(A:N/ I'm back everyone! Yay! And guess what? I turned 18 today! Please enjoy this chapter and tell me what you think in the comments!)

I inwardly cringed.

That was not my best idea, inviting six boys over for dinner. Each one of them looked like they could eat and entire nation’s worth of food, and more. But unfortunately, once they tried my cooking, they would probably never speak to me again.

How bad is my cooking, you ask?

Well, let’s just say that it’s so bad; my parents banned me from entering the kitchen without supervision. It seems that every time I attempt to cook something, even ramen, something catches on fire or the smoke alarm goes off.

Chen looked up at me with wide eyes.

“YOU would cook for US? Well of course we’ll accept your offer!” He said excitedly, walking back to the living room.

Luhan and Kris gave each other nervous glances, and then turned to me.

“Well, I guess we can accept your offer. But are you sure you really want to do this?” Luhan could see me cringing, and he was obviously giving me a second chance at redemption, right? Maybe he was giving me one more chance to back out of my offer?

“No, it’s fine. I’ll do it. I want to.” The words came out of my mouth before I could think, and once they did it was too late. Oops.

“Alright, if you insist. Where should we wait?” He asked.

“In the living room, where Chen went. That would be okay.” I answered good naturedly, trying to hide my quickly growing fear.

“Alright then. Good luck.” Kris gave me a thumbs up, and they all sauntered over to the living room. Thank God it was cut off from the kitchen, so they wouldn’t be able to see me in such a state of distress.

I quickly hobbled over to the kitchen and threw the refrigerator door open. Unfortunately, just like I had expected, there was no great amount of a certain food that I could feed them. That meant that I would have to make multiple dishes. Crap.

Wrestling my phone out of my pocket, I hastily searched ‘good recipes for large groups’ ect.

I did have a large portion of bulgogi from the previous night when Shannon had come over to eat. She left it here knowing that I couldn’t cook for myself. I could cook that, and pull out my side dishes. But what else could I make?

I stood there, pulling out ingredients for what felt like an eternity, when I heard a soft knock on the doorframe of the kitchens entrance.

I turned around, and found Luhan standing there, crossing his arms. How did he look so attractive just from standing casually like that?

“Having any trouble?” He asked, an eyebrow rising suspiciously. He silently sauntered over to me, advancing me like a lion advancing its prey.

“W-what? No! Of course not.” I lied, but he saw right through me. All I could do why try to hobble away because of my twisted ankle.

“Let me take a wild guess- you’re a bad cook?” He suggested, tilting his head.

“What? Of course not! I can cook just as well as anyone else!” I stammered, completely shocked that he had guessed correctly.

He laughed, the corners of his mouth rising slightly.

“Well, I guess if you don’t need help I can just go back and sit with everyone else-“ He began, turning around and exiting the room, but I cut him off.

“No- wait! Maybe some help would be a little useful…” I stammered, pushing my fingers together. This was pretty embarrassing. Admitting to someone that you needed help, but this wasn’t just ‘someone’. Luhan was super attractive, and it was a major strain on my well-being to be in the same room with him for too long.

Before I knew what was happening, his hands were on my shoulders and he was looking directly into my eyes.

“Listen, Natalia. The first step is admitting that you have a problem.” I rolled my eyes at the cheesy comment, and he laughed happily.

"You make it sound like I'm a drug addict going to rehab." I muttered, looking away from his face that slowly inched towards my own.

The room had grown silent, and all I could hear was Luhan's heavy breathing. It was strange- it sounded like he had just run a marathon. It was beginning to grow awkward. Trying to break the silence, I spoke up.

“Whatever. Let’s just get started.” I broke away from his grasp respectively, and turned to the kitchen counter.

Pulling out a knife, I began to chop some fermented kimchi that I had been storing away for something special. Although, I hadn't ever expected to use it during a situation like this.

I could feel Luhan's penetrating gaze as he watched from behind me.

"Hm. Smells good." He murmured, taking a whiff in my direction.

"Yeah, I guess it does." I replied, setting the kimchi into a bowl.

"I wasn't talking about the food." He smiled, and sauntered towards the oven. Good grief. Was he talking about me?

After almost an hour of stressful cooking and putting together what we hoped the boys would accept as ‘food’, Luhan and I washed our hands happily, and brought the food into the dining room.

