Tristan must've heard the rumors and became jealous. His brutality was similar to the king's, if not worse. Envy was originally in the middle of the sins until he became number two after challenging their sister, Greed. Such a system – to challenge another deadly sin for their rank – was created by King Abaddon. Most of the siblings knew it was for his sick pleasure to see them fight among themselves, but a few of them took it seriously.

After Kieran's incident, Tristan was given the next-in-line title, automatically ousting Pride's first spot.

But nothing could change the standard list that has been the same since Biblical times; everyone still referred to Pride as the worst sin. Even the king himself would forget about the changed ranks at times.

It made Tristan resentful when he wasn't taken seriously as number one.

The elephant in the room was how Envy wanted Pride to challenge him. Tristan has never physically won against him and he longed for the validation that his sin was first. Because the eldest brother didn't want to play along with their stepfather's game, he wouldn't provide the opportunity, even if it could restore a smidge of his pride.

It was all pointless.

Truth be told, the other six were waiting for Tristan to challenge Abaddon as king. He wouldn't win, but it would be interesting to watch Envy be crushed. The only ones who had a chance at the ex-angel were Kieran and his mother.

Kieran dashed to the cracked-open door. It should've been impossible to enter his home with the advanced locking system. Was the maid killed for the penthouse key?

Teru, with his legs spread apart, was pinned underneath Tristan. "You'll learn to love me. I noticed you haven't been marked yet, and he foolishly didn't put a collar on you. Don't mind if I do?" He went to bite the unmarked nape.

Kieran was blinded with carnal rage that all alphas carry deep within them, hidden over time by evolution. He lost all sense that this was his brother. It only cared that his defenseless omega was being attacked. His memory blacked out. It wasn't until he was on top of Tristan did he come back from the animalistic fury.

I'm the strongest, he boasted to himself.

Tristan knew he had lost when he saw Kieran had taken blood recently, making him practically invincible. The losing alpha instinctually showed his scratched-up throat to admit defeat.

Pride was satisfied by the win. "Do NOT come here again or...," Kieran looked at Teru. He shouldn't hear this next part.

He ridiculed quietly to his brother, "I'll tell everyone you lost to me today before I kill you, Number Two. Perhaps I should call you Middle Rank?" He snarled again for good measure to make sure this pathetic vampire understood his place before sitting upright.

His clenched fists loosened their hold on Tristan, who ran away with his imaginary tail between his legs.

He should warn the others that Envy might go berserk from this. His desire for the rarest of humans, something he couldn't have, would eventually make the man go crazy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There weren't a lot of things Teru was scared of, but this could be added to the list. The intense fighting between the alphas lasted for only a minute, yet it felt like an hour. If he were to intervene, he'd certainly be killed because both were out of their minds.

The struggle stopped. Kieran had Tristan beaten underneath him, showing his teeth through a foamy mouth.

The loser craned his throat out submissively.

"Do NOT come here again or...," Kieran glanced at him before whispering something in private. What did he say?

Tristan's expression was twisted with pure hatred. He left without a word.

It was over, but Teru remained frozen in place on the sofa. His legs were still open because he couldn't move from the lingering lemon.

I can't breathe.

Kieran picked him up and held him in his lap, nuzzling his face into Teru's neck. "Don't drop, okay? I'll get rid of this filthy scent. Just don't drop," the alpha muttered, covering the lemon with his mint.

This continued for a while. When Teru regained his senses from the waning trauma, he looked at Kieran's face. He gasped. The red eyes were replaced with a green hue. It was the same color as tree leaves in the summer. They stared back at him with worry and tiredness. There were bloody scratches on his arms where Tristan tried to break free and his suit was disheveled. His skin was paler than usual, too.

Kieran carefully put him down, as if he were made of glass. "Stay." The vampire was gone in a blink of an eye. The sound of someone being sick echoed from the bathroom.

He went to investigate and found him hunched over the toilet, vomiting red.

The vampire noticed him there while heaving. "Get out!"

Teru saw that the pretty green color from his irises were red again. What was going on?

"I SAID LEAVE!"

It wasn't an alpha's pheromonal command, but the bellowing frightened him. He ran to the closet to hide in his nest, covering himself with one of the new blankets Kieran brought him recently to add to the stuff.

Everyone was so terrifying. He wanted his pack!

He could hear Kieran pacing in between the rooms, not sure of what to do. After some time, the vamp stood under the closet doorway, but didn't enter the nest since he wasn't invited. "I know where your friend is."

Teru uncovered his head. Could today be saved with this new information? "Is...is he alive?" He was so ready to know but was scared, too.

"Yes."

Thank heavens.

"But his owners are not good people. I'm afraid I can't help him even with my influence as an, uh, employee. By now, he's not the same alpha you knew."

