"We're what?" Luhan's hand almost slipped from the stiring wheel as the van slightly rumbled to the side before regaining his hold, tightening his grip to ensure security. Then he looked back at Lay who was busy picking dirt out of his fingernails, sitting in the passenger seat as though they were up for a picnic trip to paradise when in truth his words shocked Luhan out of his reverie. He had been half listening till then, not really focusing on Lay's words due to a certain particular human girl that was busy invading his thoughts at this particular moment. Of course, he hummed at the right times and made the right noises so as not to receive another whack on the back of his head from the said wolf, but his statement made Luhan's orbs bulge out of their sockets. 

Lay's head tilted up to look back at him with a raised eyebrow, "Didn't you hear me? We are going to follow that Kitsune back to her house and try getting information from her." 

"B-But why?!" Luhan spluttered as a car honked behind them. He pressed harder onto the gas pedal and accelerated slightly while Lay laced his hands at the back of his head with a sigh, "Sometimes, you can act like the dumbest ever." 

"Can you just reply my question?" Came Luhan's snap, wolf yapping inside him. Lay chuckled and held his hands up as a sign of retreat, "Woah, calm down there. I was just joking. We're doing this for Kyungsoo's sake. He won't be able to find out who she is on his own, he's too much of a coward for that." 

"He really believes in that myth?" Luhan snorted as his right hand changed gearing while his foot slowly carressed the deccelerator at the apparition of a red light. 

"Well, it's not a myth as such, is it? I think there's some truth in there." 

"Come on Yixing," Luhan used Lay's Chinese name. The rare times he did that was only for a purpose, and that meant that he was being serious about the matter, "Don't tell me you believe in that crap." 

"I would not, but you can't ignore what happened to Haerim either," Lay's tone softened at the mention of the said girl, eyes lowering down to his lap. A subdued atmosphere suddenly wrapped around the car as memories of Haerim's troubled past all came back to them. Having spent most of their lives with the female wolf at hand, they were so used to her mannerisms, her behavior and especially her story that they felt her emotions as strongly as she felt them, and were just as protective of her. They practically grew up with her now that Luhan thought about it, she was like a big sister he never had. There had been so many times where he was grateful for her presence, and vice versa. 

Unconsciously, Luhan felt his fist clench the steering wheel, knuckles turning white from so much pressure. Lay noticed this, and with a delicate but authoritative tone, said: "Luhan, calm down." 

The older wolf took a deep breath, righted himself inside his mind, before his hand slowly relaxed. 

"So, where does she live exactly?" Luhan asked when they finally got to the downtown. Here, the amount of vehicles and noise increased considerably, and for the wolves' sensitive hearing, it made them cringe against their seats. It wasn't really a fun characteristic to have, especially when they could hear for miles. Luhan tried hard not to let the different sounds get to him and focused instead on the task at hand, at that meant finding Kyungsoo's mate. 

"Hm, we don't know either." Lay said so casually Luhan practically did a double take. He shot him an exasperated and shocked look, gaze burning with slight irritation, "What? Well, how the hell are we supposed to find her?" 

"We know where she works" 
"And that is?" 

"Just drive. I'll show you the directions." 

So they reached the supermarket in which she was working part time shifts after a few minutes of driving around and trying find a parking space. The stress was unbearable for Luhan, and he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when he finally managed to squeeze the vehicle into a small space in a nearby alley. They got out of the van and went walked in the supermarket, heading straight towards the meat section where she stood behind the counter, busy cutting up slices for the customer at hand. She wasn't Luhan's type, with shoulder length hair and straight across bangs that made her appear younger than she actually was, but when she lifted her eyes to his and flashed him a sweet smile of welcome, he had to admit that she had a pleasant aura about her, kitsune or not. 

She didn't look like someone capable of sabotaging one's family. She genuinely seemed like a good girl, one that could even match Kyungsoo's wishes. 

