His Mate

 

Having a mate is having someone who you will spend the rest of your life with.

 

“Hansol-ah!” Wonwoo howls aloud in the thick forest. His eyes squint through the dense forest and his nose trying hard to trace any scent of Hansol traveling past the area, while his wolf ears flicking to capture any sound which can help him tracking his Hansol. Running some long steps across the dry ground with his furry strong feet, Wonwoo is more determined to get Hansol back to his side soon.

“What are you doing here?” A sleepy voice stops the big gray wolf from trespassing further outside his territory, or to be exact their pack territory. Looking behind his shoulder, Wonwoo finds another wolf with sleek black fur toils closer to him with wobbly steps. Relaxing a bit at the presence of the leader of the pack, Wonwoo turns to face the elder.

“You know that this is the limit of our territory.” The black wolf yawns, eyes blinking slowly to fight the sleepiness dragging his eyelids down. “You know that you can’t move freely in the area outside ours.”

“Hansol hasn’t come back yet.” Wonwoo says worriedly. The younger has been away from their set for a quite long while, he said that he was only looking for some food, but it has been hours that it put Wonwoo’s worry on a whole new level because Hansol never leaves for this long and from the scent, Wonwoo figures that Hansol goes past the territory limit. With Hansol’s nature and also the presence of lots predators in the mountain, he has every right to be worried. “What if he is caught…”

“But Jeonghan and Mingyu are with him. He is safe with them.” Seungcheol says, reminding the younger gray wolf that his mate is not alone by himself in that forest. “Beside, we have good friendship with the packs staying near us and they know that Hansol is yours. You don’t have to worry.”

What Seungcheol has said is right, and Wonwoo almost believes him. Almost. The way the black wolf glancing away not meeting his gaze and shifting his weight side to side, they get Wonwoo to be suspicious about something, especially when the sleepiness which was present on Seungcheol’s feature a minute ago suddenly gone without a trace as if feigned. He remembers that Seungcheol is not good at lying. Prowling closer to the leader, Wonwoo glares. “Is there anything you don’t tell me?”

Instantly, as soon as Wonwoo pressing up close to Seungcheol, there is an audible sound of gulping from the elder. The gray wolf can smell the panic wafting off from Seungcheol and a growl slips from between Wonwoo’s sharp set of canines. “Tell me.”

“Y-ya-YA!” Seungcheol braves himself, but the sharp glare the younger throws at him makes him falter a bit. “I’m the leader here! You can’t order me around.”

“Hyung, tell me.” Wonwoo snarls impatiently, he wants to see Hansol and make sure that he is safe. That’s all. But this leader who apparently knows something he doesn’t, just acts like a fool and stalling him when it is obvious that the sun is going to set soon. “Tell me before the night fall.”

Under the scrutiny of the younger, Seungcheol stealthily trying to step back away as he peeks at their surrounding to find his way out of this situation. But Wonwoo who never let his stare straying from his target, follows him, steadily keeping their distance with murderous look on his face. The leader can see how agitated the younger is, by seeing the dark gray fur bristling, raising high, making Wonwoo looks slightly bigger, but Seungcheol is a wolf with a mission. He can’t let Wonwoo fail his mission or he will have to face his mate, Jeonghan, and his terrifying wrath. “Wonwoo-ah. Calm down.” He starts and fleetingly, he thinks sweat has started to gather on his muzzle as he steps back more.

There is a snarl and in a tiny slip of moment, the two adult wolves are running in full speed, one to save himself while the latter has the intention to hunt the other down. They are zipping around the territory for some moment until the elder trips over a protruding root on the ground and Wonwoo seizes the chance to pounce on the leader.

Growling and pressing his paw to Seungcheol’s neck, Wonwoo repeats. “Tell me. Tell me where Hansol is.”

Spying at something beyond Wonwoo’s head and the trees, up to the sky above them, Seungcheol yelps trying to calm the younger wolf down. “Ah.. calm down, Wonwoo. And try to listen to me.”

The gray wolf presses his forepaw deeper. “I’m listening.”

Wriggling to get his lungs some of air, Seungcheol bursts. “Just wait a little moment. At least until the sun about to set.”

“It’s about to set!” Wonwoo bites, emotions boiling inside his head and he tries to stay sane between anger and worry. “Hansol is out there in dangerous place, which will get even more dangerous after twilight, and you tell me to calm down and wait?”

