Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He was alone, eyes squeezed shut against the darkness. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides as the noise in his head intensified, pounding out every note against his already aching body.

A sharp screech cut through it all, silencing the other sounds. He didn’t move, eyes still closed in agony as the pain washed over his body, razors slicing through skin. His knees buckled, and he found himself on the ground, curled in on himself, trying to block the pain. He opened his eyes, slowly, but found nothing, nothing but the darkness that he was trying to escape.

It pressed in slowly, compressing him until he was nothing but his screams of pain.

Chanyeol woke with a shriek. His eyes flew open as he shot up into a sitting position, fingers desperately clawing at the darkness, as if trying to fend off a monster. A choked sob slipped through his lips, but he bit back any others that may have followed.

It’s coming.

He pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to throw off the last remnants of the dream.

War is coming.

Chanyeol hauled himself to his feet, nearly tripping over the man beside him in his haste. He walked away, still attempting to shake the sounds from his mind.

This was the third night in a row that this dream had woken him. But this time, this time was different. He hadn’t been able to pull a message out of the visions, until now. And it was more obvious than he wanted to admit.

Chanyeol was broke out of his thoughts when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. Baekhyun’s cold face rested against his shoulder. “Again?” Chanyeol nodded, fighting back whatever tears remained. “Chanyeol, this is big. If you’ve had the same dream three nights in a row...we should go to Suho. He might be able to figure out what it means.”

“I know what it means.”

“Then why won’t you tell him? He’s our Alpha, he knows how to handle things like this.” Baekhyun’s voice was laced with concern, but Chanyeol shook it off.

“I didn’t know what it meant until now. It’s not as bad as I thought it was.”

“Chanyeol. You haven’t slept through the night in three days. The last time this happened, it was when you were having the visions about...them attacking, and that was four years ago.” Baekhyun inhaled sharply and then stepped in front of Chanyeol so he could meet his gaze. “You need to go to Suho about this.”

“That’s the thing, Baekhyun. It’s the same fucking dream.” Chanyeol stepped away from Baekhyun, one hand running through his hair.

A noise of disbelief came from behind him. “It can’t be. They wouldn’t.” He sighed, and then reached out to grab Chanyeol’s free hand. “If it’s nothing, then it won’t hurt to go to Suho about it. He’ll know for sure whether or not they plan to attack us again.”

“This is outrageous! They haven’t attacked us in four years, Baekhyun, four years, and now you’re saying that they’re coming back?” Baekhyun opened his mouth to reply, but Suho cut him off, throwing a growl at the Beta in front of him. “What motivation could they possibly have to attack us? We have nothing that they want. So why would you accuse them of this?”

“Suho, if you would just fucking listen to me, you’d understand what I’m saying.” Chanyeol muttered a soft warning in Baekhyun’s ear, and tightened his hold on his mate’s hand. “You remember four years ago, when Chanyeol had those...those dreams about them attacking?” Suho nodded, disbelief still in his eyes. “He’s having them again. The same dream. It’s woken him up three nights in a row.”

The Alpha went still. He looked confused for a brief moment, and then realization hit him. “Are you serious?” Chanyeol nodded. “My gods. Do you have any idea when?”

Chanyeol cleared his throat. “I...um...soon? I don’t know for sure, but it’s definitely coming sooner rather than later.” Suho opened his mouth to ask another question, but Chanyeol cut him off. “War. War is coming. That’s what the voice said to me.”

Suho nodded. He didn’t really understand what all the Seer nonsense was really about, but he could pretend to. “Baekhyun, do you want to take him back so he can get some rest?”

Baekhyun nodded, one hand snaking around Chanyeol’s waist. “I take it you’ll be letting the rest of the tribe know soon.” Suho grunted his assent as he turned away from them, his eyes looking to the papers on his desk. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” He murmured softly after them, his hands already reaching for a fresh piece of paper and his pen.

Chapter Text

To say the camp was tense was an understatement. No one had said a word after Suho’s announcement, other than soft murmurs whispered amongst couples and children. Even the youngest of the kids knew what was happening.

They were scattered throughout the center of their camp, each individual standing with their family. Suho himself stood at the head of it all, his arms crossed over his chest. Young as he was, he was a good Alpha, and he knew how to lead his tribe.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol stood to his right. Chanyeol had a hand wrapped securely around his waist, his chin resting on top of Baekhyun’s head.

Everyone’s eyes raised in unison when Sehun entered the clearing. There was a mixture of fear and anger in his eyes as he walked quickly to Suho’s side. “They’re here.” Suho raised an eyebrow in question, sensing a deeper meaning to Sehun’s comment. “Not all of them, no. Just a few. Six, I think. Maybe a few more. I’m not sure.”

The Alpha nodded, and then motioned Baekhyun to his side. The Beta slipped out of Chanyeol’s grip, as he stepped towards Suho. “Baekhyun, be on your guard. Sehun’s only reported six of them coming, but you know how they are. This could very well be a trap.” There was a long pause. “Keep your eyes open.”

Baekhyun snorted. “You know I see better in the dark.”

Suho rolled his eyes. “Then tell Chanyeol to keep his eyes open.”

Without another word, Baekhyun walked back to his mate and took his hand. “Suho thinks this might be a trap. It doesn’t feel like one, but you never know.”

Chanyeol nodded and put an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders, pulling the shorter man against his chest. “I’ll keep an eye on Lay.”

Baekhyun giggled softly, drawing condescending gazes from those around them. He shot a glare at Kai, and then turned back to Chanyeol.

Whatever stray murmurs remained vanished as soon as they heard the first crunch of boots on snow. They were here, and by the sounds of it, Sehun’s report was correct.

Kai turned back to Baekhyun and mouthed a few names at him. Baekhyun nodded and then glanced over at Suho, who had straightened where he stood.

Chanyeol hissed softly under his breath, a furious spark igniting in his eyes. “What the hell...” He clamped his jaw shut when the newcomers entered the clearing, their shoulders tense, and their eyes alit with anger.

At the head of the party was the Alpha, Kris. Everyone-no, everyone but Suho-shrank away from the anger rolling off of him. He was intimidating, the image that popped into anyone’s head when they heard Alpha. At his side stood his Beta, Luhan, who looked weak and useless, but Baekhyun knew better than anyone that his bite was by far worse than his bark. He would fight to the death to protect Kris, and unfortunately that fighting involved a number of cheap tricks.

On Kris’ other side was-why the fuckwas hehere?-Tao, the Omega. His hand was curled in the back of Kris’ shirt, his body half hidden by his mate’s dominant form.

Behind them, the Seer-Lay-was hidden behind two others that Baekhyun didn’t recognize. Their eyes flicked side to side, stopping once on everyone in the clearing, Baekhyun included.

Luhan’s gaze, on the other hand, hadn’t left Baekhyun’s face. There was something in his eyes, something that Baekhyun couldn’t quite recognize.

“Why are we here, Suho?” Kris broke the silence, his eyes on Suho’s. There was a soft growl underneath his words that settled like a weight over everyone’s shoulders-except Suho’s.

Suho stepped forward, ignoring the hushed snarl that slipped through Luhan’s teeth. Kris silenced him with a glance. “You know why you’re here.” He slipped into Kris’ native tongue flawlessly. Baekhyun understood enough to catch the meaning, but no one else seemed to.

Kris took a step forward, shaking off Tao’s grip. He now stood toe to toe with Suho. Baekhyun took a step forward, but Suho waved him off, not once looking over at his Beta. “I don’t think I do. Why don’t you enlighten me.”

“Chanyeol.”

Confusion swept over Kris’ eyes. “Your Seer?” Suho nodded, and then realization hit Kris. “He saw something?” Another nod. “It was the vision about the war, wasn’t it?”

Suho leaned back slightly, the shock of the revelation hitting him hard. He didn’t respond to Kris, but he did turn to those beside him. “Baekhyun, find someplace for them to stay. Our...friends are going to be here for a while.”

Baekhyun’s eyes bulged, and Chanyeol was almost worried that they would pop out of his head. The shorter of the two couldn’t speak, but Chanyeol knew exactly what he was going to say. “What?” There was no response, other than Kris nodding his assent. “Suho, are you out of your mind?”

“Later. Right now Kris and I need to talk. Alone, Baekhyun.” Suho turned away from them all and walked back into the cave where he was staying. Kris paused to say a few soft words to Tao, before following Suho.

Chapter Text

Baekhyun arrived at the entrance to the cave at the same time as Luhan. As soon as they saw each other, their faces went from calm to pissed. It was infuriating, how similar they were, and they despised it, almost as much as they despised each other.

“You smell like a dog.”

“You look like a dog.”

“Your mate is a troll.”

“You don’t have a mate.”

Luhan attacked first, his head knocking against Baekhyun’s jaw when they collided. The pair grappled with each other, trying to find purchase on unmarked skin. Baekhyun threw Luhan off, and rolled to his feet, a growl slipping through his teeth.

“Your Alpha has no mate!”

“Your Alpha is a stuck up bastard!”

Luhan punched Baekhyun in the nose, relishing the sound of bone breaking under his fist. Baekhyun didn’t waste any time; he grabbed Luhan around the waist and brought him to the ground. “You’re getting blood all over me!”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have broken my nose, asshole!”

Baekhyun managed to plant his fist in Luhan’s gut, making his opponent growl in fury before he got his fingers into Baekhyun’s hair and yanked.

Luhan shrieked when Baekhyun kicked him in the shin, and then he brought his fist down into Baekhyun’s chest.

“What in the hell are you two doing?”

The double growl that came from Suho and Kris surprised them both enough that they pulled away from each other.

