Kai and Kyungsoo lead their clan across the bridge. It was time for Siwon’s wedding. The forest was abuzz with excitement as Kai and Kyungsoo separated as Kai was seated with everyone else, and Kyungsoo went over to see Heechul.

Heechul was wearing a glossy black fur cape, which was elegantly draped around his shoulders. His honey brown hair cascaded down his shoulders as Minho combed through it. “Hi, Kyungsoo!” he said, shyly waving his hand. Kyungsoo waved back, flashing him a weak smile.

“Well, look who finally came out,” chided Key, who was carrying a small jar of water. Onew rolled his eyes at him.

“Shove it Key,” he said, throwing a handful of leaves at him. Key had been uptight since they returned two weeks prior. He was not happy at all when Siwon entered the forest carrying Heechul. He had given him the cold shoulder since he had woken up.

As much as Jonghyun or anyone else tried to console him, he just wasn’t the same without Taemin around.

Onew, on the other hand, had seemed to grow. He had accepted Heechul with open arms. The two had become closer in the few weeks he had been here. Heechul relied on Onew for almost everything, not wanting him to leave his side.

“I keep telling him if we hang out all the time, Kyuhyun and Siwon will become jealous,” he joked, adjusting his cloak. Heechul turned to Kyungsoo with a smile.

“What’s it like, to be married to the leader of your clan?” he asked. Kyungsoo sighed and smiled, sitting down next to Heechul.

“Well, rather daunting at first. But, as time goes on, it just seems more natural. But, my experiences might not coincide with yours. You’re a Lycan, I’m a wolf. But from what Onew and Minho tell me, there is one consistency…” Heechul cocked his head.

“What’s that?” he asked. Kyungsoo smiled at Onew and Minho, who smiled back. Even Key couldn’t hide his amusement.

“Well, if you see everyone running away right after the ceremony, it’s perfectly normal.” He said. Key and the others struggled to stifle their giggling.

“Um,” Heechul giggled nervously. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked. Kyungsoo cleared his throat.

“Well, um…”

“You get laid right then and there,” Key choked out, clutching his sides in laughter. Heechul’s face flushed a deep crimson.

“Whoa, wait, w-what?!?!?” he looked around at the others, looking for a hint of betrayal. But found nothing. He looked back at Kyungsoo. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier!? In PUBLIC?” Kyungsoo wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Just for a little bit, then you go back home, and…”

“Make babies, bow chica wow wow,” Key performed obscene motions to go along with his dialogue, which just made the other laugh even harder.

“That’s not funny! He’s gonna do me in front of everyone!?” he cried, folding his arms. “I don’t think I can do this.” Key stopped laughing and turned Heechul’s face toward him.

“Oh yes you will. If you don’t have children, we don’t have children. He’s already had one bride run out on him; we are not going through this again.” Said Key, poking Heechul in the chest.

“It’s okay, Heechul, everyone runs away before it happens, no one actually sees what’s going on.” Onew patted him on the shoulder.

“Why in public, though?” asked Heechul. Onew shrugged.

“Hormones, I guess.” Heechul rolled his eyes. Kris came forward out of the brush.

“Are you ready?” he asked. Heechul sighed.

“No, not really. Not that I really have a choice.” He said, looking up at Key. Kris smiled.

“Everything’s going to be just fine, let’s go.”

*****

Heechul walked forward, with Onew before him and Minho stood at the altar. His heart fluttered as he saw Siwon there. He too donned a cloak. Though his was white as new fallen snow. He made his way to the altar, and stood with him face to face.

“Put out your hands,” Minho instructed. They both did so, Minho placed Siwon’s on top of Heechul’s. He took a rope, and carefully tied them together. “My fellow clansmen, and present wolves,” he looked over at Kai and Kyungsoo. “This ceremony is to bond these two souls, Leader Siwon and member Heechul together in holy matrimony.” He placed each of his hands below and above theirs.

“For as long as eternity lasts, until the stars fall out of the sky, and the sun’s last setting. Until the birds refuse to fly, and the rivers run dry, may these two souls be bonded. With love. With honor.  Forever.”

“May I now present you, our alpha leaders, Siwon and Heechul.” Minho took away the rope, and wiped on their new face paint. He then presented them to the crowd. A chorus of howls and cheers erupted from the crowd.

“Now, everybody, out!” Minho and the others darted away. Heechul rolled his eyes as Key gave him the thumbs up sign. Heechul looked back at Siwon, who was removing his cloak. Heechul held onto the hood of his for dear life.

Siwon smiled, peeking beneath his hood. “I’ve heard the term ‘blushing bride,’ I just didn’t think that you were it,” he chuckled, pulling back Heechul’s hood. He smiled nervously as Siwon stood closer to him.

“I, uh…well…wasn’t expecting…for this to happen, so soon?” he said, as the robe slipped down his body. He was now all too aware that he was . And alone. With Siwon. In ‘public.’

