A few hours later Ash woke up and looked around. She was in Chan's room and the sun was starting to set. He was sitting at his desk working on something. Her mind felt thick, like everything was stuck in quicksand. The events of that morning suddenly flooding back to her making her stomach drop.

"Chan?" She asked groggily.

He instantly heard her and turned around to see her sitting up in the middle of his bed.

"You're awake!" He said smiling and moving to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah." She said looking down at her hands. The pain and disappointment was evident on her face as she ran through exactly what had happened earlier in her head. The smile slowly dropped from Chan's face as he remembered what she'd said earlier.

"It didn't go well...did it..." he said taking one of her hands in his.

The girl sat there and slowly shook her head as tears started to run down her cheeks. Chan pulled her into him as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "It's going to be ok."

She sniffed loudly, "No. It's not." She sniffed again as she slightly pulled away. "I'm exiled! I have no home, no family, no friends. No pack! Oh god, I lost my whole pack!" She said working herself up into a panic as she realized she'd just lost everything that was most important to her. "I'm homeless, I'm packless, I'm...."

Chan pulled her in tighter, "Breathe, Ash. You're going to drop again."

"My stuff. I have to get my stuff from my apartment before they throw it all away! It was pack sponsored housing. They have the keys. I only have twelve hours to get it." She said jolting up from the bed and then instantly feeling like she was going to pass out.

"Woah woah. Don't move so fast. You hit your head when you passed out earlier." Chan said as he helped her sit back down on the edge of the bed. "Stay here for a sec, I have an idea."

****

Ash now stood in the center of a now empty apartment. Chan had enlisted the help of Felix, Minho, and Changbin to clear the space and help her get her things together.

"That's the last of it, Ash." Felix said as he came back into the apartment. Chan nodded at him as Ash stared out the window.

She could remember when she first moved in at eighteen. She'd been so excited to have a place of her own. She would spend so much time looking out this window and watching the busy people below scurry about their days. She'd go downstairs to the convenience store and grab kimbap when she was too lazy to cook. She'd sit on this couch and talk to her mother when she'd come over.

All her memories were now soured by the fact that she was alone. She had a mate, but as much as she really liked him, he wasn't her family or her pack. Just thinking of the fact that she'd never hug her mom again, she'd never high five her brother again, she'd never change with them again.

She was alone.

"You ok?" Chan asked placing a hand on her shoulder.

"No" she sniffed shaking her head slowly.

"Come on, let's go. You're staying with us for a while." Chan said as he put an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the apartment.

A few hours later and Ash was sitting at a large dining room table in between Hyunjin and Bada. Each of the members shoving food in their faces was while Minho drank from his favorite cat mug.

Each of the members yelled back and forth across the long table, passing food back and forth as they continued to shovel food into their mouths.

"You'll get used to the noise." Bada said leaning closer to Ash.

"Oh I'm sure. I'm used to rowdy wolves howling all night long." Ash said smiling.

"It'll be nice to not be the only girl here for a little while." Bada admitted as she tried to take Ash's mind off of the day's events.

"I'm glad I won't be the only girl, all of them seem like a lot to handle." Ash joked.

"Chan does a pretty good job of managing the chaos...meal time though is always a free for all. Especially when they're hungry."

Ash nodded as Jeongin and Jisung argues over who gets the last piece of beef.

"I'm older! It's mine!" Jisung said as he stared at Jeongin.

"And I'm the youngest! You should offer it to me first!"

"MINE!" Changbin said as he snuck his chopsticks in and grabbed it and popped it in his mouth before the other two could react.

Bada shook her head with a smile as Jisung and Jeongin tackled Changbin to the ground as Bin swallowed the last piece of meat.

"Guys! Off the floor, we have a guest, remember?" Chan said as he rolled his eyes and finished his food.

The three boys got up and sat back down at the table silently. Jisung giving Changbin a dirty look.

"So, Ash, sometimes we watch a movie together when we all have a night off. Wanna join us?" Seungmin said politely setting down his spoon.

"We're watching Howl's Moving Castle again!" Hyunjin said smiling.

"I appreciate the offer, I think I'm just going to go to bed." She forced a smile and excused herself from the table.

Bada watched her walk away and then stared at Chan. Moving her head to get him to follow her.

"Go" Bada said poking Chan.

He got up from the table and followed her to his room, knocking and waiting for her to respond. He heard a faint 'come in' from the other side of the door and he walked in closing the door behind him.

She was laying on his bed with her back to the door, but she slowly sat up and faced him, pulling her knees into her chest. Chan sat down quietly next to her and pressed his shoulder gently against hers. Only enough to let her know he was there.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked as she shook her head and leaned it against his shoulder. "You sure you don't wanna join us?"

"I'm sure." She mumbled. "I just want to cry without anyone looking at me with pity all over their face."

"I can stay. I'll be quiet." He offered.

"No, go hang out with your friends." She said trying to assure him she's fine.

"They're your friends too now." He said as he laid his head on top of hers.

"I appreciate that, Chan. I just really wanna be alone." She said quietly.

"Ok, but you know where I am if you need me. Okay?" He said kissing the top of her head and getting up.

****

The next two weeks flew by, and before she knew it, she had settled into a routine. Sleeping in Chan's bed every night surrounded by his scent is what helped the most. The relationship between them was starting to grow and the late nights when he made her his helped too. The long late night talks, and stolen kisses during the day were like therapy. Slowly making her feel less and less alone. But one thing still remained, the bite.

"We need to talk, Channie" Ash said as he came into his room after practice.

He stopped in his tracks and looked at her like he'd forgotten something. "Am I in trouble?" He joked.

"No. Sit." She said pointing to the opposite end of the bed from where she sat cross legged. "We need to talk about the bite."

"And I have no idea how that works. So...."

"That's why we're talking. Time is kinda running out, if you don't do it soon..." she trailed off.

"Where do I bite you?"

"Left side of my neck." She said calmly.

"Nope. I can't do that. Your neck is where your blood scent is the strongest. My fangs will come out, I could drain you by accident."

"It's ok, Channie. Just drink a little like you did before if it helps." She offered.

"Ash. No, you smell amazing, and your blood tastes even better. Not to mention my fangs are like razor blades. One wrong move from you and I'd rip your throat out accidentally." Chan said standing up and starting to pace.

"You drank from me before with no problem."

"I was tired, weak...I was in pain. Just the act of drinking from you was exhausting. I stopped because it was too hard." He explained.

Her blood had helped that day, but just opening his mouth and biting was a lot of work.

"Just....let me talk to Jihoon. Please. He knew someone like me. Someone that was both. Maybe he can help." He pleaded.

"Chan. If we get sick, there's an 85-90% chance we could die." Ash insisted as she stood in front of him to stop his pacing.

"Just give me til the end of the week....please."

Ash took a deep breath and looked up at him. "Are you...not satisfied with me? Is it because I lost my pack?" She looked at the wall just past him as she spoke.

"No. It's not like that, Ash. I want to make this work. I don't care if you don't have a pack, I don't have one either." He smiled as he put his hands on her shoulders. "I just want to make sure you're safe and that I don't hurt you. That's all."

Ash nodded her head and stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and put her head against his chest.

"The end of the week. Then you have to whether you want to or not."

"Deal." Chan said as he kissed the top of her head and held her close.