It was supposed to be a last get together, one last shebang before we went our separate ways in life. We all decided to go camping, away from everything so we could just focus on us and have fun without people harassing us. There were no rules, none at all. We drank and laughed and sang.

A night to remember.

But not the way I wanted to remember it.

Run. Run damn you, run!  

I was gasping and choking in air as I ran, my lungs ready to give out. I could barely see, both because of how dark it was and because I was crying so hard. Everything was blurred shapes of darkness. I screamed as my foot slipped and I went tumbling down an incline. I laid there, dazed a moment. But then I could hear them, whooping and howling and egging me on.

I sobbed and staggered back to my feet.

Don’t stop, don’t stop! If you stop, they’ll kill you! But they were catching up, I could hear them getting closer and laughing. What the hell were they?! I felt something crash into me and I screamed as I jerked forward, slamming my head into a tree.

I out for a moment and when I came to they were all around me.

“Please!” I choked. “Please, don’t!”

But they did.

“Do you smell that?”

Suho nodded his head. “Another pack has been here.” He snarled. “And blood. Lots of it.”

Baekhyun cocked his head. “What do you want to do?”

“Let’s go.”

Suho followed the trail and froze in shock at what he saw. It was a human girl. Her clothes were all but torn from her body and there were wounds all over her body. What was she doing out here? The poor girl never stood a chance. Suho felt his heart weigh on him.

“Holy . What is a human doing out here?”

“I smell more blood that way.” Chanyeol padded up and pointed his nose in a different direction.

“Check for survivors.”

Chanyeol nodded and took D.O.

Suho stared at the girl, at the wounds covering her body and the blood soaking into the ground, and then growled. “We have rogues in our territory.”

Baekhyun growled. “Monsters.”

“You know what to do.”

Bakehyun nodded. “Kai!” He barked. Together they bounded into the forest.

“No survivors.” Chanyeol’s voice drifted through Suho’s mind.

Suho sighed and turned back to the girl. Monsters. Sehun whimpered next to him and sidled closer. “Come on. Let’s . . . wait.”

Suho’s ear’s perked up and he inched closer to the girl. Suho nearly jumped out of his skin when her eyes flung open and she started screaming and thrashing, slamming her head, arms, legs, and whole body into the ground around her.

“!” Suho quickly laid his body over the girl’s so she wouldn’t hurt herself anymore than she already was.

“Who was that screaming!?” Chanyeol asked, panicked.

“The girl! She’s still alive! And she’s Shifting!”

“We’ll be right there.”

The girl continued screaming until her voice gave out, her muscles twitching, her bones snapping and shifting, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. Everyone’s first change was excruciating. But this was different—she wasn’t born a Shifter. And then he was thrown off completely and he was completely shocked by her strength. He watched, wide eyed as a she-wolf staggered to her feet, whimpering as she fell once before she got her feet under her.

This was dangerous. Bad. Considering the circumstances when she was changed . . . suddenly the she-wolf froze and turned to face Suho and a shuddering Sehun. She bared her teeth, hair rising. Without warning she lunged at Suho. Suho bared his own teeth and fought her off and she backed off, snarling and in her own way telling them to stay away from her.

“We’re almost there.” Chanyeol signaled.

“No! Stay where you are. If you come now things will just get uglier than it already is.”

Suho concentrated on the she-wolf and relaxed, trying to sooth her and show her he had no intention to hurt her. She wasn’t buying it. Suho sighed and went with the last resort. He shifted into his human form, , and he heard Sehun whimper at his hyung’s vulnerable state. Suho motioned for him to calm down. This process needed to be handled delicately or everything was going to go to hell. Suho took one step forward and the she-wolf immediately growled in warning.

Suho put up both his hands to show he understood and decided to sit down. He locked eyes with her. Though he wanted to show he meant her no harm, he wasn’t suggesting he was any less an Alpha or submissive in any way. Though there were two beings in one body now, it was the wolf, the demon, that was in control now and she was running on pure instinct. She wouldn’t understand human speech right now. She broke eye contact and began pacing, stopping occasionally to look at him. He could see she was trying to figure out what was going on.

Slowly, slowly, she began snuffling her way to him. He laid his palms open, facing up on his lap, showing he had nothing to hide. He continued staring her down until she was only a foot from him.

Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. “I won’t harm you. I want to help.”

She flinched at his human voice, but looked at him intently. She took the final steps to him and laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around the she-wolf, slowly and gently so she wasn’t startled. “It’s okay now.”

And then her pelt started to shed off, her bones shifting again and soon a girl lay in his arms, unconscious and still injured. Suho sighed in relief and called the others to him, even Kai and Baekhyun.

“Time to go home. We’ll take care of the Ferals later. We have another priority right now.”