I'm sorry, so sorry, so very, deeply sorry!! *bowing profusely* I know, I know, I have been a total scoundrel >_< Believe me, it's been weighing on my mind that I haven't updated, and even this chapter makes me feel icky because it's not much at all either >_<; But I didn't want to put off an update any longer! I love you all so very much, I'm so sorry I've taken my sweet time in updating, but here I leave this chapter, I'm sorry it's icky, but I still hope you enjoy! I promise to update as soon as possible, and NO, I AM NOT IGNORING ANY OF YOU, I LOVE YOU TO DEATH. Life is just...hell life! I promise, though, I'll update soon!!!

On another note: MY POOR BABY TAEK AT ISAC okay I had to rant about that somewhere, and that's all I'll allow myself xD I LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

And Ke to my N, I'm not ignoring you either, I promise!!!! <3<3<3<3<3 I love you all so very much, thanks for sticking with this crazy madwoman! *blows obnoxious kisses*

~

I could sense the moon was still reigning outside when the fog lifted from my brain, the weight of my body growing heavier and heavier. My muscles and joints ached miserably, but I noticed that I wasn’t cold. Actually, I was really warm. So warm that I was sweating a little bit. Something sturdy was pressed against my back, there was weight on my feet, and there was deep breathing in front of me; there were multiple heartbeats in the bedroom along with my own. I shifted around on the bed to see what was going on, but then my nose finally lost its numbness and the boys’ scents filled my lungs, easing the headache that I’d started to feel in the very center of my head.

The strongest scent was Taekwoon’s in front of me. I’d half-expected the man, but I received a pleasant shock when I found the wolf instead, curled up into a ball of ebony fur. His nose was tucked in under his hind leg, his eyes hidden away from me, but his warmth was emanating off of him like he was my very own personal space heater. In love with the beautiful creature, I settled back down onto the bed after shedding some of the unnecessary blankets covering me, and wrapped my arm around him, aligning my body to his as best I could. I felt like I was cuddling a silky, oversized teddy bear, but Taekwoon smelled way too good and was softer than a bunny; I wouldn’t tell him about the bunny bit, but I’d let him know about how great he smelled later.

After indulging myself with the cuddling, I looked around again. There were five other wolves with us on the bed, a miracle because they were all mountains of fur. Their coats were a beautiful array of colors, and since I’d never met the boys as wolves before, I couldn’t put names to them. They were fast asleep, curled up or sprawled out in comical positions, one in particular catching my attention with how he was not using the mattress as a bed, but two other wolves. His coat was a deep blue-gray, his large paws stained with black like he had booties on, his darker face turned towards me. One of the wolves he was on was a shade of chocolate brown with some reddish highlights to his fur, and the other was a sandy brown, the tip of his tail white—it looked like a bushy brush dipped in paint; the chocolate wolf was the weight on my feet, keeping my legs warm. Beside the three goofballs, curled up happily, was a snowball, the wolf’s fur practically glowing from how clean and white it was.

It was harder for me to see, but the wolf behind me was a deep gray, almost black, and he got into a bucket of paint too, but with his left forepaw. He stirred a little when I’d started to move, but fell right back to sleep with a little sigh, steadily burrowing under me.

Judging by Taekwoon’s heartbeat, he wasn’t asleep. He was listening intently to my own pulse, and my breathing, and he was now leaning his back into my front to get snuggled even better. I had so much to say to him, and I had many questions, but I had the feeling that he was avoiding communication.

I mean, he was still in wolf form, after all.

Sinking my fingers into the velvety fur of his flank, I whispered, “Thank you for saving me again.” I watched his ear flick, the gesture quite adorable, and settled in quietly for some more sleep, my exhaustion not over yet.

A gentle but firm hand grabbed me by my shoulder and shook me hard enough that I couldn’t sleep through it, which was his intention. I opened my eyes, but barely enough so that I was only squinting. My body felt like it was made out of lead, and my head was especially weighed down. Groaning, I focused my blurry vision on the beautiful wolf-man standing over my bedside, distantly aware that the rest of the boys were gone.

His generous lips pursed slightly, Taekwoon frowned worriedly down at my lazy self. “You need to get up and eat something,” he told me, his eyebrow furrowing.

Shaking my head, I grabbed him by the front of our sweatshirt and pulled him towards me, forcing him to collapse onto the bed again with me. “Sleep.”

He didn’t struggle, giving into me all too easily instead. He wrapped his arms around me while I nestled in against him and pressed my face to his collarbone, but he said, “Mia. It’s already two o’clock.”

I stilled. “Really?” I looked up at him with bleary eyes, then reasoned, “I was dropped into a river last night, of course I’m exhausted.”

His concerned expression deepened. “That wasn’t last night.”

Looking up at the ceiling, I took stock of my body. I couldn’t tell how long it’d been at all. “When was it?”

“Two nights ago,” he told me, running his fingers through my hair worriedly. “Are you not feeling well?”

Being honest with him, I said, “I don’t feel sick.” I shivered lightly, scooting closer to him. “Where are the others?”

“Playing video games downstairs,” he answered softly, his nose skimming the crown of my head. “Are you sure you don’t feel sick?”

I nodded, clinging to his warmth. “I’m just a little cold.” I remembered what Jekyll had said, especially about my mom. As I began to struggle to keep myself calm, I tightened my hands around fistfuls of our sweatshirt, using Taekwoon as my anchor. “I need to hear it from you, Taekwoon. How do you know Jekyll?”

He remained quiet for an immeasurable amount of time. Just before I thought I’d lose my mind, his hold strengthened around me and he confessed, “Jekyll is the name of the creature that killed my best friend.”

