Chapter Text
“I don’t understand him…” Changbin said softly from where he had Felix snuggled up against his side on the bench in the living area, his nose pressed into the younger’s hair “How is he so distrustful of alphas that he… just… he fractured his skull, Lix”
“I know” Felix sighed softly as he tilted his head to nose at the elder’s cheek and jaw.
“I honestly don’t want to pry or ask questions, but…” Changbin sighed softly “Every single thing that he does leaves me wondering so many things, Lix. The curiosity is slowly eating away at me. Minho takes being protective to a level that seems almost. Unhealthy? And, quite frankly, it’s worrying and frustrating to watch unfold like that just because we’re here”
There was no other way he would describe it because honestly Changbin was left confused beyond reason as to why Minho would rather push himself to his own death than face the fact that not all alphas were bad. Every single time he asked himself what could have happened for the omega to be so… intense, about alphas, he gave himself the answer that it could not possibly be as bad as the omega made it seem.
Which was a thought he truly didn’t want to have because who was he to decide that. After actually meeting the man and seeing the love and affection he held for his pack, Changbin had come to the conclusion that Minho didn’t seem like the unreasonable person they had all first believed him to be. Which means that, whatever it was that had scarred him so deeply, must have been of galactic proportions.
And that just made his heart hurt for the omega because nobody deserved to go through something harrowing enough for them to turn out like this.
“Would you believe me if I told you that he has his reasons?” Felix asked carefully as he nuzzled his head back into Changbin’s neck.
“Of course I would,” Changbin nodded quickly “There is no doubt in my mind that he has his reasons, or else he wouldn’t be like this”
“He almost lost me to an alpha once…” Felix whispered softly. And Changbin felt his eyebrows knitting together at the sudden confession.
“What do you mean?” he asked as an unsuspected chill ran down his spine.
“That I would have died by the hands of an alpha if it hadn’t been for him” Felix added, his voice barely above a whisper and Chanbin recoiled at the information.
“You what?” He asked as he gently leaned away to look down at the omega. Felix sighed softly and pushed himself out of Chanbin’s side, lifting his legs up on the couch to cross them under himself as he turned to face the alpha.
“The winter after I turned 7, we were found. Minho and I” Felix started as Chanbgin leaned his side against the backrest of the bench and carefully watched the younger worriedly “Or at least, I was found. By an alpha one morning when Minho had been out hunting…”
Changbin sat quietly as Felix recounted what had happened to him, the alpha hanging off of every word like he needed them to breathe. Which didn’t help with the insatiable rage that gradually started to burn through his bloodstream the longer the story got and the more details he received about what that monster, because that was the only way to describe someone who would even contemplate hurting a pup like that, had inflicted on Felix.
“If it hadn’t been for Minho hearing my howls, I know I would have died that day” Felix said as he absentmindedly rubbed his fingers over his throat “That’s the same winter we ended up here. Unlike what I told you before, we weren’t actually really lost when our grandparents found us. I mean we were but that’s because we were fleeing because Minho was scared that they would try to retaliate”
“What the fuck” Changbin breathed softly as he lifted his hand to cup Felix’s cheek, the omega gingerly leaning into it with a sigh “I’m so sorry that you had to go through that”
“It’s okay” Felix smiled softly “It’s not your fault, you were our age and you weren’t even there…”
Changbin smiled softly and leaned in, gently snaking his hand behind the younger’s neck and pulling him closer before pressing his lips onto Felix’s. The omega’s hand wrapped around his wrist and melted into his touch, a soft sigh escaping him before Changbin pulled back.
“You’re too good to me” he whispered against the younger’s lips as he rubbed their noses together lovingly. And Felix chuckled, placing a soft and lickering peck on the corner of Changbin’s mouth before leaning back to look at him.
“I know” He joked with a mischievous smirk.
“Brat” Changbin chuckled as he gently caressed the omega’s cheekbone with his thumb, tracing the freckles adorning the younger’s face for a few seconds before eventually tiling his head in thought.
The story Felix had told him was weighing heavily on his mind and something inside of him told him that he probably shouldn’t be asking for more details. But he couldn’t shake the curiosity surrounding the last words the boy had spoken.
“Can I ask you something?” He asked carefully “about what you just said. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, remember that”
“Why do you always do that?” Felix asked softly, the look in his eyes unbearably fond as he watched Changbin and leaned into the palm of the elder’s hand.
“Do what?”
“Tell me that I don’t have to answer something after asking me a question” Felix chuckled softly “you want to know something, but you tell me that I don’t have to answer, why?”
“Because I don’t want you do to something that you do not wish to do or that makes you uncomfortable” Changbin answered matter-of-factly, a small crease between his eyebrows “Fuck what I want. You don’t owe me anything, Lix”
Felix pouted softly before nodding and tightening his grip around the elder’s wrist, his eyes lovingly flitting over every inch of Changbin’s face and making the alpha flush a soft pink at the scrutiny.
“And you say I’m the one that’s too good to you…” he breathed before inhaling deeply and smiling sweetly “Shoot. What do you want to know?”
Changbin smiled and minutely shook his head as he marveled at his omega, his thumb still gently running over the younger’s cheekbone before straightening himself up.
“You were both still pups at that time. Kids.” He said and Felix nodded quickly “So how the hell did you get away from that alpha then?”
“Oh” Felix swallowed thickly “I actually… I don’t know exactly how or what happened because one moment I was dangling above the ground with a hand trying to pop my head clean off of my body. And the next I found myself in the snow with Minho hunched over me”
Changbin nodded softly as Felix spoke, the younger tilting his head lightly.
“I remember being in a lot of pain and being scared because I thought the alpha would go after Minho next” he continued “But when I turned, he was dead. Or at least that’s what I eventually concluded. I don’t think anyone would have survived something like that”
“What happened?” Changbin asked softly as he searched the younger’s eyes.
