Chan was waiting for them when they arrived.

Mingi's nose scrunched when he smelled the burnt leather scent coming from the older Alpha, giving away how stressed he was.

Even so, Chan ran forward and pulled Hongjoong into a hug. "Are you alright? They didn't hurt you, right?"

"No." Hongjoong said, rising up a little to nuzzle against the mark he'd left on Chan's neck.

The gesture instantly calmed the Alpha down and both of them were able to relax a touch. "What happened when they visited you?"

"They separated us out one at a time to give us the exam. All of us got some kind of supplement to take, but..."

"Some of you received shots as well?" Chan finished for him with a frown. When Hongjoong nodded, he asked, "Who?"

"San, Wooyoung, Seonghwa, Jongho, and Mingi from our group, and Jimin, Jungkook, Taehyung, Namjoon, and Yoongi from the others." Hongjoong's forehead furrowed and he waited for Chan to process.

The Alpha's frown deepened and he started rubbing his own temples. "So all of the Omegas, Alphas, and only some of the Betas? But that doesn't make sense!"

"Who received shots here?" Yunho asked.

"Felix, Jeongin, Jisung, Hyunjin, and myself." Chan growled, clearly upset by the situation.

The four of them stood there for a long moment, trying desperately trying to figure out what was behind the medical exams.

But they came up with nothing...

"Oh," Mingi said, gaining everyone's attention. "We should probably warn you of something else to look for."

Hongjoong cringed, which make Chan reach out to touch his shoulder. "What is it?"

"Yoongi-hyung has gone into rut."

Chan paled and looked between Mingi and Hongjoong. "He... what?"

"Do you-"

"Yeah," Chan said quickly, cutting Mingi off with an apologetic look. "I know what it is. We've talked and theorized a lot about our changes and everything. I was just hoping that was something that wouldn't end up happening."

The others gave slow nods of agreement. "So what do we do now?" Yunho asked next.

Hongjoong looked up at him with a set face. "Same as I said before. We keep moving forward but make sure we look out for each other." He glanced back at Chan and took his hand. "Just let me know if you need me."

"I will." Chan leaned forward to place a kiss on his forehead. "Thank you, Joong-ah, for everything."

The Beta blushed a little and looked down shyly, which made Chan smile and pull him into a hug.

Feeling better about where Stray Kids were at for the moment, the trio started to make their way to Oneus' cabin.

Mingi's stress started to grow more and more the closer they got. How would the medical exam affect them? If they weren't connected to their wolves, then would the supplements and shots react differently with them?

He didn't feel anything wrong with Hwanwoong right now, nothing outside of the normal fatigue and hopelessness...

No one was waiting for them this time, purely because Hwanwoong didn't feel his connection to Mingi, so he couldn't predict their arrival like Chan could.

Before walking up to the front door, Mingi stopped walking when he felt Yunho grab his hand.

The action surprised him enough that he turned to look at the Beta.

While Yunho looked scared and hurt, it was clear he was also trying to put on a brave face for the Alpha.

Which just made Mingi's heart melt and he pulled the older into a hug. "I love you." He whispered.

Yunho's beautiful honey scent flourished just a little and the Beta scraped his teeth over the unmarked side of Mingi's neck. "I love you."

Feeling a little more confident, Mingi turned back to the door and knocked three times.

It took a couple of minutes, but it eventually opened with a creak and Youngjo poked his head through.

His shoulders quickly sagged in relief and he opened the door all the way. "Hongjoong, Mingi, Yunho, come in, we were just talking about coming to see you."

Mingi had to suck in a breath through his mouth to try and avoid how pungent the Alpha's spearmint scent had become. "Is everyone okay?" He asked, stepping inside and immediately looking around for Hwanwoong.

The Omega was laying on the couch with his head in Gunhak's lap. He didn't make any attempt to move, but he did at least tilt his head enough to acknowledge that Mingi was there.

