The forest was absolutely gorgeous. Minho saw every color in the rainbow and then some. If he looked up, he could see a collage of pink, red, orange, and yellow tree tops. It was like a canopy of splattered paint. Down below, there were lavender bushes, teal grass, emerald green streams, and dark blue flowers with pure white butterflies fluttering around them. The sunlight filtered through openings in the trees, beams of light illuminating patches of grass and making the forest look whimsical. Minho almost expected a princess to pop out of the foliage singing with those tiny carnivorous birds. It was serene; tranquil. There was just… one thing ruing it all. 

“Where are we going?” Kibum whined, draping himself over Minho’s back and making it hard to walk. “We’ve been wandering all day. Are we almost there?” 

This had been the past two hours of Minho’s life. As it turned out, Kibum’s least favorite activity was exercise and he was very vocal about it. 

“Kibum,” Minho sighed, feeling the beginnings of a headache throb behind his temples. “I don’t know where we’re going, I just know that I’d like to leave these woods entirely. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but it’ll feel ten times longer if you the entire way.”

“But I’m tired!” 

“Well, it up! Do you want to be caught?!”

“Brother,” Jonghyun gently removed Kibum from Minho’s back, trying to placate his younger sibling with pats to back. “Minho is tired. Just do as he says. You don’t want to go back, do you?”

“No, but—!” 

“Then hush, child.” 

Kibum’s mouth screwed shut and Minho felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. He loved his mate, he really did, but Kibum was a handful, and right now Minho just needed him to shut the up and cooperate for once. 

“…Minho?” 

Minho pinched the bridge of his nose and counted to ten slowly. He didn’t want to yell, but he was drained of energy and just one more annoying question short of losing his goddamn mind. 

Kibum wiggled away from Jonghyun and grabbed onto Minho’s arm. 

“Minho,” Kibum repeated, this time almost too quiet to hear. “I’m hungry. And I landed on my hip in a weird way when I fell earlier. It hurts. Can’t we take a break for just a little bit?” 

Minho stopped dead in his tracks, Kibum almost falling over from the sudden jerk. . He forgot about food. He still felt queasy from running for his life, and he was sure he’d upchuck whatever he tried to put in his system, but that didn’t mean Kibum was the same. Jonghyun was also very much pregnant and he needed to make sure he was eating properly. And now Kibum was hurt on top of that. Dammit. 

“Hell… I’m sorry,” Minho groaned, wrapping the omega up in his arms and holding him delicately. “I’ll find something to eat, but show me where it hurts first.” 

Kibum was wearing the same simple tunic that they all were. He hiked it up above his pelvic bone, fully exposing himself to Minho, but the alpha pointedly stared at Kibum’s hip so he didn’t blush. It was purpling, and few spots such a dark blue they were almost black. 

“That looks gross,” Jinki chimed in over Minho’s shoulders, dancing away from Kibum’s claws when they flew through the air with a cackle. 

“Don’t laugh, fix it!”   

“It’s a bad bruise, what do you want me to do? it?” Jinki mocked.

“Jinki,” Minho said in a hard tone, his eye twitching violently. “I’m running on next to no sleep and I’m aggravated. If you start a fight, I’ll kick your . Is there anything we can do to ease the pain?” 

“Bite me, pretty boy.” 

“Jinki, I ing swear to God…” 

Jinki was smiling. He thought it was funny. Minho wondered how funny he’d think it was when his brain was knocked loose in his head. 

“Give it half an hour of rest,” Jinki said airily, plopping down by a tree and grinning at Minho like he wasn’t fully aware that he was about to be choked to death. “It won’t heal if we keep walking.”  

“Fine,” Minho growled. “You all stay here. I’ll find food.”

Thirty minutes later saw a much better looking bruise and three wolves munching delightedly on an odd looking blue-grey deer with spiraling horns and three tails. Kibum called it a tri-tail. Minho was too busy gagging at their bloody feast to care. Jinki was also staring incredulously at the vile scene, so at least he wasn’t alone in his disgust.  

“I’m sleepy,” Kibum declared, wiping crimson liquid from his chin with the back of his hand and promptly curling up on the ground.

“Kibum,” Taemin chuckled, poking at Kibum’s side. He looked a whole lot better than just the other day. He had the color in his cheeks back and his face was no longer riddled with pain. “We have to keep going, you can’t sleep now.” 

“Too late. Sleep is already upon me.” 

Minho could cry. They had to keep pushing on but he knew he wasn’t getting Kibum up now. That left but one solution.    

“You’re a pain in the ,” Minho chastised as he hoisted Kibum into his arms. Kibum let out a content rumble and buried his face in Minho’s neck. Minho couldn’t help the softening of his eyes and allowed his cheek to rest against the top of Kibum’s head. The omega was a pain, but he was still cute. 

“You’re a debilitatingly weak man,” Taemin deadpanned. 

“Kiss my , Tae. You’d carry Jjong too if he asked.” 

Taemin shrugged. Maybe Minho was right, but he wasn’t going to take back what he said. 

