– Yu Jun
The hotel lobby was sterile, lit in warm golds and polished stone. Not a scent out of place. Not a voice too loud.
Still, Yu Jun's instincts itched like fire under his skin.
He walked across the marble floor with his hood pulled up, the sharp scent of bleach and human perfume irritating his senses. His kind didn't belong in places like this—too clean, too quiet, too human.
But a rogue had passed through this city. He could smell it in the carpet, in the air vents, on the concierge's clipboard.
He stepped into the elevator alcove, already dreading the ride up, when—
He stopped.
Someone was already standing there.
A figure. Still. Silent. Hood pulled low, hands in the front pocket of an oversized sweatshirt. Baggy pants hung low on slim hips. Their entire face was hidden, just a slim nose visible under the shadows of the hoodie and the black mask they wore.
Delicate. Small. Almost too still.
Yu Jun's heart gave a strange beat.
They didn't look up, didn't shift, didn't even fidget.
And yet…
A scent reached him—faint, like starlight and winter wind.
Something… old.
Something familiar.
His body tightened. His lycan side leaned forward. Mate?
But—no. It couldn't be.
There was no responding pulse. No magnetic pull. No bond vibrating between them.
Just him.
Just…confusion.
He found himself staring at their figure. The height. The frame. Slender, but not weak. Feminine…maybe. Masculine…maybe not. Something in-between. He didn't know. He didn't care.
He just couldn't stop looking.
The elevator dinged. The doors opened. The figure stepped in without hesitation.
Yu Jun followed, not even thinking.
They stood apart, silent.
He could smell them now—moonlight and frost. It shouldn't exist. It wasn't wolf. It wasn't lycan. It wasn't right.
But it made something deep inside him go quiet.
The elevator doors opened on the 8th floor. The figure walked out without looking back.
Yu Jun didn't follow. He stood in the empty elevator, fists clenched, heart pounding.
--
– Ye Jun
Inside the hotel elevator, Ye Jun dropped his hoodie and leaned against the door, breath held.
Something had touched him.
Not physically. Not a scent. But a presence.
He'd felt a weight when that man had stood behind him. Heavy. Wild. Terrifying. It made his stomach twist in a way he didn't understand.
He reached up to pull his nose mask down, fingers tremling .
– Ye Jun
The moment he stepped out of the elevator, footsteps thundered down the hall.
"Where the hell have you been!?"
"Ye Jun!"
"We thought someone kidnapped you, dumbass!"
Ye Jun was immediately swallowed into a crushing group hug.
Min wrapped both arms around his neck, nearly choking him. "You didn't answer your phone for three hours. I was this close to calling the Hunters."
"I said we needed a leash," Jin muttered, arms crossed but clearly relieved. "Kid disappears like mist in the mountains."
"You left to buy tea!" Ryung added, adjusting his glasses.
"I drifted," Ye Jun mumbled, muffled against Min's shoulder. "The bookstore distracted me."
"Next time leave a damn scent trail," Kwang growled.
Ye Jun laughed softly, a sound full of warmth.
Whatever strange feeling had brushed against him in the elevator…
It faded.
Surrounded by his friends, their noise, their chaos, their love—
He forgot the ache that had settled in his chest.
At least for now.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
---
– Yu Jun & Hyeon-u
"You're distracted."
Yu Jun looked up from where he was sitting in the hotel rooftop lounge. Hyeon-u stood beside him, arms folded, eyes scanning his Alpha with the precision of someone who didn't ask often—but always knew when to.
"I'm fine," Yu Jun muttered.
Hyeon-u raised a brow. "You growled at the receptionist for breathing too loud."
Yu Jun said nothing.
"Talk."
A long pause. Then: "In the elevator… I smelled something."
Hyeon-u narrowed his eyes slightly. "Rogue?"
"No. Not danger. Just… unfamiliar. But ancient. It didn't make sense." Yu Jun's voice lowered. "It didn't smell like a wolf. Or a lycan. But my instincts—my other side—reacted."
Hyeon-u's posture stiffened. "Mate?"
"yu jun didn't answer."
There was a quiet moment. Then Hyeon-u nodded once. "I'll trace it."
---
– Hyeon-u Follows the Scent
Hyeon-u was built for this: steady, silent, calculating. He used the faint trace left in the elevator and tracked it up to the 8th floor.
He saw them immediately—five people crowded outside one of the rooms. Laughter. A blur of limbs. One wore baggy clothes and a hoodie, the likely figure from Yu Jun's elevator sighting.
But the scent…
It wasn't coming from the hooded one.
Hyeon-u took another step down the hall. His breath hitched.
There.
His eyes locked on the shorter, sharp-mouthed figure joking loudly and throwing an arm around the hoodie-wearer's shoulders—bright smile, messy hair, too much energy for this late at night.
Kwang.
No. It couldn't be.
But it was. The moment Hyeon-u inhaled again, his body tensed. His wolf stirred. A primal part of him let out a whisper:
Mate.
He backed into the shadows immediately, heart pounding.
---
You always know.
Not because someone tells you.
Not because a mark appears.
But because everything inside you shifts.
Their scent lodges in your memory like your own heartbeat—recognizable even across a battlefield. It's the one smell that makes your instincts quiet. Makes your soul ache. Makes your wolf kneel.
That scent is home.
And Kwang…
Smelled like rain on scorched earth. Like forgiveness and fire.
Hyeon-u clenched his fists.
He had promised himself he'd never take a mate. Never be ruled by a bond.
And yet… here he was.
Watching Kwang laugh.
Feeling like he couldn't breathe.
---