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Mingi must have heard the chieftain wrong. Because there was no way, no way in hell, that he was being married off to Choi Jongho in two days’ time.

The alpha in question was in the hut with them as the news was delivered, surrounded by the neighboring tribe's more prominent pack members as he looked blankly over at Mingi, eyes all but saying ‘what are you gonna do about it?’ 

Oh, he could do plenty. 

Lifting his chin in defiance, Mingi boldly declared, “I claim mating run rights.” 

All eyes turned to him at the proclamation, but his glare was reserved for Jongho and Jongho alone. One of the alpha’s eyebrows twitched at his words, but Mingi’s own pack alpha was replying to him before anyone else did. “You would rather leave the decision of your mate up to fate, young omega?” Hongjoong asked with a small smile.

Blue eyes boring into Jongho’s in challenge, he said, “That’s right.”

Looking over to the chieftain, who shrugged at his mate, Hongjoong shook his head as he agreed, “So be it. Instead of a wedding, in two days’ time we will host a mating run.” 

Wait, it would still be held in two days? That wasn’t very much time to prepare at all! “But,” Mingi stammered, “but what of our allying tribes in the mountains? It would take two days just to inform them of such an event, then two more for anyone to show up that may want to join. Surely we could wait a little longer--”

“You have someone you hope to pair with in the Jeong clan?” that even, calm voice finally spoke up. And maybe to anyone else, Jongho seemed nonplussed as he asked it. But Mingi knew the alpha’s tells all too well, and to him, he was not so quietly fuming.

Glancing warily over at Jongho, he chose his next words carefully when he said, “No, but mating runs aren’t all that common either. They could very well have pairs that want to be mated through the old ways themselves that would like to participate.”

“Then they’re welcome to have their own mating run,” Jongho said with a shrug. “Two days is what our tribes agreed upon, and by the moon, I will have a mate by then.”

“You--” Mingi growled out, but the chieftain cut him off.

“He’s right, omega. We have honored your request this night, but it’s best if you don’t push your luck any further. This arrangement was meant to bring our tribes closer together, not drive them further apart,” Seonghwa calmly explained, standing to rest a hand on his arm in reassurance before turning towards the others. “We will hold the ceremonial bonfire tomorrow, to celebrate and alert the other nearby tribes. In the meantime, you and the rest of your pack that would like to participate are welcome to stay here until then.”

Biting his lip in annoyance, he glared over at Jongho, the alpha merely eyeing him smugly in reply, before Mingi was storming out of the hut altogether. What the hell did that alpha have to be so smug about anyway? It wasn’t as if Jongho wanted anything to do with him. 

Or at least, he hadn’t since their fight five years ago…

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Well, well, if it isn’t the guest of honor. Our little omega bride to be,” Yeosang cooed as Mingi slinked over to sit beside his best friend, the ceremonial bonfire crackling before them. 

“Shut up, Yeo,” Mingi grumbled, elbowing the other omega in the side. “Just consider yourself lucky that as a fox, you don’t have to participate in the run unless you actually want to.”

“True. These old pack laws are rather archaic, don’t you think? Honestly I’m surprised you even suggested it.” 

Mingi snorted. “Well what else was I supposed to do?” Just roll over and take it? He wasn’t that kind of omega.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe mate with the man that you’ve had a literal hard on for since puberty?”

Slapping a hand over the sly fox’s mouth, Mingi hissed, “Keep your voice down! His entire pack is here, you traitor.”

Yeosang rolled his eyes, licking his palm playfully and laughing when Mingi pulled his hand away with a grimace. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. And besides, anyone that spent time around you two growing up already knows how you feel about each other. If anything, I’m surprised it took him this long to claim you as his mate.”

And while it was true that they’d been inseparable as children, the very same summer they had both finally presented, the alpha had all but treated Mingi as if he didn’t exist anymore. All because of a lousy misunderstanding and stubborn alpha pride.

