Kitana stays close to her twin, following close behind their oldest brother. She can hear and sense everyone around her conversing to one another; either it is a conversation done between a member of her small pack with the Enforcer who is walking with them or the muted exchange between his brother's friends. But she pays no attention to any of them, once again having her focus stolen by another.

Ever since the former captain, Jeon Junghyun, came to her aid earlier, she has felt some kind of pull towards the wolf that she has yet been able to shake off. It is completely different to what she had felt earlier when she began to sense the indistinct markings of her mating pull and not as strong as what she would perceive as a mating bond, but it still draws her to him in a way she has never felt before. Even his scent is way different to the one which had drawn her towards the pack earlier. Not only the scent from the pack itself, but to the individual scent which she had recognised as the scent of her mate.

When the scent she detected earlier was a mix of something woody and masculine and fresh, Junghyun's scent reminds her more of a seashore and white sand beach.

He is not our mate, she wonders silently to her fox. But why do we feel so strongly for him?

He is also mated, she realises when she catches the sight of the mark on his shoulders and the mixed scents coming from him which only mated shifters would have.

Too busy wondering about all of this and questioning herself silently, Kitana almost stumbles when she steps over through the border, not noticing that she has arrived at the place that she had been so desperate to reach. A pair of arms come to her rescue once again. Only this time, instead of finding one of her brothers as her rescuer, her eyes meet Jisung's concerned gaze as he holds her close.

"Are you sure you don't need anything? You're not hurt?" Jisung keeps asking her while perusing her with his gaze, trying to find any visible wounds on her to give him some reason to take her to the healer.

"I'm fine, Jisung. Really," Kitana immediately says to him. Hiding her uneasiness, she pushes against him gently to stand on her own. "I'll be okay, I promise. I think you'd be more useful to help the others with their stuff," she says, pointing at the other pack members who are lining up behind them with their small bags.

Jisung finds Hyunjin already busy helping out the others and sighs. "Okay, I'll be right back." Giving her one last smile, Jisung turns away to help out the others, while Kitana stays behind and quickly joins her oldest brother who has been watching their exchange.

"The boy likes you," Chan whispers to her while holding back a sly grin.

Before Kitana can give her oldest brother a response, her twin brother, Felix, passes by while grumbling, "And he better not act on it if he wants to keep his tail on his butt."

Kitana rolls her eyes behind her twin's back and keeps her pace to stay beside her oldest brother. "Don't tell Felix, but Jisung did ask me out early this year," Kitana whispers to her brother, revealing the secret that she has kept hidden from her brothers in fear that they would do something to Jisung when nothing ever truly happens.

"Really?" Chan asks her, looking away to find Jisung in the crowd, spying on the unsuspecting little fox with a frown. "I'm guessing that you said no?"

Kitana shrugs. "I didn't see why we should bother. Jisung is nice, but he's more like a brother kind of nice," she says, biting her lips before she admits that one of her reasons to reject him was because she was crushing on another friend of another brother. As if the Fates can hear her thoughts, Minho, another werewolf from her pack who is also Chan's best friend and her true first love appears right in front of her eyes.

Once upon a time, Minho would be able to make her heartbeat rise to a speed and her skin flush just by showing up. The wolf has grown up together with Chan, and both males have taken the huge responsibility of watching over her and her twin when they grew up as two mischievous foxes while their mother had her attention focused on Jeongin. She had admired Minho for his looks and his talents, since the wolf has always been able to move as agile as a fox and yet is still considered strong as a wolf. Her silly crush has lasted for a long time that it is still hard for her to move on from it.

She remembers turning eighteen a while ago and had deliberately run to find Minho while hoping that she would feel the sparks of the mating bond forming between them. Deep down, she had known that it would be nothing but wishful thinking. As someone who was already older than her by a few years, Minho would have felt the bond before she would, and up to that day, he had never once shown any indication that he had felt anything more to her than the brotherly love that he had shown her time and time again.

Still, not feeling the bond sparkling between them had left her feeling heartbroken and disappointed. It made her lose her faith in the mating bond for quite some time that she barely put any thought on it, believing that the Fates may not have chosen her a mate. And she has continued to feel the same until a while ago, when she felt the first pull coming from her new home, and then earlier just now, when she stumbled on her footsteps the moment a strong scent washed over her upon her arrival through the borders.

The distinctive scent had come to her like a strong wave; a mix of wood and spice, and a hint of patchouli, though she also scents a faint whiff of citrus following its trail. The moment the scent wafts through her, it feels as if her whole body comes alive, while the fox inside her begins to dance in joy.

