Of Flesh, Fur, and Fang - Chapter Eight
Of Flesh, Fur, and Fang
Chapter Eight
“Welcome to our weekend getaway,” Eunhyuk announced as they turned off the main road and onto a small two lane beaten track. Zhou mi leaned forward eagerly and watched as the small brush gave way to trees that slowly thickened before they were weaving their way through a densely packed forest.
After nearly two miles of what had dwindled to little more than a beaten down trail, the trees began to thin again. Eunhyuk guided the car slowly around a corner as the forest gave way to a clearing. In the center of the clearing sat a beautiful cabin. A deck of smooth finished wood wrapped around the front with a bench swing and several comfortable chairs sitting upon it. The cabin itself looked like something of western design, something that could be found in the woods of America instead of in the heart of Korea. Zhou mi found that he liked it instantly. Something about the place called to him and bid him welcome.
“Here we are!” Eunhyuk called as he parked the car.
Shindong was leaping out almost before he cut the engine and Zhou mi pushed open the door to join him. He slipped from the car and stretched, enjoying the feel of extending his limbs after being confined for so long.
“I call top!” Eunhyuk screamed and bolted off to the house in a dead run, which for a werewolf was several times faster than a human.
“Not a chance!” Shindong returned, tearing off after him.
Leeteuk elegantly stepped around them as they clamored up the stairs and into the house. “Break anything and you will both be sleeping hung upside down in a tree!” he called after them. Then, “Zhou mi,” he welcomed with a smile as he moved down from the cabin and crossed the lush green lawn at a much more sedate pace then the boys had. “I’m glad you decided to make it.”
“I am too,” Zhou mi replied, surprised that it was the truth. Something about this place made him feel comfortable, much more so then he had ever been since arriving in the country.
There was a crash from in the cabin and an angry shout, and then Leeteuk sighed. “They are both going to get into trouble before the night is even through,” he muttered. He reached for Zhou mi, “Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”
Zhou mi wasn’t sure he could have protested if he wanted to, so he didn’t try. He allowed the older man to tuck his arm around him and lead him around the side of the house. “Ignore anything the brats said on the way over. I’m sure they were just trying to unnerve you.”
“They didn’t say anything that bothered me,” he replied and with the exception of one or two stories they had told about their monthly adventures, it was the truth.
“Good,” Leeteuk said with a nod. He steered Zhou mi around the house and then stopped at the edge of the back yard.
Just off the back of the house was a deck with a table and several chairs arranged upon it. Tucked up against it on the ground were various lumps covered with a tarp that Zhou mi was willing to bet were things like grills and wood. A few hundred feet off the deck was a pit ringed with logs. Judging by the remains of ash in it, Zhou mi was willing to bet that it was a fire pit.
Beyond it, the grass gave way to sand, that met at the edge of a decently sized lake. There was a dock that began at the shore and stretched far out into the water as well as several smaller boats tied to it. Around the backyard and beyond the lake, the forest began again and stretched for as far as he could see.
“What do you think?” Leeteuk asked, his face stretched into a knowing smile.
“I love it,” Zhou mi breathed. “It is beautiful.” He had never been anywhere like it and even though he had only arrived a few moments ago he knew it was going to be hard to leave.
“Kangin and I own this and roughly 100 acres of land in any direction. Beyond that it is really just forest that no one seems to do anything with for miles. We prefer if you stay on our property for safety reasons but no one will complain if you wander further,” Leeteuk explained.
Zhou mi nodded to show his understanding and the man turned, gesturing for him to follow. “I’ll show you the inside of the house.”
He moved up the steps and onto the deck. It was connected to the cabin by a sliding glass door that opened into an indoor dining room, with a table so small that Zhou mi doubted anyone ever ate on it. To his left was an enormous kitchen boasting some of the largest appliances he had ever seen. At least three people would be able to fit into the refrigerator and Zhou mi was certain that food for an entire army could easily be produced here, with little trouble.
Leeteuk let him stare at it for a minute before commenting. “It’s easier to cook for everyone here,” he said with a grin.
“I bet,” Zhou mi agreed.
Leeteuk gestured and began to move deeper into the home. The kitchen and small dining room, spilled out into a large spacious living room. Couches and chairs were arranged in a semi circle facing each other and a large fireplace. One of the walls housed bookshelves of books, while the others were covered by photographs of all types. “This is the living room,” Leeteuk said with a gesture, “and this,” he crossed the room to a door set into the wall on Zhou mi’s right, “is the den.”
Zhou mi followed him and poked his head in the room. Much like the living room there was furniture, less of it, but still arranged in a semi-circle facing a large television. All sorts of technological items were tucked in neat cubbies against the wall along with shelves of DVDs. “Technology is only allowed in this room of the house, with the exception of cell phones. I don’t let them in here much. They don’t need to spend any more time rotting their brains on the stuff.”
They backed from the room and Zhou mi followed him to the other side of the living room. A set of stairs began near the front door and ran up to a second floor landing. Beneath the railed in area there were two doors, the one to the left Leeteuk opened and showed him the downstairs bath. It housed the essentials, a toilet, sink and small shower. The door on the right was the master bedroom that Leeteuk and Kangin stayed in, however the door to it remained closed.
Leeteuk then steered him around and up the stairs. The landing was surrounded by a thick wood railing, presumably to keep people from falling off, and opened to the rest of the living room. Against the wall there were four doors. The first was a small bedroom with two beds, one on either side of the room. There was a closet in the room that was full of clothing with a distinctly feminine air and the room itself seemed to have a decidedly female touch. “This is the girls room,” Leeteuk told him, confirming his suspicions. “We don’t want to encourage any foolishness by letting the mates stay together. Their control isn’t that great as it is under the influence of the nearly full moon, and being with the girls just seems to rile them up more,” he explained before Zhou mi could ask.
Zhou mi nodded in understanding. He had personally seen a wolf almost kill another during a full moon, for no other reason than he looked at his mate. Beside the girls room was a large bathroom. Unlike the one downstairs this one was much bigger. It boasted two showers and a large Jacuzzi style tub. There were three sinks with a large mirror stretching over them all. Tucked in a corner, was a separate smaller room housing the toilet. “Wow,” Zhou mi breathed.
“You like it?” Leeteuk asked with a smile. “We had to expand because it was taking until mid afternoon to get everyone ready for the day.” Zhou mi laughed at that. Somehow it wasn’t hard to imagine this pack spending too much time in a bathroom.
The door to the next room was open. “This is the room that you will be sharing with some of the guys. Yunho, Jaejoong, and Siwon stay in the room next door.” Leeteuk said gesturing. Zhou mi stepped inside and noted the two sets of bunk beds, one on either side of the room, along with the matching sets of dressers and a small closet. On one of the sets of bunk beds, Eunhyuk was half onto the top bunk struggling against Shindong who had a hold of his leg and kept trying to pull him down. Zhou mi smiled at the seemingly ridiculous struggles of the two and tried to remind himself that they were both dangerous werewolves and not simply a pair of teens on a camping trip.
“Enough,” Leeteuk growled after a moment and pair looked up at him as if to protest. There was a moment between the trio and seconds later, Eunhyuk and Shindong were looking away.
“Fine you can have the top this month,” Shindong grumbled, releasing Eunhyuk’s leg and flopping onto the bottom bunk as Eunhyuk scrambled up onto the top with a triumph smile on his face.
Zhou mi knew he had just witnessed one of the infamous dominance contests that always surrounded werewolves. No matter what their human sides wanted to do, their werewolf sides couldn’t disobey a dominate wolf and that had forced them to concede and obey Leeteuk. He shifted awkwardly, not sure what to do with himself.
Leeteuk cocked his head to the side as if he was listening and then a grin broke out on his face. “Kangin’s back. Make yourself at home,” he said. Zhou mi stepped from the room and watched Leeteuk streak down the stairs and out the door. The open landing gave him a perfect view out the front of the house to the driveway where Kangin was pulling a bag from the car. As he caught sight of Leeteuk he dropped it and pulled the man to him. They met with a passionate kiss that seemed to last an eternity instead of the few moments for all of the love and desire Zhou mi could read in it. Then they broke apart and Kangin tucked Leeteuk under an arm, easily lifting the bag he had dropped with the other.
“They get horribly romantic during the full moon,” Kyuhyun grumbled, climbing the stairs to the landing with bags in his arms.
“All men get horny during the full moon,” Yoona called from behind him.
“I think it is sweet,” Zhou mi said before he could stop himself. He couldn’t keep color from dusting his cheeks as Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and brushed past him to the bedroom.
Taeyeon gave him a knowing smile, “I do too,” she replied. “Real love is hard to come by these days.” Yoona giggled and the women disappeared into their room, shutting the door behind them.
Zhou mi wandered back into the room he had been assigned to see Kyuhyun unpacking his suitcase on the lower bed. “I gave you the top,” Kyuhyun told him and pointed up.
Zhou mi recognized his bag on the top bunk and nodded. “Alright,” he looked at Shindong who was still pouting on the bottom bunk. “Um if you want the top bunk you can take it,” he offered.
“No,” Shindong laminated. “I lost the fight this month. Besides that is Kyuhyun’s side.” Zhou mi turned to look at the mentioned teen just in time to see him roll his eyes, as he tucked clothing away into one of the dressers.
“I smell meat!” Eunhyuk exclaimed sitting up, his head brushing the ceiling lightly.
“Leeteuk told me were grilling meat and vegetables for dinner tonight,” Kyuhyun reported.
“Awesome,” Shindong brightened instantly. “Then we can roast marshmallows later tonight and tell ghost stories!”
Zhou mi wondered briefly, as he pulled his clothing from his bag and refolded them neatly, if this is what it would have felt like to go to camp as a boy. He had never been allowed, mostly due to his tendency to occasionally grow paws and fur, but he had always wanted to attend. He was certain it would have been fun if he had ever had the chance.
“Time to make food!” Leeteuk’s voice rang through the house.
Eunhyuk and Shindong both scrambled from the room like hungry boys waiting for the lunch bell. He followed, slightly more sedated but just as eager, marveling at the fact that he might just be looking forward to this retreat after all. It could be fun, he figured, hanging out with friends and enjoying the wilderness. For a moment he forgot why he had been dreading it in the first place, and then the moment was over as Eunhyuk and Shindong by passed the stairs entirely and leapt over the railing to the floor below. They landed effortlessly and hit the ground running towards the back door, something that no human would be able to accomplish. It reminded Zhou mi immediately that they were not just a bunch of friends on a trip; they were werewolves, not human despite their appearances, and all the more dangerous because of it.
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“It was a dark and stormy night,” Eunhyuk began as the light of the fire flickered across his face, “in an old abandoned house.”
Yoona laughed and snuggled into Shindong’s side. “Wait let me guess, the house was haunted,” she said exchanging a look with Taeyeon who was leaning against Eunhyuk.
“Ah but our heroes didn’t know that,” Eunhyuk replied. “In fact they wouldn’t find out until it was much too late.”
“Is this supposed to be a scary story?” Zhou mi whispered to Kyuhyun who was beside him.
“It’s supposed to be. Telling stories around the camp fire is sort of a tradition. Eunhyuk telling awful ghost stories is another,” Kyuhyun replied, rotating a marshmallow slowly in the fire.
“Here,” Leeteuk said with a knowing smile, offering Zhou mi a stick with a series of marshmallows speared on the end. Zhou accepted it with whispered thanks, sticking it immediately over the fire and relaxing into the sounds of the night that swirled around their hushed voices.
“Your marshmallows are on fire,” Kyuhyun pointed out causally a few minutes later.
Zhou mi yelped and pulled them from the flames blowing air at them to put them out. It took Kyuhyun’s help to fully extinguish them and when they were out the fire left small blackened puffs in its wake. Zhou mi shrugged and grinned, pulling one off the end of the stick and blowing it to just below burning before popping it into his mouth.
“And they were never seen again!” Eunhyuk exclaimed as Zhou mi was finishing the last of his marshmallows. There was a moment of silence and then laughter filled the night air.
