Knock! Knock!
They hear the thumping near the door and again, see the door handle being moved, this time really aggressively. They can hear some commotion outside; someone is talking out loud and others seems really discontented about something. And Sangcheol can only guess what that is.
'Wono you need to calm down. Your scent is getting stronger.'
'What are you talking about? My scent? You need to explain it in words I can comprehend.'
'No time. We gotta to get out of here.' Sangcheol gestures towards the other two betas to get ready to go back. Both of them comply without questions and take their coats. Mengyao is about to head towards the door before Sangcheol stops him. 'Not there… Something's not right. Wono, we need to get you back.'
Wonho, still on his ground, refuses to listen. This is really absurd. Shouldn't he at least be given a proper explanation if he is going to be sent back during their fun time? He deserves at least that. 'Why?'
'Can you please listen to me?!' Sangcheol growls in whisper. He is growing impatient. He can really sense that he is starting to be overprotective. He knows it is wrong to do so, but he gets like that whenever he feels the person he cares about being in danger.
'Can you please explain?' Wonho seems nervous, yet he is beginning to be overly defensive. He is scared. Junjie pulls him against his chest and tries to calm him down but Wonho just stands there, unmoved in the embrace, eyes still locking with Sangcheol's. Meanwhile, Chansol is getting restless behind the eldest, his face getting sweaty as he keeps trying to get closer to Wonhoo. 'Chansol please. Control yourself. Wonho, calm down.'
Wonho notices the younger alpha's strange actions and looks back at Sangcheol, trying to find the reason for the behaviour. 'Why's he like that?'
'Wono… your smell…' Wonho looks back at his best friend whose eyes widened. Behind him, Mengyao bares the same shocked look. He frowns, now confused. 'I can smell…'
Bump! Bump! They hear people knocking and bumping on the door, someone is moving the door handle up and down aggressively, trying to unlock it.
'Shit! Seo Wonho, please just listen to me. We need to leave, right now.' Sangcheol whispers, his voice filled with authority. He points at the window and everyone starts tiptoe out, even Wonho who can feel his heart threatening to jump out. Sangcheol is the last one as he chooses a loud music on the jukebox before making his way out.
They run towards the bigger road trying to catch a taxi as per Sangcheol's instruction. Out of luck, the only one parked on the corner belongs to an alpha lady, who stares at their direction to the group's dismay.
She has the same look as Chansol.
Realizing that, Sangcheol suddenly grabs Wonho's hands and amplified his own. Beside him, Wonho's starts to shudder as he feels the scent he thought was the older one's perfume getting stronger, enveloping him. Both Chansol and the lady seems to calm down from the action, and taking that brief window of opportunity, the group back away slowly with Sangcheol leading them towards another road.
'Jun, Mengyao, make sure to take Wono to the main road. There's more taxis there. Make sure to take the beta ones.' He instructs, hand still gripping onto Wonho's. Refusing to let go, afraid of the whole eerie situation which he does not understand, Wonho questions, 'You?'
'I'm sorry. I thought I can handle it because I'm already mated but… Wonho,' He looks at the younger, 'your scent is just too strong… I'm afraid I'll lose control and hurt you.'
Wonho heart is beating really fast he cannot hear most of the things Sangcheol just said. His face is really pale now from fear and he feels really dizzy with all the new, strong and thick scents surrounding him. He recognizes Sangcheol's, but there are other ones in the background as well.
'Protect him. Once you get back, head straight towards the omega dorm. Haneul will be waiting. I'll take Chansol back with me.'
'Please, stay safe.' Junjie, still confused with the whole situation, replies in place of his friend whose body already went cold. He receives a nod back, 'You too.'
Junjie pulls Wonho and runs, Mengyao following behind. Just as they reach the backroad, the alphas are already eyeing them. When they start running, alphas start chasing. And howling.
They spot three figures on the side of the road, just a few meters away from them. The strangers are doing some dirty business with one of them obviously had their hands on the backside of the other.
Ignoring the shady action, they try to run pass the figures but as they get nearer, the man who had his hands on the other, suddenly stands upright and stares at Wonho. Junjie tightens his grip on Wonho's but feels the hand suddenly disappeared, pulled backwards with a great force, shocking both of them. The alpha tries to sniff Wonho, who almost screams at the action, before Mengyao manages to break them apart and pushes the alpha back against the wall.
Grabbing the chance, Junjie quickly pulls Wonho, who is frozen in his place, back towards him. They notice the beta or omega who is sitting nearby fleeing the scene, not wanting to be involved. The alpha ignores Mengyao and tries to go back to Wonho but Mengyao does a back kick and knocks the alpha down.
Catching their breaths, Junjie pulls Wonho again, urging him to continue running. But behind them, Mengyao stays. 'What're you doing?'
'You go first. I'll stop them here.' They can hear some commotions and noises along with footsteps getting closer. And once more, Wonho starts to feel the strange scent enveloping him, almost rendering him frozen if not for the pull from his friend. 'You can't! They're dangerous! What if-'
'I know how to fight, despite my cute looks.' The youngest of the three gives Wonho a confident and reassuring smile. 'I have black belt in a lot of martial arts. I can handle a few alpha bastards.'
'I won't let you. Jun!' he frantically pulls his friend back, urging Junjie to stop trying to move. He is not going to allow that. No. 'He needs to come with us.'
'You need to trust him. I know what he can do. He'll be okay.' Junjie reassures him, but Wonho is still not convinced.
'I'll be okay! You need to go! They're here.'
'Jun…' Wonho pleads. Everything feels wrong. He feels really bad. Junjie looks at him and nods, patting his shoulders a few times before proceeding to run again. This time, Wonho follows. If they stay any longer, none of them will be safe.
