Chapter 12 

 

Seohyun knew something was seriously wrong, that Yuri was in serious trouble. It had only been twenty minutes since Yuri's frantic call to her cell phone had abruptly ended but they had already travel what normally would have been a thirty-minute drive. By all rights, Seohyun should have been pull over and her license cut up due to the speed she had been using in following Yuri's cryptic and mysterious instructions. 

 

The three of them, Taeyeon and Yoona had been with her when Yuri had called and had insisted on coming, were now seated in her mom's car driving through dark thick woods on an even pave road but it looks like something out of that road in Disney's beauty and the beast that Belle's father had taken thinking it was a shortcut. 

 

At any moment Seohyun expected a pack of savage blood-thirsty wolves to jump out at them and eat them whole. Ok, so Seohyun knew she was freaking out and letting her imagination run away with her, letting Disney guide her way but she couldn't blame herself; things had been weird for weeks, ever since Yuri had mysteriously vanished at the nightclub on their girl's night out. 

 

First, Yuri had disappeared into thin air at the nightclub without so much as a goodbye before which she had been acting weird, distracted and then after they had reported her missing, they had been told that Yuri was staying with her boyfriend for a while, that information had come from the police. 

 

To the police that had been a reasonable and acceptable explanation, regardless of their insisting that Yuri hadn't had a boyfriend. In fact, as far as the girls knew, Yuri had never had a serious relationship. She had been so focused on getting to a point that she had what she referred to as 'the perfectly normal life' and she had believed that finishing her studies and getting a degree was the way to achieve that. 

 

Not long after the police had assured them that Yuri was alright, which it seems that Yuri hadn't been able to tell them herself, had deferred her studies, move out of the dorm and had disappeared without even showing her face. They had given up their vacation and had instead started searching for Yuri; all three of them had share the intuitive feeling that Yuri was involved in something, something bad, maybe even dangerous. They must have combed the entire city before Yuri had finally bothered to call them herself but she had been so secretive and mysterious that all she had said was that she was ok and that she had to go away all of a sudden. 

 

Yuri's behavior was cryptic, mysterious and secretive and that wasn't at all like Yuri. The Yuri they all knew and love trusted them with even her deepest and embarrassing secrets, they had never kept anything from each other as they were closer than any blood sisters could ever be and so they were beyond worried about her but at least after the first brief phone call they had known that Yuri was alive and at least somewhat alright; on the phone she had sounded healthy and calm and now Yuri had them driving out of the city to some mysterious isolate location for help, for what they hadn't the faintest idea, at night. 

 

When they finally did see her face to face again Yuri was going to have a lot of explaining to do, after they kill her for all the fretting and worrying she had put the three of them through. 

 

They all love Yuri as a sister and they had do anything for her which was why they were driving along some spooky back road, at night, looking for some 'huge house' where they would find someone names Yonghwa who could help her with the serious trouble she was in. 

 

"This can't be the right way!" Yoona objected, from the passenger seat, looking around and sounding a little anxious. 

 

In the backseat, Taeyeon double checks the directions from Yuri that Seohyun had written down against the map she had spread across her lap and then she check it against the laptop open on the seat beside her, "Well, we have followed the directions perfectly." Taeyeon put down the small notepad and pick up the electronic GPS system sitting next to the laptop, forsaking the map she had pull out when the road had failed to show up on the GPS system, "This road isn't on any map but we are definitely in the right place. There's nowhere else she could have meant. There's nothing else in this area for forty-two point eight miles." 

 

They had long ago given up being surprised at Taeyeon's need to be accurate and technical. 

 

"So, what? This is just one long freaky driveway?" Seohyun asks, without looking away from the road ahead. 

 

"Must be," Taeyeon concluded simply. 

 

"Brake!" Yoona suddenly screams frantically, instinctively throwing her arms out to brace herself in case of an impact. 

 

Seohyun squeal, startled and slam her foot on the brake, with no idea why only on Yoona's trusted and uncharacteristically shrill word. 

 

In the backseat, Taeyeon desperately clutch her seatbelt as she was thrown forward against it and then fell back against the seat again when the car abruptly came to an abrupt stop in a cloud of dark brown dirt and dust. Her laptop, the map, and GPS all went flying into the back to the front seat before falling to the floor. 

 

Inside the tiny vehicle, three sets of lungs work overtime to draw in enough oxygen to satisfy their wildly pounding hearts. 

 

When she could think and see again, Seohyun turns sharply on Yoona. There had been nothing in their path that she had seen which would have warranted Yoona's startling high-pitch order to hit the brakes, "What the hell, Yoona?!" But Yoona was too busy staring out into the night ahead of them as if she was looking for something she knew should be there but couldn't find but there was nothing inside what the light from the headlights touch and beyond was only spooky deep shadows and even spookier woods. 

 

"Didn't you see that?" Yoona asks visibly spook. She was oblivious to Seohyun's exasperation as she scans the night around them, obviously searching for something. 

 

Seohyun and Taeyeon follow her gaze, staring into the darkness for a sign of anything and seeing nothing but the road ahead of them and the spooky woods around them that a location scout for any horror movie would have sold their soul to find. 

 

"See what?" Seohyun couldn't see anything but what they had been seeing for the past three minutes since they had left the highway. 

 

"Could it have been some kind of animal or nocturnal bird?" Taeyeon suggested, wanting more than ever to get to wherever the uncharted road led them, make sure Yuri was safe and then go home. Three girls lost in the deep creepy woods was the plot of many horror stories. 

 

Yoona was certain that she had seen something but it hadn't looked like any animal she had ever seen, it had been moving so fast, heading straight at them and it hadn't been an owl. 

 

She couldn't have imagined it, could she? Yoona was certain that she had seen something; if she didn't know any better she would have said it had almost look human but it couldn't have been; it had been moving way too fast, "Maybe this isn't the road." Taeyeon whispers softly, her tone uneasy and more than a little fearful. 

 

"You said it yourself." Seohyun reminded her, still searching the darkness ahead of them, feeling just as spook as Taeyeon was, "There aren't any other roads or anything around here. This has to be it. This road is exactly where Yuri said it was." 

 

"Could she have been off in her directions?" Yoona suggested, the words sounding more like a plea than a question. 

 

"No." Seohyun closes her eyes and drew in a deep breath in an attempt to calm her racing heart and raw nerves. She was uneasy and more scare than she wanted to admit but Yuri was in trouble and somewhere on this spooky road there was someone that could somehow help her. They had to go on, Yuri had made it clear that this was extremely important, maybe even a matter of life and death. 

 

They had no choice. This was for Yuri and there was nothing they wouldn't do to keep her from getting hurt. Yuri had asked this of them and each one of them knew that Yuri wouldn't have asked this of them if it wasn't important and there was no way in heaven or hell that they were ever going to let Yuri down. The four of them love each other as sisters and there was nothing they wouldn't do for each other, especially Yuri. 

 

Besides, they were just letting their imaginations get away from them. It was dark and they were in some spooky woods seeing monsters that weren't there. There were no monsters in the shadows, just normal animals the worst of which were wolves and bears. Wolves and bears were dangerous but neither could outrun a car; as long as they stay in the car they were safe. 

 

"We have to go on," Seohyun told them, forcing her voice to remain steady and determine. 

 

Seohyun took only a moment more to compose herself and she hesitantly put her hands back on the steering wheel. They would go on but she wouldn't completely dismiss the possibility that Yoona really had seen something; she had just had to be more alert and cautious as they went on; she didn't want to hit something big and end up stranded here in the middle of nowhere. 

 

Certain that she was feeling as brave as she ever was going to be tonight, Seohyun exhales in a rush and raise her eyes back to the dark deserted road ahead of them and she froze like a rabbit caught in a spotlight. 

 

"What?" Yoona immediately tense in response to Seohyun's motionless stance and wide eyes. Yoona had always been the protective one, sometimes a little overprotective, "What is it?" 

 

Seohyun didn't so much as twitch. 