"Hello," Lay flashed her a dimpled smile, one that usually made girls swoon. Luhan wanted to roll his eyes at his friend's act. Of course he'd try his best to act accordingly. But the girl didn't hesitate to smile right back with another sweet smile of her own, showing a row of slightly uneven teeth. "Good morning. What may I serve you today?" 

"Hm, I'm not really familiar with meat. My girlfriend's having those kind of cravings you know?" Lay chuckled as he pressed a hand onto the cool glass pane. 

"Oh, is she pregnant?!" The girl suddenly blurted out loud with wide eyes. They were sparkling with excitement as though her good stars were smiling down at her, "Congratulations!" 

"Uhh--" Lay choked on his own spit while Luhan burst out laughing, patting a hand down his friend's back as he flashed the girl behind the counter a courteous smile, trying to seem sheepsih about the whole situation, "Yes, that's exactly it. Going on four months now, but she's so huge she waddles around the house." 
"I can imagine!" She clapped her hands together, "Then I suggest you take the one with the tenderest texture, what do you say?" She asked, turning to Lay who was now red in the face and cheeks blooming with scarlet. His neck was just as red in embarassment when he tried to mask his discomfort with a cough, "Uh, yeah. Sure. Whatever's good." 

Luhan leaned to whisper into Lay's ear while the girl scurried about, bustling with the meat and humming under her breath. It almost looked like she was the most excited one out of them all for the imaginary baby that wasn't supposed to be making such an arrival in such a short term. "You sank your own boat, mate." 

"Shut up" Lay fiercely whispered back as the girl returned with a wrapped package in her hands. She weighed it on the scale and slapped on the price tag from the machine before delivering it to them on the other side of the counter, "Here you go," She said brightly, with a small smile of satisfaction on her face. 

She didn't seem to be such a bad girl, but then again, her character wasn't that important in this story, it was mostly the curse that was following her around like the plague. Kyungsoo had been right to keep his distance, but he wouldn't be able to keep that up for long, not if he didn't want to die out of loneliness. Lonely wolves could turn out to be the worst ones, specially the ones that have been abashed by previous mates. 

They had to wait out in the van near the staff exit so that they'd get a good look at the Kitsune when she exited the building, and that took them longer than expected since her shift probably ended late tonight. Luhan tapped his fingers over the dashboard, impatiently hoping that this would be over soon enough so that he'd go back to his mate who was waiting for him, waiting for his warmth and comfort. She had been quite distressed these days, probably because of everything that was happening; what with Haerim's story that she hadn't known about, with her leaving her family home because of her mother, and the situation with the coyotes and all, Luhan would be surprised if she wasn't as affected as she should be. 

Finally, after countless boring hours where the only excitement was exchanging banal and random conversations with Yixing, they finally detected the door opening, the girl appearing from its shadows. They quickly straightened up and tried as hard as they could to conceal their presence even though it was quite a hard feat to go unnoticed by a Kitsune, for they were powerful beings aware of their surroundings. But the girl didn't seem as though she feared of people following her. She turned down the road and started walking, a bounce to her step with headphones plugged into her ears. She almost looked as though she didn't have a care in the world and Luhan wondered if she even knew how grave her situation was. Maybe she didn't even know she was a Kistune in the first place. 

Lay ignited the motor and they started following her, making sure to keep at a far distance and relying on Luhan's hypersensitive eyesight to guide them in the right direction. Lay had even slapped the older man on the back of his head to make him understand the seriousness of the situation. Not that Luhan wasn't aware of the gravity, but Lay always misunderstood his aloofness for being oblivious to things.

She lived in a small apartment just off the side of the downtown in a shabby, cheap area that looked inhabited by drug dealers and vagabonds. They passed by numerous groups huddled together in the night. They were probably sharing a cigarette or smoking weed. When the girl passed by, they whistled and sneered at her, to which she ignored. But her pace increased, briskly making sure that she could get as far away from them as possible. Both werewolves watched with attentive eyes. If something was to happen, they'd jump in instantly to save her, but there was no need to worry about that because she looked like she knew what she was doing. 

