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Junmyeon was exhausted.
It was mid-morning, but he couldn’t shake off the tiredness that followed a sleepless night. It wasn’t unusual for Junmyeon to be a bit tired when he woke up due to being a light sleeper with his worry over the children, but this night he hadn’t gotten the chance to rest. Only a short while after he and Yifan had gone to sleep for the night he found himself waking to a small cough near the edge of his bed. A quick look on the floor revealed the tiny panda Tao curled up on his blanket and shaking horribly.
Normally when Tao felt like it he would get out of his and Sehun’s shared bed and climb on the bed and snuggle in between the two adults, so it was a bad sign that he had ended up just on the floor. Quickly Junmyeon had gotten up and picked up the child, instantly noting his flushed face and ragged breathing. Junmyeon ended up spending the entire night watching the sick child and trying to comfort him.
Now Junmyeon and Kris were going to take a quick trip into the village to see if the doctor had anything for the poor child. It also was a good idea to keep him from the other children so as to not get them sick. Sehun appeared to be unfazed, which wasn’t surprising. Wolves tended to get sick the least out of all the species Junmyeon had seen, and if Sehun was anything like Yifan it would take a lot more to effect the pup. Since Sehun was still too young to be too far from Junmyeon, he had to join them either way. The sight was cute, Yifan holding the small pup to his chest with a sling gifted to them from Junmyeon’s brother. They both had matching tawny brown ears and tails.
Sehun was Junmyeon’s and Yifan biological child, being born only a little over a year ago. Zitao, and the other handful of children at the house were all orphan’s Junmyeon had taken in. While they now used Yifan’s estate for housing them, before they had been in a traditional, single room shack. Since then it had been upgraded and the other caretaker lived there and was currently watching the other children.
The trip was easy, both the kids sleeping. Tao would occasionally squirm around in Junmyeon's hold, but he never truly woke up. His condition didn’t seem to get much worse either, so Junmyeon was very grateful.
The village Doctor had a few people in the clinic, someone with a quiet nasty injury from a farming accident. Knowing Tao would be fine if they waited a little, they decided to wait instead of try to ask for anything now. Yixing, the doctor, was having issues holding the injured man down, so Yifan ended up handing over Sehun to Junmyeon and helping.
As Junmyeon put on the sling, Sehun let out a few small sounds, but quickly settled again. Tao on the other hand woke up, letting out a string of coughs and a loud whine. Not wanting to bother the other’s waiting nor risk getting them sick, Junmyeon decided to take the two outside for a moment. Only a short distance away was a well with a sitting area, so Junmyeon headed there. There was a small problem in Junmyeon being unable to sit with both his children, so He removed the sleepy Sehun from his sling and set him in the basket he had brought to carry stuff back. It was a surprisingly good fit, the pup still completely out as Junmyeon adjusted the blanket and set the basket next to him on the bench.
Tao was still whiny, unable to calm down even after Junmyeon gave him water and a snack of apple bits. He clung to Junmeon and sniffled into his shirt and Junmyeon ran his hand soothingly over the panda’s back. It didn’t take long for Tao’s mouth to find one of Junmyeon’s long black floppy bunny ears. It was a bad habit the child had picked up, softly chewing on Junmyeon sensitive ears. The action didn’t hurt, but it did tingle a bit. For some reason Tao had picked it up and would often suck on Junmyeons ears. It had been something they had worked on stopping, but right now with how upset Tao was Junmyeon couldn’t find it in his heart to stop him.
A few minutes passed of this, Junmyeon comforting Tao while keeping an eye on Sehun. It was rather amazing how easily Sehun seemed to be sleeping through everything. There were only a few other people in the area, most of them hanging around the other huts. A male did end up coming over to the well, and taking a seat on the bench too. Instantly Junmyoen pulled the basket closer to him, even with the space between himself and the man.
“Eomma.” Tao whined out, before letting out a concerning amount of coughs. Junmyeon's attention fully went to him, offering the cub water again which he struggled to drink. He snuggled even more into Junmyeon, whining more and more. A wave of worry hit Junmyeon and he began to wonder how much longer it would take Yifan to come with the medication.
While Junmyeon had been distracted, the man on the bench had very subtly moved the basket with Sehun closer to himself, peeking down at the pup. When Junmyeon glanced up to check on Sehun he didn’t notice the change, but did take note of the other man being a cougar that was looking at his baby. Something felt off, and a quick sniff told Junmyeon that there was something off with the man’s scent.
