“My love, Hoseok just called. Him and Sehyuk are on their way with the fennec.” Junhyuk informed his wife as soon as she walked into his office.

“Do they have any information on the physical state?” Aideen asked, moving to sit on Junhyuk’s lap.

“No, they couldn’t tell but they confirmed what Jimin said. There was some form of abuse going on. Sehyuk suspects it was all from Chae Young In. It seemed like she was loved by the rest of the family.” Junhyuk said.

“Hm…”

Josephine flinched and tried to make herself smaller once the car came to a stop. She didn’t know where they had taken her but from what she could see when she poked her head up to look out the window, they were at a mansion.

“Your name, dear?” Mr. Smile’s smile left his face and turned to one of shock when Josephine pushed past him when he opened the car door. He watched as she took off sprinting as best as she could. “Oh no, don’t do that.” Mr. Smile sighed. He really didn’t want to be the bad guy, but, Josephine was making him have to be the bad guy.

“Do I go get her?” The cheetah hybrid wondered. Mr. Smile shook his head.

“Don’t worry, hyung. I got it. Dogs!” Mr. Smile yelled. In no time, a pack of guard dogs were running from out of no where and chasing after Josephine.

Josephine looked back and screamed when she saw the snarling dogs behind her. She tried to run faster, but her body was still hurting from the beating and she was finding it harder to breathe. She only got so far when she was being knocked to the ground, the dogs surrounding her and keeping her from moving. Josephine curled into a fetal position, arms around her head to protect herself. She heard a pair of feet make their way towards her and a male voice call the dogs off. In no time, Josephine was hoisted up over Mr. Smile’s shoulder.

“Tsk, tsk dear. You’re all dirty now. Don’t you want to make a good, first impression?” Mr. Smile lightly reprimanded, bowing to the butler that opened the door for him and the cheetah hybrid.

“Hyung, how long till we have to bring her to them? Don’t you think she should get cleaned up first?” Mr. Smile asked the cheetah hybrid as they walked further into the house. Josephine didn’t have much time to fully look at the house but she noticed how nice everything was.

“We don’t have much time, Hoseok. She’ll just have to meet everyone like this.” The cheetah hybrid said, giving Josephine a once over. Josephine stared at him, wide eyed and when they made eye contact, his serious face became soft with a warm smile, his eyes filling with sympathy.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe here now.” The cheetah hybrid assured her.

“Wah, Jiminie seems to know everything. I wonder how he learned about her.” Hoseok grinned, lifting Josephine off of his shoulder and holding her up and away at arms length. Josephine didn’t know how else to react so she just stared at the man whose smile was as blinding as the sun, her ears drooping and her tail dangling. “Kyaaa! You’re so cute!” Hoseok hugged Josephine close as if she were a stuffed doll and with her size compared to the average height man, she could be seen as one.

“Hoseok, we don’t know how injured she is, be careful.” The cheetah hybrid lightly reprimanded.

Hoseok loosened his grip on Josephine but continued to carry her until they got to a sitting room where a man and woman were waiting. The man, Josephine noticed, seemed to be a dragon hybrid and was of Korean descent. The woman on the other hand, looked like a foreigner and seemed to be a full human, like Hoseok.

“What took you two so long?” The woman questioned, taking a sip from her mug.

“Sorry, Aideen. We had a little bit of an accident but we brought the hybrid. She hasn’t told us her name though.” Hoseok spoke, smile still on his face.

“Don’t worry about that. We know everything there is to know about her.” Junhyuk simply said, glancing over at Josephine. She shrunk under his gaze and tried to cling to Hoseok when he put her down.

“Leave us now, your job is done. Say hello to your boys, Sehyuk.” The woman said, not looking at Josephine. Hoseok and Sehyuk bowed and turned to leave when Josephine tried to follow after them.

“Wait!” Hoseok and Sehyuk stopped and turned, surprised to see Josephine.

“No, no. You stay here.” Sehyuk stooped down to Josephine’s level. “They’ll take good care of you, now.” He patted the girl’s head before standing up and leaving with Hoseok.

“Be good, dear.” Hoseok yelled out before leaving with Sehyuk. Josephine cowered in fear, not wanting to move. She was in a new place, with new people and everything was unknown. Did Madam sell her here as payback? Was this going to be worse than how Madam treated her?

“Hi!” Josephine let out a scream, turning around only to find two guys smiling at her. A Meerkat hybrid and a hummingbird hybrid.

“Are you Josephine? Noona and hyung sent us to bring you to the infirmary for you to get a check up. Let’s go!” The Meerkat hybrid grabbed Josephine’s arm, the hummingbird hybrid grabbing her other arm and the two lead her away further into the house.

Meanwhile, back in the sitting room, Aideen and Junhyuk sat, not having moved much from their spots. Aideen continued to sip her tea while Junhyuk stared out the window.

“My love, what do you think about Josephine?” Junhyuk wondered. Aideen shrugged, putting her tea cup back on it’s plate on the coffee table.

“She’s weak.” Aideen said.

