“No, no, no, no, no, no!”

This was your fault. All your fault. All because of your stupidity. Now you might be losing one of the most important people in your life. Sehun was limp in your arms but he was still breathing. You didn’t know whether to have hope or to begin mourning from that motion.  

“(y/n)?”

Through your blurred vision, you looked up to find Junmyeon kneeling in front of you in his human form. His hands were held cautiously out in front of him as if he were trying to communicate with a wild animal. And maybe that’s what you were. They may be the ones who could transform into dogs, but you were the barbaric one. Look at what your decisions had done.

“I did this to him,” you whispered, lowering your eyes back to the man who hadn’t given up on you.

“No, you didn’t,” Junmyeon reassured you. His hands laid over yours. Though they were warm like Sehun’s, they didn’t give the comfort you were needing. But you didn’t fight him as he removed your grip and took Sehun in his own arms. A new pair of hands landed on your shoulders, making you jump.

Soomi smiled down at you. Relief and love shined through her brown eyes absent of all the judgement you surely deserved. “Let’s go, (y/n).”

Instead of standing up and following the alpha, however, you broke down. You sobbed as Soomi wrapped her love-filled arms around you. She let you crumble into her chest. There was nothing but her love for you, no anger, no hatred for what you’d done. Despite what you’d seen, you should have known that she was not Tatia. Down to the very last moment, she was only Soomi, who truly cared.

Sehun was right. You were loved. More than you’d ever known.

**

The chair was not comfortable. The wooden seat made your back ache and there was a numbing sensation buzzing through your legs, but you still didn’t move. You stayed there by Sehun’s side, hands firmly wrapped tight around his own.

He was still asleep, wrapped up with bandages that covered the concoction Soomi had created to help the burns heal.

Apparently, the fire that came from Molia’s hands was structurally different than regular fire, enhanced and altered by magic - hence why the vampire didn’t turn herself into ash whenever she used it. Somehow, though, the fire also kept the wolf’s accelerated healing ability from working as well.

All night and well into the afternoon of the next day, you’d stayed by his side, not letting go of him for a second, except for the one time you went to the restroom. You’d even managed to eat the one meal you’d accepted from Lottie with one hand. Down in the basement, you knew Evie was in the same position.

That woman was a saint. She had to be. Even as you apologized and groveled for her forgiveness for Kris getting hurt, she never shouted or grew upset, giving you the blame you so deserved. She’d told you it would be alright and disappeared to be with her husband.

Not everyone was as forgiving or understanding. A few of the wolves - Tao and Baekhyun in particular - gave you narrow-eyed looks. That was the other - although extremely small - part of the reason you stayed up in Sehun’s room. You wanted to avoid the other people you’d put in danger. At least until Sehun was up and you were able to cower behind him.

Another person you hadn’t expected to be so kind towards you was Mother Willow. At first she hadn’t come back to the farmhouse with the rest of you, taking the coven with her. Your initial guess was that she was giving you time before the scolding and lecturing and consequences began. But no. Instead, she’d gone to find out more about Molia. You’d given Soomi the information you knew, who’d then passed it onto Mother Willow.

Now that Molia was dead, all her protective magic was gone too, making it easy for the coven to find her hideout. Apparently, she’d been in town an extended peroid, staying in a nice hotel room while putting together her malicious plot. Her diaries were even found. The insight discovered within those pages… it only increased your guilt.

“She wasn’t always so full of hate,” Mother Willow told you. When she’d entered in the early morning hours, you’d let her have your chair while you sat on the bed next to Sehun. Your eyes stayed on him while your ears took in the newest information discovered.

“Was it her coven?” you asked fearfully.

“Partially,” Mother Willow confirmed. “But it was also that vampire. She met him one night while gathering Evening Primrose. Witches and vampires were more sociable with each other back then, so they struck up a friendship. At night, she would meet him by the caves near her village and he would tell her of the world he’d seen. He fed into her fears of her coven turning against her.”

Closing her eyes, Mother Willow took a deep breath and let it out. A moment or so went by before she opened them again.

“I suspect that he might be the one truly behind the accident.”

That was the comment that made you peel your eyes away from Sehun. “The accident?” Molia’s screams from the memory of her “death” bombarded your ears. “What accident?”

