Cheerful mess was the understated way of putting the current scene. Tonight was the first evening of a long sleepover at the farmhouse. It was a holiday weekend which meant you had unlimited access to Minseok for three whole days. 

The two of you had been “together” for about a few weeks but it felt more like a lifetime. You and him fit together like puzzle pieces, like that Greek myth of the origins of people and soulmates. Both of you had walked the earth for years, not even realizing what you could have been missing. You didn’t feel complete, necessarily, but… more. 

“You’re going to run out of battery here soon,” Minseok teased.

You were sitting up on your knees clicking picture after picture of your favorite subject. How could you stop when nearly every angle of his face was so fascinating? He looked sharp then soft then older then younger. You wanted to capture every possibility. 

“It’s not going to die,” you said as you checked the focus. “It’s still on full battery. You’re stuck with this for a while." 

"I’ll endure it. Only because it’s you.”

“Are you camera shy, wolf boy?”

Minseok’s answer was a low growl. He reached out and pulled you down for a kiss, careful to not crush your camera. Somehow he managed to pry the device from your hand and place it on the floor while keeping you occupied. 

“(Y/n)?”

“Hm?”

With soft eyes, he caressed your cheek. His lips were taunt, tension creating the tiniest lines around his pink mouth. 

You propped yourself up on your elbows. “What is it?”

“There's… something we need to talk about.”

“Okay?” Sitting up all the way, you braced yourself for whatever he was about to expose.

Minseok kept his eyes down, fidgeting with the sheets between his fingers. “I’m sure you’ve noticed how… protective I’ve been lately?”

Protective was probably the soft way of putting it. Since you and Minseok officially accepted the bond between the two of you, you’d spent nearly every day up here at the house, soaking all the time with him that you could. It was impossible to ignore the way he shifted closer to you when one of his brothers walked into the room or the subtle growls if they said something cheeky. While it took time to get used to, you’d shrugged it aside, owing it up to his supernatural nature. It had never gotten too much out of hand or uncomfortable for you. Apparently, there was much more to it than a simple instinct.  

“The reason I’ve been like that is because you’re my mate.”

You snorted. “Yeah, I kind of figured that.”

“But not just my mate.” He let out an elongated sigh. “My unmarked mate.”

You held up a hand, palm facing out. “Okay, hold up. Unmarked? Like… I have to get a tattoo?" 

Minseok snickered. "No. There’s no ink involved.” He sat up. Fingers soft and tender, he traced the outline of your neck and shoulder. “When a wolf finds their mate, they are protective. And… we need a way to tell other wolves that their mate is under that protection and not to… touch them… for a lack of a better explanation. So, we mark our mates. Once that happens, our instincts calm down a bit. Or so I’ve been told." 

"Okay.” You clicked your tongue a few times, processing this new information. “You’re asking to mark me? Is that it?”

Minseok chuckled. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“Okay,” you said. Nerves were brewing in your stomach. Though the answer seemed obvious once ink was ruled out, you still asked, “What does that entail?”

Scooting closer to you, Minseok kept eye contact. “I have to….” Blush exploded on his cheeks. He scratched the hairline behind his ear. 

“To do what?”

“I have to bite you.”

“BITE ME!”

“Shshshsh.” Minseok pounced on you, covering your mouth as he pinned you to the bed. He cocked his head to the side as if listening for additional noise. Right. Supernatural hearing. The house was full of extraordinary ears. When no one came, he eased off. “It won’t hurt. I’d make sure of it.”

“But you have to bite hard enough to leave a scar,” you said. 

Minseok nodded. “I'd… distract you.”

You started to imagine what he meant by that. You cleared your throat. “I guess I can go along with that." 

Those were the magic words, apparently. He grabbed your face like he did that night downtown and kissed you deeply. A rush of giggles bubbled in your throat. They grew louder and louder until-

Bang! Bang! Bang!

”Can you guys keep it down? Its getting annoying!“

Minseok half-groaned, half-sighed. "Jongdae.”

