The way mahjong tiles hit the table, the way they clicked as they hit another tile – that is what Luhan focused on. If he spent too much time looking at Sung Woo he would be found out, he was sure of it. Because his inner monologue was full of curse words, of suspicion, of distrust for his mate’s Father.

So Assemblyman Ahn knew Sung Woo by another name? Why? Luhan played his tiles, smiled and laughed at the game – all while trying to reason out the scenario. Was Sung Woo being careful because that was his nature? Or was there some other game the man was playing?

“I will have you know I cancelled a previous dinner engagement for this game.” Sung Woo smiled, pushing his tile out in his latest play. The words stung, but only for Luhan. Because Ahn knew nothing of what the words meant- but Luhan did. Sung Woo had cancelled dinner with Minseok to be here. It was a statement that could be interpreted as a provocation.

“I am thankful you did, sir.” Luhan gave his best eager grin, playing his own tiles.

“So am I.” Sung Woo smiled back at Luhan, his eyes registering what his words would not. I know you Luhan, I know you and you know me. So what is the next move?

Luhan’s cell phone rang, loud enough to distract the table next to them. Luhan could not answer it without appearing rude, especially given the role he was playing at the moment- the boyfriend of Ahn’s one and only precious princess.

“You can take the call, Luhan.” Ahn smiled at Luhan, giving him permission.

“Thank you, sir.” Luhan stood, eyeing his phone he saw the call was from Minseok. He walked towards what he assumed was the back entrance to the club. The staff member tending to the door opened it for him, paying him all of the respect that was befitting a guest of Assemblyman Ahn.

Luhan stepped out into the night, lifting the phone to his ear.

“Hello.”

“Lu- Sung Woo cancelled on me an-“

“I know. He is here.”

“What?!”

Luhan walked further up the alley, looking behind him to make sure no one was following.

“Sung Woo is going by a different name in front of Ahn…”

“What?” Minseok tried to register what this meant, but his panic overrode any reasoning.

Luhan could hear what sounded like a sob on the other end of the line, ripping his heart in two. He knew it the moment he saw Sung Woo at Club M. Their surveillance meant only one thing once it was discovered by Minseok’s Father- and that was the reality that Minseok and Luhan were suspicious. They were suspicious and investigating, with no intentions of ever giving their pups up to federal agents.

“I don’t know what to do…” Luhan whispered into the phone. It was true, he had never really considered their next steps if he was found out like this. Maybe they had been too confident, too sure of their planning.

“Luhan?”

Luhan jumped in surprise. His name had been called from down the alley, from the darkness.

“Min, someone is here.” He whispered, then asked in a loud voice, “Who is there?”

“A friend.”

Out from the shadow stepped a familiar looking man, with purple hair. Behind him was a man holding a cat. Hybrids, the same hybrids that had kidnapped Tao and Sehun.

Luhan held the phone away, insuring Minseok would hear what was going on.

“What do you want?” Luhan was cautious of them, he had every right to be. They had attacked Minseok’s pack, they had attacked his own pack. They had been the ultimate tie between Sung Woo and the hybrid that had carried out the first attack on the subway.

“To talk.” The purple haired hybrid took a step forward, causing Luhan to take a step back.

“I don’t think we are on friendly enough terms to be talking.” Luhan replied, fully ready to run. He was outnumbered, who knew where the rest of the hybrids were hiding.

“Friendly is a relative term for our kind, is it not?” The hybrid holding the cat commented, “Aren’t you friendly with Ahn? And what about Sung Woo?”

Luhan felt sick to his stomach, the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Without another viable option he turned to the door he had exited, pulling it open. It worked – the hybrids did not follow him in. How much it worked though, in the grand scheme of things, was negotiable. He was back where he started- in a room with Sung Woo and Assemblyman Ahn, putting up false pretenses.

***

Sehun and Tao arrived back at the house, hand in hand. A shy smile, a kiss, a deeper kiss – and well, if Chanyeol was around, he would be screaming at the top of his lungs “Get a room you two”!

But Chanyeol wasn’t there. Minseok was.

When Minseok collided with Tao, apparently oblivious to his surroundings as he made a dash for the door, Tao stopped his pack leader.

