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gamerwoo · 1 year ago

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[Tales from the Pack] Soonyoung: Imperfect (Part Eleven)

Characters: Soonyoung x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, angst, fluff at the end, they talk a lot about like rut and stuff but nothing happens, murder, suicide, lots of blood and gore, guns, mind control, lmk if i missed anything!!

Word count: 7,116

Summary: Soonyoung has always been desperate to find his mate, often going out into town at night to fill the void of imprinting that he craves so much. Then suddenly, you (quite literally) appear in front of him. He’d always dreamed and fantasized about what having his mate would be like, but the reality is nothing like he expected.

a/n: dialogue in bold is meant to be english and whenever soonyoung says reader’s name it’s meant to be reader’s surname

Previous | Next | Imperfect Masterlist

Kyung had stopped by the first day Soonyoung’s rut started just to let you know. It was only a couple days after you’d gone back with Hanbin to your old house, and the only thing you’d heard for the last two days was Jinyoung, Jaesang, and Hyojun making jokes about your mate’s situation that you could half understand.

You weren’t sure if it was because you knew it had started now, or if your instincts just knew, but it got harder for you to just stay home after Kyung went to visit.

The first day was pretty easy, but there was still a part of you that considered sneaking over despite what Soonyoung said. But your conversation with him -- and Kyung...and Joshua -- had you thinking: were you only feeling this way out of instinct, or did you really feel this way? Did you want to help him because you wanted to or because your instincts told you that you wanted to? You considered asking Rika, but you were also afraid that if you showed any interest in sneaking over that Hanbin would worry too much and make the boys take watch shifts or something.

Even though Jiung always very understanding and adamant that everyone in the pack could take care of themselves, no matter their gender or power or any circumstance, you were always ‘the baby’ along with Baekhan --and Minhun for the few days he was there. While Jiung and everyone else in the pack trusted you to take care of yourself and even others when needed, you always knew you were treated differently. More carefully. Like Baekhan, you were shy. You didn’t like new people and so your pack would step up and do it for you. It was partly why you took so long to even learn the language of the place you currently lived. You didn’t have any chance to try because you knew someone else would do it for you. But on top of that, you were the two that the pack was always most likely to jump in to save if you ever needed help. You were one of the middle members, but they treated you like the youngest. So you were sure if they sensed you were going to leave, Hanbin would surely make sure you couldn’t as to keep you safe.

So, you kept your thoughts to yourself.

Maybe your thoughts were making it harder, but you wanted to go even more the second day. You were starting to now silently consider your options for escape if you did decide to act on your wants. You knew your bedroom window was the best bet, but you also knew someone would no doubt hear you when you landed on the ground. You could try to jump to the tree and climb down, but you weren’t sure if they’d question hearing the leaves shake so suddenly. Maybe you could try sneaking downstairs after everyone went to sleep and exiting through one of those windows since the doors were kind of creaky lately. But someone would notice an open window, right?

‘What are you doing?’

Hearing Baekhan in your head made you jump. You knew he could hear thoughts, but that was never an issue for you since he couldn’t understand English. But you forgot that if you were visualizing something, he could see it.

When he saw you thinking about instances with past members of the pack the day before, he didn’t think anything of it. But now you were imagining yourself climbing out of windows? Obviously, that was suspicious.

‘Fuck off, Baek.’

‘You’ve learned more words than that,’ he chuckled.

You just ignored him and tried to distract yourself with reading instead.

By the third day, you were getting antsy. You were walking around downstairs just trying to find something to do. When you started getting questioned about that, you went back to your room and couldn’t manage to sit and be distracted. You found yourself reading the same paragraph of your book over and over again because you couldn’t focus on the page, and even trying to knit or draw wasn’t holding your attention. You were too fidgety.

You were going to go. You had decided.

Your eyes looked to the window. It was still broad daylight out, but maybe you could--

A knock on your door made you jump.

“Come in,” you replied, sounding painfully up to something.

The door opened, only to have a very unamused Baekhan standing in the hallway, staring at you with yellow eyes. After a moment of you saying nothing, he quirked a brow.

“Can you leave me alone?” you groaned.

‘Your pronunciation needs work.’

You sneered at him before rolling your eyes and telling him, “I’m trying. You don’t even know English.”

