a/n: Hey guys! Ok, so I know...that last chapter had some sulay. But I sort of threw that out of the window and how does everyone feel about XiuHo kekeke *runs away* Warning: note that there is minor assault at the end of this chapter. Please don't read if that triggers anything for you.

Part Three

“Alright everyone, settle down.” Yifan tapped his fingers against the armrest of his chair as the pack settled in to various places in the living room. Luhan was sitting by his feet, contentedly resting his back on Yifan’s legs. Sehun was contentedly curled up into Luhan’s side along with Yixing, and sitting across from them, splayed out across the couch were Kyungsoo, Jongin, and Tao. Baekhyun was perched lightly on the arm of the couch with Jongdae and Chanyeol sitting by his feet. Finally, Minseok was lying down with his head resting on Junmyeon’s thighs, who was sitting primly on the floor near Luhan.

“Minseok, sit up.”

“You’re just jealous that I get to cuddle with Junmyeon and you don’t,” Minseok muttered not-so-quietly, but nevertheless, he sat up.

Junmyeon looked on stoically, his heart beating heavily under the mask he’d smoothed on to his features. What was going to happen now?

“We need to talk about a few things. First off, Junmyeon will be joining the pack.”

“Have you marked him yet?” Minseok glanced over at Junmyeon and then back at Yifan.

“Not yet. Soon, though.” Yifan shifted in his seat and began playing with the tips of Luhan’s hair as he contemplated what to say next. “It would appear that we’ve found out what Junmyeon’s ability is.”

“My ability?” Junmyeon blinked, and then ducked his head in embarrassment when he realized that he’d spoken aloud.

“Don’t be embarrassed. We try and say whatever we’re thinking during pack meetings,” Minseok said as he gently rubbed Junmyeon’s back.

“Ok.”

“What Yifan meant by your ability….do you remember the stone that you came across when you were out running in the woods, the last night we were there?”

“The stone that was carved into twelve sections with a bunch of squiggles on it?”

“That’s right.” Luhan looked a little amused at Junmyeon’s description, but made no further comment on it. “The squiggles were your name being inscribed in the stone. All of our names are inscribed on different sections of the stone beneath different markings. The different sections of the stones correspond with our different abilities.”

“Abilities?”

“We can do things that normal wolves can’t.”

“Huh?” Junmyeon stared at Luhan blankly.

“It’s like with your headache this morning,” Lay spoke up gently. “Headaches don’t normally just vanish like that, right? I have the ability to heal, Junmyeon, so I could make your headache go away.”

Junmyeon blinked in shell-shocked silence.

“It’s a bit of a shock. It takes some time to absorb it,” Luhan said kindly. “We were all this way when we found out about it too.”

“What are we? Are we still wolves if we can—if we can do other things?”

“I don’t know. Jongdae likes to say that we’re aliens. I personally think that we’re still wolves. Minseok thinks we’re superheroes. It’s all up to you to come up with your own explanation of what you are.”

Junmyeon just stared at him blankly. “How have none of the other wolf packs found out about them?”

“We don’t use our powers to gain advantage in fights.”

“But why not?”

“That’s the way we’ve chosen to live. We have proven to ourselves that we’re strong, that we don’t need to depend on our powers to provide for us…we rose to the top as Exo without our powers, and we intend for it to remain that way.”

Junmyeon sort of understood that—but at the same time, he couldn’t quite grasp it, because he had never been confident enough in himself to make himself solely based on his own successes.

“Hey, give him some time. He’ll get over the shock soon,” Jongin muttered from the sofa. “We were all that way, when we first joined.”

“Right. Well, moving along, Junmyeon’s ability is water, seeing as he nearly drowned us that one time,” Yifan continued along. “So, we have to work hard and help Junmyeon master his ability so that it doesn’t pop out at us like that ever again, ok? Also, Junmyeon doesn’t know how to read, so I’ll be teaching him reading, and someone else should teach him some basic math.”

“Why don’t you just do it? You’re home all the time anyways,” Luhan muttered as he pushed his head further into the pads of Kris’s fingers.

“That’s fine with me.” Kris stopped playing with the ends of Luhan’s hair. “That’s really the only important things I had to discuss. Make him feel welcome here, ok guys? He’s part of our family now.”

