Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Three knocks on the front door made you look up from the early morning American cartoons you decided to watch that morning. You liked watching them because it helped you learn the English language. While you were getting better at it, you still had trouble. But your parents and grandparents said that you were vastly improving since moving to America, since you could understand most normal conversations. Your mother did her best to teach you English as well when you were growing up, so you could communicate with your grandparents and various other family members throughout the years. 

You were waiting for Christopher to come for your weekly Saturday date. You were already dressed in a red halter top dress and black leggings. It was starting to get chilly as winter was approaching. You padded your way to the front door and looked through the peephole. Seeing who it was, you quickly opened the door. “Hi, Chris,” you chirped, moving out of the way so he could come in. 

“Hi, pretty girl,” he greeted back, wrapping you up in his arms as soon as you closed the door, rumbling. He gave you a slow kiss, which you happily returned, enjoying the feeling. Christopher was your first boyfriend, so you were delighted in exploring what it meant to be in a relationship with him. You knew you were also his first girlfriend, which you found surprising, with how handsome he was and also how devoted he was. Oh well, too bad for any interested omega or alpha, you and your omega giggled in your mind. The two of you broke apart at the sound of someone making an ahem sound behind you.

You looked sheepishly at your mother, who raised a brow at seeing the two of you kissing by the front door. “Uh, hi, umma! Chris came over to take me out on another date!” Your parents had just come home from dropping off your grandmother at her community activity, not even five minutes earlier.

“Hi, Mrs. Go,” Christopher said, waving at your mother but still having one arm around you. “How are you?” Christopher did his best to respect your parents since it made you happy. He didn’t care otherwise. He was only around because of you anyway. 

Your mother replied after a tense moment, “I’ve been well, and you?” Your mother stared at your boyfriend with pursed lips. While she knew he’d never hurt you, considering the way he acted, she was still a little hesitant about him. She didn’t quite understand how her mate was so accepting of Christopher off the bat—something about how he was similar to Jaejoong, whatever that meant—but she’d go along with it for now. If that boyfriend of yours ever hurt you more than relationship growing pains, she’d drag you back to Korea herself for you to stay with your grandfather and Jaejoong. 

“Better now that I’m here with your daughter and about to take her on another date.” He pressed his cheek against the top of your head, subtly scenting you, marking you as his and making sure your mother knew it. But he had to rein in his more possessive tendencies or else plausible deniability wouldn’t be possible, and you might get a bit upset. 

You hummed, oblivious to the fact that your mother shot him a warning look. 

Christopher’s smile looked more like a smirk with his teeth bared than an actual smile. Christopher knew that your parents were well aware of his personality. He didn’t doubt that his own parents warned them. Too bad you were already his, Christopher thought gleefully. You were his imprint, and he’d eventually mate you. Once he did, no one would be able to take you away from him ever. It helped that you knew how fucked up he was and still accepted him. You were beautiful and perfect, and he couldn’t ask for a better imprint because you were better than anyone else in every way in his eyes. 

You chirped, getting both their attention. “I’m going to get my stuff, then we can go. I’ll be right back.” Christopher easily let you go as you hurried to get your things from your room. The two moved a bit further into the house and more into the kitchen. 

“I’m leaving my daughter in your hands. Don’t make me regret it,” Haneul told Christopher. She worried so much about you, especially with them living in a foreign country. While she may have grown up in America, you were raised in Korea all your life until your family relocated to the States a few months ago. 

Christopher’s smile turned a touch more genuine. “I’ll take care of her, that I promise.” Your mother nodded. She could trust that at least. 

Suddenly, the two heard a masculine voice ask, “How’s my future son-in-law? Still with that grouchy face?” Jungkook came into the kitchen with a teasing smile on his lips. Both your parents watched Christopher’s eye twitch and his smile become strained. Your father got a kick out of teasing your boyfriend, considering he couldn’t do anything to him without risking you breaking the relationship off. 

“Hello, Mr. Go,” Christopher managed to get out through gritted teeth, much to your father’s amusement. Haneul chuckled. 

“Appa! Stop teasing Chris!” You popped up behind your father, poking him on his side, causing your father to yelp, having not expected that. 

Haneul snorted. You and your father were more alike than you and her, which was funny considering Jungkook was an alpha and you were an omega. Your father had always been easy-going with the occasional naive tendencies. But, Haneul thought fondly, you and your father were just too cute. “Alright, you know the rules. You can stay out late, but if you’re not back by dinner, you need to text or call us at least an hour before, got it? And if you’re sleeping over his house, come get your things before heading over so you can let us know, and so we’re not wondering where you are.”

“Got it, umma!” you said, handing over your purse to Christopher, who easily threw the strap over his shoulder. He didn’t let you carry your things, which you didn’t mind. That was less weight for you to carry. “We’ll go now. See you later!” With that, the two of you left.

“Bye, sweetheart!” your parents called out, waving goodbye.

The two of you walked a few houses down to his house, where his car was. “Where did you want to go?” he asked you as he helped you into his car, buckling you in. He had just passed his driver’s test, so he was able to get his provisional license recently. He could only have one person in the car with him. “It’s about brunch time. We’ll eat, then figure out the rest.”

“Dunno. Sweets?” You looked at him hopefully. 

“Not until after brunch,” he said as he pulled out of the driveway. 

“Hmph…let’s just go get some food and then take it to the park. We can eat there, then take a walk.”

“Sounds good.” 

Christopher drove the two of you to your favorite fast food restaurant and bought food for both of you before he drove to the park. You two went to your normal spot at the park, as both of you came here often as a date because you liked taking walks, especially after eating. There wasn’t all too much that you could do that Christopher would agree to. Your boyfriend was an obnoxious homebody who only came out every Saturday because you wanted to have actual dates outside, although there were some weekends that you stayed in with him, either at his place or yours. 

The park wasn’t too busy, although there was a decent number of people either walking or jogging. They ranged from teenagers to elderly folks. You enjoyed the cool air and ooh’d and aww’d at the trees whose leaves were starting to change color. 

The two of you sat side by side on the long, rectangular stone table. It was a bit uncomfortable sitting on, but you didn’t mind all too much. Then you started eating your food happily. You got hungry as soon as you smelled the delicious scent of your food once your boyfriend unpacked it. Christopher finished his food faster than you did and simply watched you eat with a slight smile on his face. 

You hummed when you finished eating. Christopher took a napkin and wiped your face. “Chris!” You pouted. You could clean yourself up, thank you very much. But you appreciated how much he looked out for you. 

Christopher ruffled your hair before smoothing it down at the squawk you let out. He snickered. “I’m going to use the restroom real quick. Stay here,” he ordered you.

“Okay,” you replied, swinging your legs back and forth under the table. 

Christopher got up and left, leaving you sitting there, waiting for him. He hadn’t even been gone a minute before two alphas came up to you, two teenage boys. You didn’t recognize any of them.

“Hi, cutie! What’s a cute omega like you doing here all by yourself?” one of the boys asked, sliding up and taking a seat next to you. You clutched your purse tightly and tried to move away from him as the other alpha sat on the other side of you, cutting off any escape you could’ve tried. You were almost a human sandwich between them, and you didn’t like it one bit.

“I’m not by myself. My alpha boyfriend went to the restroom, and he’ll be coming back any second.” You were highly uncomfortable with the situation. You didn’t know what they wanted from you, but you were getting scared. Your lavender scent burned, but the two alphas ignored it. “Please leave me alone.”

“Oh, come on, cutie. We just wanted to come say hi and invite you to hang with us,” the other alpha boy said. 

“I don’t want to. Please leave! Stay away from me!” you said louder. Passersby were starting to look over at the three of you, rather concerned at hearing you. One of the older men who was an alpha was starting to walk up to the three of you, but before he could get anywhere near you all, Christopher came back, and he was pissed.

“What the hell are you doing with my omega?” he snarled at them, fingers twitching, before curling into his palm, forming a fist. You were his, and some filthy dogs weren't having you. You were theirs! His alpha howled in his mind. The possessiveness was overtaking him.

“Your omega? Cutie, how about you be our omega?” One of the boys put his arm around you, and you cried out in fear, not wanting him to touch you. 

Before anyone but you could comprehend what was going on, Christopher lunged at the alpha, seeing red. All he knew was that he needed to save you and let these trash know that they should’ve never tried anything with you. He grabbed onto the alpha who had his arm around you, and yanked him away from you, almost dragging you with him if not for you clutching onto the table as hard as you could, having anticipated Christopher’s reaction. Christopher didn’t waste any time before walloping the alpha in the face. The other alpha teen tried to help his friends, but Christopher easily maneuvered himself so he could kick the first alpha teen in the stomach, grab the second one, and start striking him too. The rage and possessiveness fueling him demanded retribution for what they tried to do to you. The older alpha hurried over and managed to stop Christopher from doing permanent damage to the two alpha teenagers.

You were crying as you witnessed everything that went on. You wanted that alpha’s scent off of you. You wanted Christopher’s scent on you. 

“Son, I know you’re angry. I would be too if they wouldn’t leave my omega alone, but she needs you now. I’ll take care of the situation.” The older man coaxed Christopher into stopping. Several witnesses saw the boys harassing you, and Christopher was simply doing his due diligence in rescuing you. Thanks to how the laws work, Christopher was in the right, and the two alpha boys were in the wrong. Your boyfriend wasn’t worried about any repercussions, knowing that. 

Christopher sneered at the two boys before hurrying to you, crooning and rumbling, trying to calm you down, his arms wrapped tight around you. He scented you as much as he could without sending you into a scent high. You hiccupped as your crying slowed, whimpering and trying to press yourself against him as much as you could. “Come on, let’s get going,” he told you gently. Christopher put your purse strap over his shoulder, then lifted you and carried you. He nodded to the older alpha, who nodded back before the two of you left. 

Before long, the two of you ended up in his car. Your crying had stopped by then, with a few lone tears coming out, but your lavender scent was still rather acrid. “Pretty omega, you’re okay. Alpha is here for you,” he crooned to you, cupping your cheek and using his thumb to brush away the last of your tears. 

You sniffled, grabbed his hand, and brought it down to your lap. You almost started crying again when you saw the bruises that were starting to form on his knuckles. “You’re hurt!”

“It’s nothing.” Christopher brushed it off. And it was. Being injured didn’t mean anything to him as long as you were safe. He rumbled, trying to calm you down before you got riled up again. 

“Isn’t this going to affect your baseball?” You rubbed your eyes, trying not to cry again. 

“I don’t care. It was worth it to save you. You’re mine, and I’ll protect you.” Christopher had you blow out your nose with a napkin that was in the car and gave you a quick, chaste kiss. The possessiveness broiled in his gut. Those damn alphas were lucky the older man came to save them. “You’re mine, do you hear me?” 

You nodded at his words, warmth blooming in your chest. Your boyfriend was so handsome and protective. You loved it. 

“Come on then, let’s go home. That was enough excitement for one day.” He put the car into reverse before putting it into drive and heading home. “This is why I like staying home, omega,” Christopher teased you. 

You giggled at that, and Christopher was relieved to hear it. “On our next date, we can stay home. I love you, alpha. I’m yours,” you chirped sweetly before purring. You knew your alpha would keep you safe, and that reassured you. 

“I love you too, my omega.”

Chapter Text

“Walk to umma!” You encouraged your pup to walk to you, your arms open and hands making the motion to come to you. You and he were in the long play pen in the living room that was right next to the communal nest. Your son had just taken his first steps a couple of days ago at nine months and was already getting better at it, and you were excited to see him walk across the room into your arms. “Come on, Isaac! Walk to umma!” You called out to him again. You watched excitedly as he struggled for a moment to stand on his own two feet, but with a rather determined look on his cute, chubby face, he shakily stood up and took slow steps to you until he finally fell into your arms. You and Julia cheered as she had been recording it for you.

You scooped up your son and rained kisses onto his face. He giggled happily, patting you on your cheeks with a big smile on his cherub face. He looked like your mate and sometimes acted like him too, which exhausted you because they started warring for your attention recently, but you loved them both so much. “My handsome pup! My baby! Good job!” you squealed. Julia kept recording, fawning over both of you.

The three men were across the room, and your mate was annoyed. “Does she have to give him so much attention?” Christopher grumbled, almost growling at him as his son looked straight at him before he snuggled with you, as if claiming you for himself, but Christopher managed to hold himself back. His right eye twitched. The jealousy was coursing through his veins and burning him. He glared at Isaac, who was radiating smugness at having your attention on him and not on his father.

“He is definitely your son,” Sean said unhelpfully, laughing at his pack alpha’s misfortune. All three had seen Isaac’s reaction to Christopher. He and Julia had decided long ago not to have kids of their own and would rather be happy being the uncle and aunt of your kids, and now here they were: Christopher versus his son. You and your mate truly never did fail in entertaining him. This was hilarious.

Christopher wanted to strangle your best friend. “All she wants to do is shower him in attention, and that brat knows it. You both saw it!” Christopher complained, gesturing towards his son. He loved his pup, but he was ready to force his betas to take him for the night so he wouldn’t need to deal with him for at least one night. You got too anxious if he was gone for longer, unless Jinchul was babysitting because he actually knew how to handle Isaac like a pro on his own. Jinchul’s room was turned into a nursery for Isaac, as he was gone most of the time, and only came to America for a few weeks every season. That, and he didn’t mind sharing a room with his adorable nephew. Someone had to keep an eye on your rather stubborn child.

Christopher missed Jinchul. That Korean best friend of yours could take his son for a whole day elsewhere, and the only one semi-upset was Isaac, not him or you. Isaac loved all his uncles and aunt, but he didn’t like being separated from you for long. The last time Jinchul came in from Korea, Christopher was able to steal you from his son and isolate the two of you for that whole day, which was more relieving than it should’ve been. He couldn’t wait until Jinchul found a successor and finally moved to America. Or at least if your grandfather and Jaejoong could visit so they could take his pup for the day.

“He does know how to take advantage of the situation, that's for sure. He’s a mini-you,” Jordan added, also unhelpfully, clapping him on the back. Both betas thought the situation was hilarious and were often found laughing nowadays. Watching Christopher get jealous constantly of his own son was too funny, especially as he couldn’t do anything about it, lest he risk your wrath. Omegas were protective of their pups; you were no exception. In fact, you were worse thanks to their influence.

You and Julia walked over with Isaac on your hip. You practically rushed into Christopher’s arms while still holding your son. “Did you see? Did you see? He can walk across the room now!” You were having such a proud mama moment, and Christopher, despite his misgivings, wasn’t about to ruin your happiness.

“I saw,” your mate couldn’t help but state dryly. He wrapped his arms around you easily while making sure both of you were supported. This was the only time Isaac was sometimes willing to share you with your mate was when it was all three family time. You ignored your mate’s lack of enthusiasm. You’d make up for it, so you didn’t care.

“We saw,” Sean corrected him rather gleefully. He then whispered something into Julia’s ear, who burst into laughter. It was a running joke between the betas and Jinchul about how jealous Christopher was. All four hid it from you, not wanting to rock the boat, but it was so entertaining watching the three of you. Like father, like son, considering both of them were also alphas. Sean cackled at the thought.

Christopher glared at them, which caused the three betas to laugh like hyenas. “Go make lunch,” he barked at them, tired of their shit. Then he turned toward you and dropped a kiss on your hairline. “Let’s just go into the nest.”

“Okay,” you chirped. You smiled happily as you squeezed your son in a gentle hug. He babbled back to you, and you cooed. Your son was so adorable!

The three betas merrily went to make food while the three of you settled onto the communal nest. Your son was between the two of you, but curled up against you. Christopher threw an arm over both of you.

“Should just let those three idiots take Isaac for the day. It’s been a while since it was just the two of us,” Christopher grumbled. Isaac babbled rather unhappily as if he understood his father, which made Christopher roll his eyes. He wouldn’t be surprised if the little brat actually did understand him. He had been a bigger pain ever since he turned six months old. All Christopher wanted was to spend a little more time with you, but their son made it so hard.

You kissed your son on his forehead, and he settled down. He could be as fussy as his father when it came to wanting your attention. “Jinchul is coming down in a week and a half. We’ll do it then.” You traced Christopher’s jaw with your fingers. He still kept his beard well-kept and short, but it looked even more sophisticated now that you two were older. But your mate was as handsome as ever. You smiled affectionately at him. He rumbled in response.

Christopher took hold of your hand and pressed a kiss to your palm, then your knuckles, causing you to giggle. But you abruptly looked down as you felt Isaac having balled his fist tightly into your shirt. Christopher sighed as you puffed out a laugh. Your poor mate. You knew he wanted more attention, but Isaac was still so little, which meant that you needed to focus on him more. “Don’t worry, alpha, when he’s a little older, we’ll have more time together,” you purred. You knew your son also enjoyed feeling the vibration of your purr as he giggled, snuggling into you more, then babbled much more happily.

“I still say we foster him off to the idiots before then,” he said, moving his arm to rub his son on his back as he kept babbling. He loved his son, truly, he did. When he was born, Christopher was happy, as it felt his little nuclear family was complete, even if he had wanted more than one pup. But he needed his son to hurry up and become independent so he could spend more time with his mate rather than have you focus nearly all of your attention on their son.

Isaac suddenly began fussing and tried to turn around after a few minutes, so you helped him. Then, he used one of his hands to slap Christopher’s hand away and turned back to cuddling with you. Christopher rolled his eyes, sighing. Your hand flew to cover your mouth in a desperate attempt not to laugh. Their son was radiating that smugness again. He was done playing nice with his father. He let him hold the two of you earlier, and now it was his time with you again.

“Omega,” Christopher growled at you, exasperated with his pup.

Every now and then, Isaac tended to reject everyone but you. That included rejecting his father. Normally, you’d give Isaac the attention he was seeking, but sometimes you left him with the others so he’d be forced to get used to being with others without you holding him all the time. But if Isaac had his way, you’d be giving him all of your attention all of the time. You swear, he was exactly like your mate.

You coughed a few times and cleared your throat, a smile on your lips. “Okay, we’ll let Jordan, Julia, and Sean sleep down here with Isaac, and we’ll spend time together upstairs for the night, alright?” You tried to compromise. You moved around a bit to hold Isaac easier.

“We’re going up right after dinner,” he told you. Christopher was done for the day and was looking forward to spending the night with only you. His son was making his jealousy skyrocket again, and he needed you. Let their son be forced to spend time with the three idiots without either of you. That was his fault for not sharing you more. His alpha laughed at him, but they both knew their son was like him in more ways than one. At least when Isaac was older, he could teach him all the ways to protect you. He knew his son would be down for that.

“That’s fair. Let’s do that then,” you said before abruptly starting to giggle. You and your omega were beyond happy.

“Lunch is ready!” you three suddenly heard Julia call from the kitchen.

“Alright, let’s go tell everyone the new plan,” you said as Christopher helped you up, and you scooped up your little one. You tilted your head up once you were standing, and Christopher leaned down and kissed you.

Isaac gave a loud cry when the two of you kissed longer than ten seconds, and the two of you broke apart at the sound. “Are you serious?” Christopher complained. You laughed in response. The three of you then headed for the kitchen. Ah, you loved your family. There was nothing better than spending time with everyone.

Chapter Text

Christopher convinced Jinchul, Julia, and Sean to give you a bit of a break to get your nails and hair done, since you were talking about how you wanted to get a haircut recently, because he needed to talk to his pup. Jordan went with them for extra protection, but mostly used it as an excuse for why Jordan didn’t stay at the den with Christopher and Isaac, so you'd be less suspicious since it wasn't often Christopher and Isaac were alone together. The three betas and the other alpha decided to help their pack alpha out by distracting you. It was now just him and his pup. Christopher needed you out of the den for once so he could talk to his son without you around. While your mate loved having you around, Isaac got even more combative with him with you in the den. He didn’t mind that his son constantly rejected him. However, he did mind when his son kept getting your attention, which meant he got less of his mate’s attention as a result. That is what constantly had him up in arms with his own pup. 

“Why’d you let them take umma?” Isaac grumbled, glaring up at his father. You should be home with him and his father and not with his uncles and aunty. They were far more important. 

“Because I needed to talk to you,” Christopher said plainly with a raised brow. His son was really too much like him. 

“Why? I’m only five.” Isaac pretended that he was a simple child. He liked playing pretend, so he acted childish, knowing that you would give him more attention the more adorable he acted. If he acted as smart as he was, you’d give him attention, but he liked the way you fawned over him right now because he was simply so cute in your eyes. 

