Trigger Warming: I think this one along the next chapter are going to be the most triggering in terms of graphic descriptions of violence! Please, be aware of it if you don't like blood and violence.
***
"What?" The three of them exclaimed altogether with quite the same voice tone.
"You heard me! How could you have a threesome without me?" Dongju smiled, noticing how shocked his alfa was along with the others. He took Gunhak's face in his hands: "You are my soulmate, Gunhak." He tiled his head to the side to caress the alfa's bite mark on his own neck. "You are mine just as much as I'm yours and we're a pack now. We should be able to share each other's warmth whenever we need. No bitter feelings." He looked at Keonhee and Hwanwoong. "I love them as much as I love you, because that's how I was raised and that's what being in a pack means to me. Don't you kind of feel the same?"
Everyone was speechless, amazed once again by Dongju's wisdom and his own vision of the world.
"Can you forgive me?" Gunhak asked, his eyes were shining with tears as he finally met his omega's.
"Will you ever also forgive me?" Seoho asked right after.
"Dongju-ah..." Hwanwoong joined the others despite he was feeling the other omega's calm aura too.
"Even to see how nervous you were to tell me something like this makes me feel so important to you all. I truly think it shouldn't be a problem! We are one now. I'm all yours and that means of all of you." Dongju's smile was shining as the moon in the sky when he leaned in to kiss Gunhak. Then, he turned to his left to connect Keonhee's lips and his own, laughing at the other's shocked face when he pulled away right after. Then, he crawled a little around the fire until he found himself kissing Hwanwoong before stopping in front of Seoho. He gave his alfa a careful look: "Tell me how does this feels, Gunhak." He softly asked, closing the distance between him and Seoho. He knew to kiss another omega would have been close to basically normal to the alfa because they were the same gender as him, but Dongju was more curious about Gunhak's reaction watching his omega kiss another alfa or, in that case, a beta.
Gunhak's lips parted in surprise when he realized how hot his cheeks had gotten at the sight of Seoho's tongue intertwining with Dongju's in a steamy kiss. It was incredible for him, the fact he wasn't feeling the slightest angry nor jealous after hearing what his omega had told him. He could feel through his bite mark how much Dongju was his, as well as how much he cared about the other werewolves sitting around the fire like Gunhak. He found himself staring at the way Seoho carefully hugged the other's waist while tasting freesia on the omega's tongue, a flavour Gunhak knew so well he felt his own member awakening. When the alfa suddenly realized he wished he could simply join them in that embrace of slow, passionate, kissing and softly feeling each other, he knew Dongju was right: they were a pack now, a pack made of people he liked and that he wanted to protect, to take care of, to be together with. Gunhak wasn't a part of his old pack anymore, that was in the past. This pack, the five of them plus Youngjo, were his future.
Gunhak was silently kneeling down in between Seoho and Dongju before he knew what he had done.
The omega broke the kiss to carefully look at him along with the beta, both lowkey worried the alfa might had gotten closer to separate them: "So, what did you-?" He was unable to finish his sentence because the alfa was already kissing him hungrily, almost as if he wanted to remark his ownership on the omega.
Seoho looked down, taking the chance to move back so that he could have simply cuddled with his own omega. Keonhee was already moving beside him. He hadn't been expecting Gunhak's hand to close around his wrist, preventing him from moving any further. "Alfa...?" He barely asked before Gunhak pulled him back in his arms to kiss him the same passionate way. Seoho's eyes shone in his new golden light as he sighed in the other's mouth while Keonhee nibbled at his shoulder and Dongju struck one of his thighs. Seoho was feeling good, he was feeling loved, he was feeling home and that was a miracle for someone like him who had lived his entire life as a lone wolf. He would have never admitted it, but he had always dreamed about having such a connection with a pack of his own. He couldn't believe he had actually found it but, while feeling Keonhee's happiness beside him as well as Dongju's care and Gunhak's heat on him, Seoho wished he could never leave them all. He broke their contact only when Hwanwoong's distressed pheromones reached his nostrils. "Hwanwoong-ah?"
Everyone turned in the omega's direction and their hearts sank when they noticed he was still sitting far from them. He was smiling but there were tears filling his eyes, his scent was betraying his silence, speaking more than the omega probably meant, and the others could feel it. They could hear his sadness.
"Hwanwoong..." Dongju crawled towards him to hug him, immediately followed by Keonhee.
"I'm... I'm sorry, I just..." He looked down at the fire, hoping its warmth could make him forget how cold it felt when he was away from Youngjo's arms. "I didn't mean to interrupt... I'm so grateful towards Dongju and Keonhee for being so understanding with me, and Gunhak, and Seoho hyung too but I..."
"You miss your soulmate." Dongju dared to finish the other's sentence, knowing exactly what it felt like. It had been brief, but he remembered how much he had missed Gunhak while traveling with Youngjo. He didn't know if it had been because of the other's bite mark or because he had simply missed his scent.
Hwanwoong tried to wipe his own tears off because he didn't want to cry. He was strong. He could handle it. He had been able to survive so many hardships in his life before meeting Youngjo. He could do it and yet, he couldn't stop crying as he watched the alfa and the beta join their big group hug.
