Tao slid out under the roots and scrambled up, using every bit of energy from both his wolf and human sides to urge his body faster. He could hear the howls behind him, meaning there were more wolves to come. The five hadn’t been the entire pack.

“Hmm... not sure of the exact amount. From what I've heard, 11, but I've heard of two packs of 6 and 5.” He recalled CL saying. He ran faster. If only he could reach the city, his scent would be masked by the stench, he would be safe, the wolves would lose his trail, he could disappear into a crowd, if only he could reach the city...

He heard the sound of both wolves’ paws and human feet dashing behind him and urged himself even faster. Chances were 11 against 1, not in his favor in the slightest bit. Two alphas were after him now, and who knows how many betas, deltas, and omegas.

The first of the pack members made his appearance next to him, another omega with blonde hair and a serious face. Tao ducked as he leaped at him, the other tumbling to the ground beside him and tripping a beta who was part of the chase. Tao ignored the growls and snapping of teeth that was going on in the fight and pushed himself onwards.

One beta overtook him and stopped in front of Tao, crouched in his half-transformed shape. Tao’s instincts kicked in and he leaped over, dodging a couple of trees he almost hit while landing. To stop running was suicide. To be caught was suicide. The only way out was to reach the city. He could see the lights of a few apartments ahead of him, signs that he was getting close.

Suddenly there were six wolves catching up to Tao. The only way out was forward. His breaths came in desperate gasps, his legs were screaming in agony, his energy flow slowly ebbing away. He was going to die, he was sure of it now. He still had at least another 100 meters before the trees broke. It may not seem long, but that 100 meters was the only factor of life or death in this situation.

I should’ve left the moment I saw them. I should’ve run at that moment. I should’ve run away quietly. I should’ve submitted once the alpha noticed me. Tao’s thoughts ran wild of what he should have done, and he didn’t realize that he was moving faster until the trees broke and he was in an alley.

His eyes snapped into focus, his senses sharpening to the point where it almost hurt. He dodged boxes and jumped over fences, his feet hitting the pavement like thunder. One that was still pursued by the lightning of 11 wolves behind him.

Tao reached his building and tore up the stairs, slamming the door to his apartment behind him and locking every lock available. He dashed to the trapdoor, falling down the slide. He could hear the wolves breaking into his apartment above. Whipping out his phone, he called CL.

“What?” Her voice growled after picking up on the second ring.

“Close the trapdoor now. Right ing now, don’t question it, don’t go outside, close it right ing now unless you want to be attending my funeral.” Tao hissed. The wolves hadn’t discovered the trap door yet, but it was only a matter of time before they did.

“Tao? What’s going-”

“ing. Close it. Now.” Tao growled, as he slipped into the room. The door slammed closed behind him and he heard the million locks click at once. He strained his ears, hearing the trapdoor 6 levels above him slam shut and a curse, probably from one of the wolves.

Tao let out a breath, slumping against the wall and sliding down slowly, losing all strength in his body.

“Tao. ing tell me what’s going on. Now.” CL ordered, still on the phone.

“Lock your door first, send a text to all the tenants to lock their doors and not to answer to anyone.” Tao said. He heard CL pause. She talked again after a minute.

“My door’s locked, I texted all the tenants, and I set up the emergency locks. They wouldn’t be able answer the door if they wanted to.” CL replied. “Now tell me what the is going on.”

“I went out to see my parents.” Tao explained. “The new pack was there, at my parent’s grave. I stayed to listen to them talk, like the idiot I am, and the alpha noticed me. They chased me back, and now they’re in my apartment. Send food down if you can. If you absolutely must go out, they’re going to question you. Just pretend to know nothing about me. Text me when they leave.” Tao hung up to CL yelling at him.

He used some of his remaining energy to attune his ears to the conversation going on in his apartment.

“Who was that, Kris?”

“A wolf who uses some of the land we own now. He uses it as a resting place for two people, a man and a woman.”

“So why did we chase after him?”

“Needed to warn him not to interfere on our land again.”

“Well, I’m guessing that he’s a beta. Or an alpha. I haven’t seen someone run that fast in a long time.”

“...I don’t know. He seems like an alpha or beta, but I would have smelled an alpha, and a beta would have transformed partway while running instead of staying in human form.

