Chapter 4 – Meeting You

His words were full of anger, his position as alpha was crystal clear and the stranger visibly flinched at his words; after a second of silence he cleared his throat and tried to look as relaxed and calm as possible. “Why should I? I was just following those two.” He said nodding to the pups. Jiaheng snorted and just kept petting the two young werewolves in his arms, making sure they were safe and that they weren’t going to fall.

“What is your name?” He said staring at him. The man shifted and glanced around, as if he was thinking of how he was going to get away from there. “Uhhh, Chanyeol.” He answered as he looked everywhere but towards him; Jiaheng glared at the young, lanky man and he stood up, without letting go of the pups. “This is my territory, Chanyeol. Why are you here?” The other werewolf gulped and smiled, his eyes wide in fear. "I-I was just following the pups! I thought I've smelled my friend's scent so I just walked in here!" He exclaimed.

Jiaheng sighed and shook his head; either that stranger was stupid, or he was incredibly curious. "What if I was going to kill you and these two pups?" Chanyeol froze in his spot for a few seconds and he started spluttering words, now completely terrified. "N-no, please! W-we mean no harm! Please spare us, those two pups are orphans and our pack is weak! We won't come back here, I promise!" Jiaheng walked up to him and handed him the pups, that were sleeping peacefully. "I am an alpha, but also a father. Not everyone is like me, next time you should really be more careful."

Chanyeol nodded as he hugged the two small wolves and lowered his gaze in fear. The young alpha was staring at him with cold eyes, making sure that the stranger knew what his place was. "I know who you’re looking for." He said slowly. "Don't think I'm stupid. I'm not playing a game." Chanyeol nodded and mumbled another apology, despite trembling nervously. “I have a pack and I’m not here kill the first one who places a foot in my territory. But if you want to do something to my family then be sure I won’t be as nice as today.”

“N-no… please… It’s not my fault… M-my alpha… He asked to look for this guy… I’m only doing what he asked me to!” the other stammered. Jiaheng was towering Chanyeol, who seemed to shrink and become smaller and smaller; it was in that moment that the alpha smelled another scent, one he knew very well but that he didn’t expect to smell again. He straightened his back and he glanced towards the woods, waiting for the other person to appear in front of them; he was trying hard not to seem surprised, but it was hard as he was truly glad he could see again that werewolf who was getting near them.

“Your alpha is a fool if he thinks that person will go back with you willingly.” He growled closing his hands in fists, finally concealing both his happiness and his surprise. Chanyeol took a step back just when another werewolf arrived next to them. He was a young man with wide eyes and plump lips, frail looking but with pure anger in his dark eyes; he stopped glaring at Chanyeol only when he noticed Jiaheng, who was looking at him with unreadable gaze. “Kyungsoo...” The alpha murmured.

Kyungsoo took a deep breath and glanced at Chanyeol. “Go back to Joonmyeon and make sure you don’t wake Sehun and Jongin. If he asks you about Jiashuai, just tell him the truth.” The lanky man nodded again and left, not before he sent a glare with his red eyes towards Jiaheng, who stood there without doing anything to stop him. As soon as Chanyeol disappeared, Kyungsoo sighed and finally looked into Jiaheng's eyes. “You're alive...”

The alpha nodded and opened his arms, silently inviting the other man to start a hug. Kyungsoo didn't wait for another second and wrapped his arms around Jiaheng's waist. The two of them didn't shed tears, but they were both glad they had met again. Kyungsoo had helped him in the past with his children and Jiaheng often gave the other shelter and protection, and in a couple of years they became pretty good friends. They were both reserved but they easily understood each other, back when they were in the pack there was no need to explain anything if they had a bruise or tears in their eyes.

“I thought you were dead.” Kyungsoo said, taking a step back. He was frowning, but his cheeks were red and his eyes were glistening: Jiaheng didn’t need to ask him anything, he knew the young werewolf was trying his hardest not to cry in front of him. They both went through a lot and they both didn’t want to be seen crying anymore. “I went to your place... and I found that everything was destroyed. I was devastated when I saw the kids lying dead in Ruifang’s house… but after a couple of minutes I gathered the strength to give them the proper...”

