The private room that’s been requested for Min Yeon is nothing short of fancy. Yesung slips into the room, both he and his wolf somber at the thought that Min Yeon is fighting for her life, and it’s only because of a careless idiot who broke the law and was texting and driving at the same time. Siwon’s out at the moment, and from the stale smell of his scent, it’s been a few hours since he’d been in the room. Zhou Mi’s scent is faded as well, only a little stronger than Siwon’s. It tells Yesung that Zhou Mi’s upset as well both for Siwon and Min Yeon.

Yesung’s not a romantic anymore. That luxury was taken from him the moment he’d witnessed Victoria’s vicious murder the night they’d disappeared from the Joseon period. He can’t help his physical attraction to the mysterious assistant to Siwon, but he’s afraid of letting his own feelings grow deeper for the attractive young woman, especially right now.

Min Yeon’s hooked up to monitors and oxygen, still unconscious from the accident. With the heightened senses that comes with being a shape shifter, Yesung can sense that Min Yeon is slowly slipping away from them. ‘Why don’t we change her if she’s fighting to live?’ Cloud wonders, his voice mournful in the back of Yesung’s mind. Even his wolf is upset that the human is slowly dying.

‘I can’t do that to her.’ Yesung knows that the life of a shifter is not a decision that is taken lightly for those who chose to be changed. Being born into the Pack affords the luxury of when one wants to go through the change unless they were born a shifter, something that apparently nearly died out when his group disappeared from Joseon, but being brought in involuntarily, like Seungri and Donghae, has proven in the past to have dire consequences. He remembers Heechul talking about how the odds are stacked against a person when they are involuntarily changed and how many deaths had been reported around the city back when the Japanese canine attacker had been alive.

The records from the Pack insinuate too, that involuntarily changing another human is very nearly forbidden unless they are the mates of a Pack member or part of the families that are friends with the Pack. It’s not Pack law to forbid changing someone without permission, but it’s very highly frowned upon now to the point that it rarely happens, the last known instance had been BoA when she’d nearly died from the accident that claimed her dancing career.

Yesung doesn’t know how long he’s been there when the sound of the door opening rouses him from his meditative stupor. It’s a nurse who’s coming in to do her normal checks of the monitors, and change the bags of fluids that are being infused through IV lines in the crook of Min Yeon’s left arm. “Are you doing ok?” The nurse is at his side, a concerned look on her face.

“I’m fine.” Yesung gives the nurse a half-hearted smile that gives the intended effect. “Just…” He gestures over at Min Yeon’s unconscious form, the rest of his sentence left unsaid.

“Ah.” The nurse didn’t say anything else as she patted Yesung on the shoulder in a comforting move before moving out of his immediate senses.

Yesung returns his attention to Min Yeon, realizing suddenly that the woman is twitching. “Nurse?” He’s barely out of his seat when the sharp sting of a needle penetrates his skin, the liquid injected quicker than he can respond to rip the offending tool out of his shoulder. Cloud is screaming through their pack bonds for help when Yesung’s vision blacks out, and the young shape shifter slumps to the floor, unconscious as Min Yeon is still twitching in the bed above him.

**

The Pack is in an uproar. Zhou Mi flinches every time one of the other wolves in the old Pack lets out a snarl then a whimper as the shock of Yesung and Min Yeon’s abductions are starting to settle in. Siwon is with the police at the hospital, going over any possible suspects that he could thing that would resort to abducting his assistant.

Zhou Mi remembers walking into Min Yeon’s room a few hours after Yesung had texted him, saying that he was going to visit the young woman, knowing that she’d probably not last the week if she didn’t wake up and letting the older shifter say goodbye to her. Yesung doesn’t talk about what had happened their last night in Joseon when they’d time shifted, and Zhou Mi won’t push the issue, though he remembers the older wolf had smelt of blood, magic and Victoria when they’d found themselves in Ha Rae’s backyard. He’s got a sinking feeling that Yesung was an involuntary witness to something that had involved the young Gisaeng shifter, and the fact she hadn’t time skipped with the group had told Zhou Mi that she had probably died that night.

He hadn’t been prepared to be hit with the stench of something old, something wrong that shouldn’t have been allowed to continue in this world. “I thought he died?” Kyuhyun’s brow is scrunched as he sits with Zhou Mi and Seungri.