As strange as it sounds, cooking had actually been a lot of fun for once. Luhan had showed me how to do pretty much everything, and I was also able to see his character a little better. Contrary to what I had originally thought about him, he was generally kind and helpful, and he seemed to be making sure that I felt comfortable with him.

We gently set the dishes onto the table top, and stood back, watching in admiration as the boys quickly devoured the food. “You better save us some, after all, we just busted our butts pre-paring that.” Luhan said, crossing his arms and giving each boy a calculative look.

"Sure- Whatever." Chen choked, shoveling the food down his throat.

"Can they even taste it? I mean, they're eating it so quickly…" I observed, tilting my head to the side in admiration. I wasn't sure if I had ever seen anything quite like it.

"Maybe we should see that for ourselves." Luhan smiled, and pulled a chair out for me to sit in. I accepted graciously, and he took the seat opposite to mine.

…

All and all, the food hadn't tasted that bad in the end. Probably because Luhan had done most of the cooking, otherwise there might have been a small kitchen fire.

Tao had offered to clean the dishes, (but in reality Kris had more or less forced him) and the group decided to leave the house soon after.

 

"Again, thank you so much for the meal." Luhan prodded as the group was making their way out the front door.

"Luhan, stop saying that. You did most of the cooking, anyways." I blushed, motioning for him to leave.

"But you helped." Xiumin smiled, his cheeks inflating like two balloons. It was cute.

I smiled and ushered them outside.

"See you tomorrow!" They all waved, and walked into the cool night air. The darkness enveloped them as they walked down the street, until I could no longer see their faces.

 

I closed and locked the door behind me.

Suddenly, a thought hit me.

"Huh. I wonder what happened to Wolfie. I sure hope that he's ok." And with a shrug, I made my way to my room and finished my homework.

 

….

 

The next morning, I accidentally woke up late. I remembered the night before, and guessed that I had forgotten to set my alarm.

Practically throwing myself out of bed, I hastily brushed my teeth and got dressed. I would have to skip breakfast.

 

Locking the door behind me, I mounted my bike, only to discover that it wasn't working.

"Dammit! Why does it decide to not work right now!" I wailed, and ran like hell down the road. The only problem was, my ankle had not fully healed, and at this rate, I would miss first period! I had never been tardy before.

 

My hair flew in every direction, and I concentrated on keeping my footing. Sweat was beginning to make its way onto my hairline, and I swept it away with the back of my hand. There was nothing worse than being smelly on the second day of school.

 

But as I brought my hand up to wipe my face once again, my backpack dropped, sending my books flying all over the ground. I subsequently lost my footing, and tumbled forward.

"AHHHG!" I rolled forward, and scraped my knees on the hard cement street.

"Only me. This would only happen to me. I might as well just skip class. I can't go looking like this." I assumed that my hair was destroyed, along with my perfect-attendance.

Sighing deeply, I gathered my strength and stood up. Walking over to my books, I gathered them miserably, shoving them back into my backpack. I was no longer in a rush. Now I was just tired.

 

A twig suddenly snapped beside me, breaking me out of my trance. It had seemed to come from the woods along the side of the road. I was in the mountains, after all.

Hesitantly, I finished closing my bookbag, hearing it zip shut.

“Hello? Is anyone out there?” I called, setting my bag down.

Maybe it had just been an animal?

Hobbling back towards my bag, I picked it up and decided to go back home. There wouldn’t be any point to arrive at class now. I would just make a fool of myself.

I realized that I would most likely receive a lecture from Shannon later about leaving her alone with Woo Bin.

That’s right! I had completely forgotten about Woo Bin! I wonder what Luhan did to him…

 

Casting the thought aside, I limped back in the direction I had originally came. Then another twig snapped. My head flew in the direction of the sound, and I called out once again.

“Who’s there? Come out so that I can see you!” I yelled, trying to be brave. I had gone through enough trauma in the last two days for a lifetime.

 

As I slowly approached the woods, my ankle throbbed repeatedly. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to run with a busted ankle? I should have gotten out my father’s old crutches from when he had broken his leg.

