You pulled up into the compound with your heart in your throat. The grounds were virtually empty. No one was out training or running or just wandering around. The sun wouldn’t be really peeking above the horizon for a few more hours so you were hardly surprised. You’d traveled a majority of the night, taking the long way around to get back here.

It hit hard, how much this place no longer felt like home. You were no longer in familiar ground even though you could still walk around blindfolded and not run into any of the equipment or buildings. The nerves in your muscles were screaming at you to get back in the car and leave. But you couldn’t. You had a job to do.

As quietly as you could, you closed the door to the car. If anyone asked about it, you would just say that you switched cars with Innie out of necessity. Not a lie, but vague, very vague and very stretched.

You couldn’t help where you went to first. There was still time for you to change and delete the files. Getting in a hurry would get you in trouble. You had a promise to keep first and the cover of darkness would not be your friend if you tried it now.

After scanning your thumb against the lock, the door clicked and you pushed it open. The house was as quiet as the rest of the compound. You made sure your footsteps were as light as feathers as you made your way up the stairs and down the hall, passing your old bedroom.

Alli was fast asleep, all curled in her blankets like a little rabbit burying itself in its mother’s nest. One of her pillows had been tossed to the floor and the sheets at the bottom of the bed were half pulled from their secured corners. Careful not to wake her up, you sat down on the bed, smiling down at your baby sister.

Her hair was matted and tangled from tossing and turning against her pillow. If she wasn’t sleeping well, her face, soft and content, didn’t show it as she was curled up on her side away from you. With a slow hand, you reached out and pushed a few strands of hair back behind her ear. That gentle move was enough to wake her from her dream.

At first, she just blinked, her eyes staring unfocused at the wall in front of her. Eyebrows furrowed tightly together, she let out a groan and flipped over to her back. It took several seconds for her mind to catch up with what it was seeing, but as soon as it did, she shot up and flung her arms around your neck. You returned the hug with equal force, feeling the most calm you had since you stepped foot here.

“What are you doing here?” she gasped in your ear. Too soon for your liking, she pulled back just enough to see your face. All traces of tiredness were gone from her sparkling eyes. “Mom and Dad didn’t say anything about you coming home!”

You shushed her as her voice became a little too loud. “I came back without informing them.”

“Why?” she frowned.

You sighed. The best lies were dipped in a little truth. “They found me out. I had to get away before they came for me.”

At the news of you being in danger, Alli threw herself back into your arms. “I’m so glad you got away.” Her voice was muffled by your shirt, but you could still make out the vulnerability in her tone.

You kissed the top of her head and rocked her back and forth. “I am, too.”

How were you ever going to leave you baby sister behind? Either path you ended up taking would separate the two of you. Would she be bitter? Would she hate you? Or was there a small chance that she would understand why you were going to do what you came here for? You weren’t sure. She was still a fledgling teenager. Even as her older sister, you still didn’t know every thought that ran through her head. There were parts of Alli that would always be cut off from you, just like there were parts of you that would never be revealed to her.

Sighing, you gently pushed Alli out of your arms.

“Why don’t you go back to sleep?” you urged. “I’ll talk to Mom and Dad when they wake up. Maybe we can have breakfast.”

Alli pouted out her bottom lip. “How am I supposed to go back to sleep now?”

You laughed, patting her on the head. “I’m sure you’ll be yawning in no time.”

“No, I won-” Before she could even finish that argument, split wide open, letting out a long, deep yawn that watered her eyes.

“Get some sleep,” you ordered with a chuckle. Not giving her another chance to protest, you left her room and shut the door behind you.

Making it down the stairs, you figured you could just sit at the dining table until your parents woke up. However, there was no waiting needed.

“(y/n), what are you doing here?”

You froze just before your foot could hit the hardwood floor of the living room. Turning around slowly, you faced your father who was standing at the stop of the staircase. A stern look was carved into his features. You wanted to shrink back under his stare like you had as a child, but you stayed steady. Showing weakness wasn’t an option in this family.

“I was discovered,” you informed him. You held your head high and tried to keep up the wolf-hating façade that no longer applied to you. “They tried to set a trap using the book, but I got out before they could succeed.”

