The room is in complete silence, only the sound of the machines connected to Jinyoung and Mark is disturbing the quietness. Jungkook is staring blankly at Jinyoung’s spot, waiting for a sign, for something that would tell them that he’s going to survive. Jaebum on the other side only looks at Mark as he holds his hand in his, asking himself when his friend is going to wake up and why Youngjae isn’t answering him through their mental link.

Suddenly the door bursts open with a loud bang and the calmness they were sunken in disappears. Jaebum diverts his gaze from Mark to look at Bambam and Jackson, who are already by Jinyoung’s side asking the nurse questions about Jinyoung’s condition.

After them a more appeased Seokjin enters the room, and immediately Jungkook jumps from his spot and runs to his side. Seokjin’s smile appears as Jungkook approaches him and he opens his arms so Jungkook can get in between. He embraces his young mate tightly as if they hadn’t seen each other in a while.

“I’m so happy you’re back” Jungkook mutters against Seokjin’s chest.

Seokjin pushes Jungkook a bit aside to cup his face with both hands.

“Me too, Kookie” he mumbles, leaning in to capture the younger’s lips between his in a gentle and brief kiss. “Everything is going to be fine, do you hear me?”

Jungkook nods with his head still in Seokjin’s hands. Seokjin removes them then and places his arm around Jungkook’s shoulder, dragging him along as he approaches Jinyoung’s stretcher to check his condition.

Jaebum stares at them with a mix of relief and jealousy. He’s glad his friend is fine but he can’t help but feel a bit envious of them getting reunited while Youngjae is still missing.

Sensing Jaebum’s stare on him Seokjin turns around, leaving Jungkook by Bambam’s side as he walks towards Jaebum.

“How are you feeling?” Seokjin asks him, squeezing softly his shoulder.

“Anxious” Jaebum answers calmly. “I hate not being able to help them and not knowing if they are going to wake up or not”.

Seokjin nods in sympathy.

“Youngjae is at the corridor” he tells Jaebum, who attempts going out but Seokjin’s hand on his shoulder prevents him from doing so. “Wait, Jaebum. He got his memories back but it will take some time before they reorder in his mind. Don’t overwhelm him; he’s dealing with a lot right now”.

Jaebum nods at him and finally Seokjin releases him, walking away to join Jungkook, Jackson and Bambam as they wait for Jinyoung to wake up.

Jaebum looks one last time at Mark, still sleeping peacefully on his stretcher and then he goes out.

He spots Youngjae right away, sitting on a bench at the other side of the corridor with Kihyun sleeping beside him with his head resting on Youngjae’s shoulder. He’s staring up at Hyunwoo, who is explaining something to him. He seems confused and lost, and Jaebum wants nothing but to run to him and hug him tightly to make all his worries go away; but then it downs to him that Youngjae now remembers everything that happened before he was kidnapped. Everything.

Jaebum feels a wave of insecurity roaming his body. What will Youngjae do now? Is he going to regret mating him knowing what he did to him, how he hurt him? Will he hate him for that?

Jaebum stays frozen at his spot, not knowing what to do. He’s still deciding how to act when Youngjae finally notices him, noticing too the turmoil in his eyes. Jaebum senses Youngjae’s stare and he stares too, both of them just looking into each other’s eyes in the distance as if they were reading into their souls.

Youngjae breaks the eye-contact and turns to ask something to Changkyun, who nods and carefully holds Kihyun’s head as Youngjae gets up slowly, neither of them wanting to disturb their friend’s sleeping. Youngjae mumbles a quiet ‘thank you’ before walking away from them and towards Jaebum.

Jaebum panics a bit as he sees Youngjae walking towards him. His expression is serious and Jaebum can’t decipher how he’s going to react when he finally reaches him. But he still waits for Youngjae, deciding that no matter what Youngjae does to him, he’s going to accept it.

Finally Youngjae is standing in front of him, examining him and Jaebum gets even more anxious to know what Youngjae is thinking. The younger then settles his gaze on his, again staring into him as if he was trying to read him. Jaebum thinks it’s not necessary, he’s visibly sweating and breathing heavily, Youngjae should see how he’s feeling and he’s about to voice it when Youngjae leans forward and embraces him tightly.

“I forgive you” he mumbles against his chest.

Jaebum knows right away about what he’s talking about, and he feels as if a big weight has been removed from his shoulders.

“Thank you” he whispers to him, placing his arms around Youngjae and pushing him even closer to him.

Youngjae lifts his head and again stares at Jaebum with furrowed brows.

“Don’t do it ever again” he warns, and the serious tone in which he has said that makes Jaebum gulp. “When something troubles you talk to me first before doing something stupid”.

“Deal” Jaebum mumbles.

