Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was 11:30 at night, the air was thin and everything was closed for the night. It was colder than usual but still wasn't enough to snow yet. The cold kept everyone inside, which kept the streets eerily quiet. Not even a chirp came from the surrounding forest as if they knew what was about to happen. It was only a couple of hours before the sun rose. He had only seen the outside world once as a kid, but now it was only a matter of time before he could escape before he could be free.

Baekhyun waited patiently for someone to come at a certain time. He had memorized the ever-changing schedule, looking for something, a pattern. Finally, after 16 years he found one. It switched every 3 days, a different person would come to get Baekhyun for different sessions, once in the morning and once at night.

He took note of every place he went, learning the routes from the testing room or the training field back to his cell. He knew every person that ever walked into his cell, what hand they used to unchain him, which key went to which lock, where they put their keys, and who feared him and who didn't.

It was a rotation of four people that came to take him away. Two women and two men always came randomly, who came to get Baekhyun wasn't scheduled, but the person changed with each rotation. Baekhyun guessed that it was whoever was free at that time. It didn't matter to Baekhyun who came into the room, he knew how to deal with all of them. There was one huge dilemma Baekhyun was in, Lee Soo Min.

Lee Soo Man made random appearances, throwing off Baekhyun's plans. He would come when he wanted to do his private testing on Baekhyun or simply to use him for pleasure. Lee Soo Min ran everything, everyone worked for him and was on top of everything. He created the whole underground organization. Although he was on top of everything Baekhyun thought of him as a careless and reckless man.

11:38. Baekhyun crawled to the front of his cell near the bars, but the chains prevented him from touching them. The pipes hissed in front of him, smoke filling the hall and slowly fading away until it repeated every few seconds. There were growling and groans from the cells next to him but he simply ignored them, still waiting. He stared at the pipes, the workers weren't trustworthy when it came to their schedules, but the pipe system was. The pipes tell him the time and when a worker needs to mend them.

Baekhyun didn't know what the pipes were for but apparently, they were important enough to need this much care and effort. Still staring at the pipes he sat with his knees to his chest. It hissed again and again. Inhaling it again and again.

One long hiss and a red light flickered in the smoke. 11:40. 11:40, the time when the pipes overheated. Baekhyun's eyes flickered with ambition as he now waited patiently for the doctor. The smoke was now suffocating him, the red light continuously flashing. He heard buzzing from above him right when the light came on, probably a reminder for them to come.

Eventually, the buzzing worked, and footsteps quickly came down the long hallway. Baekhyun heard papers rustling and a phone buzzing. The man finally stepped into Baekhyun's line of vision, Doctor Choi Siwon. A man he knew too well, his least favorite doctor. He stopped at Baekhyun's cell with his back turned, looking at the pipes while scribbling on his worn-down clipboard.

He looked at his phone and sighed, "damn it, this is a mess." He frantically turned the nozzles, talking to himself. Baekhyun scoffed, enjoying watching him struggle. "Subject 004." He turned on his heel and gave him a blank look. No one called Baekhyun by his name except Lee Soo Min in private.

"Doctor." Baekhyun stood up, eyeing him up and down. Siwon was much taller than him, everyone was taller than Baekhyun. Siwon wasn't wearing his normal attire, a black shirt with tan loose pants with a doctor's coat over him. Now he wore something more formal, a black suit without a tie and his hair seemed to be gelled but it deflated and looked messy. His top buttons were undone, this wasn't like him at all, Baekhyun analyzed. There was maybe a formal event upstairs, but it wasn't likely that it was Soo Min's idea, he never invites guests.

"What's the occasion?"

"None of your concern so I suggest you go to bed."

"What about-"

"You are relieved of your testings for the night so be quiet," he said quickly trying to fix the pipes but failing. He was holding the clipboard under his one arm but to fix the pipes was a two-handed job. His phone was blowing up, stressing him out even more. He raised his arm and pulled a lever making him drop the papers. A couple of papers slid into Baekhyun's cell and stopped at his feet. Siwon dove for the papers, reaching his hand into the cell but they were already in Baekhyun's grasp.

"You're quite careless tonight doctor Choi." Baekhyun spun on his heel while looking at the papers.

"Listen to me, you are not allowed to have those, now give them back or you'll be in trouble." Baekhyun ignored him and looked at the documents, they were parts of maps and plans about new formulas. He looked up to meet eyes with a very angry Siwon, which made Baekhyun smile at his despair.

"Something must have gone very wrong at this party of yours upstairs to make you act like this doctor."

"Shut up you mutt and give them back, now!" His hair fell over his face, it was a long night for him as many things were indeed going wrong. His voice stirred up some of the inmates making them scream and howl. Before Doctor Siwon could spew some more insults a door opened at the beginning of the hallway. Baekhyun was quick to catch his scent and debated whether to throw the pages out of his cell.

"You little- oh mister Lee hello," Siwon brushed his hair back and bowed as he made his way to him. Baekyun decided to stay on his good side as he didn't know how this night was going to end. Baekhyun's original plans were slipping out of his reach. He dropped the papers and they slid outside of the cell.

"Mister Lee I was just fixing the pipes," he quickly scrambled to pick up the papers and shot a dirty look at Baekhyun in the process.

"We need to move them now, rumor spread that cops are planning to pay us a visit at a later date," Lee said calmly. Siwon shot up and looked at him then looked at the rows of cells. Before he could speak, Soo Min demanded that all would be moved to the west wing underground. Both Siwon and Baekhyun knew he was asking for the impossible. To move anyone anywhere is already proven to be a difficult task, to move almost a hundred at once in a certain amount of time is merely impossible.

"Just how are we going to do that sir?" Siwon asked without trying to sound rude.

"Simple, kill the ones that serve no purpose to our studies and throw the bodies in the burner, then take the ones who are important to the west wing. We only have a couple of hours so I suggest you get going." He handed him a gun and turned to face Baekhyun. He squatted to be face to face with him, "Make sure he makes it to the west wing, he is our main asset."

⧫⧫⧫

The gunshots still rang in Baekhyun's ears, but he could do nothing about it. He wore a full-body chain, a muzzle, a blindfold, and a collar. He couldn't cover his ears let alone walk properly. There was a line of half-dead inmates trying to get into the west wing but Baekhyun got in first due to his importance to Mr. Lee Soo Min.

His cell was small and damp, the ground was uneven with cracks in the cement. He was stripped of his body chain but wasn't given any when he went into his cell. He paced back and forth rethinking his plans, as they were all ruined by the sudden changes. He was in an unfamiliar place and didn't know how to get in or out of the building.

He put his back against the wall and slid down to sit on the uneven floor. This day had the worst timing possible. This had never happened in his life as he grew up here, in his cell. He never had a real room or real food or a real friend that he didn't have to kill. Baekhyun picked at the ground as it was easy to pick up bits of cement. He closed his eyes and thought about what the real world looked like. It couldn't be as bad as this dump, could it?

Baekhyun stopped picking at the ground and held a bit of cement in his hands. He opened his eyes and examined the piece, still deep in thought. It was almost as if the universe was telling him he was never gonna leave this place. He looked at his fingernails, they turned black and brown. He looked down at the small crack. Dirt. His eyes examined all the cracks in the floor, there was dirt and moss growing out of them. He started ripping more and more chunks out of his cell.

The dirt was a little moist but the more you dug into it, it turned out to be dry. It was a good sign, a sign that he wasn't too far underground. He guessed the universe was on his side after all. Since he didn't have a collar he could shift to make it a lot easier for him, he got up and stuck his face in between the bars. There were doctors with inmates outside of the building assigning where everyone would go. Since everyone was too preoccupied he took his chance. Baekhyun shifted as he was turning back to the hole he made and started the dig under the wall.

There was no turning back now, the hole was way too big to be covered if someone was coming. Baekhyun's heart was racing; it was only a couple of minutes of digging but it felt like hours. He could only get his upper body into the hole. He heard voices from a distance, but he kept calm and picked up the pace.

More minutes passed and Baekhyun was beginning to suffocate, he was now completely inside the hole surpassing the wall. Dirt was in his eyes, nose, and his throat but he never slowed down for the thought of being free kept him going. He tried to muffle his coughs but he basically buried himself alive with no air. He was digging upward now praying that he would surface eventually, but he hadn't found it yet. The amount of dirt he ate was more than he'd eaten in a week with actual food.

Even with the dirt in his nose, he could smell the fresh air. He pushed his head up and pushed dirt out with his paws and eventually pulled himself out. Dirt was lodged in his throat but couldn't cough it up. He looked around, everything was pitch black but Baekhyun could see he was in a Forest with his keen vision.

Baekhyun couldn't stay long, but he didn't know where to go. He cleared his nose of dirt and stuck it in the air waiting to catch a scent of something. He quickly caught something, meat. Baekhyun cautiously walked around the building looking for signs of danger but everyone was so busy moving inmates it was clear. He ran to the front of the mansion and saw a single dirt road where he smelled food and ran for it.

He was worn out from digging but nonetheless ran as fast as his legs could carry him. The scent was only a mile away and figured he could stop once he got there, but the temperature started to drop. The air was already thin and Baekhyun was having trouble breathing. He had a feeling he wasn't going to make it. He coughed as he ran and started to slow until he heard sirens blaring. He saw red and blue lights in the distance, he had gotten out of there just in time.

Chapter Text

It was 5 am, 3 days after the incident and Baekhyun was nowhere to be seen. In another territory, Chanyeol had just woken up from his 4 hours of sleep in his king-sized bed. The sun peeked through the curtains and landed directly on Chanyeol's face. In protest he turned his back, not wanting to accept that morning had arrived.

After a couple of minutes, he eventually got up knowing he couldn't go back to sleep. With his hair sticking out in every way possible he headed to the kitchen. There he found Xiumin and Kyungsoo, both looking like they never went to bed. Not a hint of sleepiness was on them as they sipped their morning beverages.

"Morning Chanyeol," Xiumin said, taking a sip of his coffee. Chanyeol only waved him off and groaned. He opened the fridge and looked around, nothing seemed to appeal to him or his taste buds.

"Are you patrolling this morning?" Kyungsoo looked at Chanyeol's back who was still in the fridge waiting for an answer.

"No, too tired from last night's shenanigans," Chanyeol said, grabbing a strawberry smoothie. Three lone wolves decided to wander into Chanyeol's territory, planning to take one of their mates, which were nonexistent. No one had a mate except Suho, but that relationship ended a long time ago. She left him for another man but later went missing due to the lack of protection for omegas.
Things never really got better for omega's for years to come, they always seemed to end up in the wrong hands, like the ones he had to fight off last night.

Chanyeol was a big believer in protecting omega's, whether he knew them or not. He made a statement that any omega that stepped into his territory was under his protection. After that Chanyeol was known to take in omegas, he used to let them in his home but now allows them to stay in rented bungalows, a side business of his. He let them stay there until they could get back on their feet and protect themselves. The bungalows were located near his other house, where the rest of his members lived. Lay, Tao, Kris, Luhan, and Chen.

The pack was separated due to the size of the pack being too big. But it had its benefits. Chanyeol had the biggest territory in the area and some would say in the world. To make sure he could keep the land and keep everyone safe, he protects the West side of the territory while Kris protected the Eastside. Chanyeol is the alpha of the pack but shares it with Kris since he can't always be at the east side with him. Chanyeol lives with Xiumin, Sehun, Kai, Kyungsoo, and Suho. Even though more members lived in the house he was left by himself to fight off the wolves for himself.

"Sorry about last night; didn't hear what happened until after you fought them off," Xuimin shrugged, making Chanyeol scowl at him.

"You didn't even check to see if I was ok!" Kyungsoo decided to leave to stay out of the drama, but Xiumin sighed and got up as well.

"Look Chanyeol, it was late at night and you're a skilled fighter, we know you've fought worse." He put on his jacket and a beanie and looked at Chanyeol as he opened the door.

"Looks like they didn't even leave a mark on you."

"Where are you going?" He chugged the smoothie down while watching Xuimin get ready.

"I got a job at the border," Xuimin slammed the door shut and walked off. Just as the door slammed Sehun appeared from his room, looking the same as Chanyeol.

"When did he get a job at the border?" He continued the conversation with Sehun even though he wasn't there for it.

Sehun shrugged, "Last week," he walked to the fridge and started moving things around. The border was a place where all territories came together to sell goods and find jobs as humans. It was for people who didn't want to always live their lives as wolves, it was like a small society of humans or more like wolves that wanted to be human. There were small neighborhoods and office buildings, small markets that sold fresh meat for people that needed to feed their wolf.

You couldn't just stop being a wolf, it was another half of you. When it got hungry you had to hunt to feed it. You still had urges as a human to hunt or to find a mate.

Sehun shot up and slammed the fridge. He looked at Chanyeol, he looked down at his glass, and back up at him. Chanyeol sighed and promised to buy him the ingredients later that day when he was free. Sehun only glared at him and dragged himself back to his room, leaving Chanyeol alone in the kitchen.

Chanyeol had to go places along with Xuimin, he had to go to the east side of the territory to see the others. Apparently, they had found an abandoned omega and it was Chanyeol's job to get the omega their own bungalow. He looked at the time and realized he should probably get ready, he wore something more casual, not wanting to make anyone feel uncomfortable. He brushed his mess of head and put on some masking cologne. It wasn't actually cologne but a product to mask an alpha's strong scent. It never lasts long but Chanyeol always made sure to put it on when meeting an omega.

⧫⧫⧫

Chanyeol never really used a car but if he was going to take an omega, he would much rather them sit in a car than walk. He already regretted taking a car, it had been snowing heavily for the past three days. Even knowing that it had been snowing prior to the visit he didn't even bother to at least shovel the snow in the driveway.

After a couple of hours, he had made it to the east side of his territory. He wrapped his jacket around him as he opened the car door. Just walking to the porch was a struggle, as he walked up the steps and slipped on the last step. He flailed his arms and grabbed the railing to keep him from falling. The railing, as you guessed it, was as cold as ice and his hand stuck to the rail.

He yelped in pain, but he eventually stood up straight. He had to pry his hand from the rail which was a stinging and numbing pain. He got up the stairs holding his hand closer to him, hoping no one had just witnessed what happened. He knocked on the door and anxiously waited to come into the warmth.

Finally, he heard the door being unlocked and a red-headed Luhan appeared behind it. He gave a warm smile and opened the door wider for Chanyeol to come in.

"Glad you made it, she's over here." Luhan quickly walked in front of him for Chanyeol to follow. Luhan was basically the caretaker in this household, he was an omega too, which also helped to make other omegas feel comfortable. He opened the door and in the small room lay a small girl who looked like she was in her early 20s. It was common to see such young omegas in this state as they were the preferred prey for alphas. She sat with her knees to her chest and a blanket was wrapped around her.

"Sana, this is Chanyeol, the one I mentioned earlier, he's going to help you get somewhere safe and to help you get back on your feet." Luhan sat at the edge of the bed and Chanyeol quickly bowed to her. She had a dazed look on her face as if she didn't know where she was. Luhan urged her to come with Chanyeol to go to one of the bungalows, but of course, she was hesitant.

"Sana," Chanyeol started, "you don't have to worry about what's going to happen next, there's a bungalow a couple of hours away from here. There will be another omega with you at the bungalow and she is a very caring person." Sana looked at Chanyeol and smiled, which made him do the same.

"What's that?" Sana said almost in a whisper.

"What's what?"

"A bungalow?" She tilted her head waiting for an answer. Chanyeol couldn't help but chuckle at her cuteness and so did Luhan.

"It's a small house that you can rent to live in temporarily but you can stay there as long as you need." She gave another smile at both of them. Sana got up and walked slowly to Chanyeol, to which he stepped back and opened the door for her.

Luhan gave her his jacket and gloves while Chanyeol made small talk to the others who popped their heads out of their doors. Kris and Tao both knew to keep their distance as they were both alphas but said their hellos and goodbyes to the omega.

Chanyeol quickly turned on the heat when he started the car and Sana curled herself into another ball, covering herself with Luhan's jacket. Most of the car ride was silent as Chanyeol didn't feel like it was his position to ask how she got in this position. To be honest, Chanyeol almost never asked omegas about their past as he only wants to focus on the present, getting them to safety.

"I knew this day would come," she stated, still looking out the window. Chanyeol glanced at her but didn't say anything.

"Just like in the dream I had. Someone would come to save me and take me away to a paradise where I can marry and raise young, grow old, and live out the rest of my days." She looked at Chanyeol, almost as if she was admiring him.

"That was in a dream of yours?"

"Yes, I had this dream a long time ago when I was first taken. An angel told me to be patient as good things would come in the future."

It almost made Chanyeol tear up, to find omegas that still had hope and innocence like Sana was very rare. It's what made Chanyeol keep going, the feeling of accomplishment of saving their lives made it all worth it. Chanyeol couldn't find the words to say to her but gave her yet another gentle smile.

A couple of hours later they arrived at the bungalows that were all covered in snow. He drove around the makeshift neighborhood and found the house she would be living in. They both hopped out and quickly walked to the front door. It only took a few seconds for the door to open.

"Come in, come in," a short lady spread her arms out pulling Sana into a hug as if she was receiving her lost child. Chanyeol stood at the doorway watching Sana getting comfortable on the couch.

"Come in Chanyeol it's freezing."

"I can't Jeongyeon, I got other things to do," He paused and took another glance at her, "take care of her alright?" Jeongyeon smiled and gave him a reassuring nod.

They parted ways and Chanyeol was on the road again, by then the sun was already setting and a storm was coming. He still needed to go to the border and get ingredients for Sehun. He thought about it, it was close to him and he only needed a few things. He took a sharp turn and headed to the border.

The store was beginning to close and people covering their stuff to protect their stands from the storms, but he managed to get most of the ingredients. He offered to pay extra for the inconvenience of having them unpack their things out of their carts, but they declined quickly as they knew who he was. Finally, after a few minutes of last-minute shopping, he headed back to his car. He brushed the snow off and sat in his car for a bit before driving.

Eventually, he headed home because the street lights had turned off and everyone left to go home. As he was driving he slowly found himself in the head of the storm, he silently cursed to himself as he should have never taken Sehun's smoothie. He leaned forward and squinted trying to see the small dirt road ahead of him. He surpassed the border and reached his territory where the snowstorm was dying down.

He looked around and saw familiar places, indicating he was almost home. Chanyeol looked in his rearview mirror, he took a double-take. He stopped the car for a second, he thought he saw something fall in the distance. It looked like a wolf but thought it was just the storm messing with him. He slowly started driving again but wasn't sure what he saw. It was probably nothing. He kept driving, flicking on his windshield wipers. The rogues! He stopped the car again and looked around. He groaned putting the car in reverse and backed it up until he was in the area he saw it.

He looked around the terrain, nothing. He looked out the back window, he squinted hard. He saw something but couldn't tell what it was. He took a deep breath and hopped out of the car, a wave of regret came over him but he kept walking. It looked like a log from a distance, but the more he got closer to it, the more he saw. It had legs and a snout, it was a wolf. It was half-buried in the snow as if it had been there for a while.

He didn't want to deal with a dead wolf but he had to make sure it was. He kneeled in the snow and slowly put his hand on its chest. Nothing. He put his head on its chest and listened closely. He felt its chest slowly rise and fall. It was alive. 

Chapter Text

"So does anyone know where Chanyeol is?" Xiumin said looking around the living room. Xiumin made it home a couple of hours before Chanyeol and started to think he was on late-night patrols again. Suho came out of the laundry room and stood with Xiumin holding a bag of unfolded clothes.

"I didn't even he left so I don't know." Suho walked into his room and looked at the empty bed.

"He left this morning an hour after Xiunim left," Sehun came out of his room still looking the same as he did that morning. Suho looked at the time, starting to get anxious with the snowstorm still going on and lone wolves still on the loose. Suho started to do a headcount, worried that someone else was in the storm along with him.

"Where's Kai?" He walked down the hall where everyone's rooms were and knocked on his door. He waited impatiently for Kai to answer. Suho knocked again and eventually called out his name. There was shuffling inside and finally heard footsteps coming to the door.

"What is it now Suho?"

"Do you know where Chanyeol is?" He watched as Kai scratched his head, trying to process what he asked. Suho was patient as it was midnight and Kai was quite the heavy sleeper. He shook his head and stepped out of his room looking at everyone in the living room.

"Why is everyone up?" He rubbed his eyes and sat on the couch with Kyungsoo who quietly sat down without being noticed a little bit ago. Suho sighed in relief knowing that everyone was here, but still waited on Chanyeol.

"It's not that unusual for him to be out this late. I'm sure he was just patrolling later because of the rogues," Kyungsoo looked up at Suho to reassure him that Chanyeol was fine.

"Okay but really, during a snowstorm at midnight? Why didn't he wait for it to pass or do it the next day?" Everyone was silent leaving Suho flopped down on the couch with Kai and Kyungsoo. Everyone sat in the dimly lit room with only the wind outside making noise.

Minutes passed and everyone wanted to go to bed. Suho said he'd wait alone but they insisted on staying. Kai eventually grabbed the remote and turned on the tv. Due to the time, Adult cartoons were the only thing on, but Kai was too lazy to change it. Sehun stood behind the couch hearing the wind pick up.

"The storm is getting worse." He walked to the window and looked at the snow blowing over everything in sight.

It was almost 1 am and by then Kyungsoo and Kai fell asleep on the couch. Xiumin fell asleep in the chair next to the couch. Suho tapped his foot anxiously trying his best not to join the rest of them. Sehun was intrigued with the cartoon, he was already six episodes in. There was a small knock outside. Sehun thought it was the tv. Suho was too tired to register what it was. Then there were more, he looked at the door. He tapped on Suho's shoulder pointing at the door. Suho followed his finger.

The small knocks turned into constant banging, someone was desperately trying to get in, Everyone shot except for Kai. Suho sprang to the door and unlatched the locks.

"Where the hell-" Suho flung the door open but a gush of snow blew in his face. Chanyeol ran inside covered head to toe in snow. Chanyeol talked to himself, cursing to himself. He held the wolf over his shoulders who was also covered in snow.

"Oh my god, what are you doing?" Xiumin said getting out of the chair and knocking it over. Chanyeol looked completely frozen but shouted out orders as to what to do. Suho ran to draw a hot bath in Chanyeol's room. Sehun ran to the laundry room to get blankets and towels. Xiumin went to get a first aid kit. Nobody questioned the situation and just did as they were told, the omega was practically frozen and barely breathing.

Suho had practiced to be a doctor but work was too far away and had to quit. He turned the water too hot and yelled at Sehun to get the towels and lay them down. Chanyeol still held the dying omega, he took him off his shoulders and carried him in bridal style with his legs folded on his stomach. He wiped the snow off both of them making the floor wet.

Finally, everything was set and Suho called Chanyeol to set him in the water.

"Gently," He said, grabbing the lower half of the omega and placing it in the water. The omega didn't move, he didn't even flinch at the sudden temperature change. He was fully submerged in the water, but Chanyeol held its head to keep it from going under. Suho crawled to the front of the omega and examined it. He opened his eyes to see that they were dilated and red. He looked in his mouth only to make him gag with the rotten smell of meat. He looked inside his nose.

"We need to unclog its airway, that's why it can't breathe well," he snapped at Xiumin to hand him the first aid. He unzipped the bag and searched through it, looking for anything to help. He found long tweezers and asked someone for a flashlight. Sehun pulled out his phone and handed it to Suho, to which he handed it to Xuimin to hold. Sehun was too big to fit in the small space, Chanyeol was still holding the head while Suho examined it and Xuinmin was now assigned to flashlight holding.

Suho gently grabbed its snout and adjusted Xuimin's hand. He stuck the long tweezers inside one of the nostrils feeling for large objects trapped inside. He caught something, it was hard and was probably the main cause of the omega's little breathing.

"This is gonna be nasty," He announced as everyone prepared to be disgusted. The tweezers went deeper and deeper making Sehun gag. Suho couldn't completely get a hold of the object but started carefully pulling it out.

"It's really stuck in there," Suho commented but the rest of them wish he didn't comment on such gross things. The more he pulled the more it started to loosen, but the omega started to move.

"Look!" Chanyeol looked through the dirty water to see the omega kicking its back legs in discomfort. Suho pulled more and it was almost out but they had a problem on their hands. The omega tried to pull away from Suho subconsciously. Water started to spill and get all over the towels. Sehun hesitantly went to hold it down when Suho demanded. He didn't want to stick his hands in the filthy water or get scratched up by flying legs.

The omega began to choke as he pulled it out, Suho gave up on being gentle and used his strength. With one big pull, mucus, dirt, pebbles, and maggots feeding on rotten flesh came from its throat and out of its small nose. Chanyeol and Sehun tried to hold it still, but mud water got into Chanyeol's eyes making him let go. Sehun let go as well as the omega whipped its head toward him, which he thought was going to bite him. Kyungsoo stood at the doorway watching the whole thing unfold.

The omega tried to stand but failed as it was too weak. All it did was throw its head around and fling its legs everywhere. Chanyeol sat back up and grabbed the scruff of its neck and held him in place.

"Holy shit," Chanyeol said, catching his breath. He looked at the others and they had the same look as he did. They saved omega's but never really had to do anything like this. They only predicted it was an omega but it had a very weak scent, they also didn't bother to see if it was a female or not. They all looked at the mess it made but was relieved it was over.

"Chanyeol!" Kyungsoo pointed at the omega. He whipped his head around but before he knew it the omega threw up all over his arm. He yelled in disgust. Although it was gross it made the others laugh. Sehun, Chanyeol, Suho, and Xiumin were covered in all sorts of gross fluids. This was one of the worst cases they've had to deal with.

The omega never stopped throwing up, it threw up stomach acid into the tub. Suho frowned knowing exactly what was happening.

"It needs fluids."

"What even is it?" Xiumin commented.

"I don't we'll figure that out later, we need a tube."

⧫⧫⧫

They all decided he would rest in the guest room near Chanyeol's and Kai's room. After drying everything off they set him on the bed, wrapping him in towels and blankets. Suho got a tube and feed it down his throat, giving him water through it for a little bit.

It was about 3 am and everyone was worn out but decided to take turns checking up on the omega. Suho exempted Chanyeol from being part of the rotation as he still needed to shower and take care of himself since he was in the snow for hours. Chanyeol agreed but only if he could take a shower somewhere else as his bathroom was ruined.

"So, it's a male but is it an omega?" Kai stood at the edge of the bed looking at the sleeping wolf. Sehun stood next to him and wondered the same thing. He folded his arms and sighed.

"It doesn't even have a scent," Sehun added.

"Do you think it could be an omega?"

"It's pretty big to call it an omega, I'd say a beta." Sehun looked at Kai waiting to hear his response. Kai only frowned, he started to walk closer to it.

"What are you doing?"

"I want to see if it has a scent." Sehun chuckled at Kai's actions.

"Leave him alone he probably doesn't have a scent because of his low body temperature," Suho came through the door with Kyungsoo with more blankets to wrap around him. Kai backed away in embarrassment and walked over to Sehun at the edge of the bed.

"Why is he still a wolf though?" Kyungsoo asked quietly to Suho. Suho only shrugged and watched him as he slept. He noticed that he was wheezing as he breathed which concerned him.

"We should get a doctor here, get them to do a full check-up on him," Suho announced, to which they all agreed. 

Chapter Text

Chanyeol was the first one to wake up without an ounce of sleep, he hauled himself out of bed to check on the omega. He quietly opened the door to see the small wolf buried in blankets in the middle of the bed. He walked over to him and he too could hear the small wheezing coming from him. He really felt bad for the omega, still not knowing what happened to him; he could only imagine the worst. He noticed a vomit bucket next to the bed along with the water and tube. It must have been a long night for them.

After checking on him he decided to go on patrol as many things have been popping up in his territory lately. He looked out the window to see what the storm had done last night. Everything was at least covered in at least 12 inches of snow, but thankfully the storm had stopped. He stepped out of the room and decided to get dressed before going out.

Once he stepped outside, his body morphed into that of a wolf. Figured it'd be better to combat the cold than jackets. Chanyeol also stood quite tall as a wolf. He towered over many wolves as his size wasn't common. With his abnormal height, he had many advantages in combat. He was the pack's best fighter along with Sehun and Kai. It was a deadly trio as they all worked very well together. All of them did well in fighting but mostly Kyungsoo didn't fight, since he was an omega, and Suho because he didn't like to hurt others but they did if they needed to.

Chanyeol walked up a hill of snow and looked at the terrain below him. He scanned for anything out of the ordinary. The snow put a white glare on the landscape but he managed. He saw in the distance a herd of elk eating bark off dead trees. He didn't know whether to hunt for their guest or not. It didn't seem like he could eat solids but it wouldn't hurt to bring food home just in case.

He slid down the hill and headed for the herd, scouting out the area and looking for a certain one to pick off from the herd. He didn't want to go too big just enough to feed a starving omega. There were no young in the herd as it was the middle of winter so choices were limited. He was now only a couple of yards away from them, crouched down in the snow. He watched them peacefully eating in the snow. He had found a target, an elk had laid down in the snow while the rest ate. He smelled the air, he smelled a black sheep; the one lying down was sick.

If he got close enough to it he could catch it before it got up. He slowly inched towards it, the snow helped him stay quiet, no branches or rocks could jeopardize the hunt. He was in an open field and the elk stood at the border of the forest, which could make this hunt harder than it had to be. He kept on going hoping it wouldn't come to a chase. The elk laid its head down and closed its eyes and Chanyeol went for it.

He got close enough to where he didn't have to run far. With a loud bellow from the herd, they hurried off in a panic. Chanyeol pierced the flesh of the elk's neck, it made an annoying loud scream. It tried to get up but he kept its neck down, it only could get its back legs up. Chanyeol bit harder down, his teeth slowly sinking deeper into its throat, blood seeping into the snow.

The elk was sick but it was still pretty strong; Chanyeol wasn't doing too bad on his own. He thrashed his head around making its legs give out. He placed his paw on its lower neck and made a deep gash all the way across it to speed up the process. He tore up its flesh and the elk was losing its strength. Eventually, it slowly died.

Now he had to get the elk back to the house, usually, he had help with the others but now he was on his own-or so he thought. Chanyeol finally let go of the elk's neck and looked back at the hill of snow. Suho stood as a wolf at the top, watching him. He started to trot down the hill in his direction mostly likely coming to talk about the wolf.

"Chanyeol I called the doctor and he just arrived at the house, I thought you should know as soon as possible."  Suho waited for him to shift out of his wolf so he could look at him as blood covered his entire snout.

"Good, I caught this in case he could eat," He paused for a second. "Uh, do you mind?" Chanyeol said looking over at the elk. Suho sighed and grabbed its neck while Chanyeol grabbed its leg. They dragged it around the hill and into their gated front yard. They placed it in a cage they kept for storing meat next to a woodpile. 

The group huddled around the closed door waiting for it to be opened.

"Why is the door closed?" Chanyeol looked at one of them for an answer.

"He said he was going to take his temperature," Xiumin spoke up.

"So"

"The thermometer goes in your ass, he wanted to give him privacy." Chanyeol closed his mouth and kept silent and waited along with them. Suho went over and shooed them to the living room to wait there. They all squeezed on the couch and listened to the doctor shuffle through his things.

"So is he gonna go into a bungalow once he's better?" Sehun looked over at Chanyeol to which they all did.

"I don't know yet, they're all getting pretty full. Everyone's on a winter vacay along with Omega's tryna survive this winter." Chanyeol went to his room to look at the paperwork for who lived where seeing if there were any open slots left. He flipped through pages to see all of them taken up and all planned to stay for the winter. Before he could announce that their guest might be staying longer than anticipated, the doctor opened the door.

Chanyeol threw the clipboard on the bed and walked into the living room. Suho stood up from the couch while the others just turned their heads.

"Well, this little guy's got a lot of problems on his hands." The doctor scratched his head and looked at his own clipboard.

"He's got a case of pneumonia, which has gotten pretty bad but I have the medicine for him in my bag." Everyone nodded, listening to him talk about treatment plans for one of his conditions.

"But he also has food poisoning in his system, which explains the constant vomiting," the doctor added.

"We need to get him on some liquids as he hasn't eaten in days. Give him lots of water and some soups, water-based foods." Suho began writing down what he suggested he should eat and how to prepare certain things. Chanyeol's plan of feeding him meat kind of went out the window but it didn't really matter now.

The doctor reached into his bag from his car and grabbed all kinds of things for the little omega, still sleeping in the guest room. He pulled out what looked like a humidifier with a tube hanging out of it. It had an oxygen mask attached to the end of the tube, It was specifically built to be put on wolves.

"Alright," he started, still pulling out more things, "This is for his lungs, you put this over his snout and turn it on." Chanyeol and Suho walked over to him to get a feel of how it worked.

"You put the medicine inside the container here and wait for the smoke to come out of the mask, then you immediately put it on him and let him rest after that."

"Is there a certain time to do this?" Suho asked.

"Mornings and before bed, and probably give him food and water before the ventilator as these can last at least an hour."

After a couple of minutes of explaining with other medications, the doctor wished them good luck and left. With a huff, Suho was already at work organizing all of the omegas gadgets. Kyungsoo suggested he should write a schedule for everyone to follow, which made Sehun and Kai groan.

Chanyeol stepped inside the omegas room with the ventilator in hand. The sun had gone down and Chanyeol decided to do it now than in the morning. Suho had already fed him so he figured he should do it before everyone went to bed. He poured the medicine carefully into the small hole at the top. Soon enough he attracted a crowd, everyone stood at the door and watched him. He plugged it in and waited for the smoke to come out.

"How long did he say we had to do this?" Xiumin looked over to Suho expecting him to know.

"2 to 3 weeks," Chanyeol said, making Xiumin look back at him. The smoke started to slowly fall out of the mask and Chanyeol lifted the omega's head slightly to put it over his snout. He put the straps behind his ears, they looked rough but they were actually quite soft. His fur was a little matted and stuck out everywhere. Chanyeol put his head back down and looked at its thin body again. He saw the omega take a deep breath and Chanyeol smiled, he brushed his hand against its fur.

