You could sit here and claim that your life flashed before your very eyes. That in your mind you could picture the earliest memory from childhood and up to the point you fell into the street to become the pavement's new coat of paint. That you would look back and think 'I did something with my life', or 'I wish I could have done so and so'. But that's not what happened. You didn't think of your accomplishments, your friends, your family, not even Zoro. You didn't even have a revelation about some meaningful question that had plagued you for the longest time.

No, the thought that had popped into your head at that very moment was that your mother would be disappointed you hadn't gotten married yet.

Weird right? For one, what the fuck? Two, you were way too young and amazing to get married right now, so she could just shove it. But knowing your mother, she would just shake her head at your funeral and tsk at your coffin while dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

"This wouldn't have happened if she had gotten married to that doctor I introduced her to."

She would totally do that too. How your life would have been comfortable and safe in some condo in Hawaii while your husband went off saving lives. All the while you would audition for some reality TV show about tanned housewives who had no skills and needed something to do while their husbands ignored them. And your mother? She would totally tune into every episode and send you emails about your hair, clothes, and nails and give you tips on how to look better for TV.

Let's just say you and your mother had a weird relationship and now you weren't sure if you liked where you stood with her at that moment. Y'know, because you were about to die.

You closed your eyes tight, wondering if you should loosen yourself up to minimize damage or just wait for the bright light that was waiting for you.

Your body jerked suddenly and at first you thought the car had finally hit you, but then concluded cars don't have hands. Strong hands that tried to tug you gently off the ground but weren't succeeding. Opening your eyes, you stared right into a single red eye flashing in concern at you. 

Zoro had come.

You were relieved, until you realized the car was coming at you both now.

"Zoro!"

He didn't say anything as he turned his head at the swerving car, it's side drifting easily on the snowy ground as the tail end slid right at you both. He glared and put out a single hand, palm flat while he wrapped his other arm around your shoulders and shielded your body with his own. The wolf had realized quickly that you couldn't get up so he was going to take the brunt end of the impact. You didn't want him to get hurt, but you didn't have much of a choice since it was all happening so fast. You could only dig your fingers into his chest and watch with wide eyes as the automobile finally closed in.

But instead of barreling you both down, you witnessed the back end of the car stop as soon as it hit Zoro's hand. The car tilted slightly from the sudden stop in force, it's tires on the other side lifting off the ground for just a moment before slamming back down onto the pavement. The wolf's arm didn't even twitch, it stayed perfectly still right up until the car was finally immobile then he lowered it to check on you; trailing his fingers over your cheeks and forehead for any injuries despite successfully stopping a 3,000 pound machine.

"Are you okay?" Zoro murmured to you, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

You only answered with a nod, too busy staring at the car and at the small dent where Zoro's hand had stopped it. If you weren't so shocked by the whole situation, you would be praising your boyfriend for stopping it with just one hand.

'Oh? Your boyfriend can get tickets to Wicked when it's sold out? My boyfriend can stop a fucking car.'

"_______-chan!" 

You looked up to see Jinbei running to your side, face pale and hands shaking as you knelt down to check you over. Zoro didn't seem to like this since you could hear the small growl slowly rise in his throat, but you tugged gently at his shirt and he settled down a little and watched the Japanese man look you over.

"Are you okay? Where did it hit you!?! We should call an ambulance!"

His concern for you made you feel all fuzzy inside and you tried to assure him you were fine, but the words wouldn't come out. This confused you so you tried to just give him a thumbs up, but even your fingers refused to listen and just cling to Zoro's shirt with a death grip. And then you noticed your legs were shaking and your teeth chattering together as if you were freezing. The next thing you knew, you were sobbing right there in the middle of the street. 

You hated crying. Because you were what they called an ugly crier; your eyes got all puffy while snot was ready to dribble out of your nose, your face scrunched up like some newborn child and annoying gasps came from your heaving chest. You wished you could be one of those actors on TV who cried so elegantly while their make-up remained perfect; but no, you were sure whatever make-up you had on was smeared on your face and made you look like some vagrant. It was probably mascara from last night too, how embarrassing.

"Oh my god! OH MY GOD I HIT SOMEONE!!!" Someone crying louder then you was running around the car from the driver's side and towards the growing group of bystanders. She appeared to be in her late teens and was already looking like she was berating herself for committing a great sin. It was becoming more and more obvious she hadn't had her license for long by the way she was rattling on about how sorry she was and if you needed insurance information or something.

You couldn't really blame her though, driving school didn't really teach you what to do in this kind of situation.

"Are you okay!? Did you die?! I'm so sorrrrrrrrrrrry!!!" She was wailing now, looking ready to pull out her hair despite you having no injuries. It was becoming clear that perhaps she needed to see a doctor considering how faint she looked.

