Chapter 13 

 

Yuri was so lost to her body's transformation that she didn't even notice that everyone in the room was staring at her with amazed confusion as Yuri, the woman who was the mortal bonded mate to their crown prince transform in a large but small for their kind, beautiful wolf before their wide disbelieving ageless eyes. 

 

Never before had a mortal been able to shift into any form, let alone the massive form of a Lycan. 

 

Yuri in her wolf form was stunning in her beauty and magnificence, a spectacular breath-taking innocent beauty that Disney repeatedly tried to capture but never quite got right in their animated fairy tales. 

 

Yuri's soft pelt was a glistening smooth chocolate brown. Her snout, belly, and paws were pure white, white as flawless as newly fallen snow. 

 

Around the room, each and every immortal and damned stood frozen in stun awe in wake of the impossible miracle that had just happen before their very eyes. 

 

This was impossible. They knew their own. They could smell it in the blood, knew it in spirit. Yuri had been mortal, human in full, in every sense of the word. One of their own, their crown prince, had even tasted her blood. Even if her scent had somehow been disguised, the truth would have been betrayed in the very first tasting of her blood. Never, not in all their history had this even been heard of. 

 

Yuri was unaware of the awed atmosphere around her. Unaware of just how truly stunning she had left the entire room, friend, and foe. Instead, she was too focused on herself, on what had just happened to her. 

 

With sheer childlike wonder and curiosity, Yuri wishes that she could see her new self, her new form and almost gave into the ill-timed desire to find a mirror, as eager to see her reflection as a little girl who had just tried on her mom's best and prettiest dress for the first time. 

 

Yuri looks down at her feet, paws and did a double-take when she caught sight of her reflection in the polish marble floor beneath her. It wasn't a mirror but her reflection was clear enough that she could see herself well enough to study her new face. 

 

She was a beautiful brown wolf. Her eyes were the same, only rounder and far larger in size but the color was the same; she even recognizes herself in them which gave her reassurance that she was still her. In size, she wasn't as big as Yunho was in his wolf form. If she had to guess she had said that she was just slightly bigger than half of Yunho's size. She had a long furry snout, four long lean legs, two pointy ears on the top of her head and a tail. A tail she could feel against the back of her back legs and she was cover from head to toe in fur. Fur that was surprisingly soft, softer than even her hair was and she conditions every day. 

 

Yuri swung her head around until she could see her tail and she gave it an experimental wag and before her eyes, her tail wagged back and forth as commanded. Yuri immediately felt very pleased and more than a little smug. 

 

She not only have this new amazing strong body but she had full control over it as well. Until her tail had moved as she had wanted it too, some part of Yuri's mind had still been skeptical that this amazing wolf body was actually hers. 

 

An excited soft yip fills her ears and Yuri automatically look around for the wolf that had made the sound but there was no other wolf, Lycan or otherwise in sight. It was a full moment before Yuri realize that the sound had come from her. She had made the excited yip sound, just like a real wolf. 

 

If someone had told her a few months ago or even two weeks ago that one day she was going to turn into an enormous big wolf and be happy and excited about the prospect she would have call believe them to be completely and utterly out of their minds. 

 

How was this possible? And how had she had absolutely no warning? How had it come to be that she had been able to shift into the form of the mighty Lycan just because she had really wanted too? 

 

It couldn't have just happened like that, could it? 

 

How hadn't she notice any changes in her body or in her senses? Surely a change of this magnitude couldn't have happened all of a sudden? Or had there been changes that she hadn't notice? She had been very distracted lately. 

 

A familiar scent tickles her nose and a delicious buzz instantly zing right through her. She didn't need to be told whose scent it was. Yuri would have known this particular scent in her sleep, hell, she had been inundated by it nearly every night since Yunho had taken her from the club. The scent was a part of her now and as Yunho would always know her scent, Yuri would always know his. Only now his scent was much more potent to her acute sensitive nose than it had been before. 

 

In Yunho's scent, Yuri could smell the deep uncharted woods that whisper of the wild animal within him who love to run free. She could smell something really old that she knew was embedded in his very being from the times of old and she could also smell the musk of a man who was strong and powerful who wanted to do naughty things to her into the early hours of the morning. 

 

Yuri wanted Yunho so badly that she burn to lay beneath the light of the full moon and make love to him in the heart of the deepest woods where no one could hear them scream. 

 

Yuri breathed the scent deeper, basking in the sweet richness of it, knowing that she would always know the scent better than her own, even if she didn't come across it again for hundreds of years. 

 

If she had a human mouth, Yuri would have laughed and cried out in sheer joy. She had turned into a wolf, she was just like Yunho. Who cares how or why it had happened. She had everything she wanted now; she was one of those she had chosen to live amongst. On top of that, she could eventually come to really understand this part of Yunho's life, this part of Yunho and his world. She wasn't a mere mortal amongst superhuman beings anymore, as helpless as a child. Now she was a powerful dangerous creature of the night. 

 

Just like Yunho. 

 

Yunho. 

 

Just like that, reality return and a dark cloud descended down over her, spoiling her bliss as she considers what Yunho could be thinking about her new look. He had called her beautiful in her human form but what did he think about her as a wolf? Would he still think she's beautiful or wouldn't he like it now that she was just like him? For that matter, was she even beautiful in her wolf form? 

 

Reluctantly, Yuri slowly turns and look into Yunho's wide shock eyes from where he stood between the two equally stun and motionless damned immortals. His eyes were so wide that it had to be uncomfortable and Yuri was somewhat certain that Yunho hadn't blink or drawn breath since she had changed into a wolf.

 

Hesitantly and carefully as she had to take the time to learn how her new body move, she did have four legs to walk on now, not two, Yuri realize that she was no longer restrain by damned hands. Not paying any heed to where those hands now were, Yuri slowly and timidly went to Yunho with her head bow low to avoid his gorgeous brown eyes. Yuri reaches deep into her, trying to work up the courage to meet his eyes and read the emotions within them. 

 

As the brown Lycan move closer to Yunho with her gaze fix firmly to the floor, the two damned who were restraining the Lycan prince immediately release him and move away from him and the approaching Lycan. 

 

With a combination of exhaustion and the stunned awe had him speechless, Yunho sunk to his knees as Yuri in her new form came to a stop a few feet away from him but she didn't raise her head or her gaze as he expected her too, instead Yuri seem unwilling to even come close to him let alone look at him. It was as if she were afraid of him or more specifically afraid of his reaction to this new turn of events. 

 

Silly Yuri. Even after everything he had said to her, after everything he had done to prove his helpless devotion to her, she still doubted her own self-worth, her own unconditional everlasting beauty in his eyes. Did she really believe that her form changes anything between them other than to make him realize all the more just how unworthy he was of her and how happy she made him just by being? 

 

Knowing he would have to be the first to act, Yunho slowly crawls forward, ignoring his body's sharp painful protests, his badly weaken state and the dizziness that was making his head spin. The combination of the three threatens to have him fall face first on the floor. He weakly raises his hand out towards her, ignoring the way his hand shook, closing the distance between them an inch at a time, stopping just an inch short of contact. The last inch would be Yuri's to take; it would be her choice, not his. 

 

After only a brief moment of self-conscious hesitation, Yuri closes the last inch between them as she presses the top of her head into his outstretched open hand and only then did she raise her eyes to look at him, to meet his gaze. 

 

In awed wonder, Yunho gently ran his hand down her face and muzzle, unable to believe what was happening but at the same time basking in the feel of her incredibly soft pelt beneath his touch. Her pelt was as soft as a young pup's and she was flawless in her wolfish radiance. The dark brown of her eyes was perfectly matched to the chocolate brown shade of her pelt that was without a single flaw. 

 

"How?" Yunho asks breathlessly, bewilderedly. This should never have been possible. Immortal kind had always been born, never bitten, never made. All attempts throughout the history of the immortal kind had died a swift excruciating death as the blood of the immortal kind and vampire saliva were lethal poisons to mortals. 

 

Until now. 

 

Yunho knew without a doubt that Yuri had been fully and completely human when he had tasted her blood the night he had found her but here she was, living proof that everything they had previously believe was beyond the realm of possibility could actually be possible. 

 

Yuri opens to answer him but at the last moment, she remembers that she didn't have a human's vocal cord to communicate with anymore. She couldn't answer him out loud but Jessica and Donghae were still able to communicate in their Lycan's form, just in a different way. 

 

What would happen if she tried it? They were wolf mates after all and it was obvious that she was no normal mortal woman; she had become a Lycan so why wouldn't she be capable to talk to him with her mind? If she could turn into a Lycan now then it stood to reason that she could talk telepathically with her mate, just as natural born Lycan's did. 

 

Yuri breathed in deeply through her long furry muzzle and relax her body, allowing the muscles of the wolf body to relax. 

 

Exhaling slowly and calmly, Yuri gently will her mind to follow suit, to relax and just like that a calm wave of serenity wash over her and in its wake Yuri could almost feel her mind's mental shields, that everyone naturally built over a lifetime, fall at her command and there, on the very outer edge of her consciousness, Yuri sense another presence, a warm loving presence whose close proximity to her unshielded mind made her feel love and safe instead of feeling the urge born from self-preservation to shy away from such an intimate invasion as Yuri had expected. Yuri mentally moves closer to the presence, to Yunho's mind and that was when she felt it. 

