#fighting instinct

**

It was like all the air had been sucked out of the room. Jongdae was shaking violently underneath you. No one could speak, just displaying shocked eyes and dropped jaws. 

Perhaps sensing a bad situation as Jondae’s current state, Chanyeol jumped up out his chair and tried to reach for you, but Jongdae tightened his grip to an almost painful level around your waist and let out a sound you could only describe as a roar.

“How did Eun Na do this?” Jongdae asked, his forehead resting on your shoulder in an attempt to stable himself. Worry washed through you as you rubbed your hand up and down his arm, trying to calm him. “HOW!”

“I can’t know all the specifics,” Soomi answered carefully. “But a spell like this would require a piece of the individual to perform the curse. Like hair.”

Jongdae’s breathing was getting shallower by the second. You could feel each burst of air escaping his lungs on your back. It was hot and angry, danger underlining breath. “Her hair? That bitch used her hair to curse her?”

“That’s the only thing I can think of that she’d be able to get ahold of,” Soomi replied. “Although, from what Junmyeon said, (y/n)’s been here for a while, so I’m not sure how she could have gotten it.”

“They were friends,” Ji Yeon explained. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she kept some around or stole it from her apartment. Just in case.”

“Um, hyung?” Baekhyun turned to the alpha. “He doesn’t look good.”

Moving his gaze over to your direction, Junmyeon approached the two of you at a slower pace than Chanyeol, hands held out like he was trying to calm down a wild animal. “Jongdae, listen to me. You are on the verge of turning. I see you fighting it. At this point, you’re not going to win. You’re emotions are too rampant. If you phase right here, you are going to hurt (y/n). Let her go and run this off.”

Jongdae’s entire body was vibrating now. A continuous growl reverberated out of his chest. But, seeing reason through his yellow eyes, he listened and let you go. He practically shoved you off of him as he ran out the back door. An ear piercing howl cut through the air not a moment later and you could feel the pain and torment he was letting out through it.

Running to you, Ji Yeon pulled you into her chest, rubbing your back to try and sooth you. As wonderful as a gesture it was, you softly pushed her away. You hadn’t realized that some of the shaking was coming from you, but it was subsiding now as your brain started to work again.

“What exactly does it mean to be marked?” you asked quietly, knowing full well even the mates could hear a pin drop in the silence of the room. With Jongdae’s reaction, you knew it was even more significant that you’d previously thought.

Ji Yeon looked to the other girls before taking a step back. One by one, the pulled the collars of their shirts over their shoulder. Each one of them had a scar located on the now exposed skin in the shape of a crescent moon. It wasn’t clean like a cut or burn. The edges were jagged, ripped… like a bite.

You cringed away from the sight. Baekhyun kissed the scar on Hae In’s shoulder, looking so proud.

“Being marked is the most important thing that can happen between mates,” Kimberly explained, releasing her shirt and covering up the moon once again. “It strengthens the bond between the two of you.”

“The urge to mark your mate to keep others away is strong,” Yixing added. “Overwhelmingly so. The emotions that come with not having your mate marked, especially with unmated wolves around, are erratic and at times uncontrollable. The mark tells others to stay away, like a warning about who that mate belongs to.”

“Jongin and Kimberly only lasted a week after he told her,” Sehun snickered.

“Shut up,” Jongin snapped. Kimberly looked like she was about to jump across the table at the youngest member.

You should have expected something like this. Marked doesn’t exactly leave room for the imagination. But being bitten? To the point of being marred for life?

You shook your head, digging your fingers into your hair, “This sounds like a cult.”

“She’s not wrong,” Hae In shrugged when some of the others widened their eyes.

“It’s not a cult thing,” Ming insisted, somewhat hurt by your comment. “It’s just in their nature. It comes with being a mate. And it really doesn’t hurt.”

You frowned. “How is him biting my shoulder not supposed to hurt?”

“I think it’s best that Jongdae explain the rest to you after he calms down,” Ji Yeon cut in. “Some details are more… personal.”

“In the meantime,” Junmyeon, “Soomi, do you think you can find a way to break the curse?”

The witch sighed, not looking very hopefully at the idea. “I can try. I’ll have to contact a mother first. Like I said earlier, that coven had to break our laws to perform this spell. My options might be limited.”

“A mother?” you questioned.

Soomi gave you a soft, sympathetic smile. “Someone who is higher up in the world of witches. Our system is a matriarchy. We have mothers, crones, coven heads. Mothers are those who are older and have spent their lives studying one type of magic in order to guide the younger generations. I think I should contact Mother Calla. She might be the most knowledgeable on breaking curses.”