Finally, she reached her home and quickly slipped in, her figure barely being barely registered against the darkness of the shadows. Luhan leaned back in his seat before propping his feet up on the dashboard. He looked over at Lay with an expectant look on his face, "Now what?" He asked. 

It was almost as though they did this whole journey for nothing. What had the learnt from her apart from the fact that she lived in a dodgy place and could take care of herself just fine?

"I guess that didn't really help us out." Yixing tapped his finger onto the steering wheel in an imaginary beat. He'd been so excited to learn things about the particular girl so that he could relay this information for Kyungsoo. But that had barely made them move from their initial position in this situation, and for that he was a little bit disappointed although it wasn't his fault. 

"Maybe we should do something else. Like befriend her or something." 
"Then what?" Lay looked over at Luhan with a pointed look, "She barely knows us, and I'm pretty sure she's aware we're werewolves. The only thing she doesn't know may be the fact that we know what she is." 

"But then she'd find it weird for us to befriend her. Werewolves aren't usually that sociable with other lycanthropes." 

"Damn it." Lay threw his hands up in the air in an act of giving up as Luhan ruffled his hair in half exasperation and half irritation. If he went back home without doing anything now, it would be all of a waste and he didn't want to feel as though nothing had been done. At least, a ltitle progress would be nice. 

"I'm going to ring her doorbell," He announced as he got out of the car. In a swift movement, Yixing's hand had reached out to grab onto his shoulder, stopping him from moving any further. A panicked expression crossed his face as he said, "Are you crazy or just stupid?! We can't do that! We'll blow our cover!" 
"At least we won't be lying to her," Came Luhan's scowl, "I don't want any pretenses. And we're running out of time. Kyungsoo won't be able to resist for that long." 

"I know, I know. But we can't be reckless about this." 

"I'm not being reckless. I'm trying to be efficient here." 

"But what if she doesn't even know what we're talking about?" 

"Of course she knows! She's a kitsune, for god's sake." 

"Know what?" 

The unfamilair voice spoke and this caused both their heads to whip around in shock, almost jumping out of their skin at the suddenness of the situation. Although it was dark, Luhan's sharp gaze made out the figure that they had seen earlier. It was the girl, Kyungsoo's mate, now standing with a hoodie on and some pair of flip flops even when it was freezing outside. Her arms were crossed in an expression of defense, her face painted with a slight tinge of annoyance that they'd follow her to her house. She was probably thinking what kind of creeps they were to follow her around in the dark like this. 

Luhan opened his mouth to say something, anything that could help him in this situation, but she beat him to it by saying "I don't want excuses. What have you really come here for?" 

Her eyes moved from right to left, scanning Luhan's face, then searching for answers in Yixing's eyes. The latter sighed for he knew that their cover was already blown, and it was better to say the truth instead of trying to lie their way around it. 

"Well, we have something to tell you." Yixing glanced at Luhan, who nodded before continuing his sentence, "And I think you should come with us." 

It was past midnight when I heard the car pull into the driveway. My ears perked up, as well as Lin's. We were both waiting for our mates to return home. I initially hadn't wanted anyone to know that I was worried for Luhan's wellbeing, but when I crept into the living room after everyone had resided into their rooms, I found Lin already there with a book in hand, a knowing smile gracing her lips. But she didn't say anything else, and for that I was grateful. I was already embarassed as it is, I didn't need anybody else pointing it out as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

I restrained my muscles from jolting up and out of my seat like Lin did when the door to the front entrance opened with a creak. She hurried across the hallway and threw herself onto Yixing's figure, who gladly returned the hug. I got up then, taking a deep breath as I followed her footsteps and caught sight of the said grey wolf I'd been seeking the entire day and evening. There was a slight swelling of emotion in my throat at the thought that he was home safe and sound, that he wouldn't go away so soon and that finally I'd be able to sleep in the comfort I'd been seeking. The bed we shared in the small chalet was cold-- unlike the warmth of his bedroom-- and without Luhan to warm it up, I was practically freezing my up there. I tried to kid myself about the fact that yes, it was the only sole reason for me to wait up and lose him, so that I'd be able to sleep well. But deep down at the very back of my mind, I knew that I was just trying to feed myself a bunch of lies to make me feel better. 

