It was a chuckle that forced Luans eyes open, despite his reluctance to make eye contact with that man ever again. 

Dante was smiling, teeth sharp and glinting in the light from the giant windows. His face was close, molten gold trying to envelop Luans soul with its heat. 

“Guess we’ll see, then, won’t we?” 

His fingers softened, brushing through the strands of hair almost softly, before sliding away. 

Luan was sure there wouldn’t be anything left to see after this encounter. He had to disappear, after all. He was going to leave and never return. 

Dante got up, going back to the desk and leaning against it, which Luan was definitely glad about. Now, he could think more clearly with the confusing man further away from him. 

“Though I do have to ask. How did you get here in the first place?” Dante inquired, brow contorting upwards as he turned back to the flustered man on the couch. 

Luan glared at the man, still miffed at the way he had treated him. 

“I was invited.” He muttered, glancing around the room he hadn’t gotten much of a look at. 

“I don’t remember inviting any Silvers.” Dante murmured, almost talking to himself at this point. 

“My dad is the one with the invite.” Luan answered, looking back at the man as he, finally, was able to stand without him tossing his body back to the couch like it held zero muscles. 

Dante made Luan feel like a declawed kitten sometimes. And Luan liked his claws! 

“Which one was your father?” Of course, Dante just had to ask. It made sense, considering he’d want to find leaks in security, what with murdering in broad daylight, almost. It was basically still  daytime. 

The party started at like six, and it had only been, what, three hours? 

So yeah, daytime. 

“Henry Dalton. Speaking of, you didn’t happen to have him marked, did you?” Luan felt the need to ask. He hadn’t really had time to search the entire place for the bloodied bodies of his kin. 

“I didn’t realize Henry Dalton had an omega son. He only ever mentioned the alpha one, Arlan.” Dante was looking him up and down, as though he thought he might be the slimy alpha, who Luan had thought was working with him, considering the poisoning event. 

“It’s not something he likes to advertise.” Luan muttered back, rolling his eyes and deciding not to question the man about Arlan’s involvement in case he accidentally outed him. 

He might not like his brother, but he wouldn’t want to be the reason he died. Unless he did something stupid again. Then, Luan might make an exception. 

Dante hummed, hand coming to his chin as he looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. 

“I see.” He said, eyes finding Luan again as he straightened. 

With slow, purposeful steps, Danted approached, and Luan had the sinking feeling he was going to get sequestered back to the couch. 

So, as casually as he could manage, he started exploring the room, even if it wasn’t big enough to need the movement. He walked to the book cases across the room, closer to the door, and further away from the predatory alpha that had unknown intentions and all the muscles necessary to make them happen. 

He really could not let this man get him alone in a room again. He was way too distracting and seemed perfectly willing to make Luan forget all his plans that had nothing to do with Dante. 

Even having retreated, Luan felt the man sidle up behind him, shadow encompassing his entire being as he towered over his shoulder. 

Looking back, he had to crane his neck to look at those eyes, glowing and awaiting acknowledgment. 

Luan huffed, going back to his perfectly necessary perusal of the books on the shelf, each seeming to have a longer, more pompous title than the last. 

Did people need this many books? Or was that just a rich person thing? 

Had Dante even read all these books, or were they just for show? 

As much as he wanted to ask, he also didn’t want to acknowledge the enigma that was Dante Jin, so he pretended he wasn’t looming over his shoulder, watching each move as though it were the most interesting thing in the world. Luan was starting to feel like those eyes were actually burning him, with the intensity seeping out of each iris and pinning his hands as they ruffled the covers distractedly. 

“I don’t know if you’ll find this lucky or not…” Dante started, hand covering Luan’s raised one and pulling it away from its aimless quest. 

“But the Daltons weren’t on the list. Didn’t want to waste the good stuff on them.” The words felt like they reverberated through his back, Dante standing impossibly close, the space in the room definitely not requiring it. 

“Does all your good stuff kill, or is that just for special occasions?” Luan asked, finally turning to face the man once more. 

Dante’s lip twitched as though it was a funny thing to ask, and he tilted his head down at the shorter man. 

“Depends how special the occasion is.” He murmured, tongue popping out to lick his lip as he maintained eye contact. 

Luan didn’t want to, but he found himself staring at the new shiny coat that decorated those lips, focused on trying to catch sight of the cause a second time. 

He watched as they started rising, a smile showing off the sharp teeth that liked to hide, no doubt until they were ripping into throats and laughing as blood seeped through the cracks. 

“See something you like?” The sound broke Luan’s trance as his eyes shot back to the man's eyes, eyelids slitted and ready to hunt. 

His breath hitched as he stuttered, not even sure himself what he had just been doing. 

“I-I wasn’t…” He had no excuse, cheeks warming as he looked away, trying not to see the predatory gaze that might cause more damage than those lips. 

He backed up, books digging into his spine as he tried to put some distance between himself and the alpha that was making him feel like an oblivious bunny ready for the kill. 

A loud smack resonated in the room as a large hand slammed into the shelf by his head. He jolted, looking up sharply as he caught that predator leaning in closer, stealing his breath with the nearness. 

“Ain’t no crime in looking.” Dante drawled, a hint of some kind of accent slipping in as he stared down at him from his warped height. It was only Dante who could make him feel so small in his own skin. 

And because Luan was such a well-functioning adult, his first response to the closing escape routes was to get violent. Not like he could cause any real harm to a man of that size, but the knee to the groin might have done something with the way Dante keeled over.

He really needed to find better ways to handle overbearing alphas, even if he had almost allowed the advances of that one. 

No, egg cracking was the best solution, obviously since it worked so well every time. 

Though, in Dante’s case, they were definitely much bigger than eggs. More like the size of eggs the Easter Bunny would lay if they were actually to scale. 

It was only after he got to the door that he heard the laughter. Dante was laughing, even as he kneeled on the ground, clutching his nethers. Weirdo. 

Luan pointed a shaky finger at the deranged man, angry silver stabbing the gold like knife points. 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Dante!! This means nothing!” He screeched before making a rather hasty exit through the way he had previously been carried like a sack of potatoes. 

He didn’t even glance at the decor or layout of the place. The only thing he could focus on was the fastest route out of this place and how to never see Dante again. 

Murders aside, that guy was way too sure he was god's gift to the earth, and more than willing to convince the undecided. 

And Luan wasn’t decided enough to handle coordinated attacks like that. He had enough on his plate, without an alluring alpha always stealing his focus. 

It was getting rather unsettling how easy it was for him.