Chapter 13
A dry cough escaped from Ethan, his chest heaving dramatically, and then his bones and muscles began to reassemble themselves.
After a few seconds had passed—
“What do you mean, ‘I’m fine’?”
He had turned into an animal in less than a few minutes.
Letting out a deep sigh, Seoha gently stroked the fur of the unconscious black wolf.
She tried to think about what she could do in this situation, but no matter how hard she thought, there was no way she could take a wolf onto a taxi.
‘Looks like I’ll have to call Jinwoo.’
When Jinwoo arrived, she’d have to ask him not to tell the family about any of this.
Ethan probably wouldn’t like that, but she had no choice. He needed a hospital.
Just as Seoha carefully retrieved the phone Ethan had been holding with his front paw—
Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz—
A string of vibrations buzzed through the air. It wasn’t her phone.
It must be Ethan’s. Seoha rummaged through his fallen clothes and found his phone.
Just as she suspected—it was Ethan’s. An unknown number was displayed on the screen.
No way a spam call would come this early in the morning.
So it must be someone who knows Ethan, but then again, why wasn’t the number saved?
Wait, why am I even thinking about this?
It’s not like I’m going to answer it.
As she was about to put the phone back into Ethan’s clothes, Seoha accidentally pressed the call button.
–Where are you now?!
The voice burst out in English the moment the call connected. Oh, right. He was a foreigner.
Remembering that fact, Seoha glanced at the unconscious Ethan lying limp on the bed and replied,
“Um, I’m not Ethan.”
A moment of silence followed. Did the caller hang up? No, it was still connected.
“Hello? Are you there?”
–…Who is this?
The voice was speaking in surprisingly fluent Korean, only slightly awkward. Certainly not what you’d expect from a foreigner.
How should she respond? If she gave her name, the caller probably wouldn’t know who she was.
–Are you Han Seoha, by any chance?
“You know me?”
Seoha was a little surprised that this stranger knew her name.
–I heard about you from Ethan. I’m Noah Miller, his cousin.
Ah, the cousin who’d supposedly been nagging him to go on blind dates.
But why wasn’t his number saved in Ethan’s phone? Strange.
–I hope I didn’t interrupt anything… pleasant.
“Pleasant? No, definitely not.”
Seoha hurried to deny it and explained the situation.
“Last night, Ethan was attacked and got seriously injured. We had to hide out in a motel nearby for the time being…”
–He was injured?! How badly? Was it serious enough that he can’t answer the phone himself?
The English came so fast that even if it had been Korean, it would’ve been hard to understand.
Flustered, Seoha stayed silent. Sensing this, Noah clicked his tongue and switched back to Korean.
–I’m sorry. So, what’s Ethan’s condition?
“He’s not in life-threatening danger, but he really needs to go to a hospital soon. The wounds need stitching.”
–I’ll be there right away.
“Then let me give you the addr—”
Before she could even finish, the call was abruptly disconnected.
Why so impatient? Clicking her tongue, Seoha tried calling Noah back, but he was busy. No matter how many times she called, the line was still tied up.
Well, there was no helping it. She’d just have to leave a message.
As she searched the call history, she happened to open the contacts list by accident.
There were only two saved contacts. One of them… was her.
“…?”
That detail struck her strangely, and Seoha stared at her own name on his screen.
“…I guess I’ll save his number too.”
Just in case. While she was at it, she saved Noah’s number as well.
She didn’t stop there. She also scheduled a text to send Noah’s number to Jinwoo—just in case Noah turned out not to be Ethan’s cousin and something went wrong.
She gave herself a generous three-hour window. If nothing happened by then, she would cancel the message.
After saving the numbers, she checked Ethan’s wounds.
She wiped away the dried blood with a wet cloth and was wrapping a new bandage when—
Knock knock.
“Han Seoha?”
It was Noah’s voice. She wanted to check outside, but there was no peephole or door viewer.
Left with no choice, Seoha cautiously opened the door with the latch still on.
“Hello.”
Standing in front of the door was a foreigner with dazzling blonde hair. Not quite Ethan’s level of good looks, but still impressive.
So this was Noah Miller? Was he really?
Seoha eyed him up and down warily.
“Wow, you’re quite cautious. I like that, I really do.”
Though her attitude could’ve been offensive, Noah just chuckled cheerfully.