Who are you kidding, Kang Seulmi. He can literally read your mind. 

"What took you so long?" I demanded while he pulled out his wet shoes. It was when he moved away from the doorway that I realized there was a third figure accompanying them. I did a double take and would've almost taken a step back if it wasn't for my great sense of self-control. It was a girl, and from the looks of it, the sole reason why she'd be here was probably because of Kyungsoo. 

She was Kyungsoo's mate. 

"Don't blame me. Not my fault her shift ended late," Luhan ruffled the fallen, wet snow out of his hair. Out of mere reflex, my hand reached out to brush his wet bangs away from his face, trying to get rid of as much snow particles as possible. I hadn't realized that I was doing something completely out of the blue until I felt Luhan's body freeze up, eyes intense on my figure. 

My jaw almost popped open from my action. I quickly dropped down my hand as though I had burned myself, stepping back and clearing my throat. Well, this had just turned awkward and I had no one to thank but myself for this stupid situation. 

"I'm going to call Kyungsoo." Yixing said before striding rapidly to one of the rooms. As he did that, Lin and I bustled the newly invited guest over to the living room lounge while a trampoline of foosteps thundered down from the top floor, the group of werewolves almost bursting out of the corridor as they spilled over each other to check out the new arrival. The new girl -- she was tiny and petite and was probably no more than five feet tall which was adorable-- only blinked at them in confusion before a frown scrunched up her eyebrows. 

"Oh, hi!" Chanyeol was the first to speak, striding over faster than I could say 'go' before sticking his palm out for a handshake, "I'm Chanyeol, one of the members of the pack." 
She nodded and shook his head, not saying anything else. All werewolves and mates followed suit, until the small living room space was so crowded. I felt like I couldn't breathe, being squished between Sehun and Luhan's warm bodies. If I were cold before, now I was literally burning with two werewolves at my side. 

Sehun squirmed and pushed me playfully to Luhan's side as he said, "Move over, fat " 

"Shut up, The-Hun" I mocked in retaliation. He sent me a look that said 'we'll discuss this later' to whom I replied by sticking out my tongue. 

Sudden arms wrapped around my waist, so fast and swift that I barely had time to realize what was happening, until I was plopped on a lap. Luhan's lap, to be precise. 

The heat went straight up to my face, causing my cheeks to blossom with color. I threw him a nasty glare, "What the are you doing?!" I hissed. 

He didnt seem fazed by my angry statement. Instead, his arms tightened around my middle, as though he feared that I might jump away, before he had the audacity to lean in and brush his lips against my ear. His voice sent goosebumps skittering across my spine, "Deep down, you know you like it." 

I slapped his arm in response, and he groaned. I just hoped that my head was turned at such an angle that he would not identify the rosy splatter that spilled over my face like scarlet watercolor paint. 

"Here we go again," Chen moved from his seat. That was the second time this year that we'd had to bring out all members of the pack for a meeting and the sensation of having a group of werewolves stare you down until they ahd drilled right through your soul was a scary thing to experience, I'd know that all too well. But Kyungsoo's mate didn't seem fazed by the large amount of people stacked inside the room. Instead, her expression kept this unchanging emotion of confusion, as though she wasn't really understanding what was going on, as though nothing made much sense to her. 

Kyungsoo was still nowhere to be found and a slither of worry wriggled through my stomach. Where was he? What was he doing? This was his mate.

