You tried to rationalize what you had heard away. Any logical person would just assume they were messing around, right? Everyone on campus knew that Professor Kim lived with a big group of his cousins while they all attended classes at the university. Where exactly they were all able to fit no one really knew, but each one of them would confirm that they all lived under the same roof.

But they couldn’t be werewolves. They just couldn’t. Wouldn’t have someone noticed something strange going on by now? Especially with that many of them?

Maybe they were just messing around. Yeah, that had to be it. They were just using the whole “wolf” thing as a metaphor for how close they all were. Giant group of rowdy boys? That could definitely fit the description of a pack of wolves. But you couldn’t shake the serious way that Professor Kim had called himself the leader. And all of them wouldn’t really go out on a run together. That didn’t make any sense. There were at least ten of them. Where would they go running besides the forest?

The rest of the day, you couldn’t concentrate on any of the lectures you attended and you were sure you failed the quiz in your Physical Anthropology class.

Part of you was tempted to approach Jiyoung who had been in a couple of your history and cultural studies classes. You’d been a little surprised when you noticed that she looked to be with Jongdae now, a particularly noisy and popular member of the group you’d seen around campus, considering she didn’t seem the type to like those sort of crowds. Granted, that was just all speculation from the few times you’d spoken with her.

No. You couldn’t go to Jiyoung. You didn’t even know how you would approach that suspect.

Hey, Jiyoung, have you ever noticed if your boyfriend occasionally grew ears and a tail? Maybe even growled or panted like a dog? Does he go on runs and howl at the moon?

Groaning, you let your head fall with a thump on your kitchen table. Thankfully neither Gemma nor Cam were home, keeping you safe from their curious questions and ridicule. To continue on that trend, you quickly finished your dinner and holed yourself up in your room, pretending to be asleep by the time your roommates came back from their evening classes.

The following day was no better. You’d hoped that maybe your brain would see reason after a good night’s rest and you’d be able to go on with your life.

Ha.

Your brain wasn’t that kind to you.

While your concentration was a little better during class, the time outside was a different story. In a secluded corner of the library where no one could sneak up on you, you had your laptop open and connected to the internet to do some non-school work related research.

Typing in the word “werewolf” to the search bar almost made you feel like a hacker about to break into your government’s confidential files. Why, you weren’t exactly sure. There were certainly a million worse things to look up on the internet. Still, the strange feeling of possibly getting caught by the wrong person just made your heart race with stress.

A majority of your search results just brought up teen fantasy novels and the different movies through the decades. The actual legends you encountered were all drastically different. The most common of the tales – the ones that nearly everyone knew – described the person (who was typically cursed with the ability, either threw a bite or scratch) as fully turning into a four-legged wolf. One interesting and different tale from Fennoscandia depicted a werewolf as an old lady with poison-coated claws. Nice.

It wasn’t until later centuries that the hybrid started to emerge. All of the stories seemed to agree that the werewolf typically traveled on his (or her) own. A pack mentality was apparently not so common. You nearly laughed at the strange notion from old Europe saying that the best way to find a werewolf was to cut the person’s skin as you would find fur underneath if they were one of the lycanthrope.

Nothing that you found online was able to assuage your mind. But nothing also pointed to Professor Kim actually possessing the ability to change into the ancestor of the modern domesticated dog. Cutting him open to try and find fure didn’t seem adequate enough of a solution.

You didn’t really sleep that night, mulling over and over in your head what you should do in class the next morning. Should you just pretend that you never heard anything? Should you confront him after class?

Whining, you kicked at the blankets that covered your legs as you lied in bed in the dark. Every once in a while, you checked your phone just to watch the hours tick by. You just wanted to sleep and shut your brain off for a bit.

Your wish was granted, if only for a little while. You couldn’t remember falling asleep, but your eyes opened slowly when your alarm went off. Sitting up in bed, you yawned and stretched to help wake up. A few minutes later, you were able to crawl out of bed and get dressed for class.

After eating a filling breakfast, you took your time walking to the building, hoping a plan would miraculously form itself before you walked through the doors.

One never did, except for one little possible course of action. And you didn’t really like it.

You were early today, even with your slow pace, only a few other fellow students scattered around the hall. You bypassed the back rows, going down the steps reluctantly until your feet touched the very bottom, right before the open area where Professor Kim walked around during his lectures. A few seats in, you sat down in the front door and unpacked your things for class.