"Well, I guess we leave him be and head to bed," Chanyeol said getting up from the bed. He rubbed his hands together as the omega was still pretty dirty. Kai yawned and quickly headed off along with the others.

⧫⧫⧫

Choi Siwon headed inside the elevator and pressed the button. He watched the numbers slowly change with each floor. He tapped on his clipboard, waiting nervously. Floor 5, the doors opened and a man younger than him stepped inside and flashed him a smile.

"Doctor Siwon."

"Lee Joo-Heon, long time no see." Siwon didn't look at him which only made Jooheon hum in response. It was silent mostly after that but it was short-lived as Jooheon couldn't bear the silence.

"I heard the news Siwon, is it really true?" He put his hands behind his back, waiting for the expected answer from him.

"That doesn't concern you." He laughed as he was correct. He walked closer to him wanting to be annoying.

"Wow, never thought you would be so careless. How do you let something so important slip through your fingers."

You're quite careless tonight doctor Choi. He gripped his clipboard tighter trying to keep his composer, which didn't go unnoticed by Jooheon.

"Damn, you're pretty bad at your job. You messed up the party and then you lose the boss man's most prized possession," he thought about that night for a bit wishing he could have been there.

"I had nothing to do with the party. It was a simple miscommunication, now please, shut up." He finally looked him in the eye irritated with his presence.

"Are you going to see him right now?" he put his fist to his mouth and his eyes widened, "Oh man it was good knowing you."

He rolled his eyes but deep down he knew he was in deep shit.

"Jeez man, you've been working for years at this place. I'm gonna miss teasing you."

"I'm sure we can get him back, he's never been in the outside world, he probably couldn't handle it."

Jooheon only shrugged, "You taught him how to survive anything thrown at him, he's a killing machine. Put him into the unknown and I think he'd do just fine. But hey I don't give a fuck about him anyway."

The Elevator stopped as they made it to the first floor. Siwon took a deep breath and looked out into the hall. Jooheon slapped him on the back, pushing him out. He pressed the button and waved as the doors closed.

Siwon adjusted his jacket and walked to the end of the hall, with every step he thought his legs were going to give out. It had only been three days but it felt like only hours ago. After dealing with cops for hours on end he was now faced with the biggest problem at hand. The large door read his boss's name and he gave it three small knocks.

"Come in."

"Mister Lee Soo Min," he opened the door to see the back of his head. Once Soomin heard his voice he turned around, which made Siwon take a step back. He stood with a glass of whiskey in one hand and a gun in the other.

Chapter Text

It took a week for everyone to adjust to Suho’s schedule. Kyungsoo and Suho did morning medication and tube feeding. Kai and Sehun did afternoon feeding and Xiumin and Chanyeol did nighttime medication and feeding. The omega was still unconscious after the incident in the bathroom, his body quickly healing. 

They never expected this process to go this fast but he was making a good recovery. The only thing that was slow to get better was his pneumonia. They put him on the ventilator twice a day which was Suho’s and Kyungsoo's job in the morning, and Xiumin and Chanyeol’s job at night.  

Kai and Sehun took the easiest job, they only had to give him two pills for his food poisoning. They both would beg to differ when it came to that job. Having to force the pills down his throat was not an easy task, for the omega would gag and spit it up. They also get nervous when the omega opens its eyes, even though it would simply close them again. 

“I’m telling you, every time he opens his eyes I think he’s going to attack me.” Kai plopped on the swivel chair and rested his arms over the kitchen island. Suho only rolled his eyes behind Kai’s back, while cooking everyone some lunch.

“Kai, he barely has the strength to lift his head up, the medicine makes him drowsy.” Suho flipped the lightly toasted sandwiches, raw side down. Sehun protested as he heard the conversation from his room.

“It’s still not an easy job, he keeps throwing it up, and by then the pills are ruined.” Sehun looked over his shoulder to see what he was making. Suho removed the sandwiches and took the pan off the burner, he turned around with it almost hitting Sehun. He jumped back, while Suho calmly put it in the sink and rinsed it out.

“You two are doing fine, just have to keep it up for another week.” Suho set the plate of sandwiches in front of them and wiped his hands on a cooking rag. The food made them forget that they had to do it for another whole week as they shoved the hot food in their mouths.

The smell brought attention to the other members of the house and drew them to the kitchen. It was Saturday and everyone was off from work, so they all took their time enjoying the food. The smell of food also brought attention to the omega. He was still asleep but his nose twitched as the smell of bacon came into the room. 

He vaguely remembered what happened, all Baekyhun could remember was being in a small town. He followed the smell to a trash can outside of an apartment building, he engulfed the food despite the sour taste. After that, he couldn’t remember where he went. Come to think of it, Baekhyun didn’t know where he was now. 

That feeling slowly sunk in, thinking about the night of his escape, he could only remember rummaging through trash. He tried to open his eyes but they felt like bricks. He tossed in the bed, trying to get himself to wake up. He eventually stopped and listened to what was happening around him to get a clue as to where he was. 

He was laying on something soft, he heard voices from a distance. It almost seemed like he was back in his cell, he heard laughing as he would from his neighboring cells. He tried once again to open his eyes, he saw glimpses of a window that was covered by red curtains and a nightstand near the bed. 

He figured he needed to do something that would jolt him awake but he didn’t want to be noticed by strangers outside. He realized he was up high. He thought about just falling off the bed but he knew he couldn’t catch himself in time. Still, he crawled to the side of the bed and threw his face over the edge. He saw a bucket of water and tubes lying next to it. Baekhyun blinked rapidly to keep his eyes open but the more he looked at the water the more he realized how much he needed to pee.

Baekhyun kept moving around to keep him from falling back asleep, which was working pretty well. He turned and laid on his back, putting his paws folded in front of him. He could open his eyes to see the blank ceiling. With laying on his back his chest felt heavy and had a stronger urge to cough. 

He shook his head, he had to get off the bed. If he just rolled to his left he would land on his legs, that is if they don’t give out on him. Baekhyun still heard talking from the other room and took a deep breath before going. With one swift motion, he fell off the bed. His back leg gave out on him but the front of his body pushed himself up with momentum. 

Chanyeol heard a faint noise from the guest room but couldn't tell what it was. Chanyeol had lately noticed the omega getting more antsy, so it was a possibility. He was becoming more active but still didn’t wake up.

Baekhyun got to his feet but stumbled from days of inactivity. He looked at the closed door wondering where he was and how he was going to get out. He creeped around the bed and headed towards the window.  He moved the curtains with his snout and saw all the snow. Snow? Baekhyun looked at the bathroom door. He started to remember being in a snowstorm, walking endlessly. 

The bathroom door was partly open and he slowly walked up to it. There were multiple scents that he could start to smell, which the food was masking for a while. The place started to reek of alphas, which took that as a sign that he should get out of there. Baekhyun wasn't sure if he should present himself as a human as he didn’t want to be seen. If he stayed a wolf he most likely wouldn't be recognized by them, whoever them might be.

On the other side of the door, the gang was cleaning up their messes in the kitchen. Suho and Chanyeol stood at the sink cleaning dishes.

“So, I know we have a week left before we can ease up on the medication but don’t you think we should start to talk to him?” Suho pulled up his gloves with his mouth.

Chanyeol nodded, “Yeah we should, see if he has anyone to reach out to, but the medicine makes him sleep all the time.”

“Well it’s been almost two hours since his last dose, maybe we could talk to him now.” They set the last of their dishes in the drying rack and decided to pay him a visit. But before they went inside Chanyeol decided to put on his masking cologne. It never bothered the omega when he entered the room, mostly because he was asleep all the time.

With a couple hundred spritz all over his body, suffocating himself in the process, he finally met Suho in the living room. Baekhyun meanwhile was trying to open the window in his human form. It was no use, as the window wasn’t meant for opening. He pressed his fingers and pushed to see if it would open-nothing. 

He let out a frustrated sigh and walked to the door. It was unlocked but looking through the keyhole he saw 4 to 5 dark figures huddled together. He crouched down to look through it again. At first, he saw nothing, he put his hand on the doorknob, eager to open it. 

Baekhyun looked a little longer. He began to turn the handle. Before he knew it two figures sprung into his field of vision. In a hurry, Baekhyun shifted and squeezed himself under the bed. The door opened and Baekhyun watched their feet step into the room. 

“He’s gone!” Suho shouted.

“He’s awake?!” Chanyeol looked around, not really believing he just woke up and left. Baekhyun watched as the two searched the bathroom and yelled to the others to come help. 

“The doors unlocked he could be anywhere.” Suho walked out of the room and looked down the hallway.

“He couldn’t have left the room, I never heard the door open.” Chanyeol stepped out of the bathroom and looked at the bed. Baekhyun watched his every step, he crawled closer to the edge of the bed. He looked at the open door, ready to run once he was caught. Chanyeol got on his knees and slowly removed the comforter to reveal the tiny omega crouched under it.

“There you ar- ” Baekhyun bolted out the door and through the hallway. It left Chanyeol to scramble to his feet, and Xiumin and Kyungsoo to jump out of his way.  Baekhyun made a wrong turn and headed down a hall, away from the front door. Chanyeol shifted into his wolf and chased after him. He didn’t know whether it was a good idea but he went with it anyway.

 Chanyeol was surprised at how fast he ran, especially when sick. Baekhyun on the other hand had no idea where he was going. This place never seemed to end, one hallway led to another, more dining areas and living rooms. 

Chanyeol chased Baekhyun to an empty seating area where they met Kai blocking the exit. Baekhyun skidded to a halt and so did Chanyeol. There was a door to the backyard, and Kai and Chanyeol stood between it. Kai didn't know whether to shift or not, he didn't know what to do in general. Baekhyun flattened his ears and showed his teeth, he didn't want to fight but he was now trapped by the alphas.

“Chanyeol,” Kai said nervously. Chanyeol shifted back into his human form and crouched to his level. Baekhyun switched between looking at them both waiting for one of them to strike. Chanyeol heard Baekhyun’s slight wheezing when he growled. 

“Hey, it’s alright we're not here to hurt you. We just found you unconscious in a snowstorm.” Chanyeol looked at Kai- they shouldn’t be the ones doing this, that was obvious. Suho or kyungsoo are supposed to be the ones to talk to omegas since they weren’t alphas. Chanyeol was trying to convince him that two alphas were just trying to help.

Kai still stood at the door, hoping the door to the backyard was locked. Kyungsoo pushed past him and walked to the growling omega. Both alphas had a sigh of relief when they saw him, as they both knew they weren’t going to calm him down anytime soon. Kyungsoo shifted into his wolf, which was an uncommon occurrence, and let out a strong scent in the room. 

To the alphas, it was suffocating but to Baekhyun it was calming. Kai felt his chest tightening as Kyungsoo walked past him to Baekhyun. Chanyeol just held his breath but didn’t want to make it known that the smell was bothering him. 

Baekhyun didn’t know what to do, the scent was non-threatening but it left him more confused than anything. There was an omega there but he was a stranger standing side by side with alphas. He stopped growling and stared at the door, he didn’t go through all this shit just to be back where he once was. He started to feel droopy and his legs felt as if they were going to give out on him.

“You're safe, don’t worry about the rest of them.” Baekhyun looked back at Kyungsoo, but before anything could happen Sehun burst through the door behind Chanyeol.

“Did you find him!” Chanyeol jumped at the sound of him yelling. Kai threw his hands up telling him to be quiet. Baekhyun took the opportunity to run to the door. Chanyeol's back was turned to Sehun. It took all his strength but he slid to his left to avoid Kai grabbing him. Chanyeol took matters into his own hands. Chanyeol was quick to grab him, he shifted just as Baekhyun reached the door, and bit the scruff of his neck. 

“Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo yelled and everyone watched in shock. Kai was actually impressed that Chanyeol actually caught him mid-sprint. Chanyeol knew he wasn’t supposed to but by then all hell broke loose. Baekhyun loudly snarled and growled at Chanyeol, he thrashed his head and scratched his chest trying to get out of his grip. 

Suho and Xiumin came running at what they thought was a fight. Chanyeol only held him there so he could tire himself out, which he knew he would soon. 

“What are you doing!” Suho yelled, watching as both of them flailed around. Chayeol made sure not to hurt him but it was getting difficult as he kept moving. Eventually, there was a loud cough and Baekhyun couldn’t continue. He panted out of breath and was dead weight to Chanyeol. Everyone watched as Chanyeol carefully scooped up the omega back to the guest room and placed him on the bed. 

⧫⧫⧫  

“What the hell were you thinking, you can’t  just grab an omega like that.” Suho folded his arms and glared at Chanyeol who sat at the edge of his bed, cleaning up the scratches.

“He was trying to get away, I just-” he ran his hands through his hair, trying to figure out what to say. 

“I didn’t want him to leave when he’s still sick, I saw the opportunity and took it.”

“You're an alpha Chanyeol, and now you left a bad impression.” Suho paced around the room with his eyebrow furrowed.

“I didn’t hurt him, I just held him still.”

“Chanyeol, you know exactly why I’m mad,” Suho walked up to Chanyeol. 

“We don’t know where he came from or what he’s gone through, you biting his neck and holding him there was very wrong Chanyeol,” Suho lowered his voice when he spoke. Chanyeol knew that in the moment but still did it anyway, he let his head drop, not knowing what to say.

Baekhyun was back in his room, fighting the urge to sleep. He wanted to find other ways to escape since it was nightfall. It would be a perfect time to leave, in the dead of night. The only problem was he was dead tired. He probably would be knocked out for the whole night. 

He thought about what happened earlier, he was confused as to why an omega stood with two alphas. He started to really question where he was. Another organization or another housing unit? He also thought about how the alpha didn’t actually hurt him, doing something as outrageous as attempting to escape, would result in plenty of new scars for him or for others, it would simply be death. He must of had some importance to this group to keep him alive.

 With a huff Baekhyun put his head down, too tired to think anymore. He figured he would try to wake himself up early in the morning and try then but once he closed his eyes, he was out cold. 

Chapter Text

Chanyeol had a pit in his stomach waking up to the omega’s uncontrollable coughs. They left him alone that night leaving him without his ventilator. Chanyeol felt the omegas' worsening condition was his doing. He was the first to wake to the sound. He knew he could help but the best thing for the wolf was to keep himself away from him. 

He laid there, listening to the unbearable muffled coughs. Silence followed after his coughing fit. It concerned Chanyeol even more. He threw the blankets off him and headed to Suho’s room, the least he could do was get someone else to help him. He walked by the omegas room and couldn’t help but stop. He put his ear to the door and listened. He heard the omegas breathing. With every breath, his lungs rattled, now and then followed by a cough. 

 The guilt came in waves as he walked past the omega to Suho’s room, giving it a small knock. He waited but no one answered. He cracked the door open to peek through. He was met with a neatly made bed and a sparkly clean room. Chanyeol started to question if it was a workday for him as well as Suho. 

He crept around to the kitchen, Sunday 3:34 am it read on the clock. He blankly stared into the abyss, too tired for this. He decided to go to the next room, Xiumin. A few small knocks and Chanyeol was surprised at how fast he answered. 

“You're up early.” Chanyeol shoved his hands in his sweats looking at a barely tired Xiumin.

“Yeah, our guest is a little loud.” Xiumin nodded his head towards the omega’s room.

“Well about that, I need you to get him on the ventilator.”

“What about Suho and Kyungsoo, they’re morning feeders.” Xiumin rested his hand on the door, not really up for the task.

“Suho’s gone. Where? I don’t know. And I found you first,” Chanyeol walked down the hall waiting for him to follow. Xiumin let out a small sigh and met him at the omega’s room. Chanyeol stuck his hands out, motioning to him to open the door.

“He’s probably asleep, you can do it yourself.”

“I already got in trouble with Suho and I don’t want to take any risks.” Chanyeol folded his arms and leaned on the wall. Xiumin rolled his eyes. He swung the door open, making Chanyeol shush him. The omega slept with his head lying off the side of the bed. 

Xiumin knelt by his side and looked for the tubes for the ventilator. He looked around; rummaging through the nightstand and ducking under the bed. 

“Chanyeol.” 

“What?”

“Where’s the mask?” They both tried to speak quietly across the room but their voices seemed to echo. Chanyeol peeked into the room scanning for the mask. 

“I don’t see it,” Chanyeol said. Xiumin looked at him, unimpressed.

“Get in here he’s not gonna wake up.” Chanyeol shushed him again and looked at the sleeping omega. He cautiously walked into the room and searched with him. He looked in the bathroom under the sink and even in the shower but it was nowhere to be seen. Chanyeol looked under the bed and Xiumin looked in the kitchen. The omega shifted uncomfortably.

Chanyeol lifted his head from the bed and spotted a clear plastic mask sticking out from under the omega. He face-planted on the bed, silently cursing to himself. He tried to wave down Xiumin but he was under the kitchen sink and didn’t notice. Chanyeol stared at the omega, trying to figure out a way to get it without disturbing him. 

He decided to face the omega and pull from the side. He looked for Xiumin but he moved on to look in Suho’s room. He quietly walked over and came face to face with him. He hovered his hand over the mask but quickly pulled away. He bit down on his knuckle, I should just get Xiumin. 

The omega made a slight wheeze followed by yet another cough.

  No, I can do this. 

He rolled up his sleeves to show his broad shoulders. He slowly grabbed the mask and stopped once he had a firm grasp.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” There was no going back now. He took a deep breath but exhaled away from Baekhyun’s face. He squinted his eyes and started to pull. He didn’t know why he got so sweaty, but he was and it didn’t help. Baekhyun didn’t move and Chanyeol proceeded to pull harder to get it over with.

The sickly wolf started to feel the slight movements but only twitched in response. 

Chanyeol almost passed out every time the omega breathed or shifted on the bed. 

The process of trying to receive the mask was pathetically slow and Chanyeol needed to get a move on. The mask had only moved an inch. Chanyeol held his breath, pulling harder and harder. 

Now only the mask was out and now he just needed to pull the tube connecting it. He figured it was easier since it was smooth enough to just slide out. Baekhyun still laid on his side, unaware of the situation Chanyeol was in. 

Chanyeol counted down. One swift movement and the tube would come out. He just needed to stay calm. He squeezed his hand on the tube.

One

Two 

Three

Chanyeol stopped mid-pull. A strange smell came into the room. He started to sniff the seemingly sweet air. It smelled of lavender with vanilla. Chanyeol could help but breathe it in.

The smell hit him in the face and left him dazed in it, not even realizing where it came from. He closed his eyes and let his arm drop on the bed. He wondered where this intoxicated smell was coming from, wanting more of it. He looked like an idiot sticking his nose in the air, smiling to himself.

There was a small noise that interrupted his little moment and turned his head to the door. Xiumin stood at the door in the doorway with a new set of pipes. A horrified look on his face.

“What?” Chanyeol began to come to his senses. He shook his head, feeling clueless. Chanyeol looked back at the omega.

Baekhyun was wide awake and staring down Chanyeol. He froze, almost shitting himself when their eyes met. They were right in each other’s faces. Chanyeol couldn’t believe how intimidating the omega was. His eyes were a sharp blue, piercing into Chanyeol’s soul.

He looked to the side of him. His arm rested on Baekhyun’s leg, near the mask. A low growl came from the depths of his chest, his ears laid back. His muscles twitched. 

Chanyeol nervously laughed, “Sorry.” 

Baekhyun lunged forward. Chanyeol threw himself back to avoid losing his nose. Baekhyun’s jaw snapped shut only centimeters away from Chanyeol. Xiumin covered his mouth watching Chanyeol’s near-death experience. Baekhyun stood on the bed and Chanyeol tried to make a break for the door. 

“I’m sorry! It was an accident, really!” He turned at the doorway and looked at the sick omega. The mask laid on the bed, free from Baekhyun’s body. 

Xiumin slammed the door, keeping his hands on the door in case Baekhyun wasn’t done with them yet. He lowered his head. Chanyeol turned to him and gave an apologetic smile. Xiumin walked away without a word but Chanyeol quickly followed.

“Don’t tell Suho about this, please.”

“Jeez, I don’t even know what to tell him.” Xiumin threw the set of tubes on the couch as they walked by.

“I was just trying to pull it out from under him.”

“With your eyes closed? With your nose up to the ceiling?” He turned around to face Chanyeol. Chanyeol looked to the floor. Xiumin was too far away to get a whiff of vanilla and lavender; making the story harder to explain. 

Xiumin made it back to his room, but Chanyeol grabbed his arm, “Just please don’t tell Suho, I was just trying to help.”

“Yeah, yeah. I won’t now let me sleep. it’s 4 in the morning.” He let go of his arm and watched him walk to his room and flop on the bed.

⧫⧫⧫

“Well, I’ll be damned. You’re alive.” Jooheon stood in the doorway of Siwon’s small dimly lit office. Siwon sat at his desk with papers scattered everywhere and even spread to the floor. Siwon was a mess and Jooheon couldn’t help but chuckle at him. 

“Jooheon,” He looked up from his documents, “come in.”

“I was surprised when you called me Doctor.” Jooheon stepped over his papers, swishing the tiny sucker around in his mouth. When he got close enough he could smell the stench. With Baekhyun’s escape, Siwon was a complete mess. 

“What do you need? Doctor.” Jooheon took a seat in the chair in front of the desk, watching him try to organize himself. Once he finished looking at the papers, he immediately turned his chair to look at his computer. He scrolled endlessly, examining documents and maps of certain territories. 

“Doctor?” Jooheon took the sucker out of his mouth and tilted his head to see the man hiding behind his computer.

“Oh right, you.” He cleared his throat and Jooheon flashed a fake smile.

“I need you to find subject 004.”

“What? Why?” Siwon held out a paper, which Jooheon hesitantly grabbed.

“What's this?”

“This is where he was last seen. The wolves we sent haven’t even found a lead since this was documented.” Siwon stood up and went over to some filing cabinets.

“Okay, but that's their job, not mine.”

“I know, but I’ve seen you in action. You're skilled in tracking and hunting.” He pulled out a manila folder and searched the contents inside of it.

Jooheon chuckled, “Have you looked through my file?”

“Yes. I need a more qualified subject to do this job, I’m running out of time.” He put the folder back inside and opened another drawer.

“Don’t call me that.”

 Siwon looked up from his folders, noticing his irritation. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not one of your little subjects.” Jooheon stood up from his chair, staring down at Siwon.

“Sorry, I just chose you because you're qualified for this and you know him personally,” Siwon added. Jooheon put the sucker back in his mouth, unamused.

“He’s got nothing to do with me?” He crossed his arms, waiting.

“But you and him-” Siwon started but couldn’t find the words.

“He is nothing to me, doctor, I was trusted by Soomin to take care of him.”

“But didn’t you-”

“Doctor.” Siwon looked away, the conversation was going nowhere. Baekhyun was still out there. Knowing Jooheon for so long, he quickly found a solution. Jooheon had enough of bringing up the past and tried to leave.

“Soomin wanted you.” Jooheon stopped on a dime. Siwon couldn’t help but smile.

“He wanted you for this job. He’s the one who thought you could finish the job.”

Jooheon kept his back to him, “Soomin assigned me to a job?”

“You and your buddies. You're the first person that came to his mind-”

I’m entering my forties, Siwon. I still have much to do, but 004 is the closest thing to my success. If you don’t find him, I’ll take away everything I gave you and leave you where I found you.

Siwon gulped in fear, Soomin’s words rang in his ears fearing the worst was yet to come. He impatiently waited for an answer. 

“When does he want me to start?”

“As soon as possible-”

“I’ll do it.”

Siwon let him walk out the door. He would have fallen to his knees if he wasn't holding onto the desk.

Jooheon went down a couple of floors and headed to a small hallway filled with smoke. He opened the door to find his roommates, getting high while watching TV.

“Ladies, we finally have an assignment.” He announced and they all turned their heads.

“We’re going out to fight?” Hyungwon leaned over the couch with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. 

“No, Doctor Siwon from the fourth floor.”

“Isn’t that the guy who lost one of your old playmates?” Shownu smirked, Jooheon ignored it.

“We’ve been sent to find him and bring him back ASAP.” They all looked at each other waiting to see if there were any objections.

“We’re going. Soomin’s orders.” Jooheon grabbed a jacket off the couch and walked out the door.

“Well shit, let's go.” Changkyun sat up, looking like he had just woken up. The rest got to their feet and headed out the door.

Chapter Text

Time had passed since the incident, and even with the minor setback Baekhyun had made a full recovery. Suho gave him a quick examination while he slept and made the decision to call off the ventilator. But there was also a problem on their hands. Baekhyun refused to eat. Ever since they stopped tube feeding his liquids, he refused to eat meat or any other solids given to him.

“He should be feeling better now, Why does he keep refusing to eat?” Suho paced through the living room, thinking of his next plan of action. Kyungsoo and Xiumin watched TV, occasionally looking over at the distressed Suho.

“I’m beginning to think he’s just a random dog off the street.” 

“Come on Xiumin, it doesn't matter if he’s a stray or not. No ones dying under my roof.” Suho looked at Baekhyun's room. He huffed, not giving up. He went to the fridge and looked around for something to give him. He found a couple slices of watermelon in the back of the fridge. He ripped the plastic wrapping off and put it on a plate.

“You know that’s Sehun’s right? Watermelon is very expensive during winter.” Xiumin glanced at Suho in the kitchen.

Suho ignored him and walked up to Kyungsoo and handed him the Watermelon.

“I need you to see if he will take this, it’s not hard for him to eat.” 

Kyungsoo only looked at him, “you think he wants watermelon?” Suho shrugged and shooed him towards the door. 

Baekhyun laid awake staring at the door. He was starting to get antsy, he could breathe again, he could finally escape. He thought about whether he should throw the night stand out the window and run or stay to at least get answers.

Before things could escalate to a broken window, there was a knock on the door.

“Do you really need to knock,” Suho questioned behind the door.

“He’s our guest, it’s better to knock.”

Baekhyun lifted his head and watched Kyungsoo and Suho peek their heads in. 

Kyungsoo stepped in and bowed, Baekhyun eyed him up. 

“Good Afternoon, my name is Kyungsoo and this is Suho.” He stood near the door, not wanting to get too close for the safety of all of them. Baekhyun glanced at the foreign food on the small glass plate.

“I know you're still confused as to where you are, but I can assure you that this is a safe place.” Their first time trying to talk to the omega, already better than being held to the ground by the neck. Kyungsoo took a step forward. Baekhyun sat up on the bed. 

“I’ll stay here, but we brought you food. Some watermelon, if you like watermelon.”

There was an awkward silence that followed, but it was interrupted when Chanyeol hurriedly came through the door. 

Seeing the omegas door wide open, Chanyeol’s heart jumped. When he ran to the door, Suho, Kyungsoo, and the omega were staring at him. 

“Well I- I just thought something happened, just continue.” Chanyeol huffed and backed out of the doorway. He planted himself on the couch and watched. 

Baekhyun watched as Kyungsoo held out the food and started to slowly make his way to the bed. Chanyeol held his breath, knowing how the last encounter went. Baekhyun only watched with a low growl. He placed it at the edge of the bed and stepped back to his original place at the door.

Baekhyun looked at the fleshy bright red object, identified as something you could eat.

“Well, that's for you, we’ll leave you alone now,” Kyungsoo bowed once again which made Suho and Chanyeol do the same. He closed the door softly.

He walked up to it, the food looked similar to meat. He snuck his nose near the watermelon. An awfully sweet smell engulfed him. His mouth watered. He’s been at this house for almost a month and he was beginning to think these people just picked him up without purpose. A clean room, medications, and now food to get stronger. It had to be another underground business. It’s the only reason he was getting the necessities. He looked at it,  tempted to take a bite. His stomach growled, two and half days without food. 

⧫⧫⧫

“You're all leaving?” Xiumin watched them all grab their coats and head for the door.

“Well I need to see Baekhyun's doctor and Kyungsoo and Kai are going to meet up with Sehun at the border.” Suho wrapped a scarf around his neck and grabbed his keys.

“What about you Chanyeol?”

“On patrol.” Chanyeol headed out the door with the rest of them. 

The room was quickly filled with silence after that; only Xiumin and the omega in the house. To fill the eerie silence Xiumin decided to watch TV; endless channel surfing kept him busy for a while. 

Baekhyun heard the door and the muffled sound of static. He got up, leaving the untouched watermelon. He looked through the keyhole to see the back of Xiumin’s head on the couch. He looked at the TV, the blue light stung his eyes.  

He stared, waiting for Xiumin to move. After a moment he turned the knob slowly. Xiumin was too focused on the TV to hear a door being opened. The front door, parallel to Xiumin’s line of sight. Baekhyun took a hard right down the hall. He figured a wolf would better suit the situation. His overgrown nails were loud on the tile, forcing him to take his time, the TV helped stifle the noise. Like he was hunting, his body was low to the ground. He snuck himself in the first room he saw. 

A king sized bed with red and black sheets, a sparkling chandelier hanging delicately in the center of the room. It was larger than his own room. He walked up to the bed and he got a whiff of pine wood mixed with sweet apples, it smelled familiar. It was the one he caught trying to grab the mask from under him. 

He stuck his face in the closet but quickly moved away, overpowered by the smell. Baekhyun had never seen such a place; clean, spacious, warm; was this how the rich lived? With the utmost freedom and luxury. The longer he felt he stayed with filthy rich scumbags, the more trouble he’d find himself in. 

He leaned his paws on Chanyeol’s window. The snow stretched far into the horizon. He huffed, not really knowing what to do. 

A small noise came from outside the room. He quickly crouched near the closet, rubbing his scent on Chanyeol’s clothes. 

A clicking sound faintly echoed through the hallway. Xiumin called out, hearing the same as Baekhyun. Once the noises stopped Xiumin went back to his reality TV show, unaware of Baekhyun’s door. 

Baekhyun didn’t know if Xiumin got up but he decided it was time to get out. He was in a hurry, all he wanted to do was find the damn exit. Why was it so hard to find? He slipped out of the room and trotted down a long hallway. He started to slow down. A switch was flipped and a blinding light flooded the entire house. Baekhyun froze. He heard voices, multiple people talking. His eyes darted around, trying to find the faces of the voices. Pens clicked, papers rustled, alarms blared. Baekhyun turned back to the bright light, it shrunk down to just the end of the hall. He stared at the bright light. He knew what lied behind it. 

He backed up but found his legs giving out on him. There was something wrong. There was something off in the house. Maybe it was the silence, maybe the TV static and occasional creaks coming from around the house.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of the light, afraid that something he wished to never see again would come chasing after him. He ended up near Chanyeol’s room again; the awful feeling started to wither away. He had to go back, he couldn’t leave. He snuck back into his room, but was met with a different scent. A scent that didn’t belong to this house. 

⧫⧫⧫

Chanyeol was the last to arrive, 10:30 at night and everybody was awake and watching TV. Apparently everyone who walked in found themselves glued to Xiumin's reality TV show. It was stupid but surprisingly entertaining, as they always were. When Chanyeol opened the door he was met with a faint, pungent smell. Like no one took out the trash. With a defeated sigh, he took off his jacket and headed to his room, not wanting to deal with chores.

 He basically kicked down his door, wanting to just plop on his bed and sleep, but the smell of lavender and vanilla smacked him in the face.

“What the-” Chanyeol remembered the smell quite well, but what was it doing in his room? He looked around the room thinking that the omega was hiding out somewhere. He looked under his bed, in the bathroom; the smell was all over the place and Chanyeol started to choke on it. He put his shirt over his nose, frantically opening his window. Next to the window, the closet was where the smell was the strongest. 

He flung them open and inhaled more of the scent. Only his scent lingered making Chanyeol agitated, his instincts kicking in. He gave up closing the door behind him. He sucked in the fresh air outside of his room trying not to think of that heavenly smell. But now Chanyeol had to figure out why the omegas scent invaded his room. 

He walked to the living room where everyone was still watching TV. He looked over the omegas door wanting to see if he was there. 

Baekhyun, on the other hand, was going insane. He paced back and forth. The smell lingered in his nose keeping him on edge, it was getting stronger and stronger. The smell of sweet watermelon, pinewood apple and something revolting. It also made Baekhyun’s instincts act up, becoming protective. Baekhyun’s ears were glued back and snarled at the empty room. The smell was coming from the hall where he once was. The smell was familiar. It was disgusting. It was a threat. 

“Hey Xiumin?”

“Huh?” Xiumin didn’t take his eyes off the show and neither did the rest.

“Did you check on him?” Chanyeol pointed to Baekhyun’s room, refusing to go in and suffocate himself again. 

“I don’t know, maybe.” He shoved popcorn in his mouth when it was passed to him by Sehun. The answer made Chanyeol roll his eyes.

 Suho turned to him, “why do you ask? Is something wrong?” 

Chanyeol shook his head, a headache forming from too many lingering scents. He decided to leave it alone and deal with it later. Chanyeol gave in; he sat on the chair and closed his eyes. 

Hours passed and everyone else drifted off to sleep on the couch while the TV still played quietly. Chanyeol silently snored with his head tilted back, unaware that his mouth was hanging open. The rest leaned on one another, drooling on each other's shoulders. 

Baekhyun was wide awake and couldn’t take it anymore, he felt he was being watched. Someone was after him, inside the house. He had to get rid of it. Rising up on his hind legs he pushed the door open. Rage bubbled inside him admitting a strong scent that the members could smell but it wasn’t enough to wake them.

He prowled the area, not even worried about the pack sleeping on the couch. Whatever this smell was, it wasn’t associated with this house. He snarled as he walked, his hackles raised making him look bigger than he actually was. 

The smell was getting to Chanyeol. He was in and out of conciseness; his dreams mixing with reality. Dreaming of someone growling in the forest, except the growling part was real. The longer it went on, he slowly lifted his head up. He looked at Baekhyun’s room, it was wide open. It started to set in, the smell was alarming. Baekhyun’s smell mixed with something different. He looked around; he shook his head, only the TV gave him light. He got up silently. By the smell of it, there was an intruder. 

