Reaching the kitchen, Victoria could feel Baekhyun a few steps behind her as she set his ring on the counter. Digging around in the drawers, she could feel his eyes on her as she maneuvered around the kitchen. She wasn’t too sure what to think of the way he watched her. For days he had wanted nothing to do with her, and although she understood he had been protecting his family, it all felt… sudden. A sudden change of heart, a sudden willingness to help her.

A sudden confession.

Victoria still had so many unanswered questions, unsettled fears in the back of her mind. Even with his promise to help her, it seemed as though helping only left her more confused. Her questions could only be answered with more confusion, and her fears? She didn’t dare share them aloud. How do you tell someone who claims to love you that you are afraid of them as much as you care about them?

Plucking a small steak knife from the drawer, she turned back to her mate while he leaned against the counter, still watching her. “How do I do this?” she asked, approaching him and placing the knife on the counter beside the ring. 

“Just a small cut on your hand and squeeze the ring,” Baekhyun responded. His eyes traveled from her to the blade, and she could see the uncertainty in them. “It’ll sting a bit, but the cut will heal over after a few minutes.” Looking back to her then down to the ring, he added, “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

Ignoring his comment, Victoria picked up the knife again. She took a slow breath as she began to drag the blade across her open palm. The cut was thin, but blood still pool in her hand. Baekhyun quickly took the knife away, tossing it into the sink nearby as Victoria placed the ring in her palm and squeezed her hand around it. He was right, it did sting, but not as badly as she had expected it too. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Baekhyun washing off the knife and putting it away before he came back to her side.

“It should be done now,” he softly told her. Reaching out, he took her hand in his, sending sparks up her arm at his touch, and began peeling her fingers open. In her palm sat the same ring, only now the pool of blood was gone, leaving behind a smear of what used to be. The ring, once black and clear, now black and red, glowing slightly as the pair looked down at it. The cut she had made vanished not even a scar left behind.

Baekhyun took the ring from her hand, wiping it off with a towel he took from the counter. No blood stuck to the outside of the ring, and he slipped in onto his finger with ease. Victoria looked up at him as he stared down at the jewelry sitting on his middle finger. Flexing his hand a few times, Baekhyun looked back at her and smirked. “Thanks. Ready to eat?”

He didn’t wait for her response before he shuffled past her and headed out the kitchen. Victoria wasn’t sure what she really expected once it was finished, but she did not expect him to be so casual about it. He had run two states over for these rings and made a big fuss over her not liking hers, but all he said about his was thanks? Rolling her eyes, Victoria wiped her hand on her pants and snatched up the bag, following him out the pack house. 

True to his word, Baekhyun did have a bag already packed and sitting on his bed. He shoved her clothes in it as well, and slung it over his shoulders. “Few tips before you shift,” he spoke as he adjusted the straps. Victoria had flopped down in his bean bag chair the second she entered the room. Her wolf loved being in his room, surrounded by his salty scent. “Strip out of everything you’re wearing. We can stick it all in the bag before we shift. It’s gonna hurt, but it’ll get easier every time you do it. I barely feel anything from it anymore. Most important, let your wolf help you. Give her control if you have to, but she will make it a lot easier for you.”

“Do you give him control every time?” she asked. She didn’t need to specify who he was; Baekhyun knew.

Shaking his head, he replied as he headed out his room, Victoria hopped up to follow him. “Don’t need to. He never wants to give control back. I learned without him growing up, and around you he just gets worse.”

Victoria’s eyebrows came together as she hopped down the steps behind him. “What do you mean he’s worse around me? I haven’t done anything.”

She heard him chucking as he stopped on the steps and turned back around to her. “You haven’t done anything? Did you already forget about your little stunt this morning, cause he sure didn’t, and he won’t let me either.” When she gave him an odd look, he shook his head and stepped up to the step she was on. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, his breath sending chills down her spine she tried her best to ignore. “He wants to finish mating with you, Victoria. Imagine holding a starving lion back from a juicy steak. You’re the steak.”

He lingered there a moment, his breath cascading down her neck and causing goosebumps to raise on her arms. He chuckled lightly again as he pulled away from her and turned, continuing down the staircase. Victoria felt froze a moment as he trotted away, a shaky breath leaving her as her heart hammered in her chest. Her wolf whined at his absence, and Victoria silently shushed her and ran a hand across her face as she jogged down the steps to catch up with him. 

In the kitchen, he waited for her, a cheeky grin across his lips like he had just gotten away with something he shouldn’t have. Julia noticed her coming down and smiled at her. “Well where are you two off to?” 

