Home is a place for people to rest. A place to relax, around the people you care for, walls of stone and wood protecting that sanctuary from the outside world. It’s supposed to feel nice, coming home. At least, that’s what Luan’s mother always told him. A place to come for warmth after a day of existing in the path of people only thinking about themselves. If he had it his way, Luan would take the selfish masses over this place any day. 

Speaking of this place, it stood before him, tall, and imposing upon all his senses. But it had never been his home. 

Yet still, he had returned. 

No one came to greet him when he entered the old mansion. Why would they? He was basically the ghost of this place. 

Voices drifted to his ears, the rest of what was his family having gathered together in the living room, a couple doors down from the entrance way. Laughter leaked from the crack in the door, seeping out to the cold hallway surrounding him. 

He didn’t even glance inside the room as he went by, heading straight for the stairs that led to the second floor. Of course, that was only to get to the ladder that led to the attic. His bedroom. He had been given this room when he first came to this house. A meager place to store what little actually belonged to him. Most of what was important to him, he kept in his small apartment further in the city. It was small, but it was entirely his. Something so simple, yet it let him experience freedom in a way he never had before. Though he’d never mentioned it, he was sure his father knew he had a place he stayed, considering how little he was around the main house. If he even noticed his absence. 

The only reason he kept a room here at all was because this house belonged to his mother, and he couldn’t let them drive him out before he got the deed from their callous, dead fingers. Like a pack of wolves, they clung to each piece of equity that leaked through the cracks. Though, Luan was pretty sure wolves at least cared for the other members of their pack. These people would sell each other in a heartbeat, if any one of them showed a single weakness. 

Luan didn’t fight them for it. He was playing the long game. And they would each pay for the slights he’d suffered during their turns. 

The first piece was already in place. And it had come at the cost of a child. 

More or less. 

Coming through the door to his room, he found the bed in the corner, barely big enough for his large frame, and covered with a layer of dust. There stood a nightstand next to it, small, one drawer, and covered by the same dust that coated every other surface in sight. 

He wasn’t planning on sleeping, though. He was just here to restock on his inhibitors, something his father provided for him, though grudgingly. It was necessary, being the only omega in the family, that he be kept in check. Wouldn’t want him running around spouting pheromones to all the alpha’s on the street. That would be a stain on their family, much like his birth had been. 

Luan went straight to the dresser, pulling open a dusty drawer. Reaching around in the back, he found the little piece of wood in the corner that was false. Pulling it aside, he felt the capped syringe. There was only one left. He’d have to tell “father” that he needed more. 

It was a quick thing, needle piercing into the vein on his arm, plunging its sickly sweet medicine that practically ruled his life. His muscles bulged at the strain it created, heat flooding his body in waves as it attacked his natural chemicals, like soldiers keeping the masses in line. He felt himself slide to the floor, the wall his only support as it did its work 

A few heavy pants exhaled from his lips, before the cooling sensation finally came. This was the only part he looked forward to. He was slumped against the wall near the door, dusty cold floor seeping through his jeans. Despite how exhausting the day had been, everything went surprisingly well. And he even survived, which he, frankly, did not see coming. Mira Jin was a high profile, after all. Even if her dad hadn’t cared for her, anyone taking what belonged to him was bound to be punished. 

A loud bang from downstairs roused him from his drowsy state, mind snapping into full alertness in an instant. He could hear heavy footsteps climbing the stairs, ladder clattering as it was put into place. He supposed it might be a good idea to move away from the door, the likelihood of it being slammed open a very real possibility. With a grunt, he slid over, just as the door met the wall he’d previously been sitting against. 

He sighed, looking at the rough attitude they treated his room with. Rude. Just because it was falling apart, didn’t mean it should be ushered toward death faster. He was large, and he still kept mostly everything intact. The stupid lamp pieces in the corner were to be ignored, as that had been its own fault.  