Baekhan gave you a questioning look before all you could see in your head was you sneaking out the window. Then you saw Seungcheol’s house -- your house. He was asking if that was your plan, probably.

“It’s none of your business,” you muttered, unable to meet his eyes as your cheeks heated up.

Suddenly, you were being bombarded with different scenarios. One where Hanbin caught you and reprimanded you. One where Seungcheol caught you and reprimanded you. Even one where you did happen to make it to the house with nobody in your way, but Soonyoung was made to look overly-feral in this scenario with bright red eyes and wild hair as he ran at you.

Baekhan stopped before Soonyoung reached you, and then shrugged when your eyes focused back on him.

You rolled your eyes and sighed. While you knew Soonyoung wouldn’t do anything malicious like what it seemed in Baekhan’s weird image, you knew he would still attack -- even if it wasn’t in a dangerous kind of way.

The youngest showed you a final scenario, but this was a memory. Hanbin was explaining the situation to the pack, stating that Soonyoung requested you to be kept away from him until his rut had ended. He was basically reminding you that this is what Soonyoung wanted and you shouldn’t go against him.

You knew he was right. Despite wanting to go see him, you knew you shouldn’t go against what he wanted. He’d probably blame himself for anything that would happen because of you showing up, even if you said you wanted to help. It didn’t matter what you wanted, it was about what he wanted.

‘Do you want to go to town?’

You met his eyes again. This time, Baekhan was looking at you with soft eyes and his signature small, shy smile.

Even though you and Baekhan were often considered the babies, you two rarely hung out together. Not only did he never talk, but he could never understand you. Even though his power was all about the mind, he couldn’t understand you if you thought in a language he didn’t understand. He had sometimes talked to you by showing you things, like he’d done now, but still, the two of you didn’t interact that often.

So the fact that he was offering to go to town with you as a distraction was actually really sweet. And, of course, the fact he didn’t snitch on you was also nice.

The opposite for you was happening to Soonyoung. Every day, things got a little bit easier. Only a little, though. By the third day, he was still a mess, but he seemed to be coherent longer and had more breaks in between.

Still, he had to be chained up, and for at least the first day, they had Soonyoung on consistent watch as per his request after the first incident. He had first tried to leave the house to get to you on the first day, and Joshua was the first to spot him and immediately go after him, not knowing where he was going but having a pretty good idea.

“Chan, get Soonyoung!” Josh had called as he raced out of the house after the rogue alpha.

It took a couple of seconds, but suddenly, a gust of wind blew by Josh before Soonyoung was tackled by the blur onto the ground. It only stayed that way for a second before Soonyoung threw Chan off of him, but it was enough to stall Soonyoung for Josh to get to him, and for other members of the pack to realize what was happening and race outside, too.

Josh tackled Soonyoung as soon as he tried to get up, pinning the alpha to the ground.

“I took a chunk out of one ear, and I can do the same to the other,” Soonyoung threatened.

“Relax, hornball,” Josh deadpanned, fighting to keep Soonyoung pinned down. “If you go to _____, you’re going to regret it later.”

But Soonyoung wasn’t listening. His instincts were fogging up his mind and he couldn’t think clearly. Had he could, he wouldn’t have attempted to use his powers to get Joshua off of him. His eyes glowed to life, a cold silver that signaled to Josh that his mind was about to no longer be his, but he still refused to move. Just as the healer’s arms started to shake, a translucent blue color appeared around him and he let out a breath of relief. Soonyoung’s eyes flickered to the side to see Wonwoo’s eyes focusing in on Joshua, so the alpha zeroed in on his new target.

Seungcheol got to him just in time to slap him across the face and snap him out of his power, and Wonwoo visibly relaxed. Joshua got up, allowing Seungcheol and Minghao to take Soonyoung under his arms and hoist him up. Seungcheol used one arm to hold onto Soonyoung, and the other to hold his head down so he couldn’t look at anyone to use his power.

After they’d gotten him chained up again and that wave had ended, Soonyoung weakly called out for whoever might be listening. By that time, Kyung, Hansol, and Jihoon had returned from Hanbin’s, so it was the latter who entered.

“Don’t let me get out again,” he panted. “Do whatever it takes.”

“Want us to set up a watch schedule?” Jihoon scoffed.

