Jihye looked over her medication shelves to see what she needed to restock on. Need some aloe…kelp…hmmm…running low on some of the mushrooms…

She sighed as she glanced out the door. A little birdy told her that the werewolves were mobilizing against the Stymphalian birds, so it was probably best to stock up on everything. Jihye predicted they probably wouldn’t need it for at least another two or three days. But that still wasn’t enough time to stock up on EVERYTHING.

With a sigh, she looked over at the map of the wooded area on her wall. Grabbing a piece of bark to write on, she began planning out her best route to stock up on medicinal ingredients as she could in preparation for her anticipated wave of patients. Ugh, this was going to take so long…

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door before a familiar face entered.

“Long time no see, Seungho~” Jihye greeted with a bright smile. He stared at her with a blank look suspiciously.

“What do you want?”

“What do you mean? I’m just happy to see you! I can’t be happy to see my most wonderful friend in the world?” gasped Jihye, wiping away imaginary tears. “I’m hurt.”

“Right, so what do you want? Herbs? Roots? Nothing from living creatures. I’m not getting into another battle with a viper for venom again…” he grumbled, remembering how close those fangs were to killing him.

“Well~ I need these,” she told him, putting her list of things in front of him. He raised his eyebrow and chortled, pushing it back at her with a shake of his head.

“It’s gonna take at least a day to get all that. I have a life, you know?” he informed. She rolled her eyes.

“Of course not all of it. I just need you to take half of it, and then I can get the other half. I can plan out two routes so we can finish in like…half a day or something. So please, oh great, wonderful tengu Seungho?” she flattered with a toothy grin. It was his turn to roll his eyes, though the playful smile on his face was an indication that he was going to cooperate.

“Fine, but only because you asked so nicely. Are you sure you’re not gonna make me do most of the work while you go off trying to find a cucumber patch?” Seungho smirked as Jihye glared at him.

“You can be such a pain in the behind sometimes, you know that? If we weren’t friends, I would have kicked you in the keister for that comment,” she grumbled as she got to work, making up a map for him to follow. He laughed goodheartedly as he took his spot next to her, looking over her list.

“You know, I did bring some cucumbers for you.”

That comment earned him a kick in the .

~

Kira stretched out like a cat and scratched the back of her head with her hind paw, flicking her tail up and down as she waited patiently for Luhan to walk back with her. While Jihye managed to patch him up, he was in no condition to fly yet so the vampire was grounded until he recovered.

“You sure you don’t need help?” she offered, a bit sick of the slow pace they were moving at. She was going to return Luhan back to his colony, and then prepare for the trip back to the Stymphalian birds’ nesting site. She quickly slipped into the house since they were close enough that Luhan could see where it was.

The door slammed behind her as she entered.

She turned to see Hoya standing in front of the door.

“That’s not exactly the welcome I expected to get in my own home.” Kira folded her arms and glared at Hoya. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Before Kira could react, Hoya dashed forward and grabbed her wrist. She yelled out in surprise as Hoya dragged her back a few steps and handcuffed her wrist to a large, heavy bag. Her eyes widened as she pulled at the handcuffs.

“Hoya! What is the meaning of this?!” she hissed in anger as she continued struggling.

“Don’t bother trying to get out. They’re handcuffs made by humans specifically for demons, so your shape shifting isn’t going to work. I wouldn’t try tearing the bag either; it’s made of layers of raw hide. Even so, I’m sure you’ll be able to get out, but not before I seal your door with a giant boulder,” he informed her calmly as he walked around the room, searching for something.

“Are you trying to kill me?!”

“Of course not, the bag is full of meat. It’ll be plenty before we come back,” he informed as he turned back toward Kira before resuming his search. “I’m not letting you come with us, Kira. It’s too dangerous.”

She stared at him in disbelief for a moment before scoffing drily, “Excuse me? Too DANGEROUS?! Am I a child?! You can’t tell me what I can or can’t do! And not to mention I’m the one that can navigate the Stymphalian birds’ mountain. You need me!”

Hoya grinned when he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled out a rolled up piece of paper from under her bed. “Not if we have a map.”

“Hoya! You’re making a huge mistake! Even if you have a map of the area, it’s their home turf! Not to mention, even if you manage to rally all the werewolves in our forest, you’re still outnumbered at least 20 to 1. Please! Hoya, get this thing off me! I can help you guys take them by surprise!” she pleaded as she tugged on the handcuff. “You’re gonna get yourself killed!”

He roared, eyes flaring bright gold as he punched the wall next to her face and glared directly into her eyes. His breaths were harsh and quick from anger.

