Jinyoung thought the cubs would give him and Mark the cold shoulder for the rest of his stay in Calovia, but the evening of the argument, the three of them huddled in a corner whispering until it was past time to go to sleep, and in the morning they were as sweet and charming as usual, though perhaps a bit exaggeratedly so. Palla and Nia handpicked Jinyoung berries to eat for his breakfast, and Tanie gathered up some wildflowers for him in the afternoon. Jinyoung wondered if they thought that if they proved themselves to be perfect little angels, he would change his mind about leaving, and it broke his heart all over again, though he tried not to show it on his face.

In the evening after they’d eaten, Tanie ambled up to Mark, an all-too-innocent expression on his face. “Papa?”

“Yes?”

“When I was playing today, I lost my ball in the dandelion fields. Could you go find it for me? I know I’m not supposed to go out after dark.”

“Was there any reason you didn’t look for it before it got dark, then?” Mark asked, looking slightly suspicious.

“Um, because I was tired?”

Mark sighed. “All right, then. Jinyoung, would you stay and watch the children?”

“Yes, I will.” These were the first words they’d spoken directly to each other all day.

“But Uncle Jinyoung, I need you to look for my doll for me,” Nia said quickly. “I also lost it in the dandelion field.”

“Why don’t I just look for it, then, since I’ll already be there?” Mark asked.

“Because it’s the doll Uncle Jinyoung made for me a few days ago and you don’t even know what it looks like.”

“I know what dolls in general look like.”

“But if you bring back the wrong one, I’ll never speak to you again,” Nia sniffed, looking very much like she meant it.

Mark sighed, glancing cautiously at Jinyoung. It was quite obvious the cubs were arranging for them to have alone time, perhaps hoping a stroll in the moonlight among the dandelions together would culminate in something that would make Jinyoung choose to stay.

Jinyoung knew there would be no peace for them if they didn’t agree to it. “Very well, I’ll look for your doll,” he told Nia.

“Thank you!” she beamed. “I love you so much, Uncle Jinyoung, forever and ever!”

He knew exactly what her game was, but knew at least that the last thing she’d said had been genuine, so let it slide. He followed Mark out into the night, taking in the crisp evening air. Perhaps it would be nice to get outside for a while, even if it was with someone he was having a hard time speaking to thanks to recent events.

Accordingly, they were both silent for the first minute of their walk, up until Mark at last broke the silence. “I’m sorry,” he said at length. “About everything. This shouldn’t have happened. I should know better than to bring someone into my children’s lives that won’t be able to stay. I should have known that it would only wind up hurting them and you.”

A little of Jinyoung’s earlier anger at Mark seeped away. “You did what you thought you had to, given that you thought Jaebum would have me executed.”

“Still. I misread my king’s intentions and brought you unnecessary trouble, so I’m sorry all the same.” He tipped his head back, looking up at the moon. “It was my fault you ended up here, when you should have been kept safe at home. I should have never insisted you help me recover my ability to walk. I should have sent you out of that cave the moment you cleansed the poison out of me. None of this would have happened.”

“But I wouldn’t have been able to cure Baekho, if I’d stayed,” Jinyoung reminded him. “You would have never figured out the cure, and-”

“I know.” Mark suddenly laughed bitterly. “I scold my children for being selfish, and here I am thinking selfishly as well. I just wish…” He didn’t finish his sentence, so Jinyoung was kept ignorant of whatever his wish was. They fell silent again.

This time, Jinyoung was the one to break it. “I hope you can help them understand, when I’m gone. That it wasn’t their fault that I had to go.”

“Which means they’ll blame me.”

“It isn’t your fault either. I’m not…I’m not ungrateful for everything you’ve done. I hope you understand that, too.”

“I would never accuse you of being ungrateful. But still…you are angry with me, aren’t you? No matter what you say, there has to be a part of you that wishes I hadn’t brought you here, too.”

“Yes,” Jinyoung said honestly. He didn’t vocalize the reason, but kept it in the safety of his head: it was very kind of you to make me feel at home here. But I already had a home, and now I’m always going to be torn between the two, for the rest of my life. Nothing is ever going to be the same, and I’ll never be able to truly go back.

They made it to the dandelion field and began searching for the ball and doll. It didn’t take long for Mark to find both, given that they carried the familiar scent of his children. The cubs had hidden the two items very deliberately under a pile of leaves, presumably to make it harder for them to find so they’d have to spend more time out together.

“Well, we found them, so shall we head back, then?” Jinyoung asked.

“I think they’ll get angry with us if we come back too quickly,” Mark noted.

“So then, what? We just stay out here?”

“Why not? It’s a nice night.” Mark surprised Jinyoung by sinking down to the ground and laying on his back among the dandelions, looking up at the stars. Jinyoung hesitated a moment, but did the same. The view of the stars was so much better than it had been in his hometown, where the tops of the buildings obscured so much. Here, the sky was open and sprawling, and the stars seemed endless in every direction.