“Luhan, get your ass off the ground!” Kris’ deep voice was enough to make Baekhyun follow Luhan’s example, as they scrambled to their feet, Luhan moving to join Kris, Baekhyun stepping towards Suho.

Suho sighed softly, nostrils flaring. “Apologize.” Baekhyun looked ready to protest, but Suho cut him off. “Apologize, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun turned, unwillingly, to Luhan. “Luhan, I apologize for beating your sorry ass, even though you deserved it.”

Kris glared at Luhan for a long time before he finally relented. “Baekhyun, you pompous ass” That earned him a punch from his Alpha. “I sincerely apologize for breaking your huge nose and taking you down a peg or two.”

Suho made an exasperated noise and cut Baekhyun off before he could respond. “Baekhyun, why are you here?”

“Chanyeol had another vision. Apparently it’s different from the other ones.”

Before either of the Alphas could comment, Luhan was speaking. “Lay says he had another vision too.”

There was a long silence. Kris and Suho simply looked at each other for the duration, before Suho broke the silence. “I think...I think maybe we should all just get some sleep. We can come back to this tomorrow.”

Kris nodded his agreement. “Luhan, I swear on your sorry life, if there is any more fighting-and I don’t give a damn who it is-I will skin whoever is involved alive and feed them to the birds. Am I clear?” The Beta nodded, his eyes on the ground. “I trust Baekhyun doesn’t need a warning?”

Baekhyun shook his head quickly, ready to get the hell out of there.

“Alright. Suho, we’ll speak tomorrow. Luhan, no fighting.” Kris stepped past them all, not bothering to look back even once at his Beta before he went to find his mate.

“You realize I’m not any happier about this than you.”

Luhan grunted in response, running a hand through his hair. “Of course I fucking realize that. This situation really isn’t ideal for anyone.”

“Baekhyun said I wasn’t supposed to talk to you.”

A sigh. “So why are you...Sehun, is it?”

“Yeah.” Sehun inhaled sharply, and sat up in his bed. “I don’t know why. He said you would attack me.”

Luhan glanced up at Sehun, curiosity in his gaze. He walked towards him, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Sehun shied away, but stopped when he saw Luhan’s grin. “You’re different from the others. It’s...refreshing, I guess.”

Sehun giggled quietly, and then snapped his mouth shut. But Luhan didn’t move, his eyes trapped in Sehun’s gaze.

The younger of the pair cleared his throat, and then pulled his gaze away. “I, um...I should probably get some sleep. I have patrol tomorrow morning.”

“Can I go with you?”

Sehun squeaked softly, surprise flashing across his face. “I...if your Alpha says it’s okay then I guess you can.”

Luhan nodded and returned back to his original position on the floor. “Goodnight, Sehun.”

There was a long pause before Sehun spoke. “Goodnight, Luhan.”

Chapter Text

“All I’m saying, Sehun, is that you have to be careful. I don’t want the damn deer pulling any tricks on you, okay?”

Sehun shrugged out from underneath Kai’s arm when he saw Luhan approaching. “Yes, Kai, I understand. I’ll be fine.” He spoke quickly, before Kai had any chance to threaten Luhan. “We’re already behind schedule. I would have woken you up earlier, but Kai needed to talk to me about something ‘urgent.’”

Luhan shrugged, as if to say It’s not a problem. Kai looked at him for a long time, until Luhan caught his gaze, and then he turned away, casting one more look at Sehun before walking to join the other Hunters.

“Shall we go, then?” Luhan nodded, his eyes still on Kai’s back. “Do try to keep up, Luhan. I hate slowing down for people.”

Without another word, Sehun ran-literally ran- into the forest, not bothering to see if Luhan was following him.

Luhan almost crashed into Sehun when he came to a halt in a small clearing in the forest. Sehun turned to him, a finger coming to rest over his lips.

Then Luhan heard it.

His eyebrows drew together in a line as his head whipped from side to side, searching for the source of the noise.

He jumped when he felt Sehun’s hand on his shoulder, pulling him backwards. “They have a cave just north of here. They don’t bother me when I’m out here, but you might be setting them off just a little.” Luhan raised an eyebrow, mouthing a silent question at Sehun. “No offense, but you smell like prey.”

An emotion that Sehun couldn’t quite decipher crossed Luhan’s face. “Of fucking course I do.” He cursed softly under his breath, and then looked back at Sehun. “What’s the plan, boss?”

“I...I don’t know. Baekhyun would say fight, but I’ve never...I don’t fight.” Sehun’s voice shook with worry, his shoulders tense with fear.

Now it was confusion that clouded Luhan’s eyes. “You don’t...what?”

“I don’t fight, Luhan. Honestly, do I look like a-” He cut off when he realized that he was talking to Luhan. “Never mind that. I’m an Omega. I’ve never fought a battle in my life.”

Luhan sighed. “Maybe we should just...go back to the camp.”

Sehun shook his head. “No. We should keep going.” His voice wavered with uncertainty, but they both ignored it. “I have a job to do. You can go back if you want, but I’m going to continue.”

They stared at each other for a long time. “Fine. I’ll go with you. Gods know Suho would kill me if I didn’t bring you back alive. The way things are going, Kris would probably help him.”

Sehun nodded, and then walked back into the forest, this time slower than before.

Chanyeol was the first one to approach Lay that morning. He hadn’t really had any reason to, other than boredom, but once he had started talking to other Seer, he couldn’t pull himself away. Lay was only a year older than him, but the things he had seen...it was incredible.

That was, of course, how they ended up talking about the visions. Chanyeol had been in no rush to tell Lay what had happened in his own for the past few nights, but Lay had taken it all in with no judgement at all. And to get Chanyeol’s mind off of it, he had told the rather embarrassing story of his own.

Lay was fascinating, to say the least.

Chanyeol paused mid-sentence when Tao joined them. Lay simply reached back and took Tao’s hand, motioning with his free hand for Chanyeol to continue.

As soon as Chanyeol was finished speaking, Tao spoke softly into Lay’s ear, eyes on Chanyeol the entire time.

Lay grinned, before speaking. “He wants to know what it means.” There was a short pause, before Chanyeol finally realized that Lay was speaking for Tao. “Yes, he’s a little shy. But he enjoys hearing about the visions, and he’s very friendly once you get to know him.”

Tao smiled shyly, burying his face in Lay’s neck as the older man laughed softly under his breath. Chanyeol’s mouth quirked up into what he hoped was a smile, before he spoke. “To be honest, I have no clue what most of my visions mean. But the important ones, the ones that matter, I can understand those.”

Tao looked at him for a long moment. “I suppose that’s what really matters, isn’t it? That you can pick out what matters to your tribe from what doesn’t?”

Chanyeol nodded, and then froze. His head whipped to the side, and his eyes were on Sehun in an instant. Something was wrong. He was on his feet and walking swiftly to Sehun’s side in an instant.

Luhan explained before he had to ask. “We were out on patrol, and he caught the scent of some...things. We kept moving, because they were behind us, but they caught up and we were attacked.” Chanyeol opened his mouth again, but Luhan was already answering his questions. “No, we’re not hurt. Sehun scared them off.”

Chanyeol nodded, and then froze. “Did you say that Sehun scared them off? That doesn’t sound very correct.”

“Maybe not to you, you great oaf, but Sehun can be scary if you piss him off.”

At this point, the rest of the people in the clearing had come forward to see what was going on. Chanyeol turned around and walked away, intent on finding Baekhyun.

Lay looked once at Luhan and rolled his eyes. “Tao, go fetch Kris please. And bring Suho too, I think he needs to hear this.”

Chapter Text

Lay wrapped the bandage once more around Luhan’s chest before he tied it tight, causing his patient to grunt softly. “If you’d stop injuring yourself, I’d stop doing that.”

“I’m fine, Lay.”

“Bleeding heavily from a wound to the chest does not qualify as fine, Luhan.” Lay rolled his eyes and turned away from the Beta. “Besides, what if it had gotten infected and killed you? Where would the tribe be then?”

A long silence followed his questions. “You’re right, as usual.” Another long silence, as Lay put his supplies back in his bag. He heard Luhan shifting behind him, but the older boy didn’t hop down from where he was seated. “Hey, Lay?”

“Hay is for horses, Luhan.”

“Okay.”

“What do you want?”

Luhan took a deep breath. “I...have you ever fallen for someone that you could never have?” Lay’s head lifted, but he didn’t answer. “Not even necessarily in the love sense, even. Have you ever met someone and wanted to get to know them and you couldn’t?”

Lay sighed as he turned around. “Which one of them is it?”

Luhan pursed his lips, avoiding Lay’s gaze. “I, uh...no, it’s not…” One glance from Lay silenced his protests. “Sehun.” The word was quiet, even in the silent room.

“And you think that he’s-”

Luhan cut him off. “I don’t know, but I think so. When I’m with him, it just feels so...right. There’s no nervous feeling or magic sparkles, but everything just feels so perfect, like I could stay with him forever.”

“And does Sehun feel the same?”

A disgruntled noise was followed by a thump as Luhan moved to stand beside Lay. “I have no idea. He was all nerves and giggles last night, but today there was none of that. It was all ‘Did you hear that?’ ‘I’m not a warrior, Luhan, I’ve never fought in my life.’” Luhan sighed, and then picked up one of the jars on the table in front of Lay. “Lay, I’ve never felt like this in my life, and I don’t know what the fuck I should do about it.”

Lay rolled his eyes again, and grabbed the jar out of Luhan’s hands. “Well you can start by not touching my stuff. And then you can tell him how you feel and find out if he feels similarly.”

Luhan groaned softly as Lay turned away. “You know how shitty I am with words, Lay.”