'Our mate is here. Somewhere in this pack. He is here.'

The fox continues to sing inside her mind, while Kitana begins to look around, searching for its source. Everywhere she looks, her eyes would easily find the werewolves who have been assigned to guard the borders. Various scents overcome her, but none of them turns out to be the one she is looking for.

'Where is he? Why is he not here?'

Under the pulsing force coming from the pack which welcomes her at the borders and the various mixes of fragrance and the new vibe surrounding her, Kitana begins to feel frantic. Her head begins to spin the more she realises that she cannot find her mate among the crowd. All the faces begin to blend with one another, the voices and the noise coming from the guards who are calling out their names are muddled, and everything seems to melt into one that it becomes too much for her to handle and the ground beneath her seems to tilt off its axis.

A gentle hand lands on her upper arm, stopping her before she can get too far from the group. For a moment, her heart leaps with the hope that her mate has found her, but then she turns to find Minho looking at her curiously, his hand holding her gently as if he is afraid that she would fall. "Kitana? What's wrong?" he asks her with the same voice that had once filled her dreams at night.

But with her mind focused on finding her mate, Minho's presence suddenly makes her feel uncomfortable and instead of rejoicing the sweet attention that she has been denied from for so long, she feels eager to escape from him. "N-nothing's wrong, it's just—"

"Come on, little sis. They're going to show us the place where we'll be staying for a while," Chan calls for her, making her relieved to be able to find a reason to walk away from Minho while feeling dejected and disappointed for not being able to find her mate.

She becomes silent as she joins her brothers to follow Junghyun and Jay who are leading them to the compound. "This is where new arrivals are placed in to rest and to get used to the pack's dynamics until they are officially initiated into the pack. We haven't determined the next initiation ceremony since the Alpha is currently away, but we'll make sure that you guys can settle in nicely until then."

Junghyun stands on the sidelines as the younger Enforcer, Jay, guides the group to each of their own appointed quarters, leaving Kitana and her brothers to be the last ones to be escorted into their personal housing space. "This is where you guys will stay in until we can set up your new home. We usually reserve this space for bigger families, but since you have a few members of the family with you and one of you is mated, we figured you'd be more comfortable to use a place with multiple bedrooms."

Jay continues to introduce the rooms inside the living quarter while Kitana takes her time to enter, letting her brothers take the lead while she still has her thoughts wandering far back at the borders. After a moment, she takes a deep breath and finally moves to enter, hoping that she can finally rest.

And yet, instead of finding comfort and warmth welcoming her upon entering her temporary home, she is ambushed by the familiar scent that comes over her so strongly that it knocks her off her feet. Quite literally. The impact feels so powerful that she instantly falls on her knees, shaking, while whimpering softly.

'Mate.'

She can barely sense her brothers rushing to her in panic, until Chan's raging voice registers through her brain and she finally snaps out of it.

"Kitana, are you oka—"

"My mate! My mate is here. My—" she stops herself and looks around, finding only her brothers, Chan's mate, and the two werewolves who had led them to this place filling the room. "O—or, he was here, at least. Please, I know this is him. This scent. I am sure of it. I've sensed him since I first got here and now I'm smelling him all over this place. He was here, wasn't he?"

Chan's eyes grow wide and brighten at Kitana's words, clearly happy to hear about his sister finding her mate. He turns to the Enforcers just then, finding Junghyun already asking the younger wolf beside him about it.

Jay takes a moment to remember before he finally says, "Oh, right! This quarter was used by the Mins, the family that came in with the Hollow Pride a couple of years ago. You must have meant Yoongi, their second son, because he was the last one from the family to leave this compound while the rest of the family had settled in at the house that the Alpha had appointed them with," he says, before turning to Junghyun to explain more. "Min Yoongi is one of the fox shifters who came in with the pack and has been appointed as one of our Enforcers. He's a specialist in tracking and scouting."

"Fox shifter?" Kitana gasps, finding hope blooming brightly inside her chest. "I—" she becomes so excited and nervous at the same time that she stutters, "W-where is he? He's my mate. I'm sure of it. I've felt him before entering the pack and this scent—" she gasps once more when she breathes in deeply. "I just know it. It's him. It has to be. Where can I find him?"

Chan has to tighten his arms around his baby sister to calm her down while Junghyun questions Jay further, "Do you know where the Mins reside in?"

"Yes, Captain. Sir. But—" Jay begins to answer, only to start looking a bit nervous. "Min Yoongi has lived separately from his family. He has a cabin in the forest, just like most of our Enforcers do."

