in the dark - i am there with you, my love

by iilen

Summary:

The Exchange, an exciting time between the packs that make up their region of the country where two of them meet together for a moon’s cycle to find mates. The two participating packs rotate every year to help create a better blend and thus relationship between all of the parties in the agreement.

Minho, who has consistantly been discouraged by his well-meaning pack elders from participating in the Exchange due to worry about mistreatment over his issue of never having had a heat in 13 years, finds his belief that he'll spend his life alone challenged when a younger wolf takes an expressed interest in him.

Notes:

hi all

you've probably already seen some of this if you follow me on twitter, but here is the full fic! i apologize that the last third doesn't really hold up well/i think things wrap up kinda shakily. i had a strong ending originally in my head, but i received some bad personal news in my friend group a few days ago as i was wrapping things up which made it hard to concentrate, and so i feel a bit disappointed by how it played out, but i also just need this fic to be out of my wips. i hope it's not too disappointing and that you enjoy it. <33

 

notes about the mpreg

 

it's just at the end for a little epilog moment. you're welcome to skip if actual mpreg makes you uncomfy!

 

notes about genders:

there are only alphas and omegas. both can be intersex.
several characters are also trans--because i can. *shrug*
Chan: he/they
Felix: she/he
Hyunjin: they/them

there is also some background poly

“It’s not fair,” Felix pouts. “You should be getting ready with us, not scrambling around doing everyone’s–”

 

“Yongbok,” Minho whispers with a kind smile on his face as he continues to paint intricate designs along the young omega’s chest and neck, “it’s fine.”

 

“It’s not! The Exchange is for everyone–all of-age, unmated pack members get to participate! Come on, Minho. Get ready with us!”

 

“Yeah, Minho, join us. I’m sure there are some geriatric members coming from the other pack who are hoping to find a mate of their own.” A soft tittering follows the snide comment.

 

“Well, then that leaves him miles ahead of you and your chances of finding a mate, Seoyun,” Changbin chimes in sweetly.

 

“Alright, alright, everyone. You’ve all wasted enough time,” calls out Elder Eunji as she walks into the den clapping her hands. “The other pack will be here shortly, so finish your preparations and then make your way to the fire pit. Minho,” she says with a vague, dismissive wave of her hand, “go make sure the alpha den is ready, please.”

 

Minho bows low before finishing the last of his designs just beneath Felix’s bright eyes. “It’s fine, Yongbok,” he murmurs again when the young omega whimpers sadly at him.

 

And it is.

 

Fine. It’s fine.

 

He sighs softly to himself a few moments later as he follows the group of alphas and omegas from their pack down towards the large bonfire where they all await the visitors from their closest ally pack. This is Minho’s sixth Exchange since coming of age, and it is the sixth time he has been politely discouraged from participating.

 

The Exchange, an exciting time between the packs that make up their region of the country where two of them meet together for a moon’s cycle to find mates. The two participating packs rotate every year to help create a better blend and thus relationship between all of the parties in the agreement. The only clear rule is that packs must avoid as much as possible losing the birthing members of their packs, and therefore it is the alphas who most commonly move between them.

 

Excitement charges the air as a wave of new scents rolls down the hillside leading into their pack’s valley. The others are approaching quickly, and everyone is vibrating with the energy the mating season brings. The group laughs as an eager pup lets out a loud howl, which in turn triggers a communal howl, calling out for their visitors.

 

Another loud sharp yowl rings directly in his ear as Seungmin stumbles into his side with a giggle. “Ah, hyung, come on,” he shouts before letting out another.

 

“Alphas are so obnoxious,” Felix says with a roll of her eyes before howling loudly himself from Minho’s other side.

 

Changbin hooks his chin over Minho’s shoulder and murmurs, “Come on, hyung. You know you wanna…”

 

He shoots his three younger friends a glare before pointedly looking forward towards the gates, biting back a smirk as each wolf’s smile falters. Just as the gates begin to open, however, he tilts his head back and lets out a deafening howl which sets off the official welcome cheer.

 

When Minho looks back up with a laugh, the first thing he sees from across the bonfire is a young wolf with dark, curious eyes staring back at him. And something about the other’s gaze sends a shiver through him.

 

Those eyes never leave him. Not through the welcome remarks nor the introductions. Not while he helps serve dinner and light the ritual incense. All night these two piercing eyes keep their watch on him, haunting him from across the bonfire.

 

“But there isn’t a mating bite,” he overhears as he helps serve the final tea for the evening. “So shouldn’t he be participating?”

 

“Well… It’s, um. It’s complicated,” Felix whispers.

 

An unflattering snort comes from his right. “It’s really not. Minho’s never had a heat before, so you know… He’s not really…right for the Exchange.”

 

“Seoyun! That’s not your business to share,” Seungmin hisses.

 

“What? She’s just telling the truth.”

 

“Mm,” the stranger hums thoughtfully, “But. So what? That happens all the time. Took Channie over there an extra three years to have his first rut–”

 

“Oi! Jisung, what the fuck?,” Chan laughs, leaning over Seungmin, who they’d been talking animatedly to all evening, and gently slaps the other on the arm.

 

“Wow, a lot of sharing other wolves’ business tonight.”

 

Joonwoo, a newly of-age alpha, scoffs. “Yeah okay, well three years is one thing. Thirteen is another.”

 

Minho looks up defiantly to meet the eyes boring a hole in his side, and for the first time in a while, Minho finds himself feeling like perhaps this Exchange would not be fine after all. 

 

Jisung stares back at him with fierce curiosity as he replies softly, “Again, so what? A wolf that beautiful being kept away from the Exchange over something so trivial..? Sounds like some bullshit to me.”

 

~

 

Minho sighs quietly to himself that night as he makes his way back to his private den. It didn’t usually bother him all that much, being now thirty-one and still not having a heat. 

 

Or, well, it did, but it came in waves. 

 

He’d been confused and nervous at first when he’d turned eighteen and…nothing. No heat; not even hints of a preheat. But he’d been reassured by some of the older omegas of the pack that this sometimes happens–several of them saying it had taken them up to five years to have their first. Jiwon, one of the elders of his pack, had told him that his heat hadn’t been triggered until his mate had shown up nearly eight years later for The Exchange.

 

So, Minho held on to the knowledge that it was okay, that sometimes these things take time. But as a few more years passed, he began to feel unsure; and when another several passed and the whispering began, Minho started feeling downright awful and desperate. Against the advice of the Elders and healers, he even tried various herbal concoctions known to stimulate heats–but nothing ever came of it. So… He tried to move on, find a rhythm and place in the pack, and ignore the not-so-quiet gossiping behind his back.

 

For a good while, it worked. He was confident in his role in the pack. Minho was an excellent chef and had an eye for plants to pick, and he considered himself a not too shabby hunter during the peak seasons. He wore trophies of his hunts, antler pieces from a large elk or the fang of a wildcat dangling from his ears, to show his cunning and strength. Over his left breast was a tattoo given to him on his twenty-fifth birthday that signified his symbol of a protector, providing for the pack, even caring for the young pups of others.

 

Many of the younger members of the pack also often sought him out for comfort and advice as he was far removed from the idea that age should be a contributing factor in friendships or how others were treated. Some of them even mentioned being inspired to step outside of the social norms of pack dynamics because of him, which admittedly made him feel proud.

 

All in all, Minho felt secure about himself. He liked being independent, and he liked that many in his pack made him feel relied upon. It was a feeling that tried to fill up the hollow, lonely spaces in his heart.

 

But eventually things caught up to him. Younger friends began having their first ruts or heats, others he’d grown up with were finding mates and having pups—everyone’s personal lives moving forwards in a way in which he still felt stuck. Many tried their best to comfort him, offering up that mating wasn’t the only fulfilling thing in life, that he had so much else going on for him, brushing over Minho’s expressed desire to find his life’s companion.

 

The first time in several years the frustration of his situation came back to rear its ugly head was when someone had come to Minho asking if he minded watching over their pup while the mates spent some time alone. They had coupled the request with a pitying, “We just thought…you know. Since you’re so good with the pups and that you may never have any of your own, you’d be okay with watching them for the night. Have a cute bonding time!”

 

It was then that the Elders’ discouraging remarks made sense to him. They didn’t want him in The Exchange because they feared he was unable to provide for the pack in the most base, biological of ways. When he confronted them about this, their response was simple—traditionalists the lot of them, they thought they were doing him a favor, protecting him.

 

“We just want to look out for you, Minho. We’d hate for you to find a mate and bear the brunt of their cruelty when you’re unable to have pups together.”

 

But how in the hell leaving him to feel alone and adrift in the world was doing him any kindness was a bit beyond Minho. Sure, the thought of never having pups of his own made Minho…far, far sadder than he’d openly admit, but being denied even the opportunity to mate was taking a toll on him every passing year. Yes, he could mate within his own pack, of course, but… Well, it’s hard to find a mate when slowly over time the pack view of you is, ‘Minho doesn’t mate.’

 

He grumbles to himself as he starts up the hill that leads directly to his hut. One good thing about being the pack freak is at least my den is nestled in a place a bit higher up and more secluded near one of the further away bathhouses, meaning hopefully I can just fucking bathe in peace and away from any obnoxious–.

 

Minho shakes his head with a heavy sigh. “That’s not fair, Minho…”

 

“Do you usually talk to yourself in third-person?”

 

The omega nearly jumps out of his skin as a soft voice rings out from somewhere ahead of him. “Ah! Who the fuck–?!”

 

Out from the shadows steps that young wolf–an alpha judging by the markings painted on his broad upper body and across his face. He gives Minho a crooked smile, a cocked eyebrow, and an expectant tilt of his head. “Damn,” he mumbles as he sticks a finger to one ear, his dark, wavy locks falling over his eyes, “I didn’t expect you to be so fucking loud, you know what with how you barely said much at all tonight…”

 

Minho scoffs and moves to walk around the other wolf. “I had nothing to say.”

 

“Aw, what? You didn’t find the fifty point lesson plan on how to best take down a black bear to be fascinating and worthy of a three hour long discussion?!” The wolf places a hand over his heart and gives Minho an exaggerated offended expression. “Channie and Mingyu will be so heartbroken that they didn’t win you over with that tactic!”

 

Despite his best efforts, Minho can’t help but crack a smile. “Well, that’s only because I have my own plan of attack, but I like to keep it close to the vest–you know how it is.”

 

The younger man hums in reply as he nods his head solemnly.

 

They continue on like that, bantering mindlessly about the night’s conversations as they make their way up the hill. In no time, they’re standing outside of Minho’s hut, laughing at his story of the time Changbin was chased out of a tavern in a nearby trading post for flirting with the tavern owner’s mate. He blinks at his surroundings in surprise, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the other.

 

“Are…you okay?”

 

“Yeah, I just…” Minho huffs a soft chuckle. “No, it’s nothing. It just, um, always seems to take a lot longer getting up that hill.”

 

“Mm… Guess time flies when you’re having fun, or whatever the saying is…” The young wolf steps closer, and for reasons beyond Minho’s understanding, he suddenly feels like his head is spinning and his heart has begun beating wildly in his chest. The other looks him over slowly before a small smile graces his round face. “Funny,” he murmurs as he brushes a long strand of hair out of Minho’s eyes, “I’ve only met a few wolves with two different eye colors… You’re beautiful.”

 

It does not pass over him that the other wolf said ‘you’ and not ‘it.’ It does throw him through such a loop, however, that he forgets to say anything in reply.

 

“It’s Jisung, by the way,” he murmurs.

 

“H-huh?” Later, Minho will kick himself for acting like some lovesick pup, but for the time being, he finds himself a bit dazed by the shift in proximity, the other’s bold words, and the alpha’s scent–something a little sharp like bergamot, though with an added scent of something soft; passionflower, Minho thinks. 

 

“My name, it’s Jisung,” he says with an amused smirk on his lips.

 

“O-oh–oh!” Minho chuckles as his ears heat up in embarrassment. “Minho, I’m Minho.”

 

“I know.” Jisung takes a step back and inhales deeply as he eyes the omega over. “Goodnight, Minho. See you in the morning.”

 

The omega watches in disbelief as the young alpha walks away, back towards the den housing the visiting pack members.

 

~

 

“That’s called flirting, you know,” Felix says with a smirk.

 

“It wasn’t like that–”

 

“Didn’t you just say he called you beautiful?,” Changbin asks around the last bite of food he has brought down with him from breakfast for the walk to the ritual den.

 

“It wasn’t like that; he said my eyes were beautiful. Chew with your mouth closed,” he chides lightly.

 

“Min, your eyes are a part of you–”

 

Someone behind them clears their throat, pulling Minho’s attention away from the two younger omegas. He blanches under the questioning gaze of his Luna.

 

“Minho,” she says not unkindly, “you know these rites and rituals are for participating members only. I know you’re walking your friends down, but I believe they could use your assistance preparing for tonight’s feast.”

 

“Yes, Luna,” he mumbles quietly with a slight bow. Before he can turn away to head towards the communal kitchens, Minho locks eyes with Jisung. His bangs are pushed back over his head, leaving his pretty face exposed to the morning sun. He notices a large fang braided into a long strand of hair at the alpha’s neck–bear from the looks of it; impressive for one seemingly so young. If Minho could see Jisung’s wolf’s ears, he thinks they’d be lowered sadly against his head, his tail tucked between his legs as he watches the older omega walk away.

 

Minho is startled, though not altogether unsurprised, later that night when the alpha plops down next to him at dinner. He’s joined by several others of his pack, who all take seats amongst Minho and his friends. Chan he remembers, though he never managed to catch the names of the two tall, beautiful wolves–an alpha with long, luscious black hair and kind eyes, and a rather mischievous looking omega who seems to have taken a liking to teasing Changbin.

 

Flirting if Minho ever saw it.

 

Jisung notices his staring and smiles. “That’s Hyunjin,” he says pointing to the alpha who has cozied up beside Felix, “and that’s Innie–er, Jeongin.”

 

He watches as the young alpha stuffs his cheeks full of elk, a bit of pride rumbling through him as Jisung moans in pleasure knowing it was he that hunted the animal just the day before. “Friends of yours?,” he asks with a poke to the man’s round, full cheeks.

 

“Nnnh!” The other swats his hand away with a smile, blushing a bit as Minho adds a bit of extra elk to his bowl. “Yes,” he says with a swallow and lick of his lips. “We decided to join the Exchange this year together. You know… Look for some…change.”

 

Minho hums softly, understanding the desire. “Life up north a bit too much?”

 

“Ha! More like not enough, unless you count snow.” Minho notices that behind the attempt at lightheartedness, there is true bitterness in the young alpha’s words. “What about you? How… How come you aren’t participating?” The pout he gives the older wolf is sweet, and it does something funny to the omega’s heart. It’s a pretty, soft, and odd juxtaposition between his broad shoulders, dark eyes, and sharp features. 

 

Minho snorts prettily. “I thought you heard already? I’m not exactly Exchange material.” He internally winces at his own bitterness. He waves a hand as Jisung furrows his brows and opens his mouth. “I just didn’t want to, is all. Lots of other things to do, you know? Besides, I’m a bit too old for it now. Leave it to you young pups to sniff between each other’s legs for the next several weeks,” he says with a laugh.

 

Jisung doesn’t reply, instead letting himself be pulled into a conversation by his friends, but not before leveling Minho with a stare that lets the omega know he doesn’t buy his flimsy excuse for a moment.

 

It’s funny, he thinks later as he walks home, how easily the two groups seemed to slot together, conversation flowing readily. It’s dangerous, he thinks, how in particular he finds conversing with Jisung to be as easy as breathing; he’d been sure their age difference—nearly a decade he discovered tonight—would make things complicated, connection difficult, and yet…

 

The skin of his shoulder tingles at the memory of the younger wolf falling so freely onto him as they laughed together at Chan managing to fluster Seungmin once again.

 

This was going to be a particularly long Exchange…

 

~

 

“Minho!”

 

He barely makes out the shout of his name over the sound of yapping at his feet. “Jisung?”

 

The young alpha comes jogging down the path towards the front gates where Minho stands with a gaggle of young puppies, several clinging to his legs, threatening to topple him over. He cocks his head to the side in confusion, though a fluttering fills his chest at the sight of the other. “What are you doing here? Aren’t there Exchange activities today?”

 

Jisung merely shakes his head, his shaggy bangs falling into his eyes. “Nah. Well… Yeeesss,” the young alpha hedges, fidgeting with a loose thread of his leather pants, “but today is really about spending time with members from the other pack.”

