Despite the terror that came with the possibility of enduring a night full of nightmares and bad memories, Jaemin was pleasantly surprised when he woke up to find that he had slumbered through the entire night without any problems.

A wide grin danced across his lips as he pulls himself up from the mattress, pleased to find that his bedroom was coated in a beautiful pink tinted glow. Another gorgeous day despite the bitter chill lingering in the air.

It happens so suddenly.

One moment Jaemin is anchoring himself in the warmth and familiar scent of his bedroom, letting his mind wander to the sounds of happy laughter and early morning mayhem.

The next his hearing is pulling back just enough to scope out his immediate locality.

There is a delicate thrumming of a heartbeat lingering along the threshold of his door, a gentle excited breath accompanying it. It draws another wider, more genuine smile to Jaemin's lips. He had grown fond of that excited heartbeat, surprised to have it back in his life again.

"I'm awake." His voice is thick with sleep, but it's enough of an invitation to get the person standing outside to push open the door and pop their head inside.

Jaemin tries to hide the giggle that tries to escape his lips, by raising his fist.

The sight ahead of him brings forward a bunch of similar gleeful memories that seemed to always happen during the morning light. Baekhyun often poked his head into Jaemin's room whenever they were on the run.

He would hide his body behind the door so that Jaemin would only ever see his head. They called it the 'floating head morning call,' it made the nightmare filled night disappear from memory and started Jaemin's morning off in gleeful laughter.

It seems to have the same effect even now.

Baekhyun gently closes over Jaemin's door, before bouncing his way across the room. Jaemin watches as the elder inspects his bedroom, lingering in the centre for just a moment longer before his gaze finally drifts back to him.

There was a warm look in his eye, his head dipping downward in a pleasant smile. Jaemin squeals as the elder falls down onto his bed with a gentle grunt.

They both collapse into a fit of giggles upon impact.

Baekhyun settles himself back down amongst the crumpled blankets at the end of Jaemin's bed, his eyes sparkling beneath the gentle glow in the room.

Jaemin falls back against his pillow, shifting himself so that he could lay down but also keep his head comfortably supported to hold a conversation. With the additional pillow, Jaemin throws it down the bed to Baekhyun who catches it easily and uses it to prop himself back up.

"Tell me everything!" Jaemin gushes, practically vibrating with barely concealed excitement. "What happened? Did you two finally talk?"

"We did." Baekhyun nods his head, a faint smile tugging on the corner of his lips. "I don't want to tell you everything because I don't want to get your hopes up, but I am working really hard to make my move here more permanent."

"Per-" The air in Jaemin's lungs gets caught against his throat, his body already seizing up in an attempt to release the building tension. Jaemin takes a deep breath and tries again. "Permanent? You want to stay here permanently?"

"Of course I do." Baekhyun's lips turn genuine, his hands warm as they fell on top of the blankets above Jaemin's legs. "You're my baby and I would go through hell and back for you, but I also want to be with you. I want to have a place to put down my own roots, a place I can be happy without having to look over my shoulder. I want to be with you, but I also want to be with the man that I'm in love with."

"You've finally allowed yourself to admit that, huh?" Jaemin wonders, struggling against the smile that is threatening to pull itself onto his lips.

He had his suspicions, had his own hopes and dreams. But they all paled now that Baekhyun had finally admitted it out loud.

"It was hard..." Baekhyun admits, his own smile diminishing.

Jaemin finds himself gripping onto his duvet cover, his scent unintentionally flaring out with a bitter cream undertone.

Baekhyun's nostrils flare at the presence of the new scent, his eyes lifting from the blankets beneath him.

"I was scared of losing him. I kept running because I didn't want Chase to grow suspicious, I didn't want him to realise that our feud was a cover-up. I never could allow myself to admit that I love Chanyeol because if I did-"

"If you did it would make it too difficult to leave." Jaemin finishes for him.

A memory drags itself into the forefront of his mind. Baekhyun lingers in the front entryway of the house, balancing on the threshold with a small reserved smile on his lips. Chanyeol had explained exactly where Jaemin would be staying, had even brought them both up to his bedroom which had only consisted of a bed and a wardrobe at the time.

