“Run!” Gage called out to Chanyeol as she landed at the bottom of the stairs a big grin on her face.

“No you don’t” Sungyeol landed in front of her.

She swiftly dodged him with a laugh and she was out the door before he or anyone could say another word. Having turned into a race the two friends didn’t stop running until they were outside of the shop that stood across the street from Lay’s office in Central.

 “So, what was that about?” Chanyeol held the door open for her.

She shrugged “Sibling stuff?” She wasn’t quite sure how to label it since she didn’t grow up with her brothers. Chanyeol nodded in understanding.

Gage paid for two waters and passed one to Chanyeol. “So your group is kind of a ragtag bunch.”

“Uh yeah” he chuckled “We have two magic users; you’ve met Lay… I’m not sure if you remember him, you seemed to be in quite a lot of pain.” Gage nodded. “The other is a fire user and his name is Zico. Three vampires; you’ve met Eli and Jia already and then there’s Zhou Mi.”

“One of the leaders.”

“Yup. And three shifters; two wolves and a fox” he grinned widely at fox. “Hyuk introduced himself. The other wolf is Minhyuk.” “Speaking of shifting,” he looked directly at her “Have you made any progress”

“Haven’t really tried.”

“Why not? What about your brothers, haven’t they been helping?”

Gage scratched at the back of her ear “We’ve kind of been focusing on family and pack connection first.”

“Ah… would you like to try?” he leaned forward, a look of excitement in his eyes.

“Right now?” He nodded, Gage looked around “Are you nuts? We’re in public!”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened “Maybe we should head back to your house.” Gage stood up but stumbled, Chanyeol was quick to steady her. “You alright?”

She blinked “Yeah, full moon in a couple of days.”

“You weren’t this unsteady last month.”

She shrugged “It happens.” She held the door for him this time. They hadn’t gotten far before she was holding her head.

“Well, well, well. It’s been a while cuz” someone called from behind them, Chanyeol froze beside her. “And the fox!” a second voice jeered, helping Gage put the pieces together before she could ask Chanyeol. The first voice didn’t belong to Chanyeol’s cousin but-

“Hey Kyu, What do you think DooJoon and Heecheol’ll do once they hear that Myungsoo is hanging around with the fox?”

Gage steeled herself and turned to face them, Chanyeol grabbed her arm “We need to get out of here.” Gage ignored him and stared at the two before them.

“You’re not Myungsoo” the second voice said.

“No” Gage tilted her head “You’ve got to be the first rational minds from the Sun that I’ve met so far.”

 The first; Kyu, studied her silently as the second’s face turned dark “We can change that” he sneered.

“Is there a problem here?” Chanyeol seemed to visibly relax at the new voice. “Last I checked, Changmin. Central is neutral ground.”

“Stuff it Zico, it’s not for traveling rogues.”

“Who said I was traveling-” “She’s not a rogue Min.” Gage met Kyu’s eyes at that, “She’s broken.” Her eyes flashed a lighter purple before she squeezed them shut and held her head again.

Changmin huffed and rolled his eyes “Is this really the one who caused such a commotion among our members?” Kyu shrugged still watching Gage. “Whatever, show us your claws next time eh kitty.”

Gage dropped to her knees after the two left. Zico dropped to his grabbing her by her shoulders “Are you alright?” She barely lifted her head before her eyes rolled back. Chanyeol knelt down “Put her on my back.”

They ran to Lay’s shop only to find the door locked Zico groaned and pulled out his phone.” Where are you?!”

“At the house, why?” Chanyeol heard Lay’s muffled voice.

“Its Gage” was all Zico told him, unsure exactly how to explain what happened to the girl. “Bring her here.” Chanyeol was already running before Zico ended the call.

--

Gage was fully conscious the moment Chanyeol stepped inside. “Let me down.” Panic was starting to set in. Sensory overload and moon sickness’ll do that. Chanyeol released her legs, bending his own slightly so she could stand. Unfortunately Gage’s legs weren’t quite ready to support her and immediately crumbled beneath her. Luckily Zico was there to catch her.

“Lay!” the boys called. Gage paled holding her head “Where’s the bathroom?”

