Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zoey took a slow, deep breath. Letting the air out through her mouth heavily, she finally allowed her shoulders to relax after being constantly tensed up for the past four hours. The rising full moon glinted off her phone screen as she took it from her pocket, trying not to fast-walk away from her father’s house as she put one earbud in and hit “shuffle” on her favorite playlist.

She loved her family, she really did. But spending hours with her father’s extended family was always stressful, and she was fully worn out after trying to keep everyone happy for so long with hardly a break. A lot of the older adults seemed to enjoy trying to convince her that her father’s side of the family was superior in some way or another, and trying to keep them appeased while staying neutral in the matter was always a battle. She had to choose her facial expressions and words carefully, and some of them seemed to enjoy twisting her words to accuse her or her mother of being or doing something wrong. It had already been bad before, but since Golden’s release it had only gotten worse.

It was an exhausting family reunion; they always were.

Luckily, it wasn’t all bad; she was able to escape the pressure to play with the kids a few times (and she genuinely enjoyed playing with them), and there were several family members that realized how stressful the situation was for her and wouldn’t bring up touchy subjects. A few of them even actively went out of their way to help her navigate the more difficult relatives, whether it was through distraction or backing Zoey up on her opinions. She’d have to text and thank them later for sure.

She hadn’t been able to leave the house until everyone had gone and everything was cleaned up, and although she never would’ve left her father to try and clean such a mess on his own, she’d been itching to leave since the last relative had said goodbye. It took serious self-restraint to not run out the door when her father finally gave her permission to take a walk and clear her head.

Zoey picked a random direction and set out at a steady jog through the rural neighborhood, eager to channel her anxious energy into something that wasn’t fidgeting or pacing. Her mental exhaustion gradually faded as she physically exercised, and it wasn’t long before she was humming and losing herself in the music while trying to match the rhythm of her shoes hitting the cement to the beat.

She didn’t really mind the dark of night; it was lit up by the occasional streetlamp, and she was more than capable of defending herself if someone tried to attack her. Besides, she only had one earbud in, so she’d still be able to hear if someone attempted to sneak up on her.

Or, well, so she thought.

A single second of quiet, rapidly repeating scraping against the sidewalk behind her was Zoey’s only warning. She automatically began to turn her head, then whirled around into a fighting stance as a huge mass of silver fur and glowing golden eyes suddenly lunged at her with a vicious snarl.

Reflexes and years of training kicked in and she tried to jump out of the way, but it was too fast and too close to her to dodge completely. Fabric tore and Zoey stumbled sideways with a pained grunt as claws nicked her side, the sting making her wince. Her assailant landed and turned, skidding slightly on the cement from its momentum, and Zoey finally got a good look at the beast.

It was a wolf. A huge one, at least as tall as her even on all fours and looking absolutely ticked off as it fixed a golden-eyed glare on her. Its silvery fur bristled as it growled, a deep sound that made Zoey’s hair stand on end, and her mind raced to try and make sense of the bizarre situation. What the heck was a wolf doing in a neighborhood, and where had it come from in the first place? There weren’t even any forests nearby! The nearest gathering of trees was the tiny grove in the park, and even then, there weren’t—

It charged at her again and she startled out of her bewildered stupor, reminding herself that she was in a fight and needed to focus.

“Hey, back off!” she warned, jumping out of the way again and this time making it unscathed. She kept her body fully facing it, trying to figure out what to do in this unprecedented situation. “I don’t wanna hurt you!”

If it’d been a demon, she’d have no trouble lopping its head off with her shin-kals. But this was a wild animal—albeit with glowing eyes and something about it being off—and Zoey hated the thought of harming anything even remotely innocent.

The wolf’s reply was to turn and run at her again with a snarl.

She was ready, but this time it didn’t jump at her—rather, it just rushed at her, and when she dodged aside again, it turned with surprising agility and then lunged while she was finishing her step. She only had time to lift her arms in hopes of blocking her chest and face before it barreled right into her. Zoey felt pain explode in her right shoulder as its teeth clamped down there and didn’t let go, harshly bringing her with it to the ground.

Zoey screamed, her intense anguish rippling orange through the Honmoon. White-hot agony blinded her and her body reacted on instinct, summoning a shin-kal to her left hand and desperately swiping it at the predator. The pressure crushing her shoulder immediately lifted, and she looked up to see the wolf stumbling backwards with a pained yelp, gashes across its chest already staining its fur red.

Gasping and shaking, Zoey scrambled backwards and somehow got to her feet, summoning more of her knives. She was ready to throw them when the beast abruptly turned and sprinted away from her, whines and pained yowls escaping its mouth as it fled.

Zoey took a step to follow it, worried about it attacking someone else, but her head immediately spun and she nearly fell from the wave of pain and dizziness that washed over her. She planted her feet and barely kept herself upright, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment until she felt a little more stable. Reopening her eyes, she was met with the empty, dark street, and a horrible feeling churning in her stomach from everything that had just happened.

The adrenaline began to wear off as she slowly steadied her breathing, and her body remembered how much pain it was in. She gasped and dismissed her shin-kal before grasping the hem of her shirt in a white-knuckled grip to endure the wave of agony coursing through her, stemming primarily from the bite in her shoulder. The scratches in her side hurt a little and so did her head—she’d hit it on the ground, and while it thankfully wasn't nearly as hard as the sidewalk, it still hurt—but they didn’t compare to her shoulder, the pain pulsing in time with her rapid heartbeat.

She shuddered deeply and fought to breathe, knowing she had to figure out just how badly she was hurt and take care of her injuries. She doubted the predator would come back with how she’d wounded it, but she stayed facing the direction it’d run off in anyway. If it did come back, she would be ready to fight it off again. Hopefully.

Guilt curled around her heart as the beast’s pain-filled yowl echoed in her mind, but she shoved it away for now and looked at her shoulder with dread coiling in her stomach. The torn material of her shirt was a cheerful green before, but red had spread through it and was starting to trail down her arm. Grimacing, Zoey carefully lifted the collar of her shirt to try and get a better look at the bite and promptly flinched with a startled yelp as her phone rang. The loud noise cut through her frayed nerves and nearly sent her back into fight or flight mode.

Scrambling for the device with shaking hands, she nearly dropped it as she took it from her pocket and looked at the caller ID. She had specific ringtones for specific people so she already knew who it was before looking at the screen, but she desperately needed something to ground herself with.

It was Rumi. 

Confused, Zoey didn’t answer it quite yet and realized that she’d missed several texts from her best friends, all of them frantically asking if she was okay. 

Taking a careful, deep breath in a futile attempt to stop her trembling and keep her vision straight, she answered it and Rumi’s voice immediately shouted from the bud that was somehow still in her ear. She winced as her head throbbed.

“Zoey?! What’s going on? Are you okay?!”

Zoey glanced at her blood-soaked shoulder and laughed nervously, trying to ease her fellow hunter’s obvious panic. “I’m—I’m okay! I promise I’m fine!”

Rumi must’ve had her on speaker, because Mira’s worried but much more composed voice came through next. “Not according to the Honmoon, you’re not.”

Zoey’s brow scrunched, not quite following. Her head and especially her shoulder hurt so bad and it was very distracting. “Huh?”

“Just a minute ago, it was like you called for help through the Honmoon. It felt like you were dying,” Mira explained, her tone clearly struggling to stay calm. “What happened?”

“Oh.” Right, the new Honmoon connected them on a deeper level; they could essentially sense each other, evidently even from very far away. They usually couldn’t feel each other’s emotions or desires, but the wolf attack must’ve scared her so badly that she’d subconsciously reached for the two people that made her feel safest.

All things considered, that made sense. And this was the first time any of them had been in serious danger since the creation of the iridescent Honmoon, so of course they’d be panicked. It probably felt worse than when demons broke through.

Zoey reflexively felt bad for scaring them, even though she knew they weren’t actually angry or annoyed about it. “I’m sorry, I just, uh…” How could she explain what had happened without worrying them? They’d see the healing wound soon anyway since she was going home to them in two days, so lying about it would be bad. It was hard to think with all the pain she was in.

Our faults and fears must never be seen. Celine’s stern teaching echoed in her head, relentless and rock-hard. But, they’d also promised each other no more secrets. She couldn’t lie to them.

“Zoey.” Mira’s voice was strained, panic starting to leak through her calm facade in earnest. “What. Happened?”

Zoey sucked in an anxious breath through her teeth and decided to just say it. “I got attacked by a wolf.” She braced for their reactions, and was not surprised at the frantic ones they gave. 

“What?!”

“A wolf?! Where? How?!”

She cringed at their volume, trying to figure out how to calm her friends even as her head pounded and the burning pain in her shoulder seemed to increase. Before she could say anything else, Rumi’s desperate voice came quickly into her ear again. 

“Are you hurt? I can try to teleport to you, and—”

A different kind of alarm forced all of Zoey’s focus to her friends. “No! No, we don’t even know if you can teleport that far and it tires you out, Rumi, I—” She remembered the first question and grimaced. “It bit me, but it’s fine! It’s not that bad, really.”

There was a beat of silence, then Mira’s deadpan reply came through. “The last time you said that about an injury, you were bleeding out on the floor.”

Zoey grimaced harder at the reminder; a while ago, she’d been caught off-guard by a demon with wicked claws and it’d managed to get her leg even as she’d tried to dodge. It was not a fun time. Comparatively, she was actually in more pain right now than then, and it seemed to somehow only be getting worse. “I-I mean—look, the Honmoon heals us even faster than before, right?” she hastily tried, looking at her shoulder again. There was too much blood to tell if it’d stopped yet or not. “I just need some rest and I’ll be fine, I promise!”

She was met with silence again, but for longer. Her anxiety continued to rise as the quiet dragged on, until she flinched again when her phone rang with a different sort of ringtone.

They were video calling her now.

Zoey knew that they were just concerned for her. Their worries were also technically founded, given her history of downplaying and hiding her own suffering, but the lack of trust still hurt somewhere deep inside. Anger and hurt mixed into the pain and concussion already overwhelming her, and it turned out to be a dangerous combination.

In an unusual act of rebellion, she gritted her teeth and declined the call, hanging up completely on Mira and Rumi in a rush of pain-heightened emotion.

Scowling down at her phone, she pulled up their group text and started typing furiously. Her shaking hands made it difficult, and she had to switch to using only her left when the blood running down her right arm almost got on her phone. It took longer than usual to spell everything right, but she finally finished her message and hit “send” before she could think twice about it.

Zoey: I told you Im fine. I need to treat it now or it wont be so give me some time please.

She glared down at the words for several long moments, almost challenging her friends to disagree. She slowly calmed down as the seconds ticked by with no response, however, and regret quickly flooded through her as she realized what she’d just done. What if they hated her now? She’d not only hung up on them, but just talked back. Zoey almost never talked back; her anxiety and past traumas had long wrung that reflex out of her (or she’d thought so, anyway). What if they were angry now and yelled at her? What if they realized she wasn’t worth it and left her?! What if— 

Her phone vibrating broke her from her spiraling thoughts, and she startled a little before looking back down at her phone fearfully. 

Rumi: Okay. Sorry for pushing you. We’re just worried. Please keep us updated. Love you!

A modicum of relief let Zoey breathe, but only for a moment as her insecurities rose right back up to fill her mind; Rumi was apologizing now, so she’d just made at least one of the two best people in the world feel bad for being worried about her. She’d caused distress, refused to let them see her, and then topped it off by basically telling them to leave her alone.

Feeling like the scum of the Earth, she shakily reacted to Rumi’s message with a heart to hopefully ease their worries and then pocketed her phone. She didn’t even fight the tears as they sprung to her eyes, electing instead to hug herself—

Until her shoulder suddenly seared with blinding pain, making her choke and shudder violently as her legs nearly gave out. Looking at her shoulder in a panic, she noted that it didn’t really look any different from a few minutes ago, but for some reason it hurt like heck now instead of feeling any better like it normally would with the Honmoon’s improved healing.

Trembling even worse than before, Zoey hastily tugged her shirt collar down past her shoulder to look at the bite wound and grimaced at the sight that greeted her.

It was hard to see much with all of the blood seeping from the injury, but she could tell (and feel) that it was deep and messy. The wolf hadn’t just bit her—it had tried to kill her, and that was reflected by the savage way it had effortlessly torn into her like she was just its next meal. The only saving grace was that, due to her being in motion during its attack, only the end of the wolf’s actual mouth had gotten her—its jaws had been big enough to literally bite her head off, so she was actually considerably lucky that it hadn’t done so to her shoulder.

Her stomach clenched tightly from the thought, so she bit her lip and tried to banish it to the far corners of her mind. Instead, she focused on the faint iridescent lines of the Honmoon gently rolling over her shoulder as it tried to heal it. But something was wrong, because it seemed to be hovering over the injury instead of seeping into it like Zoey was used to, almost like something was keeping it from healing her. 

Unease and something else? prickled beneath her skin as she continued to watch the Honmoon struggle, until it finally seemed to break through an invisible barrier with a fresh spike of pain. Zoey gasped and flinched, but this time, the agony quickly died back down. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw the Honmoon finally seep into her skin, and the wound instantly felt soothed.

She knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet, though, as the Honmoon only sped up the healing process and lessened the pain. It wouldn’t immediately close injuries or keep them from getting infected, and Zoey still had to clean up both the bite and the little cuts on her side before she could let herself relax.

Taking a deep breath to try and settle her nerves, she gave the still-empty street one last apprehensive look before turning and quickly heading back home.

Zoey carefully and quietly climbed through the window into her old bedroom, hopeful that her dad was busy watching the television or doing something similarly distracting. She did her best to keep from getting blood on anything, and mentally kept note of any mess she made to come back and clean up later. She barely remembered to grab an extra outfit on her way past the closet, choosing another green top in hopes of avoiding her dad realizing that she’d changed clothes.

Glad that the doors didn’t creak, she slipped out of her room and padded silently into the nearby bathroom, grateful that it wasn’t visible from the living room where her dad likely was; she could hear the TV droning on with some sort of gameshow. Flipping the bathroom light on, she closed and locked the door and quietly retrieved the first-aid kit from the cabinet beneath the sink.

When it came to demon-related injuries, she and her bandmates were used to patching themselves and each other up to avoid letting the public know that they were hurt. Thanks to the Honmoon’s enhanced healing, most scrapes and bruises healed overnight, and more severe injuries took far less time than normal to recover from.

For example, Zoey’s head already felt significantly better as she took her shirt off and carefully started to clean the bite from the wolf. She’d been right; it was deep and ragged, and she guessed that it would take at least several days to heal. It should be fine after that, though; another perk of the Honmoon’s healing factor was that injuries almost never scarred.

Her mind unhelpfully reminded her that the Honmoon had struggled to even reach the bite for some unknown reason, but she quickly shook that thought away. Yes, there was no reasonable explanation for why there was a massive wolf in the middle of a neighborhood, far from any forest unless one counted the sparse trees dotting the nearby park—but Zoey fought demons; she’d seen stranger things. Sure, its eyes had been golden and glowing—but that could’ve been a trick of the light. Yeah, something about it felt downright unnatural and off-putting—but again, Zoey had seen and experienced weirder things in her line of work. Perhaps its dew claws were lower and looked like thumbs—but she easily could’ve seen it wrong in the panic or it was just a birth defect. And maybe the Honmoon had had some bizarre struggle with healing it—but it was still just months old in its new, iridescent form. They were still learning about it, so maybe that wasn’t actually so strange after all.

Zoey was a master at masking, so it didn’t take too much to temporarily convince herself that this was fine. It was strange and extremely painful and awfully inconvenient, but fine. She was glad, at least, that it had been her who had gotten attacked; there was no way a normal civilian would’ve survived that encounter. So all in all, it was perfectly fine. There was nothing supernatural about the wolf. It was fine.

It had to be, or else she had no idea how she was going to deal with being bitten by a werewolf.

Several minutes later, the wounds were cleaned and treated with the limited supplies she had access to. In the middle of doing so, she’d realized that she hadn’t done anything about the wolf and quickly called the police to report seeing it, of course neglecting to mention the attack but warning them about its size. They promised to look for it and she thanked them, feeling much better about it.

Once her injuries were dressed and all the blood was cleaned up—she put it all in a little trash bag so her dad wouldn’t see—she put on the clean outfit and snuck back out of the bathroom.

Surprisingly, her father seemed to still be watching the television. She peeked into the room to see that he’d fallen asleep sitting on the couch, and her shoulders relaxed a little with relief. She went back to her room and climbed out of the window back outside, where she deposited the bag into the large trash can and, after a moment of debate, decided to reenter the house through the front door.

Her father startled awake as she closed the front door behind her, and she smiled at him with none of the aching pain from her shoulder in her expression.

“Hi Dad!” she chirped, making a show of putting her phone in her pocket and taking the earbud out like she’d just turned off her music. “Whatcha watchin’?”

He rubbed his eyes and sat up straighter, returning her smile with a tired one of his own. “Honestly, I’m not too sure anymore,” he admitted with a laugh. Zoey giggled. “I fell asleep a bit ago. Been a heck of a day, huh?”

You have no idea, Zoey thought, but nodded. “It sure has. It was nice to see the family again.”

He nodded and used the remote next to him to turn the TV off before getting to his feet, groaning as his joints popped. “Well kiddo, do you want to do anything first or just go to bed? I think we’re both wiped out after so much socializing.”

Even though she was going to opt for going to bed anyways, Zoey took the hint that he himself preferred that option and smiled. “Just going to bed sounds good to me. Thanks for your hard work today, Dad.”

He smiled warmly at her. “Thanks for your help!”

They hugged and went their separate ways for the night, and once Zoey was ready for sleep and sitting on her bed—still wide awake—she finally called her bandmates back.

They answered on the first ring, their voices relieved but still anxious as they called out her name.

“Hey,” she greeted, hugging her knees to her chest with her unhurt arm. She couldn’t stop the rush of words that left her in a wave of guilt, struggling to keep her voice down since her father was just a couple rooms away. “I’m so sorry, I-I don’t know why I told you guys off or hung up on you and I’m—”

Mira cut her off. “Zoey.” She snapped her mouth shut and fought down tears at her friend’s stern tone. Mira’s voice relaxed. “It’s totally okay, Zo.”