 

Very slowly, dread filling both Yoona and Taeyeon, the two girls follow Seohyun's gaze to the road ahead of them. The road that was no longer deserted. 

 

Standing on the very edge of the circle of light from the vehicle's headlights, barely visible in their dark clothing with the darkness of night behind them were four dark figures, three tall men and one woman who nearly stood just as tall in her high heel black boots that ended at her thigh. They all wore long coats that almost touch the ground which only made them look more dangerous and mysterious and all of them were stunning in their pale perfection. They look and dress like something off of one of those really dramatic modern vampire flicks. 

 

All that was missing from these vampire-wannabes was the overdone thick black make-up. As it was, three of them had midnight black hair while the third man had short dark red hair. 

 

Seohyun couldn't take her eyes from the breath-taking beautiful people, all dress in dark colors that would have made them invisible in the black of night had their skin not been so pale. They weren't moving at all; they stood as perfectly still as statues as they just kept staring hauntingly at them with their dazzling soulful eyes. 

 

"What do we do?" Seohyun asks the other two frozen occupants of the vehicle, that was suddenly feeling as small as a matchbox. Seohyun had officially moved from feeling spook to downright creep-out scare. 

 

"What can we do?" Yoona whisper, now she was severely freak out, "These could be the people Yuri sent us to find." 

 

At the mention of Yuri's name, Taeyeon notices the beautiful dark red-haired man standing a step in front of the others react as if he knew the name as if he had been able to hear them whispering inside the car. 

 

Which was impossible. They were inside a close-up vehicle. Maybe the dark red-haired man could read lips? 

 

No, that didn't make sense. It was too dark inside the car for him to see them clearly enough to distinguish the movement of their lips. Not to mention that with the headlights shining at them, they shouldn't have been able to see anything inside the car but what was outlined by the taillights. 

 

"You know Yuri?" 

 

The three of them gasp and jump startled in their seats as a male's soft ghostly voice echo around them as if he were in the car with them. 

 

"I say we get out of here," Yoona suggested in a low strain whisper, not taking her eyes from the people standing in front of the car. 

 

Seohyun studied the dark red-haired man in front, her eyes glued to him. She couldn't explain it but there was something about him that drew her eye. He was handsome, hands down the most handsome man she had ever seen but it was something more than that. She couldn't describe it, not even to herself but it was compelling, pulling her with an unseen but unshakable force towards him. 

 

He had dark red hair and dark brown eyes that were so deep and expressive that Seohyun felt great secrets were concealed within. It was the kind of wise sad look elderly people sometimes had in their eyes from a lifetime of seeing things that she couldn't even begin to imagine. 

 

The dark red-haired man carried sadness around him the way Yuri carried joy around her, Seohyun could read it in his eyes. It was a soul-burdening heart-shattering sadness that he carried around him like an armor. It was a sadness that came from loneliness and sins long since past; she didn't know how she knew, she just did. 

 

Who was this man and why did she have the overwhelming urge to go to him and soothe all his pain, sadness and loneliness away? 

 

Unable to even spare the time to think about what she was doing, Seohyun opens her door and slowly step out of the safety and warmth of the car, ignoring Yoona and Taeyeon's hush protests. 

 

Apart from the fact that Yuri would never send them into danger, Seohyun somehow knew with certainty that she couldn't explain that this dark red-haired god of a man wouldn't hurt her or her friends. She could see it in his eyes. Despite her instincts telling her that he was far more dangerous than he seems, Seohyun could see a gentle kindness in his dark brown eyes. 

 

Yoona was now positive that one of her best friends had just severely lost it. Here they were in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night surrounded by people that her instincts scream at her weren't normal and were very dangerous despite their calm appearance. She wanted nothing more than to get far away from there as soon as possible but she wasn't one to leave a friend behind. She protected and took care of her friends; the three of them meant the entire world to her. 

 

Forgetting all about herself, Yoona slowly opens her door and rose up out of the car, Taeyeon following her example a moment later. Taeyeon knew she wasn't as confident and enthusiastic like Seohyun or like Yoona but she wasn't one bit less willing to do what she could to protect and take care of her friends than the two of them were. 

 

While Seohyun continues to stare transfix at the dark red-head as if he had her held in a trance, the two girls circle around the car and took place beside Seohyun. 

 

Staying together, as close to each other as possible, seem the safest and smartest thing to do in the current situation. 

 

Taeyeon had never been more aware of her petite figure in her life. She was nervous and fearful and she stays as close to Yoona and Seohyun as she could but she refuses to remain in the car while Seohyun and Yoona face off with those they had possibly been sent to find. 

 

Yonghwa couldn't move; he could barely think. He was so enthralled, so disbelieving that this radiant beautiful woman standing before him staring back at him with adorable wonder-fill sparkling brown eyes was his mate. His mortal mate. 

 

It had happened just as Yonghwa had been told it would, although before this moment he had always found it difficult to believe that it was as those mated had said it to be. It had happened without warning or logical reason, just as Yunho had said it had been with his own mate. The moment he had seen her he had been taken by her but the moment her scent had hit his senses he had fallen irrevocably, it had taken everything in his being not to fall to his knees and something between them had clicked into place between them, something eternal and unbreakable. Less than five minutes ago, Yonghwa, along with the rest of his coven present at the mansion, had heard a motor vehicle leave the highway and turn down the road that what was essentially their driveway. One which they kept in disrepair for just reasons, the primary that to the mortals the road appears nothing more than a dirt track that was hardly ever used which lead to the assumption that there was nothing at its end, therefore, there was no reason to venture down it. 

 

Unwilling to let mortals reach the mansion, for their own safety and for the preservation of their secret, Yonghwa had called a small number to him and had left the grounds of the mansion on foot, reaching the slow-moving vehicle in heartbeats. 

 

It had happened a few times before in their time there; a few mortals had taken the road by happenstance. In the past decade one mortal had gotten lost and had taken the road by mistake, another had suffered a vehicle malfunction and the mortal within had needed a telephone, they had provided a cell phone before the mortal had made it a hundred yards down the driveway and two others had been exploring the area and for some reason the beaten path had appealed to them. 

 

Each mortal had been escorted back to the highway with the explanation that they were on private property and would be charged with trespassing if they didn't vacate the area immediately, however, when aid had been needed they had given it freely. 

 

Tonight, Yonghwa had expected no different; although he had wanted to get the mortals off his lands quickly in case there were damned near. The damned wouldn't hesitate to kill mortals on vampire lands knowing the sorrow it would cause them. 

 

Instead, Yonghwa had arrived to find three young female mortals insisting that this was the path they were looking for. It had been bothersome until he had heard in their conversation the name of Yunho's mortal mate. 

 

Yuri had sent them. If this was indeed then they would know no harm from his own nor others. If they had come for protection then he would grant it, swearing protection within his walls by and from his coven with his life. He didn't question Yuri's loyalty to him and his own; if Yuri had sent these young women, if she had risk bringing them into the immortal world knowing how dangerous it was for mortals then she had done so for a good reason. Yuri had won his trust the moment he had met her. He knew people and he was an excellent judge of character and Yuri's character was one of selflessness, love and a modern form of honor. Yuri didn't break promises and she didn't put anyone innocent or close to her at risk, Yonghwa suspected that she wouldn't even do so for her own sake. 

 

Which call to question, what could have happened that had force Yuri's hand into drawing other mortals into the dangerous immortal world when they were neck deep in a war with the damned? 

 

Then Yonghwa had taken a moment to study each of the young women in turn and his eyes had become captivated by the black-haired beauty that resembles Yuri quite strongly. 

 

Maybe a relative or sibling? And then she, her name Seohyun, the tall brown-haired had called out her name when she had stepped out of the vehicle, had stepped out of the mortal vehicle and her scent had hit him, carried on the gentle breeze of the night. 

 

Never had Yonghwa known a scent as sweet or intoxicating as hers and he had known with all certainty of the approaching rising sun. It had hit him like a tone of bricks as the mortals were fond of saying. 

