If I had to describe the city in one sentence, it would be a potpourri of trash, asphalt, concrete, glass, and rattle. It was a living nightmare; the world was terrifying. 

I was dizzy as I walked, and had to stop every few minutes to breathe or discern my surroundings. Radleigh waited for me with his arms crossed every time I stopped, yet a gentle smile hung on his lips.

By the tenth time, he approached me instead and entwined his fingers with mine. I thought he was about to hug me but instead offered his arm for me to lean on. He was so close that the red strands of hair tickled my nose. Then my nose quickly caught a dried wood scent from his hair - he had the perfume of a bonfire in the deep woods. 

Was he helping me get through the city? I smiled shyly, feeling my cheeks burning as he gave me his usual smirk. 

We continued walking in the city close to each other. Despite the natural coldness of his vampire body, I felt my heart fill with warmth. Under that touch, I could pay a little attention to the streets around us; the torn-down posters, bright lights, windows with colorful signs, and tall buildings with odd shapes. Without fear, everything had a strange charm. 

Radleigh flicked his fingers to get my attention, pointing at a fire staircase in a brick building. Radleigh took a graceful jump and skipped the first five steps; he seemed excited. I followed him with a bit of resistance.

The building was ancient, and thanks to the city's neon lights, its bricks showed irregular hues in all the rainbow colors. As we climbed up, the street lights looked like distant stars. We were trapped in a world of blinding lights. 

We arrived at the last floor of the building, the 7th floor. Radleigh opened the door and prompted me to enter first; a long hallway with little illumination stretched before us.

The walls were painted in dark gray with silver symbols all around them. I stopped to detail the paintings, realizing those were the coats of arms of many wolves' packs; the silver leaf, the fire seekers, the strong jaws, and many others.

I traced those drawings, and a smile crept on my lips, yet Radleigh had no expression when I turned towards him. 

"Are these..." I tried to ask, but Radleigh only smiled enigmatically.

"What?" he asked, raising one eyebrow. 

"These symbols..." I wondered if Radleigh couldn't see it. I retrieved my medallion from inside my shirt and compared it to the markings on those walls, hoping to find a drawn symbol of my wolf pack. Unfortunately, there was none. My glimpse of hope disappeared as soon as it came. My pack has never been there. 

Radleigh observed me with curiosity, tilting his head slowly with strands of red hair covering his features. His gloved hand knocked on the wall as he walked towards a white door at the end of the hallway.

I followed him in a hurry, slightly nervous about his silence. I gripped his shoulder and forced him to turn towards me; too many questions were rushing through my head. 

"Why are there wolf packs symbols on the wall? Where are we?!" 

Radleigh blinked, unimpressed; a faint smile was still adorning his face."I can't see anything…."

"What?" I asked instead, blinking. "The symbols on the walls…."

"Are made for werewolves…." He completed my sentence with a smirk, and I gasped in response. I had never left my hometown; I knew nothing about the outside world, so it never occurred to me there would be secret messages somewhere. 

A wave of sadness came onto my chest, realizing I was a fool. 

Radleigh barely turned his head towards the door. I did the same after the sound of a click. The door opened, revealing a man with clear eyes like a forest’s pond. 

He wore a hooded sweatshirt, but some strands of light blonde hair, almost white, stood up beneath the fabric. Strangely, I couldn't discern if he was a vampire or a werewolf.

"You took too long!" The man hissed, stepping aside, hiding his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. Radleigh hummed in response, unbothered, as he stepped inside.

I followed them, trying to discern the smells; It seemed as if many wolves had walked through those walls. Perhaps that would explain the markings outside. As for the decor, the place had several boxes with stacks of papers and many cushions. The site was a strange mix of an over cushioned office. 

"My bad, my bad," Radleigh said, placing his hands together as a plea."We had to stop to eat something…."

"You cooked?!" The man turned sharply.

"Please!" Radleigh huffed. 

"Right!" The man hissed with bitterness. "Of course, you wouldn't."

"You don't criticize my life choices, and I will do the same." Radleigh smiled, grabbing one of the cushions and dropping it on the sofa, "What a life you have."

"What a life you have!" The man repeated. 