“Yeah!” Rumi chimed in warmly. “We’re not mad, Zoey. It’s okay.”

As always, they knew what she’d be most worried about. “You’re not?” Her voice wavered as the question slipped out, sounding almost as small as she felt. She rocked back and forth slightly, trying to self-soothe the anxiety thrumming beneath her skin. She was usually better at staying above her insecurities than this, but it’d been a long day of having them picked at and her defenses were depleted.

“Of course not,” Mira answered, somehow making it sound like the easiest thing in the world, and Zoey felt some of the tension within her dissipate. “We were putting pressure on you while you had just gone through something scary and were in pain. We’re sorry for not listening.”

Zoey let out a small, watery laugh that held no humor. “Well, I don’t exactly make it easy for you.”

She could hear the smirk in Mira’s voice. “Yeah, well, we’ve all got bad habits and coping mechanisms.”

She heard Rumi huff, likely feigning indignance at the fact. “Can we see you, Zo?” Her voice was gentle.

Zoey took a slow, deep breath, and forced her tense shoulders to relax on the exhale. The fact that they were asking her permission helped a great deal when she replied, “Yeah.”

She moved the phone from her ear as the video call rang, and after giving herself a moment to gather herself and stop rocking, she answered it.

Mira and Rumi’s happy faces greeted her immediately, and they waved at her. She returned it almost shyly, and was glad when they didn’t mention the curled-up position her body was in. “Hi Zoey!”

She giggled, her smile becoming more genuine as she saw her sisters for the first time in days (outside of photos). “Hi guys!”

Her friends settled back on the couch, and Mira fixed her with a serious look. “Alright, now can you tell us what happened?” Straight to business, as always.

Zoey winced and her smile turned slightly nervous. “... okay.”

She explained the events of the night, starting when she’d left the house and ending when she’d returned to it and patched herself up. She didn’t mention the glowing eyes or the thumb-looking dew claws or the sheer size of the creature though, because they didn’t mean anything and thus weren’t important. But she talked about everything else, even admitting how the Honmoon had struggled to heal the bite her wounds at first.

They brainstormed for a few minutes as to why that was, and then Rumi asked a question Zoey had been hoping wouldn’t get brought up.

“Was there anything weird about the wolf?” Zoey barely held back a flinch.

“You mean other than the fact that it was in the middle of civilization?” Mira deadpanned, and Zoey didn’t miss how she was watching her carefully.

“Not really,” she lied with a wave of her hand that resulted in a wince as the movement aggravated the bite wound. “I don’t think it was a demon wolf, if that’s what you mean.” Please let that be all you’re thinking about.

Rumi frowned in thought. “I mean, that is what I was thinking, but…”

“Demons exist, so other mythological creatures could too,” Mira mused, eyes narrowed. “Just because we haven’t seen them doesn’t mean they’re not real.”

Zoey forced a laugh. “Oh come on, I’m sure we’d know about them by now, right? Celine would’ve said something.”

Something in Rumi’s eyes hardened, and Zoey inwardly berated herself for mentioning Celine. “Not if she thought it wasn’t important,” she pointed out, glaring at the floor before she caught herself and took a breath, quickly regaining her composure. “But seriously, Zoey, was there anything different about the wolf?”

They were both staring at her, and the pressure was building. She settled on a part of the truth. “I mean… like, its eyes might’ve been glowing? But I was near a streetlight, so it could’ve just been a trick of the light.” She had not been near any streetlights.

Their brows creased and Zoey ducked her head slightly, suddenly desperate to backtrack because the wolf was normal and they didn’t need to worry about it. “And, well, their eyes reflect light anyway, so now that I’m thinking about it it had to just be the light!” She put on a smile she hoped was convincing. “There was nothing weird with the wolf except it not being near a forest. Trust me!”

“We do,” Mira replied slowly, her mouth set in a line. Her tone suggested that she was trying to make a point, though Zoey stubbornly refused to think about what that point was. “If you’re absolutely sure nothing was weird, we’ll believe you.” 

Rumi hesitated for just a moment, then nodded. “No more lies, right?”

“Right,” Zoey agreed, and she felt awful—which was silly because nothing was wrong. “It was a regular wolf. Nothing to worry about.” She wasn’t lying—she wasn’t. Her mind was just still freaked out about the attack and was making things up to justify the anxiety. It was fine.

Everything was fine.

Chapter Text

Zoey managed to act normal for her dad over the next two days, and she obediently gave Rumi and Mira updates on her condition. Despite the Honmoon’s initial struggle, it thankfully was working fine now and the wounds already looked and felt immensely better.

By the time Zoey finally got back home, she’d managed to push the weirdness of the attack mostly out of her mind. Stubbornly refusing to acknowledge any supernatural possibilities worked until Mira and Rumi—after happily welcoming her back and helping her get unpacked and settled—asked to see the injuries themselves, which brought all of the strange happenings back to the forefront of her mind.

She didn’t mention anything though, because it was nothing but a bizarre situation that was unexplainable but easy to move on from. Sometimes, weird things just happened in life, and this was one of those times. She just had to get her brain to accept that and move on.

After again reassuring her best friends that everything was fine and that there was nothing strange about the attack—though she didn’t miss the uncertain glance they gave each other—they were true to their word and thankfully didn’t bring it up again.

The bite wound was apparently worse than Zoey initially thought though, because after it healed, it actually scarred. It wasn’t a big deal, however; makeup could easily cover the jagged marks for when she was in public. It wasn’t really a problem, except for when she saw it herself in the mirror or glimpsed it at the edge of her vision. She took to wearing sleeves whenever she could; looking at it reminded her of the attack and the feeling of teeth tearing into her flesh, and she already reexperienced the terrifying ordeal enough in sporadic nightmares. She didn't need more of a reminder, especially when it made her space out and shudder in the middle of the day as her mind unhelpfully tried to relive it. She didn't want to make Rumi and Mira worry more than they already were; with their busy lives, they had plenty to think about anyways. She needed to help them, not add to the weight—even though she knew they would listen and help without hesitation.

Over the next few weeks, Zoey successfully managed to largely put it from her mind, and things thankfully went back to normal.

Mostly.

Every once in a while, she caught Rumi or Mira (or both, once) staring at her scarred shoulder even though it was covered, but they always averted their gaze as soon as they realized she was looking and didn’t bring it up. She didn’t ask about it or the questions that hovered in their eyes.

More frequently, she caught herself looking up a lunar calendar, keeping track of the moon’s cycles just in case. She ended up always keeping an internet tab of the calendar open, though she hoped knew she was just being paranoid.

She’d also looked up a lot of werewolf stuff. Just, y’know, to doubly make sure that it wasn’t actually plausible and not because she was desperately trying to figure out if it was stoppable. It turned out to be nearly impossible to tell what might be “realistic” or not, though; werewolf folklore and stories had so many differences between each other all around the world and there was no way to reliably tell what was “true” or not (which was a silly thought, because none of it was true and werewolves did not exist).

Zoey often caught herself staring at the moon whenever it was visible, but she chalked that (and the inexplicable shiver she got after looking at it for too long) up to paranoia as well. She was used to anxiety; all of this was just her mind being scared about a very improbable possibility. The weird, subtle itching under her skin that slowly built up a few days before the full moon was just a nervous illusion.

It all came to a head the day before the full moon night. She’d woken up already full of restless energy, feeling like she just couldn’t sit still even for breakfast. Mira and Rumi gave her worried looks and asked if she was okay, but didn’t push when she reassured them that she was fine. She knew none of them believed that, not even herself.

The bizarre sensation of something uncomfortable getting worse beneath her skin was suddenly impossible to ignore, and that combined with the restlessness to make her irritable and on edge the entire day. She tried to play it off as just being an off day, but Rumi and Mira noticeably wouldn’t really leave her alone if they could help it. Zoey was just glad that they didn’t have any events or shoots or meet-and-greets scheduled for the day; the last thing she wanted was to accidentally snap at someone, especially a fan. She already felt awful about the way she was feeling, especially as nothing she did seemed to help at all. She was endlessly grateful for her sisters trying to distract and comfort her, and she told them as much probably several times too many.

As the sun began to set, Mira suggested a movie night, and Zoey gladly latched onto the idea. That way, she could distract herself while also proving to all three of them that there was actually nothing wrong. It was perfect.

Everything would be fine, and once the full moon had come and gone, she could finally put her paranoia to rest and be completely normal again.

Zoey sat sandwiched between her two best friends, fully content to stay there forever as peace settled over the penthouse for the first time all day. The constant itching below her skin finally faded into the background, and she closed her eyes with a happy hum.

“Comfy?” Rumi teased, voice light with humor.

“Mhmm.” Zoey didn’t open her eyes, snuggling deeper into Rumi’s side and relishing the comfort. The older girl giggled and rubbed her shoulder with the hand that wrapped around Zoey’s back.

“Oh, wow,” Mira’s voice suddenly piped up. Zoey was too comfortable to bother looking at her or whatever had gotten her attention. “We’ve got a perfect view of the moonrise tonight.”

Zoey tensed up and her eyes flew open at the mention of the moon, and all at once the peace over her mind shattered. The prickling beneath her skin abruptly crescendoed, and her breath stuttered as she turned her head to look out the huge glass wall.

Sure enough, glowing white was beginning to emerge over the horizon, and Zoey felt dread quickly pool in her stomach. Her heart was suddenly pounding in her throat.

It’s nothing, she desperately tried to convince herself. It’s fine and I’m panicking over nothing. There’s totally no way—

“Zoey?” Rumi was looking down at her now with concern, clearly having noticed the sudden tension.

But what if that was a werewolf? Oh gosh—what if I’m about to transform and hurt or even kill Rumi and Mira?! The itching continued to increase, and Zoey couldn’t hold back a shiver as her anxiety skyrocketed with it. Suddenly, the absurd werewolf theory didn’t seem so far-fetched after all. All of her reasoning and defenses against the idea crumbled into dust in seconds, despite the month she’d taken to build them up. I had time to prepare—I could’ve done something to keep them safe—I just wasted all that time. I’m such an idiot, so stupid, ruining everything—

“Zo?” Mira tried, gently touching Zoey’s left shoulder as her brow furrowed in obvious concern.

An awful pins and needles sensation sparked and spread from the gentle touch, and Mira immediately drew her hand back with wide eyes as Zoey flinched as if she’d been struck. Rumi’s expression now matched her bandmate’s as they both faced her with open concern.

“Whoa, what’s going on?” Rumi’s patterns darkened slightly to reflect her worry. “Zoey?”

Our faults and fears must never be seen. The black-haired woman blinked hard and tried to give a reassuring reply, even though her voice wobbled and sounded strained. “I’m—uh. I just remembered!” She stood from the couch abruptly, causing alarm to flash across her friends’ faces. “I have to go and-and do something! I’ll be back later please don’t wait up for me bye!”

Zoey ignored Rumi and Mira’s worried exclamations as she vaulted over the back of the couch and ran towards her room at a dead sprint, panic curling up her throat and making her shake like a leaf in a hurricane. Or maybe that was the adrenaline or the wolf. She wasn’t sure and she didn’t care because if she really seriously was about to turn into some awful beast she sure didn’t want to be next to the two people who meant the most to her and risk hurting them or worse—

Two glowing eyes the color of molten gold flashed through her mind with the haunting echo of an angry howl, and then suddenly the unbearable itching beneath her skin erupted into a raging inferno of pain. 

An agonized scream tore itself from her throat as Zoey fell, her body seizing as pain unlike any she’d felt before consumed her senses like an unquenchable fire. She barely registered hitting the hard floor, her body spasming and hands desperately grasping at her chest as she felt something fill her veins and spread from her head to her toes. She couldn’t breathe, even though she was gasping desperately.

“ZOEY!!!” 

The horrified cries of her sisters managed to cut through Zoey’s torment, and she remembered that she had to get away. It was undeniable now that she was transforming into a monster, and the very last thing she wanted to do was cause them harm. Even as pain ravaged her morphing body and her nails sharpened into claws that gauged into her skin and the floor, the only thought she latched onto was get away to keep them safe!

Zoey was only partially aware of the tortured whimpers and growls coming from her mouth as tears ran down her face and she managed to gather her knees beneath her, fully intent on scrambling away even though she knew she wouldn’t get far. She got up to one foot but wasn’t able to push herself any further; the bones in her legs suddenly cracked and shifted, forcing another scream to escape her throat as Zoey’s body convulsed again in anguish and she collapsed backwards.

Instead of meeting the unforgiving floor again, Zoey’s head landed on something soft and warm, and she looked up through her tears to stare directly into Mira’s terrified face. Mira was kneeling down and had Zoey’s head in her lap, her hands grasping Zoey’s fur-covered wrists with an iron grip. Where once her fingers could fully close around Zoey’s wrist and then some, Mira’s hand now couldn’t completely wrap around it anymore. Still, her grip was firm and grounding in a way Zoey wished mattered.

“Stay with me, Zo,” Mira urged with a trembling voice, though she was clearly attempting to be calm. The tears streaming down her cheeks and the terror in her eyes revealed her distress. “We’ve got you—we’ve got you.”

Zoey cried out with renewed fear—I can’t let myself hurt them!—and tried to jerk away, only to immediately feel firm hands grasp her upper arms and stabilize her. She looked up to see Rumi crouching next to her, and the dread doubled. Why didn’t they understand?! She was dangerous!

“No—ngh—get away!” Zoey managed through her sobs, and something about her voice sounded wrong and her throat burned. “I don’t—” Her mouth and nose ached intensely as they stretched into a muzzle and a pained whine broke her slurred words, high and keening. “Can’t—hurt you!” she gasped, gritting her teeth to find them sharp and her mouth shaped differently than she was used to. 

“We’re not going anywhere,” Rumi answered immediately, her tone leaving no room for argument. The fierce determination in her expression was only mildly undercut by the tears dripping from her face. “It doesn’t matter if we get hurt—we’re not leaving you to face this alone.”

“Exactly,” Mira affirmed, her grasp tightening and expression becoming more pleading as another spasm of pain wracked Zoey’s body and made her cry out. “We love you and we’re not letting you go.”

Despite all of the pain she was in, despite fear making it impossible to breathe, despite the horrific feeling of a tail tearing itself free from her lower back—despite it all, Zoey knew without a doubt that her girls were truly with her. They were going to keep their word, even if it killed them.

She had never been more terrified of the thought.

Zoey didn’t have time to think about it more. The transformation finally finished with one last wave of prickling pain and she slumped into an exhausted heap, chest heaving as her poor body tried to recover from the torture it had just undergone. 

Despite her eyes being closed, she could still feel the hands holding her in place, though they had relaxed somewhat. But they hadn’t let go, and as she weakly reopened her eyes, she was met with the incredibly worried faces of the two women still holding her like she was somehow worth protecting.

The one with the long, purple braid spoke, and her voice was cautious and hopeful and full of fear all at once. Zoey couldn’t understand what she was saying.

Mind hazy with aching pain and draining exhaustion, her eyes suddenly widened as her last coherent thought echoed relentlessly through her mind with the desperate need to act: get away get away get away!

Rumi had only felt fear this intense once before, at the last Idol Awards that had shattered her world and rocked them all to their very cores.

Rumi couldn’t help but make the comparison as she brokenly stared at her friend, her sister, trembling and clearly still in so much pain as she lay limply with her now-massive, furry head on Mira’s lap. Her eyes were closed, her whole body moving with her heaving breaths, and Rumi could practically feel the exhaustion radiating from her.

Truthfully, Mira and Rumi had had their suspicions about the weird wolf bite—certainly not helped by the fact that Zoey was clearly hiding something from them, which hurt in a way Rumi didn’t want to think about—and had decided on a movie night for the purpose of keeping an eye on their youngest during the full moon, just in case. After all, demons were very real, so it wasn’t too crazy to think that creatures like werewolves would exist too. They’d of course desperately hoped that they were wrong, but they also couldn’t ignore the possibility. They’d thought they were ready.

But absolutely nothing could have prepared them for their fears actually being realized, for the awful screams that had scraped raw from Zoey’s throat, for their Honmoon bond to yank urgently on their souls to help help help, for the horror of watching Zoey’s body writhe and morph and grow into a lupine creature while her clothes tore and her new claws cut through her own skin, for her distorted voice shouting at them because she was terrified of hurting them, for their maknae going through so much sheer agony that she could never deserve.

They had stood frozen in shock for several petrified seconds before yet another scream had shaken them from their thoughts and they’d rushed to help her. They couldn’t take her pain away, but they were determined to not let her suffer alone. They had done all they could think to do as Zoey’s bones snapped and reformed, black fur sprouting from her skin like grass from the ground in one of those timelapse videos Zoey enjoyed.

Now that the transformation seemed entirely done, Rumi took a moment to look her over, and noticed Mira doing the same. Tears still ran down their cheeks, and it was difficult to stifle a sob as they took in the haggard state of their beloved friend.

She looked very similar to a normal wild wolf, black fur covering every millimeter of her body. Her legs had changed shape, and her nails had all extended into sharp claws. Her hands hadn’t fully turned into paws, as she still had thumbs and clear (albeit stubbier) fingers, but her arms had lengthened to accommodate walking on all fours. She was probably three times her regular size, and Rumi realized with a slight shudder that her entire head could now fit in Zoey’s mouth. She hated the very thought of being afraid of her sister, but she couldn’t deny that looking at her unnaturally large fangs and claws triggered a primal fear, especially since they didn’t truly know what they were dealing with.

Reminding herself that this was Zoey she was looking at, Rumi took a deep breath to dispel that fear and felt anguish for her bandmate immediately replace it. It was rare that Zoey ever got truly exhausted, and looking at her limp body reminded Rumi of how much she’d just gone through.

Rumi looked up and met Mira’s conflicted gaze, and she realized that they probably had similar trains of thought and feelings of trepidation; what was going to happen now? Looking back down at Zoey, Rumi watched her eyes—which were now a fiery orange with black sclera—weakly open and look at her tiredly.