It was obvious that Baekhyun wasn't ready to leave that day.

"I never expected to stay away for two full years Jaem... that was never my intention. But... every time that I tried to come back, I kept lingering along the border. I stayed just outside the boundary so I could speak to Chanyeol because I knew that if I came inside... if I saw him again, then I wouldn't be able to pull himself away again."

"Then what changed? What made you finally admit that you loved him?"

"Because I thought that I was going to lose him anyway." Baekhyun revealed, his breath catching. "I can a few days after those recon guys showed up to tell Chanyeol that the threat we thought was on your shoulders was handled. He surprised me when he showed up in front of me. He told me not to come to the boundary anymore, he was frustrated that I kept coming back and he was getting tired with having to say goodbye all of the time... He said that if I couldn't make the choice to stay, then he would make the decision to leave for me. I knew he meant it... I could see it in his eyes, he was tired. Everything that I was worried about, everything that I was running to protect, was crumbling around me anyway and it wasn't Chase's fault - it was my fault, because I was letting my mind win."

"So, you finally allowed yourself to admit that you loved him, because you were losing him?"

"In a way I've always known that I love him." Baekhyun admits, tears welled up in his eyes. "When we were younger I allowed myself to picture what our future might look like. Like what our children might look like... all of that came back to me when he turned his back on me. He was pushing me away and building an impenetrable wall around himself and the future I wanted to have with him. I love him, and I loved that dream-life too much to allow it to slip through my fingers like that."

"And you finally told him?" Jaemin's heart thunders in his chest. "You told him everything?"

"I did." Baekhyun sighs, allowing his eyes to close to relish the memory. "I gave him my entire heart and he's willing to keep it. He's giving me a chance here and I really want to take it. But if this isn't something that you want-"

"Stop." Jaemin pulls himself up from the mattress. He gently reaches out and takes a hold of Baekhyun's hand that is ghosting over his feet. "Don't do that to yourself. You don't need permission to love someone, you don't need to get my opinion on the matter before allowing yourself to commit to it completely. You haven't been selfish a day in your life, it's about time that you allow yourself to follow what your heart is begging you to. It's about time that you start doing what you want to do, regardless of the opinions of others."

"No one else's opinion matters to me." Baekhyun cuts through with a gentle bite. Jaemin sags as Baekhyun's free hand comes to gently cup his cheek. "I meant it when I said that you're my baby. You might not carry my blood, but you're mine. Protecting you is the only thing that has been driving me forward for the past few years. So, I need to hear what you think about this. This is important to me and important to you by association."

Baekhyun's breath hitches when Jaemin's touch lingers along his wrist.

"I've lived with him for two years, I've grown to respect him, trust him and love him. I think of him as my other parent. I've been hoping that the two of you will be able to work things out, but I never thought that you two would actually get out of your heads long enough to do anything about it."

"Yeah, well... we're both pretty stubborn people." Baekhyun sniffs.

"But I love you both.. so much." Jaemin continues, gripping his hold on Baekhyun's wrist a little tighter. "As your child, I give you permission. But as your son, you two don't need it. I'm just happy to know that you two could finally be happy together."

"Oh sweetheart...." Baekhyun pulls him into a tight embrace. Jaemin can hear how his breathing falters and how his heart-rate speeds up as he struggles to control his sobs.

The only thing that Jaemin could do was hold him close through the emotional breakthrough.

They both cried together, holding each other through the tears and the mending heartbreak. Baekhyun's fingers gently brush against the pink hair on Jaemin's nape, while Jaemin gently burrows against the elder's shoulder to sketch his scent into his mind where it had dwindled in the years that had passed since their last meeting.

"So family nights are going to become a regular thing now?" Jaemin wonders, a little while later when they had finally calmed down. "Because I have a lot of ideas that I want to do with the two of you now that you're both capable of being in the same room."

