Donghae gawked at the dark eyes. They were charcoal black with faint hits of brown around circumference of iris. Black lashes were long and curled to an artificial perfection but too soft to be so. He didn’t notice more of the vampire’s features before settling on the vermilion hair. They were red – a sign of danger, yet captivating. They always stood out in contrast to the vampire’s rather dull yet attractive form. Black shirt, navy blue pants and a jacket of the same color. His face was pale, no sign of rosiness or even life.

This vampire won’t dare to attack him in his own house, inside his own room. But he was, by no means, fooled by the bewitching eyes or enticing voice. It was soft and seducing at the same time. A trap. He was unaware of the vampire’s intentions of marrying him. There lied a hidden sinister motive. Probably everyone who knew about the vampire’s threat to the pack had sensed it.

What could be the reason for vampire prince wanted for marrying him? Of all the members in the pack? Him being Donghwa, the ruling alpha’s younger brother was a good enough reason.

He stared back into the soul consuming eyes, trying to read what was written in the pages of mystery but came up empty handed.

Eunhyuk hadn’t done anything more than pinning him on the bed and staring at him. He thought the vampire would make a lewd remark, act inappropriately, touch him wrongly or even bite him. But he only found the statue-like figure gazing at him stoically.

It was unnerving, even scary, but not enough to prompt him into shifting and attacking his husband.

The vampire’s eyes roamed down and fixated on his lips. Donghae instinctively pursed his parted lips, not realizing that he was panting through them before. Eunhyuk smirked at his action and withdrew completely. He put distance between himself and the bed where Donghae was lying. The opened window caught his attention and he neared it, just in time to notice the curtains being drawn in a room few corridors away.

Donghae sat up. The sudden action from the vampire had set his heart in frenzy. The emotion that caused it was hard to point out but he put his bet on fear and disgust. Strangely, none of the two emotions were strong enough to make him push the vampire away. Although a threat did register, comfort of his room weighed more than a call for action.

“Why did you marry me?” Donghae inquired, breaking the silence.

He noticed the vampire’s body freezing. Eunhyuk faced him and leaned against the window sill, showing his back to the world outside in a fake show of directing his complete attention on Donghae.

“Because I like you.” The vampire stated.

 Donghae doubted that. He often met men and women who claimed to like him, having fallen in love with him at the first sight and whatnot. His brother told him that those were all lies. Even though his friends persuaded him not to miss on the ‘fun’ of life, Donghae wasn’t interested. He was too indulged in the notion of finding a soulmate. None of his admirers called for his interest.

Looking back in the past, none of it mattered now. He should have gone out with someone back then and experienced how it felt like to be with a werewolf or a human. Now he was stuck with a vampire. His life, fate and even Gods were playing some cruel joke on him.

Even if a vampire loved him more than anything in the world, he wouldn’t have married one. Those creatures, they drank blood. Not only humans or werewolves but any species - which also included their own. Cannibalism would make a human or a werewolf shudder in disgust but for vampires, it wasn’t anything foreign.

He skin crawled. Thinking about everything his grandfather had told him, Donghae held the vampire’s vacant stare.

“I don’t believe you.” Donghae spoke defiantly. He stood up and crossed his arms to take a defensive stance.

“Once you come to the vampire kingdom with me,” Eunhyuk said, a knowing smile stretching on his lips, “I’ll make you believe in everything.”

** **

Donghwa was informed about the vampires surrounding his pack. The danger was still looming. The vampire prince was still inside the pack house. What was he thinking? He couldn’t figure out what the vampire’s true motive was. By marrying Donghae, what was it that he wanted to achieve? More power?

It was understandable. A powerful pack at their side would be helpful in case a war, which was very unlikely to happen, ever erupted. Or probably Eunhyuk had already planned out a war and needed a werewolf pack on their side. In that case, he could have any pack on his side. Why is that after he refused Eunhyuk, the vampire showed up with his army? Why didn’t he go to another pack?

Why was the vampire trying to pressure him into marrying Donghae to him by bringing Kangta along?

Donghwa was broken from his thoughts by a knock on the door. The vampire prince was escorted inside. He was apprehensive of Eunhyuk standing inside his office room.

Eunhyuk looked around, his calculating eyes lazily taking in the wooden decorations, paintings on the wall, books lined on the shelves, mementos and furniture. Finally, his eyes settled on the alpha. Donghwa regarded him a cool gaze.

“What brings you here, Vampire Prince?” Donghwa muttered, motioning for the vampire to take a seat on the leather couch.

“I wanted to visit you.” He answered with a shrug. “I assumed you might be thinking of thousands different reasons to why I want to marry Donghae. After all, you love your brother more than anything in this world. I only came here to clear any misunderstanding you might develop, brother-in-law.”

Donghwa didn’t like the way the vampire prince would address him. It left an unsettled feeling in his gut.

“I love Donghae,” Eunhyuk continued. “I don’t know what you or anyone else might think but I love him. He’s cute.” He smiled, staring off into the space as if remembering something beautiful, something meaningful and then chuckled. When he looked back at Donghwa, his eyes were smiling. “I love him and I can’t wait forever to watch him taken away by someone else, like Mr. Choi.” His eyes hardened. “So I had to use some underhanded ways to get you to agree to our marriage. I apologize.” He bowed.  

Donghwa observed the vampire prince carefully. He had never fallen in love so he himself never understood this feeling. Though, he admired the ones who had someone they loved.

“Why is your army surrounding our pack?” Donghwa questioned. Were you planning on forcibly take Donghae away if I refused? He didn’t ask that but he guessed that’s what the vampire planned on doing after hearing his confession. But his intuition told him that it wasn’t the end of it. He wanted something more.

“I’m sorry about that. From my sources, I heard that my enemies had heard of Donghae and might want to attack him. I didn’t want to take any risk.” Eunhyuk replied. “I apologize for that also. But my intensions were not bad.”

He has an answer for everything. Donghwa thought and  narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying that my brother can be in danger because of your enemies?”

Extra stress on the ‘your’ part wasn’t lost to Eunhyuk. He lowered his head but kept his eyes trained on the alpha. “I will keep him safe. You can trust me on that. No one can hurt him. Once we are inside the vampire territory, even the one above can’t hurt him.”

Donghwa had questions but Eunhyuk wasn’t saying anything that could provoke him. Instead, he was saying everything that would reassure him of Donghae’s safety. Then why couldn’t he shake off a feeling that kept telling him that something was amiss.

“I see,” Donghwa nodded. “But I want to send a pack member with Donghae.”

Eunhyuk frowned. “To the vampire kingdom?” Donghwa nodded. “That won’t be necessary. Donghae will get everything there. He-,”

“Donghae has always lived in this pack house. He doesn’t know much of the outside the world. Moreover, he often gets lonely. As his brother, I think sending someone he knows with him will help him adapt to the new surroundings easily.”

As his brother. By adding that, Donghwa made his position and his point clear. Eunhyuk agreed with a smile.

** **

Vampires were very unearthly creatures. They were beautiful but at the same time, unapproachable. Jaejoong climbed the stairs with confident steps in search of the vampire prince. They were given guest rooms while Eunhyuk was staying with Donghae.

He followed the vampire prince by his scent and prepared to knock at the door but was stopped by an eerily presence behind him. He