One of the few things Mikaela was thankful about vamperism was the way it stopped the heats.

There was nothing around him to provoke it, anyways. All the other vampire's scents were faded- dull, muted things clinging to them like the scraps of their old humanity, some barely doing more than flagging them as an alpha or a beta. Occasional spikes of scent came in brief moments of interest, and went as quickly as they had arrived, leaving only the dull buzz of old pheromones behind.

With some, it was different, he supposed- Ferid's scent was sharper, more nuanced with curiosity and amusement and hostility, though Mika despised him enough that even his most base of instincts refused to react to it. Crowley smelled overpoweringly of alpha no matter how flat it was from the lack of passion, though to Mika's still half-human body it did stir a faint sense of alertness. He was always far more aware, biologically, of Crowley's presence than Ferid- as dull as it was from centuries of nothing more than occasional posturing, Crowley's build and the way he presented himself still stirred the faintest feelings of submission, of present yourself to the alpha and submit to him to save yourself that always left Mika in an uneasy state of alertness. And Krul, dominant though she was, had been turned before her dynamic presented, so she was basically scentless.

That was really only half of the matter. With the vamprism came the inability to properly eat human food anymore, and his refusal to drink human blood meant that he was in a permanent half-starved state that made heats physically impossible, which was a blessing as much as it was a curse. What didn't have anything to do with his vamprism was the way he reacted to the scents- how completely, utterly goddamned disgusting they were to him, even when they occasionally stirred feelings of submission in the deepest, most animalistic part of his soul.

That wasn't how it was supposed to be. Unmarked, unmated omegas were supposed be attracted to alpha scents, even if they, as individuals, hated them with a passion. Alphas were supposed to be good for an omega's body. They were supposed to excite them, to rile them up to the highest of passions and then balance them out to a quiet plateau of safety and security. It was the way the dynamics worked. All omegas found that an alpha's scent had at least some positive effect on them.

All of them but Mika.

And it wasn't just the vampires who had no effect on him. The humans were the same way. His first time out on a patrol, Mika had been terrified of coming across an alpha human and his body reacting to it, but his worry had been for naught. The humans were stronger, sure, and more vibrant with their emotions and hopes and desires spiking and running through their scents like an invisible waterfall of feelings. But they did nothing more than make him wrinkle his nose and step as far away from them as possible. Their scents were rank and grating. Mika wanted nothing to do with them.

The only scents that hadn't bothered him were those of his family, the clean, warm fragrance of unpresented pups reminding his body of safety, of home. Even before he had started presenting, he had felt soothed by how sweet they were, how pure. Even when Akane had started to smell faintly of beta and Yuu very clearly began presenting as an alpha- to no one's surprise- it had felt nice. Right. They were a family, a pack, and they reflected it perfectly, despite how young they were. It had made his young omegan heart happy to be with them, providing everything for them and caring, and being provided and cared for in return.

When they died, it was like a part of Mika had died with them. His presentation heat had arrived not long after, but the clothes and belongings Krul had managed to collect for his nest had given him no relief. The scents of his family did not soothe him like they should have- they only reminded him of his loss. He had spent the three miserable days of his first heat with his head buried under the pillows of the bed they used to share with the soft, heartbroken cries of a mourning omega as his only company.

Krul had wanted to burn the items afterwards. He agreed, but in a fit of anxiety had ended up hiding them the night before they were to be destroyed, too attached to let go of them. It made him feel horrifically guilty afterwards- what kind of omega couldn't even give his dead family members a proper sendoff, even if it was just burning their old things? - but he couldn't help himself. Even now, when his despair threatened to break his cool exterior, he would pull out the stuffed bear he and Yuu used to share together as they slept and bury his face into its soft fur, desperately inhaling any trace of Yuu's scent left in it for comfort.

It smelled more of him now than anything else, the faded four-year-old pheromones of an alpha just barely beginning to earn his scent no match for the scent of a nearly full-grown omega, lack of heats be damned. Mika wholeheartedly mourned the loss.

He remembers what it was like to sleep next to Yuu's side-Yuu was prideful, and hated showing affection to others outright, but he wasn't able to sleep without someone next to him because of the way memories of his past would haunt him in his nightmares. Night after night they would lie together in a tangle of limbs, the warm bodies of their family pressed against them as a safeguard against the cold underground nights. After Yuu started presenting, Mika started to guess it was not because of childhood fears but the beginning of an alpha's protective instinct that spurred him to sleep with his arms around as many of the kids as he could.