Before Mingi could bring up that very glaring fact, however, San was walking up to them both, his eyes playful beneath the red paint smeared across them as he asked, “Mingi, I was wondering if you’d care to dance with me this fine evening?”

Looking over at his best friend, who was stiffening up with obvious jealousy before eventually shrugging, Mingi sighed and nodded up at the alpha, accepting the hand held out to him. 

“I’m surprised you wanted to dance with me and not with Yeosang,” Mingi said as they came together, bodies twirling around the fire with the many other dancing members of their tribes. 

“It feels only right, seeing as how you’ll be my brother in law soon enough. Not to mention,” San said with a wry chuckle as he nodded towards Jongho, who was standing stiffly on the edge of the dancing circle and watching them intensely, “I doubt Jongho will let me get another dance in with you for the rest of your very long, mated lives. Which is a real shame, you’re a great partner.”

Mingi snorted. “Both you and Yeo seem so certain that Jongho will mate with me come tomorrow night, but who’s to say he will even want to chase me? Let alone that I’ll let him catch me?” Mingi said with a shake of his head, his eyes sliding back over to Jongho again before he could help it. But he was suddenly grateful for the fire’s warm glow when his cheeks heated up upon realizing that Jongho was still very much watching his every move. Avidly.

San’s brow furrowed at his claim, the alpha opening his mouth up to no doubt defend his brother, before he seemingly thought better of it and shrugged. “Well, who really knows what will happen during the mating moon? But tell me, is Yeosang planning to participate as well?” San asked, his eyes straying over to where Yeosang sat stiffly watching them.

“That fox?” Mingi couldn’t help but tease. “No, and it’s just as well. He’s too smart for his own good. The only way he’d ever get hunted down and mated was if he wanted it.” 

“Much like you, I’ll wager.” 

Mingi didn’t reply, merely smiled cheekily down at San as the dance ended. Bowing politely to the alpha, he declined the next offer to dance from one of his packmates, his mood too tumultuous to play nice for hours on end, guest of honor or not. And he even had half a mind to disappear back into his own shared hut entirely, but a short, muscular figure blocked his stealthy retreat. Shit, but he supposed that was no less than what he deserved for taking his eyes off Jongho for even a second. 

“Going somewhere?” the smaller alpha asked, his arms crossed and drawing Mingi’s attention to all the new tattoos covering his upper body.

“Would it matter if I was?” he argued right back, gaining entirely too much satisfaction from Jongho’s annoyed frown at his haughty response. “Or was there perhaps something you wanted?” he asked when the alpha continued to stare up at him heatedly. “I can’t imagine you were going to ask me for a dance.” 

“I--” Jongho didn’t finish, looking away from him in what he assumed to be agitation. When they were younger, Mingi had been able to read the quiet alpha like a book, but now, the things that Jongho didn’t say just left Mingi even more confused. 

“Regardless, I’d have to decline if that was your intention. I don’t want to risk spraining an ankle the night before a mating run, seeing as how I don’t plan on being caught.” That got Jongho’s attention quickly enough, those dark eyes flashing to the rust color of his wolf’s as he stared him down. “Is that a problem?” Mingi challenged, standing up even straighter to all but loom over the shorter alpha. 

But Jongho surprised him when he finally smiled, sharp canines flashing up at him as he quietly chuckled. “No, I didn’t expect you to make any of this easy. After yesterday’s debacle, I realized I still have quite a bit to prove to you if I ever hope to become your alpha.”

“I just don’t understand why you’d want to,” he argued. “Surely there are other omegas in your own tribe who would just love to be the new head alpha’s bride, so why go after someone you don’t even like?”

Jongho’s smile faltered, his eyes widening up at him in disbelief. “You think I don’t like you?”

Throwing his hands up, Mingi growled out, “Obviously you don’t like me, Jjong. I can count the amount of times you’ve actually spoken to me in the past five years on one damn hand!” 

“...so you’ve been keeping track, then?” Jongho asked, a new, yet all too familiar gleam in those glowing eyes. It reminded Mingi of how the younger alpha had often enjoyed teasing him growing up. He’d missed it...

