Chapter 3 

 

Yuri froze like she had been turned to stone at the feeling of the dark stranger's tongue tenderly caressing her flesh, the bite marks and blood on her neck. He was her like a dog would a wound and there it was. Finally, things had become too weird for her. Unable to stand it anymore and not because this raw on legs of a man was arousing her something drastic, Yuri planted her hands on his temper-steel hard chest and push away from him, desperately trying to get him away from her and to get away from him. She needed to be capable of thoughts again; and not the kind that leads to the closest available bed but he was so strong. Yuri wouldn't have been surprised if he hadn't even noticed her frantic struggles against him. 

 

However, he twice more before raising his head but he made no move to step away from her. Instead, he studied for a brief moment and only then did he release her, allowing her to jump back from him as he watches her with the most intense watchful brown eyes she had ever seen. There was something else in those eyes, something so intense that it was freaking her out but she couldn't for the life of her name it. It was different than any look she had ever seen before. 

 

'Damn it!' Yuri curse at herself, she had to stop this and pull herself together. This guy was dangerous and to top it off, after her neck like that, it was completely clear that he was a nutcase but then again, she was seeing vampires so who was she to judge? 

 

"What is your name, miss?" He asks so softly, that his words alone felt like a caress to her ear. 

 

Miss? Who is this guy? 

 

Yuri back up a step, watching him as he watches her. He seems to be watching and waiting for her to show any sign that she was going to bolt. It was clear that he wasn't going to let her, not with the way he was attentively watching her. 

 

Yuri knew she should be afraid of him but she wasn't. He had just killed three vampires before her eyes in a matter of seconds. He had moved with inhuman speed, strength, and agility and to top it all off, he was nuts. 

 

She should be afraid of him. 

 

'Yeah.' Yuri told herself, with a mental eye roll. She just had to keep telling herself that, maybe eventually she had started believing it. As it was, right now all she wanted to do was rip all their clothes off and jump him like a in heat. 

 

Yunho inhaled discreetly; he could see that she was, as the mortals would say, freak out. Her scent was a combination of blood, fear, and arousal. Good, while her mind had no idea what was going on, her body recognize him for what he truly was; her mate. 

 

Yunho couldn't understand this; never in the recorded history of the immortal races had either the Lycan's or the vampires been mated with a mortal or outside of their own race. Crossbreeding wasn't possible between the immortal races and certainly not with mortals; they die. 

 

Always, there had never been any exceptions and yet, Yunho didn't doubt that this small mortal creature was his wolf mate. She was his light, his hope. She was light and fair where he was dark; she was soft and gentle where he was hard with lean muscle. 

 

Yunho wanted to take her back to his manor, to his pack, where she would be protected with the full might of his pack but he could smell her fear and he wouldn't, couldn't put her through anything more tonight. It seems that this was one situation he would have to handle delicately. 

 

Against every instinct, every fiber of his being, Yunho made his decision. 

 

It was the hardest thing he had ever done but he did it; he took a small retreating step back from her. 

 

It was for her. It wasn't about him anymore. From this day on it was about her and what was best for her. He would bow to her every whim, her health and safety would come before all else. What she needed she would always have before she needed it, what she wanted would be laid at her feet. She was his everything and she gave him everything in return just by being. He would live and die for her, his wolf mate. 

 

Yuri didn't understand why the dark stranger had suddenly back off from her but she was grateful for it, despite the lurch her heart gave at watching him step away from her. She looks up into his soulful intense eyes and found herself lacking understanding. The way he was looking at her was so intense, so primal, so penetrating. It was as if he was trying to see through her, into her. Like he wanted to read what was in her very soul and memorize it. Yuri could say with absolute certainty that no one had ever look at her like that before. Ever. 

 

"Go home." 

 

His tone and hard eyes told her that it wasn't a suggestion. 

 

Yuri closes her eyes for a brief moment, needing a moment free of his intense and penetrating gaze. 

 

Whoever he was, he had saved her and he seems to mean her no harm. Yes, he had her neck like a dog cleaning a wound and that had been really weird but he hadn't hurt her. He frightens her, he towers over her, intimidated her with all his raw masculine uality and his forceful overpowering presence; he made her want to jump him and be damn with the consequences but he had done nothing to reveal any intent to harm her. In fact, he seems to be concerned with her wellbeing. The least she could do was thank him. 

 

No more than a second or two had passed since Yuri had closed her eyes. Slowly she opens them, the words to thank him ready on her lips. He had saved her; a thank you was the least he deserves from her but he was gone. 

 

Yuri whirl around on the spot, scanning the darkness around her but there was nothing but silence and darkness. Everything was silent and still, the only evidence that he had existed at all was the fire now at her back, from which the stench to burning flesh stung her eyes and burn her nose. 

 

Where did he go? Why did he leave? 

 

Now that Yuri was alone her fear return in full force. She was alone in the middle of the night. She should never have walked through the park alone at night. 

 

Gravely unsettled and more than somewhat rattled, Yuri snatches up her backpack, scarf, and beanie from the ground and took off down the footpath. She wanted to get home and shower. She wanted to wash off what had happened and forget that it had ever happened. 

 

To forget him. 

 

Unfortunately, Yuri knew that the dark stranger wouldn't be so easily forgotten. 

 

Yunho watches silently, in his wolf form, from the darkness as the young mortal woman, his wolf mate, close the door of her dorm complex behind her. He heard the echoing metallic sound of the deadbolt click into place. 

 

She was home. She was safe. Well, as safe as she could be away from him. 

 

Yunho hadn't let her out from his sight for a single moment since he had disappeared from her sight. He had followed her closely, without making a single sound, all the way home. She had fled from the site of her attack as he had known she would, like the hounds of hell were on her tail. He had endured the distinctive trace of fear and arousal mix in her scent the entire way but his wolf mate had never before in her life been safer. Yunho had used all his senses to assure that no one and nothing had even come close to her. He was worried for a brief moment when he had caught the scent of a damned who had crossed the path hours before but he had recognized the scent as belonging to one of the three damned he had killed scarcely eighteen minutes before. 

 

The damned who had harmed her, who had tasted her blood, was fortunate that he had died before Yunho had discovered that this young mortal woman was his wolf mate or else the damned would have faced a far worse fate than death. Even now his beast screams for a greater vengeance against the one who had dared to harm his mate. That demand from his beast was nothing, however, compared to the loudest demand of all and that was to snatch the young mortal woman up, take her home with him and claim her as his wolf mate. To mark her as his so the entire world would know that she was his and that to even look upon her without his consent meant certain death but for now Yunho would give her time, very little of it, to overcome the trauma that she had endured this night. He would watch over her for every moment of the last of her time in the mortal world. Soon he would bring her into his world where she belongs. Where she had been born to reside. 

 

This mortal was his wolf mate and he had waited an eternity for her. He wasn't going to do anything to risk losing her now. She possesses everything he needed to pull away from the madness his beast created within him. Already the mere sight and a single taste of her had eased the burden that was his beast. Already there was new hope sparkling to life within him, the flame was small but it was so much more than the dying ember it had been when the moon had risen this very night's dawning. 

 

His beast would soon be tamed and at peace. His days of restlessness and dark burdens would soon be at an end. All because of her. 

 

Of course, he was no fool. The moment Yunho had realized that his wolf mate was mortal he had known two things. First, unlike the immortal mates of his kind, his time with her would be short-lasting and second, if his mate was mortal then maybe she would be the reason for new hope for more than just himself. 

 

Maybe, just maybe, this special mortal who was his mate would bring new hope to all the immortal kind. Hope that hadn't been known for millennia. 

 

Yunho looks up at the second floor, his hearing telling him that his mate had just entered her dorm room and had bolted the door behind her. He watches the two window that he knew were hers and just as he had almost known that she would, she came to the window and search the darkness beyond. Fear in her watchful eyes. 

 

'Fear not, my mate.' Yunho whispers to her in his mind, as he gazes upon her beauty from where his black wolf form sat hidden in the darkness of the night, 'I will take away all reason you have to fear. I will keep you safe. You are mine and soon you will know it.' 

 

Yunho kept his eyes fix on the window even when she retreated back into the safety of her dorm room. The mortal didn't know it but her life had changed forever this night. 

 

For the first time in centuries Yunho lower onto his hunches and brought his belly down to rest on the cold earth, he knew a sense of peace and hope within him. Nestled and well hidden in the bushes Yunho remain, his eyes unmoving from the window until dawn brought the retreat of the cloaking cover of night. 

 

While his mate was still sleeping soundly in her bed, Yunho cast one last longing glance at the window before he retreated from the bushes, heading to the forest as the first ray of dawn touch the ground. 

 

He had to return to his pack. The sun would cause him no harm but he needed to rest if he was going to return to watch over her when the sunset once again. His mate would be safe during the daylight hours as it was exceptionally rare for any damned immortal to venture out into the sunlight, whether they be vampire or Lycan, 'Soon, my mate. Soon.' 

 

"Where the hell have you been Yunho Oppa?!" 

 

The furious screech of the Lycan princess echo throughout the manor and surrounding grounds that the moment before had been silent and peaceful. 

 

Yunho wince as he faces his younger sister's fury. As the crown Lycan prince and future king, there were only three who could get away with addressing him so insolently and they were all related to him. 

 

Although Yunho sometimes found his sister's worry for him endearing, he more often than not found it annoying. He wasn't only a prince but he was the alpha of his pack. He answers to no one. He was the eldest and strongest in his pack and he could take care of himself. He did as he wishes and answers to no one about it. Yunho, in his human form, growls at her in warning as he walks casually pass her, leaving her standing in the main doorway glowering wrathfully at his retreating back. 

 

The sun was well above the horizon. Granted, he usually returns from hunting by sunrise, Yunho wasn't under a curfew. He had left his most trusted warriors here, his beta's. His pack had been well guarded in his absence. Although the numbers of his pack weren't as they had once been, there were more than enough to defend their den and their immediate territory. A five-story mansion on well-maintain grounds in the middle of an eight thousand hectare estate that was all woods and forestry that team with deer and other game was a suitable home for his pack. There were even three large lakes that had plenty of fish. His pack, the second largest pack in the world after his parent's in North Korea, was made up of over fifty of his kind. A thousand years ago his pack would have been considered tiny but now it was one of only three Lycan packs in Korea. 

 

Including Yunho's pack, there were no more than one hundred Lycans in Korea. In North Korea, their homeland, there were slightly more than eight hundred and there were less than three hundred Lycans spread throughout the rest of the world. 

 

There were even fewer vampires. The immortals were a dying people. 

 

"Do you have any idea how worried we have been?!" Jessica demanded hotly, as she stalks after him like the infuriated princess she was. 

