Warning: Violence

Yunho slumped on his bed, flat on his back. His mind was still reeling from all the new information. You knew from day one? How you must have suffered… But you're wrong about one thing… You do sparkle, and more than that. You have been golden for half a century… I wanted to tell you, but you made it crystal clear that you wanted nothing to do with me…

"Argh, why didn't I know it sooner? Why did Minjoon hyung have to do all that crap? Why didn't I know? Why didn't I ask? I'm sorry, Jaejoong-ah. It seems all I've ever done is hurt you, simply by being a blockhead."

YUNHO'S FLASHBACK

50 years ago

On 22 June, 1965, politicians from both nations were scheduled to meet and sign a treaty to re-establish relationships between Korea and Japan. Two weeks prior, another meeting was held, between the King districts of both nations' werewolf communities. Clans from Seoul and Tokyo gathered in Jeju to discuss future terms.

Yunho expected one of two outcomes. Either the Grand Council was going to be a long, boring discussion of conditions to be met, really only interesting to the King Alphas, or it was going to be a violent, bloody pissing contest to establish which Alpha was the strongest. Either way, Yunho was less than excited. Only duty prevented him from being absent.

Moon Clan's Alpha got increasingly nervous as the meeting approached. Not because of the council in itself, but because it would be the first time he and Jaejoong were in the same area in twenty-five years. Yunho had tried to contact the other a few times, but no reply had come. He had never got the chance to apologise for the incident in the restaurant. He wasn't sure why talk of Minjoon upset the other so much, but he didn't want to be the cause of the other's pain any longer.

"Heads up, Star Clan's coming", Changmin spoke, voice muffled by a tonne of meat.

Yunho had to do a double take. It was indeed Star Clan, lead by the Golden Light itself.

"I'll be damned", Yunho said under his breath, unable to take his eyes off Jaejoong. The latter looked as if all the stars in the sky had come down to adorn him.

In Yunho's eyes. To everyone else, nothing was different about Star Clan's leader.

"What?" Changmin's eyes went between Yunho and Jaejoong, as if he was watching a tennis match.

"Do you notice anything different about Jaejoong?"

"Nope. Do you?"

"Crap. This is bad. This is really bad." Yunho had half a mind to freak out.

"What?"

"I know who my destined mate is."

"Jae-mmphf?!" Yunho quickly covered Changmin's mouth before the younger could draw the attention of well over four hundred people.

"Holy , hyung. You finally find your mate after five hundred years, and it's your childhood friend who now hates your guts. Sooo happy I'm not you right now". Changmin couldn't help but bark out a laugh when the schadenfreude became to great.

"If you don't shut up now, you'll wish you weren't you in a minute", Yunho muttered sorely.

Yunho had stood outside Jaejoong's hotel room for almost half an hour, trying to muster up the courage to speak to Jaejoong. Needless to say, Changmin had more or less dragged him to the door.

The Alpha took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He let out a small breath of relief when Junsu opened the door, giving him a few more seconds to collect himself.

"Is Jaejoong here?" Yunho asked. Junsu, not allowed to freely address another clan's Alpha, nodded quickly.

"I wish to speak to him."

Junsu turned to look inside the room for a moment, communicating mentally with his Alpha.

"Hyung tells me to inform you that Moon Clan's Alpha has no business here unless he comes by the King's decree."

"Please, I just need to speak to him for a minute. No, thirty seconds will be enough."

A mental comment from Jaejoong made Junsu wince from the harshness.

"Hyung tells me to ask you if thirty seconds is all he is worth."

"No! No, of course not, I just thought… That Jaejoong didn't want to see me."

"Then you thought correctly. Leave." Jaejoong's stern, cold voice surprised them all. "Junsu, close the door." The command left no room for questioning, and Junsu did as told with an apologetic look in his eyes, leaving Yunho standing in the empty corridor.

Through the paper thin walls, Yunho could hear muffled conversation from the room to which he'd been denied entry.

Why does he have to come now? I've worked so hard to lock everything away, so why can't he just ignore me so I can move on? It worked fine for five hundred years, why now? Jaejoong's voice sounded as if he was crying, or fighting back tears.

You know you can't freeze him out forever, hyung. You'll need him soon, and you know that.

It's not supposed to hurt this much. Ugh, this !

I know, hyung. The universe can be cruel sometimes… Hyung, can I give you some advice?

What?

Try to separate Minjoon from the rest of the Moon Clan. Yunho-sshi had nothing to do with it, and you know it. Don't blame him for his uncle's crimes.

Confused and not a little hurt, Yunho bit his bottom lip. He didn't even know how to start making sense of the things he had heard. What exactly was the story between Minjoon and Jaejoong? Why would Jaejoong need Yunho? The other Alpha was the strongest, most independent person Yunho had ever known.

END OF YUNHO'S FLASHBACK

Ten days passed without a single sound from Rogue Pack. On Jungsoo's orders, Jaejoong had agreed to cooperate with Yunho. Not forgive, cooperate, as he reminded the younger at least once every hour. It was the only way they could truly train the packs for the imminent battle.

On the first night of the rising July moon, the one whose fullest night would mark the end of the mating season, Rogue Pack moved out to complete their mission and take over the King Clan title.

Their first target was the Western Mansion. The younger clans, Winter and Summer. Junho's panicked mental message to his twin brother sent the Eastern Mansion into a frenzy, gearing up to go help their kinsmen.