“What did she specialize in?” You wondered if she too studied dark magic. Wouldn’t that be the best place to start?

“Defensive magic,” she replied. “Protection. However, with that comes knowing about different curses and how to break them. Even if she doesn’t have an answer, she should know a sister who does.”

Soomi kept referring to the witches as female – sisters and mothers – but you could have sworn there were boys there the night of the bonfire as well. “Are all witches girls?”

Her lips fell and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “No. There are male witches as well.”

“It’s a sensitive subject,” Junmyeon intervened. “Some believe that leadership roles should be expanded to all those who are gifted with magic, while others want to remain traditional and keep the female witches in charge. Some have even proposed not teaching male witches anything about magic.”

“Even in this day and age, a son being born into a witch family is taken as a disappointment,” Soomi added.

“That’s…,” you weren’t even sure how to respond.

“Tradition is a hard thing to change,” she sighed. Standing up, she put the envelope back in the wooden box and closed the lid. “Junmyeon, do you mind if I take this? Mother Calla will need to see it firsthand.”

“Go right ahead,” he nodded. “I doubt any of us want it staying here.”

“I’ll be back in a few days.” Soomi headed for the door and then stopped. “Oh, the wolfsbane–”

“I’ll clean it up,” Ji Yeon volunteered.

Eventually, everyone cleared the room. Minseok and Chanyeol volunteered to go find Jongdae and make sure he was okay and had calmed down enough to come home. Your room that you now shared with your mate seemed too isolated and gloomy with just your presence, but what else could you do? So, you sat on the bed with your back up against the headboard as your mind tried not to dwell on the current turn of events.

No one came to disturb you or try to tell you everything would be alright. You’d been cursed to die – by the person who you used to share all your secrets and wishes with, no less. Was she really that desperate for her plan to work? And what exactly was her reasoning? Was it revenge? Pure spite?

You couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard you worked your brain. You just didn’t know enough about Eun Na to pin down a theory. Enough of the truth, anyway.

A shuffling sound broke you out of your thoughts. Jongdae opened the door and entered the bedroom in a fresh change of clothes. You weren’t sure where he got them, but one of the boys must have had it handy for him. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were red. Before you could stand up to go him, he reached you first, dropping to his knees and wrapping you up in his embrace.

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” he whispered into your lap.

“I’m alright,” you reassured him, returning the hug with force and rubbing his back.

Sighing, Jongdae got up beside you on the bed, pulling you into his lap in the process and resting your legs on either side of him. He pushed a lock of hair out of your face, placing it behind your ear affectionately. “I really could have hurt you, (y/n). I just – that wasn’t what I was expecting when the curse arrived. To have that taken away… I just lost control.”

“Hey, look at me.” You cupped his jaw with both hands, forcing him to make eye contact with you. “You wouldn’t have hurt me.”

“My precious mate,” he murmured, closing his eyes and turning his face so he could kiss the palm of your hand. “Keeping you unmarked for so long has been driving me crazy. But you asked to take it slow.” He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. This is all my fault.”

“No, it’s not your fault,” you reprimanded. “Besides, now this gives me a little bit of time to come to terms with the idea of you having to bite me.”

Jongdae growled, but you weren’t sure if it was out of irritation or something more… sensual. His facial expression was changing, melting away the sorrow that had been there just a few seconds before. “I wouldn’t just out right bite you, babe. I’d be… distracting you while it happened.”

You gulped. “D-distracting me?”

A smirk grew on his lips. As nice as it was that his mood was lightening, your heart was beginning to speed up in your chest. His hands trailed down until they were resting on your thighs. “M-hm. I’d occupy your attention. You’d never even know it was happening.”

Your palms were getting clammy. That predatory look was showing in his eyes, the kind you knew all too well. His run in wolf form must have burnt off most of the aggression, with the other emotions left in its place.

Agonizingly slow, Jongdae leaned in, barely brushing his lips over yours. You hated it when he did that, purposefully teasing you so you’d be the one to jump in first. And this moment, you took the bait.

You dived into the kiss, lifting yourself up on your knees just a bit as your fingers twined into his hair. Jongdae’s hands left your thighs, one resting on the curve of your butt, hooking you in closer to him, while the other held you steady by your back.

