The door to the office flew open and in came Mitchell. The vampire felt like a nuisance under the burly beta's gaze who appeared as he would rather be anywhere than in the vampire's presence. Mitchell looked at Dimitri like he was a troublesome kid and he was given the role of a new nanny because the said kid tripped the old, kind one down the stairs. That would be my older brother, not me, Dima mused to himself internally.

"What?" Dima daringly and rather arrogantly demanded.

Mitchell's eyes narrowed at the obscene predator. "Alpha is awake again," he notified and emphasized the last word. "So if you are done throwing a fit – Oops! I am sorry for my wrong terminology. I meant if you are done investigating the case, you can come talk to him and maybe ask some questions."

"Whatever, dipshit!" Dima mumbled under his breath and followed the stomping werewolf back to the pack sanitarium.

Dima was left alone to fend for himself outside the room that had the mild smell of chemicals coming from it.

As Dima set foot inside the room, Elio was upon him like gum on the underside of shoes. Dima took a precautionary step back, very well aware of Elio's habit of kicking people in the balls. His voice dropped in magnitude, taking a scary undertone as he threatened the little guy. "You dare take your knee anywhere near my nuts, I'll crush your head in a nutcracker."

Elio huffed. The expression was immediately followed by a laugh - a wheeze - like he found the tall, muscular vampire's menace amusing.

Twice the werewolf patted Dimitri's head like he was the dog and not the opposite. According to Dima, there was no explanation for the dissimilarities between the younger werewolf and Chris other than he is adopted. Dima made a mental note to question Chris about it later.

Elio departed instantly after that patting to who knows where leaving Chris and Dima in each other's existence.

If this was a movie and there was an audience, then surely they would call Dima insensitive for not fretting over the man he has feelings for and an asshole for disregarding him completely. Raucous jabs would soon turn into heartfelt sympathies till that one scene where they find the miserable vampire lying on his bed late at night thinking about how much restraint it took him to not go over to his hero and hug the daylights out of him. And then they would know that he didn't spare a glance in Chris' direction only because he didn't want to start a war, didn't want to have his other half's blood on his hands. Dima was certain his dad would kill Chris.

For the first time since Dima met the little shit A.K.A. Elio, he was glad for the werewolf's existence. His return to the room was Dima's favorite moment of them.

Oh, my Devil!

"Fucking disgusting!" Dima spat the words loudly and recoiled from the little shit when he saw what he was carrying and doing with that thing. Elio had garlic in his hands which he was munching raw, it was equal parts insulting, funny and vomit-inducing. "It is highly insolent that you think vampires are so weak that they'll get harmed with a clove of measly garlic." Dima had no other alternative than to turn to Chris; maybe Chris can salvage his brother's life. He decided he would spare Elio's life if Chris made him quit. "Tell your brother to stop this shit, it ain't funny the second time." Not like it was funny the first time either, but yeah...

Chris didn't say anything to his little brother, instead he looked like he was holding back a laugh. In between controlling himself, he hoisted his right hand up with three fingers up, voicelessly saying something Dima was failing to decipher. One finger down, it were two fingers now. It was a countdown. Dima was still oblivious about what was going on. As soon as it was down to one finger, there was a tap on Dima's shoulder. The vampire veered around and...

"Dammit! You fucking bitch, I will murder you"

Dima ran behind Elio who took sanctuary behind Chris. Elio had an advantage now, Chris cannot be moved around because he was not healed.

"Hey, wait! You had it coming; you threatened him. Just leave it," Chris tried to placate his furious mate.

"Leave it? Leave it?!" Dima was full-on shouting, his face turned red with the amount of blood his veins were pumping to his face due to boosted adrenaline. "He fucking farted on my fucking face. I am gonna slaughter him for disrespecting me."

Chris was neither in the mood to argue nor letting the vampire hit his brother, so he took it upon himself to resolve the issue by hauling Dima aggressively towards himself by the collar of his shirt. A punch was delivered to the vampire's stomach with the declaration "That's for hurting me" and then Dima was pinned to the bed by Chris. He was looming over his mate with a predatory look on his face. The look didn't leave his face, the same face that was getting relatively close to Dima's as the seconds passed by. In the end, there was no space left between them. Chris' lips were on his mate's. Their noses were rubbing against each other, tongues mingled composing a dance of their own. Chris deepened the kiss before eventually letting the vampire go. "This was for punching me."

Breathless and in a daze, Dima didn't scold Chris. "Aren't they the same? Punching and hurting, I mean. I hurt you by punching you."

Chris held Dima's gaze faultlessly when he said "You hurt me by denying me; I was in distress, you idiot."

"It is you who is an idiot. Who the hell kisses someone as payback of a punch?"

"I do. And I knew what you were aiming to do by punching me." Chris shifted from above Dima, caught his wrist and unhurriedly pulled his mate up. With a gentle command on his wrist and serious stare, Chris firmly said -

"We need to talk."

👑♥️♥️👑