Junmyeon gazed around at the eleven other wolves sitting around the living room, and he felt a small flutter of hope when eleven pairs of eyes gazed warmly back at him.

Maybe he could throw off the heaviness that his former pack had left behind. Maybe he could see the wolf that they saw: someone better and more beautiful than he had thought…

Three months later, Junmyeon was diligently working at his reading lesson beside Yifan.

“Pronounce each sound separately, just like we were doing with the alphabet yesterday.”

“Uh…” Junmyeon stared down at the row of large characters sitting on the page in front of him. “There’s so many.”

“We’ll go one at a time. Each group of characters is one word.” Yifan grabbed a pen and drew lines between each groups of symbols. “Next to each word is a number—see, like on this other page I gave you.” Yifan reached out and drew a list of numbers up beside the worksheet. “See, this one represents one, right? So this is the first problem. This one shows two, this one is three, and so on. We’ll just do one word at a time. We’ll start really easy.”

“C-can I still look at the alphabet sheet?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Yifan put a soothing hand on the small of Junmyeon’s back as Junmyeon nervously eyed the worksheet and his notes. “It’ll be fine if you make mistakes. Just do your best, Junmyeon.”

“U-um…” Junmyeon felt a small thrill run through his body as the warmth of Yifan’s hands seeped into his lower back. His heart wasn’t ready to admit anything, but his wolf was rousing its head in interest and whispering distracting thoughts in the back of Junmyeon’s mind.

Yifan brought Junmyeon out of his daydream when he tapped his other hand against the paper. “Here, let’s try the first one together. What’s the first character?”

“S…?”

“That’s right. Sss,” Yifan hissed, and Junmyeon obediently copied his pronunciation. “What’s the next character?”

“Um….’e’?”

“Close, but not quite.” Yifan pointed out the character on Junmyeon’s alphabet sheet. “That and that look different, right?”

“Oops.” Junmyeon’s eyebrows crinkled slightly as he scowled at the character. “Is it ‘a’?”

“Good!” Yifan smiled at him and Junmyeon basked in the warmth of his gaze. “So now we have “S-a”. What’s next?”

“G.”

“And…?”

“Wa?”

“Right!” Yifan tapped his fingers on Junmyeon’s back lightly. “So, we have Sss ah gu wa. What does that sound like?”

“Sagwa?” Junmyeon frowned for a moment and then brightened up. “Apple!”

“Nice!” Yifan shifted his arm up around Junmyeon’s shoulders and gave him a short squeeze. “See, you can do it! Let’s try another one, ok?”

At that moment, Luhan walked into the room. “What’re you doing?”

“Luhan! Luhan, I can read!” Junmyeon grinned up at him, his eyes crinkling into little crescents.

“Great!” Luhan ruffled his hair as Junmyeon turned back to the paper. “Also, Yifan don’t be gross.”

Yifan rolled his eyes, but lifted his arm off of Junmyeon’s shoulders. “You’re so conservative Luhan.”

“You’re spoiling him rotten. You don’t even give that much affection to me,” Luhan pouted.

“That’s because you have Sehun.”

“Huh?”

“Sehun would murder me.”

“You’re the alpha.”

Kris sniffed and turned back to Junmyeon’s papers. “Pain is not my style.”

“What is your style then?!” Luhan threw his arms into the air with disgust and turned away. “Have fun reading guys, and Chanyeol left a grocery list on the table.”

“I saw it. Where are you going?”

“I have work in the evening on Thursdays. ‘Bye guys.”

“Bye Luhan!” Junmyeon turned back to his papers, his smile dimming a little bit as he thought back to Luhan’s comments. Would they be jealous here too? But that’s so strange, because Luhan already has a mate, unlike my old pack. But then again, everyone wants the alpha’s attention…so maybe that’s it?

“Are you alright, Junmyeon?”

“Yes, I’m alright.” Just because this is a different pack doesn’t mean you can let your guard down. Keep your head up, Junmyeon scolded himself. “Shall I try the next one?”

“Go ahead. Let’s try ten words, and then I’ll send you and Minseok to buy groceries together when we’re done, alright?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Yifan’s nose wrinkled in distaste, but he let the title slide. “Ok, so let’s try this again. What’s the first character say?”

“Ha.”

“Good. And then?”

