“You were protecting me?” The look on his face made it clear that your eyes revealed your surprise. You coughed slightly and shook your head. “But, why would you do that? Why not chase after them like you were supposed to and forget about everything else? I thought you said hunting made your mind go on a single trail with no room for disturbances or other thoughts that’s unrelated to the hunt.”

“I did. And that is how it works. I wasn’t lying to you about that. That really is the reason why you’re not allowed to come on hunts. Not, just because you’ll probably get in the way, but because you could be mistaken for prey and end up getting killed.” Kai explained while rustling his own hair. Talking and explaining like this made him seem a bit awkward, and it didn’t exactly help on the confusion you were feeling.

“Then why didn’t you?” You asked, slightly tilting your head and furrowing your brows in confusion.

“I don’t know.” He replied with a sigh and let his hand fall back down along the side of his body. “I really don’t. It just didn’t feel important to chase them anymore. For a second, before I caught sight of them, I’d forgotten all about them. Like I said, I got this urge, I can’t properly describe it, but I felt this overwhelming urge to make sure you were safe, and I still do. Every time I’m near you I feel the same urge, and I’m pretty sure the others do too.”

“The others? What others? Do you mean Chanyeol and Sehun, or others as well?” You had already guessed his answer, but now that he was explaining things to you, you wanted everything answered, even the little things.

“The others. As good as every other wolf in this and the surrounding packs.” He answered calmly. His voice was steady and left no room for doubt, but his eyes told a different story. They told you that even though he sounded sure, there was doubt in him.

“If that’s the case, then why not just take me back here to the den straight away after you took me away?"

“Because you’re a distraction.” He answered as if it was the most obvious thing. You weren’t convinced though.

“I’m a distraction?” You asked, sarcasm in your voice and your brow raised in question.

“Yeah. Even though I want to be near you and protect you, doesn’t mean that the feeling is all natural. The thing is that even though the feeling is overwhelming, it’s sudden and coming from someone unknown. Normally you’d only feel that way about your close friends and family, not strangers. Some find it uncomfortable and weird. It can make people aggressive towards you. Make them attack just to get rid of the feeling.” He explained calmly.

What he said made sense. The thought of it was weird, but it made sense. If something was unnatural, it would be natural for the person to want to get rid of the feeling or thing in question.

“I see..” You replied, peaking as if your thoughts were drifting of to a different place. Kai stood there patiently waiting to answer more questions from you. Your gaze wandered past him and out across the scenery in front of you. It wasn’t much to look at. Most of it was covered in the black of the night. When you didn’t ask any further questions, Kai made to clear his throat before taking a step forward and reaching out to your arm. “Is there anything else you want me to tell you?” He asked softly.

You shook your head. You still had a few things you were wondering about, mostly about the other pack and about the situation with Tao and Luhan, but you didn’t want to make him more aware of them than he already was. If there was no problem about it, then you didn’t want to make any.

“Let’s go back then.” He said and put his arm around your shoulders. It was a nice gesture, but with your thoughts already wandering towards Luhan, it made you uncertain. You gave him a faint smile before turning with him to return to your sleeping places.

As you started to walk you caught a glance of Junhyung staring at the two of you from the shadows. Had he been there all along? How much had he heard? It was clear that Kai had also noticed him. His hold around you tightened, and all your thoughts of Luhan disappeared as you met the gaze of Junhyungs red eyes. A cold feeling ran down your spine as you tried to hide the tension that started to build up inside you.

“Junhyung.” Kai said, acknowledging his presence with a nod. You could practically see the struggle in him as he tore his red eyes from you and landed his gaze on Kai instead. He gave him a nod, as if to acknowledge that he was there too. You waited for him to say something. It felt as if time stopped and the air thinned out. A slight smile played in the corner of his mouth for a few seconds before he directed his gaze back to you. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. So few that it wasn’t an unnatural long stare, but even so you could see the hunger in his eyes, and a wave of relief washed over you as he turned his back to you and faded back into the shadows.

“Come on.” Kai said and started walking, leading you to walk with him by the arm around your shoulders. Now you discovered that it wasn’t just Kais hold around you that had tightened, but you had also moved closer to him without even noticing it. Something about Junhyung made your skin crawl and your blood freeze, and there was nothing you could do about it. You didn’t dare to talk to him alone to try making sense of it, but you couldn’t bring Kai or Chanyeol or anyone else with you for safety as he was the son of the alpha and such an act could be seen as a challenge. It bothered you, and the worst part was that you felt like you couldn’t do anything about it.

Thinking about what he might have heard made your thoughts wander. He’d seen you the night you went to meet Tao and Luhan. At that time you’d believed that he’d let you go and continued walking his rounds that night, but now you started to wonder whether or not he’d followed you and knew about your visit to the other packs den. A feeling of uncertainty grew in you as you walked towards the cave you would sleep in. The only thing you knew for certain was that you had to see them again, and soon.

*****

That's it this time. I hope I was able to answer some questions that you might've been wondering about without giving away too much. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and remember, comments keeps me going and makes me a happy writer <3