It was an early June lazy afternoon. It was really hot for Sori's standard, and too silent since everyone had left to go buy groceries, aside from Minseok and Jongdae, who were sleeping on the sofa downstairs. As far as Sori had learned in the past three weeks, the two of them were the best of friends and they always seemed to be doing things together. She had gotten so used to the noise EXO made, that she felt uncomfortable with the complete silence that had enveloped the house.

While she was staying with EXO, Sori had learned that in their pack there were some pairs who shared a very strong connection, much like the trio created by Taehyung, Jimin and Jungkook, but at the same time there were larger groups that were formed every now and then during the day, only to let the pack become just one big group again when dinner time came.

Another thing she had surprisingly discovered was that EXO regularly did pack activities. At times they did silly things, like playing volleyball, and football, but there were also more serious activities, like training and pack meetings. She had already assisted to two pack meetings so far, because Junmyeon insisted they had to be done frequently, thus every two weeks they all met in the living room to discuss how the pack was doing and to speak up their minds on whatever matter they felt the need to bring up. Since she was staying with them, Junmyeon and Baekhyun had forced her to take part to both of the pack meetings, even when they were talking about her. It had been so uncomfortable to be asked about her opinion in front of everyone in spite of the fact that she wasn't even officially part of the pack yet. She also had to listen as they talked about the whole reason why she was staying with their pack. Not that they had insulted her or complained, but it had been really weird on her part, especially when she was insistently asked about what had happened with Namjoon.

Another really weird thing had been spending time with Sehun. Jongin seemed to have taken it upon him to smirk and raise his eyebrows whenever the two of them where sitting close to each other or were in the same room. It had took Sori and Sehun a good week and a half to grow the balls to talk about what had happened in the club and decide to pretend it had never happened. As for Jongin, Sori had grown to realize he was cuter that she had thought in the beginning. Actually, she had believed he was an arrogant and he made her feel uncomfortable with his constant reminding her of what had happened with his pack mate, but it seemed like a good punch from Kyungsoo had solved the problem, and he had stopped acting so annoyingly. He was also quite a flirt, and in spite of her initial anxiety, seeing him flirt with his pack mates, or even being at the receiving end of his advances, was quite entertaining. It still made her feel quite uneasy, but seeing he acted like that with everyone helped her. Sehun on the contrary was mostly shy and quiet, so they hadn't had that many chances to talk or spend time together alone, but the few times it had happened, it hadn't been that bad.

Kyungsoo had also appeared way different from how he actually was. Although Sori had believed him to be a little bit of a bully with Chanyeol and Baekhyun, Kyungsoo was actually very soft spoken and cute without even trying. He tried to make her feel comfortable around them, telling her what she didn't know and trying to include her in the pack's chit chats. He reminded her of Yoongi at times, but she willed herself to stop thinking about him as soon as her old pack mate popped up in her head.

Everyone was really nice and Sori couldn't complain, to be honest, but she couldn't stop herself from wondering whether her choice of staying with them had been the right one either. So far no one had brought up the fact that she wasn't officially a member of the pack yet, and no one had asked how long she was planning to stay or asked to leave, so she was staying there and trying to keep herself out of their way, making herself as useful as she could to prove them she could be more than just a nuisance to the pack.

She had used a lot of time to think everything through once again in the three weeks she had been with EXO. It hurt Sori so much to admit to herself that she was nothing to her old pack, but it was a fact and there was nothing she could do about it. If she hadn't managed to make them see her in a different light in four years, how could she do it now? She kept thinking why everything ended like that and where she went wrong, but as much as she blamed herself, she just couldn't defend her ex-pack mates either. Sure, she might have acted weirdly for a couple of weeks, but did the four years she had spent with them mean nothing? Didn't they know better than just think she would betray them just because she was a turned-were? What was worse, though, was the fact that the more she thought about it, the more it frustrated her, the more she got angry. By the time the third week came, Sori was enraged. With Namjoon. With Yoongi. With Hoseok. With Seokjin. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, she was angry even with Narae, Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook. Truthfully, she was more disappointed that angered with the most of them, but the weeks passed the disappointment had turned into anger. She wanted to go back and yell at them all the rage she felt, how betrayed she felt, tell them all the things she thought about them, but Sori knew they wouldn't care. If they hadn't cared about her enough after four years, why would they care about it now that she wasn't even part of the pack anymore?

