After changing, again, Victoria followed Baekhyun out of the pack house and towards the field Chanyeol had taken her to before. The walk there was one filled by silence. Only a few people passed them, and those that did smiled or nodded. Victoria was ready to wait for him outside the cabin, assuming he would want to change out of the button up her wore into a t-shirt, but he continued walking, leaving her to jog a moment to catch up.  

They reached the field, and it looked the exact same she had seen it the first time. People were spread out on mats, though most of them were empty right now. Only two guys were by the weights, leading her to wonder if more people showed up later in the day.

“Come on.” She looked over to him, only to find him walking away already towards the back. He led her over to an empty mat, kicking his shoes off next to it as he stepped on. Victoria prefered to leave her shoes on, and stood on the opposite side of him. “So I know what’s his name-”

“Reese.”

“Taught you some stuff,” he said, ignoring when she cut in. “So let’s start with a basic fight. I’m assuming you know take downs?” She nodded, and he continued. “Good. Three taps anywhere you can reach is the signal to let go, and any grabs to the throat win if you can hold it long enough for your claws to extend.”

“How long does that take?”

Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders. “In a real fight? About three seconds.” Victoria nodded slowly, watching him as he stared back at her. She wasn’t too thrilled about fighting him, but she didn’t think he would hurt her either. “Whenever you’re ready, V.”

Again, she nodded, but wasn’t sure what to do. Baekhyun clearly didn’t plan on making the first move; he didn’t even put up a guard. Did he have that little confidence in her or that much in himself? Victoria guessed it didn’t matter. She recalled what Tanner had said, about Baekhyun being one of the best fighters in the pack. How was she supposed to win? “You plan on staring at me all day, or attacking?”

“I’m thinking,” Victoria narrowed her eyes at him, but he grinned back at her.

“Thinking?” he took slow steps towards her, and Victoria watched him carefully. “You don’t have time to think in a fight. You have to act. Stop spending so much time in your head.”

Standing no more than a foot away from her, Victoria glared at him as he looked down at her. His grin wasn’t happy, it was cocky. He knew he would win, no matter what she did. “I don’t think this will work,” she told him. His head cocked to the side as she continued. “My wolf won’t let me hurt you. She’ll stop me.”

“You think mine won’t?” he chuckled at her, running a hand through his hair. “Besides, he isn’t going to let you fight anyone else. Deal with it.”

Rolling her eyes at him, Victoria tilted her head back to pull her hair up into a bun. She could feel his eyes burning into her, but ignored it. “Funny, he sounds so possessive, but it seems like you couldn’t care less.” Standing straight again, she raised her eyebrow at him. “I have a theory, actually,” she continued, “that you are only doing any of this, the deal and all, because you feel like you have to. You have to make the bond work.”

The more she spoke, the colder his expression became, until he seemed like he was staring through her more than at her. “Whatever helps you sleep at night,” he regarded her coldly. Baekhyun took a step back from her, his eyes never leaving hers. “You want to keep pretending I hate you? That’s fine, but it doesn’t change the truth.”

“Then what do you feel about me?” Taking a step forward, she closed the gap between them again. “You never actually tell me how you feel. You just hide it.”

“How I feel?” He repeated. Baekhyun brought up his hand, his fingers brushing over the mark on her neck. She stared at him, waiting for him to give her something, anything. Suddenly he grabbed her by the arm, flipping her over him and slamming her down onto the mat. Her breath left her as he back slammed into the ground, and she gasped for air as a knee  pressed against her hips. “I feel like you should keep your guard up. Nice try though, threw me off for about half a second.”

Staring up at him as she wheezed for air, Victoria’s expression hardened into a glare. “I wasn’t… I wasn’t trying to throw you off.”

Chuckling at her, Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay,” he said. His knee remained pressed against her hips, he waited until her caught her breath before he grabbed her arms. She trying to smack him, or pull them away, but his grip was stronger. Pinning her wrists to the mat, he stared down at her. “You can try to escape or tap out,” he told her.

Holding her glare on him, Victoria didn’t bother to struggle. “I wasn’t faking you out, Baekhyun. I’m serious. I meant what I said.”

“Vic, I’m not falling for it,” he grinned down at her. “Why the hell would you agree to the deal if you genuinely think I don’t like you even a little bit? That’s stupid.”

“Because you’re all I have left,” Victoria told him honestly, staring up at him. “It’s not stupid. I need this to work more than you do. The only connection I have to anyone is this bond. So whether you hate me or not, I need this to work. Now tell me again that I’m lying to you over a stupid pretend fight.”

