Chapter 9 

 

It had been a long time since Yunho had felt such self-loathing for himself but in the silent darkness just before dawn, it was hard not to feel anything else. The moon had set hours ago leaving the darkness and a sky of twinkling stars behind, even to his immortal eyes that almost saw just as well as in daylight it seem darker than usual. 

 

Or maybe it was just himself that was darker, after what he had done in the last twelve hours it wouldn't surprise him if a dark stain had been left on his soul. 

 

Yunho stood where he had stood countless times before on the edge of his bed chamber's balcony but never had he felt this conflicted. How could he feel so happy and so wretched at the same time? 

 

He had killed his closest brother. The same brother he had mourn centuries ago had been alive all this time, trapped in the soul-destroying torment that was damnation and allied with his greatest enemy. He should be in mourning again but he wasn't. In truth Jaejoong really had died long ago, the moment he had fallen into damnation and the thing he had kill had worn Jaejoong's face but it hadn't been him. 

 

Or so Yunho kept telling himself.

 

How could he think himself any better after what he had done to his own mate this night? No matter what truths to morning brought when his mate woke up what had happened had happened because he had been too weak to face what he had been forced to do and had allowed his raging fresh-from-battle beast to maintain control. 

 

What in the goddess's name had he been thinking? With the battle-rage still fresh in his beast, he had allowed the coerced mating with his reluctant mate. 

 

Yunho looks over his shoulder, into the shadow of his bedchamber, at his mate who slept soundly in his bed. She appears even smaller, even more, delicate in his large bed. To make matters even worse, she had been untouched. 

 

Oh, goddess forgives him. 

 

Yunho bows his head and closes his eyes, unable to look at her after what he had done to her. He hated himself and his beast for everything Yuri had endured since meeting him but regardless of his self-loathing he still wanted her; he still hungers for his mate. 

 

How was he going to face her? And what was she going to think of him when she woke up?

 

The first thing Yuri became aware of as she reluctantly returns to the land of the conscious was that even though her body was warm and resting in a soft comfortable place, her entire body was aching, even throbbing in some places. Two places more predominant than the rest; between her legs running to the place deep inside her belly and the spot on the right side of her neck and shoulder where Yunho's beast had bitten her. She felt battered, bruised and sore. 

 

What the hell had she done last night? She couldn't remember; she knew she had have to wake up more to remember but she didn't want too. The more she woke up, the more aware she was of her throbs and aches. She wanted to go back to sleep where there was no discomfort or soreness; she wanted to go back to the peace of her dreams. 

 

Whatever her dreams had been. Oh drat, she was awake enough now that her dreams had faded that she couldn't reach them again. She had to wake up and face the day and her aching body. 

 

Not to mention the demanding need of her body. She was really hungry; she was craving a yummy greasy breakfast as she usually did the day after an exhausting day or a night out dancing and drinking with the girls. Only she couldn't remember ever being this drain or in need of replenishing. On top of her hunger, her body was telling her that she was in need of a really hot shower or a nice long soak in a bathtub. 

 

What had she done last night? And then it hit her with all the force of a meteor the size of the moon. 

 

Yuri's eyes snap open as she bolted upright in the bed into a sitting position, only realizing at the very last moment that any form of movement, especially the hasty kind, was a very bad idea. One her battered body in no way appreciated. 

 

Yuri remembers why she was feeling so achy and uncomfortable. Last night she had fallen asleep on the floor. . Beneath an equally Yunho. After they had... 

 

Yuri felt a slight chill across the upper half of her body and look down. She was completely and utterly . Yuri gasp softly and hastily reaches for the sheet to cover her bare and still so extremely sensitive that it bordered on pain, s as she looks around the room. 

 

The sun was up, although she had absolutely no idea what time of day it was and the room was flooded with the bright warm light of the sun. On the floor on the rug between the bed and door were shredded and torn pieces of the clothing she had worn yesterday and the room now had a very distinctive and unmistakable aroma to it. Inexperience she may be but naïve she wasn't. She had live in a campus dorm for crying out loud, such things as the smell of weren't uncommon in the world of the young and the reckless and finally sensing that she wasn't alone, Yuri finally turns and look down at the sleeping man in...well, his bed. He was lying on his side facing her and still had his arm draped around her waist as he continues to sleep soundly. 

 

At least while he was sleeping Yuri could like him. He wasn't a dominant overprotective, not to mention way over-possessive, jerk when his eyes were closed. 

 

As much as Yuri didn't want to admit it, Yunho looks so handsomely y lying there with those thick black locks of his hair caressing his face, the ends resting on the very top of his closed eyelids. His tanned well muscle, not overly muscular, just that perfect right amount that kept his body hard and tone, body had been grace by someone above who obviously favor him. 

 

In more ways than one. In fact, Yuri was sorely tempted to raise the sheet to see if he really was as well endowed as she remembers but she fought the temptation. The last thing she needed was for Yunho to wake up and catch her looking at his manhood and get the idea that she was in the mood for a morning repeat of last night. 

 

Not that the idea was completely repulsive to her but her body just wasn't up to it and by the feel of it, wouldn't be for some time. 

 

If she did decide that it could happen again. She wasn't even close to making that decision yet. First, she had to decide how she felt about last night and that wasn't something someone thought about so early in her day but the fact that she had some decisions to make was obvious and pressing. She had to work through everything and see where it left her.

 

Where it left them. 

 

Yuri's eyes narrow as she continues to watch him; something was off with this picture but she couldn't place it and then Yuri realizes just what was off. 

 

Yuri glare down at Yunho's still sleeping form accusingly, "You are awake pretending to be asleep, aren't you?" "Yeah." Came the prompt alert reply. 

 

There was no way Yuri was ready to face him, to talk with him about last night and where it left them, despite how clear it was to the both of them that things between them had changed and they needed to figure it all out. 

 

Yunho sigh and open his eyes, greeted by the sight of his wolf mate glaring down at him with the sheet press tightly against her front while leaving her back and backside bare for his eyes to feast on. 

 

She was so beautiful, so perfect, which only made the situation all the more awkward. He had been awake for the last hour, watching her sleep and trying to think of a way to deal with the consequences that the morning had brought with it. 

 

Yunho's greatest fear was that Yuri would hate him because last night hadn't exactly been mutually agreed upon. She hadn't protested in the end but she hadn't had the chance too. He distinctly remembers every moment of last night regardless of his beast being in the driver seat. He couldn't even truthfully tell her that it hadn't been him last night because it had been. The beast was a part of him and if he had really wanted to regain control, his beast wouldn't have been able to stop him. 

 

The truth was, now that he had time to reflect, that his beast had just been an excuse to do what he hadn't had the courage to do; to force Yuri into facing the fact that there was something between them that wouldn't just go away and now that he had, Yunho had what he wanted. Yuri wouldn't try to run from him now as she had before last night. 

 

Although if Yuri did accuse him of forcing her; she wouldn't be entirely wrong. 

 

Yunho would make no excuses for what he had done, not even to himself, even though he could have truthfully argued that it was the way of his world, an accepted way so long as harm wasn't inflicted but what matter was that it wasn't the way of her world, the mortal world. Women in the modern age had the right to say no even to their bonded mate. A right he hadn't respected. 

 

Yuri hadn't asked him to stop. Did that make any difference at all? Would he have stopped if she had asked? He honestly didn't know but it hadn't come to pass; she hadn't said the words. She had tried to run from him, she had called for Jessica but she hadn't told him to stop. 

 

For the first time in his long life, Yunho was entirely uncertain; the decision of how last night events had transpired lay completely in her hands. Had he forced his mate to mate with him? Had he taken her against her will? 

 

What was worse than that possibility was that he knew he had hurt her. 

 

His mate had been untouched until last night and at the mercy of his greater strength and size. He had been far too rough and forceful with her and Yunho had no idea what to do now or how his mate was going to react now that it was over and everything was calm. It would be her right to hate him, to scream and throw things at him and tell him that she never wanted to see him again. 

 

Yunho glance at his bite mark, the bonding brand, high on her collarbone with sad eyes. The mark was an angry red and swollen with only a few drops of smear blood; he had punctured the skin in a few places enough to draw blood. She would carry the mark, visible only to superior immortal eyes and his scent on her flesh for the rest of her life. 

 

There was no other mark or bruise on her skin that he could see but Yunho wasn't foolish enough to believe that she wasn't without discomfort or pain. He had hammer himself into her body too ruthlessly; she had to be in pain within, a pain that he couldn't take away with his healing saliva as he could and would with the bite mark. Yunho couldn't look at her anymore, not after her expression change beneath his gaze from an accusing glare to awkward and uneasy. 

 

There wasn't anything Yunho could do to undo the previous day but there were things he could do, small things, that would at least be a move towards making amends. 

 

Yuri didn't say anything when Yunho roll away from her with his sad regretful eyes with which he had been staring at the bite mark on her neck and jump out of the bed, completely and gloriously . 

 

Last night Yuri hadn't been able to catch anything but a peek at his beauty but now in the full light of day she was gifted with a clear unadulterated eyeful and she had to say wow. He really was all tone hard muscle without an ounce of fat anywhere. He was, from head to toe, exquisite perfectly shape male that had her all but drooling. 

 

Fortunately before Yuri completely lost her senses and demand loudly that he turn around to give her the frontal view, Yunho disappear into the bathroom and moments later the sound of running water fill the bedroom but it wasn't the shower. 

 

He was running the tap in the bathtub that was large enough for three people. 

 

Yuri listens as the water continues to flow and tried to decide what she should do; she hadn't exactly been in this situation before. Should she quickly throw on a rob and bolt from the room to find Jessica who would keep her safe from her brother if she asks it or should she wait where she was and see what Yunho intended to do? 

 

Yuri was afraid that if she stays in bed Yunho would take it as an invitation to go around which she just wasn't up too but on the other hand, what would he do if he heard her trying to run from him again? Would he lose it like he had last night? Would he stop her before she could even reach the door or in light of everything that had happened last night, would he let her go? 

 

Damn! She hated this. She hated that her life wasn't her own anymore, that she had absolutely no control over her own life. What she did was only because Yunho allow it and what she didn't want to do he force her to do. She had no freedom but what he allows and she couldn't do anything about it. 

 

Ever since her parents had died, Yuri had made certain that she was always in control of her own life. It was why she didn't drink or party to excess, why she never took much of a risk. She had a quiet, ok, some would call it dull, life and she like it that way. She had eaten when she had felt like it, studied when she chose and went out when she wanted too and she slept with who she wanted too when she wanted too. 

 

Yunho steps out of the bathroom and Yuri opens to blast him into next week but before she could say a word, he swiftly raises his arm in a halting gesture and said beseechingly, "Don't please. Whatever you have to say to me you can say after your bath. You have to be uncomfortable." 

 

Yuri felt her jaw drop as she stares wordlessly at him. He had sounded downright repentant. He walks up to her, gently lifted her body from the bed as if she was made of the most delicate fragile crystal that would break if he so much as jolted her and carried her into the bathroom. All the while keeping her just that little bit separated from his body as if he expected her to not want to touch him or be anywhere near him. 

 

In the bathroom, the bathtub was filled almost to the brim with steaming water cover with a thick layer of fluffy white foamy bubble. 

 

He had drawn her a bubble bath, Yuri had no idea what to think about that. 

 

Cradling her in his arm like a small child, Yunho lowers her slowly into the steaming, perfectly temperature, water. Yuri wince as her sensitive tender flesh came into contact with the hot water but didn't ask Yunho to lift her out; she knew she had adjusted to the temperature of the water and her sore aching body would soon succumb to the therapeutic effects of the hot steamy bath water. 

 

Now sitting comfortably in the bathtub, Yuri expected Yunho to lift his arms out of the water and leave but he didn't. 

 

Instead, very deliberately Yunho lower his mouth to her shoulder and the bite mark he had left on her the night before. He her just as he had that night they had first met, that night seems like it had happened an eternity ago. 

 

He gently her neck half a dozen times, covering the entire bite with his healing saliva before he pulls his arms from around her under the water and stood up, pulling away from her. 

 

With Yuri lying in the large bathtub, in which she could easily spread out in, Yunho place two large fluffy towels and robe that had been brought for her beside the bathtub and then he left the bathroom and bedroom like the hounds of hell were on his heels but Yuri barely even notice as she closes her eyes and settle into the bath that was heaven to her aching well-used body and peace fell over her conflicted mind as she shut everything out but the relaxing cleansing warm water. 

