A short time later, Maria came bursting through the door panting heavily. "Alright, I'm here! Where is he? What's wrong with the baby?" She asked while trying to shed all of her winter gear. She never even looked in the room. "I could hear he was upset. Please tell me he didn't fall. Whe-"

"Maria, I'm fine." Yeosang said, walking over to her. He had calmed down with the help of Hongjoong and was avoiding looking at anyone. He felt so embarrassed that he had been so emotional earlier, even though he knew it was just the hormones.

"Oh honey," she cupped his face and then started to look him over. "You look like you've been crying! What's the matter?"

A whine came from behind them and Maria poked her head over Yeosang's shoulder. She dropped her hands from his face only to cover her own mouth.

Yeosang stepped aside so she could shuffle forward and hug both San and Wooyoung at the same time. Theo and Avayla moved out of the way for a moment, but soon they too were hugging the wolves, giggling slightly.

"It's about time you boys came home!" Maria pulled back with a sudden scolding tone. "Do you have any idea what you have put the others through?"

Both of them hung their heads in shame and looked at the floor.

"It's ok Maria, it's been a rough morning already." Seonghwa said, moving to her side and placing a hand on her shoulders. She just 'humphed' as he helped her stand up.

"There was something that held them up," Hongjoong ran his hand through his hair, "But for some reason they are stuck in this form, and we have no way of really communicating. We were hoping you might know someone who knows the ancient text." He held up the three books.

Maria's mouth opened a little as she stepped forward. "Where did you get these?" She whispered.

"One we got from an ally before we moved here. The other two San and Wooyoung brought back with them." Yeosang went to grab one of them. "She left some notes in her book, so I've been able to decipher some of it, but there's just too much... Can you help us?"

The woman chewed on her bottom lip. "Where did you get those books from?" She turned to look at San.

The alpha bowed his head as his ears fell back.

"Was it Ultima?" 

Wooyoung now lowered himself to the ground. San licked the top of his head to try and comfort him and let out a small whine.

"What is the matter with Ultima?" Hongjoong looked between them.

Maria sighed and went to sit down. "Ultima... is my old pack. And they are not ones to be messed with. They are one of the few ancient packs left."

"You know, we keep hearing about these ancient packs and they keep popping up." Mingi growled. "And everyone makes it sound like they don't exist anymore!"

"They really don't." Maria gave him a sad look. "I think you boys have a knack for attracting trouble so they keep crossing your path. Primera and Ultima are really the two major ones that are left, if I'm being honest. There are a few stragglers that have managed to survive from others, but really those are the last two that still practice ancient magic."

"Oh we know that all too well." Yunho said, coming to move next to Wooyoung. "We came from Primera."

Maria's eyes widened as she looked at them. "And they let you live?" She glanced at Wooyoung.

"They tried to do everything they could to stop him. Both Wooyoung and Yeosang were forced to drink potions that burned their mating mark away." Yunho clenched his jaw, but his face softened when Wooyoung put his head in his lap.

"I wish you boys could tell me what you were doing with Ultima, but hand over the books. I'm a bit rusty, but I might be able to find something. No promises though... Oh, and will someone call Kenneth and let him know I may not be home for awhile?"

"Sure." Seonghwa jumped up and went for the phone. "I'll invite him to come over too if he'd like."

"That would be nice, thank you." Maria smiled. "Now, show me those notes Yeosang. You look like you need to sit down anyway. We can't have you getting too stressed out."

Yeosang nodded, grateful for the excuse to get off his feet.

He and Maria settled down on the couch and started flipping through Lizbeth's book and reading over her notes. When he got to the section with missing pages, he explained that those are what caused San and Wooyoung to leave in the first place, hoping that they held the cure for the omega.

Maria just nodded and opened one of the other books. Her hands shook as she looked over the pages. Seonghwa came to sit on her other side and Maria let out a content sigh. Both boys liked having her around since she had been, and still is, such a big help with the kinds.

Yeosang knew she felt the same way about them. Getting to be around pups again was something she had wanted for a long time.

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.

.

Yunho smiled as Wooyoung followed him into Theo's nursery for a nap. The small boy was rubbing his eyes and yawning as he snuggled into Yunho's shoulder.

The omega let out a little whine, sitting patiently as Yunho went to lay Theo down, but once he realized what was going on, he started to cry.

"Theo, sweetie, its nap time. You can barely keep your eyes open." Yunho cooed, kissing his tiny forehead.

Even though he couldn't hear, Theo still seemed to understand what Yunho was getting at and shook his head. Then he turned around, looked at Wooyoung, and pointed to him.