“What did you think we were going to do?” he asked, pulling Heechul closer. Heechul could feel Siwon’s heart beating against his own. Siwon’s was a calm steady beat, unlike Heechul’s, fluttering about in his chest like a caged bird.

“Well, wait until we got back, at least. You know, home?” Siwon smiled as he moved a strand of Heechul’s hair behind his ear.

“That is not how things are done. This tradition has been passed down for hundreds of years. I don’t think we’re going to break it any time soon, anyway.” He said, his lips coming dangerously close to Heechul’s neck.

Heechul shrank back. As afraid of Key as he was, he began to have second thoughts. Siwon was taken aback. What was Heechul doing?

“Heechul,” he said, bringing him closer. Heechul and Siwon were now literally face to face, his forehead resting upon Siwon’s.

“Siwon, I…” his voice trailed off. What could he say? ‘Oh, sorry, I’m terribly shy and didn’t fully realize what I was getting into when I confessed my love for you; can I have a do-over?’

Siwon grabbed Heechul by the back of his head and his tongue into his mouth. His hands traveled down to Heechul’s hips, and slowly brought them up to his own. He nuzzled Heechul as he wrapped his arms around him.

Heechul turned his head away. As many times as he had imagined making love to Siwon, right now, he didn’t know if he could go through with it.

“Heechul,” Siwon turned his face toward him. “What’s the matter?” he looked hurt. “Don’t, don’t you want to be with me?”

*****

Kyungsoo, Key, Onew, Minho and Kris all sat in a clearing together as the others congregated down by the river.

“It sure seems to be taking them awhile,” said Onew, looking back at the clearing.

“Aw, Heechul’s just being shy, he’ll be fine.” Key waved him off.

“Not unless you scared him and he’s having second thoughts,” said Kyungsoo. Onew and Key’s eyes grew wide. Minho looked over at Key.

“Well, at least we know who to blame if we can’t have children now,” he said, folding his arms. Key’s jaw dropped.

“Me? It’s not my fault no one prepared him for it beforehand.” He pouted.

“You didn’t need to be so forward and rude about it either,” pointed out Onew. Key sighed in exasperation.

“What will happen if they don’t mate now?” asked Kyungsoo. Minho and the others looked at each other.

“Well, I don’t know. I remember back when we were with our own clan, it just happened normally. Everyone knew what was going to happen, so it didn’t ever stall like this.” Minho furrowed his brow. “But obviously, if they don’t mate and conceive a child, we can’t have any either.”

Kyungsoo looked over at Kris. “What about when I married Kai, did you guys have any doubts?” Kris scratched his head.

“Well,” he cleared his throat. “Yes.” He twiddled his thumbs. “You had been human, so I wondered if there would be any problem, especially since you were your wedding night, if there would be any shock or complications.” He explained. “Tao said if it didn’t happen he would go in there and make it happen.” He chuckled.

“Hey!” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. The things he would say to Tao when they got back.

“So, we keep waiting then?” Onew piped up, his voice quiet.

“That’s all we can do.” Said Minho.

*****

Siwon lie upon Heechul, waiting for an answer. “Heechul, don’t you want to be with me?” Heechul sighed.

“To be honest, it’s all I could think about for a while,” he said, blushing. “But, now that we’re together, it’s all a bit overwhelming.” Siwon kissed him on the forehead.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said, holding him tighter. Heechul rested his cheek upon Siwon’s chest. As much as he didn’t want to worry, he did. Siwon moved him away from his chest and looked him in the eyes. “Kiss me.” Heechul looked up at him.

“What?” Siwon laughed.

“Did I stutter?” he asked, lifting Heechul’s chin so that they were nose to nose. “Kiss me.” Heechul felt Siwon’s lips on his for the first time in a long time. Heechul put his arms around Siwon’s broad shoulders.

Siwon entered Heechul, making the younger hiss. It burned; he writhed in agony as hot tears spilled down his cheeks. It was like no pain he had ever felt. As he writhed, he felt Siwon’s strong hands hold him close as he sped up.

Heechul felt like he was being punched in the prostate over. And over.  And over again. This is not how he had imagined at all. His body was tense as he fought off the screams of pain he wanted to emit.

He didn’t see how Kyungsoo had made it past this. Or any of them. This was the most painful experience he had ever gone through. He thought was supposed to feel good, not torturous.

Eventually, the pain let up. He started to feel this odd pulsating sensation in his stomach. Siwon began ing harder. Heechul’s heart raced as he felt himself ready to come. He tightened his grip on Siwon’s shoulders. ‘Oh, thank God, this feels so much better.’ He thought to himself. He moaned softly, grabbing onto the back of Siwon’s neck, and tightening his grip around his waist. As he was about to cry out, he felt Siwon withdrawal.

Heechul lifted himself onto his elbows and looked at him with disdain. Siwon smirked as he transformed. He nudged Heechul for him to do the same. Heechul lay back down, facing Siwon. “You’re no fair.” The wolf shook itself and sat down, as if to shrug. He nudged him again. “Alright, alright, I’ll do it.” He stood up, his slender physique silhouetted in the moonlight.