He trailed off and Jiaheng nodded, he too with tears in his eyes. “They are buried next to her house, however I didn’t find both you and Zitao and I thought...” The alpha stopped him, holding his shoulder, before the younger could say anything more. His friend did want him wanted to do, and he felt his heart much lighter than before. Now he knew his children got the proper rest they deserve. “Kyungsoo, you don’t know how much this means to me. And Zitao is fine, you don’t need to worry about him.” The young werewolf sighed and smiled weakly, grabbing the hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry that all of that happened to you and your children. Nobody deserves that.”

Jiaheng hummed and let him go. He needed to talk about something else with his old friend, for the sake of his own pack. “Kyungsoo, the man that ran away from your pack some time ago… He’s with me now.” He said slowly. “And I won’t let Joonmyeon come here to take him away from me.” The much smaller man shook his head in disbelief. “He’s been with us for a long time… why did he run away from the pack?” He muttered to himself.

The alpha frowned in confusion and looked behind himself, where Jiashuai left him minutes ago. He could still feel those lips on his ones, he could remember his hands full of scars and the fear in his eyes whenever he woke up in the mornings. “His body was full of bruises… his eyes are red. What does it mean?” He said instead. “When I met him I felt there was something wrong with his pack… your pack. Knowing Joonmyeon, he’s using some of our old pack’s rules.” Kyungsoo grabbed his arm and glanced around, making sure there was no one near them.

“He’s doing that for a reason… we don’t like it, but it’s better getting beat up than to get killed. Trust me, during these months I’ve learnt that there was much more behind our old pack… you should be glad you got away just in time.” Jiaheng didn’t ask him anything, as he saw the other werewolf’s eyes full of fear; now he was sure there was something clearly hidden from himself, but he needed to know what was it before it could get dangerous for his family.

“Jiashuai is okay, but don’t think I’ll let him go back. You know I’m always glad to listen to explanations, but I won’t just stand and stare if Joonmyeon will come here with bad intentions.” He growled lowly. Kyungsoo froze and nodded stiffly before shifting uneasily away from him. “You’ve changed. And that’s actually a good thing… now you really look like a real leader.” Jiaheng widened his eyes in surprise, thinking he had scared his friend.

The smaller werewolf took a step back, but not in fear. “I have to go, I’ve stayed for way too long. It was nice meeting you.” Before he could go, Jiaheng grabbed his wrist to stop him. “Kyungsoo, please… just one thing. If you think those pups are in danger...” The other widened his eyes at first, and then smiled softly. “You really are a good leader. Don’t worry, I’ll bring them here if something might happen to them.”

Kyungsoo then turned away with a last nod of his head and disappeared in the woods. Jiaheng sighed and the only thing he could do was wash his face with the river fresh water, hoping it could help to calm him down. Only in that moment he had realized how serious that situation was, how many problems and he could only imagine the danger he could have faced. He was lucky that Kyungsoo was there, he didn't expect to meet him and the young man gave him some important information along with the reassurance that not everything was lost.

Jiaheng stood with shaky limbs and after a deep breath he finally ran towards his home, he needed to see his family and tell them what happened. Back at the cottage, Han was waiting for him with a troubled look; he glanced up when he heard Jiaheng getting near, and he relaxed when he saw his alpha wasn’t injured. “Oh God, you’re okay. We were so worried...” Jiaheng greeted him with a smile and as soon as he was near enough, he hugged him.

“Nothing bad happened, but I think we’ll meet them pretty soon. There is something wrong but I don’t know what...” The two of them parted and quickly entered in the house; when they arrived in the living room, Jiaheng was greeted with a sobbing Zitao and two worried werewolves. “Daddy!” The child screamed when he saw the young alpha; he jumped into his arms and Jiaheng hugged him tightly, closing his eyes.

Jiashuai and Minseok didn’t wait for another second and they too hugged their dear alpha, who sighed happily and enveloped them in a warm embrace. “Everything is okay.” He mumbled before letting them go. “However, I need to talk with you guys, and most importantly with you, Jiashuai.” The said man widened his eyes and nodded, holding his shirt tightly. The alpha caressed his neck and smiled, to reassure him it was nothing too bad; but he couldn’t hide the fact that the encounter shook him up and worried him.

