A/N: A long chapter to make up for 2 weeks without an update ><

~~~

"So," Kyungsoo munched his cereal, "how did Suho-hyung become Alpha, anyways?"

The dining hall became deathly quiet as Chanyeol and Chen glanced at each other nervously. And then they looked behind them. And back at Kyungsoo.

"Um, is it a secret - "

"SHHH!" the guardian of fire slammed his hand against his friends mouth as his eyes darted around the compound, "we don't talk about that in public!"

"We need a safe location."

"And a person to properly tell the story."

Those two chesire beagles grinned gleefully before raising their fists.

"To Xiumin-hyung's room!"

As Kyungsoo struggled to swallow that last bit, they actually dragged him in the eldest's chambers. Eventually he gave up protesting, just crossing his arms in an annoyed silence. Whatever - he'd headlock them both later (dealing with Kai every day had made him a bit of a bully).

Fortunately for them, Xiumin was actually in his room - or rather, his bathroom. He didn't even startle when Chanyeol burst in, bounding towards the shaving guardian. Instead, the eldest held up his blade with an eyebrow raised; even though he didn't say a word, the purely 'shut up' aura that he was emitting caused the cheerful male to immediately bounce back to his friends. Kyungsoo could practically see the tail tucked between his ridiculously long legs.

But Chen was remained unperturbed.

"Could you tell Kyung about how - " another cautionary glance around, "Suho-hyung became, you know? Suho?"

Xiumin spit out the foam frothing at the ends of his mouth as he coughed out his surprise. When he regained his composure, the guardian of ice ran a quick hand through his bright orange hair. The unwillingness was rolling off of him in waves, but it was impossible not to give into the intensely curious twinkle in Kyungsoo's eyes. Damn it, this stupid bond.

"Why can't you guys just ask the Alpha himself?"

"Um, I'd really rather not die."

"Suho's really not that scary," the eldest heaved a sigh as he gave in - he pulled a chair out for himself and gestured to his sofa for his audience, "but I guess he could seem that intimidating to you guys."

Chanyeol poked Kyungsoo in the side before cheekily whispering, "he's just as terrified as us, I bet."

And then he felt something cold and sharp against his jugular, so he shut up immediately.

"Smart," Xiumin grumbled, "now, you guys want the PG-version, or the actual one?"

All eyes turned to Kyungsoo, who shrugged.

"It can't be that bad, right?" Oh boy, the dreading expressions on their faces weren't reassuring at all. How bad could their angelic leader have been? Kyungsoo saw him feed squirrels this morning, for Heaven's sakes!

"Well, you're the judge, so I'll tell you as it is." The eldest cleared his throat before starting.

"Suho is the child of our clan's most notorious bi-gene. He's also the only wolf in our history to be invited back after being banished, not to mention, become Alpha."

Kyungsoo held his breath. He'd never heard of any other bi-gene other than himself, nor anything about Suho having been exhiled in the past. He couldn't imagine it at all.

"This was all long before any of you were born. It's only natural for it to be seldom talked about - besides," he knew it was more than Xiumin's natural chill that was tingling down his spine, "it's all just water under the bridge, now." Chanyeol shifted uncomfortably next to him. "Well, at least, most of it, anyways."

"Why...was Suho-hyung banished?"

"Times were different. Now you're celebrated for being a bi-gene, but back then, it was considered a mistake of nature. Much more so if the bi-gene actually ended up bearing a cub and Suho's mother was undisputably the most hated bi-gene this clan has ever known. He was loud and obnoxious and, most of all, he stood up for himself when no one else ever did - but what put him in our history books was all thanks to who Suho's father was. You see, the wolf that had impregnated bi-gene Heechul was none other than our then-Alpha, Siwon. Taemin's father."

A deafening silence echoed through the room as Kyungsoo sat still, processing all this information. He tried to suppress the shock bubbling to the surface, but it was impossible to mask the blow from being expressed. Suho was Alpha Taemin's half-brother. Which made him half-uncle to the two brothers, Baekhyun and Kai...'Water under the bridge'? How could it be only that when there was obviously so much familial discourse going on? Suddenly, all of Kai's distaste for the current Alpha made sense - but there had to be more to the story.

"Of course, that was before Siwon mated with the goddess Sulli, before Taemin was conceived. But the reality then was that Siwon had a ual relationship with a social outcast and that the bastard child in Heechul's womb was an Alpha candidate. It didn't matter who his mother was, or even that his parents weren't mated. It was fathered by the Alpha, and therefore, had a legitimate claim to our leadership. And our people didn't like that." The storyteller grew somber as his gaze became something akin to shame. What happened next was so obvious, yet still painful to listen to. "Siwon would never let anything happen to his unborn cub, so the wolves couldn't touch Heechul. But when the Alpha got called away to some diplomatic matters, a few of the more radical ones kidnapped the bi-gene and dragged him far, far away from our territory. They left him in the desert and did unspeakable things to him, only to come back bragging that they'd "cleansed" our Alpha bloodline. Then they lied to the Alpha - 'Heechul left', 'He didn't want the child', 'He left because he didn't want you'. And Siwon believed them.

It's disgusting how quickly everyone forgot. Siwon was a strong leader, but that is one thing that I'll never forgive him for: he was so quick to erase the existence of his own unborn child. Within a couple years, he met and mated Sulli. Then Taemin was born and everyone was happy because this was how it was supposed to happen and it satisfied their narrow minds."

Without realizing it, Kyungsoo found himself tearing up. Chanyeol wrapped a gentle arm around his shoulders while Chen just held his hand.

"Don't worry, the good part's coming," the Storm guardian murmurred. Kyungsoo felt himself relax slightly at his touch.

"Karma's a ," hummed the eldest in agreement, "Heechul - he's one hell of a wolf and with a little bit of godly interference, he managed to save himself and his pregnancy. The god of water, Changmin, was sympathetic to their plight and he helped nurture the little thing. About the time Taemin took his own place as Alpha, that cub had grown into one of the fiercest Divine wolves that the Southern Desert had seen - "Joonmyeon", beauty and perseverence, was the name that he'd been given. He raised his own pack, recruiting Divine wolves cast out from our pack and their children. Of the twelve Guardians left alive, three are from Joonmyeon's pack of outcasts."

"Including me," Chen grinned cheekily, "my dad had quite the mouth on him, apparently. He talked back to the Alpha and the elders one too many times and ended up getting booted out. He and my mom were killed by hunters and Suho-hyung took me in afterwards. Similar situation with Kris, too."

"They may not seem like a lot in comparison to the entirety of the EXO pack," Xiumin chuckled, "but the three of them invaded nearly half of our territory in the time span of a few years. And we were at more than a bit of a disadvantage: our own guardians were either too young or too old to fight and Joonmyeon, Chen, and Kris were powered with the strongest offensive powers of the gods. So Taemin did what no one else had the balls to do - he invited his half-brother back into the pack."

"There was a hell of a lot of outrage," next to him, Chanyeol spoke up, "my own parents were pissed off, but it was impossible to deny that we were getting the better end of the deal. Joonmyeon was nothing like anyone had ever seen - his abilities and leadership easily surpassed that of Taemin's or probably any other Alpha we've had in a long time. A Divine wolf that's better than a Blessed one? That was one oddity we were in desperation for."

"Especially since a certain demon raid had killed all of our females. If there was any way to reinforce our numbers, recruiting Joonmyeon was the answer" the Ice guardian rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "but he had a condition. He was a part of a package, you see, and if we were inviting him back in, we had to take the others, as well."

How 'Suho'. Kyungsoo closed his eyes as he shook his head in admiration. Suho was a good leader, through and through.

"So what did Taemin do?"

"He accepted, all conditions met. And he did the unthinkable by appointing Joonmyeon as his own successor instead of his children. So that was that - Joonmyeon changed his name to Suho to start over again and everyone else in his pack did the same: Jongdae became Chen and Yifan became Kris." The expression on Xiumin's face was unreadable and it suddenly hit Kyungsoo how old the wolf actually was. Just because they did not age physically didn't mean that their experiences didn't show. "There was so much opposition against them, but looking back now, Taemin was a genius. What he lacked in military prowess, he sure made up for in foresight because if it hadn't been for Suho taking over after his passing, we wouldn't have made it until now."

It seemed that that was the end, since Xiumin stood, stretching his arms above his head. Still, something nagged at the back of Kyungsoo's mind, but it seemed like that was a question only Suho himself could answer for him.

"Thank you, Xiumin-hyung. And you know," Kyungsoo gave him a gentle smile before brushing the back of his hand against the eldest's cheek, "you don't have to feel guilty for not speaking up back then. I'm sure Heechul and Suho have forgiven you."

Xiumin's eyes grew wide as the other's fleeting touch caused a faint blue symbol to shimmer on his pale skin.

"How-"

"Intuition," and with that, Kyungsoo slipped out of the room.