But he was mentally shaking the wistful emotions away, grumbling, “Don’t try to change the subject. You don’t like me, so why in the moon’s name would you ever plan on hunting me tomorrow?”

The alpha didn’t reply at first, tilting his head to the side as he slowly let his gaze rake over Mingi’s painted form. And if he wasn’t already naked, the look would have stripped him bare, the heat and weight of those eyes not unlike the fire burning at his back. “Tell me, Mingi,” Jongho said softly, his body now mere inches from his own as he spoke, “if I didn’t like you, then why would I have suggested our mating to your chieftain in the first place?”

Wait, what? Their arranged marriage proposal yesterday had been Jongho’s idea? But… why? 

Before he could ask, however, Jongho was turning to leave him alone, throwing a cocky, “Don’t go easy on me tomorrow, long legs. You know I love a good chase," over his shoulder.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Wait, he said that to you?” Yeosang asked incredulously as he helped Mingi don the traditional omegan garb for the mating moon that was now less than an hour away. It was a frilly, flimsy piece, so sheer it truly hid nothing of his body beneath. And while he supposed it was pretty, the green of the fabric matching the mossy paths of the forest he would soon be racing through, Mingi hated how flowy it was. As if it had been made just to catch on anything that might try to hinder his fleeing. “And you still believe he doesn’t want you?”

“I don’t know what I believe anymore,” Mingi muttered as he fidgeted with the soft material encompassing his body. But he stopped messing with his own attire when he realized Yeosang was putting one on as well. “I thought you weren’t running?” he asked, helping the fox with the laces in the back.

“Well, someone has to have your back out there tonight. You’re fast, sure, maybe even the fastest wolf between both of our packs, but Jongho’s stamina and determination alone might be enough to rival that. Luckily enough for you, if you really don’t want to mate with him as you claim, I have a few foxy tricks up my sleeves that these idiot alphas would never see coming.”

“Mhmm,” Mingi mused, pulling the corset strings just shy of too tight when he teased, “And you’re totally not just participating because San cornered you at the bonfire last night and begged you to.”

“Good, I’m glad you understand,” Yeosang nodded, turning to bite him on the arm playfully before dragging him towards the clearing they, along with the rest of the omegas participating, would be starting from. “But just think, if we both happen to mate with a Choi alpha tonight, we might still be able to room together.” 

Looking up at the moon, Mingi teased, “If anything, I think that’s incentive right there for me not to get mated at all. Might be nice having a room all to myself.” 

“Hmph, see if I give you any advice tonight,” Yeosang sniffed, arms crossed.

Chuckling, Mingi openly scented Yeosang, rubbing their bodies together until one wouldn’t be able to tell where one scent began and the other’s ended. The trick wouldn’t work for more than a couple hours, but it would at least confuse anyone that was trying to track them both down, doubling the amount of paths one might have to take to find the right omega. “Knowing you, you and San already planned something to get me and Jongho together, regardless of what I want.” 

“But Mingi, you do want that,” Yeosang pointed out, not bothering to deny Mingi’s claim.

And maybe he did, but that didn’t mean he was going to make it easy for the alpha, either. He had a reputation to uphold, after all. “Worry about yourself, little fox. I’ll see you in the morning. If you haven’t already been devoured whole by then, that is.” 

“Very funny,” Yeosang deadpanned, though his fox ears twitched when a haunting howl cut through the hot night air, signaling the start of the mating run. With one final look up at him, his friend nodded with a nervous smile, before the two of them were bolting in opposite directions. 

It wasn’t very fair that they were only allowed to be in their partially shifted forms for this, while the alphas got to be fully shifted, but Mingi supposed that was just another failsafe to ensure an omega was caught, much like the flowing outfit. Which was the first thing to go, Mingi ripping the trailing sleeves off and slitting the skirt to his hips so he had more free movement. If he had more time, he’d just strip down entirely, but every second counted during a mating moon. He wasn’t sure how much time he even had before the alphas would be permitted to begin their hunt, but whatever it was, it wasn’t enough. 

