A/N: Hey, everyone! Yup. It’s been two years since I’ve last updated this fic. I am extremely sorry for leaving you with a major cliffhanger. After publishing Ch. 20, I remember really trying to get myself to write the next update in a timely manner, but things didn’t go as planned. I was busy with school. I was diagnosed with cancer (which I’ve recovered from btw). And I kept getting depressed and convincing myself that I’m a terrible writer. 

Over these past two years, I’ve definitely matured and I’m trying to not give myself a hard time. In truth, I have thought about EMM practically every day. And with all the chaos going on in the world, I wanted to hopefully be able to give you, my dear readers, some resolve from the last chapter. As you can see, this is part one. I had to divide it because it was getting too long and I just wanted to get an update out asap. I don’t know when part 2 will be ready, but I assure you that it won’t be in another two years. Or will it? JK :p

Thank you for your patience and support. I wish the best for everyone’s health and safety. Please take care of yourself and those around you. 

Now... without further ado! (Note: Continues where Ch. 20 left off)

“What the hell did you do to Yerin?” SinB spoke with contained fury, hands clenched into a trembling fist. 

“I knocked her out unconscious,” Sowon replied, tipping her head to the side. “Thought it would be obvious enough.” She shrugged.

“Look, Sowon,” SinB fumed, “I don’t know what kind of game you’re trying to play, but I advise you to put an end to it immediately.” 

SinB summoned a restrained growl as her eyes smoldered a fiery red. In the past, the Beta wolf was able to take it as a sign to quit her haughty ways. But this time, Sowon merely smirked, casting a blind eye on the rules of werewolf hierarchy. 

“Ooo, I’m shaking in my boots,” Sowon sarcastically quivered.

SinB huffed out an extremely irritated sigh. “Cut the bull, Sowon—”

“NO, YOU CUT THE BULL, WOLFPUP!” Sowon spat, words attacking like a viper. “You’re a pathetic excuse for an Alpha. You can’t shift without destroying your clothes. You don’t know how to taunt your inferiors. You don’t even know half the power that you possess. That wolf who attacked you must’ve been out of their mind. Because there’s no way that a real Alpha will give their powers to a weakling like you.” Sowon’s eyes simmered, but SinB failed to notice as her attention was more concerned over Yerin. “Don’t worry about Angel Cake over here. She’ll be fine. Wish I could say the same thing for you.”

In a single bound, Sowon shifted into her ferocious werewolf counterpart. Black fur, dark as night. Eyes, the coldest shade of blue. She charged at SinB, sending her flying into a wall of lockers. SinB’s back slammed against the metal surface before recklessly diving to the ground. The young werewolf felt as if the oxygen got knocked out of her lungs. She sputtered a couple of coughs until she was able to properly breathe again. Fighting against the pain that swept throughout her body, SinB staggered to a standing position keeping a close eye on the Beta wolf who sat at attention with a prideful grin. 

“I don’t know what’s going on, Sowon,” SinB spoke, voice low yet leveled. “Look, I’m sorry that I didn’t answer your call last night. But please, just tell why you’re doing this.”

As the Beta wolf began to strut, Sowon smoothly transitioned into her human form. She leaned against a nearby locker and folded her arms. “You know, Wolfpup, when you returned from the U.S. and I had realized what you’d become, I saw an opportunity. A chance to potentially make both of our lives better. I would mold you, shape you, train you into a full-blown Alpha. But your pitiful pining for Yerin made things difficult, and thus my hopes faced a roadblock.” She feigned a frown before pushing away from the locker. Her expression hardened as she scrutinized SinB.“I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. Do you know the fastest way for a werewolf to rise in rank? An Omega or a Beta challenges the Alpha to a duel where they must fight to the death. I really did wish my initial plan had worked out. Would’ve made things a lot less messy. But I’ve grown tired. No more waiting. No more being at the sidelines. No more being forgotten. No more letting other people’s selfishness stop me from getting what I deserve!” 