 

“Come out, whoever you are! I can hear you!” I said again. This time, I heard a response. A soft chuckle emerged from the forest, and suddenly a man appeared. He was much taller than me, maybe by a few feet. His face was perfect, and really handsome. He smiled, and walked towards me slowly. I hobbled backwards, trying to avoid him.

“My my. It seems that we’ve finally met.” The man said, and then out of nowhere, five other men appeared from the woods.

Why were they coming from the woods?

 

My heart rate began to increase at a high speed, and my nerves were on edge. Surely I couldn’t run away? I would never be able to escape with a twisted ankle!

“It seems that those mutts have finally left her side. Stupid decision on their part.” One of the men smiled. He was tall as well, with blond hair.

“That’s for sure. Why would he ever leave his mate alone? Doesn’t his alpha know yet that they ALL belong to her? That she is their only fated mate, as a pack?” The first man rambled. I didn’t understand what they were talking about. Only that if they kept talking, I might be able to get away.

“Who cares. She’s ours now!” The tallest man said from the back. They began to advance me, slowly, and cautiously.

 

“Um- Wait just a minute! Why don’t I have a say in this?” I rambled, trying to make the conversation last longer in order to find an escape.

And then, an idea struck me.

 

“OOOOWWW!! OH MY GOSH! IT HURTS!” I wailed, grabbing at my already pulsating ankle. It wasn’t really a lie that it hurt like hell.

The men suddenly seemed to turn frantic.

“What? What’s wrong?” The first one said, rushing to my side. Of course it was scary, but I endured.

“My ankle… It’s twisted.” I cried, pouting miserably.

The rest of the group circled around me, all looking at my ankle.

“Let me see.” They all said, fighting over who would ‘tend’ to my injury.

Then suddenly I jumped over them, crashing through them at an alarming speed. A shooting pain sprang up my leg, but that didn’t stop me. I dodged and ducked, making my way into the woods.

 

I couldn’t exactly sprint, but I was still fast.

“Wait! Natalia! Come back here!” They wailed, and I tried to ignore the creepy fact that they knew my name.

 

As I ran through the woods, I weaved through trees and jumped over bushes, all the while hearing worried and angry voices calling out behind me. I became too tentative to what they were saying and how close they were, which distracted my attention off of where I was setting my feet.

“AHG!” I screamed, and was sent flying over a tree root. I had completely missed it, and tripped- again.

I came crashing to the ground, adding MORE scrapes to the ones that I already had.

My eyes brimmed with tears, and I was growing extremely agitated. The voices grew closer, until they stood before me.

“Damn, she sure can run.” The tall blonde one said.

“Sehun, don’t use bad language in front of her.” The other blonde one replied. He was a bit shorter.

“Suho, I don’t think she’s that sensitive.” Sehun remarked, crossing his arms.  

The dark and handsome one knelt down, offering me his hand.

“Natalia, why are you running? Come here. We won’t hurt you!” He exclaimed, inching towards me.

“NO! Stay AWAY from me!” I howled, which seemed to hurt him. His face twisted with pain and concern.

“What do you want with me? Please, just leave me alone!” I wailed, a choke rising in my throat.

“Kai, you’re scaring her. Back away.” Suho said calmly, tugging on Kai’s shoulder. Kai angrily stepped back, obviously irritated.

 

To add more drama, I suddenly heard the leaves swish from behind me. Turning my head, I discovered Luhan standing there. When he saw me lying on the ground, he rushed to my side.

“Natalia, what happened? Are you alright?” He exclaimed.

“Luhan! Thank GOD. These crazy people are chasing after me!” I pointed, and huddled behind him. Luhan raised his head, and looked to where I was pointing.

“Kai…?” Luhan said, eyebrow raising in suspicion.

“Luhan…?” Kai replied, breathless.

Huge smiles made there way onto both men’s faces, and they ran towards each other, enveloping each other into a tight hug.

“Bro- I haven’t seen you in so long!” Kai laughed, and everyone seemed to be extremely happy. Except for me, of course. I was just confused.

 

“What are you guys doing here? I thought you had moved to the city?” Kai asked.

“No, father sent us here to sort out the problems with Shinee.”

“Ah, no need to worry. We already have.” Kai explained.

But then Luhan’s smile faded.

“But Kai, explain this." He pointed to me as I sat on the floor pathetically.

