Sungjong breathed heavily as he crossed the street quickly before once more becoming submerged in the forest. Four sets of legs struggled to keep up with him as they too ran through the tree line into the forest. Sungjong turned back. They were close but not close enough for him to be worried about getting attacked.

He forced his legs to go faster, despite Sunggyu's warning to conserve his energy just in case of an emergency. He wanted to lead them, the four hunters, as far away as possible from Woohyun, Myungsoo, and Dongwoo. This was the first time they had trusted him with something so important and he didn't want to let them down. Thus, he sprinted, ignoring Sunggyu's words and using up his reserved energy to force his legs to run faster.

"He's too fast hyung!" One boy yelled as he stumbled on another tree root.

"Keep going! There are no excuses for losing him after coming so far." Their leader ordered.

"Zico!" The boy fell to his knees in pain, his legs aching so much he thought that they would fall off.

"Taeil!" The leader of the four stopped dead in his tracks and pivoted in order to reach his friend.

The other two stopped as well and looked back at him, sweat dripping down their faces. "Zico," one called, pleading in his voice, "It's been an hour and we fought one of them yesterday too. We can't go on."

Their leader, Zico, cringed at the thought of stopping now. He looked back down at his friend and closed his eyes, "You two go ahead. I'll stay with Taeil." He breathed out, opened his eyes, and turned towards the other two. "U-kwon, P.O., keep going. See if you can find out where he went. Where he was running to."

The two nodded, turned, and sprinted as if their lives depended on it to where Sungjong had just gone running like the wind. Zico looked back down at the shaking Taeil. The boy looked up at him, "Sorry."

Zico shook his head as he checked Taeil's body for injuries. His ankle was swollen, most likely sprained.  "Don't say sorry. You did nothing wrong."

Taeil let out a laugh at himself, he felt pathetic for not realizing sooner, for not telling someone how he felt sooner. "Yeah I did Zico."

Zico sighed and looked back at Taeil's face. He stared back at him with a grim expression. After a moment, Zico furrowed his eyebrows, "What do you mean by that?"

Taeil gulped in order to wet his dry throat. "Zico. When they showed up, there were only three of them. I had a bad feeling."

"I don't understand."

"We've been chasing the same one for an hour."

Zico tsked and gruffly rubbed the back of his head, "I know that." He felt bad for making them run for so long for nothing and this conversation was just making it worse.

"And he didn't even make a move on us at all." Zico went silent at that. Taeil frowned, his face solemn, "Zico, where are the other three?"

Zico's eyes widened. He quickly stood up and looked back at where they had come from. He cursed as he reached back for the silver dagger strapped to his waist. "This isn't good." He murmured.

"Where's Sungjong?" Sungyeol asked Sunggyu frantically. The two of them had bumped into each other and now were around two miles from the place Woohyun last caught Hoya’s trail.

"I remember him running north, towards the lake. I haven't picked up his scent since then though." Sunggyu looked around where they were. The hunters, three of them, were following behind them but they were struggling. Their decrease in speed definitely showed that. "He'll be fine though. I know he will be." Sungyeol didn't like that Sunggyu said it as if he was trying to make himself believe it but he decided it was best to think positive.

"Well, hopefully they caught onto Hoya's trail by now."

Sunggyu bit his lip, "Hopefully." He chanted.

Meanwhile, you stirred in your sleep as a tree branch hit the window. You slowly opened your eyes, shocked to find that there was nothing on top of your lap. You looked to the digital clock on the cable box and it read one in the morning. You stood up and looked around but the dog from yesterday afternoon was nowhere in sight.

As you wandered out of the living room, you smelled something. Like coffee. The smell wafted out of the kitchen and drew you in. You slowly walked to the lit kitchen and unless you sleep walk you definitely did not remember turning that on. You arrived at the doorway and looked around. There was no one however the small drips as the coffee filled the container on the coffee machine echoed across the room. You walked forward towards it, each step sending you on cloud nine as you inhaled the scent. You softly smiled as you stood in front of it now, lost in your own world.

"Did I wake you?"

You jumped, turning around quickly and almost falling onto the floor in the process. You went wide eyed at the taller than you, male with spiky brown hair.

"I tried to be quiet. Sorry about that." He shot you a smile, almost making you faint from both shock and happiness. You used the counter to steady yourself as you studied him.

He was muscular, average height, definitely a looker, and his clothes. You recognized them as your father's. You wondered if maybe he had gotten them from the stash of your father’s clothes that your mom kept even till now. Your mother couldn’t bring herself to throw them away yet. A black v-neck shirt and a pair of loose jeans. You had to admit, they looked better on this mystery boy than they ever did on your father.

As you were lost in thought, he set down a mug of coffee on the counter. Apparently he helped himself to just about everything in the house. “Sorry I came so suddenly. I had nowhere else to go and I was tired of running away but that’s when I caught onto Woohyun’s scent here. Glad to know we have you on our side.”

You eyed him while you steadied yourself, “Who’s side?”

The stranger blinked a few times at you, “Wait,” his eyes widened, “You don’t know? Woohyun didn’t tell you?” You shared a moment of silence with him as he searched your eyes for an answer. He grunted in frustration once he found it, “Dammit, I messed up.” He ruffled his hair and bowed to you, “I’ll leave now. I’m sorry for trespassing.”

Your jaw trembled as he took a step away from you. You couldn’t just let him leave. Not like this. Not when you had so many questions. Why is everyone associating you with Woohyun? Why did you wake up after a car crash to find yourself fine and at home? Why do you feel attracted towards boys you’ve never met before? And why…why did it seem like everything was connected?

You reached forward without thinking, your body moving on its own, “Wait.” You stuttered as you gripped onto his lower arm, “Who are you?” As you felt your skin become heated by his own, you got shivers and you finally understood what the feeling was as his piercing eyes met yours. You were scared. Scared of what he could do to you. So scared you found yourself trying to find out why. You furrowed your eyebrows and let your fingers slide away from his arm. Your hands trembled as you gulped down. “No,” you looked back up at him, “What are you?”

He saw the look in your eyes and frowned, a sad look on his face. He didn’t like the way you were looking at him, as if he was the scariest thing you had ever seen. As if you’d given anything to have him done away with. He shouldn’t have transformed. Then, he would’ve still be lying on your warm lap by the fire. He would still see the affection in your eyes for the animal you didn’t even know the name of. He wanted to soothe you, tell you not to be scared when he told you but he knew that wouldn’t work. It never did but…this was the girl Woohyun marked. She had to be different.

He took a deep breath and gripped onto your upper arms, “You have to promise not to scream.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, you were scared but there was something comforting about the way he held onto you. You nodded, your curiosity getting the better of you.

“I’m-“

That’s when a gunshot rang outside of the house.