COUNTDOWN: 24 DAYS TO FULL MOON #4

                “We need to get them moving along.” Xiumin said, leaning his chin on his hand as he watched Luhan pick up folded laundry (courtesy of D.O.) and carefully place each piece on a hanger (under orders from Suho). “Kita’s been here for three months already and they’ve gotten nowhere.”

                “Kai’s just shy. He won’t do anything.” Luhan mused, “We need to get them in situations where there not just talking about magic and wolves. Right now its like….like they’re business partners.”

                “Business partners in looooove.” Xiumin snickered.

                Luhan laughed along with him, already thinking of ways to get the two together.

                “Suho!”

                “Suho! Wait up!”

                “Suho we’ve got a proposition for you!”

                Suho, to his credit, didn’t even flinch at the two wolves bellowing his name and hurtling down the stairs after him. He calmly continued into the kitchen and was already peeling an orange by the time Xiumin and Luhan reached him. He raised an eyebrow at the pair, waiting for them to start.

                “So you know how Kai’s still feeling sick-”

                “-and Kita is always in there to ‘calm his magic streams’ or whatever-”

                “-so D.O. keeps being kicked out of his room-”

                “-and Lay and Chen are still sharing beds with the rest of us-”

                Suho raised a hand to cut them off, “Where are you two going with this?”

                They shared an excited glance. “Kita should just move into Kai’s room! Chen and Lay would get their room back, Kai wouldn’t have to send a messenger every time he needs her, she’d stop fretting about him when she can’t see how he’s doing. It’d work for everyone!”

                Suho eyed them suspiciously, “You two are up to something…” But it wasn’t actually a terrible idea… He walked to the living room, hearing the anxious patter of the two wolves following him. As expected, that’s where most of the others were. “D.O., what do you think about the idea of moving rooms?”

                D.O. looked up at him with blinking owl eyes, “huh?”

                “It’s something Xiumin and Luhan came up with. They think we should put Kita in Kai’s room so she can keep a closer watch on his recuperation. Honestly, if things weren’t this uncertain about how we can make him feel better I wouldn’t even be suggesting it but...” He trailed off, looking at D.O. whose eyes had narrowed just a touch.

                Narrowed and looking at Xiumin and Luhan because of course, D.O. knew what they were up to. However, their argument was sound; Kai didn’t seem to be getting better other than after Kita had been sat with him for hours. Maybe having her there full time would speed up the process. Besides, he shipped ‘Kaita’ as much as the other two and also wanted to see things move along. “Yeah alright.” He said, looking at Suho, “I don’t mind.”

                Suho nodded, “thanks D.O. Chen, Lay, that means you two get your rooms back.”

                The two wolves on the cushy chair smiled, obviously glad to not have to be squished in random beds anymore.

                “Now we just need a place to put you, D.O…” Suho thought, mentally swapping beds around in his mind….

                “No. Absolutely not. This is my space.” Sehun stood barring the entrance to his loft, his loft. He was the only wolf (other than Kris, of course) who didn’t share a room and that was the way he liked it.

                “ it up Sehun,” Baekhyun said, moving a box of Tao’s things past him to dump it in the middle of the floor. “you’ve got way more space than the rest of us. D.O. needs to room with Suho so Tao has to come up here with you.” Baekhyun almost felt bad for Suho. As an Alpha, he was supposed to have his own room like Kris did, but Tao was so scared of the dark when he first moved in that he kept crawling into Suho’s bed and eventually Suho just put up a bed for him there. “You get along with Tao anyway.”

                “But this is my space, he’ll touch my stuff, and eat my food!”

                “He was supposed to be your roommate anyway!”

                Luhan was grinning at their bickering. The whole house was in upheaval about all of the room changes, there was no backing out now. They hadn’t told Kai and Kita yet, but he was sure they’d be fine with it. He was about to head back downstairs to grab another of Tao’s boxes (that boy had more possessions than the rest of them combined) when a flicker of movement caught his eye through the window. He leaned over, squinting his eyes to prove that it was really what he was seeing, and then sprinted to the second floor.

                “KRIS! SUHO!” He barged into Kai’s room. “Kita, we need you.” He barely gave her time to breathe before he pulled her up from where she was sat next to Kai’s bed and dragged her out of the room, slamming the door behind them. “D.O! Make sure he doesn’t get up to follow us!” D.O. nodded and head in Kai’s bedroom. By now, the two Alpha’s had reached them.

                “Luhan, what’s going on?” Kris demanded.

                “There’s a Fey on the edge of the forest, looks like he’s waiting for us. I think it’s the same one as last time.” The words tumbled over his tongue and slurred together, but the sharp look shared between the Alpha’s showed they’d gotten the message. Kita’s paling face showed that she had too.

                Immediately, Kris was in business mode. He raised his voice enough that the rest of the wolves would hear it in the house. “D.O. and Kai stay inside. Baekhyun, Lay, you too. Everyone else with me.”

                The chosen wolves assembled in seconds at the front door, parting like the ocean as Kris, Kita, and Suho walked through them. “Try to leave the talking to us unless he asks you a direct question, okay Kita?” Suho murmured as he walked with her through the door.

                That was fine with her. She’d rather not be out there at all.

                No. She wasn’t going to hide. Remember Kita, she chastised herself, you stand up for yourself now. And for your pack as well.

                The wolves assembled on the grass similar to how they had on the day Kita was first brought here, except this time there was no stark fear at their union, instead a strength made her stand tall as she felt the shift of bodies around her.