“... Zoey?” Rumi gently called, hopeful and scared all at once. Werewolves were often depicted as being violent, unpredictable beasts, but they had no idea if that was accurate or not. They had no idea if Zoey was still herself, or if she was—

Zoey’s eyes suddenly flew wide open, full of alarm, and she drew in her hind legs only to powerfully kick them directly into Rumi’s torso. 

Mira yelled in surprise and Rumi felt all the air leave her in a rush as she was launched straight backwards, hitting the glass wall with a concerning crack! of the window. She coughed and gasped for breath and nearly slumped to the floor from the shock, catching herself on her hands and knees even as her ribs ached deeply from the hit.

Hearing a sharp bark and Mira grunt in pain, Rumi looked up in a panic to find Zoey scrambling frantically towards the hallway and Mira holding her left arm protectively, her face twisted in a hard grimace. 

“Mira!” she yelled in worry, forcing herself to her feet to reach her pink-haired friend. “What—”

“Don’t let her leave!” Mira shouted back, jumping to her feet and conveying the urgency of the situation with a meaningful glance. She took off after Zoey, and Rumi shook her head to refocus and push aside the dread pooling in her stomach before following at her heels.

They were ready to try and tackle Zoey before she made it to the elevator, but to their surprise, she turned towards their bedrooms instead. Rumi felt herself slow down a little as they watched the werewolf ram into her own room’s closed door, claws sliding on the floor and leaving deep cuts as she skidded to a stop.

A desperate whine left Zoey’s throat as she backed up as much as she could in the tight hallway, and then she lunged right into—and through—her bedroom door. Splinters flew everywhere as she barged into her own room, and Mira and Rumi came to a halt in her doorway.

Rumi had no problem seeing in the dark (a perk of her demon heritage), but Mira hastily turned the light on to reveal where their friend had gone.

Zoey was crouched and slightly curled up under her desk, which barely had enough room for her to duck under as long as she didn’t stand up—although half of her body stuck out from beneath it. Rumi’s heart shattered at the look on the wolf’s face; her expression was nothing short of petrified. High-pitched whines and whimpers left her mouth as she panted, clearly in distress and just as clearly not about to lunge at either of them.

“Oh, Zoey…” Of course Zoey wasn’t going to attack them; it just wasn’t in her nature. Her plea for them to get away rang in Rumi’s mind, and she realized that she hadn’t meant to hurt them at all. Her aching ribs and the cuts she could now see running down the side of Mira’s forearm suggested otherwise, but Rumi knew better than anyone to never rely on appearances.

Mira sucked in a breath and took a careful step towards Zoey, obviously wanting to comfort her just as much as Rumi did. “Zoey… it’s okay, Zo. We’re not gonna hurt you.” Her voice was incredibly gentle, but Zoey’s sad whines only grew louder as she futilely attempted to back further under the desk. The furniture was jostled from her movements and various pens and a notebook fell to the floor.

Rumi watched apprehensively as Mira took another step, and suddenly Zoey’s whimpers turned into aggressive growls as she snapped her teeth at them. The fear shining in her eyes only seemed to grow.

“Zoey?” Mira sounded heartbroken as she immediately retracted her step, and they both watched sadly as Zoey went back to whining. “Okay.” She put her hands up placatingly, purposefully angling her injured arm so Zoey wouldn’t be able to see the wounds very well. “Okay, we understand. We’ll stay over here. Okay?”

Rumi had no idea if Zoey could actually understand them in her current state, but she seemed to calm down slightly as her cries gradually quieted. Mira’s hands lowered back down to her sides.

Rumi and Mira stood side by side just inside Zoey’s room, their racing hearts gradually slowing down until the panic and adrenaline subsided. Zoey showed no signs of moving from her spot, simply cowering and silently watching them with fearful eyes, and Rumi’s heart broke all over again. Was she just going to try and hide all night? What were they supposed to do now?

“... she’s so scared.” Mira’s devastated voice brought Rumi out of her thoughts, even though it was barely a whisper. Zoey’s left ear twitched even as it stayed lowered against her head, but she stayed quiet aside from her labored panting. “Rumi, what do we do?”

Rumi took a deliberate, slow deep breath—ignoring the flash of pain from her ribs—and tried to logically think through all of… this.

Zoey was a werewolf now, but that could be unpacked later. For now, they needed to find a way to hopefully calm her down so she wasn’t so terrified and would let them get close. She didn’t seem outright aggressive, and under all of that fur was still their Zoey. They could do this.

Rumi eyed the four jagged claw marks bleeding down Mira’s arm and nodded to herself as a plan began to form in her mind. “... first, we need to take care of that,” she finally answered, pointing at the wounds.

Mira’s eyes narrowed. “Rumi, I don’t care about—”

“I know you don’t,” Rumi interrupted, though not unkindly. “But she does.” She gestured at the trembling wolf with her head, and conflicted realization dawned in Mira’s eyes. “That’s still Zoey,” she continued, gaze softening, “and our Zoey hates it when we’re hurt. We need to do everything we can to help her relax, and then she’ll hopefully let us get close and help her.”

Mira took a couple slow breaths, thinking over her leader’s words, and then nodded in agreement. “You’re right.” She managed a small, brief smirk. “As usual.” Some of the tension left her rigid posture, and she looked Rumi up and down quickly. “Are you hurt? That looked like a hard hit.”

Rumi barely held back a wince at the reminder. She started to shake her head, but stopped. No more lies. “I probably have some bruised ribs, but nothing’s broken, at least.”

Something Rumi hadn’t noticed before eased in Mira’s expression at the honest answer, and she nodded again. “Okay. I’ll get this cleaned up, then. Keep an eye on her for me.”

Rumi smiled and nodded back. “Of course.”

Mira gave one last, worried glance at Zoey before she turned and left the room.

Rumi watched her leave, but a quiet whimper drew her attention back to the wolf under the desk. Is she sad Mira left? Her face softened as she looked into the fearful eyes of her friend. “She just went to take care of herself,” she explained gently, hoping that she’d understand. “She’ll be back soon.”

It may have been her imagination, but she thought she saw Zoey relax slightly.

As Rumi stared back at her, her mind whirled about what to do next. Zoey was still panting, her ears angled backwards but not horizontal anymore. The claws on both of her hands dug into the floor, making marks that Rumi knew Zoey would get sad about later. Her body was still tense and her orange eyes wary; she looked ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

Whenever Zoey got anxious, talking to her (and/or getting her to talk) about things to distract her usually helped her calm down. Rumi wasn’t sure how well that would work now, but it was definitely worth trying.

“Do… can you understand me?” Rumi started, curious about the answer. Zoey continued to stare intently at her, one of her ears twisting towards her slightly but otherwise giving no reaction. Rumi couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the apparent negative, but wasn’t dissuaded much. “That’s alright. Um…” Moving carefully and deliberately, Rumi stepped back slightly and leaned back against the wall, glad for the Honmoon dulling her pain so she could think clearer. Zoey’s gaze remained glued to her and she hugged herself, hating how she had no clue how to help her friend.

“I’m sorry you’re going through this,” Rumi eventually said, sorrow coating her voice. Zoey’s left ear twitched towards her again. “We thought this might happen; we should’ve prepared a lot better…” She shook her head to dispel the heavy thoughts; they would discuss all of that later, once Zoey was back to herself and coherent enough to participate in the conversation. Then she and Mira could also have a nice long talk with her about what "no more lies" meant. “I wonder if doing something dogs like would calm you down? … what do dogs even like?”

Rumi’s brow furrowed in thought, and she quickly realized that she didn’t know nearly enough about dogs or wolves. Part of her wished that Zoey had turned into a turtle instead; she knew plenty about them thanks to Zoey’s ramblings and the copious videos she showed them. The thought of how excited Zoey would be to turn into a turtle made her smile.

Her attention quickly returned to Zoey now, and she noticed how hard she was still panting. “Panting means you’re… thirsty, right?” She frowned in thought. “We could maybe get you some water, or something else… no, definitely water.” Zoey loved tea, but Rumi had no idea if wolves could or should drink it. Water was the safest way to go.

She looked slightly down at Zoey’s large… paws? Hands? and frowned slightly more. She still had thumbs, but… “Can you even hold a cup right now? Probably not.” An idea came to her, and she ducked her head slightly with embarrassment. “I guess we could… put water in a bowl for you?” The thought instantly made her feel weird; she’d actually be treating Zoey like a dog if she did that, and that… didn’t feel right. But she wasn’t sure what else to do. If only—

“Is she still okay?” Mira’s voice interrupted Rumi’s train of thought, and she turned her head to see her carefully reentering the room. One glance at Zoey showed that the wolf tensed up further again.

Rumi nodded and looked down at Mira’s arm, properly bandaged now. “Yeah. Panting means a dog’s thirsty, right? Should we get her some water?”

Mira blinked, caught off-guard by the questions. Looking over at Zoey, her eyes narrowed slightly as she thought. “I… think so? I don’t… actually know a whole lot about wolves, or dogs,” she admitted, frowning slightly. The corner of her mouth quirked up a moment later. “If only she’d turned into a turtle. We’d definitely know what to do then.”

Rumi let out a chuckle. “That’s exactly what I thought! She’d get all excited about it, too.”

They shared a light smile with each other before sobering again as they returned to the issue at hand.

“I don’t think giving her a cup would work well, though we could try it,” Mira mused, pursing her lips as she considered their options. “Would… giving her a bowl of water be demeaning?”

Rumi shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. Maybe? But, like, even if we gave her a cup, would she know how to use it?” She gestured at the shattered remains of Zoey’s door. “She didn’t even try the doorknob, so I don’t know if a cup would, y’know… work.”

Mira frowned down at the splinters. “... we should clean that up,” she commented. “I’ll get a broom if you’ll get the bowl of water.”

Rumi gaped at her for a moment, incredulous. “Wait, we’re actually giving her a literal bowl of water? Like she’s a dog?”

Mira raised an eyebrow. “Rumi, she kind of is a dog right now.”

“Well, yeah, but—ugh.” Rumi dragged her hands down her face, slightly exasperated. “It just feels so weird! And aren’t dogs and wolves different?”

Mira huffed with amusement. “If it bothers you so much, then I’ll get the water and you can sweep up the mess.”

Rumi dramatically heaved a sigh, though she was inwardly grateful to Mira for switching their roles. Something about giving Zoey a bowl of water like that just rubbed her the wrong way, at least without asking her about it first. She sent Mira a thankful look before nodding and looking back at Zoey—

Who had her ears fully towards them with her head tilted sideways in the cutest way possible, looking far more curious now than afraid. 

Mira noticed at the same time, and she and Rumi cooed at their adorable friend together.

“So cuuuuute~!” 

“Oh my gosh I just wanna hug her!”

Zoey blinked at them and turned her ears back while sitting up slightly straighter and righting her head, visibly uncertain how to take their response as she looked from one to the other. It reminded Rumi of how she often looked to them for hints on social cues after she'd accidentally zoned out of a conversation, which only made Rumi’s heart melt more.

“She does look really soft,” Mira added to Rumi’s vocalized desire to hug their friend.

“So fluffy,” Rumi agreed resolutely, unable to hold back a grin. “I hope she lets us get near her soon.” She paused as a thought hit her. “Do you think Derpy would get along with her like this?”

Mira snorted. “Are you kidding? We already have a hard time separating them. Once he realizes it’s Zoey there’d be no stopping their cuddle sessions.”

“Good point,” Rumi conceded with a giggle. “Hopefully they’ll let us join in sometime.”

Zoey suddenly made a strange huffing sound, almost reminiscent of a chuckle. Rumi and Mira shared a surprised glance before staring at her, trying to figure out if she’d actually responded to their conversation or if she just happened to make that noise at that moment.

Zoey looked from Rumi to Mira and back again, then let out a tiny whine that almost sounded like a question. Rumi realized that she’d stopped panting, though she wasn’t really sure what exactly that meant.

“Zoey?” Mira tried, taking a tentative step towards their furry friend. “Can you understand us?”

She replied with another whine, a little louder this time, and glanced at Mira’s foot nervously. She then gave a decisive and very clear nod, and Rumi found herself thoroughly perplexed.

“Wait, I asked her that just minutes ago and she didn’t respond!” she declared indignantly, gesticulating with her hands. “What the heck, Zo.” There was no heat behind her words, of course; she was just confused more than anything and decided to express it through teasing.

Zoey let out a loud yip, making both Rumi and Mira jump from the sudden volume. Zoey blinked at them and then chuffed again, and Rumi knew this time that she was laughing at them.

“No way.” Mira grinned at their bandmate and took another small step towards the desk. She was only a few steps away now. “You laughing as a wolf sounds so weird.”

Zoey replied with a soft growling sound, though it sounded more like she was trying to talk than any sort of warning. She then looked pointedly at Mira’s foot and shook her head, any amusement quickly giving way to anxiety again.

Mira followed her gaze and frowned. “We’re not gonna hurt you, Zo,” she reassured, but Rumi was pretty sure they both knew that that’s not what Zoey was afraid of.

Zoey shook her head harder and lowered it, letting out a loud whine with her mouth firmly shut as she stared pointedly at Mira’s bandaged arm.

“She’s worried about hurting us, not the other way around, Mir,” Rumi said softly. Zoey sent her a small, timid nod.

“Zoey…” Mira’s tone was incredibly gentle again, and Zoey’s ears flattened against her head guiltily. Rumi recognized that she probably felt like she didn’t deserve their kindness, and her heart pulled at the familiar expression. “We know you didn’t mean to. You were freaking out, and in a lot of pain.” Mira offered a sad, but understanding smile. “It’s not your fault, and even if it somehow was, I forgive you anyway.”

“Same,” Rumi chimed in, giving Zoey her own little smile of encouragement. “Remember what we said before, Zoey? We love you, and we’re not gonna leave you. Please don’t push us away.”

Rumi didn’t know that it was possible for a wolf to cry (and maybe it wasn’t, for a regular wolf), but Zoey let out a low, mournful howl, and tears started soaking the fur on her cheeks. Mira moved quickly towards her, and Rumi was right behind her as they carefully hurried to comfort their sister.

She cautiously watched them approach and seemed to draw into herself, making herself as small as she could, but didn’t growl or try to stop them this time. Instead, she tucked her front paws beneath her chest (probably to hide her claws) and submissively lowered her head to rest on the floor. The fear never left her expression, but she seemed to relax a little as they settled on either side of her head. Her tears had slowed.

“Thank you for letting us come to you,” Mira said softly, a relieved smile lighting up her face that Rumi reflected. Her hand hovered over Zoey’s hunched shoulders, and Rumi herself was struggling to keep from hugging Zoey. “Can we touch you?”

Zoey took a slow, deep breath, and Rumi could see the conflict in her eyes as a whimper left her throat. It was something she was intimately familiar with; the fear of hurting those you love, the immense anxiety of just the possibility of losing control and causing irreparable damage. To see such a harrowing emotion on Zoey’s face hit Rumi hard, and she felt intense longing to fix it pang through her heart. She never wanted anyone to feel the horrible shame and fear she’d lived with, least of all her family, but she also knew that she didn’t have the power to take it away from her friend no matter how much she wanted to.

So she did the next best thing she could think of, and reached out to hopefully make the burden a little lighter for her dear friend.

Ignoring the tears falling down her own face, Rumi bent down and leaned forward until she was right in front of Zoey’s face, prompting the wolf to look at her with confused concern.

“Zoey,” she started gently, pushing through the wobbling of her voice. “I know what it’s like to be scared of losing control. To be terrified of hurting the people you love, and of—of losing them.” Zoey’s sad whine nearly made her break, but she forced herself to maintain eye contact and show Zoey she meant every word. “It’s okay to be scared. That fear will always be there, but you don’t have to let it take everything from you. You’re not alone, Zoey, and we want to be here to help and love you.” She managed a watery smile and leaned back a little. “Even if you’re a huge fluffball with fangs and claws.”

Zoey let out a quiet huff of brief amusement at the sentiment, and the tears slowed to a stop. She looked into Rumi’s eyes for a few more moments, searching her gaze, before looking up imploringly at Mira.

“Same,” Mira said warmly. “Rumi’s right, every word. Including the fluffball bit.”

Zoey blinked and, for the first time since she’d hidden under her desk, looked away from her friends to stare at the floor. Her body shuddered with a deep, trembling breath, and then she lifted her head. Moving very carefully, she turned her head and pushed her nose into Mira’s still-hovering hand, a show of acceptance and reaching out that immediately made every tense muscle in Rumi’s body relax with immense relief and gratitude.

The look on Mira’s face, as well as her shoulders visibly relaxing, showed she felt the same way. She gently moved her hand over Zoey’s face to reach the spot between her raised ears, and blinked in near-surprise. A delighted grin quickly spread across her face as she moved her fingers through Zoey’s fur. “Oh my gosh, Zoey, you’re so soft!”

Rumi perked up and Zoey chuffed a laugh, and just like that, all of the remaining tension from the night seemed to melt away from all three of them.

Rumi couldn’t help herself anymore; she eagerly reached forward and settled her hand into the thick fur on the back of Zoey’s neck, and she gasped as Mira’s words were confirmed. “So soft,” she agreed, and Zoey tilted her head down slightly with a grunt and a bashful expression that made Rumi giggle. The corners of Zoey's mouth lifted in a smile, and Rumi decided that maybe this night wasn't so bad after all.

Mira continued to pet Zoey’s head, and her eyes widened in wonder. “Oh, especially your ears! Rumi, feel her ears!”

Rumi gladly obliged, and joyfully discovered with another gasp that Mira was right yet again. They both quickly got carried away in gently rubbing Zoey’s ears, and after a moment, Rumi realized that her eyes were actually closed in an expression of pure bliss.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, Rumi took her phone from her pocket with her free hand and happily took a picture, managing to get the perfect angle from the front. Over Zoey’s head, Mira grinned at her and gave a small nod of approval.

They continued to pet Zoey’s head and neck, soon using both hands to give even more affection. Zoey kept her eyes closed, and her head gradually lowered to the floor as she let herself enjoy the attention. She sleepily looked around when her chin bumped the floor, but upon seeing Rumi and Mira’s contented and encouraging faces, she settled completely and finally let her entire body relax with a weary sigh. 

