"She seemed dressed in all of me, stretched across my shame.

All the torment and the pain

Leaked through and covered me."

 

  Kris forced himself to only think about the sound of his feet hitting the ground. The repeating pat! pat! pat! echoed as a mantra through his cloudy thoughts. He, at first, wanted to go running as a wolf in the middle of the night where no one could see, but he put on basketball shorts, grabbed his earbuds, and left. Even now he wasn't focusing on the music that was playing from his phone. Kris doesn't sweat when he runs as a human and he's almost sad that he can't, he would rather feel the satisfaction of damp coldness than his worry.

 

 An alpha who worries? That should be nonsense.

 

 He can't help it.

 

 Not knowing what's going on around his town is driving him up the wall. This is his packs' domain, everything should be known and running smoothly under his command, but Kris can't even begin to figure out what the is going on. He can even smell the fear on himself, which doesn't make him seem that manly should a violent creature step in his way.

 

  He knows he shouldn't be out alone, but his ego doesn't seem to care. Iridessa might kill him for being out here or maybe wish to have him taken alive by the tar, Kris hasn't been able to decide which. He looks both ways (even though he clearly doesn't need to) before crossing the empty dim-lit street.

 

"I'd do anything to have her for myself.

Just to have her for myself.

Now I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do when she makes me sad."

 

  As the alpha is about to turn a corner his phone vibrates violently in the pocket of his shorts. He stops, hardly panting with a slight rapid heartbeat, and unlocks the screen to see the message he has been waiting to receive all evening.

 

From: Kai

All good to go boss, she's asleep.

 

To: Kai

And the kids?

 

From: Kai

Dess laid them down a couple hours ago, her house has been quiet ever since.

 

To: Kai

Get some sleep kid.

 

"I won't let this build up inside of me."

 

~~~

 

  Dess was confused and disoriented. She was stumbling her way into a little forest, overcome with a familiar type of anxiety, tripping and scraping her knees along the ragged way. It was the same feeling she had when she delved into the trees earlier and found the tar. Her breaths were sharp and rapid and to her it felt like an elephant was sitting on her chest. The atmosphere of her dream world delayed her realization that, yes, indeed it was her forest that lays behind her mother's house that she was sprinting through.

 

  She heard whispers around her and it sent her more into a frenzy. Thickets of bushes snagged at her clothes with their thorns, and she felt as if they purposely were trying to hold her back. She tried running faster, and after traveling up the tiny creek she used to play in when she was little, the dryad saw her tree.

 

  Flinging herself at the mulberry branches, she wrapped her arms around it as if she was giving a hug to her safe haven. More scrapes covered her arms as she squeezed her wood trunk that her life is bound to. This is her tree, the one thing that should make her feel protected.

 

  But the whispers continued.

 

  Backing up, the ground trembles underneath and the grass she was just standing on begins to shrivel up and wither. She trips walking backwards and falls onto her behind. Black tar oozes up from the dirt and she begins to panic, scrambling to stand back up and find her center of balance. The substance makes a large puddle and produces several bubbles as if it were boiling, releasing an awful chemical odor that has her coughing.

 

  From the distance she hears buzzing and something with wings flies right past her. Dess flails her arms around and covers her hair as she notices a large dragonfly lands on the root of the mulberry tree.

 

“Ganiyegi”

  

  The dryad wraps her arms around herself and retraces a couple steps back of the direction she came from.

 

“Ganiyegi”

 

  Dessa’s skin crawls at the foreign word and whips her body around to see where it’s coming from. Nobody is there and it frustrates her since she doesn’t understand what it means.

 

“Ganiyegi”

 

  There is nothing behind her, just the once vivacious bushes and trees that are now decomposing. Lightning cracks through the bright blue sky and she wraps her arms tighter around her chest and shoulders. The dryad feels like she’s suffocating, as if someone is siphoning the air from her own lungs. She feels cold, and oh so lonely.

 

  Dess turns back to her tree and sees symbols carved into the trunk. Fury starts to rise in the pit of her stomach, but before it could ignite the boiling tar surfaces two animal cross bones.

 

“Wa-ya” the same voices whisper, she’s sure it’s more than one this time.

 

  Kneeling down into the grass, the bog of tar widens and swallows the dragonfly that was perched on the root.

 

  The bones disintegrate into chalky ashes and are swallowed. becomes dry.

 

“Wa-ya”

 

  Suddenly the tar diffuses and sinks back into the ground. In it’s place a couple plants grow and Iridessa recognizes their species.

 

“Wa-ya”

 

“Dess?”

 

“Kai?” She whispers to the bushes around her.

 

“Dess!”

 

“Dess, wake up!”

 

  Iridessa wakes and launches herself to sit up. The room is dark and she’s covered in sweat. Kai is hugging her and rubbing her back. She shudders from feeling jittery and inhales deeply.

 

“Hey, are you okay?”

 

She wails.

 

