So here I stand, Chanyeol and Baekhyun at my side as Suho tries to remove my clothes.

“I will take her into the water.” Suho confidently says as he pulls Chen’s shirt over my head.

These boys are blushing like mad as I stand in front of them in nothing more than my underwear and bra. As shy as I felt on the inside I know I needed to get into the water to heal my body. Clutching onto Suho’s arm he helps me into the water, Chanyeol making a grimace when a little of the cold water touches his hand that is still griping my arm. Once fully submerged the two let go of me, surrendering me to their leader and the water.

“Are you alright? That water is freezing.” He points out, Suho giving him an understanding nod.

Suho looked confused for a second before the water started to swirl around them.

Before Suho could do anything I was suddenly out of his grasp and pulled underwater. He tried to reach for me but I grabbed his hand and squeezed it hoping he would understand that this was normal. I could feel him shudder in my grip. He can’t control this water and I could tell it was setting him on edge.

I could feel my skin burning at the feeling of the cold water rushing along the top of my skin, healing it as it moved. This process is very long and it hurts me, being a child of the flame, submerged underwater isn’t the best for me but it beats this diseased skin.

“I can’t do anything but hold onto her. This water isn’t something I can control easily but I trust what it is doing for her.”

“I couldn’t do this.” Chanyeol says with a frown. “We aren’t supposed to be surrounded by water like that, it drives us insane, she really is a strong girl, our mate is.” He says eyeing Baekhyun who smiled earnestly at him, leaving Suho feeling very left out.

After a long period of time I could feel my strength returning slowly and I pulled on Suho’s arm, hoping he would join me underwater. He quickly dove underneath the water, eyeing me to see if I was having trouble breathing. I held him close to me and looked above us hoping he would mimic my action.

Suddenly the surface of the water was engulfed in blue flames, my flames. Suho’s eyes widened a bit before looking back at me, noticing that my face and shoulders no longer held the purple hue. I smiled lightly at him as I continued to hold him near me.

My vast energy was returning and being in my opposite element caused my flames to wonder if I was in danger as it tried to reach me, but this water is sacred, even my flame is useless against it.

We stayed together underwater until I had enough strength to control the flames. They left the surface of the water and danced around Chanyeol and Baekhyun, nipping their skin lightly but not hurting them.

I motioned for Suho to return to the surface. My skin almost completely healed from the powers of the water, now my skin was only littered with scratches and small cuts that were from the fight with Izanami’s hair.

He didn’t float up when I let go of him, instead he stayed under and stared at me. I smiled at him hoping to reassure him I was fine but he just continued to look at me. The water slowly stopped swirling around us, his face becoming clearer as the water steadied. Suho took hold of my hands, holding them strongly in his own.

“Can I?” He asked me, not surprised he could speak underwater, it is his element after all. I looked into his eyes, seeing nothing but sincerity I nodded my head.

When his lips touched mine it felt like my whole body was on fire, unlike Kai’s kiss when he couldn’t claim me, Suho’s kiss made my mind soar and my body shudder in delight. He was claiming me properly, as one of the main Alpha’s his claiming of me can be felt by all his pack members, as an Alpha myself, I have to let him claim me, dominate me in a way as all the boys who have marked me once again join in the mind link with the rest of the pack. As we floated to the top still lip locked I heard the other two giggling while cheering.

“It’s about time one of you grew the balls to kiss her, though I really thought it was going to be Kris.” Baekhyun smiles as they reach to help us out of the water.

“So what does this mean now?” Chanyeol questions.

“I know that we will not be having a communication problem now, as Alphas, all her mates lower in status now belong to both of us, so we are a full pack again.” Suho smiles at me as Chanyeol’s flame suddenly surrounds my body, but not Suho.

“That water was way too cold, you must be freezing.” He says as he wraps me in a towel and his embrace. My body feeling warmer with his closeness.

“I can’t believe it took almost three hours for you to heal.” A voice says coming around the corner.