 

Yunho refuse to even slow his pace as she stalks after him. By we, he assumes that she meant herself and his beta's. Normally, Yunho would have either growl at her again, warning her to leave him be or he would have told her that he was fine just to get her off his back but tonight he did neither. He was in too much of a good mood and too preoccupied to be worried about her nerves that were straining for him. 

 

Tonight Yunho chose to ignore his younger sister. He was still as overprotective and caring for her as he had always been but he had more than the female of his pack to protect now. His sister and the other few females of the pack were Lycan kind, although they were much physically weaker than male Lycan's, they were still immortal shapeshifters. To a degree they could take care of themselves and if they couldn't then there were plenty of other males in his pack to see to them. 

 

Right now, for the sake of his Lycan kind, he had to focus on his mate. She wasn't only his renew hope but that for his kind. Maybe even the vampires as well. 

 

If there was one mortal mated to an immortal, could it be possible that there were more? And if there were, how could he find them? 

 

His mate hadn't tasted any different, other than that she was his mate and her scent was like a drug to him; to which he was completely and utterly addicted, from any other mortal. There had been nothing different about her when it came to her being mortal. 

 

"Are you listening to me, Oppa?!" 

 

Yunho came free of his thoughts just in time to bring himself to a halt before he walk straight into his sister who stood with her hands on her hips in front of him, silently fuming and impatiently waiting for an answer to assure his sister that everything was far better than it had ever been, to share in the joyous news that he had finally found his wolf mate at long last but he couldn't. Not yet. First, he had to somehow convince his wolf mate of who and what she was and her importance and proper place in his world. Then he had to convince her to come back to the manor with him where she would be safe. 

 

He had to worry about his mate now, his pack was more than capable of taking care of itself for a few days. Yunho had three beta's for a reason and his sister even tended to a number of duties within the pack herself. Since Yunho had been so long without a mate, Jessica had been looked up too as the alpha female Lycan; she was the princess of the Lycan kind after all. 

 

Now that he had found his mate, Jessica would be stepping down, not that she knew it yet. His mate was the rightful female alpha of his pack and she would be treated and seen as such, mortal or not, "Not now, Jessica." Yunho told her dismissively, as he smoothly steps around her and continues on his way to his bedchamber. He needed to sleep and rest so that he was alert and ready for tonight. His plan was to watch over his mate for a few days and find out everything he could about her. 

 

While he waited for the perfect time to approach her once again. 

 

Jessica stares after her brother, bewildered and worried. 

 

What had gotten into the alpha prince? 

 

Yuri opens her eyes and bolted up in her bed with a start, scanning the room quickly, expecting to see the dark stranger standing at the foot of the bed, staring down at her with his intensely penetrating eyes. 

 

Yuri blink in confusion, feeling numbly detach. She had dreamed of vampires with black eyes and the mysterious handsome dark stranger who had moved like one of them but he had been different from them. He had been her dark savior. 

 

Had it all just been a dream? 

 

Throwing aside her covers, Yuri jumps up from the bed and ran to the bathroom vanity and look into the mirror. The reflection in the mirror shows a very slightly tanned but pale young woman with disheveled long brownish black hair in a pale heather plush jersey London tee shirt. She was pale, much paler than she had been since that dark few months in which she had lost herself to mourning her parents. 

 

Slowly, hesitantly, afraid of what she was going to find, Yuri pull her hair back from her shoulder and move her gaze from her pale face to her neck. 

 

There was no bite wound but then again there hadn't been. She could vaguely remember getting back to her room last night and checking the wound but it hadn't needed any medical attention at all. Everything from the night before was blurry and surreal as if it had all been a dream but even though there was no wound on her neck, there was a red mark in the exact spot where she had been bitten. Now it looks like a fresh hickey. 

 

Numbly, Yuri caresses the pink spot on her neck, relieved when she felt no pain. 

 

Had it been nothing but a dream? She wanted so desperately to believe that it had all just been a nightmare, that vampires didn't exist as she had believed since she had been old enough to realize that there were no monsters hiding under her bed but at the same time, if it had all been a dream, if the vampires didn't exist then so did the dark stranger who had saved her and that bothers her. 

 

Yuri could remember him clearer than anything else. She didn't know this man or anything about him other than that he was so strong and could move so fast that she hadn't been able to actually see him move but there was something about the way he had look at her. There had been sadness and loneliness in his eyes. She had seen it as she knew it herself. For so long she had seen it in her own eyes after she had lost her parents and her life as it had been. There had also been something else in his eyes, something that had almost come to life when he had look at her. 

 

Hope maybe? 

 

Hope for what? 

 

Yuri closes her eyes and plays the memory of that moment slowly through her mind, seeing it as clearly as if it were just now happening. After he had killed the three vampires, he had turned and look at her. His eyes had widened and the sad lonely hollowness in his eyes had changed. 

 

Just like that, everything in his eyes had changed. 

 

A spark of light had come into his eyes, the kind that came to the eyes of one who suddenly had reason to hope again, and then there had been confusion as if her very existence mystified him and then the fierce handsome warrior who had killed the three vampires that had attacked her in a matter of seconds, had morphed into a man who cares for the one he was looking at. He had become gentle, considerate and concern and he had been; he had been concern that she was hurt. He had the wound just as a dog would tend to his own wounds. She could still feel his tongue's gentle caress on her skin and the reactions her body had at his touch. She had felt so aware of him, aroused, that she hadn't been able to move or do anything as he had lapped up her blood as a kitten would spill cream and just like that, without any warning, he had released her. 

 

Now that Yuri looks back, the way he had looked at her after he had raised his head had been like that of a lover sending his woman off for the night. He had withdrawn slightly from her, that had been evident but he hadn't been able to hide the protective possessive concern in his eyes. 

 

Yuri opens her eyes and took a step back from her reflection almost in fear and slowly sank down to sit on the closed toilet seat, suddenly not having the strength to remain standing. 

 

How the hell was she so attuned to someone she had met for an impossible brief moment? Who the hell was the dark stranger who had saved her from the vampires? 

 

No. It had to have been a dream. There was no such thing as vampires or dark handsome men who fought impossible battles with impossible ability to save her. 

 

It had just been a dream from all the stress from her upcoming midterms. She was obviously far more worried about them than she thought. What she needed was a stress-free day to relax, to take a break. She had studied hard yesterday and her stress was starting to have an effect on her. She needed to get her mind off of things before her stress and dreams started to have serious effects on her. She needed her sleep, she needed to be awake and alert for her study and midterms. 

 

She had worked too hard to lose everything now by failing her midterms. 

 

Yuri slowly steps out of the bathroom and walk to the window that overlooks the dense lush green garden below. The sun was just beginning to peak out from behind the five-story building across the dorm. 

 

The dream was over now. She needed to forget about it and take some time to relax. There was no such thing as vampires and dark strangers who leap in to save damsels in distress like some storybook knight in shining armor. No matter how much she wishes her knight in shining armor was real, just like in books and movies, he was just too good to be true. 

 

Despite her resolve to forget all about her dream and relax, Yuri found that she couldn't let go of her tension or the uneasy feeling in her that was making her edgy and paranoid, jumping at every shadow or unexpected noise. Yuri had tried to get her mind off of things by going shopping. She needed a new pair of runners and she had decided that today was the day to get them. She had called the girls up but as she had known, they had all been busy with classes, assignments, and studies. They had expressed their genuine reluctance to turn down the invitation to go shopping for the sake of their studies and Yuri had assured them that it was alright. She had assured each and everyone one of her three best friends that they could go shopping when midterms were all over. 

 

Yuri loves her friends and so for their sakes, she hadn't let on that anything was wrong, even though each of them had picked up something in her tone. She had dismissed it as a restless night from a bad dream and had laughed it off but once Yuri hung up from her call to Yoona, the last of the three girls she had invited to go shopping with her, the uneasiness and sense of detachment from her own life had returned and she decided that she really did need to get out. She had gone shopping, had brought her runners, as well as a sweater that had been on sale. 

 

Yuri had just gotten done shopping by early afternoon and found herself with nothing to do, nothing to distract her from the intolerable nagging inside her that she didn't belong here anymore. 

 

Finally, by four in the afternoon, Yuri had found herself standing in the middle of the park, on the footpath where her dream had taken place. If it had been real then this was where it had happened. 

 

The park was the same as it always was during the day. People walk along the path, either to get to their destination or for exercise or relaxation; some were in groups as large as eight or nine and some only in groups of three or four, talking quietly amongst themselves. The larger groups were louder, more excited while the smaller groups were much more subdued. The groups of two were mostly couples, some even appearing smitten with each other as they walk close together and whisper endearments to each other as they walk leisurely through the park. Some simply held hands while others had arms wrap around each other so tightly that it felt like they would need a crowbar to get separated again. 

 

The night before had been cold but it had warm somewhat during the sunny day, although the wind remains icy that hadn't stop people from venturing out for more than a walk. All around her there were people on picnics, people playing various games and sports. People were laughing and talking just like any other day but it felt anything but a normal day to her; in fact, it felt so different then it had before that it almost felt as if she didn't belong here in this kind of life anymore. 

 

Yuri forces the ridiculous thought from her mind. Of course, she belongs here. It was the university park and she had been part of the university life for nearly two years. She hadn't felt as if she didn't belong here since her first week had ended. 

 

Yuri pulls her attention away from the people around her, despite her feelings of uneasy paranoia that she couldn't shake off. She was safe here, at least during the day. There were too many people around; she would be alright as long as she got back to the dorm before nightfall. 

 

Needing to know without any doubt that the memory had been exactly what she wanted to believe it was, a dream, Yuri scans the ground around her until she was certain that it was the exact spot she was looking for. 

 

Crouching down, Yuri ran her long fingers over the unmarred grass, feeling disconnected and really confused. 

 

This was the sight of the attack or it had been in her dream anyway and where she crouch was where her dark saviour had piled the three bodies of the slain vampires and set fire to them but there were no scorch marks, no sear footpath, no black cinders or ash, no singed grass, not even the lingering smell of burning flesh. There was no evidence that anything at all had happened here. 

 

If three bodies had been burn to cinders here then there would be some evidence of the fire. It was completely impossible to wipe all evidence away as if it had never been at all. A fire was something that all trace couldn't easily be removed. 

 

Yuri look up and scan the park, feeling more uneasy than she had before she had come here. 

 

Something wasn't right. If it had been a dream then why did she have a mark in the exact place she had been bitten but if it had been real then there should have been some evidence here, something left behind. 

 

Had she dream it all or not? 

 

Jessica watches silently from the window of her bedchamber on the top floor of the mansion as her brother, in wolf form, lithely leap clear over the tall stone wall, returning to the manor's inner grounds. For the past five nights, her brother had gone out alone and hadn't returned until well after sunrise. It wasn't that his hours were so out of the ordinary, it was that she knew he wasn't hunting for food or the damned. At least not in the last few nights. 

