Hongjoong could feel the pain coming from every part of his pack.

It weighed on his heart... threatening to drag him down, down, down... until he couldn't come back up again.

He needed to fix things. His wolf begged him to. It wouldn't settle down until it knew everyone would be alright.

And that started with getting them inside.

He urged Avayla to lead the way, then worked on rounding everyone else up so they could stay together, all while doing a mental headcount to ease his anxiety.

Avayla with Theo, Yunho, and Jongho.

Maria with Kendra and Gunner hovering protectively next to her and behind his sister.

Yeosang and Rhodey, who also wanted to be close to Maria.

Chan was right next to his two friends, shoulders squared, and eyes narrowed while he side-eyed anyone they passed.

San and Wooyoung, both holding onto Serena, who had started to weep silently again. She was so thin next to them...

And finally, Seonghwa and Mingi.

Hongjoong kept a close eye on them, fearful for his fellow alpha and feeling so helpless.

With everything that had happened, he'd had no time to try and figure out how to heal his friend... and the only one who might have known was dead.

Not that she deserved anything besides death. If Theo hadn't killed her, Hongjoong knew someone in his pack would have. They were not strangers to killing those who deserved it... those who had hurt their family.

Yet there was something about this time hat felt so different...

When they finally made it to Avayla and Theo's home, it was nice to see the area around it had been untouched by the fighting.

Maria ran past her parents to get the front door, then took her sister down the hallway to their room to lay her down. Thankfully, Kendra had fallen asleep on the walk back, so hopefully she would sleep for a while now.

There wasn't a lot of space for the amount of people trying to fit in the living room, especially with Theo laying in the middle of the room in his wolf form, but they made it work.

Hongjoong stood back, Yeosang curled into his side, to watch and observe it all. To him, it felt like clips of a movie were trying desperately to piece together in his mind, everything separate yet together at the same time.

Wooyoung gave San a quick kiss before dropping to the floor next to Theo to start examining him. His nimble fingers darted through the beta's fur, focusing on the areas that were the most matted with blood, which ended up turning his own hands dark red.

Avayla stayed next to her mate's head, forehead's pressed together, and Hongjoong knew she was telling him he would be alright.

Next to her, Jongho and Yunho watched each of Wooyoung's movements. They looked terrified but remained as calm as they could knowing the omega would take good care of their son.

Chan and Rhodey left their father's sides only when Maria came back in the room.

Fresh tears came to her eyes when she embraced both boys and the three of them claimed the loveseat to curl up together.

All the parents, besides Wooyoung, watched the interaction with small, sad smiles.

Hongjoong especially. It was a surprisingly sweet moment given the situation and the anxiety filling the house.

That led to the worst snapshot of all.

Seonghwa and Mingi were standing in the corner embracing. Their son watched them with a forlorn expression, but it looked like he was trying to give them space.

The omega was gently stroking the back of Mingi's head, silent tears pouring down his cheeks.

He knew.

Hongjoong's heart shattered when he realized Seonghwa knew about Mingi's condition.

So, he took a deep breath and finally broke the silence, all to be the alpha his pack needed.

"Is he alright?" He asked, moving to kneel next to Theo.

Wooyoung pursed his lips and finished looking at one final spot before answering. "He will be. Nothing needs immediate attention. I don't think most of the blood is his."

Both Yunho and Jongho give a sob of relief and wait for Wooyoung to return to San and Serena before hugging their son.

Hongjoong also felt his own tension as just a little, then he turns to Avayla and offers her his arm. She takes it and the new link that opens leaves everyone gasping a little.

Mama? Papa?

More sobs erupt at the sound of Theo's voice filling their heads.

Yes, my love, we can hear you! Yunho responded immediately. He leaned over to rest his cheek on Theo's forehead, tears mixing with fur, blood, and dirt.

We missed you so much. Jongho whispered.

Theo's tail thumped weakly against the floor, and he whined a little when his father also leaned into him.

Hongjoong sighed, happy to see the beta was mostly unharmed. But the ache in his heart remained, maybe even grew stronger, because next he turned to Mingi and Seonghwa.