His lips took the dominance easily, guiding yours open to allow his tongue inside. You moaned into the kiss, only egging Jongdae on more. His hips pressed in yours as his broke the kiss and started his way down your jaw. The hand on your back had snaked its way up your shirt, teasingly pulling at your bra. You fisted a handful of his shirt as he took a little snip at your neck.

Maybe it was because of what had happened earlier in the kitchen or because you were just lost in the moment, but your fear of what might come next had subsided greatly. You were sure it’d come back in force once your mind was back to normal, but right now, all you wanted was Jongdae. Perhaps your own instincts were taking over.

His possessive growl was doing something to you inside. You started tugging at his shirt, wanting it off. Jongdae obliged, removing it with a swiftness you hadn’t seen before. He was back at your neck, attacking it with sloppy kisses as your fingers explored his chest. Against your skin, you felt something extend. Teeth. You gasped.

In a flashed, Jongdae had pushed you off of him. His fist slammed against the headboard. “Damn it!”

You reached out tentatively, making contact with his shoulders. His head was now hanging between his legs as his arms rested on his knees.

“Jongdae?”

“This is going to be harder than I thought,” he mumbled, still not looking up.

You crawled over to him, wrapping your legs and arms around him from the side like a koala, kissing his shoulder. “So, I’m guessing that’s the kind of distraction you’d be giving me?”

He actually chuckled, lifting his head and placing a kiss on your forehead. “That was just a taste. I’d hold myself back from marking you until the end when we’re able to. Right now, I just wasn’t thinking about anything but finally having you.”

“Oh.” You loosened your grip on him, taking your arms back as your cheeks heated up.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Jongdae practically tackled you as he felt you pull away from him. You were now pinned to the sheets underneath him. He ran his knuckles over your cheek. “You blush so easily.”

“Jongdae….” You squirmed under him, only because his closeness was getting your heart rate up again. Stupid body and its betrayal.

He was resting between your legs as he lowered himself down to kiss you. “God, you’re so tempting.”

“We’ve got time,” you huffed down. Breathing was becoming hard and it wasn’t due to his weight on you. Damn it, he was corrupting you. The worst part of it was you were liking it. “Maybe we could… try things out? Work on your self-control?”

Jongdae chuckled. “Are you suggesting practice rounds?”

You hit him square on the chest. “You are such a jerk.”

He shifted the two of you so he was now lying down facing you, your limbs entangled. Using his free hand that wasn’t holding you to him, he brought your face to his, giving you a very light kiss on the lips. “You know, I don’t think I’ve said it in a while. I love you.”

**

Consciousness slowly came back to you. The fog began to dissipate in your mind, letting you take in your surroundings just enough to know you’d been moved. Peeling open your eyes, you had to wait for your pupils to adjust to the new found darkness. You couldn’t move but you knew you were standing up. Glancing down, thick ropes were wrapped around your arms and torso, keeping you against what felt like a post digging into the space between your shoulder blades.

Black silhouettes wandered around in front of you a few feet below. Another figure stepped in front of you, but you could see exactly whose face was under the hood.

“Eun Na,” you cried, fighting against the ropes. “What is going on? This isn’t funny.”

She shook her head, pulling some sort of sack out of her robe. “Oh, (y/n). You always were so innocent. So trusting. This past year has been almost too easy.”

“What are you talking about?” Tears were already forming in your eyes, making Eun Na just a blurred outline. How could she do this to you? To anyone? “Why am I tied up?”

“We need you, (y/n),” she said simply as if that explained anything. “I’m sorry that it has to go this way, but you’re the sacrifice we need to gain the upper hand.” She looked up at the sky and you followed her gaze. “It’s the blood moon. The night we’ve been waiting for.” Sure enough, the moon glowed a harsh, mocking orange-red above you. From the little sack, she pulled out a handful of dust or ash - you couldn’t really tell - and sprinkled it on your head and around your feet. Little particles landed in your mouth and nose, making you cough. Once she was finished, she jumped down from the platform, leaving you alone.

The male Eun Na had originally spoken with at the bonfire walked up in front of you and lit a torch. Flames flickered in front of you, giving you a better view of your surroundings. Everyone had put on dark robes and were standing around you in a circle. Trees surrounded you on all sides letting you know that you were nowhere near help.

You couldn’t believe it. From the sticks piled around you to the wooden post you could feel under your hands, the only conclusion you could come to was they were about to burn you at the stake. Eun Na had called you a sacrifice. What the hell was she into?