 

This mortal woman, Seohyun, was his bond mate. 

 

Discreetly, without breaking eye contact with her, Yonghwa drew her intoxicating scent deep into his lungs where it branded itself into his memory and on his soul. 

 

His Seohyun smelt of fruits and vanilla and there was the faint scent that Yonghwa recognizes as Yuri's scent but it wasn't carried in her blood or flesh. 

 

His mate was around Yuri often but she wasn't of direct relation. 

 

There was no mistake, Yunho had explained his experience of meeting his mortal mate to him and in truth, deep down, at the time Yonghwa had believed it exaggerated but now he knew better. Yunho had underestimated the experience. 

 

A near violent surge of fierce will, to protect and claim as his own, explode through him and he had to lock his body in place to prevent it from acting rashly. While inside he rages with fierce and intolerable conflict and desire, outside he was poised and calm but at the same time, the darkness he had been battling within himself for so long was still and silent. It was calm, no longer demanding the blood of the innocent. Instead, it demanded only Seohyun, his mate, to claim and protect her at any cost but Yonghwa refuse to alarm or frighten her. As strong as his compulsion to take her in his arms and never let go of her was, he wouldn't do anything to cause her to come to fear him. Yunho had hesitated and withheld himself the night he had found his delicate mortal mate and as so would he as in the end it had been the right thing that had brought his mate willingly into his arms but never again would Seohyun be far from his sight, never again would she be without immortal protection and never again would she know fear or sadness; he would shield her from it all for as long her natural life lasted and as hard as it was for him, Yonghwa knew he had to bring his thoughts away from the carnal desire to claim this mortal woman, Seohyun, as his mate. They had been sent to him for a reason and he owed Yuri everything he was and had for sending his mate to him. Whatever Yuri desire of him for the rest of eternity he would be her serve, just as he was now and evermore was Seohyun's to command. Only Seohyun's word and welfare would overrule Yuri's will of him. He owed the two women his life and soul and both were theirs to take. 

 

It took more strength then he knew he possesses but Yonghwa forces his focus back to the reason for them being there. 

 

"You know Yuri?" Yonghwa repeated to the lovely goddess, that was his born mate. She didn't know it yet but her hold on him was eternal and indestructible. 

 

Seohyun blink, realizing that she had been staring at him like a brain-dead nitwit without saying anything. He must think she was mentally handicapped. 

 

"She's our best friend," Seohyun replied nervously, as she stood unmoving, trap by his intense penetrating gaze. There was something about him that was urging her to go to him and kiss him and stay with him forever. To take away all his loneliness and sadness and pain just so she could see him smile down at her and Seohyun had no idea why she was fighting it. 

 

Yoona was still and tall beside her but was unaware of Seohyun's mesmerize state, "Yuri's in trouble. She sent us here for your help." 

 

Yonghwa's gaze became serious but didn't stray from Seohyun. So that was why Yuri had sent them; she had used them to deliver her distress message to him. Maybe she had also sent them there so that they would be safe; if that was the case then the mate of the Lycan's prince would be heeded with everything at his disposal, "She has it. We will go now." 

 

With a discrete wave of his hand that the mortal women's eyes would be unable to see, one of his vampire men at his back, turn and disappear into the night with the unspoken order to gather as many as were able to be taken away from the mansion. As it should have been, the messenger had moved at mortal pace until he had been out of their sight. 

 

"We don't know where she is," Taeyeon told him shyly, from her place behind Seohyun. 

 

Yonghwa smile just a little, reassuring the smaller mortal female that all was well, "We do." 

 

Yoona, who was as ready to fight as any, was looking forward to a fight with the one who was putting Yuri in danger. She steps forward with purposeful intent, "Then let's go." 

 

Yonghwa took a single moment to cast an all-seeing glance over the tall brown-haired women, relatively amused. This one was clearly the protector of the group and for that Yonghwa was fondly appreciative for her devotion and readiness to face any battle in name of that devotion but the mortal had no idea just what her friend Yuri was involved in, what they all were involved in now and even though the other two had no ties to him or his people, he would protect them just as he intended to guard his mate. Not just because they were precious and love by Yuri and his own mortal mate but because they were mortal females who were now involved in the war; their association to Yuri and Seohyun made them targets and would remain to do so. 

 

"I'm afraid you misunderstand." Yonghwa told her politely, but with authority, "We will go; you will go with Shinhye here." Yonghwa indicated with his hand towards the female at his back, "To my household where you will be safe." 

 

Seohyun places her hands on her hips and glare at him with all her might which considering that he was a good head taller than she was was in itself impressive. 

 

"We are going. Yuri is our friend; if she's in trouble then we are going to help." 

 

Behind him, Yonghwa heard the numbers he had summon gather in the darkness behind him, out of the mortal female's sight. They made no sound that mortal ears could hear but to Yonghwa their approach had been unmistakable. There were several dozen behind him and there was no doubt that there were more on the way with word spreading to those who had left the vampire grounds to feed or hunt the damned. 

 

It must have taken his mate at least half an hour to reach them. Whatever danger Yunho and Yuri were in was either over with or lingering on by the pack's sheer force of immovable will; either way, they had no time to waste, they had to offer their immediate aid. They could delay no longer. He had already wasted too much time already; a friend had called for his aid and for Yuri to have carried the call through her friends they had to be under imminent attack. 

 

"Then we need not waste a moment more." Yonghwa said as he turns to his second in command and his most trusted in his coven, "Travel with them by the road. Let no harm come to them or you will face my wrath." 

 

His second bow low to him and Yonghwa knew his true meaning was clear; don't arrive until the battle was over. By road, it would take them at least forty minutes to reach the Lycan manor, whereas it will only take them at most a matter of minutes to arrive. If the Lycan manor was being attacked by damned then the battle would be over, one way or the other, by the time they arrive. 

 

Yonghwa only hopes that they arrive in time to do some good. 

 

Yonghwa turns back to his love, drinking in the sight and scent of her, "Allow mine to accompany you, you will be safe." 

 

Seohyun couldn't breathe beneath the weight of his piercing commanding but still somehow gentle gaze but whatever was happening between them and something was happening, she just didn't know what it was yet but she intended to find out, Seohyun still worried for her friends, her sisters. She loves all three of them so much and had never hesitated to put them before herself. 

 

"And Yuri?" 

 

"I will do all that I can." Yonghwa promise, knowing that too much time had passed, the battle may already be over but if Yuri was alive, no matter where she was, Yonghwa would find her, for Yunho and for his mate if nothing else, "But I can't change what has already come to pass." And Yonghwa steps back into the darkness and disappear, followed by all others but the one he had left with the three young mortal women. 

 

Seohyun brought her hand to her heart as the feeling of loneliness and fearful dread that his parting brought to her. She had known him only minutes but already she wanted him to come back so they would never have to be apart again. 

 

The way he had look at her, he had touched something within her and something had happened between them that felt cemented. Life-altering. Eternal. There just wasn't one word to give what she was feeling its due justice. 

 

There was something about him, something warm and familiar. 

 

Yuri could do nothing as the two damned vampire half-drag half-carried her down the stairs and into Yunho's ball/throne room with Minho leading the way but she struggles against them the whole way regardless of their superior strength. She wasn't going to submit to them, not for anything. 

 

Yuri wouldn't have thought it possible but the room was filled to the point of being crowded with both damned and defeated Lycan's and vampires. The damned stood tall with dark triumphant expressions on their twisted faces around the exterior of the room while the immortals were hunch over on their knees or lying wounded on the floor; all were filled with dismal despair and pain, both emotional and physical. 

 

The two proud races had been defeated and they all knew that the price of their defeat would be death. 

 

The smell of blood was so thick in the air that Yuri nearly gagged and as much as she wishes she didn't know otherwise, she knew it was the blood of both the damned and defeated Lycan's and vampires. 

