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“I’m exhausted,” Kyungsoo sighed as he slumped into the empty chair. His nose picking up every delicious smell in the restaurant causing his stomach to growl loudly.

“That’s ‘cause we went to five different bookstores to find that one little book of yours,” Luhan complained, dropping into the seat across from the omega.

Minseok scoffed and sat next to Kyungsoo. “You shouldn’t complain, just how many accessory stores did we go into anyway?”

Luhan blushed, “Shut up.” Kicking the elder under the table. They had finished grocery shopping long ago and had left those bags with Yixing and Suho in the car. It had been a couple hours since then and the three boys had been wandering the city, buying what they needed or desired, even stopping by an art museum per Luhan’s insistence.

“So how much longer do we have until we meet everyone?” Kyungsoo asked, still laughing lightly at the older omega.

Minseok looked down at the watch on his wrist. “We still have a couple hours, anything you guys want to do after we eat?”

“I need to get some clothes,” Kyungsoo said.

“Same,” Luhan piped up as he flipped through the menu.

“I saw fliers for this new store that opened, wanna try there?” Minseok suggested with shrug. He realized long ago that unless the two boys knew where they wanted to go exactly, it would take them forever to decide. Taking charge was much easier. Immediately, both boys nodded, not even questioning the type of store.

“So Soo,” Luhan looked up at his friend while he shoveled food into his mouth once it had arrived. “I have a question for you.”

Kyungsoo looked up from his own food, and the second he saw the elder omega’s smile he glared at the boy. “What?”  He asked cautiously.

“Oh don’t be like that,” Luhan laughed with a wave of his hand. “It’s nothing you have to worry about, not like I’m gonna ask if you want to bang your new hot tan alpha roommate-,”

“wha-,” Kyungsoo spluttered out causing Minseok to choke as he burst into laughter.

“Cause I totally know you do,” Luhan continued with a smirk. When he saw the younger omega growl he decided to continue. “Sehun told me something so I wanted to know if it was true.”

Kyungsoo glared at his friend for a few seconds before calming down and slumping down in his chair, “Okay, fine you , what did Sehun say?”

“Does Kai really have the hottest body?”

“Luhan!” Kyungsoo shrieked, a scandalized look on his face, which was burning red.

“What” the boy asked innocently “It’s not like I’m asking if he has a nice too, geez.” The omega was smart enough, however, to move his feet away from Kyungsoo’s reach. 

Although Kyungsoo looked like he was just about ready to strangle the older omega, he actually felt relief. Luhan looked happy and was acting like his mischievous self. Kyungsoo had initially been worried about Luhan rooming with Sehun and that it would be disastrous –but it seemed like he was wrong. They’re relationship –whatever it was- seemed better than ever.

“Luhan, like hell will I wear ripped jeans.” Kyungsoo told the other. Luhan looked at Kyungsoo with a pout.

“But why?? You look good!!” he whined. Minseok snorted, knowing which direction this was going.

“You look so able!!” There was a swing of a fist before Luhan’s loud and shrilly cry. “Alright! Fine! Fine!! !! Try these instead.” Luhan grumbled, handing some other things to Kyungsoo before rubbing his arm in pain. Kyungsoo smiled in triumph before he turned back to his change room.

The minute the door closed, Luhan’s grin returned. Minseok shook his head, “What did you-?”

“Why the is this shirt sparkling??” Kyungsoo cried in disgust.

Luhan snickered, “Because you need some sparkle up that dull personality!!”

Minseok couldn’t help but burst into laughter, especially when he could practically hear Kyungsoo’s jaw drop. However when he heard loud growls emitting from behind the closed change room door, he realized that war was about to break out. The beta spun on his heels, calling out that he was going to find a washroom. He didn’t really expect them to respond to him though.

The two of them fighting was always an enjoyable thing to watch –when they were home-, but he didn’t exactly feel like being embarrassed by them in public though. Minseok still smiled, his mood had greatly risen since he was out with those two. He could see that Kyungsoo was worried for him ad Minseok felt bad, it was a beta’s job to take care of omega’s, not the other way around… but then again nothing about any of his pack was exactly ‘conventional’.

While looking through some racks of clothes, the eldest beta just happened to glance outside. He almost dropped the shirt he as holding up when he caught the sight of a familiar body outside –two bodies to be exact.

