He knew it was only a matter of time for someone to make attempts on him; the collar could have scared away some wolves of lower standing, but definitely not the ones loyal to Jong or those that would gain much from attacking him.

It had been a melancholic night; one he spent dinner with Jongkook, Junjin and Key without Siwon for once. The alpha was having dinner with his family, including Yu-il, thus leaving Yu-il’s wing empty for him to hang out at with Jongkook. Despite the company of the cheerful boy, he was downhearted and missing his friends terribly after meeting Zhoumi the day before. Additionally, his mind couldn’t stop wondering about how the alpha was doing, because Zhoumi had been unable to supply any information except that the alpha looked fine in school.

After a late dinner and spending some time with the pair of father and son, Key was escorting him back to Siwon’s room when their path was blocked by three alphas and two betas. The beta guard had casually greeted them, attempting to lead him past by the arm, but the group was out to get them.

In an incredible speed, Key had grabbed the arm that reached out for Sungmin, flinging the offensive beta to the ground with a throw over his shoulder. Instinctively, Sungmin lifted his fist to fight, only to find himself shoved against the wall.

“Stay here, Sungmin-ssi,” Key’s hand was still on his shoulder as the beta scanned the group of five before them. “You cannot interrupt.”

“But—”

“No, it’s an offence for omegas to attack alphas,” Key lowered his voice. “Run when you have the chance.”

The beta charged forward, deftly avoiding an alpha’s attack as he sent another alpha to the ground with a side kick. Despite his skinny appearance, Key was a good fighter with the advantage of speed. In the next second, he sent the other beta flying towards the wall. However, there was a limit to the number of people a good fighter could take on at one time.

When the third alpha unscrupulously aimed for his eyes, Key dodged in fluster, resulting in an opening to his side that another took advantage of. Kicks rained down on the beta, one directly slamming down on his cheek, causing him to crash hard against the floor. Intending to help, Sungmin took a step, but the two betas immediately interrupted and immobilized him by taking his arms.

“Let go!” He shrugged out of the hold of one beta, kicking the wolf in the stomach. However, a sharp punch threw his head to the side, disorientation incapacitating him for moments before Key’s voice rung through his head.

“Run!” Key yelled, using all of his remaining strength to hold down the struggling beta. “Sungmin-ssi, go now!”

Sungmin scanned the surroundings, noticing that Key had managed to knock the three alphas to ground before jumping for the beta. When he saw the alphas getting up, he ignored Key’s shoutings and the warning bells ringing in his head, moving to stand in front of Key.

“The one you want is me,” he said, eyeing the smirking alphas. “Let Key-ssi go.”

“Why should we?” The one with auburn hair cracked his neck. “He did quite a bit on us.”

“Just leave him. Let’s settle this somewhere else,” Sungmin suggested, immediately dodging when an arm reached out for him. Before he realized, one of the alphas had gotten past him, drawing a cry from Key when an elbow strike was delivered to the beta’s back.

Sungmin reacted with a punch, but before his blow could reach the alpha so as to free Key, his arm was caught by another. He twisted to release himself from the hold, lifting his leg only to be stopped again, this time by Key’s groan.

“Down, omega,” the alpha grabbing his arm gestured at his leg. Sungmin threw a glance at Key who was suppressed by two betas and an alpha’s foot on his back, slowly lowering his leg.

“I said down, omega,” the alpha repeated with a sickening grin. At Key’s muffled cry, Sungmin dropped to his knees, lowering his head and gaze.

“Let him go,” Sungmin said, but the alpha yanked his head back by his hair, causing him to clench his eyes tight in pain.

“Why do you care so much about a mere guard?” The alpha questioned, before answering himself. “Ah. He must be another of your bed partners—”

Sungmin spat at the alpha’s face in disgust, glaring furiously at the wolf. He didn’t even blink when the alpha’s hand came swinging down towards his face, but the hit never landed.

“What do you think you’re doing to my omega?” Siwon twisted the alpha’s hand, a loud crack sounding as though it was an order. Within seconds, the group was brought down by the guards that came along with Siwon.

The arrival of Siwon and his guards had attracted a spectating crowd as well, but Siwon’s expressionless face hinted no concern about the spectators at all as he threw the broken-wrist alpha to his guards. Siwon held out a hand to Sungmin, asking in a neutral tone that betrayed nothing, “Are you okay, Sungmin?”

He understood that it was a show; it had always been a show when there was more than just the two of them. Thus, Sungmin placed his hand in the alpha’s, allowing Siwon to pull him up from the ground. He bowed his head like a submissive omega would as he rose to full height. “Yes… Thank you, Master.”

“Back to my room,” Siwon ordered, turning away before he could reply.

He still did anyway, answering in an even softer voice, “Yes, Master”, before obediently following the two guards waiting for him. Sungmin forced himself not to look back, hiding his interest in how the alpha would handle the offenders from the audience.

It was only five minutes later, when Sungmin was sitting on the bed, did the alpha return to the room with an anxious expression that could only be shown in the private confinements of the room.  