“Just let him be,” you said, though you were feeling a little embarrassed yourself. “Some people just don’t like being around couples.”

“You’re right.” A mischievous smirk pulled at his lips. “But I still hope that he’s next. It would help loosen him up.”

“Maybe.”

“Until then, we’ll just wait until the house is empty." 

You smiled. "Sounds like a plan.”

**

On the morning of the last day of the holiday weekend, you were a little sad. The nonstop Minseok time was coming to an end. But alas, it was inevitable so you rolled with the punches. 

Minseok was already downstairs when you woke up. You freshened up before deciding to join him. 

Several of the boys were sitting around the table eating breakfast as they chatted happily. Minseok had a full plate in front of him waiting for you before the others could shovel it down. When he saw you enter the kitchen, he waved you over. You took the empty seat next to him. 

“Hungry?” he asked. You nodded. He slid the plate over to you along with eating utensils. 

Junmyeon walked in then, a newspaper in his hand. He must have run to town early this morning. Tossing the newspaper down on the table, he sighed.

“What is it?” Sehun asked. 

“There was another death on Saturday,” Junmyeon announced. 

“What? Why are we just hearing about it?” Minseok asked. 

“The police kept it quiet. Its just now hitting the newspapers. I got an email last night from the university.”

Baekhyun frowned. “Why did you get an email?" 

"The hiker was a pre-med professor from the University. The board wanted to prepare the rest of us.”

Yixing reached for the newspaper and scanned through the article. 

“We need to find this guy and stop him,“ Chanyeol said worriedly.  

Kyungsoo nodded in agreement. “He’s bringing too much attention.” 

“The last thing we need is for some vigilante hunter coming into the woods,” Jongin added. 

You swallowed, unable to keep eating. The image of a hunter with a gun was making your stomach churn. “That won’t happen, right? Minseok?” 

“Everything will be alright.” Minseok reached over and squeezed your hand reassuringly. Rolling his eyes, Jongdae stood up and left the room. 

“He just doesn’t like me, does he?” you asked quietly. Though the two of you would joke about Jongdae needing a mate of his own to loosen him up, you couldn’t help but feel it was more personal than that. 

“Jongdae takes a long time to warm up to anyone,” Junmyeon said. “Don’t stress about it.” 

You pursed your lips. “Easy for you to say.” 

“Don’t worry, the rest of us like you.” Baekhyun said happily as he munched on a cookie. “Especially if you keep making goodies like this.” 

You had gotten a little bored last night while the pack went on a run, so you went through the cabinets and found ingredients to bake a few… dozen cookies. There were approximately three left at this point and you were worried that it might become an outright war for the morsels. 

Minseok starred at Yixing, who was lost deep in thought, reading the article over and over again. “Yixing? Is something wrong?” 

“This hiker was my professor,” he explained. “I’m just worried about what the consequences of another death could be.” 

“You sound so morbid,” Sehun complained.  

“Campus will be in an uproar tomorrow when we get back,” Minseok commented. To Yixing, he asked, “Do you think they’ll cancel your class?” 

Junmyeon answered instead. “No. In the memo we got they said they would combine her classes with others.” 

“Seems a bit weird,” Baekhyun said. 

Junmyeon shrugged. “It’s the option they went with. Yixing, you should be getting an updated schedule and syllabus in a day or so. As for us, we’re going to up our presence in the woods. Take shifts running perimeters.”

“Is that safe?” you asked. The last thing you wanted was for Minseok to get hurt. Or any of them, really. You were growing attached to the pack as a whole. 

“We’re supernatural creatures,” Minseok smirked. “There’s more of us than of him. If anything, its him to be worried about.”

You nodded, but your concern didn’t ease up. Your own instincts told you this wouldn’t be as cut and dry as the pack was making it sound. They may know what they were capable of, but they weren’t invincible. You had to agree with Yixing. There were to be consequences of this new death. But that was the thing about consequences: they could be either good or bad. Only time would tell what they would be.