Raine patted Dima's back while trying to stifle his laughter for the choking vampire's sake; he knew his best friend would not appreciate him increasing his humiliation by cracking up. Tried did not mean Dima did not catch on.

Discerning the glint of excitement in Raine's eyes, Dima hit the back of his head with a "Don't you even dare" and turned to the wannabe porn star a.k.a. Chris, yelling - "AND YOU, did someone drop you on your head when you were a child? I've never met a person more lecherous than you." From the corner of his eyes, he could see Raine pouting like he was the one insulted.

"Well, I admire the art of two bodies becoming one and basking in throes of passion. Artsy people like me call it consummation and uncool people like you call it being horny." The way Chris explained sex sounded like he was the sponsor of some art exhibition and the vampire was that one rich idiot customer who'd be ready to buy anything if you fabricated the words enough. Dima was anything but stupid. He merely looked at the werewolf as if determining whether he was from Area 51 or not. "So about that threesome, yes or hell yeah?!"

"How about a big fat no?"

Chris crossed his arms and snootily stated – "I deny."

"You can't deny a decision."

"It was a question. You asked me 'How about a big fat no?'"

"Ugh, it was a rhetorical question, you imbecile."

"Are you a grandpa? And mine isn't a rhetorical question."

"I am not."

"You called me an imbecile, that's how old ladies with a kitty knitting yarn sitting on a rocking chair outside on her porch talk."

"Yes, he is." Raine put his two cents in.

"On second thought, you can take him and fuck him all you want," Dima said, pointing at Raine.

"Why would I fuck him?" Chris quizzed as if the notion of touching Raine was the sole proof of the vampire's idiocy.

"Why wouldn't you?"
"You just offered us a threesome." Raine and Dimitri said simultaneously.

"He wasn't the third dick in my threesome offer."

Raine looked offended and startled. And Dima? He fell into hysterics at his best friend's facial expression. Further, he proceeded to bend his knees, placing his hands on them, and all that dramatics.

Dima did hate Chris, but it didn't mean he would pass up recourse to watch Raine speechless.

And that's what he gets for trying to set me up. Dima felt triumphant.

"I was kidding, cutie!" Chris quickly backtracked. Too quickly in Dima's opinion. "You are playing the main role in my threesome fantasy. Anyway, since Dimitri is not ready to take me yet, let us at least have some coffee together."

Dima's protest fell on deaf ears as Chris dragged Raine to a table. Scratch that. There was no dragging involved, Raine was willingly skipping behind the overly happy werewolf.

Where Dima had not articulated a single word since planting his dreary at the table, the other two were gossiping animatedly with each other and sniggering like imbe – idiots, Dima thought. Not having anything to do, he stared holes in the werewolf's skull. Soon, the stare turned to an unconcentrated gaze where he sat lost in thoughts of Chris. The man was not a bad person except for his cockiness if you go around asking for opinions, but he was a werewolf and that made it worse according to Dima.

Finally, after an hour of listening to the two half-wits, Dima was at his own wit's end. He demanded they leave shortly. His best friend knew better than to argue as he detected annoyance seep into Dima. Chris too agreed to cut short their fun time, saying he had an event to attend.

Like him not agreeing would have mattered, Dima snorted.

Chris tried to hug Dima as goodbye which resulted in him earning an elbow to the stomach. He gave up after that, settling on hugging Raine.

While the two friends were walking towards the Putin mansion, the shorter male got a text from his mother. She had summoned his ass home. The duo parted ways after the text.

Upon reaching home, Dima stopped at the doorway; his home was stinking with the odor of outsiders. Varied scents permeated the air, getting stronger in intensity when you turn your nose to the left. Following the odors led him straight to the ballroom.

The ballroom was one of the additions his father had to make to the house when he was titled the Commander of their state. In short, he was the lead figure to all the vampires in the state. Usually, each state has two or three commanders but there were exceptions. Their state was one of those exceptions as it was a fairly small state and only one person was enough to supervise and lead it. Being a VIP his father had hosted numerous parties at their home. However, he cannot recall his father telling him about the ongoing one. Instead of trying to put his brain into it, he zeroed his focus on his dad's perfume.

After putting a lot of concentration on his father's scent as there were many others in the house, he located him in his study slash office which was in the hallway on the left side of the main entrance.

As he neared it, he inhaled slowly through his nose. In place of one, he got a whiff of two distinct scents. Obviously one was his dad but the other one left him struck dumb. It was a werewolf he knew, only he wasn't able to pinpoint the name.

Increasing his pace, he barged into his dad's study saying - "Dad! Why is our home reeking of..." And his words died in his throat as soon as he saw the person talking to Lance. The word he was about to say died in his throat and instead, a loud growl filled the room followed by an angry whisper  - "...mutts."