“Minho killed him. Accidentally, I believe” he said and Changbin did a double take. Because how had a 10 year old pup managed to kill a grown ass alpha?
“How…?”
“I… I’m not sure” Felix answered truthfully “I think it was a stroke of luck, honestly. We were pups and didn’t have scents to strangers and Minho had been camouflaged by the sn-- …the shadows… of the trees and had managed to take the alpha by surprise and knocked him over. When I looked back, his chest had been impaled on a piece of broken trunk and he bled out before I passed out. That’s why Minho was scared of retaliation. That monster was bound to have people look for him so he took me and left the body where it was.”
Changbin shivered and swallowed thickly at the image, his hand moving to push a strand of Felix’s hair behind his ear.
“He’s also the reason I can’t stand peppermint to this day” Felix let out an empty chuckle “our grandparents had to burn the peppermint crop they had because of the panic attacks the scent brought me”
The alpha stilled, his eyebrows furrowing together at the words as looked at the omega in silence for a few seconds. He felt his insides twisting dangerously, his brain telling him to stop asking questions. But his mouth didn’t agree with the order.
“Peppermint?” he asked curiously “Why?”
“The alpha. He smelled like peppermint” Felix answered. And asif someone had plucked the sun out of the sky and condemned the earth to eternal darkness, ice flooded Changbin’s veins within the span of 2 seconds.
What was the saying again? Curiosity kills the cat?
“Pe…peppermint?” he asked breathily, his heart rate suddenly spiking “That…You remember that?”
“I don’t think there is anything about him I would ever forget” Felix snorted solemnly, too distracted to notice the change in Changbin’s demeanour “Those golden eyes, the auburn hair, the god awful scar running over his lip… even the taste of his blood”
Changbin watched as Felix recoiled at the memory, the movement and the boy’s voice suddenly feeling like something he was hearing and watching from 60 feet underwater. His shallow intakes of breath felt like sand filling his lungs and he could see the edges of his vision swimming as he processed the details that Felix had just shared with him.
Peppermint. Golden eyes. Auburn hair… the scar that Changbin’s father had been responsible for. There was no doubt in his mind that the person Felix was describing was Hyunbin.
The person who had almost kidnapped and killed Felix, had been none other than his older brother. His brother who had gone missing 12 years ago and had been found buried under a fresh layer of snow and impaled on a piece of tree. No tracks, no scents, no leads, no nothing.
Changbin’s father had been livid.
Which was something the young alpha vividly remembered because the man had taken his wrath out on his other children for some twisted reason he never understood. He still had a small scar above his ear from where his father had dragged him so hard that the top of his ear had detached from his head.
And he later had come to learn that one of his younger sisters had taken such a bad blow to the head, that she had succumbed to it a few days later.
She had been only 7…
“I barely even noticed Minho come into the room to get us so we could go outside” Changbin sighed before running his hands over his face, a soft groan sounding in the back of his throat.
“Jesus fuck” Hyunjin breathed in disbelief.
“Yeah, repeat that about 500 times and you might just get around where I am right now” Changbin let out an empty chuckle before averting his eyes to Chan “What the fuck am I going to do? What am I supposed to do with this information, hyung? If Minho find’s out that I share blood with the demon that tried to take Felix away from him, he’s going to fucking kill me. There is no reasoning with him on this. And who blames him. I don’t even know how to look Lix in the eye anymore… What… what do I do?”
“You don’t do anything” Chan answered calmly, but Changbin could see the trepidation swirling in the elder’s eyes as he spoke “you don’t do anything because you’re right, Minho is too unpredictable”
“But Bin hyung is not to blame for any of this” Jisung spoke up reverently “He was a pup when all of that happened. Minho can’t blame him for that. Even Felix said it. Surely they have to understand?”
“Have you met Minho?” Changbin huffed emptily.
“For as much as I like Minho hyung, I’m with Chan on this” Hyunjin said softly as he sent Jisung a serious look “Felix is… Felix is the reason he lives. The reason he breathes. If he were to find out that Changbin is related to someone who tried to take that reason away from him? There is no telling what he might do…”
“But Changbin and Felix are mated” Jisung countered softly, his eyes pleading as he looked at Hyunjin “He wouldn’t hurt Changbin knowing that. He’s not that cruel and he would never do that to Felix. What happened to your whole benefit of the doubt spiel, huh? Doesn’t he deserve at least that much with this too?”
“This isn’t about giving him the benefit of the doubt, Jisung” Chan said as he flicked his eyes over to the young alpha, his elbows propped up on his knees and his hands laced together as he leaned over them in contemplation “It’s about the fact that Minho is never going to believe that this just happens to be a coincidence. He’s going to think that we came here to finish the job that Hyunbin failed. That it’s all some carefully spun plan to take them all down from the inside out”
“But it’s not…” Jisung breathed softly as he slumped back against the seat defeatedly and Changbin could see that he was struggling with the idea of Minho falling out like that after the past week they had spent together. It was endearing to see how his opinion on the omega had changed so rapidly, so sweetly.
“We know that” Hyunjin said softly “But he won’t. And I fear that he won’t listen to reason either. I think it might be best to keep this one buried where it belongs… besides. It’s not like Changbin actually ever accepted the bastard as he brother anyway”
“But won’t Felix know that Changbin is telling the truth?” Jisung asked next “Because of their bond? Maybe he will be able to talk sense into his brother?”
“If you think Minho is going to be willing to listen to Felix…” Chan eyed the younger carefully, pausing for a brief moment as he searched the young alpha’s eyes briefly “God… Jisung. It’s been one week and you’ve only spent actual time with him once. How are you this blinded already?”
Jisung’s face flushed red and averted his gaze guilty, sending a cold chill to run down Changbin’s spine at the realisation as the aegean alpha straightened himself up in his seat.
