Watching Victoria walk away, Baekhyun held onto the bond. As much as he didn’t want to believe it, he could feel her fear and knew exactly where it came from. Him. Victoria was afraid of him. A growl escaped his throat as he slammed his fist down against the granite counter. The marble cracked beneath his fist and echoed throughout the house. Angry with himself, Baekhyun stormed into his room and slipped his shoes onto his feet before her marched down the steps.

“What happened?” his mother asked as he stepped down into the kitchen.

Baekhyun shook his head. “She’s scared of me,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “After all the , she’s scared of me. Not rogues, not hunters, her ing mate.”

Chanyeol frowned. “Have you tried being nice? Don’t bother answering that, we both know you haven’t.” Julia smacked his son’s arm and Baekhyun glared at him.

“I was just being nice, and she’s still scared!” he leaned his hands against the counter and took and deep breath. “I don’t know what she wants from me. She’s angry when I argue with her, she’s scared when I don’t. Hell, half of the time she won’t even look at me.”

Julia sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you try starting over? Don’t treat her like your mate, treat her like your new girlfriend. Act as if you’re still getting to know each other, and for Goddess sake, let her make the first move. She’ll warm up eventually.”

Sighing, Baekhyun nodded his head and stood up straight. “We’ll be right back with eggs.”

Victoria sat on the steps to the house while she waited for Baekhyun. She had debating going by herself, but she wasn’t sure were in that huge house they kept eggs. Normally, she would guess the kitchen, but she didn’t want to ask someone where the kitchen was. So instead, she decided to wait for him. The nervousness in her stomach only grew as she waited, but she wasn’t sure why. She had known him for years; she had never been this nervous before. The fear, she understood, he could literally turn into a giant dog and eat her, and then the dreams…

The door opened behind her, and Victoria turned and looked up at Baekhyun. He didn’t glance at her as he walked down the steps. She gulped as she stood and followed behind him. The pack house was clearly visible from Baekhyun’s and was only a short walk. They didn’t speak during the walk. Baekhyun opened the door for her as they walked in. She turned back to him and finally caught his eye. He looked away quickly and continued walking into the house. Just like when she walked with Chanyeol, people smiled at him and gave her confused looks.

As they turned a corner, a mass of blonde hair grabbed onto Baekhyun, and Victoria heard and a girl giggling. She watched as Baekhyun hugged the girl back before the girl pulled away and pressed her lips to his cheek. Victoria felt a new anger rising in her chest as her wolf growled. Shaking the glare from her face, she cleared .

The girl turned to her and gave her a disgusted look. “Uh, excuse you,” the girl snapped at Victoria. “You can go now, girl. He doesn’t need you following-”

“Jessica, this is Victoria,” Baekhyun pried the girl off of him and turned to Victoria. He smiled lightly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Victoria, this is Kris’s little sister, Jessica.”

“Pleasure,” Victoria hadn’t intended for it to come out so harsh, but she didn’t plan on apologizing for it either. Putting on a big smile, she reach her hand out to Jessica. “I’m Baekhyun’s mate.”

Baekhyun gave her a confused looked, but said nothing. Jessica outright glared at her. “Oh, right!” she clapped her hands together. “The prissy human who can’t even handle a few rogues!” Victoria dropped her, albient fake, smile as well as her hand. “As I said, you can go now.”

Victoria glared at her and turned to Baekhyun. He smiled half-hearted at her. “I can bring them back, why don’t you go help mom?”

Anger flared up in her chest as Jessica linked her arm through Baekhyun’s and they went off further into the pack house. Glaring at him one last time, Victoria spun on her heel and stormed out of the building. Her fist were clenched tight in the pocket of the hoodie as she marched back to Baekhyun’s house. Her wolf growled lowly in her chest, and Victoria knew exactly what she meant. ‘How dare he?!’ she thought to her wolf. ‘What does he think we are?! His play thing until he gets bored?!’

Storming into the house, Victoria went to march up the stairs, but was stopped in the kitchen by Chanyeol grabbing her by the arms. “Woah, hulk,” he laughed and sat her on a stool. “What’s got you all-”

“You’re brother is the most idiotic piece of I have ever met!” she snapped at Chanyeol. The boy backed away and raised his hands. Julia looked up from where she was chopping vegetables and raised her eyebrows. “Like is he just stupid? Does he think this I’m just going to sit on the sidelines and-and wait until he’s ready to be nice?! And then just happily jump up and be there until he’s ready to go again?! Well I am certainly not going to sit back while he plays with that little of his!”

Julia laughed softly. “I’m assuming you’ve met Jessica.”

“Yeah, his little he just choose over his ing mate!” she snapped at Julia.

“I don’t think he choose her over-”

“He was more than happy to send me away and run off with her,” Victoria interrupted Julia, crossing her arms over her chest. Julia bit her lip as the door opened and closed again. Victoria didn’t notice. “Well he can have ing fun with her,” she frowned. “I’m not going to be here when he gets back.”

