Sitting with Sehun back at that coffee shop had my insides feeling all warm and fuzzy. That was the simplest way of admitting I felt different around him; warm and fuzzy. Cliché as it may be, it was like all of my insides tingled when I simply looked at his face, and I hated it. I admit that I started noticing things were going to be different from now on.

Accepting my fate, I proceeded to go home to await impending doom. My brother never wants to see me, like ever. I’d say our relationship as siblings went down the hill sometime when I was 11, when our parents died. Since then, he’s always treated me…downright different.

I’d have monthly meetings before full moons, but Sunggyu usually did those, and they were out of obligation. There was this feeling of responsibility inside of him since I was the younger sister of Woohyun who lived in the same house as two of his pack members. I guess in addition to that, I didn’t have a pack of my own, or might never in that case.

What I wasn’t expecting when I got back home was that the house was empty. Almost every time I walked through the door, Myungsoo was in the kitchen [seriously the boy had some for cooking]. Yet it was quiet, and didn’t smell like his cooking. Instead, there was intimidating eluding from the study office on the first floor. Instinct told me that was where I was supposed to meet Woohyun.

Our home office was the only part of the house left alone after our parents died. It was the only room in the entire house that wasn’t remodeled. That exact reason was why I never came in here; I’m not a huge fan of this kind of nostalgia. I know Woohyun occupies this space a lot because, unlike me, he gave and received love from our parents.

It was mainly my mother’s office. She was the businessperson in the family. The large L-shaped desk jutted out of the wall, a white luxury couch was parallel to it leaning against the wall. My brother was sitting at the desk, using the computer, and I threw my bags on the couch and plopped down.

No words were exchanged, and because of the direction of the couch I was reduced to stare at my mother’s favorite family portrait hanging on the wall, smack dab in the middle of the wall. Oh, her favorite portrait? My brother was 4, and I wasn’t even a mere thought of existence yet. Cruel, isn’t it?

I dragged my eyes over to my brother and stared him down. I don’t get the freedom to do that very often, since I don’t see him at home much. He sure wasn’t the innocent child in the picture behind him. A little black bead caught my eye. When did he get his ears pierced? I don’t even have my ears pierced…

The clacking of his fingers against the keyboard ceased, and he finally turned to me, but didn’t fully acknowledge me. Instead, he looked down at some papers on the mahogany desk. “Mind telling me what this is?”

He pulled out a drawer from the desk a small Ziploc bag with something that looked very familiar. Carefully with two fingers, he touched the bag as if the material inside was going to burn him, disgustingly dropping it on the desk. I knew I should have just left it in the forest.

“It’s made of silver.” I told him, to which he just rolled his eyes.

“I’m not stupid, In Hye. What was it doing inside your trashcan?”

“Uh…I…saved a cub. Someone shot it.”

His eyes half squinted at me, he turned away and sighed. “You know full well it wasn’t someone that shot it. Leave. I need to think.” He waved his hand disinterestedly at my face telling me to get out.

I knew better than to think that leave meant get out of the study room. When I exited, my eyes were drawn to my cousin leaning against the wall. He quietly followed me up the stairs to my room and entered without speaking any words. I threw my stuff on the floor next to my bed and turned around the face him.

“If I’m in trouble, you might as well just tell me.”

Myungsoo was one of those people who was simply impossible to read. I’ve had too much practice staring him down to sense any kind of emotion other than a twitch in his face. I would have asked for a single twitch right about now.

“Don’t be out late.” My cousin Myungsoo, a man of few words.

On one hand, Woohyun was the one who told me to leave. On the other, I wasn’t supposed to leave for very long. Their clashing ‘parenting skills’ if you will, could make my brain melt.

I decided to only bring myself as I left the house, losing more motivation to capture the day on my camera. Inner instinct told me to change, so I did. I was careless, I do admit, waiting about half a mile into the forest before finding a nice spot to stash away my clothes. I don’t have any reason for my frisky behavior other than the bad day brought out my rebellious side just a tad.

Quick and fast change, and a good amount of exploring time were needed to blow off steam. It seems as if my days were slowly getting worse.

I just ran around, aimlessly, uselessly. I had no motive, or even motivation to do anything. That is, until I picked up a familiar scent. There’s no way…would he really?

I followed my nose, not my instinct. Instinct would be seeing the same wolf in the same area is suspicious, don’t go look for him. You would think that after seeing a bear and a wolf in the same day, Oh Sehun would not ever return to this forest in his entire life. Boy, was I wrong. 

