Darkness surrounded you. No trickle of light leaked through any of the out windows or through the doors you knew to be twenty feet ahead of you. While you weren’t quite blind to the point to where your body would begin to panic, it was enough that your other senses were taking over and kicking into overdrive. You kept all concentration on your hearing, searching for the slightest sound behind you.

It was quiet; so much so that it dulled your eardrums and drew too much of the focus on your own heartbeat. But your years of training taught you to fight back against the fatigue and you caught the soft sound of rope lowering on the pulley.

You whipped around, arrow already loaded, and shot the bag of sand, splitting it open and letting the thousands of bead-sized rocks spill out onto the floor before the bag even reached ten feet above your head. Spinning on the balls of your feet, you whisked the small dagger from your boot with a shrink, throwing it flawlessly at the wooden cut out that had popped up across the room.

Over and over, different targets sprung up or dropped down from all angles. Your breath quickened as your energy drained, but you pushed through it, not letting your guard down for a second. Some had attacks of their own, sending daggers or wooden stakes in your direction. They were easy enough to dodge as you flipped or summersaulted out of the way.

Sweat slid down your face, tracing your hairline from the top of your forehead before dripping from your jaw. No more targets cropped up and you stood there in the middle room, your breath in and out of your lungs being the only source of noise. Then a soft whistle you knew all too well pierced through the air. Without even thinking through the motion, you turned, arm held out, and caught the arrow midair before it could hit you in the back.

Slow clapping echoed off the walls as the lights flickered on. Your mother walked into the room from the now wide open doors, spilling light onto every surface and revealing the damage you had done throughout the session. Your little sister slide down from the balcony using one of the wooden columns, a short recurve bow strapped to her back.

“Your aim isn’t improving,” you chastised. At thirteen, Ally was still in training, but her skills weren’t developing at quite the pace you would have hoped. She still struggled with the bow, but she was deadly with knives and could slink around like a cat. To be a hunter, though, you needed to be well rounded, excelling in every category. It’s what kept you alive.

Ally just stuck her tongue out at you.

“Punk,” you scoffed under your breath.

“I truly think you’re ready,” your mother mused as she beamed at you with a proud smile, missing the childish interaction between her daughters.

“Of course she’s ready.” Your father joined you from the shadows, hands behind his back and a calculating look in his eye. “This mission is the single most important assignment that has ever come to our family. It’s vital that you succeed. The future of the hunters rests on it.”

You nodded once, hard and certain. “I understand.”

“Your bags are all packed and the apartment is set up for you,” your mother informed you. “You’ll head out tomorrow.”

Your father kissed the top of your head as if you were still his little girl rather than a grown hunter. But you didn’t protest. There much more love in your family than some of the others. You’d seen how cold and distant some of the parents could be. It made you wonder how they were able to make a child in the first place.

Perhaps that little dash of love is what gave you the extra advantage. You had something to fight for, something to come back to. The mission – the overall mantra of the organization – was not your end all, be all.  Because of that little something extra, you were given a great honor, something that wasn’t often approved.

While moving from place to place and tracking down supernatural creatures was no stranger to you and your way of life, solo missions were rare. As ordinary humans, it was better to go to in groups against wolves, to have someone to watch your back and stay by your side. Especially when there was a large pack involved.

But this time, you had to go alone. It was too risky to send a group – and you were the only one who could blend into the environment without giving yourself away or looking too suspicious. It was an honor to be trusted like this, but it would be a lie if you didn’t say you were a little afraid.

It would be you versus a pack of unknown numbers. While you had a bit of information at your fingertips, you were still going in mostly blind. The intel you’d collect over the last year and half was sparse, but every detail would count towards your ultimate goal: to take out every wolf until the world was purged of them all. They were a threat to humanity and needed to be extinguish.

Supper that night was quiet, only the clanking of silverware against your mother’s finest china resonated in the dining room. You chewed your steak slowly, the nerves in your stomach making it hard to take in much food. If your current state was obvious, no one commented on it. Being nervous was only natural, a primal instinct that couldn’t be put out.

You excused yourself after finishing half your plate and shuffled off to your room.

Piled up by the door just inside your sanctuary were your bags to take with you. Most were full of clothes - of both the civilian and hunter variety. No one knew how long this mission would take. You could gone a month or a whole year, so you took a majority of your clothing and necessities just in case. One piece of luggage, however, was locked up tight, containing your favorite bow and several other smaller weapons that you thought might come in handy.

