Baekhyun looked calmly at the row of trees in front of him. Without looking, he could feel Chanyeol’s exceedingly anxious energy, which was disguised by a thick veil of ill-tempered manners, and Jongin calm aura.

It was the night of the full moon, the night where the moon painted the dark skies with its generous light and illuminating their surroundings. It was also the night where Kyungsoo could, or could not, be murdered, according to Jongin’s vision. They did plan to stop it, if it ever came close to happening, as they had promised Jongdae and Kyungsoo.

They were at the perimeters of the village, waiting for Jongdae to come and pick them up. They had been waiting there ever since the sun began to set, approaching little by little, and guiding themselves by the natural darkness that enveloped them as well as their superior sense of smell that warned them whenever someone got to near.

They have been waiting for a good while, Baekhyun suspected that it had to do something with the alphas that secured the safety of the village that may not had let him approach them; Jongin even voiced it out loud when Chanyeol began grumbling about everything and anything.

“Stop complaining!” chided Jongin when he didn’t stop grumbling; only managing to get louder and louder by the word. “He isn’t any of us and it must be difficult to him to get to us, especially considering that not only he has to pick us, check on Kyungsoo and possibly taking care of Sehun.”

Chanyeol didn’t exactly wanted to shut himself up but Jongin had told him, in much subtle words, to shut up, so he did.

There was a tense energy in the air, mostly due to the anxiety of the situation and the fact that Jongdae seemed to not appear only made it worse. When he finally appear, panting and disheveled, looking like had run a mile just to get there.

“You’re late!” snapped Chanyeol as soon as he saw the male.

“I am not!” snapped Jongdae back. “It was hard enough to get here as it was; for some reason every alpha seems to be patrolling tonight and I had to evade a lot of wolves that I was not expecting to.”

“Don’t worry Jongdae, just lead us to the temple please.” Reassured Baekhyun in an even tone of voice.

Jongin approached the male and patted him the back, asking him, in low whispers how Sehun and Kyungsoo were. Both Baekhyun and Chanyeol heard him reply that Kyungsoo had been apprehensive all morning, when Jongdae had visited him, relaying also that the priest had claimed sick; as for Sehun, he told them that the beta had yet to wake up, which Luhan, had pegged as shock and the body trying to mend itself after such a beating.

It had been a tough thing to hear; Baekhyun had lost his parents, twice even, but never had he watched them suffer like Jongdae had; and for Sehun to not having woken up yet, it must’ve been one hell of a beating.

With a little bit of effort, probably due to tiredness or to the over caution that Jongdae was demonstrating, they began to walk forward, entering the village, making their footsteps light so that no sound would alerts the alert alphas that were dispersed through the area.

The northern part was a little scary, a little deserted and very much suspicious, as Jongin stated once they stopped for about five minutes in order inspect the place that Sehun had told them about.

“There is definitely something about this place.” He declared, inspecting the soil around and especially the thorny plants where the tall beta found the piece of fabric, snuffing the entire zone. “There is a bitterness ingrained in the air and materials around the place. There is also a smell that I cannot put my finger upon…”

“Yes…”mumbled Chanyeol, completely distracted in smelling everything around him. “It’s a weird smell that resembles alcohol a lot, phosphor and sulfur too.”

Jongdae couldn’t even make heads or tails of what could be the origin of that smell. He knew all the technic aspects about each and every single one of those components but he failed to see the connection between then, or at least, he was too nervous to even think about any possible correlation.

“Well, that is all amazing, and I would let you explore more about it, I promise, but…Kyungsoo!” remembered Jongdae frantically, pointing to more impending business that they had to take care of.

Jongin nodded, allowing the other male to lead the way once again, pushing a reluctant and still sniffing Chanyeol in front of him to guarantee that the male wouldn’t be stuck around the place. Baekhyun, always the silent type, followed them closely, pausing only from time to time to smell the air.

The south path they were opting was pretty much deserted; Jongdae prided himself into memorizing all the alpha’s routes and the designated time in order to avoid those wolves.

Baekhyun took time to look around, breath catching a little in his chest as he remembered his own villages: the one he was born in and the one he grew up. It was all so similar with the simple but comfortable huts, built with wood and covered with some sort of paste that would solidified and kept the water from entering inside every time it rained.

It was all so familiar and the memories were so bittersweet; for a split of second he allowed himself to dwell a little in the longing he felt when he remembered all he had and all he had lost.

