“Kitaaaaa!”

                Kita scrambled up, her feet tangled up in the blanket from the night before as she blinked her eyes open. Then she was scrambling again at the very close faces of the two wolves in whose bedroom she was currently residing.

                “Yaa, what are you doing on the floor?” She was still too out of it to register which one had said it, but both Chen and Lay seemed personally offended that she had chosen to sleep on the floor.

                “I dunno, it was weird to sleep in someone else’s bed,” she groaned at them, rubbing her eyes to try and wake up a little faster, seeing as how these two already had so much energy.

                “Well you should have said something, we could have at least found you something more comfortable than the floor!”

                They began debating between themselves what other places she could have spent the night, but Kita was more focused on standing and heading downstairs to the kitchen to try and scrounge some food. She hadn’t eaten at all yesterday, so now she was starving.

                She made her way to the kitchen cabinets and opened them to find them – completely empty. The same with the fridge, the pantry, and the shelf racks beside the stove. All empty.

                “Erm… guys…?” She called out, recalling having read somewhere that wolves have sensitive hearing and just praying that one of them would hear and show up. And it was true, within seconds Chanyeol popped his head around the corner,

                “Hey what’s up?”

                “Where’s all your food? Wolves eat food right? You don’t go around munching on bunny rabbits or anything do you?”

                Chanyeol let out a booming laugh, beaming at her like she’d said the funniest thing in the world, “No no no!” he shook his hands at her, “We’re just out, we’re going on a grocery run today so we can pick something up for you if you want? If there’s any special Fey food you think we can find?”

                Kita looked at him strangely, “where are you going to get this food?”

                “The human town, it’s a couple hours drive away so we only go every couple weeks or so, hence why we have no food whatsoever.”

                They only bought food every couple weeks? For twelve wolves? How much food could they possibly be buying? They probably emptied the entire store every time they went.  

                “The maknae’s probably have something stashed away though,” Chanyeol’s voice dragged her mind back to the present, and Kita felt a little bad that he probably hadn’t stopped talking and she’d just zoned out. “I can go find you something if you want?”

                Kita shook her head, remembering Sehun’s angry gaze last night. The last thing she wanted was to get on their bad side. “No it’s ok, I’ll be fine until you get back.”

                But Chanyeol wasn’t taking no for an answer, “nonsense, we won’t be back until evening, and you didn’t eat anything last night!” As he recalled that fact, a furrow appeared on his brow, “come on.” And as if it was no big deal, he clasped his big hand around hers and led her to the stairs at the back of the house. “Sehun’s our best bet for food, he can’t cook at all so he hoards a ton of late night snacks.”

                “Chanyeol it’s ok I don’t want to bother him-”

                “You’re not bothering him, you’re one of us now!” And again, he said this like it was nothing, as if she’d lived there for years instead of a single day. Already he was so familiar with her, like she was a part of this pack.

                Chanyeol didn’t know the slightest thing about her. Even if Xiumin and Luhan had told him everything they’d learned about her last night, that was still just the tip of the iceberg. And yet, here he was, accepting her for who she was and trusting her without reservation, welcoming her into his family with open eyes and a big toothy smile.

                Kita felt touched, but was saved from having to say anything by Chanyeol knocking loudly on Sehun’s door. “Sehun! I know you can hear me and I know you’re in there, open up!” There was no answer, so he gave a brief eye roll to Kita before simply turning the door handle and waltzing into the room.

                It was an open loft, quite a big room for just one person. Still, it was a typical boys bedroom with clothes dumped everywhere, paper planes littering one corner where he’d obviously aimed them for the garbage but missed every time and not bothered to pick them up. And then there was Sehun, looking dishevelled as he jumped from where he’d been slouching on his chair to attempt to wrestle Chanyeol for the box of cereal on the dresser.

                “No … hyung … it’s … mine…”

                “Just … give … it … up …”

                And alas, although Sehun put up a valiant effort, Chanyeol was still a bit taller and packing a considerable amount more muscle than Sehun, who was overthrown and dumped on the bed.

                “Aha!” Chanyeol grabbed the box of cereal and held it over his head like a trophy. Kita found herself laughing along with him, clapping as he bowed to his ‘fans’, and then laughing even harder as she saw Sehun’s pouty face as one of his precious cereals was taken away. She couldn’t really feel guilty about it, seeing the stack of boxes left on the dresser. Sehun would be fine with one less.

                And that was how she found herself at the breakfast bar with a bowl of dry cereal, surrounded by hungry wolves who were attempting to scavenge the remaining box, and Chanyeol who was ‘bravely defending the fair maiden and her breakfast’.

                “Alright everyone, ready to go?” Suho walked calmly into the kitchen, tugging up his coat collar. He winked at her, seeing her surrounded, and grinned as he looked at the very long list held to the fridge with a smiley face magnet. “We’ve got a lot to get so we might as well get going.”

                There was a collective groan from the wolves.

                “I don’t wanna go.”

                “Do we really have to?”

                Suho gave them all a sharp look. Well, probably as sharp as he could manage. “If you think I’m getting all of this by myself then you’ve got another thing coming. Now let’s go.”

