Junmyeon ushered everyone inside, handing Hae In over to Chanyeol for him to carry her inside. Kyungsoo didn’t let go of you for even a second as he guided you back up onto the porch and through the door. No one could really speak as the wolves and mates settled down in the living. None of the wolves had walked away from the fight unscathed. All of them had cuts, scratches, and newly forming bruises all over their faces, chests, and everywhere else there was exposed skin.

Sitting down on the floor, you tried to remain focused, but your mind kept up bringing images of the fight the boys just went through. Even with Kyungsoo by your side, you couldn’t banish the made up scenarios from your head. Your brain could be very cruel.

“Yixing,” Junmyeon sighed as he sat down in the leather arm chair. “Can you patch everyone up?”

Yixing, with a busted lip and newly forming bruise near his left eye, nodded, but Ming wasn’t having any of it.

“They can look after themselves,” she argued. “Just let him rest.”

“Ming,” Yixing scolded. He gently removed her hands from around his arm. “I’ll go get the kit.” He stood up and walked out of the room, ignoring Ming’s protests.

Kyungsoo grabbed a hold of your waist and picked you up before settling in you down in his lap. He kissed your shoulder and seemed to be breathing you in as his nose caressed your neck. Your body let go of all it’s tension, letting you relax into his chest. He was alive, that was all that mattered.

Soon enough, Yixing came back with several kits, starting with Chanyeol who seemed to be the worst off. Hae In scooted over to give them room, having calmed down just a bit. She still trembled, but the tears that fell down now were silent.  

Hanging his head in his hands, Junmyeon took several deep breaths. He sat up and rubbed his hands together. “Okay. Decision making time.”

“Well, obviously we’re going after them,” Chanyeol said defiantly. He flinched when Yixing pulled particularly hard on the wrap around his arm.

“We don’t even know where they are,” Jongdae pointed out. Jiyoung was leaning against his shoulder, rubbing her thumb across his knuckles.

“We have to give it a shot,” Sehun argued.

Kris came stumbling through the door. You hadn’t even realized that he was even missing among the group. He was barely dressed in a ripped up t-shirt and boxer shorts.

“I was able follow one of them to an abandoned house,” he huffed. He must have heard the tail end of the conversation with his super wolf hearing. Or he was just informing the group where he’d been. “I could smell Baekhyun, too.”

Junmyeon set his jaw. “Then it’s settled. We’re going after him. Everyone, you have the night to heal up and then at dawn we head out. Kris, can I speak with you?”

The latter nodded, following the alpha out of the room. While everyone else stayed put to wait on Yixing to patch them up as their mates dotted on them, Kyungsoo picked you up, carrying you over to the stairs. Junmyeon and Kris were talking in hushed whispers in the kitchen, but you didn’t catch any of it before you were out of earshot.

“Put me down,” you whined. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m not that bad,” he countered in a hushed voiced. You didn’t believe him, but being in his arms felt too good to continue to fight it.

As smoothly as he could, he opened the door to his bedroom, and closed it behind him before carefully depositing you on the bed. Not bothering to take off his own clothes, he pulled your shoes off and buried you under the covers. He joined you not even a second later, pulling you in close.

You managed to free your arm from his hold, bringing your fingers up to his face, and traced the harsh red lines on his cheeks. Miraculously, they were already beginning to close, the bleeding long over.

“They’ll be healed by morning,” he whispered.

Chewing on your bottom lip, you tried to believe him. He knew his body and supernatural gifts better than you, but that didn’t drive away your anxiety.

“When that door closed on you,” you whispered. “I… I thought-” Unable to continue, you buried your face in his chest, trying not to let him hear how you sniffed back the tears.

“Shh,” he comforted, running his fingers through your hair and trailing his fingers down your back. “I’m here. That’s all that matters. I came back to you.”

Lifting your head, you didn’t hold back as you yanked on the collar of his raggedy shirt, bringing him to you. You released all your anxiety and worry for him into the kiss, feeling hurried as if someone might come in and take him away from you at any second.

Kyungsoo kissed you back just as fiercely. Sitting you up, he tugged off your sweater, leaving only your camisole as his hands roamed underneath, making sure every inch of your skin was touched and looked after.

You pressed yourself into him, swinging your leg over his lap, eliminating any space between the two you. Needing to even the field, you pulled off his shirt, throwing the useless rag somewhere that was out of your way. You could feel your lips swelling up as you drank him in.