And they continued on through the worksheet. True to his word, Yifan sent Junmyeon and Minseok outside once Junmyeon was done with his worksheet.

“Should we bring someone else with us? Chanyeol wrote down a lot of stuff.”

“Everyone else is at work or in class.”

Minseok sighed and crossed his arms. “You could come with us, Yifan.”

“I have to go meet Taeyeon in half an hour.” Yifan gently shooed them out the door with a couple of cloth bags. “You’ll be fine on your own, Minseok. I trust that you and Junmyeon will work well together.”

“Alright, Yifan.” Minseok sighed and grabbed Junmyeon’s hand to tug him along. “Come on, let’s go. The sooner we finish up, the better.”

Junmyeon followed along somewhat hesitantly. “U-um…sorry.”

“Sorry about what?”

“Sorry that you have to go with me. I can go get everything on my own if you want.”

Minseok scoffed. “You can barely even read, how would you manage?” His face softened slightly though, and Junmyeon gave him a small half-smile in return.

“What did Alpha mean when he said that we’ll work well together?”

“I love that you’re so straightforward with your questions.”

“Sorry.”

“Why’re you sorry?” Minseok groaned and rubbed his eyes. “I’m the one who should be sorry, I’m being so grumpy with you, Junmyeon.”

“It’s alright, it doesn’t matter.”

Minseok sighed heavily. “It’s just that—it’s tough to have my power in the summer, because I’m naturally inclined to winter weather. That’s also why Yifan said that we’ll work well together, because I have ice and you have water, so if we coordinated properly, we could be a really powerful team.”

“Oh.” Junmyeon frowned thoughtfully and lifted the cloth bag he was holding higher on to his shoulder. “Is Yifan expecting us to try out our team work today? For a fight?”

 “Junmyeon, you know we rarely use our powers to fight, so that none of the other wolf packs know about them. Don’t worry about such a thing.”

“But what if we get attacked anyways? I’m not a very strong fighter either.” Junmyeon said softly.

“And who told you that? Your old pack, who you probably frightened of, which it made it harder for you to fight them. You’re fine the way you are, Junmyeon.”

For some reason, Junmyeon felt a small blush cross his features. Why was he blushing? What was there to be embarrassed about? Minseok probably didn’t even believe in what he was saying anyways. “Thank you.”

Minseok sighed and stopped the middle of the street, and he took Junmyeon’s pale hands between his own. “Junmyeon.”

“What are you doing?” Junmyeon eyed Minseok warily and then glanced around, fully aware that Minseok was making a scene in the middle of a moderately busy city road.

“Junmyeon. Look at me, please.”

Junmyeon obediently turned his eyes back to Minseok, but his rigid body language told Minseok how uncomfortable he was feeling.

Nevertheless, Minseok plowed onward. “Junmyeon, someday, you will realize how sincere we all are when we tell you that you’re beautiful, and that you’re perfect just the way you are. And honestly, I can’t wait for that day, because when that day comes, you’ll bloom so beautifully, and you’ll become so strong. Even stronger than you are now.”

Junmyeon blinked at him. “Where is all of this coming from?”

Minseok sighed and released Junmyeon’s hands, starting off along the sidewalk once more. “Like I said. Someday, you’ll understand what I mean, Junmyeon.”

Junmyeon responded with a vague hum, his eyes already turning to the various signs and billboards lighting up the sides of the road. “Minseok, does that sign say ‘bread’?”

“Yeah, it does. Nice work!”

Junmyeon’s mouth tilted upwards slightly at the praise.

“You learn so quickly. Most kids spend a long time learning how to read, and it’s supposed to get harder to learn new things as you get older.”

“I’m not that old yet, I’m only eighteen,” Junmyeon murmured absently as they stepped into the grocery store. It was difficult for Junmyeon to keep focused on one thing; life in rural villages and the wilderness with his old pack was very different from this more comfortable, sociable, colorful life that Exo led in the city.

“You seem much older.”

Junmyeon shrugged in response, only to stiffen in fear when a heavy hand clapped down on his shoulder.

“You’re that pretty wolf from the convention.” A large wolf peered down at Junmyeon, and Minseok snarled at foreign hand on Junmyeon’s shoulder. “What’re you doing here, doesn’t your pack come from a rural area?”

