Samhain

chapter twenty four: when the news breaks

"Think of it like you're flexing a muscle. I don't know, I kind of just do it."

"That's not very helpful." Wooyoung sighs, finding his explanation less than enlightening. To Yunho, scenting is as instinctual as breathing.

Yunho responds by laying his wrist flat on the table, holding it out towards Wooyoung for the sixteenth time that morning. He stares at his friend with expectant, puppy-dog eyes.

Wooyoung rolls his eyes and tries to quell the mounting frustration that had built up over the past thirty minutes. "Okay, fine, I'll try it again. But this is the last time. I can't be doing this all day."

Seonghwa casually sips his tea next to Yunho, watching patiently while Wooyoung struggles to figure out how to scent on demand. Pink and golden light from the sunrise filters in through the windows. Clattering and clinking dishes echo in the background while Yeosang cleans the kitchen in Seonghwa's cabin.

With a great deal of hesitation, Wooyoung brings his wrist toward Yunho's and closes his eyes. He pictures exactly what he wants to do - open the scent gland, however that's supposed to work, and imagines he's flexing an invisible muscle.

For a heartbeat, nothing changes. All he smells with his newly heightened senses are the lingering remnants of their breakfast and the sweet steam coming off of Seonghwa's tea.

Then the air transforms. A delicate scent reminiscent of untamed wilderness and honey weaves its way into his nose. His eyes widen in disbelief.

Ever since his heat ended, Wooyoung found himself struggling to control all the overwhelming sensations that now course through his wolven blood. He never thought things like instincts and sights and scents could affect him so deeply; it's as though every aspect of his being has kicked into overdrive. He can't fathom how his pack mates have lived their entire lives like this.

All at once the connection between him and Yunho deepens further than the simple touch of their wrists. The connection envelopes him with warmth like the reassurance of a hug. A surge of protective emotions swell in his chest. Must protect Yunho, his wolf says nervously. Must comfort him.

Yunho's face lights up, hardly containing his excitement. But before he can ask Wooyoung to scent him again and again, Seonghwa slides his wrist forward with an air of curiosity.

"I want to try it too," he declares, lips curling into a soft smile.

"Oh come on, Hwa, can't I have a few more seconds?"

Seonghwa smiles and shakes his head. "No. You can't keep him to yourself, Yunho. Scenting is what keeps us all bonded, you know that."

Wooyoung complies. He first scents Seonghwa, then a curious Yeosang who wanders in from the kitchen. Scenting this way seems so... polite, compared to the way San scented him endlessly for days.

San. His face grows warm at the thought. His judgment was completely clouded by his heat - looking back on how he was so eager to let San have his way with him makes his stomach twist in butterfly-filled knots.

Wooyoung hasn't seen San for half a day. The past twelve hours have been a blur, spent in one of Seonghwa's spare rooms. Seonghwa insisted he spend the night there so that he could ensure Wooyoung had a smooth descent from his heat.

Uncertainty gnaws at him. How is he supposed to face San after everything that happened? Will San even care about him anymore now that he isn't in heat?

The thought of everything going back to the way it was fills him with dread.

Surely he was just driven by pheromones. San didn't kiss him once. There were no declarations of love, no discussions of feelings. All Wooyoung was left with was a thousand questions and soreness all over his body.