“Give me a break, you demon child. I know you’re smart and understand what I’m saying.” Christopher scowled at the suddenly smug child. “You’ve been understanding since you were almost a year old.” It irritated Christopher when his son decided to ‘practice’ his acting skills on him, and that his son liked using them on you. 

Isaac smiled smugly up at his father at that, but said nothing. He was still going for plausible deniability that he had only started understanding more since he turned five and started going to school. He didn’t know whether his father would tattle to you that he was smarter than he pretended. Isaac was still confused about why he was being called out, but was content that his father said nothing to you about his capabilities, so he decided to be nice just this once. “Trueeee. So what didja wanna talk about?”

Christopher reached down and carried his pup so the two could sit on the couch with Isaac standing up, balancing himself on Christopher’s lap with some help from his father. Isaac liked standing on his father's lap. Isaac chose not to make a fuss. “You’re getting older now,” Christopher began, “so that means I’m going to have to start training you even if you haven’t awakened yet. We’ll get you to a place where, if you do awaken, it would be less harsh on you. Do you understand?”

Isaac nodded. “Umma doesn’t want me to awaken,” he pointed out to his father. “She’s told you not to train me all this time, too.” Oh, whoops, he didn’t mean to slip that out. His father would immediately understand that Isaac had been spying on them as they were exchanging views about how they wanted to raise him. Isaac was thankful that they were adapting to him to figure out the best way to raise him, rather than relying on parenting books and the advice your grandfather and Jaejoong would give you. Gunhee and Jaejoong’s advice worked most of the time, and it helped you to figure out a better way to raise Isaac. It was just that you were worried about his future and potential hunting career. It’s like he had a tingly sense when his parents were discussing something important about him. 

Christopher sighed and resisted the urge to rub his face in frustration. “Stop being like Sean,” he was almost pleading to his son. He didn’t need a child that was like him, and also a mix of Sean and Jinchul. That was a disaster in the making. 

“I’ll be more like Uncle Jinchul then.” Isaac nodded solemnly. Jinchul was a great model to be like. 

Christopher tilted his head back to rest it on the couch for a moment before lifting his head to stare at his pup, already exhausted from talking to him. “Whatever. You know what, you do you on that. But if you don’t want me scolding you for it, or rather, I’ll get your mother to do it, you’re going to learn to use those skills to protect her when you’re older,” Christopher told his son. He did not doubt that his son would awaken. In his opinion, Isaac’s intellectual ability was a good indicator that something was up. Christopher kept that knowledge away from you for the time being because he knew how you felt about their pup awakening. 

You feared him eventually going into dungeons and worried that something might happen, like it almost did to you. Christopher, Jordan, and Sean would take him with them once Isaac was older and awakened to lower-level gates so he could get used to it. Andre would probably join because of you pleading for your pup to be watched over, and none of them could deny you that. Your voice, shaking with stress and a bit of fear, spoke of how it could be a red gate, and you needed everything and everyone to bring your baby back to you. You had some tears escaping your eyes. All of them folded because of your reaction to the thought of Isaac hunting. None of them was going to throw Isaac to the wolves. 

Christopher would bet a lot of money that his son would eventually awaken, and you would just have to accept that. Isaac was too much like him not to awaken, in his opinion. 

Isaac scoffed with all the pride he could muster. “Of course I’ll protect umma.” He puffed out his chest at the thought that when he was older, he could protect you. Isaac knew he could count on his father to train him for that at the very least. 

“It’s not going to be easy,” Christopher warned him, not that he really needed to. He knew Isaac was a hard-working child, even if a lot of his motivation was to make you proud of him. But protecting you should be enough motivation for his son to take training seriously. The thought of something happening to you frightened both your mate and pup, and both swore that they’d make sure that nothing would happen to you, especially considering your lack of combat skills.  

“I can do it!” Isaac insisted. “I’ll help protect umma!” He was determined to protect you. “I want you to train me!” His face twisted into a pout so reminiscent of you that Christopher couldn’t help but chuckle and bring Isaac into a hug. Isaac struggled a little for show but settled down, accepting his fate, and snuggled up with him. He didn’t hate his father at all. He just wanted your attention and affection to be on him always, and his dad was constantly in the way. 

“You’ll do well protecting your mother,” Christopher murmured to his son, resting his cheek on top of his head. It was nice that he and his pup got along every once in a while. Christopher knew that Isaac would be less combative if you were away since neither needed to fight for your attention, so they could focus on the fact that they were still father and son. 

“Of course I will!” Isaac grumbled. “I’m your pup after all.” His father was so silly sometimes. No wonder he made you, his uncles, and his aunt laugh a lot. 

Christopher chuffed and rumbled. “You are definitely my pup.” Isaac beamed at his father. 

The two of them suddenly heard the door opening and a cacophony of voices, but it was your voice that stuck out to them. Christopher stood up while still holding Isaac when you came into view. “Umma!” Isaac yelled out.

“How were my two favorite men while I was gone?” you asked them, already holding out your arms to take your pup. Isaac wiggled a bit, and Christopher took the hint and handed him over to you. The two of you immediately cuddled, with you purring at having your son in your arms. Isaac was pleased with the vibration and sound of your happy purring. 

“He was good for once,” Christopher told you, rumbling. Isaac laughed at that, giving his own cute little rumble. You chirped happily at the two of them getting along. Christopher then kissed you as everyone else came into the living room, knowing that they’d all still be clamoring for your attention. He was satisfied with his conversation with his son. It seemed like all went well today. 

Isaac suddenly tried batting his father away as the kiss was going on for longer than he liked. The two of you pulled away, with Christopher sighing, and the betas started laughing. Jinchul came up to the three of you and patted Isaac on the head, who suddenly buried his face into your chest. The betas and Jinchul took seats around the living room—Sean and Julia were lounging in your nest already. Everyone was essentially doing their own thing, relaxing together. It was a great feeling having the whole pack together again. It felt wrong to you until Jinchul moved in with you and Christopher and became your nanny for Isaac.

You and Jinchul were working on trying to get Christopher and Isaac to get along, but it was going slowly. Isaac didn't like that much, since he got quarrelsome with Christopher over your attention, but you were pleasantly surprised that the two got along when you were out, like Jinchul told you they would. “Good job, my baby,” you said to Isaac. You were proud of him and Christopher for getting along when you were gone. “And you, too, my handsome alpha. My mate making me happy that father and son bonded when I got to focus on myself.” You nudged his arm affectionately. 

“I have to spoil you more. It sounds like it was a good time,” Christopher said as the three of you went into your nest. Isaac buried his face into your front, and you absentmindedly rubbed Isaac’s back, much to his happiness if his little rumbles filled the air. Christopher curled around you with your back to his front. Since Isaac got older, you were now in the middle of the cuddle pile between your mate and pup. 

“It was! The guys got massages while Julia and I got our hair and nails done at the upscale spa that Sean and Julia like going to,” you chirped, humming happily. It wasn’t often that you could treat yourself like that since it was rare that you left the den now, besides for school-related functions for Isaac. You purred for your son and mate as you knew the two enjoyed it when you did. 

Christopher reached over and rested his hand over the one that you were rubbing your pup’s back with. You made a confused noise, but Christopher just nuzzled you, and you relaxed. Christopher knew his son got his hint, though. The love and care you showed them was boundless, and they needed to protect that—the both of them. Isaac made an affirmative noise, which made you more confused, but you figured it was because them having spent time together earlier, so you let it go and just enjoyed spending time with your mate and pup. You were perfectly happy being right where you were.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

You were nervous as you sat behind your father and mother in the car, who, along with your grandmother, who was sitting next to you, were invited to a gathering of the neighbors. Apparently, it happens twice a month. It was something the community originally did once, and then it never stopped. It took place at a nearby park that was a bit of a drive, but not very far from the neighborhood. 

Two weeks ago, you had just moved to America from South Korea at fourteen years old, fifteen in Korea, to help your maternal grandmother, Soojin, as your aunt and her family couldn’t support her by themselves any longer. Your mother, Haneul, took it upon herself to take care of her mother since her sister couldn’t do it anymore, and you and your father, Jungkook, followed along, not wanting to separate from your mother. Your English was passable but with a distinct accent. Your parents had tried to teach you English growing up, and your grandparents from both sides helped with it, so you could carry on a conversation as well as a ten-year-old would be able to understand. You hoped you’d catch up to your age group soon enough. You had been getting better at it as your mother and grandfather focused on teaching you more thoroughly after school for the past year. Then your grandmother started helping you now that you’re in America. 

The four of you got out of the car with your father helping your grandmother. Haneul aww’d over her darling mate helping her mother while you giggled at them. “Appa is good at helping grandma!” you said happily, trying to practice your English more. Haneul clapped her hands. Her mate and daughter were truly adorable. 

“Of course I’m good at helping your grandma,” Jungkook boasted, laughing heartily. Both your mother and grandmother laughed, too.

“Oh, my dear grandchild. Come, let me introduce the three of you to our neighbors.” Soojin beckoned you and Haneul to follow her as she held onto Jungkook’s arm. The four of you walked slowly, but none of you minded, which your grandmother appreciated. You just took in the scenery. You hadn’t had the chance to go to this particular park before, and so you took the chance to look around. Soon, you all reached the party, and your grandmother began introducing you, your father, and your mother to everyone who kept coming up to the four of you. 

You stared curiously at the alpha following his alpha and omega parents to come greet you four. He was the only other teenager at the park who was part of the party, although you heard that a few other teenagers lived a little further out from your neighborhood. So, it was either children or adults, except the two of you. He stared right back at you, and you almost hid behind your mother at how intense his eyes were. You bit your lip, not noticing him watching you do so, and something like desire flashed in his eyes before he completely wiped it from his expression. 

“Mrs. Lee!” The woman called out to your grandmother.

“Ah! Phoebe, come meet my children and my grandchild.” Soojin smiled as she presented the three of you to them. “My daughter, Haneul, her mate Jungkook, and their daughter.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Phoebe Reed.” Phoebe held out a hand, which Haneul took. Both omegas smiled at each other. Phoebe then introduced her mate and son, “This is my mate Zeke and our son Christopher.” 

“Nice to meet you.” You, Haneul, and Jungkook quickly bowed to them in greeting. 

“Well, we’ll let you enjoy the party. We just wanted to introduce ourselves. We live a few houses down from you, so if you need anything, let us know!” Zeke said to you three.

“Thank you,” Jungkook said, exchanging a nod with the other alpha.

Suddenly, Christopher was in front of you, and you smiled up at him, wanting to get to know the only other teenager at the party. “Want to go talk somewhere else?” he asked you. His parents froze, staring at their son in a look Haneul could only decipher as horror. She looked worriedly at you while Jungkook raised an eyebrow. Soojin frowned, but said nothing as she didn’t feel any ill will from the Reed boy like she normally did. She dared to say it was the opposite. She had never seen him like this before.

“Okay,” you said. He held out a hand and waited patiently. You tilted your head to the side, examining him, before shrugging and taking his hand. 

“Wait! Chris!” Phoebe called out to her son. “Maybe—” What did her cruel alpha son want with a dainty-looking omega like you? She loved her son, but even she knew that there was something deeply wrong with him. 

Christopher cut her off uncaringly. “Come on, let’s go.” He gave a gentle tug on your hand, and you let him lead you. He cared about you, not them. 

“Umma, appa, halmeoni, I’ll see you later!” You waved goodbye with your free hand before facing forward and gripping his hand a little tighter as you followed him, much to his joy.

“Stay where we can see you!” Haneul watched as you gave her a thumbs-up, and she watched as Christopher led you to a bench that was a little farther than the party, but still within watching distance once you told him that you wanted to stay in their line of sight. Haneul turned around and faced her mother. “What was with all the looks? Who did I just let take my daughter?” she hissed. For the standard omega, they were protective of their children—Haneul was no exception. Jungkook was also staring them all down. His sweet omega daughter had better not be in danger. Soojin exchanged a look with the Reed couple and began telling them about Christopher. All of them kept watch over the two of you while the three explained how Christopher typically acted. 

“So you moved in two weeks ago?” Christopher asked you, sitting next to you on the bench. He fought the urge to just yank you onto his lap. He knew the moment he saw you that he was your imprint, but he knew he had to tread this carefully. You were an immigrant who could go back to Korea at any time, and you were clearly younger than he, too. He needed to find out more about you and figure out how to make you his and keep you. “Do you attend school yet?”

You hummed, thinking of what to say and how to say it. “Yes, we moved in two weeks ago, and I started school earlier this week.” 

“Which school do you go to?” he continued asking. You told him the name of your school. “Good, that’s the one I attend. I’m a junior.”

“I’m a year one student,” you said, forgetting the word for it, but hopefully he’d understand what you meant. He did.

“Freshman then. Junior year is year three. That makes me maybe two years older,” he told you while fishing for answers without being too direct. He didn’t want to scare you off if you were uncomfortable with questions, especially since English was clearly your second language. Christopher watched you think. He could practically see the gears turning in your mind. 

“I’m fifteen in Korean years, so fourteen in America.” You nodded, catching on that he wanted to know how old you were. You didn’t mind answering his questions. You also told him the year you were born because you knew that counting years of birth was different between the two countries and saying how old you were might not have been so clear.

“I see. Then that makes me two years older than you.” Christopher ruffled your hair just to see what your reaction would be. You pouted, which almost did him in. You looked so adorable. It was harder than he thought it would be not to lose it. He wanted to slather you in his scent so badly to tell everyone who got near you that you were his. 

“Hey!” you whined, trying to smooth down your hair. “I’m not a little kid!” You didn't want the handsome alpha in front of you to think that you were just a kid.

“Of course you’re not,” Christopher said, staring at you fondly. 

You looked up, ready to give him a piece of your mind, thinking that he was making fun of you, but you faltered. He actually genuinely looked like he meant that he didn’t see you as a kid. There was something dark and intense in his eyes, but at the same time, they looked at you softly. “Then why tease me like one?” You pouted some more. You were feeling a little better at that at least.

“Because you’re cute,” he stated simply. He had an arm on the top of the bench, and his head was supported by his hand. He gave you a half smile as he watched your irritation deflate at his words. 

You blushed, averting your eyes. That was pretty bold of him to say, especially since the two of you just met. “Thanks,” you mumbled, scratching your cheek. Your omega squealed happily at the compliment.

Christopher chuckled. “I’ll walk you to school from now on. I’ll pick you up at 7:15 am.” 

“Appa’s been dropping me off,” you said shyly. You didn’t know how your parents would take it that he wanted to walk you to and from school, much less your grandmother. All three were rather overprotective of you, thinking that you’d have a hard time settling in a new country and all that entailed.

“That wasn’t a no,” he teased you. “It’s within walking distance of our neighborhood. Tell him I’ll take care of you, and I’ll bring you home as well. I do have baseball practice if you don’t mind waiting after school for me to walk you home. You can watch our practice too.” Christopher looked rather hopeful about being able to do those things with you. Anything so that he could keep spending more time with you.

You didn’t mind that he would walk you to and from school—you would like it even. You thought he was handsome, but you didn’t want to get your hopes up, even if he called you cute. But then it clicked. “Baseball?!” 

“Yes?” He raised a brow at you, suddenly saying the sport he plays.

“My first friend here plays baseball!” you said cheerfully. 

“Your friend?” Christopher’s voice went flat. “You have a friend who plays baseball here?” He sat up straight and faced you. Who did he have to intimidate to make sure they knew you were his?

You somehow managed to miss his tone completely, a little more into recalling details about your friend. “Ah, his name is Free—I mean Sean Freeman.” You looked proud of saying it in the right order. You liked Sean, but only as a friend. He was very fun to be around with his mischievousness. You did want to whack him on some occasion because of him teasing you a lot, but you knew it was all in good fun, so you didn’t mind in the end.

Christopher internally swore with his alpha growling too. Of all the fucking people, that little shit was your friend? He didn’t even know that Freeman was capable of making friends. Acquaintances, sure. Many of them, in fact. Friends? That was rare, if at all. Christopher would know. He hated people and rarely had friends; the one lone one was Jordan because he refused to leave him alone, and it took one to know one with him and Freeman. “I see. Yeah, he’s on the team.” Christopher said through gritted teeth, trying to smile at you and appear nonthreatening. Intimidating that asshole was actually going to take work. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but Freeman had better deal with the fact that you were his. 

You beamed at him, completely unaware of his sudden inner turmoil, and he took a deep breath at the sight of it, trying to calm down as his alpha was now growling at him to not fuck this up. “So you’ll ask your dad then?”

“Yes, I’ll ask him.” You nodded. You liked that this alpha wanted to take care of you. It would also be nice to have another person to talk to.

Christopher rumbled at that, pleased that you easily gave in to him. You blushed again at hearing his rumbling and chirped a little in response. Hearing you chirp at him, Christopher tightly clenched his fists until he almost bled, since he wanted to lunge at you and keep you trapped in his arms forever. He could imagine himself working and taking care of you, so you could just wait at home for him while doing whatever you wanted as long as it made you happy. He took another deep breath to try to calm down, but almost regretted it once your scent wafted into his nose. He needed to distract himself, and quickly at that. “Also, do you have a number I could call just in case I can’t walk you for whatever reason in the morning?” Christopher asked, knowing that it was simply an excuse. He’d make it every morning come hell or high water, but plausible deniability was needed. 

“Ah, yeah! Appa and Umma took me shopping for one a few days since we arrived!” you said, fishing it out of your small purse that you were carrying. “Um…Number?” you asked once you unlocked your phone and went to contacts. Christopher gave you his number, and you made sure to send him a text to tell him it was you. Christopher’s phone rang, and making sure that the two of you had the right numbers, he saved your contact info to his phone. You smiled shyly up at him again. The only contact information you had was your friend Sean, your other classmate Julia who you’ve started getting close to that Sean didn't blow his top about, and now Christopher. 

Christopher stared down at you rather helplessly. You were too adorable for this world. He needed to protect you, oh god, he needed to make sure you were safe. He watched as you suddenly held out your hand, a blush on your face still. He cocked his head to the side and placed his hand in yours. You gave a few squeezes before letting go and scratched at your cheek again, eyes averted. He’d figure out what it meant. It seemed like you used more non-verbal actions when you couldn’t convey the meaning verbally due to your limited English. “Too cute,” he mumbled, and you caught it and blushed even harder. 

You were shocked that this good-looking alpha was paying so much attention to you, especially as you had just moved to America and didn’t really know a lot of people yet. Your omega was beyond pleased that the handsome alpha in front of you was paying such close attention to you. She whispered to you to appeal to the alpha in front of you, that he would live up to his promise of taking care of you. Both of you were excited to get to know him and maybe become something more. You didn’t want to get your hopes up, though, so you were going to take it slow. 

Christopher paused for a moment before he ran a hand through your hair once, subtly scenting you with his wrist scent gland. He saw you sniff, smelling his scent for a moment as it got stronger when he did that, and you released some more of your lavender with ocean mist scent in response, happy that he did such an intimate gesture. Christopher really did almost lunge at you then, but then your parents and his came up to you both. He was actually grateful about it because he didn’t know how much longer he could hold back. He needed to learn how to not scare you off with how intense he could be until you were his, when only then would he be more comfortable being himself around you without you freaking out. 

“Lovey!” your mother called for you as both sets of parents walked up, along with your grandmother. “It’s time to go eat lunch!” You perked up and made sure you had everything. Christopher also helped you double-check. His parents were looking at him warily, but Christopher didn’t care. He was suddenly glad that he had decided to come today, even though he rarely attended these functions. Food was food, and now he found his omega imprint. Today was a good day.

“Umma! I made a new friend,” you said cheerfully in Korean. You looked so happy that your parents and grandmother couldn’t help but soften. It seemed that despite what the Reeds and Soojin told your parents, you seemed okay and cheerful. “Let’s go eat! I’m hungry!” you said in English this time.

Christopher continued to watch you for a moment before he helped you stand up. That made all of the adults raise an eyebrow. Haneul and Jungkook stared at Christopher, frowning, with Soojin frowning at him too. He didn’t care. He only cared about what you thought of him. He held out his hand again, which you took immediately. 

