The next morning came along pretty quick, and the whole atmosphere was off.
Harin immediately noticed it the second he stuck his nose outside his den.
The alpha had this very weird protective instinct alert out of nowhere, and he felt the need to protect the other wolves there.

He still wasn't over what they had done to him, and would continue to be petty about the situation. But he just.. he needed to have them safe.

The others were going out on their normal routine of hunting, and they didn't even have to ask twice for him to come.
He immediately tagged along.

"Is there a reason you want to come with us, hyung? You should be resting your leg" Kanghyun said gently, eyes going to his wounded leg.
"My leg is okay, it actually doesn't hurt anymore. The wound closed up. And there is no reason.. I just want to get a whiff of fresh air" He said, and the omega nodded.

They went deeper into the forest, hunting down deer, rabbits, and because their luck was good today. They managed to catch some fish from the little stream that had flooded yesterday.

Harin caught some fish for himself and for the others aswell, swallowing one whole for his breakfast, later regretting it as he coughed up the bones.

When suddenly, there was a thud.

All the wolves there snapped up, silent as they stopped eating.
Harin felt the protective instinct spike a dangerous level, him getting up and starting to nudge them with his snout.
They got the message and started to get up, grabbing any rabbits and fish they could see in their reach. They were not losing their breakfast.

He pushed them into a bush, going in after them.
They peeked over the bushes carefully, eyes alert.

A massive, dark grey wolf came padding out of the other side.
It looked exhausted.
Its body was covered in moss, and a part of their skin was missing - you could see their ribs.
Blood streamed down their face from their eyes, tongue lolling out of their mouth as saliva dripped from it.

This wolf was sick. Very, very sick.

From the scent, it was an alpha. And that alpha was big. He was a little smaller than Harin, but he looked both aggressive and dangerous.
On seeing the corpses of the deer there, the wolf wasted no time and dug into the meat. Messily eating as the blood splattered everywhere.

He pulled the intestines one by one, swallowing them in one painful gulp.
The wolves were disgusted, and began to make their way out, when Dongmyeong stepped onto a stick. Making it snap.

Yonghoon, Kanghyun and Cya looked at him in panic and his eyes widened, looking down at the stick that snapped beneath his paws.
Harin had his attention fully on the infected alpha who looked up at the snap, growls coming from their mouth.

Harin got up and backed away, making sure all the others were somewhat behind him. There was no escape from this situation, there was a dead end.
The least he could do is protect them.

The infected alpha came into view, snarling at the sudden view of the 5 wolves.
The other alpha snarled with a warning, as if daring it to come closer.

"Don't come any closer" Harin demanded, and he could see the other falter - there was a dominance in his voice that could be held by no other.

"Who.."

The others shivered at the ghastly tone that the other held. It was so gnarly.

"What are you on about? Don't come closer!" Snapped Harin, lunging forwards, the alpha backing away quickly.

"You..! Dead!"

The infected alpha howled. It sounded like a wet howl - as if vomit was about to come out of his mouth.
And he wasn't wrong.
The howl was cut short after the other doubled over and vomited red liquid, pieces of food and bile coming along with it as it stained the emerald grass.

"It's a virus.. getting the red liquid into your mouth will infect you, we need to get out of here. There's a cure, but finding it would mean we'd have to go to the polar side. The humans!" Kanghyun whispered.
Harin nodded, and began to nudge them along in the other way as the infected wolf continued to throw up his stomach's contents.

They got to Yonghoon, when the sick wolf snapped up, teeth beared and looking mad, wet barks coming as it charged.
"Oh no you fucking don't" Snarled Harin, charging at the wolf and knocking it to the ground.

"Go go go!" Yonghoon yelped to Dongmyeong who was meant to be going next, nipping his ear sharply as he zoomed past him.

Meanwhile, Harin and the sick wolf fought - bites landing and claws coming down.
Harin managed to finish it off, hearing its last thud before it fell limp.
He panted, getting off the wolf and looking over himself for any wounds - thankfully, this time, there was none.
There was just a few scratches.

"Hyung! Are you okay?!"
Kanghyun's woreied voice came, and the thumping of his small paws sounded as he ran over to him, the others appearing one by one.

The omega immediately began to look him over and tend to his cuts, even though they weren't major cuts.
"I'm fine, I'm fine-"
"The hell do you mean you're fine?! Look at these cuts!"

He didn't even protest when he felt him tending to the cuts - actually. It oddly reminded him of something. He just couldn't put his mind to it.

"We should put you on meds, in case you catch the virus.. it's only a 2 day use, will you survive?" Kanghyun asked, looking up at him with his brown orbs. And even though the offer didn't seem appealing to the Alpha, he couldn't just say no to those eyes.

Fucking cute

"Okay" He simply said, nodding and getting up.

"I've never thought of it this way simply because of the relational statuses, but those two look adorable together. Look at the size difference" Laughed Cya, and Yonghoon rolled his eyes. Yes, in his wolf form.

But he couldn't deny it himself. It was cute — no, Yonghoon. Stop.

He shook his head and got up.
"Let's go back" He said, so they did so. Arriving at their camp in around 30 minutes.

They were all just a little tense after that encounter, especially the higher ranked wolves. And the omegas noticed.
And because of what they did in their role, the two looked at eachother and nodded.

Kanghyun got up and went over to Yonghoon, tapping his snout with his own in a playful manner, tail wagging.
Yonghoon looked at him, confused, before realising what they were trying to do.
"I don't wanna play"
"You gotta"
"No"
"Yes"

Kanghyun pushed him, trying his best to topple him over- but it didn't work. The wolf was strong. And not to mention. Stubborn as fuck.

"Hmph. Fine then, stubborn ass" Kanghyun said, flicking his tail at him and heading to Harin, Yonghoon immediately regretting his decision.

Harin, who was half asleep, was practically woken to a small wolf nudging his snout gently.
He lifted his neck up off the ground, tilting his head at him.
Kanghyun mimicked him with the head tilt, tail wagging when he saw the others tail swaying from side to side.

He pushed his nose to the alphas one, before backing away and barking at him, inviting him to play.
He'd have done something else, for example, what Dongmyeong was doing to Cya - cuddling him. But getting so close to a wolf he barely knew wasn't the safest of ideas. So he resumed to the old way.

His excitement went higher when he saw the other get up, amused by how huge he looked when in full height.
Yonghoon watched in jealousy. Why didn't he just let him? But oh well. He was in for a rollercoaster from the beginning.

Kanghyun decided to go to dangerous stakes - walking up to the alpha and nipping his ear, turning and dashing off.
Harin shook his body and ran right after him, the other wolves laughing.

Omegas were great stress relievers, and even the biggest of evil couldn't withstand their cuteness.