When the two Master Clans arrived at the Western Mansion half an hour later, King Clan was already there, and the battle was in full process.

U-Know and Hero quickly gave orders to their pack members, sending them off in every direction.

"Leave Jun.K to me! I will end him myself", Hero ordered.

Baekhyun turned out to be the toughest one to fight, since he bit and clawed like a maniac. He took insane joy in the blood and pained yelps coming from the other wolves.

A strong jaw across the neck and sharp claws along his side from Max finally stopped him. Chanyeol hurried to his mate's side, pulling his away from the battle to tend to his wounds.

Yoochun! I can't focus long enough to give Hero full power! You have to trigger him!

What?! No! It hasn't even been a month since he broke out last time! It'll kill you both!

I'll be fine! It's the only way we can win this thing! Do it!

You sure you can handle it?

Yes! Come on!

Alright… Enemy number one, nine o'clock.

Hero turned to look in the said direction and saw Jun.K, the hated one, approaching with an evil grin on his face. Hero's vision went red, then white, then black. With a roar promising death and torture, he broke the last shackles that held him back, and his human side was forgotten. There was only one thought in his mind right now, and it was Kill.

This last boundary was one that needed to be controlled beyond anything else. The strain on the body was immense. Once the beast was out, it had to go through the motions, rage and destroy until he was tired enough to give his human side the chance to respond to the love around him.

Right now, no one was there to stop Hero.

It all happened so fast. Jun.K had no chance against the monster of pure rage in front of him, and was soon on his back.

"You wanted me to bite you?" Hero growled. "As you wish. Enjoy this, because I will."

Hero sank his teeth into the soft, unprotected underbelly. He tore away a chunk of flesh, exposing Jun.K's muscle tissue. The horrible, pained howls from the older wolf stopped all other activity, as everyone instinctively turned to watch. This wasn't just Hero against Jun.K, or even victim against assailant. This was the Chosen against the Pretender. The Master Alpha had been challenged. Now he was burning the hierarchy into their collective genetic memory, once and for all.

The message was clear. Alpha is Alpha. Challengers will be punished.

The sudden silence pressed against the eardrums as Hero crushed Jun.K's windpipe with his strong jaws and sharp teeth.

Anyone whose last shackles were still in place would have been satisfied with that, but Hero seemed determined to keep going until the dead wolf was reduced to nothing but shreds.

"We have to stop him. He's going to kill them both", Yoochun muttered, nodding to Star Clan to move in and repeat the procedure they had done but three weeks earlier.

With their collective strength, they pushed Hero away from his mauled enemy. As they surrounded him and projected nothing but love and kindness through the mental bond, they hoped that Jaejoong would hear them.

After half an hour of futile struggling, the white wolf was still in overdrive. By now, he was wheezing and drooling. If Jaejoong didn't take control soon, Star Clan's Alpha would expire from pure strain and exhaustion.

"Someone has to do something", Heechul said. He and Jaejoong were always bickering about something, but at the end of the day, the two brothers loved each other very much.

"Yunho!" Youngwoon called to the other Alpha. "This is where you come in."

"Me?"

"You're his yin. He is your yang. You work it out." I know that you were listening that day. I know that you feel the same. You have to step up now, or your destined mate will die. If he dies, so will you. Save him!

Yunho looked at Hero, and the world around him slowly faded out. Youngwoon was right, the time had come to step up. No more chickening out from the truth, no more 'but', and 'what if'. Yunho and Jaejoong were destined mates, whether Jaejoong liked it or not. If Jaejoong can't bury the hatchet, Yunho will have to throw the hatchet away.

"Jaejoong-ah", he started quietly. Hero twitched his head in Yunho's direction, but that was it.

"More", Youngwoon mouthed.

"Yah! Kim Jaejoong! Come back out! Now!"

Hero stopped struggling, and started whining instead. If he had been in his human form, he would have been crying. Yunho finally called for him to come back, instead of just watching him leave.

Yunho's next words were ones Jaejoong had almost given up hope of ever hearing.

"I've always loved you. Since day one, when father placed me in your crib. I didn't realise it until that time in Jeju, but I know now that you're the one. That's what I wanted to tell you that time. I heard you say that you knew since we first met, and that you thought you didn't even sparkle to me. But you do! You shine like a ing star whenever I look at you! Gold, jewels, the sun itself can't compete with you, so just… Please end this. You've had your revenge. It's enough. Come back into the light, Jaejoong-ah."

"Is it the truth?" Jaejoong asked, weak from exhaustion where he lay in Junsu's arms, Minjoon's blood tainting his face and chest.

"Every word."

Jaejoong managed to smile before he passed out. It was the first time Yunho had seen his friend smile since they parted after their last game night five hundred years ago, and it was beautiful.

"Come on, let's get him inside", Jungsoo said, and Yunho picked him up and carried him to the living room, where all the wounded were being treated, regardless of which side they had fought for.

A/N

End of Arc 1

It's going to be a little more domestic/romantic from now on, which I hope you're gonna like as well ^_^

I want your input: I'm planning on sending the Rogue Omegas (Zelo and Jungkook) to other packs. Which clans? Do I keep them together? Let me know what you think in the comments

Clarification: The mating season lasts from full moon to full moon. As this arc ends, there is still little over 2 weeks left.

Until next chap: Keep calm and ship Yunjae