“You have got to be kidding me” he gaped at the younger before glancing over at Chan who just shrugged tiredly with a minute shake to the head, causing Changbin to run an exasperated hand trough his hair as he looked back at Jisung “Oh for fucks fucking sake. Han Jisung.”
“I’m sorry” Jisung snapped “I’m sorry that he’s handsome, okay? I just-- I don’t know…”
“Okay focus” Chan spoke up, his voice causing the chatter around him to simmer down instantly before the pack leader looked up at Bin with a soft crease between his eyebrows “Bin. I’m a little confused about something”
“About what, hyung?” Changbin asked carefully.
“You said Lix was 7?” Chan continued “So Minho was what, 10?”
“Yeah” the aegean alpha nodded “Why?”
“Where were their parents?” the pack alpha asked seriously and Changbin had to fight the urge to make himself smaller and expose his neck at the tone in his pack leader’s voice. Like the mere thought of two pups that age being on their own was enraging the alpha to no end.
He paused and looked back at Chan for a few silent seconds, nervously glancing over at Hyunjin who averted his gaze when their eyes met before turning back to his pack leader.
“Right… uhm” the alpha swallowed before letting out a soft sight “They lost their parents when they were kids”
“They were kids in this story, hyung” Jisung provided and Changbin had to fight the urge to knock him over the head with a chair.
“I meant before that, obviously” He retorted with a scowl before turning his attention back to Chan “I think Lix said that he was 4 or something, at the time. They were alone since, until they were taken in by the beta couple that used to own this territory they are now in. But that was only after Hyunbin’s attack.”
“Oh wow…” Jisung sat up a little straighter as he listened to the alpha speak.
“Then how and why the hell weren’t they brought to an orphanage?” Chan asked next and Changbin could feel the alpha getting angry at the mere thought of Felix and Minho all alone at such a tender age. Changbin had felt the same when he had found out.
“We asked him that too” Hyunjin provided softly “But he didn’t want to tell us so we dropped the subject. We definitely believe that there is more to the story but we didn’t want to pry because quite frankly, it’s none of our business”
“Which is exactly what Minho would say” Chan sighed before rubbing the space between his eyes.
“It does put him into perspective a little more” Jisung said next “He’s been taking care of Felix all this time, no wonder he’s so protective”
Changbin and Hyunjin nodded in union and Chan let out another sigh, his tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek.
“What happened to the people that used to own this place?” He asked next as he looked back at Changbin.
“They passed away” The aegean alpha provided “They were already very old and left the territory to them when they passed”
“When was this?” Chan asked, his tone direct and eyes mauling over every bit of information he had been given. It was these moment’s that reminded Changbin exactly why Chan was their leader in the first place. For as much as he was playful and unserious at most times, the switch he made when a serious situation came up never failed to send a shiver down the aegean alpha’s spine.
“He had said that they passed only a few years later, so I’m not sure” Changbin answered “But for the most part of their life, It’s been just them two. That’s what he told us”
Chan nodded contemplatively, his eyes briefly flitting at Hyunjin.
“And he just… told you all of this?” He asked carefully.
“Yes” Hyunjin nodded “He skimmed on the details he did not want to get into but yeah.”
“Does Minho know that you know all of this?” the alpha asked next, turning his attention back to Changbin.
“I reckon he doesn’t” the young alpha shook his head “I don’t think he would take much pleasure in finding out that we know so much about his life”
“Exactly. We need to get on Minho’s good graces” Chan nodded as he sat up straight, determination aflame in his eyes “We need him to see that we really don’t have any agenda here and that we have come in peace, purely accidentally. And you need to not act strange with Felix because Jisung’s right, he will sense it through your bond. So please, until we have at least established some sort of understanding with his brother, do not let him figure out that anything’s amis”
“I don’t like lying to him…hyung” Changbin breathed softly.
“I know” Chan shot him a sympathetic look “But it’s not a lie, per se. It’s us biding our time until we can find a moment in which it might be safe enough to share this information, if at all”
And Changbin knew his alpha was right. But that didn’t make the anticipation of it any easier. The guilt that was slowly burning a hole through his stomach, was going to make this a torturous process.
He just prayed to the moon and all its minions that Felix wouldn’t catch on to the internal turmoil Changbin was now forced to face…
--
Minho wouldn't admit this to anyone, even at knife point. But the weird, out of pocket, working-for-them, back and forth routine his pack had built up with Chan’s, had almost become a new normal in his life. And in the past month and a half he had noticed that he had, albeit reluctantly, grown more accustomed to being around the pack of alphas.
Two full moons had passed since his mishap at the river, the injury since perfectly healed and no longer holding him back and the third month of summer rapidly approaching.
This, however, posed a complete new dilemma that Minho was in complete knots about. Because despite the time that had already passed and despite the fact that Minho was growing… okay? with having the alphas around, there was still that part of him that refused to trust it. To trust them.
But the third month of summer, according to the alphas and to Felix, was Changbin’s birthmonth. Which also meant that, by the time the next full moon came around, there was a very big chance that Felix was going to request for them to spend it together. Or so he feared.
And Minho was in no position to deny him that. Not after everything.
Chan had already been, annoyingly, kind enough to extend an invitation for it. And Minho was now just counting the minutes until Felix brought the topic up again, wondering if the information he had shared with his pack about their past was going to have any influence on his cognitive decision making.
“How are you feeling?” Seungmin asked worriedly as he very carefully brushed his fingers through Minho’s snow white hair, the tips gingerly touching the area of the wound near the fracture. It had been two days since the alphas had left and this morning, as per usual, Minho and Felix had both woken up with their hair devoid of any lingering trace of colour. Which meant that the 24 hours of the full moon phase had started.
“Fine” Minho sighed softly, finding himself subconsciously leaning into the touch “I don’t think I have had such a restful sleep in weeks…”
“That’s good” Seungmin said, a small crease between his eyebrows as his eyes continued to examine the area of the wound “But what about the pain?”
