No one spoke for a minute or two. The silence was maddening and you pleaded in your mind for Jongdae to say something. You couldn’t find the exact words to say yourself and you wanted answers from him. If you were his mate, with this instinctual pull towards you that was nearly impossible to fight, why had he treated you with such disdain?

Clearing his throat, Junmyeon stood up. “Alright, everyone. Clear out. Give them room to talk.”

With a few grumblings, they shuffled out single file. Junmyeon closed the door behind him, finally leaving the two of you alone. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Jongdae took a seat on the now vacant coffee table, staring down at his hands.

You couldn’t take it anymore.

“How long have you known?” Part of you wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it wasn’t an automatic process. Maybe it took time for the pull to develop.

“Since the party.”

And maybe you were completely wrong.

You let out a humorless laugh. “So, you’ve known for months? When did you find out that they were going to try and kill me?”

Jongdae ruffled his hair, looking off to the side. “We wondered from the beginning. Since I met you and realized you were friends with Eun Na, we’ve been thinking they were up to something. She would do things that seemed suspicious, especially going out of her way to keep you away from the whole pack. A month ago, Chanyeol and Baekhyun overheard some people from her coven talking about the ‘ritual’ and after some time we figured out exactly what they were planning on doing.”

“A month!” You jumped up, your hands squeezed into fists. Violence was not in your DNA, but now you wanted nothing more than to punch this stupid werewolf in the face. “You’ve known for a month that they were going to try and kill me and you didn’t think to do something more about it? If the spell called for an unclaimed mate then why didn’t you just claim me?”

“Because I didn’t want a mate!” Jongdae was now standing as well, staring down at you. His chest was heaving up and down and his eyes shined that strange yellow color again. “I’ve seen what’s happened to Minseok and Baekhyun. Jongin and Yixing are even worse. I didn’t want that. I don’t like being tied down. Someone clinging to me all the time is nowhere on my list of priorities. So I fought it, okay? I’ve been fighting the pull.”

He didn’t want you. That was something that you were used to, but with him - knowing that underneath it wasn’t just a lack of interest but a fight against destiny or his genes - it was a thousand times worse. He thought of you as a parasite without even giving you a chance. “So why not just let them kill me? Then your problems would be solved.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Jongdae countered. “A wolf protects their mate at all costs. We don’t have a choice. Ignoring you was impossible.”

“But you didn’t want save me,” you concluded. “All you did originally was tell me not go. You could have explained all this to me when you found out they were going to kill me. You could have told me about being mates and how Eun Na was a witch, but you chose not to. Because you don’t want to care about me. I’m nothing but a nuisance to you and you don’t even want take the chance to get to know me.”

The tears were piling up on your bottom lid and to be perfectly honest you had no intention of stopping them. You didn’t like to cry (really, did anyone?), but you gave no effort to stop because you wanted Jongdae to know how much he was hurting you, how loud the words of his actions were.

“Do you even realize how you’ve been treating me since the party?” you continued. “I’ve been feeling like a child or a yapping puppy that you’ve been completely disgusted by. Okay, so our meeting wasn’t exactly the most romantic, but you didn’t have to act that way. And now finding out about all of this? I think I would have preferred to burn at the stake.”

Not waiting for his side of the argument, you ran to the door, throwing it open.

“(y/n), wait!”

Slam!

You hardly paid attention to where you were going, just needing out. Through the empty front parlor, you found the main door and went outside, stopping at the sight.

Miles of hundred-foot-tall pines surrounded the property. The front porch seemed to wrap around at least three-fourths of the house. You went down the front steps and turned around. A big blue farmhouse filled your vision. It was at least two stories high with a visible attic. The railing and t were a pristine white. There was a large open field all around the house before the tree line, the grass already a depressing dead brown.

It was a lot like the little fantasy you had created in your head. A quiet place to get away from everything. Unfortunately, it was already ruined before you could properly appreciate it. Now, all you wanted was to get away.

But you had no way out. You didn’t even know which way town was or how far from civilization you were at the moment. So, instead, you opted to just avoid the inside of the house. Walking over to the far left corner of the porch, you hopped up on the railing and leaned back against the supporting pillar, letting your right leg hang off the side as you other foot kept you steady.

A small part of you was hoping that Jongdae would come find you. Maybe he would apologize, say that he was wrong and he wanted to start over. But that was a useless fantasy.

Jongdae appeared in the field, several hundred feet away from you near the tree line. He was shirtless, only wearing a pair of sports shorts or boxers - from this distance you couldn’t quite tell. He looked to your direction before breaking out to the run. Midstride he jumped and what landed was an impossibly large ashy blonde wolf that soon disappeared within the pines.

