Jongho had been mid fight when he'd sensed something was wrong. He didn't know how, but he forced himself to take a step back and look toward his pack.

And his stomach instantly sank when he saw a stranger holding onto Wooyoung.

Rage boiled inside him, and he ran out of the ring without a second thought. The competition didn't matter if it meant a member of his pack would get hurt. If Wooyoung was hurt...

He could hear the Android behind him calling after him, but he ignored it and barreled forward.

And now that he had Wooyoung safely in his arms, he had no intention of leaving his omega's side while he could help it.

Until Wooyoung was pushing away from him to throw up.

All seven of them rushed forward to support him, crying out his name and feeling a growing sense of panic.

Other packs around them shifted away, giving them strange looks and whispering amongst themselves.

Wooyoung fell to his knees. He was breathing heavily and dry heaving a couple of times as his body tried to regain control of itself.

When Jongho knelt next to him, he placed a hand on the back of his head and rubbed gently, hoping to soothe his hyung even just a little. "You're alright." He whispered. "Just breathe."

It took a few tense, agonizing minutes for Wooyoung to finally sit back on his heels and lift a pale, trembling hand to wipe his mouth. "S-Sorry..."

"No," Seonghwa knelt at his other side and used the sleeve of his shirt to help clean Wooyoung's face. "Don't apologize, sweetheart, are you okay? Do you feel any better now?"

Wooyoung hesitated for a moment, frowned, then nodded once. "I... I think so? I feel so warm." He wavered a little before he fell into Seonghwa.

"We should get him home." Hongjoong looked around. "I can stay with Mingi and wait for the results."

Jongho looked up at both of them, then nodded. "Alright, come straight home once things are done."

The two of them nodded and Mingi gave one final, worried glance at Wooyoung before he followed Hongjoong back to where the rest of the packs were waiting.

Seonghwa held onto Wooyoung until Jongho stood up. Helped pass Wooyoung into Jongho's arms, then stood quickly to help support him as Jongho readjusted the omega, carrying him bridal style.

"I've got you." The younger whispered when Wooyoung groaned a little. His muscles strained, not used to carrying anyone this way. Normally he'd carry his hyungs on his back, but right now... Right now, he wanted to be able to keep an eye on Wooyoung at all times.

A surge of protectiveness rose in him when a couple of women looked in their direction as they walked past. He tightened his grip on Wooyoung and continued walking forward.

Then his breath hitched when Wooyoung relaxed a little and laid his head against Jongho's shoulder.

Jongho spared a look at him and couldn't help but smile a little when he saw Wooyoung's eyes closed and that he looked like he was resting.

Seonghwa stayed close to his right, Yeosang to his left, and San right behind him the entire walk home. When they were clear of the arena, Yunho bounded ahead of them to get to the house first so they could get Wooyoung comfortable.

"San-ah, are you feeling alright?" Seonghwa asked at one point.

"I'm fine, Hyung. Just worried. I want to know what's going on." San answered, a slight whine in his voice.

"We all do, but you look pale."

San didn't respond to him again and Seonghwa dropped it for now.

They were all still a bit out of sorts, but Jongho was worried this wasn't food poisoning. If it was, someone else in the pack should be reacting to it too. They'd all eaten the same exact thing the past two days.

When they got to the cabin, Yunho called down to say he got Wooyoung's room ready and Jongho immediately carried him up the stairs and straight to his bed to set him down.

The jostling had woken Wooyoung up and he groaned a little. "Where..."

"We are back home." San answered, crawling into bed beside him to help support him. Now that he was free from the leash and prying eyes, he wasn't afraid to assert himself a little more. "Jongho carried you home."

Wooyoung blinked a couple of times and gazed up at Jongho through his eyelashes. "Thanks, Jongie." He whispered.

"You don't need to thank me, I'm just glad you are safe." Jongho lifted his hand to brush Wooyoung cheek in a rare moment of affection.

Next to him, Yeosang leaned forward a little and said, "What can we get you, Young-ah? What do you need?"

Wooyoung looked up at his friend and attempted to smile, but all his lips did was move a little. "I kind of just want to get cleaned up." He admitted weakly.

"Alright, we will let you do that." Seonghwa cupped his cheek for a second, then his eyes flicked to San.

Jongho noticed it too, how San seemed to lean in just a little closer as if to say, 'You can't make me leave him'.

So no one tried to. He followed, Seonghwa, Yeosang, and Yunho out of the room and downstairs where Seonghwa immediately started rummaging around their pantry, muttering to himself about tea.