“Come on, for now let’s just prepare some lunch, we’ll talk after.” Zitao was still sobbing loudly, and it took a long time for Jiaheng to calm him down; the child was so scared that when he stopped crying he refuse to leave his father’s arms and even when they started eating he was still on Jiaheng’s lap. The alpha made sure to kiss his cheek or head every once in a while during their quick lunch, but Zitao didn’t change his mind and started whining after they had finished eating.

“It’s time to take a nap...” He said as he took his child away from the living room, trying to reason with him. “Let’s brush our teeth first, okay?” Zitao shook his head and hid his face on the alpha’s neck. Jiaheng sighed, but smiled when he heard Jiashuai’s soft footsteps behind him. The two entered the bathroom with the child still pouting, but finally detaching himself from his father. “Can we make bubbles?” Zitao mumbled before Jiaheng gave him his red toothbrush and toothpaste.

“Of course, but now brush your teeth.” Jiashuai chuckled as he stared at them from the bathroom door. His alpha was clearly a good father, even if he tended to pamper Zitao a bit too much; but with what the young werewolf though didn’t blame him, he could understand why Jiaheng acted like that and he honestly liked to see his soft side. He was glad that male was his mate -- he had no doubt about it. Jiaheng’s scent was strong, Jiashuai loved to smell green tea whenever he was near the alpha, it calmed him down yet it made his heart race.

He knew that it was a normal reaction towards his mate, because he could remember the stories his grandma used to tell him when he was young. Jiashuai smiled while watching Jiaheng and Zitao making bubbles with soap on their hands and he wondered when the alpha was going to bite him and mark him as his own. He rubbed his neck deep in thought and he sighed, still standing by the door; it was a selfish thought, and he understood that it felt too fast for someone he barely knew. Looking at a human point of view, their relationship should have progressed much more slowly than that.

But thinking as a wolf, he didn’t care about that. There was no doubt that they were attracted to each other -- especially after that kiss -- but the wolf in them didn’t care too much about their need to flirt or to know each other before getting at the point. He had the proof on his own neck, since Jiaheng always bit him unconsciously when they were asleep next to each other. However Jiashuai knew all too well that the animal in them wanted their share and it could physically hurt them if they weren’t going to listen to such desire burning their soul.

They experienced what it felt like to be apart; he asked Han what happened before they met again and the other confessed that Jiaheng was sick for a very long time. It was because he was stressed after what happened to his family, and it was also because Jiashuai was far away from him, and since Han was already mated, he knew what could happen to them. Jiashuai didn't want to pressure his alpha, after all he too would have liked their relationship to progress more slowly, but he couldn't do anything to avoid that.

The young werewolf smiled softly when Zitao cutely yawned when he was in the middle of creating another bubble with his hands. "Let's go take a nap, okay?" Jiaheng said after kissing his son's cheek. They quickly washed their hands and the alpha took Zitao in his arms; he stopped next to Jiashuai to leave a small kiss on the man's cheek and he smiled. "Brush your teeth, too... and then we'll talk." He murmured before walking away. The younger werewolf hummed and did as he was told, glad that Jiaheng didn't seem to have completely forgot about their kiss.

He stayed in the bathroom for a long time, thinking of what his alpha had discovered and worrying over Chanyeol and the pups. When he arrived in Zitao's bedroom he stopped himself at the door again. Jiaheng was softly singing a tune while sitting on the bed, caressing his child's hair, to help him to fall asleep. His deep voice sounded smooth and gentle, as he lulled Zitao to sleep. In a matter of minutes the child was snoring softly while chewing on a plushie’s ear, the alpha stood up after kissing his forehead; he joined Jiashuai, They got out of the bedroom, closing the door as silently as possible.

