You watched the bartender out of the corner of your eye as he shifted over to the end of the counter to take care of another group of young women. There was something about him that giving off a very non-human vibe. Your alarm bells were already going off, but you needed to be careful. Going around and just assuming which members of this society were werewolves would give you tunnel vision and you needed to be alert. All options needed to be open to you if this mission was going to succeed.

But your eyes kept flickering over to him, this Luhan character. His soft face was intriguing to you, capturing your attention to the point that you were only partially taking in what Innie was saying. He’d smile and laugh as he conversed with the patrons. The strange thought of wanting him to come back over here and only laugh with you skirted across your mind before you shoved it away.

Since when did an attractive face distract you like this?

Tearing your eyes away, you began scanning the room, looking out for any possible signs of a wolf or anything else that could point you in the right direction.

“There he is!”

Grabbing your attention again, you followed Innie’s line of sight, where she was waving enthusiastically to a trio of boys that had just walked into the bar. The one in front, a short, brown haired guy with an obnoxiously pointy chin and puppy-like eyes, smiled brightly when he noticed Innie and quickly made his way through the crowd. As soon as he reached the two of you, he grabbed Innie’s waist and gave her a kiss that barely passed the criteria to be considered PG-13. A little more tongue and they’d be inching towards rated “R” material.

But when he pulled away, you nearly gasped.

One of the tale-tell signs of a wolf was when they were around their mate. It took a trained eye and complete focus, but when that chemical reaction of love and adoration was happening inside the wolf, his eyes reflected those emotions, flashing an amber gold for just a second as the beast pushed towards the surface. And you happened to catch this wolf’s involuntary reaction.

However, your small victory came with a price.

Not only had you identified a wolf in your first night here, you discovered the worst possible scenario that hadn’t even crossed your mind: your cousin Hae In was a mate.

As per the law, hunters didn’t touch mates unless absolutely necessary, only if they attacked first. They were still humans who were pulled into this battle against their wills, though their hormones told them otherwise. Even with that floating in the back of your head, that didn’t make the situation any easier. How were you supposed to keep your cousin out of this now?

Innie punched the wolf in the shoulder, pouting deeply. “You’re late.”

He actually whined, like he wasn’t worried that someone might wonder why a grown man was making a noise like that. “I’m sorry, babe. It’s all Chanyeol’s fault. He kept changing his shirt.”

“No idea why,” one of the others snorted. “It’s not like Lanie’s with us.”

“Both of you shut up,” the tall one growled. Okay, so that one was named Chanyeol. From the way the three of them stood, moving in sync to make sure they had a defensive edge at all times, they were definitely a pack. An instinctual habit that happened without them thinking about it.

“(y/n), this is my idiot of a boyfriend, Baekhyun,” Innie introduced playfully. Pointing to other two, she said, “The giant one is Chanyeol and that’s Jongdae. These three are absolute trouble, but don’t worry, they won’t bother you.”

“Thanks for the wonderful introduction,” Jongdae grumbled.

Baekhyun didn’t seem bothered by the slight insult, throwing an arm around Innie’s shoulders and placing a kiss to her temple.

“Guys, this is my cousin, (y/n),” Innie continued on.

The fact that these wolves knew your name and your face made you want to squirm in your seat. It was a fight against your training to always go unseen, to never be noticed. But this might be an in that you could utilise, so you slapped on a smile and waved innocently. “Hi! It’s nice to you meet you guys.”

Baekhyun nodded towards you politely before calling out, “Hey, Luhan!”

Luhan didn’t seem too thrilled to see the newest arrivals, shuffling over while grumbling to himself. His gaze set on you for just a second before turning to the others. “Don’t I see you guys enough at home?”

Home?

Was he a wolf, too?

As he made the drinks his friends requested, you watched his movements. They were quick, graceful and smooth. Yes, you were sure he was one of them as well. It would take a little more observation on your end, but it was the only conclusion. Wolves stuck together, rarely letting outsiders in. Their lives revolved around secrecy, kind of like yours.

“Here,” Luhan sighed, placing the newly made drinks down on the counter. “Now, please, don’t be too crazy. Remember, I still work here and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Baekhyun brushed off.

You frowned at his response. It bothered you, the way he didn’t seem to listen to the request, but you couldn’t explain why. You didn’t know any of these people and four of them were your enemies. How they interacted with or treated Luhan shouldn’t rub you this way.