 

The battle had been fought long and hard but they had been defeated, overrun by their enemy's superior numbers and inability to show mercy. 

 

Yuri's heart swelled with sorrow and trepidation; the Lycan's were a noble and proud race that only wanted to live life, to know a mate's love and a child's laughter. She had learned much about the Lycan's in her short time here but one thing she had witness time and time again was the Lycan's appreciation for life; they didn't wish for war and death. They didn't want to fight every night, to watch more and more of their own kind fall and become what they hunted. 

 

After knowing war for so long, more war and bloody battles were the last things both the immortal races wanted. Now all they wanted was peace and family. They wanted to run free across their territory with a loving mate by their side. 

 

Why was that simple wish beyond the reach of most immortals? It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. 

 

Yuri knew where the damned were taking her, to the thrown that was and always would rightfully belong to Yunho. At first, Yuri had thought the throne and ballroom ridiculous, out-dated and unnecessary, even though she had been awed by its grandeur but now she knew better. It was part of the Lycan's culture and it was very necessary; the civility of the customs and traditions of their royalty gave the Lycan's reason to hope and the strength to carry on even when their beasts savagely demanded life's blood and their souls were heavily burdened with the scars of their past and bleak looking future. 

 

It was a small solace but at least most of the woman and all of the children had fled to safety; they would know what happens here today but they would be spared from witnessing it. 

 

On the great golden thrown on the one step dais sat the unjust sadistic king of the damned, grinning wickedly at her with lustful anticipation and gleaming triumph in his cruel black eyes. 

 

Yoochun believes that he had won and he was anticipating basking in his seize spoil of war. 

 

Yuri wasn't naïve, she knew well what Yoochun wanted from her and she would die first. 

 

The two damned bow to their king as they approach and unceremoniously drop her on her hands and knees at their feet while Minho took his place beside Yoochun, standing beside the throne looking just as haughtily superior as Yoochun but somehow Minho fail to be anywhere near as commanding or intimidating as the self-proclaim king of the damned. 

 

Raising her head, Yuri refuse to look at Yoochun, instead, she looked around at her people and they were her people now. She had been foolish, wilful and stubborn in the beginning, trying to run from this life that she had always been destined for. This is where she belongs and she would never regret her decision to remain in the immortal world, even though she wasn't immortal. 

 

Behind her, Jessica knelt on the hard cold floor. She had blood running down her face from the deep gash that stretches along her entire cheek which had narrowly miss her eye. Her long light brown hair was a bloody tangled mess and her eyes were heavy with tears as she clung to Donghae's pale motionless form on the floor beside her. Yuri could see that Donghae was breathing but he was unconscious and wounded. Badly wounded judging by the way he wasn't kneeling protectively over his mate, keeping her safe from harm even in the face of the defeat of his pack and surrounded by a merciless enemy and behind the wolf-mated couple, Changwook and Changmin lay pale and still, either unconscious or dead. 

 

All three betas were unconscious or dead. Things weren't boding well for them at all. 

 

Jessica raises her head and Yuri caught Jessica's gaze and stare helplessly, despairingly, into the fearful eyes of the Lycan princess. Her eyes spoke volumes of her fear and sorrow, her helplessness and despair. She was the princess of her people; it wasn't in her nature to sit defeated nor was it in her blood to give up or surrender. 

 

It was evident in her eyes that the Lycan princess not only fears for her people but was unjustly taking the blame for their defeat upon herself. 

 

A long moment passed between them and a fleeting strain awkward smile and then Jessica pointedly looks pass her at what Yuri knew was lying at Minho's feet.

 

Yuri follows her gaze, tears already filling her eyes and ice cold dread in her racing heart. 

 

Yunho, the proud and mighty crown prince of the Lycan race, lay defeated, broken and on the floor before his own throne which his enemy now occupied. Yunho was bleeding from more than a dozen wounds that Yuri could see and knew there were more that she couldn't see. 

 

Yuri couldn't breathe. Yunho was broken, wounded and weak. He obviously didn't even have the strength to change in order to heal his wounds. 

 

The shattered broke her heart. This broken man was the proud warrior prince who had risked and now sacrificed everything and he had done it all for her. He had sacrificed his people, his kingdom, his territory, his throne and before long even his very life. All for her. He had rage in a war for her. He had fought for her and he was going to die for her.

 

He had risked and lost it all. For her and there was nothing she could do about it. All of this, all of this fighting and death had been over her.

 

Yuri thought of everything this pack had done for her, everything this pack had been through for her, everything they had to endure and suffer for her; the danger, the fighting and the long hours of guarding or searching for her. Yunho and the beta's had risked their lives to protect her so many times. Even Jessica had been badly hurt when she and Jessica had been taken. 

 

Jessica. The Lycan princess who was so strong and stubborn and had a fury like no other but at the same time, Jessica was a princess. A hope her people cherish. Yuri knew that Jessica had fallen with child many times but the princess had never been able to carry to term and with each loss, it broke Jessica's heart but still she had live on to try again. For her mate and for her people. The strength that alone took was beyond measure and Yunho. So long he had been alone in the darkness. So long he had been fighting the madness within, the madness that came from his human side fighting against his wild untamed animal side, his beast. For so long he had endured without complaint and without fault for the sake of his family and his people who he had been protecting since the moment he had been able. 

 

Yunho had never been able to tell her that he loves her but he had strived so fiercely to show her, to prove his love to her. He had argued against her for her own good, he had drag her back to the manor when she had run away and he had fought countless times to protect her. She must have driven him beyond madness in her relentless efforts to escape him but despite the fact that he was half-animal, he had never lashed out at her; he had never done more than yell at her or lock her away in their room. Every day he had assured that her every need and desire was met. He had fed, clothed, shelter and protected her. No matter how fatigued he was or how she had fought him, he had only done what was best for her. 

 

Yunho was a warrior prince, the greatest there was, his people were what had driven him for so long but now she was his first priority. He had put her above all else, even his people, his pack and his family but he had still protected them all unwaveringly, pushing himself beyond his limits. It was only ever himself that he ever put last. Yuri closes her eyes in true realization. She was the only thing he had ever taken for himself but still, he had let her go after all of this if she asks it of him, just as he had promised, even though it would destroy him. 

 

He did love her. More than anything else. He was dominant and stubborn and so accustomed to having his own way like the proud warrior prince that he was but he was also selfless and protective and there was truly nothing he wouldn't do for her. 

 

Yunho, who had fallen in his efforts to protect her, had become her life as she had become his. 

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Yuri saw Yoochun glare hatefully down at Yunho from Yunho's own throne, "You really thought you could keep her for yourself, prince?" 

 

Yuri forces herself to remain still as Yoochun rose to his feet and strutted over to her and then he knelt down and her face with the back of his cold hard hand though he continues to taunt Yunho, "The only female capable of breeding with immortals. What makes you worthy of such a precious and extraordinary jewel?" 

 

Yunho's head snaps up and he glares furiously at Yoochun through his black hair, "Don't touch her!" He snarls, but then he clenches his teeth tightly in pain. 

 

Before she knew what she was doing, Yuri found herself on her feet, completely ignoring Yoochun as he too rose and step forward to go to her prince, her love. Yunho was weak, injured and in pain; she had never seen him so helpless before and it didn't sit right with her at all. Yunho had always been so commanding and indomitable; a force of will that could put mother nature herself to the test. He didn't belong on the floor at another's feet. 

 

Not this proud strong selfless warrior prince who had given so much to his people and his pack. Not to mention his wolf mate. Testament to that, not that it was needed, was that he was gravely wounded from the brutal battle he had just fought to keep her safe and here she stood without a mark on her but before Yuri could take more than a single step towards Yunho, the two damned soldiers who had drag her to their king grab ahold of her forearms with an unshakable bruising grip. Yuri immediately fought against the immortal superhuman hands holding her, her heart urging her to go to Yunho and do what she could for him but she wasn't an immortal. She didn't have healing saliva; she couldn't help him by his wounds to accelerate the healing process but oh, how she wishes for it now. Yuri shook her head in anguish, she was wishing for a lot of things. If she were an immortal Lycan, she could transform into a wolf the size of a car and fight for Yunho the way he had fought so many times for her. Just once she wanted to save his life, to do something for her mate other than just being but she may as well wish for the sun, the moon and stars. No matter how much she wanted to be different, she wasn't one of them. She wasn't immortal, she couldn't leap buildings in a single bound and she couldn't do anything against the damned. 

