Chapter 4
Wildfire
The sun’s heat tickled his skin and he smiled stretching out his sore body. His bones ached and his muscles felt tight but he couldn’t help but grin. Sitting up he took a deep breath, even though the window was closed he could still smell the morning air. It was fresh with the start of a new day, but not just any day, the first day of the rest of his life. Jongdae stared at his hand, not only could he feel the blood coursing through his veins but he could see and hear the
steady flow as it traveled down his fingers into the back of his hand. A soft “Cool” escaped and he tried pulling himself off of the floor. About halfway to standing his body gave out and he landed back on the floor with a soft thud. His body was much heavier than it had been before and for a moment he struggled to stand. Moving slowly to avoid falling again he made his way
to the full size mirror he and Minseok had bought together. Seeing that mirror made him think of all the times they had fought in front of it and he laughed. But the laughing stopped when Jongdae saw his reflection, looking himself over slowly he could see the subtle differences in his
appearance. Now he is a bit taller, giving him a long and lean look. The muscles looked taut beneath his flesh. He flexed and moved admiring this new lithe figure. He poked and prodded his new muscles with glee. They were hard which was probably why he was so much heavier. He noticed his skin tone was also a bit darker, he didn’t mind but what a waste since he had worked hard to maintain a fairer skin tone. Leaning in closer Jongdae admired this new hair growth. The manager would make him shave but it would still be nice to use against Luhan who wanted so badly to be seen as manly and was constantly trying to grow facial hair. He snickered and moved his hand upwards to his hair. His hair seemed thicker and longer and he had to push it back out of his face. Once moved from his face Jongdae could see his eyes clearly. They glowed golden amber and the intensity of his gaze startled him. Turning quickly his foot caught on a pile of Minseok’s clothes and he tipped forward. In haste he tried to counter act and ed his upper body backwards. Unfortunately he used too much force and began falling backwards. He tried grabbing the nearest piece of furniture which happened to be Minseok’s dresser. This didn’t work and the dresser came crashing down on top of him. It knocked the wind out of him but it was lighter than he had anticipated. Pushing the dresser up with him, he made his way back to a standing position. He noticed some of the drawers had fallen and Minseok’s clothes were strewn about the room.
“Oh , he’s going to kill me!” Jongdae rushed to shove the dresser back into place and it let out a loud groan in protest.
There was a knock on the door, “Hey Jongdae are you alright?” It was Luhan, he could always tell by his slightly accented Korean. He rushed to the door, he couldn’t wait to see them all, sure that they had worried about him. When he grabbed the door he swung it open, his muscles tensed and strained and he ended up ripping the door off of its hinges. He stopped it just in time to save himself from heading to the floor a third time. The shocked look on Luhan’s face was priceless and Jongdae was sure he had the same dumbfounded look plastered on his own face.
“Are you alright? Were you pushing on the door? How did that happen?” Jongdae asked, resting the door onto the wall. Luhan opened his mouth to answer but he soon closed it again. He narrowed his eyes at Jongdae and he knew that he had noticed the changes to his appearance. Luhan’s face hardened and for a moment a new thought crossed Jongdae’s mind. What if they didn’t accept him? His heart sank at the thought but it was short lived, a girl came from the hall pushing Luhan backwards and launched herself at Jongdae taking him down to the ground in one swift move. His ribs ached with the force she used. He tried to sit up but groaned as she pinned him back down. Her scent swirled in the air and he recognized the musky scent.
She faced away from him and asked Luhan, “Are you alright? Did he hurt you anywhere?” Now he knew that this was the person who had saved him, although there was alarm in her voice it still had that lyrical undertone. “He tried to attack you didn’t he?”
Her grip loosened and Jongdae decided to defend himself, “Why do you think I was attacking Luhan?” He could hear the footsteps of others heading up the stairs.
“He didn’t try to hurt me at all.” Luhan said stepping forward. By now they had made it and he could see the curious faces poking past the frame to see. Someone pushed past and Jongdae saw that it was Daimen. He looked down at them and all of the color left his face.
“Kora is he alright, I mean shouldn’t he be…” Daimen almost stuttered. These two were really starting to annoy him. At least now he knew the girls name.
“I don’t know.” It came out softly and swept away his annoyance.
“I feel fine, I think I scared Luhan when I pulled off the door but that scared me too.” Jongdae hoped this would ease some of the tension but it was just made more intense when the girl spun around putting her face inches from his. Her golden eyes burned into him and all of the harsh lines in her face softened.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked quietly.
“Mm yeah I feel great.” Jongdae said with a laugh trying to hide his embarrassment. A heated blush surged through him and he pleaded with the unknown for Kora to not notice it. She huffed before hopping back to her feet, extending a hand to Jongdae. The boys at the door fidgeted with restlessness and Minseok stepped forward surveying the room.