“No pain” Minho smiled as he took in Seungmin’s face fondly before gently pushing his hand away from his hair “Stop fussing, I’m fine”
“You’re not fine, you almost fainted again when Chan and the rest left” The beta deadpanned as he leaned back against the backrest of his chair, his arm coming to rest on the kitchen table.
“That’s because I was forced to play pretend with people I do not like” Minho scowled “Anyone in my position would get tired of that”
Seungmin sighed and shook his head as he went back to his fried eggs.
“Seriously, I’m fine” Minho reassured as he too leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath as he looked at his empty plate “The full moon is actually helping and speeding up the process because I’m at full strength now…”
Seungmin blinked and Jeongin, who had been in a playfight with Felix over the white haired boy’s last piece of egg, halted in his movements to turn his attention to Minho, allowing Felix to stuff the egg into his mouth with a triumphant smirk.
“Full strength?” Jeongin asked curiously, the peaked interest swirling in the younger’s mismatched eyes.
“What do you mean full strength…?” Seungmin asked with a small tilt to the head as he regarded the omega carefully.
“I promised that I was going to tell you everything when those people left” Minho sighed softly as he ran a hand through his hair, his eyes trained on the plate in front of him “I thought maybe it best if I start by at least explaining who Felix and I actually are…”
Jeongin and Seungmin glanced at each other somewhat nervously before looking at Felix who was staring at his brother with wide eyes, his cheeks round with food.
“Oh my god wait” The young omega mumbled around the bite in his mouth before hastily swallowing, almost choking in the process. Minho closed his eyes and minutely shook his head with sigh as Jeongin quickly patted Felix on the back.
“Wait” Felix coughed softly “Can we please sit outside or something for this?”
“What? It’s like 1500 degrees outside” Seungmin complained “Can’t we just stay here in the shadows?”
“I think it really might be too warm to sit outside, Lix. And this might take a while” Minho said as he locked eyes with his brother.
“We can sit in the river on the creek side that runs into the forest” Felix pleaded “There is plenty of shade there. Please please please”
“I vote for the river too” Jeongin quickly chimed in “Lix is right. If this is going to take as long as you said, sitting in the river sounds like a great idea”
“You two are the bane of my existence” Seungmin grumbled and Minho chuckled.
“Fine” The pack leader said as he pushed himself away from the kitchen table “Let’s get this cleaned up so we can get this over with then”
The two omegas quickly jumped up and started clearing the table as Seungmin sent Minho an unimpressed stare.
“Why don’t I get a vote?” He asked.
“Because Fe is right” The pack leader smiled sweetly as he gently pushed the beta’s fringe out of his face, softly scratching at his scalp and smiling as he watched the beta go pliant “The river will be refreshing as long as we stay in the shadows. Besides, some fresh air might actually do me good”
It was a cheap shot, Minho knew that, playing into the beta’s never ending good nature and worry for his pack leader. But the way Seungmin’s eyes instantly softened at the words as he looked up at Minho, made the shot more than worthwhile.
“Fine” He sighed softly before pushing himself up too and picked up his plate.
It was indeed quite warm outside. It was the middle of the day and the sun was burning down on the land relentlessly, making it almost seem like the world was a furnace. And for a brief and horrifying moment Minho found himself wondering how Chan and the rest were handling this heat. Jisung, as timid and whiny as he was, would probably be a melted puddle by now.
The omega frowned at the image of the scarlet alpha flashing through his brain and shook his head to clear the image, his wet hands coming up to run through his hair.
He brought his knees up to his chest and hugged his legs as he looked over the rest of his pack as they all relaxed into the water, feeling the small pebbles on the riverbed in between his toes.
He took a deep breath, trying to steel his nerves as he ran through the thoughts in his head. He knew where to start, he just never had to before and he found that it was more nerve wracking than he could have anticipated.
Even with the people he would trust with his life and who were sitting around him and looking at him expectantly, Felix’s head resting on his shoulder, it was something he found to be quite difficult to talk about.
“Felix and I…” he started carefully “We’re not from a regular clan”
He worried the corner of his bottom lip with his fang, his toes digging into the pebbles under his feet before straightening his back.
“I’m not sure if you two would have ever heard of it at the orphanage” He said tentatively “But we’re from the northern Lee clan. Also known as--”
“The Luna clan…” Seungmin breathed softly and Minho’s eyes shot into his direction, Felix lifting his head off of Minho’s shoulder to properly look at the beta as Jeongin stared at the boy with his eyebrows knitted together.
“You--” Minho tilted his head lightly “You know about us?”
“No” Seungmin said quickly as he held the elder’s gaze “Not really, at least. I… A couple of years before Jeongin arrived, there was this girl at our orphanage who had come in one day. She was an omega and was slightly older than most of us there at that point. And she had this book, the only thing she had left from her parents. And this book held stories about a clan up in the north that had been blessed by the moon spirits when wolves first came to this earth.”
“She… was she--?” Minho felt his heart beating in his throat at the unexpected information. Out of everything that he could have expected happening or hearing, this was not it. Were there more of them out there? More who had managed to get away that night?
“No” Seungmin shook his head solemnly and the omega felt his heart sink “She wasn’t a Lee, she was a brunette…”
“I see” Minho swallowed and nodded softly, his back relaxing against the boulder behind him as Seungmin continued.
“Wait so” Jeongin spoke up carefully “There was a book on hyung and Lix’s clan?”
