Hongjoong was carrying a large sack of vegetables over his shoulder when it happened.

The second he heard Minhyuk suck in a breath and turn to look behind them, he dropped the sack and spun around as well.

Bora and Handong were running at them at full speed, drawing the eyes of everyone around them. A few of the workers moved closer together, whispering among themselves.

It was going to start getting harder and harder for them to hide what was going on.

"What's the matter?" Minhyuk asked as soon as the two alphas stopped in front of them.

"Nova is at the cabin."

"What?!" Hongjoong snarled, his lip curling as he prepared to start running, but the beta next to him was quick to grab his shoulder.

Handong nodded in confirmation. "We caught it in time. Yubin is there and she will protect Mingi. She said he's been hidden in a closet."

"We can't wait any longer." Hongjoong rounded on Minhyuk, knowing he was probably communicating with his mate right now. "We need to get him out of here. We need to-"

"I get it!" The beta snapped, clenching his jaw and holding up a hand. "But you need. To stay. Calm. Making a scene isn't going to help."

He knew Minhyuk was right, but that didn't stop his wolf from wanting to unleash the fury building within.

San was by his side seconds later, his own eyes dark and burning with his own hatred, with Peniel beside him. "So what are we going to do?"

The pack members in front of them exchanged looks. If Nova really was on the hunt for Mingi, their time to plot and plan was running out. It was hard to say what she was going to do next, but it was obvious that her main goal was finding him again.

Before anyone could answer, Bora's eyes grew wide and Handong gasped before covering her mouth.

"What is it?" Hongjoong asked, taking a step toward them.

Bora was the first to gather her wits. Her faced slowly drained of color as she spoke. "Nova... She threw up blood and... the alpha's she'd called to her side are taking her to the medical cabins. Mingi is safe, but Nova is livid. She's ordering Yubin to tear the cabin apart because she know's Mingi is there."

"If she's going to be there..."

"Then now would be the time to get you out of here." Minhyuk finished Hongjoong's thought for him.

With a nod, Minhyuk and Peniel gathered up the loose chains and gave to San and Hongjoong. This was the first time they were openly disobeying Nova's orders. A few of the wolves around them paused their conversations to watch as the four of them started to run through the fields, while many more looked around with alarm.

There was no time to worry about them, though. Hongjoong's only concern was protecting his family.

But that was going to be a lot more challenging than he thought, because only seconds later he came to a crashing halt because of Handong screeching, "NOOOOOOOO!!"

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"He's fine." Siyeon said over and over again. Her gentle hands rubbed circles into Avayla's back as she tried her best to comfort her friend.

But Avayla was having a hard time staying calm. Even though Yubin was at the cabin, it killed her knowing she couldn't be there to protect her father if something went wrong.

Her mind kept coming up with all these insane visions of how Nova would punish him for escaping...

"Mama..." Maria grabbed her hand and squeezed. Her gentle, woodsy scent started to fill the room.

"I'm sorry, Sweetheart." The alpha fell to her knees in front of her daughter and pulled her into a hug. She hadn't told Maria everything that was going on, not wanting to scare her, but it was so hard to hide her feelings right now.

From across the room, Gahyeon and Minji looked up from where Kendra was sleeping in her crib. "We all need to take a moment to just breathe." Minji said softly. "Bora and Handong are going to your uncles, Yubin is with you father, it's going to be alright."

"I just..." Avayla closed her eyes and chewed on the inside of her cheek. It was already raw and bruised, but now she couldn't stop herself. "I feel like something bad is going to happen."

Then screams came from somewhere south of them.

Siyeon was the first to react, standing up and facing the door. Her entire body cried alert and fear the way she stood completely still and ridged.

All three alphas glanced at each other at the same time when they heard a second scream. "Yoohyeon..." Minji said, then all three of them were running for the door.

"Wait!" Avayla called after them. "Stay with Kendra." She said to Maria before rushing after her friends.

Only to be grabbed by a set of strong hands. She yelped in pain when the momentum yanked her arms behind her back and her feet went flying in the air.

Whoever held her ended up swinging her around in a circle, then used their strength to bring her to her knees in the dirt.

"Stay down." It was another female alpha, one she'd never met.

"Let go of me!!" Avayla twisted her upper body back and forth, trying to break free from her grasp.

Until a knife was held to her throat. "I said stay down."

Avayla snarled and was about to start struggling again, but then she saw that her friends had all been pinned to the ground as well.

Each one had two alphas on top of them, pressing them into the grass and dirt using both their dominance and strength.

"Unhand us!!" Minji ordered. "Now! I am Nova's right hand!"

"Not anymore." One of the alphas holding her down sneered. "Stop struggling before we have to hurt you. We are only here for her and the kids."

Avayla's heart stopped, no, everything stopped. Yet her eyes shot open and she mustered a mighty roar while throwing all of her weight forward to try and wrench her arms free. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY GIRLS!!"

But then a cry of fright came from inside the house right before a baby crying.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!! LET ME GO!! I WILL RIP YOUR THROATS OUT!!" Avayla screeched at the top of her lungs.