Glaring down at her, Baekhyun didn’t show anything to give away what he was thinking. He was searching her face, clearly looking for any sign she was lying to him or tricking him. After a moment he let go of her wrist and removed her knee from her hips, allowing her to sit up. “I don’t hate you,” he said, his eyes not leaving her, “Not even close to hating you. You piss me off, and I get mad at you, but that doesn’t ever change how I feel about you.”

“How do you feel about me?” she asked, rubbing her wrist where he had held her down. “Can’t you just tell me? Why the hell are you doing any of this?”

She watched him sigh through his nose, his cold expression softening as he looked at her. “Look, I want this to work too. I want to stop butting heads every day. I want you to be my mate. You get it?”

Victoria was sure she did get it, but she needed to hear him say it. She knew she couldn’t say it back, and that was why he didn’t want to say it, but she needed to hear it for it to be real. “No, I don’t get it.”

Shaking his head at her, she watched his brown eyes roll before landing on her again. “Do I really have to say it?” She nodded at him, and he bit the inside of his lip. “If I say it will you stop thinking I hate you?” Again, she nodded. “Fine. I have a thing for you. I like you, and I have for years. There, happy?” Victoria stayed silent, just staring at him blankly as he frowned at her.

“You still look angry,” she told him, pointing to the cold expression on his face. “Confessions are supposed to be sweet, and this looks pretty forced.”

His nostrils flared as he took an annoyed breath and looked at her again. “That would be because you’re forcing me to confess.”

Victoria bit the inside of her lip and shook her head at him. “No, I just asked you to tell me how you feel about me. I’m not really buying it, by the way.”

“Do you really have to be this way?” he asked her for the second time today, to which she nodded at him. “What the hell do you want from me? I don’t hate you, I like you. How is that not telling you how I feel?”

Shrugging her shoulders Victoria bit back her smile as he slowly got more frustrated. “I mean it just sounds fake to me. Like you are just saying that cause you think it’s what I want to hear. I just want the truth, Baek.”

Staring at her Baekhyun sighed and shook his head. He closed his eyes a moment pressing the heels of his hands against them in frustration. “You know what? Fine.” He didn’t say anything else for a moment, and Victoria opened to say something, when she felt it. A white hot energy shot through the bond, staring in her chest and spreading down her body, leaving her tingly, like tiny shocks of electricity moving across her skin, causing her hair on her arms to stand straight. As the energy went through her in a solid wave, nearly knocking her back, she heard his voice in her head, soft and sweet. I love you, Victoria.

For a moment Victoria just sat there, taking slow breaths as the feeling left her body. As it passed, Baekhyun stood to his feet and walked over to his shoes. Staring at his back, Victoria stood as well, unable to tear her eyes from him. She could feel his emotion what he said, but she could feel something else seeping through the bond as well. As if a damn was broken, the white hot electricity was gone, leaving waves of thoughts and feelings behind. “I think that’s enough for today,” Baekhyun said, “If you need me, I’ll be getting food.”

Caught up in the waves coursing through her body, Victoria hadn’t realized he had put on his shoes and was already walking away from her. She scrambled to her feet and jogged to catch up with him again. He glanced down at her from the corner of his eyes, but didn’t say anything. For once, he didn’t need to, his eyes told her everything. She could see the nerves flash across his dark orbs and disappearing as he met her eyes, followed by a giddiness she didn’t think he was capable of. She wanted to ask if she could join him, but didn’t have to. She could feel his want for her through the bond. “How… Why are you doing this?” she found herself asking instead.

His eyes tore from hers, looking ahead down the trail. He sighed. “I’m not doing anything. What’s wrong? Too overwhelmed with two people’s emotions instead of just yours?” His words were still sharp and cold, annoyance shooting through the bond as he shoved his hands into his pockets. His face was hard, and his brows draw together. Victoria can see this unhappiness written all over his as if he had it tattooed to his forehead. Whatever he had done just then, it was clear Baekhyun did not want to.

“Don’t be pissy with me,” she snapped up at him. “Just tell me what you did, and I’ll leave you alone.”

Instant disappointment washed over her, and she knew it had come from him. “I opened the bond,” Baekhyun stated, “And in doing so, I had to let you in, completely. Congrats, you can read my thoughts and emotions. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? You could pick at them before, but now I can’t do much to stop you from digging.”

“So? What’s the big deal?” Victoria rolled her eyes at his angry stare away from her. He was clearly avoiding looking at her, and judging from the lack of difficulty she was having at reading his face, she could figure out why. “You had full access to all of my thoughts and feelings, it’s fair now.”

