Sorry for the long wait everybody. There was a lot of work I had to get done before school starts back up. As a gift, I made this chapter a little longer than my usual and added in a sneak peak for next chapter. 

Taemin nudged Minho on the shoulder when it was just the two of them in the hallway. Jackson, Jonghyun, and Kai had gone ahead of them. The school day was over, the last bell had rung for today. When Minho looked his way, the boy arched his brow towards their classroom door. Minho pursed his lips in response and shook his head.

Neither dare says a word. They didn’t trust the two new recruits and sure as hell wasn't going to talk in hearing distance of them.

“Are you kidding me?” They both heard.

It sounded like an exasperated statement and a female one at that. If it weren’t for the pull of not wanting to go into the classroom, they would’ve ignored it, but they’d rather see what was wrong then walk back into a class with nosy wolves. This time it was Minho who nudged Taemin towards the sound.

Together, they walked in quick paces down the hall, stopping at the open doorway to the nurse’s office. She looked up when the two boys arrived, shuffling papers that had fallen. Instinctively, Minho bent down to help her while Taemin caught on to something more interesting. A dent in the nurse’s desk. But it didn’t look like a regular hit and run, no, this looked…fresh. Like…a hand?

“Nurse Min.” He said as both Minho and her stood up from grabbing the rest of her papers. “Are you okay?”

She laughed, the fat from her neck jiggling a bit with her.

“Oh yeah. Sorry to worry you two. I just almost tripped is all. Dropped all my papers though. Thanks, Minho.”

“Then it wasn’t about that?” Taemin pointed towards the dent in the desk.

She turned around and arched her brow.

“Oh…” Was all she commented.

Minho caught eye of it as well. The same look Taemin had on his face, transpired on Minho’s too.

“I-I don’t know how that happened.” She sighed. “Well, nothing a little cover-up won’t do. Something must have bumped into it or something. You boys best be off to your lockers then. School is over. I’m sure you need to get your stuff.”

And just as she said, she placed a stack of folders over it. Typical humans. They are always so oblivious to the obvious. If anyone with half a brain paid attention, even Luna for that matter, they would have noticed that the dent looked like something much more than an ordinary dent. Taemin peeped Minho’s expression and stopped the man a little ways out. Long enough to where the nurse’s human ears wouldn’t hear, yet far enough to where no lingering Cerberi could either.

“You saw the ‘accidental bump’ on her desk, didn’t you? Or am I just tripping?” Taemin ask.

Minho shook his head.

“Definitely a hand…just…”

“Just what?”

“Jackson and Jonghyun has been with us the entire time. They didn’t do that and no human did that.”

“Well,” The boy nodded down the hall where coincidentally, both Onew and Key were standing. “We know to others that are scratched off that human list.”

“Shh!” Minho lightly slapped him on the shoulder. “I don’t want those noisy Cerberi to hear us.”

“Don’t worry, I made sure our parameters were exact. They can’t hear us.”

“Still…I want to be careful. We need to talk to them alone. Onew and Key. For some reason, I’ve been getting a vibe that they’ve been ignoring us today and not just for the facade of it all.”

“Well Minho, we did just waltz into class with two new Cerberi and two more we haven’t had the chance to tell them about. I don’t particularly blame them for being suspicious. I mean, it’s not like our family or our family’s friends are exactly human. It’s not hard to deduce.”

“Yeah yeah Taemin. Thank you for that analyzation. I get it.”

“Then we command them to go home without us. We’re the leaders here, not them. Remember?”

“And they’ll definitely be suspicious once we say leave and without us, in the same sentence.”

“Let them be suspicious then. They were suspicious back in their own home. I don’t except that to change just because we’ve been assigned their leaders Minho.”

It was like they sensed their names being included in something. Jackson and Jonghyun came walking out of the classroom with Kai uninterestingly behind them. Even Onew and Key peeked from their lockers. Minho noticed, but when he locked eyes with Key, the boy immediately turned away. He saw him turn to Onew, whisper something and together the two swung their backpacks on and moved hurriedly down the hallway.

Jackson and Jonghyun walked in long strides. Of course, they took notice of the two when they dash down beside them. Jackson threw another smirk Key’s way, but the boy didn’t react. They even passed both Taemin and Minho without so much as sneaking a peek their way. Jonghyun threw his arms up in the air.

“We leaving or what?” He yelled.

“The faster the better.” Came a familiar female voice.

Luna rushed down the hallway with her sister, Z. Z smirked towards Jonghyun who sent a wink her way. It only made Luna fake a barfing expression as they passed the boys.