“I didn’t know you could sing.” He whispered, taking his hand; Jiashuai quickly led him to their bedroom and turned around towards Jiaheng. “I’m not that good...” The alpha mumbled, looking away with red cheeks. The younger werewolf chuckled and hugged him, resting his head on Jiaheng’s chest and closing his eyes. “No no, I actually liked it a lot.” He said with a sigh. “It calmed me down.” The alpha finally hugged him back and kissed his forehead.

“Did I worry you? Everything went just fine. I also met an old friend of mine who made me think about some things...” Jiashuai looked up and he frowned. “Who?” Jiaheng smiled and rested their foreheads together. “Kyungsoo. He used to live in my pack.” The younger werewolf snorted. “This is really a coincidence… no, it must be fate.” He smiled. “Kyungsoo was nice, but very afraid of what could happen to him or to those two pups who lived with us.” Jiaheng hummed and lowered his face a bit more, so that their lips were extremely close.

“I made sure Kyungsoo and Chanyeol understood that you’re not getting away from here… from me.” Jiashuai let out a surprised laugh and he kissed the alpha on the lips, chuckling again when Jiaheng squeaked for the sudden kiss. “My alpha...” The taller werewolf whined in embarrassment and pinched his side. “Don’t say this kind of things.” Jiashuai’s laugh was cut off by another kiss, and soon one peck wasn’t enough for them. They kissed holding onto each other tightly, and when they divided they were out of breath.

“P-please don’t call me like that again.” The older werewolf stuttered. “I am much more than just that.” There was a hint of insecurity in his eyes that made Jiashuai deeply sad. Jiaheng constantly had a melancholic halo around him, yet he always tried to look strong in front of the whole pack just because he was the alpha. Maybe the fact that in his whole life he had only met cruel alphas didn’t help him to feel comfortable enough with his role.

“But something has changed inside you, today.” He observed out loud, tilting his head and looking right into Jiaheng’s eyes, that were still blue. “And of course you are much more than just our alpha. You are our Jiaheng.” He said caressing his neck. “However, there is something different about you...” The alpha rested his hand on Jiashuai's lower back and hummed in agreement. "Because I'm your leader I need to follow the rules and I need to be a role model... and today I've found my resolution. Even if I’m scared… I want to be strong for you and the pack."

Jiashuai just grinned and nodded happily. “I’m glad you think like that.” He caressed his leader’s cheek and he sighed softly. “Now let’s just go to talk with Han and Minseok.” Jiaheng nodded and hesitated a bit before giving him another short peck on the lips. He left in hurry, to hide his embarrassment, and went back to the living room where the couple was. “There you are!” Minseok chirped, opening a dusty and heavy book. “I’ve found something that might help us.”

Both the alpha and Jiashuai sat next to him and glanced at the yellow pages: there was an angry looking wolf figure in the middle, sketched roughly with dark ink, its eyes as red as blood and its chest full of pride. “This book is a sort of a guide for us werewolves, it was given to me by my father.” He explained with a smile. “Jiaheng, you said you lived in pack full of alphas. As we told you before, it was illegal… and I think this old pack-mate of yours is in a bad circle of ‘friends’.”

He pointed at something written next to the wolf figure. “It seems that something like this happened long time ago. I think I can say they are preparing for something… like a huge fight, if not war.” Jiaheng tapped his foot on the ground nervously and glanced at Jiashuai, who was staring with wide eyes at Minseok. “If this is illegal, then why no one is stopping them?” He mumbled, trying to understand what was going on.

This time it was Han who answered, as serious as ever. “It seems that whoever should control such thing isn’t here in Asia. It’s pretty strange, considering the book says there’s a big leader for every area of the world. However there is no doubt that your previous pack was planning something big… it seems that they got stopped by someone who knew what was going on.” Jiaheng shook his head and sighed. “No, they… I’m sure that those who survived won’t stop. Those two werewolves I’ve met today confirmed me that there’s still something going on.”

The alpha sighed and crossed his arms, resting his back on the couch. “One of them had red eyes and was followed by two pups. Jiashuai confirmed me he was in his pack with Joonmyeon as alpha… but then another one appeared. His name is Kyungsoo, he was my friend I know we can trust him. I think there still is someone else behind this. He said they don’t want to do this, but they would get killed if they don’t follow the rules of some crazy werewolf.” Han nodded and pointed at the book.

