Moon Over Min

Chapter 4: Min

Bi led me into the woods. Her snow-white hair flew around in the wind, along with her dress. She skipped as she walked, while I kept my pace the same to avoid looking desperate or excited.

To avoid expressing any type of enthusiastic emotions.

"Everyone is really nice!" Bi said. Eagerness could be heard in her tone. "Victor is a bit... recluse. He tends to avoid humans and other wolves at all costs, though his only interest besides living with us is his soulmate. But he never spoke of them, he only said 'I have a soulmate' and closed off to us more than usual."

"Oh..."

"Then there's Liy. He's convivial, so you shouldn't have any trouble talking to him."

"Kie is altruistic, but he does have an amiable side to him. He's not completely a lone wolf watching out for us, so he'll respond to you ― well, definitely, since you are newly walking onto our territory."

Bi tapped her chin with her finger to think and then said; "That's about everyone, I believe. We did have a wolf that used to hang around our pack, but they wandered off into the human world to pursue something. I can't remember their name, since I was barely around them at the time. But I'm sure one of them knows. I never asked."

I felt fretful at the thought of being rejected by every single of them. This was my first time meeting others like me, but the thought of being ambushed still entered my mind.

"Don't worry about anything." Bi stopped trekking into the woods and looked at me, causing me to stop too. "They're in human form, so they won't do anything except talk."

"I ― uh..." I bit my inner cheek. I was obviously on edge too much to even care about which form they were in. I was worried about if they would hate me like everyone else. Those eyes of rejection haunt me in my nightmares all the time, and seeing it on my kind will definitely penetrate my self-loathing more.

"It's okay to feel scared." Bi walked over to me and placed a hand onto my shoulder, earning a flinch from me. I haven't been touched this casually by anyone except Noah, and it sent currents of shocks to my brain from the foreign touch.

"Sorry..." I lowered my head in shame. I didn't mean to be terrified to meet others like me. The fear was just fresh inside of me, which prevented my capability to do anything.

"We don't apologize for being scared here," Bi said, patting my shoulder before removing her hand. "We only apologize for being weak or for being an outsider."

"I am an―"

"You're not an outsider. You walk inside of this land, which is rightfully connected to our territory. Kie just doesn't like the idea of anyone walking on it carefree."

He doesn't?

"Am I... intruding?"

"No, Min you are not intruding. I invited you onto our part of the land, so there's no intruding caused by you. You are welcome here anytime from now on."

"But the others―"

"They'll accept you as I do."

I look up to meet her eyes again. "But I'm different... I... I never transformed and... I might never will."

Bi smiled softly at me. "Who said we care about whether you can transform or not? We are excited that you are one of us. The idea of being exactly like us won't cross our minds."

I nodded as a way of saying 'I understand' before following it with; "Do they have white hair too?"

Bi shook her head. "No, you and I only have it oddly. Victor has ginger hair, Kie has black hair, and Liy has blonde hair."

"Is white hair breeds rare?" I asked, now suddenly curious about my identity and appearance.

"As much as I know of, yes, they are rare and not commonly known across the world. Some Asian wolves have it thanks to mixed genes, but others have it due to pure genetics."

"I've heard of them, Yokai right?"

"They are called Yokai, yes, but they have individual names like us. And one or two are in Wyoming if you want to meet them. I believe one of them is named King. They were raised in Wyoming since birth, but traveled to plenty of Asian countries throughout their life."

"I'm not mentally prepared to meet your pack, so meeting them will take some time for me."

"That's alright, take your time." She said before she snapped her fingers. "Oh! And there are Russian wolves! But some of them have an ego. They're nice, just have an ego that you don't want to step on."

"Are you friends with one?"

"No, but Liy is friends with one named Annika. She's a bit exuberant, but we love her despite her acting like a pup whenever she sees Liy or anyone else."

"How old are they? Liy and Annika?"

"Liy is twelve and Annika is eleven."

"Oh, they're a few years older than me. We'll make... g-good friends one day."

Bi looked as if she was worried about me, but hid it well underneath her smile. "Yeah, you will, and they'll make your last years seem like decades."

"Can you..." I hid behind my hair. "...tell me what a wolf does... uh... n-normally?"

"We do a lot of things so I'll try to fit everything in as we walk."

Bi almost reached for my arm but drew her hand back realizing I didn't do well with physical touch.

"Okay," I said, pretending I didn't know what she'd done.

Bi turned back around to face away from me and started to walk away to lead me in the direction while she spoke. "First thing we do when we wake up is hunt. We hunt for animals only though."

I felt nausea creep up my throat. "I don't hunt for animals. My owner told me that doing so would give him enough reason to kill me instantly."

"Really?" Bi's tone almost sounded disquieted, the worry was audible. "Well... you wouldn't like it anyways. The skin is too tough."

"Oh... okay..."

***

Three figures stood a few yards from both of us ― one ginger, one blonde, and one raven-haired.

The blonde turned to us and waved. "Bi―"

The raven-haired one was in front of us by the time I blinked. "Who is this?"

Bi playfully hit him on the arm. "Kie, this is Min. He's one of us. I invited him."

Kie peered at me. "Really?"

My body trembled from Kie's intimidating glare as I slowly backed up. "M-Maybe this isn't such a good idea... I-I should go."

Bi stopped me from leaving by hooking her arm with mine and pulling me toward her. Forgetting that I did not do well with physical touch. "You're scaring my friend, Kie. Stop it," she said, frowning at him.