Your lungs soon ran out of air and you broke away from the kiss. Leaning your forehead against his, you tried to even your breath out as you spoke his name. “Kyungsoo….”

You couldn’t help but run your hand up and down his chest lightly. You wanted him. To be as close to him as humanly possible. And he seemed to pick up on the signals.

Shaking his head, Kyungsoo caught your hand. “Not now, (y/n).”

“Why?” you pouted softly. “Please?”

He wouldn’t give in. “Too many ears. Now isn’t the time with the others getting patched up downstairs.”

You deflated, shuffling off his lap. “Okay. Sure.”

A whine rumbled in his chest. “(y/n)…. You have no idea how much I want to. How hard it is to tell you no. But this isn’t how I want our first time to go. And… there’s other things we have to talk about first?”

You frowned. “Other things?”

Kyungsoo wrapped his arms around you and forced you to lie down with him - not that you protested too much. You were weak against his soft touches, against any form of intimacy from him.

“We’ll talk about it later,” he promised. “For now, let’s get some sleep.”

It took about five seconds for you to give in. Your eyes grew heavy and with the steady rhythm of Kyungsoo’s heartbeat, soon you drifted off to sleep.

**

Noise and coldness woke you up before the sun could. Kyungsoo was changing as you fluttered your eyes open, pulling the covers up to your chin to keep you warm. You caught the ripples in his back when he pulled the fresh shirt over his head, sending butterflies in your stomach into a frenzy. Fully dressed, he turned back to you, smiling just a bit.

“Good morning,” he whispered, coming over and leaning down so his face was only a few inches from yours.

You caressed his face with the back of your fingers, the corners of your lips tipping down. Fear and anxiety flowed through you. Every terrible scenario that ended in the same conclusion plagued you and you couldn’t make them go away. “Please, don’t go.”

Last night you hadn’t really let yourself think about how the pack would be heading out in the morning to fight the hybrids. You’d been too focused on having Kyungsoo back in one piece, with you. But now it was hitting you like you’d stepped in front of a train. And you couldn’t process it properly. Logic was rushing out the window.

“I have to,” Kyungsoo sighed, patting your head.

Sitting up, you couldn’t hang on to the frustration building inside you. “Why?’

“Because one of the pack is in danger,” Kyungsoo explained, doing an excellent job of remaining calm despite your opposition. “We protect each other, no matter what. Junmyeon has ordered all of us to go. I can’t go against my alpha.”

You shook your head, feeling the tears building up. “You promised.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened. “What?”

Shrinking in on yourself, you pulled your knees up to your chest. “You promised you wouldn’t leave.”

“Who said I was leaving?” His voice was rising in volume.

You jumped up off the bed, yelling, “You’re going off to fight against a group of monsters that you barely got away from yesterday! How can I be sure you’ll come back?” A sob escaped. “Leaving me… like everyone else….”

“I’m not leaving you,” he urged, coming up to cup your face. “I will come back. I’ll always come back to you. That is a promise I’ll never break.” Not giving you a choice, he pulled you into a hug that threatened to never let go.

You cried into his shirt, soaking a large circle where your face met his chest.

“(y/n).” Kyungsoo tipped your face up to his, placing a soft kiss against your lips. “I love you.”

Whether it was a laugh or a sob that came out of your mouth, you weren’t sure. After one last sniff, you replied sincerely, “I love you, too.”

It was the first time in years you’d said those words out loud to anyone. Saying them to him was like honey in your mouth.

He kissed your forehead one last time and then separated you from him.

“I’ll be back before you know it.” He threw you a smile before walking out of the door, closing it behind him. You almost ran after him, but that would just make it even more difficult to let him go. And there was no way you’d be allowed to go along. He couldn’t go against his alpha and you were left by yourself in the bedroom.

**

It killed Kyungsoo to leave you behind. His wolf was whining and clawing to get back to you, hearing you cry even as he descended the stairs. But the only thing stronger the pull of the mate was order of the alpha.

Everyone else was already gathered in the kitchen, grouped together and itching to get going. Several of his brothers were bouncing from foot to foot. Chanyeol was the most anxious. Baekhyun was his best friend and now they didn’t know what hell the happiest member of their pack was going through.

To Kyungsoo’s surprise, Kris and Junmyeon were both standing at the head of the group, looking like a team as they stood shoulder to shoulder. No one was yelling or fighting or bringing up the past. It was strangely… calming. It felt right.

“Let’s roll out.” Junmyeon turned to the door and they all walked out, staying in human form as they followed Kris through the woods.