“What is going on?” Tao held Minseok by the shoulders, thoroughly annoying his pack leader. Why was the youngest member one of the tallest? One of the strongest?

“Let me go Tao – Luhan is in trouble” Minseok was breathless, focused.

“Where?!” Tao asked, ready to do what he did best. Ever since the rest of his pack had started school he had found himself taking comfort in the fact he did one thing better than the rest of them – surveillance, being the tough guy, being the one that still clung to his street smarts to make a living. If he was honest with himself it was the best thing for him. He was not suited to university life. He was suited to rambling around, discovering, reporting, understanding.

“Let me go!” Minseok pushed at his pack’s maknae, not ready for any kind of explanation. He needed to go and he needed to go now.

Before he could get any further, before he could run out the door and leave Tao and Sehun to watch him go, his mate arrived.

The front door opened, Luhan walking into the house. His face was flushed, Minseok could tell that he was running on adrenaline, on panic.

“We have to go. NOW!” Luhan shouted, his voice echoing in the foyer.

So Ra, hearing her pack leader’s shout, appeared at the top of the stairs.

“What happened?!” So Ra asked, noting that the younger wolves appeared frozen in the face of a panicked Luhan.

“A lot - Is everyone here?” Luhan practically shouted his response, stalking ahead to grab Minseok’s arm, his face full of worry.

“No…the rest of the Eastern Dawn are out investigating. I think the others are at the café.” So Ra, as expected, knew their whereabouts.

“Get them together- now -or I doubt we will survive the night.” Luhan, holding tightly to Minseok’s wrist, pulled him towards the staircase, “Min, we have to pack. Tao, Sehun, you guys get what you can together.”

The maknaes were too scared to ask more questions, their usual snark long gone in the face of such a serious order. They scurried up the stairs toward their room.

“I’ll get everyone back here.” So Ra said firmly, knowing better to question the order.

“What is going on?” Minseok asked, his voice barely above a whisper, as Luhan led them toward their room.

“Take anything that has your identity, take anything that could give us away.” Luhan didn’t bother to comfort his mate, there was no time.

“Lu- tell me!” Minseok stopped in his tracks, offering resistance to Luhan’s brutal guidance.

“Your Father is damn ready to kill us, the hybrids that kidnapped Sehun and Tao know where we live, and Assemblyman Ahn has more than an inkling of who we are. Good enough?” Luhan’s words came out much more roughly than he meant them to, but it didn’t matter at this point. Minseok shut up and followed his mate, his blood running cold as he considered the possible scenarios before them. The end of the Eastern Dawn and the Cloud Mountain packs – in one fell swoop.

***

Minseok remembered what it was like to be a hybrid living in the forest. It was a distant memory, but it was there. After a hellish night, full of anxiety over who would make it and who would be left behind, they all made it. Luhan, Minseok, Suho, Yixing, Jongdae, Chanyeol, So Ra, Baekhyun, Tao, Sehun, Kyungsoo, and Jongin were present, all gathered together with the utmost haste. They had piled into two vans, hightailing it out of Seoul with one thing ringing in their ears “make sure we are not followed”. They were not, at least by their reckoning.

When they arrived in the rural location they did not sense another hybrid either, which bode well for their escape.

“So, is there a house somewhere around here or we going Robinson Crusoe here?” Chanyeol asked as the twelve of them departed the vehicles. Minseok shot Chanyeol an annoyed look which Chanyeol ignored.

“Follow me.” So Ra announced, taking the lead.

Minseok guessed So Ra was their guide because she was the only one that remembered the location of where they were headed. Which meant it was most likely somewhere the Eastern Dawn pack had not visited in many, many years. Probably since before the purge.

It had been a long voyage towards the south east. Hours had passed as the packs sat in silence, too afraid to really question what was going on. Minseok had an inkling- he had questioned Luhan in the time it took for the rest of the hybrids to gather.

Luhan’s story was short, concise: he was approached by the hybrids that had kidnapped Sehun and Tao. Sung Woo knew about their surveillance. And the final blow – the reason they were making an escape from the city- came courtesy of Assemblyman Ahn. After the most uncomfortable game of mahjong Luhan had every played came to an end the Assemblyman asked him to go to the bar with him, for a drink.

