There are only three ways of bringing in new wolves into a pack: a) accept the loner wolf(s) if they possess no threat and bear no ill-will towards the pack members b) save the pups of the pack decimated at their hands and raise them like one’s own and c) bond with them as mates. While the two methods has let to many addition in the members list, the first way has practically fallen out of practice. Anyone even engaging any passing loner wolf is seen with suspicion. Tight territory perimeter security has been put - to not let any stranger wolf infiltrate and to make sure no one else wanders out.

When Taeyong was a really young pup, there had been an ‘incident’. One of the six original packs, the Easternders, used to guard the east half of their territory. Easternders were the largest group, only second to the Central-Southeners pack. They still guard the East portion now. This pack was usually blessed with bonded mates being fertile and having lots of pup and lots of pup meant increasing pack and it’s strength. It had been a harsh winter that particular year and a loner wolf had wandered into their land. Being the peacemakers and peacekeepers that they were, the elders of Taeyong’s pack welcomed him with open arms, providing him food and shelter. The wolf didn’t speak their language nor did he understand it. He kept to himself, prowling near the stream, occasionally, hunting and sometimes, stepping out to see the pack members celebrating by the banks of the stream but, mostly keeping to himself. By the time spring ushered in, he was gone. The following winter, he came back, another wolf tagging right along with him. This wolf was more cheerful and amicable and went out of his way to interact with the pack. Taeyong’s pack learned that the First Loner Wolf could indeed speak - he spoke a language very different from theirs’ something only which the Elders could understand and that too barely. The Second Loner Wolf interacted with the pack members in whichever fashion he could think of and slowly, started picking up their language. They were gone by the end of the spring.

When winter set in again at the end of that year, the two Loner Wolves came back accompanied by two other loner wolves they claimed to have met on their way. When spring came and summer followed it and they still stayed, the Easternders began to consider them as their own, like a part of the pack. However, a true sense of belonging to any pack came with proper initiation and legitimate ties. So, they started looking for excuses to make the Loners officially a pack member. Somewhere in that time, one of the Easternder pack leaders’ omega son fell for the First Loner Wolf. It immensely helped that he was an alpha, a strong, powerful, brooding alpha. The Omega’s father was happy with his son’s choice and encouraged him to continue wooing the alpha. He would step in only when he thought the time was right for him to do so. Another year passed with the four foreigner wolves mixing with the local wolves and being friends with the younger generation of the pack. All of them save one were alphas, a predicament that seemed to delight them all. One of the other member’s omega son liked the Second Loner Wolf and was friends with the Third Loner Wolf. However, this omega was too young for his hand to be offered for bonding. He spent his nights brooding and sulking till one day he screamed at the Second Loner Wolf why he couldn’t accept him? The alpha had laughed him off, asking him to not joke about such matters. In frustration, the Omega had spilled the real intentions of the pack - how they wanted First Loner Wolf to be the alpha leader, take the First Omega as his mate, Second Loner Wolf to become the second-in-command and lead their pack of twelve wolves. Second Loner Wolf had still laughed it off and sent the omega back. He had, however, informed the other foreigner wolves about the truth. At first, they refused to believe but, when the telltale signs of the truth in the Second Omega’s words began to float in front of their eyes, a disruption of some sort in their peace followed, one on which no one could quite place their finger on and yet, felt it. There was only tension and confusion.

The last chills of Winter which was leaving their fur standing was still around when they discovered First Loner Wolf missing. He had up and left the pack. Without a word. Without a goodbye.

It was around the monsoon, Second Loner Wolf left.

By the time winter rolled around, the Third Loner Wolf was gone as well.

Only the Beta Loner Wolf was left behind, distraught etched on his face, anxiety roiling off him in waves. A lot of them sympathised with him. Rest of them saw him with suspicion. Needless to say, they had left behind many lives - who had treated them as family and accepted them - and had broken their hearts. A rumour floated around for sometime that the Second Loner Wolf was into alphas and was mated to another alpha (most likely the older brother of the First Omega) who in the following season was mated off to a Beta.

When Taeyong had been sent back to his tent by the Easternder Omega, Byun Baekhyun, he had not imagined that the Omega would have come back to pick him up; that the council would have been waiting for him, having decided that Taeyong was the best bet for them. That when Taeyong was thirteen wolf years, he was good and strong enough to be considered to become somebody’s To-Be-Mate. That he was somebody worth having a betrothed.

His betrothed was among those pups he had seen struggling in the hands of the alphas. His betrothed was a Loner Pup who had trespassed their land. His betrothed one of those beings his elders warned about - the Wolves Who Abandoned; the Nomad Wolves; Wolves Who Broke Homes and Packs. His betrothed was a native of the Land of Far East - the region of the Four Loner Wolves.

