I know it's been a long time since I last posted. I experienced another death in the family so I took a break from writing for a while. But I'm feeling a lot better and writing back into the story has actually helped with dealing with the loss. I thank all you guys that have been following this story, for you dedication and welcome new subscribers! I hope you are also enjoying this extremely long but entertaining story. 

A long time ago, when the supernatural world was no secret, nature still reigned over the humans. And with that nature, came the wolves. They were tactful, fearless and hungry. They knew the outs and ins of every forest for their hunts, even more so than the most powerful creatures. Packs were important to them, and packs were family. They knew humans did not understand this. They had family as well, yes, but they did not comprehend the depths of skin and blood the way the wolves did. Humans were naïve beings stuck on the same land as them. But, the humans still feared them— only, not as much as they feared the supernatural world in its entirety. And fortunately, for the wolves, they knew who ruled it. Fortunately, for the wolves, they knew how to exploit that knowledge. The humans were gullible but, not as gullible as the ones who ruled the supernatural world.

And here they said foxes were clever.

***

Her eyes transitioned from wide, to normal, to narrow. Luna turned her attention back to Onew, a reluctant and weary expression written in and on her features.

“Onew,” her voice was lower now, brows creased, “I don’t know what kind of crazy game you guys are playing but it’s not funny.”

“That’s ironic,” Taemin announces as they get closer. Luna steps back but stops when her feet hit the edge of the sidewalks’ line that separates them and the street. “I was gonna say the same thing to Onew.”

This time, it’s Onew who creases his lips. He and Key exchange glances and Key only copies the expression, arms crossed, brow fearsome.

“He thinks we can trust her,” Key responds, turning his attention towards the two Cerberi for only a second, “she might not be as naïve to the situation as we think, but she sure as hell doesn’t trust her sister. At least, that’s what Onew thinks. Am I wrong?”

Onew crosses his arms back and shrugs with a side look like him unmasking their hiding spot isn’t such a big deal.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Key scoffed. They were all standing in a circle that surely looked suspicious to anyone casually driving or walking in their direction. But it was the least of their worries.

“You didn’t have to,” his best friend choked out. “What the hell are you thinking?”

“You know what I’m thinking,” Onew retorts with a smirk.

“Not funny.”

“Yes, I must agree. This isn’t really a laughable situation,” Minho chides in.

“Wait, what the hell is going on?” Luna’s eyes are as wide as a deer. Her head switches between the four of them, shocked and worried, “Why were you guys hiding behind trees and how the hell did you hear Onew from all the way over ther-“

Her eyes beckoned wider.

She knew something.

Luna steps back, her body shaky—not noticing the car riding down the same lane she’s about to fall into. Instinctively, Onew grabs her and pulls her away, the car honking intrusively as it continued to drive by.

“Luna be careful,” he breathes out.

She snatched her arm from his grasp and moved away, forming a hole in their perfect sphere.

“Y-You are monsters,” she mutters.

Another step back.

“What did she just call us,” Taemin grits his teeth and you could almost hear a soft growl simmer from behind his lips.

There goes that word again. Monsters. A haunting that circles around the four of them.

“M-My sister was right,” she stutters, “there are monsters around here.”

Key narrowed his eyes, closing in their distance, the soft orange glow of the sun illuminating his outline. He stared at her image. Shadows danced around her tight clothing, falling towards her feet. Human eyes wouldn’t be able to tell, but he saw the way the thread of her clothing shook, how it shivered. Luna’s stance was firm but her human nature was giving herself away. Human nature always did that sort of thing. She was indeed, scared, and in their recent experience, human or not, being scared meant that they knew something.

“So, your sister does know,” he responded, “but not about us. We were right about the family then.”

The last bit of his words almost come out as a question, but as he looks around to the group, the three of them are nodding their heads in agreement. Onew gestures an outward hand towards her.

“See Luna, you can trust us.”

“The hell,” she snatched back again, “My sister was right, I am stupid. No wonder they kept it a secret.”

“Kept what a secret?” Key stepped forward, but Luna stepped back.

“Stay away from me. You think I’m telling all you guys anything. What? Have you been using me this entire time? This is why you wanted to talk? To see if you could get away with killing my family-“

“Kill?” The question lasped out of Onew with sudden vigor and he looked around at everyone else to see their reactions as well. Minho's brows narrowed, Key's mouth moved to open but nothing came out, and Taemin seemed even more indifferent than when they emerged from the woods. “Luna, what the hell are you talking about? No one wants to kill your family,” he continued.

She scoffed.

Onew raised his hands in protest.

“Everything on the table?”

She kept quiet.

“Luna, me and Key only found out what we were going on what….a couple of months now?”