Tying little strips of the torn fabric to any random tree or branch he came across, Mingi let his trail lead whoever might try to find him into one giant circle leading to a stream. No doubt Jongho would think he would use the water to wash away his scent and follow it further into the winding woods. But instead of doing just that, Mingi instead caked the wet mud from the bank over himself before looking up into the trees. Wolves couldn’t exactly climb, could they? And it was that very fact that was going to get him out of this night unmated. Sure it wasn’t exactly allowed either, but it wasn’t as if Jongho would find him to begin with.

With that thought in mind, Mingi ran deeper into the forest, his scent now all but nonexistent. But a prickle of nervous adrenaline slid down his spine when he heard the alphas’ howls piercing the night sky, one in particular making his own wolf perk up and pay attention. 

The hunt had officially begun.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

But six hours later and Mingi was thinking that maybe he’d done a little too well in throwing Jongho off his track. He’d briefly caught San’s scent on the wind earlier, the alpha no doubt trying to track Yeosang down and not him, but aside from him, Mingi hadn’t so much as smelled another alpha this deep into the woods, let alone Jongho. 

A part of him was almost… disappointed. After all, wasn’t Jongho supposed to be the new head alpha of the Choi tribe? How good of a leader could he really be if he couldn’t even track down one clever little omega? Or maybe Jongho truly had been teasing him yesterday and he didn’t actually want to mate with Mingi at all. One last stab to his already wounded heart before the alpha of his dreams inevitably went off and mated with someone else. 

Mingi still vividly remembered their last big fight that had ultimately led to Jongho hardly speaking to him. 

The Jeong clan had just traveled from the mountains for a month-long visit, Yunho and Wooyoung taking up much of his free time that would normally be spent playing around with Jongho. But it was rare to see the other wolves, the boys all but distant cousins to him that he was always excited to see. The Jeong tribe had never been all that close with the Choi pack, however, or if they were, you certainly wouldn’t know it by how Jongho had always treated the two other wolves close in age to them, growing even more quiet and icy in their boisterous presence. 

What had started as a playful romp between Yunho and Mingi over nothing of real consequence had ended with Jongho diving in to defend him, the two young alphas' scuffle eventually turning into a full on fight that had ended with a number of scars and bruised egos. Jongho had ultimately lost, being the younger and much smaller of the two at the time, but he’d still nearly taken out Yunho’s right eye in the process. Mingi had screamed at Jongho for it at the time, taking Yunho’s side in his panicked confusion, but after that? Jongho had all but ignored him, barely even glancing his way the rest of the summer, let alone the years following.

But what Mingi hadn’t realized back then, and what he was quickly realizing now, was that Jongho had probably seen that as Mingi more or less choosing the stronger alpha. They’d never really fought before that, after all, and even with how much Jongho would relentlessly tease him, Mingi still always took the alpha's side when they both inevitably got into trouble together. Looking back at it now, Jongho had clearly never seen Yunho as a family member or a friend like Mingi had, he’d probably just seen him as a threat, competition for an omega he’d inevitably been too weak to win in a fight. 

And that must have been why Jongho had asked Mingi if he’d wanted to mate with someone in the Jeong clan the other day when he’d initially refused their arranged mating proposal.

It was almost better that Yunho’s tribe wasn’t here for this run though, because Mingi would have no doubt tried to join forces with Yunho or Wooyoung and get the alphas to help him in not being mated at all. Which would have just caused Jongho and Yunho to fight all over again. Though honestly he wasn’t so sure history would have repeated itself. Yes, Yunho was still the bigger of the two alphas, but what Jongho lacked in height, he more than made up for in muscle. His wolf alone was a powerhouse, those paws able to pounce and snap his prey’s neck from the sheer weight of his body. And Jongho had more than proven his strength over the years by fighting his way through his pack to become the head alpha he was today. So while it would be a good fight, to be sure, Mingi had a feeling that if they were to fight over him again, Jongho would undoubtedly win. 

