I'm sat in the living room, not a single sound echoing in the silent room other than my own slow breathing when the others begin to come back from work. They'd promised to end their work shift at the same time, and they stayed true to their words.

Whether they're happy about it or not remains to be seen.

They can feel the tension as they remove their shoes, eyes glancing at one another when they notice that I'm not moving a muscle to so much as glimpse at them as they shuffle closer. It's clear that I'm not happy, and they have not a single clue what happened to put me in that mood.

My whipped cream scent is strong, scarily so. As if the softness has hardened after going through much hardship. It's their first time witnessing that side of me. It's the scent of anger, and not the harmless kind

One after the other, they come to sit in the living room, eyes on my unblinking state as I keep staring at the wall in front of me, not willing to give them the relief of a smile just yet. I'm still mad just thinking about what they kept from me, and I intend to let them feel that anger.

When Namjoon and Yoongi are last to arrive, the pack alpha frowns at the tensed silence that greets him, eyes shifting between my lonesome form on the couch while the others all huddle on the same one like a group of scared puppies.

"Y/N?" he asks as he and Yoongi join us in the living room. The latter dares to sit next to me on the same couch, but even he can feel that it's best to not stay too close right now. Namjoon, on the other hand, stands before me, eyes on the lookout for anything weird while his mind works a mile an hour trying to figure out what happened. "Is something wrong, sugar?".

I bristle at the question, and his eyes widen slightly at the change it brings to my scent. Has my whipped cream become spiky, or has it turned poisonous?

"You're really asking me that, Namjoon? You of all people should know, but I'll tell you if something's wrong. Yes. Yes, there's something very wrong actually, and you ought to answer my next question very carefully" I start with a harsh tone that startles Taehyung and Jungkook, who both cuddle closer into Hoseok's safe arms.

Omega not happy. Omega mad mad.

The pack alpha's stance hardens, brows furrowing at my tone of voice. It's not often that someone talks to him this way, and it being from an omega - granted, his omega - isn't anything to please the wolf in him. Disrespect, his wolf says. Omega needs to respect pack alpha, needs to submit.

He swallows a growl in the back of his throat, fighting hard against his instincts. "I'm listening".

I inhale deeply, eyes shutting briefly to try and calm down, as hard as it is. It's like a fire burning in me, a fire that's so strong and hot that everything it touches turns to lava. The ground at my feet is melting, but instead of hurting me, it's feeding the anger that floods through me, my wolf pacing and feeding on that anger. What were they thinking?

"I went outside today" I start, eyes taking in their reaction very closely. They tense, eyes twitching, scents wavering. "I signed up for a cooking class since none of you want to teach me anything. I took the bus and went downtown. There, surprisingly, I met two old friends. Bora and In-yeop, who both told me the same thing. You're not supposed to be here, Y/N".

Namjoon's stare is sharp as he stares at me with an unreadable look on his face. "You went outside on your own? Without letting us know?".

I huff out a dry laugh at his question. "Why? Am I supposed to ask for your permission? Is this a prison? Wasn't this house meant to bring me closer to you and nothing else? Do I fall under your rule just because I'm amnesiac? Because I'm an omega?".

A growl slips past Namjoon's throat this time, and eyes turn wary, Yoongi, Hoseok and Jin tensing up with their posture ready to take action at the smallest sign of aggressiveness from either one of us. They're taking for granted that anything is possible at the moment.

"You should have let us know" the pack alpha states firmly, body simmering with a growing heat that I can feel even from a distance. "You do not fall under our rule, but you are under our protection. What if something happened to you out there? We-"

"I'm not a child, Namjoon!" I cut him off, hands hitting the air as I stare at him, exasperated. "I forgot about my past, but that does not make me an imbecile, nor does it make me incapable of caring for myself. For fuck's sake, you didn't even tell me about my friends! In-yeop apparently called Hoseok nearly every day to hear about me and I didn't even know!".