Although she was hurt by the fact that they hadn't tried to contact her or face her, Sori was also very frustrated because Narae kept calling Junmyeon to ask about her, and Namjoon had called a couple of times too. Junmyeon had caught her rolling her eyes more than once when Narae called and he had even tried to bring up the matter twice, but he had dropped it when Sori had left the dining room in the middle of the dinner. Sori didn't want to act up, she knew she just had to be thankful because they had saved her and allowed her to live with them, but she knew herself too well to stay there and answer to any of Junmyeon's statement, for she already knew Junmyeon wouldn't have liked what she had to say about Narae and Namjoon. He was an alpha, and as much as he was her friend, no alpha liked to be contradicted, and Sori couldn't risk losing the protection EXO had offered her. Still, as much as she wanted to be respectful, Sori was so angry that she was sure she wouldn't have been able to stop herself from cursing at the two BTS' alphas. After that, Sori had tried to be impassible whenever Narae called. She pretended not to notice when her name was mentioned in their conversation, even though she could perfectly hear it. If Junmyeon felt better with himself by informing the mate of his friend about their ex-packmate, than fine. Junmyeon and his pack had been too kind to her for her to be able to complain about that, or have them stop doing whatever they wanted because of her, but that was it. Sori didn't want to hear more about them than she already had to.

Baekhyun had been completely supporting of her choice, going as far as closing the call when Namjoon name had appeared on Junmyeon's phone and loudly calling BTS names a couple of times when Narae was on the phone with his alpha. Sori had asked him to keep it down, but when Jongin and Kyungsoo started agreeing with Baekhyun, she decided to enjoy the moment. She wasn't forcing anyone to take her side. Actually, she didn't even want them to take a side, but at the same time she felt pleased to finally know someone had her back for once. Sori would've never expected she could be that petty, still it didn't feel wrong. It bothered her a little that Baekhyun called them names, but then again it just seemed like they were getting what they deserved, just not from the right person.

When she had joined EXO, Sori had made sure to tell them she didn't want them to cut their relationship with BTS and that she didn't want them to fight because of her as she didn't want to feel even more guilty whenever she thought that the relationship between the two packs was getting more and more strained because of her. Unfortunately, Sori didn't have a plan for her and her baby's future figured out yet, and leaving alone and without a plan now that she also knew that the wolf who had changed her had found her seemed more than just an irresponsible choice.

So far, Sori hadn't managed to find a solution to any of her problems. She lost count of how many times she had asked herself what she was going to do once the baby was there, or what she was going to when they would ask her about their father. What could be the least hurtful lie she could tell? Could she tell them the truth? At times she even wondered if she had made the right choice by keeping the baby, but then she remembered that at the time she had made that decision she had believe she could trust her pack to help her until she was able to do everything on her own, and now it was too late to regret her choice.

A small part of her wanted BTS to find out she was pregnant and to see their reactions. Sori couldn't stop herself from wondering again and again whether Narae had told the rest of the pack about the baby or if anyone had found the ultrasounds in her old room. After all, it wouldn't have been that hard to find them since she had left them on top of her desk...but then again, if they knew why hadn't they done anything at all? Why hadn't they called? Did Jungkook realize the baby was his?

No matter how much she tried to distract herself, her thoughts always went back to her old pack.

“Sori, come downstairs, they're here”, Jongdae's shouted. Sori grunted in response, already hating the idea of having to move at all.

Training with EXO and iKon wasn't as hard as she had initially thought. Albeit they were less careful with her, they always made sure she was okay during the training and paid attention to where they were hitting her. Her being pregnant didn't stop Hanbin from making her run three rounds around the garden, much to Baekhyun and Chanyeol dismay. Junmyeon had even tried to step in and convince both Hanbin and Jiwon to make her do something else, but he had to give in when the two wolves pretended not to hear him.

