To Wonwoo, it felt paradoxically like both the shortest and the longest journey of his life as Kris and Junmyeon whisked him and Mingyu away to what appeared to be a gated mansion (once the blindfold was taken off) in the middle of nowhere. Not really that much different to his place, but also not an area he recognised.

"Where is Mingyu?" he asked, looking around as soon as he was allowed to, nobody else in sight but him and Kris. "What is he doing with him?"

"He's being looked after, don't worry, wolf-boy," Kris murmured, already tired of the task he'd been set. He didn't like wolves any more than any other vampire (apart from the hybrid, Mingyu), and wasn't sure he agreed with Junmyeon's decision to let him tag along. This was vampire business, even if Wonwoo was inescapably linked through being Mingyu's mate. "When he needs you, you'll be told."
"What am I supposed to do until then? Just sit around and twiddle my thumbs?" Wonwoo's eyes narrowed. "How do I know I can trust you to keep to your word?"

"You're here, aren't you?" Kris retorted, his temper fraying. "Be grateful for that. We didn't have to bring you!"

Wonwoo's head shot up as he heard Mingyu scream from somewhere in another part of the house, and he tried to push past Kris to get to him. "Let me go," he shouted, frantic. "I have to help him. He needs me! Let me out!"

"It's not safe for you right now," Kris replied, pushing Wonwoo away and quickly stepping out of the room, closing the door and locking it. "You have to stay here until someone comes to get you."

"No!" Wonwoo pounded on the door, the wood splintering and cutting his hands. "Let me out of here! I have to see Mingyu!"
Not bothering to answer him, Kris stayed outside the door to make sure Wonwoo didn't get out to cause any more trouble. If Junmyeon wanted him, he would be sent for. Until then, he'd just have to wait.

Wonwoo had no idea how long he screamed at Kris to let him out, the door a mess of blood and wooden splinters by the time he sank to his knees on the floor, his voice gone and his hands shredded and burning with pain. Mingyu's screams had stopped at some point, and the flickering... Looking at his wrist, Wonwoo could only console himself with the fact that the ring of light signifying his mating was still there, still dim white against the black of his jacket and shirt. It flickered, though not as dangerously as before, giving Wonwoo a small measure of hope.

"Mingyu," he murmured brokenly, holding his wrist to his chest, as if he could protect the dim ring of light by doing so. "Don't die, please..."

When he was next aware of his surroundings, Wonwoo was laying in bed, his hands bound in bandages and a new door replacing the one he'd pounded to splinters. Sitting up groggily, he slowly became aware of a presence, though not the one he wanted.

"Who are you?" he asked, scrambling back warily as he saw the young man sitting on a chair beside the bed, watching him. "What do you want?"

"Are your hands... better?" the young man asked, completely ignoring his questions. "I bandaged them up the best I could..." He smiled. "I'm Joshua."

Blinking at Joshua, Wonwoo didn't know what to think or say. He obviously wasn't a vampire or he wouldn't have been able to touch his hands. "I don't understand..." he murmured, shaking his head in confusion. "Who are you?"

Joshua shrugged. "Not a vampire, obvously," he chuckled softly at Wonwoo's confusion. "If that's what you're worried about. And I'm not here to kill you either..." He looked thoughtful. "I'm here to protect you..."

Wonwoo's eyebrows rose. "Protect me?" he scoffed, looking Joshua up and down. "You're human. How could you possibly protect me? And what from?"

"Well, yourself, for one," Joshua replied, that infuriatingly bland expression still on his face. "Mingyu. Any of the other vampires who might take it into their heads to rid the world of a wolf..." He gave a half-shrug. "Take your pick."

"As for how..." Joshua held up a knife and a gun. "And yes, I do know how to use these, in case you were curious. I'm not as useless as I look." He grinned, a look in his eyes that told Wonwoo he was definitely very serious. There was more to Joshua than first appeared. "Seungchul sent me, so the vampires here don't dare do anything against my presence."

Tilting his head, Wonwoo didn't know what to say. "Seungchul? Who is he? And why would he be enough to protect you? Or me, for that matter."

"He's Mingyu's..." Joshua looked thoughtful for several moments as he tried to think of how to explain the various hierarchies to a wolf. "Well, he's the leader of the group Mingyu belongs to, and asked Suho, Kim Junmyeon, to look after Mingyu for him while he was here. It's what keeps him alive..." He gave Wonwoo a pointed look. "And you."

"When one vampire leader asks a favour of another, they can't go against it," Joshua explained quietly. "If they do... there's serious trouble, and nobody has done it for years. The risks just aren't worth it, and they don't think Mingyu is worth the trouble either." He gave a wry smile. "It's a bit ironic, but whatever works, right?"

