"One of our mates must be nearby," Pax concluded with a slight frown. Their privacy plans were quickly being derailed. He leaned down to gently speak near the Omega's ear. "Do you want to look for our new mate tonight, or do you want to wait?"

"I wanna see him!" Elias announced with a giggle and an unsteady bounce.

Mateo looked pained as he quickly caught the Omega and steered him further from the stairs. The bonding stone flashed faster. Elias held it out before him, squinting his eyes against the light. Whispers spread through the room. Soon, every werewolf's eyes were trained on the trio.

A few vampires looked somewhat confused; some appeared downright irritated, but most just went about their evening as though a petite wolf wasn't standing near the second-floor bar holding a gem pulsing with magical light. As they passed every few tables, a few vampires knew enough to quickly get out of their way as they searched.

:::

A sulking vampire sat at the first corner of the second floor's balcony. His alabaster skin stood out in stark contrast to the two black studs in his ears and his black clothing. He had dark, red-violet hair that reached down to his waist in an intricate braid, which he draped over his shoulder. His eyes were a vivid purple that almost appeared as if they glowed due to the thin black liner surrounding them.

A half-empty glass of champagne was on the table next to the vampire's elbows, which were propped on the surface. He pressed his lips against a pair of interlaced hands covered in fingerless gloves and showcased his black nail polish. He'd have made quite the artistic portrait, not that anyone had ever taken the time to paint him.

His name was January. And, though his body sat at the club, his mind was miles away. The redhead was born a vampire, and his family had been around for over a millennium. He, himself, had been alive for centuries. Though he had made unique romantic connections with people of all races and species throughout the years, he couldn't get any of them to stay by his side for more than a decade. His business contacts, however, refused to leave him alone. Was his bedside personality that repulsive?

That particular year, he had come across a vivacious and kind human named Quinlan. The man's skin was golden from being out in the sun for so long, and he was blond with royal blue eyes. But, it was his kindness and acceptance that drew the redhead in. The problem was that Quin was an adventurer, a traveler. He never stuck around a town for too long. January was in the club sulking because he had asked the human to stay with him, but the blond man already had travel plans. The purple-eyed vampire would be alone yet again.

January frowned when he saw a small group of werewolves walking around, helping an Omega search for his mate. How he envied the young werewolves, who could effortlessly find their soulmates. All they needed to do was to find the person on the other side of their glowing stones. His purple eyes narrowed as the light from the stone flickered faster and brighter. He briefly wondered if any nearby humans developed epileptic seizures from Omega mate hunts when he felt something pressed against his forehead.

"Boop," said the young Omega as he held the bonding stone to the incredibly handsome man's forehead.

The petite wolf held up the stone and peered at it, watching the colors swirling within.

"Purple!" he chirped with a crooked smile as he looked back at the vampire. "You're purple! Just like your pretty-pretty eyes." The Omega swayed slightly as he gestured to the larger male wolves behind him. "Pax is yellow," he continued with a slight slur, pointing at the lovely silver-haired wolf. "Mateo's red." He pointed to a tall, muscular Hispanic wolf showing off a delicious amount of skin. The auburn-haired Omega sighed gustily. "I'm Elias. I don't have a color. I wish I had a color." Eli shook his head. "But that's okay, I guess. I get to hold everyone else's colors."

The little wolf plopped himself in the other redhead's lap.

"I think I'm drunk," Elias whispered in the vampire's ear. "I've never been drunk before." Eli laid his head on the pale man's shoulder. "You should come home with us."

The myth that a vampire's heart didn't beat was a complete and utter lie. Vampires had their own unique blood pumping through their veins, albeit at a much slower and more robust rate. The vampire's heart pumped the blood in slow and strong measures, circulating it at its own pace. January's heartbeat had been slow and steady since his birth. If he came across a person he felt attracted to, it would occasionally beat a little faster, giving him a similar kind of rush as a human's heart racing.

When he saw the color solidify within the Omega's stone, January's heart skipped a damn beat. As his heart rate picked up, his mind raced with the information he was given.

Mate.

He was an Omega's mate?

He was an Omega's mate!

January took deep, steadying breaths as his eyes flew from the golden hue of Pax's to the warm brown of Mateo's and back to the stunning emerald green of Elias's. He felt more than he saw the Omega sit on his lap, whispering into his ear. Vampires didn't cry blood, but their tears weren't salty. They were clear and sometimes tasted of fruit, but that was a tale for another night.