 

Death and blood were two scents their people knew well and up until now it had always been the most potent scent around her brother but the last death near him had been five days ago. So either he was hunting without finding a kill or he wasn't hunting at all. 

 

If it was that their alpha wasn't finding any damned then Jessica knew her brother well enough to know that he will be irritable and uneasy as the number of damned was increasing with each passing year but her brother was the opposite. Yunho almost seems content. 

 

Jessica had wish wholeheartedly for so long for her brother to be so but she now fears what was making her brother so content. 

 

For centuries Yunho had been battling with the beast within him and now that battle seems to be no more. There were only two ways his inner battle could have ended, either his beast had finally claim him and he had descended into madness, into damnation but was hiding it extraordinarily well or he had found his wolf mate but for some reason, neither of those options seem plausible. If his beast had overrun the man within then he would return carrying the unmistakable scent of fresh human blood on him. If he had found his mate, why had he not brought her back to the safety of the pack? Why had he not shouted it from the rooftops that he had at last found the one who would bring peace to him and soothe the restless beast within? And what's more, Jessica knew every unattached female Lycan in Korea and there weren't many and after a few hours of investigating she had discovered that none of them had been claimed. Hell, she had even gone as far as to find out if any females had entered the territory from another continent but there had been none. 

 

Every female of their race was accounted for and where she should be. With so few unmated female Lycans in the world, they were all kept track of with extremely efficiently and vigilance. Losing even one female could make the difference between extinction and their race holding on for another century. 

 

Jessica herself was the female alpha of the pack, not to mention the princess of their kind and as such, she had certain authorities. Any new female in the area was obliged to answer her call, rogue or not and on top of it all, they would have been able to scent a female of their kind on their alpha. 

 

It wasn't adding up. Why was her brother being so secretive? He was practically sneaking away from his own pack. He had even closed his mind to all of them, even her. Something he hadn't done so absolutely for so long all her life. Jessica felt her mate approach her from behind. He made not a single sound but she knew it as well as she knew she stood there. Donghae was the packs second in command, the first beta and he had been since the previous first beta had fallen to his beast. 

 

Jaejoong had been Yunho's most trusted and loyal friend and brother. He had been the first beta to Yunho's alpha for over eight hundred years before his beast had overpowered him and he had taken his life by means of a suicide mission rather than feed on human blood, rather than become one of the damned. 

 

Jaejoong's last act had been one of loving mercy, for it would have been Yunho himself who would have been forced to take his head. 

 

To kill his own brother with his own hands would have been the end of Yunho. As it was her brother had never been the same. It had been after Jaejoong's death that the strains of immortality and the beast within him had begun to truly show. 

 

Jessica was no fool. She knew her brother was losing control of his beast. He had to find his mate soon or it would be too late. Yunho was the oldest and strongest of them in Korea if he fell... 

 

Jessica closes her eyes and mind against the very despairing thought. Their people had suffered so much for too long; if they lost their prince then all hope would be forever lost to them. If Yunho couldn't endure against his beast then who could? 

 

'Do not fear, Sica.' Donghae's loving whisper, her mind tenderly, offering her the comfort and assurance only a true bonded wolf mate could give, 'Your brother will find his mate. He would rather die than fall to his beast.' 

 

Jessica sighs sadly as she opens her eyes in time to see Yunho disappear from sight as he slips silently into the manor and turns to face her lover, "Something's not right. I sense a great change in him even though he won't let me close." "He hasn't turned," Donghae assures her, comforting her, as he gently the side of her head. Jessica listen to her mate's thoughts as he, for the countless time, marvel at how soft and silky her hair felt to his touch, "Yunho would never let himself fall into damnation." 

 

Jessica steps into the open arms of her mate, needing the comfort and warmth provided by his loving protective embrace, "His beast is fierce, restless and growing within him. It gains strength with every passing year." 

 

"And as does Yunho." Donghae wraps his arms around her, holding her close and thanking the moon goddess for her as he did every day. She was what collar and soothed the beast within him; she was his light in the darkness. For her, there was nothing he wouldn't do. It had been dark days that he had endured the torment of the wildness of his beast within him before she had been born but the moment she had hit puberty, he had known that she was his. For it was at the age of becoming that mates were revealed. 

 

Jessica was young, only three hundred and fifty-eight years old but she held a wisdom that matches the eldest of them. She had a way of seeing things, of knowing things that brought her great respect and even reverence. She wasn't the female alpha of their pack for the sole reason that she was the Lycan princess. Only the strongest of them rose to become alpha, regardless of titles and bloodlines. 

 

If Yunho, for example, hadn't become the strong and fierce warrior Lycan prince that he was today, if he hadn't gained both physical strength and strength of will then he would have been shun and rejected as the pack's alpha and the strongest would have been chosen by means of battle to the downfall. 

 

In times of old, to fight for the right of alpha was a battle to the death but in current dire times, it was forbidden to kill one of their own unless it was either in self-defense which had to be proven or if one was falling into damnation. 

 

These days were times of much more civilized living. They were part animals but they weren't wild uncivilized beasts. 

 

"Tonight." Donghae whispers into the ear of his love, "I will follow him and I will rest your fears, my precious princess." 

 

Donghae sense her worries ease ever so slightly at his promise and he raises a subtle mental shield that hid his doubt and worry without alerting his mate. Yunho was his alpha and he had a duty to him, not to mention that if Yunho discovers him following he had lashes his so badly that he wouldn't be able to sit down for a week, even with the healing abilities of the Lycan kind but he had a greater duty to his mate. 

 

As did every immortal who was gifted with their mate. 

 

The sun had just set and the feeling return as Yuri had known it would. She stood at the window of her dorm room watching the last of the sunset beyond the horizon. 

 

Ever since the night after that night, when the impossible hadn't happened, she had had this feeling that she was being watched but it was more than just that simple feeling. That sense that destiny was waiting for her had returned; only this time it was so much stronger than it had ever been. 

 

Yuri had searched the shadow of the night even knowing that she wouldn't see anything. She never did, even though it had only been half a week since that night, whether it had happened or not but she had spent so many of those nights staring out of her window, searching the dark shadows for any sign of movement. 

 

There never was any sign of anything. There was nothing to even suggest that someone was watching her, nothing but the feeling of being watched but it only came during the night. It was almost as if it was the actual darkness of the night that was watching her. 

 

As well as the feeling that she was being watched, there was also this strange yearning in her soul that Yuri didn't understand. She had felt it from the very first moment she had seen the face of her dark stranger who had saved her that night, if that night had happened, she still wasn't sure; it was hard to be without any evidence and it was only growing in intensity within her. There had been something about him that had grabbed a hold of her and no matter how hard she fought against it, it refuses to let her go. She didn't know what else to do; she was fighting it with every ounce of logic she possesses but when there was a part of her that didn't want her to fight it there was only so much she could do. 

 

Especially when her heart felt so heavy and she suddenly felt lonely. She had been alone for a while now but it was like she had only just realized just how lonely she really was. 

 

Something had changed. Forever. Yuri could feel it even though she couldn't explain it. Even her friends were beginning to look at her with concern puzzlement in their eyes and she didn't know if it was because they were concern about her sudden distracted state and distance from them or if it was because they too were able to sense that something had changed inside of her. 

 

As it always was, the view beyond her dorm window was silent, still and dark with the cover of the night. The trees dance in the icy winter winds, corresponding dancing shadows across the ground beneath the silver-blue moonlight. There was nothing but the wind stirring in the night but despite her own eyes, Yuri couldn't bring herself to truly believe that. 

 

If she hadn't known better, Yuri would have sworn that there was something out there, not just watching her but also waiting for her. Whether it meant her harm or not didn't matter. She still fears it. It brought out too much conflicting chaotic emotions and impulses within her for her not, too. 

 

Yuri froze. There. Something had move. A shadow. In the bushes of the garden on the other side of the footpath that led into the dorms. 

 

Before she could even think about what she was doing, Yuri turns and bolted from her room and down the two half flights of stairs. Moving as fast as she could, Yuri exploded through the double front door with a grunt of effort and out into the cold night staring into the shadow that she had sworn she had seen moved. 

 

The icy night breeze felt harsh against the bare flesh of her arms and feet, she hadn't stopped to put on a jacket or even something to protect her bare feet; she wore only a neutral marled fitted crewneck sweater and a pair of ensign blue mid-rise columnist ankle pant. She could feel the breeze picking up her hair where it flows freely down her back. Nearing the edge of the circle of light from the outside light of the building, Yuri hesitated, remembering the last time she had step into the darkness of the night. She hadn't been outside at night since she had been attacked. She strains her ear for any sign of anyone or anything close by as she stared into the dark bushes. Her skin prickled as her heart pounded rapidly in her chest that felt so tight that it was an effort just to keep breathing. Someone was watching her. Right now. She could feel it as surely as she felt the cold of the icy winter night. The feeling was stronger than it had ever been. The sun had only just set but already the cold that night brought was beginning to take its place in the night. 

 

"I know you are there." Yuri told the figure in the darkness, she knew was there even though she couldn't see them, "I can feel you." 

 

The only answer she got was the silence. 

 

"What do you want from me?" 

 

Silence. 

 

Frustrated, Yuri found herself yelling into the darkness, "Who are you?!" 

 

Once again there was only silence. 

 

Yuri sigh deeply, surrendering to that part of her that said that it was all in her head as she shook her head in dismay. Maybe she really was losing it. Why would anyone be watching her? And if there was, why would they answer her? 

 

To calm her thoughts, Yuri looks up at the half moon high in the night sky of thousands of glittering diamonds and allow the soothing pale silver light of the moon to wash over her. She had always felt drawn to the moon in a mystical unexplainable way. Its light always seems to soothe and comfort her and as it had always done, drench in the moonlight, Yuri felt her worries and anxieties melt away until she felt almost at peace. Her breathing became even and her racing heartbeat slow to a steady rhythm as the mental weight she had carried ease.

 

Yuri opens her eyes, the silver night greeting her gaze once again and she found herself giving it a small gentle smile. She knew what she needed right now; a night out on the town with the girls. She needed to forget, relax and have some fun. She needed to have a few drinks and dance like she didn't have a care in the world. 

 

She needed to reconnect with her world, her life. 

 

Without giving the shadow another look, Yuri turns and re-enter the building. She then pulled her white iPhone 4s from her pocket and hit the first speed dial knowing all she had to do was mention the three little words, girls night out. 

 

It had been five days since Yunho had found his mate and he had been watching her every moment of every night since then. He wanted to watch her every moment of the day whether it was dark or light but during the daylight hours, Yunho knew he would be noticed, no matter which of his two forms he opted for. 

 

At the present Yunho was once again in his wolf form, crouching in the bushes in front of the student dorm in which his mate lives. 