"Can you help me find him?" Kitana begins to plead with him, while Jay's face only grows pale.

"I—" Jay opens his mouth, unable to find the words. And when he is finally able to, his answer comes with a small voice that is filled with regret. "I'm afraid you can't."

Something in Jay's voice draws an eerie feeling through Kitana's chest. Around her, she can hear her brothers growling, showing how unhappy they are to see her in pain and for worrying so much. Meanwhile, Junghyun and Jay continue to exchange gazes in silence. Kitana keeps her eyes on them, trying to see if any of them are glazing over as a sign of them speaking in mind-link and talking about her situation secretly without alerting her.

But even when she had been following the group with her mind in a daze, she still vaguely remembers listening in to the conversation shared between Junghyun and her oldest brother during their walk from the border to the compound, when the wolf had revealed to Chan that he had left the pack a while ago to join his mate and build his own family at her pack, therefore a mind-link with a former member of the pack wouldn't be possible.

And yet, Kitana can still see Junghyun's eyes glazing over before rage takes over, as if he can still understand what Jay is trying to say—or not trying to say—and he knows that Kitana wouldn't like to hear the answer.

"Fuck," Junghyun curses with his eyes closed. He calms himself for a moment, before opening his eyes to show his regret and invites the united family of werewolf and foxes to sit down with him so he can explain everything.

Moments later, Kitana is seated with Junghyun and her brothers surrounding her, while Jay sits on the side and looking nervous the whole time. Junghyun begins to explain the situation that the Wolf Moon Pack is currently facing—how the recent chaos happening within the shifters community has everything to do with a prophecy about an Ancient War that is coming back to rise and the rebellion which had started from a neighbouring alliance. Then he continues to explain to the brothers that one of the reasons why he had been travelling home during the time they met earlier was because the pack needs someone to take over a few void positions temporarily, including his old rank which had been filled by his younger brother who is now at war, and to explain what Jay had meant earlier when he mentioned about having most of their Enforcers gone.

"The Alpha has offered to assist our alliance in an upcoming battle. This would be a dangerous mission with so many at risk, so he had taken a group of Enforcers with him and Min Yoongi is among them. The latest news stated that he has been appointed as the Alpha's personal tracker and bodyguard, although it is well known that Min Yoongi is the best scout and spy we have ever had, so there is no doubt that he will end up in the frontline," Jay adds later, since this is the one information that he has yet to have a chance to relay on Junghyun.

"He—" Kitana whispers, finding herself unable to react, or to speak, as if her voice, her breath, her heart, are now clogged together inside her throat. "He is at the war?"

Jay gives her a grim smile and regretfully nods his head. "I'm sorry."

For the next few days, the new arrivals from the Light Howlers pack begin to settle in. Chan and his mate, Haeun, have even gotten around to find jobs to make themselves useful for the pack while they are waiting for the Initiation Ceremony, while Felix and the rest of the gang have been getting around the pack to learn more about their new homeland and to prepare themselves to join the pack's battle training which was said to be mandatory for the male shifters.

Kitana has also been preparing herself for it, as she refuses to be left behind and wanting a chance to contribute to the pack the same way her mate has been doing—by protecting their homeland. But she also has another mission aside from the training, which has also become the reason why she has been tailing Jay for the past few days.

"Jay, please—" she pleads to him as she follows Jay across the business district in the pack while he is doing his duty for the day. She realises that her presence is irritating the poor Enforcer, which is exactly what she has hoped for, in the hope of being able to get Jay to finally bend to her will.

At least she is not completely heartless and gets in his way from doing his job. In fact, Kitana has been lending her hand to him throughout the time she has been shadowing him. From giving a hand when he was tasked to carry delivery boxes to the daycare center to helping out the kitchen staff to carry their groceries together. In the end, Kitana begins to suspect that Jay has been secretly taking advantage of this by having her help him finish his work early.

Just when Jay is about to step into the packhouse at the end of the day, Kitana slips right into his path, knowing how easy it would be for her to lose him in the crowded dining room as it is already time for dinner. "Please, Jay. I beg you. Help me," she pleads to him one more time with a pout, while the Enforcer can only sigh.

He opens his mouth as he is about to respond, yet Junghyun slips into view to interrupt their conversation. "What is going on?"

Immediately, Kitana grows stiff. She has yet to understand the reason why Junghyun's presence has always affected her. She feels some kind of bond between them that makes her slightly uncomfortable while feeling like she can somehow rely on him. In a brothers and sisters kind of way, not as lovers. She keeps her eyes looking down and away from Junghyun's face, suddenly feeling guilty for some reason, while Jay explains to him, "Kitana has been asking for my help, Captain. But I've kept telling her that it's impossible."