A twig beneath the tree he was currently hiding in snapped, abruptly pulling Mingi from his musings. But he realized soon enough that the noise had been intentional when he looked down and locked eyes with a wolf. Or, more accurately, Jongho. 

Jongho was staring up at him judgingly, circling the tree a few times before eventually yipping up at him. A clear command to get his ass down. But when he stubbornly shook his head and only further latched onto the tree, Jongho half shifted so he could growl up at him, “Climbing isn’t allowed and you know it, cheater.”

“And neither is an alpha shifting before actually catching and claiming their mate,” Mingi pointed out. “But I won’t tell if you won’t?”

The alpha snorted. “Uh huh. So, are you coming down, or am I coming up?”

“Uh,” Mingi said, finally realizing exactly how high he’d climbed. And it wasn’t much of a secret that he wasn’t a huge fan of heights. “I’m quite comfortable, actually. Might even live up here for the rest of my life.”

“Will you just get down already?” Jongho said with a roll of his eyes. 

“I-- I’m scared to move,” he finally admitted sheepishly. “What if I fall?” 

“Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to climb up there in the first place.” 

“And just for that I’m never coming down,” Mingi muttered, though he did move around on the branch to try and figure out exactly how he was going to do this. 

But apparently he wasn’t moving fast enough for Jongho, the alpha staring blankly up at him before suggesting, “You could always just jump, you know. It’s not as if a fall from that height would hurt you all that much.”

“ ‘All that much’ isn’t not at all,” he groused as he carefully climbed back down. But not nearly carefully enough, Mingi falling with a shriek when a branch not fit to hold his weight broke beneath his feet. Closing his eyes in preparation for the inevitable landing -and subsequent pain- Mingi only opened them back up when he realized he'd been caught by strong arms. “Oh. Hi.”

“Hi,” Jongho said with a teasing smile, squeezing him ever so slightly in his hold before placing him back down onto his feet. “Did you really think I wouldn’t catch you?”

“Like, just now while falling out of the tree? Or in reference to the mating run?”

“Both.”

“I’ll admit the tree was a bit of a surprise,” Mingi muttered to himself. 

“Uh huh. So, how do you wanna do this? Shall I give you another head start?” Jongho asked, arms crossed over his broad chest. “You seem like you could use it.”

Mingi eyed the alpha up and down, the fresh scratches and bruises along his body numerous. They hadn’t been there yesterday, and surely not all of them were from tracking him through thickets. “Have you been fighting tonight?” he asked worriedly, walking around Jongho to inspect his body for further injuries, that black tail swishing beneath his scrutiny.

Jongho shrugged. “He got in my way.” 

“Jjong, you know I don’t like it when you fight people over me.” 

“Then maybe,” the alpha said, turning so he could keep his eyes on Mingi as he moved around him, “you should stop putting me into situations where I feel like I have to fight people over you. And in case you’ve forgotten, this mating run was your idea. I would have been just as happy to get married through the usual mating ritual.” 

“Well how was I supposed to know that!” Mingi growled defensively, backing up when Jongho stalked towards him with slow intent. “I thought you hated me!” 

“Hate you?” Jongho said with genuine confusion in his eyes. “Whatever would have given you that impression? I became the head alpha of my pack specifically for you.”

“Oh, gee, I don’t know, maybe because this is the most we’ve spoken in literal years?” he pointed out. Before finally registering Jongho’s claim. “Wait, what do you mean you did it ‘for me’?”

Looking away with a heavy sigh through his nose, Mingi watched the symmetrical tattoos that spanned the width of Jongho’s chest rise and fall before the alpha admitted, “I wasn’t strong enough to deserve you back when we were kids, Yunho made that abundantly clear. Maybe it’s different in your tribe, but in mine, strength is revered above all else. And I had hoped, if I grew strong enough, that you would see me as a worthy potential mate again. But after you declined my mating offer and called for all of this instead, I realized I was wrong.”