 

The weight and power of Yunho's consciousness. The awesomeness of Yunho's mind, the intensity of its power made Yuri want to pull away, to retreat from the much stronger force that could snuff her own consciousness out like a bug zapper would a bug. Yuri could feel Yunho's power, his mind's fierce unyielding might and Yuri had to fight against the overwhelming urge to kneel before him, to submit to this greater force. 

 

Only now, feeling the weight of Yunho's ageless power for herself did Yuri truly understand that she absolutely had no understanding of just what Yunho truly was. Yunho was an immortal supernatural warrior prince who would one day be a king and the power of his mind reflected his many long lonely centuries fill with fierce battles and devastating loses crushing burdens. 

 

How had Yuri ever been foolish enough to believe for even a moment that she could beat him in a battle of wills? At any time since he had first laid eyes on her, he could have bent her to his will with so little effort. Yunho's physical strength and abilities were nothing compare to the power of his mind, to the sheer strength and magnitude of his will. His inner strength and endurance were as limitless as the depths of space. 

 

It had only been because of Yunho's respect and devotion to her that she had been allowed to do, all the things she had done in her effort to escape him, to defy him. He could have stopped her at any time from doing any of the things she had done but he hadn't. Instead, Yunho had allowed her to express her free will, to find her own way to him in her own time by her own choosing. 

 

Yuri could clearly see why this man would be the next king of all the Lycan's. It wasn't just the blood in his veins that would make it so; it was that this man was already a king. He was as mighty as a god but he had great compassion and wisdom. 

 

One thing Yuri couldn't understand though was why anyone with eyes could ever have been foolish enough to even think that this man, this force stronger than that of any on the planet, ever would have let himself fall into damnation. Yunho would never have let himself fall, he would have held on until the end of time even if he had never found her but Yunho had found her and it had only allowed him to become even stronger than he already was, as hard as it was to believe. This awesome creature, this god on earth was hers. It staggered Yuri's mind and she loves him all the more. 

 

'This is what I was born for.' Yuri whisper in her mind to him, focusing the words towards the warm loving presence. The power of Yunho's mind was beyond description but Yuri knew she had nothing to fear. Yunho would never hurt her on any level in any way. 

 

Yunho's eyes grew even wider in speechless awe Yuri knew for certain that he had heard her words as clearly as if she had spoken out loud. 

 

Yuri stares deeper into his brown eyes that gleam all the more brighter because of his love for her. 

 

Her new wolf eyes could see so much more than her mortal eyes had ever been capable of seeing. She had been reborn into her wolf mate's world; never had she felt more powerful and indestructible or happy. Never had she been more powerful or happy than she was at this very moment. She was one with her love. She wasn't as weak and defenseless as a child anymore. Now she was a magnificent superhuman creature that ran beneath the moon's gentle silver beam through the woods beside her mate. 

 

'I'm your wolf mate.' Yuri purred, with sheer love and joy. 

 

Yunho couldn't believe his eyes or ears, even as the loving purred words echo through his own mind. He had heard her voice in his mind. Her loving warm joyous voice. Here was his mate, who he had accepted would never run through the woods with him on four feet or be able to forge a mate link with him as all other mated pairs of the immortal kind were able to accomplish, doing just that but then, why was he so surprised that once again his mate had managed what had been impossible until just this very moment? She had so often done what he thought was impossible for her, always trampling across and over his expectations of her. She was a force beyond that of nature; when she wanted something there was nothing on or above the face of the earth that was capable of standing in her way. 

 

Her strength was so unyielding, so absolute that she had been born a mortal woman but here she stood in front of him now on four paws; the most radiant immortal he had ever laid eyes upon in all his long lonely immortal life. Oh, how he loves her. She was everything his people needed and deserve and so much more. This single smaller-than-average young woman had single-handedly saved both of the immortal races just by existing but Yuri had gone even further to do things that should have been beyond possibility. No matter what happen from this day on Yuri would live forever in the immortal legend, inspiring generations for millennia to come and now, standing before him in all her wolfish glory, Yunho was left with no doubt that his people and the vampires would survive, that future generations would exist because of the strength they had been taught by the woman who Yunho very much intended to be the next Lycan queen. 

 

'Maybe it is the bond between us. Maybe you were able to give your gift to me.' 

 

"Yuri." Yunho felt numb. He was so disbelieving and unbelievably happy that his mind couldn't focus on anything else but his wolf mate. What this not only meant for the two of them but for his people. If there were more of Yuri's mortal kind who were capable of becoming immortals then his people and the vampires were truly saved on the very cusp of extinction but before Yunho could thrive in the joy of that knowledge or express it to her, Yuri tense and her hackles rose until the fur of her spine was standing on end like she was being electrocuted. 

 

'Shift!' Yuri orders him, sensing movement at her back as her wondrous joyous mood was quickly replaced by a wary unfamiliar and animalistic sense of grave danger that was making her skin prickle and her heighten senses scream in urgent warning. 

 

"I can't. I'm too weak." Yunho said out loud, as he looks over her shoulder out onto the terrace as the glass wall had been shattered sometime during the battle; there was nothing between Yuri and freedom that she couldn't overcome with her newly acquired abilities, "Go." He whisper barely, so even with her supernaturally heighten hearing Yuri could only just hear him, "Run. Don't stop until you are safe at Yonghwa's mansion. He will protect you until someone comes for you." 

 

Yuri smile, even though she didn't know how it looks with her wolfish snout. Ever since Yuri had first laid eyes on him, Yunho had been risking his life fighting her battles and all the while she had been wishing she could do something about it. 

 

Well, now Yuri had her wish and she damn well wasn't going to run away now that she could fight an immortal battle. Too many immortals had fought for her already and far too many had died for her but that ends now. 

 

Right now. 

 

She was a Lycan, whether she was immortal or not remain to be seen and she was going to stand her ground and fight like one. These were her people and had been since she had realized just how much she loves Yunho. She would fight for them and her prince with all the fortitude that they had fought for her. 

 

Yuri was going to be worthy of this great honor. She was going to live up to what every immortal believed her to be. Yunho, Jessica, Yonghwa and the beta's had all tried to express to her what her very existence meant to them and their people and even though Yuri couldn't yet grasp the depth of their meaning, from this day forward she was going to do everything she could to live up to their expectations of her. She was going to be worthy of what she had been given and she wasn't meaning her ability to shift into a wolf large enough to send a black bear running in terror. 

 

Fighting in this battle was the least she owed Yunho and his people, the vampire as well, for what they had done and continue to do for her. They had risked their very lives to protect her, they had fought bravely for her and each and every Lycan and vampire that Yuri had had the pleasure of meeting believe in her. Yuri had known nothing but gentleness, respect, and security from the immortal kind. They had made her feel safe and had welcomed her as one of them. 

 

Yuri owed her new family more than she would ever be able to repay in one hundred lifetimes. 

 

'I'm done running. It's my turn to fight.' And with that Yuri turn, moving with hesitant unsteady steps and taking only a moment to coordinate her paws, trying to move exactly as she had seen other Lycan's move. 

 

The last thing Yuri wanted to do was fall flat on her face in front of her people when they needed her most. She wanted to inspire hope and confidence; not humiliate and dishearten with the epic clumsiness she had been famous for since childhood. 

 

Yuri turns her back to her mate and stood tall in a protective stance between Yunho and their worst threat as she had witness Yunho do countless of times before. Raising her lips, Yuri releases what she hoped was a vicious warning snarl at Yoochun as she stood protectively in front of Yunho. She had no idea how to fight, even as human but she would do everything and anything she could do to save her love. 

 

Out of the corner of her more powerful and accurate eye, Yuri saw Minho move to Yoochun's flank, the gleeful expression on his face betray his anticipation for the coming fight. 

 

"Yuri, no!" Yunho pleaded her weakly, his tone beseeching. He wanted her, was begging her to run. Yuri knew that Yunho didn't want her to fight; he wanted her safe and as far away from Yoochun as she could get. 

 

Yuri ignores him even as his heartbreaking beseeching tone left a sickening icy feeling in its wake. Yunho had never run when he had been protecting her so why would she? She was done running; it was her turn to fight. If this was her only chance, the only time she could become a wolf then she would spend the precious time being a woman who was worthy of Yunho. She would fight with everything she had within her and she would be strong and brave for her new family. 

 

Yoochun look at her through his narrow black eyes as he his head slightly to the side and laughs cockily at her, looking down on her in more ways than the literal, "You really think you can win, little princess?" 

 

Behind Yoochun, Minho snickered. The two of them reminded Yuri of two mean spiteful little boys in the school playground, picking on anyone for anything just to get attention. 

 

Little princess? Yuri snarls menacingly at him, again hoping that he got the message. Here she was a wolf three times the size of a black bear and he still didn't see her as any sort of threat? 

 

Now that was just insulting. Yuri was really going to enjoy this. 

 

'Yuri, no!' Yunho half-warn, half-beg her, his fear and worry for her filling her mind along with the urge that she runs, to flee and find somewhere safe to hide from their dangerous enemies. 

 

Run and leave him? Not on his life. 

 

'Yuri!' Yunho snap harshly at her, offhandedness at facing the gravely fear merciless, not to mention, sadistic king of the damned, 'Yoochun is too skill of a warrior for you to face alone! He will kill you without any effort at all!' The feminist in her demanded that she voice an objection to that last sentence but instead Yuri chose to trust that Yunho knew what he was talking about when it came to Yoochun's abilities but it changes nothing. 

 

'Then help me.' Yuri suggested, as casually as if she were asking him to help her put on a jacket and then she lung at Yoochun, completely ignoring Yunho. She was going to defend her love every bit as indomitable as he had her. This was her fight now, her war and she wasn't going to leave him as battered as he was to fight without her. 

