"Lucas?"

Teru couldn't believe it. His best friend was right there on the sidewalk next to their stopped car. But...he looked terrible. Lucas's face was gaunt from lack of nutrition with darkened circles under his wary blue eyes. Although he wore modern clothes similar to Teru's, it was obvious he's lost weight compared to when they were first captured.

And his throat. It was a nightmare. Bruises of various sizes dotted his neck – some were old based on the yellow color while others were dark purple. Fresh. There were two puncture holes where his jugular was. The ugly red collar symbolized he was a blood slave.

What's more, Lucas was doing something unbelievable.

He was fighting back with a vampire, or at least trying to. He was attempting to scratch the bloodsucker, refusing to move. The alpha had a tight hold on the back of Lucas's neck and was trying to force him to go inside the building behind them.

"You're so feisty. Your owners have given you to almost every aristocrat in the city to break you in. But," the black-haired man hissed with an excited expression, "you haven't spent the week with me yet."

Lucas cursed. His tone was feral.

The streetlight turned green. They'd be moving any second. And once that happened, it would be too late to do anything. What were the chances of seeing each other again? It was already a miracle they ended up in the same city.

I can't leave him again.

Without a second thought, Teru dropped his glass of water before pressing the switch to unlock the door, something he saw Kieran do before. He opened it and sprinted out of the car.

"TERU!" Kieran yelled. Teru felt the tips of his nails snag on his shirt to stop him. Kieran failed since he was still seatbelted in.

Teru sprinted to Lucas. The wind was coming from his backside, making his own scent travel towards his packmate. Lucas stopped struggling as did the vampire for noticing the smell. "This...is that an omega?"

Lucas used the distraction to break free from the hold, looking around wildly. And when he finally found Teru, he held out his arms, ready to hug him close. His lavender scent brought back so many past memories. Just before they were about to reunite, Teru's collar snagged.

"Hrrrk!" he gasped. It had choked him, preventing him from moving an inch more.

He grabbed the leash, trying to pull it away from whoever had it. The scent of a furious dominant alpha made him pause. Teru's legs were about to buckle.

Kieran had the other side of the leash. He gripped it with whitened knuckles from squeezing it so hard. Teru wanted to give in, crawl on his hands and knees to his alpha, and beg for forgiveness. The pheromones were that potent, that displeased with him.

But Teru didn't want to look pathetic in front of Lucas. He glanced at his friend. Lucas was terrified as he looked at Kieran. Instead of being scared by the vampire, he was scared for Teru when he realized who he was.

"T-Teru...," Lucas squeaked out.

"SHH!" the other vampire shushed, smacking him in the back of the head. It almost made him fall to the ground. Lucas's mouth twitched from the pain but didn't let it show that it hurt. "Don't talk in front of his presence!"

Kieran shortened the leash so Teru stood in front of him. His voice was cruel. "Is this why you tried to escape from me? To run to another alpha?"

This was becoming a misunderstanding, at least not in the way Kieran was thinking. "I've told you about Lucas. He's my packmate. There's nothing more."

"That's not what it looks like to me. He clearly wants to run away with you. Did you not notice his canines or the change in his pheromones when he saw you?"

Teru was so caught up in the moment that he failed to notice these things. He calmed down to observe Lucas, who looked way more animalistic than he did a minute ago. His canine teeth were slightly extended to showcase an old evolutionary trait for marking an omega. Lucas's chest purrs quickened, and his lavender scent now had a trace of muskiness to it.

Lucas was entering his rut season.

"He became like this from just seeing you, smelling you," Kieran confirmed. "If I hadn't stopped you, your friend would've bitten you with your collar on. I can tell he's never mated before. He could've hurt you."

Kieran was correct. Still, it was just an involuntary reaction. There was no way Lucas actually had those types of feelings for him...right? "I don't think he'd hurt me...," Teru whispered.

The man who held Lucas's leash bowed to Kieran. "I apologize for his insolence. I'll just take him and go–"

"Where are the Zhang's? You're not this slave's owner."

"I-I didn't steal him, I swear! They're letting me use him for training. No one's been able to make him submit yet so it's my turn."

They discussed the weird circumstances behind the Zhang's allowing others to 'borrow' their blood slaves. It apparently happened sometimes but it wasn't common – vampires were territorial about their possessions especially if one was a high-quality alpha like Lucas.

Lucas wouldn't stop looking at Teru. More like couldn't because his rut was influencing him. His inner alpha wanted to breed with a partner. And with Teru just feet away, Lucas was about to go insane with uncontrollable lust.

Teru has never seen Lucas like this. He knew whenever his friend had his season, but he's never actually witnessed it in real life. His mother would always make sure to hide him in the caves whenever an alpha showed these signs.

Kieran noticed the rut scent becoming stronger. When he guided Teru back to get away, Lucas growled – loudly.

Lucas lunged forward and embraced Teru. The rut pheromones plugged his nose, suffocating him.

"Your owner," he wheezed quietly in Teru's ear so no one else could hear, "is Pride. He's a deadly sin. A prince. I'll find y–"

A large hand with long nails covered Lucas's face and shoved him...hard. For a few seconds, he was airborne before landing on the busy road. His arms scraped across the black pavement, smearing blood. A car had to break to avoid hitting him.

Kieran held Teru, almost hiding him completely inside the folds of his expensive trench coat. He was the one who had thrown Lucas. The dominant alpha's red eyes were glowing and his own fangs had elongated as well. He was without a doubt vehement from all the alphas that have touched Teru today. The rumble in his chest was deep and fast. The sound translated to, Keep away from my omega!

This wasn't good.

Kieran took Lucas's actions as a challenge.

He wanted to fight Teru's packmate to the death.