“Allow me to introduce myself again. I’m Noah Miller, Ethan’s cousin.”
He placed his hand over his chest and bowed politely like a gentleman.
“When I called Ethan, didn’t my name show up on his phone?”
“No. Your number wasn’t saved.”
“Huh?”
He clicked his tongue and muttered something quickly in English.
Still watching him silently, Seoha closed the door, unlocked the latch, and opened it again.
“Come in.”
Noah looked at her in surprise.
“I didn’t think you’d let me in so easily.”
“You smell like that man.”
Amid his own scent and the faint smell of the wind, Ethan’s scent clung to him.
That meant the two had been around each other often, and if that was true, he probably wasn’t an enemy.
So Seoha allowed him in.
“Smell, huh.”
Noah looked puzzled as he sniffed his own arm and tilted his head.
“That’s strange. I’ve never smelled Ethan on myself.”
“You’ve probably gotten used to it from always being near him.”
Your sense of smell adapts quickly, after all.
“And I also have a sharper sense of smell than most limes.”
Just then, a faint groan came from the room.
Seoha’s expression hardened.
“No time for chit-chat. Come in. We need to get that man to a hospital—fast.”
She grabbed Noah’s arm and led him straight into the room without hesitation.
Noah’s amused expression changed the moment he saw Ethan lying bandaged on the bed.
“Ethan!”
He shook off Seoha’s hand and rushed over. His face wasn’t just worried—it was desperate.
As if his entire world was collapsing.
Only beastkin could carry on the family line, and the family only continued to exist because of beastkin.
That made beastkin incredibly important, but this reaction… seemed too intense.
Is there some special reason?
Or maybe he simply cared deeply for Ethan.
Whatever the case, one thing was certain: Noah wasn’t a threat to Ethan.
She could trust him with Ethan.
“Well, I’ll get going now.”
After saying goodbye, Seoha left the motel room and canceled the scheduled message to Jinwoo.
***
Ethan came to a little after noon.
[You’re awake.]
Noah had stayed by his side since arriving at the motel. He asked gruffly.
Ethan didn’t reply. He tried to sit up—
Then scowled, realizing he was still in wolf form.
[Don’t.]
Noah quickly pressed a hand on Ethan’s shoulder to stop him from shifting back.
[You heal faster in this form. Just stay still. You hurt your shoulder too, not just your side. It’s best if you do nothing for at least a day.]
Ethan bared his sharp canines between his long snout.
[Let go.]
[No. Don’t be stubborn. You were fine staying in animal form around that woman—what’s the problem now?]
That woman?
Wait. Where was she?
Ethan looked around the room, but Seoha was nowhere in sight.
She didn’t come?
His eyes sharpened instantly.
[Where is she?]
He asked, hoping maybe she had stepped out for a moment. But Noah crushed that hope.
[She already left.]
[When?]
[Back at the motel. She told me to take care of you.]
At that, Ethan shoved Noah’s hand away and transformed back into a human.
[You—how could you…!]
[Where’s my phone?]
Cutting Noah off, Ethan demanded. Noah let out a sigh and silently handed him the phone from the nightstand.
Ethan immediately called Seoha.
As he transformed, his wounds ached. Maybe they’d reopened.
He was angry—not just because of those who hurt him—but more because Seoha had just left.
If she trusted Noah, that still didn’t make sense—Seoha didn’t know Noah was his cousin or aide.
Even if Noah had said so, she shouldn’t have believed it so easily.
Or she should’ve come along.
But she had done neither. That irritated Ethan.
Did she not care what happened to him?
–Hello?
Just as his frustration boiled up to his throat, Seoha answered.
“Where are you?”
–Where do you think? I’m at the hospital.
Her curt reply came with the sound of typing in the background.
–So you’re finally awake? Good. How’s your body? Did you get your wounds treated?
Her soft voice washed over him, easing the frustration that had been clawing at his chest.
“You worried about me?”
–Of course I did. You were hurt.
If only she’d left it at that.
Still, the corners of Ethan’s mouth, which had been tightly drawn, relaxed slightly.
Noah clicked his tongue at the sight.
“When will you be done?”
Ignoring him, Ethan buried his face in the pillow and asked with a suddenly sweetened tone,
“Let me pick you up. Let’s have dinner together.”