 

It was her turn to fight and perhaps it would be her turn to sacrifice. 

 

"Where are we?" Taeyeon asks in confounded frustration, from the front passenger seat as she adjusted her laptop on her lap as she scoured the paper map in her right hand, throwing the occasional glance at the electronic GPS she held in her left hand. 

 

No matter how hard Taeyeon tried she couldn't find their location either electronically or on the paper map nor could she find any of the roads they had been on in the last thirty minutes since they had left the main road behind. It had been one dirt road after another and none of the roads, that were little more than dirt tracks, seem to be on any map anywhere. 

 

Even the electronic GPS wasn't able to pinpoint their location, for the last thirty minutes it had been flashing error warnings stating it was unable to locate a signal. 

 

Even their cell phones were unable to get so much as a single flickering reception bar. There was nothing to help them pinpoint their location, not even a landmark as all they could see out their windows was total blackness. 

 

Yoona cast a suspicious sideways look at the fourth young woman in the small car who sat eerily still on the backseat beside her. 

 

After the dark red-haired man with dark brown eyes had disappeared into the darkness, leaving them alone with the dangerous looking tall lean man with short black hair and strange wide and round brown eyes, not a minute pass before a woman had stepped out from the darkness without so much as a word. 

 

The man who had been ordered to 'travel with them by the roads' had crisply told them to return to their vehicle and that the woman, who he had curtly introduce as Shinhye, would direct them to where they needed to go even though it had been the man who had been ordered to accompany them. 

 

Always highly protective of her friends, Yoona had suggested that Taeyeon take the passenger seat beside Seohyun. Yoona had then slid into the backseat behind Seohyun, leaving the strange thin severe-looking woman with pale skin with no choice but to join her on the back seat so that Yoona could keep an eye on her. 

 

There was something about this woman, something that made the hair on the back of Yoona's neck stands up. 

 

The woman was mysterious. That was the only word for it. Yoona's instincts scream at her that this woman was dangerous and a little bit strange. She was a young woman, maybe only a year or two older than Yoona herself was but there was something about her that made her seem older and there was something about her that made Yoona think that this young woman knew things that Yoona could never image. 

 

All-knowing. That was it. Mysterious and all-knowing but such a thing didn't match with her young age. 

 

Maybe it was that Shinhye dresses like she was fifty instead of somewhere around eighteen but it was more than her out-dated clothes. 

 

Shinhye was as pale as bleached sheets and dress all in black that only made her look all the paler. Her black hair was tightly woven into a plait at the base of her neck where it ran down her back. Her oval-shaped face was flawless in its pale beauty, not a mark to be seen and the only colour on her face at all were her small but quite plump velvet red lips and her strange wide dark brown almond-shaped eyes that betray a wisdom that was well and truly beyond her years and despite the young woman's appearance and air of decorum that gave her the appearance of a docile well-manner lady, her posture, and alert wary eyes scream combat, proficient warrior. This young woman was very obviously well train and experience in physical combat. 

 

Yoona herself had trained in the martial arts for almost as long as she could walk and she held black belts in several of them. She knew the tiny tell-tale signs that well even the best train warriors couldn't hide. 

 

The proud and confident way Shinhye held herself, the way she always kept her hands free and didn't link her hands together or fidget and the confident glint in her eyes that betray that she was very confident in her abilities and this warrior was prepared for trouble. Yoona could tell from the wary and watchful alert way she kept her eyes on their surroundings, her body tense as if she expected to be attacked at any moment. 

 

Was this woman, this female warrior, naturally always on high alert like this, always expecting an attack or did she know something that they didn't? 

 

Yuri had call them for help but had remain intentionally vague on the details. Yuri had said that this was a life or death situation and had asked them to get the help of these strange people who live in the middle of nowhere. Yuri loves the three of them and would never endanger them, no matter how serious the situation on her end was so sure the people Yuri had sent them too weren't dangerous. 

 

Or at the very least not dangerous to them. 

 

Yoona wasn't by nature this distrustful but these people, this woman, had her finely honed instincts screaming at her to be wary. 

 

Wary hell, her instincts were screaming at her to run, to run fast and to run far but unless something happens that endanger Seohyun and Taeyeon directly, Yoona wouldn't run. Running definitely wasn't in her nature. Yuri had been deadly serious when she had sent them out into the middle of nowhere to ask dangerous strangers for help. Something very bad had to be unfolding and Yoona had a strong feeling that Yuri was mix up in the middle of it. 

 

Yuri wasn't the type to get mix up in any wrongdoings. Yuri's nature was made up of everything good in the world, love, and devotion, friendship and compassion were the very core of Yuri's character but her behavior lately, even before she had disappeared on them was very out of character for her. Something had happened to Yuri, something that she hadn't told them about and now they had been pull into it without any idea of what was going really on but Yuri was in trouble, possibly even in danger and there was nothing Yoona or Seohyun or Taeyeon wouldn't do for her. Yoona just prays that Yuri was alright and that they were all going to get out of this unscathed. 

 

Yoona clench her hands tightly into fists against her knees as she had a dreadful feeling that she might just be asking for more than was likely. 

 

"Turn left in eight point three five miles." Shinhye calmly instructed Seohyun, who immediately glance down at her distance gauge. 

 

Seohyun had no idea where the young woman in the backseat with a hauntingly soft voice was taking them but a large part of her didn't even care where they were going. In fact, Seohyun was finding it very hard to concentrate, even on the road in front of her. It was taking all of Seohyun's focus just to keep the car on the road and follow the incredible detail directions the young woman in the backseat occasionally gave her, at night from the back seat with no visible landmarks to use as a guide. 

 

Seohyun was finding it difficult to focus or concentrate on anything because no matter how hard she tried not to her mind kept returning to the man she assumed had been Yonghwa, the man with dark red hair and dark brown eyes who had look at her with all the intensity of a man who was drowning and she was his only lifeline. Everything about him had drawn her to him; his smooth soft caring voice that could soothe a tantrum off a toddler in mere moments, his handsome face that would inspire any visual artist enough to fill a gallery and his impossibly dark brown eyes that had held her under some kind of magical spell that had left her feeling all tingly inside. His eyes made her think of wild carnal things that didn't come to close to anything she had ever fantasied about before but he inspires more than lust within her. Being near him had made her feel safe and calm and strangely, very strangely, she had felt as if she had finally found where she truly belongs. As if being with him, in every sense of the word, was what she had been born for. 

 

How was such a thing possible? 

 

Yes, she did believe in true love and yes, she did believe that two people could be drawn to each other soon after the meeting but love at first sight? She wasn't eighteen anymore, dreaming of the perfect guy that didn't exist outside of movies or books. As most girls did, Seohyun eventually had come to realize that there was such a thing as lust at first sight but love? 

 

To love someone you had to know them and you couldn't get to know someone in moments. She hadn't even been in his company for minutes and already she was fighting the idea of love at first sight but the way she had been immediately and intensely drawn to Yonghwa. 

 

There was something there, something between them and Seohyun sense that it could become something great, something life altering but it scares her. It terrified her. The pull between them was strong, intense and on top of it all, there was something about Yonghwa, if that was his name. Damn it! She wasn't even sure of his name. That made her think that he was much older than he appears to be. It was the air around him, the air of someone who had live a long time and had seen and done it all. 

 

Wisdom. That was it; he had an air around him that made her think of him as wise, among a lot of other things. 

 

Yuri had sent the three of them to Yonghwa, Seohyun recall suddenly. Yuri could tell her if his name really was Yonghwa and maybe even offer some explanation as to why he had affected her so potently. Maybe she wasn't special, maybe the man with the dark red hair and dark brown eyes had the same effect on all women. 

 

Seohyun swallow in distaste, the thought leaving restless butterflies in her stomach. She didn't want that to be the case, she wanted to be special. Seohyun wanted Yonghwa to be as affected by her as she was by him. 

 

Seohyun wanted to be special to Yonghwa and she wanted to be the only one. She wanted Yonghwa to obsess about her the same was she was obsessing about him. 

 

What was she doing? Seohyun's common-sense rose against the ridiculous thoughts. She had met him once. Once. Their interaction had lasted less than three minutes and he hadn't given any indication that he wanted to even see her again, let alone want her pining over him. Where were her pride and self-respect? 

 

Seohyun knew the answer to that. All of her pride and self-respect had whimper in crushing defeat beneath his intense eyes and handsome face. 

 

Seohyun sigh exasperatedly, frustrated with both herself and her reaction to a complete stranger. She really had to get a grip on herself and focus on driving or she was going to drive them all into a tree or a ditch. 

 

Ahead, through the windshield that reflected the dim colorful lights of the car's instruments beneath was nothing but darkness and the short distance of road her headlights manage to illuminate. 

 

It was a dark night, despite the moon and the stars were twinkling brightly in their unearthly glory against the blackness of space beyond and around them. It was well past midnight and the fatigue from a long stressful day weighed heavily down on her but the urgent need to find Yuri kept her alert enough that it was safe enough for her to be driving. 

 

A few quiet moments past in which Seohyun refuse to let her mind wander back to the man she had left behind a short while ago and then, without warning, all hell broke loose. 

 

"Stop!" 

 

At the pale woman's abrupt and very commanding outburst, Seohyun was wretch from her failing attempt to keep Yonghwa out of her thoughts and slam on the brakes before she even had time to think about what she was doing. Or why. 

