Sehun woke early in the morning, when the sun was barely peeking out of the horizon and the leaves of plants were still wet with morning dew. If one breathed in deeply enough, it was possible to detect the odor of petrichor on the air, or maybe that was just his sense of smell, he couldn’t really tell, but it felt pleasant nonetheless.

He opened his eyes and stretched his muscles, humming at the satisfying burn of his muscles and threw the heavy pelts away from his body, letting the cool air caress his heated skin. He stood up, dressing himself in a pair of pants and a soft shirt before moving to the door and opening it, allowing the air to circulate inside the house.

Breathing in the morning fresh air and enjoying the quietness that still reigned, Sehun allowed himself to lean into the doorway and look over at the sight in front of him, of the place he had learnt to call home.

Home. The concept of home was something that he had to rediscover throughout the months; something that he had to learn that it wasn’t immutable and that he didn’t belong to a single place belonging everywhere instead.

So much had happened in the last moments that the thought alone was enough to give Sehun whiplash but here he was, enjoying of peaceful moments that he had to fight for in order to get. Literally!

He thought he knew everything, that everything in his life was pretty much decided and that he was going to live a boring, ‘stick-to-the-routine’ kind of live but it seemed that live had other plans for him and that became only more obvious when they appeared on his life: Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongin. But everyone knew that story, he had told it and retold it several times and, despite what he might’ve think, no matter how many times he would speak about it, the feeling was always the same.

What people didn’t know, the story that he had to tell was what happened after The Voting, capitalized and everything due to its importance to History; it really was an events that kids, no matter what kind of creature they were, would learn about from their parents, grandparents, uncles and cousins: nobody ever forgot that it had been the day where everything changed.

It had been a shock, truly! Sehun didn’t really believe such twist of events that ended up in a feud between sisters: if before the Jung sisters were known for being inseparable, now they were known for the hate that they felt for each other, both fighting for different causes. That was a story that was epic on his own but while people only heard of it, especially the new generations, Sehun had been there. He had seen how Soojung firmly stood against her sister’s crazy actions, horribly disturbed at what she had done to living beings, and declared that she was against Sooyoun’s proposal to eliminate hybrids all over the lands, claiming that only ‘pure’ wolves should be allowed to live and rule over others.

Sehun remembered how Youngchul delivered the verdict, favorable to them, and how an explosion of joy had hit all the hybrids and friends, who celebrated with the most random manifestations of care, obviously different between people: the handshake that he had given to Yoongi wasn’t the hug he had gave Jongdae and much less the kiss that he had delivered on Baekhyun’s lips.

They had been all so ecstatic, rejoicing over the fact that they had won something so meaningful, that they had given a rightful step into the establishment of equality between wolves that they had forgot about Sooyoun. Well, it wasn’t like they had really forgotten her but rather how unaware of her hatred they had been.

He remembered that they all had exited the room and that Yifan had stayed behind and he also remembered how Soo Man and Sooyoun had left the room escorted by the members of the Guardians. The image had nothing wrong about it so, naturally, Sehun didn’t think much of it but later on the day, much later, when everyone returned to Jongdae’s house after accommodating their hybrid guests into a nice series of houses near the Alpha Leader’s own, usually reserved to Emissaries and their parties, that Sooyoun and Soo Man had been taken into custody and were being held in cells at the imprisonment compound, waiting for a court session where there fate would be decided.

At the time, while they the two wolves had been locked up, Minseok confided in them his own thoughts that Sooyoun and Soo Man, plus everyone that was proven to either have performed illegal experiments on living beings, act against the pack by cooperating with the wizardry community or knowing the aforementioned plans without reporting to a superior ranked wolf, would probably be cast out of the pack, becoming renegade wolves. The Guardian’s member justified his opinion by stating that Yifan was a just man and had never agreed with the dead penalty, hence the reason why he wasn’t going against his own beliefs in order to punish the perpetrators of despicable actions. Also, Yifan would probably think that he would be a hypocrite by punishing them with the same kind of actions that they did to numerous wolves.

The surprise of that night had been when Seungwan appeared in Jongdae’s hut, long after Minseok and Kyungsoo had left for the first’s house and after Sehun had offered his own hut to Yixing and Jongin; as a newly mated pair it would be difficult for them to sleep in a space with so many scents and Yixing could potentially turn aggressive unwillingly, thinking the other males were some kind of threat.

She had entered the room, followed by a young man that belonged to the Council, named Nam Yoondo, and exuberantly hugged them all, thrilled at having them safe and healthy at the same space of her.

Conversation pushed conversation and the red headed woman had revealed that Yoondo had been the man the reason as to why she had so much information about the Council. As it seemed, Yoondo had been a really good friend of Seungwan since they had been teenagers and the beta male agreed to enter the Council as one of their scriveners to obtain all the information he could when Seungwan had requested him that. She explained that she thought the possibility of doing that herself but, in the end, she had feared that she would be denied because she was the sibling of Yifan, who was Soo Man and Sooyoun main enemy at the time, and that if something happened it could be very easy to blame her, which threatened the whole plan.

