Chapter Text
“So what do you say when a packmate says that they want to scent you?”
Doyoung watches the group of a dozen or so pups squint and hum at him, noses scrunching adorably in thought.
“Thank you?” one of them, Minhyung, tries.
“No thank you?” another pup, Donghyuck attempts, just to be contrary.
Doyoung nods along. “You’re both right. It depends on how comfortable you are with being scented. That’s why most scenting occurs between family members and close friends—but there may be instances where you’re not comfortable being scented even by those people in your life. In that case, you can say no thank you. Otherwise, you thank the person scenting you by scenting them back.” Doyoung smiles warmly. “Scenting is reciprocal and must be consensual. If not, any wolf with a good nose will be able to tell.”
“What does that smell like?” The youngest and smallest pup, Jisung, asks shyly.
“I was told that it’s bitter, like beetroot tea.”
“Ew!” Minhyung gapes. “That’s disgusting!”
“You were told?”
Doyoung smiles gently at Donghyuck’s impatient demand. “I’m a beta,” Doyoung reminds him. “While I can be scented, and I can scent back, my nose isn’t nearly as good as an alpha or omega. Scents are really dull to me, if I can even smell them at all.”
“So you’re like us!” Minhyung says, awed. “Does that mean you’ll play with us forever?”
“That means I’ll be taking care of you until you present,” Doyoung says, reaching over from his perch on his log and ruffling Minhyung’s copper locks. “But if you want to visit me even after, you’re more than welcome to.”
Minhyung nods. “Like Jaehyun-hyung!”
Doyoung’s smile could brighten the darkest cavern. “Yes,” he says, “like your Jaehyun-hyung.”
Doyoung has been in charge of the education of the pups of the pack since he was sixteen years old, not long after his presentation as a beta. To be honest, though, he’s more like a glorified nanny and caretaker. While he makes sure to take the time to teach the pups basic mathematics, literacy, cooking, and sex education (much to the disgruntlement of select members of the village council, but to the gratitude of several parents who were not particularly excited about explaining the birds and the bees and different genders and subgenders), most of the time he entertains the pups with games and food.
Other times, the pups find ways to entertain him.
“Doyoung-hyung!” Minhyung coos, two dead rabbits flapping limply in his arms. Donghuck and the other pups follow behind him. Doyoung can feel his head begin to ache. They were supposed to be watering the field’s vegetable garden, which Doyoung had spent several years painstakingly cultivating. “Doyoung-hyung! Look what I have!”
Doyoung hurriedly strips off his thin cotton shirt and covers the dead rabbits with it, yanking them away from Minhyung’s arms before settling the lump into a cautious cradle. “Minhyung, sweetheart, you know it’s not safe to pick up dead animals!”
“But I didn’t, hyung! Jaehyun-hyung told me to give it to you!”
“And why were you near the pack hunters, Minhyung? You can’t leave this field without telling me!”
Minhyung wilts. “I didn’t, hyung, I swear! They were passing by the perimeter of the field, but Jaehyun-hyung and the others didn’t wanna bother you because you were busy with Jeno!”
Doyoung looks down ruefully at the pup sniffling miserably on his log. The poor thing had gotten into a fight with his mom before being dropped off into Doyoung’s arms, and he’d clung tightly onto Doyoung, crying, until Minhyung showed up with the dead rabbits and he leapt away, tears temporarily abated by fear.
“I will speak to the pack hunters later,” Doyoung says, sighing. “Although they were trying to be nice, they still should have brought their spoils straight to me. I can’t believe they didn’t even wrap these things.”
“They seemed like they were in a hurry,” Donghyuck says. “Something about cornering a huge elk, but not wanting to make you wait longer for ingredients. Fresh ingredients,” Donghyuck clarifies. “Jaehyun-hyung says you shouldn’t have to cook with stale preservatives, whatever that means.”
That silly pup.
“Well,” Doyoung drawls, shuffling the limp corpses underneath his arm. “I suppose we can have an impromptu lesson about properly skinning and cleaning fresh rabbit.”
“Ewwww.”
“Hell yeah!”
“Donghyuck, honey, language.”
“Sorry, hyung.”
Taeyong, the pack’s resident healer and Doyoung's self-proclaimed best friend, plops beside him at the mess hall with an uneasy stare. “The parents are talking about you, Doie.”
Doyoung, mouth full with rabbit stew, says, “Anything bad?”
“Not really. They’re just feeling a little jealous. Take it as a compliment,” Taeyong says, procuring his own spoon out of nowhere and digging into Doyoung’s bowl. Doyoung half-heartedly smacks the omega’s arm, before ultimately relenting.
“Jealous of what?”
“The pups love you a lot, is all. Especially Minhyung.”
Doyoung pauses. “Ah.” Minhyung’s mom passed away under mysterious circumstances a couple months back. While Minhyung has seemingly all but recovered now, acting like the cheerful and sweet but impulsive pup he’d always been, he was inconsolable for the first month, latching onto Doyoung’s side at every given opportunity. Doyoung was still aggravated at Minhyung’s father, the Pack Alpha’s older brother, for never picking Minhyung up in the entirety of the poor pup’s grieving period. And since Minhyung’s house was always empty, Doyoung had to drop Minhyung off at the Pack Alpha’s estate, where Jaehyun, Minhyung’s cousin, would take over caretaking duties.
Unaware of Doyoung’s inner turmoil, Taeyong continues. “Jeno apparently got into another fight with his mom. You know what he said?” Taeyong presses against Doyoung’s side, whispering into his ear, “He said you’re a better mama than she is.”
“A… ah.” Doyoung swallows. “That’s—that’s not good. I’m not trying to take any parent’s place.”
“I know that,” Taeyong says, comfortingly. “The parents, I dunno. But if you ask me? I don’t blame those pups. They spend up to ten hours a day with you, you teach them, you feed them, clothe them—hell, you even change their diapers and bathe them!”
“Taeyong, that’s just my job. I’ve been doing this since I was sixteen.”
“And now you’re twenty-four, Doyoung, and people aren’t seeing you as a helpless hyung trying to wrangle the pack’s rowdy pups anymore. Especially not after this cohort. They’re seriously attached to you, Doyoungie.” Taeyong’s gaze pierces across the crowded mess hall. “It’s almost like they see you as Pack Mother.”
Doyoung freezes. “Don’t joke about that. That’s treason.”
“Jaehyun’s mom would agree, though.”
“I’m not even an omega.”
Taeyong levels him with a piercing stare. “Jaehyun wouldn’t care about that.”
Doyoung reels back, bewildered. He drops his wooden spoon in the bowl of his now-abandoned stew. “Why does that pup’s opinion matter?”
Taeyong scoffs. “He’s the future Pack Alpha, of course his opinion matters. And if he decides that the Pack Mother should be a beta and not an omega, that’s his call.”
Doyoung pales. While not always the case, a Pack Mother is traditionally the mate of the Pack Alpha—and Jaehyun is only seventeen. Even entertaining the thought causes disgust to crawl up his spine and make room in the knob at the back of his neck.
“I see.”
Seeing his unease, Taeyong relents. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, Taeyongie.”
“I just thought, that if there’s anyone who deserves the title of Pack Mother, it’s you.” Taeyong rakes a hand through his silvery hair. “You’re basically raising these pups. Your past cohorts have grown up and still adore you. The Pack Alpha’s son, he—” Taeyong abruptly stops, squinting down at his spoonful of rabbit stew. “Well, he’s clearly still fond of you, if he’s dropping off fresh meat at your feet while the rest of us take from the community reserves.”
Doyoung can’t disagree.
At his silence, Taeyong winks. “It’s easy to be convincing when the facts are staring right at you.”
“I hate you so much.”
“Taeyongie!” A voice calls out. “Quit whatever you’re doing! You’re making Doyoung smell bad!”
“Doyoung-hyung never smells bad,” a quieter voice echoes.
Doyoung looks up from his stew, his gaze immediately drawn to the gangly alpha with copper hair and sweet dimples.
“Thank you, Jaehyunnie,” Doyoung coos, gesturing for the alpha to come closer. Once Jaehyun complies, Doyoung reaches across the table and pats his head. His locks are soft underneath his touch. “How have you been, little alpha?”
