Wooyoung managed to find it in himself to calm down enough to fall asleep last night, even through all the tears and coldness. What he didn't expect to wake up to, however, was Sunghee shuffling around their room packing up all of his things.

"S-Sung..." Wooyoung whimpers, the pain still radiating from his mating mark as he gazes over at him, "What are you doing?"

Sunghee grunts as he zips up his now full backpack, standing up as he slings it over his shoulder, "I'm leaving."

Wooyoung rips the covers and sheets off of his body as he crawls haphazardly to the edge of the bed, becoming frantic, "Where? Where are you going?" He asks, his voice quick.

"Chrysalis received a letter from my father requesting me to return home as soon as possible, he said he would explain when I got there," Sunghee hums, "You can stay."

With that, Sunghee leaves their bedroom and slides the door shut before Wooyoung can manage to get out of the bed and go after him. Wooyoung's shocked by what his mate says.

He can stay?

What does that mean?

Is Sunghee... Leaving him?

Wooyoung slides the door back open and runs through the boys' building as Sugnhee's leaving, seeing his back turned to him as he's walking away from him.

"Wait!" Wooyoung calls, his tears, once again, welling up and threatening to leak down his cheeks, "Sunghee, don't leave me alone... Please," Wooyoung begs, grabbing onto Sunghee's shoulder to turn him around, "D-Don't leave me alone again..."

Sunghee scoffs at Wooyoung's pleads, shrugging his hand off of his shoulder. He can't stand his touch any longer. Not after Wooyoung admitted what he had done. Even his wolf even is conflicted with the thought of Wooyoung cheating on him and it makes him unable to keep eye contact.

Wooyoung watches in tears as Sunghee turns back away from him, causing his mark's pain to become excruciating. He notices as Sunghee flinches at the same moment the pain gets worse.

He must be feeling it too.

"Sung, please," Wooyoung keeps trying, but his body starts to feel no will to walk or continue going after Sunghee when he hears what he says next.

"I don't want to see you again, Wooyoung."

Wooyoung's eyes widened and became blurred with tears, his body stilling again as he fell to his knees. He pays no mind to any of the others walking around him or mumbling words he would only assume are about what's happening.

Wooyoung's mind is completely empty.

He is empty.

Wooyoung can feel his internal wolf crying right along with him, his eyes glazing over as Sunghee's figure disappears behind the sliding door of the boys' building.

Wooyoung's unsure of how long he was knelt there, he couldn't seem to process time, nor could he process what had just happened to him. All that was going through his mind was

Rejection

He couldn't rid himself of the pain he felt throughout his body, but most of it was concentrated on his neck where his mating mark was. Where Sunghee's mark was. Wooyoung was only able to come back down to Earth when he felt a familiar hand rest on his shoulder.

Vanilla.

The calming scent entered his nostrils and tried to ease his body, but it couldn't tame the flood of agony and heartache Wooyoung was going through.

"Woo?" Yeosang's voice echoed through Wooyoung's mind. His vision became clearer when he saw Yeosang squat down in front of him, "Wooyoung, what's wrong? Where's Sunghee?" Yeosang's voice is notably worried, and it only grows when his eyes stop on Wooyoung's neck.

The mating mark on Wooyoung's neck has reddish-blue veins surrounding it, but the mark itself isn't as bold as one normally would be.

Wooyoung's body sways, "R-Reje..." He tries, but the words don't fully come out.

Wooyoung's mind is getting dizzy again, but he can hear a few voices surrounding him. Eventually, Wooyoung is picked up by Dongwoo and is brought back to the room he and Sunghee once shared, Yeosang in tow.

The moment Wooyoung is set on the bed, he curls up into a ball with all of the covers clenched in his fists, inhaling the scent Sunghee had left on them. His wolf instinctually longs for his mate that left him. As he lies there in a ball, a shock of pain bursts through his stomach and he begins to sob silently.

