#werewolf!exo

You wouldn’t have done this if you weren’t desperate. As a female alpha, you didn’t want to ask help from others, because that’s exactly what the males would expect from a girl. Any other werewolves you’d happen to come across never treated you with respect despite the fact that a female alpha was all but completely unheard of. You were smaller -- even if in your human form you were around 5′9, your wolf form was definitely smaller than the rest of your pack’s -- not as strong, and well, you were a girl. So you felt like you had something to prove, and you wanted to do things either with the help of your pack, or with no help at all.

Your pack was nine strong, counting yourself. Olan, Minjoon, Airou, Ataru, Hanjin, Samuri, Jaejin, and Chansol respected you and protected you as their alpha. They never questioned you or your gender, even when you had first found them. Sure, they were surprised at first, but who wouldn’t be meeting a female alpha when everyone thought those were just tall tales passed down by other werewolves? Even Olan, who was older than you, respected you as if you were his elder.

However, with Olan being the oldest in the pack, he was also kind of the wisest, which was partly why he was your right-hand man. He was this big Thai dude -- hence, his name being Olan, which he explained meant ‘great or large’ in Thai -- that honestly had kind of found you when you came to Korean. He was already a werewolf, and you had yet to shift. Running into him seemed to set off some alpha instinct that was deep down inside you, and you shifted right in front of him.

But with him being the wisest meant that he was the one to tell you that he thought your current idea was the dumbest thing you could do.

“Do you really think a random pack of werewolves will want to help us?” he questioned in a harsh, low tone even though nobody else could understand him other than you. “We’re nobodies who don’t even live around here.”

“Would you rather take on a group of werewolf hunters then?” you snapped as you walked down the street to the address you were given by a helpful stranger. “Look, Olan, there’s power in numbers. Currently, we only have one more than these hunters, and that means we’re still easy prey. We need to outnumber them, and even if they say no, we have a better chance getting out alive talking to a pack of werewolves than we do going up against silver bullets.”

“I’d rather take my chances with a bullet than 9 werewolves...” he grumbled.

You stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, making your entire pack halt as they watched the argument between you and Olan. They weren’t sure what it was even about -- the Japanese brothers picked up only a few words, but not nearly enough to figure out what you were mad about -- but just your tone had them shrinking back and backing down.

“My mind’s already made up, and we’re already almost there, so you can either shut up or go back home and hope you don’t get killed,” you growled, your eyes starting to spot red through your brown contacts. “End. Of. Discussion.”

Olan gave a small nod, having no choice but to obey his alpha, “Right. Sorry, _____...”

You heard Chansol whisper, “what was that about,” but you kept walking instead of addressing it. You were almost at the address anyway, so there was no point in talking about Olan’s objections.

After a few more minutes of walking in silence other than the members of your pack talking quietly to each other, you arrived at the address you were given. You looked up at the large house, frowning slightly. You figured anybody home would’ve sensed other werewolves nearby and would’ve been prepared for this. Then again, it was kind of late at night so maybe they were asleep or too close to it to realize.

You stepped up to the door and knocked. The rest of your pack gathered somewhat farther behind you, though Olan was right behind you in case anything happened as soon as the door opened.

The person that answered the door was a man -- as you expected -- with a round face, full heart-shaped lips, and short dark hair. You knew he just sensed the alpha all over you from the quirk in his brow, but he didn’t question it.

“Can I help you?” he wondered.

“Actually," you began, “that’s exactly what we’re hoping for.”

-

Sehun hated being the ‘pup’ as his pack loved to call him. He didn’t like the teasing -- the babying was alright, but he wouldn’t actually tell them that -- and he didn’t like that he had to take orders not only from his alphas, but from the rest of the pack because he was the youngest. 

Currently, he was upstairs in his room trying to get homework done so he could be away from the pack. They’d been teasing him all night because of some comment Baekhyun’s mate has said toward him. It got the rest of them riled up to start with the ragging.

There was a group of hunters that apparently were going around. The pack had heard word they’d shot a werewolf a few towns over, so they weren’t necessarily in any danger. But still, Junmyeon was taking precautions, especially since they had mates in the house.

“Sehun, get home before dark.”

“Sehun, don’t leave the house alone.”

What was he, a child? He was still a college student which meant he was an adult. They couldn’t boss him around like that.

Except they could. They were werewolves and his instincts told him to listen.

At the moment, his instincts were telling him somebody new was in the house. He could hear it and smell it. But he did smell something faintly sweet, like the best scent he’d ever smelled. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he also wasn’t inclined to go investigate. He was sure he’d just be met with Junmyeon telling him to finish his homework or something. So he put in his headphones instead and went back to work.

Only a few minutes later, his door was opened by Jongin. The second youngest looked kind of excited but Sehun couldn’t gather why.

“Junmyeon wants all of us downstairs,” he reported.

Sehun groaned but took his headphones out and got up from his desk. Of course, the one time he figures he should stay upstairs, he gets the opposite.

Coming down the stairs, the sweet smell was growing stronger. Still, Sehun wasn’t sure what it was. It wasn’t anything he’d smelled before, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t what Minseok and Baekhyun had told them about from when they first met their--

Sehun rounded the corner, eyes landing on a tall girl standing with her back to him. Everything froze as he just stared, unable to peel his eyes away.

But then you turned around, sensing that same strange presence behind you. Your golden eyes zeroed in on this tall wolf in black jeans and a blue button-up with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He was staring at you like he was seeing the world for the first time, and you were sure you were giving him the same look.

You had imprinted on each other, and the whole room was full of werewolves who knew exactly what was happening, smirks on their faces. 

Sehun wasn’t sure what to do next. Did he say hello? Introduce himself? Say something smooth like compliment your appearance?

Instead, what came out of his mouth was a question.

“S-so...wha-what do you want?”

‘So smooth, Sehun. So very smooth.’

You let out a laugh that seemed to break the tension in the room, shaking your head.

“They’re here for our help, lover boy,” Minseok told him with a teasing tone. “Sit down.”

Sehun frowned at being told what to do again, but he took a seat on the couch by Chanyeol, looking across the room where the pack you belonged to continued to stand before his pack. You and who he assumed was your alpha -- some tall guy who definitely looked like he could take on like, three werewolves at once in his human form -- stood in front of the rest of your pack.

“Should we have the girls down here for this?” Yixing wondered, recalling how Junmyeon had Minseok bring them upstairs when he sensed that strange wolves had shown up at their doorstep.

The alpha just shook his head, “The less they have to worry about, the better. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.”

Kyungsoo looked back at the new pack, “Now that everybody’s here, you should explain what happened again.”

To Sehun’s surprise, instead of the alpha speaking, you did.

“The werewolf hunters have been after us since we’re a smaller pack. They already cornered Ataru, and he was lucky only two of them were there. He barely escaped before he was seriously injured. We know they’ve been following us and keeping tabs, so we made sure the coast was clear before we came here.”