Through the years, Yoondo had gained the trust of the various Council members and he had managed infiltrate himself in the truly important meetings and compile a lot of information that had been key to the dirty that Seungwan had on them. It was also obvious that the relationship that Yoondo and Seungwan possessed was more than platonic and that, if Sehun’s observations were correct, it was somewhat between the courtship and mating phase.

However, Seungwan had a secret that she had kept from them that allowed her to obtain the information that she wanted in a slightly different way. The woman revealed, a little timidly, perhaps afraid of their reaction, that she was a hybrid too.

It had been a little shocking; everyone knew that Seungwan was a little different but knowing that it had been to this extent was quite something. They didn’t think any differently of her, she was still Seungwan, but it had been very surprising news. The red haired beta had then explained that she was a Reaper, a wolf with the ability to see the wandering spirits of the dead and that they, the dead, had been the ones to give her clues whenever she found herself stuck.

Chanyeol had asked her if it was scary but Seungwan shook her head; seeing the dead was not scary at all, she told them, it has been unexpected at first but once she learned to live with their constant presence, everything went smoothly. The regretted that they couldn’t talk to her, being only silent ghosts with the capacity to emote, but they still provided to be helpful and companionable when she needed them. If Baekhyun had cried once she whispered to him that his parents, all of them, had showed her that they were proud of him, no one needed to know.

After Seungwan’s visit, Yifan and Junmyeon were next. The Alpha pair appeared in the hut very late into the evening, both of them apologizing for the tardiness. Both Sehun and Baekhyun were perfectly fine with it since neither of the two could really find it in them to sleep since there was a lot of emotions still boiling low on the pit of their stomachs. It wasn’t intended, they actually wanted to sleep since the day had been so long, exhausting and they, more Baekhyun than Sehun, were still recovering, but there was a lot to digest and they were not done doing so.

Junmyeon had hugged Sehun to him, babying the younger male while Yifan clasped hands with Baekhyun, formally introducing himself and talking a little with the berserker, allowing himself to know the other wolf to whom his mate sang praises to. He was not jealous of Baekhyun in any shape or form, he was very much in love with his mate and their relation was a healthy and stable one, but there was a sense of curiosity in him that led him to try and know the man who selflessly fought for his pack, knowing fully well the consequences of it.

Also, Yifan was a firm believer in equality and he wanted to be the role model to many wolves and pups, which meant that he should be the one to actively pursue and establish bridges between hybrid and regular wolves. He was trying to show that it was okay to do it and they should be afraid of one another.

It had been a night full of stories and pleasantries, relaxing a little after such a tiring day. It felt good and Baekhyun, while sitting on the damn chair, thought to himself about how inviting and warm it felt to simply be with friends and Sehun, who was in a category all by himself, and how nice the feeling, in general, was. He had had much opportunity to enjoy such moments, his life up to the point hadn’t allow it and when it did other worries didn’t allow him to enjoy, meaning that he was too caught up with his past to enjoy it. However, this feeling was pleasurable and Baekhyun found himself craving for it more.

Before leaving, Junmyeon and Yifan had announced that, on the following day, there would be a public event in order to divulge to the rest of the pack the news of what happened inside the voting room and also to begin rebuilding their village as a hybrid friendly village. Junmyeon actually told them that he was hoping to make the village a safe haven to hybrids of all species, allowing them to join their packs or get back on their feet when they had troubles; as he pointed so well, this was a new beginning to everyone.

However, the next day, while Yifan made said announces to the overall villagers, he found that many people were skeptical to the idea and other part, majorly influenced by the Council’s mentality, had flat out rejected the notion. Only a small amount of people had accepted the idea and embraced it with open arms. Sehun had delighted to see that many people of that minority had been friends of him; it gave him reassurance that he knew how to pick friends.

When thinking about friends, Sehun couldn’t help but to think about Tao. He had not seen the man in a very long while, except for a few glimpses here and there, when Tao, being judged as a conspirator by the Alpha Leader, presented himself to the Alpha Leader abode for his trials.

It had been a huge blow to Sehun the betrayal on Tao’s part and he didn’t understand how the male could have sold them out so easily. He had been his friend and they get along well enough. Also, he had been the one to almost seriously hurt Jongdae that night at the temple: he had harmed them and Sehun was left lost as what to feel. He felt wronged and angry and sad. Baekhyun had been the one to give him some words of advice after listening to the younger’s troubles.

“People change.” Said Baekhyun in a calm voice while running his fingers through Sehun’s strands of hair. “Sometimes is something forceful, you don’t necessarily want to but have to change, and sometimes you change because it just part of growing up. I don’t know which is which when it comes to your friend and I don’t know him to try and make assumptions. However, what I do know is that when changes occur, there are always people who like it and there are people who don’t, it’s only natural. And sometimes, people make really stupid things, which was the case. People get blinded over their own issues, over their priorities and it’s hard at times to see the general panorama. Your friend Tao opted to do what his head and heart saw as a priority and we cannot blame him for that: as living beings, we tend to do so. The problem is that, while making that option, he forgot that every action has consequences and that people would get hurt over it. It’s normal to feel betrayed and angry over the fact that he completely neglected your history and hurt you and it’s also normal to feel sad: he was your friend and it hurts when they do something that harms you. I don’t have a concise answer as to what you should do but I will advise you to do whatever you feel that will allow you to sleep peacefully at night, without any regrets or guilt, whether that includes forgiving him or not.”

