Baekhyun blinked after opening the door, clearly having woken up at her knock. He blinked, taking in the bedsheet wrapped around her before shaking his head, too tired to think.

‘Lay’s in the toilet, wait inside.’

Without waiting for her, he turned back, yawning and slumping face down in the bed. He was out in seconds. Kyra eyed him somewhat enviously; if only she could go to sleep like that.

She didn’t get too long to dwell on it though, as Lay stepped out.

‘Kyra?’ He sounded confused. ‘Is everything okay?’

It hit Kyra then that it was literally the middle of the night, and she flushed. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t really think it through. I can come back…’

‘No, not at all.’ Lay stepped forward, concern dripping from his pores. ‘Are you okay? You look a little feverish.’

She felt a lot feverish so that wasn’t surprising. ‘I am… but that’s not why I’m here’

Lay tutted. ‘You need to be careful. Have you talked to D.O like I asked?’

She had tried very hard to forget that particular conversation, so no, she hadn’t. Lay gave her a stern look. ‘Have I not made it clear that you’re literally in danger of collapsing from fatigue?’

She felt more in danger from collapsing from frustration but she held her tongue as Lay scolded her. ‘I thought Lily was bad but you’re worse. She was angry at Xiumin, so I could understand it even if I didn’t approve. Why are you still holding back?’

She didn’t say anything but her wayward mind conjured a very inappropriate image and she flushed.

Lay snorted at her expression, rubbing his face. ‘For the love of everything you hold dear, he’s not going to do anything until you tell him – explicitly – that you’re okay with him going all alpha on you and biting you again.’ 

This was exactly why she’d tried to forget their previous conversation.

‘This is not what I came here to discuss,’ she snapped, wrapping her sheet around her protectively and whirling. ‘And if you’re going to be like this, I’ll-‘

Lay blocked her way, snickering at her even as he tried to appease her. In times like these, she could totally see why he was Baekhyun’s Shadow. Both were annoying when they wanted to be.

‘Sorry,’ he said finally, catching his breath. ‘Sorry… what did you want to talk about?’

She let out a sigh. ‘I had a dream.’

All mirth faded from his face, his stance tensing. ‘About?’

She described it to him.

‘I don’t know… it was very vague but I can’t help but feel that it is very important.’

Lay chewed his lip worriedly before nodding. ‘Let me call Suho and D.O.’

‘What? Why?’ She did not want to face D.O, not like this.

‘I had a vision too… or well, I couldn’t see anything but I think they are connected…’

Despite her protests, he pulled out the phone to call.

‘Chen, is D.O awake?’

She could hear Chen’s voice through the phone as he woke up his Shadow. Her gut swooped when D.O spoke suddenly into the phone, voice husky and sleep-heavy. ‘Hello?’

‘Can you come to my room? Bring Suho as well.’

 Kyra had a minor panic attack while they waited, trying to calm her frayed nerves and control her brain which was very unhelpfully throwing up salacious suggestions.

Lay walked over to get something from his drawer and bumped into a corner, hopping around in pain and jostling Baekhyun in the process. He whined, making a grab for his Shadow and Lay landed on top of him, giggling as Baekhyun snuggled against him.

‘Go to sleep,’ he mumbled, clearly tickling Lay’s neck. Lay wiggled but Baekhyun tightened his arms, rolling them both onto the floor. Lay’s groan of pain mingled with Baekhyun’s loud whine as he sat up, pouting and rubbing his head. ‘Ouch… why did you do that?’

Lay wiggled his glowing fingers in response, and Baekhyun obligingly bent down to cuddle, letting his Shadow pat his head and heal his boo-boo.

The entire scene was so out of the blue, it effectively stopped her panic attack and made her laugh instead, which was how D.O found her, giggling at the duo on the floor.

‘Kyra?’ He sounded confused, though that didn’t stop her body from reacting to his voice. It only increased when his gaze landed on the two Legends and his gaze turned cold.