 

Yunho steps out of his bedroom to discover Jessica waiting for him with her arms crossed across her chest glaring darkly at him through narrow fiery eyes. 

 

Behind his fuming sister, his three beta's stood still and silent, all three refusing to look directly at him. 

 

Their inability to look at him spoke volumes as shyness was rarely a common quality found in immortal kind. More likely, it was Jessica that made them hesitant to look him in the eye; no doubt his sister had once again put them in their place. 

 

One look at his sister told Yunho that if Yuri wanted him harmed for what he had done last night then she would gleefully volunteer for the task and Yunho just might let her if it was Yuri's wish. 

 

"Your mate call me last night, Yunho Oppa!" Jessica growl at him, through her teeth in a chilling tone that spoke volumes of just how pissed off she was and how she was struggling to restrain her fury, "It was only through the will of another that I didn't heed her call for aid!" 

 

Behind her Donghae wince. 

 

Yunho understood instantly. Donghae was in the dog house for preventing Jessica from interfering last night. No doubt the argument between them last night had been epic. 

 

"Tell me, Oppa." Jessica said, from between her clench teeth, "Tell me that you didn't take advantage of your mortal mate's inability to defend herself against your unwanted advances!" By the end, Jessica was screaming at him with sheer feminine fury. 

 

Yunho didn't answer. What could he say when he didn't even know the answer himself? 

 

Jessica's hands curl into fists at her side as she glares murderously at him, taking his silence as confirmation. 

 

"Jessica, darling." 

 

Jessica whirl on her mate, her eyes blazing with fiery murderous fury beyond any Yunho had ever seen her show. She was the Lycan princess, doted upon by everyone around her, from her loving parents to her protective loving brother to her completely loving and doting mate; it was a rare occurrence that she was denied anything. 

 

"Silence!" Jessica thunder at her mate, before she returns her fury to her brother, "Am I the only one here who seems to care enough about Yuri to be concern with her well-being?!" 

 

Not one of the four males were brave enough to speak. 

 

With a feminine enrage screech, Jessica stalk pass Yunho and jerk open the bedroom door before whirling on the four of them once again, focusing her fiery gaze on Yunho. She lowers her voice to a feral hiss, "If she tells me anything other than that last night was by her will, I swear on our ancient bloodline that in her name I will tear you to pieces! You will bleed for every pain you have caused her!" And with that Jessica slam the door behind her with a thunderous boom that echoes through the manor. 

 

Jessica ignores the overpowering aroma of and sweat that hung around her brother's bedroom, even as she took a deep breath to calm herself after dealing with her infuriating clueless crass idiot of a brother before she walks calmly into the bathroom where she knew Yuri was bathing. She could hear the young woman's calm heartbeat and the faint sound of sloshing water cause each time she drew a breath. 

 

The young mortal woman, who was far more precious to the immortal world than she could ever understand, lay in the bathtub with her eyes closed. The bathtub was large enough to fit three men of their kind, not that it ever had, if Yunho had had company in the tub it wasn't of the male variety and made her appear so small in size like a child but a child she wasn't. This strong young woman was the key to saving the immortal races from extinction. Jessica knew that the entire situation wasn't fair to the young mortal. Yuri had asked for none of this but it was what she had been born for; to be her brother's mate and just possibly bring new hope to a dwindling people. Which was why Yuri needed all the protection she could get, even protection from the one who was, now and forever more, her mate. She was a powerless mortal trap in the world of immortals; last night was testament to that fact. Jessica had been completely serious in her threat to her brother. She knew well that in the Lycan world the males were dominant, competitive and more often than not s but before now the females of their world, over the age of consent at least, were able to defend themselves, even though the males were so much stronger. The females were still immortal beings with superhuman strength and reflexes, not defenseless mortals unable to put up even a hand in their own defense. 

 

It was a hard fact that yes, ninety-nine percent of the time the males would eventually overpower the female but at least the male had a fight on his hands first. At least the females of the Lycan race had a chance of escaping or even turning the tide. 

 

What her brother had done, no matter how it had gone down, was inexcusable and if Yuri gave any indication that she had been unwilling in last night's festivities, Jessica was going to rip Yunho's balls off and shove them so far down his throat that he will be pissing through his bellybutton. 

 

Yuri was in blissful serene heaven as she soaks with her eyes closed and a small content smile on her lips. She wasn't in a state to care about anything other than lying in the hot water that was gently soothing away her aches and pains in the peace and solitude of the bathroom. 

 

A few moments ago Yuri had thought she had heard a female screaming high heaven but it had been far away and she was so relaxed that she hadn't paid any attention. She didn't want anything to wreck her peace and quiet but like all good things, they always came to an end way too soon. 

 

Sensing movement in the bathroom, Yuri reluctantly opens her eyes expecting to see Yunho but she was surprised to see Jessica settling onto the side of the bathtub, looking down at her with a gentle caring smile on her pinkish-orange color lips and soft concern in her dark brown eyes. 

 

Yuri was thankful for the thick layer of bubbles on the surface of the water; it was one thing for Yunho to see her but having two members of the same family see her on the same day, one of them being a female notwithstanding, would have been way too creepy. 

 

"You seem to be enjoying yourself," Jessica observes with faint amusement. 

 

"I'm in heaven, this bath is a dream come true." Yuri answer, mainly because she didn't want to talk to Jessica about what she had been doing with her brother last night. 

 

Jessica held out her hand which held a small dark brown bottle that didn't have a label. Yuri watched as Jessica unwound the tiny black cap and pour the clear tinted pink contents into the bubbly water. 

 

A potent fruity and floral scent filled her nose. 

 

"A healing oil. It's a special blend I make myself." Jessica explains, as she emptied the entire bottle into the bathwater and then dispose of the bottle in the small wastebasket beside the basin with a single effortless toss, "It will help." 

 

Without wanting too, Yuri looks up into Jessica's face and noted the telling smile that told her that the Lycan princess knew everything they had done last night. 

 

Overcome with great embarrassment, Yuri groan inwardly as she felt her cheeks flush with heat as she blushes which only further her embarrassment. With nowhere else to run, Yuri inhaled a deep breath, relax her body and submerge her head beneath the surface of the water, needing to hide her face for a few seconds. 

 

Yuri couldn't believe this. If Jessica knew then others had to know as well, more likely than not that included the betas. Wasn't there any privacy in this damn manor? Everything she did everyone seems to know about. 

 

If she hadn't had the stupid need for air, Yuri would have stay beneath the sheltering surface of the bath water that now smells of a variety of fruits, flowers and maybe even a few herbs. 

 

If Jessica knew what her brother and she had done then it was either because Yunho had told her or more likely the entire manor had heard them last night; damn the Lycan super-hearing. 

 

Unable to deny her body's need for air a moment longer Yuri resurface, wiping the water from her face. Then reluctantly, she turns her gaze awkwardly back to Jessica. 

 

"You know, don't you? What Yunho and I did last night." 

 

Jessica shrugs her shoulder nonchalantly as if knowing what Yuri had been doing with her brother was no big deal. Jessica waited until Yuri, her face glowing bright red from both the heat of the bathwater and her embarrassment cause by her mortal modesty, settle against the back of the bathtub once more before she said in a gentle sympathetic tone, "It is part of pack life, especially one with beings bless with exceptional hearing. Don't be embarrassed, it's part of living the life we do, it's as common as eating here." 

 

"What?" Yuri gaped in horror, "Hearing everyone doing it?" 

 

Jessica giggles softly, "Ah, the modesty and naivety of the young. It's refreshing." 

 

It took Yuri a long moment to remember that Jessica was immortal; she wasn't the twenty years old she appears to be. 

 

Silent moments pass almost comfortably between them until Jessica's expression gradually became more solemn until her entire demeanor was serious and she was looking down at Yuri with sad eyes that even in their grim state sparkle with love and affection for the brother she was thinking of. 

 

"Yunho never meant this, being so rough and forceful. It's the way of the beast and he has waited longer than most for you and the peace you bring to them both." 

 

Yuri had the suspicion, that until now she had been refusing to acknowledge, that this was coming and she was horrified that she was having this conversation with Yunho's sister for crying out loud. Weren't most sisters repulse when it came to hearing anything about their brother's life? 

 

On the other hand, who else could she have this conversation with? Who else could possibly understand what she was going through or help her to understand how it was to be a female surrounded by dominant Lycan males? 

 

"I have never known anything even close to that before," Yuri admitted honestly, deciding that she might as well take the chance to confide in someone while she had it; she was missing her friends more and more every day but maybe she could find a real friend in Jessica. 

 

"And you never will again." Jessica sigh like one who had long ago come to terms with what her brother was, "Yunho is a force greater than that of nature. He is accustomed to answering to no one, to not having to wait or hesitate to take what he wants but he will answer to you and he will learn to wait. He will learn to listen, something he's never had to do." 

 

Jessica nodded her head towards her, indicating at the bite mark on her neck, "He has marked you his mate now. Your flesh will always carry his scent. He will always be able to find you wherever you go. In our world, it is the mark of a claim wolf mate. Between immortal couples, the first mating and the mark together create a bond that can't be broken. It is a bond so strong that thoughts and emotions are shares through the link of mates. Because you are mortal, it is most likely that the bond will not go so deep as to create a mental or emotional link but the two of you are still bonded in such a way that it is for life." 

 

Yuri raises her hand to the mark, it still throbbed although the water had helped ease the pain a little, as silence fell between them. Yuri did understand what Jessica was telling her and she knew that Jessica wasn't making excuses for what Yunho did when she refers to our world; she was only telling her how it was and Yuri did see Jessica's point, Yunho had been born into this world and he had never known any different and to top it off, he was a prince and an alpha; he was accustomed to getting his way without being question. He was a future king; self-doubt was a luxury he couldn't afford but if there was going to be any kind of future for them together then Yunho would have to learn that his way wasn't the only way. They would either be equal in their relationship or there would be no relationship at all. She wouldn't be the submissive timid little woman. She absolutely refuses to be that; her mom had taught her better than that. Her mom had been the woman Yuri herself wanted to one day be, strong, confident, stubborn, love and respected by her husband and family. 

 

Yeah, teaching Yunho that was going to be a cakewalk, not. It would be like trying to teach a mountain to bend to the will of the wind. 

 

Knowing that that train of thought would only frustrate her, Yuri asks the question she really wanted to ask Jessica. She knew the Lycan princess would give her a truthful answer. 

 

"Is it always like that?" 

 

"Honestly?" Jessica shrugs one shoulder, "With the beast, yes. The beast is all fierce passion and instinct. The man, however, you will find he's much more considerate. It's the best of both fierce and gentle passion in one lover." 

 

"I wouldn't know." Yuri whisper, as she looks straight ahead over the tiny white foamy mountain of bubble that covers the surface of the water. 

 

Jessica had been mated since she had come of age, she had never been without Donghae, even before they had realized they were wolf mates. Donghae had always been there as a big brother or anything she had needed him to be so she couldn't empathize with the young mortal woman who was going through so much but she could sympathize. It had to be hard being pull into a strange violent supernatural world. 

 

One thing was clear to Jessica even though it wasn't so clear to Yuri or her brother; their mating had been consensual, even though Yuri hadn't known at the time what she was committing herself to. 

 

"Yunho never meant to hurt you; he would do anything to protect you, anything to keep from hurting you again." Now that Jessica knew for certain that the mating between Yuri and Yunho had been consensual Jessica felt the need to stick up for her brother. Unlike Yuri, Jessica knew exactly what Yunho had gone through over the last half of the millennium, "Before he found you, Yunho suffer so much worse than any other of our kind. He has lived his entire life, long lonely hollow centuries in darkness and suddenly he has seen the light of day in you. I know it's hard to see it but Yunho is trying to be considerate of you and in doing so he pushes his beast too far." 

 

Jessica drew in a deep breath and rose to her feet. She had done everything she could do for now; now Yuri needed time to think and decide what it was that she wanted, "I'm not saying what Yunho did last night wasn't wrong, I'm just asking you to try to see things through his eyes. He has live an age with no hope or light in his life, please forgive him if he's holding you too tightly." 

