donghyuck squirmed awake, feeling a soft breeze caressing his bare legs and his face.

keeping his eyes shut, he cuddled more into the warm figure that was holding him in a seated position. he didn't really know why he was sleeping in such a position, but right now, he didn't care, because he felt comfortable.

"hello sunshine." a deep voice – that he recognised to be mark's – said, making donghyuck widen his eyes immediately and back away in fear.

however, what he didn't know was that he was sitting on mark's lap, on a branch, meters up from the ground. thanks to his reflexes, mark caught donghyuck's arm before he could fall and pulled him back on his lap again effortlessly.

"be careful donghyuck. you almost died there." mark caressed donghyuck's back under his shirt, sending shivers down donghyuck's spine. the boy was still in his cat costume from the night before, and when he saw the way mark looked at him, he couldn't help but blush.

"my head hurts..." the tanned male pouted, rubbing his temples.

"that's surely because of this son of a bitch." mark mumbled earning a confused look from the younger. "you don't remember?"

"n-no..." donghyuck shook his head. "i just remember, you know... you and daniel... and then... nothing." donghyuck lowered his head, tears threatening to fall again when recalling the past events.

"well..." mark rested his hand on donghyuck's waist, holding him to prevent him from falling down. "some asshole drugged you. and he tried to sexually abuse you." mark explained slowly.

donghyuck let out a sob at mark's words.

mark immediately pulled him against his chest, caressing his nape in a soothing manner.

"w-what did i... what did i do to deserve this?" donghyuck sobbed. "my life is a mess... every time something good happens, something bad comes and crashes everything down!"

mark tightened his embrace around the boy's waist.

"sunshine, stop crying. i'm here now. you're safe." mark whispered in his ear, drawing random patterns with his fingers on his back in an attempt to calm the younger's ravaged breathing.

donghyuck's sobs stopped, and now, only small whimpers left his pinkish lips.

"look at me." mark ordered.

donghyuck pulled back from mark's chest, his hands still clutching on his shirt. mark lifted his head a bit so that donghyuck could look at him in the eyes and not try to avoid his eyes.

"hear me out donghyuck." mark said in a determined tone, eyes not leaving donghyuck's. "i promise i will never let anyone lay a single finger on you. you're too precious. i can't afford to see you hurt. i will fight for you donghyuck. i'll always be by your side to protect you. do you understand?" mark continued; his own eyes filled with compassion.

"b-but... why? w-why are you doing this mark?" donghyuck asked, tears falling from his eyes again.

"because i l- "

"mark? you're here?" a voice asked cutting mark in his sentence.

mark blushed, looking away from donghyuck. was he about to confess his love to donghyuck knowing that the boy's heart was a mess right now?

"hum... yeah, i'm here." mark answered catching the boy's attention.

"is donghyuck with you? i can't find him in your room."

mark shyly looked at donghyuck whose face was full of tears.

"yes, he's here."

"okay, come back inside. there will be a storm in few." the vampire said before leaving mark and donghyuck alone again.

"hum... we should go down." mark said after a while.

donghyuck nodded, forgetting mark was about to tell him something.

mark passed an arm around the boy's waist and the other under his thigh as donghyuck wrapped his legs around mark's torso so that mark could jump off the tree.

once there were down on the grass, donghyuck tried getting off mark, but the vampire only tightened his grip on the boy.

"a-aren't you going to let me go?" donghyuck looked at mark.

mark unwrapped the arm that was around donghyuck's waist to wipe the tears that were slowly drying on his cheeks. "no. i feel like you like it up here." he smiled. "and i like it too."

donghyuck blushed before hiding his face into the crook of mark's neck.

mark chuckled before entering his house, not sparing a glance at his clan members who were giving him teasing looks because of the boy he was carrying.

he rushed to his room and thankfully, neither jeno nor jaemin or jisung were there.

mark gently placed donghyuck on the sofa of the room before heading to his dressing.

"let's get you changed okay?"

donghyuck looked at him with innocent eyes, tilting his head.

"don't get me wrong. i absolutely love the way you look right now." mark said, shamelessly checking donghyuck out, making the tanned male blush. "but i don't want the others to see you like this. only me."he added, growling and his eyes turning red, making donghyuck gulp.

mark really made him feel like he belonged to him.

mark interrupted his dreamy thoughts by handing him a set of clothes.

"do you want to have a shower?"

donghyuck nodded.

†

"where's ginny?" ten asked.

"ginny?" mark looked at him confused.

ten rolled his eyes. "harry's lover. ginny."

"oh... he's having a shower."

"how did it go yesterday night between the two of you?" lucas asked, sitting next to ten and mark.

"he learned that daniel was a vampire when he thought he was a human. and after that he was drugged and almost raped. so... could have been better." mark explained looking at the wall.

"poor creature. he's such an innocent human." ten pouted.

"yeah." mark rubbed his eyes. "he's seriously messing with my feelings."

"and why don't you man up and kiss him already?" lucas raised a brow.

"because he has a thing for kang daniel." mark banged his head on the table.

lucas and ten widened their eyes. "for kang daniel?!"

"yeah. i know, it's... i don't know either how and why, but it's a fact." mark slapped his forehead.

"first they steal our territory and now they steal our boys." lucas said.

"at least, now that donghyuck knows he lied to him pretending to be a human, i have a chance to be the one he chooses in the end, but nothing is sure..."

"we really need to get rid of wanna one." ten declared.

"m-mark?" a small voice coming from upstairs called. "haven't you got something smaller?"

mark turned around to see who was calling him, and he shouldn't have done that.

what he saw made him fall even deeper for the boy in front of him, and at the moment, if it wasn't for ten and lucas holding him in place, he would have already launched on him and sank his fangs inside his beautiful tanned neck.

donghyuck was standing there, holding mark's sweatpants in his hands and wearing only one of mark's oversized hoodies, reaching almost his knees, making him sweater paws and revealing fully his neck and some of his collarbones.

this boy truly made mark go crazy.