“Over my dead body,” Teru snapped.

Nolan smirked. His light blue eyes undressed the omega with a gross desire. It gave him goosebumps and not in a good way. “As the leader’s mate, you’ll be protected for life. The other packs can’t touch you once you are mine. Your existence will be discovered eventually. What will you do if you remain markless? Not like I’d allow that.”

“I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”

Teru was physically repulsed by everything about Nolan—his cold eyes, dirty blonde hair, and his five o’clock shadow that he imagined felt scratchy on bare skin. His pheromone scent was the most revolting. The other alphas said he smelled like fresh-cut grass. There was supposedly a hint of pepper when he entered his rut. That had to be a lie to gaslight Teru or something.

Because to him, this bastard smelled like moldy mushrooms.

Nolan and Lucas met each other’s gaze. The leader noticed the two friends touching. When Nolan’s chest gave off a low, warning rumble to back off, Lucas moved over. He looked at Teru with guilt. It was a natural reaction when facing a dominant alpha.

The sleazy guy was blessed with these genes and was the only dominant alpha in their pack. Being dominant, his pheromones were much stronger than the average alpha. It was easy to make others submit.

Thanks to this, Nolan overpowered the previous leader, his own father, for the position almost three years ago. That man was banished and hadn’t been seen since.

Much to his frustration, Teru had a love-hate relationship with Nolan. While physically disgusted by him, he still desired a powerful mate, something Nolan could be for him. He hated feeling like that, that a dominant alpha was required for him to survive.

Ugh. Screw instincts. Screw being an omega.

Thankfully, Nolan had never forced Teru to do anything using his potent pheromones. Yet, it was only a matter of time.

When Nolan moved closer to him, Teru scooched over to Lucas to avoid it. “Again. Not interested. Go chase Laney’s tail or something.”

Laney was Nolan’s girlfriend, another alpha with a violent temper. She hated every living thing that approached her boyfriend. If she ever discovered that he, the only dominant alpha, wanted to bond with Teru, the only omega, she’d go on a rampage.

It wouldn’t be shocking if she challenged Teru to a fight, despite challenging being an alpha thing. He would decline anyway, because he did not want to win.

“I’m more interested in you.” Nolan smiled. That toothy grin would work on anyone else, but not him. Teru wanted to gag.

“As I said, no thanks.”

“He said no,” Lucas cautioned him, finally intervening. “Leave him alone.”

Nolan frowned. “Teru is mine. I can do what I wish.”

“He. Said. No.”

The two alphas glared at each other, neither willing to lose nor willing to give up.

Then, Nolan growled. “We’ll see about that.”

He marched towards the large boulder near the cave’s mouth. After snarling harshly at some teenage pups hanging out on the rock to get down, he climbed it. Nolan stood above everyone else, where he usually liked to be. His stance demanded their attention. The pack noticed and became quiet.

“Attention! Some of our scavengers were captured during the previous trip. So, we need a few volunteers to check out a new neighborhood they found. It seems the ruins have not been touched since The Before, so there might be useful items. If you’d like to volunteer, please tell Josy. They leave early tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn. In case of another lock-in, the hunters will find meat as usual to stock up. For the others, you know your duties.”

The Before was a nickname humans used to describe the period before the apocalyptic war, when society was run by mortals and vampires were just myths.

“I’d also like to make a formal announcement. Some alphas are clearly forgetting where they stand in this pack’s hierarchy. That is why, to protect him, I will officially claim Teru as my mate when he gets his first heat. He has just agreed, so please congratulate him.”

I’m… what? A claim?

The pack gasped. Having hundreds of members collectively make the sound at once was deafening, at least to Teru’s ears. His stomach hurt. He was tongue-tied, forgetting how to talk. Some came over to pat him on the back. Others didn’t say anything out of jealousy at the only omega being taken from their grasp.

And Lucas…

Lucas was livid. A musky odor wafted from him, a pheromone smell that every alpha emitted when they were beyond pissed. His knuckles were white from making a tight fist. The poor guy was upset at the notion of losing his best friend to an awful person, who had a history of treating Teru badly. The wild gleam in his eyes…

He might challenge Nolan if he doesn’t calm down!

But Teru was getting overwhelmed himself. He’d definitely have a discussion with Nolan about this later. That asshole was now at the base of the boulder, arguing with Laney. He pushed her to the ground angrily. It seemed that the relationship was over.

To be mated to him… I can’t!

Teru needed to escape. Somewhere far and clear his mind on how to get out of this conundrum. He spotted the person who could help him do that.

The omega snuck over to Josy, the beta captain of the scavenger team. With her quick-wittedness and sharp tongue, she made a great authoritative figure. Ever since she became captain four years ago, her turnover rate of pack members being captured by bloodsuckers was slim to none. Thus, Josy was highly respected.

Scavengers had the riskiest job in the pack. They traveled to find items, objects, and equipment from Before. Last time, they found a neighborhood with lots of houses covered in thick brush and trees. But when vampires were abruptly in the area and disrupted their trip, they had to leave early and hide in a bomb shelter until it was safe.

“I volunteer to go tomorrow.” Teru attempted to be confident.

Josy stopped talking and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. She was probably thinking about his position within the pack which was a hunter. Despite Teru’s lean physique, he was the best of them at handling a rifle. He rarely missed his target and usually helped bring home almost half of the pack’s food.

“I’d be happy to accept yeh, but don’t the hunters need yeh, Teru? You’s the best rifleman there is of all of the surrounding packs.”

“All the more reason I can help protect any scavengers from predators—animals and vampires. The hunters can live a few days without me. If not, that’s kinda concerning.”

Josy chuckled but then scratched her chin with uncertainty. “If yeh say so. I hear yeh turned 20, so it’s not like yeh need yur mom anymore.”

She thought about it some more. “Alright. I think yeh’ll be useful as part of the front with a rifle. It will have silver bullets just in case we run into any bloodsuckers.”

Everyone knew a vampire was weak to silver, it could even be fatal, depending on the amount.

“I want to volunteer, too,” Lucas said as he approached the duo. He had heard the whole conversation.

“Another hunter? They’ll be hurtin’ if some of their best members are absent.”

Just as Teru was talented at shooting, Lucas was handy with knives. He was smooth with skinning and cutting. There was an instance when a predator attacked the group and Lucas took it down with nothing but a rusty dagger.

His friend faltered, trying to think of a reason for Josy to give the okay for another important hunter to tag along. “I, er, am really good at picking locks with my pocket knife. I can open locked doors without kicking them down. What if vampires heard the loud sounds?”

Teru held in his laughter. What a dumb excuse! The hinges of old doors would break with a single push.

Josy seemed to see through his crap but shrugged. “Fine. Yeh can be in the center. I expect great things from both of yeh if we need yur services. You know the time to meet.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.

When she left to talk to a few other volunteers, Lucas said, “Your mom will freak out.”

Dang. He forgot about her when he made the rash decision to leave the territory.

“I think you’ll be alright.”

Scavenging was a risky job. His father had been the previous scavenger captain. Until… the vampires ambushed them. On that dark day four years ago, half of them were caught and turned into blood slaves. Nolan, who accompanied that trip, said it was tragic and he tried his best to save them, even killing a bloodsucker in the process. Sure.

According to the few humans who had escaped from vampire settlements, the average lifespan for a captured human was barely a year, maybe two, before their bodies gave out from blood loss, malnutrition, or hard labor.

So yes, his mother was definitely going to freak out.