Phoebe and Zeke looked at each other, bewildered. Their son had never acted this way before, as far as they could tell, anyway. The only one that Christopher seemed to tolerate was that Jordan Woods boy, but their son seemed genuinely interested in you—they didn’t know whether to be happy that their son was interested in you or to fear for your safety. You seemed like a sweet omega, and they didn’t want Christopher to hurt you. 

“You need to eat, then you can ask your dad about what I offered,” Christopher told you, refusing to let go of your hand. 

“Okay.” You were pleased that the very handsome alpha was already starting to take care of you. Maybe you had a chance with him after all. You tugged at his hand a bit, quietly insisting it was time to go get food. 

“Let’s go eat lunch then.” Soojin decided to break the tense atmosphere. “Jungkook, can you be a dear and help your mother-in-law?”

“Of course, of course,” your father said, offering his arm for your grandmother to hold onto. Haneul’s lips pursed, still watching you and Christopher, but said nothing. The seven of you headed to the area that had the food.

Christopher led you to the food stands without waiting for any of them once he heard you give another chirp. He promised to take care of you, so he would, which meant that he needed to feed you since you were hungry. 

It was your family’s turn to give each other bewildered looks. That was new from you. You were typically too shy, so you rarely chirped around non-family members. The adults followed behind the two of you but made sure to keep an eye on the two of you from now on. Haneul and Jungkook exchanged looks. They’d need to make sure to watch over you more until they could determine if Christopher was good for you or not. If he wasn’t, they’d send you back to Korea, and that would be that.

Chapter Text

You and your mate were arguing in your bedroom, and it was starting to get heated. 

You didn’t understand why he wanted your pup to go into a dungeon when he wasn’t even a prepubescent. Isaac was much too young to be going on a raid. The last time you went on a raid, you almost died. You were scared that something would happen to your pup. 

Christopher, on the other hand, didn’t understand why you wouldn’t let him bring their son into a dungeon with some of the strongest hunters in the world. It was going to be a damn D-rank dungeon, not an A-rank dungeon. 

“He’s only eight years old!” 

“I’ll bring the three idiots. Hell, I’ll bring that fucking dumbass moron too while I’m at it. Between the five of us, nothing will happen to him.”

“I don’t care. He’s too young. My baby is too young!” You were on the verge of tears. You didn’t want to hear any more talks of taking your pup into a dungeon, but your mate just wouldn’t quit. 

Christopher rumbled a bit, trying to calm you down. “I know, but he’s getting older. Like you said, he’s already eight. I’ve been training him since he was six. We know Isaac’s potential is easily going to be national level when he’s older, so even when we had Madam Selner help seal his powers for now, he’s easily at least a C-rank and by puberty, should start developing into his actual level,” Christopher tried to explain. “He’ll be fine. I’ll have Jinchul by his side the whole time, but he needs to learn to at least see monsters before there’s a damn dungeon break! Your luck is going to run out sometime, you know that. You’ve experienced so many dungeon breaks, you should have the world record for it.”

“I’m scared.” You broke into sobs. You were so frightened that something could happen to your pup. Sure, it was a D-rank dungeon, but anything could happen in those gates. Christopher sighed and brought you into a hug. 

“I know, my love, but you also know I wouldn’t let anything happen to him either. You and Julia can stay in the panic room, or we could fly to South Korea and do a gate there, so you could spend time with your friend’s guild or your grandfather and Jaejoong, who could watch over you while we do this. We'll figure out the logistics, I promise.” He rocked you back and forth, trying to calm you down. You mewled, unhappy, because you knew Christopher was going to get his way in the end. Your omega didn't like it either, and that was fueling your resistance on allowing Isaac to go on a raid. You may be Isaac’s mother, but Christopher knew better when it came to fighting, and you needed to trust them that it would be fine. But it was just so hard. 

“Leave umma alone!” Isaac suddenly burst through the door and into the room and pushed against his father’s legs, screaming at him. He used his fists to whack your mate on his side, which didn’t even hurt Christopher at all. Both you and Christopher were startled as the two of you were deep into your argument about taking Isaac into a dungeon that the two of you didn’t hear him being right outside your bedroom door. 

Christopher stared down at his son in exasperation, lightly pushing Isaac away from him. He told his son to stop spying on them, like Sean had been teaching him. He was going to force that best friend of yours into another training punishment. But he let go of you, so you could deal with your pup. Although Isaac’s dark glare at him had him raising a brow. He silently applauded his son. Isaac really was developing a truly nasty look when he wanted to, especially when it came to defending you.

You wiped your face quickly, drying your tears. Your son’s sudden appearance somehow had you calming down—you suppose you didn’t want him to see you fight with his father or see you breaking down. You sighed and gently brought your son to you, so he was holding onto your waist. “My darling, I told you to stop spying on us. Where is oppa?”

“He made you cry!” he growled. Isaac conveniently ignored what you said, staring up at you frowning, before turning to scowl at his father. How dare he make you cry! Rage was building in his little body, and he was slightly shaking because of it. 

“I made myself cry,” you admitted, letting out your scent so your pup would calm down while running your hand through his short locks. “I’ve been reluctant to let you go on a dungeon raid.” You figured he was old enough to know that his parents were discussing bringing him into a dungeon since Christopher would get his way anyway. Might as well prepare him mentally right away. 

“If umma doesn’t want me to, I won’t,” Isaac said stubbornly, still holding onto your waist. He’d refuse to go for now if it would make you happy. He didn’t want to see you sad just because his stupid appa wouldn’t give up on trying to convince you to take him into a dungeon. While Isaac thought he was ready to take on either an E-rank dungeon or a D-rank dungeon with the men in his familial pack, if it was causing you so much distress, he didn’t want to go. 

“The hell you’re not going,” Christopher said irritated, “I didn’t just spend days trying to convince your mother only for you to tell me no. You and I both know you need the experience before something bad happens—pretty mate, you know that too. So, he’s going to go on a dungeon raid with me, and that’s that.” His word was final. He wouldn't accept anything else.

Jinchul suddenly showed up right outside the door. “Isaac, get back here now.” He sounded like he was suffering. Isaac’s grip on you got tighter. Whoops. The scary uncle was going to tan his hide during training at this rate. 

“And you think oppa can control him in a dungeon?” you all but shrieked at your mate, gesturing towards Jinchul. As much as you loved Jinchul, this was not a good sign to you. 

Behind your back, Jinchul shot a glare at your son, who peeked a look at him, only to bury his head into your stomach. Okay, maybe he didn’t think this one through, but he heard you being distressed, so he needed to help you!

Christopher sighed. He was going to make that little brat’s training regimen a little worse tomorrow. “I swear, it’ll be fine. I’ll have Jordan and Jinchul on double watch duty for him, alright? I’ll call Andre, tell him the plan, and he can even bring a Scavenger or two with him; I don’t care. I’m telling you, our son needs raid experience before something truly bad happens.” 

“Isaac, come here, now. Let your parents finish talking,” Jinchul ordered him. Isaac begrudgingly let go of you and headed for his uncle, who grabbed the back of his shirt, dragging him away, but not before closing the door with a bit of a bang. The two of you heard Isaac let out a yelp a few seconds later. The two of you deadpanned as both of you stared at the now closed door for a moment.

Christopher rubbed his face in another round of exasperation. “I’m pretty sure idiot four is scarier than a D-rank dungeon.”

“Probably,” you agreed, “but still! At least Jinchul knows not to go too far. Monsters won’t care!”

Christopher heaved another sigh. “You’re spoiling him too much, you know that, right?”

“I can’t help it. He’s my pup, and he's too cute,” you whined as your mate brought you back into his arms. “Will you really ask Andre and some of his guild members to help you watch over our son?” you asked him quietly. You were still resistant to the idea of him bringing Isaac into a dungeon, but Christopher was right that two national hunters, two S-rank hunters, and an A-rank hunter, not to mention a few Scavenger guild members, would go along with them. Many in the Scavenger guild liked you in particular since whenever you were around, Thomas was less brash and didn’t wallop them too badly—much like how Sean and Jordan were relieved when you watched Christopher ‘train’ them since that meant they didn’t need to fight for their lives against your mate. It was a win-win for everyone, as the national hunters loved it when you watched them train as well.

“I promise, everything will be just fine. What? Do you want me to bring Liu too?” he asked as a joke, only to roll his eyes when he saw you perk up.

“Would you? Ziyin and Yichen can come vacation with us to South Korea to see Miseon-unnie and Jiyeon-unnie, and their cute little Miho-ah.” You liked the idea of all three national hunters going with your son into a dungeon, and vacationing with Julia and Ziyin to see your unnies. All five of you women got close in the past ten years, and Miseon-unnie and Jiyeon-unnie would happily take you all in while the men were off doing a raid. You could even see your grandfather and Jaejoong with all the women, too! 

“Fine, I’ll call him up and let him know the plan. I swear, the things I do for you,” Christopher grumbled. “I’ll leave Sean with you, Julia, and Liu’s mate and pup just for extra security for the four of you.” 

“That’s fine. Thank you.” You squeezed your arms tighter around him, burying your face into his chest, feeling relieved. He buried his face into your hair. If all three national hunters went, all the better for your son. 

Chapter Text

The pack was lounging in the living room. Some of you were on the couch, and the rest were on the communal nest. You, Isaac, and Christopher were in the nest with Jordan while the other three were sitting on the couch. “Uncle Sean, what was it like seeing Umma and Appa together for the first time?” Isaac asked Sean. Both you and Sean choked at the question. Christopher was quick to get you water that was on the coffee table. He also threw a water bottle at Sean, which was conveniently on the coffee table as well. You coughed as you got your bearings. Sean was still hacking up. Isaac rubbed your back frantically. He didn’t mean for you and Uncle Sean to choke from his question. Christopher sat back down next to you, so you were squished between your mate and pup.

“Darling, where did that question come from?” you asked your pup. You were well aware that the only one who knew of Sean’s initial reaction was the two of you. Both you and Sean had decided not to talk about that day ever again. Sean didn’t react well the day he first saw Christopher drop you off at your shared classroom and scent you right in front of him. You remembered wondering what even happened to make Sean have that meltdown and being so confused about it.

“Umma, you don’t talk about Uncle Sean’s reaction to you dating Appa. Uncle Jordan and Aunty Julia both told me their stories, and even Uncle Jinchul told his. But you and Uncle Sean refuse to talk about his story,” Isaac informed you with his hands on your thighs, frowning up at you. For only being eight, he sure did know what he wanted to know. You didn’t even realize he noticed your and Sean’s avoidance of the topic.

“Now that I think about it, you and Sean never talked about it.” Julia looked curiously between you and her mate.

“Our introduction was awkward, too.” Jordan laughed. 

“It’s all for a good reason,” you said, grimacing. You could still remember that day as if it were yesterday, and you knew Sean could too. “And yeah, Jordan couldn’t believe what he was seeing and acted all weird.”

“You would too if you saw your crazy best friend who hates people suddenly all over someone,” Jordan said. You laughed while Christopher rolled his eyes.

“I wanna know how you and Uncle Sean reacted to Appa and you being seen together for the first time, please, Umma!” Isaac whined, pleading with you to tell him a new story. 

“It would be nice to know the whole story,” Christopher said, gripping your chin with two fingers, turning your face to look at his. He knew you held back from telling the full story years ago, but you might as well confess it all now, since it’s been more than twenty years since then. He let you go, and Isaac crawled onto your lap, cuddling with you, and letting loose his cute rumbling that you were weak to. For once, he was glad of Isaac’s manipulation because even he was curious since he hadn’t been privy to the full scene of what happened between you and Sean. 

The fact that you and Sean could still remember it from years ago made it worse. It was rather dramatic from both your sides—mostly Sean’s, though, that drama queen. Speaking of, he had his clasped hands in the air in a prayer position, looking at you beseechingly, so he wouldn’t need to talk about his part of it all. You were going to whack him by the end of the story, or Julia would, knowing her. “Okay, fine. Let’s start from the beginning of that whole day, so you all can know my second time hanging out with Chris as well.” Everyone’s full attention was suddenly on you. Sean looked like he was going to die soon. You deadpanned. “Alright, once upon a time, your Appa told me that he was going to walk me to school, and so he arrived Monday morning to pick me up with my parents and grandma having set up an interrogation for him. My parents literally messed with my alarm clock so I’d wake up ten minutes later than usual, which was still enough time to get ready, but goodness, I was rushing to get ready so your Appa could walk me to school. Chris, start your part, I guess.”

Haneul, Jungkook, and Soojin were sitting in the living room with Christopher as you were rushing upstairs to get everything in order. It wasn’t your fault that you woke up late. You knew you set your alarm early. But you were thinking someone messed with it because your father was looking rather sketchy this morning when you rushed past him to get ready in the bathroom. 

Haneul was the one mainly staring Christopher down. He stared back unflinchingly. It wasn’t like your mother would be able to intimidate him. He could intimidate your whole family, but he knew you wouldn’t appreciate it, so he held back. 

“So, we’ve heard some unsettling things about you. What exactly do you want with my daughter?” Haneul asked, narrowing her eyes at the boy in front of her.

Christopher just knew his parents said something on Saturday, and maybe that grandmother of yours, too. “I want her to be mine,” Christopher replied plainly. Jungkook looked at him a little bewildered while Haneul and Soojin looked upset. “She’s going to be my mate one day.” As if he wouldn’t have you as his mate eventually—you were his imprint, and that wasn’t going to change.

Soojin spoke next, “She’s only fourteen and a freshman in high school. You’re a junior. You’ll graduate before her, so how would that work then?” Relationships could fizzle out, but the confident way Christopher was reacting was like he had already determined that you would be his mate.

“What about it? We’ll just date through all of that until she’s ready to be my mate.” Christopher honestly couldn’t see the problem. He wasn’t going anywhere. You were meant for him, which meant somewhere along the lines, you two were going to be together forever, whether you liked it or not. “She’s mine.”

“Oh my lord, he’s like Jaejoong 2.0.” Jungkook stared at him in fascination. “I didn’t even know that was possible.” Jungkook had heard enough stories from his mother when he was younger to know Jaejoong was single-mindedly dedicated to her and Gunhee, as well as he, you, and Haneul, too. Jaejoong basically declared his platonic crazy love for your grandparents back when they were all teenagers. His mother had been thrilled, his father happy but scared because the two liked ganging up on him, yet the three worked it out to form a pack with one another. He could tell Christopher was going to be like that to you, except romantically interested in you. Christopher’s flaw was that he couldn’t hide it like Jaejoong could.

“What are you talking about?” Haneul cried out. “What do you mean he’s like Jaejoong?” What the hell was her mate talking about? Those two weren’t the same at all from her point of view. Haneul was starting to get a little distressed, which everyone could tell because of her scent. 

Jungkook rubbed her back and rumbled a bit to try to help his mate calm down before saying again, “He’s like Jaejoong.” He didn’t know how to explain it better. Even though Jungkook had only met Christopher a few days ago, he saw the signs; he wasn’t stupid. So, at the very least, your father was feeling secure that Christopher would take care of his precious daughter. 

Christopher raised a brow. Who? And exactly how was he like whoever that was?

“That’s not answering the question, Jungkook,” Soojin said dryly. She didn’t know what that meant either, but from the looks of it, it suddenly caused Jungkook to be more accepting of the situation.

Suddenly, they heard loud footsteps coming down the stairs. “I’m ready, I’m ready,” you called out, rather out of breath. You were trying to hurry to get ready since you didn’t know how your family was taking the fact that Christopher was going to walk you to school. You were dressed in your high school uniform with your backpack slung over your shoulders.

“Ah, just in time, my little pup.” Jungkook stood up and wrapped his arms around you. “You’re growing up too soon. Stop it!”

“Appa!” you complained, feeling your cheeks heat up a little at the fact that Christopher was watching your father act ridiculous, and that you were involved in it too. 

“Lovey, are you sure you don’t want Appa to drop you off?” Haneul asked in one last desperate attempt to keep you away from Christopher. From what the Reeds and her mother explained to her, she was able to see that there was something clearly wrong with your new friend, who clearly wanted to be with you and eventually mate with you. The two of you only met a few days ago, for God’s sake! It made her nervous that he focused his attention on you.

“Umma, he’s here.” You gestured towards Christopher, who just sat there watching everything unfold in front of him, bemused. He thought you were cute in your uniform, though. In any case, he just wanted to leave with you already to go to school far away from your meddling family. At least after this interrogation, he’d be able to walk with you to and from school. It seemed like your father was a little more willing than your mother and grandmother to allow him near you.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Go. I’ll make sure no harm comes to your daughter. I told her I’d take care of her, and I will.” Christopher tried to play peacemaker while acting like an alpha who wanted to take care of their omega, and he was rewarded with a bright smile from you. 

“Haneul, just let them go,” Soojin finally said. She’d been watching Christopher as soon as you came into the room, and all of his attention was focused on you, except for making sure there was no danger around. She had seen him eye the room, making sure there were enough places to exit should there be any danger. Her intuition said it was about you and not himself. She didn’t understand why he was suddenly so protective and attentive to her granddaughter—it reminded her of her late husband in a way, but he was, and that was acceptable for now.

“Umma, don’t worry! Chris won’t do anything to hurt me!” You genuinely believed in that. You knew how she felt about Christopher, as when you all came home on Saturday, your mother was stressed out, asking you if you were alright and if Christopher did anything to you. 

Christopher didn’t care what your family thought he was doing. He was going to take care of you, so that was that for him. At least you knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, and he puffed out his chest a bit at hearing your belief in him.

You made your ‘gimme’ hands, and Hanuel came to you and your father, and brought both of you into a hug.

“If he does anything that you don’t want to, you will let me know,” Hanuel told you quietly, but firmly. You nodded and easily acquiesced to your mother’s order. Both your parents finally let you go. You went and gave a kiss to your grandmother on the cheek as Christopher stood up from the couch. 

“Come.” Christopher beckoned you. You went to his side, and he tugged at the straps of your backpack. “I’ll carry it for you.”

“Are you sure?” You looked up at him wide-eyed. He’d be carrying both yours and his if he did that. “Wouldn’t it be too heavy?”

“Good strength training for my baseball. Hand it over,” he ordered you. The adults watched bewildered, hearing the command in his voice, as you shrugged and took off your backpack, and he easily carried both. “Let’s get going then.”

“Okay! Bye, Umma, Appa, Halmeoni!” You turned to wave goodbye as Christopher was already walking to the front door. The three called out their goodbyes as you hurried to follow behind Christopher, even if he had paused for a moment so you could catch up. 

The two of you left your house and began your journey to school.

“Do you normally walk to school?” you asked him, holding onto his hand that he had held out for you. He made sure he was the one walking nearest to the road, and that you were on his other side, so that nothing could happen to you by way of accidentally falling onto the street into incoming traffic. He wasn’t taking any risks. 

“Yeah, been doing it since first year,” Christopher said, giving your hand a slight squeeze, remembering to use your way of saying it. “Ready for your second week of school?”

“Yes! I’m making friends with a couple of classmates, but mostly everyone has been nice and welcoming. Sean said he’d take care of the ones who don’t like, whatever that means.” You beamed, squeezing his hand back gently. You were pleased that this alpha was taking care of you. You weren’t used to that kind of attention, and it was making you happy.

Christopher hummed. While he was glad things were starting off well with you, he still didn’t know what he was going to do about Freeman, but at least he was being useful. He supposed, for now, walking you to and from school would be fine, but still, he was greedy for your attention anyway, so he might as well try to push his luck. “Did you want to have lunch together?” he asked you.

You perked up and chirped, “Sure! I’d like that.” Christopher rumbled in response, pleased that you were happy that he asked to have lunch with you. 

It didn’t take the two of you long after that to arrive at school. You heard all the chatter stop as everyone there turned to look at you and Christopher. You tightened your grip on his hand and moved closer to him, wrapping your arm around his, your other hand grasping at his sleeve, feeling shy.

Christopher looked down at you for a moment and said, “Don’t worry about them. I need something from my locker, and you can show me your class schedule then.” As much as he hated everyone at school (besides you, and maybe Jordan), both he and his alpha were glad it was causing you to rely on him even more. 

“Okay,” you responded, giving a nod against his arm, absentmindedly getting some of your scent on him to his pleasure. People gaped when they saw that. 

As you and he walked through the halls, it turned dead silent as you both passed the other teenagers. No one could believe what they were seeing. Christopher Reed, who hated everyone but Woods and wouldn’t let anyone else get close to him, was holding onto the new foreign Korean girl’s hand and carrying her things for her. He led you to his locker, where Jordan was already waiting for him. 