“That Luna girl is interesting,” Jonghyun smirked when they were finally in normal talking distance of Taemin and Minho.

“You sure you aren’t more interested in her sister.” Jackson laughed.

“I mean…they are twins.”

The boys chuckled together. Taemin found himself rolling his eyes.

“Listen. You guys gotta go home without us.” He stated.

The two stopped laughing immediately. As to be expected, their lips moved in a curious fashion. They looked their new leaders up and down.

“We can’t be that annoying,” Jonghyun replied.

“Trust me, you are.” Taemin retorted.

“But…that’s not why we need you two to head out without us,” Minho continued. “Me and Taemin have some business to take care of. Since it doesn’t involve you two, it’s best that you just go home.”

“Kai, if you could walk Jonghyun back to Minho’s place and then you and Jackson can go home,” Taemin added.

Kai looked between the two new Cerberi from behind. Taemin saw the purse on his lips, but the boy nodded anyway.

“Yes, sir.” He stated.

“Now, wait a minute.” Jonghyun interfered. “One, I’m not incapable of not remembering the route back and two, don’t we get a say in this?”

“Exactly,” Jackson egged on, “if you two are going out and doing leader stuff, isn’t it best that we witness,” he began to do that evil smirk that he and Jonghyun had too much in common, “I mean, shouldn’t we be learning from you guys, not just taking orders.”

“No-”

Minho placed his hand in front of Taemin to stop whatever rant was making its way out of his mouth.

“What Taemin means is, while that is thoughtful of the two of you, don’t forget that this is your first day. You can learn from us later on. Right now, we have business to take care of which means that no, you don’t have a say so in this. Kai is in charge of the two of you in taking you home and we hope you two get there without any problems.”

Like twins, they rolled their eyes.

“Come on recruits.” Kai sighed, squeezing himself between the gap their bodies made and throwing his arm in the air as he walked away.

Minho and Taemin followed loosely behind, just to make sure they actually listened to Kai and went the route they were supposed to go. When they were slowly fading out of sight, they looked at each other.

“The scent is faint.” Minho sighed.

“But I think we can catch up to em before they reached their house,” Taemin added.

***

It took a solid five minutes without their added supernatural speed (for fear of civilian eyes) to catch up with them. Fortunately, neither was near their house. Needless to say, both Onew and Key turned around wide-eyed when they saw who was coming near them. Their hearts were beating faster than the two Cerberi would have expected. Minho even witnessed Key grab onto the middle of his shirt for a second.

“Key. Onew.” Taemin nodded, a little out of breath.

“Can we…help you guys?” Onew asked, flitting his pointer finger between them.

“We need to talk,” Minho replied.

Key’s brows began to furrow.

“I don’t think we need to.” He replied.

“Did one of you make the dent in the nurse’s desk?” Taemin asked.

Onew laughed out right, scoffing in the middle of his throat.

“With everything else, of course, they run up to us asking dumb questions.” He mumbled.

“With everything else?” Taemin questioned. “What’re-”

“Look.” Key interfered. “We don’t really need to talk to you guys right now. We need to head home. Don’t follow us again.”

Minho tilted his head.

“Why are you guys’ hearts beating so fast?”

The two stopped in their turning tracks.

“None of your business,” Onew stated. He nudged Key on the shoulder to leave, but just as they were about to make another attempt, Taemin reached out and touched the boy’s arm.

“Onew, wait a min-”

Onew shoved him off hard.

“Don’t touch me!” He screamed defensively.

The motion made Taemin jump back.

“Whoa, what’s with the hostility? I thought we all were cool. We just wanted you guys to know that the new Cerberi wasn’t our choice. It was our Uncles.” But even while talking, his eyes only lingered on Onew. The reaction to him touching Onew, sticking to his thoughts. There it was again. That weird feeling in his chest.

This time, it was Key who scoffed.

“Why would it matter to you whether or not we knew about the Cerberi. We’re just like scum to you guys anyway.” He grabbed Onew’s arm just as Minho opened his mouth to speak. They sped off, disappearing into the distance with. Minho watched, his mouth still opened and yet, strangely, his eyes sticking to Key’s back.

“Dude,” Taemin whispered.

Minho noticed that the boy was staring at them too. Watching as they disappear.

“I’m starting to feel like we missed something while we were gone.”

“What could make you think that?” Minho asked, shrugging his shoulders in defeat. “Was it the condescending tones in their voices or the utter disdain of interest they seemed to hold in our reasoning.”

“No need to be a jackass.”

“How though…” Minho mumbled.