Pressing your thumb up against the lock of the case, you waited for the springs to hitch and the clips to snap up before lifting the lid. With careful fingers, you lifted the bow up, examining every inch for the hundredth time.

The dull black of the base blended in perfectly with the night when you were aiming to be invisible. Your string was tight yet gave enough to pull the arrow back before letting it go, flying towards its target.

Knock, knock, knock.

Ally poked her head into your room sheepishly. Smiling just a little at her predictability, you waved her in the rest of the way.

“Come on.”

A big, brace-filled grin grew on her face as she hopped inside, closing the door behind her before she plopped down beside you on floor.

“Are you checking everything again?” your little sister giggled.

Rolling your eyes, you put your bow back into its foam holding and closed the lid. “Always check your equipment before going out into the field.”

“Okay, Dad.” After a few seconds of silence, the smile on Ally’s face faded.

If there was one thing you didn’t like about this mission, it was leaving her. It was too dangerous for her to come with you and she wasn’t even close to finishing her training. You ran your fingers through her hair, letting the strands slip away and fall back down to her shoulders.

“I won’t be gone too long.”

“Yeah, right,” she muttered. “Who knows how long you’ll be away. And you know the rules: no unnecessary contact. What if something happens to you?”

You scoffed. “Nothing is going to happen to me. Do you really have that little faith in me?”

“You’re going up against one of the biggest packs we’ve ever seen! Johnny said-”

“Oh screw what Johnny says!” you snapped. Shifting yourself so you were completely facing Ally, you took her hands. “Listen. Johnny is an who’s sour because he couldn’t spot a wolf if it came up and sniffed his behind so they’re sending me instead.” That made her giggle. Good. You were already lifting her mood. “We’re not sure how big this pack is, okay? Is it larger than the average one? Yeah, it seems like it. But it’s nothing I can’t handle. This isn’t a takedown mission. It’s simply covert. Trust me, okay? Your big sister has got this.”

For a good minute, Ally said nothing. She didn’t look at you either, letting her eyes wander around the floor aimlessly.

“You’ll come back, right?” she finally mumbled.

Throwing your arms around your, you pulled your baby sister in close to your chest. “I will always come back.”

No matter what this mission had in store, you would fight like hell to get back to Ally. To you, she was still that tiny, vulnerable little bundle that needed your protection.

You were roughly her age when she was born. At first, you saw her as a nuisance that took your parents’ attention away from your training and from you in general. But it didn’t take long for this helpless lump of flesh to take ahold of your heart forever. Now, she came first. She was the one that you were fighting for.

Besides, this was such a covert mission that you would be out of harm’s way for the most part. What was the worst that could happen?

**

Luhan woke up to the sound of absolute chaos.

Groaning, he flipped over to his side so he could shove his face into the pillow to try and muffle the noise. Didn’t anyone care that a majority of his job happened late at night?

Of course they didn’t. They were all too lost in their own little worlds.

After another minute or two of trying to go back to sleep, Luhan gave up and pushed himself into a sitting position. Little flecks of crust were still holding his eyelids together. He didn’t try to fight against it, instead just swaying there for a moment with his eyes still closed shut.

Almost as soon as he’d left all those years ago, he’d wanted to return to the farmhouse. He’d missed his brothers, Minseok and Sehun especially. But he’d sworn to stay by Kris’ side and he couldn’t let his alpha wander off alone. When they finally did come back, he hadn’t expected all the changes that took place during their absence.

So many of them had their mates and more were coming in by the day. When both Kris and Junmyeon had met their mates at the same time, it excited Luhan. That had to mean his was just around the corner, right?

Crash!

The whole ceiling in Luhan’s room shook from whatever had just occurred in the space above him. He just had to take the room under the kitchen. Oh, well. It beat staying up in the crowded second floor.

Finally peeling his eyes open, Luhan stretched out his muscles and climbed out of bed. Since he was just in a plain shirt and sleep pants, he didn’t bother to change before he stumbled out of the room and up the stairs.

Just as he suspected, the kitchen was filled to the brim with the wolves and their mates. As it was a Saturday morning, no one had school to hurry to or jobs to arrive on time for. The source of the earlier crash seemed to be from Chanyeol accidentally dropping a whole pan of eggs on the floor. He was currently getting a nice scolding from Lanie and looking much like the overgrown pup that he was.