The abrupt stop of Chanyeol’s massive structure was what brought him back to focus, stopping as well, meeting the curious stare of Jongdae, who looked at him in hopes of understanding what was happening.

“Someone is coming in this direction!” said Chanyeol. “And quite fast!”

“Dammit!” cursed Jongdae looking around for a way out, feeling a little desperate when he noticed that there weren’t any vegetation that could hid them.

“Is there any place we can hide?” asked Jongin urgently.

“Only huts around this are but none of them safe.” Replied Jongdae, trying to think. “Unless…”

“Unless what?” asked Chanyeol just as urgently, almost trying to compel Jongdae to do something, to find a solution, by his glare alone.

“We just passed Sehun and mine’s huts. We can hide in his if no one is there; if there is, there is always mine but we have to go back.”

“Lead the way!” urged Baekhyun.

The four of them ran down the path that they had just came from; the sound of footsteps was already audible and Jongdae didn’t even think when he opened the door to Sehun’s hut, entering it without a second thought, almost fainting in relief when he noticed that no one was there, probably since everyone thought he was taking care of the younger beta.

Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Jongin followed him suit, entering the hut almost forcefully, before Jongdae closed the door. They breathed in the air in gulps, feeling a little better that they just escaped from being discovered.

However, that relief was short lived once there was a knock on the door, making Jongdae and the other’s jump slightly in surprise.

“Go hide in the bedroom area!” hurried them Jongdae, pointing to the area that was slightly separated from the rest of the hut by a large screen made out of an embroidered piece of cloth that once belonged to Sehun’s mother.

The trio was quick to move, hurrying themselves to the small area, grimacing at the excess of noise they made once they saw Sehun standing on top of his mattress, covered with pelt from the waist down but with his wounded back fully on display for everyone to see, showcasing he vast amount of gashed, bruised and welts that decorated his pale skin.

Jongin’s hand flew up to his mouth, completely shocked at the sight and even Chanyeol seemed truly upset at the sight. Baekhyun felt the urge to throw up when he saw the way the skin had been mutilated and think how much pain Sehun had endured and how devastating it must had been not only for his body but also for his mind; Baekhyun was sure that this kind of abuse must’ve left some psychological scars that would forever be engraved on the serene beta’s mind.

The trio could hear Jongdae answering the door and, while they couldn’t see who it was, they could clearly hear the conversation.

“Hi Jungsu, what can I do for you?” they heard Jongdae ask to whoever was knocking on the door.

“I came to check on Sehun, I’ve heard steps coming into his direction and I came to investigate.”

“Oh?” the tone used by Jongdae was a little cute and totally innocent; one could almost envision the beta tilting his head to the side and blinking slowly, making use of his long lashes to charm others. “You must’ve heard me! I went to my house really quick to pick one more pelt to cover Sehun. He could be cold.”

“I really thought I heard more than your footsteps…”

“You heard it too? I thought I was hearing things; I heard footsteps too but I didn’t know where they came from?”

“You heard it too?”

“Yes, for a second I even ponder the possibility of being and alpha doing the rounds around the village.”

“Hmmm…” they heard the man hum, seemingly deep pensive. “I’m going to check it out. How’s Sehunnie?”

“He’s…”

Jongdae didn’t quite finish his sentence, the words getting stuck on his throat. The trio hidden behind the screen felt sorry for the young beta; it was definitely not an easy situation.

“He’s still asleep, he hasn’t woken up since. Luhan says that the body is mending itself and that it will take some time.”

“Jongdae, you know that there is the possibility of…Well, Luhan told me that he took hits on many vital organs so there is a possibility that he doesn’t wake up if the trauma is too big. Hyungseung didn’t really care where he hit him…”

This captures the interest of those hiding behind the screen; Jongdae had surely explained them that things were bad but he hadn’t explained how bad it was, to the point where Sehun could be locked in a coma.

“Sehun will wake up!”

“Jongdae!” they heard the other wolf chide in a paternal and soft voice. “You have got to be prepared to the possibility! I know that Sehun is your best friend and that he helped you when it came to your parents…”

“Jungsu…” warned Jongdae, not liking where the conversation was heading.

“But your parents aren’t here anymore, they cannot hurt you anymore, and Sehun won’t be here forever, one day he’ll die, as everyone else, and you’ve got…”

“Jungsu!” cut Jongdae with an ice cold tone of voice that surprised everyone listening to it. “Not to be disrespectful; I don’t want to talk about those things nor do I think that you are entitled to do such observations. I do believe that Sehun is going to recover; I do have faith in him and on Luhan’s work. If you please could return to your rounds across the village so that I can return to take care of the patience, it would be very much appreciated!”

