⚠️ GORE ⚠️

The rest of the day was pretty peaceful.
Harin was back in his small den, probably about to eat his dinner.
The rest were at their main camp, talking away.

Night came around eventually, and the peacefulness didn't last too long.
There was rustling constantly, and it didn't help for the fact that Yonghoon was on patrol today.
He was alert at the rustling, tiny growls leaving his caramel snout, teeth beared.

He couldn't take it anymore.
The male heaved his body up and padded over cautiously to the bushes, taking a whiff of the air there.
There was a horrible, bitter scent that made him gag.

Regardless, he had to know what was going on.
He stuck his head through the bushes, eyes widening at the sight before him.
There was a dead wolf, an omega. Ripped to pieces and the body.. Disturbingly fresh.

Guts spilled out of the open stomach, a weird gooey substance following after. Their tongue was lolling out, a light purple mixed with red liquid leaking out of it's mouth.
Its eyes were rolled back into their head, exposing the whites and the red veins popping like mad.

There was deep scratches and bites in their body, and it showed the white bones as the muscle had been ripped away.

Yonghoon gagged, the smell getting into his nose. He backed up, nauseous but frightened. What had attacked the wolf to lead it to such a gruesome death? It looked like it had been there for a couple of days though, because of the smell.
But what scared him most; what if the thing that attacked the omega was somewhere around here? What if it was preying upon them too?

'That.. That can't be possible! It won't come.. It can't come. There is no way it's somewhere around here' Yonghoon thought, shaking his head.
And anyways, there was 3 dominant wolves here, there was no way something would dare attack them.

Or would it?

Yonghoon shook himself out of his trance. He needed to tell Cya about this.  This could pose a danger to the pack. And that's the last thing they needed.

The wolf spun around and went in the direction of the main camp, entering through the wooden doors that were unlocked.
The two omega's we're sorting herbs, while Cya sat at the table with piles of work around him. However, they all looked up when they saw him enter.
Yonghoon barked, Cya furrowing his eyebrows and shifting into his form, a silver wolf.

They got outside, and it became more cold for some reason.
"What's the matter?" Cya asked, glancing at the delta.

"I found a decaying body of an omega in the bushes there. I don't know what to say about this, but the wounds concerned me. There was guts spilling out of their body and the scratches seemed deep. I don't know what caused those, but there's a high risk that whatever attacked it could be in around the area of the camp. Plus, the body smells already" Yonghoon went on, leading him to the body.

"Oh lord.. You weren't joking with the smell" Cya grimaced, nose scrunching as he backed away, "But how did we not see it earlier on? Or more like, how did we not smell it earlier on?"

"The omega could've been on scent suppressants. Meaning, it took it in the last day. But judging from the smell, this body is older than a day.. Do you think something could've slipped a suppressant into it while it was dead?"

"Oh, the possibilities of that happening are unfortunately high. Whatever that thing is, it's smart. And something like that should be feared" Cya grumbled, thinking up a plan.
"Look, the first thing we need to do is avoid heat suppressants and scent ones.  If it ever comes down to us dying because of whatever that was, at least they'll find our bodies right away. If anything, we need to spread our scent around way more, so we don't have any trespassers. Now this is where Harin Hyung will come into play" Yonghoon began,

"He'll spread around his scent with us and if we convince him enough, he could do patrols with each one of us. He could do it on his own, but we need to be mindful of his thoughts. We don't want him to think we're using him for his rank, even if it sounds like it"

Cya sighed.

"This is awful, awful, awful, awful.." He mumbled, nipping at the deltas ear,
"Come on. Let's go back, you'll get off patrol early today. I don't see anything coming anyway, there's no point sitting out here in the cold no more"

The two wolves padded off and shifted back, entering through the wooden doors and locking them behind, securing them with the extra locks.

Harin had been up for the whole conversation they had. He had heard everything. A dead omega out there? And with what they described its body as, it didn't seem like a pretty sight to be viewing.

He swung the door open, closing it quietly after and shifting into his form,  black pelt and yellow eyes.
He took a sniff of the air and followed the scent of the bitterness coating the oxygen, leading to the bushes.

He didn't even have to poke his head through the bushes to see it since he was so huge, but the sight of the omega disturbed him.
Disturbed him, because THIS was the omega he sent to their deathbed.

Yes, he attacked it. The scratches and bites were his. But he didn't rip open its stomach. He didn't take out the guts.
He didn't poison them.

His scents told him one unsettling truth.
This was an alpha that did this. A very strong one, at that.

Maybe they were equal in strength? Maybe.. Maybe the other one was stronger?
Excitement pulsed through his veins, even if it seemed like the wrong time for it to do so.
He never had competition. Except for his dad, but that was a different matter.

Harin couldn't help it. He always wanted to find competition.
The alpha decided now wasn't the time for it, so he got up and headed back to his den, closing the door behind him.

He never noticed the figure standing about a mile away from where he was.