I might be a little devil on the inside, but messing with Oh Sehun’s head seemed like it would be really entertaining. So I decided to play around a tiny bit. Sure it was risky showing up in my animal form again, but it’s not like this would be a regular thing. Once I scared him off he probably won’t come back. Hopefully...

Picking up the largest stick I could bite on, I casually walked over to him and dropped it on his lap. If he already knew this forest had bears and wolves he shouldn’t have sat down and closed his eyes, which is exactly what he was doing. He was leaning against a tree like he was taking a nap.

His head shot up, folding his legs back in complete mortification. He looked down at me with widened eyes and gaping mouth. His shock turned to confusion as he saw the stick in his lap, a curious hand wandering to the piece of branch. 

I’m really glad Sehun saved himself from embarrassment by not playing any sports. With a puzzled look, he attempted to throw the stick like he did before, ending up doing exactly what he had done already: hitting my head.

Another yelp came out of me. When he drew back his arm preparing himself to throw, he went too fast and bumped my head. “Oh my God, I’m sorry!” His hand immediately went to the place he hit, softly touching my head. 

Instead of recoiling, my body acted on it's own. My ears went done in comfort, soothed by a mere touch of his hand. To my surprise, he didn't pull back. It was like his body froze. It was a rare moment where I could stare directly at him and not back down. I was curious what he was going to do, considering he was petting a wolf that could potentially kill him. I mean, he could think that, but judging by the shock in his own face, he probably wasn't.

Slowly, his hand went down the back of my neck, testing the waters. He moved his hand up and down slowly, rubbed the back of my neck, behind my ears, massaging the top of my head. A short breath left his lips; he was so scared he was holding his breath. That's where the mumbling came in. 

"Oh Sehun, you are petting a wolf." I heard this single sentence about 5 or 6 times, repeated over and over again. Yet his hand never left my head, as if him saying that was reassurance or something. 

He frowned at me, well, by the looks of it frowned at my head. "Hmm..." He softly hummed. "Second time hitting the same wolf..." He thought outloud. 

To me, Sehun didn't seem like the talkative type, yet he seemed perfectly comfortable talking to a wolf? "What are you doing out here, huh?" He scratched my head again cuasing my eyes to close in content. His fingers were doing wonders. 

I myself made myself more comfortable by lying down next to him, letting the cool dirt touch the underside of my belly. My body had never felt more relaxed, other than this moment. I hadn't realized how tense I felt until a wave of exhaustion hit me. It was as if the single touch had released every bit of pressure in me. 

Then it really must be true, then. Not that I didn't want to accept it, but it was kind of hard to believe. I was only 21, but it seemed like finding my mate this early was going to be the end of my life. Yet here I was, with my mate  my fur. That was unreal. For the man that virtually legitimatelly hated me wasn't even aware that he was petting me. Ironic, I suppose. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. And I think he knew that because in the hour that I ended up sitting there, he never stopped. 

I tried not to fall asleep and pay attention to the sun. I had another good hour until my curfew yet it seemed like Myungsoo had other thoughts. A not so distant howling was brought to my attention, one I immediately recognized. My head shot up off the ground, ears perking up at the shrill sound. Sehun jumped up, out of his comfortable daze just like I was. 

I stood up on all fours, heeding the warning from my cousin that it was time for me to come home. Myungsoo rarely did this, seeing as I always knew when to come home, so I knew something was up. Sehun's hand was still on my back, but I didn't hesitate to run off in the direction where I stashed my clothes. 

In a rushed manner, I threw everything I wore back on and ran for home, Myungsoo waiting for me out on the front porch, fully dressed, and arms folded. I matched his stance, folding my arms and raising my eyebrow at his attempts to be intimidating. "Yes?"

He smirked. Just a smirk, no words. "Kim Myungsoo, are you smiling? Why do I need to be home?" 

"Oh, just to be safe." He shurgged nonchalanty. Sometimes Myungsoo would be like this every once and awhile. There were spurts of this over protectiveness of him, something I wish Woohyun would have. "What's that smell? It smells like cheap cologne." 

"It is cheap cologne." Sehun's cologne to be exact. I wasn't too happy that his scent rubbed off on me, because, like I said, cheap cologne. The fact that Myungsoo was being so irritating was starting to put me in the same mood as when I left the house. Fowl.

I brushed past him and went up the stairs of our house and opened the front door, stalking up the stairs in a repetitive manner. Dinner was brought to me, just like every other day. Everything seemed to go back to the way it was. All expect te fact that I have discovered my mate. Who hates me. Who I am not exactly fond of either.