Alice sighed in frustration as she trotted around the forest looking for food. Minhyun and Yooyoung followed up next to her, both of them panting.  It was difficult enough finding food with her whole pack during winter let alone with her current smaller, inexperienced temporary pack. The younger ones weren’t used to such strenuous hunting on their own since they normally played the role of cutting off routes of their prey. Yooyoung flopped on the ground, unable to hold herself up anymore.

“Noona…” Minhyun mumbled softly. Alice nuzzled Minhyun.

“I know, Minhyun. Let’s rest for now. We’ll try again later,” she informed as she the exhausted Yooyoung on the forehead. With a groan, Minhyun flopped on the floor next to Yooyoung, who whined and placed her head on top of his back. While the two of them laid in a heap on the floor, Alice looked around with furrowed eyebrows.

“Where’s Ren and Jae?”

Minhyun and Yooyoung looked at each other and shook their head, indicating they didn’t know. This worried Alice greatly…

“Come on, let’s regroup and see if we can gather something before the rest of them come back. I’m sure they’ll need at least a few days to recover from their trip before they can hunt with us.”

~

Ren and Jae hid behind a tree, staring at the Wall. They exchanged a glance and gulped.

“Are you sure about this, Ren-oppa?” Jae whispered nervously as she clung to Ren’s fur.

“You’ve done it multiple times by now. We’ll starve if we don’t get some sort of food now. You just need to slip in, steal some food, and get out,” Ren reasoned, curling his tail around the freezing cold Jae. “Although you might want to consider stealing some clothes while you’re at it. You were shivering all last night.”

Jae nodded, burying herself further into Ren’s coat as the two waited for the coast to be clear before Jae could sneak into the city for some food. While she had done this a few times in the past, she was a lot more nervous this time because for starters, they didn’t tell anyone from their pack about their plan. Jae was also nervous because Aron and the rest of her pack would usually be following her as much as possible in case something was wrong and she needed to escape. Now, all she had was Ren, who was definitely willing to help Jae out but not exactly the most useful due to lack of experience.

“Jae, I think the coast is clear,” Ren whispered. She bolted forward without another exchange, knowing she would stall if she didn’t jump straight in. Ren ran after her but stopped right as Jae crossed the barrier, knowing from experience that he would get a nasty shock of resistance if he even tried. The lone wolf let out a worried sigh, hoping Jae would be able to get out without any problems before the rest of their pack figured out what they were doing.

~

“JIHYE!”

Jihye jumped at the loud voice booming through her clinic. As she was about to check the door, Hoya burst through holding a sweating and panting Kira as Dongwoo and Woohyun helped a barely conscious Sunggyu in. L grunted as he held his bleeding arm while Sungyeol carried Sungjong on his back in.

“Oh my gosh…” Jihye gasped out in shock. The casualties were more severe than she had anticipated. “Seungho! Get the fluids! What happened?!”

“We couldn’t win, so we had to take drastic measures to get out of there,” Hoya explained as Seungho rushed in with the fluids for Kira, who was shaking. “So Kira devised a plan to go after the matriarch. We managed to kill the , but…Kira took a direct hit from one of her feathers when Sunggyu-hyung was in danger. I think those birds tried to take Sunggyu out.”

“They won’t be remobilizing any time soon though after taking their matriarch out. They’ll need to reappoint a matriarch from the ones that survived,” WooHyun grunted as he dragged Sunggyu onto a bed and placed him down to rest.

“Yeah, well neither will we at this point,” L mumbled as he sat himself on a chair with a relieved sigh when he got a chance to rest his arm on a stable surface without the need to hold it up himself.

“Those ing idiots,” Sungyeol cursed with a growl as he let Sungjong down on a bed. “They’ve clearly never fought mages before, because if they did, they would know they’re ing done for when they go after human cities. I’m sure the mages wouldn’t mind going on a demon hunt for all our hides if those damn birds raid the humans. And not the nice ones when they’re looking for familiars.”

“How’s Sunggyu-hyung?” Dongwoo asked in concern. “He took a pretty hard hit on his leg from that giant bird’s wing.”

