Tao hugged his knees tightly to his chest. He'd finally found the safest place to sleep in the city: at the end of an alley next to the dumpster. Being surrounded on three sides, he thought he'd feel more secure. However, he was too restless to get any sleep.

 

"Kid, what are you doing back there?"

 

A wide-eyed Tao pressed up against the wall behind him and sputtered. "Don't come any closer."

 

The boy before him couldn't have been more than a few years older. He rolled his eyes. "Or what?"

 

"You don't know what I am." Tao gulped. "I could kill you in a second."

 

"Kill me?" The boy scoffed. "Me?"

 

Tao nodded.

 

"I know what you are and you don't have a snowball's chance in hell." He stuck out his hand. "Come on, pup."

 

Tao sighed and rolled over.

 

"I want an alpha. Not an omega."

 

He sat up in bed. The sun would be up soon and he hadn't gotten any sleep. He rolled out of bed before pulling on a shirt and jeans.

 

He made sure to close the door quietly. The slightest sound would wake the girl sleeping in the other room. It was her day off so she should at least get to enjoy it. He watched her slow, even breathing for a second before sneaking out of the apartment and heading for the woods.

 

 

 

Yixing's eyes twitched between his closed lids. He felt a tug in the back of his mind and knew automatically that it was Tao. He was hardly awake but the strong connection between the two was a familiar feeling.

 

He cracked open his eyes. The dawn crept in through the window behind him and highlight Kori's outline next to him. Her pale shoulders shook in a nightmare and Yixing bit his lip. When she didn't seem to be settling down, he leaned over and kissed her temple lightly. She sighed in her sleep deeply and a small smile graced Yixing's lips before he fell back into slumber.

 

 

 

The sky started turning into a clear blue while Tao wandered around underneath it. Not long ago, he stood nearby and watched Suho take someone like him to his knees. If Tao even thought about rising up, he would meet the same fate or worse.

 

He groaned loudly at the clearing, throwing his hands over his head. A twig snapped, disrupting the quiet of the morning, and he whirled around in a silver blur.

 

"Well, good morning to you too." Byul muttered at the giant wolf looming over her.

 

The wolf growled lowly and pulled away, shrinking back into Tao. "What are you doing here?"

 

"You think I can't tell if something's on your mind?" Byul pushed herself off the ground and shook the grass out of her hair.

 

Tao looked down. He hadn't thought of that.

 

"You're stuck with me." The girl said light-heartedly, and stretched her arms out in front of her.

 

"Stuck isn't the word I'd use." Tao said under his breath. Byul pretended not to hear him.

 

"Don't let it bother you." She said, devoid of almost all emotion. "Forget I said it."

 

He nodded even though he wouldn't forget.

 

"I hate sitting still." She complained to no one in particular. Tao grinned slightly and shoved her shoulder.

 

"You're it." He took off into the thick grove that rimmed the clearing as his body morphed.

 

Byul instantaneously recovered from her shock and barreled after him as a ball of white fur.

 

It didn't take long for her to discover how fast Tao was. She felt her stomach drop but wasn't sure why. She slowed down unconsciously in time to find Tao's lanky human form confronted by three others.

 

"What are you doing out here so early?" Luhan asked. Tao shrugged.

 

Chen jostled his shoulder and chuckled. "You look like something's been keeping you up."

 

Tao shrugged again and Kyungsoo's eyes narrowed at his friend. His gaze flicked past his shoulder and he stumbled backward when he saw the white wolf between the trees. Luhan's jaw dropped and Chen followed Kyungsoo's clumsy lead.

 

"Who is that?" He sputtered.

 

Tao didn't have to turn his head to know what he was talking about and he bit his tongue.

 

The three others watched as the white wolf turned into the small girl from the cafe and stepped up behind Tao's shoulder.

 

"Don't stare." She barked. "It's indecent."

 

They all looked away in opposite directions, involuntarily following her command.

 

Chen was the first to get his bearings. "You're a girl."

 

"What tipped you off?" Byul asked distastefully. She slowly circled the small group.

 

"But you're one of us." Luhan shifted nervously when she disappeared from his vision.

 

"Not really." She poked her head over Kyungsoo's shoulder. "I'm better."

 

Kyungsoo leaned away from her. "Female wolves don't exist."

 

"Surprise." She smirked. Tao watched her carefully, actions not unnoticed.

 

"How?" Luhan snarled. "This is impossible."

 

"But it still happened." Byul sighed and leaned against Tao's frame. "I'm an anomaly."

 

"You should get lost." Chen glared at her. "Someone like you isn't welcome around here."

 

"Maybe you should take your own words to heart." Tao spat, taking everyone aback.

 

Realizing what he'd done, he grabbed Byul's wrist and dragged her away from the group and out of the woods.