Soon, her breathing evened out completely, and her body went slack with sleep. Rumi and Mira exchanged a relieved smile and didn’t stop petting her, both of them finding the experience soothing as well.

Neither of them dared to say anything for a while, aware that Zoey’s hearing was undoubtedly more sensitive now and not wanting to risk waking her. Mira moved one hand away only to grab her phone, and she took several more pictures of their adorable maknae as she finally felt some much-deserved peace. 

As the minutes stretched on, both girls found themselves getting sleepy as well. Rumi barely resisted the urge to settle into Zoey’s side, worried about waking her, but she also didn’t want to leave. A glance at Mira confirmed that she was struggling to keep her eyes open too. 

Rumi made eye contact with her and tried to whisper as quietly as she could, “We could sleep on the bed, but I don’t—oh.” She glanced down to see Zoey groggily looking up at her, her head still relaxed on the floor. Rumi smiled gently at her and petted her between her ears. “Sorry for waking you, Zo.”

Zoey let out a sound akin to a hum and closed her eyes again, but only for a moment. She then shook Rumi’s hand from her head and tucked her snout behind Rumi’s back. Rumi was confused until Zoey pushed her away from her, using surprising strength for the little effort she put into the motion. Rumi obediently moved away, unable to hold back a frown as she was saddened to leave her friend’s side. 

Her saddened confusion quickly melted away when Zoey shifted, wiggling her way out from under the desk. Rumi and Mira got up and stepped back to give her space, and she was soon unsteadily on her feet. 

Zoey lowered her chest and stretched her front legs straight out, letting out a yawn that exposed her big, sharp teeth. Rumi couldn’t help but be impressed now that she wasn’t scared, still adjusting to the size of her sister's wolf form.

“Sick,” Mira muttered, smirking at Zoey’s fangs as well.

Zoey froze, then audibly snapped her mouth shut with a huff. As she walked past Mira, she swung her tail at her face and the dancer barely stepped out of the way in time. Rumi couldn’t hold back a laugh at the exchange.

“Hey! It was a compliment,” Mira defended herself, grinning with clear amusement. “Fangs are cool.”

Zoey grunted and shook her head, then turned and gracefully leapt onto her bed. Rumi and Mira watched her get to the middle and flop onto her belly, the impact rustling the blanket she now lay on and sending a couple extra pillows and plushies to the floor. She let out a little sigh and then tucked her front paws under her chest again, her back legs splayed out behind her in a position that didn’t actually look very comfortable.

“We can join you, right?” Rumi asked, slightly hesitant. She didn’t want to assume and risk upsetting Zoey again; they’d all had enough anxiety for one night.

Zoey lifted and turned her head to give her a deadpan stare, and Rumi shrugged with a sheepish smile.

“Just checking!”

Mira snickered and didn’t waste another moment, climbing onto the bed and laying on her back on Zoey’s right side. Rumi detoured to turn the overhead light off and eagerly went to Zoey’s left, and they scooched together until their sides were nearly touching.

Mira and Rumi settled beneath the blanket and watched Zoey as she nestled down herself, making little adjustments until she was apparently satisfied. She then looked from one friend to the other with just her glowing orange eyes, and let out a questioning whine.

“Just wanting to be sure that you’re comfy,” Mira offered with a smile. She turned onto her side to face Zoey and placed a hand on Zoey’s back reassuringly. “Don’t scare us like that again, alright?”

Zoey’s ears lowered and she whimpered, but Mira quickly shook her head and Rumi touched her furry shoulder to get her attention.

“We’re not mad, Zo,” Rumi explained, and Mira hummed and nodded in agreement. “We just want you to know that you can stay with us next time, okay? We’ve got your back, no matter what.”

Zoey slowly relaxed again and nodded, her ears easing back up and her tail thumping once in a little show of what Rumi guessed was happiness. She paused, and then moved her head to gently bump her nose against Rumi’s forehead, doing the same to Mira seconds later.

Rumi blinked in surprise, and then grinned as her heart warmed at the show of affection. Zoey couldn’t speak or hug them at the moment, so of course she’d find another way to show she loved them. “Love you too, Zoey.” She turned on her side to face Zoey and reached up to pet her head, receiving a glad look for her efforts.

“Same,” Mira added, and Rumi could hear the soft smile in her voice. “... sleep well, you two.”

“Back atcha,” Rumi returned, and Zoey made a grunting noise that presumably meant the same.

Surrounded by her family and blanketed in comfort, Zoey finally fell into a deep sleep. Her sisters soon followed, and the rest of the night passed in peace.

Chapter Text

Mira was woken by a soft whimper, and it took all of two seconds for her to recognize the sound and jolt to sitting upright, wide awake. She could see the soft glow of the sun dawning outside of Zoey’s window, and she quickly looked around and took stock of the room and situation.

Zoey’s room was a mess. Fragments of her shattered door spread across the room and the hallway, the desk was more cluttered than usual due to Zoey’s movements from the previous night having knocked everything around a bit, and some of her pens and notebooks were on the floor. She noticed a few smudges on the floor—mostly under the desk—that she hadn’t paid mind to last night, and Mira’s breath hitched when she realized that they were dark red. Is that blood?

Mira felt herself pale as a painful memory hit her—Zoey screaming and thrashing and clawing at herself as her body changed—and she instantly felt awful. Zoey had hurt herself when she’d become a wolf; Mira and certainly Rumi had both noticed at the time, but had forgotten that crucial detail in all of the panic that followed their sister’s transformation. How could they have forgotten? The only good thing was that there wasn’t much of it; the wounds had definitely closed by now. But that didn’t make the fact that they’d forgotten any better.

Fighting through the guilt forming a lump in her throat, Mira quickly turned to Zoey and was instantly reminded why she’d woken up in the first place.

Zoey let out a whine and shifted uncomfortably, her lupine face turned downward so her forehead was against the bed and eyes squeezed shut, her ears flattened back against her head. Mira could hear her labored breathing and, upon looking closer, could see her shaking too. It was clear what was about to happen; she just hoped that this transformation would be faster and less agonizing than the first.

“Zoey…?” Rumi’s groggy voice quietly piped up, and Mira watched her lift her head. She saw the moment Rumi realized what was going on as her eyes widened and she sat up quickly, making panicked eye contact with Mira. “Is she—”

“I think she’s changing back,” Mira interrupted, frowning but determined as she climbed off of the bed and glanced around. “Get ready to hold her so she doesn’t hurt herself again.”

Rumi blinked and then nodded seriously, and while she adjusted into a better position, Mira quickly grabbed a neatly folded blanket from a small pile of them next to the bed. Zoey usually kept them there in case she wanted an extra during the night or wanted a different texture than her comforter, and Mira was glad for that now as she chose a thick sheet-like blanket that was a plain light green. 

“Zoey, we’re gonna help you through this, alright?” Rumi declared gently, running her hand through the soft fur on Zoey’s neck. The wolf whimpered but gave no indication of whether she understood or not, pressing her face harder into the bed. “Please let us help you.”

Zoey suddenly shuddered and started whining in clear distress, a low growl escaping her as her large claws dug through the sheets and into the mattress with ease. Mira took a deep breath and squashed any fear by reminding herself that this was her friend, and promptly decided to ignore what she was capable of at the moment in favor of focusing on what Zoey needed right then—

—which quickly became apparent as she abruptly gathered her legs beneath her and looked ready to bolt, her fiery orange eyes opening with an expression of panic.

“Grab her!” Mira urged, and she and Rumi surged forward just in time as Zoey tried to turn and jump off of the bed.

She’d turned towards Rumi, so she was the one who was closest enough to wrap her arms around her midsection and pull the wolf back with clear strain.

“She’s—ack—strong!” Rumi managed, gritting her teeth and trying to keep a good grip as Zoey started flailing with an alarmed yowl.

Mira lunged forward and seized Zoey’s wrists—ankles?—her eyes widening as she had to fight with all of her strength to keep Zoey from escaping her grasp. “Geez!” She angled herself more to the side to avoid Zoey’s hind feet as they kicked out.

Luckily for them, it didn’t take long for Zoey’s enhanced strength to falter. Her back arched inwards and a harrowed whine came from her throat as her body began to change once again; bones snapped and stretched or shortened back to their human structure, the fur slowly retracted into her skin, her muzzle shortened until her normal mouth and nose returned, her tail disappeared, her claws went back to dull nails, and her body shrank as the wolf gradually withdrew. Mira felt tears fill her eyes again at all of the pained sounds she was making, her heart panging with sympathy as their maknae suffered once again. At least it wasn’t as awful as the previous night, and aside from a few small scratches, all three of them came out of it unharmed.

Once the transformation was almost complete, Rumi was able to relax her grip enough to reach over and snag the blanket Mira had gotten. With Mira holding Zoey in place, Rumi quickly draped the blanket over her body under her arms and tucked it around her, successfully preserving her modesty as the fur finished vanishing.

Finally, Zoey’s whimpers and growls turned into something far more human, and she weakly groaned as she gave one more shudder before falling limp.

After a few seconds passed with relative calm, Mira and Rumi both let out heavy breaths of tense relief. Mira gently set Zoey’s wrists down over her stomach and looked her over, biting her lip when she glimpsed the cuts from last night on her arms and neck and peeking out from under the blanket. 

“We need to patch her up,” she decided, but then paused. Zoey’s eyes were closed, but her brow was furrowed and her body tense. “Zoey? You awake?”

A faint grunt and a shiver confirmed that she was. Rumi and Mira moved at the same time to each hold one of her hands, doing their best to comfort her, and she weakly squeezed them in response. Mira relaxed slightly as she intertwined her fingers with their maknae’s, feeling her flushed skin against her own.

“... thanks.” Zoey’s voice was hoarse and quiet, barely above a whisper. She finally opened her brown eyes to look at Rumi, then Mira, and offered a smile despite her exhaustion that made Mira’s free hand tighten into a fist. Of course she smiled at them despite all of the pain and discomfort she was undoubtedly feeling; she always put others’ comfort above her own, and Mira hated that she felt relieved at the familiar behavior.

Rumi lifted Zoey’s hand slightly and joined her other hand to the hold, fully engulfing the smaller girl’s hand in her own. The slightly stricken look in her eyes told Mira that she felt similarly conflicted about Zoey’s usual masking. “How are you feeling?”

“Actually feeling.” Mira fixed Zoey with a pointed stare that turned her smile sheepish. “If you say you’re ‘fine’ I’m gonna throw something.” Rumi nodded in serious agreement.

Zoey’s smile wavered, and she took a breath that was probably supposed to be calming but clearly wasn’t. “... hurts,” she finally admitted softly, glancing away with the word like sharing the truth was difficult. Her body shuddered with a feeble cough.

Mira frowned. “I’ll get some water for you.”

She gently let go of Zoey’s hand and quickly climbed off of the bed, making short work of grabbing a plastic cup and filling it with cool water in the kitchen. She also snagged a pastry from a box on the counter with a napkin and some pain meds from the bathroom before she returned.

When she got back, Rumi was helping Zoey sit upright, the blanket still wrapped around her torso and tucked into itself to keep it in place. Rumi’s expression was one of sympathy, and Zoey’s face was scrunched in concentration and obvious pain. Her hands were gripping the blanket tightly and visibly trembling. Mira reluctantly pushed down the urge to take her into her arms and never let her go again.

Zoey was a bit more awake now, and a different kind of pain filled her eyes as she glanced up at Mira’s before staring at her bandaged arm. “I’m sor—”

“Nope.” Mira interrupted her, immediately feeling bad about the resulting flinch. She softened her voice and shoved down the storm of emotions threatening to take over. “There’s nothing for you to apologize for, Zoey.” Not about last night, at least. “Here.” She held out the cup of water. She wanted to help Zoey drink it, but knew the maknae didn’t like being “babied” and she wanted to see where she was at with her physical strength anyways.

Zoey’s hands were trembling as she carefully accepted the drink, her face scrunching again in renewed concentration. Shakily, she took a sip, and some of the discomfort on her face eased. She continued to drink, and Mira felt some of the tension in her own shoulders lift.

“Mira’s right,” Rumi agreed gently after a few moments, watching Zoey diligently in case her strength faltered. She’d always been better at words and tones of comfort than Mira, which she was both grateful for and mildly jealous of. Rumi kept a supportive hand on Zoey’s back as Mira rejoined them on the bed. “It wasn’t your fault, and we forgive you anyways. We’re glad to be by your side.”

“What she said,” Mira said warmly. “We love you so much, Zo. You can’t get rid of us even if you tried.”

Zoey smiled again, but this time it was far more genuine. “I’m—” Her voice broke, still hoarse but sounding better already from the water she’d finished. She cleared her throat with a wince and tried again. “I’m glad you’re here too. I love you both s-so much.” She looked from one friend to the other, tears gathering in her eyes and lower lip trembling. Mira could see the unspoken plea in her expression that she’d already seen there far too many times: Please don’t leave me again.

Mira and Rumi’s composures crumbled, and they both rushed forwards to envelop Zoey in a big, tearful hug. She dropped the empty cup next to her and gratefully accepted it, doing what she could to reciprocate the embrace. Mira could feel her body mildly shaking against her own.

Once they pulled apart several affection-filled moments later, Mira waited for Zoey to wipe the tears from her face before she placed the pastry on the napkin in Zoey’s hands, and her expression lit up.

“Thanks! I’m starving.” She ate with the gusto of someone whose body had undergone two torturous transformations within hours of each other, and Mira made a mental note to get her some hearty food after this.

After giving Zoey the pain medicine, Mira sat back and looked over her sister with concern. None of her injuries were actively bleeding, thankfully, but they still looked red and sore and definitely needed to be treated soon. Zoey had several scratches across both arms and some cuts across her right cheek and the left side of her neck, and Mira knew that there were some on her torso as well. Thankfully, the ones she could see didn’t seem too deep.

Once Zoey was done with the medicine, Mira didn’t hesitate to slide her arms under her knees and her shoulders and hoist her into the air. Zoey squeaked in surprise and Rumi laughed at the sound, and Mira couldn’t resist grinning at her friend.

“I-I can walk!” she claimed, though she wrapped her arms around Mira’s neck as Mira climbed somewhat awkwardly off of the bed. “You don’t have to—”

“I want to, you goof,” Mira teased affectionately, and Zoey gave a dramatic sigh as she accepted her fate. She tipped her head back and her loose hair tickled Mira’s arm. “Plus, you need as much rest as you can get.”

Rumi followed behind them as Mira made her way to their large bathroom in the hallway. “I call dibs on carrying her next time.” Humor coated her voice.

“Guyyyyys,” Zoey complained, though she was giggling. Mira’s heart soared at the light sound and her resolve to protect her family and their happiness grew ever stronger.

In the spacious bathroom, Rumi pulled down a folding table from the wall and locked the hinges in place, then started getting out the medical supplies from the nearby cabinet as Mira carefully set Zoey on the table. They had it for the express purpose of treating injuries after demon hunts, and the way it folded into and blended with the wall made it hard to see unless you knew it was there.

Mira and Rumi quietly set about treating Zoey’s wounds, finding a few cuts on her torso that thankfully also weren’t deep. As they did so, Zoey’s body gradually drooped, and Mira watched as exhaustion started to claim her once more. She was barely able to sit upright by the time they finished.

Mira grabbed some of Zoey’s pajamas and her phone and they helped her get dressed, Zoey struggling to keep her eyes open and nearly falling over three times in the process. After getting her another cup of water, Rumi stayed true to her word and easily hoisted Zoey into her arms, eliciting another small squeak of surprise from the half-asleep girl that resulted in small giggles from all three of them.

As they made their way into Rumi’s room, Mira found herself staring at her sisters and blinked with surprise when she noticed that the tips of Zoey’s ears were now slightly pointed, vaguely mimicking the shape of her wolf ears. She frowned thoughtfully and immediately wondered if the maknae had fangs now too, since that was also a common werewolf thing in media. She managed to curb her curiosity for now though, even though she wanted to check; she could do that later when they weren’t already doing something important. Having fangs seemed super cool though, so she privately kinda hoped that Zoey did. Ever since accepting her demon side, Rumi had small fangs, and now Mira was jealous at the thought that she was the only one without sharpened canines. Life was so unfair.

Mira pulled back the covers and Rumi set Zoey on her bed, both girls quickly working to tuck her in and ensure she was comfortable.

“Let us know if you need anything at all, okay?” Mira said, placing Zoey’s phone and the cup of water on the bedside table. “We’ll stay nearby. Promise. Love you, Zo.” Next to her, Rumi nodded firmly in agreement.

“‘Kay… thanks,” Zoey replied with a sleepy smile, her eyes already closing. “Love you… too.”

Rumi and Mira didn’t have to wait long for their little sister to fall asleep, and when she did, they shared a glance and Mira led the way out of Rumi’s room. Rumi closed the door silently and they both stood still for a moment. They both took a long, deep breath, then smirked at each other for “copying” the other’s actions.

Mira’s smile fell after a moment, and she let some of the weariness weighing on her seep into her eyes and posture. “... I’m glad she’s alright.”

Rumi’s shoulders sagged a bit and she nodded. “Me too, yeah. That was…” She narrowed her eyes slightly as she tried to think of a good word to summarize what they’d gone through since the previous night.

“A lot,” Mira supplied, and Rumi nodded in agreement. “C’mon; I need some tea.”

As they went to the kitchen and started preparing their drinks, Rumi remembered that they had an event later in the day and texted Bobby to reschedule it, telling him that a difficult situation had come up that they’d fill him in on later. As the amazing and incredibly understanding manager he was, he didn’t question it and immediately responded with reassurance and well wishes. Far from the first time, Mira was extremely grateful for the man and his undying loyalty and compassion.

They had wanted to tell Bobby about their demon hunting activities from practically the start, ever since he’d first responded to their sudden need to postpone an event (due to a demon attack) with nothing but love and reassurances. Celine had declined their request to tell him though (of course), and she hadn’t let up on that verdict ever since.