 

Yuri didn't answer or even look up at her. 

 

Knowing there was nothing more she could say in her brother's defense, Jessica went to the door where she pauses and looks back, her hand resting on the open door, "Last night I heard you call you for me. I'm so sorry I didn't..." "No need to apologize." Yuri said softly, from the bathtub without turning to look at her, "I understand. No hard feelings." 

 

Jessica had no idea whether or not the young mortal meant her forgiving words but Jessica sense that Yuri needed to be alone so she didn't press. She would apologize again later, what Yuri needed now was to be alone with her thoughts. 

 

Silently, Jessica closes both the bathroom and bedroom door behind her, stepping out into the corridor to find the four men standing right where she had left them. 

 

Jessica still wasn't happy with her mate or brother but she would forgive her mate. Maybe. She understood why Donghae had stopped her from going to Yuri's aid; he had believed that what Yunho had done needed to be done for the sake of them both but that didn't mean that Jessica was going to easily forgive him for getting in her way when she hadn't agreed with her mate and husband and as for Yunho... 

 

Well, there was nothing she could do to her brother that was as bad as what he was doing to himself judging by the distressed look in her brother's eyes. 

 

Yunho was staring at her with somewhat anxious and pleading eyes and Jessica instantly knew that her brother was hopeful, timidly, that she had good news for him. 

 

Just because she did doesn't mean that Yunho deserves it though. 

 

It was a plus in their favor, however, that they had obviously intentionally not listen in on her conversation with Yuri. 

 

"She's fine." Jessica assures them all in an icy tone, "She needs some time alone though." She narrows her eyes at her brother, "I suggest you give it to her." 

 

Yunho nodded once, showing that he understood and would do as she suggested, "Did she seem distraught about last night?" 

 

Jessica rolls her eyes and releases her breath in a huff. Her brother was a complete and utter moron but she would never say that he didn't deserve his mate, "That's for her to decide." 

 

So she was a little cryptic; Yunho deserves worse right now. 

 

"Jessica!" Yunho snap, frustrated "Does she or doesn't she?!" 

 

One thing Jessica could say about her brother was that he was as persistent and as impatient as a small child, "Did I force her?" 

 

Jessica snorted at the very notion, "If that woman hadn't wanted to mate with you, she would have fed you your balls for breakfast." 

 

Yunho slump in sheer relief which made Jessica see red. She had wanted to comfort her brother, not let him off the hook on Yuri's behalf. 

 

Stepping forward Jessica jabbed her short finger into Yunho's hard chest, glaring hotly at him, "That doesn't mean you didn't screw up last night big time. Now you will give that young woman every minute she needs to work everything out and whatever she decides you will abide by and if I ever again hear of you forcing her to do anything against her will." Yunho opens his mouth to protest but Jessica cut him off before he could utter a single syllable, "Except for life and death situations, I will mutilate you for her, got it?" And with that Jessica spun on her heel and stalk down the corridor. The first thing she was going to do was round up the two most loyal warrior in the pack to her which in other words meant the Lycan warrior who fears her more than her brother and places them on guard outside Yuri's door. 

 

Her brother wouldn't be bothering Yuri until she was ready. It was the least Jessica could do for her, if she hadn't been so busy Jessica would have stood guard herself but she couldn't. Jessica knew she was more on Yuri's side because she felt guilty about not going to Yuri when she had called her and also because she did care for Yuri. Jessica knew that if Yuri did stay in the pack the two of them would become very close. It was easy to like Yuri, she was kind, generous and stubborn. A perfect match for Yunho but first, they had to deal with the coming war mounting beyond the walls but it wouldn't be easy when they all seem to be fighting several inside the manor walls. 

 

Yuri had soaked in the bath until the water had grown cold and her body had shriveled up like an old woman's but when she rose from the water she had felt so much better than when she had gone in. A lot of her body's aches and pains had subsided to an ignorable level and all that remain was the tender soreness between her legs and the hot throbbing of the bite mark that only Yunho's saliva had offered any relief to. 

 

Her skin now smelt strongly of Jessica's oil which was pleasant and soothing; she likes it. If she decided to stay, she was going to have to ask Jessica for more or the recipe to make more herself. 

 

Yuri had then dressed in a blue lace detail maxi dress; she needed loose fitting airy and comfortable clothes today. Her body would have protested strongly if she had tried to squeeze into a pair of jeans. She didn't even put on a bra but fortunately, the dress hid the fact well, to her eyes anyway, she had no clue whether or not the superior eyes of the immortals would notice. 

 

For the last hour, Yuri had been sitting leisurely and very carefully on one of the cushion deck chairs on the balcony, content with just laying back and stretching out to watch the world go by. 

 

Birds flew overhead, hunting or singing, the wind rustle through the trees, dance with her hair and clothing. It was a pleasantly warm day which was unusual for the time of year but very welcome. 

 

With it so quiet and peaceful that Yuri actually heard the occasional sound of life in the manor. Half an hour ago Yuri had heard someone laughing and what had sounded like playful combat had been going on somewhere below on the ground; she had been to relax and comfortable to get up to look out over the railing that overlooks half the ground. 

 

It seems that when they weren't fighting their enemies or chasing after her through the city, the manor was a pleasant place to be. The Lycan pack seem to live in comfort but unlike the vampire mansion, they didn't lavish themselves in the best and finest of everything just for the sake of it. They seem content with living together in the manor with less than every available comfort there was available from the modern world. 

 

Yuri was thankful for the last two hours. She had been left completely alone except for when Tiffany had brought her a brunch platter which Yuri had picked off until she had been pleasantly full. There had been various kinds of cheeses, crackers, fruit and a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice. 

 

Yuri had had a strange craving for some wine to sip on but she didn't bother asking; for one thing, she was sure that everyone in the manor had better things to do than wait on her hand and foot and second, she wasn't completely sure that Yunho would allow it. 

 

Alcohol was bad for you after all. 

 

It hadn't been worth the debate that might have ensued if it had in fact been the case that Yunho objected to her consuming alcohol. 

 

After eating, Yuri had settled on the balcony, content to just be and watch but in truth, not once in the last two hours had she done any thinking on those complicated matters that she was meant to be deliberating on. 

 

Yuri supposes that she had put it off long enough. Even though she was still sore from last night, there was this strange sense of tranquillity and satisfaction that had come down over her. She was tired but not exhausted. She was achy but not in pain. She was conflicted but she wasn't cross with Yunho and the truth of the matter was that she wasn't mad at Yunho because of the detail that she had been trying to avoid thinking about at all; she was falling in love with him. She might already be in love with him but that wasn't what was disconcerting her. 

 

What was troubling her was the doubt that he capable or even willing to love her in return. Admitting that they are mates was different, even though she hadn't actually verbally admitted that they were yet. What she needed to hear, to know without question, was whether or not he loves her as she was coming to love him and before Yuri could let herself fall that little bit more in love with him that would cement things between them in her mind, she needed to be given her freedom. She absolutely refuses to be his lover while she was his prisoner. 

 

It had to be one way or the other. She was either his prisoner, one he never touch again as they would have the proper captor/captive relationship or she would be his lover who had the freedom to leave when she wishes and to do as she wishes, within reason of course. She wasn't completely unreasonable, she knew she was in grave danger and that Yunho was the only one, that she knew of, who was capable of protecting her but still the freedom, the choice, had to be there. Yunho had to take the risk that she would leave just as she had to take the risk with her heart by giving it to him. 

 

Yuri did love him with as much of her heart as she could give while she was still his prisoner and she wanted to stay but he had earned that last piece of her heart. He had to trust her to want to stay. Love was all good and fine but in a relationship love just wasn't enough. 

 

Maybe in fairy tales and movies love was enough but what happens when the movie ended after all the fights and rescues, what was involved in the happily ever after? It was good and all that the hero and the heroine had fallen deeply madly passionately in love but how did the ever after part go after all the excitement was over? How did they go living together or choosing the couch for their first apartment? 

 

That was the hard truth about real life, there was an after, the story went on and more than love was needed; trust and mutual respect were just as important in a relationship as love was. 

 

Yunho needed to prove to her that there could be more than love between them. Last night had proven that they were hot between the sheets, not that she had any real life experience to compare it against but Yuri knew she wouldn't grow tired of Yunho and his lovemaking anytime soon but she needed more. Was it too much to ask for more? 

 

Yuri wasn't blind; she refuses to be. She had seen Yunho fight and kill for her, several times, even against one who had been a brother to him once, he had protected her against damned immortals and even herself, he had kept her safe and care for her while she had fought against him every step of the way and he continues to do so but this wasn't some romance novel. 

 

If their relationship was going to work, she needed, they needed, more. 

 

Now the only question was could Yunho give her more and if he could was he willing to give her more before she gave him her entire heart? 

 

Half an hour later, Yuri didn't know exactly what had brought her back here but without realizing where she had been heading after she had left Yunho's bedroom, she found herself in the ballroom staring at the two golden thrones. 

 

Before leaving the room Yuri had resolve that she and Yunho needed to talk but instead of seeking him out, she had intentionally stalled by finding her way to the ballroom from the inside. She felt so conflicted, so uncertain as if she were stuck in limbo and her only means of escape was Yunho but only if he was willing to give her the compromises she needed to stay, at least for the time being. She was safe here, safe from harm but whether or not she was safe from Yunho after last night was another story. 

 

So much had changed after she had watched him fight and kill that pure white damned Lycan wolf, who had turn out to be his own brother not by blood but by bond that had gone so much deeper than blood, all to save her. He had fought so savagely, so doggedly, that it left no question in Yuri's mind that Yunho had been fighting with the desperation of a man who would lose everything if he lost that battle and she had been that everything. How could she question such obvious devotion for her? It had been said to her several times before that Yunho would die to protect her but being told it and witnessing it were two very different things. 

 

"Ostentatious, aren't they?" A soft low voice asks, from behind her. 

 

Yuri gave a startled cry and whirl around as she brought her hands up to cover her pounding heart, her cry echoing in the large cavernous room. 

 

Only a few feet from her stood Changmin, who wore a gentle amused expression on his face and had genuine kindness in his always playful dark eyes. 

 

"Changmin Oppa. You startled me." Yuri stated as she works to calm her pounding heart and ease away the icy touch of panic from her stomach that came with a bad fright. 

 

"My apologies, Miss Yuri." Changmin promptly apologizes, with a graceful bow of his head. 

 

At the out-dated term, Yuri found herself glaring at him, half-playfully, making Changmin laugh lightheartedly as he straightens. 

 

"Forgive me, Yuri." He corrected, with a kind grin. 

 

Yuri couldn't help but smile back at him. It was impossible not to like Changmin who always had the spark of mirth in his dark eyes. In a way, he reminded her of her brother before the accident when he had been the typical mischievous annoying little brother. 

 

Changmin nodded towards the two thrones, repeating his original question that had startled her, "Ostentatious, aren't they?" 

 

Yuri turns and follows his gaze, realizing what he meant after a long moment. He was talking about the two thrones; they were so out of place in her world but here in the immortal world they carried so much weight, so much meaning, and importance. 

 

"Oh, yes." Yuri said awkwardly, after a long silent moment, "They are." 

 

"Yunho also thinks so and as a result, he only uses his when he absolutely has too. Jessica also." Changmin stated casually. 

 

So the second throne was Jessica's. She felt like an idiot; she should have guessed that. 

 

Yuri felt her curiosity stir and she couldn't help but become distracted from what had really brought her here which no doubt had obviously been Changmin's intention, "Such as?" 

 

Changmin was looking at her, not the throne; Yuri could feel his gaze on her even though she still had her back to him. 

 

"Ceremony mostly." Changmin answer, "When his parents come to visit or we have a formal ball. Only a few times has Yunho been forced to sit upon his throne for the sake of conducting a trial. As crown prince of our kind and the highest ranking Lycan on the continent, Yunho has a lot of responsibilities, Jessica, too." 

 

From his tone, Yuri understood that in no way did Yunho relish the responsibilities and burden that came with his crown but she knew him well enough to know that regardless Yunho took each and every one seriously. 

 

Changmin could in no way misinterpret the enrapture way the young mortal woman was staring at the two throne. It was what had brought him from outside where he had watched her enter the ballroom and stand in the middle of the room just staring at the two throne. 

