The new place that the trio had found was safer than the one they previously had; it was far up inside the forest, on the other side of river, on a small clearing, with a little cave that kept them warm and safe. As a bonus, it was out of the territory of Sehun’s pack and into no man’s land, which was fine by Sehun since his pack had no reason to start a conflict with them: they were not trespassing.

When Baekhyun arrived with Sehun, Jongin seemed delighted to see him while Chanyeol just regarded him with indifference, which wasn’t all that new for him; as Sehun was beginning to understand, Chanyeol was a little temperamental and, if he was honest, by the way Jongin described him, he surely looked like he was a teenager with abnormal quantities of angst that hadn’t yet left his body; he had the reasons, Sehun wasn’t going to deny that but he could handle things a little more rationally.

“Sehun, how great it is to see you!” greeted Jongin with a tired smile that didn’t escape the other wolf’s keen eye.

“It’s good to see you as well, I am just sorry I couldn’t have seen you earlier but, unfortunately, due to obligations and the fact that Jongdae and I got caught by our friends, who kept an eye on us, and it prevent us from coming here.”

“And why are you telling us that?” asked Chanyeol a little spitefully. “To warn us that you blabber about our secrets?”

“Chanyeol, if you have nothing nice to say then shut up.” Threw Baekhyun from the other side of Sehun, resting a hand on the small of the taller’s back and pulling him forward in order to allow him to get properly inside the cave.

It was clear by Chanyeol’s heated gaze that he and Baekhyun must’ve had a disagreement earlier, it transpired.

“Do ignore them, Sehun! They are being idiotic.” Replied Jongin with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Why were caught you say?”

“Yes, a couple of friends of mine saw us getting back into Jongdae’s hut. They did question me a little, since Jongdae was unconscious, but I think they believe me. Except for one of them but he didn’t ask questions, he said that he trusted my judgement.”

“Is he trustworthy?” asked Baekhyun suddenly, making Sehun startle a little.

“Yes!” he remarked without hesitation. “He is absolutely trustworthy. He’s our priest and a friend of mine since I was a child.”

Baekhyun held his gaze for a while, looking him directly, probably accessing and scanning Sehun for the truth before he nodded and switched his gaze to Jongin.

“That’s very reassuring!” nodded Jongin happily.

Sehun felt that there was a subject that they had to approach, which was Jongin’s vision regarding the murdering and the new information that he had managed to get from Minseok and Kyungsoo, plus his suspicions regarding the northern zone of his own village.

However, instead of asking about what he wanted to, Sehun remembered that Baekhyun, last time that he saw him, was not in a very good condition and neither had been Jongin, hence the reason why he asked them both how they were.

Both males seemed surprised at the question, turning to look, simultaneously, at Sehun’s form.

“I’m alright, Sehun!” replied Jongin with a soft smile. “Thank you for the concern. Sometimes, the visions take a toll on me but I can guarantee you that I have fine now. I had one earlier on this morning which might be the reason I look so tired. Other than that I feel great; and we have a more secure place to be at the moment.”

“I’m doing fine as well.” Replied Baekhyun cautiously, as if he wasn’t sure he should answer.

“How’s your side?” asked Sehun again, the healer side of him talking louder than anything at the moment.

“It’s fine.”

“Do you mind if I take a look?” asked Sehun shyly, pointing at the smaller wolf’s side; Baekhyun hadn’t been too keen on skinship, it seemed to frazzle him a little.

Baekhyun regarded Sehun, he didn’t really look like he was going to agree but, after a few moments of staring at each other, Baekhyun nodded, lifting the hem of his shirt and letting the taller inspect the crust that formed around the wound that was pink all around the edges but, otherwise, looking in the right path for properly healing.

Sehun prodded a little, inspecting if the scarring tissue was not thickening up and if there wasn’t any part that was infected. He certainly missed the look of amusement that Jongin sent ad Baekhyun for his obvious discomfort: Baekhyun wasn’t really used to people touching it and it was something that he didn’t know how to act upon.