Soonyoung just nodded, “Whatever it takes.”

However, he only tried to escape one other time, and it was technically Jooyeon who caught him. He tried sneaking out through the window, which the ex-thief had tied a string to that would snap and ring a bell if it were opened. That would alert the wolves that Soonyoung was escaping so they could catch him.

The second trap, she never thought would actually work, but it did. And boy, did the pack have a laugh seeing Soonyoung hanging upside-down from one foot under a tree.

After that, he seemed to have stopped trying to escape. Maybe it was because his senses were slowly starting to come back to him, and maybe the waves were less intense. But either way, the pack started to think they could be more lax with their constant watches.

“Almost halfway over,” Seungcheol sighed, his head tilted back as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I think he’s one of the roughest ones we’ve dealt with,” Soomin nodded.

“Who knew he was so full of pent-up sex aggression,” Yeji snorted, only for almost everyone in the living room to raise their hands.

“Absolutely everyone,” Danbi chuckled. She let out a sigh afterwards and looked to Seungcheol. “We should’ve assumed how bad it would’ve gotten if he found his mate, though.”

“Well, in a perfect world, his werewolf mate would be perfectly suited to take whatever he can throw. Unfortunately, there’s a language barrier along with _____’s anxieties and overall shyness,” Seungcheol explained. “As we’ve discovered time and time again: the world isn’t perfect.”

Jooyeon entered the kitchen, having been upstairs in the shower after her turn to watch Soonyoung. She stopped when she noticed her mate lounging in a kitchen chair, still drying her dripping hair with a towel.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on watch, alpha?” she asked.

He shrugged and closed his eyes, seeming tired. He had a lot to deal with the last few days so it was understandable.

“He’s been fine,” he decided with a yawn. “He’ll still be fine if I rest my eyes a couple minutes.”

“You can rest your eyes sitting in front of his door, too,” she pointed out.

“Nobody wants to sit on a floor to sleep, Jooey,” Jun stated.

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah, nobody wants to sit on a wooden floor to sleep because a wooden chair is way more comfortable, right?”

“I let you take leave to shower and you’re complaining at me anyway?” Seungcheol asked, peeling an eye open to playfully glare at his mate.

“Isn’t my thing complaining?”

“Much less so lately,” Chan shrugged with a nod.

It was just as the conversation turned away from Soonyoung that the door to Soonyoung’s room burst open, sounding like it had completely splintered in half. All bodies sat up straighter for just a second as they listened to loud footsteps before everyone sprung into action. Soonyoung was already barreling out the door before Seungcheol could shout for Chan to catch up to him.

“Nice slacking, alpha,” Jooyeon said, side-eyeing Seungcheol.

He just slowly turned his head to glare down at her.

The Capitol was amusing enough. Since it was so large, there were plenty of places to go and walk around. Lots of parks, lots of markets, and lots of neighborhoods that were nice to just stroll around in. Jiung never taught the pack to steer clear of populated places because nobody within the Capitol ever asked about newcomers. Too many people lived in the Capitol to ever be fussy about people ‘not belonging’ in a neighborhood.

But with so much to do at the Capitol meant easily losing track of time. Typically, you and Baekhan would’ve thought that was fine. Plenty of people stayed out after dark to go wandering bars or to continue their shopping under fairy lights strung about the market or in trees.

“Curfew call!” guards began to bellow, hands cupped around their mouths.

As townsfolk began to hurry out of the market and to their houses, you and Baekhan paused and looked at each other in confusion.

“Curfew?” you asked.

You recognized the word. There was a time not too long after you’d joined the pack when Jiung set a curfew. Luka was murdered in the woods and Jiung was concerned for the safety of everyone else. You had no plans of leaving the house anyway, mourning the only other wolf you’d become close with in the pack, but you remembered Jiung saying the word over and over again, warning the wolves to remember the curfew.

Baekhan looked at you with a mix of confusion and worry. He didn’t seem to know there was curfew, either. The Capitol had never implemented a curfew. Why did they suddenly start now?

He didn’t let you hear his thought, but you knew Baekhan was panicking from the way his eyes started around and he started to get antsy. His shook his hands out at his sides like they were wet, swiveling his head like he was trying to find an out.

You placed a hand on his shoulder, “It’s okay.”

