Jessa screams.

Her body tenses, back arching in a spasm as Luhan wakes from beside her. But something feels off about this, and Luhan shakes his head to wake himself as Jessa’s scream dies off and she shudders.

Before he can do anything, he’s thrown across the room, crashing into the wall. And it hits him that he’s still fully clothed. He was pretty sure he’d actually bonded with Jessa, both physically and mentally, and he can taste a faint metallic substance in his mouth.

“You dare try to take what is not yours to take, vile beast.” An angry female voice roars at him. “You hide your true nature from us, expect us to trust you.”

Luhan blinks, his body tense as he looks up and sees something that he knows should not be possible.

Jessa’s standing by the bed, fury on her face, her arms and much of her body covered in dark grey fur, her clothing shredded in places from shifting. “You’ve asked for death.” She roars, eyes shining a golden color.

 Luhan blinks as the rest of Jessa turns, and a full-fledged wolf stands in front of him, her eyes red with fury as his mouth drops open in shock. Something crashes in the hallway, and Luhan pushes himself up from the floor, careful not to make any sudden movements while he attempts to go translucent, but finds his vampiric abilities blocked as he gasps as pain blossoms in his chest.

Jessa’s wolf form growls at him, hackles rising as she moves closer to him by a step.

Another wolf crashes through the door, his light grey fur contrasting Jessa’s fur, and Luhan cowers in absolute fear as he realizes two things.

He’d missed somehow that Jessa was a hybrid.

The string he’d broken with his blood bond hadn’t been her mate bond. It’d been the barrier that prevented Jessa from shifting.

The larger wolf in the room growls at him, the weight of his power pushing Luhan down as the light grey wolf goes to Jessa’s wolf form and sniffs.

The fury in her eyes dims as she nuzzles back at the other wolf.

“Well, look what we have here.” Luhan shrinks even more as Leeteuk’s form towers over him, his human face splattered with blood.

**

The storm’s gone, sunshine peeking through the dark clouds as Leeteuk pushes Luhan to the ground outside, his arms tied behind him by rope. Luhan’s eyes go wide as he sees a cluster of people not far from him, all tied up and linked together by rope and chain.

The vampires he’d sensed, hadn’t been there to attack. No, they’d been there to provoke him into action. He sensed remorse from one of them, and sorrow from another as they realized he was being captured too.

“The boy you took in is the noble Price of the Chinese clan of vamps that have a den on the border.” Leeteuk tells a seething Kris. “He’s powerful enough to use blood manipulation, among other things Jessa’s been able to learn.”

Luhan spits at Leeteuk’s feet as Siwon and Hoseok push him away from their Alpha. The sounds of feet on gravel announce more people to the house.

Luhan hides his face as a new voice speaks. “Well, this is an interesting development.” Yunho’s voice says, spotting the two wolves behind Leeteuk. “Didn’t see Jessa as a hybrid.”

“Off with you two.” Leeteuk shoos at the mates, a smile on his face.

The larger wolf nips at the smaller one, and takes off towards the forest. Jessa’s wolf huffs, shaking her body and gives chase to her mate, excited yips coming from the pair as Jessa catches up to Kyuhyun, their forms disappearing into the forest.

The group is rounded up and placed in the prison cells that lay in the basements of Kris’s house.

Bree and the druid who is taking over the area arrive not long after Leeteuk’s washed his face and explained things to Kris and Yunho over the aroma of hot coffee.

“Where is Jessa?” The druid asks, her dark brown hair sprinkled with grey. She’s already repaired the damage to the existing wards, having been trained to take over after the other druid. She’ll announce her own heir to the wards once she’s settled into a more fortified house.

“She’s out with her mate, strengthening her bond with him.” Leeteuk tells her, sipping at his coffee. “I can call them back if you need?”

“I hate to interrupt their time together, but I will need to make sure she’s not tainted by the venom of the blood er prince.” The druid says apologetically.

Leeteuk pulls on the Pack bond between Kyuhyun and himself, telling his beta that Jessa needs to be checked over by the older druid.

They’re greeted several minutes later by the mates, still in their wolf forms. It takes a moment, and a call for Siwon to bring clothes for the mates before Kyuhyun’s fully human again, and coaxing Jessa through her first transformation back from wolf to human.

“How was your first transformation?” Leeteuk asks, once Jessa’s clothed, and seated at the table, a cup of warm tea in front of her.

She’s shaky, much like a pup during puberty after a full moon, and it takes a few sips of tea before she speaks. “You both knew I was a hybrid.” She says, her voice cracking, not even bothering to ask.

Leeteuk and Bree look at each other before looking at her. “I thought you knew.” Bree says. “When you were unconscious, your wolf side came out to protect you.”

“She did?” Jessa’s eyebrows raise.

“She told us how to help you heal, though it took longer than expected.” Leeteuk explains.

“I hate to interrupt, but we need to check to see if the vampire did any damage.” The old druid says. “Since he’s a prince, he may have more powers in his venom and blood than we know of, and it could influence you.”

Jessa submits easily to the inspection, allowing the druid to take a sample of her blood, and makes her do some simple tricks as a druid, and the older woman declares her free of any side effects for the moment.

They’ll still have to be wary of any possible side effects later, but for now, Jessa is safe.

The vampires will be dealt with according to Pack laws, which means Leeteuk orders their deaths as the highest ranking Alpha in the area.

The new wards are put into place during the execution of the vampires, though Luhan’s being spared for the moment because he’s a Prince who had violated the treaty and crossed the border without express permission from the Head Alpha.

Yunho’s found out that the two he’d sent to the Pack that had been attacked are still alive, and he goes off to fetch them once the executions are done.

They are moved from the house they’d been staying in, to another that is more fortified, and the old druid puts up wards against vampires coming into the house. They’ll wait a few days for the druid to get settled into her new home, hold a ceremony to welcome her to the area for the forest to replenish its natural magic before they head back to Seoul with the vampire prince in another vehicle for his trial.

A/N: I nearly aced my test on Friday!! I'm super happy about that!! I was going to upload a chapter, but instead, I was super productive on studying and caught up in my sign language class's workbook, then has a convention staff meeting, went out after with other staffers, and then had to attend a CPR/First Aid class that I'd help set up with other convention staffers today. 

I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! We've got 6 more chapters to go. I have been super productive and am nearly finished writing the final chapter. Feedback would be super amazing at this point (I kind of need the moral boost after having to do some serious adulting today)!