Walking along the side walk, across from where Minseok was inside the store, was Jongdae. The younger beta was walking alongside Taemin as they spoke about something quite animatedly. Minseok frowned wondering where exactly they were heading so cheerfully. Without a second thought, his feet began to move forward. The perks of having a wolf counterpart was that sneaking and staying hidden was second nature.

But this was the city, which made sneaking around seem… out of place. There were so many people that some were bound to notice the suspicious looking boy tip-toeing around, so he got a couple stares that he chose to ignore.  Minseok stayed well a couple metres from the two betas, he didn’t want to risk his scent wafting over. The beta slowly walked, sliding his back against a wall, or slipped behind people when he felt Jongdae or Taemin face turn his way.  

Minseok could hear Jongdae’s laugh from where he was, it was that loud and contagious laugh that always got Minseok to smile. Minseok could even see Jongdae’s lip corners curl up, the ones he always had an urge to kiss. Seeing Jongdae laughing again brought back the feeling Minseok felt during the soccer game. The longing, the grief, and the guilt slowly crept back up to Minseok causing him to suddenly stop in his tracks. What was he doing? Sneaking around and stalking his boyfriend? Shame became another feeling to fill Minseok’s insides. He watched as Jongdae’s back continue on, away from Minseok, until they turned a corner and was gone from his sight.

Minseok sighed as he bit his lip and looked down; he was being stupid. The beta turned around and walked away, back to the direction of the store which he came.

Walking into the store with another sigh, Minseok looked up and around the store for the omega’s but noticed that they were nowhere to be found. He immediately sniffed the air and found that even their scent was faint, they must’ve left a while ago. The beta swore under his breath, they probably thought that he ditched them and left.

Well now Minseok was alone, he heaved another sigh and walked out the door.

“Where do you think Minseok went?” Kyungsoo asked as he and Luhan sat at their booth eating ice cream. They heard Minseok say that he was going to the washroom but it had been too long since he left

The older omega shrugged, “Probably saw one of the others and ditched us while you went crazy.”

“I did not go crazy,” Kyungsoo snapped. Luhan scoffed but shrunk in his seat anyway.

“Fine, fine. Well what do you want to do now then?”

Kyungsoo gave another glare, “well I still need to find some new clothes since all you gave me was in that last store.”

Luhan gasped. “I did NOT give you !” He defended himself, “I gave you some great clothes that would make any alpha want to mate you.” He didn’t mention that he thought of the bronzed skin alpha for his friend.

Kyungsoo shook his head, “You gave me ”

“Well you bought something didn’t you?!”

“I bought black jeans.”

“Which I picked out.”

Kyungsoo simply rolled his eyes and didn’t even bother answering. “Finish your damn ice cream so we can go.”

The two boys continued on their way, wandering, shopping and arguing. At one point, both omegas got into such a heated discussion as they walked that they had not paid attention to where they were going. It went on unnoticed until Kyungsoo realized that the only voices he heard were their own. Immediately the boy stopped while Luhan rattled on naming a hundred reasons why Kyungsoo was so annoying.

“What? Are you choosing now to shut your trap?” the older mega said sarcastically.

“Luhan,” Kyungsoo called calmly, “where the hell are we?”

Luhan’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion before he looked around and realization took over. It seemed they ended up in a rather shady part of the city; there were no people on the streets, the buildings were old brick commercial buildings and it just looked… abandoned. “Oh, .”

“?” Kyungsoo repeated looking at Luhan in disbelief, “I thought you knew where we were going. I was following you.”

“You were following me??” Luhan’s jaw dropped, “I was following you. Oh my god, I can’t get a clear scent either. Kyungsoo, why can’t I get a scent?!”

The younger omega hit the back of the elders head, “calm the down and let me think.” He sighed before sniffing the air and frowning. “You’re wrong though, I can still catch scents, I just can’t catch the direction; it’s too muddled. I think all those fumes and smells from that damned city dulled our senses a bit.”

 “So we can’t smell our way out?? Are we going to die??” Luhan cried dramatically.

“Shut up,” Kyungsoo hissed, “you’re such a drama queen.” The young omega looked around again and noticed some people a couple blocks away. “Okay, look there are some people, we’ll just ask them the way back.”