“I’m not little,” Jaehyun says, growling a bit around little, before relaxing under Doyoung’s gentle fingertips. “I’ve been good, Doyoung-hyung. We hunted all day. Did you like the rabbits I got for you?”
Doyoung drops his hand from Jaehyun’s hair and dips his spoon into his stew, thankfully still a bit warm, offering it to him. Jaehyun happily eats it.
“Hyung! This is delicious!”
“Thanks to the rabbits, no doubt,” Doyoung says humbly.
“No, no, it’s because you’re an amazing cook!”
“What am I, chopped liver?”
Doyoung finally notices Youngho, who’d apparently taken a seat beside Jaehyun, across from Taeyong.
“Hello, Youngho,” Doyoung says. “I have a bone to pick with you, actually.”
Youngho pales, looking up at Taeyong pleadingly. “My mate, my omega, do you happen to know what I did?”
“I’m not sure,” Taeyong drawls, clearly amused. “Have you done anything that would piss off Doie recently?”
“I know you were with the pack hunters today, Youngho,” Doyoung says, ignoring his friends’ antics. “And while Jaehyun gets a pass because he’s young and doesn’t know better—” Jaehyun frowns, his dimples denting, “—you, Youngho, should be better than this. You can’t just give dead rabbits to pups! Don’t you know how reckless they are?! They probably would have eaten it raw if I wasn’t around!” Pups, unfortunately, don’t have a wolf form to safely eat raw meat until they present—and that could take several years. Doyoung himself presented far later at sixteen, the average age being twelve.
“But they didn’t,” Youngho says, and with a sleazy grin continues, “I knew your pups would have gone straight to you! ‘Sides, you were busy, remember? Poor Jeno seemed to really need you. Seriously, you’re such a great mama.”
Taeyong nods, a pleasant smile stretched across his face, clearly in solidarity with his mate.
Doyoung turns bright red. For some reason, Jaehyun seems to be in a similar state. He’ll have to check on him after chewing out Youngho. What if he has a fever? “Don't think you can sweet talk me by talking about my pups!”
“Darling, I would never.”
“Taeyong-hyung,” Jaehyun suddenly says loudly. Taeyong smiles winningly at him. “Control your alpha.”
"Youngho honey, shut up."
"Yes honey."
Doyoung rolls his eyes. He turns back to Jaehyun with a gentle smile, about to thank him when Jaehyun ducks his head, almost shamefully.
"Sorry, hyung," Jaehyun says before Doyoung can get anything out. "I know you think that I'm young and inexperienced, but I did actually know better. I let my bad judgement get in the way of the pups and their safety. I take full responsibility."
Jaehyun's pure earnestness immediately eases the tension from Doyoung's shoulders. Such was the power of Jung Jaehyun, their future Pack Alpha. He's going to be dangerous when he grows up. He'll have the entire village wrapped around his finger.
"I accept your apology," Doyoung says. He turns back to Youngho. "At least one alpha around here knows how to apologize."
Jaehyun's chest puffs with pride while Youngho whines, "I'm sorry Doyoungie~"
The four spend the rest of the evening bickering (mostly Doyoung and Youngho, both still riled up from their earlier "argument"). And if Doyoung feeds the rest of the rabbit stew to Jaehyun, it's because Jaehyun had been so kind as to catch fresh rabbit in the first place, going so far as to make sure they get to Doyoung personally and not end up in the community reserves.
Pack hunters are essential to the well-being of a pack as huge as the Jung's.
A typically alpha-oriented profession, they’re responsible for catching meat for the entire pack. Their spoils primarily go to the reserves, where they would be salted and cured and saved for later, while the best, fattiest meats are served fresh in the mess hall the night of a hunt, which takes place at least three times a week.
Two times that same week, pack hunters go on excursions with pack gatherers, essentially acting as their bodyguards while they traverse the often unpredictable woods surrounding their village.
Doyoung, during the one day off per week in which he does not have to take care of the pups, is one such gatherer. And this week, Jaehyun has been assigned to him, a feat that hasn't happened in the three years in which Jaehyun has been an active pack hunter.
“Where are we going first, hyung?” Jaehyun babbles beside him, his invisible tail wagging behind him.
“The southwest meadows have yam rice plants. I’ll be picking them with a few other omegas, who’ll meet us there. Oh, and Taeyong asked me to bring some medicinal herbs from some of the caves nearby.” Doyoung lightly scratches the space between his eyes. “Getting all the rice there is gonna take some time, probably at least six hours. Sorry, it’s going to be a bit boring.”
“That’s okay,” Jaehyun says with a dimpled smile. “I like spending time with you, hyung.”
“Aren’t you sweet,” Doyoung says, before readjusting his hold on the large basket he’d strapped on his back.
Jaehyun tugs at the strap. “I can carry this for you, if you want.”
“Silly Jaehyunnie,” Doyoung says, “how are you supposed to help me if some big bad wolf decides to attack me? You wouldn’t be able to get to me on time without breaking the basket.”
“Ah, right,” Jaehyun says coltishly, ducking his head. “I’ll remember that next time, hyung.”
If they’re lucky to even be paired up next time, that is.
Once they break into the clearing in the meadows, they meet up with the others who were asked to join them on the excursion. Five omegas, a few around Jaehyun’s age, and an older beta, each accompanied by a pack hunter. Doyoung recognizes Taeil and Youngho among them.
It seems a bit much, but the possibility of the “frailer” members of society getting hurt or kidnapped by other packs that have gotten too close to their territory upsets Alpha Jung greatly. Doyoung himself doesn’t particularly mind. The company is nice, and the pack hunters are always happy to quickly hunt down game for the gatherers for their designated meal break.
As Doyoung settles in front of a yam rice plant, Jaehyun standing vigilantly several feet away with his fellow pack hunters, he overhears the omegas Jaehyun’s age speak:
“We’ve got a good bunch today,” the oldest among them says. “Look at Youngho, ugh, those arms.”
“Jaehyun’s handsome too,” one of them, says, somehow mournfully. “Every time I see him, he gets more alpha-like. I swear he’s gotten taller.”
“Yeah, and his shoulders have been getting wider too. You can tell he’s been working out more.”
“Gods, yeah.”
“Can you imagine how gorgeous he’s gonna be once he becomes Pack Alpha?”
The youngest of the group whines. “Please stop, I’ll faint.”
Doyoung chuckles quietly to himself. Listening to pups raving about his favourite pup made him feel proud, strangely.
“Hey,” he picks up a quiet voice, “who’s the older beta with us?”
“Who, Taeil-oppa?”
“No, no, the one with the shorter hair. Kinda bunny-like face.”
“Oh, that’s Doyoung, remember? He took care of us way back then.”
“Oh yeah, Doyoung-oppa! He’s pretty! He doesn’t smell like he’s taken, though?”
“Ah, that’s because he’s a beta,” a third voice says, bluntly.
“He doesn’t smell like he’s taken because biologically he’s a beta, or he’s not taken because he’s a beta?”
“Dude, did you skip health classes or something? And can’t you smell Taeil-oppa?”
“Shut up!”
“Betas will smell taken when they’re taken. It’s just that, since Doyoung is a beta, he’s not seen to be as much of a prospect as our other packmates.”
“Hey! That’s rude! There’s nothing wrong with being a beta!”
“Yeah, of course, but our pack has so many omegas and alphas. Do you think an alpha would choose a beta over an omega, or that an omega would choose a beta over an alpha?”
“Taeil-oppa is literally standing right there.”
“Taeil-oppa is an exception. Besides, didn’t he get mated like, way later than everyone else, and to an older man?”
“He and Kun are really sweet, though!”
“And an exception.”
“Still, I hope Doyoung finds someone like that. He was really good to us, back then.”
“Yeah,” the blunt omega admits. “Yeah, he really was. Jeez, you’re making me feel bad for talking about him that way.”
“You should,” a stern voice says from above them. Their gazes snap up to a looming Jaehyun, who suddenly looks more alpha than pup in the span of seconds, his eyes dark, pupils slits.
“You’re talking so loud that all the alphas could hear you,” he says, watching mortification colour all of the omegas’ cheeks red. “And, superior hearing withstanding, which you should all be aware of at your age, judging from how sad Doyoung-hyung smells, he probably heard you too.”