Jordan’s jaw dropped as he stared in disbelief at what he was seeing. Christopher ignored him like usual. “Chris, what?!” Jordan made a strangled sound. 

You looked hesitant, and Christopher gave your hand another squeeze to reassure you. “Ignore him. Class schedule?” Christopher wanted it. You reached for your backpack, and he put it down for you, finally letting go of your hand as you had let go and untangled your arm from his. Christopher barely held back a growl, hating that you had to let go of him. You opened your bag to get it while he grabbed what he needed from his locker, while shoving what he didn’t need into it to take out his brief irritation from having to let go of you even for a moment. 

“Here!” You stood up and held out your class schedule paper to him with both hands. You rocked back and forth on your heels, waiting for him.

He grabbed it and examined the paper. “Just wait in your classroom when it’s time for lunch, I’ll come to you then. I made us lunch, so we don’t need to worry about standing in line at the cafeteria. Mrs. Tanner doesn’t care if we eat in her classroom.” He gave your schedule back to you.

“You made lunch for us? But what if I couldn’t eat lunch with you? I don’t want to be a bother,” you said shyly. You were happy and grateful that he made you lunch, though. 

“You’re not a bother at all. Don’t think like that. And I would’ve just given it to you now so you could still have it for lunch.” Christopher ruffled your hair, and you let out a small whine, but you did like that he got some of his scent on you. You really liked his sandalwood scent. You thought it mixed well with your own. 

You beamed at him and chirped, “Thank you.” 

Any sounds you made were so adorable. He rumbled for you, and Jordan made another strangled noise. Christopher stopped his rumbling. “Woods, go away.” He was starting to get irritated. If Jordan fucked up his chances with you, he might actually murder him. 

“But, you, since when?” Jordan couldn’t believe what he was hearing and seeing. He gawked. Who were you, and how did you capture his best friend’s attention?

You looked at Jordan curiously. “Is he your friend?” you asked. You thought he was being a little weird—same with everyone who had been staring at the two of you. But you tried to ignore it as best you could and slung your backpack back onto your shoulders. You then introduced yourself, and so did Jordan, but he was still being weird.

Christopher shrugged. “I guess. He never left me since junior high. Anyway, I’ll walk you to class. Don’t forget to stay in Mrs. Tanner’s class. I’ll see you there for lunch. Come on.” He tugged at your backpack. “I’ll carry it around for you when I can.” 

“Are you sure?” you asked again. Christopher sure was strong and handsome. You were pleased he was living up to his promise to take care of you.

“I want to,” Christopher told you the truth without using his baseball excuse. He was satisfied that you just nodded and then handed him your backpack, humming. Christopher reached down and held your hand again. “Let’s go.” He then led you to your first-period classroom with Jordan trailing the two of you, gawking. Silence still followed both of you. Some alpha and omega girls were giving you dirty looks, but one caustic growl from Christopher, and they scattered or whimpered in fright. Christopher would protect you from everyone.

Eventually, the two of you made it to your first period, and he reluctantly handed you your bag, and the two of you entered class with Jordan waiting outside the door, but still in view of the two of you. There were a few people already there, including Sean, who looked up and nearly started shit right then and there when he saw Christopher smirk at him. “I’ll see you later,” Christopher told you, turning his attention back to you. 

You nodded with a smile. “See you at lunch!” Christopher stared at you for a moment before he ran his hand through your hair again, scenting you, and watched you turn shy before he turned on his heel and left before he decided that he would stay there until the bell rang to get to class. 

You walked to your desk with Sean gaping at you as you sat down. 

“Da fuck was dat?!” Sean cried out once he could find it in himself to speak. 

You looked at him, confused. “Huh? What do you mean?”

Sean made a noise that sounded like he was dying. “Honey girl, you and dat faka of my baseball capt’n. Dat insane capt’n. Da most insane alpha in da whole damn school district! Nah, nah, nah, probably in da whole damn world! Hell is wrong witchu right now?!” He couldn’t help but yell in Hawaiian Pidgin English, which was his first language, because he was so upset at seeing Christopher walk you to class and then scent you right in front of him. He’d find a way to blackmail him. He swore he’d find something to fuck over that captain of his. Mark his words, he was now out to get him, and he’d make his captain pay for corrupting you. Sean didn’t care that he was throwing a tantrum. How dare he? How fucking dare he? Sean was absolutely seething.

“What are you talking about?” You looked absolutely bewildered. Why was Sean freaking out? This was the first time you heard him yelling, and was he even speaking English? You knew that Christopher was his baseball captain, but what’s got Sean so upset? This was worse than when he sneered at your classmates (except Julia), who wanted your attention. You also didn’t understand most of what he was saying. 

Sean grabbed you firmly by the shoulders, but not too tightly that it would actually make you uncomfortable. He took a deep breath to stop talking in pidgin, but oh, he was so upset. Very, very upset. “How did you meet him? And why were you with him?”

You just let him do it since you could clearly see he needed it. You then explained how on Saturday, you went to your neighborhood’s regular party meetup at the park, and you met him there. Turns out, Christopher lived only a few houses down from you. “He’s been really nice to me so far and is taking care of me. I don’t know why you’re so upset.” You frowned at him. “I’m also eating lunch with him, by the way,” you informed him.

Sean made a strangled sound. He felt like breaking down. How did this happen? Where did he go wrong? How in the fuck did you manage to capture Christopher Reed’s attention to begin with? That fucker hated everyone but Jordan, and he only tolerated Jordan, not that the beta minded. Jordan was just happy that Christopher allowed him to be around, unlike everyone else. “Please, no. Just, no,” he whined as he abruptly brought you into a hug, scenting you in desperation, all the while whimpering. 

“Sean, you’re being weird.” Even with him acting like that, you hugged him back, patting him on the back, trying to calm him down. You actually didn’t mind him scenting you, but his bergamot scent was slowly rotting. You really appreciated that he became your friend on the first day of school and showed you all your classes, making sure that you were cared for. If he weren’t a beta, you’d have thought he was an alpha trying to court you, but you knew better. You actually saw Julia and Sean making eyes at each other without the other noticing. You still didn’t understand how the two couldn’t understand that they liked each other. You should probably help them with that. But you digress. You knew Sean was upset, considering he mostly kept his scent reeled in, and that his scent was out for anyone to smell and starting to smell bad, too. 

“I’ll make him pay. I swear.” Sean actually started sobbing into your shoulder. You could feel your top getting wet from his tears. “I hate him. Why you? You’re mine. Why you?” He kept repeating for a good few minutes.

You were so confused and just started patting him on his head instead. “There, there? He’s really not bad to me, I swear. He actually takes care of me really good. Appa seems fine with him, too.” You conveniently left out how much your mother seemed to be against him. Your grandmother seemed to be somewhere in between those two. It was kind of funny in your opinion.

Sean wailed, “How can he be alright with that monster?!” Sean couldn’t understand how anyone could be alright with Christopher. He didn’t even hide how crazy he was. You could just look at him and know something was wrong, much less when he opened his mouth to speak. He cowed the entire baseball team and ruled them with an iron fist. His poor honey girl was falling into a trap. What the hell was his captain playing at with you?

You did your best to shrug while Sean clung to you. “Appa said he’s like my family’s butler who lives with my harabeoji in Korea.” You nodded, smiling, looking accomplished that you remembered the words you needed to use to explain about Jaejoong. “But if you could let me eat lunch with just him, please.”

“I don’t wanna.” Sean continued sobbing. He really didn’t want to leave you with his captain, but you were asking so nicely. He was in such a dilemma. 

You dealt with his tantrum for a few more minutes, then said, “Class is starting soon, and people are staring.” You were starting to get uncomfortable with the staring. First, it was because of Christopher being with you, and now it was about Sean flying off the handle. 

Sean suddenly looked up and snarled at your classmates, and they all whipped around and pretended like they were busy. They didn’t need the king of blackmail going after them. For only being a freshman, Sean had already developed a reputation that scared most of the student body. 

For the rest of your same classes until lunch, Sean was practically hanging off of you. Anytime you tried to separate from him, he just followed you around like a lost, hurt puppy. The teachers gave up trying to separate the two of you. Sean was also warding off anyone who came too close to you. You were starting to get exasperated. This was worse than when he was teasing you. Luckily, you two had separate classes before lunch, so you didn’t have to keep dealing with his clinginess. You were still so confused about why he was acting the way he was. 

You were waiting patiently for Christopher to show up for lunch at Mrs. Tanner’s class after the bell rang. Everyone was still giving you weird looks throughout the day, and it was definitely uncomfortable without Sean making sure nothing happened to you. Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad idea to have him scare off anyone who had bad intentions.

The teacher stepped out for a moment, and some girls took a chance to confront you. A couple of girls stood in front of you, and you slouched back into your seat. You didn’t like their vibe at all. “Can I help you?” you asked them, getting a little scared since they were all alphas except for one omega. You held your hands close to your chest, trying to make yourself look smaller. 

“What’s your relationship with Christopher Reed?” The alpha girl in the middle demanded to know. She was jealous that you were getting attention from the ice king of the school, who always rejected someone brave enough to confess to him, including her. Then you, a foreign little omega, came in, and now suddenly Christopher Reed was giving you attention, including holding your hand, carrying your things, and walking you to class. What was so special about you?

You opened your mouth and then closed it. You knew the girls in front of you were jealous, which you could understand. Christopher was really handsome and super nice to you, so you weren’t surprised that there were a bunch of girls who liked him too. He seemed like the ideal alpha. But you also didn’t really know what your relationship with him was. He was your friend, but he also acted like he wanted to be your alpha. The two of you hadn’t discussed anything, especially since you only met him on Saturday. You really liked him, and you could see yourself developing deeper feelings for him, including loving him. But for now, the two of you were friends, and perhaps courting? You didn’t really know. “We’re—” You were cut off from answering by Christopher's arrival.

“What the hell is going on?” he growled angrily at the girls in front of you. All the girls whirled around to face him, only to flinch back at the look on his face. “Get the fuck away from her or you won’t like the consequences,” he barked at them, snarling. The girls immediately fled away from the two of you. He rushed over to you. “Are you okay? They didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

“Uhm…I’m okay. It was just a little scary,” you mumbled, rubbing your arm that had some goosebumps on it from how scared you were. “Everyone’s been acting weird today, but anyway, thanks for helping me.”

“If they bother you again, or anyone really, tell me or Freeman. One of us will deal with it.” Christopher put the lunches on the table and sat down next to you. As much as he hated Freeman, he knew the beta was a good deterrent against people.

“Speaking of, is there something bad with you and Sean? He was, uh, what’s the word, freaking out earlier this morning when he saw you drop me off to class?” you asked him. You were kind of freaked out yourself with how badly Sean was acting this morning. He actually was crying and losing it.

“We don’t get along much.” That was all Christopher offered you as an explanation. “Also, why do you smell like him anyway?”

“He scented me because he was so upset. I figured it was okay, so he’d calm down,” you answered. "We're just friends anyway. He likes Julia." Knowing that, you honestly didn’t mind. The two of you weren’t going to date, and he was basically your school twin. Where you went, he wasn’t that far behind, unless you two had different classes. Christopher stared at you in disbelief. 

You didn’t even notice, too busy opening your lunch. “Oh, this looks really good!” You stared down at the rice and fried garlic butter ahi tuna. You took a bite, savoring the food. “It’s great! Thank you!”

“Hmmm, you’re welcome…went shopping yesterday and made it this morning. I was surprised that the supermarket had it.” Christopher decided to ignore the fact that Sean scented you for his own sanity. Christopher also had the same for lunch. He tagged along with his parents yesterday to find food that he could easily make for both of you. The internet really helped him know what to look for. 

The two of you spent the rest of lunch getting to know each other. You learned he wanted to become an economist, which you thought was a little surprising. You didn’t know anyone who wanted to become one, even back home in Korea. So, you asked him a lot of questions about it, which he was happy to answer. Soon enough, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and for everyone to head to their next class. The two of you hurriedly cleaned up, throwing away your trash.

“Thank you for lunch,” you said sweetly, smiling up at him. 

“No problem. Let’s eat lunch together from now on,” Christopher said, taking your bag again. “I’ll walk you to your next class.”

“Okay to both!” you cheered. 

He held out his hand again, and you grasped it. But before the two of you left for your next classes, he held you close and scented you more thoroughly. “I want you smelling like me when I come to get you before baseball practice,” Christopher said as you looked up at him in surprise.

You chirped and then scented him a bit with your wrist scent glands. “Now we’re even!” If he was going to be shameless, so would you. Christopher rumbled but then tugged at your hand to leave before he did something that would cause both of you to get into trouble.

“And that was that.” You finished. “Basically, your uncle Sean was being his dramatic self and plotting your Appa’s demise while throwing a tantrum, claiming I was his when all your Appa did was take care of me.”

Everyone turned to look at Sean in disbelief, who wilted at the attention. 

“How was I to know Chris was your imprint?” Sean whined. “He had the worst reputation in the whole school district. Even the other baseball teams hated going against ours because of him. I had to protect you!”

“You’re an idiot,” Julia said bluntly, causing everyone but Sean to laugh. “That’s dramatic even for you. Yelling at her, then crying and sobbing?” Her tone was incredulous. Just like you thought, Julia whacked Sean across the back of his head.

“Juliaaa,” Sean continued to whine, clinging to his mate. All Julia did was push at his face, shaking her head. She loved Sean, but he was such a drama queen.

“You really lack shame.” Jinchul took a shot at Sean, too. Sean looked at him pitifully.

“Umma, how did you even stay friends with Uncle Sean?” Isaac asked. 

Sean’s jaw dropped at that, sputtering. What was this? Attack Sean day?

You giggled, pecking the crown of his head. “Sean wouldn’t leave me alone, much like Jordan wouldn’t leave your Appa alone.” Christopher snorted at that and nearly laughed when Isaac turned to his two uncles with a judging look. Jinchul and Julia had no reservations and cackled. 

“Don’t lump me in with Sean!” Jordan exclaimed. “I’m not a psycho like him.”

“Screw you, Jordan!” Sean scowled at him. “You were freaking out when you saw them together.”

“Heck yeah, I was. But at least I wasn’t throwing a tantrum like you did,” Jordan said, scowling back.

“Umma, you and Appa should’ve left them for a while,” Isaac said, cutting in, still looking at his uncles with a judging look. For an eight-year-old, he conveyed his disappointment well. Both Sean and Jordan wilted that time. “But Umma, did something happen to those girls who were trying to be mean to you?” Isaac asked as he cuddled you. 

“Not sure,” you answered, raising an eyebrow at Sean. “They never talked to me after that.” Sean smiled his maniacal smile at you. You sighed. “Yeah, it got taken care of.”

Isaac peeked at Sean. “Good.” Christopher reached over and patted his pup on the head for that. “Umma needs to be protected.” Various sounds of agreement rang around the room.

“All of you are crazy.” You deadpanned at everyone. “You’re all lucky I love you anyway.”

Chapter Text

You were sobbing and whimpering in Jinchul’s arms in your living room. You felt sick to your stomach, and your floral scent was rotting. You never thought that Sung would do this to you—not the one you had gotten to know as a kind alpha who had made so many promises to you. You gasped, trying to breathe at the very thought of how betrayed you felt. “Jinchul, why did he do that? Why would she do that?” Broken sobs once more clawed their way out of you.

“I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don't know why they would do that either.” Jinchul didn’t know what to say. From what you had been telling him, and from what he had seen of Sung, he didn’t seem like the type, nor did Cha seem like the type to do any of this to you. Jinchul knew of the arrangement you had with Sung, and they were captured on camera together. Sung also confirmed it when you had confronted him. So, watching you fall apart because of the two of them made fear and rage build up in him, which had his own petrichor scent rotting too. He didn’t know what he could do to help you. You were spiraling so badly that he was worried that you’d end up dropping. “I’m here. I’m right here for you,” he crooned to you, desperate to make you feel better. He rumbled in hopes that it would also help you. Your cries slowed down, but you were still sniffling. At least it seemed that when he did that, sometimes it helped you.

The sound of your phone ringing interrupted the two of you. Jinchul reached over and grabbed it off the coffee table after a bit of a struggle, seeing your grandfather calling. Jinchul answered the phone. He put it on speaker. “Sir, hello, is everything okay?” 

“How is she?” your grandfather asked, worry clear in his voice. 

“Not so good still,” Jinchul murmured, making sure he was supporting you well. You were curled on his lap, exhausted. You were so tired, and yet you couldn’t sleep. Your omega was raging in you about Sung and Cha, practically swearing vengeance. You just let her hiss and snarl. Frankly, if you weren’t so exhausted, you’d be doing the same. You just let Jinchul handle the conversation, but you were listening. 

“Unfortunately, I need both of you to come into the office–” Gunhee was interrupted by Jinchul, who saw you shake your head.

“Sir, with all due respect, she’s not in the best place to go outside.” Jinchul couldn’t help the sharp tone in his voice, even against his beloved boss. You were his pup, his little one, and you were in no condition to leave your home right now. He had failed to protect you from Sung, and now here you were, suffering.

Gunhee sighed through the phone. “I understand, but—Hey! What are you—” he was cut off again as someone snatched the phone away from him, and a male voice spoke.

“Honey girl, get over here now. We came to Korea from America just for you since we stalked you and found out what happened. So perk up, my cute little omega, we’re all here.” 

“Stalked?!” your grandfather could be heard yelling angrily in the background. 

You didn’t think you'd ever moved so fast in your life as you snatched the phone out of Jinchul’s hand. He steadied you in shock that suddenly you were animated, but he let you do what you wanted. This was the best reaction that you had had in a week and a half since you found out about Sung and Cha, where the media was blaring that they had secretly been going on dates and praising them for it. There were only two people who called you that in your life, and your old male best friend and his girlfriend, your old female best friend, were them. “Sean?!” you keened, almost ready to start sobbing again, but this time in relief. You could hear a cacophony of voices in the background when you answered. 

“There’s my omega. So get over here. Chris is ready to tear through Korea to get to you, and we’re trying to avoid a raging special authority national hunter—you know how he gets. He’s worse by the way, just warning you. And so am I! Jordan is freaking out because Chris is seething. Jordan misses you, too, by the way, and my Julia’s ready to burst into tears since she knows you’re suffering and wants to comfort you,” Sean said cheerfully as if he didn’t just say Christopher was ready to fuck up Korea for you and that Jordan and Julia were freaking out too. Oh, and your grandfather was freaking out as well, knowing that people were stalking you.

“Alpha!” you mewled, voice mixing with your omega. You actually did start sobbing when you heard Christopher Reed’s voice coming through the phone. 

“Get over here now, omega. I’ve made sure you’re safe now to come back to me, where I can take care of you, so we’re able to be here. I’m sorry we took so long to come get you.” The familiar voice of your alpha came through the phone. It had changed some from the last time you saw him nearly ten years ago, but it was familiar all the same.

“Okay. I’m coming. Tell my grandpa that Jinchul and I are coming. We’ll be there soon. Please don’t leave,” you managed to gasp out. You needed him not to leave. A feeling of hope was enveloping you. You didn’t care that it had been years. You just wanted your first alpha, whom you had been ripped away from. Your omega was now swearing up and down that he’d take care of you like he promised you and your parents. You could figure everything out later. Fuck Sung, who had hurt you. You wanted your Christopher Reed back.

“I’m never leaving you again, pretty girl,” Christopher promised you. 

Relief shot through you at the familiar nicknames that both Sean and Christopher used for you. You never thought they would come back for you after four years had passed, but now they were here, and you and your omega just wanted them. “I’mma hang up now, I’ll see you soon,” you told him tearily. 

“I’ll see you soon.” 

With that, you hung up. You turned to Jinchul, a wildness to you. You shook him. “Need to go to the office. Also, I need to look pretty. Help me? I also need a red dress. I’m going to shower really quickly.” 

Jinchul nodded, watching as you scampered into your room and followed behind you. He was absolutely bewildered at what had just happened. And who the hell was claiming you as their omega? Also, who the hell was calling you a pretty girl and promising that they wouldn’t leave you again? A pang of possessiveness shot through him. Yet, he was relieved that whoever those two were who talked to you seemed to have gotten you moving in a way that you hadn’t since before the news broke out. Hell, before the fourth Jeju Raid, if he was being honest. He picked out a mid-thigh red dress of yours, shorts to make sure no one looked up your dress so he and your grandfather wouldn’t need to commit murder, and jewelry to your taste. He spent enough time with you to know what you liked and what would look good on you, for all that he didn’t have any romantic inclination toward you. He laid it out on your nest and sat down on your computer chair, waiting. 