Everyone was quiet for the next ten minutes. Taemin fussed over Jonghyun and their unborn pup silently and Jinki was lost somewhere so far in his own mind Minho wondered if he’d ever come back. It was a miracle Jinki had managed to walk so far without actually seeing what was in front of him. 

“Minho,” Kibum mumbled into the alpha’s clavicle, breaking the silence.

“Hmm?”

“Are we going to be walking around forever?” 

“Of course not,” Minho snorted. “We’ll find somewhere to stay.”

“But when?” Kibum pouted, like he was still walking and not using his mate as a mule. 

“I don’t know,” Minho pecked Kibum’s forehead in hopes to soothe him. “Wherever we’re going… it’s going to take a long time to get there.”

~~~

“The puppy is kicking again,” Jonghyun frowned, holding a hand under the swell of his abdomen. It had been three months since they started their journey and Jonghyun was five months along in his pregnancy. He wasn’t very large yet, but he could no longer hide the distention in his midsection. He also suffered from chronic fatigue and they could no longer travel as far as they were able to even just two weeks before. 

“He is saying hello,” Taemin beamed, grasping Jonghyun’s stomach with both of his hands and rubbing circles into the skin. “Treat daddy nicely, little one. He’s fragile.” 

“Daddy won’t break, thank you very much,” Jonghyun glared at his mate. “But he is cold. Can we stop here for the night and make a fire?”

Minho wasn’t so antsy anymore. They’d gone so long without hide nor hair of the pack, and it made dealing with Jonghyun’s needs a lot less nerve wracking. They still had yet to find a way out of the rainbow woods—the trees seemed to go on for an eternity—but, so long as they remained safe, the need to make it to new lands wasn’t dire. Besides, they’d have to find a cave to temporarily inhabit in the imminent future anyway. 

Regardless of what Jonghyun said, Jinki had informed Minho that Jonghyun’s body was in fact frail and always had been. He wouldn’t be able to sustain the constant walking for much longer. To add to their plight, the bitter cold was coming in quick and Minho could smell the first snow of the season on the wind. He had a feeling that once they found a suitable den for Jonghyun to give birth in they wouldn’t be on their way until the warm airs returned. He could only hope that the pack had given up on tailing them. 

“I felt him!” 

Taemin’s sudden shouts of excitement scared Minho out of his pensive thoughts, nearly giving him a heart attack.

“I can feel the puppy moving!”

Taemin was practically shaking with glee, wiggling a little like his tail was out.   

“You did not, it’s too early,” Jinki rolled his eyes. “You imagined it.”

“Don’t act like I’m the crazy one, you psychopath,” Taemin glared. “Minho, feel it and tell him he’s wrong.” 

Minho’s arm was promptly yanked forcefully enough to cause pain. Taemin pressed Minho’s palm onto the right side of Jonghyun’s stomach, holding him down like he thought the bigger alpha would run away if he didn’t. 

“Hey, don’t hurt my alpha. I still need him,” Kibum piped up. He’d been kind of out of it all day, staring off into space, so Minho was rather surprised he was paying any attention at all. 

“Do you feel it?” Taemin ignored Kibum. “It feels like a tiny whoosh under your hand.”

“No, I don’t feel—what the was that?!” 

Minho yanked his hand away, cradling it to his chest as if burned. That was the weirdest sensation he had ever felt. It was like a phantom pressure, barely there but still noticeable. There was no denying that something inside of Jonghyun was trying to make its presence known. 

Kibum was by his brother’s side in a flash. He placed gentle hands over Jonghyun’s stomach, positively mesmerized by soft brushes of a tiny creature moving beneath his hold. 

“You can truly feel it?” Jinki cocked a brow. “That’s funny. Normally someone going through their first pregnancy can’t feel the parasite move from the outside until a bit later.” 

“Don’t call my baby a parasite,” Taemin threw a rock from the ground at Jinki’s head. He missed. 

“I’m sorry if this is new information to you, but that is essentially what a baby is.”   

Taemin waved Jinki off, opting to push his face into Jonghyun’s tummy and whisper to the child inside rather than humor the loony beta. Kibum tapped his fingers against the small bulge in Jonghyun’s gut before hopping to his feet. 

“I’m going to go look for wood.” 

Then he was gone. Minho could hear the brisk steps of Kibum marching away and knew immediately that the omega was upset. Over what, Minho couldn’t fathom. Surely it wasn’t Jonghyun’s unborn pup that had Kibum’s mood souring so quickly? Whatever it was, Minho knew he should probably go see what had Kibum so bent out of shape. 

Kibum hadn’t gone far. He’d made it maybe five hundred feet before huddling underneath of a tree to glower into his knees. Minho was half way tempted to just go back—to avoid whatever argument he knew was coming—but Kibum’s attitude would only get worse if he stewed in his own thoughts by himself.

“Jagiya,” Minho said in the sweetest voice possible, hoping to smooth some of Kibum’s ruffled feathers. “Why are you mad?” 

Minho took a seat next to Kibum. The omega didn’t respond for a few long moments, but did eventually direct his piercing cat eyes towards the worried alpha. 

“You know, Jonghyun and Taemin mated right after we escaped. That very night, in fact!”

Oh. Minho should have known that Kibum’s fowl temper was the result of Minho’s hesitancy to officially mate him. That had, after all, been the purpose of everything. 

“Kibum, we can’t right now.” 

“And why not? So long as I’m not mated another alpha can swoop in and force a bond,” Kibum spat. 

“I would never allow that.” 

“You can just tell me you don’t want to mate if that’s how you truly feel. I most certainly can’t force an alpha to do what he doesn’t want to.”

Kibum turned his back on Minho after that scathing statement, face back in his knees and shoulders quivering in his rage. Minho reached to rub his hand into Kibum’s back, but the omega ripped away from his touch with a threatening snarl. 

Minho wasn’t doing this to hurt his omega. Far from it—Kibum’s wellbeing was what drove Minho in every decision he made. Even abstaining from claiming him. 

“Love,” Minho uttered gently, “Listen to me. Having one pregnant omega is hard enough. Prey is scarce in the winter. How could we possibly hope to support a bunch of children under these conditions? How am I supposed to keep you healthy enough to carry a pup when we’ll barely be able to feed ourselves?”   

Kibum’s shoulders sank as Minho spoke, still upset but unable to refute the alpha’s logic. 

“We’d survive,” Kibum’s words were hoarse, becoming less antagonistic and more aggrieved. “I feel vulnerable like this. I don’t want to be stolen away.”

Minho pulled Kibum back into his chest, the omega allowing the contact this time around. He held Kibum firmly to comfort him and assure the man that he was there to protect him. 

“No one will ever take you from me,” Minho professed strongly. “I would see myself dead before that happened.” 

Kibum twisted to push his face into Minho’s chest, the biting cold on his cheeks finally getting to him. 

“Will we ever mate?” Kibum muffled into the fabric of Minho’s tunic. 

“Of course.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. As soon as I know we’re safe,” Minho nuzzled into Kibum’s shoulder and gave his skin a few affectionate kisses. “Not a second, later. I promise.”

