As soon as I opened the door I was met with Sehun’s smiling face—he must have smelled me approaching. I didn’t know what to do for a moment, so I stood frozen, just watching him. Sehun well, being Sehun opened his arms wide.

“You weren’t here when I woke up, noona. I missed you.”

And the next thing I knew I was hugging him tightly.

“I’m so happy you’re okay.” I whispered into his hair.

“You smell bad.”

I gave a short bark of laughter. We just hugged each other for a while, clutching each other like we were each other’s life-line. I had forgotten that there were others until a threatening growl made me start and look around. Kris had entered the room and I didn’t understand why he growled and apparently, neither did Lay since he was looking at Kris curiously.

And, honestly, Kris looked a bit surprised as well.

We all just stared at him a moment, bewildered, until Kris abruptly left the room, muttering, “Lead her to the shed when you’re done.”

There was silence in the room for a few heartbeats after he left.

“Well . . . that was interesting.” Lay muttered, before capping and rubbing his hands together. “Alright, missy. Sit down and let me take out those nasty bullets.”

“Bullets?” Sehun questioned.

I gave him a small smile and did as Lay instructed. “I’ll explain later.”

Lay was quick and efficient with his work. It was fascinating watching him at work—his hands were like an artisans. “How did you become such a good doctor?”

Lay smiled up at me before continuing his work. “Curious about me now, huh?” I didn’t say anything as he removed the last bullet and it pinged as it hit the metal bowl. My wounds were slowly starting to heal now. “I’m a doctor. I don’t spend all my time here, you know. I do have a normal life outside the pack. When I’m not fixing you people up, I’m out in a hospital patching some human up.”

I was somewhat speechless. He made living a life apart from what was in his blood sound so simple; he made immersing himself back into humanity sound so easy. It made me resent him a little bit, but my admiration for the man also increased.

“Everyone has their own little life outside the pack. Most of them I’m not that involved with, but I know Kris is CEO of a major corporation. Don’t you have another alias?”

I looked at Sehun. Did he? He looked away from me for a fraction of a second and realization dawned on me. He did. Suho did. Everyone did, but not me. And why? Because I was dangerous, unpredictable. They didn’t want me around people. Betrayal stung, especially knowing that Suho, the man I had come to trust the most, didn’t have trust in me.

Feeling the tension, Lay moved on. “Alright, well, I’m all done here. Kris said to bring you to the building out back. Ready to go?”

I nodded and got up. As I headed out the door, Sehun finally spoke up. “Noona, I’m sorry.”

I just couldn’t stay mad at the little bastard, no matter how mad or how betrayed I felt. As I walked alongside Lay, heading to a building that was dimly lit, I suddenly wondered about Sehun’s condition.

“So he’s all healed?”

“Who?”

“Sehun?”

We reached the door and Lay was quite a moment. “It’s a bit complicated.”

“How?”

“Those bullets? The wolf’s bane ones? They suppress every power that our wolves give us. It messes up the healing process—I’m still trying to figure out how . . .” He took out a key and unlocked the door, but didn’t open yet. “I’m getting ahead of myself. What I’m trying to say is that we Weres aren’t immortal—we can be killed, it just takes a lot more. And those bullets . . . . Sehun was hurt bad, really bad. He went a long time without being able to heal like he should. With the way things are, I’m not entirely sure if he’ll completely recover—I’m not even sure if he’ll be able to stand for very long on those legs.”

I felt like someone had just stabbed me in the heart.

“But I’m not sure.” Lay quickly added. “My knowledge with Were injuries and their extent and ramifications is limited. And everything especially uncertain concerning any wound related to those bullets. Right now, we watch and wait and hope for the best.” Lay opened the door, revealing a very long stairwell. “You’ll find Kris down the stairs and down a hallway, in a room at the very back.”

“You’re not coming with me?”

Lay looked uncomfortable. “I try not to go down there unless absolutely necessary.”

The stairwell went on for what seemed like forever until it hit a concrete floor that led into a long hallway. Doors lined both sides of the hallway. The doors were made of metal and thick, at least six inches of steel. I got to the last door and without hesitation, opened it.

I was much surprised by what I found. The Feral was chained up, hanging from the ceiling. He was beaten and bloody and Kris was standing in front of him, but looking at me right now. Luhan was off in a corner with Tao—Tao looked grim, Luhan, bored.

But I couldn’t concentrate on them right now, not even the monster hanging in the center. The room was dim, and small, the scent of blood, blood and fear, heavy in the air. It was setting my wolf on edge and I spent a moment to rein her in, calm her and me down. For now, these men were my allies and my enemy was chained up. We were okay.

‘Okay’ is a relative term, my wolf hissed.

I was a bit surprised—she hadn’t spoken to me in such a coherent sentence in a long time.

“Did Lay fix you up?”

I nodded tightly. “Has he talked?”

Kris looked disgusted. “He’s a bastard, but he’s a loyal bastard.”

The man snorted. “It’s not loyalty. I just know who’s stronger and who to fear.”

Kris grabbed him by the hair and snapped his head to look him in the eye. “Your head’s not screwed on right. Right now, I’m your biggest nightmare.”

“You’re nothing!” The man spat into Kris’s face. Tao’s growl reverberated throughout the room as he started forward. Kris waved him back and rubbed the blood mixed spit from his face. In a swift movement, he broke one of the man’s fingers. He hissed, but didn’t show anymore signs of pain.

I placed a hand on Kris’s shoulder. Kris looked at me. It only took us locking our eyes for him to understand what I wanted. He tilted his head and stepped aside. I stepped up to the guy, inspecting him, but not really caring about what I saw.

