Eamon and Shiro sat close together on a sofa. Across the table sat a smiling omega on a chair. He held a napkin pressed against his neck. They had moved from the corridor to the room where Shiro had prepared for his performance.
It was just a coincidence that Shiro had been the one to found them. He had forgotten his cellphone in the dressing room and wanted to call Ikumi to tell her goodnight. That's when Shiro saw Eamon. He recognized the boy immediately that ginger hair could only belong to one person. And it didn't take long until he understood what had happened.
Eamon had finally stopped crying, but he was pale and couldn't stop trembling. He had his gaze turned towards his hands on his lap. He clenched them so hard that the knuckles were white. Shiro had his arm over the boy's shoulders and looked at the omega on the opposite side of him. The omega wore a waiters outfit, but the white shirt was torn, and red bruises covered his chest. Shiro realised immediately that it was kiss marks. The man had a big tattoo on the right side of his chest. It was a black and white tattoo of a cat with wings. He was probably in his mid-twenties, and his skin was olive, and his jet black hair ended just above his shoulders. The first thing Shiro had noticed was the man's unusual eyes. Around the iris, they were deep blue, and the rest were light brown. It was the kind of eyes that pulled you in.
Shiro observed the man, and even though he had just been attacked and marked, he didn't look upset. Instead, he seemed very relaxed. Like the whole thing didn't bother him at all.
"Can you tell us your name?" Shiro asked.
He tries to calm down, but he felt that he would start crying at any moment. Seeing Eamon like this broke his heart, and he was filled with a strong desire to protect the boy.
"Tariq El-Masry, but you can call me Tem. All my friends do. Pretty clever nickname, ain't it?" The man said while grinning, and Shiro just stared at him, baffled by his carefree attitude.
"Do you understand what happened?"
"Yeah, of course, I do. I got marked," Tem answered, still smiling.
He took the napkin away from his wound and looked at it. The bleeding had stopped, and he crumpled it in his hand and threw the napkin in the trash can on the other side of the room. When it went in the can, his grin got even bigger, and he looked very pleased with himself. Shiro suspected that he probably would have pumped his fist if he'd been alone.
"But that's no big deal, right?. We just have to take that medicine, and the mark will go away."
"No, I don't think it's that simple. I think you and Eamon are fated, and there isn't anything that can break that bond."
Tem frowned, gazing at the other man.
"Are you sure?"
Shiro couldn't help but snort, and he nodded.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure."
The other omega seemed to contemplate what he just had learned, but after a while, he just shrugged his shoulders, and his carefree expression returned.
"Okay, well. Nothing we can do about it, right?
Shiro was stunned. Either this person simply didn't understand, or he was the most laid-back person he had ever met.
"Can you tell us what happened?"
"Well, I was taking a break in the staff room, and then I heard someone crying. I went out to look and saw this guy. When I got close to him, I suddenly smelled this amazing scent and went into heat. But the weird thing is that I don't remember a thing. That's never happened before."
Shiro closed his eyes. Yeah, this was exactly what happened when he and Dorian meet for the first time at that club. What was it with this family and nightclubs?
"So, what does this all mean?"
"Being fated is a bond for life. You can't live without Eamons pheromones, and if you don't receive them regularly, you will die. It's a serious thing we're talking about," Shiro said with a stern expression on his face.
Tem turned his gaze to Eamon, and he had a soft expression on his face.
"So your name is Eamon?"
The boy slowly looked up. His eyes were red and puffy and full of glimmering tears. It was the saddest face Tem had ever seen.
Eamon nodded, his bottom lip trembling.
"I am so very sorry, and I will make this right. I will go to the police right away and turn myself in."
"Wait, Eamon," Shiro objected in an anxious voice, and Tem shook his head while grasping Eamon's hands.
"No, you won't. You haven't done anything wrong. And if you do that, then I have to as well. I'm just as much involved in this as you are. So please, calm down."
Eamon and Tem looked at each other. They both could feel the bond. It was warm and soothing, and even if they were strangers, they felt this deep connection. Tem was fascinated, while Eamon was uncomfortable. He liked the feeling, and it scared him that he did.
"I'm sorry to ask this, but it's really important. Are you on birth control, or do you need a morning-after pill?"
Eamon's face got even paler by Shiro's words. However, Tem shook his head. Still holding Eamon's hands in his.
"I am, so that's no problem," the man answered, and Shiro sighed with relief.
"By the way, are you Eamon's father? You don't look the same at all."
Shiro's eyes got huge, and he stared at the man. He didn't know what was more upsetting. That Tem that he didn't know who he was despite working as a waiter at Shiro's own release party, or that Tem thought he was so old enough to be a soon fifteen-year-old boy's father.
"I'm Eamon's dad's pair," Shiro answered quickly.
