A wolf’s instincts were stronger than any logic. The natural urge to fight and protect went well beyond the human scope of understanding. And once they kicked in, appealing to their sense of reason went out the window.

Whether the attacking wolf was your brother or not, Chanyeol’s instinct to protect his mate at all costs was too strong to fight and it took over. Moving so his back was to you, he lunged at your brother.

The two wolves collided mid-air, snarls and growls ripping through the air. Teeth and claws were everywhere trying to meet their target on the enemy.

“No! Stop!” You scrambled to try and stop the fight, but couldn’t find an opening to push them apart. Not without getting bitten yourself and that would have just made it worse.

Seeing no other alternative, you starting picking up rocks and throwing them like baseballs at the pair. It had no effect on either of them. They barely acknowledged your effort before going back to the fight. After a few more tries, and even adding in a large stick, you gave up that helpless notion.

Chanyeol was a big wolf and was utilizing his size to try and overpower Lon. But Lon was strong, the strongest out of the young wolves that you grew up with. And he was fast. Each time Chanyeol went to pounce or swipe at him, Lon was dodging the attacks with ease.

Then he gained the upper hand.

Noticing an opening after Chanyeol slipped on slick dead leaves, Lon plunged his teeth into Chanyeol’s neck. The latter let out a painful howl, struggling under Lon’s grip to get free. But Lon wasn’t letting go. Chanyeol whined when Lon sunk his teeth in deeper.

Unable to take it any longer, you ran to your brother, pulling on his fur to try get him to let go. Tears streamed down your cheeks. You couldn’t lose Chanyeol, not to your brother, not like this. “Lon, please, stop! Don’t hurt him! Please, Lon!”

You struggled and pulled, trying to pry yourself between them. Chanyeol was pawing at your chest and stomach, attempting to push you away and out of danger, but you couldn’t just leave him there. You had to get your brother off of him no matter what damage was caused to you.

Several howls echoed off the trees. At the sight of what you could only assume was Chanyeol’s pack you scrambled back. A large, reddish wolf slammed into Lon, miraculously getting him to let go and roll away. Immediately, you ran to your own wolf who was lying on his side. He was still breathing, if a little raggedly. Blood coated his white and brown fur. When you lightly touched the torn skin, he half-growled, half-whined.

“Chanyeol!”

Several of the other wolves had changed back into humans and were running up to you, eyes only for their wounded brother. Chanyeol shifted to his stomach, growling at everyone as he settled his head in your lap.

“Chanyeol,” one of the boys whimpered. He had light brown hair and wore a look of concern that almost matched your own. You recognized him from the group that interrupted your date last night. “You’ve got to change back so Yixing can take a look at you.”

When a black haired boy with a kind face stepped closer, Chanyeol growled again. A light gray wolf with a brownish face shifted into a very authoritative human.

“Chanyeol, do it.”

The wolf in your lap whined, pulling his ears back on his head. He shivered and cried as his body slowly turned from wolf to man. As soon as he was no longer a furry creature, you helped him up into a sitting position.

“I’m sorry, (y/n),” he whispered, unable to look you in the eye.

Shaking your head, you pulled him to you. In relief that his pack had shown up, you’d stopped crying, but now that Chanyeol was going to be okay, you couldn’t help but feel guilty that he was in this state. This was all your own doing and yet he was the one apologizing to you.

You shook your head as you cried into his chest. “No. It’s my fault. All my fault.”

“Shhh, it’s okay.” He patted the crown of your head as his other arm wrapped around the small of your back.

“(y/n), what the hell is going on?”

You jumped at the harsh whip of your brother’s voice. You tried to turn around to face him, but Chanyeol kept you close, his chest vibrating with a protective growl.

“Get away from my sister,” Lon ordered.

“No,” Chanyeol bit back. It took some fighting, but you were finally able to turn around in his arms just enough to make eye contact with Lon. Everyone had changed back into humans and were watching the confrontation with nervous eyes. Kris stuck close to Lon, just in case.

“Lon.” You swallowed, unsure of what exactly it was you should say.

“She’s my mate,” Chanyeol declared for you.

Lon’s eyes grew in size. “That’s not possible. I would have smelled it.”