“It was a book of stories” Seungmin said as he looked over at the young omega “Just stories. The problem was that this girl, Mayra, loved these stories and used to talk about them. But only in secret, hushed like nobody else was supposed to know but us. And one day one of the other kids accidentally let it slip that Mayra was talking about those stories, alerting one of the mothers. And the next day, Mayra was nowhere to be found and we never saw her again…”
“Ofcourse…” Minho closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose with a soft sigh “Your orphanage was run by tyrant alphas, of course they got rid of her”
“I never understood why, though” Seungmin continued, a pained expression on his face “Because why would she get in trouble over something like that? So, stubborn as I am, I decided to keep it, that book. Kept it hidden under my mattress and I spent years reading it over and over. Reading about this wolf clan that was run by omegas with fur white as snow and eyes blue as ice. Wolves who, supposedly, had powers that could surpass even most alphas. But to me they were just stories, fairytales… Something that was too good to be true. Until the day that you found us in those woods”
Minho held Seungmin’s gaze for a couple of silent seconds as the beta let out a soft sight.
“Though of course, white fur and blue eyes were not going to prove anything” Seungin continued “Especially since to me that was just something that lived inside of a book. And then, a couple of years later, I saw you. It was during a full moon and you had stepped outside at night, which is something you never ever did and never allowed Felix to do either. I don’t remember what for but when I looked out of my window I saw you. Your hair looked almost like it was glowing, like it was created solely to reflect the light of the moon… and I’ve had my suspicions since. I just never wanted to ask because the last time someone was caught talking about it…”
“They vanished.” Minho nodded as he finished the younger’s sentence “You thought I was going to hurt you?”
“Of course not” Seungmin shook his head softly, his damp bangs falling over his eyes as the tips of his ears turned bright red “But I didn’t want to gamble on it either, hyung. You’re scary”
“So what, you’re magic?” Jeongin asked sceptically, one of his eyebrows raised and his face contorted into confusion.
“No” Minho rolled his eyes “However… We are from that clan. The clan from Seungmin’s books. Those weren’t fairytales, or atleast, they were based on truth”
“Why have I never heard of this supposed book?” Jeongin asked next as he looked over at Seungmin “You never told me about that”
“Because I didn’t want you to get hurt” The beta said “You weren’t exactly careful back them”
“Excuse you” the young omega gasped as he smacked the back of his hand against Seungmin’s arm.
“Can we focus?” Felix’s voice interrupted them, the boy levelling them with a blank stare that caused Jeongin to shrink into himself with a small pout on his lips and a small murmured ‘sorry’.
“Fe” Minho looked over at his brother worriedly, lifting his hand to scratch the nape of the younger’s nape “You okay?”
“Yeah” the younger sighed and melted into the touch almost instantly. And Minho could feel the tension bleed out of his body, seeping through the elder’s fingers as he gently carded them through the soft white hairs on the boy’s neck. Felix quickly leaned back into his side, lazily wrapping his arms around Minho’s middle and nuzzling his head into the crook of the elder’s neck before inhaling deeply.
Minho instinctively moved his hand up, continuously moving his fingers through the younger’s hair gently as he looked back up to face Seungmin and Jeongin who had also melted into each other.
“As I was saying, that book of yours” He nodded over at Seungmin “I don’t know what the stories told you but yes. The Luna clan is indeed a clan that has been blessed by the moon, led by omegas who hold powers that are similar to alphas almost. Every omega born in our clan, including Fe and I, are called Luna. For example, where alphas have the alpha voice, we lunas have the luna voice. We are also immune to said alpha voice most of the time”
“We’re immune to alpha voices?” Felix shot up as he looked back at his brother, his eyes briefly flitting over to Jeongin who had also lifted himself away from Seungmin with a frown on his face.
“Yes” Minho nodded, his hand still on Felix’s head “It doesn’t have effect on us the same it would on, say, Minnie or Innie”
“So that’s what that was…” Felix breathed as he looked over at Jeongin who tilted his head in confusion.
“Wait so… that day. You didn’t feel that?” Jeongin asked. And now it was Minho’s turn to be confused.
“That day?” he looked between the two young omegas curiously.
“No. That’s why I was so confused about it” Felix said “Remember how I told you that he explained what alpha voice was? It had left me even more confused because I never felt it. And that didn’t make sense to me because I definitely feel it when it’s Minho hyung barking out orders”
“Bark… yah, I do not bark out orders” Minho gaped, feeling a little scandalized at the accusation.
“Yes you do” Seungmin, Felix and Jeongin chimed in unison and Minho flushed a deep pink, his eyes fixing on a tree behind Seungmin’s head and asking his mother for strength to not murder his kids before looking back towards Jeongin.
“That day?” he tried again and flared his nostrils when Jeongin quickly and nervously averted his gaze before snuggling back into Seungmin’s side “What day? What didn’t he feel?”
“Ah…” Felix mumbled “Uhm. So. Yeah. Binnie accidentally used his alpha voice on us…”
“HE WHAT!?” Minho gaped at his brother, every cell in his body fighting not to jump up.
“It was an accident!” Felix said quickly, his hand coming to rest on Minho’s chest “He didn’t mean to and apologised a gazillion times over it because he felt guilty. But the point is, it had affect on--”
“I am going to end him” Minho grumbled through gritted teeth and Felix rolled his eyes fondly with a soft sigh.
“The point is!” He said again, his soft and warm jasmine engulfing Minho and causing the elder to reluctantly settle down “That while it briefly had some effect on Jeongin, it didn’t on me. And when Jeongin explained it, he said that it felt like how it does when you get serious. And the next day when Changbin explained alpha voice to me, again, it sounded exactly like that… So I was confused about it. But now I finally do.”
“…I don’t think you understand how much I want to strangle you right now” Minho narrowed his eyes into the younger’s direction dangerously.
“You love me too much” Felix smiled cheekily with a soft shrug before he leaned back in and nuzzled back into the crook of Minho’s neck.
“Brat” Minho mumbled, his chest involuntarily almost exploding with affection as he allowed his brother to nose at his jaw before turning his attention back to the other two sitting across from them.
