Chapter Text
Prince Jisung of the Northern Tribe fell ill shortly after his twenty-fifth birthday.
It had come suddenly. One day the prince was his normal cheery, slightly goofy self and the next he was almost comatose, shifting in and out of consciousness in his bed. His body was ice cold to the touch and they could barely feel a pulse beneath his sallow skin.
Outside his bedchambers Jisung’s parents stood with Changbin, head of the royal guard and Minho, one of the most skilled archers in their military and—most importantly—Jisung’s mate. They stood in stock silence until the heavy door opened and the royal healer stepped out, looking ashen.
“My highnesses, I’m so sorry” the man said in a low voice “it’s Lupine Fever”
The queen gasped as she clutched onto her husband’s robes. Lupine Fever. It was a swift and deadly disease that slowly ate away at a wolf’s mind and heart until there was nothing but a cold, statue-like husk of a body left.
There was no cure.
“What can we do?” Minho asked, eyes hard.
“There isn’t much to do with Lupine Fever” the healer said, apologetic “keep the prince as warm and comfortable as possible until the end. Stay with him. He might not always be able to reply to you, but his mind is still intact for now and he will understand everything you say. With the Goddess’s grace, he should be with us for a few weeks still”
“Weeks?” The king said, weakly. That was all the time they had left with their son?
“We need to fix this” Minho said, as he looked at the rest of the people gathered there.
“Minho hyung, you know there’s no cure” Changbin said as gently as he could.
“No” Minho spat out. He glared at the healer “I’m not just going to accept that we can’t fix this. There has to be something”
The older man stumbled “Your highness, Lupine Fever is incurable”
“It’s not incurable, you just don’t know how to cure it” Minho said. He turned around and pinned the rest of the group with wild eyes “What if we take him somewhere else? Down south…the Southern Kingdom has the Male Omega. Everyone says that he has powers to cure anything. We need to take Jisung to him and get him healed”
“The Red Priest?” The Queen breathed out “Minho, you know he’d refuse to help us. He wouldn’t even see us”
“We have to at least try! I can’t let Jisung just die like this”
“Son, the Southern Kingdom will kill you before you even get close to the Red Priest.” The King said with a shake of his head “after the Capitol Massacre years ago, they won’t let a Northerner past their city walls. I want to save Jisung as much as you, but your life is on the line if you go there”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take to heal him” Minho said. He looked at the healer “Go and get that scholar from the Southern Kingdom, Hyunjin. He can help us reach the red Priest”
Hwang Hyunjin was a novelty amongst the Northern Kingdom. With his light brown hair and golden, sun kissed skin he was a rare and delicate beauty amongst the more rugged and wind-chilled wolves of the North. As a historian from the Southern Kingdom, he had been traveling to learn everything he could about the tribes and wolves in the northern lands and had taken refuge in the Northern Capitol to ride out the winter. He stayed in a small guest cabin on the edge of the city most of the days—the royal family had invited him to stay with them in the palace but there was bad blood between the two kingdoms and Hyunjin preferred to stay away from the royals.
Which is why he looked thoroughly unimpressed now that he had been summoned by them.
“I was in the middle of completing my last chapter” Hyunjin said, looking at the royal family with a single eyebrow raised “so this better be good”
“Jisung is sick” Minho said, straight to the point “He has Lupine Fever”
“I’m sorry” Hyunjin answered automatically, wincing a little. He had nothing against Jisung. In fact, he had found the boy to be a gracious and kind person….like his own Crown Prince had once been.
“We want to cure him” Minho continued. Hyunjin looked up at him in confusion.
“There is no cure for Lupine Fever. If you’re asking me if I’ve come across any in my travels, the answer is no. No tribe out there has found one”
“We know” Changbin interjected. He sounded extremely weary “Minho hyung wants you to take us back to your homeland”
“My homeland?” Hyunjin said, even more confused “What does my homeland have to do with the Prince’s illness?”
Changbin sighed “It’s not what your homeland has, it’s who…”
“Who…” Hyunjin’s eyes grew wide. “You want to take him to Felix”
“Who?” Minho asked.
“Felix…the Red Priest” Hyunjin said. He felt his anger grow “You want Felix to cure the Prince”
“We heard he has powers to do that” Changbin.
“What makes you think any of you have the right to Felix’s powers?” Hyunjin asked, bristling a little “After what your kind did to him?’
“The people who committed the Capitol Massacre were from the north, but they were not part of our Kingdom” the Queen said. “They were a rogue tribe, you cannot blame us for it”
“But your kingdom did nothing to stop them” Hyunjon countered “everyone in the Southern Kingdom is wary of anyone from the north. I don’t think that the Prince will be allowed to pass through the city gates, let alone even get close to Felix”
“I heard that the Red Priest is very forgiving” Minho said “Surely he can put aside his feelings to help us. Jisung is innocent and without the Red Priests’s powers, he’s going to die”
“You don’t know the first thing about Felix” Hyunjin said.
“Then tell us” Changbin insisted “You’re a historian. Tell us about about him and we can decide for ourselves if we want to seek him out”
Hyunjin sighed and leaned back against the wall of the small room they were gathered in. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander to his homeland. He if thought hard enough, he could even feel the bright sun falling on him, smell the clean air, the fresh grass, the ocean. He could hear the bright, bell-like laugh that had once belonged to Felix…
~~**~~
Lee Felix was always a happy boy. He had been born on a surprisingly warm day in Autumn. The sun shone fiercely when his mother went into labor and by the time the pup’s first cries filled the birthing room, the moon was overhead—bright and nearly full.
The first sign that there was something strange about the Lee child was his coat. In the southern tribe, a wolf’s coat was usually some shade of grey or brown. The royal family all had pure black coats—a sign of their nobility. But the rest of the wolfs ranged from a tan brown all the way to a dark, dusky silver. The lightest any wolf’s coat went was a very beige caramel color.
Felix had been born with a completely white coat that became even brighter and starker as he grew older. The healers were at first worried it might be a medical condition, but when the boy’s yearly checkups showed nothing more than a very intelligent, healthy pup, they figured it was just a beautiful fluke of coloring.
The other pups in the Capitol’s pup creche had all been fascinated by Felix’s coat—but none more so than Prince Chan.
Chan was eight and already considered himself to be a big boy. Which was why he was very much not crying as he sat by the shore of the little creek that ran through the creche, nursing a skinned knee that he had gotten running around earlier. Sure, his eyes were a little watery but that had nothing to do with the blood dripping down his leg.
“Oh no! You hurt!!”
Chan looked up and saw a pup he had never seen before running towards him with clumsy steps. He looked younger, probably one of the new five-year olds joining them.
“M’not hurt” Chan muttered thickly.
“Your knee. It has blood!” The pup said, kneeling down and looking up at Chan with the biggest eyes that the young prince had ever seen before. He had a head full of floppy white hair and Chan wondered if it was real. He had never seen hair like that, not even in his picture books.
“It’s not a lot of blood” the prince said, shyly.
“It is” the other pup said. “But you’re not crying…”
“Yeah” Chan agreed, eyes wet with unshed tears “I’m not crying”
“Wow” the little pup breathed out, eyes shining so bright as he stared up at the older boy “You’re the bravest pup I’ve ever seen”
Chan felt his chest swell up “Really?” He whispered.
“Yeah” the younger pup said with a bright smile. Chan thought that smile was brighter than the moon or even the sun!
“What’s your name?” Chan asked.
“Felix!” the happy pup answered, white hair flopping into this huge eyes.
And Chan knew—with all his eight years on this earth—that this pup was special. That he would be the bravest wolf in the world and smack down anyone who would try to hurt the little one. He nodded his head and made his first ever declaration
“I’m Chan. And you’re my best friend from now on, Felix”
“Okay!” Felix said, vibrating a little out of excitement. He had never had a best friend before and now he had the most brave pup in the world as one! He put his small hand on Chan’s injured knee and the two pups watched in fascination as the cuts healed themselves almost instantly.
“Woah. It doesn’t hurt no more” Chan whispered, before both of them with their innocent and naive minds got distracted by a deer running a few feet in front of them and the stumbled after it—hand in hand—in mock hunt.
The mystery of Chan’s rapidly healed knee was completely lost on the two boys, but was observed very carefully by the creche director. She watched in utter fascination as Felix seemed to somehow heal the Prince’s knee without any use of herbs or tinctures, but simply just by placing his hand on top of the injury.