                “Where’s Kris?”

                “Yeah, how did he get out of grocery shopping?”

                Suho’s eye’s flickered to Kita and back to his wolves before answering, “Kris is visiting another pack for a little bit, he’ll be back eventually.”

                As the wolves began to shuffle outside Suho walked over to Kita and leaned close as if to whisper something confidential, “since you’re new and all I’m not sure if you’re supposed to leave here, I mean, well-”

                “No I get it, I’m still technically a prisoner here,” Kita responded as calmly as she could to the subtle reminder that she wasn’t just a visiting guest in the household.

                Suho gave her an apologetic smile, “I’ve heard that someone will be by in a couple days with some stuff for you, clothes and all that, so we’ll get more info then about what you can and can’t do, then maybe next time you can come shopping with us. But for now do you mind staying here? Kai will be with you so you won’t be by yourself.”

                Kita nodded, “Yeah no problem”, but on the inside her mind was racing. A Fey was coming back? How long would she have to stay if they were going to bring her supplies?

                Suho took in her conflicted expression and pat her shoulder giving it a sympathetic squeeze, “finish your breakfast, we’ll be back by dinner time.”

                And as he knew that the rest of his wolves took forever to get coordinated and in the cars to get going, Suho made one more stop before heading out. Kai’s room.

                “Kai?” He knocked before heading in, seeing Kai laying on his bed with a book propped up in front of him. “We’re heading out.”

                Kai nodded absent-mindedly, obviously caught up in whatever he was reading.

                “We’re leaving Kita with you.”

                Well that caught his attention. Immediately his face turned to his secondary Alpha, eyebrows raised and eyes wide, mouth open as if he wanted to speak up but didn’t know what to say.

                After a few seconds he managed to string some words together “So it’ll just be me and her? All day? Me, with the Fey, by myself?”

                Suho nodded, “her name’s Kita, not ‘The Fey’. And don’t just hide in here all day, go out there, make her feel at home.”

                “But Kris said-”

                “I know what he said.” Suho cut him off. He could fully understand Kris’ intentions, they had no idea about what the Fey were capable of and until they knew they should keep their distance. But Suho was still more soft-hearted than his fellow leader, and couldn’t imagine the poor scared little Fey doing anything terrible. He remembered how he’d walked in on that scene in the kitchen with his wolves crowding around her, already she was starting to fit in even if she didn’t realise it herself. And it seemed like she might be here for longer than expected, so they might as well start getting comfortable with the idea. Besides, Kris was already out visiting other Packs to learn about the Fey, so he’d be back before anything terrible could happen.

                “Just look after her?”

                Kai sighed, running his hand through his hair and standing up from his bed. He dog-eared the corner of his page and tossed the book on his pillow, silently following Suho out of the room he shared with D.O.

                Downstairs, everyone was finally in the vans and Suho ran off to join them, lest any of them get bored and get out to start playing a game. There was no getting them focused again once their minds began to wander.

                And that left Kita sat at the breakfast bar with a half empty bowl of cereal and Kai stood in the archway behind her, scuffing at the floor with his toes and his hands shoved deep in his pockets. There was a beat of awkward silence, and then another.

                What am I supposed to say, she’s a Fey, I don’t know a single thing about Fey!

                To try and break the tension, he let out a cough announcing he was there, glancing up at her reaction.

                It wasn’t quite as he’d expected. In his mind, the Fey were graceful creatures, always floating around making daisy chains underneath rainbows, that kind of thing. Not the kind of people who would yelp, fall out of their chair, and spill cereal all over the floor when they dragged it down with them.

                But still, it stunned him out of his awkwardness as he rushed forward to help her up.

                “Are you ok? I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” He gripped her hand and pulled her up, but she jerked away from him. She mumbled an apology, subtly rubbing the hand he’d touched, and bent down to start scooping up the cereal. Silently, he bent down and helped her, ignoring his embarrassment at her outright rejection.

                In the pack, touching was normal. They were all so closely linked that it was no big deal to have your head resting on someone’s shoulder or your arm on someone’s back. And since there were so many of them, they were always squished together when watching movies, or sitting anywhere for that matter. It was comforting to be like that, truth be told Kai had always been a little uneasy when they went to town and left him alone here. But they’d be back eventually, and until then Kai would do his best to keep Kita company, as uncomfortable as it may be.

                In Kita’s mind, a different argument was racing. She hadn’t heard Kai approach, and it had startled her, she’d barely seen him since yesterday morning so she’d figured he was the type to just hole up in his room. Then when he’d touched her hand to help her up she just hadn’t been prepared for the buzzing jolt to run through her fingers, an electricity that paralyzed her for the briefest of pauses before she came to her senses, pulling her hand away and creating distance between them.

                The pull under her ribs was wild, confirming beyond a doubt it was his magic that she’d felt. She’d barely seen the hurt look on his face before she turned and began cleaning the mess to distract herself, anything to give her more time to think about it.

                “So…” He mumbled quietly, still not meeting her eyes as they picked up the last of the cereal, “anything you want to do while the others are gone?”