~~~

They found their temporary home in the midst of a blizzard. Minho knew snow was on the way, but he had thought the new season would ease in as opposed to the onslaught of frozen water he was met with instead. It wasn’t normally this bad in the beginning of the cold months.

They were all shifted and trudging through the snow in a penguin huddle with Jonghyun secured in the middle. Minho thought they would get buried alive beneath the layers of powder before they found shelter, but Jinki suddenly broke ranks and bolted off with excited barks. Minho could hardly follow after, Jinki’s tracks quickly being covered with fresh snow and the bastard’s white fur acting as a treacherous camouflage, but the beta was being so loud that Minho managed to follow the sound of the yips. 

They were all immensely relieved to stumble into the cave. It was deep enough that they were able to avoid the snow collecting at the entrance and, while still freezing cold, the walls protected from the blistering wind.  Minho knew this was going to be as far as they got for a while. Who knew when they’d find another cave and they couldn’t risk Jonghyun’s pup being born in the snow. With that realization, the makeshift pack found themselves in the cave for the next few months, Jonghyun’s belly becoming fully swollen and on the cusp of bursting.  

“Taemin, it’s your turn to carry the baby,” Jonghyun groaned. He was lying by the fire on their newest furs—two tri-tail coats that Kibum had cleaned and fastened together to make a large sleeping mat. His discomfort was palpable and Taemin was doing his best to ease his mate’s pain with a soft massage into the omega’s lumbar.

“It’s almost over, my little bird, Taemin crooned, leaning over and rubbing his cheek into Jonghyun’s. “Just a bit more and then we’ll have our miracle pup.”

They’d been calling their child that for a while now: miracle pup. Because this pup was the embodiment of everything they had been afraid to lose since their affections first surfaced in the first tender years of their adolescence. Jonghyun was not appeased by Taemin’s words, though. In fact, his whines only got louder. 

“But can’t you have the pup?”

“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way, dear.” 

“You two,” Jinki chimed in with a disgusted look on his face, “are grossly domestic. I could hurl.” 

“Shut your beak before I rip it off,” Jonghyun dug his claws into the furs and bared his teeth at the beta.

That startled a laugh out of Minho. Jonghyun was the sweetest of the group. He fretted over them all and was patient with even Jinki’s vexatious personality. He didn’t yell and certainly never threatened. Unless he was nearing the end of the third trimester of his pregnancy it turns out.

“I will be worse,” Kibum mumbled into Minho’s ear, snuggling into his side and stealing his warmth. “You’ll have to tend to me like that as soon as I find out.”

“Yeah, I already knew that,” Minho deadpanned. “You’re a torment now, why wouldn’t you use any excuse you could to give me an aneurism?”

Kibum bit into Minho’s bicep in retaliation. His teeth dug in deep enough to draw blood and Minho winced. It wasn’t the worst pain, but it still felt like being impaled by long thorns. 

“How come sometimes it hurts and other times it doesn’t?”