Sowon’s voice steadily rose with each sentence. At the last sentiment, she was practically screaming. Echoes of “deserve” reverberated hauntingly within the walls of the locker room. SinB could feel goosebumps sprouting on the back of her neck. She clenched her jaw. She needed to be fearless. 

“So, what now?” SinB asserted, a tinge of annoyance in her tone. “Are you gonna kill me for messing up your plan? So that you can be Alpha?” 

“Ding ding ding ding,” Sowon chimed like a jackpot. She cracked her knuckles and slowly prowled towards the so-called Alpha. 

SinB’s brow furrowed incredulously over the older girl’s sinister disposition. They had many disagreements and fights in the past, such as the one instance where SinB was close to wrenching out Sowon’s throat. But no matter how much the older girl got on her nerves, SinB would never resort to something as heinous as murder. She had assumed that would also be Sowon’s code of conduct. There was something in the Beta’s eyes, though, feral and frightening. SinB shook her head in disbelief. 

“Sowon, things don’t have to be this way,” SinB attempted to reason with the mercurial girl who continued to creep closer to her. “Sowon, I’m your friend. I can help you—”

“SINCE WHEN?!” Sowon exploded, losing her cool. Her irises ignited into a blazing sapphire as she started to breathe heavier and heavier. “When have you ever helped me?” 

Tears welled in SinB’s eyes over the insurmountable sadness in Sowon’s cadence. It couldn’t be helped. Not when SinB knew that Sowon was right. She hadn’t been much of a good friend. But that didn’t mean that the situation was completely hopeless.

“I’m helping you right now,” SinB said before grabbing Sowon’s shoulders, throwing her in front of the same wall of lockers, and using two locker doors to simultaneously slam her head as if crashing a pair of cymbals. 

Disoriented by the blow, Sowon fell to the floor, shutting her eyes tightly. She pressed her hands over her ears as the metal clash shook through her eardrums. SinB took it as her chance to run to where Yerin laid unconscious. Hoisting her girlfriend over her shoulder, SinB hastily turned the door handle of Coach Kwon’s office and thanked the heavens that it was unlocked. 

SinB sat Yerin down on a nearby chair before shutting the door and locking it. As she kneeled in front of Yerin, the older girl’s head began to roll lazily from side to side. Soon enough, Yerin gained full control of her muscle movements. She lifted her head up, surveyed the room, and then met SinB’s relieved face. Yerin searched for SinB’s hand, holding onto it firmly as if making sure her girlfriend was really there.

“SinB…,” Yerin croaked. “SinB-ya, there’s another wolf.”

“I know,” SinB said, sweeping a lock of hair away from Yerin’s eye and tucking it behind her ear. “It’s Sowon, and I think she’s gone haywire.”

“Wait wait wait…” Yerin shook her head. “Sowon’s a werewolf, too?”

SinB pressed her lips together guiltily. “I omitted from telling you about it because I didn’t think it was in my place to. But yeah, she is. She’s really angry for some reason. She attacked you. Then she attacked me and told me something about ‘taking control’ and no longer putting up with other people’s ‘selfishness’ which I guess means that she now wants to kill me.” Yerin’s eyes bulged and her jaw dropped. SinB caressed the back of the weary girl’s hand. “I tried fighting her back and—”  

“That’s more like it, Wolfpup!” Sowon hollered from outside the office, clapping her hands.

“And now she’s apparently full of glee,” SinB huffed in irritation.

The clapping continued for a bit longer before it was replaced by a mid-tempo whistling of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.” SinB let out a low growl. Sowon was taunting her, getting on her nerves, pressing her buttons. Unfortunately for SinB, it was working. 

“It seems like she wants you to fight her,” Yerin commented, chewing on the inside of her cheek uneasily. 