“Luan!?” Came a chomped out shout, his father coming into view as he entered the room. Henry Dalton, though having let himself go over the years, still cut quite an imposing figure. He was taller than Luan, his belly bulging a bit from too many fancy dinners. But he could still punch like a bear, Luan having been on the receiving end only once, and never forgetting the surprising rupture he’d felt, face practically falling off - or was that too much credit?- as the blow had thrown him to the floor. Being only fifteen at the time, maybe it was just youth that marred the experience, rather than such strength that could break a man's jaw in half. He would prefer to not go through it again, at least not without stealing the man’s livelihood first. Which was definitely in the plans. 

“Luan!? Where are you, boy?” It took Henry a minute longer than it should have,  before he found his son behind him, leaning by the cracked wall where the door rested. 

“What are you doing on the floor?” He asked, meaty arms crossing over his expensive suit. 

“Just enjoying my lot in life.” Luan muttered, looking up at the man. His fathers eyes went to his arm, the syringe sitting a few inches from it. Luan saw the way his eyes narrowed, disgust seeping in at the edges. For providing the drugs, he sure held some real distaste for them. 

“I see. Well, I’m going to need you to dress nice tonight. We’re going to have dinner at Brasserie Charmante at seven. You will be attending, and you will behave. Understood?” He asked, expecting no less than Luan’s undying wish to serve. He just nodded, lolling his head back against the cracked wall. Another fancy dinner to add to the pouch that, he believed, was once real muscle. Though mentioning such things would possibly result in another bearish punch that he wasn’t psychologically ready for. Maybe after another fight in the streets, when his face was practically no longer capable of feeling from the constant abuse. 

His father huffed, throwing a sneer at him before lumbering back the way he’d come. Not bothering to close the door, the rude jerk. To be honest, Luan had almost forgotten he was there while he planned how to numb his face enough to not feel pain anymore. 

A laugh bubbled up, nothing even remotely happy about it. Luan really was only capable of mocking smiles and snide laughter, at this point. The drugs had a way of loosening his inhibitions, just a little. A relaxing side effect, and something he enjoyed more than he probably should. If he had ever fallen enough to try real street candy, he was sure he’d be hooked for life. The best course of action was to avoid, at least until he made these people pay.  

Luan thought back to what his father had said, trying to remember all the words. Being so relaxed made one not want to listen to the sound being shoved at them from peoples eating holes. 

Expected to attend, huh? Like he had nothing better to do than show up, and try to look pretty. It was his station in life, after all. Lot of good it would do with the muscular physique he sported, something rather uncommon for omega’s. Another thing that made him more a mistake than asset. And he loved every second of making their lives harder. 

He grunted, pulling himself to his feet from the dust covered floor. 

Going to the decrepit closet, swaying only slightly, he pulled the one nice set of clothes he had in this house: A black suit jacket surrounding a common, white shirt. Black pants and a golden tie completed the ensemble. 

The golden color of the tie made him pause, bringing to mind a glowing set of eyes. He’d like to say they were a smiling pair, crinkling at the ends in a bid for eternal delight. But, Luan felt a strange shudder as the eyes melted into a colder pair, like steel, drawing a faint trickle of something dark down his spine. Having only seen them once, the smallest slice through a crack between sunglasses and the open air, they seemed to have seared quite the impression. 

And now he had to wear a tie to a fancy dinner full of fat cats trying to steal each other's cream, all the while being reminded of the most dangerous man in the city every time he looked down. At least the piece of clothing had no way of matching the glow that seemed a little too unnatural to be real from the eyes that haunted his thoughts. 

No, a haunting was only allowed after he made a deal with the devil. Anything else was a distraction he hadn’t been paid for. Though, if the devil were in human form at the moment, perhaps his exchange with Dante had been all the deal he needed to move in. A vexing thought, for sure. And one not conducive to the matter at hand. So Luan stabbed it in the heart immediately, dragging out the flashy attire, as opposed to his normal get-up, and left the room. He was going to hold that suit while he informed his father of his need for new supplies, a hopeful buffer from the alpha’s ire that met all people of lesser value than what he deemed himself as. 

Luan was sure he, himself, was worth at least three cows, but the man seemed to think even one was off the table.