Chapter 40

Chen trembled even though he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong. Well, nothing apart from keep secrets and he was pretty sure he could explain that. It would be easier if Kris stopped glaring at him though.

“It’s not what it sounds like,” he managed.

“It better not be,” Kris growled, “because it sounds pretty ing bad.”

“I-it’s... No! It’s not that. I wouldn’t… I mean, we didn’t.” He looked desperately at Suho who was standing with his arms folded and a cool expression on his face. Kris continued to narrow his eyes in his boyfriend’s direction.

“We were just… He said he would help me.”

“With what?”

“W-with shifting.” Chen’s voice had fallen to barely above a whisper and he looked down shamefully.  What if Kris didn’t believe him?

“With shifting?” He didn’t sound sceptical, he sounded dangerous. Chen swallowed. His throat was suddenly dry.

“I know I should have told you-“

“You should have asked me for help.”

“I know but he offered and I didn’t want to cause any more trouble for you.”

Kris growled low in his throat. “How could you be so stupid?”

Chen jumped at his suddenly raised voice.

“Do you know how personal shifting is in your state? And you just go off with some stranger, an alpha at that… He could have done anything to you? Do you know how vulnerable he was making you?”

Chen tried to think rationally but it was hard. He trusted Suho and even though trying to shift had made him strangely weak and vulnerable at times it had never really felt that way. Suho had kept him safe.

“It wasn’t like that.” He turned to Suho desperately. “Suho, tell him.”

The other alpha shook his head almost tiredly. “Leave me out of it. I already said I don’t want our packs mixing anymore.”

“But-“

Before he could argue Kris had stepped up to Suho and squared his shoulders. The alpha bristled at the sudden confrontation.

“You think my pack is the one with the problem?” he snapped.

“I think your pack mate is the one who took advantage of our maknae, yeah.”

Kris growled. Chen couldn’t see his eyes but he guessed they had turned red just like Suho’s.

“What’s going on?”

To Chen’s relief Chanyeol and Baekhyun appeared just at that moment. He opened his mouth to explain but Kris spoke first.

“And how do you know it wasn’t your maknae being a little that started all of this.”

Before anyone could even react Suho had lunged at Kris with a yell that turned into a growl as they shifted and crashed to the ground.

“Kris!” Chen screamed as the two wolves rolled on the floor. “Stop it!”

They only scuffled for a second since the narrow corridor didn’t offer much space and then Kris managed to use his superior size to pin Suho to the ground. The other alpha wasn’t going down without a fight though and he snapped and pushed at Kris, trying to escape.

“Kris!” Chen shouted again but it did nothing to stem his anger. He felt hands pull fiercely at the fur on his shoulder and lunged around, biting hard until he felt blood in his mouth. There was a scream and then Chen was on the ground, blood pouring from his arm. He scrambled away from Kris with a shocked look.

“jongdae!” Chanyeol and Baekhyun dropped down beside him, the former wrapping him up in his arms while the other pulled off his hoodie and used it to stem the flow of blood.

Immediately Kris and Suho shifted back into their human forms.

“Chen, I’m so sorry!” Kris reached for him but Chen whimpered and pulled away, hiding in the safety of Chanyeol’s safe arms.

“Don’t touch him,” Chanyeol growled. His voice was a deep rumble against Chen’s ear as he pressed his head to his chest. He was suddenly feeling very light headed.

“It was an accident. I didn’t mean it.”

Chanyeol’s eyes turned a dangerous shade of red and even Baekhyun was glaring at him.

“Leave me alone,” Chen whimpered. Tears were already streaming down his face which had turned alarmingly pale.

Kris gaped at him, not knowing what to say. He couldn’t believe what he had just done. Suho stood up, looking a little shaken himself.

“What’s going on?” asked Kyungsoo who none of them had noticed standing wide-eyed in the doorway.

Suho swallowed. “Nothing,” he said, somehow managing to sound quite calm. “Just go back inside.”

Kyungsoo took a step back but was still fixated on his packmates cradling the crying Chen.

“I’m sorry, Chen,” said Suho softly, genuinely. “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.”

Chen sniffed.

“Can you stand?” Chanyeol asked gently.

Chen wasn’t sure he could but he nodded anyway. He could at least make it out of sight of Kris. With only one tight whimper he managed to stand. Chanyeol had his arm tightly around him, doing half the work of keeping him up, while Baekhyun walked alongside, his face full of concern.

Despite his shaky legs and the tears turning cold on his cheeks, Chen made it to the stairs and out of sight. The last thing he heard was Kris calling out another apology behind him. He screwed his eyes shut and pretended not to hear him.

Because I hate Chen apparently. I know this part was shorter but was it still ok?