~~~

 

  Kris has his key turning in the lock to the front door when his phone vibrates again. Although this time it's longer and more consistent.

 

“Who the is calling me at this hour?” He asks to himself.

 

Kris walks into his house and pulls out his cell. Neglecting the light switch,  he squints at the bright screen of the phone and sees it's Kai.

 

“For the love of God, Kai-”

 

“Alpha you need to come here now. Dess is flipping the out.” He blabs with fear in his voice, almost too fast for the other to understand.

 

“What's going on? Is someone there?  I'm on my way, where are the twins?” Kris fires, running back out the door.

 

“I don't know! She's freaking out!”

 

“Where are the twins?” Kris yells.

 

“I'll go check on them.” Kai says breathlessly.

 

  Without looking around to see if anyone is watching,  Kris hangs up the phone and morphs into his wolf form to pick up speed. Horrifying thoughts course through his mind as fear and anger fuels his adrenaline. Trees, houses, and streetlights whirl past while his paws smack against the street pavement. Anyone could look outside and see him, but he didn't think it through and he honestly didn't care. Keeping his packs secret is of the upmost importance, but not as important as their safety. Without a doubt, Iridessa and her twins have always had a secure place among the wolves, it's his job to maintain it.

 

~~~

 

   Iridessa is hyperventilating into Kai's shoulder when they hear something kick open the front door with a loud crack! Dess screams and Kai hurriedly stands in front of her defensively. Twenty feet away she hears River let out a cry only she could distinctively recognize from a mile away.

 

"The boys!" Dessa cries, pushing him out of the way.

 

"Wait, Dess! Come back!" Kai calls out, following her out of the bedroom and across the hall. 

 

   She flings open the bedroom door and goes to both cribs, picking up a boy with each hand. Kai closes the door and locks it before pressing his hands against the hardwood to prevent whatever is on the other side from coming in. Iridessa backs herself against the window and hunkers down protecting the twins heads before she lets out a low hum. What she is about to do takes a lot of energy out of her but it's the only thing she can think of to protect them all.

 

"Phoe! River!" someone calls from the other side of the door.

 

"Wait, Dess, stop! I think it's Kr-"

 

   Before Kai can finish, the bedroom window shatters on impact as branches and vines force its way through, cracking the frame around it. Glass ricochets while plant life quickly creates a barrier around the dryad and her children as their cries reach higher volumes. Iridessa whips out her phone with her fingers, still holding her babies, and speed-dials Suho. The rings from the speaker are cut short and met with a groggy 'Hello?' and before she can say anything she hears the door break off the hinges and she screams and drops the phone. On the opposite side, it's Kris who heard the explosion of the window and took a step backwards, transformed back into a wolf, and barged head first breaking down the door and ultimately tripping onto Kai.

 