“And that’s what I’m afraid of. Even more so than Sowon writing my name in her Death Note.” SinB stood up. “Yerin-ah, there’s a lot of things that I haven’t told you about Sowon. But a couple days after my return, she instantly knew what I had become and offered to help me hone in on my werewolf abilities by training me. There was an instance where we brawled in our werewolf form as an exercise, and I almost lost control. If Sowon and I fight right now, I fear that I might potentially end up killing her, especially after what she did to you.”

SinB’s body was shaking as if at any moment her inner wolf would jump out, break through the door, and tear Sowon to shreds. She balled her fists, aggravated by the predatory savagery that surged through her veins. It was one thing to fight Sowon, but to fight in front of Yerin? As much as SinB wanted to believe that Yerin will love her unconditionally, part of her mind was still a captive of doubt. Could Yerin, could anyone, really love SinB if they knew that she and this horrifying beast shared the same heart?

“Maybe we can try to subdue her.”

SinB sharply turned her head to Yerin’s direction but realized that the older girl was now up and standing next to her. A gentle smile rose on Yerin’s lips upon noticing that she must have caught SinB by surprise. For a moment, SinB got lost in the crescent-like curves of her girlfriend’s eyes. It was the kind of sight that SinB needed at the moment, a reminder that the older girl’s sincerity was trustworthy.

“If you’re willing to create a diversion,” Yerin resumed, “I think I may have something that could help.”

A look of befuddlement loosened SinB’s tense expression. She would never want Yerin to be in harm’s way, nonetheless be a part of “Operation: Bad Beta Sowon.” But somehow subduing Sowon would be a far better option than giving in to her fisticuff craving.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” SinB asked for reconsideration.

Determined, Yerin nodded. “Because I know that we have nothing to be afraid of as long as we’re together.”

An uplifting smile stretched the corners of SinB’s lips. She kissed Yerin on the cheek for good luck. With her head held high, she stepped out of the office, closing the door. The whistling had switched into humming. Realizing that the sound was coming upward, SinB stretched her neck to the ceiling and saw Sowon casually laying on top of a row of lockers. SinB walked up to her row and pounded a fist on the metal surface. Lethargically, Sowon sat up, letting her legs dangle off the side. 

“About time,” Sowon grumbled. “I was getting a bit worried that you two might have wussed out, leaving me without a proper fight and a case of tinnitus.”

A minute hadn’t even passed, and yet SinB knew her blood pressure was already through the roof. But she thought about Yerin’s smile and, like magic, she managed to relax. “I was making sure Yerin was okay. Just to be clear, this fight is only between you and me. Don’t bring other innocent people into whatever this mess is.”

Sowon hopped off and landed about two feet away from SinB. She smiled with all the charms of an eager-to-make-a-deal car salesman. “Let’s shake on it.” 

The Beta wolf extended her hand. SinB stared at it with uncertainty. There was a good chance that Sowon was going to break their agreement or pull a dirty trick. But SinB was ready to put an end to this seemingly futile battle between them. SinB eventually decided to extend her own hand to shake Sowon’s. The moment she did, Sowon seized onto SinB’s arm. In a series of swift maneuvers, Sowon managed to lift SinB up before body-slamming her onto the concrete floor. As SinB laid defenseless, Sowon transformed into her black-haired, blue-eyed beast and snickered caustically. 

Gritting her teeth, SinB tried to flex her fingers and noticed that it was surprisingly easy for her to do. In fact, the tightness and trauma that her body initially experienced were fading away rapidly. Testing her limits, SinB sat up. Her back and every part of her body felt fine. She sprung up to her feet. It was like her reflexes had sharpened. Catching the Beta wolf’s eye, SinB detected a sense of confusion from Sowon. The Beta wolf growled like the thunder of an oncoming storm. SinB curled her hands into a pair of tight fists and raised them as she got into a fighting stance. 