“Can I ask you something, Jinyoung?” Mark asked at length.

“Yes, what is it?”

“It’s about Low Lofferin. What…what was it like? What was your home like?”

“It’s in the lowlands, in the valley between the mountains. It’s reasonably close to the capital, so it’s an important city trade-wise, and there’s a renowned university there, which I attended for my studies. All the same, it’s small enough to where everyone knows everyone and gossip spreads faster than you can blink your eyes. The people who live there are generally simple folk, but those outside the university enrollees tend to be a bit superstitious and honestly a bit backwards in a lot of their thinking. I suppose it’s because we’re a bit isolated from the rest of civilization, since it’s a bit of a chore making the climb to High Lofferin.” Jinyoung paused. “Why did you want to know?”

“It’s where my father grew up. He wanted to bring us back there one day. He thought it might help things between our people if others saw how we lived together just like any other family, even though we were different. He thought it would help the humans understand us better if they lived everyday beside beasts and recognized there’s as much inside us that’s alike as unalike.”

“But you never went?”

Mark shook his head. “We packed to leave and traveled into the mountain pass to go there. But…on the way, we ran across hunters who threatened my mother. My father tried to defend her, but…” He shivered. “They killed him instead. My mother went wild, almost as if she had sipped that corrupted water your teacher uses. But the only thing corrupting her was grief. She killed the hunters and took me straight back to Calovia. Your father was an exception among humans, she told me. The others will never understand. They’ll never learn.” He took a breath. “I was angry, too. They had taken my father from me. But I was still half a human all the same. I wanted to believe in them. I wanted to believe they could understand, if they just opened their hearts and minds and listened. I wanted to believe the same of the beasts who hated humans with the same fervor humans hated us. I wanted to believe that if we never met those hunters, I would have grown up in Low Lofferin and made friends with humans and maybe had them as voices of support in the human tribes when things got strained between our people.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jinyoung said quietly.

Mark shook his head. “It’s not the fault of people like you. Like I said before, after that time at the pride gathering, you are a human cut from the same cloth as my father. I have more faith now that things can change from what they are, because I met you.” He cleared his throat. “You’re probably wondering why I’m saying this. I’m not trying to soothe whatever anger towards me you have, or make you forgive me for bringing an imbalance to your life. What I want to say is…when I said I wished I had let you go the moment you cleansed me of the poison, that wasn’t true. I am glad you came here. I am glad for the pieces of faith you brought back to me. I am glad to have been your shield from harm in what little way I can, as my father gave his life to shield my mother and I. And…just as my children will miss you when you are gone, so will I miss you, Healer Jinyoung. I will never look for you on the opposite side of the battlefield, but I hope if we look for you in times of peace, we may one day find you again.”

Tears returned to Jinyoung's eyes again, entirely different from the ones he’d shed before. His heart felt unlike it ever had in his life, so full and turbulent that it felt like a real weight within him. Mark was surely trying to make him feel better, so why did he feel so much worse at these kind words? Why couldn’t the things that should make him feel happy actually make him happy instead of purely miserable?

Still, he didn’t want to return the kindness with bitterness, even though it was most of what he felt. Instead, he swallowed the painful feelings down and reached deep into the part of himself that understood and shared Mark’s sentiment in spite of the turmoil it brought.

“I’m never going to be the same as who I was when I entered that cave where you were,” Jinyoung said in a wavering voice. “Whatever the result is, knowing you has changed me permanently, and I’ll always carry that with me, no matter where life takes me.”

“But is that a good or a bad thing?” Mark asked, seemingly trying to keep his tone light.

“It’s too early to say. But I… I am glad as well, to have known you. I am glad I didn’t carry on with my life thinking the Red Death was the greatest of my enemies rather than the fiercest but yet the gentlest of my protectors. You are…a very good man. I will make sure that this knowledge isn’t lost on my people, when I return home.”

“Heh. I doubt very much they’ll believe a word you say. That you lived among lions and played hide and seek with them? Who would believe it?”

“Maybe they will believe it. And maybe one day little lions will also call Low Lofferin home and play hide and seek with the human children.” Jinyoung smiled, at long last his heart feeling just the slightest bit lighter.  The rescue mission wasn’t exactly an absolute endpoint after all. There would be a future to build after it, and hopefully a closer joining between Mark’s world and Jinyoung’s. Maybe that would be something he could do when he returned to his hometown. Maybe he could cure it of its own deeply rooted corruption of prejudice and misunderstandings and make it something better. Maybe he could work to assure there would never again be a single battlefield he and Mark would risk meeting on the opposite side of.

“That is a dream I would very much like to see come true.” Mark stretched and rose to his feet. “It’s probably safe to go back now, though I have a feeling the cubs will be doing a repeat performance of this until the time comes for us to go to the highlands. Would you do something for me, Jinyoung?”