The omega was looking at him. Cold, piercing blue eyes swirled with fury and despair. His arms surrounded his mate, his alpha, trying to comfort him the best he could.

"We have a lot to share." Hongjoong stood and turned in a slow circle so he could look at everyone in his family. "And I think it would be best for each group to share one at a time, start to finish, so we can all be on the same page."

"Do we really need to do that now?" Yeosang asked softly.

Hongjoong stopped his circle to look at his mate and frowned. He knew that Yeosang was only asking so the others didn't have to, even though he knew the answer. "Yes. We do. While it's still fresh. I know it won't be easy, but we-"

A knock on the door interrupted him. Everyone in the room tensed, ready for some kind of attack.

But Avayla stood and made her way to the door, speeding up when she got closer. She pulled it open without even checking first and was soon being hugged by Siyeon.

"Are you alright? I tried finding you, but in all the commotion I also lost sight of the girls. The girls! Maria! Kend-"

"We are all fine, Si," Avayla said, pulling back to look at her friend. "How about both of you? The others?"

Siyeon's shoulders sagged in relief. "They are exhausted and have minor injuries, mostly on their wrists..." She looked down at the deep cuts on both hers and Avayla's wrists as she spoke, "but they are alright." Then she turned to look over her shoulder. "Everyone went to help Eunkwang, except... Yoohyeon wanted to come see you, to explain."

Both alphas step away from the door and soon Yoohyeon was there, curled in on herself and head bowed. Her long, disheveled, brown hair hung limp around her face.

Before she could say anything, Avayla closed the distance and brought the other alpha into her arms. Yoohyeon instantly started crying and clung to Avayla like she was the only thing preventing her from collapsing.

Maria untangled herself from Rhodey and Chan to rush to Yoohyeon and hug her around the waist.

That only made her cry harder.

What's going on? Wooyoung asked from where he was melded into San's side.

She's part of our stories... Avayla answered. No hate, please. She doesn't deserve it.

A wave of agreement flowed through the pack, respecting her request.

One more surprise came a few minutes later when Sungjae knocked on the doorframe with Hyunsik behind him. "Is... now a bad time?" His eyes moved to Yoohyeon and instantly turned sad.

"No, Sungjae." Hongjoong said, motioning for him to come inside. "I have a feeling you will be able to fill in some of the blanks for us."

The omega looked confused for a second, but he came inside anyway and bowed to the others in the room.

Hongjoong gave everyone a moment to settle or get comfortable before he took a deep breath. "I suppose now we can start. As much as I would like to give you all a little more confidence by going first, I think it may be best to start with those of you who journeyed to get here." He turns to his mate.

Yeosang chewed on his lower lip for a few seconds, then nodded.

Everyone was respectful while each story was told, listening, comforting, supporting those around them.

With the help of the others, Yeosang talked about finding out that Avayla, Theo, the girls, and Serena had been taken and their immediate conclusion that Siyeon was behind it. The alpha whimpered and started apologizing profusely, but Avayla was quick to stop her and keep the peace.

Then Yeosang continued with how lost they'd been for a long time, unsure of where to start looking, before they encountered Wooseok and Jongho's old pack. He gave just a brief summary of the conflict Wooseok had caused, as well as the twins finding out about their pregnancy and Stephan taking them home to protect them.

Bringing Wooseok up brought a new wave of discomfort from Yunho, who hated recalling all of his insecurities and the pain he went through...

And also from Theo, who didn't know how to process the information that his father had a Soulmate out there that wasn't his mother.

But both parents did their best to reassure him that nothing had changed between them. Jongho had chosen Yunho. He would always choose Yunho.

Though there were still many mixed emotions running through the pack, Hongjoong tried his best to push his own aside and asked them to continue.

There wasn't much left to say before they ended up finding their way over the mountains and came across the pack right as the fighting had started, so all they needed to do was fill in a few gaps when they had been separated.