Tem just nodded and let the subject go like it didn't interest him anymore. He then turned to Eamon, and his expression was very tender.
"So how old are you, Eamon?"
"I'm turning fifteen in a month," Eamon answered in a quivery voice.
Now it was Tem's eyes that got big from shock, and he turned ashen in his face.
"Fuck! I'm a sex offender!"
The boy and the older man stared at each other. Their eyes were both filled with dread.
"Both of you, calm down. I understand that this situation is scary and confusing, but we need to think calmly about this. You went into heat, and everybody knows how hard it is to control yourself. And when you are fated, it's impossible. You can't control yourself no matter how you try. None are you are to blame."
Shiro's words seemed to calm Tem, and he looked relieved.
"Well, I don't want to press any charges against you. Eamon, do you want to report me to the cops?"
Eamon promptly shook his head.
"No, I could never do that."
Tem smiled and looked affectionately at Eamon.
"Thanks, Luv," he said and turned his gaze to Shiro. "So what do we do now?"
Shiro had absolutely no idea what to say. Just because he had experienced something similar, he thought he was the last person to tell them what they should do. Shiro wouldn't even be alive right now if Finian hadn't taken control of the situation while he and Dorian acted like stubborn little kids. But Eamon didn't want his parents to know because he didn't want to cause Finian any stress, and Shiro could understand that. After all, he was just the same. But Shiro knew he had to talk to Dorian about it. Dorian was Eamons father. He needed to know.
But Shiro had to do something right away, to calm the frightened Eamon and make sure that the omega didn't run off and disappeared.
"First, we need to see a doctor and confirm the bond, and then we need to make up a plan. As you both probably understand, you can't have sexual relations until Eamon turns sixteen."
Eamon and Tem started to sputter out objections at the same time until Tem stopped talking mid-sentence and stared at the boy.
"Do you have a girlfriend? Are you straight?"
Eamon nodded firmly. Tem look at first startled, but the expression soon turned bittersweet. It seemed like he forced himself to smile, and he chuckled.
"Damn, I'm sorry that your first time had to be with an old dude."
Eamon turned completely red in his face and looked down. Tem was talking about his virginity and in front of Shiro on top of that. Eamon was sure he would die out of embarrassment.
"Well, I can't have sex with you again anyway," Tem hold up his hand.
On the ring finger was a glimmering silver ring, and Shiro's heart sank in his chest.
'Not again!'
"I think I will have enough problem explaining to my fiancée why I have a bite mark on my neck."
The blush quickly turned pale, and Eamon's eyes were once again filled with tears.
"I'm so, so sorry."
Tem leaned forward and ruffled the boy's hair.
"I already said you don't have to worry about it. I will take care of it."
"Are your fiancée an alpha?" Shiro asked, and Tem glanced at him.
"Yeah, he is."
"How come you not bonded if you're engaged?"
"Both my family and my fiancée are very conservative, so we have to wait. I don't care either way, but that's what they decided on."
Shiro didn't know what to say. He wasn't the one that had been in a relationship. It had been Dorian. However, Tem didn't react like Dorian at all. Dorian had been devastated, angry and conflicted.
Meanwhile, Tem didn't seem bothered at all. Perhaps he wanted an excuse to break off the engagement and saw this as a perfect opportunity, or maybe he was sure that his fiancée wouldn't care. But his fiancée was an alpha. Shiro found it hard to believe that he would simply accept that his feature husband was bond to someone else.
Suddenly Shiro thought of something, and tired, he shut his eyes. He didn't want to say it. Shiro had no other choice than to tell them, but he really didn't want to. He opened his eyes again, took a deep breath before he spoke.
"If you really are fated, you can't have sex with anyone except Eamon."
Shiro could see that this actually startled Tem before the man shut his eyes and exhaled. It was a deep and exhausted sigh. Shiro could hear the resignation in it.
"Fuck," Tem simply said.
"Yes, fuck indeed," Shiro grumbled and pulled his hand through his hair.
"I didn't know that being fated were such a big deal."
"Well, believe me. It really is."
While Shiro and Tem were talking, Eamon sat there on the sofa with regret so intense that he felt sick. If only he had told his dad that he wanted to go home. If only he hadn't gone inside the corridor. Then this wouldn't have happened. Then he wouldn't have destroyed Tem's relationship with his fiancée. He wouldn't have troubled his parents. And what would Chhaya say? Eamon leaned forward, hiding his face in his hands and started crying again. It didn't take long until he felt Shiro's arms around him.
"I understand, Eamon, but we will figure something out. And I really think we should go home now."
Eamon nodded. He wanted to go home. To crawl into his bed and sleep. And when he woke up, it might turn out that it all was just a horrible dream. But if it turned out that everything that happened was actually true, then he could just stay in bed forever.