That explained why it was so late at night, Sehun figured.

“But we don’t have any way to defend ourselves,” you continued. “We have nine, and while they have eight, those numbers are still too close for comfort. We’re still pretty easy targets and they know that. They’re going to come after us until they finally get us and kill all of us. We need help to scare them away at least.”

“We don’t expect you to kill any of them for us or anything,” the man clarified.

“So you’re leading them to us?” Baekhyun asked.

“No,” you quickly told him, “we made sure they weren’t watching us when we left.”

“We did surveillance!” the two boys that looked virtually identical grinned at the same time.

Most of Junmyeon’s pack eyed them, giving them odd looks before looking back to you and Olan.

“If we do help,” Junmyeon began, making sure to put plenty of emphasis on the first word, “we’ll need time to come up with a plan.”

“Well, we have limited time,” Olan spoke up beside you. “We don’t know when they’ll come after us again. We just recently got a new member of our pack, and we know they’ll more than likely target him since he’s still young.”

You already knew Chansol was frowning somewhere behind you. He hated feeling like he was being babied or spoken of like he was a baby.

“Why don’t we just go confront them?” Sehun suggested, shrugging like the idea of going up against eight werewolf hunters was nothing. “Together, there’s way more of us than them.”

His pack exploded with comments of how crazy that idea was and how they would just get injured or worse. They needed a plan, and Sehun must’ve been dumb to think they could just go without a plan of attack. But Junmyeon hushed them before speaking up himself.

“We can’t just go in there and start a war we’re unprepared for,” the alpha explained. “Even if we only have a limited amount of time, we need to think of a plan. For now..._____, why don’t you and your pack stay here? It isn’t safe for all of you to go home this late at night, and we can start planning first thing in the morning.”

“Hyung, can we fit everybody...?” Jongdae wondered.

“If we put multiple people in a room, then yes,” Junmyeon answered in a tone that said his decision was final. “Plus, we have the living room.”

“I already know who Sehunnie’s rooming with,” Baekhyun giggled.

Your eyes met Sehun’s again, only to see his cheeks were a soft shade of pink. You smiled to yourself, deciding your mate was absolutely adorable.

-

“So...what’s your name?” Sehun asked when it was just the two of you in his bedroom.

While he seemed nervous, you weren’t that nervous about it. He could also tell you weren’t nervous as you walked around his room, slowly taking everything in and gathering as much information about your mate as you could. He just watched you from his desk chair.

“_____; _____ _____,” you told him, your golden eyes not leaving the few framed pictures he had on a shelf bolted to his wall. “What about you? Tell me about yourself?”

“Aren’t you gathering data on me right now? You look like your scanning my walls like a computer,” he chuckled.

You smirked, turning to face him, “That’s what I look like?”

“A little,” he shrugged. “Well, my name’s Oh Sehun, I’m 25, and I’m the youngest in my pack.”

“Aw,” you cooed, “you’re the puppy!”

He automatically began to sulk, “Don’t you start, too.”

You laughed at your mate, going to sit on his bed, “If it helps, about half my pack is younger than you.”

Sehun smirked, “Does that include you?”

Finally, he wouldn’t have to be bossed around by somebody. Not that he would use the opportunity to boss you around, but he definitely was happy you couldn’t do it to him.

But your words had the smirk falling right off his face.

“But I’m the alpha of my pack.”

Alpha? A female alpha? Those existed? Not that there was a problem with it, he was just...well, surprised. He didn’t realize that the aura of authority he was catching onto was coming from you and not the large werewolf beside you.

He let out a groan, letting his head fall back, realizing this meant you could, in fact, boss him around as much as you wanted. And the kicker was that he would have to listen. You were a higher rank than him. Much higher.

From a few of the rooms down the hall, you could hear loud laughter. Even downstairs, some members of his pack were snorting in amusement.

Baekhyun’s voice was loud and clear as he giggled, “Sehun’s still the baby!”

-

Meeting your mate wasn’t like starting a new relationship. You mostly skipped all the awkwardness and all the shyness of a new relationship. Both of you were werewolves, so you already felt that love and comfortableness around each other. So sleeping in Sehun’s bed with him was like sleeping beside somebody you’d been dating for a year already. It felt normal and comfortable and just nice.

But living with Sehun’s pack was another story. 

They were louder than your pack, and that was coming from an alpha who had to deal with identical twins. You weren’t sure if Baekhyun, Chanyeol, or the loud-mouthed girl that you could hear in the kitchen were the loudest, but the three of them made it impossible to sleep any longer. 

“Do they ever shut up?” you groaned, trying to push your face farther into the pillows.

You knew Sehun was awake too because he whined and rolled over, covering his face with the blanket.

“No,” he sighed.

But then the twins joined in, and it was like a chaotic Hell had opened just for you.

“Do they ever shut up?” your mate countered.

So the two of you finally got up and emerged from his room, both of you still in the clothes you slept in -- he was just in sweatpants while you only wore one of his t-shirts and figured anybody who stared at you could just get a kick in the teeth. You led the way downstairs with Sehun following begrudgingly behind you because he was still tired. The noise got louder as you approached the kitchen, and you saw the twins joking around loudly with a few of Sehun’s pack mates while they made breakfast. Olan was sitting at the table with Junmyeon and Kyungsoo, Samuri was befriending Yixing, and the others must’ve been off somewhere else. You doubted they were sleeping, but if they were, they were lucky.

“_____!” Airou grinned when he noticed you enter. “Do you want souffle pancakes?”

“You only make souffle pancakes when you want to show off,” you grumbled, rubbing sleep out of your eyes.

“Yeah, exactly!” Ataru giggled.

Minseok seemed to be helping them, and Kyungsoo was observing from the table. You could see that Chanyeol was trying to help, but his souffle pancake had completely fallen apart, along with his smile. Baekhyun just stuck to making fun of the taller wolf for messing up.

“So,” Baekhyun smirked as he looked at yours and Sehun’s appearances, “what did you two get up to last night.”

“Sleeping,” Sehun stated before taking a seat at the table with Olan, Junmyeon, and Kyungsoo.

“You would’ve heard if they did anything else,” Minseok scoffed.

“I’m so glad I’m not a werewolf,” the girl beside Baekhyun mumbled. She didn’t seem to be in the best mood, but you weren’t sure why. 

You took a seat across from Sehun and beside Olan. 

“I hope you slept okay,” Junmyeon smiled softly.

“Until the twins woke me up,” you sighed. “I’m sorry that they’re so loud. They’re...excitable.”

“I think they word you’re looking for is annoying, _____,” Olan corrected with a chuckle. 

“We might be louder,” Kyungsoo deadpanned, looking at you with a serious face as he focused more on the conversation than the cooking.

“We deal with chaos all the time,” Junmyeon reassured you. “Ataru and Airou are nothing, there’s no need to apologize.”

“Since _____’s awake, should we start planning then?” Olan asked.