"We'll bring him back, Hwanwoong-ah, I promise." Gunhak suddenly said.
"Let's get some rest now, so we can leave at dawn!" Seoho added before they all laid down beside the fireplace just like that: the omegas hugging each other while the alfa and the beta were surrounding them at both sides, making them feel safe and protected.
Hwanwoong's eyes opened in the middle of the night and he looked at the moon, inevitably wondering where the enigma was, what he was doing right in that moment, if he had been eating or getting any rest. He missed him. He couldn't lie to himself anymore.
***
Youngjo woke up to the familiar scent of Hwanwoong's skin. He gasped as he sat up straight in a blink of an eye, slowly realizing he had been dozing off against the trunk of a tree. He focused on his surroundings carefully, but there were no signs of the omega. What he noticed was that there were many bushes rich with small red beans in front of him, and it was clear why the scent had reminded him of Hwanwoong: they were coffee plants and, by the way Youngjo had been unable to smell anything else around, he finally understood why he had been able to sense the other's true scent only in a few moments.
He had wondered several times why Hwanwoong's pheromones seemed to be so strong yet so alluring to him, but he had always blamed it on the fact he was an enigma. He was special. Hwanwoong was just an omega who had been hiding his own real scent probably rubbing those beans on his skin, confusing Youngjo, shamelessly lying to him, mercilessly using his body, enjoying his attentions, deceiving him.
The enigma laughed bitterly at what was most probably the thousandth lie he had discovered concerning the omega but, for some reason, he reached out to one of the bushes to snatch a couple of those red beans. He stared at them on the palm of his hand before crushing them in his fist all at once out of frustration.
He hated how that terribly familiar perfume spread even more in the air, almost mocking him, making his heart ache for no reason. Youngjo was an enigma. His gender was the most powerful of all, and he knew he was so close to where he had last seen his pack being taken over by Bang Chan and his wolves. He would have finally been able to defeat them and to save his family, or what was left of it. He needed to forget about people like Hwanwoong who weren't trustworthy. Youngjo mindlessly brought his own hand to his nose, inhaling in that scent with his eyes closed: he could almost feel Hwanwoong was there, staring at him, searching for him, looking at the moon to ask the brightest sphere of light where he was.
Then, he abruptly shook his head, growling menacingly as he threw those coffee beans away. When he opened his eyes, they were shining in their new violet light: he was ready to fight. He didn't have time to distract himself nor to let those painful memories and useless feelings prevent him from reaching his ultimate goal. He shifted to his wolf form to resume running in the woods, impossibly angrier than before.
***
Hwanwoong stopped when he suddenly felt the enigma's scent getting particularly intense, as if he were somehow close to them. The other wolves took a break from running too, catching their breaths for only the third time in five days. Hwanwoong placed his hand on the trunk of a tree where he just knew Youngjo had been sitting not long ago, inhaling traces of his strong scent stuck in between the wood and the grass.
Gunhak shifted: "Did you feel something, Hwanwoong-ah?" He asked as he was already investigating on the surrounding area along with Seoho who was still a ginger-furred wolf right beside him.
"He was here. He probably took a sit or he slept here because I can sense him so much..." Hwanwoong tried to explain, caressing the trunk as if it was the enigma's skin. He couldn't help feeling worried.
"Should we take another break? I'm not... I'm not feeling so well." Dongju faintly added, and everyone suddenly was in their human forms, staring at him with their eyes filled with concern.
Gunhak surrounded his omega's waist with one of his arms: "Are you tired, Puppy?"
"I'm good, I just feel a bit nauseous. Maybe we've been running for a bit too much." He smiled sweetly.
Hwanwoong couldn't help feeling terribly guilty. He knew Dongju wasn't an omega like him or Keonhee who seemed to have a much greater stamina and endurance, yet he had been keeping up with the same pace as a beta and an alfa like Seoho and Gunhak. "Let's take a break here if you want."
"Are you sure?" Seoho carefully asked. "I know these trees as much as you do. We are close to his zone." He pointed out, hugging Dongju along with his alfa to spread some calming pheromones as well.
Hwanwoong's hand closed in a fist and he hit the trunk of the tree with almost no strength: "I know..." He looked up to meet the beta's eyes: "I'm tired too though. We need to rest if we want to fight well." His heart ached at the thought his pack was really willing to get into that much trouble because of him, because he had lied to Youngjo, and because everything that had happened to all of them was his fault.
Keonhee's calming pheromones suddenly caressed his nostrils and he couldn't help leaning on the other's chest when he offered him his shoulder. Hwanwoong wasn't alone, his pack was there with him, and they were all happy to be with him. He looked at the others in their eyes and he could feel how much they wanted to be at their best as well to bring Youngjo back. "Thank you." He sincerely said to Keonhee, enjoying the feeling of his long arms surrounding his body in a tight hug. "Let's bring Youngjo back." He felt like saying again before they all decided to settle there to have a nap and to stretch a little.