 

He knew his mate's name now, Yuri. He had finally learned her name when a classmate had come by asking for a copy of her notes from a class they share together. 

 

It had only been five days but a mere moment in time for the immortal kind but already Yunho found himself so completely taken by her, taken by her beauty and kindness. Light and warmth seem to radiate from her like light and warmth from the sun; they were just a part of her as his wolf was a part of him. His mate Yuri possess the best of what mankind had left to offer, she was generous, selfless, caring and she loves as easily as a sentient being breathed. 

 

She was made up of everything good in this world and he couldn't see how he could ever be worthy of one such as her. 

 

Yuri was at this very moment getting ready to go out on the town with her three best friends and Yunho didn't like the thought one little bit. His mate was mortal but she was so much tinier and fragile than most and as a result his protective instincts for his mate had increased by such a large fraction that he was being crushed beneath its weight and intensity but despite her small size and physical fragility, Yuri had courage and a fierce will that he hadn't expected of her. 

 

Yunho had been greatly surprised, not taken by surprise as he had known that she had left the safety of her room the moment her delicate hand had turned the doorknob, when Yuri had come running out of the safety of her dorm, without so much as a pair of shoes on and had look straight at him where he had lain hidden in the darkness. She hadn't been able to see him of course. No one saw him when he didn't want to be seen, especially mortals. What's more, he was a midnight black wolf hiding in the shadows of the night. 

 

Yunho didn't know how she had known he was there but he knew that she had sensed something. She had even spoken to him but in his wolf form as he was he couldn't reply and shifting back into his human form without her seeing with her watching so intently would have been difficult. Not impossible but if she had even caught a glimpse, it would have terrified her. 

 

Now, however, Yunho was regretting not doing something when she had all but come to him. It had only taken her three best friends, Seohyun, Taeyeon and Yoona, fifteen short minutes to arrive with their clothes and make-up in hand. It seems like a semi-regular thing. The girls seem to like getting ready for their night out together, doing each others hair and make-up and giving their advice on each other's appearance. 

 

They also seem to like sharing clothes. 

 

It had been a long time since Yunho had paid such close attention to the mortal world. So much had changed. Yes, he had kept a semi-interest in local language and customs which had become so much easier with the invention of television, what it freely reveal help his people greatly to do better to blend in and remain unnoticed. 

 

Yunho was glad that Yuri had friends, that she wasn't alone but he found himself envious of them. They had her confidence, trust and so obviously her love where he didn't and the three girls couldn't have been more different. Seohyun was so alike Yuri in appearance that they could have easily been blood sisters. In fact, they seem to enjoy joking that they were. Like Yuri, Seohyun had long black hair, although theirs were the same length and similar brown eyes Yuri's were darker. Seohyun sparkle with life and joy, she clearly loves to laugh. She was loving, kind and enthusiastic in a way that Yunho suspected had to be exhausting. Heaven help the mortal man who was worthy of her affection; he would have his hands full. 

 

Then there was Taeyeon. She was what the mortals would call a bookworm but Yunho had seen it in her eyes, she was a genius. She had a sharp intellect and had a passion for learning. With long blonde hair with a strange noticeable golden streak and stunning brown eyes, she was quiet to the point of bashfulness but there was something about her that betray that she had a hidden strength, a hidden will. She usually had a book in her hand but when she was with the girls it was always set aside as she eagerly joins in on their zealous conversation. A few times he had noticed her reading while simultaneously listening to the other three converse with a quiet fondness and a gentle loving smile on her thin lips and Yoona. Yoona actually reminded him a great deal of the warrior females of his race. 

 

Yunho had even witnessed one poor male so distracted by her that he had walked straight into a flagpole. 

 

Yoona had dark brown eyes and long locks of brown hair but there was more to Yoona than her physical beauty. She even had the bearing of the women of his race, fiercely loyal and protective of that she love while she had a gentle side he had witnessed, other than with Yuri and the other two girls when she had stopped to smell the roses of the garden out front of Yuri's dormitory. She had the petals of the rose so delicately that Yunho found himself unable to look away in wonder that one so tough in appearance and will at the same time be so feminine while still maintain the pretense of a tomboy. 

 

Yoona reminded him strongly of a female he had in his pack centuries ago who had been kill in the war. She had been a lover but unfortunately not a mate of Changwook, his third in command. She had been a force to be reckoned with, a force that he hadn't known again until Jessica had come into maturity and had found her strength. Yunho was so thankful that Yuri had such loving and protective friends in her life. They made her smile and come alive in a way that he hopes one day he would soon make her do. When she was with them, the sadness that burden her heart and soul seem to ease from her bright soulful eyes. Her eyes betray that she was still mourning a great loss in her life, although just who she had lost he didn't know he was beginning to suspect that it had been one or both of her parents. Yuri hadn't said a single word about her parents or receive any contact from them for as long as he had been watching her. Surely, her parents would be almost as protective of her as he now was. 

 

Watching her for the last few nights had given him a great insight into her life and herself. She had the most beautiful name, a name descended from the moon goddess, to match her outer and inner radiance. Yuri. With her endlessly long flowing brownish black hair and dark brown eyes. She was the most petite and delicate of her friends, she was small that it claws at him to take her up in his arm and protect her for all of the time but it was her inner beauty that truly made her shine, that made her stand out. She had a selfless generous kindness and an endlessly loving noble heart, both of which were unmatched by any Yunho had ever known in all his long immortal life. When she laughs, the entire world seems to come to life and laugh with her but when she was sad all color seem to drain from everything around her. When someone came to her for help, she gave it. When her friends needed her, she was there without being asked and when someone needed to smile she would make them do so so effortlessly. 

 

Yuri was so much more than he would ever deserve. He wasn't any of the things that she was. He was darkness where she was light. She was love when he was only hollow dejection. Where she would forgive, he would condemn. How could he bring her into his world of darkness when she was light itself? Without light, without love, she would wither and die. How was he ever going to bring her into his world to be with him where she belongs when she loves the light so? 

 

Yunho bows his head and rested the end of his black muzzle against the cold damp earth he laid upon where he lay hidden in the shadows of the bushes. Breathing in the damp scent of the earth did something to soothe his restless thoughts. 

 

Yuri was mortal. He had tasted her flesh and blood. There wasn't one ounce of anything of the immortal races within her. This meant that she wouldn't only age and die like a mortal in less than a century, she would also be as a china doll in his violent and savage world; so helpless against even the weakest of the immortal races. She would always be in danger, even in his own house with his own pack. It would only take one accident to strip him of her but at the same time, it had already been proven that she wasn't safe in her mortal world either. 

 

A damned had fed on her and she still carried the scent on her flesh, heal or not; it would take months for the scent to no longer be distinctive to an immortal nose. Other damned would know that she was the escape still living prey of another damned. This would make her a target as they would want to finish her off either to preserve their secret or to have the prey that had somehow escape another. 

 

What was he going to do? And what was his own pack going to do when they discover that his destined mate was mortal? 

 

As he saw it, there were only two ways this could go. First, they could reject her because she was mortal or they could see her as a new reason to hope which was something that his people needed but if it turns out that it wasn't so, it would destroy what little hope his people had left. 

 

Why did the situation have to be so complicated? Yuri was his mate, it should be that simple. Take her to his pack, claim and mark her and keep her safe, protected and happy for the rest of their days and Yunho was no fool. He knew it as surely as his pack would when they discover her. Yuri was mortal and she would die as all mortals did and when she did he would follow her for now that he had found his mate, he could never be without her. 

 

Not for anything. 

 

His people depended so heavily on him for so many reasons. He was the prince of his entire race, the future king of the Lycan kind, the next supreme alpha. He was also the strongest and most powerful of his race as his dad was no longer in his prime. Yunho had royal blood coursing through his vein and this made him stronger and gave him the abilities the rest of his race rarely gain. He was also evidence that the beast could be fought and held at bay. He was the symbol of hope for those of his kind who were desperately struggling to hold back their beast from becoming the damned. 

 

Yunho was no fool and he wasn't narcissistic. He didn't think himself so important that his kind would fall without him but he loves and cares deeply about his people. It was his duty to protect and guide them. If even one fell because he did...but Yunho couldn't just turn his back on his mate and leave her either. He needed her as much as she needed him. 

 

For the first time since he had been a young pup, Yunho had no idea what to do. He knew what he should do and what he wanted to do but they contradicted so greatly that he was conflicted and he couldn't wait much longer to make a choice either. He hadn't hunted the damned since he had found her, a duty that lay heavily upon his shoulders. He was what the damned fear and he was the strongest and most skilled of his people and of those who hunted the damned. If the damned discover that he was preoccupied and wasn't hunting then so many more innocent mortals would die as the damned could become more daring. 

 

Maybe even a few of his own pack would fall as a result. 

 

Yunho felt so lost. 

 

All of a sudden the wind shifted. 

 

Yunho's nose twitch and one ear perk up high on his head. 

 

That was the only betrayal of his shift of focus. One moment Yunho was lying in the bushes closest to Yuri's dorm, watching as the girls ready themselves for their night out on the town and the next he was flying through the air that had been at his back with his pointed teeth bared and his razor-sharp thick claws extended to their fullest length. He easily clears the fifty feet and hit the intruder in his vicinity squarely in his thick furry chest. 

 

Yunho was growling so savagely that saliva was spraying from his muzzle and his eyes blaze with their murderous intent as he snarls down into the face of his enemy. His entire wolf form was poised, ready for the kill of he who was the threat to his mate. There was no reason or hesitation left within him. His only instinct was to kill the immortal who had been sneaking up behind him, who was the threat to his mate. 

 

That was all that matter, killing this threat to protect his mate. To protect Yuri. 

 

'Yunho! It's me!' A familiar voice cried hastily into his murderous frenzied mind. 

 

Some distant part of him that still knew reason, the part of him that had always been heeded before his mate seem to recognize the voice through the ravenous thirst for blood and then Yunho recognize the shade of the pelt of the large wolf that Yunho had pinned on the ground, belly up, beneath his enormous paw with claws so strong and sharp that they could tear through solid steel. Next, the familiar scent of his pin captive reach his nose and his senses were finally able to reach through the animistic instincts and urge that was his beast. 

 

His captive was fortunate that he was so experienced and control, for any younger than him would have been beyond reason when it came to protecting his mate. The will and need to protect ones mate when to the very deepest truest instinctive animalistic part of themselves and their beast. When it came to the protection of one's mate, it was the beast that dominated and the beasts first instinct was to kill the threat without mercy or hesitation; kill now, ask questions never. 

 

Despite recognizing the male wolf he had pin firmly against the ground, who fortunately for him hadn't resisted in the least when he had been taken down, who had and still was showing his belly freely in the clear display of submission, Yunho didn't ease his hold in the slightest. 

