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chimcess · 8 months

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→ Chapter Nine: Landscapes Pairing: Jimin x Reader Other tags: Werewolf!Jimin, Witch!Reader, Shifter!Reader, Shifter!Jimin, A/B/O Dynamics, Alpha!Jimin Genre: Supernatural!AU, Werewolf!AU, Angst, Mutual Pining, Fluff, Smut, Word Count: 10.2k+ Synopsis: Within the four realms of Lustra lay the Bangtan forest home to the Foxglove pack of the south and known as the “land of magic.” It is also home to the Bridd, a powerful witch from a cursed bloodline who is one of the sacred guardians of the forest. Y/N is the newest Bridd, a young girl who was given her position too early. Now a woman, Y/N is revered amongst the wolves as the most powerful witch they have ever known, but hiding under the surface is a woman who has to battle between her duty and her heart. Warnings: ANGST, strong language, PTSD, flashbacks, self-hate, self-depreciation, talks of death, nosey birds, Moland is a lot of fun to write about, (sorta) theft, home sickness, magic, very tame A/N: Don't know how I feel about this chapter. It was a bit difficult to write. I think you'll understand why in a moment. Thanks for reading!

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Namjoon pov

I stood in the cramped boat house, the scent of Bridd lingering faintly but unmistakably fresh. It was a small concession I could offer Jimin, a flicker of hope in a sea of frustration. Hoseok had instructed me to search outside and follow the trail, a task I’d already performed yesterday. Jimin, in his usual manner, insisted on a double-check. Today’s search yielded better results; I could discern the subtle shifts in the scent. Bridd had stood exactly where I was standing no more than forty-eight hours ago.

“She’s long gone,” Hoseok’s voice echoed clearly in my mind, despite the distance between us—five miles at least. “Wonder where she went.”

“Taehyung mentioned Viridi Gramine,” Hyuna interjected, her focus sharp and unyielding as she scanned for any trace of Bridd. “Do you think she might be headed that way?”

“Doubt it,” I said, tracing the scent from a small cot on the floor to a rusty fridge. “I don’t think she was ever planning to visit our cousins.”

Hyuna mulled over this, while Hoseok wrestled with guilt. We had all chided him for it, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that if he had been able to speak to Bridd and Jimin, none of this would have happened. Apologizing for his perceived failure, the younger wolf returned to pondering Bridd’s whereabouts.

“Not far,” Hyuna mused thoughtfully.

“She could be out of Moland by now,” I said, my tone edged with concern. “I have no clue which direction she might have taken. She could be lost out there.”

The thought unsettled us all. Hoseok, knowing Bridd’s limited experience with the outside world, worried about her lack of navigational skills. Without a map, she was likely adrift. Hyuna, however, believed in Bridd’s survival instincts. If she had to fight, she could, and her shifting abilities would serve her well. Most likely, she had flown over the swamps and into Clarcton—an efficient and practical choice.

“That makes the most sense,” Hoseok agreed, his mental voice tinged with resignation.

Following her scent outside, it abruptly stopped at the small deck adjacent to the house. She must have shifted from there. We had hit a dead end. Hoseok let out a frustrated huff, while Hyuna attempted to calm him. I could now catch my sister’s thoughts, fraught with anxiety and worry. Yeong-Mi had always been prone to migraines and panic attacks; her stress was palpable.

“Shut up,” she snapped at me, her irritation clear but tinged with underlying stress. “He’s right, oppa,” she addressed Hoseok. “You can’t blame yourself. We all know who’s really to blame for this.”

Sol’s face flickered in her mind—distorted and unfamiliar. Yeong-Mi’s memory of Sol was tainted, a far cry from reality. She had no intention of facing the Luna again anytime soon, a sentiment Hyuna echoed with a delighted giggle. Hoseok mumbled something about Sol only trying to help, but none of us paid it much mind.

“Sol can’t bear all the responsibility,” I gently rebuked my sister. “Bridd still made the choice to run off.”

“If she had just minded her own business,” Mini barked, her frustration boiling over, “Bridd wouldn’t have fled! God, how could she say that to Jimin Oppa when we all know how stressed he’s been?”

“An idiot,” Hyuna snapped back, her anger flaring once more. “Between Bo, his brother, and the copiae, the guy hasn’t had a moment’s peace.”

I had tried to remain neutral but found myself agreeing with Hyuna. Sol had overstepped her bounds. Taehyung’s reaction to her misjudgment offered some solace. The boy had yet to touch his mate since Jimin’s frantic panic the night he discovered Bridd’s empty bed. Rumors of their constant arguing since her disappearance were spreading through Bangtan.

“Eun-Jin mentioned that Jimin said Bridd was heading to the Ozryn mountains alone,” my sister added. “I haven’t been around him since she left, so I don’t know the full story, but he’s devastated.”

Hoseok growled at Jimin’s name. Mini defended her favorite alpha while I reminded him of the bigger picture. Sol’s misleading information had set off a chain reaction. Jimin’s reaction, driven by incomplete information, had resulted in his current turmoil. Hoseok vehemently disagreed until Hyuna asked him how he would have reacted if he had believed she was going off to harm herself after recovering from an injury.

“She’s alone out there,” Hoseok grunted, his resolve wavering in the face of his wife’s reasoning. “He should have never let that happen.”

“It’s not his fault,” Jong-Hyun, Jungkook’s older brother, chimed in, having returned from his eastward search. “They’re both stubborn, and I doubt Bridd would have allowed him to come along. Ji-Hyun mentioned they had an argument the afternoon she left. He feels partly responsible for what’s happened.”

I growled, “That boy’s attitude is going to get him hurt. Is that why Callisto’s been even more irate than usual?”

Mini laughed, “I think that’s just how she is around you.”

We shared a laugh, the tension briefly easing. Hyuna and Hoseok had found each other, and my sister was their next stop. She was almost to Syrena, and the couple wanted to go for a swim. We declined their offer—I had no desire to be a magindara’s next meal. Yeong-Mi chose to wait with us, keeping an eye out for any elves.

I drowned out the cacophony of voices, focusing instead on the faint, elusive trail I was following. The swamps were vast and treacherous, a labyrinth where finding Bridd seemed almost impossible. Fear gnawed at me. I hoped to God she was out there, safe and vigilant, though I knew she wasn't invincible.

I sat by the murky water, staring into its depths as if it might offer some answer, until Hyuna’s voice broke through. Taehyung was looking for me. My father was worried about a group of elves spotted in the northwestern corner of Moland and needed me out of the forest. Jimin, stubborn as ever, refused to come home. Taehyung needed my help to strategize. Hyuna had looped back to meet me near Bridd’s now-destroyed cottage.

“We’re leaving him out here alone?” I asked, a hint of disbelief in my voice.

“Of course not,” Hyuna replied, her small red form bristling slightly. “Jong-Hyun and Hoseok are keeping an eye on him. He’s deep in the forest somewhere.”

She was disappointed about their postponed beach trip but chose not to dwell on it. I tried to offer some comfort, imagining them swimming and laughing together another day, but she waved it off. She was grateful, but the thought of discussing it further would only trouble Hoseok.

“And he hasn’t found anything?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Hyuna confirmed.

As I stepped into Bridd’s clearing, the sight of the wildflowers struck me. Her garden was a riot of colors, an oasis of beauty amidst the desolation. Her cottage, surrounded by a lush garden of vegetables, fruits, and herbs, seemed almost surreal. A porcelain birdbath stood at the front, perpetually full, as though enchanted. The perfect, curated meadow seemed a divine attempt to keep Bridd from sinking into despair. Hyuna lay in the grass near the ruined house, her face etched with sadness. Taehyung had said an elf caused the damage. Bridd’s scent still clung to the remnants of her home, but it was fading.

“I wanted to go inside,” Hyuna said, her gaze fixed on the gaping hole in the cottage’s front. Her sadness was palpable. “But I don’t think Jimin would appreciate it. This is the only place that still smells like her.”

“He’s been here,” I said, noting the strong, fresh scent of Jimin. “Is he sleeping in there?”

She nodded. “I think he’s trying to fix things up. Jungkook mentioned it to Cadoc. Jimin’s obsessed with getting everything right before she comes home.”

We exchanged a look. Neither of us held out much hope that our little bird would return soon. I had more faith in Bridd’s survival skills than Hyuna did, but neither of us knew when—or if—she would come back.

Hyuna recalled her trips to Bangtan when she lived in Viridi Gramine. The Ozryn mountains were harsh, unforgiving, and lethal. Despite her royal lineage and traveling with the most skilled guides, there was always a risk she might not return. After finding Hoseok, the thought of crossing those mountains had never crossed her mind until her mother fell ill.

I had never traversed the Ozryn myself, but Hyuna’s memories sent a chill through me. Bridd might very well perish out there, and no one could prevent it. I considered suggesting that Jimin and I abandon Foxglove to search for her, but a single glance from Hyuna wiped the thought clean. We couldn’t leave the village without more information.

Bridd’s death would shatter Jimin, and Taehyung and Sol’s marriage—already strained—would likely fall apart completely. The Park family would never be the same. I desperately hoped she would return to her senses, but deep down, I knew she wouldn’t. The fierce determination in her eyes when I visited her cottage after Sol’s birthday spoke volumes. Bridd had more fire in her than Hyuna realized.

“She’s never seen so much of the world before,” Hyuna whispered, her voice as if confessing a forbidden truth. “How can she know where to go if she doesn’t even know what to look for?”

“She has maps—”

“Maps that predate the industrial revolution,” Hyuna cut me off sharply. “That girl is lost, and you know it.”

I didn’t need to say more; we were in agreement. I reminded her of Bridd’s tenacity when threatened, recounting our fight outside the cottage. Hyuna chuckled, acknowledging Bridd’s fighting spirit but still worried. When Bridd was in the infirmary, the witches had mentioned her fainting spells. How could we be sure she wouldn’t collapse out there?

“We don’t,” I admitted. “We just have to have faith. For Jimin’s sake. For her friends’ sake.”

“And Bridd’s,” Hyuna added.

“And Bridd’s,” I agreed.

A distant howl pierced the forest, signaling it was time to move. Taehyung rarely shifted anymore, so it had to be urgent. Hyuna decided to accompany me and wait for her husband at the Temple, her thoughts wandering to the prospect of confronting Sol, though I chose to ignore it.

As we neared the village, I heard the voices of the other copiae joining the search. Ji-Hyun’s loud complaints about his sister-in-law’s dramatics stood out. Hyuna fought to suppress a snarl, her thoughts simmering with anger. The younger wolf quickly dropped the subject, but my distaste for him remained. Taehyung shared my sentiments and told the Park boy to head home for the day. Ji-Hyun managed to keep his thoughts to himself long enough to change, severing our connection.

“Irrumator,” Hyuna grunted, her thoughts shifting from Ji-Hyun to Sol.

I chuckled. “He’s young. Cut him some slack.”

“He’s older than Taehyung!” Hyuna snapped. “He should know better. What he said to Bridd was out of line. How can you defend him?”

I bowed my head, conceding. I respected Hyuna enough to avoid an argument, especially with the looming threat of war. Disagreements with her would mean disagreements with Hoseok, and that was something we couldn’t afford right now.

“It’s not defending him,” I said, trying to keep annoyance out of my voice. “I just think this is a time for unity. Arguing over something we can’t change is pointless.”

Hyuna huffed but let it go. I felt a small victory in that, knowing we needed to focus on more pressing matters. Taehyung’s thoughts reflected his inner turmoil. While he agreed on the need for unity against our shared threat, he was hurt and betrayed by his closest friend’s disappearance.

Sol stirred complex emotions within me. My yearning to lead had once blinded me to her true nature. When Taehyung was chosen over me, I was disappointed, but any lingering romantic feelings vanished. I was genuinely happy for him, even if my actions didn’t always reflect it.

Sol had always been obsessed with Jimin, her infatuation apparent in her teenage ramblings. Ahn had asked me to escort her while she shifted, and her incessant daydreams about Jimin were the last thing I wanted to hear. I found myself wanting to be at her side, to lead, and her thoughts of me were less than flattering.

Sol’s heartbreak over Jimin’s lack of interest was palpable. She had desperately sought his affection, willing to overlook her mates. Jimin, though kind and cordial, had rejected her advances. I understood now, and it made sense. He was deeply devoted to another.

Sol’s life took a nosedive into chaos the moment she found herself wrapped in Taehyung’s arms. At first, confusion and disbelief painted her world in shades of gray, but soon, that confusion melted into something pure, almost ethereal. It was as if she had been in love with him all along, as if it was written in the very fabric of her being. For Taehyung, the feeling was a mirror image of hers. Before Sol, his heart had been tethered to a local girl named Minji. But love, it seems, has a way of changing the script.

Still, Sol’s obsession with Jimin was almost automatic, a reflex she couldn’t control. They were closer in age than most of us (except Taehyung), though Jimin was still seven years her senior. He was always kind and thoughtful, qualities that drew her in like a moth to a flame. When she heard he might be in danger, she rushed to his side. What she told him, which I knew only because Jimin couldn’t stop replaying that night in his head, was meant to soothe him. Yet, she shoved her friendship with Bridd aside, put her trust with Taehyung on the chopping block, and risked straining her bond with Jimin himself—all to protect his fragile heart. It would have been admirable if she’d taken a moment to think, rather than barreling into his house like a bat out of hell, spewing melodramatic, and frankly, distorted versions of the truth.

The fallout was catastrophic. Jimin’s argument with Bridd was fueled by Sol’s words. The man was already on edge. His pack of fifteen had dwindled to seven, the newer recruits too green to be of much use. Stress and frustration boiled over the moment Sol’s dramatic tale hit his ears. She painted Bridd as a suicide-bound lunatic, claiming the witch was deceiving everyone about her intentions, determined to atone for her past sins. It was absurd, though not entirely untrue, but it came from a teenage girl who hadn’t truly listened. To Jimin, all he could hear was his mate marching to her death to atone for her silence.

The whole situation with Bridd was surreal. I was irritated by her reluctance to share her visions, but that frustration faded when I realized the depth of her fear and helplessness. We weren’t on good terms. Foxglove had distanced itself, and Ahn had been vocal about his plans to visit her cottage. I couldn’t blame her for hesitating to speak up when the threat was uncertain. Ahn might have had her killed.

“He would have been a fool,” Hyuna mumbled, breaking the silence.

“When wasn’t he?” I shot back, my tone dry.

Everyone shared my sentiment. Bridd was the last person to blame. Her actions, once she understood the gravity of the situation, revealed her true care. Cadoc’s account of waking up to find the little witch, broken and bloodied, but still determined to reach Foxglove, was enough to reduce even the toughest to tears. The second her eyes opened, all she could think about was getting back to Foxglove. Any lingering doubts about her intentions evaporated. Only a few, Ji-Hyun among them, remained wary, but they were making an effort for the pack’s sake.

At the village’s edge, I parted ways with Hyuna. She gave me a brief farewell before I shifted. I was more private than the others, especially Hoseok and Hyuna, and they were accustomed to giving me space during the shift. It was my most vulnerable moment, and I loathed feeling exposed.

Bangtan had various items of clothing stashed away, none of them tailored or particularly stylish, but they were functional. My mother was responsible for keeping the copiae clothed and cared for, a job she took very seriously. It was one of the few things my father felt proud of. He often demeaned her, telling her she needed to do better, be better, spouting the same old demeaning slogans the older men in town were fond of. I could never see the faults in any of the women, especially not my mother, but she never commented on it, and neither did I.

I found a pair of large, baggy pants and shifted. After putting on the cotton garments, I decided to forgo a shirt and made my way to the Temple. Taehyung was waiting for me, and I didn’t want to add to his burdens. I felt I had done enough of that already.

As I walked through the town, I saw Jimin’s mother, Mi-Jeong, helping Jungkook’s father chop wood for his roof. The Parks were an unusual family. Mi-Jeong was outspoken, fierce, and refused to bow to men’s expectations. Her stubbornness was rivaled only by her youngest child. My own family often criticized her ‘atrocious’ behavior, but I had always been fond of Mi-Jeong.

Ji-Hyun, on the other hand, was a quiet boy, favoring his mother with his sharp features and moss-brown eyes. He followed his brother around for years without complaint. That quietude lingered into his teenage years, but when he fell for a human girl, it sparked a fierce possessiveness. He fought for her, both verbally and physically, a devotion that changed him. His attitude was often defensive and quick to judge, but his love and loyalty for his family were unparalleled, even surpassing his older brother.

Jimin had always fascinated me. From the moment he was born, he had the village at his feet. His father had been a formidable figure, embodying the strength our people revered. His choice of bride was unusual, but everyone believed Ji-Won was up to the challenge of handling Mi-Jeong. Jimin, like his father, possessed all the traits of a Park: charm, wit, courage. What set him apart was the hidden sweetness he kept from the world. I saw it. I had always seen it.

The first glimpse I got of that sweetness was when he chased butterflies in his backyard. He was no older than four, but even at that age, boys were expected to show maturity. In public, Jimin was the epitome of a perfect child. Yet, watching him blow bubbles and giggle as he chased a monarch butterfly, I knew his public persona was an act.

Now, that same sweetness was on display once more, though in a far more public and painful manner. Jimin had shut himself off, avoiding conversations and shunning his closest friends, hiding away and waiting for the other piece of his heart to return. It was a strange sight: Park Jimin, usually so strong, now weak and in agony.

As Mi-Jeong’s eyes met mine, I saw the same sadness and worry reflected in her. I hoped her family would pull together, but I doubted it would happen until Bridd returned, if she ever did. The thought of the Park family’s fate if she didn’t come back sent a shiver down my spine.

I didn’t stop to talk to anyone, as I usually did. My mind was too scattered, and frankly, I was done with conversation. A constant stream of thoughts and voices in your head will do that. Fortunately, no one seemed put off by my silence. We were all grappling with uncertainty since losing one of our strongest fighters.

“Anything new, dog?”

The voice slithered through the air, smooth and grating, a rasp that scraped against my nerves. I clenched my teeth, trying to ignore the familiar sting. With a deep, slow breath, I turned to face the source of my irritation.

Seokjin was there, of course. He had become my personal Dante’s Inferno over the past few days. The man had a grudge that could outlast a vampire’s curse, and he still hadn’t forgiven me for taking a swing at his friend. His face was a storm cloud, eyes dark with disdain. Beside him, Yoongi was a ghost of his former self. He looked worse than ever—thin and ragged, like a paper doll battered by the wind. His hair was a disheveled mess, and his once vibrant blue eyes had dulled further, his pupil barely visible.

“Unfortunately not,” I said, keeping my voice even, though I wanted nothing more than to escape this confrontation. “A few are still out searching, but I was pulled away.”

“Hmft,” Seokjin crossed his arms, a gesture that seemed to tighten the knot of irritation on his face. “Figures.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped, irritation bubbling up.

I never did like much about him.

“You don’t give a damn if you find her or not,” Seokjin’s voice was thick with anger, each word dripping venom. “None of you do.”

My patience was fraying, “That’s not true—”

“It’s that bitch’s fault she’s gone,” Seokjin shouted over me, his voice cracking like a whip.

“Stop yelling,” I said, struggling to keep my composure. The scene we were causing was spiraling out of control. My father would lose his mind. “I know what Sol did. None of us are happy about it, but I’m not a god. I can’t rewind time or bring her back. What’s done is done.”

“Yet you still follow her orders like some lapdog.”

“I follow Taehyung,” I corrected, my voice tight with restrained frustration. “By extension, that means I follow his wife. We’re at war, Seokjin. I’m sorry about Bridd, truly, and I hope she’s safe, but my life doesn’t revolve around her. I have a village to protect, a village she isn’t in. I won’t abandon it to chase shadows.”

Seokjin’s face was a furnace of rage now, tears brimming in his eyes. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity for him. Bridd was a close friend of his, and she had abandoned them—harsh words, but accurate in the rawest sense. The others had voiced their disgust when she vanished, their anger directed at our governing bodies. Sol had barred them from the Temple after one of Seokjin’s entourage had lashed out. Since that night, they’d remained cloaked in silence, not a whisper of their departure from the Park house.

“You’re going to let her die,” Seokjin’s accusation was a punch to the gut, raw and brutal.

Yes, if it meant saving my own. Bridd was a distant concern compared to the stakes at hand. I barely knew her; respect didn’t equate to prioritizing her over my sister. In this high-stakes game, I had to trust that she could handle herself and accept it.

“Jin,” Yoongi’s voice cut through the tension, soft yet firm. I had almost forgotten he was there. “Let it be. Namjoon has done what he can. Let’s return to Mi-Jeong’s.”

I was relieved that Yoongi seemed more composed than Seokjin. I sneaked a glance at him and was glad to see his hair growing back, a sign he was getting enough to eat. It was a small comfort, considering the grim reality of his condition. Yoongi’s blindness wasn’t just a loss; it was a nightmare. I remembered how his pain had been described—a brutal assault on his senses, panic attacks ripping through him like storm winds. Samanya had said the spell should have killed him, and his survival, with only his eyesight lost, was a cruel twist of fate.

“But—”

“Drop it,” Yoongi said, his voice a low rumble, stopping Seokjin before he could unleash another tirade. Without turning his head, he addressed me. “I apologize for his callousness. We’re all on edge. I hope you understand.”

This was the most I’d heard Yoongi speak, even during our time at Bridd’s cottage in the Spring. “It’s not an issue. I hope you’re feeling better.”

It was unnerving to talk to someone who couldn’t meet my gaze. Yoongi’s eyes, unseeing and vacant, stared blankly at the village’s edge. His voice was gruff and monotonous, a strange contrast to the depth of the situation.

“I am fine,” he replied. “We’re here because my mother wanted to know how far you believe she could have gone. I’ll tell her that she must have shifted and lost her scent.”

“Thank you,” I said, relieved by his ability to keep Seokjin quiet. “She was on a houseboat for a few hours before she left. Any ideas?”

“Thelma,” Seokjin grunted. “She must have rested and then taken off. Was anything missing?”

I shrugged. “I couldn’t say. Sorry.”

Seokjin shook his head angrily, a futile gesture.

“No need to apologize,” Yoongi said, raising a hand in a dismissive motion. It was unclear what he intended, but I chose not to dwell on it. “We’ll leave you alone now.”

Seokjin opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it. I smirked, feeling a bit of triumph. Yoongi’s presence was a useful deterrent for the annoying one. Scowling, Seokjin wrapped an arm around Yoongi and turned towards the residential district, their figures fading into the distance.

Taehyung was pacing when I finally found him in the Temple library. Books were strewn across the tables like fallen soldiers, pages ripped from their bindings stacked haphazardly at the edge of a massive oak table that had seen better days. His blonde hair was a shaggy mess, the back grazing his neck while the front hung just past his ears. Thick, wavy bangs spilled over his eyebrows, so long they were kept at bay by a headband.

The sight of him worried me. Taehyung was unraveling, a fraying thread in a tapestry of stress. He managed to keep it together during the elder meetings, putting on a brave face to avoid giving Ahn any satisfaction. But anyone could see the cracks beginning to show. Jimin was doing his best to keep Taehyung from falling apart, but he had his own demons to battle.

I had taken it upon myself to pick up the slack where Taehyung faltered. I owed it to both him and Jimin after my role in their exile. Taehyung, ever the forgiving soul, was more generous with grace than Jimin. But I knew I was skating on thin ice. Others might have taken my head for the disrespect I’d shown. Jimin might have if he wasn’t so focused on keeping the peace with his mate.

I needed to focus on the task at hand. Taehyung had summoned me for a reason, and I had to be there for him. His pacing showed no signs of stopping as I entered, a bad omen for the kind of conversation I was about to have. He seemed to find a semblance of calm when we discussed strategy, a fleeting solace in the chaos.

“Sorry for the delay, Tae,” I said, my voice soft and steady, hoping to cut through his distress.

He paused, his eyes bloodshot and glossy, cheeks flushed like someone had poured a pot of boiling water on them. His lower lip quivered despite his best efforts to steady it. Taehyung’s emotional rawness was always a puzzle. He was kind, gentle, a giant child who laughed at his own clumsiness and played with his younger siblings as if he were still a child himself.

He never shied away from tears. When Jimin’s father died, neither he nor Ji-Hyun shed a tear in public, though I knew better than to believe they didn’t grieve privately. Their show of stoicism was celebrated, a mask of bravery they wore for the town. Taehyung struggled to wear that mask as seamlessly as Jimin had.

Taehyung’s father hadn’t died in a blaze of glory. No heroics, just illness. Ahn had called him weak for succumbing to an infected wound, a sentiment not widely shared but unchallenged. My own mother, a loyalist to Ahn, had called him cruel for further tormenting a grieving family.

“I didn’t realize it had been so long,” Taehyung mumbled, resuming his restless pacing.

In that moment, he looked more like his father than ever. Dong-Min had been respected and wise, but he wasn’t the sort to attract crowds. An artist from Viridi Gramine, his works were beautiful, but he remained in the shadows. He’d found his muse in Hana, who had come from an abusive home. They had fled Withertusk together, and their troubles had melted away in Foxglove.

“You’re upset,” I said bluntly. Taehyung preferred directness. “What’s wrong?”

“Have I done something wrong?” His voice cracked, the tremor betraying his tears. “I want your honesty, Namjoon. Have I done anything horrible to her?”

“To who?” I asked, stepping closer to comfort him. His shoulders shook with quiet sobs, an effort to hide his pain from the world. It never occurred to me that he was trying to conceal his suffering so well. I had always misread him. He could only shake his head, eyes squeezed shut as new tears poured forth.

I wrapped him in an embrace, feeling the weight of his grief pressing into me. The last time he had cried on my shoulder was at his father’s funeral, a day when Ahn’s cruel words had cut him to the bone. Taehyung had stumbled out of the building, bleeding and torn, begging me to hold him. My father, showing rare kindness, had taken him home to clean up.

“You could never wrong her,” I said, not great with comfort but hoping my words would help. “Whatever happened between you two is just a wrinkle in time. Sol is angry with herself. She loves you, and she knows how much you love her.”

Tae sniffled, his cries muffled against my shoulder.

“Not Sol,” he sobbed. “Y/N.”

That was a harder pill to swallow. I could spout meaningless platitudes about his mate all day. Their love was a given. Taehyung had been furious with her for talking to Jimin behind his back, but I knew they’d work through it. Their bond was strong. His relationship with Y/N, though, was a different matter. I had never witnessed it firsthand, but I knew it was meaningful. Taehyung saw her as the older sister he never had, but I felt ill-equipped to guide him through this grief.

“You didn’t do anything to her, Tae,” I reasoned. “She made a choice to leave. She didn’t harbor ill will towards you. She even left you a note with your necklace. Doesn’t that say something?”

The red gem from Bridd’s gift pressed against my skin, a bittersweet reminder of her kindness. Taehyung had worn the necklace since reading the note, a gesture he hadn’t truly earned but had been given nonetheless. I had my own connection to Bridd through that journal she gave me, which had turned into a poetry book. I respected her, and that respect guided me in my attempt to console Taehyung.

“I told Sol,” Taehyung whimpered. “I told her after she asked me to keep quiet. It’s all my fault—”

“I’m done with the blame game,” I sighed, gently pushing him back to arm’s length. I gripped his shoulders. “Everyone’s been wallowing in self-pity. Y/N left to find help. No one forced her to do that. You and I both know she’s capable. Stop acting like she’s dead. She’s out there trying to help us. We need to stay focused.”

“What if she…” His voice faltered, unable to utter the word “death.”

“Then we make sure her sacrifice isn’t in vain,” I said, releasing him. “We plan, strategize, and fight tooth and nail against those things. For Bridd.”

I didn’t relish invoking her name this way, but I knew Taehyung would cling to it. Her name was a beacon of hope in this dark time. His eyes ignited with a renewed fire, the heat returning to them.

“For Bridd,” he echoed, as if making a solemn vow.

Inside, I prayed for her safe return. I was unsure how long this newfound fire would last, or what would happen if it burned out of control. Taehyung was obsessive by nature. As a child, he painted like his father, sculpted like our grandmother, and later, dived into gardening. Now, I feared his focus would be consumed by this war. He wasn’t ready for what was coming, but I had to believe in his strength.

“You should go see your mom,” I said sincerely. “I’m sure Jong and Jin miss you.”

I left unsaid my concerns about him being cooped up in the Temple since his return.

He nodded, “I will. Let one of the maids know I’ve left. I don’t want Sol to worry.”

“You’re not telling her you’re leaving?”

He frowned. “We’re not on speaking terms at the moment.”

Oh, Bridd, why did you have to leave? Why did Sol have to stir things up? Seeing Taehyung so defeated was a blow. The fire I had ignited in him didn’t soothe my worries. He was still adrift, and I feared my attempts at comfort had done more harm than good. Maybe it would have been simpler to let him cry it out. Navigating whether I’d said or done the right thing was a far more daunting task.

The day slipped through my fingers like a handful of sand, the minutes eroded by the grind of endless work. After my talk with Taehyung, he had gone off to find his siblings, while I remained buried in the heavy silence of the library. Despite our grim business of war, we still had our East Coast obligations to handle. Hours ticked by as I drafted warnings and travel advisories, scribbling frantically until my hand ached.

When the time came to face the maps spread across the tables, I hoped the change in scenery would spark a breakthrough. The library was a cavern of paper and ink, and I dived into its depths, searching for something—anything—that might tip the scales in our favor.

But the talk of war had become a cacophony of angry voices. My father and Jimin were at each other’s throats, each stubbornly clutching their own version of strategy. My father wanted to march straight into Northorn, to meet our enemy head-on. Jimin, with his uncanny knack for seeing beyond the obvious, thought it was nothing short of idiocy. He argued that the elves would have the upper hand on unfamiliar ground. Our pack knew the forest better than anyone; it was our home turf, and it should be our advantage.

Jungkook and I were on the same page, much to my relief. We didn’t want to die, but if the situation demanded it, we would. He leaned towards Jimin’s strategy, favoring a defensive stance in Bangtan. It made the most sense—until the elves found a way to stir up trouble.

The witches from Syrena arrived in the late afternoon, a storm of anger and despair. Their leader had fallen during the attack, leaving them in the care of the swamp witch. I felt a pang of sympathy for them, as they stumbled into our midst. Their rage was palpable, their grief a raw wound that bled into everything they did.

Yoongi was on my mind again. He was adjusting to his blindness, but the idea of him fighting was laughable. He was a fantastic fighter when he could see, but now he was little more than dead weight. It was a shame—he had been a force to be reckoned with, even if a spell had temporarily taken him out. I had no doubt he’d be back, even if it meant defying orders. His death, when it came, would be a dignified one.

Then there was Seokjin. He surprised me in ways I hadn’t anticipated. Despite my dislike for the witch, I had to admit the man could fight. He had defended his girlfriend, taken down countless elves, and even saved his father’s life. I hoped we could set aside our differences and train together. It was crucial that we learned to fight as a unit. I planned to discuss this with Jimin later.

Before I could lose myself further in thought, I caught her scent. The sweet, cloying aroma of Sol was unmistakable, a stark contrast to the damp, cold air of the library. Her bare feet were a whisper against the marble floor, and I braced myself for the encounter. Sol’s attempt to mask her natural scent had always been a losing battle, but I couldn’t fault her for it. Ahn had stripped her of her self-confidence, leaving her to second-guess everything about herself.

She appeared before me, her small figure framed by the ornate grandeur of the library. Her hair, unbound and flowing, was a cascade of dark waves, a sharp contrast to the cold sterility of the surroundings. I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable with her exposure. Modesty was an old relic, but Sol had been taught its importance, and Ahn had made sure she lived in its shadow.

“Luna,” I greeted, my voice tentative. “Your hair…”

She sighed, as if resigned to my reaction. Her tone was edged with annoyance, but I couldn’t decipher why. Ahn had instilled in her a warped sense of propriety, and the way she wore her hair now seemed to mock it.

“Does it matter?” she murmured, a hint of bitterness in her voice. “We all know I’m no longer virtuous.”

I frowned. “Your virtue isn’t tied to your virginity, Sol.”

I could feel the discomfort between us, the unspoken boundaries crossed. Sol’s presence was like a weight on my chest, and I had to force myself to remain composed. Taehyung would be devastated if he caught us in such an awkward position. I stood up, putting a respectful distance between us, and turned my attention to the doorframe, trying to look anywhere but at her.

“What’s bothering you?” I asked, keeping my voice steady. “Aside from the obvious.”

I leaned against the doorframe, peering into the hall, grateful for the distance it offered. I heard Sol take a seat in the chair I had vacated, the sound of her movements marking her presence more than her words.

“You must think I’m pathetic,” Sol’s voice was a fragile whisper.

“Why would I think that?” I countered, genuinely puzzled.

She laughed, a hollow sound that resonated with self-deprecation. “You’ve been a constant in my life longer than anyone. You were there before Taehyung. You and I were almost betrothed, according to my father.”