Telling you all of this seemed to be taking its toll on her, though she continued anyway. “According Molia’s diary, she was by the river, arguing with Tatia. Her emotions surged, causing the water to rise and crash down on the banks. Tatia’s niece was playing nearby… she drowned. But she hadn’t been anywhere near the river. Molia had written in later entries that perhaps the vampire had come in and killed her, throwing her in the river to make it look like she drowned in the waves.”

“Th-that’s why the elders tried to bind her powers?”

Mother Willow nodded. “It would seem so.” With wrinkly fingers, she reached out and grasped one of your hands. “Though the details were never recorded, we knew the reason Molia had lost control was because she was given free reign of her powers. The mothers back then kept a watchful eye, but no one knew how to teach her, so they let her teach herself. We thought we could learn from their mistake by doing the opposite.”

You gently squeezed the brittle limb that held on tightly to you as if you’d run away again at the first chance. “Maybe there is no right or wrong way. Maybe we all have to find out who we are and how to manage that on our own.”

“But a little guidance along the way could help,” she smiled. It was a small one, barely visible among the folds in her face. You never really knew how old Mother Willow was – she always seemed like this perfectly preserved grandmother, never changing, never giving away the secret of her origins.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t return the smile she shared with you. “I still don’t understand, though.”

“Understand?”

“Yes. I don’t understand how she could choose the route she took to get here, even if she was manipulated by the vampire all those years ago.” While you knew the reasons Molia had given you – with her sweet words of a world where you didn’t have to be afraid of yourself – you didn’t believe that was her true motivation.

Mother Willow sighed. “We can never know for sure. But she was full of hatred – hatred for her own kind, hatred for herself. I believe that she was simply out for blood. She wanted control over the people who tried to control her.”

“But why wait four hundred years to try it?” you asked. “Why not go after them when she first woke up as a vampire?”

“Waking up to an immortal life is not as simple as waking up for the day. She had many things she had to learn, such as control over her thirst and how to balance her old and new powers. And you saw for yourself – she couldn’t control everybody, even at the height of her power under the blood moon. She needed help. She needed you.”

You scoffed. “And she knew I would come along?”

“Eventually,” Mother Willow nodded. “She knew eventually someone like her would come along and face the same fear and suspicion that she did. And she would use that to her advantage.”

She certainly did.

You fell for it all; small moments of doubt had crept in, but you ignored them in favor of being accepted and exploring your powers. Now… now you would be lying if you said you weren’t afraid of them yourself. No, you could never go back to hiding or suppressing them, but you feared that they could someday take over again.

“You are very lucky, you know.”

You blinked, looking up at Mother Willow as she let go of your hand and stood from her seat. “How is that?”

Her eyes fell from you to the sleeping wolf. “While we’re very much alike – wolves and witches – the dark history can never be forgotten. Not entirely. It might be because of that history that a mate bond being formed between the two is rare, almost as rare as your gifts. But Mother Fate – she knew what she was doing, tying the two of you together. He never gave up on you. His faith… it’s stronger than any spell. Soomi said that he searched the woods for you for three days, from the moment you disappeared. He is the greatest gift of all.”

You were stunned into silence, watching Mother Willow exit the bedroom. Even after the door was shut and her footsteps had faded away, you kept staring after her. Could what she said be true? Could he really have searched for you all that time, forgetting all about the argument that had taken place just before?

As if answering your question, a heavy sigh escaped Sehun’s lips, pulling your attention back to him.

“Please, wake up,” you whispered. There was so much you needed to say and you needed him to be able to understand, to actually hear the words that would leave your mouth.

Hours passed by. You’d shifted back into the wooden seat to hold Sehun’s hand at a more comfortable angle.

All throughout the time he was asleep, his brothers and their mates came to check up on him. Disappointment and worry decorated their faces whenever you informed them that there still was no change, no sign of him waking up. Kris had apparently already started to heal and was up walking around. That bit of news had given you hope, but you couldn’t drown out the tiny voice of doubt in your head. It constantly told you that this was your fault and that you were probably never going to be able to see those brown eyes again, the ones that soften after a single glance in your direction or that sparkled with mischief when he was too quiet.

Afternoon was slowly drifting into evening. You could feel your eyelids growing heavy, begging for a small amount of relief. You hadn’t slept in almost two days and it was taking its toll. Perhaps… just a quick nap. You weren’t leaving or letting go of his hand. You would… still… be here….

It felt like no sooner had you closed your eyes and rested your head on the edge of the bed that you felt like you were being shaken awake.