He tapped on the closest person to him, Sehun. Sehun lazily lifted his head and met with a beady-eyed Chanyeol. He put his finger to his lips and pointed to the rest. Sehun was quick to understand and got up as well. While Sehun woke the others, Chanyeol looked into Baekhyun’s room, empty. 

“What's happening Chanyeol?” Suho stumbled over the others and walked over to the light switch. Sehun grabbed his hand. The sun barely peeked into the house, leaving an eerie glow throughout the house. 

Everyone was up and watching Chanyeol, Sehun, and Kai inspect the house. 

“Where’s the wolf?” Kai finally said after looking around for a while. Sehun shrugged, feeling as if it was just a false alarm, Chanyeol thought otherwise. 

Baekyhun was in another part of the house. He couldn’t find it. He didn’t understand. The scent frustrated him even more, they were hiding. It was in the hall, but no one was there. He needed to check one last time. It was there he met Chayeol at the end of it. 

Chanyeol froze along with the rest of them. He startled Chanyeol for a moment.

“Hey.” Chanyeol said in a whisper, he internally had a sigh of relief that it was just him.

Baekhyun had his ears down, he smelled the air. Chanyeol tried to deescalate the situation because of Baekhyun's murderous looks. But Chanyeol wasn’t the target. 

He found them.

“It’s alright, don’t worry.” Chanyeol took a step forward. Baekhyun positioned himself; back legs out, low to the ground, eyes on the target. He took a step forward, then another, and broke into a sprint.

“Chanyeol!” Suho shouted and Chanyeol fell back. A loud bang along with ear-piercing screeches and growls quickly followed. 

“What the fuck!” Sehun yelled and the rest watched in horror as the fight began. Baekhyun held onto the scruff of their neck, thrashing his head back and forth. He ripped him from an old laundry shoot. He ripped a wolf, twice his size, out of a small laundry shoot. 

There was already bloodshed, Baekhyun used all of strength to throw him to the ground. He bit down on the side of his neck. The intruder screamed and Chanyeol scrambled backwards to avoid getting bit. The intruder dung his claws into Baekhyun’s neck, spraying blood onto the intruder. Baekhyun was unfazed and they both brought the fight down the hall. 

“Do something! Holy shit!” Suho added. They watched them break statues and knock down paintings, ramming each other into walls. Chanyeol jumped to his feet and ran after them. It was so loud that Chanyeol couldn’t even hear himself think. 

The intruder threw Baekhyun to the ground but in return Baekhyun slashed his eye open from the ground. The wolf threw its head back. Baekhyun quickly got to his feet and bit his throat. Chanyeol didn’t really know who to grab, how to intervene. From the looks of it, Baekhyun was winning.  

A glass door blocked the two from taking things outside. The intruder, half blinded, got a hold of Baekhyun’s scruff, piercing his skin, trying to knock him off his feet. It backfired. Baekhyun whipped his head around and went to the side of him. Like a freight train, he slammed into his ribs. They both hit the glass door.

It shattered.

They both stumble into the outdoors, met with the freezing cold. Their blood splattered, staining the virgin white snow, making it look like a war zone. Shards of glass were embedded in each one’s skin, leaving a cold, burning sensation. 

The sheer impact left the intruder dazed. He broke the door with his head. 

Baekhyun took the opportunity to grab him again. He grabbed his bleeding ear and ripped a chunk off, leaving chunks embedded into his teeth. He didn’t stop there, the intruder tried to escape but Baekhyun grabbed its tail. Another scream followed as his tail was split. 

They separated. If its legs weren’t spread out, he would have dropped dead. The only thing he could do was stand; he knew his fate. The one eyed wolf stared at Baekhyun. Blood covered both of them. Baekhyun knew who he was. They know. They know where he is.

Bakhyun ran at him. His claws sank into his throat, warm blood oozing onto his paws. He pushed him into the freezing cold pool behind him, where he would spend his last hours. Baekhyun huffed, watching his body slowly sink down to the bottom.

Everyone stared in shock, Suho, Xiumin, and Kyungsoo stood behind the broken glass, while Kai, Sehun, and Chanyeol stood in the snow. Baehyun turned around to face them. He was a disturbing sight to see, red covered every inch of him; blood spreading from his face to his ears. 

Everyone was at a loss for words. Who was that? How did he know he was in there? What the fuck just happen?

“Uhh...well, are you-” Chanyeol started, not sure how to go about this, but he watched as Baekhyun shifted out of his wolf form. The first time anyone had seen him as a human. Again, Chanyeol was at a loss for words. Baekhyun walked up to him and looked at the rest of them.

“Sorry about the door.” With that Baekhyun limped past them and headed inside.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun spent the remainder of the night in Chanyeol’s bathroom, pulling the remaining shards protruding out of his flesh. He looked in the mirror, the damage wasn’t that bad, to him at least. Even in his human form, his wounds were still open, bleeding into the sink. It was right under his collarbone, stretching from one shoulder to the other. It wasn't deep, but enough to add to the rest of the scars littering his body.

He splashed water onto his face and wounds, not knowing what to use. He locked himself in the bathroom. The wolf’s familiar stench still lingered in his nose. Since he was dead, he was forced to deal with the people behind the door. His door wasn't broken down, he wasn't grabbed by the hair and ripped out, he wasn't beaten for doing something on his own terms. They couldn't be businessmen.

Everyone else gathered in the living room, still in a state of shock and confusion. Suho stood from his chair, breaking the silence.

“We should help him first and ask questions later, I’ll get him a first aid.” He went under the kitchen sink grabbed the small white bag and headed towards the room. 

“He locked the door,” Sehun mumbled.

“I’ll knock.”

“We should leave him alone until he comes out, then we can talk,” Chanyeol also stood up from the couch, prompting Suho to stop. To be honest everybody wanted to go see the omega. Now standing on two, they could finally ask the very obvious questions. 

From Chanyeol's brief exchange, he only got a glimpse of his face. He was small with overgrown brown hair that covered the majority of his face. His scent was strong from the fight. His anger smelled of bittersweet vanilla with a hint of vinegar, to which Chanyeol didn’t mind the burning in his nose.

“So, are we not going to address the other elephant in the room?” Kyungsoo looked at everyone. The wolf was at the bottom of a freezing pool.

“He trespassed, broke into our house, and attacked us. I have a right to deal with anybody in my territory. We’ll be fine.” 

“He’s quite a skilled fighter though,” Xiumin said aloud. He stood, deep in thought.

“Yeah, he killed a wolf twice his size.” Kai pitched in.

“I mean if he was such a skilled fighter, why did he need rescuing?” Xiumin turned to Chanyeol and the rest followed.

“He was dying from the cold.” Chanyeol cleared his throat.

“I’m really starting to question where he came from,” Suho pitched in.

“I’m starting to question what he is. I always thought he was an omega, but I’ve never seen an omega fight like that.” Kai said, staring into the abyss thinking of the fight.

“I’ve never seen an omega fight,” Chanyeol said more to himself than to the rest.

After a few minutes of waiting, there was rustling from the bathroom and a small yelp that came with it. Chanyeol heard the small noise. He moved without thinking and went inside his room. 

He knocked on the bathroom door; running water came to a stop once he knocked. Silence filled the bathroom. Suho came over with the first aid in hand, also waiting with him. Suho was as worried as Chanyeol, not even shooing him away when the door slowly opened Baekhyun stood shirtless, blood dripping down his chest. Suho quickly unzipped the white little bag and took out the bandages. 

“Come, sit down.” Suho motioned him to sit on the bed, which he did. His hair was slightly wet and it covered his eyes, making him look like a soulless figure. Although Suho was helping patch up Baekhyun's wound, Chanyeol flinched every time Suho touched his wound. Not because it looked painful, but because of the small hisses Baekhyun made. He had an urge to grab Suho’s hand, getting it away from him and doing it himself. 

Suho kneeled down and cleaned his wound with cotton swabs. As he did so he felt Baekhyun’s beady eyes burn holes into the top of his head. Under all the hair was dark, yellow-tinted eyes waiting for Suho to make a move.

Unable to take the constant staring, he started to question Baekhyun.

“So what’s your name?”

The question made Baekhyun break his glare from Suho. Instead, he looked around the room and ended up meeting Chanyeol’s gaze. Chanyeol wanted to look away but found himself staring right back at him.

“004.”

“Excuse me?”

“Baekhyun.”

“Oh, well hello Baekhyun,” Suho put the last of the bandages on him and stood up. Baekhyun spoke in a low growl, and both of them noticed the anger radiating from him. The bandages stretched over his shoulders and wrapped around his entire chest. 

Besides being shirtless, Baekhyun wore gray sweatpants that looked like they hadn’t been washed since they were bought. On the side of them was a very faded number, but Chanyeol couldn’t read it.

“Chanyeol, can you go get him some new clothes.” Chanyeol nodded and stepped out of his room. 

“Well, how is he?” Kyungsoo asked just as he stepped out. 

“He’s fine, can he borrow some of your clothes?” Chanyeol went with Kyungsoo to search for some clothes. They rummaged through Kyungsoo’s closet looking for comfortable sleeping clothes. Kyungsoo definitely had a different style from the rest, more professional and neat. Nothing really seemed to be a right fit for their guest.

“Don’t you just have a loose t-shirt?” 

“Only the one I’m wearing.”

“I’ll go to Xiumin then.” Chanyeol walked out and headed to Xiumin and finally got some clothes for him. A black T-shirt and another pair of gray sweats. He came back in to find Suho cleaning up the bathroom and Baekhyun still sitting. 

“Here you go.” He smiled but Baekhyun didn’t return the gesture. He stretched his arm out but the bandages limited his range of motion. He scrunched his face, hating the stinging from his chest. He got up and grabbed it but it was no use trying to put it over his head.

“Here let me help you.” Chanyeol internally screamed but Baekhyun didn’t seem to care. He scrunched up the shirt and put his arms through first. He carefully put the shirt over his head and successfully got the shirt on. They stood close to each other, to which Chanyeol examined him. He had brown eyes and soft pale skin, his face barely had any scratches, and his body was a different story.

 “So, you’ve been here for a while,” Chanyeol moved away and walked around the room. “You got somewhere else to be? A home to go to?”

Baekhyun was silent, he grabbed his pants and began undressing. Chanyeol cleared his throat as he turned around.

“Well, if you don’t have somewhere to go, I might have a place where you can stay for the winter.”

Baekhyun finished getting dressed but stood near the bed, “Where?”

Chanyeol peeked over to see if he was dressed, a sigh of relief as he was fully clothed. He turned around to face the omega.

“Well I have bungalows South from here, but I think they’re all occupied. I can check but if they are booked-you can stay here if you like.” 

“Why?”

“Well we all-”

“Who are you?” Chanyeol felt the rising tension from Baekhyun, his scent slowly started to fill the room.

“Sorry for not introducing myself. My name is Park Chanyeol but just call me Chanyeol.” Chanyeol bowed to him trying to ease this unnecessary tension.

“We live in the biggest territory around. It was my father's, but now I protect this land. I’ll say you're quite safe here.” Chanyeol tried to reassure Baekhyun but couldn’t tell if it worked. 

Suho came out of the bathroom and sighed, “I think we should go to bed, it's already late.” He picked up Baekhyun’s old clothes and folded them up, probably going to burn them from the smell itself.

 There was an awkward silence after that, Baekhyun was still in Chanyeol’s room. Suho eventually led him out of the room and brought him back to his room.

“Well since you’re in good enough health to eat, would you like to have breakfast with us in the morning, i’m sure you would like to meet everyone—I mean they want to meet you.” Suho stood at the door but noticed the already wilting watermelon on the nightstand. He grabbed it, wished him goodnight and closed the door. Baekhyun was full of emotions, everything was calm after the fight. It had been too calm for Baekhyun’s liking, it was strange for him.

⧫⧫⧫

“Well, we're now officially trespassing.” Shownu stepped over some logs trying to avoid getting his feet wet. He caught up with the rest of the group that ignored his comment.

“Hey! Do you even know whose territory this is?” Shownu called out to Jooheon specifically.

“What? You can’t smell it?” Jooheon rubbed his nose and looked at the surrounding area.

“Yeah, it smells like shit.”

“Exactly, there are so many goddamn scents it’s disgusting.” They started moving, again leaving Shownu behind who was too busy trying to figure out where they were.

“You think it’s a good idea to be here?” Kihyun turned to Jooheon as they walked, he gave a sharp sigh and walked ahead of him.

“If you're asking if it’s safe to walk in the territory of the biggest pack in the world, then no it’s not a good idea. Not at all.” A pit in Kihyun’s stomach grew upon hearing Jooheon’s words. They marched on anyway, mostly just following him like a child following their mother in a store. 

“Why do we have to go through someone's territory? I mean are we just going to walk in and just announce that we lost someone in the woods to keep us from getting killed?” Kihyun looked at everybody but no one seemed to care. Just as he said that they found themselves a couple yards from the household that held one to many members.

“You know what, why don’t we just do that, Kihyun.” Hyungwon tried looking inside to see if anyone's home, which was most likely. 

“What?”

“Why don’t we just ask if they’ve seen the runt instead of causing trouble,” Hyungwon shrugged nonchalantly. The suggestion deemed to be not that bad of an idea. Everyone simultaneously looked over to Kihyun, to which he looked right back at them, confused.

“Why me?!”

“You're the smallest and an omega. Everybodies a kiss-ass when it comes to omega’s.” Changkyun said bluntly, he put his arm around his shoulder moving him towards the house.

“So you're just gonna use me cause I'm the weakest.”

“I didn’t say you were weak.”

“You didn’t have to, nobodies gonna feel threatened when I’m the one going in their territory.” Kihyun shoved him off and crossed his arms, not wanting to be around what seemed like hundreds of alphas.

“Come on, make yourself useful, we have a deadline.” 

“Just ask them if they’ve seen anyone wandering in their territory the past few weeks,” Jooheon added, putting his hands on his hips. Kihyun sighed, it was too early in the morning and he didn’t intend on meeting a group full of alphas.

After a bit more convincing, Kihyun found himself knocking on their front door. He stood nervously with his hands folded in front of him. Another knock but no one answered, a feeling of relief came over him. He turned around on his heel but he saw everyone had disappeared.

“Guys? Hello?”

“What do you need?” Their loud voice mixed with the flying of a door, sent Kihyun almost falling on his ass. He caught his footing before any real damage could ensue, with a couple of deep breaths he could finally look up to see who this loud voice belonged to. Once he caught a glance, he was breathless again. The man stood at least 6 feet, with long black hair and sharp brown eyes.

“H-hello.” Kihyun couldn’t get himself to speak proper english, let alone remember what he came here for. The man stared at him, looking like he had just woken up. He cleared his throat, making Kihyun shut up.

“Are you lost?” The man tilted his head, sizing him up, getting the feeling he was an omega. 

“Yes… I mean no! I’m actually looking for someone who is lost.” 

“Who?” 

Kihyun couldn’t look him in the eye, instead looking at the floor or the door.

“I-have you seen a medium-sized wolf, might look a little scrawny, he has bits of black in his fur and a white belly wandering in your territory.” Kihyun put his finger to his chin, thinking of any more identifiable traits.

“Uh I don’t think I have-”

“I saw something a while ago. Sorta short-looking wolf was running right past our house in the middle of the night.” A shorter man walked past the other and stood on the porch. 

“Where was he headed?” Kihyun had anticipation in his voice, finally a possible lead to finding the escapee. 

“Headed east I’m pretty sure.”

“Oh okay thank you.” Kihyun quickly bowed and rushed to find the others.

They were huddled by a tree on the side of the house. He stormed over there knowing they ditched him on purpose.

“What'd ya find? Shownu said with a slight smile, to which Kihyun softened his gaze.

“He’s headed east.”

“What’s east of here?” Minhyuk looked beyond the house and into a field of dead trees. The other shrugged but Jooheon thought about it, from what he knew from being outside longer than the rest he figured it was the largest territory. Park’s territory. 

Chapter Text

Nobody knew what to say, let alone know what to do. The silence was deafening and the awkwardness of the situation was almost humorous. Kyungsoo sat on the island along with Xiumin, watching Suho cook up some bacon and eggs. Sehun and Chanyeol stood near the front door and Kai sat at the opposite side of the dining table, from Baekhyun. 

Kai couldn’t even look at him, regretting the decision to sit there. He awkwardly looked everywhere around the room waiting for someone else to start up a conversation.  

Suho was the only one who seemed to not care(or just pretended not to care)about the silence as if it was the comfortable type. He quietly hummed to himself while flipping bacon; not having a care. It was probably an effort to make Baekhyun comfortable but the others failed to join him. 

Baekhyun sat with his hands in his lap and his head down. He glanced at the other members but they found the ceiling or the floor more interesting. The silence was starting to bother him. The screaming, the crying, the growling; It was always loud. He started to tap on the table to make noise getting Kai’s attention. 

After a painful couple of minutes, Suho finished making food; an internal sigh of relief from everyone.

“Well guys dig in 'cause I’m not making more,” He said with a huff, sitting down next to Baekhyun. He watched as Baekhyun examined the food, looking uninterested, which made Suho frown.

“You know I took cooking classes when I was younger, so I can assure you this is some high-class food.” He struck out his lip and adjusted his apron, acting like he was some high and mighty snob. Kai couldn't help but laugh from the secondhand embarrassment.

Baekhyun just looked at him, then back at the food. His stomach did a painful growl, he wanted to engulf the food even if he didn’t really know what it was. He only recognized the eggs on his plate. 

He gave in, he ditched the fork and ate like it was gonna be the last meal of his life. He shoved everything he could possibly fit in his mouth, making his cheeks puff out. Everyone stared in disbelief and Suho’s mouth slightly opened from how fast he ate it all in one sitting. He left not even one crumb on his plate. 

“Well….On second thought, if you're still hungry I can make some more food.” Baekhyun nodded and to be honest he didn’t really taste anything because of how fast he ate it. He stomach still growled as Suho started to get the food back out. 

“So, it’s Baekhyun right?” Kai shoved a piece of bacon in his mouth, finally initiating a conversation. He only nodded in response.

It was hard to decide if they should bring up anything on where he came from since it was considered a sensitive topic. All of them were curious to find out at least something about him. Kai tried to bring it up without being too obvious.

“So I heard you might be staying with us this winter.”

“Maybe.”

“I mean it’s nice to have someone new around the house. Are you enjoying your stay? I mean besides being attacked and having food poisoning and pneumonia.” He let out a stale laugh. Baekhyun sat there thinking about his time at this house only to realize he didn’t remember his time here, at least for the most part.

“What happened to me?” Baekhyun looked over to Chanyeol.

“You were caught in a snowstorm when I saw you,” Chanyeol started, surprised he remembered who saved him that night. “You were unconscious and sick so I took you in.”

Suho finished the eggs and set it in front of Baekhyun, “If you don’t remember, which you probably don’t, we put you in the bath to warm you up. And you also threw up on him,” Suho pointed to Chanyeol and smiled. Chanyeol rolled his eyes at Suho attempting to make a joke out of a traumatic experience for him. Baekhyun only looked at him, looking slightly confused, still trying to think of those moments.

“How did you get there in the first place?” Xiumin looked at Baekhyun who had bacon hanging from his mouth. Baekhyun stopped eating and looked at his food, which made everyone silent.

“I was kicked out, had to fend for myself. Ended up getting sick.”

“How long were you out there? You were in pretty bad shape.” Kyungsoo spun in his chair and took a sip of his coffee.

“I was abandoned a long time ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” The room went back to silence; figuring that was enough questions for one day. Baekhyun went back to engulfing his second plate of breakfast and so did the rest, except for Chanyeol. Since it had been probably stressful for Baekhyun ever since he came to this house, he felt he should do something for him.  

It was still pretty early in the morning and the only thing Chanyeol could come up with was to take him on patrol. He hadn’t been outside, besides fighting in the backyard, so he took the opportunity after everyone ate their breakfast to take them.

“I think we should all get out of the house and get some fresh air.” Chanyeol grabbed his coat and waited for them all to do the same. Suho thought it was a great idea as well, trying to get the others to join. Kai thought it was too early and Sehun didn’t want to be met with the cold.  

“Come on, we haven’t gone out as a pack in a while,” Kyngsoo said, throwing Kai’s jacket at him. Xiumin tossed a jacket at Sehun to which they both begrudgingly threw over their shoulders.

⧫⧫⧫

Everyone was on four paws; fur was a better choice than just jackets in below-freezing weather. Baekhyun walked in the back of the pack, he felt strange. Being out of the house and outside in general was weird. He could escape, but now he questioned that motive, where would he go? He smelled the fresh air, so many sents filled his nose. It was the first time he could take in the dead yet beautiful forest in the distance. 

 It didn’t go unnoticed by Chanyeol; the way Baekhyun stuck his nose in the air and how his eyes dilated taking in the scenery. It made Chanyeol happy to see him enjoying their little nature walk. They walked up the hill and into an open snow field. It looked perfect, the snow laid completely flat and looked untouched by any animal.

Kai plopped down on the top of the hill, not wanting to go any further. The others stopped there and ultimately decided that this would be the rest stop. Chanyeol sat next to Kai and Suho and looked at the forest. 

“You think he’ll stay?” Suho shifted back onto two legs, deciding to stand rather than sit. Chanyeol looked over to find Baekhyun moving the snow with his paws, almost like he was playing with it.

“I think he’ll stay for a little while.” Chanyeol chuckled at Baekhyun being so intrigued with the snow. It gave him an idea, he grabbed a pile of snow and patted it into a ball. Chanyeol waited, trying to be as secretive as possible. Baekhyun turned his head and looked into the distance.

He aimed.

He fired.

He missed.

Baekhyun had turned back and saw it coming, he ducked, making it fly past his head. He whipped his head and crouched low to the ground, showing his teeth to Chanyeol. Chanyeol only smiled to show he meant no harm and prepared another to throw at Sehun to demonstrate. 

Chanyeol crouched down but before he could get up a snowball was chucked at the back of his head. He turned his head and saw Kai and Kyungsoo standing next to each other, pretending as if nothing happened. He chucked the premade snowball at Kai and it hit him dead in the face.

“Oh, it’s on!” Kai pushed the snow out of his face, grabbed Sehun and Kyungsoo and dove for cover. They quickly started making their own fort and so did Chanyeol. He grabbed Suho and Xiumin and looked over at Baekhyun. He nodded his head, wanting him to join the fun. Baekhyun’s ears perked up, realizing that there wasn’t a threat, he trotted over and sat near them, he was the only one as a wolf but no one seemed to care. 

The fight began and although Chanyeol had more people he was losing miserably. Suho had terrible aim and couldn’t throw for shit, Xiumin couldn’t make snowballs for the life of him, and Baekhyun decided to watch rather than participate. Chanyeol was too tall for the horribly made fort and he was in the direct line of fire. 

On the other hand, Sehun, Kai, and Kyungsoo were thriving. Kyungsoo made the snowballs(that were way better than Xiumin’s) and passed them to Kai who had a great aim. Sehun would occasionally throw but he was dead set on building the biggest and strongest fort.

“Suho! Can you at least try and look before you throw!” Just as Chanyeol finished his sentence a snowball hit him in the side of the head.

“I’m trying, their fort is too big!”

“You can literally stand on your knees and see them behind it,” Xiumin said, holding a deformed snowball.

“You shouldn’t be talking, you can even make a snowball. I mean what even is that!” Chanyeol pointed at his snowball but Xiumin only rolled his eyes. Chanyeol turned his head to Baekhyun and he turned his head to him, unintentionally dodging another snowball.

“Can you throw?” They both looked at Baekhyun and he looked out at the opponents' fort. He saw Sehun’s head sticking out on the side, patching up the fort. He shifted out and looked at Chanyeol once more, Chanyeol stuck out a snowball for him to take.

“You just throw it at them?” Chanyeol nodded.

“Just throw it as hard as you can.”

Baekhyun crawled to the front of the fort and rolled up his sleeve. Suho and Xiumin watched in anticipation, feeling that this wasn’t going to end well for the other team. He spotted Kai gathering more snowballs from Kyungsoo and had his back turned. He quickly wound his arm back and threw with all his might. 

It struck Kai on the back of his neck so hard it made him drop all of his snowballs. There was an audible pop when it made contact with his head.

“Are you trying to knock me out?!” Kai held his head in agony, glaring at Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Baekhyun was now dodging even more snowballs that were being chucked at his head. He now came to a realization as to why snowball fights were something entertaining. The tables have turned, now Suho was on snowball-making duty, Xiumin was on fort duty, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol were on throwing duty.

After a couple more minutes of fighting, Kai and Sehun couldn’t take another hit from one of Baekhyun’s throws. Although Chanyeol got the win in the end, Kai and Sehun couldn’t accept defeat, saying that there was an unfair amount of people on his team. 

“Anyways, it was a fair enough game and that’s that, should we head back or keep walking?” Chanyeol put his hands on his hips and took a long look at the forest.

“I think we should head back, we can all go another time.” 

⧫⧫⧫

They did just that. They kept coming back for the past two weeks and it was mainly because of Baekhyun's newfound love for snow and getting to run around in it. His true colors started to show, being outside and having the freedom to do anything he wanted, he was slowly regaining a sense of happiness.

Again they made it up the top of the hill and Baekhyun already stuck his nose in the snow, rubbing his face in it. Usually, Kyungsoo and Xiumin would stay on the top of the hill and watch Sehun and Kai walk around the forest and live in their own world. Chanyeol and Suho would just walk around, it was mostly Suho following Chanyeol who was actually on patrol. 

“You know we should go shopping sometime, Baekhyun should really start getting his own clothes.” Suho shoved his hands in his pockets and jogged up to him who was still in his wolf form, but Chanyeol was too focused on marking territory to answer.

Baekhyun on the other hand was rolling in the snow, he liked the cold and could spend the whole day outside. He let himself lifelessly slide down the hill, away from the others, and landed gracefully in another pile of snow. He laid there for a while until he saw the pile of snow twitch. He quickly lifted his head up waiting to see if it would happen again. He examined the snow closely, he saw a black bead in the snow.

Chanyeol also found something, something in the air. The smell was distant, far enough to be out of his territory but closer than he was comfortable with. He didn’t want to worry the others. He left his warning scents and stayed near the area of the smell just to ensure nothing happened, that is until he heard a god-awful screech. 

It came from the other side of the hill and where Chanyeol quickly ran too. He ran past Sehun and Kai and noticed that Xiumin and Kyungsoo still were on the hill. That only left Baekhyun, who was nowhere to be seen. Kyungsoo and Xiumin were looking down at the other side of the hill, but Kyungsoo turned away as if he didn’t want to see what was happening below him. 

Chanyeol eventually got up the hill and peered at the snow below, but before he could find anything a white and gray blur flew past him. Baekhyun basically slid down the hill. Baekhyun didn’t stop, he kept running and making sharp turns around the field. Chanyeol realized he wasn’t just running, he was chasing. A rabbit to be exact.

It was much to Chanyeol’s relief that it was only a rabbit and that no one was in real danger. Baekhyun ran in between Kai and Sehun cutting it close with the rabbit. Chanyeol couldn’t help but be in awe of how fast he could run. The rabbit just couldn’t shake him off, he was right on its tail and almost never lost sight of it. 

Before he knew it, Baekhyun had snapped his jaws around its small body. Another loud screech came from the rabbit and in return, Baekhyun growled at it. Chanyeol had to admit he was impressed by his hunting skills, but he wasn’t hunting. Baekhyun laid down with it in his mouth but slowly let it go. His beady eyes stared it down as the rabbit was still shaken up by their first encounter. 

He waited for the rabbit to take off again and it did. Everyone soon realized to their disappointment, that Baekhyun was merely using it as a form of entertainment. They watched him terrorize and chase the rabbit, catching it and then letting it go again. The poor rabbit was drained, its fur was falling out from where Baekhyun kept biting it. It was no wonder why Kyungsoo had turned away not wanting to watch and now so did Suho.

“Make him stop, the poor things gonna die,” Suho turned his head when he heard another loud screech from the rabbit. Eventually, Chanyeol had enough too and when they ran off again, so did Chanyeol. Baekhyun didn’t seem to tire and surprisingly the rabbit wasn’t doing too bad either. Chanyeol planned to cut him off as the rabbit was making a break for the forest. 

Baekhyun was quickly gaining on it and would have made it Chanyeol didn’t get in the way. Chanyeol snapped at his neck to bring him to a complete stop, he watched as the rabbit lunged over logs and bushes, finally escaping to freedom. Chanyeol glared at him, not very fond of Baekhyun’s ways of entertaining himself. Baekhyun looked at him with beating eyes, the heat of his breath making him look demonic as it surrounded his face.  

 He started to notice a dark nature to him, but Baekhyun became blank and walked back up the hill. He began cleaning his paws as if nothing happened, as if his actions weren’t somewhat messed up. He either didn’t know what he did wrong or he simply didn’t care.

Chapter Text

“He’s somewhere around this territory.” Jooheon threw down a map on Siwon’s desk as soon as he walked through his door. Siwon quickly unrolled the thin paper, revealing the circled area in red ink.

“Are you sure? I haven’t heard from any of the others I sent out about this area.”

Jooheon rolled his eyes, “are you doubting me?”

Siwon looked at him and the rest of them in the back paying no attention to them. Siwon shook his head, “it’s just—this is Park’s territory. He doesn’t take too kindly to strangers.”

“Not if you're an omega.”

He stared at the area, “but he can’t possibly have the traits of an omega; we’ve changed that. The only identifiable trait is that he's smaller than alphas. Which even then-”

A hand slammed down on the table, shutting up Siwon. Jooheon leaned into him, “he’s there. Got it?”

“If he takes in omegas, then we can act like family,” Kihyun walked up to Siwon, joining the conversation. 

Siwon shook his head, “how old is he, 20 now? He’s not a lost child.” 

Kihyun shrugged, “we don’t have to tell him anything about our situation. We know his name, we have his information, let’s knock on their door and ask if he’s even there in the first place.”

Siwon fell into a heavy silence, he sensed an aching pain in his chest. Nothing felt like a safe option. No one was supposed to be exposed to the outside world but now the most important subject escaped and had been out there for a month. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

“We need him now, go in your wolf forms and get him. If they won’t let him go, take him by force.” He looked at each of them individually sternly.

“Whatever, I know what I’m doing, we’ll get him back,” Jooheon grumbled, crossing his arms. 

“Just try to be civil, but if you find him, you are not leaving without him. Take as many people as you need. Go. Now.”

⧫⧫⧫

Three days after Chanyeol’s confrontation with Baekhyun and the rabbit, things were quiet. Baekhyun started to slow down on trips to the snow field and their trips were less frequent. It was like he was back to his old ways, quiet and walked in the back.

Chanyeol started to feel a growing guilt for snapping at him, but it was wrong and Xiumin agreed as well. 

“You did the right thing, why are you questioning that?” Xiumin spun around in his office chair at his desk. Chanyeol sat on Xiumin’s bed, staring off into the distance. He played with his fingernails.

“Yeah but he stopped playing around like he used to. I mean he just started to break out of this defensive and scared persona, but now I think I put him back into it.” Chanyeol admitted after a long pause.

“It’s only been three days, I’m sure he just got tired of burying his face in the snow.”

Chanyeol laid back on the bed and sighed, “He hasn’t really talked to me outside of our snow trips,” He paused for a moment, “Does he talk to you?”

“He barely talks to anyone, stop worrying so much about him, he’ll be fine.” Xiumin chewed the end of his pencil as he watched Chanyeol start to pace. Chanyeol mumbled as he walked, thinking of ways to get Baekhyun’s spirits up. 

“Well he liked being outside, but now he seems annoyed by it or like I took the fun out of it. Maybe we can find a way for him to chase things without terrorizing the wildlife.” 

“Yeah, who would've thought that chasing around all of the wildlife for fun would actually chase them out of the area,” Xiumin commented sarcastically.

“Yeah, which isn’t too good for us either, maybe we should take him hunting for elk.” 

“Every time?” Xiumin raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah you're right, we should probably leave him out of it for now.”

“How about you?” Xiumin set the pencil down and turned to Chanyeol. “How about you go hang out with him and run around with him instead of going on patrol.”

Chanyeol stood there for a second, it wasn’t a bad idea. Every time they went out to play, Chanyeol was always preoccupied with patrolling to focus on Baekhyun.

“Look I’m not saying you specifically should do it but someone should just hang out with him while we're out there.” 

Chanyeol still felt guilty about the rabbit. He decided that he would be the one to go with him instead of patrolling. It was early afternoon, an unusual time for them to be out, but Chanyeol felt the time was now to apologize.

He headed out of Xiumin’s room and headed down the hall to the guest room. He hesitated to knock on his door. He always felt nervous when talking to Baekhyun. He knocked quietly. There was a small shuffling sound followed by heavy footsteps. The door flung open and Baekhyun appeared with a blank, tired look on his face.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

“No.” 

“Oh, well I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the snow field today?”

Baekhyun squinted his eyes as if he just stepped out of a dark room. He was silent, shifting uncomfortably. He ultimately agreed with a nod.

Baekhyun was slower than usual, hunched over and dragging his paws in the snow. This only made Chanyeol more determined. Why he was trying so hard was beyond him and Xiumin.

Chanyeol shifted out and breathed in the cool air, “You know there’s only a couple more months of snow and then this place will be covered in green.”

“Really?” It wasn’t a genuine question; just to keep the conversation going. He joined him at the top and sat down next to him, his clothes doing little to keep him warm, although Baekhyun didn’t seem to care. Sweat started to accumulate on his forehead. Chanyeol nodded in response, he kept looking out at the field unaware of how sickly Baekhyun looked. His hair was damp from sweating, even in weather like this.

“They’ll be more elk around here; we could go hunting some time as a pack.”

“So what am I officially a part of your pack now?” Baekhyun mumbled. Chanyeol only laughed in response, realizing how quick he was to make him a part of their family.

