So I tried to do a birthday update, since my birthday was yesterday, but there were just too many details I wanted to get right for this chapter update! So, anyway, I hope you guys enjoy! ALSO, I saw that we can add translators to our stories to translate our stories now, so if anyone wants to do it, just let me know, and I can add your name to the translator list! I've had some offers before this was created but I can't remember who *shrugs*

Taemin grounded his teeth together.

An Elder.

Elder Donghae.

It didn’t make sense.

He watched as Eunhyuk and Siwon bowed to him one more time before going their separate ways. At first, Taemin thought he’d have to move aside and hide himself better, but the two went into two completely different directions than where they came from. Now, all that stood in the clearing was Donghae. Or…Elder Donghae. The words still didn’t flesh out right. They didn’t correlate together.

Donghae stood there, kicking his feet against the leaves.

Then he paused.

Like something caught his attention. And he looked around. Curious. Suspicious. His eyes narrowed. He turned in Taemin’s direction. The boy hid behind the tree again, but there was a searing anger rising in his cheeks. He heard Donghae pause again, and turn around. Perhaps, second-guessing himself.

The words, “get rid of Onew,” kept echoing in his head.

He looked down at his band.

All he could think about was when Onew touched it.

If…If he took it off right now, would he have control over his wolf? At least enough to attack Donghae? Would he have enough strength to attack Donghae? He was an Alpha…but Donghae—he was on a different level. He was an Elder. Something so above an Alpha that even Uncle Shindong and Uncle Heechul didn’t come close to comparing too.

His teeth grounded deeper.

He heard Donghae sigh.

“Ah…. Looks like it’s gonna rain,” he said aloud to himself.

His head tilted towards the sky, past the leaves and the branches. And he turned around to leave, but no—this isn’t how it was going to end. Donghae wasn’t going to send some wannabe ultra alphas after Onew so that he could get Key. And Key wasn’t going to get taken. No matter how much he found the duo annoying, Taemin couldn’t deny his feelings for Onew or his growing odd friendship with Key. That wasn’t how any of this was going to end. He dug his fingernails into his band, grabbing underneath the skin and making sure to grasp the edges just right. With each dig into the skin, he felt his anger beat against his chest and rise in heat. And when he got a good grasp, when there was enough—just enough to give into pulling it off, he leaned his arm back and—

A hand clasped around his mouth and pinned his arms down.

His first instinct was to struggle, move his arms about and forget all about Donghae but then there was a soft shhhhh. And the shhhh was familiar.

That’s when Taemin realized. There was no visible hand in front of him, but the pressure was there, the texture of a hand was there.

“Shhhh,” the voice hushed again and slowly, before his eyes…Onew appeared.

Like a soft fade-in in a movie, he was there. But not just him, Key and…Minho? They each had a hand clasped on one of Onew’s shoulders. Supposedly, the only way he was keeping the two of them invisible along with himself. Taemin hadn’t realized just how strong the boy had gotten in their short time together.

He narrowed his brow and his mouth opened to say something but with his free hand Onew placed a finger over his lips and made the shushing sound again, nodding in the angle Donghae was standing.

He mouthed the words, “I have all of us invisible right now.”

At first, Donghae looked around cautiously, like he missed something, but after narrowing his eyes and searching through the trees, he shrugged his shoulders and made his way opposite of where Eunhyuk and Siwon went.

Onew kept his hand over Taemin’s mouth the entire time. And until the four of them were confident that Donghae was long gone, a slight breath was held in their throats.

“We need to go to Minho’s cave,” Key whispered first, “It’s a good walk but his is closer than yours.”

Taemin nodded when the three looked at him for a reaction, but he didn’t speak.

***

And it stayed like that throughout the entire walk. In fact, all four of them kept their mouths shut. Key and Onew were more worried about Donghae miraculously showing up again, but Minho and Taemin had…other concerns. Taemin darted daggers in Minho’s direction the entire time. And the journey to the man’s cave seemed like an eternity because they had to be so slow and so cautious. Who only knows what time it was right now. The night was still suffocating and the only one who had proper eyes for this was Onew whose eyes had started off with a glow but slowly turned into those big wonderous owl eyes Taemin witnessed in the bathroom. Judging by Minho and Keys non-reactions, he guessed that Onew already told them.