“Yes?”

“I know you have your own share of sadness, but I hope you’ll help me make this last month here together with the cubs a happy one. As a father, I hate being behind a single one of their tears.”

“I as well.” Jinyoung also stood up. “And I promise. I’ll treasure every moment that’s left.”

And so he did, though the days passed far too quickly for his liking. He and Mark tried to spend as much time as possible with the cubs when they weren’t planning for their mission, but every second with them felt fleeting, and time felt like it was rushing forward like a gushing stream to the day where he’d have to say goodbye. The children smiled and laughed as normal, but he could see the worry in their eyes as well and the urgency when days passed and their father still hadn’t given them word that Jinyoung was intending to stay as his mate like they wanted.

One afternoon, about a week before they were set to depart, Nia stayed home while the rest of the family went hunting to help Jinyoung stitch vials of the Feral cure into a sash so he could sneak them into the High Laboratorium without risking them being confiscated. As soon as her papa and siblings were gone, she plopped down in front of Jinyoung, the look in her eyes determined and purposeful.

“Uncle Jinyoung,” she said in a very firm and authoritative voice. “You should absolutely marry Papa.”

“Oh?” he asked. “Absolutely should I?”

“Yes. I have reasons. Papa is very handsome, and because he is General, he is very important and close friends with Uncle Jaebum. He is also very good at hunting, so you will always have food. Our den is very comfortable and nice. He’s not as much of a barva—barbarian as other beasts like Uncle Jackson. If you teach him, he could even learn to be a gentleman. Also, if you marry Papa, you will have me as a daughter. If you marry someone else, you may have a daughter, but she will not be me, and I will not like that at all and I think you will also find that you are disappointed by her not being as good of a daughter as me.”

Jinyoung tussled Nia’s hair. “There’s a problem, though, you know.”

“What?”

“You are supposed to marry the person you love. I do not think your Papa is in love with me.”

“Yes, he is.”

“No, he isn’t.”

“Yes, he is.”

“No, he most certainly isn’t. Why on earth would you think he was?”

“Because he cried!” Nia said triumphantly. “It was when you were out gathering herbs and he thought me and Palla and Tanie were out playing. I came in the den to get my doll and Papa was sitting in your cot and crying.”

“Why does that have anything to do with me?”

“What else would he be crying about?”

“There are as many reasons to cry as there are stars in the sky.”

“Not for Papa. Papa is a grown up. Grown ups don’t cry over nothing.”

“But sometimes they do.”

“Not Papa. Papa has a reason for everything.”

Jinyoung sighed. “Well…regardless, to marry, your papa and I would need to be in love with each other. I like your papa, but I wouldn’t say I’m in love with him.”

Nia looked at him a little coldly. “Liar.”

“Excuse me?”

"LI-AR! You are so in love with Papa!”

“Again, I don’t know why on earth you would think that.”

“Yesterday, Papa your chin to thank you for making dinner, and you dropped the stew pot and blushed.”

“I was surprised,” Jinyoung said defensively. "Humans don't each other to say thank you, so it's hard for me to get used to."

“He’s the only one of us you can recognize by smell.”

“That’s because he rubs his scent glands on me every other day.”

“I know. I watched him do it the last time, and you were all twitchy and nervous!” Nia’s tone again sounded triumphant.

Jinyoung didn’t exactly know how to refute this. The first time Mark had gone through the ritual of putting his scent on Jinyoung, Jinyoung had merely been confused and had barely felt it in a deeper sense in the slightest. The subsequent times, he’d mainly been annoyed at the continued necessity of it. The past month had been entirely different, however. Nowadays, Jinyoung could barely stand still while Mark went through the motions of rubbing his chin all across his skin. Jinyoung had become uncomfortably aware of his own during this process at some point as well, although he’d grown up accustomed to removing his clothes to bathe in public without caring who saw him. Every time Mark tried to travel lower on his body to mark his scent, Jinyoung would whack him on the head and tell him the top half was enough, to which Mark reminded him if they were mating in actuality, his scent would be all over Jinyoung’s lower half. This earned him yet another whack in the head from Jinyoung.

But being awkward about that didn’t mean he was in love with Mark. It merely meant he was uncomfortable with someone he was on friendly terms with having to be overly intimate with him, which to him signaled he wasn’t in love with Mark in the slightest.

“You’ll understand these things when you’re older,” Jinyoung said. “Discomfort and love are not even close to being the same thing.”

“Hmph,” Nia said. Under her breath she said, “You grown ups are the dumb ones.”

As the day of departure crept closer, Jinyoung noticed that the children were acting less and less urgent and desperate, contrary to what he would have thought. They didn't seem fully resigned to or accepting of the fact he was going, but at the same time, they weren't erupting into tears and tantrums at the fact that they hadn't yet found a way to make him stay. On one hand, it made it a little easier for Jinyoung that they weren't constantly stirring up sensitive emotions, but it still made him a little sad that their resistance was weakening to the point where they'd be able to let him go when they needed to.

