It starts with a nasty bonk on the head.

It ends with a beautiful man holding a wet towel to Minseok’s forehead. And babies squealing; or are they puppies?

Perhaps we should start over and fill in the middle.

It starts with a nasty bonk on the head.

Minseok, yawning as he walks across the parking lot, heading for his car, never reaches it.

“There he is!” someone whispers, followed by two pairs of shuffling footsteps and the shuddering drum of a car engine turning on.

Before he can even look around, someone decks him on the back of the head. Minseok cries out and stumbles, flails and turns around — right in time to take an elbow to his shoulder blade. He falls to his knees, still too shocked to do anything except gasp. Then someone throws a hood over his eyes.

“Did you get the bag?!”

“There’s a bag?”

“Yes, dummy. Get it. It’s important!”

All Minseok registers is a dull pain. So he’s powerless to stop his attackers tying up his arms and legs and carrying him across the lot. By the time his head hits the floorboard of what’s likely the back of a van, he decides to just let this ride.

It seems his attackers don’t want him dead. At least right now they don’t.

“The door! Get the door!”

“Watch his head, there~”

“I’m trying, Junmyeon, geeeez.”

“Don’t say my name!”

“Oh, ! Sorry.”

Someone sighs, likely the man named Junmyeon. A door slams shut, then several more. Then the van peels out of the parking lot and Minseok flops around like a dying fish. He passes out no more than ten minutes into the drive, praying there’s a really good reason he just got kidnapped in the middle of the night by three strangers who apparently knew exactly what they were looking for. He wonders offhandedly if they actually remembered “the bag”.

It’s still dark when Minseok wakes up. His head is throbbing, his back aches, and he’s currently sporting a stomach ache from something he can’t fathom and oh — it’s because he’s being carried like a sack of potatoes over someone’s bony shoulder. He groans, but nothing happens except his kidnapper continues to scurry over what sounds like dead leaves and brush.

“Careful with him now,” says a voice from behind.

The man carrying Minseok grunts. “I know what I’m doing, thanks.”

Someone else snorts. “You know for an omega you sure are strong — ”

“That’s enough, Sehun,” the first man pants. “We’re almost there. Why don’t you get the door so I can get him inside in one piece.”

Minseok groans again. This time he’s heard.

“Quickly now. He’s waking up.”

“Already?” complains Sehun.

Minseok is let down not ungently, but his legs crumble beneath his weight and he collapses to the ground. The cloth over his head is pulled off unceremoniously.

Minseok blinks. There’s a man, a beautiful, handsome man crouched down before him. Blond hair and a thin jawline, eyes that sparkle somehow even in this dim room.

“You okay there?” he asks, like he hasn’t just participated in the kidnapping of the century.

Minseok chortles. “Uhm, no?” His throat feels scratchy. Evidently that shows. The man quickly turns to one of his compatriots and demands a glass of water. Moments later he’s helping Minseok hold it up to his mouth to drink. Minseok’s fingers strain around the glass. Glass, he realizes, almost bewildered.

Without thinking it through, Minseok rears back at the same time he smacks the glass across his kidnapper’s cheek.

The man howls — it really sounded like a howl — and falls backward clutching his face. Minseok is surprised there isn’t any blood, but as his two other assailants grab for his arms, MInseok notes that he likely only bruised the other man. What’s even more surprising is that there’s no immediate retaliation. Instead, the man sits up on his haunches and frowns. “Yeah, I know, we probably deserve that, but look… there’s something more urgent going on here, and we really need your help.”

Minseok’s vision swarms with rage. “Are you serious?! I was just kidnapped and you want me to do something for you? Where am I? Who are you guys, and why on earth do you think I would want to help you?”

Just then, from another room Minseok can’t see in the dark, a man shrieks. It’s full-bodied and guttural, deep and cringing with pain. Everyone in the room including Minseok stops and winces. The scream wanes down to nothing, and the house is silent for a bare five seconds. Then it happens again.

Minseok’s blood runs cold because if that isn’t the sound of torture, then he doesn’t know anything about medicine.

“What is that!?” he demands angrily.

The man before him cringes. “Uhmmm… well, look, you’re probably not going to believe us but — ”

“You’re damn right, I’m not going to believe anything you say. That sounds like a man dying in there!”

“Yeah… exactly. That’s why we — -”

“You even admit it?!” he asks, straining against the hold his two other kidnappers have on his arms.

“ — That’s why need your help.”

Wait, what?

“Huh?” Minseok stops struggling long enough to see the other man blush.