“I don’t see why not, you fit right in.”

Baekhyun scoffed, “really, I fit right in?” Finally Chanyeol looked over to Baekhyun, noticing the bags under his eyes and his ghost-like appearance.

“O-of course you do, we just need the time to get to know each other. Are you alright Baekhyun?” Chanyeol hesitated to ask.  

“I’m fine and there’s not much to me you need to know about; I’m a street rat.” Baekhyun quickly got up to avoid the conversation. He started walking in the opposite direction. Chanyeol followed close behind.

“Well I’m sorry that you had to go through that-”

“Why are you sorry? You had nothing to do with it.”

“I just feel bad, I don’t think anyone should have to go through these types of things.”

“Well it doesn't matter now, I have managed well enough on my own.” Chanyeol stopped for a moment, listening to Baekhyun’s words.  

“Even if you don’t want to stay here, I’m not going to let you live on the streets again.” Baekhyun stopped and turned back to get a good look at him.

“Why do you care so much?” After Baekhyun spoke a chill ran through him, unintentionally shuddering. He felt dizzy and looked dazed, which didn’t go unnoticed by Chanyeol.

“You wanna head back, you don’t look so good,” Chanyeol said with a hint of worry in his voice.

“I’m just cold.” Baekhyun shifted and shook off the falling snow collecting on his fur. He slowly walked down the hill, almost looking like he couldn’t keep his balance. Chanyeol shifted and went down with him; starting to have a bad feeling about Baekhyun being out here, but Baekhyun had no intention of leaving.

He stuck his head in the snow, looking for nothing in particular; wanting to feel cold snow on his face. Chanyeol simply watched. He dug around in the snow, moving the snow to pick up sticks and other random objects. Just when Chanyeol decided to lay down in the snow, Baekhyun stopped moving. He stared at the snow for a little bit then shot his head up in the direction of the forest.

Chanyeol followed his gaze, nothing. He sniffed the air, nothing. Baekhyun started to growl but inadvertently turned into a whine.

Chanyeol sprung to his feet. Soon a faint smell wafted through the air. He caught multiple scents in the air. He barked at Baekhyun, telling him to get back but Baekhyun didn’t listen. There was rustling coming closer and closer to them. There were multiple of them, running at full speed.

Something wasn’t right, Baekhyun stood his ground but he looked more scared than defensive. Chanyeol hurriedly went over to him and nudged him to move but Baekhyun snapped at him, showing his teeth at him. 

Fight. That's all he knew, It was his first instinct.

The rustling came to a stop and Baekhyun stared down the familiar faces that stood only a few yards in front of him. His mouth hung open and his ears were back.

From a distance he looked intimidating but Chanyeol saw him shaking. It was too late to get him out of there. Chanyeol stepped in front of him, preparing for the worst as the pack walked up to him.

⧫⧫⧫

Hours passed after everyone left, Siwon grabbed his papers and jogged to the elevator. Top floor. Once the doors opened he eagerly went over and knocked. There was a long pause, making Siwon bite his lip.

“Siwon.” The door cracked open to reveal his messy and sleep deprived boss peaking through. He opened the door completely, motioning for him to come in.

“I have good news sir,” He said, following Soomin to his desk. Soomin plopped in his chair and rested his head on his fist.

“If it’s not about Baekhyun being found then I don’t care Siwon.”

“Well you're in luck sir.” Siwon quickly lifted his head, wide awake.

“Did you find him?” 

Siwon pulled out the map and placed it on the desk and circled the part of the map that held Baekhyun. Soomin grabbed it and stared at it for a long time. He traced over the red ink with his finger.

“It’s- It’s Park’s territory,” He began to laugh. 

“That prick Park Chanyeol,” Soomin continued to laugh, slamming his fist down. “What a coincidence. What a fucking coincidence.” 

“Y-you know him personally?” Siwon watched his painful laugh; choking and spitting as he held his chest.

Soomin immediately stopped laughing after Siwon asked. He stood up and leaned over the table to look Siwon in the eyes. To Siwon it looked like his eyes were about to burst out of his head; his veins bulged around his glossy, bloodshot eyes. The closer Soomin got, the more sinister he looked.

“I hate that man.” He finally spoke. 

“Hate Park Chanyeol. Hate his- his father…” Soomin slowly stopped talking. He fell back into his chair. He ran his hands through his messy hair, repeating himself over and over.

“His father. I hate his father…”

“Sir?” Siwon leaned forward. It was like he was in a trance. Soomin looked at him through his fingers.

“Are you alright?”

“Don’t you fucking dare ask me that right now! Now what do you want!” He threw the map off his desk and got up to make himself a drink. They were silent after that; only the sound of his glass clinking against the half empty liquor bottle.

“I sent people to go get him. We found Baekhyun sir-he should be back before sun down.”

“You just now sent people to go get him?” Soomin asked, surprisingly calm. Siwon tried to explain but suddenly had a horrible feeling in his stomach; as he never really made a plan.

Soomin only sighed but Siwon held his breath, “I-I need him back.” Soomin stared out blankly before speaking again.

“You have a plan to get him back without any confrontations right?”

“Uh-of course sir, everything is planned out and he should be back in no time.” He wanted someone to slap him to shut up. Of course he had to mess up again, basically telling Jooheon and the rest to have at it. 

It would take some time before they got there, even though it was hours ago. He had to think fast, to quickly call it off or find them and make a better plan, or in this case, a plan. He could be there to ensure that nothing went wrong.

Siwon quickly ran to the elevator and headed down to the fourth floor after being excused. He grabbed his coat and knocked on one of the first doors that was near the elevator.

“Heechul! Heechul I need you!” He banged on the door, impatiently waiting for his partner to get up. Heechul swung open the door, his long hair tangled and wearing nothing but a tank top and boxers.

“Why, just why?” Siwon didn’t answer, he grabbed his arm and threw him in the elevator. 

“I need you to drive me to Park’s territory in your jeep, we need to get there as fast as possible.”

“First off, why are we going to his place and second, you couldn’t let me get dressed?” He rubbed his eyes in irritation and from the lack of sleep.

Siwon just adjusted his jacket, “I think I may have made a…mistake and I need to get there before things get out of hand.”

Heechul scoffed, “oh yeah how’s the whole escapee situation going?” The elevator opened and they walked through the abundance of parked cars. Siwon ignored the question and threw a jacket at him that he found in the jeep. They both hopped in and Heechul grabbed the keys out of the glove compartment. 

“Where exactly are we going in his territory?” Heechul started the car but stopped and looked at Siwon.

“I don’t know yet, just head to the south side of it.”

“Are we supposed to be doing this?”

“Just drive!”

Chapter Text

Chanyeol examined the pack that slowly trotted up to them, there was no way he could get Baekhyun to safety. Everyone's expressions laid blank. The strangers didn’t seem hostile nor did they look like they were here for small talk. 

They didn’t growl, show their teeth, or howl. It was unusual, the whole situation was unusual. Most wolves that came into his territory always made their presence known, wanting to get attention from omegas that might be in the area. Loud and obnoxious wouldn't describe what Chanyeol was dealing with now.

After a long pause, one of the wolves slowly made his way to be face-to-face with Chanyeol. Jooheon took a good look at Chanyeol, then tilted his head to examine the familiar face behind him. Chanyeol’s low growl sent his eyes back on him. He shifted out and adjusted his tan, sheepskin bomber jacket. He had a smug look on his face but flashed a warm smile upon looking at Baekhyun. That smile morphed into something sinister when looking back at Chanyeol.

“You must be Chanyeol, The Park Chanyeol.” Chanyeol didn’t shift out of his wolf to chit-chat due to him being surrounded by 5 other wolves.

“Please, let's not have this unnecessary tension. We're here for something, for someone.” Jooheon motioned his hands. Baekhyun let out a raspy growl. Chanyeol stood closer to Baekhyun, letting them know he was not up for grabs.

“Baekhyun, it’s been a while.” Chanyeol's ears perked up, hearing Baekhyun’s name being called by the stranger. He looked down to see Baekhyun’s expression. Baekhyun quickly looked away from him. His ears started to drop as if he was ashamed of something. His whole body was tense, trying to get himself to stop shaking.

“We’ve been looking for you ever since you left, but it seems like you were in good hands.” Once again he smiled at Chanyeol but Chanyeol remained unfazed. He started to move away from Baekhyun, but Baekhyun moved back to him. 

Chanyeol couldn’t read Baekhyun’s expressions, he couldn’t tell if he was scared to see them or happy to see them. Things weren’t lining up, making Chanyeol frustrated.

“If you don’t mind we’re sorta in a hurry, we would love to bring him back home as soon as possible.”

It didn’t seem right, Baekhyun looked sick and whined each time Chanyeol looked at him. His head started to droop and sway. Chanyeol felt the strong urge wash over him like something was taking over his body. He stared down the strangers, a low growl escaping through his teeth. Baekhyun wasn’t going anywhere.

When the wolves started to close in on him, noticing the sudden hostility radiating from him. Chanyeol started to snap at them, without good reason. It made Jooheon roll his eyes but he remained calm; if he kept up the act he might convince Chanyeol.

“Please Mr. Park, he’s very important to us.” 

Chanyeol started to get agitated, he felt they had other intentions, bad intentions. Chanyeol’s head became fuzzy. Jooheon could see that, Jooheon could smell it. It wasn’t worth the effort to join in with the rest of the gang. They were always itching for a fight; Jooheon always laughed at their stupidity. 

Baekhyun suddenly had a burst of energy as they neared him, barking at them, and pushing at Chanyeol’s side. Jooheon and Chanyeol were equally confused about what was happening to Baekhyun. Jooheon huffed at his outburst. Still as pathetic as always.  

Chanyeol barked a warning to them as he tried to tend to Baekhyun; Jooheon chuckled. The rest of the pack kept inching closer and closer. Baekhyun also warned them off but in the weirdest way. 

Jooheon squatted down to Chanyeol. Chanyeol shook his head, something bubbled inside him but he didn’t know what.

 “Mr. Park, you don’t know what you're dealing with here. You don’t even know what he is , it’s best if you leave him with us.”

Chanyeol was losing his patience. His blood started to boil. 

Jooheon stood up and started to back up, “Don’t make me do this Chanyeol, things are messy enough as it is.” Chanyeol was ready to charge him but he felt something hit the side of his leg. It was Baekhyun. He went limp, lying lifelessly in the snow. It sent Chanyeol into a panic, he quickly stood over him, defending him with his life.

“Get him.”

Changkyun was the first to take action, sinking his teeth into Chanyeol’s leg. It was six against one; the odds were against him. He spun around to bite Changkyun but Shownu ran in and bit the scruff of his neck, trying to get Chanyeol to move from under him.

Once he turned back to fight off one, two more would close in on him, there was no way he would be able to get Baekhyun to safety. He was already tiring himself out, basically spinning in circles. Hyungwon got a hold of Bakhyun’s legs, dragging him away. Chanyeol snapped. 

Once he got sight of him, he charged. He used every bit of his strength, slamming into Hyungwon, making him drop Baekhyun a yelp. Baekhyun didn’t move, not even a little, Chanyeol whined in fear of him.

His nails dug into the snow, planting himself over top of him. He couldn’t think straight, a familiar scent started to fill his nose. He slowly found himself acting without thinking. He lashed out, barking and howling just like a rouge looking for his mate.

It was like he doubled in strength. He got a hold of Hyungwon’s leg, making him shriek. Chanyeol thrashed his head around. Blood began to pour out of his leg. Changkyun jumped in and sunk his teeth into his back. Chanyeol let go of Hyungwon who tried to limp away. Chanyeol spun around, biting the loose skin on his stomach. Changkyun yelped as his flesh was torn from his body, stuck in Chanyeol's teeth. 

Back at the house, Xiumin decided to go check up on them. He grabbed his coat but Kyungsoo stopped him at the door.

“Where are you headed?”

“Chanyeol and Baekhyun are out on the snow field, I was just gonna head out and see what they're up to.” Kyungsoo nodded and set down the drink that was in his hand.

“I’ll come with you. I’m working the night shift, so I’m free all afternoon.” 

They both stepped out into the cold unaware of what was unfolding out on the snow field. It was a peaceful walk; making mindless small talk about what they should make for dinner or how much they couldn’t wait for winter to be over.

“So why are they out here by themselves?” Kyungsoo stepped over some branches and shoved his hands in his jacket.

“Chanyeol’s been complaining to me about how felt bad about stopping Baekhyun when he was chasing the rabbit. He wanted to make it up to him by taking him out here on his own time.” 

“He’s always doing this type of stuff, he really shouldn’t feel bad about that,” Kyungsoo said, shaking his head. Xiumin silently agreed.

“He’s always trying too hard,” Xiumin commented.

“Don’t be so hard on him, besides, how long have they been out here? It seems like they’ve been out here for a while.” Kyungsoo looked around to see if they were anywhere nearby.

“Yeah, they've been out here for over an hour.” It was silent for a moment, only a moment. When their conversations subsided, that's when they heard a defining and terrifying howl in the distance.

“What the hell was that? Did you hear that?” Xiumin quickly turned his head at Kyungsoo and he nodded.

“It sounded like a rogue,” Kyungsoo listened to the faint sound.

“It sounds like there’s multiple of them.” They both took off, shifting into their wolf forms and ran toward the sound.

As they ran the noises got louder and louder. They reached the top of the hill. It was a horrible sight to see, three of the wolves laid in the red snow, including Baekhyun. From a distance, they all looked dead and Chanyeol was standing in the middle of it all. 

Chanyeol looked insane, blood covered his entire body, from bite marks and scratches. His eyes were wide-eyed and his mouth hung open drooling blood and saliva. He lunged at anything that came near Baekhyun.

Kyungsoo immediately ran in the opposite direction, going to go get the others for help, leaving Xiumin on his own. 

Xiumin barked letting Chanyeol know help was on the way, which he ignored. The pack noticed Xiumin, which made his stomach turn. Xiumin wasn’t the best fighter but this wasn’t up for debate, he had to help.

He hurriedly went down the hill and scanned the pack; looking for one that he could fight and win. They were all huge and almost all towered over him, but the smallest one he could find was the one standing in front of him. Kihyun. 

Kihyun was a bad fighter, but he couldn’t let Xiumin see that. If he used his height and intimidation he could scare him off. Xiumin tried to get to Chanyeol but Kihyun stopped him. Instead of a fight between the two it was more of a staring contest than anything, nobody wanted to make a move.

Chanyeol was exhausted, choking on blood. But it was the scent. The scent of lavender and vanilla. As it filled his nose, he grew more excited. But Jooheon knew, knew he was tiring out. Although Hyungwon and Changkyun were injured, he still thought he had a chance at getting Baekhyun.

“Not a bad fighter. I could kill him,” he laughed to himself as he watched Chanyeol lunge at the others. Jooheon looked to the top of the hill. Help came charging its way down the hill. 

Sehun and Suho stopped at the hill but Kai charged straight into the fight. Shownu was sinking his teeth into Chanyeol again but Kai ran right into him, causing the two to roll around in the snow. When Chanyeol was free he tended to Baekhyun, he licked the scruff of his neck; wanting him to get up. Chanyeol made a small whine, he buried his nose in his neck, making him fall deeper into his rut. 

Kai pried himself off Shownu and ran back to Chanyeol to make a so-called circle to defend each other. Chanyeol whipped his head and bit Kai’s leg making him jump. He was startled but tried to shake it off. Kai got a whiff of Baekhyun but it wasn’t enough to cause any damage.

Sehun ran up to Jooheon.

“Sorry kid. I’m not the one you should be messing with.” He put his hands in his pockets and flashed him a smug smile. Sehun didn’t know what to do; he started to back away, he didn’t seem like a threat. Sehun ran off to help Kai. 

 Xiumin finally attacked Kihyun and wasn’t doing too badly. He quickly realized how inexperienced he was and used that against him.

As more of them came, Changkyun drew the line and barked at the rest of them to retreat back to the safety of the forest. 

“Get your asses back in there!” Jooheon demanded but Changkyun snapped at him. Before Jooheon could react he ran back to help Shownu grab Hyungwon from being killed. Jooheon stared at Baekhyun while the others started to run. 

He laughed, “I’ll be back for you, you son of a bitch.”

 Chanyeol walked into his view, covering Baekhyun; he curled his lips, asking for a fight. He wagged his tail, taunting him. Jooheon shifted; inflating Chanyeol's eagerness to fight. Instead, Jooheon held his head up as he turned away to join the rest of his members. Kai, Sehun, and Xiumin chased them back until they could no longer see them in the bushes.

Chanyeol stayed behind, his new goal was trying to get Baekhyun to wake up. Suho and Kyungsoo headed down to check on Baekhyun.

“Is he alright? What happened?” Suho quickly shifted out and tried to run to his aid. Chanyeol lunged at him and if it wasn’t for Kyungsoo grabbing his jacket and pulling him back, he would have lost an arm. Suho crawled back as Chanyeol kept walking to him, murder in his eyes.

Kai barked at Chanyeol, to stop him from getting near them. He wasn’t entirely aware of the situation Baekhyun was in but he was near Baekhyun and that's all Chanyeol needed to charge him. Kai got another whiff of Baekhyun. He started to feel the same effects. Chanyeol scent wasn’t helping either. Chanyeol's scent was revolting, it smelled of an alpha in a rut, warning off anyone near him. 

With all the scents in the air, Kai now had the urge to protect. Sehun kept his distance, not wanting the same thing to happen to him. 

“Oh no,” Suho said, grabbing Kyungsoo to hoist himself up out of the snow. Kai and Chanyeol circled each other and Baekhyun lied in the middle of them. 

“We need to separate Baekhyun from them!” Xiumin shouted over the howling and barking.

“How? Chanyeol’s long gone.” Sehun shifted out and backed away, trying to reach Suho. 

“Kai’s not we can try to get him, but we need to hurry before Baekhyun gets killed,” Suho said with a worried voice. It was basically impossible to try and get an alpha to do anything, especially to separate them from their “mate.” Chanyeol’s instincts told him Baekhyun was his mate; he was an omega, so therefore Baekyun was his mate.

Kyungsoo quickly thought of something, but his instincts told him to stay as far away from them as possible. Kyungsoo pushed through and went with his plan. He wasn’t in heat so he had to improvise, he shifted into his wolf and headed over to the two who were ready to rip each other's throats out. 

“Kyungsoo! What are you doing?!” Suho shouted but he kept walking. He walked towards Kai, trying his best to avoid Chanyeol. Once he reached the top hill, he let off a calming scent, the one he used for Baekhyun. 

He honestly wasn’t expecting to work this well but it wasn’t surprising, he was an alpha. Once Kai smelled it, his ears perked up. Kai trotted up the hill to Kyungsoo, Chanyeol snorted and went back to Baekhyun.

Kyungsoo let a small, playful bark, making Kai wag his tail. The situation was embarrassing for Kyungsoo; having to pretend to be in heat just to get Kai was a memory he wanted to forget. Kai followed him all the way back to the house; he kept nudging his backside and whining but it was ignored by Kyungsoo.

Now all that was left was Chanyeol, great. Sehun really couldn’t do anything, if he got too close he might end up like Kai. It was up to Suho and Xiumin. Their odds weren’t completely against them, alphas don’t get too defensive when it comes to betas. 

Xiumin looked around, “Ok, we just need a distraction to get him away from Baekhyun.” 

“What could possibly distract him? He glued to him,” Suho looked at Xiumin but he came up short with an answer.

“We could make him run for it,” Sehun spoke up.

“What do you mean?” Suho and Xiumin both turned their heads to him.

“I could make him chase me, and you two grab him and take him home."

They looked at Chanyeol, he started to grab Baekhyun's tail, tugging at him. Baekhyun still didn't move, which made the three of them think the worst had come. Chanyeol was the only one that knew he was alive, of course by his scent; the strongest it's ever been. 

Mate. That's all he wanted to do. But the opportunity was being taken from him; he couldn't do anything if his so-called partner couldn't even respond to his calls. He was getting impatient and the three of them could tell. It would quickly escalate if they didn’t step in. 

Sehun approached him and again Chanyeol challenged him to a fight. Sehun was careful, getting closer but backing away, toying with him. He was doing a good job leading him further from Baekhyun. Sehun taunted him, howling and barking that sounded as if he was laughing at him.

Xiumin and Suho inched closer to the corpse lying in the middle of scattered blood and fur. They stayed in their human forms, thinking it would be easier. Once they saw Chanyeol take off, Xiumin slid over and took Baekhyun’s back legs and Suho took the front. 

“One. Two. Three.” To say he was heavy was an understatement, but with their adrenaline pumping they moved as fast as they could. 

Sehun was running for his life. It wasn’t a playful chase, Chanyeol was out for blood. Sehun was internally screaming at the two to hurry up. He had to slow down to keep Chanyeol interested in him. 

They were halfway up the hill and it was the most exhausting thing for them. Suho kept slipping since he had to walk backwards but once they made it over the hill the rest of the trip to the house went smoothly. Sehun could finally run out of there; he flung himself over the hill and ran home as well.

Chanyeol stopped at the hill and looked back for his mate. He looked around, running to the spot where he left him. His scent lingered in the snow and Chanyeol buried his face in it. He howled in despair and made sure everybody could hear it. Chanyeol just morphed into a sad puppy. Instead of heading back to the house, he lay by the place Baekhyun was in as if he was still there with him.

Chapter Text

Shownu and Minhyuk carried Hyungwon while Kihyun helped Changkyun walk. Changkyun held his side, blood steadily dripping from the open wound. They all walked in silence. Jooheon walked ahead of everyone, he walked causally, seemingly unbothered. 

6-1 and he ended up on the losing side, it pissed him off. Just thinking of Chanyeol challenging him; he chuckled in disbelief. Chanyeol reminded him of someone, someone he was very familiar with. Baekhyun.

Constantly winning, always being the best. Always being praised, Baekhyun would always come out victorious. Chanyeol’s fighting was like Baekyun’s fighting, although Chanyeol was a sloppy fighter. No one could move like Baekhyun. No one could fight like Baekhyun.

“Something funny?” Changkyun spat out blood, glaring at the back of Jooheon’s head. Jooheon stopped.

“What’s funny?” Jooheon turned to face them. “What’s funny is this. Every one of you. Pathetic.”

Changkyun pushed Kihyun off of him, limping towards Jooheon. “We’re pathetic? I don’t remember you helping very much, were you?”

 “You couldn’t handle one wolf, one measly wolf. I thought you could at least handle that-”

“Fuck you Jooheon! For once can you get off your goddamn high horse and stop thinking you're better than us!” Changkyun stumbled forward, jabbing a finger into Jooheon’s chest. Kihyun put his hands over his mouth.

Jooheon looked down at his finger, “You think I’m with you guys? You low lives?” Jooheon struck him right in the jaw. Changkyun fell flat on his back. 

“Jooheon!” Shownu yelled. Jooheon stood over Changkyun. He leaned down and jabbed his hand right into the gash on his side. He screamed out in agony; clawing at him to release him. Jooheon dug his nails into his torn flesh.

Changkyun started coughing blood, the rest watched. Jooheon stared at him, slowly adding more and more pressure. Kihyun couldn’t take it.

“Just say it!” He yelled to Changkyun.

“F-Fuck you-” He spat at Jooheon. Jooheon pushed deeper, feeling the tip of his rib cage. Changkyun could no longer scream. He looked at Jooheon, unable to bear it. Jooheon leaned down, putting his ear to Changkyun’s lips.

“Y-you win.” He whispered through gritted teeth.

  The roar of an engine cut them off. Jooheon smiled, ripping his hand out of him. Kihyun ran to him. Jooheon stood up and looked at the jeep barreling towards them.

“Wait, that's them! Stop you idiot!” The car halted to a stop, kicking up snow in everyone’s face. 

Siwon stood up in the opening of the jeep, “did you get him?” He spoke without thinking, not noticing that they all looked bloodied and beaten.

No one answered, expecting him to figure it out on his own. They hopped in the back of the jeep without a word. One good look at them and reality hit him. He didn’t want to believe it, he would have scolded or just yelled at them from frustration but he remembered what he said to Soomin. “Of course sir, everything is planned out and he should be back in no time.”

“No, no, no, no!” He yelled punching the airbag compartment that threatened to release. He would have to go back empty-handed. He crossed his arms over his face and rested on the dashboard. Heechul put a hand on Siwon’s back, “It’ll be alright, we just need to make a new plan.”

“Making the plan is easy. Having to face Soomin is the problem.”

“Just tell him he was there but you couldn't get him that's all-”

“You don’t understand Heechul!” He grabbed his jacket and pulled him close, “I told him I would have him by tonight! tonight!” Siwon tossed Heechul back in his seat and rested his arm on the door.

“Why would you tell him that,” Jooheon said. Siwon covered his face again, tears filling his eyes, he was terrified of what was to come.

“I-I thought we could get him. I thought I could finally get him back and be done with this shit.”

“You're a fucking mess you know that? Why would you say that if you didn’t even know for sure.”

“Because I trusted you to get him back, but you fucked it up!”

Jooheon laughed bitterly, “Don’t you put your fucking mistakes on me. You lost the bitch in the first place and if you are gonna blame me for that you got another thing coming.” He put his bloody hand on his seat, letting it drip onto Siwon shoulder’s. Siwon looked at him, forgetting just how scary he was.

“Hey! Can we just get the hell out of here,” Shownu pointed at the two lying down, bleeding out and now unconscious. With a sigh, Heechul started the car up and made a sharp turn for the mansion. Siwon sunk in his seat, fighting back the urge to jump out of the vehicle and run away, never to be seen again.

⧫⧫⧫

The sun was almost set and Chanyeol still moped around outside, howling at nothing. Suho, Xiumin, and Kyungsoo were all in the house with Baekhyun. Sehun and Kai were kicked out of the house. Kai was pacing their front porch; walking off the last of his rut. Sehun sat in the car with the heater on since he wasn’t in a rut, just couldn’t come inside. Fortunately, Suho brought him some apple slices and a bottle of water. All of this made Sehun groan, judging by how Suho kept bringing him stuff and how he reeked of Baekhyun made him think he was going to be out there for a while.

Baekhyun was situated in his bed, still unconscious. He was no longer a wolf. He curled up in a ball, despite how hot he was. His breathing was slow but It was a relief to the three that he was. He had small cuts on him from being under Chanyeol, but if it wasn’t for him, Baekhyun probably wouldn’t be there. Suho worked on the small cuts but couldn’t help but gag. It was about the strongest scent he’d ever smelled. 

He was in heat no doubt, but it was unusual to pass out the moment you get it. Usually, you would be desperate for a mate, burrowing, or just have cramps. It was strange and most likely something was wrong.

He showed no other symptoms of being in heat other than the scent he was emitting that was attracting every alpha on this side of the world, especially the three alphas outside.

Kyungsoo brought suppressants that he kept in his drawer and band-aids. Handing them to Suho, he sat on the edge of the bed and he wasn’t too fazed by the smell.

“How is he?”

Suho lifted his hand that was pressed to Baekhyu’s forehead, “Well, I don’t know. He doesn’t seem to be injured from the fight, so I’m guessing he passed out from his heat.”

“That’s not entirely out of the ordinary, some heats are that bad. It didn’t help with the situation he was in,” Kyungsoo said, walking to the door. 

“I guess we just have to wait until he wakes up.”

Outside of the house, Chanyeol couldn’t shift out of his wolf form. Baekhyun’s smell lingered everywhere he went. He started to follow it, sticking his nose in the air while trotting his way to the house.

He saw the lights through the window and ran to them, but skidded to a halt. Their 7-foot gate stopped him from getting to his sweet omega. Sehun noticed him and quickly sat up in his seat. Sehun knew what he was trying to do, not only were alphas determined in a rut, but also stupid in a rut.

But he wasn’t worried about Chanyeol hurting himself in the process but the fact that he might actually make it. He didn’t need any more chaos added to his night and if he could pull it off, then he could most definitely make it to Baekhyun.

Kai heard all the rustling and came from behind the shed on the side of the house. Once Chanyeol laid eyes on Kai, he was back to his howling, drooling self. Kai on the other hand was a little more calm; finally able to think properly. Chanyeol stood on his hind legs and barked like a rabid dog. 

Kai only growled at him, knowing the fence kept him where he was, he decided not to fuel his anger. That is until Sehun laid the horn on him. 

A poor attempt to get him to shut up or scare him. He whipped his head over to Sehun and he revved up the engine. Sehun honked the horn again, making Suho look from the window to see what was going on. Baekhyun shifted in his sleep from the noise. 

With Chanyeol’s heightened senses; he brought his head down and tried to put his paws over his ears. Sehun held the horn and blared it until Chanyeol broke, which didn’t take too long. Chanyeol’s final straw was when the headlights shined in his eyes. 

With a howl; he ran off into the forest, not even looking back. He ran and ran until Sehun could no longer see him with the headlights.

Suho knocked on the window to get Sehun’s attention. He was afraid to open the window, not wanting them to get even the slightest whiff of it. Sehun only gave him a thumbs up when he saw him trying to mouth, “What are you two doing?”

Everyone settled down except Baekhyun, the noises kept him up. He was in a state of confusion and discomfort. He couldn’t tell where he was or what was going on around him. 

“Chanyeol?” It was the last person he saw so it was the first person he called for. He couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or not, the room was dark; pitch black. He started to wonder if his eyes were even open or not.

He heard a faint chuckle that echoed throughout his entire room. He failed to sit up realizing he couldn’t move at all. He was paralyzed.

He felt uneasy feeling like he was trapped, especially when his bed dipped. An unsettling feeling made its way into the pit of Baekhyun’s stomach. Mustering enough strength, he pushed himself to lay on his back only to be met with more darkness. 

“Baekhyun.” 

Even though the person was so close to him, his voice was like an echo in the distance.

“Chanyeol?”

“No silly.” Another weary chuckle filled the empty room, sending chills down his spine. Their hand gently grabbed Baekhyun’s leg, he flinched. The man’s hands were like ice. It was cold on his bare skin. Where were his close? Where was he? The ice-cold hands, like death himself, were running his hands up his legs. 

He tried to move his legs away from him, but he slithered up to his inner thighs. 

Baekhyun’s breath hitched, “s-stop it.” His voice came out as a whisper; gentle and unconvincing.

The man hushed him, “Don’t fight me, my little pup.”

The man's hands kept wandering, moving up to his chest. He felt naked, a thin cloth was draped over him; a worn-down hospital gown. The man's voice, the nickname, his touch. It was all too familiar, but he was trapped. Baekhyun couldn’t remember how to breathe. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were open, but if they were closed, he didn’t want to see who was in front of him. He knew who it was.

The man’s hands slipped under the gown, tracing his fingers over his toned muscles. Baekhyun lifted his arm, it was all he could do. He reached for a light flickering above him. A light bulb swayed back and forth, back and forth. The man grabbed his arm and pinned it above his head.

“Baekhyun.”

“Please.” 

The man grabbed his other arm and pinned it as well. Baekhyun couldn’t believe how his body gave up on him, not even trying to break away. As if his body knew his fate. He had to accept it.

“Please, not tonight-”

“I’ll be seeing you soon, my little pup.” The man placed himself in between Baekhyun’s legs and whispered in his ear. That voice. Worn down and husky. Engraved into Baekhyun’s head. 

Panic set in. The man tightened his grip on his wrists, gripping them so hard it bruised him. He kicked his legs around, gaining his strength back. The man didn’t budge, only laughing at his attempts.

“I taught you better than this.”

“Get the hell away from me!” The light swayed faster, getting brighter and brighter. 

He squirmed and kicked, starting to yell. The single bulb lit up the whole room, it was too much. It was all to much. It was a nightmare he was all too familiar with.

“Baekhyun.”

“No.”

“Baekhyun. Baekhyun!”

“Get away from me!” He felt the pressure release from his wrist and he immediately shot up. He opened his eyes, not even registering that they were always closed. He looked around the room, it wasn’t dark; the lights were dim; the bulb above his head was nowhere to be seen.  

He looked at his wrists, they weren’t bruised, not even touched. He looked at his clothes, normal, everyday clothes.

 After his adrenaline rush, he felt the sharp pains shoot through his abdomen, prompting him to fall back down into his pillows. He stared at the ceiling, dazed, and unable to fall asleep in case the man wanted to come back and finish what he started.

⧫⧫⧫

Deep in the forest, Chanyeol was still wandering. Still not being able to come down from his high, he continued his search for Baekhyun. Of course, he was miles away from the house but he somehow forgot about that part.

Horny, desperate, angry, and lonely. With so much happening to him, it was hard to control himself. He wanted to mate with anything that he could find, preferably Baekhyun. He wanted to rip apart anything that got in his way, trees and bushes included. All he could do was howl and whine; waiting for a certain someone to call back. 

At this point, he was lost, not even knowing if he was in his territory. Chanyeol ended up being near another field. 

Thinking he might have somehow wandered back home, he howled and trotted towards it. A house sat in the middle of the snow field. It wasn’t his house, it was smaller and a little worn down. 

As he came closer he was bombarded with the smell. There were scents everywhere coming from the house, but instead of being disgusted, Chanyeol was all over it. He could smell omegas, lots of them. Being the desperate idiot he was, he stood outside and howled like a madman. 

Minutes pass by and he circled the house, making it known to everyone sleeping that he was horny. A light flicker in an upstairs room and made Chanyeol perk his ears up, wagging his tail. A figure appeared in the window, getting a good look at the annoying wolf below him. The figure disappeared but Chanyeol heard the front door creak open.

He quickly ran around to meet the stranger, which turned out to be a familiar face. He stopped at the foot of the stairs; the small figure poked his head out and tilted his head, “Chanyeol?”

He barked in response.

The man stepped out of the house but almost fell back inside when Chanyeol flung himself at him. He wanted to go inside, their scents were so strong but the one that filled his nose was the omega that stood in front of him. 

