My Way ||| Ateez

6

Yeosang walked back to Hongjoong as they watched the strange alpha leave them behind. He could feel Hongjoong bristling a little, his wolf fighting to come out and assert its dominance.

"It's ok, he didn't hurt me." Yeosang moved in front of him and connected their foreheads.

His alpha closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. It instantly calmed him and he kissed Yeosang's forehead. "Promise?"

"Yes. It surprised me, but he didn't hurt me. Do you think what he said is true?"

Hongjoong ran his teeth over his lower lip. "If it is, then things are a lot worse than just trying to survive and stay away from a bunch of power hungry alphas... I don't like this." Hongjoong ran his hands through his hair.

"What should we do?" Yeosang asked softly.

"I think..." Hongjoong took the other's hands in his. "I think, we should just worry about being together right now." Yeosang's eyes shown with happiness. "I think, we shouldn't worry about what we can't control. And I think, we should find a small territory we can call ours."

"And find a home." Yeosang hummed, closing his eyes and breathing in his alpha's sweet vanilla scent. "Let's do it."

They quickly stripped and shifted, picking up their bags of supplies and running into the trees.

Hongjoong had no idea what he was looking for, or what they needed, but the thought of finding a new home that he could settle down in with his mate made his fur stand on edge.

They ran through the night, stopping to examine areas they thought might be suitable, but nothing screamed home to them.

One area was an instant turn off. They scented an extremely dominant alpha and his omega and decided not to mess with it.

Hongjoong was surprised that there were so many alpha's in the area. The packs must be in disarray after the battle. He could understand that, since their entire pack was gone. He could only imagine what must have happened to the others.

When they were about to stop for the night, Yeosang whined and trotted over to a sign. His alpha followed close behind. It was a for sale sign, posted at the end of a long driveway.

Carefully, they ducked through the trees to go look at the house. It was a beautiful, large, log home that had a deck surrounding almost the entire building. It had large windows to let in plenty of light, and brick accents around the base.

Do you think we can afford it? Yeosang asked.

Let's check the surrounding area before getting our hopes up. Hongjoong huffed. Stay here, stay low.

Yeosang licked his neck and went to sit by a tree with their packs.

Hongjoong ran several circles around the place, making wider and wider arcs as he went around it. He was pleasantly surprised to not scent a single wolf. Knowing they had plenty of money to buy the home, on his last circle he worked on marking it off, so that passerby's knew there was an alpha here, and that this was his territory.

The pair spent the night as wolves, camped out near the home, and in the morning they shifted and worked to make themselves as presentable as possible.

Hongjoong pulled out a cellphone he had purchased and dialed the number for the relator attached to the home.

They stayed a respectful distance from the home, but perked up when they heard a car pulling up.

"Hi!" A woman said, smiling as she stepped out of her car. "You must be Hongjoong?"

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you." Both Hongjoong and Yeosang bowed.

"Likewise! Shall we get started?"

She led them through the house. It was much bigger than just two people needed, but whoever built it had done an amazing job.

Everything was wood floors, the counters in the kitchen and bathroom were solid wood with marble tops, the bedrooms all had their own color scheme, and there was even a spacious basement that had a bar built into it.

It's perfect. Yeosang said. Hongjoong looked at him and smiled at the way his beta's face was glowing.

"We'll take it." Hongjoong said once the tour was over.

They sat down to work on paperwork. The woman had a hard time containing her surprise and slight suspicion when Hongjoong handed her a stack of cash, paying for everything up front.

"I don't trust banks." He said simply.

Not wanting to turn it down, they finished signing everything and she handed them their keys.

As soon as she left, Hongjoong wrapped his arms around Yeosang's waist and kissed his neck. "Happy?"

Yeosang hummed. "Yes. Very. It's nice to know we can sleep with a roof over our heads again."

Hongjoong's chest swelled as his wolf filled with pride knowing he was taking care of his mate. That was his purpose right now. He had to protect his beta and set them up with a stable home. A safe place. Somewhere his mate would feel protected, especially when it came time to expand their family.

The alpha kissed the mating mark and Yeosang sighed.

"I guess we need to go furniture shopping now." Hongjoong chuckled.

"A car would probably be a good idea too." Yeosang said pulling away to rummage in their bags. He pulled out a small notebook they had obtained and started writing things down. "Can we afford one?" He turned to look at Hongjoong.

"Yes, love. Don't worry about money, ok? I've got that taken care of. I just need to go by the bank." Hongjoong said, tilting his head as Yeosang started walking around the house.

"There's so many bedrooms..." He said quietly.

Hongjoong rushed to his side and pulled him into a hug. "Hey, they will be full one day, I promise."

Yeosang held him tight. "I know. This is just step one."

They spent the next few weeks going to different cities to purchase furniture for the house. They wanted to spread the money around, but also keep their scent spread thin too.

One month after meeting San, they had their first run in with hunters.

They were in the grocery store, stocking up on food when Hongjoong caught wind of something wrong. The hairs on the back of his neck rose and his wolf churned uneasily inside him.

Yeosang immediately caught on and returned to his side from where he had been scanning the shelves.

The humans were oblivious, of course, but that didn't stop Hongjoong from spinning in circles before pushing their cart quickly to the checkout.

"Hongjoong, we need to act casual. If they see us panicking that will give us away." Yeosang said, stepping in front of him. He placed his hands on either side of his alpha's face and looked into his eyes. "Breathe."

The alpha took a deep breath and felt his heart start to slow down. His beta could always calm him down, he always knew what to do.

"Thank you." Hongjoong whispered, taking Yeosang's hand in his to ground him.

They kept a lookout, but no one stood out. The hunters were good and blending in with the humans.

As they waited for the cashier to ring everything up, Hongjoong could feel the presence getting closer. His wolf growled and he had to clench his teeth together to keep any sound from coming out.

San had been right. The hunters... They felt like it was an alpha wolf, times ten. It scared his wolf, and he could sense that Yeosang was scared too.

And then the feeling started to fade.

The couple sighed in relief at the same time and quickly made their way back home. They locked all the doors and windows before they could relax.

They had to find out more about hunters and what kind of threats the posed if they stood any chance of surviving.