 

Changmin felt for her. After everything that had happened, not just to her but between her and Yunho especially in the last twenty-four hours, made him believe that she needed someone to talk too, even if the end result was just for a momentary distraction. 

 

With a silent sigh, Changmin walk passes her to the throne and laid his hand on the arm of Jessica's slightly smaller throne, "Ever since coming to this new world, leaving our homeland behind, Yunho and Jessica have shared their responsibilities. Without a mate, the throne to Yunho's left fell to his sister but the throne at Yunho's left hand now falls to his mate, to you." He looks up into her eyes with soft understanding, "Should you choose it." He looks back down at the gold throne, "It's not an easy place to sit but it is your place should you choose to stay with our prince." 

 

Yuri swallows even though was dry. They wanted her to sit on that throne at Yunho's side and rule with him? Her? 

 

"Should you choose to become our princess, our queen-to-be then Jessica would take up her place at Yunho's right hand." Changmin couldn't help but picture it in his mind, the picture his words created, his prince sitting tall and proud with his two princesses beside him. One princess his beloved sister and the other his queen-to-be, his consort. 

 

Changmin opens his eyes to find Yuri silent, contemplative and just a little pale. He knew it was a lot to ask of a mortal who had only just been introduce to the immortal world, "With how doting and devoted a mate must be, there has never been a mated queen upon the throne who has taken her place reluctantly. Eternal love and devotion is the greatest gift given to the immortal races. It may be the king sitting upon the first throne but it is truly the queen who holds the overall power for there is nothing a mated king wouldn't give his queen. Should you desire it, you could be queen in title only. For her brother's happiness, Jessica would gladly tend to the queen's duties. So you see this crown isn't a shackle." 

 

Yuri closes her eyes for a brief moment against Changmin's reassuring words and when she opened her eyes again she found herself alone in the ballroom once again. 

 

Yunho sat at his desk, completely and utterly frustrated and unable to focus on the paperwork he had spread across the desk in front of him that he had gotten out in a vain effort to distract himself. There was a war coming, the damned army was gathering to unprecedented numbers base on the number of damned flowing into the city; he didn't need any other intel to know that Yoochun was gathering his army for an attack and Yunho had to be ready for it. 

 

He had to protect Yuri and his pack; already as the number of damned in the area rose, as did the number of vampires and Lycan kind at the call of their princes. It seem that all immortal kind knew that something big was coming and it all surrounded Yuri, the first mortal mate in recorded history and even with the blade in the form of the inevitable approaching attack hanging above his head, Yunho couldn't concentrate on anything but Yuri and what had happened between them in the last twenty-four hours. 

 

Yunho did feel immensely guilty that his first time with his mate had been so rough and with his beast and not with him, the man, but he had already resolved that the next time they came together in the flesh would be with him, the man. 

 

If there was a next time; unlike their first time, their second time would be by Yuri's will, not his. Or his beast's. Regardless though of how it had transpired, Yunho was ersely delighted that he had finally claimed and mark Yuri as his wolf mate for all of time. The bite mark would heal and be invisible to mortal eyes but to the eyes of the immortals, it would always be noticeable on her flesh. 

 

Not to mention that Yunho couldn't help but be delighted that he had finally become intimate with his mate, with Yuri. Never, in all his long life, in which there had been a reasonable number of lovers, had a woman responded to him so readily, so heatedly, which in turn had turned him on all the more. She was so beautiful and passionate; he had the suspicion that their passion wouldn't cool even after decades of being together. 

 

Which delighted him to no end. 

 

"Eighteen." 

 

Huh? Yunho looks up, snap abruptly from his line of thought, to find two of his three beta's glaring irritably at him. 

 

"What?" 

 

"Eighteen." Changwook repeated, "That goofy grin has appeared on your face eighteen times in the last hour." "Maybe we should take a break." Donghae supplied, in an attempt to keep the peace between them as they all knew that Yunho didn't like being challenged, even when they were alone. 

 

He was their alpha; respect was expected. 

 

Yunho opens his mouth to tell them just that when he heard footsteps, those he recognized as belonging to his mate. She had left the ballroom and was calmly walking down the corridor towards his office. 

 

"A break sounds like a good idea." Yunho agreed as he rose to his feet, dreading what his mate was coming to tell him. 

 

Yuri approaches the office door and they all fell silent near a full minute before there was a knock at the door. 

 

In the blink of an eye, Yunho move from where he was behind his desk to the door where he opens it wide and was greeted by the startled wide eyes of his mate. 

 

Yunho silently curse himself, he had to be more careful with his mate; he had startled her by opening the door too quickly without warning her by making a single sound. 

 

It took Yuri a moment to recover but when she did she gave him a gentle smile that made Yunho think of innocent angels on high. 

 

"Take a walk with me?" 

 

"Of course," Yunho replied, without hesitation. If Yuri had finally decided to speak with him then he would allow her to say what she wanted to say. 

 

No matter how anxious Yunho was about what his mate had to say, he would hear it and listen. He would try his hardest to be understanding and take in what she told him. If she was angry at him for forcing her into lovemaking last night then he would do all in his power to atone and set things right between them. 

 

Since Yuri had yet to be outside with any time to explore, Yunho decided to take her on a walk of the simple but colorful gardens that contain a variety of flowers, including many varieties of his favorite flower, freesia. 

 

The sun felt warm on Yuri's face, the gentle breeze felt cool against her skin and the flowers, those that bloom in the cooler months anyway which by the looks of it was about half, gave the breeze a sweet floral scent and for a manor Yuri knew to be full of Lycans, the grounds were surprisingly deserted and silent. Yuri had to wonder if it was because of Yunho's will and command over his pack or because enough of his pack had heard her request of him to walk with her and had clear out to give them the illusion of privacy. 

 

Either was possible; Yunho was commanding and his pack love and respected their alpha, as far as she could tell from what little interaction she had witnessed between Yunho and his pack. 

 

"It's so peaceful here." Yuri remark casually, breaking the silence between them. 

 

Surprisingly the silence between them wasn't uncomfortable; Yuri was with Yunho she felt so safe and when they weren't fighting, at peace. 

 

Yunho couldn't help but smile down at the enchanting beauty that was his mate, "It can be. In the past, it wasn't so much peaceful as homey. In the very beginning, this house knew life and laughter." 

 

Yuri didn't need him to explain why it wasn't anymore because she knew why; his race was dying. 

 

Yuri closes her eyes and drew in a deep breath for courage. She wouldn't be able to look at him while she spoke but the fortunate thing about the garden was that she didn't have too; she had the option of looking around at the beautiful scenery. 

 

"Yunho Oppa, I need to say what I have to say and I need you to let me without interruption," Yuri explain. For his sake. Jessica had asked her to try to be more understanding and be more tolerant of Yunho and she would. She will tell Yunho what it was that she needed from him, even though she knew it would go against his nature as an alpha prince to grant her wish. 

 

"As you wish. Speak what you must without fear of interruption from me." Yunho promise, with polite formal seriousness. 

 

Yuri knew it was Yunho's way of showing respect to her request but still, she didn't look at him, even though deep inside of her she felt a pang of hope that just maybe there could be more between them than love and . 

 

"That night we first met, the night you save my life and everything change." Yuri began, as they continue their way around the thriving garden and lush green grounds, "I realize now. You let me go home and you watch over me, keeping me safe. I think I knew it even then, I could somehow feel you watching me. From that first night, you left your mark on me and I'm not talking about the vampire bite. I felt something come alive inside of me and for the life of me I couldn't get you out of my head or my dreams." 

 

Yuri swallow, bone dry in her nervousness but she forced herself to go on, "Ever since I can remember, I have had this feeling that I was meant for more, that something was waiting for me. I know now that I was waiting for you; I can't deny that and I don't want to anymore. Even after everything that's happened since that night, all the fighting and killing, I feel more alive, more complete in this world than I ever did in mine." 

 

Silence fell between them for a long moment and Yuri drew in a deep breath and went on, "That night at the club when that vampire was about to kill me." 

 

Yunho suppresses a fierce growl as the memory of that moment flash before his eyes. He saw Minho leaning over his terrified Yuri, preparing to take her life. It was something he would carry with him until his dying day. He had come so closes to losing her forever. 

 

"All I could think about was you, my family and friends, but mostly you." Yuri added, as an afterthought, "And then I woke up here and deep down I think I knew that I was where I was meant to be, even though I hadn't wanted to accept it then. When I ran that night and every other moment I was fighting against you and what's happening between us has been fuel by my fear. Not my fear of you or of the pack or anything like that but my fear of what I would become if I said yes to you if I submitted to you." 

 

Yuri looks down at her feet, silent for a long moment. They had come to a stop where the garden met the wall. She drew in another deep breath for courage but she was finally able to look up into his intense eyes as he stares down at her with an unreadable expression on his serious handsome face. 

 

"Ever since my parents died years ago, I have strived to be strong, focusing on my studies and not much else. I endeavored to become the woman my parents had wanted me to be. To be strong and take pride in myself and what I have achieved. The truth is, I value my freedom and my way of things; it isn't in my nature to surrender my freedom completely over to someone else. What I'm trying to say here is that I don't want to lose myself in your shadow. You are a force of nature, Oppa. Can't you understand that it would be so easy for me to get lost in all that you are?" Yuri was pleading with him to understand and she knew it, "If you want me to be part of your life Oppa, you need to accept that I can't live in your shadow, I can't completely submit to you because that would mean risking losing myself." 

 

Yuri swallow even though there was nothing in to swallow and she resolves to just spit it out, to say what she really was avoiding but needed to say, "What I need from you Oppa, if you want me to be your mate, is for you to accept that we need to be equal in this relationship. I need to have my say and have it heard. I need you to treat me like your other, your equal, not a delicate crystal doll that needs protecting by being placed on the top shelf to be admired but never handle." 

 

Yunho opens his mouth to speak but Yuri shot up her hand in a stopping gesture and gave him a telling look that told him that she wasn't finished. 

 

"Not yet. There's still more you need to hear, more that needs to be said." Yuri lowers her hand and gentle her expression; she didn't want to be perceived as being unreasonable, "And about last night, I'm not angry. Yes, you pressure me but you didn't force me. If I really hadn't wanted to do it, I would have called for Donghae and the others, I would have screamed for help. You are their alpha but I know because they care about you they would have helped me by protecting me from you." 

 

Yunho was relieved to hear that Yuri wasn't unsure about the mutualness of their tryst last night and he wasn't displeased or in doubt that his own betas would have interfered; if it had been what Yuri had really needed. 

 

Yuri saw Yunho's relief on his face and in the gentle of his eyes and she was secretly relieved; it had been the truth after all. It was time to say the final thing that she needed to say, the issue Yuri knew Yunho would have the most trouble with. 

 

"There's only one thing left for me to say, Oppa." Yuri told him, hesitating only a moment before going on, "One thing left that you need to understand. I know and I understand why you brought me here and kept me here until now against my will but the time that I needed to be a prisoner has passed. I need to be free. If I'm going to be your mate then I can't be your prisoner. I need to be free to come and go as I please, to be a guest in your home instead of a prisoner." 

 

A bolt of ice-cold fear and dread shot straight through Yunho's heart like an ice bullet. He knew she was right; he couldn't keep her prisoner here if he wanted her to accept her place as his mate but the risk of giving her what she asks for was too high. 

 

What if he gave her what she asks and she left? What was there keeping her with him? He could give her diamonds, mansions, and protection but he couldn't give her the normal life she had been living before him. Even if she did stay at first, sooner or later she would see the real him and she will leave, flee from him like the wounded rabbit did the starving desperate wolf. 

 

Yunho was no fool, even though he knew he was considered good-looking to her eyes, there wasn't much about him that could keep someone like her, someone so loving and gentle, when she wasn't overrun with homicidal rage and good. How could he ever be deserving of someone like her? He had known from the beginning that he wasn't enough for her. 

 

Unable to look at her cute face and into her bright eyes a moment longer, Yunho turn his back to her so she wouldn't witness his pain. He wanted her to stay because she wanted too, really wanted too, not because she felt obligated. 

 

"Do whatever the hell you want!" Yunho snap acidly, and lung himself high into the air, all the way up until he landed on the third-floor balcony and with a blurred flash of his black Michael Kors Madison cashmere-blend overcoat disappear into the manor, leaving Yuri staring after him shaking her head at him. 