The mention of Ahn made my skin crawl. He was no father of hers. The real truth was darker—Ahn had taken her from her real parents, Cho Haneul and Bong Ha-Yun, who had vanished from the village under suspicious circumstances. Whispers hinted at banishment or worse, but I’d always taken my mother’s word that Ahn had been behind it all.

“I’ve never been fair to you,” Sol continued, her voice trembling. “I was mean, rude, and cold. I wanted Jimin so badly that I mistreated you. I’m sorry for that.”

I listened, indifferent. Sol’s words were a weak balm to old wounds. I knew her well enough to understand her manipulations, her selfishness veiled under layers of false remorse.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral.

“You knew me before Taehyung did. I know you didn’t like me, but I trust your opinion. I know I don’t deserve your kindness, but I’m asking for it anyway.”

Her voice was weary, and I found myself disenchanted with her pleas. I reminded myself of her age and the naivety that came with it, but it didn’t soften the irritation I felt. She had made mistakes, breached boundaries, and caused chaos, all while thinking she could remain unscathed.

“Am I a bad person?” she asked, her voice barely more than a breath.

“No,” I said firmly, though it was hard to mask my irritation. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll lie to make you feel better. You’ve caused enough damage, and it’s your responsibility to deal with the consequences.”

Her soft sniffles were a distant echo to my frustration. She had stirred trouble and failed to take responsibility for it. I wasn’t here to placate her. I was here to get through the day.

“I’m not the one to offer you comfort,” I said, turning away. “Seek solace from your maids. They’re trained to dry tears; I’m not.”

With that, I left the library, my mind already set on finding a place to rest. The Temple was no refuge from the turmoil of the day, but it was all I had. Maybe Sam would be around, and her company would be a welcome distraction. Her beauty and confidence had always been a bright spot, even if I wasn’t ready to entertain any advances. Tonight, though, I’d take any semblance of normalcy I could get.

I had no desire to return to my family home. Spending too long around my parents was like slowly going mad. The pretense I maintained with my father was exhausting, and my mother—well, she never had the backbone to stand up to him. My childhood was a grim carousel of beatings, with my mother watching, her own misery forgotten as long as she avoided the brunt of his rage. By the time Mini arrived, those days were behind us, and my father had stopped drinking. Our relationship had improved, but the bitterness lingered, festering like a wound that never fully healed. Sometimes, I wondered if I truly hated them both.

Lately, I had been crashing at Hoseok’s place. But he’d asked for some space, and I was buried in work, too tangled up to find another spot to crash. It was a far cry from the opulent room I had at the Temple, but the Temple had become a place I loathed. I’d have joined Jimin and the rest of the copiae, but the weight of my responsibilities kept me tied down. Stepping down as head council would mean my father or Bo would handle public relations, and the thought of that was enough to make me want to gnaw my own arm off. Taehyung would go berserk if those two were left in charge.

I racked my brain for other friends to stay with. The Parks would welcome me, but their home was overflowing with guests. Yoongi and the swamp witch’s families were still there, Jin’s group was with Taehyung’s family, and the Syrena witches were scattered among the wolf families and humans. They’d planned to stay at the Temple, but Sol had made a mess of that arrangement. Everything had spiraled out of control faster than I could keep up with.

“Lost in thought?” Jimin’s voice cut through my musings.

I stopped in my tracks, realizing I had wandered into the copiae grounds. Jimin lounged on his porch, a large glass in hand, his face shadowed by a dark expression. The sharp scent of alcohol reached me even from the street. I approached him, trying to ignore the tumultuous thoughts of my father.

“You’re drunk,” I observed, taking the glass from his hand and sniffing it. Mead, probably from Jungkook’s stash. “This isn’t going to help.”

He shrugged, a gesture of defeat. “I know. Just needed a distraction.”

Here I was again, being dragged into someone else’s emotional wreckage. Even if Jimin hadn’t asked outright, I knew I’d end up hauling him inside and making him sleep. At least, I could crash here afterward. Tomorrow, I’d make sure he ate something and then convince him to help me go over documents at the Temple. He was the battle strategist, after all.

“I’m not in the mood for a heart-to-heart,” I said bluntly. “I’ve already dealt with two sob stories today, and my patience is shot. So you’re going to let me help you, and we’ll talk in the morning.”

Jimin leaned back, sweat glistening on his forehead and his hair a tangled mess. He looked uncharacteristically disheveled. I rubbed my face in frustration.

“Fine,” I sighed, “how about this: I need a place to sleep. I can’t stand Taehyung and Sol right now, and you—” I gestured at him, “—look like hell. Obviously, you’re a mess, but the pack needs you to pull yourself together so we can get through this.”

Jimin didn’t move. He remained like a statue, eyes fixed on something distant. “I’ll stay the night. Tomorrow, we’ll talk feelings or whatever. Then, we’ll come up with a plan to get you back in the game. Sound good?”

He rolled his eyes, a humorless laugh escaping his lips. “What’s the point?” His face crumpled in despair. I felt lost at sea, unable to handle his sorrow. Thankfully, he composed himself, though the heaviness lingered. “What’s the point of anything? Without her... it just doesn’t matter.”

I sat down beside him, the cold, rough wood against my legs. I tried to focus on this as a conversation between friends. Jimin had never asked me for anything before. When Taehyung was chosen, Jimin had been the first to urge me to stand firm against Ahn. I had been foolish, ignoring his advice. Now he needed me to be the rock, and I couldn’t let him down.

We couldn’t keep going like this. Jimin wasn’t in the right frame of mind, and I knew the only way to get him back on track was to think of something drastic. My mind was already spinning a plan, one that had seemed hopeless earlier, but now felt like a desperate gamble. Maybe, just maybe, giving him a glimmer of hope might help him pull himself together. Feeling a pang of guilt, I decided to go for it and face the consequences later.

“I know you’re hurting,” I said, trying to soften my tone, unsure if it worked. “I can’t even imagine what you’re going through. When you and Taehyung were gone, the guilt nearly ate me alive. It must be worse for you.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” he started to protest, but I brushed it off.

“I think I do. No one else seems to be,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’re in deep trouble right now, Park. We need you.”

Jimin shook his head. “I wouldn’t be much help right now, Joon.”

“I don’t believe that,” I replied. “Honestly, anything you do would be better than the mess you’ve got going on. And by the way, your girl’s on my side. She’d be furious if she knew how much you’ve been slacking.”

That made him chuckle softly.

“That’s fair,” he said, a wan smile spreading across his flushed face. “She’s such a little firecracker, isn’t she?”

I nodded. “She once tried to set me on fire.”

We shared a laugh, remembering that day. Truth was, she scared the hell out of me. If she had really wanted to hurt me, she could’ve. I’d barely escaped with just a few scratches and bruises. Jimin had beaten me senseless when she got hurt, but I had a lifetime of memories that made me untouchable. Bridd, however, was another story.

“What if I made you a deal?” I asked, catching his attention.

He perked up. “What kind of deal?”

“If we make it through the next wave on top, I’ll help you find her.”

His eyes sharpened, a flicker of hope lighting up. “Really?”

Guilt twisted in my gut. I didn’t truly believe we’d reach that point. The elves were everywhere, their grip tightening on Northorn with each passing day. We were far from ready, and with traitors in our midst, the situation was dire. The alliance with the quietus was fragile, and the witch problem was something only Jimin could fix. It could be weeks or even months before we could search for Bridd. Still, I had to use her as leverage. We needed strong leadership, and the witch was the best motivation I could offer.

“I’ll go with you,” I said, doubling down. “We can take a small group. I’ve got connections with a quietus who knows the lay of the land. Finding her could be straightforward.”

“You’d do that for me?” He looked genuinely surprised.

I nodded. “If we’re in a position to do it, why not?”

I watched as he mulled it over, the distant look in his eyes dissolving into something clear, almost serene. He was on board. Hope unfurled in my chest like a fragile flower reaching for the sun. With Jimin on my side, dealing with Taehyung would be a breeze. The older alpha’s desire for redemption would give us a leverage, and if Jimin and Taehyung could join forces, we’d have Hoseok back in the mix too.

Things were starting to tilt in our favor. Soon, the elementals and witches would be joining our discussions, the elder council would be edged out by a new generation of leaders, and the war would start to feel like something we could actually manage. I might even be able to recruit a fresh wave of warriors to the copiae once the village saw Jimin’s renewed determination.

“Stay here as long as you need,” Jimin finally said, and I was doing a mental victory dance. “You can crash on the couch.”

I sprang up, ready to hit the sack, and gave his head a playful shove. He chuckled, swatting my hand away. We used to mess around like this all the time as kids—Jimin always had a knack for winning our wrestling matches. He was slippery as an eel.

“Let’s go, kid,” I said, stretching my arms above my head. “We’ve got an early start tomorrow. Council meeting.”

He nodded, reaching out for my help to stand. He must have imbibed more than I realized; it took a lot for alcohol to hit us this hard.

“Hopefully, Taehyung will deal with the two ancient relics in the Temple,” he slurred, stumbling inside and mumbling about how his bed felt like it had swallowed him whole.

A/N: So Joon pov??? How do we like? He's not the only pov switch we're going to have, but we will be seeing a lot of our favorite (to hate) alpha joining our main squad. I thought he would be a good outside mind to get inside of since he's not as emotionally connected to Bridd as the others. Any guesses as to who our other switches might be?

p.s. These pov chapters will be a bit shorter than our normal, reader pov ones, but not by much.

Taglist: @greezenini@adventures-in-bookland@kthstrawberryshortcake-main@zae007live@jimin-neverout@nikkiordonez12@canarystwin@yamekomz @chimthicc@michiiedreamer@amorieus@mima795@yunki-yunki-yunki

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yoonia · 3 years

Text

The Agile Fox [M]

➬ The Agile Fox

⇢ Character | Jungkook x OC (named female character) x Yoongi

⇢ Genre | Shifters!au, Werewolf!au, Werewolf!Jungkook, Fox Shifter!Yoongi, Fox Shifter!OC, Fluff, Angst, Smut

⇢ Summary | It is hard enough for Jungkook to continuously witness his peers finding their mates when he had been waiting for years to have his own. It is even harder when his eyes fall to someone who he may not even be allowed to pay attention to, much less to choose the person as a mate. But the Moon Goddess has always kept a trump card up her sleeves, a silly game that the Fates love to play. Will both shifters be ready to face the challenge? Or will they be too blinded to see all the hints until it would be far too late for them to claim what the Fates have prepared for them?

⇢ Ratings & Warnings | +18/mature; involving sexual tension, jealousy, nudity, Jungkook trying to have a fling (no infidelity), Hoseok being a fuckboi, male x male intimate scenes (kissing, hand job, mutual masturbation), threesome (both explicit and implied), rough sex, penetrative sex, unprotected sex, hand job (by female), fingering (female receiving), dirty talk, oral sex (female), biting, marking, double penetration, breast play, clit play, battle scenes, some violent scenes may occur (fighting scene, battle sparring, mentions of blood, usage of weapons: arrows), mentions of characters deaths.

⇢ Word count | 52k words T^T

➥ Part of the Shifters Series | World Map & Fic Glossary | Characters Guide

➥ Cross-post | Wattpad | Inkitt

⇢ Author’s Note | As you may have noticed, I have changed the character with an OC since it would make things easier for me in the long run with all the cross-overs between fics going on and some major changes had happened from the teaser as well. While this story takes place around a similar timeline from the scenes in Blood Moon Rising, this story is completely unlike the others as it bridges the scenes and timelines between the other stories as well. The story can still be read as a standalone, yet it would probably be more pleasurable to read this alongside the main series, and only after reading Taehyung and Seokjin’s stories beforehand.

5 years ago…

It was high noon at the Wolf Moon Pack when more than half of the pack members gathered around the battle training grounds.

At any other time, not all pack members were allowed to cross over to this area. It was normally prohibited for regular pack members to enter this side of the land unless they were here for the mandatory pack training which had always been required for the pack to attend—for both male and female—no matter what rank they have in the pack. Today had become an exception to the rules, as the whole pack were invited to witness the annual pack assessment trial to elect the new batch of Enforcers to protect the pack’s grounds.

At times, there would even be a few pack members who would take the chance to offer a challenge for the higher ranks, since the Alpha had opened more than one spot for each of the upper ranks in order to help him lead such a massive pack with its diverse pack members.

Unlike any other packs, Wolf Moon Pack was comprised of not only a colony of werewolves as their pack members, but with other shifters as well.

As one of the surviving packs from the East region that had remained strong and united ever since the end of the Blood War, surviving through various progression periods after the war which had left the shifters community struggling under a long period of dark times—with pack and land disputes, hunger, terrible droughts, the long period of grief, and most recently, The Rogue Wars—Wolf Moon Pack continued to thrive and grow, remaining resilient against the change of time, and had opted to open its borders to welcome all the broken packs and families of shifters that had lost their homelands from the continuous wars. It was the reason why there were a variety of shifters spread through the training grounds, both from the ones sparring and battling for their ranks and the spectators watching and cheering for them on the sidelines.

Today, just like any other pack assessment trials, the training grounds came to life. Spectators cheered loudly to support the warriors who were battling against one another at the center of the training ground. Warriors fought in both human forms and in their beast forms—wolves, lions, panthers—all paired in two as they fought using both their physical forces and their special techniques to defeat their opponents. The ground kept on shaking as bodies kept hitting each other. Fists against fists, claws against claws. More often than not, a beast would display their canines at its opponent, even if it would serve as nothing else but an act of intimidation and not enough to hurt more than what was necessary.

The scent of blood wafted through the air as more and more warriors were covered in injuries, while the warriors continued to battle, taken over completely with their desire to win to notice the wounds forming on their bodies. Roars and growls echoed through the valleys, announcing their animosity and releasing their rage during the fight, both to flaunt their powers and to intimidate their opponents.

As the day slowly came to end, the sparring grew more intense, more fierce, as there were only the final two spots left to claim within the Enforcers’ rank, making it a sight to behold.

Fifteen-year-old Jungkook stood at the side with the higher-ranked wolves to watch the whole trial, yet he was here today not for the sake of his own entertainment, but to give his support for his family. His whole body was tense as he watched his brother in a fight against a leopard shifter for one of the last positions left to win. Together with his father, who was acting as the current Head Enforcer, and the current Alpha who was accompanied by his son and the future Alpha, Kim Namjoon, Jungkook watched the event with so much awe. While he made sure to take in everything as much as he could to watch his brother’s movements carefully and learn from them, his own body was vibrating with impatience, wanting so badly to jump into the fights and make his own way to the top of the ranks.

Jungkook had been too young to join the trial, though he had already started to join the mandatory training starting two years ago, right when he just turned thirteen and way early than most of the shifters his age. Meanwhile, in the middle of the battleground, his brother, Junghyun, seemed to have won the respect of the other shifters as he fought against his opponent for his last battle of the day. With his body so built and strong and his techniques more advanced compared to his rivals, already used to fighting equally strong on both forms, he had become one of the forerunners to earn the position as Captain of the North borders’ guardians, and he was certainly proving his worth as he exhausted the leopard shifter who was trying to take him down and yet kept on failing.

“Your son is good. He would be a fine addition for the Enforcers,” Jungkook heard the Alpha said to his father without ever looking away from the battle, too in awe at the intensity of the battle now happening right before his eyes. He was not the only one, when the other sparring teams had even halted their own fights, paying close attention to the one fight that seemed to have caught everyone’s interest.

Jungkook didn’t have to look over his shoulder to know that his father was nodding his head while raising his chin proudly. The older wolf enjoyed hearing his sons getting compliments from others, especially from the Alpha. He had been the one who trained both boys himself in the hopes of having them taking over his rank once he was ready to step down from it, and he took pride in having a part in placing Junghyun in the spotlight.

“He’s been preparing for this for a long time,” Jungkook’s father answered with pride vibrating in his voice. He must have tried to hide it and to sound more humble in front of the Alpha, but Jungkook knew him well enough to detect it. The pride, the joy, the amused tone—nothing that could slip his son’s attention no matter how hard he tried to humble himself down.

But Jungkook also knew that he deserved to bask in the spotlight. His father was a great leader among the Enforcers, and he was great in training the warriors in the pack, always leading them with his iron fists but with the heart of a loving father. He had treated his warriors the same way he treated his son—with respect and care, while making sure that they would come up as the best warriors their pack could ever deserve.

Just then, a loud roar was heard from the fight and the leopard shifter dropped to the ground with a loud thud, surrendering from the fight. Junghyun, looking all mighty and glorious in his wolf form, began to howl his victory, which caused the entire crowd to erupt, both in human cheers and in the various sounds of howls and growls to join his small celebration.

Jungkook looked over to the Alpha as the man raised both of his hands to the air, celebrating the win while silencing the crowd. His voice came booming through the hills as he announced Junghyun’s victory with a bright smile, while every pack member who was present held their gazes on their Alpha.

“With the power that had been vested on me by the Moon Goddess’ will, I am here to declare the end of today’s event, with the fulfilment of our new lineup of young Enforcers. Congratulations to every single one of our proud warriors who had joined the battle today. Win or lose, you are the pride of the Wolf Moon Pack, and you have once again proven that our pack is one of the strongest in the East region. Most and foremost, congratulations for Jeon Junghyun—”

Jungkook stole a quick glance while the Alpha gave a pause, allowing the pack to turn their attention to Junghyun who was still standing in the center of the battleground with his head bowed respectfully towards the Alpha.

“The first son of our Head Enforcer, who had claimed the top rank and will be appointed as our new captain for the North borders.”

Jungkook watched how his father’s chest seemed to expand with pride as the crowd cheer once again. It was already an accomplishment for Junghyun to earn his place within the Enforcers troop, but it meant a bigger deal for him to be named captain and to be placed at the North borders out of many others around the pack grounds.

The North borders had been one of the most important parts of the land, as it covered not only the main entrance leading to their homeland, but also to the packhouse and the main district of their pack where most of the local businesses and pack facilities were located in. Being the captain of the front-line borders would be the perfect stepping stone for his brother to achieve if he had wanted to take over their father’s position as the Head Enforcer.

The crowd kept their eyes on the Alpha as he continued to speak, from congratulating the rest of the warriors who had won the battles, to announcing the pack’s next gathering and the Initiation Ceremony coming in the next full moon. More cheers erupted at the mention of the full moon, for it was the night that would always be filled with celebration and the night of worship for their Moon Goddess.

Jungkook’s eyes moved away from the Alpha to find Namjoon, the Alpha’s son, looking at the crowd with eyes filled with wonder. Years older than Jungkook, the young Alpha-in-waiting was ready to claim his title. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he would challenge his father for the title within the next year or perhaps right before the full moon, since the young wolf had been blessed by the Moon Goddess finding his fated mate so early in life.

It wasn’t as if the Alpha himself had any intention of keeping his title much longer, when Jungkook had repeatedly overheard him talking to his Betas about preparing his son to take over and to prepare the pack to welcome the new Alpha. The only problem was the fact that there were still numerous threats haunting the pack from the outside, with the Rogue Wars just ending not too long ago and there were still broken packs coming in search for shelter, something that the Alpha had felt would be too much work for Namjoon to deal with while he was still basking on his newly mated life.

Even as a younger wolf, Jungkook could easily attest to Namjoon’s ability to take over the Alpha position sooner than anyone would think. He had spent the past year training together with Namjoon to be able to witness his ability, to notice how his Alpha powers were already beginning to grow stronger within him, something that the other pack members had also felt each time Namjoon would take over leading the battle training.

As if he could sense Jungkook watching, Namjoon turned and nodded briefly. “Please send my congrats to your brother,” he said, reaching out to pat Jungkook’s shoulder with a firm grip before turning to meet his mate who was watching the event together with the other female spectators on the side, leaving behind a wave of his Alpha force that had seemed to be unleashed unintentionally while he was standing in front of the pack members that would one day be under his leadership.

Once the sun was set, the crowd immediately dispersed and headed back to their homes. While Jungkook and his father had to let Junghyun go to see a Healer to tend on his wounds, they both went to walk home together through the woods. His father’s pride was still vibrating through his chest, his head held high, no doubt prepared to boast about his firstborn son’s achievement for the night to any pack member he would come across.

“Ah, your mother just said that she’s cooking a special dinner. Your brother’s favourite meal,” his father excitedly said all so suddenly with his eyes sparkling the way they always did when he was talking to his mate, Jungkook’s mother, through the mind-link.

It was a way for werewolves and other shifters to communicate with each other, though in the present day, it was hard for any shifter to mind-link just anyone. Not unless it was done by the Alpha to his pack or between those with strong bonds to each other—either between Pure Born wolves and their family members or between fated mates—as it was the bond which allowed them to communicate even through the distance.

“Is it roasted chicken?” Jungkook questioned his father when the man gave a pause and a teasing grin, and Jungkook immediately heard his stomach growling in hunger once his father nodded.

“It’s your favourite too, isn’t it? Your mother said that she had chosen something that both of you boys would love, so you can all enjoy the dinner without feeling left out,” his father said while ruffling Jungkook’s hair, making the boy giggle.

“She doesn’t have to do that, it’s Junghyun who needs to be celebrated anyway. He’s the one who accomplished something today,” Jungkook said, though deep down, he was terribly excited over dinner.

While Jungkook looked down on the ground right after he mentioned this, suddenly overcome with his own desire to be as strong as his brother had been today, his father watched him with a knowing smile. The older man wrapped his arm around Jungkook’s shoulders, pulling him to his chest with a gentle side hug.

“One day, you’ll get to be strong enough to try your own trial. Join the assessment the moment you are old enough, or once you have gained more experience in fighting and building your own battle strategy,” Jungkook’s father said to him with a soft smile, as if he was able to read his boy’s thoughts perfectly. “You might even be a lot stronger than me or your brother, as you started your training way early than we both ever did. And you’re still growing too, which shows that you might become much bigger and stronger than your brother currently is.”

His words brought a smile to Jungkook’s face and his excitement quickly grew. “I won’t let you down, Dad. I promise. I’ll be a better warrior and Enforcer than you and Junghyun ever could.”

Hearing this and seeing the way Jungkook’s eyes were glowing with his exhilaration of knowing that he could do more, Jungkook’s father released a boastful laugh that echoed through the woods around them. “That’s my boy.”

Present day…

The air inside the Alpha’s office is sizzling with tension, and for many reasons to count.

Behind the wooden desk, Alpha Namjoon is standing with his hands propped on top of the desk and his head hanging low, having his eyes locked on the piece of map that has been spread across his desk. Nobody dares to speak as he remains silent, letting the tension grow so thick that Jungkook begins to feel like he could simply grab the letter opener from the Alpha’s desk and slice through the air to break it apart if he ever wants to.

Across the room from the Alpha, Jungkook stands guard as one of the Enforcers responsible for guarding the packhouse and for watching over the meeting on behalf of the Alpha.

It was two years ago when Jungkook challenged the assessment trial and claimed a spot as the pack’s Enforcer. He was one of the youngest contestants at the time, and yet he was able to secure the position that his older brother had left behind when he moved away to a different pack—the Captain of the North borders.

While everyone in the room remains silent, waiting for the Alpha to speak up, Jungkook’s eyes find Namjoon again, studying him closely while he has the chance to.

Only less than a year after Junghyun was appointed as the guard of the North borders, Namjoon had stepped up to challenge his father for the Alpha title. He had won the trial fair and square, and has led the pack with his wisdom and his intelligence ever since. The pack has continued to grow prosper, with new lands to acquire and its members growing, further proving that the Wolf Moon Pack would remain one of the strongest of the East region.

That was until a year ago, when the tragedy happened.

His fated mate had perished during a retaliation done by a group of rogues that had been defeated by his warriors at the end of the Rogue Wars. The loss had sent him into a dark place, and for months, the entire pack grieved with the Alpha with the same darkness cast above everyone’s heads, making the whole pack grew restless in the uncertainty of their future.

Barely surviving the Mating Sickness that had overcome him at the loss of his mate, he had to deal with losing his Betas not too long after. Starting from Beta Jiwon’s departure, who had to move away to join his mated daughter at a neighbouring pack after losing his own mate, and then followed by Beta Pax’s passing who was ambushed by a group of Hunters on his way home after taking the Alpha’s place to deal with pack business with a few alliances.

Ironically, it was the loss of his pair of second-in-commands which had snapped him back into shape to once again claim his position to lead his pack. The Mating Sickness should have been lethal for a wolf, but with the help of his Enforcers and the ranked wolves who had been able to fill in the void in positions to support the Alpha, he managed to bring the pack back in shape until it was running the way it used to even with the absence of his second-in-command that had lasted for quite some time.

Today, here he is now, standing in the middle of his office to lead an important meeting with everyone he had trusted the most. Just like how they all have been keeping this whole pack together while he was struggling with his demons, they are now present by his side to help him set out a plan for a big change that is about to happen in the pack while keeping up with everything that has been going on in his absence.

“Alright,” the Alpha finally speaks, sighing deeply as he straightens himself up from his desk. “I suppose this plan would be enough to increase the security for the South borders. Are we sure that the lion shifters are up to the task? Should we increase the numbers of Enforcers there too?”

Alpha Namjoon raises his head to look at the pack’s Head Enforcer, Hoseok, who is nodding his head respectfully. “Positive. I have placed one small group of our most experienced Enforcers in the South district. They will be appointed to train the young lion shifters to prepare themselves as a line of defence, and then—”

Jungkook keeps his eyes on Hoseok as he continues to relay his plans to secure the borders, presenting the strategy that he had planned out to defend the pack against any incoming threats, and to explain the updated schedules for training sessions and new border patrols. As he keeps speaking in front of the others, Jungkook finds himself admiring the wolf and finally admitting that he has truly deserved to be in his position no matter what people had often said in the past.

Before Hoseok was named the Head Enforcer, both he and Jungkook’s brother, Junghyun, had been named the best contenders to challenge for the position after their father had officially retired. But then fate changed their paths when one day, as Junghyun was guarding the North borders like he used to and he had opened up the gate to none other than his own fated mate who had come with her father to pay a visit to the Alpha. As the first daughter of the reigning Beta from their home pack, she had no choice but to follow her father’s steps, and Junghyun had chosen to join his mate to build his family back at her home pack, leaving his post open.

His brother’s move to a different pack has changed a lot of things both in his family and in the pack’s dynamics. But it was the fact that Jungkook was still too young to take the position at the time, which had then led to Hoseok challenging to take over. And he had won the position so easily in the assessment trial two years ago after defeating other contenders who had been vying for the rank.

“Will all the preparation be ready on time?” the Alpha questions to the room right as Hoseok is done with his part, snapping Jungkook back to focus.

This time, the new Beta takes a step closer with a scroll of paper, no doubt presenting his own report. “Looking at the timeline, we’ll be ready to welcome the incoming pack members with increased security, just in case the threats are following their tracks. We have a group of Enforcers sent out to join them in their journey here and act as a convoy to avoid any kind of ambush, so hopefully, everyone can make it to our land safe and sound.”

Unlike Hoseok, their new Beta is someone who had not been born or raised in their home pack. Beta Taehyung had come from another pack. A way more superior pack called the Supreme Wolf Pack whose land is located not too far away from here.

It was a power move done by Alpha Namjoon to secure an alliance with the larger—and stronger—pack. It was well known that Beta Kim, Taehyung’s father, was the best peace defender and second-in-command ever existed, and that Taehyung’s older brothers had been competing to claim the title that was left behind once he retired. By giving a chance to the youngest child of Beta Kim to claim a position in this pack instead of letting him join the competition against his own siblings, Namjoon had gained the respect from both the Alpha and the former Beta of the Supreme Wolf Pack. Since then, Beta Taehyung has been showing competence, further proving that he truly is the perfect person to take the responsibility, no matter how adamant he has been about his position being only temporary.

Alpha Namjoon gives an approval nod after he is done reading the reports given by the Beta, clearly pleased with what he is seeing and receiving so far.

“Well done,” he says as he is giving back the scroll to the Beta and then hands the map to their homeland to Jungkook for him to take care of. He then returns to his seat, allowing everyone else to take their seats as the Alpha begins to talk about the pack that they are opening their borders to.

The Hollow Pride is a large pack that used to live in the solitude of the wild forests spread between the North region of the continent and the East. They have been known to be swift, experts in concealing themselves in the wild and hiding from threat. But their ability in camouflaging an entire pack is not what has made them special. The Hollow Pride is—or was—a pack formed by fox shifters, mostly families of red foxes taking over the pack.

Fox shifters rarely remain within a massive pack, and yet this one has immensely grown ever since they were forced into living in isolation. Trained solely as spies and messengers during the Blood War, the pack has never gotten themselves involved directly in the pack and land disputes that have been happening for the past century, keeping mostly to themselves and staying out of all the drama occurring in the shifters community. Living in peace for so long has left the pack to be complacent, weakening their defence system against unknown threats, until the day rogues came trespassing their territory and attacking the unsuspecting families living on the outskirts of their homeland.

The ordeal has left The Hollow Pride’s pack members mostly scattered to safety except for the remaining few that had stayed to protect their land. While they had managed to defeat the rogues in the end, it has become obviously clear that their home was no longer safe, completely exposed to new threats, and they would need to move.

The Wolf Moon Pack has agreed to take a huge chunk of the pack and give them the new home and the safety that they needed, while the smaller groups who have refused to stay too far from their home would find nearby communities to shelter in. And this big arrival of the new pack members has been the reason why all the important players of the pack have gathered here to plan out everything perfectly to avoid chaos happening during the move and to make sure the process of their arrival would go on smoothly.

It was only recently that their pack had gone through a different kind of ordeal when the Alpha had to send reinforcement and aid to a neighbouring human village which was attacked by Hunters, only to have those Hunters attacking the pack in retaliation while trying to capture the daughter of the village’s chief who had run here for shelter. This current event had simply given them another reason to be more thorough in making all the arrangements needed and to plan out all the security measures as the pack prepares themselves to face the upcoming changes.

Once everyone is done with their reports and the proper arrangements has been laid out, Alpha Namjoon’s shoulders seem to simply sag in relief. His exhaustion suddenly becomes apparent, and everyone begins to fidget nervously in their seat. “Since we’ve gathered everything, I guess that means that the meeting is dismissed. Just make sure to run everything down before their arrival in the next couple of days. Taehyung and Jungkook, can you both take over the battle training schedule today? I have some paperwork to do,” he says this in a calm voice, hiding the exhaustion that is no doubt hanging through every word he says while avoiding everyone’s gazes to hide the noticeable exasperation he wears on his face.

Jungkook and Taehyung exchange gazes, giving each other knowing looks before both of them regard the Alpha with a half bow. “Of course, Alpha.”

“He’s still struggling, isn’t he?”

Jungkook has kept the question hanging on his tongue throughout the meeting this morning and then proceeded to hold it down for the rest of the day as he went on to do his work, no matter how much his curiosity has been brewing inside of him, hanging over him like a shadow.

But now, as he is walking home at the end of the day after pack training was long over, once he has gone on separate ways with the Beta and has walked a distance away from the packhouse where the Alpha might still be working at, he can no longer hold back from asking it out loud. Walking right beside him, Hoseok’s light mood turns somber the moment he hears Jungkook’s question.

The Head Enforcer releases a deep sigh before looking around them, making sure that their conversation would remain private even if they are no longer around the pack house’ vicinity where pack members would slither around doing their business. Hoseok waits until they are almost hidden in the woods surrounding the main district before stopping to talk with the younger Enforcer.

His face seems grim as he wonders about their Alpha, but then he nods his head. “I don’t think anyone can escape the Mating Sickness so easily, no matter how strong that person might be,” he says with a low voice, still preventing people from overhearing him speak. “The Alpha hides it well, but those of us who have known him for a long time can see it clearly that he hasn’t been himself for a long time. He seems more like a—a shell of his old self.”

Hoseok looks around once more before adding, “He’s doing the best he could, but one of these days, he would snap and break and there will be nothing that anyone could do to stop the Sickness from taking over.”

Jungkook feels his chest pinch with worries. He may not have been growing up with the Alpha the same way as Hoseok did, as they are at the same age, but Jungkook has looked up to Namjoon ever since he was little. He admires the strong wolf just enough to care about him. “Is there really no way to help him?”

Hoseok appears to be considering something seriously before speaking again. “Actually, there is. Beta Taehyung has been talking to the Elders and the Mage who has been helping the Alpha and they may have been planning on something,” he says, lowering his voice again to let Jungkook know that this conversation is not meant to come out on public yet. “Seems like the Beta has been communicating with his home pack to make some arrangements.”

“What kind of arrangement?”

“A mating arrangement,” Hoseok answers with a hopeful tone in his voice. “A second chance for the Alpha to have a mate. They said a second chance mate can help a shifter heal and survive from the Mating Sickness, and they are currently planning out all the details on how it is going to happen.”

