KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

Teru buried his face in the pillow when he heard the noise of someone at the door. It wasn't urgent like when Blaise barged in with the birthday streamers, but more 'Is anyone home? I can come another time' sort of knocking.

His eyes kept drooping shut. All he wanted to do was sleep; not from depression that would sometimes drag him into a suffocating hole. Rather, it was plain exhaustion, simple as that. The fetal position he was in helped alleviate the hotness around his lower half.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

Would Kieran answer the-oh, wait. His alpha left to retrieve his medicine. Teru stirred and sat up slowly, wiping the crusties from his eyes. Mint saturated the air. That did the trick to fully wake him.

Mint?

He crawled out of his nest and stood up, looking at the front entrance. These pheromones were Kieran's, but why was he knocking? It also didn't feel like his presence was there. Since he was sick, perhaps it was messing with his senses? The omega soundlessly walked over there until his ear pressed against the soundproof door. As expected, he couldn't hear a thing. It was useless. He would have to be a vampire with impeccable hearing to detect anything through the military-grade barrier.

The mint pheromones were getting stronger. Did this mean to let him in? Teru reached out and turned the handle. It was jammed. Kieran was stuck, then!

"Let's push down together, okay?" Teru said. He knew Kieran could hear him. With both hands, he put his full weight on the lever. It should definitely open with a vampire and a little extra help from a human. After a few tries, there was a loud click.

Teru pulled it open and smiled. "We did it-"

He stopped in his tracks, muscles tensing up. His hand twitched out of panic because it wanted to slam the door shut.

Except, Teru didn't have a death wish to do that.

The queen, only a few paces away, looked down at him with an expressionless face. His mouth gaped open, but his tongue wouldn't form words. The last time they saw each other was at the meeting, which ended horribly. Though she didn't lift a finger to help him when Tristian went insane, the queen told him the way to Dr. Charles when he was lost.

I don't think she's an enemy...right? I shouldn't let my guard down. She married Abaddon.

"May I come in?" she interrupted his conflicting thoughts. Her voice was soft and inquiring, not at all like the vampires who hissed with bad intentions toward him.

"Oh, uh," he stuttered. Keiran would be angry when he finds out she was here. It wasn't like Teru had a choice. She was the freaking monarch who could order his execution at the snap of her fingers, so why was she asking for permission?

"Sorry, er, yes. Um," Teru glanced down at his pajamas-satin pants and an oversized black T-shirt he 'borrowed' from Kieran's closet. He was dressed too informally for someone like her!

"Then, pardon the interruption." Queen Lilith went into the penthouse with a graceful posture, cream-colored heels somehow silent when she walked. Her silky, thin white dress dragged behind her. Not even dirt would dare to dirty her garments as it brushed over the ground. Today, her chestnut brown hair was intricately braided with pink pearls dotting the strands. He couldn't help but stare at her distinctive facial traits that made him, a bonded omega, admire. Gosh, this family's genetics were insane!

Kieran's mother helped herself to the loveseat sofa, eyeing the decor and pile of discarded clothes-the clothes they abandoned when they had sex in front of the balcony doors. Teru freaked, slammed the door, and rushed over to gather the pervertedly stained trousers and underwear. He didn't know what to do with them in the heat of the moment, so he frantically tossed them in the kitchen's trashcan.

"C-Can I get you anything, Your Highness? I haven't tried making coffee, but I've seen Kieran do it. He drinks that every morning. I've always wanted to try it. He tells me caffeine is bad for you. I don't know if that's true." His eyes rolled in confused circles. Why was he rambling so much? Someone stop him!

She held up her hand. "I do not need a beverage. Please, call me Lilith. Have a seat and calm down."

Zipping his mouth shut at her proper words, Teru did just that and sat on the edge of the other couch. He glanced outside at the heavy snowfall and dug his nails into the cushion. For a whole minute, he forgot about the striking vampire in the same room. This feeling...

