The Girl Who Didn't Cry Wolf (Part Seven)
Characters: Bang Chan x fem reader
Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, enemies-to-lovers-ish??, slowburn, werewolf/alpha!chan, (werewolf)hunter!reader, fluff, angst, death briefly mentioned, reader gets druuuuunk, [dialogue in bold is meant to be korean]
Word count: ~4.1k
Summary: You've learned to do whatever you can to protect yourself after an incident almost a decade ago had your father and brother dragging you to a new country to start all over even though they blamed you for what happened. After finding yourself stuck in a house of werewolves, you're forced to come to terms with your feelings over what happened back home when the alpha imprints on you and his pack claims they're keeping you prisoner. You know exactly how this will end if you give in, and yet you can't seem to get yourself to leave the sweet and charming werewolf who's willing to do anything to make you comfortable. You're just hoping that maybe there'll be a good end this time.
a/n: hi, i'm alive!! i doubt i'll be super active here again but i do at least wanna pop in here and there to update fics 😌 and i've seen all the messages from the last time i randomly dropped an update and i just wanted to say i'm very very very thankful for everyone who still checks back in. ily!!! ❤❤❤ (also i lost the tag list masterlist sooooooo this is awkward)
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The next morning, you woke up to a sharp pain in your side. You gasped, jolting up only to hiss in pain. Strong hands quickly pinned your shoulders down, and you looked up to see Jeongin looking down at you with an awkward smile, “Sorry.”
“Please try not to move,” Hyunjin instructed from beside him, coming over to help hold you down now that you were awake.
Your instinct was to fight back from being pinned down, so you did, wanting to sit up to avoid the pain that would be caused to your side. A third pair of hands stalled your movements as Chan moved into view, concern creasing his features, “_____, stay still please. It’ll hurt more if you move.”
“Why am I pinned down?!” you demanded.
“We just wanna check it,” Hyunjin explained while Jisung was already reaching to peel the bloodied bandage away.
“Well why did you have to touch it?” you groaned, your head flopping down on the pillow like a child throwing a tantrum. “You woke me up and it hurt! If this is how it’s gonna be whenever I’m asleep, I–”
A large hand covered your mouth, and you already knew it was Chan’s before you even checked. You gave him a glare but he just stared at Jisung.
“Is it bad?” he wondered.
“Well...it’s definitely not good.” he said, sucking in a breath between his teeth as he looked at your newly opened wound. “It might need draining tonight, but hopefully we’ll come up with something that puts her in less pain. I could make up some more numbing cream, but we'd need more supplies for that, and the witch at the market is closed today.”
You tried to say something but Chan kept your mouth covered. You bit his hand but he only smirked, making you roll your eyes.
“Nice try, sweetheart,” he teased.
“Can you stop being weird please?” Hyunjin asked in disgust. “There’s a child here.”
“I’m not even a child!” Jeongin frowned. “Sorry, not all of us have been stuck at the same age for 30 years, old man.”
“Can all of you stop for a second?” Jisung sighed, and the aura in the room seemed to feel more stressful. “I swear, Chan, she brings out the child in you. More so than usual.”
Then he glanced briefly at Jeongin, “And I take offense to that!”
“Just let me fix the wound, Hannie,” Chan offered, removing his hand from your mouth. The first thing you did with the freedom was stick your tongue out at him. “You go do whatever it is you need to get done.”
He sighed but stood and handed the ointment to Chan, “Don’t bicker with her.”
“That’s not my decision.”
“Right, it’s the real alpha’s,” Jeongin laughed, earning a pinched cheek from the alpha himself, but his laughing persisted as he left the room.
As the three wolves left, Chan rolled you to lay on your side before kneeling down beside the bed. He opened the tin and swiped some white cream onto his first two fingers, “Did you sleep okay?”
You nodded, “Yeah.”
“Did you…dream at all?” he pressed, but his eyes were focused on your side. You wouldn’t have ever suspected something was up.
“A little bit.”
“Did you know you talk in your sleep?”
Your eyebrows furrowed. What did you dream about again? You knew you dreamed but you couldn’t remember what it was. But it must’ve been something amusing or important if Chan was bringing it up.