His brown eyes finally landed on you, still looking wide and scared. But he suddenly seemed to remember your power and relaxed, taking a deep breath and nodding.

The two of you start toward the direction of home, making sure to stay within the Capitol. If a guard saw the two of you sneaking off into the woods, it would be suspicious. You’d have to find a secluded area for you to use your power and then sneak out. Even though you knew you could get the two of you out, you still felt anxious. If a guard approached you, you weren’t sure if you’d be able to keep your cool and cover for you and the youngest member of the pack. You’d have to, though, since Baekhan was nonverbal. Everything rested on your shoulders.

Baekhan suddenly gripped your wrist and halted you. His eyes seemed to light up as his head perked up. He must’ve heard someone’s thoughts that he found to be important.

Wordlessly, he tugged you off to the east, and you let him without protest or even questioning it. He weaved between houses and short pathways behind them until he poked his head around a small alleyway between houses. You shuffled around him to look, already sensing whoever was back there was a werewolf. Your eyes found a man crouched down, eyes trained to the ground before his head suddenly snapped to the side and his eyes locked on yours. His hair was blonde and tied half-up. He slowly stood and he seemed to be only a few inches taller and a little thinner than Baekhan. He had full lips and sharp eyes that despite knowing you were just like him, seemed to study you warily.

“A-are you okay?” you asked shyly.

You didn’t quiet understand his reply, but using what words you caught, you assumed he wanted to go home but was unsure how to do so with the curfew. At least you weren’t the only ones who seemed taken off guard by the curfew thing.

The man suddenly took a startled step backwards, eyebrows furrowing but eyes widening.

“What was that?” he asked.

You assumed it was Baekhan as he started to approach. The man seemed to relax. You wished Baekhan would let you in on what he was saying, too, but he must’ve assumed you wouldn’t understand most of it anyway.

“I’m Hyunjin,” he said, looking between the two of you. He must’ve been informed of the language barrier. “What’s your name?”

Instead of replying with your name, you gave your surname as a reflex. Baekhan noticed the slip-up and looked at you with a smirk. You just jabbed him in the arm with your shoulder.

“Do you need help getting home?” you asked, changing the subject.

Hyunjin nodded toward Baekhan, “He said you can...disappear?”

At least this Hyunjin guy seemed to mostly know English. You could definitely have helped him even if he only knew Korean, but this made it way easier for you to communicate with him.

“I can turn invisible,” you nodded, and Hyunjin seemed to nod like you’d reminded him of the word he was trying to think of. “Just hang onto me and I can get all of us out of here.”

You held your hand out to him, and Hyunjin walked the rest of the steps toward you to gingerly take it. Then you held your hand palm-up for Baekhan, who slapped his hand into yours. With a tight grip on both boys for good measure, you disappeared from the rest of the world and traveled back up the alleyway and toward your destination.

Despite wanting to know more about Hyunjin, the three of you kept quiet as you led the way through the Capitol, silently walking by people going to their homes as well as guards keeping watch. Even after you were in the trees, you didn’t let go of the two until you had walked for another 10 minutes, and the two boys stayed silent for the same amount of time.

“I think we’re safe,” you declared with a sigh, letting them go.

“Thank you guys,” Hyunjin offered you both a warm smile. “I should’ve been more mindful of the time, but I got distracted helping this lost kid find their mom and next thing I know, the mom’s thanking me while the guards are calling curfew. I thought my ass was toast.”

Baekhan replayed his words in your head like a short movie so you knew what he was talking about.

“What is the curfew for?” you wondered slowly.

“It’s a new law implemented by the royal family,” he explained. “There’s apparently been an increase in werewolf sightings -- but I can guarantee it hasn’t been any of my brothers. We’re all so careful.”

When you saw the flash of the royal family, you didn’t even need the rest of the explanation. You should’ve just assumed it was another law they put in place. They were the one who outlawed werewolves, anyway. King Moon Yeongcheol, Queen Lee Eunjeong, and Princess Moon Chaerin. While the King and Queen made all the laws and oversaw the country, the Princess was in line for the throne and was to follow in her parents’ footsteps. Everyone knew who they were, even if they’d never seen them. Baekhan had only seen photos of the royal family, but you knew some of the pack had seen them in person.