Hoseok's eyes turn guilty at my outburst and Jin caresses his side softly, eyes furrowed on me. He understands the anger, even if it's not fun to hear, the words raw with anger, yes, but also insecurities. They all understand. What makes this conversation risky is the fact that I'm screaming at a pack alpha.

Namjoon's reaction to such disrespect is beyond his control, this is a matter that affects his wolf directly, and they've never been confronted to such a situation until now. The outcome of this conversation is unpredictable in a very uncomfortable way.

The alpha clenches his fists at his side, eyes darkening. His pheromones are turning thick and heavy, controlling, and it takes everything in me to not flinch and cower in front of him. My own wolf is too mad to bend its neck, and so we stay strong.

"You are under our protection" he repeats roughly, his dominant wolf slowly surfacing in the way he sounds. "You do not get to do as you please when it affects the entire pack. We're all worried about you, leaving you alone today was already hard enough, so knowing that you went out without one of us with you is unacceptable. You-"

"Namjoon!" I cut him off again, body jumping on my feet to stand in front of him, even though he towers over me, even if my legs are shaking.

I point at myself, finger pushing against my heart. "I am an adult. Beyond being an omega who has gone through struggles, I am a living being with needs, thoughts and emotions. I sought to learn something good for myself, and I felt proud while doing so! I went out on my own, I was brave and faced the world head on, but here you are, trying to make me feel guilty for doing so without you! Hear yourself for a bit!".

He stares down at me with something akin to rage in his dark eyes. "I'm not saying you can't do something good for yourself, I'm saying that you should have told us. You should have let one of us accompany you".

"Yeah. The same way you accompany someone senile, because you can't trust that I can care for myself" I bite back bitterly.

"You still have that image of the past me, Namjoon. You are not seeing me as I am now. I long to discover who I am, to find goals and things which I will be proud of. Staying locked at home is not doing that for me, and having you follow me like a shadow would not help either. I need to be independent and not depend on you for every stupid need I have, can't you understand that?".

We glare at one another for a long while, the others staring in the uncomfortable suspense.

"I want a job" I continue, now on a sinking wave that I can't get off. "I want to spend time with friends, and do things on my own when I want to. I don't want to ask for permission for the rest of my life. I thought you would've encouraged me to try, Namjoon. You were supposed to encourage me to go out there and achieve things for myself, not hold me back like a mindless alpha. This goes for each and everyone one of you" I add to the rest of the pack's intention.

"We never meant to force you to ask for permission forever, Y/N, especially not to hold you back" Jimin steps in before this degenerates into something worse, our emotions now doing the talking for us. Rationality is not within our reach anymore. "Our alpha wolves are overprotective, they're only trying to make sure everything is safe for you. All we wanted was to-".

The feeling of not being understood clashes heavily with my anger, and I groan loudly in my hands. "I don't care about that, Jimin! Fuck! That's not the point of this conversation!" I exclaim, feeling powerless in front of their strong pheromones.

How can an omega dare to face seven alphas? But if I don't, who will do it for me?

"I'm telling you that I hate having you take decisions like this without talking about it with me first. You decided that I was to stay home for the time being. You decided that I was to be accompanied everywhere I go. You decided to keep people that care about me from me. Not once did you ask me for how I felt, or what I wanted concerning my re-adjusting to life. You simply took for granted that I would go along with your decisions".

The ambiance is heavy, suffocating as they process my words with a blank face. Their lips are pressed tight, corners curled downward. Eyebrows are fixed in place, meant to keep them from furrowing too deeply. Eyes still as stone, each of them on various corners of the room.

"You were afraid that I was going to find you overwhelming" I continue, breath now shaking, shoulders heaving and legs trembling. I can't back down now, not after all this. It's too late to give up on speaking my mind.