 

A moment later Jessica landed beside her with silent grace after leaping smoothly and effortlessly over the high wall that surrounded the manor, "He really must love you." Jessica whispers emotionally, with an underlying tone of sadness as she too stares after him. 

 

Yuri couldn't decide whether or not she wanted to bang her head against the wall at her back or his. The moron had misinterpreted what she had said about needing the freedom to leave; he had assumed that she had meant that she wanted and would leave the moment he gave her her freedom. 

 

"He's a complete moron," Yuri muttered, under her breath but of course Jessica heard her with her immortal Lycan ears. 

 

"No argument here." Jessica agreed, "He really doesn't get what you were asking, does he? He doesn't understand that only when you are free can you choose to stay." 

 

Yuri nodded in agreement as she continues to stare after Yunho even though he was well and truly out of her sight, "Why is it that no matter how old men are, they still act like a temperamental little boy?" 

 

"Amen sister." 

 

Yuri couldn't help but smile at Jessica's tone; it spoke volumes that she knew exactly what Yuri was saying. 

 

The spy watch from high above with growing anticipation and dark glee as the two es, the Lycan princess, and the mortal female the pathetic Lycan prince had just this passing night left his mark upon, walk along the inside perimeter by the wall heading towards the high double black iron gate, talking in true female fashion, meaningless inconsequential dribble. 

 

They were completely alone, the two most important and guarded females on the continent but he was only interested in one; the one mortal female who was worth a hundred immortal queen and a thousand of immortal princesses. The one who brought this mortal woman to the prince of the damned, the future king of the damned, would be rewarded unlike any before. 

 

That was a prize any damned would risk dying for; for the damned who handed the mortal female to Yoochun wouldn't only gain significant rank in the new court but he would forever have a river of blood to feast upon, others to serve him and a never-ending parade of women to do his bidding. 

 

The spy had watched all Lycans, vampire guards and the residents of the manor vacate this entire half of the inner ground of the Lycan manner to give the prince and his mortal some privacy. 

 

It had taken a great deal of effort for the spy to get so deep into the Lycan territory without being caught but at last, he had been able to take post high in a tree overlooking the Lycan manor completely undetected. He was the best at infiltrating enemy territory undetected and he was well rewarded for his exploits by the damned prince. He had been watching the grounds for three days and he had yet to make a sound; he was completely inanimate and undetectable. He had even learned long ago how to mask his damned scent and now it had all paid off. The Lycan prince had left his sister and mate alone; this was his chance and he wasn't going to let it pass. 

 

The spy tense watching attentively as the two unsuspecting es approach the gates where he intended to finally strike. With only the immediate area vacated he would have only seconds, only one chance to do this so it would have to be perfect. He would deal swiftly with the Lycan princess, grab the mortal and be out of there before anyone could stop him. 

 

He would be rewarded beyond his wildest dark dreams for bringing Yoochun the mortal female. 

 

Yuri had known that she and Jessica would be great friends and they were already well on their way. 

 

Rather than let Yunho's little temper tantrum, that seems abnormal for someone as old and experience as he was, ruin her good mood, Yuri resolve to let Yunho settle down and realize that he was acting like a childish idiot while she got to know Jessica better. 

 

The beautiful long light brown haired, hair that seems to have golden blonde highlights that came alive in the sunlight, woman was a lot more down to earth than Yuri had expected. For instance, even though the princess was immortal and hundreds of years old, she kept up-to-date with today's culture; she even watch television and had a few favorite shows, one or two Yuri herself even like. 

 

"Is it always so peaceful here?" Yuri asks Jessica, as they stroll along the wall, heading towards the cast iron gate that stood five stories high. 

 

Jessica gave her an amused look, "Not even close. Things have been a lot more serious in the past century but normally this house is alive with noise and activity. Unlike the vampires, we are normally a rowdy bunch that finds it hard to sit still most of the time. We weren't made to stay still but to run wild and free." 

 

Jessica stops mid-sentence and whirls on her toes, scanning the area beyond the gates they now stood before, her body tense, half-crouch, and coil as if to spring. 

 

Jessica could see nothing but the sudden unexpected shift in the winds had brought the unmistakable faint scent of death and blood that her heightened sense of smell hadn't miss. She knew the scent well; it was the scent of the damned and it was way too close and far too fresh to be anything else other than a damned that was currently close-by. 

 

"Yuri." Jessica said seriously in an urgent voice, as she remains coil to spring while her eyes dance rapidly over the trees beyond the gate, searching each shadow for any sign of movement, "Go inside. Now." But before Yuri could obey, she wouldn't argue with Jessica, it was obvious from her tense stance that the princess sense danger, Jessica let out a furious snarling growl and without looking back, she pushes Yuri backwards, sending her flying through the air several feet before Yuri painfully hit the soft damp grass-cover earth. 

 

"Yuri! Run!" Jessica screams to her, right before she transforms, exploded was a more accurate description, into an enormous brown wolf with golden streak through her pelt. The Lycan she-wolf was two sizes smaller than any of the male Lycan's Yuri had yet seen. In her wolf form, Jessica was mighty but still smaller and had much less muscle than Yunho did in his wolf form. 

 

Yuri could do nothing but stare with impossibly wide eyes and fear in her heart for the Lycan princess as the damned vampire, dress completely in camouflage clothing and cover in black, brown and green war paint, leaped from the trees and landed lithely on the top of the gate. Yuri had only a brief glimpse of him before he disappears the split second before the golden brown wolf was sent rolling across the ground at least eighty feet before she manages to sink her claws, that were longer than Yuri's hand, into the earth to eventually bring herself to a stop. The ground had actually shaken beneath the huge golden brown wolf and then Jessica disappear, only to appear a split heartbeat later directly in front of her. With the damned's arms around her furry neck. 

 

It took a moment for Yuri's shock mind to catch up; Jessica must have seen the damned heading for her and had leaped into the damned's path, only to end up trap in the damned's crushing hold. 

 

Jessica whimper and whine in pain as she struggles to breathe as Yuri watch the damned tighten his hold, that took both arms, around her furry neck. 

 

A bone-chilling booming roar shook the world around them and Jessica fell to the ground less than a foot from Yuri's feet, the damned nowhere in sight for a long moment before Yuri spotted him a good thirty feet from where she and Jessica lay. 

 

A second wolf had appeared on the battlefield. 

 

It took Yuri a long moment to realize that the huge wolf must have been Donghae in his wolf form; the shade of his coat match his human hair. 

 

The damned snarl at Donghae's wolf form as Donghae growl savagely back at him in return, saliva dripping from his muzzle as if he couldn't wait to taste the blood of the one who had dared to lay a hand upon his wolf mate. The damned was crouching low again with his hands outspread from his body and his extended razor claws extended defensively. 

 

In another blink of an eye, Yuri saw that the damned was now surrounded by a good dozen immortals in a tight circle. Yuri recognizes half as vampires, the vampires Yonghwa had sent them to help guard the manor, Yunho had mentioned it at some point, the remaining two betas in human form and two other Lycan wolves. One was a cloudy grey and white underneath while the other was a pale creamy brown all over and the last was Yunho, who stood solidly in place beside Donghae in front of both Jessica and herself, standing solidly and protectively between them and the danger with a long silver sword clench tightly in his right hand. 

 

The damned, who was clearly outnumber, display no sign of defeat. Instead, he narrows his black eyes on Yunho and furiously half-snarl, half-hiss. 

 

"Our numbers are greater than you can possibly comprehend, Lycan prince." The damned proclaims boisterously, "We will overrun you before this week is out unless you deliver the mortal to our king. Only then will Yoochun spare your pathetic meaningless lives." 

 

Without taking his eyes from the damned, Yunho made a subtle motion with his sword in Changmin's direction and without saying a word Changmin walk over to where Yuri still lay on the ground and gently, with as little contact as possible, pull her to her feet. 

 

By the time Yuri was upright Jessica had shifted back to her human form but remain on the ground, holding her hand to her chest as she struggles to breathe. Her form curled into a fetal position, her body convulsing from the pain. 

 

Once sure that Yuri was steady on her feet, Changmin left her side and move quickly to Jessica, ing his Blackwatch plaid long sleeve flannel shirt as he moves between them. Once at Jessica's side, Changmin sunk to his knees as he slid his shirt from his broad shoulders and then carefully drape it his over Jessica's form, covering her body. 

 

Then Changmin just as carefully scoops her up into his arms, holding her effortlessly against his chest, he turns his back to the threat and motion with his head for Yuri to precede him. With Yuri leading the way Changmin effortlessly carried Jessica into the manor. 

 

Yuri knew that the damned had not yet been deal with because Yunho didn't want her to watch as the damned was torn limb for limb for daring to harm his sister and attempting to abduct his mate. 

 

In the back of her mind, Yuri numbly wonders just who was going to have the pleasure of the kill, Yunho or Donghae, because they were both just as piss and murderous as the other. 

 

It was only thirty minutes before Jessica was able to breathe unhindered again to Yuri's overwhelming relief. 

 

After escorting them from the battlefield Changmin had led them into a library, that was five stories high with walls shelved tightly with more books than Yuri had ever seen in her entire life and had gently lain Jessica down on the velvet forest green polish wood couch by the massive hearth where he had fallen to his knees beside her and had begun her neck like a lioness would her injured cub's wounds. 

 

By the time Jessica was once again able to breathe normally the emerging bruises had faded into sickly yellow marks that made them look at least a week old; by the hour's end, Yuri suspected that all evidence of the inflicted injury would no longer be noticeable. 

 

Not a single word had been spoken between them since Jessica had screamed at her to run which she hadn't done and because of that Jessica had been hurt because of her. Jessica had been defending her; there was no question about it in Yuri's mind, the damned had been after her. 

 

Why was this happening? Why did Jessica have to get hurt defending her? Why was she so special to the enemy of the Lycan kind? She wasn't worth dying for, damn it. She especially wasn't worth Jessica's life, no matter what any of them said to the contrary. 

 

It was all her fault; there was no doubt about that in her mind. Yuri was overcome by so much gut-wrenching guilt that she felt sick to her stomach and hadn't yet been able to even look in Jessica's direction. 

 

If Donghae hadn't interfered when he had then Jessica very possibly would be dead right now and it would have been in the vain attempt of saving her. She wasn't worth this; she wasn't worth the life of the Lycan princess who was someone's mate, somebody's wife, and soulmate. 

 

What would have happened to Donghae if Jessica had died? Would Donghae have killed her himself in revenge as she would have been the one responsible for his mate's death or would he have died himself without hesitation rather than live without his mate whom he loves so deeply? 

 

Donghae had been beyond enraged when he had stared down the damned, who was no doubt dead by now, who had attempted to kill his mate and Yunho hadn't been any different. She hadn't been able to see his face but she had seen it in his rigid stance and the clench grasp in which he had held his sword. 

 

This had to end; she just wasn't worth anyone's life. Maybe if she went to the damned willingly, they will leave Yunho and his pack alone and everyone would be safe. 

 

"Hey!" 

 

Yuri blinks and looks up, pull from her guilt-ridden thoughts by Jessica's single bark that had been utterly and completely reprimanding. Yuri turns to find Jessica glaring at her with knowing in her warning eyes, "This isn't your fault." She spoke, without any difficulty at all and there was no pain in her eyes as there had been minutes before. She had even taken the time and effort to slide her arms into the sleeves and fasten all but the top two buttons of Changmin's shirt. 

 

Jessica extended her hand out towards her, silently demanding that Yuri come to her. Yuri obeys; taking Jessica's outstretched hand in her own as she knelt beside the couch Jessica still rested upon. Now that Jessica was well on her way to complete recovery, Changmin had retreated away from them as if afraid to be caught too close to them by their mates, although he hovers protectively not too far from them. 

 

Yuri said nothing as tears fill her eyes even as she will them not too and Jessica's eyes soften, filling with soft emotion as a gentle smile spread across her pink color lips. 

 

"What happens isn't your fault." Jessica repeated in a calm reassuring tone, "Nor did I do anything I wasn't willing to do. What happened was no one's fault and was my choice and I had do it again in a heartbeat. You are already as a sister to me and even if I didn't like you which I don't by the way." 