“There’s written something very similar in there. It seems that ages ago a werewolf started creating a pack formed mainly of alphas just to have their rage and animal instinct as strong as possible… he then started a war only to have his so called soldiers kill him and destroy his empire. No wonder it’s illegal, that werewolf destroyed hundred of lives… too bad that now it’s happening again!” Han huffed, abandoning himself on the sofa.

Jiaheng took a deep breath, staring at the book. “There must be something we can do to stop this...” He said, frowning. “However, now I need to know something else… why the red eyes? And why my eyes are now this color?” He asked, pointing at his face. Minseok hummed, as he started browsing his book, while Jiashuai lowered his gaze a bit, looking slightly ashamed of his own look. “Here, it seems that the red eyes appear when a werewolf is losing its human side… huh. It looks like embracing our wolf side might be dangerous.” Minseok explained, furrowing his brows.

“Jiashuai, your eyes aren’t as red as when I met you.” The alpha said with a soft smile. “You should worry about that old pack-mate of yours. His eyes were deep red.” Jiashuai hummed and he finally looked up. “You’re right… in fact I was in my wolf form for a lot of time. We were always on the move.” Jiaheng glanced at him, as if he wanted to add something, but said nothing. “As for blue, it says that only adult alpha wolves can have that eye color. Well, not for long, but still.”

Han snickered as he stared at Jiaheng. “Does it mean that our alpha suddenly became an adult and we were ruled by a child?” The young father gasped, looking at him. “What! It’s not true, how can you say that?!” Everyone laughed at his reaction, but soon their grins disappeared as Minseok suddenly closed the book. “I know you two don’t want to talk about it...” He started saying, glancing at Jiaheng and Jiashuai. “But you need to understand that you will have to… uh, let’s say that you have to get...” He waved his hand in the air, smiling in embarrassment.

Jiaheng whined, his face getting red. “Are you telling us we should have ?” Han snickered again, and patted his legs: Minseok huffed and stood up only to sit on his lap. “I’m only saying this because me and Han went through a lot and we know that how much it can hurt if you two wait too long...” His lover wrapped his arms around Minseok’s body and smiled softly. “Yeah, he’s right. We had to suffer a lot before we got together.”

Jiashuai shifted next to his alpha and he smiled. “Why don’t you tell us how did you meet?” Minseok smiled sweetly and glanced at Han. “Actually… we were childhood friends. We grew up together, but we hated each other… for no reason. And then, when we both were nineteen, everything changed.” Han grinned. “We usually argued over nothing, all day long, yet we were always next to each other. Then one day I woke up and… everything was different.”

Han looked slightly embarrassed and his cheeks were redder than usual. “I thought I was sick so I stayed at home for a while. My whole room was filled with this scent of coffee and chocolate… yet I never bought any. I liked it but there was something wrong. After a week I felt even worse, but Minseok and his mother came to see how I was feeling.” Minseok started chuckling, hiding his smile behind his hand.

“Oh, yes! As soon as I saw you, you just sat up on your bed and you stared at me with your mouth wide open.” He said laughing. Han just huffed, pouting. “It was like I’ve met you again and saw you with a whole new light.” Minseok chuckled, patting his torso. “After that, I just got up and kissed him straight on his lips. It was a pretty stupid thing to do… because her mother screamed and he got so red that I thought he was going to blow up.” Han told his alpha and Jiashuai.

“Let’s say that after I talked to my parents, they just realized I had finally found my mate. I was sick because I was away from Minseok for too long and actually after I kissed him I felt a lot better than before.” His lover grinned and glanced at Han. “It was very awkward at first. I still didn’t feel the same things and I wasn’t used to have him flirting with me and give me small presents. Since my feelings for him weren’t going to appear that soon… he just tried to win me over.” He explained with a shy smile.

