A sigh left Jinyoung as he came back to the world after the truck stopped. "We're here?" He asked, opening his eyes. "Yeah," said Dongwoo as he looked at the house in front of him. "Do you know who's home?" He asked. "Let me see," said Jinyoung as he reached over to grab his phone from the dock.

It was Doyoung that came outside to see who was here after a few minutes, waving at them before going back inside. Jinyoung shook his head in slight amusement before getting out of the truck and heading inside after grabbing his bag from the backseat. Dongwoo followed after him.

"Just our luck that the hunters are home," said Jinyoung as Doyoung met them in the livingroom. "Well, it's just Hobi and I," said Doyoung. "The wolves are at work at the moment," he said. "Jungwoo and Jeno?" Asked Jinyoung. Doyoung nodded.

"Do you know what happened to Chanyeol?" Asked Jinyoung. "He's still around," said Doyoung. "Changkyun merged territories with him a couple years back," he said. "So it's all one territory now," he said. "Ah," said Jinyoung. "Chanyeol's just busy with missions and Taeyong complains, jokingly of course, that it was his excuse to go on more missions," Doyoung said with a shake of his head. "Chanyeol's always been one to never turn down missions," Jinyoung said with a chuckle.

"Go and explore if you want, you have Hyunjin and Jungwoo's room for the night," said Doyoung. "I'll come get you when someone comes home," he said. Jinyoung nodded and went to put the bag away in Hyunjin and Jungwoo's room before leaving out the back door to explore with Dongwoo.

"Didn't they have a smaller house?" Asked Dongwoo. "They did," said Jinyoung. "But they moved into this house after the debacle with Kangmin's team," he said. "Ah," said Dongwoo. "The house wasn't going to be used anyway, and Hohyeon, who was the last person in the house, gave it to them," said Jinyoung.

"Did you have any real reason to come here besides checking on the territory? We usually go straight to Chanyeol's," said Dongwoo. "It's December," said Jinyoung. "And we're a couple weeks late but it was Jin's birthday a couple weeks ago," he said. "You wouldn't know him, but this is one of the only times we'll ever stop here around now to go pay our respects," he said. "Might as well, since it's on the way to Seattle," he said. "Ah," hummed Dongwoo.

"You respected him didn't you?" Asked Dongwoo as they reached the lake with the small graveyard off to the side. "He's one of few that I did respect," said Jinyoung as he knelt down in front of each grave to pay his respects. Dongwoo stood a few feet behind him, keeping his head bowed in respect as he waited on Jinyoung to be done.

Jinyoung stepped away after a few minutes and let Dongwoo have his turn at paying his respects. They headed to the lake to unwind for an hour or two, taking in their surroundings.
 

~

"I was sent to find you?" Came a voice, causing Jinyoung to turn around to spy who he figured was one of the wolves. "Are we needed back at the house?" Asked Jinyoung. "Yeah," said the wolf. "The name's Jeno," he said, bowing his head in respect. "Lead the way then, Jeno," said Jinyoung. Jeno nodded and turned, heading back to the house. Jinyoung and Dongwoo followed after him.

"Hoseok," said Jinyoung when they entered the house. "Hello Jinyoung," said Hoseok. "It's been quite a while since we've last seen each other," he said. Jinyoung nodded. "Anything new happening?" He asked. "No, not really," said Hoseok as they went to sit down in the livingroom. "Changkyun was quite surprised when Chanyeol asked to merge territories," he said. "He wasn't ready to lead a larger pack, but Chanyeol assured him that the packs were still separate, just the territories were now one," he said. Jinyoung nodded.

"Any trouble?" Asked Dongwoo. "Not really," said Hoseok. "Things have been relatively peaceful, but I doubt anyone would want to have a territory as large as this one now that it's two merged into one," he said. "Most would stay to one city, or a cluster of cities in one area," agreed Jinyoung. "Or they're nomadic," added Dongwoo.

"No issues with hunters then?" Asked Jinyoung. "No," said Hoseok. "We always have teams passing through, but it's more due to needing to rest for a day or two before moving on," he said. "Haven't had much trouble from the vampires either, ever since Sunggyu made it known that he was staying with the pack now," he said. Jinyoung nodded. "That's good," he said.

"May I ask why a vampire decided to stick around?" Asked Dongwoo. "I think it was due to Cory," said Doyoung as he walked over and sat beside Hoseok. "He didn't want to leave Jisung here due to this bond the two share but," he said, shrugging. "I see," hummed Dongwoo. "Cory and Sunggyu are mates, and Cory views Jisung as a younger brother," said Doyoung.

"Jisung and Hyunjin were wolves that were brought back weren't they?" Asked Jinyoung. Doyoung nodded. "Ah... Another two brought back because of the damn contract," grumbled Dongwoo. "It's not a contract per say," said Jinyoung. "But as long as the person whose wolf was extracted is alive they don't die," he said.

"How would that work for Hyungwon though? Kisu's dead," said Doyoung. "Not exactly," said Jinyoung. "Jisung is alive isn't he?" He asked. "Because of what he did Jisung basically became Kisu," he said. "Huh, that makes sense," said Hoseok.

"What do you know of the hunters being opposed to the merge of the vampire and werewolf hunting associations via the Treasure Box faction?" Asked Jinyoung. "Not very much," said Doyoung. "These hunters aren't human though, from what I've managed to gather," he added. "But they're targeting contract bound animal-humans for the sole purpose of destroying the faction," he said. "Sounds like something they'd do," hummed Jinyoung.

"Looks like we'll have to step up our tactics," said Dongwoo. "I know what to do," said Jinyoung. "But we'll initiate the plan when we get to Seattle," he said. "As a fail safe anyway," he added. Dongwoo nodded.
 

~

Jinyoung observed the room they were given for the night, looking around as he made sure not to touch any of Hyunjin's or Jungwoo's things. "Man, if this was the other house we'd be in the livingroom," said Dongwoo as he sat on Jungwoo's bed. "It's how it usually is to be honest," said Jinyoung. "But it's good to see that people try and be accommodating," he said. Dongwoo nodded.

"Are you going to be meditating again?" Asked Dongwoo once Jinyoung came back into the room after taking a shower and changing clothes. "I don't know yet," said Jinyoung. "We'll see how tonight goes," he said, shrugging as he went to sit down in Hyunjin's bed.

"Why do you meditate again?" Asked Dongwoo. "It's a way of dealing with things," said Jinyoung. "It'd be hard to understand unless you were in my shoes," he said. Dongwoo hummed.