White Mallow Flowers thrive in damp, shady places.
The spot Ethan Grant had brought Zoe Pierce and the others to was just such a place. Tall trees soared into the sky. Beneath a massive boulder, a mountain spring trickled downward, one stream merging into a creek, another flowing through a fissure in the rock into a small pool below.
Beside the pool was a naturally formed cave, its entrance so narrow only one person could squeeze through.
Ethan Grant pointed at the cave. "It's in there. I got curious and went in before. There's just a small clump, less than ten flowers."
He'd originally planned to come back here after regrouping with his teammates, but through a twist of fate, it had become his bargaining chip to avoid elimination.
"Go in. Pick them and bring them out." Nathan Lockwood stood by the edge of the pool, his gaze fixed on the cave entrance, which only slivers of sunlight penetrated. He gave the order to Ethan Grant without a hint of politeness.
Ethan Grant's mouth fell open. He glanced at Zoe Pierce and Nathan Lockwood.
Zoe Pierce had no idea why Ethan Grant would think she or Nathan Lockwood would be the one to go in. After all, she was an Omega with no fighting ability to speak of, and Nathan was their team's Alpha. Leaving her alone with an Alpha from another team? There was no way Nathan would go in himself.
'And have me go in to pick the White Mallow Flowers?'
The only person here who could do it was Ethan Grant.
From any angle, there was no way Zoe Pierce would be on his side.
But seeing Ethan Grant's miserable expression as he looked at her, she felt it would be wrong not to say anything. So, Zoe Pierce pursed her lips and said softly, "Be careful."
And that was it.
'I'm just the capitalist's lackey now.'
And so, with a somewhat woeful look on his face, Ethan Grant heaved a long sigh and stepped into the narrow cave.
White Mallow Flowers were a bit delicate. They had to be dug up with the soil still attached to last for a few days; otherwise, they would completely wither in just a single day. This meant Ethan Grant not only had to pick the flowers but also dig them up with the surrounding earth.
Zoe Pierce and Nathan Lockwood stood at the cave entrance like a pair of overseers.
"Nathan, what are White Mallow Flowers used for?"
Waiting around was a little boring, and Zoe Pierce's little notebook had no information about the flower's uses. It was simply faster to ask Nathan Lockwood directly.
Nathan Lockwood's attention was split, half on the cave and half on Zoe Pierce.
Hearing her question, he met her curious gaze, then lowered his eyes to the pool. "They can soothe an Alpha's spiritual power when it becomes volatile."
Zoe Pierce froze. That function sounded a bit familiar. Oh, right. 'It seems to overlap with my purpose.'
'So is Nathan Lockwood preparing for a rainy day? Is he planning to just eliminate me from the team himself if I do anything that works against them?'
A wave of unease washed over Zoe Pierce.
She clammed up and fell completely silent. 'Fine,' she thought. 'I knew I couldn't rely on an Alpha. I have to rely on myself.'
She didn't know that the effect of a White Mallow Flower was fundamentally different from an Omega's soothing ability, which was why she'd come to such a conclusion.
Seeing that she didn't ask any more questions, Nathan Lockwood offered no further explanation. His dark lashes fluttered. With a physique that could already rival a grown man's, he stood by the pool like a ray of winter sun—distant and detached.
Zoe Pierce's gaze lingered for a few moments. 'Setting his personality aside, he's undeniably attractive.'
Even now, she couldn't help but give him a few extra glances, just like anyone else would.
Once she'd had her fill, she cautiously averted her gaze, pretending she hadn't been looking at him.
'Thinking about it, what Nathan Lockwood said in the vehicle probably wasn't a lie.'
'In the whole team, Erin Xavier has a sharp tongue, but she has delicate features. When she isn't talking, that baby face of hers is completely deceiving.'
'Chase Shaw gives off a completely different vibe—fierce, like a wild beast. Broad shoulders, narrow waist... one glance and you can't look away. He's the type that makes you intensely aware of the difference in physique. Even though she was far away and didn't get a clear look at his face, their last encounter had left a deep impression on her.'
'As for Miles Sherman and him, they're both cold, but in different ways.'
'Miles is more serious, and his coldness carries a hint of scorn.'
'As if he can see right through you at any moment.'
'No wonder the Omegas had other ideas. With four men, each with such a different style, surrounding them, who could be content with the way things were?'
Zoe Pierce excluded herself from that group. She didn't have pheromones, so she wasn't exactly a normal Omega. She also had no worldly desires. She just wanted to know the truth.
The moment she thought of that, all the romantic notions in her head would vanish, and she would become exceptionally calm.
While she was lost in this brainstorm, one of the subjects of her thoughts was observing her without a trace.
Zoe Pierce seemed too normal. It was as if he was overthinking things.
There were no suspicious Xenobeasts or Alphas nearby, but her unnatural disappearance was deeply concerning.
Nathan Lockwood was very confident in his spiritual power. He was far more sensitive to fluctuations in spiritual power than the average person. Someone else might not have noticed anything was wrong, but Nathan could.
Zoe Pierce's spiritual power was fluctuating.
But he had no concrete evidence to prove it, which put him in a passive position.
She was like an enigma, one that made you want to investigate.
'This is dangerous.'
'When an Alpha develops the desire to figure out an Omega...'
Nathan Lockwood thought quietly.
"AH—"
A scream shattered the quiet wait between the two of them. Zoe Pierce's head instantly snapped toward the cave.
Following the sharp cry, an explosion boomed from within, and a dusty figure shot out.
He was clutching several white flowers, his face and hair covered in dirt. He stumbled out, coughing.
Nathan Lockwood extended his spiritual power into the cave, then quickly retracted it with a frown.
"It's already dead."
It was just a B-level Xenobeast, and Ethan Grant was an A-level Alpha, for crying out loud. Yet he'd ended up in such a sorry state.
Noticing the look of disdain on Nathan Lockwood's face, Ethan Grant stubbornly defended himself. "I didn't sense any spiritual power fluctuations when I first went in. It attacked me out of nowhere, of course I was startled."
Going from the bright sunlight outside into the darkness, his eyes hadn't adjusted yet. Plus, he figured that since he had just explored the cave earlier, there wouldn't be any surprises, so he hadn't bothered to scan it again with his spiritual power.
He never would have guessed that the B-level Xenobeast had been hiding in the depths the whole time, concealing itself until he started to mess with the White Mallow Flowers. The moment he began digging them up, it launched a ferocious attack.
Caught completely off guard, he was nearly bitten. That's why he had screamed inside the cave before detonating the surrounding rocks to kill the Xenobeast.
And because of the enclosed space, he'd emerged covered in dust and grime.
He splashed some water on his face to wipe away the dirt, then casually handed the White Mallow Flowers to Zoe Pierce, who was standing closest. "Here, the flowers."
Ethan Grant had only managed to grab a handful. His specialty was imbuing objects with spiritual power to make them explode. Since he'd just blown up all the rocks inside the cave, it was now completely impossible to get back in.
So this handful of White Mallow Flowers was all that was left.
The rest were likely crushed under the rocks, turned to nothing but dust and dirt.