On the way back home, Kai stills himself beside me as he looked around cautiously, perhaps expecting someone. After the cafe episode, we had walked around the busy streets for a few hours, as if wasting time. The male beside me didn't enter any shops, he didn't glanced around for items to purchase; oddly, he just strode in a straight line, pulling me around behind him (as if I was a rag doll). Scoffing, I couldn't believe that I wasted so much time catering a mentally disabled person, just so that he could stroll around casually.  

"Yah" I called out, halting in my tracks. Whirling his head around, Kai gave me a precarious stare, as if ushering me to hurry up and move on.  

"What is it?"

Rolling my eyes impatiently, I returned an equally menacing look, breaking out of his grip with a little too much strength. "You know what it is." I deadpanned, extremely exhausted of being pulled and shoved and thrown- you get my drill.

"Jooeun." Kai warned, his voice coated with an unspecified warning. 

"What is it, Kai?" Came my strict retort. 

The disheveled male heaves out a heavy exhale as he drags the skin of his cheekbones towards his eyes in a rushed, upward motion with the back of his wrist. He eyes me with an unreadable gaze, mind distorted of any readable thought.

At first, I thought that he would explode, as if magma would layer his voice before the volcano erupts.

Turns out, all he did was stay still for the longest moment before taking a stride once again. 

Why wasn't he providing me of any mental relief and perhaps of actual answers? I was starting to get fed up with being fed a handful of air and nothing else. There was a limit to how much a person could be kept in the dark for. With all the werewolf tales and a somewhat pointless chase, I needed to get my mind straight about the current situation and perhaps assess the possibilities of the near future.

A plan of some sort?

Before I knew it, I had followed Kai to the back of a rather sketchy alleyway.

"Where are we?"

Kai leaves a reassuring pat on my shoulder before cocking his head towards the direction of countless shadows. I wasn't given the luxury of counting before their faces came to light. It was the rest of the gang, all present and unharmed.

"Took you long enough" Kris announced, at their arrival. 

"For caution" Kai mumbles back, although I wasn't sure if anyone properly heard that. He had muttered it in the upmost silent manner, as if he was afraid that his opinions would be heard. 

Kris lets out a tame nod before discussing some facts to Suho in what seemed to be lip-syncing whispers. 

When they concluded their discussion, both turned towards me with an eerily placid expression. 

"We'll act as a bait" Suho announced.

The rest of the pack peered at each other in a somewhat mixed reaction. Some had their eyebrows furrowed in a disgruntled manner while others nod in agreement, understanding the leaders' point of view.

"On what grounds?" A voice courageously spoke.

All heads swerved towards Chen, who hadn't said much in the past day. He had taken immense caution towards the newcomer, his mate to be exact, aka supposedly me, as it was within his nature, whilst concerning himself with the troublesome situation on hand. 

"On grounds that we protect her of course" Kai retorted, slightly appalled by his reaction. 

"Is that even a question?" Tao queered, an eyebrow raised.

Murmurs of agreement echoed the space as Chen slinks back into his position, grumbling at the amount of negative reactions. I knew that he was merely speaking out his thoughts and trying to make sense of the situation, but the way he phrased his words created a sort of dense tension in the depths of my heart. 

I felt sort of redundant. 

"Don't take that to heart Jooeun" a voice, Baekhyun, whispered softly into my ear.

I could feel myself turning as red as a tomato as he maneuvers back into his original position and grins at my troubled demeanour. 

"Then... what happens to her?" Chanyeol pointed his index finger at me. Honestly, it was kind of ill-mannered of him to do so but I suppose he was questioning the rest for my own good.

I stayed quiet as the group continues to discussion in a riled up manner.

"Home" a silent almond-haired male suggested.

Suho nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a plan. As long as we mask her scent it'll be fine."

"Who...?" Sehun starts, but everyone except me seemed to understand where his sentence was going due to the explosive reaction.

"That's a bit too fast"

"Maybe... not me"

"Ahaha" and the nervous laughter ensues.

"I'll do it" Sehun spoke, before reaffirming his statement. "I'll do it."

Eleven eyes faced him with concern, doubt and perhaps... jealousy? Well I wasn't that bright at reading people so perhaps I've got the wrong perception on their facial expression.

And were they... blushing?

Maybe it was just the heat of the night. 

Wait a minute... nights are cold-

I'll just, uh, keep things to myself. 

The road towards my house seemed elongated and tensed more so than per usual. It was as if the gods and goddess of time had deemed it fit to extend the length of time it took for us to simply travel back. The tension was high- as if it would be troublesome to even cut it using a butter knife. 

A sword, perhaps.

If I used a sword it would be sufficient. 

Before I realised it, we had reached the final destination and I find myself staring at the rest of the pack as they share eye contact. They seemed to be communicating in ways I could never imagine, due to the fact that their movements were always in-sync and never overlapping with one another. As if they could talk inside their heard- telepathy of some sort...?

"I guess this is it" Suho announced, giving me a warm smile. It radiated of sunshines and I was pretty sure that average human beings- or even weremans weren't able to do so. 

I can't believe I'm feeling mushy at the sight of guys. Guys, I mean it's males that I'm talking about. Perhaps it's due to my lack of romance history that I am so gullible in terms of simple actions. Each and every fluttering movements would increase the palpation of my heart until the point of-

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no.

"-you soon" came Kris' voice.

Of course, I wasn't properly listening. Yay for manners.

"Uhm yeah, you too" I vaguely replied, unable to form a proper one due to my lack of concentration beforehand. I didn't and couldn't catch his words- my train of thoughts were too overwhelming to the point that it distorts my perception of reality. Though actually, it was just me tuning out.

The round of goodbyes came and I could tell that each and every one of the boys before me had sincerely announced their departure... Until it came to D.O.

He gave me a brisk nod before averting his gaze somewhere else, continuing the round of tension that came before the goodbyes. 

What was I even supposed to do in this situation? Everyone was so