***
"Should I go catch something to eat?" Gunhak asked at some point, although his voice betrayed how worried he was for his omega who had been sleeping on his chest until that moment.
"No." Seoho replied, standing up from the grass where he had been hugging his Keonhee. "You should stay with Dongju-ah. I'll go catch something, I was an alfa after all. I can be a better hunter than you." He smiled at the end, kind of challenging the alfa in a playful way.
Gunhak couldn't help smirking at the beta's manners. He would have never expected him to be so quirky and funny once he would have actually been able to talk back to him. He kind of liked it, the way Seoho seemed to be able to lift everyone else's mood in a blink of an eye. He didn't look like someone who had been a lone wolf for their entire life, not at all. "I'll have to wait and see what you'll bring back then!" He teasingly replied, although he found himself feeling grateful Seoho was there too so that he could have stayed with his omega. Dongju had been sleeping for a long time already but he hadn't woken up not even with their brief chat. He looked in pain and the alfa couldn't stand it. "Thank you, Seoho."
"Can I come with you?" Keonhee stood up as well. "I want to... I want to hunt too. I miss doing that." He admitted, finally voicing his thoughts he had been keeping to himself until then. He was an omega, and he was embracing his true nature, but he had lived all his life like an alfa. He liked to hunt in a way. Plus, it could have been a chance to spend more time with Seoho and he really liked the idea. What he didn't like was the doubtful look on the beta's face at his words, a moment before he smiled to him.
"Of course, let's go!" Seoho replied before he shifted to his wolf form.
When the beta and the omega left, Hwanwoong decided to take a sit at the base of the same tree where he could sense Youngjo's scent. He had never thought he would have ever found himself doing such a ridiculous thing but, he couldn't help it. He missed it, he missed him. The more they were away, the more he missed the enigma so much he felt like a part of his own heart was missing too. He needed to find the other half to be able not to feel as empty and incomplete as he was right then. He closed his eyes, letting himself getting lulled to sleep by that scent, drowning in the memory of the moment they had shared at the river when Youngjo had caressed his body so mindfully, so delicately, almost worshiping him.
He couldn't believe he had been so blind not to acknowledge he had been falling for the enigma since the very first moment they had met in the middle of the forest. He remembered how clear the sky was on that day, how bright the sun was in the sky, how warm Youngjo's body had felt on his own. He had no idea about how Youngjo would have reacted when they would have met again, if they would have. Hwanwoong couldn't help wondering if the other would have been angry at him, if he would have looked at the omega with the same feeling of disappointment he had witnessed the last time he recalled.
There was a part of the omega, buried deep down inside his heart, that kept reminding him what he was doing was useless, that the Youngjo he had fallen in love with was long gone and that the enigma he had become would have never accepted his feelings nor to go back to their pack ever again. Nonetheless, there was another part of Hwanwoong's heart, a very loud, clear, determinate, part that wouldn't stop screaming at him to keep going, to push himself towards his enigma, to never let the other go for the world. Hwanwoong had grown up alone in the forest, he had never been someone who followed his instincts to that extent. He had always been more of a strategic type, always trying to analyse every situation using his brain rather than his heart in order to be smarter, to win, to reach his goals.
This was different. Youngjo was different and he had made him feel such different things in such a short amount of time he was still unable to process his own feelings, to give them a purpose, to control them. He was unable too. No one had ever taught him how to, not even his dear grandma. Hwanwoong looked up at the sky, searching for any sigh, anything that made his heart feel less heavy. He tried hard to think about what his grandmother would have told him but the infinite number of sheep-shaped clouds distracted him so much he didn't realize the moment he fell asleep against the trunk.
***
"N-No! Dongmyeong!!" Dongju abruptly opened his eyes, instinctively holding onto Gunhak's chest.
"Hey... You're safe, Puppy, I'm here..." The alfa immediately tried to reassure him, hugging his body tightly and patting his back nonstop to make him feel all his presence and his comfort. "Please, breathe." He whispered in his ear before leaving a kiss on his head. "I'm here, it's okay..." He repeated those comforting sentences until he felt his omega's breath stabilizing. Dongju snuggled closer, rubbing his face in the crack of his neck, letting Gunhak lick at his mark on his skin. "Did you have a nightmare?" He sweetly asked caressing the other's belly to keep making him relax. "Who is Dongmyeong?"
Dongju's tongue froze for a moment before he replied: "He's my twin brother." He buried his face further in the crack of Gunhak's neck to drown in his sweet daffodils scent the omega was the only one allowed to inhale that close. "Keonhee hyung found me alone and in heat in the forest because I ran away from my pack." He brought his arms behind the alfa's nape but he couldn't lift his head to look in his eyes. "This numerous pack once came to our territory and they took everything we had. We were a small pack with lots of omegas and we didn't have the chance to fight back as we wanted to." His eyes filled with tears as he felt nauseous again for some reason. "My pack, my family, my twin brother, they were taken by their alfas and..." He gulped, trying to keep on telling what he wanted the alfa to know about his past. "Dongmyeong helped me escape with a trick but I wanted him to come with me so badly. He chose to stay there and I miss him every day. Sometimes I even dream about him and I hope one day I'll be able to see him again, alive, and healthy." He sniffed closely at Gunhak's Adam's apple, unable to get enough of the alfa's alluring scent.