That night, once all the pups were back in their own homes, the creche director went straight to the royal healer with her findings.
Jooyeon was an elder wolf—had been around for a good many years and had seen all sorts of conditions and bewitchments. But a pup being able to heal wounds through touch alone? That was something new…
“Are you sure you saw correctly, Sunye?”
Sunye nodded emphatically. As the director of the creche, all she did every day was observe all the pups and make sure they were growing up correctly. And now that the eldest prince was in her care, she watched over all the little ones even closer. She was more than sure of what she had seen.
“We have been wondering about Felix since he was born” Jooyeon said, running a hand through her auburn hair “his coloring is…well, you’ve seen him. None of us have ever come across a white wolf before. But all of his milestone tests have shown that he’s normal, if not a little advanced for his age”
Sunye bit her lip “Do you think he could be…well I know one hasn’t existed since ancient times but…”
Jooyeon’s eyes widened as she looked at the younger wolf “Don’t even suggest it, Sunye. The moon goddess doesn’t take talk of her miracles lightly”
“But it would make sense. The coloring, the healing ability…they’re signs of a male omega. The ancient texts said that they’re given powers beyond what we can comprehend”
Female wolves had always been able to present as any of the three secondary genders; however male wolves, since the beginning of time, were only ever able to be alphas or betas. It made perfect biological sense seeing as males had no way to carry or birth a pup.
But according to the ancient texts, once every so often—when the Moon Goddess found herself wanting to gift a miracle onto her wolves—a male omega would be born.
In the ancient times, a male omega would forever stay unmated and unpupped; for the benefit of the wolf. While a male omega had the ability to carry a child, there was no way for the child to exit their body and they would die during childbirth. In order to make up for the lack of mate and pups, the Moon Goddess always granted male omegas with extraordinary powers. Powers of healing, of foresight, of being able to read the emotions and intentions of others.
In the modern day, with healing as advanced as it was now, a male omega could technically be mated and pupped as they could surgically remove the pup from the omega’s womb when the time came, but they never had to before because no male omega had existed in modern history…until…
“Go back home, Sunye” Jooyeon said, closing her eyes “And don’t speak of this to anyone. For now, we'll just continue to observe Felix. No need to make the poor pup a spectacle based on a hunch”
Sunye nodded, suddenly feeling the weight of a monumental secret placed upon her. But it was her duty to keep all the pups of the Capitol safe during the day while their parents were out doing their duties, so she would continue to do that. And if she was going to keep an extra close, protective eye on Lee Felix from now on, that was just for her to know.
Felix continued to grow beautifully—every bit the happy, joyful, intelligent pup that he had always been. His parents did wonder sometimes about why their pup seemed to be called to the healing center more than others for checkups and why Jooyeon, the royal healer herself, was the one to do all of them. Surely a wolf of her pedigree would be too busy to be bothered with something as mundane as a pup well-check, but they figured that everyone was just concerned because of their son’s unusual coloring and sometimes odd behavior.
Felix’s mother did notice that her son was a little bit more observant than a normal pup. He seemed to almost be able to predict things before they happened, and his instincts were razor sharp. When a new merchant had come into the Capitol to sell wares the month before, Felix had taken one look at him and burst out crying, hiding behind his mother and repeating that it was a bad bad man. Sana had been a bit embarrassed as she comforted her pup and brought him back home. But later in the day, when the merchant was caught stealing from local vendors, Sana had to wonder what her pup had sensed.
“He gets it from me” her mate had said proudly. Junho was a scout and had excellent perception himself, so they both figured it was indeed probably was inherited from him.
It was easier to be in denial than try to understand why their pup was a little different from all the others.
One thing that was undeniable, however, was how close Felix was to the crown prince, Chan. From the first day that Felix had entered the creche and Chan had declared him to be his best friend, the two pups were near inseparable. Though they had a three year age difference, it was rare to find one without the other.
Even now, when the 12 year olds were doing their big exams, Chan stood sulking in front of the examination hall—glaring daggers at the gate as though it would make them open faster.
“Who died and made you the Prince of Hell?” Hyunjin asked with a snort from where he was lounging on the ground. Jeongin, Chan’s younger brother, rolled around on the grass a few feet away from them.
“What?”
“You look like you want to murder someone, hyung” Hyunjin pointed out, trying to mock what Chan’s face looked like. He just ended up looking constipated.
“I don’t like these tests” Chan grumbled “they take too long”
“The pup temperament test is the most important exam that any of us will ever take, hyung” Hyunjin said with a sigh “Just because you two are princes and already know what you’re going to be doing doesn’t change the fact that for the rest of us plebeians, the temperament test tells us what duty we’re most suited for. Seungmin and Felix’s whole future is on the line here!”
“So dramatic” Jeongin muttered around a mouthful of grass.
Chan had to agree with his brother.
“Why does Lix even need to find a duty?” Chan asked moodily “he can just stay in the palace with me”
Hyunjin raised an eyebrow “Doing what?”
“I dunno, he can be my advisor or something. We’ll give him some sort of title. But we’d just hang out all day”
“And what if Felix actually wants a life that’s not just hanging around you all day?”
Jeongin looked up from where he was rolling around “But hanging around together is hyung's favorite thing to do! What else would Felix hyung want to do?”
Hyungjin rolled his eyes at the eleven year old “Literally anything else in the world, Jeongin! There are so many duties out there to do. That’s what the whole test is for, for Felix to find what his passion is. I had no idea a historian was even a job before the test placed me as one, and now here I am preparing to study up North. Felix’s results may shock us all”
Chan felt a cold dread in his stomach. What if Felix was also chosen to be a historian like Hyunjin, or as an ambassador? Would he also go up North for years and be away from the kingdom? Or what if he was chosen to be a scout like his father and spend all his days guarding the woods outside the Capitol? Then they would never see each other anymore…
Just the thought of not being able to see Felix for days or—god forbid—years at a time was enough to make Chan nauseous.
“If Lix gets sent up North, I’ll go with him” Chan declared.
Hyunjin laughed “Hyung, you’re the next King. You can’t just go up North”
“Jeongin can be the King, I don’t care” Chan said airily “Lix and I will explore the North together, it’ll be fun”
“I already have enough of the two of you down here, I don’t need you to follow me up there as well” Hyunjin snorted.
“And I don’t want to be king, hyung.” Jeongin whined “whatever father does all day looks so boring”
A bell chimed before Chan could say anything else and the three boys whipped their heads towards the examination hall where all the twelve year olds were currently streaming out, chattering to each other excitedly as they compared results.
Chan stared at the students walking out, completely ignoring when they bowed to him and Jeongin. He bounced on the balls of his feet, hands clenching and unclenching at his side in nervousness.
Finally Seungmin and Felix emerged from the examination house, their assignments clutched in their hands. Seungmin was saying something, a comforting hand placed on Felix’s shoulder. Felix, on the other hand, was completely devoid of his signature sunny smile. Instead his eyebrows were creased—hair fluffy and white and wild on top of his head.
Chan immediately took off in full run towards the two boys. Hyunjin and Jeongin followed wordlessly behind him.
Felix looked up as though he sensed Chan running to him. His mouth pulled into a full pout as he opened his arms “Channie…”
Chan ran full sprint towards him, coming to a halt as he gathered the younger boy in his arms as gently as he could “Lix-yah” he said softly, petting the soft white hair tucked under his chin as he whispered comforting things that only he and Felix could hear.
Hyunjin refrained from rolling his eyes at his two friends. He looked over at Seungmin “So what did you get?”
“Healer” Seungmin announced proudly, holding out his results. He was one of the smartest pups of their year so it wasn’t a big shock to anyone.
“Just like your grandmother!” Jeongin said happily.
“You’ll probably be the next royal healer once she retires, huh?” Hyunjin asked.
“Maybe” Seungmin shrugged “But speaking about my grandmother, she’s the one who did Felix’s temperament test”
“Jooyeon-sshi did it?” Hyunjin asked, completely confused. Jooyeon was the royal healer—the most important healer in all of the kingdom! What was she doing administering a pup temperament test? Usually the school teachers just did it.
“I thought it was weird too” Seungmin said “but once he got his results, it kinda made sense”
The three of them turned to where Chan and Felix were still clinging to each other.
