When Baekhyun finally woke up, feeling all kinds of exhaustion seeping throughout his body, even though he had just rested, his whole body hurt and he made a little sound showcasing his discomfort. He didn’t normally complain about small things, much less pain on his body, which he guessed that came from several years in the wilderness submitting himself to worse things, but he literally felt like an enormous piece of heavy wood and moving was uncomfortable.

He looked to his right and his left, trying to gather his bearings, remembering all the needed events that preceded his inevitable trip to the medical center where he was. It was alarming to realize that he was all alone in the room and the seemingly inexistence of Chanyeol or Sehun around him made his heartbeat spike crazily with worried nerves.

The berserker imagined the worst, even though he was trying to think things clearly, but he was in hostile territory, despite whatever he had been told, and his brother and Sehun were missing. His nose didn’t help him much since his olfactory sense had been damaged beyond belief years ago and the incapability of smelling them only added up to the foreboding feeling.

He attempted to move, seek out his people but his legs really weren’t cooperative, which only angered and frustrated him; almost to the point where he considered throwing himself out the bed and just crawl.

However, just about the minute he was about to make a decision, the door opened up showing the healer who took care of him, Jeongyeon, who smiled at him when she noticed him awake.

“Baekhyun!” she exclaimed looking positively surprised. “I am so glad that you are awake; we sure began questioning ourselves when you’d you wake up.”

Baekhyun calmed down a little with the presence of the familiar face in the room; while Jeongyeon wasn’t a friend, she certainly didn’t look like someone he had to worry about: he actually doubted that there was any malicious bone the in the young woman’s body.

“Where are Sehun and Chanyeol?” he asked, wincing at how scratchy his voice sounded.

Jeongyeon was nice enough to hand him some water before she checked his vital, talking to him as she went.

“They are outside. Chanyeol was mostly okay when he came here and he seriously was causing too much noise cooped up inside this room so Dahyun pleaded with Yifan to allow him to go outside and stretch and use his energy. I am guessing he isn’t used to be lying around without doing anything. Yifan allowed it as long as he has people looking over him, which I can assure you there are. He is fine regardless, a little antsy that you were asleep for a lot of time but fine. I just saw him downstairs as I was coming; I think he was talking with Donghae, one of Jungsu’s loyal men.”

“What about Sehun?” he asked; it wasn’t enough for him to hear news of Chanyeol, he wanted to now, quite desperately, where Sehun was and to know if the other was okay.

“He’s fine. Well, he is wearing crutches for the time being since he managed to sprain his ankle quite badly, but once he rested enough, he was good to go. Junmyeon came a few hours ago to pick him up for some treatment: we are trying to get him to move his foot underwater to accelerate the healing process. He’s doing good!”

Baekhyun let out a small sigh of relief, nodding his head at the healer before letting himself fall back into the pillows behind him.

“You are the one who worried us the most, actually.” Announced Jeongyeon suddenly, looking at him with the typical stern stare that healers had.

Baekhyun stared at her, not knowing what to say; was he even supposed to comment the situation? Jeongyeon sighed a little at his reaction, pausing her actions and sitting on the corner of the bed, looking at him intently with a serious look on her face.

“Well, I don’t understand much of you predicament…”

“Being a deranged wolf?” he interrupted with a blank expression on his face, knowing fairly well the idea that most people had of him; of people like him. It wasn’t very usual of him to make such a comment but this time he felt like he couldn’t really help it.

“No.” chided Jeongyeon with a raised eyebrow. “Being a berserker wolf! I don’t know much about you, your kind, or how you do work. The amount of knowledge is close to nothing and we work on a trial error basis but it’s comparable to some work we do on a normal day to day. From the amount of tests we managed to run on you, we could understand that the damage that your body sustained was far worse than we’d imagined at first.”

Now those were unexpected news. Baekhyun straightened himself up on the bed as quickly as he could and asked the healer to explain.

“Well, from what we could understand and also with a little bit of Chanyeol’s help, who was vital to understand some of your physiology, there was the visible damage to some parts of your body, which it came from the… physical traumas you were exposed to, but Chanyeol told us that you managed to allow yourself to release a great amount energy which was utilized for escaping the place you were retained. In our understanding, the trauma you sustained put your body under a great amount of stress and, to a certain point, damaged you a little but the amount of energy you used afterwards was what caused the serious damage your body is sustaining.”

“I am okay…” replied Baekhyun with a low tone of voice, not understanding how bad the damage was since he had all the basic functions of his body.

