Femme Fatale

Chapter 2

The Challenge

Warning : There will be a bit of ual content in this chapter near the end. Read at your own risk. Skip the steamy parts and just get to the important parts if you’re not comfortable with them.

“I don’t want to!”

Xiumin sighed. “Soyeon, they’re not going to eat you-“ “You’re scaring me even more!” “-so would you please just go downstairs and have dinner with me and my brothers?”

Soyeon hissed at him, her imaginary hackles raised. “No!”

Frowning, the young man tried to pry off her grip from his bed. She held on tighter, shaking off his hands from hers as she hissed and spat like an angered cat…erm, wolf.

Suddenly, he got an idea and smiled slyly. “Then,” he let go of her and slowly turned his back. “That delicious, yummy, juicy steak is all mine, I guess-“

“…You’re such an evil, despicable midget.”

Xiumin grinned and took her hand, dragging her outside his room. “Let’s go then!”

After a small struggle, he managed to literally drag her down the stairs as he excitedly waved at his brothers. “Guys, hey!”

All of them stopped eating and chatting and looked at him, about to reply until they saw the girl he was holding onto. “Minseok-hyung, is she your girlfriend?” Kai coyly asked.

Xiumin’s eyes widened as a blush spread across his face. “Wh-what?” he quickly let go of her hand. “No! No no no!”

Rubbing her sore wrist, Soyeon muttered and threw dark glares at Xiumin who didn’t see. “Then who is she?” Chen asked curiously, tilting his head.

“Uh, um… how do I say this…” He fidgeted nervously. “She’s… ah! She’s a friend of mine!” He forced a grin on his face, slinging his arm around Soyeon’s shoulder as she gave him an incredulous look. Luhan, Kris, Suho and Lay gave him disbelieving looks, still clearly remembering what had taken place earlier that day.

Xiumin gave them a pleading yet warning look, telling them to keep their mouths shut and he would explain everything later. They rolled their eyes and shrugged as Lay cleared his throat, making all of the attention shift to him.

“Well then, why don’t we invite our guest to eat?” he stressed on the particular word. He somehow managed to find another chair and placed it between him and Sehun. Xiumin took his seat beside Kris and gave her a worried glance as Soyeon strolled towards her seat.

She smiled at the two of them before sitting down, and Sehun immediately passed her a plate. She thanked him and started to place some steak and mashed potatoes on her plate.

Soon, everyone forgot about the slightly awkward air and chatted amongst themselves.

When everyone else was busy with conversations, Kris turned to his elder brother.

“So. What was earlier this morning about?” he asked seriously, placing his fork and spoon down.

 Xiumin stopped chewing and gulped his food down before biting his lip. “Kris, don’t you think here is a bit unsuitable to be discussing stuff like this?”

Kris frowned. “I suppose it is, but I’m pretty sure that you’re going to run away and hide yourself once dinner is over so that no one would ask any questions.”

Xiumin smiled guiltily. “Heh, you know me too well.”

The much taller male cracked a small smile. “Of course. But I want the details after dinner. This stuff you’re getting yourself into is really weird.” He muttered.

Xiumin shrugged and continued eating as his eyes drifted unconsciously drifted towards his self-proclaimed mate who was whispering excitedly with Sehun, who also had a smile on his face as he listened to whatever she was saying.

Xiumin smiled slightly at the interaction, but couldn’t help the small feeling of jealousy he felt at seeing her so close with another guy.

He snapped himself out of his daze and shrugged.

‘I’m really getting attached to her.’ He thought. ‘But I guess that’s not really a bad thing.’

After dinner, Kris followed Soyeon and Xiumin to Xiumin’s room to talk about stuff. You know what stuff.

Soyeon sat on the bed and Xiumin laid his head in her lap as she soothingly ran her fingers through his hair, humming softly with a smile on her face.

Kris raised an eyebrow at them and opened his mouth to say something until Xiumin shut him up with a half-hearted glare. “Hey, I’m going to be taking care of her so I might as well get used to this skinship monster, don’t judge.”

Kris sat opposite them, long legs dangling off the bed. “Spill. Now.”

“Damn, you talk like a girl.”

“Shut up and just talk, damnit.”

The red-haired male chuckled and raised his hands defensively. “Ooh, someone’s snappy today. I’ll talk, calm down.”

He inhaled and closed his eyes, letting Soyeon play with his hair a bit more before he sat up.

“Okay, you know that she had tackled me off my chair and um… bit my, uh, neck, right?” His face blushed at the memory, remembering the feel of her body against his. He shook his head to rid himself of any erse thoughts and continued when Kris nodded.

“Well, I talked to her after that and she told me that,um…” he took a very deep breath.

“She’sawerewolfandI’mnowhermateandthere’sabigchancethatshecouldmarkallofyoutoo!”