“It’s okay if you got an assignment up North, little one” Chan was rambling “I already decided that I would leave the kingdom to Jeongin and go with you. I…I heard it’s actually really pretty up there. We can discover new places, yeah? It’ll be a lot of fun. I can…uh, I can even learn to make fires and we can live like the ancient wolves did—hunting and all that in our wolf forms”
“I don’t want the Kingdom” Jeongin whined.
Felix finally looked up at Chan—wide eyes confused “Channie, I didn’t get an assignment up North”
“Then what are you so worried about?” Chan asked “As long as you’re down here with me…uh, us….you’ll be okay”
“I’m worried because the assignment I got sounds really important” Felix muttered “and I don’t think I can do it”
Chan held Felix away from his body, hands gripping strongly onto the younger one’s shoulders “Lix, there isn’t anything in the whole world that you can’t do”
Felix turned red and looked down at the ground, kicking at the dirt with his shoe “I dunno…”
“Felix” Hyunjin said gently as he walked over to them—careful not to get too close lest he get growled at by Chan. All of their friend group was a little indulgent of Felix. It was hard not to when the boy was always so soft and sweet and happy. “I doubt they would give you an assignment if they didn’t think you were ready for it”
“Are you going to be a healer too, hyung?” Jeongin asked, trying to catch a glimpse of what was written on Felix’s paper.
Felix tried to bury himself back into Chan, but the older boy’s grip on his shoulders was too strong. “No…”
“Lix-yah, just tell me what it is” Chan encouraged. “We’ll figure it out together. We always do”
Felix sighed deeply and slowly unfolded the paper in his hand. Hyunjin and Jeongin crowded around to read the words written there.
“High Priest” Chan read aloud, looking back at the boy in front of him with wide eyes “Wow, Lix, that’s…”
“Jooyeon-sshi said it was because I had a strong connection to the Moon Goddess” Felix said, sounding distressed. Chan whined low in the back of his throat as one of his hands lowered to comfortingly run up and down Felix’s back “But…but I think she made some kind of mistake. I don’t feel any sort of connection.
“Grandmother doesn’t make mistakes like that” Seungmin said. “Maybe your connection will grow as you do your training”
“But the High Priest is such an important job” Felix said, sounding so dejected. “It’s supposed to go to someone special. And I’m…just me…”
“Lee Felix” Chan said, sounding almost angry. Felix turned his wide eyes to his best friend’s face, finding nothing but blinding sincerity and love written there “don’t ever say that about yourself. You are the most special wolf there is and the Moon Goddess is lucky to have you as her priest”
“Hyung!” Hyunjin said a little panicked at Chan’s words. The older wolf looked at him with sharp eyes.
“What? It’s true! No one is better than Felix, not even the Moon Goddess”
“We’re all getting sent to hell” Hyunjin moaned.
“Hyung, as future High Priest you should probably stop Chan hyung from talking like that” Jeongin pointed out.
Felix pouted again “No way. My Channie can say whatever he wants”. Chan preened.
“Yeah, definitely all getting sent to hell” Seungmin sighed.
The days after the Temperament test were filled with training for their upcoming duties. Seungmin always seemed to have his head in a book, or out in the fields collecting various herbs to grind into medicines and tinctures. Under the watchful eye of his grandmother, he quickly learned all the ways of healing, from the methods of ancient wolves to the newer, more advanced procedures. He did notice that his grandmother emphasized the importance of a lot of seemingly random procedures—they had spent a whole three months on just going over how to deliver a baby by cutting into an omega’s stomach and accessing the womb. It was a rare procedure so Seungmin didn’t know why he was learning it in such detail—but their kingdom was vast so he just figured his grandmother was readying him for all possibilities.
Hyunjin, was preparing for his trip up North to expand upon their Kingdom’s limited knowledge of their brother clans. Wolves from the south rarely ever ventured beyond their borders, so all of the friend group was excited for him and helped him comb through any bits and pieces their library had on the Northern Territories.
Felix’s training, on the other hand, was very vague and consisted of learning the steps to the various ceremonies and yearly traditions. The current High Priestess—a beautiful and eccentric woman named Hyuna—was just about as confused as Felix was with his assignment. Jooyeon just calmed both of their concerns by promising that it would make sense in a few years and for now, Felix should just observe how the Moon Temple worked.
It left a lot of time for Chan and Felix to continue to roam around together. They raced around the halls of the palace—under the indulgent and joyful eyes of all the staff as well as Chan’s parents. Felix had almost been adopted as another son by the royal couple, just as Chan had become an honorary Lee. They spent time with Felix’s sisters—roaming around the marketplaces and beaches, and ran in the woods daily with Jeongin.
It was all simple and happy innocent fun until a month after Chan’s eighteenth birthday.
That morning Chan had woken up feeling as though his whole body was on fire. He had fevers before, but nothing like this—the furs beneath him were absolutely drenched with sweat and he felt so hot that he was afraid anything he touched would instantly catch on fire.
The air in his bedroom was thick and heavy and filled with the scent of Lavender and Orange. It should have been a calming smell but Chan wasn’t sure that anything in the world could calm the fire roaring through his body currently.
What felt like hours later, the door to his room opened and his parents strolled in as casually as if it was any other day. His mother took one look at her son groaning and sweating through his sheets and gasped, clapping her hands happily.
“Channie-ah, congratulations!”
“I think I’m going to die” Chan groaned, voice sounding raspy. He was dying and his parents seemed a little too excited about it.
“You’re not dying, boy” his father said with a chuckle “you presented”
Chan extracted his head from the pile of furs he had buried it in. Even though he was feverish, the cool air on his skin felt almost painful. “What?”
“You presented” his father repeated. “Didn’t you learn about this in school?”
“And from how strong the scent in this room is, it seems as though you’re an alpha” his mother said cheerfully. “Lavender and orange is not a combination I’ve smelled before but it’s lovely, Chan”
An alpha Chan thought as he stared at the ceiling of his room. It wasn’t a huge surprise. Males only presented as one of two things and most of royal line had been made up of the traditional alpha and omega pairs, with a few betas sprinkled in here and there. Chan knew that he was due to present anytime after his eighteenth birthday, he just didn’t know it would be this uncomfortable.
“Your body will adjust to its new temperature soon enough” his father said. “Everything will just feel achey for the next few days as you get used to it all, but it’s a good change. You’re officially not a pup anymore”
“I like being a pup” Chan muttered, wanting to kick his feet in protest, but his body felt too heavy to do anything.
“Being an adult wolf has its perks too” his mother said fondly “starting from this upcoming full moon, you’ll be able to declare a mate and start courting”
“Courting?” Chan asked with wide eyes, looking over to his parents.
“Of course. We’re all excited to see who the Crown Prince picks to be his mate” his mother continued “is there a pretty wolf in your year that you’ve had your eye on?”
“Jihyo, I think we both know who Chan intends to mate” Chan’s father said in low tones, so his son wouldn’t hear.
“I know, Taecyeon, but forgive me if I want to tease a little” Jihyo whispered back.
Chan, on the other hand, was having something like a crisis as he sat sweating on his bed. A mate? Courtship? Pretty wolf in his year???
There was no wolf in his year that he could even think about courting, let alone mating. Mating was for life and there wasn’t a single wolf in the kingdom that he could imagine spending his whole life with besides…
“Your highnesses” one of the staff came into the room, suddenly, looking very nervous “there is a bit of a problem”
“Yes?” Taecyeon said, brows knitting.
“Lee Felix-sshi came to visit” the staff said in a hurry “He’s, uh, crying”
Chan’s head shot up. Felix was there? Felix was crying? Even though his whole body felt like it was made out of burning lead, Chan forced himself out of bed and walked towards the door as quickly as his could.
His parents stared at him in awe. Though betas had a relatively easy presentation, an alpha wolf was usually not able to move much at all for the first day of theirs. Yet here was their son—sluggish but sure in his steps as he walked through his room.
Felix burst in mere seconds later—tears streaming down his face.
“Channie!” He cried before running straight to his best friend, tackling him so that they both fell onto the ground. Chan let out a groan, but it was barely audible over Felix’s cries “You…you didn’t show up to my training grounds today and I got worried so I asked some staff and they said that you were still in bed. Are you sick, Channie? Was it because I made you go into the stream last night to get my hat back?”
Felix was overcome with guilt and Chan’s sole purpose became to convince the younger boy that he was okay.
