Tiffany had no idea how she could ever look Sehun in the eye again, not after that unnecessarily intimate kiss. Or Kai.

Gah, how would she ever look Kai in the eye again? After she'd gone and kissed his brother, of all the people! What the hell was wrong with her???

She covered her face with both her hands, groaning before sliding her hands into her hair and pulling. 'I'm such an idiot!' She wailed.

'Glad we agree on something.'

Ugh, she was in no mood to hear from Mr. Troublemaker himself. If he wasn’t being so nice to her, beating up her ex and comforting her when she'd been crying, she totally would've snapped. Sadly, his caring attitude did not preclude his sharp tongue.

Though she was beginning to understand it was his way of offering comfort. He was trying to banish the awkwardness between them and she gladly took him up on it.

'I wasn't talking about you, idiot!' she returned, though she still didn't have the courage to meet his eyes.

'Kai will understand.' He told her for the hundredth time. 'I'm sure of it.'

He didn't sound sure at all and she rather thought he was blaming himself for the accident as well. Of course it wasn't his fault but she couldn’t find any excuse for herself. Why did she sit on his lap again? She should've stayed standing – what was a little cold rain or thunderous gale?

She sighed, noticing with some relief that the rain had nearly stopped. Now she could run away, hide under her bed and never face anyone again.

To think she'd made fun of Mei for throwing a tantrum when she'd accidentally kissed Kai.

'Ya!' He yanked a strand of her hair, pulling her to a stop just when she was about step outside. 'What do you think you're doing?' He growled.

'Running away to Nepal…' She muttered, trying to smack his hand away. '…where I'll begin my life as a goat!'

He snorted. 'Puh-lease.'

'Excuse me?' She glared at his shoulder – she couldn't look at his face just yet. How dare he make light of her dilemma?

'I don't see why you're making it such a big issue!' He shrugged his inappropriately broad shoulders. 'It was an accident, pure and simple. He's not going to blame you for anything.'

He'll come gunning after me, he didn't say it but she heard it loud and clear.

'I know but…' she muttered, not really sure how to explain her feelings. She was really confused where Sehun was concerned.

Sehun might not have any problems kissing her – it might not even have registered with him, the way he was acting. Heck, he probably considered her less than a speck of dust – but it had registered with her.

Loud and clear and with explosive sensations roiling down her spine and causing her head to feel a bit dizzy. Truth be told, she found it unfair that she had this sort of physical reaction – how come he wasn't affected? She had pheromones too, why wasn't he reacting to them?

And most importantly, why the hell did any of it matter when she had Kai? She shouldn’t even be thinking about it – it was nothing but brushing of mouths, right? A stale, emotionless, completely unintentional act.

But even now, her lips tingled with the memory of his warm mouth against them. And had she been single, she totally would've labelled it something over the top, like 'true love's kiss' – after all, fireworks only exploded in that case, right? But they had exploded for Kai as well, hadn’t they?   

God, she was confused.

And he wasn't helping any, going about so unaffectedly. Stupid creep.

'We have to tell him.' She muttered. That was the only way. She would be alright once she told Kai and explained to him that it was an accident. Maybe then she wouldn't feel like she was betraying him. And maybe, when she saw Kai, she'd stop feeling like butterflies were floating inside her tummy.

'You really want to see me dead?' He muttered, aghast, before sighing. 'Fine, we'll tell him. But let the rain stop first – it'd make everything completely useless if you get wet and catch a cold even after all this bull.'

I'm so messed up, she thought as hurt traveled through her. It was a rare thing for her to see his sensitive side, the one Kai and Mei were always informing her about and it had impressed her, maybe even touched her. But he just had to go and ruin everything by labelling it bull.

Still, he had a point. 'Fine, we'll go after it stops raining.'

……………………

The rain had given her a rare opportunity to have Luhan all by herself.

Minho cancelled the practice when it had turned too stormy to continue without risking injury for all his players and Luhan had vanished into the changing room with the rest of his team while Mei took shelter underneath the stadium entrance.

Minho had offered to drive them home but Luhan turned the offer down, seeing as Minho's truck was already loaded to the brink with the entire team – all of whom relied on their captain for transport.

'We'll figure something out,' He'd told the guy, waving them off before grabbing Mei and taking them upstairs to the office section.

