It felt like they'd been walking for hours by the time the Head Alpha started to slow at the front of their group.

Wooyoung could barely lift his feet off the ground, which was a feeling he absolutely hated.

He's an idol for crying out loud, he should have better stamina than this!

But it there was something about the way he was forced to walk that seemed to drain his energy even faster. Or maybe it was just the stress and anxiety of trying to figure out what was going to happen to him now...

As the group of eight stepped around a large grouping of boulders, Wooyoung felt his mouth open in shock at the sight before him.

The pack's house couldn't be classified as a cabin like his own, it was more like a mansion. Still made out of giant, round logs, the building itself was massive.

Even then, it was dwarfed by the large mountain chain rising up behind it.

Mountains.

How the hell were there mountains on an island like this??

The shock caused him to stop, which only angered the Alpha next to him and he yanked on his aching arms to keep dragging him forward. "Keep walking, bitch."

Wooyoung glared at the man but knew better than to say something right now. He was in too much danger to let his mouth get away from him, which he knew was rare for him, but he didn't want to risk something happening...

As they approached the pack's home, Wooyoung's eyes flicked around to take in the number of men and women milling around outside. Some were chopping wood, others were working in a garden, two were skinning a deer.

It was hard for him to be sure, but there had to be over fifteen or twenty people in the pack...

The thought made his stomach churn, and the feeling only grew when he was dragged up the steps, into the large sitting room, and forced onto his knees next to Felix.

He chanced a quick glance at his fellow Omega and caught Felix doing the same.

Fear swirled in their eyes... neither one knew what to say or do.

Especially once the main Alpha stepped in front of them and sneered. "What a lucky day for us!"

A few others chuckled from the back of the room, which made Wooyoung grind his teeth together.

"What the fuck do you want??" He snapped in English, losing the small bit of control he'd had over himself. "How can you think this is okay?! Let us go!!"

The Alpha's eyes darkened and he lunged forward to grab Wooyoung's jaw in a punishing grip, making the Omega yelp and struggle to free himself.

That only caused the man to tighten his grip, causing white to appear in his vision. "You will hold your tongue.We are just playing the game like they want. And we've already been rewarded handsomely for playing along. You'd do best to understand that and obey, Omega."

Wooyoung whimpered, his arms quivering with fatigue as he strained to keep his collar from choking him.

Several other pack members started walking to the front of the room, all of them eyeing their new catches with intense interest.

"So, what's the plan, Nikolai?" One man asked, Alpha, looking at his leader.

Now that he'd heard the name, Wooyoung could recognize a little more the thick accent the Head Alpha had whenever he spoke English. That also seemed to be the universal language with the group even though all of them seemed to be of different nationalities, for the most part at least.

"Put them with the others. Then we can decide how much we want to sell them for." He sneered. "Although I doubt any pack can afford what we want."

Wooyoung paled visibly, then yelped when he was dragged from the room by the Alpha he'd punched earlier.

The man's breath was hot and ragged against his neck and Wooyoung could feel something in him begging to get away... like another voice within him that was not his own.

It was strange, but he had this feeling that he could trust it, just like he could trust himself to pick out the different scents of the men and women around him.

Specifically his current captor and his almost rancid molasses smell, like someone had been cooking it and it had started to burn.

The smell was so bad that Wooyoung felt himself growing a bit dizzy.

"Easy there, Bastian." Some woman laughed. "You're going to drive us all out of the house."

Wooyoung whimpered when the man behind him just tightened his grip on his arm. "Shut the fuck up." He growled, and Wooyoung didn't know if it was directed at him or the woman.

He and Felix were taken down a long hallway that led to the back of the house, passing a large dining room, kitchen, what looked to be an office, and finally forced through a door in the corner.

The room smelled awful, and Wooyoung immediately saw why.

Two other omegas, both female, had been tied to the far wall with their leashes wound around their wrists then tied to a hook above their heads. Cloth gags had been shoved into their mouths, their clothes were ripped, and they looked like they hadn't showered for days...

Wooyoung's eyes grew wide when both of them pressed themselves against the wall, trying to appear as small and weak as possible.

Bastian laughed behind him. "We brought you some more friends, aren't you happy?" He said, right before shoving Wooyoung into the corner.

He made quick work of untying the Omega and manhandling him until he was seated with his back to the wall and his arms raised over his head.

It was so painful that Wooyoung couldn't even bring himself to fight back, even when the gag was shoved into his mouth.