“I still say we just go after them,” Sehun shrugged. “There’s a lot more of us than there are them.”

“No,” you and Junmyeon both said at the same time, making your mate frown.

“After thinking it over last night,” Junmyeon began, “I realized they might just lose track of you if you’re not where they expect you to be. The odds that they simply move on instead of tracking you are about 50/50, so maybe it’s best to relocate nearby. Not only would you be closer to another pack which would intimidate the hunters, but you’d be closer to Sehun.”

“There’s still the 50% chance that they track them down anyway,” Sehun pointed out.

“But then they’ll realize there’s another pack nearby,” Kyungsoo spoke up. “It would be dangerous and stupid for them to pursue the pack anyway.”

“But--”

“We shouldn’t go after them, Sehun,” you stated, finality in your tone that not only made him shut up, but made him grumpy. “It’s better if we stay away and stay safe.”

But he knew that safety would only last for so long.

-

It wasn’t that he was going against you because you were a girl. Sehun didn’t care what gender you were. He went against you for two reasons: he wanted to keep you safe as his mate, and he didn’t like that you were younger than him and still had more power than him. It made him want to prove that he could hold his own and make decisions.

Of course, his own decisions he made were bad, and you soon felt that he was in danger. It was in your instincts to know when your mate was in trouble. You sat up straight, yellow eyes going wide before they turned red.

“What?” Hanjae asked seeing how you were suddenly on high alert.

“Sehun,” you replied, pushing yourself off the couch and running for the door.

“What about Sehun?” Jongdae inquired as both packs followed after you.

You ignored him, calling for your pack to follow you, but Yixing put a hand on your shoulder to stop you from leaving.

“He’s in our pack, so we should go find him with you,” he decided since Junmyeon and Minseok weren’t home.

“But I’m more comfortable going with my pack,” you insisted, shrugging out from under his hand.

“But he’s our brother,” Jongdae countered.

“There’s more of us,” Olan pointed out.

“We don’t have time to argue over this!” you groaned before you just bolted out the door, not caring if anybody went with you. You had to save Sehun before it was too late.

“We’ll both go, then,” Baekhyun shrugged with an almost teasing grin before he slid past Yixing and out the door after you.

And then the rest of them followed.

-

It took all of three days after both alphas warned Sehun to not go looking for the hunters for him to go looking for the hunters. He had to be sneaky when he tried to track down their headquarters, but he knew he couldn’t waltz in their on his own, so he had to wait to catch one of them alone. That was the tricky part.

Or so he thought.

He had gone out a day prior with his friend, Johnny, and explained his situation. He had finally imprinted, but it was on the alpha of another pack, and you were being tracked by werewolf hunters.

“Hunters?” Johnny asked. “How many of them?”

“Apparently seven boys and a girl.”

“Okay, this is going to sound really weird, but Taeyong’s mate is the girl.”

Sehun didn’t understand how Johnny’s alpha imprinted on a werewolf hunter, but he wasn’t going to question it. He had other things to worry about.

“Can he tell me where she is?”

And that was how he ended up brought down to his knees by the werewolf hunter in front of him. He didn’t plan on attacking her if she was Taeyong’s mate, but she clearly didn’t want to just talk or anything if the gun pointed to his head was any indication. But the way he saw it, at least it was him not you, and he wouldn’t have to deal with the embarrassment that he actually couldn’t do this on his own and try to protect you instead of the other way around.

In hindsight, it was kind of stupid. Sehun didn’t care if he was babied by his pack, but he didn’t want to be babied by his own mate, too. You were younger than him, and he wanted to be able to prove that he could be stronger than you, but he wasn’t. All he did was prove that you were right, and that he deserved to be babied. 

All he could do was stare up at the girl he learned was named Kimi as the binds on his wrists behind him burned into his skin. His teeth were clenched, but he refused to cry out from the searing pain the silver caused him. If he was going to go out, he was going to be as brave as he could be -- and he refused to give the hunter the satisfaction of knowing she was causing him pain and scaring the shit out of him.

“I have to say, you might be the dumbest werewolf I’ve run into,” she chuckled. “Coming to find me, saying you ‘just wanna talk’. God, it really doesn’t get easier or dumber than that.”

Sehun stayed silent, biting his tongue to keep from making noise because of the pain in his wrists. He just stared up at the hunter, the gun held to his head in his peripherals.

He saw more people appear out of the forest. One of them was tall and had a kind-looking face, but the aura he exuded was anything but. When he smiled, dimples showed prominently, only enhancing the innocence his appearance held.

“Nice job, Kimi,” he commented.

She shrugged, not looking away from Sehun, “It was nothing -- really.”

Sehun had no idea she had called for backup from her group. The seven men had all walked out and joined her, standing a few feet behind her.

Now he really hoped you didn’t show up in time to save him. You’d surely end up in the same position he was in. 

“Maybe if we wait, his pack will show up and we’ll have even more of them,” one of the men commented with a slight smirk.

“There’s no way he has a pack if he showed up on his own,” Kimi commented, his expression bored as she looked down at Sehun, studying him like he wanted to remember him even after he was dead.

One of the men looked off slightly to his right, “I wouldn’t speak so soon. More of them are close by.”

A blonde one sighed before pulling out a gun and cocking it, “Yeah, we can handle it.”

‘Please don’t come, please don’t come, please don’t come,’ was all Sehun could think as he eyed the gun in the short blonde’s hand.

But it wasn’t long until he caught your scent and knew you were nearby, and he closed his eyes. There wasn’t anything he could do to prevent what he knew would happen. He couldn’t even save himself, let alone anybody else.

In front of him, the seven men reached for their weapons and aimed them toward where the two packs were coming from. They saw a werewolf that was a little smaller than most wolves they’d seen.

“Is that a female?” one of them asked quietly.

Sehun cursed internally.

You weren’t the only one who had shifted. Baekhyun, Jongdae, the twins, Samuri, and Chansol had shifted as well. None of you knew if there would be a fight, and it might be better to have a few large wolves on your side. But seeing the reaction from some of the hunters, you knew that just seeing the amount of you there -- even if all of Junmyeon’s pack weren’t there yet -- was making them doubt themselves.

Your group approached them slowly. You knew that they could shoot at any time, but then were standing still as they watched your every move, knowing any of you could run at them or pounce on them at any moment, too. It was like a weird stand-off as you slowly approached Sehun from behind him.

“We can’t take them all...” one of them mumbled.

“Yes we can,” another replied as he pulled out a second gun.

Your red eyes narrowed as you stared down the girl that was holding a gun to your mate’s head. You let out a low growl involuntarily, and all guns were suddenly pointed at you.

While Olan didn’t have any power over you whatsoever, he held an arm out in front of you, trying to tell you not to do anything just yet.

Yixing stepped forward, acting as the stand-in alpha for Junmyeon’s pack, “It seems that you have one of ours. We clearly outnumber you, so if you just give him back, we’ll leave without any trouble.”