But after the Idol Awards fiasco, even though his memories of that night were muddied like everyone else’s—except for Huntr/x, of course—thanks to the combination of Gwi-Ma’s harsh hypnotism and the new Honmoon’s healing magic, they’d decided together to ignore Celine’s decision partially to spite her and tell him. To his credit, he’d taken it all surprisingly well, and had gotten over the shock of demons being real impressively quickly. He’d said that a lot of things made way more sense now, and had many questions that they were glad to answer. He didn’t seem to even consider doubting them aside from an initial “Wait, really??” and had immediately promised to help however he could. Thankfully there hadn’t been any breaches in the Honmoon ever since they’d reforged it, but it felt amazing to know that he was in their corner even more than before—and that he embraced Rumi wholeheartedly, not even caring about her demon heritage.

Now, considering the whole werewolf situation, they would definitely tell him, but only after they’d talked with Zoey and figured some things out between them all first. But they didn’t even have to discuss whether or not they’d tell him; it felt only natural now to include him in the loop, and it’d frankly be really nice to not have to come up with a bunch of lies for why they couldn’t do anything specifically on full moon nights anymore anyway.

Mira came out of her thoughts when Rumi pulled out a couple mugs for them, and thanked her fellow hunter with a smile.

“So,” Mira started decisively after a moment, “how are we gonna go about this?”

Rumi frowned. “Just, like, in general, or…”

Mira sighed. “Yeah, but also… we both know Zoey’s sensitive.” She stated it as a fact; neither of them even slightly minded how emotional of a person Zoey was. On the contrary, it was endearing and something they loved about her. “How are we gonna talk to her about this without making her feel bad and spiral?”

The biggest problem was that they both knew that she’d lied to them, even after promising “no more lies.” She’d broken that promise a mere four months after making it and it hurt, but they both knew that if they went about this the wrong way, she would only see the anger and hurt and wouldn’t realize that they were more worried about her than anything else. She would shut down and pull away, and that was the last thing they wanted. 

She had confided in them years ago about her insecurities, about how her mind twisted criticism into hate, how she always internalized any conflict and automatically morphed it into self-loathing, how she couldn’t help but feel like she was one mistake away from losing everyone she loved.

How she felt like she was always too much, and never enough.

That phrase had initially confused Mira; how could she think that about herself? But then Zoey had explained that a terrible mixture of bullying and her parents forcing her to always choose a side conditioned her into believing that it was always her fault—that no matter who she tried to please, she was always disappointing someone and that even her all wasn’t enough for those she loved; despite her best efforts, her parents had still divorced, after all. And these beliefs were so deeply ingrained into her that no amount of reassuring her that it wasn’t her burden to carry, that her parents’ conflicts were their own fault and not hers, could ever truly convince her otherwise. Not yet, anyways. 

Learning all of this—on one particularly draining day shortly after their debut, when Zoey had broken down after Mira had yelled at her in a careless moment of frustration—had completely shattered Mira and Rumi’s hearts. They’d promised, to her and themselves, to do their best to help her feel like she was enough, to never put her in a position where she had to pick a side. They may not be able to take her pain and doubts away, but they would do their absolute best to soothe the ache and make her feel loved.

Rumi let out a sigh, bringing Mira back to the present. “Well, we gotta keep our voices calm, for sure.” Mira nodded; raised voices put Zoey on edge like almost nothing else could, even though she was good at hiding it. “And then, I guess, we just talk to her?” She shrugged, brows furrowed. “We need to find out what she didn’t tell us about the attack and see if she remembers last night.” Rumi nodded to herself. “For now, though, we just need to clean up and relax. Make sure she’s resting okay.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Mira replied. She smiled at her friend in a way she hoped was reassuring before turning back to finish preparing her tea.

Once they’d taken a few minutes to drink their tea and recenter themselves, they set about repairing what was damaged last night. Rumi cleaned up the remains of Zoey’s door while Mira cleaned the bloodstains—which Rumi was equally horrified as Mira had been to discover—and gathered the torn bedding to throw away. They had plenty of blankets and sheets to replace what had been ruined, but they’d need to buy a new mattress for her; she’d ripped her current one apart during her last transformation. They both took stock of the door and flooring that would need replacing and made a note to ask Bobby about it later.

They spent the rest of the next three hours relaxing and preparing for when Zoey woke up, snacking occasionally and preparing food for their maknae. They then relaxed on the couch and kept an ear out for any noise from Rumi’s room, ready to help Zoey the minute she woke up.

Zoey woke up slowly. The first thing she became aware of was just how awful she felt. Everything hurt, from her ears to her toes, and she briefly wondered if she’d been hit by a truck or something. But then her memories returned quickly to her, and she was suddenly wide awake and trying to sit up. 

She moved too fast and the room spun, black spots dancing across her vision and causing her to fall right back down with the wave of dizziness that hit her. She squeezed her eyes shut for several seconds, focusing on her breathing in an effort to regain control of her senses. 

The next time she sat up was far more careful and slow, and she successfully got herself upright, albeit with a quiet groan. Everything ached with a pain that permeated her whole being, although she supposed it made sense; her entire body had been forced to transmogrify into a completely different creature. It’d be weird if it didn’t hurt, really. 

Still, it was obviously unpleasant and she’d very much like it to stop, thanks. But for that, she’d need to get the pain meds from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, which would require her to walk, which required getting out of the nice warm bed and standing up. In the moment, the list of steps felt exhausting and she seriously considered just going back to sleep. 

But then her stomach growled, and she realized that she was starving. Again, it made sense because transforming would naturally take a lot out of someone, especially if that someone had never transformed before—but it was still annoying. And it also required her to get up. Ugh.

She held her head in her hands and heaved a heavy sigh, weary and hurting and tired and hungry and—

The door abruptly opening made her flinch so hard she nearly toppled off of the bed, a startled squeak escaping her throat as a hand flew to her heart. Rumi’s surprised face froze in the doorway for a moment, and then she smiled apologetically. 

“Sorry for scaring you, Zoey. I thought I heard something and wanted to check on you,” she explained, her voice gentle. She stepped fully into the room and crossed the short distance to the bedside. 

Zoey took a few deep breaths and forced herself to relax, managing a breathless laugh and a smile. “It’s-it’s okay! All good; I’m fine.”

Rumi sighed fondly, and Zoey noticed a hint of sadness in her expression that she couldn’t quite place the reason for. “How are you feeling?” She paused. “Be honest, please.”

Zoey ducked her head slightly, sheepish. “… I’m really sore and hungry,” she answered honestly, glancing away for a moment before refocusing on her. “I’ll get up in a second, just gotta… oh no.”

As she spoke, Rumi blinked, grinned, and pulled the blanket away before promptly scooping the maknae into her arms. Zoey reflexively wrapped her arms around her neck and couldn’t hold back a laugh. The sudden movement pulled on her bandages a little, but it didn’t hurt any more than the pain she was already feeling so she hardly noticed.

“Ah! Rumiiii! I was fine!” At this point Zoey was wondering if she was just doing this for fun now, not that she wasn’t grateful for it. She felt weak and wasn’t sure if her legs could hold her weight at the moment. 

“Well you don’t let us dote on you often, so I gotta take advantage while I can,” Rumi replied as she easily carried her towards the kitchen, voice light with humor. 

“I am a full-grown woman,” Zoey argued teasingly, trying to be indignant. 

“There’s no age limit on doting,” Mira’s voice pointed out, and Zoey turned her head to see her at the stove, warming something in a saucepan. She grinned over her shoulder. “So get cared for, doofus.”

Zoey gasped dramatically. “Rumiiii, Mira’s being mean to me! She called me a doofus!” She stared up at her unnie with big eyes, pouting for extra effect. 

Rumi laughed, and Zoey could feel the sound and instantly felt lighter because of it. “Consider it our revenge for you scaring the heck out of us last night.” Her tone hovered between serious and teasing, but she was genuinely smiling, so she thankfully wasn’t mad.

“... fair.” Zoey cringed slightly, unable to really argue with that. She was dreading the upcoming conversation, but at least her best friends didn’t seem to be angry with her. She couldn’t stop her heart from speeding up anxiously, though.

“Dang, nice segway,” Mira complimented as Rumi carefully set Zoey down at their little dining table. Rumi grinned proudly in response to the praise. “But we’re gonna eat, first. Can’t have a serious conversation on an empty stomach.”

Zoey adjusted herself to get as comfortable as she could on the hard chair, and after a minute, Mira turned around and placed a steaming bowl of soup in front of her. Zoey’s mouth watered at the tantalizing smell and barely held herself back so it could cool down a little. “Ooh, this looks and smells so good.”

Mira smiled and put out two more bowls for Rumi and herself, followed by some kimbap for them to share. “Thanks. This should fill us all right up.” She and Rumi set out a few more things like cups of water and spoons, and although she knew she likely lacked the strength to help, Zoey felt a little useless just sitting there.

The three of them settled at the table, Zoey between her two sisters and within reach of both of them. Although it was a common arrangement, their show of support and not letting her get out of the discussion was not lost on her. She took a deep breath to try and steady her racing heart.

Mira ate a spoonful of steaming soup before looking at Zoey, her posture casual. “Alright, I’m too curious; how much of last night and this morning do you remember?”

Zoey’s stomach tightened with nerves and she stared down at the soup. “... all of it,” she admitted after a moment. “Although this morning’s kind of a blur.” She couldn’t help but glance up and saw the surprise on their faces.

“Really?” Rumi replied, blinking as though she was reevaluating something she thought she knew.

“Yeah,” Zoey confirmed. “I’m surprised too.” She’d expected to not remember much, given that memory loss was typical in a lot of werewolf stories. “Being a wolf was… weird.” She filled her spoon with soup and put it in her mouth, and instantly felt some of the tension in her shoulders drain away. Its warmth spread through her chest and she closed her eyes with a hum for a moment in contentment. “Mira, this is so good!” she exclaimed as she grinned at her friend.

Mira smiled and gave her a small nod of thanks. “Good. You’d better eat all of it to get your strength back.”

Zoey giggled. “That won’t be a problem, trust me. Even if I wasn’t starving, it’s too good to pass up!”

Rumi nodded sagely as she hummed around her own spoonful of soup. “I agree.”

Mira rolled her eyes, but the gratitude in her expression undercut the gesture completely. “It’s just soup. Anyways.” She turned her eyes back to Zoey, who subconsciously shrunk back slightly in reflex—Mira immediately softened her gaze. “Bobby rescheduled the meet-and-greet for tomorrow, so we’ve got the rest of the day to rest and figure things out.”

Zoey frowned, relieved at having more time to rest but automatically feeling bad about springing this on Bobby—and technically the fans. “Are you sure? I’m okay now; I’ll be fine if we—”

“Zoey.” Rumi’s gentle reprimand made Zoey shut her mouth instantly. The older girl’s expression was firm but kind, easing Zoey’s guilt slightly. “It’s already been rescheduled, and we’re not gonna force you to do something when you’re tired and hurting. It’s okay.”

Zoey nodded and slowly resumed eating, though she soon paused to ask, “What did you tell Bobby about…” She wasn’t sure how to finish the question, but the implication was clear anyways: Did you tell him I’m a monster werewolf?

“I told him that a complicated situation came up and we’ll talk to him about it later, when we’ve figured stuff out ourselves first,” Rumi answered.

Mira nodded. “Telling him is a given, don’t worry.”

Zoey nodded again, glad that they’d be including him. Having to keep their demon fighting a secret before was horrible and she wasn’t about to repeat that experience. No more lies applied to him too.

The trio continued to eat, a mostly comfortable silence falling over them as they enjoyed the soup. Zoey tried to focus on the delicious flavor of the food instead of the upcoming conversation, but she couldn’t stop the anxiety curling threateningly around her heart.

Once they were contentedly full (all three of them happily had seconds) and the dishes were put into the dishwasher—and Zoey took more pain meds—they decided to talk on the couch. Mira gleefully picked Zoey up in a bridal carry again before she could insist on walking, and the mischievous look she gave Rumi made Zoey realize that they had likely made a game of carrying her around. Once that connection was made, Zoey didn’t feel bad about it anymore and let herself enjoy it instead. 

Soon, they were all settled, with Zoey between Mira and Rumi again. They sat close together, almost touching each other, and Zoey folded her legs crisscross underneath her to feel a bit safer and more comfortable. While she now physically felt a lot better, her anxiety was now relentless and she was aware of herself trembling.

Her wonderful friends noticed, of course, and they both offered their hands to her in support and comfort. She gratefully took them, and the roiling nerves in her stomach settled just a little.

After a breath, Mira started. “Let’s just get this part over with so we’re not all agonizing over it.” She looked at Zoey seriously, though her voice was carefully controlled and her gaze remained soft. Zoey still saw the hurt there and barely held back a flinch. “You lied to us, Zoey. You broke your promise. Why?”

Zoey’s heart seized for a moment and her breath stuttered, shame and regret and self-directed anger and fear twisting into a hard pit in her stomach. She reflexively moved to hug herself, but her unnies kept tight holds of her hands and grounded her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, voice breaking with the apology. She blinked back tears she didn’t deserve to cry; she was the one who broke the promise, after all. Because of her, they’d gotten hurt, and she’d messed everything up again. Idiot. Screwup. Awful, stupid, good for nothing, failure, waste of space—

“Zoey.” Rumi spoke so gently, but Zoey failed this time to hold back a flinch. Her tone was sad more than anything else, which was confusing. Why weren’t they yelling at her? “Zo, please look at me.”

Zoey couldn’t help but try to obey, even though she wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow her whole so she didn’t have to face their disappointment and anger. But it was what she deserved; she deserved all of the heartache and misery for hurting them. She wouldn’t blame them if they hated her now. Her breaths came in stunted gasps as anxiety strangled her heart.

Maintaining eye contact proved to be a major struggle, but for some reason Rumi didn’t call her out on it. Her expression was full of sorrow and compassion, which didn’t make sense. “We’re not mad, Zoey,” she softly reassured, instead of berating her. “We’re worried. Not mad, not angry.”

“Yeah,” Mira chimed in, drawing Zoey’s confused gaze. She also looked stricken. “Breathe, Zo, please.”

“Why?” Zoey gasped out, tears rolling down her cheeks. Why aren’t you angry? She didn’t understand. Somewhere deep down she recognized that these were her sisters and they were vastly different from her parents, but in the moment she was still drowning in reflexive guilt and learned fear. She couldn’t understand their concern.

“Because breathing is needed to live,” Mira answered with a smirk, and the words were so matter-of-fact and unexpected that it actually cut through Zoey’s sorrow and brought her back a bit.

She blinked, realized what Mira was talking about, and let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

“Because we love you,” Mira followed up seriously. She gently squeezed Zoey’s hand, her thumb rubbing calming circles onto her skin. “Breathe, Zoey. Follow me.”

Mira demonstrated breathing in slowly through her nose, holding it for a few seconds, then exhaling through her mouth, and Zoey fought to match her. They’d done this so many times before, and it thankfully didn’t take too long for her breaths to even out enough so she didn’t feel like she was dying anymore. Mira smiled at her encouragingly and Zoey felt Rumi squeeze her other hand.

“Good job,” Rumi complimented both of them. Her expression was just as caring as Mira’s, and it made tears fill Zoey’s eyes again. Only this time, they were tears of gratitude and love for her family instead of panic and misery. She gave both of their hands a thankful squeeze.

She still didn’t fully understand it, but she could at least accept their care now. “S-sorry,” she rasped, voice slightly hoarse from all the crying. She realized how disproportionate her reaction was and frowned. “I don’t know why I reacted that bad.” It usually took yelling or gestures of anger from them to make her break down, not just a question—and one that was asked so gently, too.

“It’s okay,” Mira reassured, and she reached up to comfortingly put her free hand on Zoey’s shoulder. “We’re all kind of going through a lot right now, especially you.”

“Emotions are tricky,” Rumi added with a nod, and her expression was full of understanding and compassion that made Zoey want to cry again.

They both quietly continued to hold her hands, patiently giving her time to gather her thoughts and keeping her grounded with their touch. After several long moments, Zoey finally took a deep breath and opened her mouth, staring at the coffee table because looking at them felt like too much.

“I was scared,” she began, forcing her voice to stay steady. “No, I was terrified. I still am.” She took a shuddering breath and felt her sisters’ encouragement from their hands holding hers. “I wasn’t… I didn’t tell you everything about that night,” she admitted guiltily, and noticed both of her best friends nodding their heads. So they’d already figured that out… it wasn’t really a surprise that they had. Zoey knew they were perceptive.

“I hardly heard the wolf coming.” She swallowed hard and focused on the hands in her own to keep herself from getting lost in the resurfacing memory. “Literally just a second of its claws on the sidewalk, and then I turned around and it was already lunging for me.” She glanced down at her side, which had of course completely healed by now. “I dodged and it nicked me with its claws, but it stopped and came at me again. It… his eyes were gold and glowing. I-I wasn’t by any streetlights.” 

She quickly looked at Rumi and Mira after her confession, but found no anger in their expressions yet, only concern. It gave her the courage to continue her story. “He was huge. Like, as tall as me while on all fours huge.” She saw their eyes widen. “His fur was all silvery, and looked really pretty in the moonlight. I… I noticed that it almost looked like he had thumbs on his front paws, which I thought was weird, but it could’ve been, like, just a birth defect sort of thing. It was also sorta dark, too, so I could’ve seen it wrong.”

She saw Mira frown, but to her credit, she didn’t say anything and let Zoey keep going.

“I didn’t know what to do and I wasn’t gonna hurt an innocent animal, so I just kept dodging.” She grimaced. “He learned my pattern and tricked me. And then he…”

A snarl, vicious enough to send chills down her spine—

A body colliding with her own, knocking her backwards with more force than she’d expected—

Huge jaws coming down on her shoulder and easily piercing her skin—

Being yanked to the ground, teeth tearing through her flesh and blood soaking her shirt and excruciating PAIN—

“Zoey!”

Zoey gasped desperately, and suddenly she was back on the couch instead of in the deadly grasp of the beast. Someone blurry was in front of her and someone else was holding her to their chest, arms firmly wrapped around her. She could hear their heartbeat against her ear, fast but not nearly as fast as her own as it raced in her throat.

“It’s okay, Zo—we’re here. We’ve got you.” It was Mira’s voice, and Zoey could feel the vibrations so it must’ve been Mira holding her. “You’re safe now, you’re here.”