Kie rolled his eyes and held his hand out to me. "Sorry, my name's Kie. If Bi says you're friendly then we can get along well."

I hesitantly accepted his hand and briefly shook it. "I-I'm Min..."

The blonde one jogged up to us and eagerly shook my hand while smiling. "Hi! I'm Liy! I'm the second oldest guy here!"

Bi looked at the ginger and motioned him over. "Victor, stop being shy, and come over to introduce yourself."

The ginger, Victor, leisurely walked over to us and extended his hand out to me. "Victor. That's all you need to know about me."

I shook his hand. "I'm Min..."

He withdrew his hand after I shook it. "I know."

Bi looked at me. "Sorry about Victor, I told you already about him ― he's a little recluse."

"I just don't like talking to strangers." Victor stuffed his hands into his ripped hoodie that was too big for him and averted his eyes to the left. "I'll be leaving in a minute. Try not to invite humans too."

Bi puffed out her cheeks. "I don't invite everyone, Victor!"

Liy laughed. "Yes, you do. The moment you smell someone friendly you jump onto the friendship train fast."

"But I want to make Min my best friend one day!" Bi said, pointing to me with her free hand.

"Sure, do that," Kie said, his eyes scanning me up and down. "But if you imprinted on him, I don't think the word 'best friends' will apply anymore."

"I didn't imprint on him," Bi looked at me, "did you imprint on me?"

I looked at her confused. "What's imprinting?"

Kie raised an eyebrow, along with Liy, who was equally as confused.

"You don't know what 'imprinting' is?" Kie asked.

I shook my head. "N-No..."

Victor averted his gaze back to me. "I'll tell you. Kie will just give you a half-done explanation."

"I will not!" Kie exclaimed, pursing his lips at Victor.

Victor ignored Kie and continued to speak to me in a monotone. "Imprinting is when your neurotransmitters start reacting by giving you serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin all at once just by touching or looking at another being. Not all wolves are aware of their imprintation, but that is really rare since the moment you touch or see another being ― you'll sense it."

Liy chimed in. "Yeah, and when you imprint, you'll start to develop a strong sense to protect them. But only Alphas will become extremely over-protective towards their soulmate. Some wolves will be easily deprived of their mate's presence and want to be around them all day."

Kie snickered. "Like Victor."

Victor snapped his eyes in Kie's direction. "Shut up."

Liy continued, "Not all soulmates are meant to be ― you'll be happy to be around them, but sometimes two beings are meant to stay friends or enemies."

"H-Have you imprinted on someone before?" I asked.

Liy looked surprised at the question and thought for a moment. "I don't think I did―"

Kie interrupted him. "Liar. Every time I see you with your Russian, all I see is puppy eyes and tail wagging."

"She's my friend," Liy said defensively.

"Uh-huh..." Kie waved him off.

"Anyway," Liy playfully pushed away Kie's face and looked back at me. "You don't have to worry about imprinting much, it's not that important to your wolf life."

Kie slapped away Liy's hand and stepped away from him. "Except breeding."

I tilted my head in dubiety. "Breeding?"

Bi rolled her eyes but it was kind of hard to see since her hair was in the way. "Kie, you need to shut up sometimes. Min is not educated on that type of wolf knowledge."

Kie pursed his lips. "He needs to know sooner or later."

"Later is a better option." Bi unhooked her arm to hug herself. "So he doesn't remember any of it." She mumbled.

I could tell all three of them heard the last part but shrugged it off without thinking much of it.

"Uh..." Liy bit his bottom lip. The awkwardness was filling the air around us. "Do you want to be a part of us? Our... um... pack?"

Bi's eyes coruscated and she turned her attention to me. "Yeah! Do you?"

I flinched. "Huh? I ― uh..."

Bi waved her hands in front of her. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

"No, it's fine. I just don't know if I should burden you all with my presence. I'm not very helpful." I muttered nervously.

"I really don't care if you join," Victor said. "Just don't pry into my personal business."

Kie played with the metal band on his wrist that resembled mine. "He'll fit right in, I guess."

Bi and Liy continued to stare at me, albeit my eyes chose to look at Bi. "If it's not troublesome, then I'll join your pack," I said, my voice trailing off feeling uncomfortable with the pressure.

"Yay!" Bi jumped up and down as the bottom of her dress flew up.

Before my eyes made contact with her skin, Kie caught her in time. "You are careless. Stop jumping like an idiot."

"Sorry, Kie," Bi said, allowing Kie to place her back onto her feet.

Kie patted the top of her head. "Whatever."

Victor started walking away. "Alright, I'm leaving. Try not to fight while I'm gone, Kie."

"Tell your soulmate I said 'hi'," Kie said.

Victor held up two fingers before vanishing into the grove of trees.

Liy sniffed the air and smiled. "Two wild rabbits coming this way."

"I'll beat you to them," Kie said, sprinting away first.

"Cheater!" Liy sprinted after him, leaving Bi and me alone together.

"What do you want to do?" Bi asked me.

"Anything you want to do," I replied, feeling a bit better now they had left.

"Can we... play tag?"

"I only read about tag, but I've never played it before," I admitted.

"Me too! They don't want to play with me, so let's try playing it together." She said.

"Who's 'it'?"

She tapped my shoulder with her hand and said, "You," before she dashed off into the trees in a split second.

"I'm 'it'?" I sighed. "Well, I hope I do a good job at it." I dashed after her, my smile slowly appearing on my lips from feeling the adrenaline build up inside of me from playing a game for the first time with someone.