 

How drastically her life had changed in so short a time. Before Yunho had come into her life all Yuri had wanted was her friends and family to be safe and to have a normal happy life. Now everything had changed. She could never truly be with him even if they all miraculously survive because Yunho was immortal. The years she had left that had once seemed like a lifetime to her were suddenly as fleeting as the last moments of the night in the face of dawn. 

 

All too soon, whether this day or a hundred years from now, their time together would come to a tragic end but the tragedy wouldn't be hers but that of Yunho and his people. In his world Yunho was still young but when he lost her, his wolf mate, to old age or sickness, he would take his own life and the Lycan's would be left without their next true king whom the Lycan people so desperately needed and despite Yoochun's belief that she could give birth to an immortal child, Yuri had no way of knowing if that was so or not. She was Yunho's mate but there was no telling if that meant that they were compatible, biologically wise, as it had been explained to her that no mortal had ever bared an immortal child. 

 

It was certain that Yunho would follow her into death well before his own time but it was almost impossible that they would leave Yunho's heir behind. 

 

Hard hands shook her free of her thoughts and with a gasp of pain, Yuri was pull from her thoughts. All this time she had been staring at Yunho, focus only on him but Yuri could see Yoochun glaring darkly at her out of the corner of her eye. She could feel his chilling gaze focus on her but all she had eyes for was her Yunho. She didn't want to look at Yoochun, didn't want to be near him unless it was to wipe that triumphant smirk from his vile lips with physical violence. 

 

Enrage that the mortal had the nerve to ignore him in favor of the pathetic defeated Lycan prince, Yoochun saw blood red. Without pause, Yoochun stalks across the dais to where the Lycan prince lay sprawl weakly and pathetically on the floor as the defeated whimpering dog he was and kick him with careless strength in the stomach. 

 

To his overwhelming satisfaction, the pathetic weak prince was sent flying backward through the air for several feet with enough force to kill a mortal eight times over until he collided with the legs of his own throne which toppled over down onto him. 

 

Yunho cried out in pain as the heavy solid gold throne impacted with his beaten and battered body, landing on his chest where he was certain that he had several broken ribs; at least one of which was pressing dangerously and painfully against his lung. A guttural groan escapes his bruise and bloodied lips and with no strength left to even lift his head, Yunho remains where he landed, in too much internal agony to move. 

 

Even as the immortal Yunho was with a superhuman healing ability, it would be a full day at least before his lungs would be free of all pressure from the rib and a day longer for his broken ribs to heal, unless of course, he receives care from another Lycan. The healing saliva his people possess could cut his healing process down to a day. Of course, shifting into his wolf form would accelerate his healing even more but shifting require more strength than he had left. 

 

Unfortunately, Yunho doubted he would live long enough to see any of his wounds heal, let alone to have the chance to receive aid from one of his pack. 

 

Yuri struggle wildly against her captors at the sight of Yunho flying helplessly across the dais, crying out in her distress, "No! Yunho Oppa!" 

 

She fought feebly against the iron hands holding her, wanting to go to him so desperately it was agony at being stopped from going to him. 

 

"Don't hurt him! Please!" 

 

The words of his cherish love echo through him and just like that Yunho forgot all about his pain and despair at what was awaiting him in his defeat. Yunho forces his exhausted battered muscles into action enough to angle his head so that he could look at her. Yuri was so beautiful, even now in her distress with shimmering tears in her flawless dark brown eyes. He had fought his hardest for her but it hadn't been enough; in truth, he had never been worthy of her, mortal or not. She was so beautiful, kind, strong, gentle and pure. She was spirited and willful, just as his sister and mother were. Her strength, pure heart, and love of life would have carried his people far into a future bright with hope and joy. 

 

A fate his people well deserve even though he didn't. 

 

He had failed his mate, his Yuri, his love. She would suffer a terrible fate at Yoochun's hands and there was nothing he could do about it. He was beaten and broken but at least Yuri would live. She would at least have a chance of escaping from Yoochun and live a happy life; she had escape Yoochun once before so there was hope for her. Yunho knew he should never have brought the bright flower that Yuri was into his dark and dangerous world; that had been his gravest mistake. All he should have done after first finding her was protect her until his scent had faded from her skin after he had healed her that first night and then left her in peace to live her mortal life. She would have been safe in her world; she had been so all her life before he had mess everything up for her by entering her life but selfishly he hadn't and now selfless gentle loving Yuri would pay dearly for his selfishness. He had done what he had because he had loved her from the first time he had laid eyes upon her, from the moment she had look at him with her heart and soul in her radiant depthless eyes beneath a halo of golden light. She had called out to him like a beacon in the darkness and like a mythological siren had tempted him with everything he desire, had made him realize that he didn't have to be alone, didn't have to bare an immortal life of burdens alone for all of his existence but most of all she had taught him that there were things worth living for, worth having. Things worth fighting and dying for. 

 

Yunho hadn't just fought for her life; he had fought so that he could give her everything she deserves. A life fills with love and laughter, a life without burden or sadness. He wanted to give her the world, to lay his kill at her feet because she would always have before he did. She would eat before he did, she would rest before he did and everything else. He wanted to spend the rest of his life keeping her safe and protected, making sure she knew just how much he cherish and love her, how much he wanted to see her smile and hear her laugh and he wanted so desperately to protect the childlike innocence Yuri possess that made everyone around her love her and want to protect her. He had been born the crown prince of the Lycan's but in truth, he was nothing, had been nothing without her. Before her there had only been desolate darkness but now for the first time since he had been a pup, except for that brief moment in which his sister had been born, Yunho had hope for the future, not just for his people but for himself but now all of that was slipping away like sand through a sieve in Yoochun's wake and there was nothing Yunho could do about it, he was done and very soon he would be dead, leaving Yuri helpless and alone to face everything Yoochun had plan for her. 

 

Never, not in all the long centuries of his life had Yunho felt so impotent and anguish as he did now; Yuri was his mate, his to protect and there was nothing left that he could do to help her. 

 

Yunho had nothing left to give and there was nothing to save them this time. There was no hope in him left. 

 

Yuri wanted to weep at the devastating torment that was boring into her through Yunho's pain-stricken eyes. Never had she witness such suffering, such soul-destroying anguish and she was the cause of it all but still, even in the face of the demise of her love and quite possibly all of the Lycan's, Yuri couldn't find it within her to regret meeting him. The only regret she had was that she couldn't help him. If they had never met, Yunho still would have died, only his would have been a much slower tortuous death and she would have lived out the rest of her life without ever knowing how empty she was inside, without realizing that there was something crucial missing from her life. Somehow, some way, she had always subconsciously known that there had been something greater for her than the life she had been living, a destiny she hadn't yet found. 

 

Yuri felt a strange sense of peace deep inside of her and she realizes that she truly would rather live a brief moment in this world with Yunho and this tragic ending than to have lived out her entire life with her eyes and heart close in the mortal world. For a brief moment, she had known a love that would have lasted a thousand lifetimes and she was grateful for that, even if they didn't even get one life together. She had known Yunho and she had known love and that was enough. 

 

"Yunho Oppa." Yuri whimper heart-brokenly, before she tore her eyes from Yunho and turn them on Yoochun, "Please?" She begs shamelessly, "Please don't hurt him anymore?" 

 

From where he stood, towering over everyone else, Yoochun seems amused by Yuri's distress and desperate plea that he not hurt Yunho. How pitiful the pair of them was, "So the female does know how to beg. That you will do plenty under my rule." 