“Well, it’s easy. You were being a smart-”

“No, how did Key know what Jonghyun said.” He continued. “Remember, he called Tribeless scum. Onew and Key were never near or in the cafeteria. I would’ve smelled them if they were near. How did he hear that?”

Taemin was silent for a moment.

“Well…” he started, “I suppose that’s why they’re called Tribeless. It’s not like whatever they were, was going to be hidden for long right? Something was bound to happen to show they were something supernatural.”

“Yeah but what?”

Then they were both silent. They turned in unison and slowly shuffled their feet towards the direction of the woods.

“Minho…” Taemin whispered.

Minho looked over to find him staring at the ground as they walked. His silver tresses flung over his face and bounced against the orange glow in the sky. His eyes seemed to be following his shadow. Like whatever he was thinking about, he was thinking about it hard.

“What is it?” He asked softly.

“Have you ever…well, there was this weird thing that happened to me while we were gone over the weekend….” His words drowned out again and went silent. Minho tilted his head further. He stopped in his tracks and laughed.

“Taemin, as your partner in this new leader thing we’re doing, I’m pretty sure you can consider the two of us…friends. To some degree. Especially with everything that we’ve been going through so far. Though I never thought I’d say that…what I’m saying is,” he sighed after getting rid of the babbling, “whatever you need to tell me, just tell me.”

The boy looked up and pulled his lip in. He was thinking about how to say it.

“When we were back in Hallasan…and we were walking through the woods…”

“Yeah what is it?”

“I’m just wondering…now, remember that I’m saying that I’m just wondering alright.” He pushed.

“Alright.” Minho laughed. “What is it?”

“Have you ever gotten like,” He opened his hand and made a wide circle around his chest, “like a tightening feeling here. Like…something felt different?”

“Um…Taemin, I’m gonna need a little more specifics than that-”

“When Onew pushed me just n-” He stopped.

“Yeah?”

It hurt. That’s what he wanted to say, but he couldn’t make the words come out of his mouth. When Onew pushed him, it hurt his…feelings? Even the thought was a question.

“Never mind, I’ll tell you when I find better words to describe it.” He mumbled.

“Taemin?”

“Hm?”

“Are you sure? You seem…conflicted.”

The boy shook his head and smiled.

“Let’s just get to our houses before those new Cerberi cause any more trouble.” Even when there was a different sentence coming out of his mouth, the one he had almost said still lingered on his lips.

When Onew pushed him just now…it hurt…his feelings. It was something he never imagined thinking up, let alone, saying. And just for a second, he saw it again, just like he had in the Hallasan woods; Onew’s fingers touching his wrist to see how the black band embedded in his skin. And just for a second, just like in Hallasan and just like when Onew pushed him, with the look of disgust written all over his face…there was a tightening in his chest.

***

Key sat down on his bed, throwing his backpack over the edge. Onew sighed and sat down next to him.

“Never thought I’d see you so angry before.” Onew chuckled, nudging Key on the shoulder.

Key relaxed his shoulders and laid back on the bed.

“I don’t know.” He sighed as well. “I kinda feel a little bad after saying it. Sounded kinda harsh, even for me.”

Onew laid back with him, crossing his arms behind his head and turning his face towards his best friend.

“Key, we all do stuff when we’re angry. Nothing you did wrong. I mean, you said you heard them laugh with them didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but…what if they were faking or something. It’s not like I could see their faces too.”

“What difference would it have made.” Onew lightly shrugged. “They still aren’t worth being trusted in my book. There are way too many secrets going on over there and we got enough going on over here.”

“I guess…you’re right.”

“Though I will give you this,” Onew paused, eyes pointed towards the ceiling. He thought back on the way Taemin reacted to his push. “Taemin seemed…different. If that makes sense.”

“I don’t know,” Key answered, “I wasn’t really paying attention. To be honest, I was looking at Minho the whole time.”

“Is it weird to say that Taemin almost seemed…apologetic?”

Key chuckled and scooted himself up a bit, leaning his head on his hand while his elbow dug into the covers. He laid one leg on the other and positioned his body to look at Onew.

“Yeah, that actually does sound weird to say. I think you’re just thinking too much into it. I mean, you’re right, we can’t trust them as much as they probably can’t trust us. I mean, they do still think we’re Tribeless after all. They have no idea the abilities we’ve discovered while they were gone. And now that there are more Cerberi in town, I think it’s best to say that the only supernatural creatures we need to trust right now, is each other.”

“Right.” Onew nodded. “Them trusting us let some information slip through. Did you catch what Taemin said about their Uncles?”

“Yeah,” Key scoffed, “that it was their idea. Can’t believe I trusted them when I first met them.”

