Donghae gasped as the pain of being pinched pushed him in to consciousness. “What the?” He demanded, realizing first that he was , and second, there was a warm fuzzy feeling inside his head. ‘Calm down.’ The warm fuzzy feeling was it the wolf he’d encountered in that strange dream he’d just had? and…”The wedding!” Donghae groaned. “Don’t tell me it’s over with?” He recognized Yesung sitting a ways from his feet, feet, and working on what looked like his wedding garment while….Donghae twisted around, feeling a warmth at his back. The man behind him was the Herb Merchant and….a short hairy man with spectacles was glancing at him approvingly, a smile on his face.

“Glad to see you are awake Young master.” The man said, reaching over to give Donghae a cup of what smelled suspiciously like alcohol. “The wedding was postponed until you woke, which it’s only been an hour.” He said. “I am a doctor, a very special doctor, and you will find out why in a moment once your senses come back.” The doctor fussed over him while he talked, then pushed the cup toward Donghae’s face. “Drink up my boy. You’ll need it to get through the rest of today.”

Donghae reluctantly lifted the cup to his lips, wondering about the quirkiness to the doctor. He reminded Donghae of a grandfather like figure with how fussy and talkative he was. The alcohol hit his lips and suddenly he remembered everything. The attacker as he stood waiting outside the pavilion, the scratch on his arm, the pain. How could Donghae have forgotten the gut wrenching pain? But new memories were surfacing. The feeling of his body being stretched and positioned in a way that hurt everywhere and the warm fuzzy feeling in the back of his head that translated….”What am I?” Donghae gasped, choking on the last bit of the alcohol that had burned going down his throat.

“You are now what we call a shape shifter, or shifter for short.” The Herb Merchant said, moving so that he could see Donghae’s face. “We are the supernatural things that frighten children into staying indoors at night, but we’re not really that scary. We are werewolves.”

Yesung snorted. “Stop being so dramatic hyung.” He said, his eyes focused on the garment. “You’re going to scare the poor boy.”

Heechul wanted to throw something at Yesung. “You ruin the fun.” He complained.

Yesung smirked. “Someone has to keep your mangy in line.”

That did it. Donghae watched in amazement as a cushion came out of nowhere to hit Yesung square in the face. “Behave pup.” Heechul warned. “I may not be Pack, but I am stronger than you.”

Yesung only brushed aside the cushion, going back to sewing the last few stitches into the material. Luckily there hadn’t been much blood from Donghae’s wound, so there was very little staining. He was suddenly glad that the Lee’s had insisted on a dark red color for the wedding garment. “Yes abeoji.” He said, teasing, but sounding serious at the same time.

Heechul smirked. “Good pup.”

Donghae watched the exchange in wonder, seeing a new side to both Merchants. “So, what do you mean by shifter?”

Heechul turned his gaze back at Donghae. “You have a warm fuzzy feeling in the back of your head right?” Donghae nodded. Heechul smiled. “That is your wolf form.”

Donghae stilled. So that hadn’t been a dream. The warmth shifted, growing more comforting like a favorite blanket. “So the grey wolf I saw is real?”

“Yes.” Heechul nodded. He really wasn’t good at this new shifter thing since he’d been born into the Pack and had been happy to go through his first shifting, which had made the process easier.

The doctor pushed another cup into Donghae’s hands. “This one is for the aches of shifting.”

Donghae didn’t hesitate this time with downing the drink. The doctor must have laced the drink with more alcohol because Donghae relaxed, feeling something akin to liquid warmth flowing down his arms and legs. “I’m ok though, not contagious?”

Yesung laughed. “Goodness no. If we were contagious the whole world would be shifters.” He said, bringing the garment back to Donghae. “I’ve fixed the tear from your attack. Luckily there was minimal blood so there is no evidence.”

Donghae realized the wedding must be on hold for him. He started to rise, only to have Heechul push him down. “Seungri has already called for your parents. Quickly before they arrive, take a deep sniff through your nose and tell us what you find.”

Donghae though the request odd, but did as asked. An odd acidic smell assaulted his nose, causing him to cough, his nose itching. “It’s an odd smell that is like acidic or sour.” He said.