"So how does that cover you?" Wonwoo asked, his eyes narrowed. "You're not bound by this... code. For that matter, neither am I."
"You are by virtue of being Mingyu's mate," Joshua pointed out calmly. "Therefore under Seungchul's protection. He takes it very seriously, believe me. I'm here because..." He bit his lip, not sure how much to tell Wonwoo. "I have Sight..."

"If you say so," Wonwoo shrugged. He didn't believe in that sort of rubbish, and it seemed Joshua was used to reactions like his, because he didn't pursue the issue. "I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Seungchul is my friend, and he asked me to help," Joshua replied, closing the book he'd been reading with a snap, startling Wonwoo into jumping. "It doesn't matter if you believe in my gift. It works regardless of whether anyone believes in it."

"Again, if you say so." Wonwoo sighed. This was  waste of time. "Why are you here? Aside from protecting me. That can't be the only reason, surely."

"Let's just say I'm here as Seungchul's insurance policy," Joshua said finally, leaning forward to stare at Wonwoo, making the young wolf shift uncomfortably under his scrutiny. "There are those who would take matters into their own hands, and we can't have that. As long as I'm here, they won't do anything because strange as it might seem, my life is more valuable in their eyes than yours or Mingyu's."
"Let me guess," Wonwoo said wryly, looking away to avoid Joshua's gaze. "Kris?"

"Amongst others, yes," Joshua replied. It wouldn't hurt to have Wonwoo on his guard around the older vampire. He was one of the most vocal of the ones who wanted them both dead. "He is helping you, but only according to the letter of the law, not the spirit. The moment he sees no point in it, you'll both be in danger."

Noticing a calendar on the wall opposite, Wonwoo paled. He only had another day or two before... "Would it be so bad to let him kill me?" he asked, turning his own gaze on Joshua, well aware of how intimidating he could be when he chose. "If you have the Sight, as you claim, I'm sure you know how I feel..."

"That is not your fate, Wonwoo," Joshua replied, his expression carefully blank. "That is all I will tell you, no matter how many times you ask."

"I'm not actually all that interested in my fate, as you call it," Wonwoo said, shaking his head. "I know I'm going to die. I just would prefer it sooner rather than later. I can't go through this again..." His eyes narrowed. "And if you tell me it's not my fate, I'm going to have them remove you. You can tell Seungchul to stick it."

Joshua just looked at him calmly, shrugging and sitting back in his chair. "What do you want of me, then?" he asked instead, startling Wonwoo with the question. "Since you don't seem to want to live, even for Mingyu's sake..."

"You do realise that if you die, Mingyu does too," he added, his gaze sharp. "It renders this whole exercise meaningless. There's no point in them saving his life if you're just going to kill him." Joshua leaned forward again. "Do you love Mingyu enough to live for him, even if it causes you so much pain that you want to die?"

"I don't even know him," Wonwoo said, throwing up his hands in frustration. "How can I live for someone I don't know? I don't even know why we're mated. He's a ing vampire!"

"Have you even tried to get to know him?" Joshua asked, a tiny smile appearing when Wonwoo shifted back, avoiding his eyes. "You're not being very fair to someone you say you love, not giving him the chance to get to know you..."

"I never said..."

Looking pointedly at Wonwoo's hands, Joshua remained silent, letting that sink in before speaking. "You love him. We all know it, even if you try to deny it to yourself and to him. It doesn't matter how or why. It just is. Why question it?"

"Because it doesn't make sense," Wonwoo was getting tired of this conversation. Joshua was making him think things he didn't want to, things that hurt, and he was so very tired of hurting. "And I am too tired of this. All of it."

"Of Mingyu?" Joshua was relentless. "You can't convince me you are with how you reacted, you know. Your actions, your hands, they tell a different story."

"I'm tired of hurting, of being hurt," Wonwoo replied, defeated. He wanted to cry. "You don't know what it's like. I never asked for any of this."

He glanced at Joshua, startled by the sympathy he saw in the young man's face. It caught him off guard. "I never asked to be turned into a failure of a wolf. I never asked to be mated to someone I can't have." Wonwoo's voice broke and he covered his face with his bandaged hands. "All this pain, and for what reason?"

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A/N: What is up with AFF's formatting? I can never get it to go how it's supposed to. *bangs head on table* Even switching editors doesn't help. *grumbles* Anyway, here is the newest chapter. Version... around 6 I think. So many re-writes... *flops on floor* I hope y'all like it...