A dull ache centered right in the middle of his forehead has Yesung groaning as he slowly wakes up. It almost feels like he has a hangover, except Yesung knows he didn’t drink and the last thing he remembers is Min Yeon…“Min…ghghioeigh” His mouth is gagged, the cloth pressing against his mouth tight enough for him not to be able to make a sound, but yet loose enough that it’s not cutting into his face. He squints, his senses telling him that it’s mid-day outside, and that if he just randomly opens his eyes, he’ll be blinded by the light.

A muffled darkness greets his sight as Yesung blinks, realizing that he’s blindfolded as well as gagged. Polling his body, he finds that his wrists are bound behind him, and his ankles are bound as well. He’s sitting in a chair, the rough feel of the wood is underneath his skin as he moves around experimentally. ‘Cloud?’ Yesung starting to realize that his wolf isn’t responding like he should, and that means whatever he’d been stuck with had the potency to knock out a powerful shifter. The only relief Yesung gets is feeling his wolf in the back of his head, and the faint bundle that comes with the Pack bonds. It means he’s still alive, and still a part of the Pack, at the very least.

Because of whatever drug his captors have injected him with, his senses are somewhat dulled, but he can still tell that someone has entered the space where he is currently being held. “Ah, you weren’t supposed to be awake yet.” The voice is female, definitely one he’s never heard before. There’s a slight slur to the Korean, as if the language is not the speaker’s native tongue.

“Hmm..giheougih…digh.” Yesung’s attempt to ask what is going on is hampered by the gag.

“Oh, don’t worry. Your little friend is still alive…for now.” The female voice chuckles. “And if you want her to stay alive, we’re going to make you change her.”

Yesung’s head is yanked back painfully as the female has grabbed a handful of his hair. A bark of pain escapes Yesung’s lips at the action, and panic sets in as he realizes what the female is saying. They know Min Yeon’s dying. Another laugh from the female. “Oh, poor Yesung.” She makes a clicking noise with her tongue. “We’ve been tailing you for about 3 weeks now. It’s too bad my partner thinks that you’re the one dating Choi Siwon, but then again, it was hard enough convincing him to hit the assistant.” The hand lets go of Yesung’s hair as another needle prick slams into his consciousness.

Yesung fights the drug, hearing the female’s footsteps leaving the room after she’s injected him with whatever is making him sleepy. The last thing Yesung thinks he hears is a sharp scream of pain before the darkness overtakes him once again.

**

The wait is almost unbearable. Siwon can’t believe that someone would actually target him. Zhou Mi’s over with the cops that have been assigned to the case, and is trying to be as helpful as he can, but Siwon knows that there isn’t much that Zhou Mi can provide since they’d only started dating a month ago. Deep inside, Siwon feels bad that Zhou Mi’s friend has been dragged into the whole mess just because the kidnappers thought Yesung was involved somehow with Siwon. The cops had tried to reassure Siwon earlier that the kidnappers must have assumed that Yesung meant something special to Min Yeon.

Siwon’s lost in his thoughts, not realizing that he’s staring at the back of Zhou Mi’s head, a soft smile on his face that betrays his feelings about the model. Siwon’s sure that if Min Yeon hadn’t been hit by a car the other day, he would have slept with Zhou Mi. The thought of the model underneath Siwon sends a pulse racing straight to his groin, which turns him on more than it should considering the situation.

The sound of Siwon’s phone ringing startles him out of his thoughts of a Zhou Mi underneath him, writhing in pleasure. The cops stop whatever they are writing down from Zhou Mi in order to see who is calling Siwon’s phone. “It’s them.” One of the cops mutters.

“If they are going to give you a drop off point for the ransom money, agree to it.” The other cop on the case says quickly as they tap the tracing equipment on in order to find the location of where Min Yeon and Yesung may be.

“Hello?” Siwon nods at the cop in understanding. He doesn’t want to jeopardize Min Yeon’s life any more than it already is, and considering she’s probably not getting any of the meds or care of her wounds to keep her alive, the chances of her surviving this ordeal is pretty slim.