He began to shrink, hair growing all over his body, a tail protruding from his backside as his bones rearranged themselves accordingly. He shook himself as he trotted over to Siwon, who led him back to their home.

*****

Key’s head perked up. Onew and the others looked over at him. Key’s face slowly twitched as he smirked.

“About damn time.” He said, standing up and stretching out his arms. Minho and Onew gave out a sigh of relief. They heard a rustling of leaves as Leetuk, Jonghyun and Kyuhyun came into the clearing.

“Are you coming?” Jonghyun asked, raising an eyebrow. Key blushed.

“Well, yeah, we were just waiting.” Key ran over to Jonghyun, who took his hand and ran off with him.

Minho ran into Leetuk’s arms, who nuzzled him as they ran off. Kyuhyun ran over, grabbed Onew, and ran off with him.

“Oh God,” Kyungsoo blushed as he realized what was going on. “They’re all going off to…” he trailed off. Kris nodded as he finished his sentence.

“Make babies?” he added. “Why not? There’s a trigger that goes off when you know that the alpha-female has conceived. It usually doesn’t take long.” He said. Kyungsoo blushed crimson.

“Oh GOD! YOU KNEW WHEN I…OH MY GOD!” he covered his face in his hands. Kris patted him on the back.

“Yeah, yeah we did.”

“And then you all…you all…”

“Yeah, yeah we did.”

“OH GOD!”

“Calm down, Kyungsoo. It’s just .”

“SHUT UP KRIS!”

*****

Months had passed since then. Heechul became accustomed to his surroundings, and Key seemed less hostile. At times. Other times he seemed bi-polar. He assumed it was the hormones. He looked down at his stomach a lot.

He never imagined he would be pregnant. But that wasn’t his problem. The problem to him was, why wasn’t he as big as the others? Were his children smaller? Was there something wrong with them? There wasn’t any technology out here, so it’s not like he could visit a clinic and get an ultrasound.

Minho had told him that he might not have as many puppies as others. So, two or three? But still, he was quite small. It worried him.

*****

Heechul woke up with a start. He looked over. Siwon was curled up in a ball, sleeping peacefully. Heechul, on the other hand, was in a great amount of pain. He put his hand against the tree, pulling himself up slowly. Maybe if he just got some water, he’d feel better.

He made his way out of their home, and walked towards the lake. He knelt down and cupped his hands to gather water. As he sipped from his hands, he felt a sharp pain in his lower back.

“Ah~” he hissed, putting his hands to the sore spot. He breathed deeply, hoping that would help. He leaned against the boulder that was there, and stood up.

He slowly made his way back to the clearing. His paced slowed as the pain in his back became more intense. He was almost there—

“Heechul?” he turned around, it was Onew. Onew came closer, a concerned look on his face.

“Are you okay?” he asked. Heechul smiled weakly.

“Yeah, I’m just--” he heard a splash as his feet and ankles suddenly became wet. “Cramping.” Onew’s eyes widened.

“Oh my God! We have to get you to Minho right now.” He grabbed onto Heechul’s arm and dragged him off.

Onew pounded on Minho’s tree. Minho, whose hair was in disarray, answered.

“Do you even know what time it is?” he whispered. Onew pointed to Heechul.

“He’s leaked!” Minho squinted at him.

“Leaked?” his eyes widened with understanding. “Oh, oh, he, oh!” he climbed out of his tree. “To the hut, hurry.”

Heechul was ushered in as candles were lit. “Lie down,” Minho motioned to a fur blanket over in the corner. He struggled as he felt himself cramping up again. Onew came over and helped him out, while Minho went over and spread his legs.

“What are you doing?” Heechul asked, panicked.

“You’re not having cramps, you’re having contractions,” he looked down. “I think it’s time you started pushing.” He said.

“But--”

“Why does everyone who gives birth here not listen when I say ‘push’?” Minho cried out in frustration. “There are babies in there that need to be birthed, now push, dammit!”

“Ahhh!!!”

*****

Siwon shot up as he heard pounding on the outside of his home. He looked around, and began to panic when he couldn’t find Heechul. He looked back.

“Leader Siwon, come quick!” Leetuk was at his door. He shot up and ran out, almost falling onto his face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking about. “Did something happen to Heechul?” he asked. Leetuk grabbed him by the arm.

“Come and look for yourself.” He led him to Minho’s hut, where he heard crying. He turned to Leetuk, who nodded to him. He cautiously walked in.

Minho, Key, Onew and Heechul were all sitting in a corner. Heechul looked up at him, smiling. Minho motioned for him to come over as the others stepped away.

He came over and sat down. There, in Heechul’s arms, was a single baby boy. He looked around. “Why aren’t there others?” he asked. Minho shrugged.

“He, he only had one. There were no others. Not a sign.” He looked back to his only son.

“What is his name?” he asked.

“Seo In.” sighed Heechul, fluffing the baby’s soft ebony locks. Siwon smiled.

“Seo In, my only son.”

END OF CHAPTER 1