“The award for the lamest ghost story ever, once again goes to Eunhyuk,” Kangin announced, humor coloring his voice.
Eunhyuk rose to his feet and bowed deeply as everyone applauded. When he settled Leeteuk laughed once more before asking, “Does anyone else have a slightly more interesting story?”
There was a moment of silence. “I do,” a man Zhou mi was fairly sure was named Jaejoong said quietly. Both he and Yunho had arrived well into the evening and since their arrival had been mostly silent and kept to themselves, including to their own room at the end of the second level.
“Go ahead,” Kangin said with a smile, settling Leeteuk closer into his side.
“It begins with a man, a man with amazing talent. He loved to sing, dance and perform, and although he didn’t have a large contract or anything, he enjoyed what he did. The man had a best friend, someone whom he had grown up with, someone he thought he could trust, but he never knew that his best friend was hiding a terrible secret.” Jaejoong stared straight into the fire as he spoke and beside him, Yunho turned his head away.
“One night, when he had finished performing at a bar, it was late. The man was jumped in a back alley, severly beaten and left for dead. The man’s best friend found him laying there, waiting for death to take him. The best friend could do nothing, too much blood was lost, even if an ambulance could come in time, he would never make it. They both knew it.
The man’s once best friend made a choice that he had no right to make. He decided he couldn’t live without the man, so he would change him into a monster. He never stopped to think that the man would rather die than become what his best friend was, but the man was never given a choice. He was turned into a monster before he could stop it, and now he suffers, stuck in this world because his supposed best friend will not let him die. Death would have been better. Death would have been kinder.” Jaejoong’s words trailed off and silence fell over the pack members. Everyone was staring into the fire as if afraid to look anywhere else and Zhou mi wondered just how much truth there was to the story.
“Now the man is a monster that cannot die because he isn’t allowed. Not even when he longs for it,” Jaejoong’s voice was colored with bitterness. He stood slowly and tossed the stick he had been holding into the fire. “What is living if you aren’t free?” he whispered. Without another word he turned and walked away from the fire melding into the shadows as he moved from its light. Yunho waited another moment before rising and following after him.
Silence followed in their wake and Zhou mi try to crush the questions that were bubbling up in his mind, questions that he had no right to ask. “In the story Jaejoong is the man and Yunho is the best friend,” Kangin said quietly as if he read Zhou mi’s mind and the questions there. “Yunho brought him to me because Jaejoong could not control his wolf and hates everything about who he is.” Zhou mi inhaled sharply as he absorbed the knowledge of what that would mean.
It happened sometimes when a human was changed to save their lives. Some humans couldn’t take the presence of the near constant animal instincts, instincts that demanded blood and violence almost constantly. It would drive the humans to fear the beast within them, and thereby loose all ability to control it. Some would kill themselves, even creatures as hard to kill as a werewolf could still commit suicide if they knew how to do it. Others would go on a rampant killing spree as their wolf half took over, forcing a local alpha to put them down. Never had Zhou mi heard of a wolf like that, that hadn’t resulted in death.
“Yunho is foolish,” Kyuhyun said sharply. “He can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. He never should have brought him here.”
“Enough,” Kangin said firmly yet gently. “That’s enough.”
“I think we should all retire for the night,” Leeteuk murmured. It wasn’t an order exactly, but everyone took it as one as they filed from the fire and up towards the house.
Zhou mi followed, his mind filled with ideas of what Kangin was trying to do and just what type of wolves he had here. He knew he should feel afraid; an uncontrolled wolf didn’t bow to anyone’s rules, especially not an alpha. It was dangerous to stay in the cabin with Jaejoong just next door. Experience had shown him that crazy wolves had a tendency to go after him first.
Yet as he climbed the stairs to the second level, Kyuhyun brushed against him as he moved up and he was hit with a wave of reassurance and protective warmth that he couldn’t explain. It bubbled through him, tearing down any fears until they lay at his feet leaving him bathed in the feel of it. It was the strangest thing he had ever experience and he didn’t have the slightest idea what it meant, yet deep inside of him something was purring in contentment.
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Eunhyuk would call him a creepy psycho stalker. Shindong would laugh and tell him to just jump the kid already. Yoona would tell him to take the romantic approach. Taeyeon would tell him to be a man about it. Siwon would give him tips on how to woo the object of his affection. Leeteuk would give him a lecture about being responsible while Kangin laughed. Jaejoong and Yunho would just stare at him in confusion as to why he was talking to them in the first place. Zhou mi would, well Kyuhyun didn’t know what Zhou mi would do and that in itself was the problem.
He wasn’t even entirely sure what was going on in his own head and to share that with Zhou mi might have potentially disastrous results no matter what the wolf in him was saying. However this close to the full moon it was incredibly difficult if not impossible to shove his wolf back into a neat little box in the back of his mind, even more so now that Zhou mi was constantly there. Instead he had to settle for a form of half control that left his eyes tinted with gold and his body hanging halfway off the ladder to the upper bed so he could stare at the object of his affection, deep in slumber.
Kyuhyun was positive that if Zhou mi’s eyes fluttered open he would panic and send the book that was laying open on his chest, flying at Kyuhyun’s head. Still he couldn’t find the will power to pull away and drop back to the floor. He was caught, clutching the top rung of the ladder, watching Zhou mi’s chest rise and fall slowly, and ignoring the Beast inside him that urged him forward to claim what it thought was theirs. Kyuhyun was deliberately trying not to think too hard on what that could mean.
Zhou mi sighed and Kyuhyun tensed as he rolled over and lifted an arm to scrub at his eyes. His other hand pulled the book off his chest and set it on the bed beside him. Kyuhyun had only a few seconds to make sure that his face wasn’t screaming “Look I want to eat you for breakfast and do other unmentionable things to you!” before Zhou mi’s eyes focused on him. He must have only done marginally well because the half awake teen offered him only a look of confusion and nothing more.
“Kyuhyun?” he questioned, his voice still rough with sleep and Kyuhyun’s knuckles turned white as he clutched the wooden slat of the ladder in effort to stop himself from lunging up and into his bed at the sound of it. “What are you doing?”
Kyuhyun averted his eyes and found it was marginally easier to function when he wasn’t looking right at him. “I was coming to wake you up. It’s almost eleven and Leeteuk says if you want lunch you have to catch it yourself,” Kyuhyun reported, unable to keep his voice from coming out as a growl.
“Uh catch it?” Zhou mi asked confused and pulling Kyuhyun’s gaze back to him with the words.
“Yeah you know fish?” Kyuhyun retorted, eternally grateful that Zhou mi was still too far asleep to notice the way he was staring at him.
“Oh, I’ve never done that before,” he admitted.
“Well get up and I can teach you,” Kyuhyun offered. The Beast in him seemed intensely pleased at that idea, pleased enough that Kyuhyun was able to jump from the ladder and land on the floor lightly.
“Okay,” Zhou mi replied sitting up and scrubbing his eyes again. “I’m just going to change and take a shower first if that is alright.”
“Sure,” Kyuhyun agreed immediately telling his Beast that they were not, under any circumstances joining Zhou mi in that shower and besides Zhou mi was lacking some of the nicer curves that Kyuhyun always though they would want. The Beast in him retorted instantly that Zhou mi would have fabulous curves in other places, and Kyuhyun was not thrilled that he and his Beast typically communicated with pictures and emotions instead of words, allowing him to see exactly what the Beast in him meant.
He turned his back as Zhou mi climbed down from the bed and caught the reflection of delicious curve of his spine in the mirror as he stretched. “I’ll meet you outside,” Kyuhyun snapped.
“Okay,” Zhou mi murmured, sounding confused.
Kyuhyun strode from the room ignoring the pleased rumble from his Beast and the knowledge that the only reason they were walking from the room is because the wolf inside him allowed him to. The Beast was amused, Kyuhyun was not. Not in the slightest.
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“I don’t think even we could eat that many,” Kyuhyun muttered, staring at the eight buckets full of fish and the ninth that was well on its way there.
Kangin laughed and cast his line out into the water once more. “Oh I think we will manage somehow, they are biting really well today.”
“Thirty two!” Eunhyuk exclaimed displaying the fish as long as his arm that was hanging on the end of his line.
“Dang it!” Shindong immediately exclaimed.
On the other side of him Siwon grinned as he reeled in a fish as well. “Thirty four for me,” he announced with a positively devious smile. Shindong groaned.
“And it could have something to do with the three who have been fishing since dawn,” Kangin offered.
“I’m beating Shindong!” Eunhyuk beamed.
“Yes, we know dear,” Taeyeon replied absently as she flipped through a magazine.
Every member of the pack had been assembled on the dock when Kyuhyun had arrived, and most of them were fishing. Leeteuk had seemingly given up fishing in favor of lying on his back and sunning. Both Taeyeon and Yoona had dragged reclining lawn chairs out to the end and were relaxing on them reading. Everyone else seemed to be putting some effort into fishing, but none were as exuberant as Eunhyuk and Shindong.
“Would you like to fish?” Leeteuk asked him, opening one eye to look at him.
“Not if I don’t have to,” Kyuhyun replied honestly as he settled onto the center of the dock being sure to keep away from the water.
Zhou mi came out several minutes later and Kyuhyun found it incredibly easier to ignore the desires of his Beast for the other man this time. It was very likely the presence of his Alpha that was helping him, still he couldn’t figure out when exactly his Beast had decided that it wanted Zhou mi. It seemed like he had just woken up one morning and the want was there leaving him confused as to how he felt about it.
“Hey,” Zhou mi greeted them almost shyly.
“Zhou mi,” Leeteuk said brightly sitting up. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes thank you,” Zhou mi replied with a smile that brought a growl from Kyuhyun. He squashed it out immediately but not before receiving a glance from Kangin.
“You don’t need to fish if you don’t want to,” Leeteuk told him.
“I’ve never been on a lake like this before,” Zhou mi gazed around the area as he spoke. “It is beautiful.”
“We enjoy it,” Kangin agreed.
Still smiling Zhou mi walked to the very edge of the dock and pulled off his shoes and socks. Then he sat, dangling his feet in the water and kicking lightly. Kyuhyun immediately wanted to pull him away, scolding him for being foolish and telling him that it wasn’t safe to do something so risky and telling him that the water here was much too deep for that, but the look of pure joy on Zhou mi’s face kept him rooted where he was sitting. He didn’t think he could do anything that might take that look off the other man’s face and that allowed him to ignore the Beast in him that was screaming that they need to keep Zhou mi safe.
Kyuhyun watched him play in the water lightly and reasoned that Zhou mi was an adult and not a child. He wasn’t going to just wind up falling off the dock because he had stupidly leaned to far forward or some other nonsense. Zhou mi turned his head, looking back and meeting Kyuhyun’s eyes for a moment. He offered Kyuhyun a smile that sent a strange feeling surging through him. Kyuhyun tried to smile back and he had no idea if he managed. Eunhyuk said something that grabbed Zhou mi’s attention and the man looked away before he would have had to figure out the expression on Kyuhyun’s face. Just this once Kyuhyun was glad Zhou mi wasn’t looking at him.
He stretched out on his back in the sun, allowing the sound of the wild and voices to wrap around him and fade into the background like quiet music. Kyuhyun was content with his pack and his new friend - he wasn’t ready to admit Zhou mi could be anything more than that - near him. Even his Beast seemed rather content for the moment and he settled down as well.
Kyuhyun had nearly fallen into a light sleep when he heard a large splash. It sounded too loud to simply be a fish and his eyes snapped open immediately looking for Zhou mi. He found, not the teen but empty space and the water beyond him resettling from being disturbed. “Zhou mi!” he exclaimed, rolling to his feet and making a lunge to dive off the dock.
A strong hand caught him by the neck and dragged him backwards just as he would have gone sailing over into the water. “No!” Kangin’s voice said sharply and with it came the power of an Alpha. Kyuhyun whimpered and dropped to the dock as the hand released him, unable to do anything but look at the water and panic. “Wait,” Kangin commanded placing a hand firmly on Kyuhyun’s back to keep him there.
