Chapter 3

Kai POV

            The pack took their seats around the living room.

            “As we all know,” said Kris, “SHINee is very old fashioned…they think that humans are a source of food, not just another species that lives peacefully along with us, they’re resentful towards the humans because a hundred years ago the humans destroyed their land and only recently they have gotten it back.  If they get as little as a scent of Jaemi, they will attack to kill her.  We need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

            We all nodded our understanding.

            “Also,” added Suho, “Taemin is already upset with the pack because of what happened between NaEun and Kai…we need to be even more on guard if we run into him.”

            “Kai, if it came to it, would you be able to kill Taemin?” asked Kris.

            I sighed, “If he threatens my family, I’ll kill him without a second thought.”

            “But, at one point, he was your best friend,” said Sehun, “The three of us all went to the same Middle School, I saw how you acted around each other...If I was in your position, I wouldn’t be able to kill him.”

            “If your mate and daughter were threatened,” I told him, “you wouldn’t even remember the fact that he was our friend.”

            “It’s true,” said Kris, “Although we didn’t witness what happened with Kai and NaEun, I’ve seen it happen before…If your mate is threatened, you’ll do anything to protect them, even if it means killing a member of your own pack.”

            “It’s happened to me,” said Luhan quietly.

            “What?” the rest of us, aside from Kris, said together.  We were all shocked

            “I was a lot younger, fifteen maybe,” he started, “it had only been a few months since my first shift, and as we all know, after we make our first shift, one year for us equals five years for the humans, so I was still only fifteen.  Anyways, I had found my mate and her father wasn’t happy about it.  He told me that if I stayed with his daughter, he would have us hunted down and killed.  He wasn’t the packs alpha, so he had no right to threaten us like that.  I didn’t listen to him, so while my mate and I were hunting together, he attacked us.  So I killed him.  Her father was an elder wolf so the pack kicked me out and then they killed my mate in front of me.”

            We all knew that Luhan was part of another pack before he found and joined Exo, but none of us had any idea that that had happened to him, besides Kris.

            None of us said a word; we were all still contemplating what to say next.

            “Are we done with this conversation,” I asked interrupting everyone’s thoughts, “because, if we are, I would really like to go get my daughter from the stranger?”

            “We’re done,” said Kris.

            I went up the stairs to Minah’s room to find her showing the stranger her dolls.

            I cleared my throat to get her attention.

            “Hi daddy,” she said, “Jaemi said that when she was my age, she had a lot of the same dolls as me!  Isn’t that cool?”

            “That is very cool Minah, did you want to play outside?”

            “Yes!” she ran past me out the door, “come on daddy!”

            I glared at the human then turned to follow my daughter down the stairs.

             Once on the main floor, I went to the closet to get mine and Minah’s coats.

            After zipping up Minah’s coat and lacing up her boots, she asked, “daddy, can Jaemi play with us too?”

            I was about to say no when Kris came in the room, “that’s a great idea Minah, I’ll go get her for you.”

            “Oh thank you Kris!” she said.

            I glared at the alpha, “Do what I say Kai,” stated Kris as he went up the stairs to retrieve our house guest.

            Moments later, Kris came down the stairs with Jaemi in tow. 

            “Kai,” he said, “until our time with Jaemi comes to an end, you will be her guardian.  Wherever she goes, you go, and vise versa.  Don’t ever let her out of your site.”

            I opened my mouth to argue, but a growl low enough for only wolf ears to hear escaped his throat.

            “Fine,” I said through clenched teeth.

            I took Minah’s hand and led both her and Jaemi to the back year.

            It was early November and the leaves on the trees were still changing colors and falling from the trees around us.

            “Daddy, can we play in the leaves?” asked Minah.

            “Of course, Peanut,” I went to the shed and got out a rake for myself, and Minah’s child sized rake, “here you go, move all the leaves into a pile, okay?”

            “Okay!” she ran off with her rake to the other side of the yard and started to move the leaves to the middle of the yard into the pile that Sehun had started yesterday.

            When we were done making the pile, Minah took a leap and landed tummy first into the pile and laughed.

            I jumped in after her and threw a handful of leaves in the air.

            She laughed even more and did the same.

            Then Sehun came running out of the house and jumped after us, sending even more leaves into the air.

            “Pabo,” I said to him, “you jut waited for us to finish making a pile didn’t you!?”

            He smiled and winked, “you know me so well Kai.”

            He pushed me out of the pile and continued to throw leaves into the air with Minah.

            After being rejected from the pile of leaves by my best friend, I could tell that Minah was content with Sehun, so I went to the deck and sat on the steps with Jaemi.

            “Kai, right?” she asked when I sat down.

            I nodded, “actually, it’s Jongin, but everybody calls me Kai.”

            “Alright, I’ll call you Kai then…I’m Jaemi,” she introduced herself.

            We sat in an awkward silence for a while and watched Sehun play with Minah.

            “How did Minah’s mother die?” she asked quietly.

             I frowned at her, “that’s none of your business.”

            “I know, but earlier Minah was telling me that there was an accident and that’s all you told her…I just think that she deserves to know exactly how her mother died.”

            “Don’t tell me what my daughter should and shouldn’t know,” I warned.

            She went quiet, “I don’t mean to tell you how to parent her.  I’m just saying that if I was in her place, I would want to know every detail.”

            “She’s too young to know every detail.”

            She stayed quiet.

            “Don’t get me wrong, I want to tell her, and as soon as she’s old enough, I’ll tell her.  It was just a violet death and I don’t want it to give Minah nightmares.  She doesn’t look it, but she scares easily.”

            “It was that bad?”

            I nodded sadly.

            I could feel her eyes on me, searching for answers, “Is that a wedding ring?” she asked grabbing my hand.

            I pulled away, “yes?”  I gave her a questioning look.

            “You’re married?”

            “I was…to Minah’s mom.”

            “But you’re so young, even if she was Minah’s mother, why would you get married so young?!”

            “Your judging me?” I challenged.

            “N-no…I just thought, teen parent relationships didn’t work out…”

            “It wasn’t a normal teen relationship…and I wasn’t 15 when Minah was born…”

            “But, you’re nineteen, and Minah’s four!  That would make you fifteen when she was born!”

            “I wasn’t fifteen, and I was married before Minah was conceived.”

            Jaemi looked extremely confused.

            I laughed, “I can’t tell you what I mean.”

            “I’m so confused…”

            “Yeah,” I stood up, “you should be.”  I ran off towards Minah, leaving a very confused human behind.