Seonghwa tilted his head to the left, then the right, as he tried to stretch his neck and relax himself. He studied himself in the mirror and worked to fix his raven hair so it sat just so, and then he adjusted his white suit.

It was traditional for omegas in his pack to wear white when meeting potential suitors.

He despised it.

His parents had already set up a list of alphas he would be meeting today. They wouldn't dare mate him to a beta.

There was no other option for him... As heir to his pack, Seonghwa was required to mate an alpha so he could rightfully claim his throne.

At first, his parents had been disappointed that Seonghwa had identified as an omega, but after a little time, they began to accept him for his rank and made plans for a large mating ceremony. His mother was pretty excited about it, actually, so Seonghwa did his best to try and stay excited about it too.

"You look amazing my darling." His mother said as she walked into the room. "Are you ready?" She came up behind him and helped him straighten everything out.

"Yes Mother." Seonghwa said with a small smile. He loved his mother dearly, but he wished he could tell her...

"Your father has worked hard to bring these alphas here. Promise me you will keep an open mind?" She said, cupping his cheek. "Not everyone gets the privilege of picking."

Seonghwa nodded, even though his heart screamed for him to say no. He still didn't have a choice in this. Not really.

The door to his room opened once more and Seonghwa turned to see another omega walk in carrying a tray with a pitcher of water and two glasses on it. He was dressed up for the day too, all of their servants were, in a black military style suit. His light, chocolate brown hair had been styled over to the side, giving it a little bit of volume.

The omega kept his head bowed out of respect as he set the tray down on and end table.

"Is everything ready?" Seonghwa's mother asked, glancing at the omega.

"Yes Ma'am. They are downstairs and waiting. All of the food is ready too."

"Good. Make sure everyone is there and ready to serve. And don't put a toe out of line." She said, her tone getting a little harsh. "None of us have the ability to stop a room full of alphas."

"Yes Ma'am." The omega bowed and hurried from the room.

"Mother, you shouldn't speak to him that way." Seonghwa said, his eyes lingering on the door.

She just sighed and crossed her arms. "Why not? He is our servant. I know you have a different connection with them because of you rank, but you are still above them sweetie. They serve us. You need to remember that."

Seonghwa ground his teeth together but kept his mouth shut, knowing it wouldn't do any good. His mother was a beta, so she already saw herself as above omegas anyway.

After a few more minutes of fussing, Seonghwa dutifully followed his mother from the room. He had to work hard to keep a straight face on. The gathering downstairs was the last thing he wanted to be doing right now.

But it was his duty, so he would obey his parent's wishes.

He could hear the polite conversations coming form the main ballroom, but they were all silenced immediately as he stepped inside.

A sudden weight was pressed on him as the eyes of nearly twenty alphas bared down on him. How they were all containing themselves in a situation like this, he had no idea...

Every alpha was introduced to him one by one, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't find any of them attractive. His father had done a good job contacting all of the packs, near and far, which meant he was very serious about this union.

Seonghwa did the best he could to keep up with the small talk. It was no surprise to him that several liked to gloat about their achievements back home. The one thing they all seemed to have in common, besides being alphas, was that they weren't in line to take over their own packs. They all had elder siblings.

So if Seonghwa were to mate with them, they would move here to rule this pack.

That made him feel a little better about things, but this was still the last thing he wanted to be doing...

As the evening dragged on, several servants would weave their way through the crowd offering food and drinks.

Seonghwa couldn't help but roll his eyes when he saw a few of the alphas checking them out. But then the brown haired omega walked up to a group of three alphas talking to over them drinks. Seonghwa paused in the middle of his conversations to watch as one of them stepped a little closer.

"What's your name precious?"

The omega did his duty and kept his eyes down. "W-Wooyoung, Sir."

"That's a cute name." The second one chuckled.

"Thank you, Sir. If you'll excuse me, I have other guests to attend to." Wooyoung tried to step away, but the third one moved behind him, trapping him between the three of them.

"You're attending to us right now."

Seonghwa could see Wooyoung shaking as he forced himself to keep looking at the ground. He had had enough.

He marched over to the group of four and cleared his throat, holding his head up high. He may be an omega by rank, but this was his home and the only ones who ranked over him were his parents.

The three alphas snapped their heads up to look at him, eyes wide as they stepped into a line.

"Get. Out." Seonghwa said, his voice dropping almost two octaves.

"Excuse me?" One said, his eyebrows furrowing together.

"You heard me. I will not have you treating my staff like this. You are obviously not making the cut if you are here to be my suitor and you are making a move on my staff. Leave. Now." Seonghwa ordered.

He could see the alphas fighting the instinct to fight back, but thankfully they were level headed enough to know their place.

It would be so easy for them to make him submit.

Seonghwa watched as they made their way out of the hall and left his home. Then he turned back to the omega and bit his lip. "Are you ok?" He asked gently.

