The week before the Lee/Choi wedding had all of Hanyang in a frenzy. The King himself was rumored to be in attendance to this marriage he’d arranged himself. Other rumors had it that Donghae was pretending to marry a Choi, but in reality was married already to one of the Princesses, or a cousin of the King, or the sister of the Queen.

Seungri saw more of Sunyoung than he’d expected as he was forced to dash back and forth between the households for random errands. The problem Seungri had with this was that the Choi household was on the other side of the city compared to the Lee household, which sat close enough to the Merchant district that sometimes he felt that the Lee’s were really the head of all the Merchants instead of being a Minister to the King.

No leads had been found by the Magistrate on the case of Seungri’s attack. He suspected that they would never find the shifter responsible for his change, and he was strangely ok with that.

‘Good, because you would be ten times more lonely without me.’ Dragon told him smugly, sounding pleased and amused at the same time.

Seungri snorted softly in response. He didn’t want to attract any more attention to himself than needed during this errand. Zhou Mi had shown up at the Lee household, claiming that Daesung had called for Seungri to come in for a quick check to ensure he was fully recovered from the attack, but in reality Zhou Mi had wanted the new shifter to take a carefully wrapped package full of herbs from the Herb Merchant Kim to the gisaeng house. He’d murmured so quietly to Seungri that the House Mother had recently acquired a new girl fresh from China that Seungri couldn’t refuse the task.

‘Do you think this new girl Mi mentioned is a shifter?’ Seungri asked Dragon, darting sideways nimbly to avoid a group of newly arrived visitors to the capital. The wedding had brought in several members of the noble class from both families and it made Seungri uneasy.

‘More than likely if Merchant Kim is involved.’ Dragon replied. ‘I wonder if she’s a feline or a wolf.’

Seungri had to smile. Dragon had a low opinion of all canine shifters, but surprisingly a high respect only for the Herb Merchant and a clothing Merchant named Kim Yesung. Seungri hadn’t pried what made those two canine shifters special to Dragon, but he figured he’d find out sooner or later.

Seungri saw the lanterns that marked the gisaeng house out. They must be having an event for the lanterns to be out this early in the evening. He arrived at the gate and told one of the servant guards at the entrance that he needed to speak with the House Mother on the errand from Merchant Kim and hoped that the woman would know what he was talking about.

Seungri only waited a few minutes before he was quickly ushered into one of the side rooms meant for servants. He stood with the package still firmly wrapped up in his arms, unsure of what exactly was going on. “I apologize for making you wait.” Krystal stepped softly into the room. “I see you are part of the Clan now.” She said after bowing.

Seungri felt his jaw drop. Dragon hadn’t alerted him to any other shifters in the gisaeng house, so how did the House Mother know he was a shifter?

Krystal gave a little giggle. “Don’t freak out on me.” She said soothingly, stepping closer to Seungri. “I’m a childhood friend of Sunyoung and am also on good terms with the Clan and Packs.”

Seungri felt he could breathe again. “Are you?”

“Goodness no!” Krystal said, gesturing for Seungri to sit on one of the cushions placed near a low table. “I would have been changed had it not been for Master Howie. He took me in after Sunyoung shifted for the first time out in the woods when we were children.”

“Oh.” Seungri nodded. “So, since you saw Sunyoung change, you learned about shifters?”

Krystal nodded as she gracefully sat down on a cushion opposite him. “The previous leader of Pack Kim liked to frequent the House and brought me here after finding a bloodied Sunyoung guarding me from the batch of bandits that had tried to attack and us.” Krystal said. “He told Master Howie that in exchange for the girls entertaining members of the Packs and Clan, he would teach me about shifters so I could manage which girls entertained their members and how little alcohol to provide to them.”

Seungri relaxed with the information Krystal gave him. “So I take it you know what the package Herb Merchant Kim sent?”

Krystal smiled warmly at Seungri, making him blush. She nodded. “Yes. We recently acquired a new girl from China who is a shifter.” Krystal tapped once on the floor. “She’s….well, you should see for yourself...” She trailed off as the door to the room opened and two servant girls guided the new gisaeng girl into the room.