“Eun Na, please!” you yelled, the tears now flowing over. You were ignored as the man stepped forward and threw the glowing torch at your feet. The flames completely engulfed the wood around you as you struggled against your binds. It was pointless, but you couldn’t stop yourself from calling out, “Help! Someone, please help me!”

The smoke grew, engulfing you like a blanket. It filled your lungs and clogged your throat, causing you to cough violently just to try and clear your airways. All at once, the people around you started chanting in sync. What they were saying, you couldn’t make out, but it wasn’t any language you knew.

Then howls ripped through the air. Breaking up their circle, the crazies started scattering, gathering in groups of two or three, their chanting stopped. It was hard to see through the smoke, but several giant figures that were certainly not human emerged from the trees. They walked on all fours, towering above the others and moved in synchronized pairs.

Screams erupted, soon mixing with snapping jaws and growls.

Wolves?

They were all different colors and sizes but that didn’t matter to Eun Na and her friends. They scrambled around, running away from the beasts and into the trees, forgetting all about you.

You tried to stay awake but the smoke was becoming too much. It clogged your throat, making it impossible to breathe properly. Becoming too heavy, your head started to bob, your eyes flickering to try and soothe the stinging sensation. Just before it became overwhelming, one of the lighter colored wolves jumped at you, over the flames and colliding with your body, sending you, the pole, and itself to the ground and away from the danger. A warm, fur-covered body was hovering over you, yellow eyes shining down at you. And then you lost all consciousness.

**

When you came to again, you were laying down on your back on a couch. The crinkly leather had a musky smell to it that was strangely comforting. A heavy wool blanket kept you warm. Sitting up, you took in your surroundings. You were in an ordinary living room, complete with a large flat screen hanging on the wall to your left above a red brick fireplace. To your right there was a hallway straight ahead and another entry way that led to another area of the house.

Footsteps echoed off the walls. Scrambling, you pushed yourself further into the back of the couch, knowing that running would just be useless as you didn’t have any idea of the layout and would probably just corner yourself. For now, you were happy that you weren’t burnt to a crisp. Take on one thing at a time.

A door opened at the far end of the room. The person who stepped through made your jaw drop.

“Professor Kim?”

Your World Folklore teacher smiled down at you. “Hi, (y/n). Here you can just call me Junmyeon.”

Slowly, he walked over to you and knelt in front of you, placing a hand gently on your knee, only the blanket separating your skins.

“How are you feeling?”

Breathing was still hard, but you were alive. “I’m okay. How-” cough, “how did you find me?”

Professor - er, Junmyeon grimaced. “That’s a bit of a story. I think we should take things slow.”

You shook your head, tears threatening to come to the surface remembering Eun Na’s smirk as she tried to kill you. “I don’t understand – cough - what happened. Eun Na - she was my friend….”

“She was never your friend, (y/n),” Junmyeon stated. “This whole time, she was planning to kill you. Right from the start when the two of you met.”

A sob escaped. Junmyeon leaned forward, stroking your head as you hid your face in your hand. You believed him of course, as Eun Na’s taunting words echoed in your head. She’d said it been too easy to trick you and of course it was. You were too desperate for a friend, for someone to trust and lean on, you took hold of the first person who stepped up. And that person happened to be a psychopath.

A clamoring noise broke your comforting silence. Several more bodies came stumbling through the door, tripping over each other.

“Enough!” Junmyeon yelled. They all froze. Eight boys stood just inside the room, staring at you. Among them were Jongdae and his friends. Jongdae’s eyes flickered back and forth between you and the contact with Junmyeon. You could have sworn you heard a deep chest growl come from your classmate. The sound was cut off the moment Junmyeon stood up, staring him down.

“How are you feeling?” Chanyeol shifted forward, grinning down at you.

You shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Considering the circumstances.”

He nodded. Jongdae stepped up, sitting down on the coffee table across from you, resting his forearms on his knees.

“How did you know?” you whispered. He had warned you - begged you not to go. He knew that you would be in danger.

Sighing, he dropped his head. “It’s a long story.”

“She needs to know,” Junmyeon said sternly. “Tell her. That’s an order.”

Rubbing his hands over his face, Jongdae straightened up. “I’m sure it’s actually kind of obvious, but Eun Na is part of a coven. She’s a witch.”

You shook your head, defiant of that answer. You wanted the truth, not a fairytale. “No. Witches are a bedtime story. A nightmare that humans dreamt up to explain things away and blame unknown circumstances on. They aren’t real.”