“Back off, he’s with me,” Minseok snapped, knocking the man’s large hand off of Junmyeon’s shoulder.

The wolf’s eyes fell to the Exo insignia on a ring on Minseok’s finger. “Exo? Why is he with you?” The man’s eyes darkened suddenly. “Exo only has eleven members, and there’s no sign of a twelfth being added. Don’t fool me; did you kidnap him? Are you holding him hostage from his pack? What kind of beast are you, his pack is poor and has little to offer to you!”

“Junmyeon is here of his own free will. Come on, show him the mark Junmyeon.”

Junmyeon went pale. “Um…Alpha hasn’t marked me yet.”

“What?”

Junmyeon cringed away from the heat of Minseok’s glare of disbelief. “I’m sorry!”

“Junmyeon, it’s been three months!” Minseok sighed in exasperation and turned to the other wolf. “I’m very sorry, but we can take you to our Alpha and settle any dispute that you have with us.”

“Do I look stupid to you? I don’t want to go to Exo’s alpha and get killed. We settle this here,” the other wolf growled.

“This is ridiculous! Look, my name is Minseok of Exo. Who are you?”

“I’m Kang Daesung.”

“Of…?”

“Bigbang.”

“We have an alliance with your pack.”

“Not all members of the pack support the alliance. You Exo are too powerful for your own good, always beating down other packs and taking advantage of the weak!”

Junmyeon cast a nervous look at Minseok, but remained silent. Clearly, this wasn’t about Junmyeon’s presence any more.

“I don’t want a quarrel with you, Kang Daesung. Please leave before you break the peace.”

“Not unless he comes with me,” Daesung growled, jerking his head towards Junmyeon.

“Please. I am here with Exo by my own choice, and I wish to remain with them,” Junmyeon responded with an even tone, even as his heart pounded with anxiety in his chest.

Daesung eyed Junmyeon and Minseok warily for a few moments. “Are you certain?”

“I am certain. I think it’s best if you leave now,” Junmyeon softly, but seriously as he stared at Daesung.

“This isn’t the end of this. Expect a visit from Bigbang’s alpha soon,” Daesung warned. Nevertheless, he turned around and walked away, leaving Minseok and Junmyeon standing alone by a display of fresh apples.

Minseok sighed and wiped his brow. “Good going, Junmyeon.”

“There won’t be trouble, will there?” Junmyeon worried his lip between his teeth as he stared after Daesung’s back.

“Well, the two alphas will certainly meet. We really should’ve presented you as a new member of Exo when we arrived back in the city, but we’ve been waiting for you to be marked.” Minseok turned to the apple display and began placing some apples in a plastic bag. “Why hasn’t Yifan bitten you yet, Junmyeon?”

“He just hasn’t.”

“Don’t be afraid to join us, Junmyeon. Besides, if you don’t have us, who have you got?”

Junmyeon pursed his lips tightly as he avidly watched Minseok handling the apples, and he made no further response.

When they got home, laden down with heavy bags of fruits and vegetables, they were met by a sleepy-eyed Chanyeol at the front door.

“Hey guys.”

“Hello, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol instinctively reached out to ruffle Junmyeon’s hair as the shorter wolf trudged past him to put the fruits and vegetables away under Minseok’s careful eye. “I heard you two ran into some trouble while you were out at the market?”

“Who told you that? No, Junmyeon, the apples go on the second shelf, separate from the rest of the fruits,” Minseok gently corrected the other wolf.

“Yifan came home about ten minutes ago. He’s furious.”

Minseok sighed. “Where is he?”

“He’s up in his study.”

“Chanyeol and I will finish off the vegetables. Junmyeon, you go upstairs and see Yifan.”

Junmyeon’s lips pressed into a pale, thin line, but he put down the food in his hands and stepped away.

“Should I go with him?” Chanyeol eyed Junmyeon’s pale face with concern.

“Don’t even think you can get out of your chores, Chanyeol. Besides, Yifan won’t hurt him. He would never.”

Junmyeon, slightly reassured by Minseok, left the kitchen and padded upstairs. He hesitated for a moment, his fingers trembling as he raised a hand to knock on the door of Yifan’s study.

“Junmyeon, I can sense you trembling outside. Come in.”