“Onew-“

“Come on Key,” Onew urged, “let’s just tell her the truth. She’s a good person and it’s apparent she’s been fed the wrong information, so let’s just tell her. No point in keeping secrets now.”

But the expressions hovering on both Taemin and Minho's faces spoke the exact opposite. Their brows are just as angry as Luna’s. Then again, they were a Tribe and they had their rules. Key highly doubted that telling a human what they were was actually allowed.

“He’s right,” he finally spoke.

She eased her tensed shoulders down as soon as the confirmation left his lips.

“You’re screwing around with me,” Luna retorted.

“We’re not,” Key continued, “everything on the table.”

“Everything on the table,” she repeated.

Key let in a slow, steady breath. He relaxed his tensed shoulders that seemed to have copied Luna and peered at her with calming eyes.

“My parents are dead,” the echo of those words stung his throat. Knowing was one thing, but saying it out loud was another, especially when he considered one parent still out there somewhere, “they died 5,000 years ago.”

“5,000-“

“Let me finish," he placed his hand up to stop her, "My parents were the leaders of the supernatural world. They were Gumihos. That’s what I am. A fox. Their one and only living heir. 5,000 years ago there was an ambush, my people and Onew’s,” he gestured to his friend, “were slaughtered by the humans. My aunt lived and so did Onew’s mother. Before my mother died in unknown circumstances, she hid me in a tree. I slept for centuries too young to remember anything that happened or was happening around me, and as all those years passed, my aunt and Onew’s mother searched for me. It wasn’t until Onew was born that they found me. He sensed me, and we’ve been together ever since.”

She was quiet now, shut closed. So with this silence, Onew decided, was a good opportunity to take his chance to chime in.

“It was only a couple of months ago that we thought we were normal teenage boys about to graduate high school. That was our plan anyway. My mother and Key’s aunt didn’t tell us anything.”

"So are you also 5,000 years-" 

"No," he interrupted. "My father is a human that my mother met years ago and got married to. I was born like any other person."

Luna nodded towards Taemin and Minho, standing with intensity and irritated expressions. Minho raised his hand in a stopping motion, eyes barely glancing at her.

“You don’t need to know anything about our people. Your people are already dangerous.”

“And yours isn’t?” She cocked her hip to the side, her small body anything but a threat with low hips and a slight curve that extenuated her figure. She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side, “If you want me to trust you, I’m gonna need a little more convincing.”

Taemin turned to the lot of them.

“We’re just gonna trust this human to keep our secrets. I’m sorry Onew, you may trust her, but I have no reason to. She might not be so innocent like you label her to be. She could be just as conniving and secretive as her sister.”

“You call me human like I’m a monster,” she spat back, “I’m not the one that can eat people with fangs and superpowers.”

This time, it was Taemin who scoffed, raising his head to the air and rolling his eyes. He even chuckled a little through his throat.

“Superpowers, is that what you think we have? Please, what we have is natural. It’s apart of who we are, just like how destruction, hate, and poverty is what your people are about. You call us monsters, but have you seen the history of how you so call ‘prosper.’ You destroy things that don’t make sense to you, you bury those who accomplished more, you step on those already there. Humans are a repeated cycle of the same monsters they write about and read to their children at night.”

“Taemin,” Minho urged.

It wasn’t until the boy took a breath that he witnessed the damaged he’d done. A small tear ran its course down Luna’s face. She wiped it with the back of her hand immediately, before it could reach her lips, but the damage was done. It wasn’t just her though, he realized, it was Key and Onew as well. They looked down to the ground, lashes cascading sad, thin shadows across their cheeks like trees swaying in the sunlight. Key’s cheeks growing a bit pale, and their eyes pulling away from the two Cerberi.

“Onew, Key I’m so-“

“Luna’s right,” Minho interrupted, “if we’re going to establish trust amongst one another, we might as well get it over with.”

Key looked up, surprised.

“Don’t you guys have rules or some-“

“Screw the rules,” he waved his hand, “let’s be honest. The more I think about it, the more I realize we’ve dug ourselves deeper in this than we meant to, so we might as well keep going. We’ve defied the adults, we’ve come up with our own plan, we’ve snuck out,” he shrugs, “let’s just tell her the truth.”

The last sentence was for Taemin, as he turned his body and looked at his partner in crime, his friend. But Taemin could not return the look. Was everyone crazy? Was he, Taemin, truly the only person who saw the possible implications of their actions—of spilling all their secrets out to Luna, a human? It was the first time in his life that he actually couldn’t believe he disagreed with everyone, but he didn’t say any of this aloud. Instead, he pursed his lips, even sneered a tiny bit, and nodded his head nonetheless in agreement, all without saying a word.