“What do you mean?” Kibum dragged his tongue languidly over the bite, eyes hooded and staring up at Minho through their lashes. He was trying to seduce. Minho bopped Kibum’s nose, ignoring the indignant squawk that followed.

“When you bit me on the shoulder it… felt really good. Like my whole body was tingling,” Minho tried to explain. “But it hurt when you did it just now. What’s up with that?”

“You don’t know?” Kibum scoffed. “A child could tell you why.” 

“Wandered the woods alone for several years, remember?”

“Right,” Kibum chuckled, moving further up Minho’s arm and scraping his teeth between the junction of Minho’s neck and shoulder. It made the alpha feel like goo. 

“The shoulder is where a claiming mark is left. When two wolves take the plunge into mate-hood and bite each other, the scar remains forever to signify their bond. It feels good because we wouldn’t want to do it if it was agonizing. That’s what we think, at least.” 

“So does a bite meant to kill feel good to?”

“Of course not. That has ill intent behind it, and your body knows that.” 

“That’s… something,” Minho couldn’t think of much to say. Sounded like science he’d never be able to wrap his brain around. Kind of like how he still didn’t understand how male omegas could get pregnant. 

“You know,” Kibum purred into Minho’s ear, curling his arms around Minho’s neck. “I could bite your shoulder again if you’d like. Maybe you could even return the favor this time.”

Kibum had been pushing harder for Minho to mate him as of late. They’d been in the den for a few months now without incident. “I think it’s safe enough, jah-ki-ya,” Kibum had glowered at Minho the other day. It could have very well been true, but it didn’t change the fact that the only one who wasn’t a little malnourished was Jonghyun, who got the largest portions of all the food they managed to catch. Kibum couldn’t risk getting pregnant right now. 

Minho braced to defend himself again—he really wasn’t delaying without cause—when Jinki griped, “I’m sick of all the fraternizing! It’s making me sick. Minho, go find more wood for the next fire. I don’t fancy freezing my off because the flames died.” 

“Yeah, fine,” Minho stood up immediately. He’d rather face the inclement weather than the wrath of Kibum. 

There was no snow falling today, thankfully, but the ground was covered in a clean white blanket. All the wood near their nest save for trees securely locked into the ground had already been scavenged, so Minho knew without even looking that he’d have to go further out. It wasn’t a fun task, but Kibum ought to be over his fit by the time Minho finished. Hopefully. 

Minho grunted as his body began to contort, wincing when bones snapped and elongated. The shift was easier now, but still uncomfortable. Minho had been assured that there would come a day when it would be painless. Maybe that day would come, but right now Minho felt lied to. 

Shaking off the pain like drops of water, Minho fell to all fours and took off into the forest of skeletal trees. He remembered seeing a thick branch that had broken off a tree in a particularly bad snow storm by a river just north. If he could haul it back he bet it would last them through tomorrow night.

With that in mind, Minho picked up the pace. His hide was tough, but it was still cold as all Hell and Kibum always got chilly enough to forgive Minho quick so they could cuddle.

Minho knew the general location of the branch, but it had since been covered up in snow. He huffed in agitation as he nosed around trees, hoping he didn’t trip over the damn thing and land snout first in the snow. That’s what he was doing when he heard it—a small, high pitched whine. 

Stopping dead in his tracks, Minho’s ears perked and swiveled in search of the noise. He was convinced he’d imagined it when after a solid minute the only noise to be heard was the rushing waters of the fast moving river, but then it sounded again, more desperate this time, and Minho left the branch forgotten to search for it. 

Minho padded over to the bank slowly, listening carefully for more sounds. He had to strain his ears to pick it up, but a snuffle finally led Minho to the source of the noise. There, sopping wet and half buried in the snow, was a pup.     

 Minho stared wide eyed at the small boy on ground, soaked and curled in on himself. How did the pup get here? Where were his parents? 

Cautiously, so to not frighten the poor boy, Minho shifted back into a man and crept over to the little wet ball, and rested a gentle hand on his tiny shoulder. 

“Hey, you okay there, little guy?”  

The boy’s lashes fluttered against his cheekbones, blinking through the sunlight to see Minho looming over him. 

“What are you doing here? Do you know where your parents are?” 

The pup just stared, eyes the size of saucers and quivering uncontrollably. Minho barely had time to brace himself before a loud wail erupted from the boy’s small body. He reached up, sobbing and grasping at the air in an attempt to get Minho to hold him. 

“Oh, I… Please don’t cry,” Minho stammered awkwardly, lifting the child out of the snow into his arms and cradling him into his chest. “Jesus, your cold.” 

On top of the boy being sopping wet, the air was cool and brisk. None of this could be good for the kid’s health. Holding him tighter, Minho rubbed his back to warm him up. The kid clung tightly to his neck, burying his icy nose into Minho’s jaw bone and sniffling softly. 

“Where’s your pack?” Minho tried asking, but the boy just dug his little claws into Minho’s skin and preceded to fall asleep. 

“Damn it,” Minho sighed. 

Taking the pup with him wasn’t really in his best interest. Having another mouth to feed wasn’t ideal, and if the boy’s pack showed up they may misunderstand how Minho ended up with their child and try to kill him. But Minho also had a conscious and the pup had started chewing cutely on Minho’s shoulder, tugging at Minho’s soft heart. 