The doors were locked but with Luhan's powers, that didn’t pose any problems. They wandered around, hand in hand, in the empty area before Luhan started a long-winded ghost story that ended with him getting scared, jumping at the lightest sounds and looking over his shoulders because darkness made the area creepier. Mei giggled at his condition, then suggested they sit down because she was getting tired.

And hungry as was proved seconds later when her stomach growled. Thankfully, her university bag always had some form of junk food in it – it was her rule never to travel without it – and they shared a packet of crackers, several chocolates and Luhan's water bottle.

And then Luhan started yawning and that made Mei yawn as well, so they searched around for someplace they could lie down and this was how they ended up in this old gym room – with loads of mattresses piled into a corner, mercifully free of dust, rodents and crawlers.

Luhan's arms found their way around her, pulling her against his chest and she felt a bit awkward and a whole lot aware when he dropped a kiss on her forehead and closed his eyes.  

They weren't spending as much time together as they had before and she hadn't forgotten about his intentions to sleep with her or her decision to comply. So, at times like this, when her mind wasn't too dazed with pleasure to properly think, it was really hard to refrain her brain from churning up scenarios about their first time.

Add the weird suggestions her sister Aria had given her or the over the top and utterly unrealistic scenarios Tiffany churned up in her moments of inspiration, and it was no wonder she had trouble breathing normally.

Her eyes snagged against his collarbones, protruding so invitingly against his skin and swallowed as her mind unconsciously went to her favorite fantasy – seeing him shirtless. She'd seen all his brothers shirtless and some buck (cough Tao cough) but she had yet to see him in something more revealing than a soaked white dress shirt. It had given her a glorious peek at his perfect body and fueled her fantasies even more but she had an idea her imagination wasn't doing him justice.

And imagining him shirtless was the wrong thing to do when she was practically in his arms and he was… sleeping. Hmph. Sometimes, she despaired for his sense of romance – what kind of guy fell asleep in such a romantic weather?

True, he was snuggling with her and it was extremely warm and comfortable but still…  

Though it was extremely comfortable. The wind was cold on her back but his chest was warm and his heartbeat soothing against her ear and she didn't know when her eyes slipped close but soon, they were both asleep.

When she woke up, it was dark. Then she realized it was because his arm was spread over her eyes and she pushed it away, sitting up. The rain had stopped, from the looks of it, and the wind died down as well. But she didn't pay any mind to that, sneaking her hand around to get her cellphone and snap his picture because he looked so damn cute, his hair mussed and a peaceful smile on his face.

'Pass it…' he mumbled and she suppressed a giggle. Trust him to dream of football when he had his girlfriend in his arms. Idiot, she thought fondly.

She glanced at the time – she'd barely slept for twenty minutes, why was she up again? More importantly, should she wake him up as well? He'd seemed so wiped out after playing in the heavy rain, she didn't have the heart.

I'll just walk around and stretch my legs a bit, she thought, getting up, then I'll wake him up.

But she'd tell him to cancel their plans for tonight – she'd rather go over his place and just spend some time with him because she missed that terribly.

He texted her, yes, but he wasn't around to walk her to and from class or back to her hostel and sharing her chips and chocolates with him had been the most fun she'd had in a while. More than the increasingly intimate kisses snatched here and there, she wanted to just be with him.

Smiling at the prospect of having him to herself for the entire day, she stretched then walked out.

…………………….

Luhan woke up with a start and a dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Instinctively, his hands reached for Mei and not finding her beside him, he hurriedly stood up, glancing around and hurrying out of the room.

The entire office section was empty, Mei nowhere to be found. And the increasing anxiety building inside him assured him that something terrible had happened.

'Mei!' he called out, trying not to panic but it was really hard to keep calm when he spied one of her shoes abandoned on the floor and stench of fear hanging heavy in the air.

'Mei!!!' Panic built up inside him and he rushed outside, unheeding of the wetness against his bare feet – he'd taken off his shoes before lying down – and bumped straight into Kai who'd appeared in front of him.

'What happened?' Kai demanded, looking around, eyes wild and worried. He'd sensed Luhan's panic. 'Where's Mei?'

'I don't know!' Luhan's voice was bordering on crazed but he was crazy right now. If something happened to her, if Evil got her into his clutches...