"We need to exchange phone numbers," Shiro said and picked up his phone from the table beside him.
Tem took out his own cellphone and told Shiro his phone number. And when Shiro said his name, Tem wrote it down, looked at it for a long time and frowned.
"I recognize your name."
Tem thought for a while longer until he shook his head and seemed to give up trying to figure out where he had heard the name.
"Nah, it ain't coming to me."
Shiro stared at him. Irritated and baffled at the same time.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah. Wait, should I know who you are?"
Shiro couldn't let this go. He just couldn't. Not that it mattered to him if Tem didn't know who he was as a singer, but he should at least know what the party was about. That wasn't too much to ask.
"You do know that this is a release party, right?"
"I think it's for some Asian singer."
As soon as Tem said that, he froze up, stared intensely at Shiro. Shiro could see when the penny dropped.
"Oh," he said and then he looked at Eamon and pointed at him. "Oh! Now I get it. Your dad is that prime alpha everybody's been talking about lately. He won't kill me, right?"
"No, if dad finds out, he will get upset, but he's not going to hurt you. Dad would never do something like that."
"That's good. Well, I guess I need to go and figure out how I should break this to Farid. That's my fiancée, by the way."
"Do you want me to come with you? I should take responsibility," Eamon quickly said, and Tem looked surprised at first, then he got a tender expression on his face.
"That's very sweet of you, but it's not a good idea. You should go home now. It's been a rough evening for you."
Eamon was grateful because he didn't really want to face an alpha whose fiancée he had marked. He didn't think he could handle getting yelled at and probably even punched a few times. Not when he felt like he did.
Shiro was watching the other omega, and he was relieved. Tem seemed like a kind person, and he was very considerate of Eamon. Shiro liked him even if he was a bit weird.
"So let's find your dad and go home," Shiro said and took Eamons hand in his.
"You won't tell him anything, right?"
"Not tonight, but you know that I have to tell him tomorrow."
Eamon looked like he would start crying again, but he nodded. He understood.
"But not daídai. I really don't want him to know. Not until he feels better. Please, Shiro."
Shiro caressed Eamon's cheek.
"I promise. I won't tell anyone besides Dorian."
"Thank you," Eamon said and got up from the sofa.
"Can I at least follow you outside?" He asked Tem.
He felt uneasy leaving Tem by himself. It didn't feel right.
"Thanks, sweetie, but I need to work for another two hours."
However, Shiro firmly shook his head.
"No, you should home immediately. You must be tired, and your body must hurt. I will talk with the organizer so it won't be a problem, and I will pay for your cab."
"Really?" Tem said, surprised. "Sweet!"
"Yes. Let's go before Dorian comes looking for us. I don't think it's a good idea if he sees that wound right now."
Dorian had been drinking, and Shiro didn't know how Dorian would react if he found out about the bond right now. Dorian had barely had any alcohol since they met. So a drunk Dorian was something new for Shiro.
"Yeah. I would really like to live another day. Too young to die and all that," Tem said with a grin, and Shiro couldn't help but smile.
Scratch that. Tem wasn't just a little bit weird. He was very weird.
Hand in hand, Shiro and Eamon walked out of the room, and Tem followed them. The corridor was packed with their pheromones, and both Eamon and Tem could sense it. They glanced at each other. Eamon blushed and quickly looked away while Tem started nibbling on his bottom lip. The pheromones did things to him. Things he didn't want. Especially not right there with the poor kid and his stepfather.
They went down the empty corridor, and they could hear the music getting louder. They weren't far from the door that Eamon had come through. The door opened, and a tall woman walked through it. There wasn't anything special about her, nothing that could prepare them for what to come. It took the three men completely by surprise when she suddenly started running towards them, screaming something in a language that only Shiro understood. They all could see the object that shimmered in her hands. It was a big knife. She was screaming like mad and held it in front of her, steady with both hands. Shiro reacted immediately, realizing that he had no chance to fight the much taller, sturdier woman. So he tried to push Eamon out of harm's way, but the tall boy took Shiro in his arms and turned his back against the woman to shelter Shiro from the knife. And he braced himself, waited for the pain. But nothing happened. They could hear loud noises from someone fighting behind them, and Eamon and Shiro turned around. Just by their feet were a large kitchen knife, and the woman was lying on the floor, screaming in agony on her back. Tem was beside her, his legs on top of her and her in arm in an armlock.
"Get the guards," Tem said, panting.
Shiro nodded and ran. He knew that he was putting himself at risk, the woman could have an accomplice, but Shiro wanted to keep Eamon out of danger. He figured that Eamon was safe with Tem. It looked like the omega knew how to fight.
Tem was much smaller than the woman, so he had to struggle, but he clearly was strong enough to inflict pain because she never stopped screaming.