Youngjae smiles briefly before nuzzling his face on Jaebum’s shoulder. His breath tickles Jaebum’s neck but its irregularity tells Jaebum that something is still troubling his mate.

“Youngjae” Jaebum softly calls him, caressing gently his air. “What’s wrong?”

Youngjae’s body shakes for a moment and Jaebum separates from him to look at his face. Youngjae is at the verge of tears and desperately clings onto Jaebum for support.

“I’m scared” he mumbles, trying not to let his tears fall as he rest his head again against Jaebum’s chest. “It’s my fault Jinyoung is in that state. If I only… if I only had done what I was told instead of letting my anger possess me he wouldn’t be like that”.

“Youngjae…” Jaebum whispers softly, but before he can assure Youngjae that it’s not his fault Youngjae continues.

“He saved me, Jaebum. I should have been the one receiving the bite but he protected me and now he and Mark are paying the consequences of my mistake. If they die it’ll be my fault” Youngjae blurts out, a few tears already rolling down his cheeks. “Why am I so stupid? I always drag Jinyoung with me on my disgrace. I can’t lose him again, Jaebum!” he almost yells while clenching his fists grabbing Jaebum’s shirt. “We can’t lose them!”

Jaebum stares at him with sad eyes. It pains him the most that Youngjae is suffering and he doesn’t know what to say to assure him that everything will be alright, because he also doesn’t find the hope to do so.

Youngjae sobs against his chest and he’s eager to embrace him gently, letting Youngjae pour all his worries on Jaebum’s shirt. He then turns to look at the rest of people at the corridor. Hyunwoo and Changkyun are staring at them with worried faces; Kihyun and Minhyuk still asleep by his side. Jaebum stares at them with sympathy in his eyes, after all they are going to have to pass through something similar once Kihyun and Minhyuk wake up.

Hyunwoo attempts approaching them but Jaebum mouths an ‘I take care of this’ and he stops in his tracks, watching as Jaebum whispers something to Youngjae and drags him away from the corridor.

“I’m also scared” Changkyun mutters then, and Hyunwoo turns his head to him instantly.

“They’ll be fine” Hyunwoo says. “Jinyoung is one of the strongest persons I know”.

“That’s not the only thing that scares me” Changkyun says with a troubled face. “I’m scared about them waking up” he says, tilting his head to the side where Kihyun and Minhyuk are. “About how are they going to react now that they remember everything”.

“Are you scared that Kihyun would hate you for what happened after he disappeared?” Hyunwoo asks.

“That scares me as well, but not as much as Minhyuk not accepting my apologies does” Changkyun answers, glancing to the sleeping friends. “You know I regret it all. I regret blaming Minhyuk for something he couldn’t control. I lost Kihyun but he lost his best friend, and instead of cheering him up all I did was being harsh on him when he was already feeling awful with himself”.

Hyunwoo stares at him for a moment and then turns his gaze towards Minhyuk. He has seen Minhyuk’s sleeping face a lot of times already but he always resembles the same angel he met long time ago.

“I know, Changkyun” he mumbles, staring again at Changkyun with hopeful eyes. “I know you regret it. I know how much you’ve missed both of them. I know you wanted to apologize to Minhyuk immediately but you didn’t because you wanted him to remember first. I know you care for him and you just had an outburst because Kihyun disappeared and we couldn’t do . We all make mistakes, Changkyun”.

“I know” he mumbles with a sigh. “But I was such a to him…”

“Hey, son” he cheerfully says. Changkyun looks at him shocked because it’s been a while since Hyunwoo called him that; and it was usually Minhyuk who called him ‘son’ most part of the time. “Do you know who also knows all those things I mentioned before?”

Changkyun shakes his head no. Hyunwoo extends his arm towards Minhyuk while smiling gently at him.

“Minhyuk” he answers although it was already obvious. “I don’t think he resents you for what happened. You all say that I’m the nicest of our squad, but it was Minhyuk who made me softer. I didn’t even wanted to be there, I only agreed because my dad wouldn’t let me pursue a dancing career. But slowly all of you little brats got into my heart and I started liking my job a thousand times more. But thanks to Minhyuk I understood what true friendship is. I understood what loyalty is and most important of all: he showed me what real love is. Thanks to him I learnt to put the others before myself and think how they are feeling and how can I help them with that. He thought me how to be understanding because he himself is the most understanding person I’ve ever met. You know him too, so tell me, son: how do you think he’s going to react when he wakes up?”

Changkyun stares pensive at Minhyuk, whose head is about to fall from Kihyun’s shoulder so he gently takes it in his hands and rearranges it on the comfortable shoulder of his best friend.

“He won’t even let me apologize, right?” he asks with half a smile.