“Just a run,” Baekhyun said, eyeballing the pot his mother stood in front of. “We missed breakfast, so I figured we could swing by Levi’s and grab a bite for lunch. I’d kill for a burger right now.”

“I bet you would,” his mother shook her head at him. “You’re father tells me you went to see Cecelia? You ran all the way to Cecelia and back in three days?”

Her look quickly changed from light to stern as she raised an eyebrow at her son. Victoria leaned forward against the island and looked between them. Julia hadn’t scolded him in front of her in a few days now, and it amused her to watch the supposed tough guy get fussed at by his mother. “She goes by Carter now,” was Baekhyun defense.

“Oh,” Julia mocked him. “She goes by Carter now? How lovely. And did you tell your mate how long it takes to run to Oregon?”

Victoria peeked up at this, not sure where Julia was going. She had assumed it had taken most of his absence, but she hadn’t thought much more about it. Her eyes flicked to Baekhyun, who quickly turned his own away. “I mean it didn’t take that-”

“Forty-two hours,” Julia cut him off. “So tell me, son, how you managed a seventy-two hour trip when it takes over half that time just to run there once? Not even counting a trip back?” Baekhyun ran his tongue against the inside of his cheek as he thought of an excuse, but didn’t have a chance to speak before Julia. “I bet you are hungry, boy.”

Victoria narrowed her eyes as she looked between them, slowly putting the pieces together in the silence. “Yep,” Baekhyun mumbled and rubbed the back of his head. “So, uh, we’re gonna go to Levi’s…. And work on, uh…. Shifting….” He trailed off as his mother huffed and turned back to her pot. “So, uh…. Love you, bye.” Quickly turning, Baekhyun made his way for the door.

“Wait so,” Victoria frowned as her mate took his exit and turned to his mother. “How did he go so fast?”

Sighing, Julia shook her head again. “Because he’s a fool,” she looked over her shoulder at Victoria with a deep frown. “Baekhyun’s a fast runner, I know, but no wolf makes a distance like that as fast as he did. So he either is faster than he’s previously shown, or he ran nonstop. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cecelia, or whatever she wants to be called now, gave him something to help with that, either. You go, scold him for me, and make sure he eats.” Cracking a small smile at her, Julia shooed Victoria off with the cooking spoon.

With a nod, Victoria walked out the house to find him, which was easier than she expected as he was waiting for her outside the door. After seeing her come out, Baekhyun turned and began heading towards the treeline, leaving her to jog a bit to keep up. She followed him in silence for a while, until he stopped by a tree and set the bag down. “So first let’s get you in the grove of the mindlink again,” he told her casually as he slipped out of his shoes and stuffed them into the bag.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Victoria nodded her head and sat on the floor of the forest. 

She hung begun untying her shoes when she was started by his voice in her head. It’s easiest in your other form, but it’ll be good to get used to it this way too. Looking up at him, Baekhyun was fumbling with his watch, not even needing to glance at her to use it. You haven’t gotten tired of staring at me today? The cocky smirk crossed his lips again, and Victoria rolled her eyes.

“Just waiting on instructions,” she said as she stuffed her tennis shoes into the bag with his. “Kind of need to know how to do something before I can do it.”

You already know how to do it he replied, though his lips didn’t move. You’ve done it before. Just project your thoughts to me.

Rolling her eyes at him, Victoria closed her eyes and thought hard about what she wanted to say, imagining the words in her head and physically pushing them at him. When was the last time you ate? He didn’t respond, and Victoria opened her eyes to look at him again, unsure if it even worked. “Well?” she asked aloud, and he turned to look at her. “How long has it been?”

From the look on his face, she could tell he had in fact heard her the first time. “Mom’s making a bigger deal out of it than it is,” he defended himself. “There are wolves that make three times the trip I did without ever stopping. So I-”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “You could have just stopped, and hell, called to check in. Better than that, why the hell did you go alone? With all the that has happened with rogues-”

“Can we not fight?” He asked, looking down at her with a tired expression. She could see the exhaustion in his tired eyes, but couldn’t tell if it was from the trip or not. “You can yell at me or whatever after we get something to eat, I don’t care. Just a few hours of not arguing with each other.”

Victoria pulled her gaze from his tired expression. As much as she wanted to explain why he shouldn't have done what he had, she knew he was right. She was just as tired of arguing as he seemed to be, and the scolding could be saved for a later date. Choosing not to respond, Victoria sat cross-legged next to the back pack and dropped the conversation. Her attention turned to the task at hand: shifting. She knew it would hurt, most likely even more than she expected, but she tried not to show how nervous she was. “How do I start?”