~~~

 

   Suho groans as he hears a loud alarm-like ringing coming from nearby. He sits up, yawns, and rubs his eyes. The ringtone continues as he hears Baekhyun somewhere on the ground moan in annoyance. His eyes adjusts easily and he notices a bright light coming from a cell phone across the room.

 

"I think it's your phone." Baekhyun yawns.

 

"It's Dess." Suho replies as he reaches the cell.

 

   He answers the phone and puts it on speaker before saying hello. Less than two seconds after it's met with a piercing scream and Baekhyun jumps up onto his feet and panics.

 

"Dess? Dess? What's going on?!" Suho nervously shouts into the receiver.

 

"Dude, let's go!" Baekhyun yells.

 

   The other drops his phone on the carpet and runs out of the bedroom trailing his friend. Baekhyun pushes open the back door of the house and transforms right on the patio. Suho follows and slams the door before changing as well. They take off, racing with their paws echoing off the ground as they head to the house of the dryads.

 

~~~

 

"! Ow! Ow! Get...off!" Kai wails from beneath the weight of wolf-Kris and the pieces of door. Kris quickly transforms back to his normal self to reduce the mass size.

 

"Kai? Where is everybody? Where is it?" Kris asks, getting off of the smaller and standing to glance around the destroyed nursery.

 

"Where's what?"

 

"The reason you called me, you idiot!"

 

"Oh well-"

 

"Where's Dess and the boys?" Kris asks and cuts off the other.

 

"Uh, under all that." Kai points.

 

   Kris does a once-over of the vegetation and squints his eyes before realizing that the little red color splotch he sees is a child sized sock. He rushes over to break through the plants and yells in pain as he's met with a thorny plant smacking at his arm.

 

"! What the ? Dess make it sto-Ow! Dess quit it!"

 

"Kris?" says a familiar voice from under all the green.

 

   Slowly, each earthly vine, root, and branch parts down the middle and moves out of the way to each side. Kris finds the boys sitting on her lap crying into Iridessa's pajama shirt, deathly afraid and clinging onto her. Kris notices the dryad's eyes grow wide and then her face visibly expresses recognition. She sighs in relief and passes out with her back falling against the cracked nursery wall.

~~~

 

"You made me run all the way out here in the middle of the night for a bad dream?" Kris roars.

 

"I thought-"

 

"I was so w- I mean- are you serious? Somebody could have seen me!" 

 

"Kris just stop! The twins will wake up again!" Iridessa snaps.

 

   Suho and Baekhyun entered the house shortly after Kris found Iridessa. It was breaking their hearts to see the twins so terrified and crying that they offered to help put the babies back to sleep. It took a little while, but in the end the peaceful silence was so worth it. Which unfortunately didn't last too long thanks to the alpha. After he woke up the dryad he found out what supposedly happened.

 

"It didn't seem like a bad dream!" Kai defends in a softer voice.

 

"Okay can we take this out to the kitchen so it's at least farther away from the boys?" Dessa groans.

 

   Kris corners Kai in the far side of the bedroom as he continues to chew him out. Dess quietly stands up from her bed and opens her door to see if she can hear any crying coming from her mother's bedroom (the nursery is still destroyed). Satisfied that they still seem sound asleep, she tip-toes out and makes her way out to the kitchen. After grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, she grabs a chair and sits down next to Suho, Baekhyun, and her mom. She knew that Kris would eventually look for her and that Kai would follow.

 

"No disrespect ma'am, but where were you?" Baekhyun questions Iridessa's mom.

 

"Sleeping." she shrugs. The boys blink owlishly at her.

 

"Are you ser-you know what, I'm not even surprised." Dessa huffs angrily.

 

"Actually I was just about to ask your mom if we can stay the night." Suho cuts in.

 

"What? Joon it's way too late, I dont think so." Dess replies.

 

"I think it's a good idea." her mom answers.

 

"What?" Baekhyun and Dess say at the time.

 

"It's just like you said, it's too late. I don't want them walking back home alone." 