Gunhak silently nodded, unsure about what he could have said to his omega to make him feel better, to make him feel his presence and support now that they had found one another. Dongju's twin brother, as well as his family, must had been so sweet and caring for him, so clueless no wonder other packs had taken the perfect chance to take over them. That was just something alfas did, Gunhak knew that very well since he had grown up in a big pack with many alfas. He closed his eyes, suppressing the urge to spit out his frustration about the way his pack was and how they had raised him into thinking an alfa could always take what he wanted without a second thought. Gunhak closed his arms around the omega, feeling for once almost glad he had been kicked out of his old pack so that he didn't have to keep up with those alfas' behaviours anymore. Dongju didn't need to hear his thoughts, he needed his alfa right there.
The omega started nibbling at the other's ears before he realized what he was doing, his hands stroking the back of Gunhak's neck in the meantime. Their lips quickly found one another the same harmonious way the two of them had found each other that fated day at the river. Dongju wanted more. He couldn't explain why, or what was moving his instincts to get impossibly closer to his alfa because his heat was far from starting again and so was Gunhak's rut. He knew that but, his tongue was already dancing along with the alfa, easing his headache, making him forget about his tired limbs, relaxing his entire body. "Alfa..." He sighed on his lips when Gunhak's fingers closed about one of his nipples. "G-Gunhak..." He called his name again but the alfa seemed focused on staring at his chest so, Dongju looked down.
"Has your nipples always been this soft?" Gunhak suddenly whispered to him while never taking his eyes off his hands over his omega. Gunhak was hypnotized by how tender those familiar rings of skin and muscles were. He remembered it had been so easy to make them hard when he had been intimate with the omega the first time, maybe that was the reason why he couldn't wrap his head around how soft they were in that precise moment. He squeezed one of them gently, rubbing its tip even, but they both looked soft nonetheless, like the flesh of a prey he had just deepened his fangs in.
"G-Gunhak, please—" Dongju whined, squeezing his eyes shut as vibrations of pleasure were going straight from the alfa's fingers towards his member. "I'm... S-Stop—" He tried to warn him he didn't mean to be loud, not wanting to wake Hwanwoong up, who was peacefully sleeping not far from them.
Gunhak seemed to ignore their surroundings when he bent down to take one of the omega's nipples in between his lips. He used his free hand to both hold the other's body on him and slowly caressing the other's belly, instinctively wishing to keep comforting him somehow: "They're so soft, Dongju-ah..." He commented, pulling away for a moment only to notice the omega's semi-closed eyes staring at him.
"Alfa— Please, I don't want to—" Dongju moaned when the alfa used his other hand to hold his jaw, slightly pushing his thumb in between his lips. Gunhak switched his attention on the other one of his omega's nipples right after, licking at it, moving his tongue frenetically on its delicate tip. Dongju whined in pleasure, feeling incredibly sensitive where his alfa had decided to tease him, and he inadvertently started sucking at Gunhak's thumb, taking it all in until his nose brushed the other's knuckles. He was stuck in between an unbearable desire and a languid feeling of relaxation. He just wanted the alfa to keep doing what he was doing forever. Dongju quietly moaned again, biting down at the other's hand when the alfa started outrightly sucking at his already sensitive nipples: Gunhak was driving him crazy.
"I can taste your freesia so much better here, Puppy." The alfa's voice sounded even lower than usual. He couldn't stop, he just couldn't help himself. Gunhak kept teasing and licking and sucking at the omega's nipples until Dongju choked on his loudest moan and he came all over his alfa's hand.
"Gunhak..." He was panting, unable to catch his breath after coming so soon and untouched. He tried to hold back more moans when he had to watch the alfa lick every single drop of his cum from his belly.
"Delicious..." Gunhak said, wearing a beyond satisfied smile while still holding the other's jaw. "Dongju, I want to taste you like this for the rest of my life." He confessed, staring in his eyes, and moving his hand away from Dongju's face to let him breathe. "I love..." He stopped before he could have said something out of instinct, something he had already said to an omega who didn't feel the same, something that might had seemed too much too soon considering how long they have known each other. "...Your body, I love your body. I'm sorry, I don't know what happened to me." He apologized.
Dongju placed his hands on the alfa's hard chest, staring back at him with his doe eyes. "I'm yours, Gunhak. You should know you can do whatever you want with my body... I just didn't want to wake Hwanwoong up." He turned his head to check on him but he looked as if he was still sleeping soundly. Then, his attention was caught my Gunhak's hard member, slightly pushing against his hip. "Alfa..."
When Gunhak used the same hand he was resting on the omega's face to caress his cheeks, Dongju knew he was allowed to do what he wanted with the other's body just as much as him. He smiled, slowly adjusting his position to kneel down in between Gunhak's spread legs. There was no rush in their movements, no heat of the moment, no rut blurring their free will. Dongju chose to take the alfa's shaft in his mouth knowing that was what the both of them really wanted: to discover themselves, to give each other pleasure, to share an intimate moment just the two of them after living too many stressful events.
