Yunho didn't go back inside the cabin even after Jongho had come to tell everyone that he and San were finished.

And thankfully no one tried to make him.

He wanted nothing to do with that stupid place, or the stupid rules, or...

The Beta's lower lip wobbled a little and he bit it, hard, to make it stop.

How could Mingi do this to him...?

Anger and betrayal both warred within him, and they were the only things he could think about.

Alpha protects. His wolf tried to reason.

Yunho ignored it. He didn't care if Mingi had made the best decision for the pack or to keep them all safe.

Where did he get off being so fucking noble??

"Screw him..." Yunho muttered, pulling his knees to his chest and pressing his face between them.

Not fair.

"I don't fucking care about what's fair! You shouldn't even be here!"

Pain flashed through Yunho's mind and his stomach started to churn. Having something of a second conscious in his head was not making this any easier for him...

Especially because, deep down, there was part of him that didn't really mean it.

He had kind of started to like having the constant company of his wolf, that other side of him that was so much more in tune with everything going on around him.

And he had started feeling even closer with his pack too.

How would that change now?

The Beta hugged his legs harder and let out a long sigh.

Why... Why couldn't things have worked out so that he was an Omega...?

At that thought, tears finally started to roll down his cheeks. He was so tired of life always throwing obstacles in his way.

First with himself and Mingi planning to audition for separate companies and splitting after school. That one ended up working out through since they ended up at KQ together. But then Mingi had taken that long hiatus... and Yunho had found out about it from their managers...

That had been the hardest year of Yunho's life and he felt a rift starting to grow, especially when Mingi wouldn't take his calls for a while.

When Mingi came back, things were awkward at best and it took them some time to reconnect.

But Yunho never gave up. He stayed by Mingi's side, wanting to protect him from everything.

So... Why couldn't Mingi do the same for him...?

An ugly sob escaped the Beta and it quickly turned into a whine of shame. He wasn't supposed to be weak like this... He was supposed to be the support system for everyone else. The 'Happy Pill'. 'The Energizer'.

It all seemed so pointless now...

He suddenly found himself wanting comfort from the one other person who wasn't there at the moment, which just made him feel even more lonely and abandoned.

Sometime later that night, when the air was crisp and stung his skin, the backdoor to the cabin opened with a painful creek and what sounded like bits of wood splintering.

Probably his fault, but he didn't care.

Charcoal mixed with cherry blossoms started to swirl around him right before Jongho slowly took a seat next to him.

The older didn't acknowledge his presence, instead keeping his face hidden in his tear-soaked jeans, as it had been for... hours? He wasn't sure, nor did he really care.

"I'm sorry, Hyung." Jongho said softly.

Yunho tensed but didn't respond.

Good Alpha.

"I know this is hard... I understa-"

"No you don't!" Yunho snapped, raising his hand to glare at the younger. "You have no idea what I'm feeling right now!"

Pain flashed through Jongho's eyes and he turned his head to stare into the trees.

In the direction of the cabin BTS had claimed.

"I'm going to do everything I can to make this right..." The Alpha continued; his voice so soft it nearly was carried away with the breeze. "I don't know why, but for some stupid reason everyone decided to put their trust in me..."

Good Alpha, strong Alpha.

Yunho clenched his jaw and closed his eyes, trying to force his wolf away.

"I don't want to let any of you down..." Jongho's voice caught in his throat. "But I feel like that's all I've been doing. I couldn't..." He paused and balled is fists in his lap. "I couldn't protect him. Something I always promised I'd do, even if I never said it out loud. And I never could, because I know... he... he'd..."

Now Yunho's expression softened when he began to witness a very rare moment of vulnerability from Jongho. His eyes even glistened under the moonlight when he tilted his head back.

"But, now more than ever, I have to make sacrifices for everyone else because that's what a good Alpha is supposed to do." Slowly, Jongho turned his head to look at Yunho with his red, quivering eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I had to get you caught up in this too. I just... didn't know what else to do." He ended by turning so he could press himself into the ground, bowing to Yunho.

The older was quick to lean forward and grab his Alpha, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable with Jongho feeling like he needed to apologize.

Jongho let Yunho guide him back into a sitting position and was quick to wipe his cheeks, an action Yunho pretended not to see so that the younger would feel even more embarrassed.

Even so, Yunho made sure to sit a little closer, hoping Jongho would take the action as a silent... something. Forgiveness, maybe? Or an apology of his own?

Yunho wasn't really sure because in that moment he just started to feel numb.

Both of them sat in silence for a long time, the only sounds around them coming from the nightlife in the forest, the breeze whispering through the trees, and the occasional soft sniff coming from Jongho.