 

   Suho snorts loudly in amusement.

 

"Mom, they're freaking wolves." she gestures wildly to the two, and Baekhyun acts like he's offended.

 

"Um werewolves, thank you very much."

 

"Oh shut up, Baek."

 

   He smugly takes a drink of his water as Kris begins stomping his way in. As predicted, Kai follows him with his head hung low. Iridessa comes to the conclusion that if he was in his wolf- werewolf- form his tail would be between his legs. She outwardly snorts at the thought. Kris widens his eyes in disbelief.

 

"You're laughing?" he growls.

 

"Oh stop with the macho act already. You're so dramatic." she complains.

 

"You're calling me dramatic? You broke your house because of a nightmare."

 

"You started it! You just had to be Hercules kicking down doors! I thought somebody broke in!"

 

"Seriously, guys?" Suho mumbles, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

 

"Shh, it's getting good." Baekhyun giggles.

 

"I kicked down your door because I thought someone was already in!" Kris says, ignoring the other two wolves.

 

"How would somebody be inside if the doors were still locked, you dimwit du-"

 

"Enough!" Ms. Kwon shouts, startling everyone.

 

   She stands between the two with her back against her daughter. Iridessa has always seen herself as an adult, and normally she would protest, but it has been years since her mother snapped like that. She can't see her mother's face, but it must be frightening enough for Suho's knuckles to be turning white from grabbing the trim of the table. Dess almost finds it amusing how fast Kris changes his facial expressions. He bows a second later.

 

"I am sorry Ms. Kwon, that was uncalled for. I do not mean to disrespect your house." he apologizes while still bowing.

 

"It's okay, I know she can be aggravating."

 

   Baekhyun spits out his mouthful of water.

 

"Mom!" Dess hollers.

 

   Baekhyun immediately starts cackling afterwards and Suho facepalms.

 

"Listen", Ms. Kwon turns around and mediates, "do you want to be a part of his pack?"

 

   Iridessa distinctly notices the look of disgust with the last word she spoke before nodding. She will have to talk to her about that later on when they aren't around.

 

"Okay, do you want her in your pack?" Ms. Kwon asks Kris once she faces him again.

 

"She is pack. The twins are pack." he responds firmly, and it makes Dessa's eyes misty.

 

"Alright then, you two need to find common ground with each other. From what little I know, it seems that a pack must be one. Fluid. You two are friction. Fix it or else it will never work."

 

   Iridessa quickly wipes her eyes, but it doesn't escape the alpha. He immediately softens and picks up on the last sentence that Dessa's mom said, and he thinks it's meant for something else. He shakes his head.

 

"I agree with you, Ms. Kwon." Suho says a few seconds after, and Baekhyun grunts in unison.

 

   The house is left speechless and Ms. Kwon takes the time to examine the alpha's shredded shirt and healing scabs. Most people of any magic persuasion knows that werewolves have accelerated healing. However, it seems as if he wasn't recovering as quickly, masking the pain with his anger. But the mother catches on instantly.She steps closer to him and touches his forearm.

 

"What happened here?"

 

"Dess whipped me with a vine or something." he answers, looking at the ground. Baekhyun snickers.

 

"It must be poisonous enough for it not to be healing as fast." she mumbles under her breath.

 

"I didn't use wolfsbane if that's what you're asking, I would never." Iridessa defends.

 

"I know that, if it was he'd be dead by now."

 

   Kris sharply inhales. Baekhyun's eyes widen. Suho doesn't visibly respond, he knows how fast acting it is. He also knows that Ms. Kwon has such knowledge from one of the first times Iridessa fought with their pack. It was a family of hunters and they specialize in variations of wolfsbane, usually with their arrows and bullets dipped in the poison. Suho was grazed in the shoulder and experienced the dread, personally feeling himself dying. It was nowhere near as bad as Tao's (Dess thought she could handle that one herself and didn't have any atropine to negate it) but it scared him enough. It took him at least two days to recover from such a small dose. Ironically, the family wasn't even targeting them. They came into town one night and heard a howl in the forest they were in. The pack guesses they were trying to find a place to set up headquarters. Xiumin joked after about just how bad their luck really is.