"We will have all the time in the world for that." Baekhyun seals his words with a kiss to Jaemin's forehead. "I have to let you know that I have to leave again after the full moon. It won't be for long, but I have a lot of loose ends that I want to tie up before I make my move permanent. Is that okay?"

"Will you be coming back?"

"Nothing will be able to keep me away this time." Baekhyun smiles, his eyes sparkling.

Jaemin knows in his heart that he means it. His promise wasn't empty, he actually sounded like Baekhyun actually believed in the words that he spoke.

It had been awhile since Jaemin had heard it.

"Then I don't have a problem with it." He admits with a teasing smile. "However, you only get two weeks to do as you need. If you're moving here permanently I want you to do it as quickly as possible. I was on the run with you, so I know how far your reach is. That's the only reason that you're getting so much time."

"Two weeks is perfect." Baekhyun giggles. "I have no problem with that either. I won't want to leave you and Chanyeol alone without me for very long anyway, so two weeks is a completely reasonable time-frame."

"You have to commit to a pinky promise." Jaemin threatens, his eyes flashing that beautiful icy blue that Baekhyun was very familiar with.

He holds up his right hand, the pinky raised with precision.

"It will be the only way to prevent me from going to look for you myself."

Baekhyun laughs at the gesture, wiping away the tear-trails that had dried on Jaemin's cheeks by now. He lets his eyes trail over Jaemin's face, before he too offers out his pinky.

They curl around each other with a fierce accuracy, a practice that they had perfected over the years that they had been together.

Pinky promises were a strong link between them. Jaemin held it to the utmost importance and Baekhyun who had always wanted to do the best by the younger. Hence, he had made it his mission to commit to the promises made by the pinky.

It meant something to them, something cherished, something that couldn't be easily broken or the consequences would be enormous. It had become a ritual, first used when Baekhyun promised to take Jaemin with him when he escaped by Chase's hold. It was used again when Jaemin promised Baekhyun to listen to everything that Chanyeol asked of him.

"Now that you've heard what I've got up to last night, care to return the favour?"

Jaemin thinks on it for a minute, recalling the ice-cream and the drive back home. His mind brings forward the memory of the kiss and naturally he finds his cheeks blast with heat.

"No, I think I'm good."

"Oh really?" Baekhyun's voice inches higher, his brows wiggling as he scans Jaemin's reaction.

"Yeah." Jaemin's own voice raises higher, his heart skipping a beat in his chest. Baekhyun's lip curl upwards.

"You're a terrible liar."

"We're supernatural creatures, everyone is terrible at lying."

"Don't change the subject." Baekhyun's eyes narrow, though there is no venom behind his gaze. "Tell me what happened when you got home."

"We kissed..."

"I hear that that is something that has happened before," Jaemin's blood runs cold. "want to explain what makes this time so different?"

"Because I jumped back against his lips when he tried to pull away."

"You take after me." Baekhyun leans back on his pillow, smirking wholeheartedly. Jaemin groans. "Oh come on! This is exciting news! You actually took control of a situation for a change, that's admirable."

"Please stop talking."

"I'm just glad that I didn't find him in your bed this morning, that would have been an extremely awkward situation to walk into."

"Appa!"

"Did I lie?" Baekhyun tilts his head, checking the room one more time before allowing his eyes to fall back to Jaemin. "It could have been a real possibility."

"We got interrupted." Jaemin admits, defeated.

"Who?"

"Jisung."

"Ah~" Baekhyun smiles. "The kid. How does it feel? It's annoying right?"

"Hey, you can't relate Jeno and I's situation to your own with Chanyeol-"

"Why not? It's the exact same thing. You have interrupted us, so it seems only fair that Jisung interrupt you two. Karma is a real thing darling, and it comes for everyone."

"Get out of my room." Jaemin laughs playfully.

"With pleasure sweetheart." Baekhyun leans forward to administer one last kiss to his son's forehead before pulling himself from the mattress. He stretches outward when his feet hit the ground, his fingers reaching for the ceiling. He lets out a tired huff when his arms fall back down to his sides. "But before that.. do you have any paper?"