When Jungkook tilts his head, looking confused for a moment, which is why Hoseok explains further. “The Alpha from the Supreme Wolf Pack has two daughters. The first daughter hasn’t met her fated mate yet, while the second daughter is mated and has been living together with her mate to start their family. The Elders suggested that a mating arrangement can help both sides,” he says, and Jungkook begins to understand where this is heading. “We already have an alliance with the Supreme Wolf Pack by taking in Beta Taehyung and giving him rank, but a mating arrangement will be able to solidify the alliance further. Beta Taehyung is working on the specifics, although I’m not too caught up with the progress yet. It seems that there are a few other packs that have made the same offers, but the Alpha and his daughter have yet to make a decision to accept any of them.”

“How bad do you think the Alpha’s condition really is?” Jungkook questions him after a moment, while the other wolf only shrugs.

“Not sure. Like I said, the Alpha hides it well,” Hoseok says. “And he’s been seeing the Healers more often to make sure that he stays in his prime condition for as long as he possibly can.”

Both wolves fall silent as they continue to trudge along the woods, each heading towards their own homes to rest after having a long day and after leading the pack’s training this afternoon. In his silence, Jungkook cannot stop thinking about everything that he has learned about fated mates and the dynamics in mating.

Werewolves normally find their fated mates at the age of eighteen. For the unfortunate ones, they would usually find a way or gain permission from their packs to travel across the continent under the guise of pack businesses to be able to search for their mates. Other shifters have their own rules, as some shifters with smaller communities have been mating with humans to prevent extinction while some others have a longer time to wait to be able to find their fated if they truly exist for them.

Jungkook’s parents have met each other at a young age. His mother was celebrating her eighteen birthday and his father had crashed the party with his friends for laughs, only to find the sparks of the mating bond appearing between them to let them know that they were fated with each other. Junghyun had only been an Enforcer for a year when he met his mate, even though they had to wait until his mate’s twentieth birthday before they were able to officially mate with each other in the end.

On his eighteen birthday, Jungkook has had big hopes and had wished for two things. He had accomplished his first wish by winning the assessment trial and was chosen to be the next Captain of the North border. But luck hasn’t been on his side to make his second wish come true. He has waited and has gone in search for his mate since, but his efforts have been futile. It doesn’t help that the riot against the Hunters had prohibited him from leaving his station that he has had no chance to travel outside of the pack, leaving him with no other choice but to simply wait.

His mind wanders back to his Alpha, and his chest grew constricted. The Mating Sickness is an illness that he would have never wished for anyone to experience. Not even to his greatest enemies. But deep down, he envies the Alpha for having experienced finding the love that the Moon Goddess had gifted him. To be able to find someone who was meant only for himself and to love someone so deeply that it is now slowly killing him when the love has gone away. It seems so beautiful and tragic, and yet so poetic, exactly what Jungkook has always wanted to experience for himself.

Just as his mind keeps wandering over fated mates and questioning himself just how he is going to start searching for his destined, a movement coming from the middle of the woods steals his attention. Both he and Hoseok turn just in time to see their Beta, Taehyung, walking between the trees towards the nearby meadow. The Beta has a picnic basket in one hand while he has the other holding tightly on his mate’s hand. But what intrigues Jungkook the most is the wide smile that he wears on his face and the bright glow in his eyes as he focuses solely on his human mate.

“Look at them go,” Hoseok muses right beside him as the Beta and his mate disappear beyond the trees. “Seems like they’re finally making progress. It’s what he deserves anyway, since he had waited for a long time.”

Once again, the envy that has been haunting him makes Jungkook’s chest grow tight. “I’ve heard stories about Beta Taehyung and his human mate,” he says, thinking back to the stories that he has heard from the female wolves at the daycare center, when they had gossiped about how Beta Taehyung and his mate had met when they were kids and how Taehyung had done all he could to wait patiently until this moment would come to them to be together. Thinking about the story makes him smile, and there is nothing he can do but shake his head in wonder. “It’s always amazing how some people can find each other and what they must go through to fulfil their fates.”

Hoseok laughs at his words. “Oh, his story was truly remarkable. I don’t think anyone could beat what he had to deal with. Who would’ve thought that the Beta had to pretend and act like a pet dog to build a bond with his mate?”

Jungkook cannot help but smile wider while Hoseok continues to laugh about it. “It’s still pretty amazing though. It was brilliant, actually. And he was lucky to have found her long before he started to feel the mate bond. I feel jealous when I heard about it, actually. Both my father and my brother found their mate really early, so I was hoping that the same thing would happen to me too,” Jungkook says, though he begins to sound as if he is musing to himself. Releasing a deep sigh to ignore the uneasiness inside his chest, he turns to Hoseok and asks him, “Have you ever tried to look for your mate?”

Hoseok gives a chuckle while shaking his head. “I did, a long time ago. The day I defeated your Dad in the assessment trial was the day I just came back from my trip to search for my mate. It was a waste of time, honestly. I’ve looked in every nook and every cranny, gone through numerous packs and even went across the No Man’s Land, and still found nothing. Nobody that made me feel the sparks. Not even a whiff of a scent. I’ve lost count on how many times I looked up to the sky to question the Moon Goddess about my mate or if she truly exists somewhere, waiting for me. I actually held hopes that perhaps she’s too young for me to sense her, just like how Taehyung and his mate was. But deep down, no matter how much I have prayed for her, I’m beginning to think that perhaps there is no mate created for me, after all.”

He stops to release a deep sigh. For a moment, Jungkook can see a longing look in Hoseok’s eyes before he blinks and his signature mischievous gaze returns.

“It was then when I decided that I would no longer waste my time and simply enjoy my life,” the Head Enforcer adds with a sly grin. “Life is short, even for us, and there are so many wonders in the world to see. Or, in my case, there are plenty in this pack for me to explore.” Hoseok says this with a wink, and it takes some time for Jungkook to understand what he meant—until the moment it finally clicks.

As if on cue, a collective sound of giggles comes from somewhere nearby, and both wolves turn around just in time to see a group of young females walking and joking together, not noticing them at first. The girls immediately stop walking when they immediately catch sight of the two Enforcers, all looking at them with wide, glowing eyes. One, specifically, is looking completely intrigued at Hoseok. It takes Jungkook noticing the smile that Hoseok is giving to the girl and the faint crimson growing on her cheeks to realise what is going on.

Even from the distance, Jungkook can recognise the girl’s scent. Wild orchid. The same scent that the Head Enforcer had come in with this morning at the meeting that Jungkook had accidentally breathed in when they brushed against one another in greeting.

Chuckling to himself, Jungkook begins shaking his head. He shouldn’t have been so surprised about this predicament. He has known that there are many pack members who have flings before finding their mates, and Hoseok is certainly not an exception. He has lost count on how many times he has chided his superior for having flings before finding his mate, especially when Hoseok keeps on changing partners every two weeks or so, sometimes less. But he keeps his mouth shut this time and simply rolls his eyes.

Hoseok pats on Jungkook’s shoulder and leans in. “Why don’t you join us?” he whispers, before glancing at his flavour of the week who is standing there waiting for him with her two female friends, both of whom are eyeing Jungkook curiously.

Jungkook only chuckles and shakes his head. “I think I’ll pass. You go on and have fun,” Jungkook whispers back as he follows Hoseok’s gaze. “Just don’t go too wild, boss. Okay?”

Laughing at Jungkook’s comment, Hoseok pats on his back once more. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he says as he begins making his way towards his waiting group of fans, though he doesn’t leave without adding, “You know, sometimes it’s okay to have fun even while you’re waiting.”

Jungkook says nothing else as he watches Hoseok leave with the girls, keeping his arm around the shoulders of the little female that he had spent the night with while he has the other arm wrapped around another girl’s waist. The third girl follows them right after sending a teasing wink at Jungkook, leaving him wondering just how wild the night would end for all four of them.

Left to his own devices, Jungkook turns to continue making his way home. He tries to push any thoughts regarding the Head Enforcer and his tryst away from his head, but then he finds himself once again wondering about his fate and the chances of him finally finding his mate. This time, he doesn’t let his mind wander too far, stopping himself right before the envious thoughts of his mated brother and the wounded Alpha start to get the better of him and he shifts his thoughts to focus on his duties.

In a few more days, the former members of The Hollow Pride pack would be arriving, and he needs to get into shape to guard their entry at the North borders. For some reason, each time he would start thinking about the pack of fox shifters, Jungkook would find himself feeling both nervous and excited. In fact, he has been feeling extremely giddy today as he realises that the day is coming sooner than expected and that he has been appointed to welcome the new pack members at the pack’s front door.

Just as the rush of excitement returns to him, Jungkook stops in his tracks with a surprised gasp. He begins to wonder if the uneasiness and the unsettling feeling inside him have anything to do with the big change and the big responsibility that has been handed to him, or if there is another reason for him to feel so restless.

For a moment, he wonders if this is a sign. The exact sign that he has been waiting for.

What if his mate is among the incoming new pack members?

What if this feeling is coming from the mate bond that is slowly getting stronger as his mate is coming near?

These thoughts continue to take over his mind for the rest of his trip home, nearly making him stumble a few times each time any hope of finding his mate among the new arrival starts to grow. Minutes away from arriving home, however, Jungkook quickly convinces himself to stop thinking about it too deeply and to wipe these thoughts away from his head.

His mind flies back to Hoseok, who had held hopes of finding his mate until the day the disappointment became too much that he simply gave up and it turns him into the reckless wolf that he is today. Jungkook refuses to see himself in Hoseok’s shoes or ending up to be just like him. He never wants to soil the sacred belief of fated mates or to lose his faith in it. Something that would surely happen if the hope that he has would be shattered into pieces and if he is once again left disappointed.

So he buries all the hopes inside, reminding himself to focus on his duties, and to simply protect himself and his heart from any form of disappointment, preparing himself to face the truth if his union with his fated would still be nothing but a blissful dream.

The Hollow Pride pack progresses slowly through the forest, tracing down the tracks towards the lower region of the East continent. Their journey has taken them a long time due to their big number, but none of the pack members has ever voiced out their complaints, no matter how tedious the journey had been as they came across steep hills and extensive rivers on their way.

The option of moving in smaller groups had been evaded due to the threats still lurking around them, believing that moving in bigger groups would help defend themselves better against any kind of danger. Having a team of trained Enforcers sent by their new alliance had not been enough to ease their worries, even though these trained werewolves have been doing their job perfectly in securing their path towards their new home while becoming the most welcoming travel companions to more than half of the pack members.

Min Yoongi has been walking with the convoy while staying in the middle line of the group and almost to the end of the line. Just like all the other male pack members, Yoongi stays on the sideline, joining the circle that has been created around the female members, the pregnant women, and the children who are placed in the middle of the group, protecting them from any incoming threats. His older brother stays on the other side of the circle, staying close to his pregnant mate while Yoongi takes the responsibility of guarding their mother. Somewhere in the back, their father follows close while guarding the pack from behind. His old man may not have been trained well as a warrior or protector, but his bigger build and his experience as the pack’s spy would come in handy to alert the Enforcers in case they are being tailed.

The entire strategy had been created long before their departure from their homeland. It was the perfect solution for a secure move. Efficient, but with a higher chance of survival that they would need as they expose themselves to the world in the way they had never done before.

As the final day of their journey is ending, the air around them shifts, while the Enforcers who have been guarding their convoy begin to shudder with excitements. Finally, they have arrived at their destination, just as the tracks begin to lead them towards a parting twin hill hiding the front gate to the Wolf Moon Pack’s land. As most of the Enforcers are travelling in their wolf forms, a series of excited huffs and barks are heard from every part of the convoy as they express their joy of returning home while announcing their arrival to their comrades at the gate. Yoongi and his family are still far from reaching the border, but he can already see and watch as his pack members slowly approach its border carefully, while the Enforcers that had joined their journey are staying close to watch over the crossing and make sure that the process will run smoothly at the gate.

“This is it. Our new home,” Yoongi hears his mother speak from right beside him.

While his mother has been riding the carriage while staying in her human form, Yoongi has chosen to travel as a fox, trudging along with the carriage and the other males who have chosen the same. He might be small in size, but this form is way more effective for the long journey and to prepare against any battle compared to staying in his human form. Unable to speak naturally, Yoongi simply answers with a small bark and bobs his head up and down, making his mother laugh.

“Oh, how are you supposed to protect me if you’re acting this cute?” his mother asks him, while Yoongi can only scoff in response, though the foxy grin that he is making shows that he doesn’t mind the little taunting. Even the Enforcer who is walking on his other side in his wolf form gives out a deep, wolfy chuckle, showing that he has been listening to their banter all along.

“Is it weird that I’m feeling excited about this new change?” his mother leans down a little so Yoongi can hear her whisper—not that he needs her to, when he also has an advanced hearing sense like any other shifters do. “Everyone from the Wolf Moon Pack that we’ve met has been so nice, and they are one of the more progressed packs among the East. I sense a bright future for us. I just feel it.”

Yoongi gives her no response this time, too preoccupied with his own senses that are beginning to come alight as he is getting closer to the border. Unbeknownst to his mother, he had sensed a lot of things since halfway through the journey. He had paid less attention to it at first, focusing solely on the trip and on making it through the vast woods.

But now, as he comes closer to his destination, he has let go of his guard and let his senses come forth, allowing him to feel everything. The shift in the air that he is feeling doesn’t only come from the foreign land beyond, when he can feel something else washing over him. Something stronger. Not only the powerful waves of presence and hostility that the Wolf Moon Pack have been known for, but a sense of presence, an invisible force that comes sizzling in the air around him, electrifying, making his whole body come alert and making him feel more alive at the same time.

He had never felt this force before but he has heard tales about it in the past. And he had learned about it again not too long ago, when his older brother met his mate for the first time. Realising this, Yoongi feels himself snapping on alert, while there is a tension running down in his spine, making him eager to reach out to his new home while feeling extremely nervous about it at the same time.

As he watches line after line of his pack member crossing the border, his heartbeat begins to race. Somewhere beyond that border, there might be a chance of him finding his mate. Suddenly, he wants to rush ahead and run forward, to race through the crowd just to find her. But he tries his hardest to hold back, telling himself that he would have enough time to search for her once he is finally there, and that if his mate truly exists in this new pack, then his mother would be right after all.

There is a big change waiting for him right ahead, and he can only hope that this change will be a good one for his future. Especially if he is about to be united with his mate, finally ending his long wait.

Standing in guard at the North border to welcome their new pack members and confirm the identity of each shifter that are moving into his homeland, Jungkook does his best to hold back from straining his neck and begin looking around until he can find his mate.

His mate.

Just saying it in his head makes his whole body shudder, and he begins to feel giddy about what is coming. He is both excited and nervous knowing that his mate is coming, that his mate truly exists, even though this is definitely not how he had imagined it would happen.

The more pack members enter through the border, the stronger the scent overcomes Jungkook, and the faster his heartbeat races.

The scent had come to him a few moments ago, right when the convoy of fox shifters and their guards appeared down the valley between the spreading forest and their front gate and mere moments before the first line of shifters came to cross the border. It is a specific scent, intoxicating and alluring him, nothing that he had recognised coming from his own pack. The scent is addicting and yet calming at the same time, with a mix of wood, spice, and a hint of patchouli, making it slightly masculine—which is both confusing and intriguing him as he continues to breathe them in as he waits.

Inside his head, his wolf keeps prancing around impatiently, his tail comes swinging back and forth as the beast is eager to meet his mate. He wants to welcome her, to protect her, to shield her from this massive crowd while holding her in his arms just to know that whatever he is feeling is real. That this peculiar feeling is truly the mating bond that he has been expecting for a long time.

Just as the middle line of the convoy begins to cross over the border, a pat on his shoulder steals his attention. Biting back the annoyed growl that comes from both his wolf and himself, Jungkook turns to find Heesung, one of the newly recruited Enforcers positioned under his lead looking back to him with respect, albeit looking terribly nervous at the same time.

“Yes?” he asks when the young Enforcer says nothing. Though it doesn’t seem like Jungkook has hidden his vexation well when he unintentionally snaps at the teen pup, making the younger wolf flinch.

Just as he has suspected, Heesung’s eyes grow wide in fear and he immediately cranes his head lower, showing Jungkook his neck in submission before answering, “Forgive me, Captain. But you are requested in the Alpha’s office immediately.”

This time, the deep growl simply slips out of Jungkook. “I am on duty,” he says with a deep and low voice, added with his wolf’s growls to make the simple sentence sounds menacing, while the young Enforcer visible trembles.

“I—I know, Sir…Captain. But the Alpha insists. I am to replace you in your position until you return. I—I’m sorry, Sir…Captain.”

Jungkook feels an instant rage. Why now, out of all the time and out of everyone present, must the Alpha summons him now? He snaps a glance towards the busy gate, where the younger wolves who had been signed off to deal with the identity check are busy accepting the new pack members and grunts desperately. Any minute now, his mate would walk through that gate, and he wouldn’t be there to welcome the mysterious fox shifter who has been fated to him.

Damn the Alpha, his wolf’s voice echoed inside his head, and he closes his eyes to calm himself down before his wolf would come forward.

“Fine,” he finally says, biting back another growl and taking a deep breath to steady his voice before turning back to Heesung. To the young Enforcer, he hands the list of names and the map to the temporary compound that he has been using to officially hand over his job. For now. “Just make sure everything goes on smoothly. If there is any trouble, call me through the mind-link immediately. Understood?”

Heesung blinks his eyes a few times before answering nervously, “Yes, Captain.”

Without another word, Jungkook steps away from his position, stealing one last glance at the gate before trudging his way towards the packhouse to meet with his Alpha while trying his best not to curse, in fear that his rage will unintentionally be sent through his mind-link for his Alpha to hear. It pains him to walk away from the border only moments before he can finally land his gaze on his mate, to recognise her for the first time. But he also knows that with his current rank, comes a bigger responsibility. And he still has a job to do. Not to mention that he has to follow the order given to him before the Alpha would explode and punish him by lowering his rank.

So he continues to walk through the pack land, focusing on swallowing his frustration to be able to do his job, even if his soul is desperate to reach out to his mate’s.

“And this is where you guys are staying for the moment. The Alpha is arranging to have new houses to be built for the new families, so we’ll have you set up in your new home once it’s ready. It usually takes about five to six months. We always use this compound each time we have some newcomers in the pack—”

Jake, the Enforcer who had stayed with Yoongi throughout the trip—who had turned out to be a lot younger, by the way—shows Yoongi and his family the small but adequate housing space in the middle of the temporary compound which they had set up for the new arrivals. The place seems comfortable, with a few separate bedrooms, enough to house an entire family of five with a pregnant woman.

Jake continues to show them around and explain everything about the housing and the pack’s system, including the schedules for the battle training that the members of the Hollow Pride had agreed to do in order to become official pack members and some other options of occupations that the family can get involved in to contribute to the pack. Staying on the side of the room, Yoongi can barely pay attention to anything that the young werewolf is saying, when his mind keeps going back to the North border.

Yoongi keeps remembering how he had forced himself to remain patient as he watched line after line of his pack members walking across the border. How he continued to follow the orders until it was finally his turn to enter his new home.

The first feeling that welcomed him felt extremely magical. The land itself was welcoming him like a warm embrace, while the force that had been the signature energy for the Wolf Moon Pack washed over him to make him feel protected. It felt so strong that he had almost come to his knees to submit to the pack even before the Initiation Ceremony. At the same time, the feeling made him feel relieved, as if all the fear and the worries which had been haunting him since he left home were taken away.

But it was also then when he caught a potent scent washing over him, leaving him feeling intrigued and excited when he could feel a bond pulling him so strongly towards it. Except that wherever he looked, he simply couldn’t find where the bond and the scent were coming from.

He can still remember it as he closes his eyes, the scent that was so rich and creamy and sweet, but feels warm and strong at the same time. It was the scent of freesia with a hint of citrus and mint, so refreshing and calming but not too feminine, which was intriguing his curiosity the most. Then he looked around, noticing that most of the werewolves welcoming his pack had been ranked as Enforcers, only with the Beta leading them in place of their Alpha who was somehow absent.

Yoongi had spent a long time looking around the crowd for his mate, nearly missing his cue when his family had started to move away from the crowd as Jake was already leading them towards their temporary home. Even to this moment, Yoongi is terribly confused. He cannot understand why his mate was so hard to find, even when the scent was near. He had even come close to question Jake discreetly at some point if there were any female Enforcer between the shifters who had welcomed them earlier, but has decided to keep the questions to himself, while silently wondering if there is a reason why she was not there earlier or why she had left when he arrived, leaving only the shadows of her existence behind.

Had she not sense him coming—even when Yoongi had already sensed her presence from a mile away?

What if she was deliberately avoiding him, knowing that he was a newcomer who has yet to prove his worth—both to the new pack and to his mate?

Yoongi shakes these thoughts away, refusing to let any doubt sink in just when he is finally having hopes again after so long. Biting back his exasperated sigh, he looks up to focus on Jake and the instruction he is giving to him and his family, focusing on using this time to settle in and help his family to adjust to this new home.

Deep down, he knows that he shouldn’t rush things and to simply hold on to hope. There is no doubt about it, he simply knows exactly what the intoxicating scent that overwhelmed him and the pulling bond truly mean—that his mate exists, and that she is somewhere near, and that now he has all the possibility of finally finding her.

He just has to bid his time, and be extremely patient before it can finally happen.

The anger that Jungkook had felt for being pulled away within seconds from meeting his mate had dissipated the moment he found out what the Alpha had needed from him that day. It had distracted him for a moment, even if the Alpha’s request had caught him off guard, leaving him feeling unsettled that he couldn’t give a direct answer on whether or not he was capable of accepting his duty. Thankfully, the older wolf seemed to get it, and had let Jungkook go on his way and let him take his time to consider.

For a time, thinking about the job he was meant to deal with had managed to occupy his mind just enough to push the thoughts about his mysterious mate out of his head. But as days continue to pass and it simply seems as if the entire universe is plotting to keep him away from his mate, Jungkook’s frustration begins to build up that he can barely do his daily duties well. From messing up with the border patrol schedules to spacing out on the job, he knows that everyone can easily notice just how badly he has been doing lately. And that is why it is no surprise when the Head Enforcer finally decides to ask him to meet up privately one morning after an early meeting with the Alpha.

“You seem to have something occupying your mind, Jungkook. Is there something wrong?”

Having more used to deal with Hoseok’s playful side, Jungkook is completely unprepared when his superior is regarding him with a frown and a serious look on his face. And it is hard for him to even pretend that everything is alright when Jungkook feels terribly scrutinised under Hoseok’s gaze.

“Nothing is wrong, really. Why?” Jungkook answers him while keeping his eyes away from his superior, afraid of what his eyes may reveal if they exchange gazes for too long.

Both his defiance and the denial should have pissed Hoseok off as a more superior wolf, yet Jungkook’s reaction only brings a small grin to Hoseok’s face. It is obvious that he is quite amused to see Jungkook trying to weasel his way from answering his superior, and looking terribly flustered while doing it. But there is also a concerned look appearing in his eyes that makes Jungkook feel somewhat guilty for hiding things from him.

He doesn’t even know exactly why he feels the need to hide the fact that he may have a chance to meet his mate and how the thought keeps bothering him. Perhaps the conversation that he had with Hoseok the other day still lingers in his mind. He still finds it hard to shake off Hoseok’s reservations about fated mates and the scepticism that he has against it that he is afraid of what the other wolf would think if he ever shares anything about his mate. At least, not before he can be completely sure about her really existing. Perhaps it is because sharing the news also means that he is sharing his mate’s existence with other people—which is something that makes everything seem even more ridiculous to think about.

And then there is also the fact that he keeps missing the chances to find his mate, even when he can already feel all the signs around him. Truth be told, it is starting to make him doubt her existence. He even wonders if it is possible that he has only been imagining things—that he has let his hopes of finding his mate to grow so strongly that his senses have decided to create a mirage of the mating bond for him to feel hopeful about it.

Even before Jungkook turns back to look at his superior, Jungkook can feel Hoseok’s gaze on him, and he can feel his doubt showing in his eyes. But before Jungkook can give him another excuse, the Head Enforcer simply shakes his head and changes the subject. “What did the Alpha ask from you when he called you the other day?”

Swallowing his sigh of relief, Jungkook gladly answers his superior, “Alpha Namjoon asked two things from me. The first thing was his plan on sending me on a mission this winter to go North. He wanted me to pick somebody up for him, but he hasn’t gotten any other details on it since it seems to have been a request from Mage Cian.” Thinking about this request—since it was given to him more as a favour instead of an order—makes him bristle.

Because the quest would give him a deadline, forcing him to leave when he has yet to figure out a damn thing about his mate.

“He also asked me to take over the training session for the new pack members, especially from the former Hollow Pride pack. He wanted me to give them the beginner level training starting this week so he can focus on training the new Enforcers and prepare the group that has been set to guard the South borders.”

Right as Jungkook mentions the pack training, the thought of him leading the pack of fox-shifters into today’s training starts to bring him more hope. By having the newcomers joining for the first time today, it would probably give him a chance to get a closer look at them, and maybe he would be able to finally recognise his mate if there are more female pack members who would join. It is the one thing that makes the Wolf Moon Pack different from others, as the pack allows female shifters to join their battle training and to even allow them to become Enforcers when the other shifters community tend to refuse to let any female to fight. For the first time after so many years, Jungkook is more than grateful to be a part of a pack with a progressive way to deal with their pack members. And he will even be more grateful for it later once he can prove that his mate is not a ghost or a figment of his imagination when he sees her there.

Unaware that Jungkook has his mind wandering somewhere else, Hoseok gives an understanding nod. “I suppose he had taken Mage Cian’s advice about splitting his work with others. He had taken up too much responsibility over the past year and we know it’s been draining him since.”

His words barely register inside Jungkook’s head as he is suddenly overwhelmed with enthusiasm, not even when the Head Enforcer leads them both back to the packhouse to rest. He can barely hold down his giddiness for the rest of the day ever since the thought occurs to him. As the day turns into noon and he joins the Alpha and the other ranked wolves at lunch, Jungkook can barely sit still. His impatience keeps brewing inside him as he devours his meal, eager to hurry up and rush towards the training grounds.

And it doesn’t help his case at all when Heesung comes by once lunchtime is over to announce to him and the others that the new pack members are already waiting for them in front of the packhouse, waiting for their next instructions. Jungkook forces himself to remain calm, to reign down both he and his wolf by clenching his hands tightly as the Alpha moves from his seat, instructing him to follow just as he comes so close to shifting into his wolf and starts rushing out of the packhouse.

The warm sun that would usually be enough to calm Jungkook’s nerves welcomes him the moment he steps out of the front door, though it does nothing to stop his heart from racing rapidly inside his chest when the scent overcomes him. It is the same woody fragrance that he sensed on the new pack’s arrival day, and the same one that has been haunting him for days and even dares to come to him at night in his dreams.

Startled to know that his mate is here, he immediately looks around, searching for its source.

That is when he sees—him. Standing with the line of new pack members right outside the packhouse.

The fox is watching him with careful eyes, as Jungkook follows close to Alpha Namjoon and Hoseok who are heading straight to them. While he feels as if he is threading through a thick fog, as if he is dreaming and simply floating on the ground with his heart plummeting down to his stomach, the wolf inside him howls with joy and pure bliss, happy to finally lay his eyes on its pair.

But he finds it hard to relish this moment the way his wolf does when he is too shocked to react, completely unprepared for this.

A male? He questions his wolf, even as the beast seems to choose to run around inside his head to celebrate this meeting instead of answering his master. Our mate is a male?

Everyone around him starts to speak, yet everything sounds muffled with his head spinning and wondering if this is real. Beside him, the Alpha introduces everyone from the home pack who have joined him today, while announcing the start of their training. His Alpha’s voice sounds fade to Jungkook’s ears as he tries to wrap around his mind on the situation. He begins to doubt himself, believing that perhaps his mind is playing tricks on him, only to find the fox in front of him is still looking at him with a deep gaze which flickers to silver for a split second just as his wolf releases a howl inside his head.

He can sense me too.

“Let’s all move to the training grounds to get things started. Pretty sure not all of you have seen the place, have you?”

Despite not being able to catch everything that Alpha Namjoon had said, the words snap him back to focus and he manages to move along with the group just fine as everyone makes their way towards the area where they are going to join the pack training just beyond the small hill nearby.

Jungkook keeps his distance, walking in the back with the other Enforcers while the Alpha and his Beta lead the way. He tries his best to conceal his agitation, yet he seems unable to keep his eyes away from the fox who is walking ahead of him, with his shoulders slightly slouching though his back seems stiff, as if he can feel Jungkook’s gaze on him.

He follows silently as the group stops at one corner of the open plane and then quickly takes his place next to the Alpha Namjoon who continues to talk. Once again, everything slowly pans out as Alpha Namjoon talks more about today’s training, to explain all the rules and the instructions needed for the beginners, and even explains why they are required to join and to get used to fighting if they are planning to stay here permanently. He ends the talk by explaining about the changes that they will have to endure by joining this pack, and none of the shifters within the group shows their displeasure of what they are required to do.

The conversation going on around Jungkook seems as if it is coming from far away, barely registering inside his head with his mind focused on one specific place. If he had been terribly distracted before, everything has only escalated today as the source of his distraction is currently standing right there, right before his eyes, currently returning his gaze with his own.

All so suddenly, Alpha Namjoon ends his talk and introductions, then turns to Jungkook with a nod. “Jungkook, I’m sure you can take it from here?”

Jungkook’s eyes grow wide then becomes rigid when everyone else turns to him, while he is completely unprepared to have all attention placed on him. He takes a deep breath, focused on keeping himself as composed as he possibly can before finally stepping forward to take his place to lead the training.

Seeing him looking all prepared to take over, unaware of how troubled Jungkook’s mind truly is, Alpha Namjoon simply smiles and gives him an approving nod. “I’ll be on the other side of the training grounds with Taehyung and Hoseok so you can fetch either of us anytime you need some help.”

“R-right, of course, Alpha.” Jungkook keeps his head bowing low as Alpha Namjoon walks away, followed by his loyal Beta and the Head Enforcer while Jungkook is left with his group of lower-ranked Enforcers and the new pack members who are looking at him curiously.

He clears his throat, trying to remind himself of the purpose of him being here in the first place. He manages to figure out what to do next and begins to instruct the younger Enforcers who are present to assist him—Heesung, Jay, and Jake. He feels more than thankful to have them helping to make the new members feel more comfortable as the three of them have been responsible for guarding the fox shifters ever since they had all first moved here.

The moment they have them all gathered, Jungkook loses his focus once again when the fox shifter—his ‘mate’—stands at the front and center, acting as their leader. Jungkook tries to sense if he has any Alpha powers inside him to make him do so, only to realise that he is not the only one standing in guard around his pack members, as there are a few other males who have formed a circle around them as if they are acting as a barrier.

Warriors, his wolf whispers, clearly astounded to what he is observing from his ‘mate’. He is the protector of his pack, just like us.

This thought makes both he and his wolf grow excited, knowing that he has found at least one similarity between them that may explain this pairing. Though he knows that it would still take him a certain amount of time to understand just what he is currently dealing with. For now, however, he only needs to figure out just how to survive the day and how he is supposed to find a chance to be alone with his ‘mate’ to figure things out.

Together.

Keeping his chin up and his eyes away from the fox shifter, Jungkook questions the pack while keeping his voice as steady as he can. “Before we start, I will need to see what you are all capable of and to get to know you all better. May I request for all of you you to introduce yourselves?”

Jungkook pays close attention to each and every one of them as they shout their names one by one, ending with his ‘mate’ introducing himself last.

“Yoongi. Min Yoongi, from the Min clan.” His deep voice sounds calm and composed, a complete opposite to the way Jungkook is reacting the moment he hears him speak, when his whole body bristles with sparks of magnetic force washing over him.

Jungkook can feel his wolf pushing, wanting to be allowed to come out. It seems that the beast is being playful and suddenly eager to show the fox what a good boy he is. He cannot understand the reason why, but it doesn’t seem like he wants to hold the wolf back down either. The fox, however, simply watches him with curiosity in his eyes, no doubt sensing the way Jungkook’s wolf seems to be reacting inside him and how he is having trouble keeping the beast calm.

Meanwhile, Jungkook’s curiosity begins to grow inside him, as he continues to observe the fox shifter in front of him.

Why is he not reacting? He wonders, tilting his head as he feels his wolf doing the same thing inside his mind. Does he not feel it?

Jungkook resists the urge to reach up, as he continues to feel the sparks that seem to trickle in the air around them, causing goosebumps to grow on his skin. He frowns as he fails to find the same reaction from the fox-shifter, when Yoongi simply stands there, looking at him as if he is a piece of the puzzle for him to solve instead of a shifter that ignites every nerve inside his body to spike.

“So—” Yoongi begins to speak after the silence between them seems to linger for far too long. “Are we going to do this or not?”

Jungkook’s frown deepens. “Do what?”

Yoongi tilts his head. “The battle training. We were told by the Alpha that you are the one who’s going to lead our group today.”