“I’m not sick, little one” Chan muttered as he ran a heavy hand through Felix’s white hair. “I just presented”
“Presented?” Felix asked, extracting his head from Chan’s chest. He finally seemed to register how hot his friend was under his hands and he lifted his head and took a deep inhale. He turned to Chan with a bright smile, tacky tear trails shining on his cheeks. Chan had always known that his best friend was beautiful, but he was almost glowing currently.
“Oranges, and…and lavender” Felix said sunnily. “It’s perfect for you, Channie! Alpha”
Felix saying that word made Chan’s already warm chest feel ten times more enflamed. He looked at the boy sitting basically on his lap and knew so surely—as though the universe itself had reached down and placed the knowledge deep in his soul—that this was his mate.
He glanced at his parents, who both had knowing smiles on their faces.
“Looks like we will need to be having a discussion with the Lees soon” Taecyeon said.
Jihyo smiled from next to him. “I’m glad it’s Felix. He’s such a precious pup. And his coloring! He’s going to make the most beautiful prince”
The Bangs did visit the Lees a few days later to discuss the finer details of their son mating into the royal family. The Lees couldn’t say that they were particularly surprised that Chan had decided upon Felix, but they were a bit taken aback by how accepting the Bangs were to have Felix mate with the crown prince.
“I thought maybe you would prefer an omega, your highness” Junho said “for the purpose of future pups to carry on the line”
“We have Jeongin. There is a possibility that he will mate with an omega and have pups to become the next in line” Jihyo answered “Or if Felix and Chan want to raise a pup of their own, there are always abandoned pups that they can adopt and have as their own”
“My grandparents were both alphas” Taecyeon said with a shrug “they adopted my mother and passed the line that way. The high priestess even changed my mother’s coat to black to match with our lineage”
Sana and Junho wondered if their son would have the power to do that one day as well.
“The most important thing for us is that Chan is happy” Jihyo said “and I don’t think he will ever be happy with or able to accept any other wolf as his mate”
“That is true” Sana said with a smile “We just want Felix to he happy as well. I doubt he’ll accept anybody besides his Channie either.”
She looked up at Junho, both of them wondering if they should let the royal couple know about Felix’s little quirks. But they both quickly and silently decided against it. They didn’t even fully understand their son’s strange instincts. They figured it was most likely some lingering traits of a future High Priest and, at the end of the day, it was nothing that would put the royal family in danger so they decided to let it go.
Both families quickly and happily agreed to their sons future mating and one month later—during the full moon—Chan made it official by standing in front of the pack gathered for the monthly hunt and announcing his intentions to court Felix once the younger came of age.
Felix, who had been standing with their friends, turned a furious shade of red as it seemed all the eyes around them turned to look at him.
“What a huge shock” Hyunjin said with a snort as he leaned against his friend. Jeongin beamed at them from where he stood next to his brother.
“A public declaration is a little dramatic though, don’t you think?” Seungmin pointed out “Almost no one does that these days. Why couldn’t hyung have just asked Felix out like a normal person?”
“As if anything these two do is normal” Hyunjin sighed as he looked over to where Felix was nodding wildly, accepting Chan’s proposal. Both boys were looking as each other with so much adoration that Hyunjin had to advert his eyes.
Nothing changed much between the two of them. They were still as inseparable as ever, though now Chan was a little more protective of the younger, glaring at any unmated wolf that got too close to Felix. Felix pretended to be unaware of it all, but he couldn’t help but feel an extra surge of affection anytime he heard Chan growling at a poor passerby who might have taken a step closer than they should have.
“My perfect alpha” Felix preened as he brushed a leaf from Chan’s jet black hair as the older boy sent another random wolf scurrying away “my perfect mate-to-be”
Chan flushed red and whined deep in the back of his throat. “You’re going to be a perfect alpha too”
“You think?”
“Yeah, how can you be anything but perfect, Lix?”
“No, you think I’m going to be an alpha?” Felix asked. Chan nodded, full of confidence.
“For sure. I don’t see you as a beta, so you have to be an alpha. You’re going to be the coolest looking alpha ever too, with your white coat”
Felix grinned and butted his head against Chan’s. They would make a striking pair, Chan with his all black wolf and him with his all white one. The two alpha kings of the Southern Kingdom…
Felix presented one week before his eighteenth birthday. It was almost unheard of for a wolf to present before they turned eighteen, which is why that was the furthest thing from anyone’s minds when Felix collapsed in the middle of the woods.
He had been on his last school hunt. It was a big deal, the last time that Felix would be running around in the woods with his same year friends before he turned eighteen and officially graduated from school. He had invited Chan to come along with him simply because he invited Chan to do everything with him. And though it wasn’t exactly normal to have a 21 year old running around with a graduating class, the teachers had all long ago realized how useless it was to separate Felix and Chan.
The two were happily running through the woods, chasing after a deer that they had seen, when Felix suddenly yelped in pain.
Chan turned, quicker than he ever had before and ran towards the younger boy. Felix was kneeling on the ground, face contorted in pain. Chan fell to his knees right next to him.
“Lix, what’s wrong?”
Felix grabbed onto the front of Chan’s robes so tightly his knuckles turned white. He looked up at the older boy with hazy eyes.
“Channie…hurts….” He breathed out before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed onto the ground.
“Felix!” Chan yelled, he scooped up the younger’s body and held it close to his chest as he ran out of the woods towards the medical tent the school had set up in case of any accidents “stay with me, little one”
But Felix remained unconscious, body occasionally spasming in Chan’s strong hold. The older wolf felt his heart in his throat as he finally reached the medical tent. It took the two school healers almost a good minute to convince Chan to let go of Felix’s body so that they could bring the younger wolf inside. And even then, Chen felt like his body had been ripped in two as they took Felix away and closed the tent flap behind them.
Chan paced back and forth with such force that the grass underneath his feet started tearing up, leaving trails of dirt in his place. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides over and over.
What was taking so long?
His wolf had been nearly inconsolable since he saw Felix collapse, screaming at him to run inside the medical tent. He needed to take Felix back into the city and to the palace’s healer. Why were they trusting this random standby healer to look after his future mate?
There was a sudden rush of noise and commotion and Chan looked to the side, confusion blossoming in his chest as he saw Felix’s parents as well as his own father stride towards the tent. All the nearby wolves bowed at the King as he made his way over in long, commanding steps.
“Father?” Chan said as the older man approached. The three older wolves all but ignored Chan, his father only giving him the subtlest of nods, before entering the medical tent.
Chan’s mind raced. It was sort of understandable why Felix’s parents were there—though maybe a little bit of an overreaction to a fainting spell. But why had his father come? It took a lot to get the King to leave his endless cycles of meetings, and even more to get him to leave the Capitol gates. Not having the alpha in the city left the Capitol more venerable than usual so the king usually only left for the most important of occasions…
Which Felix fainting in the woods definitely wasn’t. Unless…
Chan suddenly felt like he had taken a plunge into an arctic lake. His lungs almost closed as thoughts came into his mind in rapid fire. What if Felix was very ill? What if he was going to die? Everyone knew that Chan would take Felix as a mate once the younger presented so maybe they called his father so that the King could personally tell his eldest son that his to-be mate was dying.
The misery of it brought Chan to his knees. It wasn’t usual for non-mated pairs to feel this strongly but Chan knew that whatever he had with Felix was more than just mating. The old texts talked about bonded pairs—a pair of wolves that were so intertwined that once they mated, they could hear each other’s thoughts without talking; a pair where one would die without the other. No one had ever seen a bonded pair in the modern days, but Chan had always wondered about it. And in that moment, he knew for sure that he was bonded to Felix. If the younger wolf was to die, there was no way he could survive it.
After what felt like endless hours, Felix’s parents, the king, and the healer all exited the tent and found Chan hunched on the ground, head buried in his arms as his scent came off of him sour and heavy and distressed. Like oranges rotting in their trees, fields of lavender burned to the ground.
“Son, what are you doing on the ground?” Taecyeon asked.
“Father” Chan moaned “If he dies, I will too”
Taecyeon pinched his nose bridge at his son’s dramatics “Chan…”
“No, it’s true” Chan said, extracting his head from his arms and looking up “Felix and I are a bonded pair, I can feel it."
“Yesterday, I would have doubted that a bonded pair could exist, but after today…I believe you might actually be one” Taecyeon muttered.
Sana took pity on the boy kneeling in front of them and bent down to get at Chan’s eye level “Prince, no one is dying. Felix is fine”
“But why did he faint?”