Wooyoung visibly relaxed and closed his eyes. "Yes. Thank you, Sir." He answered softly, his voice taking on a slightly different tone that only Seonghwa would notice.

And he did.

He wanted nothing more than to act on it.

When there was nothing more that could be said, Wooyoung bowed his head and returned to his job.

Seonghwa sighed and watched him walk away.

Then his father came to stand next to him. "Care to explain what just happened?" It was obvious that the alpha was upset.

"They aren't the ones, so I told them to leave." Seonghwa clasped his hands behind his back and locked eyes with is father. He know it was a risky thing to do, but he needed to get his point across. "That's why you are doing this, right? To give me the chance to choose?"

His father sighed, but nodded. "Yes."

"Well I don't chose them." Seonghwa raised his chin, then walked away. He knew walking away like that would most likely result in his father yelling at him later, but he didn't care.

He was done. With all of this. Every single alpha he looked at in this room made him sick. He didn't want any of them.

So he forced himself to get through the rest of the evening, and as soon as the alphas had left, with parting words from his father saying Seonghwa would make his decision tomorrow, he knew he had to take action.

But there was one thing he had to do first.

After changing out of his suit, Seonghwa slipped into an all black outfit before slipping into the hall. He took all the back routes to get down to the servants quarters. All their staff was required to live on site so they could be available all hours of the day.

Seonghwa peeked around the corner leading to the bedrooms and was happy to see it was empty. He tiptoed down to the one at the very end and scratched on the door three times before opening it and slipping inside.

Wooyoung was curled up on his cot with his back to the door, but he sat up as soon as the door closed. "S-Sir? What are y-you do-"

The older cut him off by moving to sit with him on his bed. "How many times to I have to tell you to call me Seonghwa when we are alone?" He whispered.

Even in the dark he could tell Wooyoung was blushing by the way he bit just the corner of his lower lip.

"Woo, I need to ask you something..." Seonghwa leaned over and took his hands gently in his.

The younger looked up at him with wide eyes and Seonghwa knew were a perfect honey color right now. He knew every curve, every tell, every movement.

Because he had broken the number one rule laid in place for their race.

He had fought against his wolf's instincts and fallen in love with someone of the same rank...

If anyone found out, he would be a disgrace. In his pack, the offense was punishable by death.

And now he was about to ask Wooyoung to make the hardest decision of his life.

"Run away with me?"

Wooyoung's jaw dropped and he froze. "Are... Are you s-serious?"

"Yes." The older whispered. He brought Wooyoung's hands to his lips and kissed his fingers slowly. "I... I can't do this anymore. I can't pretend to be someone I'm not. I'm tired of not being about to look at you in the eyes when other's are around, or hearing you address me as Sir, or seeing others push you around."

"But... Your fam-"

"I don't care. I want to give all of this up to be with you." Seonghwa leaned forward and caressed Wooyoung's cheek. The younger smiled and leaned into the touch.

Seonghwa could feel the hesitant feelings from his wolf and pushed it away. The same look of struggle crossed Wooyoung's face. They could get through it. They could teach their wolves. He had faith that they could...

"Please." He whispered one more time.

Then Wooyoung leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together.

The older inhaled deeply, loving that Wooyoung had the soft smell of strawberries. He turned his head and started to kiss along Wooyoung's jaw, pushing his head to the side. He could sense the younger caving with each touch.

"Ok." Wooyoung said as soon as Seonghwa started to such on the spot where his neck met his jaw because he knew it drove the younger insane.

He sat up immediately and studied Wooyoung's face. "Really?"

The younger nodded, but looked down. "I'm scared thought. Two omegas, on our own?"

Seonghwa had thought of that too, but it was a risk he was willing to take. He knew he was stronger than Wooyoung so it would be his job to protect him as best he could. They would just have to be cautious and always be alert until they could find a place to hide and call their own.

Maybe they could find a human city to live in. That could mask their scent and help hide them. But he didn't know. All he knew was he wanted to be with Wooyoung. Forever.

"We will make it work. Somehow." Seonghwa kissed the top of his head.

And just like that, the pair of them were packing small bags with the few possessions they felt they would need.

Wooyoung was able to raid the kitchen to get them some food, which is what he filled his pack with since he only had a couple of shirts to pack. He refused to bring any of his uniforms with him.

Seonghwa packed enough clothes for the both of them, though, and also made sure to grab some maps, medical supplies, knives, and rope. He felt like there was more they would need, but it was a start.

The last thing he did was break into his father's safe and took money for them.

Once all that was gathered, they met by the back gate and ducked through it as soon as the guard's backs were turned.

And while Seonghwa was happy that Wooyoung had agreed to run away with him, he knew the biggest test of their lives was about to begin.

He prayed they were ready.

***
Written by flamewhipper