Lee's POV

“What are you doing here?”  

My brother looks up from the table he is leaning over. His silver eyes borrow mine for a few seconds. “I came to check on you. Kook said you were in a car accident.”  

I roll my eyes. Overbearing men. “I am fine. Not a scratch.”  

“He also said you were covered in your own blood and you smelled funny.”  

Seok-Jin walks around the table and takes two steps to me before stopping himself. He sniffs once. Then twice and frowns. How can this man, who also looks to be in his twenties, already have such a prominent wrinkle on his forehead?

“What?” I ask when his gaze doesn’t leave me.  

“Were you hunting?”  

“Earlier today.”  

“A bloodsucker?”  

“Yeah...” I frown, taking a sniff myself, but it still doesn’t do much. “Why?”  

“You still smell like it. Didn’t you shower?”  

I could kill him. I could. If I wanted to, I could rip my brother’s head off for this question alone. “Off course I showered,” I deadpan, keeping the bite of the words to myself. “As I always do every night and every morning.”  

“Maybe it lingered to your hair?” He tries and takes a step closer. “Yeah, definitely your hair.”  

This is the weirdness of having lived with someone. The bastard knows despite me showering twice a day, I don’t wash my hair as often.  

“I will make sure to keep the scent away from you tomorrow, after my next two showers.”  

My brother chuckles. He takes out his phone and scrolls through it mindlessly while still quizzing me. “Jimin said you missed date night.”  

“Jeez, I wonder why,” I reply with a saccharine smile. “It’s not like my boss called me to work.”  

“If you had told me, you had plans with your boyfriend I wouldn’t have called,” he cocks a brow and I swear the silver in his gaze lights up. “You know it’s important you two figure it all out.”  

The words I want to say, those that mean it is none of my older brother’s business, get stuck in my throat. Because it is none of his damn business, but it may be to our pack. Since Jimin and I are both in it and rank right below Seok-Jin, it will have an impact on how strong the next generation will be.  

“How are the wedding plans coming along?”  

“In order to plan a wedding, I have to be engaged first,” I explain to him. “You are one of the people who thinks a proposal is not needed since Jimin and I have been together for so long.”  

Why is it weird everyone keeps pushing and I feel like I want to live my life first? Kook is married, but he only tied the knot after he was fifty. My brother, in his early forties, still hasn’t found a wife. So why are they pressing me, at the young age of twenty-five, to marry Jimin?  

I could marry him and still keep my freedom. But I feel that lingering fear creeping on my spine and telling me as soon as I have a ring on my finger, they will force me to stay hidden. To lock myself in a house and do nothing more than breading the next hunters. It’s what most women in our community do, anyway.  

But I love to hunt. I love to keep my family and friends safe. And I can’t do that if I am carrying a little one inside. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jimin and he is my best friend. But even loving him, I can desire to stay in the current state of our relationship for a while. I can desire to be myself just for a little longer before I succumb to the pressure of society.  

Jimin is amazing, and I can see our lives turning great as soon as we get married. But I can also see our entire lives and the path they will take and somehow the idea of it doesn’t thrill me as much as it should. Because I don’t want my life to be as predictable as my family’s.  

I need to have a serious conversation with Jimin about this. Maybe he can move in and we can keep everyone quiet for a little longer. I love him, and I want to be a part of his life, but I also want to keep my freedom. Is that so wrong?

My brother eyes me. “It is what our father would have wanted, Lee, you know this.”  

“I do. I know father made plans for Jimin and I to be wed. But even so, he never mentioned when. And I still want my boyfriend to propose to me before I walk down the aisle.”  

“What is with you and all this demands? I thought you didn’t like old dated traditions.”  

“They are not demands nor traditions,” I scoff. “It’s expectations and something called the bare minimum. You are just oblivious to romance and an entitled leader.”  

His eyes flare at the insult, and I do my best to keep an innocent expression. To say I am playing with fire is an understatement. But Seok-Jin knows I will give him a run for his money if he ever decides to bite back. Father told us many things in the year before he passed. Or rather, was murdered. The vampire who did it is still on the loose, but I will catch the bastard one day. And when I do, I will kill him with my bare hands.  

“Since you made such a fuss to enter our Legion,” he closes all space between us and narrows his eyes. “I still call the shots. And if I tell you to get married right now, you will.”  

My eyes roll so hard I swear my brother’s breathing accelerates. “Sure.”  

“I mean it Lee.”  

“Whatever you say... boss.”  

I am about to leave, but my brother stops me. “You said you were out earlier. Were you hunting the creature that was spotted right outside of the city borders?” He asks and I nod. “The kids think it’s an old vamp.”  

“How old?” I ask, turning around. The younglings start patrolling the city and the surrounding area when they turn sixteen and have their driver’s license. The vampire’s scent is usually one of the easiest things to catch up, and they don’t need to have much experience to figure out their age by smell. But even if one manages to slip close enough from time to time, we haven’t had attacks. We are that good at stopping them before they make a mess. 

“Are they coming into town?”  

Seok-Jin shakes his head. “They had to be stupid if they did. We outnumber them. But the kids said they are old that is something to worry about. Vampires haven’t been in town for a while. My father was killed when he went to visit a family outside of the city. He was ambushed, and they took him down. Idiots thought it would stop us from hunting their kind.

To say getting the news of our father’s death was the hardest thing I ever did so far is an understatement. And Seok-Jin didn’t have it any easier. He couldn’t even mourn our father. As soon as the elders called to give us the news, he was informed he was to take our father's place. It’s kind of what royalty does, but worse. I doubt the King of England has to worry about a Chimera running loose.

“I will keep an eye-”  

“Not alone,” my brother stops me right away. “If you go investigating, you need to take either Jimin or Kook with you.”  

“You do realize I am strong enough to fend for myself?” I ask, raising my brows. “And both men you are suggesting that I take couldn’t win on a fight against me even if their will power was strong enough.”  

The smirk that takes over my brother’s features says it all. He is proud. The proudest he has ever been and I just need to figure out how to keep him feeling that way. After the last years, and after all the people we lost, it hasn’t been easy. Mom was killed alongside our father, and then Mina… I stop myself from thinking about my big sister before Jin can see the tears building up in my eyes.

He puts a hand on my shoulder. “I know. But for my own sake, please take one of the guys with you.”  

“Fine,” I sigh. “But you will hear from me.”  

I start walking away but still hear the words my brother mumbles. “I didn’t expect otherwise.”

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