Your father raised an eyebrow, “So, you didn’t get the book?”

You shook your head. “No, sir.”

That earned a heavy sigh. “Alright. We’ll have a meeting later today to discuss our next move. For now, go get some rest.”

“Yes, sir.” Sleep wasn’t really on your mind right now, but you headed up to your room anyway while your father disappeared into the master bedroom.

Alone in the darkness of your childhood hideaway, you peeled off the day-old clothes and let them drop to the floor. Maybe you would take care of them later, maybe you wouldn’t. Either way, it probably wouldn’t matter. You didn’t bother to dress in any sleeping wear, opting to just lie down on your bed, staring up at the ceiling.

In a few hours, you’d get dressed in fresh clothes and meet with the other leaders of the council to debrief them. That gave you time to rehearse your story in your head enough to where it sounded like the plausible truth. After that, you’d be allowed to access the archives and log your activity with the wolves. That’s when you would alter the files. Going right now would be too suspicious if caught. When it came to members of the organization, you had to be extra careful. All of you were raised to question anything out of the ordinary and never take an excuse as first truth.

While you had very little faith in your plan going off without a hitch and successfully sending the hunters to the wrong place – if they decide to go after the large pack, that is – there was one little flicker of hope inside of you. The fear of being caught and executed was still very strong, yet you let yourself imagine a subtle escape plan. You thought that maybe – just maybe – you could make it back to Luhan. Maybe you could fake your death so they wouldn’t try to find you. Not by wolf. That would just be cruel and lead them to hate the supernatural creatures even more. But you could fake a car accident. That was easy enough.

If fate was cruel enough to raise you as a hunter and then make you a wolf’s mate, maybe there was a chance that she could kind enough to let you have some sort of life with him. Unfortunately, you hadn’t heard too many stories of fate being so generous.  

**

Luhan felt nauseous when he woke up. A heavy fog weighed down his head and he didn’t want to move or open his eyes. But when he reached out to pull you in closer, his eyelids snapped right open. His arm had fallen onto empty blanket, causing him to panic. Shooting up to a sitting position, his head began to spin, but he still pushed himself up to his feet. He was completely unstable, wobbling to and fro, threatening to fall over at any second. What the hell was wrong with him?

“(y/n)? (y/n)!” No answer came as he continuously called out for you and there was no sign of anyone else being in the garage with him. Stumbling the whole way to the main house, Luhan cursed and called for you again.

The rest of the pack was gathered in the living room, everyone looking nearly as bad as he felt. Kris was leaning up against the far wall with his hand massaging his forehead. Evie was beside him, chewing on her bottom lip as she held back her concerns that must have been bouncing around in her head. Luhan was careful not to hurt her as he stormed up to Kris, taking Kris’ shirt in his hands. It didn’t matter the height Kris had over him, Luhan would take him down if he did anything to you.

“Where is she!”

“What are you talking about?” Kris hissed. He made no attempt to get Luhan off.

“(y/n)’s gone!” Luhan shouted. “What did you do to her!”

Rolling his eyes, Kris tried to unclamp Luhan from his collar, but his effort was weak, which was odd, but maybe whatever was affecting Luhan had affected him too. “I didn’t do anything to the hunter. We all just woke up ourselves.”

A hand landed in Luhan’s shoulder. He whipped his head around to growl at the intrusion, but when he saw it was Minseok, up and walking on his own two feet, Luhan loosened his grip and took a step back. “What happened?”

Junmyeon looked pointedly at Hae In. “Care to explain?”

Hae In huffed, crossing her arms. “Oh, please. It was just a little sleeping medicine to knock everyone out so we could get (y/n) out of here.”

“Why the hell did you think letting her go was a good idea?” Kris snapped, his eyes flashing red before diluting back to their normal brown.

The alpha didn’t scare Hae In one bit. “Think about it, numbskull. If she’s no longer communicating with the others, they’ll know something up and come after her. Did you really want a whole caravan of hunters descending on the town?”

“She has a point,” Yixing commented. Kris sent him a dirty glare before getting quietly scolded by Evie.