Sori was definitely lacking, but not as much as she had originally thought. The previous week, Sori had even managed to land a good punch on Jinwan's stomach. She recognized Jiho had been honest with her, after all. She didn't that for someone who had just recently started training, and BTS had babied less than she had thought. Sure, she was far behind the levels of EXO and iKon, but that was because they had much more experience than she would ever gain in her life. Moreover, her belly was starting to show, and albeit it wasn't that noticeable yet, the weight she was gaining was slowing her down. At times it also seemed like her balance was being affected by the pregnancy, and it was making her even more clumsy than she already was. Sori couldn't help but wonder if she was this bad now that her belly had just started to show, how bad would she be when her tummy would be completely swollen?

Taking a deep, calming breath, Sori sat up and rolled over in her bed, definitely giving up on having her peaceful me-time. She wasn't exactly angry or bothered, she wasn't annoyed or bothered either. She just wanted to be alone, but it seemed like there was very little time she could use to be on her own. Sori had surprisingly found out that when she was in BTS pack, she had more time she could spend alone even though she always complained about her not having enough time to spend on her own. EXO had the habit of entering in her room and making themselves comfortable in her bed even if they said nothing, they always managed to get all comfy whenever they saw another member alone. Sori had wondered more than once why everyone was so engaged in not letting her stay alone for more than five minutes, but she had just given up, accepting the fact that she was never going to be left alone. Ever.

“I'm coming, give me a second”. Sori had gotten dressed before laying on her bed, so that when iKon arrived, she wouldn't have to hurry. She fixed her hair in a ponytail, patted her shirt where it was wrinkled from lying too long on the bed, and then she was good to go. No need to fuss too much about your appearance when you're about to get sweaty and smelly.

From the voices she could hear coming from the garden, the rest of EXO had arrived too.

Ugh, this is going to take so long.

One thing Sori really didn't like of iKon's methods of training, was that they didn't allow members of the same pack to train together, thus the training sessions always lasted more than 2 hours, since EXO outnumbered iKon, consequently leaving someone to wait for the rest of the members to end up their training to have a sparring partner. Add to that the fact that no one could leave until everyone was done with the training, and you'll know why Sori wasn't happy to leave her room.

On the other hand, training with EXO and iKon was interesting, because they didn't laugh when she made a mistake, and they always explained her what mistake she had made and how to avoid doing it again. In just a couple of weeks Sori had learnt how to properly follow tracks as well as a couple of handy tricks to hide her scent. She had also noticed than Kyungsoo and Junmyeon always made sure she wasn't alone whenever they had to run to warm up, and they never let her be the last pick when they had to do group activities. It was a nice change, honestly. It embarrassed her at times, but it was a nice change nonetheless.

The training had been even longer than Sori had expected. Actually, they hadn't even trained that much. They had barely done some sparing before they had taken a little break and started talking about people she didn't know and about fighting techniques they could try. Unfortunately, the short break became a two hours break. It was terribly boring, and what was worse was that she couldn't even leave for if she did, than Junmyeon would've have complained about her spending too much time alone and so would've Jongdae and Baekhyun.

Sori had wasted a good couple of hours that way, and now she couldn't wait for everyone to finish their dinner, so she could wash the dishes and go to sleep. She felt kind of anxious and frustrated too. Lately, she had used the training session to vent out her negative feelings, and having skipped the training almost completely that way had left her an uncomfortable feeling of restlessness. Unfortunately for her, everyone was completely immersed in the conversations going on around the table to eat quickly. Sori studied the guys around her, looking for a sign that they were full and ready to go to the living room to watch a movie, just like they traditionally did after every training session.

The loud chatter was disrupted by the obnoxiously loud ringing of Junmyeon's phone. Sori's mood immediately turned even more sour. It was always Narae who called around this time, and that was the last straw for Sori. The day had basically from the moment she had opened her eyes. She was in a bad mood and a little nauseous, she had received an email from the publishing house she was in contact with, that basically informed her that only one of the five chapters she had sent them had been accepted, then she had wasted her afternoon thinking about the same things, only to spend the evening doing the same things she did in her old pack: listening to the others talking about things she didn't know and feeling like an outsider.

Trying not to attract too much attention on herself, Sori pattered out. The veranda seemed the perfect place to breath in and calm down, without caging herself in the four walls of her room. She had originally planned to go there, but once she'd seed the soft armchairs in the veranda she had changed her mind. The sun was going down, painting the sky in orange-ish and blue shades, there was a light breeze blowing. It was perfect.

