Before you read this chapter, I’d like to clarify some things:

1^st – wolf ages in the story are all similar to humans (lol unrealistic but simpler that way)

2^nd – the ages of the kids

Kris : 8

Chen, Jongin, Tao : 7

Sehun, Luhan : 6

D.O : 5

You may proceed~

Five years ago

“Chanyeol, Sehun pooped again. Could you be a darling and tend to him?”

Chanyeol quietly groaned to himself, hoping Baekhyun wouldn’t hear him. It was the most tired he had ever been in his life. He thought things couldn’t get worse when Baekhyun had the triplets, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. Although they were only twins, Luhan and Sehun were more work than any of their other pups. They were constantly in need of their parent’s attention. They were always crying through the night, whining for food and screaming for milk.

“Baek, can’t you do it?”

“Channie,” Baekhyun said condescendingly, “Chen and Tao here are in need of a feeding. Unless your s have miraculously begun producing milk, do you think you could be more of a help to your poor mate and tend to the baby?”

“They’re your kids too, you know. It's not my fault you couldn’t keep your stupid stick to yourself, is it? Always needing to put it in me. Psh," Baekhyun sassed.

“Oh, stop patronizing. You love the stick,” Chanyeol chuckled.

“I don’t love “the” stick. Not just any, nu-uh. I only love yours. Now, go. Sehun is weeping like a whale.” Baekhyun smacked Chanyeol’s bum as the latter jumped to his feet to make his way towards the pink bundle in the makeshift baby cot, not wanting to continue the debate.

No matter how adorable Baekhyun was whenever he started on an angry rant, Chanyeol would rather just do as told than listen to his mate’s nagging. It was a known fact that Baekhyun could go on for hours, sometimes dragging it out for days on end.

Chanyeol thought he’d be done in ten minutes tops, but the second he fixed the diaper on Sehun and pulled his pants back on, Luhan started to wail in the cot next to his twin’s. He shouldn’t even be surprised – whenever one twin pooped, the other would follow soon after. The same thing had happened when the triplets were a year old.

Once he was done, he kissed Baekhyun on the cheek before he left to get some water from the stream nearby. He had changed into his wolf form since it was easier to run that way.

The sun had set by the time he was done, and since the only light source was that of the moon, Chanyeol had to rely on his sharp sense of smell and hearing to guide him home.

As he flew through the trees, a high-pitched cry caused him to stop dead in his tracks. His heart raced with the thought that it was Baekhyun or one of his pups. However, when the cry came for the second time, he was able to tell that it wasn’t any one of them, but that of a foreign pup.

He followed the sound of it intently, knowing full well that it was a cry of a pup since his own pups had constantly let out such cries. It turns out, the source of the sound wasn’t far off from where he had been.

The midnight blue wolf slowed his pace to careful trotting when he caught sight of a tiny heap that had been carefully placed in the hollow of a huge oak tree. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was an abandoned pup. Looking at the dried blood that covered the skin of the carmine coloured being, Chanyeol noted that it must have been barely hours since it had left its mother’s womb.

He dropped the water he had collected, now seemingly inconsequential compared to the matter at hand, and transformed back into human. That way, he could handle the newly-born with ease. Chanyeol collected the bundle into his arms. The moment his warmth embraced the pup’s shivering body, the little being curled up into his side and his crying ceased, replaced by the soft whimpering of comfort.

He brought its head up to his lips and kissed the damp hair.

“Shh, it’s okay now. I’ll take care of you.”

“We can’t keep him,” Baekhyun said in a quiet voice once the kids have all been tucked into bed. When his mate came home covered in blood, the first thing he did was to do a quick check up on his body for injuries of any sorts, only to realize from the smell that it's not Chanyeol's blood but that of a foreign wolf's. But his eyes soon laid upon the sleeping pup in his arms and though his heart pained for the poor pup, the rational part of him was telling him that this was a bad idea.

“Baby, he needs us. We can’t leave him out there. He’s going to be eaten by god knows what!”

Baekhyun dabbed the last of the sleeping pup’s wound and carefully wrapped him up in clean blankets. He was about to argue when the baby started to whine.

Baekhyun started to rock in his arms, humming a soft tune to lull him back to sleep. Chanyeol stood by the side with an impish grin, watching in adoration at the smaller male. At times like these, he was absolutely certain that Baekhyun was the love of his life. He was just so lovely and caring and everything to him and their pups.

Light snores could be heard from the small bundle, indicating that he had fallen asleep.

“It’s not that I don’t want him. We can barely keep up with five toddlers under our belt, and another would only tire us out endlessly.”

“Then so be it. There’s nothing we can’t do together, is there?”

Chanyeol reached a hand out to Baekhyun who grabbed it without hesitation. Chanyeol laced their fingers together and pulled his mate closer to him, turning Baekhyun around such that his back was pressed up against his chest. He then rested his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder while the latter continued to cradle the pup.

Baekhyun sighed, “You know there isn’t. But I’m just afraid. What if this is a mistake? What if his mother comes back for him after we’ve become attached to him? I don’t want to go through the ordeal of losing a child, Yeol.”

“You won’t lose anyone. He’s ours now and nothing can change it. Trust me, Baek. He won’t ever leave us. We’ll shower him with all our love, treat him like any of our other pups.”

Of course, Baekhyun had casted his worries away and agreed, because he trusted Chanyeol with all his heart. If his mate says they were going to be fine, then they were certainly going to be fine.