“Yes, I do.” Lay nodded and glanced over his shoulder. “That’s why I’m telling you to do this.” Without waiting for a response, he walked out of the tent, and into the clearing, leaving a shocked Luhan behind to stare after him.

“I don’t understand why they would have attacked you.” Suho’s voice broke the long silence that followed Luhan’s story. “They’ve always been friendly to us, they’ve never once touched Sehun. So why now?”

“Sehun said that it may have been because I was with him and I, to quote him ‘smell like prey.’”

Kris snorted, drawing stares from everyone else. He raised a hand to hide his laughter, but it had already been seen. “I apologize, Luhan. But...you kind of do.”

Suho chuckled softly under his breath. “It’s nothing to be shy about, Luhan. We all know you’re a fierce warrior-Baekhyun especially.” The Beta glared up at Luhan from where he was seated, trapped in Chanyeol’s arms.

Luhan’s gaze found Sehun, who was giggling silently in the corner, his shoulders shaking with the effort to hold the laughter in.

Lay broke through their laughter. “Think about it this way, Luhan. You could be a dove.” Upon seeing the confused faces, he sighed. “My spirit animal is the dove. It represents peace, new life, and healing.”

“In other words, you’re weaker than Luhan.” Baekhyun’s snarky comment earned him a sharp smack on the head from Chanyeol. “Sorry.”

Lay shrugged. “It’s fine. As much as I admire you, Baekhyun, someone has to look after my tribe.”

They all looked up in unison when one of Kris’ Hunters-a young man named Chen-pushed past Luhan, a look of pure terror on his face. “I...I’m sorry to interrupt, but there’s something coming from the north.”

He collapsed, and as if by some invisible signal, Lay and Chanyeol both fell to the ground, allowing the shadows of unconsciousness to swallow them.

Chapter Text

When Luhan entered Sehun’s tent later that night, he wasn’t surprised to hear the sobs. Sehun had tried to muffle them with his pillow, it seemed, but it wasn’t really working.

What surprised him was his reactions to it.

The first was fury. Deep inside him was a biting anger, ready to kill, or at least seriously injure, whoever had made Sehun cry.

The second was grief. He wanted nothing more than to sob alongside him.

The third, and perhaps most surprising, was his body’s movements. Before he could fully process what was happening, Luhan was crawling into bed beside Sehun, and tucked the younger man underneath his arm.

Sehun made a soft noise of confusion, but didn’t attempt to throw Luhan off. He almost pressed back against Luhan’s chest, but managed to stop himself. That would be weird. Not that someone who was almost a complete stranger snuggling him wasn’t weird, but...It didn’t feel weird.

After Sehun had fallen asleep, Luhan couldn’t help but be fascinated by him. He was a beautiful person, one flawless feature flowing into the next. A smattering of scars rested above one eyebrow, but Luhan didn’t care. He pressed his mouth to the raised marks, and tightened his grip on Sehun’s body.

A quiet whimper broke through Sehun’s teeth and he subconsciously moved closer to Luhan, his own hands curling around Luhan’s forearms.

Luhan drifted off into sleep slowly.

Baekhyun hadn’t left Chanyeol’s side, his fingers twined in the Seer’s own. “I’m not going to leave him, Suho. I’ll sleep here if I have to.”

The Alpha sighed softly. “I’m not here to bother you, Baekhyun. I’m here to check on Lay. I told Kris that he should get some sleep, stay with Tao for a while before he came back here.”

Baekhyun hummed softly in the back of his throat as he stroked Chanyeol’s cheek. “Speaking of Kris.” Suho sighed behind him. “What’s going on, Suho? You’ve not told me anything, and Luhan knows only a little more than I do.”

He didn’t turn when he heard Suho come to stand behind him. “To be honest, Baekhyun? I have no idea.” He sat down beside his Beta. “Chanyeol and Lay have both been seeing the same visions as four years ago, warning them about war. But we both know that neither of us have any plans for war. That narrows it down to two things-someone else is going to attack, or Kris is lying. I’m inclined to believe Kris, especially given what happened to Luhan and Sehun today.”

“Luhan might have attacked Sehun-”

Suho cut him off. “I could smell those things on them. And Luhan got hurt by them, that much is obvious.”

“So you think they’re going to attack us?”

“They aren’t smart enough to organize that on their own, but I believe they’re a part of it. Someone else must be behind it, but I don’t know who.”

Baekhyun nodded slowly, his eyes still on Chanyeol. “I’ll keep an eye on Lay, if you want. You need to get some sleep too.”

Suho nodded, and rose to his feet. “You’re a good man, Baekhyun. Chanyeol’s lucky to have you.” Without another word, he walked out of the cave, leaving Baekhyun alone with the two Seers.

“Sehun, you’re not going on patrol today.”

The Omega whirled around, eyes wide with surprise. “What?”

Suho raised an eyebrow. “You honestly thought I’d let you leave, given what happened yesterday?” Sehun opened his mouth to respond, but the Alpha cut him off. “No. You’re staying here. Kris and I need to figure out what in the hell is going on, and you’re going to help us do that.”

Sehun nodded slowly. “Fine.”

Suho didn’t respond. He turned away from Sehun, and walked back across the clearing towards Kai and the other Hunters.

Sehun spotted Luhan stepping out of his tent, and flushed. He seemed to feel the need to walk around with a shirt off all the fucking time. His own tribe didn’t seem bothered by it, and many of Sehun’s tribe-mates didn’t give a fuck, but for some reason it really pissed Sehun off.

His blush only got worse when he caught Luhan’s eye. He tore his eyes away, but it was too late. Luhan was already headed his way. Sehun glanced around desperately, trying to find some way to get out of this. Having his luck, there was none.

“Sehun.”

The Omega sighed, but didn’t turn around. “What, Luhan?”

“Can I talk to you? In private?” Sehun shook his head, now trying to catch Kai’s gaze across the clearing. “Sehun, please. It’s important.”

“Luhan, Sehun.” They both jumped when Kris approached them. “Suho wants to speak with both of you. Now.”

Sehun squeaked and basically scrambled away from the both of them, in a hurry to get away from Luhan.

Chapter Text

“I don’t like what your Beta is doing.”

Chen and Xiumin looked up at the same time, identical looks of confusion on their faces. “And by that you mean...what, exactly?”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. You’re Hunters, not idiots.”

Chen rose to his feet-not that it helped, Kai still towered over him-and looked Kai over. “What, exactly, are you accusing Luhan of?”

“Is this about him and Sehun?”

The tall Hunter nodded. “He won’t leave him alone, and quite honestly, I’m sick of it.” Xiumin stood up, and stepped in between Kai and Chen. “Sehun’s scared. I know him well enough to understand that. And based on the way he seems to vanish whenever Luhan is around, I’d wager that Luhan’s up to something.”

“I’ll look into it, if you want me to, Kai. The fewer rifts there are between us, the easier it will be to work together, yes?” Kai nodded, but didn’t take his gaze off of Xiumin’s. “He’s not going to do anything to your friend, Kai, that much I know. He’s not stupid.”

“Who’s not stupid?”

Luhan’s soft voice startled Xiumin and Kai. Their heads snapped towards the source of the sound at the same time.

Chen saved them both from complete humiliation. “No one, Luhan. It’s nothing.”

“You’re a horrible liar.” The Hunter shrugged, and turned away from them. “I take it you’re talking about me.”

Xiumin and Kai glanced at each other for a brief moment before looking back at the Beta. “What’s going on between you and Sehun? And don’t bother telling me it’s nothing, Luhan, because I’m not an idiot.”

Luhan’s eyes narrowed. He was clearly weighing the pros and cons of attacking Kai right there. “None of your business.”

“Here’s the thing, Luhan. It is my business. Sehun’s my friend, and he’s a part of my Tribe, not yours.” Kai took a step closer to Luhan, putting them toe-to-toe. Luhan raised his chin-albeit unwillingly-to look Kai in the eyes, his glare darkening. “He’s my best friend, and I won’t let you hurt him.”

“The only person who’s going to get hurt is you, Kai, if you don’t back the fuck off.” Luhan bared his teeth, a soft growl building in his chest.

“Ooh, I’m so scared. The little deer is going to attack me.”

“Don’t encourage him, Kai.”

“Stay out of it, Xiumin.”

Luhan and Kai’s glares both intensified when they spoke in unison. “You want to fight, Kai, I’ll give you a fight.”

“Oh, bite me.”

Luhan lunged forward, teeth snapping together right next to Kai’s ear. They landed hard on the ground. The shorter of the pair landed two blows on Kai before he was being launched into a tree, an angry shout coming from his lips.

He recovered quickly, and had dragged his nails across Kai’s face before the Hunter knew he had even moved.

Luhan was fast, they both knew that. He had been fighting people bigger than him for along time, and had gotten accustomed to it.

But Kai was definitely stronger, and it wasn’t hard for him to throw Luhan to the ground again.

“You don’t suck as much as I thought you would, Kai.”

Kai growled under his breath and rolled, throwing a disgruntled Luhan off of him. “It helps that Baekhyun taught us how to fight dicks like you.”

Luhan let out an enraged shriek, and launched himself at Kai, his teeth bared once again.

Kai was so lost in the fighting that he didn’t feel it when Luhan was pulled off of him. He couldn’t think past the anger roaring in his ears, the pain beating in his head. One voice cut through the fogginess, only because it was the one voice he had never heard above a regular tone.

“How dare you do this, how dare you lay a finger on him, you disgusting creature! You wanted me to trust you, and this is how you try to gain my trust?”

Kai looked. He hadn’t meant to-the action hurt like hell-but he had to see. His eyes focused in time to see Sehun’s fist meet Luhan’s face, and then Chanyeol was dragging him backwards. Baekhyun was barely being restrained, Kyungsoo’s arms wrapped around his waist. Tao and Lay stood off to the side. Chen and Xiumin held a bloodied Luhan between them, both restraining and supporting him. Kris and Suho were shouting at Luhan and Sehun respectively, now, the loud Alpha tones in their voices making Kai’s head spin.