And then at last, the day itself came. They were meant to meet Jaebum and the others in his court where they were waiting, but before then, they would need to get the cubs settled with the family who would be looking after them while Mark was gone. 

"I'll take them," Mark said. "I thought you might like to say your goodbyes without an audience."

Jinyoung nodded in gratitude. Palla was first in line, and he swooped her up into his arms, holding her close. Immediately after looking into her small and sweet face, he felt tears welling up in his eyes. There was so much expressiveness in the children’s eyes and smiles, and he wanted to memorize every little detail so he would never forget them, but it felt so hopeless. Time had an unavoidable way of erasing the little things, and it wouldn’t be long before it snatched away the memory of the exact softness of Palla’s curls in this moment or the way the morning sun made her skin so perfectly warm. And maybe it was fitting—she would be growing and changing and evolving more and more with each passing day, so who was he to try and lock her down in a moment and keep her exactly as he remembered her?

Jinyoung blinked back his tears and swallowed down the lump in his throat. "I'm sure one day I'll hear your name spoken of as the finest warrior of the beast tribe, just like your Papa, Palla," he said. "But until then, I hope you'll be good and won't pick on your little brother too much."

"We'll see," Palla said, Jinyoung on his chin. "You can see me fight again when you come back, Uncle Jinyoung."

Jinyoung sighed. After all that had been said and done, they were still insisting on believing he was coming back? "Palla..."

"Uncle Youngjae left, but he's coming back. Papa will find and rescue you, too, just like Uncle Jaebum is rescuing the mate he loves." She him again, smiling. "Lions mate for life. We never leave the people we love behind. Ever. And Uncle Jinyoung, you're a lion, too. Elder Kahana says."

"Codswallop," Jinyoung said. "Where are my ears and claws?"

"In your heart, of course!" She wriggled in his arms, and Jinyoung set her back down. "And I'm the one who gets to say when things are codswallop!" Then she stuck out her tongue and flounced off without saying goodbye.

Tanie took her place, straining his arms upwards to Jinyoung so Jinyoung would lift him. Once Tanie was in Jinyoung's arms, he snuggled against his chest. "I love you, Uncle Jinyoung," he said, in that simple way he had.

"I love you, too, Tanie." Palla had made him smile, but now his eyes were stinging again. Tanie was at the age where he’d be growing like a beansprout. Within months, he’d likely look entirely different than the little boy Jinyoung had known. He could grow any number of different ways, but Jinyoung wouldn’t get to see who he’d become.

“Nia and Palla told me not to say goodbye,” Tanie informed him.

“Did they?”

“They said it was unlucky. We said goodbye to our first mama and papa, and they didn’t come back. But we never say goodbye to Papa, but he always comes back to us. So we’re not going to say goodbye to you, Uncle Jinyoung.”

“Am I not allowed to say goodbye either, then?”

“Nope. Because I’m gonna grow a mane like Papa and learn how to roar, and I want to show you when I do. I asked Uncle Baekho to teach me how to build stuff too since he’s really strong and really good at making stuff, so I’ll also get really big muscles, too, and maybe next time I can even build you a biiiiiiig bed like humans sleep in instead of a cot and you’re gonna love it so much and-”

The chatter streamed out of him like water from a pitcher, and though his shared certainty with Palla that Jinyoung was coming back brought another pang to Jinyoung's heart, it made him happy to hear all of Tanie’s plans. It made it easier to conceptualize him into the adult he’d one day become, with a thick, golden mane and strong form, maybe not always the cleverest, but good and hardworking.

When Tanie’s flood of chatter at last went dry, he Jinyoung’s face until they were both giggling. Jinyoung planted a kiss on his forehead, and set him down, keeping his promise not to say goodbye.

As soon as Tanie was out of his arms, Nia launched into them, looping her arms around his neck and squeezing him tight. “Papa,” she said in a thick voice. “I don’t care what you say, you’re my Papa.”

“Nia,” Jinyoung said in a soft voice. “It really means a lot to me that you would say that, but…”

“No buts. I know I don’t get to choose for you and for Papa, but I get to choose for me.” She pulled away a little, then reached out and grabbed a part of his tunic. It was not one of the ones he’d been given since coming to Calovia, but the one he’d worn when he’d first arrived. “Can I have a piece of this?” she asked.

“What for?”

“I want to sew something, like how you taught me.”

“What do you want to sew?”

“A blanket,” she said. “I want this to be part of the center.”

Jinyoung liked that thought, both of her having a little something to remember him by and of her using it to make something he had taught her about. “All right, you can have a piece.”

He set her down, and she pulled out little scissors from the little sewing kit she’d had Jinyoung stitch to the belt of her dress. Carefully, she cut out a section of Jinyoung’s shirt, folded it neatly, and tucked it into her bag.