Doyoung immediately snaps his gaze away. Fuck. He smelled sad? Stupid alphas and their enhanced senses.
Feeling everyone’s gazes on him, Doyoung sighs, hangs his head for a moment, before looking back up with a polite smile.
“I did hear you,” Doyoung says, gaze lingering on the particularly blunt omega, but making sure to skip over the omega who’d been defending him. Seulgi, he remembers. “And while talking about me when I’m so close by is quite rude… nothing you said was wrong, technically, so at the end of the day, I can’t be super upset.” Doyoung turns away, going back to picking rice. “Still,” he says, carefully, “it’s not polite to talk about another pack mate in such a way. I was hoping that I’d raised you all better than that.”
Apparently, he’d raised those pups well enough that they hang their heads in shame, accepting the scolding with no complaint.
For some reason, Jaehyun looks more incensed. “Well?” he demands the omegas. “Shouldn’t you be saying something?”
“Sorry, Doyoung-oppa.”
“Yeah, sorry. We’re really, really sorry.”
“We shouldn’t have talked about you like that.”
Once the fanfare is over, and all the omegas are focused on picking rice again, hesitantly talking about considerably less offensive topics, Jaehyun sidles up next to him.
“Are you okay, hyung?”
Doyoung tries not to be annoyed at being interrupted, again. But Jaehyun’s sweet concern makes Doyoung hackles lower rather than rise.
“Jaehyunnie,” Doyoung whispers, knowing Jaehyun would be able to pick up his words, “as much as I appreciate you standing up for me, I can handle them myself. There was no need to go all alpha on them. They’re just kids.”
Jaehyun looks offended. “But I’m their age.”
Doyoung laughs a little. “You’re seventeen. You’re all children.” He smiles sweetly. “Or do you not remember how old I am?”
“You’re not old, hyung.”
“I’m twenty-four and unmated, Jaehyunnie. I’m basically a spinster in these parts.” Doyoung is surprised he hasn’t been forcibly wedded off already. There are plenty of alpha widowers in the pack who already have pups, and wouldn’t mind being taken care of by a compliant beta like Doyoung.
“Well, children or not,” Jaehyun spits out, “they’re old enough to understand what’s rude and what’s not. And how,” Jaehyun chokes out, distraught, “how could I just stand there while they talked about you like that, as if you hadn’t loved and cared for them for so many years? How could they betray you like that?”
Doyoung’s chest feels tight. “It was only really one of them, Jaehyunnie. The others weren’t comfortable either. There’s no need to villainize them. They’re just young and learning.” He pats the space beside him, but Jaehyun refuses to budge from his spot, still looming. Doyoung sighs. Since when did Jaehyun grow up? “When you’re Pack Alpha, Jaehyun, you won’t be allowed to act so brutishly in instances like that.”
“And why not?”
“As Pack Alpha, you represent order in the pack. You need to be neutral, even when you’re angry. And if you have to show that you’re angry, it should be because the well-being of the pack is being threatened.”
Jaehyun’s nostrils flare. “The well-being of the pack was being threatened when those omegas talked down about the pack’s betas,” Jaehyun snaps back. “Yes, even the nicer ones. Even Seulgi. Their smells were off. They pitied you.” Jaehyun sighs, roughly raking a hand through his copper locks. “There are so few betas here, so each one we have is precious. I refuse to let them be driven out of my pack because of some stupid, dated views.”
Unwillingly, Doyoung’s heart swells with affection. The pack was going to be so lucky, having Jaehyun as its Alpha.
“I see. Even still, people may misconstrue your actions,” Doyoung says, the educator in him wrestling his appreciation into submission. “Traditionally, other than threats to the safety of the pack’s wellbeing, the Pack Alpha is only ever allowed to show emotion when their mate’s wellbeing is threatened.” Doyoung smiles patiently. “So, Jaehyunnie, if something like this happens to me again and you overhear it, you have to clarify that your intervening is for all the betas in the pack, and not just me.”
“After all, I’m not your mate, Jaehyunnie.”
Jaehyun doesn’t respond.
The elk that the pack hunters had been tracking was caught by Jaehyun, in the end. And unlike last time, when he had presented his humble rabbit kills to Minhyung and the other pups, he went straight to Doyoung, who was lounging on his log long after returning the pups home after a long day of fooling around.
Today, they’d been playing ‘house’. Doyoung’s role was mother, much to his amusement. There was no father, at Donghyuck’s insistence:
“It’s just unrealistic,” he had said.
“Yeah,” Minhyung said, “no dumb alpha is good enough for you!”
Doyoung didn’t have the heart to correct the pup that he didn’t technically have to mate an alpha. He could have easily been with another beta, or an omega, and no one would bat an eyelash. If Doyoung ended up alone, no one would question that either.
Doyoung was fine with that. He was. Really. He lives a fulfilling life.
And he clearly matters to a lot of people in the pack if a sweet little alpha like Jaehyun is bringing him a whole elk, staining a trail of blood along his beautiful field.
“Hyung,” Jaehyun says, adjusting his hold on the elk carcass so that its head is staring right at Doyoung. “I have a gift for you.”
“By the gods, Jaehyun,” Doyoung chokes out, “couldn’t you have brought that to the butchers instead? I’m not nearly as good at skinning something so massive as Youngho’s father is.”
“You don’t have to skin it,” Jaehyun says. “I will. Right here. I even brought all the tools.” He pats the canvas bag slung over his shoulder.
Doyoung looks at him warily. “Jaehyunnie. I take care of the pups here. You’ll freak them out if they see dried blood tomorrow.”
“Oh.” Jaehyun flushes a bright shade of red. “I made a mistake again, huh?”
This silly, silly pup is too cute for his own good.
“Sorry, hyung.”
“That’s okay, baby,” Doyoung says, watching Jaehyun turn an even more impressive shade of red. “C’mon. Let’s go to another clearing to skin that thing.”
The clearing they end up is empty, not a soul in sight. Jaehyun settles onto a stray log, dropping the carcass and pulling out his tools to get to work. Doyoung tries to grab one of the sharp knives, but Jaehyun gently pulls him back onto the log.
Doyoung laughs a little, reaching out again only to be gently smacked away. “What’s the point of me being here if you’re not going to let me help you?”
“Emotional support?” Jaehyun says, and Doyoung laughs again. “I just want to spend time with you, hyung, is that a crime?”
Doyoung shakes his head, bemused. “Of all the people you could be spending time with, you want to hang out with this old spinster.”
Jaehyun huffs and glowers from his place hovering above the carcass. It should look intimidating, but for some reason, Doyoung thinks it looks cute. “Doyoung-hyung. Don’t make me say it again.”
“Alright, alright.” Doyoung reaches over and pinches Jaehyun’s cheek. “No need to go all alpha on me.”
Jaehyun looks like he wants to argue more, but decides not to. He turns back to the carcass, and begins the process of skinning it. “I’ll cut this thing up and package it for you to bring home.”
Doyoung frowns. “Jaehyun, this is sweet and all, but wouldn’t this kill be better off in our food reserves?” Winter was looming, and soon the village people would be hungry. An elk could easily feed a family of four for a couple weeks.
“No, hyung, this elk is only for you. No sharing, okay?”
“Not even with you?”
Jaehyun coughs, then clears his throat. “You can share with me, so long as you’re okay with it. But nobody else, okay?”
“Why the special treatment?” Doyoung knew that he was Jaehyun’s favourite hyung, but still—an elk was too much for mainly one person. If any of his other packmates found out, there’d be hell to pay. Best (and worst case) scenario, they wrongly assume Jaehyun is trying to court him.
(Seventeen-year-old Jung Jaehyun, the heir apparent and Pack Alpha’s only son, trying to court Kim Doyoung, a measly beta budging past his prime? Ridiculous.)
“I don’t want to tell you,” Jaehyun finally replies after a long stretch of silence. “Not yet, anyway. You won’t understand.”
“Rude.”
“I’m not trying to be,” Jaehyun says sincerely, gaze averted, still skinning the elk. “But from the way you’re treating me, you’ll just see me as some kid who doesn’t know what he’s doing, and tell me to stop. So I won’t. Not until you see me as an adult.”