“Aish, I bet you get me in trouble before the end of the day,” Minho admonished the snoozing pup as he made his way back to his rag tag pack, abandoning his mission to collect more fire wood. 

“What the is that?”

Or he’d get in trouble before he even made it into fully into the mouth of the cave. Kibum had perfected the use of the word over the months travelling. It was his new favorite expletive. 

“Yah, don’t say bad words where little ears can hear them,” Minho scolded, earning a withering look from Kibum.

“Don’t change the subject. Where did he come from?” 

“The river?”

“Pups don’t come from rivers.”

“Well, this one did. And he’s freezing, so would you quit blocking the way to the fire?”

Kibum looked no less frazzled to have a surprise guest, but he stepped to the side and let Minho come anyway. The pup was starting to sneeze and Minho really needed to get the boy’s wet tunic off of him. 

Taemin and Jonghyun appeared confused when the pup fell into their line of sight, like they were just seeing things and the child would evaporate into the air if they blinked a couple of times. Jinki, however, was not happy at all to see the little creature wrapped snuggly in Minho’s arms. 

“I sent you out for more fire wood!” Jinki screeched, pointing at the child like he was a bomb two seconds from detonating. “Not to steal someone’s pup! What do you think you’re doing bringing that here?”

“I didn’t steal him!” Minho defended, plopping next to the flames and peeling the soaked tunic off of the pup’s back. “I found him by the river.” 

“Where you should have left him!”

“He would have died, you insufferable !”

“And what of us? We do not know where he came from; his pack could very well assume that you took the little cretin.”

“So you’d leave him there? Somewhere in your twisted little mind must be the capacity for sympathy.”

“This isn’t about sympathy, it’s about practicality. You have endangered us.”

“Jinki!” Minho snapped forcefully, enough aggression behind the name to have the beta shrinking in on himself a bit. “I’m not arguing about this. I refuse to let him die.” 

Jinki’s left eye was ticking in irritation but he said nothing else. It wasn’t like Minho didn’t understand the fear. People were crazy in this world. It was completely possible, probable even, that the boy’s pack would kill them all before allowing them to explain. They could also be entirely reasonable though. Or perhaps the child had been abandoned and there was no one coming for him. Minho wouldn’t have been able to live with himself knowing he left a defenseless kid to the elements.

A whine came from his lap and Minho looked down to see a stoic pair of icy grey irises staring unassuming into his own. The pup looked bothered, lips set in a petulant line and brows pulled low. He wiggled a bit in Minho’s lap, but every movement was lethargic and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. 

A hand was suddenly passing in front of Minho’s face and the alpha was surprised to find Jinki resting his palm against the child’s forehead. The beta looked thoughtful as he assessed the little boy, using the other hand to feel at the pulse point right under the kid’s jawbone. 

“Slow pulse,” Jinki mumbled, brows pulling tight. “Shivers, drowsiness…”

“Is he going to be okay?” Minho bit his lip nervously. 

“He was in the cold too long,” Jinki pursed his lips, looking at the fire in contemplation. “His body is losing heat. We call it snow fever and most pups don’t survive it.”

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Minho cradled the child close to his chest, fretting over every sniffle and weak cough. 

Jinki shrugged, shuffling back over to his corner of the cave. “Keep him warm and hope for the best. Whether or not he lives is up to him.”

“You don’t have any herb that can help?”

“Minho,” Jinki gave him a rather scathing look. “I wouldn’t withhold such a thing just because I don’t agree with your decision to bring him here. The only cure is his own strength.” 

Fighting about it wouldn’t help. Jinki wasn’t a wizard; if he said there was nothing he could do then Minho couldn’t expect him to magically produce a treatment. Still, Minho didn’t like doing nothing. This kid had barely had a life. He shouldn’t have to die so young. 

“Give him to me,” Jonghyun reached out for the pup. “I smell of omega and milk. If he is to die, then he should do it in comfort.”       

Scooting over, Minho handed the pup off carefully. Jonghyun placed the child between himself and Taemin, curling over the boy so the pup could cuddle into his chest. Taemin pressed against the little guy’s back and took a deep inhale in the column of his neck. 

“Oh my,” Taemin chuckled, wrapping his arm around the pup and his mate to pull them both closer. “Minho, I must say, you have a penchant for saving omegas. If this one lives, and there is no family to return him to, he will cause us much trouble.” 

“Oh, great,” Jinki muttered in the corner, sorting his already meticulously stored herbs in frustration. “Just what we need. Another bleeding omega!” 

“Better than another demented beta,” Kibum sassed, pressing up into Minho’s side while trying to burn a hole into Jinki’s brain with his eyes. 

Jinki rolled his eyes but said no more. He would rather mess around with his medicinal plants than deal with Kibum. 

“Hey,” Minho had a sudden thought. “Couldn’t our pup be a beta? You know, when we have one?”

“Don’t say that!” Kibum screeched. “You’ll condemn our children to lunacy with those thoughts!” 

