The first thing Taehyung notices that morning is that both Jessa and Kyuhyun are missing from breakfast. Kyuhyun missing breakfast was normal for the shifter whenever he’d play StarCraft. Taehyung wouldn’t admit it to the others, but he sort of looked up to the druid as an older sister. No one else spoke of the two missing at the breakfast table, which he found odd, as Ryeowook kept a tight schedule for meals for the crew, even though the omega went out of his way to help teach Jessa how to cook.

The second thing that happened was that Leeteuk announced that he had talked with Yunho about the miscommunication in sending Seokjin on the night of their hunt, and then the Alpha of all the Packs, and Seokjin was being allowed to join their pack if he desired it. They’d found out that Seokjin was a delta, and Donghae had expressed his desire to have another delta in the Pack since Eunhyuk was wooing a potential mate.

Seokjin introduces himself to the rest of the Pack, minus Kyuhyun, promising to contribute to the Pack as much as possible. By the afternoon, Jin, Hoseok, Taehyung, and Jungkook were crowded into Jimin’s room, as the sick shifter had woken from his sleep fever free and with a slight cough. No one even notices that Jessa’s scent faintly trails from Jimin’s door to Kyuhyun’s room down the hall instead of back down the stairs.

Lunch arrives and both Jessa and Kyuhyun are still missing, but now some of the other Pack members are starting to wonder where the petite druid is hiding since they can tell Kyuhyun’s up in his room from their Pack bonds. Leeteuk and Kangin deflect any questions about Jessa and forbid anyone from knocking or going into her room.

By the time dinner arrives, everyone’s clamoring to know what’s going on since Kyuhyun’s been down for some food and some of the Pack have noticed his scent is a bit different than it had been the night before, but most of the Pack assume the shifter has been marathon playing StarCraft since he’s in his typical gamer sweats and t shirt.

Donghae clears his throat, standing up to quell the questions about Jessa. “She’s feeling a bit under the weather because of the full moon last night.” He lies smoothly, knowing that any deviation from the lie will cause his scent to change and the other wolves won’t believe him. “She asked us to keep the lot of you away from her room because she wanted to sleep.”

Taehyung finds it odd, but chooses to ignore the feeling, thinking that his hyungs know better and if Jessa’s asked for privacy while she’s not well, they are going to give it to her.

**

While the rest of the Pack goes about their day, Jessa calls her clan leader to inform her of what had happened. She gets an earful from the older woman, who resorts to using their native English to berate the younger druid for her carelessness. “Does anyone else know about this?”

“No, just us, the Alpha, his second and their healer.” Jessa replies. “We won’t let this get out to others until the bounty is removed and the Black Hunters stop hunting me.”

“You know that means you’ll have to confront the man who put the bounty on your head, right?” Her leader asks.

Jessa sighs, feeling like curling into herself as the bond fluctuates. “I know.” She whispers.

She’d showered before the phone call, finding that Kyuhyun had left some clean clothes from her room by the door to the bathroom, and she’s grateful the beta has his own bathroom instead of sharing with others. She plays with some damp strands of hair as she listens to her clan leader.

“I guess I’ll have to come out there and meet your mate.” The leader sighs. “Please inform him, and his Alpha that I will be there within the week.”

“I will inform him tonight after we are released from our imposed restrictions.” Jessa ends the call soon after, and finds that Kyuhyun is currently sitting in front of the computer that she’d just now noticed in the corner of the room, playing a video game.

As soon as Kyuhyun feels the change in the bond from Jessa, he looks over and realizes she’s staring at her phone, a lost look on her face. He quickly ends the game he’s playing, ‘screw the rankings right now, my mate needs me.’ He thinks. “Are you ok?” He asks, standing from the computer and taking a few tentative steps. He’s still not sure how to broach the subject of them taking some time to cuddle to help settle the bond, and a part of him wonders if she’s really ok with being mated at such a young age. Well, young for a druid anyway.

Kyuhyun realizes in that moment that they really barely know anything about each other, other than the basics. He doesn’t even know how old she is, if she has any siblings or family outside of her clan, what her hobbies are.

“I’m not ok.” Her voice is barely audible, and Kyuhyun sees Jessa’s fingers tighten around the phone. “My clan leader is coming to meet with you and the Alpha later this week.”

Kyuhyun abandons all politeness, striding to his mate in 2 long steps and wraps his arms around her, cradling her body close to his. “It’s ok to cry.” He whispers. “Let it out. It will be better for you.”

He doesn’t even know where the desire to comfort her came from, and he doesn’t care as Jessa clutches at his shirt, pressing her face into his chest and letting out a sob. “I didn’t want this to happen.” She whispers. “I didn’t want to put you or the Pack into danger, and it may be coming sooner rather than later.”

