Shaking his head, Kyungsoo defiantly replied, “No. That’s not my story to tell.”

“You promised,” you whined. You felt a pang of guilt when you saw him flinch. You probably sounded like a brat, but you wanted to know. Something bad had to have happened to her to cause that kind of fight. The tension back in the kitchen was thick and heavy, weighing down even on you, though you were in the dark as to the cause. “And shouldn’t I know the consequences of being a mate?”

“It’s not the same thing,” he argued. “And, again, it’s not my story to tell.”

“Fine.” You stood up, marching past him. “I’ll go ask Junmyeon then.” It was a total bluff, but Kyungsoo fell for it, which surprised you greatly. He already seemed to know you so well. How did he not know that you wouldn’t have even made it down the stairs before you turned around and changed your mind?

He grabbed your hand, twirling you around to face him. “Okay! Just sit down. I’ll tell you.”

Careful not to look satisfied, you sat back down on the bed, pushing yourself up until your back was against the headboard. Kyungsoo sat down on the bed near your feet, sighing.

“Jiyoon,” he started, his lips, “was Junmyeon’s cousin.”

You stayed quiet, pulling your knees up to your chest.

“Most of us have known each other since high school,” he explained. “Jongdae and Baekhyun joined us a little before Sehun and Jongin graduated, but they still knew her, too. Kris and Junmyeon grew up together, since middle school, I think. Around their first year of college, Jiyoon moved to attend the university. As Junmyeon’s cousin, she knew all about us and came over to the farm house often. Kris- he fell in love with her.”

“She was his mate?” you guessed.

Kyungsoo let out a long sigh. “No, she wasn’t. He just… fell for her. Junmyeon tried to get him to see reason. That his mate would come along some day and then he’d have to break Jiyoon’s heart. Junmyeon has always discouraged us from having relationships with other people. He feels it’s dishonest. But Kris didn’t care. And neither did Jiyoon.”

“Why wouldn’t you care about something like that?” you scoffed, letting your knees fall so you were now sitting cross-legged. “That’s not fair to anyone involved.”

“I know.” Perhaps maybe testing the waters, Kyungsoo rested a hand on your knee. You let it stay for now. “But they believed they loved each other and were willing to take that chance.”

That you could understand just a bit. “So, what happened to her?”

Kyungsoo looked away at nothing, thinking over his words. “Kris has a… temper. And is very territorial. One day a certain… pack came into town, just wandering through. One of them began harassing Jiyoon while she was working. She was a waitress in a small diner downtown, so it happened from time to time. Usually Kris would have just told them to back off, but since they weren’t human, he got more aggressive. He ended up throwing the first punch and all of them ended up being kicked out of the diner. Jiyoon lost her job.”

There was a pause in the story. You knew the worst part of it was yet to come.

“Kris and Jiyoon got into an argument,” Kyungsoo continued. He wasn’t looking at you anymore, so lost in the old memories that he was just staring at nothing. “It was… not pretty. Junmyeon told them both to go cool off. Kris was supposed to go on perimeter check, but he just ran to a nearby lake and sat on the shore, drinking. We’re not sure exactly what happened, but we think Jiyoon went looking for Kris in the woods and came across the other pack instead. Junmyeon was the one who found her, smelling the blood. She had claw marks and bites all over her. My best guess is one of them advanced on her again and she shot him down. Or maybe they were just trying to get revenge on Kris. Either way, Jiyoon lost too much blood by the time they got her to hospital. She didn’t make it.”

“I’m so sorry.” Your voice came out barely audible. It was obvious by the way he spoke about Jiyoon that they were all very closer to her. To lose someone so violently….

He just nodded. “Kris didn’t come home until the next morning. He’d passed out on the shoreline of the lake and spent the whole night out there. Junmyeon punched him as soon as Kris walked through the door. Luhan had to be the one to explain what happened, Junmyeon was such a mess. Tao had been at the diner with Kris, so he told them about smelling the other pack. Kris lost it. He followed their scent to the next town over, figured out which one killed Jiyoon and took his revenge. In a normal wolf situation, that would have been the end of it.”

“In a normal wolf situation?” you echoed, frowning. Kyungsoo took your hand in both of his, running his fingers over the skin near your knuckles. It was a nice momentary distraction from the depressing tale.

“Mates are off limits,” Kyungsoo explained. “If a wolf kills another wolf’s mate, then that wolf will die by their hands without the interference of the pack. No other action would be taken. It’s part of the law that all packs follow.”

“But Jiyoon wasn’t his mate,” you murmured.

“No, she wasn’t,” he sighed. “Kris was able to get away, but they were going to come after him. Junmyeon told him to run, that he couldn’t risk the safety of the pack. We were all still pretty young - Sehun and Jongin were just starting college - and wouldn’t able to hold our own against them.” There was a slight guilty tone in his voice, although you couldn’t understand why. “Knowing he didn’t really have a choice, Kris left. Luhan and Tao decided to go with him. Their parents were from the same pack and they were always close. They didn’t want him to be alone.”

“But they’re here now,” you pointed out, confused.

“They’ve been pretty good at hiding these past few years, but the other pack somehow tracked them down. They came back, asking for our help. We’re older now, and more powerful. After all these years, they’re still our brothers. We couldn’t turn them away.”

“Oh.” It seemed you’d been into another complicated situation unknowingly. There was another pack after Kyungsoo and his brothers. You chewed on your bottom lip, worried.

“They won’t touch you,” Kyungsoo assured as if he could read your mind.

“Were the wolves that attacked us part of this pack?” You remembered Junmyeon calling them something else, but you weren’t entirely sure what it all meant.