Because they were young and little, the pups were not to be shredded to pieces for trespassing. They were to be left at the edge of the woods, left to the predators hidden in the dark. However, Beta Yixing, who was a Healer belonging to the same pack as omega Byun Baekhyun had appealed to the Council pleading to spare their lives; to show mercy on them.

Taeyong does not have the details of what transpired in that meeting, he just knows that the Elders had acquiesced and considered the appeal; the oldest of the pups had been propositioned - he offer himself as a mate to one of the alpha leaders in exchange of finding himself and his brothers with food, shelter and protection. The young pup had, of course, said yes. Taeyong shakes his head wondering what the Elders were thinking while coming up with that. His betrothed is too young. He is still too young while Taeyong is going to turn into an adult. The morning following the meeting, Taeyong and his parents had been called to the Council and the decision had been announced. Taeyong was to be bonded to the Eldest of the Wandered Pups when both the partied turned adult. At that point, Taeyong had been a carefree and careless wolf. On hearing the announcement, he snapped his head left and right, looking for this ‘mate’ of his. But, he couldn’t smell anything nice or, different - the way mates were supposed to smell like to their mates. The Council asked Taeyong and his parents to take pride in the situation; it was only because they deemed him fit and perfect for the grave matter at hand they chose him. He needed to finally become an alpha - step into the dutiful shoes and shoulder his responsibilities.

Since then, Taeyong has been changing and evolving trying to make a better alpha out of himself; trying to make himself suitable for his alpha leader position and most importantly, be the mate his mate needed and deserved. Since then, Taeyong has been shedding lot more of the careless nature of him and shrugging on the diligent part on him. Ever since then, he thinks things more, analyses situations, decides to have his own perspective and not let himself be clouded by any judgment because if he is to be bonded with someone from the Land of Far East, he needs to keep his mind wide open, free of prejudices and suspicions.

Taeyong is lying on the rock, the canopy overhead hiding him from the glaring sun. His nose doesn’t even twitch when Jaehyun, his friend, and a potential future pack member of his plops himself down beside him. Taeyong doesn’t even flinch when he interlaces their fingers.

“Hyung..”

“Hmmm..”

He can see the wisps of white billowy clouds float further and further away. Everything is so serene and peaceful.

“Hyung..”

“Yes, Jaehyun-ah?”

The omega doesn’t say anything further. His eyebrows knit together before Taeyong consciously straightens them. Jaehyun has been his friend for the longest time but, this is what it has become of it ever since the Council announced that the impending engagement will happen on the first full moon night following Taeyong’s Coming-Off-Age ceremony. Their peaceful companionship has been marked by several holes in it, filled with stuttering, awkward silences and trailed off sentences. Jaehyun barely completes speaking out his thoughts, what he wants. Their silence is so punctured with hesitance, Taeyong even feels odd thinking about it. Let alone ask Jaehyun why it has become like that. And, may be, perhaps, he knows what the answer is and he doesn’t want to hear it. When they had been fledglings, Taeyong had brazenly said ( brazenly spoken for a four wolf years old ) he’d bond with Jaehyun when they grow up; words he had carelessly thrown around without any second thoughts to them. He always laughed at Jaehyun’s joke, ribbed him in the chest (and let him do that in return). He flirted with the omega and accepted when he was flirted back at. They interwined their fingers and spent hours on the rocks gazing at the sky. They chased through the woods, occasionally, stumbling over each other till they both were hurting from the giggles emanating from them. But, these are the things Taeyong indulged in with with everybody in varying degrees. He never considers it to be anything different. He still does not think anything was or, is different. He will never make it any different. Since the age of thirteen, he has belonged to someone else. For the last past five years, he has belonged to someone else. He knows he belongs to his mate - his mate, who is also somewhere in their territory, being taught the ways of their life; trained in how to be one of the pack members; on how to be a Northerner Wolf; on how to be a Northerner Alpha Leader’s mate. He’ll be given a lot of lessons for life so that by the time they meet, hopefully, his mate will be like any of the other Native Wolves.

He doesn’t notice when Jaehyun’s fingers slip out of his clasp. Taeyong closes his eyes trying to smell the scents lingering in the air. He is yet to meet his mate. His omega. The thought has a weird sensation roll through his stomach. The young alpha can’t quite decide if it’s unpleasant or, otherwise. He doesn’t know how the omega will react when they finally meet because this marriage, this entire thing has been practically forced onto him with no choice. Taeyong still doesn’t know the situation in which his to-be-mate and his brothers had found their way into their territory. No one told him. No one tells him. He doesn’t know When they will meet. He has no idea what his mate looks like. Will they meet directly on the full moon night? Will they meet on the anniversary of Taeyong’s birth date anniversary? There are more questions than the answers he knows so, he wills himself to drift off to sleep, his hair fluttering in the lazy breeze.

a/n: Can you tell who the Loner Wolves are? XD

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