To be loved. To be held, to be kissed. To be cared for, to be worried about, to be welcomed. To be noticed. To belong.

Tao had never had any of these things.

It was a dark world for a lone omega werewolf, one with no control on neither his transformation nor his heat. Tao often wondered which he thought was more bothersome.

In truth, his transformation often flickered on and off. It was triggered by strong emotions, most commonly anger, but every once in a while by sadness, or happiness, and his heat also brought it on more often than he'd like to admit.

Tao sighed as he entered his apartment building, a faint stench of mold and urine reaching his nose. He ignored it, just as he ignored the yellowing, peeling wallpaper and cracking walls, the way the rotten wood beneath his feet creaked, the way that creepy lady from across the street followed him to the stairwell, as she did everyday. The building had no elevator, so it was up to Tao to climb 5 flights of stairs to his apartment. It was in the bad part of town, the kind of area Tao had dreamed of never being forced to enter. The part of town where moving a toe out of the door after the sun has set could basically guarantee you to be mugged, , beaten up, or worse.

Although he was an omega, Tao was stronger than he seemed. His instincts that helped him hunt for food were well primed, and he was much faster than multiple other wolves he knew. He took wushu as a child in order to learn to protect himself. Not that he had imagined that he would have to protect himself from humans, but now that has come to be the case because of where he lived.  Meanwhile, he also had to watch for wolves who seemed to be especially attracted to him during his heat period.

Needless to say, he trusted only a few individuals who had broken through his walls.

There were reasons why he lived in such an environment. The owner of the building, a woman who lived in the apartment across from him, had a werewolf fiance. Well, ex-fiance, who had bit her, making her a hybrid, and left her to deal with the consequences. The ex-fiance had built a hold in the ground under the building, making only a single trapdoor leading to it. It was and still is inescapable from the inside once locked.

The trapdoor leading to it happened to be in Tao's room. Not a coincidence.

The somewhat-e woman was one of the very few Tao trusted. Her name?

"Hi CL." Tao greeted with an emotionless nod, reaching his door.

"Oh, hey Taozi. How you doing?" She asked, pulling the cigarette from .

"Fine." He replied, fiddling with his keychain. It had only a couple of keys on it, but too many attachments to count.

"Hey, the full moon's in a couple days right?"

"It’s tomorrow."

"You need me to lock up?"

"Same time as always."

"Night before day of full moon at midnight and the day after full moon at noon, yes I know." She paused, taking a long drag from her cigarette before speaking up again. "When does your heat hit?"

"Two days after I get out from the full moon." Tao said simply, unlocking his door.

"Be careful about that. Heard there's a new wolf pack in town."

"Title?" Tao asked, actually curious. It wasn't often that a new pack came to town.

"Something with an X in it, hell if I know. Took out BTS for the spot. I heard they went after a couple other packs and failed."

"Like who?"

"SHINee, and SuJu. Idiots. They were planning on Big Bang from what I heard, but if they have any brains at all, they wouldn't dare." CL proclaimed, and Tao knew where she was coming from.

Both SHINee and Big Bang weren't very big, both being packs of 5, but highly respected and powerful ones. SuJu was huge, a total of 13 members. Larger than any other pack, it was amazing how tightly knit the group was and how in sync they all were. It would be suicide to enter one of their territories uninvited.

Then again, for Tao, it would be suicide to enter any pack territory. He may be fast but he was no match for an alpha. He had never tried to challenge an alpha, and never wanted to.

"How many wolves in the pack?"

"The new one?" CL asked.

"Yeah." Tao replied, leaning against his door.

"Hmm... not sure of the exact amount. From what I've heard, 11, but I've heard of two packs of 6 and 5. No idea."

"They probably have two alphas," Tao said, "so they split into two groups although they're one big pack. Hunt apart, live together."

"How would you know that?" CL asked, stamping out her cigarette.

"I talked to one of the SuJu omegas before, he told me that's how their pack works."

He didn't mention how he had been slammed up against a wall and threatened by one of the betas directly following the conversation and was banned from ever approaching someone from the pack again.

"How?"

"He was in my class. He asked me for the homework and then wouldn't let me avoid him. So we talked."

Tao hadn't told the beta that, because the beta probably would have thought he was lying and would have killed him in an instant.

"You're lucky you got out alive." CL sighed, taking out her phone which had started to vibrate. She signed louder. "It's that bratty chick from two floors down. I have to go see what the princess wants. Talk to you later?"

Tao knew that it wasn't actually a question. "Okay." He entered his apartment and closed the door behind him, dropping his backpack on the floor and his keys to his old motorcycle on the counter.

Tao was a college student, studying painting and drawing on a scholarship he had just barely earned. He sold his paintings for a small profit. His parents had died after an attack by other werewolves. The small family had owned a fair amount of land in China, but another pack attacked in order to take over the farm and woods they owned. He and his older sister had escaped, but his sister had sustained multiple injuries from protecting Tao and died two days after reaching Korea. That was 11 years ago, when he was 8.

He’d been on his own ever since.

Collapsing on his couch, he glanced at his calendar. If he wanted to visit his parent’s grave before the full moon, as he always did, he would have to go tonight, before he started becoming violent and unpredictable tomorrow.

He had bought ceremonial graves for his parents once he got the money, putting them in a small clearing in the forest only an idiot would stumble upon. Steep cliffs surrounded it on every side, apart from a small passage hidden by a large tree. The cliffs weren’t only for secrecy, but it allowed him to know if someone was coming from the top of one. A tiny waterfall spilled into a clear pool, vegetation surrounding the area. It was the embodiment of nature and the wild, a place he knew his parents would have loved.