‘Lay.’

That was all he said, but the demand and the warning in it was so clear, she wasn’t surprised when the healer shot up, standing up and holding his hands out appeasingly. She recalled how Lay had told them off for coming to his room and how he always made sure to keep the doors open while any of the mates were inside. She’d always thought it was an exaggeration but seeing D.O like this, she understood.

‘I had a dream,’ she volunteered before the pack healer could be incapacitated due to a misunderstanding. ‘I thought he might have had a vision too, so I came here to share.’

D.O turned to look at her, his gaze softening significantly when it took in her state, the bedsheet wrapped around her and hair standing on end. ‘Oh?’

‘It was very intense,’ she explained, ‘and I was very worried, so I didn’t even look at the time…’

‘I’m glad you didn’t wait,’ Lay spoke up. ‘I think it’s important.’

‘What happened?’ Suho sounded and looked like he’d just woken up, coming inside. ‘Is it Evil?’

The three Legends looked at her as one. She shook her head. ‘He is involved, I’m sure of it, but it’s very vague.’

Lay nodded, turning to fill in the others. She took the opportunity to surreptitiously pat her hair in place and adjusted the bedsheet so she looked less like a burrito.

Suho was frowning, just like D.O as they mulled over the news. Finally D.O turned towards her. ‘Can you give us any timeline?’

Kyra blinked. ‘Uh…’

‘He’s been lying low since Rose came here but it would be stupid to think he’s sitting quietly. If he’s planning something, I want us to be prepared.’

‘It feels…’ She tried to recall the dream, the sense of urgency it gave her. ‘… urgent. If not immediate, then very soon.’

D.O’s frown deepened at that, Suho looking worried. He glanced at her before turning to talk to Lay.

‘Could it be because of Angel?’ he muttered quietly. Kyra tried not to overhear, understanding they were not ready to break the news just yet.

Lay nodded. ‘It would make sense, right? He tried to target the mates last time, it makes sense that he would target the one carrying our legacy forward.’

Suho didn’t look satisfied with that at all, glancing at the door worriedly, as if he could see through it to his room. ‘What should we do?’

Their voices became even quieter after that and Kyra had lulled herself into a daze when they finally broke up.

‘Let’s sleep on it,’ Lay said with finality. ‘It’s nearly morning now, we can’t do anything further. Besides, we’ve kept Kyra long enough, she should be resting.’

Kyra blinked at her name, glancing around with a ‘huh’.

‘See?’ Lay pointed at her as evidence. ‘D.O, why don’t you take her back?’

Kyra became significantly more awake at that. D.O nodded at her. ‘Let’s go.’

‘One minute.’

Lay picked the medicines he’d dropped on the floor when Baekhyun had tackled him and handed them to D.O. ‘Make sure she takes them.’

Kyra glared at him. ‘I don’t need-‘

‘Yes, you do.’ Lay interrupted her, glaring right back. ‘Unless you’re ready to tell D-‘

‘Okay, I’ll take them, geez!’ she interrupted, cheeks flushing. She stood up, pulling her sheet right back up. She’d rather look like a burrito than look D.O in the face right now.

‘What is going on?’

As if things weren’t bad enough. D.O was frowning at the medicines as if they’d personally offended him.

‘Why does she need to take these?’ He glared at Lay. ‘Why aren’t you healing her?’

‘Because-‘ Lay started with his full chest, clearly planning to tell D.O exactly why she needed fever and pain medicine.

‘Okay, I’m leaving. Bye!’

Before anyone could react, she’d shot out of the room and was nearly halfway down the corridor when D.O caught up to her. ‘Kyra…’

Fire burned through her fingers where he’d grabbed her hand, simultaneously soothing the unrelenting itch underneath her skin.

‘You’re burning up!’ He pulled her to a halt, putting his hand to her forehead. His hand felt cool against her skin and she leaned into it. He tried to catch her gaze but she kept her eyes shut, just enjoying the feeling of her body not being in pain, the relief only his touch afforded.

