Part 5: Whatever It Takes

Why does my wounded heart keep searching for you?

Your callous expression hurts me…

They hurt so much

- GOT7

Down in the town nearest to the Tehla forest reserve where the pride resided was a small community of human folk that welcomed the ailures. The hospitality was not without some reservations, however. Due to the fairly recent relationship between the two species formed with the treaty and with Kris’ law prioritizing education, one of the two universities, Amberwood University currently housed several ailure youths. Thank Sol that the younger generations of human students were rather progressive that they did not mind the felines at all.

Kim Yugyeom was one of humans living in this town. He was nineteen, barely out into the world as an adult with cheeks still reminiscent of his pampered teenhood. Still fresh-eyed and untouched by the pressures of society. When he entered Amberwood, he promised himself he’d do his parents proud. He was staying in the dorms, telling his mum he’d like to experience living alone. He declined his dad’s offer to pay for his dorm rent, getting part-time jobs instead as a barista at the closest café to the university, and as an assistant dance instructor. He didn’t mind one bit, feeling so happy that he got to major in Dance and living a carefree life. So far so good and he always prayed it stayed that way. Much like other people, Yugyeom was of course curious of the ailures. But not to the point that he wanted to stalk them, unlike some fanatics. That was just borderline creepy and invasive.

There were two he knew of attending his school. Yugyeom got to know bits and pieces about them from the whisperings and some kind of awe-inspiring worships from friendly acquaintances he definitely did not eavesdropped from. (There was another one that had graduated just before Yugyeom enrolled.) He did see them in passing and if Yugyeom was not observant by nature, they would not have pinged as ‘others’ in his radar. But that’s the thing, Yugyeom noticed.

Jaebum and Jinyoung were their names. The one who left a year before was called Jin. (Huh, all their names started with a J). Yugyeom was not sure if they even had last names.

Maybe they were in their final year, he wasn’t too sure.

He remembered taking Street Dance with the one called Jaebum and Modern Dance with the other. It was the unspoken truth that ailures were naturally graceful and something in them definitely said ‘not human’. It was in the way they moved, and despite sharing the same humanoid form; they could not quite produce gestures like humans did. And that was why Yugyeom was fascinated by ailures in general. But of course, the other species was typically elusive so it was no surprise that Jaebum and Jinyoung were rarely seen participating in any school festivities and none had dared approach the two. They kept to themselves. Rumour was the two were a ‘mated’ pair and from what Yugyeom understood that meant that the pair was basically married, no?

He knew next to nil about ailure genders, only that it was different from a human’s standard definition of , and that when they mated one’s got to be the female one. The two did seem practically inseparable, preferring to be in each other’s pockets more often than either one of them talking to others.

So it was just his luck that it happened to be that one fine evening, the infamous ailure pair walked into the café he worked in.

Yugyeom barely got his apron tied properly, making his way to the counter as he exchanged pleasantries with Hera, a coworker. The café was quiet, a few students sparsely situated busy with whatever they brought in: books, pads or laptops. It was the weekend so the number was to be expected as most probably went home to rest and having had their clothes laundered. The bell rang and the first year university student automatically looked up, hands holding red apron strings hanging in the air. The standard greeting stuck in his throat.

Jaebum was keeping the door open with one hand, body slightly tilted backwards to the glass door and one hand raking his copper-coloured wild locks off his eyes. Jinyoung entered, eyes downcast on the book he was reading, dark hair tinted brown from the dying sunlight. He barely spared any attention to his surrounding as he was making a beeline for Yugyeom. Jaebum followed with a languid pace tugging his jacket closer. Both stopped in front of him; Jinyoung putting his book on the counter. Jaebum moved close to Jinyoung basically bracketing his left shoulder. Yugyeom quickly tied a neat bow.

“Welcome, good evening. What can I get you?” Yugyeom almost stuttered when two sets of very unusual eyes landed on him. He smiled slightly. Be cool, Yugyeom.