 

Fury flare inside Yuri such as she had never known at his cavalier attitude at her distress. She glares furiously into his evil triumphant eyes and hisses from between her teeth, "This female can do more than that!" 

 

Yuri wanted so much to tell him truthfully that she would never beg him again for anything but she knew that wasn't true; if begging would spare even a single Lycan's life then she would beg until she was hoarse. 

 

Yoochun laugh boisterously, clearly amused and delighted by her show of defiance, "What strength, what force of will! The offspring you will breed for me!" 

 

Yuri growl furiously, so loudly that doing so actually hurtled , "You will get nothing from me, Yoochun! Ever!" 

 

Yoochun gave a dismissive wave of his hand as if she hadn't just sworn with every ounce of her being that she had never given him anything he wanted of her, "You will do whatever I tell you to do. You belong to me now as you were always meant to be."

 

Yuri growl again, far more wrathfully this time, she really had been spending too much time around the Lycan's but she would never trade a single moment she had spent in the immortal world for anything as it was all part of the path that had led her to fall in love with Yunho and ignore the sharp protest from her now sore throat, "I will never be yours! I'm his! For life! I'm Yunho's wolf mate, now and always and there's nothing you can do to change that! We are mated!" 

 

Yunho's head snaps up and he found himself staring into her depthless eyes, unable to believe his ears as joy swept through him like a bomb of liquid sunlight had just detonated deep in his chest. She had never said it before. She had never acknowledged that she was his mate. He could see it in her eyes that she knew it to be true now, that she would stay with him for always. 

 

For as long as she lives. 

 

It wasn't just his brand upon Yuri's flesh that bound them together now; for weeks Yuri had been bound to him for eternity but now he could feel it deep within him, so deep a place that only a mate could reach it. It was more than that she knew she was his; she wanted to be his, to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her. She wanted to be his mate and be with him in heart, soul, and flesh. She wanted to take away the darkness and loneliness within him. She wanted to be his light, his love and give hope to him and his people. 

 

Yuri smiles sadly but hearteningly at her love who was staring at her with stun joy and she knew she could never be without him again. She had found a home here and she had found pure everlasting love in him and if he asks it, she would marry him and she would stay with him for the rest of her life. 

 

It had felt so right to finally say the words. For so long she had been fighting him, fighting so hard for her freedom when in truth, this was where she belongs. She would always be free with him, always be safe and protected and love. Yunho hid it well but he had so much love within him to give and he had given it all to her. With her gaze so completely captured by her wolf mate, Yuri had no warning when the large hard hand came from nowhere and not for the first time connected painfully, cruelly, with her cheek. Pain exploded through her face and head as her teeth rattled and stars exploded before her eyes. 

 

This time though, Yuri knew what had happened. Yoochun had slapped her across the face, again and again, the two iron-hard hands release her and once more Yuri found herself on her hands and knees on the hard cold floor, momentarily knocked senselessly and fighting back the pain and vertigo. 

 

"Yuri!" Yuri heard Yunho roar with absolute fury, "Touch her again Yoochun and I will eat your beating heart!" Yuri knew it wasn't apt for their current predicament but regardless she found herself smiling with love and reverence for her love; the throbbing on the left side of her face seem to vanish in the wake of her prince's valor. Even at his lowest point, Yunho was still the proud overprotective warrior and prince she loves so much. 

 

Between one moment and the next, Yuri found herself once again able to see the world return to its proper place around her and she lifted her head to find that Yunho was on his knees, although his stance was very unsteady and his entire body was shaking with the effort it took even though he was being held tightly by the two largest immortals, damned or otherwise, that Yuri had ever laid eyes upon, seriously, they look as if they ate boulders for breakfast. 

 

Yunho was weak, exhausted and his body had taken a terrible beating but still, he fought against the enormous damned hands that held him back in his effort to get to her or maybe Yunho intended to avenge the blow Yoochun had just deliver down upon her. 

 

Yunho had believed that he had nothing left to give, that his body was done but his rage at Yoochun's offense against his mate had given him the strength and will to rise up onto his knees despite how pushed beyond his limits his battered body was. 

 

Yoochun couldn't believe the audacity of the pathetic Lycan prince. He was victorious this day; he was king of the damned and now that the Lycan prince had fallen there was no one left to stand in his way of conquering the entire world. No doubt the vampire prince would put up some form of a fight but it would be a fruitless endeavor; the vampire prince was of no threat to him. 

 

Now that the Lycan prince had fallen before him there was no one left capable of stopping him as the Lycan whelp had been the only one even close to his warrior skill and cunning. With the defeat of the greatest warrior, the immortals had any and all lingering rogue damned would flock to him now to join him as the Lycan warrior most damned seem to fear had fallen. Now those who had yet to join him would know that death awaited those who didn't offer their loyalty to their now incontestable king and as for the immortal kings who rule from the old country, Yoochun would deal with them soon enough. They could try to convince themselves that cowering in their fortresses would keep them safe from him but they were nothing but old fools who still live too much in the old ways. The two kings would fall before him as effortlessly as their son's had and with their defeat, there would be no one left to challenge him. 

 

For a moment Yoochun considers striking the Lycan prince once again to punish him for his insolence but a far more pleasing thought occurs to him, one that would punish the pathetic prince far worse than any harm he could cause him before his inevitable death. 

 

Yunho expected Yoochun to shift his violent focus back to him and away from Yuri, just as he had intended with his furious words but Yoochun remains standing where he was, seemingly unaffected by Yunho's threat. Instead, Yoochun continues to stare at him with his black contemplating eyes and Yunho felt a chill run down his spine. Yoochun was cunning and cruelly sadistic and he was justly fear even by his own kind. He was completely without mercy or compassion and he was incredibly clever and patient, especially in his harm to others and then Yoochun's fresh scent reach his nose and Yunho froze in terror. Icy chills swept down Yunho's spine at the evil, almost catlike, grin that spread across Yoochun's plump lips as he turns his gaze from him back to Yuri. Yoochun's arousal was as obvious in his scent as it was in his eyes and in his malicious grin. Yoochun practically beams with lustful anticipation. 

 

Yoochun took a step towards Yuri and Yunho saw red as sickening terror fill his stomach. He knew exactly what Yoochun was going to do and he would do so knowing that there was nothing Yunho could do to stop him. Yunho gathers all of his strength, leaped to his feet and lurch against the two pairs of thick damned arms restraining him but to his shock horror, they held him fast. 

 

He couldn't get free. He didn't have the strength left to free himself from the damned that held him, all he could do was watch as the vile, pure evil creature that had defeated him blatantly ignore him as he advances on Yuri with his intentions clear in his cruel black eyes. 

 

Yunho couldn't let this happen. He couldn't let this be his lover's fate. There had to be something he could do to distract Yoochun but what could he do when Yoochun knew him so well. Of course, that ran both ways; Yunho knew there was nothing he could do to stop Yoochun. He had nothing left, no reinforcements or tricks to play. He didn't even have the strength to remain on his feet without the two damned holding him upright. 

 

All he had was his tongue. 

 

Yunho force the last few ounces of his strength into his words, "Touch her again Yoochun and I won't just kill you. I will make your death last for days." 

 

Yuri hadn't needed to hear her love's threats to know Yoochun's intentions. She knew what Yoochun was going to do and there was nothing she could do to stop him. Even if she had been free of the superhuman hands of the damned that held her, there was still nothing she could have done against the strength of the damned king. 

 

As small a woman as she was, Yuri knew she was virtually vulnerable against most mortal men but at least she knew their strength and had a chance against them but against even the weakest immortal she didn't stand a single chance. 

 

Moving very deliberately, Yoochun grasp hold of her chin and cheek in a grasp that consumes almost half her face with a grip that had his strong steel-hard long fingers biting harshly into her soft flesh. 

