16.

Chapter Sixteen

“Just a few more minutes until landing, please buckle all seat belts and put all tray tables and seats into upright position,” the air steward says, smiling kindly at all of the passengers.

Luhan shakily fumbles with his tray table, hands trembling like leaves. Next to him, Baekhyun sighs and puts it up for him, covering Luhan’s hands with his.

“Luhannie,” he begins quietly, “It’s going to be okay. You won’t even have to see Kai if you don’t want to. He will be busy with the Tribunal and we can just avoid him.”

“I don’t want to do that,” Luhan says, “Hiding, avoiding. If I see him, I’ll be cordial and blank. I’m with Sehun, and this little one,” he rubs his protruding stomach, “Will hopefully give me a break.”

Baekhyun bites his lip, averting his gaze to their hands, “Lu…”

Luhan hums, frowning at his cousin strange behavior.

“Are you sure you want to be with him, Sehun, I mean? I know you were heartbroken after Kai left, but are you sure you really...love him? You can tell me, Lu, I won’t judge at all.” Baekhyun continues in a small voice, glancing at Sooyeon, who sat asleep a few feet away.

The younger doesn’t answer for a moment, thinking carefully, “I love Sehun, I really do. The feelings I have for him definitely formed from his comfort after Kai left, but I do love him, and although they aren’t on same scale of my feelings for Kai, I believe that they will grow. With time.”

Baekhyun doesn’t seem satisfied with the younger boy’s answer but doesn’t push it, simply saying, “Don’t forget the feelings that Sehun has for you. That’s all.”

The whole conversation leaves a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach and Luhan’s hands begin to shake for other reasons.

~

Kai again finds him staring at the ceiling of Yixing’s infirmary again and sighs, deep and long.

“You sound worn,” Yixing says, coming to stand next to his bed.

“Yeah, well being-- can you get that damned light out of eyes please?” Kai huffs, closing his eyes against the harsh light of Yixing’s medical flashlight.

“Gotta see if you have a concussion. You’ve got a little lump from that fall you took,” Yixing sighs and turns off the light, “It doesn’t look like you’ve got a concussion, which is good. However, your vitals are all over the place and I have a feeling that has more to do with what’s going on in there,” he affectionately taps Kai’s forehead.

“You’d be right, Xing,” the alpha sighs, “Luhan’s back and...it was calling out to me.”

“The baby, you mean,” Yixing says dryly.

“Yes, Yixing,” Kai says sharply, putting his head in his hands, “The bond is so strong...I just wanna hold them, so bad. I can feel it now, the need to protect them. It’s so overwhelming, Xing. How am I supposed to run a pack like this?”

The young healer winces, patting his friend’s shoulder, “I don’t know, Kai. I don’t know how to help you with this one, bud.”

Kai groans, falling back onto the bed, “Then I’m screwed. If you don’t know what to do, them how am I supposed to figure it out?”

Yixing chuckles lightly, but quickly sobers, looking into his friend’s eyes, “I think that this will be solved after Luhan gives birth. That is probably what he’s here for, and I can’t imagine he has much longer, if his size is anything to go by…. Until then, you are Head Alpha of the Northwest River Pack, one of the largest packs in Korea and you will have to power through. For the pack, for yourself, for Luhan and your child.”

~

Luhan settles into his old room easily and is quick to rest his busted nerves from his previous encounter with Kai. Watching the elder collapse in the middle of the pack centre was scary, put the almost insatiable pull he was feeling toward him was scarier. The alpha was all he could think of and the train of thought continued endlessly, weeding itself into any other strain of thought. Luhan had even thought of Kai while speaking to Sehun on the phone for a few minutes. It was insane.

Even now, as Luhan was trying sleep, the memories to snuggling to Kai played endlessly under his eyelids. Peeling open his eyes, Luhan glanced at the clock, which read 12:04, nearly three hours since he laid down to sleep in the first place. A sigh leaves his chest and Luhan sits up, stepping into his slippers and padding downstairs, resigning himself to watching cheesy rom-coms and action films until his brain is tired enough to turn off. The distraction works and Luhan passes out in the middle of the second film, the thought of Kai temporarily banished from his mind.