Sana looked up at the King who sighed aloud. He glanced around him to where Felix’s classmates and other wolves who had been around during the hunt were watching them with curiosity “Maybe it’s better we have this conversation in the tent”
“Are you sure he isn’t dying?” Chan asked as they all shuffled inside the medical tent. As soon as the flap was open and they went inside, Chan was hit with the most wondrous thing he had ever smelled—a soft, beautiful mix of citrus and vanilla. A sweet scent. An omega scent.
“I’m not dying, Channie” Felix said with a tired smile. He was awake, sitting up on the bed in the middle of the tent. Chan ran straight to him and cuddled in close. The scent was even stronger now. It put Chan at ease.
“You scared me, little one”
“M’sorry. Didn’t realize it hurt so much” Felix muttered.
“Didn’t realize what hurt so much?”
“Presenting”
Chan pulled away and looked at Felix with wide eyes. “Presenting? But…you haven’t turned eighteen yet!”
At that moment, the tent flap opened again and all pairs of eyes turned to see Jooyeon enter the tent followed by Seungmin, who had been hovering around ever since Felix had been brought in.
Jooyeon sniffed at the air and sighed, nodding her head “So it’s been confirmed”
“It has” Taecyeon said “None of us can really believe it, but the proof is right here”
“What’s been confirmed?” Chan asked, bringing an arm around Felix and holding the younger boy protectively against him “What’s going on?”
“I’ve had a theory since Felix was a pup, but I couldn’t confirm it until his presentation” Jooyeon said with a soft smile “I never thought I would be lucky enough to witness this”
Chan frowned “Felix can’t have presented. Wolves don’t present before eighteen”
“Normally not, but we don’t really have much experience with this”
“With what?” Chan asked.
Jooyeon sounded almost awed “With a male omega”
The tent was quiet for a few seconds as they waited for the information to settle in with the Prince. Chan looked at every other person as though they were playing a trick on him, but none of them looked as though they were joking. He didn’t dare look at Felix yet.
“A male omega?” Chan whispered “But…they…they aren’t real, right? Like that’s just something from the ancient texts. A myth, just like the sea monsters or dragons or unicorns…”
“If it’s a myth, then we have a living myth right before us” Jooyeon said with a chuckle. “I’m sure you’re able to smell the presentation just like the rest of us. Felix is an omega. The first male omega that any Kingdom has seen in modern times.”
A male omega…Chan had always known Felix was special, but he couldn’t have imagined that the younger boy would be this special. How would he be able to keep Felix safe once everyone heard…would Felix even need him to keep him safe anymore? Would Felix need him at all?
Chan felt a tug at his robes but he still wasn’t able to look to look down at the other boy. Felix tugged harder, his scent starting to come off as more distressed.
“Channie” he said. “It…doesn’t change anything, right? We’re still the same” You still want me, don’t you? The last part was left unsaid, but it was clear as day in Felix’s worried eyes.
Chan finally looked down at Felix. His eyes roamed around every single square centimeter of the boy’s face. The huge, wide eyes that tapered off at the side, surprisingly feline looking for a wolf. The small nose with a splattering of freckles that had grown even darker after being in the sun for so many hours. The fluffy white hair that was sticking up at odd angles, random leaves and branches stuck in from when he had fallen on the ground.
Yes, this presentation had changed some things and yes, Felix might now be what many would consider a living legend…but underneath it all, this was still Felix…Chan’s Felix who he had known since he was a clumsy five year old who could somehow heal all his injuries for him.
That part made sense now, but everything else….everything else was the same.
Chan brought up a hand and eased the tension between Felix’s brows. The boy relaxed into his touch. Chan smiled down at him “Nothing's changed. You’re still my Felix”
“And you’re still my Chan”
Chan brought his forehead down to touch Felix’s, taking in the new scent of citrus and vanilla that surrounded him. Even their scents matched…they really were a bonded pair. “And whatever happens, we’ll figure it out together”
Once word got out that Felix was a male omega, it was quickly spread around not just their kingdom, but the kingdoms to the north, east, and west as well.
Everyone was in a flurry, amazed that a male omega existed once more and eager to see him and make use of his gifts. It was completely overwhelming for the poor boy who, fresh off his presentation, was still a little weak and completely untrained in the extent of his powers.
For his safety he had been hiding away in the Moon Temple with Hyuna, the High Priestess, guarding him and keeping away the crowds of onlookers. Jooyeon had also taken up place in the temple, determined to train Felix using all the knowledge she had come across in the ancient texts over the years.
No one knew what extent the boy’s powers would take, but it didn’t stop the requests from flooding in.
Taecyeon and Chan spent most of their days in the study, pouring over the letters that had been coming in rapid pace ever since Felix presented.
“We are extremely pleased to hear of the presentation of one of your subjects” Taecyeon said, reading aloud a letter that had just come in front the king of the Western Kingdom “please keep in mind that the powers of a male omega are a gift to not only your kingdom, but to all wolves in every kingdom. This is a good fortune that has been graced upon us all, we hope the South sees it as that as well”
“This is another one asking for Lix to heal another illness” Chan said reading through his own letter. He tossed it to the ground with a growl “Everyone is acting like he’s some sort of tool for them to use. He doesn’t belong to anyone”
“Chan” Taecyeon said, shaking his head at his son “We have to be mindful of what having a male omega means to everyone. The ancient texts say that he’s a miracle given to us by the Moon Goddess himself. There are many wolves out there who are looking for a miracle”
“Nobody should be looking for Felix. He’s just a regular wolf like the rest of us. They’re scaring him by treating him like this”
“But that’s the thing, son” Taecyeon said kindly “he’s not just a regular wolf anymore. He’s been given powers that a great many wolves out there need, and we have to learn how to navigate that”
“He shouldn't be forced into doing anything he doesn’t want to”
“Of course not. But Chan…this is Felix. Has there ever been a person that he hasn’t wanted to help? He’s a kind and selfless wolf”
“He’s too kind and selfless, they’re going to take advantage of him” Chan said. Taecyeon smiled and walked over to his son, sitting next to him on the couch across from his desk.
“My Chan…you have a beautiful and gentle heart and you are going to be the best mate for Felix. But remember that being the leader of this Kingdom is just as important. I know telling you to put anything above Felix is impossible, but try to at least make the other wolves out there a priority as well”
“I know, father”
“We have been given a very special gift, Chan. You have been given a very special gift” Taecyeon said. He noticed how tense the words made his son “Is there something bothering you?”
Chan shook his head. He suddenly found the room he was in too stuffy, too claustrophobic. Even looking outside the window at the ocean wasn’t helping.
“Nothing’s the matter, father. I think I just feel funny because I skipped lunch today…I’ll go find something to eat” Chan said as he rushed his way out of the room.
Taecyeon watched his son as Chan made his way outside the palace halls. From his large office window, he could see his son naturally stumbling over towards the direction of the Moon Temple. The king rolled his eyes affectionately at the boy as he turned and went back to the stack of letters.
Chan, on the other hand, was trying to let nature clear his mind. He walked away from the palace and let the smell of the sand and ocean wash over him and take his worries away. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as that. His head had been full of worries and insecurities ever since Felix had presented, and each day that passed—each time he was reminded once again how important Felix had become to everyone else, everything became worse.
Chan had been wandering without even realizing where he was going, which is why he was a little shocked when the warm sand beneath his feet suddenly turned into cold marble. He looked up and saw, in awe, the Moon Temple standing before him.
The Royal Family only ever visited the temple before each of the yearly festivals and the sight of it never failed to be as intimidating as always. The temple was tall and expansive—made entirely out of white marble with a large, flat pool in the front that would reflect the moon every night. It was tucked away from the rest of the city and bathed in a quiet and calm atmosphere.
“Prince Chan”
Chan looked up to see the High Priestess Hyuna looking at him through her wild, red hair that perfectly matched her red robes. Chan had never seen the woman in her wolf form so he wasn’t sure if her wolf was also red or if she just used herbs and berries to dye her hair the same color as the traditional red priest robes.
“You seem to have many worries on your mind” Hyuna continued, looking at the Prince with a serene look on her face, as though his worries made no difference at all to her. “I think the solution to your problems lays there” she pointed over to the small devotional garden where the Kingdom’s collection of moon flowers were carefully grown and tended to by the temple staff. Chan wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to do in the prayer garden.
