"Shhh, it's okay. It's just a dream."

 

I woke suddenly from the dream, the sound of cracking stone still echoing in my ears even as the gentle tones of someone's voice tried to comfort me. I allowed my eyes to open slowly and then gradually adjust to the darkness. Because of that, I couldn't see the face of the person leaning over until a few moments passed by, and once I did, I was surprised to the point of speechlessness.

 

"K-Kris," I managed to stutter as I looked up into his face, my eyelids half-closed in a sleepy squint. My voice was groggy since I had only just woken up, and I could suddenly feel a clammy sweat on my face, likely from the fear caused by the images I had seen only moments before.

 

"Yeah, I'm here," he said, his tone the softest I had ever heard. It was strange, and it almost seemed as if it had to be another person rather than the Kris that had been snapping at me and all of the boys earlier that night.

 

"W-what are you doing in here?" I asked, sitting up against the pillows. I could see then that he was perched on the edge of the bed next to me, obviously not completely comfortable to be there. Of course, that struck me as a bit strange since he was the one who had decided to come into the room in the first place. His hair was a mess, and he was wearing a thin t-shirt and basketball shorts; it was pretty clear from his appearance that he hadn't slept much.

 

"You were, uh, having a nightmare. I was awake, and, um, I heard you, and I came in here to make sure you were okay," he said, and as he spoke, I saw in his face how hard it was for him to say this, to be even the least bit open and show that he cared about someone outside of his pack. Especially me.

 

Before I could reply, Kris turned abruptly toward the doorway, and I looked up to see the dim hallway light outlining the tall silhouette of Luhan.

 

"Uh, everything okay in here, hyung?" he asked, hesitant to step through the doorway for some reason. He was dressed similarly to Kris, and his hair was messy, but in the sense that he had actually been sleeping on it.

 

Kris quickly got up from the bed and crossed the room, his body language tense. The sudden change startled me, though even if it hadn't, I probably wouldn't have been quick enough to react to his leaving. On his way out of the door, I just heard him mutter to Luhan something about everything being just fine.

 

After he had gone, Luhan turned back to me and asked again, "Is everything okay?"

 

I just looked at him for a moment and said, "I would love for everything to be okay, but I don't think that's the case right now."

 

He nodded and looked down at his feet for a moment, rocking back and forth on his heels contemplatively. Then, he looked back up and barely cocked his head to the side, saying, "Wanna talk about it?"

 

Without thinking for even a second, I nodded.

 

As he walked over and sat on the spot where Kris had been, I drew my knees up under my chin and hugged my legs to my chest, closing my eyes for a few moments to pull back the images from my dream. It wasn't difficult; I had been having almost the same dream for so long that the creature seemed to be burned into my memory. When I opened my eyes again, I found Luhan watching me, slight concern in his expression.

 

"Have you ever heard of recurring nightmares, that happen over and over again?" I said, trying to go fairly straight to the point. He nodded his head, so I continued. "I've had the exact same dream at least once every week for as long as I can remember. It's the same every time, except now it seems to be worse."

 

He leaned toward me a little bit, clearly listening, and urged me to go on.

 

"Usually, I'm standing in a cave of sorts, and there's this sort of barrier made of stalagmites and stalactites. It's holding back this huge creature with deep red fur, and it looks a lot like a wolf. And usually, it stays back away from the barrier, but tonight... Tonight, it was trying to get through, and it looked like it had blood on it. And then... And then all the stones began to crack like it was going to get out, and the wolf had death in its eyes, like it wanted to kill me and--"

 

"It was just a dream," Luhan said, cutting me off. Before I could object, he grabbed my wrists and pulled me toward him, embracing me in a massive hug. Something inside my brain clicked, and I found myself hugging him back, my lean arms wrapped around his toned torso.

 

We stayed like that for a few minutes; I'll admit, it helped, even if just a little, to be hugged like that, even if it was clear that neither of us wanted to actually continue the conversation. I had never told anyone else about the dreams before, for fear that I would be forced to talk to a therapist about it. But with all of the weird things I had gone through that day, I figured my main weird aspect wouldn't make much difference to someone who could physically turn into a wolf. Speaking of which...

 

"I've never seen any of you actually turn into a wolf, you know," I said as I pulled away from him and leaned back against the headboard again.

 

Luhan stifled a laugh, knowing it would probably wake someone, before raising an eyebrow at me and saying, "You really want to see the 'other side' of us, huh?"

 

"It's not that. I guess I'll believe it more once I've actually seen it. Who knows, maybe all this talk about you werewolves is what triggered my dream to come back so strongly." I paused, considering something, before asking, "None of you are red, right?"

 

Luhan shook his head and said, "Mm, no, no red wolf among us. Black, grey, brown, a yellowish-gold... Oh, and white, of course," he added, placing his hand over his heart and grinning.

 

"Your wolf is white?" I asked, leaning forward a little. "But doesn't that make hunting hard, with the whole camouflage issue and everything?"

