COUNTDOWN: 30 DAYS TO FULL MOON 4

D.O.

                He’d sat watching over them all day. Suho brought food up to him, he didn’t drink for fear of having to go to the bathroom. He just stayed, sat on his bed, back pressed to the wall, eyes trained on the two bodies tangled together on the bed opposite him. The shadows shortened and lengthened as the sun moved across the sky, D.O.’s muscles aching more and more as he remained motionless, watching.

                Sehun, Chanyeol, Chen, and Xiumin had been the ones to carry the pair from the grass outside to the bed they currently lay in, and were all now covered in a burning itch from the remains of the wolfsbane. Currently, Kris, Luhan, and Baekhyun, were outside. They were covered in thick clothes, gloves covering their hands and scarves up over their noses. They wore sunglasses too, despite the time of day. They were digging up the wolfsbane and bagging it, not sure what to do with it after that, but at least stopping it from spreading it over the garden.

                That left Suho downstairs, taking care of everyone, with extra attention to the four wolves afflicted with wolfsbane. Tao was glued to his side, running between groups to relay messages. Lay was up in his room, recuperating from the beating he’d received from Kai last night. And D.O. had confined himself to his room, watching over his closest packbrother and the Fey who had done this to him.

                Did D.O. blame her for what she’d done? He wasn’t sure. Seeing Kai in such a state, one full side of him still burned and bruised from where he’d lain on the wolfsbane, his eyebrows knitting together in a wince every time he moved, it was hard not to feel angry at the person who caused it. But he knew in his heart that Kita had meant no harm. She had tried to stop Kai, to stop him killing, to stop him doing something he’d regret. She’d done it to protect him, to protect all of them, and D.O. shuddered as he thought of what could have happened if she hadn’t been there.

                She had been there for them, so D.O. would be there for her. He could tell the way she lay stiffly that she had not come out of this battle unscathed. She was hurting, and she had done it willingly to save them. To D.O., she was as much a part of this pack as the rest of them. And judging by the way Kai was pressing against her, he wouldn’t argue against that.

                D.O. was glad that no one else was in the room with them. Because despite the concern and the worry in the air, there was an innocence and intimacy as D.O. watched them lay together. Kai lay on his uninjured side, facing the Fey, his arms holding her to him and his face buried in her hair. Every now and then his cheek would slide as he nuzzled into her, edging closer and pulling her in tighter. D.O. knew that if he asked them, they’d spout nonsense about magic sharing and pathways. But to any wolf who wasn’t blind and obtuse, it was clear that Kai was scenting her, marking her as his choice for a mate, warding off any other suitor who might take interest. Kai might not even realise it, but they were wolves and deep down, that instinct still lay dormant within them, waiting to re-emerge.

                D.O. smiled as he saw Kita flinch in her dreams and then calm at the reassuring squeeze from Kai. They might be bruised and bloody at the moment, but they’d be just fine.

Sehun

                Sehun was sat in the living room with Chanyeol, Chen, and Xiumin. Suho had pushed the furniture to the sides, spreading rarely used blankets and bedsheets over the floor before allowing them to sit, lest they ‘infect’ the rest of the house with wolfsbane. The burning on his skin had worn down, and now it was more like he’d been attacked by a hive of angry bees, or a swarm of mosquitoes.

                Naturally, after sitting so long and being thrown food like some contagious creature, Sehun was in a grumpy mood. Being stuck with a chatty Chanyeol and a whiny Chen didn’t help matters, and Sehun was re-evaluating how much he took his bedroom for granted, and the fact that he shared it with no one. It wasn’t long before he was following Xiumin’s example and feigning sleep.

                As he lay there, his thoughts drifted back to the night before. He’d spent the whole night awake in his room, sat at his window which overlooked the garden. He’d seen the whole thing, scrambling to watch as soon as Kita had yelled at them to go inside, leaving behind the rest of the pack who were yelling in argue of what to do. Sehun had known, there was nothing to do but wait.

                He’d had faith in Kita, and he’d had faith in Kai.

