Silver Lining

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(okay y'all here's the thing: I'm moving back to my uni and have A LOT of stuff to take care before my semester starts so if the update after this one takes a little longer than the others, this is why(〒﹏〒)

Chan's haunches are beginning to ache, again, from his crouched position in the brush, watching, waiting for the perfect time to strike. The deer has its head lowered, unaware of the stark white wolf slowly creeping behind it with paws as silent and nimble as a cat's.

Any second now and Minho will pounce, the rest of the pack closing in to keep it from escaping; it will be easy and done so fast that Jeongin and Felix won't even have time to complain about just being the look-outs-

Jisung's sudden cry makes the alpha's smug thoughts come crashing down, the deer jumping about a foot in the air before it leaps over the berries it was nibbling on and vanishes among the trees.

Minho grumbles angrily at him and takes a snap at Jisung's scruff but the younger hybrid drops his transformation immediately: eyes wide and face pale.

The alpha turns back as well, warning, "This better have an amazing explanation or so help me-"

"I heard him! He- He just barked out a really aggressive threat for someone to back off, Hyung!"

"Who?" Hyunjin questions with a baleful glow to his stormy blue irises, popping his head out from behind the tree, "Is Jeonginnie in danger? Does Felix have a problem with him again?"

"I told you bringing Freckles would be an issue, Chan-hyung," Changbin adds pectuantly, arms crossed over his chest, "Lone wolves cause nothing but trouble and omegas are only good for being the stress-reliever of- Hey wait..." His scowl falls as he sniffs the air intently. "I smell another large creature." His nose wrinkles much like it did earlier. "Too rancid to be one of us."

Jisung stomps his foot. "That's what I'm trying to say! Something's wrong! Felix would never do anything to hurt us; he's a good hyung to Innie-"

Rancid? But that's a sign of-

"Chan-hyung, what if it's the fer-"

The alpha was already in his wolf form once more, taking off into a mad sprint towards the place he left the younger hybrids. Instincts flooded him with urgency at the dreaded thought that he has already failed, that he has already led his loved ones to their doom because he was too preoccupied with successfully securing food instead of keeping an eye on his pack (and forgetting the reason he brought them all out here on the first place).

And what was he thinking, putting the two most vulnerable of werewolves together and then keeping them back as the others go after the prey? He was trying to make it easier for Felix but he ignored his hesitancy to bring Felix in the first place!

How could he leave his pup, his soulmate- No, no they'll be okay. They HAVE to be okay.

He can smell it now too, as he nears the dire point: spoiled meat and the undeniable musk of another alpha male. There's the weaker pheromones of an omega on the defensive, of a gamma in distress.

Chan runs faster and as he bursts through the entangled brush, he comes to the sight he was most worried to see: a large, sludge-colored feral standing over a growling and ready to strike silver wolf. Behind Felix, the raven-furred hybrid cowers but also watches on with wary, shocked, and yet admiring eyes; it was as if Jeongin didn't expect to be saved, didn't expect the omega to appear so fierce under the threat of their most feared rival.

Perhaps they underestimated Felix; perhaps he was never meant to be a lowly omega at all. The lone wolf before Chan has the potential of a beta, maybe even the potential of another alpha brimming at the surface.

Either way, these thoughts are for another time. Right now, Chan will tear apart anything that dares to lay a claw on his pack members, whether officially declared or not.

(I have the next one mostly written, and it will be the climax to this whole feral fiasco, it's just pretty long so I wanna polish it up and once again I have a small gap to write in with a beginning and end already done lol.

I appreciate your understanding and patience:)