No. There has to be a way. "Are you saying you can't help? Can't you buy him from them?"

"...If someone with my status made such a request to the Zhang's, they'd use your packmate against me if they knew how much I wanted him. There'd be endless pain, dragging out the torture while making never-ending demands until nothing was left of him. They're known for that. Wouldn't it be better for his situation to end sooner rather than later?"

Facing the truth that Lucas was in the hands of such terrible people was devastating. "You're a dominant alpha. You're supposed to be the strongest! Just...please get him back!"

Today tied as the worst day of his life, the other two being when he was captured and when his father died.

"I—"

Now it was Teru's turn to be angry. He turned his back to the vampire. "Please leave me alone!"

Kieran clenched his jaw, wanting to say something. He left anyway.

Teru needed to grieve even though he didn't want to accept it. He grabbed the dirty shirt he wore when he was caught with the scavengers. If he smelled deeply enough, there was a trace of lavender from when Lucas carried him on the journey to the neighborhood ruins.

He sobbed. Why, oh why, was he so stupid to volunteer to go scavenging? Lucas wouldn't have been taken if it wasn't for him.

I'll see him again. I know I will. He won't die that easily. We'll escape together, reassuring himself, rocking back and forth with the clothing. The words were confident, but his demeanor didn't reflect that.

The rest of the day consisted of going in and out of sleep from heavy crying.

Later, his face was swollen like a frog. Kieran returned with a tray of food, placing it on the floor to keep a distance.

"It's late. You need to eat—" His sentence was cut off when Teru rushed at him, forgetting to take the blanket to cover his almost-naked body. Though he already convinced himself that he'd see Lucas again somehow, he wanted comfort.

Kieran's hugged him and gave off soothing pheromones to de-stress the omega.

"It's my fault," Teru sniffled. "This all happened – fighting with my mom, me sneaking out of the pack's territory, getting captured – because I'm an omega."

"No," Kieran disagreed. "You wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for your gender."

Teru released himself from the embrace, thinking about what he said. There was something he needed to know. "Why did you buy me from the auction?"

"I don't know myself."

This wasn't the answer he expected. "You don't know why you bought me? I don't believe that. You were obviously there to buy a blood slave."

"It's true. It wasn't my intention to buy anything that night. I smelled your pheromones while I was passing by. When I saw you...I couldn't leave you in the hands of someone else. It was the first time in centuries not to be repulsed by blood."

That didn't make sense. "But you're a...vampire." He was about to say bloodsucker but for some reason, he didn't want to call him that anymore.

Teru studied those red eyes. Then again, other vampires didn't have that abnormal shade.

Kieran saw him staring. "I know you saw my original color. Our eyes turn red when we're starving."

"I don't understand. Why don't you drink if you're that thirsty?"

"Because I can't..." Kieran paused, contemplating if he should admit his flaw. He looked everywhere else but at Teru, a sign he was uncomfortable talking about this. "I can't take blood. I had a bad injury a long time ago and, well, my body rejects it every time. I stopped caring about the things that were important to me. I needed to know why. Why you? What is it about your blood that makes me want it?"

So, Teru was being held captive here because he was curious about his blood? Whether that was a positive or negative thing was still unknown. "How badly were you hurt? Is that how you got your scar?"

Teru has seen glimpses of the hidden nape burn but he never asked about it. Secretly, he wondered what had happened. For someone to leave such a permanent mark on a dominant alpha like him must've been seriously strong.

He could see Kieran's mind closing the door that would reveal all his dark secrets. "I want to heal these," changing the subject.

Kieran, still messy from the scuffle with Tristan, made him sit on the edge of the bed. He kneeled in front of Teru. Seeing his visible muscles through the multiple rips in his suit made the omega's insides tingle.

He started licking Teru from his feet to his chest, taking his time to skim his soft tongue over the colored spots until they turned yellow.

Teru always hated it when Lucas licked him while playing, but this didn't bother him at all.

While thoroughly inspecting his body for any missed bruises, Teru sniffed Kieran's burgundy hair. There was an unfamiliar smell. It was stronger around his nape. It wasn't from an alpha, so it must be from a beta.

I don't like it.

He rubbed his cheeks on the top of Kieran's head, like a cat that found the perfect corner to rub its face on.

I need to get rid of it.

Kieran purred, "Are you scent marking me?"

Teru stopped when he realized what he was doing. "No."

"I think you are."

"That's not something I'd do."

Kieran was amused by the retort. "Well, just in case you want to know, we have volunteer donors who offer their blood. That's why my eyes were green earlier."

His shoulders tensed up at the thought of his alpha with another person in such an intimate way. He felt conflicted with a rush of various emotions. His gender wanted to lash out at the opposing beta for—

Hold on. 'His alpha?'

What am I thinking?