“Please… we really need someone of your expertise to help him.”

Is that why they insisted on getting his bag? Minseok wonders. Because something is dawning on him now. His kidnappers were waiting outside in the parking lot… of a hospital… waiting for someone like Minseok… perhaps they even know his area of expertise, but no.. surely they wouldn’t, they couldn’t have gotten that right…

“You almost killed someone, and you need a doctor to make him live,” Minseok accuses, voice taught in fury, rage barely held in check. A bold plan, to be sure, except that Minseok has spent the last decade of his life training to be a doctor. He swore an oath to save lives wherever he can, and one little thing like being kidnapped on his way home from work is absolutely not going to get in his way.

The main instigator of tonight’s actions is cringing once again. “Well, not exactly.”

Suddenly, in the midst of the dying man’s shrieks, words come spurting out instead. “CHANYEOL YOU MOTHER(*&^@*&%^!)*&%*&!$  @#&*!&($*&@(*&(*#& IF THAT DOCTOR ISN’T HERE IN ONE SECOND I AM TOTALLY GOING TO KILL YOU!!!”

Minseok’s blood runs cold. “Where’s my bag. What’s wrong with him?” He stands, realizing that his arms have been released. Even then his legs are still wobbly. The man in front of him grabs an arm to help steady him, already drawing him towards the dying man.

“He’s…”

Minseok suddenly fumes. “You idiots! All this work to get a doctor and you nicked the wrong kind!” He fumbles in the darkness towards the door where even more yelling is going on.

“What do you mean we got the wrong kind of doctor?” His attacker, now assistant, is sweating. “You’re Kim Minseok, right? Resident obstetrician, right?”

“Yes, that’s me. I deliver babies though! Babies! I’m not a surgeon, I’m certainly no ER doctor — ”

He shoves open the door to fall into a brightly lit room. There’s a queen sized bed in the middle, sheets in an uproar, blood and fluids staining most of the lower half, three men, two women and a one large dog surrounding it. In the middle lays the screaming man. His face is flushed, the veins in his arm are pulsing. His fingers seem to have attached themselves to a tall, gaunt young man kneeling closest to his bedside. The skin of man’s hand is pale white from the pressure. Still the man in the bed howls and Minseok quickly does a visual assessment.

He… he… doesn’t quite know what’s going on….

“What?” he gasps. “Is that?”

As the man who brought him here coaxes him gently towards the bed, he grimaces. “His name is Kyungsoo. He’s pregnant. We, uhm, were hoping you’d know what to do. The pups aren’t coming out. Do you think he needs a C-section?”







 

In any other circumstance, Luhan might think this was funny. This doctor, Minseok, is quite the looker, but the shock on his face is totally picture worthy.

Disbelief mainly. Luhan’s seen it before. Humans never know how to handle the fact that wolves like them exist. They almost always refute it, even when confronted with the evidence. Some have even passed out, though later on they can’t remember why.

This time, however, takes the cake.

“What do you mean he’s pregnant?”

Luhan inhales softly, ready to do some explaining. “We’re… not human, you see. See that thing over there in the corner? That’s a wolf. His name is Jongin. Jongin, would you switch for me? Thanks.”

Luhan puts a hand to Minseok’s back just in case he’s a fainter. Where the big shaggy wolf once knelt stands a human. Minseok wavers but does not fall.

“Right. Moving along. Kyungsoo there on the bed, is what we call an omega. He can bear pups. Normally this isn’t such a traumatic experience except, well, something’s wrong. And that man sitting next to him, that’s Chanyeol, Kyungsoo’s mate. He’ll probably try to eat you if you can’t save his mate, so, uhm… shall we begin?”

Somehow, that does the trick.

Like a lightbulb popping on, the doctor hauls himself into action. His face is pale, his hands a little shaky, but still he approaches Kyungsoo whose large belly is on display.

“How close are your contractions — ? I mean, I guess you have contractions?”

The wolf on the bed narrows his dark, beady eyes and glares. Luhan expects him to growl, but is pleasantly surprised to hear him answer even through his pain, teeth held in a locked position. “They’re pretty close. Been at this all night long.”

“Right,” says Minseok. “Can I… feel your stomach? Do you mind?” He probably feels he must ask. After all, that was an actual big scary wolf in the corner previously, with big scary teeth, and anyone else might be able to do the same, Luhan can understand that kind of fear. Minseok holds out his hand, but when Kyungsoo doesn’t immediately answer, Chanyeol growls. Minseok withdraws it quick and looks wearily over his shoulder at Luhan. Luhan nods encouragingly. So far, so good.

