There were no rules. It was simply a fight until either pack duelists are dead or knocked out. Jinyoung watched nervously as the wolves fight 3 on 3. In wolf form, JB was the smallest in size, but he sure was the fastest. With his fluffy brown fur, he didn’t look vicious at all, until he bares his sharp mighty teeth. He manoeuvres easily, attacking whenever an opportunity comes and swiftly escapes as a form of defence.

Around 10 minutes into the fight, everyone could tell that Chansung was already exhausted. Since Junho’s already been beaten down injured, he has been constantly fighting against two of the enemy wolves on his own. On the other side of the ring, Jaebum is clearly on the upper hand against his opponent but still time is ticking for him as Chansung struggles at his end.

In the next 5 minutes, Chansung and Jaebum are now fighting 2 on 2 with their opponents, with Junho and one enemy down. The Head Alpha Haha calls for a break which is easily granted by Head Alpha Jongkook who wanted to treat the participants’ injuries.

Jaebum’s friends rush to his side. Jackson and Mark, being with Jinyoung almost all their lives have already learned the basics of first aid and are now tending on Chansung’s wounds, while Jinyoung carefully checks on Jaebum’s semi-broken shoulder.

“I can heal you.” Jinyoung says softly as he examines the injury. Jaebum is busy biting on a towel to stop himself from screaming as Jinyoung moves his shoulder to its right position. Once done, Jinyoung slowly massages Jaebum’s arm which was bruised at some point during the fight.

Jaebum immediately feels relief from the pain and strain as Jinyoung’s life energy flows through his body. He then noticed something wet touch his skin. He realizes that Jinyoung has been crying all this time.

“Jinyoung ah, I feel better now. Don’t cry.” He uses his good hand to reach out to Jinyoung’s.

“Yah, you— what if I’m not here to tend to your injuries. What will happen to you?!” Jinyoung wipes his tears in frustration, not wanting to cry anymore tears.

“Jinyoung ah, I’m sorry. I— I must have scared you a while ago.” Jaebum pulls Jinyoung next to him, caressing his back to calm him down. Jinyoung’s scent is just so soothing that he forgets they are in public. He starts kissing the side of Jinyoung’s neck.

Mark clears his throat, “Sorry to interrupt but I think Chansung hyung needs you too Jinyoung ah.”

“O—of course.” Jinyoung moves away much to Jaebum’s disappointment.

Wolfsbane are poisonous plants that can kill werewolves. However, once the roots are diluted, they can act as anaesthetic or a numbing agent. They wear off after a few hours, depending on the amount used.

Head Alpha Haha’s third son, Junhwe, unlike his brothers, is interested in herbs and has perfected the use of wolfsbane even against humans they steal from. And today, Head Alpha Haha plans to take advantage of this natural poison.

Head Alpha proposes a toast before the fight resumes. He announces that he has only the best brewed beer stolen from the city. Everyone raises their glass, unknowing a different concoction was given to the pack from the East Woods.

Everyone from Jaebum’s pack who drank the said beer drop down one by one. Head Alpha Jongkook who just realised what he has consumed used the last ounce of his strength to pull Head Alpha Haha’s collar up, “Wolfsbane, you traitor—- I will kill—”. He lets go of Haha’s collar involuntarily as he feels his insides slowly burn from the poison. Finally, he falls to the ground with a loud thud.

“Not too strong, are you now?! Wahahahaha.” Head Alpha Haha laughs loudly, concealing the fact that he nearly choked to death for a moment there.

Doojoon, his right hand, clears his throat in embarrassment, knowing the truth of the Head Alpha’s cowardliness.

Their attention was now turned to some shouting right next to them on stage.

“What’s happening?! Taecyeon Oppa!” Krystal being pregnant had refrained herself from drinking the beverage, thinking it was bad for her baby.

“Hyung, what do we do with her?” Junhwe asks Bobby as the younger one was not used to seeing violence.

“I think I got myself a new mate,” the evil Hanbin declares. His men grab the poor girl at his command.

“But I’m pregnant! Please! What do you want with me?!” Krystal tries to fight back as much as she can before she’s put to sleep by Hanbin’s own hands.

Bobby sighs thinking how much his brother resembles their father. Head Alpha Haha also takes in some pretty omega girls for his own. Then suddenly he remembers…

“Junhwe, where’s the healer!?”

Apparently, Jaebum is bad with alcohol so he doesn’t even take a sip, thinking it will affect him during the fight. Jinyoung, on the other hand, was busy telling Jackson not to consume the beverage since he’s a bad drunk when they realise that the others, including Mark and Chansung, have too swiftly drifted off to sleep.

“Jinyoung, I think you just saved my life.” Jackson drops the glass he was about to drink. He quickly  scrambles to check Mark’s pulse. “He’s just asleep.” Jackson sighs in relief.

Jaebum, by instinct, pulls Jackson and Jinyoung under the ring to conceal their presence.

“What do we do?” Jinyoung whispers nervously.

“We can’t fight them, the others who did not drink the beer are either captured or taken down.” Jaebum explains the situation.

“They must have planned this as insurance for them to take our supplies no matter what the result of the fight—-.” Jackson stops talking once they heard voices near the ring.

“I’m sure the last time I saw the healer was in this part of the crowd.” Junhwe tells Bobby.

“Wait, the scent. It’s blood.” Bobby tries to trace the smell of blood which is actually coming from Jaebum’s clothes.

“It must be coming from this wolf.” Junhwe dismisses him as he sees the injured Chansung on the ground.

“Jaebum hyung, they are looking for me.” Jinyoung trembles as he speaks.

Jaebum cups his mate’s face with his rough hands, “You have me and Jackson. They can’t touch you,” he says firmly. Jackson also nods encouragingly.

“I know and I love you… Whatever happens, I’ll always come back to you.” Jinyoung promises him.

Jaebum could not understand why Jinyoung was saying these things suddenly. During that time those words got blurred out in his mind. During that time, things were happening too fast he could not comprehend…

…and now after all the time that has passed, he finally remembers Jinyoung’s last words before he was taken away…

“Are you okay?” Mark shakes Jaebum out of his reverie as he hands him a cup of hot water, the only thing he could offer as they are out camping at the foot of Mt. Bukhansan. They have been looking for Jinyoung for the past 2 months with no luck.

After the incident in the West Woods, Jaebum’s pack had to rebuild everything from scratch. Weak from the effects of wolfsbane, zero on food supply, the pack was just thankful that their homes were not destroyed by the enemy pack, since they wouldn’t have had survived the storm that hit that night.

Jaebum woke up after five days to his friends’ relief since he was forced to drink the said liquor in huge amounts when he refused to give Jinyoung up even in his state.

Yugyeom holds his brother close, afraid he’d leave searching for Jinyoung in his po