“Most likely” Hyunwoo says, placing a comforting hand on Changkyun’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “But it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t want to hear it. I bet it would make him extremely happy if you do”.

“Of course, I will tell him how I feel as soon as he wakes up” Changkyun says excitedly.

“Impossible” Hyunwoo says taking a seat besides Minhyuk, who automatically leaves Kihyun’s shoulder searching for Hyunwoo’s in his slumber.

“Why?” Changkyun asks eyeing him suspiciously.

Hyunwoo smirks.

“There’s something I want to tell him first”.

After calming Youngjae down, Jaebum decided to take him to a cafeteria and buy hot, relaxing drinks for both of them. As Youngjae waits for Jaebum to come back with their orders he rests his arms crossed on the table, placing his head on top of them. He can’t stop thinking about the incident with Jeonghan. He hasn’t even told Jaebum that it was him who bite Jinyoung yet, already knowing what’s going to be his reaction. He hasn’t visited Jinyoung and Mark either, feeling extremely guilty for the situation the couple are in.

He’s so lost in thought that he misses an unfamiliar presence walking towards him, stopping in front of him and then waiting for Youngjae to notice him.

“Excuse me” the boy says, finally managing to catch Youngjae’s attention. “You’re Youngjae, right? I’ve seen you around with Jinyoung”.

Youngjae takes a look at him, trying to remember if he has seen this guy before. He has brown hair on top of a round face, he’s tall and he’s wearing a white coat above his clothes.

“Yes, that’s me” Youngjae lazily answers. “And who are you?”

“My name is Cho Kyuhyun” the boy says, offering his hand to him. “I’m a member of the lead pack as well as the head of the investigation and development department of said pack. I’m also a recurrent helper of the medical area” Youngjae finally removes his arms from the table and shakes Kyuhyun’s hand. “I’ve been investigating Jinyoung’s case since it was reported that he was bitten by a wolf”.

At that Youngjae wakes up from his depressed trance and looks at him with curious eyes.

“Would you like to have a seat and tell me more of that?” Youngjae asks.

“Of course, thank you” Kyuhyun politely answers, taking the seat right in front of Youngjae. “As I was saying, I’ve been keeping an eye on him since he arrived. I’m authorized to give medical support as long as my knowledge of it allows me, so I quickly requested to see Jinyoung when he was brought to the infirmary. I examined his wounds meticulously and I saw that they were internally healed. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

Youngjae nods. Jaebum acquainted him about Jinyoung’s situation before.

“You know about the poison used with the members of my pack and your leader, don’t you?” Youngjae nods. “Since it was identified as Do Kyungsoo’s blood I’ve been investigating its behaviour, and I’ve discovered how it actually works.

As you know, Kyungsoo’s blood is a mixture between werewolf and altered human cells, as he’s half werewolf half human with a psychic ability. So when it is put on a werewolf, the part of the blood that is human neutralizes the werewolf’s consciousness, submerging its body on an eternal slumber. But there are still extra werewolf cells in the body, so it never really dies.

That got me thinking what would happen if it was put on a human with psychic abilities, and although I haven’t been able to test it yet I’m pretty sure it would have the same effect: the werewolf cells would neutralize the human ones, and the subject would lose his consciousness but he would be still alive with an immobile body. Whoever devised it was pretty intelligent; but he missed one important thing: this poison injected in a human has the same effect than a werewolf bite.

Normally a person dies a minute after being bitten, but Jinyoung is still alive. That’s why I thought that maybe we still have a chance to save him”.

Youngjae’s eyes light up at that. Honestly, the amount of information Kyuhyun was giving him so quickly was starting to overwhelm him along with his memories still trying to find their place inside his mind, but he’s glad he still focused on his words because he got the feeling that they were important.

“We’ve been recovering our friends through Jinyoung because it was the easiest way to do it” Kyuhyun says, fumbling with something inside his coat’s pocket. “But what if cardiopulmonary resuscitation isn’t the only way to wake them from their slumber? They still have cells of their kind inside their bodies. Those cells are what keeps the person alive; so why not stimulate them and make them take over the invasive ones?”

“Have you tried it?” Youngjae seriously asks, not wanting to get his hopes high in case it ends up being a failure.

“I have” Kyuhyun answers without doubting even for a second. “I’ve been searching for ways to be useful for my pack since half of it disappeared but I couldn’t do until Jinyoung showed up. After seeing how he worked, I thought about how I could help him waking my friends up faster. I confined myself in my laboratory searching for an answer to my problems, and I found this. I immediately asked the mates of those who were asleep to stay by their side, trying to revive their mental links and one of them succeeded. It wasn’t quick and his mate didn’t wake up immediately, but he did.

This friend of mine was previously reanimated by Jinyoung. I wanted him to rest but he insisted on staying by his partner’s side. He took his beloved h