 

It’s not lost on Minho that ‘spending time with members from the other pack’ is supposed to be about courtship, and so really, he should send Jisung off to go mingle with other (re: younger) members of his pack, especially considering how much time Minho has already stolen from the younger wolf since his arrival, and yet…

 

“I see. Well. I guess you could tag along—if you think you can handle it. We’re on a very important mission, isn’t that right?” Minho bends down and scoops up one particularly small pup into his arms, balancing her on his hip. He opens his mouth to say something, to ask what’s wrong as a strange look passes through Jisung’s eyes momentarily, but he’s interrupted by loud cheers, yips, and howls. Both older wolves chuckle at the pups’ excitement, and Minho sighs, giving Jisung a nod to indicate for him to join as he leads the herd out of the pack’s gates.

 

“So,” Jisung murmurs as they leisurely make their way into a nearby field, “what’s this important mission?”

 

Minho hums softly. “Well, since most people are tied up with Exchange-related tasks or preparation for the summer harvests, I have opted to take the pups out to get some air and—”

 

“And pick berriesth,” the pup in Minho’s arms whispers as she plays with the delicate beaded necklaces draped along his collarbones.

 

“Yes. And pick berries. There is a field right ahead of us with a luscious patch of blackberry bushes, and who better to help me gather than a bunch of high-energy puppies?,” Minho laughs, letting the pup run off with the others who seem to have made it to the bushes, if their little happy squeals are anything to go by.

 

As much fun as Minho genuinely has with the pack’s pups, there is something calming about doing this week’s berry picking with new company—one that isn’t trying to wipe their nose on his pants nor one, like his many younger friends, gushing about their newest crush. He and Jisung take their time, casually helping pick fruit while every so often reminding the pups they need to harvest more than they eat, and while they do, they take the time to get to know one another.

 

It’s nice. Since Minho has no investment in the Exchange, he can allow himself to indulge in listening to Jisung talk about his interests, his life, and his own pack—one of their more northern allies, with whom they sometimes trade certain crops and linens for rarer meat and more finely made leather goods. He likes listening to the alpha speak, his voice pleasant and soothing to his ears.

 

“Don’t get me wrong,” Jisung says as he helps lift a pup to reach a particularly juicy looking blackberry, “I love my pack. It’s just… There’s a lot of rigidity.”

 

“How do you mean?”

 

“Well… For example, as alphas, Chan, Hyunjin, and I really have fairly straightforward places within the pack. We hunt, we go on guard duty, we protect, etcetera. We find omega mates, we have pups, we go on hunts, rinse, repeat. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Chan and I, for instance, love to hunt; not to brag too much, but we’re quite good at it. Hyunjin, on the other hand… Well, they have other things they’d rather do, and excel at. We all have other interests, other things we’d like to try out, but… It’s a bit frowned upon in our pack, mostly because the elders just don’t really understand why we would want to do anything else.” 

 

Jisung shakes his head as they take a seat in the sun while the pups run around chasing one another, getting their energy out before they head back. Minho blushes a little as their knees knock together, his heart skipping a beat.

 

“There’s just very little room for growth and to be…different. They mean well, but…” The alpha just shrugs.

 

Minho hums softly, feeling all too familiar with what Jisung has said. “Yes… I mean, I hate to break it to you, but in my experience, we aren’t much better…”

 

“No,” Jisung says, eyes wide, “I mean. I guess I don’t know everything, but there is more freedom here. If I had been seen by guards going out with you to pick berries, no one would stop me or anything, but I would at least get funny looks. They’d assume I was here to protect you, not help gather fruit.” Jisung looks at the basket a pup had given him, barely even a third of the way full. “Granted… Maybe for good reason,” he chuckles, smiling wider as Minho laughs at him. 

 

His blush deepens when Jisung leans over, close enough that his breath ghosts along Minho’s cheek. “And definitely no omega would be on a major hunt to capture such an awesome prize,” he murmurs quietly as he gently takes the large tooth of a mountain lion, dangling from Minho’s ear, between his fingers. A shiver rolls down his spine and a strange heat fills his stomach as Jisung’s knuckle grazes the edge of his jaw. 

 

Minho looks over at the other wolf and swallows heavily around his words, lodged in a jumbled mess in his throat. “I– I guess it’s all relative, then, hm?” He clears what’s left in his throat and continues, leaning back to give them both some distance, “It’s true; in many ways, there is a greater sense of freedom in our pack. However one can contribute, we do. Many of us fill many kinds of roles here. So I suppose, yes, your pack members would likely find a refreshing sense of change, should they need one,” he says with a kind smile. “I’m sure you and your future mate will have the chance to be many versions of yourselves, not just the one.”

 

Jisung deflates a little and moves back to his original position, increasing the space between them and sending a late spring chill through Minho’s heart. “Yeah. I’m… I hope we will.”

 

For a moment longer, Minho entertains Jisung with stories about growing up in the pack, feeling warm whenever the other laughs at his odd jokes. But soon the sun begins to shift and the pups tire.

 

“Alright, everyone,” Minho calls, hands on his hips and faux stern glare on his face, “how have we done?” Both he and Jisung have to fight back laughs as they watch a bunch of juice-tinted, berry-sticky pups avoid his gaze.

 

“M-Minho, Minho,” one of the older pups calls, holding up his basket, “look!” The omega peers into the wicker bowl and is actually impressed to see it’s nearly halfway full. In fact, most of the pups have baskets nearly halfway full, so he sees the venture as a success.

 

“Really,” Minho murmurs quietly as he and Jisung guide a small pack of sleepy pups back towards the pack grounds, “the berries were a secondary goal. I just needed them to get their energy out before I lost my goddamn mind,” he snickers. He peers down as a hand tugs on his pant leg, and finds a very sleepy pup making grabby hands at him. “Aish. Come here, you.”

 

When Minho looks back over at Jisung, his heart does something like a somersault in his chest and that heat flares up in him once more. In lieu of trying to find the right words for an emotion he doesn’t think he wants to know the name of, Minho giggles softly.

 

Draped across the top of Jisung’s head is a pup mostly asleep, head atop the alpha’s, legs around his neck, hands swaying against his cheeks. Climbing into his arms are two more sleepy puppies, one shifted and chewing on their own tail, the other trying her best to hug him.

 

At the sound of his laughter, Jisung, as best as he can, looks over at the omega and gives him a wide smile.

 

“Good to know you can lift at least three pup’s worth of weight,” Minho giggles.

 

Jisung scoffs and shoots him a smirk. “Please. I could carry at least one of you, maybe two of you.”

 

Ignoring the way his cock pulses at the image, Minho considers that he could give Jisung credit that his upper body is—much to the omega’s devastation—incredibly built and broad. However…

 

“Are you sure those little chicken legs of yours won’t snap under us and you’ll drop me into the mud?” Minho cackles loudly, momentarily disturbing the pup in his arms, as Jisung gives him the dirtiest of looks.

 

“Listen, you–”

 

“There you are!” 

 

Minho looks up to find Felix, Hyunjin, and Chan standing at the gates waving at them, and while he’s not very familiar with the two alphas, he is more than aware of what the look on Felix’s face means. He glares at the younger omega and sticks his tongue out at him. Much to his annoyance, it only further deepens the wolf’s smirk.

 

“You two seem to have had a good time,” Felix purrs.

 

“Mhm,” Minho says, unamused. “Ooooh, say. Puppies, look! It’s Lixie! Don’t you wanna show Lixie all the berries you picked?!” He cackles as the swarm of small pups nearly knock the other over in their haste to show off their goodies. 

 

“Did you two have fun?,” Chan asks as he takes one of the pups from Jisung’s arms, but there’s a tone in his question that has Minho squinting at him.

 

“Yesss,” he says hesitantly as he places the pup in his arms down to run off and join the others following Felix towards the kitchens. “What about you? Get up to anything of interest?”

 

Hyunjin’s eyes sparkle as they follow Felix. “Oh, you know… Not much. Lix showed us the weaving den.” The tall alpha sighs wistfully. “Wish we had one of those. Leatherworking is nice… But I like the creativity that comes with gentler fabrics, you know?”

 

Minho hums softly. “Well, I’m sure you’d be more than welcome to visit it as much as you like while you’re here. It’s not much Yongbok’s thing, but I’m sure she’d be thrilled to spend time with you there.” The omega grins as a light blush dusts the other’s cheeks.

 

“O-oh. Yeah, I was surprised to learn that he’s more of a hunter/protector for the pack. That’s, um. That’s more u-unusual in our pack.”

 

The older omega sighs as they all slowly make their way into the pack grounds, following along with Minho and Jisung who are bringing their admittedly meager pickings to the kitchens to be cleaned. It doesn’t quite surprise him to hear that their ally pack still has quite rigid social constructs for alphas and omegas, but it does still make him sad. Just as it makes him sad to know that his own pack is only so much more ‘progressive.’

 

“Well, I hope that if you all choose to stay with us, that you’ll find places within the pack more suited to your interests.” Minho tugs the wicker basket from Jisung’s grip and dumps the berries from it into his own. Without looking at the young alpha, Minho finds a particularly plump blackberry and puts it to Jisung’s lips as he speaks. “You all should probably get cleaned up. I think Luna has something to announce before dinner tonight.”

 

As he presses another to Jisung’s lips, smiling fondly as his cheeks somehow round from a single berry, Minho murmurs, “Thanks for your help today, Jisungie. See you later.”

 

With his ears burning red, Minho quickly shuffles away before anyone can call him out on his sudden lapse in judgment.

 

~

 

“I hope you all have been enjoying your time together for this wonderful Exchange,” Luna says softly as she smiles at everyone eating merrily around the evening’s bonfire. “It’s always a great pleasure of mine and Alpha’s to hear the joyous gatherings of new faces with old.” She laughs as several howls ring out. “I’d like to remind everyone of a few upcoming events. The most prominent is the highly anticipated Chase, which will take place in nearly ten days’ time. However,” she shouts over the chorus of cheers, “before that, we shall play another little game. In just a few days, the Moon will hide herself from us, forcing us to reach out into the dark and trust we shall what—or who—we need reaching back out towards us. I hope all of you participating in the Exchange this year will join each other in the dark to see what you can find!”

 

“I know what everyone’s gonna find,” Felix mutters under her breath while making a rather lude gesture with his hands.

 

“Felix!,” Seungmin exclaims as if he’s never made the same kind of joke, and as Jeongin, a rather young omega from the other pack, nearly chokes on his elk. Luckily for him, Changbin seems to be readily attentive. 

 

“Please. Some of you are not old enough to remember the Exchange where a pair was caught…finding out what’s in the dark in Alpha and Luna’s private den,” Minho snorts as he licks a bit of blood and elk fat from his fingers.

 

“Oh my god, what?!,” Hyunjin gasps dramatically as they yank Felix into their arms. “Please, do go on…”

 

Minho rolls his eyes with a snicker as his friends and the others from the visiting pack all scoot closer, huddling together and looking up at him with big, round eyes as if he’s about to weave them some mystic tale instead of a horny story from his younger years. The omega’s stomach clenches unpleasantly, however, as he settles in to tell the tale. He feels guilty for the feeling suddenly filling him, from head to toe, as he watches the group splinter off—Felix laying in Hyunjin’s arms, Jeongin and Changbin eyeing each other playfully while sitting interestingly close to Seungmin and Chan, who look as if they’re surprised to find themselves leaning into each other’s space. 

 

Minho can’t bring himself to look at Jisung, worried about what emotion or question or desire he’ll find in the alpha’s eyes.

 

~

 

Over the next several days, something new begins to happen for Minho, and he’s unsure of what to make of it.

 

On the first morning after he and Jisung had visited the berry patches, Minho was surprised to find a small, poorly crafted but still very tasty blackberry tart outside of his front door. When he returned home that night, he’d discovered a wonderful smooth, warm stone that would help him well with a few crafting projects in the exact place the tart had been, leaving him sure it wasn’t a coincidence. The following day he received an incredible hunt left at his doorstep, a thick elk haunch and a plump rabbit. While he felt guilty keeping so much choice meat to himself, Minho’s instincts warned him off from sharing too much of it; though he did cook the rabbit up nicely and offer some to Jisung when the alpha just so happened to come around later that day. The omega had to fight off a swarm of butterflies and a strange warmth in his stomach watching the younger wolf happily eat what he’d prepared.

 

This morning, Minho opens his door and makes sure to check before stepping out of his den—a lesson learned after nearly squashing his tart the first morning. There’s another gift, but to his surprise, this time it is quite small. Minho squats down and carefully picks up a little bouquet of the tiniest, most delicate purple flowers he’s ever seen. They don’t have much of a scent, but what’s there is a bit sweet and earthy. When his eyes flutter open after getting another good smell in, movement catches his attention.

 

It shouldn’t really surprise him to see two wide, round eyes staring up at him from behind a tree down the path, because it was truly very obvious by now who was leaving him gifts. But call Minho dense, because he was still a bit confused—though very tickled—watching Jisung startle under his gaze and scamper off back towards the main pack grounds.

 

“You’re an idiot.”

 

“Oi! See if I make your favorite treats tonight, then,” Minho growls.

 

“I’ll live for a night,” Changbin says, unamused and not taking the bait to shift the conversation. “You’re being an idiot.”

 

“I have to admit,” Jeongin interjects timidly, “while I don’t know you very well…you do kinda seem like you’re being a bit obtuse.”

 

Minho throws down the garments he’d been working on all morning, helping some of the older alphas and omegas with repairs and adjustments. Originally, he’d been thrilled at being joined by the two younger omegas; now Minho wishes he’d stayed home or told them to go find other things to do.

 

“What does that mean?!”

 

Several of the older wolves laugh. “Sounds pretty standard to me,” one chuckles.

 

“Oh yes—you know, my mate also left me little rocks and sticks because she thought it would help me with my knitting,” another says while laughing.

 

Minho deflates, licking his lips nervously as he looks around the group. He hates feeling like people know something he doesn’t; it makes him anxious to be reminded of being on the outside of so many subtle social norms. Thankfully, his friend seems to pick up on his distress.

 

“He’s courting you, you big dummy,” Changbin says softly, gently nudging their shoulders together.

 

“C– Courting?! Why on earth would he be doing that?!” Minho blinks around the hut in shock as everyone chuckles, though he does take notice that Changbin gives his hand a kind squeeze.

 

“Because he likes you, Min. Fucking hell, he follows you around like a lost pup,” his friend chuckles.

 

“It’s courting, trust me,” Jeongin says straightforwardly with a roll of his eyes. “He won’t shut up about it. I don’t know what you’ve done to our cute, sweet Jisungie, but trust me when I say, it’s becoming a problem—better yours than mine,” the young omega says with a wheezing laugh.

 

“Ah,” one of the older alphas sighs, “young love. I remember courting my mate. I was so nervous she’d turn me down, that I threw up after every gift I left.”

 

“Do you think you’ll…accept his courting?,” Changbin asks, trying to sound casual despite asking a rather heavy question.

 

“Well, I–” Blushing, Minho furrows his brows and one of his hands drops subconsciously to his lower belly. “I don’t know… I mean, I like him. A lot. He’s so… But we barely know one another and… It seems–”

 

As he thinks aloud on it, a heat begins to burn beneath Minho’s hand; a bead of sweat trickles down the back of his neck. Almost as if they can smell it on him, several of the older omegas smile and nod to one another.

 

“You know, I have told you before, Minho. I, too, did not get my heat for many years—not until my mate arrived for the Exchange did I ever feel any of that fire in my belly.” Several others nod and recount similar stories. “Perhaps… Perhaps this young alpha can help your body fulfill its needs.”

 

That evening as he makes his way home, intent on spending the New Moon in his quiet den to avoid whatever the others will  get up to out in the night, Minho feels a heavy blanket of confusion settle on his shoulders. 

 

He likes Jisung—quite a bit, actually. Despite not knowing each other for very long and being nearly a decade apart, Minho finds the alpha beautiful to look at and listen to, and he’s probably the most endearing and charming wolf Minho’s ever known. He’s silly and kind, adorable—somehow very soft and imposing all at the same time. Minho feels drawn to him—likes seeking out his attention, and basks in the way the alpha’s magnetic north seems to be pointing him always towards the omega.

 

The younger wolf also does something to Minho’s insides that no one has ever done before…

 

The amount of red ears, flustered losses of words, and—most embarrassingly—slick-damp pants Minho has had to endure since Jisung arrived is becoming troublingly too many. 

 

But is being turned into a horny pile of soup a reason to accept someone’s courting? Minho supposes that’s sort of the whole deal of the Exchange—finding someone within a Moon’s cycle. Perhaps that gut instinct desire, the pull of his body, his thoughts, his needs towards the other wolf without pretense, without overthinking it…perhaps that’s how this is meant to go.