Kyuhyun hums in response, rubbing comforting circles into her back as she lets out her frustration at everything that’s happened in the past months. By the time Kyuhyun realizes she’s done crying, he finds that Jessa’s passed out in his arms, her body probably overstressed from trying to settle the bond and the realization they’ll have to deal with the bounty on her head soon.

He manages to maneuver her body to the freshly changed bed and lays her down, the cell phone coming out of her hand easily. His heart aches at the tear streaks down her cheeks and he takes a moment to wipe the trails away with a tissue.

Jessa whines in her sleep when Kyuhyun tries to move away from her, and he puts her cell phone on the table next to his bed, climbing in and facing Jessa in bed. Before he knows it, he’s falling asleep right next to her, their bodies slowly moving closer together in their sleep.

**

Jessa wakes again, disoriented as her stomach growls. Blinking she realizes that Kyuhyun’s sacked out next to her, their hands twined together. She takes a good look at her new mate, tracing the outlines of his face with her eyes. By the time she comes back to his nose, she blinks. “Hi.” She whispers, blushing at being caught while staring.

“Hi. Did you sleep ok?” Kyuhyun asks, and Jessa has to resist a sudden urge to kiss him.

She nods. “Yeah. Thank you for earlier.” She tells him.

Kyuhyun’s cheek flush a hint of pink, and Jessa finds that the action makes her heart beat faster. Neither of them make a move to get up or untangle their hands from each other’s grasp. Kyuhyun can feel the contact soothing their new bond, and decides that now is better than never to get to know Jessa. “So, um, I know this is a bit awkward, but we barely know much about each other, and now is probably the best time out of any.” He clears his throat, feeling self-conscious about how he sounds. “I’ll start. My full human name is Cho Kyuhyun and I have one older sister, Ara, who’s an Alpha.” He starts. “I’m 26 years old and I’m a bit of a video game enthusiast.”

Jessa chuckles at the information. “Well, Cho Kyuhyun, my full druidic human name is Jessamyn the She-Wolf of the clan Tuatha De Danann the first of my line. I have no siblings, no family really outside of my clan.” She falters, wondering how he’s going to take her age and buries her face into the pillow. “I’m 33.”

Kyuhyun grins at how flustered Jessa gets. Even though her voice is muffled from the pillow, he clearly hears her age and inadvertently tightens his grasp on her hand. “You’re older that all of us in the Pack?” He asks. “You barely look 25.” He complements, reaching out with a free hand to turn Jessa’s crimson red face back towards him. “It’s going to be so hard now not to call you noona.” He teases.

“Shut up.” Jessa pushes at him, but there is no fire behind her eyes. “Once I took my oaths and gained my spirit animal, my aging process slowed down. I was 25 when I took my final oath as a full druid.” She admitted.

“Why did you become a druid?” Kyuhyun asks, curious.

“My parents were a part of the clan when I was born.” Jessa replies. “The old clan leader sensed that I had a lot of promise as a part of the clan and convinced my parents that I’d best serve the clan as a druid after they’d tested me for positions in the clan. I was taken off to train with a master druid when I was 10.”

“Did you keep in contact with your parents?”

“No. They died in an attack on the clan’s winter grounds in Ireland that same year.” Jessa admits, pain lacing her voice lightly.

Kyuhyun can feel that she’s still affected by the loss of her parents through their bond. He squeezes her hand, letting her know that he’s there for her. “That’s awful.” He breathes.

Jessa shrugs. “I didn’t have the best relationship with my parents when I was told I was going to become a druid. I didn’t want to have my life dictated out for me, and I fought with them the day I was taken away.” She sighs. “I’ve come to terms with it, and I know they meant the best for me.” Jessa looks up into Kyuhyun’s warm brown eyes. “It’s one of the reasons why I value my freedom.”

Kyuhyun swallows, feeling the bond fluctuate with the rollercoaster of emotions that Jessa is feeling. “What about hobbies?” He asks.

Jessa smiles, pushing at him with her free hand. “No fair, I haven’t asked you a single question yet.”

A/N: I'd planned on updating this over the weekend since I gave you guys such a short chapter last week but the hubby and I ended up being booked solid by our friends from Friday to Sunday late evening. It's happened before where one of the hubby's friends will call to hang out on a Friday night, and then we get asked to play board games with other friends we end up seeing on Sunday for our nearly weekly D&D sessions, but we also had friends come in from out of town this weekend too that we'd originally planned to go to a Linkin Park concert with on Sat, but as fans of the band know, LP cancelled their tour about a month ago b/c the lead vocalist, Chester, broke his ankle. I'd been looking forward to the concert as I've been an LP fan since the beginning, and the last time they'd been in Nebraska for a concert was like in 04 so yeah......

this A/N is getting really long! Anyway! So yeah it was an insanely busy weekend and I'm now just getting back into my normal routine. Since I've added a few chapters, the mature rating/trigger warnings won't be put up yet. I'll make sure to announce when that happens. Let me know what you think!