[2 days later]

“I don’t even know what to say,” Dr. Charles scolded Kieran, pushing his round glasses up his nose bridge. “You left him for two weeks without any interaction! You do know humans are pack creatures, correct? They are not solitary like us.”

Kieran’s eye twitched in annoyance. “Yes, I know they prefer the company of others.”

“Really? I wasn’t under that impression. I’m about to steal that omega for myself. I’m sure I could take better care of it.” 

Because of the physician’s reputation, Kieran was wary of him enough to ignore the insults thrown his way. His underlying anger was not to be trifled with. 

Dr. Charles spent half a millennium studying humans and how their bodies functioned. It was an odd pastime of his, as vampires don’t go the medical route—being surrounded by blood constantly would be too tempting. His species would rather ransack the blood storage closet at a hospital.

After they reigned over human society, something Kieran knew Dr. Charles was secretly against, King Abaddon specifically requested him to work at the capitol clinic. “Request” was a nice way to put it; obviously, if the king told you to do something, you did it without question.

Kieran regretted his earlier coldness towards Teru. Hearing him cry on the other side of the door distressed his inner alpha, but he didn’t know what to do—he was literally clueless. He could tell Teru was at war with himself, yet, the vampire had left him in that state.

So, there the eldest prince was, sitting in the human health consultation office to explain his latest behavior. The feedback was terrible.

“Just tell me what I’m doing wrong,” Kieran sighed.

“Your omega is depressed, plain and simple—not eating, sleeping a lot, losing weight, not caring about personal hygiene, and the other things you’ve listed. They require company, stimulation, touch, and affection.”

He thought about the past words Teru had said, quote-on-quote:

“Wouldn’t you like to know, fucking bloodsucker? You probably want to find and sell them.”

“You’re just a dirty bloodsucker who murders humans for fun.”

“I can’t say. Not to you.”

‘Requiring touch and affection?’ Yeah, right. “I’ve tried, but he pushes me away. He hates vampires.”

“Isn’t that to be expected?” Dr. Charles ridiculed and threw his hands in the air. “Let’s dissect this a bit further—he was taken from his family and home, trafficked, sold at auction, thrown into this hellhole, and now he’s stuck with you. Don’t blame him. His life is literally in the palm of your hands.”

So maddening! 

Kieran stood up and paced around the office. “Then what am I supposed to do since you seem to be a genius at this?” The only way to fight sarcasm was with sarcasm.

Dr. Charles’s eyes darkened for a second before returning to normal. “First, don’t leave him alone for days on end; be in the same room, even if you guys don’t interact. By now, he should be adjusted from being stupidly confined to his bedroom. Let him out to explore your space and get used to the smells. He’ll want to spread his own pheromones to make it more comfortable. Over time, introduce him to other safe floors in the building, Heck, even the city…with supervision. Give him leisurely activities to do.”

“Fine.”  Shit, this was all troublesome. Kieran felt like he had adopted a high-strung dog. He got up to leave. Leisure activities…he had an idea.

Dr. Charles called for him before he closed the sliding door. “Oh, and Kieran.”

He stopped to listen.

“Two things. One, you should bring him to me soon. While I’m curious to see the first omega to appear in so long, I should also monitor his health. Second, be wary of the king.”

His shoulders tensed at the mention of his stepfather. “What’s that bastard spouting this time?”

“Abaddon is aware of Teru. As you know, rumors were going to spread eventually. And they spread fast. I overheard him talking to an advisor yesterday about placing him in the human breeding program. He’ll want a meeting with you to discuss it.”

The thought of putting Teru, a wholesome soul, in that foul program made Kieran hot with anger. Pheromones spilled from him at the thought. Dr. Charles coughed from the strong scent.

When the number of alphas and omegas had begun declining, King Abaddon panicked. He declared the start of a new breeding to preserve the purity of these two genders. If a perfect alpha or omega specimen was found, they were placed here in the capitol, tested, and scheduled to mate with a chosen partner. Betas who had a high likelihood of producing one of these genders were also selected.

Their researchers tried to mate omega vampires with human alphas and vice versa, just to see what would happen. It was impossible. A vampire’s body attacked human sperm as a virus, while a vampire’s semen perished in a mortal omega’s body from the weak pH levels.

Not one omega was ever born, much to Abaddon’s dismay. Soon, they disappeared completely—that was until Teru had shown up at a bustling Southeastern auction house.

Plus, the program never sat well with Kieran morally. The ethics behind it were vulgar, even for him. On the outside, it seemed to be for science. Although halfway true, it was also a public spectacle for the high-societal vampires, where the arranged couple did the deed in the center of the room while those perverts watched and got drunk.

But since it never affected Kieran directly, it was easy to shove it under the rug. Out of sight, out of mind.

And the king wanted to put Teru into that situation—to be tested with drugs and paired with a human alpha, with a goal to create offspring while dozens of disgusting eyes laughed at the sight.

Just thinking about it was getting him riled up. “Thanks for the heads up.”

As he went back to his penthouse, ignoring the bows and hellos to him, Kieran was fuming inside. He’d rather burn this whole place to the ground before letting Abaddon have his way.

Teru was his omega.