He even watched as Key’s free hand unconsciously touched Minho’s wrist as they walked with worried eyes. And that his hands were anything but normal. They were longer, sharper. And even in this tint of night, Taemin could tell that the ends were a blood red ombred into the rest of his hand. But again, no one had a reaction to it. Just him…staring.

The closer they got to the cave, the more Taemin felt the anger in him from seeing Donghae, rising again. And right when they hit the tip of Minho’s cave, he took his chance—without thinking, without knowing. The old Taemin had emerged in that one second it took him to react when everyone finally let go of Onew. He pushed Minho hard, with all the Cerberi strength he could muster. The man flew to an awkward side of the cave, hitting the jagged rocks in a full-force impact.

“Taemin, what the hell!” Key yelled.

He ran over and helped Minho up, dusting off the man’s pants. Thanks to the little water and the moonlight that also awkwardly made its way into the cave, they could see each other enough. So much that Onew could turn off his eyes.

“Hey Taemin,” Onew replied softly, touching the boy’s shoulder. It was an unexpected gesture. “Calm down.”

But he was too angry and Taemin found himself going over to push Minho again— only, Key stepped in, scrunching his sharp fingers in the air so that it looked like they were about to attack. He stared Taemin down.

“Taemin, don’t make me. I read in the scrolls how poisonous my claws are to other creatures. Calm down!”

Poisonous claws. Onew didn’t seem shocked by this either, but Minho did.

Good, at least there was something he too, was not in the loop of.

Taemin stopped.

His eyes turned to Minho, subtly standing behind Key a few spaces back.

“What, you’re okay with him?!” Taemin yelled, looking around to all three. “You guys were there to get me, which means you heard what he said! You heard what Donghae said, what he is! And you still trust him! You still trust Minho?”

He directed his eyes solely at Minho again.

“I trusted you. You were like a brother to me!”

“I didn’t know!” Minho yelled back. “I didn’t know.”

“The hell you didn’t.”

“I told you I found Donghae suspicious! That never changed, even when we were on the plane to the Hallasan Mountains! YOU think I wouldn’t have told you if he was a damn Elder!”

“You and your family are prone to secrets,” Taemin spat back. “I knew-“

“He didn’t know!” Key yelled. “None of us did, alright. We’re all in the same boa-“

“Oh, come on Key! You like him, he likes you. You think I’m going to listen as you defend-“

“He didn’t know,” Onew said calmly, placing his hand back on Taemin’s shoulder.

Almost immediately, Taemin stopped breathing heavily. He looked at Onew, sincerely, with questioning eyes but all Onew did was shake his head and repeat his words.

“Taemin, he didn’t know. Even I doubted it at first, but he didn’t.”

“If you just calm the hell down for two goddamn minutes!” Key spat, his blood fingers waving about the air in front of the boy, “You would understand it!”

Taemin searched amongst the three of them again. They all had the same attentive, serious eyes and it bothered him. Bothered him so much but he wasn’t sure why. Maybe because he felt so out of the loop, the only one not knowing. So, he his lip in and sat right there on the ground of rocks and crossed his arms like a defiant five-year-old. He heard Onew sigh but didn’t see him. Even so, the man made his way over and sat down next to Taemin. Next was Key, who rolled his eyes but reluctantly sat down as well and of course, Minho followed suit, sitting right next to Key.

“I’m listening,” Taemin answered quietly.

Key pursed his lips but nodded anyway.

“I went to go see my aunt tonight like I’ve been getting myself used to do lately,” Key started, “since we’re not really sure if she’s ever gonna wake up. And I was talking to her, ya know like they tell ya to do with unconscious patients. Maybe they’ll hear you and wake up, something like that. Well, that’s what I was doing. And I started to ask myself…or her really— questions. Like how did that monster get to her so easily, who was she going to meet?”