“Now can I get a proper hug?” The man emerges and it is Miyuki’s brother. I rush to his side and he hugs me tight, lightly twirling me around before Miyuki comes and steals me from his embrace.

“Why would you do that, I was doing just fine you know, and then maybe you wouldn’t have got caught.” She pouts as she flicks my forehead.

“What did she do?” My mates question.

“Well, the reason I couldn’t call Nana once I was down there was because I used the energy she gave me.” She says pulling a necklace from under her shirt, a crystal glowing a faint green. “It kept me from being completely consumed, and I was starting to run out until suddenly it was glowing so bright I knew you were on your way here. I let it flow around me once we left the throne room because I felt like my skin was falling off and I know Izanami figured it out. I thought you wouldn’t be able to escape and be stuck down there for a year again.”

“You have been trapped down there before?” Suho interrogates me, looking at me with very upset eyes.

“Yes, I went down there to find the location of a sacred object, she wouldn’t tell me where it was until I stayed to play. It was important that I find it so I did as I needed to.” I say to him.

“A sacred object?”

“Yes, an object that holds many mysteries. Though their individual powers are unknown, when certain sets are completely gathered they can summon a God or Goddess, in this case it would call forth the Goddess of the Sun, which isn’t horrible, unless you are trying to rid the world of light.” I say as I see Baekhyun shiver at the thought.

“These objects are very important to the Children of the Gods, many of them have a sacred object with them whether they know it or not.” Miyuki says.

“Do you think Tao has one?” Suho replies though his eyes still refuse to leave mine.

“I’m sure one of his clocks is a sacred object to Chronos, that would explain the over use of force on him because he used his power. Chronos doesn’t want anyone looking his way in fear of his object being found.” I say thinking back on the horrible treatment Tao receives from his God.

“So why did you have to go down there and get one?” Suho asks as his gaze on me finally seems less intense.

“That would be my fault.” Susanoo answers as he joins the conversation.

“I thought you lived there? Why would she have to go get something for you?” Chanyeol questions.

“That is a valid question, as it is an object that originally belonged to me I had it stored down there, until Izanami found it and hid it from me. The Goddess of the Sun doesn’t trust Izanami and wanted the Sword returned to her, however I couldn’t find it. She asked Natsume to retrieve it for her.” He explains to the three confused wolves.

“I see, well we should let the rest of our pack know everyone is safe, can you..” Suho was saying before Miyuki turns and starts smacking me.

“Now that things are less crazy.” Miyuki starts, “What the hell is wrong with you? This is not the type of info you forget to share with your best friend!” She yells as she continue to smack the back of my head.

“Look I’m sorry, but obviously we were both preoccupied wouldn’t you say?” I say rubbing the back of my head.

“Leave her alone Miyu. So, looking at you all I can think of saying is you really need a run, a real run.” Kazu says smiling at me when a child like grin appears on my face.

“I have never seen that expression on her face before.” Chanyeol says looking at his brothers.

“Hey, this will be fun. Meet us back here in like five minutes.” I say smiling as Miyu grabs my arm and pulls me in a different direction but not before adding to my statement.

“And lose the legs!” She giggles as we head to her room.

Once we are away from prying eyes and ears she corners me.

“How long have you known these boys were your mates? Holy cow are they attractive, are those other three also your mates? How far have you gone with them….” I cut her off.

“Woah calm down geez, I haven’t known for that long, some of us were getting along as friends and when I had no choice but to reveal myself they just sort of knew I was theirs.” I say remembering the confession from both Sehun and Luhan.

“Aww look at that smile, I never thought I would see the day! I thought I was gonna have to share mine with you.” She giggles and suddenly I remember.

“That little of a maknae of yours tried to start too, saying he was my first kiss and what not, I never even got to explain myself to those two.”

“So how many?” She grins at me.

“You will not believe me if I told you.”

“Look at how many I have to deal with, so far I can count six, these three and the three that helped save me, I still win by 1!” She giggles and does a little dance.

“Is this a game?” I ask her raising an eyebrow at her.

“Only if I win.” She laughs.