With a grizzly howl, Sowon rushed toward SinB. The young Alpha’s irises blitzed into a venomous red, but she held back from transforming. Instead, she turned that anger into ambition and ran straight ahead in Sowon’s path. The Beta wolf lept to gain some height as she attempted to tackle SinB down. SinB, though, blocked the attack by using her deltoid to ram Sowon in the stomach. The shadow-like werewolf rolled to the ground but quickly got back on her feet. 

Tail waving high with confidence, Sowon bared her carnivorous fangs and growled ferociously. Without warning, she launched herself at SinB. Standing up on her hind legs, the Beta wolf planted her claws on SinB’s shoulders as she snapped her bone-crushing jaw near the young werewolf’s face. SinB grabbed onto Sowon’s shoulders as well, trying to push the Beta away while avoiding its razor teeth. Suddenly, SinB felt the Beta’s nails slowly dig through her shirt and into her skin. The torturous sensation was enough for SinB to let out a cry. Sowon grinned in delight as she continued to test SinB’s limits. 

The Alpha, though, wasn’t going to let a Beta inflict such agony any longer. SinB began to kick Sowon in the shins repeatedly and forcefully. Each kick was filled with pent up aggression. Starting to lose her balance, Sowon retracted her claws which allowed SinB to shove the wolf completely off her. Sowon barked several times before shifting into her human form. 

“You know, it’s a lot more fun and exciting when two wolves are fighting,” said Sowon aggravatedly, bruises forming on her legs. “If you’re too ashamed for not being able to shift as freely as I can, then you can always go behind one of the lockers with your tail between your legs and change out of your pathetic clothes. Or, you could’ve just listened to my advice and taken my training seriously.”

“Maybe your training would’ve worked,” SinB said, “if you weren’t so rotten. If you weren’t just using me to fulfill your own selfish cause.”

“Selfish,” Sowon sneered. “You better tread lightly on your words, Wolfpup.” In a blink of an eye, she shifted and darted off so quickly that SinB didn’t even notice which direction she had disappeared to. 

With great haste, SinB checked behind each row of lockers. She searched for Sowon's fiery rose scent, but it was like she was never even there. Her ears alerted SinB to the sound of a door clicking open near the front of the locker room. Hurriedly, SinB wound up by Coach Kwon’s office. She sniffed and was relieved that Yerin was still in the safe confines of the office. But then, SinB remembered. The utility closet wasn’t too far away. 

Turning her head, SinB gazed at the closet door. Like a scene from a horror movie, the door slowly creaked open, revealing a lightless room. A basketball bounced out of the nothingness and rolled to the side upon coming in contact with SinB’s feet. Just as SinB was about to take a step, Sowon stormed out holding a wooden baseball bat over her head, ready to swing. 

SinB’s body tensed up in a frozen state of panic. In that span of a millisecond, her mind presented her with two choices: shift or not to shift. Either way, things were going to get brutal. SinB was struggling to make a final decision. But then the office door swung open. Out jumped Yerin, holding out a small spray can. She extended her arm, shielded her face into her elbow, and pressed down on the top. A stream of liquid reached into Sowon’s eyes, causing her to drop the bat before plummeting to her knees. Screams of agony reached every corner of the locker room as Sowon dug her palms into her eyes. 

“I bought the pepper spray after the Pledis ert situation,” Yerin informed. “But Coach Kwon confiscated it from me. I managed to find it in one of the cabinets.”

With bated breath, SinB and Yerin watched Sowon carefully as waves of inexplicable pain enraptured through not only her face but her entire body. Crouching down on all fours, Sowon began to convulse, shifting back and forth between her current human state and her concealed dark-haired beast. It was apparent that she was growing exhausted. Throwing her head back, she released a long, terrifying howl before collapsing face down. 

SinB and Yerin looked at each other, then at Sowon who remained motionless. A sense of worry grew within Yerin with each passing second. She didn’t know what to expect, but to see Sowon move like she was being possessed certainly wasn’t her intention. 

Putting the can of pepper spray into her back pocket, Yerin announced, “I’m going to check on her.” 