'Mengyao, be careful!' He screams one last time.
#####
They made it through a few blocks before a few alphas show up again, chasing them. They are getting more and more aggressive by the minute and it is getting harder for Junjie and Wonho to stay on track. One of them almost grabs Wonho again if not for Junjie hitting him with the cover of a trash bin he found nearby.
Only running is no longer an option.
'Wono, hey.' Junjie pulls Wonho towards him, causing the frightened man to stumble back a bit. 'Hey, listen to me.' he searches for the latter's line of sight and forces him to focus on himself. 'I'm gonna stop as many as I can.'
Wonho's eyes widened upon hearing them. Not Junjie too... He will not be able to make it back alone. He can just hear their footsteps running towards them; their grunts, their howls. Their thick and dizzying scents….
'Wono! Focus! We don't have time!' That is exactly what he needed to distract him from all the stimulus around him. He looks at his friend's desperate face, trying to distract himself from the background, 'Promise me. Promise me that you go straight ahead. We're almost there. Straight ahead. No matter what.'
Wonho nods. Straight ahead. No matter what. 'Beta taxi okay? The blue one.'
'You can outrun them. Don't stop. Okay?' Another nod. 'Now go!'
As if that is the starting gun, he runs straight ahead towards the goal that is the main street. He can already see the bright light of the museum, the mark of the main road. And he runs. Leaving Junjie behind. Leaving his best friends to protect him. He runs.
Everything is silent, as if he is the only one there. Maybe he is, but he does not want to feel safe just yet. He needs to be really sure, and there is only one place that can ensure that.
As if on cue, the heavy scents start to surround Wonho yet again and he panics. He hears some rumbling and sounds of metal clashing somewhere around him, but he does not want to risk the chance of looking and slowing his pace. He can outrun them. No matter what.
He can see something moving from the corner of his eyes. A few figures seem to be staring at him for a few minutes, not moving and Wonho almost fooled himself thinking that this nightmare is over. That his 'scent' might have faded.
That is, until they start to act crazy and howl before trailing him. He can feel his legs weakens beneath him from the suffocating atmosphere and maybe his own exhaustion, and Wonho prays. That he reaches somewhere with betas who would try to help him. Or a policeman to stop his pursuer. But who is he kidding? In this part of town?
Distracting himself from his own chase, he fails to notice two figures already caught up to him and are waiting in the middle of the road. Or he notices them, but while in his own panic attack, tries to convince himself that they cannot run that fast.
Almost stopping before them, he tries to shift a little to the left, but his right hand is pulls harshly towards one of them and he lost his footings, falling straight into the man's tight and forceful arms. The scared male bites on the hand that tries to cover his mouth as hard as he can and successfully sets himself free.
Only to feel another weight pushing him down the floor, cracking his wrist.
Still in shock from the impact, Wonho feels the man above him trying to grind his clothed bottom. Although he already guessed what they want to do to him, everything did not seem that real up to this moment, and he feels disgusted, not only towards what is happening to him, but towards himself for giving of that inviting scent. Nevertheless, he knows he does not deserve this.
Refusing to accept this fate, Wonho tries to elbow the man but missed as he cannot see behind him. Feeling the weight disappeared, he takes his stand and runs away quickly, only managing to catch a glimpse of his attackers challenging each other for a fight. He sees a few more in front of him, just staring, and feels himself shrinking. All of them are eyeing him hungrily and he can swear a part of him wants to just give up and give in to them. That they probably will let him off easy if he behaves. And that thought scares him.
He cannot. He made a promise. And he refuses to be the alpha's plaything.
Looking around for somewhere else to run, he notices a building with the door half opened. He runs towards it, tempted to really get inside and lock the doors, but remembers his promise to go straight to the main road and take a taxi. Unfortunately, as he tries to go back to his original path, the alphas are already blocking the way. And not wanting to waste time by trying to go through the pack, afraid to experience what he felt a few moments ago, he gets deeper into the alley.
And he runs.
He runs towards the flickering light ahead, hopefully getting far enough for him to try to get back on track.
The atmosphere suddenly changes as he nears the lit up alley. Wonho feels hard to breathe. Looking frantically around him, hoping to find a way, maybe another passage back, his eyes caught on the figures on the buildings beside him, of what seemed to be an apartment complex. There are some figures near the windows. Some just stare at him while others switch off their light at once. It scares him because he can feel, no, he just know that those betas or omegas refuses to help.
He is all alone. Despite having a lot of witness.
He is on his own.
And Wonho can guess why those people choose to ignore him. Because outside, already circling him, are the alphas - some staring him with scary grins on their faces, and some are slowly walking towards him.
They are no longer running. It took Wonho a few seconds to figure out why. And when he did, his heart dropped.
They are taking their sweet time because there are no more opening for him to run away from them.
They know he is trapped.
And they are waiting. For the first one to try and claim him.
Feeling hard to breathe, Wonho notices that they are no longer looking at him, but at each other. The alphas are giving each other challenging look. As hard as he tried, his legs stopped moving, and he begins hyperventilating, desperate for air. He can hear ringing in his ears and his head spinning, his nose already filled with these new, strange scents.
Just as he is about to fall, someone pushes him towards the wall, causing Wonho to his head against the hard bricks. His brain buzzes, his eyes water as he tries to push the hands pinning his shoulders but to no avail.
The scared male closes his eyes tightly when the alpha leans in and sniffs him, appalled. He tries to focus his ears on something besides the disgusting sound of the breath, and but all he can hear is footsteps going back and forth restlessly. Curious, Wonho opens his eyes to see the other alphas pacing behind the man, as if waiting for their cue to do something.
Then the alpha in front of him grins widely, baring his teeth.
'Hello beautiful.'