“but-,”

“Luhan,” Kyungsoo gave his friend a look, “we’re wolves, and they’re humans. Are you telling me you’re scared of asking directions?”

The older omega gave Kyungsoo a glare but said nothing back.

The two boys continued down the road and approached a group of 4 men. “Excuse me,” Kyungsoo called out from a safe distance. The 4 men looked up at the two boys, now Kyungsoo wasn’t one to judge but their stares made the omega feel slightly queasy; it was clear that they were checking the two boys out. “Um, we’re kind of lost, do you know the way back to the inner part of the city?”

One of the four humans, who reeked cologne as far as Kyungsoo could tell –In fact it was as if he had poured an entire bottle of cologne on himself- grinned and stood up, “Sure, actually you’re not the far,” he told them, running a hand through his poorly dyed blond hair.

“Really?” Luhan piped up curiously, happy that they weren’t too lost then.

The man grinned wider as he met eye with Luhan and gave a full grin, “Yep, we’ll even lead you there. It can get a bit confusing if we try to give directions.”

Kyungsoo silently looked at the four, assessing them as an omega always should, although a bit too smiley, they seemed fine. So Kyungsoo nodded, “alright. Thank you.”

Cologne guy winked, “perfect.”

Two boys ran frantically around the city, starting from the last place Minseok had seen them.

“The ing air is messing with their scent,” Kai growled, Sehun by his side as they did their best to concentrate and zero in on any trace of the omega’s scents.

Sehun shook his head, “your right, dammit, it’s too hard. This polluted is messing with our senses too.”

“Then how the hell are we supposed to find them!!” Kai cried, running a shaky hand through his hair. He knew Kyungsoo was tough but seeing Baekhyun crying and so vulnerable had him imaging Kyungsoo the same way. No doubt Sehun was thinking the same of Luhan.

“We have to calm down,” Sehun told him, “slow down your heart and think of Kyungsoo’s scent. You’re always around him, his scent should be engraved in you at this point.”

Sehun noticed a blush spread in the elder alpha’s face, “what are-“

“This is no time to be embarrassed you , think!!”

So both boys closed their eyes and concentrated on the air around them, searching, searching for the two scents which welcomed them every day. The two scents that belonged to two very special omegas in their life.

Soon enough both boys opened their eyes, and shared a look before they were off.

“Are you sure this is the right way? I don’t remember seeing any of this,” Luhan said as they followed two boys in front, he glanced back to see the other two behind them.

“Oh don’t worry, it’s a short cut to the heart of the city, that’s where you wanted to go right?” one of the boys in the back asked them.

“yeah,” Luhan nodded, moving closer to Kyungsoo, their tone made him wry. The older omega kept his guard up, he could sense something wasn’t right. “Hey Soo,” Luhan whispered over, gripped the youngers wrist. Kyungsoo looked up and met Luhan’s eyes, silent communication went on between them and one thing was for certain. They had to get out of here.

“Um, excuse me,” Kyungsoo called out to the cologne guy. “Thank you but I think me and my friend can go back by ourselves now.”

The guy looked back and laughed, “oh don’t worry about it, we’ll take you.” He smiled and swung an arm around Kyungsoo. Luhan immediately pulled Kyungsoo away. “Really, I think we’re fine. Thanks.” His tone of voice was hard, a clear warning that they didn’t need them, but none of the 4 men took any note of it.

Cologne guy smiled and shook his head. “We’re offering you,” He said slowly, taking a step closer to the two omegas. Both Luhan and Kyungsoo took another step back, they could feel danger signs going off. “I think it’s only nice if you just accept it.”

Kai could feel anger bubbling in his chest, a loud snarl ripping out, they had come to an end of the two omega’s scents. A disgusting cologne scent filing up the entire street completely masking all other faint smells.

“God dammit Kai stop!!” Sehun yelled, he could see Kai shaking, about to shift in seconds. “We can’t shift, you know that!” he hissed, grabbing the elders arm.

“but their scents-!”

“We have to follow the cologne scent.” Sehun ordered, interrupting him.

Kai froze, “…what?”

“I think where ever we find the owner of the cologne,” the younger growled, “we’ll find them.”

“What the do you think you’re doing?!” Kyungsoo cried,  slamming into the wall as he pushed the human away from him. Both omegas had been shoved into a nearby alleyway by surprise, but honestly they should’ve seen it coming.