SinB’s eyes widened as Yerin began to walk towards the injured Beta. “Yerin-ah, wait! She might be subdued now, but that doesn’t mean she will be calm when she wakes up.”

“It’s ok, SinB-ah,” Yerin reassured. “I won’t get too close. Just close enough to make sure that she’s still breathing.” She glanced at SinB whose lips had formed an unconvinced pout. “You’re welcome to join me if you’re that concerned.”

Yerin lent out her hand. SinB sighed in regret before eventually holding it. Yerin giggled as she led SinB to where Sowon had passed out. Soon, Yerin felt a tug on her arm as SinB discouraged her from getting any nearer. Yerin squeezed SinB’s hand before releasing it. Taking a step closer so that she was a foot away, Yerin kneeled and examined Sowon. Visibly, there was no indication that Sowon was breathing as she laid stationary. 

“Her body isn’t moving. I’m going to check for a pulse,” Yerin said. 

Before SinB could oppose, Yerin had already taken Sowon’s limp wrist into her hand. A sudden ominous feeling crept up the Alpha’s spine. She looked down at Sowon’s face, eyes still closed. SinB then glanced at a preoccupied Yerin, pressing her two fingers along the wrist. Her line of sight darted back to Sowon whose eyelids had snapped wide open quite frighteningly. The whites of her eyes were tinged with red, but her irises had turned an icy blue. 

“YERIN!—” shouted SinB. 

Her warning was useless, though. Because by the time she could cry out her girlfriend’s name, Sowon, powerful and angrier than ever, shot up like a bullet and pushed SinB sending her all the way to the other side of the room. And by the time Yerin had even realized that Sowon’s wrist was no longer in her grasp, the cunning Beta had her pinned to the floor. Hovering over Yerin, Sowon gently traced from her cheek to her quivering lips. 

“I’ve always admired your face,” Sowon spoke, voice just above a whisper. “Your skin tone. Your complexion. I swear, I doubt I’ve ever seen one pimple on that pretty face of yours.”

I really want you to hate me

I really want you to find

That I am bitter and angry

That I'm no mother of a child

“Yah, Sowon!” yelled SinB who had quickly recovered but was keeping a safe distance between her and the Beta. “You stay away from Yerin.” 

As much as SinB wanted to jump into action and protect her girlfriend, the temptation to transform was growing stronger. Her pulse was erratic, and her palms were perspiring. If she shifted and things got out of hand, she would not only be putting Sowon in danger but also Yerin. The thought of ever hurting Yerin, particularly while in her werewolf form, terrified SinB. So much that she would never forgive herself. But this beast within always seemed to have a mind of its own. Tiredly, SinB hunched over, mentally fighting with her inner werewolf that begged to be unleashed.  

Unbothered, Sowon carried on. “As for me, my parents spent a fortune trying to rid me of my acne. Puberty can be a when all the good genes went to your older sibling.” 

I really want you to hate me

I really want you to find

That I'm the ugliest girl

And I will never be a bride

Something inside SinB lurched, causing her to drop to her hands and knees. She stared at the back of her hands and watched as the shape of her veins popped through her skin unsettlingly. SinB gritted her teeth as she tried to stop the war that was happening within herself. 

Sowon took a moment to look at SinB struggling to hold it together. She shook her head at the dishonorable Alpha before returning her attention to a teary-eyed Yerin. 

“You are so lucky, Yerin-ssi.” The Beta retraced Yerin’s face again. But instead of a fingertip, a sharp nail grazed against the restrained girl’s skin. Yerin flinched and shivered slightly. “It would be a shame if anything awful happened to it.”

I really want you to hate me

I really want you to find

That I am far from a lady

That I'm an animal inside

SinB’s body went rigid as she witnessed Sowon threatening Yerin. “Sowon, I’m warning you,” she pleaded as beads of sweat formed on her brow, “get away from Yerin or else something terrible might happen.” 