“Uh…I don’t know if prayers are going to help me right now” Chan said. Hyuna scoffed
“Prayers always help, little Prince. Go to the garden and ease your mind. Trust your High Priestess to know what you need”
“Yes, of course” Chan answered quickly. Mostly because Hyuna scared him a little…a lot…with her intimidating presence and too-wise eyes. He scampered over to the garden with his metaphoric tail between his legs only to find Felix sitting on a white marble bench that was placed between a few bushes of purple and blue moon flowers.
Felix looked up and his whole face lit up in a smile. Chan let out a sigh of relief seeing the younger boy. Maybe Hyuna did know what she was talking about.
“Channie, you came” Felix said happily. He motioned to the bench next to him and Chan went over and sat down, immediately plastering himself to Felix’s side, breathing in his vanilla and citrus scent.
“Haven’t seen you in a few days” Chan said. Felix entertwined their hands together on the cold marble of the bench between them. “Feels weird”
“Hyuna noona and Jooyeon-sshi have been keeping me busy in the Temple. Now that I’ve presented, I feel like there’s a million things that they expect me to learn” Felix sighed “my brain feels like it’s going to explode”
“Are they being too hard on you?” Chan asked. Felix shook his head.
“No, they’re being nice. But it’s just…a lot. Like one day, I was just Felix and now I’m supposed to be this miracle to a lot of people and I don’t feel like I am. Is it horrible of me to just want to go back to the way things used to be?”
“Oh Lix” Chan breathed out because of course…of course Felix would be feeling the same as him. They were a bonded pair. They were soulmates, Chan was sure of it. He hugged Felix closer to him.
“It’s a lot to deal with so quickly” Chan agreed. “It’s different now. I’ve always known that you’re special, Lix. To me, you’ve been the most special wolf I’ve ever seen since the day I met you. But now, the rest of the world knows how special you are too and…I don’t know how to deal with it. I don’t know how to be a mate that someone like you deserves to have.”
Felix scooted back a little so that he could see Chan’s worried eyes. He took in every feature of the older boy, every single thing about him that he had loved for as long as he could remember. The mop of black hair that would sit in random curls more often than not, the strong nose and jawline, the little mark cutting through his right eyebrow, the skin that stayed pale no matter how much the two of them would run around in the sun. But most importantly, he could see the gentleness of Chan’s eyes when they looked at him—even now, when he was worried and stressed, that kindness and gentleness was always there.
“Channie…you’re my mate. I chose you before I even knew what that meant. You don’t have to do anything to deserve me. I’m never going to want anyone but you”
“Lix” Chan breathed out. He brought his head down to rub against Felix’s temple. Felix sighed happily at the action, whole body relaxing into Chan’s. Their scents mixed together—a perfect combination of oranges, vanilla, and lavender.
Felix brought his hand to trace over Chan’s cheekbone. “My Channie. The most beautiful wolf in the world”
Chan snorted “How can you say that when you exist?”
“I don’t know anything about what being a male omega entails, but I’m glad I’m doing it with you here” Felix said.
“Me too, Lix”
“And this means we can have pups of our own now too, Channie”
Chan flushed a deep shade of red “Uh…you’ve thought about it…pups?”
“Of course, haven’t you? A little pup that looks like both of us running around and messing with Hyunjin and Seungmin’s future pups…”
“I haven’t had much time to think about anything besides you these past few days, but yeah…Yeah, Lix. That would be…incredible”
Felix hummed as he leaned into Chan more. When it was just the two of them like this…surrounded by flowers, the sound of the ocean thrumming in the background…it felt like nothing else in the world existed. That it was just Felix and Chan, Chan and Felix, the way it had been from the beginning.
“Are your parents preparing for our mating ceremony?” Felix asked quietly.
Chan groaned “Yes. They want to hold it during the next full moon—the whole big deal with the traditional robes and the whole Kingdom present”
Felix felt a surge of distress at the idea. Once they were mated, they would already belong to everybody else. That was the nature of a King, and now that Felix had presented as a Male Omega, that was the nature of him as well. Everything they did would be for the members of the kingdom…and he so desperately wanted this one last thing for himself.
He looked up at Chan, determined.
“Channie, I don’t want to wait for the next full moon. And I don’t want to do a ceremony with everyone watching us. We’ve known that we’re to be mates forever. My wolf doesn’t want to wait any longer”
“Mine doesn’t either, little one”
“Then do it now” Felix said, tilting his neck a little, inviting Chan to lay a mating mark on the juncture of his shoulder.
Chan looked at him with wide eyes “Lix?”
“This might be one of the last things we get to for just us. Not for the Kingdom, not for any other wolf…just Felix and Chan. You’re my beautiful and kind alpha and I don’t want to wait another day to be yours” Felix said with all the sincerity he could.
Chan breathed out, mouth curling into a heartbreakingly beautiful smile “How can I ever say no to you, Lix?”
And when Chan’s mouth closed down around Felix’s neck, and Felix’s mouth closed around Chan’s, it felt like they were both coming home. The heartbeats mingled with the sound of the tides and their combined scents mixed with the salty ocean air.
And they were both tied together for life.
Any consequences that would come from this spontaneous mating; the anger of their parents, the disappointment of the Kingdom, it was all worth it for this moment of blissful happiness.
As Felix felt Chan’s tongue come to lick at the newly formed bite, his head rushed with thoughts that was was pretty certain weren’t his own.
My Lix…my beautiful little one. Mine, mine, mine, all mine
Felix pulled back a little, brows knitted as the thought flashed in his brain as clearly as it was his own. Chan’s own eyes widened as he came to the same realization.
Lix, can you hear what I’m thinking?
Yes Felix thought back. The word rang through Chan’s head as they both stared and then dissolved into laughter.
“Not only are you a male omega, but we really are a bonded pair” Chan said between giggles “what are the odds?”
“When it comes to us, I don’t know if the universe is ever going to stop surprising us” Felix trilled, snuggling closer to his mate.
The first couple of years after Felix and Chan’s mating, the Kingdom had fallen into a sort of lull of normality.
Hyunjin had finally embarked on his trip up North and would send them letters every now and then informing them of all the history he was learning. Jooyeon had officially retired as the royal healer and Seungmin had taken her place almost seamlessly.
Chan was continuing to learn everything there was to ruling one of the four Great Kingdoms and he was taking to it as wonderfully as everyone had predicted he would. Even though he was still young, it was obvious that he would be a very fair and just ruler.
And Felix…Felix had started to come into his powers, learning to embrace and grow them beyond what he ever had before. His healing was what he concentrated on the most and wolves from all over would come to him to cure illnesses that their healers could not. He was also taking to his position as apprentice High Priest wonderfully and the traditional red priest robes he wore did make a striking contrast with his white coloring, causing visiting wolves to often stare in awe at him.
Things had been going so well for the Southern Kingdom, which is why it didn’t really make sense when Felix awoke one day with a bone chilling fear and sense of dread.
It was the beginnings of winter and an unusually cold chill swept through the Capitol. Felix had learned 6 months before that he was pregnant with his and Chan’s first pup. Both wolves had burst into tears when Seungmin had confirmed it. So when Felix woke up in fear, his first instinct was to check on his pup. He placed a hand on the swell of his stomach. Concentrating, he could feel the comforting heartbeat under his palm.
Felix breathed out in relief, but it didn’t stop the feeling of dread crawling up his throat and almost choking him with its intensity.
One of the gifts of a male omega was foresight and though it was oftentimes overlooked compared to the healing, Felix knew that it was important today. He rolled over to where Chan was sleeping comfortably next to him and shook his mate awake.
“Wassup Lix” Chan muttered as he rose, rubbing his bleary eyes.
“Channie, something’s wrong. I feel like something really terrible is going to happen today”
Chan sat up, suddenly fully awake and aware. “A feeling like foresight, or just a bad feeling in general?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t had many foresights before so I can’t tell. But something is wrong”
“I’ll tell the guards to be on extra alert today then” Chan said immediately “And I won’t be far from the city gates so you can send for me whenever you need to”
Felix’s wolf screamed at him to not let Chan go. “Do…do you have to go today, Channie? Maybe we can both take off and just stay here”
“It’s the last hunt of the season today, Lix” Chan said sounding a little apologetic “it’ll look bad if I don’t show up to it. I’ll leave early though, I promise”
"Just this once?" Felix asked. Even though Chan always indulged him, Felix wasn't used to asking for much and he felt almost guilty about it. But the feeling of dread wouldn't leave himno matter how much he tried to calm himself down.