Downing the rest of the drink, you shoved your thoughts back on the right track. You had a job to do and nothing was going to throw you off track. The family was counting on you.

**

You probably looked like a delinquent. From what you could sense, the front desk clerk’s eyes never left the back of your head. What could possibly be stolen in here and easily snuck out without breaking glass or setting of some kind of alarm?

It didn’t stop her from her judging, though.

A ball cap was shoved on your head, covered by the hood of your black jacket. It was your go-to cover up, the bill of the hat covering your face from most cameras and the hood covering up your hair and other identifiable parts. It helped you blend in and go unnoticed in most cases. Perhaps not so much in this very empty museum, though.

You glanced down at the screen shot on your cell phone.

Archeology4life: My museum has a pretty good selection based on the history of werewolf folklore. I’m constantly combing through it for ideas on my papers.

The IP addresses, from a phone to a college library computer, that your computer expert, Carter, had tracked all led back to this town. The girl you’d been conversing with until about six months ago had to be from this place. She wouldn’t lie about having access to these artifacts, would she? What would be the point in that?

But you’d combed over this entire museum and there was no section on werewolf folklore. You needed access to whatever this girl was talking about in order to find the one thing you were sent here to find: the book.

It’d been a legend, a myth whispered about through the generations. An entire archive of wolf anatomy, their weaknesses and their strengths, secrets that the hunters hadn’t been able to uncover in centuries not matter how hard they tried. According to lore, all of it was accumulated in a novel for a little light reading, kept hidden by the wolves. From what your internet friend had said, it seemed like it wasn’t so legendary after all. If it truly did exist, you had to get your hands on it, to give the organization the edge it needed to end the threat for good.

But how?

Walking out of the museum, you dialed Carter, hoping he’d keep this little conversation to himself.

“I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be on radio silence,” Carter mocked the second he answered.

You rolled your eyes at the lack of a proper greeting. He was so lucky that you considered him one of your best friends.

“Shut up,” you grumbled as you hurried down the sidewalk. “I need you to track that girl’s phone again. I need to know where she is. There’s no display here at the museum so I need to know where she’s getting her information from.”

Miss Archeology4life had accidentally dropped a few bits of intel that no ordinary human would know. A rare female wolf wouldn’t be so careless, so your conclusion was that she was a mate. A mate who would lead you straight to the pack… and the book.

“I’m guessing that the family isn’t supposed to know about this?”

“I’m sure you can work your magic like no one else and make any record of this call disappear.”

Carter laughed. “I see how it is. Butter me up so I do what you want.”

“It’s not for me,” you countered. “It’s for the mission, which in turn benefits us all.”

A heavy sigh came from the other end of the line. “Fine. Give me a minute.”

You waited patiently, stopping your feet and glancing around you to make sure no one was watching you or trying to listen in. Then a building across the way caught your eye.

Lang Auto Shop.

They wouldn’t be that obvious, would they?

Part of your training was learning how to say “wolf” in different languages. Wolves were very in touch with the ancestors they came from and would often use those words in their businesses in other aspects of their lives like a secret display.

“Are you even listening to me?” Carter snapped.

“What? Sorry!” You’d been staring the shop a little too hard apparently.

“I’ve got the location. She’s at the university, in the library. And because I’m amazing, I even pinpointed the fact that she is on the first floor in the far east corner.”

You could hear the smug, self-satisfied smirk from here. “Thanks. I owe you one.”

“Just another to add to the long list.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever.” You hung up the phone before Carter could send another sarcastic comment your way.

Sliding your phone into your pocket, you slung around the camera that was hanging from your shoulder and snapped a few pictures of the shop to research later. You ran to the nearest bus stop and caught a bus that would take you to the university.

The campus was bustling with students in a hurry to make it to their next class. To try and blend in more, you took off the ball cap and stuffed it in your bag, replacing the hood to keep some sort of cover.

Finding the library was easy enough. No one stopped you, asking if you were actually a student here or not. Everyone just assumed you were, making you smile to yourself. Yes, you fit in quite nicely.

Bingo.

The girl you were looking for was the only soul around in the corner, sitting at a table and typing away at her laptop. It was kind of curious that she was here, considering the fact that you remembered vaguely of her telling you that she graduated last year. Hm. Maybe she decided to get a masters after all.

