"If you don't want me to touch you, then push me away!"
The low, hoarse male voice grated against her eardrums like sandpaper. Josie Quinn's eyes snapped open.
Her head was splitting. Through her blurry vision, a handsome, chiseled face gradually came into focus.
Cole!
The future overlord who would be feared by all was currently on top of her!
Sealed memories came flooding back like a tidal wave.
She remembered this room.
In an hour, Alice Sullivan would bring her boyfriend, Landon Hughes, here to "catch them in the act."
In her last life, she and Cole had been completely innocent. Nothing had happened!
But Landon still chose to believe the instigations of his childhood friend, Alice, refusing to listen to a single word of her explanation!
Again and again, egged on by his other childhood friends, he had locked her in that dark warehouse to "reflect on her actions," his face cold as if he were judging a criminal.
What he didn't know was that the warehouse would be overrun by zombies in the middle of the night.
The moment she was torn apart alive, she heard Alice laughing outside the door. "Josie, you have only yourself to blame for trying to compete with me. Landon and I grew up together. How could you possibly win against me?"
The excruciating pain of her flesh being devoured still seared her soul.
'Since the heavens have given me a second chance, I won't let Alice Sullivan get away with it.'
'And as for the blind and foolish Landon Hughes, I don't want him either!'
Beads of sweat trickled down from Cole's tense forehead.
Josie's gaze roamed over his handsome face and his lean, powerful muscles...
Suddenly, she smiled.
"What... are you smiling at?"
Cole's breathing was heavy and ragged. Sweat slid down his sharp jawline, and his Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty.
He was losing control. The beast trapped inside him wanted to break free from its cage and devour her whole.
Josie could see his restraint. She raised a hand, her fingertips tracing a line from his neck down across his wheat-colored chest. "You're not letting go, so why are you telling me to push you away?"
She lifted her arms, wrapping them around his neck, their noses almost touching.
In an intensely seductive voice, she asked him, "Do you want it?"
Cole's breath hitched. Every cell in his body was screaming at him to throw caution to the wind and pounce on the woman before him.
"If you don't back away now..."
Cole's voice was impossibly hoarse, but his next words were muffled by a pair of soft lips.
Pressing her lips against his, she asked with sultry eyes, "What then?"
The next moment, a large hand pressed her against him with irresistible force.
"I warned you..."
With a ragged gasp, Cole's lips crashed down on hers.
"Josie..."
Cole forced her name through his gritted teeth, his voice strained with a control that was on the verge of shattering.
Cole's lips were dry and scorching hot. Josie lightly licked the split on his lower lip, feeling his body jolt.
Then, his movements became even more uncontrolled.
His hot breath ghosted over Josie's neck. The sensation of being with a strange man was completely different, leaving her dazed for a moment.
But she didn't make a sound...
The man could no longer hold back.
His tall figure completely enveloped hers.
Josie's fingertips trembled as a strange energy surged through her veins.
'I was right!'
'My superpower really is different from other Awakeners.'
'Fusing with a powerful superpower user is the true catalyst.'
'In her last life, she'd only ever been with Landon Hughes, so she'd had no way to verify this theory.'
'She only knew that her superpower would get a small boost whenever she touched a High-level Superpower User.'
Cole's long fingers gripped her waist, and it felt as if every cell in her body exploded at once.
'Cole is definitely not an ordinary person. His superpower has awakened.'
'But why is he still pretending to be a normal person, hiding among the refugees?'
She couldn't help but look up at Cole.
His eyes were shut tight. Each time his Adam's apple bobbed, a bead of sweat would slide down its curve.
It was only then that she realized the ruthless overlord who dominated the apocalypse in her past life also had moments where he lost control like this.
In high spirits, she gave in to her passion and actively wrapped her arms tighter around the man's firm waist.
Noticing her cooperation, the harsh lines of Cole's face softened considerably.
A long while later, the frenzy in Cole's eyes finally began to subside.
He didn't linger in the tender moment, quickly pulling up the clothes to cover Josie.
"We're locked in here. Someone's definitely coming soon."
With an alluring, post-coital flush that wouldn't fade, Josie clutched her clothes and leaned lazily against the wall, sizing him up. "So in your opinion, what's your plan?"
Cole leaned in, his gaze turning serious. "Leave with me."
Josie smiled, raising a hand to stroke his jaw. "What, was one time not enough? You want to keep sleeping together?"
Josie's beauty was undeniable. Cole wasn't sure of his own feelings, but he wanted to take responsibility.
But before he could speak, Josie laughed coquettishly. "Forget it, Cole. We just used each other for what we needed. There's no need for you to be responsible."
She didn't look at Cole's face again, instead sitting up to get dressed and fix her hair.
She knew Cole would become incredibly powerful, but having learned her lesson from her past life, she no longer wanted to depend on a man.
'No need to get attached. As for men, there will be others in her future.'
Cole's lips tightened into a thin line, his hands clenching into tight fists.
A strange feeling spread through his chest. Logically, this should be a good thing for him, but...
Just then, Landon Hughes's anxious and worried voice came from outside the door. "Cece, are you in there?"
"Landon, I just saw Cece come this way. She should be in there."
Josie sat still without a word, her captivating eyes fixed on Cole as she warned him, "You'd better not provoke him later. Stay alive. There's always tomorrow."
As soon as she finished speaking, the door was kicked open with a BANG.
When Landon Hughes saw her, he breathed a sigh of relief.
But the next second, his eyes turned bloodshot.
The unbuttoned shirt Cole hadn't had time to fasten, and Josie's disheveled clothes—it all seemed to scream of the illicit affair between them.
"You're fucking dead!"
Enraged, Landon didn't wait for Josie to speak, balling his fists and swinging at Cole.
Cole dodged quickly, raising a hand to block.
Landon seemed to have forgotten he was a superpower user, fighting Cole in a crazed, undisciplined brawl.
After three months of fighting on the brink of life and death, his skills were comparable to a special forces soldier, even without using his superpower.
The two men grappled with each other.
The muffled thuds of fists hitting flesh were exceptionally clear in the quiet room.
"Josie!"
Alice Sullivan stepped out from her group of childhood friends, her eyes full of accusation.
"Josie, how could you do something like this with another man behind Landon's back?"
"Something like what?"
Josie raised an eyebrow nonchalantly, slowly and deliberately straightening her slightly messy clothes.
Alice hadn't expected such a reaction and was forced to be more direct.
"Landon loves you so much, yet you betrayed him! As his childhood friends, we have to... on his behalf..."
Before she could finish, Landon suddenly roared, "Get out! All of you, get the hell out!"
Alice, not expecting Landon to yell even at her, pouted in dissatisfaction. "Landon, we're trying to help you! How can Josie humiliate you like this? We won't allow it."
Landon suppressed the rage in his chest, veins bulging on his forehead. "Get out!"
In this situation, Landon's other friends didn't dare say more and half-dragged, half-pulled Alice away.
As if it took a great deal of effort, Landon turned his head. His handsome face was already bruised.
He had even stopped attacking Cole. A hint of vulnerability appeared in his eyes. "Cece, tell me nothing happened between you and him, right?"
Josie looked at his pathetic state and found it laughable. "Will you believe anything I say?"
"You say it, and I'll believe you."
'Would he really believe me?'
'Her past life had already proven the answer to that. In this life, she couldn't even be bothered to lie to him.'
So, she gave him a small smile. "Just now, I slept with him."