"You idiot," Dr. Charles scolded Kieran, pushing his round glasses up the bridge of his nose. "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.

This vampire spent half a millennium studying humans and how their bodies worked. It was an odd pastime of his. Most, if not all, of his species would rather ransack the blood storage closet at a hospital.

After they reigned over modern society, something Kieran knew Dr. Charles was secretly against before it occurred, King Abaddon specifically requested him to work at the capitol. '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 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 left him in that state.

So, there the eldest prince was, sitting in the human health consultation office to explain the omega's latest behavior.

"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. Humans are natural pack animals, unlike us. They require company, touch, and affection. Solitude will make them go insane."

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 see, he was taken from his family, trafficked, thrown into this hellhole, and now he's stuck with you. Don't blame him."

This was 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 with him 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 smell. He'll want to spread his own pheromones to make it more comfortable. Over time, introduce him to other safe floors and even the city, with supervision of course. Give him leisurely activities to do."

God, this was all troublesome. He felt like he adopted a high-strung dog. "Fine." Kieran got up to leave. Leisure activities, huh? He had an idea of what he should do first.

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. Rumors were going to spread eventually. 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.

When the number of alphas and omegas began declining, the king panicked and declared he'd start breeding to preserve the purity of these two genders. If a perfect alpha or omega specimen was found, they were placed here at the capitol, tested, and scheduled to mate with a chosen partner. Betas who had a high likelihood to produce one of these genders were also selected.

Their researchers tried to mate omega vampires with human alphas and vice versa. 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 showed up at a busy Southeastern auction house.

Plus, the program never sat well with Kieran. The ethics behind it were vulgar, even for him. On the outside, it was purely 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 his stepfather wanted to put Teru into that situation; to be tested and paired with a human alpha to make a child with the ideal genes with dozens of disgusting eyes drinking in 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 the king have his way.

Teru was his omega.