                “Outside.” She said, almost breathlessly, “Let’s go outside.” Fresh air would calm her, the sight of the forest would calm her, anything was better than being cramped here where she could feel herself being pulled in his direction. Besides, he was probably left here as her ‘keeper’, she doubted she’d be able to go anywhere without him. Why else would Suho leave him here alone? 

                Kai nodded, “it’s about time I did a patrol anyway.” Taking special care to avoid touching her again, he moved around her to the front door, hearing the soft pitter-patter of her walking behind him. He looked back at her once they were outside, taking a double glance seeing that he barely recognised her.

                He’d never really given her a solid look at her before, Kris’ warning and the way she’d stared at him so openly when they’d first met had made him a bit uncomfortable. But now was a prime moment to look. Her lips had parted in a soft smile as she looked at the forest, even as her eyes were filled with longing there was still a familiar happiness evident in her expression at the sight of her home.

                And then her hair was falling differently, and for the first time he got a glimpse of the faintly pointed ears, not as exaggerated as he’d imagined but still noticeable enough to define her as a Fey.

                They stayed in that position for longer than either of them had expected, her staring at the forest and him staring at her, but eventually she shook her head, breaking the spell.

                “Sorry, just a little distracted for a minute, should we get going?”

                Kai averted eyes, pretending that he hadn’t been marvelling at just how tiny her palms were. He turned to head towards the forest but felt her fingers grip on his sleeve to stop him.

                “I don’t think I can, I mean, I don’t know if I’m allowed…”

                “we’re not going in, don’t worry, just patrolling the outside.”

                Obviously relieved, Kita’s hand relaxed on his jacket and finally dropped away.  She’d never actually considered having to go back in the forest, and was determined to keep avoiding the issue as long as possible.

                They walked quietly along the edge of the dark wooded forest, a silence between them that was only growing more awkward until Kita couldn’t take it anymore. She just had to say something.

                “So do you usually patrol by yourself?”

                And Kai, so relieved that she’d started a conversation, didn’t even think before replying. “Usually I do it when they go to town, just so I’ve got something to do. Sometimes someone will stay back and do it with me, but usually it’s just me.”

                “You mean you’re always left behind? Every time?”

                Kai nodded, “yeah, I’ve always done the patrol. For some reason I can sense other creatures from further away, so it makes the most sense for me to do it.” There was a faint note of pride in his voice, but Kita heard something else in his words, a secret that she was desperately trying to uncover.

                “What kind of creatures?”

                “The usual, ghouls, ghosts, witches, oh we had a banshee once! What else… a couple harpies, a few rogue vamps, attacks are getting more frequent but there’s still not too many. I honestly don’t know why the Fey really need all of us guarding the border anyway, this kind of stuff is probably something you could handle yourselves.”

                Kita nodded absent-mindedly, her mind already latched on to his response and running with it, “so they’re all magical creatures that you’re sensing then?”

                Kai shrugged, “I suppose so, yeah, why?”

                “Why do you think you’re better at it than the others?” She kept pressing on with her questions, “wouldn’t Kris or Suho be better since they’re your Alphas?”

                “I dunno, it’s just probably since I’m the only natural born wolf, the others were all turned.”

                Now she was getting somewhere.

                Kai being a natural born wolf was frankly, incredible. The wolf gene wasn’t a strong one, most wolves were made through the bite so the ratio of this pack wasn’t anything strange. So could it be possible that Kai had magic because he’d been a wolf since the moment of his conception, that it was just as much a part of him as everything else and not something that had taken over?

                “You ok?” Kai asked, peering sideways at her. She’d been quiet for a while now, “I’m not picking up on any monsters nearby if that’s scaring you.”

                “No it’s not that. It’s just…” She hesitated, before throwing caution to the wind, “do you have magic, Kai?”

                Kai blinked slowly at her, his smile spreading wider until he started laughing at her. “Of course not! Wolves don’t have magic, where’d you hear that?”

                “But wolves are magical creatures too aren’t they? Just like vamps and ghouls!” How could he have no idea about the power laying within him? Kita was positive she was right, there was no way Kai didn’t have magic, but somehow he just didn’t realise it.

                At this, Kai scratched the back of his neck in contemplation, “well yeah, I suppose, but that doesn’t mean that we have magic, just that we are magic, if that makes sense.” He chortled again as he thought back on her ‘crazy’ question, continuing walking the perimeter that his pack was assigned to guard.

                What he’d said did make sense, for all wolves other than Kai. The other eleven showed no signs of magic whatsoever, it was just him. And whether it was because of his natural-born wolf status or something more than that, Kita wasn’t sure. But as they continued walking she was forming a plan to find more answers.

                As far as she could tell, wolves were basically humans, they were a little more conscious of one another and their senses a little stronger than average, and they were probably up there in physical strength too, but there was nothing ‘magical’ about them for her to notice.

                Not until they’d transform into wolves.

                Not until the full moon. 

                Kita had her own reasons for knowing the date of the full moon, but this time there was something even more important.

                She’d just have to wait one more week to find her answers.