Jungkook bites his tongue to stop himself from sputtering and forces himself to stay calm. Under the fox shifter’s curious, yet scrutinising gaze, he suddenly feels completely clueless, but the last thing he wants is for his ‘mate’ to think that he is unworthy, despite all the uncertainty that he is still feeling inside. So he straightens up, does his best to cool his head and let his smile grow. “Right. The training. Yes, I’ll be leading your group. Will it be okay if we all shift? I might need to split you into smaller groups to make it easier for us to introduce you to our training before we can go any further, but I want to see what you guys can do once you are in your fox forms first to know how to divide you into those groups.”

This tactic has been used a lot within the pack ever since the previous Alpha introduces it to the pack many years ago. It is always easier to start small, to allow the members to focus better on the instructions until they are used to every step and to find their own footing in the battleground.

The group of fox shifters who had come with Yoongi begins to look at each other, silently questioning each other, and one by one they begin to shrug and agree, while Yoongi seems to take a while to decide. “Alright,” he finally says, though his gaze holds a hint of suspicion as he regards Jungkook after getting an answer from his friends and family. “I guess that’s fine with us.”

“Good. Very good,” Jungkook says, nodding while holding back his relieved sigh. As he turns away to leave the new group to prepare for training, Jungkook begins to feel hopeful for today. Perhaps by shifting into his beast form, the fox shifter would be able to feel it. He still has no idea what to feel about having this male shifter as his mate, still surprised to find that his senses come awake at the fox’s presence.

But he truly doubts that his senses would be making a mistake in recognising him. Or is it possible that he is mistaken?

All he needs to do is to confirm his suspicions, to know whether or not the fox shifter is truly his fated, that this is exactly what the Mood Goddess had prepared for him. The rest would be another story, and he is willing to take it a step at a time.

Once the training is over, Jungkook only feels more lost than ever.

Exhausted and confused, he takes a walk through the woods to find peace and to allow himself to think. Jungkook shakes his head as he trudges slowly between the trees, unable to understand the reason why the Moon Goddess is giving him a male shifter as a mate when he had known for his whole life that he has only ever gotten attracted to females. For as long as he had known everything there is to know about fated mates, he has believed that his mate would be a female, knowing that he is straight.

As he wonders about the situation, he tries to recall ever having any moment in the past, a sign, an indication that he may have gotten attracted to another male shifter, only to find that there are none.

Years ago, he had even experienced something that was akin to what first love might have been. Which had made him even more convinced as to where his preferences in a mating partner lie.

The girl’s name was Jihye, a female wolf who was just around his age and lived with her parents not too far from the packhouse. They had grown up together, had always loved playing in the woods with each other as kids, climbing trees and playing chase—the latter was done in both human and wolf forms once they were able to shift. Even if their adventures had always been done together with the other kids joining them, it was Jungkook who she had always chosen to stick with as they ventured into the places that adults had told them not to go to. He had developed a deep crush on the female wolf, and had once imagined the possibility of her becoming his mate in the future since they had gotten so well together. He held on to that hope for a long time, only to have his heart broken the moment she turned eighteen, just two months before he did, and she found her mate among the wolves living in the blacksmiths' area closer to the South border.

Ever since then, Jungkook had been careful about opening his heart and has been focusing on finding—and waiting—for his mate. Even the constant goading that Hoseok has given him about not playing around or dating freely like he has been hasn’t managed to change his mind about waiting, though he wouldn’t deny that he would often wonder what it would be like if he had played around for a bit. It isn’t as if there are no females who haven’t been attracted to him, especially since the day he was appointed as Captain. Perhaps if he had let himself loose a little, he would have been able to confirm if he would be pleased to share his bed only with a female.

The thought makes him jerk, and he quickly shakes his head. He silently chastises himself for even wondering about this when he may have truly found his fated pair.

Just like that, his mind wanders back to him again. Min Yoongi. He recalls the training sessions earlier as he observed the fox shifters closely after he asked them to show each of their skills. Yoongi’s fox was small, not unlike the others, yet his muscles were prominent, showing that he has more experience in fighting while in his beast’ form. The fox shifters he had worked with today had also demonstrated everything that he had learned from the Hollow Pride.

Well, maybe not everything, but most of the things that mattered.

Their agility had been one that the Hollow Pride has been mostly known for, as the pack had been working as spies by hire when they were not working as observers and special scouts for the surrounding packs of shifters in the North to protect themselves from Rogues or Hunters. During the hours of training, Yoongi had constantly caught Jungkook’s attention with what he could do, as if he had intentionally put up a show for him to revel in. The way the fox carried himself through the battle training had been amusing, but his fighting skills and the agile moves he made as he encountered his opponents in the final sparring had completely amused not only Jungkook, but all the other spectators who had been curious about their first training day. He was fast, smart, and cunning—everything that made Jungkook feel even more intrigued, and to his surprise, awfully proud.

There is no doubt in his mind that the fox shifter—Min Yoongi—had felt the same connection to him and that he had also sensed the mating bond. And just like him, Yoongi has chosen to keep it to himself, hiding it from the others, most possibly because he is just as confused as he is at the moment, even if there is no indication of the fox being caught off guard upon seeing Jungkook.

He probably knows how to hide it well, he wonders as he continues his walk. Silently, Jungkook begins to wonder just how he is going to convince Yoongi to give them a chance to talk, to spend some time even for a minute just to have a conversation about their mating bond and to find answers.

As if fate has it, the familiar scent that has been haunting him drifts across the chill autumn breeze as it comes passing through the dense trees, stirring his senses and calming his restless wolf. Immediately, Jungkook simply stops moving. And he simply stands there, waiting, keeping his eyes looking forward beyond the trees where the scent seems to be coming from.

It takes minutes before Yoongi calmly steps out of the line of trees. His deep gaze falls on Jungkook, and for a second, his eyes flicker to silver just as Jungkook’s beast pushes forward to welcome the other male.

“Hi,” Yoongi hesitantly greets him as he slowly comes near, stopping himself only a few feet away from where Jungkook is standing, his hands clenching and releasing, showing Jungkook for the first time that the other male is just as restless as he is.

Still slightly startled by Yoongi’s sudden appearance, Jungkook finds himself speechless at first, unable to say a thing but to stare at the fox shifter curiously. Then Yoongi takes a few more steps, stopping only when he is standing right in front of him, snapping Jungkook out of his stupor.

“H-hello, I was just about to—”

“I think we need to talk,” Yoongi cuts him off before he can get a word in, and the wolf has no other choice but to nod.

“Right. Not here, though,” Jungkook nervously says while looking around him. “My cabin is just on the edge of these woods. I live alone ever since my brother moved out.”

Saying nothing, Yoongi simply nods and gestures for Jungkook to lead the way, and they both begin to make their way towards Jungkook little home. Ever since his father had retired, Jungkook had decided to give his parents the privacy that they needed, and built the wooden cabin in a secluded spot within these woods. Though he hasn’t been completely isolated from the others, as Beta Taehyung and Hoseok have also built their cabins not too far away.

Despite his mind being completely hazy with the change of events, Jungkook manages to reach his cabin in no time. His heartbeat races as he lets both of them in, closing the door behind Yoongi to seclude them from the world and let their secrets come out.

For a moment, neither of them can speak. All they can do is stand there in his living room, staring at each other, until Jungkook releases a nervous chuckle. “This is awkward,” he says, as he tries to decide what to say to his ‘mate’. He knows that this is a delicate matter, and he needs to thread things carefully. “You can feel it too, can’t you? The mate bond.”

Yoongi doesn’t immediately answer until he finally nods. “I’ve sensed it on the day I came in.”

“You look awfully calm for someone who has met his mate,” Jungkook tries to joke with a wry grin, causing the other shifter to raise his eyebrows.

“And what do you say about yourself? You didn’t seem to have any trouble leading us back there too.”

Jungkook cannot help but laugh. If only he knew just how hard it was for me to keep it together, he wonders, as he responds with, “Touche.” They fall into another awkward silence right after, before Jungkook finally asks the most important question that seems to be hanging above their heads, “Have you ever been with another male before?”

Yoongi’s face scrunches as if he is in pain while he also looks thoughtful for a moment. Jungkook tries to see if there is any hint of disgust in his eyes, and he cannot decide if he should feel relieved about it, though he can still see Yoongi’s confusion written all over his face. “No. Never. Never been curious to be with one either,” Yoongi finally says, before looking tentatively at Jungkook and asks, “How about you?”

Feeling unresolved more than ever, Jungkook shakes his head. “I’ve never been either. Actually, I’ve never tried to date anyone. But I am certain that I’ve never felt attracted to a male before.”

Yoongi keeps his gaze on Jungkook for a moment longer, before the furrowed brows on his face soften and he firmly nods. “Good. Then that settles it.”

Jungkook frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that this was obviously a mistake,” Yoongi calmly answers him with a shrug, though his voice comes out sharp with his irritation when he adds, “Surely, this is nothing but a trick of fate.”

At one point, Jungkook wants to agree with him. But there is another part of him that refuses to believe that either Fate or the Moon Goddess had somehow made a terrible mistake of putting them together. “Maybe,” he says, completely unsure about it. He takes a deep breath and tells himself that Yoongi might be right, but his wolf is fighting against him at the thought of letting this go and rejecting Yoongi as his mate. Not before he can finally figure out what exactly is going on. So he looks up to Yoongi once more and tries a different approach. “But you know—we were given to each other for a reason and we’d be fools to simply look past that fact and throw this chance away.”

Yoongi looks away, shaking his head in denial, even if he still has the deep thoughtful look in his eyes as if Jungkook’s words are slowly getting through to him. But as he looks up to meet Jungkook’s gaze once again, the wolf knows that he has somehow made his decision.

“This is a mistake,” Yoongi says, keeping his eyes void of any expression despite the way he keeps clenching his hands as if he is holding in pain. “I’m sorry. I think it’s best to ignore this since we both know this is going nowhere.”

Weeks have passed since the first training for the new pack members and the afternoon where Jungkook finally had the chance to talk to Yoongi. Weeks of him questioning if their decision to simply ignore the bond is truly the best idea. And those weeks truly hasn’t been great.

Ever since Yoongi walked out of his cabin that afternoon after asking him to ignore their bond and to do nothing about it, Jungkook has been functioning like an autopilot, keeping up with his duties while letting the days float without expecting much of anything to happen. It has seemed as if he had lost every bit of hope and he is simply working to survive each day without losing his grip of reality.

The days after their conversation had gone as normal as they possibly could. Jungkook still leads the training for the new pack members, while Yoongi didn’t show any grievance when he was placed in the group that was specifically handled by Jungkook instead of being placed under the other Enforcers.

Week after week, Jungkook finds that it has become harder and harder to ignore the mating bond, as the more they spend their afternoons together—despite only on the training grounds with Yoongi sparring and Jungkook leading—the stronger the pull between them becomes. The invigorating scent that belongs to his ‘mate’ continues to grow potent that Jungkook can always follow Yoongi’s trails and know where he has been even if they have not crossed paths.

At the same time, Yoongi just keeps avoiding him, acting as if nothing has ever happened and the conversation they had shared had simply cemented their decision to simply move on. Except when he had thought it would somehow resolve on its own, it has only left Jungkook feeling completely uneasy, knowing that something must be done to resolve this issue.

Pacing back and forth on the training grounds as he waits for the pack members to arrive, the uneasiness he has been feeling only intensifies when he realises what today entails.

The breeze picks up, bringing chill into the air around him, reminding him that a month had passed. The full moon is around the corner, signalling the time for their annual pack assessment trial. To prepare the new pack members for the event, Jungkook had scheduled a trial mock-up for his group to join, allowing the fox shifters to spar against the lion shifters that Beta Taehyung has been training to fill in the void for the South Borders’ guardians. Not all of the new members are required to join, of course. But as one of the warriors, Yoongi had volunteered to represent his clan, and to simply test out just how much progress he has acquired ever since he had followed all the training under Jungkook’s watch.

As the pack members begin to arrive, Jungkook keeps his eyes on Yoongi, finding the fox shifter still acting aloof around him as if he is nothing but another pack member that he needs to pay his respect to. It annoys Jungkook during training days like this, and for the most part, it is making his wolf feel the pain of rejection, even if the words have yet to be said out loud to make it happen.

After a small briefing and a short warm-up, Beta Taehyung appears with his group of trainees and the sparring soon begins. Jungkook stays mostly calm during the first three fights, keeping his cool gaze on to inspect his group members as they fight against any lion shifter appointed to be their opponent.

Then he loses his cool the moment Yoongi steps up for the next fight.

His mask must have slipped for a moment and his body may have grown stiff at the sight of Yoongi stepping foot at the center circle, because it draws Taehyung’s attention who subtly turns to him.

“Something wrong?” he asks, while Jungkook bites the insides of his cheeks to hold back a growl when Yoongi’s eyes meet his.

“No, everything’s fine,” he says, nodding at the Beta to have him continue.

“Min Yoongi?” Taehyung asks the fox shifter, to which Yoongi nods. “You will be facing Donghun, as he is currently at the same level as you are.”

Yoongi remains calm as the lion shifter enters the circle while Jungkook’s heart dips. The lion shifter is young and a bit older than Jungkook, probably the same age as Yoongi, except his body looks stiff and ready, while his eyes seem determined to win. Jungkook had noticed the shifter a few times during training and knows just how well the lion can fight. He watches the lion moves along the circle, sizing up his ‘mate’, and he is left lost for words when Taehyung instructs them firmly,

“Let’s begin!”

Everything happens so fast that Jungkook can barely catch up.

Both shifters have chosen to remain in their human form instead of shifting as they fight each other, and it makes Jungkook nervous when he knows that Yoongi fights much better in his fox form.

Despite having gained muscles and strength after weeks of training, Yoongi still appears lighter compared to Donghun, and for a moment, the fight seems uneven. Yoongi uses his agile feet to escape a few blows, quickly returning each attack with his own punches aimed at the lion’s face and torso. He manages to stand on his ground for a moment, but the lion is quick to figure out Yoongi’s footwork and swipe his feet to make him take the first fall.

Get up.

He bites his tongue to stop himself from shouting, though it does seem as if Yoongi can feel him giving him the push that he needs, when Yoongi makes a flip to get up and faces his opponent again. But the lion has gotten a good read of his movement, and is quick to continue his attack.

Jungkook’s body tenses as Donghun swings a punch at Yoongi before he manages to get right back up on his feet completely, hitting the unsuspecting fox right on the nose. Clenching his hands by his side, Jungkook can feel his wolf fighting for dominance inside him. The wolf snarls in the back of his mind, worry and anger mixing into one, while the beast wants blood for the injury that Yoongi has received.

It doesn’t matter if shifters heal quickly and Yoongi would leave this fight without so much of a scar. Jungkook can still catch the sight of the blood dripping on Yoongi’s face, can still see the fox wincing in pain, since no matter how much a shifter heals, the pain remains real.

Whether or not Yoongi is his true mate, the last thing that Jungkook wants is to see him hurt. A growl escapes him as the beast inside him begs for a chance to retaliate when Yoongi receives another punch straight on his nose. The wolf is ready to jump into the fight and defend the shifter that he has claimed as his other half, while Jungkook continues to feel conflicted, as his beast’ emotions wash over him, taking over his own.

Why does it have to be him?

The words keep repeating themselves inside Jungkook’s mind, and no matter how many times he asks the same question, he is nowhere nearer to getting an answer. It isn’t as if the Mood Goddess herself would somehow give him the answer or whisper it in his sleep either, but he needs to know. He needs to understand. Because there is no way he can simply do what Yoongi had asked him to and ignore everything when he feels so strongly like this from seeing him fight and getting hurt from it.

Just then, Yoongi turns to him and their gazes meet each other. Jungkook has no idea what Yoongi sees on his face, but there is no doubt that his wolf has come forward. Judging from how sharp everything seems to his eyes, he knows for sure that his eyes had glowed golden and Yoongi had caught sight of it. Whatever it is that Yoongi has seen when he looks at him, it has snapped something on the fox. Yoongi’s eyes flicker to silver as he growls in anger, as if Jungkook’s reaction to his fight is pissing him off, and he throws a hard punch at Donghun’s head as if to unleash his anger that seems to be aimed at Jungkook, not caring how it seems to trigger Donghun to fight harder against him, retaliating with a few hard punches that sends the fox a few steps back and stumbling.

Jungkook’s hackles rise in agitation as the sparring continues. He can barely swallow down the low growl forcing itself to come out of his chest. Even if the two of them have barely acknowledged the bond between them, he cannot help but feel the sudden sense of protectiveness toward the fox shifter.

That is when he finally realises that they may have been too late if they want to ignore the bond. Before either of them even had the chance to realise it, today has only proven—without a doubt—that the bond has come in full effect, pulling the two males together as one.

It is the night of the full moon.

The entire property of the Wolf Moon Pack is vibrating with energy. It has been that way since the moment the moon showed itself, glowing brightly in the night sky, looking all divine in its glory. The full moon always calls for a night of celebration in the shifters community, particularly in the werewolves packs. It is the night where these packs would come alive, where all members of the pack would gather to rejoice life, to unite, and to send blessings to the Moon Goddess for all the gifts that she had passed down on shifters of all kinds.

The first time Yoongi experienced the full moon festivities in the Wolf Moon Pack was a few months ago, only weeks after he had arrived at this new place and on the night when he and his family were formally initiated into the pack, before he was introduced for the first time of how the pack would always celebrate the full moon.

Saying that he was completely amused would be an understatement, as everything has always been done differently in this pack compared to his old one.

Years ago, the Hollow Pride would simply celebrate the night of the full moon with a huge feast, before ending the night with a pack run before the pack were set free to do whatever they wanted to continue their own celebrations. Though most would simply give in to their beasts’ needs, which would explain the random sightings of mated pack members consummating their bonds in the middle of the woods, making love under the full moon as wild foxes. The full moon often gives blessings for the mated shifters to have their bond strengthened and to give them a chance to bring children and pups, as the female would become more fertile while the moon is high. It gives another reason for the shifters to rejoice by giving in to their carnal needs and why the packs always come alive until the moment the sun comes up.

But those kinds of festivities had come to a halt on one full moon last year when the Hollow Pride was threatened by the appearances of rogues lurking around and trespassing their borders, forcing them to isolate themselves further than they already had. In the end, their defence had meant nothing when the day came for the rogues to start launching attacks into the land and finally forcing them to leave their homes.

The full moon festivities in the Wolf Moon Pack has been a great change for his family and former pack members. The special night is filled with various events; starting with the Initiation Ceremony which he had become a part of twice—the night he was officially initiated into the pack and tonight, when he was officially named as one of the junior main guards, or what they like to call as the pack’s Enforcers—followed with the pack run, a major feast for all pack members which has been accompanied with the local booze for the adults, a long night of dancing and partying to rejoice around the bonfire while the whole pack continues singing hymns of blessings and celebrating howls towards the Moon Goddess. Later, the night would end the way any night of the full moon should, with lovers and mated couples having their intimate moments either out there in the woods or in the privacy of their homes.

Tonight, despite being celebrated for his new rank, Yoongi has found it hard to enjoy the party. At least, not for the past hour where his mood had turned somber and his mind had gotten terribly distracted over another matter which seems to be triggering both he and the beast inside him.

Back at the heart of the party, the bonfire is still burning. Many are still dancing around it to celebrate the night. Instead of joining all the fun and dancing, Yoongi is currently trudging far away from it, leaving the party behind as he comes rushing through the woods. The grounds are crunching under his boots, the sound created by his footsteps serves to soothe him and accompany him at the same time. The autumn season had covered the ground with fallen dried leaves while the upcoming winter has begun to bring down a thin layer of snow, blanketing the earth with its crystals.

Despite the chill in the air, Yoongi’s whole body burns hot from inside.

The feeling is certainly not coming from his running, nor has it come to him from all the drinks that he had during the feast earlier. He knows that this heat comes from his burning rage, one that he has never felt before in his life until this moment. And he is still partly to blame for letting himself brood for the past hour before finally doing something about it.

As he continues his journey through the dark woods, avoiding all the paths that without a doubt would have turned into secret hiding places for a few pairs of shifters who had left the party earlier to mate, he also makes sure that he would remain hidden so nobody would get into his path. His actions would certainly raise some questions if anyone should see him threading through this part of the woods. Especially if they had found out where he is currently heading to.

Allowing the fox inside him to push forward, he uses his advanced sense to be able to navigate his way through the dark, following the scents and the pull the best he can until he can finally see it—the familiar-looking cabin appearing not too far away.

It had been months since the last time he ever stepped foot into this area, much less to be anywhere near that cabin or inside of it. Never once had he thought about coming here. Especially tonight. But there is no fighting against his instincts, and he blames everything on him for causing this to happen.

For months, Yoongi has held on to what he and Jungkook had both decided about ignoring the mating bond. It didn’t even matter if the pull between them had been getting stronger as they continue to train together, as the regular training sessions that they have been going through together has only given them a chance to be spending time together the way normal mates who were bonding should.

Knowing exactly what the full moon would do to their mating bond, already feeling them snapping tightly and growing stronger than ever, Yoongi had done all he could to avoid bumping into Jungkook even before the celebration had started. It wasn’t something that had been easy to do, when Jungkook had been involved in his initiation as well and that the wolf had been responsible to watch over the pack’s celebration once the Alpha retreated for the night rather early.

It had all started during the pack run which was held earlier than usual today since the Alpha had decided that it would be exciting to run during the sunset, to enjoy the fresh breeze at dusk while they could watch the beautiful scenery of the sun setting down.

Yoongi had seen Jungkook shift into his wolf so many times, mostly during their afternoon runs or during the pack training, and even he has to admit that the boy looks magnificent as both human and wolf. The light brown colour of his fur is so light that it almost looks golden whenever he is running under the sun, while the only thing that was different was the white fur appearing on his paws, making him look as if he is wearing socks.

It had pained him when he saw how Jungkook had looked even more beautiful when the sunset fell on his soft fur throughout their pack run today. Then Yoongi had a chance to look even closer when the Captain was leading the pack to run with him, to see him standing tall above others with his firm muscles and strong paws planted on the ground. He remembers being so mesmerised that he could not look away, that the beast inside him was rolling on the ground with pride at how beautiful his mate had looked like compared to others.

Jungkook must have felt Yoongi’s eyes on him at some point as he strode between the lines of shifters who were waiting for the cue to start running, as if the wolf was deliberately flaunting himself to him. It had Yoongi felt some kind of rage, annoyed at whatever game Jungkook was playing that he had deliberately avoided Jungkook while they were running. Though as always, Yoongi could still notice just how easy for Jungkook to find him in the crowd. And it had made him bristle when Jungkook had seemed to lose control at one point after dusk, when his gaze found Yoongi’s and his eyes lighted up with its golden glow, marking Yoongi as his.

It was then when Yoongi decided to make it his mission to avoid him for the rest of the night, just to prevent it from happening again with the risk of anyone else noticing.

Even if he had managed to avoid an encounter with Jungkook, it was still terribly hard for him to avoid searching for the wolf among the crowd. There had been multiple times where Yoongi had to force himself from looking at Jungkook whenever he was near, though his best efforts meant nothing when he would begin glancing around to find him before he even realised it or to watch him move when the wolf was not looking.

And then, at the peak of the party, right when Yoongi had just about enough of playing cat and mouse, and just as he was going around the packhouse to grab more drinks for him and his brother to get his mind away from Jungkook, he had accidentally stumbled into Jungkook himself who was talking privately with their Head Enforcer. Yoongi managed to escape into hiding in time, but not fast enough to escape their conversation that had been shared so mindlessly with each other.

“—need to get it out of my system,” Jungkook had said.

“I know just the right person to help you,” Hoseok had said in turn.

Yoongi wasn’t too bothered over it or to even think much of it to decipher what those words had meant, but it had left him brooding around the bonfire after that encounter. He hated how what he heard from them had bothered him so much, and he hated it more when he couldn’t question it as his mission to ignore Jungkook was still in place. Since then, his mind continued to drift towards Jungkook and he kept replaying the conversation inside his head to understand what he meant. It wasn’t until one hour ago when he finally figured things out, when he saw Jungkook leaving the party with his arm wrapped around Elise’s shoulders—the blonde female wolf who had just moved in from the North recently and has been trying to catch Jungkook’s attention ever since. Yet it wasn’t until fifteen minutes ago when Yoongi realised that Jungkook wasn’t coming back when he finally snapped and—before he even realised what he was doing—made a run through the woods.

Leading him all the way here.

Yoongi stops a few feet away from the front porch of Jungkook’s singular cabin, studying the place to make sure that he isn’t making a mistake. The entire area around the cabin is dark, and aside from the faint hum coming from the party that is still following him, everything else appears to be in silence. Then he takes a few more steps closer, slowly stepping onto the porch, and that is when he finally hears everything—the creaks on the bed, the soft whispers, the light giggles, everything that signified his suspicions. And the moment he hears the soft feminine moan echoing from somewhere within, every last restraint he ever has within him breaks.

With one swift kick, he breaks open the front door and enters the cabin in a blinding rage. Within moments, he is in the bedroom. His fox is pushing forward, the silver specks in his eyes shining with blazing fury while he releases a deep growl at the scene that he finds happening on the bed.

The girl, Elise, is laid back on the bed with her chest bare, her top and bra already gone and her hair looks completely dishevelled. Jungkook is hovering on top of her, his own chest bare as he dips his head over her breasts. A second growl escapes Yoongi’s lips, sounding louder in the room and finally drawing the couple’s attention. Jungkook’s head swings up instantly, finding Yoongi standing in the doorway, still seething with rage and his eyes flashing in bright silver. The wolf’s eyes grow wide instantly with a look of shock on his face, before they all dim as his eyes are filled with guilt and lust, both aimed towards Yoongi.

Keeping his eyes on Jungkook, Yoongi releases a deep growl and snaps, “Get out!”

A gasp slips out of Elise’s lips. She throws a hesitant glance at Jungkook, but the frightened girl seems to understand that the command that Yoongi has so harshly spat out was meant for her. Once she realises that Jungkook no longer cares about her, noticing how his eyes are only fixated on the intruder, she leaps from the bed and grabs her forgotten shirt and bra from the floor, before bolting out the door while avoiding Yoongi as if she would burn if she brushes against him on her way out. The sound of the front door slamming behind her marks her rash exit.

Inside the bedroom, the air crackles with the magnetic force that both males have done such a hard time ignoring. It grows so thick that both of them find it hard to breathe. But this time they let it spread, giving in to what the full moon is trying to show them instead of holding everything back in with pure denial.

Jungkook carefully stands from the bed, his arousal pressing against his shorts, though neither of the males can truly know if he had hardened after all the making out that he was doing with Elise before Yoongi got here or if the sight of the jealous fox had somehow turned him on. Standing still, Yoongi feels a shocking wave of despair and uncertainty at the thought of bonding with this male shifter, but he cannot help the way Jungkook is standing in full strength suddenly appears so beautiful in his eyes, so mesmerising, that Yoongi does nothing as Jungkook slowly stalks closer, his eyes sparks golden, shining brightly with lust and pride and the same uncertainty glowing from his gaze.

Yoongi’s eyes fall onto his lips, finding them swollen and wet, and the fox clenches his hands so tightly it hurts. “What the fuck were you doing?” Yoongi snarls at him, not completely sure why it had bothered him so much to picture Jungkook making out with the floozy female.

Jungkook exhales an exasperated sigh, as if there has been a weight on his shoulders that he simply wants to let go of. “I was trying to understand—”

“Understand about what?” Yoongi snarls, while Jungkook’s face pinches with annoyance and guilt.

“I wanted to fuck her. I’ve never been with anyone before,” Jungkook speaks with a desperate growl as he comes to stand right in front of Yoongi. “I wanted to know if this was truly a mistake and to see if I’m still a normal, straight male. To see if I could fuck her.”

Yoongi’s whole body trembles. He still believes that the Moon Goddess has made a mistake, but he is beginning to question things too. His instincts keep urging him to make a move, to prove that this is right and they were being idiots to deny it. His mind flies back to the day he stood inside this cabin, almost coming close to begging Jungkook to forget about the bond, to ignore it completely, and to release each other from it. He remembers how Jungkook asked to touch him, to test the bond and see if it was real, only for him to deny it so strongly he came rushing out of this place with so much anger he had to punch the first tree he could find to release it before he would explode.

Now, he no longer has any idea what is truly right anymore.

The moon wouldn’t have given him a male mate if it wasn’t meant to be, right? This question has been circling inside his head ever since that day, even when he has been ignoring Jungkook and avoiding him the best he could. And now, standing here with all the force building up around them, it is his turn to decide if he truly wants to test the waters.

Yoongi doesn’t think twice as he reaches out with one hand, gripping Jungkook firmly right behind the neck and pulling him closer. He marvels at the sharp intake of breath coming from Jungkook as he draws his own, before pressing his lips against Jungkook’s. To his surprise, Jungkook’s hands find Yoongi’s arms and he holds on tight, gripping onto his shirt. For a moment, Yoongi has an inkling that Jungkook may want to push him away, only for him to stop and grip onto him harder. The wolf freezes for a moment before he slowly begins kissing him back, and Yoongi lets out a hum when he notices that Jungkook’s lips feel softer than what he had expected, melting together into the kiss.

Time seems to stand still as they continue kissing, their lips moving gently with tentative brushes against one another. Both of them are equally hesitant, their minds are completely closed up from the world around them. Their bodies seem reluctant with their posture stiff and their legs still planted hard on the floor, while their souls seem to be welcoming the moment. The mixed feelings, the fear, the way both of their bodies spark with the electrifying flare coming from their bond makes everything seems exhilarating, though confusing at the same time. Because it is hard to know what is real and if their minds are completely lucid when everything seems so right and yet it feels so wrong.

After a while, the kiss gradually grows stronger, deeper, harder, when the reluctance fades behind the howling happening inside Jungkook’s head and the deep growl of approval from Yoongi’s little fox.

Jungkook relaxes against Yoongi, bending down a little to get closer and to match their height. He pushes his tongue into Yoongi’s mouth, tasting him. The sharp heat spreads through his body, pumping his heart faster. The same reaction builds up inside Yoongi’s body and he rests his other hand on Yoongi’s torso, pressing down on his bare skin to ignite another jolt of electricity that rushes through their bodies at the same time, dancing wildly inside them like flames. As he slowly gives in, Yoongi steps closer and begins to get lost in the kiss as his tongue pushes back against Jungkook’s, both soft flesh dancing together inside his mouth.

A growl echoes against the walls and Jungkook suddenly finds himself being pushed back, falling back on top of the bed with a bounce. His eyes grow wide, though the shock burns down into something that is akin to hunger when Yoongi stalks closer, his silver eyes glowing as he stares at Jungkook with a mix of anger and yearning.

Neither of them understands what is truly happening or what is about to happen, but nobody makes a move to stop. With a roar, Jungkook reaches up, ripping Yoongi’s shirt as he pulls him down until the fox falls against him and their mouths clash against one another. Their kiss becomes desperate, hungry, filled with despair. Canines descending and biting, hands touching, sending the sparks back alight. Yoongi reaches down his trembling hand, his fingers trace down Jungkook’s bare chest until he finds the waistband of his boxer and yanks it down. The wolf growls into the kiss as his stiff cock is released from its restraint, his chest arches against Yoongi, his hips rising on the bed, and he hisses when shaking fingers are wrapped around his length.

Yoongi tries his best to hold his hand still as he begins to slowly pump Jungkook’s cock in tentative strokes, keeping his other hand in the back of Jungkook’s head as he holds control over their heated kiss. Though he almost comes tumbling over as Jungkook somehow slips his own hand down Yoongi’s pants to find his hard-on and begins to wrap his long fingers around his girth.

As they continue to make out, hands fisting and pumping hard cocks and lips devouring one another in a long, punishing kiss, everything that had felt right begins to dissipate. Suddenly, whatever they are doing feels wrong, as if there is something missing—that the touches and the kiss are not enough, that there is a void between them that needs to be filled and none of the pleasure rising from their ministrations would be enough to replace it.

When the dawning realisation falls between them, Yoongi quickly releases Jungkook while the young wolf pushes him away. Something transpires as Yoongi looks into Jungkook’s golden eyes, and he knows that this is truly a mistake. Before Jungkook snaps out of his shock and kicks him out of his home, Yoongi turns around with a painful snarl and begins to flee.

The sound of Jungkook’s broken voice calling his name sounds faint to his ears as he makes his escape through the front door, letting the wooden door slam behind him. The sound of something broken inside his chest follows him in every rushed step he takes, drowning Jungkook’s voice before it fades as he keeps getting further away.

Yoongi stops running at some point, propping his hands against an old tree as he takes long, deep breaths while trying the best he can to calm his racing heartbeat. There is an odd sense of betrayal growing inside his chest, though he has no clue as to who or what he was betraying or why he felt so damn betrayed when he was kissing the male shifter that his own beast has claimed as his. He has no idea what he was expecting to find when he marched towards Jungkook’s cabin to stop him from doing something so reckless—something like losing his virginity to a random female shifter, in the night where the full moon is high and at the time when the female would be most fertile—or what he was expecting to feel when he kissed and touched Jungkook the way he did.

