#if they got muddy and i had to bathe him? i need riot gear and a team of specialists

[naomiknight-17]

I kind of want to take the boys out for a walk again but it's supposed to be raining on and off today and I do not want to deal with muddy cats

[lubdubsworld]

A change of Heart.( Taehyungx OC)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Three days later, I was dragging myself back to my room , early in the morning. it had been a hectic few days but there had been a breakthrough the previous day and some of the doctors had managed to isolate the particular strain of virus that seemed resistant to attack the particular gene related to lycanthropy. A virus that spared humans and targeted werewolves was unheard of and almost all werewolf extremist groups were gearing up in protest, claiming that the government had engineered the virus as some sort of twisted biological warfare weapon. 

I didn’t want to think too much about the details of it. 

I was more worried about the three young pups, struggling to breath in the NICU. They’d caught the virus from their mothers who were also deathly ill.

My room was located off campus, down a narrow pathway and a few yard into the surrounding woods. it was a cabin of sorts, with a built in bath and kitchen and a spacious living/dining/bedroom space. it was still dark outside, as i trudged wearily across the damp foliage, my shoes squishing into the wet earth and leaving muddy streaks on the white surface. 

“What were doing out this late?” Taehyung’s voice caught me off guard and i felt my heart leap into my throat in surprise.

“Oh, Christ...” i whispered, clutching my bag tightly as i tried to push down on the panic. Taehyung looked unimpressed as he stared at me. 

“well?” He demanded, when i ignored him and moved to open the door to my cabin.

I sighed, exhausted. 

“Can i help you?” i said wearily.

He stared at me for a second.

“I have a proposition for you.” He said , voice a little stilted , teeth worrying his lips as he stared at his shoes. If I didn’t know for a fact that this man was richer than 90% of the people in my country and pretty much the definition of powerful, i would almost think he was nervous.

I didn’t respond, waiting for him to continue.

“My daughter....she...” He sighed.” She’s taken a real shine to you. She refuses to stay with any of her usual babysitters and insists that unless I invite you over for dinner, she will not in anyway listen to me.” 

He looked like the words tasted bitter on his tongue.

I stared at him.

“And?” i prompted.

He glanced at the cabin.

“I told you to quit your job. Why are you still here?” He asked, eyes narrowing.

“Oh wow. it’s almost as if you don’t have any say in what i do with my life, Mr. Kim...isn’t that shocking?” i smiled brightly, already turning around to open the door.

i yelped when his hand shot out, gripping my wrist hard. I whimpered and his hold loosened, but he didn’t let go .

“Nobody wants you here, Mirae ssi...” He gritted out. “ You and your kind are the reason we’ve been subjugated and oppressed for centuries, and I’ll be damned if I let you people infiltrate the once place that is supposed to be a safe haven for wolves everywhere....” 

His eyes flashed red, lips twisted with burning anger and I tried to pull my hand out of his grip. 

“And yet....you want me to have dinner with your baby daughter...” i snapped and his eyes narrowed.

“She’s a child. She doesn’t know any better. And i don’t want you to have dinner with her... i want you to come over and tell her that you’re never coming back here because you don’t fucking belong here in the first place....” He snarled.

i shook my head.

“i’ve done nothing to harm your species. I’m only trying to help...i know your anger is justified but you’re taking it out on the wrong person...”

I yelped when he let me go, but only to step  in closer, both hands closing around my arms and pushing me up against the side of the building. i flinched, when the old wood pressed against my skin, the harsh rub of splinters evident through my thin blouse. 

He was taller than me by almost a foot and I turned away, heart pounding as he ducked his head, nudging my cheeks a little.

“Am I? “ He whispered softly.” You’re not welcome here and yet, you can’t seem to want to leave. So what’s the catch? Did some rough old wolf catch your fancy....You wanna find out what its like to fuck an animal, sweetheart?” He huffed out a breath that was sickly sweet and warm against my neck.

 “What are you-?” I flinched when he growled and pressed in closer, this time his body pushing me into the wall. 

“I know that most of you women think that fucking a werewolf is the ultimate fantasy. A forbidden fruit. A sick little fetish. Isn’t that what we are to you?” He drawled and despite the almost seductive tenor of his tone i could hear the undercurrent of fury behind it.

“You’re being unfai-” I stopped breathing as he snarled , teeth closing over my throat , just shy of actually sinking in. i shut my eyes , my fingers clenching into fists as i willed myself not to burst into tears. I’d never been more terrified in my life.

