Marked (BTS Taehyung)

Chapter Three: Howling at the Moon?

Jade shooed the boys from the room and had sat down, coffee in hand, across from you on the floor. She's pretty, you mused, but weren't sure why she was there. You weren't sure why you yourself hadn't run screaming from the room yet. Vaguely, you wondered if you had gone into shock, and if you should be more concerned.

"(Y/n), can you explain to me what happened? What do you remember?"

You bit your lip and looked away from her to a line of duct tape that was stuck to floor.

"Um," you began, unsure of where to start. "I was walking home from the library when this giant ass wolf came running at me from an alleyway, knocked me and my books to the ground, and—fuck! My essay was in that pile."

Jade smiled amusedly at you and laughed lightly.

"So then, I yelled at the wolf for a while, and a couple other wolves showed up--"

"Wait," Jade interrupted, "You yelled at the wolf? Which one was it, because that is priceless."

"I don't know which guy it was; it was a light grey wolf, if that helps?"

"Oh, poor Jin! He must have been so embarrassed."

"You seem to know these guys pretty well, but I don't remember reading anything about Rap Monster having a girlfriend."

Jade sighed and rolled her eyes, "His idea. He doesn't want me out in the spotlight at all. And, I get why, don't get me wrong, but it's been terrible. Anyways," she continued brightly, "back to you. What happened next?"

"The tan wolf and I locked eyes and everything just kind of froze. And then Jimin shifted and I think that I fainted, because I don't remember how I got here. So, um, what the hell is going on?"

"Okay. How do I want to start this? Other than the fact that the entirety of Bangtan are werewolves. I guess bonds are the next logical step, but I don't want to overwhelm you because it's actually four in the morning and this is a lot for your first day in our world."

You latched onto the only word you could really hear in her ramblings.

"Bonds?"

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"Namjoon-hyung, what's going on?"

Namjoon had his face in his hands and was massaging his temples as he led the group down to another practice room.

Ignoring Jungkook's question, he sat down on the floor and threw his head back against the wall, hoping that he hadn't broken the mirror.

"I told you not to go out tonight. Why don't you ever listen to me? How does it reflect on me as an Alpha if my entire pack doesn't listen?"

The other pack members looked ashamed, but then Jin spoke up.

"Namjoon?"

"Yes, Jin?"

"She's kind of scary. She yelled at me."

Taehyung was uncharacteristically quiet, and he sat in the corner, busy playing with his own hands, eyes darting to the door every few seconds. He was tense, and it showed, which was why Namjoon was seated directly in front of the door to prevent him from leaving.

"It's uncomfortable, isn't it?" Yoongi smirked at Taehyung. "Welcome to the club."

"Yoongi. Don't antagonize him," Namjoon snapped.

"What's wrong with me?" Taehyung whispered, turning his head toward Namjoon, eyes unfocused and sounding more lost than ever.

"It's the bond. You'll feel like this until you mark her," Namjoon raised his eyebrow, "And you are not marking her without her permission." He glared again, "And I am not letting you anywhere near Jade while you're like this." 

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"The bond is kind of a mating technique for werewolves. Normal people would call it 'soulmates', but that's not what it is, although that is the simplest and easiest to understand definition. What's really important that you understand is that werewolves mate for life. And in your case, that means that he won't be able to mate with anyone but you. But it is totally your decision whether you want to mate with him or not. We can't force you to do anything, although we may try to."

You were completely overwhelmed with all of this.

"To be honest, you're really lucky that Namjoon and Yoongi have both gone through this, because it was a mess the first time one of the boys bonded."

"What happened the first time?" was all you could think to say.

"Namjoon ran into me in New York during one of their tours to the U.S. about two years ago, and we had practically no control that first night. He had no idea what was going on, and I was trying to cope with the fact that a werewolf, not to mention an idol and my bias, no less, had just given me a hickey, so we went researching. When Yoongi and Dinah mated, it was easier for us to figure out exactly what the bond is. Unfortunately, there's no werewolf telephone number to call when we're confused, and when I said I wanted to study the paranormal, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it's been fun."

"Two years ago?"

"I'm nineteen now. That was one of Namjoon's reasons for keeping our relationship out of the spotlight. I was seventeen when we met, and he was twenty. But the bond wants what the bond wants."

And as a normal young adult female you focused on one other thing. "So, you and Namjoon have..." your voice dropped, "had sex?"

"Oh," Jade laughed lightheartedly, "No, no, no. He marked me, yes, but we have not done the deed. Mainly because I'd been jailbait for a while, but I'm a 'wait for marriage' type of girl, which makes his heats the most stressful weeks of my life."

"What's a heat?"

"How much do you know about wolves?"

"Um, howling at the moon?" you guessed, and Jade shook her head at you in amusement.

"I'm going to leave you to figure that one out. My advice: go read a couple books and talk to a couple of experts. I'll give you my number so that you can text me, but it's better if you learn this for yourself. Namjoon and I are technically supposed to let you guys figure this out on your own, but Tae's enough of a mess that we're breaking the rules."

A single question was wriggling at the back of your mind, and you weren't sure how Jade would react to you asking it.

But, you really did need to know the answer.

"What if," you began, speaking very softly, "what if I don't want to bond with whichever guy that was?"

"Well, for the record, it was Taehyung. And you don't have to. But if you choose not to, I would recommend that you leave the area as quickly as possible."

"Why?"

"Well, first off you reek of werewolf. Humans won't be able to smell it, but rival packs will be after you, and because you're not marked, they'll try to use you as bait to start a war. Second off, if Tae can smell you when his heat starts, you will not be safe. At all. Thirdly, You and Tae will just naturally be drawn to each other until you're marked. You can go home now if you want. I'd offer to drive you, but I walked here. My license has been 'suspended until further notice.'"

You left the building in a daze. A small part of you felt that you were forgetting something, but none of your things had been brought with you when the boys carried you to the building, and for a moment you wondered if you should go and try to find them, but you didn't want to go back to the place that everything had started.

You couldn't hear him, but a block away as you walked home, Taehyung lifted his head to the sky and howled.