His rage explodes from within as his fist hits the tree. The pain that he feels from it feels too good for him to stop, so he repeats it, again and again, hoping that the pain he feels can help him feel numb and somehow drive everything away. He regrets ever giving in to the pull. He shouldn’t have done anything. He shouldn’t have left the party to chase Jungkook down, and he as sure as hell shouldn’t have forced this. He had been telling himself that the moon has made a mistake in pairing them, and he should have kept listening.

He shouldn’t have let it get into his heart and allow any chance for his hope to grow this strong.

Not even thinking about his ruined shirt or the pants that are barely hanging loose around his waist, Yoongi shifts into his fox form, shredding every piece of fabric still attached to his body that are still carrying Jungkook’s scent, and he starts to run.

As he runs into the night, he wishes that he could become one with the wind, to have the detached feeling inside his chest fade just as fast as his paws are taking him away from his ‘mate’. He wishes that by running that he can forget everything, that he can burn away the regret and disappointment that he is feeling and have them left discarded in his trails so he can be free from them. He runs while hoping that it would be able to help him heal and pretend that this night never happened.

But at the end of the night, he soon realises that the run doesn’t help. The regret and the confusion of being off-balance are still there.

And he knows that he can never be free.

That night, as both Jungkook and Yoongi fall asleep in their own beds, separately, neither of them manages to sleep soundly.

The full moon is still high, illuminating the peaceful night that is completely in contrast to their unsettled minds. A dream comes upon them, weaving through their bond like a thread that is holding them together while—completely unbeknownst to either of them—carrying the secret message from the Moon Goddess.

In their dream, they find each other back in Jungkook’s cabin, right on Jungkook’s bed. The scene from their earlier calamity replays through the dream, only to have a few minor differences that also brings a lot of changes to the future of their bond.

In the dream, Jungkook lays on his back, resting on his plush bed with his head falling back with his humming pleasure. The hand that is wrapped around his cock, pumping and stroking him to bring the rush of pleasure into his body is not the same as Yoongi’s strong and firm hand, but smaller and gentler, with delicate fingers rubbing along every ridge and every vein in his length. The mouth that Yoongi devours in his possessive and claiming kiss feels even more delicate and sweet than Jungkook’s swollen lips, but still enough to make his whole body burn. The hair that he pulls in his fist is way softer, longer, falling perfectly around his wrist as he pulls back, allowing him to deepen the kiss while the sweet little creature continues to pump Jungkook’s cock and keeping a tight fist on Yoongi’s hair with the other hand at the same time.

In the dream, Yoongi still finds himself hovering on top of the bed the same way he did earlier in the night, only to have the sweet little creature whose face he cannot see bent over beneath him and laid perfectly in place between him and Jungkook, his bare chest pressed against her back and her knees propped on either side of Jungkook’s hips. As Yoongi bucks his hips forward, he finds himself pushing through a warm channel, tight pussy walls giving a vice grip around his girth instead of Jungkook’s strong hand.

It feels magnificent, the way his cock snugs perfectly into her warmth, how the walls pulse against his girth as he strokes his cock inside and out, back and forth, pushing as deep as he can reach.

Jungkook has his own hands busy, one pressing against the soft breasts that have been hanging over his face while the other is slipped between the pair of pretty thighs spread over his hips, playing with the bundle of nerves that have grown swollen and wet with desire.

Yoongi releases the plump lips from the kiss and begins to whisper softly, his words fade with the wind, but still enough to make all three of them shudder with pleasure and anticipation as if he had spoken out an enchantment. Carefully, with a gentle caress, he pulls out of the warm tunnel he has buried himself in. His hand trembles as he presses against the soft skin that doesn’t belong to him, guiding the fleshy hip in his hand down, moving her lower, until the delicate hand around Jungkook’s cock is replaced by the same warm pussy that have given Yoongi pleasure, sharing the same delightful bliss with Jungkook until he is left growling and hissing with pure pleasure.

With his gentle hand, Yoongi halts every movement before it continues further, and then he reaches down, aiming his cock between the soft flesh pointed against his groin and pushes his way inside. The muscles wrapped around his girth feel tighter, and they pulse together to send a rush of pleasure to both Yoongi and Jungkook at exactly the same time as they are both buried inside her.

Her mouth opens with a silent cry as Yoongi shoves deep into her tight channel that feels so full with Jungkook’s cock filling her from the front. Instantly, a feeling of bliss and relief wash over Yoongi and Jungkook at the same time at the union, their bodies coming together as one.

Everything else becomes hazy as every one of them begins to move at the same time, moving in tandem as one pulls out and the other pushes his way in, finding their rhythm until their pleasure begins to rise, taking her together with their cocks sliding in and out with long, languid strokes that continue to draw out her silent cries. Even if the sounds they make are muted, both males can still feel their growls and howls vibrating through their chests as they relish every delightful pleasure, feeling it blanketing them as their rhythm picks up, rising in pace and in force as they all chase for their climax.

The full moon comes peeking through the window, illuminating their entwined bodies as they move together. The soft female between them parts her lips to a muted cry as she braces her hands on Jungkook’s bare chest and rocks between them. And both males move faster, harder, causing her breasts bobbing with weight that Yoongi cannot help but to reach out and cup them with his gentle palms.

In their dream, the night seems to linger as they continue their lovemaking under the peeking moonlight, while the heightened pleasure feels magical. It feels so intense that it almost feels like there are flames being ignited from where they are joined. Soon, as the wave of their first climax comes between them, their movements grow more frantic and urgent. Her body starts to lock tight around her males, until they all ready to embrace their climax together.

As their pleasure peaks, the soft creature sandwiched between them bends lower, taking Yoongi down with her as she presses herself against Jungkook while she embraces her climax. In her release, her whole body quakes and tightens around both cocks buried deep inside her, sending both males into their own releases. With their deep growls, both males join her in their climaxes. Their canines descend, and they press against the beautiful mirage they have between them, with Jungkook claiming one shoulder and Yoongi on the other. As their canines sink into her skin, the dream immediately shatters, sending them both to their present, where they find themselves all alone in bed with more questions than answers.

Tonight is the night of the full moon, and the Moon Goddess is finally giving them what they had wanted. Through the dream, she had given them the answer they had been seeking, even if it is only to show them the missing piece of the puzzle so briefly that they both wake up with no clear memory of her and without so much of a clue on how to find her. Once again, they find themselves drifting in the uncertainty of their bond, once again left feeling hopeless, until the next time the dream would return to them again to give them a glimpse of the moon’s secrets.

Jungkook has no idea what exactly is his purpose of being here.

He has no clue why his presence is needed in the Alpha’s office this morning, but he had no say when Hoseok dragged him out of his bed early this morning, and he found no chance to escape when his friend only shoved him into the Alpha’s office and the other wolf simply looked at him—not even showing a hint of surprise of seeing Jungkook appearing while looking all dishevelled and still fresh out of bed—and said, “Good, you’re here,” as if he had been waiting for Jungkook to be there for this meeting.

Shaking his head as subtle as he could, Jungkook tries his best to concentrate, to make sure that he wouldn’t miss a thing as the meeting is in commence. With the lack of sleep that he has been getting lately, he has been finding it hard to focus, always finding his mind wandering off to everywhere else but the present. Sometimes he would find himself questioning if he is truly awake when his mind keeps bringing back a memory from the night that he wishes so badly to forget or the dream that has been haunting him ever since.

Autumn had come and gone, and the season had changed into winter. The pack is currently facing its peak of the cold season, where the ground is blanketed with white snow and most of the shifters would spend most of their time indoors whenever they are not on duty or working and making sure that the business within the pack would keep on running. It has been months ever since the confusing night when Yoongi barged into his cabin during the full moon to stop him from doing something stupid. Something that may have a chance to ruin his future with his ’mate’, though Yoongi’s intervention had also caused both males to come so close to crossing the line.

The dream he has been having since that night has become the only thing that had kept Jungkook from ignoring Yoongi and the bond completely after the altercation. Neither of them has made any effort to talk about that night and Jungkook has yet to bring up the dream whenever they have a chance to talk, too worried if telling Yoongi about it would only piss the fox off since it had taken him quite some time before he started talking to Jungkook again.

For every other night from autumn to winter, the dream has been coming back to Jungkook, haunting him each time he is coming close to erase every memory of the intimate night he had with Yoongi. He still sees himself mating with Yoongi through the dream, as it keeps repeating the very same scene over and over again. Always with the presence of a shadow of a person joining them to fill the void, someone who is much smaller than them both. Each time he wakes up, the dream becomes a blur. Nothing but vague shadows moving together as one that Jungkook can never tell if there was actually someone else there with them in his bed or if he had created a mirage between them to alter how he would remember that night.

The dream keeps him feeling vulnerable and open and hopeful against fate, which he knows well enough to be a dangerous feeling to revel in. Because even if the dream is there to show him that the mating bond he shares with Yoongi is real, he cannot allow himself to dwell on any hope for it to evolve into anything when they could barely handle touching each other, no matter how badly he wants to simply hold onto that hope just to be able to believe that the Moon Goddess is not trying to fuck with his life.

The sound of a deep huff and the lull conversation happening around him pulls Jungkook back to the present, and he quickly shakes his head to stop his mind from wandering so he can pay more attention to the meeting.

There are so many things that Jungkook wishes he could say out loud to his Alpha—asking for permission to be excused as one of them, or perhaps to find someplace else more comfortable for their guests to sit and talk. But he knows that he has no room to voice any opinion when he is standing between the other ranked wolves of the pack, all coming from the higher ranks, and he has no power to decide how this meeting should proceed. As he is standing at the side of the room, watching the meeting unfold, he recounts all the mixed powers and dominance reverberating through the room. With the Alpha and the pack’s Beta present together for a face-off with their guest and the other ranked wolves flanking them, Jungkook can feel the waves of dominance building around him that it nearly suffocates him.

But the power of all the ranked officials from his pack combined—not counting his Alpha who seems to be trying to tame his wolf’s dominance down—doesn’t seem much when he compares it to the dominance coming out of their special guest who had just arrived this morning.

Their guest, together with his little mate, had travelled far from the North. A werebear who was born with Alpha blood and was rumoured to have been living as a feral beast before he met his mate. The little female beside him is a witch, who was, apparently, the only living person who finally managed to lure him back to embrace his human side before his beast could take control of him completely.

Judging from the Alpha bear’s stance as he is standing across Alpha Namjoon with his shoulders squared up and his arms crossed over his chest, his broad shoulders leaning slightly to the side as if he is trying to shield his mate from the other males in the room, Jungkook can tell that the bear doesn’t seem to be enjoying this small meeting.

Looking at him now, Jungkook begins to understand at least one of the reasons why he is here. Some time ago, Jungkook was summoned to the Alpha’s quarter to receive the duty of retrieving the bear shifter and his mate from their secluded shelter in the North. It was the same task that the Alpha had mentioned when he summoned Jungkook right in the middle of welcoming the Hollow Pride pack and making him miss Yoongi’s arrival in the process. The Alpha summoned him back a few months ago to remind him of this task, only for the Alpha to change his mind later and asked the hybrid Beta’s help to do it instead.

It was Jungkook’s own fault to lose the Alpha’s duty to someone else, if he has to admit, when at the time, he was too caught up with his own secrets, only paying attention to the fox shifter who has been sharing the mating bond with him for Goddess knows what reason. The predicament had become his ultimate distraction then, and it has yet to get any better to this day.

Moving his eyes back to focus on the meeting happening right before him, Jungkook realises that he had missed Alpha Namjoon’s welcoming talk and the introduction made between them by the Beta as the one who has grown friendly with their guests. While the werebear appears cordial to the Beta and his human mate—who has been invited to the meeting as the guests’ escort and companion, specifically for the witch—the moment he turns to the Alpha, it is clear that the beast immediately puts his guard back up and lets his Alpha power shows to compete against Alpha Namjoon’s dominance to show that he isn’t going to submit easily.

“Now I’m here. Do tell why you had sent your second in command to fetch me?” the werebear, whose name was introduced as Kim Seokjin, says to the Alpha wolf standing in front of him. His voice is gentle, making him seem friendly and warm if not for the deep scowl on his face and the low growl that keeps coming out with each word he says. There is also the sharp, accusing gaze in his dark eyes that he keeps only for the Alpha, suggesting that he truly believes that Alpha Namjoon has something up his sleeves for the bear despite having him invited into their home with a friendly gesture.

Meanwhile, Jungkook’s Alpha remains calm as he regards the bear shifter with full respect. “I was told by a confidant of mine that you would be valuable for my pack. Both you and your mate, actually,” Alpha Namjoon says, keeping the tone of his voice steady while his gaze never wavers from his guest.

“How so?” Seokjin asks, narrowing his eyes with suspicion, while the Alpha can only sigh.

“It’s rather hard to explain,” Namjoon says, sounding hesitant for the first time Jungkook has ever seen him.

The werebear raises his chin, challenging the Alpha, “Try your best then.”

Namjoon falls silent for a moment, looking thoughtful as he considers his words. He glances at the ranked wolves around him as if searching for their silent support, before he draws a deep breath and begins to explain. “I should probably start from the very beginning—”

Keeping his head high and his emotions levelled down, Namjoon begins to share everything there is to know about the pack, to the losses that the pack has had to endure—from losing his mate to losing his Betas—and he continues to share even the most personal thing that he has rarely talked about even with the closest people present in the room with him today; about him and his predicament as he is dealing with his Mating Sickness and how having someone who is equal to him standing by his side would work well for him and the pack in the future should anything ever happen to him. The latter predicament is the one that finally able to lower the werebear’s guard down, especially when it turns out that the two of them have shared the same kind of relationship to the most meddling yet sharp-witted mage any shifter could ever put their trust in.

Mage Cian.

Their conversation quickly pans out as Jungkook’s eyes fall on the bear’s witch mate, who is now looking straight at him with a knowing gaze instead of focusing on the meeting that will determine her own life and her own future with her arrival at this pack today. Jungkook has yet to figure out the dynamics between the two beings and the reason why they are needed in this pack except to fill the empty spots left behind by the two Betas that they lost years ago and to work side by side with Beta Taehyung who has been denying his position if not with more help.

But there is something about this witch that makes Jungkook feel exposed as she continues to look at him, studying him silently from across the room with the faintest smile on her lips, as if she knows his deepest secret, or that she perhaps holds the answer to his questions.

Three summers later…

The open dining room in the packhouse is rather crowded for dinner time tonight.

While this seems to be a normal occurrence in the packhouse during this time of the night, with more than half of the pack members enjoying the buffet that has been served by the kitchen’s staff while some are still nursing their sore muscles after dealing with the rigorous training or from working hard all day to keep the pack running, there is something different with all the bustling happening in the room.

For once, the conversation shared around the tables have nothing to do with the meal or how hard Alpha Namjoon and Beta Seokjin had pushed them all through today’s training. There is a mixture of excitement and agitation shared in the murmuring conversation, while the males seem to be sizing each other up, as if each one is looking for some competition. But hints of concern are also there, the uncertainty that the members of the pack are feeling is written in their eyes and in the way they seem to be treading carefully among each other as if something is about to break.

Judging by the tension that keeps brewing among everyone, it wouldn’t be surprising if one of these days, Jungkook would find someone or something actually falling apart. And it will not only happen within the pack but also with the entire community of shifters that is currently in the middle of turmoil.

Within the past month, everything seems to have shifted within the community of shifters in general, and it has somehow affected the Wolf Moon Pack in the process quite directly. It had all started from the attack against the Alpha and Luna of the Supreme Wolf Pack, the biggest and the most legendary werewolf pack that has been one of the most consequential supporters and alliances for the Wolf Moon Pack. Followed by the discord and rebellion happening within the Supreme Wolf Pack which—according to the whispered rumours—was led by the Alpha’s own firstborn daughter and the banishment of the Alpha’s second daughter who has since gone missing.

As a consequence of the event that had happened, Alpha Namjoon, who was arranged to take the first daughter of Alpha Woosung, the Alpha from the Supreme Wolf Pack, as his second chance mate, has made the decision to call everything off and had even announced his position to take Alpha Woosung’s side. He had also sent out Beta Taehyung on a mission to intercede on behalf of the pack as an alliance while helping to investigate the entire situation before getting involved any further. The Beta has been on leave since, especially since he was also sent out to search for Alpha Woosung’s second daughter, the Warrior Princess, to bring her back to safety and to reunite her with her parents in the wake of her sister’s mutiny.

With the changes going on around the pack and the dire situation that is currently happening among the shifters community, the pack members have been restless. And everything simply heightens further due to the fact that the next assessment trial is coming soon, especially with what the trial is aiming to gain in regards to the situation.

The Enforcers of Wolf Moon Pack have been known throughout the continent as the best warriors and guardians ever exist. After everything that Alpha Namjoon has owed to their alliance, he knows that he would need to put this fact into good use. On the next assessment trial, he would not only be looking to find new recruits for the pack’s guards, but to form a whole squad of warriors that he would later send out to defend the pack in case the situation would eventually grow worse. It is something that the Alpha has been preparing for a while, ever since the rumours of war have been rising since the moment the mighty Supreme Wolf Pack experienced the divide, and he would later lead this army himself if need be.

“Something big is about to happen. It’s best to be prepared.”

This was the message that Mage Cian had given to Alpha Namjoon three years ago, before there was even a sign of any incident happening. It was the message which had led Namjoon into reaching out and proposing Seokjin to join the pack as his Beta and to have his mate taking over Mage Cian’s position as the pack’s advisor. It was also the same message which had prompted Namjoon into increasing the security of their homeland and to reach out to as many packs as they could to form strong alliances and gain more support before more and more divide and chaos begin to happen.

Nobody had ever suspected that the warnings would actually come true. It had caught everyone completely off guard when the shoe finally dropped and a messenger was sent to them to inform them about what had happened to Alpha Woosung and his mate. And then the Wolf Moon Pack was suddenly put in a difficult position when the entire community seems to be divided into various sides, from those who are siding with the rebels and the ones who are still loyal to Alpha Woosung, to those who had wanted nothing to do with the situation and had chosen to turn a blind eye to what is happening or what is about to happen. The latter packs have not even make a move to intercept or to offer an aid when rebellion and chaos are starting to rise all over the East region with the divide, as peace treaties and alliances are breaking apart, trust and loyalty are tested, and everyone becomes suspicious to one another.

“Is the war really coming?” Jungkook has heard this question thrown at him for the past week during the pack’s training sessions, as the pack members seem to be preparing themselves mentally for the worst-case scenario waiting for them in the near future. Even if he has been keeping up with the situation while assisting his superiors, it is still hard for him to give a solid answer to ease their minds when he has yet to figure it out himself.

“Everyone seems to be getting ready for something to blow up,” Yoongi mutters from across the table where they have been eating together, as if reading his thoughts. Glancing up at him, Jungkook finds the fox looking around the room with an intrigued look on his face that makes Jungkook slightly uncomfortable. He doesn’t understand the reason why until moments later, when Yoongi meets his gaze and says, “I’m going to challenge the Delta position.”

Jungkook raises his eyebrows. “You want to join the trial and challenge for the third in command? Why?”

Yoongi’s eyes turn hard. “Yes. Would that be so wrong?”

There is nothing wrong with wanting to claim a rank. Especially for Yoongi, whose family used to hold a rank within their old pack, which had become the reason why he was appointed as one of the warriors. But the thought of Yoongi challenging for the Delta rank makes him feel uneasy.

It is not so much about him holding on to a ranked position in the pack, because Jungkook would support him if Yoongi truly has his mind on it—even if he has to do it silently. It is the fact that challenging the rank would require him to defeat the other contenders who might equally be just as determined as he is, especially with the current condition when they are in dire need of interim leaders in the off chance that their Alpha would be required to get himself involved in the situation happening around them. And also the fact that Jungkook always hates watching Yoongi going through the trials, when watching the fox at the center of the battlefield has always made Jungkook feel completely powerless. It doesn’t matter if Yoongi knows how to fight well by now and how to defend himself. It simply hurts his pride to see his ‘mate’ battling his own fight and for him to not have been able to do anything to help.

“Who are the other candidates challenging the position?” Hoseok suddenly asks from the other side of the table. The Head Enforcer had joined the other two for dinner tonight and has been silent ever since, acting like their silent companion as he has his mind busy somewhere else.

Until now.

Yoongi glances away from Hoseok, meeting Jungkook’s eyes for a brief moment before answering, “I believe Donghun would be one of them. The lions have to place one of their members in the higher rank so they would have someone on the Alpha’s side representing the shifters residing in the South border, and Donghun is currently one of their best fighters who seems eligible to take on the challenge.”

Jungkook doesn’t need to be reminded of what Donghun can or cannot do, and he certainly does not need a reminder of what had happened the last time Yoongi had to spar against Donghun at the battle training ground. Even if it had been three years since that day, the image of Yoongi on the battlefield and getting all wounded while he could only stand on the sidelines continue to appear in his head. The memory feels so vivid in his head that he cannot stop himself from blurting out, “Y-you can’t. You won’t be able to defeat Donghun.”

Rolling his eyes, Yoongi crosses his arms over his chest and leans back in his seat. “Are you looking down on me because I’m a fox? Because I haven’t been sparring openly in the battle training?”

Jungkook clenches his jaw tight, holding back from responding immediately in fear that he would only end up saying the wrong things. He tries to level his emotions and try to speak more calmly, “No, of course not. All I’m saying is that perhaps you should wait until you have enough experience to battle against the Lions before you challenge the next assessment trial. No matter what rank you are aiming for.”

After taking one quick glance around to make sure that nobody is listening in, despite the fact that the lion shifters rarely spend time in the packhouse, Jungkook quickly adds, “The lions have always been preparing themselves for this. They’ve been waiting for the moment when they could contribute to the pack other than acting as guards for the South borders and they have been training years for it, so you can be sure that the lions will be dominating the trial this month. They are ready to go to war, and there is no doubt that they wouldn’t hold back on the assessment trial no matter what. Whatever you had to face three years ago with Donghun will only escalate now. Not to mention with the younger generation of lions finally coming to the age to fight, you might be dealing with a lot more competitors than you would have in a regular trial.”

At first, Yoongi simply returns Jungkook’s gaze with a hard look. There is a subtle hint that shows how Yoongi becomes hyperaware of how close they are with Jungkook leaning over the table to talk to him, but he hides his expression well, remaining calm as he listens to Jungkook until the wolf is done talking.

While Jungkook feels the urgency of stopping Yoongi from hurting himself, the fox only gives him a sly grin. “Are you worried about me, Kookie?” he taunts the wolf, making Jungkook tense. He hates the fact that he actually is worried for Yoongi’s sake, and he hates that the damn fox is not taking him seriously. “I know what I’m up against and I want to show everyone that a fox like me can do just what everyone else could. In fact, I know that I can do even better. Don’t worry, I have my own tricks up my sleeves.”

Jungkook looks at Hoseok for help, but the sly older wolf only gives him an amused smile instead of helping him to at least try and change Yoongi’s mind. Yoongi leans back in his seat, completely unaware of their silent exchange. Before Jungkook or Hoseok can say anything else, he picks up his empty plate and rises up from his seat. “Anyway, it’s been fun sharing this with you,” he says with a sneer. “I’m afraid it’s my time to go.”

“Where are you going?” Jungkook questions him before he can stop himself.

“Beta Taehyung’s house. He is still away on the mission he was sent to by his father and the Alpha, and I need to oversee the shift change for the guards that have been chosen to watch over his mate,” Yoongi calmly answers him, the sneer that he had put on is long gone, replaced with the softness in his voice that he always carries whenever he talks about Taehyung’s human mate. “I also promised the Beta’s mate that I’ll come to stay with her tonight, just in case she’s in the mood for another movie night.”

Hoseok chuckles. “You seem to be enjoying your new duty of babysitting the Beta’s mate.”

“She’s is pretty cool,” Yoongi shrugs a little before grinning. “And she shares her ice cream with me. You know how pregnant women can be with their cravings. Which reminds me, I should probably stop by at my Mom’s bakery shop to grab some of those oatmeal cookies she was craving for this morning.”

And with that, Yoongi simply walks away without so much of a glance at the wolves he is leaving behind at the table. Jungkook keeps his eyes on him for a moment then turns to his companion, and he is surprised to see the expression that Head Enforcer is wearing right before their eyes meet. There is a curious look in his gaze when Hoseok follows Yoongi’s retracting back with his eyes, and the look remains when he turns back to Jungkook. “You’re mates.”

Jungkook’s eyes grow wide. “I don’t know what you are—” he begins to stutter, ready to defend himself, to deny everything, before he only sighs in defeat. “We’re not sure.”

“What do you mean?” Hoseok asks him, and it takes a moment of contemplating it before Jungkook begins spilling his secrets—his and Yoongi’s—once most of the pack members hovering around them begin to leave the room.

He starts from the beginning, starting from how he had sensed Yoongi’s arrival to the day they finally recognised each other as mates, and he continued to tell him about their decision to deny and ignore the bond without breaking them, knowing what it would do to them once the mating bond is severed on purpose, before adding the part which has become the biggest question of all. “Why would the moon pair up two straight males together?” he asks, leaving out the fact that they had come close to give in, only to confirm that it wouldn’t work between them. Nor the fact that each of them had already tried to start a relationship with other shifters—female shifters—only to end up feeling like traitors who had defiled the sacred bond given by the moon.

“Why don’t you ask the Oracle?” Hoseok asks after he is done listening to Jungkook’s story, referring to one of the Elders who is also a part shaman and someone who has been around for long enough to be able to give advices to those in need. “I know that you can’t go to the Elders because they’ll end up telling you to take any chosen female as your mates,” he adds, to which Jungkook responds with a grunt. “Or, if you’re uncomfortable with him, go to Mage Kim. You know, Beta Jin’s mate. She’s a clairvoyant and was said to have the ability to talk to our ancestors through her rituals. Perhaps she can help find better answers that way.”

Right at that instance, Jungkook’s mind retreats back to the day Beta Jin arrived in the pack. The day when Jungkook stood in the Alpha’s office and exchanged glances with the Beta’s mate. He had almost erased that day from his thoughts. But there are times like today when he would remember the feeling he had that day, when he was standing there under the witch’s perusing gaze, and how he felt as if she was unfolding his secrets silently, peeling layer after layer of his mask to reveal his deepest and darkest secret.

One glance from the little witch, and Jungkook felt completely exposed under her eyes. Stripped from the mask he was wearing. And then, when the witch smiled to him before the pair of them left to rest for the evening, it had almost seemed like she had uncovered the truth, that she knew he was hiding something.

Something big.

Something like having a mate that he couldn’t possibly talk to other people about to gain advice.

He has no idea if there is anyone in the pack who had noticed his secrets, for he has yet to share this matter with anyone else. Not even the Alpha. As he is afraid of what the others would think if anyone would find out. No matter how progressive the pack has grown over the years, and how the pack members have learned to welcome quite a few same-sex shifters coupling into the pack, he still has no clue just how they would take the news when they find out that there are two straight male shifters who have been paired together by the Moon Goddess.

Glancing away towards where Yoongi had disappeared to a while ago, Jungkook’s mind wanders off to the only other person who had found out about their little secret.

Yoongi had somehow gotten close to Beta Taehyung’s human mate over the years. Seeing that both of them had entered the pack almost at the same time and they were then initiated into the pack together at the same night, Jungkook could understand why. The human has a high awareness of her surroundings and the people around her, something that was to be expected as the daughter of the Village Chief from Rivermouth Hills village.

They had grown so close that Beta Taehyung had even grown to trust Yoongi to watch over his mate from time to time, since the Lycan hybrid had always taken up some important jobs from the Alpha to deal with—like the one he is dealing with today. So it wasn’t too surprising when it had turned out that Yoongi had confided in the human about their predicament. And since the human herself enjoys helping others, it wasn’t quite a surprise when she finally lend a hand to help them find answers.

It was during last winter when Yoongi appeared at Jungkook’s cabin after months of being away on duty, inviting him suddenly for a walk through the woods, only to end up meeting the female human not too far away. The Beta’s mate was kind enough to take them on a little trip, to take them to visit the newly mated couple who have been residing close to the South borders, right at the part of the land which was way more secluded and was perfect enough for anyone in need for solitude.

Meeting the mated couple had opened both Yoongi and Jungkook’s eyes, letting them know that there was indeed something different about their bond. Not only because unlike them, but the two mated males that they had come to meet that day had also been bisexuals, which had meant that their pairing had been reasonable, and less painful to deal with. They had even admitted that both males had been attracted to each other even before they recognised each other as their fated mates, even if they had different partners or lovers before the day happened when the sparks between them came to rise, how it felt so explosive that both males felt like the world around them would burn if they had come together.

“The moon doesn’t make a mistake,” said Yeongwon, one of the pair who was a lion shifter and, apparently, a newly appointed Enforcer guarding the South border. “But the moon is never honest with its intention either. It keeps its secret tightly, never once revealing the master plan behind the pairings of all fated mates. But the moon is always generous about its gift, and the mating bond is the moon’s greatest gift of all.”

Jungkook remembers how he had come home that night feeling just as lost as he did before he got there, and how Yoongi was feeling the same thing that he had come up to Jungkook’s cabin that night and Jungkook had let him in so both males could sulk together in his tiny living room. Though they had to do it while keeping their distance from one another, since they couldn’t trust themselves to not repeat the same old mistakes as the last time they were confined together in Jungkook’s cabin.

Pinching his nose, Jungkook tries to snap himself out of it and focus on the present. Thinking about what Hoseok had said to him, Jungkook realises that the Head Enforcer may have a point. While Jungkook doesn’t see any option of turning to the Elders or the intimidating Oracle for help, he may have a bigger chance of finding answers by turning to the kind witch instead.

“You’re right, perhaps Mage Kim would have some clues on what to do,” Jungkook muses, though he still feels uncertain about turning to the witch about this matter. But he is tired of questioning everything, of doubting the Moon Goddess and even himself. Finding the answers would not only be liberating, but it would be able to give them a way out of this instead of spending their long days skirting around each other without knowing what to do. “I’ll try to talk to her, and I’m going to convince Yoongi to come with me too.”

At the end of the same week, Jungkook finds himself sitting inside the small cottage that Beta Seokjin and his mate have been living in ever since they both moved into the pack. It was said that the pair had designed and built this cottage themselves, choosing to create the place as a replica of the old home that they used to reside in back at the North, where they had met and finally consummated their mating bond.

Sitting right beside him is Yoongi, who seems just as calm and collected as he always has been and always hard to read. No matter how hard Jungkook is trying to stay calm and act like he is holding himself back from running out the door, there is no doubt that everyone can see from the look on his face just how uneasy he is about this. He envies Yoongi for being able to mask his feelings the way he does, wishing that he can sit as still as the fox as they wait for Mage Kim to come out of the sunroom at the back where she is just finishing her morning ritual.

Mage Kim, that is how she prefers to be called ever since she arrived in the pack, saying that it would be easier for people to address her that way and to make it easier for her to explain her role in the pack. Except that there are also rumours that she had refused to use her real name simply because she is hiding, and for her to be able to live anonymously in the pack without her past chasing her all the way here. Jungkook had never thought much about it, as he had never once come across the mage until today. But waiting does a lot of things to an idle mind, and he cannot help but wonder about too many things—about who the mage really is, where she came from, what secrets she may have, and how much she can truly help to solve their problems.

After sharing a long, uncomfortable silence, Yoongi is the one to break it first. At least, he is about to, when he opens his mouth and turns to Jungkook to speak, only for the Mage to come out of her room. “I’m so sorry it took me so long. I had to consult the Elders—I mean, my Elders, about something,” she says as she breezily moves into the living room, taking the empty armchair right across from the pair and sits down gently.

As she raises her head, looking at the pair of shifters sitting right before her, both males grow stiff. There is a different kind of energy flowing around her. Even if it may not be as intimidating as their Alpha’s powers or even the power of the Elders combined, it feels so odd and unfamiliar that both shifters can feel the weight of her powers. The air instantly trickles with tension, while the Mage still appears calm as she regards her guests.

“Now,” she starts to speak while resting her entwined hands on her lap. “What can I help you with, gentlemen?”

Yoongi throws a quick glance at Jungkook, silently questioning his ‘mate’ if he should proceed. Jungkook looks a bit unsure himself, but nods anyway, reminding the two of them of the reason why they had come here in the first place. With a deep breath, Yoongi takes over, starting the conversation with—

“We both have some kind of a—predicament.”

The mage tilts her head. “What kind of predicament?” she questions, though Jungkook doubts that she is actually clueless when she looks at them with a knowing smile.

“I’m sure, being mated to a shifter yourself, you understand the dynamics of our mating bond,” Yoongi continues, unaware of the questions echoing inside Jungkook’s head, while the mage nods at him so he can carry on. “Jungkook and I—we are mates. At least, we recognised each other with the signs.”