~

A week passes in relative peace; Taeyeon and Kai have their own place, near the pack centre, and since Luhan rarely goes there, he sees little of them. Baekhyun distracts Luhan with occasional trips to the nearby mall for baby clothes and ‘suitable’ maternity wear. They order a crib for the baby and send Tao to pick it up, as well as some pampers, wipes, and other baby commodities.

Luhan’s aunt stays busy with rising tensions with Western Shore Pack and, on the 6th day of his stay, she asks Luhan and Baekhyun avoid going out to town, due to the nearest town being close to the territory line. Since then, Luhan and Baekhyun have been busy with furious decorations and preparation, as Luhan could go into labor any day, at this point in his pregnancy. By the seventh day of his visit, Luhan’s stomach drops and he begins to experience heavy cramping and Baekhyun makes him stay in the infirmary with the healer’s kind son, Yixing. Both Baekhyun and Tao visit often, but are drafted into rotation shifts like all the other wolves and Luhan finds himself alone with just Yixing more often than not.

~

Kai sits through his third emergency Tribunal meeting of the day, nearly withering in the face of exhaustion and pain. His head has been pounding non-stop since Luhan arrived and his old wounds aggravating him more than normal, the scars itching and bruises throbbing. Nonetheless, Kai continues with his duties, discussing the information received from their prisoners. The couple of members of the Western Shore pack that they managed to snag after battles, told quickly, not completely aligned with their alpha--or whoever is in power. They discovered that the pack, while not very large, has outgrown their lands and has a large number of alphas and betas with very few omegas. Despite the size of the pack, Kai doesn’t dare to underestimate them, as they are stealthy and very smart, as proven by their well-timed and carefully executed attacks. The pack members have also revealed that their pack was planning a large scale attack very soon, and were trying to take their pack by surprise.

Since being given that information, the Tribunal has been meeting daily, instead of the usual weekly sessions, just go over ration plans, rotation schedules and border patrol. In addition, there have been several emergency meetings called, mainly due to suspicious activity near the border. The behavior of the Western Shore pack has changed rather drastically; instead of their small skirmishes and battles, they have withdrawn, pacing along the territory line and...watching.  

Kai feels that nothing good would come out of such activities and orders that the patrols and rotations be more discreet, as well as doubled, for safety. This means that all able-bodied alphas and betas have to participate, Kai himself include, leaving only omegas, Yixing, and Luhan.

“Alpha?” a questioning voice snaps Kai out of this thoughts and he hums in acknowledgement.

“What shift would you like to take?” his father asks.

“I’ll take the next one, the evening shift,” Kai says decidedly before standing up, “If that is all, I believe our meeting is over and everyone should return to their shifts or prepare for their next ones. I will be begin my shift when sunsets and will be in my home until then. You all are dismissed.”

Everyone leaves quietly, hurriedly, the threat of attack and battles weighing heavily on their minds. Tao falls into step with his younger brother and claps a hand on his shoulder.

“I will join you on evening shift. They get more rowdy and bold when night falls,” Tao says, “I’d rather our alpha be protected by his best guard.”

“Negative, Tao. Didn’t you just pull two shifts? You need sleep, some food. Go eat your dinner ration and then go to bed. You’ll be dead on your feet if you go now,” Kai peers worriedly at his brother’s darker-than-usual eye circles, “You already look like it.”

Tao opens his mouth to argue but then slouches, “Very well, little brother. You are right. I will see you later, be careful. I have a bad feeling about...this whole thing.”

Kai snorts and nods, “It’s hard not to have a bad feeling this, for lack of a better term, war. I don’t doubt that one of these night, they will bring their full force and all we can do is prepare. We are not outnumbered and I am desperately trying to make sure we are not outmaneuvered.”

“I understand, brother,” Tao steps closer, holding his younger brother’s shoulders, “You were born, raised for this. You will not fail. This, I know, so do not fret and continue to be the alpha that you naturally are,” he smiles and backs away, “Good night, brother.”

“Night, hyung,” Kai bids, feeling a bit lighter than before. I can do this, he thinks, I will do this.

A/n: hey!! the conflict is almost over y'all! i can't believe this story is coming to an end! down below, leave me some name recommedation for the baby. I already have an idea but if you guys come up with some better ones, i might use those :) also, please comments! they really help motivate me and tailor the story to how you guys like it and what you want ^.^ thanks!