“You aren’t Baekhyun, not really. In simple words, you were already in a poor condition when you decided to use an amount of energy that your body didn’t possess to get out of there. You basically overcharged yourself and such an action wouldn’t happen without consequences; by using something you didn’t have in the first place, you forced your tissues and your cells to fabricate an enormous quantity of energy in a short amount of time that was released as quickly as it was created. Your tissues suffered a huge amount of trauma; an amount that will leave consequences.”

“What kind consequences?” enquired the berserker.

“The kind of consequences that will affect your motor skills for a long while before your body is able to regenerate itself completely. I have not tested how affected your motor skills are, since you have been sleeping, but it is not completely bad that you have mobility.”

Baekhyun actually reeled back at the news he was just given. Never would he imagine the impacts of what he had done.

“Are you saying that I could be paralyzed?”

“Temporarily paralyzed!” corrected the younger woman. “But, yes, essentially that is what I am saying. You are extremely lucky to have even survived this, let alone having all your limbs functioning properly. I assume that you may have some difficulties or that some actions or days will be tougher for you but… yeah, extremely lucky.”

Jeongyeon could see that Baekhyun had become pensive; the news she had to deliver weren’t the best and, even though they weren’t the worst, she could tell that it had been difficult for the male to hear such things, especially Baekhyun who always had been a very independent person.

“I know it’s hard to listen but you are alive. And it’s not permanent: there are treatments that can improve your mobility and help you to recover faster but you do have to be extra careful and mindful about yourself right now; you cannot overdo it again, no matter the reason.”

Being said like that, it didn’t sound bad; it was promising as heck, to be fair, but Baekhyun was in a relatively frail situation at the moment, there was still his brother, whom the Council was still after, there was the problem of the chimeras that the said organization was creating illicitly and there was also the possibility were he might’ve die if, for whatever reason, Yifan decided that he was a danger to the village. If that happened, if anything went wrong, he couldn’t protect anyone, not Chanyeol, not Jongin and not Sehun and that bothered the heck out of him. He knew Jeongyeon’s intentions had been good but he was actually pondering if it wouldn’t be better to not know; that way we could overdo it all that he wished without blaming himself for the consequences afterwards; ignorance was bliss after all.

He was pondering over the issue when the door opened and Jisoo and Sehun entered the room. Jisoo hovered behind Sehun, letting the man move as he wished supported by his crutches. Sehun stopped walking once he saw Baekhyun sitting on his bed, awake. They both stared at each other, contemplating and Sehun couldn’t really stop himself from squirming a little in excitement.

Jeongyeon realized very quickly that the two must’ve had business to talk about because with a discrete head nod, she silently sent a signal to Jisoo to leave the males alone, letting them talk about whatever they had to talk in peace.

When they both left the room, mumbling something about being careful and closing the door on their wake, Sehun was still unable to move, capable only of staring at Baekhyun for the time being. It actually took Baekhyun speaking for him to actually move.

“You can come closer.” He stated on a soft voice, effectively breaking the silence that had fell upon the room with the departure of the two younger women.

Sehun didn’t really need to be told a second time, hoping clumsily to Baekhyun’s bed and managing to rip a smile out of Baekhyun. He sat on the corner of the bed, at the bottom of it, near the older male’s feet.

“How are you doing?” asked Baekhyun seeing how Sehun was still incapable of saying something.

“I’m okay.” Replied Sehun softly, playing with his own hands and shyly averting his eyes from Baekhyun’s form. “How about you?”

“I’m okay as well.”

Sehun frowned at the words coming out from Baekhyun’s mouth; he knew very well, since he and Chanyeol had spoken with the team of healers that worked with Baekhyun with Jeongyeon.

“I know that isn’t exactly true. I’ve spoken with Jeongyeon and she told me about the issues with the mobility thing.”

“But I am alive.” Replied Baekhyun serenely, stretching a little in order to be able to reach Sehun and grab one of his hands.

The beta male looked at his hand, now encased on Baekhyun’s one, He blushed; he could try and pretend that he wasn’t but he didn’t want to lie. He felt hotter than he was a minute ago and it was all because of the handsome male in front of him.

He really wanted nothing more than to stretch out with Baekhyun and enjoy a relaxing time, forgetting the world outside and the problems at hands but he knew that they both needed a good talk: there was a lot that they needed to discuss and figure out between them.

“You want to talk?” asked Baekhyun softly, instinctively knowing what Sehun wanted.

“Yes.” Replied the other quietly. “I think we need to.”

“I imagine you have a lot of questions that you wished that were answered.”

“I do; also, we are talking about something big here…” Baekhyun made a confused face and Sehun had to resist the urge to kiss him. “Our future; we are talking about our future.”

