"You do not have to go, little one."

Teru finished putting on his outfit-a cream-colored turtleneck sweater, black slacks, mint green beret hat, and leather dress shoes. He was getting much better at dressing himself coherently thanks to some vampire fashion magazines Kieran gave him. Seeing all the different textures and colors was interesting, especially when all his pack owned were decades-old hand-me-downs, resewn until they couldn't be patched anymore. The finishing touch to the get-up was when he placed his silver ring under his shirt, hanging from the chain. Perfect.

The high-collared sweater added a few bonus points by hiding his love bites from the day prior. The alpha attempted to lick them away this morning, but it would take a while longer to heal completely.

He knew Kieran was uneasy about this meeting. The original intent was for Teru to meet the king and the other sins for the first time, but the situation changed after receiving the black rose. It became a dominant alpha-pissing contest because half of them wanted a taste of the elusive omega.

"But the note was for you and me." Teru tried his best to be casual by not wavering his voice, despite being anxious and terrified.

"I'm aware, but I read humans need months, maybe years, before confronting their trauma."

Was that why there was a psychology textbook on Kieran's nightstand? Teru has caught him skimming through it late at night sometimes. It was nice to know that he cared about his mental health, but the show must go on whether he was ready or not.

Teru grabbed his black collar from the table and held it out to Kieran. "Can you put this on?"

Before I change my mind and go to my nest, where it's safe.

Kieran locked the accursed strap in place to protect his nape. There would be a lot of alphas out and about. Though Teru didn't experience any heat symptoms today, they needed to be vigilant.

But if he marks you, you don't need the collar, his inner omega said. Damn, ever since yesterday, his gender bothered him non-stop about it, like a pup that saw something it just had to have and didn't shut up about it to their parents.

Teru wanted to get this over with quickly. Rip it off like a bandaid. He unlocked the door, but the handle jammed again. After moving to this new penthouse, they noticed it was broken. Even for Kieran, it was difficult, let alone a weaker human. There hasn't been time to fix it.

"It's doing that thing-" Teru said, interrupted when Kieran grabbed him by the shoulders to turn him around. He pinned him against the door with his hips, pressing their crotches together. Kieran cupped his jawline and leaned closer so Teru could get a better view of his worried crimson eyes. Teru wanted to ask what he was up to until Kieran released a strong wave of mint pheromones, covering every fiber of their clothes with it. This was dangerous because it could trigger his cycle to begin.

"Open your mouth." There were no authoritative pheromones forcing him to listen. Kieran wanted to see what he would do by giving him the option.

Curious, he parted his freshly chapsticked lips and closed his eyes. Taking it as permission to continue, Kieran's tongue entered his mouth, exploring every nook and cranny. Teru gripped the alpha's shirt, all too aware of the flexing muscles that could take him any second if he wanted to. It tasted like mint because they had brushed their teeth minutes before.

Mint.

Mint.

Mint.

His chest shuddered when he inhaled the masculine scent, making his brain slightly hazy. Yep, this was so dangerous! Their lips closed against the other before opening again to twist their tongues together. Teru knew he was a terrible kisser because of his lack of experience, but Kieran didn't mind taking the lead. Leading was natural for an alpha to do, anyway. Hearing the wet kissing sounds made his ears heat up.

They pulled apart with heavy breaths.

"Breathe," Kieran told him.

Teru realized the one rasping away was him. He had totally forgotten to breathe during their kiss!

Kieran reached behind him and yanked hard on the door handle. Freeing it from its jammed state made a loud POP noise.

When they waited for the elevator to reach their floor, Teru asked, "What was that for?"

"That?"

"The kiss. The pheromones."

The elevator PINGED, signifying it arrived. The two went in.

"I needed to set a reminder."

A reminder of what?

The doors closed, moving them up the skyscraper.

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

Teru shuffled closer to Kieran, needing comfort. He had vivid memories of this hallway, where he ended up after running away from Tristan and bumped into Blaise instead. The gruesome sculptures of wolves eating humans or fighting each other to the death were chilling. The paintings were no better, which showed more gory scenes after another. Since he was so full of adrenaline last time, he barely noticed them before.

