You tried to keep track of the days but at some point they blurred together. The longer you were with them the more frightened you became. You needed to be strong. You needed to keep focus so that at the first opportunity you could act.
Kai was the one that scared you the most. He was always coming around. Mostly he liked to come and sit and stare at you. Sometimes he reached out and petted you on the head. You would jerk your head back but it undeterred him. And for some reason he liked to feed you but you stubbornly refused to open your mouth no matter how much he pleaded, cooed and cajoled you. You ignored him.
Such a day happened when you were ignoring him and he snapped. Suddenly you found your head grabbed from behind and Kai towering over you with a growl, "Don't ignore me."
You just glared at him.
He shook you once, "Say something."
"Something."
Granted this was not the time to be snarky but you had no other means of defense. His nose flared and you saw something flicker in the deep recesses of his eyes.
"You need to accept your new reality. You are Exo's now. Mine. I won't let you go from me."
"My packtribe will come for me", you spat back at him.
"No", Kai shook his head, "No one is going to come for you!"
You growled, "I don't believe that!"
"We are far away from that place. They will never find us."
"I don't believe you."
"Do you know how long it's been since we've taken you?"
You were silent.
"It's been a week and a half. Almost two weeks."
You swallowed.
You watched the demon come closer to you. You went to try to move but you found yourself frozen, captivated by his eyes. The longer you looked, the more you swore that his eyes were going from white to smoldering orange. You tried to shut your eyes but found yourself unable to, trapped in his gaze. It burned you and you found yourself screaming but your lips didn't part.
His lips came next to your ear breaking eye contact. But still that didn't bring you any relief. Somehow you heard him over your internal screams, "And there hasn't been so much as a sign from them."
"Are you trying to break her already? After admonishing us to be careful?"
Kai pulled back to see Baekhyun walking over. "You'll overwhelm her if you keep going."
Kai turned back to you and realized you looked like a deer caught in headlights. Just as suddenly the spell that had you ensnared snapped suddenly. You panted slightly, winded as if you had just run the 10k.
"Ahh, I'm so sorry, my pet." Kai murmured reaching out to pet you on the head, "Calm down. It's okay."
Baekhyun shook his head as he squatted down next to you. He reached out and touched your head, "Though she's still cute like this."
"Hyung...."
Baekhyun waved him away, "Relax. It's not my fault you made a good catch."
"Hyuung..." Kai whined wrapping his arms around your head. He didn't want to share you with his hyungs. Not yet. Maybe not ever. He didn't know how strong his obsession would become when this ended.
"Ahh, don't worry. I won't make it difficult for you. You are still young and you need to pay attention more to your Yin energy. Too much will overload another person and I don't think you are ready to kill her just yet."
You shuddered as Kai relaxed, "Thank you for the reminder. I forgot." He grinned, "She makes me forget things."
Baekhyun smiled fondly and stood. He patted Kai on the head once, "No worries. Just try to remember. You don't want your obsession to kill her before you want it to, right?"
Kai nodded and you couldn't help but to shut your eyes tightly. Kai pulled back and looked down at you, "Don't worry, my pet. I won't kill you before I'm finished."
You found strength enough to snatch yourself back. You realized that it was only possible because Kai allowed it. However for the first time, the chains to the tree released so suddenly that you found yourself on your back.
Kai giggled, "You alright?"
You sat up and realized your arms were loose enough that you could put them down in your lap now.
"Call it a compromise." Kai stated as he offered you the bowl.
You thought about denying him but in the end you took the bowl and peered into it. You didn't normally eat a thing they gave you for fear it was poisoned. You glanced at him who looked expectantly. You were starving. You thought about it. If they wanted to kill you they could but you needed all the strength you could get. So you caved and ate.
Kai clapped his hands once, "See that wasn't so bad was it?"
You didn't answer and his grin fell.
You nodded, "It's good."
His grin returned.
It was only at night when you were 90% sure they weren't watching you that you allowed yourself to cry. You missed your packtribe. You missed NCT and WayV. You missed your little Dreamies. You had never, that you could recall, ever had the chance to miss anyone or any place. But now you felt it so very keenly. You thought of them every waking moment. You met them in your dreams and despaired when you woke up. They were your home and you missed your home.
You prayed for your Dreamies. Please, let them be okay. You could not stomach otherwise the thought that....No, you had to focus. You couldn't entertain such a thought. You had no idea what happened to them that night. You did not see any of them. But you wondered why they hadn't found you yet.
You shivered even with the blanket that was left to you. Not for the first time, you whispered to the tree hoping it could hear you and pass your message on, "Please find me. I'm here. I'm here."
"Y/N-ah?"
You head snapped at the voice. That familiar voice.
You sat up and looked around. Was it just a trick of your imagination?
But it came again.
"Y/N-ah...?"
You found your heart beating wildly. Could it be? Your sight was not as good as the supernatural yet you squinted to spot someone in the darkness. A figure moved into the light from the cover of the trees.
"Oppa?!"
Taeil lifted his finger to his lips, a small secret smile on his face. His eyes scanned around as he carefully walked over to you.
"Oppa!" You cried swinging your arms around him.
You felt Taeil hug you back, "Y/N-ah, it's okay. You're safe. I'm here." You pulled back and grabbed him on the shoulders, "The Dreamies?"