“Ah-Chanyeol, what are you doing here-ugh.” He got a whiff of Chanyeol when he jumped on him again and licked his face. He closed the door to keep Chanyeol out and pushed him off. “Holy shit! What happened to you?” He examined all the dried blood on him. 

“Did you get into a fight? Jeez, are you also in a rut?” He added, covering his nose, smelling the pungent scent.

Ignoring his questions, Chanyeol buried his face in his crotch, making the man shoot forward, bumping his butt into the door. He grabbed his snout and pried him off but Chanyeol playfully bit his hand, getting slobber on the other.

“Chanyeol-oh my god!” The man really couldn’t catch a break as Chanyeol jumped on him again and licked his neck. He was too big to hold up and fell back yet again into the door.

 All the noise was bound to wake someone up and it did, but nobody wanted to get up; thinking someone else's problem. The man was being manhandled by a wolf twice his size. Throwing him off again, he ran past him and zoomed down the stairs of the front porch to get away from him.

He failed, slipping on the last step and falling face-first into the snow. He cursed to himself and tried to get up but of course, Chanyeol had to lay on him. Chanyeol took in his scent, burying his face in the man's neck. It smelled of peaches and freshly baked cake. Chanyeol couldn’t help but miss the sweet vanilla and lavender. He just couldn’t get him out of his head.

“Hey!” A loud voice came from the door and the boy under him could feel Chanyeol growl. He threw his hands up trying to stop them from coming closer.

“Everything's fine! It’s just Chanyeol…in a rut.”

“What? Chanyeol? What is he doing here?” the man looked closer, seeing Chanyeol’s glowing eyes.

 “Damn, what the hell happened to him? Did he kill something?” The boy under Chanyeol rolled his eyes, “I don’t know, I just found him like this. Now help me.” The man went back inside to wake the others to deal with this mess along with him. taking a look at the two of them, they knew it was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

The sun rose and so did everyone in the house. Baekhyun was already awake; getting barely any sleep for more reasons than one. Baekhyun couldn’t even find a comfortable position due to his abdomen. It was such a strange feeling and he couldn’t even describe how uncomfortable he was. He sat up with a huff, his sweaty hair plastered to his forehead. 

He looked around the room, trying to figure out how he got there. He threw his legs over the bed and tried to get up but fell back on the bed with a groan. Suho, who was nearby, heard Baekhyun’s struggle and knocked on the door.

“You're awake.” Suho peeked in to see Baekhyun hanging halfway off the bed.

“I never slept,” He mumbled.

“Well you seemed passed out snoring in the middle of the night,” Suho laughed. He walked over to his nightstand and handed him a glass of water already prepared for him.

“How are you feeling?” He sat at the edge of the bed and watched Baekhyun chug his water down.

 Baekhyun glared at him as he placed the cup down. 

“I understand,” Suho nodded, getting up from the bed and heading to the door

“We’ll be back in a little while, we're in a bit of a rush. Kyungsoo is staying here so you won’t be alone.” He sounded like a mother leaving her kid to the babysitter, but Baekhyun ignored the tone.

“Where are you going?” 

“To go and find someone.” 

 He opened his mouth to speak yet struggled to get the right words. He wanted to ask about what happened but decided against it. Now that he was thinking about it, only fragments of last night remained in his mind.

Jooheon. 

He remembered seeing him with bright red hair. He couldn’t tell if that was a dream but the memories of a certain someone made him believe that it might have been real.

“Chanyeol….”

“Yeah, I gotta go find wherever he ended up and hopefully didn’t get himself into trouble.” Suho shrugged and headed out the door with Xiumin following behind him, leaving Baekhyun and Kyungsoo on their own. 

Once they stepped out onto the porch Kai was the first to greet them, by tackling them. He grabbed them by the collars and shook them around.

“Get me inside! I’m so fucking cold!” He was only in his pyjamas, due to the fight happening on such short notice.

“Would you keep it down Kai, and no you can’t go inside.” Xiumin pushed Kai off of him and adjusted his jacket. Suho quickly headed inside to get him some clothes and Xiumin decided it would be best to look for Chanyeol in a car rather than on foot.

“Can I please go inside, I wanna take a hot shower,” Kai whined, following Xiumin to the car. Xiumin knocked on the glass to wake up Sehun who had his chair reclined and a blanket over him. He flinched when the knocking got louder and removed the blanket over his face.

“Oh, so he got a blanket and somewhere warm to sleep.”

“Do you even remember what happened last night?” Xiumin’s tone made Kai hold his tongue and stop whining.

“Yeah…most of it,” He mumbled under his breath.

“Well then you shouldn't be complaining, we couldn’t give you much when you snapped at everyone,” Xiumin scoffed.

“Your lucky Kyungsoo saved your ass, or else you would’ve ended up like Chanyeol.” 

“Kyungsoo?”

Sehun started the car which ended their conversation, he rolled down the window, a tired look on his face.

“Is it over?” Sehun mumbled.

“That's not how it works, now get out of the car.” Xiumin opened the door and grabbed his blanket; folding it and throwing it in the back seat. Sehun quickly wrapped his arms around him as he wasn’t wearing clothes that fit the temperature either.

“Wait, if it isn’t over, why am I getting out?” He fought with Xiumin not wanting to leave, but the ladder yanked him out of the car and hopped into the driver's seat.

“We need to get Chanyeol, wherever he ended up,” Suho said, walking up behind them with Kai’s clothes and more blankets. 

“I guess you guys can hang out in the shed.” 

All Suho got was glares from the two.

He sighed, “Look, you guys wouldn’t want to be in there anyway. I’m sorry you guys have to be out here but I can’t do anything right now.” Suho hopped into the passenger seat and leaned over to look at them.

“What's more important right now is finding Chanyeol.”

“You can take us to the other house! You can look for Chanyeol while doing so.” Kai wrapped himself in a blanket and tried to give his best puppy dog eyes. 

“You guys can just look with us you know,” Xiumin said quietly.

Miles away in another territory held Chanyeol, North of where they lived. But instead of choosing to go north, they chose to head east of their land where Luhan and the rest of them were because of the two alphas that sat in the backseat of the car. It seemed like a good idea; to ask if he ended up at their house, pestering their omegas.

It was a couple of hours wasted since it was impossible to find a wolf in all of the snow, but instead of dropping the two off and turning back, they decided to pay them a visit and ask if they’d seen him.

“Well, what brings you guys here so early.” It was Chen that opened the door and invited them into their cozy-looking living room. Kai jumped onto the couch and sighed deeply, finally getting something comfortable to sleep on.

“These guys need a place to stay for a while, our guest went into heat,” Suho said, following Chen into the kitchen. 

Chen shrugged, “There's always room for you guys, but who’s this guest?” 

“What? Chanyeol never told you?” Xiumin chimed in.

“Told me what?”

“Over a month ago we saved an omega from the snowstorms and he’s been living ever since,” Xiumin explained.

“Oh, I guess he forgot to mention that to me,” Chen said with a strained face and started to make his coffee, shutting the fridge and cabinets a little too hard. Chen was about to say more but Lay came out of his room with only a towel on.

“He told me and Tao,” he said nonchalantly while drying his hair with another towel. Upon hearing that Chen went on a mumbling rant about how no one tells him anything but everyone left him to do that on his own.

There was mostly small talk between Lay and the rest because of a long overdue visit to their house, but their conversations mostly ended up being about Baekhyun and what happened last night.

“So where’s Chanyeol now? Is he alright?” Lay looked at their unsure faces.

“Well I guess that would answer our question; have you seen him,” Suho said scratching the back of his head.

“We don’t know where he ran off to, but I think we should get going anyway.” Xiumin tilted his head towards the door at Suho. Lay followed them to the front door and held the door for them.

“You guys need anything, we’re always home,” Lay chuckled. They waved goodbye and headed out into the snow.

 It was now just the two of them, sitting in silence for almost an hour. Suho, who was in the driver's seat, paid no attention to Xiumin and kept his focus on the trail in front of him. In the passenger's seat, Xiumin was lost in thought. His face was strained; everything felt off ever since their new addition to the household came along. Something about Baekhyun just didn’t add up, but he decided to keep it to himself the whole morning; figuring that there were more important things at hand.  

But maybe now was a good time to bring it up.

“Hey Suho?”

 Suho only hummed in response, still not taking his eyes off the road but when Xiumin failed to answer fast enough he glanced at Xiumin.

“Is something wrong?”

“No…It’s just about Baekhyun.” Suho slowed the car down so they could look around and talk at the same time.

They were both hesitating to answer for different reasons, Suho was focused on scanning the forest while Xiumin was trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say.

“What about Baekhyun?”

“Well...”

“Wait,” Suho quickly said.

 “Look.” He pointed at the trail in front of him. Xiumin didn’t see anything until Suho pointed to the makeshift road that led deeper into the forest and out of their territory.

“Did one of us go off-road?” Xiumin squinted his eyes to see if he saw where it led but instead, he found pawprints.

“Hey there’s pawprints along with it, you think that could be him?” Suho leaned over to the passenger side to see the pawprints as well.

“It looks like there was more than one,” Suho pointed out. 

They ended up following the trail and eventually, the pawprints stopped and it was just the tire tracks that they followed.

“Was he picked up by someone? There's no more prints in the snow,” Xiumin said. Suho shrugged and kept following it until they came across the small house. The trail led away from the house, making a sharp left away from it. They decided to leave the trail and visit the house.

“Maybe they’ve seen him,” Xiumin commented.

“Wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

They pulled up in front of the familiar worn-down house and stepped onto their icy front porch that hadn’t been shoveled in a while. When Suho came to the door, he heard lots of shouting and shuffling inside.

 He gave it a couple of knocks, but they went unheard. He gave it a few more. Nothing. 

Suho sighed; he slammed his fist into the door and didn’t stop until one of them opened the door. 

“Would someone get the goddamn door! And for god’s sake can we at least get this cleaned up!” There was more shouting and people stopping around, getting up or down the stairs.

“You clean the mess; I’ll get the door!” Once they heard that someone was getting the door, they quickly stepped back and Suho adjusted his jacket, putting on a friendly face.

The door flung open and they were greeted by a shit ton of smells, they were used to it when they visited them but this was different.

“Hey, you seem very busy so I’m gonna make this fast. Have you seen-” An arm grabbed his jacket and yanked him inside slamming the door shut. Once they were inside they saw what a mess it was. Their furniture was muddy and had scratches on the couch. There were muddy pawprints on the floor and vases were knocked over and broken.

“They're here! Finally,” He added under his breath.

“Is Chanyeol here?” Suho asked, still in the man's grasp. Another man walked up to them and smiled after he breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Yes, he’s here and I’m glad you guys are too.” 

“Oh thank goodness! I was getting so worried about him,” Suho dropped his weight; feeling like a ton of bricks was finally lifted off his shoulders. The man holding his jacket almost dropped him but Suho didn’t seem to mind.

“Taeyong, would you get off him? Why are you even holding him like that in the first place.” Taeyong released him and Suho stood upright and brushed himself off.

“Where is he?” Xiumin walked past the two and up to Ten, who was in his pajamas that were dirty and he smelled of Chanyeol.

“Oh, yeah he’s in the upstairs bathroom.”

“And?” Xiumin said, feeling there was more to just Chanyeol being in the bathroom.

“He’s a bit….unhinged at the moment.” 

Ten led them up the stairs and down the hall, which made the two realize this place was a lot bigger on the inside than out. I mean it was big enough to hold twenty-three people. They stood at the door but Ten didn’t open it.

“I think it’s ok. He had his little episodes in here to transition out of his wolf, which thank god he did because he made a mess of the house.” 

Suho went to the front of the door and knocked lightly, calling out his name. It was silent so he put his ear to the door. There was heavy breathing that was faint; he wasn’t near the door. Suho turned the knob and Ten and Taeyong took a few steps back. He cracked the door open; the bathroom was also trashed and it stunk, very badly. 

“I don’t see him.”

“What!?” Taeyong and Ten said in unison. Taeyong grabbed the doorknob and opened it further but it stopped halfway, the door was stuck. He could only peek his head through the door but couldn’t get completely through. He peeked behind the door and saw the pole for the shower curtain was lodged in between the door and the bathroom cabinets.

“What’s there?” Xiumin asked.

“Hold on.” Taeyong took his head out of the door and put his arm through, grabbing the pole and pushing it up but it wouldn’t budge. A couple of tugs turned out to be too rough because there was a loud snap and the door was free. 

“Shit,” Taeyong mumbled. The door was completely open and all hell hadn't been let loose. Chanyeol was in the shower, with the curtain over him, not moving. All they could see was his chest slowly rising and falling. 

“Is he asleep?” Ten asked and Suho crouched down and pulled the curtain from his face. It looked like he had taken a shower that's how sweaty he was, his mouth hung open and revealed his fangs.

 Chanyeol wasn’t necessarily asleep, just in a state of exhaustion, but the feeling of exhaustion vanished as he smelled the presence of an alpha and an omega. He grabbed Suho’s arm, making him shriek. His eyes shot open and his breathing was fast and shaky, he sat up and the curtain slipped off his body. He was completely naked.

Suho struggled to get out of his grip and trying proved to be impossible. Taeyong wished he had never seen what he just saw but he came to Suho’s aid along with Xiumin. Chanyeol growled at Taeyong and tried to lunge at him but his body gave out on him. He let go of Suho and flopped over the side of the tub. 

“Chanyeol. Hello Chanyeol, are you there?” Xiumin waved his hand over Chanyeol’s face but Chanyeol was too dazed to answer.  

“Baekhyun…..” 

“No not Baekhyun, it’s Xiumin.” 

Xiumin covered him with the curtain and he and Suho tried to help him stand. They asked Ten if he could bring him some clothes and he quickly ran out to go get them.

 It was like a hangover for him, his vision was blurry and he couldn’t think straight or walk in a straight line. It was a struggle to get downstairs without dropping the curtain and accidentally showing him in all his glory.

Once that was over, they threw him on the couch while they waited for him to get some clothes. Taeyong stood alongside Suho and Xiumin, watching Chanyeol mumble to himself.

“How did you know he was here?” Taeyong asked.

“We followed the trail that your car made and ended up here, so we decided to knock and ask,” Suho said, but Taeyong only looked at him strangely.

“Car, what car? Ours broke down a long time ago.”

“Oh. Yeah, now that I think about it the trail just kept going past your house.” 

Ten came down the stairs with neatly folded clothes and started to help Chanyeol get dressed.

“How did he get so beat up?” Ten asked, putting a grey long-sleeve shirt over Chanyeol’s head.

“He got into a fight with a pack that was trespassing,” Xiumin stated.

“A whole pack? What did they want with Chanyeol? Taeyong asked. Suho walked over to Ten and helped him with the pants situation.

“They wanted to get an omega we took in a while back- come on Chanyeol, work with me here,” Suho pleaded for Chanyeol to try to clothe himself and he lazily pulled on a shirt.

“Thank you, now you can put on your shoes.”

“There were six of them all trying to get the omega and Chanyeol was the only one to fight them off,” Xiumin added.

 Hearing that made Taeyong pause for a moment, “There were six of them?” 

Xiumin nodded.

“Was there one with red hair?” Everyone looked to Taeyong, wanting to know why he was so specific.

“That bastard….” Chanyeol growled but leaned back into the couch, thinking of the mysterious red-haired man.

“You know who they are?” Suho asked after folding the shower curtain and setting it next to Chanyeol.

“No, but they came to our door looking for someone. A medium-sized wolf with bits of black in their fur is how they described them.”

“Baekhyun, that has to be Baekhyun,” Xiumin looked at the others and they agreed with him.

“We have to go, thank you for taking care of him, and sorry about the mess,” Suho said, stumbling to get Chanyeol out of the door. 

Once Chanyeol came in contact with the cold air, he instantly felt more awake. He was thrown in the back seat and had a blanket thrown on him but he honestly didn’t need it.

He had a massive headache and so many things were running through his mind. He couldn’t remember what happened to Baekhyun which made him worry that they might have taken him. He threw the blanket off him as it was frustrating him and so were his clothes along with being in the car. 

“Where is he?” Chanyeol breathed.

“What?” Xiumin said, unable to hear him. It was too hot for Chanyeol. He closed his eyes and gripped the seats in front of him.

“Where…Is Baekhyun?” He began to pant, shaking his head to try and regain composure.

“He’s fine.” Xiumin’s short answer didn’t fly with Chanyeol, he wanted to know exactly where he was and if he was ok.

He dug his nails in the seat, “Where is he?” He said with gritted teeth. Xiumin turned around to see Chanyeol’s sweaty face.

“Chanyeol, Baekhyun’s fine; he’s at the house in bed, Kyungsoo’s taking care of him.”

Good enough. Chanyeol sat back in his seat and leaned his head back. The red-headed bastard was in his head the entire ride. 

He remembered every detail of his face, even remembering his faded scar. Everything else was a blur but that man and what he said was as clear as day in his mind. “ Mr. Park, you don’t know what you're dealing with here. You don’t even know what he is, it’s best if you leave him with us. ”

“Baekhyun….He’s not telling us something,” Chanyeol mumbled again.

“Yeah….” Xiumin started but Suho interrupted him.

“Look, let's not jump to any conclusions. Chanyeol just calm down and try to get some sleep; it’s gonna be a long ride home.”

Chapter Text

Chanyeol fell asleep for the whole ride to Chen’s house, not even batting an eye when driving through the rough terrain to get there. When they pulled in front of the house Suho turned in his seat to wake him but he slept more like he was dead than anything.

“Chanyeol, wake up; we're here.” He shook him awake which Chanyeol wasn’t too fond of. His body and mind were too tired to function and had to lean on the two of them just to get into the house. Once inside the house, he was greeted by Kris, Tao, and Luhan all waiting for him.

“Well I’m glad you're back Chanyeol, did you have a fun nightly stroll through the forest,” Luhan teased and of course Chanyeol, being too tired, let it slide. 

“Jeez your lucky Ten took you in, you'd probably be long gone, wandering the forest; getting sick from the cold,” Suho said to Chanyeol but he went ignored. Tao fetched a glass of water and handed it to Chanyeol.

“So what happened, when you ran off? How’d you end up at Taeyong’s house? What did they do to- ya know- contain you?” Tao asked, speaking at a pace that was too fast for Chanyeol to understand. He furrowed his eyebrows and squinted his eyes, trying to piece together what he did when Ten brought him into the house.

“A window.”

“A window?”

“I remember going through a window….by accident.” 

Kris and Tao tried their best to hold back laughter while Luhan and Suho rolled their eyes. More fragments of his shenanigans that night came to his mind, embarrassing ones. 

Chanyeol remembered burying himself in Ten's legs and trying to fight Lucas and Johnny, trying to dominate them. Chanyeol absolutely cringed at the thought of what happened and decided it was best to keep that to himself.

“That’s all I remember,” he lied for the sake of his pride and dignity. 

“Did you stay in the house with everyone while you were going rogue?” Tao kept on with the questions and Chanyeol wasn't in the mood to answer any of them.

 That night started to rub him the wrong way. Too many things happened that night undoubtedly; The fight, roaming the woods for a mate, being at Ten’s house and causing chaos there, and a certain someone that has poisoned his mind and made him like this. Even now he still thought about him, but only due to the raging hormones surging through him. 

It felt wrong to think of him like that, but again not really his fault. Thinking about him now made his heart race. It was his first time fully going into a rut but thankfully, but not really, they’ve had experience when it came to someone being in a rut.

“I think I need to go lay down,” he said, interrupting Tao’s never-ending questions. He slipped out of the room and stumbled into the small and dimly lit guest bedroom at the very end of the hallway. 

Once he started thinking of that night, he couldn’t stop. But for different reasons this time, Baekhyun. His thoughts seemed to become a blurred mess, only thinking of the times with Baekhyun. He flopped on the bed with a huff; burying his face in the pillows. Everything before Baekhyun passed out was all he could think of. Being on top of him and smelling his scent. As much as he hated to admit it, he wanted to do it again. 

Vanilla and Lavender, god, he never smelt something so heavenly from someone in his life. It was like a drug to him; something you desperately crave but can never have without facing the consequences.  

Chanyeol gripped the bed sheets, unable to get him out of his head. He had him right there with him, he could have been with him if he hadn't let his guard down. He would still be hovering over him, burying his face into his neck. 

“Damn it.” With a frustrated groan, he sat up on the bed, sweat accumulating on his forehead. Guess he wasn’t fully out of this shit show yet, but he wasn’t about to let himself fall back into that mess again. He got up and headed to the bathroom to take a shower, to wash all the gunk and dirt off him from the forest and the dirty thoughts of the omega that clouded his mind.

As he stepped out of his room he saw Xiumin following close behind Luhan into his room. The door quietly shut and the lights were turned on, but Chanyeol brushed it off; closing the door, stripped off his sweaty clothes and hopped into the shower.  

“So you're telling me, Baekhyun had something to do with the attack?” Luhan said, sitting crisscrossed on the bed.

“I’m not saying he did this on purpose but I feel he had something to do with them coming over here.” Xiumin sat down in an office chair and scooted it closer to Luhan. Since there wasn’t a good time to talk with Suho, he figured that he had to tell someone about what was on his mind.

“Why do you think that he has some type of relationship with these wolves?” Luhan said, leaning forward, trying to understand Xiumin’s messy thoughts.

“I don’t know but, there’s something off about him.”

“How’s so?” 

Xiumin looked at the floor unsure as to why he had these suspicions of the omega in the first place. He was strange undoubtedly, the way he stared off into the distance and growled at nothing, whispering about nothing to no one. His weird habit of getting up in the middle of the night to stand at the door as if he was waiting for something.  

“Well for starters, I heard him introduce himself as a number,” Xiumin said, breaking his intense stare from the floor to look at Luhan.

“A number? What number?”

“004, but the thing is, it was also on his pants. It was imprinted on the side, black and bolded but faded.” Xiumin brushed the hair out of his face and thought about that night making him scoff. Why did no one find that weird? 

“That's strange, almost as if he was like some type of clone,” Luhan chuckled, Xiumin remained quiet, deep in thought.

“A clone…” Xiumin rested his arm on the chair.

“Sorry, I was just messing with you.” Luhan looked at Xiumin and couldn’t tell if he took that as a joke or not.

“…Like to identify each clone,” Xiumin mumbled and Luhan listened. The more he mumbled the more he started to make sense.

“Like an identification,” Xiumin finally said, loud enough for Luhan to hear.

“Are we still thinking he's a clone or, what’s on your mind Xiumin?” Xiumin stood up from his chair and put his finger to his chin.

“Not a clone but….an inmate.” 

Luhan raised his eyebrows and stood with him, intrigued by the new mystery on their hands.

“You think he’s a prisoner?!” 

“Maybe but let's not get ahead of ourselves, it is only a number.” Xiumin sat back down in his chair and melted into it.

“But what if he is from prison?” Luhan looked down at him but Xiumin didn’t look back at him after a little while.

 “Then he’s an escapee.”

⧫⧫⧫

“I don’t want to do this.”

“Don’t say that, you’ll do great; now go.” A loud buzz went off when the woman nodded her head towards the window at the top of the dome, letting them know he was ready.

The gate in front of them slowly opened, revealing a poorly lit enclosure with nothing but darkness inside.

“I can’t do this, I want to go back,” he sniffled. The woman knelt to the frightened boy and pushed his hair out of his face.

“You have to do this, just keep your head up, remember your training, and don’t take your eyes off your target. Got it, now go .” She pushed him in and backed up behind the gate. Giving him a small and faint smile, the door slowly fell over her and she disappeared leaving him alone.

His heart sank to his stomach and his breathing quickened. The air was still and it was eerily quiet.

 In that moment he wished he could go back with the woman and read his books with her about all the different creatures in the world.

In that moment he wished he could chase the fur at the end of the stick to see how fast he could run.  

In that moment he wished he never heard another buzz go off and heard the sound of another door opening on the opposite side of him. He fiddled with the bottom of his shirt and bit his lip, not wanting to know what came out of the other door. 

The air shifted; a new scent filled the dome. 

Right, use your nose. He straightened himself out and breathed in the air; the woman told him he had a keen nose that worked better than others, making him feel proud. It smelled of something rotten, someone’s breath smelled of rotting meat and flesh.

Click. Click. Click.

The sound of nails hitting the hard and cold cement. It was coming from the left of him which he took note of. There was also something he was good at, taking mental notes of people.

He knew he couldn’t stand there forever, they were watching him after all; he took a deep breath and bawled his fist, walking away from it. He stepped quietly, knowing he hadn’t been spotted yet. The footsteps were heavy and he was probably a lot bigger than him, most likely an adult. 

He couldn’t help but tremble; terrified to run but terrified to be caught. He got the notes down but to face it was on a whole other level. Fighting was something that always scared him. Having to watch people be slaughtered with the man in the suit always left him having nightmares.

Before he realized it, tears were streaming down his face and he went back to gripping tightly on his striped red and blue shirt. He wasn’t watching the fight, he was about to experience it firsthand and the thought of it made him cry even harder. There was now growling and the claws of the beast were coming in his direction. 

He quickened his pace and so did the beast. His heart was pounding against his chest and he tried his best not to cry aloud. 

He failed, letting out a small sob and the creature stopped moving. He covered his face and couldn’t stop sobbing into them as he ran. The creature made a loud and murderous roar and came full speed at him. He ran in the pitch black, screaming and crying for help. 

He could barely see, he could barely breathe, all he could do was scream in fear.

“Help! Please. Someone save me!” He tripped and fell, scraping his knees and cutting his cheek. He landed under a small light in the middle of the arena where the creature could finally be seen. A large wolf appeared; starved, bloodied, and ready to kill. He screamed at the top of his lungs trying to crawl away.

The wolf came on top of him and he froze. Staring into its lifeless and tired eyes, it opened its mouth and saliva fell onto his face. He closed his eyes waiting for it to happen, waiting for him to be killed and devoured by this creature. 

BUZZZ.

A dozen lights flash in his face and for a moment he opened his eyes, and it was a moment where he wished he had never opened them. There was the sound of a gun cocking; the beast looked around the room, also blinded by the lights.

When the beast brought its head back to him the gun went off. The sound of a shotgun made his ears ring. It was shot right in the head and exploded the contents within the beast onto him, leaving him covered in it.

He didn’t move nor speak, it was like the world froze in place. He stared at the lights, tears silently falling down his face. 

“Get the kid, we’ll try again some other time,” a very faint voice of a man in the distance said. After a couple of minutes, which felt like hours to him, he was picked by the woman and she carried him like he was her own child. He rested his head on her shoulder, eyes still wide open; staring at the scene behind them.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I didn’t know it was going to be like that, I-I.” She squeezed him tighter and caressed the back of his bloodied head, but it was no use; his mind was blank and the world looked as if it was turned upside down. 

After an hour she had set him down in a chair near a door, telling him to wait there as she stepped inside of a room. He stared at the blank wall, too afraid to close his eyes. Their talking became shouting and things were thrown around.

“How could you! You knew he wasn’t ready and you still did it anyway!” She yelled.

“I needed to get a move on, I needed to see if there was any progress in our work!” He could tell it was the man in the suit shouting.

“He’s only seven! You can’t do that kind of stuff to a child! At least not right now. You're rushing your work, Lee.” There was a muffled sigh and the sound of a chair squeaking.

“I know he’s not ready but he needs to experience these types of things so he can get used to it as he grows, I need him to get used to it all.”

He drowned out the rest of the conversation as his eyes started to droop and his head started to fall. He felt sick to his stomach, wrapping his arms around himself, and buried his head in his knees. He slowly faded in and out of consciousness.

Don’t close your eyes. Don’t close your eyes. Don’t close your eyes. He rocked himself back and forth; fragments of what happened started to creep back into his mind. The lights shined in his face again. They were so bright to him and the yelling was so loud, it began to morph into the sounds of the wolf. 

He closed his eyes for a second, only a second.

“Baekhyun….” A voice called in the distance, but it went unheard. The moment the shot went off, it replayed over and over in his head; each time worse than the last.

“Baekhyun.”

It felt like he could see the man’s face behind that window, watching him scream and cry. What if the wolf got him? What if the gun went off too late? Maybe if the gun never went off, he wouldn’t have to be here. Living the life he never wanted.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

“Baekhyun!” 

He shot out of the bed and backed himself in a corner. His hair was sticking to his forehead and he was gasping for air.

“Baekhyun! Are you alright? You were yelling in your sleep.”  Kyungsoo stepped around the bed but Baekhyun growled.

“What the hell did you do to me?!” Before he could speak again the same sick feeling came over him. He grabbed his stomach and hunched over, feeling like he was going to throw up.

“Relax Baekhyun, you're just in heat. Here, I'll get you some suppressants.” He stepped out of the room and came back with a small white pill bottle in his hand. When Kyungsoo opened the bottle and grabbed two pills, Baekhyun shook his head and backed up even more into the corner.

“No, no, no. I don’t want it.”

“You’ll feel a lot better when you take them, just lie down.” Kyungsoo walked to the nightstand and grabbed some water.

“I don’t want it!” Baekhyun said harsh, cracked voice.

“It’s just suppressants, you know, to help with heat.”

“What?”

Kyungso looked up at him, “you don’t know what a heat is?”

Baekhyun looked at him blankly and Kyungsoo set down the water with a sigh. A sharp pain shot Baekhyun in the abdomen, making him hold onto the dresser next to him for balance. Kyungsoo quickly walked over, grabbed his arm, and led him to the bed. 

“Why are you doing this to me?” 

Kyungsoo looked down at Baekhyun, he started to have concerns about the state he was in but never being in a heat before was something out of the ordinary. He almost couldn’t believe it. 

“I think we need to call a doctor.”

Chapter Text

Suho was almost always the first to call when things weren't going right; so Kyungsoo clicked on his contact first. 

"Hello? What's wrong?" Suho said, already assuming the worst. Tao and Kris turned their heads hearing Suho's concerning words.

Chanyeol came out of the shower and joined them in the living room with a towel over his head. Unaware of the phone call, he plopped on the couch and watched TV. Suho paced the room and listened to Kyungsoo on the phone.

“Wait, Baekhyun doesn’t know what? A heat? What does that even mean?” Suho said, putting his hand on his forehead.

When Chanyeol heard his name he whipped his head towards Suho, staring at him, waiting for him to speak again.  

“So he’s never been in heat? What? How old is he?” The more questions he asked, the more confused he got. He shook his head and ended the call, saying he was heading over there to see what was happening for himself. 

Chanyeol stood up just as Suho put on his coat, “ Let me come with you.” He mentally slapped himself, not meaning to say that, or at least not out loud. He stood there awkwardly, there’s no turning back now, he might have a little luck on his side.

“No.” Suho shut the door and Chanyeol heard the engine roar and fade in the distance. 

Guess not. 

“Come on, we're not that bad,” Kris said, sprawling himself out on the couch. Chanyeol sighed, If he were to go back to the house he would end the same as last night.

“Come on, it’s already late, let's head to bed and forget about last night.” Tao stood up and hit Kris’s arm to get him up as well.  

Tao was right, he should go to bed and sleep off the rest of his rut. There’s no point in going back and forgetting Baekhyun, which was something Chanyeol had to keep telling himself. 

He had to keep telling himself that for almost a week now; cooped up in his room hiding under the covers and sleeping off the whole day. It was all so weird to Chanyeol, having felt like his whole life was thrown out the window. 

Who knew there were so many after-effects when coming off of a rut? All Chanyeol could do was sleep, and when he wasn’t sleeping he was eating. Might have gained a couple of pounds but Chanyeol couldn’t bother to try and work them off.

The others tried to get him up, even motivating him with food to at least try to get his life somewhat on track.

“Come on Chanyeol, It’s been four days!” Chen played tug of war with Chanyeol’s sheets and was losing terribly. Chanyeol was a slob but he still had some strength. He didn’t even bother opening his eyes; just pulling the sheets over his head with a groan.

“Chanyeol It’s one in the afternoon, get up and go do something!” Chanyeol let go of the sheet and sent Chen flying backward and landing on his butt, whilst Chanyeol grabbed the sheets that Chen dropped and threw them over him again.  

“There’s nothing to do, I don’t want to get up.”

“Well, Suho called, said everything is fine. We can head back if we want,” Xiumin stood at the doorway and watched Chanyeol poke his head out of the sheets.

“Really? We can go back? Already?” Chanyeol said, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. 

Xiumin nodded, “Yeah but I suggest you take a shower before we go.”

And with that Chanyeol was up, stumbling around in search of clean clothes and a towel. Once he acquired those things he headed to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, yikes. Four days without washing made him look like a whole different person, a gross-looking person. 

Chanyeol happily stripped himself of his musty pajamas and took a long shower; trying to make it seem like he never skipped a day to shower. And once he got out he brushed his teeth, flossed, chugged some mouthwash, combed his hair, put on some nice clothes. 

Chanyeol stopped and looked at himself in the mirror, It was almost like he was getting ready for a date. A date to go to his house or maybe because he hadn’t seen a certain someone in awhile. He shook his head, drowning out the memories of that night, but then it hit him.

What if he’s mad at me? Or doesn’t want to be near me anymore? His stomach twisted; instead of the time when he was on top of Baekhyun, thinking it was just perverted, now he was full of guilt knowing he did that.

He slowly stepped out into the living room; his head spinning over how badly that situation could have been for him.

“Are you guys ready to go?” He asked after taking a deep breath.

“Where are we going?” Kai turned around on the couch and eyed Chanyeol up and down. 

“I see you're finally up,” Sehun mumbled while looking at a magazine. Chanyeol stared at the two; both still in their pj’s and watching TV. 

“Why are you dressed and not hibernating in your room like you have for the past few days?” Kai raised an eyebrow and Chanyeol put two and two together.

That asshole.

And speaking of the devil, Xiumin walked out with Chen and Chanyeol immediately sent them death stares.

“You're finally up,” Xiumin said, trying to his sly smile.

“You’re such an ass,” Chanyeol said bitterly. He annoyedly took off his coat and threw it on the couch. He was going to go right back to his room and go back to sleep until Chen caught his arm.