"Can you just shut up!" Tem shouted, fed up with her constant shouting.
Eamon stared at them, shocked, unable to move until he realized there was a knife just by his feet, and the woman was trying to reach it. He kicked the knife away just far enough so the woman couldn't grab it. Eamon stared at her, and for the first time, he felt hatred towards another person. She had tried to hurt Shiro. She wanted to kill someone in his family. Eamon started shaking with rage as he bent down and put his hands around the woman's throat.
"That's my family. You don't touch my family!" The teen growled, and then his eyes turned bright yellow.
Tem couldn't take his eyes from the boy. He got goosebumps all over, and he shivered with delight. Those eyes, they were sucking him in, and the pheromones made him feel almost feverish.
'Soo cool,' he thought to himself.
"Eamon!" He heard someone scream, and Tem looked to the right.
Sever people were running towards them. He could see Shiro and a bunch of security guards. The quickest of them all was a tall alpha with light blond hair and an anxious expression on his face.
'Is that giant my fated-in-law?' Tem couldn't stop staring at Dorian, overwhelmed by the man's appearance.
"Eamon, you have to let her go!" The man called again.
"She tried to kill Shiro, dad! I won't let her get away with it!"
"It's okay now. The police will take over."
Eamon didn't say anything, but Tem could see his eyes slowly returned to their beautiful green, and Tem was relieved. The boy seemed like a kind, gentle soul. He didn't want Eamon to get tainted by horrible people.
The woman was wheezing and coughing, and when the security guards got to them, both Eamon and Tem released their grip on her. The omega got up from the floor and groaned. His body hurt like hell.
"How are you?"
Tem flinched, startled and turned around. Eamon was looking at him with concern, and Tem's heart did an extra beat.
'Adorable!'
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I trained MMA for several years. But I'm surprised I still have it in me. How amazing isn't that?"
Dorian got up to Eamon, took the boy in his arms, let him go, looked him over, and embraced him again. All while asking him if he was hurt if he was okay and saying that he was a brave boy.
The security guards took the screaming woman away until the police would arrive. The organizer from the record label and the nightclub manager led Shiro, Dorian, Eamon and Tem to a room where they could rest and wait for the police to come and question them. Shiro had asked the organizers to keep the party going. He didn't want to cause any panic, and he asked for some privacy.
They were left alone, and the four men were sitting on two sofas. Dorian had his arms over Shiro and Eamon's shoulders, and he had tears in his eyes. Tem sat on the other sofa and felt like he shouldn't be there. He didn't belong.
"I can't thank you enough!"
Shiro looked at Tem, and he sounded very tired. It's been a long, eventful day for him.
"Gosh, it's really okay. I'm just glad I could be of help," Tem said with a flustered expression.
"No, it's more than just okay. We owe you so much. Please tell us your name?"
Tem looked up at Dorian, and he felt a bit uncomfortable. The alpha seemed like a loving dad, but he was also really intimidating. And he was Eamon's dad. Tem figured that he surely die at any second.
"Tariq El-Masry, but you can call me Tem."
Dorian smiled, and it was perhaps the brightest smile Tem had ever seen. It was like Dorian was made of sunshine, and it made Tem feel a lot calmer.
"Hey, that's a pretty clever name," Dorian said, and Tem's whole face lid up.
He looked at Shiro and grinned.
"I told you it was a clever name, didn't I?"
"What? Have you met before?" Dorian said, surprised and looked between Shiro and Tem.
"Oh fuck!" Tem blurted out, and Shiro hid his face in his hand.
All while, Eamon had a terrified look on his face and wished he could cease to exist.
"Shiro, what's going on here?"
Shiro let out a deep breath and looked at his mate, who was staring at him, very confused and suspicious. Even if Dorian were a bit tipsy, he was sober enough to realise that something strange was going on.
"I'm sorry, Dorian. I were going to wait until tomorrow to tell you."
"Tell me what?" Dorian quickly asked. The apprehension made his heart hammered like crazy.
"He's my fated pair."
Everyone turned to Eamon when he spoke for the first time since they left the corridor. The boy looked at his father with a steady gaze. He figured that his father deserved to hear the truth from him. It was he who had made the mess, and it was his job to take care of it.
"What?"
"Yes, and I marked him."
They could see how Dorian turned pale, and he looked from Eamon to Tem and back to Eamon again.
"Are you telling me that you have marked an omega? Here? Today?"
"Yes, dad. We bonded."
Dorian turned his gaze to Tem again, and he stared at the younger man. Tem could see all the emotions the father was going through. Confusion, worry, anger and sadness.
"Are you his pair?" Dorian said, and it sounded like he were about to cry.
Tem swallowed nervously. He took a deep breath, mustered up all the courage he could get and smiled.
"Yep, that's me. Fated pair, marked and bound. All in one."