Sehun and Junmyeon are standing behind him in the doorway, holding hands like always. A few of the other wolves in the room shuffle around the available wall space to get a look at the doctor’s examination. A few even approach the bedside, whereby Kyungsoo yells and howls.

“Okay, okay…” Minseok sounds like he’s preparing himself, not like he’s addressing anyone. Kyungsoo, however, is growing more and more agitated with each rustling movement of the crowd. Minseok must be taking that into account because seconds later he declares, “Everyone who isn’t… err, Chanyeol… needs to get out. Now.”

With not a little amount of shock, the onlookers slowly obey.

“Not you. You stay.”

Luhan looks around, as if Minseok is glaring at anyone else. “What? Me?”

“Yes, you. I’ll need an assistant.”

Luhan looks at Chanyeol, and reading his question, Minseok continues. “Dads are always useless in these situations — Sorry! Sorry! You don’t have to growl at me, it’s just the truth- — so you, whatever your name is, get over here and maybe you can make up for kidnapping me in a parking lot.”

Luhan approaches him warily. “My name’s Luhan.”

“Are your hands clean? Get me a basin of warm water. And soap. Do you have gloves? Never mind I have some in my bag. Good thing I just so happen to have a scalpel handy. Unfortunately I won’t be able to numb him for pain — ”

“It’s okay. He’s a wolf. His tolerance for pain is incredibly high.”

Minseok seems unimpressed. “Right, fine, whatever. Now let’s get this started.”

Twenty minutes later, Minseok pulls out the first pup and almost drops it.

“What the !” he screams.

It really is a pup.

Come morning, Minseok finally collapses into a pile of his own clothes. He’s tired, sweaty, his his whole body feels like he was thrown into a sawmill. He just delivered a litter of seven little wolf pups to a set of glowing male parents.

Perhaps this was all a crazy dream and Minseok is going to wake up in his own bed tomorrow chuckling at his wild set of imagination.

Right now at least it still feels very real.

He’s been granted a small room in another part of the house. Inside is a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand. It’s stark and rustic, the walls are made of logs. On the other hand it’s warm and cozy, and there is an attached bathroom. Minseok shuffles into the shower and spends forever under the spray. Delivering babies wasn’t exactly what he went to med school for, but after an internship with an OBGYN, Minseok… came to see the proverbial light.

Babies are wonderful, fabulous little creatures. Even if the work is messy, and sometimes insanely crazy.

Kind of like last night.

No, don’t think about it, Minseok tells himself, as he shuts off the water and reaches for a towel. No way this is real. It’s all a dream, all a crazy, insane little dream.

He stumbles across the bedroom floor, pulls his towel up to dry his hair as best he can, then collapses into the covers. By the time sun is all the way up in the sky, Minseok is buried in a cocoon of soft cotton sheets and he’s almost forgotten that ten hours ago he was a kidnapping victim.

At least it was for something good…assuming, of course, that it really happened. He can worry about that after he’s caught up on sleep.

Around noontime, Luhan knocks.

There’s no answer coming from inside, but this isn’t his guest’s house, so Luhan opens the door and walks in anyways. The doctor is still asleep, snoring softly against the pillow. Half his covers have fallen off his shoulder. A small swath of pale skin peeks out beneath the man’s messy, brown hair.

“Minseok?” Luhan whispers.

Nothing.

He treads lightly across the wood grain floor and peers down at the sleeping man. Like this, he looks so peaceful. Not like the flailing, raging, young man from the night before, or even the focused surgeon who so professionally cut open Kyungsoo’s belly and removed seven pups… before he almost passed out.

“Are you awake?” He pokes the doctor’s side.

Minseok chirps in his sleep and curls inward. Luhan almost coos. When there is no further movement, he settles down daintily on the side of the bed frame.

“I’m sorry for kidnapping you last night,” Luhan starts in. He always meant to apologize. It just makes it a little easier if he doesn’t have to do it directly. “I really didn’t want to hit you in the head. We just, really needed you, as you can probably tell. My name is Luhan. Oh, but I already told you that. I’m a wolf. I’m part human, part animal. I’m twenty-six years old and have never been fully mated. Not that you need to know that of course. That’s just bonus info. Anyways, I’m not a kidnapper. I’m an omega! And Kyungsoo is my friend. Also, I’m pretty sure Chanyeol would have tried to eat you if you hadn’t been successful, but don’t worry. I would have stopped him.