Junmyeon flinched at the sound of Yifan’s voice, his pulse pounding in his ears. He hesitantly pushed the door open; he wasn’t afraid that Yifan would hurt him. Yifan had only been gentle and kind to him. What he was frightened of was Yifan’s disappointment, and the mark. The mark would make everything official—and even though Junmyeon knew that really, there was no escaping Exo at this point, it was still a major turn in his life.

“Close the door please, Junmyeon?”

Junmyeon shut the door behind him and then turned around to face Yifan, his head hanging in shame as he peered up at his alpha from beneath his fringe. “Alpha…”

Yifan sighed heavily from his seat in a rolling chair by his desk. “Don’t worry, I’m not angry.” He beckoned with his fingers, and Junmyeon obediently came forward to sit by his side in a second, smaller chair. “I’m just anxious.”

“Why are you anxious, Alpha?”

“I was still considering ways of introducing you as the twelfth member of Exo. It’s a shame that Daesung had to out you…soon everyone will know.” Yifan sighed heavily and sat up in his chair. “You’re going to be the center of attention for a long while now. Do you think you can handle that?”

“I’ll do my best, Alpha.”

“I have to mark you now, there’s no question of that.” Yifan stood up and pulled Junmyeon to his feet. “We’ll make this as quick as possible.”

Junmyeon froze up when Yifan pulled him forward and leaned down to nose at his neck.

“Calm down. It’ll be alright.”

Junmyeon shivered at the feeling of Yifan’s lips brushing against his neck. “A-alpha…”

Yifan pressed his lips over Junmyeon’s pale skin and then softly at the skin near the base of his neck.

Junmyeon jolted in surprise at the sensual gesture. “Alpha? What are you—“

Yifan sunk his fangs into Junmyeon’s pale flesh, and Junmyeon gasped in pain. Yifan ran soothing hands up and down Junmyeon’s back as he retracted his teeth and at Junmyeon’s wound, his tongue laving over the blood running seeping out of the wound. “It’s alright. It’s alright.”

Junmyeon let out a choked sob as pain lanced up his neck. “It hurts…”

“It’s almost over. You’re almost there, you’re almost there,” Yifan murmured as he gently nuzzled Junmyeon’s neck. The bite was already forming a scar under the special properties of his saliva, and at last the wound sealed off and Yifan withdrew.

“Are you alright?”

Junmyeon reached up and gingerly traced the scar at the base of his neck with his fingertips, his nose wrinkling slightly when he realized that the area was slightly sticky with Yifan’s saliva. “It stopped hurting.”

“How do you feel?”

Junmyeon looked at up Yifan, and he realized that “Somehow, I feel closer to you…to everyone, really.”

“Good.” Yifan smiled and ruffled Junmyeon’s hair lightly. “That meant it worked. You’re one of Exo, now.”

“Thank you, Alpha.”

Yifan sighed. “Junmyeon, please call me Yifan. You see for yourself that none of us refer to each other by our pack roles. Do you want to upset the balance?”

“No, but I don’t think—“

“You don’t even have an excuse anymore. You’re a part of Exo, Junmyeon, and I expect you to act like it. Closeness will come with time, and the first step to getting on that path is to address everyone by their first name.”

Junmyeon dipped his head in resigned acquiescence. “Yes…Yifan.”

Yifan grinned. “That’s the spirit. See how much less uncomfortable things are now?”

Maybe some boundaries are meant to be kept, Yifan. Junmyeon kept his silence, and Yifan sighed and dismissed him from the study.

First, Junmyeon to the bathroom and splashed water on his neck, sighing in relief when the sticky feeling left his skin. Then, he went downstairs to see if Minseok and Chanyeol still needed help with chores.

To his surprise, Luhan accosted him on the landing before he could go anywhere. “Junmyeon, are you alright? I heard you screaming,” he said worriedly. “Did Yifan hurt you?”

“No, I’m fine.” Junmyeon lifted his shirt collar to show Luhan his scar.

Luhan’s expression cleared up and his shoulders relaxed as he patted Junmyeon’s shoulder. “Oh, I understand now. Are you more sensitive to me now?”

Junmyeon nodded hesitantly, a light blush appearing on his face. Now, it was obvious that Luhan had just spent some quality time with Sehun—something Junmyeon wouldn’t have noticed without being marked.