Junmyeon, however, nodded in agreement. “That’s true and something we didn’t think about. But where did she go?”

“She went back to them,” replied Kita quietly. Hae In threw her a look.

“What!” Luhan leapt towards Hae In, taking her by the shoulders tightly. His wolf was snarling, scratching to be let out and only his mastered self-control was keeping him human. “Why the hell would you let her go back there! They’re going to kill her!”

Baekhyun jumped right in, shoving Luhan away to protect his mate.

“I’m confused,” Evie confessed as she turned to look at Kris. “Why would they kill her if she goes back? She’s one of them.”

“Because she’s a wolf’s mate,” Kris answered her. The weight of the truth was bearing down on Luhan, so he was thankful that he didn’t have to speak the answer out loud. They would kill her because of him.

Dana looked up at Kyungsoo with her wide, vulnerable eyes, hands clinging to his arms in a way of asking for protection. “I thought you said they didn’t hurt mates.”

“They don’t.” Lanie’s voice was low and unemotional. She delivered her speech in her normal, matter-of-fact voice. “Hunters promised a long time ago never to hurt mates, since they were humans who didn’t have a choice in being tied to wolves. They’ve always thought that the idea of a rejected wolf possibly dying was a cruel punishment for the human mates.” She shifted uncomfortably for a second before continuing, “But since she’s a hunter, they’ll see it as treason. They don’t believe that hunters can be mates since it goes against their very nature. All they’ll see is that she fell in love with a wolf and betrayed them all. If they find out, that is.”

Chanyeol gave Lanie a questioning look, but she waved it off, mouthing “later” to him.

“So, I just sent my cousin to her death?” Hae In croaked.

“She had to have known,” Junmyeon whispered. He glanced at Luhan for just a second before looking back down to the floor.

Ming shook her head. “But why? If she knew they would kill her, why go back?”

“She said she was going to destroy the files they had on the pack here,” Kita explained. “She wanted to make sure none of them could find us again, send them in the wrong direction. She wants to protect us.”

Luhan wanted to crumple to the ground, curl up and never move again. If you died, so did he. If not physically, then at least spiritually. He’d be an empty shell, wandering around the woods like the undead, no direction, no purpose, just… being. The time the two of you have shared was practically nonexistent. It couldn’t end like this for him. For the two of you. Why did everyone else get a happy ending?

He couldn’t just sit by and let you die. He refused.

“Hae In?”

Even under her shaken up exterior, Hae In still had that determined look in her eye. “Yeah?”

“Have you ever been to there before? Where she’s from?” Luhan hoped that it would so easy to find you, but those hopes were dashed when Hae In shook her head.

“No, we never went over there.” As if by instinct, she checked her pockets, patting them slightly before grinning at Luhan. “But I left my very charge cellphone in the center console of my car. That (y/n) took to get home.”

“Do you think we can track it an-”

“No.”

All heads turned to Junmyeon, stunned.

“What do you mean ‘no’?” Luhan stared at the alpha with furrowed brows, halfway between shocked and angry.

“We can’t just go running into hunter territory.” Junmyeon was using his “reasonable” voice, the professor voice that conveyed how he wanted the listener to stop and think about what he was saying. “I’m sure they’d outnumber us and I can’t put the whole pack at risk.”

“So we’re just going to leave her to die?” Luhan shouted. No amount of “reason” could calm him down. His mate was in danger and yet no one wanted to help.

“We don’t know that they’ll find out,” Junmyeon argued. “She could get out just fine and come back here for you. Isn’t this what she’s trained to do? I can’t risk the pack for a possibility.”

“You’d go if it were Kita.”

It was a low blow. Luhan knew it, Junmyeon knew, everyone in the room knew it. But Luhan didn’t care. Because it was the truth. Wolves will do whatever it takes to guarantee the safety of their mates.

Junmyeon sighed. “I’m not going to change my mind. We’re staying here.” Ending the conversation, he his heels and left the room. Kita threw Luhan a look of sympathy before following Junmyeon out.