 

He’s so out of his depth on this, and he isn’t sure it’s all enough to convince him of mating—especially considering all of the factors weighed against them as a pairing. The idea of Jisung being the one to trigger his heat doesn’t fill him with the excitement it probably should; it makes him anxious, worried about the pressure this places on both of them. If there is one thing that shouldn’t play into Minho’s thoughts about Jisung’s courtship, it would be this.

 

And yet… He’d be a liar if he said there wasn’t a part of him that hopes.

 

~

 

The festivities begin even before the light of the day fully fades away. Minho smiles to himself listening to the sounds of howls and laughter out in the night. Knowing his friends are out there enjoying themselves soothes some of the sting of sitting at home alone trying to get the hang of working with the thin metal chains he traded for last winter. A surprise arrives not too far into the night, however, just as he begins to shuffle around with the thought of preparing a mug of tea.

 

A knock at the door of his hut.

 

It’s odd, considering most of his friends should be out with whoever they’re trying to court and typically non-participating pack members stay put to avoid the activities. Minho furrows his brow in confusion and opens his door. The moment he does, he’s swept out into the night, his front door swinging shut behind him.

 

“What the–? Oof.” Minho collides chest-first with a soft, warm body as he stumbles over his own feet. The scent of bergamot and passionflower fills his nose as a pair of arms wraps securely around his waist to steady him. “J– Jisung? What are you doing here?”

 

“Come on,” the other whispers, threading their fingers together and tugging the omega along behind him. 

 

Before Minho can get another word out, he’s being led out into the dark pack grounds, but instead of making their way towards the center, he realizes that Jisung is taking them towards the far back edges. “Jisung, what are we doing?,” he asks again.

 

“Ssh,” the alpha murmurs, merely shaking his head but still turning back to give Minho a wide smile. He nods in reply, as if suddenly understanding as they wander through the moonless night that the only way to protect the tension and underlying excitement of whatever this surprise unknown encounter is leading him towards is by shrouding it in the dark, by preventing it from shattering under the weight of anything heavier than their hushed voices.

 

After a few moments, a familiar sound reaches Minho’s ears, and he realizes then where Jisung is leading them, though it does not provide any answer as to why. The rushing of the waterfall at the back of the pack grounds grows as it comes into view as they round the final corner of the path. It’s a beautiful little spot, one Minho often likes to visit, and on warm days is crowded with wolves of all ages swimming in its pool of water. He blames the cool breeze in the air for the lack of other presences, as he thinks this to be an ideal place to spend such a night with someone.

 

They stand on the rocky ledge for a moment, fingers still loosely intertwined, and listen to the sounds of the night—the water, the late spring crickets and frogs, and the far off giggles and growls of their fellow wolves. Minho’s breath catches in his chest as he looks out across the water, at the still edges of the pool, and sees the blanket of stars in the sky reflected back at them. 

 

He licks his lips and parts them, new words on the tip of his tongue as he turns to face the other, but once more Jisung gives a gentle shake of the head and a knowing smile. With an easier tug of their joined hands, the alpha leads him towards the rockface of the waterfall.

 

“Look,” Jisung murmurs, pointing at something small wedged into the crack of a rock. It’s only then that Minho notices the sprawling wall of petite flowers growing across the face of the wall.

 

“Oh,” he breathes out, reaching out to brush his fingers over them, their hands finally breaking their connection, taking some of the other’s warmth with it. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been out here at night… I’d forgotten about these.”

 

Jisung hums as he plucks a bunch from the wall. “I didn’t even realize there was a waterfall here at first—the sound hardly reaches the main camp. But Seoyun brought me here a few nights ago, and that’s when I saw the flowers.”

 

Minho’s stomach churns and a bitter taste fills his mouth at the mention of the other omega, which doesn’t seem to go unnoticed by the alpha who snickers softly.

 

“Nothing happened between us, don’t worry,” he reassures him. “I came back the next morning, though, and was sad to see the flowers had gone.”

 

“Ahh, yes. Th– They only bloom at night.”

 

“So I learned,” Jisung breathes out. “Which is why I went back and plucked them for you that night.”

 

“Why?” Minho winces as his voice trembles, but all of this is so beyond him, that he suddenly feels overwhelmed—and the alpha’s next words surely don’t help the situation.

 

Jisung chuckles softly as he reaches out. “I dunno,” he replies teasingly while carefully, meticulously tucking the tiny bouquet of delicate purple flowers into a braid in Minho’s hair, “maybe because I think a beautiful wolf like you should be showered in beautiful flowers—although I think in this case, the wolf far out does the flower.”

 

Heat blooms throughout Minho’s body, putting a flush on his skin and spiking his scent of honeyed vanilla and jasmine through the air. He hides his hands in his face as Jisung’s nostrils flare at the sudden change in him, letting out a soft, nervous giggle. “Aaahh, Alpha, please,” he whines quietly. “I think you have the wrong wolf.”

 

To his surprise, the other merely lets out a loud laugh in response as he encircles Minho’s waist, slowly walking them towards the edge of the water. “You’re so silly, hyung,” Jisung says as he pulls them down to both sit. “Of course I mean you—wasn’t it obvious from my gifts?”

 

Minho’s gut instinct is to tease the younger wolf, to roll his eyes, to deflect the confusing flurry of emotions in his chest, but he can hear the underlying nerves in Jisung’s seemingly confident words. “No, I mean… Of course it was,” he lies, as if he hadn’t needed to be explained he was being courted. “I just…”

 

The omega sighs heavily as he pushes up the legs of his pants and dips his toes into the cool water, goosebumps chilling his skin. “Jisung,” he murmurs, tilting his head back to look up at the stars in the sky rather than the one’s shining in the other’s eyes, “why are you doing this..? There are so many incredible wolves participating in the Exchange this year, I promise.”

 

“There’s a pretty incredible one not participating, too,” Jisung huffs, throwing his legs over the edge with a petulant splash.

 

He has to bite back a grin, because he needs to stay focused on his point. “Yes, well… It’s because I’m… I’m too old for that now–”

 

“There’s a wolf from my pack that’s over fifty participating…”

 

“I’m too old…for you. I like you, Jisung, and I’d be lying if I said that your gifts didn’t make me feel…excited. But I’m– Jisung, I’m nearly a decade older than you. I…” Minho clears his throat in an attempt to loosen the tightness forming. His eyes slide over to give the young alpha a teasing smirk. “Come on. Surely crow’s feet and early graying isn’t exactly on your checklist for a hot mate at the age of twenty-three?”

 

To his surprise, the other wolf is the first to roll his eyes in the conversation. “Min, please… That’s such a weird thing to care about,” he chuckles. “Laugh lines are cute and show you’ve experienced a lot of joy! What an oddly prejudiced and silly thing to judge someone on… Besides,” he murmurs quietly, leaning in and lightly brushing his fingers through Minho’s long bangs, “the gray hairs? They’re incredibly sexy, hyung.”

 

The blush on Minho’s cheeks darkens, and this time he gives into his instinct. His laughter echoes loudly against the stone walls, over the sounds of the rushing waterfall, following a loud squeal and a splash of water. Minho falls forward into his own lap as he cackles, biting his lip as Jisung surfaces from the water. 

 

The joke backfires on him, however, as he watches through half-lidded eyes as the pretty young alpha pushes his soaked hair back out of his face, glaring up at the omega still seated on the edge of the pool. Minho swallows around the tension in his chest, his tongue drying as Jisung slowly wades over towards him.

 

“I suppose you think you’re very funny,” the alpha growls.

 

“A bit,” Minho purrs, a coy smile on his face. It’s quickly wiped off as two hands reach out and firmly grasp his wrists, yanking him down into the pool of water. Minho flails dramatically, clinging to the other wolf the moment he hits the water. “Aaahhh, Alpha,” he cries out petulantly, “I can’t swim.”

 

Jisung chuckles softly in his ear as Minho hastily wraps his legs around his waist and throws his arms around the other’s neck. “You big baby. Can’t take what you dish out.” The omega’s breath hitches in his throat as he pulls his face from the alpha’s neck to glare at the younger wolf, only to realize how close this position has made them. “You know,” Jisung murmurs, tucking a strand of damp hair behind Minho’s ear, “you can stand here just fine, hyung…”

 

“O-oh… Sorry.” Heat once more floods his body as the alpha grips tightly at his thighs, refusing to let him unhook his legs; it makes him dizzy and he’s grateful in the moment for the support, as well as for the cooling waters, even if said support is the cause of the issue at hand.

 

“Can I ask you something, hyung?”

 

“Mm..?”

 

“What’s this really about..? It’s surely not over something as mildly significant as eight years apart. Is this..?” Jisung chews on his bottom lip, clearly weighing his next words carefully while pulling all of Minho’s attention to the plush muscle. “Is this about your heat?”

 

Minho sighs and rests his head against the other’s shoulder, in part to hide himself as he pushes himself to be vulnerable, but also partially to seek out the other wolf’s calming scent. “I wouldn’t say having such an age gap between us is only ‘mildly significant,’ but… There’s a reason the elders…encourage me to not participate, and they’re not wrong for it. No heat h– Has a h-high chance of meaning no…no pups,” he whispers, working to keep the emotion in his voice stable. Minho chuckles awkwardly to try to ease the tension as he leans back, avoiding the alpha’s gaze. 

 

“I don’t understand,” Jisung says, face scrunched in genuine confusion, “why should that keep you from the Exchange? From mating?”

 

“Well, it’s not exactly ideal for anyone involved, you know?,” he laughs stiffly.

 

“Says who?”

 

Minho tsks in annoyance, feeling a bit like he’s perhaps being mocked at this point. “Says me, someone who wants pups of his own very much and who knows he likely will never have them and never be able to offer a normal semblance of a life to a mate, okay?”

 

“Minho,” Jisung murmurs as he takes the omega’s chin in between his fingers to tilt his face towards him. “I’m so sorry you’re living with this worry and sadness, and I wish for you to have all the pups you could ever want, but…” The alpha leans in, his breath fanning out against Minho’s lips, and brushes their noses gently together. “But mating isn’t just about pups, and being unable to have our own, no matter how sad, does not mean we wouldn’t have a beautiful life and mating together, pretty thing,” Jisung whispers. 

 

Minho searches the young alpha’s eyes for the hesitancy, the insincerity, the lies he’d been led to believe he would find in any wolf proclaiming such things. When he finds nothing but open honesty, a knot he hadn’t realized was tangled and gnarled in his chest loosens ever so slightly.

 

“Okay,” Minho replies softly, shyly leaning in to nuzzle his nose back against the other’s.

 

“Okay,” Jisung repeats, a pretty smile spreading across his face, warming Minho from the inside out.

 

~

 

Their courtship doesn’t go unnoticed, which really shouldn’t surprise Minho. Jisung hasn’t exactly been subtle about his interests in him since the moment he stepped foot in the pack grounds, and, really, it’s not as if the omega is all that much better. However, apparently word spreads quickly about their New Moon outing—something he suspects is less them having been seen and more so the young, excitable alpha telling his friends.

 

If it was just the younger pups talking behind his back—or really, to his face—Minho wouldn’t really bat an eye. Much to his chagrin, however, word seems to have made it back to the elders. 

 

“Minho,” Elder Eunji says kindly at breakfast the next morning as he sits with his friends to hear about their adventures the previous night, “I hope you’re well this morning.”

 

“I– Yes, Eunji. Quite,” he replies, unsure of what to make of this encounter but still floating on a cloud from the night before. “Really well, actually,” he says with a smile.

 

“I’m happy to hear that—genuinely. I know spring is often a busy season for you, and I wish you did not so often lose yourself in work.”

 

“Tell him, Eunji,” Seungmin calls, laughing at Minho’s threatening glare.

 

“Which is why I’m glad to see you’re getting closer with the potential new members of the pack,” she continues with a smile. Minho wants to tell her eagerly about Jisung deciding to court him, but his words wither with her next. “However, I wish to humbly ask you to not distract the participants of the Exchange. There will be ample time to show them the pack grounds, the fields, and all of the best spots of our little part of the world after they’ve mated and joined the pack.”

 

“O-oh… W-well–”

 

“Eunji,” Felix interjects in frustration, “actually–”

 

“It’s fine, Yongbok,” Minho mumbles under his breath. “Y- Yes. Of course, Eunji. Sorry.”

 

“Nothing to apologize for, Min,” the older omega says as she gently pats him on the shoulder. “I’m glad our pack has you to make sure all members, even the soon-to-be, feel welcome and at home.”

 

“Of course…”

 

“Hyung,” Felix sighs after the elder bids them goodbye, “you can’t keep letting them dictate your life like this and tell you what to do. Stand up for what you want! You can’t just–”

 

“Oh? And so what are you doing, then, Yongbok? What makes you so different, constantly demanding I do X or feel Y?,” he snaps. He instantly regrets his words as he watches the young omega deflate.

 

“I’m just…trying to help you, hyung. I’m sorry, you’re right. I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t be blaming you.”

 

Feeling his palms beginning to sweat as everyone looks on at him in pity, Minho hastily stands up. “It’s fine. Nothing to apologize for. Sorry I snapped at you, Lixie.” With that, he rushes away, ignoring the calls of his name.

 

To make matters worse, the next time he sees Jisung, the younger wolf jogs up to him with the happiest smile on his face, a gift clearly in hand. “Ah! Minho! Wait up,” Jisung calls as the omega attempts to scurry away towards the pack’s herb gardens, trying to pretend he hadn’t heard him. Unfortunately, the alpha catches up rather quickly. “Didn’t you hear me?,” he laughs, bumping their shoulders together as they follow the garden’s path.

 

“Hm? What?” Minho cups his ear and leans in, unable to help the fond smile on his face when the other laughs. “Sorry, my old grandpa hearing isn’t what it used to be.”

 

“I’ll make sure to really shout next time, then,” Jisung says loudly into his ear, laughing again when Minho shouts dramatically in pain. “I have something for you, though. That’s why I was calling you, in case you were wondering.”

 

“Mm…” Minho bites the inside of his lip nervously. He sighs when Jisung tugs on his arm, pulling them to a stop. “Jisung…”

 

“Close your eyes, hyung.”

 

He swallows heavily when he feels something placed into his palm, and as he opens his eyes, a war of conflicting emotions fills him as his heart sinks and his stomach flips. A pool of molten heat forms in his core, but is as quickly doused by the freezing wind blowing in from his chest.

 

“It’s a bear claw,” the alpha says, beaming with pride. “I know how much you like earrings, and so I… I made you this—thought you’d like it.”

 

Minho licks his lips, pressing them together to keep them from trembling. “Jisung, I– It’s… It’s beautiful. I love it, truly, but I… I can’t accept it,” he says sternly as he thrusts the impressive piece of jewelry back into the alpha’s hands. The act of rejection makes his heart hurt—his omega is angry at him for denying such a perfect gift, while his stomach clenches watching Jisung’s face fall.

 

“What? Why not?”

 

“I can’t accept it,” Minho reasserts, squaring his shoulders and forcing distance between himself and his selfish desires. “I’m not participating in the Exchange for a reason, Jisung. P- Please, I think you should redirect your focus on someone better suited for you and who is seeking a mate.”

 

Jisung scoffs, hurt flashing behind his eyes momentarily before he nods his head, a bitter smile creeping onto his face. “You know, Min, if I wanted someone to tell me who is or isn’t best suited for me, I would have stayed in my own pack and mated with who my elders decided was best.”

 

“I’m sorry, Jisung. I just think–”

 

“Come to the Chase with me in a few days,” Jisung says urgently, suddenly crowding his space, his pretty brown eyes wide and round, pleading. “Please, Minho.”

 

“I–” Minho swallows around the desperately happy ‘yes, of course’ lodged in his throat. “I can’t,” he whispers.

 

The young wolf shakes his head solemnly as he tucks a piece of hair behind Minho’s ear. Removing the mountain lion tooth from one of the omega’s ears, Jisung carefully replaces it with his bear claw. “What are you so afraid of, hyung..?”

 

“Jisung–”

 

“It’s a gift,” the other murmurs before he slowly backs away, turning to head back towards the main grounds.

 

“Fuck,” Minho hisses to himself, feeling the beginning of tears pricking at his eyes.

 

The next several days pass agonizingly slowly. His friends are busy, the mated or older members of the pack are getting under his skin more than usual, and worst of all, Jisung has been avoiding him like the plague, nowhere to be found—not that he blames the other after what Minho said to him. But all the same, it stings and loneliness creeps its way into the hollow of his chest.

 

The next time he sees the alpha for more than a split moment is the morning before the Chase; that twisted, ugly feeling returns in him and even he can smell how bitter his scent becomes. 

 

Seoyun. Why does it have to be Seoyun? The pretty omega’s tinkling laughter grates Minho’s nerves as he rounds the corner towards the open pen where the young pups usually play together while the adults are busy for the day. He’d intended to distract himself by spending time with the youngest of the pack, but instead finds himself face-to-face with a frankly terrible scene.

