ˏˋ°•*⁀➷  Yulin ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

The way my blood boiled as if being on high heat had me ready to give in to all the hostility my wolf was projecting.

He had skipped past angry and just went to down right ballistic when Irina had told me what she saw just yesterday. I only wanted to check on Mika but upon seeing those nails in the chair, I'd lost myself for a moment.

To think that someone would be stupid enough to even think of hurting Mika just baffled me. Thinking of what could have happened in there only ate at me even more, the thoughts of bringing this mystery offender to their slow and painful death plagued my mind and painted it a horrible red.

The fact that Mika had about a grain of sand, maybe even less than that, of trust in me didn't help either. It didn't surprise me given that the only person he actually trusted was the one he's spent his entire life with, but I thought that I'd shown him he could be more than comfortable in relying on me.

Never mind that, I had to deal with the problem that was at hand. Perhaps if I could just single out the select few who are likely to have done this, then Mika and Raven won't have to do everything by themselves despite expressing they wanted me having nothing to do with this.

I knew that there were some who wouldn't necessarily agree about having accepted rogues into our pack but I never imagined that they would dare to say or do something about it, especially not like this.

I didn't need to think too hard about who the perpetrators were but apparently, I wasn't allowed to think long as I heard rushing footsteps from behind me. The hurried sounds belonged to Lyon who once finding me, slowed down.

For some reason, his face was as white as a sheet.

"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" I asked and as if having no time for my question, Lyon urged me to start walking.

"Raven is beating the shit out of the entire 15th patrol unit!! He won't listen to anyone, we've all tried but it's like he just fucking lost it!" Lyon explained and that made me pick up my pace as I followed Lyon closely.

When we finally arrived, my eyes widened when seeing nine of the patrol members passed out on the floor, bruised and stained in their own blood while their captain was having his face shoved into the ground as if Raven was trying to literally bury him alive.

"Go find Mika. Now." I said and Lyon nodded before running off.

I didn't know how to approach the situation, honestly. Raven's eyes were clouded with blood lust, the same like mine had been yesterday and seeing it only made me feel like I was staring at myself.

I could choose to do nothing, despite Ulysses teetering between life and death right about now, I could only come to the conclusion that he and the rest of his lackey's deserved it.

They were, after all, the top suspects on my list.

But at the same time, as alpha, I couldn't just let Raven murder one of my pack members. Even if I didn't necessarily have that much of a problem with it...

It was just then that Mika had come sprinting out to the yard, his eyes widening upon seeing all the bloodied and unconscious men on the floor.

He looked to me before shaking his head and stepping over to Raven who was still lost in his own world, pummeling the bastard who remained unconscious in his grasp.

"Raven. Stop" Mika's tone wasn't soft like you would think, it was harsh and blunt, that seeming to be the only way to get through to Raven who finally seemed to grasp some bit of reality as his fist stopped just before he could finally kill the guy.

Lyon had came to my side, his entire being exuding wariness as he watched the two skeptically.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mika asked but for some reason, his words held no kind of scolding tone. It didn't even sound like he was upset with Raven, if anything it was more of a genuinely confused question.

"Mika...we can prove that they're the ones that—" Raven was cut off when Mika shook his head.

No one could have prepared me for the next words that came out of Mika's mouth.

"It doesn't matter, if you planned to beat the shit out of them all along then you should have at least told me so I could come help you" Mika said.

Lyon's jaw dropped at my mate's words as I also gave a stunned look.

"Did he really just say that...?" Lyon muttered.

"I'm sorry, once I got the confession, I just..." Raven trailed off with a sheepish look and all Mika did was shake his head.

"Come on, drop him" Mika said and at his command, Raven dropped Ulysses like a rag doll before retreating to Mika's side who in turn inspected the wounds on his hand.

"Get these patched up okay? I'll take care of everything here" Mika said and Raven nodded before going off on his own to the infirmary, completely ignoring the looks he was receiving as if they didn't faze him at all.

I think I'm finally starting to get the smallest hint of an idea of how these siblings work.

I've experienced first hand, Raven's apathy towards those he doesn't respect or care for, but in no way could I ever say I understand it. Being brought up by a meticulous parental figure, I usually always tried to think carefully before speaking.

And in turn, Mika didn't seem to have a problem at all with cleaning up any messes left behind by his younger brother, as if they were simply toys he'd forgotten to put back in his toybox.

'Don't take this the wrong way, but I think we need to look into these two' Lyon said all of a sudden and I shot him a look.

'Don't look at me like that. What kind of normal wolf is able to take on an entire trained patrol unit? It doesn't add up' Lyon said and I just shook my head.

'I'll worry about that myself, you go check on Raven' I said and I could see the reluctance on Lyon's face but he just nodded before heading off.

"Problem solved I guess" Mika said as he noticed me coming up behind him.

He wore an unreadable expression as he stared at the bodies on the floor, which meant that this is something he is not a stranger to and it wasn't hard to believe either given Raven's...personality.

"I'll deal with them myself. You can go to Raven if you want" I said but Mika just shook his head.

"He's fine, it was just a few bruises on his knuckles. Most of that blood belongs to them anyways" Mika said, nudging his head to the unconscious guards.

The conversation died out quickly but in reality, I had no idea as to what else I'm supposed to say. It's not like I was of any help in this situation so there was no thanks to be given and I'm sure there was no amount of apologies I could give that would make it so that none of this happened.