You heard Baekhan’s question in your head, but you knew it was directed at Hyunjin. He just didn’t want to leave you out of the conversation this time.

‘How many other packs are around?’

Hyunjin scoffed, “You’d be surprised. A lot of strays, too.”

“Hyunjin,” you spoke up, “where do you live?”

He turned to point toward the northeast, “That way.”

‘We’ll walk you,’ Baekhan offered.

“You guys don’t have to, it’s seriously fine. I’ll be fine.”

But even with Jiung gone, it was still ingrained in you to help others. So the two of you insisted until Hyunjin sighed and agreed, saying maybe it would be nice for his brothers to make friends outside the pack. Something about protection in numbers, which you didn’t really believe in anymore but you wouldn’t burst his bubble.

“Our place is a little...obscure,” he explained, Baekhan making sure to show you pictures of anything he possibly could to translate. “Our house got burned down by hunters a while back so we’re living in a pretty strange place. It’s nice, though. They’d never find us. It’s this huge cleared out space underneath this giant old tree. Looks like something you’d read in some fairytale, honestly. But it fits us all, it hasn’t collapsed, and it’s hidden. But yeah, just...ignore all the dirt.”

You listened as Baekhan explained to Hyunjin what happened with Seungcheol’s old house and how that was how your first alpha got murdered. Hyunjin let out a soft gasp and gave his condolences, but Baekhan moved on to talk about how they were offered your old house as a place to live.

“Yeah, our two eldest members have been out trying to find a new home,” Hyunjin nodded slowly. “One of them is the alpha, so our third oldest is acting alpha for now. His name is Changbin. He’s like you guys. He has a power. Him, Felix, and Chan.”

“What can they do?” you wondered.

“Changbin can control earth, Felix can shapeshift into other animals, and Chan can take away pain. The only catch with Chan’s is it make him feel it instead.”

You sucked in a breath between your teeth as Baekhan scrunched up his nose.

“Ouch...” you muttered.

“It’s honestly so fitting for him,” he chuckled. “You’ll get it once you meet him. He’s the nicest guy you could ever meet.”

Hyunjin began to ramble about the seven other members of his pack, and you were vaguely catching on. Your thoughts were starting to wander back to Soonyoung anyway so you weren’t too focused either way.

But you were brought back to reality suddenly when you heard what sounded like a gunshot, followed by another, and then another. All three of you froze, turning to look toward where the sounds had come from.

Baekhan may have taken the lead when it came to conversing with Hyunjin, but he looked to you with fear now, hoping for you to have the answers this time.

‘You don’t think it’s...’ his question trailed off, not even wanting to say the word.

But it was. You could sense it. You knew Hyunjin sensed it, too.

“Come on,” Hyunjin said suddenly, already turning back and walking even faster now. “you guys can hide out at my place until it’s safe.”

He started jogging, and then sprinting, and the two of you were following on his heels, trying to get as far away from the werewolf hunters as you could as quickly as possible. You weren’t sure why they were in the woods -- if it they were somehow tipped off to your presence or if they were out there looking for one of the other werewolves Hyunjin claimed to be in the area -- but you weren’t sticking around to find out.

You wished maybe you weren’t going so fast. Then maybe you would’ve paid better attention. Maybe you would’ve caught a glimpse of shining silver buried underneath the leaves. Or maybe you wouldn’t have and it was inevitable. But there was no fixing your mistake once it was done.

You let out a loud yelp as you fell to the forest floor. Your ankle burned, not just from the sharp teeth of the trap that bit into your flesh, but from the sizzle of the silver it was made out of. You let out loud cries and whimpers, your body writhing from the pain as you were unable to escape it.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Hyunjin was frantic when him and Baekhan turned and got on their knees beside you to assess what had happened. He looked up at the younger wolf and worked to take off his shirt while he talked, stuffing it somewhat gently into your mouth to muffle your screams. “Just keep going the direction we were going until you hit the widest tree in the forest -- you can’t miss it. I’ll stay with her.”

You weren’t sure what was being said. You weren’t even sure if Baekhan was letting you hear his thoughts because all you could focus on was the extreme amount of pain you felt. It was the worst pain of your life. It made you feel dizzy and lightheaded. You’d never passed out but you were sure the pain would make you do just that.