 

Beside Seohyun, Taeyeon squeal in alarm as her laptop went flying off of her lap and slam into the glove compartment door before falling to the floor at Taeyeon's feet. At the same time, the electronic GPS went flying out of Taeyeon's hand as she slams both of her hands down onto both the door beside her and the seat beneath her, the map Taeyeon was holding crumple under her hand, forgotten and then everything was silent and still. 

 

Except for Seohyun's heart that was racing frantically in her chest as she tightly grips the steering wheel of the now stationary vehicle. Her foot still pressed down hard on the foot peddle that was the car's brake. 

 

In the backseat, Yoona unclips her seatbelt and turn furiously on the fourth woman in the car, her eyes narrow furiously, "What was that about?!" But Shinhye was ignoring them all as she stares straight ahead through the front windshield into the pitch black darkness beyond the cars headlight beams. 

 

Yoona opens to say more but it was in that moment that all three of the girls heard it, even from within the sealed car. 

 

Seohyun gasp and look ahead into the darkness beyond where the headlights of the car reach. That was where the sounds were coming from, just beyond their eyesight, hidden within the concealing darkness. 

 

Ferocious growls, thunderous booming and cracking sounds like trees and branches were being carelessly destroyed like when large machinery knock large trees down, meaty thuds and spine-chilling hisses pierce the silence of the dark night around them, mingle with the occasional grunt of pain or the outraged cry of fury. 

 

"What is it?!" Taeyeon demanded, sounding more than a little freak out as the three of them squinted into the night trying to see what the blackness conceal from their eyes but not their ears. 

 

If Yoona hadn't known any better she would have said that a fierce bloody war was raging recklessly around them. One fought not by men but the fiercest predators nature had to offer, wolves, bears, lions and so on. 

 

Yoona reaches for the door handle, intending to get out and investigate even though every instinct she had demanded that she stay put in the safety of the car but she was the protector of their group, of her family and they had to get to Yuri. They didn't have time for this, not when Yuri was possibly in grave danger. They had to help Yuri and they were already taking too long to get to her. 

 

In the back of Yoona's mind, she reflected on how weird this day had been. First was Yuri's cryptic call for help that had included directions to the middle of nowhere where they had run into the strangest people Yoona had ever met, not that she was usually the type of person who judges so quickly and now, after blindly following directions to Yuri's apparent location, there was something going on around them that Yoona instinctively sense was very dangerous but before Yoona could open the door, a cold pale hand close over hers with a surprisingly strong and firm grip that was only a whisper away from causing Yoona real pain. 

 

"No!" Shinhye snaps, without even glancing her way, "Stay inside! Our way will soon be clear!" 

 

Yoona raises her straight brows in confusion as she stares at the woman who was staring into the darkness completely transfix. Shinhye was staring as if she could actually see what was happening in the black darkness ahead of them. Yoona could tell that she was watching something judging by the way her eyes kept flickering back and forth but Yoona couldn't see damned a thing. 

 

At the obscure statement, Seohyun turn in her seat so she could see the strange young woman in black who seem very certain of her words. 

 

Seohyun frown. How could Shinhye possibly know what was happening in the pitch black darkness in front of them, let alone know that it would soon be over? 

 

What was going on? What had they got themselves involved in? What was Yuri involve in? 

 

"What's going on?" Seohyun asks, wondering what the young woman in black was keeping from them. What did Shinhye know that they didn't and did it have anything to do with Yuri and the trouble their little sister was mixed up in? 

 

There was so much that they didn't know but what Seohyun did know with all certainty was that Yuri was in serious trouble and they had to help her. 

 

"Nothing you need to fear, young miss." Shinhye answer, her composed tone was overly reassuring; her intention was obviously to pacify them, "You are in no danger." 

 

Three pairs of wide startled and freak out eyes stare openly at her incredulously. Ignoring the out-dated way this woman in black spoke, her words had strongly made the three of them suspect that there was a dangerous situation outside that according to this woman was being dealt with. 

 

Not knowing what to say, Seohyun turns in her seat until she was facing forward once more. She had no experience to say for sure but judging by the sounds it kind of sounded like a ferocious battle was raging not a matter of feet from them but there were other sounds too, sounds that were out of place. There were hissing and growling. It sounded more like a battle of savage wild animals than humans. 

 

"Down!" Shinhye roar suddenly, making all three of them jump, startled completely out of their skin. 

 

Without another word and with remarkable grace, Shinhye drove for the front seat where she swiftly pushes Seohyun's head down and shielded her with her body, somehow doing so without any awkwardness in the limited cramp space of the small vehicle. 

 

A split heartbeat later the car lurch violently to the left with all the force of being hit by a small truck, the two right side wheels leaving the ground. The piercing sound of protesting and bending metal fill their ears, drowning out the noise of battle as Yoona was slam hard into the left side of the car, agony exploding in her shoulder. 

 

The three girls scream in terror. 

 

Yunho froze in wide-eyed horror as he watches his mate in her shimmering chocolate brown wolf form lung at Yoochun with naïve and foolhardy, cocky, self-confidence. She was going to get herself kill unless he did something but he was gravely injured and extremely exhausted. He had fought against his enemies with everything he had as it had been his wolf mate at his back whom he had been fighting to protect. If he tried to help in his current condition pass experience and common sense told him that he would most likely only make the situation worse. He couldn't even stand under his own power. 

 

So Yunho was forced to watch from where he lay on the floor of his own home as his own mate attack his archnemesis. 

 

As Yuri sails through the air with all the impulsive naivety of a pup, Yoochun drew back his fist with the clear intention of striking her, intending to use the force of her own lung against her. 

 

Like hell! 

 

'Twist!' Yunho commanded her sharply, willing her body to twist through their mental link as he expertly knew how. 

 

It was rare but sometimes the deepest link of mates could momentarily control their mate's body through the mate link but the other mate had to completely give herself over to her mate's will with complete and utter trust. Yuri instantly knew what Yunho wanted her to do and just like that Yuri let herself go limp, her mind blank. A single heartbeat later Yuri felt her body twist as Yunho will it too just before Yoochun's blow whirl pass her. In the next moment, Yuri's claw front paws landed squarely on Yoochun's cold hard chest with all her weight and all the force of her bound. 

 

Yuri wince but made no move to raise a resistance to what Yunho and instinct were urging her body to do. It felt strange, having someone else briefly control her body, especially her new wolf body that she wasn't even remotely attuned too. It felt like she was dreaming, watching through her eyes while having no control over the body and before Yuri knew how she did it, she landed lightly on the floor in complete control of her body once again as Yoochun fell awkwardly to the floor behind her, having been caught momentarily off guard. 

 

In her mind, Yuri heard Yunho mutter mentally to himself that she had gotten lucky in catching Yoochun so off his guard. 

 

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Yuri would have growled at her mate in response at his lack of confidence in her abilities, as new as they were and as abruptly as a bomb detonating, the room erupted into chaos that was the throes of battle. Some of the pack fought in wolf form and some fought in their human form but all fought with renewed vehemence against the damned who had been holding them prisoner in their own home. An insult they couldn't forgive. 

 

Yuri looks up, aware of Minho who had crouch low and was hissing and snarling threateningly but just as he tense to spring at her to knock her off of Yoochun, a brown blur flew straight into Minho. 

 

Minho and the Lycan, whom Yuri didn't recognize, went rolling and tumbling out onto the lawn, scratching, biting and exchanging blows all the way while hissing and growling wrathfully at each other. 

 

Yuri look around the battlefield that was now inside the manor, wondering what had given her kind, she still couldn't believe it, her kind, a second wind. Had it been seeing Yoochun fall on his royal behind? Sure, she had knocked him down but she hadn't killed him. 

 

'It's you, Yuri.' Yunho whispers affectionately into her mind, with loving and possessive pride, 'You can't comprehend what you are to all immortal kind. A miracle before their very eyes when one was needed most.' 

 

Yuri closes her eyes for a brief moment, even knowing that now just might not be the right time and reach deep into Yunho's mind and memory. What she saw was what Yunho had been keeping her from seeing; the despair and pain sorrow his people had been enduring for centuries, watching as the Lycan's and vampires slowly withered away and before his eyes during his long lonely life Yunho had watched so many of his dear love ones fall because they had no reason to hope. 

 

Yuri silently gasps as she realizes that she was more than a reason for the immortals to hold on a little longer, she was their reason to hope. She had brought hope and life back to a dying despairing people. To the immortals she was a miracle before their eyes; they saw her as the dawn of a new beginning, a new chance at life itself. 

 

'I'm like you now. Does that mean I'm immortal like you too?' Yuri wonders idly. She had never been the kind of person who had stress about dying or dream of living forever but Yunho was immortal. If she wasn't then Yunho would die when she died; he would die long before his time leaving his people who so desperately needed him, needed his strength and guidance. She wanted to be immortal only for her mate as immortality would be meaningless to her without her mate. 

 

Yuri felt Yunho's warm comforting presence flow through her mind as soothing as warm milk, offering her comfort and reassurance with his own love and joy, 'Whether you are immortal or not, whatever time we have together I will cherish and we will be happy. One moment with you is worth a thousand lifetimes.' 

 

Yuri felt calm and love just as Yunho had intended and truly there was no better feeling in the world and it was one that she would fight for; this feeling alone was worth dying for. For Yunho and their people there was nothing Yuri wouldn't do and that included fighting Yoochun even if her chances of winning were as small as winter's first snowflake. 

