Baekhyun stood in the sand, the gentle waves of the lake splashing against his ankles. His other clothes had been torn apart when he shifted and ran here. He didn’t know whose idea it was to leave clothing in the base of trees, but he loved them. Gone were his jeans and t-shirt, long replaced by a pair of khaki shorts and a hoodie he had rolled the sleeves up on.

Rolling the pebble over in his hand, he reached back and flung it out into the water, watching it skip across the surface a few times before falling in. This had been his favorite spot since the move, since he found Victoria. The smell of the water coated her scent just enough for him to forget for a while. Forget about the choice he had to make. He only had too options in the end. He could leave her, sooner rather than later. The breaking of the bond would be painful enough, but the longer it dragged on the worse it would get. Or, he could turn her. It would be equally painful, and there was always a chance she didn’t survive. Then there were questions about it, did she want to turn? After all this, did she even want him? He was waiting for the pain currently, skipping stones to pass the time. Once Chanyeol explained the bond and rejection, he was sure she would end it. With how he’s treated her, he can’t blame her. He would leave him.

“Is this why you smell like salt?” Baekhyun should have jumped at her voice, since he indeed did not hear her coming, but his wolf knew, and refused to tell him. Now that he listened for her, he could hear her untying her shoelaces.

“Go away,” he told her as he tossed another pebble out to the water. Again, it skipped a few times before falling in.

Victoria ignored him. “I never could do that,” she stated as she walked up next to him. She had stripped down to her underwear, obviously planning to go deeper into the water. Baekhyun’s wolf rumbled in his chest, and he refused to glance at her. No need to encourage the beast. “Would you teach me?”

“No,” he hissed at her. He had expected her to be hurt, but instead, she shrugged and began walking deeper into the water.

“Come swim with me,” she called over her shoulder. Baekhyun couldn’t help but run his eyes over her figure. Everything about her drew him in, her voice, her actions, her body. He his lips as his eyes ran down from her waist to her rear that was barely covered by the tiny shorts she wore as underwear. He had a peek at those yesterday, and knew the front said ‘Friday’ on them. It was Tuesday.

His wolf leaped in his chest as he looked her over, and he was half second too slow at tearing them away for her to notice. He caught her grin and rolled his eyes, refusing to look over the new view she was giving him. “For someone who was so mad earlier that I changed you, you sure don’t care now.”

She shrugged at him. “You’re my mate. I’ve got nothing to hide from you.”

His wolf yipped when she called them her mate, and tried to push Baekhyun deeper into the water. Baekhyun swallowed hard and held his ground. “I don’t want to swim,” he sniffed and looked away from her. Crouching down, he began looking for another stone.

“Well I can’t swim,” she said. Baekhyun’s head snapped up as she grinned at him and dove into the water.

His wolf began barking in his chest, and Baekhyun ground is teeth. “She’s lying,” he hushed his wolf. A few seconds past before Baekhyun growled and dove into the water after her, the salty water burned his eyes as he dove down looking for her. It didn’t take long for him to spot her sitting crossed-legged on the bottom of the lake. He dove down to her, and just as he reached her, her eyes popped open, and she smiled at him.

Reaching out, she grabbed onto his hoodie and pulled him against her. His arms instinctually wrapped around her. He kicked off from the bottom of the lake, dragging her with him to the surface. Her legs wrapped around his hips and her arms held onto his neck. As they breached the surface, Victoria clung closer to him. “You’re not funny,” he growled at her, holding her against his chest as he started swimming back, her in tow.

“How else was I supposed to get you out here?” she smiled at him. Releasing his neck, she laid back and let her upper half float on the water.

Baekhyun grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back to him. “Stop it, come on,” he hissed at her. His body felt hot everywhere they touched, and he could feel his throat drying up. His wolf trying to pry its way out of him.

Victoria didn’t seem to hear him, but snuggled closer anyway, tucking her face into the crook of his neck. He felt heat rising up his face and swallowed hard. He did all he could to ignore her. As his feet reached where he could touch the bottom, he felt something warm pressing against the exposed part of his neck. He froze in the water as she tilted her head to gain better access to his neck, pressing her lips gently against it.

