Ever More

I went back to bed seeing Sehun was awake.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” I say to him as I set my glass down.

“It’s ok.” I felt him almost sadden.

“What’s wrong?” I asked crawling back in next to him.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” He asks me. “Maybe I can just pass it on to whoever this other wolf is. We don’t have to stay there.”

“You heard Luhan.” I say sighing. “Sehun. I want to do whatever you want to do. I told you that already. If this is what you want then I am going with you. Luhan will be fine. He is just upset right now. Once we are there he will calm down.”

“I just don’t want you to regret going.” He says holding me.

“I won’t. I promise.” I lean up kissing him. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

We both fell back asleep quickly. At seven Kris woke everyone up to get moving again.

“Are you sure you can’t stay one more night?” Maria asked us as we stood on the porch saying our goodbyes.

“We have to.” I say apologetically. “We still have a long way to go.”

“Well, be safe.” She says hugging me again. “And if you guys need anything then call. And make sure to visit. We’re allies now so don’t hesitate!”

“We won’t hesitate.” I say smiling.

“Good luck!” She says smiling at us as we walk toward the forest.

It took a day and a half to get to the Jefferson’s territory. As we approached the entrance to the clearing Kat and I both changed into our dresses.

“Do Maranda and I really need to go in there?” Kat asked Kris as I zipped her up.

“Kat, you know you have to.” Kris says sighing. “It will only be an hour at the most and then we will get back to the forest.”

“She is just such an evil woman.” She says grumbling.

“She isn’t evil. She is just traditional. Now come on, we want to be here as little as possible right?” He says changing to carry her the rest of the way.

“Traditional my ass.” Kat says walking passed him.

I hadn’t met Mrs. Jefferson before like I had with Maria. But from the stories both Kris and Kat have said, she didn’t approve of wolf and human mating’s. And she was just a very bitter person to begin with. Mr. Jefferson, or Pete, was the opposite. He was very open minded to almost everything. No one understood how they worked. We were just glad he was alpha and not her.

Kat had to leave her egg in the forest which was another thing she was unhappy about. Kris insisted knowing Mrs. Jefferson ‘wouldn’t allow that behavior’.

I was given strict instructions to just sit on the couch and only speak if she asked a real question. The boys had to stay with me with the exclusion of Luhan. He had to go with Kris and Sehun. Kris knew he wouldn’t be able to keep in any animosity he had for her given the opportunity. Kat was also going with them. Kris felt bad leaving me to sit through her torment but I had insisted. She was out new neighbor so I might as well get used to her.

Pete was waiting for us on the porch as we walked up. “Kris, Kat! It’s good to see you two again. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Hello Pete. We’re introducing your new neighboring Alpha.” Kris says gesturing to Sehun.

“It’s about time someone took over. I was starting to worry about it.” He says opening the door leading us in. “And who is this?” He asks looking at me.

“This is my mate.” Sehun says putting his arm around my waist.

“Maranda.” I say shaking his hand. “It’s good to meet you.”

“You as well.” He says with a big smile. A woman in a gold colored dress then walks in. “Ah, Sweetheart. This is Sehun the new Alpha and his mate Maranda.”

She comes over slightly sniffing the air. “Human.” She scoffs. “Of course.” She then turns leaving the room.

I felt Sehun start to get angry from her so I put my hand on his that was still holding my waist.

“Don’t mind her.” Pete says to us. “She is rough around the edges. I’m sure with how much we will be seeing each other she will loosen up.”

They turn to leave going to Pete’s office. Sehun turns to me first. “You going to be ok?”

“I’m fine.” I say smiling. “Go do your thing. I’m going to go sit silently in the living room.” I tell him kissing him.

“One hour at the most.” He repeats from Kris.

“Maybe less if you hurry and get in there.” I say laughing.

He kisses the top of my head before following after them.

Kat was not wrong she was not a fun person to be around. She hardly said anything but when she did it was an insult.

“I don’t understand some wolves. Taking the first mate opportunity that comes along. I waited 300 years for a wolf mate. Refused four men in that time. Weak that’s what they are.”

Yeah this week human helped take out a werewolf.