Kai blinked, and Kyungsoo appeared by his side. “Oh my gods. What did he do to you?”

A loud growl called their attention as a feral looking Sehun lunged at Luhan. Suho grabbed him, and hit the Omega, hard, in the stomach. Sehun went limp, his eyes sliding closed, allowing the darkness to cover his mind.

It wasn’t long before Kai felt the same darkness cover him.

Luhan woke up to a bright light and a furious Lay standing beside him. The Seer didn’t speak, the anger in his eyes obvious. The Beta pushed himself into a sitting position, ignoring the stabbing pain in his chest, and raised a hand to his face. He winced when his fingers touched the bruise that he knew was there.

“How bad?”

Lay inhaled sharply. “You’re not going to be fighting any time soon. Kai is a little better, but not much. His mate wants your head. Baekhyun wants to kill you. Suho is furious.” Luhan opened his mouth to ask, but Lay was already answering the inevitable question. “Kris...honestly, Luhan, I fear for your life. Kris hasn’t left Tao’s side for anything. Whenever someone says your name, bloody murder lights up in his eyes.”

“And Sehun?”

Lay shook his head. “He hasn’t left his tent in three days, Luhan. Everytime I go in there, he’s crying. The first time Chanyeol saw him, he said that he was curled up in a corner, cursing you under his breath.” Lay turned his back to Luhan. “So yeah, I’d say you fucked up pretty badly, Luhan.”

Chapter Text

Chanyeol was the one who took Luhan to see Sehun. Lay had figured that, if Sehun attacked Luhan, the Seer would be able to hold him back long enough for Baekhyun to show up.

“Why in the hell are you here, Luhan?”

Chanyeol took a step back, vanishing into the shadows to give them some form of privacy. “I’m so sorry, Sehun.” The Omega snorted, fury in his eyes. “I’m not going to try and and bullshit some reason for you, I honestly don’t know why I did it. But I’m sorry.”

“You think sorry fixes this? You nearly killed my best friend.”

Luhan took a deep breath, trying to rein in his emotions. “No, I know that it doesn’t fix anything, and if you want to, you can punch me again because I deserve that, but Sehun, I need you to know that I love you and I never meant to hurt you like this.”

There was a long silence. Sehun didn’t speak, didn’t move, he simply stood there, arms at his sides.

“You what?”

Luhan fell to his knees, a soft sound coming from his throat. “I know it sounds ridiculous and I know that I met you like a week ago, but Sehun, I love you. I have loved you since I met you, since you saved my life, since all of it.”

Sehun was on his knees in front of Luhan before the first tears began to fall. “I can’t believe...it took you this long to figure it out? You’re actually an idiot, you know that?”

The Omega was brushing tears off of Luhan’s face one second, and the next he had his arms around the Beta, holding him tight against his chest. With one hand, he motioned for Chanyeol to leave, and thank the gods the Seer did.

“Do you have any idea what you have done?”

Luhan inhaled sharply. He turned towards Kris. “I fucked up, I know.”

Kris snorted. “That’s one way to put it.” He took a deep breath, and tightened his grip on Tao’s waist. “You almost killed Kai. Even you are smart enough to understand what that means. If it weren’t for Suho, Kyungsoo would have killed you. Suho and Baekhyun haven’t spoken to each other in two days. They were screaming at each other until sunrise after your little...incident.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before looking at Luhan again. “Chanyeol, Lay, Chen, Xiumin? They’ve been rotating patrols, keeping this land-most of them don’t even belong here, Luhan!-safe from whatever attacked you.”

Luhan nodded. “Sehun told me.”

“Speaking of Sehun.” Luhan pursed his lips and looked away. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were both glaring at him from across the clearing, a scared looking Chanyeol standing behind them. “Luhan!” The Beta’s eyes snapped back to Kris’. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Luhan visibly relaxed when he spotted Sehun coming towards him. The Omega glanced quickly between Kris and Luhan, but he eventually squared his shoulders and came to stand beside Luhan.

There was a long silence, as they all stared at each other.

Tao’s soft voice broke the stillness. “Impossible.” He stepped out from behind Kris, eyes wide. “This has never, never happened, in our history, in the history of either of the Tribes, as far as I’m aware.”

“Just because it’s never happened before doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”

Tao nodded, and then looked Sehun in the eyes. “Do you want to tell Suho?”

Instinctively, Sehun looked towards Luhan, a strange look in his eyes. The Beta shrugged and glanced quickly at his Alpha. “It’s up to you.”

Realization seemed to hit Kris in that very moment. “What the fuck?” Before Sehun could even process what was happening, Kris had punched Luhan, hard, in the nose.

The Beta didn’t recipricate. “I’m not going to fight you, Kris. If you want me to leave, I will. But I’m not going to leave Sehun.”

Kris couldn’t speak through his fury. So he did the one thing he did best, and attacked.

Any bonds the two Tribes may have built in the past few weeks were broken, all within about ten seconds.

Suho was the first to reach them. He tried to pull Kris back, but, great Alpha though he was, his strength was nothing against Kris’. He was knocked backwards by an elbow to the chest, and he fell still.

Baekhyun shrieked in outrage, and before Sehun could process the sound, the Beta and Kyungsoo were there, teeth bared in fury.

Sehun let his instincts take over. Before Baekhyun had even reached Kris, Sehun had plowed into him from the side. The Alpha fell over onto his side, but recovered quickly from his surprise. Without a second thought, he sank his teeth into Sehun’s arm, drawing blood.

Sehun was pulled off of Kris by someone else, but he couldn’t tell who through the rage. The only thing he heard was Baekhyun’s voice, shouting at whoever was holding him back. “Get him out of here, find Lay and Kai, and keep them away, do you understand?”

Apparently they did, because the next thing he knew, Sehun was being dragged through the forest, a tight grip on his arms. He struggled as much as he could, but the idiot holding him was a lot stronger. “Sehun! Calm the fuck down.”

“That’s my mate, Tao!”

Tao slapped Sehun, hard. “My mate is in there too.” He took a deep breath, and then stepped backwards. “Over the past few days, Sehun, I have watched Kris boil in his own anger. That’s how he functions. He’s not going to kill anyone, not Luhan, not Suho, not Baekhyun, no one.”

“Then let me back in there.”

“No. Baekhyun told me to get you out of there. Tribemates or not, he still outranks me. I can’t override his orders.” Tao sighed. “Listen, Sehun. We have to go find Lay and Kai, because if Kai goes back there now, he will kill Luhan, and your pack won’t be able to stop him.”

Sehun nodded, and then turned towards the forest. “Tao?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about them going back to camp right now.”

Chapter Text

Sehun and Tao found the pair covered in blood, a trio of dead bodies at their feet. As soon as he saw Sehun, Kai allowed himself to collapse against a tree, one hand on his ribs. Lay took one look at them and grimaced. “Do I even want to know?”

“I’ll tell you later. What...ah, what happened here?”

Lay shook his head, and then looked at Kai. “He shouldn’t have been fighting, not in his condition. I think they broke his ribs. And his wrist.”

Kai shook his head. “No, the wrist is sprained. But these three ribs,” Kai motioned to the ribs his hand was resting on. “Those are definitely broken.” He inhaled sharply and winced. “Enough about me. What the hell happened to you, Sehun?”

Sehun looked down at his arm. He had almost forgotten about the bite that Kris had delivered to his arm. “Oh. Kris bit me.” Kai’s eyes widened in anger. “To be fair, I did attack him.”

Lay choked on his own breath. “I thought Luhan said you weren’t a fighter?”

The Omega shook his head. “Oh, I’m not.”

Tao interrupted his thoughts. “To be fair to Sehun, Kris did attack Luhan.”

Lay nodded in understanding, but Kai just looked confused. “Er...why does Sehun care? Luhan and Kris fighting is nothing new, according to Suho and Xiumin.”

Tao looked ready to answer, but Sehun put a hand on his shoulder. “He’s my mate, Kai.” His quiet words shocked the Hunter into silence. “Kris attacked Luhan, and then Suho tried to stop him, Kris hit Suho, and the rest of the Tribe-the rest of both of the tribes-flipped their shit, myself included. Tao had to drag me out of there so we could come find you guys.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Suho, get over yourself!”

Sehun woke to the sound of Baekhyun’s voice. He tried to straighten his back, and then grunted in pain. Sleeping outside might not have been his greatest idea, but thanks to Kris and Baekhyun, outside was his only option.

“You’re not honestly letting them stay, are you?”

Luhan grunted and turned his face into Sehun’s neck, clearly trying to stay asleep. Sehun smiled softly, one hand running through Luhan’s hair.

“Suho, they tried to kill not only you, but Kai and I as well.”

Sehun still couldn’t hear Suho’s responses, but he knew the Alpha well enough to guess. “Does he ever shut up?”

Lay’s words surprised Sehun, but he laughed softly. “Usually he’s not this loud.” Sehun looked up at the Seer, and jumped when he saw Tao standing behind him. “How’s Kris?”

“Alive.” Tao’s voice was dark. “He knows I’m pissed at him, and that I won’t talk to him until he apologizes to...well, everyone except Lay and Kai, really. It’s pissing him off.” The Omega sat down beside Sehun, gaze on the ground. “Kai’s healing quickly, according to Chanyeol, who hasn’t left any of the injured since we broke up the fight.”

Lay nodded along with Tao’s words. “He’s good at what he does, that Chanyeol. Not much experience, but very good at it, and a very quick learner.”