Seungho looked it over and poured a liquid over Sunggyu’s wound causing the leader to screech out in pain, looking like he was ready to claw his leg off had Woohyun not held his arms back. After a bit of fighting, it seemed that Woohyun was losing the fight, so Dongwoo had to hold down their leader’s flailing body. A pained howl echoed through as the application of the disinfecting concoction that Seungho used hit him fully. After half a minute (though it felt more like hours to the three werewolves that had to hold their leader), Sunggyu settled down for a bit, panting heavily from the immense amount of pain that just coursed through his body.

“YOU COULDN’T HAVE WARNED US BEFORE YOU DID SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!” Woohyun yelled, ready to pounce on Seungho, who just grinned mischievously. Dongwoo held Woohyun back.

“Goodness, you wolves have such tempers~” Seungho taunted with a chuckle, but answered Dongwoo’s question from earlier nonetheless, “He’ll be fine as long as he rests for a week or so.  The wound is definitely extremely deep but it seems there wasn’t any venom in that attack, so your body should be able to deal with it. You would have probably lost your leg by now if there was.”

“,” Woohyun grumbled under his breath as Seungho went to go check on Sungjong.

“How is she?” Hoya worried, hanging over Jihye’s shoulder as she checked Kira’s vitals.

“I’m not gonna lie. It doesn’t look good. She’s not a werewolf like you guys, so her body’s not faring well against the venom, especially with the large quantity that has gone into her body,” Jihye reported with a frown. Hoya’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I’ll do my best to get the venom out of her body…but-”

Hoya growled viciously, grabbing Jihye’s neck, as his eyes flashed gold for a moment. Despite the danger her life was currently in, Jihye stared calmly at the raging Hoya, waiting for the emotional werewolf to pull himself together. He slowly loosened the grip and let go of Jihye.

“She…can’t,” Hoya murmured as he slowly sank to the ground in despair. “I can’t…I can’t lose her too. Please…please Jihye…please tell me you…you can save her.”

Jihye offered Hoya a weak smile. “I’ll do my best, Hoya…but you should go rest. Are there more injured wolves on their way?”

Hoya nodded mechanically, “Quite a few.”

“Great,” Jihye muttered under her breath as she changed the bag of fluids. She left to go find an immune booster for the dying fox as well as preparing herself for the influx of patients she was going to get soon. Hoya picked himself up so he could sit next to Kira. Gently, he placed his hand over her cold one. He stared helplessly at her.

“I told you not to come…” Firmly, the werewolf squeezed her hand and begged quietly, “Don’t leave me.”

~

HaNa hummed along with the song blasting from her speakers as she applied her make-up. YoungJae had noticed her irritation with his slightly grumpier than usual behavior and promised to make it up to her by taking her to the restaurant of her choosing and letting her order anything she liked. While she normally would have called him out for it sooner, she respected the fact that he was very sensitive about the whole familiar subject, so she did her absolute best to keep shut about this one thing, despite how much it drove her nuts. Needless to say, she was extremely thankful that YoungJae had noticed and was gracious enough to make up for it. He even promised not to mention a single thing about familiars, demons, or anything related the whole dinner. She was really excited because this would probably the first date in at least a week that they can have a proper conversation without YoungJae ranting endlessly while she did everything she could to keep from exploding on him.

“Hanuna, can you call EunMi? I can’t find my phone and I need to know if she’s coming back for dinner or not,” KyungHye asked as she stood at the door of the bathroom.

“Here, you can use my phone,” HaNa replied, handing KyungHye her phone so she could call the workaholic EunMi. Both of them knew she was in the lab; it was more of a question of when was she going to be back home.

“Date with YoungJae?” KyungHye wondered absentmindedly seeing HaNa getting all dressed up as she called EunMi since it was more of a rhetorical question than anything.

“Mhmm~ he promised me dinner with noooooooo demon talk,” giggled the excited girl as she finished up her make-up.