“I’m just saying, it’s possible.”

“No! Don’t ever speak of this again! The world may think you want it and curse us with one.”

“What if I do?”

“That’s it! I’m finding myself a new alpha!”  

~~~

“Sehun-ah, come back inside! If you get snow fever again I’ll have a .”

Honestly, Minho didn’t know how he was ever going to keep up with his future pups. Sehun wasn’t even his and the boy had nearly induced a heart attack in him four times. 

Sehun. That was the pup’s name. Miraculously, three days after finding him, his body temperature stabilized and he regained the strength required to run around and drive Minho mad. He couldn’t talk well—they’d managed to figure out after a while of questioning that Sehun was only two—but he had been able to tell them who he was. 

It had been ten days since then, a total of thirteen in their care, and no one had come looking for him. It was possible that his family just hadn’t found him yet, but Kibum had told Minho that it was more likely that Sehun had been abandoned or was thought to be dead. When Minho suggested that they tried to find the pup’s pack—if Sehun was presumed dead and that’s why no one had come for him then surely they would be grateful for his safe return—Kibum had advised against it.

“That may be the case, but we can’t venture into the territory of another pack even on the grounds that we are trying to return a lost pup. Walking upon owned land is an offense punishable by death. If someone is looking for him then it is better for us to wait to be found.” 

So, they didn’t go searching for Sehun’s family. They would have to remain in the den for a while after Jonghyun gave birth so the omega could recover. If Sehun was being sought out, then surely they would be found by his parents by then. If no one came… then Minho would have to teach Sehun the word “appa.” 

Giggling, Sehun waddled back through the snow to Minho. The alpha caught the boy around the middle when Sehun about fell to the ground and scooped the squealing baby up to place on his shoulders. 

“I look away for two seconds and you make a break for it,” Minho berated, but there was no heat behind the words. “I bet this is how you ended up by the river in the first place! You probably fell in and got swept away.”

“Minho big,” Sehun laughed, relishing in the height Minho gave him.

“You aren’t even listening.” 

“Of course he isn’t,” Kibum came up behind Minho, scoffing at the child who was now nuzzling affectionately into Minho’s hair. “Children listen to no one.” 

“At least they’re kind of cute,” Minho offered 

Kibum hummed in response, watching as Sehun tugged at Minho’s hair and the alpha gently pried his tiny hands away. Flipping Sehun over his shoulder, Minho blew raspberries into the pup’s belly in retaliation making the boy scream. 

“You know,” Kibum said airily, lifting a hand to scratch at Sehun’s belly. “I wasn’t sure how you’d do, but you’re shaping up to be a decent father. It’d be nice if we had one that was really ours, don’t you think?”

“Kibum,” Minho sighed. He wasn’t about to take the bait on this one again.    

“I know,” the omega huffed. “We can’t. That doesn’t mean I can’t want one.” 

“Well, here,” Minho dumped Sehun into Kibum’s arms. “You can have that one.”

Sehun grasped Kibum’s cheeks between his hands, making a lot of nonsensical noises before finally settling on, “Pretty!” 

“He is sweet.” Kibum relented, giving Sehun his finger to chew on. “But if I get too attached to him and his family comes, I’ll be devastated.” 

Taking a hold of Kibum’s chin, Minho turned his head and planted a loud kiss on his lips. 

“Don’t sound so depressed, love. You’ll get to have your own in due time. And I,” Minho ruffled Sehun’s hair, “have grown fond of this one and would like to see him reunited with his family regardless.”

“I guess…” 

Minho snorted at Kibum’s lack of enthusiasm and steered him back towards the cave by his elbow. 

“Come on, let’s go mess up Jinki’s herb piles. That always cheers you up. 

“Oo, yes!”

~~~

Taemin was pacing like a mad man, breathing all heavy and pulling at his hair. It was time. He was going to be father.

Jonghyun had gone into labor early that morning. Taemin had freaked out, agitating Jinki and getting them all kicked out whilst the beta delivered the pup. Taemin was not happy about it. 

“I should be in there with him.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have freaked out,” Minho shrugged, rumbling contentedly when Kibum start playing with his hair. Minho’s hair was starting to get long, and it felt good when Kibum messed around with it. Sehun reached up from Minho’s lap and gave a stray lock a harsh tug. That didn’t feel as good. 

“He’s my mate, why does that crazy beta get to tell me I can’t be with him?”

“Because you’d probably just stress them both out?”

“You aren’t helping!”

“Calm down, Tae,” Kibum snorted, twisting Minho’s hair around his fingers. “I’m sure the baby will come any minute now. It’s been a few hours since the contractions started.”

Kibum’s words did nothing to ease Taemin’s mind. The little alpha continued to walk in flustered circles, making Minho dizzy. 

“Seriously, man, sit down or something,” Minho tried to blink the wooziness from his brain. 

“Tae, sit!” Sehun commanded with the cutest serious face. He tried to hold the stern expression, but a second later Sehun was rolling around in Minho’s lap laughing. 