“We have a reason!”

“And what is that?” Wonwoo is getting more restless that he disregards Seungcheol using ‘we’. He wants to find Hansol, hugging him, keeping the younger close to him, in his safety and never letting him go again. “Tell me the reason why I have to leave Hansol, a rabbit, alone in this big mountain filled with lots of predators which can harm him easily!”

Not after Seungcheol can give explanation to Wonwoo, another voice joins them with a laugh. “It’s a secret.” the voice states with extra unnecessary cheerfulness which has smugness latching onto it. And it makes Wonwoo even more bristling.

Letting go of Seungcheol who gladly takes in as much of air as possible, Wonwoo turns to face the sly red fox who has invaded the wolf’s territory, again. “What are you doing here?” He asks, expressing his aversion to the fox laying on the thick root which has successfully stumbled Seungcheol’s run. “Your territory is at the other side of this mountain.”

With his tail swaying side to side lazily, Soonyoung, the smug looking fox, has the extra gut to grin tauntingly at Wonwoo who is more than ready to kill him. But just like the wolf leader, the alpha fox has a mission he has to carry out. Standing up on his four paws, Soonyoung announces his reason to be here. But because it’s not like him to just say it, he relays it in a singsong manner while prancing down to approach the two bigger wolves, just , to annoy the younger wolf. “I’m picking you two up because you take too long time~~ Well, not that you’re late~”

“Where are we going?” Wonwoo growls, dark eyes glancing suspiciously between Soonyoung and Seungcheol. Paw tapping the ground restlessly because the sky has been darkening in a rather fast pace and he hasn’t yet found his Hansol.

Skipping his way down the forest trail, Soonyoung snickers. “Just follow me.”

Grunting with great annoyance when his pack alpha nods at him, Wonwoo follows Soonyoung with cautious eyes scanning the area they are going through while his ears try to catch any sound which can tell him about what’s going to happen as he and Seungcheol follow the sly fox through the dense part of the forest.

There is no oddness so far, Wonwoo thinks to himself,  and he can pick up a stray familiar scent of Hansol which tells him that wherever Soonyoung is leading him to, is the place where Hansol is probably at. After the slight relief coming up at the probability of his mate is in a safe place, the worry springs again. The gray wolf lets out a low growl, itching to pace faster so he can be with his bunny soon, but the fox taking his time slowly by skipping around in zig zag to play with fireflies who have come out of their hiding and start lighting up the forest with their ethereal shine. The fireflies are fine. But on the other hand, Soonyoung’s action annoys the impatient wolf a lot.

He then hears Soonyoung snickering. “Calm down, dude. Stop growling. You will thank me later.” The red guide cackles mockingly, he stops pawing at the tiny fireflies but now waving his white tipped thick tail left to right.

“What do you mean?” Wonwoo wants to ask after hearing what Soonyoung has said, but Seungcheol beats him to it. “Ya! Soonyoung-ah! It’s a secret!”

The alpha wolf’s words make Wonwoo to turn his attention back to the other wolf, eyes questioning the elder. But Seungcheol doesn’t notice the change, he is too busy marching up to Soonyoung’s side and raises his front paw to nudge the smaller animal. Already seeing it, Soonyoung can easily evade and grins. “A secret which is about to be revealed soon.”

“Still.” Seungcheol wants to complain but stopping himself because there is no use for them to hide it anymore because Wonwoo has obviously heard it.

“What are you talking about?” the younger wolf growls, telling the two that he is getting more impatient, furious and also suspicious because he suddenly feels like everyone but him knows what’s going on. Stepping forward between the two leaders, he bares his fangs. “What do you hide from me?”

None of the two answers him, Soonyoung practically ignoring him as he continues prowling forward while Seungcheol looking back at him with indescribable glance before sighing. “Just wait.”

That makes Wonwoo’s head buzzed with agitation. Surprisingly, when he thinks that no one gonna enlightening him, Soonyoung turns his head and grins at him. This time speaking with less taunts. “You’ll know as soon as we reach that place.”

“What place?”

“You will see it~” Chuckling teasingly, the fox skips even ridiculously higher with his light feet.

Grumbling, Wonwoo continues following the two, he is getting annoyed but holding himself from lashing out as he tries to figure out some answers