"My God, I'm so freaking  bored." Youngjae moaned as he stretched across the seats in front of the arrivals gate.

BamBam rolled his eyes, "This was your idea, though."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would take this long!"

"What did you think was going to happen? We have no idea when she was going to land or if she was coming back at all!"

Youngjae pouted and looked at the gate, "Yeah but we've been here for 4 hours."

"Your enthusiasm is all gone. Come on, we can do this!" BamBam said with a laugh.

"This is why I never do anything that involves effort. It's too much work. It's always better to just stay uninvolved."

The two of them had sat through 4 landings from Japan but none of the passengers looked like Jackson's mate. They were starting to lose hope that she was coming back.

"Don't be so lazy! We're doing this for Jackson." BamBam said cheerfully.

Youngjae made a face, "So? When has he ever done anything for us?"

"Never. But that means that he owes us now." BamBam said with a grin.

Youngjae gave BamBam a longing look before wrapping his arms around him,  "This is why you're my favourite."

-----

Areum sighed as she heaved her suitcase off the carousel. She tried to convince her sister to let her stay a few more days but with school and Ara's work schedule, she knew that it was a long shot.

She wished that plane trip was longer because 2 hours was no enough time to get her thoughts in order.  

There was no lie that she felt something for Jackson, but did she really want to put herself through the whole dramatic teenage angst of having a one sided love?

Hell, could she even like someone like that? Someone that was a wolf?

Maybe it would be smarter if she just moved on. It would hard for sure, but it would be smarter to just stay out of each other's way.

Hopefully, she'd be able to move on and it wouldn't feel as bad. She moved out of the baggage claim and walked out of the gate, looking for the exit where she called the taxi to wait for her.

"Ms. Jo Areum?"

Areum lifted her head up and was met by 5 tall intimidating men that look like they were in their sixties, but they looked regal, their age only adding to the authority they radiated. They had expensive suits tailored to fit them as they stared her down.

She glanced over all of them and noticed they all had the same chain dangling off their necks.

"Um…yes?" She frowned when they all exchanged looks between each other, their faces suddenly looking grim as one of them reached for her arm.

"You need to come with us."

Areum's eyes widened and she quickly jerked her arm out of his reach, stepping back with sharp eyes that surveyed the men in caution.

Stranger danger.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. Sorry."

"You are the one that rejected Prince Wang, are you not?" A gravelly voice called out to her.

She turned, her heart speeding at the mention of Jackson. Her eyes darted around nervously. "W-Who are you?"

"I'm sorry it turned out like this. But we have no choice." Another man spoke out.

Areum gulped, trying not to show her fear when she saw their eyes flash different colours. She felt herself grow hot in panic as she took a step away.

"I-I don't understand. I think there's a mistake. I have no idea what you're talking about." She rolled her shoulders back and tried not to look afraid about the fact that the men were most likely wolves as well.

Which mean that they could kill her easily as Jackson could, if not easier.

"Areum!" A voice boomed out before she was tackled by a blur.

She grunted when she landed on her . She looked up as saw BamBam smiling at her with tense eyes. "We missed you!"

She knit her brows as he scrambled off of her and helped her stand up. She had no clue why BamBam would miss her. Sure, she thought he was cute, but they hardly knew each other.

"What are you tal--"

"Hey!" Youngjae said quickly, appearing at her side, "Jackson sent us to pick you up. He had some things he needed to take care of, but he says he missed you like crazy."

Areum looked at them, befuddled but before she could say anything, Youngjae turned to the five men and gasped dramatically.

"Oh! I didn't see you there." He bowed formally as did BamBam. "How nice to run into you, elders."

They five of them frowned, "Youngjae, BamBam. What are you doing here?"

BamBam smiled brightly, "We're here to the prince's mate back to Jackson."

Areum stiffened at his sentence but she felt Youngjae's fingers dig into her arm, signalling her to stay quite and let them do the talking.

"Why would he go to such measures for his rejected mate?" One of them question in suspicion.

Youngjae smiled charmingly, not missing a beat, "Rejected? Who said that anything about rejection. There must be a mistake, you see, Areum accepted Jackson to be her mate."