 

Yunho growl furiously, baring all his teeth threateningly down into the wolf face and eyes of his first beta. If Yunho hadn't been so preoccupied and all-consumed with the thought of his mate and his conflicted thoughts of what to do, he would have sense, heard and smelt the Lycan before he had even entered the mile perimeter. 

 

'What the hell are you doing here?!' Yunho snarl into his first beta's mind, his eyes still blazing with murderous fury, 'Why are you following me?!' 

 

Donghae remains perfectly still beneath him, clearly wary of setting him off again with his beast so near the surface, 'Jessica fears for you.' 

 

In that answer, Yunho understood that Donghae had acted so stupidly and acted against him for his mate, for the Lycan princess that they both love and fiercely protected. That was something Yunho could forgive more easily now. 

 

'I could have killed you!' Yunho snap irritably, as he retracted his claws and jump back from his beta. 

 

Donghae slowly climb onto all four of his paw and eye him with cautious bewilderment, 'How was it that I was able to get so close unnoticed? I have never been able to get that close to you unnoticed before, not nearly in a thousand years.' 

 

Yunho turns his back to his first beta, irritable that his friend was right. Even his first beta should never have been able to get so close without Yunho noticing him much sooner. If he had been an enemy he would have been taken by surprise and maybe even kill him. 

 

Something Yunho couldn't let happen. If he dies then Yuri wouldn't only be left unprotected but she would be left alone in the world. She needed him as much as he needed her. 

 

'I haven't seen you this tense since the end of the vampire war when you sought out revenge for Jaejoong.' Donghae remain behind him but was watching him closely, 'What has you so on edge? So ready to kill?' 

 

Yunho didn't answer him. First, he didn't want Donghae to find out about Yuri and second, he didn't really know how to answer one of his closest and most trusted friends and brothers in arms. 

 

Instead, Yunho turns his attention back to Yuri's room only to find with sheer icy dread and panic that she was no longer there. There wasn't anyone in her room now. 

 

She must have left while he had been distracted with Donghae. He should have never taken his attention away from her for so long. Hell, he shouldn't have taken his eyes away from her at all. 

 

If Donghae hadn't been such a close friend and trusted brother Yunho may have killed him or at the very least gutted him. 

 

'Whoa!' Donghae gasp, from behind him with an involuntary shudder as Yunho felt him back away from him in wary trepidation, 'I haven't felt such malice from you before. What the hell is going on?' 

 

Yunho felt his best friend become wary and took another wary step back as his eyes went wide and horror and gut-wrenching dread fill him. 

 

'Are you turning?' 

 

Yunho growl with so much frustrated anger, the noise so loud that should any mortal be in the area they would have heard him, that Donghae flinches back from him. Yunho didn't have time for this. He had to find Yuri before something else finds her. 

 

Nothing else matter. He had to find Yuri and keep her safe. 

 

So fast that even Donghae was alarmed, Yunho leaps into the air and whirl his entire body around so that he was now glowering into the eyes of his first beta who would obey him without question, 'We have to find her and you will die to protect her if necessary! Do you understand?!' 

 

Donghae had serve Yunho for nearly a thousand years. They had grown up together, they all had but Donghae didn't know the man snarling viciously at him now. He had never seen him anything like this before. 

 

For one brief moment, Donghae truly fear that his alpha had fallen into damnation. There was such malicious and ferocious anger pouring off of him in waves so thick that Donghae found his shackles raise and his instincts wary and on full alert. He wouldn't have put it past his alpha to actually attack him and go for the jugular for the kill. His eyes were so ablaze with a fury that they were black. 

 

They look like the eyes of a damned. 

 

'Yunho.' 

 

With a murderous ferocious roar, Yunho charge passes him and took off at full speed away from him in the direction of the city. 

 

Donghae's eyes widen in horror as he watches his alpha and brother fly through the night away from him at such incredible speed. No. He couldn't let Yunho kill. He couldn't let him fall fully into damnation by tasting mortal flesh. 

 

He had to stop him. 

 

Whatever the cost. 

 

With a heavy and fearful heart Donghae race after his alpha, best friend and closest brother. Knowing he had needed help, Donghae reaches for the mind of his wolf mate. 

 

As bonded immortal mates, they could reach each other's minds no matter how far apart they were, they could even feel each other's emotions as clearly as they could feel their own. 

 

In a far corner of his mind, Donghae was mourning for his people and pack. If Yunho turn then there was no hope left for any of them for there were none stronger than their prince. 

 

Who, Donghae would have sacrificed his very soul to change it, they might just have to kill this night. 

 

The music was too loud, the club was too pack and the drinks were outrageously price but Yuri was having the time of her life. She loves the pop music playing with a joyous uplifting beat that was easy to dance too, she loves the feeling the alcoholic drinks left behind and she loves dancing amongst the crowd like she didn't have a care in the world. 

 

How she loves to dance, almost as much as she loves going out with her friends. None of them currently had a boyfriend so there was no one to divide their attention. They were free to dance with a stranger or just dance together in a tight group in the middle of the dance floor. 

 

Yuri felt happy and carefree. There was nothing weighing her down here in this place of high reckless spirits and fun. There was no sense of destiny or haunting dreams of impossible mythical attackers. 

 

Or the memory of a dark stranger who wouldn't stop haunting her dreams and leaving her with a sense of longing that seems to reach right down into her soul and squeeze her heart tight with its unshakable grip. 

 

Yuri sat at one of the tiny round club tables just to the right of the dance floor, the stool Yuri sat on was so high off the floor that she had to jump up onto it, Yoona had annoyingly just gracefully slid onto hers with her feet dangling half a foot above the floor. 

 

All the people, mainly between the ages of eighteen and mid-twenties, were dancing, drinking, laughing, flirting and having fun in the dark overcrowded, loud club with disco style techno-color lighting. At the table, her three best friends in the world sat around her with their different color drinks in hand. 

 

Yuri personally like the fruity or what some call girly drinks. She like the taste of over-flavor sweeten fruit on her tongue and the feeling the alcohol had in her belly. She didn't drink often and she drank to excess even less. She didn't like getting drunk; tipsy yes, drunk no. There was something within her that just refuse to let go of her self-control. She couldn't completely let herself get out of control, even when she was with her friends and for the life of her, Yuri couldn't figure out what it was that stop her from letting loose as completely as her friends did. Maybe it had something to do with her parents, maybe not. 

 

Maybe she was just a sensible girl. 

 

To distract herself from the disheartening thoughts of her parents, Yuri turns her attention to her friends, each who was dress to kill. 

 

Yoona was dress in a black faux leather patent long sleeve bodycon party dress. She wore a silver rhinestone dangle earring. Her hair was let down, as usual, split from one side and straighten. 

 

She looks downright lethal and had over half of the guys in the club, single or not so much, eyeing her. She had already been asked to dance by at least a dozen different guys; she had only turn them down because she was loyal to the girl's nights out concept. 

 

Seohyun had worn a white crochet sleeveless bodycon party dress. She had also let her hair down, split from the opposite side, with curls hanging down her back. The only jewelry she wore was the silver rhinestone dangle earrings and a gunmetal high polished mesh design rhinestone trim watch around her left wrist. She looks y but there was a hint of sweetness to her look that Yoona hadn't gone for. 

 

Taeyeon as always had dressed more modestly but she didn't look any less of a knockout, not that she realizes that. Whenever they or anyone for that matter told her, Taeyeon blushes deep red and shyly look away. It was sweet and adorable. Unfortunately, because she was so shy, she didn't date much. It took a real special guy to really see Taeyeon for what she was and to realize that she really was worth that little bit of extra effort it took to sweep her off her feet. 

 

Taeyeon appears to be all logic and intelligence but she really was a romantic underneath. She wanted to fall in love just as much as the next girl. She was dress in a black sleeveless beaded cut out bodycon party dress. She didn't do much with her hair but had it in a messy bun on the top of her head and silver rhinestone bow earrings and while Yuri had wanted to hit the town, she wasn't in the mood so much to have guys hitting on her. However, she still was a girl and her feminine pride hadn't let her leave her dorm without at least dressing up a little bit. 

 

She wore a red ribbed cut out long sleeve casual crop top and a pair of black distressed stretchy mid-rise skinny jeans. After studying for so long, she had wanted to leave her hair down literally. She loves her hair but it took a lot of maintenance. While studying she had to keep it up to keep it out of her face but she let her hair down when she was out with the girls most of the time and after her attack, whether it had actually happened or not, Yuri had decided to forgo the high heels and had gone for more practical shoes. Her runners weren't y but they were comfortable and practical and she was able to run in them; somehow though her new black sequins, sneaker flats seem to go perfectly with the outfit. Her jewelry consisted of a silver faux pearl hoop earrings she had borrowed from Taeyeon, a silver eleven piece bracelet set around her left wrist that she had borrowed from Yoona and her own gold cross accent simple casual necklace. 

 

It was strange what went together, outfit-wise anyway. 

 

Yuri turns her attention to Yoona, who sat to her left, as she leans towards her and said loudly enough for her to hear over the music, "Yuri, are you alright? You seem distracted tonight." 

 

Damn. Yuri had tried so hard not to be but there was a wordless voice at the back of her mind that was refusing to let her completely relax. She didn't know what the voice was trying to tell her but it almost felt as if something was wrong. Something that was keeping her lock in a constant state of anxious restlessness. 

 

Yuri forces a smile to her pink color lips and lies to one of her best friends in the world, "I'm fine." She raises her drink pointedly, "I just think I'm drinking too many of these." 

 

Seohyun, who along with Taeyeon, had been listening to their conversation, look at her like she was nuts, "Yuri, that's only your first drink of the night." 

 

Is that really all she had had? Yuri looks at the glass she had only taken eight sips out of, realizing the girls were right; she hadn't drank enough to affect her hardly at all. Yuri shrugs her shoulders and forces a more relax edge into her smile, "I guess I shouldn't be drinking on an empty stomach, huh?" 

 

All three girls exchange concern glances with each other that they made no attempt to hide from her. 

 

Not liking the fact that she was spoiling her friend's fun, Yuri picks up her black faux leather mini clutch from the table and slid awkwardly off of the stool. 

 

"Nuts and fruits anyone?" Yuri asks loudly in a way of an excuse, for leaving the table alone. 

 

Before they could answer, Yuri step into the crowd and was out of sight within three steps but instead of heading towards the bar, Yuri headed in the opposite direction towards the restroom. She needed to get away from everyone for a moment, she suddenly felt a little claustrophobic. 

 

The bathrooms weren't the cleanest she had ever seen in a club but the ones here were suitably clean. The owner of the club was a very wealthy businesswoman who understood that other women really didn't like using filthy restrooms. As Yuri heard it, the woman took a lot of pride in her club and other businesses. 

