Chapter 6

Kai POV

            We all sat around the living room in an awkward silence while we tried to figure out where to start.  Minah was seated on my lap and playing with a button on my shirt.  There was multiple times where a pack member would clear his throat, or Jaemi would run her hand through her hair.

            “Well,” started Kris, “We’re wolves.”

            “Yeah…I got that…” Jaemi analyzed a piece of her hair, “how is that possible…they just…you don’t…your not supposed to exist…”

            “Well we do,” said Tao.

            “How…?” she asked.

            “The same way humans exist,” said Suho, “they just do, there’s no proven reason for it.  But there are theories, just like the story of Adam and Eve for humans, its kind of the same for us.”

            She nodded in understanding.  “So who were those people…wolves…from earlier?”

            “A rival pack,” answered Sehun, “there’s a lot of bad blood between their pack and ours.”

            “How much bad blood,” a tear fell from Jaemi’s eye, “why did they attack?”

            Kris answered, “The bad blood between our packs dates back thousands of years…the reason they attacked has to do with something that happened four years ago…”

            “So many things still don’t make sense…” she looked to me, “Kai, you told me that you weren’t fifteen when Minah was born, what did you mean by that?”

            “I was nineteen when Minah was born.”

            “But your-”

            “I know I’m nineteen now…we age differently than humans.  Once we make our first shift, a year for us equals five years for a human.”

            “How old are you when you first shift?”

            “For girls, their usually thirteen, for boys, we’re usually fifteen…I was fifteen the first time I shifted.”

            “So you’re actually, 35…”

            “If I was a human, I’d be 35, yes.  But I’m not, so I’m nineteen.”

            “Should I be afraid of you?” she wiped her tears away.

            “Of course not Jaemi,” answered Sehun, “we’re good, I promise.”

            “He’s right,” said Chanyeol, “we go to school, and have jobs, we get married…we’re just like regular people.”

            “Except we change into wolves,” added Chen.

            “What about the pack that attacked…should I be afraid of them?”

            “Until we fix the problem, it’s best to keep your distance,” said Kris.

            I looked up from Minah to Jaemi.  Her eyes were slightly red from crying, but her hair was perfectly in place.  It was at that moment that I felt a familiar tightness in my chest; the same tightness I felt the first time I laid eyes on ChoHee…Oh .

            Jaemi looked up to see me staring at her and our eyes met.  I heard her heart rate speed up exponentially and she quickly looked away with a slight blush forming on her cheeks…, , , , .

            “Daddy,” said Minah quietly, “are you okay?”

            “Y-yeah, I’m f-fine…”

            “Do you have any other questions?” asked Baekhyun.

            Jaemi stole a quick glance at me and shook her head, “no, I don’t think so.”

            “Well now that you know our secret,” said Tao, “you have to swear not to tell another human…ever…”

            “I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” she said.

            “We’ll leave you alone now,” said Kris standing up from the couch, “this is a lot to take in and it’ll take time for it to sink in.”

            She nodded and we all filed out of the living room leaving Jaemi alone.

            “Sehun, will you play with me?” asked Minah.

            “Sure Princess, what do you want to play?” he asked in return.

            She thought for a moment, “Let’s play Castle!  Everybody has to play with us though.  You can be the Prince, and I’ll be the princess!  Chanyeol is the dragon, Luhan is the wizard…” she continued to give each of us a character to be and we all filed into the Library where there would be enough room for us all to play.

            “Kai,” Kris grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the hallway outside of the library.  He quickly called into Minah that we would be right in and then he closed the door, “I know that look, it’s the exact same look you had after you found ChoHee.  Did you just imprint on Jaemi?”

            My jaw dropped slightly, “I…no…I…I don’t know…I don’t think so…”

            He stared at me for a moment, “I think you need to go talk to your parents.”

            “W-what, why?” I asked staring up at him.

“Because, they’re elders, they’ll know what’s going on.”

            “It doesn’t make sense…CheHee’s my mate, not Jaemi.”

            “Maybe you have two?” he guessed.

            “That’s crazy, I love ChoHee.”

            “I didn’t say that you didn’t love her, I’m saying that maybe now that ChoHee’s…” he trailed off, “maybe you have a new mate…if that’s possible.”

            “ChoHee’s my only mate, there’s nobody that can change that.”

            “Well something just happened between you and Jaemi, you can’t deny that.”

            I let out a frustrated sigh and ran my hand through my hair, “I’ll go see my parents…but there’s nothing going on between Jaemi and I, it was just a moment…nothing more.”

            “You’re taking Jaemi with you to your parents.”

            “Why?”

            “I told you her first day here, you’re her guardian.  And who else will watch Minah while you talk to your mother?”

            “Who said Minah was coming?”

            “You would deny your daughter a visit to her grandparents?” he challenged.

            “I hate you so much sometimes Kris…” I opened the door to the Library and went inside.

            “Yeah, but I’m the alpha, so you have to do what I say,” he closed the door behind us.

            The twelve of us had been playing Castle with Minah for three hours and Jaemi was still down the hall in the living room. 

            “Minah, it’s time to get ready for bed,” I told her.

            “But daddy, the sun just went down!  I want to keep playing!”

            “I know you do Peanut, but we’re all tired and we have to get up early tomorrow.  We’re going to go see Grandma and Grandpa!”

            “Really!?  We haven’t seen them in a long time!”

            “I know, so go get your pajama’s on so we can get ready for bed.”

            “Okay!”  She ran down the halls and up the stairs into her room.