"Paper?" Jaemin gestures towards his desk on the opposite side of the room. "Yeah I have a whole drawer of it," Baekhyun rushes over to it with a bright smile on his lips. "Second last drawer on the left."

A victory screech announces the appearance of the material. Jaemin watches as Baekhyun also grabs a blue pen from his pencil case which lay discarded on the table.

"What's going on?"

"I actually have class starting in about fifteen minutes, I don't want to miss out on anything so I'm borrowing the paper to make some notes."

"Class?"

"Yeah your darling boyfriend asked Chanyeol to organize a class for him and Mark to learn more about mates and mating, so I'm joining in to figure out how to be the best possible mate for Chanyeol. Apparently Mark's been freaking out that he's Renjun's mate but he says that he has some feelings for Haechan. It's all very messy, but he's desperate for some clarity and I couldn't allow myself to miss that crazy breakthrough."

"Wait," Jaemin throws off his duvet, eyes wide. "This class was Jeno's idea?"

"Yeah. He said that it was the only thing that he needed from Chanyeol today, after that I'm supposed to have free time with him."

"First of all, ew, that was way too much information." Jaemin shivers. "Secondly, you're sure that it was Jeno that asked for this?"

"Have you gone deaf?" Baekhyun teases. Though he quickly changes his tune when he realises that Jaemin is on the brink of freaking out. "Woah, hey, hey, what's going on?"

"Jeno is asking for a class that relates to mates. Why would he want to do something like that?"

"Because he wants to calm his best friend down?" Baekhyun can't see the connection, since he knows how protective Sparky is with his best friend. "Jaemin, why are you freaking out? Your scent is all over the place-"

"What happens when he realises that I might have a soulmate out there? What happens when he tries to take a step back because he thinks that someone else has a claim on me? He's breached vampire policies because he wanted to protect me, despite the fact that the only reason why we have those policies to begin with is to protect human; to protect him. He's protective sure, but what happens if that disappears because he thinks that he's overstepping an invisible boundary?"

Baekhyun sits in the silence for a minute.

Jaemin is quite certain that there is a flash of burnt strawberry that takes to the air, but it disappears almost as quickly as it appears. Baekhyun's brain struggles to connect the dots, the round orbs appearing in the air around him.

"I'm going to need a minute to process that one."

"Appa-"

"No, Jaemin, stop. Relax." That was a hard thing to request, but Baekhyun didn't know how else to phrase it.

It seemed to be enough to get the younger to take deeper breaths, his sharp spoiled cream scent pulling back to reveal the sweet cookie dough beneath.

"Soulmates are a rare thing sweetheart. Most wolves go through their entire lives without finding their own. Many people are debating if they even exist anymore. People don't like to think that their destinies are already written, so they like to try and make their own decisions about their lives. That's what choosing a mate is. It's a wolf's way of agreeing to being with someone, despite the possibility of there being a soulmate out there. Soulmates are fairytales. They might exist but it's hard to know."

"I always thought that you and Chanyeol were soulmates." Jaemin admits.

"I don't know if we are." Baekhyun replies, smiling despite himself. "We might be. It would be nice to think that the universe likes me enough to link me with the man of my dreams. But if it didn't, then Chanyeol isn't my soulmate. I don't mind, because I choose to love him. I choose to want him to be my mate. I choose him to be the man that I spend the rest of my life with, the wolf that my wolf is willing live and fight beside. My parents weren't soulmates and yet they made it work, they gave me an incredible life and I will forever be grateful for the love that they showed me."

Jaemin's breath hitches, his eyes filling with tears.

"You can't worry about how Jeno might take this, he's been handling everything thrown at him with incredible strength. Whose to say that he'll think that way? Whose to say that he won't want to fight for you, just like you want to fight for him? And whose to say that he isn't? Will you give up on him if you find out that he's not your soulmate?"

"No... but-"

"Then you can't put words into his mouth, you can't already decide how he will respond without consulting him about it." Baekhyun takes a deep breath, the paper crinkling in his hands. "I should know... I've been deciding how Chanyeol will respond to me for years. I only stopped last night because I let him take control and show me what he would do, in comparison to the ideas in my head. The reality turned out so much better than the dream."