That night, after they became the first hybrid friendly village, as Yifan announced, Baekhyun had the first fully rested night of sleep in years. Instead of a light sleep that woke him up at the bare minimum noise, as it was typical of his always alert, always guarded posture, the berserker relaxed himself in such a way that he feel into a heavy slumber, profound and relaxed, nuzzling into the warmth of Sehun’s neck and, for the first time in ages, feeling completely safe.

But nights weren’t used only to rest. As soon as Baekhyun got the okay from Jeongyeon to freely move, although he still had to be careful enough, Baekhyun and Sehun made their mating official, beating Chanyeol and Jongdae, whom everyone thought would be the first pair out of the three brothers to do so.

Sehun remembered so well, quite vividly, the first night they spent as mates, which had been the first between the two since Baekhyun adamantly refused to touch Sehun in a more ual kind of way until they were mated. Sehun didn’t know exactly the reason as to why that had happened but he really didn’t care either, it was Baekhyun’s business and he wasn’t going to pry on that.

Wolves were extremely tactile beings and they had a ual awakening very early on their lives, as soon as they reached the age of sixteen, more or less, they began being driven by hormones, heats and ruts occurred, and it wasn’t really that difficult for them to engage in nightly activities frequently.

It was also common for a wolf to have multiple partners until they found the person they had intentions of mating with. Many other creatures, more monogamous and modest but wolf packs encouraged this behavior since they believed that it would help someone find if they had chemistry or not with someone; someone who you’d get along with very well could be just a good friend instead of a potential mate.

Sehun had his share of partners, no more than three, which made him quite inexperienced when it came to this matter, especially given the fact that only one of those three partners lasted more than a night, so it wasn’t as if he knew that much when it came to ; plus he was a little shy.

Baekhyun was even more inexperienced than him, having only one partner all his life, back when he was a teenager and another one from when he helped a rogue wolf escaping some witches and the said beta thanked him with , something he didn’t refuse since ual frustration was a reality, no matter how stoic he tried to be.

Both of them were pretty inexperienced when it came to but Sehun could vouch that he couldn’t have asked for a better partner because despite the inexperience, Baekhyun had managed to reduce him to drooling mess a few minutes after laying him on bed and doing all sorts of pleasurable things to him.

He had moaned, screamed, trashed, and arched… everything you could imagine, under the older male’s strong but loving ministrations. All the touches were right, everything made his body thrum and he felt so immensely loved at the moment that it was really hard to describe the feeling.

What surprised him was the fact that after they had lain down for a few minutes, trying to regain their breath after such vigorous workout, Baekhyun had actually pulled Sehun on top of him and demanded, in a really soft and needy voice, for Sehun to make love to him. Sehun had been flabbergasted at the moment, not really believing his ears. He hadn’t expect that; the berserker was a little more dominant than he was despite having been an omega before filling his role as they said berserker that he really thought that the older would prefer a top position when it came to this.

However, that had not been the case and Sehun stopped thinking about it when Baekhyun let out a particularly loud sound fall from his lips when the friction between their bodies became a little too much for him to wait any longer.

Sehun, on his part, had delivered well, giving it as good as he got, making sure that the older was enjoying it and it was pleasurable for him, taking note of every little sound and reaction from the body beneath him.

It had been the most amazing night, neither of the two could let go of each other long enough to rest enough but they didn’t mind much: it was their night and they were going to enjoy it as they wished. Needless to say that the following day was spent in bed resting and trying to get rid of the aching muscles on their bodies, evidence of their exertion and they were mocked upon by everyone in their group of friends, who, three days later, mocked Jongdae and Chanyeol in the same fashion as the two joined the officially mated club.

But thing weren’t always this happy; it couldn’t have been that simple. The members of the Council involved in the chimera scandal were taken into a public trial and, to nobody’s shock, several of them, the ones who had had a more active participation on the matter, were cast out of the pack while the rest were assigned to a lot of menial tasks, for an indefinite period of time, under the supervision of other wolves.

The majority of the their pack, older people with prejudiced mentalities, and people who had been, for years, strongly influenced by the Council, didn’t react well to the news and protested against it. Yifan didn’t change his mind and people like Youngwoon, Sooyoun and Soo Man were escorted to the limits of the village and expelled from the pack with the threat that if they were ever to come near the village or even get inside the established perimeters, they were to be treated like a common enemy of the pack and facing the possibility of death.

That part was the easy one. What no one expected was for a lot of people to mutiny and starting up strikes. What they also didn’t expect was, approximately a month later, after Yifan exhausted himself into calm down the members of the pack, for Sooyoun to return back to the village with several new chimeras and the magical community to attack the place she once had called home.