 

Too fast for Yuri to follow, Yunho mentally pull away from her when his sharp animal instincts alerted him to danger like a security alarm sounding and he turns his focus back to what his eyes were seeing and what he saw very nearly stop his heart. 

 

"Look out!" Yunho cried out both mentally, and out loud a split heartbeat before Yuri felt something hard and heavy painfully slam into her back and then she felt something wrap around her lower chest, trapping her in a grip of steel. 

 

Yuri crumble under the weight and force as she watches in her mind's eye through Yunho's wide horrified eyes as Yoochun lung at her, wrap his arms around her upper midsection as they flew through the air and hit the floor, skidding across the smooth marble floor. 

 

Yuri blink dazed as she scrambles to gather her wits and draw air back into her lungs. It had happened so fast that it had left her stun into motionlessness as her mind tried to comprehend what had just happened. 

 

It seems that she had the body of a Lycan but not yet the mind or at least the mindset of one. 

 

One thing Yuri knew for sure was that she was having trouble breathing; she couldn't seem to draw in enough breath to feed her lungs and then, just like that, Yuri understood why; when Yoochun had slammed into her, he had knocked her breath from her lungs and now she was lying beneath him, his weight crushing her large wolf form and preventing her from drawing in a deep breath. 

 

Yuri desperately tried to refill her compress lungs but even though she was technically bigger than the damned king on top of her, Yoochun was still really heavy. It felt like he was made of solid rock. 

 

Yuri opens to demand that he get off of her but only a breathless whimper escape her furry muzzle and it took her a moment longer to remember that her canine vocal cords weren't capable of human speech even if she had the breath to speak. 

 

Instead Yuri focus on drawing air into her lungs in the rapid shallow breaths she was capable of. She couldn't act if she wasn't feeding her new body the oxygen it needed. 

 

Then without warning, sharp hot pain exploded through her shoulder and caught completely unaware, Yuri releases a high pitch whining howl of pain. 

 

"Yuri!" 

 

Yuri wince as Yunho's furious roar pierce her sensitive wolf ears and echo inside her head. 

 

Yuri twisted her head to see that Yoochun had bitten deep into her flesh in that spot between her shoulder blade and neck and was feeding on her, drinking her blood like a newborn ling at the after waking up from a long sleep. 

 

He was drinking her blood. No, not again. Not another vampire feeding off of her blood. She wasn't the same woman she had been in the park that night everything had been set in motion; she wasn't the helpless victim in need of constant protecting anymore. She was a Lycan, now capable of protecting others and that included herself and it was time Yoochun caught onto that fact. 

 

With the fire that was burning in her soul blazing in her eyes, Yuri's pain howl became a growl and Yuri twisted her body beneath Yoochun in an attempt to dislodge his fangs but Yoochun was too strong for her and held her still with insulting ease. As Yoochun greedily the blood from her wolf body Yuri could feel herself growing weaker. 

 

No matter what it took she was going to get free of him. There was no way Yoochun was going to drain her dry. Not today. Not ever and with that determination fueling her on Yuri double her efforts to get free, struggling frantically against his iron hold but despite all her struggling and writhing with four paws, Yuri just couldn't get free even with all the new muscle of her wolf body; he was stronger and he had her expertly pin against his icy hard body. 

 

Damn it! She just wasn't strong enough to shake Yoochun off. Yoochun was going to drain her dry, effectively killing her and there was nothing Yuri could do about it. 

 

Yunho's head snaps up as the thought pass through his mate's mind, his eyes wide with horror and panic. 

 

Yoochun was going to kill her. Yunho knew it without a doubt as he felt Yuri's strength drain with every drop of her precious blood that flows down Yoochun's throat. Yoochun would drain her to the last drop and in doing so would end her life. She wasn't of any use to Yoochun now that she had become a Lycan, except as a means to torture and kill Yunho. 

 

Yunho had no clue just how much of a Lycan Yuri had become, whether she was mortal or immortal or whether or not she had acquired Lycan healing ability but he wasn't going to let Yoochun take one more drop from her. 

 

Not as long as he breathed. Yunho himself didn't have the strength to change but Yuri did. As a direct descendant of the strongest of their kind, a member of the royal family, Yunho knew every secret of their kind, of the potential and possibilities of the mate link and as an alpha born of the royal family, Yunho had a few additional abilities that most of his kind didn't. The mate link was a unique and powerful thing, allowing mated couples to draw upon each other in more ways than mental communication and feeling each other's emotions. 

 

The mate link was as strong or as weak the couple in question and a mate link with a Lycan crown prince, an alpha by blood and birthright, had the potential to be the strongest of all; if their love was strong and true. Closing his eyes and opening the mate link between them as much as he could, Yunho reaches deep into his mate and drew upon her energy and strength, taking caution to take only what he needed. Yunho had never done this before, he knew it only in theory and he didn't want to risk any form of harm to his wolf mate. 

 

Yunho hadn't hidden his thoughts from her so when he reached out Yuri gave with no resistance against him. Yuri love and trusted her mate completely. He would never do anything to hurt her and would do everything to save her. 

 

Renew energy and strength wash over Yunho like a cool refreshing tide. Yunho couldn't draw enough to completely re-energize himself, not without serious risk to his mate in her increasingly weakening condition but it was enough. It had to be. 

 

With the small amount of borrow energy in his battered form, Yunho reaches deep and call forth his beast as he will his body to change, to become the midnight black wolf it had become countless time before throughout his long immortal life. 

 

At first, nothing happens and Yunho fear that even with some of Yuri's energy he was still too weak to shift form but to his endless relief, Yunho felt his body change, shifting into the strongest of his forms. 

 

When Yunho open his eyes, he felt stronger than he had ever felt in his life. His body was battered and drain but his heart and soul had never felt more alive or more vibrant. Never had he felt more at one with his beast, as if his beast was one with him now, as opposed to being an individual almost sentient part of him. Yunho felt happy beyond his wildest dreams and his beast was united with him in a way that he had never dream possible. He had so much hope for the future, in fact, he was looking forward to the future. He had his precious Yuri who would drive back the darkness that all the immortal kind endure. He wanted to run through the woods with his love at his side, howling at the moon in union with him, giving thanks to the goddess for all they had. 

 

Yunho wanted everything and he had a real chance at having it. He wanted to live to be with his mate, to watch over her for the rest of her life, however long or brief that was and he wanted to watch his people thrive in a way he had never known. He wanted to show Yuri the world, both the immortal and mortal world. He wanted his parents to meet her and fall in love with her just as he had. He wanted to laugh with her and hold her while they slept. 

 

Yunho wanted everything the future promise, not just for him and his mate but for his people too. 

 

He wanted to live, to know the future of his dreams. He wanted to spend every waking moment with his mate, making her as happy as she could possibly be. 

 

All that stood between Yunho and that future was Yoochun and his army of damned warriors and because of that, because Yoochun was a threat to his mate and people in a way he had never been before, Yoochun was going to die. Yunho was truly sorry for his part in Yoochun's fate, in the part he had played in the tragic death of Yoochun's destined mate but Yunho had forgiven himself. He had carried her death with him long enough, he couldn't undo the past and he had to look to the future. 

 

What Yunho could do though, in one final act of atonement was send Yoochun into the afterlife where he would be reunited with his mate. 

 

Yunho quickly assessed himself. The shift had healed his injuries, heal his broken ribs and battle wounds but he was still dangerously weak even with what Yuri had given him. 

 

Yunho rose to his feet, the knowledge that he finally had his mate bonded to him for the rest of their lives shone in the core of him. He felt invincible. With this surge of inner strength pulsing through him he could conquer the entire world. 

 

With Yoochun too preoccupied with feeding to notice that Yunho was now on his feet, Yunho threw back his head, releasing a deafening enrage howl that shook all and everything around him, drawing the instant attention of all to him. The room fell into silence as both sides separated back into their two groups, immortals and the damned and they turn to watch as their royal leaders face off against each other. 

 

Even Yoochun wrench his fangs from Yuri's flesh in startled disbelief at the sight of the mighty Lycan prince standing on his four paws, every bit the menacing great prince the whisper stories and rumors from the last five thousand centuries boasted him to be. 

 

All around him, Yunho sense the spirits of his people rise in response to their prince's call, the sight of their battered and beaten prince back on his feet fill them all with renewed hope and the strength hope brought with it. They were exhausted and injured but they would never abandon their prince, the mighty warrior who had brought life and renew hope back to his people with his mate and his indomitable strength that had lasted for centuries. 

 

Only those few truly unable to fight remain on the ballroom floor, most of whom were motionless in their unconscious state. 

 

Yuri watch from where Yoochun held her prisoner in his harsh iron grasp. She had thought that she knew Yunho's fearsome might, in both his human and wolf forms but never had she been in more reverent awe of him than she was now. He stood tall and proud and mighty on four paws, every inch of him was the millennia-old Lycan warrior prince he was. The angels themselves would have fallen upon bended knee before him should they have been privileged to witness this moment and this proud fierce immortal warrior was hers, all hers. He loves her and he would always be with her for as long as they live. Yuri's humble heart swell with love, pride, and joy. 

 

Yunho didn't take his eyes away from Yoochun where he stood with his arms still locked around his wolf mate but out of the corner of his eye, Yunho could see Yoochun's own prepare once again for battle. All the damned that Yunho could see all wore expressions of dark anticipation and bloodlust as for the third time in one night they prepare to fight for their self-proclaim king. 

 

Yunho ignores his dread and dismay. So few of the damned show any sign of fatigue or debilitating injuries that would slow them down. Unlike his own, many of whom barely had the strength to shift let alone fight another yet battle. 