“Can I help you with something?” Junmyeon asked. Before he could reach over and take the basket the cougar took a hold of it and put it in his own lap.
Junmyeon felt his heart drop and fear shot through his entire body.
“What’s a bunny like you doing out here by yourself? Surely you want some company.” The man said, his voice rough. As he eyed Junmyeon up and down his eyes flashed red and filled with lust. Bunny’s were known for having higher libido’s, but to think a stranger would have the nerve to come up to junmyeon while he had his children with him was disturbing. It didn’t help that he had Sehun in his lap.
Junmyeon’s eyes darted around the area, desperate for some help. Nobody seemed to notice the exchange, probably assuming they knew each other. He couldn’t call for help or do anything in fear of what the man could do.
It hit him that the man was starting his rut, and gone to the nearest omega, not caring that he was mated or had children.
A growl came from Tao as the stranger moved to pet Junmyeon’s face. It didn’t sound quite right coming from the panda, but Junmyeon could see how the child was trying to mimic Yifan. The cub could sense Junmyeon terror and was trying to scare the predator away from his Eomma. Normally it would be a cute joke, but now Junmyeon could only worry what the man would do to his cub and pup.
The growl made the man chuckle and didn’t stop him from trying to grab Junmyeon. But his movement combined with Tao’s growls ended up waking up Sehun. The pup blinked groggily, looking around from his Eomma. He was quick to pick up on the fact Junmyeon was not in front of him and the familiar calming scent was now sour and bitter.
Sehun had never been too much of a crier, Tao had taken the cake by crying all the time. But for the first time Junmyeon had ever seen he let out the most earpericing wail, startling the cougar. Sehun’s cries drew the attention of those around them, and the stranger quickly moved to shut up the crying pup. Junmyeon picked up a familiar, comforting scent and in a burst of bravery he also moved, snatching the basket and trying to move away.
Everything would be okay now.
The cougar moved trying to grab the basket back but was stopped by a low, threatening growl.
Yifan grabbed a hold of the man by the back of his neck and yanked him back and way from his family. The wolf was pissed, his eyes glowing red and his canines out and ready to play. His pup’s wails had made him nervous, and upon coming out and smelling his mate’s soured scent his vision had gone red. How dare a stranger make his mate feel unsafe and try and take his pup? THe stranger had made his pup cry, something that was not common. Rut may make a person need to mate, but only a weak willed person would do something messed up like that.
The cougar tried to growl and fight back, but Yifan was quick to stop that by squeezing the man's neck tightly and restricting him. Normally he wouldn’t care about tearing a horrible person's throat out, but his mate and children were freaked out enough as it was. Instead, he threw the man to the ground with a threatening growl. Before he could get up one of the village guards had made it over and got a hold of the other alpha.
“Lock him up.” Yifan ordered, to which the guard nodded and took the man away. The cougar had made a big mistake, Yifan was one of the people in charge of this region despite what it seemed. Just because he had mated with Junmyeon and combined the orphanage with his estate didn’t mean people could do what they wanted. Having all the children around may have softened him, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to tolerate this kind of behavior.
With that all done, Yifan quickly made his way over to his mate. Instantly Sehun’s cries went down to small sniffles. Tao reached out for Yifan. “Papa.” He nearly sobbed out. Yifan picked up the cub and held him close, checking on his mate. He softly planted a kiss on the bunny’s head, relaxing him. Junmyeon proceeded to pick up Sehun and cuddle him close, planting kisses all over his baby's face until he calmed down again.
“Good job taking care of your Eomma and brother, Taozi.” Yifan said softly as Junymeon comforted his pup, Yifan rocking his cub in his arms. Tao still had tears spilling from his eyes, but he had seemed to calm down too. “Let’s give you some medicine and go home, okay.” Tao gave a small nod. With his arm not supporting his son, he pulled out his small pouch containing the leaves Yixing had said would help with his sickness. They were a little bitter, but Tao chewed and swallowed them best he could.
“Everything’s going to be okay.” Junmyeon said, holding his pup close and Joining Yifan. Tao instantly held out his arms to him, letting out a soft whine so the two parents traded children. The experience had been scary and had been far from the first bad run in Junmyeon had had, but he couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride knowing that his Children’s first thought in a scary situation was to take care of eachother.