“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Chanyeol chanted loudly with each step he took, making the dry twigs and leaves that covered the forest floor crunch and pop loudly under his feet.

He was ranting at himself but he blamed Kyungsoo for his current predicament. Actually, no. He blamed their father, the head alpha, who refused to choose one of them as his successor, forcing this never-ending rivalry between him and his half-brother.

Earlier that day, he’d made the mistake of flinching just the tiniest bit when Kyungsoo had pretended like he was going to punch him. Kyungsoo was delighted by the slip and used it as an excuse to begin calling him names and to joke in front of the other alphas that Chanyeol should stay with the omegas and do sissy work while they went hunting like real men.

Chanyeol felt a surge of heat bubble up within him as he thought about the taunts and everyone laughing at him again. The whole thing made him want to tear Kyungsoo to pieces, but unfortunately, he hadn't been able to best the other in hand to hand combat yet. So instead, he’d opened his big fat stupid mouth to try to defend himself, and ended up on this ridiculous mission to prove how brave he was.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that he’d left the living part of the forest and was crossing the glade that separated it from a section on the western edge of his pack's territory, an area they called The Dead Forest, which had burned in a great fire long ago and been deemed unlivable since then. Except, someone did live there now...

Chanyeol switched from chanting to doing a high-pitched mocking imitation of his own voice. “I'm a big bad alpha.