The Beta paid no mind to SinB’s caveat. Instead, she leaned in to press a tender kiss on Yerin’s forehead. 

Something inside SinB snapped. She could feel every molecule in her body vibrate. Her heart beated faster, her temperature climbed. In and out, she breathed as if she had just run a dozen miles in a row. Mind in a whirlwind, SinB shut her eyes and entered the deepest part of her psyche. It was gray, barren, and cold. But prowling out from a thick fog was her werewolf counterpart, red eyes glowing. 

SinB clenched her jaw and swallowed away the nerves. “Screw it,” she submitted, voice echoing. “You’re a part of me whether I like it or not. But I’m not going to let you call the shots. We’re going to work together. We’re going to help Sowon and figure out the cause behind her rage, and we’re going to keep the love of my life out of harm’s way. Got it?”

The silver-haired werewolf stared at SinB with disinterest. SinB, though, continued to stand her ground until the creature agreed to her terms. Exhaling through its nose with a loud huff, the werewolf blinked once before slowly slinking backward into its hazy dwelling. 

Immediately, SinB opened her eyes and returned to her current situation. Sowon’s hand was raised in the air, ready to claw at Yerin. But SinB wasn’t going to let that happen. Positioning her hands and feet like she was preparing to run a 400m race, SinB took off in a sprint. But as she propelled herself off the ground, she could feel her atoms rearrange themselves. She looked at her hand suspended in the air and realized that it had turned into a paw. She looked over her shoulder and caught sight of a magnificent, silvery tail. Never before had she transformed so effortlessly, so painlessly. It made her feel invincible. 

As her feet made contact with the floor again, the Alpha werewolf continued to gallop toward Sowon whose expression was both mystified and infuriated. Sowon urgently got up and shifted. Vibrant blue eyes targeted SinB as the Beta wolf ran head-on. 

The two domineering lycanthropes soon crashed into each other, sending one another tumbling to opposite sides. SinB easily got back on her feet and observed the slightly disoriented Beta werewolf who was too dizzy to function properly. From the corner of her eye, SinB saw Yerin get up. The two exchanged a glance. SinB flicked her head to the exit. Yerin nodded before running out of the locker room into the safe zone outside. Feeling a bit relieved that Yerin was no longer in danger, SinB broadened her chest and made her way to the Beta. 

The black-haired beast rolled back into a standing position and shook away the imaginary stars that spun around her head. As SinB got closer, Sowon hunched her shoulders and conjured a chilling growl. SinB took another step forward. This time, Sowon bared her pointy fangs, thus causing her face to appear devious, borderline demonic. The Alpha wolf, though, kept a cool composure as she waited for the angry Beta to make the next move. 

With a sinister snarl, Sowon pounced on the Alpha. SinB’s back landed heavily on the floor. The Beta began snapping and clawing away, doing anything in her power to hurt the silver-haired werewolf. SinB, though, used her arms and legs to fight off the feral Beta from getting too close. Despite her efforts, Sowon managed to scratch the Alpha wolf’s muzzle. SinB barked and retaliated by swiping her claw across Sowon’s face. Her dagger-like nails were able to rip through the area underneath Sowon’s right eye, causing the Beta to stumble backward in painful surprise. The calculated Alpha took this moment to overturn Sowon so that she was now on the floor. 

Blood started to pool around the Beta’s cheek. It either soaked through her fur or dribbled into her eye. But Sowon continued to put up a rigorous fight. SinB had no choice but to comply. A tornado of limbs swept through the hallway of the locker room followed by the deep, bellowing grunts and growls of two werewolves competing to see who truly deserves to be an Alpha.

As the seconds passed during their skirmish, SinB could detect an increasing exhaustion in Sowon’s demeanor. The Beta’s bark was losing its vigor, and her muscle power was weakening with each haphazard thrash. Meanwhile, SinB was full of indomitable energy. She knew that she could take down Sowon at any moment. But killing the Beta wasn’t on her agenda, and she thanked the heavens that her inner wolf was complying with her orders. 