"Puppy..." Gunhak groaned lowly, trying to keep his volume down as well but enjoying the fact his omega had noticed his member's cries for attention. "Oh, yes, just like that... You're incredible, ah—" He caressed Dongju's medium-long hair, carefully pulling them away from his face. "Do it as you want."
Gunhak hadn't been expecting the omega to push his own head forward until he couldn't breathe, only to wait for his lungs to beg for oxygen so that he could pull away. Then, he did it again right from the beginning, again and again, and again. The sole sight of that demonstration of utter care and boldness was enough to make Gunhak come already. He shut his eyes, enjoying his omega's burning hot throat around his member along with the choked sounds he was making while sucking at it through his release.
***
Keonhee's eyes widened as soon as he finally saw a young deer passing by, just as he had previously sensed. He remained still and silent, moving on the grass like the wind blowing in between the leaves of the trees. He held his breath until his soon-to-be prey was close enough to get caught, and then he jumped at the deer, as fast and ferocious as an alfa. Keonhee let out a distressed whine when his snout hit the ground hard, a single moment after the other animal had managed to escape his claws.
The white silver wolf was already growling in distress when Seoho appeared from a couple of bushes, surprising the deer before it could move any further. The ginger wolf went straight at the animal's legs to keep it from fleeing, giving Keonhee the perfect chance to sink his fangs in its flesh, killing it at last.
Seoho was already enjoying a bite of their meal after a day of travelling nonstop with their pack, when Keonhee shifted to his human form, immediately bringing his hand to his own jaw. "Ugh... That hurt..." He bitterly commented, both referring to his face and to his 'alfa' pride.
The ginger wolf shifted too as soon as he felt something was wrong with his omega: "Are you okay?" He asked, walking closer to the other, his hands and mouth were still red with fresh blood.
"I'm fine. I just hit my snout..." Keonhee replied, trying to massage his jaw, and rolling his eyes when he heard the beta laugh, even if he low key loved that sound so much.
"I told you it was ambitious of you to try and catch a deer on your own!" Seoho pointed out while staring down at the grass, searching for a particular herb he had in mind.
"I was literally a moment late!" The omega complained, pouting. "I know I'm an omega, but I was-"
"I found it!" Seoho suddenly interrupted him, abruptly pulling at a couple of long green stems with large leaves to lift some brownish rhizomes attached to their roots. The beta tore away the stems, breaking in half one of the biggest balls. "Come closer..." He told Keonhee who was enchanted by the bright yellow colour of the inner part of those strange fruits that had been growing underground for some reason.
"What are these yellow fruits supposed to do?" The omega asked out of curiosity as he watched Seoho gently rub both half pieces of the fruits on his face and neck. "They stink..."
"These are not fruits, Keonhee, they are underground tubers." The beta distantly replied as he was busy using it to alleviate the other's pain. "These are called potatoes and they are a great natural remedy for pain and bruises. I thought they might give your jaw some relief-"
Seoho's words died in his own throat when suddenly one of the few memories he had with his family when he was very little came to his mind. He remembered his mother taking care of his injured knees with a potato split in half, explaining to him the exact same things he was telling the omega, before singing a sweet song to push his pain and worries away in a blink of an eye. What were the lyrics about?
Keonhee's lips slightly parted at the other's words. He had to admit he didn't know whether it was because of Seoho's extremely caring touch or to some incredible healing properties of those potatoes but, he soon became unable to feel any more pain on his face. He was about to thank his beta when, all of a sudden, Seoho started humming some kind of melody. That silent chant soon became a song made of lyrics and the beta started singing the very same song his mother used to sing to him when he was little.
It was an ancient song, in a language he wasn't sure he could understand, yet Seoho knew every word. He kept caressing his omega's skin, alleviating his pain while his crystal-clear voice resonated in the entire forest like birds singing during their season of love. That was the moment Keonhee's world froze: it was as if all he could see was the beta and the beta only. Then, memories that didn't belong to him started suddenly flashing in his mind. He saw a small but peaceful pack living by a river where a baby wolf with a bright ginger fur was splashing water at his friends, a moment before someone or something stormed in, slaughtering each and every single werewolf in his pack. He saw that pup grow up alone in the woods, haunted by the nightmare of witnessing that massacre, unable to speak to anyone: a lone alfa who had chosen to live his life on his own rather than losing everyone he cared about the same way.
A single tear left one of Keonhee's eyes when he blinked back to reality and the beta had just sang the last line of the song he remembered. The omega couldn't help but locking the other's body in the tightest hug, wishing he could make the other feel all the love and affection he hadn't gotten for years. He hadn't been able to understand who or what had stolen Seoho's happiness, had changed his entire life, had made him question whether he had been living or simply surviving in that wild world that had been so cruel to him. Keonhee buried his nose in the crack of the beta's neck where he could rub it over his bite mark. "I'm so... I'm so sorry, Seoho." Those words came out from the bottom of his heart as he was trying to get a grip on the fact he had just imprinted on the beta while hearing him sing. "You're not alone anymore. I'm here. I'm right here." Keonhee abruptly said to him from the same position. "I will never leave you. I'll always be here for you, Seoho." He wished he could say more. Keonhee had always been good with words but, his heart was beating so fast his body didn't seem to respond to his commands at the moment. "I'm here."