The hall filled up as the minutes clicked closer to the assigned hour. Professor Kim walked in from the back door like usual. He kept his eyes down, setting his bag on the desk in the middle and taking out his laptop to hook up to the project.

When he glanced up briefly to check the time on the digital clock hanging up on the back wall, he made eye contact with you. The cable he was holding slipped from his hand. It landed on the floor with a muffled clatter due to the thin carpet. He kept his shocked gaze on you, but you weren’t so steady, lowering your eyes as you felt your cheeks heating up.

Professor Kim collected himself quickly. He shook his head as he hooked up the laptop and started class with the newest power point.

All throughout the hour and a half, you kept your eye out for anything strange. Any bizarre quirk, any minuscule sign that what you overheard wasn’t a complete fabrication or figment of your imagination. But he gave nothing away.

The person in front of you who lectured on sirens and how they affected ancient, superstitious sailors way of life on the sea to avoid the possible killers seemed perfectly ordinary. Handsome, smart as hell, stunning smile with a dad-like sense of humor, but ordinary.

Maybe they really were just talking in metaphor.

Resigning to the fact that you might have just wasted two days of precious thinking time over this nonsense, you managed to focus the rest of the period, typing up an impressive amount of notes.

Professor Kim dismissed the class and you tried to not look so hurried in getting out of there.

“Miss (l/n)?”

You froze.

.

You gulped before throwing your bag over your shoulder and walking up to your professor. “Yes?”

“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” Professor Kim said gravely. Gone was his usual friendly smile, replaced by a more serious expression.

Your heart was beating so fast that it was almost painful. Each glance at Professor Kim made it worse.

“About what?” you asked with a quivering voice.

He shook his head. “It’d be better if we talked in my office.”

Yup. He totally knew that you’d overheard him. This confirmed it… didn’t it?

What was he going to do?

You didn’t want to stick around to find out.

“I can’t. I have to get to class.”

Before he could protest or insist, you turned and ran up the stairs - tripping once or twice - fleeing the classroom.

Outside, you bent over, trying to catch your breath. You glanced over your shoulder to see if he’d followed you, but he was nowhere to be found. Good. You got away clean. At least until you had class again on Friday. Then what would you do? Dropping the class wasn’t an option. Maybe if you stayed in the back for the rest of the semester, you could easily avoid the professor. If need be, you could make friends with someone in the class and they could hand your work in for you.

Perfect plan.

Oh, you were such a scaredy cat.

**

What the hell were you doing here? Were you trying to get yourself killed?

Okay, killed was a bit dramatic. You doubted that Professor Kim would kill you if he found you out here while he was out… running with his pack. Well, if he was in control of his wolfy side, that is.

If any of that was real in the first place.

You couldn’t comprehend your own thought process that led to this particular decision. It didn’t make sense. After the whole fiasco with Professor Kim, you’d decided that you were going to avoid him. And yet, here you were, walking deeper into the woods as the sun disappeared from the sky. You just couldn’t shake the feeling that it really might be true. That a pack of werewolves might actually be running around here. Your life was about finding out answers and you couldn’t stop now.

You weren’t a woods person. You weren’t a hiking person. “Outside” didn’t bother you. It was just that the trees made you feel trapped, enclosed, like you were being towered over and watched with every step you took. Big open fields were much more preferable to you. Where you could see the sky as far as your eyes would let you. That’s where you found peace.

But the woods were the best place for you to find a group of werewolves that might have decided to go for a run in the moonlight. Your boots crunched the ground below you, leaving impressions in the dirt to mark your way. To keep your sight, you had a small flashlight in your hand, kept mostly pointed at the ground to stop any attention from being drawn towards you.

You repeated to yourself that you were out here doing this in order to prove that you weren’t crazy. That it was valid to have multiple sleepless nights thinking about you’d overheard. So, you made a deal with yourself among the trees. If you didn’t find any giant dogs or proof of werewolves tonight, you’d let it go. Or, at least try to.

For a good hour, you kept walking, keeping an eye out for any movement. You didn’t see anything in the corner of your eye beyond the occasional leaf. You’d give it another hour and then you’d give up. Countless times your phone buzzed in your back pocket. Probably Cam or Gemma trying to figure out where you were. You never stayed out this late and it was probably worrying them to death. When you decided to go back home then you’d call them back to let them know that you were safe and alive.

A howl ripped through the air. The hair on the back of your neck stood up and your first instinct was to run. But that was a wolf’s howl, calling out to the moon. So, instead, you walked slowly towards the direction it came from, like an idiot. And you couldn’t even say that you lived a full life.