Jiashuai looked happily at the couple who was reminiscing of their past, and sighed. He peeked at Jiaheng, who was too smiling, and stopped himself before he could sigh again. Han and Minseok looked so deeply in love, it was clear they trusted each other, but it couldn’t be the same for him and the alpha… at least not yet. “But even when it happened the same to me, I was pretty scared. So I just kept quiet… and the more I waited to admit my feelings, the more both me and Han got hurt.” Minseok muttered and a sad smile.

“We got more nervous, more suspicious. It was hard, the only thing that we wanted was to… have… each other. But I kept saying I was scared and our families weren’t as happy as we wanted. They pressured us, they insulted us.” Minseok explained, lowering his eyes in shame. “Well, of course not everyone, like my uncle. In the end we just… broke. We couldn’t take it anymore and we just mated.” He finished with blushing cheeks. Han pecked him on the cheeks and tightened his hug around the latter.

“What he wants to say is that we waited for so much that we got frustrated. To stop myself from doing something while I wasn’t thinking, I hurt myself more than once. Talk to each other… think carefully. Don’t wait for too long. We don’t want you two to suffer like we did.” Han said with a serious look. Both Jiaheng and Jiashuai hummed, and watched as Han finally stood up and carried Minseok away, with laughter on their lips and bidding them goodbye.

“It was a bit sad.” Jiashuai mumbled, letting his head fall on Jiaheng’s shoulder. The alpha said nothing and just took his hand, glancing at him with half-lidded eyes. “I am scared.” He muttered instead. “I am scared because I once did everything too fast and it ruined my life. I’m scared because I don’t know what to do and because I have never felt like this before.” He continued, closing his eyes.

Jiashuai let their foreheads rest against each others and he traced his jawline with his fingertips, in a soothing motion. “What can you feel when you look at me?” He whispered. Jiaheng’s eyes fluttered open, his brow furrowed in concentration. Their knees bumped together and Jiashuai just threw his legs over the alpha’s neck. “It’s like I’m constantly falling and flying at the same time. It feels like I don’t know what is going to happen all the time, yet I know what I should do. It’s very confusing. I want to hold you all the time and never let you go.”

The younger werewolf smiled immediately, showing his dimple, and blushed slightly. “This is really… sweet. And cute.” He said, chuckling when Jiaheng started sputtering nonsense. “I like it. And I feel the same.” Jiashuai added before the alpha could actually say something. “Let’s just… wait. Okay? For a month or two, that’s it. We get to know each other a bit better, and we’ll see what is going to happen. Because I don’t want to rush things and I’m a bit scared too.”

Jiaheng finally hugged him and kissed his cheek; he looked much more relaxed and glad that Jiashuai said those words to him. “That’s a good idea.” He mumbled with a smile. “I’m glad I’ve met you.” Yet, after he said those words, he started doubting himself. Was it really a good idea? Jiashuai’s sweet pomegranate scent was stronger than before and even more addicting. He hid his face on the younger’s neck and he sighed. It was going to be a difficult month.

***

The next few days the young alpha controlled as much as he could in his small territory, cautious that someone was going to attack them. He didn’t like the fact that there was a big possibility that a war will break out, and he was even more worried that Joonmyeon’s pack was near his. Jiaheng wandered everywhere, and he was surprised that no one went back there to fight him. It was at the end of the week when he finally met someone.

He was near the border, close to the small human town, when he smelled a small group of werewolves. He walked a bit before a crying child, with torn clothes, stumbled in front of him. Jiaheng rushed to help him to stand up, and the kid screamed in fear when the alpha took him in his arms. “Hey, hey, calm down. I don’t want to hurt you.” He explained, letting him go. The child stopped screaming immediately when Jiaheng put his own jacket on his small shoulders.

“Were you cold?” He asked with a sweet smile, crouching down to his level. The child nodded hesitantly, then he sniffed, finally wearing the jacket. “It’s warm!” He finally grinned. Jiaheng ruffled his hair, wondering why a kid was standing there all alone. “What’s your name?” The child wiped away his last tears, looking slightly calmer. “I’m Jongdae.” He mumbled, hiding his mouth behind the jacket.