 

“Ahh, Sungie,” Seoyun calls, batting her eyelashes in a way that makes Minho roll his eyes, “why don’t you come sit with me over here? Your pretty furs are going to get filthy if you keep letting the pups roughhouse you so much.” The poorly veiled look of disgust on her sharp features as a small wolf cub happily yips and flops their way through the mud at her feet makes Minho’s blood boil, his protective instinct flaring. It cools slightly, however, as he watches the other continue to play, unconcerned and unabashed.

 

“Ah, they’re just furs,” Jisung laughs as he swings a giggling pup around in his arms, in apparent blatant disregard for Minho and his heart’s well-being. “They can be cleaned!”

 

Seoyun clicks her tongue impatiently, but tries again. “Jisung, why don’t we talk about the Chase tomorrow? I think we should plan to pair up, don’t you think?”

 

Whatever noise comes out of Minho’s mouth must not be as quiet as he’d hoped it was, because it draws the attention of both adults and several pups.

 

“Mimho!,” several shout as they race to the edges of the playground, causing him to smile and finally make his way over, all while pretending he doesn’t notice the others.

 

“Aah, hi, babies,” he coos as he bends down, “are you having fun?”

 

“Uh huh,” one says, “lookit! I made a castle, Minho, because I’m fancy like in your stories!”

 

Minho looks over at a sloppy pile of mud in one corner of the pen covered in leaves and twigs and smiles. “Wooow, that’s incredible, Yujin! I hope one day I can live in a castle even half so nice as that one.”

 

“I didn’t know you told stories,” a deep voice says from above him. Minho looks up to find Jisung leaning against the wooden fence, a fond smile on his lips. 

 

“Well, you never asked,” the omegas sniffs haughtily as if it were the greatest of offenses. 

 

“And I regret it now,” Jisung laughs.

 

A movement beside the alpha’s jawline catches his attention, and Minho’s heart nearly punches its way out of his chest in order to shake him for being so goddamn stupid. In place of one of his usual hoops or dangling beaded earrings, Jisung has donned the one he’d taken from Minho days ago.

 

Shit.

 

“Wow, Minho, great to see,” Seoyun drawls. “Don’t you have things to do, though? Places to be, others to rudely interrupt?”

 

“Ah, Seoyun, why would I seek out others to bother, when I have you around?”

 

Completely oblivious to the spat happening beside him, Jisung seems to tune back into the world, blinking away the hearts in his eyes as though he’s suddenly remembered something. “Oh! Minho! Since you’re here…” The alpha runs over to a small bag on a bench opposite them, retrieving something and then rushing back over. “Here,” he says softly as he tucks a little bouquet of purple flowers behind Minho’s ear, his fingers caressing down along the shell until they reach the bear claw dangling from the omega’s ear. “Glad I caught you,” he murmurs, his sharp gaze burning a hole straight through Minho.

 

He opens his mouth to say something, anything, but all of his words have dried up in his mouth. So instead, Minho does what he does best—he acts rather than speaks.

 

“You fucking ran away?!”

 

“No. I did not run away, Kim Seungmin,” Minho replies in a mocking tone.

 

“No,” Chan says around a mouthful of food, “he walked briskly in a different direction than the one he’d previously been going.”

 

Minho brandishes his chopstick like a weapon as his friends all laugh at his expense. Before he can reply to the vicious attack against his character, the spacious den they’re all seated in falls silent as someone clears their throat.

 

The Luna stands and gives the room a warm smile. “I won’t interrupt your meals for long,” she says cheerfully, “but I wish to remind you all to get a good night’s sleep tonight! Tomorrow morning, we will meet in the glen just outside of the gates. There you’ll find a field and sparse wood which Exchange participants shall run through from one starting point to the ending, where the rest of us shall excitedly await you! Those who wish to be chased shall line up in the front and get their thirty second head start—if the pack member you wish to catch does not shift, please be mindful to follow the same etiquette. All pack members are invited to come enjoy the game—chases are one of my favorite courting activities,” Luna giggles as she reaches over to comb through the Pack Alpha’s hair with a mischievous smile. “However, a reminder that only those participating in the Exchange may also participate in the Chase,” she says with a firm tone, and in that moment, a flicker of embarrassment wells up inside of Minho; while he knows he’s not being specifically called out, as the announcement is more of a safety precaution, but he can’t help but feel as if he is once more being chastised.

 

Before the thought can fester, however, a distracting ruckus barrels its way towards where they’re all seated.

 

“Minho, Minho! Tell us a story!”

 

“Yeah, Minho, tell us a story…”

 

The omega coughs as his tea goes down the wrong pipe, smiling awkwardly as Changbin bemusedly pats him on the back. “S-Sorry?” Minho looks at the swarm of pups beginning to surround the space in front of him, apparently egged on by none other than his arch-nemesis, his story’s antagonist, the bane of his existence—the gorgeous, perfect Han Jisung.

 

“Oi, there you are,” Hyunjin calls lazily from their place draped around Felix’s back. “Thought you were going to miss dinner altogether.”

 

Jisung shrugs. “Nah. I just decided to eat with the kiddos tonight.”

 

“Sthory time,” one small pup whines, tugging on the fur draped around Minho to keep him warm from the cool night air drifting in through the open doors.

 

“What did you say to them?,” he asks the young alpha, squinting his eyes as he sets down his mug.

 

It’s not that Minho minds telling a story to the pups—quite the opposite. Spending time with the pack’s puppies has always brought Minho a kind of comforting joy; it warms him to see their enthusiasm, their innocent wonder. He missed being with them today. Really, he’s only being difficult partially to tease them…and partially to hide the way the singular attention Jisung has on him makes his entire body set on fire.

 

“Who? Me?” Jisung gasps in mock surprise. “Why would you think I had anything to do with this? I was merely in the right place at the right time when someone mentioned wanting a bedtime story.”

 

A chorus of pleas follows his comment as the pack of pups all give him their best pouts. One pup, Jin, who has just learned to control the shift into his wolf, comes bounding into Minho’s lap, tiny tail wagging, tongue lapping at the omega’s cheeks as Minho scoops him into his arms. “Okay, okay,” he giggles. “Fine.” He gives them a look of exasperation before smiling wide. “Story time.” He and the others laugh again as the pups all cheer, little Jin yapping happily in his lap; Minho does his best to ignore the way butterflies flutter in his stomach over the fond smile on Jisung’s face.

 

“Did everyone finish their dinner?” Minho nods in approval as the pups all affirm they have. “Then come sit. Ah!” He gives the alpha a stern look as he moves to sit amongst the group of children. “You didn’t say if you’ve finished your dinner.” He has to bite back a laugh when Jisung gives him an affronted glare, instead arching an eyebrow at him.

 

“He won’t do sthory time until everyone has eaten dinner,” a young pup whispers loudly.

 

“Yes,” Jisung sighs dramatically, “yes, I have finished my dinner.”

 

Minho nods sharply with a soft, Mm. “Well, sit and then we can begin. Now…where did we last leave off..?”

 

“The cave,” someone whispers around the thumb in their mouth, “you left the empty cave.”

 

“Aaahh, yes, you’re right, Haerin,” he muses as Jin curls up in his arms, tail thumping happily against his belly.

 

“Story of Minho’s coming-of-age hunt,” he hears Changbin murmur softly to Jisung and Jeongin as the alpha takes a seat beside his friends. Minho smiles to himself as several pups find their way into the older wolves’ laps. 

 

“As you may remember, I had arrived at the cave to find it empty—only bones and debris as signs that the bear had once been there. It was sunset, and I had hoped to catch the bear as he returned to his den, and yet as the sun continued to sink, the light to fade, there was no one. I decided then to return to the river from where I had followed the path to the cave and hoped that perhaps I might once more pick up on his trail. Ahh, but my pups,” Minho whispers dramatically, just barely loud enough to hear over the crackle and hiss of the bonfire, “the forest at night is a tricky thing—it likes to play games with you.”

 

The pups around him all stare at him with wide eyes and slack jaws; some of them scoot closer, and some of them hug worn stuffed animals tight to their chests.

 

“Trees pick up their roots and change their places with one another. Shadows move on their own. Scents swirl in the air to confuse even the most seasoned of hunters in the night. But… There is one who you can always rely on… Do you know who it is?”

 

“The Moon,” someone murmurs softly as the pups all shake their heads in confusion. Minho looks over and finds the alpha’s eyes on him, lids low as he traces the omega’s form slowly, leaving him feeling suddenly nude and exposed. Jisung licks his lips as he stares at Minho’s bare chest for a moment longer before dragging his eyes up to meet the older wolf’s gaze. “The Moon—She is always there to guide us, even when we cannot see Her. She knows…everything,” the alpha whispers.

 

Minho swallows around the sudden lump in his throat, grateful for the night’s shadows to hopefully help hide the flush creeping its way across his body. It should be criminal, the way the younger wolf makes Minho’s body ready to burst into flame, his heart race—the way Jisung makes his omega want to whimper softly and roll over onto its back, vulnerable and pliant, all from a simple look and a hushed voice. It’s embarrassing that the frustratingly pretty, thoughtful, powerful, pretty young wolf should make Minho feel things he never thought he would get to feel. Something flares in Minho that begins to burn away the feelings of shame and doubt.

“Y– Yes. That’s right. The Moon was there for me that night as I found myself wandering further into a wood I no longer recognized. Through Her light and guidance, I found my way back to the river, though many miles down from where I had begun.” Minho smirks. “And it was there that I was grateful for the Moon once more…” He scratches soothingly behind Jin’s ear as the wolf cub whines quietly at him. “As I approached the river slowly while the Moon hid herself behind the clouds, bowing my head cautiously to drink, I was met with a sound I could never have imagined in all my life.”

 

“What?! Mimho, what?”

 

 “A song. A song rising out of the river itself. The most lovely sound I’d ever heard. And when I looked up, there I saw seated on a rock not so far from me a creature whose beauty could have rivaled the Moon herself. Long, luscious hair that moved and flowed like the river; naked and bare under the moonlight. They sang to me, called to me, and without realizing when or how it happened, I soon found myself unshifted, bare, and wadding my way towards the creature.”

 

Several of the pups gasp, a few whose eyebrows pinch in worry, while still a couple of others’ eyes shine with excitement.

 

“They reached their hand out to me, and as I began to offer mine in return…the Moon reappeared…”

 

“What happened?”

 

Minho and the others chuckle as Changbin flushes at his quiet outburst.

 

He sighs softly and leans back on one hand, the other petting through Jin’s fur. “I think… I believe that the Moon can show us as we truly are—the good, the ugly…the many layers and truths of Us. She calls us in and shows us ourselves and others when we need Her to. And so that night, She showed me that this creature, this siren, beautiful though they and their song were, their true intentions were cruel and nefarious. She shone Her light down upon us both and reflected back for me the siren’s true nature, their twisted features shining brightly beneath Her light, so that I may be free of their spell to flee and continue my quest.”

 

Later that night, as Minho makes his way back to his den, a gentle sound finds its way to his ears from the path ahead of him. Smiling, confused, he follows it.

 

“I didn’t expect to find you on the other side of this song,” he murmurs as he slowly approaches the young wolf who is leaning up against a tree along the path.

 

“I was testing the waters, if you’ll excuse the choice in words, and it seems as though your story is at least this much true.”

 

Minho huffs and crosses his arms. “And what does that mean?”

 

Jisung smirks, his head cocked, as he saunters down to meet the omega on the path. “That you can’t resist a pretty song.”

 

He blushes, heat rising on his skin as the alpha moves further into his space than ever before. “Who said it was pretty?,” he breathes out into the minimal distance left between them.

 

“You did…with that sweet smile on your own pretty face. A pretty song…for a pretty wolf.”

 

Minho flushes deeper, averting his lowered gaze but making no move to stop the other as he cautiously creeps ever forward, until his nose is nearly brushing along Minho’s scent gland. He exhales shakily as he swallows, turning back to face Jisung as he makes a decision—a selfish choice, perhaps, but one his heart is screaming for him to make. “You… You have a lovely voice, Alpha… We shall see if the Moon shows me an equally beautiful soul when the time comes,” he tries to tease, but it comes out far too heavy.

 

“I look forward to showing you every part of me, pretty thing—almost as much as I crave to see you laid bare before me, too.”

 

“Then I hope She gives us both what we seek,” Minho whispers as his body rocks forward of its own volition, drawn in by its own personal siren song, to close the remaining gap between them.

 

They both sigh into the late night air as their lips gently slot together, perfectly, Minho thinks. They stay there for a moment, breathing each other in, before the omega reluctantly pulls away.

 

“Goodnight, Alpha.”

 

“Goodnight, beautiful.”

 

That night, Minho lays in his nest with a fullness in his heart and determination in his mind. He moans softly in the dark of his den, the memory of the other’s lips on his own, the taste of the alpha’s name on his tongue, his fingers slowly slipping between his slick folds. He cums hard, his small, flushed cock pulsing against the pads of his fingertips, slick coating his thighs, as he throws off the burden of expectations and solidifies his plan. 

 

~

 

The morning air is brisk; a chill gust of wind blows through his white fur as he pads his way towards the glen with his other pack members who are all talking excitedly amongst one another. There’s a brief moment when he arrives, joining the animated crowd, that Minho almost backs out of his plan—especially when he spies the elders and Luna making their way to announce the start of the Chase. That hesitation fades, however, once he finds his prey.

 

If Minho were unshifted, something like a gentle coo would likely leave him at the sight of the young alpha. He’s never seen the other look so small and unsure, his dark, shaggy bangs laying in waves over his eyes, his toes pointed inwards and his hands clasped shyly in front him, and a deep crease in his brow as he chews on his lip. It’s obvious in the way Jisung shifts around, craning his head and standing on the tips of his toes, that he’s looking for someone—and if the sour look on Seoyun’s face is anything to go by, it’s surely not her.

 

“Good morning, everyone,” Luna shouts, laughing at a chorus of answering howls. “It’s wonderful to see you all despite the early hour! I know you’re all eager to begin, so if my prey could come to the front for me—anyone wishing to be caught. You’ll have a brief thirty second head start, so use it wisely! But be careful not to wear yourself out too early.”

 

Minho huffs in amusement when he makes out a little sigh escaping Jisung’s pouty lips. As he carefully makes his way towards the front, slithering his way gracefully through the crowd, Minho makes sure to roughly bump against the alpha’s legs.

 

“Yah,” Jisung calls, but his words seem to die in his throat as the omega turns his head back to face him. His eyes light up in recognition—perhaps either from Minho’s scent flaring in the air or his bright, two-toned eyes shining back at him. 

 

Minho yaps at him, his tail wagging playfully, but it stops as a darkness creeps into the alpha’s eyes. His ears fold back against his head in anticipation as he watches Jisung slowly undress, passing his clothing to a non-participating pack member. Hackles rising, Minho bares his fangs as the other shifts into a gorgeous, broad wolf with pitch black fur and piercing eyes. The responding vicious growl from the alpha set Minho on fire. The instant Luna announces the beginning of the Chase, he dashes into the woods as fast as he can.

 

While Minho’s wolf may be more petite than Jisung’s, he makes up for his size with stamina and speed. He works to put a good distance between himself and the starting line, though he makes sure to weave his scent between the trees for his alpha to find. His stomach lurches into his throat at the sound of their predators beginning their run into the forest.

 

Far sooner than he’d given the other credit for, Minho begins to make out the growing scent of bergamot and passionflower, this time sharp enough to sting his nose. Knowing these woods like the back of his hand, Minho zigzags his way through, leaving traces of his scent along various spots in an attempt to throw off the alpha’s game, but it seems to only fuel him. His omega preens at the idea of such a skilled hunter chasing after him, hunting him down.

 

It’s exhilarating, the Chase. He’s never experienced something so thrilling in his life. The rush sends electricity through his nerves, and every time he can tell the alpha is gaining on him, the heat in his core sparks and flares. It makes his mind feel fuzzy around the edges and fills him with an overwhelming need for the other—a craving that threatens to drive him mad.

 

It must slow him momentarily, the way the world spins beneath his aching paws, because suddenly there’s a hot breath on his left side. Minho yaps loudly in surprise, mind snapping back into place. He growls and snaps his jaws at the other, which only seems to further incense him. Jisung snarls and attempts to catch the omega on his rear leg, but Minho manages to maneuver away just in time. 

 

What began in his mind as a playful game soon becomes something more real, as if his instincts have kicked in for the first time in his life. Fangs snap, saliva, fur, and small droplets of blood fly around them both as they each take nips out of one another—Jisung in an attempt to throw him off balance and Minho in an attempt to keep the alpha at bay.