“Oh, Mr. Choi.” The female voice from before purrs into the phone. “I hope you have had enough time to collect what we’ve requested.”

Siwon swallows nervously. “Y-yes.” His hand tightens into a fist. He’s never stumbled over a simple word before. 

“Good.” There is a noise in the background, sounding pained and strangled, but Siwon can’t tell if it’s human or not. “I’m happy to report your assistant woke up….though it’s hard to say how long it’ll be before she dies. I want you to meet me at the Han River under bridge 32 by say….4pm with the money and I will hand over your assistant. Yesung on the other hand….” A sharp yelp of pain indicates that the female is next to Yesung. “He’s a separate hostage. We’ll discuss his release when we meet. No cops, no friends or the deal is off. Got it?”

“Can….can I speak to Yesung?” Siwon’s voice is shaky.

“Nice try.” The female hangs up the phone before the tracer can finish its job.

“Damn it.” The cop growls, frustrated. “A few more seconds and we would have had it.”

The phone call had been on speaker phone, ensuring the cops and Zhou Mi could hear the kidnapper. Zhou Mi’s face is pale, and he’s shaking. Siwon wonders how close of a friendship Zhou Mi and Yesung have for his boyfriend to be that upset over hearing Yesung’s yelp of pain over the phone.

Little does Siwon know, Zhou Mi’s having a hard time not passing out from sheer terror because of the voice on the phone. He’s already had to shut down his Pack bonds to keep the emotions from freaking everyone else out, though Zhou Mi knows he wasn’t fast enough by the vibrations of the phone in his pocket. Even Niqui is cowering in the back of his consciousness.

“Zhou Mi!” Siwon reacts just as Zhou Mi loses his battle with his fear, catching the younger man quickly before he can hit the ground as his tall frame goes limp and slides easily out of the chair. “Mi?” Siwon forgets his surroundings as he wonders why Zhou Mi’s suddenly fainted.

It takes about 20 minutes before Zhou Mi regains consciousness, his head cradled carefully in Siwon’s hands, stretched out on the floor with a blanket draped over his body, and a warm ice pack on his forehead. “Mi?” Siwon realizes that Zhou Mi’s awake the moment the model’s head moves in his hands.

“What happened?” Zhou Mi croaks out.

“You fainted.” Siwon’s heart swells with an emotion he can’t identify in the moment. “You got really pale and shaky after the phone call and then you fainted.” He’s unconsciously sliding his left thumb up and down the side of Zhou Mi’s cheek. “Do you?” Siwon his lips, unaware that Zhou Mi’s zoned in on the action. “Why did you faint?”

Zhou Mi’s aware suddenly of Siwon’s lips. In the absurdity of the situation, Zhou Mi realizes that he’s incredibly just by Siwon being concerned for him. He’s never felt , embarrassed and emotionally drained at the same time and it’s a feeling he’s sure he’ll never want to have again. his own lips, which somehow reminds him of the night they’d made out, Zhou Mi has the decency to blush. “I don’t know.” He lies to his potential mate, thankful at the moment that Siwon’s not a shifter, otherwise the scent of his shame at his lie would have ratted him out immediately.

“A good guess would be just the stress of everything has finally gotten to you.” One of the cops brings a bottle of water for Zhou Mi to drink now that he’s conscious. “It happens more often than not with those who aren’t directly affected by a kidnapping situation.”

Siwon’s helping Zhou MI sit up, a hand lingering on his back. The touch is comforting to Zhou Mi, who wants nothing more than to bury himself in Siwon’s arms and loose himself in the other male’s scent. Zhou Mi smiles and thanks the cop for the water.

“While you were unconscious, we figured out a plan.” Siwon tells Zhou Mi as the male takes a swig of water from the bottle.

“You’re not going to meet with them alone are you?” Zhou Mi feels a spike of panic.

“I have to, if we want to get Min Yeon back alive.” Siwon’s got a frown on his face. “I know you’re worried about Yesung. I’m hoping that….” Siwon stops, confused by the sudden tears that appear out of nowhere from Zhou Mi.