It had been absolutely brutal and Sehun still had nightmares to the date about what had transpired on that place. He remembered clearly seeing dead people everywhere he looked, orphan children, mateless wolves, destroyed buildings and burnt things.

And thus the Great War began.

Sehun had read a look of books about the birth of civilization, starting from humans to the history of each and every creature that existed, as it was mandatory to learn that in school, as a child, and he knew that some wars had taken place due to the differences between creatures but never once to this dimension, not to the point were other creatures, who had nothing to do with this matter, at least no directly, had taken upon themselves to take a side and fight alongside with it.

For almost two years things went bottom rock with permanent attacks to their village and they had managed to hold their ground with the help of many hybrids that heard about the place, vampires, banshees, fairies, nymphs and even demons, who raised themselves from the underground to partake in the War. With them, with their help, the advantage point that Sooyoun had was taken away from her and the creatures and the hybrids helped out a lot to keep things balanced between them.

It was gruesome and there had been a lot of deaths, a lot of destruction and Sehun often cried at night, hiding in Baekhyun’s hold, while he mourned for the people he knew and the people he didn’t know. Throughout his life he had lost people: friends, pack mates, his parents… he was no stranger to death but it still felt like the first time every single time.

During the Wat they had lost many people, people whose faces Sehun only knew from a distance, meaning those who came to help, they lost pack members, those who he knew but wasn’t really on a friendly basis, and he had lost friends. The first one had been Hongki, ever the first one in everything, even on the line of fire, he had been injured by a hellhound and it had, unfortunately, ruptured an important artery, leaving the man to bleed to death. Taeyeon had been the one to find him and she said that even while dying, the man maintained the sarcastic and playful posture he always had.

Jonghyun and Kibum were the next to be killed: a magic explosion on a cement bunker, near the medical center, had unfortunately sent debris flying around and crushed the couple who was trying to run away from the area. A later autopsy showed that Jonghyun’s own ribs had broken and pieced his lungs and Kibum suffered from a hit to the neck that killed him instantly. Sehun found a bit of comfort in knowing that the two were gone together and together they were in the afterlife.

The next wolf had been Yewon, the small hybrid that had come to their help during the voting. Despite being very young and innocent, she had been amazing at deflecting the enemies with the ability of creating powerful illusion but a dragon like creatures had breathed fire upon her and, while she didn’t die on the spot, she died a couple of days later at the medical center, due to an infection.

Luhan was also one of the wolves that had fallen during the constant attacks to the village. Nobody had expected that and it was a shock to Sehun. Luhan had been helping Minseok clearing one of the nurseries, leading the young pups to a safer place when some sort of explosion hit them out of nowhere almost knocking them both unconscious, Minseok had lost his hearing during that event, which was something horrible enough, he had even fallen into a grave state of depression after realizing that his most prized sense: his hearing, had been lost. It took Kyungsoo months of reassuring and his usual sweetness to take the older male back into a semi-normal state. But Luhan had been the real tragedy, he was trying to help a terrified and pregnant omega out of the building, the same omega that had been taking care of the pups, when someone knocked him out of the way, intending to kill the omega and the unborn pup with a sharp scythe, when Luhan placed itself in front of the weapon. Jeongyeon told them, with tears on her eyes, that he hadn’t suffered too much, since with a wound like his, right on his chest, he had practically died on the spot.

It had been particularly hard on Jeongyeon the dead of Luhan since she was who killed the wizard who had killed Luhan. She had blamed herself for not arriving sooner and stopping the tragedy. Junmyeon had been the one to comfort her and reassuring her that she had done her best and that she couldn’t do anything about it; people were dying left and right and it was impossible to be on the right spot at the right time.

Tao had been the last wolf that was killed. After the voting was out and with Yifan’s deliberation, Tao had been sentenced with menial tasks. He had been sorry too, so, so sorry about what he had done. He accepted without any complaint his sentence and did his job dutifully. He had tried to apologize to Sehun and Jongdae multiple times but neither of the two was very willing to let him come through; Jongdae still remembered the assassination attempt and he actually cowered behind Chanyeol when Tao approached, fearing the man that once he had called friend, unable to hear him out and leading to Chanyeol growling at him threateningly. Sehun, on the other hand, had felt deeply wounded by the actions of the man but still managed to hear him out, however the young beta had told the other male to give him time to cope and to find the heart and reason to forgive him. Tao had understood and had given him space.

Tao also became one of the front line soldiers on the battle against Sooyoun, serving as a scout and using his speed to patrol the woods and report to Yifan or Jungsu. He was a partial responsible for the capture and death of Soo Man, who had perished very early on this War, choosing to fall from a cliff instead of facing prison. Ultimately, he was killed by Sooyoun herself in one of the scouting missions.

Sehun had never said out loud the words ‘you’re forgiven’ to Tao as he had struggled to do it sincerely for a long time, however, when Tao died he didn’t feel troubled by not ever saying it since he knew that, from afterlife, Tao knew he had been forgiven.