****

Min-seo rubbed her husband’s back with one hand, moving in slow circular motions as they sat on the bed together. The room was quiet, submerged in a silence she didn’t think was possible since the commotion of their lives had first gone downhill. He was quiet too. Too quiet. Had been since the kids went into the training yard to get out of the house. It wasn’t like her husband to stay disassociated. It made her weary. He didn’t look at her either and that stung just a bit, in the corner of her heart where she loved him the most. But, he also didn’t push her away, didn’t tell her that right now, in his moment of frustration—which she was sure it was—he didn’t need her around, hovering in this wide cage that was their temporary room. But even if she was a mile across, the way his heart pumped and moved, stopped and started in an almost impatient dance, was worrisome. She opened to speak.

At first, nothing came out.

She was never good at this kind of thing. So instead she tried again and said,

“What’re you thinking?” Her voice was low, almost to a whisper. If it weren’t for the two of them being the only ones in the room, he probably wouldn’t have been able to hear her at all.

His response was a sort of scruff from the throat. His mouth, curving to one side in a sneer—no, a smirk. The scruff became a distorted chuckle like she made some sort of joke.

“What am I thinking,” he laughed half-heartedly again, “I’m thinking, why…”

“Why what?” She stopped the rotation of her hand as if her motor instincts had given up and all she wanted to be aware of, at this moment, was his voice.

“Why….” He breathed out a sigh, “why we didn’t tell them. We should’ve told them a long time ago.”

He left it there. The sentence lingering in the air like a weightless piece of lint trying to find its way to the ground.

The truth.

He didn’t say the rest of it, but she always knew how to finish his sentences. It was one of the quirks to how they met but the “why” in this scenario, unlike so many others they’ve had before, was harder to answer, and she found herself thinking back to their time together. When everything was fresh and in the beginning. Like things always start before they become sour. They’ve never reached a sour moment…until now.

It took almost seven years of them knowing one another for her to finally tell him the truth. She hated hiding who she was from her husband but through her and Kim’s centuries of survival, she’d seen how humans reacted to these types of bombshells. Humans feared something new, something different. They always had and always will. Supernaturals pegged it as a part of the human creation, half the essence that molded into their soul. Hell, there were all kinds of movies about Kim’s kind. Somehow the Night Owls are never mentioned, but maybe they got erased from history.

When Min-seo had met the love of her life, it was always a back and forth tug. He deserved the truth, she knew that but when? When he promised to keep her safe not knowing how strong she truly was? When he surprised her with dates and smiles, and moments? When he would just linger with her late nights on the couch as they watched tv because there was nothing better to do?

The night he proposed to her, all those chances came rushing back and she’d rejected. Luckily, he wasn’t the type of guy to simply take no for an answer and watch as the person he loved walked away. Day after day went by and he pursued. Finally, on a rainy night on top of one of the rooftops she loved to visit and look down on the city lights, he found her and she caved in, staring into his dark-circled eyes as if it were the first time and last time she’d ever see him again. Like most humans, he didn’t believe her until she transformed right in front of his eyes and afterward, the most amazing thing happened. He didn’t run. He shook for a bit, startled as any normal person would be, but he stayed and said, “I fell in love with you.”

When she had Onew though, it was different. One, her kind was never intimate with humans so she never knew what to expect and two, she had no idea if what Onew was, was even worth telling her son. But then he found Key and she knew. Yet her and Kim had decided to say nothing. It was better off that way, right? Key was too young to remember the war especially being asleep for so long and Onew was new to the world. Eighteen sounded like a good number back then. After all, there was only so long that the binding that they did when Onew found Key, would hold.

Now, look at the mess they were in.

So, she shrugged.

“It’s too late to think about that now,” she said.

He brushed her touch away and stood up.

“That’s the problem. We say that all the time. Look at the mess we’re in. Look at the mess the boys are in. They have an Elder after then for Christ’s sake. And what about Key’s mother?”

She straightened her posture, more alert.

“What about her?”

He stopped pacing, narrowed his eyes down to meet the staled figure that was his wife below.

“Min-seo, I’m not stupid. I know you better than anyone. Maybe not Kim, but I know you and I listen. Where do you think our boy gets it from?” She sat silent, only looking up to meet his glistening impassioned eyes when the silence lasted too long. They had lightened into a gray-fading onyx that just faintly blended into his pupils.

 “Key’s mother,” he went on, with a quiver in his voice. A rage searing in his throat that he’d been holding for a while now, “is she alive? Is there any way of finding out if she is?”

His wife was still silent, again, and her stone lips began to irritate him. Naw at his throat, so he went on.