“What did I say?” you asked.
“‘No, Finley’,” he recalled in a murmur, eyes still trained on rubbing ointments into your wound.
Your cheeks felt hot. You knew why, too – or you at least suspected why – but you weren’t going to say anything to Chan.
“Y-yeah, Finn… He was my best friend back home,” you explained in a mumble.
Chan’s eyebrows knitted together curiously, “He didn’t come with you? I think most people fled from the northwest. Honestly, I was shocked you stayed up there until a decade ago. There was that big war that drove everyone away.”
“Well, my dad fought in the war so we stayed. My mom didn’t want to leave him behind. Things were pretty bad for a while, but they got a little better when the war ended. It was slow, though.”
“So…what about this Finley person?”
Hearing him ask so bluntly even though his tone was casual made something click. Your eyes narrowed as you looked at him, “Are you jealous, Christopher?”
His golden eyes widened as he paused, looking into your eyes for the first time.
“Me? No,” he said, but you could tell by his tone he was lying. “Just curious. You’ve never mentioned a Finley until you were…telling him no last night.”
“Don’t be weird,” you scolded him. “Finn was just a friend.”
“But you’re still thinking about him, apparently,” he continued, going back to his work. “Saying his name in your sleep.”
You let out a sigh and rolled your eyes, “You’re just digging yourself a deeper hole, Christopher.”
“Yeah? And why’s that?”
“Finn’s dead,” you stated plainly; numbly.
Again, Chan froze. His eyes, wide and apologetic, went to you, “O-oh… Shit, _____, I’m sorry, I-I was just messing around, I didn’t–”
You chuckled, “You’re fine. I just wanted you to feel like an ass for a second.”
He made a face at you before he went back to tending to your side, “You’re a sassy little thing, you know that?”
You just shrugged, “I’ve been told.”
-
“We’re back!” Felix sang, walking in along with Jeongin and Minho.
You were sitting on the couch in the living room with Changbin, Jisung, and Hyunjin while the three wolves were playing poker and betting their various snacks they kept hidden in their rooms. You just watched even though Changbin offered to deal you in, figuring you had nothing to offer since Chan had confiscated the pocket knife you had – and that was all you had when you had shown up.
As the group of wolves that had come back from the market walked into the living room, Felix raised a brow at the three wolves in their heated argument over if Changbin was cheating or not. Then he looked at you, and you just sighed softly and shook your head.
“They’ve been doing this since you left, and I don’t even really know what it’s about other than stealing or something. But I do know that Jisung called him a dirty, cheating bastard,” you stated, making him laugh.
Changbin turned slowly to face you, eyebrows furrowed, “So she can’t understand when we call her for dinner, but she can understand name-calling?”
"She was sheltered," Jisung told him in a low voice, whacking him in the stomach like he was trying to warn Changbin to keep his voice down as if you could understand what they were saying.
“Hey,” Chan entered the room, eyeing the bags that the wolves were carrying, “did you happen to find anything to help _____?”
“Yup,” Jeongin giggled before tossing a glass bottle full of warm-brown liquid to him.
Chan caught the bottle easily, turning it over and reading the label, “Whiskey?”
“Alcohol can numb anything,” was all Minho gave him for an explanation.
“If you’re gonna be mad, be mad at him,” Jeongin stated, jabbing his thumb toward the older wolf who merely shrugged and looked away from the alpha, walking into the kitchen with the rest of the bags.
“I can handle the pain–”
“You think we want you to be in pain if you don’t have to be?” Felix asked him. “We wanted something to save you both the pain.”
“Actually, Minho was the one who said that,” Jeongin mentioned, Felix nodding along.
Chan didn’t show any emotion, just looked down at the bottle.
Then Felix looked at you with a chuckle, “How well do you handle your alcohol, _____?”
You shrugged. It had been a while since you’d gone to any taverns for a drink, but you used to be more of a midweight, “It’ll take a few shots.”
“We can’t get her drunk!” Seungmin exclaimed as he entered the room. You assumed he was either in the kitchen or in his room and had overheard the conversation. “She’s already attacked at least two of us sober!”