 

Yuri had enough time to release a gasp in pain before his hard cold lips close over hers in a brutal force kiss that within moments brought tears of pain to her eyes even as she fought futilely against his greater strength. He was holding her face too tightly. He was kissing her too harshly with a strength that she hadn't been made to withstand, strength force upon her that would leave dark painful bruises behind that would leave a throbbing ache deep in her flesh. 

 

It was all she could do to keep her lips and teeth together to keep his intrusion from entering . 

 

Finally, the tears that had been gathering in her eyes slip free and ran down her face and onto Yoochun's cold hand. 

 

Yuri closes her eyes and tried to retreat into herself, to go someplace, anyplace else to escape what was happening. She wanted to block it all out but she couldn't. The pain was too sharp to ignore or hide from. All she could do was try to endure. Endure against not just the pain but also the shame and the sickening feeling Yoochun's touch left in its wake. Yoochun's taste and touch just felt wrong, so much so that it was revolting. 

 

Yunho was the only one Yuri wanted to kiss, the only one who had the right to kiss her. She didn't want Yoochun anywhere near her. What she wanted was to be in Yunho's arms where she felt happy and safe. She wanted Yunho to kiss her with his gentle but passionately insatiable hunger. Yunho's kisses portray his love and desire for her and his hands upon her were only ever gentle. 

 

While Yuri was helpless against Yunho's kisses because they were so intoxicated and expressive, she was helpless against Yoochun for a completely different reason. Yoochun uses his greater strength callously against her. His force kisses were painful and selfish; he took what he wanted and gave nothing in return. All she felt for Yoochun was revolution and hatred; she hated him for forcing this on her and for doing so in front of Yunho. 

 

Yoochun applied more pressure, digging his fingers into her cheeks and Yuri's lips and teeth parted as she screams out in pain into his mouth. 

 

Yoochun took the opportunity to his unwelcome tongue into . 

 

The taste of him fill and Yuri nearly retched in utter revulsion; Yoochun tasted like blood, rot, and death. The taste was the most putrid thing Yuri had ever known and she had to fight to keep from vomiting into his mouth. 

 

Everything about Yoochun repelled and repulse her. His skin and lips, even his tongue was ice cold, his touch gave nothing but pain and his odor and taste reminded her only of blood and death. 

 

A vicious enrage wordless roar fill her ear and seem to vibrate in the very air around her and just like that Yuri was free of Yoochun's vile mouth and his bruising hold on her jaw. 

 

As Yoochun turn his attention back to Yunho, Yuri hung her head in shame as her tears continue to stream down her face, unable to even glance in Yunho's direction. She was still able to feel Yoochun's touch on her skin and his brutal kisses on her lips and she could still smell him around her and taste him in . 

 

Yuri breathed air into her lungs, ignoring Yoochun's foal stench and continue to fight to keep whatever remains of what she had eaten earlier in the day in her stomach. Her tears running down her face slip into and Yuri was grateful for the salty taste in to lessen the vile flavor Yoochun had left behind. 

 

"Such a sweet taste." Yoochun purred, with malicious glee, audibly savoring the taste of her as he moves away from her, "One I will savor well this night and all those to come for the remainder of her short life." 

 

The deafening enrage roar pierces the air around her once more and Yuri knew it was Yunho who was enraged beyond all words and reason; she didn't need to look up at him to know that he was consumed by hatred and rage that Yoochun had dare to force a kiss upon her and then threaten more. 

 

"I may even spare your sister." Yoochun went on, his tone one of dark delight and elated provocative taunting, "She can join your mate in my bed. How does it feel to know that you will die leaving the two females you have been charged with protecting at the mercy of my whim?" 

 

'Jessica.' Yuri's head snaps up and quickly found the wide fearful and repulse eyes of the Lycan princess, her friend, her sister; the princess who had sacrificed herself to see Yuri free when they had both been captured. Rei had fought for her, put her above her own self, even her own mate and in the end, she had been rewarded with the partaking of Yuri's own fate. 

 

Jessica clutch Donghae's head against her chest, tears in her own eyes and Yuri's heart shattered. Jessica, who had always been a force of nature, so strong and wilful was terrified for her fate and the fate of her wolf mate, her true love, whom she would be forced to endure living without. 

 

Was there a worse fate for an immortal? For anyone? 

 

Yuri pulls her eyes from Jessica and turns back to Yunho. 

 

As Jessica would be forever more without her wolf mate, so too would she be forced to live without Yunho, her own mate, and love. 

 

This couldn't be. How could fate or any divine entity above be so cruel as to give them so much and take away such a brief time later? Yuri had just found Yunho and Jessica and this new life she had unknowingly been searching for her entire life. This couldn't be how it ended. Not like this, not so soon. 

 

Not because of her. 

 

Another wave of tears pours from her eyes. Yuri closes her eyes against the excruciating torment that had wrap its unyielding suffocating grip around her insides. If she had known this was where all of this had been heading, she would have instantly taken her life in order to prevent it, to save the lives of everyone she had come to love and care for in her new life. Yunho. Jessica. The betas. Yonghwa and the entire pack. 

 

They were all going to perish because of her. 

 

No. This couldn't be happening. It was too horrific. Too tragic. There had to be something she could do. 

 

Where were Yonghwa and his coven? Surely they were coming. Yes, she hadn't called him directly, she would have if she had been able but she trusted her friends, her sisters and they should have arrived at the mansion by now. Yuri didn't doubt they would do as she asks even though she had given no explanation but Yonghwa and his coven should have been here by now. They were rapidly running out of time but what if the girls hadn't been able to find the vampire mansion? What if the vampire hadn't listened to the girls or what if something had happened to the girls before they had reach Yonghwa? Any number of things could have gone wrong and tonight fate wasn't on their side. 

 

"Yuri." Came a weak heart-wrenching whisper plea, "Yuri, please look at me." 

 

Yuri didn't want to open her eyes. She didn't want to return to reality but how could she refuse her love what could be his last request of her? 

 

Reluctantly Yuri opens her eyes and raises her gaze until she found Yunho's. Despite that only moments before Yunho had roared in sheer overwhelming fury and hatred, now his eyes were soft, loving and sorrowful and for the first time since Yuri had known him, tears shimmered in Yunho's soulful brown eyes. Eyes that were loving, wise and gentle. In the beginning, his eyes had been filled with such sorrow, loneliness and despair from being without her, his wolf mate, for so long but since she had come to the manor there had only been love and life in his eyes and she had put it there. 

 

At least for a short time, Yuri had been able to make him happy, to take away the loneliness and ease the suffering he had endure for far too long and at least they both had known love, real true 'I had died for you' love. They had found each other, they had loved each other and nothing and no one could ever take that away from them. 

 

Yuri loves Yunho so much, more than she could ever put into words and now they were going to lose each other, "Yunho Oppa." Yuri sob wretchedly, the word trembling with heavy despair and overwhelming fear. 

 

"No matter what happens, Yuri." Yunho whisper, as he held her gaze, only sounding tranquil for her sake but nonetheless, every word was sincere and truthful, "You will always have my love. I'm eternally thankful to the moon goddess for every single moment of the time I have shared with you. I have lived more in these past few weeks than I have in all my many centuries without you." 

 

Another sob escapes Yuri's bruised lips. She was beyond despair and misery, there were no words she could form to respond to him even if she were able to speak. The agony and sorrowful grief were choking her, squeezing her insides until she could hardly breathe. 

 

Yunho was consoling her and saying goodbye to her all at the same time. He was very well only moments from his own death and all he was concern about was her. Was there a more selfless person on the planet? 

 

It humble Yuri to her very core. She had always tried to be a good person, to do right by others and be there for her friends and family before herself but what could she possibly have done, what good deed could have been so great that she was worthy of such a man? Worth of his love and sacrifice? 

 

Oh by the goddess, she loves him. She wanted to be with him always and take care of him and take away his every pain and heartache. She wanted to wake up beside him every morning and run with him through the night and laugh and cry with him. She wanted to spend a lifetime with him but still, that wouldn't be long enough; eternity wouldn't be long enough. 