“Are you all alone?” Jiaheng knew that they weren’t. There were three werewolves not much far from them, but he needed to check something. Jongdae looked behind him and hesitated a bit before answering. “Y-yes...” He lied, obviously worried. Jiaheng stared at him for a long minute before humming and opening his arms. “Do you want to come home with me?” Jongdae looked back once again and then he threw himself into Jiaheng’s arms. “Okay, let’s go!” He said with a smile, standing up and hugging the kid.

Right in that moment Jiaheng heard the three werewolves’ voices, screaming and laughing loudly. He stopped there, as Jongdae started crying again and squirming in his hug. “Hey, look where the kid is!” One of the wolves exclaimed, pointing at the child in Jiaheng’s arms. The alpha tightened his hug and growled at the small group of strangers. “Where do you think you’re going?” He snarled without letting Jongdae go.

The small group froze at his angry tone and they looked at each other in fear. “This is my territory. If you have nothing to tell me, as the alpha who controls this I don’t want to see you ever again.” The tallest stranger walked in front of his friends, slowly and obviously worried for his life. “Y-you see… that kid is with us. He’s our little brother...” Jiaheng growled again when Jongdae started screaming and wailing even louder.

“Your clothes are clean and your stomach is clearly full. This child is frail, has torn clothes and is cold. If you don’t care about him, I’ll take care of him.” The three werewolves glanced at each other once again and the tallest one nodded. “O-okay. We don’t want him, he’s a dead weight for us anyway.” Jiaheng glared at them, feeling the anger growing in him. How could they treat a child like that? It was unforgivable, but he stopped himself from attacking them. It was dangerous and useless to end their lives. “Then go away and never come back, or you’ll only find death.” He hissed. The small group quickly ran away, looking back in fear of being followed, and only when he was sure they were far away, Jiaheng turned and started going back home.

He had to stop in the middle of a clearing because Jongdae was still sobbing, and he wanted to reassure him that nothing was going to happen to him. “Hey, hey listen.” He whispered, crouching down and placing Jongdae on the ground. The child was still shaking in fear. “Right now we are just going home. I will give you warm clothes, if you’re hungry you’ll eat. You can sleep in your own room and stay with me and my family. You can play with my son, Zitao. I really don’t want to hurt you, okay?”

Jongdae nodded and hugged him. “Thank you.” He muttered, sniffing a bit. Jiaheng took him in his arms again and kissed his cheek, wiping away his tears. It was heartbreaking that a kid was that scared of his supposed family, Jiaheng knew that somehow the memory of the fear was going to survive for long in his body. When they arrived back at the cottage, Jiashuai greeted them and gasped when he noticed the child in the alpha’s arms. “Who’s this?” He asked, walking towards them. Jongdae glanced at him, both afraid and shy, and Jiashuai smiled sweetly to calm him down.

“Hi, my name is Jiashuai. Do you like to draw?” Jongdae grinned hesitantly and he nodded, letting the young werewolf to take him in his arms. “Then let’s go drawing together! But first, do you want to take a bath? I promise you it will be full of bubbles.” Jongdae’s smile was priceless. He looked so happy and overwhelmed, as if he had never experienced such warmness and love before. “The others are downtown with Zitao, they should come back in a bit. Can you bring me some clothes for him?”

Jiaheng kissed him on the lips, and he smiled when he heard Jongdae laughing. “Okay, now just give him a bath. I’ll think of the rest.” With the rest, he meant he was going to get a bedroom ready, along with some warm food and clothes still too big for Zitao. He took his old cellphone and called Han as he was trying to cook something sweet for Jongdae. “Hey, come back quickly here, but before buy some clothes a size bigger than Zitao. Yeah, you need to meet someone and there are rogue wolves around here. I don’t want them to cause more trouble.”

He closed the call as soon as Han said they were getting back in 20 minutes and he went back to his cooking. Right in that moment he really felt like an alpha; he was making sure his family was fine, he had helped a small child to run away from his probably abusive pack mates... he was being a nice leader. Maybe his mother heard that and she was finally going to be proud him, but he knew that wasn't possible. He felt a shiver going down his back and he glanced out of the window: he had a bad feeling and he didn't like it. The first person he thought of was Joonmyeon; it wasn't going to be nice to see him again.

A/N:
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