At least they succeeded. Benji won't die today. Miles' words make their stomach roil, twisting up in knots nearly too tight to breathe—they don't want to go with Miles, they don't want to go home, just as badly as they don't want to return to a lying Alpha. But at least Benji will be okay. They'll do what they have to so the pup will be safe, even if it means going with this man, this stranger with cold hands and cruel eyes and the soft, gentle words, and giving him what he wants.

But then the pack link shudders with that single intense emotion, cutting through everything else, nearly knocking the little human to the ground. The link is always overwhelming, when they first notice it, but this is something else, feral and near-desperate.

Even Miles felt it. That means the rest of the pack definitely did too.

"B-Baby, please! You're gonna hurt yourself!" they cry, watching in horror as sweet little Benji fights through the poison and the arrow embedded in his hip and snarls at Miles. He can barely stand, barely see, but he still looks moments from lunging for his throat. That must be so, so painful. It's sheer protective instinct that makes Kurt twist around in Miles' arms, trying to break out of his grasp so they can run to his side, not thinking that perhaps the stranger won't let them.