By the time we reached the house, Tae had to practically carry me inside. The pain in my head was so bad, I couldn't see and my stomach was ready to give up its hold on all the food and drink I'd had in the last twenty-four hours.

Tae took me to Jungkook's room and laid me on the bed, looking down at me with worry. "Are you allergic to anything?"

"Not that I know of," I answered through gritted teeth as I rolled back and forth, clutching my head.

"Okay, I'll be right back."

True to his word, he was back within minutes, carrying a glass of water and two small pills. He sat down on the bed carefully and handed everything to me.

"What is this?"

"Something for the pain and something to help you sleep. I'm giving you a low dose for now because you're so small and we don't know how you'll tolerate it, but I'll be here to monitor everything."

I chuckled despite the pain and tossed the pills into my throat, rinsing them down with the water. "What are you, a doctor?"

"No, but we've been in this life long enough that I've picked up a few things," he said, running his hand soothingly through my hair.

"Could I have a wet washcloth as hot as you can get it? That's helped in the past."

"Of course." He disappeared for a moment and came back with a washcloth so hot it was steaming as he switched it from one hand to the other to keep from burning himself. He waved it in the air a few times before putting it on my forehead. I moaned a little at the feeling, relaxing into the pillows. Before long, the medicine started to work and I felt myself letting go.

"Tae?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

"Of course, little lamb."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" My voice was faint. Weak with the medicine.

"Because you're ours," he whispered, his long fingers still trailing through my hair. As my eyes drifted closed, I felt him shift on the bed, then felt his lips on my forehead. I smiled for just a second before I was gone.

***

When I woke up, it was still dark outside. A body was next to me, snoring softly. I rolled over, expecting Tae, but it was Jungkook. I pulled back, shocked. A lazy smile spread across his lips.

"Why are you awake," he whispered gruffly. "The stuff Tae gave you should've knocked you out for a day, at least." He opened his arms and I scooted into them, resting my head on his chest.

"My body burns stuff off pretty fast. High metabolism, I guess."

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, just tired."

"Then sleep."

"Okay." I curled up against Jungkook and let his steady breathing and strong heartbeat lull me back to sleep. I'd spent the first few nights in that bed dead to the world, but in Jungkook's arms, my sleep was peaceful. His presence was oddly soothing. As if having a trained killer sleep next to me was exactly what I'd been needing in my life. Of course, it would have been different if I'd remembered the part where he'd said he slept naked.

***

When morning finally broke and I rolled across the bed, I realized I was once again alone. My hands slid across the sheets but didn't land on a body. I opened my eyes and propped up on my elbows with a pout. A set of clothes waited for me on the end of the bed so I sighed and took them to the bathroom to change.

Only Jungkook and Yoongi were down in the kitchen when I made my way down. I stepped up behind Yoongi and looked over his shoulder at the tablet in his hands.

"What are you r-"

"-Holy shit," he yelled, jumping in his seat. "How did you sneak up on me like that?"

Jungkook jumped, too, looking wildly between me and Yoongi with wide eyes and a mouth full of food like he was trying to decide whether to swallow or fight something.

I stepped back with my hands up, fighting back a grin. "Sorry, I'm light on my feet."

"That's a fucking understatement! I need to put a bell on you or something."

I giggled and sat down across from them as I grabbed a bowl full of rice and seaweed. Jungkook put a piece of roasted meat on top of my rice without a word. We ate in silence for a few minutes. After Yoongi's outburst, I didn't know what to say and I was still trying to come to terms with what I'd done the night before. Eventually, Jungkook finished his meal and sat back in his chair. Yoongi got up and rinsed his bowl out before returning to his viewer.

"So what have you got going on today, Kook? I haven't seen you here of the morning yet," I said as I finished my food.

"Jin wanted me to stay here and keep an eye on you today. Everyone else is tied up."

"So you pulled babysitting duty?"

"It's not like that. After last night, everyone was worried about you so we didn't want to leave you alone in case you needed something."

"Well, I'm much better today. If you've got something to do, don't let me hold you back."

"Actually, if you're really feeling up to it. I thought maybe we could do some training. Maybe if you had hand-to-hand skills, you wouldn't need to rely on your...other skills."

I tipped my head to the side. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I think I would enjoy that."

Jungkook smiled wide, wrinkling the bridge of his nose. "Great. We can go down now if you want."

"Sure, do I need to grab anything?"

"Nope. Everything we need is in the basement."

I followed Jungkook downstairs. It was the only place I hadn't been yet. There was an indoor, heated pool next to a fully equipped gym. And when I say "fully equipped", I mean it. There was every kind of fitness apparatus you could imagine packed into a space the size of half a school gym.

"Wow, Kook. This is nice."

"Yeah, if I'm home, you can usually find me down here. It's my sanctuary."

I looked up at him curiously. "What's your story, Kook?"

He glanced down at me before walking over to a wall of equipment and putting on a pair of sparring gloves. He tossed a pair at me. "Not much story to tell. The woman that gave birth to me was a prostitute more worried about getting her next fix than taking care of me. No idea who my dad was. So there was just this revolving door of drugged-out dudes beating up on me and my mother for the first few years of my life until the state took me. I learned how to fight in foster care, got in with a gang that was more interested in using me as fodder than anything else. I met Namjoon on a job and he offered for me to join Bangtan. It's been them ever since. They saved me. They're more family than my flesh and blood ever was."

I looked down at my hands, not sure what to say. "Damn, Jungkook. Sorry for bringing it up."

He shrugged and adjusted his gloves. "It is what it is. Honestly, the other guys have pretty similar stories. Nobody with a good childhood gets into this life."

