I watched with interest as wolves poured out of the forest. I was both amazed and a bit nervous at the numbers. But Kris was calm, even a bit excited, so I mirrored him. If he wasn’t worried, I wasn’t going to be either. Each wolf had something tied to them—clothing?

And then a massive wolf came out of the forest which captured my attention. Bigger than Kris. The moment Kris laid eyes on him, Kris smiled big and yelled out, “Sergii!”

The wolf looked at Kris and then was in human form. The man himself was huge, a mountain with long hair tied up into a ponytail. The man shook himself, exactly like a dog would, then stood on his two feet and greeted Kris back. I watched curiously as they interacted. They looked like good friends.

But I couldn’t hide my nerves any longer. There were too many unknowns here, too many wolves I didn’t know or trust. My fight or flight instinct was starting to kick in, and I’d never been one for fleeing.

“Hey. It’s okay, xīn.”

I had been so engrossed in my inner conflict, I hadn’t noticed that Kris had walked back up to me. I locked eyes with him and once again, I could feel him—he was calm, affectionate, and concerned. I wondered if he could feel me too and that’s why he reacted so quickly—which led me to wonder why we could feel each other’s emotions. It wasn't like we were pack.

He lightly gripped my shoulders and rested his forehead on mine. The physical contact was like a drug and I immediately calmed down some. “I’m here. Just stay by my side and you’ll be okay.” I nodded and he smiled. “That’s my girl.”

I was about to make a retort to him calling me his girl, but . . . I liked it anyway. He turned back around and I saw that the man, Sergii, had walked up with Kris. “She is new.” He commented. His voice was low and husky, but rather soothing. “When did she join your pack?”

Kris looked at me curiously, as if silently asking me a question, but I had no idea what. So he just smiled and turned back to Sergii. “She’s not a part of my pack. It’s a long story.”

“One I hope I get the pleasure of hearing. But as for right now, I’m starving. Is Lay going to be cooking us anything?”

Lay and Kyungsoo banded together and shanghaied a couple of others to start making dinner. There was easily around a hundred Weres hanging around, filling up all the extra rooms Kris had to offer. Each Alpha had their second in command to look after things while they went to discuss what was happening. I just had Sehun and I trusted him well enough, so I let him be as I went to join the meeting.

It was in Kris’s study, which I had not appreciated the size of until now. With five Alphas all in one place, if it was any smaller, I don’t think anything good would have come of it. Sergii was in there, lounging on a chair, looking every bit like he belonged here. And there was another man I had yet to meet, but assumed was the European pack Alpha. He wasn’t as big as Sergii and had a wiry build. With his deep set eyes and thick eyebrows, he just looked angry. And the way he was eyeing me didn’t make me much like him.

“Alphas only.” He snarled.

He was challenging me—I could feel it. I glared right back. “I am an Alpha.”

“Head Alphas.”

“I am ‘Head’ Alpha.”

He snorted. “You’re a woman.”

“And?” I shot right back.

The tension was getting thick and we were about to go at it, when I was surprised to find Sergii stepping in. “Oh, lay of it Connor. You’re so stuck in the past, it’s ridiculous. Right, Kris?”

I was suddenly aware that Suho and Kris were in the room as well. I turned to look at Kris and it looked like he was barely restraining himself. From what, I wasn’t sure.

“Right. Hyorim is the Head Alpha of her pack and has proven she’s worth her weight plenty of times.” Connor looked like he believed that as much as he believed pigs could fly. “She’s the one who brought all of this to our attention and took down the enhanced Were who attacked us in the woods.”

That got the man’s attention. “Hmph.”

“Now, if we’re done with the pissing contest, I’d like to hear the full story of why me and Connor here were called out.”

I really liked this Sergii man. I took a seat more towards the back, preferring to observe rather than interact. I liked Sergii. He was huge and powerful, I could sense that much, but he showed restraint and a rather . . . lazy attitude. Connor on the other hand . . . I wanted to strangle that misogynistic . But that wouldn’t be good for Kris, so I showed my own restraint and just glared daggers at him.