Heechul smiled. “Good. That’s the smell of a canine shape shifter. It’s usually a bit sharper but the drinks you had were laced with an herb that will dull those senses for today. Don’t tell anyone about this. We would prefer not to be run out of town because we are considered freaks.” Heechul warned. “You’ll be fine tonight and tomorrow, but on the 3 day, we will have Seungri bring you to the Lee Pack house to start your training as a new shifter. You will have to be accepted into the Lee Pack as well. No shifter is allowed to be without a Pack.”

“Heechul is the only exception.” Yesung added, not bothering to be formal with Donghae since he was now a shifter. “But only because he deals in Herbs and other medicines.”

“Why Seungri?” Donghae asked, absorbing the new information quietly.

“We’ll let him tell you.” Yesung said, raising his eyebrows at Heechul. It was one thing to speak of someone else, but to spill their secret was another.

Donghae didn’t miss the look between the two Merchants. “Ok.” He knew they were hiding something from him.

The door opened just as Yesung was helping Donghae back into a spare set of undergarments. Donghae had been strangely unabashed at his total state of ness once he realized that he must have been stripped to aid in the shifting process. He was a bit stiff, and still a little sore when his mother rushed in, crying about how she was so thankful that her son was ok.

“Mother, I’m fine.” Donghae smiled calmly at her. “It was nothing really. The shock of the attack must have overloaded my senses is all.”

**

This time Seungri stood with Donghae at the entrance to the pavilion, where the mess from the attacker had been cleaned up and fresh decorations had replaced the broken ones. There had been no room for slacking when Minister Lee had ordered Seungri to protect Donghae fiercely so that the wedding could proceed.

“So, do you have something kept hidden that you aren’t telling me?” Donghae asked, waiting for Sulli to appear down the hallway. The Choi’s had though the wedding postponed till another day because of the attack and had been in the process of packing up Sulli’s wedding garment when it was announced the wedding would proceed as planned.

Seungri gulped. “Well, yeah but it should wait until after the wedding Young master.” Seungri said weakly. “We can discuss it in detail when I take you to the Pack house.”

Donghae had a sinking feeling that Seungri was a shifter too, by the way he pronounced the word Pack. The herbs he’d drank earlier had worked their effect on his nose already, so he couldn’t just lean over and sniff Seungri could he? Donghae shook his head. No, that wouldn’t be proper to sniff his guard in the middle of the hallway, especially when Sulli could pop around the corner at any moment. He sighed and decided to ignore the issue for now. He’d find out sooner or later anyway and that was worth thinking about more than the anticipation for what would happen on his wedding night.

Sulli chose that moment to come around the corner, her own wedding garment paired perfectly to match his in color. Her bridal ribbon almost seemed bigger than her face, until Donghae realized that Sulli must have been preparing for the wedding since he’d last seen her, which was more than a month ago

Seungri stepped back as Sulli approached. “My lady.” He bowed, already showing her deference as the wife of his master.

Sulli barely gave him a glance as she locked eyes on Donghae, a smile upon her face. The people who’d come with Sulli patted her on the shoulder before going ahead into the pavilion. They were breaching etiquette by having Seungri stand guard, but the Minster of Rites has approved the change in protocol so that there were no more surprises.

Donghae felt no love, no warmth for the lady in front of him. He’d known from the moment she’d been chosen as his bride that it was nothing more than a political match and that once he got an heir on her, he could discreetly chose someone to become emotionally attached to while she enjoyed the role of being his wife. “Ready?”

Sulli gave a barely perceivable nod. The doors opened in front of them, leading straight to the center of the room. Seungri held back long enough to ensure that things were clear before he followed the pair.

“Here we are, ready to hear the rites of marriage that these two fine young people have chosen to take with one another…” The Minister of Rites launched straight into the ceremony.


A/N: this week for me is trying to get back on track with things that I've put on hold this last week. We adopted my friend's ferret, who's named Riddick and is 7 years old. So learning how to care for a ferret has been interesting and he's such a cute little thing! I've been posting pictures on my instagram account which you can check out here. I also have pictures of my cats, my husband and myself doing various things. I hope you liked this chapter and let me know what you think so far! Feedback is always welcome and appriciated!