Kyuhyun counted the seconds in his head, acutely aware of how long it would take for a person to drown. He only reached ten before a human head broke the surface and Zhou mi laughed. “Little bit chillier then I expected,” he said lightly as he tread water like a contented fish.
“Get out of there,” Kangin growled his hand still firm on Kyuhyun’s back and Kyuhyun whined again.
Zhou mi looked confused but he swam to the dock and pulled himself out of that water. Even Kangin couldn’t have held Kyuhyun down when Zhou mi was safely back on the wood. He scrambled forward and dragged the surprised teen, who released a yelp at the action, backwards away from the edge of the water. Kyuhyun wrapped his arms tightly around Zhou mi and held him in his lap, completely uncaring that his eyes were glowing a brilliant gold.
With Zhou mi in his arms, the Beast immediately settled allowing Kyuhyun to keep from doing anything else stupid. He buried his face in Zhou mi’s neck, unable to release him no matter how hard he tried.
“Kyuhyun?” Zhou mi asked. His voice held confusion but none of the fear that Kyuhyun was waiting for and he sighed in relief.
“Don’t do that to me,” Kyuhyun muttered into Zhou mi’s neck.
“Do what?” Zhou mi asked.
“Jump in the water,” was the returning growl.
“It’s not like I meant to,” Zhou mi said as if he was exasperated. “Someone bumped me as they walked by.” Kyuhyun snarled and lifted his head immediately looking for the culprit. Eunhyuk, Shindong, and Siwon were still standing on the edge of the dock where they had been fishing. Leeteuk was sitting where he had been as were both girls. The only two that had moved were Yunho and Jaejoong and Kyuhyun knew it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out who could be responsible.
“Leeteuk, take the pack and go start lunch,” Kangin said. It wasn’t an order with any power behind it, but Leeteuk took it as one. Without saying anything every other member of the pack began to rise, collect fishing supplies and filing off the dock.
The Beast inside of Kyuhyun demanded that they get up and draw blood for the threat to Zhou mi’s life and for once Kyuhyun mostly agreed with him. At the same time the Beast didn’t want to release Zhou mi back to where he could be harmed and that feeling allowed Kyuhyun to stay still as the rest of the pack filed off the dock.
“Kyuhyun!” Kangin said sharply from beside him when they were gone, and his head snapped sideways to focus on the man. “Enough,” Kangin growled, his eyes flashing a brilliant gold. Power washed over Kyuhyun and he whined immediately dropping his eyes and loosening his hold on Zhou mi. He felt the other teen being pulled from his arms but he was powerless to do anything about it. His limbs wouldn’t obey his order to move and even the growl that the Beast in him tried to force past his lips stopped somewhere in his throat.
“What is wrong with him?” he heard Zhou mi ask quietly. Kyuhyun could hear fear in his voice and smell the beginnings of it in his scent. It made him whine softly and flatten himself on the dock.
“Don’t,” Kangin said gently, pulling back the hand that Zhou mi had extended towards Kyuhyun again. “He’s not Kyuhyun at the moment. I don’t know what he will do. He would be in wolf form right now if I would let him.” Kyuhyun wanted to argue that, Kangin was wrong and he was fine, but even as he completed the thought he knew it was a lie. His Beast was practically running free and he was simply along for the ride.
“Then I can help him,” Zhou mi replied confidently, the fear fading from him.
“Zhou mi, his Beast is very angry right now. He thinks you could have died,” Kangin told him, pulling his hand back again.
“Why? It is just water?”
Kangin sighed heavily and Kyuhyun turned his head so that he could see them. Zhou mi was kneeling beside him, within reaching distance, if only he could get his body to respond and reach for him. He knew it would never work, not against the command of his Alpha and he shut his eyes so at the very least, Zhou mi wouldn’t have to see them glowing wolf golden. “Zhou mi you were the only person on this dock that could have fallen into the water and climbed out of it just fine. Werewolves sink, like rocks. We are too dense to do anything else. Even Eunhyuk who used to swim very well when he was human, can’t do it for more than a few seconds. It just doesn’t work for us. When you fell in Kyuhyun thought you would sink straight to the bottom like we do and the idiot was going to dive in after you.”
“That would be stupid,” Zhou mi replied his voice harsh. “He would have drowned and even if I had been sinking he couldn’t have done anything.”
“Not true,” Kyuhyun groaned. He needed Zhou mi to know, know that he would protect him no matter what. “I would have saved you.”
“Idiot,” Kangin growled. “You would have drowned without doing any good.”
“Strong, could have shoved him to the surface for you to grab,” Kyuhyun replied softly.
“You’re an idiot,” Zhou mi snarled and Kyuhyun could tell he was angry. Slender fingers slipped under his chin and grasped it firmly.
“Zhou mi,” Kangin said cautiously, “Don’t be fooled. Just because he is talking doesn’t mean it is Kyuhyun. The Beast can talk too, when it wants to.”
“He won’t hurt me,” Zhou mi replied immediately. The confidence in his voice made Kyuhyun fill with pride at his strength and pleasure at the fact that he wasn’t frightened of them. “Kyuhyun look at me.”
It wasn’t an order, Zhou mi didn’t have the sort of power over him to force him to do anything, yet the simple request was more powerful than any order that his Alpha could have given him. He gave into the fingers and tilted his head, allowing his eyes to open and hoping as they did so, that they wouldn’t frighten Zhou mi all over again. He simply stared back, a stern expression on his face, seemingly unbothered by the state of Kyuhyun’s eyes.
“Quieter or not, you cannot start jumping in to save me at the expense of your own life. I am not a doll for you to coddle and I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Zhou mi said firmly. Kyuhyun wanted to explain that it had nothing to do with his status as a Quieter and everything to do with something else, but he couldn’t find the words, not that he would have said them if he could have.
“And as for you Wolf,” Zhou mi said firmly. “I don’t care what you think you are doing but if you ever give Kyuhyun trouble again and shove him out of the way so that you can try to do something foolish to protect me, I will leave and I won’t come back.”
A whine rose in them, followed by a growl of displeasure. His Beast was intensely pleased that Zhou mi had given him a name, for that is exactly what it felt he had done, yet at the same time it was intensely dissatisfied that Zhou mi had threatened to leave for good.
“Sorry,” Kyuhyun growled. “It is hard. We want-” Kyuhyun managed to clamp down on his tongue just before the Beast said something that they might all regret.
“I think you should give Kyuhyun back control before you get into trouble with your Alpha,” Zhou mi said gently.
Kyuhyun glanced up and saw the smallest flecks of violet swirl through Zhou mi’s eyes. He strained forward and Zhou mi obliged him by moving in. He allowed Kyuhyun to settle his head on his lap and press his face against his stomach. The teen inhaled deeply and the Beast rumbled with pleasure. They knew that the chances were slim that Zhou mi would even understand what the motions would mean, but that didn’t mean it pleased them any less. They laid there for a moment, enjoying the scent of Zhou mi that flowed around and over them.
Then, in the midst of it, the sweet feeling of pure peace washed over them. The Beast immediately sighed in contentment and curled up allowing Kyuhyun to easily shift him back to the corner of his mind. It was like waking from a dream in the most pleasant way possible, yet being acutely aware of the ridiculousness that had occurred while he was sleeping. Worse he had been awake and an active participant in most of it.
Slowly, he pulled away from Zhou mi and sat up, glancing away as soon as he was upright. “Thanks,” he muttered rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Sorry. It usually isn’t this bad,” he admitted.
“Zhou mi,” Kangin said softly. “I think you should go see how lunch is coming.”
“I would like to stay,” Zhou mi said lightly and Kyuhyun noted how he was very careful not to outright refuse a command from an Alpha.
“I’m not going to play games with you,” Kangin said, probably harsher then he meant to. “I need to talk to Kyuhyun as one of my wolves and I feel that the conversation would go better without your presence. As you are not one of my wolves and a Quieter to boot, I cannot order you away, but I suggest you leave. You might not like the contents of this conversation.”
“Fine,” Zhou mi said gruffly, climbing to his feet stiffly. “But Kyuhyun didn’t do anything wrong and if you two are out here to long, I’m going to send out Leeteuk.” He didn’t wait for a response before turning and storming off towards the shore.
Kyuhyun chanced a glance at Kangin’s face and saw that the man was grinning as he watched Zhou mi’s retreating form. He sighed in relief and turned his eyes back to the water so that Kangin wouldn’t catch him staring.
“There is a lot of fight in that one, once he gets past his fear,” his comment was filled with amusement. “I doubt he even realized that he was drawing strength from his Beast.” Kyuhyun’s head snapped up at that. He knew he should have realized what the violet in Zhou mi’s eyes meant. “Don’t worry,” Kangin said soothing him instantly. “His Beast doesn’t work like ours I think. I am almost positive it works only to protect him and for nothing else.”
“But how?” Kyuhyun asked finally.
“Probably something to do with the fact that they were born together,” he said with a shrug. “Now more importantly, how long have you known that your Beast chose Zhou mi for its mate?” Kangin asked sternly.
“A few days,” Kyuhyun responded softly.
“That is dangerously foolish,” Kangin snapped. “And you know it, especially during a full moon. If I had known that, he would be sleeping in a cot in my room instead of yours.”
“Don’t please,” he begged. The thought of Zhou mi not being in the bunk just above his head sent a bolt of pain right through him causing the Beast in him to stir restlessly.
“Kyuhyun do you understand that the Beast in you doesn’t care what you think? He doesn’t care what Zhou mi thinks. All he cares is that he wants Zhou mi for his and if you lose control of him, he will claim Zhou mi.”
“I know,” Kyuhyun murmured.
“No you don’t know,” Kangin growled lowly. “He won’t just say ‘mine’ he will make it the truth. It would be rape Kyuhyun, brutal and horrible rape that would leave Zhou mi broken more than just physically.”
Kyuhyun’s eyes widened in shock. “Kangin,” he breathed. “You can’t. Don’t let me. You can’t let me do that to him.”
“I can’t control you if I’m not with you,” Kangin replied simply.
The teen swallowed thickly and glanced at the water. His Alpha was right, he couldn’t be with him always; he couldn’t control him at every moment. They could hurt Zhou mi in the worst way possible and that was not acceptable to either of them. They had sworn to protect Zhou mi no matter what the personal cost and they intended to keep that promise. Slowly he began to shift towards the edge of the dock.
“Don’t be an even bigger idiot,” Kangin growled, grabbing him by the neck and dragging him backwards again. “You weren’t born yesterday. I know Zhou mi would rather be raped then have you commit suicide.”
“Kangin I can’t,” Kyuhyun said with tears forming in his eyes. “If I did that to him, I would never forgive myself. I could never make that better.”
“No you couldn’t,” Kangin agreed.
“Then let me-”
“For some stupid reason,” Kangin said, cutting him off. “Zhou mi trusts you without question where he has trusted none of us. Don’t break that trust.” With that he released Kyuhyun again, leaving him free to move as he turned towards the shore. “But before you go diving into any lakes, I suggest that you actually talk to Zhou mi. Wolves mate for life, and some know who their mate is the first moment they meet. It doesn’t just happen for no reason.”
“But you fell in love with Leeteuk first,” Kyuhyun said softly.
“I fell in love with him yes, but my Beast claimed him the moment we saw him. The instant I found him in that alley he was ours,” Kangin explained.
“Then how did you keep your wolf from hurting him?”
“My wolf has never been out of my control,” Kangin said with a shrug. “And I convinced him that it would be better to make Leeteuk come to us in the long run. Then we could claim him as ours again and again instead of only once. The Beast seemed to like that. Think about it.”
Kyuhyun nodded as his Alpha turned and walked back to the shore. He pulled his legs up to his chest and glared out at the water as if it had offended him. He knew he had been acting unusually out of character and sporadically. For years his Beast had held a tentative agreement with him and they had lived well. Kyuhyun had built up his walls of sarcasm and intelligence that kept everyone at an arm’s length. If there was no one close to him then he couldn’t hurt them and they couldn’t hurt him. It had worked well too, right up until the moment Zhou mi had walked into his life less than a week ago. A few words and a single touch were all that it took to destroy the shields he had so carefully built. Worse, he was having trouble putting them back up.
