Jimin woke up his mates tail tickling his nose. She was a white and grey wolf, smaller in size to him, and even as a wolf she looked so feminine and petite.
Shock wasn't enough to describe his thoughts. He was surprised. She was a human, while mating a human led to them becoming more wolf like, it didn't allow them to shift into wolves.

 So how did this happen?

He placed a palm gently on her back. She was so soft, she stirred and her bright blue eyes opened to look at him with wonder, he smiled, even as a wolf she had the same emotions she reflected as a woman. She stretched her paws forward, arching her back and yawning wide. He chuckled at how cute she was, still unaware of what she looked like. 

She sat up on her haunches and wagged her tail. It swished left and right as it thudded against the bed. She looked down at her front paws and her eyes opened wide, the shock of realizing this made her shift again as she sat kneeling on the bed looking at him in slight terror. 

"What did I just do?" She asked, voice a bit shaky. He smiled affectionately at her, his eyes crinkled at the corners from smiling so hard. 

"I believe you just shifted mate."

Namjoons meeting den:

"Where am I ?" Came the unsteady, dubious voice of Olivia. "Gosh she's so melodious", "I'll explain it all shortly, I just need to know how you are feeling first. Is your head sore, does it ache anywhere?" He asked assessing her from head to toe again with his eyes, as if he missed something earlier. She shifted to get off, and winced, "I am fine, just lost about my wits after I fell, but I should recover momentarily. I'll be off soon and out of your hair." 

He looked at her in disbelief, "when I found you, you had been lying on the ground, hazy eyed and out of sorts, there's no way I am letting you go anywhere until I am certain that you have been fully mended young miss" he said firmly, crossing his arms as if strengthening his resolve.

She narrowed her eyes at him, suddenly looking very cat-like. She looked bristled, on the verge of arguing "beg your pardon-" 

"-excused," he said cutting her off. 

"These are the mountains young lady, not the towns and palace, as you'd be used to, this place is wild, creatures and animals mean no harm but if you're used to the area, you'll find yourself at a loss of what to do."

"Ne me dit pas ce que je dois faire. Crétin!" (Don't tell me what to do. Idiot/ numbskull!)
"Oui, je le ferai! et ce n'est pas comme ça qu'on parle aux autres"
(Oh yes I will! And that's not how you speak to others)

She stood dumbfounded, staring wide eyes at him. Her fingertips touched her lips in shock, her eyebrows rose up in surprise "Oh!", he gave her a smug look of triumph. "Didn't think you'd find bilingual wolves huh?" Namjoon asked, hands crossed, one eyebrow raised in challenge. She drew in a sharp breath, "no", she said glancing off to a corner, trying to find some footing, she felt so out of place. She needed to find Dawn.

Looking at her state, he felt sorry for her, "Look, just have a seat, talk to me about this, why was a lady such as yourself, gallivanting around the mountains unescorted?" The last part made her eyes narrow again, she looked like a cat with its hair all standing up, she answered through clenched teeth. 

"I was not gallivanting, I was on my way looking for someone. A lady is missing, I was tipped off, to come and search here", she said the last part with emphasis, trying her best to suppress her irritation. He looked down at her biting his lip, so as to not laugh, his eyes danced with mirth. 

"I believe you", he said grinning down at her, she sounded ridiculous, did she know that. 

"Trou du cul!" (asshole), she tossed over her shoulder, beginning to make her way out. Namjoon caught her by the upper arm and growled low "stay", he ordered. She mewled, eyes suddenly big and innocent. She relaxed herself and he let go. 

"That's better" he said. Namjoon led her into the kitchen, and pulled out a stool for her to sit at by the breakfast bar.

Found this beautiful art by Aleksundoor. Just love the illustrations, was perfect👌

He poured her a cup of steaming tea and placed it in front of her, he left some milk, honey and lemon in front of her, for her to choose.