Baekhyun hummed lowly in his throat and weakly pulled Sehun to lie next to him. It took him a lot of effort to do so; he know understood what Jeongyeon meant about the difficulty in moving because just to pull Sehun his all arm shook and weighted him down.

Sehun didn’t protest at all at the pulling and snuggled into Baekhyun’s side, letting out a sigh as pleasure took reign of his nerves, leaving him relaxed and content. For a second everything felt at peace.

“What do you want to discuss first?” asked the berserker, placing an arm around Sehun. It was probably one of the most romantic things that he had done all of his life, perhaps one of the gentlest actions he had ever made, but the truth was already out, Sehun knew about his intentions, and he didn’t want to pretend like it wasn’t a reality and, if Sehun didn’t really accept his courtship he would like to enjoy this proximity for as long as he could.

“When did you know?” asked the beta; he didn’t feel like he should elaborate, knowing fairly well that Baekhyun had understood his question.

“Remember when I hugged you? The very first time? That’s when I knew. As you know, my sense of smell is damaged and it’s not very good, I have trouble in distinguishing smells, even more when you are a healer, someone who is constantly surrounded by herbal smells and just nature all the time. That time, when I hugged you, I smelled your skin and I just knew; I knew you were the person for whom I would do everything.”

“Why didn’t you just say something?”

“I was afraid. I still am afraid.”

“What has gotten you so afraid to tell me something this big?”

“A lot of things.” Confessed Baekhyun much to Sehun’s surprise, he didn’t expect the male to admit it so openly. “I am truly afraid of this situation taking a turn for the worst and these moments being the calm before the storm. I am really afraid that we are walking to our deaths here. I am afraid that trusting Jungsu was a mistake; I am afraid that trusting Yifan was a bigger mistake. I am afraid that the Council is going to end up winning against us and Jongin ends up being chased like a wild animal. I am afraid that I led them to their deaths as well and that Jongdae and Chanyeol can never be together thanks to my decisions. I am afraid that I’ll never be able to see Yixing again. I am afraid that we will never be able to expose the Council’s intentions to public and that you, all of this village, continues to be controlled by people who are unfit. I am afraid of a lot of things.”

“You don’t look afraid. You never did.”

“Just because I don’t show it, doesn’t mean that I don’t feel it. I am afraid all of the time; I continuously try to move forward despite of that but I am certainly not as nonchalant as everyone thinks.” explained the older male with a sigh, moving his hand to gently Sehun’s shoulder, mindful of the head currently resting on his own shoulder.

“I think that makes you brave.” whispered Sehun. “To feel so afraid and yet to push forward; that’s amazingly brave. And I know that you did it because you wanted to keep everyone else safe, which makes you only honorable and selfless. But the thing is, you don’t have to feel afraid alone, you can share your burdens with us, with me! Feeling afraid is normal, especially considering what you’ve been through all your life but that doesn’t mean you have to go throughout everything alone. No anymore! I’ve told you this before.”

“Habit, I guess.” shrugged the older male.

“Some habits are bad to have.” replied Sehun with a hint of amusement on his voice. “But, back on topic, why didn’t you say anything to me? It was something that concerned me too, I think I was ought to know.”

“I don’t want you to feel stuck to me.”

Sehun lifted his head to look into Baekhyun’s eyes, who grew a little unsettled at the blank stare that he was receiving, fearing that he might’ve offended the beta in some sort of way.

“I am not saying that you would necessarily been stuck to me but, you have an enormous heart and you might’ve feel the need to stay with me for whatever reason and, let’s face it, I haven’t got that much luck when it comes to having a normal life. I am going to sound far more pretentious than I would like but I wasn’t comfortable with myself knowing that I could, potentially, be dragging you into a life of uncertainties.”

“I think that should’ve been my decision, don’t you think?” questioned Sehun calmly.

“I was trying to give you the better option…”

“But,” interrupted Sehun “you robbed me from my options by deciding for me. I understand your motives and I feel content at the fact that you thought of me and my wellbeing; I understand that you’re trying to protect me but, really Baekhyun, that decision should’ve been mine. I should’ve been the one to decide whether that was a good enough life for me or not.”

“I’m sorry. I am used to make decisions on my own without much consultation and I certainly didn’t want to give you one more headache to think about.”

“Chanyeol talked to me about this, he said exactly what are you telling me now and I had enough time to wrap my head around all of this and straighten up my thoughts. I know fairly well the situation we are clearly in. More so, I don’t know whatever the future has in store for us but still, my decisions are my own and you cannot stop me from deciding, even if you think it’s the best for me. Even if I do make mistakes, which I will, they are my own mistakes to make. I appreciate the concern and I do want your advice but, ultimately, I want the freedom to choose.” Explained Sehun looking into Baekhyun’s eyes, trying to convey the message to the older man without him thinking that he was mad; Sehun wasn’t mad, not even remotely close, but he needed the berserker to understand his point of view.