Zoey blinked rapidly and she finally processed what she was looking at, which was Rumi’s worried face. Zoey had a death grip on her hand but she didn’t seem to mind, and her other hand was gently rubbing Zoey’s knee. The motion and contact were grounding, and soon Zoey felt like she could breathe again. 

Her mind finally slowed from its frantic pace, allowing her to realize that she was in the penthouse with her sisters, curled up sideways on Mira’s lap. She wasn’t on a dark street where nobody cared to check on a screaming girl; she was with her family who loved her and were so wonderfully patient as they helped her come back to them.

“Hey, Zo,” Rumi said with obvious relief, smiling. “Welcome back.” Zoey quickly loosened her painfully tight grip on her hand, but didn’t let go. She needed the grounding contact.

Zoey stared at her for a few moments before taking a deep breath and letting it out in a heavy sigh, suddenly exhausted as the adrenaline faded. Mira’s arms relaxed around her but didn’t let go, for which she was grateful. She rested against Mira’s chest and closed her eyes, letting go of Mira’s shirt (when had she grabbed it?) to rub her eyes, which were wet—she hadn’t realized she was crying. Again.

“M’sorry,” she mumbled miserably, very much wishing to get off of this emotional rollercoaster she was apparently stuck in. “I dunno why… I’m like this.”

“It probably has something to do with the fact that your body and mind were forced to transform into a completely different creature last night,” Mira quipped, voice light but serious.

Zoey huffed out a weak laugh. “Good point,” she conceded, opening her eyes again to see Rumi still smiling sympathetically at her. She smiled back, tired but genuine, and Rumi’s countenance brightened.

A little while of silence passed, somewhat peaceful, but Zoey knew she had to finish explaining herself. The reminder made her smile fall and she rubbed her eyes again, feeling a headache forming.

“Um… after he… bit me,” she started, forcing herself to focus on Mira’s heartbeat in her ear and Rumi’s grip on her hand to keep herself from another flashback. “I panicked and summoned my shin-kals. I hurt him and he let go, and then he ran away.” She sighed. “It was pretty much right after that when you called.”

Mira nodded, her chin brushing against the top of Zoey’s head. “Makes sense.”

“The Honmoon only had trouble with the bite. I didn’t…” Zoey glared down at the couch, though she was able to see Rumi’s worry since she was still facing her. “I kept making excuses in my head about it. Maybe I hadn’t seen him right, or he looked different because I was panicking. I told myself I didn’t want to worry you guys, so I didn’t tell you how weird the wolf was.”

She saw Rumi open her mouth to speak, probably about to reassure her, but Zoey didn’t let her as her self-directed anger began to boil over.

“I was so stupid. Am so stupid. I thought that if I didn’t acknowledge it, if I didn’t accept that he could’ve been a werewolf, then he wasn’t. I-I lied because I knew that, if I had been bitten by a werewolf, you two wouldn’t be safe around me anymore.” Her voice shook, but she forced herself to keep talking. She had to get it out, even as her body trembled and tears streamed down her face. “Everything would change—is changing. I’m a-a monster now—I hurt you! A-and I might lose you or hurt you again or-or worse, and—”

“Wrong.” Mira, once again, was able to shake her from her spiral with her blunt, no-nonsense tone and a single word.

“H-huh?” Zoey sat up a little and Mira let her, her unnie's expression full of sympathy and determination. She looked up at Mira incredulously; how did she not understand? “But I—”

“Nope.” This time it was Rumi, following after Mira’s example to cut through the spiraling doubts in Zoey’s head. Her expression was similar to Mira’s, though there was also a deep pain and understanding there as well. Zoey suddenly remembered her reassuring words from the previous night about not letting the fear of hurting her loved ones stop her from letting them love her. Zoey’s eyes involuntarily traced the iridescent patterns on Rumi’s face, and she suddenly felt understood.

Rumi was watching her steadily, and she smiled when she saw the realization in Zoey’s eyes.

“You’re not a monster,” Rumi declared, and Zoey knew that it was something she was still trying to believe about herself. “You’re not fully human anymore, but you are not a monster.”

“You’re our friend;” Mira chimed in, resolve unwavering, “our sister. It doesn’t matter what you are or look like; that will never change.” Rumi nodded in resolute agreement.

The three of them rarely referred to each other as sisters outside of their own heads, so when it did happen, it always felt special. Zoey had never felt the simple word hit her harder, and she started to cry again in earnest and whispered a shaky “Thank you.”

Rumi moved closer and both she and Mira wrapped their arms around Zoey, engulfing her in an embrace full of love and acceptance and support.

And for the first time since that awful attack, Zoey felt like she had a future worth looking forward to.

Chapter Text

They held the embrace for a while, long enough for Zoey to almost fall asleep—which, admittedly, didn’t take long with how tired and utterly spent she was. Mira’s gentle voice saying her name stirred her from the edge of unconsciousness and she drowsily sat up, Rumi pulling out of the embrace but staying close and Mira relaxing her arms around Zoey.

“Before you rest again, we need to talk about a few more things.” Mira’s calm tone helped ease the anxiety that immediately twisted her gut and woke her up fully.

“Nothing bad,” Rumi quickly clarified, probably noticing the flash of worry on her face. “Just, like, how we’re gonna explain this to Bobby.”

Mira nodded. “We can figure out other stuff later, like what we’re going to do for the next full moon.”

Zoey swallowed and nodded, managing to dispel most of her nervousness as she moved off of Mira’s lap and back onto the couch between her friends. “I’ve actually already thought about that,” she replied, earning her two sets of curious stares. “The next full moon, I mean. It happens once a month, basically, so at least it won’t be super often.” She steeled herself for her next words, which came out in an apprehensive rush; she knew they wouldn’t approve of the idea. “When it happens, I’ll lock myself in a room until morning—we have the money to commission something I won’t be able to break out of, so I was thinking we could convert part of the dojo—”

Twin expressions of horror and Mira’s hands fisting on her lap made her voice falter, and she had to fight back a flinch.

“Absolutely not,” Mira growled out with so much intensity that Zoey couldn’t help but shrink back. Mira's intense gaze pinned her in place. “You want us to put you in a cage and, what, let you suffer alone? No way.”

Zoey shook her head, desperately wishing that her friends would understand. “But I’m dangerous—I hurt both of you! This way I can’t hurt anyone—”

“But then you’d be hurting and alone, Zoey,” Rumi interrupted. Her patterns glowed slightly with a silvery hue and there was a fire in her eyes that made Zoey hesitate. “We already saw that you can be in control and be calm. We’ll figure this out, okay? You wouldn’t let us suffer alone if the roles were switched, right?”

Memories of multiple conversations the trio had had that were similar to this but directed towards Rumi sprang to Zoey’s mind. She wilted slightly, her heart briefly at war with itself over accepting their love with the inherent risks, or protecting them by pushing them away. The answer was obvious, even though it made her stomach clench with anxiety. “... of course not.”

“Then let us help you,” Mira pleaded, and Zoey was caught off guard by the rawness in her voice. “It’s okay to need help; that’s what family’s for. You both taught me that. We love you, Zoey, and nothing will ever change that.”

Zoey’s heart warmed, but there was still an edge of ice that she couldn’t ignore. After a few seconds, she couldn’t keep quiet about it anymore. “But what if… what if I—”

“You know our answer,” Rumi affirmed gently. Mira put a firm hand on Zoey’s knee as she nodded. “We’re not—”

“No, listen,” Zoey begged, and her grip on Rumi’s hand tightened while her free hand clenched into a fist as she fixed her unnies with a despairing look that silenced them. “We don’t know anything about this. Last night went okay, but what if one day it goes wrong? What if—” Her breath caught in her throat and tears threatened to fall again, the mere thought she needed to give voice to already breaking her pounding heart. She saw dread spread across her bandmates’ faces as they realized what she was trying to ask. “What if I—really lose control? What if I kill one of you? Or I bite and infect you?” Fear made her voice shake and hitch, but she forced herself to keep going.

“I-I love you both so m-much,” she continued, not bothering to stop the tears anymore as her emotions surged again. “You need to promise me. Promise me that you’ll—you’ll protect yourselves, and each other. Please.” She tried to say more, but a sob came out instead. Unable to look at the devastated expressions on her sister’s faces anymore, she stared down at her lap, trying to focus on the feeling of Rumi’s hand in her own instead of the tumultuous anxieties raging through her mind.

There was nothing but Zoey’s stifled sobs for several long seconds, and then she felt Mira’s arms wrap around her again and Rumi’s free hand squeeze her shoulder.

“... okay,” Mira finally whispered, and Zoey looked up at her hopefully. None of them had dry faces anymore, tears streaking down their cheeks as they faced the thought of the worst possibility. “I promise.” Zoey had very rarely heard Mira’s voice so broken.

Relief let Zoey’s shoulders sag a bit, but she turned to Rumi to make her confirm the promise too.

Rumi swallowed, then gave her answer with an understanding but no less forlorn look on her face. “I promise,” she agreed, her voice faltering halfway through the words.

Zoey let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, relief sweeping through her body powerfully. She gratefully pulled her family in for a trembling hug. “Thank you.”

She knew it was an awful thing to ask of Mira and Rumi and she felt terrible for doing it, but this was something she couldn’t ignore. Everything would get so much worse if she attacked them and they didn’t fight back, or even if they hesitated to defend themselves; she couldn’t bear the thought of losing them, especially to her own lapse of control.

“On one condition,” Mira suddenly said, and Zoey stiffened in surprise and felt Rumi pause as well. Mira’s voice had its usual steel back, and Zoey tried to prepare herself for whatever she was about to ask. “If you think something’s wrong—even if it’s something small or you think it’s dumb—you tell us. No more lies, no more keeping things from us.” She pulled back just enough to fix Zoey with one of the sharpest looks her unnie had ever given her. “No more ignoring the problem. We are a family, and you told me that family works through things together. Prove it.”

Zoey stared at Mira with wide eyes, a mixture of awe and respect and adoration swimming in her gaze because—“That was, like, the perfect speech.”

“Zoey,” Mira groaned in fond exasperation, visibly fighting to keep a smile off of her face.

“What? It was!” Zoey grinned, happy to get such a reaction. “Back me up here, Rumi. It was epic!”

Rumi snickered. “I mean, it was,” she agreed. She then gently poked Zoey’s side, eliciting a surprised squeak from her. “But stop diverting.”

Oh, right. Zoey genuinely hadn’t been trying to stall or anything this time; Mira’s words had just struck her deeply and she needed to let her know. She gave a sheepish giggle before straightening up slightly and making serious eye contact with Mira. “I promise I will,” she pledged, putting a hand over her heart. “And this one, I won’t break.” She wilted slightly as she said it, still feeling horrible about betraying her sisters’ trust in the first place.

She thought for a moment about how she could ensure Mira and Rumi knew she was truly serious, and she lit up with an idea and stuck her hand in between them—which was slightly awkward since they were already sitting so close together, but that didn’t matter. “I pinky promise!” she declared, putting as much passion into it as she could as she fisted her hand and stuck her pinky out. 

Rumi and Mira paused for a solid second, then burst into giggles—though not at her, she knew. They clearly hadn’t expected the gesture, but after regaining their composure, they didn’t hesitate to lock their pinkies together with hers—awkwardly, again, because there were three of them instead of two, but they made it work. They always did.

“I solemnly pinky swear that I will not keep secrets anymore, and I’ll tell you if something’s wrong,” Zoey asserted, sitting up straight and smiling confidently. “No more lies.”

Rumi and Mira nodded appreciatively at her, then the former matched Zoey’s smile and spoke next. “And we solemnly pinky swear that we’ll protect each other, even if the threat is one of us.” The mirth in the room drained a bit with the reminder of the heavy promise, but they didn’t falter. 

“We’re a family, and we’ve got each other’s backs,” Mira finished. All three of them nodded and shared a smile as they briefly dipped their joined hands down to seal their oath. 

Zoey smiled softly at her sisters, gratitude practically radiating from her. Her sisters engulfed her in a hug again, souls knit together in love, and the Honmoon sang with harmonious unity—a powerful pulse of silver rippled through and around them, and they watched it with eyes wide in wonder. Zoey noticed that Rumi’s patterns briefly burst with a matching silver before returning to their dormant translucent white.

It almost felt like a hug from the Honmoon itself, a gentle wave of strength and peace settling over them like a comforting blanket. Suddenly, it felt easier to breathe, and the aching throughout Zoey’s body noticeably ebbed for a few moments before returning a bit softer than before.

Without having to speak to each other, all three of them shared looks of understanding; as if the Honmoon spoke directly to their souls, they knew that it was their unity that had caused the surge in strength. They were one—just like when they’d first reunited and created their Honmoon—without lies casting walls between them, and the soul-forged barrier reflected that beautifully.

“... whoa.” Zoey giggled, excited about the revelation. “It’s never done that before!”

“We haven’t truly all been on the same page that much before, except when we first made it,” Rumi quietly commented, looking at them thoughtfully. Zoey’s gaze softened as she realized her friend was right.

“That was epic,” Mira added, grinning. “Y’know, we really should experiment more with the Honmoon. It’s already connected our souls more; I wanna know what else it can do.”

“Ooh, yes!” Zoey exclaimed, sitting up a little straighter and clapping her hands a few times as several ideas already sprang up. “What if we can, like, talk directly to each other through our souls? Like telepathy! That would be so cool!”

Rumi laughed while Mira gave a cheer of agreement. “One thing at a time,” the half-demon reminded them, successfully regaining their attention. Her expression was still content and amused even as she redirected their energies towards a more pressing matter. “Let’s save that for later. We really need to tell Bobby so he knows what’s going on.”

“I say we just get him up here and tell him straight-out,” Mira suggested, shrugging. “We can try to ease him into it, but he already knows about demons so I think he’ll be fine.” 

Zoey nodded in agreement, though just the thought of the upcoming conversation with their amazing manager made her tired. She still didn’t feel remotely stable emotionally, and she was rather done with crying after already doing so much of it. But Bobby deserved to know, and the sooner, the better.

“Alright, I’ll let him know he can come up,” Rumi responded, smiling and taking her phone out to send the text.

They settled back against the couch, a comfortable quiet filling the room. It didn’t take long for Mira to fix Zoey with a long, curious stare, though, and Zoey smiled confusedly in response. “Mira?”

“What was it like?” her sister asked, her tone careful but earnest. “You said you remember it all, right?”

Zoey took a deep breath and thought back to the previous night. “... yeah,” she confirmed, nodding slowly. Rumi finished sending the message and looked at her with equal curiosity. “It was really painful and scary, at first—” She sucked in a breath and shook her head as the memories tried to overwhelm her, of the pain and dread and pure terror that had permeated her head and heart.

She blinked hard when a hand touched her knee, and she looked down to see Rumi’s hand there. She looked at her purple-haired bandmate and smiled appreciatively.

Zoey cleared her throat before continuing, “All I could think about was getting away from you, so I wouldn’t hurt you.” Her heart sank as she looked over at Mira’s bandaged arm. “Lot of good that did,” she muttered bitterly, looking away with a self-directed glare.

“You were in pain and freaking out,” Mira pointed out firmly, gently squeezing Zoey’s other knee. “Neither of us blame you for that; it was an accident.”

“Yeah,” Rumi chimed in. “It’s alright, Zoey.”

Zoey wanted to believe them, but the guilt was strong. Still, though, it lifted a bit with her friends’ reassurances. She decided to continue on instead of acknowledging it. “When I finished transforming, my mind… changed.” She paused, trying to figure out how to explain it. “It’s like… it-it was still my mind, but… simpler? I guess? And more focused.” She frowned and fidgeted with her fingers, staring at the table and thinking hard. Rumi and Mira glanced at each other, both clearly trying to understand. “And, like, I still knew who you were, but I couldn’t understand what you were saying anymore. I could only make out your tone; it’s like you were speaking a different language completely.”

She’d also been really hungry, but she wasn’t about to admit that or even think about what that hunger had done to her thoughts. She couldn’t think about how she’d initially wanted to hunt them down to satisfy the craving. She blinked hard and took a subtle breath to banish those thoughts; that was something she was perfectly happy never acknowledging or considering ever again.

Rumi tilted her head. “Wait, but you understood us at one point. What changed?”

Zoey shrugged helplessly. “Not sure. I was really scared, but it’s like, when I started to calm down, things became clearer.” She squinted, trying to remember the details and put them into words. It was hard, especially with the slight headache she still had. “Um… I guess… the more freaked out I was, the more I couldn’t think right? Like how you lose awareness when you panic, but... different.”

Mira smirked in amusement, though her brow was furrowed as she attempted to figure out what Zoey meant. “That’s really confusing.”

Zoey made a frustrated noise and gesticulated with her hands. “I dunno! It was super weird, okay? I’m trying.” Mira laughed and put her hands up placatingly, while Rumi seemed to be thinking deeply. “It’s like… when you two were just talking to each other, it reminded me of when things were normal, and it helped me calm down. And then I started to understand what you were saying, and then I could think normally again.” She paused, then smiled sheepishly. “Well, mostly normally. I couldn’t stop seeing you two as, like, my pack, basically. And I feel like I really need to protect you.” She hadn’t meant to say that last part and ducked her head, slightly embarrassed.

“Awww,” Mira cooed, and Zoey didn’t have enough space to dodge her hand as she teasingly ruffled her hair. 

“Hey!” Zoey giggled and swatted her unnie’s hand away, unintentionally leaning into Rumi in her attempts to escape.

“I got it!” Rumi suddenly exclaimed, making Zoey jump and both her and Mira stare at her in surprise. She blinked, realized she’d startled them, and smiled apologetically. “Sorry. But, I think I get why your understanding changed, Zoey!”

Zoey immediately sat up and fully turned to face Rumi, excited and intrigued. She didn’t notice Mira behind her, staring at her with sudden interest. “Ooh, what is it?”

Rumi grinned, excited in a way Zoey loved to see her get. “You said you couldn’t understand us when you were freaked out, but you could when you were calm and could think normal again too,” she stated, perking up a little more at Zoey’s nod of confirmation. “Your behavior changed a bit, too. You just growled and whined at us when you were scared, but after you calmed down, you were laughing and it sounded like you tried to talk once, too.” 