They passed the familiar canvases with the seven symbols: snake, vulture, cuckoo bird, fox, bear, dog, and a lion. Teru paused in front of the last black-outlined animal. It was a roaring big cat, ferocious yet majestic.

Kieran noticed he had stopped and saw him looking at the lion portrait.

"Is this the same tattoo you had before...," Before Van Helsing permanently burned it off, is what Teru wanted to ask.

"It is. The hunters spent years scraping, cutting, and burning it off, but nothing worked because the symbol always returned hours later. One of them entered my prison late at night, mad in their drunken stupor, and stabbed my lion repeatedly with a red-hot silver knife. At that point, I was so tired. I gave up. I hoped he would be the one to kill me so the pain would finally stop. My tattoo never reappeared again. Do you know what they did next? They held a celebration for the hunter. It wasn't long after that when I finally escaped and-" he didn't finish because Teru grabbed his hand, upset with his words. Learning more and more about Kieran's past helped him realize some humans were the same, if not worse, than vampires.

For Teru, he didn't think he could torture a vampire; just kill them quickly through the heart.

They stared at the lion picture, not needing to say anything between them to understand how the other was feeling. They've both been through hell and back that most couldn't relate to.

Kieran guided him down another hallway. "We're almost there."

They stopped in front of arched, wooden double doors with a stone frame around them. The style was rustic compared to its cold, modern surroundings. Before the guards opened the doors, Kieran let go of his hand.

"Walk behind me."

The loud hinges creaked, making it known to those inside that guests had arrived. A drafty wind reeking of dominant pheromones blew through his hair. His nostrils flared, analyzing the scents. There were a lot of dangerous pheromones! A low whimper escaped his throat, not meaning to do it. The alpha guards were surprised because they weren't used to hearing an omega tone.

Kieran whispered, "We should go back."

"N-no. I'm fine. This is fine."

The prince slowly entered. Teru stayed so close to Kieran's backside that he scuffed his heels a few times. He wasn't sure what to expect inside. A dreary cavern? A cave? A dark hall with fire torches? The throne room was none of those.

The floors were white, sparkly marble with pure silver trimmings in between each tile. It was ironic since silver was deadly to them. The high pillars were made of dark wood, reaching the ceiling where hanging balls of warm light illuminated the green vines on the walls. A walkway leading from the front doors to the main floor was built over a pond, filled with various colors of the red, orange, white, black, and yellow koi fish. The rectangular windows filling every wall provided a full view of the city. A cloud passed by on one side. It still amazed Teru how tall buildings could be.

The awe was momentary when seeing the throne chairs. At the end of the grand hall were three steps leading to two large black velvet chairs. Clearly, these were meant for the king and queen. There were eight smaller chairs next to the bottom stairs, four on either side.

They were all occupied except for three. Each person watched them without a shred of emotion except for Blaise and Tristan, whose face was full of contempt. Lust was grinning wickedly. When he saw Teru looking at him, the horny vampire made a blowjob motion with his hand. He totally knew they had kissed moments before coming here; could probably sense his upcoming heat, too. Ugh, thank heavens he was the only one who could sense these sorts of lewd things!

They went to one of the empty chairs. Kieran ushered him to stand on his right side, then placed a finger over his lips to not say a word. Teru understood and kept his head lowered, remembering the instructions he was given this morning-be quiet, don't speak unless you're spoken to, don't make eye contact with the others, etc. In other words, stand there like a good boy and don't exist.

That was fine by him. He wanted to be invisible anyway in the presence of so many dominant alphas. Teru wanted his nest.

He discreetly glanced up to see each bloodsucker in the room. The smaller chairs were for the deadly sins, but the order seemed to be random-Kieran, Blaise, Dr. Charles, and one empty chair were on the right side with Tristan and the twin sisters on the left, plus another vacant chair.

He counted in his head, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...the 7th isn't here. Why is there an eighth chair?