Seungri tilted his head up and almost gagged. The scent rolling off the girl smelt of a combination of wolf and something so acidic that he wanted to plug his nose or dive into a patch of wolfsbane to rid his senses of the offensive smell. “What in the world?” Seungri asked, barely keeping himself from trying to escape the smell.

“What do you smell?” Krystal asked.

“Wolf and…something I’ve not smelt before.” He choked out.

Krystal nodded. “Give me the package.” She told Seungri, her hand stretched out.

Seungri shoved the package at her, breathing through his mouth in an attempt to lessen the smell in his nose. He looked over the girl as Krystal opened the package and then tapped on the floor two times.

“Does she speak Korean?” He asked Krystal.

“I speak Korean and Japanese.” The girl said clearly, her accent barely noticeable. She glanced at Krystal. “Mistress, I tell you this is not needed.”

Krystal looked at the girl, a frown marring her face. “Her name is Song Qian, but she insists on going by Victoria.” She told Seungri.

“It is the name of my shifter and I will not be called by any other name.” Victoria said, a sharpness to her voice that Seungri was sure the House Mother couldn’t hear.

Krystal looked at Seungri. “She also doesn’t want to submit to non-shifter authority.” The door opened again, and a third servant brought in a tray with 2 cups and a tea pot. “Have the hot water ready at the door in case we need to make more brew.” Krystal told her, taking the tray and setting it onto the floor beside her.

“Yes House Mother.” The girl said, bowing and backing out from the room.

Krystal finished opening the package. Several different herbs smells assaulted Seungri’s nose, one of them being wolfsbane. He drank in the familiar smell of the herb.

The moment the smells of the herbs hit Victoria however, she sunk to her knees. Seungri was sure she knew what was going on, even if he wasn’t clear. Krystal worked quickly, taking a parchment out of her sleeve and adding pinches of certain herbs to the tea pot.

After a few minutes, Krystal gently swirled the tea pot to mix the brew inside and poured a cup. She beckoned to Victoria to come closer. “Seungri, you may have to aid me.” She told him, as Victoria shifted closer to them.

Seungri nodded. “Will I need to hold her down or?” He asked, preparing himself mentally for a shifter going out of control.

“Possibly.” Krystal said. “Victoria.” She said staring confidently at the other girl. “You need to drink this.”

Seungri watched, fascinated, as Victoria’s hands jerked. They started to rise to take the cup from Krystal, but fell halfway there. “NO!” She growled, her eyes darkening.

Seungri moved quickly, his feline reflexes kicking in. “Submit!” He growled, his voice husky with the aid of Dragon. He really was getting used to the dominance thing quickly.

The command shuddered through Victoria as she turned her gaze from Krystal to him. She whimpered, her head tilting back a little as her hands shook. Seungri growled deeper this time. Dragon was angry. This shifter didn’t want to submit to him even though he had sensed from the second she’d walked in the door that he was 10 times more powerful than she. “Submit now, or die.” He ground out, trying to keep from tearing into the soft flesh of her neck. Dragon hissed through Seungri in warning toward the girl.

The threat to her life had Victoria down on the ground, her neck exposed clearly to Seungri in complete submission. “Good girl.” Dragon seemed to simmer down. Seungri looked over at Krystal. She gave a tiny nod of her head to him. Seungri fought the urge to tighten a hand over Victoria’s throat as he accepted her submission to him. She would get her due punishment for trying to defy submission.

The tension in the air cleared as Victoria sat up, her eyes wide and body trembling in fear. Krystal seemed unfazed by his display of dominance over the new girl. She held out the cup again. “Drink.” She commanded.

Victoria took the cup this time, and drank from the cup. Seungri watched, amazed as she downed cup after cup of the noxious smelling brew, but by the time the package of herbs was gone, the odd smells in the room had waned and changed completely.

“Now, Seungri, tell me what you smell now.” Krystal said, as Victoria sat in front of them, the trembling and fear now gone. She sat straight backed even though exhaustion played across her face more than once.

Seungri sat up in shock. “She’s a feline!” He said, shocked. He could have sworn she’d been canine, but if someone, or something had masked the girl’s scent as a different species of shifter completely….Seungri couldn’t finish that thought.

“What?!” Both Krystal and Victoria said, shock and surprise in their voices.