“Anyway” he continued after a few seconds “Yes. That’s a luna thing. Alpha voices do not affect us, at least not always. The Luna clan is a powerful clan… was… a powerful clan”
“Was?” Jeongin asked softly and Minho could feel Felix shifting in his hold. He gently brought his hand back up to the boy’s hair as he kept his white rose as soothing as possible.
“For as powerful as our clan was, we were not invincible. Everyone has their weaknesses and for us that just so happened to be the same thing that gives us our strength”
“The moon” Seungmin provided and Minho nodded.
“Exactly” he said “the bigger the moon, the stronger we are. But the smaller, the weaker. And 15 years ago, on a night that was nearing the new moon, our clan was attacked and we lost… everything. I remember it like it was yesterday”
He could feel Felix stiffen in his hold for a few seconds before the boy leaned back and looked up at him, a soft crease in between his eyebrows and all trace of playfulness gone from his eyes. And all Minho could do was gently stroke the back of his finger’s against the younger’s cheek as he watched the puzzle pieces in the boys’ eyes fall into place.
“On the night you found us at the orchard… you said that we lost everything because of alphas…” Felix said softly and Minho nodded slowly.
“It was an alpha clan who attacked us” The pack leader confirmed “a bunch of cowards who were so scared of the power that we possess that they waited until we were at our weakest in order to trump us. Because they couldn’t stand the idea of lowly omegas having power that was comparable to theirs, sometimes even stronger than theirs. So they eradicated the threat”
“But… we never did anything to threaten them… did we?” Felix breathed, his shoulders slumping and Minho’s heart crumbled at the tears he saw springing into the younger’s face. He pulled Felix flush against him, burying his nose into the younger’s hair until he felt the warm drops of Felix’s tears gliding down his chest and into the river.
“No…” He said softly as he gently swayed the younger “No we didn’t. To them, us simply existing in the same realm as them was too much of a risk”
“I don’t remember my own mother’s face… because of the selfish greed of another?” Felix mumbled, the agony in his voice so palpable that Minho felt his heart clench as he squeezed the younger closer.
“I’m sorry Fe…” he whispered into boy’s hair softly.
“How do you know what happened if you were still so young too?” Seungmin asked carefully, his voice pulling Minho’s attention forward.
“I may remember the night it happened but I did not understand back then what was going on. And then, when we arrived here and Kangdae found us, they recognized what we were immediately because of our hair and eyes too.” Minho explained “They told me one day, when Felix was sleeping. And they are the ones that taught us how to colour our hair and mud our fur. For our protection”
“How do you know they weren’t lying?” Seungmin asked carefully, seeming almost scared to ask the question. But Minho understood, better than anyone because he too had refused to believe it. Until Felix had recounted what that alpha had said to him in that cave.
“Because of what Felix told me a couple of days later” Minho said as he subconsciously pressed the younger closer “Before Felix and I arrived here, I almost lost Felix to an alpha. And that had been the final nail in the coffin for me, honestly”
“Yeah I remember you mentioning something like that” Jeongin said softly as he sat up straight and Minho nodded.
“I had been out hunting and the brute had stumbled upon Felix alone in the cave we were taking refuge in at that time” The pack leader continued “But Felix fought back and refused to listen and the alpha had said some things. Including something about someone named Dantae wiping ‘our lot’ out years ago. Which was the same name of the leader of the clan that Kangdae and Miyoung had told me about”
“So that’s why you don’t trust alphas?” Jeongin asked with a small pout.
“Oh, there is more. I am not done ye--”
“Wait” Seungmin suddenly interrupted Minho, his eyebrows drawn together and eyes glinting darkly as he stared at a spot in the water “Did… did you just say Dantae?”
The elder blinked and nodded slowly at the sudden change of demeanour in the younger, his head tilting lightly “Yeah?”
“You-- you d-don’t mean…” Seungmin started slowly as he looked back up at the pack leader.
They always say the world is a small place but finding out that it’s true never fails to chill Minho’s bones. Never in his wildest expectation would Minho had expected that Seungmin would have uttered that name so full of conviction and disgust. That Seungmin would have known who he was talking about due to the fact that he had been so very young at the time.
Because never would Minho have expected that the same clan that was led by Dantae and was responsible for the demise of Minho’s family, was the same clan that Seungmin’s headmaster had been mated into.
Her demonic character suddenly made a whole lot more sense after that revelation.
Minho had continued to tell them about all of the negative alpha encounters he had had after being separated from their mother. Including the one at the port. Though he had kept his memory of the amber eyed Christopher to himself for reasons he could not quite comprehend.
And the reactions had been as expected, naturally. Felix had cried for a while after learning the truth about their parents and their family. Jeongin had again fallen into his guilt filled spiel about how sorry he was, tears streaming down his face as he joined Felix into the snuggle pile. And Seungmin just sat silently, watching Minho with a sort of new found understanding swimming around in his eyes that, for some reason, made the omega feel very exposed.
But that was the point, wasn't it? In the end. To at least try and make them understand the way Minho’s fear and anger revolving around alphas worked and where they came from. The trauma he carried on his back like a second set of limbs. He hadn’t meant to make them cry, though he wouldn’t be able to help Felix’s tears even if he wanted to.
Any of the information Minho shared with them was bound to hit his brother the hardest because he had been there, just didn’t live through them the same as Minho had. The elder had made very sure that the boy’s one memorable bad experience with an alpha had immediately been his last.
And Felix had spent the next two days curled up beside him with nightmares Minho wished he could have prevented.
The omega let out a soft sigh, absentmindedly twisting one of the pebbles he had picked up off the riverbank between his fingers as the sun reflected through it in the most fascinating way. It had been a very plain looking pebble, slightly bigger than the rest his feet were digging into from where he squatted near the water. But when Minho had dunked it into the water and taken it out, it had come out looking almost translucent. Like a hidden gem of some sorts.