"I just want a happy story."

"Sweetheart," Baekhyun gently places the paper down on the bed beside him, his fingers coming to rest on Jaemin's shoulders to keep his attention. "If you spend your life waiting for the romance or the happiness or the sadness to happen.. everything will just pass you by. You won't even notice that you had it until it's already gone. You know that I know what I'm talking about. I was waiting for this war to end before I could allow myself to be happy and I was at the point of losing everything anyway. So, I decided to stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. I took the opportunity and I am so glad that I did. I know that this is all still really new, we still haven't worked everything out yet, but-"

"You're happy?"

"A lot more than I have been." Baekhyun answers.

There is no fluttering heartbeat, no quiver in his pulse. His lungs don't rush to take in any extra air and his breath doesn't hitch either.

He's not lying.

"I love him..." Jaemin admits, blinking away the tears. "I finally start to learn what being in love feels like and it's to a human."

Baekhyun chuckles, pulling Jaemin into his embrace. The hybrid falls against his chest, sniffling.

"Yeah well, he's one strong human."

"I'm still not completely following..." Mark admits to everyone's clear disdain. His cheeks flare red as he glances down at his notes, shy but determined to follow through.

"Okay, take me through what you understand." Yixing - the ever patient doctor - offers him a kind smile.

"I understand that the whole mates are a choice and that soulmates are a stronger bonded possibility, but I'm still confused on the whole sex aspect of the process - the mating specifically."

"He wants to know if having sex ties him to someone. Has he indirectly mated with Renjun when they were together?" Jeno explains to the small group of people attending the lecture Yixing had set up in the kitchen.

Jaemin supposes that it was a good idea for Chanyeol to have sent Renjun and Haechan off on a grocery trip with Kyungsoo, Sehun and Jongdae.

Mark didn't look ashamed or embarrassed. In fact he genuinely looked thankful for his best friend's blunt question.

Jeno hadn't spoken a single word throughout the entire presentation, simply choosing to nod his head along as Yixing explains the distinction between soulmates and mates before jotting his own notes onto a refill pad.

"Soulmates," Yixing begins. "is a connection that is established at birth. Think of it as an invisible rope tied around a wolf's heart that stretches out to wrap around another person. No one can feel the rope or see it, and because of that some have questioned its every existence. Nowadays everyone is all about being able to choose who they are mated to."

"Mates are a decision pairing." Suho continues with a gentle, parental smile. "One must choose who their partner will be, but it is important that both wolves wish for the pairing. If one does not, then the mark doesn't hold."

"Yeah," Mark cuts through, raising his pencil. "this is the part that I'm confused with."

"A pairing must share consent. Both wolves have to want to be mated to each other. They both have to know what they want, otherwise the marking won't stick."

"Oh..." Mark's eyes widen. "So I couldn't have mated Renjun, because I didn't know that I wanted to?"

"To put it simply, you would have had to bite him for the mark to form and the link to be established."

"Okay, wait." Mark sighs, his hands rubbing harshly at his face. "You keep mentioning a marking, but can you explain it to me?"

"Think of it like a territorial claim." Baekhyun explains, lifting his head up from his own bundle of paper that he had taken from Jaemin's room. "Think of it like a permanent hickey. The top in the relationship needs to bite the bottom in the relationship to make a mark and visa versa. But if one person doesn't want to be mated to that person, the mark fades with time."

"Sample A." Suho pulls on the collar of his shirt.

Mark winces at the sight of the bitemark that is displayed on his left shoulder.

"Sample B." Yixing lifts his right sleeve to reveal a similar bite mark on the expanse of his wrist.

"Sample C." Baekhyun gently lifts the shirt he had stolen from Chanyeol's closet. His skin is clear, vacant of any markings. "I never wanted to be mated to someone, so my body got rid of his markings."

Jaemin watches as Chanyeol's eyes fall to the tiled flooring, his knuckles turning white on the table.

"Does this always have to be during sex?" Mark wonders, getting his pencil ready for any additional notes.

