Run.

That's the only thing that San's mind can process as he dashes through the trees, dodging rocks and trunks in his haste.

He can feel the wind hitting his ears, he can feel the branches he's running past slicing through his fur and skin.

But he can also hear the threatening howls in the distance.

Discarded as a pup, San has been on his own his entire life. He was runt of the litter, and his parents decided they'd much rather put their effort into his siblings than him, so they left him in the forest for something to come along and get an easy meal. But San's a fighter, and he learned to care for himself and survive.

And in order to do that, he has to do bad things. The exact reason he's being chased now. San stole a pouch of supplies from a pack of wolves that he's been trailing for a while now, and when he found the right moment to take action, he snatched the supplies and started running for his life.

San growls as he can sense one of the wolf's catching up to him, so he pushes his legs to run even faster as he tries to escape, the snapping of the wolfs jaw nicking his ankles. All he needs is one good bite on his back leg. The pouch he carries in his snout holds enough supplies for him to last another few weeks, and he needs everything he can get before winter comes, so there's no way he's dropping it now.

Soon he sees an opportunity, a wide creek that any normal wolf could never cross in one leap.

So he pushes forwards and readies his legs for the impact.

Being smaller than the average alpha, San trained himself to do things most alphas couldn't do because of their size. He can jump farther, squeeze through smaller spaces, and most definitely run faster.

Once he reaches the bank of the creek, he doesn't even slow down to ready himself, he simply leaps as far in the air as his legs can push him, and he lands on the other side on all fours, immediately gaining his speed back and continuing to run. He can feel his paws and legs burning from the impact, but he ignores it as he speeds away from the creek.

Most of the alphas chasing him try to jump over as well, but they land dead center in the middle of the creek, giving San enough time to dash through the foliage, his almost white coat disappearing in the forest.

San runs for another hour, making sure that he's put enough distance in between himself and the pack chasing him before he stops at a large river.

He's exhausted, hungry and dirty, but he's alive and he managed to lose them.

He washes his coat in the water, whining as he feels the water enter some of the cuts he's acquired from running through sharp bushes to escape. Once he deems himself clean enough, and thinks that he's washed enough of his scent off to further throw off the search party, he gives his coat a good shake and makes his way back up to the bank.

But before he can stoop his head down to pick up his pouch, he hears a deafening bang, and suddenly there's an intense pressure and unbearable pain in his side.

He howls out in agony, and falls over back into the river that he just finished washing in. He squirms and howls as the pain spreads through his entire body, and suddenly there's a figure standing over him. San snaps his jaws at the human, but he yelps as a swift kick is delivered to his head.

"Damn it, it's small. Not worth anything. A waste of my bullet." The humans hacks up a ball of salvia, and spits right on San's beautiful white and tan coat, that's now stained red and brown with blood and bullet residue. The human kicks him once again before retreating back in the trees, his camouflage outfit letting him blend in perfectly. The exact reason why San didn't see him.

Soon San's left alone, and he goes to stand but immediately smacks back on the ground and howls out in pain as the searing sensation fills his bones.

F-Fuck..Of COURSE it's a silver bullet! I-I can't just die out here..

San howls once again in pain, and spends the next few hours trying to standing and find some kind of help. But it's almost worthless, silver bullets are made to immobilize wolfs, and San is starting to find it hard to keep his eyes open.

Soon he finds himself slipping into a headspace between reality and sleep.

•••

Another day, another problem. That's been Jongho's life for the past few years.

As soon as he turned 18, Jongho decided that he wanted to leave his pack and find land of his own and a mate to settle down with. So he's been traveling, wondering, and everything else under the moon.

He's stopped at other packs, trading manual labor for a place to stay and food, he's stayed in caves and makeshift shelters, and sometimes if he comes across one, a human city.

But most of the time, he stays to himself and the wilderness, hoping to find unclaimed land and a mate to set it all off.

Today, Jongho's simply wandering, letting his instincts take him where they think is best.

His stomach growls, and he's just about to find a place to settle for the night before he hears a pained howl in the distance, and a loud bang.

Immediately, his instincts tell him to run, get away. Who knows that was? But Jongho's best bet is a hunter. And it sounds like they just shot a wolf. He turns to head in the opposite direction, to put as much distance between himself and the possible danger as he can, but he soon hears another howl, and this one is even louder.

His wolf urges him to move on, forget the other and worry about himself, but he can't leave someone of his own kind suffering and possibly dying in the woods.

So he turns back around, and starts to follow the distressed calls and howls of the injured wolf. Soon, he comes to a clearing and a large river, and laying in the bank of the water is a wolf. It's white and tan coat is covered in blood, and Jongho smells the unmistakable scent of Alpha.

His instincts roar with dominance.

But he pushes them aside and rushes over, sniffling over the body and huffing with relief when he realizes the other is still alive.

Damn it..How am I gonna move you? Jongho grunts as he takes the scruff of the other wolf in his mouth, and gently starts to move the alpha to safety.

It takes about an hour, but Jongho finally gets the unnamed wolf to a cave that he deems safe enough, and settles the wolf in best he can atop a bed of grass and leaves.

Once he checks that the alpha isn't going anywhere, he heads back out to where he found him, and shifts. He puts on the shorts that were tied to his ankle and starts to wash away the blood. He doesn't want someone following it and having it lead right to them.

Once he deems the area clear of their presence, he picks up the pouch that was laying near the alpha when he found him and looks inside, and immediately sighs with relief. It's full of medical supplies and a few food items. It's scent is different from the smokey smell of the unnamed wolf, but none of that seems important to Jongho as he shifts back and heads to the cave with the pouch between his jaws.

Once he's back, and sees that the alpha is still unconscious, he shifts once again and starts to look over his injuries. He winces at the bullet wound in his side, and immediately starts to patch him up.

Once he removes the bullet, which is fairly huge, much larger then the standard size used to hunt wolfs, he starts to flush the wound with water he collected from the river, and gently starts to apply anti-septic cream.

In the middle of his work, the wolf starts to stir, and instead of bucking and trying to attack like Jongho thought he would, he simply whines and wags his tail. A sign of gratitude in wolf language.

Jongho nods in understanding, and once he finishes the best he can, he layers bandages over the wound and moves back to study the wolf awake. He's definitely an alpha, no beta or omega could survive a bullet that large, but compared to Jongho, he's smaller and more lean.

His coat is also stunning when it's not covered in blood. Jongho can notice some smaller cuts littering his body, but that's not of concern right now.

For the first time that day, Jongho speaks. "I know you're injured, but can you shift? It'll make this a whole lot easier for the both of us."

The wolf nods hesitantly, and soon the cave fills with the howls and screams of pain as the wolf starts to shift.

Once he's done, Jongho is left speechless at the pure beauty of the wolf. Of this alpha.

He pants to collect himself, and once he's stable enough to speak, he looks Jongho in his eyes, and once again, Jongho is stunned from how gorgeous the wolf is.

"S-San. I'm San."

***
Written by sueoku