Part 3: Chapter 22

The Old Man drank the last of his tea as a car started up in front of his house.  He slowly rose and gathered the used tea cups to take to the kitchen.  It wasn’t until the pottery was washed and laid out to dry that Daewon reentered the house.

That told the Old Man so much.  Seulgi hadn’t waited to talk with Daewon, she had been quick to leave.  Daewon on the other hand…  The Old Man supposed he had much to think on.  It had been a heartbreaking decision for Daewon to make, leaving for America the way he had.  But none of them, not even Seulgi, had foreseen how much that decision would hurt everyone. 

But he had to have faith that they would figure it out on their own. 

“Are you ready, Master Kwon?” Daewon called from the main room.  “We should get going.”

“Yes, let us go.”  He didn’t need Daewon’s medical test results to tell him about his illness, but the charts and numbers gave the boy an illusion of control over the amount of his remaining days.  The Old Man wouldn’t dream of begrudging him that.  So he would let Daewon take him to his big hospital in the city, at night of course, to minimize questions that couldn’t be answered. 

The Old Man stepped out onto his front porch behind Daewon.  Leaning on his cane, he looked up at the moon and then lowered his eyes, gazing in the direction of the city.  Though his eyes saw nothing abnormal in the lights of the city, his wolf could sense the gathering threat.  The darkness he felt had been coming from the city for weeks now, but it had remained subtle enough that the Old Man hadn’t thought it to be a danger.  But now that he knew someone was turning wolves, it changed the situation.  The Old Man needed more information. 

He would allow Daewon his tests, but then he would follow the subtle taste of wrongness he felt to the source.  And just maybe he would find answers.

Sohee had no idea what she was supposed to do.

She knelt in front of the chair Ryehyun sat in.  He was awake now, but his eyes were closed as he slumped against the ropes binding him to the chair.  “Aren’t the ropes a little overkill?  He really doesn’t look up to hurting anyone right now.”  She looked up at the guys who stood in a loose circle around her and the chair.

Kai clenched his fists.  “The ropes stay, Sohee,” he said.  His gaze concentrated on Ryehyun.  He stood at the ready, prepared to step in and remove Sohee from the situation if Ryehyun so much as twitched the wrong way. 

Sohee looked Ryehyun over, looking for something that would tell her what to do.  She hadn’t had to do anything when she helped Luhan settle his wolf.  It just happened that her teardrop was the secret ingredient.  Was she supposed to cry for Ryehyun too?  With his past with Kai and the guys, Sohee wasn’t sure she could work up any tears for him.  She was willing to help, to figure out how far her powers extended, but crying over him was a bit much. 

Her eyes landed on his right hand and the faded mark there.  Confused, she reached for his other hand and pushed at the sleeve.  She had expected there to be a tattoo there on his left wrist, just like Luhan’s, but it was empty of any marks.  Dropping his left hand, she picked up his right and looked closer at the discoloration.   It looked like it could be a mark similar to her boys’, but it was a dull gray instead of black.  The shape, as well, was different than any she’d seen.  The creatures jointed wings just beginning to unfold reminded her of a dragon. 

Sohee ran a finger over the slightly raised edge of a wing.  An electric shock jolted through her finger and an image flashed through her mind.  She jerked back with a gasp and the next thing she knew she was on the other side of the room, looking at Ryehyun and Luhan over Kai’s shoulder.  Luhan was gripping the wrist of the hand she had held in one hand and Ryehyun’s hair in the other, yanking it back so his neck was exposed.  It was a position of submission. 

“Stop,” Sohee cried before anyone could do more damage.  “He didn’t do anything.  Kai, let me go,” she said.  It was only when she tried to move away that she realized Kai had his arms around her. 

“What happened?”  Kai demanded.  “If he found a way to hurt you-“

“Then you’ll be the first one to know,” Sohee assured him.  “It wasn’t his fault.  I found something and it surprised me, that’s all.  Kai, you have to trust me.”

“I trust you, it’s him I don’t trust.”

Sohee just looked at him until he released her, but he was half a step behind her as she returned to stand in front of Ryehyun.  Luhan released Ryehyun, letting his head flop forwar