The sudden transformation made you jump, nearly losing balance on the thin railing.

“He’s just going to need time.”

Junmyeon approached you slowly, leaning against the opposite poll and facing you.

You scoffed. “He’s going to need time? I’m the one who just found out about this. He’s known for months. He hardly knows me and he’s already decided that I’m not good enough to be his mate.”

“I know, but he’s stubborn,” Junmyeon added. “He prefers to do things his own way. Being told what to do is not one of his favorite things.”

“But he never thought about what this could do to me.” You turned to face away from the field, swinging your leg over so both feet were now on the same side of the railing. Swinging your feet gently with the wind, you kept your eyes on the wooden panels that made up the flooring of the porch. “Can I just go home?”

“No, (y/n),” he answered sternly. “You can’t.”

Your jaw dropped as you stared at him. “What? Why not? You said they needed the blood moon in order to complete the spell. It’s gone now.”

Junmyeon sighed, running a hand through his hair. “That’s true. For that particular spell. But they could still harm you, use you against us. An unclaimed mate is rare. The magic isn’t manifested until the two mates meet. Before this, I’ve never heard a long-term unclaimed mate.”

You threw your arms up in the air as you landed on your feet, utterly at a loss. “Then what am I supposed to do? Huh? Why does my life have to come to a complete stop? What about school? What about my job?”

Junmyeon walked over to you, placing his hand on your shoulder. “I’m taking care of the school part. It won’t take much persuading from me to have your professors email you the assignments and lessons and you can do them here. As for your job, one of us will just have to sit with you during your shifts if you’re not able to take a leave of absence.”

“Great,” you said sarcastically. “I get babysitters.”

“We’ll try to make you as comfortable as possible here,” he promised. “In the meantime, I’ll talk to Jongdae.”

You set your jaw, staring off to the side. Really, you didn’t have a choice. Surrounded by nine werewolves gave you no outs. This was all Jongdae’s fault. Your life was perfectly fine before he came along. Now what life did you have anymore?

“Okay,” you agreed reluctantly. “I guess I don’t really have a say, so I’ll cooperate.”

The smile Junmyeon gave you was one of sympathy. It was still strange that your professor was standing in front of you like this. Teachers were always supposed to be those people who you saw on a regular basis, but never really got to know on a personal level, as if without school they didn’t really exist. But here you were, standing on his porch and learning his darkest secret about turning into a giant dog. Hopefully this doesn’t fall under inappropriate student-teacher relationships.

“Come on,” he put his hand on your back, guiding you to the front door. “Let’s get some food in you.”

At the mention of a meal, your stomach went crazy, the gurgling apparently caught by Junmyeon, who chuckled. No one else seemed to be on the first level of the house as the two of you made your way to the kitchen. Junmyeon had you sit at the L-shaped island while he searched the fridge.

“To be honest, cooking is not my specialty,” he admitted, scratching his head. “Unless you like ramen?”

You shook your head. “Not the biggest fan, actually. But if that’s all you have–”

“No, no, no. We’ll find you something.”

Another five minutes went by and you constantly fought the urge to push Junmyeon away from the fridge and find something yourself. He was being polite so you could be patient. However, your mother always said the only time you were a cranky teenager was when you were hungry and it was rarely pretty.

Finally, he started pulling ingredients out of the fridge and searched the cabinets for non-perishables.

“I hope this tastes alright,” he mumbled.

“Should I supervise?”

The boy from your folklore class came into the kitchen from the back door, that blank look still on his face. Junmyeon looked relieved when he saw the younger wolf.

“Oh, good. Someone who can actually cook.” He quickly moved out of the way while the newcomer looked over the ingredients on the counter, putting some away and replacing a few with other foods or spices.

No one spoke for a few moments. The only noise came from the ticking rice cooker and meat sizzling in the pan. Junmyeon sat down next to you on your left, folding his hands together in front of him on the counter.

“This is Kyungsoo, by the way,” he motioned to the chef. “You probably recognize him from class. He’s the resident chef.”

At the sound of his name, Kyungsoo, turned to you, giving you a small smile before going back to the food. It was a nice smile, lighting up his face in a way you hadn’t seen yet. You couldn’t help but smile back.

“I’m not that good,” he said, his low voice somehow very soothing. “I’m just the only not too lazy to cook.”

“It’s hard to cook for nine plus mouths,” Junmyeon whined. It was strange to see him so relaxed and open. While the air of authority and respect was still very much apparent, he was much more approachable here.

“Does everyone in the pack go to the university?” you asked. You’d seen at least six of them on campus, but the others you couldn’t recognize.