Despite the losses they suffered, the War wasn’t all made of this heart wrenching moment, not at all; Sehun saw a lot of people blooming and he couldn’t feel prouder if he wanted. He saw how Kyungsoo and Minseok joined forces, after Minseok’s hearing loss, to try and help other creatures in similar circumstances: those of lost their vision, who lost their hearing, who had been paralyzed, in order to help them cope with their disability. Minseok knew how those people felt and how negatively it influenced people and Kyungsoo helped convey the words that’s Minseok couldn’t muster and helped families to deal with it the issue and supporting them.

Somin and Jimin, bless their souls, had actually been an amazing help for the healers and medical teams all around. Somin, with her power, helped a lot of creatures who fell into comas or high fevers by entering their dreams and coaching them out of it with encouraging words. Jimin, on the other hand, with his capacity to feel other’s emotions easily helped the healers by detecting injured wolves from miles away, feeling their pain and following its tracks, and helping them to diagnose said injured wolves by pinpoint exactly what was the matter, if it was not immediately noted, which was often the case of wicked spells hurled by witches, which helped the healers to work to counter it. Doing this took a lot of energy of the hybrids, making them be exhausted most of the times, but Sehun also knew that this made them feel useful, since the two of them, in Sehun opinion, to which they fully hearted agreed, were far too soft to engage in battle with other people, they left that to their friends.

Taehyung, the socially awkward wolf from the same pack as Jimin, proved to be a real threat to their enemies. Yoongi had explained that he could only do basic things while manipulating the elements and that it changed with his own humor’s fluctuation. It appeared that the War had brought out all the potential that he had and suddenly there were cracks on the floor and swallowing enemies, walls of fire that the enemies couldn’t’ pass through, fast winds that knocked them of his feet and water blasts that could easily snap necks. Sehun had agreed, along with Baekhyun, that it was thanks to him that the War had been won.

While they agreed that Taehyung was the one who won the war, by lowering the number of enemies that attacked them, the one who truly stopped the War had been Soojung. After realizing her sister’s betrayal, Soojung joined forced with Yifan and Jungsu and turned out to be, also, a great threat to the enemy: very intelligent, a born tactician and absolutely ruthless, she was the one who killed her own sister and put an end to the War by defeating the enemy leader. No one knew how she had killed it, most of the people didn’t even realize that they had fought, but when Sooyoun had threw, in front of the line of enemies, all bloodied and bruised, the dead body of her own sister, yelling that their leader had fell, the remaining enemy survivors had retreated and the War had ended.

However, despite their hard fought victory, their village had been completely ruined. All of the building were burned to the ground or knocked into the ground and the crops had been destroyed, meters and meters of land turned infertile due to the constant magical bombardments on the zone. Yifan had busied himself first with burying the dead and paying tribute to them by carving name upon name on the largest stone he could found. Next, he called in every single survivor and reunited them on the middle of the village, explaining in very succinct words that this territory wasn’t viable anymore and that they should consider moving into another area, somewhere more fertile and safer, someone where they could start fresh. He knew that it other attacked could be possible, that it would be very hard for them to actually to achieve peace that quickly: the War had been won but more battles were in their way.

A lot of people agreed with him, stating that even if it would cost them a lot, it was the place where they were born and raised, but there wasn’t anything left for the in there. Much to everyone’s shock there were actual people who refused to leave with them when the majority of the villagers agreed to move. An elderly wolf, a lady with wrinkled skin, had gently explained to everyone that she was old and that would like to die in the place where she had born, she added that she didn’t really had many more years in front of them. Yifan didn’t make them, opting to respect their wished.

So they left. The survivors packed their belonging, grabbed the hands of their mates and pups and everyone began to move forward, deep into the woods, not looking back at the people they left behind, the ones who chose to stay.

They walked for miles and miles, days almost with no stops in order to reach the valleys near the Great Lakes, a land much, much to the south of where they were. The pups had cried, people were tired but they still walked and they still made their way into the unoccupied land.

It took them a month and a half to build the necessary huts to accommodate everyone: wolves, hybrids and other creatures that had joined them into their multi-species pack and get the fields ready to cultivate but they made it especially fast with everyone’s help. Everything else could be built with time; it wasn’t a priority at the moment.

There had been a meeting summoned by Yifan. Nobody understood the reason and yet, everyone was there to hear him out. He older male thanked everyone for coming and quickly explained to everybody that he felt, due to situations, that it was wrong of him to assume the role of a leader. He also explained his motives, stating that there were a lot of new people in the pack and that this was a whole new pack altogether which was why they shouldn’t guide themselves from the rules previously followed, making their own rules instead: something that everyone could relate to, agree to and that was adapted to the new circumstances.

Sehun felt like it had been, somewhat really noble of him to think about everyone and that it had been humbling to see how he had every single one of them on his thoughts while making this decision. However, when Yifan finished his sentence, a vampire woman, whose name Sehun thought it was Yuri, laughed at his face before answering him the sweetest possible way.

