produced innovations that the rest of the world couldn't even begin to replicate.
And yet, despite all that power, the true owner of the company remained a complete mystery. No public appearance. No records. No confirmed identity.
Just a shadow sitting at the top of the world's largest empire.
Manit watched my reaction carefully.
"It wasn't the company itself that contacted me," he continued. "It was one of their executives. A high-ranking one."
My voice remained calm.
"Name."
"Darius Halvek," Manit replied.
The name meant nothing to me.
But the fact that it came from T-K Company meant everything.
My mind started connecting the pieces automatically.
A powerful executive from the world's most advanced company ordering the assassination of an S-Class Alpha. And not just any Alpha.
Me.
The question formed in my mind before I could stop it.
"Why?"
Manit let out a quiet laugh.
"That's the interesting part," he said. "I asked the same thing."
My gaze sharpened further.
"And?"
He leaned back slightly, crossing his arms as if enjoying the moment.
"They didn't tell me," he said. "But I remember asking Krail one thing."
"What?"
Manit smirked faintly again.
"I asked him why someone from T-K Company would want a man like you dead."
The room fell silent again.
"And do you know what he told me?" Manit continued.
My patience was gone.
"Say it."
His eyes locked onto mine.
"He said," Manit spoke slowly, "'Because if you're dead… everything will be his.'"
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