 

Maybe that was why she was so successful and rich to boot. 

 

Shrugging off the thought, Yuri enters the ladies room and touch up her makeup which consisted of a little black mascara and some pink lipstick. 

 

Catching sight of her neck in the huge mirror over the sink, Yuri froze as the memory of her attack flash before her eyes. She could still feel the piercing pain of pointed fangs piercing the flesh of her neck. She could still hear the slurping sounds as he drank her blood greedily. She could still smell the scent of death that had hung around her attacker like an awful cologne that he frequently bathed in. 

 

Tentatively, Yuri reaches up and pull the collar of her shirt back to reveal the only piece of evidence there had been of her attack, the only thing that hadn't let her conclusively shrug the attack off as a bad dream. 

 

There on her neck was the almost heal bite mark. Yuri couldn't explain it but when she had woken the morning after the attack, the wound was nothing more than an angry red mark. The wound looks weeks old, not six days old. It didn't even hurt, in fact, if she hadn't known better she would have thought it was a hickey. 

 

Yuri gently creases her hand over the faint pink mark, this time a different memory echoing across her flesh. The dark stranger's musky earthy scent as his tongue gently her wound, caressing her torn flesh so tentatively that the action had almost been seductively endearing. 

 

Yuri closes her eyes against the memory and parted her lips as her breathing pick up from what she knew was lingering arousal that was so much more potent that it should have ever been. Her body was buzzing and tingling with the sensitive awareness that border on the verge of arousal and she shudder uncontrollably at the wanting, need and hunger; it became difficult to focus on anything but the aching yearning. In her mind she pictures him her neck again, except this time it wasn't because she had a wound and her legs threaten to give out beneath her. She was forced to lean against the sink as the shuddered of pleasure and wanting vibrate torturously, deliciously through her. 

 

The dark stranger had been so handsome, so overpowering to her feminine awareness with his raw ual demeanor. He had radiated lethal power and raw like the sun radiated heat. His gaze had been so piercing, so intense and heated that her soul had felt beneath that penetrating soulful stare. There had also been something else in those eyes, a sadness that ran so deep it pulls at her heartstrings so tightly that he could have choked her with them and there had been a fleeting trace of hope there, too. As if he were drowning in the middle of the ocean and she had been a tropical paradise island. 

 

Dear god. She could feel herself growing moist as her entire body buzz and cried out demandingly for the dark stranger's touch. She wanted to feel the hardness of him buried so deeply inside of her that she felt nothing but him, that she was aware of nothing else but his heat and strength as he harder, deeper into her. 

 

Sweet Jesus. Yuri opens her eyes, snapping herself out of the wet slash daydream and gasp at her reflection. She was panting like a in heat, her face and neck were flush with arousal and her eyes were alien to her. Never had she seen such wanton desire in her own eyes. Never had she felt such yearning that was hot enough to burn her from the inside out. If the dark stranger had been there she wouldn't have hesitated. She would have jumped him and beg him to take her, that she was his to do as he pleased. 

 

Realizing that her hand was her neck like an intimate lover, Yuri slams both of her hands down on the sink so hard that the sound of flesh contacting with a hard surface echo through the bathroom. 

 

Yuri stare into her own eyes reflected in the mirror feeling like a stranger in her own flush heated skin. 

 

What the hell was happening to her? And who in the hell was the dark stranger who had left his mark on her when he had hardly touched her? 

 

Yunho couldn't run fast enough. He could sense and hear Donghae pursuing him but he was having difficulty keeping up with him, already Yunho was blocked ahead of his first beta but Yunho refuse to slow down, even in the slightest. As it was it was all he could do to keep himself in the shadows as he ran to prevent himself from being seen as he speeds through the mortal city. 

 

There were advantages to his pelt being pure black; he blended into the shadow so well that he was part of the darkness. A soundless shadow moving through the night but that didn't mean that he couldn't be seen by someone who wasn't meant to see him. 

 

However, for the first time in his life, Yunho didn't care about being seen, about the secret of the immortals being discovered by the ignorant mortals. 

 

His only thought was of Yuri, his wolf mate. The woman he had been born to protect and have. How he had let her leave his sight galled him. He had to be so much more careful with her. He could lose her forever. 

 

That he knew all too well. He had had many friends and brothers throughout his long immortal life losing their mates for various reasons and he had seen what had become of them as a result. Death had been a mercy for them, a death they had sought quickly after the loss of their mate. 

 

Yunho had never heard of a single immortal, Lycan or vampire, outliving their mate by more than a day. Once a mate was taken, hope and the will to live were lost. 

 

Yunho didn't care a single bit for his own life, all that matter was hers. He could live or die as long as she lives. 

 

He had lived for a long time and Yunho had known much but never had he known a driving force like this. Never had he care less about his own survival and never had he move faster in a highly populated mortal area. His heart was pounding in his ear which wasn't that hard considering it currently resided in his throat and he was praying in every language he knew to the moon goddess that his mate was unharmed and far from danger. 

 

Yunho knew Yuri's scent better than any other and he could have followed it to her, even though they had left the campus in Yoona's Volkswagen Scirocco but fortunately he knew the club to which Yuri had gone. He had heard the girls talking about it while they had gotten ready. 

 

It wasn't close to the campus but it was popular with the young mortals who gladly seem to travel the distance. Instead of following the route the vehicle had taken, Yunho ran in a straight line as he could towards the location, hardly caring what lay in his way or for his brother in pursuit behind him even now planning, with a heavy heart, the best way to kill him if he had indeed turned. 

 

It didn't even bother Yunho, as it should have, that he would even kill his lifelong friend if he dares to come between him and his wolf mate. 

 

For once in his long immortal life, Yunho and his beast within were truly united as they now share the same goal, the same driving force, and hunger. In their need for her, they were forevermore united. 

 

Yuri drew in a deep breath, trying to find the nerve to open the door she was standing at and return to her friends. She had splashed some cold water on her heated face and done what she could to collect and calm herself. She had calmed down a little but the flush in her checks had refused to fade in the slightest. She looks like a radioactive tomato. The chances of her friends missing the evidence of her current state, even in the dim nightclub were akin to the chances of seeing a T-rex walk into the club and dancing the Macarena. 

 

As much as Yuri wanted too, she knew she couldn't stay in the bathroom forever. It would only be a few minutes more at the most before her friends came looking for her. She didn't want to worry them any more than she already had. She cares about them so much and she didn't want to spoil their fun any more than she already had. Yuri started to open the door and froze when she heard a chilling voice utter over the sound of the near-deafening throbbing music, "She has to be around here somewhere. You can smell the fallen damned on her." 

 

"She's been bitten. You can smell it." Another equally chilling voice said. 

 

Yuri's eyes grew wide in horror and she froze, unable to move. She didn't waste time with the denial that they weren't talking about her. She instinctively knew that they were after her and by the way they were talking, they were more than likely exactly like her attackers had been. 

 

It had been real, it had happened. She wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. Six nights ago she had been attacked by three vampires on the way back to her dorm and she had been saved by the handsome dark stranger. 

 

He was real. 

 

She had to get away before they found her. Her instincts scream at her to run and this time she was going to heed them without hesitating. 

 

Releasing the door, Yuri turns and as quietly and quickly as possible moves for the second door in the bathroom. She knew it was there but she had little idea where it led too, but right now she didn't really care. 

 

Throwing the door open as she ran through it without stopping to even check what was on the other side, Yuri was slap in the face by the icy cool air of the winter night. 

 

She was outside. Looking around Yuri realize that she had stepped out into the dimly lit alley that ran alongside and behind the club. The alley, like most in the city, was filthy litter with trash and debris with a few old dented and rusting dumpster and it smelt like vomit, stale alcohol, and decaying filth. 

 

She had to get out of there. She needed to make it to the crowded street and then call her friends to tell them that she was leaving. She would warn them to be careful but all she could do was hope that whoever had been talking outside the ladies room was only after her and would leave her friends alone. 

 

Yuri made a break for the street, knowing that it would only take her a matter of seconds to get to it and maybe a minute or two to hail a cab on the busy well-lit street. The club was fairly popular, there were always cabs dropping people off or picking them up. 

 

Yuri only made it a couple of steps before evil malicious laughter fills the alley, bouncing off the brick walls around her like a deep canyon and her blood turn to ice in her veins. 

 

The laughter had sounded way too close as if it had been coming from right behind her. 

 

Screeching to a halt, Yuri spun around but there was no one there. The alley was just as deserted as it had been when she had stepped into it. 

 

Something wasn't right. It was just like the other night. She knew that she was being watched, her skin prickled with the awareness of it and she hadn't imagined that laughter. 

 

Yuri's eyes widen in terror as the realization that she was being hunted descended down upon her with all the force of an avalanche and this time there would be no dark stranger to help her. She was all alone and she was going to die. 

 

'No!' A rebelling voice cried out fiercely, inside of her. She wasn't going to die in an alley and she sure as hell wasn't going to die without finding out what this sense of destiny she had carried with her for as long as she could remember meant. 

 

"You smell so good." A darkly purring voice rumble, from behind her with a wicked chuckle that sounded so alike that of a hyena. 

 

Yuri spun around once again, only this time there was someone or something there. He was taller than any of her other attacker had been, bigger too. He seems to have muscle upon muscle. The muscle on his arms rippled every time he moves; she could even see the rippling of his chest muscle through the soft wash dark denim blue shirt he wore. It was cold but all he wore was the shirt and a pair of slim black destroyed stretch jeans. His denim high top blue sneaker was the only thing he wore that look new. 

 

"Oh, smell her fear." Another voice purred, from behind her with dark anticipation and even darker appreciation, "Like a fine intoxicating wine." 

 

Yuri glance over her shoulder to see three others advancing on her, each dress in a mixture of dark leather or denim but two of the four look different than the one standing in front of her. Only two of the four look like her attackers from the other night. 

 

Where they had been pale, as if they had never seen the sunlight as vampires were said too, the other two were tanned and smelt like death, blood, and forests. They were different, they look different, they move different and they even dress differently. 

 

The main similarity between them all that Yuri notice was the black evil eyes that watch her as the predators she knew they were; she had witnessed that for herself firsthand. 

 

Fear and panic were overtaking her, Yuri turns and bolted past the first one to reveal himself even knowing that there was nowhere for her to go. They had cut her off from her only escape. She knew that the door back into the ladies room wouldn't open from the outside, there wasn't a door handle on the outside of the door and she knew that the alley on the other side was cut off by the back brick wall of the building behind it. There was nowhere she could go; all she knew was that she had to try something. 

 

She could at least put up something of a fight. 

 

Yuri knew she had reached the back wall only because they allow her, too. She ran until she had to stop and she helplessly, frustrated, kick the wall, not caring that it hurtled her; pain shooting through her foot and up her long leg but she ignores it. 