 

Yunho was so proud of his pack. Even as exhausted and overcome as they were each and every man and woman in the room rose to their prince's call. Their chance at victory was slim, their number of able-bodied warriors had decreased by half as many of the pack were badly injured and some were fighting for their lives. Some lives had already been lost. 

 

Too many had already been lost. 

 

Raise to be a king, Yunho had never doubted himself to the point that he gravely regretted a decision he had made but he found himself deeply regretting his choice not to send Yuri to his parents much sooner than he had attempted to do so. He should have sent Yuri to the royal Lycan court when he had the chance before Yoochun had learned of Yuri's existence. If he had then the war wouldn't have come to his doorstep and his pack and people wouldn't be facing their annihilation and his mate, the miracle of all immortal kind, wouldn't be in the arms of his most dangerous and sadistic enemy with blood oozing down her furry shoulder. 

 

Everything that had happened since he had found his mate, every wound his own had suffered and every life that had been lost lay at his feet. 

 

Unnoticed by the main three, Jessica gently kisses her husband on his pale blood smear forehead and then she slowly but purposefully rose to her feet and turn her full focus on her brother and his mate. A special young woman, who before her very eyes, had shifted into one of the most magnificent Lycan Jessica had ever seen. 

 

Of course, Jessica had seen female Lycan's who in the eyes of the single men of their kind would have been judged higher than Yuri but there was something about Yuri in her wolf form, something almost magical that made her seem more. More beautiful, more stunning. More alluring. 

 

Jessica didn't question or dwell on the impossibility of a mortal truly becoming one of them. Instead, Jessica embraces it and what it meant for all the immortal kind. Even if Yuri was the only one of her kind, the only mortal able to become one of the immortal races, Yuri's existence alone would grant all the immortal kind new hope for the future. Something all the immortals so desperately needed in such bleak despairing times and as all that Yuri now was, Yuri was now far more important than any living immortal, even the royal families, including the Lycan princess. Something Jessica now understood and accepted and if needed Jessica would surrender her life to save Yuri. 

 

Even if it did mean that Donghae would die with her as he would never live on without her, not for anything. They love each other so much and Jessica herself was so fortunate in that she had never known a single day of life without him. Donghae had been in her life since the day she had been born and since a young age, Jessica had known that Donghae was the one for her, that Donghae was hers. She had known this with all certainty even before puberty had hit and their join destiny had been revealed to the whole world. 

 

At her feet, Jessica could feel her love as clearly as though he was truly a living breathing part of her. Donghae was healing and as long as he suffers no more harm he would live, if Jessica herself did of course. Jessica didn't want to die, not for her own sake but for her wolf mate's but she wouldn't hesitate. Yuri had to live and she had to live free of Yoochun's cruel control. 

 

Jessica was strongest in her Lycan form but if she shifted Yoochun would notice and Jessica would lose her element of surprise. She couldn't take that chance. She had used this trick before and Yoochun was clever and cunning enough that the same trick would rarely work twice on him but it was all Jessica had, the only chance. Yuri's only chance. Even more so with Jessica in her weaken and mildly battered state. 

 

Jessica closes her eyes, ignoring her aching body and the uncomfortable feeling of drying blood on her face and sent a quick prayer to the moon goddess who had gifted Yuri to them. For so long most had believed that the moon goddess had abandoned them, forsaken them but this day the goddess had shown her blessing and love to her people and then, with her silent thanks to her goddess, Jessica's open her eyes, fiery determination flaring within. Jessica didn't let herself think about what she was going to do. She couldn't waste a moment more with any thought or hesitation. She had to act and she had to act now, she had to get Yuri free of Yoochun's cruel hold. 

 

Jessica tenses her entire body and lowers her body into a crouch, preparing her entire being for this one action, this one attack on which quite possibly rested the fate of the entire world, the mortal and immortal world alike. 

 

'I love you, Donghae Oppa.' Jessica whispers to her unconscious love, through their mate link. 

 

With her thanks given to her goddess and her farewell given to her wolf mate, Jessica silently leaped at Yoochun with all the strength and speed she possesses. 

 

By the goddess, Yuri would survive this day, even if the rest of the pack didn't. 

 

The pain from Yoochun's bite was so bad that Yuri had to clench her teeth against crying out. Yuri knew that if she made even the softest sound of distress it would only distract Yunho. She could remember someone saying at one stage about vampire venom being toxic to Lycan's and they hadn't been kidding. It hurts. The sharp stinging from the bite hurt now more than when Yoochun had his fangs buried in her flesh and as well as Yoochun's bite, Yuri was forced to fight just to remain conscious. Yoochun was lying on her back crushing her lungs with his surprisingly heavyweight and with his arms locked tightly around her neck he was making it very difficult for her to breathe and as well as all of that, Yuri felt weak and light-headed from Yunho having drawn on her strength to strengthen himself enough to shift. 

 

Her wheezing breathing, Yuri notice was the loudest sound in the room. With her Lycan ears Yuri could hear several heartbeats, some were fast and erratic while others were so slow and weak that Yuri knew she was hearing the hearts of the slowly dying, heavy panting and the rustling of clothing but her wheezing was so loud against such soft sounds background noises that it sounded like she was using a microphone hooked up to a surround sound system. 

 

The room was filled with warriors on both sides silently standing on their feet with their eyes glued to the three of them, all waiting for that moment, that signal to resume fighting. The damned all wore expressions that reminded Yuri of a starved wolf that had been driven to madness by its raging hunger while the immortal's expressions were of exhausted determination and something Yuri could only describe as acceptance. Acceptance of the fact that they had to fight yet again and may very well lose their lives but it was something they had to do. They love their alpha prince and their pack too much to ever consider fleeing. 

 

Even the vampires were as deadset on fighting to drive back their enemy as the Lycan's were and Yuri knew it was because of her. The vampires and Lycaon's were united in her defense now, united by their belief that she was something special sent by their moon goddess to save their dwindling hope. 

 

Yuri honestly didn't know what to think about these glorious immortals believing her to be some kind of deity but if the motion gave even one immortal the strength to last against damnation that little bit longer than Yuri would tolerate it. If she lives, Yuri was determined to reward their devotion by being everything they needed to her be and by doing the best at it that she possibly could. 

 

The vampires and Lycan's had both won her affection and devotion and there was nothing she wouldn't do for them and tonight Yuri would prove that to every immortal presented. She was going to fight and she wasn't going to give up until either victory had been won or her life had been sacrificed. 

 

'Don't even think of dying on me, Yuri!' Yunho's growling voice warn inside her head, making Yuri blink, startled. Oops. She had forgotten about the link. Yunho was in her head now, hearing her thoughts as they pass through her mind. 

 

This mind link was going to take a lot of getting used too. She was going to have to learn how to hide her thoughts from him or she was never going to get away with anything during their life together. 

 

'You can bet on it and we are both going to survive to live that future, do you understand me, Yuri?' Yunho told her, his tone full of love but at the same time his tone was as resolute as it had ever been and with that said, his tone became commanding, it was the voice of a man who would one day be king, 'Once you are free, you are going to find someplace safe to hide or if I can I will clear a path for you to flee. Go to Yonghwa's manor, he will protect you there.' 

 

Yuri didn't need to voice her thoughts to give Yunho his answer to that order. 

 

Jessica aims for Yoochun's back, her intention to take hold of him from behind and use the force from her bound to pull him back and away from Yuri. As she had done countless times before, everything else fading from her focus but Yoochun as she flew through the air like a bullet from a gun. 

 

In this one moment, Jessica wasn't a princess, she wasn't a wife or a sister, all she was, all she could afford to think of herself as was a weapon. A weapon on which the future of everything rested. Everything depended on her hitting her target, on freeing the woman who was destined be the savior of all the immortal kind and with just a little more grace from the moon goddess, maybe one day Yuri would be the next queen of the Lycan race. 

 

For the past few decades, with her brother so close to the darkness, it had been whisper that Jessica herself would be the next Lycan queen, that Yunho would fall into the darkness before he found his mate and as such the crown would pass on to Jessica and her mate but that had never been what Jessica had wanted, not in the least. She had never wanted to be anything but what she was but if her brother tragically falls into the darkness then Jessica would have taken the crown because she had been born a princess and her life was live on duty to her people, her people who were fading into time but so much had change with Yuri and Jessica had no doubt that things would continue to change for the better because of Yuri and for Yuri, for her brother and her people, Jessica would risk everything to save the miracle their moon goddess had bestowed upon them but without warning and without even looking her way, Yoochun's hand shot out and a moment later Jessica found herself dangling a foot above the ground unable to breathe because of the large hard icy hand tightly gasping . 

 

Jessica couldn't believe it. Yoochun had caught her in mid-air with one hand without even glancing her way with the ease of catching a beach ball that had been leisurely thrown at him. His hold on was painful and tight, just barely from crushing her windpipe. She couldn't breathe at all, couldn't cry out, could do nothing but grasp hold of Yoochun's wrist with both hands in a futile effort to ease his grip on . 

 

"What is it with your women, Yunho?" Yoochun asks Yunho in a mean derisive voice, "They never seem to learn. Are you that weak-willed with them that they are incapable of learning their place?" 

 

Jessica knew exactly what place Yoochun had intended for her and any other female he cares to keep liked the pets of his conquered enemies. Yoochun really did have a one-track mind. He had no idea how cherish the immortal women were or why and it wasn't because their number was so few. Yoochun knew nothing about love or devotion or loyalty or friendship and that was why, no matter how overwhelming his army is, Yoochun would never win. 