If the revelation was surprising for the mage to hear, she is clearly isn’t showing it. The only thing she does is give an understanding nod and asks, “But the situation is complicated, I presume?”

“It is,” Yoongi answers with a sigh. “Jungkook and I, neither of us are—” Yoongi stops to clear his throat, clearly feeling uncomfortable with what he is about to say. “Neither of us are homosexual or even bisexual. Past experiences have proven many times that we are both straight,” he finally adds, and Jungkook isn’t quite sure if what Yoongi mentioned as ‘past experience’ would be vague enough for the mage to decipher. Anyone would simply assume that both of them had tried dating others before or even to be intimate with others to put their preferences to a test. But Jungkook knows that Yoongi’s words had also included the fact that they had once ‘tested the waters’ only to be left disappointed and feeling oddly guilty about it.

Once again, the mage is silent. All she does is take a moment to study Yoongi and Jungkook’s faces before a smile forms on her face. “Why don’t I make us some tea and you can start telling me everything. From the beginning—” she says, before giving each of the shifters a pointed look when she adds, “And make sure not to leave anything behind. Anything.”

As the mage steps away from the room to make their drinks, the pair looks at each other and shrug.

‘Well, I guess she knows.’

The rest of the afternoon is spent with them talking about their mating bond. Each of them takes a turn to share everything that they had experienced, starting from Yoongi who tells the mage everything from his side of view—from the day of his arrival when he sensed Jungkook for the first time and had mistaken him as a female Enforcer, to the day they recognised each other—while Jungkook continues by repeating the same old story that he had shared with Hoseok only a few days ago.

Mage Kim continues to listen silently while carefully sipping on her tea and looking thoughtful the whole time. Sometimes she would throw a question or two as the shifters relay their stories. Sometimes she would just nod her head as if she can see the events happening inside her mind.

Once both males are done telling their stories, Mage Kim calmly takes another sip of her tea before speaking again, “So you both feel the sparks, caught the scents even before you met each other. What happens if you touch and kiss? Have you tried to be—intimate?”

This is it. Jungkook knew that there is no way they would be able to hide it forever, and it would be too easy for the mage to catch on to their lies if they choose to deny it. Beside him, Yoongi releases a deep sigh and answers first, “It felt odd and so wrong.”

It also felt right in some kind of way, Jungkook wonders silently, before admitting that there was something off when they touched that night. The bond was there and it helped stop them from killing each other when the touches they shared seemed like a violation of something that was sacred, or perhaps even a violation of trust.

“To me, it almost felt like there was something that was missing,” Jungkook adds. “Yoongi was right, it felt wrong. But not in the way that it made us feel like we wanted to kill each other or even disgusted at what we did. It just felt like there was something that we needed to make it work. As if the mating bond itself wasn’t enough.”

The mage gives another nod. “And what is your reason to hold out for so long without breaking the bond and moving on?”

It was the dream. The words come into Jungkook’s mind just as the images come flashing inside his head, showing him the exact same scenes—of him and Yoongi on his bed, with the figure that felt so soft and small in their hands and yet their presence feels so right.

The dream hasn’t been coming to him as often as it used to, but it still haunts him from time to time. Always coming unannounced whenever the burden from the mating bond is placed on the back of his mind or whenever he is drifting apart from Yoongi.

And then suddenly, just after the night he revealed to Hoseok about his situation with Yoongi and right after he decided to turn to the mage for help, the dream returned to him, and the image came to him just the way it did when he had first gotten the dream in his sleep.

Jungkook knows that he would have to share this with the mage, but he has no idea how Yoongi would feel knowing that he has been dreaming about the fox. Right as he is wondering how to reveal about this without making things between him and his ‘mate’ to become even more awkward than it has been, Yoongi speaks up one more time, surprising him when he says,

“Ever since the night it happened, when we, uhm—crossed the line, I’ve been having these dreams. Of the two of us, and how it would be like for us together. At first, I simply thought that those dreams were created by my own mind, conjured by my own wishful thinking for being so hopeful that things might work between us. But as time goes by, I keep having these dreams and they mostly come to me during the full moon, as if reminding me of the mating bond that I’ve been trying to ignore.”

After saying all of this, Yoongi keeps his head down, keeping his eyes on the ground as if he is completely embarrassed for having these thoughts to himself. But Jungkook quickly snaps himself out of his shock, and reveals to the room, “I’ve been having the same dream as well.”

Jungkook stops for a moment as his revelation seems to surprise himself as well, but he quickly takes the chance to explain before he would lose his courage to speak. “It started from that night at the full moon. It kept coming since, and then it started to grow less and less and I’ve only been getting it either during the full moon or whenever I start questioning about—well, everything. About the bond, about how odd our pairing has been and things around it.”

Yoongi keeps looking at Jungkook with a surprised look on his face as he listens to the wolf speak, before relief comes over him and the tension on his shoulders simply subsides. Seeing this, Jungkook realises that they had both been carrying the same burden, the same secrets for a long time. We should’ve talked about it and shared this a long time ago, he wonders, blaming himself for never bringing this up to his ‘mate’ and letting him wondering about these dreams all alone. Though he knows that he has nobody else to blame when they both had a mutual agreement to stay indifferent with one another to a point that they simply ignore everything about their bond.

Until recently, when Jungkook couldn’t help himself and fell to the urge to protect his ‘mate’ that he ended up revealing their secret bond to other people.

Sitting across from them, Mage Kim hums softly, as if she is slowly putting everything together just from their shared stories.

“Just like I had thought,” she muses as she gently places her cup of tea down on the table between them. Sitting back, she keeps her hands entwined on her lap the way they did when she was studying them closely as she shares her thoughts. “I had suspected that you were mates when you first came in. And you were right, there was something off about the two of you. Now, after listening to your side of the story, I am beginning to understand why.

“There is obviously a connection between you, as I can feel and see the thread holding you together the same way mating bonds do to fated mates. But just like what Jungkook had mentioned, there is something missing. What is wrong with your bond is that you are incomplete. There is a missing link in your bond that needs to be there to make it complete, and for the bond to manifest into its final form and becomes absolute.”

“And what does the dream have to do with it?” Yoongi asks her, sounding intrigued to hear more.

With her lips curling down, the Mage Kim only questions him back, “Since it’s revealed now that both of you have been having the dreams at the same time, perhaps it is the Moon Goddess’ way of answering your questions?”

She looks between Yoongi and Jungkook as both shifters take a moment to consider this. Yoongi turns to his ‘mate’, exchanging gazes with the wolf while both of them have their minds recalling back to the things that they have learned so far, to the words that people around them had been telling them about the Moon Goddess and her magic which comes to them in the form of fated mates and their mating bond.

“The moon is never wrong.”

“The moon never makes a mistake.”

Maybe, just maybe, the moon does have its trick after all. And that they are not some kind of anomaly among the history of fated mates. Not a mistake that had been made because the Moon Goddess had experienced some kind of a blunder when she decided to pair two straight males together with the sacred bond.

Yoongi and Jungkook stay a bit longer in Mage Kim’s company and spend their afternoon with her to talk about the different theories of their mating that they can think of and the possibilities regarding their missing link. It isn’t until the moment the sky slowly turns darker with the red streaks of sunset dancing on the horizon when both males finally bid their goodbyes to the mage. And it isn’t until Mage Kim has kindly promised them to do a ritual on their behalf so she could speak to the universe and their ancestors for more answers when they are finally able to walk home, feeling their footsteps lighter and their chest expanding with relief.

Because finally—after a long while of living with doubts and unanswered questions—both of them can allow themselves to start feeling hopeful again.

That night, as they lay down in their respective beds, alone, the dream returns. Only this time, Yoongi can see flashes of red flowing around his wrist, while Jungkook can see a pair of yellow eyes looking down on him as the three of them are entangled in a heated lovemaking with their desire burning around them so strongly it feels as if the world does not exist outside of Jungkook’s old bedroom.

Holding onto their hopes and the dream that makes it seem as if their fate has been sealed, Jungkook and Yoongi depart from their homes to meet up with Mage Kim again three days later in the hopes that her rituals have helped her to find the answers that they all need. Except that on their way to the Mage’s home, Hoseok appears in their path, stopping them from leaving.

Perhaps if Hoseok has his usual sly grin and eyes glinting with mirth as he regards them, then the two of them could simply ignore his presence and continue on with their plans for the day. But the Head Enforcer wears a different stance as he stands there in their path, with a worried scowl on his face and his arms crossed over his chest, leaving the pair of confused mates wondering and realising that something is wrong.

“Hoseok?” Yoongi asks their superior as the males come closer to him. “What’s going on?”

Hoseok looks between the two of them before he releases a defeated sigh. “I’m afraid whatever business you two are up to will have to wait. The Alpha needs you,” he says, once again meeting their eyes before adding, “Both of you.”

Neither Jungkook nor Yoongi says a thing. Even before they had departed from home, both of them have had an inkling that something peculiar was happening in the pack. They had known to be ready when their pack welcomed a guest the other day—the Warrior Princess from Supreme Wolf Pack who had arrived with Beta Taehyung after their long journey—but they had decided to carry on with their plans today since they too had been waiting for this moment for quite some time.

Noticing that both shifters have grown quiet, Hoseok finally explains further, confirming their thoughts by saying, “It’s happening. It seems that we’re going to war.”

‘Keep running. Don’t look back.’

Kitana can hear her brother’s voice so clearly inside her head as she continues to run, keeping her eyes forward as she races between the trees. Her lithe figure allows her to slip easily between the branches and bushes coming into her path as she runs in her fox form, while her heightened senses become the perfect tools to help her dash through the night.

She can hear the steady thumps and pads following from behind, letting her know that her brothers are still running close, chasing her tail while making sure that their pursuers would lose them in the dense forest. Her werewolf brothers remain at the far back, acting as defenders while letting their smaller siblings and a few other female members who are with them to run in the front for their swift escape. The pattern had been decided ever since they first departed from their last hideout, and so far, it has given them an advantage that they are most grateful for as they travel across the continent to find their sanctuary in the land which belongs to the Wolf Moon Pack.

While she knows that she is safe by running so far ahead, she hates not being able to fight and defend her family. Her fox form is too small for her to join the battle if it ever occurs, unlike her brothers who are somehow larger in size as males. Her bow and arrows have no use unless she is in her human form, where she could stand tall and great as she aims them at her enemies.

But at least she is still the better tracker compared to her brothers, so her position at the front would not be as vain as she has made it to be. She still plays her role for her small pack as the guide to lead their way, finding the right paths which would lead them to their destination. Though it doesn’t stop her from grieving about her inability to defend her family while doing so.

With her mind trailing towards what could have been, Kitana loses her focus for a brief moment that she comes close to hitting a massive tree suddenly emerging on her path. Her paws skid along the wet trail as she tries to avoid a collision, kicking off mud in her escape, and she manages to sidestep at the very last second and returns to the correct path.

‘Watch where you’re going!’ she hears Felix, the brother who is running the closest to her, snapping at her.

‘Shit. I’m sorry!’

’Be careful, we need to get there in one piece. We need to get you there in one piece,’ he reminds her, and Kitana forces herself to focus on running and make sure not to have her mind wandering off again.

Aside from her resentment of not being able to fight with her brothers, Kitana has her own reason to keep losing focus. Ever since they all left their last shelter at the other end of these woods, she has been feeling something—odd. There is a peculiar feeling vaguely growing inside her, haunting her, swirling unsteadily to cause her nerves to spike up while she keeps on running. Sometimes, her sense would pick up a faint whiff of a sweet scent that is unfamiliar to her, though the scent makes her tingle in some places and draws her heartbeat to rise whenever it comes to her. And yet she keeps finding herself unable to pursue it as she has no idea where it is coming from or how she keeps sensing this smell no matter where she goes. Even when the scent is gone, there is some kind of a pull beckoning her from a far distance. She can feel the urge to reach out and grab it, though just like the source of the fragrance, she has no idea where the pull is coming from. Only that it keeps telling her to keep running, to keep moving forward, and to remind her not to stop.

The only thing she notices the most is the fact that the closer she seems to be getting to the Wolf Moon Pack, the stronger the feeling inside her belly feels, and the stronger the sweet scent seems to grow around her, pulling her towards their destination.

Could it be? She questions herself and her beast as she breathes in the woody scent that keeps calling her. Is there where our mate should be?

Her heart begins to pound so fast as the thought occurs to her. Faster than what running has caused her. And her speed accelerates further, knowing that she is close.

“It is due time for you to find your mate already. But seeing that you have yet to recognise anyone from this pack as your fated, perhaps he is not here. Perhaps your journey can bring you closer to him.”

Her father’s words suddenly appear in her head, and her chest begins to grow warm, expanding with a new hope brewing inside her.

When she had first begun this journey, she had departed with the hope of finding shelter, to find a place where she can feel safe and where she can have her family reuniting once again. All she had ever wanted was to be able to find a new place that she can call home, where she can no longer feel the fear of danger lurking around her and where she would no longer feel the need to hide.

But now, her trudges become firmer, more determined, and her pace is stronger, all because she knows that she has something else to look forward to as she races towards the new land.

The hope for her to finally meet her mate.

The night is slowly turning into dawn and Kitana can feel the finish line.

So close for her to reach that she could even smell it; the scent of freedom, with a mix of fresh scents of flowers and fruits and cooked meal. She can feel the forces from the massive pack vibrating through her body, calling for her, pulling her towards it. All she needs to do is to lean forward and she might be able to see the twin hills that are hiding the front gate of the borders. All she needs to do is to take that one final sprint to reach for it, to finally be in the safety of her new home.

But this new home still seems so far away even when she is near. The obstacle standing in the way is too big and too dangerous that she has to remain calm and silent, to stay hidden in the shadows for as long as she possibly can until she and her brothers would find a way to lure the threats away from them.

Only a moment not too long ago, right when she was more than halfway down the path leading towards the border, the alerting howl from her werewolf brothers made her stop before her brother Felix pulled her away into this hiding place. She had not noticed them at first, as she was way too focused on the finish line and too distracted by the alluring scent that seemed to be pulling her towards the gate. It was not the same scent that came to her from the pack nor was it coming from the new home but from an individual. It had felt as if the scent is beckoning her to come closer, and her whole body has been itching to crawl over towards it, even if she would only be allowed to take a quick whiff just to make sure.

Only once she was away from the line of danger and once she was finally snapped out of her thoughts when she finally noticed them; the sounds of gunshots, the flying arrows, and the shouting of commands to aim their weapons better—to have them all aimed at them.

Though she was glad that nobody got hurt from the ambush, she was furious to know that the bullets had come close to hurting her little brother, Jeongin, and had only missed her head by a millimeter mark before Felix nudged her out of the way. While in her hiding, Kitana can hear the sound of her werewolf brothers attacking the Hunters and luring them away. The sound of their growls and some of the missing shots echoing against the terrain and the trees around her keep coming, while her body burns with the urge to join the fight and to sink her canines into something just to unleash her anger.

They should have known that those bastards would follow them throughout their journey. These monsters would do anything to get the job done, even if it meant trailing down a pack of young foxes and werewolves who were fleeing away from home and seeking refuge, catching them off guard while being out in the open and completely unprotected by the pack’s protection.

And they dare to have the gall to call us the monsters.

All of a sudden, the sound of the fight grows further away. Instead of calming her down, the lack of noises makes Kitana grow restless. With soft whimpers forming from her throat, she begins to pace back and forth between the bushes. She has to dig her paws firmly into the ground each time she moves just to stop herself from leaping out of her hiding, even if it would only be to find out if her family is safe.

Her brother, Felix, slides to her side just then, nudging Kitana’s side with his muzzle before he flops down beside her. ‘Get ready to move,’ he says through the mind-link. If only Kitana is in her human form, perhaps she would be giving her brother a dubious look at his words. But she has yet to shift—as her brothers had forbidden her to just so she would always be ready, either it would be for fight and flight, since her human form would be much too fragile to do either one—so the only thing she can give him is a soft whine when she asks,

‘Are you sure?’

Right at that moment, two other male foxes slide in around her. They are her brother’s best friends who had volunteered to join their small convoy as additional security measures to make sure that they would make a safe journey.

’Your brothers have sent signals that they are seeing the Hunters leaving the area, taking their leave in the opposite direction,’ Hyunjin says through the mind-link, while Jisung slides closer to Kitana in a protective mode, just the way he always does whenever he is around her.

Felix’s eyes flicker towards Jisung with an annoyed grunt, not enjoying the sight of his best friend making a move on his sister, but says nothing of it. Keeping his chagrin down to a limit, Felix calmly explains their next plan. ‘We’ll wait until Jeongin joins us and begin to move towards the border. Our wolf brothers will follow our tracks later once it is safe. They’ll be luring the Hunters away from us first.’

‘How do you know all this?’ Kitana asks them while looking back and forth between her brother and his friends. ‘Why do I not know this?’

‘We only went along with the situation, not that we were planning things without you,’ Jisung quickly says, as if he knows what is going on inside her head—the way he always does—while brushing his nose against the side of her face. A muted growl comes from Felix, a sign that the protective brother disagrees with the intimate gesture he is giving his sister, but neither Kitana nor Jisung gives a damn about it. Keeping his eyes on Kitana, Jisung continues to reassure her that neither of her brothers was deliberately putting her aside by saying, ‘Our priority was to keep you safe. Okay?’

Kitana turns to see Jisung’s eyes, finding the truth there and instantly relaxes. ‘Okay.’ Pushing herself up, she positions herself right next to her brother and prepares to move. ‘I’m ready,’ she says, and the male foxes immediately surround her, even as they wait for a cue to make the move, until Jeongin appears between the trees and the group marches forward to continue their journey towards the border.

The young foxes move stealthily out of their hiding, all while focusing on their surroundings and trying to listen to any noises, any peculiar sounds that may indicate that their brothers are coming back. They have made it so far until the twin hills emerge from between the dense trees when all of a sudden, arrows begin to fly around them and shadowy figures wearing all black are moving out of their hiding to stop them from proceeding their journey.

‘Keep running! Whatever happens, don’t stop!’ Felix shouts his command before he turns to face the Hunter running downhill while swinging his weapon. Immediately, Kitana turns to launch herself towards her twin brother to aid him, only for Jisung to cut her on her tracks and push her away.

‘Go! Now!’

Kitana tries to argue and turns away, and yet Jisung is just as stubborn as she is, as he continues to bump his head against her body so she would leave the scene. ‘You’ll be more useful when you are safe, Kitana. Go! I’ll protect your brothers!’

Realising that he is right, Kitana turns away while promising to get help. There must be guards at the borders, right? They would be able to help us, right? Kitana wonders as she keeps on running, locking her eyes on the twin hills while pushing forward and kicking her hind legs harder into the ground so she can put more force and run faster.

But once again, she becomes too focused on her end goal that she misses the threat coming at her until it is too late for her to avoid it. One moment, she is running full speed to her final destination. Then all so suddenly, she is entangled in a net that has been stretched out between the trees, and she finds herself being pulled off the ground, captured and left hopeless.

Kitana yelps and barks for help, while she uses her paws to rip apart the net, only to find her efforts useless as the more she moves, the more twisted the trap becomes. As she keeps on fighting, a figure emerges from the nearest tree. The human wearing all black comes closer with a sneer, to which she gladly welcomes with deep, menacing growls.

“There, there, little foxy. No need to be hostile now,” the ugly looking Hunter says with a mocking tone as he approaches the trap. Now that he is standing a bit closer, Kitana can see his eyes glowing in the dark, filled with astonishment and malicious intent as he lays his gaze on her. Everything about him sends the alarm inside Kitana’s head blaring, and she becomes even more restless, her instinct to fight returns full force and she starts kicking and snarling once again to set herself free.

Seeing this, the Hunter makes a ‘tsk’ sound. “The more you fight against it, the more you’ll get hurt. We don’t want you to get hurt now, do we?” he says, looking displeased. And then his lips curl up to another sneer. “Don’t worry, I know just the way to calm you down.”

There is something in the way he speaks that is giving Kitana an unsettling feeling inside her stomach. She has no idea what it is at first, until the Hunter raises his arm and she notices something sparkling in his hand, a glint of a tiny silver thing, and her body shivers in fear. The moonlight falls on his hand once he moves it closer, revealing the silver glint to be a syringe.

‘Oh, Goddess. No!’ Kitana screams as she frantically tries to set herself free, putting up a fight by kicking and biting at the net while throwing threatening snarls at the Hunter just to keep the bastard away.

Just as she begins to feel as if all hopes are lost, with her brothers still fighting in the distance and most possibly have yet to notice her predicament, a glimpse of light brown fur flashes right before her eyes, moving swiftly between her and the malicious Hunter. The creature manages to knock the syringe out of the Hunter’s hold while taking him down with it as it lands on the ground with a loud thud. The moment the creature turns to face the fallen Hunter is when Kitana realises what it was.

A wolf. A magnificent looking wolf with light brown fur covering his back and the sides of its body while a silver streak appears along his stomach and all the way down to his hind legs.

The wolf stands tall and massive, its head nearly reaching half the size of the giant trees around it. The wolf’s golden eyes flicker toward Kitana for a brief moment before it turns back to the Hunter, releasing its furious growl that makes the man shiver and cowers under its threats.

Kitana cannot look away from the beast, too mesmerised by its sight while feeling terribly relieved at the same time. She can still sense everything changing and shifting behind her; the sound of the fights around them growing louder and closer, turning slightly more intense before the growls slowly fade at the same time she can hear footsteps rushing away from the scene, following a few screams that had echoed briefly in between.

She still has her eyes on the light brown wolf even after the Hunter that he had injured runs away, with both his body and his pride terribly wounded, that she is completely unprepared when the net binding her snaps apart and she falls from height.

A whimper slips out of her when she sees the ground moving rapidly closer as gravity pulls her down. But before her body ever has the chance to take the nasty fall, a pair of strong arms capture her and she is pulled against a firm chest. “I got you, little sister,” Kitana hears her oldest brother’s voice speak to her and she instantly relaxes against him, right before she hears him whisper, “We got company, sis.”

Kitana looks up and finally notices them as she looks around. Aside from her saviour, her brothers and the rest of her pack members have appeared, joined by a few other werewolves who are completely unfamiliar to her. The unknown wolves all carry similar scents to each other, a lot different than how her brothers smell like and almost the same to the scent coming from the borders which she had breathed in before. All of them except for her saviour, much to her surprise, who smells a bit more like sunshine and saltwater.

At that moment, someone slips out from behind the trees. Kitana has been so entranced by her saviour that she didn’t notice one of the wolves stepping away to shift back into his human form, and now there is a man who is standing right before her only with his shorts on. He looks young, wearing a kind smile on his face as he nods at her saviour before he greets her brother.

“Our captain has requested for you to shift so we can communicate better. We mean no harm, we promise you.”

Chan, her oldest brother who holds the role as their leader for their journey accepts his request. He turns to the others and orders everyone to shift, before he places Kitana down on the ground and nudges her to the nearby bushes so she can shift back leisurely. “Go, little sis. I’ll stand by and watch to make sure you’re covered.”

Kitana responds with a soft whine before running into hiding, hating the only downside of shifting back and forth. When a shifter transforms from one shape to another, everything about them changes with them—from the body structure, bones and limbs, hair and facial structure—except for their clothes. Since their clothes are not attached to their bodies, the fabric would either shred into pieces or the shifter will be required to take the whole thing off and then put them back on when they return to their human form. Most packs would leave random pieces of clothing or covers around the woods to make it easier for them to cover themselves whenever necessary, even if shifters are used to nudity.

Since this is a new place, Kitana knows for sure that she cannot rely on finding random covers to shield her body from all the strangers they had come across. Thank the Goddess that she and her brothers have thought about using body-packs to carry their belongings even while travelling in their beast form, so she has a few things to wear to face their saviours.

Shifting into her human form takes a lot from Kitana. As someone who has lived in the wilderness with her small pack, Kitana has spent most of her days as a fox. Focusing on her human form, she can feel the changes happening in her body. The thick fur covering her whole body slowly melts into skin, while her bones begin to snap around to change shapes and positions, giving her slight discomfort that draws a pained whimper coming out of her mouth.

She closes her eyes as her muzzle shrinks down on her face, and a normal pair of nose and lips appear in its place. As the change is completed, she immediately feels the imbalance from standing on two feet and the cold breeze starts poking on her skin and goes straight to the bone. Shaking the cold, she reaches into her body-pack, pulling out a slip dress that is enough to cover her body without giving her too much trouble to change into, opting to place her small bow and arrow aside knowing that the danger has gone away.

After putting on a pair of flip-flops, Kitana steps out for her hiding, finding Jisung already waiting for her. She only smiles at him before taking the place next to Chan, and the group comes face to face with their saviours. Everyone has already shifted into their human forms upon her return, revealing that all of the werewolves that had come to their aid consist of males. Some have put on their clothes properly while other males have opted to stay in their shorts.

One of their new friends steps forward. Kitana identifies him as the light brown wolf who had taken down her pursuer earlier from his scent and the aura he is giving her. The man nods at her kindly before turning to her brother. “My name is Jeon Junghyun. Regardless of what Jay said earlier—” he says, tilting his head towards the other wolf who had talked to them previously, “I’m no longer their captain, as I am no longer a part of the Wolf Moon Pack, even if the pack is still my home. Would you be kind enough to introduce yourself? Where did you come from?”

Chan steps forward, followed by Kitana’s twin and his friends. “My name is Bang Chan. My family and I came from Light Howlers Pack in the Northeast region, up north from the Rivermouth Lake. Our home was attacked last winter and we have been seeking refuge for our pack. My father has reached out to Wolf Moon Pack and the Alpha has agreed to open the door for us and provide us with shelter.”

Chan proceeds to introduce everyone, starting from his mate and his werewolf friends, before he begins introducing Kitana and the rest of the foxes. “It was my sister that you had saved earlier. Half-sister. Her name is Kitana, and this is her twin brother, Felix, and our youngest, Jeongin. We were joined by their friends, Hyunjin and Jisung.”

The wolf, Junghyun, tilts his head as he listens, while the other wolves who had come with him are looking at each other with amused looks. “A pack filled with werewolves and foxes? That is quite an interesting mix,” Junghyun muses. “And you have different shifters as your brothers and sister.”

“Would it be any different than your pack? We’ve heard that the Wolf Moon Pack houses various shifters in their homeland, so I bet you have tons of different mixes as well,” Jisung playfully responds to him, which draws a deep chuckle from the wolf.

“That’s actually true,” says Junghyun. “Although we haven’t had a lot of hybrids coming from outside of the pack before.”

There is an unspoken question in his words. Kitana can feel the wolf’s curiosity, so there is no doubt that her brother can feel it too. And yet the only thing that Chan gives him in return is a smile, before he speaks once more, changing the topic around his pack and family. “Forgive us for bringing threats to your door. It wasn’t our intention to have them showing up around here. We already did our best to cut them loose throughout our journey, but perhaps we didn’t do a good job at it.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Jay speaks on behalf of his group. There is something about him that makes Kitana feel safe. Then she realises that he might be one of the guards that may have been positioned around the borders. “Those Hunters have been lurking and scouting around our pack for a while now. They launched an attack on our homeland years ago and failed. You must have stumbled upon the ones who may have returned to give it another try while most of our Enforcers are not in place.”

“What do you mean?” Kitana asks him, only to have the wolves in front of her turning to their former Captain for answers, while the wolf only gives them a smile.

“Why don’t we take you guys back to the pack where it’s safer? We can talk better once we have you safe and secure,” Junghyun says, though he stops when his eyes land on Kitana, noticing how silent she has been. “Are you okay? Were you injured badly from the trap? I can have our healer come and see you.”

“I-I’m fine,” she quickly says, turning to her brothers to reassure them as well. “Really. I’m okay.”

Chan nods, even if he doesn’t look too convinced, but he agrees to follow the Enforcers from the Wolf Moon Pack and let them guide him and his pack into their new home.

Kitana stays close to her twin, following close behind their oldest brother. She can hear and sense everyone around her conversing to one another; either it is a conversation done between a member of her small pack with the Enforcer who is walking with them or the muted exchange between his brother’s friends. But she pays no attention to any of them, once again having her focus stolen by another.

Ever since the former captain, Jeon Junghyun, came to her aid earlier, she has felt some kind of pull towards the wolf that she has yet been able to shake off. It is completely different to what she had felt earlier when she began to sense the indistinct markings of her mating pull and not as strong as what she would perceive as a mating bond, but it still draws her to him in a way she has never felt before. Even his scent is way different to the one which had drawn her towards the pack earlier. Not only the scent from the pack itself, but to the individual scent which she had recognised as the scent of her mate.

When the scent she detected earlier was a mix of something woody and masculine and fresh, Junghyun’s scent reminds her more of a seashore and white sand beach.

He is not our mate, she wonders silently to her fox. But why do we feel so strongly for him?

He is also mated, she realises when she catches the sight of the mark on his shoulders and the mixed scents coming from him which only mated shifters would have.

Too busy wondering about all of this and questioning herself silently, Kitana almost stumbles when she steps over through the border, not noticing that she has arrived at the place that she had been so desperate to reach. A pair of arms come to her rescue once again. Only this time, instead of finding one of her brothers as her rescuer, her eyes meet Jisung’s concerned gaze as he holds her close.

“Are you sure you don’t need anything? You’re not hurt?” Jisung keeps asking her while perusing her with his gaze, trying to find any visible wounds on her to give him some reason to take her to the healer.

“I’m fine, Jisung. Really,” Kitana immediately says to him. Hiding her uneasiness, she pushes against him gently to stand on her own. “I’ll be okay, I promise. I think you’d be more useful to help the others with their stuff,” she says, pointing at the other pack members who are lining up behind them with their small bags.

Jisung finds Hyunjin already busy helping out the others and sighs. “Okay, I’ll be right back.” Giving her one last smile, Jisung turns away to help out the others, while Kitana stays behind and quickly joins her oldest brother who has been watching their exchange.

“The boy likes you,” Chan whispers to her while holding back a sly grin.

Before Kitana can give her oldest brother a response, her twin brother, Felix, passes by while grumbling, “And he better not act on it if he wants to keep his tail on his butt.”

Kitana rolls her eyes behind her twin’s back and keeps her pace to stay beside her oldest brother. “Don’t tell Felix, but Jisung did ask me out early this year,” Kitana whispers to her brother, revealing the secret that she has kept hidden from her brothers in fear that they would do something to Jisung when nothing ever truly happens.

“Really?” Chan asks her, looking away to find Jisung in the crowd, spying on the unsuspecting little fox with a frown. “I’m guessing that you said no?”

Kitana shrugs. “I didn’t see why we should bother. Jisung is nice, but he’s more like a brother kind of nice,” she says, biting her lips before she admits that one of her reasons to reject him was because she was crushing on another friend of another brother. As if the Fates can hear her thoughts, Minho, another werewolf from her pack who is also Chan’s best friend and her true first love appears right in front of her eyes.

Once upon a time, Minho would be able to make her heartbeat rise to a speed and her skin flush just by showing up. The wolf has grown up together with Chan, and both males have taken the huge responsibility of watching over her and her twin when they grew up as two mischievous foxes while their mother had her attention focused on Jeongin. She had admired Minho for his looks and his talents, since the wolf has always been able to move as agile as a fox and yet is still considered strong as a wolf. Her silly crush has lasted for a long time that it is still hard for her to move on from it.

She remembers turning eighteen a while ago and had deliberately run to find Minho while hoping that she would feel the sparks of the mating bond forming between them. Deep down, she had known that it would be nothing but wishful thinking. As someone who was already older than her by a few years, Minho would have felt the bond before she would, and up to that day, he had never once shown any indication that he had felt anything more to her than the brotherly love that he had shown her time and time again.

Still, not feeling the bond sparkling between them had left her feeling heartbroken and disappointed. It made her lose her faith in the mating bond for quite some time that she barely put any thought on it, believing that the Fates may not have chosen her a mate. And she has continued to feel the same until a while ago, when she felt the first pull coming from her new home, and then earlier just now, when she stumbled on her footsteps the moment a strong scent washed over her upon her arrival through the borders.

The distinctive scent had come to her like a strong wave; a mix of wood and spice, and a hint of patchouli, though she also scents a faint whiff of citrus following its trail. The moment the scent wafts through her, it feels as if her whole body comes alive, while the fox inside her begins to dance in joy.

‘Our mate is here. Somewhere in this pack. He is here.’

The fox continues to sing inside her mind, while Kitana begins to look around, searching for its source. Everywhere she looks, her eyes would easily find the werewolves who have been assigned to guard the borders. Various scents overcome her, but none of them turns out to be the one she is looking for.

‘Where is he? Why is he not here?’

Under the pulsing force coming from the pack which welcomes her at the borders and the various mixes of fragrance and the new vibe surrounding her, Kitana begins to feel frantic. Her head begins to spin the more she realises that she cannot find her mate among the crowd. All the faces begin to blend with one another, the voices and the noise coming from the guards who are calling out their names are muddled, and everything seems to melt into one that it becomes too much for her to handle and the ground beneath her seems to tilt off its axis.