"I would for any other hunt, Lix--you know that" Chan said with sad eyes. "But the last few hunts have been pretty sparse and if the future King doesn't show up to the last one..."
“That wouldn't be good” Felix agreed “Okay. Have a good hunt.”
“I’ll tell the guards to station themselves at every entrance of the palace. And I'll come back as soon as I can” Chan said as he bent down and placed a kiss on the crown on Felix’s head and then lower on his protruding stomach “Thank you for keeping our pup safe”
“Always, Channie. I’ll keep the three of us safe”
“As will I, little one”
They kissed one last time before Chan pulled on his robe and exited the bedchamber and went into the bathing room, getting prepared for the last hunt before the winter season hit and all the forest animals went into hibernation.
Felix took a little longer getting dressed. He pulled on his customary red robe and ran water over his face, trying to wash away the panic and worry that was clawing at him even though he knew it was useless.
The first sign that something was amiss came when Felix was walking from the palace to the temple. He could see some smoke off in the distance, coming from the direction of the neighborhood where his parents lived. Smoke wasn’t a completely uncommon occurrence, especially on cold days when a heater needed to be lit, but it was billowing a little more than usual.
Shrugging, Felix made his way towards the temple. He was a little slower than usual with his heavy belly weighting him down, but he never minded spending a little extra time strolling by the ocean. The noise of the waves usually calmed the pup down too.
However today, the sounds of the ocean were soon drowned out by shouting coming from the guards.
“They’ve breached the palace walls! Find the family members and protect them!”
Felix looked, eyes wide, as guards swarmed around. They ran towards the royal family’s bedchambers before a volley of arrows shot through the air and pinned down at least half of them. A group of strange wolves, wearing bright gold furs burst through the palace walls. They had bows and long, sharp knives and were making their way through the guards like paper. Felix gasped and stumbled back—eyes wide as he took in the massacre occurring in front of him.
“Felix!”
He looked over at the side where the Queen was running towards him.
“Thank god you’re okay” Jihyo breathed out as she reached him. She caressed his face. Her hands were covered in blood.
“What…”
“They came into our bedchambers as we were getting ready. Taecyeon started fighting them, he told me to leave and find you. I…I don’t know if he’s still…”
“He’ll be fine” Felix said, trying to sound certain.
“There were so many of them” Jihyo said, voice pitching up high “The guards weren’t even there…”
Felix took the woman’s hands “We’re going to be okay”
“There he is!” One of the invading wolves yelled “The omega, he’s down at the beach”
Jihyo’s eyes widened as she looked up towards where the guards were trying in vain to fight off the hoard. “Felix, run to the temple as fast as you can. Hyuna will protect you”
“I’m not leaving you”
“Felix, go” Jihyo said in desperation, pushing him. “You and your pup are the future of our kingdom. Let me protect you. Go, run”
Felix hesitated for a second and Jihyo yelled at him, wild and terrified “RUN Felix”
And so he did. With all the strength that he had to muster, Felix ran full sprint towards the temple. He didn’t stop even when he heard shouts and screams behind him. He didn’t stop when he heard Jihyo’s pained cries ring through the air.
Instead he just ran, tears falling fast down his face, until he reached the temple. Hyuna was already standing in the doorway, grabbing onto him and pulling him behind her as she started to mutter protective spells.
“Noona, they’re coming after me” Felix cried “I heard them”
“Then we have to protect you” Hyuna said, red hair whipping around her face as she grabbed onto Felix’s hand and led him further into the temple.
It didn’t take long for the invading wolves to breach the temple walls. Their footsteps echoed loudly along the marble. Hyuna looked over with wide eyes.
“They must have a priest among them. There’s no other way they were able to get through my spells."
“That we do, pretty little priestess”
Felix and Hyuna looked over to see one of the invading wolves mere feet in front of them. He was huge, with multiple fur pelts in a rainbow of colors decorating his massive body.
“My collection” the wolf said proudly. “But the omega is going to be my most prized possession of all. Imagine how much you’ll fetch me. Don’t know what’s special about being an alpha’s whore, but there are many people willing to pay a very pretty penny for you”
“You’ll get to him over my dead body” Hyuna said before transforming into her wolf form. Her coat was the same color as her hair and she moved in a crimson blur towards the invader.
“It’ll be my pleasure. Can’t wait to add a red pelt to my collection” the man laughed cruelly before unsheathing a huge knife and running at the wolf.
Felix crawled backwards until his back his a marble wall. He watched with wide eyes as Hyuna ripped into the man’s side, causing him to drop his knife and yell in pain. For a second, Felix thought she might take him down but Hyuna—like himself—had never been trained in the art of fighting. She was a priestess, and though she had adrenaline and duty to protect on her side, she was no match for brute strength.
The invader wolf yelled and picked up Hyuna’s body as though it was made out of paper. He hurled the red wolf at the wall where Felix was backed up against and Felix heard the crunch of bones as her body hit the hard marble and slid down. Blood poured out of her nose, staining the white floor the same color as her fur.
“No one left to protect you now, omega” the invader said as he walked over. “Just you and me…and that little problem”
He pointed towards Felix’s stomach and the omega immediately crossed his arms around it.
“That’s easily taken care of, though” the man said as he aimed a heavy kick towards Felix’s stomach. The force of the blow threw the omega neatly halfway across the room as he doubled over in pain.
Protect your pup
The thought rang out in Felix’s head. He blindly groped at the floor below him, hand coming into contact with the knife that Hyuna had made the other wolf drop.
Protect your pup, protect your kingdom. Protect your pup, protect your kingdom
Felix gripped at the knife as he heard the invader walk closer to him.
“What’s the matter, omega? Didn’t like your pup getting hurt? Don’t worry. You won’t need that thing where I’m going to be taking you”
He grabbed Felix’s shoulder, turning him around. Felix took the opportunity to firmly grip the knife and stab it straight into the other wolf’s neck.
The man’s eyes went wide and he fell to the ground. Felix jumped onto of him, wildly stabbing at any body part he could reach.
Protect your pup, protect your kingdom. Avenge the king, the queen, Hyuna
After what felt like forever, Felix felt the other wolf go limp underneath him and he dropped the knife. Another round of tears threatened to fall from his eyes, but he steeled them away.
He placed a hand on his bruised stomach, right above where the invader had kicked him, willing to feel a heartbeat. There was one, but it was faint…so faint. His pup would die soon if he didn’t do something.
Stumbling, Felix made his way outside of the temple. He could still hear shouts from the guards and more invaders but his sole focus was on finding Seungmin. He sniffed, trying to catch a whiff of his friend’s scent.
“Please, please. Mood Goddess, guide me to him” Felix whispered. His hand was clutched at his stomach where the heartbeat was coming out weaker and weaker.
He finally caught a wiff of a familiar juniper scent and he made his way as quickly as he could, following the trail as it led him to a cave on the far side of the beach. Felix crawled in deeper until he reached a terrified Seungmin crouched down.
“Felix!” The boy cried as he immediately made his way to his friend “You’re covered in blood!”
“I’m fine” Felix waved “it’s my pup. Min, my pup is dying inside of me. You need to take it out”
“What?” Seungmin asked, backing away. “Felix, I can’t. Grandmother hid me in this cave when the invaders came…I don’t have any of my medicines or tools”
“I have this” Felix said, bringing up the knife he was still gripping. “This has to be enough. Cut into me and take the pup out”
“I can’t, Felix, the risk is…”
“YOU NEED TO DO IT NOW” Felix yelled. “My pup is DYING”
“It’s too early, it won’t survive even outside of womb. And I don’t have any tools to stitch you up so you’ll die too, Felix. I can’t”
“I’ll heal the both of us” Felix said, sounding a little delirious. “Once you take the pup out, I will heal it and me. You know I can do it.”
“Felix…”
“Seungmin, please” Felix pleaded “I have to protect my pup. I’ve lost too much already. The king, the queen, Hyuna…I don’t even know if Chan is alive. I can’t lose my pup too”
Seungmin sighed. This was a terrible idea. Every part of him knew this was a terrible idea, but he couldn’t deny his friend of this as he looked into Felix’s desperate eyes.
“This is going to hurt”
Felix leaned back and sighed in relief. He grabbed Seungmin’s hand. “Thank you, Min”
Seungmin never wanted to remember that morning again. Never wanted to think again about how he had to slice his friend’s stomach open, cutting into his womb. How he had to block out Felix’s pained cries in order to concentrate. How his hands shook as he grabbed the baby and took her our of Felix—fingers trying to find a pulse that wasn’t there.