He turned to get something, while she added a teaspoon of honey to her tea.
He turned around, placing a plate of lemon squares in front of her. She looked at him surprised, "If its one thing Alfred is good at, its baking." He said smiling sheepishly, "Just don't ask him to cook for you though" he said raising his hands up in surrender.
She gave him a puzzled look, "Alfred?", "Yeah, the one that gave you a warm welcome about fifteen minutes ago," she nodded then sipped her tea.

"Well," she began, "My name is Olivia, I am the governess for lady Dawn and a few others at royal court", Namjoon listened, giving her his full attention. 

"We were alerted that she's missing, the guards couldn't locate her in the town or palace. So I made it my duty and informed the King, who was at the time in a meeting. I was told to take the route that led here and I would find her. So I left at once, worried and scared." He nodded in understanding 

"What if something happened that was unimaginable. I didn't want to cause a stir, so I left alone, the fewer people know, the better. Fealie King Yoongi had said she was fine and that I'd find her here. That calmed me down so I thought it was alright to come alone." Hearing Yoongi's name made everything clear for him.

"Ah that makes sense" he said nodding to himself. "Dawn is safe, in fact I just met her early this morning. She's been mated" 

"Mated!?" She exclaimed.

"- yes, mated, to the beta of the earth tribe. You'll find her there. I guess its wise for you two to meet. Explain the misunderstandings, I'll take you to her. How's your head feeling?" Hearing that she chuckled, her laugh sounding like wind chimes in an afternoon breeze, beautiful and melodious to him. He closes his eyes and savored that beautiful sound.

"Well you are quite persistent", to that he bowed low in mock gratitude, making her laugh once more. "My heads a bit sore, but I really wanted to see Dawn, before tending to myself" she said, rubbing her arms. Namjoon noticed that, his eyes turing red. He rounded the counter and rubbed her arms vigorously , trying to help warm her. Werewolves had a higher body temperature.

He guided her back to the meeting den, stoked the fire and covered her in a thick quilt. "You'll catch a cold if you don't stay warm. Rest here. Change into something warmer and after a good nap, I'll take you to see Dawn." The days activities must have finally gotten to her, as she only nodded, eyes starting to droop.

She was out in minutes. Namjoon stood there, hand resting on his jaw. 

"What to do now? I can't let her sleep here, all the wolves meet here in the afternoons" he tapped his jaw in thought. 

"Guess there's only one option", with that he picked her up and climbed the stairs that led to the rooms on the second floor. 

Namjoon placed her gently on his bed and covered her with a blanket. He could sleep on the sofa in the meeting den. No one entered his room, ever. So she was safe here. No one would see her here.
She looked so peaceful, his hands moved on their own accord, and he stroked the side of her cheek with the back of his index finger, "I am Namjoon by the way..." he whispered out to her, even though she was asleep.

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Olivia's POV:

I wake up to a shrill sound resonating in the room. My eyes flew open in shock, I sat up to find a young man screaming and pointing in my direction. "How rude", I thought, thats no proper way to speak to anyone let alone a lady.
What was so alarming to him, what something wrong, was my hair unkept?
Was I snoring? No I didn't think so. Shortly after, a rather handsome man entered the room, goodness he knocked the wind out of my lungs. The young man stopped immediately. Suddenly out of no where he just took off. "Hmmmm, perhaps he's mentally ill... that should explain it." The handsome man turned to me and no words came out.
"Are you alright?" He asked me, "Hng! Am I alright, I am definitely not, no thanks to you." How dare he look so handsome and be so kind all at once! This is absurd, there's not one thing wrong with him, and that makes everything wrong, I'll tell you that.
Is it even possible to be that tall, those shoulders are a broad as this mountain, "he'll have a strong muscular back to support those shoulders...." He had thick muscular arms, "huh- hu-haahhaa (nervous laugh), however did he get those? What does he do? Why does he have dimples!?! That's not fair."