Jongho fidgeted where he stood, reminding Mingi of the young boy he’d once been, before the alpha’s eyes were flashing up at him in determination. “But fair’s fair. I caught you, and you did ask for this.” 

“I did, didn’t I?” Mingi murmured. But truly this was the best possible outcome, his wolf all but yipping happily in his mind with the realization that Jongho wanted him as his mate too. And that he had all this time. “But it doesn’t exactly count until there’s a claiming bite on my body, either.” 

“Which is why I was being generous when offering you a head start earlier. Those long legs of yours are fast, I’ll give you that, but make no mistake. I will always catch you, Mingi.” 

The words sent a thrill through Mingi’s body, the omega watching as Jongho knelt down to shift back into his black wolf form yet again before Mingi was spinning on his heels and taking off through the forest as fast as his feet could carry him. But it wasn’t about deception or self preservation anymore, because make no mistake, now that he knew Jongho’s true feelings, Mingi wanted to be caught. 

Even so, he still nearly tripped when Jongho’s howl alerted him that he was once again beginning his chase. 

Running alongside the stream to hide his hurried footfalls, he practically giggled at his own cleverness. Though he hadn’t said anything of the sort earlier, Jongho had to have been tricked by his previous water tactics, so perhaps he wouldn’t want to potentially waste his time with it again. But Mingi must have underestimated the alpha’s nose, for no less than fifteen minutes of running later and he found Jongho blocking his path, the wolf’s glowing eyes all but daring him to keep running. Shit, when had he gotten in front of him? Mingi hadn’t even seen him run past, though he had thought he’d felt something brush past his calf that had felt suspiciously like fur, only to turn and see nothing. 

Practically falling over with the speed he used to spin around and run back the way he'd come, a heavy weight diving onto him from behind had Mingi squeaking, muddying his knees along the forest floor as he fell, the air rushing from his lungs. He hadn’t seen Jongho this close up in his shifted form in years, but damn was he huge, his wolf easily covering Mingi’s body with his own and then some. 

The position they now found themselves in made Mingi feel overly vulnerable, ass up and head pressed to the earth by Jongho’s snout snuffling against his neck as the giant wolf scented him with what almost sounded like a purr rumbling in that large chest. When Mingi tried to get his hands and feet back under him to lift himself up, however, that noise quickly turned into a warning growl, the wolf’s limbs tightening around his body to cage him in further. Jongho was careful not to put his full weight onto him, thankfully, but having an animal that was at least two times your size pinning you to the ground was quite the experience, to say the least. 

Whining in apology as much as his human vocal cords would allow, Jongho settled with a chuff before beginning to scent him again, seemingly content that Mingi wouldn’t move or otherwise try to get away from him anymore. A smooth lick between his shoulder blades collected any sweat that lingered on his skin lovingly, but the gentle action was quickly replaced by teeth piercing his nape, mouth so large the bite reached all the way around to the sides of his neck. No doubt once it was healed, Mingi himself would still be able to see the mark easily enough. 

Eyes tearing up from the sharp, stinging pain, the claiming bite was thankfully over almost as quickly as it had begun, that long, rough tongue replacing teeth as the alpha meticulously cleaned the bleeding wound to further speed the healing process along. And when that furry form shifted to leave heated skin pressing against his own, Mingi tried to flip around to see Jongho impatiently. But the alpha stopped him with a firm hand on his back, fingers trailing along the corset fastenings there before slicing through the lacings with a single claw, ripping the constricting fabric from his body. Which meant the rest of the ensemble went right along with it, leaving them both completely bare. 

Mingi had been polite in ignoring it while Jongho was in wolf form, but it was very easy to feel just how aroused Jongho was in this position, their hips pressed flush against one another’s as Jongho continued to reverently run his hands along Mingi’s skin above him. “Can I at least turn around?” Mingi whined. “Wanna see you.”