“Dear Yifan, it’s really warming to see how thoughtful and considerate you are but, please, don’t be a fool. You made this pack right here: you fought hard to ensure our survival, you led us to safer and richer environment that we are turning into our home and you have been working really hard to provide good structures for us to regain a sense of normalcy within this new territory. You did it while protecting everyone and caring for everyone, despite our obvious differences. You fought for everyone no matter if it was a vampire, a hybrid, a fairy or another wolf. You united different species with your completely unprejudiced point of views and still made everyone feel just as important, just as well loved, just as special. You made us feel equal. Therefore, it seems stupid to me to even think about any other person than you to keep leading us. You gained my trust and you gained everybody else’s trust as well and we will follow you blindly no matter how Alpha Leader.”

Everyone voiced their agreement and there wasn’t a single voice against Yuri’s words, everyone agreeing with the woman’s words and that Yifan was, indeed, the right choice to lead their community. The said man had been touched almost to tears and if he didn’t shed any, too masculine to do so, Junmyeon shed for him, immensely proud of his mate.

As the Leader of the new pack, Yifan made some decisions that concerned the whole pack that Sehun highly approved of and solidified the good decision that they had made when giving him said role: he installed mandatory basic training in agriculture, combat and healing, justifying his decision by saying that with the minimal amount of training on these three areas, any wolf could survive on his own, without depending on anyone. He also abolished the distribution of jobs based on ranks, which mean that any creature could decide what they wanted to do; that way, alphas wouldn’t be confined to battle and protection of the village, omegas didn’t spend their years watching cubs and working on fields and betas didn’t have to stick to education and medical tasks anymore.

He did maintain the Guardians, claiming that it was necessary to have special trained wolves to assure the safety of the village, also given them more freedom as diplomats since it would be a reality that they would interact with other covens or communities soon enough, which culminated in the ending of the Emissary position.

The Council had been abolished has well but Yifan created an organization called the Embassy whose functions were similar yet, very different. The Embassy was constituted by two members of each different species populating the pack, elected by the whole community, who had the work of making sure everything was developing normally and present, once a month, by meeting with Yifan, a report on how the different things in the village were, or not, progressing, presenting solutions to the problems and giving new ideas of projects that could work on their lands. Their proposals could be approved or vetoed by Yifan and after presented to Yifan, the approved ones would be debated publicly, to the whole community, who could agree or disagree with it. The Embassy member where renewed every year so as to give other people a chance to perform the task and to stop any potential person of getting too greedy with the role.

Yifan also demanded that every year a new election for Alpha Leader would take place. People protested at first but the man stated that if the Embassy members rotated so to prevent someone of going wayward, then the same principles should apply to him. The only organization who was free from elections was the Guardians and only because they had to perform a series of tests each year to determine who was in condition or not to belong to it.

Life was now peaceful and everyone enjoying the sense of harmony and equality that reigned over their new pack, which was now known as the Ohana Pack, for the first time in many years, finally beginning to stand tall after the oppression from the Council and reconstructing themselves after the War.

Sehun was brought back to the present time when a small, solid, thing collided with his legs making him stumble and startle all at the same time. He looked down and immediately smiled at the person grinning at him.

“Good morning. How’s my little princess Yerim doing today?”

“I’m not a princess.” Giggled the little girl in pigtails watching him. “I’m a ferocious wolf-pire!”

“A wolf-pire?”

“Yeah! A wolf because I am a wolf and pire because I want to be like Jinah! She’s the coolest vampire ever! And I want to grow up like her and do awesome missions like she does.” explained Yerim widening her eyes at Sehun who bit the urge to laugh.

“Oh? And did you tell your daddy that?” he asked in amusement.

“Nooooo.” She whined. “Daddy won’t let me! He says I’m his little girl and he doesn’t want to suffer from anxiety from seeing his baby doing missions.”

“Your daddy is so dramatic. By the way did you tell your daddy were you were?” he asked with a stern voice, seeing how sheepish the girl turned.

“I may have not told him.”

“Why?”

“Because uncle Jongin told me it would be funny when daddy realizes it.” Replied the seven year old girl with a cheeky grin.

“And when will you realize that listening to uncle Jongin will cause you much more trouble than it should? Your father is going to maim him.”

“He won’t! He loves Jongin.”

“Out of all people…” mumbled Sehun. “Where is your daddy at, anyways?”

“Daddy was at the Embassy quarters because he had a meeting with another demon group. I think daddy said something about a peace treaty, I think.”

“Yerim!”

The voice made the girl turn and Sehun to look into the distance, at the man who was running in their direction. As soon as he got near, he swept the child in his arms, eye her sternly as she gazed into his eyes.

“Hi daddy!”

“Do you know I worried I was when I didn’t see you? What did you think, wandering off like that?”

“Uncle Jongin said it would be funny watching you have a conniption when you’d realize.” Replied the girl serenely, struggling a little to pronounce the word ‘conniption’.

He man turned to him with a frown on his face.

“Please, inform you mate to watch out for his brother. This was not funny!”

“It was a little, Junmyeon. Especially when Jongin knew that you’d blow up.”

“When he has kids I am doing the same just for him to know how it feels like!”