"What do you think is going on?" Yunho asked, rubbing one of his arms and looking back at the stairs when they heard water running.

"I have a theory..." Yeosang said. Worry lines creased his stunning face. It was a sight Jongho wasn't used to seeing and it made him want to crush whatever was causing his friend to feel that way. "But... I don't want to say. Not yet..."

"Well that's not fair." Yunho huffed. "Now we all need to know."

Yeosang shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to cause any more panic than in already here. Just know that I'm going to keep an eye on him."

No one in the room was happy with the answer, but they knew Yeosang well enough to understand that they weren't going to get anything more out of him. He was too stubborn and too tight-lipped when he wanted to be.

"It's starting." A man snickers, looking between several different screens. One step to the right puts him in front of even more. Over one hundred TVs flicker around him, all showing scenes in cabins all across the arena.

"How many?" A woman says from behind him. She watches as he studies the screens, counting them one by one. When it starts taking too long, she tsks and starts examining her long, pointed, red nails. "How. Many."

The man jumps a little, then turns to her. "From what I can see, I believe nearly sixty are starting to show signs, Madame Curator."

She perks up at that, a pleased smile tugging at her cherry red lips. "All Omegas?"

"Appears to be." The man confirms.

"Excellent. Just as planned." She hums happily to herself.

The man nods and stops in front of one screen, watching as one boy helps bathe another, the one in the bath looking visibly sick. "Not every Omega has started showing signs yet, but we believe once it fully hits the ones that are, it will snowball from there."

"And trigger the Alphas." She added, the delighted purr of her voice giving away how much she enjoyed the thought. "And then we will start racking in the money."

"All for continued research," The man asks with a timid voice, "Right, Madame?"

The woman smirks at him. "Of course." She says, tone now sickly sweet. "All for our... research."

"I'm going to fix something for dinner." Seonghwa said after a bit, rising to make his way into the kitchen.

There was still no sign of Mingi and Hongjoong, but Jongho knew things could take time depending on how long the rest of the matches took.

He couldn't help but worry, though, as his pack started to disperse even more. It made him anxious, so he ended up following Seonghwa to the kitchen and picking a spot where he could see into the kitchen and the other room where Yunho and Yeosang were still sitting.

The smell of lilac reached him again, smelling stronger and... sweeter... than before.

Jongho sniffed a couple of times, looking around for the source of the lovely floral scent. There were no flowers in the cabin... and no flowers when he looked out the window.

"Hyung, do you smell that?" Jongho asked.

Seonghwa turned to look at him and sniffed the air too. "Smell what?"

"Lilacs." Jongho took a step into the kitchen and the smell seemed to change a little... The lilac was still verypresent, but he could also smell... hazelnuts?

The sudden change made Jongho's head hurt, and he scrunched his nose and took a step back.

Seonghwa set down the pan he was holding and rushed to his side. "Jongie? What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I just, you don't smell it?"

"I..." Seonghwa frowned a little and sniffed again, "I smell it now. Almost like it's," he leaned close enough to Jongho to smell his shirt, "coming from you."

Jongho gave him a puzzled look and smelled his own arm, then picked up a corner of his shirt and smelled that.

Lilac invaded his nose, and it made his eyelids flutter a little from how much he loved it.

So sweet. So perfect.

He needed more.

"Jongho." Seonghwa's deep baritone cut through his thoughts and reclaimed his attention.

"Huh?" The younger said, shaking his head a little.

Seonghwa was looking at him with a mixture of shock and concern, and Yeosang and Yunho were standing nearby now too...

"What?" Jongho looked between all three of them, feeling suddenly self-conscious under their intense stares.

"You were..." Yeosang started to say, then paused.

"Growling." Yunho finished for him.

"What??" Jongho said again. He looked between his three hyungs with disbelief. Growling, what on earth were they talking about?

Yeosang looked the most concerned, but also like his thoughts were elsewhere at the moment. The gears were turning, and that wasn't always a good thing.

"What, Hyung??" A whine entered Jongho's voice. He took a step closer, his stress slowly rising the longer it took Yeosang to answer.

And he never got the chance to because footsteps drew their attention to the stairs.

San was walking down backwards and holding his arms out to support Wooyoung as he took each step slowly.

"Youngie!" Yeosang gasped and ran over to stand by the banister. "Youngie... You..."

"Look like shit, I know." Wooyoung said with an attempt at humor. Yet it didn't reach his eyes. He was pale almost everywhere except for his face, which was flushed and covered in sweat.