Doyoung feels himself shrink a little. Does Jaehyun think he’s belittling him? That he wouldn’t respect Jaehyun’s thoughts and feelings? Looking back at his previous interactions with the alpha… well, he had been talking down at him a little, hadn’t he? “Alright,” Doyoung acquiesces. “But I’ll listen. Whenever you think that I’m ready, I’ll be here.”
For the first time in what felt like hours, Jaehyun smiles, all wide and big and warm and dimpled. “I’ll hold you to that,” he says.
When Taeyong visits Doyoung’s cabin the following day and finds the stash of salted meat in his cooler, he shakes his head and tuts, an amused grin curling around his mouth.
“From Jaehyun?” he asks.
Doyoung raises a brow. “How did you know?”
Taeyong’s grin is still large and unrepentant. “Oh, no reason.”
Winter comes with a surge of violent winds and blinding, turbulent snowshowers. More concerningly, it had arrived a couple weeks earlier than expected. Every household was scrambling with last minute stocking, some going so far as to do independent hunting, despite it being against the pack’s rules, especially so in turbulent weather. The pack hunters were desperately trying to assert their role and reassurance that they would hunt enough food for everyone so that no one would starve. The pack was at their wit's end—
—except Doyoung. He still had a week’s worth of meat from Jaehyun’s offering, along with the other food reserves he had already prepared and stored for himself weeks prior, being the hyper vigilant (read: paranoid) person he was.
And Jaehyun kept bringing him more of his kills. He’d come at strange times, too—sometimes during dinner. Sometimes in the middle of the night. Sometimes at the crack of dawn. He’d present him rabbits, squirrels, wild boar, and, on one mindboggling occasion, another elk. Doyoung had so much food in his own personal reserves; it felt uncomfortable. Treasonous.
When Doyoung said as such to Jaehyun, the little alpha had told him he could share some of the non-elk meat with Taeyong and Youngho. But no one else, he said firmly, and he looked like he truly meant it this time. Doyoung did not wish to cross him.
Though Doyoung did want to give him a piece of his mind at the moment.
Tonight, Jaehyun is at his door at three in the morning, holding two rabbits, just like the first day.
“For you, hyung,” Jaehyun said, outstretching the rabbits towards him, his voice oddly hoarse. When Doyoung narrows his eyes in the dim lighting of his house—illuminated by a few stray candles—he realizes that the pup is shaking.
“Jaehyun, get inside.”
“But—”
Doyoung glowers. “Get inside. Now.”
Jaehyun stumbles inside his humble abode, his tail between his legs. Doyoung grabs the rabbits, wraps them in grass paper he had lying around, and drops them off in his icebox. He technically didn't have to--his cabin was freezing, even with the fire blazing in its hearth. It was only marginally better than the temperature outside.
"I bet you didn't eat dinner today," Doyoung scolds, ushering Jaehyun to sit on his threadbare couch. He grabs an equally well-worn blanket sitting on the couch's arm and smooths it over Jaehyun's lap. "Otherwise you wouldn't be at my door at this ungodly hour."
"We were busy," Jaehyun says, gripping onto the hem of the blanket. "Winter came so early. And… and we haven't hunted enough to last the winter."
"Perhaps you wouldn't be scrambling so much if you had given the kills you bring to me to the reserves instead."
Jaehyun frowns. "Hyung, please don't argue with me tonight. I'm very tired."
"Yes, yes, alpha."
Jaehyun abruptly looks away, and Doyoung feels bad for teasing him.
"You should stay the night," Doyoung finally says in an attempt to swerve out of the awkward silence.
Jaehyun's neck snaps so quickly that Doyoung worries that it's going to fall off. "W-why, hyung?"
"Your estate is on the other side of the village," Doyoung says. "It's too late and too cold to go out there. Sleep over, and then go back to work tomorrow, hm?"
Jaehyun's eyes go wide. "Really?"
Doyoung nods. "C'mon. I'll make you something to eat now."
"Hyung, you don't have to—"
"Yes, I do. Stay there. I'll bring the food to you when it's ready."
Without even looking back to see if Jaehyun complied, Doyoung goes to his kitchen and turns on his firewood stove, a gift from his late mother. He pours flower seed oil onto a granite pan, grabs already seasoned boar meat from his icebox (his prep for the following day, actually) and tosses it in.
He returns to Jaehyun with a plate of sliced boar meat, garnished with basil and baby tomatoes, and a couple slices of bread he had baked the evening before.
Jaehyun is staring at him as though it was the first time he’s ever seen food.
"Hyung, you really didn't have to—"
“I promised, didn’t I?” Doyoung interrupts. “I said I would share my meals with you, since you’ve been so kind as to prepare all the meat.” He places the plate in Jaehyun’s lap, on top of the blanket. He hoped the pup wouldn’t spill anything on it. The blanket had been a present from his mother to his father when she declared she was pregnant with Doyoung. Of course, her glee had significantly decreased over the years, especially after Doyoung had presented as a beta.
Once he was certain that Jaehyun was not going to refuse his food, Doyoung slips back into the kitchen. With the open floor plan, Jaehyun would easily be able to ask for him if he needed something, and so Doyoung sought to distract himself with deep cleaning some pots he’d been hoping to get around to the following morning—might as well just do it now that Jaehyun had woken him up.
After Jaehyun was done eating, Doyoung grabbed half the pillows from his room and gave it to Jaehyun, who was already settling down the couch. Jaehyun gleefully took the pillows, bringing them to his nose and inhaling deeply.
“Smells like Doyoung-hyung,” he says.
Doyoung laughs, bends down to flick Jaehyun’s forehead, and bids him goodnight.
Doyoung had not meant to overhear them.
Taeyong had asked him to swing by the Pack Alpha’s estate to confirm the number of emergency ration packages they would be making this year for the pack’s annual end-of-winter hunt, when, upon being granted access through the main gates, he overheard Jaehyun and his father in an argument so heated Doyoung may as well have walked into a bonfire.
“He deserves better, dad!”
“Is my own brother not in your realm of confidence?”
“No, he’s not! He is not fit to take care of a spouse—or did you forget what happened to Minhyung’s mom, literally two months ago?”
“Minhyung’s mother’s death was tragic but unavoidable—”
“She died of a fucking broken bond, dad.”
“Son, I really don’t appreciate your tone.”
“And I don’t appreciate how you’re letting your personal biases hurt innocent members of the pack. Uncle Jiwon already hurt Minhyung’s mom, and now you’re going to let him hurt Doyoung-hyung?”
Doyoung freezes.
He shouldn’t be hearing this. He really, really shouldn’t be hearing this.
But he stays rooted on the spot.
“I won’t make them bond,” the Pack Alpha says kindly but not kindly because what the hell , “and with Jiwon’s traditional views, he wouldn’t want to bond with a beta anyway. I just need someone to take care of him and Minhyung until he passes on. When he does, Doyoung will be free to mate and marry whomever he wants.”
“Dad, this isn’t right—”
“Son, listen to me. This isn’t about you and your personal feelings. This is about the pack’s wellbeing. I know you don’t like your uncle, but he is an important member of the council, and cannot be seen as weak and pathetic by the pack—”
“—the pack already thinks he’s pathetic—” Jaehyun spits venomously.
“ — he already had to pass on Pack Alpha inheritance to me because he was deemed unworthy by our late father, and his mate passing on so soon is another slight to his pride as an alpha. Of course, I am aware that Minhyung’s mother died of a broken bond, and I won’t subject another omega to such a terrible fate—”
“But you’ll subject Doyoung,” Jaehyun says, hollowly. “Because he’s a beta. Because even if he were to bond with that bastard,” he spits, hisses, snarls, “he wouldn’t die if it broke.”
“Precisely, son,” the Pack Alpha says, turning a blind eye to Jaehyun’s sarcasm.
“But why him, dad. Why Doyoung-hyung of all people?”
Doyoung, now shaking, hair sticking up from clammy skin, wants to know too.
“Of all the betas in this pack, Doyoung is the most desirable. He’s our pups’ teacher and caretaker, and the current cohort adores him, especially Minhyung. I know he helped the poor pup a lot after his mother passed on. Minhyung would be honoured to have Doyoung as his mother.”
