Taehyung watched in disgust as the newcomer was treated like a prince by Allora. Staying in his spot by the window where he had first been when the newcomer entered, he watched as the man sat on a wooden chair in front of the counter. The water seemed to be falling off his person like he was a human waterfall. He cast his gaze about the rest area all dazed and confused as Allora walked over to him and brought a towel across his forehead to try to dry off his face.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

The newcomer didn't say anything, still gawking about from side to side. Taehyung felt his annoyance rise as he eventually started to move forward. Seeing something large and hulking moving towards him, the man's gaze focused on Taehyung.

"Koda, knock it off!" said Allora as she lifted her head from her work drying the newcomer off to see that Taehyung had his teeth barred.

'He smells like fish though,' thought Taehyung as he still stayed nearby as he resorted to a semi-snarl, watching the soaking wet guy with an irritated gaze.

"I...I don't know what happened exactly," said the man in answer to Allora's earlier question; the towel doing nothing to sop up the water on him. The man continued looking at the still growling bear that was now beside him. "Is he going to hurt me?"

"No. Koda won't hurt you," said Allora. "He's more bark than bite."

'Test me and find out,' thought Taehyung. He couldn't help but to not like this newcomer - not just because they smelled heavily like fish - but because of the way Allora was tending to him. He was jealous and he couldn't do anything about it.

"Let me get you a change of clothes," said Allora as she set the towel aside. She walked over to one of the shelves in the shop, grabbing up a plastic wrapped red and black plaid shirt and some tan khaki shorts.

Once the man had walked into the nearby single bathroom and shut the door to change, Allora turned to glare at Taehyung.

"You need to behave."

"I'm trying to. I just don't like him."

"Clearly," she said with a sigh. "You need to try to let him be though. He has done nothing to you."

"Yet."

Allora fixed him with a glare, leaving Taehyung to sigh and relent. He trailed back to his corner and sulkily began to eat his blueberry muffin as the man eventually re-emerged from the bathroom. His dark brown hair looked almost black due to it still being wet.

'With those clothes, he looks like a lost lumberjack,' thought Taehyung as he took a bigger bite than necessary out of the blueberry muffin as he continued to sulk.

"I hope that makes you feel at least a bit more comfortable," said Allora as the man gave her a small smile.

"It does. Thank you," he said to Allora before casting a wary glance Taehyung's way.

'Yeah, be afraid of me,' thought Taehyung.

"So, what's your name?" asked Allora as the man went to sit back down in the chair he had been sitting in before, keeping his eye on Taehyung.

"Seokjin," he said as Taehyung couldn't help but smirk a bit.

'Well he definitely earned his name sake,' thought Taehyung. 'He is certainly soaked.'

"Well, Seokjin. My name is Allora. You're welcome to spend the night here since it's getting late. The nearest town is rather far from here. In the morning, I can take you to the nearest town to see if they can help you figure out what's going on."

"Thank you. That's very kind of you," said Seokjin as he turned to look at Taehyung once more.

"And don't worry about Koda," added Allora as Seokjin and Taehyung both locked eyes. "He won't bother you during the night. I promise."

'She shouldn't promise things for me,' thought Taehyung as he glared in an unwavering way at Seokjin before wondering where exactly Seokjin was going to sleep that night.

- - -

"This isn't fair."

Allora stood in her nightgown by the foot of her bed as she hefted a sigh, looking over at Taehyung in her doorway. She was barely able to make out the shut door across the hall over Taehyung's hulking bear form.

"Lower your voice," she sassed. "He could hear you."

"He's snoring," growled Taehyung who could hear his chainsaw like snore from where he stood. "In my bed."

"You never use your bed," said Allora as she sat on the edge of her bed. "You always sleep on the floor saying you're waiting until you're finally human to do that."

"Yeah, but now he has tainted my bed."

"Stop being so dramatic. It's just for one night. We should be kind to him." Allora sighed again, looking at the disgruntled bear before her. "If it really bothers you that much, you can have my bed. I'll sleep on the couch in the rest area tonight."

"No. It's fine. It's...whatever..."

Taehyung watched Allora get up and come over to him, moving to kneel down on the floor in front of him. She reached up a hand to gently place it against the side of his face. Taehyung closed his eyes; the motion bringing him comfort. He knew that he ought to try and behave himself for Allora's sake. She had done so much for him throughout his life that this was something he could do to pay her back.

"No one will ever replace you Taehyung," she said softly so only he could hear. "You're special. Remember that."

As Taehyung left Allora's bedroom to head towards the front where the rest area lay, he didn't notice that Seokjin was no longer sleeping but was instead standing at his bedroom door, looking out into the hallway to watch Taehyung go.

- - -

Normally Taehyung was a sound sleeper. Allora normally had to wake him up before she opened the rest area for the day so he had time to not act grouchy towards anyone coming in. That being said - as Taehyung opened his eyes later that night - he was surprised that it was still pitch black outside. Shifting to sit up, he cast his gaze about the place as his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. Nothing seemed to be off about his immediate surroundings. Taehyung had half a mind to just dismiss it all as a bad dream except for the fact that something deep in his gut was telling him something was off.

Getting up from where he was, he padded across the rest area towards the counter. When he reached the counter, he noticed that the door that divided the rest area from the small apartment out back was swinging back and forth in some sort of breeze. As Taehyung rounded the counter, he could feel the breeze rush over his fur.

Taehyung went towards Allora's room first even though both bedroom doors were thrown wide open. He could tell immediately that the breeze was coming from her room. When he entered, he could see that the window in her room was shattered; the curtain becoming a contortionist in the crisp breeze. His eyes went from the shattered window towards the bed where Allora lay. She was laying on her back on the bed. One of her arms was dangling off the edge of the bed. It looked like she might have become overcome by exhaustion at first glance, but Taehyung knew that wasn't the truth. His heart dropped in his chest as he noticed the small river of blood that ran along her arm and dripped onto the floor.

"ALLORA!"

He didn't care if Seokjin could hear him at this point. All he cared about was her. His best friend. His salvation. He got up onto his hind legs once he reached her bedside, cursing his bulky bear form as he tried to be as gentle as possible in determining if her body still held life. No matter how he jostled her though, her face remained pale and her eyes vacant. Through Taehyung's tears, he could see that someone had attacked her with a knife. It had been a simple cut but the act it had carried out wasn't so simple.

Taehyung hadn't ever felt such rage in his entire life as he let out a grieved roar into the wind tunnel that had been created in her room from the breeze. His angry eyes turned towards the open door across the hallway. The anger continued to grow and burn in his chest as he charged across the way to see that the bedroom where he normally slept was empty. Seokjin was no where to be seen; the bed just an empty mess of tangled, semi-wet sheets.

"He's a dead man," growled Taehyung, believing that Seokjin's absence meant that he had something to do with Allora's death.

Using his nose, he began to sniff at the sheets for any trace of Seokjin's scent that had been left behind. He managed to track it from the bedsheets to Allora's room and then to the shattered window. His paws crunched over broken glass as he gazed out into the night. Allora's window faced the woods and it was impossible for Taehyung to tell from where he was where Seokjin had run off to.

"I will find you and I will kill you myself," growled Taehyung, sending Allora one last sorrowful glance as he vaulted himself out the window and into the night.