Junghyun raises his brows. "What kind of help?"

"It's my mate," Kitana quickly says before Jay can say anything. "I need to find him. All I'm asking is for a chance to contact him, or maybe to see him for a while. I won't be on his way, I promise. I haven't even been in Jay's way while I'm around him, so I know how not to bother him."

Junghyun looks at her as if he can understand her. With a nod, he dismisses Jay and lets him leave, while he gently guides Kitana to follow him away from the packhouse. "I know that you are worried about your mate, but I can't allow you to leave, I'm sorry. It doesn't matter who your mate is, I'm sure he wouldn't like it if I let you chase him out there where it's dangerous."

Kitana's eyes burn with unshed tears. The hopeless feeling that has been haunting her since the moment she found out that her mate is out there to join the war returns to her full force. She has denied the feeling for so long, refusing to let her despair bring her down or hold her back from trying to find a way to reach out to him. With every opportunity taken away from her, she can only sigh in defeat. "What if he doesn't return? You said so yourself, that this is a dangerous mission that your pack has gone to. What if he doesn't come back?"

With a sigh, Junghyun turns to her, giving her a reassuring smile while placing his hands on her shoulders. "If he truly is one of our Enforcers, I can assure you that he is well trained. I promise you that I will keep in touch with my contact on the battlefield and make sure that he will be alright," he says while looking into Kitana's eyes to make sure that she listens to him well. "We will do the best we can to make sure that you will be united with your mate once this is all over. You have my word."

That night, Kitana returns to the family compound feeling completely numb. She has no idea if she would be able to sit tight and wait until the war is over. Her mind continues to wander off to her mate who is somewhere out there, completely oblivious to her presence.

As she lies down on her bed that night, with nothing but silence surrounding her as the rest of her family had fallen asleep, she wonders what kind of person her mate truly is. For the past few days, while following Jay around and doing a bunch of activities with the other female shifters that she had met in the pack, she has been gathering as much information about her mate as she can.

Many have said that Min Yoongi is a hard worker. He is ambitious, always wants to give his best in everything that he does. That he is the best tracker that the pack has ever had, and extremely reliable to the point that the Alpha himself had insisted him to join his special troops for the war. She had also heard the Enforcers talking about his intention of challenging the third-in-command position so he can represent the fox shifters by holding a rank in the pack, and the news makes her feel even more proud and eager to meet him in person.

Funny enough, a few of those Enforcers had also told her that Yoongi has spent most of the time with two people—one of them is the Beta's mate, while the other is the current Captain of the Enforcers, Jeon Jungkook, who turns out to be Junghyun's little brother.

They talk about how Jungkook would appear wherever Yoongi is and vice versa, though it doesn't always seem as if they were deliberately spending the time together but more like they gravitate towards one another to always end up being at the same place and the same time for people to finally notice.

It seems highly convenient that they are both linked to Junghyun's family in some way and it is intriguing to think about. As she slowly gives in to sleep, she tries to find the connection between Yoongi and Jungkook and also between her and Junghyun. Is it merely a coincidence that she feels some kind of peculiar bond to the brother of her mate's closest friend? Do both males feel the same bond as well, which has made them somehow close to each other?

In the end, Kitana falls asleep without finding an answer, but then an odd dream comes to her in her sleep. In her dream, she sees herself running through a meadow, and she is not alone. Right beside her is a male fox, with his figure looking slightly bigger compared to her and with his muscles a lot more toned, making her feel an intense pride brewing in her chest knowing that her mate is a strong male who is also agile in his movement as he runs along with her.

Then she looks on her other side, finding a massive wolf running together with them. She finds herself entranced at the sight of him, as the wolf's fur glows brightly under the sunlight. His entire body is covered in blonde coloured fur that looks golden under the sun, while his paws are white, making him look as if he is wearing shoes or comfortable socks. The wolf turns to look at her with his eyes glowing golden, and her entire body sparks alight, the rush of excitement runs down to her core that she feels the need to wiggle her tail on his face to tease while offering herself to him.

Being flanked by both magnificent looking males, Kitana feels like she is on top of the world. She feels stronger with both of them by her side, the bond connecting them together makes her body grows hot while she feels lighter at the same time. The three of them continue to run towards the end of the meadow, slipping into the dense forest beyond with both males protecting her from the dark. A wooden cabin appears to her at the end of their path, and one simple word appears in her thoughts at the same time her chest blooms with warmth.

Home.