With a maniacal laugh, Bastian crouched in front of him and grabbed his jaw again. "Enjoy your time, pretty bitch, I'll be seeing you again real soon."

If Wooyoung had been scared before, now he was terrified. Especially when he thought he saw a red color flash through the man's eyes before he stood and left the room with the other Alpha that had brought Felix in.

As soon as the door closed, Wooyoung looked at his fellow Omegas, hoping the two women had something they could do.

But both of them had their heads bowed in defeat...

Felix let out a soft whine into his gag and tugged at his bindings. When they showed no sign of moving, he looked at Wooyoung with tears threatening to spill down his cheeks.

What were they supposed to do now?

They had no idea where they were, who these people were, what was going to happen to them, and how they were going to get back to their packs...

So many unanswered questions weighing them down and it took all of Wooyoung's strength to not start panicking.

His mouth was dry and tasted of dirty cotton from the gag. His arms felt so heavy. His chest...

His chest ached.

Was Yunho okay?

Did the others know he'd been taken by now?

Were they out looking for him?

Was San...

The very thought of his San is what finally freed the emotions building inside of Wooyoung. He bowed his head and sobbed into his gag, unable to stop now that it started.

San was back at their cabin, going through his heat... and Wooyoung wasn't there to help him. Wasn't there to support him like San had done.

How was that fair?

An unbearably overwhelming sense of dread mixed with loss weighed him down even more.

Then, a soft touch drew his attention and Wooyoung looked up to see that Felix had extended a leg to touch Wooyoung's.

The small gesture, possibly the only way that he could provide any form of comfort, just made Wooyoung sob harder, longing to throw himself into Felix's arms.

At least... at least he had someone with him that he knew... and as he looked at someone he used to consider a rival, he knew that their shared experience would change things between them forever.

"Have you located them yet?!" Madame Curator snaps as she slams open the door to the main monitoring room.

Several people startle in their seats, but everyone in the room murmurs 'no' or 'not yet'.

"HOW can you be struggling this much?! We have cameras everywhere!"

"We don't have any in the section we've been keeping them, Madame, you said there was no-" A harsh slap echoes in the room and the woman who spoke falls to her knees. Blood seeps from between her fingers...

"Don't you DARE pin this on me!"

No one dares speak after that. They simply return to flicking through camera after camera within the arena to find any sign of the missing pack.

The ones who started it all.

Madame Curator glares at the screens in front of her, searching, searching, searching for her target.

They could ruin everything she had built, everything she'd worked so hard on to achieve.

"Maybe they are just hiding, if they ran into someone else, they could be frightened or confused." Someone suggests.

"I don't care!!" Madame Curator snaps, making the room flinch again. "Without their consistent data, how are we supposed to compare things with the new packs?"

"We still have their vitals, Madame." A smaller woman approaches holding a tablet. "We've only seen a few spikes in adrenaline, but otherwise they are still as healthy as ever. Maybe even still improving.

Madame Curator snatches the tablet away from her and looks at the profiles on the screen. She hums to herself, then sighs. "Keep watching them. And get some Androids out there to search the woods."

"Already done, Madame."

"Good." She looks around the room, eyes dark, swirling with silent threats. "I. Want. Them. Found."

Eventually Wooyoung ran out of tears, and he resigned to the fact that he was trapped with no sign of escape.

He and Felix did their best to stay connected, legs always touching, so they could draw on each other for strange.

Though, there wasn't much they could really do except wait...

The room they were in had no windows, but there were a few hookups for what could have been appliances or machines, so maybe it was some form of laundry room the pack had gutted to hold their prisoners in.

Because of this, Wooyoung had no idea how much time they'd been sitting there when he heard voices coming down the hall.

Both women in the room whimpered and pressed themselves to the wall, their breaths getting much harder.

Wooyoung could feel his pulse quickening too, but he tilted his head to the side to try and pick up what was being said.

"... too much. We have... Head Pack... so we are... No, not tonight." The voices became clearer the closer they got to the door.

"But you saw what that brat did to me! I deserve to have my time. I haven't had anyone yet."

"Don't exaggerate. I know you have had Gabriela a few times."

Wooyoung recognized both of their thick, accented voices as Nikolai and Bastian.

"Then what are we going to do with them?" Bastian growled, clearly agitated.

"I already told you; we will contact their packs and request gold for their safe return. Don't worry, my friend, you will have your fun. There's no way any of the packs will be able to afford my asking price. And as the true Head Alpha of the games now, I have power over everyone. They will just continue to add to our points and keep us on top."