“No,” Kyungsoo shook his head. “Those were a couple of omegas that banded together. Wolves without a pack,” he explained, noticing your confused face. “Most of them were kicked out of their packs for disobeying their alpha, although a few rare ones never had packs to begin with.”

Slowly, this whole system of wolves and packs was starting to make more sense to you. “And is… Junmyeon your alpha?”

“Yes, he is. Although, genetically, Kris is, too. He just always allowed Junmyeon to lead, only stepping in when necessary.”

You wanted to ask what he meant that Kris was “genetically” an alpha, but there was knock on the door, preventing you from doing so.

“Who is it?” Kyungsoo called out.

One of the taller boys with sandy blonde hair peeked his head inside. “Sorry, hyung, but we were just wondering if you were well enough to make dinner? It’s going to be dark soon so we were kind of hoping to eat before we go on our run.”

Standing up, Kyungsoo pulled you off the bed, keeping a tight grip on your fingers as if you were about to run away any second. Well, he wasn’t entirely wrong. Even you were amazed at how well you were doing, sticking around. You gave most of the credit to the whole “mate bond” rather than your own will.

“Make it yourself,” Kyungsoo told him, making the boy’s mouth drop. “I’m taking (y/n) home.”

“But, hyung-”

“If you need help, ask Yixing or Chanyeol.”

And with that, Kyungsoo pulled you out of the room, passed the blonde boy and down the stairs. He paused briefly in the front parlor of the house, opening a closet and pulling out a thick jacket before handing it to you.

“It’s cold outside. I don’t want you to get sick.”

Cheeks getting warm, you took the jacket and slipped into it, grateful. God, it even smelled like him. Wait, when did you have his smell memorized?

“Are we running?” you asked in order to distract your olfactory.

Kyungsoo chuckled. “No. We’ll take my car.”

Now you were embarrassed. Of course he didn’t run everywhere.

The drive to your apartment was quiet for the most part, just the radio filling the air with noise. Occasionally, Kyungsoo would softly sing along with whatever song was playing through the speakers as he concentrated on the road. It a such a beautiful sound, you wondered how you could hear it more in the future. Part of you was sure that if you begged hard enough, he’d sing an entire song just for you.

If you were honest with yourself, you were still scared. Sure, he looked at your with such sunshine in his eye right now, but what about the future? What about when he learned everything about your past? Would he still want you then?

The car came to a stop before you went too far down that road. Kyungsoo had parked right outside your building.

You frowned, curious about one more thing. “Did you already know where I lived, that day you came over?”

Kyungsoo cleared his throat. “I had to make sure you were okay after that first night.”

So even after yelling at him, he still followed you home to make sure you got there safe and sound. Maybe there was a reason to hope after all.

“Thank you for the ride home,” you said awkwardly. But what else were you supposed to say?

“(y/n)?”

You turned to look at him. “Yes?”

Kyungsoo let out a nervous laugh, his fingers twiddling on the steering wheel. “I know that earlier you said no, but I think I’m going to ask again anyway. Can I come up and cook you dinner?”

A smile grew on your lips even as you tried to suppress it. “I think- I think I would like that.”

Without wasting another second, Kyungsoo killed the engine and jumped out of the car, making it to your side and opening the door before you even had your seatbelt unbuckled. You blushed as you led him up to your apartment. All the boxes were still stacked against the wall and the movie from last time was still housed in your DVD player. Very little had changed since his last visit.

You peeled off the coat, careful not to snag it on your bandages, and laid it on the back of the couch. By pure luck, you’d recently gone grocery shopping and had a decently stock pantry. Kyungsoo wasted no time, heading straight into your kitchen and assessing what was available to him.

“What would you like to eat?” he asked.

You shrugged. “Whatever you want to make is fine.”

He seemed to like that answer a lot. He pulled meat, rice and a mixture of spices out from their places, huddling them together on the counter.

“Do you have pots and pans?”

“Yeah, they’re over here.” You walked over to one of your cabinets, opening the doors and cursing to yourself. Why did you have to store them on the high shelves? Not wanting to ask for help, you reached up and grabbed the cooking ware, your shirt riding up in the process.

As you struggled to pull out the correct pans, you felt the tips of very warm fingers caress your stomach, right where your scar was. Startled at the sudden contact, you stumbled back, the metal cookware falling to the ground with echoing clangs.

“What happened there?” Kyungsoo asked thickly, his eyes trained on your stomach as if he could see through the fabric.

You turned around, picking up the pans. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

A pair of arms s around your stomach, pulling you into Kyungsoo’s chest. “Please,” he whispered next to your ear. There was nothing seductive about his voice or his hold. He sounded… heartbroken. “What happened, (y/n)? I can’t take the thought of someone hurting you. And that’s what I’ll keep imagining.”

You closed your eyes, taking deep breaths to keep yourself calm. “It’s not… a nice story.”

“Perhaps this is the day of not-so-nice tales,” he murmured.

The urge to run was bubbling up inside. Telling him the truth would make you vulnerable. What if he didn’t want you anymore after he knew?

But he told you the truth when you asked for Kris’ story, even after he tried to say no. Now, it would only be fair.

“Can you promise me something?” You turned around in his loose embrace.

He pushed fallen strands of hair out of your face. “Anything.”

You swallowed, the panic building. “Will you keeping looking at me like that, even after I’ve told you?”

“I will never look at you in any other way,” he promised.

“Okay.” You took a deep breath and pulled away from him, leaning against the counter and folding your arms like a protective barrier. For the first time in nearly three years, you were about tell your story. And it scared you to death.