Mika didn't mind. Yuu's new scent and overprotectiveness was different, but it was comforting, and after a while he began sleeping with his head buried in the crook of Yuu's neck, the scent of his friend calming like almost nothing else. When Mika's scent started developing into that of an omega, Yuu started doing the same thing, grumbling about how it was only because Mika made sure to bathe regularly that he could stand being so close to him, because the others stank and he stank a little less. When Mika started visiting Ferid, he forced Yuu to stop, not wanting him to worry about Mika's safety, but the anger that his attempts elicited from Yuu fully made up for it.

After all, it meant that he cared, and that he had liked sleeping with Mika's scent, no matter how faint it was. Something about that had made Mika feel warm and wanted in places the younger children, despite their sweetness, couldn't help.

Nothing else could compare. Not the stale, soulless scents of the apex predators he now belongs to. Not the humans who charge at him, reeking of fear and hatred and demons. The only scent that could ever calm him was Yuu's; sometimes, when Krul could sense the malcontent simmering under his skin, she would send for vampires to try to spy on him, hiding the true intent under the claim that she wanted to keep an eye on her missing seraph. None got close enough to give more than purely visual updates- he's with the military, he's training and appears to be in prime health, the humans don't seem to have awakened his potential as a weapon yet- but some came closer. One even came back with a little scrap of fabric that had been torn off the uniform of a high-ranking officer, claiming that it smelled like the queen's lost pet. Mika had been all over it the minute Krul had dismissed the soldier, desperately trying to find any traces of Yuu under the alpha's overwhelming stink.

It had been difficult- whoever this alpha was, he was strong and apparently fond of asserting his dominance- but it had been worth it in the end. Mika's body had responded instantly once he managed to trace the distinctive saltwater and citrine tang that had always seemed to hang around Yuu, no matter how many times he'd tried to scrub it off his skin.

Pack. Family.

Whatever Krul had been hoping to achieve by giving Mika something containing Yuu's scent had backfired. The last time Mika had scented Yuu, they were both young, their pheromones and bodies not yet done with developing. This time, Mika's body was primed and ready for a mate, even without his heat cycle, and the strength of Yuu's scent proved that he was much the same way. Mika had been driven up the wall with restless need for two days afterwards, pacing and whining and snapping at anyone who dared to approach him.

It had irritated the fuck out of Krul, and on the dawn of the second day, when he nearly bit her hand off for touching him, she had slammed him into the ground and pinned him under her boot until he had stopped writhing and hissing.

"Are you done yet?" The vampire queen glared down at him with undisguised ire, her scent flaring with rage. Mika had glared back, fangs bared to the gums, fingers clenching on the ankle of her boot in a grip that was nothing short of bone-crushing to the average human. The unrelenting stare of his sire proved to be too much, however, and he soon felt his body relaxing under her without his consent, his eyes darting to the side, head tipping back in pure submission as both his vampire and omegan instincts yielded him to her higher power.

"No." He managed to spit out. Krul snorted.

"Your body language says otherwise." The whites of Mika's eyes flashed, blue irises glaring at her with pure hatred from the corners. She snorted and removed her foot, watching dispassionately as Mika struggled to force his body into a half-kneeling position, all instincts in his body screaming at him to continue submitting. "Really, Mika. I know you're an omega and I know Yuu is important to you, but this is ridiculous."

Mika had snarled, a short, vengeful sound of defiance. "I need to save him. He's my family. I need to get him away from...wherever he is...before he gets hurt."

Krul studied him, then, without warning, stepped forward and yanked his head to the side, ignoring Mika's hiss of rage. She scented him, then stepped back, nose wrinkled.

"You reek." Mika shook his hair out, clicking his teeth defiantly. Krul tutted at his disobedience, but her eyes were cold and distant. "I mean it. You stink of pheromones, Mikaela. Just what was Yuu to you?"

Mika shifted in his position, suddenly all too aware of the cues his body was giving off. His scent had spiked more dramatically than it had done in years, and his skin was hot and uncomfortably itchy. His limbs burned with anxious energy, and he was twitchy and irritable. His fangs and fists ached like he wanted to fight an army. Somewhere deep within his chest ached with emptiness.

He hadn't felt this way since he'd presented as an omega.

Krul watched him squirm, then sighed. "I figured. Goddamn, now I regret giving you anything that smelled like him. Get up, Mika, come here."

Mika rose and reluctantly slunk forward into Krul's waiting arms. She clenched him tight against her, hands stroking firmly through his hair and over the back of his neck, surrounding him in the stale, sterile musk that Mika had come to associate as Krul's individual scent.

It did nothing to soothe the ache in him, but her touch was confident and surprisingly calming. Mika found himself relaxing into her, throat trilling with the reluctant coo of a pleased omega.

Krul nuzzled his hair, then withdrew, though she kept her arms loosely encircled around him, perhaps sensing just how much he needed the contact.