“Seungmin…” Chan’s tone was a warning as he stared at the younger wolf, “don’t start. If you’re here to fight, go back to wherever you came from.”
“If Channie can forgive you for attacking his mate, don’t you think you can forgive his mate for attacking you?” Jisung asked mindlessly from where he was sitting on the floor. Only when nobody said anything did he look up and realize he didn’t read the room well enough. That obviously wasn’t the only animosity the three of you had. “...Sorry…”
You spoke up, looking back over Hyunjin’s shoulder to check his cards. “Frankly, I couldn’t care less if Seungmin forgives me or even likes me. Actually, if I cared any less than I do currently, I’d be dead.”
“_____–”
You looked at Chan when he said your name but cut him off, “I’m not saying it to be an asshole, I’m saying it so everyone knows. I don’t care about anything he or Minho has to say to me; they’re the only ones ‘keeping me hostage’ so they’re the only two I don’t trust in the slightest.”
While your last comment did make Chan and the rest of the pack kind of happy that you verbally admitted to having some sort of trust with them, Chan still didn’t want you saying anything even remotely rude to Seungmin or Minho. He knew it would only cause more fighting, and he wanted to avoid it.
“Look, Seungmin,” Chan began, rubbing his hands over his face before looking at the taller wolf, “we’re not doing it until tonight when you’ll probably be asleep. You won’t have to deal with her.”
“Well, I’m staying up to witness this,” Jisung giggled, putting a card down before picking up a new one.
Hyunjin nodded in agreement. “This, I gotta see.”
“Plus, free drinks,” Jeongin grinned almost wickedly.
Chan groaned, rolling his eyes at the youngest. “They’re not for you! Whiskey is for _____ only.”
“Ah, c’mon, Channie,” you grinned, using the nickname you’d noticed the pack always used with him, “don’t you wanna have a little bit of fun? Being drunk alone is the most boring thing in the world.”
“I’m going to have to babysit you,” he stated playfully, walking over to stand behind the couch by where your head was. “I just know you’ll be a handful.”
“Ooh, what kind of drunk are you, _____?” Felix wondered with wide, curious golden eyes.
You hummed as you thought it over, trying to remember how you were whenever you went out to the tavern, “I think it depends on who I’m with and the atmosphere.”
“So she’ll be an angry drunk.” Seungmin spat. “Lovely.”
-
Whiskey clutched in your hand, you stared at Jisung with doe-like eyes as he patched up your newly-drained wound and helped you sit upright. Felix couldn’t help but laugh at your drunken state, while Hyunjin, Changbin, and Jeongin seemed to be having a race to see who could get the drunkest the fastest with the little alcohol that they were allowed.
“This is for _____!” Jisung whined when Jeongin tried to make off with the bottle.
So now, there you were, drunk off your ass. You didn’t even take shots, you just chugged straight from the bottle. Chan chuckled at first at how eager you were to down the liquid that burned your throat and made your stomach feel warm, but when you were sufficiently drunk and kept at it, then he began to get concerned.
But since you were still starting to cry and scream at the pain, Changbin put the bottle to your lips to silence you and to dull the pain. Now, it was just a sharp pinch that made you wince and cry out with, “Ow,” whenever you moved wrong. For the most part, it was a lot more bearable than the first time.
“_____, do you feel okay?” Felix wondered once you were sitting up.
“Uhhh-huh!” you nodded happily.
All of the wolves in the room – which was everyone except Minho and Seungmin – stared at you while you looked around at all of them. You definitely just seemed...different. You weren’t hostile or sarcastic; you were easy-going and smiling at all of them, and it was clear you were very different when you were drunk. At least, different from the you they knew.
Then again, you said it had to do with who you were with, so someone must’ve made you feel chipper despite just having a knife cut through you.
Chan placed a hand on your head, smoothing your hair back. “Do you want to go to sleep now, _____?”
You looked up at the alpha, and a wide smile spread across your face, “Channie!”
That made all of the wolves break out into laughter.
“She sounds like us,” Hyunjin giggled.
