L scented the air as he woke and sat straight up, eyes darting about worriedly. Imagining the worst and instinctively panicking as he realized that the intoxicating aroma of Light's heat lingered only faintly.

At first, he thought perhaps something had happened and his mate was no longer in the safety of their heat room, but as he glanced over his shoulder, he let out a sigh of relief. L looked upon his mates, tangled up in one another and smirked at the sight.

B always stole the covers while L slept, why would he expect him to do anything less with Light. He had a feeling the young Omega would find himself in quite the tug of war at times in the night given their possessive natures.

Speaking of nights…what time is it? Hell, what day is it? The Alpha slid open a nearby cupboard and grabbed his phone to check, having lost all sense of the passage of hours and minutes while they were in this little den of theirs. His eyes widened as the screen lit up, easily doing the quick mental calculation, but not quite believing it.

A hopeful smile spread across his face as he put the phone away again to gaze down at Light, pulling the covers around all three of them as he drew close to their combined warmth. Placing a soft kiss at the nape of the Omega's neck before settling at his back

"Mmm…hmm…" Light let out a contented sigh as L wrapped an arm around both of their waists. The Alpha felt B's hand move to grasp his hip, the only sign that the man might be somewhat conscious.

When Light woke, they would dote upon their sweet Omega, make sure he recovered well from his heat…

His three-day heat… L thought, as a small part of him was practically bursting with an Alpha's pride regarding their virility, that they'd most likely impregnated Light…during his first heat and within a week of getting married no less!

Light's heat should've been at least four full days and nights, more typically five, especially for the first time. They would have to have a doctor confirm it, but Omega heats didn't usually end early unless the goal of the heat had been achieved, which from a biological perspective for Light's dynamic was pregnancy. Then the body ceased producing those hormones in response to new pregnancy hormones being rapidly released into their system instead.

Unlike pregnancies for other dynamics, Omegas could be diagnosed much earlier. L breathed deeply and could smell nothing different in Light's scent yet, but supposedly that would start to change as well in the coming weeks and would greatly influence L and B as his mates, setting off possessive and protective instincts as his Alphas

Light is going to get so sick of us. L thought with a chuckle, as he recalled what he'd read about how Alpha's always wanted to be near their pregnant mate, touching them, scenting them, checking on them, making sure they had everything they needed.

He closed his eyes with a smile on his face, unable to imagine life getting any better than it was at that moment.

xxx

"Aww, c'mon baby…a little more?" Beyond coaxed the younger man as he brushed a strand of damp brunet hair out of Light's adorably pouting face. The Omega blinked at him tiredly and yawned from where he sat propped up against a pile of pillows in their massive bed.

"Just one more bite of food? Or two? For me?" The Alpha didn't like that the already slender teen had lost just over 5 pounds in about three days. A discovery they'd made when they'd weighed him after leaving the heat room, something the Omega doctor had asked them to do, so they could record it and monitor weight loss at future heats in comparison. Beyond had decided to make it his personal mission to help Light gain it back as quickly as possible.

"Can I sleep after?" He pleaded. Beyond smiled as he held up a forkful of food and nodded.

"Of course, honey…" Light half-heartedly rolled his eyes, clearly knowing he was being patronized and pried open his mouth to allow the other man to shovel the food in. His hands still too weak and shaky to do it himself. The Omega scowled as he chewed, which just made it all the cuter to B, who grinned broadly and set the plate aside on the table.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" He muttered after swallowing, even as his eyes began to slide closed. "You better not think that this kind of thing…is gonna…happen *yawn* all the…time…" The older male smirked as he reached out to carefully swipe a small piece of rice from Light's lower lip as his mate's eyes stayed shut this time and the steady rise and fall of peaceful slumber overtook him.

"I know, sweetheart…" He whispered as he leaned forward to place a kiss on his forehead before gathering the dish and quietly exiting the room. The Alpha made his way to the kitchen and left the plates there to take care of later and went to check in on his other mate, who was already diving headlong into work again.

Beyond sighed as he reached the penthouse suite's office space, leaning against the doorframe as he watched L hunched over a laptop in the dim room, absorbed in whatever lay on the screen. There was a tension in his shoulders, a nearly imperceptible anxious shift to his body every so often, that only someone who'd lived and worked with the detective for years would notice.

It was the first red flag to the dark-haired male that something was wrong.

"Where are we at with the case? Was he able to cover for us adequately?" Beyond kept his voice free of emotion as he strode forward into the room, coming to stand beside the other man. His gaze caught sight of one of several other laptop monitors spread out on the large table, smiling at the surveillance of their sweet Omega as he slept.

Good to see he's got one eye on what's most important. B thought to himself as L's large charcoal-hued irises turned to look up at him. The raven took the lollipop out of his mouth.

"It could have gone better," He replied quietly.

Too quietly.

"Shit…"

"Yes, B…shit," The detective ran a hand through his hair, turning his eyes back to the screen and clicking several keys to open up files on several of the linked monitors. "He killed again…"

The Alpha stared as L pulled up the crime scene photos of a body on the main laptop. It took Beyond a few seconds to understand what he was seeing, as his mind tried to make sense of the carnage. Even after all of the things he'd seen over the years, this was…

Their killer had definitely taken it up a notch this time.

"She was an Omega. Unsurprising, based on the pattern we've witnessed so far..." L resumed clicking through the photos on the screen as he spoke.

"The…victim was found by her new mates..." Beyond felt like he couldn't breathe as the words poured out of L's mouth, frozen in place as the other man continued.

"In her dressing room..."

"She never returned from her final change for the evening at their wedding reception…" L's voice cracked and it seemed to break whatever spell the other Alpha was under, as he dropped to his knees next to the chair and wrapped his arms around his mate.

"It's okay," Beyond murmured as he slowly turned the chair so L couldn't see the screens anymore. "We won't ever let anything like that happen to Light, okay? We'll keep him safe and sound. The best security systems and bodyguards. It'll be alright." He assured the other Alpha who nodded against his shoulder and took a deep breath.

"I know all of that rationally, but-"

"No. There will be no doubts," Beyond stated firmly, looking at the monitors over L's shoulder. A stark contrast before his eyes of his peacefully resting mate and the viciously murdered bride in the photos. "And we'll catch this person, so that they can't do this to anyone else." He growled lowly.