 

Knowing that there was nothing else for her to do, nowhere she could run, Yuri slowly turn around to face them knowing that she was trapped and that they were probably going to kill her just as her previous attackers had intended. 

 

"This one got guts." One of the tanned attackers said to the others. He almost sounded impressed. 

 

The taller of the pale attackers studied her carefully with cold black almond-shaped eyes. He appears to be thinking, studying her as if he couldn't understand something about her, "You have been tasted before." 

 

It was a statement, not a question. 

 

The second pale attacker looks at her quizzically. He was slightly less pale than the tall one, "How are you still alive?" 

 

Suddenly and without warning or any movement at all, the tall pale one wasn't a foot away from her anymore. He stood still and silent as if he had been standing there the entire time instead of meters away. 

 

Yuri presses herself back into the icy wall causing a chill to sweep through her, hoping to make herself a smaller target but she knew it was a futile effort. All she could do was remain perfectly still and keep her eyes on him the best she could as he slowly lean down towards her neck, the side with the bite mark. 

 

Yuri desperately fought to hold back her terrified tears. He was going to bite her, only this time he was going to drain her dry. There was no dark stranger to fight off her attackers. She was going to die and there was nothing she could do to stop them. 

 

They were, the two pale ones at least were vampires. She couldn't argue that fact anymore. Not when she could see the moonlight reflecting off their sharp pointed fangs but to Yuri's utter amazement, no pain came. Instead, she realizes that he was breathing deeply through his nose. His eyes were closed as if he were focusing on the scent and then without warning, he moves again, too fast for her eyes to see. One moment he was scenting her flesh and the next he was standing several feet away from her, even further back then the three who was with him. 

 

The other three tense, battle-ready and wary, at the tall pale one sudden alarm reaction. 

 

"What?" The bulkier of the tanned one ask, staring at him with fierce black eyes, "What is it?" 

 

The tall pale vampire snarl maliciously, his furious eyes focus on her so intently that she wondered if he was trying to burn her alive with only his dark blazing gaze. 

 

"I know that scent and I know it well!" He hisses, tense as if ready for battle, just like the vampires the other night had been when confronted by the dark stranger, "The Lycan prince!" He spat the words as if they were too disgusting for him to even say. 

 

Huh? Yuri blink in bewilderment; the Lycan prince? Were they talking about the ones who had attacked her or the dark stranger who had saved her? 

 

The other three reacted in union with fury, loathing and more than a noticeable touch of fear. Whoever it was, they were afraid of him just as much as they hated him. 

 

Suddenly four pairs of inhuman furious evil eyes were focused intently on her. 

 

Yuri gulp as her terror-fuel panic threatens to bring her dinner and half drink back up. They were going to kill her; that was for certain. 

 

"You are going to die, women!" The shorter of the two pale vampires snarl savagely, "But we will make it quick if you tell us what you know about him and how you know him!" 

 

Fear surged from Yuri's heart so forcefully that it was painful, spreading through her like icy poison. She didn't doubt for a moment that they could make her suffer in ways she couldn't even imagine but her last act upon this earth wouldn't be betraying the one man who had given her a few extra days of life, a few more days to spend with her friends. 

 

The tall pale one look at her with a hostile but uncertain gaze, "Why would the Lycan prince mark you?" He sounded puzzled, dubious "He's not a vampire so he has no reason to feed on you but if you were his damning prey then there is no chance that you had escaped him. So what are you that makes you so special that you are here alive and without harm?" 

 

Yuri didn't have it in her to speak, even if she did have the answers to his questions, she merely stood frozen in silence, allowing her silence to speak her defiance for her. She wouldn't have known what to say anyway, even if she did have enough intellectual capacity left within her to actually know what in the hell he was talking about, "Fine!" The tall vampire spat at her impenitently, as he took a threatening step towards her, "You will tell us one way or another!" 

 

Yuri wanted to close her eyes, she knew that this was it but she didn't have the gumption to do so. She was sorry she was going to leave her brother alone and cause her friends pain, friends whom she loves so much but at least they were safe inside the club. 

 

Yuri knew that he was going to bite her and take her blood, just as the one six nights before had done, only this time the dark stranger wasn't there to save her and even though Yuri had no idea what the tall vampire had been talking about, she knew, had guess, that somehow, even after days had passed, they had been able to smell either her dark protector or those who had bitten her on her. 

 

Had these past five days been borrow time? Had it been her fate or something to die that night but the dark stranger had intervened? In any case, it seems that death had finally caught up with her. 

 

Yuri was grateful for the few extra precious hours she had spent with her friends. She was only sorry that she hadn't spent any of her borrowed time with her brother. 

 

The tall pale one leans over her again but this time Yuri knew that he wasn't merely going to sample her scent, this time he meant her harm. He wanted answers but she had none to give so whether it came soon or not, she was going to die by the pale one's hand. 

 

Yuri closes her eyes waiting for the pain that would end her life but after agonizingly long and fear-fill moment, without warning, a deafening purely piss off animalistic roar pierce the night like an audible explosion, blocking out all other sounds. 

 

Yuri's eyes snap open, seeing only the black material of the vampire's clothing as he stood scarcely an inch from her, even as he turns as the roar vibrate through the alley and then, in the space of a blink of an eye, the tall pale vampire was gone, the space in front and over her that he had been occupying was now an empty space. 

 

Yuri blinks in confusion and forces her eyes to focus on what was happening around her. That was when she found the tall pale vampire; he was crouch on his hands and knees with his three companions several feet away from her. The tall vampire look unsettles as if he had been taken by surprise by an enemy that he truly despises and then a wolf, the size of a huge male bear that was as black as night, landed with silent lithe agility in front of her, between her and her four attackers. With an enrage deep-throated growl, the black wolf look over his shoulder at her, swiftly scanning her from head to toe with his intense gaze and then turn his furious deadly gaze back to the four attackers as he made a show of planting himself firmly between them. 

 

It was all Yuri could do not to scream. 

 

Yunho's blood was boiling from his blinding murderous fury, though it should have been impossible since the heart pumping the blood felt as if it were made of ice, ice forge of heart-shattering terror. He wanted their blood, their lives but more than that he wanted to inflict agony such as they have never known upon them for daring to not only come near his mate but terrify her and threaten her harm. He wanted to spend days, weeks, taking them apart piece by piece by the most horrific means possible. 

 

He could feel his beast clamoring wrathfully within him, roaring in demand for their life's blood for daring to come near what was his. His beast wanted to fight, to main and kill; to destroy. To taste the life's blood of those who had threatened what he values most. His beast wanted to be let loose upon them. 

 

Yunho could smell the putrid scent of his mate's fear and he was sorely tempted to let his beast lose upon his enemy to do as it so murderously craved. 

 

The four damned, two former vampire and two former Lycans, shrank back from him; one of the vampire damned Yunho even recognize but it was clear that all four recognize him for who and what he was. 

 

Yunho had never been so furious, so blood-thirty with such overwhelming ferocity, in all his immortal life and he had lived for nearly a thousand years, most of which he had been on the front lines of two wars. He had never wanted to kill, to maim, as badly as he did now. 

 

"Yunho!" The tallest of the damned vampire snarl, his way of greeting him. 

 

Yunho knew the damned vampire. He was one of the eldest, longest surviving of the damned. His name was Minho and he had only been three hundred and change when he had feasted on mortal lifeblood and become one of the damned and a ruthlessly cunning power-hungry damned he had become. 

 

The damned across the planet had one leader, the nastiest, eldest and most powerful and cunning of their kind. Nearly one thousand years old they all serve him, the former vampire calls Yoochun. 

 

Minho was Yoochun's beta. 

 

If Minho was in the city then chances were that Yoochun was as well and the thought brought Yunho no comfort. Only a week ago Yunho would have been pleased to know that the damned he had been hunting for the better part of a thousand years was so close but now he had his mate to protect, it struck fear into his immortal heart. 

 

Yunho snarl aggressively in greeting to Minho in return, flattening his ear tighter against his thick fur head and baring every tooth he had in murderous warning. The wolf, the beast, within him scream in demand for revenge in the form of life's blood for the fear he could smell in his mate's scent. The scent was bitter and overpowering to his wolf nose and it put him into complete overdrive with murderous blood-thirty fury. 

 

This mortal female, this woman, was his wolf mate and he would fight to the death to protect her. He would kill anyone without hesitation if they were in any way of a threat to her. He wanted to scream it to the entire world so loud that everyone and everything across the entire planet knew that this woman was his and any who dare to come near her would die an agonizing death by his own hand. 

 

This mortal female was his and he would disembowel any who dare to attempt to take her from him or mean her harm. 

 

Yunho didn't like the way Minho's eyes narrow on him and his mate in his efforts to understand what was going on. He was no fool, Yunho knew that his enemies regarded him as having no weakness but the moment his enemies learn of his wolf mate, he knew that they would regard her as his one weak spot and she would then become the most sort-after vulnerable creature on earth. 

 

She would also be the most fiercely protected creature on this earth; he would make sure of it. Nothing else matters but the safety and well being of his wolf mate. 

 

Minho slowly rose to his feet but maintain his defensive stance, "I'm as old as you, Yunho. I have witnessed you upon the battlefield more times than I can recall but never have I seen you so fiercely protective of another. Not even that gorgeous sister of yours. What makes this mortal so special that you protect her as fiercely as you would your own mate?" 

 

Yunho was very careful not to give any reaction to Minho's words; as much as a twitch of his ear could and most likely would betray the truth of just how spot on Minho was to the heart of the matter. 

 

Minho look passes Yunho at the young female mortal, hiding his frustration and growing suspicion well. He didn't want the Lycan prince to clue into his thoughts. There was something special about this mortal female but he couldn't figure it out. There was nothing special about her, yes she was gorgeous but he had seen greater beauty. He had tasted her scent up close and other than the telling scent of a damned feeding on her and the Lycan prince's own distinctive scent, there was nothing special about her. She was mortal; Minho knew it as sure as he knew his own name. 

 

What was he missing? What importance could this tiny mortal have to the scourge of the damned immortals? Yunho could see it in Minho's eyes that he was trying to work it out and Yunho couldn't allow that. He couldn't let his second greatest and most powerful enemy discover the truth about Yuri, not while he was outnumbered with his mate in the vicinity. He needed to deal with Minho now, just as he had wanted to do since he join Minho so long ago. 

 

With only the good fortune that fate's hand could bring, Donghae lung into the alley behind them, causing all four of them to turn around in response, realizing that they had an enemy at their back. 

 

Yunho wasn't one to let an opportunity pass. Before the four damned realize that he was taking advantage of their momentary distraction, Yunho lung at the largest of the two damned Lycan and with a single fatal swing of his large powerful claw, the damned fell to the ground dead with his throat slit so deeply that barely an inch of flesh kept him from being decapitated. He never even saw Yunho's attack coming but he wasn't so fortunate with the remaining three now that they realize that they were under attack. 