“What if we want trouble?” the girl smirked, looking away from Sehun.

“Then you’ll walk away with less people than you have now,” Olan spoke up, “considering any of you walk away.”

“Eight against thirteen doesn’t seem too balanced, does it?” Minjoon pointed out. “And considering we have six wolves, they may as well count as two or three people each. So eight against about twenty-seven -- give or take.”

You weren’t sure when you started having a stare-off with the girl holding her gun to your mate’s head. She seemed to be challenging you, her own eyes narrowed as she stood unwavering. You growled at her again, lowering your head and baring your teeth. But her response was to smirk.

“Don’t tell me your mate came to save you, wolf,” she scoffed as she nudged Sehun’s forehead with the end of the barrel of her gun. “Don’t tell me your bitch had to come rescue you.”

An involuntary growl bubble in Sehun’s chest, which was the only sound he had made since getting captured. She seemed to love that she finally got a reaction from him.

“So let’s say I happened to kill him,” she said, looking at you now as her gun clicked, signaling it was ready to fire, “what would you do? because I’d love to see what happens.”

You were ready to jump on her. You were so ready to rip out her throat and rip her into pieces. But you also knew in the back of your mind that as soon as you went at her, she would shoot Sehun in that instant.

She would shoot Sehun either way. You couldn’t win.

“Do you always have to make trouble for yourself, Kimberly?” a new female voice spoke up.

The girl looked very similar to the one standing in front of Sehun, so you had no doubt they were related. But this girl seemed more relaxed, and she had a slight smile on her face that was not nearly as menacing as the smirk the other girl wore.

The men seemed to look at this new girl with disdain. One of them stood up straighter and glared at her.

“What are you doing back, Kat?” he demanded.

“I go by Kacey now,” she replied coolly as she walked right up to where Sehun was knelt down. “I wanted to get rid of everything that was associated with you murderers.”

The man just rolled his eyes.

“We don’t want anything to do with a traitor, either,” Kimi sneered.

“Is that any way to speak to your older sister?” the girl apparently called Kacey asked as she booped her sister’s nose. Kimi scrunched up her face and took a step back which made Kacey chuckle. “You haven’t changed a bit. Explains why you’re trying to take on two packs of werewolves when there’s only eight of you.”

“Two?” one of the men repeated.

Kacey sighed, gesturing behind her to you and the group, “Anybody could tell that the girl is the alpha of most of them. You’re really falling apart without me, huh?

“Anyway,” she moved on from the subject as she crouched down and began to undo the binds on Sehun’s wrists. But you still could faintly sense werewolf hunter on her, so you watched her carefully, even when she stood with the silver binds in one hand and helped Sehun to his feet with the other, moving in front of him despite being shorter than him, “I suggest you all take their offer. If you intentionally anger his mate, I assume she’ll kill at least three of you within five minutes -- at most: all of you.”

“Don’t release my captives,” Kimi growled, stepping closer to her sister -- and closer to Sehun.

You took a step forward, causing pairs of eyes to flash over to you. Both Olan and Yixing stood in front of you just to at least attempt to keep you back and from making this a fight when it didn’t have to be.

“Then don’t pick fights you know you can’t win,” Kacey countered with a smile. “I’ll see you around, kid.”

She turned around, turning Sehun around and keeping a hand on his back as she led him away. But with her back turned, Kimi raised her gun again and aimed, prepared to fire. You let out a roar, tensing to jump in front of her line of sight, but somebody was much faster than you.

Kacey took out her own gun and turned around, shooting straight at Kimi’s gun and shooting it out of her hand like it was nothing. You weren’t sure how she could even aim that fast or that precisely. You’d never met any kind of hunter like her, but you weren’t even sure if she was a hunter because she was helping you.

“Don’t test me,” Kacey stated, her voice cold like ice. “Go home, Kimi.”

Then she carried on, leading Sehun back to your pack, and nodding with her head to leave the way you’d come. And she even escorted you back.

As Sehun got closer, he refused to look up and meet eyes with you. In fact, everybody was completely silent as you walked back the way you’d come, going through the forest until you’d reached the cars that were parked on the side of the road.

You and the other wolves hung back to shift in the woods so nobody would see while the rest of them continued to the cars. Olan and Yixing both expressed their gratitude to Kacey for helping them, and Yixing even went on to invite her back to meet Junmyeon because he knew their alpha would want to thank her properly, too.

Sehun walked over to one of the cars with Kyungsoo.

“Hyung’s going to be so mad at me...” he sighed.

Kyungsoo chuckled as he opened one of the doors on the other side, “I don’t think it’s Junmyeon that you have to worry about.”

Sehun didn’t even have to turn around to know you were looking at him. In fact, your eyes were burning a hole in his back. And that alone was far more terrifying than anything his alpha would do to him. 

-

While Sehun was in trouble, you were terrified. Actually, terrified didn’t even cover the panic and worry you felt that something awful would happen to him. But now that you knew he was safe, you were angry. You were angry that he went behind your back and did what you specifically told him not to do and that he recklessly got himself into a life or death situation. You wanted to hug him and kiss him, and whack him in the back of the head at the same time.

You were incredibly grateful to Kacey for saving Sehun and managing to avoid a fight, but you were more focused on lecturing Sehun as soon as you got into the house than thanking her. You could do that when you were less heated.

“Sehun!” you barked when he tried to go to the living room with everybody else instead of following you up to his room. He dropped his head and went to you, knowing he was really in for it. When he closed the door, you immediately went off on him. “What the fuck were you thinking?! Both Junmyeon and I told you not to go after them, but you did anyway! You went against me and you went against your own alpha! You almost died, Sehun! What the fuck were we supposed to do if you died, huh?!”

“I’m sorry,” he whimpered, finally looking up and meeting your eyes. He was surprised to see that despite how angry you sounded, your red eyes were filled with tears, a few escaping down your cheeks. “Oh no, _____, please don’t start crying.”

“What else am I supposed to do? You almost died! I thought you were going to die!”

He frowned, going over to you and cupping your cheeks, wiping your tears away with his thumbs, “_____, I really am sorry. I did it for a stupid reason, and I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry. I learned my lesson. I’m not able to protect you, let alone myself.”

Your expression changed slightly from pure anger to confused, “Protect me?”

He sighed, looking away but still holding your face, mumbling, “It’s really stupid...”

You stayed silent, looking at him unexpectedly. Knowing you wanted an answer and he wouldn’t get out of answering, he sighed and pulled you to his chest so you at least couldn’t look at him when he answered. But you were fine with it because at least you knew he was safe when you had your arms wrapped around his waist.

“You’re younger than me, but you’re so much stronger than I am as an alpha. I wanted to prove that I could be stronger. I wanted to protect you so you would look up at me instead of looking down at me because I’m just the pup of my pack.”

You pushed away from him just enough to look up at him, “Sehun, I don’t look down at you. I don’t look down at anybody.”