A gentle hand lands on her upper arm, stopping her before she can get too far from the group. For a moment, her heart leaps with the hope that her mate has found her, but then she turns to find Minho looking at her curiously, his hand holding her gently as if he is afraid that she would fall. “Kitana? What’s wrong?” he asks her with the same voice that had once filled her dreams at night.

But with her mind focused on finding her mate, Minho’s presence suddenly makes her feel uncomfortable and instead of rejoicing the sweet attention that she has been denied from for so long, she feels eager to escape from him. “N-nothing’s wrong, it’s just—”

“Come on, little sis. They’re going to show us the place where we’ll be staying for a while,” Chan calls for her, making her relieved to be able to find a reason to walk away from Minho while feeling dejected and disappointed for not being able to find her mate.

She becomes silent as she joins her brothers to follow Junghyun and Jay who are leading them to the compound. “This is where new arrivals are placed in to rest and to get used to the pack’s dynamics until they are officially initiated into the pack. We haven’t determined the next initiation ceremony since the Alpha is currently away, but we’ll make sure that you guys can settle in nicely until then.”

Junghyun stands on the sidelines as the younger Enforcer, Jay, guides the group to each of their own appointed quarters, leaving Kitana and her brothers to be the last ones to be escorted into their personal housing space. “This is where you guys will stay in until we can set up your new home. We usually reserve this space for bigger families, but since you have a few members of the family with you and one of you is mated, we figured you’d be more comfortable to use a place with multiple bedrooms.”

Jay continues to introduce the rooms inside the living quarter while Kitana takes her time to enter, letting her brothers take the lead while she still has her thoughts wandering far back at the borders. After a moment, she takes a deep breath and finally moves to enter, hoping that she can finally rest.

And yet, instead of finding comfort and warmth welcoming her upon entering her temporary home, she is ambushed by the familiar scent that comes over her so strongly that it knocks her off her feet. Quite literally. The impact feels so powerful that she instantly falls on her knees, shaking, while whimpering softly.

‘Mate.’

She can barely sense her brothers rushing to her in panic, until Chan’s raging voice registers through her brain and she finally snaps out of it.

“Kitana, are you oka—”

“My mate! My mate is here. My—” she stops herself and looks around, finding only her brothers, Chan’s mate, and the two werewolves who had led them to this place filling the room. “O—or, he was here, at least. Please, I know this is him. This scent. I am sure of it. I’ve sensed him since I first got here and now I’m smelling him all over this place. He was here, wasn’t he?”

Chan’s eyes grow wide and brighten at Kitana’s words, clearly happy to hear about his sister finding her mate. He turns to the Enforcers just then, finding Junghyun already asking the younger wolf beside him about it.

Jay takes a moment to remember before he finally says, “Oh, right! This quarter was used by the Mins, the family that came in with the Hollow Pride a couple of years ago. You must have meant Yoongi, their second son, because he was the last one from the family to leave this compound while the rest of the family had settled in at the house that the Alpha had appointed them with,” he says, before turning to Junghyun to explain more. “Min Yoongi is one of the fox shifters who came in with the pack and has been appointed as one of our Enforcers. He’s a specialist in tracking and scouting.”

“Fox shifter?” Kitana gasps, finding hope blooming brightly inside her chest. “I—” she becomes so excited and nervous at the same time that she stutters, “W-where is he? He’s my mate. I’m sure of it. I’ve felt him before entering the pack and this scent—” she gasps once more when she breathes in deeply. “I just know it. It’s him. It has to be. Where can I find him?”

Chan has to tighten his arms around his baby sister to calm her down while Junghyun questions Jay further, “Do you know where the Mins reside in?”

“Yes, Captain. Sir. But—” Jay begins to answer, only to start looking a bit nervous. “Min Yoongi has lived separately from his family. He has a cabin in the forest, just like most of our Enforcers do.”

“Can you help me find him?” Kitana begins to plead with him, while Jay’s face only grows pale.

“I—” Jay opens his mouth, unable to find the words. And when he is finally able to, his answer comes with a small voice that is filled with regret. “I’m afraid you can’t.”

Something in Jay’s voice draws an eerie feeling through Kitana’s chest. Around her, she can hear her brothers growling, showing how unhappy they are to see her in pain and for worrying so much. Meanwhile, Junghyun and Jay continue to exchange gazes in silence. Kitana keeps her eyes on them, trying to see if any of them are glazing over as a sign of them speaking in mind-link and talking about her situation secretly without alerting her.

But even when she had been following the group with her mind in a daze, she still vaguely remembers listening in to the conversation shared between Junghyun and her oldest brother during their walk from the border to the compound, when the wolf had revealed to Chan that he had left the pack a while ago to join his mate and build his own family at her pack, therefore a mind-link with a former member of the pack wouldn’t be possible.

And yet, Kitana can still see Junghyun’s eyes glazing over before rage takes over, as if he can still understand what Jay is trying to say—or not trying to say—and he knows that Kitana wouldn’t like to hear the answer.

“Fuck,” Junghyun curses with his eyes closed. He calms himself for a moment, before opening his eyes to show his regret and invites the united family of werewolf and foxes to sit down with him so he can explain everything.

Moments later, Kitana is seated with Junghyun and her brothers surrounding her, while Jay sits on the side and looking nervous the whole time. Junghyun begins to explain the situation that the Wolf Moon Pack is currently facing—how the recent chaos happening within the shifters community has everything to do with a prophecy about an Ancient War that is coming back to rise and the rebellion which had started from a neighbouring alliance. Then he continues to explain to the brothers that one of the reasons why he had been travelling home during the time they met earlier was because the pack needs someone to take over a few void positions temporarily, including his old rank which had been filled by his younger brother who is now at war, and to explain what Jay had meant earlier when he mentioned about having most of their Enforcers gone.

“The Alpha has offered to assist our alliance in an upcoming battle. This would be a dangerous mission with so many at risk, so he had taken a group of Enforcers with him and Min Yoongi is among them. The latest news stated that he has been appointed as the Alpha’s personal tracker and bodyguard, although it is well known that Min Yoongi is the best scout and spy we have ever had, so there is no doubt that he will end up in the frontline,” Jay adds later, since this is the one information that he has yet to have a chance to relay on Junghyun.

“He—” Kitana whispers, finding herself unable to react, or to speak, as if her voice, her breath, her heart, are now clogged together inside her throat. “He is at the war?”

Jay gives her a grim smile and regretfully nods his head. “I’m sorry.”

For the next few days, the new arrivals from the Light Howlers pack begin to settle in. Chan and his mate, Haeun, have even gotten around to find jobs to make themselves useful for the pack while they are waiting for the Initiation Ceremony, while Felix and the rest of the gang have been getting around the pack to learn more about their new homeland and to prepare themselves to join the pack’s battle training which was said to be mandatory for the male shifters.

Kitana has also been preparing herself for it, as she refuses to be left behind and wanting a chance to contribute to the pack the same way her mate has been doing—by protecting their homeland. But she also has another mission aside from the training, which has also become the reason why she has been tailing Jay for the past few days.

“Jay, please—” she pleads to him as she follows Jay across the business district in the pack while he is doing his duty for the day. She realises that her presence is irritating the poor Enforcer, which is exactly what she has hoped for, in the hope of being able to get Jay to finally bend to her will.

At least she is not completely heartless and gets in his way from doing his job. In fact, Kitana has been lending her hand to him throughout the time she has been shadowing him. From giving a hand when he was tasked to carry delivery boxes to the daycare center to helping out the kitchen staff to carry their groceries together. In the end, Kitana begins to suspect that Jay has been secretly taking advantage of this by having her help him finish his work early.

Just when Jay is about to step into the packhouse at the end of the day, Kitana slips right into his path, knowing how easy it would be for her to lose him in the crowded dining room as it is already time for dinner. “Please, Jay. I beg you. Help me,” she pleads to him one more time with a pout, while the Enforcer can only sigh.

He opens his mouth as he is about to respond, yet Junghyun slips into view to interrupt their conversation. “What is going on?”

Immediately, Kitana grows stiff. She has yet to understand the reason why Junghyun’s presence has always affected her. She feels some kind of bond between them that makes her slightly uncomfortable while feeling like she can somehow rely on him. In a brothers and sisters kind of way, not as lovers. She keeps her eyes looking down and away from Junghyun’s face, suddenly feeling guilty for some reason, while Jay explains to him, “Kitana has been asking for my help, Captain. But I’ve kept telling her that it’s impossible.”

Junghyun raises his brows. “What kind of help?”

“It’s my mate,” Kitana quickly says before Jay can say anything. “I need to find him. All I’m asking is for a chance to contact him, or maybe to see him for a while. I won’t be on his way, I promise. I haven’t even been in Jay’s way while I’m around him, so I know how not to bother him.”

Junghyun looks at her as if he can understand her. With a nod, he dismisses Jay and lets him leave, while he gently guides Kitana to follow him away from the packhouse. “I know that you are worried about your mate, but I can’t allow you to leave, I’m sorry. It doesn’t matter who your mate is, I’m sure he wouldn’t like it if I let you chase him out there where it’s dangerous.”

Kitana’s eyes burn with unshed tears. The hopeless feeling that has been haunting her since the moment she found out that her mate is out there to join the war returns to her full force. She has denied the feeling for so long, refusing to let her despair bring her down or hold her back from trying to find a way to reach out to him. With every opportunity taken away from her, she can only sigh in defeat. “What if he doesn’t return? You said so yourself, that this is a dangerous mission that your pack has gone to. What if he doesn’t come back?”

With a sigh, Junghyun turns to her, giving her a reassuring smile while placing his hands on her shoulders. “If he truly is one of our Enforcers, I can assure you that he is well trained. I promise you that I will keep in touch with my contact on the battlefield and make sure that he will be alright,” he says while looking into Kitana’s eyes to make sure that she listens to him well. “We will do the best we can to make sure that you will be united with your mate once this is all over. You have my word.”

That night, Kitana returns to the family compound feeling completely numb. She has no idea if she would be able to sit tight and wait until the war is over. Her mind continues to wander off to her mate who is somewhere out there, completely oblivious to her presence.

As she lies down on her bed that night, with nothing but silence surrounding her as the rest of her family had fallen asleep, she wonders what kind of person her mate truly is. For the past few days, while following Jay around and doing a bunch of activities with the other female shifters that she had met in the pack, she has been gathering as much information about her mate as she can.

Many have said that Min Yoongi is a hard worker. He is ambitious, always wants to give his best in everything that he does. That he is the best tracker that the pack has ever had, and extremely reliable to the point that the Alpha himself had insisted him to join his special troops for the war. She had also heard the Enforcers talking about his intention of challenging the third-in-command position so he can represent the fox shifters by holding a rank in the pack, and the news makes her feel even more proud and eager to meet him in person.

Funny enough, a few of those Enforcers had also told her that Yoongi has spent most of the time with two people—one of them is the Beta’s mate, while the other is the current Captain of the Enforcers, Jeon Jungkook, who turns out to be Junghyun’s little brother.

They talk about how Jungkook would appear wherever Yoongi is and vice versa, though it doesn’t always seem as if they were deliberately spending the time together but more like they gravitate towards one another to always end up being at the same place and the same time for people to finally notice.

It seems highly convenient that they are both linked to Junghyun’s family in some way and it is intriguing to think about. As she slowly gives in to sleep, she tries to find the connection between Yoongi and Jungkook and also between her and Junghyun. Is it merely a coincidence that she feels some kind of peculiar bond to the brother of her mate’s closest friend? Do both males feel the same bond as well, which has made them somehow close to each other?

In the end, Kitana falls asleep without finding an answer, but then an odd dream comes to her in her sleep. In her dream, she sees herself running through a meadow, and she is not alone. Right beside her is a male fox, with his figure looking slightly bigger compared to her and with his muscles a lot more toned, making her feel an intense pride brewing in her chest knowing that her mate is a strong male who is also agile in his movement as he runs along with her.

Then she looks on her other side, finding a massive wolf running together with them. She finds herself entranced at the sight of him, as the wolf’s fur glows brightly under the sunlight. His entire body is covered in blonde coloured fur that looks golden under the sun, while his paws are white, making him look as if he is wearing shoes or comfortable socks. The wolf turns to look at her with his eyes glowing golden, and her entire body sparks alight, the rush of excitement runs down to her core that she feels the need to wiggle her tail on his face to tease while offering herself to him.

Being flanked by both magnificent looking males, Kitana feels like she is on top of the world. She feels stronger with both of them by her side, the bond connecting them together makes her body grows hot while she feels lighter at the same time. The three of them continue to run towards the end of the meadow, slipping into the dense forest beyond with both males protecting her from the dark. A wooden cabin appears to her at the end of their path, and one simple word appears in her thoughts at the same time her chest blooms with warmth.

Home.

The next day, Kitana decides that she would stay out of Jay’s way and let him be. She realises that there is really no need for her to make his life miserable because of her personal needs.

The compound seems so quiet with her brothers and everyone else had gone out for the day, doing all the daily routines and whatever else that her family has been up to in order to help them get settled in with the new pack. On her regular day, when Kitana is not bothering Jay on his duties, she would find something to do at the small coffee shop down the road, either just to hang around and learn more about the pack or to help out the barista on their busiest day.

Today, however, Kitana chooses to stay in. She had woken up feeling a bit hazy after having the bizarre dream that came to her last night, and the images from the dream—though slightly distorted—keep coming back to her the entire morning that she is left feeling completely lost and curious at the same time as she is trying to understand about the meaning behind her dream.

Was the dream supposed to be a sign? But what was the dream trying to show her?

She remembers thinking so deeply about Yoongi and everything that she has learned from his close friends before going to bed, and how she had fallen asleep wondering about the connection between her and her mate with the Jeon brothers. She wonders if it had been a mere coincidence that she had stumbled upon Junghyun that night and for her to gravitate towards him and how it would be connected to her mating bond in some way.

When the afternoon comes, as she is trying to find a way to distract herself from wondering too much about her bizarre dream and from worrying about her mate, Felix appears at the door with a box of chocolate cookies and a smile on his face like the saviour that she needs but have never truly asked to come. “What do you say about making us some tea to drink with these snacks and then we go out for a run in a bit? Might help clear your mind a little so you won’t get too stressed out about everything that’s been going on.”

For the rest of the afternoon, the twins spend their time in the dining room, with Kitana confiding to her brother about her worries and fear regarding her mate, about what she feels not being able to confirm about her mating bond with Yoongi until the day he returns, and how it has been hard for her to settle down when her mind keeps wandering off to him. It is always so easy for her to share her deepest thoughts with her twin, so she takes every chance that she can get to do so to get things out of her mind.

Though she remembers to skip the part about the odd dream that she had.

Because how on the Goddess’ name would she explain about having a dream which has not only shown her the fox shifter who might be her fated mate, but also a male wolf who captures her mind and heart just the way her fox had? And how is she supposed to explain the way her body was still tingling and shivering with delight even hours after the dream was over, and all because of two males instead of one?

Once their stomachs are full with the delicious cookies and her chest feels warm and lighter after sharing everything—well, almost everything—with her brother, Felix takes her out to the edge of the woods for an afternoon run.

“Are you sure that this is okay? I mean, we’re new here. What if we come across someone who doesn’t know us and then we get into trouble?” Kitana asks him once they find the perfect spot to leave their belongings before running through the woods.

“Don’t worry, I’ve talked to Heesung about this and he reassured me that it would be okay,” Felix says, mentioning another Enforcer who has been assigned to help guide them around whenever they need to go out. “I’ve already asked for the Captain’s permission to take you for a run, and Heesung had pointed out the areas that would be safe enough for us to venture into without coming across random strangers.”

Kitana finds it hard to truly believe him, still realising that there are risks that they will have to face, but she nods and agrees with him anyway. She hasn’t had a chance to run in her fox form ever since she had gotten here, and her whole body is starting to itch while her fox is currently yelping excitedly inside her head, already celebrating the chance to be set free.

Felix explains about the route that they are taking, making sure that Kitana would promise to stay on his tail so he can lead the way properly. Then, once they are both ready, the twins take turns to shift into their beasts. The discomfort from the transforming process usually stays in Kitana’s body for a moment longer, since her skin is slightly more sensitive compared to the rest of her siblings and she never truly enjoys feeling her bones and joints moving around in the process, but she barely notices it now when the eagerness to run feels stronger.

The moment her transformation is done and she falls on her four paws, Kitana feels more alive. The rush of the change comes surging through her body like an electric wave that she lets her body shudder through it for a moment. Her senses come awake and grow sharp almost instantly, allowing her to capture every scent, every touch, every movement, and to see even the smallest details about the woods which she would normally miss while she is strolling around the compound as the defenceless human that she usually is.

‘Ready?’ she hears Felix’s voice inside her head and she turns to find her brother pacing back and forth around her impatiently, clearly feeling the same urge to run free the way she does.

Having her fox takes over, Kitana takes a small leap towards her brother, giving him a headbutt right at his stomach before she says, ‘Let’s go,’ and Felix jumps out of the way on cue to start running.

Soon, the sound of the soft pads of their paws on the ground becomes music to their ears, though Kitana pays more attention to the hidden sounds coming from around her that she has missed the most. She loves running as a fox, to move swiftly and becomes more agile in slipping between the trees, the bushes, to playfully leap around in the woods as something that is so natural for her to do.

It doesn’t take long before the twin finds a comfortable pace in their run. And it doesn’t take long for her mischievous brother to think of a way to play and make it more fun. ‘I’ll race you to the checkpoint up front,’ Felix shouts before his pace accelerates, jumping over the bushes and the pile of gravels covering his tracks so he can steal the start line.

‘Cheater!’ Kitana yells at him before rushing to catch up. Her chest tightens the more she pushes forward and adds speed into her pace, while her tongue lulls out of her muzzle in her excitement.

As she continues to run with her twin, playing chase and swirling around each other in the middle of the dense forest, Kitana can feel the weight that she has been feeling and the dread that has been haunting her every night since she had gotten here slowly fading. The underlying worries about her mate are still there, but the run is offering her the perfect distraction to get everything out of her mind for a moment and to let herself believe that everything would be okay in the end. Just as long as she lets them to.

They continue to run for a bit longer, enjoying their time together without a care for the world. She even lets her guard down for a moment to let everything from around her in so she could relish the beauty of her new home, and that is when it suddenly hits.

Felix is just starting to explain the few pathways that they come across to his sister, each one disappearing between the trees and tells her that they are the pathways leading to the different housing areas located not too far away, when the breeze picks up around her, carrying a strong scent that has been haunting her day and night that comes like a strong wave. Kitana immediately stops, skidding down the gravel-covered path that she encounters in her stumble.

Her eyes follow the line of gravels which leads up to a line of pine trees in a fair distance, noticing that there is where the scent seems to be coming from. She asks her brother without looking away, ‘Felix, do you know what is on the end of this path?’

Felix follows her gaze, looking down to the path that she points out to him and swings his head from side to side. ‘I’ve no clue. But I have heard about the cabins which most of the Enforcers have been living in. Most of them have preferred to be living in solitude when they are not on duty, so perhaps you can find some of the occupied cabins spread out over to the other side of this woods,’ Felix answers absentmindedly with his eyes looking out beyond the trees before he snaps out of it when he senses Kitana moving, going around him before she starts preparing to run. ‘Kitana? What are you doing?’

Instead of answering him, she simply walks away, following the trail which carries the scent that her mate possesses. The scent of spicy wood with a hint of patchouli, always so calming and relaxing each time she breathes them in. The scent is now calling her the way it did the day she was heading towards the Wolf Moon Pack, how the pull had pulsed in the space around her and the scents beckoned her to come closer and to reach the finish line.

Having her mind focused on finding the source of the scent, she barely recognises the sound of her brother’s barking from behind as he races to follow her, perhaps to stop her from getting too far. But she pushes her way ahead, wanting to reach as close as she could before Felix would stop her.

And then, all of a sudden, she finds herself following a familiar trail—the same trail that she saw in her dream. Her heartbeat picks up as she keeps on running, looking far ahead until she sees it emerging in the distance between the thick trees—the wooden cabin which is the exact replica of the one she saw in her dream last night.

Before she has the chance to run towards it, her brother bumps against her from the side, stopping her from going further. Kitana has been running so fast that the impact sends both twins tumbling down the path, sending both of them whimpering and growling before they finally stop.

‘What the fuck were you doing?’ Felix scolds her while his body is shaking with his furious growls. ‘I told you not to get off track. I didn’t get permission to venture out of the running tracks.’

Kitana’s eyes flicker towards where the cabin is supposed to be, now hidden behind the trees as they have fallen out of the path, then to her furious brother. She realises that telling the truth would only disappoint her brother, since Felix’s intention was to get her mind away from ‘her mate’ in the first place, so she decides not to let him know what had prompted her into being so reckless.

‘I’m sorry, I got too excited. I wanted to see what the housing spaces look like,’ Kitana says to her brother, forcing a feigned innocence through her mind-link to make it more believable that she had simply made a blunder.

Even in his fox form, it is not hard for Kitana to recognise the dubious look that her twin is giving her. It is obvious that Felix isn’t happy with her, so she makes it her mission to get back on his good side by rubbing herself against him as she apologizes. As always, her twin gives in. With a sigh, Felix relaxes a little and turns away from the path to lead them back to where they are supposed to go.

‘Come on, we still have another hour free to run before the others come back,’ he says, and Kitana follows him obediently, not wanting to lose his trust. Though she doesn’t take her leave before taking another glance towards the end of the path, where the cabin should be.

As she trudges away from it, she makes a silent promise to herself to return at the first chance she gets. That she would find a chance to see if that was truly the same cabin as the one that she saw in her dream, and if she would be able to find anything that could help her learn more about her mate before she would find a way to meet him one day in person.

That night, Kitana finds herself tossing and turning in her bed, unable to sleep.

Every time she closes her eyes, she would see different images. Flipping between her reality and her bizarre dream, going back and forth so many times that she can no longer tell if she has truly been awake at all.

It isn’t until past midnight when Kitana realises that her family’s quarter has grown completely silent. The only thing she can hear as she listens in are the sounds of her oldest brother’s soft snores and the steady breathing from the others, letting her know that everyone is in deep sleep. She keeps trying to force herself to sleep only to keep failing, until she finally decides that she has had enough.

After making sure that it is safe for her to move around, Kitana slips out of the bed-chamber that she has been using since they moved in, conveniently placed at the very back of their compound that there is no need for her to worry about waking anyone as she escapes through the backdoor. She runs a bit further before immediately shifting into her fox form once she is somewhere secured. Though she remembers not to do it before tying up her nightshirt around her neck instead of leaving it behind, just in case she would need to shift later on.

Using her shifter’s senses and her fox’s instincts, she goes out through the woods to track down and find the cabin where she believes her mate lives. She still remembers the location where she had sensed his alluring scent earlier, but she would need to be extra careful and make sure that she wouldn’t get caught wandering through the pack’s grounds completely uninvited. Despite her earlier blunder, she still remembers Felix’s warning about getting permission to venture around the pack as new arrivals who have yet to be initiated in. The last thing she ever wants is to get caught and then accused of being an intruder in her new home. There is no doubt that it would only cause some distrust against her and her family. So as she dashes through the woods, she silently sends prayers to the Moon Goddess for her protection so she can stay hidden from any pack members who might be up tonight for patrol.

Focusing on her surroundings to ensure that she would still remain undetectable, she continues her journey through the deep of the night, not once letting her exhaustion or the cold distract her. She refuses to give up until she is finally able to find the gravel-covered pathway leading away from the center of the forest. She continues to follow the path until she finally finds it, the wooden cabin which she had only caught a glimpse of earlier, hidden in the middle of the woods and slightly further away from the rest of the houses and cabins that are spread around the area.

While she is glad to find that the cabin is secluded enough for her to approach without having to fear anyone catching her in action, she feels nervous and terribly giddy as she comes closer to it.

The sound of her pounding heartbeat becomes too loud against the silence. She contemplates shifting back to her human form for a moment until she is standing on the front porch, realising that she wouldn’t be able to open the door by using her muzzle or her paws. After taking one last look around her to see that she would remain hidden in the darkness, she focuses on transforming, making it swift and fast until she is standing on her two legs in no time. With her fur melting into her skin, she no longer has any protective barrier shielding her from the cold breeze and the nightshirt that she had carried along with her around her neck ends up as her saviour, much to her relief. It may not be enough to keep her warm, but at least she would have something covering her naked skin for the time being.

Good thinking for once, Kitana, she wonders, as she moves towards the front door.

Even if she cannot see well in the dark with her human eyes, Kitana can still see that the front door is slightly broken, as if somebody has kicked it out of its hinges, and she questions why it has been left that way. Especially when the cracks seem to have aged with time, making her wonder just what had happened in this place to leave such a mark.

Her hands tremble a little as she tries out the doorknob, gasping in surprise when it clicks and the door opens easily. She silently curses and vows to one day remind her mate to always lock the door to the cabin as she slowly enters the threshold, before sighing in relief when the warmth from within begins to engulf her.

She follows the scent as she walks in, closing the door behind her carefully. Her heartbeat keeps growing gradually faster as she enters the living room before her breath stops, and the rest of her body grows still. Because right then, as she is standing in the living room of the lone cabin, not only has she found the strong scent of her mate welcoming her—the same spicy wood and patchouli mix flowing through her senses—she is beginning to sense another.

There is another scent that comes over her just as strong as the other. Perhaps even stronger. A mixed scent of freesia and citrus with a hint of mint, so fresh and sweet that it makes her skin tingle while tons of questions begin to fill her mind.

Who? Who was this? Why is this scent seems to be stronger?

Has her mate chosen another?

Has he taken another female to his home?

“Oh, Goddess…no!”

In her daze, she finds herself moving, walking towards where the scent seems to be leading her. A gasp escapes her lips before it turns into a broken sob when she realises that she is entering the main bedroom, where both scents seem to mingle with one another.

There is no doubt about it. The other scent that she is sensing from the air inside the cabin lets her know that someone else had been inside this place, living in it for a long time as the scent seems to have been permanently engraved into the place. But as she continues to breathe in, trying to discern between the woody fragrance that she had identified as her mate’s to make sure that he had actually been inside this bedroom, she soon finds another trace mixing together with the others, and it soon becomes the one thing that is even more confusing for her to find the most.

Because underneath the various fragrances that she has found so far, she can sense that the room is filled with desire, of sexual tension that feels so thick and heavy that she finds it hard to breathe. The scent itself has grown somewhat faint, and yet it is still overwhelming. And it is making her head spin while her chest grows tight.

Because her mate had been in this very room.

Oh, Goddess…

Standing there in the room with everything engulfing her all at once, Kitana begins to feel dizzy. Everything seems to be spinning just when she is starting to lose control of her emotions, making it hard for her to process her findings and to think clearly.

The questions continue to circle around her mind.

Has he truly been with another?

Who were they? And how often have they spent their nights together?

She can feel all the burning desire that had been shared in the room that makes her skin flush, her body burning hot, while her mind is terribly troubled with what she has found in this place.

Everything comes pressing down on her that she begins to suffocate and her mind seems to have grown so fuzzy that she doesn’t even realise that she has started trembling. But even as she is having trouble getting herself together, she still manages to push through and finds herself moving, using her hands on the walls to keep herself up until she finds the way out and she starts running. And she continues to run. Even when the cold grass and the sharp gravels are stabbing on her bare feet as she runs from the place in her human form, as if her mind has completely shut down that she cannot even consider shifting back into her fox.

Meanwhile, the cold and the darkness around her barely register to her brain as she makes her way through the woods, staggering in her trembling legs while wondering to herself and trying to understand what she had found.

She had known that shifters tend to have a bigger desire that it had become common in some packs for unmated males or females to have some flings or random trysts before finding their mates. So it shouldn’t be a surprise for her if he has been seeing other females before she comes into the picture. She would be jealous, of course, especially when she had never been with anyone before, but she would learn to understand.

But is this true?

Has he been sharing his bed with another female? And what does it mean when there is only one other fragrance left behind in that very same room, while the sexual tension that had once been a part of the bedroom has felt so thick it makes her chest feel constricted?

What baffles her the most, she suddenly realises, is that it should have made her feel sick, for knowing that her mate had once spent a night or perhaps a period of time with another, doing Goddess knows what. It should have been painful for her to think about him choosing another as his mate already instead of waiting for her to come and find him. But the sickness, the pain, the jealousy, all melt away when some kind of rush came through her body upon encountering the foreign scent and it had seemed as if her fox was actually lapping on it from the back of her mind instead of curling in the background in anger.

And what is more sickening is the fact that her heart began to race when the other shifter’s scent came to her, that her body is still filled with excitement instead of feeling the pain of rejection and jealousy, leaving her with more questions while she is also feeling perplexed.

What is wrong with her? She keeps asking to herself, to the moon, to anyone who is listening to her inner voice, while she silently wonders if her heat is coming and if it is the reason why she is reacting so strangely with this peculiar feeling vibrating through her body.

She has no idea how long she spends the night walking. Being in her human form, the trip back home to the compound seems to take a lot longer than it should have. Added with the fact that she had left the cabin while in a daze and that she had been running while her mind was going all over the place that she barely watched where she was going, she only reaches home when the dawn has arrived with its red streak dancing above her head to replace the sheet of darkness that had been her companion.

At one glance, the gate to the compound looks a bit dreary, as the buildings behind it themselves seem eerily quiet with most of its residents probably still asleep. She has her eyes on her family’s quarter that somehow looks grey and dull even under the dim morning sky and the vibrant trees around it. For a moment, she almost believes that the space around the compound has gone frozen in time ever since she left last night. Until her eyes catch a movement from the backdoor leading to her temporary home, and the shadowy figure starts making its way towards her.

“Kitana, where have you been? We were so worried. Chan is furious—”

Jisung begins talking frantically once he approaches, while she simply stands there, stoic and numb, his rapid-fire questions coming to her in nothing but muddled words.

Seeing her barely reacting, Jisung slowly reaches out to her, his hands touching her bare arms ever so gently as if he is afraid that she might break, though the touch is enough to snap Kitana from her stupor, making her flinch in his arms.

“Kitana, are you okay?”

Kitana looks up to meet Jisung’s eyes, meeting his panic-stricken gaze which is filled with concern and fear, and she feels something inside her break. Instantly, she falls into Jisung’s arms, her trembling legs finally giving in, and she weeps in his embrace. She cries out her broken heart, and she cries for the fact that she might not have a chance to let her mate know that she is here, that she exists, and that she has already fallen so deeply in love that she can feel her soul breaking for the fact that she might be losing him in more ways than one.

The condition that Kitana had come home with in the morning had sent her brothers into a frenzy.

Everyone tried to find answers, only to have Kitana responding to them in nothing but silence and a few shakes of her head. In the end, the brothers gave up and chose to give her the space that she seemed to have needed. Chan only visited her one last time to offer his shoulder for her to cry on before he went on with his day. Haeun came into her bedroom to drop her lunch, leaving her with a cup of warm tea with a remedy that had helped Kitana feel calmer and more relaxed until she could finally fall asleep.

Despite her exhaustion, her sleep remains restless for a moment before blurry images begin to form. She keeps trying to fight it at first, afraid of what she might see in her dreams, before a whiff of an alluring scent draws her further into her slumber and she is sent deeper into another dimension.

Once again, her dream begins with her running through a meadow, the sun shining brightly above her head. As she runs, they soon catch up with her, the male fox running on her left and the golden blonde wolf running on her right. The three of them match in speed and force, bright red and yellow and golden furs dancing between the breeze and glowing brightly under the sunlight. Just like the dream that she had once before, they run through the forest, past the dense trees before finding the long pathway leading to the lone, wooden cabin by the woods.

The same cabin that she had found on her run with her brother. The same one where she had found traces of her mate.

The scene flashes and she finds herself in a new place. Even through the distorted state that she is currently in, she can easily recognise the room that she is in as the same bedroom that she had gone into the night before. Instead of finding herself frozen in the middle of the room, she is now lying spread on the comfortable bed. Two shadowy figures join her, though everything becomes muddled when everyone moves around her. She can barely see what is happening except for the blurry movements. All she can do is feel, and she closes her eyes to feel everything.

She can feel the tingles running through her body as the two bodies are pressed against her, skin against skin. There is an electric shock sparkling in the air between them, giving her a sensation that she has never felt before. It feels enthralling, intoxicating, as her whole body comes alive with each vibration coming from the sparks.

She can feel her body burning delightfully in a carnal desire, every sense in her body lights up as she feels their presence surrounding her, filling the void that she has felt her entire life. With her eyes partially opened, Kitana relishes the delicious way the pair of soft lips that are pressed against her is devouring her, swallowing her muted moans while she let herself melt into the warmth engulfing her from all sides of her body. As she arches her body against the bare chest pressing on her, she feels another pair of lips pressing at the nape of her neck. Teasing, baiting, letting a rush of warmth travelling down south. She feels hands travelling to the places in her body where she has never been touched before, further igniting the flames that have been surging through her body, burning her from inside and out.