With a sigh he closed his eyes and did something he hadn’t done since the early months when he had been turned so long ago. He reached into his own mind and nudged the Beast within him into wakefulness. ‘Hey Beast,’ he called to it. ‘We need to have a talk.’
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Half way through the afternoon, Zhou mi snuck off with the excuse that he wasn’t feeling that well and he needed to lie down. It was a half truth at the very least, being surrounded by a pack of restless werewolves was making him feel out of sorts, even if they were expending their energy by playing some strange mix of volleyball, soccer, and football all rolled into one. Leeteuk let him go with a knowing smile, and he snuck back into the cabin and up to the room he was staying in, ignoring Kyuhyun’s gaze that lingered on him as he went.
He had settled in to finish the book that Heechul had allowed him to borrow and became so wrapped up in the words on the page that he read the rest of the way through without stopping until he had finished it. By the time he had closed the back cover, darkness had fallen outside.
No one had come into the room but if he listened carefully he could hear the quiet murmur of voices from the living room downstairs. Zhou mi pushed himself up and stretched, stiff from laying on his bed and reading for hours. He found himself to be a bit hungry as he jumped lightly to the ground, but more than that, he was itchy.
A slow itch somewhere between pain and annoying tingle was beginning in his feet and working its way up his body sluggishly. He was familiar with the feel of it and could ignore it if he chose to do so, yet he knew the werewolves would be feeling the same thing and they would not be able to ignore it. Zhou mi had no desire to be in a house full of werewolves as they answered the call of the full moon.
Quietly he moved to the window and opened it. The night air flowed into the room and made his heart leap with excitement. He quickly striped out of his clothing, folding it neatly and placing it on the foot of the bed for when he returned. When he was finished he closed his eyes and focused inward. It was easy to find the part of him, deep within him that was making him itch. Then it was a simple matter of throwing off the chains holding it at bay and allowing it to flow out and consume him.
The physical change was immediate and began at his head, rippling like a wave down to his toes. He dropped from his upright position and landed on softly padded paws. That quickly it was finished and he shook once to settle the fur and the new positioning of his limbs. The instincts inside him took a few more moments to bubble forward and he let them run through him for a moment before capturing that making them his. Even in this form he was still himself and although it was a bit more difficult, he could ignore the calling of the animalistic desires in him.
Zhou mi stretched lazily, arching his spine and extending his front paws in front of him, claws poking out of the edge of them. When he was finished he straightened and eyed the window he had opened. It was easy for him to jump to the sill and he balanced there with feline grace. The ground would have been too far for a human to land safely on, but when he leapt from it, he had no trouble landing safety on the ground, his legs bending to absorb the impact.
The instinct to run and enjoy his freedom, bubbled up in him, and he gave into, springing forward and settling into an easy lope that he could maintain all day if he need to. When he had grown old enough to actually wonder about his change he had looked in a mirror and discovered, quite surprisingly, that he was different than any werewolf he had ever seen.
Every time another werewolf had changed in front of him, they had taken the form of a wolf. They had varied in sizes from those that were much too big to pass as dogs to those that would be considered almost the size of a normal wolf and had come in all ranges of coloring. Zhou mi was only slightly bigger than his animal counterpart but he looked nothing like a wolf. He had searched the internet and the closest animal he had been able to find was a large cat, more specifically a cheetah.
Zhou mi’s body was almost identical to the large cat, built for speed and endurance. The one difference was in his fur which was pure black with the exception of the four silvery lines that ran in jagged parallels from his ribs to his hip on his right side. They shifted and warped before straightening again as his muscles bunched fluidly under his skin with every stride.
He ran through the forest in a large loop that eventually doubled back and took him back towards the cabin. When he reached it, he was panting lightly and feeling better than he had all week. It was easy to forget, while out in the night air and in this body, the strange reactions he had been having to Kyuhyun’s presence. He couldn’t figure out why not only was he not afraid of Kyuhyun when his Beast was fully in charge, but felt himself drawn to it as well. That unnerved him more then he would ever admit and he had no idea what it could mean.
There was movement from within the cabin and Zhou mi backed into the shadows, scrambling up a tree to perch high in the limbs. He stretched along it, his legs bunched under him in the event that a quick getaway was necessary, but relatively relaxed otherwise.
From the front door the members of the pack emerged, everyone wearing a simple bath robe. Zhou mi flicked an ear forward so that he could easily hear their words while the other monitored the sound of the night.
“Where did Zhou mi go?” Taeyeon asked Kangin softly.
“Don’t worry about him, he is fine,” Leeteuk replied. After his response they fell into silence and Kangin stepped forward. The light of the full moon illuminated the ground outside the cabin almost as if it was daylight and he walked calmly into it. The Alpha stopped in the center of the large patch of light and threw back his head. For a moment it looked as though he was simply going to stare at the moon with glowing eyes, but then his mouth opened and released an animalistic howl that in no way should be able to come from a human throat.
Leeteuk was beside him in the next moment, moving with inhuman speed and throwing back his head to join Kangin in his call. The rest of the pack followed him until one by one they were standing in the moonlight, weaving their voices together in a song to the moon. As much as the eerie song should have frightened Zhou mi, it didn’t. It felt fitting, as if the song and the moon were made for each other.
The pack carried the song for another minute before they let it die with a last note. Then, with Kangin in the lead, they began to strip off the robes covering them. They simply dropped the pieces of fabric to the ground as they spread out to give themselves plenty of distance from each other. Seemingly uncaring of their nudity in front of each other, every member of the pack turned to focus on Kangin who still stood in the middle of them.
Zhou mi wasn’t sure what they were waiting for, but a moment later he realized that Kangin was beginning to change. His face was lengthening into a muzzle while his arms contorted and shifted. As if cued by the beginning of his change, every other werewolf in the clearing began to shift. It was never pretty to watch a werewolf change from their human form to their wolf one. Where Zhou mi’s change had been fluid and instant, theirs were warped and lengthy.
A werewolf never shifted the same way twice and it was never a pleasant experience. The shift required, bone and muscle to reform, skin to stretch and allow fur to pass through, dangerous teeth to grow and several other things to appear entirely. Where Zhou mi’s happened instantly from one form to another, a typical werewolf had to experience the entire process in slow motion. The forest filled with pain filled grunts at the feel of the shift and Zhou mi was positive that the change itself was half the reason a werewolf was never pleasant to be around in wolf form.
Leeteuk was finished first, clearly one of the quicker changers and he stood and shook his snowy white coat as if he was settling everything into place. One by one the rest of the wolves finished and stood, repeating the same processes that he had just performed. Jaejoong was last to complete the change, and Yunho stood nearby until he had. Zhou mi had heard that the more a werewolf resisted the change, the slower and more painful it was, but then again he could never know for sure.
Even if his nose hadn’t been able to clearly identify each wolf by scent, he would have been able to tell them all apart simply by the way they looked. Each one was unique and looked as he felt they should when their human form was translated into one with four legs. Kangin was the largest of them all, easily able to touch a grown man’s shoulder with his nose without stretching too much. His fur was a dark almost chocolate brown and sleek, covering a stocky and strong build. He wouldn’t be as fast as some of the other wolves but he could easily outweigh and out power every one.
Standing beside him Leeteuk looked small despite the fact he was larger than any dog Zhou mi had seen. His pure white coat stood out in sharp contrast to Kangin’s dark fur and where the Alpha was all muscle and no speed, Leeteuk was built with the exquisite combination of both. He would have been breathtaking to look at, yet his coat was interrupted by discolored lines and patches and even some lines where fur didn’t grow at all. Zhou mi knew all too well that fur tended to do strange things when met with scar tissue and it was clear that Leeteuk was horribly scarred, so much so that it was painful to look at.
Standing nearly the same size as Leeteuk was Yoona. Her coat was completely black and smoothed down her body like silk. Fitting, Zhou mi thought, for an attractive female. Taeyeon stood slightly taller than Yoona and bore a grey coat that should have looked dull beside her, but somehow didn’t. Where Yoona was built balanced for strength and speed, Taeyeon was lanky and thin, clearly crafted to move swiftly.
Eunhyuk looked nearly the same with just a touch more leg to him. It looked as though his movements would be awkward but when he shifted it was with a fluid grace that surprised Zhou mi. He was willing to bet that Eunhyuk was not only fast but agile as well, if the lean muscle hidden beneath the luxurious auburn fur was any indication.
Compared to him, Shindong looked ridiculous. He was somewhere between Kangin and Leeteuk in size but Zhou mi couldn’t be certain how much of him was actual body and how much was due to the coat of fluffy grey fur that puffed up from his body like a cotton ball. Although he couldn’t see the muscle, he assumed it was there and decided that being hit by Shindong would be like being hit with a train.
Siwon, Kangin’s second, was appropriately the second largest wolf of the pack. He was muscular, much like Kangin but in a way that hinted at grace without massive amounts of speed. His fur shifted in tints and waves of brown with the exception of his muzzle which shown a pure white.
Yunho was slightly smaller than Siwon and seemed to be built much like Leeteuk was, an amazing combination of muscle and leg. His fur was dark grey giving him the appearance that he was covered in dirt. Beside him, Jaejoong stood with his head lowered towards the ground, looking absolutely miserable. His coat was a creamy light brown almost like caramel, and starched over toned muscle that revealed his strength.
The last wolf he focused on, either by choice or some strange coincidence, was somewhere in the middle in size in the pack. He was not as muscular as most but Zhou mi knew he was clever enough that it wouldn’t matter. His coloring was unlike anything Zhou mi had ever seen before and despite his strangeness, he liked it. It seemed to fit the wolf. Dark grey fur that wasn’t quite black, covered most of Kyuhyun’s body, fading to a slightly lighter tint as it ran down to his paws. On the tip of his nose and all the way up his muzzle until just between his ears, was a splotchy line of white, as if someone had taken a paintbrush and dragged it along Kyuhyun’s head. It was attractive and adorable all at the same time and Zhou mi gave a cat like grin at that though. He was willing to bet that it drove Kyuhyun to no end of irritation.
When all of the wolves were on their feet, Kangin threw back his head and began the song to the moon once more. This time, the sound seemed appropriate and Zhou mi had to fight the impulse to jump from the tree and join them, no matter the fact that his throat was not capable of producing the sound. Still some shadow of fear kept him rooted to the tree and away from the pack which he was reasonably certain would accept him with open arms.
Kangin ended the song a moment later and headed off at a slow trot into the forest. Leeteuk flanked him on his right and Siwon on his left, while the rest of the wolves filed in after them. Kyuhyun was last to move and he lifted his head, golden eyes looking directly at Zhou mi. He had to fight back the bubble of feeling that he couldn’t explain, or describe, that made him want to leap from the tree and see just how fast Kyuhyun was in an entirely playful way. Somehow he stayed hidden in the branches, certain that Kyuhyun couldn’t really see him.
A moment later, the wolf lowered its head and trotted off through the forest. Zhou mi waited until they had moved off a good distance before dropping from the tree. He could just hang around the cabin and relax, but that would have been entirely boring and a waste of a perfectly good night. He assumed that the pack would be doing what every pack he had ever seen had done on the full moon, hunting. He sniffed the air lightly, easily picking Kyuhyun’s scent out of the others floating in the forest. His tail flicked in excitement as he darted from the base of his tree to the next one, staying in the same direction Kyuhyun’s scent had gone. The wolves would be hunting some sort of game, and Zhou mi could amuse himself by hunting them. It seemed like a good idea and regardless of whether it was or not, the hunt was on.
Masterlist
Chapter Nine
AN: So sorry this took so long guys. I was working on another project that you all won't be able to see for another week or so and then this little beast was giving me so much trouble. I finally got it worked out and it turned out nice and long. I hope it was worth the wait. ^^;
Oh and I meant to share with you guys a few chapters ago, my beta found information about just how turtles talk! Turns out they kinda do. So for anyone who is curious like we were here is how sea turtles communicate and here is how snapping turtles communicate. Apparently no one really cares about regular turtles, lol.