He looked at you, still frowning, “I don’t want you to see me as a baby like my pack does.”

“I don’t,” you insisted, reaching up to gently stroke is face. Sehun leaned into your warm touch, a soft rumble vibrating in his chest. “Just because I’m an alpha doesn’t mean I’ll see you as weaker or incapable. You’re not any less of a werewolf.”

Sehun’s eyebrows furrowed as he suddenly stood straight up again, “You’re babying me right now!”

You chuckled, “You’re acting like a baby.”

“Am not,” he huffed.

“Alright, then I won’t baby you,” you promised as you let go of him and stepped away. “Take care of your own wounds, big boy.”

As you walked past him toward the door, he turned and whined, “Waaaait.”

“Yes?” you smirked as you turned back around.

“You’re not going to help me?” he pouted.

Unable to resist his cute expression, you playfully rolled your eyes, “Come to the bathroom, you big baby.”

He followed behind you down the hall to the bathroom, grumbling, “I’ll prove I’m tougher than you one day. You’re still younger and shorter than me.”

“You keep thinking that,” you nodded. “Junmyeon’s also shorter than you, but I’m sure he’ll lay you out as soon as he comes home.”

And as if on cue, the front door slammed shut before you heard Junmyeon growl, “Sehun!”

She wanted to ignore what she was turning into but when the day came where she laid eyes on the first person she’s seen in a week, she had to have him. The hunger for blood had taken control; she couldn’t ignore the deep pain in her stomach she had felt grow in the last few days anymore. She quickly made a plan of how she was to go about this task. She couldn’t believe her own mind could come up with such a devious idea. But she was a different person now. With different priorities. She fixed herself up; letting her dark hair fall down from her now messy bun and adjusted her breasts to show more cleavage. She hid her bag under some shrubbery and stepped out of the tree line. She made her way towards the small house where the man lived and lightly knocked on the door. The young man she had followed opened the door, surprise clear on his face as his eyebrows raised.

“Hello sir I’m sorry to disturb you but I fear I’ve become lost and night is coming, if you would allow me to stay for the night I would be very grateful towards you.” She feigned helplessness, forcing her voice to be as small and shaky as she could. The man’s gaze flickered from her face, lingered on her chest, and moved back up. The corners of his lips turned up as he agreed and ushered her inside. Night fell and the man made dinner for her and after thanking him she forced herself to eat even though she wasn’t hungry for human food. It made her sad. She was going to miss eating her favorite foods.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the man’s foot slowly creep up her calf. She felt disgusted going through with this plan of hers, but she had to. She played along. She found herself pressed against his bed between the grabbing, kissing, and faked sounds of pleasure. He pushed up her skirt and tugged her undergarments to the ground, leaving her lower half exposed. He crawled on top of her as he got rid of his own undergarments. Before he could go any further, she flipped them on the bed. The man let out a yelp as she pinned him against the mattress with her new strength. She lunged at his neck, her new fangs sinking into the soft flesh and began to drink. The man beneath her shrieked in pain and what she presumed to be fear. But the girl couldn’t be more happy. Genuine moans of pleasure passed her lips as she drank as much as she wanted. The pain in her stomach faded, as well as the shrieks from the poor soul below her. He grew limp as she drained the life from him. Finally pulling away from the now dead man’s neck, she let out a content sigh. Licking the blood from her lips she looked at the body of the man. “Pathetic” she thought, scowling as she pulled her undergarments back on. She looked around the room. Deciding to see if the man had anything she could use she searched the house.

Leaving with a better bag and a few capes to keep herself warm, she ran back to the tree line to collect her things. Moving her old belongings into the bigger bag she smiled as she took off into the woods, the full moon illuminating the forest.

“Trauma” was what all the doctors said. Trauma caused this, but you already knew that. What you wanted to know was if it could be fixed, but nobody really had an answer. Everyone kind of gave up on you when they’d get offended you didn’t recognize them. It didn’t matter if you had known them for years or only just met them. You could confuse your childhood friend for some random person on the street. Everybody was the same to you.

Everybody except one person.

You met him at a bar. He was the bar tender, and as soon as you glanced up at him, you felt something inside you. You couldn’t really see his face still, but you just felt different around him.

“Hey,” he said oh-so casually as he gave you a lopsided smile, “I’m Baekhyun. What can I get you?”

‘Your number,’ was what you wanted to blurt.

But you figured you wouldn’t remember him. You’d be embarrassed if you didn’t remember him, especially if things went farther. You’d lost other relationships because you couldn’t tell your significant other apart from everyone else.

But four months later, you still remembered Baekhyun. You could pick him out of his whole pack just from the feeling you got from him. It was the imprinting pull, he had explained a month after knowing you -- and after plenty of dates and mornings you’d wake up beside him. The werewolf thing was a shock to you, yes, but you finally found somebody you could differentiate from everyone else -- even if it was from a feeling and not from his face. It didn’t matter if you were shocked by the werewolf thing, you’d get used to it. You just didn’t want to lose this. You finally felt proud of yourself for once.

“Work!” Baekhyun barked as he burst into your bedroom. “Now! Go!”

You continued to lay in bed, knowing you should get up, but refusing to. Bed was too comfortable, and way too warm from the leftover body heat from your mate.

“_____-yah!” he groaned, walking over to you and throwing the blankets off of you. He didn’t care if you were only in one of his t-shirts and a pair of underwear, he picked you up out of bed by your waist and set you on your feet. “Come on, you’re late again.”

You just yawned in his face, your eyes still closed as your forehead leaned forward to rest on his shoulder.

“Oh my god, you’re impossible,” he whined, gently shaking you. “You’ve done this for the last week.”

“No,” you mumbled, “I didn’t have work Tuesday or Friday.”

“But you have work now, so let’s go,” he told you, releasing you and stepping away so if you didn’t bother to stand on your own, you’d fall to the floor.

When you started to tip, you forced your feet to walk forward so you wouldn’t fall over. Opening your eyes slowly, you glared at Baekhyun’s smug look, “You’re the cause for my pain and suffering.”

“You’re awake, _____, not dying,” he scoffed.

“Sure feels like it...” you mumbled.

He pressed a kiss to your forehead as he made his way to the door, “Just get dressed, drama queen.”

-

Since Baekhyun didn’t have work until later that night, he sat around at home with the few of his pack that were at home for the day. Minseok didn’t have to work that day -- though he had just gotten back from dropping Bohee off at school -- and Chanyeol called out because he wasn’t feeling too well. So the three of them sat together in the living room -- Baekhyun didn’t really want to be around Chanyeol when he was sick, but he wouldn’t stop whining for Baekhyun to sit with him.

For some reason, Chanyeol wanted to watch some romance movie, and Baekhyun could only assume it was because the taller man just wanted to complain even more. Every single time the couple on the TV kissed, he would whine softly and give a longing look toward the screen.

“I want that; why don’t I have that?” he complained.