“Thank you, Papa,” she said, smiling. “I’ll make something really beautiful.”

Like her siblings, she didn’t say goodbye, but ran over to Mark and clutched his hand tightly. It was time for them to go. Jinyoung’s heart ached with the desire to make some sort of farewell just for the sake of formality and closure, but he resisted. Instead, he looked up into Mark’s eyes, which looked far more vulnerable than they usually did.

“Thank you,” Mark mouthed to him. It was just two words, unspoken, but Jinyoung could still feel the weight of sincere meaning in them. He nodded. Thank you, he thought in the privacy of his head. For letting me be a part of this family for the short time we had together.

Jaebum, Jackson, Yugyeom, and BamBam were waiting for him at court, ready for their march back to the highlands. It felt like an eternity since he’d been there last, trapped in his freezing cage and escorted by hyenas and their sing-song questioning. “The Inquisitors aren’t coming along to deal with Hyun when we find him?” Jinyoung asked.

“They wanted to, but the General vetoed it,” Jaebum said. “He thinks they’d eat you, if he turned his back.”

“They probably would, too,” Jackson said. “If we ever manage to make allies out of the human tribes, we’ll still have to keep the hyenas far and away from them.”

“I’d appreciate it if you kept them far and away from the bird tribes, too,” BamBam said.

“As if you have any room to judge another beast for having a disgusting diet,” Yugyeom teased.

“Oh come on, you yourself constantly and cough up your own fur, and don’t think I haven’t noticed you your lips whenever you see me in crow form.”

“It’s because he thinks you’re y,” Jackson said.

“Do not!” Yugyeom protested.

Jinyoung smiled. At the very least, spending time with the lieutenants would keep him from getting too gloomy on the road.

About ten minutes later, Mark returned from dropping the children off. There was a determined set to his jaw, and Jinyoung saw that he was firmly back in role as General, all other emotions aside. He was going to see them through the rescue mission to the best of his capabilities and end the war between both halves of his blood once and for all. The three lieutenants immediately became serious upon seeing him, too, their chatter and jokes instantly quieting.

“The time has come, then,” Mark said in a low voice. “We’re going to take back the Sacred Prince stolen from us two years ago and bring the human traitor to his knees, begging for mercy we will not give. The war ends with us, and we will do our duty to bring peace back to these lands. Are you ready for our final mission?”

“Aye!” Jackson, Yugyeom, and BamBam said in unison.

“I’ve awaited this day for a long time,” Jaebum said in a voice like hard iron. “After this, no one will ever dare separate me from my mate again or threaten my people with extinction.”

Mark turned to Jinyoung, gently taking his hand. “I will keep my promise to you,” he said in a low voice for only Jinyoung to hear.

“Yes,” Jinyoung said in a cracked voice. “I trust you.”

Mark held on to his hand a few moments longer before finally letting it go. “Let us go, then.”

The beasts of their group started the journey in human form to keep pace with Jinyoung, who was the slowest among them, but BamBam flew overhead to scout for them. The first part of the journey would be through beast territory, so they likely wouldn’t run into any danger, but things would be much more precarious when they reached the mountain passes. The humans were most likely coming out of their shelters now that the winter was ending, and the army would be reassembling in preparation for the arrival of the beast and bird forces they assumed would still be coming. There were almost certainly look-outs stationed that they would have to avoid being spotted by.

The first day of travel was largely uneventful. They made good progress, and when night fell, Mark and Jackson went hunting. Because they were still in beast territory, it was safe to build a fire so Jinyoung could enjoy the meat as well, and he enjoyed a very filling supper. The night was comfortable in temperature enough that he didn’t need to curl up with any of the beasts for warmth, though as soon as he laid down his bedroll, a shifted Mark immediately padded up to him, laying down next to him.

“The others will think it strange if we sleep apart,” Mark said in a low voice. “If you don’t mind, may I stay beside you tonight?”

Jinyoung rolled over to look at him. “Are we not intending to tell them? That we were never mates after all, and I’m going back to Low Lofferin after this?”

Mark shook his head. “If you think my children were bad, you’re not ready for the wrath Jaebum will come up with if he learns we tried to trick him. Nevermind the fact that Jackson will either whine at me for letting you go for the whole trip, or attempt to woo you for himself just to annoy me.”

“Would that annoy you?” Jinyoung asked before he could stop himself.

Mark didn’t answer immediately, just looked back at Jinyoung with his beautiful amber eyes. For some reason, Jinyoung’s heart started pounding in the silence. He didn’t know what he was expecting or even what he wanted to hear. He only knew something in him wanted something that he couldn’t yet define the terms of.

It felt like a long, agonizing wait before Mark finally spoke. “That doesn’t matter,” he said. “More than any other want I have, I want you to be free. I want you to be bound by nothing, no promises and no debts, and I want you to choose for yourself what will make you happy. I’ll be happy with whatever that is, if you can be.”

