Before Abaddon could break his arm, a bright light blinded him. It was dark again.
Blinking his eyes open, he saw the white moonlight above, along with everyone's panicking faces. Teru's head was resting on Kieran's lap, stroking his black, damp hair. He kissed the omega's palm. "Has he ever had an issue with night terrors?"
Teru was confused. Who had night terrors? Kieran looked at Lucas.
Oh, he was asking Lucas about me?
His friend shook his head. "No, never. This is my first time seeing him with one."
"Why are you sweating?" Teru asked in a sleepy voice. In fact, they were all in terrible shape!
Kieran's dark red hair was almost black from sweat. He reached up with the hand Kieran had kissed earlier and wiped away the salty beads falling from his temple. When he pulled away, his fingers were red with blood, blood that didn't belong to him.
It was Blaise's. His partner's younger brother had a hole above his heart, the surrounding skin threading slowly to close. Four faint scratches were already pink in scar tissue, from whatever had scratched his face good.
And Lucas, well, his condition got even worse! What was up with the holes in the back of his neck? Why did they go swimming this late at night? Both he and Blaise were dripping wet!
What exactly happened here? Who was fighting? THEM?!
"What were you dreaming of?" his alpha asked him nonchalantly, nuzzling closer into Teru's hand.
Confused about the entire bloody situation, Teru said in a daze, "...Abaddon. We were in some cave. He was telling me many things that were difficult to follow about Lilith. I think my omega-"
He stopped mid-sentence when seeing his left wrist. A nasty purple bruise in the shape of a large handprint encircled it. Wasn't...it just a dream? A nightmare?
Kieran followed his line of vision, growling at seeing the injury. He and Blaise gave each other a concerned look.
Blaise eyed the bruise. "Tell us everything you remember."
To the best of his ability, Teru recalled what Abaddon rambled on about, finishing with his dominant side emerging to protect his body.
"I guess that explains what just happened," Blaise commented.
Kieran carefully rubbed the bruise. "That doesn't explain this, though. I've heard of souls occasionally entering the heavens or underworld while sleeping; only if they're desperate enough for a person or the answers they seek. For it to leave a physical mark like this?"
That was when his alpha looked down at him, eyes full of scolding. "Teru, did you fall asleep wondering about Lilith? That was just fireside chats. You should never go looking for something you don't understand. It's common to bring back a sinister spirit after it attaches itself to you. The thing you could've been talking to was likely not Abaddon."
"It wasn't my fault," Teru argued. "Yes, I fell asleep while you guys were talking about her." He thought of his encounter with the spirit. The cave's coldness. The taste of the angel's blood. Abaddon's overall aura of cruelty and sadism. "It was definitely him."
All three alphas sighed. Oh, so they were ganging up on him now for his accidental journey to the fifth trumpet's territory?
"You could have been hurt. Actually, no, you were hurt," Lucas said.
"What you relayed to us about our mother was interesting," Blaise chimed in, "but it's not worth the risk."
Finally, Kieran. He held his injured wrist with the utmost care like it was the most delicate thing. "Promise me not to visit such places again. If by accident, just run and find a safe space until you wake up. Even if you think are in Paradise, it could be conjured by a demon to trick you into lowering your guard. Many possessions start like that. But, I can say that I'm proud that you put up a fight."
He told him about the fight:
Teru slept with his head on the alpha's lap again, soundly asleep.
Kieran brushed a lock of hair from his forehead. Hearing Teru's steady breathing put him at ease, dozing off at the sound of crickets as the night went on.
"Shut up!" Teru screamed, startling Kieran awake as well as Blaise and Lucas sleeping in the front.
He smelled a strong, flowery scent. It was very peculiar, meant to attract all alphas of any type, average or dominant. They wanted to listen, had to listen, to please the omega. If taken off guard, an alpha was placed under the command like a dizzy spell, not realizing what they were doing. Meanwhile, a prepared alpha wouldn't have a choice but to obey but fully aware.
Kieran was always aware of the dominant omega. He had already proved himself to it, that he could handle its bold personality.
He winced at the painful pressure of denying its influence, but Blaise and his virtue were not used to Teru's dominant side. It took them by surprise.
Lucas, being weaker than the two siblings, was already gone. His eyes clouded.
His brother was confused. Kieran could tell his inner alpha was interested in the pheromones as if to say, 'Tell me more. You have my attention.'
Teru kicked the window, leaving a tiny crack from insane defensive strength. Shit, he could hurt himself in the confined car! Kieran opened the door quickly and carried Teru to the grass several lengths away from anything that he could kick or hit.
