RTY | MW [✔]

12.

Mingyu knew the moment he heard the howls that they were in trouble. A tracker had caught their scent and alerted the hunting pack following them. Given where they were, it had to be the rogue wolves— the same ones who'd chased Wonwoo right to their door. He listened intently as they howled again, trying to discern as much as he could. They weren't as close as he'd feared at first. It was a clear night, with little wind, so the sound traveled easily. The tracker was at least a few miles behind him and Wonwoo, the pack further away. That gave them a chance.

Wonwoo was awake and on his feet seconds later, ears up. The cub was between his front paws, mewling softly. No words were needed. Mingyu indicated the direction the wolves were coming from and the direction he and Wonwoo had been headed. And then he pointed the way he wanted them to go. He could see Wonwoo's confusion, but there was no time to shift and explain. They had a head start, but it wouldn't last for long. They'd had barely an hour of sleep after a full day of travel, and Wonwoo wasn't yet strong enough to outrun the rogues, even without a cub in tow. Mingyu could have, but he had no intention of leaving the omega and cub behind. They'd stick together, no matter what happened.

Wonwoo picked the cub up by the scruff of his neck, and they took off at a run. Not northeast, which would take them on a direct path to the pack, but east, toward the Barren Hills and the old mines. Long abandoned, the mines were a warren of shafts and tunnels. Sound echoed everywhere through them. It was a good place to hide if you wanted to be hard to find.

If Wonwoo knew where they were headed, he didn't give any indication. He kept up gamely with Mingyu, not slowing down even as minutes turned to hours. Mingyu didn't want to make the tracker's job easy, so he led them along a zigzagging route, through streams and rivers and over any rocky ground he could find. Any chance to disrupt their scent trail, he took. But it wasn't enough— the tracker was still gaining on them, and so was the pack.

He took the cub from Wonwoo when he began to tire. The omega resisted at first, but Mingyu scented him in reassurance, nudging him with his nose. Wonwoo reluctantly set the cub down on the ground, and Mingyu picked him up. They got moving again, and Mingyu gave up any pretense of hiding their destination, running straight for the hills. Wonwoo spotted where they were headed, and his steps faltered before he picked up speed again. It was as pure a sign of trust as Mingyu could ever have asked for.

Most wolves stayed away from the Barren Hills. There were lots of stories around them— that they were haunted, that the people of old had dug up something dangerous long ago, that the shafts were inhabited by creatures who lived solely in the dark and only ventured out on moonless nights. The first time he'd been in them was as a young teenager, dared on by Soonyoung. Once he'd realized the stories were just that— stories— he'd returned many times with the other young alphas to explore. When Seungcheol had first been chased from the pack, that was where he'd stayed. Mingyu met him there a dozen times before his father caught wind of what he was doing, beat him bloody in a fit of rage, and told him in no uncertain terms that if he ever defied him again, he could join Seungcheol in exile. Mingyu wasn't as strong as Seungcheol— he couldn't conceive of a life outside the pack. Or leaving the pack in the hands of Soonyoung when his father eventually passed. So he'd turned his back on his friend and toed the line until the day his father had died.

At the first opportunity, he'd sent Soonyoung out to the mines to find Seungcheol— but the alpha hadn't been there. Mingyu had hoped that was a good thing, that Seungcheol was making a life for himself elsewhere. And that one day, he might return and take his rightful place in their pack. Now he knew the truth— by then, Seungcheol had been dead at the hands of the rogues, leaving a pregnant Wonwoo behind. And he'd sent him to Mingyu. It wasn't Mingyu's father that Seungcheol had believed would show the omega mercy. Nor Soonyoung. It was him. Had Seungcheol counted on him falling for Wonwoo? Probably not... but then, Seungcheol had always known him better than he'd known himself.