                He’d watched as she’d sat on the grass, Kai’s blood spattering over her. He’d watched as her skin had grown dark as if gripped by an evil force. She’d bowed under its weight, straining against whatever it was, the area around her dimming in shadow, thin cuts appearing on her skin as if something was cutting her with a razor thin blade. He watched as Kai’s jaws snapped at her, inches from harming her, and he’d seen how Kita seemed not to notice, seeing the danger she was willing to put herself in for him, for all of them. His wolf eyes had caught the way her breathing was laboured, and his own breath was caught in worry before a blue light had emanated from her hand, dispelling the darkness.

                Her eyes had opened, more focused than before, and Sehun had been relieved that she seemed to have a plan. She had faltered as she saw the state Kai was in, but kept her resolve had not shaken. Slowly, the raging wolf had quieted and settled, a little less angry than before. He remembered that Kita had seemed on edge, and he’d wondered if Kita was somehow sharing the burden of the full moon to lesson his pain.

                They’d stayed like that for hours, and Sehun’s mind had wandered, but not enough that he missed the glistening tears on her cheeks.

                It was her movement that had brought him back to rapt attention. Kita no, he’d thought, wanting to grip her hand and pull her from this foolish idea. Kai was still a wolf, he would hurt her if she got too close-

                Except he didn’t. Kai had laid there whimpering as she his fur, sighing deeply as she placed her hand on the patchy fur of his neck. She’d visibly winced, and a hurried glance at the sky told Sehun it was morning. He’d ran downstairs, wolf ears still picking up Kai’s growing yells, and Kita’s whimpers as well.

                He’d alerted the other wolves that Kai was changing back, and they’d all ran outside just in time to see Kita collapsing on the ground next to him. Sehun had donated his housecoat to cover up Kai’s ness, and to provide a thin barrier between them and the wolfsbane, but it hadn’t been enough. And now he was here, stuck on this blanket, praying that soon Suho would set him free.      

                He wished he could have been out there last night, helping his packbrother. But he remembered the sting in his windpipe of the inhaled wolfsbane, he’d have been more of a burden out there. But they were a pack, they were a family, and now they had a new problem to face together. Kai was going to change into a wolf every full moon now, he was going to be lost and confused and isolated. What happened last night couldn’t happen again, Sehun wouldn’t let Kai go through that alone ever again. He was willing to do whatever it took, even if that meant becoming a wolf himself.

Kai

                It was evening. He was drifting in and out of consciousness, but he couldn’t grip it enough to make sure of his surroundings. Images of last night were swimming in his head like they used to, faded and blurred, giving him hints of what had transpired. The only think he was sure of was how conflicted he felt.

                He’d turned into a wolf.

                He’d fought against his pack. He knew for sure that he’d injured Lay, and couldn’t dare to think of who else he’d hurt.

                He remembered a bloodthirst like no other. A need that had set his jaws salivating, a scent that was so sweet and floral that it had saturated his mind until it was all he could think of. He remembered knocking several bodies aside in order to get to it.

                But he also remembered the adrenaline, the power, of how alive he’d felt. Because despite all of his shame and fear, he loved being a wolf. He loved the freedom he felt, the simplicity of it. There was nothing human about it, there were just instincts and the desire to act on them.

                He wracked his mind to remember more, in attempt to dispel the floral scent that still seemed to cling to the air around him. There had been the fury, the anger, the pain. Oh yes, there had been pain. A pain that had seared through every part of him, burning him from the inside out. It still lingered inside him, though considerably less than last night. He remembered his spiraling rage at not knowing what caused it, only knowing that the floral scent had been there the whole time.

                That floral scent, his wolf had been unable to identify it, but his human self knew that it had to have been Kita. Who else could fill his wolf with such rage other than a Fey? Who could spike his wolf with such a need other than her?

                His wavered, his mind growing cloudy once again. He wanted to wake but his body was too sore to move. And here, in this warm soft place, there was something subtle in the air around him. He tightened his hold, nuzzling further into it, and allowed himself to drift back into unconsciousness.

                Here, at least, he was safe.