The next time Yesung regains consciousness, the blindfold and his restraints have been removed, and he realizes he’s in the same room with Min Yeon, who’s still unconscious, and pale….much paler than he remembers seeing her at the hospital.

“Remember when I said you would be changing her?” The female’s voice startles Yesung. “You have exactly a half hour to infect her or she will die. And if she dies, you die as well.”

Yesung turns his head toward the voice, not surprised to find that she’s not in the room. “Why do you want her changed so badly?” He asks, wondering if he’ll be dignified with an answer.

“You don’t get to ask that question. You have 28 minutes now.” The female replies.

Yesung blows out a breath, feeling the comfort of Cloud stirring in the back of his head. He knows that a part of himself can’t fathom changing Min Yeon into a werewolf, but the woman is dying in front of him.

Whimpering, sending apologies toward Min Yeon and his Pack, knowing he’s breaking Pack codes, hoping that Jungsuk will forgive him only because it’s an emergency situation where his life in danger, Yesung swallows hard to get the sour taste of disappointment out of his mouth.

‘How in the hell do I manage to end up in these situations?’ Yesung conveys the thought to Cloud.

‘I don’t know. You’re the human, not me.’ Cloud huffs, still groggy from the drugs that are circulating through his system, though they have weakened enough that if Yesung concentrates, he could over power the effects. He wonders suddenly if that was the intent of the female all along.

‘Time is going fast. If we’re to change her, you need to do it soon.’ Cloud reminds him of the ticking clock. “I don’t like doing this any more than you do, but I’d rather break Pack law than die.”

‘I know. I’m scared. I’ve never changed anyone.’ Yesung is kneeling now, taking one of Min Yeon’s hands in his. Her skin is cool to the touch…it’s bordering on being too cold.

his lips, Yesung lifts her wrist, one of the best places for giving a bite. Every shifter is required to know where the best places to infect a human are, mostly in order to avoid biting them unnecessarily. “I’m so sorry.” Yesung whispers out loud before he shifts his teeth just enough and bites into the tender flesh of Min Yeon’s wrist.

**

The Pack knows something is happening with Yesung, especially Jungsuk, who’s been concentrating on the bonds that connect him to the younger shifter. Even though the link is faint, from what he can only assume is a distance issue, Yesung’s upset, angry, confused and apologetic, which makes the Alpha wonder what the kidnappers are doing to his shifter, even though he’s not in pain.

He and BoA are on their way to collect Zhou Mi from the police station, BoA’s practically livid at both Siwon and the police for letting Zhou Mi go into a full blown panic attack, though Jungsuk has pointedly tried to reassure his mate that Zhou Mi’s fully capable of taking care of himself under normal circumstances, and that it must have been something extremely bad for one of their strongest Pack members to panic.

BoA’s having none of the sensibility that Jungsuk’s projecting. Between worrying about Yesung, and now Zhou Mi, she’s also frustrated by the fact that her body has decided to taunt her with being late on her monthly cycle. “I don’t want to hear it right now.” She snaps at Jungsuk, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

Jungsuk sighs. He knows his mate’s cycle like the back of his hand, even if BoA won’t tell him what’s wrong, he knows. Now’s not the time to be concerned either way, as he fights through the mid-morning rush hour traffic that seems to never end in Seoul.

By the time they get to the police station, Zhou Mi’s not so panicked, though the look he sends to his Alpha and Beta is nothing short of apologetic as they realize that Donghae’s going to have to come into the situation as well.

Siwon’s occupied with the cops on how to proceed with the exchange of money for Min Yeon, the news of Yesung being a separate hostage has Jungsuk seething, ready to change into his wolf form and save his pack member, but thankfully is restrained enough to resist the change.

BoA, always one to be the most observant since she’s the Beta, realizes something odd about Siwon while Zhou Mi’s explaining the situation to them. Thinking back to her original suspicion about the businessman, it dawns on her that Siwon’s way too calm about this whole situation, and that Zhou Mi’s in further than he wants to admit. Knowing that Zhou Mi probably won’t listen to her right now, BoA keeps the revelation to herself, making a mental note to her wolf to talk it out with Jungsuk once her mate calms down.

Donghae needs to be called, and BoA volunteers to be the one to give him the bad news. Kyuhyun’s not going to be happy either, the former Alpha had just closed on a new place for him and his mate to live in as a present, and this will set both of them back emotionally.

“Hello?” Kyuhyun’s the one answering Donghae’s phone. He’s one of the few from the Joseon era that adapted almost too easily to the change in technology, latching on to video games and computers quicker than BoA’s ever seen anyone of her age group.

“Kyuhyun.” BoA’s voice is soft, but a tendril of dominance has gotten through. “I need to speak with Donghae. It’s urgent.”

“He’s in the shower.” Kyuhyun’s got the decency to sound sheepish, meaning most likely that they’d just finished making love. BoA doesn’t even want to think about how she’s going to end up shattering the bliss that the mated couple have just enjoyed. “But he should be done in a moment if you want to wait on the phone.”

“That’s fine. Um….” BoA knows this conversation won’t be easy. “You can go ahead and put it on speaker phone when Donghae comes out.” She tells Kyuhyun through the phone. “This is something you’ll need to hear as well I suppose.”

Kyuhyun feels his post- bliss disappear when BoA tells him that whatever she has to tell Donghae is something he needs to hear. The meaning is not lost, and suddenly, Kyuhyun’s half wishing he’d never picked up Donghae’s phone. Unfortunately for him, Jae’s mumbling something in the back of his head, something about ‘idiot’ and ‘you don’t ignore the Beta of the Pack’ and that makes Kyuhyun squirm a bit.