                “Coordinating Ambassador Eunhyuk.” Suho greeted, “it’s good to see you again, though we didn’t receive word that you would be coming.”

                Eunhyuk tilted his head a little in acknowledgement of the greeting, “that is understandable as forewarning was not given. I am not here as an upkeep of my duty to monitor the accused in question, I was ordered here on more severe terms.”

                Accused in question? Was that her name now?

                “Please elaborate, we would gladly assist you if we could.” Suho said graciously, and Kita once again admired his skill with words, and understood again why this pack required two Alphas. She imagined Kris handle this situation and barely stifled her giggle.

                “Your compliance would be greatly appreciated. We received reports of a werewolf sighting in this area during the last full moon. Do you have anything to say about this?”

                How did he know?

                Kita’s heart lurched to her chest, but thankfully the Alpha beside her didn’t miss a beat. “A lone wolf attempted to get past the border. Needless to say we intercepted it and dealt with the problem.”

                “How can you be sure there will be no pack coming for retribution?”

                “I ask that you trust that we of all beings would know when a wolf belongs to a pack or not.”

                “And the wolf is dead?” Eunhyuk surveyed the grass around them, parts of it still singed and bare. “I notice that those of you standing before me do not amount to the full numbers of your pack. Do tell, where are the four others?”

                “We have four members on a supply run to the nearby town.” Suho said, “And the wolf was  disposed of. We couldn’t keep the body here lest it draw in other creatures. I’m sure you’re aware of the increase in border attacks recently?”

                Eunhyuk nodded stiffly, “we are.”

                Suho continued, his silky voice on a roll, “and if you were doing anything that would give us reason to believe we should increase our defences, I trust that you would share that information with us?”

                Eunhyuk responded, his voice just has politely icy as Suho’s. “You will be told what you need to know. Nothing more. Now if it is all possible I would like a word with the accused in question. In private.”

                “You can say it to all of us.” Kris growled, his first words in the whole conversation.

                Eunhyuk raised a brow, “remember your place. What I have to say is for Fey ears only.”

                Kita placed an hand on Kris’ arms to quiet the retort she knew was coming. “It’s ok, Kris.” She stepped forwards to the edge of the forest, making sure to stop just a breath from him, just before she entered the shade of the forest trees. “What is it?” She lacked the finesse of Suho’s graceful elegance, but she wasn’t about to let her words waver.

                “Kitaria.” Eunhyuk said, his voice lowered. “I…” he hesitated, “I want to make sure you’re ok here with the wolves. You look like you’ve been pulled through a bush backwards.”

                The words, he was obviously uncomfortable saying something so informal, it was clearly against his nature to speak so freely. But the words, the words that whispered in her memory, of easier times before the weight of being unbound began to weigh on her.

                “Donghae.” Kita whispered, eyes widened and fixed on Eunhyuk’s face.

                “The Tree is falling sick. Things are changes. Be careful.”  

                He swept away, rushing back into the darkness of the forest and not giving her an opportunity to question. She yearned to run after him but she refused to enter the forest, she wasn’t sure what would happen to her if she stepped foot in it.

                “What did that mean?” Kris asked, having obviously heard the message with his wolf hearing. She felt the rest of the wolves crowding around her to warm her frozen core.

                Kita only shook her head. “I don’t know.”             

                That evening, everyone had finally retied to their new bedrooms (albeit a bit of grumbling from Sehun who finally relented and let Tao enter his room). It had been hours, and Kita was sure she was the only one awake. She barely ad the effort to think about the room switch which left her lying on D.O.’s old bed, she only had thoughts for Eunhyuk.

                Is Donghae trying to talk to me through him? Can I trust him? What are they trying to tell me? What do they mean that the Tree is sick, it can’t be sick!

                What do I have to be careful about?

                What is coming?

                She was surprised he hadn’t asked again about the Moonstone, she thought it was his main task to try and find where –

                The Moonstone!

                She sprang out of bed and grabbed the only bag she had of her possessions, watching the contents spill out as she tipped it onto the bed.

                Clothes, letters, the bag containing the leaf-, Kita’s heart rested as she spotted the moonstone wrapped in a rolled-up sock. Whoever had moved her things from the other room had obviously taken great care to do so. She clasped her fingers around it, almost dropping it back to the covers when she felt the soft pulsing in her hands.

                The stone was cool, soothing her clammy skin and putting her nerves at ease, but it resonated clearly, like a silent birdsong at daybreak. She cradled it, holding it in both hands like the most precious thing she’d ever held. And to think of it, it was.

                Was it because of her rising magic levels, that she could finally feel the power within the stone? A plausible reason, but unlikely. She was sure there were Fey more powerful than her in the forest who would have noticed it if this was the explanation.

                Whatever it was, it was the answer to the questions she’d always been asking. In her hands was the explanation of being moonbound, if only she had the insight to unravel it. She was one step closer to aligning her soul with moonlight, and a focused look inside herself told her that she was right. Somehow, the ache inside herself was less than it had once been. Slowly, almost unnoticeably, she had begun her binding process. Somewhere, she had found her answer, if only she understood where.

                  She didn’t let go of the stone that night, letting the resonation lull her to sleep as she cuddled in her blanket, her magic pulsing in time with the stone. As dreams took her, she remained completely unaware of tossing and turning of the wolf in the bed on the other side of the room.

The furrow of his brow.

The clenching of his fist.

And the way his magic was thrumming with hers.