“Because you’re a big, whiny baby,” Minseok told him. “You do know you can still go out and date people, right?”

“Yeah, but I want a mate like you guys,” he sighed. “Minseok was the only person Bohee could talk to, and Baekhyun is the only person _____ can tell apart from everybody. I want to be special to somebody, too.”

Ignoring Chanyeol’s sulking, Minseok turned to Baekhyun who sat on the end of the couch, “Does that ever upset you?”

“What?” Baekhyun asked, looking away from the TV to the eldest wolf in confusion.

“_____ not recognizing your face,” he clarified. “Do you ever get upset by that? That she only knows who you are because of the pull?”

Baekhyun just shrugged, not really giving it much thought, “Why would it?”

When you’d first admitted to Baekhyun your condition, he hardly batted an eyelash. He promised to help you out when you were around the pack or in public, and he was always patient with you. He never saw a reason to be upset or hurt.

“Because had it not been for the pull, _____ wouldn’t know you from anybody else,” Chanyeol said bluntly before he seemed to realize just how bad his words sounded. “...Okay, that doesn’t sound...great...”

Well, Baekhyun had definitely never thought about it like that before.

“Way to go, Yeol,” Minseok said with a sigh. “Baek, that doesn’t mean--”

“No, it’s alright,” Baekhyun promised, shaking his head.

But it wasn’t that alright. Baekhyun definitely had some things to think about before you got home.

-

You frowned as you walked through the door. You didn’t like getting driven home by Minseok when Bohee was there because you could only hear one side of the conversation, and Minseok was always too busy giggling and fawning over his mate to clarify anything. You knew it wasn’t her fault, and you weren’t mad at her, it was just an annoying situation.

Once in the house, though, you kicked off your shoes and left the couple behind you, walking through the house in search of your own mate. While you couldn’t pick him out of the pack with your eyes, you knew you didn’t feel him nearby. You’d feel it when he was around you, but you didn’t feel anything.

“Hey, um...” you trailed off, unsure of who exactly it was in the kitchen with you.

The man looked up with a soft laugh, “It’s Yixing.”

“Right,” you nodded, your cheeks softly tinting pink -- it didn’t matter how many times you fucked up who was who, it was just as embarrassing every time. “Yixing, do you know where Baek is?”

“Uh...” Yixing paused and seemed to look passed you, through the doorway. “H-he’s um... He’s upstairs.”

You frowned, crossing your arms over your chest, “Why do you sound like that?”

Yixing cleared his throat, “Like what?”

“Nervous.”

“I’m not.”

You narrowed your eyes but dropped it, leaving the kitchen to go find your mate.

As promised, he was in your room. He was sitting at the edge of the bed, standing when you opened the door as if he was waiting for you. He didn’t look happy, either, and you gave a small pout, your eyebrows knitting together as you tried to think of what could’ve upset him. You were pretty sure he stayed home today, so there were a limited number of possibilities.

“Hey babe,” you said a little nervously. “What’s--”

“Can you recognize me?” Baekhyun blurted.

He wasn’t really one to beat around the bush with you, so you couldn’t say you were surprised about the outburst. It was more the question that had taken you off guard.

“Uh...what?”

Baekhyun walked forward and gripped your shoulders, his golden eyes dotting red as they bore into yours intensely, “Do you know my face or not?”

You glared at him, your jaw clenching, “Don’t speak to me like that.”

Everyone had figured out you weren’t the best at keeping your anger in check, and while you had your reasons, it was something you were working on. But sometimes, Baekhyun was able to make you go from 0 to 100 in seconds. He knew how to push your buttons more than anybody, and it didn’t help that he was just as stubborn as you were.

“Answer the question,” he demanded in a low growl.

You slapped his hands off your shoulders, taking a step away from him.

“No, Baekhyun, I don’t. I think you know very fucking well that I don’t know anybody’s face,” you sneered. 

“So if you didn’t have this pull to follow, you just wouldn’t know me from Junmyeon or Chanyeol or Sehun or anybody?”

Your hands clenched into fists at your sides, and you couldn’t tell if the tears forming in your eyes were from anger, embarrassment or sadness, “No, I wouldn’t. I don’t see what that matters, but I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t be able to tell you apart from anybody, I would call you the wrong names, and I would probably end up trying to hold some stranger’s hand. But I do know you because I can feel it, so I don’t see what the fuck you’re so upset about!”

Seeing your eyes well with tears as you continued to glare at him finally made him realize that he fucked up. Baekhyun had started this fight out of nowhere and for no reason. Of course he’d always known you couldn’t tell him apart from others visually, but he knew you always could pick him out of a crowd. He let his emotions get the best of him.

“_____, I’m sorry...” he said, his voice just above a whisper as the little flecks of red disappeared into the gold, and he reached a hand out for you.

You pushed passed him, pacing the length of the room as you ran your hands through your hair and tugged.

“Just because I can’t differentiate your face doesn’t mean I don’t know who you are,” you continued, your voice still loud and angry and full of hurt. “I know you, Baekhyun. Not just because of your face, but because of how I feel when you’re nearby or when I see you. That’s deeper than just seeing your face and recognizing you’re supposed to be my mate. You are the only person on the face of the earth that I can pick out, and yet that’s not even good enough for you.”

Baekhyun frowned, shaking his head, “No, that’s not it. It’s more than enough, I just--”

His words stopped when he saw you pull your arm back, your hand balled into a fist. He moved quickly, grabbing you by the waist and pulling you away from the wall before your knuckles could make contact. The last thing he needed was you breaking your hand or making it bleed -- again.

“Stop,” his voice was calm but still stern as he landed on the bed with you in his lap. You didn’t even realize you were crying until he was wiping your tears with his thumb. “Remember what your therapist said? Count to 10.”

You frowned, sniffling back your tears as you fought in his lap, “I don’t want to!”

Baekhyun just held you tighter, knowing you’d give in pretty easily. You had a hard time fighting the safe feeling being in your mate’s arms gave you, and Baekhyun quickly learned to use that to his advantage when you lashed out or had an especially bad day.

Sure enough, you soon melted into his arms with a soft whimper. Baekhyun moved closer to the headboard, bringing you with him and keeping you between his legs as he stroked your hair.

“I hope you know how much I love you,” Baekhyun murmured into your ear as you played with one of his hands in both of yours.

“Why’d you bring all of that up?” you wondered, a pout still on your face, but your tears were gone and your body wasn’t tensed.

He sighed, tilting his head lazily to the side, “Chanyeol mentioned it, and the way he worded it was...pretty awful. Basically, usual Chanyeol.”

You shook your head, “I know I can’t look at you and know who you are, but I know you better than anybody.”

“I know, baby,” he nodded, pressing a soft kiss to your temple. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

You turned to look at him, your eyes still a little glossed over, “I am trying, though. I want to know your face, too.”

“_____, you don’t have to,” he told you, lacing his fingers between yours. “I’d rather have you not recognize my face and feel a connection to me than have you recognize me but feel nothing.”

