"You ready to shift and eat?" Hongjoong asks Jongho through their link.

Jongho nods, following Hongjoong behind a cluster of trees so they can shift and cloth themselves, "What? You don't wanna devour everything we brought like pigs in front of everyone?" Jongho laughs, smirking towards Hongjoong.

Hongjoong huffs and goes through the woods a short way to a cliff they discovered right before shifting, "I wouldn't mind either way."

Hongjoong sits down right on the edge, looking out at the beautiful scenery that lays out in front of them. Incredibly lush forestry and land spans out as far as the eye can see and the bright blue sky ridden from clouds shines down nicely onto the greenery, giving it a more lifeful look.

"It's gorgeous out here, wow. I never knew a place like this existed among us," Hongjoong chuckles, pulling out the fresh meat sandwiches they packed before heading out that morning, "Here," he added, handing Jongho his sandwich as he sat down next to him.

Jongho hums, taking the sandwich. He looks down at it before taking a bite, noticing how Hongjoong added extra meat onto his like he always liked and a smirk crosses his lips, "It's alright."

"Alright?!" Hongjoong gasps, shoving his shoulder in a playful way.

Jongho narrows his eyes, "Hey! We're too high up to be doing that shit," he curses, scoffing and turning back to focus on eating his sandwich.

Hongjoong shakes his head and goes to eat his as well, eyes drifting over to Jongho mowing through his, "You're welcome, by the way."

"Yeah, yeah, thank you," Jongho mumbles, finishing up his sandwich.

Hongjoong laughs, lifting his knees up to his chest so he can rest his chin on them, "I added extra just like you like," he smiles over at him, his eyes falling on Jongho's lips. Hongjoong's mind starts to go south, but is stopped by the amount of crumbs left on Jongho's face.

Jongho's cheeks go rosy, "I know... I didn't think you would remember," he hums, not noticing Hongjoong and his hand getting closer to him and his face.

Hongjoong crawls over to Jongho on his knees and lifts his hand to his face, brushing the crumbs off of his mouth.

"Of course I would remember."

Jongho flinches at the sudden touch, moving his head to look, only to be face-to-face with Hongjoong. His face visibly gets even more red, at a loss for words when an innocent hand brushing crumbs off becomes a soft caress of Jongho's cheek, drawing him in for more.

Hongjoong smiles and gets closer, their lips mere millimeters away from meeting.

"Hey, can we eat with you guys--?"

Jongho startles away from Hongjoong fast, getting frustrated at the sudden interruption, "We were just leaving," he huffs, getting up in a rush and he throws his backpack back onto his back before walking off behind one of the trees to shift.

Hongjoong sighs, watching longingly as Jongho hurries off, "Well... I guess it's time to continue our hike then," he says, rolling his eyes as he stands up, "Sorry, you guys."

San flashes Hongjoong a bright smile and waves his hands in the air, "Hey, hey, it's no problem! We didn't mean to uh- disrupt you two or anything, right, Hwa?"

Seonghwa shakes his head once, fiddling with his fingers while he holds the small basket San had brought for them. He decides to stay silent, not wanting to make the situation any more awkward than it already was, but he admires San's way of trying to act like it was nothing. San does that a lot, now that Seonghwa thinks about it. He's always been quite level-headed like himself in that sense.

San and Seonghwa watch Hongjoong go after Jongho and see as they shift back into their wolves before taking off.

"Let's see how good this view is," San says, having heard a few of the Chrysalis members talking about it.

Seonghwa just nods, following San up towards the cliff's edge. It's been so long since he's come up here, it must've been at least ten or eleven years from what he can remember. He thinks back at how he and his two siblings would come eat here when they went hiking, too.

"Woah..." San exclaims, his mouth agape as he stares out at the breathtaking landscape before him.

Seonghwa comes up beside San and looks up at him, "I used to come here a lot," he reveals.

San smiles over at Seonghwa, showing his cute dimples, "I can see why you would, it's beautiful up here. Just like you," he smirks, sliding in a compliment so he can see the blush appear on his fated mate's cheeks.

Just as San predicted, Seonghwa's cheeks do darken, "Shut up," he mumbles, pulling out a blanket for the two of them to sit on.

