“You really like her, don’t you?” JB was waiting at the front door for Yugyeom when he returned from meeting Eunkyung. 

“She lives in that cabin alone.” He danced around JB’s question. “She needs to talk to someone every now and then.”

“But you go to see her everyday.” He said pointedly.

Yugyeom doesn’t say anything as he takes off his shoes.

JB sighed. “Yugyeom, you need to let go of this little crush of yours. You have a mate out there and what if you met her while you’re out on a date with Eunkyung? You’d only be hurting the human in the end.”

“I talk to her when we get the mail in the morning. That has nothing to do with doing on a date.”

“I’m just worried. You’re on the tail end of puberty but you haven’t had any visions of your mate yet. You should have a least gotten one by now. Unless,” JB raised up his eyebrows. “You’re hiding something from us.”

“No, of course not.” The younger wolf said just a bit too fast. 

“Are you sure?” Yugyeom nodded at JB. “You know we won’t judge you, right Yuggie?  I mean, Jackson got his first vision in a wet dream. It’s not like whatever your vision is can be anymore embarrassing than that.”

Somewhere in the house, Jackson let out a loud growl of irritation that the whole house could hear at JB who snarled playfully back. He was still ashamed that that was the first vision he had of his mate.

“Well, just let us know when you have one, Yugyeom.” JB placed a hand on his shoulder before ruffling his hair. “We’ll help you find her.”

“Like you’re doing such a good job finding your own.” He said cheekily. JB gave him a look before shoving him to the side and heading to the front yard.

When werewolves reached puberty, they began to have visions of who their mate was. It started out as small things, their scent, their touch, little things that didn’t really identify who the person was but still told them something. As they grew older, the visions began to get clearer and they began to learn other things about their mate. In this stage, it was most common to learn about what kind of food they liked, what irritated them, and little habits that they kept. It wasn’t until after the werewolf met their mate, however, that they began to have visions that included their face. It was up to the wolf to find his mate based on what he had learned in the visions so far.

Everyone in Yugyeom’s pack had had their first vision. Bambam’s mate smelt like strawberries and always painted her nails pink. Jr’s like white chocolate but only ate it when she was sad. Mark’s liked to cuddle while she read. JB’s was trained in martial arts and went to her sensei when she needed advice. Jackson’s liked to bite. Youngjae’s liked to watch horror movies by herself after a long day.

Yugyeom was the youngest but he was almost an adult now. It was well past the time when he should have had his first vision and the rest of his pack was beginning to worry. It could be that he was just a late bloomer and that he’d have his soon. Or it could be that he didn’t have a mate. When werewolves are born they are given their mate by Luna, the moon goddess. They will only ever have one mate and it was their duty as a wolf to find their mate and care for them. However, The goddess Luna did not decide destiny. That was beyond her. She could only guild her wolves toward their happiness. If the mate she had found for them died before they met, then their wolf would stop having visions of them. If Yugyeom’s mate died when they were young, then he never would have had any visions of them.

The pack hoped that he was a late bloomer.

Yugyeom walked into the kitchen, grabbed an apple, and took a bite out of it. As he chewed, he opened the blinds of the window by the sink and looked out it. From here, he could see the faint outline of Eunkyung’s cabin through the forest’s trees. He sighed and rested his cheek on his hand as he looked at her cabin.

Yugyeom like her a lot. She was very serious about her studies and responsible about them. The only time she ever missed it was when she was bedridden. She was kind and very pretty. And even though it was rare, his heart would flutter whenever she smiled.

They only problem was, she was human.

He sighed again and took another bite of his apple. 

Human mates weren’t unheard of. They were uncommon but every pack has had a least one sometime in it’s recent history. But they were frowned upon. 

Much of werewolf culture was passed down orally, so the lore had it’s differences from pack to pack but every one had the same story for the Werewolf and His Human. 

The legend went that the alpha of a pack during the Joseon period had a human mate. She was the beautiful daughter of the current King. The werewolf became a guard at the castle in order to become closer to her. Because of his supernatural speed and strength, he was recognized for his skill and quickly climbed up the ranks to become the princesses personal guard. 

The two of them grew very close and fell in love under the spring’s warm sun. The spent their days together and never left each other’s side. However, she grew curious as to why he vanished every full moon. The werewolf came up with many reasons as to why he couldn’t be there but the princess didn’t believe any of it. She grew jealous, thinking he was meeting with another woman, and followed him one full moon to find out where he went.

The werewolf travel many miles, to a forest no one dared visit for the dark stories told about its inhabitants. The princess waited in the shadows of a tree and waited for his other woman to arrive so she could confront him but the woman never came. Instead, she saw the man she loved shift into a monster with longs fangs and claws. The princess had witnessed the curse put on every werewolf. In exchange for their strength and speed, they would spend every night lit by the full moon as a beast with no sense of humanity.

The werewolf did not recognize his beloved. He had no knowledge of his human side. He only knew that easy prey was nearby. The beast sniffed the air and followed the princess scent to her hiding place behind the tree. He ate her with no remorse.

In the morning, when he changed back into a man, he found the bloody body of his princess. In his despair, he pulled out the sword he was suppose to use to protect her and stabbed himself. As he died, he uttered a powerful curse damning every werewolf with a human mate to the same fate as him.

In every pack in every continent, there is a version of that story. And in every pack in every continent, having a human mate is bad luck.