“Are you sure?” you vaguely heard Hyunjin ask. Then he was scrambling to his feet. “I’ll come back with my pack, I promise.”

He took off, leaving you and Baekhan in the woods. You couldn’t hear his thoughts but you could tell his was frantic as you tried your best to roll over and look up at him. His eyes were filled with tears that you could barely see through your own.

It felt like the teeth of the trap were being pulled out, slowly and painfully. The burning ache was torture, but your attention managed to be captured. Baekhan let out a wild wail. You’d never heard him make any sort of noise, at least not that loud. But he was fully crying out and yelling, and you looked down to where he knelt by your ankle.

Eyes squeezed shut and biting down on his lip so hard it was bleeding, Baekhan was using his bare hands to pry the wolf trap open and off of your leg. His palms were being sliced between the teeth and his flesh sizzled from the silver, but he persisted until you could weakly pull your leg out. He quickly dropped the thing and let it clamp shut on itself, stained with your blood and his. Then he took the shirt from your mouth with shaky hands, tearing strips from it to bandage his own hands and then your ankle.

Wordlessly, he gathered you in his arms before he stood on shaky legs. He started off jogging, but managed to gather more speed. Maybe adrenaline was kicking in, but you were more thankful than you could ever express that the pup had done any of that for you.

You tried to focus and use your power. You wanted to protect the two of you as best as you could while Baekhan tried to run with you in the direction Hyunjin pointed him in, but it was hard to focus. The pain was unbearable and you seemed to be struggling to even stay awake. You felt dizzy and out of it. You felt like just going to sleep. You felt--

Suddenly, you and Baekhan were getting close to the ground until he crashed on top of your body with a thud. You let out a cry of pain as his full weight landed on you unexpectedly.

He was suddenly rolled off of you, and you heard angry yelling that you couldn’t understand because everything sounded like you were underwater now. Then you were being rolled over, a man pinning you down with his body and pointing a gun straight between your eyes. He was yelling something at you, his spit spraying your face. You couldn’t even react; couldn’t even struggle against him. You felt drained of all your energy.

But you thought of Soonyoung. You thought of him back at home and how you’d now never get the chance to do any of the things you wanted with him. You hardly even got to experience living with him, and now you’d get none of the other experiences you wanted.

You continued to stare up at the hunter, eyes half-open as you didn’t even register any of the words he quite literally spat at you. You couldn’t even be afraid of the imminent death you faced. All you could think of was Soonyoung, which oddly brought you comfort through the grogginess and pain you felt.

Suddenly, the man stopped, his eyes glowing a dull silver. Mechanically, his arm holding the gun bent to point it at his own temple before he pulled the trigger, falling the way the bullet shot through his skull. Your face was splattered with the warm, sticky liquid, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to care. You couldn’t even find the strength to be afraid.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a flash of brown. You managed to loll your head to the side to see a familiar wolf tackling the hunter that was on top of Baekhan while he was horrified from what his partner had done to himself. The wolf immediately tore into the man’s neck with his sharp teeth, and Baekhan sat up on his elbows with wide, fearfull eyes as he watched the scene. Then he looked to you, then behind you.

A shadow leaned over above you, and your eyes lazily looked up again. Soonyoung’s eyes met yours, going from a silver to blood red. He looked absolutely heartbroken, even upside-down. His warm hand cupped your cheek that was still stained with someone else’s blood, and you weakly leaned into his touch.

“The rest of the pack are on their way,” he promised you in a soft voice. “Don’t move and someone will get you. I’ll keep you safe.”

You half registered his words, but you had no plans on moving anyway. Soonyoung stood from his crouched position, and now you could see he was only wearing a pair of loose, thin shorts. He stood protectively in front of you, using his power to take over the minds of the rest of the hunters who were following behind the others as backup. Chan tackled two to three hunters at a time, and Baekhan got up and did his best to help. But the trio was beginning to get overpowered with the guns and weapons designed to subdue and kill them. Soonyoung was blindfolded, Chan was taken down with a net and had multiple hunters pointing guns and swords at him, and Baekhan was too easy to overpower with his wounds. His mind control powers were too weak when all he could focus on was the pain in his hands.

Just as things seemed bleak, a roar ripped through the forest. It wasn’t one like a werewolf, though. This one was deeper and more powerful. It shook your eardrums and even made you cringe a bit from how loud it was.