KyungHye laughed, “Well, that’ll be new. Oh, Eunmimi, are you gonna be home for dinner? Well, actually, the question is more do I need to bring you dinner and then drag you back home.”

As KyungHye continued her conversation with EunMi, the doorbell rang. HaNa announced that she got it as she opened the door. YoungJae smiled brightly at her as she invited him.

He kissed her cheek gently, “Hey, Angel, you look lovely.”

“Thank you, JaeJae. You look very handsome yourself~” HaNa complimented back with a pleased grin on her face.

“And you two are gonna get out of here before I gag,” KyungHye scoffed as she handed HaNa back her phone.

“I love you too, Unnie~! I’ll be back after dinner!” HaNa announced as she grabbed her coat and purse, bolting out the door with YoungJae before KyungHye got violent. YoungJae grabbed her hand and shoved it into his pocket as they walked to their destination. They chatted animatedly as they strolled for a few minutes until YoungJae’s phone rang. He stared at it for a bit, wondering if he should answer. HaNa looked over to see that it was from HimChan and urged YoungJae to answer in case it was important.

“Hyung?” he answered in confusion. But as HimChan began talking, his confusion turned to annoyance as he rolled his eyes. “…no, Hyung, I was not the last one to leave to office. I apologize that it was unlocked for whoever did leave last. …right…yes…I understand that anyone can just ent—look, I’m on a date. Can you…I dunno, go bother JongUppie or something? Yeah, good idea. Okay, bye, Hyung. Please don’t call me unless necessary. Thank you. I will enjoy myself. …I will ignore that last comment. BYE.”

HaNa blinked as YoungJae shook his head. “What did he say?”

“Don’t worry about it, Angel,” YoungJae answered curtly, causing HaNa to pout. He chuckled, “Aigo~ aren’t you adorable when you’re pouty~?”

“Yah!” she countered, smacking him in the shoulder. He, however, just laughed and continued teasing the girl. Again, YoungJae’s phone rang. He groaned as he picked up.

“What do you want?” YoungJae answered in a bored tone after seeing that it was from DaeHyun. “…what do you mean ‘what do I do with a child that doesn’t have much clothes and just stole meat from someone?’ You go take them to the-she what? She bit you? …okay, look, DaeHyun, you clearly have too much on your plate at the moment to be talking to me right now. I’m just gonna hang up. You figure it out yourself. I’m hanging up. Bye.”

“Is DaeHyun okay?”

“Who knows. Who cares.”

HaNa shook her head. “What a great best friend, you are.”

“Aren’t I though?” YoungJae grinned boyishly. Just as they were arriving at their destination, his phone rang again. HaNa didn’t miss the tense expression on YoungJae’s face and wondered internally if he was about to throw his phone on the ground as he looked at who it was from. When he saw that it was from YongGuk, he had no choice but to pick up since the leader never really called unless it was important. …at least more important than the last two calls that he received.

“What’s up, Hyung?” YoungJae answered, throwing HaNa an apologetic look. “…what? …WHAT?! HYUNG! You can’t just—I’m about to go on a date with HaNa. You can’t just expect me to leave her by herself. …are you serious? You’re out of your mind! Did you hit your head? Hyung! Wai—argh!”

HaNa was sure YoungJae was going to throw his phone that time, so she grabbed his hand. “What’s wrong?”

“HaNa…I know you were really looking forward to the dinner, but…YongGukkie-hyung has lost his ing mind and needs me at the office right now to go on patrol with the whole team. I’m…I’m really sorry, Angel…I promise, I sincerely 100% promise I’ll make it up to you,” YoungJae begged, holding HaNa’s hands in his own, as he stared, feeling absolutely horrible for canceling when they were already there.

“Why…can’t they go without you…” she mumbled softly, half hoping YoungJae didn’t actually hear her because she knew it wasn’t his fault. She was just disappointed and sad since she was really looking forward to this date. So she threw on her best smile and told him, “It’s okay. If YongGuk-oppa needs you, then go on ahead. I understand.”

He kissed her softly on the lips and smiled gently at her. “I’m sorry…I’ll kick Hyung in the for you if you want.”