As if he was a deadly sin himself, Pride plagued every molecule of his body. The mental toll it had on him made Teru want to destroy everything in the vicinity. Distrust. Hypocrisy. Hatred. There was so much hatred. He didn't want to show the violent storm whirling him into the mad darkness. A horrid scent curdled in his nose. It was putrid, musty, and rotten, reminding him of dead animals they came across in the forest. His stomach threatened to empty its contents.

Help him. Help him. Help him. Help him. Help him.

Of course, Teru wanted to help! Can't this incessant voice just tell him how? A growl bubbled in his throat, but he held it in. This was the most prominent Teru's ever felt Pride, and since it was this bad on his end, imagine how Kieran must've felt. Where was he? Should he find him? The blizzard would make it impossible-

Teru remembered Lilith. She watched him very closely.

"You can feel his sin." It wasn't a question, but a fact.

He nodded, keeping his sight on the floor because he didn't want to offend someone of such a high rank. He wasn't anxious about this situation. Teru was worried for his mate.

"May I see it?" Lilith asked him.

"S-See what, ma'am?"

She pointed to her nape. "That. The symbol."

He wanted to say no. What if she was like the other alphas? The chances weren't likely, but she could use her controlling pheromones on him like everyone who wanted him in their grasp. Teru didn't know her well enough to determine her intentions. He shifted to the side so his back was to her and lifted his hair. A shiver ran up his spine when he felt her press on the four little swirls, not thinking the queen would actually touch him.

She was silent, following the birthmark's pattern with her long nail. Lilith didn't mention the marking bites. The mint she had been emitting this entire time to keep him calm turned sour, like a lemon. Tristan? What was she recalling to resemble her other son's scent?

"In all my years since my creation, I've never seen a virtue actually manifest." She returned to her seat.

"Creation?"

"Did my eldest son not tell you about me being the first vampire? How I'm the source of all pheromone scents? Or the way I was cast out of the Garden of Eden so cruelly?"

"Er, no, Kieran didn't tell me you're the first vampire." Seriously, what the hell! How much more was that absurd alpha going to keep him in the dark about his life? He hoped Kieran can feel his annoyance with him right now. And the Garden of what? Where was that? Was it tropical?

Lilith's pheromones became minty again. "Don't be upset with him. I'm the reason he carries such a heavy burden. Kieran resents me for birthing him. I knew all of my future children would be cursed by Him."

"Cursed by who?" Again, he was ignorant of things that were supposed to be common knowledge.

Lilith had pity in her eyes. "So innocent. It's almost sad, like a newborn lamb being thrown to a pack of rabid wolves. Perhaps he should tell you when I'm gone."

Teru knew his partner wasn't far away, trudging closer in a cesspool of filth burying his rationality. Seeing his mother here would make it worse. She needed to go for her safety.

"Why are you here?" His heart skipped because it sounded ruder than he meant it to be.

If she was insulted, Lilith didn't make it known. "I'm curious about you. A little omega found in the wild who turned out to be my son's destined pair and virtue. Don't you think it's fate? I almost believed it was divine intervention, but that couldn't be the case because you're an average omega."

A frog jumped into his esophagus and choked him. Teru double-checked his pheromones. Yep, his dominant side was currently dormant, so it made him seem like a normal brown sugar-smelling human. Maybe he should play dumb? Her vibes were trustworthy, though.

"Are there any dominant omegas left?"

Lilith pursed her lips, thinking. "I don't believe so and I pray not. I can think of a certain someone who would kill for one."

Teru thought of that shit-faced Abaddon.

"And there are others," she continued, "who have a vendetta against them because of their unique...abilities. If a dominant omega appeared, they'd be in grave danger."

"Abilities? Like authoritative pheromones?"

When Lilith raised her eyebrows, he scolded himself. Teru said too much about an extinct gender that barely existed in textbooks. "Kieran told me about them." Well, he wasn't lying.

"That and other things," she vaguely said.

Teru suddenly stood up when he felt Kieran's aura. It was aggressive and unmerciful.