"No." Chanyeol explains, jaw clenched. Jaemin notices as Jeno's head turns to look at him, but he doesn't say anything. "anyone can claim a mate, it doesn't just have to be during sex. It can be whenever they feel comfortable enough to deliver the bite."

"Wolves are extremely horny creatures." Baekhyun cuts back in with a teasing smile on his lips. "They like their instincts, which is what tell them to stake a claim when they can. It's one of the reasons why mating usually happens during sex, but that's not always the case. It's also important to note that not every person that you have sex with, is your mate."

"Just the people you bite." Mark nods his head.

"Not technically." Chanyeol continues, making the new werewolf groan in confusion and quiet frustration. "Look, there has to be certain elements at play. You have to have a connection, yes. You have to want to be mates, yes. But you have to have intent behind the bite. You can bite for pleasure, like hickeys-"

"Or for pleasure." Baekhyun winks.

"But this bite, the mating one is different. It's instinct and intent that drive it. You need to have complete trust in your wolf to breach the skin deep enough for the venom to work, but not too deep to kill."

"Okay so," Mark raises his pencil again, looking down at his new scribbled notes. "Let me recap so I know that I'm getting the correct information here. Soulmates are a thing, but they're extremely rare."

"Yes." Suho agrees.

"Mates are a decision pairing. Werewolves have to enter into a deep understanding and have trust in their wolf to choose who they want to spend the rest of their lives with. Bites need to have intent and instinct behind them in order for the mark to remain. If a person doesn't want to be mated, then the bite mark will fade and no connection between the wolves are formed. Werewolves can have as much sex as they please, but they can only mate through these specific intended bites."

"You got it kiddo." Yixing's lips curl into a genuine smile.

"Is there any particular place that you're supposed to bite?" Jeno wonders, glancing straight at Yixing whose head snaps to look at him from the head of the table.

Jaemin feels his blood run cold, his cheeks burning when Baekhyun sends him a wink from his place next to Suho.

"Suho bite you on your wrist and you bite him on the shoulder. Are there specific places on the body where bite marks are encouraged?"

"Wrists and shoulders are the standard," Suho explains carefully, glancing towards Baekhyun before pulling his attention back to Jeno.

Chanyeol glances at Jaemin who shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

"There are other intimate places that are reserved by the wolves and their partners."

"Like?" Mark asks.

"The inner thigh for one!" Baekhyun smirks, taking a quick glance at Chanyeol. "It's extremely intimate, but it's unfortunate if you want everyone else to see it."

Jaemin tries not to smile too wide when he notices Chanyeol's flushed face.

"To show off your mating mark is a really important thing in our community," Yixing continues. "it announces to other wolves that you are claimed so the wolves prefer places where the bites can be seen by others. But the most intimate place for the mark would be the neck."

"Most people don't do that though because it's usually reserved for those who find themselves to be soulmates." Suho reaches out to thread his fingers through Yixing's.

Jaemin smiles.

"The neck is the most important part of you when you shift into your wolf." Chanyeol lectures, gaining everyone's attention. "It's the weakest part of you as a human, and the weakest part of you as a wolf. The neck is the one place you can guarantee a kill, which is why it's considered the most important place for a mating mark."

"Is that the same way for vampires?" Jeno wonders like it's an afterthought. Like it's just another bullet-point on his page. Jaemin's heart races in his chest. "When I offered out my blood when those guys showed up, Jaemin freaked out that I was telling him to take it from my neck."

"The entire supernatural community has a thing against necking." Baekhyun announces before anyone else could think of speaking. He winks when Jeno's eyes fall to him. "Like Chanyeol said, it is the most vulnerable place when you are human. Your main blood supply runs along your neck, so willingly giving someone access to your neck is a big thing in our community. You wouldn't have known what it meant, so no one blames you for doing it."

"It was just a surprise since you were basically placing your entire life into Jaemin's hand when you let him drink from you." Chanyeol finishes his future mate's statement with an extra punch.

It makes Jeno nod his head, his mind no doubt filing it away for later.