“Well, first we strip,” Baekhyun said simply. He glanced around a moment before grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it over his head.

Avoiding staring at his exposed torso, Victoria tried to play off her creeping blush as nerves. “W-what? No! I am not stripping in the woods!” She hissed at him and covered her chest with her arms. Just the idea of being exposed that way made her feel exposed and nervous. Victoria had never been shy of her body or looks, but she still didn’t like the idea of it. Her mind briefly recalled Baekhyun’s mention of the pictures Marcus had taken, and her arms wrapped tighter around herself. 

She could feel his eyes burning into her, but refused to meet his. “We just go you those clothes, and you aren’t about to rip through them,” he told her. She could hear him continuing to undress and kept her eyes on the ground. “So take them off, and then I’ll tell you how to shift.”

“No, I’m not doing that,” Victoria responded stubbornly. While she kept her gaze away, she heard the sound of tearing skin that made her queasy. Her eyes snapped back to her mate, but she was a second too slow. Baekhyun was already gone and replaced by the large cherry wolf. From where she sat, the wolf stood much taller than her, towering over her even though it stood a few feet away. She watched it as it picked Baekhyun’s clothing up in it’s mouth and dropped them on top of the bag. “I’m not stripping.”

Then you are not shifting, she heard his voice as clear as day as she met the crystal blue eyes. Baekhyun nudged the bag with his nose, and Victoria reached over to stuff his clothes in and zip it closed. Pausing a moment, Victoria snatched her shoes from the bag again before closing it. Victoria.

“I am not stripping,” she frowned at him, emphasizing each word. Pulling her shoes over her feet, Victoria pulled the bag over her shoulders and began walking in the direction she assumed was the right direction. “I’ll be fine with my human legs, thanks. We should have just shifted before we left your house.”

She heard the wolf huff behind her and tried to ignore it. As much as she didn’t want it to, the sight of the cherry wolf still scared her. The nightmares still vivid in the back of her head. Victoria had tried to talk herself out of it, telling herself it was still Baekhyun, and he wouldn’t hurt her. But the fear that sank in her stomach at the sight of the wolf told her enough. 

A cold nose bumped against the back of her arm, and she glanced over her shoulder at him. His eyes were sad, she could see that now, and, unfortunately, she knew why as well. Baekhyun could feel her fear. “You gonna lead the way or what?” She asked, trying to fool him with a slight smile she knew he could she through.

The wolf nodded once and laid on its stomach. Get on.

Raising her brow, Victoria chuckled. “I can walk just fine, Baek. You don’t need to-”

We’re leaving the territory. Get on so we can run if we need to. He cut her off, shifting slightly on the ground. Victoria debated arguing with him, but held her tongue. When it came to her safety, she knew Baekhyun wouldn’t budge. Sighing to herself, Victoria took a step towards him and swung her leg over his back. Once she had settled, Baekhyun stood again and began walking into the woods. Victoria felt uncomfortable straddling his back like this, and tried to pretend she was riding a horse . 

The walking slowly became trotting. Victoria grimace as she felt him continue to pick up his pace until she was leaning forward holding around his neck. She squeezed her eyes closed and his her face from the wind as he sprinted through the trees, dodging around fallen logs as he went. Squeezing her legs around him, Victoria held on as best she could.

With his speed, the trip didn’t take very long. Suddenly she felt Baekhyun’s body changing beneath her. Gasping and pulling back, Victoria fell back onto the dirt as the wolf shifted back into the boy with the cherry hair. “A little warning next time,” she huffed as she pulled the bag from her back and began throwing clothes at him.

“You were choking the hell out of me, I don’t want to hear it,” Baekhyun laughed at her. Zipping the bag closed again, Victoria narrowed her eyes at him. Her cheeks lit up when her eyes met his. His bare chest didn’t compare to the light she found in his chocolate orbs as he flashed her the most sincere smile she had ever seen from him. She felt lost in his eyes, and he looked away from her too quick for her liking as he continued to dress. “Geez, if I would’ve known you would try to kill me, I would’ve let you rip the clothes.”

“Why’d we bring extra clothes if you were just going to strip anyway,” she asked, focusing all her attention on the zipper as she tried to hide the way her heart sped up at the sight of him.

A hand came into her view, and she took it. Baekhyun pulled her to her feet, his smile from before practically gone already and replaced with his resting face. “Emergencies,” he shrugged as he dropped her hand and began walking away. 

Victoria jogged to catch up with him, falling instep beside him as he led them to the cafe. “You think there’s going to be an emergency?”