 

"Well that's interesting." Ms.Kwon hums.

 

"What?" Kris answers, and the younger dryad swears she sees fear in his eyes.

 

"Iridessa, when did you have the time to go to Madagascar?" she questions with a harsh tone.

 

"Okay, I'm confused." Baekhyun interjects.

 

   Ms.Kwon ever so lightly drags a finger down the alpha's forearm and a dark liquid follows her through his veins, trying to catch up to her touch. Baekhyun gasps and Suho gags, they both swear her eyes recognize it like it's something normal to see. 

 

"I didn't, how would I have?" 

 

"Ah yes, Euphorbi milii. I'm certain." she confirms to herself.

 

"Euphorb-  oh, crown of thorns." Dess concludes.

 

"How did you get it?"

 

"I ordered it, thought it might come in handy one day."

 

"Crown of thorns?" Baekhyun asks.

 

"Yeah", Iridessa explains, "it's a common houseplant, native to Madagascar. It was said that Euphorbia milii was the plant that was placed on the head of Jesus during his crucifixion. Thus how it got its' name. I planted it along the back of the house for protection purposes. They are an invasive species but I can control things like that, so there should be no worry of it contaminating or taking over the native plants here."

 

"Wait, guys. What do we do? Last time I checked, the nursery still looks like it went through a game of Jumanji." Suho says.

 

   Ms. Kwon sighs.

 

"It's going to be a while before it retreats itself to the garden. I'm afraid Iridessa used too much of her ability at once. Imagine taking steroids and then multiplying it by a thousand, instantly. That's what she did to those plants. The sun will definitely help steer it but it's going to take a while to repair the house. I shouldn't be at all surprised that she fainted, it took a lot of her dryad nature to do that."

 

"Well, I think that Baek and I both agree that you shouldn't scare us like that again unless it's serious. We really thought something bad happened."

 

"I'm sorry."

 

"How about Kris stays in the living room tonight. You two boys better head back home, I'm okay with Dess and the boys staying the night at the Kim's tomorrow."

 

   Everyone says their goodbyes and the two wolves leave shortly after. Iridessa brings out a pillow and blanket to Kris in the living room before bed. He only nods before taking it and laying down.

 

"Night." she mutters. He huffs in response.

 

   Dess shuts her bedroom door and rubs her eyes to suppress the tears. Why is she feeling this way? She can only lie on her bed for a few minutes before groaning and sitting back up. The man in the next room over won't leave her mind. She takes personal offense to it and hits her pillow. Standing up from her bed, she walks over to her desk. The dryad pulls out a worn notebook and pen. She started this journal when she first became a dryad. Instead of using it as a diary, it's kept more as a data entry for everything she has ever came across or experienced magic-wise. She begins to write what she could remember of her dream, only now she believes it's more than that.

 

~~~

 

Kris hears Dessa toss and turn, groaning. He wonders what she's frustrated over. Placing a pillow over his head as a useless defense to limit his advanced hearing, he eventually falls asleep and dreams of the two of them gardening.

 

~~~

 

"Is that you, son?" says a gruff voice.

 

   Suho easily recognizes his father as soon as they get back. He's in the kitchen eating a late night snack waiting for them.

 

"Hi dad."

 

"Where were you? You left in quite a hurry. Your poor mother was worried."

 

"We are sorry Mr. Kim, we were at Dess' house." Baekhyun interrupts, bowing.

 

   Mr. Kim blankly looks at his son heading towards the bathroom before shrugging.

 

"Oh, okay then. Did you at least use protection Joonmyeon?"

 

   Suho trips over his feet. Baekhyun howls in laughter until tears stream down his eyes.