A/N: Instead of red, the new text is dark black and bold. It makes things so much easier when transfering chapters from my file to the editor :) 

Kyuhyun’s busy with several orders at the coffee house, thankful it’s been a pleasantly good day in the shop with a steady line of customers that keeps the staff fairly busy and not actively concentrating on the Pack bonds.

And then all hell breaks loose inside his head, both his Pack bond and his mate bond erupting with pain, confusion, and fear all at the same time, nearly causing Kyuhyun to lose control, barely missing burning his hand with scalding hot milk as he realizes that it’s Donghae and he’s having a massive panic attack.

Taking a deep breath, and shoving his wolf down to keep from changing and bounding over to the modeling agency in wolf form to find out why his mate is panicking, Kyuhyun smiles at Yesung reassuringly as he finishes the latte, his hands shaking from the effort.

The minute silence from all the staff dealing with the sudden influx of emotions before it’s clamped down, presumably by BoA, doesn’t even get noticed by their customers as Yesung looks over at Kyuhyun, a frown on his face. “What was that?”

Kyuhyun hands off the order he’s finished, and rushes towards the office, fumbling for his cell phone as Yesung follows him back, two of the other staffers taking over their spots almost immediately, his long fingers quickly dialing Donghae’s phone. “I don’t know, but Donghae has never freaked out this badly before.” The Pack knows about how Donghae became a werewolf and how he’d seemed to accept his newfound place in life without much of a problem back in Joseon, and even now the charismatic brunette doesn’t let a whole lot phase him. So naturally Kyuhyun’s more than worried about his mate.

“We all felt that.” Yesung replied dryly, folding his arms over his chest. “Any idea of what could have caused it?”

Kyuhyun’s got his cellphone to his ear, frustration growing on his face as its apparent Donghae’s not answering his cell. “No idea.” He’s growling softly now, unconsciously letting his wolf show with his worry.

Yesung feels bad for the former Alpha. If it hadn’t been for one of the pups still in high school going on a field trip, Kyuhyun would have been over at the agency with his mate, and probably would have kept a good grip on him.

Kyuhyun tries Donghae’s phone again, mumbling something about not making sense through their mate bonds as he ends the call. He’s dialing another number as Yesung goes back to the front to make sure the other staff members are ok.

When Yesung comes back, Kyuhyun has successfully gotten someone on the phone, and it sounds like Donghae’s panic attack was for a good reason. “What do you mean he said Siwon may be his mate?!” Kyuhyun’s got a slight edge of panic in his voice, echoes from Donghae seeping through their bond, causing Yesung to wonder what exactly was going on at the modeling agency.

Yesung stands near Kyuhyun, waiting until the shifter notices him there before relaxing. He’s not that stupid to know touching another shifter who’s dealing with the frantic emotions through a mate bond is asking to be attacked. “What’s going on?” He mouths to the younger male.

“Zhou Mi.” Kyuhyun mouths back, frowning. “He thinks Siwon’s his mate.” Kyuhyun’s attention is brought back to the phone. “Put the phone next to Donghae, please.” He must be talking to BoA, as she’s one of the few besides Yesung, Hyukjae, Heechul and Kangin who are more dominate than the tall shifter.

“Hae.” Kyuhyun practically purred into the phone in an attempt to calm down his mate.

Yesung feels relief when the Pack bonds open up again, deciding to give Kyuhyun some privacy as he helps to calm his mate over the phone. What seems like hours later, Kyuhyun is coming out of the back, relief evident on his face. Yesung’s thankful that the café’s in the lull between busy times. “So, what’s going on?”

Kyuhyun fiddled with a loose piece of one of the coffee machines. “So, the meeting with Siwon went as planned. BoA’s asked for a Pack meet tonight by the way. Zhou Mi came back from his shoot early, just as the meeting was finishing and he was asked by Seungri to Siwon from the conference room. Zhou Mi says that the moment Siwon passed by him on the way out of the room, his feline wanted a better sniff of the human’s scent and the next thing he realized once the human was gone was that his feline was claiming that Siwon was possibly his mate.” Kyuhyun said in one go.

“Whoa.” Yesung took in the information, processing it. “So why did Donghae freak out?”

Kyuhyun pauses, taking a breath. “He’s afraid that Siwon will use Zhou Mi and their mate bond as a way to force himself into Pack business and our existence as werewolves.”

**

“So he left the sheet of contacts on the table?” The Pack elder asked, tapping a finger against his water bottle.

“Yes.” BoA answers.

“And he grabbed your hand to beg?” Another Pack elder asked, her face pinched in a tight mask of disapproval.

