[DOUBLE UPDATE. Go back one chapter.]

"How?" Areum asked, her eyes wide as her heart leaped up .

Mason looked like the soul was out of him as he collapsed on the couch. He slowly pulled something out from his pocket and held it up.

Mark leaned over and his eyes flickered in recognition, "I know that picture. I've seen it in Ara's wallet."

Areum scowled, "Why do you have this?"

"Ara gave it to Jackson and I borrowed it from him to do some double checking." Mason said tiredly.

Jaebum blinked and stepped closer to see the picture that Areum was now holding, "Who are they?"

Areum angrily stared at the two unfamiliar faces, "These are my parents."

The other pack members looked over her shoulder in interest but Areum felt suffocating, "What does this have to do with anything, including Jackson's loophole?"

"I think…I think you need to have a seat. I have some news. It might be a little alarming and shocking for you but in the long run it's quite relieving." Mason said as he sat up with his hands gripping onto his cane.

Areum gave him a suspicious look but slowly lowered herself to sit on the edge of the coffee table directly in front of him.

"I don't know how to say this without sounding blunt, so I'll be up front about this. When I saw this picture, I immediately recognized your parents."

Yugyeom tilted his head, "Did you think they looked the same?"

Mason shook his head, "No, it's not that. I recognized them because I've seen your parents before…in person."

Areum's lips parted in shock, "How would that even happen?"

Mason looked deeply into her eyes, trying to gauge her emotions, trying to read her mind before taking a breath.

"Your father was a wolf. Just like me."

Everyone stood in silence before Areum broke it with a scoff, "That's impossible."

"It's not. Your father was a born werewolf, but he didn't have a pack. He was a lone wolf, but we had accepted him into our district since he didn't have one." Mason stated firmly.

Areum let out a little laugh before her face turned serious, "I-I'm related to a wolf. That can't be true. If my father's a wolf then how come I'm not one? Huh? Maybe you're mixing him up with someone else."

Mason nodded, "You bring up a good point, you see, there's a reason that you were chosen to be mated to a wolf. You see, your mother was fated to be your father's mate, who was a wolf, but your mother was human. Your parents were the first and only human-wolf couple in our history."

"I-I don't remember anything about my parents. They left when I was a kid. How am I supposed to know this is true?  How can I just accept this as the truth?" Areum slouched and rubbed her face.

"Just hear me out first. The reason you and your sister was destined to a wolf was because your mother was destined to a wolf. It looks like human-wolf couples are hereditary, I never knew that until now." Mason said while watching her face crumple in uncertainty.

"There has only been one other case of a wolf having a human mate aside from you and Jackson and Ara and mark and that was your father. He was a wolf and your mother was human."

Areum opened , reading to refute Mason's claim but she saw the serious look in his eyes and chose to humour her.

"So…so what happened?"

He sighed.  "I knew your parents but I just didn't know they had kids."

"Wait." Jinyoung said, his eyes filled with alarm, "I thought that only case of a human with a wolf ended in rejection."

Mason nodded and locked eyes with Areum, "It's because your mother rejected your father."

Areum felt her heart drop as tears welled up in her eyes, "W-What?"

"I'm guessing that your father waited until after you and Ara were born before revealing to your mother that he was a wolf and she ended up rejecting him."

Youngjae's face was set into a frown, "I thought that once rejected both people…you know."

Mason's face grew even more sombre, " Because your mother knew too much about our kind, the council had to take her life, even though they didn't want to. It was protocol. Your father died soon after and probably stayed away from you and Ara so that you wouldn't see him deteriorate without your mother."

"My mom…left my dad because he was a wolf?" Mason nodded at Areum's question. "But…why would she do that?"

"That's something that only she knows. It could be because she thought he lied to her or maybe she just couldn't accept the wolf side of him. But those are just assumptions."

"So where are they now?" Jaebum asked quietly while Areum sat numbly.

"We buried both of her parents in a burial ground a few towns over. When I saw this picture, I recognized their faces immediately because their mateship was the huge issue at the time since we had never seen something like it before."

He looked over at Areum who was sitting motionlessly. Part of her was glad that she didn't know her parents so that the news didn't feel as devastating.

But she couldn't wrap her head around it.

Her mother rejected her father.

She couldn't imagine ever rejecting Jackson.   

Suddenly Areum jerked her head up, "Wait…so if my biological father is a wolf…"

Mason nodded without hesitation, "I have already spoken to your sister about this and she offered me a strand of her hair to test, we're positive they were your parents but that wasn't what I thought you would think would be shocking."

Areum looked apprehensive, "What is?"

"Your parents had two kids, right? You and Ara.  Well the thing about having a mixed family with more than one kid is that the animal DNA is unevenly distributed." Mason explained.

Areum's eyes widened, "How uneven?"

"Well, one child got a bit of her father's wolf DNA and a bit of her mother's human DNA and the other child got a bit of her father's human DNA and bit of her mother's human DNA. That means one child has the DNA of a wolf embedded in her while the other child is 100% human, but is  still a descendant of a wolf since her biological father is a wolf."

The boys gasped as Areum's lip quivered.  "Which-which one is it?"

Mason stared at her knowingly, his eyes unwavering before he suddenly turned to Mark.

"It's Ara. Ara has werewolf DNA in her."

-----

"My sister's a wolf?" Areum asked with an incredulous laugh.

Mark looked stunned as he took half a step back, bumping into the other boys who looked just as stunned at the revelation.

"She isn't exactly a wolf, but because she was the first born, she got her father's wolf DNA." Mason said slowly.

Areum closed her eyes for a brief second before turning to Mark, "How didn't you know? You spent a lot of time with her and you're a wolf."

Mark looked just as confused, "I didn't pick up any strange scents off of her, but yeah, sometimes we're freakishly in sync but I didn't think much about it."

"Ara didn't even know about it." Mason cut in, interjecting,  "It's an odd thing with mixed wolves. You see, a regular werewolf, born from two werewolf parents will be half w