After telling Kael to come to their HQ, Rin turned and walked back toward the meeting room.
"The Wolf Marks are coming," Rin announced, his tone steady, cool. "We'll share the news with them directly."
Everyone nodded.
They started discussing the activities of the other members of Ash Fang when a dull ache spread low in Rin's abdomen. He didn't think anything about it and ignored it.
Some time passed, but the pain got worse, along with the pain in his abdomen, his nape, where his gland was, started to itch. His body tensed, his hands tightening slightly on the table's edge. He shifted in his chair, trying to mask it, but the faint dizziness in his head betrayed him. His complexion became paler with the growing pain.
Rin pushed himself up slowly, his chair scraping lightly against the floor. Everyone turned toward him.
"Call me when they arrive," Rin said coolly, though his voice carried the faintest strain. "I'm going to rest."
No one said anything; they all looked at how pale he looked compared to the morning. Lucas's gaze lingered a second longer, but Rin didn't meet it. He left the room with the same controlled grace as always, though each step felt heavier than the last.
The hallway swallowed him in silence, but the burn at his neck didn't ease. He clenched his jaw, refusing to acknowledge it. He knew he was in heat, he knew it was arriving, but it arrived earlier —he wouldn't let his body betray him here. Not now.
When he reached his room, he shut the door behind him with a quiet click, leaning against it for a brief second. His composure cracked only when no one could see. A sharp wave of pain rolled through his lower abdomen, forcing him to exhale slowly, jaw tight.
He crossed the room and opened the drawer by his bedside table, pulling out a sleek silver case. Inside it were the suppressants. With trembling hands, Rin loaded the injector and pressed it against the inside of his arm.
The hiss of the injection was soft. Relief came, but only in fragments. The ache in his stomach dulled, and the burning itch on the gland also eased a lot.
Rin takes a deep breath and sits on the bed. But the relief didn't last long.
The heat surged back this time with greater force.
His body screamed for what he denied it. The itch in his gland at the back of his neck throbbed like fire beneath his skin, aching to be touched, claimed, soothed by an Alpha's pheromones. His instincts clawed at him, demanding what his mind refused to consider. His thighs pressed together as slick dampened the inside of them, his body betraying him with humiliating ease.
Rin was shocked by the sudden wave of heat.
I did take the suppressants, but why?
He pushed himself off the bed with shaky legs, nearly stumbling as he reached for the injector on the bedside table. His fingers fumbled with the device before he drove it into his arm, the hiss breaking the silence. For a moment, the burn dulled—only to return fiercer, the suppressant smothering the fire briefly before it surged back, hotter and hungrier than before.
He gripped the edge of the table until his knuckles whitened, dragging in air that carried no comfort. It was heavy, suffocating, filled only with the reminder of what his body wanted: the grounding, commanding presence of an Alpha.
For an Omega, there were only ever two choices.
The first one is to give in to instinct—spend the heat with an Alpha, let their pheromones soothe the fire, let the bond mark sink into skin and soul. It dulled the pain, even brought a haze of euphoria, but it came with its own chains. Submitting like that meant risk: a permanent mark, a bond he couldn't undo. Worse—it meant the high chance of pregnancy, of vulnerability he could never afford.
The other path was the one he always chose. Suppressants. Enduring the fever alone, riding out every ache, every desperate pulse of need until it burned itself out. It was harder—much harder—but safer.
Rin had always chosen that path. He had never once let an Alpha close. Not once.
But now, the suppressant wasn't working. The fire inside him refused to die down. His skin flushed hotter, his body trembling with need he couldn't suppress. Every nerve screamed for touch, every instinct told him he would shatter without it.
And for the first time, Rin felt a crack of uncertainty.
Why now? Why, after years of control, did his body betray him so violently?
While Rin was enduring the pain of his heat, the Wolf Marks arrived.
The Crimson Vultures were already gathered in the living room.
Lucas was the one who welcomed them in.
When they enter the door, they look at the interior, which looks more like a normal home with a faint scent of coffee clinging to the air than the HQ of a mafia gang. There was also no other person in the mansion except the one gathered in the living room.
Kanji came out of the kitchen, balancing a tray with glasses and bottles, passing them out as everyone settled into the couches and armchairs.
Lucas pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Rin's number, wanting to tell him about the Wolf Marks' arrival. He waited, listening to the faint ring on the other end. No answer. His brows furrowed as he tried again, this time letting it ring longer. Still nothing.
Kael leaned back in his seat, eyes narrowing. "Where's Rin?"
Lucas hesitated, slipping the phone into his pocket. "He wasn't feeling well. He said he'd rest for a while. He'll be here soon."
The room carried a weight of silence after his words, broken only by the clink of ice in glasses. They waited—ten minutes, then twenty. By the time half an hour had passed, Lucas had dialed Rin's number three more times, each attempt ending in the same hollow silence.
"Lucas," Ari finally spoke, his tone sharp with worry. "What's going on?"
Lucas rubbed his temple. "…He's not picking up."
Jax, who heard their conversation, leaned forward. "Then why are you just sitting here? Instead of calling him over and over, why don't you just go and get him yourself?"
Tobi's voice was quieter, but carried the weight of a rule carved into stone. "We can't go to the third floor. No one does." His gaze flicked to the ceiling. "That's Rin's space—and his space alone."
Everyone in the Wolf Mark was shocked, even Kael looked surprised and looked at the third floor. Lucas's unease grew with every passing second, a knot tightening in his chest. Something wasn't right.