I looked at the posters on the wall. I wondered what my own past was like. It couldn't have been that good if I'd ended up on the streets with no one looking for me.

"You ready to do this?"

"Sure. What are we going to do?"

"Well, if you think you're up to it, I thought about sparring for a minute just to get an idea of your base level skills first."

"Sounds good. I'm fine. After an episode, I'm usually good once the headache is gone."

"No lasting effects?"

"None that I'm aware of."

"Well, I'll take it easy just in case. No head shots."

I popped my neck. "Deal."

Jungkook crouched down into a fighter's stance, bobbing on the balls of his feet lightly. I stayed more upright, but hopped a little to work out the kinks in my body from the night's sleep. Jungkook lunged quickly at me, but I bounced out of the way. He came at me from the other side, but I blocked him and punched him in the stomach.

"What was that," he asked, standing up straight.

I shrugged, still keeping my hands ready. "Reflex?"

It was clear in his expression that he didn't buy that, but I didn't have a better explanation. When he lunged again, I dropped to the floor and swept his feet out from under him. He jumped up quickly and glared at me.

"Look, if you've had training, you can just tell me."

"Jungkook. I don't remember anything. I promise. I'm moving without thinking."

He narrowed his eyes at me and threw a punch at my face. I blocked it and threw one back at him. He blocked and ducked, throwing a punch at my stomach. My arm came down to block as I spun to miss his next punch to my face. When he kicked his leg out at mine, I lifted my knee to block with my shin.

He started moving quicker. Ducking, punching, and kicking with force. I didn't miss all of them, but he didn't miss all of mine, either. After a while, we threw down our gloves and started going at it bare-fisted. With his lip bleeding, he grabbed my shirt and threw me over his shoulder, but I rolled into it, popping up and running at him.

At the last second, I faked low but jumped high, wrapping my legs around his neck and knocking him backwards with a punch to his pretty face. He fell hard on the mat. I rolled forward, flipping and preparing for his attack. He lunged forward, tackling me with all of his body weight. We rolled on the mats in a blur of fists and knees. When we stopped, I was on top so he launched me back with his powerful legs.

I landed hard on my back and didn't roll out of the way quick enough. Before I could, he was on me, pinning my hands down over my head and my thighs with his knees. Both of us were panting and trying to anticipate the next moves of the other.

"Okay, break," he said, hoping up and pulling me with him. We both stood there breathing heavy with our hands braced on our hips. Jungkook wiped the blood from his lip with his thumb then stepped up to me with his hand out like he was going to touch me. I flinched away. He glared at me and stepped forward, wiping a bit of blood off my eyebrow.

"You know, you're going to have to trust someone eventually, Morgan."

"I know." I looked away with my tongue running along the inside of my cheek. "It's just hard to break out of old habits."

"I can see that." He sighed and walked over to a water cooler. "If you're tired, we can stop here. I'm pretty sure there's nothing I can teach you. You're as good as any of us, though I have no fucking clue how."

"And if I'm not tired," I asked with a grin. He handed me a cup and looked at me over his as he drank. "I'm kind of having fun."

He grinned at me devilishly. "Well, we can see how good you are with weapons."

Turns out, I'm really good with weapons, too. Jungkook and I started with staffs, then moved up to bamboo practice swords before he got really exotic and handed me a set of sai, keeping a pair for himself. Jungkook was an aggressive fighter, always trying to make the first move, so I learned to be patient and let him come to me. He was strong and knew how to throw his weight around, but I was more nimble and could get in and out of spaces faster than he could. It made it easier to dodge and block his strikes, but he knew how to move his body so he was quick to counter. It was infuriating and sexy at the same time.

Several times, we got too close to each other and ended up back in a hand-to-hand situation. Eventually, we just tossed the weapons down and went back to sparring without. It seemed to be what both of us wanted, anyway. Jungkook liked throwing me around and I liked showing him how quickly I could bounce back up. He tried several times to pin me by using all that weight he had on me, but I easily wiggled out. Eventually, I ended up on top of him and we were both too tired and hungry to keep going.

Jungkook started to laugh. I grabbed his wrists and pinned them playfully over his head, knowing full well he could get out of my grip if he wanted.

"What's so fucking funny," I groaned.

"Nothing. I just haven't had this much fun without trying to kill someone in a very long time."

I let his wrists go and just braced my hands on either side of his head as I worked to catch my breath. He rested his hands on my thighs. I tried to ignore the heat of his touch burning through my clothes.

"I take it you don't get to relax a lot."

"I'm a soldier. The youngest in the group. It's my job."

"What do you do for fun when you're not doing this?" He grinned up at me, but something in his eyes shifted. It was an answer and a challenge at the same time.

"Do you really want to know?"

I bit my lip as I looked down at his. "Probably not."

"Want me to show you?"

"More than anything," I breathed out without thinking. Before my brain could process anything, he wrapped his hands around my waist and lifted his face to mine. I met his lips with my own, wrapping my hand around his sweaty neck and lowering my chest onto him. His hands slid up my back and wrapped around my shoulders, crushing me against him. Even underneath me, his strength and dominance were overwhelming. Our lips parted, our tongues met, our bodies ground against each other. His touch, his kiss, ignited something in me and I was afraid it would burn me to the ground before I'd get enough of it.

If it hadn't been for the knock on the glass door and the creaking as it opened, who knows how far we would've gone.

My head shot up as Jungkook's twisted around to watch as Taehyung got two steps inside the room before seeing what was going on and stopping. His mouth hung open a little before he swallowed and his face darkened. "Jin hyung is back with food. They told me to come get you two so we could eat." And then he turned on his toes and was gone. The door slamming behind him was painful in a way I couldn't explain.