 

Yuri couldn't help but grin ineptly at Jessica's joking tone just as the Lycan princess had intended before Yuri became somber and serious once again. 

 

"I still would have done it because you mean so much to my brother," Jessica concluded, as she gently reassuringly squeezes Yuri's hand that she held in her own. 

 

"I'm so sorry, Jessica," Yuri whisper sobbingly anyway, needing to apologize at least once. 

 

Jessica smiled at her again, a genuine caring smile, "I'm not." 

 

"It's best not to argue with her." Changmin advises, from behind the couch where he stood standing watchfully over them both with genuine amusement in his kind eyes, "She's more stubborn than you are, young mis...Yuri." He quickly corrected, at Yuri's warning glare as he had been about to call her young miss again. 

 

Jessica's smile widens at Changmin's hasty correction and Yuri couldn't help but smile herself. 

 

Jessica was recovering from her injuries and Changmin was watching over them both protectively and they were making her feel better and she did feel better. Jessica really was ok; she hadn't been that badly hurt, she will be completely healed within the hour, so maybe, just maybe, Yuri was worrying a little too much. 

 

Behind her, the door swung open and Yuri look over her shoulder to see Yunho, the betas and one of the vampire guards enter the room, Donghae leading the way while looking in their direction with anxious worried eyes. 

 

Yuri hastily rose to her feet and step back as Donghae fell to his knees, taking up her position on the floor by the couch his wolf mate rested upon. Then taking her hand in both of his, Donghae planted a kiss on the back of her fingers as he stares deeply into her eyes. 

 

Jessica smile at him with loving reassurance and Yuri turn her gaze away from them, feeling intrusive watching while the two of them share an intimate moment. She knew they were communicating using their mind link thing that mated couples share. 

 

Yuri found herself wondering if maybe one day she will have the mental link thing with Yunho, even though Jessica had already told her that it was virtually impossible but wasn't a mortal mate just as impossible? It was a strange thing to think about, maybe even want a little; she suspected that it would be nice having such an intimate relationship with the person she loves. 

 

Sensing movement nearby, Yuri raises her gaze from the floor to find Yunho standing beside her, only millimeters separating them. Yunho was staring at her with his intense emotional eyes again and Yuri lost all ability to think of anything else but him. 

 

Not that Yuri intended to tell him yet but she was beginning to get the hang of reading him. Like right now; she knew that he was trying to hide his fear and angst at the close call they had just had. He was worried about her but he didn't want to distress her by freaking out himself so to speak. 

 

Knowing that Yunho needed to be assured that she was alright, Yuri gave him a gentle smile and brought her hand up to rest on his chest, directly over his heart. 

 

Even thru the material of his black INC international concepts shine shirt and a layer of thick hard muscle and bone, Yuri could feel his heart beating steadily beneath her touch. His heartbeat was so strong, so steady, it was almost hypnotic. 

 

Yunho wraps both of his arms around her, pulling her close. Yuri went willingly, resting her head against his chest and closing her eyes as he held her. She felt so safe and at peace in his arms, so cherish and love that she could have stayed there forever but sadly that couldn't be. At least not yet as Yuri knew that there was much to discuss and do in light of the close call they had just had. 

 

The second in two days. In their own territory. 

 

Yunho was getting sick and tired of this feeling of terror that settle heavily in his stomach and heart every time his mate was in danger. Too many times Yuri had been threatened or in a dangerous situation and he couldn't stand it any longer and it didn't help that this time his sister had been involved. 

 

If Jessica hadn't been there, Yuri would have been taken before he had had the chance to do anything about it; as it was his sister had nearly lost her life in the time it took him to realize what was going on and reach them. 

 

He was furious that despite all his precautions and resources, a damned had somehow made it not just into his territory undetected but literally into his front yard. 

 

It was unforgivable and Yunho intended to find out exactly how the damned vampire had managed to get so close to what he protected without being detected at all until he had revealed himself to attack. If it was due to someone's incompetence then heads were going to roll and roll hard. He wouldn't forgive; not only had a female under his protection suffer harm, it had been his own sister and almost his own mate and now that Yunho knew his mate and sister were going to be alright, the damned who had threatened and harm the two females he love had already been dealt with, swiftly but excruciatingly, Yunho needed to take more drastic steps to protect his own. 

 

On top of it all, the leader of the vampire guard who had been assign to protect Yuri by Yonghwa's order had receive news when he had reported the incident to his prince warning Yonghwa to check the vampire grounds for similar infiltrations. 

 

"Yuri, why don't you help Jessica upstairs so she can rest?" 

 

Yuri pulls back and glares up into Yunho's mask face; she knew a dismissal when she heard one. It was time Yunho learn that she wasn't now or ever going to be some fragile innocent victorian who kept her little mind out of men's business. 

 

Whatever Yunho had to say, he could say it in front of her. 

 

"No." Yuri told him stubbornly, as she pulls out of his embrace, "I'm part of this now and it's time you treated me like part of this family." 

 

Yunho's eyes all but blaze with gleeful triumph at her declaration that she had finally acknowledged that she belongs to him; he knew that at least for the time being she was staying. 

 

On that note, Yunho remembers something he had made a point to bring up, "I heard you call me an idiot and a moron." 

 

Yuri shows no embarrassment at being overheard, "I'm not surprised. Everyone hears everything in this house." 

 

No one disputes the point. 

 

Eighteen minutes later they were all seated or standing in Yunho's office where they had relocated after receiving confirmation that there were no other damned spies in the immediate vicinity but the majority of the pack continue in their thorough search of the grounds and surrounding forests. 

 

Donghae and Jessica had disappeared for a brief moment but within three minutes they had joined them, only now Jessica was once again decently clothed, in fact, she looks so perfect that it was hard for Yuri to believe that the clothing the Lycan princess had been wearing an hour before now lay in shredded tatters on the manor's lawn. Currently, all their attention was on the vampire guard as he relays the news he had received from his prince concerning what was happening in the city. 

 

"Of the unit hunting in the city last night." The vampire guard was saying, "Only one return. The rest of the unit sacrifice their lives to give him a chance to return to the mansion so he could deliver the warning. The situation is increasing rapidly; with each hour more damned flooded the city. Yoochun is building an army for the obvious purpose of attacking both the vampires and Lycans terrorizes." His eyes pointedly zero in on Yuri, "He wants the mortal mate at all cost. Already they number at least a thousand. The largest immortal army seen in since the beginning of the immortal war, thousands of years ago." 

 

"We can't defend against such a number." Donghae said gravely, from where he stood directly beside the chair Jessica sat within, his stance protective, "Not even with the coven fighting with us. More of us arrive every day but even with our numbers combine, we will struggle to number three hundred." 

 

Yunho was silent for a long moment, deep in thought as he hovers protectively around her which for once Yuri wasn't going to object too. 

 

"Father could send a large number but even if they reach us in time, it wouldn't be nearly enough." Yunho sigh as he rubs his hand over his face in a gesture of exhaustion, both mental and physical, "The best we could hope for is two against three and that would mean leaving the royal court virtually unprotected." 

 

"What if we divide Yoochun's focus?" Changwook suggested, speaking in Yuri's presence for the first time in days; it wasn't that he was shy. Yuri knew it was because he was the serious type who spoke only when he had something to say. 

 

All eyes turn to him. 

 

Changwook was looking directly at his alpha, "Send your mate away." 

 

Yunho's eyes flash threateningly. 

 

"To where she would be safest." Changwook went on, without even pausing, "Instead of trying to bring the strength of the royal court here before Yoochun attack, send her to the royal court." 

 

Yuri froze. Send her away while Yunho remains to fight a war against such overwhelming odds? 

 

Not in this lifetime but before Yuri could say an objecting word, Yunho responded to Changwook, "She would be far too vulnerable in transit. The damned has already shown that they are watching us." 

 

"Not if we create a diversion." Changwook supplied promptly, betraying that he had already given the notion a lot of thought. 

 

Donghae steps forward so that he was almost between Yunho and Changwook, physically and effectively putting himself into the conversation, "They will both go." 

 

Jessica leaped to her feet the same time Yuri did, glaring darkly at the three males who blatantly ignore them as they continue their conversation as if they weren't even in the room. 

 

"In father's court, they will be beyond Yoochun's reach." Yunho rationalized in that annoying logical male tone that was without sentiment, "They will be safe." 

 

"While we finish it," Donghae concluded. 

 

Changmin steps forward to stand beside Donghae, his eyes moving rapidly back and forth as he contemplated, "The logic is sound. There's no way Yoochun could get his entire army onto the island without the court having fair warning and the Lycan fortress has never been breach, not since its construction during the immortal war." "Hey!" Yuri snap irritably, finally having enough with all of the men in the room talking about them as if they weren't even there. 

 

As all male eyes turn to her, Yuri walks over to Jessica to stand beside her, deciding it was better to face the five males down with a wing woman beside her. 

 

"You lot may think it's all good and done but do you really think we are just going to run away and hide while you idiots face an army?!" Yuri was yelling by the time she finishes. 

 

Yunho glare that look of his at her that told Yuri that Yunho had made up his mind and one way or the other she was going to do as he wanted, "I think." Yunho said, with firm irritating calmness, "That the two of you will do as I tell you." 

 

Silently, Jessica looks back and forth between Yuri and her brother before she turns on Yunho with hard steady eyes and a refine composure that screams princess. 

 

"Yunho Oppa, it's not wise..." 

 

"I don't care, Jessica!" Yunho snap crossly, "I'm the alpha, this is my pack that you chose to be a member of and I will be obeyed! I think I have been far too lenient in my ruling of this pack for far too long!" 

 

"Well, I didn't choose a damn thing!" Yuri pointed out, not exactly proud of herself as she was screaming like the infuriated young woman that she was, "You have no...!" 

 

In the space of a blink of an eye, Yunho went from standing on the other side of the room to towering over her so close that her was brushing his hard chest. 

 

Yunho glare down at her with hard fix eyes and an unreadable expression, his jaw clench so tightly that a muscle in his chin was twitching, "You have chosen Yuri and I don't give a damn about your rights when I'm protecting your life. You will do as I command." 

 

Yuri took a full step back from him, narrowing her eyes. She didn't like his implication one little bit, "So I'm your prisoner again?" 

 

Yunho follows her, closing the space between them once again, "You will be whatever you have to be in order for me to keep you safe." 

 

Yunho knew that Yuri was furious with him but when that came up against her very life he couldn't bring himself to care. He would rather apologize later than risk losing her. She would be safe, even if he had to send her away for the next decade. No matter how long it took, no matter what he had to do, she would be safe. 

 

As the two continue to argue, two unbending wills facing off against each other, Jessica consider the situation. She didn't want to go, this was her home, her pack and this is where her mate was. She didn't want to leave her mate or brother and her pack but it had to be. It was too dangerous for Yuri to be here; Yunho would never be able to fully focus in battle if he had to worry about the safety of both his mortal mate and sister. 

 

It was too dangerous to remain; staying may very well get both Yunho and Donghae kill. 

 

With the pack's resources, mainly the private jet, Yuri and herself would be in North Korea by tomorrow evening where they would be safe. 

 

Jessica grimly looks up into her beloved mate's eyes as she senses his grim relief at her decision. He didn't want her to go but he needed her to be safe. She could feel his love, forever constant like a warm blanket around her and within her. 

 

Unlike Yuri and her brother, no matter how far she went, even the other side of the world, Jessica would still have the mate link between them, able to feel every emotion her love had and hear his thoughts as if he were there in North Korea with her. No matter what she would have her link with her love; she would know that he was safe and alive as he would her. 

 

'I don't want you to go, Sica.' Donghae's loving words caress her mind as they stare into each other's eyes from across the room, 'But it's for the best. I can't see you get hurt again. I can't see an enemy's arms around you, hurting you. Killing you.' 

 

Jessica silently sent a wave of soothing love through their mate link, reassuring him without words and then return her attention to what was happening around her. 

 

Yuri was in the middle of insulting her brother which would have been greatly amusing had the situation not been so severe. 

 

"I'm not going, you arrogant mutt!" 

 

"Yuri." Jessica gently places her hand on the young mortal woman's arm, drawing her heated gaze to her, "We have to go. It's the only way. If we stay, we only endanger everyone." 