"How much do you know about your dynamic?" She asked, red eyes studying Mika's face. Mika remained silent, eyes flitting away from her searching gaze, and she sighed.

"Mika, just because you don't have heats doesn't mean that you can neglect learning about your body." Mika tensed, but didn't comment. "You don't know about scent bonds? How omegas react to alpha pheromones? I know you're not stupid, Mika, but that's pretty dumb of you."

Mika shrugged, feeling his face burn with the humiliation of failure. He'd read up on omegas, yes, but he didn't focus on anything past the heats and the basics of omegan physiology, too focused on finding any details that could help him become stronger so he would be able to protect himself on the battlefield.

And he'd done well with that. Even for a vampire, Mika was formidably fast and sharp-witted, using his omegan speed and wits to outsmart his flashier opponents so he could go straight for the kill. Still, it was humiliating that someone who didn't even present knew more about his own body than he did, thousands of years of experience be damned.

Krul cupped his face gently. "Read up before you see me again. Luckily for you, I did some reading myself after I turned you and it became apparent that you would continue to age past your presentation point."

She was silent for a second, fingers gently rubbing along the undersides of his ears and jaw. Mika hoped his appreciative purring was subliminal- for some reason, the skin- on- skin contact was immensely soothing, even if he was still a little irritable.

"...Your body is craving your alpha." Mika jerked under her touch, eyes wide, but Krul didn't seem to notice. "I don't know how close your bond ran, but it's deep enough that his scent threw you into a panic. Even if you are just instinctively bonded as pack, your system recognized him and told you that you needed to be near him by throwing you into...whatever this is."

She pulled back and studied him again, nose wrinkling. Mika's scent had spiked noticeably at her words, but his emotions were too mixed and her body too young for her to accurately read what he was feeling. Mika wasn't so sure about it, either. "If it wasn't for the fact that we have no idea what your cycle is, I'd say that you'd be in heat right now. As it is, I'm glad that it's nothing more than hormonal mood swings."

Mika bowed his head, confused beyond words. Krul smelled the shame in his scent and sighed again.

"Mika, stop. I know he saw you as family. I know that meant everything to you. But you developed breathing in each other's scents before you were separated, and now you've scented him as a full adult, and your body responded accordingly. If whatever this is is as close as you can come to heat right now, then it's because he triggered it."

She studied him with eyes that were almost inscrutable but held the faintest traces of pity. "I'm going to be declaring war on the humans soon. You probably already know why, but I'm going to need my missing weapon back, and I need you in perfect working order. When the opportunity comes, I want you to capture Yuu and wait somewhere safe, somewhere off the battlefield."

Mika nodded enthusiastically, desperation to save Yuu returning in full force. Something inside him stirred, something protective and primal.

He felt like his body was burning from the inside out.

Krul smiled and patted him on the head, glad to see him on her side once more. "Good. You can go now."

Mika bowed to her and stood, his head still angled in a semi-submissive tilt, though it now a gesture of respect, not of self-preservation. He set off to the library, head swirling with thoughts and fire, halting only when Krul called out to him one last time.

"Oh, and Mika?" He turned to her, blinking, then felt foreboding settle in his stomach as his eyes met hers. Her face was grim, warm smile replaced with a worried stare.

"Don't deny your instincts." Her eyes searched his, looking for something he wasn't sure he could give. "Some things are there for a reason, Mika. If you deny yourself what you need, the repercussions can be far more severe than what you may think."

Mika couldn't hold her gaze any longer. He dropped his eyes to the floor and turned without a word, leaving with a promise he knew he could never keep dying on his lips.

...

The rain-washed grey concrete was cold and unforgiving against Mika's back as he perched in a niche over the city, eyes as icy as the stone under him surveying the blood and carnage that surrounded the main unit of the Imperial Demon Army.

Nine Horsemen, dead and festering, all the work of one squad. Mika had recognized the scent of the alpha leading it instantly, the arrogant stench rousing something dark and snarling within him.

The last time he scented it, it had almost completely masked the one scent that never failed to stir his slow-beating heart into nervous, happy flutters, never failed to lose its sweetness and safety, so unlike the pungent reek of the other alphas, betas, and omegas in the units below him.

This man wasn't just some alpha who knew Yuu. He was a challenge to Mika's safety, to his family.

Something heated stirred under Mika's skin, something ancient and needy and possessive. He bared his fangs to the cool grey sky and hissed a challenge, not caring when his scent spiked with aggression.

He was an omega who had watched his pack be torn from him while he was still breathing, and had been forced to live even when everything in him had cried for death. There was nothing left for him to give. Yuu's place by his side meant everything to him.

And if that meant sacrificing himself, then so be it.