“Yes.” BoA answers again. She’s polite, formal, and very respectful to the elders, even though the Alpha’s got the ultimate say. She might be the Alpha’s mate, and the beta of the pack, but that doesn’t mean she can get away with being rude to the wolves who are in a higher position than she is in Pack hierarchy.

“How did your wolf take it?” Yet a third Pack elder asked, her face curious.

“Anger, distrust, disgust.” BoA’s ticking off all the emotions that had rolled through her wolf at the unwanted contact. “We were very angry and warned him immediately to back off.”

“How did he take the warning?” The first elder asked.

“He backed off right away.” BoA answered. “But at the same time we could tell he got curious about how well we were able to make him obey suddenly without any prior notice of dominance.”

The second elder sighed. “This means that he’ll be snooping even more around Pack businesses now that he’s been rejected. I therefore move to request a formal diversion.”

“Before that, we need to discuss the other issue that occurred right after.” The third elder protested.

The second one nodded her head. “The motion is in reference to that issue as well.” She said. “BoA you may sit down. Zhou Mi, we would like you to answer some questions.”

Zhou Mi comes forward as BoA sits down next to Jungsuk, though the mated pair do not make any contact physically.

Kyuhyun’s curious about how the dynamics of the Pack meetings have changed. Instead of the leaders of the Pack taking charge and only speaking with their seconds and healers and other important people to the Pack, there are now appointed elders who collaborate to make important decisions related to major changes in Pack protocol and how they handle things with humans. The elders are chosen with care, most of them have degrees in business and law, though there’s one or two who have degrees in modern sciences that allow them to do research for the Pack. While the name Elder implies that the person holding the position is old, Kyuhyun’s noticed that many of the Elders who are sitting facing the Pack members are not much older than he is.

Kyuhyun’s so immersed in his thoughts that the sudden tensing of his mate alarms him. Donghae shakes his head at Kyuhyun’s look, tipping his head towards the front. Zhou Mi is standing in front of the elders, his head down.

“Zhou Mi, you are hereby ordered to distract Choi Siwon away from Pack businesses. We don’t care of the methods you use to do so, and will provide monies and other items needed in order to succeed in this. We remind you to never expose the Pack and our nature to Choi Siwon.” The head elder tells Zhou Mi, whose face has paled at the order.

It reminds Kyuhyun that he’s never really understood how the feline shifters operated. Little has always been known about them, even back during the Joseon Dynasty. He makes a mental note to ask the older shifter when he has time. Since Zhou Mi, Yujin, and Seungri are the only feline shifters in their pack, and the only feline shifters in all of Asia, Kyuhyun’s not even sure if the tall charismatic shifter even knows a whole lot about the whole mating process.

The meeting breaks up not long after Zhou Mi’s accepted the order placed upon him. Niqui’s already irritable, wanting to brush off the responsibilities of the Pack in order to find Siwon. Just the thought of dragging the other man into his bed and kissing him senseless is enough to cause a reaction in Zhou Mi that doesn’t go unnoticed by Yujin. “Do you need help relieving some of the stress?” She’s teasing, but serious at the same time.

Zhou Mi shakes his head. “As much as the offer is appreciated, I doubt it will help.” He pats his former second on the shoulder. “I’m afraid that this is only the beginning.” He sighs.

Yujin blinks at him with her big brown eyes crinkled in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that once one of our species of shifter finds our mate, it’s nearly impossible to do anything with another person that is not our mate and feel satisfied.” Zhou Mi explains. “God this is going to be so hard.”

Zhou Mi knows the task of keeping Siwon away from the Pack businesses is going to be hard. Probably the hardest thing he’ll have ever done in his life since Niqui’s marked the businessman as his mate. The desire to claim his mate will grow stronger the more he’s around his mate, so distracting Choi Siwon will be hard enough without slipping up and revealing the Pack’s existence to the cold businessman. Keeping the Pack a secret is more vital to keeping Siwon away from Pack interests, even more so than claiming him. And now that the Elders know about his problem, they’ll have to be consulted in order for Zhou Mi to claim Siwon as his mate officially.

Before people left the Pack meeting to go back to their respective places, one of the older researchers came up to Zhou Mi. “So, we’re going to dig into the old records, or what old records we have, and see how things are going to work. I don’t think we’ve had a shifter who’s had a non-shifter mate before in the Pack.”

‘Great. Now we’re the subject of the researchers as well.’ Zhou Mi groans at Niqui, whose only response is a huff. “So I should be reporting to you about things or write them down?” Zhou Mi asks.

The researcher smiles, grateful that Zhou Mi’s caught on so quickly. “At the very least, write things down as you remember them. It’ll be a good first account for the records if we can’t find anything.” The researcher says, sending his gratefulness and how happy he is through their pack bonds.