I felt a little stunned when I saw the unknown male walk toward me and the van. I had not sensed his presence, nor did I notice him until his footsteps became evident.
'Is he a hunter? Or a monster? Darn it. I should check the system to confirm.'
So that was what I did. I opened my system to make an inquiry. But weirdly enough, even the system just pinned this person as an ordinary alpha male.
I felt a little frustrated, but it was nothing compared to the two alpha van drivers, who seemed to be getting angrier by the second.
"Hey, you-! What the fuck-? Who are you and what are you doing here? Wait, don't move. If you do, then I will blow up this van and all these people."
The unknown male just tilted his head toward the side and looked confused.
He looked around, his eyes blinking slowly, almost as if he was taking his surroundings in for the first time.
Then, he ignored the van drivers and turned to look at me and sniffed the air. The blank expression on the huge alpha's face turned gentle as he almost skipped over to me before reaching out and grabbing my shoulder.
I tensed up, not being able to tell if this alpha was friendly or coming on to me because of something else.
I waited for a few seconds to see what the alpha would do and I was ready for almost anything. But what happened shocked me and even my would-be kidnappers.
The alpha leaned down and pushed his nose and face into the junction of my shoulder.
"Hmm, you smell nice. I really like your scent. Can you take me home? I promise I will be good to you."
The alpha asked, and I would have taken it as drunk babble. Only, this alpha did not seem drunk.
I wanted to push him off, but for the first time, my instincts froze up and I could not move. There was something sharp yet intoxicating about the alpha holding me and his pheromones.
They made me almost forget about the dangerous situation I was in until I heard the van driver's voice.
"Tsk, is this some kind of show? Hey, do you both not care what happens to these omegas?"
I knew that this was a bluff, but I could not risk the safety of the omegas in the van. So I patted the huge alpha clinging to me.
But the alpha did not give up.
"Hey, whatever your name is-! Stop clinging to me and let me go before I am forced to make you. Can't you see that we have people to save?"
I asked in a tense voice as my senses finally calmed back.
The omega inside me whined at the fact that I was forcing myself out of this alpha's arms, but I had no time to waste.
"You want me to let go? Why? Is it because of these kidnappers? Do you…want me to take care of them?"
The alpha asked in an innocent voice. The wide eyes made him look like a puppy…
A huge, bulky puppy who could crush people with his frame and strength alone if he wanted.
However, no matter how strong this alpha looked, he was just a normal civilian, so I could not risk his safety. I needed to let him leave.
'Huh-! It feels so weird. Why am I so concerned about this alpha I met just now? Is it because he feels like a child I need to protect-'
I was not even sure of my own feelings and why my instincts were telling me to protect this huge alpha kid. I only knew that I could not let him be harmed or something bad would happen.
"Do you want me to help you? If you tell me, I can do anything for you."
The alpha told me and he sounded sincere.
Normally, if a civilian told me this, I would have laughed hard before knocking them out. But with this alpha, I wanted to do none of that.
What I wanted was—
"Tsk, enough of this talk about protecting and helping. Looks like I need to teach you all what fear is. Here, have this—"
The van driver was a hunter as well, and a B-class one at least. He extended his arms toward us and chuckled.
"Don't worry. It will only hurt for a minute."
The man promised and then a minute passed and nothing happened.
"H-Hey, what happened? Why are you not using your ability?"
The van driver's partner asked in an almost panicked voice. Unlike the driver, he was an ordinary beta and was only in for the money.
"I am trying to use my ability, but for some reason…tsk, forget about the ability. I am going to do this the old-fashioned way."
The van driver took out a gun next once his ability failed to activate.
I was just as stunned as the bus driver was once I saw what happened. After all, abilities were not something that just vanished or refused to activate.
'Just what in the world is happening here-? How did that man—'
I looked around and my eyes met a soft but beautiful pair. The alpha still holding me beamed as he looked at me.
His eyes seemed to be asking me to praise him for doing a good job, but I had not felt his ability activate. Nor could I feel any kind of power from him.
To me, this person was an ordinary human.
And yet, something crawling in the back of my mind warned me not to be deceived by this alpha's innocent smile. There was something fundamentally wrong with him.
"Hey, are you ignoring me now-? I said to come here and surrender. Otherwise, I will shoot someone—"
I moved to stop it but the van driver panicked and shot at me.
Now, had I been alone, I would have been just fine. As an S-class hunter, I would have healed within seconds and no one would have noticed.
But because I had a huge alpha tugging at me, I was slow and one of the bullets hit the alpha holding me.
"Hey, you idiot…you let go of me."
I told the alpha but he just grunted in pain and did not let go.
"N-No-! I'm going to protect you…you're…min…e…"
The alpha spoke but the blood loss must be making him a little dizzy. I wanted to push him away and find a potion in my inventory to heal him.
But before that, I wanted to take care of the attacker.
"Hey, the alpha is down. I shot him in the leg so we can go and grab both him and the runaway omega before it's too late. Go and grab them for me."
The alpha van driver spoke harshly to his partner and the shivering beta sighed before he headed toward us.
I tensed up as soon as I heard this and I gently pushed the alpha grabbing on to me. The alpha protested, likely not wanting to give up. But in the end, he relented and let go of me at last.