“And of course, despite getting on in the years, he’s very easy on the eyes. My brother would have a hard time protesting the match, even if Doyoung is just a beta.”
There’s a long, horrendous stretch of silence.
Then a low, threatening, “If you go through this match, I’ll make both yours and Jiwon’s lives miserable.”
“Son,” an equally low voice says, “if you know what’s good for you, you will obey.”
Jaehyun barks out a cruel laugh. From his place hiding outside the Pack Alpha’s room, Doyoung lowers his head out of fear and self-preservation, despite evidently not being on the receiving end of his hatred.
“If you knew me at all, dad, you’d know you’re ruining everything.”
Doyoung startles when Jaehyun bursts through the door. He has to look up to meet the alpha’s gaze—when had he gotten so tall?— but the look on his face has Doyoung immediately lowering his head again.
Jaehyun’s eyes were blood red, his fangs were twisted into a vicious snarl, and his veins were pulsating around his neck and bare arms, as though they would burst any second. He was the very picture of rage.
Doyoung was grateful. He was too terrified about his looming marriage to feel angry.
“Hyung,” a small, considerably meeker voice, chokes out. “Did you hear everything?”
After Doyoung nods once, he feels a hand slip into his, and start tugging him. He’s dragged down the hallway, away from the Pack Alpha’s room, until they’re outside, stumbling into the woods behind the estate.
Once they’re a fair distance away, Jaehyun abruptly stops walking. Doyoung collides into his back, but Jaehyun’s grip on his hand only tightens.
“Don’t get married,” Jaehyun says. “Let’s run away. I’ll protect you. You saw how I hunted for you all winter. I can provide for you. And you know all edible plants in all the forests in the continent, and Taeyong-hyung must have taught you first aid, and you can sew and cook and you, obviously you can take care of me too. So let’s—let’s just run away, yeah?”
Doyoung’s eyes water at the sweet sentiment. Look at this pup, acting like he was his alpha or something.
“Jaehyunnie,” Doyoung whispers, “I can’t just uproot you from your home like that.”
“I don’t care—”
“You can’t uproot me from my own home, either, Jaehyunnie.” Doyoung keeps his head down. He doesn’t want to see the inevitable grief on Jaehyun’s face. Hearing his voice earlier, broken and despairing, was enough. “Even if I’m not treated well by the pack all the time, all my friends are here. The pups are here. You’re here. I love you guys, so I can’t just leave everyone behind because I’m afraid.”
“Hyung—”
Jaehyun starts crying.
Instinctively, Doyoung looks up, cupping Jaehyun’s cold, flushed cheeks with his trembling, calloused hands. He wipes at Jaehyun’s tears with his thumbs, his heart shattering into a thousand pieces at the flood of tears dripping down his sweet brown eyes.
“I know you want to protect me, Jaehyunnie, but don’t you think—don’t you think you can do it from here, too?” He continues swiping at Jaehyun’s cheeks. “If it was up to your dad, I’d be married to your uncle until he dies. But if you become Pack Alpha, you can annul our marriage yourself. And while I’m married to him, you can visit me a lot, say you wanna spend time with your hyung and Minhyungie. You can make sure he’s not h-hurting me.” Doyoung curses himself for his slip-up. He hopes Jaehyun hadn’t heard it, but judging from the fresh pool of tears in his eyes, he’s listening to every word with an intensity no other alpha in the pack could hope to replicate.
There is a long, long stretch of silence. At some point, Jaehyun stops crying and tugs Doyoung into his arms, tucking his flushed face into the crook of Doyoung’s neck.
“Six years,” Jaehyun whispers into his skin. “I’ll be Pack Alpha in six years. Not thirteen. I won’t make you wait that long. ” Thirty was the traditional age that the heir would become the Pack Alpha, unless the Pack Alpha passed away sooner. By that point, logic went, the heir would be married and have children of his own, a symbol of stability and longevity for the pack.
Jaehyun was saying he would be Pack Alpha by the time he’s twenty-three.
The youngest Pack Alpha in the entire history of their pack had been twenty-five. And unless Jaehyun was somehow plotting his father’s murder behind his back, Doyoung doesn’t know how Jaehyun would be able to pull off such a feat.
Nevertheless—
“I believe you,” Doyoung says. “Don’t keep me waiting too long, okay?”
Jaehyun holds him tightly, snuffling into the crook of Doyoung’s neck.
A few months later, three weeks after his twenty-fifth birthday, Doyoung was married. Not mated, thankfully. But he was still married.
At Doyoung’s request, only Jaehyun’s parents, Jaehyun himself, and Jaehyun’s uncle, Jiwon (being his future spouse), were in attendance. He did not want to subject his friends or poor Minhyung to the most miserable wedding ceremony in existence. Luckily, Jiwon had been okay with a small ceremony, and an equally small feast that would only be consumed by the wedding participants. He was clearly ashamed of marrying an “ageing” beta like Doyoung rather than a youthful and spry eighteen-year-old omega—Jaehyun’s age, now.
They had celebrated his birthday together the week before. Doyoung baked him a chocolate cake, and Jaehyun cried bitterly, angry that a mere week later his hyung would be cruelly sold off. He'd begged Doyoung to run away with him again, and Doyoung had been tempted to say yes.
He'd said no, and fed Jaehyun more cake.
That night, long after the tense feast, as Doyoung traverses the hallways of the estate, on his way to Jiwon’s room, Jaehyun pulls him aside into a shadowy corner.
“Hyung,” Jaehyun whispers urgently, “I’m so, so sorry to have to ask this, and you are well within your rights to tell me to fuck off and I will if you ask me to—”
“Jaehyun,” Doyoung says gently. “Just get to the point.”
Jaehyun lowers his head submissively. “Please let me scent you, hyung. Jiwon won’t want you if you smell like me. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it would work, I’m not trying to take advantage of you, hyung—”
“Okay,” Doyoung says.
Jaehyun immediately ducks his head to nuzzle Doyoung’s neck. He inhales like he’s starving for oxygen, but exhales so, so slowly. Scents him.
Doyoung scents him back.
Jiwon turns away from Doyoung with a huff.
“I’m not sleeping with you,” he said. Doyoung nearly cries from relief. “Judging from your damned scent, there’s something going on between you and my nephew, or at least on my nephew’s side.” He plops on the bed, loudly sighing. Doyoung could have sworn he heard bones creak. “My brother’s a fucking idiot. I don’t know how he became Pack Alpha with a skull that thick.” He sits up, tugging a cigar out from his trouser pockets and lighting it with a match. With the cigar in his mouth, he points with it at the chair across the room.
“You, beta hag, sit there. We’re going to talk.”
Doyoung complies, ignoring the urge to cough violently at the smoke filling the room.
The talk goes like this:
Jiwon was never going to be loyal to him. Jiwon has a laundry list of lovers whose beds he will happily be warming every night. In exchange for his distance, Jiwon wanted Doyoung to watch over and raise Minhyung (as if Doyoung wasn’t doing that already). And, of course, during public events, they needed to act at least amiable. The picture of unity.
“I’m sure it’ll piss off Jaehyun real bad. The pack’s gonna be real conflicted when they see their future Pack Alpha panting after his uncle’s mate—though I’m sure the brat is smart enough to spin the political climate in his favour.”
Doyoung tries very hard not to throw his ceremonial bracelets in Jiwon’s face. He can’t believe the old man is talking about his own nephew like that—as if he were some stupid, horny alpha acting on his careless whims. As if Jaehyun was anything like Jiwon.
Seeing the ire on Doyoung’s face, Jiwon laughs.
“What a lovely face. It’s no wonder Jaehyun’s so taken with you.”
Doyoung is disgusted.
“Are we done?” Doyoung says through bared teeth, his fangs threatening to make an appearance. “Can we go to sleep?”
“Ah yes, of course.” Jiwon carelessly throws one pillow and a thin blanket on the floor, despite the fact that the bed had at least a dozen pillows and three thicker blankets. “Sleep on the floor, beta.”
When Doyoung leaves Jiwon’s room in the morning, he nearly collides with Jaehyun, who had been pacing in front of the door.