Areum's eyes widened and she turned to Youngjae, trying to get him to look at her, but he just squeezed harder on her arm, "They're quiet in love. It's pretty sickening for the rest of us. All they do is kiss."

One of the council members looked at the three of them, quizzically, "She…accepted the prince?"

Everyone turned to Areum who just stood frozen, still not adapted to the situation. BamBam place his hand on the small of her back and scrunched the fabric of her shirt, telling her to say something.

"Ms.Jo?"

"Oh…um..y-yes. I ac-accepted him." She stuttered with a jump.

The eldest member raised a brow, stepping closer to her, "Is that right? How strange. We had Mason conjure up the spirits and it was clear that his mate rejected him."

Youngjae laughed breezily. "Oh, there's no way that's true. There must've been a mistake, right…sis-in-law?"

Areum's jaw hung open as an unmistakable blush scattered over her features at the intimate name.  "U-Um…they-they're right.  Jackson's my mate. I…um…I love him?"

Another member tilted his head, "You don't sound so sure, Ms. Jo."

Areum felt her eyebrow twitch at his condescending tone. It was one thing for herself to feel intimidated on her own accord, but when she heard the way they spoke to her, like some sort of… nuisance, her fear melted away.

She shook off the other two members who tried to pull her back before stepping up to the council, face to face.

Youngjae and BamBam stared, shocked as a mere human challenged the council of the White Fang. They gulped and shot each other a nervous look.

Areum narrowed her eyes and lifted her lips up in a smirk, the same way she did at school. Mate or not, she wasn't going to be perceived at a wishy-washy weak human in front of these wolves.

She wasn’t going to let this change in her life make her soft.

"I don't know where you're getting this information, but I love Jackson. I love your prince and if you have the audacity to doubt that, I assure you that me and you will have a very tough time getting along in the future.  If you think you can scare me into submission, you're mistaken. I've dealt with a lot worse than you five, so if you excuse me, I've just come from a very tiring flight, and I'd like to go see my mate now. Have a good day." She hissed.

The council didn't look deterred but they raised their brows in amusement and light admiration as she strutted past them.

"Youngjae? BamBam? Are you coming?" She asked haughtily.

The two boys snapped out of their daze and bowed respectfully at the council before racing after her.  The council watched as the two boys took her luggage from her and let her lead the way.

One of the elders chuckled, drawing the attention of the other four who turned to him.

"It looks like the White Fang is not going to be ruled by a prince."

The council looked confused but he kept his gaze on Areum who slipped through the exit of the terminal with Youngjae and BamBam in tow.

"She already has the aura of a princess. I almost bowed to her."

-----

"That was ing amazing." Youngjae breathed out, staring at the older girl in awe.

Areum smiled stiffly because she was far too distracted by the shaking in her knees and pumping of her heart. The adrenaline was going to make her pass out.

"Do you know who those men were?" BamBam asked her excitedly. "They were the council elders of our district. You just shut them down. I've never seen anyone walk away from them in my life."

Areum grimaced,  "Your district?"

"Of the White Fang! It's the district of wolves in Korea!" BamBam's energy only seemed to grow as Areum's shoulders sagged.

"Right." She grumbled.

Great. I just disrespected some of the most important people in Korea who can kill me in my sleep. Fantastic.

Suddenly Areum stopped walking, "Wait. So why are you guys really here? I know everything you said in there was bull. What's the real reason and how did you even know that I was coming back?"

Youngjae shrugged, "Most of it was luck and good timing."

He remembered how panicked he and BamBam were when they saw the council elders walk into the terminal.

Areum crossed her arms over her chest and sighed tiredly, "I'm really not in the mood guys. Can you just tell me why you're here?"

BamBam and Youngjae looked at each other and she could see by the way their eyes were moving, that they were fighting with each other over who was supposed to spill the beans.

"Alright, you know what? Forget it. I'm going home. My taxi's waiting and I'm running the meter."

"Wait!" Youngjae grabbed her hand but immediately regretted it when she froze and slowly turned her head to look at his fingers around her wrist.

"What?" She hissed. Youngjae gulped and slowly retracted his fingers.

"Areum." She rolled her eyes and turned to face them but her snarky comment died on her lips when she saw the serious looks both boys were giving her.

"Jackson's dying."

-----

"Maybe you should've explained it better and you know