“It looks very good!” stated Sehun brightly, obviously pleased at his handy work and how he managed to do this right without Luhan’s supervision.

“Thank you.” said Baekhyun softly, thankful at the other’s concern; he was bad at socializing but that didn’t mean that he was rude.

“So, tell me Sehun!” began Jongin after a few awkward seconds were Baekhyun and Sehun stared at each other, Baekhyun looking a little embarrassed and Sehun a little in shock over the fact the other had interacted with him. “Is everything alright? Have you got any more news about what we discussed previously about your pack?”

“Yes!” replied the other remembering suddenly the reason that made him go and search for the trio. “I have some news for you.”

With precise words, Sehun begun to describe everything that had happen these last few days, leaving no little detail out, beginning with the day that he had returned with Jongdae to his village, after the incident with the creature, from the meddling of the Council on all the topics regarding the strange creatures, from the missions that Minseok had been sent too and also the strange encounter he had with Sooyoun and the secret that a certain part of his village must hold.

It took quite some time and it had gathered the attention of Chanyeol and Baekhyun who had sat down near Jongin and listened to the story that Sehun was telling, enraptured in the soft and calm voice that relayed the events and worried about what the tall wolf was telling them.

“Why are they dismissing the problem as if it is nothing?” asked Chanyeol, the look on his face pure surprise, look much younger than he usually looked like.

“Jongdae and I have a theory that they are hiding something, and that much is clear, however, no matter how much we try we cannot figure out what they are hiding. We need to find a way of entering that are and see what it is that they are hiding in there.”

“Have you thought about something?” asked Baekhyun this time.

“I don’t really; of course that it’s important, but to speak honestly, our priority, at the moment, is to take care of the murder Jongin saw in his vision.”

“Don’t you know who it is?” asked Chanyeol condescendingly with a suggestion of mockery patent on his tone.

“No!” replied Sehun firmly, a hint of steel on his voice, looking firmly at the male, although he was much stronger. “Our village has a high number of people, with a big quantity of them having the sound in their name that Jongin mention, there are some priorities but we are still fearing not having certain; it could be anyone!”

“Jongin also mentioned the bracelet!”

“You think what Jongdae and I didn’t search for it already? We did, without success! We checked people more than once even! However is very hard to do it without being weird of giving explanations that don’t compromise us! We are not trying to make half assumptions or trying the guessing game on this matter, this is one of our friends we are talking about; this is family!”

There was a silence that hung in the air at the bite on Sehun’s words. Sehun wasn’t normally the person to get irritated but Chanyeol’s attitude was grating on a nerve that was, by itself, already inflated and the taller male wasn’t helping at all.

“To you it may seem like nothing, Chanyeol, but those are my friends we are talking about.”

Chanyeol sent him a heated glance but he said nothing, probably due to the fact that both Jongin and Baekhyun had their eyes on him, daring him to say something.

“We understand Sehun; we do!” assured Jongin. “It’s not easy and it seems that you have enough on your plate; I hate to state this with everything that seems to be happening but full moon is around the corner, you really need to hurry up.”

“I know! Jongdae and I are stressing over it, I am stressing with the fact that Sooyoun is probably keeping an eye on me at the moment, I am stressing over the fact that Jongdae is running interference at the moment for me, I am stressing over the fact that Minseok is on a mission! Everything is stressing me right now.”

Jongin took a good look at Sehun’s face and it was the first time that he had ever seen the younger looking so down. Sehun was a person that hardly felt irritated or down but the sudden amount of things that he was trying to solve at the moment and the gravity of them left Sehun feeling as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulder.

He was really feeling down, worried about anything and everything, and the comfort came from the least expected source, as Baekhyun laid a long hand on his shoulder, making him look over at the smaller man, who gave him a nod.

“Even if it doesn’t seem like it, everything will work out in the end!” spoke the man, with a squeeze on his shoulder.

Jongin was quiet, extremely quiet and Baekhyun looked over at his brother, silently begging him to say something, something more than he couldn’t really express in words since he wasn’t all too good with them.

However, the man didn’t reply to his gaze, opting for looking the other way, and that was when Baekhyun knew his brother was about to drop another bomb on top of them.