Soon half the crowd was consoling both you and the driver while the other half was either walking off to continue their day or pulling out their phones to take videos to post online. It felt like hours before Jinbei finally convinced the driver that you were perfectly fine and that the car didn't even hit you. You secretly hoped she didn't check too closely and see the hand sized dent on the rear door. Once she was done crying, she shakily got back into her car after you refused to take her information and slowly merged back into traffic. What sucked was that she would probably replay this incident over and over for the next few months and fear driving the rest of her life.

You? You were probably going to stay inside the rest of your life...

As soon as the teen had driven off, you'd realized you could finally move. Whatever had held you down had vanished and now you could get out of the street. Zoro had helped you up while your knees knocked together, still a bit freaked over the whole event.

Next thing you knew, you were stumbling back to your apartment where you were forced to sit at the kitchen table, a cup of water placed into your hands which you gulped down greedily. Zoro had pulled up a chair right next to you and had his hand placed on your leg, giving it a little rub every now and then while he watched you carefully. Jinbei was checking you over again, using his limited medical training the best he could as he murmured to himself.

"We need to call an ambulance," Jinbei suggested for the fourth time. "She could be really hurt."

"It didn't hit her." Zoro replied back with a scowl, annoyed the man was still in your apartment. Over the course of the event, you had realized no one had really seen what the wolf did to stop the car. This was because the vehicle had skidded to the side just enough to block the crowd's view of your boyfriend's heroic badass gesture.

Jinbei glared, "Something stopped that car."

Zoro didn't reply, just glared right back with a glint of anger in his red eye. They both stared at one another for a long pause before Jinbei looked away, even appearing ashamed that he had broken eye contact first while Zoro smirked at his obvious dominance.

"I-I'm fine Jinbei." You piped up, finally finding your voice. "Really."

"_______-chan. Even if it didn't hit you, you're still in shock." 

His concern made you feel bad. Like, EXTREMELY bad that you were back to feeling like a huge jerk. 

You gave him a weak smile and reached out to pat his shoulder, not noticing how shaky your arm looked when you did this. "It's okay. I think I can make it."

He looked ready to fight the issue some more but he didn't, just look at you with worry until his gaze slid back to Zoro. Jinbei's eyes narrowed as if finally noticing the other male in the room. Zoro was already glaring right back, ready to win any stare down until your neighbor nodded to him.

"Dog." 

Zoro looked startled for a moment, but then he processed it and looked even more suspicious of the male.

"You're....human."

Jinbei nodded and grabbed his coat, glancing at your weary face. "I won't pry, ______-chan. But if you ever need to talk about things, I am a willing ear."

You watched as your neighbor gave you a supportive smile then leave your apartment, raising more questions and answering none. You just stared at the front door, unsure if you should go bring him back or just deal with it later. You seemed perfectly content to sit in silence for a bit longer, but Zoro was closer now and forcing you to look at him, hands on your cheeks and forehead bumping into your own.

His eye was closed and he looked like he wanted to say something but held it back with some force of will. The wolf took deep, calming breaths while he gripped your face, his claws just barely digging into your skin. It was then you realized just how upset he was.

"Z-Zoro, I'm fine."

"I know." He didn't open his good eye, just stayed like that a moment until his shoulders finally relaxed and his hands dropped to your shoulders. "I just felt your fear...I hated it. I didn't know where you were and I thought I wouldn't make it in time."

Felt your fear? He could do that?

"Tell me what happened." Zoro finally looked at you with that beautiful ruby eye of his, while his forehead was still pressed against your own.

You told him everything you could, from the moment you left the apartment with Jinbei and up to the point where you felt something tug you right into the street. How you couldn't move and then how one car had almost ran you over, then relaying up to the point when Zoro had arrived. You even included how you dropped the donuts, the delicious, expensive donuts that were meant for breakfast.

Zoro's face remained blank as you said all this, eye distant as he processed everything. It wasn't until a few seconds later that he finally said something.

"Magic."

"W-What?" You were lost, hoping Zoro would enlighten you on his thoughts.

"Only magic could do something like that..." He scowled as his nostril flared in annoyance, "It would explain the smell in this city."

"So, a-are we talking Harry Potter magic or something?" Werewolves and vampires existed, so surely magic had to as well. But it was just too weird that something like magic had forced you into the street. Your idea of magic came from fiction; people throwing fireballs, lifting furniture, raining down curses, etc. You didn't think someone tugging you into the street would be considered strong compared to all that...

He shook his head, "The level of magic depends on the person and what they did to gain that power. White witches are always weak. They can only heal minimal injuries and spread a little luck. Black witches can do a lot more and they usually have to sacrifice lives to do what they need to. Animals, people, whoever they can to perform what spell they need to."

You gulped, face blanched as you tried to ignore all the possibilities of someone getting hurt just so you could get splattered all over the pavement.