“Am I? I’ve lived in this preserve all my life , Yoon Mi Rae ssi... Not one wolf has propositioned to me or behaved in an unseemly way  but every time i visit your mainland..” He made a noise of disgust.” Your women throw themselves at me like flies.” 

i’m not one of them!!, i thought miserably.

 “Let me go.” I shuddered out, voice barely a whisper and he chuckled, pulling away a bit. I stayed still as he stepped back fully, moving away and staring at me.

“Quit the job and get off the island. This isn’t the place for you. ” He said sharply. 

“Tell your daughter i said hi. And that I’m glad she’s nothing like her rude , obnoxious father!!! ” i snapped, because apparently, i was suicidal. 

Taehyung stopped to throw me a glare before turning on his heel and stalking away. i watched him disappear into the night before slowly sinking to the forest floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“.... do you think that humans in the preserve are in some way contributing to the deterioration of the community?” 

Taehyung took a deep breath.

“i think, every community needs to reach within itself and build and find its own stability. Wolves have been suppressed and denied opportunities for centuries. Most of the time, the excuse is that we aren’t meant to mingle with humans because of our dangerous attributes. By that logic, there’s really no reason why there should be humans employed at the preserve. But mostly, I think there are several qualified wolves who could take up the three posts currently held by himans at the research center alone. If you don’t want us in your space, you need to at least let us take control of our own....”

The interviewer nodded, making notes. “understandable. What about the current strain of influenza going around... It seems to be targeting lycanthropes in particular. “

Taehyung nodded.

“it’s quite unfortunate. Most of the affected cases are young pups. Humans themselves act as carriers without displaying any symptoms, so there’s another reason, humans ought to be kept away from the preserve. At least till this whole thing is resolved....”

“There’s talk about this strain of flu being man-made...” The interviewer said softly.

Taehyung shrugged.

“i don’t have any proof for such claims” He said quickly but next to him Seo Joon piped up. 

“ Well,  if certain factions of the human race did decide to develop some deadly viral strain as some kind of biological weapon against my people....well....it wouldn't be the first time would it?”

  The crowd went into a frenzy, muttering excitedly and Tahyung flinched. He didn’t want people to start attacking each other. Seo Joon wasn’t a pacifist like him. The dude wanted a full fledged war. Taehyung wanted no part of his aggressive attack. 

He stayed quiet for the rest of the interview while Seo joon rallied about how humans were responsible for the deterioration of the preserve. 

When the program ended and he began to leave the studio, he found Jimin waiting for him near the door.

“That was a bad idea.” His friend said quietly. 

Taehyung sighed. 

“Seo Joon is one the most respected men out there. i can’t antagonize him. At least till i win....”

“There are violent factions everywhere Tae... do you really want to fuel a full out war between us and the humans?”  

Taehyung brushed aside his concerns.

“i just want them out of the preserve. And most of them have left. There’s still just a few foolish stragglers. In a way i hope this motivates them to leave. ” 

His mind flashed back to her..

To those, wild brown eyes, whiskey deep and scared, her fear so tangible and real that it had appealed to ever base instinct in him. the wolf in him had preened at the idea of being feared....

And the way  her silky smooth hair looked as it flowed over shoulders, the pale, fragile perfection of her body, the smooth unblemished skin that had felt like silk under his lips. How tempting it had been, pressing her up against that wall, that insatiable urge to just sink his teeth in and bite and turn and claim....

He shook his head to clear that thought. He wasn’t attracted to her as a person. it was just the way she seemed to carry herself, like the perfect prey....

“i still think that idiot  should have worded that better.” Jimin shook his head.

Taehyung shrugged.  He didn’t want to talk about Seo Joon. 

“Let’s go get something to eat. Drinks on me.” He smiled, slinging a hand over his friend’s shoulder.

Jimin sighed but acquiesced, letting him lead him to the glittering black Bugatti near the parking lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a little past one in the morning when Taehyung finally reached the pier, ready to take his personal boat to the island when he noticed the commotion near the loading dock. 

He felt his eyes widen, when he saw a couple of humans, looking frazzled and upset as they climbed out of the ferry.

“what’s going on?” He asked his skipper urgently and the man looked up from where he was lifting the anchor.

“There’s been some sort of riot on the island, sir. some of the wolves got together and tried to attack the humans in the research center.” He said casually.

