The door to the car slams shut, and Yoongi can smell several things at once.

The stench of someone’s blood nearby makes Yoongi tense and he growls as his wolf comes close to the surface, but stops himself from transforming when he scents sorrow and pain on the slight wind blowing from across the street.

He also scents the sweetly sour smell of bodies starting to decay as he turns and stares at the house where Jin and the others live.

He doesn’t miss the light trail of blood that ends at the front door of the other house, and Yoongi has to force himself to start moving. His wolf starts whining the closer he gets to the house, and Yoongi feels a sharp pang of sorrow bloom in his chest.

“HYUNG!” A wail from the open front door of the house.

Yoongi shudders, hearing the open sorrow in Taehyung’s voice as he gets closer to the house, and the scent of blood familiar to him hangs in the air. Unconsciously Yoongi’s hand comes up to grip his shirt over his heart, and he starts whimpering softly.

His steps get slower and heavier as he gets closer to the house, and while Yoongi knows that the sorrow scent he’s smelling are coming from both of his mates, his mind doesn’t want to acknowledge what his heart and wolf already know judging from the familiar scent of blood.

Before he can call out and let the others know he’s home in one piece, a body barrels into his slight frame, and Yoongi’s knocked back as Taehyung grips onto his shirt tightly, a loud sob tearing from the Omega’s throat.

“Hyung.” The male weeps, burying his face into Yoongi’s chest as the Beta’s arms automatically wrap around his Omega mate. “I’m sorry, I’m so SO sorry.” Taehyung hiccups, his hands tightening in Yoongi’s shirt. “I tried....we were safe…but windows…and a second wolf…” Taehyung’s words jumble off into some mumble of incoherent until he goes limp in Yoongi’s arms and the Beta ends up lowering Taehyungs unconscious body onto the ground as the realization that something had happened to one of the pups finally hits home.

He can hear it now, the soft sobs from the open door of the house as he gathers Taehyung’s limp body in his arms and carefully makes his way inside, his heart clenching and his eyes becoming blurry as he carefully places Taehyung on Jin’s couch, the one Hoseok almost never sat on, pulling the blanket over the back and tucking it around Taehyung carefully.

Yoongi knows he has to go down and see his other mate, but the human side of him wants to stay with Taehyung and not acknowledge the reality that one or both of the pups is either gone, or dead. He takes a second to sweep a thumb across Taehyung’s cheeks, the tears still leaking out of his closed eyes, and Yoongi chokes back a bubble of sadness at how distraught Taehyung and his wolf must be if the Omega is still crying while unconscious.

‘Ok, Yoongi, one foot in front of the other.’ He can feel his wolf guiding him subtly and Yoongi is grateful for the warm strength from his animal half. He half stumbles, half crawls down the stairs, which have droplets of dried blood on them, noting the wood around the reinforced door with deep claw marks, the scent of pain stronger from Namjoon as the Alpha openly weeps.

His eyes blur, and Yoongi barely feels the wetness accumulate on his cheeks as he reaches the bottom of the steps, and nearly buckles at the sight laid out before him in the basement room.

Namjoon is holding a limp form in his arms, his back curved as if he wants to curl over the small body protectively while Jin is leaning over the pup, gloved hands stained with blood.

“Yoongi-hyung.” Jimin’s sad voice catches Yoongi off guard.

Yoongi feels more than sees as he stumbles into the room, and his knees give out, crashing down onto the padded concrete as tears stream steadily down his face, dripping off his chin into the blood soaked carpet. The familiar green shirt that his son had insisted on wearing that morning is torn, covered in blood.

“Taegi.” He sobs, reaching out one hand towards Namjoon and his child.

Namjoon seems to register his presence just then, looking up as he inhales a hiccupping breath. “Hyung.” The Alpha crumples a bit at his Beta mate, and the small body in his arms jerks suddenly and whines as Jin does something that Yoongi can’t see.

“What….what happened?” Yoongi can’t recognize his own voice, his hand reaching out towards his son as Jin barely glances at him.

“They…..” Namjoon stops, shakes his head and Yoongi feels his heart drop. His Alpha mate doesn’t say anything more and Yoongi turns as Hoseok comes over to him, Jinkook cradled in his arms, the pup looking peaceful as he sleeps.

“If it hadn’t been for Jimin, Taegi would have been killed by a rogue wolf.” He tells Yoongi, his voice hushed. “Jimin said that Taehyung was amazing even though he’s got no real fighting skills and managed to fend off one of the rogues who broke in through the basement window.”

Yoongi looks at where Hoseok’s pointing, awed that the other Beta is finally starting to act like himself near fully again, and then blanches as he sees the blood stained shards of glass littering the floor.