“(y/n)? (y/n)?”

Groaning, you lifted your head in a sloth-like motion, eyes blinking away the sleep to find out who’d awaken you.

Smirking at you as he sat up in bed was Sehun. His dark eyes shimmered through the blurriness of your own.

“Oh, my god!”

You threw yourself onto him, not thinking nor really caring about his wounds in the moment. He was awake. He was finally awake and that was all that mattered. You heard him hold back and “oomph” as you landed on him, but it was quickly drowned out by your sobs.

“I’m sorry,” you choked out as you buried your face in his chest. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I’m sorry.”

He softly “shhed” in your ear as the tears rolled down your cheeks. In a soothing motion, he swayed you back and forth, even reaching behind you to bring your legs up on the bed so you were lying beside him.

Over and over, you cried out your apologies, each individual sorry for one action or another. There were other things you wanted to say, but none of them would come to surface.

“Stop apologizing,” Sehun said in that even voice of his. Usually you would have been annoyed as his lack of emotion, but right now you’d take each miracle as they came to you without complaint.

Pushing yourself up so you could look at him full, you wiped away the tears. “Why? It’s my fault you got hurt and-”

He kissed you. “I’d let myself get hurt over again if it meant you came home.”

Home. A simple word yet one with such a heavy meaning. You’d never felt as if you had one, but now? Now you held it in your very hands. Because Sehun was your home. And you’d come back to him every time.

Overwhelmed with emotion, you sought to release it the only way you knew how.

With Sehun’s warm cheeks in your palms, you leapt forward and crashed your lips into his. Control of the kiss was not yours for long. Sehun flipped you over so he was now hovering above you. One hand rested on your hip while the other caressed your face. Your tears had dried up and the cracks that you’d created in your own heart were beginning to heal. The scars would still be there forever, but if this was the medicine needed to ease the pain, you’d spend a lifetime taking it in.

Looping one arm under your back, Sehun scooped you up and brought you to a sitting position. You hooked your legs around his hips, clinging to him in desperation. His wounds didn’t seem to be bother him at all as he barely broke the kiss to expertly slip your long-sleeved shirt over your head. The cold air of the room nipped at your bare shoulders.

Sehun huffed at the camisole you’d been wearing underneath, but as his fingers played with the hem, you dived back in for another kiss, unable to go too long without one. Subconsciously, you must have heard the rumble of the floor, but you were too preoccupied to interpret what it might have been.

Slam!

The thundering herd suddenly came to a stop in the doorway as you jumped from the intrusion.

“Oh thank god you’re awake,” Chanyeol sighed with relief.

“I’d say he’s a little more than awake,” Jongdae snickered. Sehun growled at the comment, pulling you in tight to his chest with both arms wrapped around your waist.

“Sehun!”

Junmyeon pushed and shoved his way through the crowd of wolves to get to the front where he could see the proof for himself. Not even thinking, he ran forward and squeezed in between the two of you, practically choking the youngest wolf in the tightest of hugs.

“I’m alright, Junmyeon,” Sehun grumbled. His eyes flickered to you in a desperate attempt to get you to help him escape from the embrace, but there was no way you were going to save him from the alpha.

Eventually, Junmyeon let go, stepping back with a sigh. “That’s it. No more witches, no more rival packs, no more hunters. From now on, we are a normal pack with no troubles whatsoever.”

“Um, Junmyeon?” Jongin spoke up. “You do realize that’s impossible for us, right? I mean, at least with the ‘no witches or hunters’ part.”

Junmyeon looked at you with a tiny bit of shame. “Oh. Right. Not including you or Harper, of course.”

You waved a hand. “No offense taking. I think we could all use a bit of normalcy now.”

“Definitely not possible with this crowd,” Kris chuckled as he leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. He gave you a slight nod as if fully accepting you into the pack with that simple gesture. “It’ll be nice to have some quiet around here, though.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be quiet anytime soon,” said Baekhyun. “Especially with Harper being pregnant and I’m sure soon there’ll be more on the way.”

Your jaw dropped. “Wait! You guys know? Since when?”

Sehun’s eyes went wide in your direction. “Since when have you known?”

Oh. Oops. “N-not too long.”

“We’ve only known for a day or so,” Minseok explained. “Only after hearing the two of them talk about it… very loudly.”

Your curiosity was rising as to how that whole scenario went down, but you decided you’d talk to Harper about it later – at a more appropriate time.