“12”

“Huh?”

“What you have seen is half, there are six more.” I say seriously at her.

“No way?! The one person I think will never get with someone ends up with twelve mates, fate sure works in mysterious ways.” She says as we go through her drawers looking for shorts and a tank top so we can change into them once we get back.

“Let’s go, I bet those boys have no idea.” She smirks at me and I know what she means. None of the boys have really seen me in my full glory and strength and this run is just what I needed.

As we head back to where I told them to meet we had changed into our loose clothes and my three mates were chatting with Miyus mates.

“Oh, damn I hate when you guys go on a run, it doesn’t work for me.” Jungkook whines as he sees us heading toward them.

“Fish out of water?” I giggle at him as he pouts harder.

“Hey when you and Jin go for a swim we don’t complain to you!” Miyu says back as the argument starts.

“Let’s go into the forest and shift, leave your clothes right by that basket when you are done. They will be there for when we come back,”

“You aren’t worried about being caught?” Chanyeol questions the free spirit I have become since we got here.

“She didn’t tell you?” Miyuki laughs as she hears his question.

“Tell us what?”

“My brother kind of owns this whole area and the surrounding forest. We are kind of like the Mafia around here.”

“Mafia?!” Baekhyun’s mouth falls open.

“Yeah, pretty much.” she says as she takes my arm and heads into the forest dragging me behind her as I sheepishly grin at them.

We quickly shift to our natural forms and walk out to meet my wolves. I can see them stiffen as Miyuki greets their view, her natural form being rather intimidating.

*Well, they are really handsome wolves too!* Miyu says eyeing my wolves and I smile happily at her as I step into view as well.

Suho can’t seem to remove his eyes from Miyuki’s form as her presence commands attention.

“What are you?” He asks with a bow of his head.

“I am the reincarnation of one of the Gods of the Compass, I am responsible for the Western hemisphere. I go by a few names, but here I am Byakko, The tiger of the West.” She says proudly as the boys look at her in awe, her natural Form is that of a large white tiger.

“Wait, where is Nana?” Questions Baekhyun as he looks past me.

“I’m assuming you didn’t even show them your true form?” Miyuki asks turning to me.

“No, they saw my ears and tail on my human form but not this.” I smile as the wolves start sniffing me.

“Nana? I thought you were an orange and black fox?” Suho asks because they haven’t seen me transform when releasing my full energy and holding nothing back.

“Oh man, the strength you both possess is frightening.” Chanyeol shudders as Baekhyun nods in agreement.

Suho stops sniffing me and starts nuzzling me with his body, excited to see all of me. I am a cream almost white fox, my 7 tails swaying behind me, I slowly changed from an orange and black to this cream color the more tails I gained, I imagine that if I gained all 9 I would become fully white. I use the lesser form because it is easier to maintain with my powers in check and it keeps suspicious eyes away from me.

“Let’s just do this guys.” I say as I head toward the forest with Miyuki, the wolves coming out of their stupor just in time to hear Miyuki yell “Try to keep up!” As we rushed forward, the wolves immediately on our tails.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Those two were way faster than I ever thought. We were struggling to keep up as we watched them run, duck and leap around the forest. Natsume seemed so carefree that I couldn’t stop watching her laugh and smile at her best friend as they enjoyed the freedom they worked so hard to have and maintain. I always thought that the lives my brothers and I had lived were filled with such turmoil and sadness that we were just naturally unlucky. We walked around like the world had wronged us and we couldn’t change our fate. Yet here is a girl who has a past worse than the worst in our own group yet she strived to find a better life, to not let fate decide for her. I can’t believe the way we treated her when she first showed up, one mistake and we were throwing her away like a defective toy. I never saw myself or my pack as hypocrites but the shame I felt after hearing her story and knowing that we could have ended up as a part of that sad story, I knew that we needed to fix the damage we had caused. I wanted to mend all our misunderstandings and flush away the anger I felt at her, until I realized I was angry at her because I loved her, and everytime I thought she had lied or betrayed us I couldn’t let the anger go because I had fallen for her without me realizing. I almost held back kissing her earlier, who was I to deserve such a strong mate? Who were any of my pack to think she belonged to us when clearly we belong to her from the very first meeting.