Seoho's eyes widened at the other's words, both because of their meaning and because his omega might had just imprinted on him as well as he had already had back in the cave. He dropped the two pieces of potatoes he had been holding and he squeezed Keonhee in his arms, allowing him to make him feel that he was right there, exactly as he was saying out loud, that the omega would have never left him. As if that wasn't enough, he could feel through his bite mark how deeply Keonhee cared about him along with all his pure affection and care. "Keonhee..." His name came out of the beta's lips as if he was using him as an anchor, his anchor to keep him on the ground, right where Seoho belonged despite his body always seemed to wish for water, maybe to come back to that river he had happily grown up. "Now you know." He closed his eyes. "I didn't want you to carry the same burden I've been carrying with me all my life."
Keonhee slightly pushed himself away to look at the other's face: "Open your eyes, Seoho." He continued as soon as he got lost in the other's golden irises. "Listen, I want you to mark me for my next heat." He leaned in to kiss the beta quick. "I want to take care of you as much as I want you to take care of me." He kissed his bite mark too. "I was so lucky to meet my soulmate in this lifetime by chance and... Now I'm sure that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You'll never be alone ever again."
"I don't know what to say..." Seoho replied, tears in his eyes, wearing the happiest smile on his face. "Are you su-?" He was about to ask, but the omega kissed him again to prevent him from doing so.
Keonhee smiled: "You don't have to say anything. Your heart, your eyes, and your body have been speaking to me since we first met. Thank you, Seoho." He sweetly told him, leaning in to leave another – a bit more eager – kiss on the other's lips, hissing in pain right after for his still swollen jaw.
Seoho laughed, caressing his cheeks beyond gently: "You shouldn't move your mouth so wildly now." He warned him, although he kissed Keonhee on his nose. "I want my omega to stay healthy and happy."
"As long as I'll be by your side, I'll be happy." Keonhee firmly said, helplessly staring at the beta and letting his own eyes tell the other how much he loved him already so much his heart ached.
***
The forest was silently awakening as the first lights of dawn were lighting up the nature surrounding Youngjo who was in his wolf form. His violet eyes were focused on the entrance of a cave where lots of werewolves and wolves could be seen already. He could sense the familiar scent of his sister and mother: they were alive although he couldn't see either of them amongst the omegas and pups of different genders, who looked like they were enjoying their daily activities at the headquarter of the main alfa.
Youngjo recognized Changbin, one of the three leaders of Bang Chan's wolf gang, who was sitting with other alfas, happily laughing, and enjoying the spoil of their most recent hunt around a big fire. The flame of anger burning inside Youngjo's heart became stronger at those serene scenes of their everyday life he would have never dared to disturb if only he knew that gang was nothing but despicable. If only they weren't holding part of his pack captive and they hadn't killed the remaining elements as far as he knew.
The enigma crouched down a bit more behind the bushes where he was hiding, a single thought animating his body in order to keep going and to attack his longest time enemy whenever they were less expecting someone to. He looked up when he heard the other werewolves cheer the loudest and that was the moment he finally saw him again: Bang Chan. He was wearing the eccentric carcass of another wolf of a creamy white fur around his neck – Youngjo recognized it, it was his father's – and covering his shoulders, a big ugly red scar was crossing his right eye from side to side, splitting his right eyebrow too. He was smiling at everyone like the strong, feared, leader he was and the enigma saw violet before abruptly stepping out his own hideout, forgetting about whatever plan he had in mind to surprise them.
Everyone went immediately silent, sensing a foreign scent along with his incredibly strong pheromones, menacingly filling the air around the cave and giving goosebumps to each werewolf who was in front of him, except Bang Chan who bitterly laughed out loud: "Look who decided to come and visit, Youngjo!"
The black wolf bared his fangs at the other in response, unable to process any thought except to kill him.
"You came back as you said." Bang Chan took a sit on a stone while all the humans surrounding him shifted to their wolves forms. Some omegas and pups ran away to go and hide, leaving all the alfas there. "Did you come to congratulate your sister on our new pup or you wanted to say hi to your father?" He mocked him, taking hold of Youngjo's dead father paw to shake it as if the carcass was waving at him.
Youngjo let out an animalistic bark before launching himself forward. At least ten of Bang Chan's wolves charged at him, attacking him with their claws and fangs. Youngjo had just stepped into a wolves' den and, the more he responded to the other's offenses, the more wolves were coming to help their fellows.
He didn't remember Bang Chan's gang to be so numerous and he couldn't help thinking probably he had been conquering more territory, exterminating more packs, creating more alliances in order to fulfill his sole purpose of being the most dreaded amongst wolves. Youngjo didn't care. Youngjo didn't feel any emotion towards them. Youngjo was a heartless war machine, ready to kill everyone who wanted to stand in between him and his enemy, between him and Bang Chan who was enjoying the show while sitting.
