Sunrise ||| Ateez

13

Wooyoung followed behind Seonghwa nervously as they sat around the large table.

Yeosang was leaning over and serving up his two kids, both with large smiles on their faces as they watched the omega anxiously.

Z... Zaden, was sitting in Mingi's lap trying to eat off his plate instead of the one Yunho had prepared for him.

The omega smiled as he watched the family of three interact, but it fell a little when Mingi leaned over to kiss Yunho's cheek.

Wynter cooed, drawing his attention and he looked down to see her yawning and rubbing her eye. Wooyoung brought her closer to his chest and tickled her cheek with his finger. She yawned again, then wrapped her tiny hand around his finger and fell back asleep.

Seonghwa chuckled next to him and Wooyoung looked up to see him smiling down at their daughter.

"She's precious." Yeosang said from where he sat across from Wooyoung. "And she still looks like she's perfectly healthy. I know that was a hard walk yesterday for both you and her. Are you doing ok?"

"Yeah, I'm ok... Very sore though." Wooyoung said, giving the other omega a nervous smile.

Yeosang nodded in understanding. "You should stay off your feet today. You weren't given the normal recovery time, which I'm so sorry for, but Joongie and I just didn't feel right leaving you it in the cold by yourself."

Hongjoong reached over to take Yeosang's hand, while he helped the little boy next to him eat his eggs. "Yes, we are a little more confident because there are so many of us, but for just two of you to be on your own, especially with a newborn, isn't safe around here. There are a lot of dangers. And you would have been vulnerable when Seonghwa went out hunting." Hongjoong glanced at Wooyoung with a worried expression.

Wooyoung looked down, knowing the alpha was right. "Thank you for helping us. We've... We've been through a lot the last night months."

He felt Seonghwa tense a little next to him and looked away, not wanting to see what the alpha was thinking.

"Forgive me for asking the blunt question..." Hongjoong sighed, leaning forward and clasping both hands in front of him. He stuck his pointer fingers up and tapped them against his lips. "But I'm only doing it to protect my own family." He looked at Seonghwa directly as he said this. "She was unplanned, wasn't she."

Wooyoung felt his stomach flip at the words and focused on watching Wynter sleep.

Seonghwa stayed silent too.

As did the rest of Hongjoong's pack. Even the kids.

"Come on." Yunho said suddenly, standing shakily from the table. "Let's go kids, time to go play."

"Iry! Come, come!"

"Ashy!" The little girl giggled as her older brother helped her from the table.

"Asher, Irys, mind Uncle Yunho." Yeosang said and smiled when the pair turned and waved before running after the beta and Zaden.

Tension filled the air again, but Hongjoong sighed and shook his head. "I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, but I feel that if we are to welcome you into our pack, we have a right to know."

"No." Seonghwa said, a defeated tone to his voice. "She was not planned."

Hongjoong hummed.

Wooyoung noticed the beta named San watching them nervously from the far end of the table.

"And, I see no mark on you Seonghwa, but Wooyoung has one." Hongjoong said, leaving the unsaid question hanging in the air.

Wooyoung felt his anxiety rising. This was it. They were going to kick them out because Seonghwa had claimed him during his heat and they weren't a mated pair. They were never going to find a home...

He blinked away the tears in his eyes and kept looking down, knowing it was the respectful thing to do when the alpha in charge was speaking to you.

Yunho slipped back into the room and took his seat next to Mingi, who rose slightly to help the pregnant beta down.

"I supposed you deserve to know. Just... Please know that I am ashamed of what I have done." Seonghwa said quietly, also looking down in submission.

Wooyoung flinched at his words. Did that mean Seonghwa was ashamed of him too..?

No one spoke as they waited for Seonghwa to continue. The alpha picked at the table for a moment before he did. "I'm sure were all surprised to find out that I'm an alpha... I was looked down upon in my pack for it because of my appearance and nature. The day my mother died was the day I was banished. I was on my own for several months when I came across Wooyoung. He offered me a place to stay and a warm meal. He father and..."

Seonghwa glanced at him, questioning whether or not to say anything, but Wooyoung couldn't respond. He could feel his body trembling at the memory...

Then he froze as Seonghwa placed a hesitant hand on the back of his neck and brushed his thumb of the mark he left there. Wooyoung felt his wolf churn at the contact and he felt a little calmer as he glanced up at the alpha.

Seonghwa's forehead creased as he looked at Wooyoung, then back at Hongjoong. "Anyway. I got into it with a couple of alphas, and Wooyoung tried to break it up. He is... Was... The head alpha's son, so he held some power."

Yeosang's eyebrows rose as he glanced at the younger omega, but he was respectful and said nothing.

"The dominance coming from us... I believe it triggered Wooyoung's heat early..."

"It did." Wooyoung said with a small voice. "I... I was engaged to the alpha heir of another pack. We were supposed to be mated a week after Seonghwa showed up. It had been planned around my heat. Seonghwa fighting with another alpha, and then my f... then fiancé... asserting his dominance on me, it was too much for my wolf." He whimpered, curling in on himself in the chair.

"Oh god..." Yeosang gasped. He pushed back from his seat and came to kneel in front of Wooyoung. "I'm so sorry."

The other omega had tears in his eyes too, but there was a slight anger there as they flashed to Seonghwa. "You sensed his heat, didn't you?"

The alpha flinched and nodded. "I... I had no control over my wolf. It took over and there was no stopping..."

A loud scraping sound came from the table as San shoved away from it and ran down the hall. Yunho started to move to follow him, but Hongjoong held up a hand. "Give him time, I'll talk to him later."

Yunho nodded and turned to look at Mingi, who was glaring at Seonghwa.

"I know what I did was despicable." Seonghwa said, still looking down in defeat. "But I've been trying to do the best I can to make up for it. I've protected Wooyoung when needed, provided him food and the shelter I built back there. And I will keep on protecting him and our daughter. I'm not planning on abandoning them any time soon." He finally looked up and locked eyes with Hongjoong.

There was the alpha that lived inside him. Wooyoung could see it now. He felt his wolf grow excited at the alpha's words and promise to protect him and he felt himself leaning back into Seonghwa's hand a little.

Hongjoong tapped his fingers against his lips a little more, deep in thought.

Just when he was about to open his mouth, he paused and his head snapped to the door.

"What is it?" Mingi asked, leaning forward.

"Something entered our territory." Hongjoong pushed away from the table. "Let's go." He turned to Seonghwa and Wooyoung. "Stay here. You'll be safe, and Wooyoung you need to rest."

Wooyoung sensed the fear coming off the other alpha and watched as he, Mingi, Jongho, and Yeosang ran out the back door and shifted, leaving him in the room with an anxious Yunho and a troubled Seonghwa...

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Written by flamewhipper