Eventually, though, the Alpha stood and held a hand out to Yunho. "We should try to get some rest. Tomorrow we should try and strategize for the event and we need to make sure to sign up."

Yunho nodded in agreement and followed his Alpha inside, though he went to lay down on a couch instead of going upstairs, where he knew Jongho would be going back to join San.

As he laid there, Yunho pondered Jongho's mostly cryptic words. He'd been able to figure out who Jongho had been talking about, but the confusing part was trying to remember when it might have started.

Jongho was always such a private and shy person, though over the years a more playful side had started to emerge. But there still wasn't any specific times Yunho could think of that Jongho had revealed himself.

The thoughts were enough to keep Yunho distracted until he dozed off, finally escaping the pain of the day.

For a little bit at least...

Morning brought a new wave when Seonghwa woke him up with a gentle shake. "Yunho-yah, wake up. Everyone is on their way back so we can hold a full pack meeting."

Yunho groaned and pushed himself off the couch, blatantly ignoring the look of worry coming from Seonghwa, so he could bound up the stairs and at least put a clean shirt on. Not that it mattered.

When he went back down, he could smell Seonghwa cooking in the kitchen, and by the sound of it, Hongjoong and Yeosang were in there with him, so Yunho resumed his seat on the couch to await the inevitable torment that would arrive soon.

From there, he had a perfect view out the front window, so he could see when Stray Kids materialized out of the trees at the same time Hongjoong dashed passed him to greet his Alpha.

Watching the two of them embrace was still strange, unnatural, as Yunho watched Chan scent Hongjoong and the way Hongjoong shuddered under the attention, as well as how Felix stayed glued to Chan's side and didn't seem bothered by their interaction at all.

He had to be faking it. There was no way the Omega wasn't jealous... Yunho didn't care what they said. If Chan and Felix had been secretly dating for years now, Felix had to be upset about the situation...

Yet the Omega hugged Hongjoong himself with a wide, blinding smile.

Yunho sighed harshly through his nose and turned away, right when Jongho and San started walking down the stairs.

Hand in hand.

They looked so at ease, although San admittedly looked a little pale, which was... odd.

But he clung to Jongho's side, never leaving it as they walked out to greet the first pack to arrive.

"Would you take these outside, please?" Seonghwa asked, walking out of the kitchen with two plates piled high with cooked deer pieces. "We are going to need to go hunting soon..." He added with a slight frown.

Yunho didn't bother saying anything, but he did take the plates and walk out front to set them on the railing where everyone would have easy access, then stole a couple pieces for himself to pop in his mouth.

Only they never got there.

Right as he was about to eat, the smell of cinnamon mixed with marshmallow reached his nose and he felt like he was going to be sick...

Youngjo led his pack out of the trees, with Mingi and Hwanwoong walking right behind him.

The Alpha's gaze met Yunho's instantly, locking him in place even when all he wanted to do was run away. Especially when Mingi gave him a pleading look.

The only reason Yunho told himself he could tolerate it was because Hwanwoong looked so somber as he walked next to his... to his... his new Alpha.

Yunho's stomach churned again and he forced himself to look away.

"This is a lot of people." Yeosang said, appearing out of nowhere and making Yunho jump a little.

The two Betas exchanged a look and stayed up on the porch so they could be out of the way.

It wasn't long before the final pack walked out of the forest, or ran as was Wooyoung's case.

He barreled forward into San's open arms as if they had magnets attached to them, then clung to each other as hard as they could.

Yunho could see that Wooyoung was saying something, but he was too far away to hear. Whatever it was, though, had San laughing and pulling Wooyoung into another hug.

That's when Yunho let his gaze shift to Jongho. The Alpha was watching the couple with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, which instantly disappeared once Yoongi stopped behind Wooyoung.

The way he looked at the younger had even Yunho frowning a little. There was a possessiveness to his gaze, one that flicked between Wooyoung and Jimin, like he was afraid to let either one out of his sight.

Which made sense once Yunho noticed the mating marks on either side of his neck.

Figures...

"Well," Jongho said after another minute, immediately silencing the quiet conversations happening all around him. He nodded once when Seonghwa lifted the plates of food and they started to get passed around as he continued, "Now that we are all here, I think we need to figure out how all this is going to work."

Several people nodded in agreement, and the Head Alphas of each pack stepped forward, along with their mates, to form a loose circle while everyone else started to spread out a little.

The only one without a mate was Youngjo, though he didn't seem bothered by that as all.

"So we are considered one pack now, right?" Namjoon asked, crossing his arms over his... rather bulky...chest.

"Yes, according to the rules." Jongho nodded. "And from what I understand, all points will appear under Ateez on any of the scoreboards since..."

"We wouldn't have it any other way."