You came out in a robe and grabbed the red dress and shorts to dress in the bathroom. It only took a minute more, then you came out wearing your dress and started putting on your jewelry while trying to brush your hair. “I need to finish getting ready.” There was franticness to you, so Jinchul just helped you out and waited patiently for you to explain. It didn’t take you long to get ready thanks to Jinchul as he took over brushing and putting up your hair. You looked in the vanity mirror. “How do I look?” You looked at Jinchul hopefully. You thought you looked fine for having just been crying, but you wanted a second opinion. You decided to forsake wearing makeup right now. You knew you’d just cry again, and you didn’t want to face them with ruined makeup. 

“You look good for getting ready in a hurry. Pretty as always. Shall we get going then, and you can tell me about everything?” Jinchul asked. He was always good at being your hype man when it came to complimenting you. 

You nodded furiously. “Let’s go! Let’s go! I can’t leave my alpha waiting for so long!” Jinchul looked at you in shock. Your alpha?! “Jinchul, hurry up,” you whined, tugging at him.

“Sorry, yeah, let’s go.” He grabbed the keys, and the two of you headed off to the Hunter’s Association. You started telling him about your time in America, and that you actually knew Christopher Reed. You soon arrived, and you and your omega were nearly buzzing in excitement. Your omega was chirping—no longer hissing and snarling. She knew they were about to be reunited with the alpha who actually would take care of the two of you. You almost fell out of the car when you unbuckled yourself and opened the door. “Seriously, don’t injure yourself.” Jinchul was exasperated, but happy that you were so excited. He’d take that after watching you spiral for a week and a half.

You waved him off. “I can heal myself, it’s okay!” you chirped out. Jinchul almost fell out of the car himself when he heard you chirp. You hadn’t done that since you had a go at Sung after the media caught him and Cha before locking yourself away. “Hurry, Jinchul! I promised my alpha I’d be here soon!”

“Okay, okay. I’m hurrying.” Jinchul locked the car, and the two of you headed towards your grandfather’s office. 

You were met with Choi and Baek, who had gotten wind that Christopher Reed was in Korea. Both looked alarmed at seeing the exhaustion on your face that you couldn’t hide, even if you looked excited at the same time. 

No one had seen you in nearly two weeks, with sporadic appearances from Jinchul as well, and you canceled going on all raids with the White Tiger’s guild. Baek was worried about you, especially since you didn’t take Min’s death well after the fourth Jeju Raid. You hadn’t been answering anyone; they all assumed Jinchul was with you most of the time since they rarely saw him, too, in the past two weeks. At least Gunhee reassured Baek that you were still alive, at least. Baek asked you, “Are you alright? What happened? Where have you been?” He could easily see how your eyes were still a bit puffy from crying. 

“Sung cheated on me with Cha, as you’ve seen the media gushing about them, and I’ve been having an awful time dealing with it. He even confirmed it, that piece of shit. But fuck the both of them. I hope they rot,” you said bitterly, but then perked up as you sniffed the air; you smelt the mix of everyone’s scents the closer you got to your grandfather’s office. Christopher’s sandalwood, Jordan’s rum spice, Julia’s rosemary, and even Sean’s bergamot scent, even if he didn’t like letting it out for people to smell.

“What?!” Choi and Baek couldn’t help but shout. They exchanged looks of disbelief. That was what caused you to disappear for nearly two weeks? 

“The cheater promised her that they’d try for a relationship after his sister got into college. You saw how familiar they were together before and after he came out as an S-rank. You know what it means, especially you, Baek-ssi. The homewrecker has been going after him secretly, and they were going on dates for at least a few weeks before it all came out,” Jinchul said. He sneered as he mentioned the two alphas. He’d make sure to get vengeance for you one way or the other, and he was petty enough to insult them. 

Baek nearly turned on Choi at that moment, furious that it was his vice-guild master who apparently was a homewrecker with Choi still in shock at what Cha did, especially with Sung having confirmed it with you, but the four of you arrived in front of your grandfather’s office, and you hurriedly opened the door. 

You stared at your old unofficial pack in disbelief, as they stared back at you, smiling in relief as you hadn’t dropped even if you looked so exhausted. They had been so scared that you were going to drop, so they all rushed to make sure it was safe to get you and to get to Korea to come for you. Your eyes landed on Christopher Reed, who had stood up to face the door as soon as you opened it. “Alpha!” you trilled, wanting his attention. In that moment, you ignored everyone else as you launched yourself right at Christopher, who already had his arms out to catch you, to the shock of nearly all the Korean hunters.

“Hello, pretty omega. I’m back.” Christopher held you as tightly as he could without hurting you. He scented you right in front of everyone, rumbling, trying to calm you down. When Sean and Julia frantically called him a week and a half ago about how Sung had cheated on you, he knew he needed to come get you because all of them were worried you’d suffer an omega drop, and they all hoped that with Christopher being there, it would’ve helped you so you wouldn’t have to suffer. He was always going to fight Sung for you, but it seemed that asshole fucked it up before that could happen. Once the two of you mated, you’d realize that the two of you were imprint mates all along, and Sung would be a long-forgotten memory who you could cast off. They all knew that you’d never forgive Sung and his sidepiece for what they put you through. 

In any case, the American pack spent a week making sure everything would be okay for you to move in, including making sure there would be no interference from the American government. The American government, along with the Koreans, could go fuck themselves if they tried to separate you from him. You were his from the beginning, and he was going to claim you as his mate like you should’ve been all those years ago before the gates opened. 

“Alpha,” you wailed out, clinging to him. You let his sandalwood scent envelop you. Christopher also ignored everyone to comfort you. 

“I’m here, my pretty omega, I’m here,” Christopher crooned to you. He then slowly led you to the chair he was previously sitting on, which had a good view of everyone, and sat back down while pulling you down so you could sit on his lap. He nuzzled your neck scent gland, glad that your dress showed it off for him. He slathered you in his scent, inhaling and licking at your scent gland to get your scent all over him. “Sean, Julia, Jordan, deal with all the questions,” he ordered the three betas. “You can say hello to her after I get her to calm down.” 

You curled up on his lap as everyone stared at both of you in varying degrees of shock. Sean reached out a hand, but you slapped it away and glared. “Want alpha now. You later, you bitch,” you hissed. Christopher gave a low rumbling laugh. It didn’t even occur to your mind that you were all speaking in Korean, too high-strung still. Some tears fell from your eyes, and Christopher merely licked them up, still rumbling. You then shoved your face into his chest, purring, rubbing your face against him much like a cat, or kitten, as the pack would describe you. He held you close to him, slowly rocking you back and forth, rumbling for you.

Jinchul and Gunhee stared at you, dumbfounded. This was like a complete one-eighty from you the past week and a half. Baek and Choi couldn’t even believe what they were seeing as well. Sung cheated on you with Cha, and now you were in Christopher Reed’s arms, of all the hunters in the world, having all but thrown yourself at him. What the fuck was going on? Baek and Choi even pinched each other and stared wide-eyed when they realized that they weren’t hallucinating.

“Well, can tell she’s already feeling a little bit better.” Jordan and Julia laughed, mostly in relief. Sean pouted. He wanted to scent his little omega. The betas were glad that just by having them near you, it was slowly making you feel better. Christopher, glaring at the three, had them snickering, but the betas turned to everyone else. 

Everyone introduced themselves to each other, so now that everyone could put faces to names, Sean sighed dramatically. “Alright, we’ll finally answer your questions, Chairman Go.”

“How do you know my granddaughter?” Gunhee demanded to know. He didn’t fail to notice that they conveniently had you sitting with Christopher as far from Baek, Choi, and Jinchul as possible. He saw the way Christopher stared at the three alphas, and it was making Baek and Choi uncomfortable. Jinchul just looked done, but still, vigilant as ever on making sure that you were alright. His chief inspector and assistant never faltered when it came to you. Gunhee appreciated how much like Jaejoong Jinchul was. It relieved him that you had someone looking after you so well since you came back to Korea after your parents passed. 

“We knew her in America. Sean and I were her best friends during those three years she was there,” Julia answered first. “We went to the same school—the five of us. We’re basically an unofficial pack, isn’t that right, sweet girl?” You chirped at that, already calmer than earlier, and Christopher kissed along your hairline, making you sigh happily. Gunhee’s jaw dropped, and he looked at Jinchul, who nodded solemnly. 

Jordan then said, “She and Chris dated for nearly the whole time she was there. After her parents died, she had to come to Korea, and we lost contact because after Chris became a national hunter, we didn’t want anyone targeting her when she was safe here in Korea more than if she had remained in America.” 

You had always wondered why everyone stopped talking to you, but that made sense. Christopher valued your safety above everything, and even if you and he had to suffer for a good while, you should’ve known your alpha would be back. If you were killed for being Christopher Reed’s mate so they could replace you with someone else, you knew your American pack would completely lose it. At least with you being protected in Korea, it gave them time to make sure that it had a very minimal chance of happening, and they could feel better that they had a better chance of protecting you once you move to America. You were ready to leave after Sung’s and Cha’s stunt. 

“We always were going to come back for her, but we needed to make sure it’d be safe for her to come to America. Also, she did mention that she wanted to spend time with you and Jaejoong, and then we lost contact with her,” Sean added. He saw how exhausted you were, and he was completely ready to fuck shit up for you. Sung and Cha were going to pay, and it’d be great. He and Julia exchanged looks, both completely on the same wavelength.

“Lost contact when you said you stalked her.” Gunhee was angry at that. Even if they were your old friends, who were they to stalk you? Jinchul, Baek, and Choi looked at each other before looking back at your American pack, not knowing how to take that sentence. The two S-rank hunters looked at them all incredulously. It was something when the two couldn’t help but be in agreement with each other. That was typically bad news.

Sean held a hand to his chest as if his heart was hurting, before Julia slapped him upside the head. “Okay, fine. Sheesh. I’ll stop being dramatic for now.” Sean pouted. “Anyway, omega over there knows what I’m like, and I roped my lovely mate into helping me.” He was proud of his ability to stalk you, much to the horror of your grandfather, Baek, and Choi. 

Jinchul practically stalked you by having eyes all over Korea to watch over you, so he couldn’t really blame the Americans. He just didn’t like how much they were claiming you were theirs. 

You peeked at your grandfather. “Don’t worry, grandpa. Sean’s harmless as long as you’re not a threat to me or the rest of the pack.” Gunhee pursed his lips, which had you smiling fondly. It reminded how your mother would look at Christopher before she gave up after a year and accepted him. 

Sean corrected you, proudly, “If you and my Julia are in danger, I’ll do everything to make whoever hurt you pay. You can count on me, honey girl.” Christopher and Jordan were on their own. They could take care of themselves anyway.

“Wow, thanks, you brat,” Jordan said, reaching over to slap him across the head. 

“Not my fault you’re not my cute omega or my lovely mate.” Sean slapped him back. 

“It’s completely your fault,” you, Julia, and Jordan said in unison. 

“Come on. Captain, back me up here!” Sean whined.

“As long as my omega is safe, I couldn’t give a shit about mostly everything else,” Christopher replied boredly. You nudged him under his chin, and he rumbled again. You chirped, which was still sort of freaking out your grandfather and best friend. Heck, it was freaking out Baek and Choi, too.  

“But Chairman Go, you don’t need to worry about her since these three are crazy about making sure she’d stay safe. They’d literally sacrifice themselves and each other as long as our omega over there stays safe,” Jordan said. 

“Why didn’t we know about all of you?” Baek cut in to ask. He was feeling protective of you. He was horrified that he didn’t know about Sung and Cha. His Miseon and Jiyeon were going to be up in arms about this along with his whole guild. They all cared about you since you were friends with the three of them. He promised Min to take care of you and Jiyeon if something happened to him, and he would honor his best friend like they tried to honor Eunseok’s wish to watch out for each other. Of course, he just liked you too, from years of working alongside you. If Min had been unavailable to help in higher-ranking gates, or if Min couldn’t be there to help with injuries for his White Tigers, you showed up for them all. His mate and Min’s widow also loved you—the little sister of the White Tiger’s guild.

“Yeah, omega, why didn’t they know about us?” Sean teased you.

“Julia!” you whined. You were radiating smugness at that point, knowing exactly what was going to happen. Christopher and Jordan snorted. The four Korean natives were surprised at how you all were acting, especially you. That’s honestly the most childish they, except for Jinchul, had ever seen you. Jinchul spoiled you way too much for him not to have seen you act like that before.

Everyone watched as Julia advanced on Sean, who rapidly paled, holding his hand up in surrender. “Wait, my lovely Julie, the love of my life, the moon to my sun. YEOWCH!” Julia slapped Sean harder this time around. She knew she wasn’t really hurting him, and the rest of the pack knew it too. But it was the symbolic meaning of the fact that those two crazies would actually go against each other if that was what you wanted. It was always just Julia doing it to Sean, though. 

Sean was the one who’d sacrifice himself to save you and Julia, with Julia following if it meant protecting you. But in the end, if they were forced into it, they would sacrifice each other. Sean had crocodile tears running down his face. He regretted nothing. 

“You guys are as funny as ever,” you said fondly. “To answer your question, sunbae, I didn’t like talking about them at all. It was too painful, especially back then.” You gently pushed at Christopher, signaling that you wanted up, although you made sure to give a lick on his neck scent gland to make him feel better, letting you go. You didn’t want him launching himself at anyone because they got too close to you when you were still panicking a bit, and he seemed to know it. Christopher heaved a sigh before he let you get up from his lap. Once you stood up, Julia and Sean were all over you, scenting you, and you just let them. Jordan awkwardly drew the three of you into a hug that you all somehow made work with Jordan scenting you a bit as well, so now you were doused in the entire pack’s scent. Everyone else stared in disbelief, especially that you were welcoming it. You fell right back into where you were when you left them as naturally as breathing. You hadn’t been watching them, unlike the other four who had been stalking you this whole time.

Christopher snarled, but let it happen. “Why you spoil these idiots, I’ll never understand,” he grumbled. He leaned back in his chair as his betas reunited with his omega. Your grandfather cleared his throat, wanting attention to ask more questions, rather tired of watching the Americans essentially fool around. He cleared his throat a second time. Christopher rolled his eyes. “Idiots, one, two, three, let my omega go so they can keep asking questions,” he barked at them. With a groan, the betas let go of you, and you just went back to Christopher’s lap, much to his satisfaction.

“What do you want with my granddaughter?” Gunhee asked all four Americans.

“I’m taking her back with me to America,” Christopher said, staring your grandfather in the eye. The Korean natives froze.

“What do you mean you’re taking her back to America?” Jinchul asked sharply before any of the Koreans could. There was no way he would let you go off with people you hadn’t seen for years, and he knew the other three felt the same. Even if Christopher Reed was one of the five national hunters, they wouldn’t just hand you over. 

“Exactly what I said, but we’ll stay to help her move,” Christopher told him. “You can say your goodbyes to her then. It’ll take two weeks at least.”

“Alpha, alpha,” you suddenly chirped, tugging at his arms. You made sure to make your smile extra cute, and you pawed at his chest for a moment. You still remembered how to try to manipulate your way into getting what you wanted from your alpha, even if you had to be careful not to go too far or else you’d have to start doing favors for him. Christopher merely raised a brow, wanting to know what you wanted. “Come meet my best friend here, Jinchul. He’s like Sean and Julia.”

The three betas choked. Those were some fighting words coming from you. They didn’t think of Jinchul that way when they stalked him, too, to see if he was safe around you, and they didn’t get those vibes at all, but with how he was reacting to everything, maybe you had a point. Christopher’s gaze snapped to the blonde alpha that you were pointing to. “He’s good. You’ll like him.” You pawed at his chest again, nearly kneading it, and he let you. 

“I already have three idiots.” Christopher deadpanned at you, knowing what you wanted. He leered at Baek and Choi in particular as he felt they were the threats in the room. Your grandfather wasn’t going to do anything as long as you stayed by them; the same with that best friend of yours. He wasn’t happy to see so many alphas near you. He tightened his hold on you more securely.

“He’s my best friend.” You pouted back. You wanted Christopher to think of actually taking Jinchul with you all if everyone was amenable to it. Your only real obstacle was going to be the two alphas, three, including your grandfather. Jaejoong would hopefully back you up. The betas would easily go along with what you wanted, even if Sean threw a tantrum because he wanted your attention and wouldn’t want to share it with one more person. Although, Sean had never been able to tell you no unless he actually couldn’t make it happen. You suddenly lowered your head to rub the top of it under Christopher’s chin, and then let out a chirp. Christopher sighed. The three betas snickered, knowing their pack alpha had just given in to their pack omega’s wants.

“So, omega, we’re staying at your house, right?” Jordan asked. Christopher didn’t bother making plans to stay at a hotel. He always planned to stay with you for a while, and he didn’t care about how others felt about it. If any of the betas needed to go home, well, he’d pay for their flight at least.

“You’d think you’d be the one to ask,” you heard Julia say to Sean, who nodded.

“I know, right? So bold of you, Jordan,” Sean replied. Both of them had matching grins directed at the older beta. 

“I hate both of you so, so much,” Jordan told the terrible duo who giggled like the maniacs they were. You snickered. You always did love watching Jordan get teased by the terrible duo, which only encouraged them more to Jordan’s suffering. He endured it, though, because it made you happy. 

“Sure. Chris can stay with me in my nest, and there’s a pullout sofa couch that the three of you could squeeze on. If not, I have some futons you could use to sleep on my floor.” You shrugged, pulling at Christopher, wanting him to get up to shake Jinchul’s hand at least. Gunhee, Jinchul, Baek, and Choi's jaws dropped. All the Korean S-rank hunters, your grandfather, and Jinchul knew you had never let any non-family members into your nest. You had never brought Sung into your nest in the three years you had been chasing him. An omega, who was single, inviting a person they were interested in into their nest meant they wanted to become mates with said person. You also didn’t bring anyone but Jinchul to the house, period, even if they all knew where you lived.

Christopher rumbled happily at your words. He was so happy that you’d allow him to stay in your nest and what that meant to an omega. He nudged you and kissed you on the cheek, and you kicked your feet out in happiness. He then helped you up before having you sit back down and standing by himself.

The betas looked at each other and shrugged. “Good enough.”

“Sleepover at omega’s!” Sean and Julia cheered. 

In an instant, Christopher crossed the room to stand in front of Jinchul. The Koreans froze, but the American pack watched in amusement. The Americans knew that Christopher wouldn’t actually do anything to Jinchul; not with how much you clearly adored your Korean best friend. So, even they were curious as to what was going to happen as you were covertly asking Christopher to consider taking Jinchul back with you all.

Jinchul, despite being somewhat cowed by the fact that an actual national hunter was standing in front of him, stared back at him. He then took a deep breath and stood up straighter, gazing back unflinchingly. Jinchul wouldn’t let himself be intimidated, not with you on the line. Christopher liked this one already, and he hated alphas. It was a wonder that you managed to find yourself another crazy, an alpha one at that, who had zero romantic feelings towards you. 

Christopher asked him, “What’s your opinion on Sung and Cha?” He watched as Jinchul grimaced, but it was his eyes that Christopher was staring at. It made him smirk. You were right, he was like Julia and Sean in one person. How interesting. 

Choi, himself, grimaced at hearing the question, and Baek and Gunhee were looking upset again at the reminder of Sung and Cha. 

“I won’t let them get away with it,” Jinchul replied firmly. “She’s mine and has been mine since a few months after she came back to Korea from America nearly ten years ago. You take her, and you take me too.” Jinchul didn’t care. He wasn’t about to leave you with a bunch of unknown people, regardless of how familiar you were acting with them.

“Jinchul!” Gunhee rubbed his face, frustrated. This whole day was going to shit because of these Americans. He sighed. He hoped that Jinchul would be his successor for the Hunter’s Association, but Jinchul’s allegiance had always revolved around you, especially after the first year the two of you spent together as partners within his association. At least someone he trusted would be around you to help you. Jinchul shrugged.

“Verdict, captain?” Jordan asked. The pack was curious as to how Christopher would react to your Korean best friend.

