Hakyeon bent down to inspect the ground as Hongbin stood behind him.

"Are you sure this is the place?" he asked.

Hongbin nodded. "I'm definitely sure that I saw it here at first."

Hakyeon stood up, dusting off his shirt. "Alright then," the eldest said. "Let's retrace your steps, and then try to track down the locations you saw in your dreams. Perhaps we may find a clue there."

Jaehwan turned to him. "Do you remember the route?"

Hongbin nodded. "Like the back of my hand."

He led them through the woods up to the familiar cliff, where they spent a moment to inspect that too. Just then, Hongbin's phone began to ring, and when he checked the collar ID it showed that it was Wonsik.

He immediately answered it. "Wonsik-ah, are you guys done with fixing that thing?"

"We are," Wonsik agreed. "But that's not all. You'll never believe what we just saw." 

"Well, spit it out," Hongbin urged.

"Wait, I'll give it to Sanghyuk. Let him tell you." There was some shuffling over on the other side of the line, a deep voice, probably Wonsik's, most likely telling Sanghyuk to take over.

A couple of seconds later, Sanghyuk came to the phone. "You still there?"

"I am, spill," Hongbin said.

"We saw the white stag, here." Sanghyuk's words sent a chill down Hongbin's spine. 

"Y-you saw it?" Hongbin asked, trying to keep the tremble out of his voice. "What was it doing there?"

"I have no idea," Sanghyuk admitted. "But there is some good news."

"I could do with some good news today," Hongbin sighed, adjusting the collar of his shirt.

"I got the device working," Sanghyuk said. "It managed to pick up the stag's presence and alerted us. I think we can now go and try to find the rift."

Hongbin smiled. "Good going," he said. "Wait just a little while, we're going to try and lock down some locations that you could use to narrow your search down, okay?"

"Will do."

There was a click and Hongbin put his phone down. "We have to move fast," he told the others. "Wonsik and Sanghyuk managed to get the device working."

Hakyeon stood up. "We should find the other locations as fast as possible," he echoed Hongbin's thoughts.

"Hongbin, is there anything specific about your visions of the stag that you can tell us?" Jaehwan asked.

Hongbin pursed his lips. "I...I do remember that the first two times I saw it, it was by a river."

"A river?" Hakyeon repeated. He turned to Taekwoon. "Is there a river in this forest? I think the one where we all first met is a bit too far."

Taekwoon nodded. "There is one to the west of here," he said, pointing.

"Was it the same place each time?" Jaehwan asked Hongbin.

Hongbin hummed in agreement. "It was the same place each time." He walked forward, trying to piece together the scene. "It was like this small stream, with rocky banks on either side. there were mountains on that end," he gestured. "And there was this massive rock over here that the stag was standing on," he used his hands to try and make the pieces fit.

Hakyeon turned to Taekwoon. "You know a place like that? You seem to know the woods better than Hongbin."

"He does know the woods better than I do, or anyone else in the pack, to be honest," Hongbin agreed. "I think this guy spent more time in these woods than he did with us."

Taekwoon ignored his Alpha to nod. "I think I know a place like that."

Before he shifted to lead the wolves to the location, he pulled out his phone to dial Wonsik's number. "The river, east end," was all he said before he cut the call and shifted, looking back at them as if to ask, "well, aren't you coming?"

The other three also shifted and ran after him through the woods. In the meantime, however, Hongbin slowed down and fell into pace with Hakyeon who was bringing up the rear.

"Is something wrong?" Hakyeon asked.

"No, nothing, really," Hongbin quickly said. "It's just...I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"When...the hellhounds took the last victim's life...well...I think I was starting to like her," Hongbin admitted, feeling a bit awkward discussing this with a stranger. "Before we went to try and save her, I had this really vivid dream about the two of us, and when I woke up, it really hurt."

Hakyeon seemed to smile through his eyes. "Ah, I get what you're saying," he exclaimed. "To be honest, I was also a little curious about this, so a long time ago, I asked my mother."

"What did she say?" Hongbin asked.

"She said that since we're not human, we experience things differently," Hakyeon explained. "You must have noticed that by now. I mean, after going through all that you have, even killing the person who was almost like your elder brother, a normal human wouldn't have been able to do such a thing."

Hongbin hummed. "But when it comes to attraction, we wolves feel it much more intensely," Hakyeon continued. "They say our mate bonding is the strongest because we feel emotions leading to family and the pack ten times stronger than humans."

"So..."

"So when you were starting to like that girl, you saw her as a potential mate. That's why it hurt so much when she died, and yet you didn't even get the chance to truly fall for her."

Hongbin stayed silent. If it had hurt that much back then, how much would it have hurt if he had actually fallen in love with her?

Another thought also struck him then. Also, what must have Taekwoon's mother have felt when her husband divorced her? 

"We're here," Taekwoon's voice cut through his thoughts, and Hongbin looked up to see the exact image from his visions in front of him, minus the stag.

He shifted back, walking forward. "This is the place," he said.

"Good," Jaehwan said. "You can tell Wonsik and Sanghyuk that they can begin to search for the rift-"

"They're already on it," Hongbin cut in.

"Wonsik knows this place," Taekwoon agreed.

"Oh," Jaehwan seemed slightly offended that he got cut off like that.

Hakyeon, in the meantime, stepped forward to inspect the ground. "It feels warm, the water is not warm," he stated. "I think the stag was here just a little while ago."

"That means we can track it, right?" Jaehwan asked hopefully.

Hakyeon nodded. "I think it went this way," he pointed to the other side of the river. "Looks like a good place to start our search."

Hongbin suddenly felt a bit dizzy, unconsciously swaying. luckily, he was caught by Taekwoon before he could fall. "What happened?" Jaehwan asked him, concerned.

"I think the stag is here," Hongbin said.

Hakyeon looked at him. "Can you sense its presence?" he asked.

Hongbin nodded. "Then you can lead us to it?" Hakyeon verified. 

Another nod and Hongbin pulled himself away from Taekwoon to shift, where his senses sharpened, and he almost could see the stag's trail. "Follow me," he told the others before continuing on.

He followed the trail a little ways away until he could see a faint glow coming from beyond the bushes. Stopping and lowering himself to the ground, he turned around to the others who got the message and fell into line beside him, all four wolves shifting back to human.

They peered out from behind the bushes to see the magnificent stag walking around a slight clearing, reaching up to graze from the trees.

"T-that's the white stag?" Jaehwan stuttered.

Hongbin nodded. "I'd know that stag anywhere."

"I-it's b-beautiful," Hakyeon absent-mindedly said before Jaehwan shushed him.

Taekwoon's phone vibrated slightly, low enough that it seemed the stag didn't hear. He pulled it out to check the message and put it back inside. "They found the tear," he informed the other.

Hongbin squared his shoulders. "I guess that means we can get on with our ambush, huh?"

The others hummed in reply as all wolves changed, glowing eyes on the shining white stag in front of them.