“Jaehyun!” Doyoung scolds. “What if someone saw you?!”
“People absolutely saw me,” Jaehyun says, nonplussed. “I don’t care. It’s not like the pack doesn’t already know about my—” He stops. Backtracks. “They know I care for you, hyung. It’s only natural that I would be overprotective of you.”
“Even then—”
“Hyung, you don’t smell like him.” Jaehyun grabs his shoulders, shaking him lightly and smiling widely. “Thank the gods.”
Unwillingly, Doyoung feels himself relax. “Yeah,” he chokes out. “Thank the gods.”
Marriage with Jiwon surprisingly doesn’t change Doyoung’s daily routine all that much. He still takes care of the kids (with the exception of Minhyung, who is bouncing off the walls, ecstatic that Doyoung is his mother now), goes on gathering outings weekly, and receives fresh meat from Jaehyun by the end of the day— to his old cabin, however. Doyoung and Minhyungs always end up there by the end of the day anyway, happy to escape from Jiwon's large, stuffy house.
Though there are whispers now. Most are pitying, knowing that the marriage was arranged and that Doyoung wanted no part of it. Others are scathing, thinking Doyoung to be a harlot trying to raise his status by marrying into the Pack Alpha’s family.
All of them talk about Jaehyun’s scent on him. And they all have different theories as to why it’s there—the most popular one being that Jaehyun was in love with him, and was so deeply unhappy about the marriage that he scented Doyoung as some sort of primal claim that not even the laws of marriage could touch.
It was amusing, the shit people could come up with at other people's expense.
Though Doyoung is curious about how he smells. Scenting is often platonic, after all, and it would be normal for Jaehyun to scent him and vice versa given their close relationship. There must be something in his scent that's making people think that the intentions were decidedly not platonic.
Then again, Doyoung is a beta, so the nuances of scenting are lost to him. People are just as likely to gossip even if he had smelled platonically scented.
So Doyoung asks Taeyong.
"Honestly," Taeyoung starts casually, a far cry from the poor, sad omega sobbing and squeezing the soul out of Doyoung after seeing him alive and well after his wedding night, "on a regular day, you smell like freshly baked milk bread. But after Jaehyun scented you, you've been smelling like a whole bakery. Lots of cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, and raw sugar. It's so much that I can't really make out platonic or romantic undertones—but even then the notes are unmistakable."
"You smell loved, Doyoung."
“And when we successfully manage to catch our prey, what should we do, Minhyungie?”
Jaehyun smiles patiently as the small pup frowns and desperately tries to come up with an answer.
“We let it go?”
Jaehyun laughs charmingly. “That is certainly one way to go about it. But let’s say that your mama is hungry—what should we do, then?”
Doyoung rolls his eyes, despite the deep flush creeping up his cheeks. Why are his boys so dramatic? “Why are you dragging me into this?”
“Because then it becomes a practical question,” Jaehyun says shamelessly. Ignoring Doyoung’s annoyed look, he turns back to Minhyung. “Let’s say your mama is hungry and wants to make food. But all the food in the pantry is old and stale, because your Jaehyun-hyung got sick and your mama forced him to stay home. What do we do, then?”
Minhyung’s eyes brighten up. “We kill the prey and present it to mama!” he announces proudly, and Doyoung tries not to laugh at the juxtaposition of the violent words and sweet face.
“Exactly, Minhyungie!”
“Okay,” Doyoung drawls. “I think it’s Minhyung’s bedtime now. Minhyung, thank your hyung for teaching you today.”
“Thank you, Jaehyun-hyung!”
Jaehyun smiles with his dimples. “No problem, kiddo.”
Doyoung carries Minhyung to bed in his childhood room. He had long since moved to his parents’ old master bedroom, the large nest far too big for Doyoung’s slim, almost delicate body. Doyoung was surprised that Jiwon had let Doyoung and Minhyung stay in his old place, but it was likely because the old man wanted to bring lovers to his bed without having to worry about a pup lurking around. The catch, of course, was that Doyoung and Minhyung had to stay the night at Jiwon’s house on the sixth day of every week, just for appearance’s sake. Luckily, on those nights, Jiwon sought the company of his lovers in different abodes.
When asked during a small get together, not long after their wedding, why Doyoung and Minhyung stayed in a separate house by curious councilmen, Jiwon had said, Poor Minhyung has nightmares about his birth mother, and is uncomfortable staying in our ancestral home, and they had tutted sympathetically.
No one had questioned why Jiwon did not stay with them at Doyoung’s cabin. Someone had to take care of the ancestral home, after all.
After Doyoung lowers Minhyung onto the small bed, Minhyung pouts and tugs at the hem of Doyoung’s beige, long-sleeved shirt.
“Can Jaehyun-hyung put me to bed too?”
Doyoung chuckles. “Am I alone not good enough for you anymore, Minhyungie?”
“No, no!” Minhyung hurriedly corrects, not catching on to the fact that Doyoung was joking. “I just don’t want Jaehyun-hyung to leave yet.”
Doyoung didn’t have the heart to tell him that Jaehyun always lingered at their house after their daily meet-ups, staying as late as midnight some days. Jaehyun always had a story to tell, advice he sought, or food he wanted to try that for some reason only Doyoung could make. Doyoung didn’t mind. The company was nice.
“Let me go get him, then,” Doyoung says, before turning on his heel. Upon opening Minhyung’s door, he spots Jaehyun dozing off on the couch of the living room.
“Jaehyunnie,” he whispers, and Jaehyun immediately jolts awake, his ears twitching. Cute. “Minhyungie is asking for you.”
Jaehyun surges from the couch, happily bumbling through the door Doyoung was still holding open. Minhyung yips happily when he sees him.
“Minhyung-ah, you should be asleep!”
“Can’t yet,” Minhyung says, and then with the wisdom only a four-and-a-half year old can have, says, “Jaehyun-hyung didn’t tuck me into bed.”
Jaehyun collapses to his knees while Doyoung laughs. “My puppy, I must have disappointed you so! I should have known! Please forgive your negligent hyung!”
“I do, I do!” Minhyung cries, “Now tuck me in!”
Jaehyun complies. He even kisses Minhyung’s forehead afterwards, to the pup’s utter delight.
When Jaehyun starts backing away, Minhyung grabs onto his sleeve.
“Mama too,” he says. “You need to kiss him goodnight too.”
Doyoung flushes a vibrant shade of red. “Minhyungie, that’s not appropriate.”
“Mama!”
“No means no, Minhyung.”
“Your mama is right,” Jaehyun says gently. “I’m not a kid like you, Minhyungie. Doyoung can’t kiss me like that.”
“B-but. Does that mean adults don’t get kissed?!”
“Couples kiss each other,” Jaehyun says. “Mates especially.”
“Why don’t you and mama become mates so you can kiss too?”
“Minhyung!”
Minhyung yelps, shrinking from Doyoung’s apparent wrath, while Jaehyun laughs loudly.
“Your mama doesn’t like me that way,” Jaehyun says.
“Mama doesn’t like father either, but he’s married to him.”
Doyoung winces. Sometimes, he wishes Minhyung wasn’t so observant.
Jaehyun kneels next to the bed. “Minhyungie,” he whispers, “can you keep a secret for me?”
“Yes! I’m good with secrets!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“Pinky swear?”
Minhyung grabs Jaehyun’s hand, and clumsily wraps his small pinky around Jaehyun’s considerably larger one. “I swear!”
Jaehyun squeezes Minhyung’s pinky with his own. “Your mama’s marriage was arranged. But it’s only temporary. He’ll leave your father in a few years, and then he’ll get to mate whoever he wants. Oh, but don’t worry! I’m sure Doyoung will take you with him when he leaves!”
Minhyung grins and cheers while Doyoung smiles softly. He hadn’t really considered what would happen to Minhyung post future divorce. But Jaehyun’s words easily matched with what Doyoung would have probably done anyways. He’s almost certain that Jiwon would thank him for taking Minhyung so he would have more time to fuck around.
