[A/N: This chapter may be triggery (?) towards the end. Brief mentions (?) of abuse.]

Donghyun closed the door behind him, Emma’s argumentative shouts penetrated the deep wood. He felt her tug at the handles; he gripped them tighter, trapping her within her bedroom. He spotted the round-cheeked maid staring with wide-eyed terror. Donghyun motioned for her to come closer.

“Our guest is the first-born daughter of House of Vogel, Emma Vann. She’s got a wild temper on her, but as long as you’re respectful, there should be no problems.”

“S-sir?”

He took her hands, placing them on the doorknobs. He offered her a tiny, almost sympathetic smile. “I’ll leave her in your care. Thank you.”

“W-wait! My Lord!”

Emma pulled the door open. The unsuspecting maid flew into the room. Donghyun walked away, the sound of a vicious collision behind him. It took a great amount of effort not to laugh.

“What’s so amusing?” Minwoo asked, sneaking up beside him.

Donghyun’s step faltered. Minwoo stared in shock. No one ever surprised their alpha, never startled him out of his careful, graceful walk. But Donghyun, with a heart full of longing and a mind heavy with duty, had been too caught up in his thoughts to detect his presence.

“Oh, Minwoo-ah, what are you doing here? Where are the others?”

“In the game room. They couldn’t find their rooms. Hyung, what exactly is this place?”

Donghyun sighed deeply. For decades he had pushed this moment to the back of his mind, hoping that it would never arrive. Emma’s arrival had indicated the end of this prolonged wait. Nothing would come of resisting her even when he wanted to. He’d kept them all in the dark for too long.

“Let’s meet with the others. I’ll explain things then.”

The pack members loitered around in the game room, inspecting every artifact within. Jeongmin analyzed the paintings on the walls. The twins stood by the pool table, cue sticks in hand, curious eyes darting about.

Only Hyunseong sat motionless, face drawn in tight contemplation; it was almost as if he were just about to grasp a long forgotten memory, something that he knew existed deep within his mind and escaped him just as his fingertips brushed it. His ears twitched when Donghyun entered the room. He jumped to his feet, rushing to meet him.

“Hyung, what’s going on? How did you manage to get inside Wildwood Manor? Does the First House know? Did they allow this? Hyung? Hyung!”

Hyunseong trailed after Donghyun, alarmed and nervous. Donghyun stopped walking long enough to silence him. The rest crowed around, expectant, unsure.

“What I am about to tell you must never leave this room. I’m sure it will come as a great shock,” he placed a hand on Hyunseong’s shoulder, “even to you, Hyunseong.”

He made eye contact with all of them once more. “Listen.”

Kim Donghyun was the firstborn son of Clan Kim, the ruling clan of House Vyr. His father Kim Soo Hyun had ruled over the Woodlands for nearly a millennia. A respected official and model leader, he had raised his son under strict discipline, ingraining in him the ways of their people.

During the first couple of centuries that composed his childhood, Donghyun had studied under the careful, militaristic tutelage of his father. In his adolescence, he’d accomplished astounding feats that had placed him in the Summit’s favor.

It wasn’t until he reached early adulthood that Donghyun started to question his father’s decisions.

It all began with the Massacre of Black Leaf Wood.

A group of Turned wolves had gone rouge, raiding villages and recklessly turning innocent humans. Donghyun had led the pack that had been sent out to stop them. He knew the rogues would be executed; he had not expected his father to order the newly Turned wolves’ death.

“Father! You cannot sentence them all to death! They’re innocents!”

“Some may very well be, but among the innocent, reside the liars, the greedy, the power thirsty. I will not risk the security and structure of our world for the sake of these Turned.”

“They have done nothing wrong!”

“They are an abomination to the world!” Kim Soo Hyun slammed his hands on the table, crumpling the tactical maps they’d been pouring over a few minutes before. “The Summit outlawed the act of Turning. Any and every new Turned is a danger to our entire world and to the humans.”

“Father.”

“General, proceed with the plan.”

“Father!”

“If you cannot understand this, you will never be a good leader! Sacrifices must be made to maintain the order of our world.”

Donghyun had his doubts, but he followed his father’s, his alpha’s, command. Surely he did it for the best of the Woodlands. Surely.

But he had been wrong.

The morning after the order had been carried out, Donghyun realized that it had been nothing more than a massacre, cruel and simple. He could see the obvious traces of prejudice and hatred in how their throats had been gnawed out, their bodies left out to rot. The Woods had cried in horrified grief; Donghyun had wept as he held the torn body of a five-year-old boy.

He left his father, left his land, left his people. He left them to seek out the rogues.

“What will you do, Donghyun? You think you can handle this on your own?”

“Yes. I will handle this on my own if I must. I will not allow you to drown the Woodlands with the blood of our own people.”

“They are not our people. If you leave, no one will help you.”

“I will help myself.”

For the first few months after his desertion, true to his father’s words, no one had helped. He had chased after his father’s pack, always a step behind, always a day or two behind the rogues.

It angered him. The sight of lifeless bodies bathed in blood made him angry and sick. Donghyun had almost given up hope. What could he do? A lone wolf out in a war between rogues and generals?

And then he found Minwoo.

A child of no more than twelve, buried underneath the bloodied corpses whimpered, reached out for Donghyun. How or why he had survived, they would never know; his eyes were wide with fright but very much alive. They had given Donghyun the strength that he had needed.

Minwoo had not spoken for the first few weeks. He’d trailed after Donghyun or rode on his back, silent. Donghyun could not begin to imagine what little Minwoo was going through. A tirade of sensations assaulting him, a new hunger for meat, and the inexplicable desire to run off into the woods and never return.

Donghyun had no idea how to help, so he had gone in search of the last Turned, the one that had been allowed by the Summit.

He’d found Hyunseong in the Fourth House of Vyr under the careful and kind tutelage of Clan Shim. Hyunseong had sensed them long before they approached, his nose upturned, sensing the young blood coursing through Minwoo’s veins.

Hyunseong was still young, perhaps a few decades old. He followed them into the forest, cautious and curious. His senses were alert against Minwoo, submissive before Donghyun. “Who is he?”

“An innocent, like you.” Donghyun offered his hand. “Come with me. I need you.”

And because Donghyun was born an Alpha, because Hyunseong had at one point been just like Minwoo, he followed him.

Hyunseong, though young, had proven to