“I hate alphas, but we’ll take him.” Christopher turned on his heel to get back to you. “She was right.” He didn’t like that another person was trying to claim you when they all knew you were his, but like with Sean, he’d be able to deal with this one, too.

“See, I knew you’d like him!” you chirped at him, snuggling back into him once you were back on his lap. “Sean, you ho, stop being jealous, or I’ll get Julia to whack you again.” You could sense Sean’s hackles being raised at the fact that Jinchul was accepted. 

“Just say the word, omega, and I’ll reel him back for a while. But you know it’s funnier when I let him loose, though,” Julia admitted to you. You merely waved your hands, indicating that it was okay.

“Hey!” Sean whined again. Sean had nothing against your best friend or Christopher, but he just wanted you for himself for a little while. You were his best friend before any of them knew you, except for your grandfather in the room. “Out of everyone in this room, I was your first friend! Me! I just want alone time with you.” He would’ve thrown himself at you, but Christopher would force him into his torturous training punishment, and he didn’t want that at the moment. His pack alpha was already sneering at him. Hopefully, with you back by your alpha’s side, the punishments would be less vicious. Christopher had been a mess since you were forced away from his side, and then unable to get to you without putting your life in danger, and the fact that he wanted to earn enough so the two of you could live without worrying about finances. Sean stomped his foot in petulant annoyance. He bared his teeth at Jinchul, who dared to send him a smug smirk. That bitch. Jinchul would fit right in, which was rather comforting to your old best friend. 

“If you could all wait outside so I can speak to my three S-rank and my assistant. There are places for you to sit in the waiting room,” your grandfather said. He wanted the opinion of Baek and Choi, along with making sure you and Jinchul were alright. You looked ready to dive headfirst into the situation, especially with what happened to you recently. Jinchul would follow you to the ends of the earth, so where you go, he would eventually follow, and Gunhee knew it.

“No, no, no, no! Don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!” You clutched onto Christopher tighter and quickly moved to straddle him and buried your face into his chest, shaking. Your breathing got labored as fear radiated off you from your scent. Your omega wasn’t helping since she started panicking. Christopher immediately shifted you to make you more comfortable and started making shushing noises while pumping out his own scent. Everyone looked at you in alarm.

“What’s going on?” Gunhee demanded. What was your reaction? The fear in your scent was starting to upset all the alphas in the room, wanting to comfort you.

The two of you ignored him. “I’ll just be right outside. I’ll never let them take you from me again, never. I’m stronger now. I can take care of you now. I won’t let them ever separate from us again,” Christopher growled, his voice mixed with his alpha. He nosed the top of your head before scenting you with his neck scent gland. “I told you that I’m here, and I won’t leave you ever again. You trust me, don’t you?” You nodded against him as tears threatened to trail down your face in another bout of hysteria. “Words, omega.”

You took a shuddering breath. Against his chest, you mumbled, “I trust you.”

“There’s my pretty girl,” Christopher said. “You need to be strong and deal with your side of things before you can come home with me, and I’ll wait as long as you need me to, right by your side.” Everyone else be damned. The only way you two would be separated now is if the world were ending, and you asked him to help the world deal with it.

“Okay,” you sulked, pulling back away from him. He helped you wipe away the tears that did manage to escape you. 

“Don’t worry, honey girl, we’ll be right outside. I’ll kidnap you if I have to. You’re coming home with us regardless if they like it or not,” Sean said blasé, as if he didn’t just threaten to commit a crime in front of everyone in the room. 

Jordan facepalmed, staring up at the ceiling as if it held all the answers. Julia merely shook her head, sighing. The two of you were still ignoring everyone. And the Koreans all gawked at Sean in disbelief. 

Christopher helped you off his lap and then stood up, so both of you were standing. He then grabbed your chin gently, making you look up at him. You happily stared up at him, taking in his handsome features, before your eyes widened a bit, then closed as he suddenly kissed you for the first time in ten years. You could hear sputtering in the background, but you wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him back. He finally pulled away, but not without licking your lips. You were blushing and turning shy, and he enjoyed the sight of it.

“I’ll be right outside, pretty omega, so take comfort in that, alright?” You nodded, both of you pleased that he kissed you. “Come on then, idiots, let’s go wait outside,” Christopher ordered them. You held your blushing cheeks, trying to calm yourself down, and he smirked at you before the American pack left, and you turned to face your grandfather, best friend, and your two other friends.

Chapter Text

You stared down at the pregnancy test in relief and pure joy. You and Christopher had decided to try for a pup now that you two had spent two years together. You had been wanting a pup for several months now, and it was a yearning feeling that you and your omega wouldn’t let go of. You talked to Christopher about having one, and with two yeses, you recently went off your birth control. It had been three months since the two of you started earnestly trying for a pup, and finally, you were getting your wish to have a beloved pup. You thought you must be within 4-5 weeks of the first trimester if you had to guess from doing a quick scan using your healing powers to check on the baby and your body.

“Omega.” Christopher knocked on the bathroom door. “What’s going on?” He had been worried when you suddenly ran up into your room, and now you were in the bathroom with the door locked, and had been for the last five minutes. “Let me in, now!” he demanded, the force of his knocks getting stronger. 

You quickly put the pregnancy test down and hurried to open the bathroom door, smiling widely. “Alpha!” you chirped as soon as you opened the door. You beamed up at him, nearly vibrating in excitement.

Your mate was standing in front of you, looking both worried and agitated. “Why did you run off like that?” Christopher checked you over, trying to quell the rising panic that there was something wrong, but it slowly drained out of him at how much you were beaming. He didn’t think you could look that happy outside of a few things you two have done together, like when you two mated for the first time. You were glowing. “What’s going on, my pretty omega?” He smoothed down your hair, already starting to calm down.

You purred for a moment for your handsome alpha, then you decided to rip off the band-aid. “I’m pregnant!” you chirped. For once, Christopher stood there speechless. He just stared at you blankly. You waited patiently as you felt his emotions, which weren’t negative at all. You knew he would have trouble verbalizing things without the imprint bond anyway, so having the imprint bond gave you a cheat code to understand your mate on a deeper level.

This was different than when the two of you had the imprint test. Christopher had always been prepared for your life together since meeting you, doing his best to figure out a way to give both of you the best life he could give you. But having a pup with you, officially starting a nuclear family with you that involved a pup, disbelief couldn’t even cover it. “We’re?” He finally managed to get out. His hand splayed across your abdomen almost instinctively at that.

You nodded, still beaming. “We won’t be able to feel our pup move until the second trimester, but we’re going to have one.” You purred, rubbing your head across Christopher’s chest, scenting him. Your scent was extremely sweet with the happiness of being pregnant. You could taste it in the air. The pregnancy test, combined with your healing abilities, made you easily aware that something had been up. “We’re going to be parents.” You were nearly emanating sparkles at that point.

Christopher suddenly lifted you gently and kissed you fiercely, arms wrapped around you. You smiled against his lips and returned his kiss happily. You closed your eyes and held onto his shoulders as he cradled you in his arms. Every time he tried to pull back, you chased his lips with yours, and he’d never been one to tell you no when you got like that. You purred once you finally let him break away from you, and managed to tuck your head under his chin, the side of your face against his scent gland. You happily inhaled Christopher’s sandalwood scent that smelled especially good to you at that moment. “I’m going to love the both of you so, so much,” he said to you, nuzzling you. 

Days passed, and you kept glowing despite some physical changes that made you uncomfortable: nausea, fatigue, and breast tenderness. You were also experiencing more mood swings that had you craving sweet things, and you often cried if you couldn't get it. If the betas couldn't get you your cravings, then Christopher took care of it. In the end, you and Christopher made a lot of late-night runs together, which you highly enjoyed since it got you out of the den more, and it was time the two of you spent together with a little one growing in you. You had to hand it to your mate; Christopher handled it all easily. He eventually had taken you to your OBGYN to check out if everything was alright, which it was. 

You then began to plan how to tell everyone, which Christopher left to you since you wanted a special way to tell the others, but it got foiled soon enough thanks to Sean. It was two weeks later that you had to tell the rest of your pack without all the plans you had made because Sean was being his normal self and tried launching himself at you, and Christopher reacted badly and threw Sean much harder than he normally did against the wall, and actually harmed him, not that Christopher cared.

“What the fuck?” Sean groaned as he rubbed his sore back. Julia rushed to him and helped him up, fussing over him. Sean looked at Christopher, disgruntled. He had collided pretty hard against the wall. Sean then stretched, trying to get the uncomfortable feeling out. “Seriously, Chris, that fucking hurt!” 

Jordan’s jaw dropped at Christopher’s reaction, dumbfounded. He almost dropped the laptop he was holding, which showed Jinchul, your grandfather, and Jaejoong in a video call because you requested everyone be there for whatever announcement you had to make. 

You began slapping Christopher on the chest, who didn’t look bothered by you doing it at all. In fact, he huffed and crossed his arms, so your next target was his arms. “He shouldn’t have launched at you like that,” Christopher grumbled. He kept his arms crossed and looked unconcerned that he had just flung Sean into the wall. You were pregnant, and he needed to protect you, even if it was against their pack. Christopher had only agreed to let them hold you if they were gentle about it once everyone found out about your condition. If he thought they were being too rough, he was going to throw hands, and it’d be hellish training time for whoever it was. 

“He doesn’t know. You could’ve just grabbed him like normal.” You kept slapping his arms, exasperated. Christopher just let you. It didn’t hurt at all, and it got your frustration out, so he welcomed it. Quietly, Christopher always thought that you were adorable when you threw a tantrum. He missed the times when you’d dig your nails into him because he annoyed you—he enjoyed that one, but now it only happened in the bedroom. Ah, well, you were just too adorable, and he loved you so much. You stomped your foot on the ground before hurrying to Sean and healed him. Sean then stretched again and sighed in relief that you easily fixed him up.

“Chris, what even was that?” Jordan finally spoke up. Christopher was wholly unrepentant, and they all knew it. 

“That wasn’t normal at all,” Julia added, still looking bewildered. Her mate had a tendency to irritate literally everyone, but Christopher never did that unless Sean managed to really piss him off, and she couldn’t think of anything that Sean had done recently that would warrant that response. 

“Chris has an actual good reason rather than just not wanting Sean to launch and cling onto me,” you said, rubbing the back of your head, sheepishly. Sean looked offended at that. You moved to stand right back next to Christopher, who was looming over you, glaring at all of them from behind you. Jordan did you a favor and angled the laptop so your Korean family including Jinchul could see both you and Christopher.

“My dear, what’s going on?” Gunhee asked. “Is everything alright?” He, Jinchul, and Jaejoong had just watched the chaos thanks to Jordan, and even they knew it wasn’t normal for Christopher to do that, despite how irritating Sean could get. 

Jinchul watched you with narrowed eyes. You didn’t look well right now. It was almost like you were sick. He hoped there was nothing wrong with you. That was also a more violent response from you against Christopher, as well, for all that he knew it didn’t hurt your mate at all.

You clapped your hands, beaming at them. They all blinked at you with how much you were suddenly glowing in a mood swing. You put your hands on your hips, looking pleased. “I’m pregnant!” you said. It was silent for half a minute, each of them taking in what you said, before pandemonium broke out. You thought you heard Sean and Julia scream in joy—they both certainly shook each other at the sudden spike of excitement everyone was displaying and feeling.

Jordan, Julia, and Sean almost started surrounding you, but one look at Christopher, who then motioned towards the laptop, had all three pouting, but they let you have a moment with your grandfather, Jaejoong, and Jinchul. 

The two older men and your best friend sat up straighter—all three looking excited. “Oh my dear, congratulations!” A few tears trailed down Gunhee’s face. Now that you were focused on telling them about your pregnancy, he could see how much you were glowing, how happy you looked, and how you must have felt now that you knew you were going to be a parent. Love surged through your grandfather. “Congratulations, my dearest one! I love you! I know you’ll make a great mother!”

You looked at him tearfully. Both of you knew that the other was thinking of their family members who couldn’t be here with the two of you, but both of you knew how happy and proud every single one of their family members would’ve been in that moment, and it made you and your grandfather happy in the end. “Thank you, grandpa! I love you too!”

“Congrats, little one. I’m so happy for you! Love you!” Jaejoong normally kept a serene expression, but his eyes were bright, and he wore a wide smile that wasn’t his normal scary smile. You radiated happiness at the sight. “I’ll create a new cookbook, and I’ll send it to you within a week. Jordan, I’ll be sending it to you,” Jaejoong said, animated, already thinking about what kind of recipes would be good for you while pregnant. Jordan saluted him. 

“Thank you, Jaejoong! Love you too!” You were relieved that you were going to get recipes from him, too. You knew he had taken over the cooking when your grandmother had been pregnant with your father, and your grandfather told you how food wasn’t a problem when it was cooked by Jaejoong. You knew that for a fact—you loved Jaejoong’s food, and your grandmother had enjoyed his dishes immensely from what you remembered.

It was Jinchul’s reaction that caused a few tears to slip from your eyes. His normally stoic expression was gone. His whole face lit up with how his eyes crinkled in a smile. The look of pure happiness in his eyes didn’t happen often, but Jinchul knew the situation warranted it. “Congratulations! I’ll rearrange my schedule to get to you the first chance I have!” That caused your pack to cheer, and you smiled at him warmly, comforted by how excited he was to come see you, and you knew he was going to make it happen, come hell or high water. You could always rely on Jinchul like that. You always wanted your oppa by your side. You loved it when he was able to visit you and the pack. It felt complete when Jinchul was around.

“I’ll see you soon, oppa!” you said cheerfully, wiping away your stray tears. You had a hand resting on your abdomen, and the three men looked at you softly, each of them feeling emotional at how you’d soon develop a baby bump, and the next thing any of you would know was you giving birth to your pup. 

“Goodbye, my dear. We’ll set up preparations for things on this side, and we’ll let you know. I think Jaejoong should head over too, along with Jinchul,” your grandfather said. Gunhee needed to make sure everything was perfect so he could send Jinchul and Jaejoong to you, as he unfortunately needed to stay in Korea. It would comfort him to know that you were being taken care of by the two men he trusted most, along with the rest of your pack.  

“Really?” you chirped. Having Jaejoong take over most of the household chores and cooking would be a relief to everyone. Christopher eyed your grandfather but didn’t say anything against it. Jaejoong was useful at least, and he didn’t need the scary beta getting on him for not allowing you to have the best care. You would also get stressed out from it all, and he didn’t want that either.

“We love you,” Jinchul said, still smiling at you. Gunhee and Jaejoong echoed his sentiments. 

“I love you all too!” With that, the three men hung up the video call to make those preparations to send Jinchul and Jaejoong to America. Christopher would just need to deal with the two living with both of you for a while.

Christopher rolled his eyes at the new situation of having Jaejoong and Jinchul moving in for a while, and the fact that he now had to deal with his three idiotic betas. “Be gentle or else I’m throwing all of you out.” He wasn’t going to take any chances. He didn’t give a fuck. He’d ban them if he needed them all to learn that lesson. 

Julia finally rushed to you first and held you gently in her arms, nuzzling you, understanding why Christopher lost his shit. You were fragile and were only going to keep getting fragile for months to come. You could heal yourself slowly after you gave birth, but until then, you were going to be treated like you could break at any moment. “Congratulations, my sweetheart.” Julia rubbed her cheek against yours, using her wrists to scent you. Jordan and Sean were hovering over her to get their turn, too. “Love you!” she cooed at you. 

You snuggled back, relaxing in her hold. Julia always helped you with dealing with the men and offered a respite from them. You appreciated everything that Julia had done for you. While she was protective of you, she wasn’t so crazy about it unless she thought you were in danger. But she let you take some risks even if it might not end well, but she was there for you every step of the way as your best girl.

Sean suddenly was behind you, wrapping you in his arms, so both he and Julia were pressed up against you—both scenting you like their lives depended on it. Sean didn’t want to wait anymore. “Yes, yes. We love you, my honey girl!” Sean looked ready to cry himself. He didn’t mind anymore that Christopher threw him across the room and harmed him. Sean would have been extremely angry with himself and Christopher if he had accidentally hurt you. Your mate did the right thing to throw him aside. You were more fragile now, and he needed to help take care of you, too. 

“Love you both, and you too, Jordy! Thank you!” you said sweetly. You could tell how happy they were for you. You purred for them, which only got them more animated and thorough with scenting you.

After what felt like forever in Christopher’s opinion, they finally let you go, only for Jordan to sweep you up in his arms. “I’m so happy for the both of you. Congratulations! I love you, too!” Jordan was happily nuzzling you, spreading his scent on you. You soaked it up. It had been a while since Jordan had last scented you, and it was the first time he wasn’t showing any restraint while doing so—too happy for you and Christopher. “I’m gonna be an uncle!” he cheered. Jordan let go of you and nudged you gently towards your mate. Then he and Sean started arguing about who was going to be the favorite uncle, with Julia refereeing, all of it in good fun, even though it was starting to get a bit intense. You shook your head at them but smiled at how excited everyone was for you and Christopher.

Christopher was quick to possessively take you back into his arms and tried to scent you more to get more of his scent on you, grumbling again about how you smell more like them than him. You giggled at him. You leaned back and patted him on the head as he nosed down your neck, licking and sucking before latching onto your neck scent gland, mixing both your scents. “Let’s go into the nest,” you said to Christopher. He merely picked you up, walked over, and laid you down onto the bed in your communal nest before he lay next to you, holding you close with a hand over your abdomen, curling around you, your back flushed with his chest. He hummed and rumbled for you as you purred in contentment while chaos was loud next to the two of you.

The three betas quickly joined both of you in the nest. Sean and Julia sat in front of you, babbling about what they thought the baby needed. Both your best friends were excited, while Jordan was already combing the internet for information on how to take care of a baby. They would definitely need to help you with your pup—they just knew Christopher would eventually get jealous of the pup, even if it was clear to everyone how happy and in love with you he was, and that he did look forward to having a baby with you. He had recently confided in them that he wouldn't mind a pup with you now, which was as good as confirmation that if you wanted a pup, a pup would happen sooner or later. The betas knew their pack alpha needed all the help he could get, and they wanted to make their pack omega's life easier and be the good uncles and aunt for their upcoming family member. They all couldn’t wait for the coming adventures.

Chapter Text

“What was that? Are you okay?” Gunhee asked you as the Korean hunters stared at you in disbelief. None of them expected that you would know Christopher Reed of all hunters, along with his small strike team. Also, what the hell was up with that old friend of yours who threatened to kidnap you?!

“I’m fine as long as they don’t leave me. Also, what was what?” you asked. There was a lot you could tell all of them, but you also didn’t know where to start. You scratch your cheek sheepishly. Only Jinchul had some idea about your relationship with the unofficial Reed pack, and that was only because you explained some things on the drive over.

“How exactly do you know Christopher Reed?” asked Gunhee. Choi and Baek were wondering what exactly they walked into while off to the side, and they were curious as to how you knew Christopher Reed. 

“When I was in America with my parents when I was a teenager, Chris and I were neighbors, although he lived a few houses down. All four of us went to the same high school. Sean and Julia were my best friends during that time. Jordan is Chris’s best friend. Uh…Sean and Chris are pretty crazy, so I wouldn’t tempt either of them. Their tempers can get out of hand if they’re worse than before, like Sean said,” you said to them. You were extremely happy to see them all again, especially Christopher. The day they had to separate the two of you physically still hurts you to remember. 

“Why did you act fearful when Reed-ssi and the others were told to wait outside?” Jinchul asked. He was more concerned with how emotional you got. You couldn’t even hide your fear in your scent, and his alpha was telling him to comfort you and figure out what happened.

“They had to physically rip me out of Chris’s arms to bring me back to Korea while he tried to keep me with him,” you admitted. “It was traumatizing. I wanted to stay with him because he felt like guaranteed safety. I was only convinced to go back to Korea because of grandpa and Jaejoong being here. I just had a flashback of it earlier when you had them go into the waiting area.” You hadn’t wanted to leave Christopher behind, and he didn’t want you to go to Korea where he couldn’t follow you. Then the whole national hunter fiasco after Kamish, where Christopher got extremely busy, as did you, since you were getting more involved with the Hunter’s Association. At least now you knew why they didn’t come for you; as always, it was done to protect you, which you could understand. Christopher wouldn’t risk your safety even if that meant that he needed to stay away for a while. You and your omega now knew that he had been caring for you from afar all this time. Affection for your alpha and the rest of your pack rose in you.