At that moment, January wept. The clear tears mixed with the liner beneath his eyes, and he was vain enough to quickly reach for a small square napkin to wipe the black makeup away. He felt that the God his kind worshiped in the past had finally come through for him. I promise to give a hefty donation to one of your temples, Anubis. Thank you!

Meanwhile, Pax and Mateo were frozen in shock. The man before them was pretty gorgeous; no one could deny that. It was the fact that he was a vampire that was so damn shocking. In their kind's history, there wasn't mention of a werewolf ever encountering a vampire as a soulmate. Yes, there were alliances between vampire covens in the past and a legend about a relatively angsty star-crossed werewolf and vampire couple. However, they knew no past Omega, whose stone led them to a vampire.

Pax took a deep breath as he saw his beloved Elias curled against their new mate. If it were any other vampire, he knew that his werewolf instincts would have been to rip the Omega right out of the vampire's grasp to protect him. But, he felt no malice in the air between them. Hell, the lovely thing was even crying.

The silver-haired werewolf coughed as if to clear his throat. "What should we call you?" He asked softly.

"January," the vampire replied. "My name is January, hermoso. Friends call me Jany, but any of you can call me whatever you want." (hermoso= handsome)

"Mmmm, call you mine," Elias said with a sweet smile, nuzzling into January's shoulder, enjoying his new mate's scent.

January's heart skipped another beat, and he began to feel light-headed. "I don't think my heart can take much more of this...can we slip into a VIP area? We'd be able to hear each other better there, too," the vampire suggested.

Mateo nodded a startled look on his darkly handsome face. The muscular wolf looked down at his Omega, nearly purring in the vamp's lap.

"Um, do you need me to take drunky Eli?" Mateo asked awkwardly, although there was something quite appealing about seeing Elias snuggled up to Jany like a happy kitten.

January gave the gorgeous werewolf a salacious smirk before effortlessly standing up in one fast, smooth motion. The Omega was held in his arms securely. "I can carry him, guapo," He stated as he led the men towards a set of curtains. (guapo= gorgeous/good-lookin')

Mateo briefly wondered where the vampire had picked up Spanish from since the accent was different than he was used to hearing while growing up, but it was authentic. From another region? Though the tall werewolf could understand the language fine, he barely spoke it past a few broken sentences. A part of him felt a little jealous of January's skills.

The vampire that stood guard at the second floor's VIP merely pulled the curtain open for the redhead and the weres to go through.

"Now then," Jany prompted as he carefully sat on one of the plush, red velvet love seats. "This seems to be quite the rare occurrence...I've never heard of any vampires being an Omega's mate."

"Super duper shooper rare," Elias agreed, tracing his fingertips over January's skin as though memorizing the feel of him. "That means you're special. We're special."

"He may be schnockered, but he's right," Mateo said as he settled beside the vampire. "My abuela knows everything about Omega matings. She's a historian that the local devotees of the Goddess have hired a lot. She says that there can't be a mistake with mates." The dark-haired wolf leaned forward. "She said it's something about how the bonding stones are created. There is some complicated thing about tuning to each other's souls or something. If mates aren't right, the bonding stone will crack." Mateo shrugged. "I guess a really long time ago some jerk tried to mess with a bonding. The souls were discordant. The stone blew up as soon as the Omega touched it." (abuela= grandma)

"This is gonna be so fun!" Elias announced, holding January's face between his palms. "Are you gonna bite me? Cuz you can. I like bities." The tipsy Omega frowned. "But you should probably have Pax or Mateo pin my wrists down. I get scratchy when I get too excited. Pinning me down worked well before." Eli's face lit up suddenly. "Oh! Or you can tie me down!"

Mateo's blush showed through his bronze skin as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

The proximity of his werewolf mates made January feel a tingling thrill all over his body. The fact that they confirmed the oddity that they were currently in made him feel relieved. They must genuinely be mates.

"Mmm," the redhead purred as he gently raked his nails up and down Eli's back with one hand. His other hand was placed on the Omega's hip, but he slowly slid it downwards so that his thumb dipped into the crease where Eli's upper legs met. "I like scratches. But I don't mind bondage, either. Hell, there's very little I actually don't like."

Pax took in a shaky breath and raked his fingers through his hair. "How are we going to protect a vampire?" He asked out loud, though the question was aimless.

::

(a/n: Below is a rendition of January.)