“Ohhh.” Zoey grinned as she connected the dots herself. “So the calmer I am, the more I’m like human me!” Rumi nodded enthusiastically. “And if I get freaked out, the wolf mind takes over. That’s… really good to know.”

Zoey nodded to herself, putting a finger to her chin as her mind took this revelation into account. If they were right, then there was a surefire way to control the wolf, and that made her feel incredibly relieved. She felt her shoulders relax and she beamed at Rumi. “This means we can control it.”

Rumi nodded again, looking ready to bounce around with the excitement of solving the issue. “Exactly!”

Zoey let out a sigh of relief and turned so her back was against the couch again, relaxing against the cushions and letting her eyes close. She could control it. She could make sure her pack—er, family—stayed safe, and could keep herself from hurting anyone as long as she was careful. There was hope. She could protect them.

“What’s so funny?”

Rumi’s voice made her reopen her eyes. She was looking at Mira with curious amusement, and Zoey followed her gaze to see that Mira was indeed trying to hide her snickering behind a hand.

“It’s—oh my gosh, Zo, you’re so cute,” Mira said with a laugh. Zoey squinted at her. “It’s just—Rumi, look at her ears.”

“My ears?” Zoey reached up to feel them, and was shocked when she found a different shape than she was used to. Her ears were slightly longer and pointed at the tip now. “Whoa…”

“And they move!” Mira exclaimed, grinning and gesturing at her own ears. “They tilted up when you were listening to Rumi just now!”

“What?!” Zoey gasped. She focused on her ears and tried to move them, and sure enough, she could feel them move up and down slightly. It was nowhere near the flexibility of her wolf ears, but it was still really cool. “Awesome!”

Rumi and Mira laughed at her excitement, and then Rumi suddenly leaned in close. “Wait, open your mouth. Do you have fangs too?”

Zoey gasped again and obediently opened her mouth wide, enthused at the idea. She’d always thought that Rumi’s fangs were really epic. Who wouldn’t?

After a moment, Rumi leaned back with a grin and nodded. “They’re small but they’re there! You actually have fangs on the bottom, too.” 

Zoey excitedly put her fingers in her own mouth, enthusiastically feeling the fangs for herself. Sure enough, Rumi was right, and Zoey couldn’t help but giggle with excitement. She’d definitely have to practice making faces in the mirror later.

“Ugh, no fair,” Mira complained, her head dropping back against the couch as she gestured at the wall in defeat. “You two get all of the cool stuff. I’m just a boring human!”

“This is just like those fun stories!” Zoey argued. “You’re the cool human who has cryptid roommates!”

Mira chuckled. “Does the human ever get cool stuff like fangs too?”

"Sometimes!"

“I mean, technically, you’re not a regular human either,” Rumi chimed in, immediately getting her friends’ curious stares. Zoey was aware this time of her ears physically perking up, which nearly made her giggle again. “You’re a Hunter; you have access to the Honmoon and its magic. And you’re definitely not boring even without magic.”

Mira nodded slowly, a smirk growing across her face. “Hmm, you’re not wrong. I guess I can live with that.”

Overcome with excitement, Zoey gave a small cheer and pulled her best friends towards her in a three-person side hug, causing them to laugh and reciprocate the affection. The quick movement pulled at her bandages, but she managed to disguise her wince as squishing Rumi and Mira closer to her.

The elevator suddenly chimed, and the three sisters perked up as Bobby hurried into the room. 

“Hi Bobby!” they greeted in unison, Rumi and Mira pulling away slightly so they could sit up straight again. Zoey dropped her arms to her sides with her hands flat on the couch.  

“Hi girls! I came as soon as I—” His eyes landed on the bandages on Zoey’s neck and face, and his expression pinched with worried panic as he hurried over to them. He also spotted Mira’s arm, only furthering his panic. “Zoey, Mira, are you alright?! What happened?”

“I’m okay, I’m okay!” Zoey quickly placated, waving her hands in front of her as Mira reassured him in a much calmer manner. “It’s just a few scratches!”

Rumi stood up and put a grounding hand on Bobby’s shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile when he looked at her. “They’re alright; we all are,” she confirmed, and he calmed down a bit, though the worry stayed clear on his face. “Here, sit down. We’ve got a lot to tell you.”

“Okay…” Bobby looked at Zoey again before following Rumi. She dragged one of the chairs over so he could be close and across from them, and he obediently sat on the edge of it. “Is it demonhunting stuff?”

“Not this time, actually,” Rumi answered, sitting back down next to Zoey. She looked to the maknae then, making it obvious that she should take the lead. 

Zoey took a long, deep breath, then made eye contact with a very concerned Bobby. “Okay. So, uh, you know that demons are real, of course.” He nodded, laser-focused. She decided to take Mira’s suggestion to not drag this out. “Turns out, werewolves are real too and I’m one of them now!” Rumi grimaced. Mira nodded seriously. Zoey held her hands up and wiggled her fingers like she was showing something off. “Ta-daa~”

Bobby’s eyes went wide and he blinked once. Twice. Thrice. Fource—frice? Fwice? ...four times. He took a deep breath, then steepled his hands in front of his face and looked three seconds away from a breakdown as he stared hard at the youngest. “You… let me make sure I heard that right—werewolves are real, and you’re—you’re a werewolf, now?”

Zoey grinned brightly and gave him two thumbs up, hoping to reassure him. “Yup, exactly!”

His eyes focused just below hers and somehow went wider. “Oh my gosh you have fangs.”

Oops. Zoey stiffened, her grin quickly dimming to an anxious smile. “Uh—yes to that too!”

Bobby shook his head briefly and took a breath to recenter himself. Then, he frowned. His expression was still full of worry and held none of the disgust or fear that Zoey had irrationally expected to see. “Wait, but—how? When?”

Zoey’s smile turned sheepish, and she pulled the collar of her shirt to the side to reveal the jagged scar of the wolf bite on her right shoulder. He somehow looked more concerned than before; his facial muscles were really getting a workout today. “Um. Remember when I visited my dad in Burbank last month?” He nodded, frown deepening, and she fixed her shirt. “So, I was out for a night run, and got attacked and bit by a werewolf. Didn’t know it was a werewolf then, but after last night…” She giggled nervously and glanced to the side at the fractured glass in the huge window, caused by her kicking Rumi into it after her initial transformation.

Bobby followed her gaze and looked like he was trying very hard to stay seated. He spoke carefully. “Last night was the full moon… so the first time you transformed?” She nodded, and his eyes flicked back to look over Mira and Zoey’s bandages. “Did… what happened?”

The girls took turns in telling him, and he stayed quietly attentive, nodding along and asking an occasional question. By the time they were done, he was caught up on what they themselves knew and looked substantially more thoughtful than worried.

He took a deep breath and sat back in his seat, and they gladly gave him time to digest and think over everything. They’d done the same when they’d told him about demons, and everything about the current situation reflected that conversation nearly one-to-one. Zoey held back a giggle at the thought, though she also felt bad because Bobby already dealt with so much. But this was something he needed to know, for a multitude of reasons. 

After a minute, their manager straightened up and nodded, his expression morphing to one of determination. “Alright. Okay. Thank you so much for telling me, girls.” He looked them all in the eye, and then started to get teary-eyed while compassion swept through his gaze. “You three have so much on your plates… I’m honored that you trust me with these things.”

“Of course!” Zoey replied immediately, overlapping Rumi and Mira as they similarly reassured their friend. “You’re more than our manager, Bobby; you’re family.”

“We literally trust you with everything,” Mira added warmly, smiling at the man who was quickly getting more emotional by the second.

“You’re the best, Bobby.” Rumi grinned as the other two girls nodded enthusiastically. “We’re lucky to have you, honestly.”

“Awww… I love you girls!” Bobby exclaimed, and they all got up and rushed into a group hug. Zoey was inwardly glad that she had enough strength to be back on her feet again and wrapped her arms around her family, and within seconds, they were all crying and expressing gratitude towards each other. It reminded Zoey of when Rumi first went to the bathhouse with her and Mira, and the comparison made her laugh and cry harder.

They all eventually calmed down and were sniffling as they pulled away from each other, every one of them a mess but not caring as they settled back in their seats—except Rumi, who grabbed the box of tissues from the coffee table and started passing them around before she sat down. 

Bobby recovered his composure first, and he smiled fondly as he looked at the girls. “You three mean so much to me—if you need me, and I mean for anything, I’ll do my best to be there for you.” His expression grew a bit serious. “I know this whole werewolf business is new and we don’t know much about it yet. Girls,” he fixed each one with a solemn stare, “if anything happens, no matter if someone gets hurt or how someone might get hurt—” His eyes lingered on Zoey, and the implication was not lost on her— “you are always welcome at my home. No matter what, no matter when. You know the code to get into my apartment if I’m not there, but please, let me help. I love you girls and I want to help.” He smirked a little, but his tone and eyes remained serious. “Heck, I don’t even care if you become criminals! You’re my girls, and I’ll never turn you away. I’m here for you. Always.”

Zoey felt a constricting weight lift from her heart at his sincerity, and nearly tackled Bobby in another hug. He let out an “Oof!” of surprise and then laughed, wrapping his arms securely around her. “Thank you,” she managed in a tearful whisper, and he nodded against her shoulder.

Zoey thought she had a good biological family. Despite the situation between her parents, they individually still loved her, but there was always something hanging over her relationships with them—like a demon lurking in the dark, waiting for her guard to falter so it could strike. She loved them both fiercely, but she could never completely relax around either of them. She always had to reign herself in and watch her words and tread lightly around certain subjects, though that wasn’t something she blamed them for. No one’s perfect and life’s hard.

Meeting Mira and Rumi had introduced her to a new kind of love—one where she felt like she could belong without needing to carefully think through every word or action. They had some rocky moments on occasion of course, especially at first, but once she bonded with her bandmates, they had become incredibly tight-knit and accepting of each other. They still loved her, even when she was weird, and they loved all of her. But she still felt like she had to work and fight to feel worthy of their love sometimes, though that wasn’t at all their fault—such a pressure was inherent in their line of work and the weight they all carried. If she wasn’t enough, then they could fail, and lives would be lost again. That wasn’t something that was possible to ignore.

Zoey hadn’t known truly unconditional love until she'd met Bobby. He was a great man and his countenance reflected that; he was easy to relax around and easier to love. He never made her feel like she was too much or not enough—to him, those things didn’t matter. She wasn’t sure why or how he’d become this way, but he was someone who loved with all of his heart and didn’t hold back. He had encouraged and comforted her countless times over the years, almost never judgemental, always doing whatever he could to help.

He was fiercely loyal and supportive, and although he of course had his faults and made mistakes, he never stopped trying to make right whatever he could. She’d seen it in his eyes sometimes in moments where he didn’t realize she was watching him; he’d been hurt before, certainly many times, but instead of internalizing the hurt and taking it out on others, he strived to erase whatever hurts he could and spread love and healing instead, even when it cost him. There was no one Zoey admired more.

She squeezed him once before pulling back, sniffling and beaming at him. He beamed right back and wiped the tears from his eyes, looking around at a smiling Rumi and Mira as Zoey sat back down.

“So, what’s the plan going forward?” he asked, ready to support them just as he did with their music.

A series of “Uhhhh”s and uncertain humming answered him, and he blinked in surprise. 

“You don’t have a plan?” His eyes widened, and Zoey could see he was on the path to panicking already.

“We’re still figuring it out,” Rumi reassured him quickly, offering an apologetic smile. “We have a month until the next full moon, so we’ve got some time at least.”

Bobby took a deep breath, clearly trying to keep himself calm. “Okay… okay. I’m not stressed about it. So! Obviously, we can’t schedule anything on full moon nights. Any ideas on what we do for events that can’t be rescheduled?”

They all quietly looked at each other, trading thoughtful glances. 

Zoey took a deep breath, shoulders sagging in resignation. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” she admitted quietly. “I’ll just have to stay here. There’s no way I’m risking going out in public on a full moon.”

Rumi opened her mouth to argue, but nothing came out. She and the other two gave Zoey looks of saddened sympathy, and she stared at the floor so she wouldn’t see their pity. 

“Then we’ll stay with you,” Mira finally said, frowning but determined. “We aren’t going to let you go through that alone, anyways. We won’t participate in any group events without you. It’s been that way so far and that’s not gonna change.”

Zoey quickly shook her head, curling in on herself a little. On one hand, she was touched and yearned for them to stay with her, but on the other, much louder hand, she despised the thought of holding them back. “No—no, you shouldn’t miss out on stuff because of me. Besides, people will eventually pick up on the pattern and wonder what’s up.”

This was what she was afraid of aside from the danger, why she didn’t want to consider the possibility of turning into a werewolf in the first place. She hated being a burden, and now they had to change some things and work around others just for her sake. Self-directed anger twisted in her stomach and she fisted the hem of her shirt in her hands in frustration. They shouldn’t have to do this—especially for her. She wasn’t worth it.

Realizing that she’d zoned out with her thoughts, Zoey tuned back in to Rumi talking.

“—night. There’s no way we’re just gonna abandon you while you’re in pain.” Rumi’s expression was one of pleading determination, catching Zoey off guard slightly. She couldn’t keep eye contact and felt shame tighten in her chest. “... Zoey?”

“I…” Zoey gritted her teeth. Normally, she’d be able to keep her emotions in check and quickly figure out what to say, but this was obviously no normal circumstance. She fought to think straight, her thoughts swirling through her head like a hurricane and making her headache worse. 

Something touched her knee, and several things happened at once as she was overwhelmed.

Her nerves spiked, she flinched hard, she felt a strange sensation at the top of her throat, and then she growled.

The sound was deep and animalistic, and Zoey startled herself with it enough to snap out of the sudden aggression prickling along her spine. She stopped growling and coughed, moving a hand to rub the front of her neck as she briefly felt the weird, almost pulling feeling in her throat again. It didn’t hurt and only lasted a second, but it was certainly uncomfortable.

“Um.” She quickly looked around, seeing everyone staring at her with wide eyes. Rumi’s hand hovered by Zoey’s knee, having moved it away in surprise. Zoey felt her ears lower a little as she ducked her head, embarrassed and still on edge at the same time. “I… didn’t mean to do that. S-sorry.”

Mira recovered first, and a grin stretched across her face. “That was sick.”

Zoey reflexively smiled back, though she felt awkward and knew that reflected in her expression.

“How did you do that?” Rumi asked, more curious than worried now that the shock faded. Her hand returned to her lap.

“I—uh.” Zoey swallowed, thinking over the experience. “I was… distracted with my thoughts, and you touching me sorta just… startled me? I didn’t mean to growl, especially like that.” She still felt bad about actually growling at her friend, but their reactions were helping her to get past that and realize that she had legitimately just sounded like a wolf, and that was actually really cool. Plus, none of them seemed bothered at all, only curious. She uncurled from herself a little as she started to relax and get excited.

“Can you do it again?” Bobby asked, stars in his eyes. “Can you make other wolf sounds too??”

Zoey giggled quietly at his enthusiasm and slowly released her shirt from the death-grip she had on it, not noticing the tiny holes that were now torn through the fabric. “I don’t know. Lemme try!”

Furrowing her brow in deep concentration, she stared hard at the table and tried to recreate the sound. She succeeded only in humming at first, but the others were quiet and didn’t interrupt as she tried again. Another hum; she tried again, scrunching her face as she tried to remember the startling feeling of danger and warning that had sparked the initial growl.

Her throat felt almost like it stretched slightly, and a wolflike growl finally escaped her mouth. Excited at the success, she immediately tried to cheer and ended up making a very strange noise and falling into a coughing fit, accompanied by the now-familiar pulling sensation.

Rumi, Mira, and Bobby all cheered, and Rumi hurried off of the couch towards the kitchen. Zoey had stopped coughing by the time she returned with a cup of water, and she gratefully downed it while Mira rubbed her back.

“Okay, that was awesome,” Rumi commented, grinning. A touch of worry returned to her gaze. “Are you okay, though?”

Zoey took a deep breath and set the now-empty cup on the table, a grin soon appearing on her own face as she nodded. “Yeah, I’m good! I just, ah, apparently can’t growl and talk at the same time.” She giggled, excitement rising as her mind sifted through ideas.

“Really?” Mira asked, raising her eyebrows curiously. “Is that why you started coughing?”

She nodded again. “I think so, yeah! Right before and after I growled, I felt this weird, like… stretching sort of feeling? In my throat.” She pointed at her neck and bounced in place slightly, looking between her friends with increasing enthusiasm as she quietly clapped her hands a few times. “I think it’s the feeling of my vocal cords changing, ‘cause humans definitely can’t growl like that! It felt really weird!”

Bobby looked thoughtful, while Mira and Rumi grinned and tried to match their maknae’s zeal.

“So you can, like, change your voice on command?” Mira clarified, then paused. “It doesn’t hurt you, does it?”

Zoey shook her head. “No, there’s no pain when it happens—it just feels really weird, is all.” She frowned slightly. “Which is way different from last night. It felt like my throat was being torn apart when I first transformed—” She felt slightly bad about how everyone else grimaced at the description— “but it doesn’t really hurt now, just takes a lot of focus. Maybe it’s ‘cause last night was the first time? Y’know, like how new shoes are stiff when you first get them until you break them in.”

Mira huffed a short laugh and shook her head. “Feels like a disproportionate metaphor, but I think I get what you mean.”

Rumi’s eyes suddenly widened. “Wait, if you can change your voice at will, can you change other things too?”

Zoey gasped, and her mind instantly lit with a whirlwind of possibilities. “Ooh, maybe! I hope so; that would be so cool!”

“Hold on,” Bobby cut in, putting his hands up. He was smiling, but also looked slightly apologetic. “Maybe you should try that another day, give your body a bit longer to recover.”

Zoey paused, blinking. “Oh. Yeah, that’s-that’s a good point.” She smiled sheepishly and settled down. Bobby was right; she was currently using pain medicine, after all, and vocal cords were tiny to change compared to something like claws. She’d definitely experiment later, though, when her body wasn’t exhausted and sore… or when the others were too distracted to reprimand her. Whichever came first.

