Yiru walked to the Exo-M cabin with a small smile on her face. Her expression of content was evident. She had stayed with Baekhyun for hours after the training session ended, just talking and lying next to each other on one of the training mats. It seemed as if their connection had grown even stronger in spite of their brief time apart from one another.

When Yiru entered the cabin, she ran into Chen in the foyer. He raised his head to greet her then furrowed his eyebrows, puzzled by her happy expression. “What’s wrong with you?”

Still in a daze, Yiru smiled and replied, “Oh nothing, it was just a good training session.”

“Okay…Well there’s some left over dinner on the table waiting for you,” Chen said, while pointing his thumb behind his shoulder towards the kitchen.

Yiru looked on the clock on the wall and noticed the time. It was almost ten o’clock at night. She didn’t realize  how late she stayed out until now. “Sorry I missed dinner. I guess Baekhyun and I got carried away with training.”

“Baekhyun and you?” Chen questioned. “So you’re getting along with your ‘mate’?”

Yiru’s eyes widened as her heartbeat started to quicken at Chen’s words. Did he know her secret? “Mate?” she repeated cautiously.

“Yeah, it’s another term for partner, companion.”

Relief overcame Yiru. He didn’t know. Good. “Ohh right. Yes, we’re getting along just fine. He’s one of the more tolerable Cinereo wolves.”

Chen hummed in agreement. “He seems like it. Not like that dumb fool, Sehun.” He rolled his eyes as he mentioned his project partner, whom he despised.

“Dumb fool? Quite redundant, don’t you think?” Yiru teased. Chen scowled at her. “What’s wrong with him? He seemed pretty quiet to me?” she questioned.

“Exactly! He is so silent that he barely speaks during our trips around the fields. In both our territories! He’s like a… walking tree trunk.”

Yiru looked at him apologetically and patted his shoulder comfortingly. “Sorry you have to deal with such incompetence. Well, I should really eat. Good night, Chen.”

“Night.” With that, Chen went up the stairs and into his room as Yiru made her way to the kitchen, where  she was greeted by her brother and his stoic expression.

“Hello, brother,” she greeted cautiously.

“Welcome home, sister,” Lay greeted back, the iciness evident in his voice. “I’m sure you’re aware of the time.”

Yiru sighed. “Yes, Lay. I am aware. And I’m also not a child, so stop treating me like one.” She made her way to the kitchen table on which her dinner awaited her.

“You don’t think I know what you’ve been up to?” Lay followed her and sat himself right across from her. “I’m sure you’re putting that quality time with that Cinereo wolf to good use.”

“That Cinereo wolf - who happens to be my mate - has a name,” Yiru whispered in case another one of their pack members were in earshot.

“A name that I will not say because he is the reason why you’re in this mess.”

Yiru rolled her eyes. “You’re being immature, Lay.” Yiru pushed herself away from the table and carried her dinner to the trash. She wasn’t feeling hungry anymore because a certain someone who wouldn’t get off her tail. “It’s no wonder I mated before you did.”

“Hey, we both know that age doesn’t have anything to do with when one mates,” he refuted. “And you’re the one who is immature, sneaking around like some adolescent.”

With a shrug of her shoulders, Yiru walked away from her brother, who followed closely behind her. Yiru heard his trudging footsteps behind her and walked fast her. As much as she loved her brother, he was getting on her last nerves. Couldn’t he just give up? He knows that a wolf in mating cannot resist its own mate. Though she did quite a good job these past weeks staying away from Baekhyun. But she was a special case. She had to stay away from him in order to spare their lives. However, in the end, she just came right back to him.

“Lay, leave me alone,” Yiru spat. “I’m going to bed.”

“No! We need to talk about this mo-” Lay stopped his sentence as he came face to face with their