Yujin’s shaking her head. “We only assumed he died. The surviving Pack records from outside the capital never mentioned a rogue wolf or a new Alpha coming into other areas of the country or other parts of Asia.” She says, tapping a pen against the pad of paper on the table in front of them. “And none of the other researchers in the Pack records found anything useful either. It’s like he didn’t even exist.”

Donghae’s upset, which is not surprising. He’d grown close to Yesung after they’d adjusted to their sudden time jump. The fact that his friend, a member of his own Pack had been taken against his will along with a woman who was purely human has shaken them all, especially since a former Pack member’s scent was clearly identified, and Zhou Mi barely remembers even meeting the former Alpha. Donghae’s only heard things from Kyuhyun about the former Alpha, and it makes him glad that he was changed and met Kyuhyun after things had gone down.

The person, no…that thing, as Niqui reminds Zhou Mi, either had been caught in the same time jump, or he’d managed to keep himself healthy enough to stay alive long past when he should have died.

The only other explanation that is far too viable is that the thing had managed to spawn offspring and raised them in his own image, in his own sick tendencies and that they are the ones responsible for the abduction of Yesung and Min Yeon. Kyuhyun visibly shudders at the idea when it’s said out loud.

The only comfort the Pack has at the moment, is that Yesung’s link to the Pack hasn’t been severed, meaning he’s still alive, though his presence through the Pack bonds is faint, like he’s too far away from the Pack territory.

The ringing of Zhou Mi’s phone startles everyone around him, making the feline smile in apology at the shifters surrounding him. “Hello?”

“Hey.” Siwon’s voice, laced with a trace of anxiety comes through the device. “We got a call a little bit ago.”

“And?” Zhou Mi suddenly wishes he’d stayed with Siwon instead of ducking out to inform the Pack.

“They’re asking for a ransom for both Yesung and Min Yeon.” Siwon’s voice falters. “They seemed to think that I was dating Yesung, not you.”

The news hits Zhou Mi like a ton of bricks. Yesung’s not stupid, nor is he weak. The fact he’d been overpowered and kidnapped had shocked everyone, but Zhou Mi had stupidly thought it was because of Min Yeon that the older man had been taken, not because of Siwon.

“They’re after you?” Zhou Mi blurts out, unable to contain his emotions.

“I think the people responsible are ones that I had bought out a few years back in what I had assumed was a normal business buyout. I guess they had friends who weren’t so happy about the transaction.” Siwon’s voice sounds tired suddenly, as if the weight of the events has suddenly hit him.

“What do the cops say?” Zhou Mi waves off Kangin, who’d come to ask Zhou Mi a question from Jungsuk, as the feline shifter had mostly shut down his link to the Pack so others weren’t affected by his varying emotions.

“They traced the call, but couldn’t get a lock on it before the people hung up.” Siwon sighs, the sound echoing over the phone. Zhou Mi picks up the sounds of a police station in the background. “They want you to come down. Since it’s a hostage situation, they want as much detail as possible about Yesung.”

“Ok.” Zhou Mi assures Siwon he’ll be down at the station as soon as he can, and then looks at Kangin. “They thought Yesung was dating Siwon.” He says, feeling an odd sense of relief that maybe the culprit is not who they think it is.

Kangin nods. “Jungsuk’s question was about the phone call. Does Siwon know who did it?”

Zhou Mi stands from the spot he’d been in since informing the Pack of Yesung’s abduction. “Siwon’s got a good idea of who did it.” He admits as he follows Kangin towards Jungsuk.

The Alpha’s got a hard look on his face as he’s going through some of the digital records that the Pack has. “Don’t rule out any possibilities that it could be a rogue shifter or another supernatural entity out there.” He warns Zhou Mi. “Give the police as much information as you can.”

Zhou Mi understands the warning that Jungsuk’s veiled underneath his words. Yesung is Pack, meaning that the Alpha will do whatever it takes to get one of his own back, but the human woman is not a priority. It’s a callous way to think of things, but the first priority of the Pack is to protect its own members and no one else.

It’s with this mindset that Zhou Mi goes to the police station to help Siwon, knowing that he’s not really helping the Pack with finding Yesung, but at the same time, helping more than he needs to at this point.