Kris blinked at the long sentence that his small hyung managed to say in one breath. “Sorry, didn’t get that. One more time?”

“She’s a werewolf,” Xiumin gulped when Kris gave him a judging look, face mode on. “Hear me out! I swear I’m not lying.”

The giant rolled his eyes at that and just sighed as a sign for him to continue. The older male did. “She Marked me, making me her mate,” he showed the new snowflake-shaped mark on the spot she bit him as Kris’ eyes widened.

“And there’s a big chance of, uh, all of you getting Marked and becoming her mate too… But there’s some sort of process that you have to go through before becoming a full-fledged mate.”

“What the heck?” Kris gaped, eyes nearly bulging out of his sockets. “I’m a potential mate for her?” he rudely gestured towards Soyeon, who stuck her tongue out and crossed her arms.

Xiumin smacked his hand. “Pointing is rude.”

The younger male rubbed his hand. “Sorry. Do you know what this mating process is?”

Xiumin raised his eyebrow.

“I thought you weren’t interested?”

“Uh…” Kris blushed, making the other smirk, but it faded as he answered.

“I’m not really sure about that.” He turned to Soyeon who gave him a questioning look.

“Soyeon, what is the official mating process?”

Soyeon grinned. “Thought you’d never ask.” She sat up straighter and looked at them, smiling brightly.

“Well, at first it’s either mutual attraction or something that us wolves call Tracking.”

“Tracking?” Both males asked simultaneously.

“Tracking is a method that is a method used by wolves to find their mate’s corresponding scent. It’s like a radar for us, and it’s much easier to find our mates this way. Some wolf packs have equal amounts of male and female wolves. In my kind, where male wolves severely outnumber female wolves by the ratio 8 male wolves to a female, it’s common for a female wolf to have more than one mate. My mum had seven mates.” She laughed at their expressions at the amount of mates her mother had. “Hey, my aunt had fifteen. Don’t be too surprised, boys.”

“The second step is Linking. This happens when you feel that your mate and you click, and you care for them deeply and start to love them. You just feel so right with them.” Her eyes held a faraway look to them and she unconsciously held onto Xiumin’s hand.

“The third step is Bonding. At this stage, you love your mate very, very much, almost to the point of obsession in some cases, and will suffer from severe depression or will have extremely quick tempers if separated from each other.” Xiumin’s eyes widened at that.

“There sure is a lot more to mating than I originally thought.” Kris mumbled, causing the girl to scoff.

“Shush, you. The final stage is Marking. This is the point where you completely seal the deal and is equal to a marriage, except that you can never leave your mate until the day of your death. This is the process where either the male or female will mark their partner, depending on who is dominant. This makes you officially theirs and vice versa. No two wolves have the same marks- every marking is unique. Some wolves who get marked develop a power. It is uncommon but not unheard of. Three of my mum’s mates got powers when they were marked, and my dad is one of them. His power is shadow bending.” She said proudly.

Xiumin just gave her a smile as Kris huffed.

“Anyway, this process can happen at any time for any amount of time. You may complete the process in days, weeks, months and even years. It all depends on the readiness and willingness of both parties.” She explained further. Both men nodded, eyes bright at the knowledge they just gained.

Xiumin hummed and raised his hand. “Can I ask a question?”

“Sure.”

“Why do your eyes change colour sometimes?”

Soyeon smiled. “My eye colour depends on what I feel. When I’m happy, they glow silver. If I’m threatened, nervous, or giving a warning, my eyes turn gold. They’re blue when I’m sad, red when I’m mad or frustrated, but when in mating season or the night of a full moon, watch out.” She said eerily with twinkling eyes.

Xiumin shifted nervously as his younger brother coughed. “Uh, what do purple eyes mean?”

The black-haired beauty giggled and gave them a teasing smile. “You’ll find out in a while. But I warn you, never make me sneeze. If I do, make me sneeze again.”

This earned confused looks from both males. “Why?”

Innocently, she blinked. “I don’t really know, but my mum told me that every time I sneeze, my hidden persona comes out and I don’t really remember what happens while it’s in control.” She pouted and placed a finger to her chin.

“She always said that it was really hard to make me revert back to myself though. And I kept getting weird looks from my male pack members for a few days after that.”

Xiumin was curious. He needed to see what this hidden persona of hers did when it was in control. He looked at Kris who gave him a shrug, but his eyes were also twinkling curiously.

“Let’s make her sneeze.” He whispered to Kris, who just nodded.

Discreetly, the tall male pulled out a feather from somewhere –pillow, perhaps?- and gestured for Xiumin to restrain her. He nodded and quickly grabbed Soyeon’s wrists before pinning her down to the bed. Soyeon looked at him in panic, eyes flickering from dark brown to gold.

