DMYC Chapter 22

The team members were taken aback when Ezra returned, his face flushed, a rare display of emotion for the usually calm and composed man. 

What was wrong with him?

“What, did something happen? What’s with you?”

“Why did it take so long? Did something happen with that bastard?”

“What did he do to you? Tell us, we’ll avenge you!”

The team members immediately surrounded Ezra and bombarded him with questions, but he just gritted his teeth and glared at Grayson, refusing to speak.

“That bastard played me, that’s all.”

What does that even mean…?

The team members were dying of curiosity, but Ezra showed no signs of elaborating. Another teammate had no choice but to come up with his own speculation.

“He probably refused to come, so it took a while to drag him here…”

“That’s right.”

Ezra reluctantly opened his mouth. The team members, curious about how he had finally persuaded Grayson, were met with Ezra’s honest answer.

“He wouldn’t budge, just kept flirting with Beth, so I told him what the team leader said. That he’d be excluded from calls if he didn’t come. He thought about it for a moment, and then he followed me.”

“Really? That worked?”

The team members looked at each other in surprise.

“What? I thought he’d prefer staying in the office.”

“Yeah, isn’t he here to slack off?”

“He has to go on calls to look cool. The team leader really knows Miller well.”

“I didn’t think he’d care about that kind of thing. That’s unexpected.”

“He plays around with women every other day, of course he has to look good.”

“Ahem.”

As they chatted amongst themselves, Wilkins cleared his throat to get their attention. The men gathered around fell silent and looked at him, and he finally spoke, looking up at Grayson.

“We called you here because there’s something you need to do, Miller.”

Grayson simply looked down at him without replying. Seeing that he was at least listening, Wilkins cleared his throat again and continued,

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but we all became firefighters after passing proper tests. You need to have incredible physical strength and skills to work in the field. Your body looks the part, at least on the surface. But there’s a huge difference between functional muscles and muscles built only for show.”

He meaningfully scanned Grayson’s body, then fixed his gaze on his face, his frown deepening, as if to say Grayson’s muscles were just for decoration.

“Rushing into a burning building is risking your life. We’re responsible for each other’s lives. If you don’t do your part properly, you’ll put your colleagues’ lives at risk. Do you understand?”

Only a total idiot wouldn’t understand the gist of his long speech.

“So,”

Grayson said, running a hand through his hair with a short sigh,

“You want me to take a physical test?”

“Well, yeah, something like that.”

If Grayson refused, claiming he hadn’t been informed of this beforehand, there was nothing they could do. In fact, the fire chief didn’t know about this either.

But if that happened, they were prepared to call him a ‘coward,’ a ‘wimp,’ and mock his ‘soft’ muscles. While Grayson Miller might not care about such taunts, the fact that he refused the physical test would be a significant blow to his reputation.

There wasn’t a single lie in Wilkins’ words. They entrusted their lives to each other, so a firefighter who couldn’t do their job would be ostracized. There were no exceptions, not even for women. 

They too underwent the same training and tests as the men to become firefighters. Each of them took pride in being a confident and capable firefighter, and running away without even passing such procedures would undoubtedly be a huge mark against Grayson.

This will deal a huge blow to Grayson Miller.

They all thought the same thing. 

If, by some miracle, Grayson Miller accepts this challenge…

“Alright.”

Grayson readily agreed.

“I just have to pass the physical test, right? I’ll do it.”

Wilkins smiled faintly. They had a backup plan for this scenario, of course.

“You have to complete the obstacle course we’ve prepared. But…”

He deliberately paused and looked back.

“Speed is also important, so one of our team members will be running with you. Dane!”

As he snapped his fingers, a man with reddish-blond hair, standing some distance away, sighed deeply. He clearly looked annoyed, but he shrugged as if he had no choice and slowly walked forward.

Grayson’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he saw the man’s face. The man’s red hair shimmered slightly in the sunlight, highlighting his broad shoulders and well-proportioned physique. Dane stopped walking, his annoyance evident.

With the two tall men standing in the center, everyone’s attention naturally focused on them. An unspoken tension filled the air between them.

Wilkins, standing behind Dane, puffed out his chest and proudly declared,

“If you can beat Dane, we’ll acknowledge you as a teammate.”

“Ah…”

Grayson’s eyes narrowed. Keeping his gaze fixed on Dane’s face, he slowly stroked his chin.

“This will be interesting.”

A flash of gold flickered in his deep purple eyes before disappearing. He seemed to have quickly suppressed his anger toward Dane, but he couldn’t hide the intensified scent of his pheromones.

A heavy, musky scent subtly permeated the air. The strong, potent pheromones of an Extreme Alpha. The moment the scent spread, Dane’s expression shifted subtly. But he just wrinkled his nose, shrugged lightly, and looked at Wilkins.

Then, led by Wilkins, they all headed to the pre-arranged location for the physical test.

“Haa…”

Dane, trailing behind the group, let out a deep sigh and thought, 

…This is such a pain.

For a moment, he felt a strong urge to feign a sudden stomach ache from the spoiled yogurt he ate yesterday and back out, but as if sensing his thoughts, Wilkins looked back. 

He pointed at his own eyes with his index and middle fingers, then pointed at Dane, repeating the gesture twice, before turning back around. In the end, Dane had no choice but to trudge along.

* * *

A few hours earlier.

The rhythmic clang of heavy metal echoed from one side of the training room.

Dane lay on a bench, slowly lifting dumbbells. The tendons in his long forearms bulged out, and the muscles in his shoulders and back contracted. Sweat trickled down his forehead, but his face remained blank as he repeated the movements.

His concentration was broken when he was informed of the preposterous plan, and his face contorted in a grimace. 

Haa.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, protesting in disbelief,

“Okay, I’m all for it, but why do I have to do it?”

He crossed his arms, his eyebrows twitching in annoyance. His voice was laced with utter exasperation. But as soon as he finished his question, Ezra, as if waiting for the cue, jumped in,

“Because you’re the best.”

Then another teammate quickly chimed in,

“We can’t let this plan fall apart now that we’ve come this far. So you have to do it.”

“Seeing that bastard struggling isn’t enough.”

“Yeah, we have to make him look like a fool. That’s the only way to knock that arrogant bastard down a peg.”

“You’re the only one who can do it, Dane.”

“That’s right, you’re the most skilled among us, and your physique is the only one that can match his.”

They quickly steered the conversation in their desired direction.

How am I supposed to deal with this ridiculous situation?

Dane looked at Wilkins in disbelief as everyone voiced their unanimous agreement, as if the matter had already been decided. He spread his arms wide, palms up, as if asking, What the hell is this?, and Wilkins, his face unusually serious, spoke,

“I agree, Dane. Since things have turned out this way, I’d appreciate it if you could save face for us.”

He then added casually, “Actually, I’m the one who came up with this idea.”

Dane immediately pulled back, a look of disgust on his face, as if he didn’t even want to be near him.