The next story to be told was Hongjoong and San. They talked about being imprisoned underground for a long time and trying not to give up hope, then about how they were handed over to Peniel and Minhyuk to work the fields.

With the help of Sungjae and Hyunsik, they were able to speak about the dynamics of the pack, how the ranks fell among the pecking order, and how people had been suspicious of Nova's ways for some time now but finding out she had kidnapped several people was the last straw.

They also talked about Eunkwang and his friends, and how helpful and understanding they'd been with everything. He and San both bowed to Sungjae and Hyunsik in thanks, making both of them blush slightly in embarrassment.

Hongjoong only touched on reuniting with Mingi, focusing more on how elated he and San had been to discover Avayla was here and that they'd all been brought to the same place.

Which ended up leading into Avayla's turn.

She was hesitant at first, looking from Theo to Siyeon and Yoohyeon before she finally talked about how scared she'd been for her family, how confused, how worried she'd been.

But then she spoke about how the Elite had looked after them, the apologies, the... the friendship they ended up offering.

This caused both female alphas to break down in tears. Their pain was clear to everyone in the room. Pain, regret, sorrow... and the love that had grown for Avayla and her family.

Even Theo lifted his head and had Avayla tell them that he trusted them.

Serena also filled them in on her imprisonment, her punishment for asking too many questions. She was quick to brush off the apologies coming from Avayla and Siyeon, letting them know that she understood and that there had been too many moving pieces at the time, and that the past was the past.

Silence fell over the group for a long, long time.

It was finally Mingi's turn, and even though Hongjoong had purposefully not reopened the link with him to prevent the deeper emotions they'd all feel, they could still sense how distraught he was.

"You don't have to do this..." Seonghwa whispered, still hugging Mingi to him.

The alpha flinched at his words, closing his eyes and turning his head away.

Hongjoong's knees started to tremble. If he could prevent Mingi from having to relive the horror he endured, he would. He could give anything to do it...

But deep down, he knew Mingi needed to do it himself.

And he did after several more minutes.

Mingi's voice shook the entire time. It was low and broken, just like him.

There wasn't a dry eye in the room as he recounted everything that Nova had done to him, though he left out a few details because of the kids.

He spoke about being locked up, the reason why Nova wanted him, how she threatened him with hurting Avayla, and the endless torture he'd been put through, along with the eventual loss of his eyesight...

He even talked about Nova's announcement that she had been pregnant and the successful impregnation of other female alphas.

That's when Yoohyeon dropped to the floor and wailed, "I didn't know! I swear, I didn't know when I sighed up for the lottery. I just wanted to be a mother so badly!"

Both Siyeon and Avayla knelt next to her, trying to comfort her as best they could.

"She's right..." Sungjae cut in before anyone else could say anything. "No one knew... Nova kept all of this from us. No matter how hard I tried when the alphas started getting sick, she wouldn't tell me anything. I felt so... helpless... just watching all these women have miscarriages and die... but I had no idea she could stoop so low..."

"Are you still pregnant?" Seonghwa snapped, suddenly changing the entire mood in the room.

Hongjoong kept a close eye on him, sensing the pure, unfiltered rage building within the omega.

But Yoohyeon looked to Avayla first, then to Seonghwa. "No... Just like the others, I lost my baby... I... I would have died as well if Sungjae and Hyunsik hadn't been there to take care of me."

"If we had know what Nova's plan was, we never would have brought you here..." Siyeon adds quietly, her gaze fixed on the floor. "We have caused all of you so much pain and suffering, and Mingi..." She started to cry again. "We trusted Nova... We trusted her with our lives!"

Siyeon tilted her head back and screamed so loud her voice cracked.

"WE TRUSTED YOU!!! And you betrayed us all!!"

There were no words to describe the amount of pain, heartbreak, and agony that settled into the room.

For months all of them had been locked up or searching or tortured.

All because of one alpha's sick, twisted mind...

It wasn't fair... none of it.

Not the lies, not the kidnapping, not the deception, not the pain...

And at that moment, all Hongjoong could do was watch as his pack crumbled around him.