"Why is Natalia injured…?” He asked, breaking away from the group. He was suddenly growing defensive.

“Look, Luhan. It’s nothing like that. She injured herself running away from us. Nothing more.” Suho explained.

I gave him a course look, crossing my arms.

 

“Wait JUST a darn minute. They were just talking trash about you! I think….” I murmured the last part, not sure if Kai had been talking about Luhan and his friends or not earlier. He had called them ‘mutts’. What did that mean?

 

“What? Luhan? No! That’s just what we do. I mean, we are werewo-” Kai began to explain, but Luhan cut him off with a sharp glare.

“Wait… Uh.. You didn’t tell her? But she’s your mate!” He whispered the last word so that I couldn’t hear it. I looked back and forth between them, trying to hear what they were saying.

 

“I just haven’t told her yet because that would be a little… intense, you know? She is a human!” Luhan sneered, leaning into Kai’s ear so that I couldn’t hear.

“What? What about me being human?” I asked, trying to make out their conversation but failing miserably.

“Aren’t we all human…?” I stated, eyebrows creasing.

They all looked at me, and some smiled knowingly.

“What? What is it? Tell me!” I begged, suddenly curious as to what they were talking about.

 

“I guess this is a good a time as ever.” Luhan sighed, honestly regretting what he was about to say.

He turned to me, and suddenly I wanted to run away. I was scared about what he would tell me- for some reason.

“Listen Natalia. I know we haven’t known each other for long…” He began.

“Yeah- about 24 hours!” I reasoned, my eyes widening.

“....Yes. About that long. But that doesn’t matter- because I’ve known you for much longer. Not physically, but rather, as destiny. You and I, we were meant to be together.” He stated, waiting for my reaction.

All I could do was stare at him.

“I’m sorry….?” I didn’t understand.

“Well… I don’t really know how to say this…” He said, searching for the words, until they were taken by Kai.

“What he’s trying to tell you is that he is yours, and you are his. You’re mates to each other. And you know, wolves mate for life.” He smiled happily, nodding.

“I’m sorry, maybe I misunderstood you. Did you say wolves?” My mouth fell open, showing my confusion.

 

“Kai, you're not helping. What we’re saying is that Luhan, as well as the rest of us, are all shifters. As in- we can shapeshift.” Suho stated, and subsequently turned into a puppy. He was probably trying his best to not scare me, but honestly it did the exact opposite.

“AHHHH!!!! DID YOU SEE THAT? HE JUST TURNED INTO A DOG!” I wailed, throwing my hands around Luhan’s waist.

Suho sat calmly, wagging his tail, and he gave me puppy dog eyes.

“He is kind of cute…. But that’s beside the point! What are you guys?” I accused, throwing myself off of Luhan.

 

“We’re shifters. It’s true, Natalia. We can shapeshift into any animal that we want.” Luhan said, and then shifted into a large blonde wolf.

Wait a second… I had seen that dog, I mean wolf, somewhere before.

“Wolfie…?” I choked, and my head dropped back. My mind slowly faded to black.

 

…

 

Soon after fainting, I found myself waking up in my own bed. The crisp sheets encircled my legs, begging me to stay in their warmth. I wanted to comply, until my cellphone began to ring off the hook. I drowsily reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my phone.

“Hello?” I gurgled, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

“Natalia! Where ARE you? Teacher is worried sick! This is the first time you’ve never come to school! Did something happen? You’re not the only one to not show up. Kim Woo Bin didn’t come to school, either.” Shannon rambled.

“Uhhhg. I twisted my ankle yesterday… And my bike broke.” I yawned.

“That’s not the only thing. When teacher proclaimed you absent, Luhan ran off in a matter of seconds! He was acting really weird…” Shannon trailed off.

“Luhan…? That’s right! Luhan!” I choked, remembering everything that had happened earlier. Luhan and his friends were….shape shifters?

 

“Shannon! Let me call you back later- I have to go!” Without an answer, I shut my phone, and threw the covers off of my body. I was instantly hit with a wave of cold air.

“I gotta get out of here… before they come back!” I began to dial my mother’s emergency phone number. She told me to call it only in the state of an emergency. I think that this counted, right?

 

I held the phone up to my ear, hearing it begin to ring on the other end.

“Pick up… Pick up…” I said, pacing across my bedroom floor.