Junmyeon wasn’t talking remotely serious, rather being dramatic and a little ruffled, instead of angry. He pouted at Sehun before narrowing his eyes.

“Where is your mate?”

“I don’t know.” Replied the taller simply. “He wasn’t in bed when I woke up. Actually, safe from you and your daughter I haven’t seen anyone yet.”

“I haven’t seen Baekhyun yet but Yifan is in a meeting with a demon coven with Seugwan, Chanyeol, Jungsu, Namjoon and I think I was Yixing in there as well. Your younger brother was on his way to help Taehyung, Jimin and Joohyun with the little pups at the nursery. Jongdae probably hasn’t waked up yet and neither have Kyungsoo or Minseok. I think that Minki is having nightmares and they both are having a hard time with sleeping since the little rascal came to their house.”

“New parents, what can you say?” shrugged Sehun lazily, sending a small smile at Yerim who beamed at him.

“When are you and Baekhyun adopting one?”

Sehun looked over at Junmyeon and at the girl on his arms. Junmyeon had been the first of their group to adopt a child. After the War, many kids were left orphans and Junmyeon, who loved children, devoted his time into taking care of the little orphans and making sure that they found a place to stay. It wasn’t uncommon for their pack to have parents and children from different species, it was more than natural and, as long as there was love, it didn’t matter what creature you were. The Alpha mate even took the initiative and adopted a little fairy girl by the name of Naeun and a little vampire baby named Yeugyeom, alongside with Yerim, who was the middle child.

Truth to be told he would like a child somewhere in the future; both he and Baekhyun had agree that a family would be nice, however, they also thought that it would be nice to enjoy a little more of their relationship before having a child. Baekhyun had also pointed out that he would like to work a little more on his social skills and getting used to a life as a pack before adopting a child.

“Somewhere in the future; Baekhyun and I are going to wait for a little longer before doing so.”

“Your best friend has no such qualms.”

“My best friend is shameless and powerless when it comes to Chanyeol. Chanyeol wants a baby badly and Jongdae cannot say no to him. Also, he doesn’t voice it out but he’s thrilled to adopt as well.”

Junmyeon smiled mischievously at Sehun before adding that it would be good for Jongin to have a little rascal when he decided to adopt too, to which Sehun laughed out loud.

Since the War and since the formation of the new pack, people had grew far more open towards each other and the hybrids, especially, had benefited immensely from the contact with another people, showing their true colors and allowing them to shine. Jongin turned out to be quite mischievous and Chanyeol turned out to be a charismatic man with amazing diplomatic skills that impressed everyone. Taehyung, the Elemental hybrid, and Jimin, the Empaths, turned out to be absolutely fluffballs; literal sunshine people, who discovered their passion in the nurturing and caring for small babies. Somin, the NightWalker, was immersed in her training as a healer, her sweet nature allowing her to be nothing else then but a helper. Jihoon, the Crawler, was the most talkative person that Sehun knew and was currently writing a book describing in detail the events of the War.

Baekhyun, as a berserker, remained his quiet and reserved self, although he interacted much more with people and showed them affection. He just didn’t talk much and needed a moment or two to himself, to which no one said anything. Sehun didn’t mind, he loved him before and he still loved him now. Actually, he thought he couldn’t know how not to love Baekhyun.

When Junmyeon left, explaining that he had left Yugyeom with Joohyun to look for Yerim, Sehun returned to the house, busying himself with tidying the place a little: Chanyeol and Jongdae had eaten dinner with them the night before and he still hadn’t got the opportunity to wash the bowls that he had left the basin.

After a while, Sehun wasn’t sure how much, he felt a pair of arms holding his waist and a chest hitting his back. He wasn’t at all surprised, having heard and smelled his mate long before he even came into the house.

“Good morning.” He greeted his mate, happily letting the other nuzzle his face against his neck, basking in the comfort that the other’s presence brought.

“Morning.”

“You woke up very early in the morning. Is everything okay?”

“Everything is alright, don’t worry. I just woke up very, very early and couldn’t sleep anymore.

“You could’ve woke me up, I would keep you company.”

“I know you would but you also need to rest. You were up late yesterday working on that medical encyclopedia with the others.”

“I know but I would still make you company. Thank you though.” He said turning his head to kiss the other on the lips. “What did you do?”

“I went for a run with Jungkook and Yoongi.”

“Yoongi?” asked Sehun doing a double take. “He wanted to run? He is the laziest person I know.”

“Jimin went to the nursery to see the pups and he was pouting a lot. He actually ran for a mile without complaining.”

“I would’ve loved to see that.” Chuckled Sehun.

“And Jungkook is Jungkook; he had already run five miles before he joined us. But that is how he is.”

“True… he should spend less time running and more time trying to confess to Tae. It’s not healthy to work out that much.”

“Maybe.” Laughed Baekhyun. “But Jungkook is still young and he’s got time.”

Sehun hummed, trying to hide the laughter and kissed his mate again, fully turning into Baekhyun and enveloping the male on his arms.