Chapter Eight
“Welcome to our weekend getaway,” Eunhyuk announced as they turned off the main road and onto a small two lane beaten track. Zhou mi leaned forward eagerly and watched as the small brush gave way to trees that slowly thickened before they were weaving their way through a densely packed forest.
After nearly two miles of what had dwindled to little more than a beaten down trail, the trees began to thin again. Eunhyuk guided the car slowly around a corner as the forest gave way to a clearing. In the center of the clearing sat a beautiful cabin. A deck of smooth finished wood wrapped around the front with a bench swing and several comfortable chairs sitting upon it. The cabin itself looked like something of western design, something that could be found in the woods of America instead of in the heart of Korea. Zhou mi found that he liked it instantly. Something about the place called to him and bid him welcome.
“Here we are!” Eunhyuk called as he parked the car.
Shindong was leaping out almost before he cut the engine and Zhou mi pushed open the door to join him. He slipped from the car and stretched, enjoying the feel of extending his limbs after being confined for so long.
“I call top!” Eunhyuk screamed and bolted off to the house in a dead run, which for a werewolf was several times faster than a human.
“Not a chance!” Shindong returned, tearing off after him.
Leeteuk elegantly stepped around them as they clamored up the stairs and into the house. “Break anything and you will both be sleeping hung upside down in a tree!” he called after them. Then, “Zhou mi,” he welcomed with a smile as he moved down from the cabin and crossed the lush green lawn at a much more sedate pace then the boys had. “I’m glad you decided to make it.”
“I am too,” Zhou mi replied, surprised that it was the truth. Something about this place made him feel comfortable, much more so then he had ever been since arriving in the country.
There was a crash from in the cabin and an angry shout, and then Leeteuk sighed. “They are both going to get into trouble before the night is even through,” he muttered. He reached for Zhou mi, “Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”
Zhou mi wasn’t sure he could have protested if he wanted to, so he didn’t try. He allowed the older man to tuck his arm around him and lead him around the side of the house. “Ignore anything the brats said on the way over. I’m sure they were just trying to unnerve you.”
“They didn’t say anything that bothered me,” he replied and with the exception of one or two stories they had told about their monthly adventures, it was the truth.
“Good,” Leeteuk said with a nod. He steered Zhou mi around the house and then stopped at the edge of the back yard.
Just off the back of the house was a deck with a table and several chairs arranged upon it. Tucked up against it on the ground were various lumps covered with a tarp that Zhou mi was willing to bet were things like grills and wood. A few hundred feet off the deck was a pit ringed with logs. Judging by the remains of ash in it, Zhou mi was willing to bet that it was a fire pit.
Beyond it, the grass gave way to sand, that met at the edge of a decently sized lake. There was a dock that began at the shore and stretched far out into the water as well as several smaller boats tied to it. Around the backyard and beyond the lake, the forest began again and stretched for as far as he could see.
“What do you think?” Leeteuk asked, his face stretched into a knowing smile.
“I love it,” Zhou mi breathed. “It is beautiful.” He had never been anywhere like it and even though he had only arrived a few moments ago he knew it was going to be hard to leave.
“Kangin and I own this and roughly 100 acres of land in any direction. Beyond that it is really just forest that no one seems to do anything with for miles. We prefer if you stay on our property for safety reasons but no one will complain if you wander further,” Leeteuk explained.
Zhou mi nodded to show his understanding and the man turned, gesturing for him to follow. “I’ll show you the inside of the house.”
He moved up the steps and onto the deck. It was connected to the cabin by a sliding glass door that opened into an indoor dining room, with a table so small that Zhou mi doubted anyone ever ate on it. To his left was an enormous kitchen boasting some of the largest appliances he had ever seen. At least three people would be able to fit into the refrigerator and Zhou mi was certain that food for an entire army could easily be produced here, with little trouble.
Leeteuk let him stare at it for a minute before commenting. “It’s easier to cook for everyone here,” he said with a grin.
“I bet,” Zhou mi agreed.
Leeteuk gestured and began to move deeper into the home. The kitchen and small dining room, spilled out into a large spacious living room. Couches and chairs were arranged in a semi circle facing each other and a large fireplace. One of the walls housed bookshelves of books, while the others were covered by photographs of all types. “This is the living room,” Leeteuk said with a gesture, “and this,” he crossed the room to a door set into the wall on Zhou mi’s right, “is the den.”
Zhou mi followed him and poked his head in the room. Much like the living room there was furniture, less of it, but still arranged in a semi-circle facing a large television. All sorts of technological items were tucked in neat cubbies against the wall along with shelves of DVDs. “Technology is only allowed in this room of the house, with the exception of cell phones. I don’t let them in here much. They don’t need to spend any more time rotting their brains on the stuff.”
They backed from the room and Zhou mi followed him to the other side of the living room. A set of stairs began near the front door and ran up to a second floor landing. Beneath the railed in area there were two doors, the one to the left Leeteuk opened and showed him the downstairs bath. It housed the essentials, a toilet, sink and small shower. The door on the right was the master bedroom that Leeteuk and Kangin stayed in, however the door to it remained closed.
Leeteuk then steered him around and up the stairs. The landing was surrounded by a thick wood railing, presumably to keep people from falling off, and opened to the rest of the living room. Against the wall there were four doors. The first was a small bedroom with two beds, one on either side of the room. There was a closet in the room that was full of clothing with a distinctly feminine air and the room itself seemed to have a decidedly female touch. “This is the girls room,” Leeteuk told him, confirming his suspicions. “We don’t want to encourage any foolishness by letting the mates stay together. Their control isn’t that great as it is under the influence of the nearly full moon, and being with the girls just seems to rile them up more,” he explained before Zhou mi could ask.
Zhou mi nodded in understanding. He had personally seen a wolf almost kill another during a full moon, for no other reason than he looked at his mate. Beside the girls room was a large bathroom. Unlike the one downstairs this one was much bigger. It boasted two showers and a large Jacuzzi style tub. There were three sinks with a large mirror stretching over them all. Tucked in a corner, was a separate smaller room housing the toilet. “Wow,” Zhou mi breathed.
“You like it?” Leeteuk asked with a smile. “We had to expand because it was taking until mid afternoon to get everyone ready for the day.” Zhou mi laughed at that. Somehow it wasn’t hard to imagine this pack spending too much time in a bathroom.
The door to the next room was open. “This is the room that you will be sharing with some of the guys. Yunho, Jaejoong, and Siwon stay in the room next door.” Leeteuk said gesturing. Zhou mi stepped inside and noted the two sets of bunk beds, one on either side of the room, along with the matching sets of dressers and a small closet. On one of the sets of bunk beds, Eunhyuk was half onto the top bunk struggling against Shindong who had a hold of his leg and kept trying to pull him down. Zhou mi smiled at the seemingly ridiculous struggles of the two and tried to remind himself that they were both dangerous werewolves and not simply a pair of teens on a camping trip.
“Enough,” Leeteuk growled after a moment and pair looked up at him as if to protest. There was a moment between the trio and seconds later, Eunhyuk and Shindong were looking away.
“Fine you can have the top this month,” Shindong grumbled, releasing Eunhyuk’s leg and flopping onto the bottom bunk as Eunhyuk scrambled up onto the top with a triumph smile on his face.
Zhou mi knew he had just witnessed one of the infamous dominance contests that always surrounded werewolves. No matter what their human sides wanted to do, their werewolf sides couldn’t disobey a dominate wolf and that had forced them to concede and obey Leeteuk. He shifted awkwardly, not sure what to do with himself.
Leeteuk cocked his head to the side as if he was listening and then a grin broke out on his face. “Kangin’s back. Make yourself at home,” he said. Zhou mi stepped from the room and watched Leeteuk streak down the stairs and out the door. The open landing gave him a perfect view out the front of the house to the driveway where Kangin was pulling a bag from the car. As he caught sight of Leeteuk he dropped it and pulled the man to him. They met with a passionate kiss that seemed to last an eternity instead of the few moments for all of the love and desire Zhou mi could read in it. Then they broke apart and Kangin tucked Leeteuk under an arm, easily lifting the bag he had dropped with the other.
“They get horribly romantic during the full moon,” Kyuhyun grumbled, climbing the stairs to the landing with bags in his arms.
“All men get horny during the full moon,” Yoona called from behind him.
“I think it is sweet,” Zhou mi said before he could stop himself. He couldn’t keep color from dusting his cheeks as Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and brushed past him to the bedroom.
Taeyeon gave him a knowing smile, “I do too,” she replied. “Real love is hard to come by these days.” Yoona giggled and the women disappeared into their room, shutting the door behind them.
Zhou mi wandered back into the room he had been assigned to see Kyuhyun unpacking his suitcase on the lower bed. “I gave you the top,” Kyuhyun told him and pointed up.
Zhou mi recognized his bag on the top bunk and nodded. “Alright,” he looked at Shindong who was still pouting on the bottom bunk. “Um if you want the top bunk you can take it,” he offered.
“No,” Shindong laminated. “I lost the fight this month. Besides that is Kyuhyun’s side.” Zhou mi turned to look at the mentioned teen just in time to see him roll his eyes, as he tucked clothing away into one of the dressers.
“I smell meat!” Eunhyuk exclaimed sitting up, his head brushing the ceiling lightly.
“Leeteuk told me were grilling meat and vegetables for dinner tonight,” Kyuhyun reported.
“Awesome,” Shindong brightened instantly. “Then we can roast marshmallows later tonight and tell ghost stories!”
Zhou mi wondered briefly, as he pulled his clothing from his bag and refolded them neatly, if this is what it would have felt like to go to camp as a boy. He had never been allowed, mostly due to his tendency to occasionally grow paws and fur, but he had always wanted to attend. He was certain it would have been fun if he had ever had the chance.
“Time to make food!” Leeteuk’s voice rang through the house.
Eunhyuk and Shindong both scrambled from the room like hungry boys waiting for the lunch bell. He followed, slightly more sedated but just as eager, marveling at the fact that he might just be looking forward to this retreat after all. It could be fun, he figured, hanging out with friends and enjoying the wilderness. For a moment he forgot why he had been dreading it in the first place, and then the moment was over as Eunhyuk and Shindong by passed the stairs entirely and leapt over the railing to the floor below. They landed effortlessly and hit the ground running towards the back door, something that no human would be able to accomplish. It reminded Zhou mi immediately that they were not just a bunch of friends on a trip; they were werewolves, not human despite their appearances, and all the more dangerous because of it.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
“It was a dark and stormy night,” Eunhyuk began as the light of the fire flickered across his face, “in an old abandoned house.”
Yoona laughed and snuggled into Shindong’s side. “Wait let me guess, the house was haunted,” she said exchanging a look with Taeyeon who was leaning against Eunhyuk.
“Ah but our heroes didn’t know that,” Eunhyuk replied. “In fact they wouldn’t find out until it was much too late.”
“Is this supposed to be a scary story?” Zhou mi whispered to Kyuhyun who was beside him.
“It’s supposed to be. Telling stories around the camp fire is sort of a tradition. Eunhyuk telling awful ghost stories is another,” Kyuhyun replied, rotating a marshmallow slowly in the fire.
“Here,” Leeteuk said with a knowing smile, offering Zhou mi a stick with a series of marshmallows speared on the end. Zhou accepted it with whispered thanks, sticking it immediately over the fire and relaxing into the sounds of the night that swirled around their hushed voices.
“Your marshmallows are on fire,” Kyuhyun pointed out causally a few minutes later.
Zhou mi yelped and pulled them from the flames blowing air at them to put them out. It took Kyuhyun’s help to fully extinguish them and when they were out the fire left small blackened puffs in its wake. Zhou mi shrugged and grinned, pulling one off the end of the stick and blowing it to just below burning before popping it into his mouth.
“And they were never seen again!” Eunhyuk exclaimed as Zhou mi was finishing the last of his marshmallows. There was a moment of silence and then laughter filled the night air.
“The award for the lamest ghost story ever, once again goes to Eunhyuk,” Kangin announced, humor coloring his voice.