 

Minho isn’t one hundred percent sure if it’s the intended purpose of Jisung’s bites into his sides, the other clearly trying to corral him into a corner, but each one only further adds to the haze in his mind. He wants to laugh a bit—his competitive side is aching to win, his instincts refusing to let the other catch him so easily, needing the alpha to prove himself, but his omega is absolutely beside itself. As the minutes roll by into what surely must stretch into hours or days, Minho’s omega burns and begs him to give up already, to let the other wolf catch him; for the first time in his life, Minho feels the all-consuming fire in his belly slowly building with the need to submit…and he wants it. Oh god, does he want it.

 

He huffs, finally growing impatient at their matched sparring, something the other seems to pick up on. Or, Minho suspects as much when suddenly, he’s gone. For a moment, he considers stopping in his tracks to search for Jisung, to call out to him, but he grumbles internally at his omega for being so pathetic as to give up that easily. He’s worried all the same, though—there’s no way he can just so readily give in and merely lie down and wait to be caught, but at the time, he can hear the crowd ahead of him, the others who have finished their chase or come around through the shortcut to wait for the participants. They’re running out of time.

 

It’s just then that he catches it, all of his senses drawn to the right of him as a creature comes charging out of the brush, ferocious and growling. Minho makes a split decision, and rather than pushing himself the last of the way towards the finish line, he braces himself for the tackle.

 

Somewhere nearby there are cheers and howls of excitement as he’s tossed to the ground, but he can barely make them out over the sounds of his own snarls as the two of them wrestle in the tall grass. He manages to throw Jisung off him, pouncing atop the alpha, only to be immediately kicked off. It continues like this for several minutes, the sounds in any other context likely to frighten and concern any onlookers. 

 

Before he knows it, though, Minho is summarily tossed onto his belly, a gentle but firm weight atop him as jaws quickly scruff him. He whimpers and whines, his paws digging futilely into the soft earth in an attempt to free himself from the fangs buried in the soft fur of his neck. His body soon goes limp, however, at the sound of a warning growl coming from above him. Too far gone, mind hazing over from the rush of it all, Minho lets out another pitiful whine as his pliant body is slowly lowered to the ground. When he tries to wiggle around beneath the other wolf, Jisung growls low in his throat, squeezing once more around his mouthful of Minho’s neck until finally, finally the omega submits, giving up the chase.

 

Both wolves lay panting on the ground for several minutes as they attempt to catch their breath. Carefully, Jisung releases his grip on him, quickly acting to soothe the sting left behind by his jaws. His tongue licks slowly around his neck towards Minho’s face, pausing only to nuzzle his nose against the omega’s cheek. When he lowers himself back down atop the other, he bears his teeth, allowing Minho to gleefully lick across his fangs as their tails begin to wag in unison behind them.

 

“A–” Minho swallows painfully around the stitch in his side and the burn in his dry throat. “Alpha,” he rasps. He whimpers as the weight atop of him disappears.

 

“Ssh, pretty,” a deep, husky voice murmurs in his ear, a shiver running along his spine as Jisung noses into the soft hair at the base of his neck, his hands caressing down Minho’s back, massaging along his hips. “I’ve got you.”

 

Bones still more of a plasma than a solid, Minho happily welcomes the assistance in rolling over. “Hi,” he whispers, voice small as he stares into the brilliant, bright eyes of the other.

 

“Hi,” Jisung laughs, a wide, pretty grin on his face. “You came…”

 

“Mm,” Minho hums, hesitantly allowing his hands to find their way towards the other’s small waist, purring softly at the feeling of heated skin against his own. “Thought I’d come see what all the fuss was about,” he says with a smirk.

 

With a seriousness heavy enough to sink Minho into the ground, Jisung merely sighs as he lowers himself down, body blanketing him. “I’m glad you came,” he whispers, brushing his knuckles along the omega’s cheekbones.

 

“Me, too,” he replies softly, leaning into the caress, his long lashes fluttering against his cheeks. Minho slowly spreads his legs wide enough for the other to lay between them, and when he opens his eyes again, he finds the heat bubbling inside of him reflected back in Jisung’s dark eyes. “Jisung, I–”

 

“Minho! What on earth are you doing out here?”

 

He startles at the sudden intrusion on their little bubble, thoroughly popped and once more reminded that they are far from being alone. In fact, the outburst seems to have drawn the attention of a fair number of others nearby. Minho hastily covers Jisung’s mouth as a low growl rumbles in his chest.

 

“E- Eunji… Well, I–”

 

“I thought I and Luna specifically reminded everyone that only members participating in the Exchange could join the Chase,” she says loudly, clear disappointment in her voice. 

 

“Eunji, I understand, but I was–”

 

“What’s going on?” Minho flushes a bright red as his Luna slowly makes her way over, and he becomes increasingly aware of the growing attention on the two of them.

 

“A-ah, Luna, I…” Minho shrinks under the gaze of the two older women. “I just–”

 

“It’s nothing, Luna. Minho just…got over excited, is all,” Eunji says exasperatedly. 

 

The Luna looks between him and Jisung and their rather suggestive position, a glint Minho can’t interpret in her eyes, and opens her mouth to say something, but not before he can cut her off.

 

“I’m sorry, Luna,” he whispers, mortified as the rest of the pack begins to gather around them. “I– It won’t happen again…”

 

“Min,” Jisung exhales miserably, but Minho ignores him, instead shifting once more into his wolf form and wiggling out from underneath the alpha.

 

Without a look behind him, and with his tail tucked between his legs, Minho runs back towards the pack grounds and away from all of the eyes boring their way through his soul, determined to never see any of them again, if he can help it.

 

~

 

It takes him the rest of the day to reregulate his system. By the time night falls, Minho has given up on trying to come back down from the rush of the morning and has accepted the way things played out. There’s a part of him that knew it wouldn’t end well, that knew his elders would disapprove—not because they dislike him nor wish him any ill will. Quite the opposite, he tells himself as he trudges his way towards the quiet bathhouse next to his hut. They, and much of the rest of his pack, truly think they’re doing him a service, and honestly, he thinks, at this point, it’s been like this for so long, he’s not sure they know any other way to handle the situation.

 

In everyone’s mind, Minho doesn’t mate. This isn’t behavior congruent with the image they have of him—an image they themselves created and have for the past thirteen years attempted to mold him into in order to solve the sort of paradox they’ve formed around the issue.

 

Part of him wishes that this would all just end quickly, as claiming is now only a few days away, so that he can just move on and go back to how his life had been nearly a month ago. Jisung can find a mate, and he can continue to live in quiet peace. Another part of him wants to run away into the woods and never look back—free himself from the burden of an image of himself he neither created nor wanted.

 

A third very small, but increasingly forceful part of Minho hopes that maybe for once he’ll get the things he’s secretly craved and coveted all these years. And maybe, he thinks, someone is out there listening to that small, desperate part of him…

 

The door to the bathhouse opens and shuts. From the showers at the front comes a quiet splashing soon followed by the sounds of feet padding their way into the main bath room. Bergamot and passionflower fill the room.

 

“You know,” he purrs softly, the water around him rippling as he tips back, his long, dark locks fanning out in the water around his head, “this isn’t the bathhouse for visiting pack members.”

 

“So I’ve heard,” the young alpha replies, his voice so deep and low, so quiet, that it sends a shiver up Minho’s spine despite the heat of water he’s submerged in. “In fact, I overheard that no one really uses this one—too far out of the way, they said.”

 

Minho smiles at that, though it’s not a wholly happy thing. “No… No one really comes this far for a simple bath.” He sits up sharply, waves splashing with the movement, at the distinctive sound of clothing hitting the wooden slats along the ground. The omega’s heart leaps into his throat, an aching pounding against his Adam's apple at the sight before him. 

 

Jisung stands nude atop the short steps of the rather immense wood and stone bath which fills and drains to and from the rushing river nearby, and is carefully heated by fire and hot stones from below. Moonlight filters in through the windows and bathes his honeyed skin, cleansing him before he can climb down into Minho’s waters. 

 

Something about him like this twists the omega’s insides like a burning coil, makes his breath shudder. 

 

The Chase. It unlocked something in Minho—in the both of them, he thinks, and there is no putting it back in its cage. Not when heat once more floods his body as Jisung gazes down at him. 

 

It makes him breathless. Breathless like the chase—the air stolen from his lung not because of the exertion to propel his body forward, in seeking freedom from the hunt. No, the freedom was in being sought after, in being caught. Breathless from desire—from being desired.

 

Prey, not because he was weak, not because he meat to be hunted and taken for another’s callous satiation, but because the predator needed him, needed him to live, to survive, to feel. A freedom to take pleasure in being devoured, in being sustained by sustaining one another.

 

“Why are you here?,” Minho whispers as he ducks down into the bath, water lapping against the edge of his full bottom lip. 

 

The alpha smirks at that as he dips a toe into the water. “Because they said no one used this bathhouse…except you.” Jisung scoffs. “Their fucking loss.”

 

Their waves meet in the middle, and without a word, they each secure the reward they were so cruelly denied earlier that day, having won their race.

 

Minho moans softly as his plush, curved upper lip is gently sucked between the other’s, two hands pushing his soaked locks back away from his face. He relaxes, allows his hunter to swallow him whole, no muss, no fuss—served up on a silver platter. Minho wraps his arms around Jisung, hands splayed out over his broad shoulders, and breathes into the push and pull of lips too desperate to be considered a kiss.

 

“Alpha,” he whispers, the sound so soft it’s nearly rushed away with the babbling of water, with the cicada’s song.

 

“I’m sorry,” Jisung replies, wrapping Minho’s legs around his petite waist and pulling him into his arms. “I should have said something.”

 

Minho smiles sadly and shakes his head. “No, it’s–” He sighs and lays his head down onto the other’s shoulder, his nose teasing along Jisung’s neck. “It’s not your fault,” he mumbles. “It just…is how it is…” Minho shrugs. “How it’s been for…a very long time.” 

 

He smiles a little more bemusedly when a growl rumbles and shakes through Jisung’s chest. “Ssh, Alpha,” Minho whispers hotly along the damp skin of his neck, “not tonight.”

 

“Min… You deserve–”

 

“Ssh.” 

 

Hesitantly at first, Minho lets his tongue briefly grace across the alpha’s scent gland. Encouraged by the wanton groan in his ear and the claws digging into his thighs, Minho leans in further, dragging his tongue in slow kitten licks before suctioning his lips around it.

 

He lets out a soft gasp as he’s rushed backwards, water sloshing over the sides of the stone pool as he’s pressed firmly against the edge of the bath. Minho whines brokenly, soft whimpers through shaky breaths, when he feels Jisung’s cock, nestled between his folds, begin to fill out against him. “Jisung–”

 

“You drive me fucking crazy,” Jisung laughs. “Do you know that? I think you must,” he whispers, nose tracing the shell of Minho’s ear, his hot breath sending heat straight through the omega. “Because you keep fucking tempting me…” Roughly, though not unkindly, Jisung pushes Minho’s head to the side with a nudge of his nose before burying his face in Minho’s scent gland and inhaling deeply. “I’ve never met any wolf like you, hyung.”

 

Minho’s eyes flutter and his body arches harshly into the alpha’s as fangs drag carefully along his scent gland.

 

Air puffs against his clammy neck, where his hair clings messily along its length. “I thought about it, you know? Right there—I could have had you right there today, in front of everyone, in front of your friends and your elders, in front of my packmates. You looked so fucking pretty, hyung; prettiest wolf I’ve ever fucking seen, laid out so nicely for me after letting me catch you. I think if I had growled at you to, you would have rolled over and put your pretty cunt on display for me.”

 

Minho moans low in his throat, tensed fingers sliding down Jisung’s wet back, hips bucking up. 

 

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, beautiful?,” Jisung whispers in his ear, shaky and thin.

 

“Yes,” he breathes out. Minho turns his head back to face the other, their eyes roaming across one another as they both pant desperately, the weight of anticipation heavy around them. He wraps legs more tightly around the alpha, pulling him in closer. Minho’s jaw goes slack and his eyes flutter slowly as Jisung’s hard length presses firmly against his sensitive, swollen cock. “Yes, I would–” He licks his lips and leans in, pressing a little, tender peck to the other’s plump bottom lip. “I would have let you do anything you wanted to me, right there, in front of everyone.”

 

Hands once more press into him, tilting his head back until he’s eye-to-eye with the younger alpha, suddenly tall and towering above him. “You’ve ruined me, pretty thing,” Jisung growls, soft and low, before diving down into him, drinking him in.

 

He can’t breathe—but if breathing meant being even one centimeter further away from the other, then Minho would rather perish, suffocate beneath the weight of heady desire. He gasps, his claws digging into the soft skin of the alpha’s back as his hips roll their bodies together, making room for Jisung’s tongue to snake its way between his parted lips. Between his tensed thighs, the alpha’s cock parts his lips, never slipping inside, instead merely driving Minho insane every time his head caresses over the omega’s throbbing cock, so hard it nearly brings tears to his eyes.

 

“Alpha,” he whimpers between each kiss, pulling Jisung’s lip between his fangs and nipping. Minho whines softly in reply to the other’s growl. “Touch me—please,” he exhales. “I need you.”

 

Fingers curl and tighten in the hair along the back of his head. “You have me—only me,” Jisung growls, his hips rocking swiftly to meet the other’s, need meeting need. “My pretty omega,” the wolf breathes out before slotting their lips together once more.

 

Minho’s heart pounds in his chest while heat coils its way around his gut, as the Moon’s light drifts over them, as Jisung’s cock glides sinfully over his wet cunt, pressing so perfectly against his cock that stars continuously burst across Minho’s sight. He moans as he sucks the alpha’s tongue in mouth, reveling in the high whine it elicits.

 

And he wants it, more than he’s ever wanted it in his life.

 

He wants the heat in his gut to mean something, to blossom, to explode, volcanic eruption of need and pleasure.

 

Minho clings tightly to Jisung’s shoulders, claws digging in until light trickles of blood flow from beneath them. He pulls away from their kiss, head moving to rest against the other’s shoulder, panting as he searches for air to fill his aching lungs. Alpha becomes the only word his tongue knows as their bodies entwine, pressed together until there is no longer two but one.

 

And he yearns. He craves. He wants to be just that—he wants to be Jisung’s omega. Not a reduction to a role, a gender, a one dimensional caricature. No–he already feels as though some days he is lacking at least one of his dimensions as it is, and he’s reaching out desperately into the dark void, begging someone to help him find it, pleading to be allowed to feel complete in the ways he needs.

 

“Oh, come on. It’s an archaic forced gender role anyways—oh, omegas have to have alphas, they have to have pups, they have to be pretty little docile dolls who do nothing but cry to be bred and have no life. You don’t need all of that to be happy, Minho. You don’t need the whole chase and claim traditions to live a full life. You’re more than that.”

 

They’re right; of course they are. He’s strong, he’s powerful, he’s intelligent, he’s loving, he’s kind, he’s loyal. He is more than that—and yet he is so fucking greedy. He wants more than even that. He wants it all. He wants to be allowed to want his every dimension, to be whole, to be a part of something that isn’t just himself, that isn’t just his pack—as if he isn’t already spending his days feeling like an obedient little pup, doing only what is needed of him as desired by others.

 

What about his desires? Can’t he be allowed to subvert in his own fucking ways?

 

“Alpha,” Minho moans, heat licking up his sides, turning to mouth against the other’s ear. “Tell me. Please. Tell me what you would do to me.”

 

Jisung hums and slows his hips. Carefully, he pulls them over towards a stone ledge at one corner of the bath and lays them both down onto its cool surface. He licks his lips as Minho spreads his legs invitingly, encouraging him back down, where Jisung then pulls Minho close until their cocks are flush and pressed into one another. Slowly, as he grinds into him, Jisung leans over him, his hands slipping into Minho’s wet bangs, his thumbs tracing along his eyebrows and down the sharp slope of his nose.

 

“What I would do to you..? I would… I would take my time with you. I would…card and catalog every millimeter of you—I want to know where every freckle is, every mole, every scar…every place that makes your nose scrunch so cutely and your toes curl. I would worship every laugh line, every gray hair. I would… I would devour you, beautiful.”

 

Jisung presses in closer until a quiet squeak escapes Minho’s lips, his eyes rolling and his hips thrusting weakly on their own, seeking out more of that pleasure.

 

“I would learn every detail of you…and then I would consume it. Tear you to pieces with my fangs, rip you to shreds with my claws. I want to sink my teeth into everything that you are, Minho, and make it a part of me.” Jisung dips down, grazing his lips along the omega’s collarbones, brushing them against a freckle on his breast. “And in return, I would give you everything you asked me for—every piece of me.”