“Do not pit the pup against me as well! One day Kibum will be in the midst of giving you your first child and you’ll see—”

Taemin was interrupted by a small, shrill cry. He whined and tripped over himself into the cave. 

“Someone’s hereee.” Kibum sang, standing and pulling Minho up with him.

“Wanna see a baby, Sehun-ah?” Minho bounced the squealing pup as he followed Kibum into the den. 

“Puppy!”

The cave was less chaotic than Minho imagined it would be. There was a small pile of bloodied furs, and both Jinki and Jonghyun looked exhausted, but the walls were still up and Jinki hadn’t killed the baby. 

Taemin was on his knees next to Jonghyun, bending over his omega to get a good look at the tiny bundled creature crying into Jonghyun’s chest. 

“He’s so tiny,” Taemin said quietly, leaning down to nose around his son’s neck. 

“H-He’s takes after you,” Jonghyun chuckled weakly, clearly on the verge of falling asleep. “A small alpha.” 

“Yeah…”

Taemin was in a trance. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the little pup, who was just starting to calm down. Minho couldn’t remember a time where he had ever seen someone become enamored with something so quickly. 

“Puppy!” 

Sehun squirmed around until Minho set him down. He ran over to Jonghyun and nearly tripped over him, but Taemin snatched him by the fur tied around his midsection. 

“Slowly, Sehun.” 

Taemin set Sehun up right and the boy proceeded with considerably more caution than before. He sat down next to Jonghyun and placed a gentle hand on the baby’s head, down dark rusty hair that was already thick and fluffy. 

“Pretty,” Sehun said in awe, scooting closer resting his head right next the pup’s on Jonghyun’s chest. 

“Looks like Sehun’s picked his mate,” Kibum snickered. “Have you thought of name yet? You can’t call him miracle pup for the rest of his life.”  