“I mean while you're up you could come to work with me and help around,” Chen said with an innocent smile.

“No.”

⧫⧫⧫

Chanyeol crossed his arms and shifted his whole body away from Chen as they drove to his work.

“What do you even do again?” He said with a passive-aggressive tone. Chen only smiled as he turned the corner, driving farther and farther into the city and eventually parking at a small building, and in bold letters, it read,  Ko Ko Bop Elementary/Daycare.

“You work at an elementary school?!” Chanyeol leaned forward to get a look at the front of the building.

“Yeah I work part-time, now come on I think I’ll be fun for you.” 

No, it would not be fun for him, having to deal with bratty children was not how he wanted to spend his afternoon. Chanyeol liked kids, loved them, but today was not the day to deal with children, especially if they weren’t even his.

When they walked in, Chanyeol already wanted to spin on his heel and go back to the car. He could already hear the kids in the back and he felt a headache coming on. 

“Ah, welcome back Mr. Kim,” The front desk lady said with a bright smile. She went into her desk and handed him a lanyard with a pink key card on the end of it. 

She leaned to the side of Chen, “And how might this be?” Chanyeol broke his gaze from all the weird art on the walls and walked back over to the desk.

“This is Chanyeol, he’s here to help out if that's okay with you.”

She threw her hands up in the air, “that's more than ok, here take this, you’ll need this to get around.” She dug around and grabbed another key card and handed it to Chanyeol. They both put them over their heads and walked past her and into a hall of offices.

“Do I have to do this,” Chanyeol whined.

“Yes, you need to do something besides lay in bed all day.” Chen turned the corner that led away from the offices and into the more kid-like area. Bulletin boards with drawings and 100% math tests on them, stickers on the windows of classes that were already in session.

They walked even farther and landed in the daycare/playroom area; kids of different ages were held here, even younger kids that weren't old enough for elementary school, the annoying ones.

Once Chen opened the door the kids started to run to him but stopped when they saw Chanyeol. He towered over them and Chanyeol really didn’t bother trying to put on a friendly face.

“This is Chanyeol, everyone, come say hi,” Chen said, putting his hand up towards Chanyeol. The kids stared at him and kept staring at him, their mouths gaping open from looking up so high. Chanyeol gave an awkward smile; trying not to visibly cringe at them.

“Alright let's go finish up the last project we started last week. Everyone go sit down over there,” Chen instructed. It was weird to hear Chen talk in such a way; he sounded like a yoga instructor or a single dad taking care of his wild kids.

“You can take a seat anywhere, we're going to be painting rocks,” Chen said in his normal voice. Chanyeol took a look around the room, everything was way too small for him. The chairs may as well be a footrest for him and the desk could definitely take out his shins. Chen was the only one who had a normal-sized chair but of course, he was sitting in it.

“Can I have your chair?” Chen looked at him with a wide grin, trying not to laugh at Chanyeol’s expense.

“How about you go sit over there on the floor with I.N and Yuna.” Chen pointed at a boy and girl playing with glue and glitter. He heaved a dramatic sigh and walked over to them.

“Hi there,” Chanyeol said, forcing his legs to sit criss-crossed. The girl looked up and smiled at him. She had a cute smile, apart from some of her teeth missing, and her cheeks puffed out making her eyes squint.

“Your name's Yuna right?” She nodded.

“How old are you?”

“I’m five.” Chanyeol nodded and looked over at the boy who looked as if he was hiding behind her. Yuna looked over at him too, flipping her hair into Chanyeol’s face as she did so.

She started whispering to him and Chanyeol couldn’t hear a thing they were saying despite being right next to them.

“I’m not scared of you but he is,” she said loudly and he pushed her out of embarrassment. He hid behind her again to avoid looking at Chanyeol and Chanyeol just sat awkwardly. Yuna crossed her arms and scooted away from I.N, “he’s not going to do anything to you.”

Chanyeol got up and went to the other side of Yuna. He sat on his knees next to him, “That's a pretty cool rock you got there.” I.N turned his head to look at his rock lying on the table. It looked like some type of porcupine or maybe a wolf, but Chanyeol wasn’t going to try guessing for the sake of being wrong and potentially causing unwanted tears. 

Yuna’s eyes brightened, “look at mine!” She picked up her rock and put it in Chanyeol’s face. It had googly eyes and a cowboy hat sloppily glued to the top of it. Chanyeol nodded in improvement, “Nice cowboy.”

“It’s a cowgirl.”

“My bad.” Chanyeol grabbed a bunch of supplies and scooted them towards the two.

“How about we keep decorating.” They grabbed the supplies and got to work on their rocks while Chanyeol sat and watched. 

He found Chen looking at him, a look of I told you so on his face. He frowned, he wasn’t hating it but he was having fun like Chen said he would. ignoring Chen’s smug face he turned his attention somewhere else, looking around the small room; examining each kid's rock design. He was minding his own business, but when he looked around he caught a glance of something  through the window in the door.

 He saw someone.

A certain person that he never thought he would see again, that redhead. He saw the back of their head but for a split second, he saw his face. 

“What the fuck?” He muttered.

Without thinking he got up, something building up inside him. In the process of getting up he hit the table and Yuna screamed.

“My cowgirl!” It was covered in white paint. Chanyeol walked over to the door, ignoring Yuna. Chen quickly walked over there and helped clean it up and to calm her down.

“Chanyeol!” Chen turned to him but he already closed the door behind him. The man disappeared when he heard footsteps but Chanyeol headed down a hall looking for him.  

“What the fuck,” I.N said softly and Chen whipped his head at him.

“ Jeongin!” 

“I hate him! He ruined my rock!”

Oh I’m gonna kill him.

Chanyeol turned the corner and saw the man head into the bathroom. He bawled his fist up, his eyes locked onto the bathroom. He stopped right at the door. There was something about him. Trying to relive that night again he couldn’t remember what happened or what the man had said. It was something about Baekhyun but what he didn’t know.

It was like a fragment of that night was lost, all he could remember was Baekhyun passing out. Four days and he successfully got those memories out of his head but how could he forget what seemed to be something important?

Before he knew it the man stepped out of the bathroom and brushed past Chanyeol, heading towards the playground. He grabbed him by the back of the shirt, choking him, and turned him around. He shoved him back into the bathroom in a blind rage, pushing him in a stall. 

“You son of a-”

“Yo, what the hell man!” Chanyeol's face dropped. Some teenager with freshly dyed hair and a lip piercing was holding onto Chanyeol’s wrist with pleading eyes. He let go after a while; his head spinning. Maybe it was a bad idea to come here.

The bell rang loudly in his ear, covering them to drown out the piercing sound. The kid ran away, throwing himself out of the stall and out of the bathroom. His breathing became rapid and felt as if he was going to faint.

“Where is he?” A faint voice from outside the door, but the bell kept ringing in his ear even after it stopped.

“Chanyeol!” 

Everything stopped the moment Chen grabbed his arm and threw him out into the hall.

“What are you doing?!” 

 He shook his head leaning on the wall for balance. Chen noticed his dazed demeanor and brought him back to the class and offered his chair. 

“Chanyeol, what happened?”

Chanyeol couldn’t seem to pull a sentence together and found himself forgetting what just happened moments ago.

“I-I don’t know.” His voice came out shaky and weak which gave Chen the impression it was time to go home. 

But the day wasn’t over yet and Chen still had to work, it was only another hour before they could leave so he told Chanyeol to go to the cafeteria to grab something to eat and sit in there and wait until his shift ended.

Chanyeol found his way to the cafeteria relatively fast and peeked behind the counter to see if anyone was in there. Since there was no one in there he walked in and grabbed himself a small cup of frozen yogurt and a plastic spork. 

Not wanting to be in the building, he stepped outside in the front of the school and sat on the curb. If it wasn’t for the yogurt being frozen, Chanyeol would have finished it in three bites. And apart from the yogurt leaving a weird aftertaste, he felt himself calming down. With a clear mind, he started to remember. 

What did he want with Baekhyun? What did he say? He shoved another bite of yogurt in his mouth; his eyebrows furrowed and after a few minutes he came up with nothing. 

A car pulled in just as he finished his yogurt and pulled up in front of him. The tinted window rolled down to reveal Kris and Sehun.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“We're going out, thought you might want to join us instead of being here,” Kris said leaning one arm on the car door. 

Chanyeol stood up and brushed his butt off, “where are we going?”

“I’ll tell you in the car,” Kris said, rolling up the window and moving out of the way from other cars to pass through. Chanyeol went inside and gave the lanyard to the front desk lady, telling her to tell Chen that he was leaving.

He walked through the parking lot and knocked on the window. He heard the doors unlock and went into the back seat with Kai.

“So where are we going?” 

“A club.”

Chapter Text

“I don’t think I’m up for it.” He stared out the window at the green and pink neon sign that lit up the front of the nightclub. The club only opened a few hours ago but it was already packed.

“Come on, I think we all need a break from being stuck at the house,” Kai said, patting him on the shoulder and hopping out of the car. 

Everyone soon got out and went inside, “Hey, lock the car when you get out,” Kris said, tossing him the keys. Once Kris slammed the door Chanyeol was met with silence; apart from the muffled music. 

He sat there, he couldn’t just take the car and leave them stranded and most likely they were going to be drunk, so Chanyeol had to be the designated driver. So now he really couldn’t leave but didn’t want to sit in the car while his friends were getting wasted.

He locked the car up and stepped inside. Chanyeol couldn’t even remember the last time he went into a bar, and he just now realized why he didn’t go to any. He hated them. They played awful music and everybody was all over everybody. 

Chanyeol scanned the place, looking for at least one of them but there were too many bodies in one room. It was a two-story club both holding an unnecessary amount of people in them. It was like a needle in a haystack and Chanyeol was in no mood to deal with it.

“ They’ll show up eventually,” he said to himself as he walked through the crowd. It was a miracle that he was able to find a seat at the bar. With a huff, he sat down and rested his elbows on the table; brushing off the bartender when he asked for an order.

“Absolutely no drinking,” Chanyeol told himself. Of course, there were many reasons as to why he shouldn’t but manly, and apart from being the driver, he couldn’t keep down his alcohol. It was embarrassing to him that maybe two drinks in and he was already drunk. Being told by Kai and Xiumin that he was the touchy-feely, emotional type of drunk didn’t help either. You would think for such a big guy he could hold his alcohol but two drinks were more than enough for this giant.

He shook his head at the thought of past times being drunk with friends and turned in his chair. Still, no one in sight and still alone at the bar; now debating whether he should risk leaving his spot and heading upstairs. 

The decision was made when a group of women came up to him, trying to make conversation when they clearly couldn’t even utter a complete sentence. Leaving the first floor and heading upstairs was a good decision. 

Still crowded, the upstairs was much better, other than the fact that exotic dancers were taking up half the floor. It was a lot bigger with couches and booths to sit at and a nice balcony that showed the view of the city. 

A quick scan of the place and he couldn’t find the rest of the guys up here either. He sat on an available couch and sighed, without drinking or hanging out with friends, a club was quite a boring place to be. It was already growing on two hours at this place but it felt like the whole night he'd been sitting there.

A woman walked up the stairs and sat at the bar. She instantly made eye contact with Chanyeol, but her intimidating eyes made the confrontation short. She ordered a drink for herself and spun in her chair to watch the dancers. They both kept catching glances at each other, except Chanyeol was always the first to look away. He was curious as to why she kept looking at him, thinking maybe they knew each other. 

She had dark hair with bangs, and bold makeup that Chanyeol could see from across the room. Her outfit was no different from her makeup, a short bright pink dress, and all kinds of accessories decorating her. She was quite pretty to Chanyeol and he couldn’t help but look at her, she sipped her margarita with a straw minding her own business.

Until she called him over.

She set down her drink and looked at Chanyeol, motioning with her finger to come sit down next to her. Shit. 

He didn’t know how to turn down the offer since she turned back around in her chair. He stood up and looked around, not exactly knowing if she was motioning to him. There was an open seat next to her and Chanyeol cautiously sat down in it.

She didn’t look at him, so he didn’t look at her, and apart from the blaring music, there was an awkward silence between the two of them; at least for Chanyeol.

The bartender set a margarita down and slid it towards Chanyeol.

“You must be Park Chanyeol,” she said with the glass on her lips. Chanyeol didn’t have time to decline the drink as the bartender already walked away. He turned in his chair, unintentionally making a dumb look on his face. She ignored it and stared at him waiting for a response.

“Um, yeah,” Chanyeol stuttered; uncomfortably shifting on the small stool. She put down her drink and examined him from head to toe. With a sigh, she motioned him to take the drink as she grabbed her own. 

An already paid-for drink was rude to decline and Chanyeol had to admit she was kinda scary. He took as much as he could bear and swallowed the weird, fruity drink.

“A little birdie told me that you have a certain something hiding out in your territory,” she said, sparing him a quick glance. He choked on nothing.

“What? What do you mean?” A dull laugh escaped her lips, still focused on the dancers beside her.

“How do you know about that?” Chanyeol's voice became sharp and less awkward; turning his whole body towards her.

“I know a guy who knows a guy. It’s funny seeing you here, wouldn’t expect someone with such a load on there’s hands partying at a club.”  

Chanyeol shrugged, “how do you know about my personal affairs in my territory?” The woman took another long sip, making no emotion. The corners of his mouth dipped, knowing what she was doing.

“It doesn’t matter how I know-”

“Honestly I think it would, It would help me figure this mess out,” he took a sip of his drink, finding it wasn’t too bad the second time.

She let out a small chuckle and leaned towards him, “So you take something that's not yours, keep it for yourself whilst knowing nothing about it. Sounds like something you’d do.”

Chanyeol didn’t respond. He didn’t mean to get involved in such a mess but he was about to drop the whole thing.

“It?” He said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Definitely shows that you know nothing-”

“Then tell me.” 

It almost seems as if everything disappeared. Like there was no music, no flashing lights, no people. The only thing Chanyeol was focused on was the woman who sat before him. Her silence made him think he would finally get the answers he was looking for, and after her long pause, she finally spoke.

“I can’t tell you.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and took another drink.

“I can’t tell you here, but Chanyeol,” she grabbed his arm and pulled him closer, “you really need to be careful.”

“Why?”

She pulled him closer and put her lips to his ear, “You want to find answers, look into your father's background. Dig up his old work, there you’ll find a lead on where your little friend came from.”

Chanyeol couldn’t even begin to think of what his father had to do with Baekhyun or the attacks.

“Why can’t you just say it here? What does my father have to do with this?”

“Your father has a lot of secrets as do I but I can’t risk my life because of your ignorance.”

“Your-life?”

The woman looked at him, it was different this time. Chanyeol started to feel the gravity of the situation. Baekhyun wasn't some street rat, his life was worth much more than he led on. People’s lives were at stake, and yet he didn’t even know why. People were after him, they tried to take him no matter the cost. Not only was Chanyeol the center of the mess, but he was also the biggest target. 

A hand slapped down on the counter behind Chanyeol making him jump.

“Park Chanyeol! There you are.” His words came out slurred and he stumbled over to stand in between the two.

“Kai?”

 Once Chanyeol saw him, his face straightened as he stood up.

Kai tried to lean on the counter but missed, almost hitting his head on it. Chanyeol grabbed his jacket and pulled him up to his feet.

“Why the fuck did you drink so much?!” Chanyeol pushed Kai off him, smelling the hard liquor on his breath. 

Kai laughed and turned to the woman, “Who’s this lovely lady?”

The comment made her stand, finishing the last of her drink. Following Kai were Kris and Sehun, both as drunk as Kai.

“Sorry about that,” Kris slapped Chanyeol on the back, “didn’t mean to ruin your moment.” He glanced at her, eyeing her up.

She pushed past all of them and brought him down to her level; receiving oh’s and ah’s from the group.

“Whatever you do, Chanyeol. Don’t let him go back, don’t let him go.”

She let go and walked away. Chanyeol called out to her but she was lost in the sea of people. Not even looking back or saying goodbye. Chanyeol turned around to face the three drunk idiots huddled around, laughing at nothing. 

“Let's go.” Chanyeol grabbed his unfinished drink out of Kai's hand and grabbed him by the jacket. 

Kai hit his hand, “what? We just got here.”

“You're delusional; we’ve been here for almost 4 hours.” Chanyeol looked at Kris and Sehun, motioning them to come downstairs. 

“We’ll stay, you can go- I’ll drive them home,” Kris muttered.

“No, just no. If I left you wouldn’t even have a car.” He grabbed Kai and pulled him in the direction of the exit, “besides I’m not in the mood to call a cab for you. We need to get home, now.”

Kai pulled him off and ran into the crowd, laughing as he did so. It was really like dealing with children. Sehun joined him but walked instead, heading near the dancers and to a booth.

“Guys! Come on-'' There was no use yelling at them when he could barely hear himself. He needed to get home, there was no time to waste. He needed to know who this Baekhyun really was, and what he was truly running from. 

⧫⧫⧫

“Get away from me.” Kyungsoo tried his best to dodge flying items that Baekhyun hurled at him.

“I did nothing, now please let the doctor examine you so we can make sure you're fine.” Outside of Baekhyun’s room was the doctor and Suho, patiently waiting for things to calm down.

“Is this a common thing when a doctor comes?”

Suho sighed, “Well for the last check up he was unconscious.” The doctor silently nodded and looked through the door.

“He’s quite lively for someone in heat,” the doctor examined. Suho chuckled in agreement.

“He says he’s never been in heat. Doesn’t even know what one is,” Suho commented.

Baekhyun refused to see him, not even let him inside. When he saw him at first glance with the white coat, he broke a plate, using the shard to defend himself. Miraculously, the doctor stayed, waiting to treat him. 

Baekhyun felt drunk and ill; which was such a weird feeling to him. It was like he wanted something but didn’t know what. 

“What’s his background?” The doctor broke his gaze from the crack in the door to look at Suho.

“Well, we don’t know. We kinda just took him in because of the snow storms.” 

Suho ended up telling the whole story on Baekhyun and still Kyungsoo was fighting him to simply lie down and stay calm.

The floor was covered with blankets and pillows and Baekhyun sat on his knees on the empty bed. The pain was growing worse and Kyungsoo and everyone else’s presence wasn’t helping. He held his stomach; sweat accumulating, making his hair stick to his forehead.

Gasping for air, he fell on his side, accepting that he no longer fight off the doctor. They stepped in and the doctor quickly went to inspect him. 

Baekhyun flinched every time he touched him; pressing a stethoscope against his bare chest under his shirt. He held it there, furrowing his eyebrows each time he moved it to a different area. He saw that he was still underweight, with his defined collar and cheekbones. He wasn’t the desired size the doctor would like him to be.

Baekhyun was curled in a ball staring lazily at the door in front of him. The doctor noticed something, while examining his thin figure he noticed what looked like bruising on his shoulder near his collarbone. 

Moving his shirt slightly, there were more trailing down his arm. They formed into lines and were faded purple and red.

“Track marks…” The doctor muttered to himself. He tried to lift his arm to get a better look but Baekhyun yanked him out of his grasp. Baekhyun lunged, his hand clamped down over the doctor's throat. They fell back on the bed. Baekhyun crawled on top of him, using both arms to strangle the man. 

Suho ran to them, “Baekhyun stop!”

Baekhyun heard nothing. His claws sunk into his neck; blood starting to spill on the bed. Lab coats. Blood. The feeling of killing. 

“Good job, my dear. Never let them live. It’s either you or them.” A faint voice whispered in his ear.

Suho wrapped his arms around Baekhyun's back, trying desperately to get him off. The man struggled, hitting Baekhyun’s arms and face. Suho couldn’t pull him, he was surprisingly strong. Kyungsoo ran to find anything to get him off. The doctor tried to poke his eyes and dig his nails in his face, but it was no use. The doctor desperately reached out to his bag and found his stethoscope, he grabbed the end of it and swung as hard as he could into the side of his head.

 Baekhyun didn’t flinch, not even when blood slowly seeped out of his head. Baekhyun let go and the doctor gasped for air, holding his bloodied and bruised throat. Kyungsoo ran in, pepper spray at the ready. Suho let go, holding up his hand from Kyungsoo to stop. Baekhyun looked down at his bloody hands. The doctor coughed, crawling out from under Baekhyun. Kyungsoo ran over to help him as they both fled to the kitchen. 

“Baekhyun…”

Baekhyun stared at his hands. Blood from his head dripped onto the bed. The pain slowly started to creep back in. His abdomen cramped up again while his head throbbed. He brought his hand to his mouth. Suho watched, unable to look away from Baekhyun licking the blood from his fingers. Suho backed up slowly to the door, and Baekhyun's eyes followed him. He licked his lips and turned to Suho, frozen in the doorway.   

“Get the fuck away from me,” Baekhyun said in a low, yet calm tone. Suho didn’t speak, he backed up, Baekhyun’s soulless eyes never leaving Suho’s as he closed the door.

Chapter Text

“Sehun please, get up.” Speed walking through the crowd, Chanyeol eventually found the group had already seated themselves at a booth with a group of strangers. He was ignored, talking to a random guy sitting next to him.

 On to the next.

“Kris! We have been here long enough. Let's go .” With a huff, Kris hauled himself up, stumbling towards him. In the process, he hit the table and one of the drinks spilled into one of the stranger's lap.

“Shit!” The man stood up and looked at his white pants stained in red.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing!” 

Taking a minute to process it, Kris tried to apologize but the man was already spewing insults for the whole club to hear, causing wandering eyes to stop and watch.

“Why the hell are you even at our table anyway!” The man pushed Kris as he stepped over the small table full of drinks.

It was the same question Chanyeol was asking but he grabbed Kris’s hand and pulled him back, “Hey easy, he didn’t mean to.”

The man demanded that they pay the price for the pants Kris ruined. Chanyeol waved him off, he had Kris, now to herd the rest of them. Kai was taking shots while Sehun was still chatting away.

Mid-drink, Chanyeol pulled the shot glass from Kai’s lips and grabbed his shirt. It was like trying to keep a kindergarten class together on a field trip. He just needed one more, then he could go home. 

Coming back to the tables he found Sehun getting yelled at by the same man with stained pants. Security was there, trying to calm the man down. Chanyeol took a deep breath and walked over there.

“Look, I'm sorry about your pants. We're leaving right now.” He looked at the security to which they nodded but the man wasn’t having it.

“These pants cost more than your lifestyle. You are going to pay for them.”

Chanyeol couldn’t help but scoff.

“Ha. Oh please, this guy right here is the richest man in this city,” Kai said, leaning his whole body weight on Chanyeol. Chanyeol wasn’t even going to start up a whole argument on who's richer, he had things to do. He was too reckless, too careless. He needed to get home. Pushing the man out of the way he grabbed Sehun, shoved them all downstairs before the man could slip out of the security guard's grasp, and finally got to the parking lot.

“You know you're a great friend Chanyeol,” Kai smiled.

“Yes I know, now get in the car.”

Kris hopped into the front seat and Sehun was lying down on the back, not making any room for Kai. But Kai surprisingly did what he was told, making them dog-pile on top of each other. Sehun didn’t mind because he passed out, unaware that another human was being on him.

It didn’t matter, they were in the car. Slamming the door shut, he started the car and got out of there as quickly as possible. The ride wasn’t too bad, except for the smell of alcohol and Kris and Kai’s non-stop blabbering about nothing.

When they got home it was about midnight and now they were no longer his problem, there were now Chen’s.

“What?!”

“Just sober them up and lock them in their rooms.” Chanyeol stood at the door looking at Chen who was dressed like a mom in his robe.

“Why am I taking care of them? Did you drink and drive? Why were you guys going to a club in the first place?”

Chanyeol rubbed his temples, “What makes you think I’m drunk?”

“Your face is red,” Chen said, crossing his arms—3 sips of a margarita and he’s already red, how embarrassing.

“No I did not drink, the guys just wanted to go out. You're taking care of them, I’m leaving.”

Just as he was about to step out of the door Chen stopped him.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my place.” He slammed the door and hopped back in the car before Chen even had a chance to speak. 

⧫⧫⧫

The drive dragged on for over three hours; driving all through the night and up until sunrise. Snow slowly melted and signs of spring sprouted up from the ground. Pulling up to the house, he shifted the gear, putting the car in park. He sat with his hands firm on the steering wheel.

He wasn't stupid. He knew he couldn't just walk in and search the house; he needed a plan. The house was big, but not far enough. They would catch each other's sent in an instant. Kyungsoo, Suho, or Xiumin could be at work or inside taking care of the sickly omega; to which Chanyeol didn't know if it was a good or bad thing if they were there or not.

“Kyungsoo doesn't do this.” Chanyeol quietly shut the car door, heading to the back of the house. Kyungsoo was the only omega in the house, but his heat never really accumulated. Chanyeol befriended Kyungsoo from Xiumin in college and vaguely remembered the story. He developed some illness in high school.

An illness that plagued his family; made him unable to experience heats as often. The doctors explained that the probability of bearing children was slim. So when he moved in, it was never a problem for them.

Now that Baekhyun was here, it was.

He decided to sneak through the back; farthest away from Baekhyun's room. All he had to accomplish was getting inside and stooping down into the basement, that's where most of his father’s work was. Once he made it to the basement he would be safe.

Peering in through the window, he scanned the room before him. Chanyeol slowly opened the door with the click of the lock. He was greeted with silence, almost as if the place was abandoned.

Not only met with silence but the smell; sweet vanilla and lavender made its way into Chanyeol's nose. Of course, he didn't forget this heavenly smell, but he couldn't go inhaling it all. He lifted his sweatshirt over his nose and made a sharp turn. Down the hall and to the right, the basement stairs would guide him to answers.

“Damn.” He positioned his hood fully on, trying his best to prevent it from falling off his face. The smell was intoxicating, too intoxicating, clouding his thoughts. The smell made him want to spin on his heel and head towards the direction of the smell.

He shook his head and hurried to the basement with a bit of pep in his step, feeling like this hallway would never end. The place was dim with all the lights off, proving that only he and Baekhyun were the only two in the house.

Chanyeol's hair and clothes stuck to him like glue. He bumped into the decor in the halls, feeling as if he consumed too much alcohol from the bar. He arrived at the small door that obtained all his father's old stuff. 

The old door creaked from being unkempt and untouched along with everything behind it. Walking down the stairs and flipping the switch, it revealed a vintage-themed room. It had an office area with a bar on the side, but what stuck out to Chanyeol was the large table in the center of the room.

Chanyeol only stepped foot in this room twice in his life, both times when he was a kid. Five years old, he and his friends snuck in to steal from his father's mini fridge for soda. He couldn't recall the room exactly like it today but all he could remember from that night; his father told him that he could no longer invite those friends back to the house ever again.

The second time, when his father passed away. He was fourteen when he died, overhearing his mom on the phone saying that he passed away from a car accident while driving home. He witnessed his mother in the basement, throwing papers around the room while talking to herself in between sobs.

He never entered the room again out of pity for his mother, feeling like it was now her place to mourn. Chanyeol grazed the dust-covered books with the tips of his fingers; articles and dictionaries placed neatly on their shelves. He felt weird stepping into this place; like a nostalgic feeling yet he had only been there twice.

The only memories he owned of the place were the ones of his mother crying. Walking further into the room he noticed papers scattered on a desk; as if his father, alive and well, walked up the stairs, grabbed a snack, and slipped right back down to complete his work. Chanyeol passed the table and walked to the small desk first.

The desk cabinets were flung open, a key dangling from one of them from his mother's doing. Papers were scattered on the desk and the floor, they slid out of manilla folders, some written in red ink and some in black. Chanyeol cautiously pulled out one of the papers.

“Subject 00; Test Analysts.”

A chill shot down his spine, a glance behind his shoulder, and he scanned the paper.

Under it was a list of words he couldn't comprehend; numbers and random digits scattered the page almost like his father predicted he would try to read it and put it all in code.

At the bottom of the page; a small description, the only thing he could understand. He read it silently to himself. His whole body tensed, “subject shows signs of rigor mortis although still breathing…”

His breathing quickened as if someone had grasped his throat, “Subject 001, the skin has rotted and melted off. Still shows signs of life…”

He flung the manilla folders open and snatched more of the papers out. They were all the same if not worse than the last.

“Subject 001; Status: Deceased.” 

“Subject 068; Status: Deceased.” 

“Subject 105; Status: Deceased.” More and more popped up behind the manilla folders making Chanyeol step back, his eyes widened, and his mouth gaped open in disbelief. He dropped the papers, letting them fall to the floor.

“ Your father, he was a good man…. ” He heard the faded voices of distant family, telling him about the good things his father had done for the family. He was a good father, a good husband, or at least in the eyes of a child he was a good man. Too young to understand or even care about his father's career.

Backing up further, he bumped into the table, startling himself. He glanced at it, realizing the top of it lit up. The center of it was glass and it held something behind. The glass was matted, unable to tell what laid inside. His stomach twisted in a knot, feeling it would uncover another twisted piece of his father's past.

With shaky hands he touched the glass, it was cold. Very cold. Swiftly moving his hand away he searched for anything that could open it. Dragging his fingers across the underside of the table, feeling for a switch or a button.

His heart pounded in his ears whilst his lungs threatened to collapse on him. Chanyeol had discovered the tiny switch. He hovered over it, the only things that ran through his mind; Park Sung-jin and who he really was. All his life he idolized the hard-working, humble, and kind man that he proudly called his father. 

But with the click of a button everything changed. A keypad popped up from the table, with only numbers covering the black screen. His breath hitched, examining the numbers, thinking of a pattern that could unlock it. He typed in his mother's birthday.

Denied.

Their wedding anniversary.

Denied.

His birthday. 

A sharp sound filled the room; the glass split in two. Cold fog spilled out and fell to his feet. With the adrenaline pumping and anticipation, he swatted the fog out of his way. When the fog faded. 

Capsules, needles, and more files were uncovered. Needles fell out of their designated spots and scattered over the files. The capsules laid empty on the table while some were missing from their designated spot. Written labels were plastered on the bottle, handwritten labels. His dad's handwriting, in blue ink, wrote numbers with initials. He picked up one of the capsules, "002 IU."

He picked up another, "001 JK."

And another.

 "005 LJ." It was crossed out, replaced with “004 BB.”

But Something clicked in his mind. 004 sounded familiar. He swatted the syringes out of the way. The folders were marked with the numbers on the capsules. He flipped through them, searching for 004. He found 002. 

They weren't descriptions, but photos. Photos of a naked. Her face, white and soulless, while her eyes sunk into her sockets. Pictures of her arms, legs, and torso. Her skin was transparent; veins bulging out, threatening to burst. Chanyeol held his stomach. The last photo was the woman dismembered, each limb naked with a letter and a number. Chanyeol threw the paper down, looking away from it all. 

A knot dwelled in his throat looking back, there were so many more folders. 

These numbers were people. His father was the cause of these people's deaths. He was a murderer. 

He pushed the others aside, frantically searching for the folder. 004, at the bottom of the stack. He opened it. The file was different from the other one, the first page was writing. 

A birth certificate.

Not a legitimate one, but a copy of one. Chanyeol skimmed through it, looking for a name. Things were crossed in sharpy making it harder for Chanyeol. 

"May 6, 2002…." He mumbled.

He was one year older than him. 

  The dates as to when this happened were never really clear, making him wonder how long his father had been doing this.

Finally, at the bottom of the page, a slot titled “name”. 

It was crossed out in marker, "damn it."  He grabbed the paper, putting it above his head, nothing. 

He lowered it to the light of the table. It was just bright enough for Chanyeol to see.

 "Byun Baekhyun."

“ Mr. Park, you don’t know what you're dealing with here. You don’t even know what he is…”

"Chanyeol." His head shot up from the paper, sweat beading down his forehead. He listened for a moment, was it just in his head? 

He went back to the file. It's Baekhyun, his dad knew Baekhyun. 

"Chanyeol!" Just when he was about to turn the page, it almost sounded like a yelp. The voice was louder and made Chanyeol run up the stairs.

He flung the door open, looking in every room for someone.

"Chanyeol…." The voice came out in a whine. He finally recognized the voice, Bakhyun. 

Chanyeol, with a hundred things running through his mind, sprinted down the hall and turned the corner.

The air felt thin to him, getting harder and harder to breathe. He stopped at his room, panting profusely. The room was empty, his sheets drooped off the bed, and pillows laid on the floor. He heard another small whine coming from the bathroom.

Chanyeol took a few steps into the room, the bathroom at his side. He knew he was there, but couldn't bring himself to look at him.

"Please…." Chanyeol bawled his fist up, his whole body tensing when hearing his voice. He heard shuffling in the bathroom and finally mustered enough strength to look his way.

He was met with a pale and sweaty Baekhyun, on the floor near the toilet. The knot in Chanyeol's throat grew bigger and frustration boiled up inside him. Baekhyun wrapped his arms around himself, making himself into a ball. 

"Help me."

Chanyeol stormed into the bathroom but stopped near Baekhyun’s feet. He looked down at him, the look of disgust on his face. It made Baekhyun shut his eyes tightly.

He squatted down, falling to his knees. His nails clawing into his pants, his head dropped, unable to look at him anymore. 

"Baekhyun," his voice came out shaky and tears threatened to fall.

"I'm….sorry." He collapsed at Baekhyun's feet, unintentionally going into a full bow. 

"I'm so sorry." All Chanyeol could do was apologize, unable to get himself together. Tears fell from his face and onto the bathroom floor.

A hand softly landed on Chanyeol's head, intertwining his fingers in Chanyeol’s hair.

He lifted his head and Baekhyun dropped his hand. Baekhyun’s eyes were glossy while being slightly shut. He looked dazed, the last of his heats were playing out, the very end being the worst. Baekhyun tried to leave, tried to escape it all, but he found himself crawling to the bathroom, crying out for someone to save him.

"Make it stop, please." He didn't know what he wanted Chanyeol to do, but pain drove him to beg for anything at this point. Chanyeol couldn't bear it anymore. He pounced on him, pushing him into the wall behind them. Baekhyundidn’t move as Chanyeol dug his nails into his shoulders. 