Two more female alphas had to run over to pin her to the ground, all three of them ordering her to surrender and cease fighting.

How could she, though, when another pair of alphas came strutting out of her house. One had Kendra, who was wailing at the top of her lungs, cradled in her arms, and the other had a kicking and screaming Maria thrown over her shoulders.

"Mama!! Mama!!"

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!! GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY GIRLS!!" Avayla's roars were broken up by sobs now. Tears of rage and hate slid down her face, especially when Maria lifted her head to look at her with pleading eyes.

"Mama please!" Her daughter cried, reaching for her now.

"Maria, honey, d-don't fight them, ok? It's going to be alright." Avayla continued to pull against her captors, but she was loosing her will to get free, not with her daughters in the enemy's arms.

One of the alpha's behind her chuckled lowly and dug her knee into her back. "That's it. Stop fighting us and they won't be harmed."

Avayla whimpered, sinking into the earth below her to try and get away from the pain. Her gaze flicked to her friends, who were all looking either at her or where Maria and Kendra were being taken.

They looked scared too...

Theo? B-Baby can you hear me? Avayla called out to her mate as she was hauled off the ground. She winced when her arms were yanked behind her and lashed together. Theo??

Silence came from the other side of the link.

Had they taken him too?

The anxiety building within her suddenly spiked when she tried to get any kind of reading from her mate. She could feel him... He wasn't in pain or afraid, there was nothing bad tugging at the bond, so why wasn't he answering?

Avayla whined, her long, platinum blonde hair flying in all directions as she whipped her head around in a desperate attempt to find out what was happening.

As she was dragged away, the growls of her captors vibrating in her ears, she thought she heard Siyeon begging to know where Yoohyeon was.

Everything was happening so fast. They'd gone from spying, to trying to plan, to... this...

They were out of time.

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Tired didn't even begin to describe what Seonghwa and the rest of his pack was feeling right now.

They'd been walking for days and days without much break.

He was just thankful they were now traveling downhill more than uphill. It made a huge difference with how much effort they had to put into walking.

Snow was still a problem, but now it was more of an inconvenience than anything.

He watched as Gunner took the lead, the alpha's ears on a constant swivel and his head low to the ground so he could pick his way through the sloping terrain.

We are going to need more food soon. Yunho commented. He was looking over his shoulder at the rucksack on his back and scrunching his muzzle.

Keep an eye out, then. Jongho said softly from where he'd fallen behind. The alpha had been leading for the last few hours, so now he was taking advantage of the already moved snow to make walking a little easier on him.

But he was obviously tired.

They all were.

No one wanted to ask if they thought they were getting closer or how much longer it would be...

But those questions weighed heavily on all of them.

Especially for himself, Yeosang, and Wooyoung. The constant longing for their alphas was something they had never wanted to go through again. And the mixed signals they all received did nothing to relieve their stress.

Seonghwa had stopped in his tracks when he'd felt joy coming from his link. So had the other two, but they had actually started crying.

What were their mates doing that brought them joy...?

Their emotions had become so overwhelming that they ended up stoping for the day because they didn't know how to handle it.

Now they were just trying to take things one step at a time, never willing to stop.

A pleasant warmth started to run over Seonghwa's body, flowing down to his very core as clouds parted to reveal the sun. It was the first time they'd seen it in a couple of days. The snow around them glistened under its gentle rays.

Oh my god... Yeosang's deep voice made everyone pause, then turn to look at him.

The beta was looking straight ahead, Rhodey mirroring him almost exactly by his side. Their jaws dropped a little and their tails slowly started to droop.

Seonghwa was the first to follow their gaze.

The sun had revealed more of their surrounding than they had realized. In front of them, the mountains slowly disappeared into rolling hills and eventually a large forest.

It almost looked like home, but didn't at the same time.

Some of the trees were different, the foliage, even the air was strange somehow.

The forest stretched all the way to the horizon, deep greens and browns painting the land as far as they could see in any direction.

Except...

There! Wooyoung sprang forward, bounding in the snow and whining repeatedly.

To their right, at the base of one of the mountains, was a large section of the forest that had been cleared.

Fields of crops took up a large portion of the sight, and hundreds of cabins were built going back up the mountainside. It looked like they probably continued on, making whatever town this was wrap around the mountain itself, which meant they couldn't see how big the place actually was.

Jongho let out a warning growl, gaining control over the excited omega so he could move to the front of his pack. Then he lifted his nose to the sky and started scenting the air.

He was looking for any signs of trouble, for enemies, for something to help him.

And the second his body tensed, Seonghwa knew he'd found an answer.

What is it? Jongho, please, what is it? Seonghwa asked, stepping forward slowly.

He watched his alpha turn around, a stunned look on his face.

Is it humans? Gunner lifted his head, preparing to copy what Jongho he done.

But Jongho shook his head, then looked at each of them, one by one.

Nerves, fear, anticipation, curiosity, caution... they all flew from the alpha as his body started to tremble.

When he spoke again, his words held more weight to them than anything else he could have said. They crashed into all of them, drilling in their significance and urgency, drilling in what the next step for them was going to be...

It's a wolf pack.