Present day

Baekhyun could barely tell if he was crying or if it was just the heavy raindrops running down his cheeks. He realizes it’s the former, though, when he begins to hyperventilate, his breathing coming out in short and snappy puffs of air. Usually, whenever he has such attacks, Chanyeol would be there to hold him till he calms down. But his mate isn’t here, so he had to make do with happy and bright thoughts. For a moment, he forgets of the situation. His breathing starts to come out steadier and his heart rate slows down to a more normal pace.

Another glance at the message in the ground, that was almost gone having been washed in the rain, and he is reminded of Little D.O. This time, his crying comes out in soft heart wrenching sobs.

“Pull yourself together, Baekhyun!” He mentally shouts to himself as he wipes his tears and snot with the back of his hand, trying his best to stop crying. Eventually the tears stopped flowing and his crying dies down to heavy sniffling.

Baekhyun brainstorms on ways to deal with the problem on his way back to cave.

All his boys were circling the fire when he arrives back inside. Upon noticing their mother, the boys shot him matching smiles – everyone had seemed to inherit Baekhyun’s eye-smile, but Chanyeol’s impish grin.

“Okay, listen up, children.”

Hearing the seriousness in their mother’s tone, everyone’s ears perked up as they straightened themselves, eyes focused on Baekhyun’s.

“I don’t want anyone to panic, but your brother is missing.”

The cave was filled with a chorus of loud gasps.

“Little D.O thinks that we don’t love him anymore and he ran away. None of you should ever do this. This is not an okay thing to do, do you understand me?!”

Everyone cowers at Baekhyun’s sudden harsh tone, backing away a little. Baekhyun realizes this and immediately feels a pang of regret.

“I’m sorry… I’m just really worried for your brother,” Baekhyun pauses, knowing that he shouldn’t give away the fact that he was afraid. His children were counting on him to be strong and usually he would look to Chanyeol for support, but Chanyeol wasn’t here now and he just had to it up and rise to the occasion.

“I’m going to find your brother and bring him back, okay? I really need all of you to be good. You’re all grown up and I trust that you’ll stay out of trouble. Kris will take care of you while I’m gone. Don’t leave the cave, even if it stops raining. Do you understand me?”

Everyone nods fervently with wide eyes that were looking to their mother for support.

“Jongin, do you promise not to be naughty?”

“Yes, mummy,” Jongin replies in a quiet voice.

“Chen? Tao?” Both pups nod in reply.

“Luhan and Sehun?”

“Okay, mummy. We promise.”

Baekhyun opens his arms and within a second, all six boys were in his embrace. Though his arms weren’t long enough to fit them all, he manages to kiss every single one of them on their heads, wishing it was enough a form of protection to keep them safe, at least till he comes back.

“I won’t be gone for long, okay? I’ll be back by the time the sun is out.”

A few whimpers of acknowledgment could be heard as Baekhyun bids one last goodbye before transforming into his magenta coloured wolf form and running as fast as he could without having to put the babies in his belly in danger.

Meanwhile, about 50 miles up north, the midnight blue wolf stops abruptly in his tracks, breaking his sprint. It is highly unusual for him to do so, since he doesn’t stop running till he reaches hunting grounds, but there was an inexplicable feeling in his gut. He was anxious to find out if it had anything to do with his family back home, but he knows it would do no one good if he were to turn back around now. Besides he trusts that Baekhyun was strong enough to handle things. He has been through a lot before they met, and he was, up till today, one of the strongest people (both physically and emotionally) Chanyeol has ever known.

Chanyeol knows he is too far for any of his calls to be heard by Baekhyun, but he gives it a shot anyway. He takes a deep breath before letting out a questioning howl. He waits for a few seconds, but there was no reply. He sighs, wishing it had worked. But nonetheless, he figures he should get a move on if he wanted to finish his hunt early to get back to his family.

 In the middle of his run, Baekhyun hears a distant howl that was unmistakably that of his mate’s. He stops dead in his tracks to listen intently to it. Instinctively, he gathers his breath to give a reply, to tell Chanyeol that he’s not okay. Not at all. But then he remembers that Chanyeol is on his hunt and that he doesn’t need any more burden than the ones he already has. He can’t distract Chanyeol in case he accidentally puts him in danger with worries of their youngest.

Baekhyun bites back his cry and lets out a heavy breath.

He starts moving once again, picking up on the faint smell of his pup, but much slower than before. In fact, he’s barely running anymore. Before long, unknowingly, he slows down to a stop.

Baekhyun convinces himself that there’s nothing wrong. The rain has reduced to a light drizzle and it makes for easier running, though the ground is wet and the branches are slippery.

He sits on all fours when he feels a sharp stab in the side of his stomach. Disregarding that as his muscles contracting due to all the running he has done, he rolls a little onto his side so he could get into a more comfortable position.

Baekhyun whimpers when he feels a stronger stab, like a punch right in his gut. He starts to breathe heavily when the pain refuses to subside. Instead, it only grew stronger, causing him to let out shouts of agony.

The purple wolf doesn’t know how long he stayed in that same spot, but it felt like an eternity before he feels something dripping down the side of his thigh, matting his fur.

His worst fear became a reality when he looks down to see that the thick liquid was actually blood.

“I’m sorry, Yeollie… I’m so sorry.”

The sentence went on repeat on his mind till he loses consciousness out of sheer pain.

Note: So, full story on D.O is out! Not really a big surprise but still.

This chapter was so angsty, I am so sorry >< It’s not like this the whole way through, I just needed the drama for the fluff to come.

The chapter has a  lack of interaction amongst everyone (since everyone is sort of separated apart from the pups). But this is the build up to the following events and there’ll be more in the next!

Stay tuned! Thanks for reading and subscribe, comment and upvote??? :)