A smaller member of the pack with light blonde hair stepped forward. “Actually, as her brother, she wouldn’t smell any different to you, omega or not.”

With a violent shake of his head, Lon kept denying the reality. “No, (y/n) would have told me.”

“I didn’t want you to find out.”

Lon stared down at you with disbelief. You kept your own gaze steady. The conversation that you’d been avoiding for so long was coming to head. You needed to face it without cowering away and accept whatever the consequences were.

“You never keep secrets from me,” Lon whispered.

“We should continue this conversation back at the house,” Kris suggested. Well, ordered fit the tone a bit more.

The other one that you were sure was an alpha as well nodded. “Yixing needs to look at Chanyeol.”

“I’m fine,” Chanyeol insisted. “I’m healing already.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Lon murmured, looking anywhere but at Chanyeol. “It just… looked like you were attacking her.”

“What were you doing here, anyway?” you asked. “You were supposed to be at work.”

“I forgot my wallet,” Lon explained. “When I came back to get it, you weren’t home. You always tell me when you’re going to be out. Then I found the note lying on your bedroom floor. I followed your scent out here to make sure you were okay.”

You cursed at yourself as you double checked your pockets. This whole time you thought your note had been secure in your jeans. It must have slipped out before you left the apartment. Way to go, (y/n).

“Let’s go.” Kris started in the direction away from town, shifting into a wolf mid run. In groups of two or three, the others shifted and followed their leader. One of the last to go, Lon stared at the two of you before heading out as well.

“I’ll walk with you both,” the black haired one volunteered. “Chanyeol shouldn’t shift until he’s fully healed.”

Chanyeol huffed as if offended by the remark. But he didn’t shift after he let you go and stood to his feet.

This whole time you’d been so preoccupied by the disaster crumbling around you that you hadn’t noticed all the bodies around you. Now that it was just you and the two very human wolves, you were feeling a bit uncomfortable. Growing up in the pack, you’d been used to it. You knew those boys since you were all in diapers. This new pack? Not so much.

But you didn’t fight it when Chanyeol took your hand while your small group headed for wherever the pack called home. Your third wheel followed behind a few feet back, giving you some space.

Chanyeol nudged you with his bare shoulder. “You were really worried, weren’t you?”

Teeth marks that were already starting to scab over underneath all the dried blood dotted the area above his collarbone and the curve of his neck. You reached up slowly and brushed your fingertips across the bite. He didn’t flinch away, showing you that he was indeed healing from the attack.

“I thought I was going to be torn apart,” you admitted.

Chanyeol frowned. “Lon wasn’t going after you, though. I’m pretty sure it was my throat his was trying to rip out.” He pointed to his battle wound for emphasis. “You were fine. Even though you were a bit stupid to try and get in the middle of a wolf fight.”

“I wasn’t talking about physically.” You didn’t fall for his attempt to lighten the mood. Chanyeol might want to joke and try to skirt around the seriousness of your current predicament, but you couldn’t forget it. Not even for a second. “Watching my mate and brother fight like that….” You shook your head. “If your pack hadn’t shown up to help-”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Chanyeol stopped, pulling you to him while he cupped your face. “Don’t think like that. It wouldn’t have ended that way. We’re both fine. This’ll all work out. I promise. Okay?”

You nodded, mostly just to satisfy him.

He saw right through that. Taking the opportunity, Chanyeol kissed you; quick and chaste since you weren’t alone.

Once you finally reached the clearing where their home was located, your breath was taken away.

The farm house was large and old fashioned. An equally huge detached garage was built next door along with several cars scattered in the area in front of it. Inside the home, you passed through the parlor and the living room that were simply decorated, but homey. The black haired wolf disappeared up a flight of stairs while Chanyeol led you to the kitchen all the way in the back.

Everyone else was waiting for you already, dressed again in jeans and t-shirts. Someone threw a change of clothes at Chanyeol as soon as you stepped into the room. The fabric hit him right in the face, making you giggle. He let go of your hand just long enough to pull on the pants and tug the shirt over his head, then he pulled you back into his arms so your back was against his chest.

Lon, who apparently had borrowed some clothes from one of the residents, was leaning against the table of the breakfast booth. A conflicted look pulled his eyebrows together and jutted his jaw out.