“Wish I could say the same about his dick of a mate.” Luhan’s sleepy voice made them all jump, Sehun most of all. “Has the dumbass been shouting like this all night?”

“Just since dawn.”

Luhan hummed in the back of his throat. “And how’s Kris?”

Tao shook his head. “He refuses to apologize to you. He thinks that this whole thing with you and Sehun is-”

“Bullshit!” Baekhyun’s loud screech cut him off. “You don’t honestly believe Luhan’s obviously fake story, do you? Suho, it’s impossible for them to be mates. It’s just some story that Kris made up so that they could get us to trust them!”

“It’s not bullshit, Baekhyun.”

All six of them turned when they heard Chanyeol’s soft voice. He looked tired, dark circles had formed under his eyes. “Luhan and Sehun are mates. You understand me well enough to know that I can feel that. What they have is the same as what we have.”

“You know I don’t like when we fight.”

Tao didn’t speak, his back to Kris as he looked out across the frozen lake in front of him. He didn’t look back, not even when he heard Kris moving towards him. The Alpha’s fury had finally broken, and had been replaced by something else, something that Tao couldn’t quite place. It was nothing he had ever seen in his mate before, nothing he’d seen in anyone before.

“I know that Sehun and Luhan are both your friends.”

That much was obvious. Tao hadn’t left their sides until today, simply because he needed to keep an eye on them.

“But Tao, you have to understand-”

“What do I have to understand, Kris?” Tao turned quickly, dark eyes flashing in anger. “What is there to understand, other than the fact that you don’t want Luhan and Sehun to be together because you think it means that Luhan might leave?” He inhaled sharply, now glaring at Kris in his anger. “You don’t know him at all, do you? Your Tribe means everything to Luhan. He wouldn’t leave you, he knows what that would do to us.”

“So what’s he going to do, Tao? Because Sehun loves his Tribemates more than anything in the fucking world, and I highly doubt that he’ll be the one to leave his Tribe.”

Tao laughed softly. “You really are an idiot. Have you even been listening to Suho? He’s brought up a solution at least four times now, and surely you’ve heard his shouting matches with Baekhyun.” There was a long pause, and Tao sighed softly. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You mean that you haven’t once heard Suho suggest the Tribes join, you’ve never once heard Baekhyun screaming at him about how it ‘directly violates the code’, whatever that means, and you haven’t heard Chanyeol’s reassurances that this whole thing isn’t a secret plot to gain their trust and then betray them? You’ve heard none of that?”

Kris shook his head slowly. “What the hell do you mean, Suho suggested the Tribes join?”

The Omega huffed in agitation. “Exactly that. He and Chanyeol-and Lay and Chen-all seem to have this idea that Luhan and Sehun being mates is a sign that it’s finally time for the Tribes to forget their differences and join forces against whatever the hell attacked Luhan out in those woods.”

The Alpha rolled his eyes. “Oh yes, because that’s a brilliant idea-what the hell do you mean, Chen and Lay agree with them? Surely you don’t mean Chen and Lay the Hunter and Seer.”

Tao nodded. “I had the same reaction. Turns out it was partially Chen’s idea. I mean, according to Suho it was more of a throwaway comment that just turned into something bigger, but I guess Lay and Chanyeol have both been getting this feeling that this is a big deal, kind of like an opportunity for the tribes.” He rubbed the back of his neck, lips pursed. “And to be honest with you, Kris? I agree with them.

“We’ve never faced a threat like this in the past, not from the katchlari, not from other Tribes or Clans. Maybe that’s why this is happening now, because we need a little push in the right direction.” Kris snorted in disbelief. “Look, all I know is that something attacked Lay and Kai, and almost killed them. Something that Sehun knows about. Something that I’m sure Suho has experience with. I think we shouldn’t be so hasty in making our decisions. The Tribes change all the time-I mean, just think about two years ago, when Chen and Xiumin joined us. It was unheard of. They were technically from Suho’s territory, and yet you still allowed them to join your Tribe.”

“That’s different. A Tribe doesn’t have two Alphas, Tao, it doesn’t work.” Kris turned away from his mate. “As much as I want to believe everything you’re saying, I can’t. I won’t get my hopes up like this. There’s too much history between the tribes.”

He started to walk away, but stopped when Tao spoke. “You know, maybe you should take what your Seer thinks into account. I know for a fact that you trust him, and that you don’t want to ignore him. You don’t want to be the next Teryx, Kris.” There was a long pause. “Just keep that in mind.”

Chapter Text

“Kris, I don’t think you want to go in there-”

The Alpha whirled around, a growl cutting off Lay’s comment. “Don’t. Speak.” Lay’s mouth snapped shut, a soft noise of dissent coming from his throat. “I’ll deal with you later, but for now you just need to shut your mouth and go do something useful.”

Lay was unaccustomed to having Kris use the Alpha Voice on him. It scared him, having no control over his actions like that. And the threat behind Kris’ words made him shudder. What had he done to warrant this?

The Seer turned away, and walked, almost robotically, across the clearing. Kris couldn’t be bothered to check where he was going, because right now, he had better things to be doing.

He almost regretted coming to see Chen first as soon as his eyes found the Hunter in the tent.

“Chen.” Xiumin’s soft moan reached Kris’ ears and the Alpha winced. Every. Fucking. Time. The two Hunters just couldn’t keep their hands off of each other, and it was getting on his nerves.

“Chen!”

Chen’s head jerked up, hitting Xiumin in the chin. “Gah!” He caught Kris’ eye, a dark fear lighting up in his eyes when he saw the look on his Alpha’s face. “Ah, um, Kris. W-what are you doing here?” The Hunter tried to push himself off of Xiumin, but his mate pulled him back down.

“I need to have a word with you. Alone.”

Chen swallowed loudly, and then placed a hand on Xiumin’s chest to put about six inches of space in between them. “What about?” Kris’ glare deepened. “What did Tao tell you?”

“Who said anything about Tao?”

The Hunter scratched at the back of his neck, and then looked guiltily at Xiumin. “I...I’ll be back in a bit. Promise.” Xiumin nodded as Chen climbed off of him, and walked towards Kris. As he got closer, the Alpha turned around, and walked away from Xiumin and into the forest, Chen following closely behind him.

Kris was the first to stop, but Chen spoke before the Alpha did. “If this is about Suho and Chanyeol and their idea, I can explain.” Kris turned on his heel, and trained his glare on Chen. “Kris, please. It’s not as bad as you would imagine. Just think about it-we’d be twice as strong, with twice as much land.”

Kris growled, low in his throat. “Tao might be able to pull of the ‘I’m so ignorant’ thing, but you, you, Chen, are not so stupid.” The Hunter raised an eyebrow. “Do you not understand the Alpha complex-no, of course you don’t. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gone along with this frankly hilarious joke of an idea.”

“You think two Alphas can’t live on the same territory?”

Kris laughed. “I know they can’t. It doesn’t work, Chen. Suho and I would kill each other.” He ran a hand through his hair, still growling softly.

Chen chuckled under his breath, but the emotions didn’t show on his face. “You know nothing of our history.”

“Oh, and I’m sure that you’re the expert.”

“No, but Lay is. Part of his job, Kris, to know our history, so that we don’t make those mistakes again.” Chen took a step towards Kris, worry growing in his eyes. “Tell me you’ve been talking to him. Tell me you haven’t been ignoring him, Kris. Tell me you still trust him.”

Kris didn’t speak. He wavered slightly where he stood, and before Chen could stop him, he collapsed to his knees. Chen rushed to crouch beside him, one hand on the Alpha’s shoulder. “Kris, promise me you aren’t doing exactly what Teryx did.”

Luhan ran a hand through Sehun’s hair, grinning softly at his mate. He leaned down and kissed Sehun on the forehead. “I love you, precious Sehun. I’d do anything to protect you. And that’s why I’m doing this.” The Beta rose to his feet, and walked away from Sehun’s sleeping form. He caught Kai’s eye across the clearing, and a simple message passed between their eyes.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

Luhan’s head snapped to the side. “What, Baekhyun?”

“You’re actually going to do this, then? I thought Kai was kidding.” Baekhyun stepped towards Luhan, bitter disappointment in his eyes.

“I was under the impression that you wanted me to leave.”

Baekhyun laughed out loud. “I did. That was before I believed this whole thing about you and Sehun.” He growled softly, and straightened his back, trying to gain an extra inch on Luhan. “Are you honestly going to break his heart like that? I know you’re a little bit of an asshole, Luhan, but I didn’t think you were that much of a dick.” Baekhyun growled softly in the back of his throat. “He loves you, Luhan. Leaving-even if it seems like the best thing-won’t help. Sehun is the youngest of my Tribe, he’s never experienced pain like this. We’ve always protected him, and you leaving won’t help him.”

“You aren’t my Tribemate, Baekhyun. You have no say in what I do.”

Without another word, Luhan pushed past the other Beta, and walked away, leaving Baekhyun alone with his anger.

Kai ran a hand through his hair, chuckling softly when Kyungsoo settled himself in the taller man’s lap.

“Gods. I didn’t think this situation could get any worse, especially after that fight. Guess I was wrong.” Kyungsoo leaned forward, his ear against Kai’s chest. “Evidently Tao and Kris are fighting, which we both know is bad, and this thing with Luhan and Sehun isn’t helping things very much, is it?”

Kai wrapped his arms around Kyungsoo. “I’d imagine not. I haven’t spoken to either of them in a while-mostly because I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself from killing Luhan, but also because Sehun told me to give him some space.”

The shorter of the pair nodded, and then planted a kiss on Kai’s chin. “How’s the other Tribe taking this?”