I was so happy to see Sehun reappear from the office with the rest of them.

“Are you sure you guys don’t want to say?” Pete asked Kris. “It’s no trouble.”

“It’s alright. We want to get a few more miles in. We should enter the territory tonight and get to the house about noon.” Kris says to him.

“Well then, safe journey to you all.” Pete says shaking his hand. “Sehun, I look forward to working with you.” He says turning to him.

“You too.” He then shakes his hand before we leave.

I waited until we were back to our bags and changing out of the dresses to say anything.

“Well, that was a very unpleasant woman.”

I hear Kris slightly laugh. “She is something else.”

“What did she say to you?” Sehun asked worried.

“Nothing I can’t handle.” I say reassuringly. “I’m just not looking forward to seeing her again.”

“You will have to deal with her far more than Kat does. Maybe Pete is right and she will warm up to you.” Kris says shifting.

We reached our goal of making it to the outskirts of the territory that night. We set up camp to sleep before finishing our trip.

“Few hours tomorrow and we’ll be home.” I said leaning against Sehun’s arm as the two of us sat by the fire. Everyone else was asleep by this point. “Are you ready to be back?” I ask when he doesn’t say anything.

“Nervous.” He says sighing. “I hope I recognize my mom.”

“You will. She may have aged but you will know it’s her.”

He lays back onto the grass huffing. I lay down next to him with my head on his chest. I start
tracing his scares like I usually do when I’m bored.

“Are you ever going to ask me about those?” He asks glancing down at me.

“I figured you would just tell me when you wanted to.” I say stopping.

He takes my hand lacing his fingers in mine. “I was a bit of a late bloomer. Most wolves can shift by the time they are five. When I turned ten and still hadn’t my parents just assumed I was human.” He said pausing. “Jongmin who was 109 at that point decided it would be a good idea to try to scare it out of me. Him, Kiyoung, and Posung took me with them one day to scout. And as we were walking through the forest a bear showed up. They ran off in different directions. I thought it was so they could get the upper hand so I stayed in my spot like they had told me to. Before I knew what was really going on it dug it’s claws in me. Next thing I knew I shifted and was trying to run home. Kiyoung and Posung took out the bear while Jongmin caught up to me. I remember him saying to me, ‘Congratulations pup, we aren’t going to let you die’ as he picked me up to carry me home.”

“What did your parents say?” I asked surprised.

“Mom was furious. Jongmin had house duties for two weeks after that. Which meant he wasn’t allowed to scout or even think about going into the forest. Dad chopped it up to boys will be boys. He wasn’t happy about it by any means but he never really wanted to admit how Jongmin was. Mostly to himself.”

“I had kind of hoped he wasn’t always like that.” I say sighing.

“He wasn’t actually.” Sehun says looking back down at me. “He was happy at one point. We were friends with the wolves on the other side of the territory. Their alpha’s daughter was Jongmin’s mate. Charlotte was great. I used to stay with her and Jongmin when our parents had to go to other territories. After I turned nine she was killed in a battle. He couldn’t handle it after that. He just snapped. That was also how he had gotten his scar on his eye. He tried to save her and wasn’t paying attention around him and one of the hawks got him. When he came to the next day he found out what happened.”

“That’s why he said mates block your senses.”

“Yep.”

“And the other two?” I ask. “What made them like that?”

“Jongmin was the oldest. They went with anything he said. Even if it would get them in trouble too. They were all so close in age so they felt like they had a loyalty to him because they actually grew up together. That’s why I was always called a baby. Jongmin was 99 years older than me, Kiyoung was 96, and Posung was 92.”

“How old are you now?” I asked realizing how far up there he could be.

“323. April 12, 1694” I look up at him not trying to hide the surprised look on my face which caused him to laugh. “I don’t look bad for my age do I?” He asked smiling down at me.

“You don’t act that old.” I say laughing.

He couldn’t help but laugh too. “How is a 300 something supposed to act?”

“Good point.” I say moving my head back down. “So am I not allowed to trace these anymore?”

“No you still can.” He says smiling at me. “It gives them different meaning.”

Notes