“Are you hurt, Sungmin?” Siwon flusteredly reached out for him, and though he tried to pull back as usual, the alpha didn’t let go. Siwon checked his arms for bruises, only releasing the hold when he tugged again. However, the alpha reached out for his slightly swollen left cheek, causing him to flinch at the touch.

“I’m fine,” Sungmin said, brushing his cheekbone as though the pain didn’t sting. “The bruise will disappear after a day.”  

“Sorry,” Siwon cleared his throat, withdrawing his hands. “I was worried because Key’s injuries were quite serious. I’ll ask Junjin later to bring some ice over for you.”

“How is Key-ssi?” He asked without looking up, well aware that the alpha’s eyes were still scanning him for injuries.

“He will be fine. Doctor Lee is tending to his injuries.” It reminded Sungmin of how the doctor tended to his injuries and the brand when Siwon had brought him to this room.

“What about those guys?”

“Jong arrived and ordered for them to be tied to posts in the inner hall. The punishment will last a day without food and water,” Siwon paused before continuing cautiously. “But they claimed that the matter was started by you.”

“Public display as humiliation for alphas…” Sungmin snorted, “I pity them for following such a despicable leader.”

Siwon didn’t reply, instead observing him silently.

Sungmin spent the silent moments analysing the situation, ultimately realizing Jong’s intention. “How are you going to punish me then?” He asked as calmly as he could, though the submissive omega in him was shaking in fear from the thought.

“No,” Siwon’s unexpected answer surprised him, prompting him to look at the alpha. “I will not punish you for protecting someone else. Furthermore, Key said you never managed to land a hit on anyone.”

“It doesn’t matter whether I managed to land a hit or that I was protecting somebody. It is a fact I attacked an alpha, and everyone saw it,” Sungmin reasoned.

“I’m your alpha,” the burning dominanating aura from Siwon sent a shiver down his back. “I decide whether I will punish you, not those mere spectators.”

“You’re walking right into Jong’s trap,” Sungmin stated, taking a deep breath when he heard the slight tremble in his own voice. “This is my part of the deal – to act as your obedient omega, which means getting punished for flouting the rules is part of the deal too. I will not complain about it.”

“Sungmin,” A smile broke out on the alpha’s face, the dominating aura retracting into a casual level. “Are you begging for me to punish you now?”

At Siwon’s words, he realized how hard he was trying to help the alpha. Shaking away his confusion and fear, he climbed further onto bed, retrieving the half-read book he had left on the bedside table as a sign that the conversation had ended.

The alpha took his cue, standing up from the bed and moving towards the door. However, Siwon paused before exiting. “Thank you, Sungmin. But I want to keep to my part of the deal as well.”  

Sungmin looked up as the click of the door lock sounded.

~--~

He thought the alpha had an intention behind the decision of not giving him a punishment, perhaps to display and hone his alpha authority in front of others, and he thought that the alpha would be able to handle the consequences of walking into Jong’s trap. But Sungmin found himself wrong the next night when he was ready to go to bed before the alpha returned.

He recognized the high-pitched child voice of Jongkook, who was demanding to meet him because there was an emergency. Jonghyun requested to know what was going on, citing Siwon’s orders of not letting him leave the room past dinnertime.

“Siwon hyungnim is hurt!” The omega had screamed in frustration, before the door was unlocked in the next few seconds.

“Sungmin-ssi?” Jonghyun’s voice rung out in the darkness of the room.

In the dim moonlight, he briskly walked towards the door, heart racing by each step. “Where is he?”

The uneasy tumbling in the bottom of his stomach continued as they rushed towards Yu-il’s wing, and it occurred to Sungmin that the uncomfortableness and uneasiness he had felt for the past hour was because of the bond between him and Siwon. He followed Jongkook’s lead through the corridors of Yu-il’s wing, only hesitating when they reached the doorstep of Yu-il’s bedroom.

Siwon had one arm over Junjin’s shoulder, his weight almost entirely leaning on the beta as they trudged towards the bed. Though the shirt the alpha was wearing was black in colour, there were darker patches on the back that were wet, but Sungmin knew it wasn’t just water or sweat.

It was blood; the room reeked of blood.

“What happened?” Yu-il flusteredly moved over, barely holding back tears of anxiety as she tried to help support Siwon onto the bed. “Jaein! Go get Doctor Lee please!”

Siwon collapsed facedown onto the bed with a loud thud, his groan overtaking the soft reply of the female omega who often stayed over at Yu-il’s place.

“Siwon…”

“I’m alright, M-Mother…” The alpha answered weakly.

“Do you have a pair of scissors? We have to take off his shirt now,” Junjin said, lifting the hem of the shirt carefully. “The blood is already drying.”

Sungmin ignored Jaein’s glance at him as the omega exited the room and Jongkook’s tugs at his hand, staring at the alpha as his feet was rooted to the doorstep. Each muffled groan from Siwon as the shirt was cut and pulled off from his wounds squeezed Sungmin’s heart without control.  

“What happened?” Yu-il asked again in an anxious voice. “Why did Hyungbyun use the whip on you? It has been so long since…”

“Sungmin hyung!” Henry’s loud voice silenced the room. Sungmin couldn’t take his eyes off the bloody gushes on the alp