 

She wanted this life amongst the immortals. Yuri didn't care if it meant that she could never go back to her dull half-life in the mortal world. She didn't care that this life could be dangerous or that she would always have to have bodyguards and live a sheltered life here at the manor. Yuri would do anything for Yunho, be anything he needed her to be, even a queen. 

 

A strange sound suddenly pulls her attention from Yunho to Yoochun and only then did she realize that he now held a sword in his hand. The sound that had broken the spell between her and Yunho had been Yoochun pulling the sword he now held from its sheath that hung from the belt around Yoochun's waist. 

 

The sword Yuri recognizes instantly but she was accustomed to seeing it in Yunho's hand, not that of his enemy. 

 

It was in that moment that Yuri realizes that Yoochun was going to kill Yunho; Yoochun was going to kill him with Yunho's own sword. 

 

"No! Enough of this!" 

 

A startled grasp echo around the room from both the surviving immortal and damned, mix in with the soft startled gasp from the only mortal in the room. 

 

Yuri turn her head in time to see Jessica who was now on her feet, explode out of her clothes and skin as she shifted into her light brown wolf form. In the enclosed space of the ballroom, the female Lycan with her light brown pelt seems twice as big as she actually was and very out of place in the grand ballroom. 

 

In Jessica's dark brown wolfish eyes, Yuri saw fear and burning anger as the Lycan prince stare murderously at Yoochun. Even though she no longer had human lips, Yuri swore that Jessica was smiling chillingly at the man who intended to kill her brother. 

 

Maybe she was. Maybe Jessica had been push beyond her limits, just as Yuri herself was but unlike her, Jessica had the power and strength to do something other than just watch. 

 

Yuri look down at the floor to see that Donghae's eyes were open, although the first beta remains where he was lying on the floor. Like Yunho, Donghae was badly injured and his body had taken a beating. They were both exhausted and were too weak to rise but at least they were both still alive. 

 

Yuri's gaze quickly flickers towards the other two beta's. Both remain unmoving on the floor, presumably still unconscious. 

 

"Jessica, no!" Both Yunho and Donghae implored the Lycan princess, their voices weak and pleading but loud enough that the words echo around them but Jessica didn't listen, Yuri doubted that the Lycan princess had ever really listened to them when she hadn't wanted too. Without another moment wasted Jessica lunch into the air with her long razor sharp claws extended as she soars through the air straight towards Yoochun. 

 

It happens too fast for Yuri to see but one moment Jessica was soaring through the air towards Yoochun and the next with a sickening meaty thud and the crunch of bone, the great light brown wolf was sent flying backwards through the air until she hit the wall on the right-hand side of the room in a shower of plaster and white plaster dust. 

 

With a cry of pain, the princess wolf fell to the floor along with chunks of plaster and wall where she remains unmoving. A moment later the wolf was gone and the Lycan princess lay still, limp and utterly on the floor where she had fallen. 

 

Yuri gritted her teeth against her raging fury and loathing towards Yoochun; so easily Yoochun had tossed the Lycan princess who had always seem so indomitable to Yuri, aside with the ease and indifference of swatting a fly. So many times in so brief a time period Yunho or Jessica or the betas had saved her life, had protected her from harm and this was their reward? To fall at the hands of their greatest enemy knowing that they were leaving her and their people in such sadistic hands? 

 

This wasn't right. This couldn't be how things had been meant to turn out. This couldn't be the end. Otherwise, what was the meaning of it all? Of her meeting Yunho and the two of them coming together? There had to be more. This and everything Yunho and her had been through had to amount to more than the end of the immortal races and then the end of the mortal race at Yoochun's hand. 

 

Yuri couldn't let it happen. She couldn't let it all end this way. She couldn't let such a cruel fate come to those she loves. None of them deserve this. Not Jessica, not the Lycan people and especially not Yunho, the prince who had fought longer than she could understand for his people. 

 

Yuri wouldn't let it happen. Whatever it cost her, it was her turn to save Yunho, even if it was only this once. If she was so important, so crucial to everything then she had to be able to do something to turn the tides. 

 

Yuri had to believe that. She had to believe that fate had wanted more for her than this. If fate had brought her here to save the immortal races then she had to be far more than what she believed herself to be. A savior didn't cower helplessly before the enemy. No, a savior fought and even die to protect those who needed saving. 

 

She was special; she was the mate of the prince of the Lycan's, possibly even the destined mother of the next in line for the throne. There had to be more within her than her love for Yunho and if what Yoochun believe was true however unlikely in her mind, a compatible womb. If she was Yunho's destined mate then she had to be special, she had to be worthy of the honor. 

 

Yuri closes her eyes and focuses all her will, all her consciousness inward and reach deep down inside of herself, reaching for what she didn't know but she was compelled to reach further down than she ever had before. She had to find the strength and courage inside of her to do something, to do anything to change the tide. 

 

There had to be something there, anything. Even an idea to distract Yoochun would do. This couldn't be how it ended, it couldn't be, Yuri refuse to accept that this was it, that this was all there was for all of them. 

 

All at once, Yuri could feel something powerful inside of her, something warm and vibrant, something she was instantly unable to name. 

 

Love. Her love for Yunho and for Jessica and the entire Lycan pack. It was like a bright hot force inside of her, rising at her summon to join the strength of her will. She wanted to save Yunho, her love. She needed to save him. She wouldn't survive losing him and then Yuri felt everything within her change, become something else that she had never felt before until the sensation spread throughout her entire body. It was powerful, hot and painful. It felt strange, unlike anything she had ever experience before. Her hands felt inflamed, different. Stress, stretch and excruciatingly painful. It felt like her hand was on fire. 

 

Yuri's entire body was burning and in agony. It felt like she was suddenly way too big to fit inside of her skin, it felt like stretching. Changing. It wasn't like anything she had ever known before, it was inside and out, it was hot and strangely cold in place, it was agony and wondrously tingly all at the same time. 

 

Yuri bit down on her tongue but even that felt strange, different than it should have felt like, different than it had ever since she could remember but how was that possible? What was happening to her and even though it hurt, Yuri didn't want it to stop. Through the pain and strange sensations happening to every part of her body, beneath it all it felt warm and magical. That was the only word Yuri could use to describe it. 

 

Magic. 

 

Yuri could almost hear the audible 'click' as it all fell into place. She knew. She knew what was happening. It was impossible, it shouldn't have even occurred to her it was so impossible but Yuri knew it was happening and she knew that it was magic. 

 

Somehow, some way, Yuri had gotten her wish; she could use what was happening to help Yunho and she simply stops fighting it. She fears it but her fear was insignificant against the will within her to save Yunho and the pack. She could help and with that thought, Yuri became serenely calm within. She wasn't afraid anymore, how could she fear something that would help save Yunho and the pack? 

 

Yuri opens her eyes with a silent gasp and look down at her hands and gasp out loud in wonder. Her fingernails were growing, becoming claws like those she had seen on the vampires and then they kept growing and started to curve. 

 

Yuri knew what was happening but how was it possible? She was mortal; she shouldn't have been able to do this. Even Yunho and Yonghwa had agreed to the fact that she was a mere normal mortal. 

 

Closing her eyes, Yuri accepted that she was changing, shifting and she handed herself over to it, whatever it was inside of her that was taking control, whatever magic was changing her it could have her. 

 

Yuri could feel her body change, transform. Her body was growing, expanding, she could feel it; it was painful, uncomfortable and disconcerting but she didn't cry out. She was done crying, it was time she protected those she loved instead of the one always being protected. 

 

By some miracle, by some will of the moon goddess, Yuri had become part of the magic of the immortal world and she would use it to save her people, to save her family and pack. 

 

It was her time to fight now, to defend those she loves with her life and if she fails then she would lose everything. Yoochun had better watch out because when her transformation was done, Yuri was going to lie Yoochun's bleeding mangle body at Yunho's feet.