Eunhyuk rose to his feet and bowed deeply as everyone applauded. When he settled Leeteuk laughed once more before asking, “Does anyone else have a slightly more interesting story?”
There was a moment of silence. “I do,” a man Zhou mi was fairly sure was named Jaejoong said quietly. Both he and Yunho had arrived well into the evening and since their arrival had been mostly silent and kept to themselves, including to their own room at the end of the second level.
“Go ahead,” Kangin said with a smile, settling Leeteuk closer into his side.
“It begins with a man, a man with amazing talent. He loved to sing, dance and perform, and although he didn’t have a large contract or anything, he enjoyed what he did. The man had a best friend, someone whom he had grown up with, someone he thought he could trust, but he never knew that his best friend was hiding a terrible secret.” Jaejoong stared straight into the fire as he spoke and beside him, Yunho turned his head away.
“One night, when he had finished performing at a bar, it was late. The man was jumped in a back alley, severly beaten and left for dead. The man’s best friend found him laying there, waiting for death to take him. The best friend could do nothing, too much blood was lost, even if an ambulance could come in time, he would never make it. They both knew it.
The man’s once best friend made a choice that he had no right to make. He decided he couldn’t live without the man, so he would change him into a monster. He never stopped to think that the man would rather die than become what his best friend was, but the man was never given a choice. He was turned into a monster before he could stop it, and now he suffers, stuck in this world because his supposed best friend will not let him die. Death would have been better. Death would have been kinder.” Jaejoong’s words trailed off and silence fell over the pack members. Everyone was staring into the fire as if afraid to look anywhere else and Zhou mi wondered just how much truth there was to the story.
“Now the man is a monster that cannot die because he isn’t allowed. Not even when he longs for it,” Jaejoong’s voice was colored with bitterness. He stood slowly and tossed the stick he had been holding into the fire. “What is living if you aren’t free?” he whispered. Without another word he turned and walked away from the fire melding into the shadows as he moved from its light. Yunho waited another moment before rising and following after him.
Silence followed in their wake and Zhou mi try to crush the questions that were bubbling up in his mind, questions that he had no right to ask. “In the story Jaejoong is the man and Yunho is the best friend,” Kangin said quietly as if he read Zhou mi’s mind and the questions there. “Yunho brought him to me because Jaejoong could not control his wolf and hates everything about who he is.” Zhou mi inhaled sharply as he absorbed the knowledge of what that would mean.
It happened sometimes when a human was changed to save their lives. Some humans couldn’t take the presence of the near constant animal instincts, instincts that demanded blood and violence almost constantly. It would drive the humans to fear the beast within them, and thereby loose all ability to control it. Some would kill themselves, even creatures as hard to kill as a werewolf could still commit suicide if they knew how to do it. Others would go on a rampant killing spree as their wolf half took over, forcing a local alpha to put them down. Never had Zhou mi heard of a wolf like that, that hadn’t resulted in death.
“Yunho is foolish,” Kyuhyun said sharply. “He can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. He never should have brought him here.”
“Enough,” Kangin said firmly yet gently. “That’s enough.”
“I think we should all retire for the night,” Leeteuk murmured. It wasn’t an order exactly, but everyone took it as one as they filed from the fire and up towards the house.
Zhou mi followed, his mind filled with ideas of what Kangin was trying to do and just what type of wolves he had here. He knew he should feel afraid; an uncontrolled wolf didn’t bow to anyone’s rules, especially not an alpha. It was dangerous to stay in the cabin with Jaejoong just next door. Experience had shown him that crazy wolves had a tendency to go after him first.
Yet as he climbed the stairs to the second level, Kyuhyun brushed against him as he moved up and he was hit with a wave of reassurance and protective warmth that he couldn’t explain. It bubbled through him, tearing down any fears until they lay at his feet leaving him bathed in the feel of it. It was the strangest thing he had ever experience and he didn’t have the slightest idea what it meant, yet deep inside of him something was purring in contentment.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Eunhyuk would call him a creepy psycho stalker. Shindong would laugh and tell him to just jump the kid already. Yoona would tell him to take the romantic approach. Taeyeon would tell him to be a man about it. Siwon would give him tips on how to woo the object of his affection. Leeteuk would give him a lecture about being responsible while Kangin laughed. Jaejoong and Yunho would just stare at him in confusion as to why he was talking to them in the first place. Zhou mi would, well Kyuhyun didn’t know what Zhou mi would do and that in itself was the problem.
He wasn’t even entirely sure what was going on in his own head and to share that with Zhou mi might have potentially disastrous results no matter what the wolf in him was saying. However this close to the full moon it was incredibly difficult if not impossible to shove his wolf back into a neat little box in the back of his mind, even more so now that Zhou mi was constantly there. Instead he had to settle for a form of half control that left his eyes tinted with gold and his body hanging halfway off the ladder to the upper bed so he could stare at the object of his affection, deep in slumber.
Kyuhyun was positive that if Zhou mi’s eyes fluttered open he would panic and send the book that was laying open on his chest, flying at Kyuhyun’s head. Still he couldn’t find the will power to pull away and drop back to the floor. He was caught, clutching the top rung of the ladder, watching Zhou mi’s chest rise and fall slowly, and ignoring the Beast inside him that urged him forward to claim what it thought was theirs. Kyuhyun was deliberately trying not to think too hard on what that could mean.
Zhou mi sighed and Kyuhyun tensed as he rolled over and lifted an arm to scrub at his eyes. His other hand pulled the book off his chest and set it on the bed beside him. Kyuhyun had only a few seconds to make sure that his face wasn’t screaming “Look I want to eat you for breakfast and do other unmentionable things to you!” before Zhou mi’s eyes focused on him. He must have only done marginally well because the half awake teen offered him only a look of confusion and nothing more.
“Kyuhyun?” he questioned, his voice still rough with sleep and Kyuhyun’s knuckles turned white as he clutched the wooden slat of the ladder in effort to stop himself from lunging up and into his bed at the sound of it. “What are you doing?”
Kyuhyun averted his eyes and found it was marginally easier to function when he wasn’t looking right at him. “I was coming to wake you up. It’s almost eleven and Leeteuk says if you want lunch you have to catch it yourself,” Kyuhyun reported, unable to keep his voice from coming out as a growl.
“Uh catch it?” Zhou mi asked confused and pulling Kyuhyun’s gaze back to him with the words.
“Yeah you know fish?” Kyuhyun retorted, eternally grateful that Zhou mi was still too far asleep to notice the way he was staring at him.
“Oh, I’ve never done that before,” he admitted.
“Well get up and I can teach you,” Kyuhyun offered. The Beast in him seemed intensely pleased at that idea, pleased enough that Kyuhyun was able to jump from the ladder and land on the floor lightly.
“Okay,” Zhou mi replied sitting up and scrubbing his eyes again. “I’m just going to change and take a shower first if that is alright.”
“Sure,” Kyuhyun agreed immediately telling his Beast that they were not, under any circumstances joining Zhou mi in that shower and besides Zhou mi was lacking some of the nicer curves that Kyuhyun always though they would want. The Beast in him retorted instantly that Zhou mi would have fabulous curves in other places, and Kyuhyun was not thrilled that he and his Beast typically communicated with pictures and emotions instead of words, allowing him to see exactly what the Beast in him meant.
He turned his back as Zhou mi climbed down from the bed and caught the reflection of delicious curve of his spine in the mirror as he stretched. “I’ll meet you outside,” Kyuhyun snapped.
“Okay,” Zhou mi murmured, sounding confused.
Kyuhyun strode from the room ignoring the pleased rumble from his Beast and the knowledge that the only reason they were walking from the room is because the wolf inside him allowed him to. The Beast was amused, Kyuhyun was not. Not in the slightest.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
“I don’t think even we could eat that many,” Kyuhyun muttered, staring at the eight buckets full of fish and the ninth that was well on its way there.
Kangin laughed and cast his line out into the water once more. “Oh I think we will manage somehow, they are biting really well today.”
“Thirty two!” Eunhyuk exclaimed displaying the fish as long as his arm that was hanging on the end of his line.
“Dang it!” Shindong immediately exclaimed.
On the other side of him Siwon grinned as he reeled in a fish as well. “Thirty four for me,” he announced with a positively devious smile. Shindong groaned.
“And it could have something to do with the three who have been fishing since dawn,” Kangin offered.
“I’m beating Shindong!” Eunhyuk beamed.
“Yes, we know dear,” Taeyeon replied absently as she flipped through a magazine.
Every member of the pack had been assembled on the dock when Kyuhyun had arrived, and most of them were fishing. Leeteuk had seemingly given up fishing in favor of lying on his back and sunning. Both Taeyeon and Yoona had dragged reclining lawn chairs out to the end and were relaxing on them reading. Everyone else seemed to be putting some effort into fishing, but none were as exuberant as Eunhyuk and Shindong.
“Would you like to fish?” Leeteuk asked him, opening one eye to look at him.
“Not if I don’t have to,” Kyuhyun replied honestly as he settled onto the center of the dock being sure to keep away from the water.
Zhou mi came out several minutes later and Kyuhyun found it incredibly easier to ignore the desires of his Beast for the other man this time. It was very likely the presence of his Alpha that was helping him, still he couldn’t figure out when exactly his Beast had decided that it wanted Zhou mi. It seemed like he had just woken up one morning and the want was there leaving him confused as to how he felt about it.
“Hey,” Zhou mi greeted them almost shyly.
“Zhou mi,” Leeteuk said brightly sitting up. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes thank you,” Zhou mi replied with a smile that brought a growl from Kyuhyun. He squashed it out immediately but not before receiving a glance from Kangin.
“You don’t need to fish if you don’t want to,” Leeteuk told him.
“I’ve never been on a lake like this before,” Zhou mi gazed around the area as he spoke. “It is beautiful.”
“We enjoy it,” Kangin agreed.
Still smiling Zhou mi walked to the very edge of the dock and pulled off his shoes and socks. Then he sat, dangling his feet in the water and kicking lightly. Kyuhyun immediately wanted to pull him away, scolding him for being foolish and telling him that it wasn’t safe to do something so risky and telling him that the water here was much too deep for that, but the look of pure joy on Zhou mi’s face kept him rooted where he was sitting. He didn’t think he could do anything that might take that look off the other man’s face and that allowed him to ignore the Beast in him that was screaming that they need to keep Zhou mi safe.
Kyuhyun watched him play in the water lightly and reasoned that Zhou mi was an adult and not a child. He wasn’t going to just wind up falling off the dock because he had stupidly leaned to far forward or some other nonsense. Zhou mi turned his head, looking back and meeting Kyuhyun’s eyes for a moment. He offered Kyuhyun a smile that sent a strange feeling surging through him. Kyuhyun tried to smile back and he had no idea if he managed. Eunhyuk said something that grabbed Zhou mi’s attention and the man looked away before he would have had to figure out the expression on Kyuhyun’s face. Just this once Kyuhyun was glad Zhou mi wasn’t looking at him.
He stretched out on his back in the sun, allowing the sound of the wild and voices to wrap around him and fade into the background like quiet music. Kyuhyun was content with his pack and his new friend - he wasn’t ready to admit Zhou mi could be anything more than that - near him. Even his Beast seemed rather content for the moment and he settled down as well.
Kyuhyun had nearly fallen into a light sleep when he heard a large splash. It sounded too loud to simply be a fish and his eyes snapped open immediately looking for Zhou mi. He found, not the teen but empty space and the water beyond him resettling from being disturbed. “Zhou mi!” he exclaimed, rolling to his feet and making a lunge to dive off the dock.
A strong hand caught him by the neck and dragged him backwards just as he would have gone sailing over into the water. “No!” Kangin’s voice said sharply and with it came the power of an Alpha. Kyuhyun whimpered and dropped to the dock as the hand released him, unable to do anything but look at the water and panic. “Wait,” Kangin commanded placing a hand firmly on Kyuhyun’s back to keep him there.