 

Yuri opens to argue with Jessica but then it hit her that she was outnumbered and outflank. 

 

"I will arrange everything." Yunho stated solemnly, "You will leave at first light." 

 

Yuri slump in defeat. Damn, she had been counting on Jessica to back her up. 

 

That night Yuri was too sore from the night before for lovemaking as she found herself wanting too, not with Yunho's beast but with Yunho himself, the man. So instead when Yunho climb into bed with her, he pulls her into his arm, kisses her goodnight and held her as she fell asleep. 

 

Yunho refuse to sleep; his love was leaving him in a matter of hours, he wasn't going to waste one single second of the short amount of time they had left together for who knew how long. He watches her sleep, listen to her heartbeat and all the while he thanks the goddess for her and prays over and over that he would live to hold her again. 

 

They pack only one small suitcase each with what they needed, everything and anything else could be bought for them in North Korea. 

 

Jessica had her passport for customs as even immortals weren't above airport security and Yunho had presented Yuri her passport a full hour before they were due to depart. 

 

What boggled her mind was that she knew for a fact that twenty-four hours ago she hadn't had a passport and that had told Yuri all she had needed to know, that Yunho hadn't obtained her a passport through legal channels but regardless of the questionable origins of her flawless travel papers, Yuri didn't object. There were far more important things to worry about. 

 

The most prominent of which was that she was leaving Yunho to fight a war in which the odds didn't favor them; the odds that Yuri would never see Yunho alive again were terrifyingly high. 

 

Exactly fifty minutes after the sun's first light touch the horizon, Yuri found herself being usher out the front door where eight vehicles, three black SUV's, three sleek black motorcycles and a black stretch limousine were waiting to take them to the airport. Well, three were waiting to take them to the airport; the fourth was the decoy that wasn't a decoy. 

 

The idea was that a smart man would send the empty limousine, escorted by two of the SUV's and the motorcycles along one path and the single SUV, that wasn't as well protected, along one of the back roads but an even smarter man would put the precious cargo in the most obvious place thereby making it safer because the enemy would believe that the precious cargo was in the lone SUV instead of the decoy convoy. 

 

It was confusing but the basic idea of it was to outwit the villain who thought he was smarter than everyone else by believing that Yunho wouldn't really put the two of them where they would most likely to be. 

 

In Yuri's opinion if this work out then it would only succeed in proving one thing: men were egotistical idiots who all suffer from the same unfortunate case of testosterone poisoning. Immortal men not being the exception. Yunho was waiting for her by the open back door of the limousine. Both he and Donghae were staying behind as part of the decoy plan so they had to say goodbye here. 

 

With a heavy anxious heart, Yuri steps through the manors front door and slowly descended the five wide stone steps to Yunho. She had dressed as comfortably and as smartly as she could as Yuri knew that she not only had almost a full day's travel ahead of her but there was also the possibility that she might have to move in a hurry and she didn't want any part of her wardrobe hindering her. She wore a tikglo wash color INC international concept INCEssentials curvy-fit skinny jeans with a black garden breeze Alfani printed swing top. On her feet were comfortable new black Adidas that were so soft her feet felt like they were wrapped in fluffy pillows and her long hair was thickly plaited down her back, only a few strands dangled free, framing her face. 

 

In her suitcase, Yuri had something much less comfortable pack that she would change into before meeting the immortal king and queen of the Lycan race. 

 

Once Yuri was within reach Yunho didn't hesitate, he wraps his arms around her, pull her close and lower his lips to hers, kissing her with gentle hungry desperation. 

 

Yuri couldn't help but sink into him; his kisses were more addictive than chocolate. She couldn't get enough of him or his untamed forbidden taste. That he could enwrap her in hard muscle heat but remain so gentle with her had yet to cease to amaze her, to seduce her into wanting so much more but unlike before this kiss had an essence of frenzied grimness to it, as if he were tasting her for the last time. 

 

It was a goodbye kiss. A goodbye kiss that came to an end all too soon. 

 

Yunho pulls his lips from hers, leaving her reeling from his kiss, his possession. 

 

"I will end this as quickly as I can." Yunho promises her, staring down into her eyes in a thickly emotional voice as he gently her cheek with his fingertips, "I promise we will be together again the moment it's safe." 

 

"It won't be soon enough." Yuri whisper, visibly distressed at the thought of leaving him and possibly never seeing him alive again. 

 

Yunho forces a smile for her sake and planted a tender kiss on her forehead, closing his eyes and fighting against everything in him that scream not to let her go. Regardless of the force within that said they were wolf mates and the pull between them, he, the man, had fallen in love with her and not because they were wolf mates. He loves her because she was strong, stubborn and argue with him about nearly everything. He loves her because of the way she looks at him no matter the disposition in which the look was given, anger, irritation, lust. When she looked at him, he felt like he could fly to the moon where he would bow before the moon goddess in gratitude for the wolf mate she had granted him. 

 

If anything happens to her, it would destroy him. He refuses to let her know how much it was killing him to send her away, to trust someone else with her safety and well-being but he couldn't fight a war with her there. 

 

"We will be together again soon," Yunho promise her again, planting a single delicate kiss on her light pink color lips before he forces himself to release his hold on her and step away. 

 

Everything in him screams incessantly at him that this was wrong, it went against everything in him to be parted from his wolf mate. He didn't even have the comforting luxury of being mate link with her as Jessica and Donghae were but at least he could track their progress and keep an eye on them, so to speak, through Donghae's mate link with Jessica. 

 

Jessica wouldn't leave Yuri alone at any time; he trusted his sister in that she would take care of Yuri and see that he was updated every hour they were parted. 

 

Yuri swallows even though was dry as Yunho help Yuri into the limousine. Her heart was pounding with emotional anguish. The last thing she wanted to do was leave him; they had just found each other. 

 

The last thing Yuri wanted was to lose him which was the reason why she had eventually given in to leaving. As hard as it would be to be so far apart from the man who in such a short time had become more important to her than her own life, it would be absolute agony living without him, especially when she could have done something to prevent it. 

 

Beside her, on the other side of the limousine, Donghae was helping Jessica in. The married mated couple had only kiss briefly before Jessica had climbed in but Yuri knew that unlike Yunho and herself, they had all night to say goodbye in the language of lovers. 

 

"I will have my cell phone on me at all times." Yunho told her, as he pulls it from his pocket to show it to her and he crouches with ease in the V of the open door with perfectly steady balance, "Call me whenever you want too. We will be in constant contact if you wish." 

 

Yunho had done all he could do to comfort her short of going with her and Yuri felt obliged to give him some comfort in return. 

 

Forcing a weak but loving smile, Yuri places her hand on his arm that was holding his cell phone out for her to see, needing the physical contact with him for the last time for who knew how long, "I will be fine. I will be meeting your parents without you but I'm sure I will survive that." She forces more confident humor into her smile, "Hell, they will probably like me all the more for meeting them so soon." 

 

That brought a small smile to his lips for which Yuri was grateful. As hard as this was, at least she could look forward to the time when they will be together again. No doubt Yunho would make an occasion of it. 

 

"Be safe." Yunho pleaded her, drinking in one last look of her before he forces himself to rise to his feet, step back and close the door. The windows were tinted so heavily with a reflective coating that acted as a two-way tinted mirror that not even the eyes of an immortal could see inside. 

 

Changwook opens the passenger door of the limousine but pauses before getting in. He turns to Yunho, his hard expression one of hard resolution, "We will keep them safe, Yunho. I swear to you on my life, I will not let anything happen to Yuri or Jessica." 

 

Yunho bows his head once in brotherly gratitude. He was sending Changwook and Changmin along to them to the airport. Once Yuri and Jessica were on the plane and airborne the two betas would return to him and the hunt would begin; eight of the men Yunho was sending would accompany Yuri and Jessica to North Korea and would remain with them as personal bodyguards for the duration. They were under strict, fear of death, orders that at least two were to be with each woman at all times. 

 

They wouldn't disobey him even if it cost them their lives. 

 

Yunho stood silently as he watches all vehicle doors close and the two motorcycle riders mounted their bikes. Moments later the vehicles were moving along the driveway, through the gates and disappear from sight. 

 

Yunho remains where he was until the vehicles were miles away and he could no longer hear the rumbling purr of the motorcycles. The only betrayal of his suffering and distress was his tightly clenched fists and his closed eyes as he once again found himself praying to the moon goddess for his women's safety. 

 

They weren't even on the plane yet and already Yuri was driving Jessica crazy, unintentionally of course. 

 

They had already driven through the city and were on the opposite side heading for the small private airport that was well away from the Lycan territory for reasons Jessica, for the life of her, couldn't remember. 

 

They were maybe thirteen more minutes away, currently driving through a heavily wooded area which would in a few minutes open up to lush green farmland and beside her Yuri was fidgeting like a jittery bride on her wedding day. 

 

Normally, Jessica was far more tolerant, well, a little more tolerant but she was trying to do several things at once. Doing several things at once wasn't unusual for her, she was a princess, she had been raised being prepared for the burdens of a royal life since the cradle but this time the situation was far direr. 

 

Jessica had to keep an eye on the surroundings for any sign of danger or the damned all the while keeping Yuri constantly in her sight and keeping her husband in constant contract on every single step of their journey. She also had their travel documents open on her lap, making sure each and every detail was perfect and as planned. Not one document had been legally obtained but with the amount Yunho had paid for them from their usual but reliable mortal contacts, as always each page would be perfect and vetted; not one would be discovered fraudulent. 

 

'You will be on the plane in a matter of minutes, Sica.' Donghae's voice whispers into her mind, from miles away, 'While you remain.' Jessica mentally whispers miserably. It wasn't easy for them to be apart for even the shortest of time; even now her heart, soul, and body miss the touch of her love. This was going to be hard, being apart for how long they couldn't say but it was worth it if her mate wasn't worried to distraction over her well-being while fighting the battles that were fast approaching. 

 

'We are never apart.' Donghae reminded her before he pulls his focus from her thoughts to answer Yunho's seemingly incessant inquiry of their progress to the airport. 

 

Jessica couldn't help but smile. The two men were so alike. Jessica knew if their positions were reverse Donghae would be tormenting Yunho with the same constant need for updates of their well-being and progress. 

 

Beside the princess, Yuri was becoming more and more agitated and restless, squirming in her seat and looking around them as if she truly did expect Yunho to appear out of thin air at any moment at having decided that he really couldn't let her go away for so long but Yuri knew better; Yunho would send her to the moon for the rest of her life if that's what it took to keep her safe. 

 

Yuri didn't know how Jessica could be so calm and still. Yes, the princess had her mate link and was hundreds of years old but still, she was a woman in love, surely she was far more anxious than she was letting on? 

 

Just as the thought passes through her mind, Jessica stiffens beside her as if she had suddenly been turned to stone. Her body language scream that something was very wrong. 

 

Yuri whirl to fully face Jessica immediately after the Lycan princess's head snap up so violently that she had to have given herself whiplash, her face consumed by sheer alarm and perplexing puzzlement. 

 

"What is it?" Yuri asks, her heart pounding in her ear. Everything about Jessica now screams that something was gravely wrong. 

 

Yuri pray that it wasn't an attack on Yunho or Donghae or anyone else in the pack. 

 

"I don't know." Jessica replied, sounding truly baffled and alarm, "Something's very wrong. My mate link with Donghae has been severed. I can't hear him at all; I can only just barely feel him." 

 

In the front seat, both Changwook and the Lycaon driver stiffen at hearing Jessica's words, both immediately began rapidly scanning the passing surroundings. 

 

Jessica closes her eyes and pour everything into her mate link, all her consciousness, and will, trying to reach Donghae, to force her way through the seemingly solid wall that was suddenly and unexplainably blocking the mate link. Her mate was still alive, she could feel it, it was the only thing that kept her control but already after only seconds, she felt alone and hollow. Nothing like this has ever happened before, it shouldn't be possible, she had never heard of anything that was capable of interfering with a mate link except death but something was somehow blocking the link. 

 

Eyes flaring open, Jessica grab a hold of Yuri and drew her close as she opens as the realization struck her, "Watch out. We are being attacked. It's a trap." 

 

No sooner had the words left that it came to pass and chaos exploded all around them. The sound of tearing, crumpling metal, shattering glass, vicious shouts, ferocious howls, growls, and snarls fill the air around them in the space of one instant to the next. 