A sudden burst of air came through my window, and my phone flew out of my hand.

“W-wha-”

“Ah ah ah- Not so fast. Who are you calling?” Kai stood before me with my phone in his hand.

I made a face, trying to be brave.

“That’s none of your damn business!” I jumped, trying to reach my phone as he held it above my head tauntingly.

 

“See Sehun, I told you not to use bad language in front of her! Now she has a dirty mouth.” Suho appeared, taking a tentative seat on my bed.

“Puh-lease. She probably had that mouth before any of us met her.” Sehun appeared as well, taking a seat next to Suho.

“What are all of you doing in my house! Get out of here!” I roared, hands balling into fists at my side.

“Awww- she’s trying to roar! Luhan, did you hear that? Your mate is trying to call for you!” One of the others from before appeared as well, leaning his medium-sized frame onto my bed post.

“Shut up, Baekhyun. She’s calling for me, not Luhan.” Kai snarled, setting my phone into his pocket.

“Give that back!” I choked, pouting. This was frustrating. Four against one was not fair.

 

“Aw. Kai, look- you’ve upset your mate.” Baek mirrored my pouty face. Aish, stupid brat.

“Kai, leave her alone. Give her the cellphone back.” Luhan appeared, grabbing Kai’s wrist. The two men glared at each other for a brief moment, but in the end Kai gave in. His hand slipped into his pocket, and he retrieved my cellphone. He handed it to Luhan angrily.

After giving Kai one last look of disdain, he turned to me.

“Natalia, if I give this back to you, you have to promise you won’t call anyone to come and get you, ok?” Luhan’s eyebrows raised, and he looked into my eyes.

 

“Why can't I?"

“Because, we can’t let anyone find out about our secret.” Kai answered, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“What? That you all are blood-thirsty shape shifters that could eat me at any given moment? Or that two of you claim to be my mate?” I replied sarcastically.

“Ouch.” Sehun said, pretending that he had been stabbed in the heart.

 

“Both.” Luhan replied, handing me the phone. "But we aren't blood thirsty." I took it gratefully, setting it back onto my nightstand. If I was going to call anyone, I couldn’t do that now.

“So, do you think you can explain this to me?” I asked, setting my hands on my hips.

“We already did.” Luhan seemed confused.

“No- I mean about the whole ‘mate’ thing. What do you mean I’m your mate?” I asked.

“What it means is that you are my destined partner. I have imprinted on you, the one person I will be with for my entire life. And unfortunately- I just found out that Kai, a member of my brother pack-” He pointed to Kai who smiled enthusiastically, “Is also your mate. This means that eventually, every member of both my pack, as well as Kai’s pack will also imprint on you. So to break it down- you’re the mate of twelve shape shifters.”

“......Excuse me while I jump off of a cliff.” I nodded, pursing my lips. I began to walk out the door, until Luhan grabbed my shoulders.

“Listen Natalia. This isn’t a joke! I’m sorry- I know that this is probably the last thing you ever wanted to do with your life, but can’t you take our feelings into consideration?” Luhan pouted, feeling bad that I really wasn’t enjoying this. What, did he expect me to jump for joy?

“Luhan- no offense, but I just met all of you less than a day ago. How do you expect me to mate with twelve wolves, even if it is in the future? Have you taken my feelings into consideration? Has the thought ever passed your minds that maybe I was saving my first- well, everything- for someone special, a.k.a, my husband? I’m not stupid! I know what mating means! How am I supposed to mate with twelve different people?” I whined, not happy whatsoever.

The boys all looked at each other, not sure what to say. Then Suho spoke up.

“Look, Natalia. I understand that. But if you don’t want to do anything- even if you never want to do anything physical, then that is ok with us. We would never force you to do something you didn’t want to. Sure, is a plus, but that’s not really the problem here. The real problem is that mortals and shifters weren’t meant to be together. So if you do decided to accept us, and maybe mate with at least one of us, it won’t even matter because our children won’t be shifters.” The room grew silent, and I was still confused.

“What? So your bloodline of shifters will die out? There are more shifters other than you guys, right?” Suddenly I wasn’t feeling so self-important anymore.

“That’s right. We are the only shifters that we know of. And since we are all destined to be your mates, we cannot carry out our bloodline.” Suho finished.