This close to them under the artificial café lights, Yugyeom could see that Jinyoung’s eyes were so pale, they were the palest grey-blue with pupils almost slits he’d never seen on a human before. Jaebum was no different, eyes a kaleidoscope of colours he wasn’t sure they were yellow, brown, or green. Hazel would be a safe bet, but hazel could not adequately describe those irises. He was pretty sure he’d seen those eyes on mountain lions. He watched as they tracked the menu behind him and on the counter. Oh hey, Jaebum got two moles above his left eye, just below his sharp brow that he initially thought were piercing scars.

Yugyeom could take his time; only these two were queuing.

As they contemplated their orders, Yugyeom took the chance to scan the two. One glance, they looked so different from one another. Jaebum gave him that bad boy vibe with his multiple piercings and snakebites, his high cheekbones, sharp jawline and reddish hair. But maybe the hair was natural, he couldn’t be sure with their kind. His black turtleneck and black leather jacket really contrasted with Jinyoung’s (slightly) softer look. The grey-eyed ailure on the other hand, looked like a typical college student with striped turtleneck and cream petticoat, not a hair out of place and ears void of accessories. His lashes were quite long and lips naturally full, almost pouty. Where Jinyoung was delicate and warm in appearance, Jaebum were all quiet hard edges. But somehow, Yugyeom pondered, they looked like they matched. Like they worked together.

“We’ll have two Americanos, tall and whatever dessert you have. Make that two as well,” Jinyoung said, voice surprisingly deep but sweet and his eyes crinkled as he smiled. It wasn’t even a faked polite smile, it was genuine and Yugyeom grinned. He nodded and quickly punched the order in.

“Two Americanos coming up. You sure you don’t want to have your pick?” Yugyeom spread his arm in flourish at their food display.

“Surprise us.” This time Jaebum said, handing Yugyeom his card. Jinyoung already made his way to an empty table, book cracked open.

“Alright, I’ll bring your order to you shortly,” Yugyeom grinned, his eyes almost disappearing. Jaebum made his way to the other. (He really moved like a predator). Yugyeom eyed the ailure, quirking an eyebrow when Jaebum sat next to Jinyoung pulling his chair closer to the other. Jaebum rested his head on top of his chair and closed his eyes. They weren’t touching but close enough. Huh.

It didn’t take long for Yugyeom to complete the order. When he was looking through the pastries he wasn’t sure they wanted savoury or sweet. Do they even eat human food? In the end, he chose their warm almond crusted, jam filled puffs drizzled in organic honey.

“Here you go,” Yugyeom announced cheerily, carefully placing the drinks, pastries and cutleries on their table before wishing they enjoyed their meal. He placed Jaebum’s card and receipt on the table too. As he was about to go, the nineteen-year-old caught sight of the title on Jinyoung’s book.

“Hey, I have that book!” Before he could stop himself, Yugyeom blurted out in excitement shamelessly pointing at his customer’s book. Well, Yugyeom wasn’t known for his tact.

The two were obviously startled but Jinyoung’s face suddenly morphed to fondness. “You read Sáenz too?”

Yugyeom nodded, “So far I’ve only just finished Last Night I Sang To The Monster, and got a few pages of this one in.”

He didn’t know how it was possible but Jinyoung’s face positively glowed and Yugyeom felt like he just started something good. And he realised how cheesy that sounded.

-I-

“Listen well, Jinyoung. From this moment onwards, you are promised to another.”

Jinyoung had only celebrated seven cycles of seasons and uncomprehendingly he asked his sire. “Am I to be sent away?”

“No, my little lioness. It means that one day, you’ll be mated to another ailure, one so big and strong he could protect you from anything,” his dam said instead, nuzzling Jinyoung’s nose and little giggles erupted from the tiny body. He watched as his sire and granddame smiled, pleased with him.

It wasn’t until Jinyoung was on his twelfth year he understood that he was bonded to another, to be breed by an ailure he barely knew for the sake of continuing the blood of two old traditionalist families. He was a white Inca liger of the Tehla pride and he learnt that his promised was a russet-coloured young tigon from a tigon family that migrated to be under Tehla Alpha’s protection that came when Jinyoung was fourteen years of age.

His name was Jaebum, his future mate.

-II-

“Hey, you’re here early.”