I couldn't help but blink in confusion. Their banter was too strange, one of closeness yet sourness. It gave the impression of an ex-married couple.

Instead of answering, Radleigh looked around with a pleased smirk and pulled me close. "This is Lior, the pup I rescued,"

 "I'm not a pup!" I countered with a frown, taking one step far from him.

"So magnanimous…" Said the man sarcastically, biting his lips as he stared at me with a frown; his clear eyes sent a shiver down my spine. I tried to hold my ground. "An omega werewolf no less…."

Was that man concerned or disgusted? Perhaps he was a pervert! His stare was too intense! 

"Really?!" Radleigh turned towards me with a smile. "Are you an Omega?! Well, that explains why you are so cute!" Radleigh seemed tempted to pat my cheek, but he desisted after noticing my murderous gaze.

"It's not funny, Radleigh. Omegas are more difficult to hide. It's more work. You’ll need to be more discreet too!" The man bickered, showing for a moment prominent fangs like a vampire. I blinked and tried to look closely, but there was no luck. I couldn't sense what kind of vampire he was. If anything, his scent was more of a dangerous human. 

"Oh! I thought your friends turned you into a better man, and now you are a hard-working member of society…." Radleigh said, dropping his body on one of the couches, toying with the cushions. 

"I can be a working member of society and a lazy piece of shit." The man remarked as he sat in front of a computer. He only stopped to throw one of the cushions towards Radleigh, who just laughed.

Radleigh noticed my confusion and smiled, patting the spot next to him. I frowned without moving from my place; his sense of humor was too irritating at times.

"The name of this charming man is Jasper Stone. A half-werewolf, half-vampire," he explained with a shrug. "He is in charge of hacking into the vampire registry of pets to create masks,"

Stone was the surname of a pack of wolves, their symbol a precious gemstone. I stared at Jasper, who was immersed in his typing. I wondered if he belonged to that pack. 

Then I looked back to Radleigh, wondering why he knew somebody like Jasper and their relationship; they seemed close. I lowered my gaze, slightly irritated at myself for being concerned about that.

"Is it a literal mask?" I ventured to ask as I fidgeted with my fingers, trying to ease my nervousness.

"No, it is a fake collar. It would make you look like a pet, so you can roam freely," Radleigh responded calmly, leaning his body on the sofa.

"A collar?!" My shoulders were tense just at the thought of a collar around my neck. "I am not wearing a collar," I hissed, crossing my arms and taking another step further from Radleigh.

"Then you will get captured and become an actual pet; how is that?" Jasper said as he reached for one of the drawers on a shelf next to his computer's desk. "What color? White? Black? I have Pink too."

Radleigh stretched his hand, gesturing for me to go ahead and pick one of those colors. 

I shook my head emphatically. "Why? I don't want to wear that…."

Jasper rolled his eyes and countered my words with an annoyed tone. "Look, this is how it is; Werewolves need to be registered under the property of a Vampire Lord and wear a collar. I don't know, nor do I care where Radleigh found you, but if you roam around the city without this, you will go to jail, so. White, Black, or Pink?"

I lowered my gaze again, feeling my eyes become slightly teary.

"Lior, it's a fake collar…." Radleigh said after noticing my troubled gaze. He stood up and took a white-colored collar out of the drawer. It was a leather strip with metal plates around it. "See? It doesn't have the needles to sedate the wolves" He slowly took my hand to guide one of my fingers along with the plates. "It is just a very ugly collar."

"Why would you do this for me?" I muttered, looking into Radleigh's eyes; he had the colors of the night with the crimson moon. 

Radleigh gave an awkward smile, unsure how to answer those words as he placed the collar in my palm.

"He has a wolf fetish, that guy. Embrace it." Jasper interrupted us, taking the collar out of my palm. "Now, if this is the mask you are gonna wear, I will register it, Ok? Ok!"

He returned to his computer without giving me a chance to answer. Jasper had an aura similar to an Alpha wolf, so I couldn't bring myself to complain. Both he and Radleigh became focused on the collar registration. Radleigh seemed focused and was answering diligently for a change. 

I stared at them with a little bit of embarrassment as my brain repeated the words: "Wolf fetish" Was that a good or a bad?