"No doubt our enemy either has magic and is finally making a move or they hired someone to do it for them." Zoro looked thoughtful, "I'm not sure how though since they would need a piece of you to force you into something."

"A p-piece of me!?"

He nodded, "Most likely hair or fingernail clippings."

You let out a noise of disgust, reaching up to pat your hair as if fearing it had all fallen out. "That's gross. They're gross!"

Zoro sighed and leaned his chin against his hand on the table, looking frustrated. "It doesn't give us much of a lead to who this person is though."

"It doesn't?" You stopped your preening to stare, wondering if there were just too many witches around to narrow down the culprit or none that he knew of. "You can't, like, smell it and track them down or something?"

He shook his head, "Magic only leaves small traces, especially if the user knows what they're doing...no, this place is too weird even if they didn't know how to cloak themselves."

You frowned, "Weird?"

Zoro glared at the wall, fangs looking a little longer then normal as he snarled at nothing. "Every place I go to has a population of freaks. Monsters like me that hide or work to pull strings in the government or just live out their lives normally. Here?"

He looked at you now, "I haven't smelled a single creature other then human in this entire city."

"Isn't that a good thing?" You asked, head tilting in confusion.

"No." He went back to glaring at the wall. "It's...wrong. Someone or something has either hidden them or forced them out."

You watched as he looked angry, finger tapping a little against his chin. "Only powerful beings can do something like that....something dangerous is living here and it only wants humans around."

Your hands gripped your knees, feeling jittery all over again. "B-But...why? What good are we?"

Zoro, despite how blunt he was, looked a little reluctant to answer. "...Food."

Nausea welled up inside you. Churning and burning your chest and making you want to run to the bathroom and puke until images of someone eating people were wiped from your mind.

Zoro was suddenly gripping your face again and forcing you to look him right in the eye. His ruby gaze looked angry and determined while he moved closer once more. 

"Look at me."

You took deep breaths, gaze unable to leave Zoro's. 

"You're safe."

You reached out and clutched the front of his shirt, eyes wide and body shaking. "I-I'm scared."

Zoro moved closer, not letting loose his grip on you as he spoke again, his words feeling like they were magic itself and settling over you with soothing waves.

"I won't let anyone touch you. Not as long as I live."

The nausea slowly ebbed away as a new flood emotion washed over you. Anger, courage, loyalty, possessiveness, and love. Especially love.

You were confused by these feelings, sure you had just been shaken and scared. You felt like you had no reason to be this angry; or even this strange need to do whatever was asked of you, no matter how impossible the task sounded. It was a swirl of emotions that seemed much too strong to be your own that you had to place your hands on your own chest and take deep breaths to calm down what felt like an anxiety attack.

Zoro's eye suddenly lit up, looking almost like an excited child at your confusion. "You can feel it?"

You stared at him, breath hitching like you had the hiccups. "W-What?"

"Me!"

You gawked, "What the hell are you talking about?!"

Zoro looked relieved, pulling you into a hug and holding you tight as he talked more to himself now. "I thought maybe because you were human...it was one sided for so long."

"Zorooooooo!!" You whined, now feeling nothing but love and calm settle over you now. You wanted to know what was happening and why he seemed so happy. 

The wolf's hand started to pet the back of your head, fingers combing through your hair while he smiled and buried his face in your neck. You were sure if he had a tail right now it would be wagging and thumping against the chair loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Our pack bond is working. You can read my emotions." He chuckled, as if the previous discussion was just a distant memory and nothing compared to this new discovery.

"W-What?" You were still so confused.

He pulled away, his grin a little smaller as he tried to find a way to explain it to you. "Werewolves aren't magical creatures. We're mostly physical beings that rely on strength and speed. Other creatures have their own magic and only a handful of humans are descendants of witches. We have the least amount of magic compared to most."

Zoro leaned back in his chair, but he took your hand in his own and gripped it. "The magic we do have is pack magic. The alpha has the ability to feel the others in the pack when they allow it and vice versa. It's helpful if one is in trouble and needs assistance. It's also used to calm one another down in times of stress and even accelerate healing by exchanging energy."

"W-Wait...So, I'm really feeling what you're feeling?" You weren't sure if you were comfortable with that or not. You could barely handle your own mess of emotions, just what the hell were you going to do if you suddenly became a grump!?

Zoro grinned widely, looking proud of you. "Yes."

"Uuuuuuughhhhhh!" At this point you just wanted to lay on the ground and let yourself gather dust. Everything was happening too fast now and you wouldn't mind hibernating for the rest of the year. Zoro only laughed, the asshole.

You suddenly looked up, face pale and sweating nervously as you asked your next (awkward) question. "Wait, so...every time I felt...needy....?"

Zoro shifted, suddenly looking interested at the magnets on your fridge.

"Oh my god!!!!"

This was so fucking embarrassing.