--

07

--

“I don’t like this.”

“Howon-“

“I don’t like this at all. What if they get attacked by a bear? Or a mob of bears?”

“It’s the winter, all the bears are-“

“Sungjong’s never fought bears before. Maybe I should-“

“Howon,” Sunggyu said a little more firmly. He snapped out of his daze and stared at Sunggyu like he just realized the Alpha was in the room. “They’ll be fine. She’ll be fine. Sungjong’s been planning this for a few days. He told me about it, and I told him to go ahead.”

“What? You knew? You knew, and you didn’t tell me?”

“Was it something you needed to know?”

“She’s my Kindred!”

“How are you doing with that, by the way?” Sunggyu asked, giving Howon a knowing smile. Howon closed his mouth and brooded silently in the chair for a moment.

“She won’t even look at me. Sungjong’s been doing a pretty good job of keeping her away from me too, so I can’t even apologize.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Howon I know. The Howon I know would’ve grabbed her, shoved Sungjong into a different room, and apologized to her.”

“Right, because more brute force is exactly what I need to do. Never mind scaring the living daylights out of her until she can’t stand to be anywhere near me,” Howon said sarcastically.

“Now, I didn’t mean that. I meant, maybe you’ll have to scare her in order to let her see you mean well. If you keep a comfortable distance from her, that’s all you’ll ever have.”

Howon frowned. How was he supposed to show you he meant well?

“And plus, if you scare her off, she has no place else to go but here.”

--

You and Sungjong were welcomed to Seungho’s pack territory by Myungsoo, who was waiting by the gates with a smile on his face. “Now there’s a sight for sore eyes,” he said, hugging you. He was careful to avoid your broken arm. Sunggyu already told him what happened, and Myungsoo already thought of ways to help compensate.

“Don’t you mean a sight for a sore stomach?” you teased as he let go of you.

“Well, I wasn’t going to bring it up, but now that you mention it… Hi, Sungjong.” Sungjong blinked a few times at Myungsoo before scowling at him.

“What? I said hi.” Myungsoo laughed at him for a moment before taking some of the things he was carrying away from him. “Come on. We have your cabin set up already. The rest of the pack should be here tomorrow. Once you guys bathe and rest up a bit, I’ll take you on a tour.”

“A bath and a nap sound amazing,” you said. In the few short months of living in the town, you were already spoiled by soft, warm beds and idle time.

“Don’t sleep too long. There are people here that are eager to meet you.”

--

“Just got word from Myungsoo. Sungjong and the girl made it safely to Seungho’s territory,” Sunggyu said.

“Why are you telling us? We knew they’d make it safely. The most dangerous thing out there on that trail is maybe ice,” Woohyun said, raising an eyebrow at Sunggyu.

“Letting you know, just in case you were curious.” Sunggyu met eyes with a visibly relaxed Howon for the first time in days. Dongwoo and Woohyun looked at each other with matching grins before looking at Sunggyu and Howon.

“Oh? Is there something going on that we don’t know about? Howon! We’re pack Enforcers! How am I supposed to work with you if you’re keeping secrets from me?”

“I’m the pack Beta. Sunggyu. Come on.”

“Mind your own business!” Howon growled, punching a hole in the wall. Dongwoo and Woohyun flinched slightly and went on their own business quickly as Howon glared at them.

“She’s not going to be happy to see that,” Sunggyu said, shaking his head at the hole in the wall. Howon let out a cry of frustration.

He fixed the hole later in the day, muttering dark words underneath his breath.

--

Myungsoo showed you around the village. Seungho’s pack was smaller than Sunggyu’s, but they all seemed friendly. There were fewer children, but they were louder and much less well behaved than the children back in town.

The men were gathering timber for the large bonfire in the middle of the town, and the women were cooking for the feast. Everyone was anticipating the a