Kyuhyun counted the seconds in his head, acutely aware of how long it would take for a person to drown. He only reached ten before a human head broke the surface and Zhou mi laughed. “Little bit chillier then I expected,” he said lightly as he tread water like a contented fish.
“Get out of there,” Kangin growled his hand still firm on Kyuhyun’s back and Kyuhyun whined again.
Zhou mi looked confused but he swam to the dock and pulled himself out of that water. Even Kangin couldn’t have held Kyuhyun down when Zhou mi was safely back on the wood. He scrambled forward and dragged the surprised teen, who released a yelp at the action, backwards away from the edge of the water. Kyuhyun wrapped his arms tightly around Zhou mi and held him in his lap, completely uncaring that his eyes were glowing a brilliant gold.
With Zhou mi in his arms, the Beast immediately settled allowing Kyuhyun to keep from doing anything else stupid. He buried his face in Zhou mi’s neck, unable to release him no matter how hard he tried.
“Kyuhyun?” Zhou mi asked. His voice held confusion but none of the fear that Kyuhyun was waiting for and he sighed in relief.
“Don’t do that to me,” Kyuhyun muttered into Zhou mi’s neck.
“Do what?” Zhou mi asked.
“Jump in the water,” was the returning growl.
“It’s not like I meant to,” Zhou mi said as if he was exasperated. “Someone bumped me as they walked by.” Kyuhyun snarled and lifted his head immediately looking for the culprit. Eunhyuk, Shindong, and Siwon were still standing on the edge of the dock where they had been fishing. Leeteuk was sitting where he had been as were both girls. The only two that had moved were Yunho and Jaejoong and Kyuhyun knew it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out who could be responsible.
“Leeteuk, take the pack and go start lunch,” Kangin said. It wasn’t an order with any power behind it, but Leeteuk took it as one. Without saying anything every other member of the pack began to rise, collect fishing supplies and filing off the dock.
The Beast inside of Kyuhyun demanded that they get up and draw blood for the threat to Zhou mi’s life and for once Kyuhyun mostly agreed with him. At the same time the Beast didn’t want to release Zhou mi back to where he could be harmed and that feeling allowed Kyuhyun to stay still as the rest of the pack filed off the dock.
“Kyuhyun!” Kangin said sharply from beside him when they were gone, and his head snapped sideways to focus on the man. “Enough,” Kangin growled, his eyes flashing a brilliant gold. Power washed over Kyuhyun and he whined immediately dropping his eyes and loosening his hold on Zhou mi. He felt the other teen being pulled from his arms but he was powerless to do anything about it. His limbs wouldn’t obey his order to move and even the growl that the Beast in him tried to force past his lips stopped somewhere in his throat.
“What is wrong with him?” he heard Zhou mi ask quietly. Kyuhyun could hear fear in his voice and smell the beginnings of it in his scent. It made him whine softly and flatten himself on the dock.
“Don’t,” Kangin said gently, pulling back the hand that Zhou mi had extended towards Kyuhyun again. “He’s not Kyuhyun at the moment. I don’t know what he will do. He would be in wolf form right now if I would let him.” Kyuhyun wanted to argue that, Kangin was wrong and he was fine, but even as he completed the thought he knew it was a lie. His Beast was practically running free and he was simply along for the ride.
“Then I can help him,” Zhou mi replied confidently, the fear fading from him.
“Zhou mi, his Beast is very angry right now. He thinks you could have died,” Kangin told him, pulling his hand back again.
“Why? It is just water?”
Kangin sighed heavily and Kyuhyun turned his head so that he could see them. Zhou mi was kneeling beside him, within reaching distance, if only he could get his body to respond and reach for him. He knew it would never work, not against the command of his Alpha and he shut his eyes so at the very least, Zhou mi wouldn’t have to see them glowing wolf golden. “Zhou mi you were the only person on this dock that could have fallen into the water and climbed out of it just fine. Werewolves sink, like rocks. We are too dense to do anything else. Even Eunhyuk who used to swim very well when he was human, can’t do it for more than a few seconds. It just doesn’t work for us. When you fell in Kyuhyun thought you would sink straight to the bottom like we do and the idiot was going to dive in after you.”
“That would be stupid,” Zhou mi replied his voice harsh. “He would have drowned and even if I had been sinking he couldn’t have done anything.”
“Not true,” Kyuhyun groaned. He needed Zhou mi to know, know that he would protect him no matter what. “I would have saved you.”
“Idiot,” Kangin growled. “You would have drowned without doing any good.”
“Strong, could have shoved him to the surface for you to grab,” Kyuhyun replied softly.
“You’re an idiot,” Zhou mi snarled and Kyuhyun could tell he was angry. Slender fingers slipped under his chin and grasped it firmly.
“Zhou mi,” Kangin said cautiously, “Don’t be fooled. Just because he is talking doesn’t mean it is Kyuhyun. The Beast can talk too, when it wants to.”
“He won’t hurt me,” Zhou mi replied immediately. The confidence in his voice made Kyuhyun fill with pride at his strength and pleasure at the fact that he wasn’t frightened of them. “Kyuhyun look at me.”
It wasn’t an order, Zhou mi didn’t have the sort of power over him to force him to do anything, yet the simple request was more powerful than any order that his Alpha could have given him. He gave into the fingers and tilted his head, allowing his eyes to open and hoping as they did so, that they wouldn’t frighten Zhou mi all over again. He simply stared back, a stern expression on his face, seemingly unbothered by the state of Kyuhyun’s eyes.
“Quieter or not, you cannot start jumping in to save me at the expense of your own life. I am not a doll for you to coddle and I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Zhou mi said firmly. Kyuhyun wanted to explain that it had nothing to do with his status as a Quieter and everything to do with something else, but he couldn’t find the words, not that he would have said them if he could have.
“And as for you Wolf,” Zhou mi said firmly. “I don’t care what you think you are doing but if you ever give Kyuhyun trouble again and shove him out of the way so that you can try to do something foolish to protect me, I will leave and I won’t come back.”
A whine rose in them, followed by a growl of displeasure. His Beast was intensely pleased that Zhou mi had given him a name, for that is exactly what it felt he had done, yet at the same time it was intensely dissatisfied that Zhou mi had threatened to leave for good.
“Sorry,” Kyuhyun growled. “It is hard. We want-” Kyuhyun managed to clamp down on his tongue just before the Beast said something that they might all regret.
“I think you should give Kyuhyun back control before you get into trouble with your Alpha,” Zhou mi said gently.
Kyuhyun glanced up and saw the smallest flecks of violet swirl through Zhou mi’s eyes. He strained forward and Zhou mi obliged him by moving in. He allowed Kyuhyun to settle his head on his lap and press his face against his stomach. The teen inhaled deeply and the Beast rumbled with pleasure. They knew that the chances were slim that Zhou mi would even understand what the motions would mean, but that didn’t mean it pleased them any less. They laid there for a moment, enjoying the scent of Zhou mi that flowed around and over them.
Then, in the midst of it, the sweet feeling of pure peace washed over them. The Beast immediately sighed in contentment and curled up allowing Kyuhyun to easily shift him back to the corner of his mind. It was like waking from a dream in the most pleasant way possible, yet being acutely aware of the ridiculousness that had occurred while he was sleeping. Worse he had been awake and an active participant in most of it.
Slowly, he pulled away from Zhou mi and sat up, glancing away as soon as he was upright. “Thanks,” he muttered rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Sorry. It usually isn’t this bad,” he admitted.
“Zhou mi,” Kangin said softly. “I think you should go see how lunch is coming.”
“I would like to stay,” Zhou mi said lightly and Kyuhyun noted how he was very careful not to outright refuse a command from an Alpha.
“I’m not going to play games with you,” Kangin said, probably harsher then he meant to. “I need to talk to Kyuhyun as one of my wolves and I feel that the conversation would go better without your presence. As you are not one of my wolves and a Quieter to boot, I cannot order you away, but I suggest you leave. You might not like the contents of this conversation.”
“Fine,” Zhou mi said gruffly, climbing to his feet stiffly. “But Kyuhyun didn’t do anything wrong and if you two are out here to long, I’m going to send out Leeteuk.” He didn’t wait for a response before turning and storming off towards the shore.
Kyuhyun chanced a glance at Kangin’s face and saw that the man was grinning as he watched Zhou mi’s retreating form. He sighed in relief and turned his eyes back to the water so that Kangin wouldn’t catch him staring.
“There is a lot of fight in that one, once he gets past his fear,” his comment was filled with amusement. “I doubt he even realized that he was drawing strength from his Beast.” Kyuhyun’s head snapped up at that. He knew he should have realized what the violet in Zhou mi’s eyes meant. “Don’t worry,” Kangin said soothing him instantly. “His Beast doesn’t work like ours I think. I am almost positive it works only to protect him and for nothing else.”
“But how?” Kyuhyun asked finally.
“Probably something to do with the fact that they were born together,” he said with a shrug. “Now more importantly, how long have you known that your Beast chose Zhou mi for its mate?” Kangin asked sternly.
“A few days,” Kyuhyun responded softly.
“That is dangerously foolish,” Kangin snapped. “And you know it, especially during a full moon. If I had known that, he would be sleeping in a cot in my room instead of yours.”
“Don’t please,” he begged. The thought of Zhou mi not being in the bunk just above his head sent a bolt of pain right through him causing the Beast in him to stir restlessly.
“Kyuhyun do you understand that the Beast in you doesn’t care what you think? He doesn’t care what Zhou mi thinks. All he cares is that he wants Zhou mi for his and if you lose control of him, he will claim Zhou mi.”
“I know,” Kyuhyun murmured.
“No you don’t know,” Kangin growled lowly. “He won’t just say ‘mine’ he will make it the truth. It would be rape Kyuhyun, brutal and horrible rape that would leave Zhou mi broken more than just physically.”
Kyuhyun’s eyes widened in shock. “Kangin,” he breathed. “You can’t. Don’t let me. You can’t let me do that to him.”
“I can’t control you if I’m not with you,” Kangin replied simply.
The teen swallowed thickly and glanced at the water. His Alpha was right, he couldn’t be with him always; he couldn’t control him at every moment. They could hurt Zhou mi in the worst way possible and that was not acceptable to either of them. They had sworn to protect Zhou mi no matter what the personal cost and they intended to keep that promise. Slowly he began to shift towards the edge of the dock.
“Don’t be an even bigger idiot,” Kangin growled, grabbing him by the neck and dragging him backwards again. “You weren’t born yesterday. I know Zhou mi would rather be raped then have you commit suicide.”
“Kangin I can’t,” Kyuhyun said with tears forming in his eyes. “If I did that to him, I would never forgive myself. I could never make that better.”
“No you couldn’t,” Kangin agreed.
“Then let me-”
“For some stupid reason,” Kangin said, cutting him off. “Zhou mi trusts you without question where he has trusted none of us. Don’t break that trust.” With that he released Kyuhyun again, leaving him free to move as he turned towards the shore. “But before you go diving into any lakes, I suggest that you actually talk to Zhou mi. Wolves mate for life, and some know who their mate is the first moment they meet. It doesn’t just happen for no reason.”
“But you fell in love with Leeteuk first,” Kyuhyun said softly.
“I fell in love with him yes, but my Beast claimed him the moment we saw him. The instant I found him in that alley he was ours,” Kangin explained.
“Then how did you keep your wolf from hurting him?”
“My wolf has never been out of my control,” Kangin said with a shrug. “And I convinced him that it would be better to make Leeteuk come to us in the long run. Then we could claim him as ours again and again instead of only once. The Beast seemed to like that. Think about it.”
Kyuhyun nodded as his Alpha turned and walked back to the shore. He pulled his legs up to his chest and glared out at the water as if it had offended him. He knew he had been acting unusually out of character and sporadically. For years his Beast had held a tentative agreement with him and they had lived well. Kyuhyun had built up his walls of sarcasm and intelligence that kept everyone at an arm’s length. If there was no one close to him then he couldn’t hurt them and they couldn’t hurt him. It had worked well too, right up until the moment Zhou mi had walked into his life less than a week ago. A few words and a single touch were all that it took to destroy the shields he had so carefully built. Worse, he was having trouble putting them back up.