“I’m not sure I know how to be happy,” Jinyoung said, surprising himself. This was a private thought he’d had, not something he’d ever meant to share.

“What do you mean?”

“I…I don’t know. Because every time I feel happiness, I feel sadness too, so is it really even happiness?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? Why does it need to be any less real than your sadness to you?”

Jinyoung nodded. He didn’t know. Maybe that had been his problem. There had been so much he hadn't known, and he'd never tried to look too deeply for answers.

“You can stay with me tonight,” Jinyoung said, answering the question he hadn’t earlier.

“Thank you.”

“But they’re going to find out eventually.”

“I’ll handle it. You’ll have enough to contend with when you’re back in Low Lofferin. I won’t burden you with that.” He rested his chin on his paws. “You should get some sleep,” he said.

“You as well.”

“Yes.” But he kept looking at Jinyoung with those amber eyes of his, and Jinyoung kept looking back up until his eyes dragged closed with exhaustion and he finally gave into his need for sleep.

The second, third, and fourth days of travel were as uneventful as the first, though as they moved closer into human territory, it got colder and they were less able to build cook fires due to the possibility they’d be spotted. Rather than sleeping just at Jinyoung’s side, Mark was now curling around him in his lion form to keep him warm, just as he had during the first journey. It felt as different as night and day from the first time, where Jinyoung had been exhausted and afraid and had shamelessly burrowed into Mark’s fur, desperate for any bit of warmth he could get. Now he felt cautious, and was tentative about his movements and how he touched Mark, awkwardly aware that touching Mark in this form was very much akin to running his hands along his skin in his human form. Mark didn’t seem to have the same sense of shyness, and was always trying to arrange for Jinyoung to nestle his head against his mane for optimum warmth, even though it brought their faces uncomfortably close together.

On the morning of the fifth day, Jinyoung and Mark were tasked with breaking up camp while Jaebum, Jackson, and Yugyeom went hunting and BamBam scouted ahead for human activity. Jinyoung loaded up his pack, and Mark took care of sweeping up any obvious tracks they had left, mostly in silence so as not to draw any attention if there happened to be humans in the area that BamBam had failed to spot.

Mark finished his work before Jinyoung, and went over to crouch down beside him. Jinyoung thought he might offer to help, but instead he cleared his throat softly and whispered, “Jinyoung? I have a foolish question for you.”

“I was told in university that foolish questions do not exist,” Jinyoung whispered back. “Ask me what you like.”

“It’s always so cold in the highlands. I’m usually only there in my capacity as General, where I spend most of my time in lion form and do not feel the chill so greatly, but…if peace should come, and it ever becomes possible for beasts to be here without conflict…I wonder…” He extended his hands, palms facing down. “Is there anything that can be done about these? In the highlands, my hands get so cold I can barely move them. It is a great inconvenience.”

Jinyoung felt himself smiling at the simplicity of this kind of question. “Many humans wear gloves or mittens in the winter. I usually do, but I did not have them with me when I was brought to you…they were left behind in my camp. You don’t have these in Calovia?”

“Are those the hand cloths I have seen humans wear before? It is warm in Calovia, so there is no need. Also…” He nodded to his fingers, which ended in sharp claws. “I think we would just put holes in them, if we wore them.”

“Then perhaps you should have a talk with Nia, when you get back, about a glove or mitten design made special for beasts. She’s so clever, I’m sure she’d think of something.” Jinyoung pressed his own hands together. “Sometimes rubbing your hands together like this can make them feel warmer. Or blowing on them with the warmer air in your body. Or…” Spontaneously, he took Mark’s hands and entwined them with his own. “Another person can provide a little warmth, too.”

Mark looked down at their joined hands. “Yes,” he said quietly. “Your skin has always been the warmest thing I've ever touched.” He looked back up at Jinyoung. Jinyoung had always thought his eyes were beautiful, but never as beautiful as they were now. It felt very suddenly hard to breathe. They were up in the mountains where the air was thinner, but Jinyoung didn’t feel like that was it. It felt more like when he drank too much and the world felt dazed and hazy, and he might say something he shouldn’t say or do something crazy like…

Jinyoung’s eyes slipped to Mark’s lips, and the moment he realized what was happening, he dropped Mark’s hands and lept to his feet, his face flushed and his heart pounding. What am I doing?, he screamed internally. What was that? He knew whatever it was, he didn’t want it—or at least his head didn’t. His body seemed to be telling another story. His hands were freezing from the loss of Mark’s touch, and his body as a whole was aching with the want of something he couldn’t let it feel.

No. No. No, this isn’t possible. This has to be a mistake.

“Jinyoung?” Mark said questioningly.

“I…I need to…” Jinyoung stammered, gesturing vaguely down the path. “I need to relieve myself. Please, excuse me.”