“We’ll leave you guys to talk,” the second alpha said. No one argued with him, although you didn’t really see the point. With their ears, they’d be able to catch every word of the conversation.You were grateful for the illusion of privacy anyway.

“You, too, Chanyeol,” Kris ordered.

Chanyeol growled behind you. “But-”

“Now.”

Huffing, Chanyeol pulled himself away from you, planting a kiss on your cheek before being pushed out of the room by Kris.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Lon looked so defeated. His eyes reflected betrayal. He was right; the two of you didn’t keep secrets from each other. This was a huge blow, especially for him to find out this way.

“At first, it was because I was planning to ignore it,” you confessed.

“Ignore it?” Lon was stunned. “Do you realize-”

“I do now,” you snapped. “Mom… lied to me about what would happen when I was little, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal. I was a to him, hoping he’d go away and find a different mate. But then we went to go see Mom and she told me the truth.”

Lon breathed in and out, trying to keep up. “Okay. So, you accepted him. Why didn’t you just tell me then?”

“Well, for starters, you did tell him to stay away from me,” you reminded him.

He growled. “Yeah, well, if he was your mate, then I wouldn’t really have a say about that anymore.” Lon narrowed his eyes. “What was the real reason you didn’t tell me?”

Crossing your arms, you avoided his gaze, picking out patterns in the wooden floor panels instead.

“(y/n)….”

“I didn’t want to lose you!” you blurted.

Lon frowned. “Lose me?”

You nodded. “If I accepted Chanyeol, then that would mean I would be joining his pack. And with you as an omega - well, those two scenarios don’t really go together.”

“I’ll always be your brother. Nothing would ever separate me from you, new pack or not.” Lon let out a long, steady breath. “Besides, I won’t be an omega much longer.”

Your head snapped up. “What? You’re going to take Markus’ offer?”

“Yeah,” Lon smiled. “I’m lucky that he’s even giving me a chance, considering Dad. But I think it’s time I joined a pack. Especially now since you don’t need me anymore.”

Shaking your head, you ran to your brother, throwing your arms around his waist. “I’ll always need you.”

“What about me?” Chanyeol whined from the next room. “Ow!”

Someone must have hit him for interrupting the sweet sibling moment.

Lon stared down at you as he rubbed your back. “Are you sure about that one?”

You grinned sheepishly. “Yeah. I am.”

“Okay,” he sighed.

Stepping away, you softly punched him in the shoulder. “So, when are you going to tell Markus you’re ready to be a member of his pack?”

“Next time we go see Mom.”

Good. That was good. Now, the next step was just figuring out what to do after that little task was done.

“Can I come back in now?”

You laughed when you found Chanyeol poking his head in the kitchen from the hallway, looking at your desperately. As soon you nodded, he practically ran to you, enveloping you in a hug.

“Does this mean you don’t hate me anymore?” he asked Lon.

Lon glared at him. “No, I don’t. And I… I’m sorry for earlier.”

“It’s okay,” Chanyeol reassured him. “I would have done the same thing.” He ran the knuckles of one of his hands down your face.

“That’s going to take getting used to,” Lon grumbled. When you raised an eyebrow at him, he explained, “You used to punch any boy who came within arms reach of you. It made my job as a big brother a lot easier.”

The three of you laughed. It was a strange situation, but you were thankful that it had turned into this. Maybe you were worried for all the wrong reasons. You weren’t going to lose your brother and your mate wasn’t going to die. In retrospective, you might have made several wrong decisions and you were lucky that things ended up this way in the end.

Soon, Kris and Lon needed head back to the shop. Chanyeol and you decided to get some privacy away from his other pack members and moved to your apartment where you made a late lunch for the two of you.

For the next several hours, you and Chanyeol just sat on your couch, talking. Well, Chanyeol actually did most of the talking. Apparently, he was a bit regretful that you’d come back to your apartment, alone time or not. He’d completed the song he’d written for you and he couldn’t wait for you to hear it.

Chanyeol was mimicking the cords on your own fingers, teasing you with the notes of the melody. It was a peaceful moment until Lon came back.

He shuffled through the front door with a forlorn look on his face.

You sat up, concerned. “Lon, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“We need to go see Mom,” he replied. “We need to go see her now.”