The phone buzzed again on the nightstand. Lucas's name lit up the screen, vibrating against the wood with a persistent hum. Rin glanced at it through half-lidded eyes, his body trembling as the heat rolled over him in waves. His hand twitched, reaching toward it—but he stopped.
He didn't have the strength to answer.
And worse, he didn't have the words if Lucas asked what was wrong. What could he say? That his suppressants had failed him? That his body, usually so well-disciplined, was betraying him piece by piece? No.
The ringing ended, leaving silence broken only by his uneven breathing. His throat felt raw, his lips parted as though every breath scraped against him. Then, suddenly—something clicked in his mind. A last resort.
With trembling fingers, Rin unlocked his phone and scrolled until he found the number. His thumb pressed the call button.
The line rang once. Twice. Then—
"Hello?" The voice was deep, smooth, and grounding.
Rin closed his eyes, his voice slipping out in a shaky whisper tinged with pain. "...Come. To the HQ. Now."
There was a brief pause, then the man's voice came again, his tone sharper than before. "What happened?"
Rin gripped the sheets beneath him, knuckles white. "The suppressants… they failed."
For a second, there was only the sound of the other man's breath—and then the sudden rush of motion. The unmistakable rhythm of footsteps, fast, urgent. He was already moving.
"Take deep breaths, Rin," the voice commanded firmly, the sound of running echoing faintly through the line. "Just hang in there a little longer. I'll be there soon."
"Where are you?" The man inquired.
"In my room."
"Okay, hang in there, I'll be there in ten minutes. Okay?" The man said in a soothing voice.
"Okay," Rin replied in a shaky voice.
Lucas drummed his fingers against his thigh, his unease growing heavier with every unanswered call. It had been half an hour. Rin never ignored him this long.
Finally, Lucas stood, pushing his chair back. "I'm going upstairs," he said, voice firm.
The others looked up sharply. Ari frowned. "You know he'll be pissed if you barge in. He hates anyone setting foot on the third floor."
"I don't care if he gets angry," Lucas shot back, already heading toward the stairs. "What if something bad happened? He's not answering, and I'm not going to sit here and do nothing."
Lucas' hand just brushes the railing when—
The front door burst open.
A man rushed in, his breathing heavy as if he'd been running the entire way. Every head in the room turned at once. He was strikingly handsome, his features sharp yet composed despite the urgency in his movements. He didn't carry any scent, probably a Beta.
The man barely spared them a glance. His dark eyes swept over the Wolf Marks gathered in the living room, then dismissed them with a single nod. Without breaking stride, he headed straight for Lucas, who froze halfway up the stairs.
"Eric?" Lucas blinked in shock. "What are you doing here?"
Eric didn't waste time. "Rin's not well. I'm here to check on him." His tone left no room for argument.
Before anyone could question further, Eric brushed past Lucas and took the stairs two at a time, vanishing toward the forbidden floor.
For a long moment, silence hung in the room.
Jax was the first to speak, eyebrows raised. "Wait. I thought no one was allowed up there. What makes him so special?"
Lucas exhaled slowly, his expression softening with a rare flicker of respect. "Eric's an exception. He's been with Rin since the very beginning. Longer than even me. He's also one of the founding members." Lucas's lips pressed into a thin line. "And more importantly, he's our doctor. He's closer to Rin than any of us."
There was silence in the room, but it didn't last long.
Talon leaned back in his seat, arms crossed, his sharp eyes narrowing in curiosity. "So," he drawled, tone deliberately casual, "are they… dating or something?"
The air stilled.
Jax snapped his head toward him, eyes dark and dangerous, the weight of his stare like a blade pressed against Talon's throat. "Watch your mouth," he growled, not like the words one bit.
Talon only raised a brow, smirking faintly as though testing boundaries. "What? I'm just saying—doesn't it make sense? Betas usually prefer other betas. And those two have known each other for a long time. He also has permission to go to the third floor. What do you guys think?" He said, looking toward Crimson Vultures.
Ari immediately jumped in, shaking his head. "There's nothing like that—" His voice cut off mid-sentence, his expression shifting as though a thought had just struck him. His eyes darted away before he muttered under his breath, "Although… it might be…"
Tobi turned sharply, fixing Ari with an incredulous stare. "Are you stupid?" he snapped.
Ari scowled but pushed back stubbornly. "Think about it for a second. Rin doesn't like people touching him—ever. You all know that. He won't even let me near him half the time. But Eric? He never pushes him away. He lets him close, closer than anyone else. And don't you think that's strange?"
Ari leaned in, his voice barely a whisper, but everyone heard every word clearly. "I've seen it—Eric hugging Rin when he was exhausted, feeding him when he wouldn't touch food himself, even holding his hand like it was the most natural thing in the world. And Rin never pulls away. Not once. Sometimes they lean in so close, whispering things no one else can hear."
"Whenever Eric's around, it's like the rest of us stop existing. Rin doesn't even look at me. He barely acknowledges anyone. It's only Eric."
That earned him silence.
The weight of Ari's words sank into everyone present, Crimson Vultures and Wolf Marks alike. Especially Crimson Vultres, they all lost in thought like thinking about the past events. Talon tilted his head slightly, his smirk gone now, replaced by something more curious, more calculating. Jax clenched his jaw, visibly restraining himself from snapping again, though his eyes still burned holes into Ari.
Across the room, Kael's gaze flickered upward toward the third floor, where Rin's room lay hidden from sight. A deep frown etched onto his face, his thoughts turning darker. The idea of Rin being so close to someone else—someone trusted enough to break through those icy walls—gnawed at him in a way he didn't care to name.
The room remained in tense silence, everyone lost in their own thoughts, the shadow of Rin and Eric's bond hanging heavy between them.