“Are you going to just let them take you to America?” Baek asked. He crossed his arms with his brows furrowed. He was worried about you.

“I’m going to have to, besides the fact that I really want to go with them,” you said. “Are we even in any position to deny a special authority hunter and his strike squad known for being some of America’s best?” The silence that followed your question had you nodding. “I’ll go with them back to America.”

“You need to think about this more. I know you’re upset about Sung and Cha, but running off to a different country to elope with an extremely infamous alpha is crazy,” Gunhee said. He was shaking his head, his brows also furrowed in stress. “They’ve just shown up out of nowhere, and while I’m grateful that they being here has you feeling better, it’s all happening way too fast.” Gunhee was worried that you were being reckless because of Sung and Cha. 

“Your grandfather is right. Also, if you are going to America, whether we like it or not, I’m coming with you. That’s nonnegotiable.” Jinchul was by your side, holding your upper arms and making sure you were looking him in the eye when he said that. 

“Okay, I want you there with me anyway. Chris already approves of you, which is an actual miracle because he hates alphas and omegas. He must know how close we are. Also, grandpa and Jaejoong won’t worry about me so much if you were there with me,” you said, already deciding on your course of action. “We’ll be here for another two weeks, so we should start getting our affairs settled.”

“My dear, Jinchul, this is reckless and impulsive!” Gunhee shouted. He was staring at you and his chief inspector incredulously. 

“Choi and I agree with him. This is extremely reckless.” Baek was only getting more worried about you with how you’re talking. Moreover, when he had just seen you before you all got to the office, he could see the exhaustion and almost listlessness under a small amount of genuine joy and eagerness. Baek couldn’t help but think that you were close to experiencing a drop. But Baek had to admit that the way you lit up when you were on Christopher Reed’s lap was something he didn’t think he had ever seen before. Was that how you were before your parents died? Would he really be the key to making sure you didn’t drop? His Miseon and Jiyeon were worried about you as no one had seen you in a while, and now Baek saw how worse for wear you were looking. But you seemed better when these Americans were in proximity to you. 

“We’ll still be here for two weeks. I can get to know them better again since they’ll be staying with me,” you said, even if your cottage is attached to your grandfather’s estate. “Just…this will make me happy. I just know it. My omega is super happy again at the sight of Chris, and this whole week and a half has been hell on me. They came to help me, and I just want them to take care of me now.” You knew that your alpha and old friends would take care of you in the way your omega craved from your alpha and betas. You leaned forward and hugged Jinchul. “Jinchul will be with me anyway. I’ll be safe and happy.” You hummed happily as if to emphasize your point. 

Jinchul sighed but squeezed you to him. He then looked at your grandfather. “It might actually be better for her, considering how close to dropping she was,” Jinchul said. He was still extremely angry that you almost dropped because of Sung and Cha. You nodded, alright, that Jinchul mentioned it even with Baek and Choi in the room.  

“You nearly dropped?” Baek was in disbelief. It felt like his heart stopped at hearing those words. His whole body shook for a moment at the thought of you dropping.

“Yeah. I wasn’t faring well. If not for my omega surprisingly still recognizing Chris as my alpha, there would be a good chance that I would’ve dropped. I’m surprised too when I realized that she was still clinging onto the idea of another alpha—one I hadn’t seen in ten years. I always wondered why she was so against Sung. I know it’s been a long time since I saw them, but I’m going to trust them,” you said before burying yourself into Jinchul’s chest. He immediately began rubbing your back to comfort you, his arms coming around you. 

Gunhee, Baek, and Choi watched the two of you. Losing both you and Jinchul would cause a huge ruckus in Korea, but it was clear the two of you didn’t care. They could spin it more in your favor, but that would mean completely throwing Sung and Cha under the bus, which Baek was all for. They almost caused you to drop, and that was just punishment—let the public decide their fate. The hunters had their hands tied from being able to punish the two S-rank hunters, but the public did not.

“For the record, I am against letting this get out,” Choi said. He was worried about how this would impact his guild. Haein had been on cloud nine that Sung went on a date with her, and now he found out today that Haein’s happiness came at the cost of you nearly dying. He felt ill, but she was still his vice guildmaster, and he still cared for her and wanted to protect her. 

“No. Let the public decide. If we can’t do anything, let them be judged since the media’s already gushing about how great it is that Sung and Cha are dating.” Baek felt his anger growing at the thought. What the hell were those two thinking? You didn’t deserve to be hurt like that, much less almost dropping. Thinking about that, he was starting to be more inclined that it would be better for you to go with Christopher Reed. At this point, it seemed like you’d be happier with an alpha you hadn’t seen in years than deal with those two damn alphas. 

The two squabbled over it while Gunhee sat quietly in his chair. He sighed, rubbing his face in frustration. The lesser of the two evils was letting you go, but selfishly, he didn’t want to. But with your situation with Sung and Cha, it’d be better if you had time away anyway. He just didn’t want it to be permanent. “I just don’t want to let you go,” said Gunhee, frowning. “I don’t want to lose both of you.”

You and Jinchul looked at him at his admission. Your eyes softened. You broke away from Jinchul’s embrace to go to your grandfather, who stood up. The two of you embraced, and you inhaled his cedarwood scent while your grandfather inhaled your lavender with ocean mist scent. “I love you, Grandpa,” you said, resting your ear over his heart, taking comfort in hearing his heartbeat.

Gunhee buried his face in your hair. “I love you too, my dear.” He pulled back from you and held onto your shoulders. “I’ll have you and Jinchul placed on leave even when you leave for America, so you could always come back, even if I hire someone else. It’s not like you’d be earning money from it either,” he joked, and you laughed at his words. “But in case the two of you want to return to Korea from America, I will keep it like that until I retire.”

“You’re going to retire, sir?” Jinchul asked, a half smile on his lips. “Jaejoong would be happy to hear that.” He walked up to the two of you, and you and your grandfather separated. 

Gunhee playfully glared at your best friend at the reminder of his own. You laughed louder at that. Jaejoong would be pleased if Gunhee retired, but there were still some things he needed to do. It’d probably take a few more years before he could begin to think of retiring. “Alright, my dear, you can call your friends back in. I’ll start with the logistics of it with them. Jinchul, you will help me with that. Darling, try to follow along as well.” You squawked at the implicit jab that your grandfather sent you.

“The one who went to university will be able to understand more,” Jinchul teased you. It wasn’t your fault that you had immediately set to work as a healer once you graduated high school!

“Rude! Rude! Rude!” You began poking him incessantly. Jinchul managed to bat you away most of the time. You stopped after a few more jabs. “I’ll go get them then. Also, Yoonho-sunbae, Choi, do what you want about revealing the information. Or we can see how my pack wants to handle it. Jinchul and I are leaving for America, so it doesn’t really matter to me,” you said to the other two S-rank hunters before opening the door leading to the waiting room right outside Gunhee’s office.

You poked your head out and quickly spotted your unofficial pack, who had stood up when the door opened. You smiled at them, and Christopher was by your side in the blink of an eye. “Alpha, you’ll bring me and my best friend to live with you?”

“Do I need to bring the best friend?” Christopher asked. You smiled up at him, not bothering to reply. He sighed. “I can tell it’d be fine, but just know I hate alphas and omegas, and the two of you are the exceptions. I would rather he not live with us in my den, but we do have a room for him. Don’t emotionally blackmail me if I do this for you, and I won’t do anything to that best friend of yours.” You grabbed his hands and moved his thumbs to brush against your lips, and he immediately dove to claim your lips. He remembered that nonverbal communication. 

You enjoyed the kiss and pulled away, even with him trying to draw you back into another kiss. “Deal?” You beamed at him. “I want him to live with us. It’d make everything smoother and less likely that we have to fight with people to bring me home to America with all of you. You have to get along with him, or else I’m going to be really, really upset.”

Christopher heaved a sigh. He just told you not to emotionally blackmail him, but he supposed that since it was about your friend living with them, he’d let it slide this one time. “Fine. Deal.” 

You cheered. Sean and Julia suddenly were on you again, scenting you, and you giggled, reveling in their lovely scents. 

“I’m seriously going to kill the both of you.” Christopher scowled at your two beta best friends, who only smiled tauntingly back. This was why he often had to punish these idiots. It didn’t help that Jordan then wrapped his arms around the three of you, and all four of you stared at him. He deadpanned at you all and pointed to go back into your grandfather’s office, and the four of you walked in with him following behind all of you. 

“Thank you for waiting,” Gunhee said as the five of you reentered his office. “Shall we start talking about you being here and bringing both my granddaughter and Jinchul back to America with you?”

Christopher simply picked you up and carried you over to the chair he was sitting on earlier and placed you on his lap. You simply kicked your feet back and forth, humming. Christopher had done that to you a lot back in America; you didn’t mind since it was him. The Korean hunters still couldn’t believe how you just allowed it to happen to you, and that it was Christopher Reed’s lap you were sitting on.

Sean took over the conversation, considering that he and Julia would be the ones dealing with the paperwork. Jordan was there to give off warm vibes since he was normal. Christopher honestly was just there to make sure nothing happened to them, and so it’d be easier to convince you to go back with them to America. They’d still kidnap you if they needed to, but with Christopher there, it was going much smoother. It seemed like your omega truly still recognized Christopher as your alpha, which was what they were banking on, as they knew that you were actually Christopher’s imprint. They hoped that would be enough to force your attention back to your first alpha, even if you couldn’t currently feel the imprint bond. Luckily for the Reed pack, you fell right back into the omega that they had painstakingly crafted you into for your own protection and their peace of mind. Christopher glared at Sean over your head, and Sean took it as his cue to start.

“Omega and Jinchul here will be moving into Chris’s den. I’m jealous, but I don’t want to deal with the fact that I know I will piss Chris off. Good luck to you because our pack alpha is a possessive asshole,” Sean said, grinning like he didn’t just insult Christopher. 

Christopher growled at him, but didn’t say anything. Everyone just watched as he brought you closer, and you just patted him on the chest. You then nudged him with your head and chirped, and Christopher relaxed, choosing to focus on you rather than any of them. Sean had better be happy that you were willing to save his ass from your crazy alpha. The smile he threw at you after that made you less miffed at him for taunting your alpha. 

It didn’t take long after that for Sean and Gunhee to start negotiating with Jinchul, adding in things. Every once in a while, Christopher also said what he wanted and expected of you and Jinchul, since the two of you would be living with him. 

Sean gave his cheshire grin—everyone saw the madness in that grin. “Also, we’re going to spread the news of Omega here almost dropping, and none of you will stop us from doing so. If the public wants to keep cheering for those filthy alphas, let them. But we’re going to get the truth out, and then bring our omega home to us.”

“It doesn’t need to happen, considering that you’re bringing her back to America anyway,” Choi argued. Baek didn’t look happy at Choi’s reply. 

“This isn’t the first time someone in your guild fucked up, so unless you want the spreading of how your guildmate Minhyuk ran and left some of your other guild members to die, I’d shut up if I were you. Can you imagine how their family would react knowing that you covered it up?” Sean sneered at the fire mage. 

All Korean hunters, including you, stared at Choi in horror. He covered it up? They knew nothing could be done by them about Choi’s guild member, but they were in shock and horror that Choi would cover it up. This was apparently a pattern from him—he covered up the reason for some of his guild members’ deaths, and now he wanted to cover up how Cha and Sung nearly caused you to drop. “Choi, what the fuck?” Baek asked in disbelief. 

“When did this happen?” Gunhee asked also in disbelief. 

Jinchul narrowed his eyes at the fire mage, anger rising in him. Jinchul would protect you, and part of the protection meant that he needed a way to bring all three S-rank hunters to heel, and apparently, the Americans had a way to do it. “Guess you’re alright with my omega dying.” The caustic growl that came from Jinchul spoke volumes. The Americans stared at each other, but didn’t say anything to Jinchul about his claiming you as his omega. 

Sean was pouting because he knew he was going to have competition with Jinchul. 

Christopher rolled his eyes. Great, another Sean and even some Julia, Christopher thought to himself, irritated. He was a touch relieved, though. If Jinchul were like the terrible duo, then he definitely could leave your protection to that best friend of yours, along with the others in the pack. Besides himself, Jinchul seemed capable of handling you after spending almost a decade with you. He had no idea how you found someone that was a mix of the terrible duo, but you seemed to attract some very unhinged people to you. He really needed to protect you from gaining more.

“How do you know that?” Choi stuttered, having paled considerably. His eyes darted between your best friends as their severe expressions got worse. He had made sure no one would find out what Minhyuk did. He needed his A-rank healer, so he felt like he had no choice but to protect him. Korea was short on healers, and now with Min dead and you leaving for America, they needed all the high-level healers they had. Han Semi wasn’t enough for the guild, unfortunately, so saving Minhyuk had been a must in his mind.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” said Sean, still sneering. “So either you sacrifice your guild or protect your vice guildmaster because that’s not the only thing I know and have evidence for. I’ll give you that choice.” 

Choi went silent. If he kept protecting Haein, his guild would suffer immensely, but they could survive. If it went out that Choi covered up his own guild members' deaths, the public would call for the disbandment of his entire guild, and there would be no salvaging it. He hesitated for a moment before he asked, “If I don’t protect Haein, you wouldn’t release all the other information?”

“He won’t. But if you try to protect that whore in any way, Sean will use his kill switch to make sure every dirty secret you have along with your guild will be released,” Christopher said, glaring at Choi. “He’ll release every little dirty secret of anyone you ever gave a shit about, excluding my omega and her familial pack. And there’s not a damn thing you could do. If something happens to Sean, his kill switch will happen, and then you’d have multiple governments coming after you for it.” Christopher hated these alphas, but he especially hated the unmated fire mage. Your familial pack was tolerable, but the other two Korean alphas either fell in line like the mated one did, or they’d ruin the lives of everyone that the fire mage ever cared about. Christopher’s threat hung over the entire room. Christopher turned his attention back to you and ran his hand through your hair while holding you to him. You just followed along with what he wanted, relaxing.

The Americans were pleased, knowing that the start of gaining justice for you was happening. You didn’t really need to be involved—they’d do it all for you. You didn’t deserve what those alphas had done to you, and your pack would make sure that the ones who hurt you suffered. Jinchul took a deep breath and then walked over to the pack to stand near you. He held out his hand, and you grasped it, thankful that Christopher didn’t stop you. Everyone raised a brow at that, but you chirped out happily, “Oppa will help take care of me, too. So be good to him, everyone. He’s my big brother.” Gunhee and Jinchul almost cooed at you for it, as did Julia, Sean, and Jordan, but then Jinchul stood up straight and turned to Choi.

“That’s right. I’m her oppa. I’ll help them take care of my omega, so Choi, take your pick,” Jinchul said coldly, glaring at Choi. He failed to protect you—he should’ve just told you the truth of his possessiveness and told you not to chase after Sung to begin with. He wouldn’t fail you again.

Choi knew what he needed to do. “I won’t get in the way,” he said in defeat. Gunhee and Baek decided to stay out of it, but both still looked alarmed at what Choi admitted to. 

Sean’s smile gained a manic tinge to it, and he wasn't the only one, as that gleeful, manic smile was also seen on Christopher's lips. Sean said, “Good, because the article comes out tonight.” Sean was nice enough to warn everyone in the room when the article was going to come out. He just needed to add a few things to the article, like you almost dropping. His smile turned more malicious. Sung and Cha were going to pay—he’d make sure of it.

Chapter Text

“I swear, you’re too interested in the fact that my belly and breasts have grown larger,” you said as Christopher had you in between his legs and his arms around you—one hand on your abdomen and the other arm across your breasts. You were leaning back into him, resting against him. Christopher was rumbling for the last half hour since the two of you got into this position in your nest. You sweatdropped. Your silly mate hadn’t really let you go in months now. He was either wrapped around you when the two of you were sitting or lying down together, or he was holding your hand or carrying you if the two of you needed to go somewhere. You only left the den to go to the OBGYN now. Christopher allowed you to walk around the den and the backyard to keep up your physical health, but he was still holding onto you in some way. He was willing to slow down his life if it meant that you’d be safe and sound. He refused to raid as long as you were pregnant, so all the top hunters had to work a bit overtime to compensate. 

Jordan helped the Scavenger guild with raids to help out and then used the money to spoil you with gifts, and he started making Jinchul’s room into a nursery. Jaejoong was using Jordan's room, and Jinchul was staying in Sean and Julia’s room until they could divide Jordan’s room into two, and Jordan and Jinchul could stay in there, but share a bathroom. It’s not like there wasn’t room to do that. It was a full-on suite, so it was fairly easy to make the adjustments to divide the room into two. Moreover, Jordan had been hovering over you much more than he normally did and scenting you more, too. He was very excited to have a pup in the family, and he couldn't wait to be an uncle.

The two of you were in your communal nest waiting for everyone to come back from grocery shopping. Jinchul and Jaejoong had arrived in America a month ago, and Jaejoong essentially took over all household-related things. He managed to scare everyone in the household into doing what he wanted, which your grandfather laughed a lot at, as Jaejoong managed to scare Christopher, too. Christopher had stayed away from Jaejoong for over a week when that happened. Sean and Jordan weren't better off either. Jaejoong truly was the scariest one everyone knew. So, everyone just followed Jaejoong’s command when it came to the household. 

“Can’t help it. You’re so beautiful carrying our pup.” Christopher nuzzled the top of your head as you stayed slumped in his arms. He chuffed at how happy he was. “And our son moves and kicks every now and then. I like the feeling. How is everything so far?” He kissed the crown of your head.

You hummed at that. Christopher lit up every time he felt his pup kick. You thought it was adorable. “From what I can feel, things are going normally. He does kick kind of hard, though, but nothing that my healing can’t heal anyway.” You shrugged as best you could. You were lucky to be a healer, especially one of your caliber, since your healing magic almost immediately healed whatever injury you had if you concentrated and if you had the energy to do so. So you hadn’t really experienced the back pain or swelling of ankles that you heard some women got when they’re pregnant. “The OBGYN said everything looked fine in my last appointment, so we should take that as a great sign!”

Just as Christopher was going to reply, Sean called out, “Honey, we’re home!” The two of you heard Sean’s typical greeting. He never ceased doing it, even once. Sean was determined to continue calling out that greeting until he or you died whenever he visited Christopher’s den. 

Julia thought it was hilarious and encouraged it often. She especially encouraged it as payback against Christopher for when he would refuse to let them near you when his possessiveness was skyrocketing. Julia gets assigned to do all of the paperwork because of it, but she always thinks it’s worth it, as she hated when she couldn’t touch and scent you. You didn’t allow Christopher to force Julia to go through training punishment anymore unless she wanted to. Sean and Jordan were rioting when you put your foot down. Julia was smug as hell. Jinchul didn't irritate Christopher as much, so it was quite rare when Jinchul would be forced into a training punishment.

Christopher growled, but you just patted him on his arm. It was like clockwork on how those two reacted when Sean and the rest of the pack came over. Sean calls out his greeting, and Christopher starts growling. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. 

Sean came bounding into the room while everyone else helped Jaejoong put things away. He never got unbanned from the kitchen, even years later, after burning your rice. You didn’t want the chance of him burning it again, especially when you're pregnant. You once cried at the thought of your food being ruined, causing everyone to panic for a moment. Luckily, your mood swings were toning down. Jinchul and Julia often laughed at him for still being banned because of it, much to Sean’s chagrin. “How’s my omega and nephew?” Sean asked you, going to his normal spot in the communal nest. He lay on his front with his head propped up by his hand, looking at you expectantly. 

“My pup is doing well, and so am I,” you said, smiling at him. 

Sean reached out a hand slowly, and you swatted Christopher’s hand away that was reaching forward to stop Sean so that Sean could touch your baby bump. Christopher was annoyed, but let it happen after that. Your baby bump was already rather big for you, being five months along. You were going to have a big pup. You knew he’d be much more like Christopher than you in stature. “How’s my nephew? Gonna cause trouble for your appa, aren’t you?” he cooed at your baby bump, rubbing at it, and was delighted to feel slight movement. 

Christopher’s burning scent of sandalwood happened once more. All of you were used to it by that point. “Would you quit your shit?” he growled at your best friend. He just knew he was being jinxed. 

