"I love how surprised and scare you look right now." Lance sneered, letting go of Seonghwa's jaw. He pulled up another chair and sat backward on it so he could rest his arms on the back of the chair. "I'm sure you never expected to see me again."

Seonghwa was too stunned to even make a sound, but he could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

"No one even thought to look for me, did they?" Lance's lip curled. "Just the way I wanted it. I must say, I'm impressed that you were able to defeat Alistar. Wasn't it the little fuck toy who did it too? I heard he got handed to the Choi brothers. It's amazing he managed to survive that."

Now Seonghwa started to snarl into his gag. He was so tired of others talking about Wooyoung that way.

"There's that spirit that I love. You know, if you hadn't caught me by surprise, you would have had my pups by now." Lance licked his lips. "I won't be making that mistake again. Trust me."

The omega pulled against his bonds again, wincing as he felt the blood start to flow once more. There was no way he was going to willingly let this bastard touch him. If only his wolf wasn't restricted... Then a thought flashed through his mind. San had been able to break the collar, maybe he could to.

"So much fire." Lance smirked. "And there will be no breaking this collar." He said, as if he knew what Seonghwa was thinking. "Percival and I have been perfecting it after what your pathetic runt was able to do."

So Primera was here. Seonghwa had been right about that at least. And that answered the question as to why he hadn't been able to mind link too. They must have enhanced the smell to cover scent too...

The alpha spun his chair around and moved closer to Seonghwa, reaching out to caress his inner thigh. The omega let out a small whimper as he tried to pull away, but his bonds were too tight.

"That's right. This will all be mine soon. Mingi took everything away from me. I was by Alistar's side for everything, and yet he chose his worthless son over me! But now that he is dead, it's my time to rule. I am going to break Mingi's spirit before I break every bone in his body." Lance's eyes flashed red as he glared at the omega. "I will make him pay. And you will be mine."

Seonghwa hated himself as he tilted his head to the side, baring his neck to the angry alpha. He chuckled in response and grabbed it hard, running his thumb over his throat.

"I will make sure he sees you birth my pups so he knows what I claimed you. Then I will kill his in front of him and the rest of his pack before I kill him."

At that Seonghwa started to struggle again. There was no way he was going to let Lance touch Avayla. He would die first.

Lance grabbed his jaw again and squeezed so hard that Seonghwa feared it would break. "If you're good, maybe I'll let you live once our pups are born. But don't worry, you will still have a long life. I want several pups, every nine months. I hope you are ready to be pregnant for the next several years, because as soon one is born I will force another one into you. I OWN YOU."

Then he slapped the omega's cheek, forcing his head to snap to the side. While Seonghwa recovered, he moved out of his vision and started rummaging through something. When he came back he pulled the gag out of his mouth just enough to shove a pill down Seonghwa's throat. He shoved the gag back in and plugged his nose to force him to swallow.

"Good boy. That will force your heat to start. Soon you will be begging for my knot." Lance sneered before leaving the room.

Seonghwa whimpered into his gag and pulled against the ropes, begging to be released. He had to warn Mingi. He had to get back to Avayla. The fear of never being able to see his daughter again started to take hold of him as he pulled harder.

He didn't even get to say goodbye...

And now she wouldn't understand what had happened to him...

Tears ran down his cheeks and collected in the gag as he started to tremble in his seat.

Maybe he could just bleed to death from his slit wrists and then he wouldn't have to give Lance what he wanted...

Yes... Right now that's what Seonghwa hoped for as he pulled at his bonds, trying to open his wounds up even more...

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Mingi had to work hard to contain himself as he knelt down to give Avayla a hug. She was quiet. She knew there was something wrong. "Maria is going to take good care of you, baby. And you'll have Uncle Sangie and Uncle Joong here too."

"Papa, where's Momma?" She sniffed, rubbing her red nose.

"Momma had something urgent come up and had to leave."

"But why would Momma leave without saying goodbye?" Her voice got softer as she stared at the floor. "Did I do something wrong?"

Mingi's heart split in half as he brought her into his arms again. "No my girl, please don't think that. It was... Unavoidable and he had to leave. I didn't even get to say goodbye to him." Damn it was so hard not to cry right now, but he had to stay strong for her.

"You're going to bring Momma home?" Avayla asked, hiccupping a little through her tears.

"Yes, I'm going to bring Momma home." He moved to kiss her forehead. "You're going to be good for everyone, right?"

Avayla just hummed and nodded her head.