Sighing, Yunho crouched down so that Theo could stand on his own two feet and he scampered over to the omega, hitting him hard enough that he fell onto his side. But that appeared to be what Theo wanted because he let out a small giggle and nuzzled his face into Wooyoung's side.

Yunho could tell, even in his wolf form, that Wooyoung would be blushing right now at the action. He smiled and sat on the floor so he could run his hands through Theo's hair. It was still hard for him sometimes that he couldn't talk to Theo at a time like this. But at the same time, they had a different kind of silent relationship that was special in its own way.

Theo was so expressive with his face that you always knew what he was feeling. And right now, Yunho could tell that he was happy being with Wooyoung.

"He must know how much I missed you." He said quietly.

The omega shifted next to him so he could place his head in his lap. He let out a small whine and licked Yunho's other hand.

"I know..." Yunho sighed and leaned against the wall. He loved that he still knew all of Wooyoung's signals, so he could get a basic idea of what he was saying. Or maybe it was just his practice with Theo. "We didn't really get an answer earlier. Did you guys find it? Was it worth being gone for so long?"

He had to work hard to keep the hurt out of his voice, but Wooyoung still put his ears back. He could tell the omega was frustrated with not being able to speak to him.

"Blink once for yes, twice for no." Yunho said quickly.

Wooyoung glanced up at him and scrunched his nose.

He blinked once.

Then he blinked twice.

"What does that mean?" Yunho asked, more to himself than to his friend.

Theo let out a soft sound and nuzzled deeper into Wooyoung's orange and white fur. His hands held onto the omega as he rubbed his face against Wooyoung's side. It was obvious he had fallen asleep and was working on nestling in deeper.

A small hum came from Wooyoung as he pressed his head into Yunho's stomach.

"We will figure this out. But you're never allowed to leave again, you hear me?" Yunho moved so he could lay on the floor next to Wooyoung and look into his eyes. Theo was now in between them, cuddled into Wooyoung's side and stomach. Yunho placed his hand on the omega's paws and closed his eyes. "Please. It hurt too much."

Wooyoung stuck his tongue out to like the tip of Yunho's nose and blinked once.

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San sat in the living room watching Maria, Yeosang, and Seonghwa work on deciphering the books. He knew there was something in there that could fix them. If Ultima had been able to lock them in these forms, then their book could free them.

And he needed it to be soon. He was running out of time...

After watching the trio for a few hours, he went to go find Wooyoung. Following his scent, he trotted down the hall and paused when he saw Jongho leaning against the doorway to Theo's nursery.

He huffed to announce his presence, earning a smile from the younger. Jongho then put a finger to his lips and motioned for San to look in the room.

His heart melted.

Yunho was laying on the ground curled around Wooyoung, who in turn was curled around Theo. The little boy was laying against the omega's side, but one hand was holding onto Yunho's shirt.

He sat down and leaned into Jongho's leg, craving that connection with his alpha. Jongho put a hand on his head. "How's the research coming?"

San sighed and closed his eyes.

"It'll take some time. But you have all of our support. You know that, right?" Jongho looked down at him and San nodded in response. "I hope you're ready to do a lot of talking, because there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. How much trouble are you guys in with Ultima?"

His eyes flashed up to Jongho and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Ok. Well we will cross that bridge when we get there."

They both stayed in the doorway for a long moment just watching their mates sleep.

San yawned and stretched before returning to the living room. Hongjoong and Mingi were helping Kenneth inside. His face lit up when he saw San and he started to move to greet him.

"I think I found it!" Maria said, standing up quickly. Everyone froze and turned to look at her. "Yes, this one appears to be talking about 'form locking'... It's a boundary spell, where if you step over it, it'll trigger the lock and keep you in whatever form you are in. It's a complicated spell... And I need to get a few things for it. It also needs the full moon when I perform it."

"That's two weeks from now." Hongjoong said. "What can we do to help you prepare?"

"We need to find a spot where I can set this up and it will just be the two of them. We can't risk any of you getting caught in the spell too. Let me get a list of ingredients together that we need to gather and we can come up with a game plan."

Maria turned to San and beamed. "We will have you boys back to normal soon!"

San let out a little yelp and wagged his tail, even though his heart started to race. Two weeks was going to be pushing things.

He turned to Jongho and tugged on his shirt. "What is it San?" He whispered.

San cursed inwardly for not being able to talk with him. The others watched as he scrambled into the kitchen looking for something to write with. He yanked open one of the drawers and pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil.

He whined as he tried to write what he needed to say. Jongho and Hongjoong were at his side instantly, the younger placing a hand on his side.

He had to start over several times as holding the pencil in his mouth was hard and his letters were all squiggly, but finally he got something written.

'NO TIME. NEED WINTER SNOWBELL.'