San sits down with him and helps get out the food he prepared with the help of the kitchen the previous night. Seonghwa starts to reach for the last thing in the basket, but San stops him, "Ah, ah, ah, no that's for when we're finished," he explains, trying his best not to touch Seonghwa's hands, but they grazed a few times while pulling everything out.

Seonghwa nods, biting on the inside of his cheek when he meets eyes with San, "I'll look forward to it," he says as he unwraps the various meat kabobs.

San hums happily as he eats side by side with Seonghwa, feeling at ease today since Seonghwa's mother Hyejin stayed back at the grounds to keep watch on Areum. Since she's not there, the constant feeling of eyes on him is lifted. He's noticed how often she looks between himself and Seonghwa and he can't help but sense she knows something about the two of them.

Does she know they're fated mates?

"Who did you come up here with?" San asks, curious about Seonghwa's past.

"My brother and sister."

"Why did you stop?"

Seonghwa finishes one of the kabobs and looks over at San, "We got older, we drifted away from the childish things we would do together."

San pauses eating to listen to Seonghwa, "Do you miss it?"

Seonghwa is surprised by San's interest in his life and by his question. Does he? A small bout of sadness flows over him and he just nods, no words leaving his mouth.

"I don't want to... invade your privacy, Hwa, but it hurts me to see how lonely you look. I know that you don't necessarily accept me, but I want you to at least know that I'll always be here for you," San says in a meaningful tone, serious about everything he says.

Seonghwa's eyes widen, a fuzzy warm feeling overcoming his body at San's sweet words. Seonghwa hopes that San knows how thankful he is for him. No one seemed to ever notice enough to care about how lonely Seonghwa has always felt. He knows that it's inescapably his own actions that led him to be so closed off, but he's dug himself so deep that he no longer knows how to climb back out.

Seonghwas' eyes water and he hesitantly places a hand over San's, letting their eyes do all the talking in this quiet moment they share together. San shows him a smile of devotion and he chances gently squeezing onto Seonghwa's hand, taking every little inch that Seonghwa gives him as he begins to open up. He feels like he's been making so much progress since he's arrived here, and San is so proud of his fated mate's accomplishments, no matter how menial they may seem on the outside.

"How is your pack?" Seonghwa asks after they finish their meal, watching San as he pulls out the last covered plate that he wouldn't let him pull out earlier. He remembers his father saying how poor Eclipse was after the war so long ago and how they could hardly recover with how little people there were left. Seonghwa saw first hand when his family went there last year... There weren't a lot of people at all...

San reveals the plate, showing two small slices of chocolate cake and he chuckles at Seonghwa's audible gasp.

"We're doing better," San explains, getting out forks for the both of them so they can eat their cake, "A few mated couples that chose to stay in Eclipse gave birth to new pups not long before I got here, so the whole pack was excited. Much like your excitement about this cake," he smiles, looking up at Seonghwa, catching the corners of his lips turning up.

Seonghwa shyly nods, "Yes, thank you..." He says softly, eating his slice of the cake, "Why do people leave?"

San lets out a breath, "Well, Hwa... After the war that destroyed most all of Eclipse, many of the members left, not wanting to be surrounded by the constant reminder of their losses. Which, I understand, but if everyone continues to leave, it will never get better. You cannot just run from your problems," San says, seeming to have thought about this topic a lot in his alone time.

Seonghwa listens to San intently, feeling hit by his words.

You cannot just run from your problems

Seonghwa sighs, knowing that that is exactly what he's been trying to do for so long now. Maybe San is right.

"I do not mean to run from you, San," Seonghwa starts, "I hope that you can understand..."

San shakes his head, "No need to worry, my dear. There's much on your plate to think about, and much to uphold. Just remember what I said earlier, okay?" San shows him a hopeful and understanding smile, wanting to reassure Seonghwa that he is far from disappointed in him.

Seonghwa feels his wolf urging him towards San, and he knows his wolf must be in agony having San right in front of him all the time and doing nothing about it. There's so much conflict in his head, yet his heart only knows one solution.