Jongho glanced at Namjoon and stood a little straighter. "We should pool our gold too, maybe there's something we can do to connect our territories since they are all so close together. Either that or I want to make sure each territory has their own perimeter sensors like I've set up here. That way any of the pack Alphas will know when someone crosses the line."

All three Head Alphas nodded in agreement, then Chan said, "We could set up rotations for hunting too. I'm sure you especially could use some more meat since Seonghwa was kind enough to cook for everyone."

The mentioned Beta just waved his hand I dismissal from where he was leaning against the cabin next to Yeosang.

"Even so," Chan continued, "We can work together to make sure each pack has enough food so we don't have to worry about that."

"I've been working on a garden." Wooyoung chimed in, then instantly shrank into Jimin's side when almost everyone looked at him. "S-Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize, Hyung." Jongho said with a hint of fondness that Yunho noticed was new. Or had it always been there and he'd just never noticed? "That will be great once things start growing, but I do like the idea of a hunting schedule. We don't need large groups to go either, so we will always have enough pack members left behind to protect our Omegas."

He paused for a moment to see if anyone else had something to contribute, looking around at the gathering of men around him. When no one did, he continued. "Alright, then I'd say the most important thing right now is to decide who will be participating in The Maze tomorrow so we can get signed up by tonight."

That was when the real discussion began, mostly doing the math over and over again to see how many people could be spared.

Seven Omegas, seven Alphas, and fifteen Betas.

They were now a pack of twenty-nine strong with seven mated Omegas. Hopefully that meant their daily points would start to skyrocket.

"Can we afford to leave seven behind? One for each Omega?" Hoseok asked. "I know the number of participants is very heavily weighted points wise."

"I don't need someone to protect me." Jungkook said, scrunching his nose with displeasure.

"Kook." Namjoon scolded, making the Omega huff and kick at the ground.

"That would give us fifteen participants." Jongho hummed, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck. "I'd say that would give us a pretty significant advantage, although we don't know how many other packs have formed alliances..."

He didn't need to say anything else, the heavy silence implying that if Tressor had managed to form one, they would still be the largest pack there...

The silence also caused Yoongi to growl, his lip curling just a bit, and he pulled Wooyoung to him. "I'll volunteer to stay behind. I don't think I could concentrate anyway knowing I have both my Omegas out of my reach."

One nod from Namjoon sealed that decision.

The next hour or so was spent trying to decide who would be best to stay behind, who would be best equipped to protect the Omegas while not leaving the competitors shorthanded.

In the end, the group of seven ended up being Yoongi, Gunhak, and Youngjo for the Alphas, and Changbin, Seungmin, Seonghwa, and Dongju for the Betas.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Seokjin said once things started to wrap up. When he'd gained the attention of all four Head Alphas, he cleared his throat. "What if those of us staying behind go back to our cabin? It's been abandoned for some time now, so maybe other packs won't think to take a closer look. Either that, or the cave we stayed in for a bit. There's plenty of room, it's just a little damp and cold."

"I like the idea of the cave." Namjoon said, giving his Beta a proud look. "Then there's only one entrance to defend."

Jongho quickly nodded. "Yes. Let's do that. Tonight, pack everything that those of us staying think they will need and can feasibly carry to take with them, that way they will be prepared just in case The Maze takes a while."

It was a good plan, a solid one at that, and with everyone feeling satisfied, Stray Kids and Oneus took their leave, trusting Jongho to get everyone needed listed on the sign-up sheet.

But not before Chan and Hongjoong shared one more hug and... Mingi bent down to softly brush his nose against Hwanwoong's mating mark...

Yunho didn't stay long enough to see anything else, quickly slipping inside the cabin before he either did something he regretted or lost the little bit of breakfast he'd managed to eat.

One of his wishes from the night before came true a few seconds later, and before he could run and hide upstairs, a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and a soothing lilac scent started to surround him.

"What's wrong, Yunnie?" Wooyoung asked, tightening his grip.

The Beta sighed, already feeling a little more relaxed. "You know."

Wooyoung walked around him so they could stand face to face. "Yeah, I do. And I have it on both sides." He stepped forward to hug Yunho again, surrounding him in the wonderful, comforting warmth that only Wooyoung could provide. "Please, do yourself a favor and just talk to him. Please?"

Yes. Talk to Alpha.

Yunho huffed even as he hugged Wooyoung back. "How are you so okay right now?"

"Because Hongjoongie-hyung was right, the connection is different. But it hasn't changed my feelings for San, nor has San's feelings changed for me." He tilted his head back and smiled up at Yunho. "

"It's different, Woo..."

The Omega shook his head and stepped back. "Maybe, if you talk to Mingi and you guys' mate too, the connection will be even better than what any of us have because you are lucky enough and could actually mate with the man you love."