“Lay’s been spending a lot of time with Chanyeol, which means he’s spending a lot of time with Baekhyun, because Baek can’t stand Suho at the moment.” Kai paused. “Apparently Kris walked in on Chen and Xiumin while they were…’getting busy’ the other day.” Kyungsoo laughed quietly, but then stopped when he felt Kai’s body tense. “Suho’s been cooped up inside of the cave for a long time. I haven’t been able to get a word out of him since his fight with Baekhyun.”

Kai ran a hand through his mate’s hair. “I worry about him, ‘Soo. He doesn’t have anyone he can talk to.”

Kyungsoo looked up at him. “He’ll find someone, Kai. I know he will.”

Chapter Text

Sehun’s shriek woke them all the next morning. “What the fuck do you mean he’s gone?!”

“Exactly that, Sehun! He’s gone, he left last night.” Baekhyun reached out to put a hand on his Tribemate’s shoulder, but Sehun pulled away, a growl building in his chest. “I know you’re mad at me, but trust me, Sehun. I wouldn’t lie about this, would I?”

Baekhyun wasn’t expecting Sehun’s slap. His head whipped to the side, a soft “ow” coming from his mouth.

Kai and Lay were the first to arrive at the scene. Sehun was on top of Baekhyun, and they were locked in combat, Baekhyun fighting more to keep Sehun safe than Sehun was. Before either of the others could do anything to stop the Omega, however, Kris was pushing past them and hauling Sehun off of Baekhyun. Sehun struggled against his iron grip, but Kris was by far stronger than he was.

Within seconds, Sehun found himself pinned to a tree. “Sehun! That’s enough.” The Omega tried to lunge forward against Kris’ grip, but he was only pushed back harder. “Baekhyun has nothing to do with this. There’s one person to blame for Luhan’s leaving, and that’s Luhan. He makes his own decisions.”

Sehun growled, loud, right in Kris’ face. “He’s my fucking mate!”

“I know. His leaving can only mean one thing. He was doing it to protect you.” Kris loosened his grip on Sehun’s arm and moved back just slightly. “I don’t know where he is or why exactly he left, but I do know him well enough to say that he wouldn’t have left unless it was the very best thing for you.”

The sight of Sehun’s hand hitting Kris’ face shocked them all. “I fucking know what the very best thing for me is. And it’s being with my mate.” Kris simply stared at him. “And if you don’t care enough to go looking for him, then I fucking will.”

Without another word, Sehun ran out of the clearing and into the forest.

Kris moved to follow him, but was stopped by Baekhyun’s hand on his chest. “I know what you’re planning to do and I wouldn’t advise it. You think you can have him back here before sunset, you’re wrong. Sehun is incredibly resourceful, and he has friends that simply won’t let you take him.”

“Let Tao and I look for him.”

Chanyeol’s soft voice stopped Kris from speaking. “I won’t let anything hurt him, I swear. We’re Sehun’s friends, he trusts us.”

“Absolutely not.” Kris and Baekhyun spoke in unison.

Tao growled softly. “Absolutely yes.” He stepped forward, hands balled into fists at his sides. “Kris, Baekhyun is right. You can’t go, Sehun won’t listen to you. But he will listen to us.”

Chanyeol nodded along with Tao’s words. “You won’t find him without a Seer, and Lay needs to stay here. He’s infinitely better at this healing thing than I am. Baekhyun, don’t interrupt me. Sehun is one of my best friends. I can’t let him just run off like this.”

“Why does Tao have to go?”

“They’re both Omegas. They share a connection with each other, something that runs far deeper than a normal friendship.” Chanyeol reached out to pull Baekhyun closer to him. “Baek, I’m going to find my Tribemate. And I’m taking Tao with me.”

After a long pause, Kris finally nodded. “Let me have five minutes alone with my mate.”

Tao was the first to pick up Sehun’s scent, his eyes going from wide to narrow in about two seconds. He grabbed Chanyeol’s arm, and gestured into the woods. “He went this way.” Chanyeol started forward, but Tao stopped him. “Wait. I can smell them on him.”

Tao’s eyes widened. “Shit.”

The curse made Chanyeol jump slightly, as did the sudden pressure on his arm. “Luhan’s in trouble.” He turned quickly to Chanyeol, a plan already forming in his mind. “Chanyeol, I need you to-”

“No.”

“Wh-what?”

“I’m not going to leave you out here by yourself. I’m not going back to get the others. Kris will actually kill me if I come back without you, he won’t give me a chance to explain. And then Baekhyun will kill him, and we’ll have another war on our hands.” Chanyeol stopped, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he stared at Tao. “Sehun’s my Tribemate, and Luhan’s my friend. I’m not going to abandon them.”

They just looked at each other for a long time. Eventually, Tao nodded, his mind already processing other possibilities. “Who’s on patrol this morning?”

“Xiumin and Kyungsoo, I think?”

Tao nodded. “They’ll do.” He inhaled sharply, and then his head snapped to the side. “This way.” They ran off into the forest, ears pricked for sounds from their Tribes.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t Xiumin and Kyungsoo on patrol. It was Xiumin and Chen, and what Chanyeol and Tao walked in on…wasn’t patrolling, that was for sure. What they walked in on made Tao turn on his heel and start to walk away, before Chanyeol grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

When Chen caught sight of them, he shrieked and scrambled off of Xiumin. “What the fuck, son of a bitch.” Xiumin propped himself up on his elbows, smirking just slightly when he saw the blush on Tao’s face.

“What, Tao, could be so important that you would even consider interrupting us?”

The Omega’s blush crept higher on his face when he saw the look Xiumin was giving him. “I-I, um...we were just…”

“Luhan’s in trouble and Sehun followed him and we need help.”

Chen and Xiumin were on their feet before Chanyeol had finished speaking. “Where?”

“The Eastern Ridge.”

Looks of recognition appeared on Chen and Xiumin’s faces. But with them came nearly identical looks of dread and fear. Tao turned to Chanyeol, confused, but then it passed. That must be where they had come from, back before they had come to Kris’ Tribe. “What’s on the Eastern Ridge?”

Chen’s eyes widened and he leaned against Xiumin. He didn’t speak, but Xiumin did, as he wrapped an arm around Chen’s waist. “When we were here-and mind you, that was ages ago-Suho hadn’t expanded his lands to include the Eastern Ridge. Chen and I were a part of a...it wasn’t a Tribe, necessarily, but it was something of the like. Anyway, our leader didn’t believe in mates. He thought that love was temporary, that people like us could fall in and out of it as long as we lived.”

Chen whined in the back of his throat and wrapped his arms around Xiumin’s neck, burying his face in his mate’s shoulder. Xiumin tightened his grip on him, and continued speaking. “He wanted Chen. I didn’t agree with it, but what our leader wanted, he got. Chen was no exception. He took,” Xiumin’s free hand curled into a fist, “my mate away from me. I don’t know what he did, Chen hasn’t told me, I don’t want to know, because I know if he tells me, I will find that monster and murder him.”

Tao was stunned. He didn’t speak, but he subconsciously leaned against Chanyeol. The Seer wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and then looked Xiumin in the eyes. “Can you help us?”

Xiumin didn’t answer. He looked at Chen, who had settled for leaning his head on Xiumin’s shoulder, eyes on Tao. “I...yeah. I’ll be fine.”

Suho had been sitting still, head in his hands, for a long time. So long that, he was sure, it was going to be fucking painful to look up. So he didn’t. He didn’t want to think about Luhan and Sehun, because he didn’t want to think about Tao, because if he did his mind would turn to Chanyeol, and from there it would go to Baekhyun, and he just really didn’t want to think about his fight with Baekhyun.

Kris had come and gone from the cave, giving him updates on what was happening, but Suho hadn’t responded to any of them. Baekhyun had stopped dropping by ages ago.

The cold hands on Suho’s neck surprised him, and his spine straightened. He regretted that, of course-he had been right about the neck-and he hissed in pain. “You really shouldn’t do that to yourself, Suho.”

Lay’s quiet voice came from somewhere behind him. “Why are you here, Lay?”

The Seer’s hands were massaging gently at his neck, trying to ease the pain there. “Because you’re hurting, and it’s my job to fix that.” Suho opened his mouth to protest, but Lay cut him off. “Don’t argue with me, we both know it’s true. Suho, just listen to me.”

The Alpha made to rise to his feet, but Lay’s hands held him down. “Stop that.” And he did. “Sehun and Luhan. They’re mates, I can feel that much, but that’s not what you care about. Kris and his Tribe, coming here. You believe Chanyeol, you think it has to do with the gods trying to tell us something. You and Baekhyun, though...something’s broken, Suho, and you don’t know how to fix it.” Suho nodded slowly. “He’s your best friend, and you’re furious because you’re losing him. Between the thing with the Tribes and Chanyeol going with Tao to find Sehun and Luhan, he doesn’t completely believe that you’re doing what’s best for the Tribe.”

Suho made a choked noise in his throat. “Does he want me to hand him the Tribe? Because I will, dammit, he can have it.”

Lay smacked Suho, hard, on the shoulder. “Enough. Suho, it’s your Tribe, not his, not anyone else’s.” Clearly the Alpha didn’t believe him. “You’re a fantastic Alpha, better than Baekhyun could ever be. You’re smart, and strong, and kind, and wonderful, and your Tribe loves you.”

Suho raised an eyebrow and glanced up at Lay, whose cheeks had gone slightly pink. “I don’t have a mate. That bothers them, don’t bother saying that it doesn’t. I know it does. Alphas are supposed to have mates, Lay, so why don’t I?”

Lay went still, and silent. Suho could practically feel the awkwardness rolling off of his body. “You’ll find your mate somewhere, Suho.”