 

Minho cries out as a hand slips between his legs, his toes curling as two fingers stroke his cunt, slick dripping between them, while Jisung’s thumb makes quick work of his sensitive little cock. “Ah– I–oh, god. Alpha–” Minho swallows heavily as his head tips backwards, his back arching off the stone beneath him, his hands grasping at anything to ground himself as his mind spins and a finger fucks into him so perfectly.

 

“I wouldn’t knot you until you asked me for it, you know? I wouldn’t…fuck your slick cunt so full of my cum, your pretty womb would have to take it, fill and swell your belly with my pups…not until you begged me for it.”

 

Dizzy, somehow fuller from two fingers than he’s ever been from any knot, Minho cries out, knees knocking against the young alpha’s small waist, heels digging into slick stone. “Ah– Oh my god. Alpha, yes. Please.”

 

“Please what, baby?,” Jisung pants, voice ladened with his own desperation.

 

“Fuck me. Knot me—I want it to make me fucking scream. I want it to hurt so fucking good. I want it swollen inside of me—so thick, it’ll be locked in me for days. You,” he pants, “I need to feel you so deeply rooted in me, Alpha, that you can no longer be untangled from me without it tearing us both apart.” Minho pulls him down closer and slots their lips together in a messy, hungry kiss. “Breed me, Jisung…please,” he whispers, eyes round and wide. “Let me carry your pups, let me keep them safe. Please let me never be empty and al– Alo– Alpha, fuck!”

 

Minho cries out, a deep, guttural moan ripping through his throat as his vision goes white. His eyes manage to roll back open at the perfect moment to watch the other fall apart between his legs, Jisung nearly collapsing as he cums hard across Minho’s spent cunt.

 

“Ji– Ah!” 

 

Soft whimpers and quiet whines fill the bathhouse as the young alpha feasts himself between Minho’s thighs, lapping up their cum and the omega’s slick from his cunt like it's his post dinner dessert, his reward. His legs tremble and shake against the other’s head as Jisung milks one more orgasm from his poor swollen cock. And once he’s had his fill, he lays his head atop Minho’s heaving belly.

 

It’s quiet for a while, no sounds apart from their slowing breaths and the cicadas outside. For once, for a brief moment, not even the omega’s thoughts echo in the room around him. Minho pets his fingers through the younger wolf’s messy locks, wrapping his legs around Jisung’s back.

 

“We can’t sleep here,” he whispers in languid amusement as a soft snore rumbles against him.

 

“Maybe you can’t. I, on the other hand, am built differently,” Jisung mumbles.

 

Minho laughs. “Jisung, if you promise to not make me lay here on this rock any longer, I in return can promise you a warm bed for the night that isn’t back down the hill.”

 

“Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Jisung sits back with a yawn before giving Minho a smile so sweet, it nearly breaks the omega’s heart.

 

“Come, Alpha,” Minho murmurs softly as he sits up and leans in, hand reaching out to cup the other’s cheek, and gently presses their lips together. “Let’s go to bed.” 

 

He’s been reaching out in the dark for so long, and out of the shadows came Jisung. Perfect, beautiful Jisung. Minho isn’t sure he believes in soulmates, in love at first sight…but he’s starting to believe that when he reached out, there could have been only one hand to find his own.

 

Please. Just let me be yours.

 

~

 

He sighs softly, arching his back into the cool palm against his lower back while simultaneously rolling his hips into the thigh nestled between his own. For a moment, Minho’s sleep-hazed mind can’t figure out why his cheek is pressed against something so cool to the touch—something soft and squishy. It’s only once he tries to blink his eyes open to find himself buried in the swell of Jisung’s pecs that he realizes it’s not that the alpha is running too cold, it’s that he is burning up.

 

Minho rolls over onto his back gasping, suddenly wide awake. He’s drenched in sweat and shivering from a burning radiating out from his core. He moans softly as his thighs rub together when he shifts around; hesitantly, Minho slides a hand down his body and between his thighs, trembling as the gentle caress makes his cock positively throb. He whimpers at the wetness soaking his thighs and down into the bedding of his nest.

 

Before he can even think to wake the other, his mind racing and beginning to fog over all at once, Jisung seems to sense something is wrong and stirs. 

 

“Min? Are you–?” 

 

Minho hears a deep, sharp inhale coming from his left, and when he looks over to see what’s wrong, he finds Jisung propped up and staring at him with dark, wide eyes.

 

“Hyung,” the alpha exhales, his voice shaking.

 

All he can manage in reply is a pitiful, whimpered, “A-Alpha…”

 

In an instant there’s a soothing weight atop him. “Ssh, baby, it’s okay. I’ve got you, beautiful,” Jisung murmurs as he strokes through Minho’s hair comfortingly. “Oh, baby… Are you..?”

 

“I– I don’t know. I don't know how to know,” he chuckles in an attempt to cover up the immense vulnerability and nervousness he feels in this moment. “B– But I think so..?”

 

“What do you need from me?”

 

Minho’s first thought is to ask Jisung to leave, too worried about how potentially embarrassing and scary the next few moments may become. But it’s quickly wiped from his mind when the alpha’s scent soothingly flares around him, making his omega writhe in need as slick flows freely from him. He meets the other’s eye and his concerns melt away at the gentle care shining brightly in the wolf’s eyes.

 

“Stay,” he whispers, leaning into the caress on his cheek. “Jisungie…stay with me.”

 

The alpha groans in need as he dives down to capture Minho’s lips, nudging the omega’s legs apart so he can slip between them. It’s intoxicating, the way Jisung devours him with purpose, making sure to touch and caress and map out every part of his body. 

 

“I promise, Min,” Jisung murmurs as he mouths across Minho’s neck down to his collarbones, “I’m gonna take good care of you, baby.”

 

Minho moans softly in reply, fingers threading in the hair at the back of Jisung’s head as he wraps his lips around one of the omega’s nipples. He pants as the heat in his body seems to rise with every gentle touch, every kiss, every lick. Minho doesn’t know what to expect, having only heard about heats from other omegas or the alphas who have joined them, but this feels so much more heavenly than he could have ever imagined as need quickly clouds his mind.

 

“Ah, Jisungie, please,” he whines as the alpha sucks roughly at his inner thighs, moaning as he licks clean the slick coating them. “Alpha, please. Touch me.”

 

His sweet pleas are quickly rewarded as Jisung lays down between his legs, the sight positively sinful as drool drips from the alpha’s elongated fangs. His licks hesitantly at first against Minho’s cock, which is flushed a deep red, groaning as he then slides his tongue across the length of Minho’s cunt, his tongue parting his folds as it goes. All caution is thrown to wind it seems as he gets a fresh taste of honeyed vanilla straight from the source, Jisung suddenly burying himself hungrily into his wet heat.

 

Their moans echo loudly in his den, Minho’s pleasure only heightened by the depraved sounds of Jisung’s. His hands pull at the other’s hair as he begins to rock his hips against the alpha’s face, his head tipping back at the feeling of Jisung’s tongue stretching him wide.

 

And it’s then, as he’s staring half-lidded at the back wall of his den that it happens. Nearly as quickly as the heat in his body began to consume him, it’s snuffed out like a candle. Minho gasps, the breath in his lung shaking and his lips trembling as his eyes dart around the room.

 

No… No. No, no, no, no.

 

“Jisung,” he whimpers quietly as his whole body begins to shake. He tugs harder at the alpha’s head between his legs, his eyes clenching shut as it pulls a wanton groan from the other. 

 

He can feel the tears beginning to form behind his shut eyes as all arousal in his body dies.

 

“Jisung, stop,” he whispers. “Alpha. Stop. Please.”

 

It takes a half second for his quiet plea to register in the other’s mind, but soon the feral wolf between his legs freezes, and somehow that only makes Minho feel worse. An all-consuming need to be alone quickly replaces any warmth his body had previously felt.

 

“Minho,” Jisung whispers, concern clear in his voice as he instantly comes to hover above him. Gentle fingers carefully brush his hair away from his face. “Baby, can you open your eyes and look at me?” He sighs when Minho shakes his head, biting his lower lip painfully as a tear slips down his cheek. “Can you tell what’s wrong, then? Baby, did I hurt you?”

 

“N-No,” Minho sniffles, hating how weak and miserable his voice sounds in his own ears. “It’s not you—it’s me. It’s me, it’s always me,” he says, his voice cracking around his words as he takes a deep breath. When he blinks his eyes open and finds himself face-to-face with the beautiful, caring wolf above him, the weight he’s been carrying for so long finally crashes down around him. “It’s me,” he says again, devastation shaking his every word. “It’s always been me, and it is always going to be me.”

 

“What ha–?”

 

“It’s gone. It’s gone, it’s gone, it was never there. I’m so stupid,” he says through a heavy sigh, “I can’t believe I thought– I can’t believe I let myself believe this could happen, that somehow, just like everyone kept saying, it would happen. I would meet someone—you—and it would happen. Nothing else has ever worked, but if I just met the right wolf, poof, it would happen and everything I’ve ever wanted would come to me. I would have a mate, I would be able to have a family—I would feel normal in my body for the first time in my goddamn life,” he sobs, “but I was wrong. Everyone was wrong, and I hate them for convincing me it could be so simple, and I hate myself for believing it.”

 

To his absolute misery, he looks up to find Jisung staring slack jawed at him, pain, sadness, frustration, and defeat etched into his entire body. He hates it. The last thing he ever wanted was to get this far, to have the alpha pity him, to have him realize how hopeless it all was—how hopeless he is.

 

“Minho,” Jisung whispers, “I– Baby, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Min, but–”

 

“You have to go,” Minho says, suddenly sitting up and pushing the other off of him as his skin begins to crawl. He can’t lay there and listen to whatever pitying thing the other is about to say.

 

“Min, please. Just–”

 

“You have to leave,” he says again, picking up the alpha’s clothing and forcing it into his arms as he stands up from the bed.

 

“Baby–”

 

“Stop! Stop it! I can’t, Jisung, okay? I just…can’t. I can’t do this to myself, and I can’t do this to you,” Minho shouts as he stands in the middle of his den barely keeping himself together. “It’s not fair. I’m never going to be what I want to be, I’m never going to feel whole, and it’s not fucking fair, and I’m not going to drag you along with me.”

 

“Minho, please listen to me. I don’t need you to be any way. I just need you to be you.”

 

“I need me to be a way, Jisung! I can’t be me, because the me I wish I was apparently is never going to be real, and every minute that I get older and time ticks by, that reality further solidifies!” He opens the door and gestures for the other to leave. “Please go,” he whimpers, “please. I can’t be y-your omega, Jisung. I’m sorry…”

 

Jisung sighs miserably as he puts on his pants and heads towards the door. “ I’m sorry. I would do anything to take this pain from you. And I wish I had better words to soothe you. I don’t need you to be an Omega for me, Min—and yet…everything about you as you are is my image of a perfect one,” he whispers as he stands before him. “I just want…you. Just you.” He presses a soft kiss to Minho’s wet cheek before he walks out of the door and down towards the main pack grounds.

 

For a moment, Minho considers calling out to him, begging him to come back, groveling for forgiveness for being so cruel, promising to be better. But instead, he closes the door, slumping down in front of it and sobbing harder than he has in ages.

 

~

 

He holds up in his den for the next few days as he wrestles with a sense of shame, devastation, and loneliness. His scent is so potent and rancid, it fills up his home and surely must waft down into the pack grounds. 

 

Pack members arrive with food at his door, concerned that he hasn’t been down for a single group meal since the Chase. His friends pound on his door, begging to be let in to talk to him, to keep him company.

 

He ignores them all. Some part of Minho hopes that, perhaps, if he stays there long enough, the pack will soon forget about him and allow him to finally be alone in peace.

 

There’s one knock, however, on the third day, the day before claiming, that he decides he really shouldn’t ignore.

 

“Minho,” a muffled voice from the other side of his door calls. It’s accompanied by the scent of ginger and warm bread. “Minho, please let me in? Just for a moment, I promise, and then I will leave you to yourself, if you’d like.”

 

He groans, wrapping himself up in a warm blanket before shuffling over to open his front door. “Luna,” he sighs, stepping aside so that the older omega may come in. “Sorry it’s a bit of a mess in here…”

 

She chuckles and takes a seat at his kitchen table. “I find that in moments of distress and heartache, cleaning up one’s dishes or dirty clothes isn’t quite a high priority.”

 

“No, I suppose not,” he says with a weak smile. “Would you like some tea?” Minho sets about getting some water boiling before taking a seat across from her. Fidgeting under her kind gaze, Minho says, “Not that it’s not always a pleasure to see you, Luna, but… Why are you here?”

 

“Because you’re stinking up my pack grounds,” she teases before reaching out her hand to take his own. “And because I have two lovesick pups who for some reason are breaking their own hearts.”

 

Minho bites his lip to keep it from quivering as he looks away from her. “I–”

 

“Why, Minho? Hm? Talk to me, sweet boy. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

 

“I– After the Chase… No. Before that. Ever since the others arrived, I’ve been feeling this…this warmth in me. And it made me hope, you know?”

 

“You mean, once this Han Jisung arrived?”

 

He nods shyly. “Yes. Every time I’m with him, I’m filled with this overwhelming heat and comfort. He makes me… Feel at ease. Happy.” He looks at her and gives her a wobbly smile. “I dunno why, but he started courting me—officially, even. I’m eight years older than him, grumpy, teasing, difficult, graying,” he laughs as he brushes his hands through his salt and pepper bangs. “Not sure what he sees in an old wolf like me.” He giggles again as she arches an eyebrow at him. “But… Whatever he sees…he likes it. He asked me to join him in the Chase, and… I told him I couldn’t.”

 

“Mm. Why’s that? It looks like the two of you had yourselves a…nice time,” she chuckles. “What made you hesitate?”

 

“It was…nice. But well. I mean, it’s like you and the elders said—it’s only for those participating in the Exchange… It’s only for those who–” He has to look away again as emotion tightens his throat and brings more tears to his sore eyes. “It’s only for those who are suitable to mate,” he whispers, “and that’s…that’s not me.”

 

“Minho,” Luna murmurs as she gets up to pour the hot water into their mugs, setting them down on the table, “everyone is suitable and worthy of mating—every single wolf who wishes to.”

 

“Then– Then why does everyone act like it’s such a fucking crime for me to want to mate?” Minho’s composure snaps, finally at his wit’s end, and his walls finally crumble. “Why am I the only one who is forbidden to join in the Exchange every year when it's our turn? Why am I the only one chastised for trying to find a mate outside of this pack, since no one here will look at me for longer than a single night?!” 

 

Minho swallows thickly around the knot in his throat. “Do you know how much it hurts to be so alone because you’ve been made to feel like there is something wrong with you? Hm? Because everyone looks at you pityingly while whispering cruelly behind your back? And then, and then! There are the ones who try to make me feel better by dismissing my actual desires, as if telling me I’m more than just my heat that’s never going to come, more than my secondary gender, is going to soothe the ache that I may never have the things I so desperately want!”

 

He finally looks the older omega in the face, who looks increasingly heartbroken the more he speaks. “Do you know how much it hurts, Luna,” he whispers, “to feel like an outsider in your own pack? To do everything you can to earn love and affection, and still be denied it when it comes along? So many come to me when they want help with their chances at love—to help them woo crushes, to soothe heartaches, to care for pups while they take a night to enjoy their love. But when it’s my turn, I’m mocked and denied and chastised. It hurts, Luna…”

He shakes his head, a tear slipping down his cheek. “Do you know how crushing it feels to meet someone who makes you so happy and warm, who sends sparks throughout your system, who makes you hope, only for that spark to fizzle and die? How shameful it feels for hurting that wonderful someone because you feel too defeated and hopeless to listen to their reassurances? He cared for me, Luna, and I don’t know how to let someone do that without trying to convince them otherwise.”

 

It’s quiet for a moment, nothing but the sounds of Minho’s sniffles as he tries to catch his breath.

 

“I’m sorry, Minho,” she murmurs softly. “I’m so sorry. I— We’ve done you so much wrong...” She wipes away the wetness on their faces as she shakes her head. “There is nothing I can do to take that harm away now, but I…” She squeezes his hand firmly. “You are so loved by so many. I know, because I have seen the worry and guilt on many faces for the last several days. The Elders and I… We made a mistake,” she says with a nod. “A massive one. When we sought to protect you after witnessing many cruelties to others in the past who’ve experienced similar situations, we were…wrong. It was wrong of Eunji and me and the rest of us to push so much responsibility onto you while forgetting that you’re a living, feeling being with needs and wants, unthinking and not noticing when we were denying you such. I’m sorry, Minho. I’m sorry we taught you that your body is broken when it is not, and that you are not worth of love when you so very much are.” Luna sighs. 