Taehyung felt his heart leap into his throat.

“What?” He croaked. 

“Yeah, they got all of them off i think. The wolves are nearly feral with anger out there. Something about the research people being the reason the kids were sick in the first place...that they were the ones who brought them to the preserve in the first place...”

Oh fuck.

Oh  fuck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She wasn’t there.

 Taehyung went through the two halls where all the humans from the preserve were sitting. once. Twice. And then again. 

 They were all wet and shivering, clutching their meager possessions and looking lost but he couldn’t focus on any of them. He tried to catch her scent, that soft buttery smell of cinnamon and lavender... but it wasn’t there. 

She wasn’t there. 

He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to bring himself to think. 

Seo Joon. He had to call Seo joon.

“Hello...” Seo Joon sounded groggy. 

“Mirae’s still on the island.” He choked out.

Seo Joon groaned.

“Who?” He croaked.

“Yoon Mi Rae....that  tech from the research center.” 

Seo joon scoffed.

“That little lab rat? Didn’t she get on the ferry that was carting all the rest of the vermin back to the mainland?” Seo Joon sounded bored.

“She isn’t here, Seo joon..this is your fault. You shouldn’t have talked that shit on  TV..... you need to go find her and make sure she’s safe...I’m coming over...” Taehyung snapped. 

Seo Joon made a noise of impatience.

“I’m sleeping Tae. And besides, if she stayed behind, she’s probably been ripped to shreds by now. Serves the little bitch right.” 

Taehyung felt the blood freeze in his veins. 

“Seo joon, we can’t let a human get hurt under our watch.” He said shakily. 

“Really? why the fuck not... it isn’t like they have any qualms about hurting our kind. its her own damn fault, coming here and acting like she’s fucking mother Teresa...I hope they fucking ravaged her. Should be a nice message to any other fool that wants to come traipsing into our land..” 

Taehyung realized he couldn’t speak sense to the man. He hung up quickly, calling for him chuffeur. There was not enough time to take the boat... 

“Lee?” He said sharply. “ I’m gonna need the chopper.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He found her in her cabin, tied up and tossed in a corner while some of the betas shifted around the entrance. They had been growling and gnashing their teeth when he had arrived but some kind of restraint had kept them from actually killing her. 

But they hadn’t left her unscathed.

 Taehyung tried not to let his claws pop, his eyes taking in the way she looked.

Her clothes were torn off and she had clearly been sleeping when they’d broken into the cabin , dressed as she was in a tattered white t shirt , plain white panties and mismatched socks. Her jaw was bruised, a trickle of blood dried down her chin. Her left eyes was swollen shut and her breathing was ragged and came in short, painful little rasps and it clearly hurt her which meant that she definitely had a few broken ribs. 

Fuck. Fuck. 

“This wasn’t right.” He said sharply and the betas cowered. 

“She’s the reason the pups are sick...” one of the men said and the others mumbled their assent. 

“Where is the proof?” Taehyung snapped.” We do not mete out punishments when there is no proof. We’re better than that.” 

The betas shifted guiltily and the stench of wolfsbane made him sigh. They were mostly drunk.

“Get out of here. The whole lot of you and get ready to get carted off to prison tomorrow when she presses charges.”

He watched them leave, waiting for the last wolf to leave before turning to her. 

She was staring at him with her one good eye. 

“You gonna...” She began and then stopped, shutting her eyes in pain. “ tell me you told me so...” 

She was clearly in agony, the putrid stench of her pain filled the room and Taehyung couldn’t breathe.

“you need to get to the hospital.” He muttered, frozen in place. She sighed.

“Can’t... Don’t want anyone...to know.” 

He stared at her.

“Mi rae...”

“itll make things worse....for your kind.... “ She rasped out. “ Won’t press charges...”

He couldn’t believe her.

“You’re willing to not press charges...?” He said slowly.

She sighed and nodded a little.

“Please help me.”She said softly and his heart lurched.

He moved quickly, crouching next to her and popping his claw to cut through the ropes binding her. She fell into his chest at once, crying out in pain when he gripped her arms to steady her. 

“It’s okay... I got you...” He said softly, loosening his hold and cradling her in his arms. She blinked at him.

“i don’t have anyone.” She said suddenly.

“What?”

“Family. i don’t have anyone.... You need... You need to let me stay with you. Till i get better...Can’t let anyone know....what happened....” She whispered.