“Come on” Zico scooped her up and rushed off to one of the bathrooms.

“You probably won’t want-” Gage slapped a hand over and pushed away from Zico, making it to the toilet just in time to empty the contents of her stomach.

“It’s okay I’ve seen worse” he said with a steady hand on her back.

“Where is she?” Lay called.

“We’re back here” Zico called back to him.

Lay entered the bathroom a few seconds later and placed a cool and on the back of Gage’s neck. “You guys should have woken her up outside or waited for me before bringing her in” he chided the two; Chanyeol had taken a spot in the door way.

“So.. being broken makes her that much more sensitive to sensory overload?” another voice asked from Chanyeol’s direction.

“Only when it’s this close to the full moon” Lay explained and Gage nodded. “Can you move?” he asked as he handed her a cup of water. She nodded again after rinsing out. “You should probably lay down for a bit. Let’s get her to the guest room.” Lay helped her to her feet, which she wasn’t on for long as someone had decided that she needed to be carried to the room. From what Chanyeol had told her and by process of elimination he either had to be Zhou Mi or Minhyuk and he definitely didn’t smell like a vampire.

Chanyeol and Gage shared a look; he looked just as surprised as she was. “Um… I can walk.” Despite saying that, Gage made no move in an attempt to get back on her feet, as his presence was comforting. He acknowledged her statement with a calm look and she had to resist the urge to curl up against the crook of his neck. They rounded a corner and followed Lay into a vacant room. Lay pulled back the covers before Minhyuk set her down. “Thanks… but I don’t need to be tucked in.” Especially not with half the household standing in the doorway she thought. Hands raised they both took a step back.

She went to speak again but Lay stopped her “Rest now, we can talk later.”

“What about my brothers?”

“Who is home?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Zhou Mi” said a female voice… ‘Great’ Gage thought ‘she’s standing in the doorway too.’

“I’ll have Zhou Mi call them so they know where you are.” He ushered everyone out of the room, then came back to stand by the bed “Being this close to the full moon you’re probably going to have to stay here.”

Gage nodded in understanding “I kind of figured that. I’ll need some of the stuff I asked for last time and a syringe.”

He nodded this time “I’ll come check on you in a few hours.”

--

Gage later woke up to whimpering and a nose nudging her hand. “Chan, I’m fine” Gage sat up eyes flashing. She bent over her lap gripping her head “It’s too soon.”

Chanyeol yipped once, running out of the room, Lay ran in shortly after. The next thing Gage knew was that Lay was being stopped from shaking her by a tall slender man with a calming voice. “She isn’t going to respond to you, she needs to hear from pack.” He smiled one of the brightest, gentle smiles she’d ever seen and held a phone up to her ear. “Here you go little one, it’s Dongwoo.”

“Hey Gage.”

She woke up at the sound of his voice, taking hold of the phone, “Dongwoo…”

“There she is” Gage could hear the smile in his voice. “How are you doing?”

She was still holding her head with one hand. “I… I don’t know.”

“Zhou Mi told us that you ran into our cousin Kyuhyun. We should’ve told you about him sooner.”

She slowly shook her head “It’s fine, but what would he have to do with what’s happening?”

“Normally nothing, like if you had run into him last week or even next, nothing would’ve happened. But for some reason with the full moon in a couple of days, you had a reaction to him. Sunggyu and I think it’s because of the similar blood. Did he do anything?”

“Aside from mistaking me for Myungsoo he pretty much just watched me the entire time his friend spoke.”

“Mm… ‘kay. How’re you doing now?”

“A bit better.”

“Good” he smiled “It won’t have the same effect as touch but if you need to don’t hesitate to call one of us. Hearing our voices should take the edge off.”

Gage took a deep breath “Thanks, I’ll see you guys after the moon.” She hung up to find that Zhou Mi and Lay had left and Jia was standing in the doorway. They stared at each other for a bit before Jia cleared “Sorry about scaring you off that night.”

Gage studied her as she shifted her position. “You didn’t scare me, I didn’t trust you” she grinned.

“Whatever” Jia scoffed “you hungry? Foods done.”