"Just a little bruised. Nothing serious. Now we have to go." He produced the key and unlocked the chains. You rubbed your wrist and then he took your hand.
His hand was cold.
But the night was a bit chilly despite the early summer evening. You trotted carefully behind him as he maneuvered this way and that through the trees.
When you thought it was safe you asked, "Where are the others?"
"They are waiting for us."
This gave you pause. The night was quiet. Almost too quiet. And your rescue seemed almost too easy. Maybe you were overthinking things? You glanced at his hand. His hand was cold. Almost too cold. Like death.
"Taeil Oppa. I was afraid...." you began but Taeil shook his head.
"You have no reason to fear anymore."
You ran a few minutes in a direction that Taeil seemed to understand before suddenly he stopped.
You moved closer to him, "What's wrong?"
He turned and suddenly gathered you in his arms, "I was afraid I'd never see you again."
He pulled back and cupped your cheeks. You gasped at the coldness of his hands, "Oppa, why are your hands so cold?"
"Does that matter? What matters is that we are back together again. We can be together now."
"Oppa..."
There were warning signs earlier but suddenly a siren was going off in your head, loud and blaring. Taeil would never say these kinds of things. You pulled back from him, "Stop it. This is not like you. What's wrong with you?"
You suddenly found yourself backed up to a tree, Taeil towering over you, "Y/N-ah, I missed you." He leaned down to kiss you only you reacted fast enough to pull your lips into your mouth while pushing him away.
You maneuvered away from him, "What's wrong with you? Where are the others?"
You highly doubt that Taeil would come for you by himself. NCT pack wouldn't let him. And he wouldn't stop in the middle of trying to get away and not be completely safe before saying such things. And he wouldn't say such things in the first place. Your Taeil was kinder and more composed than that.
Your Taeil?
Where did that come from?
Taeil paused before looking at you, "The others? They are waiting for us. I said that but I wanted to be alone with you for a few minutes. Is that so wrong?"
You shook your head. Something was wrong. You looked into his eyes. For all intents and purposes he looked like Taeil but something was off. Even now, that you were not in chains, you realized that you could look at this Taeil without feeling that flutter in your stomach. You didn't feel what you felt normally with Taeil.
You took a step back, "Who are you really?"
Taeil reached out and circled your wrist, "You're my mate. Don't you recognize your mate?"
Then you felt something fuzzy wrap around your other wrist and you gasped looking down. His tail was wrapping around your wrist. This was wrong! Taeil would never do such an intimate thing. No one was allowed to touch a wolf's tail or ears except for parents or a mate. That was it. Only Jisung was the one that allowed you to rub his ears but that was because you both knew that he saw you as an older Sister and sometimes a mother figure as time. But even then you would never touch Jisung's ears unless he asked. But even his tail had never touched you. So for this Taeil to willing touch you with his tail? Was he out of his mind? You knew then, no matter what, this was not Taeil.
You said snatching your hand away, "Stop it! You aren't Taeil or my mate! Who are you?"
Taeil swung you around and grabbed your forearm with his other hand, "You know me. I'm Taeil."
This time his tail cupped your waist.
You struggled, "You are not Taeil. Taeil wouldn't act like this! He would never treat me this way."
"I'm trying to rescue you!"
"Let me go!"
"Look at me!!" A deep and guttural sound ripped from his throat making you look at him, "Never look away from me."
This Taeil looked wild and crazy.
You lifted your chin, "You aren't Taeil."
Taeil glared at you before he suddenly chuckled. Then the chuckle turned into loud guffaws. He cracked his neck, "Does it matter, my pet? You are mine. I just thought you would respond better to this form. He was in your memories."
You furrowed your eyebrows, "Kai?"
You heard a few claps and looked around to find Exo emerging from different positions.
Suho gave a hoot, "Such a riveting show!"
"It only took her 20 minutes to figure it out", Sehun reported.
"So adorable!" Baekhyun cried. He could feel his own obsession growing. You were different, interesting in a way that no one else had been before.
"I'm surprised she saw through that! And that fast!" Chen grinned.
Chanyeol laughed once, "How interesting."
"What kind of sick game are you guys playing?" You snapped.
"You'll find we like to play a lot of games", Kai, still in the form of Taeil, spoke. Though now he sounded like Kai's voice with Taeil's form.
You snapped at him, "Stop this! Whatever you are doing! It's an insult to Oppa!"
Kai as Taeil pouted, "I thought you like this form the best."
You sneered at him, "He is not some form you can don. The real Taeil, you can't even touch him."
Kai released you his Taeil form turning into a stoned sculpture before morphing back into his original form. You knew it was futile but you took this chance to run in the direction that none of them were standing in. It was Baekhyun that caught you first from behind around the waist. You struggled and tried to fight him, clawing at him.
"Wild one!" Chen grinned.
"She's too cute!" Baekhyun cried, reaching up to pinch your cheek. He released you but by that time Kai was standing in front of you and he pulled you to him an arm wrapping around your waist.
His white eyes glowed orange and you began to see black once more. But before you completely went under you heard a loud guttural echo:
"I said so before, didn't I? You can't escape us! You never will!"