Chapter 11

Chanyeol found Chen sitting on the stairs with his arms wrapped around his knees and his face buried against them. He sobbed shakily as Chanyeol wrapped him up in his arms without a word. They sat like that, with Chanyeol petting his friend's hair and rocking him gently until his tears had subsided, at least a little.

“Sweetie,” said Chanyeol as he the hair off Chen's forehead, “he's an idiot. Don't let him upset you like this.”

“But why doesn't he want me?” Chen asked through his tears. “Why don't I satisfy him?”

“Shh, of course you do. He's just being protective.”

“He would rather be with Luhan. He doesn't think I'm good enough, not when he's in heat and wants to do other stuff.”

“What do you mean?” Chanyeol asked softly.

Chen just shook his head. He couldn't talk about it. He enjoyed it when Kris made love to him but as the months had moved on he had realised there was a pattern to how they had . He knew it was his own fault because of how little control he had over his wolf and because he was inexperienced in bed but surely Kris wanted to be more experimental. Clearly he didn't think Chen could cope with whatever he would want to do to satisfy his heat.

“Baby, don't blame yourself,” Chanyeol told him seriously. “He's an idiot. You're beautiful and perfect and he's stupid if he doesn't want you.”

Chen frowned like he really didn't believe him but Chanyeol caught him before he could lower his head to his knees again and forced him to look up. “Chen,” he said, “I'm telling you the truth. You're wonderful and he needs to stop being such a to you.”

Chen rubbed his eyes with the corner of his sleeve and looked up in confusion. “He's… no, he loves me. You know he does.”

“But he won't sleep with you when he needs someone most. He went to Luhan instead.”

Surprised by how angry he sounded, Chen shrank back from Chanyeol a little. Chen wasn't mad at Luhan – how could he say no to his alpha in heat? - but he had been hurt that he wasn't good enough for his lover. He just wanted to be better for him.

“Chen, you're so...”

Chanyeol bit his lip, unsure which of the many thoughts in his head he wanted to say out loud. He was angry at how Kris was upsetting Chen and making him feel bad about himself, at how he wasn't appreciating what a wonderful lover he had.

“It sounds to me like he's not satisfying you, not the other way around.”

Footsteps on the stairs behind them stopped Chen from answering but Chanyeol didn't even pull his eyes away. It wasn't until Baekhyun took a seat and reached out to touch Chen's shoulder that he pulled away.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

Chen nodded. “I was just… surprised, I guess.” He sniffed softly.

“I know Kris shouldn't have sent you away when you wanted to help him with his heat but him and Luhan wouldn't have been able to resist it,” he said soothingly. “We're all packmates. We shouldn't be jealous of each other. Kris still loves you more than anything.”

Chanyeol's jaw tightened and he shot his boyfriend a look that Baekhyun stubbornly ignored.

“I know he loves me,” Chen whispered, “I just don't know how… attracted he is to me.”

“Then let's go and talk to him.” Baekhyun rubbed his back soothingly. “He's really worried about you.”

“Are you sure that's a good idea right now?”

Finally Baekhyun looked at his boyfriend. “It won't help anything if they don't talk. Don't you want them to sort things out?” His words were innocent but something in the way he said it sounded like a challenge.

“Of course I do,” he said surprised. Though some of that surprise was at himself for actually wanting them to stay together. Things had been good lately until it turned out Kris was being overly-cautious when it came to Chen's life. How would he ever be allowed to have him if Kris was going to be that protective?

“Then let's go take him to Kris and sort this out.” Baekhyun stood and pulled Chen up with him. Chanyeol followed a step behind as they headed back to the dorm.

Xiumin's eyes were on his feet as he walked so he didn't realise someone was approaching him until he heard his own name and looked up to find Luhan there. His partner looked dishevelled, his shirt wrinkled and his hair sticking out in different directions.

“Lu, where have you been?”

“I'm really sorry.” Luhan took Xiumin's hands in his own. The look he gave him made Xiumin's stomach knot with worry for a moment. “I just went to grab a textbook that I had left with Kris last night but he was in heat and we… I couldn't say no. I'm so sorry.”

Xiumin squeezed his hands and wiped the surprise off his face with a smile. “Baby, it's okay.”

“You're not mad?” Relief and surprise filled Luhan's voice.

“Of course not. He's our alpha and he was in heat. What else could you do? I just wish you had let me know where you were.” He stepped closer and cuddled up to Luhan who took a moment to react. “I was worried when I woke up and you weren't there.”

“I'm here now, baby.” He reached up to run his fingers through Xiumin's hair in the way he liked. “I promise I'll spend all day with you. I'll do whatever you want.”

“Baby,” Xiumin laughed, “you've slept with him before. Just because we haven't been sleeping with anyone else since we got together doesn't mean we never will. They're our packmates.”

“I just didn't know how you would feel about it. We've never talked about this before.”

“Well, we have now.” He kissed him sweetly. “I love you, Luhan. No matter what.”

He hoped that Luhan could see the weight in his gaze and realize that he really meant it, whatever might happen. Luhan smiled back at him and wrapped his arms around him tightly.

Changmin sat looking out the window of his pack's new dorm. They were still in the process of unpacking some things and he had his feet resting on a box as he sat back and looked at the soft clouds drifting by lazily.

“Do you think he'll come tomorrow?” Jaejoong sat beside him, bending over to tear the tape off another box.

“He should,” Changmin answered without looking. “He's our pet.”

“But he has a pack now, and a mate.”

Changmin felt a growl build up in his throat but swallowed it back down before his packmate noticed his irritation. Luhan was pretty, sure, but did he take care of Xiumin the way he always had?

“No he doesn't,” he bit out. “He can't have a pack if he belongs to us. He still has his collar. He knows he's still out pet.”

“He doesn't seem too happy with you leaving him behind when we went to Japan.”

“I didn't leave him.” Changmin rounded on his hyung. “I wanted him to come with us but Yunho wouldn't make him part of the pack properly. That's the only reason he's a pet.”

“You know how well balanced the pack was and you two hadn't been together long when we left.”

Changmin waved a dismissive hand to shut him up and flopped back into his chair again. They had been over this conversation too many times. There was nothing he could do about it now.

“Maybe he was right.” Jaejoong shrugged. “He stopped answering all your calls and emails pretty quickly and now he's moved on with someone else.”

“He was mad at me,” Changmin whispered, almost to himself. “I know why he stopped talking to me. Can't blame him.”

Silence fell between them and Changmin turned back to look outside again. “He's still my pet, though.” His voice was soft, determined. “He has to come back to me.”

Post your guesses as to what you think being a 'pet' entails.

Thank you for all the amazing comments last chapter, too. It was so exciting to read them. xxx