 

He flushed a deep red and said, "Oh, well, uh, yeah, a bit. That's, um, why I don't hunt much. Kris and I stick to, ah, patrolling and whatnot." He coughed a little, seemingly embarrassed since I had brought up the whole camouflage thing. Clearly, he had expected a different reaction from me.

 

"So Kris isn't a good color for camouflage, either?" I asked, probably a little to eagerly.

 

Luhan caught this and looked at me speculatively before saying, "Why don't you just see for yourself tomorrow?"

 

~

 

The next morning, I tried my best to freshen up: the shower was nice, but it wasn't all too pleasant to put the same clothes back on. Luhan had left one of his sweaters for me to wear since the air was brisk, so I slipped that on before sliding my arms into the jacket Kris had given me the evening before.

 

When I poked my head of the bedroom, I just caught a glimpse of someone heading toward the stairs, and the flash of reddish-brown hair told me that it was Lay, so I hurried to catch up to him.

 

"Lay! Lay, wait up a second," I said, trying my best not to be too loud; I really didn't want to draw all of the attention to myself.

 

"Oh, hey!" he said, brightening up a bit once he saw who I was. He glanced down at the sweater and the jacket, grinned, and said, "Making a fashion statement, are we?"

 

I felt my cheeks flush red, and I could keep myself from punching him in the arm playfully. "Hateful," I said, faking hurt feelings as I walked past him on the stairs.

 

"You haven't even seen hateful!" he said. "I'm a victim! If you want hateful, go talk to Tao for a bit and see if he doesn't take you down a few pegs."

 

"He's right," Xiumin said as we entered the kitchen where a casual breakfast was laid out. "He's maknae, but he's got an attitude worse than an alpha."

 

"At least he doesn't look like a maknae," came the voice of Tao as he walked in a few steps behind me and Lay. He glared at Xiumin for just a moment, and I thought things would get ugly, but then he grinned and added, "Only kidding, hyung."

 

~

 

Breakfast was a very casual affair, and then the boys sort of scattered again, supposedly to "prepare" for the day's duties. I followed Luhan into the living room where he flopped onto one of the couches, so I sat down next to him. We sat in there for a few minutes, watching a news report on CNN before Luhan said it was time for everyone to gather outside.

 

I followed him to the back door and across the front porch where I had been stargazing the night before, then down the stairs and halfway across the backyard.

 

Tao was already there, along with Chen and Lay, and the maknae glanced at me when I walked outside with Luhan. "Are you going to help us, nuna?" He grinned after he said it, so I knew he was only joking with me.

 

I smiled back for a moment before saying, "I just need to see them -- your wolves. I don't think I can believe it until I see them for myself."

 

"Just don't get too close," Kris said suddenly as he stalked past me and Luhan. I hadn't even heard him come out of house, let alone cross the yard, so his words startled me and I jumped a little.

 

When I recovered and looked at him for a moment, his stance was tense, just as it had been when he had exited my room the night before. I still couldn't understand why he had changed so suddenly from trying to comfort me about my dream, but then I reminded myself that he was a boy and there was no way to truly understand them.

 

"No, of course not," I said sort of quietly, glancing down at the grass for a few moments.

 

Finally, Xiumin joined the group, and they all headed towards the trees. Luhan quickly turned back and said in a hushed tone, "You'll want to stay here. See, clothes don't just disappear when we shift, like they do in the movies, so we have to, you know..."

 

I nodded, knowing exactly what he meant, and said, "Right, of course. I'll stay here and just wait for you guys."

 

"Good, good," he said, then he turned and jogged across the other half of the yard and disappeared into the trees.

 

A few minutes passed, and then a few more, and then a few more after that. Finally, just as I was beginning to think how cold it must have really been, I saw the faintest rustle of brush at the edge of the trees. I watched it closely, but I couldn't make out anything distinct; the shadows of the trees were too dark to see anything but fuzzy shadows. There was an eerie silence, and I realized that there were no birds singing around the clearing, no small animals chattering or chasing each other; all the other animals had fallen silent and the world seemed to be holding its breath along with me.

 

Then, five furry blurs bursted away from the trees and made a beeline for me, nearly stopping my heart. A big white wolf reached me first from the front, and he stopped short so as not to run me down, but suddenly, all I could see was the red wolf from the dreams. After that, I felt myself fall backwards, but I don't remember ever making contact with the ground before I out.

 

 

( Next chapter update, woohoo! Haha, I just started writing this one at 1:30am and it's now about 2:30am or so, so I'm sorry for the crap! I just really needed to get this chapter written since I wanted to develop the plot a little bit after a good bit of filler interaction in the last couple of chapters. So here, take this and be happy! Also, I won't even consider posting the next chapter (once it's written) until I get two more comments anywhere in this story! That's not an unreasonable request, and I would really appreciate some feedback. I promise I will definitely respond if you comment, if that's any incentive. anyway, love you all! )