"Wait did he say something?" I wasn't paying attention, well not to his words at least... What am I doing, I snapped out of my trance, I am a governess for the nobles, I need to display what proper decorum is as an example. "Does it ache anywhere?" He asked, yes it does! Where? Well..... well I'd rather not answer that one...

Clearing my voice and shaking off my nerves, I decided to speak, but what came out was the most curt and improper reply for a lady. I hurriedly blabbed about being absolutely fine, which was a lie and leaving momentarily, and instead of thanking him properly for saving me, I made haste to leave. Not thinking it through, I didn't have my horse. It's not like I can roll myself all the way down.

The handsome man stopped me reasoning some very good points that I can't seem to remember, because I was busy staring at his good-looking face. Standing near him made my heart beat so fast, and my breathing became very slow, difficult. Better check myself at the doctor when I go back, this breathing thing could be an infection.

It was genuinely very hard to speak and form coherent sentences around him, it frustrated me, I should be proper and eloquent and yet here I am fumbling.
Everything is gone of plan! I am late, I never am. My head throbs, I'm exhausted. Perhaps I am just hallucinating, maybe he isn't handsome, maybe this man so ugly that my brain is seeing the opposite, yes, yes that must be it. Perhaps I should ask him for a shortcut to the towns and be off.
"I am fine, just lost about my wits after I fell, but I should recover momentarily," I began but he cut me off, enforcing that I needed rest, what I needed was to get away from him as fast as possible, I thought to myself.

He looked rather dashing while reasoning with me and I needed to leave soon, no now, I felt a foreign urgency, an urge to run away, I couldn't fall prey to thus charming man, "beg your pardon-" I began, answering to his argument, which he just dismissed so easily and matter of factly.
How dare he! How dare he be so intelligent and smart! I just remember being extremely irritable, my mouth opened on its own accord, blood rushing through my ears, I couldn't pay attention to much, too overcome with feelings and emotion I didn't recognize. He answered back in french, oh yeah, I spoke in French when I got annoyed. It was usually overbearing enough to get people to back off. Not him. Aaaarrrrrggg! He's so attractive in french! Aahahhhhhhaahha!!!!! I just wanted to pull my hair out!

Not wanting to show my inner demons, with great force, I managed to speak softly, properly to him. I had to be a good example of what a lady is like no matter the situation. His voice soft and kind now, he ushered me into this kitchen. There I explained everything to him, why I was worried, why I came up here.
He was a very gentle and understanding person. So attractive, but relaxing only made my pent up exhaustion hit harder, he must have noticed.
Chivalrous as he was, he ushered me back to the living room and placed a blanket around me. My brain started to get all hazy and fogged again. Before I knew it I was falling asleep again.

Art by Aleksundoor

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Back tracking to Hoesoeks POV the night of the meeting with the Fealie:

"So what exactly is a mate?" Came the voice of Ethan, the wolf that posed this painstaking question. Hoesoek held his face in his palms. "Why me?" He thought. Inhaling a deep breath he readied himself.

"Okay, so a mate, is generally a female that a male wolf links himself to or is connected to, kind of like how a husband and wife should be?" Everyone blinked and stared baffled at him.
" A mate is special-" he began again. "Like stupid?" asked Ethan.
Jimin took too much pleasure in this, he covered his mouth with the back of his hand laughing silently to himself.

"No, no she would be his other half, they say finding her completes a wolf." Jungkooks eyes doubled in size, "Wow I am so empty," he mumbled.

Jimin spoke up, "There are a few beliefs us wolves have, more like norms, things we naturally just follow since the beginning of time. Remember these and we'll answer questions later okay:
1. We remain celebate until we find our mate,
2. We mark them and mix our scent as soon as possible once we find them,
3. We never touch any other female ever, only in the extreme case that it is an unmated female in dire need of help and their life is at risk, but this is very rare,
4. Not all mates meet each other and are made aware instantly, in some cases, they meet and at a specific point they realise it, but the signs are always there, this one is important to remember, and lastly,
5. If your mate is human she won't be able to turn into a wolf, but will gain other wolflike abilties like improved vision, hearing, aging is slower and they'll be able to howl."

