Five days had passed since Lewis shed his baby teeth and his adult canines broke through his gum.

 It had been five horror-filled days.

 Not only was Lewis in so much pain but he was also irritable and snappy. Anytime Dominik stepped into his room, he was met by snarls and growls that put him on edge.

 His father finally had gotten a paid day off, however since he and Dominik were not omegas, the first instinctual reaction to a snapping alpha was to grab him at the back of his neck and kick him out of his space. The house was very tense with irritated alpha pheromones thick in the air.

 Thankfully Royce was able to pull them back from the instinct-induced rage, time and time again.

 However, that did not work when Lewis dragged Royce onto his bed to “protect” him from Dominik who was now registered as a threat in Lewis’ mind. 

To Lewis, now deep in his presentation, Dominik and his father were threatening alphas to Royce who was an omega so he was driven by his instinct to protect Royce from them.

 Sadly, Lewis did not account for their father’s bigger stature when Royce was snatched out of his bedroom and pushed out of his room and his father himself in the room with the snappy Lewis.

“Leave him to me. I will handle it.” Was his father’s curt order through the door, his eyes ablaze with frustration.

It pained Dominik to leave Lewis alone but he knew his father would take care of him better than he could.

In the locked room, Adam, their father, had grabbed Lewis by his scruff, a dominating gesture, and released his pheromones. The pheromones worked as the young alpha stopped fighting against his grip and started whimpering making Adam relax his grip. It pained Adam to be so rough on Lewis, however, if his youngest was not taught quickly to overcome his baser instincts, it might end with him with blemished Alpha record. 

Mistake or not.

A kid or not.

 By day three Lewis had calmed down enough to talk, the hormone-induced haze that blinded him during his presentation was slowly getting lifted and Adam finally allowed him out of his room.

 “How do you feel?” Dominik asked his youngest brother who was seated at the kitchen counter eating cookies as his body demanded sugar.

 “Hungry and tired.” He answered with a groan.

 Royce had gone grocery shopping, five days cooped up in the house made them go through their food twice as fast.

 His father was asleep, his body demanding rest before he went back to work.

 Dominik aired out and cleaned Lewis’ room, not forgetting to change his sheets. The milky childish scent was now gone replaced by a new woody scent, grassy and full of life.

 Playful and Jovial.

 “What do I smell like?” Lewis asked.

 “Like the woods,” Dominik replied.

 One cannot smell their pheromones.

 Dominik knows his pheromones have a wintery scent, cold winter air, cool and calming, courtesy of his siblings always sniffing him.

 “Oh cool!” Lewis exclaimed with a wide smile, “Did not wanna smell like Royce. Ripe berries, YUCK!” He added with a disgusted scowl making Dominik laugh.

 Omega pheromones tended to have more of a sweet scent. Royce did smell like ripe berries but it was more of berries being baked in a sweet dessert. Warm and filling.

 “You are going have to deal with whatever comes after on your own when he hears you talking shit,” Dominik warned.

 “Let him do his worst,” Lewis announced, puffing out his chest in pride.

 “Oh, you are a big guy now? Can take care of him by yourself?” Dominik asked sarcastically as he put away the clean dishes leaving only Lewis’ plate out.

 “Yeah! I am an alpha now!” Lewis replied with a wide smile, exposing his teeth.

 Dominik saw his canines peeking out from his gums.

 Healthy and aligned.

 “Oh yeah?” Royce’s voice asked from the living room making Lewis’ head snap to him and Dominik grin. He had known that his brother was already back from his grocery trip.

The betrayal on Lewis’ face made him burst out laughing when he turned back to him before running away from Royce who started chasing after him.

 Dominik’s attention was drawn from his siblings when his phone started to ring. His smile fell as soon as he saw it was an unknown number.

 He already knew just who it was, he recognized the number even though he had deleted it from his phone years ago.

 He was tempted to ignore the call, but the last time he did so Royce came to him crying and shaking shoving his phone into Dominik’s hand after he called Royce's phone. He cannot allow that man to contact Royce or Lewis.

 “Hello.” He answered, ice seeping into his voice.

 “Hi, Nicky.” The voice chirped out as if they were long-time friends making Dominik grit his teeth at that damn nickname.

 “What do you want Milan?” Dominik asked in a calm tone. He refuses to give that damn man even a smidgen of his emotion.

 “Seriously Nick? Is that how you greet  your mother?” The caller asked with a tut.