You swore you were hallucinating when you saw a lion leap over you and take out five hunters. Like Chan, he began tearing into them with his claws and sharp teeth, letting out roars in between as he attacked.

Then more wolves appeared from behind where you laid on the forest floor, helping to free Soonyoung, Chan, and Baekhan. A man with black hair and a fitted undershirt stepped into your view, curling his hands toward the ground and then toward the sky, his fingers turning into claws like he was scooping into sand. Large chunks of the ground rose up, and he pelted them at the hunters.

“_____!” you heard your name being cried out but you couldn’t move to see who it was.

Kyung skidded onto her knees beside you, searching your face and cupping it with warm hands, brushing hair that was stuck to your face with blood away. She looked like she wanted to cry.

“What happened?” she asked frantically. “Where’re you hurt?”

“L-leg...” you managed to croak out. “Trap...”

Her eyes scanned down and she saw your leg wrapped in cloth that was now soaked through with blood. She cursed under her breath and looked back to your face.

“Soonyoung’ll bring you home, okay?” she told you. “We’re gonna take care of these guys. You’re gonna be okay. He’ll bring you to Josh and you’ll be fine. Just hang on a little more, okay?”

“Baek, too?” you rasped.

She nodded quickly, not even asking why you’d mention him, “Of course.”

Just before she stood, you saw her eyes glow to a fiery orange. Large flames ignited in each of her hands before she stalked toward the fight.

You tried to listen to her. You tried to hang on a little longer. But you were so tired and your eyelids were getting heavier and heavier.

The treetops were the last things you saw, and the last thing you heard over the chaos was, “Help Baekhan! Get him out of here now!”

It felt like you were being carried. Your legs were dangling, and as you were beginning to come to, it hurt more and more every time your left leg swayed. You let out a soft whimper, not meaning to make any noise but you can’t help it.

“I know, baby,” you heard Soonyoung’s soft voice and it instantly made you feel warm. “I know it hurts. We’re almost to Shua, I promise.”

You were finally able to open your eyes, but they threatened to roll back again from just how exhausted you were. They focused up on Soonyoung who looked down at you and offered a small smile.

“Hey, _____,” he said almost casually.

“Where’s Baekhan?” you croaked.

“Coming,” he promised you. “He’s safe."

He had noticed how he was struggling and ordered his pack and the mystery pack to help him. Before he took you, he made sure someone would be bringing him to Joshua, so he was sure Baekhan wasn’t too far behind the two of you.

That at least made you feel better. You knew he was injured really bad. You weren’t sure how you’d ever make it up to him for what he did for you.

“So, you made friends?” he asked with a chuckle.

You were confused for a moment, and he could tell by the slight furrow in your brow.

“Hyunjin, right?” he asked. “His pack helped.”

Right, the lion. That’s what that must’ve been. And the guy who threw chunks of the earth. He had said two of them had earth and shapeshifting powers.

“Are they safe?” you asked.

Soonyoung hummed as he nodded and then laughed again and asked, “Can you be a little more worried about yourself?”

As if he wasn’t worried about you enough for the both of you. He sensed the danger as soon as you were in it and he bolted out of the house. He was lucky he could even manage to make any sense when Chan caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. The youngest shifted and Soonyoung got a ride from him to get to you faster while Chan managed to get in touch with Seokmin who wasn’t too far away in his wolf form.

He was even more lucky to find out that a pack closer to your location had come to help. Hyunjin had told his pack of the danger and they all immediately went to help. While Soonyoung felt grateful for them and wanted to show that gratitude, he assumed Seungcheol or Jihoon would speak with the pack further once the hunters were taken care of. Soonyoung’s main concern was getting you back home.

Once you’d made it to the house, you could see Joshua already waiting on the porch with Arinya by his side. As soon as Soonyoung made it into the clearing, Josh went inside and his mate turned to follow, stopping to look back at you again before scurrying off inside.

He knew to bring you upstairs so Joshua could get right to work. It was difficult healing silver wounds but he would do as much as he could. He warned you might have to go see a doctor but you never minded going to visit Minjee.

“Rika’s good with healing, too,” you yawned as warmth enveloped your ankle. “Not in the same way, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Joshua snorted, playfully rolling his eyes. “Y’know, as shitty as it is that you got hurt, I’m kinda glad Soonyoung didn’t just bust out of here in a lust-filled rage.”