Youngjo was the centre of a circle made of growls and howls and violence, but nothing seemed to make his determination shake. He would hit back for every brand-new mark on his fur. He could bite back for every wolf who dared to lock his jaw around his limbs, his bright violet eyes making him restless and unstoppable at the same time. Bang Chan's smile faltered when he noticed that detail in particular, and the enigma couldn't see clearly when the leader told his trusted Changbin something in his ears and he sent him away, doing Youngjo had no idea what. He was busy headbutting another wolf, making it hiss in pain before sinking his fangs in his neck. A pool of blood was slowly creating around the enigma while he kept on tearing Bang Chan's wolves as if he were a whole pack in one single wolf.
***
Hwanwoong woke up sensing his brother's scents mixing and matching in an unusual way. When he opened his eyes, he simply saw Keonhee helping Gunhak with the fire as they were cooking the spoil of Keonhee's and Seoho's hunt, the beta was busy talking to Dongju about herbs and flowers he could have used to defend himself in dangerous situations such as poison oaks or mushrooms in the meantime. Everything seemed normal, the atmosphere was even less tense than before for some reason despite they had to leave as soon as possible, but something just wasn't quite right to Hwanwoong.
"Oh, you woke up!" Keonhee noticed him, giving him a warm smile.
"You should eat something and then we should go or we'll lose ground." Gunhak added, quite serious.
Hwanwoong nodded even if he couldn't push that feeling away: "Are you all okay?"
"Yes! Why... Why are you asking?" Dongju asked back, his cheeks slightly turning pink as he started fearing the other might had heard him and Gunhak beforehand. "Are you okay, Hwanwoong hyung?"
"Yes..." The omega replied, telling himself he should have tried to stay more focused on their mission. "Gunhak hyung is right, we should hurry and catch up with Youngjo."
They ate quickly and they were back on the road just as fast. The more they ran, the more Hwanwoong could sense the enigma's scent getting closer and closer. He didn't know why but, differently from the other werewolves, who couldn't remember a thing about those moments under the enigma's voice, the omega remembered everything Youngjo had told them: Hwanwoong was the enigma's biggest disappointment and those last few words of his wouldn't stop haunting the omega's mind. He truly felt like had disappointed himself too, as well as his dear grandma and his parents.
Hwanwoong wasn't the kind of werewolf who would have lied, especially on his own werewolf gender, even if he despised it so much. Maybe he had been just a coward after all, afraid Youngjo would have hurt him because he was an omega. Maybe Hwanwoong could have tried and given the alfa a chance to talk about their imprinting, to know each other a bit better, before setting a plan to run away as soon as he could, before Youngjo had turned out to be an enigma, before realizing he had fallen for that selfless, caring, silly, werewolf. Youngjo was someone truly special while Hwanwoong was just an omega, and maybe that was exactly the reason why Hwanwoong, deep down inside, had taken advantage of the situation he had found himself into just to feel special, the opposite of what he knew he was.
His grandmother had taught him to always go beyond the surface, to never trust the appearances, and yet, unconsciously, Hwanwoong had stopped there with everything regarding Youngjo, keeping himself from even trying and getting to know him. He wanted to tell everything straight to Youngjo's face and apologize. The omega ran faster, wishing to meet the enigma again as soon as possible to make up for his mistakes, to start again, to save Youngjo from himself too if the enigma would have allowed him to.
***
"You're a fool if you think you'll ever get to me, Youngjo!" The leader laughed out loud the moment even more wolves emerged from the bushes surrounding the cave to join the fight. All against one.
Youngjo couldn't help thinking the other was a real coward: he was letting his entire gang face him while he hadn't even gotten the chance to get his hands dirty. The enigma was in his wolf form though, therefore he couldn't mock the other as much as he had with him. Youngjo simply couldn't stop fighting, biting, scratching the alfas who were around him like soulless puppets moving under Bang Chan's commands.
The more he fought, the more anger grew inside his heart, taking over his body completely when he suddenly smelled his sister's blood. "Jieun!!" He screamed, and it came out as a long, agonizing howl, making all the birds surrounding the area take their leave and fly in a flock of panic and fear.
The other wolves around him were suddenly pushed away all at once as if Youngjo's aura had been so powerful it had physically shove them far from him like an explosion. "Don't touch my family!" Youngjo screamed again, his eyes turning dark violet as the other wolves didn't dare making a move towards him after acknowledging his clearly superior pheromones.
"What are you doing?? Don't be a bunch of cowards and attack him!!" Bang Chan urged his wolves, a hint of fear in his red eyes betraying his usual façade of fierceness. "What's with those violet eyes?"
Youngjo suddenly shifted to his human form, using the back of his hand to wipe blood off his mouth. "Oh, Bang Chan..." He used his enigma voice on the other. "I see you don't know what an enigma is..." He asked as he watched the other alfa's red eyes turning lilac the same way as it had happened to Gunhak.
Changbin's eyes widened at the scene and he took the chance to run away from the dangerous werewolf.