Junmyeon nodded. “For the most part. Minseok’s only there part of the time, working on his doctorate. It’s easier to keep track of everyone, keep them out of trouble. And if there’s an emergency, it’s quick to get everyone together.”

You nodded, understanding the logic. “And everyone lives here?”

“Mm-hm,” he replied. “This farmhouse has been in my family for four generations. It’s built to hold a large pack, although this is the largest pack that’s ever been in this area. So things get a little crowded around here.”

“Really?” you frowned. Kyungsoo put a glass of water down in front of you and handed you a napkin. After thanking him, you turned back to Junmyeon. “Why is this the biggest pack?”

The two wolves in the kitchen exchanged glances, any cheery atmosphere from before now dissipated.

“Majority of the pack are orphans,” Junmyeon explained. “There’s other enemies out there beyond just a few bitter witches. Sehun and I grew up here, but the others just kind of wandered in. Except for Jongdae.”

Kyungsoo stopped his stirring of the pan mid .

You were cautious as you asked, “What happened to Jongdae?”

Sighing, Junmyeon turned around in his chair, resting his arm on the back of the stool. You followed his gaze to find Jongdae standing near the kitchen entrance that led from the rest of the house. He was fully clothed again and his face displayed his displeasure.

“I was dropped off with a normal family when I was two.” The tone of his answer implied that there would be no more details given. He sat down at the breakfast booth just a little off to the side, a far distance from you.

If he kept this up, you were going to go insane staying in this house. In your mind, you were still furious with him and wanted nothing to do with him. But your body… it was like it was crying out for him, screaming at you to stand up and settle into his side or sit on his lap or doing just about anything that would put you in direct contact with him. This feeling had been with you since the party but never to this degree. Was it because you now knew what it was? Or was it just getting stronger now that you were in Jongdae’s presence for longer than an hour about twice a week?

Chanyeol and another tall boy with sandy blonde hair walked in from the hall laughing about something. When they spotted you, Chanyeol waved before sliding into the booth across from Jongdae with the other following suit.

“Hey, (y/n).”

You nodded back. “Hi.”

“(y/n), this Sehun,” Junmyeon introduced.

“He’s the runt of the pack,” Chanyeol added.

Sehun smirked at you. “Only the runt in age. Trust me.”

His flirty remark along with his wink had just gone right over your head, preferring not to think about what he might be implying. A growl erupted from Jongdae, making you jump. It continued deep and loud until Junmyeon him.

“Jongdae!”

It cut off without warning. His gaze flickered over to you, seemingly conflicted about something. He looked again at the boys in front of him and then the other two on your side of the room as well. Huffing, he crossed his arms and stared out the window, not looking at you.

“(y/n).” Kyungsoo’s low, soft voice took your attention away from Jongdae as he set a plate down in front of you. The bits of chicken were covered in a dark, glossy sauce that gave off a delicious smell that was making your mouth water.

After being handed a fork, you dug in and your stomach rumbled in gratitude.

“This is amazing!” you exclaimed before taking another bite.

A little dust of blush formed on Kyungsoo’s cheeks. “It’s really not that good.”

You held up a finger to indicate just a second while you finished chewing. Once your mouth was empty again, you smiled, “As a college student on a budget, any home cooked meal that didn’t come straight from a box is like a five star restaurant meal.”

Junmyeon laughed beside you. “She’s right about that.”

“How would you know?” Chanyeol scoffed. “You never even had to leave home for college.”

Ignoring his comment, Junmyeon turned back to you. “When you’re done, I’ll take you to your place so you can pack some of your clothes. I doubt you’d want to wander around in any of ours.” His eyes flickered over Jongdae, whose fists were clenched so tight his knuckles were red and white, stretched over the bone and tendons protruding visibly.

Needing the distance from your so-called “destiny”, you quickly gobbled up the rest of the food on your plate. You grabbed the now empty dish to go wash it clean, but Kyungsoo swiped it out of your hands.

“I’ll clean up. You go ahead and some things to make you more comfortable.”

You smiled at his kindness and slipped off the stool before looking at Junmyeon.

“I’ll take her.”

Jongdae stood up out of the booth as you fought to suppress a groan. Being in a car with him for who knows how long as you drove to the city was going to be absolute torture. You turned to Junmyeon, silently pleading to him to intervene. Instead, the traitor tossed Jongdae his keys with a sigh.

“There and back,” Junmyeon ordered. “No other stops.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” he deadpanned. Without looking at you, he walked out of the kitchen.

You sent one last look of mercy to Junmyeon, who just gave you a pitiful smile. Sighing, you shuffled out of the kitchen.