She watched him sigh and run a hand through his messy hair. “Vic, you go get the mail, and there is an emergency. I can’t take you anywhere without someone or something trying to kill us. Yes, I think there will be an emergency.” 

Crossing her arms over her chest, Victoria looked ahead at the trail. The farther they went, the more familiar it became, until she was sure were they were. It was the same trail she went down after school with Tao. opened to ask him another question, but her words caught in as he grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together. Looking down at their hands, she looked between them and his face until he spoke up. 

“Don’t act like it’s so shocking and weird,” Baekhyun frowned and kept his eyes forward. “I’m just-”

“I know, outside of territory,” she mumbled, stuffing her other hand into her pocket. Victoria felt him glance at her and bit the inside of her cheek. Even though he told her how he feels, even though she can feel how he feels, it still felt strange when they touched, at least to her it did. She wasn’t used to the sparks that erupted on her skin whenever they touched, or the bubbling that began in her stomach. It made her uneasy, like she was experiencing something she wasn’t supposed too. 

It didn’t feel that way to Baekhyun. He felt the sparks just as she did, and the anxious bubbling in his stomach, but he loved them. He loved the cool feeling on her skin on his that some days felt like it was boiling. Baekhyun missed her touch the second it left him, and wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms. As much as he hated taking her out of the territory with all the danger it put her in, he would do it every day he could just for the excuse to keep her close, just to touch her a little longer. It was selfish, he knew, but he didn’t care, he would stay selfish for this. Baekhyun needed these moments.

He could still feel the frustration in the pit of his stomach at his brother. Going behind him back, speaking to Kris about getting her that ugly room at the pack house. A room he had Amber decorate, no less. The house thing stank of his sister, even he could only pick up Victoria’s scent on the bed. Baekhyun wanted desperately to say no, she would be staying with him, or even better, move into the room with her. Have all night and all morning with her to himself, not mother or annoying siblings to get in the way, but he couldn’t. Victoria didn’t want him there. She didn’t want to share a room with him, and he only had a little while to change that. To somehow convince her to love him.

“Is this it?” Her voice drew him back from his thoughts, and Baekhyun looked up at the building she had stopped them in front of. The smell of grease and fatty foods make his nose cringe, but he hid it with a grin.

“Yeah, come on.” Leading her in, he pulled her over to a corner table. A perky blonde human approached them and placed down menus. Baekhyun could feel the girl staring at him, and the annoyance coming from his mate because of it. “Two waters for now, thanks,” he said, without glancing at either of them. The woman replied with some kind of agreement Baekhyun didn’t listen too, his mind instead focused on the feelings coming off of his mate.

His wolf stirred in Baekhyun’s chest, loving the way she got riled up when another female was around him. Digging past that, he stared absently at the menu in front of him. Past her clear anger, he could feel her jealousy. Baekhyun latched onto it; it being the only thing giving him hope of her feeling the same way for him. What’s with him and blondes? Her thoughts floated through the bond, and Baekhyun raised his menu to hide his grin. Everywhere he goes, it’s always a blond bimbo throwing herself at him. What, he has a thing for blondes or something… I’m not bleaching my hair for the next billion years…

“You see anything you like?” he asked, setting the menu down. Baekhyun grinned as Victoria physically jumped in surprise, and he knew he would never get tired of this. She was always lost in thought, for as long as he had known her. Always spending time with herself in her head, no matter who was around. He loved the little shock she got whenever she was suddenly snapped back to reality. “Or you wanna spend a little more time picking a new hair color?”

The glare on her face had his wolf yipping in his chest. His wolf loved when she got angry when she fussed at him and smacked him around. Baekhyun always thought he wanted a submissive mate, someone that did what they were told, but he couldn’t ever see Victoria being that way. He would never want her that way, and his wolf wouldn’t either. 

“Stay out of my head,” she whispered angrily at him. 

Slapping the menu down onto the table, Baekhyun chuckled as she glared at it. “Nah, I don’t think I will.”

The glare turned up to him again. “I don’t poke around in your head,” she mumbled.

The waitress set the waters down and turned to him again. He felt Victoria’s glare on her. “So what can I get you, hon?”

“You ready to order?” he smiled at Victoria, who only glared back at him like this was his fault.

“I’ll get the steak with a side of fries, medium rare, and he wanted the cheese burger, no onions, and that weird mac and cheese with bread crumbs or something on it,” Victoria said, plucking up the menus and holding them out to the waitress who finally looked at her. “And if you plan on just ogling at him through the whole meal, you can make it to go and forget your tip.”

The waitress narrowed her eyes slightly, but nodded her head. “Right, sorry.”