“I didn’t say it to offend you…”

“I know!” was the only thing that Jongdae replied. “But it’s still a sensitive topic for me and one that I don’t like to discuss with anybody, as it is sensitive for me.”

“I really didn’t mean to offend you Jongdae and I am sorry if I crossed any limits. I’ll return to my work. Please, do forgive me and take care of Sehun for me, okay?”

“Will do!” replied the male tensely.

The sound of the door closing alerted everyone that Jongdae was finished and that the other male didn’t even notice the presence of the tree wolves in the back of the hut, mostly due to the innumerous flasks of medicine that left a strong smell of herbs in the air, masking all of the other senses in an almost desensitizing way.

Jongdae returned to them, face a little paler than it was just minutes ago and definitely shaken.

“Jungsu is gone. We have to wait some minutes and then we can go back on track.” He announced, face clearly begging them not to make any type of questions about the conversations they had, most definitely, heard.

“Sure!” replied Jongin softly, before Chanyeol could even open his mouth to be offensive. “We wait a couple of minutes and then we go to the temple to watch over Kyungsoo and help him with his own problem.”

Jongdae moved pulled the pelts on Sehun’s body a little upwards, fluffing the materials for his friend, in a display of affection that came naturally thanks to the many years they had been together, although, one could tell that it was a purely platonic gesture.

After doing it, Jongdae moved to the kitchen area, the wolves following him quickly, trying to let Sehun be in peace, without making too much noise in fear of disrupting him, in every possible way that it could happen.

No one dared to comment on what happened but, after seeing the shakiness of the other male as he grabbed a bowl to drink some water, Chanyeol didn’t contain himself.

“Are you in any condition to accompany us?”

Jongdae his heel to face the taller male, extremely flustered and irate at his abilities being discredited by him. Baekhyun and Jongin looked at each other and Jongin almost interrupted the moment between the two if not for Baekhyun, who stopped him with a shake if his head and a subtle hand on the bicep.

“Are you saying that I am incapable?”

“No.” replied Chanyeol sounding very calm, instead of his usual agitated self. “I am not asking this because I doubt your capacities. I am making a question because, despite you may want us to think or not question, we heard the conversation and we know that it was a sensitive topic to you; you’re shaking and sound very anxious and emotional at the moment. The question I am posing is whether you are capable of leading us there or you feel like the emotional charge of our mission is too much for you and you will not be able to follow orders or deal with whatever it may happen in there. If that is the case, I want to know! I am also putting my life in danger for your friend and I want to know if you are going to it up and handle it or simply be overemotional which may affect us all in the long run.”

It was a though question and Jongdae’s ears and cheekbones were very red; the whole male was flustered and, for a split second, Baekhyun pondered if he had done the right thing and letting Chanyeol speak up. He acknowledged that his brother should have been a little better at speaking up his mind but, regardless, it was a valid question and Baekhyun was also wanted to know the answer: for the mission to be successful they couldn’t afford to have Jongdae jeopardizing the all thing because he was too emotional; it wasn’t his fault, naturally, the subject was clearly painful, but Baekhyun had survived a lot of things and this one was another thing he wished to survive as well.

He looked worriedly at Jongdae who seemed like he was about to explode from anger but, contrary to what he was thinking, the beta deflated pretty quickly, probably realizing himself that Chanyeol was right in some things he said.

“You’re right!” replied the other with a sight. “But, I’m okay. I just need a moment or two and I’ll be fine again. I actually need to be on the streets and focus on saving Kyungsoo, if that what’s happening tonight, in order to keep myself from thinking things I shouldn’t. However, I promise you that I am okay and I’ll not be a hindrance. I’ll focus on whatever you need me to do and I’ll obey to whatever order you give; after all, I am not made for fights, I need some guidance.”

Jongin chuckled slightly at the words while Baekhyun nodded, reading himself to finally go to the temple.

Jongdae approached the door, followed by Chanyeol and opened the door, glancing discreetly from left to right to check if the path was clear for them, Chanyeol sniffed the air, trying to pick any foreign scent but, when he shook his head, everybody knew that he hadn’t and that it was time to move.

The beta plumped the side of Sehun’s pillows, pulled the pelt once again and kissed the matted air before moving again to the doorway, after mumbling something into Sehun’s ear that no one heard the exact words, as the beta had whispered in such a low tone of voice that was impossible to do so.