“Yah! What happened in here that you threw my stuff all around? Next time you get turned into something make sure you only mess up your things!” The boys laughed and spilled into the room. Jongdae silently thanked Minseok and grinned stupidly for his friends to see he was alright. They gushed over him asking him questions and tugging at different parts of his body. The grin slipped from his face as the noises, scents and movements bombarded his senses. Hands flinching at his side he resisted the urge to bring them to his head. It was so quiet he almost missed it, “Jongdae” the voice whispered. Looking around he stopped at Kora. Her sight was fixed on him and he saw the slight movement of her lips. “Focus Jongdae” The chaos in his mind continued and he heard her again, “Focus Jongdae. Pick one out of the many and focus.” It snapped in place and he inhaled deeply searching through the different smells to find it. A look of understanding filled her face prompting her to lift her hair off of her shoulders; she then extended her arms letting it fall through her fingers. One more breath and he had her intoxicating scent pinned. He focused on the earthy musk which had a slight honeyed tinge to it. This made him think of a hidden meadow before the dark of the woods. Everything around him calmed into place as he stayed in this meadow that he had created. He was pulled back into his bedroom by Kora’s sudden movement.
“Alright, out” she stepped forward pointing to the door.
“We can’t he just woke up and we want to be with him.” Tao pouted.
“No, you need to leave. I have a lot I need to discuss with him.”
Kris stepped forward, standing less than a foot from the girl. “We already know everything, why do we have to leave?” Bad idea Jongdae thought which was immediately shared through the group when she closed the distance separating them.
“Are you challenging me?” Her voice was steady which was more intimidating then if she had raised it.
Kris furrowed his brow, “I was just asking a question, and anyways if we know everything then what’s the harm in letting us stay? I stayed up all night wondering if my brother would be dead in the morning. I’m kinda hard pressed to leave just because you said so” He smirked inwardly at his own words; he had always had a knack for recognizing weakness in others and with Kora it was her inability to show compassion but he gambled that she’d try to hide it. A few dense yeah’s and quick nods agreed with Kris and Kora knew she would have to back down.
“Fine.” Kora sat down on the bed and told Jongdae everything she had told the others. When she was finished the room went silent. Jongdae’s head was spinning and his throat tight as the panic began to rise. He looked down at his shaking hands expecting to see some monstrous version but they looked the same and instead of easing his panic this seemed to accelerate it. Everyone stared at Jongdae as his world came crashing down. His shaking seemed to get worse as he felt their judgment as they all gawked at him. The panic cooled but only because his anger started to bubble up. Why did this happen to him? What about his dreams? Would he have to quit EXO? A painful itch ran up his arms and down his back, he felt an intense need to burst out of the suffocating room and just run. After all that had happened before, Kora wanted to wait to see if he’d be able to reel himself back in but decided not to wait any longer.
“Everyone out. Now!” There were no objections this time and slowly they moved out of the room leaving Kora and Jongdae alone. She kneeled in front of him, resting her hands on his trembling thighs.
“Talk to me. I need you to say it out loud. “A cool serenity ran through him as her words pierced the chaos inside.
“I...I knew, I mean I was there when it happened, when I changed. I knew that I was different but to hear all this other stuff and not even know why…it doesn’t make sense. Why…”
“Okay look at me. You and I are the same, okay? You have to remember you are not alone. I’m here to help you adjust which to be honest you are doing so much better than I did.”
He finally looked at her, “Really?”
She nodded, “Mhmm. I still have a hard time sorting through my memories but I did have to be put in a cage for at least a few days.” Pausing, a look of guilt spread across her face. “Sorry about before, about knocking you down. I heard the door and just assumed the worst... This situation is new to me so I’m sure I’ll make mistakes. I hope you can still trust me.” Although it was faint Jongdae could see the pink tinge to her cheeks. She seemed different than before. Was this really the girl that tackled him to the ground and stood up to Kris? He let out a deep laugh once he realized what was going on. Ask anyone in EXO who the trickster is and they’d all point to him. Acting timid and guilty she had easily distracted him from his little existential crisis.
“How’d you know that would work?”
Immediately her back straightened and the pink seemingly vanished. “I didn’t. But you seem like the type that prefers sweet and innocent. I figured if it didn’t I’d just tackle you again.”
Kora was back to her stifling seriousness. Jongdae had figured she’d been playing on his ego and she was right he did like sweet and innocent.
“Seriously though you are doing much better than I had expected. Plus you have all the support of those guys so you’ll be fine. Look at me, I’m the same but no one would guess I’m not human.” She gestured to her body which reminded him of the painful itch the crept across his body.
“I’m really itchy, is that normal?” He got a small grin in return.
“Yeah, you still need to go through the physical change.”
“Wait! But I already did, I mean my body is definitely different.”
A shiver ran down his spine at the glint in Kora’s eyes.
“That’s your human form. I’m talking about your first change into your wolf form.”
I had to upload chapter 6 using my phone so I'll fix it when I get home.
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