“It’s all in good fun.” Sean waved him off, but he did go back to his spot. You and Christopher deadpanned at him, and he only gave a Cheshire grin back. Okay, it was good fun for everyone but you and Christopher. Everyone already agreed that Christopher, while loving his pup, would end up jealous of him. But they all thought it was great that Christopher did his best to take care of you and your pup without him even being born yet. 

The betas and Jinchul couldn’t wait to see what Christopher would be like as a father. They had full confidence in you as a mother, but there were quiet bets among the four on the type of father Christopher would be. Jordan had the most faith, and Sean had the least amount of faith. Jinchul bet that Christopher would be a decent father, and Julia went more with Sean. They would see eventually who was right. 

Everyone else slowly trickled in. Jinchul crawled to his usual spot in the nest while Julia and Jordan decided to sit on the couch instead, although both Julia and Jordan were watching you and Christopher from where they were sitting. You stretched out your legs, and Jinchul began massaging them immediately. “Jaejoong said that he will be finished making lunch in an hour from now,” Jinchul said. 

You perked up. “I am hungry.” Jaejoong’s food always tasted good, so whenever they talked about his food, you constantly got hungry. Thankfully, Jaejoong was typically on top of it if you were craving things. He was also willing to go out with Jinchul in the middle of the night to get what you wanted. Jaejoong and Jinchul were more than happy to do so if it kept you at home and safe. Christopher was grateful that you and he could remain at home for your safety and simply because he didn’t like going out. 

You were treated like a queen by your family, but also as someone rather helpless. No one was taking a chance with your troublesome track record. Everyone’s essentially done nearly everything for you since you told them that you were pregnant. You liked being pampered, and that they were doing their best to keep you safe in one of your most vulnerable moments of your life. You just wished for a little bit more freedom to do what you wanted, versus being stuck doing what they wanted because they think they're keeping you safe from your own troublesome tendencies.

Christopher rubbed your abdomen again. “In a bit, mama.” That was also pleasing to you. Christopher had taken to calling you that now and then, and you were happy to hear him call you that. He did it once accidentally, and you encouraged him to keep going if he wanted to. You liked being called a mother, as it was something that you had wanted from a young age, as many omegas do. You purred happily. Your sweet scent permeated the air to everyone’s happiness and relaxation. They loved it when you were happy, and now that you were pregnant, everyone was hyperaware of your status as their precious omega and how you were feeling. You were never alone for more than a couple of minutes at a time now, but you made do with what you could.

“Lunch is ready!” Jaejoong called from the kitchen. Christopher helped you up while Jinchul stood, ready to help if he needed to. 

All of you went into the kitchen and sat at your usual seats. Instead of just eating at the kitchen island, Christopher bought a dining table that would fit you all, along with some extra guests if needed. Christopher made sure to have you sit close by him, and he began to feed you and himself. You accepted his care as everyone kept an eye on you. You merely went along with it because you knew it comforted your mate to take care of you in every possible way while in one of your most vulnerable states in life. If you didn’t take a bite, Christopher would rumble, and then you would. Eventually, you turned your head to the side and refused to eat any more, but it was fine since you ate a decent amount according to Christopher’s satisfaction. Jaejoong gave you vitamins to take, which you did.

“I wanna go back into the nest,” you grumbled. You had been a bit more grumpy than normal and constantly wanted to nest, whether it be in your communal or mating nest. You and your omega just wanted to nest while pregnant. They were the safest spots in your opinion. Your alphas and betas would protect you and your nests, of that you had no doubt. 

“Nest it is!” Sean and Julia cheered. Jordan and Jinchul weren’t far off. Jaejoong kept doing the chores and only looked over to see if you needed anything else, but turned away when you seemed fine besides wanting to nest. He was more than happy to make sure the household was running smoothly while you rested. Christopher helped you up from your chair and slowly walked you over to your nest with the rest of your pack following. 

You all settled on the communal nest now, with you sitting between Christopher’s legs and his body draped on you, but not enough to put much pressure on you, cuddling and scenting you. He went back to holding your baby bump and an arm across your breasts. He rumbled, and you felt the vibration of his rumbles against your back. While Christopher had somehow become even more protective, his pampering had skyrocketed ever since you found out that you were pregnant. 

“So about four more months, right?” Jordan asked. The betas and Jinchul had been watching the two of you. Everyone was relieved at how much Christopher had been toning down his acerbic personality so that he could focus on your well-being more than trying to punish the rest of the pack for trying to get your attention. Jordan especially enjoyed Christopher being less snappy since he could bother his best friend more, and Christopher wouldn’t fly off the handle after a while with one sharp look from you.  

“Yes,” you said, patting Christopher’s hand on your belly. “We’re seeing the OBGYN next week for more updates. While I have my healing magic, it doesn’t cover looking over my baby, but it’s beneficial for not feeling back pain.” You giggled in relief at that. You were extremely grateful that you wouldn’t have to suffer through that. You didn’t like being in pain, even for something as wonderful as you thought pregnancy was. If you could avoid being in pain, you would every time. 

Jinchul reached out a hand and placed it on your baby bump, rubbing it slightly. He smiled as he felt your pup kick against his hand. Christopher had moved his hand, so now there were two large hands on your belly—both feeling your pup kick while you let out an oomph at the kick. “He’s going to be more like Chris than you, including the craziness,” he said. That caused all three betas to start cackling. “He’ll be a mama’s boy for sure.” Jinchul quickly yanked his hand back and made a tactical retreat as Christopher bared his teeth at your best friends. 

“I swear to god, your best friends are outright cursing me.” Christopher growled, seething. They were starting to irritate him. He calmed down, though, when you released your scent, trying to entice him to stop being so high-strung. 

“There, there.” You patted his hand and began to play with it, purring for a moment. "I love you as you are, so we'll love our son as he is."

"I love you too," Christopher said. You moved your head to look at him, and he got the non-verbal cue to give you a chaste kiss.

“By the way, did you guys decide on a name for your pup?” Julia asked. Both she and Sean were on their front facing all of you from their side of the nest. Everyone had been curious as to what you were going to name your pup since you two had wanted to wait to start choosing a name once you found out the gender of your pup.

“Yeah, you should name them Sean Jr.!” Sean laughed, only to wince as Julia slapped him across his head. “Julia!” he whined. Everyone else was deadpanning him.

“For the love of—fuck no! We’re not naming our pup after you.” Christopher’s fingers twitched as he scowled. He was tempted to beat up your best friend. “Do you want a training session?” 

Sean backtracked. “No, thank you. So, omega, what are you naming your pup?” He didn’t want a torture training session again, so they'd better just go back to the main topic. 

“Yeah, have you guys thought about it yet?” Jordan asked. 

“She’s naming him,” Christopher said, scenting you, chuffing. He kissed you on the side of your head before going back to scenting you. 

You purred as Christopher was slowly sending you into a scent high. You used your wrist scent gland to scent Christopher. The two of your scents mixed well, and you relaxed further, smiling. You then turned your attention back to the pack, who had been waiting patiently. “I’ll name him Isaac Jungkook Reed!” you exclaimed, happy about the names you chose. You wanted to honor Christopher and your father, and Christopher didn’t mind what you named their pup as long as it made you happy. It’d also give your pup his Korean name to use if that was what he wanted.

“A very good full name,” Jaejoong said as he walked into the living room with some sweets for you. He then went right back out to do more chores once Christopher grabbed the container. 

“How does he know what I’m craving and when I’m craving?” You sweatdropped, but started reaching out for the sweets before Christopher took the container from your familial butler and started feeding you. “But yeah! I’m going to name him after alpha and my appa!” you said proudly before letting Christopher feed you more. 

Jinchul moved closer to you and reached out his hand, which you grabbed. He squeezed slightly before saying, “Like Jaejoong said, it’s a very good name. Your grandfather will be happy to know what you’re naming your pup.” You beamed at Jinchul’s words, your scent getting even sweeter. Jinchul let go of your hand as Christopher glared at him and brought you closer to him. 

“Welp, here’s to Isaac Jungkook Reed!” Jordan cheered. Sean, Julia, and Jinchul hoorayed while you laughed. 

Christopher just watched his pack with his cheek pressed against the top of your head. He didn’t think he’d ever have a pack, much less have a pup with the love of his life. As a child, he thought he’d be alone due to how much he hated people. Having a love life was never on his mind—he had been ready to commit to being a hermit until he met you. He even thought Jordan would eventually give up trying to be friends with him. He was happy to have proven his younger self wrong as he now had a pack and an imprint mate with his own pup on the way. You were the center of his life—the best thing to ever happen to him, and all his blessings stemmed from that. He will love you forever. “I love you, omega.”

You smiled up at your handsome alpha mate. “I love you too, alpha.”

Chapter Text

Isaac was pouting in your arms, occasionally scowling at his father. The three of you were relaxing on the couch together. It was a rare day when it was just the three of you. The betas kidnapped Jinchul to give him a break from the demonic pup who only listened to you or Jinchul (or your grandfather and Jaejoong). 

Isaac suddenly bared his teeth, growling at Christopher as Christopher wrapped an arm around your shoulders, and you purred happily and scented your mate. You and Christopher were now sitting next to each other, as Isaac was no longer blocking the two of you once you had shifted him to hold him, which was making him mad. You were giving his father way too much attention in Isaac’s opinion. He hated it. He did love your purring, though. At least his father was useful that way, besides protecting them.

You ignored your son’s rising tantrum while Christopher smiled smugly at his son, making his pup’s growling worse. The older Isaac got, the more you started giving Christopher more attention again. Your mate suffered for the last seven years—competing with his own son for your attention. “I love you both.” Christopher nuzzled you as you moved so he could use his neck scent gland to spread his sandalwood scent on you more than it already was.

“Love you,” you purred out. Your scent was sweet as Christopher kissed you. 

“Umma, stop letting him do whatever he wants,” Isaac whined, fists clenched your shirt—Christopher’s, actually—even though he also didn’t like how potent his father’s scent on it was. Isaac frantically scented you, so his orchid smell permeated the air and got on you. You patted him on the head in return, still with your lips pressed against Christopher’s. 

Christopher pulled away with a grunt. “Are you fucking serious?” asked Christopher flatly as he stared at his pup scenting you.

“No swearing around our pup,” you hissed at your mate, swatting at him, before turning your attention to your pup, who hummed and was finally content with how much of his scent he got on you. “Isaac, he’s my mate and your sire. If he wants to show his love for you and me, that’s a good thing. We talked about this how many times?” You sighed as your son’s scent burned when you started scolding him. He really was too much like his father, and so they often butted heads. The rest of the pack didn’t help either, as they were permissive when it came to your mate and your pup. Damn traitors leaving you out to dry. Jinchul tried to help you, but sometimes even he just watched as everything played out.

“Don’t care,” came two simultaneous replies. They then glared at each other once they realized they were in unison. You sighed again, shifting Isaac in your arms to a more comfortable position. He was often clingy, so you got used to carrying him; although, he was starting to get too big for you. You loved holding him as he was your baby. But in the meantime, it was a good exercise for you since everyone did most things for you. You tried to help, but everyone politely told you to stop and to let them do it. They told you to focus on taking care of Isaac.

“Stop it,” you said, finally tired of their shit for the day. You only had so much patience once your mate and pup decided they were going to have a ‘family feud.’ You hugged Isaac to you, and it was Christopher’s turn to growl. 

Isaac rumbled, going limp in his mother’s arms. He loved it when you held him close to you.

“Stop rewarding his bad behavior,” Christopher scolded you. His voice had a hint of a growl to it. 

“It’s not like I’m going to do what he tells me to,” you said, much to Christopher’s satisfaction. You weren’t going to ditch your mate to spend all your time with your pup. Isaac needed to learn how to socialize with others who weren’t you.

Isaac lifted his head with a squawk. “But Umma!” Isaac exclaimed, staring at you in disbelief.

“No buts, my little pup,” you said, rubbing your cheek on top of his head. “I love your father, and it’s only fair that he gets attention too—not just you.” 

Isaac huffed. “I’m all you need. Forget about him!”

“Why you little—” Christopher seethed, trying to get Isaac out of your arms, but your pup held onto you tightly. He might as well have been a barnacle at that moment.

“Hey! You two! Enough!” you snapped at both of them. You were becoming irritated enough that your lavender with ocean mist scent was starting to rot. You slapped Christopher’s hands away from your pup. He sent you a wounded look in return. “Chris, stop reacting so much to him like that. Isaac, I need your father. I’m not going to forget about him.” Both grumbled under their breaths, and you rolled your eyes. You wanted the rest of the pack back from wherever they went already. “Let’s go lie in the family nest. Isaac, you need your nap.” 

Isaac nodded against you. A nap sounded good. He yawned. You purred, and he happily sighed at the vibration coming from you. He truly loved it when you purred for him. 

You and Christopher had finally made a nest just for the three of you in Isaac’s room. It wasn’t used often due to how combative the two male Reeds could get, but there were times when they laid off the alpha energy to relax with you. You stood up with Isaac in your arms and walked to your destination with Christopher following closely behind you. You let down Isaac once you all reached his room. He hurried to grab his stuffed tiger from his bed, then crawled into the family nest, which was in the corner of his room. 

“Umma! Lie down by me! Please!” Isaac remembered to be polite. He needed to be good so you’d stop being irritated. He gave a cute rumble. 

You cooed at your pup. You loved it when he did that particular rumble. Your son was so adorable. “There’s my good pup.” You entered the nest, and Isaac immediately settled back into your arms. He cuddled as much as he could against you. Christopher wrapped an arm around your waist so you were sandwiched between them. “Go to sleep.” You kissed the top of Isaac’s head. 

Christopher began humming as you purred. You could also feel the vibration of Christopher rumbling now and then. Isaac finally fell asleep after some time of you and Christopher trying to lull him to sleep. You gently disentangled yourself from him. You and Christopher walked out and quietly closed the door. 

“You spoil him too much. You do realize that,” Christopher said when the two of you headed to your room to rest in your mating nest. He spooned you once you two settled in. 

“He is our only child,” you pointed out, “we tried for other pups, but it never happened. So let’s enjoy our little miracle, alright?”

“More like a demonic child out of hell,” Christopher mumbled. 

You turned in his hold immediately and slapped him on his chest, having heard his comment. “Christopher Isaac Reed,” you hissed.

“What? You and I both know how he is.” Christopher wasn’t going to take back his words. Isaac was his demonic child that he loved, but a demonic child all the same. “I love him, don’t get me wrong. But he’s extremely combative when it comes to wanting your attention, and he’s not afraid to take me out of the picture to receive your full attention.”

“…Okay. Fair. But he’s just a kid. He’ll eventually grow out of it,” you said. You hoped anyway. One Christopher was enough.

Christopher scoffed. As if Isaac was going to get better. Christopher recognized signs of how he was when he was younger in his son. Isaac really did take after him. “He gets worse every year. He’s going to keep getting worse, in fact.”

“So are you!” you said, exasperated. Christopher wasn’t the example of an angel either. You were sometimes dealing with two obsessed, possessive alphas. And it was tiring when you weren’t at your best.

“How do you think I know?” He countered.

“You know what? I think we need a nap too.” 

“Just say that I’m right in that he’s a devilish gremlin.”

“No. And I’m going to sleep,” you said, pouting. You weren’t going to admit to anything. “I love you.” You hmphed to Christopher’s amusement. You closed your eyes, settling down to get ready to sleep.

“Sure, and I love you too,” Christopher said, choosing to let it go. He curled around you even more. The two of you relaxed, and you were out cold soon enough. Christopher played with your hair a bit. “Like father, like son—only for you, darling.” Christopher pressed a kiss to the crown of your head. He’d watch over you and keep his senses also on Isaac. Christopher would be damned before he allowed anyone or anything to hurt you or Isaac. 

Chapter Text

“Make me a mother,” you demanded as the two of you were settling down for the night. You stared up at him determinedly. You weren’t going to waste any more time. Your omega finally demanded to have a child, and you concurred. You have been in America for a few years already. You felt you had spent enough time with it being just the two of you (even if the betas did take up a decent amount of time, too). You wanted a pup, and you were going to make sure you'd get one, as your mate had promised you. “I stopped taking my birth control like I said I was going to. So give me a pup.” 

Christopher paused as he had been moving to make the two of you comfortable. You two had been getting ready for bed when you spoke up. His brows were furrowed as he turned and stared at you. He took in how determined you looked. “Are you sure?” Christopher asked, wanting to make sure you knew what you were asking for. While the two of you had been talking about having a child recently, this was the first time that you mentioned being off your birth control.

You nodded. You wanted a pup. You were almost thirty, which was a good age to have a child. “I’m sure. And we’ve been talking about it recently, so I’m ready. You’re okay with it, too, right?”

“It would be nice to have our own little family,” Christopher said. He liked his pack well enough, but he had been wanting to establish a familial pack with both of you and a pup. A smile slowly spread on his lips at the thought. You’d be even more tied to him with a child.

You lit up at the look on his face. “So, pup?” you asked hopefully.

“Pup,” he answered, already taking off his clothes with you eagerly following suit.

Christopher had his face buried between your legs, tongue lapping at your dripping pussy. You had your hand latched onto his hair, tugging at it. He moved to suck at your clit while he thrust his fingers into your pussy, fingers curling slightly, making you give out a loud cry. You squirted, much to Christopher’s pleasure, as he drank your slick like it was ambrosia.

Christopher moved the two of you until he had you pinned to the bed in your mating nest as he thrust his cock as deep into you as possible in a mating press. He moaned as he felt your pussy fluttering around his cock. He nearly laughed at how many orgasms he knew he could get out of you tonight. Christopher knew how eager you were to have a child, and your body was showing it as an omega’s biology would change slightly to accompany the omega’s desire for a child. The more pleasure an omega goes through while mating, the more sex they’d have, which helps in conceiving a child. Christopher aimed at the spot he knew you went dumb over. Christopher knew your body—he spent years learning what you liked and what you didn’t like. He cataloged your pleasure. His train of thought was interrupted by the sight of you falling apart on his cock. He and his alpha were smug. He was going to keep making you come until you couldn’t handle it anymore. That was a promise, even if he had to keep going through multiple orgasms himself. He needed you to feel good—to remember his cock so deep in you and his thrusts reaching places that made you see stars. He was going to give you the child you (and he) have been wanting. “I’m going to make you nice and round with our pup,” he growled. 

After a few more thrusts, his cock, having brushed against the spot that made you see stars, you came with a loud shriek, tearing its way out of your throat. “Alpha!” You were starting to get exhausted, but Christopher wasn’t stopping. You gasped, then moaned as Christopher kept hitting your G-spot. You thrust back against him, eyes rolling to the back of your head in pleasure as you were still riding high from your previous orgasm that meshed with Christopher’s pleasure. “Just like that. Oh fuck!” you came again with a scream, writhing under him, overstimulated from having multiple orgasms so close to each other. You could barely move as Christopher wouldn’t let you out from under him, as his cock kept slamming into your wet pussy. 

“Take it!” Christopher snarled, hips snapping against yours before he thrust as far into you as he could as he came. His cum flooded into you as his knot tied you together. He fell on you, barely holding himself up, so he wasn’t crushing you. The two of you panted, sweating. 

Your hands were clawing at Christopher’s shoulders. You and your omega in you whimpered as the pleasure was still coursing through you. 

Christopher nudged you. “You okay?” He was worried he was too rough. He rumbled, trying to help you calm down. He nuzzled you. 

You made a noise of acknowledgement, body relaxing at his rumbling. You then purred for a moment before you said, “Yeah, just a bit, y'know, overstimulated.” It took a few minutes for you to get your bearings. Yet, you shuddered as another aftershock of pleasure shot through you. You didn’t know how long the two of you had already been having sex for. All you knew was that both of you had come multiple times—you more so than he—and you were tired but satisfied. But as you stared up at him, you knew you were in for an even longer night after asking him to breed you. His cock was still hard even with his knot going down. You smiled at him, nails clawing into his broad shoulders, leaving crescent marks. You knew that would get him going.

Christopher leaned down to chuckle darkly next to your ear and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll have a pup, mama. I’ll give you what you want.” He felt you involuntarily clench down onto his cock at his words, and he gave a choked moan. He moved on to kissing you. But as soon as his knot untied, he was back to thrusting into you. He was going to fill you with so much cum, your body would have no choice but to become pregnant. He promised you a pup, after all.