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Yunho saw Donghae take down the small of the damned Lycan, swallowing the damned's neck and upper torso in his giant jaw and shacking him with a brutal violent force that would have splinter a mortal's bones like toothpicks. To the immortal, it would break or at least damage a couple of bones. Lycan's were strong and fast in human form but only in their wolf form was their true power and strength reveal. In human form, in a one on one honorable battle against one in wolf form, depending on age and experience, the Lycan in human form could defend himself for a good while before he was forced to either change or flee if he wanted to live. 

 

Trusting Donghae, as long as he remains on the opposite of him from Yuri, to take care of the remaining Lycan, Yunho turns his attention back to the two remaining damned, both vampires damned. 

 

Only to find Minho was nowhere in sight, it was true to Minho's style to flee if the odds were anything but unfair in his favour and the second damned vampire had his back to him, fleeing but before the damned could escape the alley by the obvious means of jumping onto the three stories high roof of the nightclub, that was providing loud and convenient noise to cover the racket they were making, Yunho lung into the air, his two front paws landing on the damned's back and taking him down to the ground beneath his massive bulk and greater weight, crushing him between his weight and the filthy damp asphalt. 

 

Unfortunately, the remaining damned refuse to go as quickly and as easily as the two damned Lycans had. 

 

The damned vampire twisted beneath him and kick out with both of his feet that connected hard with Yunho's belly and sent him flying but Yunho wasn't fear by all the damned for anything. Twisting his body with catlike agile precision, Yunho's four feet landed vertically on the wall and with a powerful spring, Yunho was flying through the air, back towards the damned who had leaped to his feet in time for Yunho to come once again crashing into him. 

 

Catching the damned vampire's right arm between his long razor sharp teeth, Yunho extended his razor claws once again and this time when they landed, Yunho's left claw pierce the damned vampire's ribcage and heart with a deafening soggy crunch. 

 

Yunho could feel the cold pavement beneath the pad of his paw while the wet blood from the damned's chest soaks his paw and ankle. 

 

Yunho let the body of the damned vampire fall from his mouth, knowing that Minho had fled when he had realized that Yunho's cavalry had arrived and he wouldn't reappear tonight. Four against one, that was odd that no one, immortal or mortal, wanted to go up against. One on one against any of them, Minho would have a fight on his hands but it would be an even one. 

 

Yunho senses his remaining two beta's enter the alley as he wretch his paw from the dead damned vampire's crush ribcage and was finally able to turn his full attention to his mate. He hadn't caught the scent of Yuri's blood which told him that he had arrived in time to save her from becoming a late night snack but he still wanted further assurance that she had suffered no harm. 

 

However, before he could take more than a single step towards her, Yunho heard three sets of frantic paw step and suddenly his path to his mate was block by three wolves equal to his own size. 

 

Donghae stood directly in front of him, tense and battle ready, obviously preparing to take the first attack from their alpha should he attack them. His other two beta's flank him, just as prepared to jump into the fight. 

 

His own betas, his own brothers, were prepared to fight him to the death because they fear that he had fallen to his beast, become a damned or were about, too. 

 

Yunho found himself oddly proud of them but more than that he was murderously irritated. His beast cried out for the blood of those who stood between him and his mate, however, fortunately, for his brothers, he had more control than that, control that came from all his long centuries of life and battle. He growls at his beast and assures it that Yuri was in no danger, after all, if he had turn was it not better than his own to protect her, even against their own alpha? 

 

The beast growl within him, the growl carried and release from his muzzle before he could prevent it. It was a sound of deadly warning against his three brothers in wolf form that stood between him and his wolf mate. Had he not been so old, so practice in his patience and control and had he not love them as brothers, his beast wouldn't have even given the warning but instead torn them apart for the unforgivable offense of coming between him and his mate. 

 

'Move.' Yunho commanded them, and that's exactly what the word was. As an alpha, his word was to be obeyed without question or hesitation. 

 

'We won't let you stain your lips with human lifeblood.' Donghae's resolve voice thought into his own mind, his resolve set in his tone. 

 

'No matter what, we won't let you turn Yunho.' Changwook added, with conviction and brotherly promise. Changmin look into his wolf eyes imploringly with his own, 'Please, Yun? You are stronger than this. We know you can beat it. Your beast is yours to master, not the other way around.' 

 

Oh, for crying out loud. Yunho had had enough of this, 'I have not nor am I going to fall to my beast! Now, get out of my way!' 

 

They visibly wince as his loud and weight baring command echo through their skulls. 

 

Scenting great fear, Yunho look pass Donghae to see Yuri press against the back wall of the alley, her eyes wide as saucers and fill with terror as she stares unblinkingly at the four bear size wolves before her, one of which had just slaughter two of her attacker in a brutal and bloody battle. 

 

It was like a switch had been flick within him, the change was that immediate. Yuri was no longer in danger and she was here in his sight. A wave of peace, tranquillity, and worry wash down over him and just like that he was completely in control once again; even his beast settle within him, now calmly urging only that he comfort his mate and take her someplace safe. He felt his body relax and just like that he was at peace. 

 

The three beta's gawk as the instant and noticeable change came over their alpha. One moment he had been fierce and murderous, the next with only one glance upon the mortal woman cowering at their backs, he had calm down. Both mentally and physically. 

 

The three beta's had no clue what was going on. What had gotten into their alpha? 

 

Yunho smile what he knew was a wolf's gentle affectionate smile, his eyes glued to her as he now knew the true meaning of peace. 

 

'She's my wolf mate.' 

 

Yunho heard their collective gasps in complete and utter shock but he didn't care about them. Calmly, slowly, Yunho walk through them and approach his mate, trying to be as less threatening as possible. 

 

Which wasn't easy for a wolf, especially one the size of a car that had just battle and spill life's blood before her wide terrified eyes. 

 

Knowing that he had no other choice and that it was going to freak her much more than she already was, Yunho calls upon the essence within him and will it to turn him back to his human form. Mortals would have called it magic that allows them to change between the two forms but they didn't think of it that way. It was just part of who and what they were and they were grateful for it. 

 

Mostly. 

 

Yuri wasn't sure exactly when she had lost her mind but she was now certain that she had as the jet black wolf that had just fought off her attackers was changing into the shape of a man, morphing like something from a science fiction movie. It was like the wolf had just stood up on his hind legs and somewhere along the way had evolved into a man before her eyes. 

 

A man. Yuri kept her eyes firmly on his face, not even daring a glimpse south. 

 

As the man who had a moment before been a wolf the size of a car raises his head to meet her eyes Yuri instantly recognize him, only her eyes physically couldn't possibly widen any further. 

 

"It's you." The words were barely a shocked whisper but when his lips form into a small careful smile she knew that he had heard her. 

 

The blissful empty blackness hit her with no warning. The world just went out like a light had been switched off. 

 

As her eyes roll into the back of her head as she fainted, Yunho rush forward and caught his mate before she could fall any more than half way to the cold hard ground at their feet. 

 

Knowing she had only fainted, despite the fear and panic that had risen like a tidal wave inside of him, Yunho lifted her tenderly into his arms, cradling her against his chest like the precious and delicate treasure that she was. 

 

Behind him, his three betas follow his lead and shifted back to human form, all three staring at her in bewildered wonder. 

 

"How can this be?" Changwook asks, none of them in particular in a mystified tone, "She's a mortal. I can smell it." "I don't know." Changmin answer in puzzlement. He, who was easily the most intelligent and knowledgeable among them, was stumped and without answers, "It's never happened before in any recorded history." 

 

Donghae was relieved that his brother hadn't become one of the damned but a new fear took its place, one of much graver dread, "Yunho." 

 

"Don't Donghae." Yunho warns him, his tone soft as he refuses to look up from the face of his mortal wolf mate, "She's mine. She's my destined mate and I don't give a damn whether she's immortal or not and I will have words with any who contest my right to her." 

 

They all knew what Yunho knew by words. 

 

As one, all three Lycan betas bow their heads respectfully in submission to their alpha and his will. 

 

A moment later, several feet down the alleyway, a door of the club open, drawing their immediate and alert attention. 

 

Being sure to keep the door open, Yoona steps out into the alley and look it up and down for any sign of Yuri who had gone for some snacks but hadn't come back. 

 

"Yuri?" Yoona calls into the motionless dimly lit night.

 

No answer. Everything was silent and still beneath the dim lights and the pale light of the moon above. The alleyway was empty and deserted. 

 

With concern building in her heart, Yoona steps back into the ladies room of the club, closing the door behind her to continue her search for their beloved sister. 

 

Five blocks away, four male figures move through the shadows, one of which carried the smallest fifth figure securely against his chest. 

 

Minho watches the prince and his three betas run off into the night, heading in the direction of their territory with the mortal female held possessively, almost tenderly, in the prince's arms. 

 

The only evidence of the battle that had occurred a few minutes before was the fire blazing in the dumpster, lit the moment the door had closed behind the dark hair mortal before the beta had followed after his alpha after cleaning up what remain of the three bodies of the dead damned. 

 

Minho was no newborn; he knew very well where the Lycan prince slumber. The prince's manor and surrounding territory was a sanctuary for all Lycan's on the continent. 

 

His eyes narrow in calculation and dark delight. 

 

Minho hadn't fled as the prince had thought he had, instead he had stay close enough to watch and listen with his supernaturally heighten vampire hearing. In war, information was far more valuable and dangerous than weaponry. 

 

Minho had heard every word they had spoken aloud and he grins with evil anticipation of their appending victory. So the Lycan prince had found his mate at last and even more superbly, she was mortal which made her so completely helpless and a vulnerable weakness. What's more was the fact that she was the first of her kind. 

 

A mortal female had been claimed as the mate of an immortal, something which had always been thought to be impossible in the immortal world. 

 

Yoochun was going to be pleased to hear about this. Finally, they not only had a way to the Lycan prince who before now had been untouchable, without weakness but they had what they had been waiting for. 

 

A way to increase the number of their kind other than waiting for the remaining immortals to fall into damnation and join them. The damned weren't gifted with mates, they couldn't breed as the uncurse could but now there may just be hope for that to change. 

 

Turning and disappearing into the darkness, Minho knew that things had changed this night and he was looking forward to tasting the lifeblood of the Lycan prince. 

 

At last, their time to conquer and rule had come. 

 

---

 

N/A: I'm sorry for not updating these past few days. I have fallen sick because of this bipolar weather, ugh and now have just barely gotten a bit better despite my still running nose and coughing so I will be back to updating regularly every weekend and thank you to everyone for being patient with me until now. 

 

- butt3rflyl0v3r ♡