“Mate.”

As soon as the word slipped out of the man's mouth, the two fellow hunters lunged towards Lina. She could do nothing but stand there in stunned silence as the two men entrapped her arms with their meaty fingers.

"What are you doing?!" She shrieked, thrashing against their painfuly strong hold on her.

"We came out here to hunt and kill your precious wolves, but apparently, you're not so precious to them." The young man from before spoke, seemingly the representative in charge of the trio. "You see, if a werewolf has a human mate, they turn them into a werewolf so that the mate is always safe, even when the other isn't around."

The man stepped towards Lina slowly, a strange smile on his face. "But your mate has left you completely vulnerable."

Lina swallowed back the thick lump of fear forming in .

The men paused in their taunting at the sound of a deep growl. The enraged tone echoed throughout the night, causing Lina's own chest to vibrate. The council members stilled, readying their guns. The middle-aged man from earlier squeezed Lina's arm tight enough to bruise, causing her to whimper. The growl became louder. Exchanging glances, the two hunters holding onto Lina raised their guns, aiming them unsteadily at Lina's head.

The resounding growl was unimaginable.

Lina could hear the change in it's tone, the small gurgles of saliva as the creature began to froth at the mouth in rage. She could feel her chest tightening and her heart beating rapidly.

With inhuman speed, a large, night-colored wolf leapt out of the shadows and bared it's fangs at the group.

The hunters released their hold on Lina, making her fall forward onto her hands and knees as they scrambled back. The girl stayed there on the ground, her body trembling despite the wolf's warm breath fanning down on her. 

Gulping, Lina slowly lifted her head.

Through the hair that had fallen into her face, she could only gape at the muscular creature standing before her. She could feel the heat radiating off it's body. She could feel the vibrations of it's chest, mere inches from her face, as it growled. The animal easily leapt over her, the hunters being it's prime target.

Lina lowered her face to the ground, the cool moss pressed against her forehead oddly calming as she tried to block out the mens' screams and the snapping of bones.

Time ceased to exist, and before she knew it, it was completely silent.

Lina lifted her head once more to cautiously glance over her shoulder. In the haunting shadows of the trees, illuminated by the few traces of moonlight, was a young man on his knees with his back facing Lina. Slowly, Lina picked herself up off the ground, carefully making her way over to the male.

When she was about a foot away, his entire body stiffened. Lina extended a trembling hand, the boy turned towards it, the feverish skin of his cheek leaning into her cold palm for comfort.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered mournfully.

His hand gripped her wrist and pressed her hand further into his cheek. Lina lifelessly fell to her knees behind him, her other hand brushing through his hair comfortingly as he leaned his forehead against her shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry, Lina." Baekhyun breathed out, his free hand wandering to her shoulder and pulling down her sleeve.

Turning his head, he released a hot and heavy breath on her exposed skin, causing Lina to involuntarily shiver at the sensation.

"Forgive me," he whispered softly, grazing his growing canines against her bone before biting down.

- Ο -

The forest at night was quiet. Every bug in the surrounding area had ceased buzzing, and even the wind had refused to breeze through the thick foliage. All had their attention drawn to the young pair of teenagers seated on the ground.

"Why?" Lina asked, her voice so quiet that it could barely be heard even with Baekhyun's sensitive hearing.

He haphazardly adjusted Lina's sleeve back in place on her shoulder, the pale green fabric quickly absorbing the remaining blood around the fresh wound. Baekhyun's red eyes were glazed over, unable to convey any emotion. Lina could see her own eyes reflected through Baekhyun's.

Red, she absently thought. Just like his.

"It's for the best," he answered, his voice completely void of emotion. "You obviously don't care about the dangers out here since you keep coming back. This way, you can protect yourself. We don't want anyone else to die." Baekhyun fired back,