"Where have you been all morning?" A man with black hair asks as soon as we enter. 

"Out"

"Who's this?" The man asks pinching my cheeks. How embarrassing. "She's so cute" I grip Minwoo's arm and shuffle back slightly.

"Donghyun, stop your making her uncomfortable" I continue to move behind Minwoo's shoulder. I don't feel safe here at all, vampire or not. There is a reason I am so close to my brothers, it is because I am too shy to make real friends. Plus my brothers don't put me in uncomfortable positions for the most part.

"Everyone this is Mory, she is my mate" Minwoo says opening the door between me and the rest of the pack. 

"Mory this Youngmin and Kwangmin, the twins" Minwoo gestures to two twin teenaged boys sitting on a couch. One with Blonde hair, the other with brown, each smile identical, creepy.

"That's Hyunseong" Minwoo points to a boy, reading in the window sill. I look closer, he reminds me so much of Leo. In their posture, the way they're both book worms. I bet he's as quiet as Leo too, hmm they could be good friends.

"Donghyun you just met, and Jeongmin we saw outside" Minwoo turns to me and kisses my forehead. I feel something flutter in my chest, maybe being a mate won't be so bad after all. 

"Um Minwoo, I think I should go" I say quietly. 

"Mory would you like to stay for dinner?" Donghyun asks brightly.

"Oh no thank you, my brothers don't know where I am as it is."

"'Kay, I'll see you tomorrow" Minwoo says giving me a quick squeeze. "Just remember, now that we are mates, we cannot be too far from each other for long. It doesn't take much effect now, but it's a good habit for I change you" he whispers in my ear. My heart sinks, I forgot about that part. I let go of Minwoo and leave. N's gonna kill me.

'Change you' the words swirl around in my head. I push that thought out of my mind and try to distract myself. I try to think of something else, anything else. How the heck am I gonna make this thing work!?

                  ~

"Where have you BEEN!?" N shouts at me as soon as I open the door. 

"Why didn't you tell us where you were going, huh!?!?" He continues.

"Didn't you read my sand note?" I ask sheepishly. 

"I did" Hongbin says staring at the floor.

"I just, I can't even" N storms off to his room, Ravi following.

"You gave us a scare today, kiddo" Hongbin says pulling me in for a hug. Wow I've gotten lots of hugs today, fine by me.

"I'm sorry" I say into his shoulder. 

"Is there something you wanna talk about?" My heart momentarily stops, does he know? Tell me he doesn't.

"No" 

"You want me to talk to N?"

"It's okay"

"My little sis is growin' up" I smile at Hongbin and walk to N's room. I pause a moment before knocking.

"..she smells and I found fur all over her shirt yesterday, Ravi I just have a really bad feeling" no oh no oh no oh no oh NO he's onto me!

"Don't freak about it, I'm sure there is a logical explanation for this"

"Yeah no Sherlock" N! Language!

"You know this wouldn't be a problem if you would just let us change her" exactly N, why didn't you when you had the chance? Too late now, I got me a mate.

"Who changes her? Me? You? We certainly can't we practically raised her like husband and wife" I can actually see that happening, sorry Mother N.

"Your point being?"

"She doesn't love us, the only one she loves is Hongbin" I object, I love Leo as equally. At least he doesn't bother the crap out of me.

"How do you know?"

"Because, have you seem the way she acts around him? They don't act like brother and sister at all. They act like boyfriend and girlfriend." Aww, looks like someone's jealous of a little skinship.

"So why not let Hongbin change her?" Yeah, I would've liked that, months ago.

"Because he just can't, look I have something in mind but I need you and Ken to keep an eye on her tomorrow. Keep her busy, don't let her out of your sight, got it?" I don't like the sound of that. What about Minwoo? He said that mates can't be too far away for too long.

"Sure thing" 

The door opens, snapping me from thought.

"Oh hi Mory" Ravi leans down and lowers his voice. "Be patient with him okay?" He says and leaves me to the slightly open door and a fuming N inside. 

"N?"

"What."

"I'm sorry I've kind of disappeared on you guys, the last couple days.

"You should be, god I was just so worried. Don't do that again" N says pulling me in for (yep you guessed it) a hug. 

I debate on whether to tell N about Minwoo. If I say he is a friend then that would give me a valid excuse to not be around the whole day. However N may just get suspicious at the fact that Minwoo's a guy. Or suppose he takes one look at Minwoo and can tell right away the latter is a werewolf. My decision: no one can know about Minwoo, not even Hongbin.

                    ~

After calming down N, we have dinner. We eat in silence and no one dares to break it even long after. 

Hongbin offers to sleep with me, but I decline. I need to get used to not sleeping with my brothers. After all, I have a mate now.

My bed feels empty. Around two am, I feel someone nudge me.

"Mory" Ken whispers "Can I sleep with you?"

"No go back to bed!"

"I can't I'm scared, the girl from The Ring, she's going to get me"

"How is it you watched a horror movie when there's no TV here?"

"I have the mini DVD player in my room."

I sigh, it's too late, I'm exhausted. Finally I agree to let him sleep with me, on the condition that he stays on his side of the bed. I suddenly had a new feeling in my gut. Excitement? Love? No, something deeper: longing.