"I tried to get him to stay in bed, but he wanted to be here when the other two got back." San sighed.

"I'm fine, San-ah." Wooyoung gave him a pointed look, then accepted Yeosang's help to get over to the couch, where he sat with a groan. "I just need to rest tonight. I threw up twice in the bathroom... But I do feel a lot better now."

Everyone in the room exchanged worried looks, but now that he was sitting down some of the color returned to his face.

Both Yeosang and San fussed over him for a few seconds. At least, until Wooyoung huffed at them and swatted their hands away.

Jongho hated seeing him like this. He'd always hated seeing any of his hyungs get sick, but this time... Something inside him had him feeling so much worse.

Then... It happened again.

Jongho smelled lilacs. It's so much stronger this time and he finds himself looking around the room, his nostrils flaring.

The smell is... different somehow, though. Like they were... sour, or wilting.

It set him even more on edge and all he wanted to do was fix things.

A gentle touch on his arm drew him from his thoughts once more and Jongho's head whipped around to see Seonghwa looking at him with the same concern as before. "What is going on with you?" He asked softly.

"I- "Jongho started to answer, but the words got caught in his throat because he didn't know how to answer.

He felt fine. In fact, he felt amazing! But he also felt distracted and overwhelmed in a way, like he couldn't focus on just one thing.

Which was definitely unusual for him...

Once more poor timing halted their conversation when the front door opened and Mingi and Hongjoong came in both looking exhausted but excited.

"You're back!" Yunho hurried over to them and started looking them both up and down.

Mingi smiled at him, then Jongho noticed his nostrils flaring like he was scenting the air. Even his pupils dilated a little, as if he liked what he was smelling.

"Well?" Yeosang asked. "What happened?"

Hongjoong looked at him to answer, then smiled a little when he saw Wooyoung nestled between him and San. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright. But I don't care about me right now, just tell us what happened!" Wooyoung pulled his knees to his chest and tried to look as excited as he could, though they could all tell he was still feeling weak.

"Okay, okay." Hongjoong moved to stand in front of the fireplace, so he was at the head of the room. He hesitated a moment longer to draw things out, then smiled. "We are in fifth place!"

Several of them cheered and started clapping while Wooyoung sat up a little straighter. "Even with me ruining things??"

"Young-ah." San scolded.

At the same time, Jongho went to kneel in front of him. "Hyung, I already told you; you didn't ruin anything."

Wooyoung's beautiful, honeyed eyes glistened a little bit, swirling with the guilt he still felt.

"You really didn't, Wooyoung. You, well, any of us are always going to be more important than an event. And while yes, we might have placed even higher if Yeosang and Jongho had been able to finish, them making it into the top eight had still earned them quite a bit of points. That coupled with the fact that most of the teams that did well in wresting didn't do well in archery really helped us out. There's only about two hundred points between us and first place."

"Wow, that's all?" Seonghwa asked.

Hongjoong nodded, still smiling with pride. "That's all, and I think we stand a really good chance to close that gap if we can do well tomorrow since all of us can participate. If you're feeling up to it, of course, Wooyoung."

"I'm not missing one of the few events they will let me do." Wooyoung said resolutely. "I need to help us win tomorrow."

"Just as long as you don't push yourself." San's eyes never left Wooyoung, concern radiating off him as he moved like Wooyoung's shadow.

The younger turned to look at him with such fondness before he melted into San's arms. "I won't, I promise." Then he looked back at Hongjoong. "So, what's the hint?"

"It's a map." Mingi spoke up and held up a rolled piece of parchment.

"No way." Yunho started laughing. "Did they really give us a treasure map??"

Hongjoong smiled with amusement and nodded again. "Yes. Yes, they did. And it starts right here at our cabin."

Mingi unrolled the parchment for everyone to see. "We think it's their way of getting us to see a little more of the arena, which will be good. From what we can tell, we need to find something in each location, kind of like the training they had us do for hunting. Once we find the item, we will be able to move on, and then when we have all five, we go back to the arena to turn them in where they will score us based on time and accuracy. There's also a time limit though. If we don't complete the task by three, then we will be scored based only on what we found and get no bonus for time."

Everyone in the room nodded in understanding. It wasn't too complicated, and they were used to doing things like that with the realities shows they've filmed.

Jongho stood and moved next to Hongjoong, silently commanding the attention of his pack. He felt a surge of self-pride rush through him when seven pairs of eyes focused on him at the same time.

Then, he turned to Hongjoong and asked, "When do we start?"