She is so pure and innocent yet has seen things I doubt many of my pack members can imagine. I can feel the bond we now share and I can hear all of my brothers voices again though I have yet to acknowledge them. All Chanyeol and Baekhyun have informed them of is that she is safe and all healed. Four of us have yet to bond with her and I can only hope things go smoothly so that we can fully claim her as our own though I’m not sure how we do that exactly. I know we were told that how we will claim a mate is different than the normal way. We thought an Alpha would do it but apparently that isn’t the case.

“Hey keep up Hyung we are falling behind!” Chanyeol yells at me as he seems to be enjoying this run just as much as the rest of us. This area seems so easy to settle into and safe that my boys have fallen for it as much as I have. Though I think it’s the view in front of us that we are really falling for.

*Do you sense that hyung?*, Baekhyun questions me while eyeing our surroundings.

Just as I was about to yell to the girls ahead of us a couple of blue orbs quickly pass us. I go to yell to get their attention when I see each little blue ball morph into white foxes as they try to run alongside Nana but they can’t keep up.

She giggles at their appearance and glances behind to give me a smile telling me it was ok. They speed up and we quickly charge forward to catch up with them. I lost sight of them as they went through the thick bushes ahead so we push harder to catch up with them only to break through the trees and find ourselves unable to stop as we run right off a cliff.

“Huh?!” I hear the other two question as I feel my feet touching nothing. We turn with just enough time to see the girls had stopped and waved as we fall down, into a lake below.

Once we floated back to the surface I can see the displeasure in my brothers as we start heading toward the shore.

“Look out below!” we hear just in time to see the girls dive off the rocks above and join us in the water.

“This is why they should run with us, they are missing out on this great lake, stupid fish!” Miyuki groans as she swims over to the shore and shakes her fur to dry off.

I look and see Nana also swimming up to me toward the shore with a soft smile on her face. As we get out I quickly collect all the water off of Chanyeol and Baekhyun as they send me appreciative smiles. I turn to do the same for Nana when I see Miyuki eyeing me up and down.

“What?” I ask.

“So that’s why you were chosen to take her into the water, because you can control that element huh? That’s pretty impressive.” She smiles toward me.

“Actually it was more because he is our leader and we wanted to have the most responsible person to take care of her, not that it being his element didn’t help our decision.” Baekhyun says rubbing his neck.

“Oh, you are the Alpha? I thought it was the tall one from before?” She questions turning to Nana for confirmation.

“Oh they both are, with such a large pack I think having two leaders made it easier to control the young troublemakers.” She says with a grin, knowing full well the mischief the younger boys can cause, though even the older ones can be just as troublesome.

“Who were those foxes that appeared? Were they your flames?’ Chanyeol asks Nana.

“Oh no. This area is highly restricted, not just because Miyu’s brother owns and protects it but because of what is built on this Mountain. We traveled all the way to Japan through that portal and it led us right to my “room of clocks” so to speak. This shrine is dedicated to the God Inari, who is usually portrayed as having fox spirits that help relay messages between the heavens, well that is who you saw, they were just excited to see me after so long and they especially love seeing me in my full form. This place reminds me that I’m not just a forgotten tale and that my kind are still around even if we aren’t thriving like we used too. People here see us and feel glad to see us and that by doing so they now have good fortune.” She say as I think about how alone she must have felt for so long until she was brought here by her brothers and met the people here that have treated her better than she ever thought possible.

“Oh, so like when the water ripples when it sees me or when flames dance for Chanyeol?” I asks trying to understand how this place makes her feel.

“Exactly.” She say as we start walking back toward the shrine.

“So, how did your brother come to own all this land Miyuki?” Baekhyun asks her.