"Enigmas are the most powerful beings in this world." Youngjo started quoting his sister's words. "People say they are just a legend but they exist. I didn't know I was one but, now that I know who I am, I know I'm so strong I can even defeat alfas as despicable as you." He smiled triumphantly before he took a step towards the leader of the wolf gang to finally destroy him, to finally make him pay for how much he had made his pack and his family suffer, to finally get the revenge he had been dreaming of.
"Youngjo-ah!!" Jieun's choked voice echoed in the forest, making her brother freeze.
When the enigma turned around, he saw Changbin's fingers closed around his sister's neck as the third leader of the pack Jisung was surrounding his mother's neck with his arm in the meantime.
"Mum! Jieun!" He screamed, suddenly unable to move.
Jisung gave him an evil smirk: "Use your enigma voice on either me or my brother Changbin and you can say goodbye to either your dear sister or to your mother, Youngjo. Who's more important to you?"
Changbin laughed as they watched the enigma kneel on the grass while staring at him like a furious beast.
"You're weak, Youngjo. You hold such a great power in you and yet you hesitate because you can't help feeling something for these useless omegas." He continued. "Look at you! You are as weak as them..." He commented before Youngjo's mother yelped when the grip of Jisung around her neck tightened. "How about you join our pack? We'll help you get rid of these bitches in a blink of an eye..." He smiled. "You could rule with us. You could be even more powerful. You could make everyone bow at your feet."
Youngjo stood up, his fists closed and tight along his hips while his entire body was shaking out of anger: "I'm not weak. I'll exterminate your entire pack if you dare to do something to them." He warned them. "If you knew something about enigmas, you would know I'm way more powerful than your pack ever would make me." He took a step towards them. "I don't need you. I'll kill you in a moment anyway."
Omegas weren't useless. Omegas could be as strong as fearless as any other alfa, beta, or enigma. Youngjo should have known since he was born, having such a brave omega mother and sister, but he had been blind. He had never wondered about their nature, he had never thought they could have been able to do everything on their own like Hwanwoong. He had grown up alone on his own and he was an omega. Hwanwoong wasn't useless, and he had managed to teach the other so much about his werewolf gender to the enigma who had always taken so many things for granted. Omegas were the other side of the coin.
Jisung smirked as he slowly started choking the omega, bending his arm: "You can only talk, Enigma." He said before he turned his head to look at Bang Chan who was still emotionless. "It's true. I have no idea what enigmas can do, but stop thinking you can defeat our gang because you got rid of Bang Chan. Hasn't your stupid omega mother taught you that you shouldn't play with fire?"
Youngjo's mother smiled as she looked at her son like someone who knew what was about to happen and who was ready to accept it, to be patient, to forgive as she had taught the enigma since he was a pup: "Y-Youngjo-ah..." She managed to say before Jisung tightened his fingers around her neck the strongest and Youngjo saw the light of life leaving his mother's eyes as she choked on one last breath.
The enigma turned in his wolf form without even realizing, his inner beast taking control, and the black wolf he became was beyond furious, it was feral. He jumped at Jisung the moment he let his mother's body sloppily drop on the ground. Youngjo attacked him with all his rage, biting, growling, deepening his fangs in the other's tender skin to not only kill him, but to make him suffer his way towards death. He wanted to hurt them. He wanted to torment them like a nightmare as much as they had until then.
Changbin lost no time in ordering the other wolves to attack the enigma again, and they surrounded him all at once with renovated determination, quickly creating another spiral of violence, fangs, claws. Youngjo ignored them to keep tearing Jisung's body to shreds as if he were a deer he had just caught.
"Youngjo-ah... No..." Jieun weakly said as tears filled her eyes at the scene she was witnessing.
***
"Hold on!" Gunhak shifted, catching Dongju right on time before he fell on the grass in his human form. The alfa was thankful for his own peripheral vision that had allowed him to see his omega the moment he had lost his balance. "Dongju, are you okay?" He immediately asked him, staring at Dongju with his eyes full of concern. Everyone stopped running and they turned around in the couple's direction, wearing the same worried faces when they noticed the omega was pale while leaning on Gunhak's chest.
"What's happening to him?" Keonhee got closer to the duo as well to realize how tired Dongju looked: he was panting and it seemed as if he couldn't even say a word. He loudly gasped the moment the youngest omega abruptly bent down to throw up at the feet of the nearest tree.
Something was different, it was suddenly clear for everyone. Something had changed in Dongju's scent.
"So, my suspicions were true... Dongju..." Seoho started saying but words died in his throat in the end.
"What? What's happening to him, Seoho?" Gunhak anxiously asked the beta. He was getting so worried.
Hwanwoong suddenly realized why the other omega's scent had been so different for a while until then. He was sure they could all sense it now, another, different scent, growing inside Dongju: "He's pregnant."
***
Hello my beautiful people ❤ I just stopped by to wish you a happy Easter if you celebrate it and since I do, this is a small gift for you all! This is like, the longest chapter I wrote for this story, I hope you'll enjoy!! Were you expecting the last cliffhanger? Thank you so much for reading and for all your comments and support as always ❤
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