“I already lost Rey. I’m not losing you, too.”

Her eyes widened.

“Don’t pretend you aren’t still hurt from your last venture to their mountain. If you come with us, you’ll just be in the way,” he told her as he removed his fist from her wall. “I’ll see you when I come back.”

“So you’re just going to leave me here. By myself. Thanks a lot, jackass,” she spat in frustration rather than anger. Hoya rolled his eyes as he opened the door, causing Luhan to fall unceremoniously onto the floor.

“Look, I got you a friend. Now you won’t be lonely,” he grinned, grabbing Luhan by the back of his shirt and throwing him into the middle of the room before walking out.

“HOYA!”

THUD.

Silence.

Kira took a deep breath, sliding down onto the floor, and sighed. She stared at the handcuff on her wrist for a moment as Luhan picked himself up and sat next to her.

“How much of that did you hear?” she asked.

“…all of it,” Luhan answered truthfully. “I was worried when the door slammed shut so I ran over.”

Silence.

“Can you go grab the chainsaw from under my bed?” Kira asked casually.

“You-you have a chainsaw under your bed?” Luhan questioned as his eyes bulged out in disbelief.

“Yeah, I have a secret trap door under my bed that I keep valuables in case of an emergency. I’m only telling you because I can’t reach it. You steal anything from me and I’ll kill you,” she threatened as she looked along her ceiling, smirking. “Excellent, he didn’t notice that. Hurry up, Luhan. We need to catch up to them before they do something stupid…like do any of this operation without me.”

“O-Okay…” he mumbled back as he looked for the chainsaw she was talking about. He kept glancing back at her a few times before finally asking, “Why exactly…are the werewolves doing this if it’s so dangerous? Why not just let them eat the humans?”

Kira sighed, “Luhan, you’ve lived in this area your whole life, so I’m sure you don’t actually know the geography of this place that well. But I’ve seen the human maps. They have so many things charted. That city might be surrounded by our forests but our giant forest is surrounded by many other cities. If the humans in that city send an S.O.S. to their comrades, we’re all ing dead.”

Luhan had another question, too. But he kept that one to himself as he found the chainsaw. Kira walked him through how to use it and to be careful not to saw her wrist off. She really did want her hand attached to her body when she gets out. Most likely, she was going to be wearing a nice iron handcuff as a bracelet but she would at least be free.

As Luhan sawed through the chain link, Kira noticed him glancing at her every now and then. At first, she thought it was to check if she was okay or not. But after watching his mouth open and close a few times, she realized he had another question for her, but he didn’t want to say it. She had a good idea what that question was, too. When Luhan (kind of) freed Kira from her binding, she answered his unspoken question.

“He was my mate.”

“What?”

“Rey. He was my mate,” Kira mumbled as she growled angrily at the cuff on her wrist, still inhibiting her ability to use her powers. “He died during the War, killed by humans.”

“I’m sorry for your loss…” he spoke quietly as if afraid to speak louder, causing her to chuckle.

“That’s history now. And I’m not about to have history repeat itself. Like hell I’m gonna let my wolves go on a suicide mission without me,” Kira scoffed as she told Luhan to open the cleverly concealed hole on the ceiling so they could escape.

~

“Jae, wake up!” Aron whispered harshly as he shook the young girl, waking her up from her sleep. He picked her up and tossed her into a hollowed tree, checking behind him to see if he had arrived yet.

“Oppa? What’s happening?” she mumbled sleepily, looking up at their alpha. It was still dark outside, so it wasn’t time to get up yet.

 “I heard Sunggyu’s call earlier indicating he’s in the area. I’m not taking any chances, so stay here and don’t move, got it?” Aron commanded, earning him a nod from Jae. He patted her on the head. “Good girl.”

He covered up the hole with a bunch of leaves before going to wake up the rest of his pack members. Soon after, Sunggyu arrived with a surprise on his face.

“Aron, I didn’t know you still reside in this forest. I thought you had moved years ago,” the leader of Infinite asked in curiosity.

“Things changed. But regardless, my pack and I travel in this area,” Aron answered as the rest of his pack woke up and stood behind him.

Sunggyu smiled, “Good. Then you’ll be able to join us against the Stymphalian birds.”

“We can’t.”

Sunggyu’s smile dropped as he stared at Aron in confusion. “Why not?”

“My pack and I aren’t prepared for battle. We’ve been living in this fairly secluded area for so long that we haven’t fought in a long time,” the leader of New Venus replied.