They came out of the trees on the west side of town, the sun now a good distance above the treeline. It was that time of day where the brilliant sunrise was fading away to give room to the pure blue sky.

“That’s it,” Kris whispered, pointing to a run down house that looked more like a fairground attraction than a place that was once habitable. The wood on the outside was rotting and the shudders were halfway off their hinges, swinging feeling in the breeze.

“Okay.” Junmyeon turned to the rest of them. “Minseok, Luhan, Jongdae, and Chanyeol will go around the back. Kris, Kyungsoo, Yixing, and myself with go through the front. Jongin, Tao, and Sehun, the three of you will watch the outside, taking down any stragglers that might come out.”

Sehun growled, “But, Junmyeon, we can-”

“That’s an order, Sehun,” Kris stopped him before he could finish his argument.

Junmyeon went on like that type of thing was normal. That must have been one hell of a conversation they had last night. Kyungsoo missed most of it since his concentration was on making sure you got to sleep, but from he gathered, the two alphas must have hashed out their problems for the most part.

“Our main priority is to get Baekhyun out,” Junmyeon reminded them. “Once that’s settled, then we can try to end this once and for all.”

Everyone nodded, eager to get going.

The younger wolves stayed on the outskirts of the property as the others split into their respective groups. Kyungsoo watched as his four brothers disappeared behind the house. He kept watch over his alpha’s back, straining his ears to catch anything that would alert him of the enemy. But nothing stirred. Not even a mouse.

They made it through the door without a hitch. Sniffing the air, they automatically followed the scent of their brother. It was too easy to follow. His blood was in the air. It took them up the stairs and into the first bedroom on their left.

Baekhyun was sitting in the middle of the room, tied up with silver chains that hissed and smoked where they met his skin. Dried, cakey blood covered his shirt and pants, but besides that and the chains, he seemed unharmed. At least they’d allowed the poor wolf to heal.

The kidnapped wolf’s eyes widened when he made out his rescue team. “Oh, thank god! I thought Kyungsoo and Minseok might have actually convinced you to just leave me.”

Kyungsoo smirked. Even in mortal peril, he had to make a joke. “Like we’d ever win that argument. Chanyeol would just start to pout if we even tried to bring it up.”

Kris extended his claws, slashing at the chains until they fell away. He shook his hand, hissing in a deep breath as the skin healed from meeting the silver.

“I wouldn’t put it past you to try,” Baekhyun shrugged as he stood up. Staring down at the chains, he carefully stepped over them. “Who knew hybrids were immune to silver?”

“It’s the vampire perk,” Kris mumbled. He looked around. “Where are those bastards anyway?”

“It think the only bastard here is you, Kris.”

All five of them whipped around to find two familiar hybrids standing in the doorway. They were tall and menacing, with wicked grins painted on their faces.

Kris growled, pushing through to the front. “You crossed a line when you took a brother.”

“The punk was just a lure,” the first one chuckled.

“Perfect bait for the little fishes,” the second one sneered.

“And now we can exact our revenge,” the first let his grin slip away into a scowl. “You’ll be last as we tear your pack apart one by one.”

Howls ripped through the air. The hybrids in front of them began to change, their skin turning an ugly gray and their canines grew to tusks that extended past their chins. Even their muscles seemed to bulge as they shed away their human disguises to reveal what they really were.

Kyungsoo could feel the bodies around him rippling and shuddering. Then Kris changed, pouncing on the first hybrid as the scraps of his clothes were still settling to the floor. Then the rest of them all followed, five wolves in the spots where men used to stand.

Numbers were on their side, giving them the tiniest advantage. But the hybrids were still strong. Stronger than they were, but not as nimble.

Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Yixing attacked the second hybrid, slashing at him and trying to pin him to the ground as Junmyeon joined Kris. The hybrids were struggling to fight off the multiple attackers, only able to focus on one wolf at a time. They were doing it. They were winning their small battle.

But a whine in the distance, one that Kyungsoo distinctively knew as Jongin’s, made him lose his concentration for a split second. It was enough.

The hybrid got a hand around Kyungsoo’s neck and threw him across the room, right into an elk head that was hanging on the wall. The sharp end of the antler pierced his side deeply and the force of the impact slammed his head into the wall before he dropped to the floor.

He tried to shake it off, whipping his head back and forth as he struggled to get to his feet. But the blood was flowing from the wound too quickly. The world around his was spinning. He was woozy, weak.

Before he lost consciousness, only one thought echoed through his head.

I’m sorry, (y/n).