“Jongin,” Taemin swiped his tongue against the baby’s cheek, calming the pup down enough that he stopped crying. “His name is Jongin.”

~~~

It happened when Jongin was just barely three days old. Minho and Kibum were playing with Sehun in the snow, and Jonghyun and Taemin were sitting in the mouth of the cave with Jongin bundled in fur between their bodies. Jinki was outside as well, digging up roots he claimed had medicinal purposes. The beta was the one who noticed first, standing up as straight as a pole and scenting the air. 

“…They’re here,” Jinki said dazedly, like he wasn’t quite sure. But then a twig a snapped and Jinki was certain. 

“They’ve found us!” Jinki shrieked, dropping the roots he had collected and bolting off into forest. “RUN!” 

Minho didn’t need to ask what Jinki meant. This had been the fear that never fully subsided; the nightmare that always sat in the back of his brain. After all these months the pack had finally caught up to them. 

Minho snatched Sehun from the forest floor and took off after Jinki, Kibum close behind. Taemin had the worst of it, having to drag Jonghyun behind him. The omega was still weak from the birth and in no condition to be running.

Minho chanced a glance over his shoulder and paled when he saw big, furry bodies flooding the forest behind them. Shifting would take precious seconds they didn’t have; the only advantages to be found was that they knew the forest much better and the trees were so dense that it was easier to maneuver in their smaller human skins.

Minho followed behind Jinki who was veering left and right sporadically, taking every sharp turn he could to try and throw their pursuers off. There wasn’t anywhere to hide, but the great lumbering forms of their beasts had trouble with the sudden turns and some crashed into the surrounding trees. 

They ran so far that they managed to pass into a new part of the woods, a place they had never been before. Pine trees and large boulders began to fill out the forest and create enough coverage for them to trick the pack with, which Jinki took full advantage of. Shaking the pack off seemed unlikely, but Jinki swerved around enough trees and rock figures to put some distance between the two parties. 

 Panting heavily, Minho followed Jinki around another curve that led down a passageway formed by two tall standing rock walls. The trench was long and the path very twisty. Minho had hope that once they made it to the other side that the path would have confused the pack enough to allow them to hide. However, his hopes were completely dashed when Jinki came to a screeching halt and Minho nearly collided with him. 

The walls curved in on each other, fusing together and creating a blockade with no direct way through. They were walled in. The rocky cliff was much too steep to scale and there was no time to double-back. They were trapped. 

“We’re dead,” Jinki wheezed and clawed at his hair. “Oh, we are so dead.”

Minho heard a hiccup and then Jongin started wailing. Of course he didn’t understand what was going on, but sudden jostling and getting smacked in the face with tree branches would have been upsetting to him anyway. 

“Please don’t cry, little one,” Jonghyun cradled Jongin to his chest, his own tears tracking down his cheeks. Taemin wrapped them up in his arms, pressing his face into Jonghyun’s shoulder and holding on tight. 

Minho watched them despair. They didn’t deserve this—to be hunted down like prey because society didn’t want them to be together. And Jongin, poor little Jongin, was just a baby. He had done nothing to merit being mauled by a bunch a blood thirsty mongrels. 

Minho looked down at Sehun, who was trembling in his arms. This sweet boy wasn’t even a part of this. He was born to none of them, yet he now had to face the consequences of what they had done. Minho was under no illusion that the pack would show Sehun kindness: either they’d kill him along with the rest of them or they’d take him as a consolation prize for the omegas they lost. It wasn’t fair. 

Jinki, by far, looked the worse. His crazed eyes had gone flat and the fire in their red depths had gone out. His shoulders slumped in defeat, not a hint of fight left, and the man leaned against the rock to support his shaking body. Minho had never seen such resignation from the spirited beta. 

“Minho,” Kibum sniffled, nosing into the alpha’s throat and trying his best to hold back the waterfall. “P-Please bite me. If you don’t they’ll take me back. I’d rather die.” 

Minho stared into Kibum’s violet eyes, into the watery orbs of the mate whom he loved so dearly, and couldn’t accept that this be his last moments. Minho would spend his last breath protecting Kibum, even if it was all for naught. 

Looking around desperately, Minho searched for any escape. There had to be one, right? He looked back to the top of the rock wall, impossible to climb, but maybe… 

That’s it. 

Pushing Sehun into Kibum’s arms, Minho rushed over to Jonghyun and Taemin, and pulled the omega from the alpha’s arms.

“What are you—?!” 

“Hold on to the baby as tight as you can.” 

 Minho went through the fastest shift he had ever experienced, adrenaline speeding the process up significantly. With all the strength he could muster, Minho hoisted Jonghyun up and launched the omega through the air. There was no grace in it, and Jonghyun hit the top of the rocks hard, but he made it. He was on top of the wall. Minho could get them out. 

Minho snagged Taemin next, spinning in a 360 degree circle and rocketing the alpha to the top of the precipice. Jinki tensed when Minho turned to him and tried to duck beneath Minho’s paws. 

“No, no, you are not throwing me—Hey!”

Jinki squirmed in Minho’s claws, but Minho managed to pitch him to the top of the crag as well. He could hear Jinki ing about his impromptu shot into space when he turned to Kibum. 

Kibum shook his head, holding tight to Sehun and stepping back from Minho. He knew—he knew that once Minho got him up there that they would have to leave the alpha behind. Minho couldn’t very well throw himself up there and there wasn’t any way to climb it. 

“No, I can’t just leave you here! They’ll kill you!”

Right on cue, the sounds of a rabid pack could be heard stampeding their way towards them. Snatching Kibum and Sehun up, Minho gave them both one last squeeze. He tried to pour everything he felt into that embrace before slinging the two through the air. 

Kibum’s body curled protectively around Sehun, taking the brunt of the impact against the stone. 

“Minho!”

Kibum scrambled to his feet and ran for the edge, like he might jump back down, but Jinki caught him around the waist and dragged him back. 

“Let me go, you dolt! I’m not leaving him!” 

Kibum fought against Jinki savagely; his claws drew ribbons of blood from Jinki’s arms and his teeth snapped violently at the beta’s neck. It looked painful, but Jinki was still stronger and held firm to Kibum. 

The thundering of padded feet was nearly upon them. They had to go now, and Minho voiced the sentiment with panicked barks. Go, he willed them to understand. Please, for the love of God, just run!

“Minho!” 

Sehun waddled to the cliff edge, reaching for the alpha and tearing up when he realized Minho was much too far away to grasp. The boy whined when Taemin scooped him up, arms outstretched and never taking his eyes off Minho. Taemin looked like he wanted to say something to Minho, but there was no time. With that fleeting glance he snagged Jonghyun by the arm with his unoccupied hand and fled as fast as the wind could carry him. Jinki was right on his heels, carrying a screaming Kibum over his shoulders and leaving Minho alone to face his end. 

In that next second a throng of rage-fueled wolves barreled around the bend with frothing mouths and rabid eyes. They surrounded Minho on all sides, clearly having no intentions of letting him go. The only solace Minho had was that he was a lot larger and a lot stronger than his hunters—he wouldn’t make it out of this, but he’d make damn sure he dragged a few of those bastards down with him. 

“Minho! How long it’s been since we last saw you.”

The Alpha emerged from the middle of the crown in his human form, a smile on his face but not at all looking pleasant.

“To think, we so graciously allowed you to live, to join our pack,” the Alpha growled, the murderous hoard of wolves behind him snarling and spitting in agreement. “And you repay us by stealing our omegas out from under us? The nerve.”

If Minho could talk he would have laughed and told the Alpha that the only one here who had nerve was the Alpha himself. The nerve to put Minho’s mate in harm’s way and then act like Minho had wronged him by taking Kibum away. 

“I don’t know where you’ve sent them,” the Alpha continued. “But don’t think for a second that you’ve saved them. Once we’re done with you we’ll find them and make sure they suffer tenfold. This, I swear to you.”  

With a flick of his wrist, the Alpha signaled his minions to attack. 

“Kill him. Oh, and, make his death slow if possible. I want to be able to feel his pain.” 

The pack stalked forward with bunched muscles and snapping teeth. Minho snarled back and braced for impact. The world came to a standstill as claws flashed and a howl tore the very sky.  

A/N: Mwahaha even though this chapter felt like word vommit.