Yeosang and Dongwoo look at each other and Dongwoo nods knowingly, letting Yeosang stay and attempt to comfort Wooyoung to try and understand what is going on with him. Dongwoo feels a pain go through his body, especially on his mating mark, when he sees the way Yeosang looks at Wooyoung and he knows in the back of his mind that something is wrong, but he goes back to their room silently.

"Woo..." Yeosang whispers, not wanting to startle Wooyoung in any way, "We don't have to talk about okay, love? We can talk about something different," Yeosang reassures as he gently pets Wooyoung's hair, flattening it down as he lets him cry into his chest. He's completely wrapped himself in anything that smelt like Sunghee.

Wooyoung's eyes look lifeless as he looks up at Yeosang, but there's conflict there. Staring up into Yeosang's eyes makes him feel something at least, which is more than he's felt since Sunghee left. He really doesn't know how long it's been, but he can only assume it's still the same day.

Wooyoung gets lost as he gazes deeply into Yeosang's eyes, the light able to come back into his own. All Wooyoung can manage is a nod, his eyes still watering.

"Okay, Woo. I'll tell you about things to help get your mind off of things, okay?" Yeosang says, laying the two of them into the bed to get more comfortable together. There's no way Wooyoung will be able to go to lessons today, so Yeosang won't either.

Wooyoung nuzzles into Yeosang's chest, clenching the covers to inhale Sunghee's scent still at the same time as Yeosang's. Something bad is happening to him and he doesn't understand what. All Wooyoung knows is that his mark is burning intensely and his body feels like it's convulsing - a feeling that he's never experienced in his life. He's only ever read about it in storybooks when he was a younger teen.

Yeosang brushes his fingers carefully over Wooyoung's neck, trying to examine the veiny mess it's become around the lightening bite mark, "Hongjoong and Jongho left early this morning to serve their punishment," Yeosang tries to force out a chuckle, "They were even bickering on their way out... I'm not sure they'll last long alone together."

Wooyoung's whimpering eventually stops as he continues to focus on Yeosang, letting him touch him and care for him in his time of need. He can feel his body getting hotter though, it must be the covers he's wrapped himself in. Wooyoung listens to Yeosang as he talks more about their friends they've made here, not realizing his lips parting in a small pant.

~ the next day

San is surprised the next morning when Hongjoong and Jongho come back to the boys' building for that day's lesson. He hasn't seen or heard them bicker hardly at all and he's beginning to grow suspicious.

What exactly happened between the two of them yesterday...?

~ last night

"Do we really have to stay like this all day?" Jongho whines, his teeth visibly gritting together as he looks at Hongjoong, who's knelt right in front of him. Facing him, so they'll be forced to look at each other for the entirety of the day while they go through with their punishment until the evening when they're required to stay here away from everyone else. They're not allowed outside contact until they've properly served their punishment to the fullest.

Hongjoong holds Jongho's gaze, "Yes, you heard Hyejin. We broke one of their rules, and now we're paying for it, don't you see? You need to learn to be accountable for your actions," He says a bit more harshly than he intended to.

"I do know how to be accountable, Hongjoong," Jongho spits, his wolf internally growling. His knee shifts on the ground and it causes some of the water to spill out of the bowl he's holding above his head, "Dammit," he curses under his breath and tries to re-straighten his posture, knowing it's easier that way.

"What a fool," Hongjoong mutters under his breath.

Jongho's eyebrows furrow instantly, bearing his fangs to him improperly, "Don't you dare start right now, Joong. Not here," he hisses. The last thing he needs is for them to be fighting when they're in this position.

They're only two hours in, and they're already this close to ripping each other's head off?

This might not go so well...

The day goes by so slowly and both boys are tired beyond belief by the time Hyejin comes in the room. She tells them that they're allowed to drop the bowls and get up off their knees to go to bed.

Almost in unison, the two boys let go of the bowls, their arms falling to their sides like jelly and they finally relax their bodies.

