He remembered those eyes. He first encountered them when he was 16. Still an adolescent, lanky and maybe still a little unsure of himself, but one thing he was sure of, it was the pain in those eyes.

Five of them were out hunting, as they had done since the future Alpha, Beta and Omega had turned old enough to go out hunting by themselves. They were joined by the fawn and white wolf siblings a few years back, and they were pretty much inseparable, even among the big pack. They were supposed to be patrolling the south borders, and since they had already done so, they went out for a hunt. To be truthful, they certainly shouldn’t be, because not only they were out of the pack’s territory, they were perilously close to the borders of a neighbouring pack. If the Alpha, which just happened to be the father of himself and his older pack mate, caught wind of this, they could get into serious trouble. So of course, they had to make sure not to get caught.

They stopped at the river to drink up and wash the scent of fresh kill off themselves before going back to the den. The small river was usually shared by the pack and whatever wildlife that passes by the territory, but never had they seen a stranger. Simply for the fact that it was their territory and wolves that are not of their pack had to request for permission to pass through.

So to their surprise, and no small amount of outrage on the Alpha-in-line’s part, they found a wolf not of their pack drinking at the river when they slinked out of the forest downwind. To the Beta-in-line, it seemed like time slowed down the moment his eyes landed on the wolf on the opposite bank of the river. But apparently that was not so for the future omega, who happily bounded forward despite their future alpha’s outrage at the other wolf’s appearance. The large and sudden movement alerted the stranger to their presence, and to Jun Hyung, no amount of preparations would get him ready to meet the gaze of the stranger’s eyes. The shadowed orbs were haunted, wary and yet, they do not display any emotions. Until it dawned on the stranger that he was being confronted by five unknown wolves. Then those haunting eyes displayed an emotion that almost brought Jun Hyung to his knees.

Terror. Of them. Of him. He didn’t know what possessed him, but he took a cautious step towards the stranger. The next thing he knew, the stranger was gone, all that was left to indicate his presence was the scent of musky sandalwood and the sour taste of fear.

Yo Seob whined, ‘Was I really that scary? I’m the Omega, for goodness sake.’

‘You just scared him away simply by being your usual hyperactive self.’ Ki Kwang chuckled at the way the omega seemed so put out by the disappearance of the stranger.

‘Good thing he left though. If it was any of the older wolves, they would’ve caught him and brought him to Dad.’ Doo Jun said, the frown evident in his voice. He shook his shaggy head.

‘But, his eyes though… That look of absolute fear. I wonder what he went through. He seemed young. Might be even younger than us.’ Hyun Seung gazed at the direction the stranger left, his head cocked a little to the side.

‘He looked pretty mature to me. But I see what you’re getting at. His limbs are still lanky. I don’t think he grew into his frame yet.’ Doo Jun followed the white wolf’s gaze.

‘What’s such a young wolf doing all alone in another pack’s territory, I wonder.’ Hyun Seung turned to the future alpha. He didn’t scent any others than the faint sandalwood left behind by the stranger.

‘He doesn’t smell familiar to me. I don’t think I detected the scent of the neighbouring packs.’ Ki Kwang, nose keen as always, stated.

‘Me too.’ Doo Jun agreed.

‘Hey, Jun. what have you been thinking about for the past few minutes? You aren’t usually this silent.’ Doo Jun narrowed his eyes at the younger wolf, not used to this new behaviour from his only sibling.

Jun Hyung had been staring at the direction the stranger took off to, and had not moved since he left. He thought back to when he had actually stepped a foot in the stranger’s direction, and wondered why had he actually moved. The eyes had stopped him in his tracks so immediately, so how was it that he could actually lift a foot to move forward in the first place? The only answer he could come out with was his desire to remove that look of terror from the stranger’s eyes. But the question is, why? Why had he been so drawn to the other wolf so immediately? Taking a deep breath, he took in the air once again, and let his nose process the scent of the stranger. Sandalwood. The scent was fading away already, and for some reason, it made Jun Hyung’s stomach clench. But he was sure he would not forget how those amber orbs looked like in the near future. A cold nose jolted him out of his reverie, and he realised the other four were looking at him strangely.

‘Wh-what?!’ his hackles raised, he suddenly felt uncomfortable.

‘What were you thinking about so deeply? We had been calling your name for a while now.’ Doo Jun asked gruffly.

‘N-nothing!’ Jun Hyung looked away when his eyes met Doo Jun’s. On any other day, he might have been able to stand against his future alpha longer, but now, he was too preoccupied.

Doo Jun merely snorted at his younger brother’s reply. Deciding to ignore his weird behaviour for now, he waded into the river, and letting the clean water wash away the blood and sweat and adrenaline of the hunt. Soon, the rest of the small pack joined in. As he stepped into the cool water, Jun Hyung resolved to stop thinking about the beautiful stranger’s haunting eyes and scent. But he wasn’t all that surprised when that pair of eyes made it to his dreams that night. 

[a/n: hey guys! the first few chapters would be intro so yeah. i hope you guys arent confused by them >< its so weird starting another story... somehow, this turns out not the way i thought it would... whatever. XP]