A small tug on Luhan’s pant leg took his attention away from the pair to the area at his feet. He smiled brightly at the little girl who’d crawled her way over to him and was now using his leg as support while she wobbled cutely on her still feet. Not even hesitating, Luhan scooped the nine-month old into his arms, resting her as best as he could on his flat male hip. She didn’t seem to mind, though, as she clenched her fists into his shirt.

“Is this you saying you want Uncle Luhan to feed you this morning?”

Evie - Kris’ mate and fiancé - approached the pair with a warm bottle in one hand and a small bowl of dry cereal in the other.

Little Mei let out a squeal that could only be decoded as a yes. Luhan carried her over to the dining table, moving her to his lap as Evie set the bottle and bowl down in front of him. Several of the mates were staring as Luhan concentrated on feeding the little girl. Even some of the other wolves were looking on with a sparkle in their eyes.

While Evie had been pregnant, a majority of the pack threw around jokes about how it just had to be Kris who got his mate pregnant first. After Limei was born, though, the jokes turned into hushed whispers of having their own. There was hardly any room left with everyone here now. Junmyeon was already talking to contactors about possibly building a second house. If the mates really started talking seriously about adding to the pack, Junmyeon was going to need to turn the talks into actions. Or maybe Luhan could just move into the garage.  

“Dadadada.” Mei babbled on and on in between bites as if she was trying to participate in the relentless chatter around her.

Kris, hearing his daughter from the other room, came scurrying towards the table and knelt down so he was almost at eye level with her. “No, Mei, I’m dada. Say dada to me. Say dada.”

It took all his supernatural strength for Luhan to bite down on his laugh when Mei clammed up, refusing to say anything towards the alpha wolf.

Hanging his head, Kris let out a deep sigh before pushing himself back into a standing position. Evie came over with a plate of food and placed it in front of Luhan.

“Here, Lu. Why don’t you go ahead and eat and I’ll finish up feeding Mei.”

“Okay,” Luhan smiled up at her. Evie was the only person who ever called him “Lu” and he kind of enjoyed it. They had a bit of a special bond after that night she got a little too drunk in his bar and spilled her guts about being in love with Kris. She treated him like a brother, even if little moments like this made Kris’ inner wolf jealous. Luhan didn’t take it to heart; it was a natural reaction, especially since he was still unmated.

Evie lifted Mei into her arms, but almost immediately, the little girl reached for her dad. Kris’ face lit up to suddenly being wanted by his daughter and gladly held her against his chest. Evie simply rolled her eyes with a shrug and walked away. The poor thing had to get used to sharing Mei very quickly after she was born, hardly getting any alone with her.

Turning his focus to the fresh plate of breakfast in front of him, Luhan gobbled the delicious food down. He wanted to get out of here pretty quickly before he could notice too much of the mate adoration around him. His brothers were feeding their mates or just being overly touchy and affectionate. There was only so much he could take on his own. Sehun and Tao were nowhere to be seen, most likely either hiding out in their rooms until most of the pack scattered to do whatever they had scheduled today or already left to cause more havoc to the poor university town they called home.

Once Luhan cleaned off his plate, he rinsed it off and put it in the dishwasher before slipping out the back door, completely unnoticed by the rest of his pack.

Junmyeon had asked that no one go running alone out of worry of what the local witches had apparently seen in a random vision. There hadn’t been any more premonitions and nothing had happened to be concerned about. Given the fact that Junmyeon simply requested they stick together and not outright ordered it, Luhan found no difficulty in undressing behind the garage and shifting as he ran towards the woods.

Sometimes… sometimes his pack was just too much. Or maybe Luhan had simply let his hopes rise too high.

When wolf after wolf was finding their mate in the most random of ways, Luhan thought he would be next any day. But then a month went by after Kris and Junmyeon. And then another. Before he knew it, a year and a half had gone by with no new mates appearing. Tao and Sehun were ecstatic. Luhan, on the other hand, was finding it harder to deal with.

He was lonely. He could admit it. Even as he plastered on a smile and took refuge in being a helpful uncle to little Mei, he couldn’t stamp down the ever-growing hole in his chest. When an unmated wolf was constantly surrounded by the love and contentment of his paired off brothers, it watered and fed a jealousy that could snap at any moment. And Luhan was definitely balancing on the tip of a knife.

As he ran through the trees, he couldn’t help but wonder at where she could possibly be. Was she far away, somewhere he hadn’t been before? Or was she so close that he’d just missed her walking down the street due to fate’s cruel ways?

No matter how many times he asked himself those questions, no answers would ever appear. He would just have to wait and see when his mate would show. He was sure whenever that happened, it would be worth the wait.