Peeking out from behind a thick group of trees, you found him.

You caught the tail end of his transformation; the fur disappearing from his skin, the claws retracting from his fingers. He straightened up, stretching before inspecting a cut on his arm.

“I told Baekhyun to slow down,” Professor Kim grumbled to himself. He had no idea that you were hiding behind a tree, watching him.

Yes, you were watching him closely, fascinated.

While you didn’t get to see how he looked in full wolf form, you got to witness the middle and end of his transformation and that was the proof you needed. And that wasn’t all. You looked on as the deep cut on his upper arm healed up and disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place. That made you forget yourself and gasp out loud.

Professor Kim snapped his head towards your direction.

. He’d spotted you.

You ran. Like an idiot.

“(y/n)! Wait!”

You were not a recreational runner, so the fact that you quickly ran out of gas was no surprise to anyone. Professor Kim caught up to you in less than ten seconds, taking hold of your arm to bring you to a stop and turn you around.

“(y/n), please! I won’t hurt you!”

His voice sounded sincere and you didn’t think he would harm you in any way. You’d initially ran because your instinct told you to and that time you couldn’t resist it. But you went off on a ramble anyway.

“I’m sorry! I know I shouldn’t have come out here, but I heard you in your office and I couldn’t believe it when you kept talking about paws and a pack, but it kept me up at night and I thought that maybe it was just a strange metaphor and I figured I could prove that it was by coming out here. Please, I won’t tell anyone, just please let me go and-”

Professor Kim clamped a hand over your mouth to stop you. When he was confident that you wouldn’t start talking again, he removed it, grasping your other arm instead. “You overheard me in my office?”

You nodded slowly. “Talking to someone about stretching your paws and being the leader of a pack.”

He sighed. “So, you know what I am?”

Again, you nodded.

Tilting his head, he frowned. “You’re taking this very well.”

“Well, I’ve kind of been juggling this the past few days going back and forth between thinking that I was taking you too literally and thinking that werewolves might actually be real,” you explained. “But, yeah, inside I’m kind of freaking out. This calmness on the outside is just a thin veneer to try to keep from having a nervous breakdown.”

“You don’t have to be nervous with me,” Professor Kim reassured you. “I won’t hurt you. I don’t mind that you know.”

“Y-you don’t?” That was… surprising. Shouldn’t he be worried that his secret was out. Well, not out out. But you knew now. Shouldn’t he be freaking out himself? The fact that both of you were calm right now was remarkable.

He shook his head. “No. I know I can trust you.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” you promised. “Now, can you let me go?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He released you quickly, taking a step back. “Was I hurting you?”

“No,” you replied honestly. “You’re just .” That was actually only half the problem. You were doing a pretty good job at avoiding your eyes. It was working only because you were focusing on the skin-on-skin contact between the two of you. His hands were fire against your arms, burning the area where he touched, but it wasn’t painful. Almost pleasurable. With him so close, you couldn’t really concentrate on anything else.

“Oh, right.” In the dimly lit night, you couldn’t be entirely sure, but you could have sworn you saw the professor blush. “Um. Honestly, (y/n), it’s dangerous for you to be out here.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” you agreed. “And I have class tomorrow. I should… get home.”

“I’ll walk you back,” he volunteered.

You waved both hands in front of you. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want you to accidentally get caught like this.”

He actually laughed. “I won’t. I’ll be far behind you and see you to the edge.”

“Oh, okay.” You bit your bottom lip. “Thank you, Professor Kim.”

“Please, call me Junmyeon.”

You couldn’t resist the smile that stretched across your lips. “Junmyeon.”

The way he lit up when you repeated his name made you want to say it over and over again. This wasn’t good. You were supposed be scared. Your professor was a werewolf. And yet, you felt completely at ease in his company.

Gently pushing on your shoulders, he turned you around back towards the city. “Don’t look back.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me.”

You pouted, thankful that he couldn’t see your face. It was easy to conclude that he would turn into whatever wolfy form he usually took as he kept you safe on the way back. Why you couldn’t see it was the real question.

But you did as he asked, never looking behind you as you walked through the woods back to civilization. Until you broke through the trees and neared the sidewalk. Then you couldn’t resist. But you saw nothing among the trees as you scanned the area over your shoulder. Sighing, you turned around and kept going until you reached your car.

Checking your phone, you cringed at the amount of missed calls and texts from your best friends. You were so dead.