My eyes open, but they open up to darkness almost as black as the inside of my eyelids. I can barely see the shadows of overhanging branches, they sway with the coming and going of the wind. It feels like the tree’s lower branches could lean down and wrap me in their thorny embrace. I sit up, using the tree trunk as a backrest, groaning in the process.  I place my hand on the crook of my neck where a pulsating pain is starting to wind its way down my body. Something warm and sticky oozes down my neck, I move my hand around some more and feel four groves going deep into my neck.

“What the heck..”  I bring my hand close to my face letting the moonlight illuminate it.

“blood?” I feel my eyes widen at the sticky red fluid that coats my fingers, the moon giving it a silvery hue.

“What the hell happened!”

At the sight of blood I shoot up, alert and on guard now. I groan once again, a wave of nausea crashes down on me making me stagger back and forth. *Why do I feel so weak.* I lean against the tree for support.

“C’mon Marina you have to think! Okay I remember finding out that the guys were werewolves because of my vision. When I woke up I ran into the woods. The guys found me and convinced me to come back with them. We were driving in the car when Kris suddenly stopped the car because.... because... Ugh! Why can’t I remember?! Everything after that is fuzzy.”

I crinkle my forehead in concentration. *This is important! I can’t just be bleeding for no reason, how did I got hurt!*

“Because... because.. Tao was about to shift! Oh right! Kris was dragging him out of the car whe-”

The events of that night come rushing back to me, how Tao turned around red eyes ablaze, giving me this look like I was a fresh meal. Then he lunged at me. That’s all I remember before waking up in these woods.

“ Tao did this? N-no he couldn’t have. I know Tao.”

A small voice in the back of my head says but you didn't know he was a werewolf.  I ignore it, making my way through the dark woods. I don't know where I’m going but it’s better than just sitting there helplessly. I regret my decision when a light snowfall begins, making my wound sting and my path even more unclear.

I stumble over branches and fallen logs numerous times shivering from every little sound like an owl hooting far way or the rustling of leaves. I wrap my thin jacket around myself, it’s starting to get colder and colder due to the icy snowflakes raining from the sky. After about 15 minutes of walking, I find myself in small clearing. The trees form a circle around it, giving it  a shelter like feel. Even in my current situation I can’t help but gaze in wonder at the sight displayed before me. As I was walking the snowfall was getting heavy but gradually stopped. Now the clearing is blanketed with a fresh layer of snow. I sigh, the air was crisp, cold and awakening. The picture so perfectly laid by nature had no imperfections but my own footsteps. The moon hangs high in the sky, a perfect silver disk,surrounded by a million twinkling stars. I feel like the moonlight is surging into me giving me warmth and strength, I smile at the thought. A sense of peace washes over me but it’s short lived.

“Marina!”

The sound pierces through the still of the forest. I can hear little animals scurrying away from the source of all the noise. Aren’t werewolves supposed to be stealthy?

“Yeah I’m over here.” I say loud enough to be heard but not so I’m yelling like my pursuer. My reply is followed by a whole lot of rustling, I look to my left and see Luhan, Xiumin and Chen emerge from the sugar-sprinkled trees. They begin to sprint towards me, it’s like their footsteps burn through the thick layer of white snow, making me step back. You would too if three full grown me-- excuse me three full grown WEREWOLVES started running full speed at you right? They pull me into a massive group bear hug.

“We were so worried!” I can’t tell who said that because my head is buried between a mass of clothing, and hair.

I reply by letting out a yelp. Unfortunately for me, Chen decided to wear a bracelet that day. The bracelet somehow found it’s way to my neck and decided to embed itself into my neck wound. My eyes water and an unnatural sound escapes from my mouth. The three boys leap off of me immediately, they scan my body for the source of my shriek. I indicate my neck and their eyes widen.

“I didn’t think it was that deep..” Xiumin says eyes glazed over as he continues to study my wound.

“How did I get it anyways?” I ask, it’s time to clear up all the fuzziness.