 

Jessica's vision was becoming blurry around the edges as her lungs burn from the need for fresh oxygen and she knew her time was limited. She had just enough time to give her goal one more attempt. 

 

Jessica moved her eyes to her brother, who stood just on the outskirts of her line of vision and she gave him a very awkward, because of how Yoochun held her, but loving smile. She forces all her mental energy on her brother and reaches out to his mind. It took a great deal of effort to focus as they were in their mortal forms but after a moment Jessica could feel the familiar touch of her brother's strong and protective presence. 

 

'Take care of her, Oppa.' Jessica whispers tenderly to him, 'Take care of my sister.' 

 

Jessica watches her brother's eyes grow impossibly wide as he realizes that meaning behind her words and she swiftly pull away from his mind before he could confirm his suspicions in her thoughts and then Jessica turn all her focus back to Yoochun, relieved to see that he hadn't noticed her communication with her brother. 

 

It wasn't until Jessica's hold on Yoochun's wrist tighten that the evil self-proclaim king turns his attention to her but it was already too late for him to stop her. 

 

Jessica deftly swung her body back as far as she could until she was almost perfectly horizontal with the floor and then, using all her strength one last time with still held by his crushing cold hard fingers, Jessica swung her body forward and up. Once her lower body was close enough, Jessica swung her legs even higher, using Yoochun's own grip on her as leverage to wrap her legs around Yoochun's upper body, linking her ankles around each other on Yoochun's opposite shoulder and locking them in place. The front of her upper body was press into the underside of Yoochun's arm while her most sacred of places was against Yoochun's armpit. Which Jessica force herself to ignore. It would shock those who had never been in physical combat to learn just how up-close-and-personal it could be, sometimes even becoming graphically violently ual, especially for a woman. 

 

Along with her leg that she had locked in place across Yoochun's front Jessica could feel Yuri's soft pelt and the heat radiating from her. Yuri's body burns with a growing fever as it fought Yoochun's venom that was poisoning her system and zapping what remains of her strength. 

 

Jessica had been bitten before so she knew exactly what Yuri was going through and despite the hold, Jessica now had on him, Yoochun's hold on didn't lessen in the slightest. In fact, Yoochun tightens his grip. 

 

The hazy black around the edges of her vision began to close in, regardless of how hard she fought against it. Within moments all Jessica could see was a tiny distant spot of blurry light. She could feel her strength waning as the burning in her lungs grew worse and worse. Her entire head was pounding and she realizes that she was experiencing the weirdest sensation. It was like she was drowning, that her very brain was submerged in water and slowly dying and as a result, it was near impossible for her to focus on anything but still Jessica held on tightly to her enemy that threatens her brother's mate. 

 

An image of Donghae's smiling face and love-fill eyes appear in her mind's eye and a sense of peace settle over her. This would be her last act but it would hopefully save Yuri and that was all she could ask for. 

 

Her ears could hear her own slowing heartbeat and time ceased to have any hold on her or any meaning to her. Jessica releases her hold on Yoochun's wrist, freeing both of her hands as she vaguely felt her fingernails extending into sharp pointy canine claws. 

 

Jessica smile, her smile one of peace and pride. 

 

'Take care of him, Yuri. Take care of our people and don't forget to be happy.' 

 

Jessica didn't know if Yuri could hear her words or not, Jessica didn't even know if she was broadcasting them to Yuri. She didn't know if anyone heard her words, even the goddess but it didn't matter. 

 

In her final moment of clarity, Jessica tense her fingers, reach as far as she could and then she drove her claws straight into either side of Yoochun's neck and shoulder and then everything around Jessica went black. There was no pain, no cold or fear. Somewhere in the distance, in a far-off place that was beyond Jessica's reach, she heard a furious roar of pain and then an enrage howl but it was too far away to worry about. 

 

'Donghae Oppa.' And then there was nothing. Jessica was gone before she even hit the floor in a crumple motionless heap. 

 

On the floor, not thirteen feet from her crumpled body, Donghae whimper heartbreakingly as he felt his mate leave him even in his deeply unconscious state. 

 

Yoona slowly, carefully, raise her head, blinking against the confuse and dazed state her mind was trap within. It was a long moment before she became aware of what her eyes were seeing. She watches as the man from before, the one the dark red-haired man had ordered to travel with them, wrench another man, this one Yoona had never seen before but had the same paleness the other man did, away from the side of the car. 

 

The side of the car that was now badly and impossibly bent inwards from where the pale man had impacted and then, in the blink of an eye, they were gone. They had only been there for a moment. If Yoona hadn't been so sure of herself, she would have thought that either she was losing her mind and was now seeing things or she had been knocked unconscious by the collision and was now dreaming. 

 

Yoona was frozen motionless where she lay sprawl against the backseat and the car door, her wide eyes glued to the spot outside where the two men had disappear into thin air. 

 

What the hell?! 

 

Yoona blinks again, trying to free herself from the stupor she was trapped within. During the impact that had sent Yoona slamming into her side door, her shoulder had absorbed most of the impact, sparing her head from any injury. Or so Yoona had briefly thought until she had seen what she was pretty certain she had seen but was having a great deal of trouble believing she had seen it but what Yoona thought she had seen was impossible. The car was so badly damaged that it had to have taken a massive amount of force hitting the side of the car to so deeply implode the metal. 

 

Yoona felt no pain in or on her head but what if she had sustained a head injury and just didn't feel it? Strange things could happen to a person with a head injury. 

 

Couldn't they? 

 

Yoona raises her uninjured arm to her head and felt along her skull but found no bump nor did she feel any cut. She lowers her hand until she could see her palm and it was free of blood. 

 

Still feeling very mentally numb, Yoona turn her attention to those in the front seat. 

 

Taeyeon was sprawl on top of the vehicle's center console compartment between the two front seats. She was awkwardly sprawl between the driver's seat that now held two instead of one and the empty passenger's seat that now had much less elbow room. Taeyeon's head rested on the side of the shoulder of the driver's seat while her short legs were up in the air, her feet resting on the right side of the crack front windshield. 

 

Thankfully Yoona saw that Taeyeon was conscious, her eyes open but dazed and there was no sign of blood on the small young woman who was in the process of gathering herself and assessing her condition and location. 

 

As Taeyeon started to work herself into a sitting position, Yoona turns her attention to the two in the driver's seat, straightening herself to get a better line of view but all she could see was the backside of the woman in black who had known the impact was coming. She had even had time to shout a warning and reacted. 

 

How had Shinhye known what was going to happen before either of the men had even come into view? And why had Shinhye so obviously protected Seohyun who had been the furthest away from the impact? 

 

The first thing Seohyun became aware of when her senses finally return to her was that she was terribly uncomfortable because she was squished beneath something that was hard and soft at the same time. 

 

It was a long moment before Seohyun realize that it was a body that covers her, a body that was encased in black. Seohyun was really confused. What had happen? She could clearly remember the impact but the pale woman in black had jumped on top of her before they had been hit by whatever had slammed into them. 

 

Another vehicle maybe or a falling tree? 

 

Whatever had hit them, the woman on top of her had seen it coming when Seohyun hadn't. 

 

Taeyeon. Yoona. Seohyun had to make sure they were alright. They hadn't been shielded as she had been, why she had been shielded, Seohyun was scared to even ask and whatever had hit them had hit the right side of the car, Yoona was behind the driver's seat, away from the point of the impact but Taeyeon was in the passenger seat. 

 

Seohyun had to check on Taeyeon, she had to make sure that Taeyeon was alright. 

 

First Seohyun had to get out from under the slim woman in black who was still hovering over her without applying any of her weight over her. Planting her feet squarely on the floor for leverage, Seohyun push upwards with all her strength but she might as well have been pushing one of the trees outside as no matter how hard Seohyun push at the woman in black who was curled protectively over her, without applying any of her weight onto her, she couldn't budge Shinhye even an inch. 

 

What was going on? How could this slim woman be so deceptively heavy? And why was this woman, whom she didn't even know shielding her with her own body with all the dedication of a patriotic secret service agent protecting his charge? And what had hit her car hard enough to lift the two side wheels off the ground? Had they been hit by a motorbike or a falling tree or something? 

 

Suddenly, Seohyun felt the woman above her shift her weight and lift her head. Seohyun sunk as low in the seat as she could which wasn't more than an inch so she had enough room to turn her head enough to see Taeyeon awkwardly climbing back into the much smaller space that was the passenger seat and take a moment to right her clothing that had been pull out of place during the impact. 

 

Taeyeon was alright and Seohyun could hear Yoona in the backseat. They were both ok, thank goodness. 

 

Reassure that her friends were ok, Seohyun turns her attention back to the woman above her. 

 

Shinhye was staring out the front windshield, completely transfixed on something and making no move to get off of her. 

 

"Finish off the remaining damned!" Shinhye shouted, through the glass in a hard commanding tone, "Leave none alive to threaten our prince's mortal mate!" 

 

All three perplex girls stare at her with wide disbelieving eyes. 

 

'Remaining damned?' 

 

'Prince?' 

 

'Mortal mate?' 

 

The words only baffled the three girls even more than they already were. Nothing was making any sense. They were in the middle of something that was either building up to be one big practical, far-fetch, joke or involve in some kind of secret delusional, possibly dangerous, cult. 

 

Or this woman in black was completely out of her mind. 