“Really, you guys should’ve just let us take you to the city. We were trying to be nice.” The cologne guy sighed, but a large smile covered his face.

“You would’ve ended up doing this anyway, you weren’t even leading us back to the city anyway, were you?” Luhan scoffed accusingly.

Another boy cooed, “Smart one for such a cute face.” He laughed as he touched Luhan’s cheek.

“Don’t touch me bastard!” Luhan growled as he kicked the guy in the stomach.

“,” the guy cried, bending over and clutching his stomach in pain.

“Strong too,” another noted in amusement. “Getting beat up by such a cute boy, nice,” his friend taunted him as he patted his back. The guy who got hit stood up angrily, his face red in humiliation.

And before either Luhan or Kyungsoo saw it coming, a hand lifted and hit Luhan in the face, “ing bastard, Know you’re place!” he yelled.

The older omega fell to the ground. Know your place.

“Luhan!” Kyungsoo cried, rushing over to his friend’s side, inspecting his face to see a bruise blossoming on his face and a bloody lip.

Know your place.

“Are you okay? Luhan!”

But Luhan didn’t reply, his eyes were blank as the words repeated in his mind. Know your place.

His head began to pound, and his chest hurt as his heart started to race. He began to take deeper breaths, it was becoming harder to breath; he felt like he was about to puke. There was an incontrollable fear filling him up from the inside and the same three words repeated over and over. Getting louder and louder.

Know your place.

Kyungsoo turned to the 4 boys who were laughing, anger instantly filling him. “You ing bastards!” the omega yelled, immediately attacking the boy who had hurt Luhan first, His fist connected to the boy’s face with a loud ‘smack’ and the guy toppled to the floor. He could feel himself shaking and he would definitely shift if he didn’t have such great self-control, but he wanted nothing more than to rip out their ing throats. How dare they even try to hurt them!

It didn’t matter that it was now 4 against 1, he had taken on an alpha multiple times, he could certainly take on these 4 idiots. Kyungsoo didn’t even think about throwing another fist at the next guy who came at him. Fits and legs flew, Kyungsoo getting a majority of the hits which were much stronger than any of theirs. This only seemed to make them angrier though, they weren’t used to losing. And when Kyungsoo got his foot on one of the boys’ faces, he hadn’t noticed the leader get up from the ground and kicked Kyungsoo in the stomach when he turned around. Kyungsoo let out a loud oompf as he fell to the ground.

“hah, this one’s still frozen, what’s wrong scared little guy?” Kyungsoo could see one of the guys walking up to Luhan who still sat shaking but frozen on the ground.

“Don’t touch him!!” Kyungsoo screamed, about to jump up when a foot slammed him back down. Just when Kyungsoo was about to push the guy off him, the weight on his back suddenly flew off and a familiar scent hit him. Kyungsoo turned around and watched as Jongin growled, knocking the surprised leader to the ground in a fit of anger. The scent was so strong that the omega could feel it all, the dominance, possessiveness and complete rage filling the air. It made him shiver, even though none of it was aimed to him, the omega still bowed his head in submission. Even the human boys, who could not smell it, could feel the anger in the air. The immediately took off, taking their leader with them.

Sehun suddenly came into view as well and although he was helping Jongin, Kyungsoo knew that he was the only one who could help Luhan. “Sehun!” Kyungsoo cried, catching the alpha’s attention. Sehun looked at Kyungsoo before his eyes flickered over to Luhan. His eyes grew and he immediately dropped the guy he was holding, rushing over to Luhan’s side. “Luhan!!” he yelled, dropping to his knees in front of Luhan, searching his eyes but the omega was completely out of it.

“He’s having a panic attack!” Kyungsoo yelled. That made sense, he was shaking and breathing hard, almost to the point of hyperventilating.

Anger rushed though Sehun when he noticed Luhan’s bruised face and bloody lip. He wanted to kill the son of a that did that to Luhan but he knew that he needed to be there for Luhan first.

“Luhan,” Sehun softly called, “Luhan you have to breathe, please.” He lightly brought his hand up to touch Luhan’s face, but the moment his fingertips touched Luhan’s cheek the boy began to scream and hit Sehun’s hands away, “Don’t touch me!” he screamed, but his eyes were still unfocused, stuck somewhere else in his mind. His breathing got deeper and he began to visibly tremble.