He was about to hold the pebble up above his head when a fish came flying out of nowhere and hit Minho square in the face, sending the omega falling backwards onto his ass and the pebble skitting across the ground.
He blinked a couple of times, dazed by the sudden wetness on his face before his eyes landed on the fish flopping uselessly beside him and trying with all its might to breathe.
His lip slowly curled up unto silent snarl, eyes shooting up and landing on a pair of hazel ones staring back at him with so much fear that it almost made the omega feel bad. Almost.
“What the--” Minho gritted as he wiped at his face “What the fuck was that?”
The scarlet wolf, that was standing in the middle of the river, let out a soft guilty whine, his ears pressed down flat onto his head before letting out a small yip and lowering his head.
Minho closed his eyes and huffed, his head shaking slightly as he let go of the bout of frustration that had surged through him before looking back up at the alpha.
“Unless you want to lose an ear, how about a warning first?” He grumbled as he snatched the fish off of the floor and dumped it into the basket standing next to him. Jisung gave him a shy little nod, droplets of water dripping out of his fur and into the water before turning his attention back to the river.
They were near the small waterfall situated in Chan’s territory, fishing for dinner. Something Minho had been dragged into by a doe eyed Jisung after they had arrived. More like they had been saddled up with each other, again, after everyone else had formed their designated pair to do whatever chores with. And Minho and Jisung were always the two left standing.
Like those two kids who were always picked last for the teams whenever they were out playing. It was annoying.
Not that Jisung was annoying. He wasn’t. Surprisingly the alpha was an interesting one to be around, not that Minho would ever tell anyone that, much like the pebble he had been holding up until a minute ago. Very unassuming by looking at him yet so very vibrant in the right lightning.
After Minho had fainted in front of him, Jisung had been even more nervous around him than before that whole situation. Not that the omega minded much, because it was nice and quiet and it filled him with an ugly sense of satisfaction that he was making the alpha nervous.
But it had gotten to a point where Minho just started believing that Jisung was quiet by default. Until he noticed the way he was with his own pack. Or even with Minho’s pack after a few weeks.
Jisung had, much to Minho’s annoyance, gotten surprisingly close with Felix, the two of them seeming to be carved out of the exact same tree. And whenever he was around his pack or the rest, there was this other side of him that came out which, quite frankly, had taken Minho by surprise.
Despite the fact that he still was quite timid in a sense, he was extremely caring and sweet most of the time. Outspoken and funny in a very odd way and Minho would be lying if he said the boy didn’t make him feel at ease.
More often than not without him even realizing it was happening, which had been terrifying the first time because Minho had snapped out of whatever daze he had been in and found out that he had let his guard down in front of an alpha. Which then resulted in him snapping at Jisung for the smallest, most insignificant thing.
Even now. Minho had been zoned out while the scarlet wolf busied himself with trying to catch fish and he hadn’t even noticed it until said fish came hurling at his face.
And he didn’t like it, the way his body and mind would betray him in this peculiar alpha’s presence.
That’s why it was annoying.
He watched Jisung still for a few seconds before the wolf dove his muzzle into the water at lightning speed, coming back up a few seconds later with another fish caught between his fangs. He looked up into Minho’s direction, his hazel eyes twinkling in the sun happily and Minho held out his hands.
Jisung flung the fish into his direction, the omega catching it easily and dropping it into the basket before looking back at Jisung who was still looking at him with that same happy glint in his eyes and Minho blinked.
“What?” he deadpanned “You want a compliment for not hitting me in the face? Go fish for one”
Jisung let out a small huff, leveling the omega with an unamused stare before turning his attention to the water again and focusing on the next catch.
“Don’t you think we have enough?” Minho complained after another half hour “We’re feeding eight people, not a whole hamlet”
Jisung turned his attention to Minho, staring at him for a few seconds before finally moving and making his way towards the riverbank with a small huff. Minho stepped aside, grabbing the basket and hauling it over his shoulder as the alpha shook out his fur a few yards away from the omega before shifting.
“Do you really think that’s enough?” Jisung asked, seeming a little out of breath as he busied himself with putting his clothes on.
“Yes” Minho answered shortly as he turned, starting his way back in the direction of the clearing. How he had memorized the way there within a territory that was not his own, was mind boggling and something he’d rather not dive into or else he'd probably lose his sanity.
“Let me carry that” Jisung said as he quickly caught up to him and gently started tugging at the basket.
“Just because I’m an omega, doesn’t mean I can’t carry this on my own” Minho almost snapped as he readjusted the basket.
“Don’t put words in my mouth” Jisung countered as he continued to try and take the basket.
“Can you stop?” Minho whirled around to look at him “You just spent an hour fishing for these, aren’t you tired? I don’t want to hear you complaining that you had to do all the work because I will actually throttle you. I can carry this fine on my own.”
Jisung blinked back at him for a few silent seconds before his eyebrows drew together in frustration, a hand coming up to run through his damp hair as he let out an exasperated sigh.
“I’m just trying to be helpful, hyung” he huffed defiantly “I’m not tired because I was in my wolf form and standing still in water for that hour. I’m fine. You however, look like the sun has slapped you silly and if you’re not fucking carefull I’m going to have Seungmin yelling at me again because you screwed yourself over and passed out from sunexposure like a dumbass. Now give me the fucking basket or so help me god”
Minho gaped at the younger in stunned silence, the alpha moving to yank the basket off of his shoulder and swinging it over his own before continuing his way towards the clearing. He felt the blood rushing to his face, his ears heating up as his heart hammered away in his chest. What the fuck?