A gentle hand reaches down between her legs, fingers parting her nether lips to make her throb right at the depth of her core. She feels it rather than hears it when a gasp escapes her lips the moment the taunting fingers make their way past her throbbing core, spreading her apart in the most pleasurable way that sends her straight to the edge of bliss.

Another hand makes its appearance, running gently up her waist, then up to her breast, cupping her soft flesh under a strong palm, kneading, pulling, moving in the same rhythm as the fingers that are now moving in and out of her core. The world around her may be blurry, the sounds may be muted to nothing but faint whispers, but everything that she feels are real, and her body is soon trembling, quaking with her first climax. Darkness soon rolls over her, engulfing her slowly while pulling her away from her invisible lovers. She tries to fight it at first, but this time, she is completely helpless against it, having no other way to stop it but to give in.

The last thing she remembers before she is pulled awake is hearing a deep, raspy voice whispering to her, “Everything is going to be okay,” before she plummets deeper into the darkness, letting her conscience take her away from the peak of her eternal bliss.

Two days have passed and it seems that time has been moving slower ever since.

The same night after her misadventure, Kitana had woken up from her long nap feeling as if a new life has been given to her. There was a new spark inside her that had brought her hope back. She still has questions about the mating bond and her alleged mate. Tons of them. And yet she has found it even harder to simply sit still and wait, even if she knows that it would be the best thing for her to do.

On that very same night, Kitana had even contemplated an escape. But with her brothers worrying about her and constantly hovering around her like hawks watching every single move she was making, it was hard for her to find a chance to slip away. That was when she decided to wait it out, hoping that once she was able to show that she was fine then everyone would have left her alone.

Except that things didn’t turn out to be that easy.

In fact, everyone has been taking turns to watch over her from day and night, from her brothers to their friends, even Minho had appeared on the first night to keep her company while Chan was scouting around the compound to make sure that there was no threat coming near. As if the reason for her condition that day was coming from somewhere out there instead of her own mind.

Even if things have become so bothersome, she doesn’t have it in her to blame her overprotective brothers and their friends for being so concerned about her. Not when she had to make them all witness her having a meltdown. She can totally understand their fear after what they saw that morning, even if they have been treating her like a fragile being since, as if she would fall and break apart like a piece of glass would.

The only one she can put a blame on at this point is herself. She blames her curiosity and impatience, the two factors that had not only drawn her into venturing out through the pack unnoticed that night, but also to trespass another shifter’s property and to stalk around his home while he is away on duty. Nobody knew what had happened that morning and she has yet to tell anyone about it, which has only created more uncertainty between everyone around her.

Things would have been easier if her mate had been around when she arrived at the pack nearly a week ago. All they would need to do is to meet face to face to recognise each other and confirm the mating bond and she would not have to sit still and wait around only to be left in vain.

But tonight, she has decided that she is not going to wait any longer.

Kitana clenches her hands tightly while the clock is ticking. She has been waiting for midnight to come, and yet time seems to either be crawling or staying still. It takes longer than usual for her brothers to fall asleep. Even then, she has felt them checking on her in her bed a few times before they finally stop doing so, and then she waits a little longer until the entire place grows silent before she finally makes her move.

The first place she goes to is the den, where Chan had collected all of their weapons together to make it easier for them to access in case anything happens. Among the small weapons placed on the wall, she finds her bow and arrows. She carefully plucks them off the wall and puts them into the body-pack that she always uses to travel with. After slipping two pieces of slip dresses and slipping on her ankle strap sandals to cover her feet, she makes her way to the backdoor to make her escape.

As fate has it, she stops dead in her tracks when she realises that the backdoor has been bolted shut, no doubt by her brothers who had decided it would be too dangerous to keep it open during the night. She finally retreats back into the room, choosing to use the window there instead as her means of escape.

It takes a lot of effort for Kitana to be able to slip through the tiny window. She even has to bite her inner cheeks just to hold back from making too much noise as she struggles not to get stuck. But the moment her body manages to slip to the other side after making sure that the body-pack hanging on her back would not get stuck in the windowsill, she is finally free.

At least, that was what she had thought, before she turns to find another obstacle standing in her way. Literally. After managing to stay quiet, a surprised yelp nearly escapes her when his figure emerges from the dark as if he had been waiting for her to escape through that very exact spot.

“Jisung—” she gasps, though she thankfully manages to keep her voice down to a whisper.

While Kitana stands frozen in front of him, Jisung crosses his arms over his chest and exhales a deep sigh. “I had a feeling that you would try to run,” he says, keeping his voice low.

“I—I’m not running,” Kitana quickly says, ready to defend herself, but then stops when Jisung raises a hand with his palm facing at her.

“Yes, you are. You are running to him,” he says, stating the obvious while leaving Kitana completely lost for words because he is able to see right through her. Kitana opens her mouth, ready to launch a whole speech to explain why she needs to do this and what she is about to do when Jisung steps forward and places his hands on her shoulders to stop her. She looks at him to find warmth and concern in his eyes, which is enough to steal her voice. “Look, you know how much I like you, and you should know that I meant it when I told you that I care about you. I just want you to be happy. But most important of all, I want you to be safe.”

Kitana says nothing, unable to comprehend what he is trying to say. Yet Jisung remains calm when he asks her, “Are you completely sure that this shifter is truly your mate?”

Kitana ponders about this for a moment and then takes a deep breath. “My gut says so. My senses have proven so. And my fox keeps telling me to chase him and kiss him senseless,” she calmly says with a small voice, opting to tell him the truth, but not the complete truth. There is no way that she could tell him about what she had done the other day when she broke into her mate’s home, nor would she be able to tell him about the dreams that she has been having.

She has also omitted the truth when she mentioned about her fox, not telling him how her fox has also been acting so odd for the past few days. How she has been silent most of the time when she was trying to understand everything and how restless the beast has seemed to be. Giving her another reason why she needs to do this. “The only way to confirm it is to see him in person and feel the mating bond sparks between us. If I have to wait until he comes back, without knowing that he would ever come back at all, I would go completely crazy.”

Jisung falls quiet for a moment before he nods, as if he had expected to hear all of this from her. And then he confirms it so by saying, “I knew you would say that. Which was why I chose to sit out here in the dark since the moment your brother told me that you had gone to bed.” He gives you a smug grin while you raise your eyebrows upon hearing that, though he quickly sobers up and puts on a serious look on his face when he speaks again.

“At first, I was planning to stop you from doing anything reckless, knowing that you would. We just got out of danger, and it would be stupid to jump into another just to chase a shifter that you have never met before,” he says to you with a grim smile. “But I also know how stubborn you are, so while I was sitting here waiting for you to slip right out of that window, I’ve decided that the only thing I could do is to help you.”

Kitana’s eyes grow wide. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, that if you’re doing this, then I’ll be coming with you,” he says in a no-nonsense tone of voice, not opening a chance for her to argue. “And I’m not taking no for an answer. It’s either you let me help you or I will be knocking on that window right there to alert your brother that you have escaped.”

She opens her mouth, ready to refuse and to tell him to back off, only to think better of it. With a defeated sigh, Kitana has no other choice but to finally agree. “Okay, fine. Just don’t go in my way.”

Jisung grins at her. “I think I’ve lived long enough to know not to.”

Kitana takes his hand as he offers it to her, as he starts to guide her further away from the compound and into the dense forest surrounding the center of the pack’s district. She had known that Felix and his friends have been venturing through the pack ever since they had gotten here. It was the foxes’ natural instincts to get to know their new home a lot better since they are destined to be natural trackers and scouts.

As the two of them dash through the darkness to find their way out of the pack, Kitana’s mind is busy wondering about Jisung and trying to understand why he could be so selfless.

Kitana has known that Jisung has had a crush on her for a while, or perhaps even longer than what he had let on when he first asked her out in the middle of spring. Despite the fact that she had rejected him, Jisung has yet to stop showing her that he truly cares for her. There is a tight pinch of her guilt appearing in her chest when she follows him close behind, letting Jisung takes the lead and finds the perfect escape route towards the borders while noticing how he keeps caring for her as he always does and how he is always giving her just what she needs the most. The fact that he has yet to change around her or in the way he is treating her even after he had found out that there is a possibility that she has found her mate only reveals that he truly has a big heart, and it only makes her feel terrible for letting him do this for her and to take such a big risk by doing so.

They are almost at the edge of the pack’s grounds where Jisung had mentioned about a ‘blindspot’, where he had once noticed the patrol guards going around it with an uneven interval in between which would give them the window to escape. But just as they are about to reach it, Jisung makes an abrupt stop and pulls Kitana with him to slide into hiding.

“What’s wrong?” she whispers at him, while Jisung curses under his breath.

“Why are there so many guards hanging around that place?”

Kitana grows still. “What?”

“Perhaps they finally figured out that the exact spot would need some extra surveillance,” Jisung murmurs low, more to himself than answering Kitana. Both of them sit there in their hideout, watching the guards for a moment longer, until Jisung lets out another curse and turns to Kitana. “Listen, I think I have a plan. I need you to stay here and get ready to run. I’m going to distract them and give you a window to slip through before any guard would come back to cover that spot again.”

“Wait, but—”

“I’m sorry. You know that I want to go with you all the way until I can get you to see your mate, but there’s a chance that I won't be able to catch up with you if I do this. I don’t want to let you go on your own, but I have a feeling that you would be okay,” he says with his gaze flickering over her shoulder.

“Jisung, I—”

“Promise me that you’ll be careful. It’s dangerous out there, especially if you have to encounter the battle.”

Kitana feels the dread in her chest when she looks at Jisung’s eyes, but she nods and vows to him to return safely. “I promise. Thank you, Jisung. And I’m sorry. You didn’t have to do this—”

“Hey,” Jisung stops her once again before she could say more. “Thank me once you’re back home safely and if your brother doesn’t have my hide.”

He leaves after kissing the top of her head, staying crouched down as he runs a few meters away and then hides behind the nearby bushes. Moments later, she sees a streak of red and white tail dashing through the trees, reaching the other side of the grounds before he starts making too many noises which later alert the guards until they all abandon the post.

Sending her silent gratitude, Kitana waits a few more seconds before finally making her way across the grounds, reaching the opening which Jisung had pointed out to her earlier while crouching down to stay hidden. She is a few steps away from the opening when she hears a dry branch snapping behind her, and she turns with a gasp, ready to defend herself, when she is met with Junghyun’s dark gaze instead.

“H-how—?”

The wolf shakes his head with a disappointed look on his face. “I’ve been following the two of you since you left the compound. I’m surprised you didn’t notice. Seems like your friend knew I was there, though.”

Kitana’s eyes widen at the revelation, before she remembers how Jisung kept looking over her shoulders and finally realises why he had seemed so calm about letting her go on her own. Holding her head high, she looks at Junghyun straight in his eyes and says, “I’m not letting you stop me from going.”

Showing no expression on his face, the damn werewolf only nods and says, “Good. Cause I’m going with you,” and starts coming closer to get around her.

“What? No!”

Junghyun stops right in front of her. “I’m not doing this for you. I just found out that my little brother is out there too. I mean, I knew he was there, but he’s been paired up with Yoongi for a lookout mission right at the frontline. Since they said that this was a dangerous mission, I can’t just sit tight and do nothing about it,” he says, then continues to make his way around Kitana while she stands there completely frozen. Though she is quick to snap out of her shock as he begins grumbling, “And we both know I’m not going to just watch you go out there alone.”

With those words, Junghyun walks past her and continues to make his way towards the opening, leaving Kitana with no chance to argue or to deny him. It takes no time for them to finally find their way out of the pack. The distraction that Jisung has created to lead the guards away seems to be working a bit too well since it gives them quite a longer window to escape. Soon they reach the outer forest, where the trees are denser and the darkness feels thicker, and she simply lets him guide the way, letting him walk ahead to find the route that would take them both towards where the battle seems to be happening.

They continue to walk in silence for a moment, trudging through the woods while neither of them shifting into their beast’ form. Junghyun had taken his time to study the situation around them before deciding that it would be safer to stay in this form for a while just in case the Hunters’ threats are still lurking around their home, and to simply avoid getting caught by the patrol guards which would be easy to happen if they had been walking out there in their beast forms and leaving their scents behind.

Once they seem to have reached far enough distance to know that it is much safer to move faster, they begin to accelerate their speed. It doesn’t take long before the silence between them makes Kitana feel uncomfortable that she tries to start a conversation to fill their time. “What’s your brother’s name again?” she asks, omitting the fact that she had known about it when she was digging some information about her mate who seems to be his best friend. “And why is he being paired with Yoongi?”

“His name is Jungkook. He took over the Captain role in my place after I moved to my mate’s pack,” Junghyun explains, sighing deeply. “I don’t know much about why they are out there together, but it seems that my brother has been working alongside Yoongi since he was made Captain.”

Kitana holds back a smile knowing that she had unintentionally gained a confirmation about what she had heard, but says nothing. They walk a bit further ahead with another silence before Kitana throws him another question when her curiosity gets the best of her. “You felt it too, didn’t you?”

“What?”

Biting her lips, Kitana ponders about bringing it up. But this seems to be the only way for her to find answers to her curiosity. “The pull. I’ve been feeling it since I met you the first time. It just feels like I’m gravitating towards you, not in the mating pull way, but there is also an urge to protect.”

Junghyun’s eyes widen for a brief moment, then he starts to laugh. “You want to protect me?”

Kitana rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

The humour in Junghyun’s eyes remains there for a moment, before it fades into a serious look that makes Kitana feel nervous as she walks beside him. “You’re right, I do feel it. Just like I said, I couldn’t watch you go out there on your own. The moment I knew what you were planning to do, I just couldn’t stay silent or sit through it.”

At his admission, Kitana begins to shake her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. You’re not my mate, and you said it yourself, you already have a mate. And hell, you didn’t even know my mate, did you?”

Junghyun glances over at her before nodding. “If this Min Yoongi is your mate, then the answer is no, I don’t know him. He was among the new pack members that came to join after I had left,” he says, falling silent for a moment and looking thoughtful before asking, “You felt the bond from his trails and the scent that he left behind?” He looks over to her just as Kitana responds with a nod. “Do you feel the difference between the pull that you felt for him and from being around me?”

Kitana frowns as she thinks deeply about this. “Yes, I do. The pull I feel with you seems muted. Which is the more reason why I need to find him. I want to confirm if he is my mate. And if this is truly a dangerous mission as you said it was, if he is involved in some kind of war, then I want to see him and let him know that I exist, just in case—” she stops briefly just as her voice gets caught in her throat, then her voice becomes nothing but a whisper when she begins thinking of the worst-case scenarios. “Just—before it’s too late.”

Just then, her mind wanders off to everything that she had found about ‘her mate’ and she wonders just how much she should share with him. But in the end, she keeps everything to herself and voices out the one thing that she has been worrying about the most, “Or—what if this is just something that my brain had concocted for me to make me believe that I do have a mate, only because I had wanted to find one so badly?”

“The moon doesn’t work that way,” Junghyun says while shaking his head. “How old are you?”

“I’m way past eighteen, if you must know,” Kitana answers him with her shoulders tense in defiance and her head held high as if she is trying to make herself look older. Yet Junghyun seems to be able to see through her facade as he only gives her a grim smile. “Fine,” she finally relents, rolling her eyes while at it. “I just turned twenty-one.”

Junghyun nods and looks away. He has this faraway look in his eyes when he speaks again. “When I met my mate, the pull was so strong, since I was already past the age of finding my mate. But to her, the pull was slightly muted, but she told me once that the sparks were there and she could still feel it,” Junghyun speaks calmly as he goes back to the past. There is a deep melancholy in his voice when he talks about his mate, and it makes Kitana feel envious of him to be able to have that.

“Instead of pursuing her straight on, I volunteered to be her escort and guardian during her visit until she got used to me and to make sure that the bond was really there. She was only a week away from her eighteenth birthday, and she was right beside me when she celebrated her birthday on the last day of her visit to our pack and the bond finally snapped in place for her. The moment she felt it—the change in her and what she felt from me was exceptional.”

Kitana lets everything that he is sharing with her sink in through her thoughts, before she finally realises what he is implying. “Yoongi isn’t younger than eighteen. Your pack wouldn’t allow him to be an Enforcer if he is.”

Junghyun starts chuckling softly. “You’re right. The age limit for a pack member to be able to join the assessment trial would be eighteen,” he says with a teasing smile. “Unless, of course, if he had forged his age.”

Kitana scoffs. “If he had forged his age to claim a rank, then I’ll be the one to smack him on the head myself.”

Her reaction makes him laugh, and she finally decides that the former Captain is pretty okay when he is not acting all serious the way he always does.

“So tell me more about yourself,” Junghyun suddenly says almost absentmindedly after they have gone silent for a moment. “Chan is really your older brother?”

“Yes, our father is the third-in-command back in Light Howlers. A werewolf. Dad met my Mom, a fox shifter, a couple of years after he lost his fated mate. Chan’s Mom died giving birth to him. They said Dad immediately took the role to take care of him to survive the Mating Sickness until he met Mom and his life became easier since.”

Junghyun listens to this while looking intrigued. “So your Mom is his second chance mate?”

“Yes, they said Chan was still a little boy then when they met. My Mom and her parents moved away from another pack when they came across the Light Howlers. My Dad’s pack took them in after they recognised each other as mates, and then my twin brother and I came in, then Jeongin.”

“I see,” Junghyun murmurs while nodding. “Felix is your twin?”

“Yes, he is,” Kitana says, smiling as she thinks about her brother. But then her smile fades when Junghyun questions her about what had happened in her old pack and why they had to move away. She begins telling him about the day their patrol guards had spotted Hunters lurking around the pack, before the attacks began to happen.

The only problem was that the Hunters seemed to be gunning for the fox shifters who were living in the pack, and have mostly been keeping their eyes on the hybrid children while posing threats to the rest of the pack at the same time. “That’s actually why our Dad chose to seek help from Wolf Moon Pack. He knew that this would be the only pack that would easily take in a family of hybrids, with parents who are a mixed pairing of a werewolf and a fox shifter. The rest of the pack members are moving up to the Northwest region, and some said that most of the packs that exist around their new land are not as open as the other packs down East when it comes to integrated packs that house other shifters. My brothers’ friends have decided to join us because they disagree with the pack’s decision of rejecting us to join them and had chosen to support our family when they started blaming us for all the incoming threats.”

Junghyun nods to agree with this. “How did the other foxes join your old pack, then? You said only your Mom and your grandparents joined when your parents mated.”

“The other fox families came in when I was little, when a neighbouring pack of fox shifters disintegrated for losing their leader. After taking in some foxes, the Alpha decided it would be okay to house them too,” Kitana chuckles bitterly at how easy that decision was to change when the Alpha’s son took over. “Their families will arrive soon with my parents if things go well.”

The conversation ceases as they encounter a wild animal. A deer comes passing through their path. Both of them realises that they will have to hunt for a meal soon, but neither of them makes a move, choosing to silently watch the deer until it walks away, unaware of how close it had been to become their first meal.

Before they continue their journey, Junghyun turns to her to ask, “But why did the Hunters specifically targeted you?”

“How did you—?” Kitana questions him with wide eyes, before she finally realises that he must have noticed this on the day he saved her. When she found her hanging inside a net when her brother was the one who marched forward before she did to face the Hunters, only to not become the one who was trapped and got so close to being drugged. “They must’ve found out my twin and I are hybrids between a werewolf and a werefox while stalking us back home. The rumours that we came across said that these Hunters would capture and sell hybrids illegally to covens that practice dark magic, and they usually choose female hybrids because our blood and our skin are more valuable.”

Kitana swallows hard and looks away when she adds, “Especially when we are unmated.”

Hearing this, Junghyun releases a furious growl. “Despicable creatures,” he curses, followed by another string of curses between his growl, some of which are words that Kitana has never even heard before. “And they call us the monster.”

His comment makes her laugh. “That’s what I’ve always said.”

“It’s a good thing that you have your brothers and your small loyal pack,” Junghyun says as they continue to walk. “And you’re about to find your mate too.”

As Kitana falls silent to his words, she begins to contemplate once more and wonders if she could confide in Junghyun about what she had found about ‘her mate’. It takes a while before she finally decides that he would be a better listener and the lesser devil to share these things to compared to her brothers. So she begins to talk, to tell him about everything that she had learned about Min Yoongi so far. He shows his displeasure when she admits committing breaking and entering at the cabin which she had believed to be Yoongi’s home. Though now that she thinks about it further, she begins to question if she did come into the right place at all. Then his expression turns into disbelief when she mentions to him about the second scent that she had caught on that night.

“Did he—? You mean—?” Junghyun looks baffled. “He’d taken another female?”

“I’m not sure, I—” Kitana shakes her head. “I’ve only caught on to the scents and nothing more. I didn’t even think to look further around the place to know more. I just—ran out.”

“That is quite odd,” Junghyun mutters while shaking his head. “From what I’ve learned, Yoongi is quite a loner. Some have mentioned seeing him getting close to a few female shifters, but other than taking them out on dates, he had never been known as someone who would be so reckless to take any of them home. Even the Enforcers who had worked with him claimed that the only one that everyone has ever seen spending time with him or being around him is none other than my baby brother.”

Kitana releases a deep sigh. “Just like I said, I’m not sure. I suppose that becomes yet another reason why I must find him. If it had been too late for me to claim my place beside him, then I should know about it in person rather than delay the moment by waiting back home.”

Junghyun shakes his head, still looking completely dumbfounded. But then something glints in his eyes and he releases a dramatic sigh to further highlight his relief as if he is taunting her. “Bless the Goddess for not making the union with my mate so complicated.”

For some reason, his reaction only makes Kitana feel lighter. Just enough to make her laugh. “Screw you.”

Even if Yoongi had known what he had signed up to when he joined the Alpha’s special troops, he certainly was not completely ready to deal with this.

His original mission was simple; scout the area at midnight to figure out where their enemies were stationed at and to figure out how many of them that they were going to face in the battle, then to report back to the Alphas who are leading the battle to initiate the next plan to defeat the Rogues and get them out of their way.

Rogues.

It was these Rogues that the Alpha was sending out his Enforcers to deal with, the reason why they had left home in massive groups of Enforcers the way they had never done before. It had been Rogues that he and his pack mates had been prepared to go on a battle against. And those Rogues were the only thing that had their focus on when they had offered their support as they departed from home to fight side by side with their alliance, the Supreme Wolf Pack.

Because Rogues never work well together with other kinds. They never could, when they are not the kind of creatures that could get along with each other to begin with. And they had thought that they would have this in control, because Rogues never work under orders, are unable to be controlled, and they don’t follow the same orders and the same commands the way normal packs of shifters would.

But Yoongi should have known that they had been mistaken when he had confirmed that his first intel had been wrong. So wrong. Because they were not dealing with any regular Rogues. He had not expected to find an entire acre of the forest losing its trees and see massive tents being built in its place to house these Rogues. He had not expected to see these Rogues operating well, not only with each other but also with the packs of werewolves who had decided to side with them in order to claim and seize more lands as their reward for fighting alongside the rebels who are working under some sort of legendary monster who had decided to return to the present age by hogging onto the poor soul of the Supreme Wolf Alpha’s daughter.

And that was not the only mistake that Yoongi had to encounter.

Because the hundreds or maybe a thousand of Rogues that he had seen running that hidden camp had not been the only ones that he had uncovered from his surveillance work. And those Rogues are not the only reason why he is now running for his life, depending entirely on the lithe figure of his fox to be able to escape through the trees and bushes before his pursuers would be able to put their filthy claws on him.

The escape would have been more swift if not for the fact that he has his focus being split into two—between running as fucking fast as he could and making sure that Jungkook is still running close by.

‘Don’t mind me, just keep on running,’ he hears Jungkook’s voice speaking inside his head, as if the wolf knows where his mind has been wandering off to. At the relief of hearing Jungkook’s voice, Yoongi pushes forward, giving more force on his little paws to bring him up to more speed, going faster through the woods to get back to his original station safely and to report back to his Alpha about what he had found.

Just then, as he steals a glance over his shoulder to see the drapes of golden fur running close behind, an idea comes into mind. Yoongi knows that they would need to shake off their pursuers from their tails so they wouldn’t be exposing their own hideout to the enemies. On the next opening, Yoongi takes a sudden turn to give an element of surprise, then makes another on the next one just a few feet away, repeating these movements a few times before returning to his path. He doesn’t forget to give a signal to Jungkook through the mind-link seconds before he makes the move so the wolf could easily follow his trail without any problem.

As he continues to use this tactic, Yoongi can hear a couple sets of bigger paws skidding on the grounds with each sudden turn, growling whenever they fall off-balance, while he manages to catch a taller shadow moving between the trees, hovering and hissing when each maneuver catches them off guard. He is pleased to know that his agility can become his weapon, though he still remembers to preserve enough energy to fight, knowing that their pursuers are showing no sign of letting them go so easily.

Now that he has gotten further away from the enemies’ secret camp, he realises that he doesn’t have a whole troop of Rogues chasing his tail. Well, his and Jungkook’s. And his last turn had helped him identify the pursuers from catching them off guard with his movements time and time again and allowing him to get a clearer look at them.

Two Rogues and one Vampire.

Those are the only ones that he can sense and the ones that he has detected so far. He tries to confirm this with Jungkook using the mind-link, the one means of communication that he had just recently acquired from bonding with the pack but has never used with Jungkook back home because of how intimate it had felt by talking and hearing his voice inside his head. The answer comes not a minute more when Jungkook says, ‘I got one Rogue on my tail and one matching my speed about a meter away from us and the bloodsucker zapping in and out of sight.’

Yoongi bites back a growl. That was the unexpected thing that he found earlier as he was scouting at their camp. He was watching the movements in the camp to study the Rogues and to find out what they were planning to do when three Vampires came into the area. They came straight towards one of the tents, meeting up with the filthy looking Rogue who had looked like one of their leaders and they were talking to each other like they were old friends.

Yoongi curses when he realises that their intel had been wrong the entire time. That he was supposed to listen to the Warrior Princess, the second daughter of Alpha Woosung, when she had warned him about some other parties that may come into play. He just wasn’t ready to find Vampires mingling with those filthy Rogues and the power-hungry pack of wolves. And he nearly had his soul pulled out of his body when another Vampire came to view, only to look over to where he was hiding and started grinning at him as if he was deliberately taunting him and Jungkook.

Just as Yoongi is about to take another turn to trick them, the Rogue which had been running a meter to the side jumps into his path, already figuring out his tactic.

‘Yeah, that’s not normal,’ he hears Jungkook speak to him as he expresses this through the mind-link. ‘I guess it’s time to fight.’

‘I’ll take this one, you take down the other, then we bite off the Vampire’s neck once we’re done.’

‘Got it,’ Jungkook answers him before he turns around to face the one who has been tailing him while letting Yoongi handles the one who is growling at his face with his sticky saliva dropping messily from his mouth.

‘What an ugly looking bastard,’ Yoongi curses, before he faces the Rogue head on to a one-on-one fight.

The fight is messy, but that much is to be expected when he has to face an untrained wolf whose experience in fighting has always been about surviving in the wild and finding a decent meal from the wild animals that they could find. More than once, the ugly wolf could only launch reckless attacks, missing Yoongi’s limbs more than an inch away, while Yoongi keeps landing attack after attack at the Rogue, ripping his fur and skin until blood begins to paint the ground beneath the beast.

The fight continues until the Rogue grows frustrated and exhausted, and he dives in on Yoongi to capture his neck in his massive jaw only to have the fox escaping at the last minute. Finding his opening, Yoongi leaps and buries his canines into the beast’s throat, defeating him with a single bite until he falls to the ground. Yoongi turns to find Jungkook just in time to see the wolf—his ‘mate’—knocking the other Rogue unconscious to the ground.

Both shifters exchange gazes, pleased to find out how they have managed to work so well together. But their relief doesn’t last long. Still too exhausted from his fight, Yoongi fails to see the Vampire when he returns. Jungkook’s warning comes too late, as Yoongi could only manage to catch it right at the same time a strong force strikes him on the side, sending him flying against a massive tree.

‘Yoongi!’

Growling in pain, Yoongi opens his eyes to a blurry sight of Jungkook trying to fight against the Vampire. The damn creature avoids the wolf’s attack by zapping out of sight before coming back to sink his claws into Jungkook’s stomach. The painful howl that he makes snaps Yoongi out of it, and the fox can only see red from seeing Jungkook dropping on the ground and wounded.

Pushing himself off the ground, Yoongi launches an attack, biting the creature’s thigh right before he manages to harm Jungkook further. Hissing in pain, the creature zaps out of sight to escape a deeper bite from Yoongi while throwing an invisible force at the fox with a swipe of his hand, sending Yoongi tumbling on the ground.

‘Should’ve thought about bringing in Vampires on our battle training,’ Yoongi snaps at Jungkook while groaning in pain, to which Jungkook quickly replies with,

‘Will definitely put that into consideration.’

Yoongi takes another leap to attack just as the Vampire comes back, catching the creature’s wrist between his teeth while he is being distracted by Jungkook who jumps while aiming at his waist. Both shifters continue to launch attacks after attacks, breaking the Vampire’s focus and draining his energy. Though the same can be said for them as they are slowly getting tired and their movements are growing gradually slower.

Jungkook barely manages to escape the Vampire’s claws that come near to slice across his throat when something flashes by right in front of their faces. Yoongi turns to see the arrow landing on a tree and curses, ‘What the fuck? Are we dealing with Hunters too, now?’

Yoongi avoids the Vampire’s attack just in time and sees another set of arrows flying across the air. He jumps out of the way to avoid it, only to realise that the arrows were aimed at the Vampire instead of at him. The Vampire zaps away, disappearing from their sight while Jungkook looks away to see bright shades appearing through the trees.

‘The sun is rising!’

Yoongi looks over just to see the sun showing itself, its bright light draws streaks of gold and red in the sky, so bright that it is almost blinding as he gazes straight into it instead of the darker part of the sky above his head. ‘We need to find a way to lure the Vampire into an opening so we can burn him with the sunlight.’

Staggering to his feet, Jungkook nods his head and shows him a wolfy grin. ‘Let’s go.’

Both shifters begin to make a move, always ready to accept and return any attacks given to them by the relentless Vampire while continue to make their way towards the nearest opening. From the corner of his eyes, he can see another shadowy figure following them from the other side, no doubt the archer who seems to be following their movement. Yet Yoongi says nothing and does nothing to signal the stranger, still not completely sure if they are a friend or a foe.

‘There!’ Yoongi shouts while running, his eyes locked on the sight of the streak of sunlight slipping through the trees, and he focuses on reaching to that spot so he could trap the Vampire right where the sunlight drops.

But before he makes it any closer, the Vampire zaps in right in his path, knocking him right off the ground. Beside him, Jungkook leaps forward, missing the Vampire by an inch as the creature disappears once again, zapping out of the way. ‘Where did the fucker go?’ Yoongi curses, looking around to find him while hoping that he can still execute the plan.

As Yoongi tries to stand back up, the Vampire returns, speeding towards him while screeching in rage and showing his fangs to threaten Yoongi from making a move against him. He raises one arm as he advances towards Yoongi, showing his bloody claws that are glinting under the dim morning light, while Jungkook pushes his hind legs to stop him. Before he manages to get to Yoongi, however, an arrow flies through the air and sinks right at the Vampire’s heart.

The creature freezes still, clearly in shock. He looks down on his own chest before he starts hissing in pain. Neither Jungkook nor Yoongi has a chance to react as they watch a few more arrows fly across, all landing on the Vampire’s chest in a massive force that is enough to send him flying back, his body knocked back against a tree while exposing himself to the morning sunlight.

The sound of the creature’s shrieking in pain echoes through the woods as he burns into a crisp. The smell of burnt flesh fills the air, making both Yoongi and Jungkook gag. But then the morning breeze comes passing by, taking the vile smell away while bringing another—a new fragrance which is more beautiful and sweet and intoxicating that both shifters immediately turn to find its source.

Pear. Citrus. Jasmine. Yoongi recalls the scent while his heartbeat picks up. The sound of whimpers coming from Jungkook tells him that the wolf has sensed it too, and that the scent is affecting him just the same.

Both males stand frozen while the sparks in the air begin to grow, and then the vibration increases when the shadowy figure steps out of their hiding, bringing the alluring scent with them. A female shifter stands on top of a boulder. Her body is small yet seems strong with her shoulders straighten up as she comes to stand tall while facing both males. Her soft hair dances with the wind with the same red shade that Yoongi had once seen in his dream. Her eyes are wide with disbelief as she sees them, no doubt recognising who they are.

Finally, everything falls into place. The fragile bond between Yoongi and Jungkook snaps together with her presence filling the void between them, while their beasts stand strongly inside their minds with pride as they both recognise her and they call out to her at the same time,

‘Mate.’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Yoongi, Jungkook, and Kitana will return on their second instalment, To Trap A Wolf.

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