 

At a loss for words, his mind too thick with heavy emotions and years of hurt for the apology he had deeply craved and genuinely appreciates to do more than slowly spread through him, Minho opts to simply squeeze her hand in return, hoping she understands. 

 

“That young pup down there, though…” She smiles at him and she nods her head, “He’s something else—and I have never seen anyone with their needs and wants more clearly written all over them than that wolf. The stars in his eyes all write your name in his night sky.”

 

Minho smiles weakly at that, but shakes his head. “I don’t– He’s wonderful, Luna. I think… I think I love him,” he whispers, “which is why I have to let him go; let him…find someone better suited for him. He doesn’t deserve to be saddled with someone who–”

 

“With someone who loves him? With someone who is his ideal mate—heat or no heat? Eight years apart creating no barrier in his mind? Minho. I know we have all done you wrong, and perhaps that damage cannot be undone now, in a day, ever, and I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but… Please. Reconsider. Because I think if you do not…I am going to have to find out how to get him out of my pack grounds willingly.” The Luna smiles as he finally lets out a soft laugh at her joke.

 

“I don’t know, Luna… I yelled at him. I rejected him more than once. What if he doesn’t–?”

 

“Let me stop you there, child,” she deadpans. “Please. He’s been keeping the entire alpha hut awake at night. There is no doesn’t.” The Luna leans in to cup his cheek. “I– I know things have been hard for a long time, and you’re hurting, and that pain is not going to heal overnight, but… You deserve all the love you can get, sweet boy, and let me tell you, I think that young pup has a lot to give.”

 

She kisses the top of his head after they speak for another few hours, each baring their heart to the other, whispering for him to think things over, before she leaves him alone with nothing more than his thoughts once again. Minho huffs petulantly as he crawls back into his nest, rubbing his puffy eyes. He’s tired of thinking things over, wishing only for peace from himself for once.

 

Undressing and shifting into his wolf, Minho whimpers softly as he turns around a few times in his nest before burying himself beneath a pile of blankets. He falls asleep with the last remaining scent of passionflower pressed against his nose.

 

~

 

“Lee. Min. Ho.”

 

He groans softly, his body aching and stiff.

 

“Open the goddamn door, or I swear to all that is beautiful and holy, we’re going to kick it in!”

 

Grumbling and growling to himself, Minho waddles his way towards his front door, yanking it open and looking out, surprised to see not only his friends but also the setting sun behind them.

 

“What time is it?,” he asks, feeling groggy and lightheaded. 

 

“Nearly sunset—were you still sleeping?,” Felix tuts as she gently pushes his friend back inside.

 

“I dunno. Maybe.”

 

“Here. Eat,” Seungmin orders as he drops a leg of something that smells delicious on his table. The younger alpha smirks as Minho’s stomach growls audibly. “Hyung, if you don’t come eat, it’s on your own head if you spend the night’s activities hungry.”

 

“Activities?” Minho looks at Seungmin, Felix, and Changbin with a raised brow as he settles down at his table.

 

“Yes, hyung. It’s claiming night,” Changbin says as he rustles through a pile of Minho’s clothing to find him a pair of leather pants. The omega’s eyes sparkle when he seems to eye something of interest near Minho’s workbench on the other side of the den.

 

Minho merely hums. 

 

“Come on, Min. Eat and get dressed,” Felix says, taking a seat next to him. She wraps her hands around Minho’s biceps and leans in, batting his eyelashes. “You have to be there. It won’t feel right without you there.”

 

He sighs heavily. “Yongbok… Listen. I’m very happy for you all. Hyunjin, Chan, and Jeongin are all wonderful; you’re going to be very happy.”

 

“I know,” Seungmin says cheerfully while Changbin shoves a pair of pants as well as something with long, thin metal chains on it into Minho’s lap. “Eat and get dressed, please and thank you! We have to leave soon!”

 

Minho bites the inside of cheek to keep himself grounded. “I… I’m not coming with you, I’m sorry… I’ll. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

 

A warm weight drapes over his back as two strong, buff arms wrap around his waist. “Yes you are, hyung,” Changbin whispers as he nuzzles his face against Minho’s jaw. “Trust me. You need to be there with us. We’re not going to let you keep hiding up here, alone and miserable. We love you, and so we’re forcing you out of your house.”

 

“With love!,” Felix chirps.

 

“I haven’t bathed in days,” Minho mumbles as he tears a bite out of the meat on the table in an attempt to find another flimsy excuse. 

 

“Well, luckily there is time for that,” Changbin replies happily.

 

“I thought you just said there isn’t much time...”

 

“There’s not!”

 

“But…” Minho sighs in bemused defeat as his friends all give him big, expectant smiles. “Fine! Fine,” he laughs with a roll of his eyes, secretly grateful for the presence and nudge of his dearest friends. “I’ll come, but only so that I can laugh at Seungmin trying to pretend like he doesn’t want Chan to—”

 

“You know what? Actually. Stay home,” Seungmin seethes as the others laugh.

 

When he returns from a quick trip to the bathhouse and stands in front of his small hearth trying to encourage his damp hair to dry faster, Minho frowns at the pile of clothing Changbin had set out for him. “Binnie… Why is that there?”

 

“Oh this?” The omega smirks as he holds up a web of long chains and leather straps. “Because I am not going to let this go to waste. It is claiming night; we’re all getting gussied up, hyung, and that includes you.”

 

“Why?” Minho flushes, suddenly very shy at the idea of wearing the creation he’d so excitedly made.

 

“Because we want you to get ready with us this time, Min,” Seungmin sighs as he comes over to help him with the harness. “It’s not fair you’re always the one getting everyone all dressed up and ready for these kinds of things, but never doing it with us.”

 

“Especially not when you’ve got something that hot hiding in your den,” Felix says with a whistle as he paints her eyelids with pretty, dark tinted makeup.

 

The chains sit cold against Minho’s back, bringing goosebumps to his skin—but he likes it. Six long metal chains connect to a large ring nestled at the base of his neck, which is connected to a thin, black leather band around his neck; three chains fan out on either side of his back, connecting to a leather strap on both biceps. It’s simple, but it makes Minho feel…sexy, for lack of a better word, a thing he so rarely feels.

 

He’s not sure if feeling sexy is exactly what he wants or needs at the moment, but something about it helps him walk tall with his friends towards the large bonfire in the center of the camp. Perhaps it’s because he’s not sadly walking down to watch others mate, but rather going arm-in-arm with his best friends, all of them dressed to kill, that gets him past his feeling of dread. Even if he’s despondent over how he let things play out for himself, he relishes in the thought of watching his friends—new and old—find their places in the pack, together.

 

Minho tries to keep his gaze forward as they join the crowd at the fire, but he can’t help but try to subtly look out amongst the other faces. As the Luna and Elders make their speeches about the successful Exchange, about their excitement for everyone and equal sadness over those that will soon leave their pack to join another, Minho searches the crowd for the face he both longs to find and hopes to never see again.

 

One by one, the participants in the Exchange are called. Minho cheers and howls for each of his friends, giggling loudly when a stoic Seungmin is tossed over Chan’s shoulder and Felix nearly knocks Hyunjin over in her excitement. He and the rest of the audience all coo when Changbin beams happily and scoops a flustered Jeongin into his arms.

 

As the night comes to an end, all names called, Minho’s anxieties begin to creep back into his heart and mind. 

 

Alone. Again. 

 

He’s not sure he wishes to stick around for the next phase of the claiming. However, just as he turns to sneak his way out, he hears his name being called.

 

“Minho,” Luna purrs softly. “Please come forward.”

 

Minho’s heart races in his chest as he walks towards the fire, the Luna smiling at him from where she stands before it. He’s the last name to be called, and he looks around lost and unsure; he’s never been invited into the claiming ritual—why would he? And why would he now, after the pack elders spent so much time over the past few months discouraging his participation in the Exchange, chastising him over the weeks when he has?

 

The two elders beside the Luna begin to paint symbols he knows so well along his chest and lower stomach. Eunji gives him a pained look of guilt and sadness, whispering a heartfelt apology into his ear before standing aside. He feels out of body as he stares at the Luna’s kind smile.

 

“I don’t..? I don’t understand.”

 

“Lee Minho, I and all of the pack Elders owe you a formal apology,” she says, a sadness in her eyes. “In trying to protect you, we instead have wronged you for all these years, keeping you from the sacred tradition of two souls binding together. For denying you and causing you much pain and doubt, I am sorry, Minho.” 

 

She smiles again as a beautifully made pelt is thrown over his shoulders, thick and warm, and reaches out to lightly touch the bear claw still hanging from his ear. “An Alpha has staked a claim on you…” Her eyes sparkle with the light of the bonfire and the full moon above. “Do you accept?”

 

Minho stares at her for a moment, inhaling the scents of bergamot and passionflower wafting up to him from the thick bear fur draped around his shoulders. That heat once more sparks in his belly, and he decides to take his Luna’s advice and stoke it, let it burn away the pain, heartache, and fear. 

 

His lips curl back over his fangs into a bemused smirk.

 

“I accept.”

 

A cheer breaks out from around him as he moves to stand with the other omegas of the two packs. He grins bashfully as Felix and Changbin wrap their arms around him, Felix peppering him in light kisses.

 

“With that,” the Luna says playfully, “let the claiming commence…”

 

Claiming during the Exchange has historically for Minho been bittersweet—he loved celebrating his packmates and friends, but longed to play his own role. Watching chases begin or couples sneaking away to mate more privately; watching bodies writhe together in passion and desire and love, but never being allowed to be an active participant in such a meaningful ritual.

 

He isn’t sure what he imagined his experience would be like—or rather, he imagined so many scenarios that no one ever stuck in his mind. But as he stands unmoving on one side of the fire, feeling the heat begin to course through his veins, he realizes there really is no way he’d better crave.

 

He doesn’t move away. He thinks about running, but he’s had about enough of running away–and he has no desire to run from this moment any longer. He pants as he circles slowly around the edges of the fire, following a mirage of a man stalking him from between the flames. If he stops, the other stops, and if he moves, the other matches pace—never getting any closer or further away.

 

Until suddenly, he is gone.

 

Minho blinks, a pout forming on his lips just before the hair on his body stands on end. A snarl rips up from his throat as he crouches, bracing himself for the devil that leaps at him from the fire.

 

For several minutes, they spin each around, hissing and growling; jaws snapping and claws sinking into furs and flesh.

 

His back hits the ground as his feet are kicked out from under him, though a steady hand at the back of his head keeps him safe. Minho growls at the weight on top of him, rolling the other over onto his back, only to be pinned to the ground once more, a pair of fangs wrapping around his neck.

 

Minho considers trying to keep up the fight for a while longer, but the raging heat beneath his skin has flared with the touch of the other.

 

Of his Alpha.

 

He lets his body slacken and he mewls a soft whimper of submission. The jaw on his throat loosens as the alpha moves and begins to slowly scent him.

 

“Mine,” the alpha whispers, flattening his tongue along Minho’s neck to lap up the sweat, pushing the thin leather strap out of his way. He presses his bared, elongated fangs against Minho’s lips and growls, as if daring him to refute his declaration–his claim.

 

Slick rolls down the insides of his thighs as a shiver courses through him. “Yours,” Minho breathes into the cool spring air before he begins to lick across the alpha’s fangs. “Only yours… Jisung.”

 

The younger man groans softly, some of the tension loosening from his taut muscles. “Minho,” he murmurs as he slowly drags his lips across the omega’s, mouthing at them. “Minho… My beautiful, perfect Omega.” His hand slips down Minho’s legs, encouraging them apart so that he can nestle between them. “Do you know how insane you make me?,” he growls low in his throat. His claws drag down the omega’s leather pants, catching the laces and ripping.

 

Minho gasps as a hand worms its way into his pants, moaning breathlessly as calloused fingers find his small, slick-wet cock. “Jisung,” he sighs, his head tilting back and his jaw going slack as those slender fingers make their home amongst his soft folds.

 

“I could smell you from across the pack ground,” Jisung growls, “cunt already dripping with that intoxicating honeyed jasmine scent.” He pulls his hand from Minho’s pants and sits back on his heels, holding his hand up in front of him to admire the shine of them beneath the moonlight as slick rolls down his wrist. Jisung looks down at him, gorgeous with his bangs waving over a dark, lust-laden gaze. “Smelling so delicious…where anyone could imagine the taste of you…” He sucks his fingers into his mouth with a groan, eyes rolling as he cleans Minho’s slick from them.

 

He whines softly and his hips roll up as more wetness coats his legs, seeping along his taint to his ass. “Alpha,” he whimpers. “Please…”

 

Jisung falls back down suddenly on top of him, hands landing on either side of his head. His lips curl back over his fangs in a snarl. “Well… I am going to show everyone in this fucking pack ground how stupid they’ve been to make my omega hurt so deeply, and what fucking fools they are to miss out on such a precious, prized treasure. And then I am going to remind that they’ll never have another fucking chance at it again…”

 

Minho moans as he wraps his arms around Jisung’s neck, pulling him down for a messy, passionate kiss. He sighs and whines as his hair is tugged between strong fingers, as claws rip through the leather of his pants.

 

“I’m going to make the Moon herself blush, pretty thing, as I show them all how sweet you are when you fall apart.”

 

Unlike the last night they spent together, Jisung wastes very little time with niceties–much to Minho’s pleasure. The alpha sits back and unceremoniously pulls Minho’s ruined pants off and tosses them aside before immediately pushing his legs up, leaving the omega held open and spread wide for all who dared to look to see.

 

Minho whines softly as his skin prickles with the weight of eyes on him and the cool breeze across his wet heat. The look in Jisung’s eyes, however, as they caress every curve of his naked body, from the top of his head down to his toes curling needily against the alpha’s biceps, makes the fire in his gut flare and the edges of his mind fuzz over. 

 

He gasps and his back arches as another wave of slick leaves him and his cock throbs. “Alpha,” he whispers as he dips his short fingers into his wet cunt, “aren’t you hungry?” He makes a show as if to offer his hand to Jisung, only to pull back as the alpha lowers cautiously, instead licking the slick himself, smiling smugly.

 

The alpha growls, baring his fangs, and it sends a shiver through him. In mere seconds, his thighs are straining against the strong hands keeping him open and bare as lips suction around his cock, Jisung’s tongue tracing every curve. “Think you’re so fucking cute, don’t you?”

 

“Oh god—Jisung,” he whines breathlessly.

 

The alpha merely growls in response, the vibrations making his eyes flutter and roll. The sounds echoing in the night quickly become obscene as Jisung hungrily begins to lap up the slick flowing freely from him. His tongue works its way into his cunt, pulling a wanton moan from Minho’s throat. He threads his fingers into Jisung’s hair and curls his toes into the soft fur covering the other’s upper body. Minho’s hips roll to meet Jisung’s thrusts, his slender fingers making quick work of him.

 

His head tips back with another high pitched moan and his back arches. He feels so close—devoured and exposed, and yet open and free in a way he’s rarely ever felt. His eyes flutter open and he finds himself face-to-face with the Moon herself, and in this moment, Minho feels as if Her light is for them, and them alone. She's a beacon, a gentle siren, Her song guiding them together, leading them to this moment. Her light shines down and illuminates them, creating a halo, a spotlight, a stage for all to see the passion driving them each to the edges of their sanity. And in that moment, Minho feels foolish for having doubted Her.

 

All he manages is a tiny gasp before an orgasm rocks through him, mouth slack in a deranged, silent cry as slick coats Jisung’s mouth and face. He can vaguely make out the moans coming from between his legs as the other drinks up the slick like a parched soul who hasn’t tasted a cool drink of water in over a lifetime.

 

“Alpha,” he breathes out into the spring night, eyes locked with Moon as She smiles smug and proud down at them. “Need you…”

 

Jisung groans softly as he finally moves away from him, sitting once more on his heels, eyes still craving, unslaked and wanting. He methodically cleans his hands and wrists, wiping up the slick dripping from his chin and greedily sucking it between his swollen lips. “Need you,” he rasps in reply.

 

Minho sighs, relieved, and spreads himself wider, no longer carrying who sees—let them see. Let them know how wet his Alpha makes him; let them see how he clenches, empty, ready, and needing for him. Let them see the lust and adoration in his eyes—bare in more ways than one beneath the all-seeing light of the Moon. Let them see the way he finally submits—not just to the other, but to his own needs and desires.

 

Slowly, Jisung finally unlaces his own pants, whining quietly once his cock is free. He lowers himself down until he has closed Minho in, arms braced on either side of him. Without a word, he slides himself inside, moaning loud and unabashedly as Minho’s cunt tightens around him, pulling him in. “Fuck, baby.”