            I followed Minah until I reached the living room.  Jaemi was still curled up in a ball on the couch taking it all in.

            “Jaemi,” I said, “Minah and I are going to visit my parents tomorrow and Kris wants you to come with us,” I took a seat next to her.

            “I don’t know Kai…I’m still in shock…”

            “I know,” I put my hand on her knee, “But getting out of the house will help, I promise.”

            “Okay, if you really want me to go, I will.”

            “Great!” I stood up from the couch, “we’re getting up early, so you might want to turn in soon.”

            She nodded and I went up the stairs.

            After getting Minah tucked into her own bed, I kissed her goodnight, turned out the lights and closed the door behind me.

            I turned to see Jaemi waiting at my bedroom door.

            “What’s wrong Jaemi?” I asked.

            “I…did you…earlier we…never mind, it’s stupid.”

            I knew she was referring to the feeling of imprinting, but I still didn’t know what it meant.  So I played dumb.

            “Okay, goodnight Jaemi,” I closed the door to my room and called my parents to let them know about our plans tomorrow.

            The next morning, Sehun helped Jaemi and I load my car for the trip while Minah ran around the yard chanting in a sing song voice, “I get to see grandma, I get to see grandpa!”

            “How long are you three staying?” Sehun asked.

            “A few days,” I answered, “I’ll call you when we’re on our way back.”

            It took a while to wrestle Minah into her car seat, but we eventually got her to stay still long enough to get her buckled in.

            “Daddy, I don’t want to ride in the car seat anymore!  It’s too tight,” she complained.

            “I don’t care if it’s too tight Minah; you’re too young to not have to use one.”

            “Can I have my blanket and Mr. Bear, please?”

            “Of course you can,” I handed her the baby blanket and stuffed bear and kissed her on the forehead.

            Sehun said his goodbye’s to Minah while Jaemi climbed into the passenger seat and I climbed into the driver’s seat.

            “See you in a few days,” I said to my best friend, “and pulled out of the driveway and onto the gravel road that lead to the highway.

            “Kai, how far are we going?”

            “It’s about a four hour drive.”

            “Is it the house you grew up at?”

            “No, I grew up here.  My parents moved with their pack into the mountains after I graduated high school.”

            “So your parents are wolves too…”

            “You bet they are!” said Minah from the backseat, “Grandma and Grandpa are beautiful gray wolves!  And they’re super important too!”

            “Important how?” she asked me.

            “They’re both elder wolves, which basically means that they’re super old and know almost everything about the history of our race.”

            After two hours of driving, Minah had fallen asleep in the back and was slightly snoring.

            “Kai…I started to talk to you about something last night, but I chickened out.”

            “Yeah, I remember.  Do you want to talk about it now?”

            She shrugged.

            “You can tell me what it is Jaemi.” I told her.

            She took a deep breath, “I’m not really sure how to explain it, but I find myself drawn to you…”

            I didn’t say anything.

            “I’m sorry,” she said, “I just freaked you out, didn’t I?”

            “No, you didn’t,” I assured, “I’m just thinking.”

            The rest of the car ride was dead silent, aside from the radio that played.

            We finally arrived at my parents house around noon, and they had already made us lunch.

            “Jongin!” my mother greeted me with a hug after I had climbed out of the car.

            “Hey mom,” I hugged her back, “Where’s dad.  He’s at a meeting a few cities over, so he won’t be home for a few days.”

            I nodded, and introduced Jaemi, “Mom, this is Jaemi.  She’s the girl that Sehun found in the woods a few weeks ago.”

            “So your the human, it’s very nice to meet you Jaemi.  I trust that you’ll keep our secrets safe?”

            “Of course Mrs. Kim,” replied Jaemi.

            “Oh please just call me Jiwoo, Mrs Kim makes me feel old.”

            “That’s because you are old, mom,” I said as I took the sleeping girl out of her car seat.

            “Oh shush you,” she scolded, “now, come inside.  Jongin, you can put Minah in your room okay?  I’ll show Jaemi to hers.”

            After setting Minah into the bed that she and I would share during our stay, I came down the hallway to Jaemi’s room to find my mother using an old trick of hers to put humans to sleep.

            “Mom, is that really necessary?”

            “Of course it is Jongin, you said you needed to talk to me about something privately.  What better way to get privacy than to put someone to sleep?”

            I rolled my eyes at my mother’s logic.

            “Now,” she said when Jaemi was deeply asleep, “What do you need to talk to me about?”

            I followed my mother up the stairs into the third floor library and took a seat.

            “Is it possible for a wolf to have more than one mate?” I asked.

            “Why do you ask?”

            “It just that, ChoHee’s my mate and she always will be, but yesterday, I felt the same feeling in my chest that I had the first time I saw ChoHee, but with Jaemi.”

            “It’s possible, but it’s very, very rare.  In order to have a second mate, your first must die, and in your case, she did.  But your love connection with your second mate won’t be as strong, if it even happens.”

            “So, Jaemi’s my mate now?”

            “It’s unlikely, she’s human.”

            “I thought that wolves could have human mates?”

            “It’s different…if a wolf falls in love with a human; it’s because of just imprinting.  If a wolf falls in love with a wolf, it’s their mate, their love, the one they’ve imprinted on, and they know the second they lay eyes on each other, just as it happened for you and ChoHee.”

            “So, I’ve only just imprinted on Jaemi, and that’s why I felt the same things as I did with ChoHee?”

            “I couldn’t tell you Jongin.  I’ll have to see you and her together to know for sure.”

            I nodded.