And Jimin, who’s slouched against the wall, his knees pulled up against his chest as his shoulders shake in silent sobs.

**

Once Jin takes care of Taegi, Namjoon lets Yoongi take his son from his arms, but the Alpha doesn’t move from his spot.

“We can move the playpen upstairs and lay Taegi down in it with pillows and a sheet.” Jin says as Yoongi stands.

“Let me take him. We’ll be upstairs watching over Taehyung.” Jungkook’s somber voice echoes in Yoongi’s ear, and he lets the young Alpha take his son, though his heart clenches when the weight of Taegi leaves his arms.

“Namjoon.” Yoongi crouches down, worry etched on his face as he sees the scratches on the Alpha’s face from the rogues. “Joonie.” He croons, trying to get his Alpha mate to look at him. “Look at me, please.”

Namjoon lets out a breath, hiccupping. “They….they took Taejoon from Taehyung when they attacked the Omegas.” He chokes out. “My…my son is gone.”

Fear and grief flood Yoongi until his wolf whines, and he quickly kneels in front of his mate, ignoring the blood that is coagulating on the floor from his son, and pulls Namjoon into his arms.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

They were supposed to be SAFE.

But no one had thought to reinforce and scent barrier the windows to the basement, believing that Namjoon and Jungkook would be able to fend off whomever showed up on their territory.

Yoongi finds out later that Jimin had successfully killed one of the rogue wolves who’d broken into the house, but had been knocked around by the rogue wolf enough that by the time he’d recovered enough to help Taehyung defend the pups, the other rogue wolf had slashed Taegi across the chest, a move usually intended to kill since it aimed for the soft flesh of the abdomen, and had snatched Taejoon, kicking Taehyung in the stomach as the Omega cried out, seeing one of his pups injured.

Jimin hadn’t had the chance to intercept the other wolf as it clamped its muzzle around the back of Taejoon’s neck, causing the pup to freeze mid-yelp and bound over to the window and leapt out of it nimbly, is if it had done the same move a thousand times before.

Namjoon seems to brighten up a little when Taegi wakes up a few hours later in his human form, but they can all feel the Alpha still is coming to terms with his son being kidnapped as Yoongi informs them of what had happened at the radio station earlier that day.

“I think they were looking for Hoseok.” Yoongi finishes, looking over at the other Beta, who is holding Jimin in his lap, the Omega still upset over not being able to protect the pups, though his tears stopped not long after Taegi had been moved upstairs.

Taehyung’s up, but uncharacteristically quiet, his face drawn down in a frown, cuddled into Yoongi’s side while Namjoon is pacing up and down behind the couch.

The breeze from outside reminds them all that there are a couple of dead bodies still waiting to be burned, the front door of the house had been ripped off its hinges by the dead wolf who’d tried to get into the basement.

Jungkook stretches, looking at everyone as Jin hovers protectively around Taegi and Jinkook. “The pups are our priority right now.” He says firmly. “I think we should send them down to Jimin’s parents for safekeeping.”

“No.” Taehyung’s voice is quiet but forceful. “They’ll be expecting us to do that.” Taehyung’s always been good at puzzles, figuring out things that some of them might miss while analyzing a situation.

“Why do you think that?” Jimin asks.

“Because your parents are in the council system. If what hyung is saying is true, they’re after Hoseok because of that Alpha who tried to mate with him.” Taehyung says. “They’ll have gone through all of our council records, and our public record profiles to find out every bit of information about us in order to bring one of us in, or get Hoseok.”

“What do you think we should do then?” Hoseok asks, his voice laced with worry.

“My parents.” Yoongi speaks up. He hasn’t exactly been forthcoming about his family situation, even to his mates, though Hoseok is probably the only one who really knows why Yoongi was sort of on his own from a young age.

“Where do they live?” Jin asks.

“Are you sure you want to approach them?” Hoseok asks, worry lacing his voice.

Yoongi sighs, nodding. “My parents, they weren’t very happy that I exhibited signs of being a Beta long before I matured.” He explains to the confused looks of Jimin, Jin, Jungkook and his mates. 

A/N: My original intent was to kill off one of the twins, but enough readers were upset that I'd hinted at the possiblity, that I couldn't possibly break your hearts. The minor character death tag still stands though for something later on near the end of the story. 

My spring break just started, but I've got a cold, and still have schoolwork to do (a research paper due in 2 weeks, and some other things that are annoying busywork), so much of my free time will be spent studying. I will try to get one more chapter up before I jump back into the mini-hiatus which will last until May when my semester ends. Next chapter if you haven't guessed already will be a flashback to Yoongi's life before he meets Namjoon. ^_^