“Oh, well this land is kind of handed down generation after generation in my family. You see I wasn’t randomly chosen to be the Vessel of a God, rather it has been passed down in my family for a long time. However my brother was originally supposed to take over the previous holders position except that he didn’t die until I was born, he died right as I was born, relinquishing the duty to me as the carrier of the horrible curse. I think this is a part of the reason why Natsume and I are so close, our circumstances are so similar, yet also completely different. My becoming the vessel as praised by most even with the few who hate that a God stuck with a weak female body. I wasn’t shunned or seen as a threat like Natsume was.” She finishes and again I find pride in knowing how strong our mate has been and how I wish we could have found her sooner.

As we return to the Shrine I see the rest of the pack waiting for us, chatting away with Miyuki’s mates as they see us come through the trees. Almost immediately they are all on the defensive when Miyu and Nana come out behind us, the power they are releasing is very intense that once you feel it, your whole body shivers and it’s like a panic attack has suddenly taken over your body.

“Who are they?” Kris and Xiumin growl out just from fear alone. I was about to reply to them when Luhan, Lay and Sehun quickly rush forward and tackle Nana to the ground.

“Is this really you? Fully in control and powerful, Beautiful.” Luhan says as he hugs her close to him. Sehun is nuzzling her tails as Lay seems to check her and Miyuki for any injuries.

“Thank you Lay, but we are just fine.” She answers his unspoken question and I can’t help but hope I can get just as close to her as those three are.

“Wait, is that Nana?” Kai’s eyes bulge out of his head as he also rushes over to her, Kyungsoo following close behind as Chanyeol, Baekhyun and I walk over to shift into our human form.

When we come back out changed I nod to the girls so they may also go change.

“That is Nana’s true form?” Kris asks me as I join him.

“Yup, that is what she really is, no gimmicks no misunderstandings, just her in her truest form.” I say as I smile at her retreating figure as her and Miyuki growl at some of the boys for trying to follow them, even Miyu's mates doing the same.

“You claimed her.” Kris states, no malice or jealousy, just a statement.

“I have.” I respond as all my brothers turn to look at me.

“You did?”

“Really, finally!”

“Seriously?!”

“About time.”

*I know I know, but with this one of our problems has been solved.* I say to all of them. A few faces light up excited to know we all can communicate again.

*So glad we all can easily contact each other now.* we all hear Nana say as she comes out shifted back and clothed.

We all head into the main house building when Miyu’s brother greets us at the entrance.

“We have many things to discuss.”

Author Note: Finally an Alpha has claimed her. I think I originally had planned for it to be Kris but as the story progressed that changed as well, I think his will be much more exciting and troublesome. I know that we still have Tao, Chen, Kris and Xiumin to mark her and I think it will happen pretty soon, and I will reveal what the rest of Miyuki’s mates are as well. It took me a while and a lot of research but I am happy with what I chose them to be and am excited to let you know as well so please look forward to the next chapter.

Shout out to inspirit0712 for the great feedback and words of encouragement. The last couple of chapters have been rough on me and hearing your feedback really cheered me up.

I also want to send a shout out to exoland: I was really discouraged because it seemed like I was losing more subscribers than I was gaining and I thought everyone was starting to dislike this story or were just tired of waiting for my slow self. I was in such a ty mood and I actually thought about just giving this up or just rewriting the whole darn thing because I know this story is flawed and I may have missed things I wrote or rewrote the same thing because I forgot but anyway exoland subscribed so I was thankful someone was interested and you replied with “I’ll support you till the end” and that really brought me out of my sad thoughts, just want you to know I really appreciated what you said and I hope you do continue to enjoy my story..

and I hope that all my readers will and if they don’t or are starting to dislike something just let me know, this is my first story ever and I have never been one to plan things out or brainstorm, that isn’t how my mind works, I think of an idea and I just write it out till I’m satisfied. I hope that more of you will voice your opinions and help a newbie out! Thanks so much to you all though and I know that there are more people that have subscribed than have unsubscribed and I refuse to leave you all just because some people decided they didn’t like where the story was going so anyways See you all in the next chapter!