As she walked away, Baekhyun laughed lightly. “Since when do you know my order?”

“Since you and Chanyeol brought me here and called me crazy,” Victoria shrugged like it was no big deal. “Which I totally wasn’t crazy, and you’re still a for that. You and Chanyeol got the same thing, and you both barely ate. So I’m assuming you either don’t actually like this place or were trying to get away from me.”

Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the table on his elbows. “Little bit of both. The food here is trash, and you were poking too many fingers.”

“Well why did we come here if it’s trash? I thought you liked this place?”

“I like getting out the… I like getting out every now and then. If we stayed home, mom would have wanted you to go help with the deliveries, and me to go with the Doc until you’re in top shape to learn.” Absentmindedly stirring his water with his straw, Baekhyun tried not to think too much. He knew she was likely ignoring him and trying to pick his brain to get back at him, so the less he thought about the better. “Goddess forbid I want to jump start this training. It’s not like I’ve got all the time in the world here.”

He watched her face for any sort of reaction, but if she was affected by his words she was hiding it well. “I don’t want to help with deliveries anyway,” she said and sipped her drink. “But I don’t want to do nothing either. That whole time you were gone those were my options. To sit in my room all day or go help with the food. I still don’t get why you just had to run off.”

“I told you when we went shopping that I was going to get your something,” Baekhyun replied. “I told you I had to go to a witch to get it too. You think witch’s just hand out in the stockroom at walmart?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Well, I could have at least come with you. It would have been good practice.”

“That would be horrible practice! It’d take weeks just to get there, and you would be able to run every day like that. I went as fast as I could, okay?” Baekhyun tried to keep his voice low as they spoke. He wasn’t too worried about the humans hearing them, but it never hurt to be cautious. He could see Victoria gearing up to argue, and held out a hand to her. “Look, drop it, okay? I’m back now, I’m good, I’m about to eat ty fatty food, and then we can go home and relax today. I’ll be one hundred percent in the morning.”

“Are you not one hundred percent now?” she frowned at him. Baekhyun shook his head, and Victoria continued. “How fast do you shift normally then? Cause my shift felt like hours.”

“It was probably only a few minutes,” he shrugged again. “Like I said, it’ll get easier with practice. We can probably just start small though, partial shifts until they feel natural.” Victoria stared at him blankly, and he waved off her look. “Not here.”

She nodded slowly, fiddling with her fingers and looking away from him. Baekhyun felt no need to press her for more questions, most of them he couldn’t answer here as it was. The waitress returned and set down their plates. She didn’t glance at Baekhyun again, likely not willing to risk her tip over it. Victoria picked at her food slowly, while Baekhyun demolished his. He had been trying to avoid thinking about how hungry he was, and now that he had food in front of him it was hard to slow down.

By the time he finished his plate, Victoria had barely eaten half her steak. He pushed his plate aside and raised a brow. “Not hungry? You skipped breakfast.”

Victoria shook her head and pushed the plate towards him. “Just a stomach ache.”

“Stomach ache? Like… cramps?” He mumbled, popping one of her fries in his mouth.

“No, not cramps,” she shook her head. “Just like… nauseous? I don’t know.”

Baekhyun frowned at her. “You feel warm? Like a fever?” He wouldn’t be surprised if she did. The heat can take weeks or hours depending on the wolf. As much as he would like to avoid it, Baekhyun couldn’t say he would mind if she went into heat and got clingy. He was sure he wouldn’t have too much of a problem resisting her during it. He had done it this long after all.

“I mean not really,” Victoria frowned and rubbed her stomach. “Man, I hope I’m not pregnant.” Baekhyun’s eyes shot to her, angry and nostrils flared, to find her smiling back at him.

“Yeah, doubt it,” he frowned at her. “Like anyone would sleep with you.”

Victoria chuckled, rolling her eyes. “True. You’d probably eat them if they tried.”

The way home was the same as the way out, Victoria on Baekhyun’s back as he ran through the woods. When they got near the pack, he shifted back and changed. Victoria knew her way from there, and began heading back, Baekhyun let to jog and catch up. He had no trouble with that.

As they approached the pack house, they could see Kris leaning against the building. Victoria instinctively cowered behind Baekhyun as Kris turned to them. Holding onto the back of his shirt, Victoria peeking over his shoulder to watch him speak with Kris.

“Something up?” Baekhyun asked once they were only a few feet apart. He could feel Victoria’s nervous spike whenever Kris was around, but his friend didn’t have the same affect on him. 

Kris nodded his head. “I think so. Dad showed up about an hour ago, King in tow.”