 

Suddenly, my stomach dropped. So basically they were telling me it was my fault that their race was going to die out?

“We aren’t saying that this is your fault, Natalia. But do you think that you could at least accept us?” Sehun asked, tilting his head.

“....Well….I guess so. But from what I understand, only Kai and Luhan have imprinted on me. So why can’t the rest of you go and ‘imprint’ on another were-thing before it’s too late? That way, you can carry on your race!” I explained happily.

“Nat, it doesn’t work that way. Shifters are different from other were-creatures. Lets take a werewolf for example. If he was to imprint on a mortal, OR a werewolf, his pack would not be inclined to take the same she-wolf as their mate as well. But since we are shifters, for some reason the rule doesn’t apply to us. For us, our pack has one mate to share between everyone. Eventually, every member of both my pack and Suho’s pack will imprint on you. Once that happens, we won’t want to take another person as our mate.” Luhan explained, giving me a brilliant smile, like I was enjoying this.

 

“Oh my God. I’m so screwed.” I wailed, putting my head in my hands.

“That you are.” Sehun joked.

“NO! I MEAN my PARENTS! They're going to KILL me!” I grabbed my phone.

“They’ll be home tomorrow! How am I supposed to explain that they’ll never have grandchildren, and that I’m about to become a polyandrous?”

(A:N/ Polyandrous means a woman having more than one husband.)

“Natalia- you will have children- if you want to of course. They just won’t become shifters.” Baekhyun explained, folding his hands together.

“Oh. But still. How am I supposed to explain to them that their grandchildren will have more than one father?” I added, starting to feel queasy.

 

“You could lie to them?” Sehun suggested.

I gave him a serious look.

“I’m not joking here. Knowing my father, he’ll kill each and everyone of you once he finds out. Did I mention that he sells bombs and guns to America for a living?”

“Natalia- Shifters can’t be killed so easily, silly.” Kai laughed.

“THAT’S BESIDE THE POINT! What I’m trying to say is that they will never consent! And if my parent’s aren’t happy, I won’t be either!” I roared angrily.

 

Why did it have to be me? Couldn’t Luhan have imprinted on someone else? I wasn't ready to accept this yet.

“Natalia, if you need time, we can give you that. If you need us to explain this to your parent’s, we can do that too.” Luhan reasoned. I sighed deeply, trying to absorb it all.

“But honestly, there is no guarantee that they will keep your secret. I know my parent’s too well, and they don’t take the supernatural well. I really don’t think they would let it slide under the rug." I murmured, suddenly worried that my parent’s would blow everything by trying to exterminate the entire ‘were’ creature race.

 

Suddenly my phone began to ring, which cut me out of my thoughts.

I solemnly grabbed it off of my nightstand, assuming that it was probably Shannon calling again.

“Uh-oh.”

It was my parents.

I turned around, glaring at each boy that was in my room.

“If ANY ONE of you even says a WORD, I will kill you MYSELF.” I growled, and answered the call before they could object.

I put on my ‘i’m happy, nothing is going wrong’ voice, and smiled.

“Hi mom! What’s going on? Why are you calling?” I laughed, maybe a little too oddly.

“What do you mean, dear? Is it unusual for a mother to be calling her daughter? I’m just checking in to see how you’re doing. That, and I have some important news!” She squealed excitedly, and I could hear my father in the background telling her to lower her voice.

 

“Is that so? What is it?” I asked, hoping that she would tell me that they planned on staying in America for a few more months. Thankfully, it was something along those lines.

“Well, your father and I have just received an amazing offer!” She whispered, trying to obey my father.

All of the boys leaned in, trying to hear the conversation. I shooed them away with my hands, motioning for them to get lost.

“The PRESIDENT has asked to see us! He wants to discuss our weapons personally! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!” She screeched, and I could hear dad scolding her to quiet down.

“Not only that, but we have also been asked to go on a world-tour, selling our weapons in multiple different countries! SO- I was wondering if you would like to come along! I know you would probably like to finish school, but your father and I both think that this would be a great family-bonding experience! Of course, you can also choose to stay home and finish high school, and then go onto college. I know that you never really did enjoy the business.”

I could hear the excitement in her voice, and it was obvious what she wanted me to say.