“That means they probably know a lot more than they’re even telling them. While that’s not our problem, that does automatically put them on the suspect list. I mean, who brings new Cerberi to this town. It’s small, full of people. One wrong move and the whole place will know about them.”

“So,” Key leaned upwards just as Onew did, “if we’re putting the Uncles on our suspect list, then they probably had something to do with that thing that attacked me and Aunt Kim out in the forest. Oh, but there’s one more person now too or rather a nice group of people.”

“Who?”

Key cleared his throat and placed his fingers out in the air as he counted.

“One. The two Uncles, now that we’ve got them on the suspect list. Two, the Elders since we’ve always had them on the suspect list. And three. Donghae. He’s the one missing out of all this. Suddenly appears at school to register and now he’s gone just as these new Cerberi are introduced to the school. I think that deserves to put him on the suspect list. Plus, out of all the Cerberi, it was him I never trusted the most.”

Onew nodded.

“Well,” he laughed, “now we have a group of supernatural creatures to be on the lookout for.”

“Which means we need to start discovering some amazing things about ourselves soon or else who knows when that monster is gonna come back.”

“You think that it is?” Onew asked. “Like, I’ve thought about this too, but do you think whatever it was would really risk it. You won’t be back in the forest by yourself again.”

“I don’t know,” he sighed. “But, if it does, we’ll be ready. Plus, out of all of this, we still have a new discovery that we came to this morning.”

“That you’re mom might be alive.”

“And if we’ve thought about it, I’m sure as hell your mom has too.” Key whispered the last part.

Onew nodded. Once again, their brains were on the same wave length.

“Key, it may surprise you, but I have a dangerous idea.”

Key smiled and nodded.

“Me too. I just hope we’re thinking about the same thing.”

***

Their steps crunched through the ground, denting the leaves further into the soft mud. The sky was pitch black with only three stars able to bare themselves against the street lights that adorned the entire town. Eunhyuk and Siwon walked the barely visible woods, their beryl wolf vision glowing in the dark. It helped them see better though they were no Night Owls.

“So,” Eunhyuk arched his brows, sporting another long sleeved sweater that covered a large percentage of his body. Though the weather held some July heat to it, the temperature didn’t seem to bother him. “your subordinate told you the same thing I presume.”

He adjusted the fake framed glasses that slid down the bridge of his nose.

“That the urban wolves are up to something? Have some sort of secrets that they’re hiding? Of course.” Siwon responded.

“Should we be cautious. I never did trust their Uncles, nor do I care for the fact that they’re in charge of us.”

“We’re always cautious, just like we were when the Katclan came. I expect them to have their secrets. I mean, did you see their reactions when they met us? I wouldn’t expect anything else. We just need to-”

“Cause some problems?” Eunhyuk smirked.

Siwon stopped in his tracks, adjusting his straight jacket and creased ironed pants.

“But we have to do it some way without us looking like the initiators. I think there’s more to that Key and Onew duo than they’re letting us know. Even the Uncles don’t talk about them, but I definitely think they know about them.”

Eunhyuk shrugged.

“Why else would the Elders send us here. Of course, we made our problems but let’s be honest, they wouldn’t have come to visit us before the Uncles if they didn’t have something for us to do.” He responded.

Siwon nodded.

“I always liked their ways of going about things. So, shall we start a little chaos to find out the secret of these two humans?”

“Of course,” Eunhyuk smirked. “Of course.”

-Next Time on The Blood of Us-

“I’m starting to have second thoughts about this,” Onew whispered.

The night was beginning to linger and loom over them.

“Shhh.” Key hushed. He placed his hands over his friend's mouth just as they heard the large steps skid closer and closer to them.

“We know you’re here!” Came his dark voice. Key felt his friend's heavy heart beat as they leaned onto a tree. The tree was their landline. An easy step back and they would be back into a subtle radiant sunset.

“Come out, come out wherever you are~” He sang.

“Calm down your heartbeat.” Key whispered in Onew’s ear. “They’ll hear it.” Though Key stood behind his best friend, he felt his head nod. He placed his free hand on Onew’s chest and slowly felt his heart beat slowing down to a steady beat.

“I think I’m getting warmer~” Through the blue glimmer of the night, Siwon came into view, his hands deep in his striped pants pocket with that sinister smile on his face. He was so far yet so close. His eyes reflected the full moon hovering in the sky as he lifted his head upwards and sniffed in the night air.

He stepped closer and closer, passing by one tree after the next until he was just a mere three feet from them. Key tightened his grip around Onew’s mouth just as Siwon spoke.

“I’m getting warmer.”