Didn’t want to remember how he placed the tiny…so so tiny…cold body on Felix’s chest and watched as his friend tried, in vain, to start the pup’s little heart.
He especially didn’t want to remember how he had to finally take the still pup away from a desperate Felix and place his friend’s hands on his stomach, begging him to heal himself before he bled out.
“Chan could still be out there, Felix. You can’t let yourself die. Please, heal yourself” Seungmin had said, voice halting and thick through the tears coming down.
“Min, my baby…my pup”
“She’s gone, Felix. You have to save yourself. Please”
Felix’s eyes turned hazy as he stared at the cave’s ceilings. There was only one thought on his mind. This was all his fault.
Chan had just snagged another rabbit—the cheering cries of the hunting party interrupted by a guard in wolf form running towards them. Chan was instantly on edge as he separated himself from the rest of the group and went towards the wolf that had once again transformed into a human.
“Your highness…the Capitol…” the guard said, panting “It’s being invaded”
Chan immediately cried out and transformed into a wolf, not giving a second thought to the hunt or the rest of the party as he ran full speed towards the city gates. He could see smoke billowing from random buildings and, as he got closer, hear panicked cries from the citizens inside.
Even though the only thought on his mind was that he needed to get to Felix, his path from the hunting grounds to the palace took him straight through Felix’s parent’s neighborhood.
His run was interrupted when he saw what used to be Felix’s childhood home on fire. Chan stopped in his tracks, breath catching in his throat as he slowly trotted towards the burning building.
He prayed to the Moon Goddess that Felix’s parents and sisters had been able to escape. A scrap of material floated down—a charred bit of cloth with the familiar pattern of the florist uniform that Felix’s older sister wore to work every day.
A low, pained howl escaped Chan’s mouth as he stared at the cloth, as though that little scrap confirmed his worst fears. They most likely hadn't made it out. He looked up at the house in horror, bowing his head to the ground in respect.
“They’ve reached the palace!”
A scared yell from someone in the distance broke Chan out of his mourning as he remembered the most important thing, Felix. He once again broke into a sprint as he ran towards the palace. The closer he got, the more fighting he saw between the guards and the invading wolves. Thankfully everybody seemed occupied enough to ignore him as he tore through the palace gates and into the royal chambers. The place was earliy quiet as he ran into his and Felix’s bedroom. It was blessedly empty. It looked as though it had been torn apart, but there was no blood anywhere.
Next Chan ran towards his parent’s chambers—stopping as he saw Jeongin sobbing as he kneeled over two bodies. Chan’s insides ran cold as he looked at the two black wolves lying motionless on the ground.
Jeongin looked up and started crying even harder. “Hyung!”
Chan ran towards his brother and let the younger boy grab desperately onto his fur. “Hyung, you’re alive! I thought they had killed you too. I found father in his chambers…there had been too many. He couldn’t stop them all. And mother was down on the beach. I drag…dragged her body back here so they could be together”
Chan looked around with wild eyes and Jeongin could read the expression clearly. Felix
“I don’t know where Felix hyung is. I think I saw him running to the temple but then mother was…I couldn’t go after him”
Chan muzzled his brother’s head for a second and then bent down and butted his snout against his mother and father’s before turning and running out of the palace to the temple. There would be plenty of time to mourn later. Right now he needed to find Felix.
The temple was just as bloody as the rest of the grounds, but it was more jarring to see the red smeared all over the normally pristine white marble. He came across Hyuna’s body and then the body of a dead invader who looked as though he had been stabbed countless times. But there was no Felix. Just blood…so so much blood. Too much blood…
He couldn’t even get a proper scent trail because all he could smell was the sharp iron and corpses surrounding everything.
He tried calling out in their bond Felix…Lix, where are you? But all he was met with was dead silence. There wasn’t anything at all—no thoughts, no emotions, no warm presence that he usually felt as he reached through the bond.
There was just pure nothingness. As though Felix was gone.
Chan transformed back into a human, body not strong enough to hold its wolf form, as he stumbled out of the temple. He crashed to the ground—mind going completely blank before it was flooded with images of Felix’s family’s burned down house—that burned scrap of fabric. Of Jeongin crying over their parent’s bodies. Of the high priestess herself killed and tossed against a wall.
Of Felix, who was gone…who Chan couldn’t feel in their bond no matter how much he called, how much he tried.
He screamed aloud, an overwhelming pain enveloping him. His Felix was gone. He couldn’t feel his Felix anymore. He couldn’t live with this. He couldn’t live without Felix.
“Lix” Chan cried, clawing at the ground below him. He felt like throwing up. “I’m so, so sorry little one”
He thought about this morning, about Felix asking him to stay behind. Why didn’t he listen? Why had a stupid hunt been more important to him than his mate? Now he had to deal with the fact that he had been away, hunting without a care in the world, as Felix was being killed. The pain was too much to bear and he fell to his side on the ground.
He should have stayed with Felix. Then maybe he could have protected him, could have protected his family. Instead he had left them alone and now they had left him too. The edges of his sight darkened and Chan prayed to the Moon Goddess to take him away quickly. He couldn’t deal with this pain anymore. He couldn’t live in this world without Felix in it with him.
Just as he started slipping into darkness, he was roused by quick, desperate shakes.
“Chan, you’re alive”
He looked over and found a scared Seungmin standing next to him. He was covered in blood.
“Oh thank the moon, you’re alive. You have to come with me quickly”
“Seungmin?” Chan said, voice coming out raspy and harsh.
“It’s Felix. He’s dying and he won’t save himself. You have to come with me…he’ll listen to you”
Chan shot up immediately “Felix is alive?”
“Barely. Come with me quickly” the two boys ran to the cave where Felix was currently bleeding out on the ground, his cold pup nestled into his side.
Chan took one look at Felix and ran to him faster than he ever thought he could. “Lix!”
Felix looked up in wonder as he saw his mate panting in front of him “Channie?"
“Lix, you’re alive” Chan cried in wonder. He grabbed his mate and crushed him to his chest, ignoring the blood and everything else. All he cared about was that Felix was here. Felix was alive. “I thought I had lost you”
“You’re alive too, Channie” Felix cried, cupping his mate’s cheek and looking into his eyes as though he couldn’t believe he was there. “Channie…our pup…”
Chan looked down at the small body of their pup and closed his eyes. He had seen so much loss today, but each one hit him harder.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect her. I tried…”
“Lix, I’m the one who wasn’t here to protect both of you” Chan said as he backed away from Felix a little, looking down at the open wound on his stomach “But it doesn’t matter. I’m here now, and all I need is you. We can have another pup…or not. I don't care, Lix. I only need you here. Please, heal yourself. I can’t survive without you”
Felix put a hand on his stomach, his powers working slowly but surely to start to heal the wound there.
“I’m never going to let you go again” Chan whispered to his mate. “I promise. Never again”
Felix just nodded and slumped against Chan, feeling the weight of everything that day seep out of him. Seungmin joined them and they just cuddled together—three boys sobbing and trying to deal with the horrors of the world around them.
~~~***~~~
Everyone in the chamber was stunned as Hyunjin finished his story.
“So now you can see why I don’t think any of you would be able to make it beyond the city walls” the southern wolf said “It’s only been a few years since then. The palace is still healing”
“I didn’t know the massacre was as bad as that” Changbin said, sounding a little stuffy “I knew the king and queen of the Southern Kingdom were killed but I didn’t realize everything else that had happened”
“Felix and Chan have both changed” Hyunjin said “I’ve only been back once since the massacre but they are both so different from what they once were. Your efforts are going to be futile. Chan barely lets anyone from our kingdom meet with Felix these days. And a northerner...”
“Futile or not, I have to try” Minho said. He ached in his heart for the Red Priest and the King, but it didn’t change the fact that they needed Felix for Jisung to live “I can’t let Jisung go without at least trying”
Hyunjin sighed “Minho”
“Please, Hyunjin-sshi, I am begging you. Take us to your kingdom. You don’t even have to vouch for us. Just let me plead my case to them. If they turn me away or kill me at least I’ll know I tried everything to save my mate”
Hyunjin knew it wouldn’t end up well, but he had dealt with enough death and suffering to refuse to help when there was a chance he could.
“Fine” he said “We’ll leave at dawn. But don’t ever say I didn’t warn you…”