With that said, Jinyoung bolted down the path and into the treeline, throwing himself against the trunk of a nearby pine. He could barely focus on his thoughts through the slam of his heart. He pressed a hand over it as if that could still it, but it didn’t, and letting his mind slip back to what likely had caused it to act up in the first place made it worse. The second his eyes had looked at Mark’s lips, something had happened to him. He knew that. But connecting the dots between the cause and the effect would lead to an answer he wasn’t sure he could accept. Because wasn’t this something he was feeling awfully like…

Before the word could formulate fully in his mind, there was a whoosh overhead, and two figures landed beside him, having jumped down from the branches of the tree Jinyoung had been leaning against. They were human scouts, with bows and quivers hooked onto their back.

“Very foolish of you to go off on your own,” one of the scouts said in a lazy, drawling voice as he looked Jinyoung up and down. “We were arguing about whether we should risk ambushing you and the lion, but just you on your own is easy pickings. Might even lead the lion into a trap if he comes looking for you.”

“But what’s a human like you doing with the beasties, I wonder?” the second asked. He had a scar running down the length of his face, and a bloodthirsty look in his eyes. “We saw you getting rather close to that lion—imagine that, a human playing sweethearts with the Red Death. You have a taste for animals, eh, beast-lover?”

“W-What do you want?” Jinyoung stammered out. He was shaking like a leaf. He knew without question they were going to kill him. Either immediately, or after using him as bait to lure out his companions. He needed to run or scream out a warning for Mark to stay away until he could regroup with the others, but knew that would only make them kill him faster.

“We don’t want you at all,” the scout with the lazy voice said. “We want the beasties. Thought it would be nice to add a wolf and a lion to Hyun’s collection. The Red Death would make for an unbeatable soldier, and the wolf…well, Hyun happens to particularly hate wolves. He might enjoy a little experiment or two on that one.”

“But we don’t have any uses for a beast-lover traitor,” the scout with the scar said. “Except maybe doing a little experiment in the process of turning you into a corpse for the beasties to find." He pulled a little vial out of his pocket. “Hyun's been working on fixing up that water to work on half-beasties and people with human blood like that half-beastie king who tricked his way into the crown. But he’s pretty sure this latest sample would just wind up killing the half-breed. We can find out for him, if a little drink of this will turn you into a mad man or a dead one.”

Suddenly, without warning, the first scout grabbed Jinyoung and wrapped an arm around his neck, wrenching his jaw open. The second scout unstoppered the vial and stepped closer to Jinyoung, a poisonous grin on his face. Jinyoung resisted violently, flailing his arms and kicking his legs, but the grip on him was far too strong.

“Now, now, don’t fight,” the scarred scout laughed. “Better to lose your life than live it like you’ve chosen. Consorting with beasties, forgetting your humanity. You ing reek of them—maybe you’ll turn Feral, after all. Let’s find out, shall we?” He swished the liquid in the vial back and forth in front of Jinyoung’s eyes, laughing.

Jinyoung’s heart sunk to the deepest pit inside of himself. This is it, he realized. It’s all going to end. Without me having said my goodbyes to the cubs. Without ever getting to be happy without the sadness clinging to it. Without ever having told Mark…without having said to him…without him knowing…

He was going to die, and there was no point denying it to himself when he wasn’t going to have a self to lie to in seconds. The truth a part of him had always known but the rest of him had hidden from was that Mark asking him not to leave, but to instead stay and be his mate and the father of his children, was what he had been wanting and waiting for in the last months of miserable hungering for words that would never come.

And now he would never know if such a thing could ever be possible. He’d die just moments after accepting the feeling of love he’d refused to acknowledge for so long, and he’d never taste the sweetness of it, and end his life with the bitterness of it still on his lips. He would never get to explore it or confess it or see if it could turn from something hopeless into something beautiful. It would be killed along with him, and all he’d leave Mark was an unfilled promise and the torture of a blood debt that would never be repaid.

“Bottom’s up,” the scout said, brushing the bottle against Jinyoung’s lips. Jinyoung desperately turned his face away, the thought of Mark filling him with increased panic—no, I can’t die like this, I can’t leave him behind, I can’t let him think he’s failed me, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t… But the other scout forced Jinyoung’s head back in place, pulling his jaw down harder, shoving a finger inside his mouth to prevent him from clenching his teeth against the liquid in the vial.

And then, just as he felt a cool brush of liquid on his lips, a thunderous sound filled the air around him. Jinyoung had heard Mark’s roars before, but this one sounded even more terrible than that roar of agony that had shuddered through the cave before Jinyoung had ever seen him face to face. That roar had been laced with pain, but this one was pure fury, a deadly sound that could turn a man’s blood cold in an instant. But not Jinyoung’s. He instead felt his heart soaring with hope.

The scarred scout dropped the vial, and it shattered on the ground. The other scout’s grip went slack. Over the shoulder of the scarred scout, Jinyoung could see Mark poised to pounce, his teeth bared and his eyes blazing with the intent to kill.

