RTY | MW [✔]

06.

Mingyu was well aware the change in Wonwoo's status would send a few ripples through the pack. Soonyoung was the one he was most concerned about since he was the hardest to wrangle at the best of times. Keeping some distance between the angry alpha and the fox was the only option. When it came to the rest of the pack, he would have to tread carefully. Shutting down the conversation every time it was brought up might have been the easiest way to deal with it, but it was a surefire way to let resentments simmer beneath the surface. It would be better if people got the chance to air their grievances to his face.

Mingyu wasn't one for breakfast, but he put in an appearance at the pack's second dining room, staying long enough that most people got to see and talk to him. He ate lunch in the packhouse dining room for the same reason. A few people were brave enough to bring up Wonwoo, and he answered their questions readily. Yes, the fox was being given more freedom around the pack. No, he was not staying— as soon as he was well enough to run, they'd let him go.

Most people seemed satisfied with his answers, so Mingyu felt more confident about the situation when he sought out the omega after lunch. Hyeri was insistent that they couldn't keep Wonwoo cooped up, and that he needed the chance to shift. But instincts being what they were in their animal forms, Mingyu didn't want to risk Wonwoo panicking and taking off when he shifted in an unfamiliar place. He didn't think Wonwoo stood much chance of escape in the face of a persistent chase. But he was a fox and could no doubt outrun them in a short sprint. The kind that might take him out of their territory and toward the edges of the badlands, where the rogue wolves still hunted. To forestall that eventuality, Mingyu decided he'd show the omega around and let him get familiar with the pack's territory before they went on a run.

When he reached Wonwoo's room, the door was closed. He knocked, but there was no answer. Leaning closer to the door, he listened. From within the room, he heard Wonwoo's soft breathing and calm heartbeat. When another knock yielded no response, he opened the door and peered inside.

Wonwoo lay on his stomach on the bed, fast asleep. He was still fully clothed and positioned in a way that strongly suggested he'd just collapsed onto the bed on his return to the room after lunch.

Shaking his head, Mingyu left the omega to his nap and went to grab a book, taking it out into the courtyard to read. He was close enough to the windows into Wonwoo's room to keep an ear out for the omega. Sure enough, Wonwoo woke about an hour later, murmuring something too quiet for Mingyu to hear. Mingyu stowed his book away and returned to Wonwoo's room.

This time, his knock was met with the door opening, and Wonwoo peered out at him.

"Hey."

"Hi." The omega's hair was sleep-mussed, and he hid a yawn behind his hand. "You came by earlier, didn't you?"

"You were napping."

"Sorry."

Mingyu shrugged. "You need your rest, or so Hyeri keeps telling me." Why she was telling him and not the omega himself, he didn't know. "Ready to go?"

"Go?" Wonwoo clung a little tighter to the door frame.

"For a walk around the pack. Nothing too strenuous."

He didn't understand the omega's hesitation until he realized that the last time Wonwoo had been brought outside the packhouse, he'd believed he was about to be hunted for sport. That would make anyone leery.

"I'll have you back by dinnertime, I promise."

"Okay." Wonwoo let go of the door, and Mingyu gestured for the omega to precede him down the corridor.

"We'll walk the perimeter today," Mingyu told him once they were outside, leading him around the side of the house and toward the boundary wall. That way, a few people might see them out and about, but they wouldn't have to deal with gangs of them. Word would spread, and when nothing terrible happened, people would start to relax about it all.