"Just rattled." Youngjo admitted. "I'm guessing the Androids came to you, too?"

Mingi hummed and looked back and the other Alpha. "Who did not receive shots here?"

"Only Keonhee and Seoho..."

Again the strange elimination of some Betas was worrisome and incredibly confusing. Why them? What was the reason behind it? What did that mean for the rest of them?

"Can we do anything for you?" Hongjoong asked, looking back at the room.

"Yeah, tell us what the fuck is going on." Seoho snapped.

"I wish I could." Hongjoong crossed his arms over his stomach and sighed. "But I'm just as out of the loop as everyone else."

"I want to go home..." Dongju whispered.

The rest of his group moved to huddle around him, except for Youngjo, who stayed by Hongjoong.

"You can't leave." Hongjoong said softly. "I know this is hard... but I feel it in my gut that it would be a bad choice."

Mingi was quick to nod in agreement, his gaze drifting back to Hwanwoong.

"I know..." Youngjo bowed his head. "But I don't know what else to do. We obviously don't belong here. Not like you guys. I hear the way you use 'pack' and 'mate' and other things like that and it just..."

Hongjoong placed a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him. "None of us belong here. If anything, you guys have the best chance at getting back to a normal life once we get out of here. But unless there's a cure... I don't know what will happen with the rest of us..."

The Alpha's forehead furrowed and he glanced back at his group. "I... I guess I've never thought of it like that before..."

Mingi and Yunho look at each other, realizing that Hongjoong's words had some heavy weight to them.

What will happen once they leave this place? There has to be a cure...

Mingi's wolf suddenly bristled, making him flinch and take a step back from the power behind it. He placed a hand on his chest and looked down at it, bewildered by the reaction.

His wolf didn't want there to be a cure.

And if he was being honest... Mingi didn't know if he wanted it either because it felt like he would be killing part of himself.

A soft touch from Yunho brought his attention back and he noticed a bit of understanding in his eyes.

"Just stay here." Hongjoong said after a few minutes. "We are planning on going to the market tomorrow, I'll look and see what kind of defensive things we can buy to try and fortify the place, but really, if Hwanwoong never leaves your sides, there's no reason for you to interact with the other packs."

"He's right." Yunho jumped in. "And we can bring you food and supplies. We can protect you."

"But we don't want to be a burden." Keonhee stood and walked over to join them. "It's not like we are helpless."

"That's not what we mean." Hongjoong offered a kind smile. "But the competitions are only getting harder and leaning more into our instincts. If I had to guess, I'd say they are wanting to study how we develop, and if they see you aren't..."

Youngjo's eyes grew wide and he exhaled sharply. "They could choose to get rid of us..."

Hongjoong nodded. "You are part of our pack now. All of our gold and points are combined. We can take care of you, and in return, maybe you can take care of us once we get out." He added with a teasing smile.

Thankfully the joke worked and all the members of Oneus seemed to relax just a little.

"Let us know what events are coming up, though." Gunhak said after a moment. "If there's some we can help in, let us. If we are one... pack... then at least let us contribute where we can."

"Deal." Hongjoong's smile grew and he turned back to Youngjo. "Do you need anything tonight? Or tomorrow?"

"Just some food... What time are you leaving? I'll go with you."" The Alpha answered.

"We haven't talked about it. Maybe come by sometime mid-morning?"

Once that was agreed upon, Hongjoong, Mingi, and Yunho left to make their way back home.

The forest was dark now. Even though an orange glow could barely be seen behind the mountains surrounding their valley, none of it could truly penetrate the gaps in the trees.

"Stay close." Mingi growled, his senses rocketing into overdrive.

It wasn't far to get to their cabin, but they would still spend fifteen or so minutes walking in almost complete darkness.

Both Betas grabbed his hands and he was quick to tighten his grip, wanting to comfort them.

By some miracle, nothing happened.

They arrived back at their cabin without issue and went inside to find their four other packmates sitting together in the living room with San in the middle.