A second later, Mark sprang on the scarred scout, tackling him to the ground. There was a blur of movement and an agonized scream, and then a spray of blood. The remaining scout cursed, threw Jinyoung to the ground, and whipped out his bow. "Don't come any closer, or I'll shoot!" he yelled in a cracking voice. His hand was quivering, the aim of his arrow unsteady.

"You'll shoot me," Mark said in a rumbling voice. "And your pitiful human weapon will leave a tiny scratch that will heal in a day. A small price to pay for Jinyoung's life. The price you will pay is far greater, for daring to lay a hand on him. Your blood will drip from my mouth, human, and I'll relish the taste of it. So go on. Shoot me."

The scout's shaking grew even worse, and he visibly gulped. In the blink of an eye, he shifted the aim of his bow and arrow to Jinyoung. "I-I'll shoot him!"

"A foolish decision. I was going to give you a quick death. And now you've just lost your chance."

There was no chance for the scout to react or release his bow before Mark had leapt forward, grabbing the bow in his mouth and biting it in two so the wood splintered into pieces. The scout stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, his mouth open but unable to do more than whimper pitifully. Mark slammed his paws into his shoulders, claws stabbing into his flesh. Finally, the scout began to scream in earnest, but Mark drowned him out with a violent roar in his face. He scratched across his chest, enough to maim but not enough to kill, then drew back as the human's blood drained and he wailed in pain.

"Kill me," he screamed. "Just kill me, please!"

"Mark," Jinyoung said, voice straining. "It's enough. Just kill him."

Mark rumbled lowly for a moment, then stepped forward again towards the scout's writhing body. As with the first, Mark ripped his throat out, soaking his maw in warm blood. And then he threw his head back and released another roar, one not of victory but of anger not yet fully unleashed in those few brief minutes it had taken him to kill Jinyoung’s attackers.

“Mark,” Jinyoung said again, lifting himself up from where he’d been pushed. “It’s over. It’s fine.”

“They would have killed you,” Mark said, his voice filled with rage. “These scum would have…would have…”

“I’m here,” Jinyoung said. He was still shaking, but he stumbled over to Mark. Mark was dripping with the blood of the humans, but Jinyoung ignored it, throwing his arms around Mark’s neck to steady him. “It’s all right. I’m fine. It’s over. You saved me. I’m here.”

Mark’s breathing was rapid, but little by little it began to slow as Jinyoung held onto him. After a moment, he tentatively pressed his mane against Jinyoung’s cheek. “Did I frighten you?” he asked, his voice again the gentle note it normally was. “Does it make you hate me, to see me behaving like a monster?”

“No,” Jinyoung said firmly. “I’m glad they’re dead. They deserved a thousand more deaths beyond what you could give them.”

Mark went silent for a moment, his breathing slowing further. “I thought it would be like with my father,” he said. “I thought I’d have to watch you die. I thought…”

Jinyoung pulled away, looking him in the eye. “I’m here,” he said again. “You didn’t let me die. I’m not going to go anywhere.”

He wanted to tell him, too, the extent to which he meant that now. That if Mark didn’t want him to go, he’d be happy to never leave his side. He’d go back to Calovia. He’d return to their den. He’d become his mate in every sense, his life partner, a father to his children, the one he slept with and made love to and had as his own for life.

He didn’t know how and when it had started. Maybe the pride gathering, when Mark had told him his background and said that Jinyoung was the reason he still had faith in humans. Maybe it had been before then. Maybe it had been all the way back when Mark had instinctively stepped between him and the hyenas. When Mark had broken into his cage to give him warmth. When Mark had been willing to challenge his own king to assure Jinyoung would not be harmed, even though Jaebum had been a beloved friend for most of his life and Jinyoung had been little more than a stranger.

But before he could even begin to pull out the words to express what was going through his head, Jinyoung heard a caw overhead. Before long, BamBam had swooped down, and Jaebum, Yugyeom, and Jaebum were running down the sloping road towards them and the scene of carnage Mark had left behind.

“What happened?” Jaebum asked, glancing from the corpses on the ground to Mark’s blood smeared face to the places on Jinyoung where blood had transferred from Mark or sprayed from his victims.

“Two men thought they’d hurt Jinyoung to get to us,” Mark said in a tight voice. “They learned for a brief moment just how fatal a mistake that was. Then they died.” He shifted to his human form, wiping the blood from his lips. “If anyone tries that again, I’ll teach them the exact same lesson. For now, there’s no one else here. We’re free to go.”

“You don’t want to rest…?” Jackson asked feebly.

“No. I want to finish this. I want to kill the human that is empowering the other humans to be like this.” He gestured to the two bodies. “I want to complete this mission, and then…” His eyes darted momentarily to Jinyoung.

Ask me to stay, Jinyoung thought. And then ask me to stay. ​But the sentence was left dangling, and it was time for them to move on and continue their journey.