But one of Jongho’s strong hands gripping his hair kept him pinned where he was, body instinctually pliant now that he was caught. “Not right now. First, I need to mount my omega mate exactly as nature intended.” 

And if Mingi hadn’t been wet before, he certainly was now, slick sliding between his thighs at the promise of being claimed in this position. He didn’t move when Jongho moved further down his body, though he did turn to watch the alpha from the corner of his eye, nails digging into grass and dirt as he lifted his tail to present himself to the alpha. His alpha. 

Jongho growled appreciatively at the sight, the clawed grip on his waist bruising as the alpha dragged him closer, wasting no time as he buried his tongue deep inside of him. Eyes rolling into the back of his head with the enthusiasm Jongho had in eating him out, Mingi rocked his hips in time with the tongue diving into him, thighs shaking and abs clenching with the need to cum less than a minute later. They’d done things like this in the past, of course, all shifters being insatiable creatures, but he’d nearly forgotten how easily Jongho could make him cum with his tongue alone.

“You prepped before the run,” Jongho noted against his skin as Mingi tried his best to keep his hips up, silently begging the alpha to continue tongue fucking him.

“We have to. Just in case an alpha decides to claim their mate while still in wolf form,” Mingi replied mindlessly, rolling his hips with a groan when Jongho lapped along his entrance teasingly. 

“Would you like that, little mate? I can shift back,” Jongho teased, back to hovering over him to whisper the suggestion right into one of his red wolf ears. “I’m big, but I bet you could take it. My pretty, perfect omega.”

“I don’t care what form you fuck me in, as long as you knot me after,” he begged, gasping when Jongho’s thick length nudged at his entrance. 

“I’ll hold you to that later. The night is still young, after all,” Jongho murmured, sharp teeth nipping playfully at his ear before he was finally pushing into Mingi with one rough thrust. 

Crying out with the stretch, the alpha barely gave him enough time to get used to his size before he was fucking him furiously, those strong hips slamming against him so roughly that his balls slapped against him with each and every deep thrust. “I-- need to be able to walk tomorrow, you know,” he stuttered out between moans, though he didn’t bother shying his hips away from the aggressive mating, either.

“I’ll carry you,” Jongho grated against his ear, getting up on his haunches to somehow get even deeper inside of him as he all but hovered over him, his hands on Mingi’s shoulders to pull him back into every thrust. The new angle had the blunt head of his cock spearing past Mingi’s prostate with each and every brutal thrust, but fuck if it wasn’t everything he’d been missing these past five years.

“Well, in that case, fuck me harder,” Mingi teased breathlessly. Only to cry out on a scream when Jongho took him at his word, Mingi’s back arching near painfully as he was fucked within an inch of his life. He hadn’t actually thought a rougher pace was possible, which was why he’d jokingly said it to begin with, but he should have known better by now than to question Jongho’s strength and stamina. 

He was finally coming undone when he felt Jongho’s knot slowly swell up, the alpha slamming it in and out of him until it was catching and holding just behind his abused rim, Mingi helpless not to cry with the ferocity of the orgasm the overwhelming sensation brought forth. And his twitching insides only further encouraged Jongho’s own orgasm, the alpha’s release searingly hot inside of him as he let out spurt after spurt of cum. Claiming his mate from the inside out.

Attempting to fall to the ground when Jongho finally let go of his shoulders, Mingi whined when the alpha’s knot kept his ass up in the air, before Jongho was finally following him to the ground with a deep, satisfied chuckle, spooning their bodies together protectively. 

“I cannot wait until Yunho hears about our mating,” Jongho said smugly as he nuzzled into Mingi’s bruised and bitten neck, peppering light kisses against the tender flesh that was already healing. 

“You’re terrible,” Mingi grumbled out, eyes closed as he tried his best to doze off for a few minutes. Because there was no way either of them would be getting any real sleep tonight. 

One of Jongho’s hands reached out to turn Mingi’s face towards him, kissing him sweetly for the first time that night as he murmured against his lips, “I am, but you love me anyway.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

He always had, and always would.