She didn't know why it bothered her that much that Narae kept calling Junmyeon. Maybe she wasn't even calling to ask him about her. Maybe she just wanted to know about today's training. Maybe it wasn't even Narae. If she were to stay with EXO, than she had to let go of her grudge and get over what had happened unless she wanted there to be tension between the two packs. However, BTS had had so many chances to let her know she was appreciated and wanted in the pack, and they chose to get all interested in her well-being now that she wasn't a member of their pack anymore. What should have been a nice gesture only irked Sori to no end. It seemed like they only cared because they only wanted to make sure no one judged them.

In her mind, Sori knew Narae wasn't to blame. What else could she have done for her? Yet, it annoyed her. Every time she told herself she missed Narae, Sori recalled all the things Narae did that she didn't like, the way Narae pushed her to keep the baby, and all the feeling of longing got buried by the anger.

It was irrational, Sori knew it, but she couldn't stop herself from wanting to vomit all her anger on them. At times she fantasized about taking the phone from Junmyeon's hands as he was talking with Namjoon or Narae and yell at them. The only thing stopping her was her cowardice. She was too much of a coward to do that and face the consequences of her actions. Too coward to tell them what she wanted. Too scared she might regret her words later on.

“I thought you might need someone to lend you an ear”, this time Sori wasn't startled. She had heard Minseok coming her way, she had just pretended not to, hoping he would eventually leave her alone. “Spit it out. I know there's something bothering you and...well, maybe we're not that close, but you look like you need a friend, and I'd like to be your friend”. His chubby cheeks were a little darker than before, and Sori suspected it wasn't because of sunset light's.

Sori was a bit caught off guard by him, but not in a negative way. There hadn't been that many people in her life, both as a human and as a werewolf, that had offered her their friendship so openly. Sure, she had had a couple of friends and packmates, but it quite a different feeling to know someone wanted to get to know you just because, rather than because you worked in the same place or were in the same pack. Somehow her brain was looking for a double meaning in his words, something that might have meant he was joking or something, even though ha hadn't given her any reason to doubt his honesty. Could they really be friends just like that? Wouldn't Junmyeon and Baekhyun get mad at her for having tried to make new friends, just like it had happened with BTS? Maybe she could talk with them and explain them that she wouldn't forget about them if she made new friends. Sori had tried to explain this to her ex-packmates, but it seemed like they hadn't understood much of what she meant, seeing the way things had ended. After all, she wasn't the kind of person who attracted other people, nor had she any charisma that made people want to befriend her, thus rejecting such an offer like that seemed risky.

“It's just that...uhm”, Sori still felt a little unsure whether she could say such things out loud, but then again, it wasn't like BTS would care even if they were to discover what she had blabbered about them. “I...I'm afraid it might sound rude of me, but uhm...I really wish Junmyeon would stop telling BTS how I'm doing. Like, I get it, it's his pack and can do whatever he wants, but... it seems unfair to me that they didn't care enough about me when I was part of their pack, but now they all pretend they're really interested in how I'm doing”. As she was speaking, the embarrassment of expressing out loud such thoughts made her speed up with her speech.

“I agree with you”, Minseok told her gently after a moment of pause. “I get why it upsets you, but I also understand why Junmyeon does what he does”, he took a moment to think, and then added: “Maybe you should talk about it with him”. Sori barely stopped herself in time from rolling her eyes.

“I don't think I will. I already know what Junmyeon believes, and I don't agree with him”. Her voice sounded very petulant, and if she wasn't to annoyed, she might have been embarrassed by having used such a tone with a person she didn't even know that well.

“Why don't you agree with him?”, Minseok asked sounding genuinely curious about her reasons. “Don't you think they're worried about you?”. This time Sori couldn't keep her scoff in.

“If they were worried about me they could've come here and see that I was doing fine by themselves. If they were so worried about me, they wouldn't have kicking me out”. She recognized the bitterness in her voice, but she couldn't help it. She was really mad at her old pack. Minseok hummed, tilting cutely his head to the side, taking a moment to thing about what to say.

“I don't think you're right. I mean, I don't think you're completely wrong either, but I think you're judging BTS too harshly because they hurt you...still, we all make mistakes”.

“I don't think so. I've been there for four years and see where I am now. I doubt this would've happened if they cared about me”, she almost growled. “I've been nothing but a burden to them, and they never failed to let me know just h