"At first, you wanted to give me space because you feared I would find you overbearing. I decided at that moment that I wanted you close. That I didn't want to spend my days alone, that I didn't want to sleep on my own. But this morning, you all left, and I felt fine. I was happy that I felt fine because it meant I was getting more confident, more comfortable. Now, you're getting mad because I didn't need you for my first outing. Well, I'm telling you. This, I find overbearing. I can't build everything I do around you. I don't want to, and you shouldn't either".

The alphas' hearts clench and squeeze at my words, painfully so. Namjoon brings his gaze back to me, his pain now visible to my eyes.

"A pack is about taking care of each other. It's all about building our life and actions around each other. If you're not ready for that, fine. But you don't get to decide that for us. I see now that our concerns for you went too far and that we shouldn't have cared so much. You don't want us to care about your safety? Then we won't. You want to go out on your own? Go out there on your own. You want to behave like a packless omega, so go ahead and do as you want" he says with a rough edge to his voice, like it's slowly getting stuck in his throat.

"From now on, I retract my responsibility as your pack alpha until you ask for it of your own free will. That's what you wanted, right? Well, there you go". With that said, he rushes to the entrance, wears his shoes without a single look back before exiting the house, leaving me feeling shattered and lost.

Jungkook, Taehyung and Jin follow after him with a swear past their lips, while Hoseok, Jimin and Yoongi stay behind, exactly where they are.

Every breaths I take are painful as my chest heaves, heart squeezing and soul aching, my wolf whimpering and howling in my head. My eyes brim with tears, a feeling of abandonment filling my entire body. Stupid pack alpha.

Hoseok slowly comes closer, wanting to comfort me the only way he knows, but I step back instinctively when he tries to hug me, not finding it in me to accept anyone's touch after the fight I just had with Namjoon. I can barely tolerate the feeling of my own skin right now.

"I want to be alone. Please leave" I whisper after a moment of heavy silence, eyes on the floor as the three alphas share a worried glance, none of them liking this. They don't want to leave, but they can also see that insisting to stay would only prove me right, and that's the last thing they want.

"Alright. We'll leave you on your own, sweets" Yoongi speaks first as he finally stands. "Please know that Namjoon didn't mean what he said about retracting his responsibility as your pack alpha. He will act on his words, though, if only by respect for you. Until you ask for him yourself".

My jaw clenches, and I keep staring at the floor as the three of them leave my house. Jimin almost caresses my cheek on the way, but Hoseok pulls him away with a slow shake of the head. Not a good idea, not now.

The door closes on them, and I remain standing in the living room for what feels like an eternity, emotions locking themselves into a cage nestled above my heart, out of reach by fear of hurting too much.

Namjoon's POV

I slam the door behind me as I reach home, barely aware that it opens again behind me shortly after. Shoes kicked against the wall before I stride towards the training room in the basement to spend that anger on something other than my mates.

Omega rejected pack. Omega not ready for pack. Omega scared.

Those words are on a loop in my mind. This world is new for her, in every sense of the word. She forgot over twenty years of her life. Every memories, every experiences, every hurts, but also every joys.

She's trying to discover that life all over again, clinging onto that wish with her whole being. She's pushing against her own limits and fears to build herself up again, and that liberty means everything to her. In her eyes, our care tried to go against that freedom.

I get that. I really fucking do, but it also really fucking hurts.

I reacted with my instincts, with my emotions. I said something really fucking stupid earlier, but it's also the right thing to do, no?

From the moment she woke up, we were there. She has not known what it feels like to be on her own, to feel the need for a pack. She just had one, right there and waiting for her. An overbearing pack too eager to protect and right its wrongs.

I let all my anger and sorrow out on the gym equipment. I punch, I push, I run. I groan, shout, cry, and sweat.

Until she realizes that a pack is meant to empower each other, to bring that sense of safety and care, that unwavering loyalty, she will never be ready for one. She will have us as her mates, always, but pack is much bigger than the concept of a soulmate. It's weaving intimacy and home into one another, every threads braided together to form something strong and indestructible.