“You…” Minho scoffed in disbelief and whirled around, following the alpha quickly “You’re--”
“Just trying to be helpful” Jisung interrupted him, leaving the omega no space for argument “That’s all. I’m pretty sure you’re aware of the fact that you scare the crap out of me, hyung. And I don’t mind it when it comes from you just being you. Be intimidating all you want, I don’t mind. But I’ll be damned if I let my guard down around you and let you do the same to me again just because you’re as stubborn as a bull. Having your blood on my hands was not a pleasant feeling and I would rather not have that happen again, thank you very much”
Minho fell silent, his rebuttal catching in his throat as he stared at the back of the alpha’s head who remained a few steps in front of him while his heart beat rushed the blood gushing through his ears loudly.
This was another thing that vexed the omega about Jisung, that he had a tendency to snap back at Minho. For as nervous as the boy got around him, and how careful and timid he was with him, he wouldn’t shy away from these types of confrontations where he would leave Minho at a loss for words and face burning.
He let out a small huff and fell back into step with the younger, his lips pressed into a thin line and heart hammering in his chest. In all honesty, he wanted to take the basket and smack Jisung over the head with it for talking to him like that in the first place. But Felix’s voice continued to loop through his mind after hearing the alpha speak.
‘Jisung almost lost his head when u went down’
That’s what Seungmin had apparently told the young omega. And Minho had never gone back to asking what they had meant by that. Was this what it was? Had Jisung been scared? Why?
“Why were you scared?” the words had come out of his mouth before he could even stop them and when the last syllable left his lips, he closed his eyes and cured every deity under the moon for betraying him.
“What do you mean?” Jisung looked back at him, every last shred of the defiance they had been shining with earlier completely vanished like it had never been there in the first place. Minho sighed and clenched his jaw before looking back and meeting the younger’s gaze.
“Why were you scared?” he asked again “Nobody asked you to touch me and get blood on your hands, so why were you scared?”
Jisung halted in his steps and stared back at the omega with a frown on his face for a couple of seconds as Minho turned around to face him, eyeing him up and down in confusion.
“What?” Jisung asked with a small scoff “Nobody asked…? You’re joking right?”
Minho was, in fact, not joking. He was genuinely curious. For as much as he was aware that they had effectively proven Minho wrong by not taking the chance of the omega’s incapacitated state to hurt them, nobody had asked for their help. Hell. If they hadn’t even been there in the first place, none of it would have happened at all.
“Do I look like someone who likes to joke?” Minho asked seriously “You could have asked, literally, anyone else--”
“First of all” Jisung cut through him again, visibly growing frustrated by the second as he eyed the elder in disbelief “We were having a conversation, you asked me a question and I was answering that. And the next thing I know, you're smashing your head open on the ground. You were bleeding, hyung. Out of your head”
Jisung waved his hand into Minho’s direction to emphasize his point and Minho had to fight the scowl that threatened to take over his features when he felt his heart rate spike again.
“And then your beta starts yelling at me like I’m the one who’s responsible because that’s how much you’ve brainwashed them into believing that all alphas are out to get you”
Minho blinked, his blood running cold and feeling something inside of him snapping at the words as he took a threatening step forward. Because the problem was exactly that, that alphas were in fact out to get him. Him and Felix. The whole reason they lost their entire family was because of that. If people knew they were still alive they’d be hunted within an inch of their life.
But of course Jisung wouldn’t understand that.
“You know nothing about me or my life, Jisung” He seethed dangerously, watching the younger flinch at the sudden change in Minho’s scent and tone “Maybe, instead of feeling victimised by me and my pack’s distrust of alphas, maybe ask yourself why we react like that in the first place. I didn’t ask to be distrustful and hateful, I didn’t ask for this life. I didn’t ask for alphas to take everything I knew away from me as a child and certainly I didn’t ask to be cast into the middle of a pack full of them 15 years later. I didn’t ask to see my 7 year old brother almost strangled to death or to find Seungmin and Jeongin knocking on death’s door in my woods in the middle of winter all at the hands of alphas. I didn’t get brainwashed into any of that!”
Minho realized too late that he was shaking, struggling to close his hands into fists as he fought against the burning behind his eyes and tried to even out his heavy breaths as he continued to look at Jisung. Jisung who’s shocked gaze had quickly softened into something so profoundly sorrowful as Minho’s words sank in, that it almost caused the omega to falter.
A look that only served to anger Minho more because it caused an involuntary flutter in his heart which intensified the burning behind his eyes and almost made him want to throw up.
“So don’t you dare stand here and accuse me of brainwashing anyone when you have your own kind to thank for that” He hissed and swallowed thickly before whirling around and continuing his way, one of his hands grabbing at the fabric of his tunic right over his chest as he tried to breathe through the turmoil and cursed his own tongue for letting so much slip for no reason in the height of his anger.
Minho would move mountains for Felix, even if it meant deserting his own boundaries and inserting himself in the middle of a pack of alphas who claimed to be ‘not like the others’. And he had been trying, the past month and a half, he had been trying so hard that it was eating away at the pieces of his sanity and resolve.
Because being with these alphas had proven to be a real pain in the ass but being around Jisung? That was not moving mountains, that was like moving a whole planet.
Jisung and his doe eyes and genuine concern. Jisung with his soothing sandalwood scent and soft voice. Jisung with his sudden fire when he felt brave enough to talk back. Jisung who was always stealing glances at the omega when he thought Minho wasn’t looking. Jisung who would flush pink on the rare occasion Minho barked out a snarky compliment. Jisung who’s goofy heart shaped smile made Minho want to break something and Jisung who wore his heart on his sleeve and didn’t shy away from kindness.
Jisung whose soft hazel eyes just now had looked at Minho like he wanted to collect the omega in his arms just to take all the pain away that was tormenting the elder, like the knowledge of that pain simply existing within Minho anguished him, like he wanted to eradicate everything in Minho’s past that had caused him such pain.
Jisung.
Minho could actively remember the times in his life in which he had been terrified of something to a degree of wanting to run and hide until either his father or his mother could come and find him, save him, protect him.
And Jisung’s continuous effect on him was starting to wedge its way onto that list.