standing in front of the mirror of his room in nothing but his boxers, the innocent omega did nothing but stare at his curvy body. his pale and virgin skin had been littered in 22 bite marks, spreading from his neck to his navel and on his arms.

those marks would now be imprinted on him forever, and be a constant reminder that shotaro had not one, neither two, but twenty-two amazing mates that would be ready to sacrifice their lives to make sure he was safe. the marks were responsible for the powerful bond that unites them and will until the end of time; they represented love under its purest and longest form.

"i still can't believe all of this is true..." the omega murmured to himself, allowing his fingers to trace over a few marks, making his insides feel all jittery – that's how powerful those marks were.

with a glance to the clock on the wall, shotaro realised he would be late if he didn't start getting ready right now. the omega looked at his body one last time, admiring how the marks fitted so perfectly with his slim waist and wider hips and how they made his curves look even more gorgeous, before running to his closet to grab the pieces of clothing hawoon had selected for him the night before. once he had everything, he rushed to the bathroom to take his morning shower, to brush his teeth and his hair and then to get dressed.

and in a matter of minutes, the pastel purple omega was ready to go, standing in front of the door, waiting eagerly for someone to ring the doorbell.

"you look adorable in those clothes, sho." a feminine voice startled the omega, making him turn around with a smile.

"thank you, hika." he replied.

"i'm sure your mates will love it." she added with a wink, making her brother look down at his clothes.

"do you think?" he asked with a pout. "i was hesitating with something more revealing, because i read somewhere that alphas like those."

"shotaro." hikari sighed. "your mates will love you in whatever clothes you wear. plus, it's only the beginning of the relationship, you should keep things to surprise them later on."

"w-we're not in a relationship!" shotaro flushed red as the idea of having 22 loving boyfriends crossed him mind.

"oh, trust me, you will be very soon." the beta girl wiggled her brows, making her brother even shyer.

thankfully, the omega was saved from further embarrassment by the doorbell ringing.

"wow, who knew hearing the doorbell could put you in that state?" hikari snorted, looking at her brother who had started rearranging his hair madly and flushing brighter. she could almost see his heart beating out of her chest, and he wondered if he would explode before he opened the door. "you know, it could be the mailman. i ordered the new nct clothes collection online a few days ago."

"i-it's not..." shotaro replied with a beaming smile.

in fact, hikari wasn't aware that what put him in his state wasn't the sound of the doorbell, but the smell of familiar pheromones taking possession of the breathable air. shotaro could recognise jaehyun's pheromones very clearly, which meant that he was surely the one who had rang.

without waiting for a second more, shotaro pulled open the door of his house, revealing – as expected – jung jaehyun in all his splendour.

"hello, beautiful." the alpha spoke, holding out a giant bouquet of roses. the flowers composed of roses of different purple shades, going from deep violet to pastel purple. there were also a few sprigs of lavender stuck in-between the roses.

"damn... even in my dreams hawoon isn't as romantic as that..." hikari breathed out, staring at her brother and his mate's interaction.

the omega flushed red, holding his arms out to take the flowers. "t-thank you so much..." he said with a smile. "i'm going to put them in a vase."

shotaro disappeared in the house, leaving jaehyun and hikari alone in silence. however, it didn't last long as hikari started speaking soon.

"if one day someone had told me jung jaehyun would bring a bouquet of flowers to my house, i would never have believe them." she stated, still a bit impressed by the fact one of her favourites idols was standing on her porch.

"well, here i am." the alpha replied with a small smile.

"yeah, for my brother." hikari nodded. "and i have to say i am really happy that you guys are his mates. i was always super worried for who was going to be his mate, because he's very fragile and innocent, and he needs to be taken care of. but now that i know you are his mates, i feel much better."

"it's our turn now to take care of him." jaehyun said. "and we will make sure he feels loved and cherished, don't worry about that."

"i don't." hikari smiled."but it's hard to let go of him. i've been taking care of him since our parents passed away, seven years ago, and i've never trusted anyone other than hawoon to take care of him... but now that he has his mates, it's your duty."

jaehyun's eyes widened at hikari's words, the girl not even realising what she had spilled.

"h-his parents... passed away?" jaehyun asked, his voice low.

"oh..." hikari gasped. "huh... yeah... it was an accident... when shotaro was 13..."

"i-i never knew..." jaehyun stated.