“Maybe mama can mate you!” Minhyung chirps, and this time Doyoung sighs loudly, but decides not to refute him. In Minhyung’s eyes, the most responsible adults in his life are Doyoung and Jaehyun. And now that Doyoung had literally become his mother, it did not seem strange to consider Jaehyun as a possible father figure, nevermind the fact that they were already cousins. “Then you can live with us, and we can always be together!”
“Maybe,” Jaehyun teases. “Now, I think you’ve been up much too long now. Why don’t you go to sleep? Your mama needs some rest too.”
Thankfully, Minhyung complies, and in the span of minutes is fast asleep. Doyoung escorts Jaehyun out of the room.
“I’m so sorry about what Minhyung said,” Doyoung says uneasily. “But he’s a child. I think… I think he wants a complete family unit.”
“Completely understandable,” Jaehyun says. “Don’t worry, hyung. I wasn’t offended or anything.”
“Good.” Doyoung clears his throat. “It’s pretty late. You should probably head back.”
“Right.”
Doyoung escorts Jaehyun to the door.
“I know I can’t kiss you,” Jaehyun says lowly, “but can I scent you again? It’s already begun wearing off."
The last time they scented had been a couple days ago, on a night much like this one. Jaehyun says it’s to keep warding off his uncle. Doyoung thinks he just likes the fact that Doyoung smells like him. Jaehyun is uncharacteristically territorial given his easy-going (unless provoked) nature, though Doyoung supposes that comes with being the future Pack Alpha.
"Okay," Doyoung says.
Jaehyun beams, dimples dividing his face into pretty puzzle pieces. He draws Doyoung into his arms, and buries his face into the junction between his neck and shoulder. After nuzzling a spot firmly, he retracts his head and inspects his work like an artist to their painting.
"All good?" Doyoung teases.
Jaehyun nods. "Hyung's turn," he says.
Doyoung complies. He grabs Jaehyun's shoulders and noses the younger man's Adam's apple for a minute. This close, he can make out pine tree bark tea and a field of ageing sunflowers, the latter of which an atypical alpha scent. Atypical, but so Jaehyun.
Once he releases him, Doyoung takes two steps back. He looks up at Jaehyun, who looks just as dazed as he did when Doyoung scented him the first time. And the second. And the third.
"I smell like hyung," Jaehyun says adoringly.
"And what do I smell like?" Doyoung can't help but ask.
Jaehyun closed his eyes, and inhales deeply. "Ginger. Cinnamon. Freshly baked bread, molasses cookies, and apple pies."
"Not as sweet as cake?" Doyoung asks, mostly joking.
"Red velvet cake, when you're really happy," Jaehyun says.
"Have I smelled like that recently?" Doyoung asks, curious.
"When you're with Minhyung or Taeyong." Jaehyun's cheeks tint a soft shade of red. "Only sometimes when you're with me."
"You make me happy plenty, Jaehyunnie," Doyoung soothes.
"How can I make you happier?"
"Well," Doyoung says. "I suppose I'll be happiest when I finally get out of my marriage."
Jaehyun nods solemnly. "I'm working on it, hyung. I mean it."
Doyoung believes him. It's hard not to, when he can make out faint notes of his pinewood determination despite his inferior beta nose.
Though it’s hard to forget his eyes, glinting a bloody red under the soft moonlight.
Winter in their wild, untamable land tended to last until the end of the fourth month of the year. As such, the annual winter hunt always took place in the third month of the calendar year, a morale boost to help their people endure until the painfully long fourth month passed safely.
It is, unofficially, a time for family. Alphas would hunt for their mates, children, siblings or even parents. Jaehyun in particular was a spectacle in his youth, bringing animals twice his size for his quiet little mother. Last year alone, he managed to snag a pair of mated spotted wild boar, rarer to find around these parts of the forest, presenting it to the Pack Mother with bright eyes and those same sweet dimples.
This year, Doyoung, with Minhyung lounging in his lap, sits with Taeyoung as he had the year before, watching Johnny bring Taeyong a variety of plump rabbits, wild boars, and a couple of elk, not unlike the ones that Jaehyun has been dutifully bringing Doyoung and Minhyung. The pile is easily the largest out of the entire pack’s, and Taeyong receives envious looks, which the pretty man ignores gracefully.
“Where’s Jaehyun?” he asks instead. “He’s a bit late this year.”
Doyoung masks his concern with an easy smile. “Oh, he’s probably tracking something big. You know how he likes to show off.”
Taeyong smiles. “He certainly does. Have you figured out how you wanted to thank him yet?”
“Thank him? Why would I thank him?”
Taeyong tsks. “It’s basic manners, silly. You’re a teacher—isn’t etiquette a part of your curriculum?”
“Jaehyun isn’t hunting for me. Minhyung, maybe, but not me.”
Minhyung whines. “Why not?” he demands. “You’re my mom, so you’re family.”
Doyoung laughs nervously. The implications are a bit different, here, considering that he’s definitely not Jaehyun’s mom and, though not mated, definitely a married man.
One might see Jaehyun’s nonexistent advances as a challenge to Doyoung’s alpha who, like last year, and all the years before, refused to participate.
Minhyung frowns, probably attempting to argue and stand by his stance, when Jaehyun bounds out of the woods in wolf form (a towering form with rippling muscles underneath a majestic, copper brown coat, severe black claws, and crimson eyes), his canines dug deeply into the neck of a 2-metre great white bear.
And Doyoung gapes, stunned, as Jaehyun drags the bear across the field, leaving a bloody trail in his wake, before he drops it off at Doyoung and Minhyung’s feet.
Jaehyun tilts his head, waiting for Doyoung to accept the offering on Minhyung’s behalf.
Doyoung reaches over, around Minhyung, and pats Jaehyun’s head. Jaehyun howls joyfully, tail wagging, but he doesn’t move.
“Doyoung,” Taeyong hisses beside him. “You need to accept the offering. It’s for you too!”
Doyoung chokes. He seriously needs to scold this silly puppy. People are going to get the wrong idea!
But etiquette calls for a response, lest Doyoung wanted to reject Jaehyun’s incredibly generous offering.
So Doyoung gently sets Minhyung aside and stands in front of Jaehyun, who in wolf form is only slightly shorter than he is as a human, even on all fours. He leans in and presses his forehead against Jaehyun’s, slowly shaking his head back and forth, copper fur surprisingly soft against his skin.
A few moments later Doyoung steps back. He picks up Minhyung before settling back down onto the grass, Minhyung in his lap again.
He desperately ignores the hundreds of eyes burning onto his person—particularly that of the Pack Mother.
The Pack Mother visits his cabin the following week. Even though Jaehyun had been the one to open the door and let her in, she does not question his presence beyond a cursory glance.
When she spots Doyoung across the house, frozen in the kitchen, mid-slice into a large carrot, she smiles warmly.
Abandoning his half-cut carrot, Doyoung walks up to the older woman and bows his head low.
“Pack Mother,” he greets in what he prays is a respectful tone. “If I had known you were coming to visit, I would have prepared dinner much sooner.”
“Nonsense, child. There’s no need to put so much effort into a little old woman like myself.”
Jaehyun across the room squints. “You’re not old, mom. You’re not even forty.”
“I feel beyond my age, these days. Perhaps you would know that if you were home more often.” Jaehyun winces, but the Pack Mother ignores him. She’s focused entirely on Doyoung. “But how can I blame my boy when you, my dearest Doyoung, are such a sight on sore eyes.”
“Mom—”
“Thank you, Pack Mother.”
“So polite, too. And kind. You’d have to be if Minhyung and the other pack children adore you so much.” She frowns deeply. “You’re wasted on that Jiwon. I cannot believe he would neglect a spouse as fine as you.”
“I prefer that he’s not in the picture, ma’am,” he hastily tacks on the last word, hoping he had not come off as rude. Despite the fact that the Pack Mother never seemed fond of Jiwon, the man was still her brother-in-law, and has been for the past couple decades.
“Wasted, truly,” the woman says with a deep sigh, the beginnings of crow’s feet highlighting her temples. “If only my Jaehyun was able to get to you first.”
“Mom—”
Doyoung feels like he’s going to throw up. “I would never look at your son in such a disrespectful manner. I’m way too old for him.” He had first met Jaehyun when he was nine years old, and himself sixteen. He’d practically babysat him for years, and even long after, with Jaehyun as a young man, Doyoung doesn’t think he’ll ever be capable of seeing him beyond as a good friend. “He has far better options among his peers. I’m sure there are many other future mates among them!”
