--

16

--

As you recovered, Howon didn’t let you out of his sight. You never wandered far from the town, but Howon was always there, watching and waiting. He’d told the rest of the pack about how you were his Kindred, and Sungjong sighed heavily.

“I can never get the girls. Why does Howon always get the girls? It’s not fair,” he said, mock pouting.

Howon was about to go on about how the universe willed it when Sungjong laughed and shook his head. Then his expression turned serious. “If you hurt her again, Kindred or not, I’m taking her away from you.”

Sunggyu sat you down and explained the concept of a Kindred to you, and you listened thoughtfully. It explained a lot of your thoughts and feelings, and even some of Howon’s actions towards you.

“So what does this mean?”

“This means, that Howon will claim you as his on the eve of a full moon.”

“Which means…”

Sunggyu coughed awkwardly a few times before clearing his throat. “I’m sure the women will be more than happy to educate you while they’re teaching you the dance for the ceremony.”

--

The more the women spoke, the wider your eyes got, and the more you really thought your face was going to remain a bright shade of red.

“You mean…”

“Yep.”

“And I have to…”

“Mmhmm.”

“Twice?”

“Twice.”

It was alarming how fast you went from blushing to deathly pale. With blood moving away from your head so fast, you felt dizzy for a moment, almost toppling over as the women pinned the pieces of the ceremonial robe to you.

“We’ll still have to teach you the dance. You see, we normally perform it for weddings and stuff, but this time it has to be perfect since we’re using it for its intended purpose. Be careful not to poke her with the pins. If Howon smells blood, he’ll come barreling in here.”

--

You sat down to watch as the women and female children gathered. They learned this dance throughout their lives from their mothers. It was a dance passed down from generation to generation, and you couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia.

“Shapeshifters have this kind of dance, too. It was passed down to us by the Goddess and…” As they started to dance, your eyes went wide. It was the dance from the Goddess.

The women were surprised when you stood up and joined them, but the music went on, the wind blew, and you knew what you had to do.

--

Howon sighed in exasperation as he paced back and forth in the mountain cabin. The rest of his pack was preparing for the joining ceremony, since he wasn’t allowed to help. He wasn’t allowed to see you before the ceremony either, which was driving him even more insane than being cooped up in the cabin.

“I come bearing food from your future Kindred. She sends her love,” Woohyun said in a singsong voice. Howon rounded on Woohyun, grabbing the package from him with one hand, and his collar with the other.

“How is she? What’s she doing? What’s going on in town?”

Woohyun pried Howon’s fingers from him one by one before straightening out his shirt and rolling his eyes. “She’s fine, same as you last left her. Last I checked, she was learning the ceremonial dance from the women. I’ve heard they’ve been telling her all kinds of things. I think her face might be permanently red.”

“Permanently- What? Why?”

“The women are going on about you and what your size could be, and then wondering if she would be able to accommodate, and of course, all of this discussion is being done while they’re measuring her for the robe, so it’s not like she can escape.”

“My size. They’re really talking about this in front of her? She still blushes when we kiss!”

Woohyun shrugged his shoulders. “She seems very worldly until it comes to this subject. She turned pale when they said she had to do it twice, once with your human form and once with your were form, and not forgetting to mention your were form would be bigger.”

Howon let out a groan and buried his face into his hands. It was a wonder you didn’t run screaming from the town.

“But other than that, she seems to be taking this with stride. I saw them practicing the dance earlier and man.” Woohyun let out a whistle. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything more beautiful.”

--

As the sun began to set, Sunggyu came back to paint on the customary tribal paint on Howon. More than once he had to start over because Howon couldn’t stop fidgeting.

“You don’t think she’ll run away from me, do you?”

“No, I don’t thin