The pack leader (ff San, Seonghwa)

15.

Aurora thanked heavens for their peaceful climb, which they underwent in the previous days. Now they headed even more to the north with thoughts of settling down in mind. Aurora slowly looked around if there was some suitable place for them, she knew it wouldn't be easy and wanted to go further to the north, so they weren't that accessible for humans.

Her father built their residence back home from the first brick. He even took care of electric power and water access, having deals and connections here and there. He never told her how he did that and she wished he did. She is eighteen, she knows nothing about these things, how will she take care of it? It'll include talking with humans and she wasn't even sure if she could talk to them.

She was anxious, nervous and worried, thinking about it every night, whether she had patrol or not. San and Seonghwa didn't come to her, leaving her be so she could concentrate on the pack and looking for settlement. The more time she spent without them the more she realized she needed them. She missed them like crazy and her omega became quiet the moment it realized she wasn't going to be with them, her inner wolf was sad, hopeless even.

It never fought, never opposed her actions, it surrendered and that broke her heart even more. She counted on her inner omega with them, that if she will distance herself the omega won't forget how it felt with the two friends. Yet it looked like the omega within her gave up. It was her, a part of her she never wanted to lose, and it was braver than anything, seeing it surrender to her actions and not fight back was first and it wasn't how she hoped it to be. Now she missed her inner fight, knowing that even her wolf is a fighter like she is, but now it looked like all those fights led to this, a surrender.

"Roe, can we talk, please?" She was just looking at her map, trying to figure out which way to choose for the pack to see more options for settlement. She was tired, but now she couldn't stop.

"Of course," she nodded her head in the direction next to her, signaling him to sit beside her. He looked concerned, Aurora didn't like that expression on the alpha's face. "What is it?"

"It's about May." Aurora became more serious.

"Did something happen to her?"

"No, no, she's fine. I just..." She let out a breath of relief, smiling at the boy, nodding her head for him to continue. "We became really close to the point we're almost all the time together. Recently my wolf was restless and I think I figured out why but it worries me." Aurora just waited, Jay wasn't one of those people who could easily talk about his worries or feelings, so Aurora gave him time to gather courage to talk about it.

"I think she's my destined mate, Roe."

"That's amazing, Jay. May's good omega and even better person. What are you worried about?" She hugged him, letting out a feeling of happiness she sent through the link.

"What if I'm wrong? I like her, like, really like. What if she doesn't? And what if it's not like it? She hasn't even had her first heat yet, her emotions might change after that."

"Calm down, Jay. Don't panic." She took his hands in hers, squeezing them together assuringly in a comforting manner. "That's not how heat works and you know it. The worst thing happening could be that her omega in heat won't crave you the way you want and won't get that much comfort from you. She likes you too, Jay. That's really the worst thing that could happen, to discover that you aren't like Minho and Jisung, who have something more than love to connect them, but that's all. If you two still like each other, then you can mate after she's eighteen and nobody will care if there's more to it than love, and love is the biggest reason for you to mate."

Jay calmed down, closing his eyes and slowly inhaling and exhaling.

"You know these so-called soulmates don't end up like mates sometimes. They're in love with someone else and so they stay friends with the soulmate who you can't separate. Even if you weren't and she found her soulmate, there's still this chance too." She remembered the time when she hoped Minho did the same, stay with her and be the bestest friend for Jisung. She hoped every single night until the truth was unavoidable. It was a very tough time for her, she has fallen deeply into the darkest places of her mind. That's where the voices started, telling her she's not enough. As time went on, she believed them and eventually gave in to them. It went so far that she stopped eating and didn't leave her bed, sometimes hurting herself.