With a sigh he closed his eyes and did something he hadn’t done since the early months when he had been turned so long ago. He reached into his own mind and nudged the Beast within him into wakefulness. ‘Hey Beast,’ he called to it. ‘We need to have a talk.’
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Half way through the afternoon, Zhou mi snuck off with the excuse that he wasn’t feeling that well and he needed to lie down. It was a half truth at the very least, being surrounded by a pack of restless werewolves was making him feel out of sorts, even if they were expending their energy by playing some strange mix of volleyball, soccer, and football all rolled into one. Leeteuk let him go with a knowing smile, and he snuck back into the cabin and up to the room he was staying in, ignoring Kyuhyun’s gaze that lingered on him as he went.
He had settled in to finish the book that Heechul had allowed him to borrow and became so wrapped up in the words on the page that he read the rest of the way through without stopping until he had finished it. By the time he had closed the back cover, darkness had fallen outside.
No one had come into the room but if he listened carefully he could hear the quiet murmur of voices from the living room downstairs. Zhou mi pushed himself up and stretched, stiff from laying on his bed and reading for hours. He found himself to be a bit hungry as he jumped lightly to the ground, but more than that, he was itchy.
A slow itch somewhere between pain and annoying tingle was beginning in his feet and working its way up his body sluggishly. He was familiar with the feel of it and could ignore it if he chose to do so, yet he knew the werewolves would be feeling the same thing and they would not be able to ignore it. Zhou mi had no desire to be in a house full of werewolves as they answered the call of the full moon.
Quietly he moved to the window and opened it. The night air flowed into the room and made his heart leap with excitement. He quickly striped out of his clothing, folding it neatly and placing it on the foot of the bed for when he returned. When he was finished he closed his eyes and focused inward. It was easy to find the part of him, deep within him that was making him itch. Then it was a simple matter of throwing off the chains holding it at bay and allowing it to flow out and consume him.
The physical change was immediate and began at his head, rippling like a wave down to his toes. He dropped from his upright position and landed on softly padded paws. That quickly it was finished and he shook once to settle the fur and the new positioning of his limbs. The instincts inside him took a few more moments to bubble forward and he let them run through him for a moment before capturing that making them his. Even in this form he was still himself and although it was a bit more difficult, he could ignore the calling of the animalistic desires in him.
Zhou mi stretched lazily, arching his spine and extending his front paws in front of him, claws poking out of the edge of them. When he was finished he straightened and eyed the window he had opened. It was easy for him to jump to the sill and he balanced there with feline grace. The ground would have been too far for a human to land safely on, but when he leapt from it, he had no trouble landing safety on the ground, his legs bending to absorb the impact.
The instinct to run and enjoy his freedom, bubbled up in him, and he gave into, springing forward and settling into an easy lope that he could maintain all day if he need to. When he had grown old enough to actually wonder about his change he had looked in a mirror and discovered, quite surprisingly, that he was different than any werewolf he had ever seen.
Every time another werewolf had changed in front of him, they had taken the form of a wolf. They had varied in sizes from those that were much too big to pass as dogs to those that would be considered almost the size of a normal wolf and had come in all ranges of coloring. Zhou mi was only slightly bigger than his animal counterpart but he looked nothing like a wolf. He had searched the internet and the closest animal he had been able to find was a large cat, more specifically a cheetah.
Zhou mi’s body was almost identical to the large cat, built for speed and endurance. The one difference was in his fur which was pure black with the exception of the four silvery lines that ran in jagged parallels from his ribs to his hip on his right side. They shifted and warped before straightening again as his muscles bunched fluidly under his skin with every stride.
He ran through the forest in a large loop that eventually doubled back and took him back towards the cabin. When he reached it, he was panting lightly and feeling better than he had all week. It was easy to forget, while out in the night air and in this body, the strange reactions he had been having to Kyuhyun’s presence. He couldn’t figure out why not only was he not afraid of Kyuhyun when his Beast was fully in charge, but felt himself drawn to it as well. That unnerved him more then he would ever admit and he had no idea what it could mean.
There was movement from within the cabin and Zhou mi backed into the shadows, scrambling up a tree to perch high in the limbs. He stretched along it, his legs bunched under him in the event that a quick getaway was necessary, but relatively relaxed otherwise.
From the front door the members of the pack emerged, everyone wearing a simple bath robe. Zhou mi flicked an ear forward so that he could easily hear their words while the other monitored the sound of the night.
“Where did Zhou mi go?” Taeyeon asked Kangin softly.
“Don’t worry about him, he is fine,” Leeteuk replied. After his response they fell into silence and Kangin stepped forward. The light of the full moon illuminated the ground outside the cabin almost as if it was daylight and he walked calmly into it. The Alpha stopped in the center of the large patch of light and threw back his head. For a moment it looked as though he was simply going to stare at the moon with glowing eyes, but then his mouth opened and released an animalistic howl that in no way should be able to come from a human throat.
Leeteuk was beside him in the next moment, moving with inhuman speed and throwing back his head to join Kangin in his call. The rest of the pack followed him until one by one they were standing in the moonlight, weaving their voices together in a song to the moon. As much as the eerie song should have frightened Zhou mi, it didn’t. It felt fitting, as if the song and the moon were made for each other.
The pack carried the song for another minute before they let it die with a last note. Then, with Kangin in the lead, they began to strip off the robes covering them. They simply dropped the pieces of fabric to the ground as they spread out to give themselves plenty of distance from each other. Seemingly uncaring of their nudity in front of each other, every member of the pack turned to focus on Kangin who still stood in the middle of them.
Zhou mi wasn’t sure what they were waiting for, but a moment later he realized that Kangin was beginning to change. His face was lengthening into a muzzle while his arms contorted and shifted. As if cued by the beginning of his change, every other werewolf in the clearing began to shift. It was never pretty to watch a werewolf change from their human form to their wolf one. Where Zhou mi’s change had been fluid and instant, theirs were warped and lengthy.
A werewolf never shifted the same way twice and it was never a pleasant experience. The shift required, bone and muscle to reform, skin to stretch and allow fur to pass through, dangerous teeth to grow and several other things to appear entirely. Where Zhou mi’s happened instantly from one form to another, a typical werewolf had to experience the entire process in slow motion. The forest filled with pain filled grunts at the feel of the shift and Zhou mi was positive that the change itself was half the reason a werewolf was never pleasant to be around in wolf form.
Leeteuk was finished first, clearly one of the quicker changers and he stood and shook his snowy white coat as if he was settling everything into place. One by one the rest of the wolves finished and stood, repeating the same processes that he had just performed. Jaejoong was last to complete the change, and Yunho stood nearby until he had. Zhou mi had heard that the more a werewolf resisted the change, the slower and more painful it was, but then again he could never know for sure.
Even if his nose hadn’t been able to clearly identify each wolf by scent, he would have been able to tell them all apart simply by the way they looked. Each one was unique and looked as he felt they should when their human form was translated into one with four legs. Kangin was the largest of them all, easily able to touch a grown man’s shoulder with his nose without stretching too much. His fur was a dark almost chocolate brown and sleek, covering a stocky and strong build. He wouldn’t be as fast as some of the other wolves but he could easily outweigh and out power every one.
Standing beside him Leeteuk looked small despite the fact he was larger than any dog Zhou mi had seen. His pure white coat stood out in sharp contrast to Kangin’s dark fur and where the Alpha was all muscle and no speed, Leeteuk was built with the exquisite combination of both. He would have been breathtaking to look at, yet his coat was interrupted by discolored lines and patches and even some lines where fur didn’t grow at all. Zhou mi knew all too well that fur tended to do strange things when met with scar tissue and it was clear that Leeteuk was horribly scarred, so much so that it was painful to look at.
Standing nearly the same size as Leeteuk was Yoona. Her coat was completely black and smoothed down her body like silk. Fitting, Zhou mi thought, for an attractive female. Taeyeon stood slightly taller than Yoona and bore a grey coat that should have looked dull beside her, but somehow didn’t. Where Yoona was built balanced for strength and speed, Taeyeon was lanky and thin, clearly crafted to move swiftly.
Eunhyuk looked nearly the same with just a touch more leg to him. It looked as though his movements would be awkward but when he shifted it was with a fluid grace that surprised Zhou mi. He was willing to bet that Eunhyuk was not only fast but agile as well, if the lean muscle hidden beneath the luxurious auburn fur was any indication.
Compared to him, Shindong looked ridiculous. He was somewhere between Kangin and Leeteuk in size but Zhou mi couldn’t be certain how much of him was actual body and how much was due to the coat of fluffy grey fur that puffed up from his body like a cotton ball. Although he couldn’t see the muscle, he assumed it was there and decided that being hit by Shindong would be like being hit with a train.
Siwon, Kangin’s second, was appropriately the second largest wolf of the pack. He was muscular, much like Kangin but in a way that hinted at grace without massive amounts of speed. His fur shifted in tints and waves of brown with the exception of his muzzle which shown a pure white.
Yunho was slightly smaller than Siwon and seemed to be built much like Leeteuk was, an amazing combination of muscle and leg. His fur was dark grey giving him the appearance that he was covered in dirt. Beside him, Jaejoong stood with his head lowered towards the ground, looking absolutely miserable. His coat was a creamy light brown almost like caramel, and starched over toned muscle that revealed his strength.
The last wolf he focused on, either by choice or some strange coincidence, was somewhere in the middle in size in the pack. He was not as muscular as most but Zhou mi knew he was clever enough that it wouldn’t matter. His coloring was unlike anything Zhou mi had ever seen before and despite his strangeness, he liked it. It seemed to fit the wolf. Dark grey fur that wasn’t quite black, covered most of Kyuhyun’s body, fading to a slightly lighter tint as it ran down to his paws. On the tip of his nose and all the way up his muzzle until just between his ears, was a splotchy line of white, as if someone had taken a paintbrush and dragged it along Kyuhyun’s head. It was attractive and adorable all at the same time and Zhou mi gave a cat like grin at that though. He was willing to bet that it drove Kyuhyun to no end of irritation.
When all of the wolves were on their feet, Kangin threw back his head and began the song to the moon once more. This time, the sound seemed appropriate and Zhou mi had to fight the impulse to jump from the tree and join them, no matter the fact that his throat was not capable of producing the sound. Still some shadow of fear kept him rooted to the tree and away from the pack which he was reasonably certain would accept him with open arms.
Kangin ended the song a moment later and headed off at a slow trot into the forest. Leeteuk flanked him on his right and Siwon on his left, while the rest of the wolves filed in after them. Kyuhyun was last to move and he lifted his head, golden eyes looking directly at Zhou mi. He had to fight back the bubble of feeling that he couldn’t explain, or describe, that made him want to leap from the tree and see just how fast Kyuhyun was in an entirely playful way. Somehow he stayed hidden in the branches, certain that Kyuhyun couldn’t really see him.
A moment later, the wolf lowered its head and trotted off through the forest. Zhou mi waited until they had moved off a good distance before dropping from the tree. He could just hang around the cabin and relax, but that would have been entirely boring and a waste of a perfectly good night. He assumed that the pack would be doing what every pack he had ever seen had done on the full moon, hunting. He sniffed the air lightly, easily picking Kyuhyun’s scent out of the others floating in the forest. His tail flicked in excitement as he darted from the base of his tree to the next one, staying in the same direction Kyuhyun’s scent had gone. The wolves would be hunting some sort of game, and Zhou mi could amuse himself by hunting them. It seemed like a good idea and regardless of whether it was or not, the hunt was on.
Masterlist
Chapter Nine
AN: So sorry this took so long guys. I was working on another project that you all won't be able to see for another week or so and then this little beast was giving me so much trouble. I finally got it worked out and it turned out nice and long. I hope it was worth the wait. ^^;
Oh and I meant to share with you guys a few chapters ago, my beta found information about just how turtles talk! Turns out they kinda do. So for anyone who is curious like we were here is how sea turtles communicate and here is how snapping turtles communicate. Apparently no one really cares about regular turtles, lol.