“Whatever it is that you have to say, do it now please!” he stated in a quiet voice gaining the attention of Chanyeol and Sehun.

“I had a vision!” admitted Jongin.

“We know; we were here!” replied Chanyeol.

“It was about you Sehun; I saw you! You and Jongdae!”

There was a silence that was disturbing and clearly heavy. Sehun felt that it was not going to be good news; he didn’t even know how to ask Jongin to state what it was about! Chanyeol saved him from doing it.

“You didn’t say anything about it!” he chided, voice a little softer than usual, probably due to the fact that it was his beloved brother. “What did you see?”

“Jongdae…Sehun…pain…screams! I think something is going to happen to you and, from what you said before, it is the Council’s doing.”

Sehun’s face paled when he heard those words; it was just what he needed: more trouble. He hadn’t even found who was trying to murder…someone and now either him or Jongdae was going to be in pain? Possibly? Accordingly to Jongin, at least! He did trust Jongin, there was no reason for the other to be lying, however, Sehun hated the fact that his visions seemed to be completely unpredictable and random.

“Sehun?” called one of them, making look up to see three pairs of eyes looking worriedly into his eyes.

“Are you okay?” asked Jongin, biting his lower lip a little, afraid that maybe this piece of information was too much for the man to handle.

“I am… It’s a little to take in but I am.” He replied a little shaken.

“I am sorry to deliver this on you like this but, understand me, I had too! It may be vital for something you or Jongdae do.”

“I understand; I do! Don’t worry about that.”

“I do worry!” replied Jongin with a frown on his face. “Something is going to happen and nor you nor Jongdae are simple strangers. I know you both and of course I will worry!”

Sehun sat on the floor and the trio looked at him trying to find words that would help him. It was a little discouraging to see the young man like this. Sehun just wished he knew what to do however, since answers weren’t exactly brewing at the moment, he decided to, at least, ask advice to the trio.

“What can I do?” he asked, tone of voice dragging, mentally exhausted, he was really hoping for some enlightenment. “Do you remember anything else from your first vision? Anything from this vision? Do you have any idea of what is the next step? I know that we talked about investigating the creature and these findings can potentially be the solution for it but what if is nothing? What if our findings bring more problems or I am being way over my head and this is nothing.”

Jongin looked over at his older brothers, first Chanyeol, who actually looked at him with wide, surprised eyes, and then at Baekhyun whose eyes were more worried than anything else. Sehun was having a meltdown and Jongin needed to calm him down. He approached the male and threw an arm around his shoulder, meaning to comfort him, tutting a little at the feeling of Sehun’s sagging body against him.

“I don’t think I can help you much with that; as much as I would like, the vision happens to fast for me to capture important details; I usually have to have it more than one time in order to capture more than the simplest, most obvious details. I am sorry for that but, as the banshees explained to me that details, in visions, depend on time: the further from happening it is, the more detail I get, which is the reason that I recognized you and Jongdae, because I had time. You already know when it is going to happen and all the details I knew were already revealed, I guarantee you that! Regarding yours…I really don’t know, it went so unbelievably fast that I think it’s also happening soon. About what you discovered in your village, I do think it’s worth to investigate it, it may be nothing but I doubt it, as you said, they seem too keen on keeping it a secret for me to think it’s nothing. Even if it is nothing, at least we get the reassurance that we have a safe spot to turn into if things ever get bad.”

Maybe it weren’t the words that Sehun wanted to hear, they definitely weren’t, but they were a starting point and the young male appreciated the comforting words and gesture, it provided him the calmness and the reassurance that he need to go back into thinking with clarity.

“We will help you with the exploring, a good plan to keep eyes out of us while doing it will be made but, right now, your priority is to save your friend, find who it is and save him because you can. The only thing you have is the sound of its name and the bracelet, remember those and don’t’ stop looking for it, you can find it! Ask for people about it, at this point don’t worry yourself with how crazy it will sound when you ask them about it, don’t worry yourself with excuses; do what you have to do before it is too late Sehun!”