When another body joined her at the table, you slipped behind a bookshelf, allowing only the tiniest sliver of your face to peek through the books.

It was a man who joined her; professor by the looks of him, with his glasses and crisp button down. He gave her a quick peck on the lips before sitting down next to her. The two of them were so engrossed in each other, you probably could have just stood there out in the open and go unnoticed.

You gave your surroundings a quick glance before taking out your phone. In a situation like this, you preferred your Canon, but that wouldn’t exactly be discrete. So, the lesser quality pictures would just have to do for now. You clicked one, two, three pictures with perfect discretion.

“(y/n)?”

At the sound of your name, you whirled around to see Innie coming towards you, a very confused look on her face. You simply waved at her, cringing inside for being caught.

“Hey, Innie,” you greeted through gritted teeth.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. Her hand was on her hip and there was a sparkle of suspicion in her eye.

Thankfully, you were able to come up with a lie rather smoothly. “I came to check out the graphic design section.”

“Oh,” Innie blinked. “But you don’t go here.”

You shrugged. “Yeah, but that just means I can’t check them out. Nothing wrong with a little browsing to kickstart some ideas.”

That made Innie light up. “Really? What are you working on?”

“Just some… banners for a small computer company. Surveillance mostly.” Why Carter was always your go-to when you were trying to come up with a story you didn’t know, but it sure could be handy.

“Sounds interesting… and slightly stalkerish,” Innie giggled.

You rolled your eyes. “It’s for property surveillance. Like businesses and buildings, things like that. Not a spy store.”

Innie raised an eyebrow. “You kind of look like a spy right now.”

You snorted. “It’s windy outside.” As smoothly as you could, you removed the hood. You were already exposed by your cousin, might as well just relax and move on. “Why are you judging my only protection from the elements?”

“Okay, so-rry,” she sniffed. Checking her watch, she shrugged, “I’m hungry. Do you want to go grab something to eat?”

“Sure.” You needed to do some organizing and research of the tiny crumbs of information you’d managed to pick up, but you were human, too, and hadn’t eaten since earlier this morning. “Where are you thinking?”

“There’s a little pizzeria a few blocks down the street that the guys are wanting to meet at,” she replied. “You’re welcome to join us.”

“Okay,” you nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Alright, let’s go!”

You swallowed as you followed her out of the library, your fight or flight instinct already rearing up to take over. Whenever you were close like this to wolves, you were normally armed and fighting for your life, not about to order pizza and act like an average, oblivious twenty-something while they chatted away in front of you.

The pizzeria was an interesting design with dark wooden tables surrounded by old fashioned iron chairs and painted grapes outlining the ceiling. Already at one of the tables were the same group of boys from the bar as well as two other girls who seemed to the other wolves’ mates.

At the end of the table, sitting apart from the others was Luhan. Your heart leapt in your chest as you sat across from him, but you chalked it up to your trained instincts gearing up for a fight.

He smiled at you gently. “Hi, (y/n).”

“Hi,” you mumbled back.

The waitress stopped by and took everyone’s drink order before the chatter started up again. How could such a small group of people be so loud?

You stayed quiet beyond that, keeping your ears open to the others for anything vital. Soon, the waitress returned with the drinks and dropped a handful of straws in the middle of the table before walking away again. You waited for most of the straws to be picked up before reaching for yours. Big mistake.

At the same time that your fingers hit the paper wrapping, Luhan also reached for the straws and your hands brushed against each other, sending a shock of warm electricity through your body. Immediately you pulled back, unsure of how to process what the hell just happened. Never before had you felt something like that. It wasn’t anything like static electricity.

This didn’t feel right. You shouldn’t be here, surrounded by wolves where something could slip and you could be found out. And you definitely couldn’t stick around with the chance of that shock happening again. You needed to get out of here.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered Innie, barely getting her attention. “I don’t feel good. I have to go.”

Before anyone could stop you, you ran out of the pizzeria.

A nagging thought was pulling at your mind, but you refused to acknowledge it. The very idea of what could be behind that electrical current was ridiculous and unheard of. You just needed to get your head on straight.

Once you were back at your apartment and away from the wolves, you could refocus your attention on the task at hand. There was no way the stress and nerves of the mission were going to get the best of you.