“I’ll always feel the connection, though. I’m your mate.”

A shake from a warm hand on your shoulder was what woke you up from one of the best dreams you’d had in a while -- you’d been having really weird dreams lately but you weren’t sure why.

“C’mon, _____,” Minseok whisper-sang. “Wake uuuup.”

You shook your head before burying your face deeper into the pillows.

“You’re gonna be late,” he sighed, shaking you a little bit faster.

You didn’t even have the motivation to roll over and sign for him to let you sleep for five more minutes, so you just stayed where you were.

“I’ll get Chanyeol up here if I have to,” he threatened, his lips close to your ear.

You slowly pushed yourself to sit up, your eyes still closed and your brows pulled together. You looked in the direction of Minseok before slowly opening your eyes to look at him, your head lolled to the side as you glared.

You’re the worst.

He giggled with a nod, kissing your temple, “Ah, I know. Get ready for class.”

It was at the very university that you still attended that you met Minseok. He worked in the student center, and you were sent there to get extra help. It was hard for you to get extra help in class when you couldn’t verbally ask, so professors and other students would just skip over you. Besides, none of them seemed to be able to understand sign language anyway.

Minseok wasn’t the one to help you, but he observed you. From the moment he first saw you across the room, he knew what was happening. He was a bit relieved he was the first to imprint since he was the oldest, but he was also nervous because nobody else in his pack had imprinted before. He had only heard stories of what it was supposed to be like, and while he knew the worst that could happen was just that you’d reject him, it still made him afraid. He could die if that happened. And considering you didn’t seem to speak at all, he figured that only made his chances of success even worse.

Either way, you were his mate, and he was determined to find any way he could to make things work. So the first thing he did was look up how to sign ‘hello, my name is Minseok’ -- he knew you could clearly hear him, but he wanted to do something to impress you and make you like him a bit more, and he’d have to be able to understand you. Of course, then he’d also have to figure out how to sign ‘I don’t know sign language’ so you’d know you couldn’t actually have a full conversation with him -- yet. But hey, it would be a start!

When that cute boy with the bright smile sat down across from you while you waited from your tutor, and he signed what he had practiced, you really almost cried. Your smile was so wide you had to cover your face, and that only made him smile more.

“I’m sorry I don’t know more,” he said sheepishly, “but I wanted to try. I’ll keep practicing, though.”

Just that promise alone made your heart flutter.

Of course, after telling his pack about his mate, Minseok insisted everybody else learn so they could understand you when the time came. He was starting to feel more confident about his rate of success, so he planned on taking you home to meet his pack at some point.

“Why can’t she talk?” Junmyeon wondered.

“I--” Minseok suddenly stopped. Realization hit -- he had no idea why you couldn’t speak. He never even asked! “I...have no idea...”

“Good job, hyung,” Baekhyun snorted.

The next day, Minseok went back to the student center to find you. He sat down at your same table as you waited for your tutor, and flashed you a warm smile, “Hello again.”

You waved shyly, happy to see the nice stranger once again.

“You know,” he began, “I did never get your name.”

You flipped open your notebook and scribbled down your name before sliding the book over to him. He read it aloud with a smile before looking at you again, “It’s pretty.”

Your cheeks turned pink, and you timidly signed thank you.

“I know that!” Minseok exclaimed excitedly, proud he was able to recognize a sign. You silently laughed at his outburst, and he cleared his throat and tried to compose himself again. “Sorry... I’ve been trying to learn what things mean since you don’t seem to have anybody else to talk to. That’s...not weird, is it?”

You shook your head with a smile.

“Can I ask you something a little weird, then?” he asked. “I don’t mean to sound rude by it, either.”

You already knew what was coming. He wanted to know why you didn’t speak. You wrote it on paper, explaining you had a birth defect with your vocal organs. Your parents never had the money to fix it, and at this point, you didn’t see a point in trying to.

Minseok read over it, nodding slowly, but then just carried on with the conversation as normal. He didn’t treat you like a child like most people did, and he didn’t seem to change your opinion of you. You decided you did really like Minseok.

Over the next few months, Minseok learned more and more sign language. The two of you started having full conversations with you having to write things down for him less and less. So, he eventually became your new tutor because it was easier. You were always writing what you wanted to say to your old tutor, and Minseok just seemed to get you better.

It was around that time that Minseok said he wanted to have a serious conversation with you. The two of you had been on a few dates, but there was no title to the relationship. You hoped that maybe this “serious conversation” would be making your relationship official, as you really liked Minseok, but you also didn’t want to get your hopes up.

It was partly that. He explained the whole werewolf thing, and the imprinting thing. To his surprise, you took it amazingly well, but he just figured it was because you could relate to being born differently. He was really sure you’d lose it when he dropped the “we mate for life” thing on you, but all you did was let out a very airy giggle and sign my parents will be so proud that I already have a husband lined up’. He really liked your sense of humor.

But you’d learned early on in life to roll with the punches, so that’s what you did.

And a year later, here you were: on your second to last year of college, and still dating Minseok.

As you wandered down the stairs to the kitchen, all dressed for class -- and Minseok dressed for work -- you all but ran straight into Baekhyun who was bolting up the stairs. He quickly came to a halt, grabbing you by your arms before you could collide with him.

“Hey, _____,” he chuckled.

Where’s the fire?

He playfully rolled his eyes, blowing some hair out of his face, “Jinri’s still not up.”

Alarm?

He just snorted, quickly moving out of the way to continue up the stairs, “Bold of you to assume she set an alarm.”

You just raised your eyebrows and carried on down the stairs.

Jinri was a nice girl that Baekhyun had imprinted on only a few months ago, but she was a lot like you where she wasn’t what the average person would consider “normal”. She had a difficult time distinguishing between people, and nobody quite knew why that was. With that came a lot of anxieties when it came to talking to people that she even knew well, and she tended to get depressed. But Baekhyun seemed to help her well, and she could always at least differentiate between him and everybody else.

As you turned into the kitchen, you found only Minseok, Junmyeon, and Sehun were awake. Junmyeon was fixing breakfast, Minseok was getting him and you some coffee, and Sehun had his head down on the breakfast bar. You knew that the three wolves had obviously heard you enter, but you knocked twice on the doorway just out of habit.

“Morning, _____,” Junmyeon looked over his shoulder and flashed you a bright smile. “Did you sleep well?”

You shook your head and made a face directed at your mate’s back.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he scolded softly.

You shook your head.

I still don’t know how he does that.

“None of us do,” Junmyeon laughed. “Even Baek always seems to know when Jinri is making faces at him behind his back. I suppose it’s just a mate thing.”

“I have eyes on the back of my head,” Minseok stated as he turned around and walked toward you with two travel mugs. He handed one to you. “C’mon, let’s get going. You’ll be late, and I have a nap to take in my car. Sehunnie, let’s go.”