“I know.” sighed Baekhyun “I am really sorry if that upset you in any form.”

“It didn’t.” comforted Sehun placing his head back on the elder’s shoulder. “Even if I was a little hurt in the beginning, I understand your position and it makes me feel rather safe. I never had anyone who took my wellbeing as a top priority, Jongdae and my parents aside. It makes me feel loved.”

“It does?” asked Baekhyun with a small hint of hope in his voice, something that Sehun found both endearing and heartbreaking; it hurt him to see that such small words from him had such an impact on Baekhyun, as if the notion that someone might return his feelings was something that Baekhyun thought it was completely impossible.

“Is it really that hard to believe that I liked you?” asked Sehun with a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

Baekhyun wasn’t sure as to what expect but it certainly wasn’t those words. He turned his head to look at Sehun, eyes a little wider than usual.

“Look,” began the beta wolf calmly “I cannot promise you all the things that I would like to at the moment, we both know that we can’t do long time promised as the future is always so uncertain, but what I can assure you is that I will keep trying to maintain myself at your side and the rest… the rest we’ll figure it out together as we go.”

The words were simple but they held a much deeper meaning to them and Sehun knew that Baekhyun had understood it from the moment he felt the other’s body going completely relaxed and a soft sigh escaped the other’s lips.

“Does this mean you…like me?” asked Baekhyun, almost in a whisper; he didn’t want to be smothering or pressure Sehun but he needed the reassurance, to feel like someone was at his side, bonding with him in a much deeper level than he had ever experienced.

“It means that you are someone who I like very, very, very much.” confessed the younger male while pulling his neck backwards to look at older. “You are someone who is very special to me and someone who I opened myself to. I don’t have to be anyone but myself with you and you bring me peace; despite all the commotion, I feel at peace by your side and for me, that’s more than enough.”

Baekhyun said nothing; there wasn’t much more to say to Sehun’s honest speech. He did feel a sense of relief at hearing the words, he felt connected to the male by his side and he could truly say that it was one of the happiest moments of his life.

He turned his head slightly, burrowing his face on Sehun’s hair, and whispered the words that his heard demanded him to say.

“Thank you.”

“Do you like me to?” asked Sehun playfully, nuzzling his face into the man’s jaw, completely euphoric and truly happy.

“I do.” replied the berserker simply and lovingly. “I like you very, very, very much. You’re very special to me as well.”

Sehun smiled at the use of his own words back at him, delighted at how playful and loving Baekhyun was being. It wasn’t a normal side of him and the younger found it thrilling to be able to penetrate Baekhyun’s barriers and find the layers he didn’t usually show others.

Love? It was palpable between them, a little shy even, resembling a blossoming flower: budding and beautiful all the same. They didn’t say it out loud, not yet anyways, feeling that it would be too soon to voice it out but, being them, they didn’t need it anyways, they were simple people and a question of semantics would only confuse something that was already perfect and real enough for them.

Sehun looked over at the male by his side and using both of his hands, he brought the face above him closer to his own, kissing the other male soundly on the lips, showcasing him the feelings that he couldn’t translate properly into words.

He allowed a satisfied groan pass through his lips when Baekhyun tentatively his lips before nipping at them softly. Baekhyun was so shy and it was evident that he was basing himself on the little sounds that Sehun made, having no experience whatsoever in these sorts of things, except for what he had seen as a teenager and the things he heard.

When they parted they smiled at each other and Sehun caressed Baekhyun’s face gently before snuggling into his arms, feeling extremely content at the moment and wishing to drag and preserve the feeling and simplicity of it for a little longer.

There were a few beats of silence, were they both concentrated on each other, listening to the synchronized heartbeats and basking in the warmth of the moment before Baekhyun spoke in the softest voice that Sehun heard.

“Tell me about your day.”

It was a simple request and Sehun appreciated the question and how natural it felt between the two of them. So, he told him. He told Baekhyun about his conversation with Junmyeon, about his treatments and everything that happened while Baekhyun was resting.

It was peaceful and they were content.

At the moment, it was all that mattered.

Much later, Sehun would assume that it was nearing dawn, after long hours of talking about everything and anything they remembered, intercalating speech with some long pauses to nuzzle at each other and steal kisses, Junmyeon burst into the medical room with Chanyeol and Jungsu in tow, the three of them wearing somber expressions that alarmed both Sehun and Baekhyun, putting them into a high sense of alert, tenseness installing itself into their bodies, breaking the relaxed stances.