Luhan laughed at him and shoved him good naturedly towards the stairs. “Don’t be embarrassed Junmyeon, we’re all going to get way more intimate soon, so get used to it!”

Junmyeon rolled his eyes and descended the stairs of the house and went into the kitchen.

“Can I help you guys with anything?” Junmyeon blinked in surprise when he noticed that Chanyeol was no longer in the kitchen. “Or just you, I suppose.”

“Did he mark you?”

“Yeah.” Junmyeon tugged self-consciously at the collar of his shirt. “How did you know?”

“You’ll be more sensitive to us, and in return we’ll be much more aware of you,” Minseok smiled at him from his spot by the kitchen counter.

Junmyeon frowned slightly; Minseok was smiling, but there was something off about his body language. Junmyeon walked forward to perch on the edge of the kitchen island. “Where’s Chanyeol?”

“He and Baekhyun left to go out on a date.”

“Oh.” Junmyeon paused awkwardly, unsure of what to say next.

Minseok sighed and pushed off of the counter and moving to stand in front of Junmyeon, resting his hands on his knees.

“What is it?” Junmyeon blinked curiously at Minseok. There was something vaguely familiar about the expression on Minseok’s face, but Junmyeon couldn’t quite place it. “Are you alright?”

Junmyeon went rigid when Minseok’s palms slid further up his legs until they were resting on his thighs. “Minseok, what are you doing?”

Minseok ignored his question. “I could smell it, you know? When you were up in Yifan’s study and he bit you, I could smell the scent of your arousal. And during all of your little tutoring sessions with Yifan, I could smell it too. Luhan was nice enough to get Yifan to stop flirting today, but lately it’s been driving me crazy.”

Junmyeon went crimson, both from the feeling of Minseok’s warm palms resting on his thighs, and from Minseok’s accusation. “What’s wrong with that? He’s attractive, I’m sure you can see that too.”

“So you’re not denying that you find him attractive.”

“No.” Junmyeon frowned and pushed at Minseok’s hands, trying to get him to move away. “What does it matter, anyways? Just because he’s attractive doesn’t mean I’m looking for a mate.”

Minseok looked at him appraisingly for a moment, and then all of a sudden he was reaching behind Junmyeon, pulling him off of the counter and flush into his body. “I can do better.”

“Minseok!” Junmyeon felt a rush of panic at Minseok’s sudden actions. He opened his mouth to protest further, only to gasp in shock when he felt Minseok move his collar to the side and roughly at his new scar.

Junmyeon shoved Minseok away and stared at him, his chest heaving up and down as his breath quickened. “You—why did you do that?”

Minseok wiped his lips with his mouth. “Why do you think, Junmyeon?”

“But you can’t—you can’t possibly…” Junmyeon trailed off and stared at Minseok in shock. It was true, they’d gotten very close over the last three months. However, Junmyeon thought that he had made it more than clear that he wasn’t looking for a mate anywhere any time soon, and that light flirting with the other members of Exo hadn’t meant anything.

“Couldn’t possibly what? Want you? See your goodness? See how perfect you are, and what a perfect parent you’ll be?”

“Stop it, Minseok.” Junmyeon quickly pushed his shirt collar back into place and began to back out of the kitchen. “I’m sorry, but I don’t—please, don’t ever touch me in such a manner again.”

Minseok sighed, a resigned and somewhat regretful expression on his face. “Of course, Junmyeon. I understand that you’re saying no.”

“Thank you,” Junmyeon nodded stiffly, and then turned and fled the kitchen. His heart was healing, but it was healing slowly, and certainly not to the point where he could even begin to entertain the idea of having a mate. He fled upstairs and crawled into Jongdae’s and Luhan’s room to be petted and comforted, until at last he felt calmer, and was able to leave the room and interact with the outside world once more.

a/n: So...XiuHo. I know, I'm sorry, it just sort of came out of nowhere, especially with all the Yixing from last chapter. Please forgive me! Anyways, I hope you guys could still enjoy this chapter and all the ensuing romantic conflict. And we get some more hints of Krisho :) Seriously this fic is a mess. Thanks to all of my subbies and readers for sticking with me thus far <3 leave a comment to let me know what you thought of this chapter, and subscribe and upvote if you're enjoying the story so far!