Taemin shrugged.

“The thing surprised her. It happens.”

Key shook his head.

“Not to Aunt Kim. There is only one time in my life that I surprised her and that’s when she knew I was there but forgot for a second. Let her guard down. I tell you—Aunt Kim isn’t the one to let her guard down easily. Not unless…well—why does anyone ever let their guard down,” he shrugged, copying Taemin’s movements, “because it’s someone you know, someone you’re comfortable with. I mean, I never knew why Aunt Kim was such a high-alerted person. Of course, now I do, after finding out so much but—I never understood it then.”

Taemin slowly uncrossed his arms.

“So…you think your aunt knew whoever attacked her.”

“I don’t think, I know. Or at least, I’m highly positive. You didn’t grow up with her, you don’t understand. She always had two eyes over her shoulder and I think she thinks I’ve never noticed but I did. I just never said anything because Aunt Kim is sweet and loving, and the only connection to my parents I have. So, I assumed she was simply overprotective especially since she fed me the story that my parents died in an accident when I was little.”

“Then,” Onew began, “Key ran into the room and whispered it to me. We still don’t fully trust my parents. We texted Minho and—”

“Why didn’t you text me!” Taemin interrupted, “I’m the only one out of the loop here.”

“I did!” Onew yelled back, “Multiple times actually. And you never picked up. I still don’t get why because by the time we spotted you, it had seemed like you were there about the same time we were. Not exactly, but about.”

Taemin quickly shut his mouth. Where had he put his phone? Under his bed? In his covers. Now that he thought about…Onew probably texted him when he was daydreaming…about…well, he couldn’t tell them that, so he just shrugged defiantly.

“When I got the text from them,” Minho began, “I realized Siwon was gone. Without waking the other one, I snuck out and picked up his scent. You know, like we learned in our Alpha training, but it was harder because—”

“They’re Alphas too.” Taemin finished, “Trust me when I say, mines wasn’t a walk in the park. They may have a demoted status, but they will always be Alphas.”

“But now we know why” Key began again.

They all looked at him curiously.

“I mean, you said the instruction came from the Elders. That’s what your Uncles said at least. Now we know the Elders only did that to get them over here to spy on me and Onew.”

Onew snapped his fingers and shook his head, looking down at the ground like an old man.

“But how the hell did they know about us. We’ve been here since we were kids. We grew up here. How or rather why the hell did it take them so long to figure out we were here?”

The entire circle was quiet for a moment.

Taemin made a weird scoffing sound in the depths of his throat.

“Why does it always seem like when we get the answers to , we get ten times more questions in return as a damn punishment. So,” he sighed and turned his head to Minho, “I hate to do this to you twice, but the only one who can even slightly answer that question is you Minho. He is in your pack.”

“Was,” Minho retorted, shooting glares at the boy. “I don’t consider any Cerberi who kills for fun a tribal. Plus, he never had my respect, to begin with. I told you how suspicious he was when we were at the school like he was looking for something. Always whispering to the Uncles…. only….looks like he played them too.”

Taemin huffed and let his body fall back onto the ground, crossing his arms behind the back of his head.

“So…we don’t have any answers, yet again. Seems to be a damn cycle with us.”

“Not necessarily,” Key stated, “We have a couple of answers. One, Aunt Kim knew her attacker in who I think is the same man that her and your mom, Onew, was supposed to meet. Maybe she met him earlier and something went south. Two, Donghae is an Elder, that’s why he’s been so weird and suspect. And three, that the tales about the Elders are the truth. You guys see how young Donghae is. That means the Elders are immortals but that also means that they got their immortality from something else.”

“Or someone else.” Onew added.

The two looked at each other. That spark, that connection that they’ve always had, transferring like electrical wires in the air.

“So…are we gonna get in on this big epiphany or what?” Taemin retorted.

“Think about it Taemin,” Key immediately stood up, walking in slow, small, circular strides, “My parent’s scrolls and Onew’s mom’s stories never talked about any other immortal creatures. I don’t even think it stated that my kind was immortal. We just lived a lot longer than all the others. It was one of the reasons we were the head of the supernatural world. Our lifeline, our knowledge.”