He can hear his mate in the bathroom, humming some nameless tune as he’s doing his usual post-shower routine. Kyuhyun doesn’t feel bad in the slightest for waking his mate up before noon, especially when he’s and in the mood for some mate bonding time.

Donghae comes out of the bathroom, a smile on his face. The shower and his post-shower routine haven’t removed a single trace of the glow Donghae gives off. “BoA, he’s done with the shower. I’m putting you on speakerphone.” Kyuhyun’s got a frown on his face, making the other shifter pause as he stands in the doorway of the bathroom.

Kyuhyun moves the phone away from his ear, the screen lighting up so he can press the speakerphone option on the screen. “Can you hear me?” Kyuhyun asks as he moves the phone away from his face.

“Yes. Donghae, I need to tell you something. Are you sitting down or near Kyuhyun?” BoA’s voice comes through the phone.

“I can be.” Donghae replies, moving to sit next to Kyuhyun on their bed. He’s confused. Did he do or say something wrong on his last modeling job? “I’m sitting next to Kyu on the bed.”

“Good.” BoA can be heard through the phone taking a deep breath. “I’m going to bring you up to speed on what’s happening with Yesung. You’re not going to like this and I’m afraid the cops will want you to come down to the station, but before you ask any questions, let me tell the whole thing without interruptions.”

“Ok.” If Donghae was confused before, he’s really confused now, and a tad bit upset. Speaking to the cops?

“Good. Ok, so you both know that Yesung was kidnapped along with Siwon’s assistant yesterday. Siwon got a call this morning about a ransom, but the kidnappers didn’t specify how much for each person.” BoA takes a breath. “Zhou Mi came down to help because apparently the kidnappers thought that Yesung is either intimately involved with the assistant, or Siwon himself, which yeah, I know is ridiculous. Yesung’s not one to get involved with anyone who’s not Pack.” The rustle of something in the background tells both Donghae and Kyuhyun that BoA’s pacing while she’s telling them the story.

Donghae feels a pit of dread forming in his stomach. The bliss from his lovemaking with Kyuhyun is practically gone now as BoA continues to talk. When she’s done telling them about Zhou Mi’s panicked wolf, calling for her and Jungsuk, Donghae knows instinctively that something from their past in the Joseon era is about to bite them in the , and more so him than Kyuhyun.

“Donghae, Sulli isn’t dead.” BoA drops the bomb on him. “In fact, Zhou Mi confirmed that she’s the kidnapper.”

Donghae takes the news in stride. “So, I’m probably going to be needed to give a statement on my ex-wife?”

Kyuhyun, on the other hand, has grown still from the news. He remembers Sunyoung mentioning things from her days in the Choi household before their time jump. About how most of the servants had been shifters who weren’t part of either Pack’s Lee or Kim back in the day. They’d all been a part of Pack Cho before it had been disbanded, but none of the Choi household shifters had joined the other two Packs. They’d never figured out how the Choi’s had gotten away with that, and for all the sniffing around that some of the old Pack members had done, the Choi family themselves hadn’t smelled anything other than human, so they’d let the shifters go with the warning that any unauthorized infections of humans with the shifter virus wouldn’t go unpunished.

Kyuhyun’s reminded suddenly by Jae about the random odd wolf like smell that he’d get whenever he’d stray too close to Donghae’s city home during the odd times his mate had to play the dutiful son.

Kyuhyun doesn’t even remember any of those shifters attending Pack meetings or seeing Kim Kibum before he’d shoved the Alpha status onto Kyuhyun and bolted into the forest, and they certainly had never met with him when he was Pack Alpha.

Kyuhyun feels Donghae’s hand close around his own. He’d thought he’d never have to deal with Donghae’s wife ever again. They’d all assumed she’d died of old age or in childbirth or something after the takeover of the Japanese in the capital since official records never mentioned her after her marriage to Donghae.

Kyuhyun must have missed the end of the conversation between Donghae and BoA as his mate turns Kyuhyun’s face towards his own. “Kyu?” Donghae voices, worry tinging the sound.

“I’m….not ok.” Kyuhyun knows he can’t lie to his mate. Not only would his scent give him away, but his voice, and their mate bond would echo the lie.

Donghae wipes away tears that Kyuhyun doesn’t remember shedding. “It’s ok.” He croons, pulling Kyuhyun to his chest and cradling the younger shifter in his arms. “No one’s going to take me away from you. BoA’s hoping that things with Sulli and the cops end in a shootout or something and she’ll die if that helps.”

Kyuhyun laughs, the sound echoing the bitter tears that leak out of his eyes. “If Sulli’s alive, do you think…?”

Donghae catches on to the unspoken question about Siwon. “Now that things aren’t quite what they seem, it’s possible.” He admits. “I remember Yesung and Jinki were upset that they couldn’t find much information on Siwon other than he’s pretty rich and so are his parents.”

The Pack had investigated Choi Siwon as much as they could without breaking into the man’s home and violating his privacy. His parents had also been investigated, and nothing unusual or suspicious had been found about them. They’d met as high school classmates, fallen in love, gotten married straight after college as Siwon’s grandfather had died, leaving the pair a sum of  money and a struggling mom and pop shop in the late 70’s. By the time Siwon joined the family in the late 80’s, the shop had become a small chain of shops that promoted local farmers and merchants and by the time Siwon had gone into high school, the chain had become a national market and made the Choi family richer than they’d ever dreamed.

The only thing that had red-flagged Siwon was his lack of a profile from before he became a businessman. His school record had been squeaky clean. Donghae reflected on the information as he held his mate close, soothing the other male with reassuring words and caresses.