 

From Jessica's side, Yuri watch as the driver and Changwook, who was sitting in the passenger seat, reacted, slamming on the breaks as the black SUV in front of them screech to a halt. Yuri couldn't see what had made the vehicle stop so suddenly but whatever it was it was very unlikely that it was because of a tree across the road. They were on a straight section of road, the vehicle in front would have seen the obstruction long before they had come close. 

 

From somewhere behind them the sound of something hard colliding with a heavy vehicle, the SUV behind them no doubt, thunder through the air like an explosion but before they even had time to react, a second deafening explosion of noise pulse through the air. 

 

The sound of twisting, tearing and bending metal made Yuri whirl around in her seat. The SUV behind them was no longer behind them; it took her a moment but she soon located it. The black SUV was now nothing but a distorted twisted chaotic piece of torn and twisted metal and broken glass that was wrapped around the thick base of a tree. 

 

The opposite side of the SUV than what was completely wrap around the tree was violently bowed inward; the SUV had been hit hard with something with a lot of force and had been sent hurling into the base of the tree. The SUV was now the shape of a stretch hourglass. 

 

Oh, dear lord. Yuri sent a silent prayer upward that the men in the vehicle had time to get out before being hit. She couldn't see how anyone, even a superhuman immortal could survive that. 

 

Without any warning, the back half of the limousine violently lurch forward and into the air as a massive black wolf with a white chest and paw, a Lycan wolf, landed heavily on the front hood of the long vehicle so heavily that the hood gave under the weight of the massive creature with a loud squeal of protesting and buckling metal and in effect lifting the back wheels off the road. 

 

Yuri could see the creature's black eyes glaring at her with intent lewd lecherousness and she knew that this damned Lycan had come specifically for her. 

 

In the front seat, the driver snarls wrathfully, throwing open his door and shifting at the same time. The driver, a Lycan whose name Yuri didn't know, lung at the damned wolf and the two flew off the hood and backward through the air, disappearing from sight as they engage in a ferocious battle to the death, tumbling over each other in a blur of color and frenzied motion. 

 

While the driver had shifted and knocked the damned Lycan off the bonnet, Changwook had twisted his body and had slid gracefully through the partition into the back with them; he was at their side in less than five seconds, crouching in the back with them in the space between the two parallel backseats in the back of the limousine. Looking over Changwook's broad shoulder, through the now badly cracked windshield, Yuri saw the SUV in front of them, the one Changmin had been traveling in but there was no one in the vehicle, evidence by that all the doors were wide open with no one in sight. 

 

Yuri fear not just for Changmin but for all of the guards who had been sent with them, both Lycans and vampires. 

 

Yuri didn't want anyone dying for her. 

 

Changwook pulls a Samsung Galaxy J1 from his charcoal Ralph Lauren luke solid wool-blend peacoat and handed it to Jessica, "Call Yunho. We need reinforcements now. Then call the decoy SUV and tell them to get here now." Changwook never had the chance to finish his sentence as simultaneously on both sides of them, metal stretch in violent protest and glass shatter as talon hands pierce the metal of both back doors and rip the two doors from their hinges, exposing them all to the two damned vampires. 

 

The deafening chaotic noise of the battle beyond became louder as the only barrier between it and them was ripped away. A chaotic combination of thunderous roar, bone-chilling snarling, meaty thuds and screeching tearing metal fill Yuri's ear. 

 

Yuri could do nothing to stop the short shrill scream from escaping her parted lips that had Jessica tightening her arms around her protectively. 

 

Changwook snarls savagely at the two damned but that was all the warning they receive before he launches into action. 

 

With a powerful leap, Changwook flew upward as he simultaneously shifted into his wolf form, a brown wolf as massive in size as Yunho's wolf form, tearing straight through the fabric and metal of the limousine roof, tearing a hole the size of a child's inflatable paddling pool. 

 

Jessica had to get Yuri out of there but they couldn't make a run for it; there was no telling just how many damned were out there. There might even be damned waiting in the woods for them to run, ready to catch them without the help of their guard. Her hearing told her that there were at least thirty on the battlefield that rage around them with a vicious ferocity that Jessica had never known. 

 

As the Lycan princess, Jessica had actually had very little engagement with the enemy, unlike Yunho; the greatest warrior of all Lycan kind. 

 

So Jessica did nothing but hold Yuri down, shielding her with her own body as Changwook exploded out of the vehicle, twisting his wolf form to land heavily on the damned, on their right, that had been reaching in towards them but Changwook didn't take the time to kill the damned beneath all four of his paws; instead he once again leapt high into the air, sailing impressively over their heads to crash into the second vampire on the other side of the mangled vehicle. 

 

Momentarily clearing their path to the woods. 

 

Jessica knew it was risky but it was the only chance they had. As risky as it was for them to try to run, remaining on the battlefield was even more so for Yuri. Running was a risk that they had no choice but to take; Changwook had intentionally cleared their path and they were going to oblige him. 

 

It truly sickens Jessica that she had to leave Changwook, Changmin and the eight other guards to face this battle without her, especially when they were outnumbered by near two to one but she had no choice. She had to get Yuri out of there. 

 

Protecting her brother's mate, who was renewed hope of her people, was her first priority. She was the Lycan princess and sometimes that meant making the difficult decisions, something her brother knew better than any other of their kind, other than their currently reining parents. 

 

Jessica tenses her long slim legs and tightens her hold on Yuri, preparing to leap from the vehicle and run as fast as she possibly could while carrying Yuri into the trees. She had no intention of stopping until they were safe. 

 

Which would be the vampire territory; the border of the vampire territory was only eighty miles away, closer by half than Lycan territory. 

 

Above them, the hole in the limousine's roof spontaneously expanded, the piercing screeching sound of tearing metal made the two women wince in pain, to reveal three damned vampires, each of whom continues to pull the metal of the limousine roof until the entire roof above them was gone. 

 

Most of the abuse metal actually came free of the vehicle. 

 

Jessica growls warningly low in , releasing her hold on Yuri completely. 

 

It was now or never. 

 

Without thinking about it, Jessica grasps hold of Yuri by the waist and effortlessly toss her out through the doorway in the direction that Changwook had clear their path to the trees and follow Changwook's example. Launching herself high up into the air Jessica will her body to shift, mentally calling her beast up from deep within and giving it the control of her body. It was a familiar pain that Jessica didn't even feel anymore as in less than three seconds her body had shifted into her wolf form. 

 

All three of the damned vampires that surrounded the limousine, who hadn't expected Jessica to shift, stumble back in surprise as she caught them off guard, giving Jessica the split second she needed. 

 

Landing lightly on the ground, Jessica was already moving again before her back paws even touch the earth. Yuri was still airborne but gravity had already reclaimed her, she would only remain airborne for another second or two before she hit the ground, hard. 

 

Bowing her head low, Jessica forces all her speed and strength into her legs as she drove under Yuri's flailing form. Yuri's mind couldn't catch up with what was happening. One moment she had been flying through the air, for at least thirteen feet because Jessica had thrown her out of the vehicle as if she were a small lifeless weightless doll and the next she landed painlessly on a warm soft furry and moving surface. Or at least she thought she had landed, she was still flying through the air even though she could feel something solid beneath her. 

 

Whatever was happening, it had happened so fast that she was having trouble getting command of her body again even though she could practically feel the adrenaline flooding her system. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her ear that she couldn't hear anything else. 

 

All Yuri could understand was that she was somehow moving much faster than was humanly possible. 

 

Jessica couldn't run as fast as she wanted too, not if she wanted to keep Yuri on her back where she had landed after Jessica had caught her before she had dashed into the trees, away from the battle. 

 

They were on their own now, at least until they made it to the vampire territory where they will find safety until Yunho and Donghae came for them. Jessica had no doubt that Yonghwa wouldn't use everything at his disposal to protect them. 

 

There was nothing they could do to help Changwook and the others, just as none of them couldn't be of any help to the two of them, not as dangerously outnumbered as they were. The best thing Jessica could do for everyone was to get Yuri far away and send help, even though she knew that by the time help could arrive, the battle would long be over. 

 

If only her mate link wasn't somehow jammed. She could have called for help the moment she had realized they were under attack. 

 

No, not attack. 

 

Trap. Ambush. The Damned had been waiting for them to drive right into their trap which meant that either Yoochun was watching them and had figure out the fake decoy or there was a spy in their house. 

 

If they did manage to get home again, Jessica intended to find out which it was. If there was a traitor amongst them, she was personally going to tear the traitor limb from limb. 

 

Pain exploded through Jessica's entire right side as something slam into her, in mid-stride, with the force of a bullet train, sending her flying sideways through the air for a several meters before she slams into the thick trunk of a tree that causes the whole tree to shake violently from the force of impact. 

 

Jessica's last conscious thought before she was swallowed by darkness was for Yuri and Donghae. 

 

Yuri groans painfully from where she lay on the damp forest floor that was cover in decaying leaves and damp black earth. 

 

Only moment ago Yuri's mind had finally been able to catch up to what had happened and where she was. Jessica had thrown her out of the limousine but had shifted and caught her before she had come crashing down to earth. Then, carrying her on her back, Jessica had bolted into the trees, taking her away from the battleground but without warning and so fast that Yuri hadn't even seen the cause, not that she would have even if her eyes hadn't been press into the fur of Jessica's back, Yuri found herself tumbling across the forest ground for what must have been several feet. 

 

Fully aware of the severe seriousness of the situation and how much danger she was in, Yuri opens her eyes and raise her head, ignoring her body's sharp painful protests. 

 

Five meters from her, Yuri saw a golden brown wolf lying limp and motionless at the base of a large tree that had leaves raining from above in plenty. 

 

Jessica, who before her very eyes, return to her human form without as much as a twitch of her finger. Her dirt smear form lies still on the damp earth. 

 

No. No. Jessica couldn't be dead. Terrified sickening dread fills her. Forcing her body to obey, Yuri rose up onto her hands and knees and clumsily scramble over to her. 

 

There was no blood and Yuri could see that Jessica was breathing but she was already pale and as still as death. She was unconscious and possibly badly hurt. 

 

Yuri reaches for her, intending to find her pulse just to make sure that Jessica was alive but her hand froze in midair as her entire body fills with horror and comprehension as a darkly amused chuckle fill the air around her. It was a chuckle that Yuri recognize. 

 

Very slowly, Yuri turn her body around, still on her knees to see the damned she knew to be Yoochun and his lackey Minho standing only a few meters from them, looking down at them with victorious amusement and dark anticipation. 

 

Yuri swallows thickly. Jessica was unconscious and quite possibly injured, leaving them both defenseless against the two very worst of the damned. 

 

Yuri gave serious thought to hurling the meal she had eaten before she had left the manor in an attempt to rid herself of the sickening icy dread that fills her stomach. 

 

Very slowly, so slowly that it actually hurt her batter body, Yuri force herself to her feet, placing herself purposefully between them and Jessica's unconscious form. She was only a mere mortal against two immortals with enough strength between them to level a city with their bare hands but she wasn't going to stand aside and let them hurt Jessica. 

 

Jessica had risked everything in her attempt to keep her safe; Yuri wasn't going to repay her by letting anything happen to her. She might not be able to stop them if they did want to hurt her but still, she would do all she could to protect the Lycan princess, as futile as her efforts were. 

 

Yuri drew in a deep slow breath, glaring stubbornly into Yoochun's black eyes, knowing that her efforts to mask her fear were unsuccessful, "You will not hurt her." 

 

Yoochun couldn't help but be amused by the young mortal's foolish display of courage. He even found himself admiring her strength and foolish bravery in the face of certain defeat. Her strength would serve him well in that it would be an invaluable quality in the children she would bare for him, "I have no intention of hurting either of you." He told her, with an almost gentle voice, "You are both far too valuable." 

 

Yuri swallow again, only this time the act was more like a gulp. Everything within her scream at her to run, even though it would be a futile effort; she will never be able to outrun either of them but she held her ground. She wouldn't abandon Jessica even for a moment. 

 

Of all the times Yuri had come face to face with danger, never had she been in peril as absolute as she was now.

 

---

 

N/A: Chapter 10 and 11 will be up next week so see you guys until then. 

 

- butt3rflyl0v3r ♡