Hoesoek nodded, this is what we learnt and witnessed growing up..." Hoesoek said softly. " I understand that it would be hard for you, seeing as alot of you have grown up with just us males in solitude and you haven't even so much as seen another female. But keep in mind that these feelings are natural and shall happen of its own accord, you know the basics and that's important.

Go with your gut on this one," he completed, at a loss of what to say further about this. Hoesoek exclaimed, suddenly remembering, "Oh, and another thing to keep in mind which is important considering the fact that our mates are human is that we age differently. But once mated as Jimin mentioned, our aging sort of, mellows out and becomes the same."
"What?" Asked Jungkook, his eyes squinting, trying to follow what his alpha said.

Hoesoek sighed deep and heavy, rubbing his tired eyes he said,"they age slower, they match our aging so we die together"
"Oooohhhhhh" he drew out, understanding gracing his mind.

Jimin piped up, a mug of tea in his hand, he leaned casually against the armrest "Our life span is longer than humans. When we mate with our fated ones, they adapt and our wolf qualities pass onto them. They age at the same pace we do. Ideally mates die together...." he ended the last part of softly.

Hoesoek felt his breathing become difficult and heavy, he felt as if a large stone was placed on his chest. Jimin placed a hand on his shoulder, comforting him.

This was hard for him, since he fought at the front and watched first hand, how the ether tribe fell completely.

Jimin took over, understanding his misery, "are there any questions?" He asked softly. "Yeah" said Ethan, "How old are you alpha?", Jimin coughed to hide his laugh, "95 years old" he said a little annoyed, "Ah so, you are approximately 35 in human years, yes?" Said Clive, another omega. " That would be correct yes," said Jimin.
Clive was slightly younger than Jimin, but understood the differences well enough, like how they aged slow enough to look young as a thirty and forty year old for quite some time. Clive took the liberty of explaining this to the younger ones.

Ethan raised his hand, like a fascinated kid in kindergarden, "How do you make pups?" The entired room fell dead silent, all eyes pinned to the alpha, Hoesoek exhausted as he was, just stared at him in disbelief. He hung his head down, hands resting on his knees, "you've got to he kidding me", he thought.

"Oh! I know! I know! Me! Me!Me!" Exclaimed Jungkook, still wearing his frilly yellow apron. In an animated and childlike manner he began to regale them on his version of the creation of life, "Mother nature sends a flower to the mates house as a gift and then they take the seed of the flower and cover it with sand and grow it and keep it warm and- and- water it! And in a couple of weeks a puppy grows and ta-da! They are there!" Said Jungkook finishing with a flourish of hands spread wide in the air.
"Oh! - oh!! also judging by the colour and type of flower, our personalities and elements vary" he said matter of factly, nodding solemnly.

Hoesoek sat stunned, too surprised to speak and with little to no energy to explain the slight discrepancies there were. He narrowed his eyes turning to look at Jimin, who avoided eye contact and covered his mouth pretending to cough so as to hide his laugh. Hoesoek looked peircingly and questioningly at him, to which, Jimin explained, "he was a little puppy at the time, I couldn't possibly explain the real thing to him" he exclaimed.

"The real what?" Asked Jungkook curiously, "Nothing, that was an excellent euphemism" Hoesoek said. Jungkook narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Hoesoek and then as if it dawned on him he exclaimed "I am around 19 years old in human years!" Jimin just chuckled, "that was close" he whispered and then excused himself from the room.

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That night Hoesoek slept uneasily. He kept waking up from nightmares of the war, only to fall asleep and dream of them all again. He woke later than usual which was 4 am, a pounding in his head.