“I know what you are doing hybrid. I know and don’t think I won’t see you dead like the rest of your kind.”

It was enough for Luhan to leave, to run, to get back to the family he had to protect, and order them to evacuate. Everything was closing in on around them.

The forest path was overgrown, but there was a path here at one time, that was certain. Minseok grabbed onto Luhan’s hand as he navigated the underbrush, a difficult path for even a hybrid.

“Oh!” Minseok turned back at the noise, seeing Yixing bend down to pick a white flower growing on the forest floor, “Rare beauty!”

Chanyeol nudged Yixing forward, making the other hybrid frown. As Minseok looked back he had caught a glimpse of their packs – all walking with their mates (or stopping to pick flowers, in the case of Yixing). He felt a pang of sorrow run through him, sorrow at the fact he had to drag them into this remote place because of recent events.

Turning his attention back to the trek, Minseok focused on how his hand felt in Luhan’s. How much it meant that in the hell that was their reality he had someone to hold onto.

Eventually the path began to encounter less underbrush, the forest clearing little by little.

“Ahhh, it is here.” So Ra said, stopping at a clearing.

Minseok stopped alongside Luhan, taking in the site. A large, dilapidated stone house sat in a space carved out from the wilderness. It was in need of some serious repair, but appeared to at least be functionary as a shelter.

“No one, and I mean no one, will find us here.” Luhan whispered as if to answer Minseok’s internal monologue. Why here? Why not a hotel, or a place in another city? Because, this place was off the grid. So off the grid no one would think of it.

“Home sweet home” Yixing mumbled, taking in the sight.

***

The outside of the stone abode was in far worse shape than the inside, which was something that made all twelve of the new residents happy. With some intense cleaning and organizing the place was almost hospitable.

So Ra lit a fire as the sunlight waned, the rest of the hybrids sat on the dusty couches and chairs that made up the living area. Certainly this place was not even close to where they had come from in terms of square footage or grandeur, but it was suitable. Anything was suitable as long as they were hidden.

“So what is this place?” Kyungsoo asked, wide eyed as usual, Jongin cuddled into his side.

“This is where Luhan was born.” So Ra said quietly, tending the fire, “This was the home of the Eastern Dawn pack years before the purge.”

Luhan remained silent, nothing to add. He had an arm around Minseok’s shoulders as they sat on the couch.

“If they found you guys here once what would stop them now?!” Suho asked, skeptical that this was a hiding place if it was the site of an incident during the purge.

“They didn’t” So Ra remarked, moving from the fireplace to sit down on one of the threadbare chairs, “This place was abandoned before the purge, for a different residence. I wasn’t sure it was even standing, to be honest…”

“Has anyone seen Sehun?” Tao asked. He had been busy still cleaning the kitchen and had walked into the living area to a surprising lack of Sehun. All eyes turned to Tao, their faces half shadow and half-light among the glowing fire.

“Wasn’t he with you?” Baekhyun asked, sitting on the floor a few feet from the fireplace he did not bother to turn around to answer Tao.

Luhan and Minseok both looked at the Cloud Mountain pack’s youngest member, their faces concerned given recent events.

“What is that smell?!” Suho asked quietly, looking around the room.

Like a chain reaction the alphas in the packs seemed to perk up.

“Oh god…he is in heat…” Tao whispered, his attention directed towards the delicious smell that had flooded his senses, directing him towards the back room of the house.

It was not more than a few seconds later that Jongdae stood and ran from the room, Suho trailing after him.

Minseok and Luhan stared into each other’s eyes. Of all times. Of all ing times.

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a/n- How do you like them apples? Yes, heat hits the packs once again – and of course at an inopportune time. But hey, y times ahead.

I may not be able to update for a couple of weeks due to pesky real life obligations (but knowing how I work I will probably shun some of those responsibilities and update sooner). But if you don’t hear from me, I am being responsible!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for subbing! And even more for voting! And again for commenting (sorry, I at replying). *Hugs*

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