 

What was Yuri wrap up in? And what had happen that was so bad that she had been forced to drag them into it? 

 

Yuri breathed a deep breath into her expanding lungs as Yoochun let out a furious pain-fill roar and release his hold on her. A moment later he lifted his weight up off of her, clutching his neck with his unwounded arm as blood gush from the deep wound. 

 

Yunho howl, the sound enrage and fill with wretched despairing agony but Yuri gave neither Yunho nor Yoochun any heed as she immediately swung around and rush to Jessica's side. 

 

Yuri was unaware how she did it, how she made it happen but her body began to change, to shift and become smaller and smaller, her fur coat disappearing until she returns to her human form, completely unaware of her ness as she ran her hands blindly over Jessica's form as her eyes fill with tears that were running freely down her face. 

 

Jessica was lying on the floor in a crumpled heap on her back. She was unnaturally still and her skin was already pale. She was completely still, so still that Yuri couldn't bear it. 

 

Yuri's stomach revolted and she fought to keep her stomach contents down. 

 

Beyond control, beyond any thought of any kind, Yuri place her hands on Jessica's shoulders and shook her vigorously as if Yuri could somehow bring Jessica back to life if she shook her hard enough. 

 

"Jessica! Jessica please, open your eyes! Jessica!" Yuri sob wretchedly, her insides were in icy agony; she couldn't bare this. She couldn't bear the thought that Jessica was gone forever, they hadn't known each other for very long but Yuri loves her, Jessica was her sister. She couldn't lose her. She had lost her parents, not her sister too, "Don't do this to me, to Yunho Oppa! Please, don't die! Please, not for me! Please, Jessica! Jessica!" 

 

Yunho had never known such rage before. He knew he would feel the pain, the agony of losing his sister before his eyes once his rage burns through him but for now, there was nothing but his rage, his thirst for the blood of the one who had just cruelly murder his sister. 

 

He would taste Yoochun's blood this night and it would be life's blood. Yoochun was going to die and he was going to die slowly and painfully. Yunho would make his death last for days, weeks if possible. Yoochun was going to pay in blood and agony for what he had done in Yunho's own house. 

 

With blood in his eyes and raging fire in his veins, Yunho forgot all about his fatigue and injuries. Nothing matter, nothing except his revenge. With an enraged battle cry Yunho lung at Yoochun, his hands extended in front of him, reaching for Yoochun's throat. 

 

Jessica would be the last innocent Yoochun ever hurt, even if it cost Yunho his life, Yoochun was going to die by his hand. 

 

As Yunho knock Yoochun off his feet and the two of them went rolling across the floor in a frenzy of wild blows and menacing growls and hisses, the room erupted into complete chaos, bodies, and blood flying in all directions and the deafening sounds of battle fill the room but Yuri notice none of the war that rage around her. Her entire being, every cell of her was focus on Jessica. She had to help Jessica, Yuri couldn't let her die. 

 

Yuri wouldn't let Jessica die. So many times she had been called a miracle, a gift from the moon goddess to the immortals and now the time had come for her to prove it, to live up to the title. She had been born a mortal but here she was a shape-shifting Lycan mated to the mighty immortal Lycan crown prince. If she truly was even half of what everyone believes her to be, if she was even partly worthy of everything that lay at her feet for her taking then she should be able to do something as simple as saved Jessica's life. 

 

'Please, please, help me?' Yuri pray of the heavens, pray to the moon goddess and every other celestial being man or immortal kind had ever prayed too, 'Please help Jessica, don't let her die? Take my life in exchange for hers if you must but spare her.' 

 

Without any conscious thought of it and with swift moments, Yuri arranges Jessica until she was flat on her back with her arms spread by her side. Yuri had never done this before but she had help Taeyeon practice when Taeyeon had gone for her certification. 

 

How long had it been since Jessica's heart had stopped? How long had it been since air had stop reaching her brain? Yuri didn't know but for the first time, Yuri was truly grateful, right down to her bones, that one of her best friends, one of her beloved sisters was studying to be a doctor and had occasionally ask Yuri and the other girls to help her train or study. 

 

Yuri had no idea if this was going to work but it was the only hope she had. The only hope Jessica had. 

 

Yuri quickly angles Jessica's head back, keeping her head and neck align then lower down over her and place over Jessica's numbly open mouth, creating an airtight seal. Then Yuri pinches Jessica's nose and breathes air down . 

 

Jessica's chest inflated and Yuri broke the seal on Jessica's mouth and place her ear just above Jessica's mouth, feeling the air slowly flow back out. 

 

Yuri didn't know every exact thing about CPR, not like Taeyeon did but she was determined to do the very best she possibly could. Over and over, Yuri breathed air into Jessica's mouth but nothing change and then Yuri remember that she was supposed to be pumping the heart. 

 

Damn it! 

 

Yuri straightens and folded her hands together with her palms facing downwards over Jessica's heart and using all of her upper body strength, Yuri press down but Yuri might as well have been doing CPR to a concrete floor for all the movement she was able to make. She might be able to shift, possibly just once as Yuri had no idea if she would even be able to shift again but in her human form, she just didn't have the strength of an immortal. She didn't have the strength to pump Jessica's immortal heart. She was supposed to pump the heart with enough force to break the ribs. 

 

What was she going to do? She wasn't strong enough for this. Jessica was going to die because she wasn't strong enough. 

 

A broken sob escapes Yuri's mouth as she struggles to come up with some miraculous solution but there was nothing she could do. 

 

She wasn't an immortal, she didn't have their strength in human form and she couldn't get her thoughts together or settle enough to focus on trying to change again. Not to mention that taking the time to settle herself and try to shift again would be time taken away from her attention to saving Jessica's life. 

 

"Jessica." 

 

Yuri gasp and look up to see Donghae dragging himself across the floor towards them, his eyes focus so intently on Jessica that Yuri doubted he saw anything else but his pale motionless wife lying dead on the floor. 

 

Her breath caught in , pure torture desperate hell was in Donghae's eyes as he pulls himself across the floor to her side, he didn't even have the strength to crawl. 

 

Yuri scrambles across the floor to Donghae's side, crawling most of the way as she didn't spare the time to even get to her feet. She reaches him in moments and then lifted Donghae's arm, bent low and wrap his arm around her shoulder and heaved upwards but Donghae was so heavy that Yuri couldn't lift him a single inch. 

 

"Please, Donghae Oppa. You have to help me." Yuri begs him, gritting her teeth from the strain of trying to lift him. Donghae heaved himself up onto his knees with his free arm, releasing a long strain grunt at the effort and together they made their way to Jessica's side. 

 

Yuri left Donghae on one side of his wife while Yuri scrambles back to her place by Jessica's head, "I will breathe, you pump her heart. I don't have the strength to get through her ribcage." 

 

Sheer determination fill Donghae's eyes such as Yuri had never seen before. It fills his eyes until there was nothing else and he links his hands together over Jessica's chest just as she had done moments before and Donghae press down on Jessica's chest above her heart, using all the strength left in him. 

 

Yuri ignores the sound of cracking bone as Donghae's compressions force their way through Jessica's protective ribcage to press down on her precious heart and Yuri return to breathing air into Jessica's lungs. 

 

This was the only chance. It had to work. It had too. Yuri couldn't imagine her life in the immortal world without Jessica, giving Yunho hell right there with her. 

 

A minute pass and still Jessica didn't respond. One minute had just become two when a loud sharp cry of pain snap her out of her fixation on Jessica and Yuri whirl to see Yunho sprawl on the floor. Yoochun stood over him with bloody hands and greedy anticipation of the kill in his black soulless eyes. 

 

Jessica needed her to help save her life by bringing her back from the dead but Yunho needed help, too. Without help, Yunho would undoubtedly follow Jessica. 

 

Yuri was truly torn, torn between Jessica and Yunho. She loves both so much and both needed her help. She sat frozen, torn between two treasure people of her heart. 

 

Beside her, Donghae shifted his position until he was kneeling right beside her and begun alternating between breathing for Jessica and pumping her heart. 

 

"Go," Donghae told her, his voice hard and purposeful. It was the voice of a man who was putting everything he had and everything he was into what he was doing, "I can't help him and Jessica needs me." 

 

Yuri hesitated only a spilled second before she nodded her head and shot to her feet. She steps back from Jessica and closes her eyes, reaching deep inside of her, reaching for that new part of her, that mysterious magic inside of her that had allow her to shift. 

 

'Please, let me become a Lycan, just one more time? Please? Just once more? Let me save Yunho Oppa and stop Yoochun. Please, just once more?' And then Yuri felt it. At the same time as she felt the change begin Yuri became aware of Yunho through their mate link. She could feel his pain, his exhaustion and his blinding rage at being forced to watch helplessly as Yoochun had killed his sister, whom he had sworn with his life to his parents that he would protect no matter what. 

 

When Yuri opens her eyes, she once again had four paws and chocolate brown fur and without hesitation, Yuri leaped into the air, right at Yoochun. 

 

Yoochun was going to pay for what he had done to Jessica, for what he was putting Yunho and Donghae through. 

 

Behind her, Donghae continues to breathe and pump the heart of his beloved wife and wolf mate, whom he couldn't, wouldn't live without. If he couldn't bring Jessica back then Yuri was certain that Donghae's urge for her to join Yunho in the fight against Yoochun would be Donghae's last spoken words. 

 

Yoochun's time was well and truly up. Hell or high water, life or death, Yoochun's days of terror and death were at an end. 

 

---

 

N/A: Until next time

- butt3rlflyl0v3r ♡