The door to the room opened quietly, but for once, Taekwoon didn’t react. Filtering in noiselessly, joining us on the bed or taking a seat elsewhere, they settled down with us, listening just as intently as I did. Ravi, Ken, and Hongbin sat together at the foot of the bed, and Sanghyuk took a seat at the desk while Hakyeon remained standing, leaning against Hyuk’s shoulder.

“Jae was kind, compassionate, and dreamt of being a teacher.” Closing his eyes, using me as an anchor this time, Taekwoon admitted, “It’s my fault Jekyll was born.”

I was already shaking my head when Hakyeon disagreed. “Hey! It’s his decisions that have gotten him here. Jae’s darkness bore Jekyll.”

Ravi added on, “He almost got you killed, and then had to save you—yes, we owe him for that, but he warped it and got jealous on his own.”

I didn’t know how to show my approval and gratitude, and I couldn’t do much while still being held by Taekwoon, so I resorted to reaching out with my sock-clad foot and bumped Ravi’s knee in thanks. Immediately after my toes connected with his kneecap, his hand landed on the arch of my foot and he squeezed lightly, shaking my foot like he would shake my hand in camaraderie.

It was starting to make sense now. It was hard for me to feel sympathy for Jekyll anymore, especially after his taunting; he’d lied to me before and told me he hadn’t had anything to do with my mom, but after the other night’s revelation… I absolutely loathed him.

Jostling Taekwoon slightly to get him to look at me, I told him, “I trust the word of the people in this room, and no one else’s. You need to tell me the truth without blaming yourself, though.”

I was able to see Ken raise his hand. “It’s a classic case of sour grapes, sister. Taekwoon here was turned into this awesome wolf-man, while Jae remained… Well, Jae.”

“I left him behind,” Taekwoon mumbled regretfully, hiding his eyes once again.

Helplessly, I shook my foot about so I would still be able to hold onto Taekwoon. “I’m not listening to him anymore, you guys tell me.”

Hakyeon took the stand and said, “Because Taekwoon was changed, he was taken in by the nearest wolf pack at the time and was taught how to live a proper lifestyle without endangering himself or the humans around him, and of course he was also taught how to keep the existence of werewolves a secret. He did not leave Jae behind, and that might have actually been the mistake.” He cleared his throat in apology. “Jae saw just how different the lives of werewolves are, and…it wasn’t long before he started begging Taekwoon to change him, too.”

“And that’s something we definitely cannot do unless there’s a seriously good reason behind it,” Hongbin supplied.

“Like Taekwoon’s case,” Hakyeon murmured, agreeing. “He was on the brink of death, so he was given the option.” He hesitated briefly before adding, “We all were.”

Surprise must have been obvious in my frozen form, because Ken broke out laughing and patted my calf obnoxiously. “Don’t worry, our happy stories continue!”

Laughing, Hakyeon agreed, “Yeah, don’t look so shocked, sister.”

Wondering just how much they’d all gone through in reality and weren’t telling me, I decided to change the subject to avoid discomforting them further. The change of subject didn’t move onto happier things, but at least we could all feel distaste together. “He’s absolutely crazy,” I mumbled, my heartbeat accelerating with how much I hated Jekyll. “He needs to be stopped.”

“We agree,” Ravi’s deeper voice rumbled, and he bumped my leg with his fist in another sign of solidarity.

“The question is, how do we stop him when he’s evaded us so successfully for years?” Sanghyuk said this time, bringing up what was obviously a good point.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Ken put some distance between us before saying, “Well, this time we have someone he really, really wants.”

Before Taekwoon could launch himself off the bed, I threw my arms around him and tightened my hold, wrapping myself around him like a pretzel. He’d started to struggle at first, but then realized it was the hopeless girl that had attached herself to him, and relaxed so he wouldn’t hurt me.

Sounding quite unhappy, his voice holding a lot of heat, he told everybody loud and clear, “We aren’t using her as bait.”

Beginning to relax a little, I demanded to know, “Why not?”

That y glare of his was redirected towards me, and although it was supposed to intimidate me, I reacted much differently. “You know we’re talking about Jekyll, right?”

I was prepared to give the performance of a lifetime. It was going to be reckless and stupid on my end, but I wasn’t going to sit around any longer (or sleep on it, to be more accurate).

Raising my eyebrow at him, starting to move away slowly, disentangling myself from him, I asked in a low voice, “So you’re planning on just locking me up while you take care of it?”

Caught completely off-guard by my reaction and behavior, Taekwoon blinked multiple times in silence. The other members were also dumbfounded, but one by one, unaffected by personal feelings like Taekwoon was, they caught on and started to play along.
“Mia, you’re just a girl—”

I sat up on the bed and got to my feet pretty easily. “You really just pulled that one on me?”

His eyebrows furrowed and he sat up too, already pushing up onto his knees to approach me slowly. “You know what I mean to say is—”

Shaking my head, I held up my hand. “I’m too weak, I’m a liability, I’m a damsel in distress?” I was actually fully conscious that I was indeed all of those things.

He reached for my hands in a placating gesture. “You’re the strongest person I know—”

As soon as he saw that I was beginning to waver, Hakyeon jumped in, “But you are just a girl, Mia, and this isn’t something you can just fix with your womanly charms.”

I wanted to laugh because he thought I had charms, but he snapped me out of it enough to get me to refocus. I scoffed at him. “I’m not some doll, guys. And if you’re thinking about locking me up in a tower like a real-life distressed chick, then I’m just going to have to do things on my own, aren’t I?”

I had no idea how Taekwoon bought it considering he was supposed to be able to smell lies, but maybe it was because I wasn’t entirely lying that it worked. While I marched my useless out of there, I had time to wonder just how far I was willing to go to get my hands around Jekyll’s heart to tear it out of his chest.