"Is everything alright?" Hongjoong asked, rushing forward to kneel in front of them.

Seonghwa looked from him, to Mingi, and back before shrugging. "It's hard to say. Sannie started feeling off just a little bit ago."

"Like-"

"Not quite." Seonghwa said quickly.

The Omega gave a little groan and turned to press his nose to Jongho's neck. "I-I'm fine."

"No you're not." Jongho growled. "I can feel it and we can all see it."

Mingi took a few seconds to look over the older and felt his concern growing. San was pale again and had sweat clinging to his skin.

"I-It needs to happen. I promise, I-I'm fine, really. I know h-he's okay."

Everyone else exchanged looks of confusion, except for Jongho, who closed his eyes and help San a little harder.

"What does that mean?" Yeosang asked.

For a moment, it seemed like he wasn't going to get an answer...

But then Jongho sighed and spoke, keeping his eyes closed. "San-ah said he can feel a new connection with Wooyoung-hyung. Almost like our mating bond, but... different. It happened as soon as they were reunited."

"But... how?" Mingi started rubbing the side of his neck. "That doesn't make any sense."

Jongho bit his lip and pressed his nose to San's hair. "No... It doesn't... But whatever it is, I don't think San-ah and Wooyoung-hyung can be separated for long."

"And we just let Wooyoung leave..." Yunho breathed.

"H-He had to." San pushed himself away from Jongho so he could sit up. "H-He told me he would b-be back, but he needed to h-help his Alpha."

Mingi tilted his head a little when he noticed the way Jongho turned his head further away at those words. Then he felt a brush of fingers against his hand and he looked at Yunho, who was in turn watching Jongho with a heartbroken expression.

He made a mental note to ask about that later because a few seconds later the front door opened and Namjoon came in with the rest of his pack and all of them had wide smiles on their faces.

"We won!!" He cheered, holding up a large brown sack that clinked with all the gold coins in it.

"And you guys demolished the competition!" Jungkook bounced next to him, looking at his Alpha with such a proud expression, even though he hadn't been allowed to participate.

"Really?" Jongho perked up a little, finally looked more like his normal self.

"Really." Namjoon beamed and set the bag down on the coffee table. "Second place was Tressor, which doesn't surprise me based on what you've told me about them, but they were nearly seven hundred points behind us."

"Seven hundred??" Seonghwa and Yeosang gasped at the same time, only to have most of BTS nodding at the same time.

"We must have done something right!" Namjoon slapped his hands together, then rubbed them back and forth rapidly. "So what now??"

"Youngjo is going to be here in the morning." Hongjoong said before anyone else could say something. "He wants to go to the market with us and we need to get something to protect their cabin. They... They are so scared."

Jongho was quick to nod. "We can do that. I know this has been hard for them. We can get something for all three other territories that don't have security systems and see what else might come in handy." The more he spoke, the more his Head Alpha tone started to come out again, which only bolstered the entire pack and had all of them feeling more confident. "But I don't want to spend it all. I think we should leave some behind and hide it."

"Smart." Hoseok hummed. "We definitely want to build up our funds."

"Maybe they will have another event listed, or some training courses where we can work on earning more." Hongjoong tapped his chin a few times. "Either way, we can head that way tomorrow and see what the market has to offer."

After that, the pack broke up into smaller groups to get food or celebrate or just be together.

Mingi followed Yunho upstairs to their room, concern for the Beta starting to grow. "What's wrong?" He asked as soon as he closed the door.

"I... I don't know if it's my place to say." Yunho wrapped his arms around himself and started rubbing up and down his biceps.

"Yun... Whatever it is, it's clearly bothering you." Mingi stepped forward and lifted a hand to graze a knuckle across his jaw.

The Beta sighed. "I'm worried about Jongho... He..." Yunho paused and let his shoulders fall. "I think he's in love with Wooyoung... and has been for a long time."