“Aron, while I normally respect your decisions, I need all the wolves I can for this. You’re one of the best alpha wolves out there, especially when it comes to keeping command over a large group. Most packs of your size would be dead by now,” Sunggyu complimented sincerely, though from his expression, he was peeved that Aron was refusing to follow him. Aron bit his lip. Even though Sunggyu was alone, he could seriously do some damage against his younger ones if he decided force was necessary. Aron wasn’t lying when he said his pack wasn’t ready for battle. Their magnae line (excluding Jae) have never been in a serious battle before. He wasn’t about to sacrifice his pack for this. Not to mention, he wasn’t leaving Jae behind. As his mind ran at a mile a minute, trying to come up with some way of getting Sunggyu to leave them alone, Alice placed her hand on his shoulder and offered him a reassuring smile before standing in front of him.

“I’ll go in Aron’s place and bring my girls with me,” she spoke in a firm, confident voice. Her eyes bore directly at Sunggyu, unafraid, as her normal playful persona seemingly disappeared completely.

“Alice!” Aron yelled disapprovingly, but Alice did not turn around to answer.

“I appreciate the gesture, Alice, and no offense, but I need Aron’s leadership abilities,” Sunggyu sighed from exasperation.

“So you just need me?” Aron clarified.

“Preferably with your pack.”

Aron sighed, glancing over at his pack. Alice shot him a concerned look. He knew what her look meant: “What about Jae?” But the longer Sunggyu was here, the more dangerous it was for Jae. Just as he thought that, Sunggyu began sniffing the air while looking around.

“Is that…human I smell?” he questioned before shooting a stern glare at Aron. He could see how tense his pack members became at his question and hoped Jae stayed absolutely silent from here on out until Sunggyu left. “Has your pack been hunting humans?”

“Of course not. You know as well as I do that I would never harm a human. Perhaps a lost human wandered over here while we were out hunting,” Aron lied straight through his teeth, changing the subject immediately before Sunggyu found his story suspicious.  “I’ll join your raid. However, I’m leaving Minhyun, Ren, and Yooyoung with Alice here. They’re far too inexperienced and will only get in the way.”

“I understand and respect your decision. We’ll be meeting at our territory tomorrow at dawn to move out. I’ll see you there. Until then, Aron, Alice,” he bid his farewell and ran off swiftly. Everyone released a large sigh simultaneously as if all holding their breath at the same time.

“Jae, you can come out now,” Aron announced. He watched as the girl pushed the leaves away and ran straight into Aron’s chest, clinging onto him tightly.

“You can’t leave, Oppa!” she cried immediately, her voice wavering slightly in fear. Aron smiled, hugging her tightly and her hair.

“We’ll be back in a few days. Until then, Alice will take care of you. I’ll make sure everyone gets back safely, so stop your whining,” Aron told her, somewhat harshly. She pulled back, staring up, hurt evident in her eyes, but she nodded obediently. “Good girl. We’ll be back before you know it, so behave for Alice. That goes for you three too.”

Minhyun, Ren, and Yooyoung nodded as well when Aron glanced at the three of them. He told the part of his pack that was leaving to prepare themselves because they had to leave immediately to make it to Infinite’s territory before dawn.

Alice pulled Aron to the side and whispered quietly, “Are you sure about this? You have never been separated from Jae for this long before…you know how much she relies on you.”

“I don’t have a choice, Alice. If I don’t go, Sunggyu will get suspicious and no doubt find out our secret. You know for a fact that Sunggyu is only against hunting humans because of the treaty. He hates humans and would kill Jae in a second if he found her. I’ll make sure we all make it back,” Aron explained. He gave Alice a sweet peck on her lips. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too. Come back with everyone alive or I’ll kill you,” she semi-joked with a half-hearted smile.

After most of the pack had left, Alice pushed the remaining four back to bed. She walked out a bit, away from the younger ones so they could get situated into bed, and howled out to Aron. A few moments later, she received a howl back but it was already at least two miles away. As she stared out into the dark woods, a snowflake landed on her nose. She looked up to see more falling from the sky.

“Of course,” she sighed at their bad luck. As she went back to her dwindled pack, she frowned sadly at the sight of Jae, shivering from the cold as she tried to curl up further into Minhyun’s coat. Alice shifted back to her wolf form and curled up around Jae’s back and placed her tail over her like a blanket.

That night was one of the coldest nights Jae had to endure without the usual warmth of most of her pack.

=====================================================================

A bit of a slow chapter before all hell breaks loose. XD

Just kidding.

Maybe.

I dunno.

FEJWIAFPJEWOAIFJEWAOFIJEWAFIPEJAFEWA

Not ready for B.A.P’s Hurricane.

~Kira :3