“I mean, I don’t have the strength of a fully formed alpha, but I’m no wimp either. Also, most wolves wouldn’t harm a fly, even Chanyeol. Rabbits and deer maybe, but not flies. Not humans either, although… I definitely think your kind are higher up the food chain than flies. We’re just a little higher than you. Nothing to worry about, it’s just nature.

“Where was I going with this? Oh right. Thank you for saving Kyungsoo’s life. It’s their first litter. This whole… excursion may have inconvenienced you, but to us it’s really important. As you can guess, we couldn’t have taken Kyungsoo to a hospital. If there’s anything someone in the pack can’t fix themselves, we have to go outside and bring in a human. Some are already friends so they know how we live, but keeping an obstetrician on staff is kind of difficult. I hope you’re not too freaked out. Wolves can be nice! We’re nice people! Well, not people, but you know what I mean.

“Did I mention I think you’re cute?

“By the way, you’re welcome to stick around! Of course I can take you back if you insist. Uhm, please don’t prosecute us. It would be a waste of your time anyway since we’re not in the system and we could just pack up and be gone within a single hour. But having to relocate all the time is a . Plus, it’s winter now and these cabins just happened to be unoccupied for the season. They’re nice. Some of the places we stay aren’t this nice, so… let’s talk about things before you go bringing the police this way.

“They won’t believe you anyway…”

Luhan sighs and scratches his head. He looks over Minseok’s sleeping form, however, and forms a longing smile.

So many of their visitors never stay. Especially the ones that Luhan likes. It’s unfortunate, but it’s just his thing. He likes humans. He likes how they smell, all fresh like poured asphalt, sweet like coffee.

“I looked you up, you know. On the way to the hospital. Junmyeon drove while I borrowed Sehun’s phone. It has internet on it. Not many wolves carry one around. Sehun’s kind of special. That’s beside the point. Anyways I was looking for doctors and after I found your profile I even called the hospital to see if you were on call. It’s rather nice that you were due to get off work when you did. I liked your picture. Much nicer than some of the other doctors who were older and less likely to smell good. I mean, less likely to not freak out completely when confronted with a werewolf.

“We don’t like that term, by the way. Werewolves have strange insinuations about turning at the full moon. Just call us wolves. We’re certainly more intelligent than those kinds seen in your movies. Oh yes, I’ve seen a few of your movies. I went to a human college! For a semester… Kind of a waste of money, but I liked the experience.”

He looks over Minseok’s body again and sighs dramatically.

“I guess I can let you sleep some more… Later on, after you wake up, I can take you for a tour of the pack. They’re all really excited to meet the hero who saved Kyungsoo’s pups. I have about ten little nieces and nephews who are dying to see you. ‘Course, I may have exaggerated about how nice you smell. I mean, look. I mean, never mind.

“Sleep tight, Kim Minseok.”

For the number of humans and wolves playing in the glade, Minseok observes, there is definitely something to be said for the claim they could entirely disperse within an hour. Evening light streaks through the awning on the outside of cabin. The whole world smells like pine trees, and fresh dirt, and meat cooking over a fire pit. Nearest to Minseok are about five dozing wolves and they don’t seem all that bothered by the human in their midst. Beyond them, puppies play with two little human girls — or are they wolves too? Minseok’s willing to take a bet that everyone he sees right now is one.

He’s still a little flabbergasted to be honest. As soon as he woke up and realized this was not in fact a dream, he hauled himself out of bed, put on a set of clothes left generously on the end of his bed, grabbed his hospital bag and went to check on Kyungsoo.

If ever he’d been in doubt, all was dispersed now. Kyungsoo slept soundly in a pile of clean blankets, his mate passed out in a chair beside him. Seven fluffy wolf cubs mewled and crawled between them.

Minseok had done that. He was the one who cut open a man with a womb and delivered him of wolves.

“How are they doing?”

Minseok turns to stare at one of the men/wolves who had brought him in last night. “It’s Junmyeon, right?” he asks.

“Yes,” Junmyeon replies sheepishly. For a wolf actually it’s pretty endearing. “Sorry about last night, I’ll happily give you a long explanation if you need it.”

“I don’t need it.” He indicates the scene before both their eyes. Even if Luhan hadn’t… well, it’s kind of obvious now why a pack of wolves would stealthily kidnap a doctor during a time of need. Would have be smarter, however, to perhaps cultivate a greater skill set of humans who could have come instead. Not that it’s Minseok’s place to interfere.