~~~

The Alpha didn't have to glance up to know who was standing at his door. He put down his pen.

"What can I do for you, Kyungsoo?"

The younger wolf shuffled in, screening the room before deciding to seat himself at the sofa pushed into the corner.

"I don't want to be rude," he murmurred, "but there was something I was curious about."

"What is it?"

"Why did you accept Taemin's invitation?"

Suho let out a chuckle as he rubbed a hand against the back of his pale neck. Something about him just exuded kindness and Kyungsoo couldn't help but notice how beautifully he laughed. God, his heart raced so loudly that the bi-gene was scared Suho could hear it.

"I wish I could tell you it was because we were family," the Alpha's gaze didn't lose its angelic quality, but there was a hint of bitterness to it, "in reality, it was because I was tired of fighting. My mother was always fighting, fighting to survive and to be accepted for who he was. The same applied for me, Chen, and Kris and I didn't want to live like that anymore. Maybe I was being weak, but I wanted to see the people that I cared about live safely and comfortably."

Without even realizing it, Kyungsoo found himself wrapping his arms around Suho's shoulders and pulling him in for a warm hug. The words left his lips almost automatically.

"I don't think you were being weak," his voice was soft and warm, like another one that rang familiar in Suho's ears, "there's nothing wrong with wanting your family to be happy."

"Family?" the word was taking a new meaning now, after centuries of shame. Blood didn't qualify a bond - it was affection and experience that did.

Kyungsoo nuzzled his face into the crook of the Alpha's neck as he let out a soft laugh.

"That's what we are, aren't we? One big, dysfunctional family."

Huh.

~~~

Xiumin closed his eyes, letting the spring wind cool his cheeks. He leaned his forehead against the metal railings as he just let himself go without a thought.

"I'm guessing you're the one that told Kyungsoo?"

The eldest only let out a hum of agreement and straightened his back once more.

"He's far more empathetic than I thought he'd be," it was times like these that Xiumin ached for a cigarette - old habits died hard, "reminds me of someone."

Suho lingered in his pensive silence for a moment before finally piping up.

"Mom and I forgave you a long time ago, Uncle."

The other only nodded as he closed his eyes to the wind once more.

"I know."