"And you need to take care of Theo too. He's going to need you because he won't understand what's going on as well as you do." Mingi cupped her face in his hands. "Can you be Papa's big girl and help take care of Theo?"

She puffed out her chest a little bit and nodded quickly. "I will always protect Theo."

"That's my girl." Mingi rubbed their noses together, bringing a magical giggle from his daughter that healed his heart a little.

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Jongho and Yunho brought Theo into his room and sat down on the floor with him. He stared at them with wide eyes, focusing more on Yunho, as he tried to figure out what was going on.

The beta sighed and chewed on his lip. Jongho could feel the stress rolling off him as he tried to figure out what to say.

"Baby, Mommy and Daddy need to go away for a while." Yunho said slowly. Theo tilted his head. "We are going to be gone."

"You will be staying with Maria." Jongho said, working hard to keep his voice from quivering, even though Theo wouldn't hear it.

At the sound of her name, Maria appeared in the doorway. She had a sad look on her face as she watched the scene unfold. "I don't know if he will fully understand dears. I would just say your goodbyes and I will take care of him once it get the spell set up for San and Wooyoung."

Yunho let out a little whimper and pulled Theo into a tight hug. The boy wrapped his tiny arms around the beta's neck and kissed his cheek, multiple times, causing Yunho to work even harder to fight his tears.

Then Jongho took his turn, pulling Theo into his arms and hugging him tight. He got the same treatment, several kisses on the cheek. It broke Jongho's heart, knowing that Theo didn't understand that they were saying goodbye...

But they needed it for their own sanity, so they continued with the motions. Yunho closed in and brought them into his long arms as the three of them shared a group hug. Jongho worked to memorize the feeling of Theo's hand on his face.

He decided this was the worst part about being a parent...

A few minutes later, they brought Theo out into the living room where San and Wooyoung were waiting to say their goodbye. They would be seeing the kids sooner than those looking for Seonghwa, most likely, but they still could be gone for several days.

Avayla was in the process of hugging San while Mingi was shaking hands with Hongjoong.

Jongho watched as Theo tottered over to Wooyoung and hugged him immediately, patting his fur.

It did warm his heart slightly that hopefully the next time they met, it would be as humans and Theo could finally see what the pair looked like.

Yeosang and Hongjoong made his way over to the couple to give them a hug and wish them luck.

Finally, Wooyoung trotted over and shoved his head into Yunho's stomach. Then beta crouched down and pulled him into a hug, burying his face in the wolf's neck. "I look forward to hearing your sweet voice again my friend."

Wooyoung whimpered and wrapped a paw around Yunho's waist.

Jongho knelt down too and received a lick in the face, causing him to smile slightly. "You be safe too." He whispered, kissing the top of Wooyoung's head. "And you too, San. Take care of him, and yourself."

San nodded and rubbed himself against Jongho's side, and then Yunho's.

It was going to be so nice to be able to talk with them again.

"Are you ready?" Mingi asked, his voice weak as he hugged Avayla one more time.

"Yes." Jongho and Yunho said at the same time.

"Stay safe." Yeosang whispered, placing a hand on his stomach as Hongjoong took his other hand. "We will take care of the kids, I promise."

The three parents nodded before stepping onto the back porch. They looked at each other. "We stay together, at all costs." Mingi said, taking their hands in his.

"We'll find him Mingi." Yunho whispered, receiving a grateful smile from the alpha.

They quickly stripped and shifted, forcing themselves not to look back as they ran into the trees.

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"Alright, I guess it's our turn." Maria said, holding up her bag. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Get them taken care of, that's more important." Yeosang moved to give her a hug. "We will be ok."

"I know you will." Maria gave him a bright smile and lightly patted his cheek. "Hongjoong, you work to keep him calm, you hear?" She leaned to the side to make eye contact with the alpha, who froze like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't.

Wooyoung walked up to lean into Yeosang's leg, letting out a small whine. "I'll be ok, Youngie. You and San need to get better too."

The omega huffed. Then both wolves received hugs from Hongjoong and Yeosang, and a final one from the kids, before they followed Maria to her car.

She was going to drive them to the ravine and the cave they had decided to perform the spell at. Once she was comfortable, she would come back and live there for as long as it would take for everyone to come home.

A small backup plan was that if the others hadn't returned with Seonghwa by the time San and Wooyoung returned, then they would go out to assist and figure out what was going on.

They all prayed that it never go to that point...

Yeosang sighed as he moved to the couch. He settled in to the corner and smiled as Avayla and Theo came to sit with him as the gravity of the situation fell like a blanket over the house.