“I never got your name.” I finally said.

The man snorted. “You don’t need it.”

“True. I remember your saying that he didn’t want you to me.” It was for a split second, but his face flashed a different expression—fear. Got you.

“You must be hearing things.” He snarled.

The gears started churning in my head. “Instead of you telling me what I don’t know, I’m going to tell you what I do know.”

“I don’t—”

I cut Kris off. “This is what I know,” I began, watching his face closely. “I know that Ferals have been on the rise lately. I know that girls have been going missing and that you prize she-wolves.” I hid the smile as his face twitched. “I know that peripheral packs are disappearing.” A miniscule frown. “I know that you’ve developed a new weapon against us.” I got nothing.

“So you didn’t develop it? Someone else did?” that slight frown again. “So it was someone else. We’ll get to who, later.” I started pacing, trying to tie things together.

“Get this out of my face!” He hissed.

“Watch what you say or I’ll tear your mouth off.” Kris growled.

“What? Is she yours? Should have known she’s a .” My blood was boiling and all I wanted to do was gut the bastard, but I reminded myself we needed answers. He was trying to stall—no, I realized. He was trying to get himself killed so he wouldn’t give anything away. I calmed myself and locked my fury away. A cool, cold feeling of indifference gripped me, turning me numb. I glanced at Kris and was surprised to see and feel his anger. Why was he getting so upset? “Is she wild when you her? I bet she’s a screamer.”

Kris struck like a snake, but luckily, I was ready. I grabbed his wrist and he snarled at me. “Calm down. He’s just trying to rile you up.”

He growled and jerked his arm back, stepping away, his breathing ragged. I turned back to our prisoner. “Clever, but not clever enough. Here are a few other things I know. Your Ferals aren’t really Ferals. There’s no way you’d be able to get them that organized. And something I recently found out, you’re following someone’s orders.” I stepped up to him and grabbed his chin. He flinched as he felt his chin starting to give under my strong grip.

“Here’s what you didn’t know. You involved the wrong person in your life. These guys,” I gestured to Kris. “You’re right. They’re nothing. They don’t have the hate and anger like I do for you.” I let my anger, my bitterness, every horrid feeling I harbored seep into my voice. “See, I don’t want you to die. I want you tortured, beaten, begging for death that won’t come.” He was significantly paler now. He glanced in panic at Kris, but Kris only gave him a small smile and shrugged.

He cracked. “I-I’ll tell you! Alright?” He gave a panicked laugh. “You can’t stop him, anyway. He’s going to take over the Were world. He’s going to take over every pack and kill anyone who stands in his way.”

“Why the women?” Kris cut in.

He grinned and I wanted to kill him. “The easiest way to start an army. Breed es, raise the welps—they’re clean slates.”

I was starting to see red, but I fought it back. What he was saying made sense, and so far I didn’t get the feeling he was lying, and yet . . . something didn’t sit right.

“And your master’s name?”

He hesitated, then his grin returned. “You just said it. He’s the Master.”

“Where can we find him?”

He laughed. “You’ve gotten all you’ll get from me, dogs. Now, you’ll just have to sit back and watch your world be torn apart.” He paused, then looked at me, smiling. “I’ll let you know one other thing. He’s very interested in you.”

 Me? Why me? Kris stepped forward and wrapped his fingers around his throat. “Explain.”

The monster wheezed fighting to breath. “I’ll never tell you.”

Kris held on a little longer, then let go, shoving him back. He turned his attention to Tao. “Keep an eye on him. Luhan, see what you can dig up from what we,” he glanced at me, “Know. Come on. We’ve learned all we can from him right now.”

I nodded. Kris opened the door, but before I followed him out the door, I hesitated and let a little of my anger seep out. In a quick move, I slammed my fist into the Feral’s face. He immediately passed out. With that I walked out passed Kris.

As soon as I was out of the building, all that rage I had sealed let loose. It washed over me and had me shaking so bad, I fell to my knees, gritting my teeth. Everything that monster had said swam in my head, all the insults. And his last words. He’s very interested in you.

I heard someone behind me. I whirled on Kris. I couldn’t help what I did next—I was so angry, I didn’t know what to do. I launched myself at Kris and we both fell to the ground. For a while there was just scrambling and rolling and snarling. I could feel Kris wasn’t really trying to get me off him, wasn’t really fighting back and it was maddening.

“Fight back!” I snarled.

“You’re not angry at me!” He snarled right back.

I was so worn out, from the fight before, from the bullets, I didn’t last long. Eventually I exhausted all my energy and wound up on my back with Kris sitting on top of me, my wrists in a tight grip on my stomach.

“Are you calm now?”

I was still breathing heavily, trying to calm down. My wolf was oddly submissive, but then I realized I was in the ultimate submissive position—on my back, my belly exposed. She knew when she was bested. And then I realized what position I was in. “Get off me!” I snarled.

Kris hesitated, then slowly got off me, releasing my wrists. I sat up and sighed. I glanced at Kris. I had given him a good couple of scratches on his face and his clothing was a little torn here and there.

Grudgingly, I said, “Sorry.”

Kris shrugged. “Considering how calm you were in there, I’m not entirely surprised.”

“I wasn’t . . . calm.”

“Could have fooled me. Listen, we can talk here or in my study.” And then my stomach growled. My face burned in embarrassment and Kris gave a small laugh of surprise. “Or we can go to the kitchen.”

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Holy crap guys. I've been writing like a mad women. I actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. Double update today, I think~ :D