He was nodding before the words even registered. Staring into her eyes, he felt like he could have agreed to any damn thing she’d ask him. 

She nodded and then closed her eyes.

“i’m gonna sleep now.” She said weakly. 

And then went limp in his arms. 

Fuck.

 Fuck. 

[thatbluegibson]

CH 38

(You guys, I fucked up that last chapter and didn’t add the ending. It’s fixed now!)

“Dave,” he heard Liz’s voice through the veil of sleep and squeezed his closed eyes tighter. He was dreaming about her sitting at the foot of his bed, bathed in morning sun, wearing his shirt and drinking coffee from his favorite mug and he didn’t want to leave that moment.

“Dave,” she repeated, this time he felt her weight on the bed next to him and opened his eyes. She was wearing the shirt he had on yesterday, holding two large mugs and smiling brightly.

“I thought for a minute I’d have to call the coroner to come get you,” she held a black mug out to him as he sat up against the headboard, but he took the one she held against her chest instead.

She shook her head as he took a long sip out of her pink mug decorated with ‘Mama’s Coffee’ in gold brush script and set the other one down on the nightstand. He kept his eyes on her as she stood and walked around the bed to the large windows, lifting each set of shades. Her hair was a wild mess of tangles from the night before and his white Sub Pop shirt was just long enough to skim the tops of her thighs.

“You lucked out. It’s usually just gales and rain this time of year,” she muttered, her eyes still focused out the window.

He followed her stare and felt his eyes go wide. The house had been built on a natural rock seawall, with a short lawn spread before the window that dropped onto the wide span of sandy beach. The Pacific Ocean lay beyond that, sparkling brilliantly in the late winter day. 

“Not a bad way to wake up, right?” Liz smiled and climbed into the bed next to him. 

He watched her crawl across the bed, the light from the windows revealing her silhouette underneath his white shirt and set his coffee on the nightstand. She stopped short just in front of him when she saw the look on his face.

“Oh Liz,” his voice still gravelly from sleep, “I have a much better way to wake up.” 

She squealed as he lunged towards her, dragging her under the pile of blankets and into his arms. 

*

After an extended shower together in which Liz thanked her lucky stars that she had splurged on the instant hot water heater, they sat on the upstairs deck as the tide pulled away from the beach below. Dave angled himself so that he could watch her from behind his mirrored aviators without her knowing, but was still close enough that they could talk over the sound of the crashing waves. She was bundled under a flannel blanket in her own teak armchair, holding her coffee in one hand and the stack of photos he grabbed from Krist’s last night.

“Oh my god, I love this one,” Liz laughed, turning the photo to Dave.

Liz was seven or eight, standing next to a late 70’s orange Kawasaki in a muddy field wearing dirty jeans and a wide smile with several missing teeth. An older man stood behind her, holding the bike upright with an equally proud grin on his weathered face.

“That was the first time I beat Pops around the track,” she added, lifting her sunglasses to get a better look.

Dave leaned over to look at it with her, “I had a bike almost exactly like that. Green, though.”

“Ugh. I still feel bad about crashing this one,” she shook her head and set her mug down on the little table next to her.

“Scrapped it?” Dave felt he had to tread lightly here. Bringing the photos over was risky enough, he had to coax her just to look at them, and he was worried one of them might provoke her to build her walls back up.

“Hit a root ball and sent it ass over end into the side of a metal shed,” she laid the photo stack in her lap at stared out towards the waves, “I think the shed took more damage than that tank of a bike, but they were both a lost cause.”

“And you?”

“Almost a lost cause as well!” her laugh was a little bitter, but she untangled an arm from her blanket to count off on her fingers. “Busted a bunch of ribs, my ankle, leg and arm. I shattered my collarbone so badly that it needed a graft, bruised my liver, almost lost a kidney… My parents were so pissed.”

Dave was beginning to understand why her grandfather had written her into the books. “Fuck, Liz. I’m surprised you got back on a bike at all after that.”

She shrugged and turned back to flipping through the photos, “I’m really bad at learning my own lessons,” she held up a 5x7 and looked at him over her glasses, “You had to pick this one?”

Dave nodded gleefully at her senior picture, complete with shell necklace, skateboard and Thrasher tank top.

“I didn’t know you were such a riot girl, Elizabeth,” he laughed.

“Foxcore, Dave. I was into Foxcore,” she giggled. “I’m pretty sure you fucked all my idols, too.”