“Luhan,” Sehun repeated with more power, grabbing at Luhan’s hands. The omega screamed and tried to pull away but Sehun’s grip was strong. “Luhan listen to me,” He commanded. “You’re okay.” He said, speaking more softly and slowly but his voice remained demanding. “Breath, it’s okay,” he moved on to a whisper. “I’m here. Luhan, look at me. It’s Sehun. You’re safe with me. I won’t let anything hurt you. I will never let anything hurt you. You’re okay. So breath.” Sehun repeated the same things over and over before he, very slowly, lifted his hand to gently cup Luhan’s face, his thumb running soothing circles on his unbruised cheek, this time the boy flinched nut didn’t fight it.

Sehun’s face was right in front of Luhan’s as he whispered to him, “I know you’re scared, but I’ll protect you. Luhan look at me. Look at me and breath. I’m here. You’re okay.” Although his breathing was still ragged, he was no longer wheezing and was now shaking; Luhan seemed to be slowly coming back. His eyes began to focus slightly and tears pooled in his eyes before they fell. Immediately Sehun pulled the boy to him, letting Luhan’s forehead rest on his chest, one hand on his head, the other holding his hand tightly. “I’m here Luhan, you’re safe. Nothing will hurt you. I won’t let anything hurt you. You’re safe.”

Jongin knelt in front of Kyungsoo, not a single scratch on his handsome face. The sight made Kyungsoo embarrassed of his own state and look down in an attempt to hide.

“You’re hurt.” He heard Jongin sigh, as his hand lifted Kyungsoo’s chin to inspect the wound. Kyungsoo didn’t fight it nor did the omega answer, keeping his eyes down. Jongin sighed again and looked over at Sehun and Luhan, “Is Luhan okay?” He watched as the younger held Luhan in his arms, both still as Sehun seemed to be whispering in his ear.

“Panic attack,” Kyungsoo replied softly. “Sehun is the only one who can help him.” His eyes looked over at the two before he looked back down at his own hands. “It should be over in another 10 minutes or so,” he explained.

Jongin stared at the omega in front of him, searching his face before looking down. He felt his heart squeeze when he saw Kyungsoo’s hands shaking. “Are you okay?”

That’s when the omega’s eyes flickered up to Jongin’s before he looked down once more and bit his lip. “I could’ve taken them,” he mumbled, eyes then flickering to the unconscious boys on the floor a couple feet away.

Jongin smiled softly, “I know, that doesn’t mean you needed too.”

Kyungsoo’s fists clenched. “But I could’ve,” He insisted a bit desperately, looking up into Jongin’s eyes.

Jongin stared back for a couple of seconds before he took Kyungsoo’s hands in his, “You were amazing. Like always.”

He looked down and tried to see if there were any more visible wounds. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” he asked. That’s when he noticed Kyungsoo’s hands shaking. “Soo, are you hurt anywhere else?”

“I’m fine,” Kyungsoo whispered, hands unconsciously moving toward his stomach. Of course Jongin caught it and stopped his hands. Looking at Kyungsoo’s face, Jongin moved his gaze to Kyungsoo’s stomach, slowly he lifted the piece of fabric up to reveal a deep purple and blue wound. Jongin in a breath; that looked painful. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Kyungsoo sighed. “I mean, I’ve had worse,” he shrugged with a small smile. Jongin gave him a look which told the omega that the alpha didn’t find it funny. “He was wearing steel toed boots, who knew,” he explained, pulling down his shirt.

“Soo-“

“Don’t Jongin. It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing.” The alpha insisted.

“Yes it is!” Kyungsoo fought back. “I’ve had wounds so much more worse, and to make a big deal over a wound that human gave me… it- it makes me feel weak. I am not weak Jongin.”

Jongin watched as the omega glared at his own hands, his eyes red but it was clear that the omega was doing his best to not show weakness. “No,” Jongin shook his head, “of course you aren’t. Both you and Luhan are a part of Kris’ pack. I never thought you were weak. You injured an alpha during you’re heat –how could I ever think that you were weak.”

But Kyungsoo was still shaking, “I don’t like being thought of as weak.”

Jongin closed his eyes and pulled Kyungsoo against him, “I know,” the alpha whispered, smiling when he felt the elder slowly lift his hands and cling to the back of Jongin’s shirt. 

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