“If we put the story my mom told us with what Luna said,” Onew continued, “then there’s something missing. Something vital. There was a war between the Gumihos and the humans. If we connect Luna’s story, then we’ve figured out that the Cerberi from then, they made a pact with the humans to spill where the Gumihos were hiding. Because they wanted power because the humans wanted power. Everyone wants power in these stories, but these two sides never tell us how they get it.”

“Yeah, the humans get rid of the Gumihos, that was their gain out of it,” Key continued, “but what was the Cerberi’s gain. How did they get power? Surely the respect the Gumihos had in the supernatural world, no one would follow the Cerberi suddenly even with the head species suddenly knocked down. What would make so many others suddenly follow them? Immortality, that’s what. Or…rather, a blight for immortality.”

Taemin sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Key, I hate to break it to you, but, you’ve given me more questions than answers. It’s not really helping.”

“I too, have to agree,” Minho commented, “I’m confused also.”

Key plopped back down with a huff, the sudden outburst making Taemin sit up.

“Would you two think a little harder! When I visited my aunt tonight I saw she had a strand of gray hair. And I said wow…gray hair…that’s weird. I’ve never seen her with gray hair. Not even a strand. But I started to think about what Onew’s mom said. That they were connected. His mom didn’t age because she was bounded to my aunt. I’ve been asleep what…5,000 years. I don’t know how long Gumiho’s survive. But we’re not immortal. Night Owls survived just as long because they were bonded to a Gumiho counterpart. What if…what if—”

“What if that was their gain. Stealing the longevity of the Gumiho’s life,” Onew interrupted. “Key was asleep for 5,000 years and was still young what do you think a whole genocide of species like that would do to you if you knew how to take their strength?”

Taemin was alert now. Both he and Minho were.

“It would almost be like you were immortal,” Minho answered.

“But,” Taemin stammered, “we’re just wolves. How…how would they or…how did they know how to do that? You can’t just steal someone’s aging…”

“The only way to win a war,” Key whispered, watching the glistening rocks, “is to find your enemy’s weakness. You find an enemy’s weakness by getting close to them.”

“That’s the only problem,” Onew sighed, “what kind of Gumiho would get close to a Cerberi? From the scrolls, it didn’t seem like the liked each other much.”

Key’s eyes lowered even further. His fingers played with the scattered debris on the ground.

“It’s the reason why I brought up my aunt being attacked,” he sighed, “I’m positive she got attacked by someone she knew. Someone, she was comfortable with. What if that someone was a Cerberi—” he looked up at the three of them, “an Elder.”

***

Min-seo opened her eyes. The room, as she expected, was a deep settling dark. Her husband was hugged in her arms next to her, sound asleep. But she knew this feeling. This feeling of something opening and it had awoken her from a deep sleep. She felt her heart beating fast, but this wasn’t coming from her. Lightly, she placed her hand on her chest and her eyes widened.

In a quick movement, she released herself from the embrace of her husband’s arms and hopped out of the bed, hearing him moan awake from her sudden pace. But she didn’t look back, didn’t care that she woke him up. Instead, she dashed into their guest room, where they laid Kim and when she bust the door open, it wasn’t what she expected.

Kim, Key’s aunt Kim, was still asleep. Her eyes were still closed, her breathing was still neutral. She walked up to her body and settled herself on the mattress next to her, caressing the top of her forehead. Moments later her husband rushed in as well, panic-ridden on his face.

“Is everything alright?” He blurted, but in a hushed tone as to not wake the boys.

Min-seo sighed and nodded.

“Sorry, I thought she woke up.”

“Why all—”

“Something felt different,” she interrupted, “but I guess I was wrong.”

She swept her fingers against Kim’s forehead one more time before getting up and heading towards the door. Her husband shared a sad smile and rubbed the back of her shoulders when she got to the doorway.

“Minny?”

They both stopped.

“Minny...?”

They turned around.

Kim was…awake.