Without another word, the Seer backed away, and walked out of the cave, leaving Suho alone with his thoughts.

Chapter Text

Lay knew that punching a wall probably wasn’t the best way to try and relieve himself of his anger.

It didn’t stop him from doing it.

And really, it just made him more angry, because now he had all of the anger from before, as well as some anger at himself, for even considering punching the wall in the first place. He threw himself to the ground, and glared at his bleeding knuckles, swearing softly under his breath.

That was how Kris found him-sitting in a corner, knees drawn up to his chest, blood dripping off his fingers, and tears rolling down his face.

Kris hadn’t questioned it-he had been expecting it, there was only so long someone like Lay could go before he broke-and he had knelt down to take the sobbing Seer in his arms. He hadn’t said a word, had only listened as words broke through choked sobs. No questions were asked, Lay gave him enough to construct a story out of, and what he heard left Kris bristling. He didn’t like seeing his Tribemates in pain, he didn’t like knowing the cause of their pain and doing nothing about it, he didn’t want them to hurt when he could be fixing things.

Could he really fix this, though?

A voice in the back of his mind kept telling him that he should, that it was his job, as Lay’s Alpha. But another voice, a louder voice, kept saying that he should stay out of it, like he should have stayed out of Luhan and Sehun’s business, because if he had, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened.

“Kris?”

“Kai.”

He didn’t turn to look at the Hunter, but he could read Kai’s hesitation. “I, um…” Kai fell silent, just now noticing Lay. “Chen and Xiumin were on patrol this morning. They were supposed to be back by Sun-High, and no one’s seen them.”

Kris’ head rose slowly, and a growl built in his chest. “No one?”

The Hunter behind him fought back a whine. “Not that I’m aware of.”

Kris was on his feet in about two seconds. “Kai, I want everyone who hasn’t left this place in the cave in three minutes. I don’t give a damn what they’re doing, you get them there, and you get them there fast.” The Hunter nodded quickly, and made to turn away, but looked back when Kris spoke again. “I don’t know what kind of shit your Tribe is in, but I will be damned if I let it affect my own.”

Kris had Suho pinned to the floor before the other Alpha could so much as ask why he was there. “You fucking asshole. Do you even know what’s happening to your Tribe right now?”

Suho didn’t speak, but his silence was enough to convince Kris that no, he had no fucking clue what was going on.

“Then let me tell you. Luhan left, and Sehun ran off to follow him. Chanyeol and Tao went to find both of them. Apparently Xiumin and Chen were on patrol this morning and they haven’t come back. Four of my six Tribemates are gone, and no one knows where they are.” Suho still didn’t answer. “Does that sound like a good situation to you, Suho, because it’s not. And if you’re not going to get up off your ass and do something about this whole situation, then I swear, on my life and on Tao’s life, I will break your fucking nose.”

Baekhyun’s surprisingly soft voice startled them both. “I’ll help you.”

A furious Kris climbed off of Suho and backed away. The rest of the Tribe filed into the cave, Lay coming in behind all of them. He walked to Kris’ side, and bowed his head, not so much as glancing at anyone else.

Baekhyun slapping Suho shocked them all out of their silence.

“You are a terrible Alpha, a horrible leader, and a sad excuse for a friend.” Suho opened his mouth to respond, but Baekhyun cut him off. “Shut up. Sehun left. You didn’t know, and it honestly seems like you don’t even care. My Tribemate left, and my mate helped organize the pair that went after him. Do you think I’m fucking happy about that, Suho?” The Alpha shook his head. “No, I’m not. But I did what I had to do for my Tribe, something you seem completely incapable of grasping.”

There was a brief, stunned silence. No one said a word, they just simply stared at Baekhyun, or at Suho.

And then Lay collapsed.

The smell of blood was what drew Tao towards the valley, but the sight of Luhan was what made him freeze. Chanyeol bit down on his lower lip to smother a gasp, and then he turned around to motion Chen and Xiumin forward.

Below them, a mass of dark figures stood in a large circle. In the center, a pool of blood, and a body. Not a dead body, that much they could tell, but an injured body. Luhan. Tao’s eyes turned upwards, and he spotted the obvious leader of the group.

Chen growled, the sound building in his chest, when he saw what Tao was seeing. “He’s got Sehun.” Xiumin nodded, and put his hand on the small of Chen’s back. The Hunter relaxed just slightly under his touch, but it was enough.

“Chanyeol, we have to do something before they kill Luhan.”

The Seer nodded. “I know, I know. Obviously we can’t just go charging in there-”

Tao cut him off. “Why the hell not?”

Xiumin turned to glare at him. “Don’t be stupid. You and Chanyeol don’t know shit about fighting, Tao.”

Chanyeol silenced them both with a look. “Hush.” His eyes swept back over the valley. “If we don’t do something soon, they’ll kill him.”

Beside him, Tao and Xiumin were having a whispered argument. “No, you fucking idiot. You can’t fight, you don’t know how.”

Chen cut off whatever Tao had been about to say. “No, but he does have a spirit, we all do. I know most of them,” he motioned to the figures in the valley, “don’t. Between the four of us, I think we might be able to pull it off, especially if we can get Sehun out of that monster’s hands.”

Xiumin opened his mouth to respond, but Chanyeol was already speaking. “Do you really think so?”

“Absolutely. Kris has been training us-all of us-to use our spirits in battle. I’m sure you, as a Seer, know enough about your own spirit to be able to use it.” Chanyeol nodded. “Excellent.” Before anyone could question him, Chen began to hand out orders. “Xiumin, I want you and Tao in there fighting. Kill them all. Chanyeol, you have to protect Luhan, do what you can to heal him.”

“And what are you going to do?” Based on the worry in Xiumin’s voice, Chanyeol could guess that he already knew.

“I’m going to get Sehun away from him, and then I’m going to kill that fucking monster.”

Chapter Text

Chen was no stranger to fighting enemies that were bigger than him.

He was, however, a stranger to fighting the asshole who had essentially kidnapped him and forced Chen to obey every word that came out of his mouth not two years ago.

Either Chen had gotten stronger, or his enemy had gotten weaker, one of the two. Or perhaps both. Because he certainly didn’t remember being able to throw the large man ten feet into the side of a cliff.

It was only when the man had gotten a hand on Chen’s throat that they had a problem.

Chen panicked. His spirit shrank back in fear, hiding from the animal that used to control him. “Let go of me.”

“Make me.”

The man squeezed harder, and Chen bit back a whine. This bastard, this monster, was not going to get that satisfaction.

It was hard, though, to keep up a facade like that when the life was literally being choked out of his body.

Chen growled at the man, allowing his fear to transform into anger. He wasn’t going to let this thing who had tried to kill him, tried to kill his mate, finish his job. No way. He kicked out hard, his foot meeting the man’s stomach, and was rewarded with the release of his neck. Chen dropped to the ground, and rolled away from the man, his spirit roaring back as soon as he was away from immediate danger.

This man didn’t have a spirit, Chen knew that. So he allowed his own to lash out at him, his inner beast latching onto the man for no more than a few seconds at a time before drawing back to watch the man sputter and gasp in pain.

What Chen hadn’t taken into account was the fact that the man had a guard.

Even as he was thrown forward, Chen rolled his eyes at himself. How could he have been so fucking stupid?

He had known the guard, known each of them by name, had known their favorite colors, had known how to make them mad and how to make them smile. He had known the names of their mates, of their families.

It infuriated him that he had forgotten.

The newcomer stood in front of him, chin raised, clad in all black. No emotion showed on his face, but Chen knew him well enough to read the tightness of his shoulders. There was anger there, obviously, but there was something else that Chen couldn’t quite read.

“Chen.”

The newcomer’s voice dragged Chen out of his thoughts, and he turned to glare at the speaker. “Jiyong.” He tried to pour as much acid as he could into the name, struggling to pull a reaction out of the man. It almost never worked-Jiyong wouldn’t anger unless he wanted to-or if one pushed the right buttons. Only thing was, in the face of this much danger, Chen was struggling to remember exactly what those buttons were.

“Why are you here, Chen?” Jiyong didn’t move, but Chen could feel his spirit flowing out into the air around them, could almost taste the heat that poured out of the powerful man in front of him.

“Where’s Sehun?”

Jiyong smirked. “That’s really the only reason you’re here?” Chen didn’t respond, but his silence told the whole story. “I see. Well, here’s the thing, Chen. You ran away. You betrayed us. And we don’t like traitors. You know that.”

Chen growled again. “I didn’t betray anyone. I would have died if I had stayed here.”

Jiyong’s calm smirk shattered into something else entirely, and before Chen could process exactly what was happening, he was thrown backwards in a blast of heat. He hit the side of the cliff, and collapsed on the ground. “Wouldn’t it have been better to die then, at the hands of someone truly evil, than at the hands of someone you thought was your friend?”

Chen fell silent as the implications of that statement sunk in. Jiyong intended to kill him then. Intended to finish what his leader had started.

“I’m not going to let you.”

Jiyong straightened and turned to glare at a shaking Sehun. “What, exactly, do you think you’re doing?” Sehun didn’t respond, his clenched fists shaking. “Do you even know who I am?”

Sehun shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t care. But that’s my friend you intend to kill, and that’s my mate you’ve been torturing.” He took a step closer, and Chen closed his eyes, silently praying that Sehun knew what he was doing. “You’re a dick, and that’s all there is to it.”

“There’s nothing you can do, Suho. Just let him sleep.”

“This is my fault.”

“Of course it’s not. Don’t be so stupid.”

Lay pulled himself out of the fog slowly, but carefully. He kept his ears open, listening to the whispered conversation between the two Alphas.

“It is, Kris. Do you not understand what’s been happening?”