She laughed at his attempt to cheer her up, “No, thank you, JaeJae, can you at least walk me home?”

“Yeah, I’d be glad to.”

~

“CAN YOU HOLD STILL FOR LIKE—AH! Stop biting me! What are you, an animal?!” DaeHyun yelped in disbelief as the girl he was currently holding onto was biting his arm. He had caught the girl just as she was about to steal from an unsuspecting couple’s grocery bag. He casted a simple freeze spell on her to catch her. However, seconds after he got a hand on her, she began thrashing, hissing, and growling at him. He tried to calm her down but it seemed the only thing she cared about was getting away from him. Stupid YoungJae, containment spells aren’t his specialty. It was a miracle that he didn’t accidentally turn her into a dog or something. His phone began ringing.

“YongGukkie-hyung, I’m a bit busy right now. Could you—actually can you do me a favor and PLEASE COME HELP ME. THIS GIRL IS BITING ME! WHAT IF SHE HAS RABIES?!” DaeHyun panicked as he held in another scream as she pulled at his skin with her teeth while shaking her head back and forth. Was she secretly a dog?!

“…but what do I do with this thing? I feel like throwing her in a pound rather than a cell. OW! Stop that! Yeah, okay…really? You want me to just bring her? What’s so urgent? …okay, fine, you’re the boss. See you later,” Daehyun sighed as he hung up and stared at the glaring female. “Do you at least have a name?”

She turned her head away with a scoff, refusing to reply.

“You know I’m from a mage from B.A.P, one of the elite teams in all of—OW! SERIOUSLY?!” he hissed in pain as he searched his pockets for something to contain her with. Why didn’t he bring his handcuffs with him?

God, he was such an idiot.

~

As dinner came around, Jihye ordered all the less injured werewolves to go fetch some food for their comrades. It took some extra persuading to get Hoya to leave Kira’s side, but the clingy werewolf eventually conceded. She was making her way around the room when all of a sudden she felt unnaturally sleepy. Jihye called out for Seungho, curious if it was just her, but wasn’t able to find out because seconds later, she fell asleep standing. Before she fell on the ground, a pair of arms caught her and set Jihye down carefully to the side.

 “Sorry,” she apologized gently as she checked to make sure the other attendant was asleep as she planned before checking the patients in search of the one she was looking for. When she found her target, she fluttered over silently. Her feet hovered above the ground, only landing when she was in front of the patient she needed. She touched Kira’s forehead and looked the vixen over.

She slowly closed her eyes while her hand lingered over Kira’s body. The fox’s body began to glow a pleasant yellow as a darker yellow substance appeared all over her body and stood out in the bright glow. Slowly the dark substance was extracted out of her body and collected into a shape of a ball, floating above Kira’s stomach. With a small breath over the ball, the substance turned into dust and landed into her hands. With a satisfied smile, she placed the dust into a bag she brought and put it into her pocket.

Feeling strangely better, Kira woke up with a groan and looked over at the figure standing over her, wondering who it was. When her sight finally focused, she blinked in surprise.

“Wow, what are you doing here? Not that I’m not happy, but I didn’t think I would see you around this area after what had happened,” the fox croaked out, her voice still hoarse from not using it in awhile.

“Good thing I decided to visit. Who knows what could have happened if I didn’t get that poison out of your system,” the other answered.

“Thank you…so…what do you need me for? Since I’m sure this wasn’t just a get-well-soon visit,” Kira joked as she sat up with an appreciative smile.

“I need you to take me across the Wall.”

“…why? I thought you would be done with that place after you were-”

“I know…I don’t expect you to understand, but I just…I need to see him because I’m worried.”

Kira shrugged, “Alright, considering you saved my life, I can’t exactly argue.”

A sigh of relief escaped the other girl. “Thank you, Kira.”

“Not a problem, Jieun.”

=====================================================================

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! BUM, BUM, BUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!

~Kira :3

P.S. I may not be updating for awhile because I’m going on vacation the end of this week. I shall see if I can get one more up before I poof. :D