"yeah, he doesn't talk much about it. childhood traumas leave life scars, but often young minds erase the unfortunate events from their mind to cope with it." hikari explained. "i'm not sure he remembers his life before he was 13. or at least, nor precisely."

"i see..."

"but please, don't confront him about it. now that i told you, you know about it, and you can tell the others too, but he doesn't need to be remembered about it. it was so hard for him at first, i don't want him to live this trauma again."

jaehyun nodded in understanding. "of course, we won't talk to him about anything, don't worry. his safety and sanity are our top priority."

the beta girl looked at her idol with a smile. "thank you so much."

"you're welcome." jaehyun smiled back at her.

"okay, the vase is in the flowers!" shotaro appeared in front of the two adults. "huh... the flowers in the vase." he corrected himself while giggling.

jaehyun looked at him fondly before ruffling his hair adoringly. "you're so cute..." he mumbled, making shotaro blush.

"t-thank you..."

a honking sound broke them from their daze, making jaehyun roll his eyes.

"we should go, the others are waiting."

"o-oh, yes." shotaro nodded. "bye hika."

"bye sho. take care of yourself, okay?"

"don't worry, we'll be doing that for him." jaehyun winked at her as he wrapped his arm around shotaro's waist. "bye."

and without further addition, the two mates turned around, jaehyun walking shotaro to the car and opening the door for him like the perfect gentleman he was.

α

"so, are you liking this date so far?" kun asked, taking a seat by shotaro's side on the grass.

"i am." the omega answered with a shy smile. "very much acutally."

"i'm glad." kun grinned, looking in the same direction shotaro was looking at.

it had been around two hours since the beginning of the photoshoot, and around four since jaehyun had picked shotaro at his house.

the car ride had lasted a bit more than an hour to get to a beautiful clearing surrounded by a forest on which the photography team was already setting up all of the cameras and lights that would be needed.

once the had gotten there, the boys were requisitioned two at a time to be given their first set of clothes and get their make-up done for the first photoshoot. and now, the boys were taking turns in getting photographed.

one little detail, though; since the concept of the album was 'wildness', the photographers had requested the boys to pose shirtless. and so, here was shotaro, his cheeks redder than they had ever been as the boys walked around the set, their chests bare and their divine abdominals in view.

shotaro lifted his head to stare at the alpha that was currently getting photographed, his mouth getting dry at the sight of jaemin, standing barefoot in a pair of tight leather pants that hung very low on his lips. his two arms were lifted in the air, one of his hands in his messy hair while the other stretched to reach the sky.

just as the omega gulped, suddenly feeling hot, jaemin's eyes met his, and shotaro swears that it felt like the world had stopped. the alpha devoured him, his eyes fixed on him as a ravishingly wild smile contorted his face, making all the hair on shotaro's body bristle.

"everything alright?" kun asked, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as shotaro was embraced in a wave of calming pheromones that allowed him to make his erratic heart slow down.

"y-yeah... why?" the omega asked, sounding everything but convincing.

"your pheromones." kun explained, approaching his face from shotaro's marked neck and sniffing it. "they transmitted... something unusual." he hesitated, deciding that spilling that shotaro seemed horny wasn't appropriate for now. plus, the boy was still the epitome of innocence, and he would probably not know what this meant.

"oh... n-no, i just met eyes with jaemin..." shotaro explained, glancing at the said-male who was back to staring at the cameras.

"ah, in understand. jaemin can be very... seductive at times." kun nodded, looking at the younger male as well as his arm wrapped around shotaro so that he could pull him closer.

"y-yeah..."

both kun and shotaro continued staring at the boy getting photographed, the omega leaning in the alpha's side comfortably, trying to ignore the fact that kun was shirtless and that his head was in direct contact with the boy's toned chest.

a small summer breeze cooled down the hot weather of the day and made shotaro's hair fly in all directions. but the boy didn't seem to mind.

shotaro had never been this comfortable before, and this perfect position made him want to close his eyes and catch up with the hours of sleep he had missed during the night.

however, this wasn't possible as one of the photographer's broke the peaceful's silence.

"oh! the make-up artists painted a mark on you that is WILD!!" he exclaimed. "guys, go all to the makeup artists to get a mark too! this is getting even better!"

"well..." taeyong chuckled. "we have better than makeup artists to get a mark."

"sorry?" the photographer frowned.

"we have a mate." jaemin informed.

and before shotaro could think about disappearing, all the people on the set turned around to look at him curiously as his 22 mates stared at him lovingly.

it had only been two days and he wasn't sure he would survive long...