If your thread is loose, you lose your shape in the intricate design. You can't just fit into the pattern by force, nor can you be forced to fit inside, to weave in every other threads as tightly as the first. You have to want it, you have to make the effort, even when it's hard and complicated.

So until she wants to try, I will not push the weight of pack onto her shoulders. The problem with that is that I am pack alpha. It is a concept intricately weaved into my entire soul. I cannot be her mate and not be her pack alpha. One goes with the other, so how do I make that work? How do I belong to her without forcing her to belong to me just as deeply?

I throw one last punch at the punching bag, then rest my sweaty forehead against the hard surface, panting and breathless. Will she even want to see me again? What if I fucked things up for myself? I was supposed to sleep with her tonight, with Hoseok and Jungkook, but I guess that's ruined.

The soft sensation of a towel over my skin, and a kiss presses onto my shoulder. Jungkook's scent of hazelnuts spreads around me as he hugs me from the back, not seeming to care that my sweat clings to him from my drenched shirt.

"She's learning to speak up for herself" he voices softly, the sound soothing in the large empty room. "She's only now learning about her boundaries. She might confuse them with her fears from time to time, but that doesn't lower their importance. You know that, right?".

I breathe in deeply, his scent and pheromones helping me to calm down slightly, at least enough so that I can turn around and wrap my arms around him, pulling him in my embrace. It feels good to hug a mate, someone who has built that pack with me, someone whose pattern fits mine perfectly.

"I know, Jungkook-ah, I know" I answer softly. He's right, just like always when it comes to her.

We remain like that for a long time, in each other's arms, until the sweat that dries on my skin makes me feel cold and sticky, uncomfortable. I pull back then, eyes looking him over to see that I put him in a similar state. I purse my lips tightly.

"Let's go take a shower. You're all gross because of me" I let out weakly, voice raspy because of how much I used my voice while training. I've never been one to raise my voice, and I never would do so against my omega, but I can't lie and say that it didn't require a tremendous effort from me.

"Hyung" Jungkook says as I make a move to detach myself from him, his pretty eyes filled with worry. "We'll get through this. Y/N loves this pack, she loves us, she loves you. She just needs time".

I smile lightly, then kiss the top of his head at his small reassurance.

He doesn't need to be so worried, I don't intend to cast her aside so easily. Whether she wants to or not, she's one of my mates, now. The Moon Goddess made us her second chance mates for a reason and I intend to fulfill that responsibility, one day at a time.

"Come, let's go take that shower".

---

"What do we do about her?" Taehyung asks once we're all sat in the living room for a conversation that cannot wait any longer. We took some time to recover from what she'd said, then met up here. "We're not seriously pulling back from her, are we? We're not keeping the pack from her? Hyung?"

I shake my head at his question, hand rubbing his back softly from where he's sat next to me.

"No, pup. We're not keeping the pack from her, but we are giving her a break from it. She's not ready for its implications, it appears she's going to see it as a... prison more than anything if we demand for her cooperation. I thought about it and for now, I think it's better if we remain as her mates only. Only then can we support her the way she needs. Otherwise, it's going to be hard to see her going all over the place on her own, without ever asking for our help".

"That makes sense" Jin mutters as he bites on his bottom lip, arms crossed over his chest, "but I don't like it. She could feel like we're avoiding her, or that we're mad at her. There's got to be a better way than that".

"I'm all ears, if anyone has a better idea" I say with a sigh, eyes looking at each of them to see a similar expression on their faces.

"We should at least tell her about this plan" Yoongi says from where he's sat with Jimin, their fingers intertwined. "I don't want a repeat of last time. Not telling her about the pack back then was a very risky move, and had it not been for Jungkook, things could've gone so much worse. I don't want to do something similar again, we should explain why you told her that".

Jungkook nods, clearly on the same page as our older mate. He stares me right in the eyes, something in them that reminds me of my younger self. The kind of eyes that tell you everything is possible, and that everything will be well.