"Goddess..." Jongho breathes out as his body collapses as soon as Hyejin leaves them, causing a low thump when he hits the wooden floor.

Hongjoong lies similarly across from him, "I don't think I'll even make it to the mattress," he huffs, breathing heavily from all the pressure they just put their bodies through. He's not sure if he would even be able to stand up properly.

Jongho laughs, holding his chest while doing so, "I'm right there with you, buddy."

"I've never been so exhausted in my life," Hongjoong says as he pulls his eyes away from Jongho and stares up at the ceiling, "I'm seeing stars."

"Come on, now you're the one being a fool," Jongho says with a smirk, his gaze still on Hongjoong, looking at him while he looks elsewhere. He can't help it when he starts thinking about how handsome he looks staring off into existence like that.

"Oh shut up."

That night, Hongjoong is lying calmly in his bed when he starts to hear the sound of whimpering coming from the be next to his.

Jongho's bed.

Hongjoong rolls over and squints his eyes to look at him through the darkness, seeing the way he tosses and turns, moving the sheets about. For some reason, Hongjoong feels drawn to go over to him -- to help him. He remembered how just over a year ago they were in a similar situation, and how he would always hear his uncomfortable hums.

He must be having nightmares...

Hongjoong can hardly control himself when his body moves on its own, getting out of his own bed and going over to Jongho's. He lies down in the bed with him and slowly, the whimpering subsides.

The room is once again filled with silence until Jongho turns in bed again, facing Hongjoong.

The two boys lay there together, gazing deeply into one another's eyes. Hongjoong didn't startle at all to see Jongho awake, in fact, it made his wolf purr at the contact and attention he was receiving.

"Thank you," Jongho whispers before he lets his forehead fall into Hongjoong's chest.

Hongjoong doesn't reply with words, letting his actions do the talking as he caresses the back of Jongho's head, feeling how smooth his hair feels against his fingers. The way his heartbeat seemed to mellow out under his embrace was something he could get used to. Something he knew he would come to crave when it was no longer there.

Jongho easily lulls back into his slumber, his wolf becoming content with their present situation. His former nightmares replace themselves with faded images of Hongjoong's face and special moments the two have shared over the years when they weren't fighting.

They did grow up together and were once friends, but that all changed when they got into their teen years and began alpha training. Jongho began wanting the position of head alpha just like Hongjoong, so they quickly made the change from friends to enemies. Jongho did sometimes miss the friendship he and Hongjoong had shared, though... Perhaps even a bit more...

Hongjoong was the one with him when his father passed away - he was the one that helped him get through it. They both had looked up to Jongho's father since he was such a powerful alpha, being just below Alpha Daesung. They were only five when it happened, but Jongho remembers it like it was yesterday, he'll never forget the morning when Daesung came to him and his mother explaining what happened out on one of their hunts.

Their small hunting pack of the four top alphas in Nightshade went out on their monthly trek to snag a few giant elk before winter set in. While they were out tracking down an elk, a few hunters entered the area and mistaken Jongho's father for a different animal. There wasn't much the other three alphas could do about the silver bullet that pierced through his father's neck.

Hongjoong would always come by the Choi's home after schooling to see Jongho. Jongho has gotten excused from schooling for a month after the events of his father's passing to allow him and his mother, Youngmi, to grieve him properly.

His mother was in a fragile state of devastation after her life-long mate died so suddenly. Youngmi had been through a lot in her lifetime, losing two loves of her life in her short amount of years. After the passing of her mate, Jongho's father, she became especially protective of her son, but one thing she always wanted was for him to have a long and happy life. Youngmi didn't mind who or what rank mate Jongho would choose, just as long as he loved them. She didn't mind what path he took in life, just as long as he was proud of what he was doing.

Jongho knew his mother was the strongest person he's ever known and he will always cherish her kindness and acceptingness... Especially in moments like these when he's coming to terms with a part about himself he kept hidden away for so long.

Jongho liked Hongjoong.

End of Chapter Twenty Five