“She is. Very weak. How do you think she’ll get along with the boys?” Junhyuk turned to look at his wife who lifted the file from the coffee table.

“She should be fine. I understand why Jimin told us about her though. I could see the bruises on her neck from here.” Aideen stated, looking over the information they had on Josephine. “Hyukkie, have you heard anything about that rig?” Aideen asked, changing the subject.

“Yoongi sent Taehyung out to where we suspected the rig was ditched. He found the rig, abandoned and empty with the Phoenix’s emblem spray painted on both sides. Yoongi then got access to the tapes from nearby cameras and sent them to me. The rig and Jin’s men had been ambushed and killed. What was done to the bodies, Taehyung and Namjoon are still trying to find out.” Junhyuk let out a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before he got angry.

“Calm down, Hyukkie. Breathe.” Aideen said in a calming tone, reaching over to rub her husband’s back.

“I’m better now, my love.” Junhyuk sighed, feeling slightly better. “We have a meeting with a potential client for rare hybrids. If those Phoenix bastards ruin that for us, I swear I’ll-“ “Hyung! Noona!” Hojeong ran into the room excitedly, pulling San with him.

“What do you need, boys?” Aideen asked, hand still on her husband’s back.

“I smell someone new! Who’s here?” Hojeong wondered, his tail wagging rapidly.

“Yah, let me go! I was about to beat my high score!” San grumbled, trying to get his arm free.

“Go check the infirmary.” Junhyuk told them. Hojeong grinned and pulled San with him in the direction of the infirmary. “Should we go check on Josephine?” Junhyuk wondered.

“Let’s watch from the sidelines for a bit. See how she does.” Aideen simply said, picking up her cup of tea to take another sip.

Hojeong ran through the halls with a protesting San behind him. He had been so excited about meeting the new person that he couldn’t react properly when Moonkyu stepped into the hallway, not realizing that the retriever hybrid was running towards him full force.

“Hyung, watch out!” San yelled out in hopes of getting Moonkyu’s attention, trying to stop Hojeong from crashing into the red panda hybrid but it was too late. The three of them were tumbling to the floor, Moonkyu at the bottom of the pile.

“Yah! You stupid mutt! What are you doing?!” Moonkyu yelled, trying to shove Hojeong off of him.

“I’m sorry, hyung!” Hojeong apologized, trying to help Moonkyu up.

“Aish, you’re such a nuisance. Why were you running?!” Moonkyu snapped at Hojeong who instantly perked up at the reminder.

“Someone new! Let’s go meet them, hyung!” Hojeong grabbed Moonkyu’s arm and San’s arm, stopping San from sneaking away. “Let’s go!” Hojeong cheered, dragging them along to the infirmary.

Josephine sat on the cot in the infirmary, flanked by the two hybrids that had dragged her to this place.

“You poor thing.” The in-home doctor sighed as he looked over Josephine’s injuries. What made him very worried was the handprint bruises on her neck.

“Seogoong hyung, will she be okay?” Sungwoon wondered, looking at Josephine.

“She should be fine but I’m going to have to keep her here for tonight for observation, make sure there isn’t any internal injuries from the strangling.” Seogoong said. He turned around in his swiveling stool to get a flashlight and a tongue depressor when Hojeong excitedly barged into the room with Moonkyu and San. It caused everyone to jump from shock, but Josephine pushed herself against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest in hopes of making herself smaller and unseen by the new people.

“Hojeong, you scared her.” Taehyun scolded, turning to look at Hojeong who seemed guilty.

“Sorry, hyung.” Hojeong pouted.

“Josephine, it’s okay. Can you come closer so I can see your throat, please?” Seogoong asked, rolling his stool closer to the cot. Josephine looked at the three newcomers, two of them, a mouse hybrid and a red panda hybrid, gave her an awkward smile. The retriever hybrid grinned widely at her, his tail wagging. Josephine studied the three before she inched her way back in front of Seogoong so he could finish what he needed to do.

“Alright Josephine, you’re going to stay here for the night just so I can make sure everything is fine and so your room can be set up.” Seogoong told her with a smile before turning to the guys. “Take her to the kitchen so she can get something to eat. Junhyuk said that a maid should be there to take her so she can get cleaned up.”

“Okay, hyung.” The five boys said and Josephine couldn’t help but feel like she was in some weird, scary movie because all five heads turned to look at her at the same time.

“Let’s go, Josephine. You must be hungry.” Sungwoon said, standing up from the cot and holding a hand out to the small girl. Taehyun followed suit and the two helped Josephine off the cot. She instantly moved back when Hojeong excitedly stood in front of her and tried to hide behind Sungwoon and Taehyun.

“Hojeong, give her some space. Let her get used to everything.” Seogoong lightly reprimanded. Hojeong’s ears drooped slightly but he listened to the in-house doctor. He allowed Taehyun and Sungwoon to walk out of the room with Josephine between them, her ears pressed to her head as she kept her head down. Hojeong hoped he would be able to get a new friend out of Josephine.