"I have a surprise for you later," San starts, "When we get back tonight, make sure you don't head straight to bed."

Seonghwa's heart pounds at the anticipation for tonight, wondering what it could be San has planned for him, "Just... Make sure you get the right door this time," he plays, a small smile coming across his lips.

San feels his body ignite as soon as he sees Seonghwa's smile, finding it to be the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, leaving him breathless for a moment. He can't think of anything better than seeing Seonghwa happy, "I will."

"Wooyoung, are you feeling okay?"

Wooyoung looks to where the voice is coming from, his vision blurring, "I'm okay, I think...?" He says, hearing hushes voices as he's sat down to stabilize.

"His scent is too strong to not be."

"Isn't he on suppressants?"

"His mate did leave the grounds, though."

"Didn't you see his neck? I think something is wrong..."

Wooyoung looks up to the voices, seeing Gyungho, Dohyon, and his mate he never caught the name of. He feels uncharacteristically hot and he can't stand the feeling of it, his mind is flooding back with thoughts of Sunghee and he keeps trying to shake his head in an attempt to shake him away. The rejection is hitting his body and mind like a truck.

"Come here, Wooyoung, Dohyon and Haewon are going to take you back to the grounds, okay?" Gyungho says, approaching Wooyoung carefully.

"Why?" Wooyoung asks, looking up at him with glazed eyes.

"We think... That your heat is coming, so we have to take you to the omega building until it's run its course."

Wooyoung tilts his head as he stands up, confused, "But I'm on suppressants, it's impossible."

Gyungho sighs, "We know that, but we cannot take the chance. With all that you have been going through recently," he mentions, referring to his mating mark and his mate, "We believe your body is going into a forced heat to try and lure your mate back to you," Gyungho explains.

Yeosang sees Gyungho and his son talking with Wooyoung, so he comes over, "Is everything okay, Woo?"

Wooyoung looks over to Yeosang, becoming scared with the information he just learned, "I-I, uh, don't think so...?" He says, still confused with the situation he's found himself in. His body can't seem to cool down and he wishes it would stop so badly. He's never felt anything like this before, but if what Gyungho says is right, he's going into a forced heat.

Wooyoung has never been through a heat before since their pack, Riverside, puts their omegas on suppressants as soon as they're able to have heats. They do this so that they will be able to be saved for their mating ceremony, and after that they're able to regulate their own suppressants. They can decide at what time to come off of them to produce pups, and Wooyoung had decided he didn't want to stop taking them yet.

He wasn't ready for pups, and especially not with Sunghee... No matter how much Sunghee wanted them.

Wooyoung knows he no longer has to worry about that, though. He won't be having pups in the future. He focuses back on Yeosang and suddenly, the realization doesn't bother him as much. As long as he has a chance with Yeosang, he doesn't care about whether or not he has pups.

The one thing that concerns him is Dongwoo... Wooyoung hates how selfish he's being, trying to take Yeosang away from him, but his ego overrides his charitableness in this situation. The only way Wooyoung would let Yeosang go now, is if he were to say he didn't want to be with him.

Yeosang nods at Gyungho as he explains Wooyoung's situation, becoming extremely worried for Wooyoung at this point because he knows he's never experienced a heat before.

"I can go with him, right?" Yeosang begins to ask, but pauses when Dongwoo's arms wrap around his waist, asking if Wooyoung is okay. He thought he had smelt his scent becoming especially strong.

"It will be best if Wooyoung goes alone, since he will have to be taken care of by the older omegas of our pack. I hope you two understand," Gyungho says apologetically.

Yeosang and Dongwoo both nod, but Yeosang gives Wooyoung a hug, "We will be back soon to check on you, Woo."

Wooyoung hums sadly, nodding as his mouth is open so he can pant from the overheating of his body. He follows Dohyon and his mate Haewon back to Chrysalis grounds.

Wooyoung mentally prays that his heat will go away soon, cursing his wolf for wanting Sunghee back so badly that he sent his body into overload. He knows his wolf wants an alpha, but Wooyoung scolds himself, telling himself that he needs to try and fight for what he really wants.

And what he really wants is Yeosang.

End of Chapter Twenty Seven