Edited by the lovely ChiNyan

F I V E

N I X: to veto; refuse to agree (see: Aaemi's reaction)

I had gone to grocery store hoping for a distraction from this mysterious Jungkook character but, against all odds, I had managed to run into him.

Driving back up the driveway to get to the garage, I was so distracted I almost hit Lukas Blake with my car. Slamming on the breaks in the nick of time I came so close to Lukas that his leg kissed the front of my car.

Lukas was Jaron's oldest son who, like the rest of his brothers and despite the fact he was just as attractive like the rest of his brothers, still lived with his father due to lack of mate. In normal circumstances, I was pretty sure that would make him an unemployed bum who still lived with his father at twenty-five. Except he wasn't unemployed and it was pretty unusual for shifter kids to leave the nest until they found their mate.

“Holy .” He swore, his reflexes had him springing back and almost tumbling onto the floor. He squinted his surprised eyes at me and once he recognized my car he let out a huge sigh. “Aaemi, is that you?”

“Sorry!” I sputtered, but my apology would have probably sounded a lot better if I didn't look like I wanted to laugh. Lukas was tall and hefty so it was pretty comical watching him jump at least five feet into the air.

“Were you trying to kill me?” He moved out of the way so I could park my car in the garage.

“Nah. I don't know the area well enough. Where would I hide your body?” I teased. Lukas sniffed, offended. He walked up to lean against the car next to mine, which happened to be one of his brothers' Jeep. Lukas and his brothers were beautiful, slick, and fooled around with girls enough for me to call them man . But I used to shower with them when we were pups and our mothers were still alive so that kind of killed the hotness factor.

“Move your lazy , I have food in the trunk and the ice cream is going to melt soon.” Lukas jumped into the motion at the word 'food', practically throwing himself at the back of my car.

He popped the trunk and had almost all the bags of groceries in his arms before I could even get out of the car. Nothing got the Blake brothers moving like food. Smacking his passing back with my lanyard, I made my way to trunk to pick up whatever he had left. A large bag of rice, one that I could barely remember buying, sat slumped against the spare tire.

“Left me with to do the heavy lifting,” I muttered. I scooped the bag up easily, something only my werewolf part could do, and slung it onto my shoulder.

I sauntered into the kitchen, swinging the bag or rice around dangerously. It was already loud and bursting with Alpha Currents. My wolf hissed in affectionate annoyance. Lukas had put the groceries down to be sorted through and put away but he had quickly gotten himself into a fight with the twins.

Mark and Henry might be twins, but they were polar opposites. Not just physically but their personalities clashed as well. Mark had dark hair that he preferred to keep short and over his eyes. He was a bit paler than Henry and lean with taunt muscles he needed for his career as a kickboxer. Henry had a shock of white blond hair that fell past his chin that he usually kept tied back, he didn't like to shave every day so his chin almost always had a slight stubble. Henry had a louder personality, obnoxious and spontaneous while Mark was a bit quieter, but by no means the responsible one. Mark was an adrenaline junkie, he liked to do crazy stunts that got his wolf excited.

The only thing the twins shared was a similar eye color, icy blue like the rest of their brothers.

Now, Mark and Lukas had begun getting physical over the ice cream. Lukas appeared to have Mark in a massive headlock, but he managed to land a sharp punch in his older brother's side and snatching the ice cream away triumphantly. Henry was yelling at both of them, egging his twin on.

Lukas lunged for it again, screaming defiantly but Mark danced out of the way, holding the carton of ice cream out to Henry.

Justin sat at the dinner table, working on homework, but he lifted his head to greet me. Jaron was nowhere to be found.

“Ayy-mi!” Henry cried in his childish radio host voice as he took the ice cream Mark handed to him and peeled the plastic covering off. “How was school my little pumpkin?”

I walked past them to drop the bag of rice down near Justin's feet. “Ew. Don't call me that.” My nose wrinkled. “And put the rest of the ice cream away before you start eating.”

Suddenly the racket that was created by the arguing boys ceased and an unusual silence was created. I turned around to face them and found them all sniffing the air, curiously.

“You smell weird mei.” Mark broke the silence. Justin shot me an 'I told you so' look which I countered with my 'STFU' look. I threw my hands up.

“Yeah?” I asked dryly, “What do I smell like?”

There's another span of silence as they seemed to contemplate my question and four pairs of eyes drilled holes into mine.

“Would you guys stop that!” I hiss and sat down in the chair opposite of Justin. “I feel like a piece of meat.” Lukas chuckled.

“Meat doesn't smell like you do,” He said, “You smell a little like you usually do but-”

“You smell like you ate a ing cinnamon roll.” Mark continued. “You don't smell bad Aaemi, you just smell-”

“-different.” Henry finished. He shared a look with his twin that I wished I could decipher.

“What do you mean?” I asked. My voice was calm but I could tell they smelled the curiosity. The older brothers looked in between themselves, exchanging another glance.

My wolf growled in warning. They're hiding something from you.

I turned to look at Justin, but he looked just as confused by his brothers as I did.

We should tell them. Justin mouthed to me, and I realized in a jolt that he wanted to tell them about my new tattoo. Subconsciously, I pulled the sleeve further down my arm.

I widened my eyes in surprise then shook my head furiously. No way in hell, there would be several flips.

Thankfully his brothers didn't catch the words being mouthed over the dinner table, they seemed to be talking between themselves.

“I think we should wait for Jaron to get here.” Mark said finally. I whipped my glare on all three brothers standing behind the counter. They shifted their eyes around uncomfortably as their alpha stared them down. My wolf snarled at them.

“You guys aren't telling me something.” I accused them in Mandarin. They busied themselves with putting away groceries. “Hey!” I yelled. They jumped a little as my Alpha Current flared. I reigned it in, but crossed my arms over my chest so they could tell I'm pissed as hell.

Another day, another pet peeve.

“Fine.” There was annoyance oozing from my voice, “We'll wait for Jaron.”

“Wait for me, why?” A new voice sounded from the doorway and we all turned to see Jaron and Taylor, the last of the Blake brothers walk into the kitchen. Both of them were covered in dirt and smelled like the forest on my property so I could only assume they came from a patrol.

Lukas and the twins visibly relaxed from behind the counter as their father entered the room. My laser glare has moved from them to their father.

Taylor, (by far my favorite of the brothers) a sweet and caring boy only a year older than Justin and I, ran a hand through his blond hair as his eyes lit with surprise.

“Mei, you smell weird.” He declared. Henry and Mark's eyes went wide and Lukas mouthed several hushed things at Taylor but my wolf howled in irritation, my annoyance finally snapping me into action. I pushed off my chair and lunged at Taylor.

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