"Lilith, I mean, Queen Lilith, I'm feeling tired so can I ask you to-"

Someone typed in the code sequence. It beeped. Teru didn't have time to react before a flurry of movement sped past him. Lilith, who hadn't left the two-seated sofa, was now across the room being held by her neck. Kieran gripped her throat tightly. The man was soaked to the bone in cold water, lips a tinge of blue from the outside temperature.

"Imposter," he spat in a twisted tone. His pupils were shaped like cat eyes, fangs thick with venom. "Who are you to copy me? Take what's mine? Everyone stinks of pride, you the most. More than me." His sharp nails made her bleed. Red drops stained her ethereal, sheer dress.

But instead of cowering in fear, the queen sneered. "That's an ugly look I haven't seen with my own two eyes in decades. Though you are a millennium, you still act like a spoiled boy. Just look at what you're doing to your omega, my child."

At the mention of his mate, Kieran turned his head to see him with shiny eyes. Teru trembled where he was with a hand over his mouth.

That's what Lilith assumed. She believed he shook like a leaf because of the noxious dominant pheromones infecting the space, scared enough to turn his skin a few shades paler.

No, this isn't Kieran's doing. I don't feel good.

"I'm gonna-"

Teru ran to the bathroom as quickly as he could. The second he lifted the toilet lid, he hurled everything into the porcelain bowl. The taste was bitter. A string of drool dripped from his lips from heaving so hard. A hand gently rubbed his back. Kieran kneeled next to him and asked if he was okay, but Teru couldn't stop throwing up to answer.

When the sickness spell was over, Teru rested his cheek on the white edge. Its cool texture felt nice on his warm face, not caring that he was touching something so germy. He was tired again. A candied scent emanated from him like someone had poured extra scoops of sugar into his pheromones.

"You are-?" a woman began to say, but didn't finish. Lilith was under the doorframe, studying the scene without an ounce of emotion, completely void of what she was thinking. Her nostrils flared from smelling the air.

Teru didn't want her there anymore. Kieran understood this. He growled at his mother, warning her to go or else.

Lilith ignored it and told her son, "I highly suggest not taking him to your stepfather's party next weekend."

He bared his fangs at her. "You don't need to tell me what I already know."

Lilith eyed Teru one more time before making her exit, not wanting to fight or cause further stress for him.

Teru leaned over the toilet again, experiencing another round of vomit. He must've caught a virus when they went out. Maybe it was food poisoning. When there was nothing left in his stomach, he wiped his mouth with toilet paper and leaned back against Kieran's chest.

In the meantime, Kieran had his nose pressed into his scent gland where the overly sweet pheromones were produced. The alpha focused solely on that spot, paying close attention to it.

Teru gasped, wide-eyed, when Kieran bit him with his human-like teeth. A cool sensation trickled into his gland. His muscles tasted the freshness of newly picked mint leaves. Now? Really? He reached up and pulled a lock of his damp hair to get his attention.

"Hey, why are you marking me?"

"Omega needs protection," mumbling in choppy speech like his capacity to communicate was reverting. Kieran wrapped his arms around Teru, completely enveloping him. "It's sweet."

"Is that necessary? In this very moment?"

Kieran wasn't in a rut. Why was he behaving like this? Teru's toes curled when another wave of nausea hit him, along with a viscous aroma. The queasiness worsened. He barely noticed Kieran biting another ring, overlapping the one he had made a minute before.

"It's blue," Kieran murmured.

"What's blue?"

"Sapphire blue. Need to mark. Must keep safe."

The nausea went down, thankful it stayed there inside him. The taste of puke was the worst. "I'm already yours. What more can you do to me to warn other alphas besides marking?"

Kieran licked the bleeding holes, failing to answer his logical questions.

"Didn't you say you shouldn't taste my blood?"

"Guard. Mate. Mine."

Jeez, he can't even talk more than single words! But, the Pride is gone.

The omega let him do whatever weird alpha hex he was under on the bathroom floor, marking and licking several times on his scent gland. He almost laughed when thinking about what Lilith said about him acting like an immature kid. Putting his sin status and age aside, Kieran was just a possessive alpha at heart, an alpha that found his mate after centuries of loneliness, solitude, and torture.