“Hyung, please.” Zhou Mi doesn’t care at this point that he’s being irrational. He does not want his boyfriend anywhere near that woman. He’s never called Siwon hyung before, but in public it’s a safe word to use since he knows Siwon’s not told anyone they are dating. “I know that woman.” He gasps, his anxiety returning full force.

The cops suddenly are all over Zhou Mi. “Who is this woman?”

Siwon glares at the cops. “Can’t you see he’s having a panic attack?” He’s moved unconsciously to hold Zhou Mi close as the younger man gasps for breath. “Shhh….It’s ok. I’m here.”

‘Do you need me to pull on Jungsuk?’ Niqui’s a comfort almost as much as Siwon.

‘Yes. Tell him if you can to come to the police station with BoA if she’s available. I don’t think I can keep quite much longer without letting some of the Pack secrets slip.’ Zhou Mi feels his anxiety release a little at the thought of his alpha coming.

A warm soothing feeling filters through the Pack bonds a few moments later. It’s Jungsuk reassuring Zhou Mi without having to call or use his own wolf to communicate. Thankfully the cops have backed off and Zhou Mi feels that he can breathe a little bit easier with both the mental support from his alpha and the physical support of his boyfriend. Looking over at the cops whom he can tell from their scent are eager to find out how he knows the woman on the phone. “That woman…used to be married to a friend of mine.”

“Do you know her name?” One of the cops is writing things down on a pad of paper.

“Choi Jinri. She went by Sulli the last time I saw her.” Which Zhou Mi remembers is the night before they disappeared. She’d been waiting for Donghae one night when he was out late with the Pack, spending time with Kyuhyun before he had to become the normal yangban who was married and yet lying to his wife and parents about his newfound supernatural abilities.

Zhou Mi can’t provide more details than Donghae’s name. Donghae’s going to be angry at him for bringing up the marriage, but knowing that their digital presence in this century is still lacking in some important things, Zhou Mi’s sure he’ll be forgiven since technically the marriage isn’t listed in the last 10 years of public records, so it’ll look more like a hand fasted marriage than a legal one. The fact that the cops have already pulled up Choi Jinri’s file means that she’s found someone or a group of someone’s to at least give her a normal profile to hide the fact she’s obviously not just a human, and had made the time jump as well. He’s going to have to start doing some major research when this whole thing is over, and enlist the help of the others to figure out why they’d time jumped. Zhou Mi hates to think that someone was out to destroy both the Clan and all the Packs within the Joseon territory.

“So, the plan is that Siwon’s going to do what the kidnapper says, we already have the money ready and we have one of our expert trackers placing a chip into a specially made bill that’ll be at the bottom of the case. They won’t be able to find this tracker chip with any of the current technology out there. We just got it from the US military.” One of the cops says while the other is busy making a phone call.

Siwon nods, and Zhou Mi resigns himself to the fact that his boyfriend is going to be putting himself into danger just to save his assistant. Ideally the thought of Siwon being so caring about someone he’s been pretty apathetic about previously should be enough to alert Zhou Mi to the fact that something is off about this whole situation. Niqui is slowly catching on to the fact that Siwon’s scents haven’t changed much since the moment they’d arrived at the hospital, but the small cloud of unfulfilled desire to claim Siwon as his mate has clouded Zhou Mi’s mind just enough that the sudden affection-like regard from Siwon toward his assistant hasn’t raised any suspicions.

Later on, Zhou Mi realizes what he’d been missing in his careful observation about Siwon, and curses himself for the fact he’d not been able to keep as clear of a head as he should have been. Alphas, even former feline Alphas should have enough control over themselves in their mate lust to be able to carry out important Pack functions and keep their Pack safe.

Later on, Zhou Mi’s thankful that Jungsuk’s a forgiving Alpha.

Later on, Zhou Mi will wish that he’d been left behind in the Joseon era.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait with this updated chapter!! I'm hoping that I'll be able to start picking up the pace on ediiting/rewriting the rest of the story now that I've refound my focus.