Taejoon was pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Something had . . .  come up, not allowing him to go and see Hyorim. And he was furious with the fools who had caused him to miss his meeting with her. He had killed one of them in his fury, and used him as an example for anyone else who turned out to be an idiot. It was one thing if they were simply weak, but he had no patience for incompetents.

After all, he had a way to cure weakness.

“Xun!” He switched direction and stormed into room Xun’s room. The horrid little man was bent over the table, working. “Time is up!”

Xun quirked an eyebrow at Taejoon. “Is it now? I’d like to see you use one of the shards when they’re not finished—I don’t even know what will happen. It would be interesting to see the consequences though . . .” Xun mused.

“Enough! Will it or will it not work? We have little time left.” He could feel it—the desperation as it clawed at his mind, as whatever was left of his rational side started to disintegrate.

“For what you have planned concerning that , it should be fine.”

In a blink of an eye, Taejoon had Xun by the throat, squeezing tightly. “Call her that again,” He growled. Then he tightened his grip as he said, “I dare you.” Then he let go and Xun fumbled backwards, heaving. “Now. Are the Moon Shards ready?”

Until further notice, my and Kris’s training was put to a halt as he was needed to train Suho’s pack in better fighting techniques. He only had a few days, according to Ai Li who was pretty sure she almost had the right counter-magic, but Kris still wanted to teach them as much as they could. Even though I was a better fighter than any one of Suho’s pack, I joined in anyway so I could still keep limber.

As I joined them, most of them were goofing off and wrestling with each other. But as soon as Suho’s pack and Xiumin noticed me, wolfish grins stretched their mouths wide. They gathered around me and I felt my heart pick up a beat as a claustrophobic feeling hit me.

“You and Kris hyung, huh?”

“I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“That was a pretty brave move.”

I ignored them and most of their teasing as I walked past them, but soon they got on my nerves. I whirled and menacingly snarled, “Say one more thing. Say it.”

Everyone immediately went silent. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Chanyeol and he looked . . . upset? But of course, Kai took me up on the challenge—he always loved to push me to my limits . . . and over. “Have you guys gotten to third base yet?”

I snapped. I lunged forward and tackled Kai to the ground. We snarled at each other as we rolled and got hits in. I was much spryer than I was before, more limber and knowledgeable—I don’t think Kai was ready for that. But he more than made up for his surprise in fierceness. I cried out as I felt him bite me. Snarling, I grabbed his head, tearing him away from my upper arm, and head-butted him. He howled in pain and sprang away while I groaned as my own head reverberated like a drum.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Everyone went alert and turned to face Kris who was being tailed by Suho. Kris looked at me and for some reason, I was embarrassed. I looked anywhere but at him and got to my feet.

“Well?”

I stiffened when I realized he was asking me. “I was putting Kai in his place.” I snapped.

Kai huffed, then groaned. I let a smile light my face, proud of myself. “Are we done?” Kris asked tiredly.

I looked at Kai who was seething. “That depends on him.”

Kai looked away from me, submitting to my authority. “Whatever,” he pouted.

“Good. Now. Hyorim is going to help me train you guys.” I gaped at him. He winked at me and whispered, “I can’t do this alone.”

And then our training began.

I groaned as we took a break, pouring water down my throat in an effort to cool down. Sumi plopped down next to me, the wide grin on her face making me worry a little.

“I heard what happened last night. Too bad I was asleep.”

“Where’s Junsu and Minji?”

 “They’re with Lay and Minhee, but don’t change the topic.” She bumped shoulders with me. “So?”

“So what?”

“What happened!? All I was told was that you kissed him in front of Suho’s pack. Why did you do that?”

The humiliation was back—I could feel it as my face turned red. I explained to her everything that had happened and then, to my mortification, I told her what happened after too.

“Oh my gosh, Hyorim!” She sounded absolutely thrilled and scandalized. Then she laughed. “I didn’t know you had it in you! And I had no idea you would be so open to such . . . intimacy so soon.”

I was a bit baffled by that too. “I don’t think with Kris, I just do.” I muttered.

“Oh, honey. You have it bad.”

“What?”

“I don’t think you realize how in love with Kris you are.” She grabbed my water bottle and took a sip. “And you know? I might kiss the man myself for all the good he’s done.”

Again, I was baffled. “What do you mean?”

“You. Do you not realize how much you’ve changed since you’ve left us? I barely recognized you when you first ran up to me. It’s been two days—two days—and I can see it. You smile more, laugh more. You really and truly are happy here. You’ve found your home.”

I bit my lip, but knew she was telling the truth.

“But I have to ask. Do you feel like things are moving too fast? Between you and him?”

Of course I did. Everything was moving so fast I was dizzy. I hadn’t been prepared for this, hadn’t been prepared for another chance at a happiness I thought had been torn away from me. I hadn’t been prepared for the violent reaction I have when around Kris. Moving too fast? It was an understatement. But . . . nothing felt wrong; I may be embarrassed about my reactions after, but I never regretted them. “No . . . no, I’m okay with how things are going.”  I said slowly.

There was a companionable silence between us until Sumi spoke up again. “I have one more thing to talk to you about.”

“Hm?” I couldn’t help but think she was speaking to me much like a mother would to her daughter—and maybe that’s how Sumi saw me. Her daughter that was growing up.

“You know I’m a nurse, so . . . I understand some of the trauma brought on from what happened to you. If things between you and Kris move too fast, there’s a possibility that some of that old trauma might come back. It’s hard to predict these sort of things, so I want you to be careful. Since you and he are Weres . . . things could turn dangerous.”

I nodded, my eyes latching onto Kris who was speaking with Suho and Baekhyun. I had been worried about that lately too. Kris was a good man and I didn’t want to hurt him. I was tired of hurting him. But I also needed to trust him. I had to remind myself that this was Kris—he understood, wanted to understand, and wanted to help me past my problems.

I needed to trust him.

--------------------------------------------

This is extremely short BUT . . . . things are about to pick up. SOON. 
BUUUUT that chapter might be a long ways away. My work schedule is picking up and things are CRAZY busy, like, you don't even understand. I fell asleep on my feet in the grocery line and had to be woken up by the person behind me (I am so not kidding right now). Tomorrow I'm going to be triply exhuasted as I'll be doing some serious manual labor--I'm not entirely sure I'll make it back to my home in one piece (I have a 45 minute drive from work to home and I've been catching myself closing my eyes just a LITTLE too long. Blinks are turning into siestas.)
Anyway, wish me luck and I'll try and update as soon as I can.