Not bothering to see if anyone was even silently on his side, Luhan whirled and stormed out of the house. Outside, he let loose a yell that came from the beast deep within. Anyone would recognize the roar reverberating underneath the human cry. When his voice finally gave, he collapsed to his knees, fist pounding against the dry grass as he sobbed at your stupid decision to leave him. There could have been another way. There could have been a different path to take to protect the pack that didn’t involve you walking into death’s open mouth.

“Luhan?”

Taking a deep breath, Luhan composed himself the best he could before sitting up. “What is it Hae In?” Instead of answering, Hae In held something out in his line of vision. He took the object – a poorly taken-care of mobile. “What’s this?”

“Baekhyun’s cellphone,” Hae In replied dryly. “I’ve already got my own pulled up on the FindMe app. Just follow the GPS and it’ll take you right to (y/n).”

For a moment, Luhan just stared at the brightly lit screen, watching the blue dot pulse in what was listed on the map as the middle of nowhere. Then he jumped to his feet and pulled Hae In into a hug that surely would get him trouble with Baekhyun. “Thank you.” Not wanting to waste any more time, Luhan let her go and headed for his car. Just before he jump behind the wheel, however, he looked at Hae In once more. “She’s lucky to have a cousin like you.”

“Of course she is,” Hae In smirked. Luhan even laughed as she tossed her hair back behind her shoulder. “Now, go get her and bring her back so I can kick her for lying to me.”

Luhan nodded once and then slid into the car. He was going to make it to you and he was going to bring you back. There was no way he was going to lose you like this. Not a chance in hell.

**

You sat just to the left of your father at the head of the table. Nervous sparks fluttered around in your stomach. They’d grown as you were telling your story to the head hunters gathered in the conference room of the main hall. But they seemed to believe you and your harrowing tale of narrowly escaping the claws of the ferocious wolves. You didn’t embellish too much. That would raise the red flags and send them into suspicion. You gave them the “facts” and that was it.

Now it was silence, save for the rhythmic tapping of your father’s fingers against the polished mahogany table.

“So, do we try again for the book?” Hanyu asked.

Your father shook his head. “No. They know too much now. We’ll give it time to cool down and then we’ll decided how to attack and wipe out the pack.”

You nearly gave yourself away when you took in your father’s words. Barely in time did you take control of your facial muscles and keep the shock at bay. You should have expected the comment, but the picture of your family attacking the pack formed in your head and you couldn’t push back the scene. There was a slight chance that a millisecond of emotion was visible and had been caught by someone sitting near you, but you couldn’t focus on the panic.

“Agreed,” Tessa nodded. She was an intimidating person with sharp features and and an even sharper aim. “Until then, (y/n), I look forward to reading your report once you’ve logged it into the system.”

You nodded back to her, your heart thumping against your chest. If anyone could see through you, it would be Tessa.

Everyone rose from the table and headed off their own way, you included as you navigated the halls to the archives. The fear and anxiety never let up. You just had to push through it. After all, that’s what you’d been trained to do. Placing your palm against the scanner, you waited for the light to turn green and the door unlock.

The room wasn’t dimly lit like how they were usually portrayed in the movies. Like all the other official rooms of the main hall, fluorescent bulbs hummed above your head, spaced evenly in a pattern among the white tiles. One large desk with a computer monitor the size of a medium TV rested near the back of the round among the file cabinets. You walked slowly towards the main computer, pulling the rolling chair out and sitting down. It didn’t take you long to find the right file route and bring up the correct data.

First, you entered in what you were supposed, nearly word for word what you had told the council. Then you deleted whole sections of the document that housed crucial information that could uncover the pack’s real location with a little more search. You scrolled all the way to the beginning, finding the function that would allow you to change the name of the town throughout the document in one click. You’d already picked out a name to use instead, close enough to the real thing to throw those with a better memory off. The little box that asked you if you really wanted to perform the action popped up and your finger hovered over the mouse. A few seconds ticked by… and then you hit yes.

A shadow emerged over your shoulder. You stiffened as a hand clamped over your wrist and you watched as a face emerged in your peripheral.

“Someone has been very naughty, haven’t they?”

.

It was Johnny.