The wolf growls and whines, baring his teeth at Baekhyun at a way too short distance, but seems to hold back – he doesn’t hurt the short man. For a moment, Baekhyun lets it be because he shields himself from a possible attack, horror in his mind and reflected in his eyes. When the wolf emits an earsplitting howl, though, Baekhyun dares to lower his arms and look at the animal. Reading the book, he barely touched the surface of all this that is a mystery to him, but he learned that some werewolves can’t handle being turned if it was against their will.

He doesn’t know what he’s doing and he would most certainly call himself mental if he looked back on it later, but Baekhyun can’t help it. He reaches out a hand, shakily, but not without resolve, to touch the wolf’s cheek. The howl quiets in the air and the two share a look that’s both frightening as well as comforting, because they both don’t know how to deal with the situation.

And there is that inexplicable feeling Baekhyun has that this must be Chanyeol while it just can’t rationally be Chanyeol. The eyes look so similar though… but Baekhyun can’t say he has ever seen the tall man scared like the wolf is now. And Baekhyun is determined to find out why.

“I’ll go read some more of that book, don’t worry, we’ll figure it out,” Baekhyun says and is surprised by himself. He’ll just have to pretend this is Chanyeol, because if it is, Baekhyun can do anything – anything for the guy he’s crushed on for way too long. His hand is still on the wolf’s cheek, he realizes as he scratches the fur gently and it feels nice under his fingers. He smiles when he sees the wolf seems to enjoy it as well, as he closes his eyes and leans in to his touch.

Baekhyun takes a deep breath to try and let go of the tension he felt when he was about to be attacked and sits up straight again. When he positioned himself in such a way that he’s comfortable again, the wolf rests his head on Baekhyun’s lap when he lies down next to him. A shiver passes through the short man’s body, but he can’t say it’s unpleasant.

Baekhyun stumbles upon a chapter called Impulse bites. It starts with a narration of how werewolves time their bites well, so that the newly turned will be able to revert back at any time. However, when the timing is off, when humans aren’t bitten during the full moon, the cycle is messed up and the wolf will have no way to choose between their forms. Either the wolf will stay turned until the next full moon, or they might change entirely without their consent. Comfort and stress could be contributing factors, though there hasn’t been done enough research to prove that.

Baekhyun frowns when he looks at the wolf, now seemingly sound asleep on his lap. He caresses the fur on top of his head, in between the ears that have slightly softer fur. Of course it’s just his imagination that the ears are also larger than usual – but he just wants it to be Chanyeol who is by his side right now.

Last night wasn’t a full moon. If this wolf is really bitten only last night, then that could be the reason why it’s not showing itself properly, why Baekhyun can only guess its identity. Why Baekhyun is pushed more and more into believing it’s Chanyeol.

He can rest assured with that, even if he isn’t completely sure. He would like it if Chanyeol could help him get to his friends anyway and in this form, it’s not very likely he would pull pranks on him, right?

When finally having forced himself to eat already, Baekhyun heaves a shaky breath when he stands outside, useless wooden stick in his hand to defend himself if necessary. He made up his mind to retrieve his friends, now, and he read about possible living spaces for werewolves in the book. Apparently, they don’t live in dens like actual wolves and Baekhyun chuckled when he realized that was exactly his expectation. Right now, he’s far from chuckling though. What is he getting himself into again? The fact a wolf is standing right beside him, looking up at him because Baekhyun hadn’t exactly announced his plan, doesn’t necessarily make him feel more at ease.

“We’re going to find them,” he announces and the wolf says nothing, obviously, but the expression on his face is equally void of meaning. For a moment, Baekhyun is quiet as well, but with a strange hope he has of this possibly being an alpha, he dares to let the next words roll of his lips. “I hoped you might show me the way,” he says, relying entirely on the heightened senses of a wolf, being able to sniff them out or something. And if he were to be an alpha, he’d more than gladly take the lead for Baekhyun.

And well, Chanyeol – the wolf, damn it – leads them, but occasionally whines out of possible frustration when he doesn’t end up where he wants to. Baekhyun doesn’t get frustrated, he’s all the happier the moment gets put off that he will have to face another werewolf. One who’s capable of turning whenever he so wants, one who is fully in control of himself. Or so Baekhyun thinks, anyway.

The two of them return to the cabin when the sky shows signs of the day drawing to an end. There’s no way to lock the doors and Baekhyun is still entirely not at ease, but with the wolf beside him, at least he has something. The wooden stick he brought into the woods with him, lies somewhere forgotten after they’d taken a break. Not that the wolf looked like he needed one, but Baekhyun did.