Bobby smiled reassuringly. “Alright, so.” He went back into business mode, and the girls sobered as well in response. “If there’s something going on during the full moon, we’ll just say ‘no’ unless otherwise specified, right?” He looked between the three hunters, dutifully checking with all of them. “I can still ask you, just in case.”

“Right.” Mira and Rumi nodded.

Zoey hesitated, but ultimately relented. She had to pick her battles carefully, and this one wasn’t worth fighting, at least for now. “Fine, yeah.”

Her sisters sent her a grateful smile, and she forced a small one back.

Bobby nodded seriously. “Okay. I think I’ll try to not have anything scheduled for the day after, too.” He looked at Zoey. “That’ll give you time to recover so you don’t overdo it.”

Zoey bit her lip, feeling frustration bubble up again for causing so much inconvenience. She could feel Rumi and Mira staring very intently at her, though, and eventually gave a slow nod. “Everything else should be fine the way it is,” she declared firmly, her tone just a touch harder than she meant. She wasn’t going to be any more of a burden than she had to be.

Mira and Rumi hesitated, but didn’t argue. Bobby gave them a moment just in case, but when they didn’t speak up, he nodded again.

“Alright.” He softened and smiled at his girls. “So, what can I help with right now? I’ll certainly put in an order to get the window fixed.” He glanced at the fractured glass. 

Zoey grimaced. “Um… actually, I sort of… destroyed a bunch of stuff last night.” She sat up slightly with the anxiety to reassure him. “It’s not, like, a ton of stuff though, an-and I didn’t mean to! I promise I like our floors. It was an accident.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Rumi reassured, grounding Zoey with a careful hand on her shoulder and a gentle smile. “Mira and I cleaned up what we could, and we made a list of what needs to be fixed or replaced. It’s alright.”

Zoey blinked in surprise, then remembered that she’d slept for hours. Of course they’d cleaned up her mess; they were wonderful and considerate that way. It was a big relief to know that it was taken care of, but she still reflexively felt bad for unintentionally putting that burden on them. 

She smiled with a mix of gratitude and apology. “Thanks. I’m sorry you had to deal with the mess I made.”

Rumi’s grip tightened slightly and Zoey saw sadness briefly flare across her face, but before she could feel bad about that too, Mira scoffed. 

“It really wasn’t that bad, and it gave Rumi something to do so she wouldn’t drive her workaholic self nuts,” she said, smirking at the vocalist who made an offended noise. “So don’t worry about it.” She looked back at their manager. “I’ll text the list to you, Bobby. Thanks for your help.” She quickly pulled her phone out to do just that. 

Bobby smiled and nodded confidently. “That, at least, is easy to do! I know some people who never ask questions, so we don’t even have to worry about cover stories.” He checked his own phone as it vibrated, signaling that Mira’s text had come through already. 

The three girls smiled and relaxed, glad to have that out of the way. 

Bobby straightened up and looked like he was about to stand, but then he paused. He put his phone away and his demeanor changed to be slightly nervous, then he glanced at Rumi. “Does… Celine know about this, or—”

“No,” Rumi answered immediately, and her patterns pulsed magenta as she stared intensely at Bobby—who was clearly startled. Zoey and Mira’s eyes widened, surprised at Rumi’s abruptly dark tone. “We’re not telling Celine.”

There was silence for a beat, the others glancing at each other while Rumi’s expression resembled steel. 

Zoey bit her lip; so much trouble could come if they didn’t let Celine know. Given what Rumi had confided in them about her upbringing and Celine’s response when Rumi fled to her after the Idol Awards, she understood her leader’s hesitation, but her being a werewolf was definitely something they couldn’t keep from the former Sunlight Sister. It was just too risky to try and keep this a secret.

“Rumi…” She flinched as her unnie’s vehement gaze snapped to her, but Rumi either didn’t notice or she was too caught up in her own emotions to care. Zoey lost most of her confidence instantly, and her voice came out quiet and timid. “… we have to—”

“No!” All of them jumped at the demonic timbre that suddenly coated Rumi’s voice, Rumi most of all. She sucked in a breath, anger giving way to fear in an instant as she realized what she’d done.  Her breath stuttered and she drew back, automatically hugging herself and looking ready to bolt. “N-no, I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean—”

“Rumi,” Zoey interrupted gently but firmly, trying to stop her spiral. Rumi’s scared eyes found hers, and some of the panic bled away as Zoey steadily held her gaze with a comforting one of her own. “Rumi, it’s alright. You didn’t hurt the Honmoon. See?” Moving slowly and deliberately, she lowered her hand to the couch and traced her fingers across the surface of the magical barrier. It responded by shining brightly around her touch, still iridescent and strong. Zoey—and Mira, going off of her expression—was surprised that the Honmoon hadn’t been shaken by Rumi’s demon voice, but they were just as glad for it.

Rumi’s patterns slowly calmed to a smooth lavender as she followed Zoey’s example and gingerly reached for the Honmoon. It lit up beneath her touch just as it did for the maknae, and as Rumi focused on it, she gradually calmed down and relaxed. Mira reached over Zoey to put a comforting hand on Rumi’s knee, and the half-demon took a deep breath.

“S-sorry,” she stammered, far quieter than before and struggling to keep eye contact. She was still visibly anxious, but was no longer panicking.

“It’s okay,” Mira reassured her, gently squeezing her knee. She smiled thoughtfully, though her body was slightly tense. “I think the Honmoon isn’t affected because we created it, and you’re a big part of that.” Zoey nodded enthusiastically, having come to the same conclusion.

Rumi’s eyes widened, and then a tiny smile made its way onto her face. Her shoulders sagged slightly with relief, and she adjusted her position so she wasn’t tensed like a spring anymore. “That’s… that’s really good,” she managed, giving her sisters a grateful look as Mira straightened back up. She clearly had more thoughts about it, but kept quiet.

Zoey nodded again, but her own nervousness quickly returned; they still had to decide what to do about Celine, and she absolutely hated making her friend upset. “Rumi… we need to tell Celine about this.”

Any relaxation in Rumi’s posture instantly evaporated, replaced again by tension and fear. “No. Absolutely not.”

Zoey fought to keep her voice calm despite the irritation that was slowly building. “Why? She might know something that could help, or she could check her ancient library for information. It might be our only real lead.”

Rumi shook her head, desperation lacing her voice. “No. I’m not going to let her treat you like she did to me. I’m not going to let her hurt you.”

All of Zoey’s frustration drained away in an instant, replaced by sudden understanding and sympathy; Rumi wasn’t just angry about Celine for her own sake, but she was scared for Zoey. They knew now that Celine, while she did love most of Rumi, hadn’t accepted her demon half and had instead taught Rumi to hate and be ashamed of it and to view it like it was a blight on her very being—which ultimately led to so much heartache and pain and loss, to put it lightly.

Zoey had conflicting feelings about it all. While she usually liked to give people the benefit of the doubt and they didn’t know all of the details of the complex situation, Celine had still hurt Rumi on a deep, permanent level. She had engraved her own tainted worldview on Rumi’s heart, and they all knew that it was going to take a lot of time and effort and pain to recover from the damage done; trauma, especially so deep, never truly healed on its own and always left scars.

“And—” Rumi’s breath hitched, the apprehension in her eyes intensifying— “the only reason she didn’t kill me was because of a promise she made to my mother. If she decides that werewolves are evil, if she thinks you’re wrong, i-if she gets scared—” 

“Hey.” Zoey, still moving deliberately in hopes of not startling her friend, gently reached out and grabbed Rumi’s hands. Rumi looked like she might pull away at first, but then she relaxed slightly and let Zoey hold them, much to the maknae’s relief. “Hopefully Celine won’t do that, but if she does—” Rumi’s eyes snapped up to Zoey’s, the fear rekindled. “Even if she does, we’re not helpless.” Zoey smirked confidently. “Even if she wanted to, she wouldn’t take on all three of us. She trained us herself; she knows how much we kick butt.” That got a tiny uptick of the corner of Rumi’s mouth, which Zoey counted as a win.

“Exactly,” Mira agreed, offering her own little smile of confidence and putting a hand on Zoey’s shoulder in support. “We’ve got each other, and there’s nothing Celine can do about that.”

Rumi looked from one bandmate to the other, then slowly nodded. “Okay… okay. Alright.” She took a slightly shaky deep breath, then ducked her head slightly and looked apologetic. “Sorry for freaking out.”

Zoey grinned at her and squeezed her hands, trying to raise her spirits with mild success. “It’s alright!”

Mira shrugged one shoulder and smiled. “Yeah, it’s fine. It’s totally understandable, anyways.”

Rumi’s expression softened, and then she glanced over and did a double-take at Bobby with a small smile.

The man was near tears, eyes big and shining as he put both hands over his heart. “My girls… you three are just so wholesome,” he explained, voice wavering with emotion. “I’m so proud of you!”

“Aw, Bobby!” Zoey exclaimed, and they all got up for another group hug. If you asked Zoey, there was no such thing as too many hugs, and she absolutely loved the close bond they shared with their manager.

After a moment, they gradually pulled out of the embrace, and the girls returned to their seats.

Bobby quickly wiped his face and (mostly) regained his composure. “Unless there’s anything else, then, I’ll go and adjust your schedules and place some repair orders.” His gaze softened. “And I won’t say anything to Celine so you can tell her on your own time.”

The three hunters nodded back and gave him thankful smiles, especially Rumi.

“Thank you so much, Bobby,” Zoey said genuinely, resisting the urge to jump up and hug him yet again. “You’re awesome!”

He waved off her praise, but his wide grin betrayed his actual feelings. “Aw, I’m just looking out for my girls! I love you kids.”

Mira scoffed playfully. “We’re adults, Bobby.”

He turned and started walking back to the elevator, already pulling his phone from his pocket, but his grin was still in his voice. “You’re still kids to me!”

They giggled, and within moments, it was just the three of them again. 

As the excitement settled, Zoey remembered how tired she was. With a heavy sigh, she dramatically flopped face-up onto Mira’s lap and rested one arm over her eyes. To Mira’s credit, she didn’t react except to move her hands out of the way and raise an eyebrow at the maknae’s antics.

“G’night,” Zoey mumbled, her voice muffled by her sleeve. “I’m gonna sleep for eternity.”

Mira’s composure finally cracked and she chuckled. “Alright, drama queen.”

“Hey, that’s my title,” Rumi retorted with a smirk.

“Get dethroned, princess,” Zoey quipped, and couldn’t help but grin at Mira’s goading “Ooooh” and the playfully offended gasp from Rumi that her words elicited.

“Ooh, challenge accepted!” And with that, Rumi half-jumped, half-flopped face-up right on top of Zoey, though she was careful to not land hard and gave the smaller woman enough time to turn her head so she could still breathe. Mira just sighed heavily, though she had an amused smirk on her face. “Oh no, it seems like gravity is conspiring against me. However shall I cope?!” Rumi bemoaned with far too much emotion, laying one hand on her forehead dramatically and splaying the other in the air.

“Oof!” Zoey squeaked, her voice straining as Rumi squished her with her weight. She weakly pushed at Rumi to no effect. “Mira! Mira save meeee! Rumi’s crushing me to deeeaaath!” She couldn’t hold back a small giggle, and Rumi nearly broke character as well as she fought back a laugh.

“You got yourself into this mess; get out of it yourself,” Mira replied, voice completely deadpan. She had the audacity to then pull out her phone and started scrolling on it, holding it rather awkwardly considering she had two full-grown women laying on her lap. Rumi tried in vain to hold back her snickering.

“Nooo, the betrayal!” Zoey cried, raising the one hand that wasn’t trapped and blindly waving it dramatically. Rumi couldn’t hold back a laugh anymore, and Zoey quickly got an idea. She stopped moving and fisted her hand, lowering her voice to sound threatening. “Very well, Rumi… you leave me no choice.” Without any further warning, she then found Rumi’s side and started poking her relentlessly.

“Wh—hey, aha, no!” Rumi yelped, and she impulsively rolled right off of Mira’s lap onto the floor to escape. She grunted as she landed on her stomach, then sprawled out and groaned like she was suffering deeply. “How… could you…” She whispered as she lifted a hand shakily, then went limp and stuck her tongue out, letting out a weak sigh as she “died”.

Zoey took a dramatically huge breath, ignoring the twinge her recovering body angrily gave. “Haha, freedom!!” She threw her fists into the air and cheered. “I win!”

Mira grunted as she tilted her head to the side, narrowly avoiding getting accidentally punched in the face. “Yeah, no. Bye.”

She pocketed her phone and suddenly stood up, forcing Zoey to follow Rumi in falling to the floor with a startled squawk. She landed on top of Rumi, both of them grunting with the impact as they ended up in a pile again, and Zoey barely held back a wince. Mira didn’t even look at them as she casually stepped over them and started walking away, though the smirk on her face revealed her amusement. 

“Usurper!” Zoey shouted with playful anger, and she promptly pounced to try and grab one of Mira’s legs. 

“Hey!” Mira saw the attack coming and quickly jumped away, successfully dodging the attempt. A laugh finally escaped her, and Zoey grinned wide at the sound. “Go after someone your own little size; you don’t stand a chance against me.” She raised an eyebrow and smirked while folding her arms across her chest, pulling off the I’m better than you look perfectly. 

Zoey gasped indignantly. “How dare! Blasphemy!” She jumped to her feet, intent on chasing Mira so she could tackle her. “I’ll take you on any day! I’ll—oh, ugh, hold on—” She’d gotten up too fast and the room suddenly spun with hundreds of black dots invading her vision, making her lose her balance and collapse as a wave of lightheadedness stole her strength. 

“Zoey!” her friends cried out, all playfulness gone in an instant. 

Thankfully, Mira had been watching her, and had caught the change in her demeanor instantly. She lunged forward and barely caught Zoey in time, grabbing her under her armpits and stopping her just centimeters from crashing face-first onto the floor. Zoey reflexively latched onto her arms, though her grip was weak and trembling. 

Zoey smiled shakily at Mira as her sight slowly returned to her, the dancer looking like she couldn’t decide if she should panic or not. “Eheh, thanks for the save! I, uh, think I’ll fight you for the throne another day.”

Mira finally let out a sigh of tight relief, then proceeded to lift Zoey off of the ground entirely to carry her back less than a meter to the couch. Rumi was already standing there, having jumped up when Zoey had fallen, and she stepped to the side to give them space as Mira gently set Zoey on the couch. 

“Are you okay?” Rumi asked, her eyes darting over Zoey like she was searching for injuries. 

“I’m fine!” Zoey reassured with a slightly nervous laugh, putting her hands up placatingly. “I just got up too fast, is all. I’m okay.” She forced herself to relax and smiled at her unnies, ignoring the fact that she was still trembling as well as the pounding in her head. “Besides, it was worth it. That was fun!” Thankfully, the dizziness had faded and she no longer felt like she was seconds away from passing out, though she didn’t fancy the renewed headache.

Her friends both shook their heads and sighed with a mix of fond exasperation and relief. Mira stared hard at her a moment longer before she let herself relax. 

“Alright, I think it’s couch time now,” she declared, straightening back up. “We have the rest of the day off and some extra rest sounds fantastic. Especially for you.” She looked at Zoey pointedly, who ducked her head and grinned sheepishly. 

Rumi, ever the workaholic, frowned slightly and hummed. “You two relax. I’m gonna go work on the harmonies for Home; I think I’m getting close to getting them right for the bridge.”

Home was the tentative name for their next upcoming track, a power ballad that was sort of a sequel to Golden. It was coming along well, and Zoey knew that Rumi didn’t need to actually work on it; she was just really bad at relaxing. She and Mira were working hard (ha) to teach her how to relax, with mixed results so far. 

Zoey fixed Rumi with her best puppy eyes and pout. “C’mon, Rumi! Please stay and relax with us?” She lowered her ears as far as she could for added effect. 

Rumi lasted all of three seconds before she relented, sighing with a smile. “Alright, fine. Couch time it is.”

Zoey cheered and Mira pumped a fist in victory, causing Rumi to laugh as she grabbed a blanket from a nearby pile made for similar occasions. Zoey took her time getting comfortable while her friends went to grab snacks, and the lyricist quickly pulled out her phone.

After checking that Mira and Rumi weren’t paying attention to her, Zoey pulled up Celine’s contact and opened her message history. She frowned slightly at seeing that she hadn’t sent her mentor a text in months, but shook it off and quickly typed up a new message.

Zoey: Hey Celine! Random question but do you know anything about werewolves? I heard someone talk about them a few days ago and it made me wonder if they’re real like demons are. The internet’s unreliable but then I remembered that you have your ancient library, do you think there’d be anything in there about them? :o 

Zoey bit her lip as she read the message over a few times, making sure it sounded nonchalant enough to not raise suspicion. This wasn’t the first time she’d asked Celine about random things, and while this was certainly not random, she wanted Celine to believe it was until they could tell her what was actually going on. She figured it would take a few more days of convincing before Rumi would be okay with filling her in, so until then, Zoey would of course respect her wishes and keep it a secret. She wasn’t sure Rumi would approve of her asking even without revealing anything though, which was why Zoey waited until her sisters were distracted to send out the text.

Movement caught her eye and she looked up to see her unnies making their way over, arms full of snacks. Zoey got up—carefully—and grabbed a bag of shrimp chips from the top before plopping back onto the couch with a giggle, promptly ignoring Mira and Rumi’s admonishing exclamations and sticking her tongue out slightly just to tease them. A touch of lightheadedness hit her, but it was weak enough for her to ignore it.

They easily fell into their usual banter, and Zoey felt her heart swell with joy. This was the first true taste of “normal” she’d felt since the bite, and she didn’t realize how much she’d needed it until she had it. It made something deep within her settle, and she let herself relax and feel confident about the future.

There were a lot of unknowns still, but she had her family behind her and they had a tentative plan going forward. With Rumi and Mira (and Bobby!) by her sides, Zoey felt like she’d be able to face this whole werewolf thing head-on and win. Her newfound confidence overpowered her fear, and she knew that all would be well. They could face anything that happened as long as they stayed together.

… right?