“Neither one of you actually know if she died or not. Hell, even Donghae is looking for any signs of her. Like I said, I’m not stupid Min-seo. Stop leaving me out. We promised when we got married that all this secrecy stuff, that would blow out the window. The only thing I agreed with was you keeping things a secret from Onew, because I agreed that I wanted him to have a normal life. But news flash sweetie, it was a dumb decision, on both our parts. Not telling the boys anything, keeping so many secrets that BOTH of them look at us like strangers now. Hell, Key should be delighted that his aunt is up and kicking, but we can all see the hesitation on his face. We’re not blind.”

“I didn’t—I didn’t say you were,” she mumbled.

“Oh, now you’re talking.”

She shifted uncomfortably, casting her attention down at the furls of dust bunnies strewn throughout the burgundy carpet—and then up towards the ceiling to stretch her neck, where shadows masked in bulks and clustered in huddles from her husband’s constant back and forth moving.

“I get it,” her voice still low, “you’re angry.”

“I’m not-“ He caught his voice from rising, then stood still and took in a deep breath, his chest pushing away from his body, trying to pull away from the floor. Heavily, through his nostrils, he let out something hot, let dragon’s breath, letting his eyelids flutter close for only a second.

“I’m not angry,” he spoke softly, “I’m disappointed. Specifically, because I thought we’ve been over this hill and didn’t want to come back to it.”

She sighed too, but not as dramatically and surely not as weight-pulling. Her sigh was light like an invisible pressure pulled itself from her weight, but it wasn’t much to talk about.

“I know,” she breathed out, “I-Key’s mother situation is a little difficult. You know, our world isn’t such a simple concept to talk about to a —” she caught herself, but her husband already picked up on the insult that didn’t mean to leave her lips.

“A human,” he retorted, “Is that always going to be your excuse Min-seo. Because I’m human, I’m not going to understand why telling the truth is so difficult to the ones you love. Because I’m human, the gravity of consequences doesn’t weigh on my mind like every other creature in this universe.”

His voice was rising again, he could hear it, even though the volume couldn’t match earlier’s.

“That’s-that’s not what I meant,” she sighed out again, “I didn’t mean to insult you. It’s just, the whole, being bonded to Kim and some stuff she just doesn’t want to talk about.”

“Then get her to,” his tone was strict. His eyes narrowed more— if even possible— straining straight through her pupils, straight through the glistening of the white around her irises. “We’re not lying to our boy or Key again. He wants to know about his mother, I can tell. I sure as hell know you can. So, get the done Min-seo. I’m tired of lying with you and for you. The boys deserve better than that. Better than what we’ve given them. Fix it, or I’ll come to the table and let them know that the two of you know something and you’re not saying a damn th-“

A loud crash, something of splintering wood and metal crashing to the floor pounded through their conversation, brutally cutting him off. At the exact time through the exact frame of movement, the two of them turned their heads towards the closed door. Another sounding crash followed along with a searing yell that echoed throughout the halls and growled through their eardrums. Something of pure anger, despair, and dread. Their first thought was Donghae—a cold shiver of terror running through their spines. That he’d come for them even though his actions have been strangely dormant since the time of their encounter in the woods. But no, the way this felt in Min-seo bones, the way her heart grew heavy and wanted to pound through her chest, the way it wanted to sink into the carpet like a loose liquid—it surely wasn’t Donghae.

****

Key almost lost his balance, his foot stepping forward and his hand slapping against his chest as an instant reaction. Almost immediately Minho was by his side, unconsciously wrapping his arm around the boy’s waist in an attempt to catch him before he fell over. The entire circle stopped talking, their attention now on the Gumiho. Luna peered over with alarmed arms uncrossed and almost spread out as if she, too, was going to attempt to catch him.

The heaviness in Key’s chest was unexplainable. Something he hadn’t felt since the day he found his aunt in the middle of the woods beaten and still. It was like that—but not. A different sort of pain, one that made his legs want to go numb. He never thought he could be this linked like they were bonded like he was with Onew. This was a different kind of bonding, one that words had not enough passion to expound.

“Key, are you okay?” Minho’s voice was deep and tense, like caring for a child, but more. His brows squinched together in a concerned pinch.

“We-we have to go,” Key responded in quick partial breaths.

His heart was beating so fast and he was so—

“What is that?” Onew questioned, feeling his brother’s pull.

Gently, he placed a hand against his chest, hovering just over his heart.

Key looked up at him and they locked gazes.

They nodded.

“Yep, we definitely have to go before they realize we’re not there,” Onew agreed.

“Why, what’s wrong?” Taemin asked.

“What’s going on,” Luna added.

“Unless this is the feeling of them finding out," the statement came from Key’s lips as more of a question.

“What is?” Minho urged.

The brothers, the best friends, looked at one another again and then at the circle.

“My aunt,” Key breathed in, finally able to stand straight and tall, “is pissed and it’s the kind of pissed that makes you want to tear a house down or-” This time his eyes latched onto both Taemin and Minho, “a pack of wolves.”