“Well then,” Baekhyun says, hearing his voice waver slightly and the wolf looks at him curiously. “You need food, right?” he asks and hears no answer, the wolf eagerly tilts his head though and a smile plays on Baekhyun’s lips. “Well we brought meat and I’m sure nobody minds if I give it to you,” he says and as he’s talking, admittedly a little nervously, he has a hard time not to call the wolf Chanyeol. He rummages through the kitchen cupboards to find a plate before opening the fridge and taking out one entire pack of (expensive) meat, to give it to Chanyeol. The wolf, Baekhyun reprimands himself again as he feels his ears heat up.

Baekhyun eats in silence, but the werewolf not so much. He eats as if he’s not quite used to this, paws angrily clawing at the plate, making noise and covering the floor in the meat’s juices. Baekhyun doesn’t even think it’s gross, all that comes to mind is that it’s cute. Chanyeol is cute – even if it’s his temporary pet werewolf whose name might not be Chanyeol.

Baekhyun doesn’t even stop his thoughts any longer. If he’s to get through this, he can’t do so while being afraid of the animal, on top of being confused and scared at the thought that his friends are probably not okay. They’ll rescue them, whatever is happening, and they’ll all go home together, hopefully forgetting about the drama that unfolded here.

When he looks at the animal again, he’s surprised to see it looks back at him. Baekhyun can’t read his expression, but just in case, he smiles, as if to say it will be alright. However, with the time to go to sleep drawing near, Baekhyun isn’t all that sure it will be alright. Because anyone can come inside the cabin, because he doesn’t have keys to lock it. And damn it, why doesn’t he? He didn’t think they’d all need a key, they weren’t going to be separated for longer than one night. Last night, nothing was even supposed to happen…

So when Baekhyun finally lies down in his bed, Chanyeol the wolf being right beside him on the floor, he doesn’t feel right at all. He doesn’t know whether someone will come in and terrorize him, he doesn’t know if someone is going to take the wolf away, he doesn’t know whether his friends are still safe…

“Chanyeol,” he calls, looking at the wolf, but realizes it too late – although the animal perks its head up as if he had been called indeed. “I– I mean, wolf,” Baekhyun stumbles, feeling his face heat up, especially because the wolf looks at him as if he’s amused, head tilting to the side again. “Obviously you’re not Chanyeol,” he adds, but it doesn’t sit well with him. “Well unless you are, of course, but god, I don’t know anymore. Could you please come lie next to me? I’m scared,” he mumbles, but he needs to get his request out into the world. He doesn’t quite know if the animal complies because he has to, because he ignored his earlier plea of staying with him, but right now, Baekhyun can’t say he cares.

The wolf carefully, though gracefully jumps right next to Baekhyun, filling up the small space of the single bed until they lie snugly next to each other. The only thing separating them, is the comforter. Baekhyun finds he trusts the wolf – maybe too much – and is able to fall asleep, even with one of the doors being unlocked and a certain werewolf knowing just which door that is.

Baekhyun wakes up to the feeling of being restricted in his movements. For a second, he scares himself a heart-attack because this might be the doing of … of who? What did he just dream? He frowns because he doesn’t remember. When he feels he can do so, he opens his eyes groggily and is startled the second he does so.

Chanyeol faces him, soundly asleep and hair disheveled. Baekhyun feels a blush creep up his cheeks because the restricted feeling comes from a protective arm slung around him. Looking at Chanyeol more intently, he notices his shoulder is scarred and from the looks of it, that’s not the only place he got injured. His face looks so peaceful though, lips slightly parted and slow breaths pass through them. The arm lying on top of Baekhyun’s upper body is heavy and the small man has never quite had this opportunity to look at the well-developed muscles, now covered in bite-marks. His eyes travel further down the body that lies on top of his comforter and – he should have known – Chanyeol appears to be .

“Oh god,” he whispers, but to it, Chanyeol jolts awake and they look at each other wide-eyed.

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Hey there! I've been away for a while, I'm having a bit of a tough time right now, but I'm doing my best to keep on writing! Thank you so much for supporting the story! I hope you still like it! <3 I also re-read the entire story and fixed a few minor mistakes - like the sun that apparently can set during the night in the first chapter, but it will rise now ^^ 

Don't forget to tell me what you think! <3 (well only if you want to of course <3)