“Also, his scent isn’t very strong, too weak for me to pick it up, even here.”

“Are you saying that he’s an omega?”

“No way. No omega could run like that.”

Tao felt a bit of pride at that.

“So what do we do, Kris?”

“Why are you asking me? I’m not the head alpha.”

So Kris was the name of the alpha Tao had seen.

“Ask Suho.”

The other alpha, Tao realized.

“I say we keep an eye out for him, approach him if you seem him. It’s no use to stay here, I bet he’ll never come out of that tunnel if we do.”

“But wouldn’t he starve?”

“No. He probably has an accomplice somewhere in this building. If he has a place that secure, there must be someone who controls it from the outside.”

“So we go investigate the other apartments?”

“I heard all the locks in the building click at once. Either he has control of the locks or his accomplice does, but no one is coming or going anywhere until they unlock.”

“So he was prepared.”

“I bet he knew that he would be chased down at some point, so he set up a security system in the building.”

“Why the entire building, though?”

“We have a clever wolf on our hands. Anyone would bow down to a werewolf, especially an alpha. A pack could threaten humans for answers about the person.”

Tao heard the lock in CL’s apartment unlock and the door opened. She locked it behind her. The wolves’ conversation paused. Tao cursed CL in his head.

“Let’s go.”

They moved out into the corridor and CL was stopped right before she could leave.

“Who are you? Oh, are you that guy’s friends?” CL asked, sounding innocent.

“You know anything about this guy?” One of the wolves asked.

“Him? Oh, he’s such a weirdo. I swear he’s insane. Never talks to anyone, always sneaking out at the craziest time of the night. Creepy, really. And he keep messing with the locks, god it’s so annoying. So lucky I figured out how to open mine.” He could hear the false pride in CL’s voice.

“What else? Tell us everything you know about him.” Tao could hear the command in the alpha’s voice. He had to clamp his hands over his mouth in order not to scream everything about himself to the world.

“I don’t know anything else.” CL complained. Tao’s eyes widened as he realized. As a hybrid, she wasn’t affected by the alpha’s voice like a wolf or human would be. “Can you move? I need to go the market.”

“At 1 AM?”

“I ran out of tampons.” CL retorted. Tao muffled a snicker. She always joked about how afraid boys were of girls on the periods, and how awkward they got when girls talked about anything that had to do with it. “Now are you going to move?”

Tao heard the pack shuffle out of the way, and smirked. CL was right.

“Wait, you said that you can unlock the doors?”

CL groaned. “I told you, only mine. The locks are all different, I can’t open the others. Now let me leave, god. By the way, none of the other tenants know any more information about him than I do. He’s a nutcase. I’ve talked to the others about it, and we all agree he’s weird. Now I’m leaving.”

He heard her walk down the stairs. She walked in a particular pattern on the ground floor before leaving. Tao smirked. Morse code.

I ran out of food. Can’t get any from your house. Be back in 15.

Tao texted her, a simple “okay”.

He listened to the wolves above him for a while more before they, too, left. CL returned in 15 minutes exactly, dashing up to her room. He heard all the apartment doors unlock. A meal along with a note and pen arrived in a small dumbwaiter.

He took the food and read the note.

It’s safe for the others, but I don’t know if it’s safe for you. Do you want to stay down there until the full moon?

He wrote back. I’ll stay down here, but be on high alert for any of the wolves if they show up again. Especially during my heat.

Sending that back up the dumbwaiter, he ate quickly before sending that back up as well. Now that he was going to be inside until after the full moon, he had nothing to do. He looked around the room he was so familiar with, yet at the same time, knew nothing of.

He was never in his right mind while in wolf form, and his conscious was only dangling by a string during his heat. He spent so much time in this room, and yet he never remembered any of the time he spent here. But, subconsciously, he knew this place.

He knew he was the one who caused the deep scratches on the walls, knew that the dried blood scattered about the room was his, knew that those shackles were the ones he always attached to himself during his change, knew that the dents on the door were from him throwing himself against the door in desperation during his heat. He knew this room inside out. But he would never remember learning to know this room. He would just know that he knew it.

He closed his eyes for a nap before the moon would rise that night.

Because now, all he could do was wait.

A/N: If you haven't noticed by now, I really like cliffhangers. Please comment!!