He went down to the kitchen starting a fire in the dutch oven to make some tea.
He was deep in thought, and for a while now he would have thoughts like , "what would it be like to have a mate? Where is she? Everyone has a fated mate. Why can't I feel her, I age slower than humans but that doesn't mean I am immortal". He felt lonely and miserable. He liked to think he could be better than that.
The talk of finding the one and being prepared made him anxious, he had a feeling deep inside that she was yet to come. He almost howled out loud from sadness. But then everyone would immediately know how he felt, and he didn't need pity.

Hoesoek was loosing hope, bit by bit, the corners of his eyes stung with tears, he faced the ceiling of the cabin and thought "mother nature, I could really use some help now, why do I have to feel this way?..."

Jimin was missing that morning, he'd gotten up and left the cabin.Iy was around 6 am now, Hoesoek and the others gathered to eat breakfast, they knew leaving him to be was best. The wolves ate early, Jungkook chomped happily on toast with peach jam, talking animatedly with the others, Hoesoek smiled and shook his head. It was ages since the war and yet the scars felt fresh as the day it happened.

They moved away from their old dwelling. The damage too great. They lived on a mountainous area that was rocky and hilly. It was high enough to keep further away from everyone. This was to make sure that no one had any unnecessary contact with the wolves again.

The biggest problems, greatest of wars always begin with the smallest of seeds. Things that could be resolved properly, but is never done because of people's egos.
He didn't hate the human race because King Jin proved many times, that humans arw not selfish or evil. It was just a group of outlaws that were evil beasts.

Hoesoek and the rest of the wolves usually kept a distance from the King and his courtly affairs, as a result they haven't spoken in a few years, but this didn't mean they were against him. In return the King respected their feelings and understood that they were to an extent still in a period of mourning. "You don't over come something that tragic in just a few years" said King Jin to them.

During breakfast, they heard a howl, it communicated relief, happiness and promise. It was Jimins mated howl. In a matter of minutes all the tribes had found their way to them soon and had excitedly spoke about the prophecy coming true so quickly. Hoesoek stood proud, Jimin deserved to be mated first, he was a supportive and wonderful leader. His second in command, who always knew what to do without him saying anything.

That day everyone cheered happily, the cabin felt more lively and an excitement broke out among the younger wolves, no doubt eager to find their mate too.
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Hoesoek sat alone at the kitchen table around brunch, all the wolves busied themselves with work of various tasks. He sat with steaming mug of strong tea, hoping it would cure the headache that never left. So lost in thought he didn't hear Jimins footsteps until he spoke, "Alpha?" , his head snapped up in shock, he found a concerned Jimin and a scared Dawn standing in front of him. His brow furrowed in question. "Something really unique happened to Dawn alpha, she- she shifted" he said. Hoesoek looked at Jimin alarmed and in shock, "Shifted?" He confirmed, disbelief written all over his features. Dawn sniffed, on the verge of tears, she was scared, "that won't do"
thought Hoesoek, "she needs to feel safe and welcome", he looked at Jimin and gestured to the seats opposite him, "would it be possible to explain more clearly" he asked. "I - I woke up as a wolf", Dawn said, worry and fear swimming in her eyes. "We can't understand why alpha, after all humans don't shift once mated", Hoesoek looked serious, he nodded and then said, "The Fealies, they'll know" Jimin immediately understood and nodded, eyes pinched with concern.

Hoesoek, Jimin and Dawn had put on hooded cloaks and left for the Fealie forest around midday. They were going to find out if they knew anything, about Dawn, for surely it was a phenomenon that never happened before.

Just some imagery of the other wolves mentioned, Ethan top right, bottom left, Hwans beta aka Blaze, bottom right Clive and top left Alfred, seeing as how he's not afaint now 😂

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A/n: Hey everyone, thanks for reading this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it. I added some images to share my ideas and what I thought would fit with the story. I got all my images from pinterest and credit to Aleksundoor and all the other artists that have created the lovely images.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you so much to everyone that read the story thus far, I appreciate it ♥
Sew you in chapter 6!