Dave felt his laugh falter a little and sheepishly leaned his head into his hand, “Yeah, probably.”

She laughed a bit and returned her attention to the photos when Dave remembered something she had said. “I watched that interview you did the other day,” he said quietly.

“Oh, yeah?” Liz raised an eyebrow, but didn’t look up from the pictures.

“When they asked you about Everlong.”

“Oh good,” her voice was dripping with sarcasm, “they aired that part.”

He paused for a moment, gauging whether or not he should continue, when she sighed and pulled her sunglasses off. “The song itself is fine. It’s not my favorite, but… it’s the provenance behind it… for both of us.”

Dave stared at her, not sure what to say. It had taken a long time, but he didn’t think about Louise anymore when he closed every show with it. He hadn’t really thought it being a part of Liz’s life however, which seemed ridiculous since it was the most common song people wanted to talk to him about.

“You didn’t walk down the aisle to it, did you?” he asked, silently cursing the day he let the Friends producers use his song.

“Ha! No. First dance, though,” Liz put her sunglasses back on and threw the blanket from her shoulders. “Hungry?”

He stared up at her, snapping his mouth shut when she successfully killed the conversation with her question, “Yeah, sure.”

*

Dave waited in her kitchen as she ran downstairs to get dressed. He watched the waves for awhile before noticing a wall next to the fridge that was covered in framed photos. He was too far away to look at them, but he narrowed his eyes at the large gaps between frames as if there were photos there at one point, but she had taken them down.

“Ready?” she called from the top of the steps, pulling an old Rainier Beer hoodie over tight jeans.

Dave nodded, threw his hat on backwards and followed her out the front door, into an enclosed courtyard filled with potted plants. A small container fountain bubbled in the far corner and the smell of damp cedar filled the air. They walked side by side, following a paved path down the side of the house towards a small garage. Liz kept her eyes to the ground, pausing when something caught her eye. She took a couple steps into an edged garden bed and kneeled into the dirt. Dave turned to watch her dig her fingers into the soil, brushing it away a little to reveal bright green shoots emerging from their winter nap.

“Well you ladies are early this year,” she muttered, standing and wiping the dirt onto her dark jeans. She turned her attention back to Dave.

“Do you usually talk to plants?” he asked, his eyes flitting between her and the garden bed.

“Absolutely,” she laughed and headed towards the garage, looking back to ensure Dave was following her. He jogged the last couple steps as she flipped on the bright fluorescent lights in the tiny stand alone building. She pulled a set of keys from her hoodie pocket and unlocked a lifted Jeep Wrangler, when a sheet in the corner of the garage caught Dave’s eye.

“What’s this?” he asked, standing in front of it. The shape was obviously a motorcycle, but it was too slow slung to be anything he could recognize.

Liz joined him, pulling the canvas from the bike and tossing it onto a wide workshop bench next to her. Dave’s eyes went wide at the bike in front of him.

“I’ve seen this before! In Vegas!” he gasped and darted around to see the other side.

“Probably,” Liz muttered, “She’s been on more museum tours than the fucking Stones.”

“How is this yours?” he reached forward to touch the handlebars then thought better of it and stepped back. The Fast Twin Cam Board Tracker was just as he remembered even without all the gentle museum lighting.

She stared at him a moment then jerked her head to the wall just behind him. He turned to the blown up photo of a man in late 1940’s greaser gear, drunkenly leaning on the bike in front of a bar. ‘Hollister 1947’ was written in thick black marker amongst the scattered beer bottles at the bottom of the shot. The rest of the wall around it was covered in photos, trophies, mangled bike parts and tools, old beer and oil cans, even a couple dingy looking bras hung from a rusty nail. He turned back to Liz, his face aghast.

“Pops,” she said simply, then turned back to the Jeep.

“This is fucking history, Liz,” he was trying to wrap his brain around why she was being so chill about this.

“I know,” she pressed the garage door opener and sunlight filled the space around them. Pulling open the driver’s side door to the Jeep, she looked back at him, “I can show you around later, dude. I’m fucking starving.”

Dave reluctantly climbed into the Jeep next to her, his eyes still locked on the Number Five. Liz started the Jeep and the middle of the chorus to ‘Make it Right’ blasted from the sound system.

Liz laughed and turned it down before looking over her shoulder to back out of the garage, “Well that’s embarrassing.”