Not too long and they had a set plan of what was going to happen and who had what role. But . . . something just didn’t sit right with me. I’m not sure what. It wasn’t that same feeling I had with Taejoon. There was just something . . . something that made me feel guilty and sick.

“Is there something you want to talk about?”

I looked up and realized it was just me and Kris. Slowly, I shook my head. “No . . .” I was about to get up and leave, when Kris spoke up.

“Should I . . . expect you tonight?”

I stopped and looked at him. He sounded incredibly hopeful and uncertain. Should he? “. . . Yeah. But I have to go and do some things first. Don’t wait up for me.”

I wanted to talk with Ai Li. See how she was doing and make sure she wasn’t pushing herself. I knew she wasn’t handling the shard directly, so that wasn’t a concern. But if she deprived herself of sleep looking up ways to combat it . . .

I knocked softly on Chen and Ai Li’s door. Within a few heartbeats, the door opened. Chen was the one who opened the door, that look of worry still on his face.

“Is Ai Li awake?”

Chen shook his head, looking tired. “No.”

“Oh . . .” I stared at Chen’s face, how tired it looked and the new lines etching his face. “Chen . . . is everything okay?”

Chen was silent as he stared at his feet. “ it.” He finally said. Suddenly, he wasn’t tired anymore. He was angry. “Ai Li was pregnant.”

Ai Li is pregnant. That actually explained a lot that . . . wait, was? “Was?”

Chen’s lips tightened into a straight line and nodded.

“Chen . . . what happened?”

“She miscarried. Nobody could have stopped it.”

I was breathless, feeling totally out of my element. “When . . .?”

“Just after we left the kitchen this morning.”

“I-I’m so sorry. Chen, I . . . I—” But I didn’t know what to say. What did you say to that? “How is she doing?”

He sighed and rubbed his neck. “Not well. After we had Lay check up on her, she kicked me out of the room and cried herself to sleep.” His voice was starting to crack. He finally looked me in the eye and the heartbreak I saw there blew me away. “Hyorim . . . our baby is gone.”

I didn’t even think. I reached forward and hugged him. His arms wrapped around me and he started sobbing into my shoulder. He seemed to lose all strength in his limbs and I gently eased us down.

“Our baby, our baby,” He cried.

I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing. I just did my best by offering him what I could—a listening ear and physical consolation. After a while, he settled down. He drew away from me and wouldn’t look at me.

“Thank you.” He whispered.

“I . . . I’m no good with words. But if you or Ai Li, need someone to listen, I’m here.” I offered. “And . . . everyone else is too.”

“Thank you.” He said again. He numbly got up and went inside, closing the door behind him. My heart ached for Chen and Ai Li, but I had no idea what I could do to help fix things. I felt somewhat useless and I hated the feeling. I eventually arrived at Kris’s door and opened it. The lights were still on and I rolled my eyes.

Kris was reading something at his desk—I guess he hadn’t waited up for me. He had just gotten absorbed in his book.

“What are you reading?” I asked as I leaned over his shoulder.

He glanced at me and then back to the book—or maybe I should say tome. It was huge. And old looking. “It’s called the Old Treatises and Analects. I’m trying to figure out what that bastard meant by ‘syncing’ with your wolf.” He sighed as he leaned back. “Among other things.” He leaned his head all the way back to look at me. “Did you finish what you needed to do?”

“Kind of . . .”

“Kind of?”

“I’ll explain later.”

Kris closed the tome and got up. He hugged me close and gave me a rather chaste kiss. Before it could progress any further, I pushed him back a little.

“What?”

“Can we just . . . sleep together tonight?” I could tell he was going to be snarky about it, so I quickly said, “Just sleeping together on the same bed?”

Kris nodded. “That’s asking a lot, but of course.”

We both got into sleeping clothes—he lent me some—and we both got into bed. I relaxed as soon as he grabbed me and brought me close to him. I could feel his contentment and I knew I was feeling it too.

“Xīn?”

“Hm?”

“After all this is over . . . I want to sit down and have a good talk with you.”

“Hm . . . okay.”

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Sergii is pronounced as "Sir-gay"

Also, this chapter is a little boring. sorry. I'm working on the next chapter now.