His wolf howled in delight as she continued her assault against him. Baekhyun felt his wolf climbing up his throat and angrily pushed her away from him. She floated back about a foot and stared at him with wide eyes. Baekhyun glared at her, his eyes crystal blue, and canine pointing out of his gums. “Don’t touch me,” he snapped at her. She flinched at his words, and nodded slowly. She opened to talk, but he didn’t stay to listen, turning from her and swimming back to the shore.

By the time her reached the shore, he had gained control over his wolf again. Glancing back over his shoulder, Victoria was exactly where he left her, she hadn’t even turned towards the shore. Even without the pain in his chest, he could see she was crying. His wolf growled at him, and he ignored it. He knew what she was trying to do. His wolf liked her, and she knew it, so as long as she dealt with him, she thought she was find to do what she wanted.

But she forgets Baekhyun is there to stop it from getting to that point. She forgets that the wolf may love you, but he is primal and driven by emotion. “Are you coming or not?” he called out to her. He had expected her to swim towards him and pout or yell at him, but he wasn’t ready for her to turn away and swim deeper into the lake. “Victoria!” he shouted at her. She didn’t respond. “Victoria get over here now!” She didn’t look back.

Growling and running his hands through his hair, he glaring at the girl being so stubborn. As he watched her swim out, something caught his eye. A dark mass was swimming towards her from a port on the other side. “VICTORIA GET BACK HERE!” he screamed at her. He knew exactly what that was.

‘The rogues are at the lake,’ he quickly mindlinked his father and ripped the hoodie off. It was only doing to slow him down, and dove into the lake. His wolf form was fast, but not for swimming. That rogue was either weak or an idiot to swim in that form. Too much fur.

Baekhyun raced towards her as fast as he could, and forced his fear through the bond, desperately hoping she would feel it and turn back. He could see her ahead of him, but the rogue was out of sight. This was bad. “Victoria! Come here!”

He could see her turn back to him, and heard her scream. Pain shot through his shoulder as the jaws of the rogue latched down on him. He shouted out in pain, ripping himself away. Water fighting was hard, and he hated it. Baekhyun turned as fast he could, but he wasn’t fast enough. A paw clawed at him, catching his arm and tearing into it. It was too late to shift, his body was injured too badly, he could feel it. Still, he reached up and shoved his finger into the right eye of the beast, attempting to pop it out. The rogue’s paws planted into his chest and forced him under water.

Baekhyun clutched his shoulder and looked through the water to see the creature being forced down. Looking up, Victoria had gotten onto its back and was pulling it down by its neck, forcing it’s paws into the air.  The creature snapped at her, but couldn’t reach her. With all the force she could, she pulled the beast down. His vision was fading as Baekhyun tried to swim towards her, but he was grabbed by his shorts and pulled up to the surface. He fought against it as much as he could, until he heard someone cursing.

“Cut the , bro,” Andrew swore at him. “You’re hurt bad, dude. We have to get you home.”

“But Vi-”

“Dad’s going after her.”

Victoria struggled against the weight of the wolf, pulling it towards the tangles of seaweed. She remembered when she was a child,  she nearly drown in them. Once wrapped in the weeds, she knew this wolf was not getting anywhere. Suddenly she felt another force pushing down on them, forcing them past the weeds and to the floor of the lake. Victoria pushed herself away from the wolf, kicked off against its chest. It spun around and lunged for her, but he had already sealed his fate. As the wolf spun, the weeds wrapped around it’s torso and legs, untangling it to the lake’s floor.

Shooting towards the surface, Victoria began scanning the water for Baekhyun, and spotted him being dragged towards the shore by another man. Adrenaline pumped through her as she dove back beneath the surface and began swimming as fast as she could towards them. The man was slowed heavily by Baekhyun’s extra weight, and it didn’t take her long to catch up. As she shot from the water and latched onto the man’s shoulders, the man hissed in pain, but didn’t drop Baekhyun.

“Oh you must be Victoria,” the man hissed. “Nice to meet you, I’m Andrew.” The man wasn’t phased by Victoria pouncing on his back, and simply continued dragging, now the three of them, to shore. “This must be a bad time, but nonetheless, good to meet you. Now, uh, can you remove your claws from my flesh?”

Victoria glanced down at her hands and gasped, releasing Andrew. Her fingernails had elongated into sharp claws, now coated with blood. A hand wrapped around her waist and began dragging her to shore, and she looked up to see Tanner pulling her out of the water. “We’ll talk later,” was all he told her.