 

As he begins to thrust, careful at first but quickly coming down harder and faster, Minho wraps his arms and legs tightly around him as an anchor. He presses the side of his head against the other’s as he stares up at the Moon high above, his pants and whimpers a breathless thanks for bringing him to this moment, despite his many attempts to sabotage it.

 

“Minho,” Jisung moans against his neck, “pretty thing…” He flattens his tongue and presses in hard as he licks away the sweat coating the omega’s scent gland. A hand finds its way to his back, Jisung groaning as his fingers tangle in loose chains, tugging on the large ring to encourage him to tilt his head back once more. 

 

He can feel it already, his second orgasm barreling towards him as Jisung’s claws dig into his back and waist, as his cock glides over his most sensitive spot. He can also feel the moment coming—the reason they’re here, bare before their pack members, the sounds of other wanton pleas and howls echoing from elsewhere in the dark all around them.

 

Claiming.

 

And through the fog of his mind, the deep insecurities creep their way back up. 

 

Thirteen years. Thirteen years unintentionally shunned by his own pack and kept from the Exchanges under the well-meaning but alienating guise of protection. 

 

Minho has never felt older than he does in this moment. Thirty-one isn’t even old, he tells himself, but it is older than Jisung, by a near decade. Eight years is a long separation, and twenty-three is still so young. Is it selfish of Minho to covet the alpha’s youth? To wish to steal it away and keep it all for his own? 

 

What could he possibly offer someone in their prime, when he’d long ago given into the idea of being past his—true or not. How could he keep someone else satisfied when his own heart yearns and aches for something he may never get to have? Would Jisung truly not mind if their family could never grow?

 

Would he grow to regret his rash decision to be tied to the pack pariah?

 

“Jisung?,” he whispers as the younger man continues to nose around his neck. “Jisung?,” he asks a little louder.

 

Finally, the other picks up on the change of energy around them, the tenseness of his mate-to-be’s body. He leans back until he can look Minho in the eye—or he would if the omega wasn’t dodging his gaze. “Hey. Are you… Are you okay, Min?,” he pants softly, that same concern from mere days ago back in voice. “Should we slow down?”

 

“I—“ Minho gazes briefly up at the Moon, silently pleading for strength in this moment—for the strength to survive what could come next, and looks the alpha in the eye. “Are— Are you sure?,” he asks so quietly, the crackling of the bonfire could drown it out.

 

But Jisung hears it all the same, and he looks down at him in bewildered confusion. “Beautiful… Of course I’m sure.” He smiles warmly, gentle despite the fire still burning in his eyes. “Why on earth wouldn’t I be?”

 

Minho’s lip wobbles as he tries to laugh lightheartedly. “I mean…” 

 

When people have made you feel unworthy and unwanted for so long, you begin to believe it. And Jisung, who has been able to read him like an open book since the day they met, who clearly has some secret source of knowledge about what he feels and craves, sees it all instantly without Minho ever needing to explain himself.

 

Jisung growls low in his throat, chest rumbling, and that heat once more flares inside of Minho. His next thrust takes Minho by surprise, pulling an airy moan from the omega. 

 

“I have never been more sure of anything in my life,” Jisung hisses as he leans down to brush his lips against Minho’s. His fingers dig forcefully into the earth next to the omega’s head as spit drips down his fangs.

 

Minho clings to the fur at Jisung’s back as a life support, moaning desperately as his body shakes with their combined desire.

 

“I love you, Lee Minho, and I want to be your mate—I have since the moment I stepped into the camp, and nothing that has happened has once made me question it; if anything, it has only made my desire stronger.” Another deep rumble shakes them both. “I am going to claim you and make them mourn the loss.” Jisung presses his fangs to Minho’s cheek, making the omega writhe and whimper in need beneath him. “And every day I am going to remind them of how fucking foolish they’ve been.” 

 

One hand slips between Minho’s thighs and deft fingers find his drenched cock and begin to stroke. His toes curl and his jaw slackens as desperate whines pour from his open lips.

 

“Every morning, I am going to kiss you here in the center of the pack grounds until your lungs are filled with my breath. And every night, I will strip you bare as they all feast, giving them a side of your gorgeous moans as I take you lovingly apart with their elk instead of rice. And they will have to sit there, jealous and wanting of what they can never have.”

 

Jisung groans, and Minho’s head spins as the alpha’s knot begins to form and press against him. As if he is not already reeling from the words whispered so filthily against him.

 

“I am going to make them wish they had never denied you anything as I make them watch the way your back arches so perfectly and slick drips shamelessly from your soaked cunt as the heat from your body burns us both to ash and ruins.” 

 

Jisung chuckles as Minho’s thighs begin to quiver and his hands scramble to clutch at whatever he can grasp. “You’re the brightest blaze I have ever met,” the alpha murmurs as he nuzzles back into Minho’s neck, “and you turn the blood in my veins into molten lava, scorching its way through me.” He growls softly as Minho bares his neck. “I am going to make them envious of your radiant glow each time your belly swells with our pups growing in your pretty womb,” Jisung whispers as his hand between Minho’s thighs briefly caresses his taut stomach before moving back down.

 

“Oh my god, please. Alpha—please.” Minho gasps and moans as the coil low in his gut tightens. “I— Jisung, baby, I’m gonna—“

 

His fangs drag down Minho’s neck, his fingers pulling at the strings of his choker until it loosens and falls away. “You’ve been so worried about our age difference, completely oblivious to how I adore you in all ways–your passion, your kindness. Your biting wit. You’re the most beautiful wolf I have ever seen, and believe me when I say I’m obsessed with the small laugh lines around your eyes, and that the beautiful grays in your luscious, long, dark locks make me fucking feral.”

 

Saliva drips along Minho’s neck as Jisung hisses each word. “You’ve been so focused on how worried you are that you may never be able to give us a family, while completely disregarding my devout promise to fuck you stupid every day until I have made sure you’re nice and well pupped.”

 

The other chuckles darkly as Minho moans low and deep in his throat at his words. “Please,” he begs once more. “Jisung—please. I need you.”

 

“I love you, baby,” Jisung whispers, “ now cum for me.” 

 

Blissful pain shoots through his body as fangs bury themselves into his neck, followed by the most intense orgasm he’s likely ever had. He moans, loud and wanton, and he’s floating too high in the sky to feel ashamed as cum and slick completely drench the alpha’s cock and pelvis. He has just enough awareness left in him to reach up as Jisung bares his throat to sink his own fangs deep into the other, moaning again at the taste of iron and passionflower on his tongue and a knot locked deep in his cunt.

 

Jisung’s high moans blend with the chorus of howls from around them, with the roar of the fire, with the rapid beat of his heart.

 

Minho sighs in content as Jisung presses desperate, loving kisses along every inch of skin he can reach, whispering the omega’s name over and over again. “Alpha,” he murmurs to no one, to the Moon, if She’s still listening—and he thinks She is. “My beautiful, perfect Alpha. I love you, so much.”

 

After several minutes of basking in his afterglow, Minho shivers as the cool breeze blows another wave of howls over his skin. “Mm, Jisungie,” he whines, once more aware of how bare and exposed he is.

 

“Hm?” Jisung chuckles softly as Minho buries himself in the furs around the alpha’s chest.

 

“Alpha,” he whimpers quietly, tucking himself into the wolf’s embrace.

 

Slowly, it seems to dawn on the other that there is still a crowd of other wolves huddled nearby, all watching the claimings of this year’s Exchange. He growls as one group looks over at the two of them, baring his fangs until they hastily look away.

 

A small squeak escapes Minho’s lips as he’s suddenly scooped up tightly into a seated position, and then picked up into strong arms. “This isn’t any better,” he whines, hiding his face into the other neck as he wraps closely to him. 

 

Jisung huffs out a deep laugh, and Minho then feels something heavy and warm draped around him. He blinks as he leans back, holding on tightly as Jisung begins to walk away from the crowd. Around his shoulder once more is the pelt, covered in his Alpha’s scent. 

 

He snuggles into the man’s arms and purrs happily. “Where— Where are we going?,” he yawns. 

 

“I have more important places to be than surrounded by wolves with greedy eyes,” Jisung huffs. 

 

Minho snickers and scents over his mate’s neck as he’s carried back to his den–their den. “You’re cute when you’re like this,” he teases. “I thought you wanted to show off, hm?”

 

“I am showing off, pretty,” he smirks. “I’m showing them how I get to walk away with you, snuggled in my arms, filled with my cum, and each claimed by the other’s mark.” He laughs softly as the older wolf blushes. “Besides… I can always make sure your howls are loud enough to be heard from any edge of the pack grounds…”

 

“Alpha,” Minho exclaims in shock, pretending as if his cunt didn’t just clench tightly around the knot inside of it.

 

Jisung merely laughs loudly as he carefully opens the door to their den.

 

~

 

“I’m sorry,” Minho whispers later that night as they’re curled up together in his nest, his fingers massaging along the other’s hips, his lips brushing tenderly over the Jisung’s soft skin.

 

“For what, baby?” Jisung rolls over to look at him curiously as he brushes his fingers along the edges of Minho’s cheeks, eyes overflowing with love.

 

“For… For trying to keep us apart. For, you know,” he mumbles while his ears flush a brilliant red, “kind of exploding at you and then kicking you out the other day.” 

 

“Min, I appreciate it, really, but I understand. Truly, I do. I… I’m sorry for what happened, too. I’m sorry that your body doesn’t do what you want it so much to do, but that doesn’t make me love you any less. I love you for you, not because once a month you might get all wet and horny. Besides, I can make you dripping and needy all on my own, thank you very much.” Jisung smiles when Minho giggles and rolls his eyes. “But… But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want that for you.”

 

Minho hums softly. “Yeah… I guess it is fine if I never have one, but…”

 

“But you want one, and it’s valid to be upset you may not. Hey,” Jisung whispers as he tilts Minho’s chin upwards, “listen to me. I will love you no matter what—heat, no heat. Pups, no pups. We’ll figure it out, baby; we have all our lives to do so. But either way…I’m always going to be here for you.”

 

“Alpha,” he whines, struggling to free his face from the other’s grip as a bright blush creeps across his skin. Minho laughs loudly as a tongue licks happily against his cheek. “Okay, okay. I hear you,” he giggles. “Thank you, Jisungie,” he whispers, leaning up to nuzzle their noses together. “Thank you for not giving up on me, and for loving me.”

 

“Mm. Happily, pretty,” Jisung yawns. “God,” he groans, yanking Minho tightly against him as he snuggles into the bedding. “This is so much better than being surrounded by a bunch of sweaty alphas.”

 

“It damn well better be,” he giggles as he cuddles against the other, wrapping himself tightly around his mate and sighing happily as a sense of bliss fills him.

 

It’s quiet. Soft puffs of breath and the gentle song of a faraway owl the only sounds of the night.

 

“Alpha,” Minho whispers.

 

“Mm?”

 

“Thank you for the reassurance.”

 

“O’ course, baby,” Jisung mumbles, placing a sleepy kiss to the crown of his head, chuckling as a soft purring fills the room.

 

“However…”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Don’t think I’m going to forget your promise so easily…”

 

“Promise?”

 

“Yes,” he murmurs mischievously, “I expect to be pupped by winter with all the dicking I’ve been promised.” Minho grins as a loud snort echoes in the dark.

 

“Don’t worry, baby,” Jisung murmurs smugly as he rolls over, blanketing his body atop the omega’s. “I’ll have you pupped by autumn.”

 

“I look forward to seeing you try,” Minho giggles, playfully sinking his teeth into the alpha’s neck before pressing a kiss to it.

 

“I love you, hyung,” the other says with a laugh and a shake of his head.

 

“I love you, Alpha.” 

 

 

~

 

 

“Aaahh, he’s crying! What do I do?!”

 

“Comfort him?”

 

Hyunjin whines.

 

Someone sighs. “The pup has four goddamn fathers, how is it none of them are here when he’s crying? Where is Kim Seungmin, I’m going to blame him.”

 

“Minho, I’m not sure blaming Seungmin is going to help in this case…but I would still like to hear it.”

 

“Guuyyysss! He’s wet now! Why is he wet?!”

 

“Who’s the bigger baby—my mate or this pup?” Felix laughs, nearly falling out of her seat as Minho rolls his eyes and stalks over to the alpha.

 

“Give him here.” Minho carefully bends down and scoops the poor screaming pup into his arms. “Ssh, come here, sweetheart. Did the big, dumb alpha not pay better attention to you?”

 

“Hey,” Hyunjin calls as they rush over to quickly clean themself off, “how was I supposed to know he was gonna…you know?”

 

“What is all the fuss about in here?”

 

Minho looks up from finishing changing young Baekhyun as his mate and the others make their way into Minho and Jisung’s den. Butterflies flutter in Minho’s stomach as he watches his alpha dust the snow from his hair.

 

Or maybe that’s just his nightly dose of nausea. He’s gonna go with butterflies, though—it’s more romantic.

 

“Well, these four losers here ditched their pup and left him with us, and tragically for Hyunjin, that didn’t go well.”

 

“Aww, poor Baekhyun,” Jeongin coos as he retrieves his son from Minho’s arms, “was Hyunjin mean to you, baby?”

 

“M– Mean?! I was peed on! If anyone was mean to anyone, it was surely him! Feliiiix,” they whine, plopping down into their mate’s lap, “tell them how the pup hates me.”

 

“He doesn’t hate you, baby.”

 

“Last time he threw up on me.”

 

“Well… Maybe you’re just his favorite…”

 

“Dumping ground?,” Chan adds unhelpfully.

 

Minho chuckles in amusement as an argument breaks out in his kitchen. “Staying sane, beautiful?,” a deep voice murmurs in his ear.

 

“Oh, you know me… I love it when the pups torment Jinnie,” he giggles. “Can’t wait to see what this one’s going to do to them,” Minho murmurs as he guides his mate’s hands down to cup the gentle slope of his belly.

 

“Well, it’s our pup, so…probably something worse than peeing on them,” Jisung laughs.

 

“Oh my god, can you two not bond over my misfortune, please?!”

 

“No,” they say in unison.

 

Minho purrs softly as they all sit around a fire later that night, listening to Changbin tell a story, his mate’s hands petting slowly over his stomach. A year and a half ago, if someone had told Minho he would be curled up with his friends, madly in love, the most wonderful mate by his side and a pup in his belly, despite a heat never coming to him, he wouldn’t have believed it. 

 

With a soft sigh, Minho reaches back behind him to cup his mate’s cheek. Tilting back, he brings Jisung down closer, confused but smiling.

 

“Are you okay, baby?”

 

Minho hums in content as the other massages his hip. “I’m fine, Alpha…more than fine.” With a gentle exhale, he slots their lips together, letting his eyes flutter closed as the arms around him tighten and pull him closer.

 

“Oi. Do you two mind? I’m in the middle of a story.”

 

“Heard it before,” Minho murmurs as Jisung licks lightly into his mouth.

 

“Yeah. Well. Jeongin hasn’t–”

 

“I have, actually.”

 

“So how about you two get a room, hm?”

 

“You’re in our den,” Jisung chuckles.

 

“There is a child present,” Chan calls as they reach out to cover Seungmin’s eyes.

 

“Hey… How did I get dragged into this mess?”

 

“Actually bad call, Channie. Saying it’s going to bother Seungmin is only going to fuel Minho on.”

 

“Can we please just finish the story? He was just getting to the good part,” Hyunjin pouts.

 

Minho sighs dramatically as he hesitantly releases his latch onto Jisung’s lower lip. “Fine,” he huffs. “But the clock is ticking until I get another emotional outburst that can only be soothed by taking care of my alpha until he’s happily knotted inside of me.” The omega cackles maniacally as the others gag and boo loudly at him while a pretty blush creeps across Jisung’s cheeks.

 

“You guys are a menace to society, I swear.”

 

“Mm, hear that, baby? We’re menaces,” Minho purrs as he nuzzles their noses together. “Kinda sexy sounding, isn’t it?”

 

“I’m in hell.”

 

“Not half so sexy as you’ll sound, pretty, moaning on my knot,” Jisung teases, grinning as their friends begin to throw things.

 

“Please. Please can I just finish my story?,” Changbin weeps.

 

Minho giggles and settles back against his mates chest, nodding and waving his hand that Changbin may continue now.

 

“I love you, you silly creature,” Jisung whispers in his ear, hands back at the base of his belly.

 

“I love you, too, Alpha,” Minho says as he laces their fingers together. “Always.”

 

Notes:

thanks for reading!! i hope it ended okay; i know it was a bit rushed and weak there at the end--i apologize. hope you enjoyed them! love you, thank you! <3