“About… Kyungsoo?” the other wolf prods.

Minseok nods. “Right, yeah. He’s doing fine. Stitches are looking good. No sign of infection. In fact, he’s looking way better than I would have expected.”

“I’m not surprised. Wolves heal faster, we’re more resistant to basic infection.”

“And you have a crazy tolerance for pain,” Minseok adds. “Unlike myself.”

His head is still bruised, so is his shoulder blade, and his knees have skid marks from the many times he was dropped. Even his wrists still bear the mark from the rope they’d used to tie them.

Junmyeon winces. “I’m so, so sorry about that.”

Minseok only grunts.

Just then another wolf emerges from around the corner.

“Sehun!” says Junmyeon. “Come meet Minseok.”

The younger man strides towards them but stops at a dime from Minseok’s glare.

“We’ve met,” Minseok insists.

“Uhh, I know. Well, how about an official greeting? Sehun, Minseok. Minseok, Sehun, my… mate… Please don’t harm him.” Junmyeon’s voice fizzles out in half-assed anxiety.

Minseok shrugs and relaxes his posture. “Great. Nice to meet you. Any chance for some food around here? Or an ice pack?”

The two wolves acquiesce by leading him down through the main camp grounds where the smell of food grows stronger. Minseok loses count how many wolves they pass, but it’s in the hundreds at least. The camp grounds are homey, nostalgic. Minseok hasn’t seen this many people together who get along since he was … well, never. It feels more like one big, organized, loving family. He realizes it probably is.

“Here, go inside.” Junmyeon and Sehun leave him outside of another cabin that’s bigger than all the rest. “Luhan will take care of you.”

“Luhan, huh?”

They don’t respond. Instead, Minseok tries the door handle and lets himself in. The smell of food is stronger, less barbecue, more stovetop. There’s also the surprising aroma of… “Is that coffee?” He turns a corner and is stunned to find Luhan standing over a stove in a chef’s hat and apron. On the closest countertop is a gurgling pot of coffee.

The wolf startles, then he smiles.

“You like coffee?!”

Minseok affirms, but he gives the man wide berth as he treads around the kitchen to where a stack of mugs stands at the ready. Only after he’s poured himself a nice cup full and inhaled its rich aroma does he turn and stare down the wolf.

“So what’s your role around here? Head cook, or lead kidnapper.”

Luhan blushes. “Uhmm, we take turns.”

“From what? Snatching humans or food preparation.”

Luhan scratches his eyeball and winces. “I suppose I should, uhm, apologize.”

There they go with the apologies again, Minseok privately decries. If this isn’t the sorriest actual pack of wolves… He cuts himself off with a chuckle. “Save it. I heard it all earlier anyway.”

Luhan’s eyes open wide. “You? What?”

Minseok smiles and turns to the nearest window, cup of coffee still in hand. He sips it while Luhan sweats. The sun is just about set, some of the younger wolves have taken up a game of kickball out beyond the roasting pits. In the reflection of the window Minseok can see Luhan staring at his .

His grin widens. Outside the cabin the elderly wolves in human form try to reign in the youngest pups who yip and dash about on four legs, scattering in every direction as they evade their bedtime.

Homey, so very homey.

He turns abruptly to catch Luhan in the act. The wolf jolts and his eyes level upwards. Minseok stalks toward him with a glint in his eye.

“So, Luhan.”

“Hmm?”

“Tell me again what this thing’s about.”

“Againnn? T-T-Tell you what?”

Minseok doesn’t stop under he’s got the wolf backed into a counter, eyes level in spite of their height difference from where the wolf is bending backwards. Minseok braces his arms on the counter’s edge, not touching the other man but definitely caging him in.

“Something about how good I smell? Is that wolf speak for flirting?”

Luhan gulps, a long full measure of hesitation. “If… if you want it to be.”

Minseok inclines his head, lets his tongue come forward to the corner of his lips.

It started with a nasty bonk on the head.

It ends with a beautiful man who’s also a wolf holding a wet towel to Minseok’s forehead, for after Minseok tried to kiss him, Luhan shuddered and moaned, then promptly reacted to his elbow falling across the hot stovetop. He flailed and screamed. Minseok jolted back, but not so fast to avoid another flailing arm deck him on the opposite side of the head as before.

Luhan, at least, when he holds an ice pack to Minseok’s second set of bruises, is nice to look at. Even if he never quits apologizing. Somewhere in the distance, babies are squealing. And yes, they’re also definitely pups.

End.