Wolf

Chapter 3

Chanyeol was very open and friendly, much more so than Kris or the others. There was no way I could memorize their names without knowing what they looked like, so he described them for me. He didn’t seem to mind my questions, unlike the others. He didn’t growl at me for saying perfectly normal things.

“So what is this ‘pack ettiquette’?” I asked. “I have the feeling that I will need to know this unless I want my head ripped off.”

“We wouldn’t go that far,” He protested. “It would probably be an arm or a leg…”

“Funny.”

“I wasn’t kidding.”

He’s probably not kidding. I sighed. “Gross. So, what do I need to do?”

“Well, for one thing,” he started, “Don’t look any of them in the eye. Especially the top three—Kris, Tao, and Luhan.”

I frowned. “Kris seems okay with me staring at his eyes. I mean…that’s all he does to me. I feel like he was staring right through me, or watching my soul.”

Chanyeol pondered what I said. “Kris and Tao will allow it briefly because they’re curious, but Luhan… He will not hesitate to snap at you.”

“Is he that mean?” I asked in a timid voice.

Chanyeol laughed. “Not really. He’s just kind of antisocial. The complete opposite of me.”

I deflated, my shoulders drooping. “Great.” I raised my head slightly. “Anything else?”

“Try not to question any of the pack members,” He continued. “If you need to ask something, ask me. Saying smartass things or laughing at what they say may piss them off.”

I rubbed my neck where the man—Suho—had grabbed. “I think I got that one.”

Chanyeol grinned, a flash of white teeth in the dark. “Yeah.” He glanced at me. “Don’t be too scared of Kris. He’s a good hunter and a fierce fighter—the best out of all of us. But that’s not all that makes him an alpha. He cares about all of us, even Luhan. He always puts the pack before himself—not literally, of course.”

“You…you really are wolves,” I said slowly.

“For the umpteenth time, yes,” He replied patiently. His eyes glowed blue around the rims. “It makes me curious. Kris didn’t leave you behind, and he said you even out-ran him. That’s impossible, even for one of us.”

“I did punch him in the jaw,” I admitted. “Would that have given me an advantage?”

“No,” Chanyeol snorted. “He runs faster when he’s pissed off.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “So that’s where he got that cut on his cheek…”

“Yo.”

I jumped at the sound of another voice. A man was standing at the entrance to the cave. His eyes glowed red into the dark. The second thing I noticed was his platinum blonde hair, spiked up into a mess on top of his head. He wasn’t as tall as the others, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. He seemed to have a black, thick aura around him.

He stepped farther into the cave and stared down at me. “You must be the girl.”

I ignored Chanyeol’s advice and met the blonde wolf’s eyes. I wanted to imitate Kris and stare at him as if I was seeing inside him, straight to his soul. “You must be Luhan.”

His eyes turned fully red, but he didn’t move. “Chanyeol, get out,” he said to the younger wolf. Chanyeol looked conflicted but obeyed. Based on the rankings of him and Luhan, my guess was that he could not protest.