Chanyeol looked back as Baekhyun stopped in the living room, two cartons of eggs in his hands. “You should run,” Chanyeol tried to bite back his laughter.

Victoria’s head snapped to him, then followed his eyes behind her to Baekhyun, who stood in the living room. She glared at him, and he sighed. Walking into the kitchen, he set the eggs down on the counter before turning to go upstairs. The anger in her chest burned hot as she grabbed him by his collar and yanked him back.

Growling, he turned around and opened his mouth, but was silenced when Victoria rubbed her thumb cross his bottom lip. Without letting go of his collar, she looked from his face to her thumb which was smeared with red lipstick. “It’s not what you-”

He was cut off by multiple cracks as Victoria slammed her fist into his nose and released him. “Oh ,” Chanyeol whispered as Julia gasped. Victoria’s hand was clearly broken, but so was Baekhyun’s nose.

Glaring at him as he brought his hand up to his nose, Victoria’s voice came out as a deadly growl as her eyes burned blue and her wolf spoke with her. “You stay the hell away from me,” she snapped. Turning on her heel, she stormed out of the house, out of the pack, and into the woods.

Chanyeol stared at his twin as blood rushed from his nose and dripped onto the floor. He expected his brother to break something and storm off after her, but instead he grabbed his nose and set it into place. Blinking slowly, he wiped his hand on his now bloody shirt and cleared his throat. “I think I’ll skip breakfast.”

While he walked upstairs, Chanyeol turned to his mother, who looked just as shocked as he felt. “What do we do?” he whispered to her.

Julia closed and shook her head. “I don’t think there is anything we can,” she whispered back. “I know I would never forgive your father for something like that, so…”

“No, she has to forgive him,” Chanyeol shook his head. “I mean, she’s his mate. She has to-”

“He just broke her heart,” Julia whispered. She stopped cutting the vegetables and sat down on a stool. “You saw her come in here like that. That could have been fixed, but she wanted to hurt him, Chanyeol. She wanted to cause him physical pain. There isn’t fixing that, and he knows it.”

Victoria sat on the ground beside a fallen tree, her knees curled up into her chest and tears streaming down her cheeks. She had wanted so bad fo this to be a good day, just one good day, but those were all gone. Her wolf howl desperately in her chest. She could feel her bond to him in her chest, and she wanted nothing more than to rip it out for ten minutes of piece. Ten minutes where his sadness didn’t mix with hers. He didn’t have a right to be upset, not in her eyes.

There was a bitter joy behind her sadness, though, at least he regretted it. As much as she didn’t want to, part of her tried to blame herself. It screamed ‘If I hadn’t pushed him away.’ Victoria chose to ignore that part of her. This was not her fault; it was his. He kissed that girl. He made that choice. Her wolf grew louder in her chest, and Victoria let her scream. The mixture of anger, sadness and hatred she felt matched her wolf’s to a T. Her wolf howled loudly in her chest, and Victoria felt the pain forming in the back of her head. Feeling weak and hopeless, Victoria let her wolf press on. Her wolf pressed forward, and Victoria felt her body begin to heat up.

Too tired from the run here to fight, Victoria closed her eyes and hugged her knees to her chest. She sobs echoed in the wind, and her wolf continued to press into her head. The heat on her skin rose, and she felt pins and needles picking at her limbs. As the pain increased, Victoria’s sobs grew louder. The pins began to feel more like knives, and Victoria opened her eyes and looked down at her arms. She watched as thick black hair began to sprout out of her skin and felt her heartbeat increase. “No,” she sobbed, “No, not now! Why now!”

As she screamed out, her bones began to break in different directions. Victoria screamed, not in pain, as her limbs began breaking and popping out of place. Her temperature was rising as her body felt to the ground, her limbs slowly adjusting to the form she would be taking. Her screams echoed in her ears as she felt her face begin to break. Loud sobs and fat tears rolled from her eyes and her body took its time ripping her apart.

Through this, she expected Baekhyun to come running form the trees to help her, but he never came. She knew he could feel her pain, her fear, but he didn’t come. It felt like hours that her body broke, adjusted, and broke again. Her voice grew raspy, though her tears never stopped. She had thought she passed out for a while, but soon realized the blackness she saw in front of her moved with the wind. The fur from her paw blew slowly with the wind, and Victoria felt the aching in her body.

She slowly lifted her head, which felt heavy and foggy as she looked around. She was still in the forest, now laying next to the same fallen tree. Victoria pushed herself up with shaking legs until her body stood on all fours. She felt her wolf inside her, just as exhausted as she felt. Pressing her paws into the dirt beneath her, Victoria took slow steps forward while she attempted to walk on all fours.

Slowly she got the hang of it and began walking slowly through the woods.Victoria did little to watch where she was going, often bumping into trees with her shoulders, or her tail slapping against something behind her. She made her way  through the trees until she came to the lake. She hadn’t thought about it before, but as she sat on this side of the lake, she could just make out the small dock on the other side that marked the line of her parents property. Now more than ever, Victoria just wanted to go home, but she didn’t have one anymore. Baekhyun ripped her life apart and left her to pick up the pieces.