Kris’ agitated growl irritated Lay. He just couldn’t tell why, exactly. The Seer struggled to keep his breathing steady, not wanting to show any signs of actually being awake. It wasn’t hard, he had been doing it for years to avoid the arguments of the Tribe, but it did require a certain level of concentration.

“He’s furious at us.”

“Oh, please, Suho. He’s furious at you.”

Baekhyun’s voice startled Lay, and he twitched just a little. Within two seconds, he could feel Baekhyun’s eyes boring into his side, burning invisible holes into his head. Please, Lay prayed in his head, please don’t give me away.

Surprisingly, the Beta didn’t. Lay heard him sigh, and then felt his gaze shift. Perhaps they were more in tune than he thought.

“I know he is. I’m furious at me.”

Lay heard Suho-or, rather, he assumed it was Suho-flop down onto the ground with a sigh. “When he wakes up, Suho, you have to tell him. He punched a wall earlier. He’s not in a very good place at the moment, and I think it’s your job to help him.”

As soon as he heard Kris leave-a rather sulky Baekhyun following-Lay opened his eyes.

Chapter Text

“I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

Chen hummed softly in the back of his throat as he approached Jiyong. “Maybe you should have. But there’s really no use in thinking back on that now, is there? Because we both know that your death is just about inevitable.”

Sehun moved to attack again, but Chen raised a hand to stop him. “Chen.”

“Sehun.”

The pair simply stared at each other for a long moment, before Chen nodded slowly. Without another word, Sehun moved forward, his spirit building up inside of him, and he crouched down beside Jiyong.

Chen turned away, not wanting to look at Jiyong, and instead searched for Xiumin’s form in the battle below. There he was. Without speaking, he jumped down to the ground, hitting the bottom of the valley with a soft thump, before moving towards him.

The closer he got, the more bodies seemed to fall around his mate. Chen would never cease to be amazed by it, the way Xiumin could go from lovely cuddles and reassurance to ‘if you fucking lay a finger on him I will fucking kill you’.

Chen reached him almost as soon as the last body fell, and then Xiumin was in his arms, murmuring a combination of soft praise and worried curses.

“You were right.”

Chanyeol’s soft voice surprised him. “About?”

“This. Us. Them.” Chen raised an eyebrow. “Them not having spirits, us being able to use ours to win. That.”

Only then did Chen notice Tao, who was supporting-no, he was practically carrying Luhan towards them. “We have to get him back. Like now.”

Chen nodded slowly, and then looked up at the side of the valley, where he had left Sehun. The Omega had jumped down, and was walking quickly towards them, eyes glued to Tao and Luhan. “Is he-”

Tao was nodding before Sehun could finish speaking. “He’s alive, yes, but he’s hurt. We have to move quickly. There’s only so much Chanyeol can do for him, only so much any of us can do for him. We need Lay’s help.”

Sehun nodded and, upon reaching Tao’s side, took his mate’s face in his hands. “If you ever, ever leave me again, I will actually kill you.”

Chen laughed softly, but then fell silent when he saw the look in Tao’s eyes. “We should go, quickly, before Luhan actually dies.”

Tao didn’t give Kris time to be mad, or happy, or emotional in any way when they reached the camp. “Where’s Lay, where’s Baekhyun, and where in the hell is Suho?”

Kris swallowed. “Baekhyun’s out patrolling, I think.” Tao glanced back at Chanyeol, who was already walked back into the forest. “And Lay and Suho are…occupied?”

Xiumin released Chen, pressing a soft kiss to his mate’s head before he did so, and walked past Kris, almost hitting the Alpha’s shoulder in the process. He moved quickly to the cave, ignored Kris’ grumbled warning of “I don’t think that’s a good idea”, and walked right in.

In that very moment, Xiumin experienced the feeling that the rest of his Tribe probably felt everything time they walked in on him and Chen.

Silently, he vowed that they would be more careful so that it didn’t happen again.

Because this was beyond awkward, this was embarrassing, and he wasn’t the one who was naked or panting or mumbling soft praises in this situation.

Also it was Suho and Lay and they were naked.

Lay’s shriek of horror brought him back to the situation at hand. The Seer, between semi-articulate curses and threats, pulled his clothes-or maybe they were Suho’s, Xiumin couldn’t be sure-over his lap, trying to maintain whatever shreds of dignity he may or may not have had.

“What the fuck, Xiumin!”

Suho, it appeared, had remained remarkably calm throughout all of this. He pulled himself into a sitting position, and tugged an indignant Lay into his lap.

Xiumin raised a hand to scratch awkwardly at the back of his neck. “I, um...glad you guys worked that out?”

Lay growled. “I have something else to work out, Xiumin, and that’s how I intend to fucking murder you, you asshole!”

Suho tightened his grip on Lay’s waist, rubbing circles into his muscles with his thumbs. “Hush. You’re not going to be murdering anyone, not today, anyway.”

Xiumin suddenly remembered why he was here. “Well. Sehun and Luhan and everyone are back now.” And then he remembered exactly why they needed to know that. “And Luhan might be dying just a little bit?”

Lay growled again. “Get out.” When he saw Xiumin’s look of confusion, he sighed. “I am not moving from this position while you’re still here, Xiumin, now get the fuck out.”

Needless to say, everyone cried at least once that night. Whether it was Kris and Baekhyun being reunited with their mates, Sehun refusing to leave Luhan’s side as Lay worked on him, Suho seeing his Tribe reunited, Kai crying and yelling at the same time because how could his best friend be so fucking dumb, Lay having his every movement questioned by everyone around him-he eventually lashed out and made everyone except Sehun leave him with his patient. Whether it was Kyungsoo crying because he had wanted to fight, Chen because of what he had had to do, and Xiumin just because his mate was upset, everyone cried.

In the end, Tao let himself be dragged away by Kris, barely able to stutter out a soft goodbye to Baekhyun and Chanyeol before the Alpha had pulled him into a sheltered part of the forest and pinned him to a tree.

Chanyeol had fallen asleep almost as soon as he laid down, his head in Baekhyun’s lap, his mate murmuring soft ‘I love you’s over him.

Kai and Kyungsoo and Xiumin and Chen decided that they should probably learn how to get along-because, they reasoned, Luhan looked like shit and probably wouldn’t be up and at it for a while, and they were most likely going to be here for a long time.

As the world would have it, Sehun and Suho ended up in a screaming match.

Chapter Text

Kris simply sat and stared at Suho for a long time, trying to comprehend what he was thinking. “You know as well as I do that neither of us want to have this conversation.” The Alpha opposite him nodded, but didn’t speak. “Did Lay and Chanyeol come talk to you as well?” Another nod. “Then you know the basics. I’ve spoken to Chen and Lay about it extensively, and we’ve come to the decision that it would work, but only if we made it work.”

Suho finally spoke, his voice tight. “And if it doesn’t?”

“Then we’ll leave. This is-always has been-your territory. If we came to a point where it didn’t work, I would leave, and I would take whoever wanted to go with me. If Lay wanted to stay here, with you, he could. If Luhan wanted to stay with Sehun, he could.” The unspoken option-Sehun leaving to be with Luhan, and Suho leaving to be with Lay-hung in the air, but they ignored it.

“Are you sure?”

“I trust my Seer, and yours.”

Suho nodded slowly. “I think I could see it happening. It would take some getting used to, of course-two Alphas, one Tribe, it won’t be easy for either of us-but it would probably be the opposite of helpful if we separated Sehun and Luhan.” And me and Lay.

Kris made a soft noise in the back of his throat. “Then we’re agreed?”

“We are.”

The pair rose in unison, and moved towards the entrance of the cave. Kris caught Luhan’s eye and nodded. When the Beta reached his side, he spoke softly in his ear. “We’re going to try. But if it doesn’t work, I want you to know that you can stay with Sehun, if you want to. I’ll leave, if it doesn’t work out, but you are more than welcome to stay. I won’t force you to come with me.”

Luhan grinned. “Thank you. But I don’t think that will be necessary. Chanyeol and Lay are both very confident that it’ll work out just fine.”

Chanyeol and Lay, Kris mused, weren’t right all of the time. For starters, Lay had once thought that he didn’t have a mate. It had broken Kris, to see him in that much distress, but now, he knew, the Seer was safe in Suho’s hands. And Chanyeol...hadn’t Chanyeol assumed that Kris and his Tribe were coming to attack the others?

Kris sighed. He had sent out a message to the rest of his Tribe earlier, letting them know what was happening, and what their options were. Stay, and form their own Tribe. Come here, and rejoin him. Or leave, and go off on their own.

He doubted many of them would choose the third option, but there were enough. It didn’t matter, though, because he had a Tribe, would always have a Tribe, no matter what happened.

They were his family.

There was a long pause. “Oh, and Luhan?” The Beta looked up at Kris once more. “Now that the Tribes are going to become one-”

Luhan interrupted. “No more fighting with Baekhyun. Yeah, I figured you were going to bring that up. I’ll do my best, Kris. No promises, though. It is Baekhyun, after all.”

Instead of the malicious undertones Kris had been expecting, Luhan’s voice carried a mixture of joy and teasing-the tensions between him and Baekhyun seemingly a thing of the past.

Suho waited until Kris was paying attention before addressing the people gathered in front of him. His eyes fell first on Kai and Kyungsoo, who stood next to Xiumin and Chen. They had bonded very quickly, and it was a rare day that they were seen apart. His gaze moved to Chanyeol, who had an arm around Lay, the pair of Seers also becoming fast friends. He glanced briefly at Baekhyun, and then Luhan, and finally, his gaze found Luhan, who, while he had healed well, was still leaning heavily on Sehun.

One last look, at the Alpha beside him, before he spoke.

“We are one.”

End of Part One