The incentivizing words of the conversation between Sehun and Jongin seemed to have the right effect on the first male; he shook his head slightly right and left, with his eyes closed, and when he opened them again, there was a gleam in them that it was more familiar to Jongin, used to look into Sehun’s eyes, if only on his visions.

“You’re right.” Said Sehun softly. “I just got overwhelmed and I let my emotions take the best of me and …well, I apologize.”

“It’s a little too much Sehun, we understand.” Stated Chanyeol and if this wasn’t a shock to Sehun, unused to see Chanyeol acting nicely towards anyone but Jongin, with whom he had a huge amount of respect and adoration.”

“Thank you!”

“Now, what you have to do, is return back to your village and find who it is that is being pursued and then you worry about other things. We are here to help you through this.”

“But what about…”

“One thing at a time; this is your priority and also keeping an eye on yourself and Jongdae; only then we’ll discuss how to move forward.”

“You’re staying?” asked Sehun, surprised at the news that the trio was, apparently, be around for longer than anticipated; curiously, both Baekhyun and Chanyeol, looked at Jongin with raised eyebrows and curious expressions as to why their brother had said such thing.

“Yes! Yes, we are!” stated the bronzed skinned male firmly.

“Is that the outcome of one of your visions?” asked Sehun with a little humor, trying to lift the mood after his mental breakdown, albeit still a little weak.

“No!” replied the other male with an amused glint in his eyes. “It’s not a vision. I have an inkling that is telling me to stay. I don’t know why but I’ll figure it out.”

When Sehun returned to the village, going at full speed and even bothering morphing into his wolf form in order to reach the place faster, the night was two hours away from happening with the sun still burning strongly but painting the sky in pretty orange hues.

The first thing he had done was to reenter his hut, again using the window, and finding a worried Jongdae, who was pacing inside in a frantic pace, waiting for him.

“Dae!” he called as soon as both of his feet touched the ground.

“Sehun!” exclaimed the other, turning to look at the taller wolf, his worried frown disappearing and giving place to a relieved expression. “Where the heck have you been? You said that you weren’t going to take a lot. People began to ask about you and Luhan actually wanted to come and diagnose you because he said that moon flu doesn’t usually affects you. “

“I know, I know; things just took a little bit more time than usual, something happened.”

“What things?” asked Jongdae curiously before shaking his head. “Never mind, I have important news…”

“So do I Jongdae! I have a lot of things to talk to you and a lot of them are very important!”

“Did something bad happen?” asked the smaller, seeing how agitated Sehun was.

“I was followed! I don’t know who it was or even what it was; I was followed as soon as I left the inner perimeters of the village and got into the forest. Baekhyun was there and help me evade it.”

“Why on Earth was Baekhyun waiting for you?”

“He wasn’t waiting for me; Jongin knew I was coming and sent Baekhyun looking for me, they have relocated into a clearing further inside the forest.”

“Why?”

“Probably feels saver; it mustn’t be very reassuring to live practically near us and with the possibility that they could be attacked by someone of our pack or those creatures that, apparently, are roaming all around our lands.”

“Probably but anyways…”

“And,” interrupted Sehun. “Jongin seemed to have no more information about the murder vision he had; he explained that it only had details the longer it will take to happen.”

“But…”

“However, he had one more vision about either you or me.” Ignoring the dirty glare that Jongdae sent him over being interrupted for the nth time.

“About us? Asked Jongdae suddenly curious about what Sehun had to say, forgetting that he was getting mad at the other.

“Yes, he spoke about how one of us was getting hurt.”

“He doesn’t know who it was?”

“No, he said that the vision was too fast for him to keep track.”

“What was it about?”

“He doesn’t know either!”

“We’ll figure it out afterwards but Sehun I really have to…”

“And Jongin told me to go on and investigate the zone that I told you about!” relayed Sehun quickly, that he did not notice, for the life on him, the fact that Jongdae had something important to say; Sehun was frustrated and he had many things to tell Jongdae before they could, between the two of them, develop a plan for the full moon that was nearing itself. “He did agree with me, saying that it looks very suspicious and that they must be hiding something there.”