The Pack Mother looks surprised at his outburst. Her gaze trails over to her son, who looks off to the side, his expression decidedly unreadable. She clucks her tongue sympathetically.
“I’m sure there are,” she agrees. “Though I’m not quite sure any of them would match up to you, Kim Doyoung.”
When Doyoung opens his mouth to disagree, Jaehyun sends him such a sharp look that his mouth falls back closed. Why did he look so irritated? Maybe he was tired of Doyoung looking down on himself all the time—nevermind that most of the pack did, at least in terms of a prospective mate.
He had heard their whispers, after all, that Doyoung should consider himself lucky that he had managed to get married at all.
Once Jaehyun’s mother finally leaves, an unsettlingly sweet smile spread across her face, Doyoung and Jaehyun fall into an uncomfortable silence. It’s odd—Doyoung has never felt uneasy around the younger man in all the years he has known him. Certainly after his marriage to Jiwon, they’d basically been attached at the hip.
"I'm sorry about my mom," Jaehyun finally says. "I don't know what's gotten into her."
Doyoung sinks into his threadbare couch. "She's scouting the man you offered a great white bear to. Of course she would be concerned."
"She didn't seem like it," Jaehyun retorts. "She actually seemed to like you."
Doyoung goes silent.
"Still, I'm sorry if my mom made you uncomfortable with her comments. I… can't promise it won't happen again, but next time I'll try to give you more of a warning before she barges in here."
"Thanks, Jaehyunnie." Doyoung stands up. He smoothens invisible wrinkles from his shirt. "Now, about that bear—do you think I can make Minhyung a new winter coat with it?"
"What does Jaehyun-oppa see in you?"
Doyoung sets down his spoon on the wooden table neatly, appetite ruined. Doyoung doesn't know the omega who's talking to him. That could only mean this was one of the few omegas who had not been under his tutelage, with parents who were happy to homeschool their pups instead. This was the case for at least one or two pups a year.
“I’m not really sure what you’re talking about,” Doyoung says.
“I don’t appreciate your attitude.”
What the hell is this pup going on about? And who does he think he’s talking to?
“It’s not my intention to offend you,” Doyoung says wryly. “Why don’t you sit down and tell me what I did?”
The omega stays standing.
“At least tell me your name?”
“You’re old,” the omega says, ignoring him.
How rude. “This is true.”
“There are so many young omegas in the pack,” the omega continues, “but Jaehyun-oppa only looks at you. Some old beta.”
“We’re friends. And we’re family,” Doyoung says. “It’s only natural that he’d be fond of me.”
The omega squints at him, as if trying to discern a lie. Then he scoffs.
“You have no clue, do you?”
Doyoung is starting to get frustrated. He bites his tongue before he could start going off on the rude omega. What kind of joke was he trying to play?
The omega scoffs again, this time somehow pitying. “Poor Jaehyun-oppa. He likes you so much, and yet you never once noticed.” Upon seeing Doyoung’s appalled expression, he laughs bitterly. “And you don’t even see how lucky you are.”
Likes him.
Likes him?
Jaehyun… likes him?
But Jaehyun is so young.
And Doyoung—
Doyoung is old.
He’s an old beta. Who is also married to Jaehyun’s uncle.
“...”
The omega nods in approval. “I see you know your place,” he says, this time happily. “So stay in your place, beta.”
He saunters off, all too giddy about leaving Doyoung gobsmacked at the table, his bear stew long forgotten.
“It’s not so strange that Jaehyun likes you.”
“It’s not?” Doyoung nearly shouts, before slapping a hand over his mouth, wincing at his own loud voice, which practically reverberates around Taeyong’s living room.
“It’s not,” Taeyong calmly confirms. “It’s puppy love. Pups are allowed to have crushes on older pack members, so long as it isn’t reciprocated, because, you know. While they’re pups, that’d be so gross.” He pauses. “Though I don’t think Jaehyun is exactly a pup anymore. And I guess what he’s felt for you over the years isn’t just puppy love anymore, either.”
“Eighteen is still a pup to me,” Doyoung says, purposefully ignoring the last part, because that was way too much to unpack. “And-and I basically babysat him for years. I know him too well. It’s weird.”
Taeyong hums sympathetically. “Yeah, I can see why you’d be uncomfortable. But you have to think about things from Jaehyun’s perspective. With how much of a fixture you’ve been in his life, it’s not surprising that he likes you.”
“I guess so,” Doyoung admits. “I just—I can’t even fathom the idea of reciprocating his feelings, you know? And I can’t imagine why people think I would.”
Taeyong hums again. “Those omegas see Jaehyun as a man. You clearly don’t.” He grins a little. “But who knows? Give it a few years, a glow-up, newfound maturity and enough time to disassociate yourself from the younger Jaehyun you knew, and you might actually give the guy the time of day.”
“Please don’t joke about that.”
Taeyong stops grinning. “My dearest Doie, I’m really not.”
Doyoung doesn’t avoid Jaehyun. In fact, he completely pretends that he never learned about Jaehyun’s feelings for him—because first and foremost, past babysitter/caretaker/teacher or not, in the present, Doyoung was Jaehyun’s friend. And Jaehyun didn’t deserve to be at the receiving end of his unrest and confusion.
So Jaehyun still comes over almost every day. Jaehyun still tucks Minhyung into bed, and stays when Minhyung begs him to. Jaehyun still brings them rabbits, wild boar, the occasional elk, and promises to bring an even larger bear so he could make a coat for Doyoung. All dimpled smiles.
All the while, the whispers around them get louder.
He hasn’t seen his husband in months.
Then, all of a sudden, Jaehyun has to leave. But it’s not just him who’s going— Jiwon is, too.
“It’ll only be a few years,” Jaehyun says calmly in the comforts of Doyoung’s cabin, as if he was talking about a mere five-day trip, not a five-year one. “And it’s for the good of the pack. If I convince the northwestern pack that I’d be a good alpha, they’ll be happy to assimilate with us.”
The northwestern pack, several kilometres away from their own, was a notoriously predominantly omega pack, with only a few alphas and fewer betas in comparison to their own more evenly distributed, slightly alpha-biased pack. Their Pack Alpha was a strong alpha woman getting on in the years. Reportedly, she has yet to find a proper successor who could satisfy her high expectations, deeming all the remaining alphas in her pack incapable of protecting their omegas (and betas).
Jaehyun was apparently a potential worthy Pack Alpha. The northwestern Pack Alpha was their Pack Mother’s older sister, which made Jaehyun her nephew. If the northwestern pack accepted Jaehyun as their alpha, the two packs would merge, and their overall territory—and sources of food and other resources for long, violent winters—would expand. It was an amazing deal for their pack.
“I asked that my uncle come with me,” Jaehyun says after a long stretch of silence.
“I’m sure he loved that,” Doyoung says. A predominantly-omega pack was probably the damned man’s wet dream.
“I didn’t want to leave you with him.”
Doyoung feels his throat close up. Jaehyun, as always, is looking out for him, even in his impending absence. Doyoung has a hard time trying to ignore the reason why.
“You should find an omega there,” Doyoung says, the words tacky and surreal and wrong on his tongue. “Mating one of their own is surely a sign of good will and equality. It’ll be good for both packs.”
Jaehyun smiles tightly. “I don’t think I’ll do that, hyung.”
“Jaehyun—”
“I only have eyes on one person.” His dark eyes drill a hole through Doyoung’s rib cage, into his very soul. “And he’s no omega.”
The entire pack bids Jaehyun and Jiwon goodbye, unhappy to see them (mostly Jaehyun) go. They watch silently as Jaehyun publicly pulls Minhyung, and then Doyoung, into his arms. They continue to be silent when Jaehyun, with Minhyung still tucked under his arm, scents Doyoung fervently, his sharp teeth nearly grazing the skin of Doyoung’s neck. They’re silent as Jiwon, standing off to the side, doesn’t so much as look at Doyoung, or his own son.
And they’re silent when Doyoung buries his face in the alpha’s neck, scenting Jaehyun back.