"so, hi there" Suho greeted, "What's your name?" 

She lifter her eyes up to his face, searching for any hint of information that she could get. It wa obvious that she wasn't the least bit comfortable having a huge pack of werewolves staring at her as though she was a new specimen, as though a lab rat that would give them a new form of knowlege they hadn't found before. 

"Melody." 

"Nice to meet you, Melody," Suho flashed a warm smile at her response, glad that she was cooperating. I remembered how I had reacted, it hadn't been the most pleasant of experiences for me, knowing that I was bound to a freaking gigantic dog. Luhan suddenly poked my abdomen and my head whipped around to meet him, "What?" I hissed. 

"I'm not a gigantic dog" He whispered sulkily. A grin formed onto my face. I guess that having Luhan being able to decipher what I felt and thought about had it's advantages. 

"You know why you're here, right?" 

Melody shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "They told me everything" She replied while jerking her chin over in Luhan and Yixing's direction, "But I can't do what you're asking of me." 

"What do you mean?" Kris asked, his powerful and raspy alto booming across the room and causing her to jump slightly. I could see the way her eyes widened that she hadn't expected him to talk, of all people. She cleared once, looked right and left as though she was a prey being surrounded by a predator, seeking for ways to escape, before a soft murmur echoed through her lips, "I can't, because I'm a Kitsune. Kitsunes don't have mates. That's forbidden." 

"That's just a myth though, isn't it?" Baekhyun piped up from his seat, "I mean...those things aren't true. They're just superstitions." 

Her eyes flashed with an emotion I identified as anger, "Superstitions, yeah probably to you," She scoffed before shaking her head like we couldn't understand what she was going through, like she was talking to a group of kids too young to comprehend the task, "Kitune's are bounded for life by that myth, that one rule we have about not having mates. It's the only thing we have to follow, and if we break it, we migh as well die." 

"Do you feel the imprint?" Suho suddenly asked. 

She took a moment before replying. But when she did, it was obvious that her words were carefully calculated, "What do you mean by feeling the imprint?" There was suspicion present in her tone. 

"Do you feel the pull against the bond you have with Kyungsoo? Did you even realize that you had a mate the moment he triggered the bond?" 

Her eyes slowly lowered to the ground while she took her bottom lip in-between her teeth. She was trying to find her way around this, trying to get out of the impasse she managed to get herself into, but I wasn't blaming her in the least, for she was probably thinking that she might hurt Kyungsoo in the end, if she went on with the mating process. If they were bound to be doomed in the end, maybe it would be better for Kyungsoo to be an abashed wolf. After all, not all abashed wolves die. But then again, there was this 50% possibility that he'd kill himself if he got rejected by his mate. 

Then, in a small, almost fragile voice, she whispered a soft, "Yes." 

We all in a breath. Great. She felt the intensity of the bond too, which not only meant that Kyungsoo would get hurt, but she would do by staying away. The more you stayed away from a bond, the more you felt the need to be closer to your partner, and that was the worst feeling one could ever get. 

Kris cleared his throat uncomfortably before saying, "Well, someone call Kyungsoo. Let's make them meet." 

Updated! Very late as usual, sorry about that :S Okay so I'm going to be on a SEMI-HIATUS as from now although I haven't been updating this for a very long time. I want to apologize to all readers who are always looking forward to reading my chapters and updates. I'm sorry for not being able to write as much as I want to, specially when I'm in Uni now and works' just piling up like mountains around me. I understand if some people have lost interest in this story because I have been neglecting this one just because I've been focusing on my other stories. 
But I will finish this story, I will update whenever I'm free, whenever I can. 
I'm just sorry that I let you guys down every time. Please forgive me. 

Soo this is the updated chapter :) I hope you guys like it, and I can't wait to write out the Kyungsoo x Melody interactions! xx 
Thanks to all, I love you to the moon and back. Seriously. You guys are the best. 

-nutmeggu.