“Let’s not,” the younger wolf groaned, but he stood up from the stool anyway. “Bye, hyung.”

“Have a good day, guys!” Junmyeon called as the three of you left the kitchen.

In the car, you always got shotgun when Minseok was driving. He’d drive with one hand, keeping the other in your lap in case you wanted to talk to him. He obviously couldn’t take his eyes off the road to watch your hands, so he’d feel what you were signing with his free hand. It was a difficult thing for him to learn -- there were so many things he got wrong at first, which only made you laugh in odd-sounding wheezes and gasps -- but he was a pro at it now.

Can we stop for breakfast?

“No,” Minseok told you as he backed out of the driveway.

“No what?” Sehun asked.

“No nothing,” Minseok mumbled. “If I tell you, you’ll beg, too.”

Sehun crossed his arms over his chest, pouting out the window as he grumbled, “I hate third-wheeling you two.”

-

The day went by as boringly normal as always. By the time you got home, though, you were exhausted. But could you rest immediately? Of course not.

“C’mon, you have to study for this test next week,” Minseok nagged, trying to drag you out of bed -- you both knew he was holding back because he really could get you out of bed without even putting in that much effort.

You shook your head as you laid on your back, squeezing your eyes closed.

Be quiet, the baby is sleeping.

Minseok rolled his eyes, “The only baby here is you.”

Exactly.

“Yah, _____,” he whined, finally scooping you up in his arms and carrying you over to the desk. “Come on, only for two hours.”

‘Only for’, as if two hours is not a long period of time.

“I could make it three,” he threatened as he sat down in the desk chair with you in his lap.

Are you my father now?

“Yes,” he deadpanned, making you smile and shake your head. He opened up your textbooks that he’d already taken out of your bag beforehand, and opened to the page you last left off at. “If you finish this whole section, I’ll take you out for ice cream.”

The rolled kind?

He nodded, “The rolled kind.”

Minseok’s head rested on your shoulder as he helped you through your work. He kept his hands palm-up on the table as he read through the textbook and your notes just so you could talk while he read, and he could “hear” you while he tried to get caught up on what you had learned that day. He was fantastic at multitasking -- which, of course, took a bit of time at first.

While you jotted down in the margins of your notebook, Minseok took your freehand, absentmindedly peppering kisses over your knuckles while his eyes continued to scan the textbook pages. It was a habit he often did, and it always made you blush every single time. But you were still dead set on that ice cream, so you tried not to let it distract you.

As soon as you finished the page, you slammed your textbook closed and tossed your fists in the air in triumph, a bright smile on your face. Minseok turned to look at you with an amused smile and a chuckle, his eyes traveling all the way up to your hands before settling on your face again.

“Done?”

You nodded eagerly.

“Alright,” he sighed, standing up from the chair, “I’ll go put my contacts in, and I’ll meet you downstairs.”

While Minseok went to the bathroom to put in some brown contacts -- the amount of money those boys went through in a month just for colored contacts was insane -- you immediately went downstairs to put your shoes on. Of course, you were stopped by a chuckling Yixing who had just walked through the door when you almost crashed into him.

“Whoa, where’re you going?” he asked as he made sure your footing was stable.

Ice cream!

Yixing’s smile widened, “It’s amazing how the two mates in the house are so opposite of each other.”

You had to admit that while you were very excitable and cheery, Baekhyun’s mate was...well, not. Jinri was sweet, of course, but she definitely had a bite to her. It didn’t mean she was mean, she could just get snappy if she felt like nobody was listening to her or if she was frustrated. But you couldn’t blame her for being frustrated, especially with her having a hard time recognizing people. You even got frustrated a lot -- especially when you first moved in and hardly anybody remembered to look at you to ‘hear’ you.

“Where is Minseok anyway?” Yixing wondered, expecting the older werewolf to be attached to your hand like always.

Upstairs. He has to put in his contacts.

“It sure is taking him a lot--”

“Ow! Chanyeol!” you heard your mate whine from upstairs.

You turned just in time to see Chanyeol running down the hall, away from the bathroom as he giggled, “Sorry, hyung!”

“--longer...” Yixing concluded with an amused eyebrow quirk.

You saw Minseok emerge from the bathroom, one hand covering his left eye as he pouted over at you and Yixing by the door, “Chanyeol made me poke my eye.”

Again?

“Yes, again,” he groaned.

Are you able to drive?

Since Yixing was standing behind you, he didn’t see you ask the question, so he repeated, “Are you alright to drive? If not, I have no problem driving you and _____.”

Minseok chuckled at the little face you made after hearing Yixing ask the same thing you did, “Yeah, I’ll be alright.”

Your mate made his way down the stairs, finally uncovering his eye and blinking a few times. When he got closer, you held his face between your hands and looked into it, but it looked pretty normal to you.

“Am I gonna make it?” he asked in a baby voice, looking at you with wide eyes and his lower lip jutted out.

You giggled silently, playfully whacking his arm.

“Alright, let’s go,” he grinned, nodding toward the door. “See ya, Yixing.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Yixing called over his shoulder.

Minseok paused in the doorway with a smirk, “Where’s the fun in that?”

And then he shut the door.

-

You and Minseok sat on a bench just outside the ice cream shop, watching as people walked by. It was a little difficult having a two-way conversation when you needed to your hands to eat, so Minseok talked about his day, rambled on about his thoughts, and basically said whatever came to mind. You just listened, but you enjoyed hearing him speak.

“Actually, something I thought of this morning,” he began, switching topics suddenly, “was babies.”

You paused as you were about to put some ice cream in your mouth, glancing over at your boyfriend out of the corner of your eye.

He giggled at your reaction, shaking his head, “Don’t look at me like that!”

You closed your mouth, a smirk forming on your lips as you slowly set your cup of ice cream down on the table.

“_____-ah!” he laughed. “No, listen -- it’s because I had this dream last night that--”

So you dreamed about having kids?

“Can I talk?” he joked.

You can, but I can’t.

He sighed, “I should’ve seen that one coming. I swear, sometimes your jokes are worse than Junmyeon’s. But anyway, as I was saying. So I had this dream that we had this little two-year-old and everybody in the pack loved her so much, and then when I woke up all I could think about was having a kid around in the house. I feel like everybody would get very... Ah, what’s the word...?”

Soft?

“Yeah,” he laughed with a nod. “But, I was also thinking about how I can’t wait to have our own kids in real life. Let me tell you, our son was adorable.”

We had a son? What did he look like? What did he act like? What was his name?

Now, even you were excited, signing question after question as Minseok just giggled at you. You would even start signing one question, and then stop in the middle and switch to a new one. Minseok always said you were stuttering when you did that.

“Yah, finish your ice cream before it melts,” he told you, nodding to your half-finished cup.

You let out a quiet sigh, picking up the cup and spoon to continue eating. As you ate your ice cream, you listened to Minseok continue to tell you about the future that he wanted to have with you -- that he was going to have with you -- and you listened happily to it all.