Soonyoung just scowled down at him.

It wasn’t much later that Baekhan was being carried into the house. You could hear the commotion downstairs before you could hear footsteps coming up the steps. Kyung entered with Baekhan passed out in her arms, his lanky body limp and his eyes closed.

“Is he okay?” you immediately asked.

She nodded, “Just really exhausted. Silver wounds take a lot out of you, right?”

You just looked away in reply, knowing she already knew you knew the answer to that.

“Baby, could you get me some fresh bandages from the bathroom closet?” Joshua asked, looking away from his hands emitting warm light onto your wound to look up at his mate.

She quickly left the room before coming back and obediently handing him a pristine white wrap of bandages. You could see the wound wasn’t completely healed, but as Joshua already warned, the silver had burned into you pretty bad and you’d probably need more work that he couldn’t provide. So he wrapped it up now that it was at least cleaned, no longer bleeding, and less painful.

“Be careful on that leg, okay?” he warned as he stood up from where he’d taken a knee to heal your ankle.

“I got it,” Soonyoung assured him before scooping you up off the desk. “Thanks, doc.”

“Take it easy with her, Soonyoung!” he called after him as he took you out of Joshua’s room.

And to his own.

“Soonyoung?” your voice came out almost worried and unsure.

“Yes, baby?” he replied.

“What about...?” you trailed off, unsure of what wording to use to ask him of his rules before he’d sent you away. “Are you sure?”

He chuckled as he kicked the door shut behind him, “I can control myself. I’m far too worried about you to think about any of that stuff. Promise.”

As he laid you down on his bed, you heard someone giggle something from the other side of the wall, followed by a handful of snorts and more giggling. Soonyoung was pretty sure you didn’t catch what was said and he was thankful, because Junhui liked to point out that, “Sex might help her heal since you’ll be as close as possible!”

Soonyoung slammed on the wall to get his brother to shut up before he looked back down at you, “I’m gonna go get a washcloth and clean you up a bit, okay?”

“What?”

“Um... I’ll be right back.”

Then he left the room. He was only gone for a moment, coming back with a damp washcloth that he held in one hand, and then going over to his dresser. He opened it with his free hand and grabbed a clean shirt before he went back over to you. He put the washcloth on his nightstand and laid the shirt out on the bed before he guided you to sit up. He lifted your dirty shirt over your head before helping you maneuver out of your bloodied pants. You instinctively began to shrink in on yourself, bringing your knees in and covering your torso with your arms, but Soonyoung just chuckled.

“I need to practice more English,” he told you. “Then I can tell you how beautiful you are and you can understand.”

Your face felt hot but you let Soonyoung put his shirt on you without any more type of protest.

Despite seeing you almost completely naked, Soonyoung was able to ignore every instinct to pounce on you. His worry for your wellbeing made it easy. You almost died today. That was all he could think about right now. Rut be damned.

Once you had clean clothes on, he knelt on the bed and began gently wiping away the dried blood on your face and in your hair. Once you were mostly clean, he got up and changed his own shorts, facing away from you as he did so. Then he got into bed beside you, tucking you in and making sure you were comfortable.

“What was said earlier?” you asked him suddenly, still wondering why he had banged on the wall. “Why did you hit the wall?”

“Nothing,” he told you quickly. “I...don’t know...the words, anyway. Get some sleep.”

From outside the door, as Joshua passed by, you heard him say, “Jun said sex helps you heal faster. He might be right.”

Soonyoung sat up at the speed of light and yelled, “Shua!”

You let out a squeak, eyes wide as you asked quietly, “I-is that true...?”

“No,” Soonyoung stated again but then sputtered and said, “Well, maybe. I don’t know! It’s not-- We’re not-- I’m-- Ugh!”

“You sure you’re feeling okay, Soonie?” you heard Kyung giggle from outside the door.

He let out a huff and flopped back down in bed, “Will Hanbin let us live with him instead?”

You couldn’t help but feel a smile creep up on your own face as you turned your head to look at your mate, “So it does actually work?”

He groaned and threw his arm over his eyes, but he still tucked an arm around you and held you close, “Goodnight, _____.”

»»————-　　————-««

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