Wooyoung's heart sank. He'd completely forgotten that he was worth points... that any Omega was worth points...

And this pack had four additional Omegas now.

The door opened a few seconds later and Nikolai stepped into the room while Bastian stayed right outside. His eyes flicked between Felix and Wooyoung, then the corner of his mouth rose in a slight smirk. "It's getting late and I'm sure you're hungry. If you cooperate and don't give us any trouble, then you are welcome to join us for dinner. But the second you try something, something much worse than being locked up in here again will happen."

Both women whimpered and started nodding their head.

"Don't worry, lovelies, I know you two will be perfect little angels, won't you?" Nikolai walked over to them; voice sweet yet laced with venom.

He crouched in front of the women and pulled the gag out of one girl's mouth. "Yes, Sir, we will be good, I promise." She pleaded, her beautiful, dark skin glistening with sweat from being trapped in the stuffy room for too long.

"Such a good girl." The Alpha praised, gently caressing her skin. Then he lifted a hand to release both of their leashes.

Much to Wooyoung's surprise and horror, they both swung their legs around and underneath themselves, then sat back on their heels. Neither one stretched their arms or rotated their shoulders to ease their discomfort, neither one tried to put up a fight, they were both... submissive.

Seeing it only made the fear within Wooyoung grow even more.

What had this pack done to them?

Nikolai smiled at both of them before he turned to Wooyoung and Felix. "This is what I want. You'd best obey."

Behind his back, the girl who had spoken gave both of them a warning look. She was urging them to cooperate, to play along, to do as the Alpha said.

Next to her, the other girl turned her body away just slightly to reveal the giant bruise covering the back of her left shoulder, which had been hidden when she'd been trapped against the way.

Wooyoung understood, even though it hurt him to no fight back...

Nikolai stepped forward and started to undo Felix's leash. When he was focused on that, Wooyoung tapped him with his foot and shook his head once, hoping the younger would understand that he was telling him not to do anything right now.

He must have, because once he was free, Felix twisted his body around to mirror the other two's positions.

And Wooyoung forced himself to do the same.

It must have impressed Nikolai, because he hummed a little, then told them to stand and follow.

He kept all four leashes in one hand, ignoring Bastian when he held out a hand to help, and led the four Omegas down the hall to the kitchen.

It was a tight fight, especially because Felix and Wooyoung tried to let the other two go first even when it forced their leashes to constrict around their throats from the tension being placed on their leash.

In the corner of the kitchen was a small, rickety table with four bowls of what looked to be some kind of stew on it.

But there were no chairs.

He tied the end of their leashes to each one of the table legs and with one quick motion, the two girls dropped to their knees again, which Felix and Wooyoung quickly mimicked.

Only then were their gags removed and set on the counter.

Seconds later, three more Omegas were led into the room and tied to a different table that Wooyoung had just noticed.

One boy and two girls.

Each one looked... defeated. Bruised, battered, thin, and so, so hallow...

Had their own pack turned against them??

"Enjoy." Nikolai said, then he stepped out of the room.

While the five other Omegas all picked up their provided spoon and began eating, Felix and Wooyoung exchanged a look, hesitant to do anything.

"They only give us ten minutes to eat." The dark-skinned girl whispered so soft Wooyoung almost didn't hear it. She also spoke directly into her bowl and barely moved her lips. "You won't get a second chance."

"Are you serious?" Felix asked.

"Shhhhh!" The other woman hissed when his voice was too loud. Then she peeked up through her eyelashes at the entryway to the kitchen and relaxed a little when no one walked in. "Do as they say and they won't hurt you."

Neither one said anything else, both shoveling the stew into their mouths as quickly as they could.

With one more look at Felix, Wooyoung lifted a spoonful to his own mouth and blew on it before starting to eat.

It was bland. No seasoning, no extras, just some kind of broth, or something, and cooked deer meat.

Wooyoung almost spit it back out, but he had no idea when they'd be allowed to eat again, so he forced himself to choke it down, knowing full well that he'd need his strength in the coming days.

Ten minutes on the dot was when Nikolai and Bastian returned to lead the group of four Omegas back to their room.

Once they were securely tied up again, Nikolai crouched in front of them and switched the tag on each of their collars.

He held up their old ones for them to see, then tossed them over his shoulder to Bastian. "You won't be needing these anymore." He gloated. "You belong to us now."

His smirk grew and he started to laugh, deep voice rumbling in his chest.

"Welcome to Tressor."