"I think the same. We have to make her understand the nuance between us being her mates and us being her pack. There's honestly really not much that changes for now, other than the fact that she won't be considered a member of the pack until she wants to be part of it. She has to know that it only means she won't fall under the pack's rules".

I observe as they start to nod their head slowly, Jin being the last. His eyes, on the contrary, show me that he's very worried. He doesn't like keeping her out of the pack, but there is also no better options at the moment.

I clear my throat to get their attention again.

"As Jungkook said, the only impact I can see out of this is that the regular pack rules won't apply to her. Honestly, I'll probably be the one to struggle the most, but you guys should be fine. I know we all allowed ourselves to treat her like she was pack from the very beginning, but until we know better, we'll have to change our ways with her" I start, very serious as I hold their gaze.

"That means no pheromones forced on her unless she asks for it, including scenting her. Nothing that leaves our scent behind and claims her as ours without her consent. We're giving her full reigns over what she's ready to receive from us from now on. We can offer those things when we believe that she needs them. Courting her with gifts... it will really depend on how comfortable she is with that, so I would wait before doing anything too intense for now".

Jimin looks down, all dejected at those words, as do Taehyung, Jin and Hoseok. Part of their love language is giving presents to their mates, it's in their nature. They hadn't really been given the opportunity to gift her anything yet and I know they'd been planning, so to have that be put on hold isn't easy to hear.

I understand their pain, it won't be easy for us to try and figure out the best way to act with her, but I want to make sure she knows that we're ready to try. To follow her pace, for real this time. I want her to know that we're not going to get in her way, that we respect her freedom.

"I know it sounds awful, said like this" I continue despite our shared discomfort. "But I'm not keeping you from doing what you believe is right as her mate. I simply ask that you do not speak for the pack when you do it. We'll adjust, we have to. It'll give her the time and space she requires to get to know herself better. It's so easy to lose one's self in a big pack like ours after all".

Yoongi looks at the others and offers an encouraging smile.

"It's going to be fine, guys. This is a very good opportunity for us to show her who we are. Individually, I mean. We can get to know her likes and dislikes, her new boundaries as we go, and we can share our discoveries together at the end of the day. You know, what we would have done from the very beginning, were we not so reckless and in a hurry".

"Yoongi is right" Jimin adds with renewed confidence. "We were reckless because we found her life to be miserable and acted too quickly, I know I did. I wanted her to have a better everything, but in doing so, I forced changes on her that she never asked for. Now... we can take our time. She has everything she needs, there's no hurry to be had anymore".

A weight falls from over my chest as I watch them approve of the new plan one after the other, a hopeful smile settling over my lips as their scents clear up and turn more confident.

"We only wanted to keep her from getting hurt, from getting overwhelmed, but maybe... part of her learning about who she is requires that those things happen" Hoseok adds softly. "If she tries things and finds out that it's too hard on her own, we'll be there for her. But if she succeeds, we need to be proud of her and not make her feel bad because it happened without us".

I express my approval with a sheepish nod of the head. The words I told her... they were so very selfish, and I can't even blame everything on my wolf. I sincerely believed what I said, even though that wasn't what she needed to hear. I only thought about what I wanted for myself as her alpha. I will need to do better too.

"Let's have dinner, then. We can't go to sleep on an empty stomach if we want to make amends. We'll have hard work before us starting tomorrow" Jin says after standing with a pleased hum.

"I hope she'll eat something too" Taehyung murmurs sadly, in doing so speaking the very worry that we all gained at the mention of food. Will she eat on her own despite the fight we had tonight, or will she starve herself?

"We adapt" Jin reminds us. "Let's not cross boundaries again. If she needs us, she'll have to learn to reach out and let us know in what ways we can help her. Until then, we watch, we learn, and we adapt. One day at a time. For now, a starving pack won't be good for anyone".

I nod, then help Taehyung to his feet before guiding him to the table. Jin is right. One day at a time. For now, we eat.