They remained like that for a long time; for a really long time, just basking on the presence of the other and just breathing each other. It was peaceful, it was relaxing and it felt good. They based their relationship on these moments and the general openness they had: they talked a lot, they trusted each other implicitly and they loved each other a lot, which is why their relationship was golden. Sometimes, Baekhyun needed space and be alone for a moment but it was never a problem to them since they communicated well.

“Things are doing great, aren’t they?” asked Sehun, allowing his hand to slight into Baekhyun’s locks, feeling the soft strands.

“The pack or us in general?”

“Both?” replied Sehun, sighing in delight as Baekhyun’s hand drew circles on his back. “I feel like the pack is finally getting back to a good place: we have a good leader, competent people, with good heads on their shoulders, who are doing a lot of good work in improving the conditions of the village. Things are looking really good for us. I know that asking for peace, especially so soon after the War is hard. They lost their leader but they are not going to stop. However, is good to be building something so strong.”

“And what about us?” asked Baekhyun.

“I feel that we are really good. Really, really good! We were never not good, we clicked well from the start and we always made sure to talk with each other about everything and anything. You make me extremely happy, I feel very fortunate to have met you and to be your mate. I am also extremely lucky to stand by your side and to be able to love you.”

Baekhyun smiled softly. He wasn’t a man of many words, preferring to speak sparsely but honestly. He said to Sehun ‘I love you’ often but, even if he did not, it was obvious from the way he looked to him, to the way he touched him, to the way he speak to him. Undeniably in love.

“I am just a little worried that things go south again after getting so good. I really like the new pack we have and the community we constructed: I feel free and, for once, I feel that everybody gets on really well. I would hate to see it all destroyed. This has become my home.”

It was understandable, at least to Baekhyun. Sehun never had moved from his previous place, born and bred over that village, and dealing very rarely with such threats. Baekhyun was used to it, having dealt with it for so long that the life he was living now was the odd thing.

In an uncharacteristically gesture, tried to reassure the other by putting his hands on his cheeks; he had no idea why this gesture was reassuring but he had seen people doing. When Sehun looked at him, he smiled.

“Sehun… home and family are two words that very relative. You made home were you are most comfortable with and with the people you love the most. It does not need to be a single place: home can be anywhere as long as you decide it. It’s the same with family: you decide the people who you call brother. We made our family, your and I, Yixing, Chanyeol, Jongin, Jongdae, Yifan, Junmyeon, Seungwan, Namjoon, Jeongyeon, Seungyeon, Yerim, Yugyeom, Jinah, along with Jihoon, Byulyi, Somin, Jiwoo, Taehyung, both of them, Woojin, Jimin, Jungkook, Yoongi, Taeyeon… everyone. And this is the place that, for now, we are calling home. There is nothing preventing us to call it home forever, but there is nothing that reassures it either. Home is where you feel loved, home is where acceptance exists and home is comfort. Lands are just a piece of earth that you can find anywhere but family isn’t. Family is home! As long as we protect the people we love, there is always a place to return to. As long as I’ve got you, I’ll always have a home. No matter where, no matter when.”

The sincerity and affection behind the words almost made Sehun cry; had he been anyone else, he probably would. The words had moved him in an inexplicable way and the immense love he had for the man in front of him was even the more obvious, right on this instant.

Pondering over it, he realized that Baekhyun was absolutely right: the significance of the word home should be based upon a piece of land that they could claim as their own. Home was where your heart and your people were; it was codependent on the meaning of family.

He kissed Baekhyun softly, innocently; deeply enough to shown his love and appreciation without any second intentions. The berserker looked at him a little in wonder and a little in surprise.

Sehun looked him in the eyes, the sweetest eyes he had known, and leaned his forehead against the shorter male’s one. He breathed in deeply, savory in his tongue the richness of Baekhyun’s smell.

“You are right. You are absolutely right. Home is where family is. Home is was we create with our family. You’re my home.”

The smile on Baekhyun’s face at hearing those words was blinding. It was as if few things had brought him such a state of the happiness he deserved.

“You’re my home, my berserker.”

They stood in their embrace for a long time. They didn’t really care, anyways. What they cared for was the love they had for each other and the happiness at finally figuring out that they had in the other their home.

All it matter was the love between a beta and a berserker: their love.

A/N: Annnnnd it's over? Can I cry? I am kinda feeling emotional on this one. Every single work I do is meaningful for me but this was the biggest story that I wrote, it has almost been a year since I started it and.... damn... it's over! After 700 kb and 490 pages, it's really over! I want to thank every single person who has taken the time to go on this journey with me and took the time to encourage me and to comment, upvote and all of these things: I appreciated and it made me very happy. It trully did! THANK YOU!
I am not going to spoil this chapter here and I am allowing you to read it and savor it instead! I hope you liked it, I hope you were taken on a journey and I hope to see you on my next story (I already began writing it, just haven't posted!).
I really can't say much more than this, I lack the proper words but, I'll repeat it again: THANK YOU!
I wish that you are safe and healthy, that you are loved, that you love other and that you love yourself. I hope that you are HAPPY!
Lots and lots and lots of love, it's been a pleasure!
<3