“W-what are you doing?”

She saw the feather in Kris’ hand and her eyes widened as she struggled. “No! NO! Don’t! You’ll regret it!”

Xiumin grunted as he felt her gradually wriggling out of his grip. “Kris, hurry!”

He nodded and tickled her nose with the feather. Soyeon’s face started to contort as she tried to hold in her sneeze. Her cheeks began to turn red from the effort and she finally let out an almighty sneeze after a bit of Kris’ relentless tickling.

“Ah…”

“Ah…”

“Ah…”

“AH CHOOOOOO!”

Poof!

A white smoke enveloped her as Xiumin and Kris coughed, trying to wave the smoke away as their eyes squinted, trying to see through the smoke. Finally the smoke started to clear and the men waved away the few last wisps before opening their eyes.

“Hey, Soyeon, you ok- WHOA.”

The whiteness faded away, revealing Soyeon sitting in a seductive pose on all fours. Her clothes had somehow shortened until the loose shirt she wore before became a crop top and the basketball shorts turned into skin tight shorts. Her hair was messed up in an attractive way and her ehem, s, were considerably larger in size-or maybe they just didn’t notice before. Her now purple eyes were deceitfully innocent and she bit her lower lip, biting one of her nails.

“Oops.”

Her soft murmur brought the two men out of their daze. Kris and Xiumin had overcome their shock as they blushed madly, trying to look anywhere but at her exposed stomach, pronounced rear or smooth milky legs- .

“It feels so good to be in control again.” Soyeon smiled and stretched, smirking when the two males’ eyes followed the hem of her shirt that rode up and nearly exposed the bottom of her s and the audible gulps that followed after.

She lowered her arms and her eyelids lowered.

“So why did you summon me?” another poof as fluffy white wolf ears appeared on her head as a matching fluffy white tail materialized above her .

Kris blushed redder at the provocative sight and tried his best to not nosebleed. Xiumin was shamelessly gaping at her plump, round rear- hey, he has a thing for nice butts, okay- especially on the fluffy white tail that rested right above it.

“Oi, my eyes are up here.” Came her amused, sultry voice as she snapped her fingers to make them pay attention to her.

Slowly, they dragged their eyes up to her and her seductive smirk.

“Are you gonna answer my question or not?”

“W-w-we ju-just need-needed to s-see the other p-p-p-persona th-that Soyeon told us a-about.” Xiumin shakily answered, blushing hard.

Soyeon chuckled, a nice, musical and beautiful sound. “You’re seeing it now, sweet bun. And you’ll be seeing me every night of the full moon, oh, and mating season too~”

Her eyes became clouded as she sniffed the air, a blissful expression on her beautiful face. “Mm… I smell an amazing scent in the air~” Her eyes turned to Xiumin, beautiful, hypnotizing.

She slowly crawled to him, her hips swaying seductively as she made her way towards him in an almost predatorily way. Well, she was a werewolf, so it was sort of expected.

Soyeon hummed. She was now so close that her chest was slightly pressed against his, and her nose was inches away from his.

“It’s from you isn’t it?”

Her smile widened, a flush starting to appear on her face.

“You know, honey, there’s a privilege a first mate gets that no other mate does.” She whispered.

Xiumin shivered from it, hands trembling when she grasped his chin and made him look at her clearly. Kris had long since passed out.

“Her absolute loyalty, love and obedience.” With that, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on his nose before pulling away, eyes twinkling. Her tail waved back and forth as the ears on her head flicked and twitched.

A challenge could be seen in Soyeon’s eyes as she gracefully hopped off the bed.

“Now, love, if you want to prove your worth to Soyeon as her first mate, I challenge you to revert her back to her normal self before…” Her eyes flicked to the clock in the room and her sinful lips curled into a smirk. “…midnight. If you fail, I will revert back to her, but you have failed me and Soyeon as first mate.” Soyeon frowned before smiling again.

“Good luck, sweet cheeks!” she was gone in a burst of wind.

Xiumin stared at the spot she was at dazedly for a few seconds, before blinking and coming back to his senses. He hurriedly looked at the clock.

“Midnight is an hour and a half away.” He mumbled and turned to Kris. He smacked Kris on the head.

“Oi! Namkris Tower, wake up! We need to find Soyeon and make her sneeze!”

Well, that definitely didn’t sound stupid.

At that exact moment, the door burst open as three figures tumbled inside. Luhan and Lay both respectively had a deer and unicorn in the headlights expression as they stared at him while Suho just had an 'oh ' face on.

Luhan raised his hands defensively.

“We so weren’t eavesdropping on your conversation and definitely did not find possessed Soyeon y!”

Hope you guys enjoyed! Next chapter coming soon. In a few days, maybe?