"Is mating something that happens with all supernature creatures?" Mark wonders, glancing up from his scribbling.

"Each creature as their own way of claiming a mate, yes." Yixing nods his head with grace. "Though I am only skilled in the werewolf aspect, I'm sure that Sehun would be happy to explain the vampire element to you both later if that is something you're interested in?"

"We are!" Mark sings, smiling politely. His shoulder gently bounces off Jeno whose entire attention is on the elegant writing of his refill pad.

"Jaemin sweetheart?" Baekhyun calls for him, smiling innocently despite Chanyeol's heated gaze.

"Hmm?" Jaemin responds, knowing that if he was to use his voice right now, his embarrassment would be easily recognizable.

"Do you have any questions for the class?"

Jaemin shakes his head, knowing to keep the smile on his lips. Thankfully, Mark takes the spotlight away from him, though he doesn't do it to help him.

"What about humans?"

"Pardon?" Yixing's head snaps back to him, eyes wide.

"Dude-" Jeno hisses, pencil snapping in his hand.

"Oh come on! You're in this supernatural world now, I want to know if there is a way for my best friend to get a mate or will he just have to put a good old fashioned wedding ring on it to make it official? Wait..." Mark glances around the table. "Are weddings a thing here?"

"Yes wedding are a thing," Baekhyun giggles. "I've been imaging mine for years."

"Oh good so I can be his best man after all!" Mark squeals, happily clapping his hands in excitement.

"Mark..." Jeno groans.

"Dude there was a time in my life where I thought that there would never be a wedding. At least here there is a possibility! This is a miracle! Yixing!" The mentioned man jumps in his seat. "Please tell me that he can get a mate too."

"There have been cases were humans have been brought into the community." Yixing confirms which makes Mark vibrate happily on his seat. "They're rare since wolves prefer to marry other wolves, but there have been cases were humans have been brought into the community. Usually through the transitional bite."

"Wait," Jeno becomes interested, eyes wide. "The only way that I can get a mate is if I become a werewolf?"

"No." Suho rushes to ease the tension that has effected the table. "No, humans can be given a claiming mark but they just won't be able to give one. Their teeth aren't equipped for the depth that is needed to make the mark."

"So he could receive a mark, but not give one?" Mark asks for clarification.

"That's correct." Yixing nods his head. "Other wolves will know that the human is connected to a pack, to a wolf. But the wolf won't have that same connection. No one would know that they have someone protecting them because the human can't reciprocate."

"And the only way that werewolves can be made is through an Alpha right?" Mark continues, brows furrowing in the centre of his forehead.

"That's correct." Chanyeol nods his head, holding Jeno's gaze. "Only an Alpha can make a wolf, but there are a lot of concerns about that."

"The bite can only go two ways." Yixing clears his throat, looking a little uneasy to be addressing this subject. "The victim can accept the mark and become a wolf, or the body could reject the venom and be unable to counteract it. So-"

"They would die." Jeno finishes for him. Yixing nods his head and Jeno writes it down onto his pad with the broken pencil between his fingers.

Jaemin's gaze lingers on him for a little longer, though he finds himself frustrated when Jeno doesn't raise his eyes from his pad.

It killed him not to know what was going on inside Jeno's mind. It annoyed him that even more that there wasn't a thundering heartbeat to indicate just how Jeno was feeling right now.

Everything was as it should be. No fluttering pulse, no quickening of breath. Jeno simply remained in his seat looking calm and collected, taking his notes like Jaemin's entire dream-like future hadn't just went up in flames.

He had been so worried about what Jeno would think if he learned that there was a possibility of Jaemin having a soulmate out there, that he didn't realise what was already staring at him in the face.

Jaemin wouldn't allow Jeno to make the decision to become a werewolf if it meant that there was a possibility that he wouldn't make it. If Jaemin had his way, Jeno would never be given the opportunity.

It shouldn't even be a question.

At the very least, Jaemin was comforted to know that there was still a possibility that Jeno could wear his claiming mark. It just hurt a little more to know that he would never wear Jeno's.