He stood and stretched, checking the time. 7 PM. Tao stripped as he walked towards the shower, stepping into the lukewarm water, knowing that it was the hottest it would get. After a quick shower to avoid freezing cold water and neighbors yelling at him, he slipped on some jeans and went to make dinner. Aka a microwaveable ready-to-eat plate he had picked up from a convenience store on his way home. After taking a while to eat and finish his homework, he slipped on his favorite shirt, a black short-sleeve with 3 silver marks as though the shirt had been clawed, and a warm jacket.

He cracked his back and walked out of his apartment, locking the door behind him. He could hear CL yelling with the tenant and sent the pissed owner a quick text, telling her that he was going to his parent’s grave and would be back in time to lock up tomorrow. She didn’t reply, which Tao had been expecting, judging by the screaming match going on two floors down.

He ran down, stepping out into the night and taking a breath of fresh air infected by the smell of cigarette smoke and pollution. He instantly began racing towards the woods, using a bit of power from his wolf side to power him faster. He was unable to change completely on command, like an alpha could, or change even partway, like a beta or delta, but he wasn’t completely helpless like many omegas. He could run faster than a human, his senses were more attuned to his surroundings, his fingernails or teeth would sharpen and harden if he wanted them to and thought hard enough about it. His eyes changed to a slightly golden color when any of these occurred.

He didn’t try to change his appearance often, seeing how it took most of his energy and he had to rest immediately after. Running took much less energy and his senses had automatically sharpened after training in wushu and a few close calls.

He reached the forest quickly, slowing down a significant amount. He had much less to fear in an area like this. The city held endless dangers, but he knew these woods like the back of his hand. The only thing to fear here was a rogue wolf, and most understood that he was also alone and left him to himself. It was a silent pact among the castaways and loners that if you attacked another, you deserved to be killed if you lost. No rights to beg for mercy for the instigator.

Many mistook Tao for a beta or delta by the way he walked or growled, so he was left alone for the most part. They didn't bother to check his smell, which revealed his place in a pack was really an omega. He probably would have gotten into a lot more fights than he already had if they had bothered to check. He was happy that many left him alone, he had more scars than he could count without random battles.

He reached the tree, sliding on his stomach and crawling under as quickly as he could after surveying for other wolves. Emerging on the other side gave him a shock. He dashed behind a tree, crouching low to the ground and praying no one heard him.

There, in the clearing right in front of his parent’s graves, were 5 men. Werewolves, to be exact. Their smell was everywhere, making Tao grimace. This was his parent’s sacred place, it wasn’t supposed to smell like anything but nature and a light trace of Tao, almost unnoticeable. To have a pack of wolves contaminate it was stirring a pit of anger in his stomach. He wanted them out, and he wanted it now.

But he wasn’t stupid enough to dash in and yell at them or attack. He was an omega. There was an alpha, a beta, and three deltas in there, guessing by smell. To reveal his presence would be a one-way ticket to being killed. Tao decided to sit still and wait until they left to visit his parents.

“How did we not notice this place before?” One of the deltas spoke up. He had a small face and pretty eyes, hair that puffed up like cotton candy. Like a deer, almost. Tao thought as he observed him.

“Yeah, you’d think we would have found it when we were searching our new territory before.” Another spoke up, one with big cheeks and short brown hair, looking like a meat bun. His clothes were dirtied slightly, making Tao guess that he fell down one of the cliffs.

“I thought I smelled another wolf when we got in here, but the scent’s gone now.” One said with a calm voice, dazed eyes glancing about, but never detecting Tao. That was the beta; Tao could tell by the smell of him.

“Really? Maybe it was that old wolf that started humping you earlier.” One of the deltas grinned, joking. The beta smacked him upside the head.

“It’s not that.” The alpha spoke up, and Tao tensed. He was studying the gravestones. Tao had never wanted to strangle someone more. “This is a resting place. There was another wolf here. See? Gravestones. Lay was right, Chen.” The beta, now identified as Lay, smirked slightly at the one who was rubbing his head, who Tao guessed was Chen.

The alpha turned, allowing Tao a chance to observe his face. It was well-defined, with a sharp jawline. He was taller than the others.

The alpha kept talking. “We didn’t find it earlier because it’s hidden. It’s not meant for anyone but the one who put the gravestones here to be able to find it. It was by pure luck that you slipped in, Xiumin.” The meat bun scratched his head sheepishly. “The wolf who made it hid his scent, whether by accident or by knowledge that he might be detected if someone took this land.”

“What happens if he finds out that we were here?” The deer asked.

“He’ll know that we were here, no doubt. If you haven’t noticed, it doesn’t smell like him because it smells like us.”

“Okay, so what happens once he realizes we were here?” Xiumin supplied.

The alpha shrugged. “Either he comes after us and challenges us, moves the gravestones, or abandons it.”

“What if he stays here?” Lay asked.

“That would be considered an act of rebellion. We would get all rights to attack his pack. Besides, we’ll meet him eventually.” The alpha looked right at the tree Tao was behind. “He’ll decide what’s smartest on his own.”

Tao tensed, breaths coming in quick and shallow, every cell in his body screaming at him to run.

“Or we could just ask him now.”

Tao listened to his cells.

A/N: Hey guys, first chapter is up! Did I do alright? Please comment and tell me if this is worth continuing!!! 
Update: I cleaned it up a bit. One chapter and the foreword done!