At that, she actually managed to make him chuckle, an angry sarcastic chuckle, but still. “No, it isn’t fair. The mating process isn’t finished, Victoria. I was planning on waiting till after that, but…” Baekhyun trialed off, his eyes softening and turning to her, “I couldn’t let you keep thinking I don’t want this to work.”

Something lit up in his eyes she couldn’t decipher, but was gone just as quickly as he turned away. Victoria hadn’t noticed they reentered what she was referring to as the ‘town square’ of the pack. Following him to the pack house, she was quiet until they entered her room. “What do you mean it’s not finished?” she spit out the question that had been floating around her head. “And what are we doing here? I thought we were getting food?”

“We are,” he nodded. “Go grab a change of clothes. We’re running to this little cafe in town.” She cocked her head to the side as he leaned against her bed, but he clearly understood her confusion. “Running, as in shifting? As in you will need clothes when we get there? Grab some clothes here, then we’ll run to my place. I’ve already got some in a backpack.”

“Why do you have clothes in a backpack? And what do you mean the mating isn’t finished?”

Baekhyun grinned at her, a genuine grin and crossed his arms across his broad chest. “Full of questions today, aren’t you, babe?” Blushing at the pet name, Victoria turned away from him into the backroom. “I planned on going to the cafe with you for breakfast,” he called as she picked out clothes. “Make up for being a and leaving for so long.” Hearing this, Victoria smiled to herself, but knew she should probably apologize for her behavior yesterday too. He was only gone to get her that ring, and even if she wasn’t too thrilled about wearing his blood, he wanted her to wear it.

“And the mating thing?”

“Pretty sure you can figure out the last part to that one,” he called back to her. The thought of that alone made her blush. “But, uh, there is kind of an issue now.”

Rolling her eyes, Victoria mumbled, “Of course there is… Things can’t just somewhat work out, can they?” Bundling up the clothes she had picked out and throwing them into a shopping bag from the other day. Dropping the bag on the counter, her eyes caught the red diamonds Baekhyun had set their earlier. Picking up the ring, she debated if she should bring it at all. He mentioned it was fragile, so would shifting break it? “Hey, Baek,” she called, stepping out into the doorway with the ring in her hand. “Do you have a really long chain or something I can put this on so it doesn’t break when I shift?”

The grin remained on his lips, but he shook his head. “You don’t need it. It’s made to shift with you. What, you thought I just bled on something from Kay?” Victoria shrugged her shoulders and watched as he dug in his back pocket. “No, I had to get it from a witch up in Oregon.” He pulled out another ring band, this one black with a clear stripe through the center. “The diamond is clear at first and changes when it comes in contact with blood to match the person’s mate.” He twirled the other ring around his fingers a moment, looking down at it. “She only sells in pairs, so…. This one’s mine, I guess.”

“I’m supposed to bleed on that one?” Victoria stared at the ring just as he was, not willing to make eye contact.

He shrugged, clearing his throat and stuffing it back in his pocket. “It’s just a tradition. It really doesn’t make a difference to me if you even wear that one. I already know you don’t like it, so it makes no difference now.”

Her eyes shot up to his again, that were staring back at her. As much as he tried to lie and say he didn’t care, she could see that he did. “Do you want me to do it or not?” she frowned at him, placing her free hand on her hip. “Don’t bother lying about it, just tell me if you want me to, and I will.” Baekhyun bit the inside of his cheek as he watched her. She could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out an answer. Raising her eyebrows at him after a moment of silence, Victoria rolled her eyes and stomped over to him. “Really? Great tactic,” she scoffed at him, reaching behind him to pull the ring from his pocket herself. He didn’t stop her, but chuckled as she scolded him. “Oh no, she’ll know if I’m lying,” she mocked his deeper voice, “Guess I better not say anything. That won’t give it away.”

Plucking the ring from his pocket, Victoria turned away, slipping hers on her finger and snatching her plastic bag from the counter. “Come on, dumb dumb,” she called over her shoulder. She heard the jingle of keys she assumed her snatched from the nightstand as he followed her down the hall to the kitchen.

“You don’t have to-”

“Shut up, Baekhyun,” she waved him off. “This is your tradition, and you clearly want to do it. You didn’t want to be all super open, but you did it for me. Pretty sure I can bleed on a ring for you.” Again, she felt his giddiness seep through the bond, and she found herself wondering if he felt her emotions this easily as well. She wondered too, if he had been this giddy all this time and chose to hide it.