He rested his head on Baekhyun's shoulder and buried his face in the crook of his neck with a low growl. A wave of pain came over Baekhyun making him lean on Chanyeol.

"I can't…I can't help you." Clouded by Baekhyun's scent, he still was aware of the situation, he knew he needed to get out of there; away from Baekhyun. His body wasn't cooperating, staying put and clinging to Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun sat compliant, waiting for Chanyeol to do something, anything. Chanyeol’s scent; somehow calming to him, the pain was starting to become bearable. He felt a strong desire to engulf himself in Chanyeol, wanting his warmth and his smell. A wave of relief came over him, but unfortunately, it was short-lived. 

Chanyeol forced himself to stand, stumbling all over in the process. He held himself up with the bathroom door frame, his back facing Baekhyun. 

He gave him one last look. His eyes were desperate for him to come back. Chanyeol shook his head running out of the bathroom and out of his room. As he ran out he stopped in his tracks, his eyes meeting Xiumin who had just walked through the door. He dropped his keys,

"What did you do?"

Chanyeol shook his head repeatedly, stumbling off into his room and slamming the door behind him. 

⧫⧫⧫

“We can frame him, it’s simple,” Changkyun said in a yawn.

“No…”

“He killed one of our guys! We can arrest his ass and he’ll be in prison!” Shownu sat up from his chair, dead set on making his plan work. 

“Although he did, we can’t get the cops involved anymore,” Soomin said, putting his finger to his chin.

Jooheon rolled his eyes, “It was a long time ago, just make it anonymous. Then the cops will come for Chanyeol and we can easily get him back.”

“There’s too much of us connected with him, I can’t risk it. We’re on our own on this one.” The room fell silent; two weeks and there still was no solution. Projects and experiments have come to a complete stop which was a problem financially; his foundation and his industry were slowly chipping away, all because of one lousy soul.

“We can take one of theirs. A trade-off.” Kihyun said quietly.

“We kidnap one of them? You don’t think they're on high alert right now?” Shownu spat.

 Kihyun shrugged; going back into his corner, letting everyone else speak. 

“We burn their house down.” Hyungwon snapped his lighter shut, inhaling the toxins with a smile. His suggestion brought a smile to Soomins lips, “No we are not doing that, we might kill him.”

In between the crack of the door, Kihyun spotted a figure. Kihyun squinted his eyes, once he realized who it was, he panicked. He walked at a slow pace while watching everyone talk.

He got close enough to the door, a woman stood at the door, and at the first sight of Kihyun, she vanished. Kihyun swiftly slipped out of the door and examined the empty halls. Walked forward noticing a parted door nearby. His heart thumped against his chest approaching the door. He closed his eyes and flung the door open.

“Hyuna!” He yelped and she quickly covered his mouth and threw him inside.

“What are you doing, Kihyun?” She crossed her arms and leaned on the small desk.

He brushed himself off, “The question is, what are you doing here?! You have to stay away from this place, you already escaped once. You can’t keep snooping around here.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. You're supposed to be dead! Why do you keep coming back here?”

A long silence between the two made Kihyun raise an eyebrow.

“You're here because of the escapee aren’t you?” He stepped closer to her.

“Not necessarily but we’ll go with that.” She kept walking around the room, subtly peeking in files and paperwork.

“Look you already caused enough trouble, I mean this is all your fault in the first place.” Kihyun crossed his arms watching her. She glared at him, “Excuse me, you should be glad I called the cops on Soomin! I saved that kid's life.”

“What did that do for us? This whole place is falling apart now because you did that.”

“Shut up Kihyun.” She stormed up to him and pinned him behind the wall. He cowered under her and couldn’t look her in the eyes.

“Quite acting like this, you’re starting to sound just like them. You want this place to fall just as badly as I do.”

“No, I don’t…”

“Is that why you covered for me? Huh? Is that why I’m still alive?”

“What the hell am I supposed to do Hyuna?! I'm trapped here! I have nothing outside of this place, no one does!” He pushed her out of the way and wiped the tears that quickly fell onto his cheeks. Hyuna stood with her back turned from him.

“You can't do this to these people, it’s my home, our home…” Kihyun whispered.

“Then what? Do you want to suffer here for the rest of their lives? Constantly worried about whether you’ll live till tomorrow. And what’s tomorrow? More drugs? more fights? More of this endless abuse? That's the “home” you live in right now, you just don’t see it.”

She turned to him and put her hands on his shoulders to give him a light shake.

“You and I both know this can’t go on any longer, hundreds are dead and a hundred more will die. He won’t stop.” She wiped the last of his tears with her thumb, pitying him. She stood up straight and brushed her bangs out of her face. She fluffed his hair and headed towards the door, “This the closest we’ve ever gotten to this place being exposed, I’m not going to stop.” 

Kihyun stood there in the dim room alone, he sat on the desk with a thump. He worried for his and his members' futures. He brushed that thought away, realizing he had been gone for too long. He fixed himself up and stepped out into the empty hall. Hyuna was nowhere to be seen so he quietly slipped back in the room.

No one even noticed his disappearance, all of them were still deep into their conversations.

“Well then it’s settled, when should we go?” Jooheon stood up and looked at his boss for an answer. Kihyun’s head popped up, not knowing what they settled on.

“Well, I need to get everyone prepped. In two weeks, we’ll strike.”

“Wait, what are we doing?”

“Where have you been for the past 10 minutes?” Shownu said, getting out of his chair and walking towards the door. Everyone followed leaving Soomin and Kihyun alone. His stomach twisted in a knot knowing it was him and Soomin.

“We're bringing the subjects, raiding their territory and if they don’t give him back, we attack. Killing and destroying everything, understand? I’ll work on having it settled with some of the cops to not interfere.” 

Kihyun quickly nodded and bowed before walking out of the room. He went to catch up with the others but something made him stop.

“This the closest we’ve ever gotten to this place being exposed, I’m not going to stop.” 

“Two weeks,” he muttered under his breath. 

Instead of going back to the others he grabbed his coat off the nearby hanger and made a break for the elevator. Ground floor.

Chapter Text

“Times have changed in this industry. It’s only a matter of time before we fall at the never-ending demands of it.” The man stood from his chair and examined each member's face in the dull, worn-down room. He threw down papers, nameless faces of those who fought. Yet another loss to their catalog.

“We’re being outshined, outlasted. We’re losing our relevance in the marketplace, meaning we need something new, something to bring us back and to keep us there.”

“But are best fighters quit- hell everyone keeps quitting on us,” another man spoke up, looking at the papers.

“Only because money’s tight, we can’t keep lying about how much these guys will take home. They’ll keep leaving if they're never going to get paid,” a woman spoke up from the back of the room. Their boss groaned and sat back down, being reminded of what little they had.

“I can’t give them anything if we don’t win anything. We take what fighters we have and stretch them until we can get enough money to pay them back. But we can’t keep going like this, we need something new, something flashy, something that will grab people’s attention.”

No one spoke, thinking of solutions of how to make their product better, better than everyone else's.

“Soomin,” the man snapped. 

He jumped when he heard his name, adjusting his collar and sitting up straight.

“Yes sir.”

“What do you have for me? Come on, I know you’ve been working on things-”

“Oh come on Chil-hyun, we don’t need help from our so-called interns, the four of them don’t know what they're doing-” The man slowly stopped talking from his boss’ harsh gaze.

He stood and walked behind Soomin’s chair, “I’ve talked with Soomin. I see potential in his research. Soomin?”  

Soomin let out a shaky breath, looking at the man seated in front of him, Park Sung-Jin. They exchanged a glance before Soomin cleared his throat. 

“Well, sir, me and my partner have, in fact, been doing research upon hearing the news about the business and have made a discovery.” He adjusted himself in his squeaky office chair, aware that all eyes were on him.

He motioned his hand, wanting him to continue.

“Rabbits, or, we’ve been studying rabbits-”

“Testings on rabbits, in our lab at our school,” Sungjin commented.

“Yes, my research revolves around the use of narcotics to enhance our performance.”

The man sat up in his chair, “And did you do it? Did you find a way?”

“Hold on, narcotics? Sir, we can’t drug our fighters. It’s against policy…” More people spoke up. Chil-hyun held up his hand and the murmurs came to a stop, he then motioned for them to continue.

“Y-yes and no.” Sungjin stood up and went to the board behind the men. He picked up a marker and began to draw. Soomin got up along with him, turning the meeting into a presentation.

“Pralizenil Dyphymycin and Vitroclotide Ampholozin or P.D.V.A,” Sungjin started.

“It’s a mix between two chemicals, injected into the veins of the rabbit. It makes them aggressive, extremely reactive.” 

He drew the anatomy of the rabbit showing what the chemicals do once inside the body.

Soomin spoke up, “When both are mixed into the bloodstream; the reaction is just what we need for the company. They become stronger, have heightened senses, and are more agile and quick. They are more proficient in killing and yes even in rabbits, they can kill.”

“So what’s their downfall?” The man asked, resting his hand under his chin.

“It’s short-lived sir, they have all this power and energy that most likely after one fight they would die soon after,” Soomin looked over at Sungjin.

 “We tested four rabbits and put a normal rabbit and an injected rabbit together. The one with P.D.V.A killed the other in a matter of seconds, but died exactly 4 minutes after, proving the serum is too much for their bodies.”

The room soon fell into a small uproar.

“Forget it. It’s never going to work.” The man turned his chair to his boss with a pen hanging out of his mouth. 

“I mean come on, why even bring it up if the things will die anyway. The business is already falling apart, we don’t need to go killing all our products.”

“Sir, I think this could work if we had more time,” Soomin said quietly.

“They’re all just kids, they shouldn’t even be here-”

“Who would even be willing to become a test subject?”

“Enough!” Chil-hyun slammed the table down and scanned the room. “I have participants, I know they’re willing. Soomin, Sungjin, you two will continue your studies under my roof. You're all dismissed.” 

Despite everyone else's distasteful looks, Soomins face lit up, turning towards Sungjin. It was a fast process, Soomin wasn’t fazed by any of it, but Sungjin was on the fence. They were never willing, but nobody could know, not even the rest of the members of the small organization. It was a bunker in the middle of the forest. They spent almost all the money they had left to continue their studies outside of their college class.  

Sungjin and Soomin walked back to their small, so-called lab/office and flipped on the lights. 

“We can finally get an upgrade, our work is finally getting noticed!” Soomin found his chair and spun in it, settling into their new yet worn-down workspace. He looked at his partner, “What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing? We just got promoted and you look like we just got fired.”

Sungjin chuckled, uncovering a blanket off the cage and taking out a rabbit.

“It’s just, a lot happened, Chil-hyun said we can now test on bigger subjects….”

He gently stroked the rabbit, making it settle into his arms.

“Yes, that’s a good thing.”

“We’re testing on our kind…”

Soomin stood up and walked around the table to reach Sungjin. He grabbed the rabbit out of his hands and threw it back in the cage.

“Look Sungjin, this can save us, save our company. We don’t even take civilians or good people, we take criminals, street rats, the homeless.”

“Being homeless doesn’t make you a bad person.”

Soomin rolled his eyes, “Think of it as God's work. Killing the bad and saving the good, picking up a nobody and making them extraordinary. We can change the world with this Sungjin, the power is in our hands. We can create the perfect species!” He grabbed his shoulders and shook him, trying to get him to lighten up. 

Sungjin gave a weak smile, “Well I guess we’re doing the world a favor by taking in criminals. But, why make them stronger, better? Criminals don’t deserve that.”

“There are guinea pigs, so it’s ok if it doesn’t work out, it’ll be ok. We will be ok Sungjin,” Soomin patted his shoulder to comfort him. 

He sat back at his beat-up desk with a sigh. He looked up at Sungjin with a smile, “So, what’s our first move?”

⧫⧫⧫

The door slammed in Soomin’s face making his blood boil. He flung the door back open, seeing Sungjin opening files and throwing papers around.

“What are you doing?! Stop it, are fucking insane!”

“Am I insane?!” Sungjin threw his hands up in the air. Soomin grabbed the papers out of his hands and put them back in their folder.

“You took it too far Soomin, too fucking far!”

“Oh shut up would you, it's not like she’s dead.”

“Not yet she isn’t. You said we would only take criminals, bad people. Not our own people! She worked here Soomin!” Sungjin grabbed a bag from under his office and started to stuff it.

“What was it like 5 years ago when I said that-” he started, crossing his arms.

“So what? You think it just doesn’t matter anymore!”  

He swung the bag over his shoulder and headed back towards the door, Soomin rushed after him, stopping him at the elevator.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“Look I'm sorry about what happened but I need you right-”

“No, no, no!” Sungjin threw the bag down next to his feet and pinned Soomin against the wall in the elevator.

“All these years, all these goddamn years I have been working with you, from college to now, look what we’ve done.”

“We’ve done great things here, together! Look at this place, look how far we’ve come!” Soomin grabbed onto Sungjin’s wrist, pleading with him.

“We’re murderers Lee, what we’ve been doing for years is sick. I knew it from the start, I don’t know how you convinced me to keep going.” He shoved Soomin back, turning his back towards him.

“We’re not murderers, we’re making history.” Soomin stepped forward.

“How is this history?”

“What we're creating is history,” He grabbed his shoulders, “We can do so much more with these things.”

“No one has survived! We haven’t been able to find a way and you kidnapped someone we both knew and now they are locked in this facility forever.”

Soomin couldn’t help but sigh, nothing was getting to him. The elevator beeped, Soomin hadn’t realized they were inside it.

“I have a family, I have a son. This has gone too far, I’m not doing this anymore.” Picking up his bag, he headed out the entrance of the building. It was snowing, yet another cold winter. Soomin stood at the door, “She wanted to leave, she was going to rat us out! I had to do something! I saved our asses!” 

Soomin watched as he kept walking, ignoring him. “You can’t just leave! What about our work, everything we have ever done? Does it mean nothing to you?!”

“No.” Sungjin stopped and peered over his shoulder.

He gripped the door tighter, “Fine you piece of shit, I’ll do this on my own. I’ll find a way, without you!”

“Soomin.”

“What?!”

“If I were you, I would give up now and leave this place. We're both going to get the short end of the stick on this one.”

Before he could speak Sungjin faded into the darkness only being able to see his headlight shine and fade away. He cursed at him one last time. Storming into the building he came back to his room blinded by fury he trashed Sungjin’s side of the room. Throwing his computer, his papers, and even the family photo on his desk. He shattered it. 

He was more of the brains of the operation, a big asset when working on making the wolves better at fighting. They were so close to a breakthrough, but Sungjin had the solutions; had the answers, not Soomin. It was like a reset but at the worst time. 

 ⧫⧫⧫

 “Where is he?” Suho shut the door harshly, throwing all the groceries on the counter. Xiumin walked out of Baekhyun's room with his arms crossed and a blank look on his face.

Suho quickly peeked inside the room to see the sleeping Baekhyun bundled up in blankets. 

“Is he alright? Did he hurt someone?” Suho studied Baekhyun for a moment, having just dealt with the doctor, too which he thankfully let go of the whole ordeal.

Xiumin nodded, walking away from the door and heading to his own.

A breath of relief escaped Suho’s lips, turned, and caught up to Xiumin.

“Where’s Chanyeol?”

They both stopped at his door, “he locked himself in there," Xuimin said with a soft sigh. Suho groaned, he put his hand to the door giving it a couple of knocks.

Silence.

"Chanyeol? Can we come in?" Again no answer. On the other side of the door, Chanyeol sat on the floor; his face drenched from drowning himself in the bathroom sink. It wasn't enough, his mind was all over the place. He felt like a zombie, unaware of things going on around him. He couldn't hear Suho shouting to open the door, or the cold water running down onto the floor and seeping into his clothes.

His father worked for an underground organization. He worked hard for many years trying to protect the ones who needed it, only to realize his sick bastard of a father was in on it. He felt betrayed and furious. The worst part about it is finding Baekhyun's file in the mix of it, a victim of his father’s work.

Baekhyun's small voice rang in his head; his soft pleas made Chanyeol cringe. He leaned his head on the wall, what was the next move? He wondered what he should do next. Figuring out about this, he didn't know what to do with all of it. His father was dead but he had a gut feeling whatever thing he worked for was alive and well, making him want to know more.

Baekhyun. If Baekhyun was a part of this, then he had the answers. Chanyeol sighed, it wasn't right to just ask about something so sensitive. 

He organized his thoughts, finally calming down from the incident. Enough to realize that Suho and Xiumin came into his room and banged on the bathroom door.

"Chanyeol! Turn off the water!" Suho yelled from the other side. 

Chanyeol furrowed his brow, "What? Oh shi-" 

He lifted one of his legs and saw the water pooling everywhere, even under the door. He quickly unlocked it and Suho stormed in. Shutting off the water and opening the drain, "What are you doing!?"

"Sorry, I didn't realize."

Suho groaned as all three of them grabbed towels. They quickly tried to get all the water to stay in the bathroom.

"So you wanna tell me what happened." Suho slapped a soaked towel down in the bathtub and shook the water off his hands to put them on his hips. 

Chanyeol didn't answer right away, not knowing where to start. So many things happened in the span of two hours.

"We all need to get the others, I need to tell you guys something."

"Just spill it now," Suho barked.

Chanyeol threw the towel next to Suho, startling him.

"We will talk about it later."

"I also want to talk about something," Xiumin chimed in, standing at the door with a towel under his foot.

"We can't just talk here, you're not even supposed to be here!" 

"Doesn't matter where, I just need everyone together." 

Subo was ignored by both of them when he went on a babbling rampage, scolding him when he didn't know what happened. He rambled on for the remainder of the time they spent cleaning and once they finished Kyungsoo walked through the door.

"Oh Chanyeol, you're here."

"Yeah, but we're leaving."

"Where?"

“Wait, we can’t leave Baekhyun,” Suho said, grabbing Chanyeol’s shoulder.

He sighed, this couldn’t wait judging by how he found Baekhyun. More needed to be saved.

“Then call them, get everyone over here. Now.”

Chapter Text

“Is everyone here?” 

“Luhans still out right now.”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to be here.”

“Chanyeol said it was urgent.”

“Let’s just get this over with, it’s too late, I want to go to bed.”

They all sat in the living room and away from Baekhyun’s room. The house was dim, only the chandelier shined down in the middle of the table. Chanyeol decided he’d stand while the rest sat. Luhan was still out on a business trip. 

Chanyeol leaned on the wall with his arms crossed, not willing to make small talk. Baekhyun fell asleep after the incident, giving him suppressants to get much-needed sleep. 

“So, what happened with you and Baekhyun?” Kai lifted his head from the table to look at Chanyeol, still fighting off the drinks they had hours ago. 

He lifted himself from the wall, “Nothing happened.”

“Did you do something to him?” Tao questioned.

“I didn’t do anything, it was my father…or at least I think it was.” Everyone turned their heads at him.

“What do you mean your father?” Kyungsoo was the first to ask. Chanyeol took a long pause, trying to control himself.

“Him and Baekhyun?” Xiumin muttered under his breath.

Chanyeol looked up at him, “My father, he knew Baekhyun.”

“What?”

“As a kid, most likely.” Chanyeol took a deep breath. “I looked around his old stuff. I found documents, pictures, needles. My father used to work at some illegal underground business and Baekhyun… he’s one of the surviving victims.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Kai slapped his hand on the table.

Everyone’s face dropped. Xiumin turned his head to the door to see Luhan staring at Chanyeol with a couple of bags in hand.

He dropped the bags, “what did I just walk into?”

Chanyeol motioned him to sit down, to which he did and continued.

“There were files of people; pictures and descriptions of what they did to them. My dad was testing on them.” He stopped after that, thinking back at those horrid pictures. It still didn’t feel real to him. 

“That explains it,” Luhan stated. He looked to Xiumin. 

“It explains a lot actually. It explains the first attack, they were looking for him,” Xiumin continued.

“Found you,” that's what the wolf said before Baekhyun killed him,” Sehun commented.

“The second attack with the pack, another attempt….they know where he is, where we are.”

“They’ve known since the beginning,” Chanyeol said sternly.

“Then why haven’t we done something about this?” Xiumin spoke up, but Chanyeol placed his hands down on the table and dropped his head.

Whatever you do, Chanyeol. Don’t let him go back, don’t let him go.

“I met a woman at the bar, she knew about Baekhyun. She told me to look into my father’s work.”

“The lady? What did she say?” Kris couldn’t recall much but remembered it was hard to forget the brightly dressed woman.

“She said to keep him, protect him.”

“She must be in the business,” Suho said.

“What is this business specifically? You said he was being tested on, if this is trafficking, why would he have records of certain types of experiments?” Luhan countered, turning to Chanyeol, but Kyngsoo spoke up first.

“Underground fighting, people use all types of steroids to make them better fighters, that could be a possibility-”

“No, no, no it’s much worse than just steroids. It’s completely fucked up. Whatever this business is, It’s psychotic. There are dozens of files down there, and it only leads up to when he passed, which means probably hundreds are dead from whatever this sick experimenting is.”

“This isn’t some small business, this seems pretty big Chanyeol-You have records of countless murders…” Suho looked up, distraught plastered on his face.

“I know it is, but,” He paused, trying to grasp this new reality.

“We have to keep Baekhyun and stay inside until we get this figured out. Come on.”

Chanyeol pushed off the table and walked off into the hallway, prying the old door to the basement over.  

⧫⧫⧫

“This…this is your dad’s stuff,” Tao said with a distraught look on his face as he examined the papers. Chanyeol came from the desk and slapped the file on the table.

“Baekhyun’s file.”

Xiumin and Luhan were the first to grab it, flipping through the marked-up papers. Kris and Sehun were at the bookshelf scanning all the ancient books. Kyungsoo and Kai examined the table.

“Inoicline….” Kyungsoo said quietly.

“What’s that?” Kai leaned into him to look closer at the capsule's description.

“It’s a type of drug; in small doses, it can help with skin problems.” He read through the rest of the list of drugs.

“He was 5,” Xiumin looked up from the paper, “There's a picture. On the back, it says he was 5 at the time this was taken.”

Chanyeol walked over and grabbed the black and white paper. He had a surgical mask on and a hospital gown. His hair covered his eyes and there was a piece of paper stuck to the gown that read, “004 BBH.” He sat on what looked like a bed and his head was turned away from the camera, his bruised legs dangled from the edge.

He flipped it over to see the small cursive handwriting, “age 5, weight; 36lbs, test 6.” Chanyeol threw the paper down and so did Xiumin.

“Chanyeol I think you know what to do with this. Call the cops, show them all of this, and figure out who’s behind this.”

“I think we should wait and tell Baekhyun that we know all of this-”

Xiumin folded his arms, “why should we? Chanyeol, if he just escaped a few months ago, and he’s an adult now. This place has been doing this to these people for over a decade now…”

“What do you mean why should we, he’s a victim-”

“He was the one who decided to keep all of this quiet and look what happened!”

Chanyeol shot him a glare. The rest stayed silent; Kyungsoo silently picked up more of the capsules with Kai, reading more about what was inside them.

“We should sort this mess out with him first before we do anything, Xiumin.”

“He’s the one who caused it, just call the cops and they can sort it out with him.”

“Look I know we are all unsettled by what we found but let's just calm down-” Suho set the papers down, hoping for something other than a fight between the two.

“Calm down!? Once again Chanyeol plays cop and now we are in the middle of this illegal trafficking business, filled to the brim with mass murders. And I don’t know if I’m the only one who feels this way but maybe we should have gone to the police after the first attack, that happened in our own house, and the fact that he lied to us and only told us he was a street rat, not an escapee!” He looked around the room, annoyed at their blank expressions.

“Look we don’t know what this business is-” Suho tried to speak but Chanyeol interrupted, stepping closer to Xiumin.

“You think it’s easy! Telling people you escaped from a place like that. Be honest Xiumin, you would have never taken him in if he came to you with that information. If he didn’t lie he would probably have roamed the streets and ultimately ended up back from the hell he crawled from.” Chanyeol jabbed a finger into Xiumins chest.

“Guys take it easy, this isn’t helping-” Kai chimed in but it fell on deaf ears.

 “And how dare you to blame the victim here. You know the police don’t do shit! Which is why this thing has been going on for so damn long!” 

Xiumin smacked Chanyeol’s hand away, “Don’t you think if you were being hunted down you would at least mention that?”

Chanyeol slammed his hand down, “he didn’t ask to be kidnapped! He didn’t ask to be saved! But I did. I saved him and I will continue to protect him under my roof, and you have a problem with it Xiumin, then get the fuck out of my house,” Chanyeol spat behind gritted teeth.

“Enough!” Suho stepped between the two of them, his fingertips the only thing keeping them from lunging at each other's throats.

“Xiumin, I understand your frustration, believe me, I wish we could have handled this better but we can’t go back to change it. Chanyeol, I know you're overwhelmed with what your father has done, but that doesn’t mean we can't reach out to the authorities to help.”

“You think a case like this has never shown up to the police? This isn’t new,” Chanyeol walked away from the two and back to the glass table.

“We hear about it, but nothing ever happens. What makes you think a measly call is going to save everyone?” Chanyeol rested his hands on the cold table, looking down at the picture of Baekhyun.

“You're not some superhero Chanyeol. You can’t save them all. You took him in and brought him back to health, if you just brought him to the police where they could deal with it, none of this would have happened,” Xiumin crossed his arms.

“Then I can save him. My father…” His voice faltered the more he stared at the grim photo; a child, ripped from his parents and in the hands of a monster, absolutely helpless to their sick experiments. “It’s my problem, your problem, all of our problem and I’ll be damned if I let this continue. My father did this to him, to all of them…” Chanyeol let out a shaky breath, unable to look away from the table.

“Chanyeol…It’s not your fault,” Kyungsoo stepped beside him and grabbed the photo, sliding it back into the folder. 

“I’m a Park…A Park did these experiments. And now that he’s dead, it is my problem.” Silence fell over the group. Kyungsoo tugged on Chanyeol’s sleeve. Chanyeol looked at Kyungsoo, then followed his gaze to the door. Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun scanned the room. The files. The needles. Park, Park Sungjin.

“Baekhyun…Please. It’s not what it looks like. I’m not-” Chanyeol took a step forward. Baekhyun took a step back. He didn’t look mad or upset. He looked like the rest of them, shocked and unsettled. He closed the door. 

“Baekhyun wait!” Chanyeol ran up and opened the door. He searched the halls. He heard another door close. Chanyeol ran to Baekhyun’s room, locked.

He knocked softly, “Baekhyun please, let me explain. I’m not your enemy. I-I just wanted to keep you safe. I didn’t know…” 

⧫⧫⧫

“You’re so weak,” Jooheon laughed, pinning Baekhyun to the floor for the third time.

“Oh yeah, let's race, I’ll beat you by a mile.” The boys sprung up from the ground and ran to the entrance of the dome decorated as a fake forest. 

“Here and back?” Baekhyun said with a slight grin.

“Yep.”

As wolves, they got themselves ready, Baekhyun lowering himself slightly and digging his claws into the ground below him. Three beeps went off; the people above noticed and counted them down. On the fourth beep, they ran, their legs propelling their slim bodies forward. Baekhyun was in the lead already but Jooheon wasn’t too far behind. 

Halfway through Jooheon was running out of breath; he looked in front of him to see Baekhyun, running with that stupid gleam in his eyes. He scrunched his face and showed his teeth, pushing harder and harder to get past him.

Baekhyun felt as if he could fly. His legs didn’t even hurt, his breathing was calm. He took a glance behind him, “ Idiot,” he thought to himself as he saw Jooheon straining his whole body to try and gain on him.

He sped up just to mess with him and as they turned Jooheon tried to cut him, snapping his teeth near Baekhyun’s legs but, it was no use. Baekhyun ran faster and faster, imagining he was someplace else, somewhere peaceful and beautiful. A place where he could run forever.

Before Baekhyun knew it, he was at the beginning again; he slid to a stop, not realizing how close he was to hitting the wall. If only there were no more walls, he could keep going. He looked behind him, but Jooheon wasn’t there. 

Baekhyun looked around in between the bushes and saw Jooheon jogging up to him. He wagged his tail as he pranced around Jooheon, who was too busy catching his breath. 

Jooheon pounced on Baekhyun, startling him. Baekhyun avoided his claws and managed to get out from under him. He snarled at him, but Baekhyun crouched like a playful puppy with his tail in the air.

 Jooheon huffed, he couldn’t stay mad at him, but his bites still purposely pierced Baekhyun’s skin. He was used to it and even shook them off like they were nothing. They kept playing, not hearing the doors open. It wasn’t until Jooheon yelped at what was behind Baekhyun.

He quickly turned around, he cowered in fear. He was grabbed at the scruff of the neck; so hard that he hit his nose in the dirt. He was dragged back to the door, feeling like he was choking. Jooheon watched as Baekhyun called out for him, barking and whining for him to be saved. 

He was thrown into the lab, the door slamming behind them. Soomin kept cursing to himself as he got the chains ready for him. He harshly grabbed his snout and pulled it towards him.

“Can you believe it Baekhyun, that bastard left me, left me all those years ago?” He placed two chains on the back of his legs.

“You can’t just leave, you can’t just walk out like that. I was so close!” He laughed, clipping the last two chains on his front legs. Baekhyun just looked at the floor, trying to drown him out, thinking of other things. It helped make things go faster.

“I’ll show him because it worked! Oh, how it works…it’s so beautiful, you are so beautiful, my precious little pup. Now, let's show him how well this thing works, hm?” Baekhyun caught the last of his sentence. Soomin grabbed his face again, wanting him to look him in the eye.

“Are you listening to me!? Huh? You’ve had many serums before!” He threw his head into the metal pole beside him that kept Baekhyun from moving. He got up and grabbed a large needle.

“Look at me.” He knelt in front of him again with the needle at his side. Baekhyun slowly lifted his head.

“You’ve gotten so big,” he said as he caressed the side of his face. Soomin’s bulging eyes examined every inch of Baekhyun’s face. 

“you're developing quite well in your teenage years….” Soomin’s hand slid to his mouth. He lifted his lips to see his teeth, grazing his thumb over them.

“You’ve already killed so many with these. This is exactly what you were meant to do. You truly are my perfect design.” He slid his fingers down his throat, pressing on his tongue. Baekhyun tried to turn away but the binds kept him from doing so. He was too scared of the consequences of nipping him. 

Soomin chuckled, “so enticing.” He slid them back out and looked at his fingers. He licked his fingers. He continued to lick them until he saw Baekhyun. Baekhyun quickly looked away but Soomin grabbed his snout, “Don’t you even think about it. I am better than you in every way. Don’t you ever look down upon me! I created you!” 

He shoved Baekhyun’s head out of the way and picked up the needle. Massaging his neck, Baekhyun stared off. Waiting for his inevitable spiral. 

“You're special you know that, and maybe Sungjin couldn’t see that,” Soomin stood up from the cage and went to a table filled with more needles and a metal collar. He grabbed the collar and removed the chains.

“It’s something new that I made. It’s in case you ever decide to run for it, but I know you wouldn’t want to because-” Soomin watched as Baekhyun tried to fight it, shaking his head. He didn’t try to run once the chains dropped from his legs. His whole body tensed, and his heavy breathing turned into a low growl. His eyes water as he thrashed his head around in pain.

“You love doing this.” Soomin couldn’t stop smiling. He leaned down and clamped the collar around his neck. Baekhyun was now howling and snarling, claws digging into the floor.

“There are always consequences for your actions and someone slipped up a long time ago Baekhyun. It’s time karma came knocking on his door.” He raised his voice, trying to talk over Baekhyuns howls. Soomin squatted down, yet Baekhyun didn’t lunge at Soomin.

“You're so beautiful in your true, perfect form. Created to bring others to shame, to be the most powerful being. This is who you are Baekhyun and I know you enjoy every second of it.”

Baekhyun yelped and whined, eager for something, anything. Soomin knew exactly what.

“Easy now, we have the whole night ahead of us,” He pet the top of his head which made Baekhyun die down. The collar beeped and Baekhyun cringed.

Baekhyun stood beside Soomin and walked when Soomin walked. He couldn’t help but smile widely with pride and excitement. They walked the halls, Baekhyun growling at his side.

“You were so little when he was here with us, but that doesn’t matter to you, you don’t care who you kill.” He laughed again.

“So what do you say, my perfect little creation? Shall we go visit the Park’s?”

Chapter Text

“Sir please, give me one more chance. I-I won’t fail you this time.” Siwon gasped for air, clinging to the bars like an animal.

Somin laughed, “Oh Siwon. I already have everything in motion, I don’t need you anymore.”

“Then why am I still alive? Why didn’t you just kill me in the beginning?!” 

Soomin placed his hands behind his back. His shoes echoed throughout the room, walking circles around the cage Siwon was stuffed in.

“Tell me!” Siwon smacked his hands down on the bar, using up what little energy he had.

Soomin stopped at the front of the cage and squatted down to his level. He watched him with seemingly sympathetic eyes.

“You're a monster, you know that!” The bars rattled then stilled.

“Why call me a monster when we’re one of the same?”

“We’re nothing alike. You're the one who commits murder. You make these sick ideas!” Siwon growled, the lights above him shined so bright, making him see spots. 

A shadow cast above him.“And you're the one that helps in the process, doesn’t that make you a murderer too?” 

Chains clicked and creaked as Soomin spoke, “You helped burn the bodies when the police came, you fed them pills and serums, tested on them to see if they can be great fighters, and- oh wait, that can’t be you, you seem to claim yourself as a saint.”

“You're a sick man, it was all your idea. You said no one would be killed-”

“Yet you stayed when they were killed! What's worse Siwon, killing to discover something great? Or killing for a measly paycheck? That's why you stayed, because the more drugs injected in these people, the more money you made. That in itself is more sick than what I’ve done!” 

“I’m not the one who's been obsessed with a child! Obsessed with an idea of making people into something that can never be achieved! Im not fucking delusional!” Siwon hit the bars again.