Or was it? 

“You need to stop fooling yourself, Wolfpup. I’ve accepted the fact that my Unnie will never love me the same way when we were kids. Now, you need to accept the fact that Yerin will never love you past the friend zone.”

“If that guy was going to do something to Yerin… then it should have been done.”

“After everything you did with your hair, your clothes, and rejoining the track team, Yerin still hasn’t shown any true sign of interest towards you. If she would rather be with that great, deceitful Yuju, then so be it.” 

“I hate you,” SinB seethed after learning that Sowon knew that Yuju was cheating on Yerin since the beginning. Instead of showing sympathy, Sowon knocked her out with a punch. “The feeling is mutual,” SinB heard Sowon say before blacking out.

Suddenly, it no longer made sense to SinB why she was keeping the Beta brat alive. 

A flash of red glazed over her eyes as she placed her two front paws on Sowon’s neck. Incrementally, she applied pressure. The Beta wolf began to struggle under the Alpha’s weight, arms and legs flailing to break herself free. But it was futile. SinB watched in fascination as the Beta’s blue eyes slightly bulged out of its sockets, the pigment several shades dimmer. Gasping and wheezing, Sowon didn’t even have the strength to revert back to her human form. Perhaps, this was her destiny. Perhaps, she was never meant to be an Alpha. Rather, she was meant to die at the hands of one. 

SinB cackled in delight as she thought about the various ways for Sowon to meet her demise. Should she continue her slow and steady approach? Or, should she make it snappy by chomping down on ? The Alpha wolf could use a snack, and the Beta’s neck looked awfully appetizing. Feeling salivate, SinB was quick to make up her mind.

Opening wide, the Alpha werewolf was ready to feast on the girl who had mostly brought negativity to her life, had harmed her precious Yerin, and had the guts to try to murder her so that she could be an Alpha. Unfortunately, those guts were about to be devoured. 

*BOOM*

All of a sudden, the entrance door of the locker room barged open. In walked Umji, wearing some kind of protective vest and toting a wooden and metal contraption that resembled a crossbow. Behind her was Yerin, ready with her pepper spray.

“I may have also called Umji for backup!” alerted Yerin. 

SinB couldn’t explain it, but seeing the two of them was like being drenched with a bucket of ice-cold water. She quickly came back to her senses. Guiltily, she removed herself from Sowon. The Beta wolf rolled to its feet and panted profusely. But as soon as she recovered, Sowon took one look at SinB and was back on attack mode. 

As the two werewolves engaged in another violent confrontation, Umji retrieved a silver-tipped arrow from her bag and loaded it into the crossbow.

“SinB-unnie, give me a clear shot!” Umji instructed, taking aim at the unruly Beta. 

The Alpha wolf managed to trap Sowon beneath her. Afraid of what she might try to do again in her werewolf state, SinB hurriedly shifted back to a human. With all the adrenaline pumping through her veins, SinB lifted the erratic Beta off the ground and held her up so that the wolf was facing Umji. And although Sowon was in her werewolf form, Umji could still recognize her friend. The one who defended her from bullies. The one who pretended to be blasé during study sessions but was deeply determined to pass English class. The one who Umji saw beauty in even if the older girl didn’t see it in herself. 

“Forgive me, Unnie,” Umji whispered. With total concentration, she pulled the trigger, sending the arrow flying and hitting the Beta’s abdomen. 

The werewolf released a devastating howl. She continued to thrash in SinB’s grasp, but the young Alpha wouldn’t let go until she calmed down. The silver arrow, lodged into the Beta wolf’s side, was doing its job at depleting her energy. It wasn’t long before Sowon became unconscious and, due to the arrow’s effects, reverted to her human configuration. Carefully, SinB settled Sowon on the floor as Umji and Yerin, weapons withdrawn, gathered beside them. 

Song lyrics used: “I Really Want You To Hate Me” by Meg Myers