The woman sitting beside the king shocked him the most. She was the stunning lady who gave him directions to Wrath when he was lost. She...was the queen? Kieran's mother? He'd ask about that later. Teru observed her again. With them in the same room, it was easier to notice the resemblances between the queen and her eldest son, mainly the sharp facial structures. Everything else must be from his unknown father.

She met his eyes. Crap. He looked away, hoping she wouldn't call him out. Another couple of minutes passed in awkward silence. The only sounds were the grandfather clock's tick-tocks and an occasional splash made by the koi fish.

Teru couldn't help but glimpse at the queen again. She was still watching him. Her expression was gentle with a slight smile.

Abaddon finally spoke. "I'm assuming Gluttony isn't attending. Again."

Blaise, wearing a hot pink suit, spoke up. "I doubt it. Her business has been booming recently thanks to the influx of new blood slaves arriving. The news of an omega has been found, so traffickers have been trapping humans more than ever."

Some of them looked at Teru before returning their attention to the king. Teru almost gasped when he saw another vampire omega sitting on a well-cushion chair behind Abaddon, collarless because he was already marked. It wasn't Liam, but he was still cute and easy on the eyes. His innocent face made you want to protect him, even if you weren't an alpha.

The most noticeable part about him was his belly. The omega was heavily pregnant, probably due any day now. His round stomach swelled with a pup underneath his loose-fitted clothes. Given how the king liked to watch his harem 'play,' Teru wondered if the pup was a result of that.

A longing panged in his heart when seeing a rare miracle in real life. Humans haven't seen a pregnant male since his grandparent's, maybe great-grandparent's generation.

"Let's take attendance and move on," the king said, bored. "Queen Lilith."

She announced, "Present." Her voice was angelic.

"Lust."

Blaise said, "Present."

"Gluttony."

No answer.

"Sloth."

The girl with braided hair was sleeping. Her sister elbowed her and seethed, "Koko!" She snorted awake and tiredly said, "Present."

"Greed."

"Present."

"Wrath."

"Present."

"Envy."

Tristan was pissed. Rather than following instructions, he complained, "Am I not the deadliest of sins? Why am I the second to last one called?"

The twins groaned. "Come on, Envy. Are you still going on about-"

They hushed when Abaddon was suddenly in front of Tristan's chair in a millisecond. Teru's average sight couldn't keep up with how quickly the king sunk his sharp nails into the side of Tristan's head, ripping his left ear off. A thick stream of blood drizzled down his pristine brown suit. He yelped.

The bile in Teru's stomach reached to his throat when he heard a tiny thump from the ear landing on the floor in front of them. Lilith let this all happen, not uttering a peep. Didn't she care that someone was abusing their child like that? The ear would regenerate, but Teru was confused by this woman's behavior, regardless. She helped him, someone whom she didn't know, when he was in danger, yet showed no emotion when Abaddon injured her son.

"Envy," the king said again, glowering at his stepson like he was a maggot.

Tristan submitted. "Present."

"Pride."

"Present."

Abaddon didn't use his vampire speed when returning to his chair. "Now then, let's begin this overdue meeting with introductions. We have a new face here today. As you are aware, the last human omega to be born was four decades ago, I believe? Well, I guess that number can be altered in the books to almost two decades since we have a male in our presence, which is rarer. With your beauty and fertileness, it's no wonder Pride bathes you in his pheromones. It reeks of mint."

So that's why Kieran gave off so much of his scent before coming here. It was either to warn his family to not even think about taking his possessions or not give them the privilege of smelling his sugary scent.

"Tell us your name, where you're from, and something about you, omega?" The way Abaddon said omega made it sound like a slur.

Teru hated how this person pretended like nothing happened between them-the way he crushed Teru's hand when he was under the rubble, wanted to keep his whereabouts secret when he hibernated, and forced him to watch Liam take part in group sex was all too fresh for him. He didn't want to play along with his games.

Bastard.

Everyone except Abaddon, Kieran, and his mother gasped. Queen Lilith smirked with amusement. Kieran tensed up, ready to defend him if necessary.

What? Why are they...oh no!

Teru didn't say 'bastard' in his head. He accidentally said it out loud!