The quartet left the hut, closing the door tightly behind them and moving stealthily through the road, in the direction of the temple. There wasn’t much light illuminating the streets but they didn’t need much as the berserkers sharp eyes, which could rival as the ones of a feline, could see perfectly in the dark, as Baekhyun reveled to Jongdae. Being very late in the evening, there weren’t much people in the street, mostly asleep or cuddled with their mates and children. There were only the alphas circulating on the streets, patrolling and assuring the safety of their community.

Getting to the temple was no big deal, only with two jump scares when two alphas approached from them, leading into some awkward and uncomfortable situations when they had to pile up, against each other personal space, in order to hide and keep hidden from until it was safe. It wasn’t because they didn’t like each other, that wasn’t the problem but invading someone’s space, being a wolf, and knowing each other since very few time ago was a problem: foreign wolves, one that didn’t belong to a pack, should have given verbal permission to touch as well as a small token, like a pendant or a piece of cloth, something that was deemed personal. Politics, called it Jongdae, stating that it was a complete obsolete notion that made no sense, especially considering that people should touch if they felt comfortable to do so, regardless of the pack they were born into, in order to avoid these kind of situation and also as a way to fight any discrimination between packs.

As they reached the temple, there was only a small amount of light coming from the window on Kyungsoo’s room, letting them know that he was in his room, as promised. Instead of using the door of the temple to go to reach Kyungsoo, they opted for climbing the stone wall, not letting anyone know that they were inside, letting them, instead, to keep on thinking that the priest was alone.

The climbing was not easy, mainly because Chanyeol was a great mass of muscle trying to climb a stone wall while fighting gravity and to Jongdae’s lack of athletic skills although, in his defense, he hadn’t been taught how to climb stone buildings while he was a child, only trees. Baekhyun and Jongin, on the other hand climbed with relative ease: while Baekhyun had great muscle mass, he was significantly smaller than Chanyeol and Jongin did resemble a feline more than a wolf by being nimble and agile, climbing the wall as if it was all he done in his life.

When they finally managed to get inside the room, with Kyungsoo staring them with wide but calm eyes, the first thing Jongdae done was to hug his friend, apologizing for the delay, briefly informing him about what had transpired. Kyungsoo only nodded in acknowledgement, saying that no suspicious move had been done up so far and asking about Sehun, to which Jongdae gave some stilted answers, letting the other know that it wasn’t a topic that he wished to discuss at the moment: Kyungsoo graciously changed topics, asking him what were the next steps.

To everyone’s surprise, Jongdae looked over to Chanyeol, a little shyly, asking without verbalizing it, what was the next to do. Maybe, just maybe, it made come sense since it had been Chanyeol to state that there was necessary calmness and that he, as well Jongin and Baekhyun, would provide answers and guidance through the situation as they were far more knowledgeable in this area,

Chanyeol didn’t even blink or even show his usual snarky remarks at Jongdae; he just looked over the beta and declared, in an unusual soft voice:

“Now we wait!”

Waiting was the worst part; there was an uncertainty in the air that left them all anxious, even those who were really not in the beginning. There were little tales in everyone, such as the bouncing leg on Chanyeol’s part,;Jongin’s sliding his hands repeatedly on the fabric of his pants; Baekhyun hand on his hair or even Kyungsoo picking nonexistent lint on his robes. As Jongdae, he couldn’t quite stop pacing.

It had been three hours since they have reached Kyungsoo’s room; the conversation had dropped into an unsettling silence and they had stop pretending that this wasn’t a threatening situation and yet, there was still no movement on whoever was trying to hurt Kyungsoo.

Jongdae, for all his word, was absolutely parched. His panicky mind, which was something that he wouldn’t dare to admit, was draining him and he was feeling paranoid and stuffy in the room. There wasn’t anything to do, the silence was driving him insane and he felt absolutely thirsty even after he demolished all the water that Kyungsoo kept in his room.

The night had turned slightly chilly and so did the room despite being summer and Kyungsoo had provided them all with black woolen capes, the only ones he was permitted to possess as a priest, to keep them warm, explaining that, if needed, the large hood could provide some concealment of their identity if needed.

Baekhyun was reading something in book that he had find in Kyungsoo’s shelves and Chanyeol seemed to be asleep, although Jongdae knew that it was not, due to the slight twitching of his hands and Jongin was, as Baekhyun informed them politely, was meditating, trying to clear his head of the bad energies, stating that the peacefulness of the temple urged him to do so.