 “All you're doing is making monsters! He’s a monster! I knew you’d kill me if I tried to leave! So I helped you make that abomination, that’s out in the world capable of killing everything in its path. I’m sure that thing doesn’t even know what he is anymore-”

Soomin unlocked the cage and dragged him out by the hair before he could continue any longer, his shriveled body dragged helplessly across the floor.

“He is not a monster! Don't ever speak about my creation! I have put my life into making him perfect! I have put everything into making that ‘thing’ my greatest asset to this company! And you lost him. You let him Let him slip through your fingers…my precious-” Soomin closed his eyes and clenched his fist as to stop himself.

Soomin let out a long frustrated groan, rubbing his temples, “Quit- quit trying to paint yourself as the victim Siwon, you're going to die no matter what.”

He grabbed Siwon by the hair again and threw him into a glass chamber. 

He sighed, “Speaking of injections, I have something for you.” Soomin walked measly over to his desk, his demeanor now calm- a faint smile on his lips.

Siwon quivered as if he was left to the cold, his wide eyes stared at the exit before him. Siwon yelled, his body unable to go further. The door was only inches away, but it wasn't. The glass, holding him inside for his inevitable demise. He felt as if the world was swallowing him whole.

“Quit lying to yourself… That thing will kill you. Once it realizes what it is, it’ll do more than just kill you, Soomin.”

 Soomin’s shoes, gold and black, pointed and polished stepped in front of the glass door, sliding it open. To think he would spend his last moments staring at expensive shoes, his words falling on deaf ears.

“How many died for you to have those?” Siwon uttered. Soomin squatted down.

Siwon's breath hitched.

 A painfully sharp pinch.

“Enough.”

Soomin let the door shut, sealing it tight. He sat in his office chair and grabbed a file off the desk. He opened the case and put on his glasses, scooting towards the glass. He pressed the tip of the pen on his tongue before scribbling in his notes, watching the figure squirm and pulse before him.

Siwon slammed his hand down on the glass as a last attempt to save his own life, tears falling down his now pale face. He could no longer speak, his eyes pleading as he looked at the fading figure, watching him for entertainment.

Blood oozed from his mouth, staining the side of his face. The blood seeped into the white tile. His eyes, slowly sinking in. The life drained out of them fast, beginning to look like they were about to slide out of their sockets. He took note of how the veins in his eyes burst within seconds of the shot, except instead of blood it was a white substance, like icing on toasted cinnamon rolls. His body still moved and surprisingly, his chest rapidly rose and fell. From the last time the shot was in use, the lungs shrunk to the size of a golf ball. 

It was intriguing to Soomin how fast the body decomposed. Different stages in irregular order. He stood up once the body stopped moving and rolled up his sleeves. Slapping some latex gloves on, he pushed the red button. He was met with what smelled of ten dead bodies piled on each other, decaying for weeks untouched. He sighed and adjusted his glasses, pulling up his pants before squatting down near his head.

“Hmm…” He ran his fingers gently along his jaw. It looked as if his skin was in perfect condition but Soomin grabbed the corpse's face. It was like a lava cake, the skin was hard but pressing further, the muscles and skin seeped off the bone in clumps onto Soomin’s hand.

“Goodness.” He patted the other side of his cheek as he threw the other half of his face on the floor, scattering the contents onto the glass and his face. 

He unbuttoned his shirt, skin and bone.

 Soomin chuckled, “Was that from me or the shot? I guess starving you hurried the process didn’t it?” He pressed a finger in his belly button. His finger glided right through.

It didn’t take much strength, the stomach opened with ease.

“You know what this means, Siwon?” He was wrist deep, like a child playing in the mud, “I have to find a new assistant, which is such an inconvenience, I think you were the smartest person here apart from me that is.”

He wiped his face, blood dripping down to his lips. His eyes flickered down. He licked his lips. His hand pulled out of his stomach and down to his hip. 

“You have a nice body Siwon. If it weren't for your brains I’d use you for other things.” Soomin’s hand moved down. His body so thin his pants slid down with ease. Soomin stared out at the corpse, his eyes scanning every inch of the body. Soomin moved to kneel between its legs. 

“So fragile, so small,” Soomin whispered out, his voice broken. He grabbed the corpse, his hand gentle so as not to corrupt it. His breath staggered as he watched the corpse. It didn’t move or twitch. It was truly gone. “Come on my dear, wake up.”

Soomin squeezed the corpse, “My precious, please, wake up. I want to hear you.” 

The boy didn’t move, lifeless by the hands of its creator. Soomin shook his head, unable to cope with his absence. He got on his hands and knees, licking his thighs, skin, and blood getting stuck on his tongue.

“I need you. Please. I need you back.” Soomin sunk his teeth into the flesh wanting to become him. He gagged and coughed, spitting out the rotted chunks.

“How could you!” He slammed his fist down in rage. The body erupted. Flesh and organs splattered on him and the white walls. He ripped Siwon’s bones out of his body, only to beat him with it.

“You lowlife fuck! You took him from me!” He struck the body. He struck till there was nothing but mush. He struck till there was nothing that resembled a body. His eyes popped, his jaw jammed into his calf, his shrunken liver in his ribs. 

He struck. He struck till he could taste the one he wanted. He struck until he was covered in the corpse. He struck until he became the corpse. Until he became 004. 

One final strike. He became him, but only for a moment. He panted over his massacre, his hand reaching down, grabbing his groin.

“I’ll-I’ll have you dear. You’ll be back in my arms,” he panted out.

 He slowly hoisted himself up, letting go of himself, his body trembling. He grabbed the door and forced it open. Blood and chunks slid off his body as he walked over to the switch. He stood up straight and caught his breath. He looked at the mess. He couldn’t help but let out a breathy chuckle and with the flick of his finger, the room lit up in flames. He stood and watched as it engulfed his body.

⧫⧫⧫ 

On the other side of the building, Shownu and Hyungwon walked the halls, talking amongst themselves. 

“You think they can get everything ready before the two weeks?” Shownu shoved his hands into his pocket.

Hyungwon shrugged, “things are going pretty smooth. He’s just one guy, it’ll be easy enough.”

There was a short pause, “Yeah, why do we need all of this? Why are we doing all of this for this guy again?

Hungwon tilted his head, “he’s the best fighter in this shithole. We lose him and Soomin loses money. Also, you didn’t hear this from me, Soomin also has the hots for him…”

“Soomin?” Shownu chuckled, “Kinda gross him and Jooheon pass that guy around with each other.”

“Nah I think it’s different with Soomin. Soomin gave him the drug and he survived, now he’s all obsessed with him.”

They both heard footsteps coming from behind them but kept walking their pace.

“No way, that scrawny bitch survived? I thought they gave it to whoever when they became useless, an easy way to kill them off. You're telling me that stuff has been working?” Shownu scoffed, “No wonder they call him such a great fighter …”

The rushed footsteps caught up to the two, bumping into Shownu. 

“Kihyun? What are you doing?”

“Oh sorry,” he said, brushing himself off.

“Where are you off to in such a rush.” Hyungwon held Kihyun's shoulders to keep him from running off, which if he didn’t Kihyun would have.

“Oh, I was just called to the lab.”

“So why are you running?”

“They called almost an hour ago, I forgot.” Hyungwon let go and Kihyun ran off but to be honest it was the best lie he ever came up with on the spot.

“Hey guys?” Kihyun stopped at the end of the hall and turned around to look at the two.

They turned their heads.

“Do you- do you guys think it’s going to work?”

"What, the plan? Yeah, it’s not going to be that hard when Soomin’s got his little army with him.” Shownu shrugged.

“But aren’t you guys tired of fighting? Don’t you just want a break?”

“A break from what? We haven’t had to fight like this in forever,” Hyungwon questioned.

“No I mean- nevermind, I got to go. See ya.” He flashed them a small smile before running off and disappearing into another room.

 Kihyun snuck past the lab and moved further out to the garages. He was caught last time by new security. Doubling up to make sure no one else could escape.

There was a door at the back of the garage. Getting there and out, he would remain undetected. The only thing blocking him was the 6-foot guard with a weapon at his side, standing in front of the door. There was no way to sneak around him and God forbid couldn't talk his way out.

But if the only thing standing in his way was one guard then so be it.

He mustered enough confidence to make it look like he was supposed to be there; walking with his head held high. Slowly but surely his confidence fell flat coming closer and closer to the man.

"Can I help you?"

"No, I-I just need to get through."

He mentally cursed himself for stuttering but he held his nerve.

"Do you have confirmation that you're supposed to be leaving?"

"I-well, the boss needed me to finish a task for him, it’s rather last minute. So I need to get out quickly if you don't mind." He gestured his hand to the door. The man didn't budge.

"What is this task? Don’t you fighters need to get ready for something?"

He was clueless as to what was happening inside these walls.

"Well sir you do not have access to that information, no one can know, that's why I'm the only one going." He honestly surprised himself at how well he was coming up with lies.

The guard looked him up and down to which Kihyun gave an awkward fake smile, patiently waiting for him to move aside. 

He did eventually, unlocking the door and stepping aside for him to get through.

"I don't know when I'll be back but I'll come back here when I'm done,'' he said as he spun on his heel walking off into the forest. The man nodded and closed the door, locking it again. 

"Holy shit." Once Kihyun heard it lock, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.  Holding his chest, feeling his heart beat rapidly as If he ran a marathon. Now he had to find his way back to the territory, alone this time.

“I hope she’s right about this.” He shifted and ran off, not even looking back. 

⧫⧫⧫

It was early in the morning; Chanyeol and Xiumin decided to sleep on last night's argument, putting the idea of calling the cops on the backburner. Baekhyun was awake, unable to sleep. Park Chanyeol. Park Sungjin. It was impossible. It was impossible that he had been living with his son all this time. The world really was quite as small as he imagined. He stepped out of his room, his movements naturally quiet and undetected. He looked out the window and snow was softly falling, it was a lot less than the last time he saw it. Although it almost killed him, he loved snow, loved the cold. He found a sweatshirt and headed out the door.

He grabbed some snow off the step, letting it fall through his fingers. He was there before, or maybe it was someplace different. He walked further out past the house and looked at the landscape.

 “Isn't it beautiful?” 

Baekhyun didn’t look back, “yeah.”

“You wanna stay in this little paradise forever, don’t you?”

“There’s no walls, no barriers…”

“It’ll kill you-” 

“What?” Baekhyun turned back to find his lonely footsteps in the snow.

“It’s not real Baekhyun, this place will walk all over you.”

He chuckled drly, “what’s new.”

“Your little friends are murderers. He’s a Park, of course he’ll use you till there's nothing left. They always do.” 

Baekhyun was quiet, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The gunshot rang in his ears, making him gasp for air. He didn’t realize how much he was sweating until he felt the sweatshirt stick to his body.

“ What do I do…” He asked himself.

“Come home.”

He squatted in the snow and grabbed more snow, squeezing it till his knuckles turned white. He had nothing to go to, he was either stuck here or on his own in a world he’s never seen.

“Baekhyun?”

“Do you ever shut up?” He threw the snow out of his hands and stood up. It wasn’t until he heard footsteps he turned around. He was met with the familiar giant walking in his pajamas with a coat draped over him.

“Oh sorry, I just saw your door open. I was wondering where you went,” he said shyly. Baekhyun began walking, ignoring his comment. Chanyeoled followed behind. 

“H-how are you feeling?” Chanyeol looked at the back of Baekhyun’s head, wondering what was going through his mind after last night. He couldn’t bare the thought of Baekhyun thinking he was some kind of monster.

Baekhyun shrugged. Chanyeol struggled to keep up with him, not wearing the right shoes for this. He was cold in his pyjamas but it wasn’t safe outside anymore.

“It's a little cold don’t you think?” He awkwardly laughed. 

Baekhyun glanced at him, “No.”

“You just like being out here, got it.” They walked in silence after that, Chanyeol trying to figure out what to say next.

He stopped walking and looked at him.

 “I’m sorry,” He called out.

“Why do you keep apologizing?” Baekhyun stopped and looked behind his shoulder.

“W-What do you mean?”

“In the bathroom. You kept crying and apologizing. Why?”

Chanyeol froze for a moment, not expecting it to be brought up so soon.  

“I-I just felt bad, I-you know, couldn’t help you.” He stood next to him, both of them looking at the forest.

“What was wrong with me?”

“Nothing was wrong, you just,” he cleared his throat, “went through a natural process every omega goes through.”

“So you didn’t-” Baekhyun paused, looking down at the dirty snow.

“Baekhyun please, I would never do anything to hurt you. I’m not-” Chanyeol reached out as Baekhyun walked out to see the snow field. The brown muddy slush stretched out further and further as winter was letting up. There was no point in walking down there. He stopped at the top of the hill. 

He squatted down and looked out. Chanyeol scanned the area, deciding to stand instead of sit. Thinking about last night, he wondered if he remembered anything that happened.

“Baekhyun, I don’t know… what’s going on. I’m not apart of anything. But I need your help.” Chanyeol stepped closer to him but Baekhyun didn’t speak.

“Do you remember what happened a while back, when we were out here last time?” The silence made Chanyeol sigh. Baekhyun’s eyebrows furrowed, looking more at the ground than the field. 

“Not much.”

Chanyeol's head perked up hearing Baekhyun’s hushed and dull voice.

“Do you remember who you saw?” 

Baekhyun inhaled sharply. He opened his mouth but the words didn’t come out.

“Are you alright?” Chanyeol kneeled beside him but Baekhyun couldn’t look at him.

“No-no I don’t remember who was there.” 

Chanyeol rubbed his face, taking a moment before speaking again.

“I know you probably don’t want to remember, but I need to know these people. I don’t want them coming back.”

Baekhyun finally turned to him, “What makes you think I would know them?”

“They said they knew you, they knew your name.”

“I-”

“He had red hair, fairly tall, and had a scar on his eyebrow….”

“I don’t remember,” Baekhyun snapped at him, hearing the description. He stood up and walked in the opposite direction. Chanyeol popped up and caught up to him.

“Hey, wait! I-I didn’t mean to make you upset, I just wanted to know who they are." Chanyeol reached out to grab his hand. Baekhyun spun around before he could.

"I already told you! I don't know… who he is," Baekhyun huffed as he walked off.

Chanyeol was taken aback slightly at his intimidating deadpan glare, but he couldn’t give up.

"Can we at least go back to the house?" He shouted as Baekhyun kept walking.

"If you're so cold why don't you go in yourself."

Chanyeol hesitated to answer, "I can't let you walk out here alone, besides, I didn't dress to be out here." Chanyeol tried to wrap himself in the thin jacket, but it did little to help keep him warm.

"Why didn't you bring a better jacket?" 

"You're wearing it." Chanyeol pointed at the large sweatshirt draped over Baekhyun.

Baekhyun subtly rolled his eyes. He looked out at the forest, trying to look past it. He groaned to himself as he made his way past Chanyeol and back to the house. Chanyeol finally could relax as he watched Baekhyun make his way back to the safety of their home. He followed behind but stopped to look around. A noise came from the distance not too far away from the house, right where Baekhyun had been looking. The wind kicked up which made Chanyeol’s stomach turn. He picked up his pace and when they made it to the house, he quickly closed and locked the door behind them. 

Chapter Text

The house was quiet, nobody spoke to one another. It was getting dark outside, the sun quietly creeping down as the clouds surrounded the house. The wind ruffled the trees. The cold air fogged up the windows; feeling like winter was deciding to stay a little longer. 

Chanyeol sat at the kitchen table, a dim light looming over him and the photograph gently pinched between his fingertips. He rested his head on his hand as he examined the old photo. His mother, father, and little 10 year old Chanyeol all stood together smiling widely in front of a lake. Just looking into his eyes and smiling face put a lump in Chanyeol’s throat. His mother was hugging her husband tightly from the side. Did she know? Was she covering for him? Or was she just as clueless as he was? 

He squeezed the photo, she couldn't have known, she would have done something about it. She had a kid, it would be too dangerous. She would never.

The corners of the photo started to cave in. He couldn’t talk to her, neither could she. He closed his eyes. An empty feeling crept back into his chest and settled there as it always did once in a while. 

He got up, shoving the photo in his pocket. He went upstairs to the darkest part of the house. It was the house he grew up in, but instead of him moving out, it was his mother who left. He slowly opened the door.

Everything looked so small, yet it was exactly how he remembered it.

He stood at the foot of the bed. It almost looked as if his mother was still here, hiding under the covers, hiding away from her only son. The bed was neatly made, yet he saw the sheets rise and fall. The bed creaked from old age as he sat down at the end of it, showing how long it had been since he was gone. How long she had been gone. He peered over his shoulder. Through the thin curtains that blocked most of the light out, leaving a single beam of light that slashed down over Chanyeol’s right eye. The small crack showed a small, lifeless tree he and his father planted when he was six.

“I-I don’t know what to do mom,” He whispered out.

“I can’t- I don’t want to give up on him. He doesn’t deserve it.” He pushed his hair back and swallowed the knot in his throat. After a brief pause, staring out at a rather painful memory, his glossy eyes looked back at the bed.

“Did you know?” He bawled his fist, grabbing a handful of the bed.

“Mom, did you know?” He ripped the covers off. A cloud of dust filled the air and a heavy thud as the thick cover flapped to the floor. The plain white sheets that remained on the bed stared back at him. He huffed; there was no point in asking for help from someone who wouldn’t come back. He looked back at the tree. It was dead; its leaves had fallen and the bark was peeling. Something quickly caught his eye, snapping him out of the pit of despair he was finding himself in. The figure was just parallel to the tree, inching closer and closer. It was sneaking around bushes and made directly behind the tree. Chanyeol wasted no time as tensions were already high enough in the house about the situation that was progressively getting worse. He swiftly moved down the stairs and to the back of the house. 

They were lurking towards the back, near the pile of wood outside, looking for a way in. Chanyeol snuck out the backdoor. He could hear their heavy breathing and muffled coughs as they turned the corner.

Chanyeol grabbed him and slammed him against the wall. his back smacked the wall, knocking what little air he had out of his lungs. He barely struggled against him, Chanyeol’s fist digging into the man's throat.

“What do you want?” Chanyeol growled.

“Please,” He coughed as he held Chanyeol’s wrist. “I’m not here to cause any trouble.”   

Chanyeol never eased up on his grip, “You're one of the wolves that attacked us, aren’t you?” He slammed him into the wall again. “You'd think I'd forget your faces?”

He winced, “yes… I am but-”

“Then I don’t see why I shouldn’t kill you right now!” 

He closed his eyes, he tried to talk but he choked on his words. He began to tremble, “I’m not here to fight-I’m here to warn you.”

Chanyeol paused, his grip still firm but his silence prompted the man to continue.

“They're all c-coming for him, for you. They’re planning to kill you a-and bring him back.” He shoved Kihyun off and he dropped to his knees. 

“Who?” Chanyeol stood over him, watching as Kihyun gasped for air.

Kihyun couldn’t calm down, his head was throbbing and his chest squeezed. He needed to hurry. 

“I-” There was another long pause. 

Chanyeol groaned, kneeling in front of him. He grabbed Kihyun’s jaw and forced him to look at him. 

“Tell me,” Chanyeol said through gritted teeth, desperation rising in his voice.

Kihyun cried out and grabbed onto Chanyeol’s shoulders and dug his nails into him, “I wanted to save them- I need to save them! You have to win this! You have to!” He kept muttering to himself, shaking Chanyeol.

Chanyeol grabbed his arms, “Hey, tell me who I’m up against. When are they coming?”

“Soomin,” he started to go pale, “Lee Soomin. He’s coming this upcoming week, with everyone. They’re all crazy! T-They don’t know what’s real anymore. They’ll kill anything...” He stumbled to his feet and looked around.

Chanyeol understood what was happening, “come inside. I'll help you and everyone stuck in there as long as you tell me everything-” 

“No! No! I can't stay here, I can't even be here! They have no concept of reality. They're not human anymore! They'll kill without thinking! And I'll be killed if I don't go-” Kihyun jumped at every noise, even his own footsteps in the snow. He backed up and Chanyeol could only watch him run off.  

Kihyun stopped just at the tree to look back at him. Maybe Hyuna was right. Maybe he could save them all.

 “Y-you aren’t just doing this for him. There’s still some of us that can be saved…You're doing this for all of us.”

⧫⧫⧫

He flung the door back open. He banged his fist on the first door he saw. Suho stumbled his way to open it. 

“What's wrong? I was getting ready for bed-”

“I just got a message.” He walked as he talked, heading towards the basement. Suho quickly followed.

“From who?”

He shrugged, opening one of the filing cabinets, and grazed his finger on the tabs.

“Soomin, Lee Soomin. Ever heard of the name?”

He shook his head, “no.”

“Well whoever this is, they're out to get Baekhyun and they’ll kill us to get him.” He started to rip out the tightly compacted folders and sprayed them out.

“Oh my gosh, Chanyeol. This is really serious.” Suho walked up to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder to try and turn him around, Chanyeol didn’t budge.

“Help me look, if we know who he is, then we know what we're up against.” 

“Chanyeol-”

“Just take a file and look.” Chanyeol tore out all the files and scattered the floor with them. Suho silently picked at the files and read a few over. The name wasn’t turning up anywhere, only his father's initials. All the commotion caused more people to poke their heads out of their rooms. Xiumin and Sehun stepped into the room.

“What are you two doing?” Xiumin cocked his brow at the scattered mess.

“Ever heard of the name Soomin?” Chanyeol didn’t look up, just kept reading over an outdated article.

“No.”

He briefly told them about the message. He threw some more files back in the cabinets, “I need to find out who this guy is.”

"So you let the guy go? All he gave us was a name and a time?” Sehun said, leaning on the doorframe, too tired to truly engage in the conversation. Chanyeol ignored his questions, he felt he didn’t need to elaborate on it anyway.

“Could you guys just help me look?” 

Sehun lifted himself off the doorframe and stood by Suho, both exchanging glances.

Xiumin didn't move, only looked around the room.

“Well since we don't know who he is, I think we all know who would."

Sehun glanced over his shoulder to Xiumin before sparing yet another glance at Suho. Suho only looked at the files.

"No," Chanyeol spoke in a low tone.

"And why not?"

Silence followed after, Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows.

“He doesn’t want to talk. I can’t push him to speak on it-”

Xiumin groaned loudly to interrupt him, "We have to do something about it sooner rather than later. We have people after us! Actively trying to kill us, and the one thing in this entire situation that knows everything including that name, you're keeping tucked away in the guest room.” 

Chanyeol ignored his comments, now wasn’t the time to pick fights. But he knew damn well he had a point. Baekhyun had to say something at some point, before it’s too late.

"We'll keep looking and if nothing comes up, I'll go to him."

“We can't just sit around and wait for the information to pop up," Xiumin commented.

“Thank you Xiumin, I got that.” 

Xiumin rolled his eyes, “Clearly you don’t, I mean are you really going to wait to talk to the one person in this house who knows who this man is and what he holds? Are you not even worried?”

“Don’t even go there Xiumin.” Chanyeol held his tongue and Xiumin knew it. Their tension grew so much you could cut a knife through it.

“You should talk to him whether he likes it or not, hell I’ll go talk to him myself.”

“I know you fucking blame me for bringing him into this house, but I’m trying to fix this. If anybody’s going to talk to him- it’s me.”

Chanyeol stormed past him and slammed the door behind him leaving the three in the basement. He dragged his hands through his hair and into his face. He found himself standing at Baekhyun's door. He hesitated to open it, his hand hovering over the doorknob. 

Before he could even touch it, the door opened and Baekhyun looked up at him. They both paused at the doorway. All the anger and frustration bubbled away once he saw his face. 

“Baekhyun…” He unintentionally breathed out. 

Baekhyun watched him for a moment, “What do you want?”

“Y-you knew I was going to knock?”

“I heard you standing behind the door.”

The only thing Chanyeol could do was chuckle at his words. He cleared his throat quickly after.

“Baekhyun, we need to talk. I know you don’t want to-”

Baekhyun pushed past him and headed to the front door again. Chanyeol sighed as he watched.

“Someone was here, weren’t they?” 

Upon hearing Baekhyun’s words, he had to admit he had some keen ears. He grabbed a coat and headed outside with him.

“I never got his name.”

Baekhyun walked farther out than him, quiet as always. Chanyeol wondered if he was simply listening to the world around him. He figured it was a habit of his. 

“He talked about someone. It was a warning. He said people are after me, after all of us. Do you have an idea who might be coming after us?”

Baekhyun kept walking, snow crunching under his feet. Chanyeol sped up to try and reach him.

“Baekhyun wait, please.”

“No,” was the only thing he spat out. His eyes were glued to the floor as he walked. 

Chanyeol pleaded for him to stop but Baekhyun ignored him.

“Baekhyun, come on. I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.” He grabbed Baekhyun’s arm trying to get him to slow down. Baekhyun grabbed his wrist, bending it. Chanyeol quickly cringed in pain, leaning in the direction his wrist was bending.

“Don’t touch me.” Baekhyun shoved his hand away. Chanyeol recoiled, holding his hand to his chest. 

With the snow melting, a small stream formed. Baekhyun found himself following it. It flowed through the trees and started to fill a shallow ditch.

“I don’t want you gone Baekhyun, I want you to stay with us.” Chanyeol held his wrist as he followed behind him.

“Why? Why the hell do you insist on keeping me here, huh? What do you want from me?” Baekhyun finally stopped and turned to him, yet again his deadpan face gave nothing away of what he was truly feeling.

Chanyeol felt his chest tighten, “you have nowhere to go, I just wanted you to be safe.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit to care about someone.”

“You don’t know a thing about me.” Baekhyun’s sharp and forward tone always made Chanyeol feel guilty in a way.

“It’s not bullshit to care about someone, whether you know them or not.”

Baekhyun made a face after hearing that.

“I can handle myself, on my own.”

“Is that why I found you dying? buried in the snow?”

Baekhyun paused, making Chanyeol's stomach turn, and let out a dull laugh, “You should have left me there.”

The air felt like it was getting thinner by the second. Chanyeol wished the words never left his lips. He stuttered, trying to draw the words out, trying to get him to stay.

He let out a defeated sigh, “Look, I know you've been through a lot, but-”

Baekhyun turned to face the small stream, “It's none of your business. Not anymore…” Chanyeol couldn’t tell what he meant by that. Was it his father? Was he running away? 

He clenched his jaw, the distance started to grow between them.

“Lee Soomin.”

He stopped in his tracks; his whole body tensed, so much that Chanyeol could see it.

“That was the message. Lee Soomin, he and his little group are coming for us. So, now it is my business.”

Baekhyun drowned him out, he hadn't heard that name in months, it rang in his ears.

“No…” His voice faltered, fading into a whisper. It was the first time he had ever heard such emotion in his voice. 

Chanyeol took a step. Baekhyun took a step. Baekhyun’s eyes darted around, starting to jump at every sound, just like Kihyun. In that moment he realized just how much power Soomin had over them. 

“Baekhyun…” The faint whispers rang in his head. 

“He-” Baekhyun stared out at the forest, starting to question if it was real. “He found me."

“No. He won’t. I won’t let that happen.” 

Baekhyun slowly turned his head. Joonheon. He stumbled back a bit, shocked to see him again. Jooheon took a step forward. Baekhyun took a step back, “Wait… I didn’t mean it. I wanted to take you with me-”

“What are you talking about Baekhyun? Talk to me,” Jooheon kept getting closer but Baekhyun couldn’t bring himself to go to him. He didn’t want the door to open. He didn’t want to be dragged out. 

He shook his head, “I need to go Joonheon. You know we can’t stay here.”

Chanyeol shook his head, “Baekhyun, it’s me.” 

Baekhyun’s head started to spin, he was back in the dome forest with Jooheon at his side. But he wasn’t, Chanyeol was with him instead. Nothing was playing out right in his mind.

Chanyeol shouted his name, he didn’t know why. It was only when he found himself being lifted up by him that he realized he hit the muddy floor. Chanyeol held him in his arms, “Hey, hey, snap out of it. It’s okay Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun felt his body move but he was always told to keep still, so he did. He stared up at the forest to let whatever happens happen. But nothing happened. Chanyeol gently sat him up to make Baekhyun look at him.

“It’s me, Baekhyun. No one is here to get you,” Chanyeol cooed gently as if to comfort a child. Baekhyun finally regained some sense of reality. He looked up. This time it really was Chanyeol, holding him like some baby.  He shoved him off and was already on his feet.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Chanyeol almost face-planted in the mud, “You fell! And you were seeing things, I was just trying to help you!” He got to his feet and tried to wipe the mud off his pants and sleeves.

“I already said I don’t need your help. If he’s after you then I’ll leave. I’ll make sure he goes after me so you don’t have to deal with it-”

“I’m not letting you do this by yourself, end of story-” Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyuns wrist to stop him from walking. Baekhyun stayed silent for a moment.

“My father… It was my father that was a part of this and now it’s my job to put an end to it, no matter what.”

Baekhyun’s fist curled. He reeled back and punched the side of Chanyeol’s jaw. Chanyeol hit the ground again with surprising force. By then Chanyeol was covered head to toe in mud.

“You shouldn't have taken me out of that storm!” Baekhyun stood over him. 

“You did this to yourself! If I would have died that night, none of this would have happened! I was never meant to meet you!”

Chanyeol kneeled on the floor covered in mud. He held his jaw, the pain surging through his whole face as he stared down at the floor. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew my father.” 

He looked up at Baekhyun, “I’m not like my father.”

Baekhyun tensed at the question. He remembered him, he remembered him well. What he couldn’t fully remember was his death. It could have been right where he was standing. Where Chanyeol kneeled, it could have been where his father had laid, bleeding out from being ripped apart. He couldn’t remember what he did to him.

Chanyeol slowly rose to his feet, “My father may have caused you to suffer. But everything he did, I’m putting an end to it-” 

“I don't deserve to be saved,” Baekhyun’s voice returned to normal, quiet yet harsh. Baekhyun’s eyes diverted from him. Chanyeol stayed silent for a long moment, there was something more and he knew it. Whether it’d be good or bad, he needed to know.

“What do you mean?”

“We're not victims, you don't know what I've done.” Chanyeol watched as Baekhyun stared out at the stream.

“It's not your fault-”

“It is…” Baekhyun trailed off for a moment too long for Chanyeol.

“It is my fault, I don't deserve your pretty little life, none of us do.” He picked up a rock near the stream, squeezing it in his hand.

“No, what you don't deserve is a life of pain and suffering. You're a good person Baekhyun-”

“I've killed people, Chanyeol. I’ve killed- does that make me a good person?”

Chanyeol stopped talking.

He brought his head down, “I had a choice. A choice to live or die. Living was the biggest mistake I've ever made. I killed just so I could live another day on this Earth, only to spend it with him.”

Baekhyun closed his eyes; an overwhelming silence developed between the two. He heard Chanyeol shuffle around. When he opened his eyes he found Chanyeol right in front of him, his hand reaching out to lift his chin. He watched as tears dweled in his eyes.

Chanyeol slowly cupped his face, brushing the hair out of his eyes. Baekhyun wanted to punch him again.

“It's not your fault, you were just a kid.”

Baekhyun’s face was blank, freezing up for a moment. He constantly questioned who Chanyeol was. To watch as Chanyeol held back tears and did his best to comfort Baekhyun. It was weird, awfully weird. But he didn’t move away, Chanyeol’s cold dirty hands were soft. His face was swollen from the punch and his eyes were red and teary. Baekhyun decided that the best thing to do was just let him hold him.

“Come on, we need to leave,” Chanyeol sniffled, breaking the long silence. He held out his hand for Baekhyun to take. Baekhyun looked at his hand, “Leave where?”

Chanyeol reached down and held his hand, guiding him back to the house and to the car. He opened the car and Baekhyun hesitantly hopped into the passenger seat. Chanyeol started the car, he looked over, and buckled him in. Baekhyun sat silently, not knowing what to do with himself. As the drive went on he looked at the bruise on Chanyeol’s face. He turned away when Chanyeol noticed him.

“Where are we going?” He asked again.

“Somewhere safe.” They finally saw buildings amongst the fog, Baekhyun stared out the window and saw all the small and neatly kept houses. 

He pulled up to one of the houses, slightly bigger than the others. 

Chanyeol turned to face Baekhyun, “let's go inside.”

It took a few moments before the door opened, "Chanyeol? What brings you here?"

"Sorry for the unexpected visit, but I need your help."  

Taeyeon looked out at the two disheveled and muddy figures standing at her doorway in the middle of the night. She opened the door wider for them to walk inside. Baekhyun was told to stand rather than sit on Taeyeon's rather pristine furniture in the living room as Chanyeol talked in the kitchen. 

“Oh my God Chanyeol, how did you get yourself into this mess? What are you going to war?” She fluffed out her dress as she leaned on the kitchen counter, looking tired.

“Could you keep it down? I'm only in this for him; I saved him from a storm and he just happened to be on this guy's wanted list.”

She sipped her tea, “so you're now gonna go fight the guy, to what? Get him off the wanted list?”

“I don’t know, he’s coming for all of us, I can’t just sit back and let it happen. I just need help making a plan.”

She raised a brow, “a plan? What do you mean by a plan? Are we trying to go to jail for murder?”

“I’m up against a murderer Taeyeon. I'm not dealing with some punk with a side hustle, this guy got a whole organization after me.”

She stood up and leaned into Chanyeol, “This seems a little over our heads Chanyeol. I think we should call the cops...and give him to the cops too. For everyone's safety.” 

Taeyeon looked over to Baekhyun who was scanning outside the window behind him. Chanyeol looked with her; it was the best option to avoid confrontation, but now wasn’t the best time for the cops to be involved.

“Police or not, I'm not getting out of this until someone's dead.” Taeyeon let out a small gasp and put her fingers to her lips.

Chanyeol….”

“Maybe I’ll call the cops,” he said with uncertainty, “but for now can he stay here? Just until we have this under control.”

She gave him a look but ultimately agreed, “You better be staying here too. I don’t babysit.”