After the incident, Baekhyun quickly found the culprits who pushed the barrel of fighting sticks off of the balcony. A group of male trainees, who had strong, hostile feelings toward Tenebris wolves, thought it would be a hilarious prank to try and harm the female alpha of the Tenebris wolves; they wanted to see just how strong the alpha truly was. However, Baekhyun did not find their prank to be funny at all and severely punished the group of trainees by suspending them from training for two weeks. Personally, that was not the real punishment he wanted to give them; a good beating would have satisfied him, but as the leader of training, he had to be more civilized.

It was evident that Baekhyun was not very happy. In fact, he was furious.  Not only were his trainees disrespectful enough to try to hurt the female alpha who was being genuinely helpful with training, but they tried to hurt Yiru, his mate. Baekhyun had to admit, after the incident, he felt the feeling of affection for Yiru ignite in his body once again after weeks of being separated. And the best part was that he knew she felt it too. He had heard her heart beating fast when they were close to each other. They could no longer deny the attraction they felt towards one another.

After training ended that day, Baekhyun sat on a bench against the dark wall of the training center. He had his elbows propped on his knees as he leaned forward and observed the now empty training room.

Suddenly, a water bottle came into view in front of his face. Baekhyun looked up and saw Yiru’s blank expression. He grabbed the bottle from her outstretched hand and muttered a small thank you.

“I should be thanking you,” Yiru said as she took a seat next to him, making sure to leave some distance between them. “Even though a bunch of falling sticks couldn’t hurt me too bad, you still saved me from a minor bump on the head.”

Baekhyun scoffed lightheartedly. “Well, you’re welcome.”

They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments, not knowing what to say to each other. After all, they had ‘broken up’ a few months ago and were now forced to work together. One could say that their situation was quite difficult, especially for two wolves who were trying to resist the temptation to mate with their mate.

Finally, Yiru spoke up. “I’m sorry,” she uttered quickly.

Baekhyun was shocked by Yiru’s sudden words. But he recovered and questioned, “For what?”

“For leaving without giving you a good reason.”

Baekhyun chuckled bitterly. “I think your reason for leaving was pretty clear. The attraction just wasn’t there for you. You didn’t feel anything for me. I think that’s reason enough.”

“Yes, but that wasn’t the truth,” Yiru cried out. She turned to him and took a deep breath before continuing, “I lied about feeling nothing for you. Of course I felt something, I was just…”

“Afraid?”

Yiru looked down at her lap and nodded. “I hated feeling weak and scared. You made me feel that way so I ran from you. I can’t be with you and be the female alpha of the Tenebris at the same time.”

“You aren’t weak at all, Yiru,” Baekhyun argued. “Not once when we were together did you show any sign of weakness. I always saw the strong, determined leader of the Tenebris.”

With a soft gaze, Yiru looked up to meet Baekhyun’s eyes. His words were comforting, and for some reason they reassured her of her abilities as a leader. She knew she had the physical strength to protect her clan, but her emotional strength wavered because of Baekhyun.

Yiru laughed bitterly. “Yeah, well, as much as I hate to admit it, you made me weak – emotiona