Chapter 280: Recruitment (I)


    <span style="font-weight:400">In the twilight hours, when the worldy hushed and still, Franceska M Rose would often be caught in a restless dance between wakefulness and slumber. The umted weariness from the rigorous training with Api and Visored would force her to sleep about the whole day on the living room’s couch, leaving her wide awake at night.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Whenever she found herself unable to sleep — which she usually did — she would roll around in the bed, tune into the television, and then take a nap and repeat until the sunlight spilled through the window. Her lusterless night schedule couldn’t fill the gap left in her heart by Kazuya, and to a certain extent, Ciri. She could understand Kazuya’s absence from her side, but Ciri… Her old friend had moved into her own room to look after her precious little kittens.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The memory of Ciri’s departure still stung whenever she found herself alone in her room; it was like a thorn embedded in the proud flesh of her soul.


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">‘You can stay here with them!’ </i><span style="font-weight:400">M Rose had pleaded to Ciri. <i><span style="font-weight:400">‘I won’t eat them, I promise.’</i>


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Franceska, you don’t stay still when you sleep. You’re gonna crush my kittens if we stay together!’</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">M Rose had tried every trick that day, from throwing a tantrum to acting cutesy. Yet nothing could put a dent in Ciri’s determination. The fierce adopter of kittens had made it her life’s purpose to protect them.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Suffice to say, M Rose would lose most of her cheerfulness without truepanionship.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Today, too, she was lying on her bed, hoping to fall asleep watching the most mundane weather recaps of drama shows. Yet even as her eyelids grew heavy, sleep remained just beyond her grasp.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As if summoned by her yearning forpanionship, a familiar scent wafted through the open window, carried on by the night breeze. In an instant, M Rose’s senses stirred, her nose twitching as she inhaled her truepanion’s aroma.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Kazu!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Grinning with joy, she struggled to contain a shiver of excitement. She jumped off her bed and crouched on the ground. Then sheunched herself at the open window in a perfect trajectory like an arrow let loose by a bow.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Outside, the garden below became a blur of shadows as she pumped her legs with Reiatsu, as much as she could conjure inside her Gigai body, and transitioned her dive into a makeshift Sonído step.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The speed boost allowed her to fly straight at the young man, who quietly walked through the garden in hopes of staying low profile. He obviously noticed her and let out a sigh of defeat before taking a stance to brace himself. She crashed into him with all the force of a meteor striking the earth.


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">Thud! </i><span style="font-weight:400">With an audible crash, they both tumbled into the bushes. M Rose, triumphant in her goal, pinned Kazuya beneath her, her eyes gleaming with a primal hunger that sent shivers down his spine.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Rose, what the hell are you doing?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She hugged his neck and rubbed her face against his own before affectionately licking his cheek like a cat. “Who’re you trying to hide from, Love?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “It’s impossible for me to hide from you, isn’t it?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haha. You shouldn’t even try that, mate.” M Rose smirked smugly and tapped her forehead. “Your scent is stored here. I can sniff you out from another town.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He could hide his Reiatsu but he couldn’t cover up his scent. Well, he could, but it would take too much effort, and there would still be a chance of his efforts failing in the face of a creature of instinct like her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shaking his head in fond exasperation at her extraordinary capabilities, Kazuya gently pinched her cheeks. "My sharp-noseddy, why exactly are you up thiste?"


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Couldn’t sleep,” M Rose confessed, her hands brushing his chest as if to memorize the very shape of his body. She raised herself and licked her lips like she had seen the most scrumptious feast of her life. “Now, I don’t wanna sleep.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Rose, not here. Anyone on the street can see us.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I have done more shameful things with you and Snake,” she said in an assertive voice and gripped his cor. “Do you think I give a fuck now, huh?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She could drag him back to the sanctuary of her room, a more private ce, where the equally passionate Sung-Sun could foil her ns. Or she could give in to the wild urgings of her heart and im him here.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The stupidly courageous lioness chose thetter.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Recognizing the futility of resistance, Kazuya''s hands found their way to her waist. “No, probably not. I’ve taken away all your shame if there was any in the first ce.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She threw her head back andughed boisterously. “I’m the alpha lioness. How can I lead the pride with you if I shy away from everything?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He couldn’t help but nod, acknowledging the truth in her words. “Valid reason. I''ll let you win this time.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She had let Ciri take away her twenty minutes in theirst meeting. It would be criminal of him to not give her some bits of happiness.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I love how my mate puts up zero resistance.” She leaned down and gripped his chin before giving a peck on his lips. “I’ll have so much fun riding you till sunrise~.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I don’t have that much time,” Kazuya replied with a gentle smile, tempering her expectations even as desire coursed through him. “Let’s end it in fifteen minutes.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Huh?!”


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