"What are you in for today, Lina?" Judge Park sighed tiredly as he dropped into the large leather chair of his desk. Lina slouched comfortably in the chair across from him, the corners of her lips twitching into the beginnings of a smile. "Trespassing, perhaps?"

"What? Can't a girl visit her favorite uncle without being arrested?" She questioned innocently, earning an unamused scowl from her relative.

Yes, the town's biggest troublemaker was the daughter of the judge's younger sister.

Life is funny like that sometimes.

"When it's you? Definitely not." He paused in his musings, side-eying his niece. "Why aren't you at school?" Lina shrugged, sliding further down the chair.

"I’ve been suspended for the time being. No one really knows what to do with me." Her fingers tangling together continuously across her stomach. Judge Park observed the young girl before him blandly.

"And who's fault is that, exactly?" He asked rhetorically, leaning back into his cushioned chair at the ferocity of her glare.

"The council's," Lina suggested. "They can't keep us cooped up in our houses anymore. You decided that the wolves were free to roam, but you still keep all of us caged in."

Judge Park rubbed his forehead in annoyance.

"Nothing has changed, Lina." He finalized, his voice grave and echoing lightly throughout the spacious office. "The rules will not change."

"Why?" Lina pressed, no longer caring about formalities. "Who are you protecting?"

"It's for your own protection! For the whole town's protection!" He yelled, slamming his hands on his desk before running them through his graying hair. "But you had to go and expose yourself-"

"What are you talking about?" Lina interrupted, brows furrowed. "Expose myself to what?"

"Them," Judge Park sighed, finally admitting defeat. "The wolves. Regular wolves mate for life, and those things are no different. They can only sense their mates while in wolf form, which they only go into at night. We granted them freedom during the day in hopes that they would think their mates weren't here and leave. Only then would the night rules have been revoked. The fact that they're still here only proves what we, the council, feared."

Judge Park stood from his desk, noticing the time. He had a council meeting to get to.

"One of them has already claimed you as their mate."

- Ο -

Lina strolled down the sidewalk along with the pack of werewolves towards a little bistro they wanted to try. She chewed thoughtfully on her thumbnail, her mind still racing with her uncle's words.

”One of them has already claimed you as their mate."

But which one? That was the mystery.

Lina thought back to that first night. She then replayed their meeting on the sidewalk earlier in the week. Who had acted differently towards her? Lay and Chanyeol were always the nicest to her out of everyone. Luhan and Chen were still a little wary, but they were slowly accepting her as part of their little group. None of them had really acted differently except for-

NO! Lina mentally screamed. She unconciously glanced over at the unmentionable male, catching him smiling at something Chen had said. As if feeling her stare, he turned his head and met her gaze. His smile morphed into a mischievious smirk.

Lina immediately looked away.

"So tell me more about werewolves," Lina piped up, lightly startling Lay and Chanyeol, who were walking beside her. The three had quickly become good friends in such a short amount of time. Lay scratched the back of his head while Chanyeol stretched his giraffe arms above his head, chuckling at nothing. "Do you guys have mates or something like they do in books?"

"Ugh, seriously?" Chanyeol whined. "They make us sound so lame."

"Yes, we do." Suho answered helpfully.

"Isn't it romantic?" Chen cooed in a girlish voice, rubbing his head against Baekhyun's shoulder and batting his eyelashes dramatically. Baekhyun went along with the joke, wrapping an arm around Chen's shoulders and rubbing his cheek against the top of Chen’s head. They both quickly burst into laughter.

"Have any of you found them?" Lina reluctantly asked, cautiously awaiting their replies. "Your mates, I mean?"

"Yes," Baekhyun replied, completely at ease.

Lina internally braced herself as he peeked over Chen's head to look into her eyes. Lina tried to read his dark orbs, but they revealed nothing. He looked away and pushed Chen in front of him roughly before finally entering the bistro.

Lina hesitated outside of the restaurant, pondering her uncle's final words that day. "We kept them isolated for a reason. They were unable to repopulate. They could only watch as their numbers slowly decreased, but you've given them hope. You've opened Pandora's box, Lina." 

Lina shuffled into the small bistro, taking the empty seat beside Tao, which, to her relief, was the furthest seat from Baekhyun. She needed a break from her thoughts and the sight of him wasn’t helping her relax in the slightest.

"You just signed this entire town's death certificate, Lina. That includes your own."

- Ο -

Three girls were missing from town.

The disappearences have been reported all over town for the past two weeks. All of them occurring at night, with the girls gone without a trace. To make matters worse, the evidence seemed to be pointing to the twelve boys she was quickly growing attached to.

Lina gazed longingly outside her bedroom window, releasing a sigh of frustration at the sight of the sun setting. Her uncle had called her mother after her visit, resulting in Lina being put under house arrest.

Literal house arrest. 

Two police cruisers were parked outside Lina's house, their drivers continuously patrolling the property to prevent another one of Choi Lina's "great escapes." But even though she was forbidden to leave, Lina was still aware of what was going on in town.

Yoo Nara, a junior, was proclaimed missing after her family found her bed empty nine days ago. Kwon Dahee, a nice, artsy girl who'd shared classes with Lina since second grade, has been missing for six days. Lastly, and probably the most painful news Lina has heard since that of her father's accident, was that Kim Minji, the only person in town that could stand Lina's Nancy Drew behaviour. Minji, her best friend in the world, practically her sister, was reported missing this evening. Lina wasn't sure about the other two girls, but she knew f