"What do you plan to do with them?" Mika asked.

"What do you want me to do? They're the ones who tried to hurt you after all" I said and Mika shook his head.

"It's fine, what Raven just did was enough for me. However, I only ask that whatever you choose to do, please make sure it's befitting of their crime" Mika said and I nodded.

Seeing that there was nothing left to discuss, I took my leave and walked back inside the house with a racing mind, replaying the situation over and over again.

Why did I feel so useless right now?

Those two have been on their own for god knows how long and have already become accustomed to doing everything on their own, including protecting each other. There was very little that I could offer that Mika could not already do for himself and I'm sure that's where I get tied up at.

I didn't know how else to display that I was a mate worth having around and a seed of fear planted itself in my heart.

Getting close seemed impossible and it only stressed me out the longer I had to pretend like I was fine with whatever these awkward feelings between us are.

Normally, I would have no problems asking Raven for help but for whatever reason he's already deemed that he doesn't like me. I just boiled it down to some form of attachment that he has to Mika, if I were to be his mate and make him my Luna, then that is essentially the equivalent of taking his brother from him.

Anyone would think that kind of logic weird but in their case, it made sense given that they seem to be the only thing they each have left.

Thinking back to Lyon's words also made me remember another thing about them that picked at my mind from the very beginning.

Every now and then, I got the faintest feeling of an alpha's aura from the two men. I thought at first my wolf was playing tricks with me but after the third time, I knew that it wasn't some kind of prank.

Those two are alpha children but the only thing is, from what pack?

I could sit here all day and try to think of the hundreds of packs on the continent but I'd rather save myself the headache and just ask later when Mika grew more comfortable with me.

Which didn't seem to be any time soon at the rate we're going...

I felt bad for being the slightest bit unhappy as well as being grateful moreso than anything that Mika didn't seem to want to jump right into the relationship.

I myself am still understanding what it actually means to be mates and whatever conception Mika has of mates doesn't seem to make him think about them one way or the other which I sort of related to.

For me, I've always thought that mates were an option. Someone who may or may not stay in your life, given that consent is received from both parties.

I never grew up with my father, my mother had cast him out of the pack not long after I was born. I've never asked her about the details, but from the times I'd seen her bruised as if coming back from a battle after an argument, I just knew that it was too invasive of a question.

I doubt it would be a happily nostalgic story for her to retell.

For most wolves though, a mate is a necessity. I know some wolves can quite literally die from a rejection, and I wondered if that would happen to me too if Mika were to reject me.

I've never thought about these things before because I've never had my mate by my side and now that I do, all these mixed feelings are jumbled inside of me and disturbing the hell out of me.

Mainly because of the mate bond of course, the pull tugging at my heart the more time I spend too much time away from Mika, but I honestly wasn't sure how to go about this.

Goddess, how do I go about all of this...

"You could just go talk to him y'know?" the voice that infiltrated my ears had me stopping in my tracks.

My mother was peaking her head out of a room with an innocent smile and I frowned.

"Mother...once again, your clairvoyance and ability to show up out of nowhere is annoyingly frightening" I said and my mother chuckled as she approached me.

"Actually, you were mumbling to yourself and I just pieced it together. You'll chase off your mate before long if he finds out you've got the crazies" she said, twirling her finger in circles next to her ear.

"Not funny" I said, given the fact I just had a sort of crisis in my brain about that not even five minutes ago.

"Lighten up, honey. I'll have you know, Mika's not unapproachable. Just the other day we had a marvelous conversation" she said.

Seeing my look, my mother gave an impish grin as she stared up at me.

"You wanna know what we talked about, huh?" She said.

This woman was like a kid at times...

"Yes...did he say anything about me?" I asked while folding my arms.

"Mm, not really, but I think he's just a pretty straight forward guy. You can have a conversation for hours on end with him and probably only learn one minuscule thing about him. He's a tough nut, but I know you can do it" my mother said, her eyes showing nothing but encouragement and it made me feel a little embarrassed for some reason.

"Thanks...it's just not as easy as one would think it is" I said as I let out a sigh.

"Yulin," my mother called my name with a tone that made me look at her.

"It's been a week" she stated, putting her pointer finger up for emphasis.

"It's been a week since those siblings have landed in this extremely unfamiliar territory and have likely not yet processed the fact that we aren't trying to kill them or kick them out on their asses. Anyone can see from miles away that their guards are sky high right now but you just have to give it some time to allow him to adjust"

Listening to my mother's words was like a breath of fresh air, I hadn't even factored in the fact that it's been such a short time. Yet here I am, worrying my head off for something that I have so much time to figure out.

"However, I can imagine that your subordinates haven't made this any easier for them" she finished and I nodded my head.

"Yeah, well, Raven has already handled that matter" I said and to my surprise, my mother just laughed.

"I see, well that's good to hear. Anyways, just give it some time okay? Love isn't going to happen overnight" mother said as she folded her arms.

"You're right...I suppose I'm being hasty" I said.

My mother feigned a sigh as she put a hand to her face which made me look at her with a confused look.

"To think one of my children are finally listening to me...the goddess is singing her praise as we speak" she said.

So dramatic.

"Good luck my dear son, and remember, your ever supportive mother is cheering you on~" mother said with a smile that has never failed to make me feel better in times of distress.

"Thank you"