“So, now that you all know that I’m awake and fine, can you leave now?” Sehun may have phrased it like a question, but there was no actual asking behind the tone.

“Are you sure you’re in good enough health for that?” Tao teased.

“Are you sure you’re in good enough health for that?” Sehun mocked before throwing a pillow at the other wolf. It was easily dodged, but they got the idea and scattered, Junmyeon being the last to leave and closing the door behind him. Sighing, Sehun turned back to you. “Now, where were we?”

You pursed your lips. You weren’t entirely on board with what you were about to say, but you felt like it needed to be done. “As much as I hate to agree with Tao, I think I should. You still need to heal up after what Molia did to you.”

“I’m fine,” he insisted. Hooking a finger through one of the belt loops on your jeans, he pulled you in closer. “Besides, if I remember correctly, the last time we really talked was when we argued. That means we have a lot of making up to do.”

You couldn’t help but giggle as his cheesy lines. “Down boy.”

He shook his head. “Not this time.”

**

You didn’t think you were ready for this. It was an inevitability, unavoidable and an absolute. But even though you’d walked yourself through it several times over the last few days, you still weren’t ready for it. So you were hiding on the front porch steps while everyone else was inside.

Soomi and Mother Willow’s cottage had been your two constants in life. You were more than prepared to leave behind the cottage and move into the farmhouse with Sehun permanently, but saying goodbye to Soomi? That was another ordeal entirely.

Sure, there had been times where she’d gone on short research trips or visited other covens, but you knew she was coming back and she was only gone for a week, maybe two at the most. This time, though, she would leave and you didn’t know when you would see her again. Your life was moving on in a way you’d never imagined nor expected and it hurt more than you’d ever thought possible.

You tried to suppress the sniff that came with the single tear, but the sound came out anyway. You didn’t want to think about the suitcase place conspicuously beside the door just inside the parlor. She couldn’t stay, you knew that. That didn’t mean your feelings suddenly went away as well.

Sehun was healed to the point that it was as if the injuries never happened in the first place. The blood moon was here and gone and you weren’t having any more visions of possible evils to come. Life was calm again which meant it had to go on. Soomi was no longer needed here – by the pack, at least. You would always need her. Part of you considered asking Junmyeon if she could stay, but that wasn’t fair to anyone involved besides yourself. And you’d been selfish enough.

“You’re breaking my heart, being like this.”

You tried to hurriedly wipe away the evidence of your sadness. It was useless, though, as Soomi sat down beside you on the steps, an arm draped around your back.

“I’m going to miss you,” you confessed without prompt.

“And I’ll miss you,” she replied. “But you’re not alone. And I’m only a call away, if you really need me.”

You rolled your eyes, more at yourself and the sappiness coming out of you rather than Soomi’s promise. “I’ll always need you.”

“For that, I’m thankful.” She wrapped her other arm around your front and pulled you in for a hug. You held on tightly, still not entirely ready to let her go.

“Soomi, are you read- oh, sorry.” Junmyeon turned to go back inside, but Soomi jumped up to her feet. Her own eyes were starting to water. This goodbye was hard on you both.

“No, it’s fine. I should get going before it gets too late in the day.”

Nodding, Junmyeon reached inside and rolled out the suitcase. He handed it over without a word.

“Thank you,” Soomi smiled at him. It getting easier for her, you could tell. Her smiles to him were now friendlier, not so sad.

“Of course,” he said. “If you need anything, just call. Thank you again, for coming.”

“We’re always happy to help.”

Clearing his throat and nodding one last time, Junmyeon patted your back before heading back inside. You followed Soomi down the steps and to her waiting car. You helped her put her suitcase in the trunk and even walked all the way to the driver’s side door. You really didn’t want this to be it.

As if sensing your hesitation, Soomi hugged you once again. “I love you. You know that right.”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “I definitely do. And I love you, too.”

She held on for a few seconds longer before letting go. “Okay. I have to go now before I’m tempted to stay.”

You laughed, knowing it was true. So, you took a step back to give her room. The engine roared under the hood, vibrating the small compact vehicle. With one final wave, Soomi started down the long drive towards the main road.

A warm arm suddenly appeared around your waist. You smiled sadly up at Sehun, who brushed it away with a kiss to your forehead.

“You’ll see her again,” he said. You nodded silently before looking back at the car just before it disappeared among the trees.

No, it wasn’t goodbye forever, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.