“Okay, I get it!” spoke Jongdae. “Just listen to me!”

Sehun seemed to realize that it was something serious indeed and he stopped talking and looked over at Jongdae, almost immediately mollified when he saw the taller’s guilty face.

“I know you have much to tell me,” began Jongdae softly but urgently. “But I found something too, something important Sehun. I found out…”

Jongdae didn’t even get to finish the word he was trying to say instead, three men, two alphas followed by sturdy man named Jungsu, who entered with a sorrowful expression.

Both Jongdae and Sehun didn’t say anything, staring in shock at the men that had entered the house in that unexpected way.

“Oh Sehun.” Proclaimed Junsu solemnly, eyes miserable as he gazed upon the two friends. Park Jungsu was part of the Guardians, a group of alphas designated into acting as policemen who acted under direct orders of either their pack leader or the Council. “You are requested to present yourself in front of the Council today.”

Sehun looked at Jongdae, extremely confused; why on Earth would the Council was requesting his presence? It didn’t make a lot of sense; actually, it made none. Sehun switched his gaze to Junsu, enquiring with the power of his gaze, of those penetrating eyes of him, a trait of Sehun’s that was always reason of compliments.

The two burly men with him: Eunhyuk and Donghee, two alphas that belonged to the Guardians, one with a crooked nose and a gummy smile and the other with a round face and usually smiling eyes that like to amuse children with tongue twisters, approached and grabbed Sehun’s arms, forcing him to move along although, Sehun could see it in their eyes, they were doing it reluctantly, acting solely under the pledge they had made once they were accepted into the Guardians.

They escorted him through the streets, which were now filling with people that watched, morbidly curious, as he walked with two men beside him. In the distance, he could hear Junsu telling Jongdae to keep away or he would be forced to act and he didn’t want to.

Sehun was truly confused, this sounded too much like he was being taken into the Council Court as a criminal or if he had disobeyed some rule and was now being punished over it; he didn’t really had done anything but almost every single wrong movement could set the Council into motion.

He heard Jungsu joining him from behind and he heard the man whispering into his ear, discreetly enough as to not be heard, even though Sehun was pretty sure that both Eunhyuk and Donghee were listening.

“Whatever it is that is happening, don’t argue with them and don’t retaliate; for some reason they are extremely angry at you; unreasonably angry and without proper cause. Prepare yourself!”

Sehun nodded imperceptibly! For some reason, he had a feeling that things were about to get really ugly.

Jongdae was biting his nails as he waited inside the hut for some news of Sehun. His friend had been gone for over half an hour and even if Junsu had told him to stay here, for his safety, he was absolutely terrified and scared of what was going to happen. He couldn’t think of a reason that would make Sehun be called into their presence.

The door of Sehun’s hut burst open and Jongdae’s face turned to the entrance, expecting to see Sehun, safe and sound, entering through it and announcing that it had been nothing to be worries about, that it had been merely an interrogation. However, Jongdae knew that it couldn’t be that simple, not when regarding the Council and, instead of Sehun, it was Seungwan, hair in disarray, looking completely crazy, with wide eyes and panting harshly.

“Seung…”

“Sehun was taken into the square.” She announced, referring herself to a zone on the middle of their village that was used for public punishment of any law breaker.

With a jump, both Seungwan and Jongdae were running through the village’s streets, until they reached the square that was filled with people that were observing the event.

In the middle of the square was a wooden structure, in a rectangular shape, which had a pair of grilletes suspended from the horizontal upper wooden beam. To Jongdae’s horror, hanging from those grilletes was Sehun. There was a rebellious yet scared gleam to his eye but his overall expression was one of pure resentment.

Soo Man, the head of the Council, along other members, was standing in front of the crowd, with benefic smiles painted on their faces as they gazed upon them.