"Little one, wake up," he urged.
"I challenge you! I freaking challenge you!" his mate yelled, snarling and chomping his teeth in his nightmares. The scent was the strongest Kieran's ever smelled it.
Blaise and Lucas were tense, standing next to them with radiating alpha pheromones to accept the challenge.
Kieran placed Teru's head on a soft part of the ground, putting him into a fetal position since it was more comfortable than laying on his backside. Earlier, Teru told him that the weight of the pups was squishing his stomach when sleeping that way.
The hair on his nape stood up at their growls toward Teru. His gender stirred within him.
Seething from going against the dominant omega's pheromones to a forced challenge, Kieran struck first. In a second, he had stood up and scratched Blaise in the face, leaving four deep bloody lines from his ear to mouth. As they fought, Lucas ran at Teru and barred his canines to bite his throat, lavender spilling everywhere.
Seeing red, Kieran shoved Blaise hard enough that he crashed and broke through several tree trunks.
He could barely register that this was his partner's childhood friend. So, instead of tossing Lucas in the air to let him plummet to his death, Kieran grabbed him by the scruff of his nape, piercing until his sharp nails punctured through.
Lucas wasn't aware of the pain of having the other side of his neck wounded, only snarling at a twitching Teru on the ground.
How dare-?
Kieran pulled him back by hooking underneath Lucas's skin until they were face to face.
"AHHHHHH!!!," Kieran roared insanely loud into this cockroach of an alpha's face, spit landing on his shocked face.
The flowery scent thickened even more. Teru's will to fight was just as powerful in their connection as if he was awake. What sort of dream was he having to feel like this?!
Blaise had returned, kicking him hard in the lower back. Kieran had to let go of Lucas. Both spellbound alphas faced Teru, ignoring the one person trying to make them come to their senses.
Painful shockwaves traveled down Kieran's legs, feeling numb.
Shit, he broke my spine where he kicked me. I'm too blood deprived for it to heal instantly, especially since wounds made by family take longer.
He didn't have a choice.
Immense pain wasn't enough to bring him down. Not now. Not ever. He's been though worse.
Kieran dashed at them right before they could hurt Teru, all falling to the ground. The impact sprayed soil everywhere, stunning Lucas. He lay in the shallow crater, groaning.
It was just Kieran and Blaise left.
"Die! Just die!" Teru ordered.
The entire fight shifted into a rescue mission.
Lucas hobbled to his feet, limping towards a pond across the road. Blaise sharpened his hot pink claws longer, almost longer than his actual fingers. He turned his hand so the tips aimed at his chest, where his heart was.
The suddenness of protecting his omega to now having to protect two alphas was boggling Kieran's own alpha.
The lustful vampire aimed and launched. When manicured daggers met their target, they sunk deeper to grab his heart. It was suicide.
Kieran huffed and yanked his forearm away, but Blaise was determined to follow the command to go die. Their strengths were at a standstill, with Pride pulling away while Lust pulled inward.
SNAP. CRACK
It was the sound of Blaise's arm breaking into splinters from their struggle. A white piece of bone pierced through the skin.
Kieran heard a splash. Lucas had jumped into the pond, no longer in view.
"Teru!!" Kieran roared. He felt overwhelmed. He couldn't help those who didn't want to live anymore. Such people were the most difficult to save, and the most determined. "Wake up!!"
His mate stirred, face scrunching from his sleep being disturbed. A good sign!
"Little one, please wake up!"
Teru groaned from trying to wake up. The pheromones dwindled, enough for Blaise to be released from the control. His eyes focused questioningly on his chest, then at his fucked up arm that was death-gripped by Kieran.
"Brother, I also like it rough, but-"
"Go save your damned virtue! He's drowning!"
Blaise's expression went from amusement to horror, speeding to the dirty water that they found was undrinkable when stopping here earlier.
Kieran was at Teru's side instantly rocking him back and forth to wake him as gently as possible. Some people were violent when forcefully awoke in the middle of night terrors, and Kieran was worried about the stress this could put on the pregnancy.
In the distance, Blaise was doing CPR on Lucas, pumping his chest.
"...15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21..."
Lucas shuddered and coughed up brown liquid. The vampire rolled him to his side to get out everything he had swallowed.
"What the hell?" Blaise said incredulously. "What the hell?! Do you have him on a superhuman drug? What sort of dominant is that, to be able to use such potent authoritative pheromones while freaking sleeping?! What the hell kind of omega freak is he?!"
Eventually, Teru awoke, unaware of the chaos he had caused.