“I need water!” mumbled Jongdae to Kyungsoo, who was sitting next to him.

“I don’t have any more available water on my room Jongdae.” Explained the priest, motioning at the empty jar on his bedside table.

“But I am parched!”

“The only water that I have left is on the store room, downstairs.” Replied the priest with a frown on his face.

“I’m going to get it!”

Kyungsoo seemed alarmed at the words and turned to the beta, shaking his head in disagreement.

“Jongdae, you can’t!!”

“Yes, I can!” counteracted Jongdae. “I need water and I need to occupy my head with something or else I will go crazy and we can’t have that!”

Kyungsoo looked a little taken aback but he couldn’t really say anything more to the case, Jongdae was dead set on going to get water and the omega priest knew that it was useless to make him change his mind!”

“Okay!” mumbled his friend. “Go and bring water than. And if you could please bring the bracelet Minseok gave me. I left it on the altar this morning when I went to pick some water.”

“Okay.” Replied Jongdae, slipping out of the room before anyone could really say anything.

“Where is he going?” asked Baekhyun looking a little off put at the vanishing of the beta.

“He is going pick some water and probably relief some of his anxiety by moving a little.”

“He’s an idiot!” replied Chanyeol from his place with closed eyes.

“Let him be Chanyeol! He is in his right to be anxious and to feel nervous about the situation.” Chided Baekhyun.

“He’s still an idiot!” replied the taller man with his eyes still closed. “His anxiousness will lead him to trouble and then trouble will come to us. Just watch!”

“You’re being unfair!” expressed Kyungsoo with a soft voice.

Chanyeol opened his eyes and his mouth to say something when Jongin’s body convulsed rapidly, a quick succession of spasms before he opened his eyes unbelievingly fast and lurched himself forward looking crazy and maniac.

“Jongin?” asked Baekhyun alarmed immediately throwing the book aside and approaching his brother who fell back in the bed looking worse for the wear.

The single word coming out from the man’s mouth was enough to scare them all.

“Jongdae!!”

Jongdae descended the stairs rapidly and immediately went for the store room, directly beneath the said stairs, to retrieve the water he wanted. The door was opened and he found no trouble into picking a bottle of it before moving to the central and main area of the temple in order to get the bracelet for Kyungsoo.

As the priest told him, it was directly on top of the altar and Jongdae immediately picked it up, planning to go back to the room quickly; he thought that being outside would calm his anxiety but it was actually the opposite: the eerie silence and the echo of his own footsteps were scaring him to no end; he preferred the silence of the room with a bunch of people he knew to keep the fear away.

His hand wrapped around the bracelet with a little ‘ah!’ of victory but when he turned around to leave, he gasped, barely avoiding the sharpness of the blade that swung on his direction. Jongdae fell to the ground, his equilibrium and the shock sending him there without a second thought.

Behind him, wrapped up in a dark blue robe, completely covering all the face with the exception of the eyes was a man holding a dagger in each hand, ready to swing at him. He couldn’t recognize who it was, although those eyes seemed hauntingly familiar in some sort of way.

He dodged the second swipe of the blade, the grey steel, slashing the air precisely in order to deliver its blow. He couldn’t believe that this was happening! This was not was Jongin had told him. He didn’t manage to quite dodge the third swipe of the dagger whose tip grazed the skin on his cheekbone.

The fear installed itself of Jongdae, very prominent and obscuring almost any kind of emotion he had; any kind except for the adrenaline. And that part overpowered any ounce of fear, growing brighter and bigger by the second, feeling him with a braveness and a sense of preservation that he didn’t know he possessed.

When that adrenaline rushed through his body like electricity, burning him and bringing him back to life, Jongdae did the most logical thing he could possibly think about at the moment, where his life was at risk.

Jongdae screamed.

A/N: Hello everyone!!! How are you all? I really hope that you are amazingly well!!! So, I guess that this a little twist: it's wasn't Kyungsoo who was attacked....SURPRIIIIIIIIIIISE! I would never make things as simple as that because, heck, it's me!!!!
So, please, tell me, what did you think of this chapter? Was it good? Yay or nay? Tell me all via comment, private message and, if you like it enough, subscribe and upvote!!
As alwasy, I hope you have an amazing week and plese, may all of you be healthy and safe, I hope that you are receiving and giving a lot of love to everyone! Most importantly: BE HAPPY!
Lot's of love!!
<3 <3 <3