“Today, before the moon rises on the sky, we are gathered together to see the punishment of Oh Sehun, a beta wolf, accused of inappropriate behavior towards a member of the Council, namely verbal assault, and disobedience of this community laws. Therefore he is sentenced, upon a hearing with the Council and proper deliberation, to seventy five lashes of a cat o’ nine tails whip, to his back, as punishment of his actions. This serves a reminder that laws are to be followed and that any crossing of said rules have implications.”

Soo Man retreated and Hyunseung, with a devilish smile on his lips, seemingly very happy to be performing this task, brought a whip forward to provide the punishment.

Jongdae didn’t even register what was happening until the first lash was delivered on Sehun’s back. He took a step forward, fully intent into stopping this horrific punishment; hearing the low murmurs on how it seemed a harsh punishment from other wolves, but a hand on his arm and another on his mouth prevented him from doing so. He looked behind to see Kibum, Jonghyun and Hongki, along with Seungwan, shaking their heads at him, telling him not to do anything stupid.

“You can’t, Jongdae!” told him Kibum with a sad look on his face.

“He is my friend, I have to! He is being set up, for sure!”

“We know that!” replied Jonghyun calmly, even if his eyes looked irate and hateful, which was extremely rare on the man. “We know Sehun and we also know that this all punishment is just a way of the Council to punishment for doing something that displeased them in order to soothe their egos. Furthermore, do you think that anyone in here truly believes that whatever was said was this severe to have them sentencing seventy five lashes to his body?”

“But if we interfere it will be worse for him and for us too.” Added Hongki who was used to be in Sehun’s place. “Also, remember that neither Junmyeon nor Kris is here to act as a buffer against them and against them, we can’t win!”

Jongdae remembered that after the Festival there was a period of truce between all creatures where every single pair of leaders, usually him and its mate, would make a trip into sacred mountain to deliver a fair amount of good from their territory and pray to the Mother Earth. The truce was only valid for those two members, who travelled with a white flag and it was unbreakable.

It just happened that this was exactly the time when Junmyeon and Kris had left for them pilgrimage, leaving the government of the village to the Council, albeit reluctantly, who probably used it in their favor to abuse their power and do something of the sorts.

Jongdae watched in despair as Hyunseung delivered lash upon lash on Sehun’s back. The air around him was heavy and the arms holding him upright weren’t as comforting as he wished.

The first ten lashes Sehun said nothing, only a stoic look on his face; the twenty next lashes he screamed until he was red in the face while Jongdae whimpered when he noticed the drops of blood starting to fall on the floor.

Jongdae couldn’t exactly see Sehun’s back, only his face, but he didn’t know what was worse, because his friend agonized face was crushing him, tears already dripping to his face as Hongki, quite unexpectedly hugged him, knowing how it must be for the shorter male.

By the fortieth lash, Sehun was vomiting heavily, the pain being too much for him to bear, knees weak and body twisting and convulsing, so much that it was horrifying to watch; so much that people were turning their eyes from the spectacle, clearly uncomfortable with it.

By the fifty fifth lash, Sehun completely out, passing out from the pain and it was only then, when the unconscious part Sehun’s brain gained over everything else and claimed the man to a place where pain didn’t exist.

Only then Jongdae sighed in relief, thankful for sparing his friend from such cruelty and when the punishment was delivered fully, his executioner freeing him from the grilletes and letting the body fall into the ground , did Jongdae freed himself from everyone who was trying to grab him and went to Sehun.

His friend needed him and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to be there for him.

A/N: Hello everyone! How have you been doing? I hope that all of you are doing really well! On this chapter we have a little cute SeBaek moment, we have hostile Chanyeol (as always!), a happy-go-lucky Jongin and a whole lot of trouble for Sehun! Poor boy, he really got it good! (I can make other people suffer, it's not always Baekhyun xD ). 
I have to say, I am a little disheartened to see that while this story keeps on gaining subscribers, no one really comments... it seriously makes me doubt my work sometimes and the motivation to write...well let's say sometimes vanishes, I only keep doing it because I don't like leaving a story unfinished. Is there anything I am doing wrong??
I wish you are healthy, safe and loved, that you also love other and return and that you're very happy!
Have an amazing week and remember: I love you all!
<3