“They are real,” Jongdae insisted. “And they’re not the only story that’s actually true.” He paused. “What do you remember from last night?”

Pulling your knees up to you, you wrapped your arms around them, not really wanting to relive last night’s events. “I remember going to the bonfire with Eun Na. She gave me a water bottle and I guess it was drugged or something. I woke up tied to a stake like we were back in Salem. One of the guys lit the sticks under me on fire. I couldn’t breathe, there was so much smoke. And then-” you stopped. The animals, too large to be an average wolf, but moved too quickly and gracefully to be bears. “No, no, I must have started hallucinating. Lack of oxygen to the brain or something.”

“What did you see?” Jongdae pushed.

You swallowed. “Wolves. Giant Wolves. They chased everybody away. One of them saved me from the fire.”

“That was us,” Chanyeol declared. Jongdae turned on him, glaring a killer look.

You shook your head. “No. No, that’s not possible. That would make you-”

“Werewolves.” Nosy boy was the one who finished for you.

“Werewolves don’t exist,” you insisted. There had to be another explanation.

“Yes, they do, (y/n),” Junmyeon said gently. “We are a pack who can shift into wolves.”

This was too much. In less than twenty-four hours, your entire world of normalcy and what was widely accepted as truth had been turned around, shuffled, and completely destroyed. The person you had considered your best friend was a witch who - for some reason still unknown - had tried to sacrifice you by burning you at the stake. Now werewolves were real and apparently you were sitting in a room with a pack of nine.

“I still don’t understand,” you whispered. “I don’t understand what any of this has to do with me.”

Junmyeon sat down next to Jongdae. The latter gave him a look but said nothing. If any of your reading was correct, Junmyeon seemed to be the alpha.

“I think it’s best to start at the beginning,” Junmyeon offered. “Werewolves are the natural enemies of witches.”

You frowned. “I thought that was vampires.”

He laughed. “No, witches hate us the most. Because a witch created us.”

“Created you?”

“Yes.” He ran his fingers through his hair, turning into teacher mode. “A thousand years ago - my research isn’t too exact - a witch cursed a man who had rejected her. She decided that since he didn’t want to be a part of her world, she would cut him off from the rest of his own. He was cursed to be separated from everyone else, to be different and isolated. And so, she changed him into a man who transformed into a wolf. It’s not just the moon that changes us. It could be a loss of temper or just because we want to.”

“A rougarou,” you concluded.

Junmyeon laughed. “You’ve been paying attention in class. I’m glad to know that. Yes, thankfully we fall under that category. Another thing to be thankful for is something the witch didn’t foresee when she had first cast her spell. We’re impervious to their magic.” Your eyes grew at this new piece of information, but you kept quiet. “For several generations, we’ve been at peace with the coven here in town when the wolves could easily chase them out of our territory. For reasons we don’t know of yet, they’ve suddenly decided that we’re enemies again.”

“Okay,” you nodded, amazed at yourself for being able to follow along. “So, we’re back to why I’m suddenly involved in this.”

“I had to ask a few friends from out of town, but apparently there’s a spell that could take away our protection from their magic.” He looked you in the eye. “It’s a spell that has to be performed under the blood moon and involves the sacrifice of an unclaimed wolf mate.”

You blinked. “Unclaimed wolf mate?” Now you were lost. “What is that?”

Junmyeon exchanged looks with Jongdae, who stood up and started pacing the living room.

“You know the concept of soulmates, of course,” Junmyeon assumed. When you didn’t protest or counter him, he went on. “It’s the same for wolves, but more real. More serious. I believe it was nature’s way of balancing out the curse we’re under.” Jongdae scoffed, but he was ignored. “When a wolf meets his mate, that’s it. Wolves in nature mate for life and it’s the same for us. There is one person we’re meant to be with and when we meet them, the bond is formed and we’re connected for the rest of our lives. According to destiny, there’s no one else. We’re drawn to our mates, willing to die for them. They usually feel the same draw, though in a different way. More feeling than instinct.”

The pieces were starting to fall into place. “So, what you’re saying is that I’m one of your guys’ mate?”

He nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, you haven’t been claimed yet. That made you vulnerable to the witches.”

“So, they could use me in their spell,” you concluded. You looked around at the boys, some were smiling at you, others were expressionless. One in particular wasn’t even glancing your way. “So, because the forces of magic seem to think it’s funny, I’m supposed to be with one of you guys? Forever?”

“Yes, you are.”

You bit your bottom lip, scared to ask your next question. “Do you know who?”