They didn’t pull away from each other, both still entangled with each other, feeling that would be absolutely pointless to hide anything from them at this point. Jungsu looked briefly surprised, a flash of emotion painting his face for the shortest amount of time before setting back to serious. Chanyeol and Junmyeon didn’t look fazed at all and there was a sense of foreboding when their serious expressions didn’t fall for a second: something had happened and they weren’t sure if it was good.

“Baekhyun.” Greeted Junmyeon “It’s lovely to see that you are awake, although I have to say that Jeongyeon report was quite concerning; we surely didn’t expect such damage to your body like that. I am deeply sorry for that given the fact that was within my territory that it happened, due to a situation that, unfortunately, grew beyond proportions and ended up badly. Yifan will come later on to apologize as well as the Alpha Leader of this pack.”

Baekhyun nodded slightly in the male’s direction, acknowledging the apology, although he wasn’t sure if it was needed, after all neither Junmyeon nor Yifan had anything to do with the attack: they weren’t even in the village while it had occurred.

“Unfortunately we have bad news. I assume that Sehun already told you about the conversation we both had while you were asleep?” questioned the small omega tilting his head to the side.

“He told me about it.” confirmed Baekhyun with a nod “My question is what exactly are you referring yourself to?”

“The external voting… it’s happening. The Council demanded an external voting.”

“What?” asked Sehun moving into a sitting position “How did that happen? I thought you said they weren’t aware that it was possible!”

“And they didn’t.” explained Junmyeon, looking far more disheveled than usual “However they are demanding an external voting for tomorrow afternoon and Yifan cannot refuse, he doesn’t have arguments to prevent it from happening, not even the fact that Seungwan isn’t here; the meeting can happen regardless of her presence! Especially since a lot of people from this village ran away after the battle that occurred; she will be ruled out as a renegade or deceased.”

“There is no way to rule ourselves out of this?” asked Sehun in a pleading tone.

“There isn’t; not without risking a riot from the villagers. If we deny this from the Council, the people will turn themselves against Yifan for whatever reason the Council will feed them and then we lost.” explained Jungsu.

“This is the worst case scenario, isn’t it?” asked Baekhyun.

“Not the worst case but certainly not a favorable one.” admitted Junmyeon.

“How in the world did they find about it?” questioned Sehun with his face hidden between his hands, seeking a little comforting the in the end massaging his back.

“That’s easy, Sehun.” replied Chanyeol who had been quiet up until now.

“What do you mean?”

Chanyeol gave Junmyeon a look and the omega sighed deeply while both Baekhyun and Sehun regarded them with an anxious expression.

“It means that someone is passing information to the Council.” stated Junmyeon clearly with a closed off expression.

Baekhyun’s face became blank after the news while Sehun looked shocked.

“Someone is spying on us."

A/N: AND I AM BACK! No, I did not leave this story. No, I did not disappear. Yes, I was an absolutely lazy person! Hello everyone, how have you all been doing? I really do hope that everything is going alright with you! I do apologize for updating so late but, well, I was lazy! I had the chapter finished but, after I went away for vacations, I returned home and I tried to enjoy my last days since as soon as September would start, work would as well! I have been back to work for over a week and my sleeping schedules have been a little messed up since! So, I am sincerely sorry for keeping you waiting!
Now, onto the story Baekhyun and Sehun FINALLY have a conversation that settled a lot of things for them and answered a lot of questions for both sides. Baekhyun actually used his words properly and Sehun is now aware of his intentions BUT they have now the impending threat of the voting on their heads. It could go either ways for them and they are a little wary of what's comming. However, they now know that someone is spying on them and has been ever since the story started. Can you figure out when the Council was informed of things they shouldn't be aware of? 
Well, the next chapters are going to be super intense because a lot is going to be explained that will help explain the story. Every thing is going to come unveiled in the voting, since the origin of Oracle Wolves, to the wrongdoings of the Council, and a lot of other things that I don't want to give away. Stay tuned because things are burning down!
Please, do leave a comment, subscribe the story, upvote it or leave me a message if you like the story so far. Every single gesture is deeply appreciated and I assure you that I will reply to it!
As always, I hope that every single one of you is healthy and safe (a special shoutout to those who are currently facing the numerous hurricanes right now). I hope that you are loving yourself, loving others and allowing them to shower you in love as well and, as always, that you are happy! BE HAPPY!
I wish all of you a wonderful week.
Lots of love!
<3