Despite herself, she let out a moan. ‘D.O…’

………………………………………

D.O swallowed, willing himself to relax as he put his hand down.  

Of course. Of course.

He couldn’t expect her to have physical contact with him and stay unaffected. It was easy to forget that when they were snuggling together or holding hands. It wasn’t easy for him either but he didn’t have a bite that crippled him with want.

As if in response to his thoughts, her scent spiked, heavy with arousal and utterly intoxicating. A jolt of heat went through him, its potency catching him off guard and he could feel it was taking over his brain, shutting it down.

He shook his head, clenching his fingers, and focused on the girl in front of him.  

Kyra's skin was flushed and a fine sheen of sweat covered it, making it shine in the dim lights from the corridor. She’d loosened her hold around her bedsheet and the bite on her neck stood out, an angry red that was in sharp contrast to the paleness of her skin.

Oh how he wanted to soothe it, lap at the angry skin until it calmed and…

Shaking his head again, he brought himself to the present. ‘Kyra-‘ His voice came out an octave lower.  

She swayed forward, eyes closing. The sheet dropped, pooling at her feet.

'D.O…' her husky whisper ran through him, setting him alight, her scent only adding fuel to the fire.

He knew his eyes were red but there was literally nothing he could do about it. Not when she was staring at him like that, so pleadingly, so achingly longing.

Before he could lose all sense, he grabbed her hand and started marching them back to her room. The sooner he got away from her, the better. If he didn’t get away, he’d end up pushing her against the wall to have his way with her.

The beast liked that idea a lot, immediately trying to take over. Their mate would enjoy that, and it would ease her pain. D.O clenched his jaw tightly, fingers curling to dig into his palm, trying to let the pain ground him.

 He barely made it, dropping her medicine in her hands and pushing her inside rather unceremoniously. He would make it up to her. Later. When he was more in charge of his faculties, and not completely blindsided by her.

‘Good night!’ he called, forcing his feet to move away and not stopping until he was inside his and Chen’s shared room. He punched the wall, channeling his energy and making it dent. It wasn’t enough.

Chen yelped when he tackled him suddenly, barely managing to roll out of the way before D.O could put him in a headlock.

‘Ya ya ya!’ he yelled, eyes widening at the shadows slipping out of D.O’s crouched form, eyes flashing red. ‘Yah, what’s wrong?’

‘Fight with me,’ D.O demanded, voice low. ‘I need to calm down.’

Chen blinked, taking a good look at his Shadow; D.O felt him poke through their link before he straightened with huff.

‘You need to go back to her is what you need,’ he retorted, flashing his own eyes at D.O.

D.O growled. ‘Not like this.’

Chen’s eyes softened. ‘I understand that but you can’t leave her like that either. I don’t think she will understand why you had to get away, not in her state… she will see it as a rejection.’

The beast growled inside him, not liking that thought any more than the man. ‘It’s not, though.’

‘Tell that to her,’ Chen cajoled. ‘The beast won’t do anything to hurt her, so trust it too…’

The beast whined inside him, promising to behave. D.O could feel it settle down faster than it normally would, possibly to convince him to go back. He still hesitated. ‘But…’

‘But?’ Chen asked, tilting his head. ‘If the worst comes to worst, what will happen?’

D.O flushed, making his Shadow grin.

‘Something tells me she won’t mind that,’ he said, winking. D.O growled at that, making him grin wider. ‘You guys are close enough now, aren’t you? At least hold her so she can sleep.’

The idea of holding her to soothe her pain and helping her sleep appealed to him a lot. He didn’t trust human medicine anyway.

‘So I should…’

‘...march right back and take her to bed.’ Chen completed.

D.O threw a cushion at his cackling Shadow with enough force to knock him down, but took his advice nonetheless.

……………………………………