His stomach roiled and he thought he would throw up. He must've looked really sick because Kai immediately grabbed him and sat him down. 'Calm down and think. Tell me what happened?'

Luhan started talking but by the time he got to part where he'd found Mei's shoe, Kai looked as ready to throw up as him, his eyes wide with apprehension. 'You don't think it's…'

'It can't be.' Luhan didn't let him complete the sentence – as if saying it aloud would make it come true. 'Lay would've sensed it.'

Kai's eyes expanded even more, looking like he'd just put something together. His complexion paled. 'What?' Luhan demanded.

'Lay…' Kai cleared his throat, 'Lay got caught in the rainstorm and I took him to Xiumin. We had no idea why he'd suddenly decided to run outside and abandon Chen but if…'

Luhan was shaking his head in denial before Kai could finish. 'No,' he said, 'no. No.'

Kai could well understand him. They were all on edge, fearful that Evil would take someone else they cared about away from them, be it one of the Legends or their mates or their friends. It was something that haunted them now, after Chen – and now, Mei had vanished, seemingly without a trace. He felt a bit like hyperventilating.

'We have to find her.' Luhan stood up, trembling with fury – and maybe fear for her safety. 'Now.'

Kai nodded. 'Let's go.'

………………………

D.O had decided he would leave. He'd been waiting around long enough now and he still hadn’t found the girl and if he stayed here a moment longer, inactivity would drive him crazy.

Having two beasts inside him meant his fever lasted twice longer and drove him twice crazier. And the power went out of his control twice as much as before. He really couldn't afford to be around his brothers if and when he cracked or he might do irreparable damage that would forever haunt him.

He acted like he'd gotten better when in fact, things had been getting progressively worse for him. His powers fluctuated unpredictably – which was why he was almost always sporting the beast aura despite his best intentions – and the urge to find his mate was so strong it was hard for him to rest.

Add his quest to bring Chen's soul back and it was a wonder he had any sanity left. Good thing he spend his time planning – due to his power fluctuations, his plans ended up being more gory and violent than was strictly necessary but at least he had something to do.

He'd been pondering about the best way to go about finding his extremely elusive mate while Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Tao shivered and then, Baekhyun had dashed into the rain, yelling something about Lay not being okay.

D.O stared after the guy, watching him panic and realized that he missed having his own Shadow – he actually missed that stupid smart mouth. It didn't have anything to do with guilt or feeling he'd somehow failed the guy but he actually missed him. Simple as that.

He didn’t have any link to remind him there was someone out there who'd worry and panic if something was wrong with him, someone who'd dash out into the rainstorm and move the earth to make sure he was alright.

He'd lost that privilege when he'd lost his Shadow.

There were very few times in his life when D.O let himself feel sad things that happened but in that moment, he was extremely sad. Chen, the person who'd do that for him – for whom he'd do the same, in the blink of an eye – was gone, his empty vessel bedridden and unable to wake up.

It was too much for him and he had to see his Shadow, with his own eyes, touch him and make sure the body was not just another illusion Baekhyun cast in the rain – his soul would come back and his body was proof of it.

So he stated his intentions – he wasn't going to put his brothers through what Kris had. That was the only other time in recent memory that D.O had felt sad to the point of tears. So he told them he was leaving.

Baekhyun read his intentions – hell, they all knew each other so well, it wasn’t that hard to predict the other's actions – but D.O couldn't afford to be deterred. He mentally apologized as he threw them all inside the nearest door – the building they'd ended up against – and locked from the outside, picking up a boulder and placing it outside so they couldn't chase him.

Then he took off, going back to the headquarters first. To make sure Chen was okay, that Evil hadn’t somehow managed to possess him again. Seeing his sleeping body had calmed him down considerably and he'd lounged about for some time, wondering if he was being too impatient again.

Then he'd decided to leave a note for Suho, explaining where he was going so no one would worry and after saying goodbye to Chen – Baekhyun wasn't the only one who talked to the guy in hopes of waking him up – he took off again.

He didn't know where he was going but he was going to let instinct guide him.

After all, a beast was nothing if it couldn't hunt and an elusive prey only made the task more pleasurable, the victory sweeter.

…………………...

A/N

Yeah.. good times coming up