Kris smiled indulgently. He muttered a polite hello to the young sabertooth dame who beamed at him with unadultered pleasure. He chuckled at the other’s enthusiastic pat on the padded tent floor, urging the alpha to sit. He went down without much protest.

“So, how’s your day?” Kris asked.

Chanyeol laughed as he the purring cub in his arms. The little one was sleeping, unperturbed by its dame’s shaking frame.

“I should be asking you. You know I don’t really have much excitement going on.”

His voice was deep with a hint of a lisp Kris found endearing. The fact that Chanyeol always greeted him so joyfully changed his mind to stay away after their first encounter.

“Not much on my side either,” Kris said.

They mostly talked about mundane things; the weather, what Chanyeol ate for lunch, and sometimes, random stories of ailures in Kris’ pride. Chanyeol seemed to like it when Kris talked about his pride members. He could see the sadness in the dame’s eyes when Kris had to leave and the hint of longing in his voice.

Kris was surprised when the dame first shifted. He wasn’t expecting a male humanoid form, and not one so young. His protective instincts were running on high. When they were properly introduced, Chanyeol admitted that he was a runaway teen and had been living right under Kris’ nose for almost three years.

Kris was appalled. Chanyeol had mistaken the look on his face as anger and had apologised for breaking into what was Kris’ territory without permission. He really had not known that there were ‘werecats’ living there too. That was when Kris realised that Chanyeol knew nothing of his own culture; he and his two older siblings were adopted by a human pair and were raised as one of them. Chanyeol’s parents were university professors and knew little of ailures. According to the dame, the humans who adopted them were doing volunteer work at an animal shelter where the three tiger cubs were dropped off. Apparently, they were rescued from somewhere his parents weren’t privy of. Lucky for them, Chanyeol’s parents recognised an ailure marking and had demanded they be adopted.

The alpha decided then not to tell Chanyeol of his suspicions. It was not something Kris was even sure of, although his gut was telling him that Chanyeol was part of the extinct Bonhwang Pride. The age matches. The pride was thoroughly demolished and the media covered it as a government project gone wrong instead of admitting to an ailuranthrope massacre. It was a taboo to speak of the witch-hunts and misguided purist propagandas against their kind prior to the Bonhwang’s end. Maybe Chanyeol’s dame or sire or whoever was in his pride managed to smuggle the kits out, thank Sol. The sabertooth dame was safe here, and it was all for the better. Maybe it was best not to say anything, when even he was uncertain.

“I have something to tell you,” Chanyeol said cheerily. “I think I found the perfect name for him.”

Kris smiled, “Finally? It’s about time. How long has he been nameless for again?”

“I think it’s already been more than a year now. It’s not like I want him nameless.”

Kris thought for a moment before replying. “He hasn’t shifted, right?”

At the mention of that, Chanyeol’s eyes widened in joy. “That’s why I’m giving him a name. He shifted today! I think it exhausted him.”

“Well, if it’s his first shift, that’s understandable. Young ones aren’t used to shifting like us. It’s like growing pains, it’ll tire him quick.”

“You should’ve seen him. One minute he was a cub then poof! A baby boy! You should’ve seen his face, it was funny! I think he surprised himself and then he cried, the poor thing,” Chanyeol shared in mirth. The dame said he might have to get into town and buy baby clothes. Kris didn’t say anything but his mind was suddenly filled with thoughts of bringing Chanyeol into his pride. But Chanyeol wouldn’t want that. Not soon and not so suddenly. He knew Chanyeol’s ailure instinct would fight against being in another territory despite his human mind seeking company. It took some time for Chanyeol to even accept Kris, and that was only when Kris was in his two-legged shape initially.

Kris patted the still sleeping kit in its dame’s lap. Its ears twitched and a tiny dissatisfied growl could be heard before it rolled over, stuffing its face into Chanyeol’s middle. Chanyeol couldn’t help but be amused at the distinctly human behaviour. He could picture it even.

“Hyung, it is normal that his human form is still a baby? I thought he’d be older, at least like a toddler.”

Kris assured him that it was normal. They did not age the same way as humans. Their lifespan was longer.

“So, what’s this one’s name?”

Chanyeol looked down at the sleeping cub fondly. “I’m thinking…Sehun. What do you think?”