While she stared out into the water, her chest heavy, she didn’t notice as someone approached behind her until she heard the growling. Her head twitched, an she heard the steps against the rocky shore. Victoria slowly turned her head and met the blue eyes that glared angrily at her. Curling her tail around herself, she turned to face the lake again, unfazed by the cherry wolf’s anger. He didn’t get to be angry with her. Victoria stuck her nose up at him and ignored him.

She heard his claws scraping against the rocks and another deep growl come from him. Turning back and glaring at him, Baekhyun barked at her, causing Victoria to jump. Standing her full height, she was still smaller than him. Her wolf whimpered in her chest, and Victoria glared at him. Stop that! She barked at him. The cherry wolf jumped back from her and began sniffing the air around her. Victoria growled at him. You do not bark at me! She growled and jumped away from him as he sniffed her.

Victoria? She heard his question in her head and growled at him, baring her teeth.

Don’t act like you didn’t know she growled. Baekhyun followed behind her sniffing the air around her. Stop that! She spun around again, but he followed her.

Victoria crouched low and growled at him, and he looked her over before copying her position, his in the air and his tail wagging behind him. He growled back at her. She heard him laughing in her head. Let me smell you he told her, pouncing towards her. She back up until she sat down, leaning back away from him. Approaching her slowly, Baekhyun sniffed the fur on her chest, slowly sniffing and nibbling against her until he reached a patch of fur near her shoulder. While the rest of her was black with a few patches of white around her feet and snout, on patch on her shoulder was dark red. He nuzzled his snout into the mark. Did you just shift?

By the fallen tree out there, yeah she spoke back to him. As much as her wolf enjoyed him nuzzling up to her this way, she held onto her anger with an iron fist. No help from you she snapped at him.

Baekhyun continued to rub his face against her neck, coating her in his scent. I didn’t know, I swear. He stated. I lost connection with you, so I came looking. Pulling away from her slightly, Victoria bared her teeth at him again. He didn’t care and her face in response Victoria pulled away from him when he tried to her again. She heard him laughing in her head. Goddess, look at you. So beautiful.

Her wolf yipped in her chest again, but Victoria growled at him. Don’t think you’re off the hook because I’ve shifted. You cheated on me!

I did not he growled back at her. I pushed her away from me! I left the building! I came home to you right away, but you were already screaming your head off. I did exactly what I was supposed to, and you broke my nose!

You deserved it! She barked at him. You told me to leave! You let her hang all over you right in front of me!

She’s the alpha’s daughter! What do you want me to do?! He growled back. I told you to leave because you were being aggressive!

She was hanging on my mate! Of course I was aggressive! Victoria barked. Turned away from him, she began marched back to the water when she felt something grab her tail. Hey!

She heard him growling in her head and looked over her shoulder at him. He released her tail. You can’t talk to alphas like that, he explained. It’s disrespectful.

Victoria growled at him and turned away again. As much as she wanted to believe he pushed the girl away and came home, she couldn’t. Not when he sent her home a minute before. For all she knew, he was lying to her.

I am not lying. He growled at her. Turning her head, she glared at him as much as she could. I can hear your thoughts, Vic, at least right now I can. She growled at him, and he growled back. You started the link! Don’t blame me!

I did not start any link! She growled back

Baekhyun walked over and sat next to her on the edge of the water. You opened it to tell me not to bark at you. He explained. It’s called a mindlink. There are four different kinds, but right now you just need to know about this one. It’s just between you and me. It comes with the bond.

So now you can read my mind. Great. Victoria laid on her stomach and placed her head on her paws.

Baekhyun laughed at her again. I’ll teach you how to control it if you give me a chance. Laying down next to her, Baekhyun laid his chin on her back. He felt the rumble of her growling at him. I want this to work, Victoria, and I’m tired of banging heads every step of the way. Can’t we at least try to be good mates?

No, you’re an She growled at him.

Victoria heard his sigh in her head. Fine. We’ll make a deal. I’ll teach you all about being a werewolf. All the history, how to control everything, how to fight, and how packs work if you give us a solid chance to try and fix this. I will try to be nice and patient if you try not to blame everything on me.

And if it doesn’t work? She asked.

Baekhyun hesitated to answer. Give me three months to make it work, and if it doesn’t I can ask the Alpha to move you to a different pack if you’d like or find you a place to live here and I won’t bother you.

She thought about it for a minute. On one hand, she got to learn about what she was now a part of and as an added bonus he would be nice to her. On the other, he wanted to work them out. He wanted them to be a couple. If it doesn’t work, I want you to tell me how to break the mate bond.

She felt hurt rush through the bond, but stayed true to her word. Baekhyun gave in. If it doesn’t work after three months, I’ll tell you how to break it. Do we have a deal?

Victoria sat up forcing Baekhyun to sit up as well. Looking him in the eyes, she let her voice travel into his head. Deal.