Luhan answers me,“Lay and Kris went after Tao. His first shift was last month so hes still new to this whole shifting thing. We haven’t had a lot of time to train him so he has little to no control, which means he does stuff like that” He says gesturing to my neck. “He didn’t do it on purpose. It just takes us time to train and control our inner wolf.”

I nod. *It’s not Tao’s fault, he had no control.* I tell myself that over and over again until it becomes my own little chant, warding away the fear that was beginning to grow.

I sit on the freshly snowed ground, because I feel too weak to remain standing. Chen sighs, sitting down next to me. Luhan and Xiumin soon follow suit. I shiver, the night is getting colder and colder. I guess Chen saw me because he takes off his jacket and wraps it around me. I refuse but he doesn’t listen. Finally I give up, laying my head on his shoulder, tonight has definitely wore me out. I sigh, he feels so warm, like a human heater. Being this close to him I feel like I can hear his heart beat, synchronizing to match mine. I blush when he suddenly reaches over, he pulls my hair back so it doesn’t get into my wound, in the process he touches my forehead.

“Marina, you're burning up! I think you might have a fever.”

“I’ll be just fine, don’t worry.” I try to change the subject, and lighten up the mood. “How did you guys find me? And don’t tell me you used your werewolf noses to sniff me out.”

Xiumin makes eye contact with the other two boys and I barely see them nod in response. Xiumin turns his body in my direction and we make eye contact for an uncomfortable amount of time before he finally speaks.

“We prefer the term Shifters over werewolves, werewolves just sounds too mythical. As you know we are 100% real. And about how we found you.. it was me. I thought if I made it snow, we could track your footprints. Looks like it worked” He finishes with a nervous smile.

I stare at him unblinkingly before I laugh, “Right.. You MADE it snow. What are you guys? Werewolves AND wizards? That really helps with the whole we arent mythical thing.”

Xiumin just sighs and grabs my hand interlacing our fingers together.

“Hey what are you doing?”

“Just trust me.” I relax and suddenly a gentle breeze appears. It picks up the snowflakes that had settle on the ground, swirling them around us. I watch in awe as the snowflakes gather into one long line, the line surge into our hands slipping in between our fingers. Xiumin removes his hand from mine but I still feel the weight of something.  I look down and my jaw drops. In the palm of my hand is a perfect replica of a rose made out of ice.

I look up at Xiumin wide eyed, hoping he will give me some kind of explanation but all he does is give me his cheeky grin. I turn to Chen and Luhan and they stare back at me with a knowing smile. Luhan laughs when he sees my shocked expression

“Amazing huh? We all have powers of our own. Even Kai’s pack. You know when you were spying on us in the classroom,what you saw was Kai teleporting. Every century, thirteen Shifters are born with special abilities. Our pack and Kai’s pack happen to be those Shifters.”

I nod slowly trying to wrap my mind around everything he’s throwing at me, “Wait but your pack and Kai’s pack only equals twelve shifters. That leaves one more person.”

“Your right. We’ve been searching and searching for the last shifter but we haven’t been able to find him.”

My feminist side comes out, “How do you know it will be a guy, girls can be shifters too. Right?” I remember that I don’t know everything about this whole shifting business.

Chen laughs, I can feel his body rumble since my head is still on his shoulder. “That’s true. There are female Shifters out there. I guess we’ve just always assumed it would be a boy since the rest of us are boys.”

I smile, “I hope it’s a girl. It would be a nice change from all the males, I could finally have someone to talk to! Hurry up and find her pleaseeee.”

The guys laugh at how desperate I am for a girl friend.

Little did we know we would be meeting her sooner than we thought.

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A/N: I know its been awhile since i've updated but thats because I was writing this long chapteahh  ~oh yeah~ya'll should be proud. ┗(＾0＾)┓      lol okay so I know last week I said you guys were going to be shocked by my next chapter but I have decided to postpone all the shock and throwing till my next update. Don't hate me~ OTL  Good news is I plan to update tomorrow or Saturday so you guys woun't have to wait another 10+ days.

Hope you guys enjoyed it <3 Love you my sweets (づ￣ ³￣)づ Come here I just wanna kiss you~

P.S. I don't own the picture or gif even though they're pretty cool :p