 

What would I do? Would I go with my parents, the two people who loved me the most? Or would I stay here, and become the mate of twelve different people I barely knew?

I weighed my options.

If I went with my parents, I wouldn’t be able to go to college. I would miss out on my education, what I had been working so hard up until now to achieve. I would also be leaving twelve people alone, and they would probably never be able to fall in love again.

But if I stayed here, and did become their mate, then I would have to fall in love with twelve extremely good looking shape shifters.

It didn’t sound so bad.

 

I looked around at the boys around me, who all seemed to be giving me longing looks. Kai pouted, and Sehun had his hands together, begging me silently to stay.

I looked to Luhan.

“Do whatever you want to do, Natalia. We will be fine.” He mouthed, and smiled handsomely. It was obvious what he really wanted, but he was ignoring his own feelings, putting mine in place of his.

 

“Mom… I think i’ll stay here.” I said quietly. There was a long silence on the other end.

“You know how I feel about college. I’ve wanted to go since I was a gradeschooler. What I do with my life one day is a very big deal to me.” I said, but technically it was a lie. Now the only thing I saw in my future was twelve shape shifters.

“Alright dear, if that’s how you feel, then we will accept it. Do you think that you’ll be ok alone? Don’t you want us to send Henry over there to keep an eye out on you?” My mom asked, seemingly ok with my answer.

Henry was our huge bodyguard that mom had hired when she had first started the business. She soon found out that dealing weapons wasn’t a very safe profession, and Henry had been around ever since. He was a trusted member of the family, and I had known him since birth.

“No mom, you need Henry more than I do. Don’t worry. I’ll stay at a friends house for a while. By the way, how long do you plan on being gone?”

“Hm. I’d say for two years.”

“TWO YEARS? HOW CAN I POSSIBLY FREELOAD OFF OF A FRIEND FOR TWO YEARS?” I screamed, practically having a heart attack. At least this gave me a long time to figure out how I would tell my parents about Luhan ‘and friends’. Although, I couldn’t lie forever. Eventually, the truth would have to come out.

“Well I’m sorry dear! We’ll come to visit on occasion, but you know how the business is. It’s quite demanding of our time. Won’t Shannon’s parents be ok with it?” She reasoned.

“Well….I’m not sure i’ll be staying at Shannon’s.” I said. If I told my mom I would be staying at Shannon’s, she would most likely call Shannon’s mother. Then the truth would come out.

“We had a bit of a falling out, recently. I’ll find someone else to stay with.” I lied, biting my lip. I hated lying to my mom, but if it was what I had to do, so be it.

 

“Really? Oh my. I’m so sorry about that! I know how close you two have been. Please, try to fix things soon. Shannon loves you a lot.”

“And I her. But for now I should keep my distance. Look, mom. I’ve got to go. I have a lot of homework. So, be careful, and call frequently, ok?” I lied again. I didn’t even go to school today, so how could I have any homework?

“Alright dear. Your father sends his love, too. Be careful!” And with that, the conversation ended. I shut my phone sadly, only to be tackled by six happy boys.

 

“Natalia! I’m so happy you chose us!”

“I knew you were my destined mate!”

“Can I just kiss you?”

 

Luhan and Kai growled angrily, ripping the boys off of me one by one.

“Yah. Why are you two being so stingy? She’ll be our mate soon enough.” Baekhyun complained, fixing his shirt that had nearly been torn off by Kai.

“Sure. But you aren’t yet. SO- Until you do imprint on her- NO TOUCHING.” Kai growled, baring his teeth.

“But Natalia- your mom sounded really nice and reasonable. What’s she like?” Suho asked, tilting his head.

 

“Hm… Just imagine a woman of my size, with short black hair, and big eyes. Oh, and she wears a lot of expensive clothing.” I tapped my chin.

“So basically, you, but older, and better dressed?” Sehun asked.

“Hey! Don’t say that! Natalia’s hair is long and luxurious!” Luhan defended, crossing his arms

"AND she dresses nicely, too!" Baekhyun added. Everyone turned and looked at my bloody, ripped uniform.

“Uh...that too. Putting that aside- why don’t we start packing up your things, Nat?” Luhan turned to me, addressing me by my nickname.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because, you’re moving in with us, of course.”