He was surprised at how excited you seemed, and was trying to contain his giggles as he asked, “Yes?”
“Can we do something fun?” you asked before putting the bottle to your lips.
Chan quickly grabbed it and carefully took it from you with both hands, “Ah, I think you’ve had enough for tonight.”
“I just wanna have some fun with my mate, is that too much to ask?” you pouted.
Chan laughed, his cheeks warming when you called him your mate, as he handed the bottle off to Felix for safe keeping, “When it involves you getting drunker than you already are, yes.”
Chan easily lifted you off of the desk, cradling you in his arms, “I’m gonna stay with her for a little bit in my room. I’ll try to keep her quiet.”
“I’ll…make an attempt to keep them quiet,” Jisung said unsurely, looking around at his three brothers who were joking and laughing, basically ignoring anything the alpha had said.
“Don’t worry,” Minho sighed as he walked into the room, “I’ve got the kids. Have a good night.”
The wolves chimed in with their goodnights after hearing Minho, so you waved to them and rested comfortably in Chan’s arms as he walked you back to his bedroom. You looked up at him the whole walk down the hall, studying every feature of his perfect face. You wondered how you got so lucky having such a good looking mate. You also wondered if Chan knew just how good looking he was, because if he didn’t, you wanted to tell him.
So you did.
“I like looking at you,” you blurted as soon as he shut the door to his bedroom.
Chan let out a laugh that vibrated his chest – you knew because you felt it against your arm and shoulder, “What?”
“You’re just so...beautiful,” you repeated, reaching up to poke his cheek, right where his dimple was. “Hasn’t anyone told you you’re beautiful, Christopher? Actually, no, not beautiful. Maybe… I dunno, they don’t come up with a word good enough to describe you.”
He was still giggling as his cheeks and the tips of his ears turned red, “And who would ‘they’ be?”
As he set you on the bed, you said, “The people who make the words,” as if it was something he should already know.
“Right, of course. The council of word-makers. How silly of me,” he continued to giggle, playfully rolling his eyes. “Y’know, you’re rambling a lot. I think it’s time you sleep, _____.”
“No, I’m busy,” you huffed, sitting up against the headboard and curling your knees to your chest.
“No, you have to listen,” he told you softly but still firmly like he was talking to a child, going over to the door. “I’m going to turn the lights off and leave, and you’re going to go to sleep.”
“No!” you whined, reaching out for him like a baby. It was loud and something he didn’t expect, so it startled him a bit. “You should stay with me!”
Another smile began to form on his face as he cocked his head to one side, “Are you sure?”
“I always want you to!” you admitted, although drunk you didn’t know she shouldn’t be telling him that. “I always want you to stay with me. But I’m not supposed to want you to stay. Y’know?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course. We’re enemies,” he chuckled and nodded as he walked over to the bed after shutting off the lights. He climbed in beside you and promised, “We can still be enemies but hang out together. Don’t worry.”
You immediately scooted closer to him and took his arm, putting it around the back of your neck and over your shoulder before laying your head on his shoulder. He immediately melted into you, letting his thumb rub against the skin of your arm as he smiled to himself and closed his eyes.
“That’s how it was with Finn,” you admitted, not really paying much attention to your words because of how drunk you were.
All filters, cautions, and inhibitions were gone now. You were willing to tell Chan anything – you wanted to tell him everything. You were ready to blab all of your secrets and put all of your cards out on the table.
Hell, you were fully prepared to admit that maybe you loved him if the topic was somehow brought up.
Chan’s eyes opened, his eyebrows furrowed, but he continued to rub your arm with the warm pad of his thumb, so you didn’t know anything was wrong, “What do you mean?”
“He was a werewolf, too,” you told him, and that was when Chan froze – including his movements. But you were still too out of it to realize. “The only difference was I didn’t know until he shifted. He kept it from me. And…I think I was...his…mate…”
Chan wasn’t sure what to do with this information, but he didn’t want to make you feel like you did anything wrong by telling him, so he tried to stay natural. But damn, you were already a werewolf’s mate? He honestly never would’ve guessed judging from how you acted. He thought you would’ve been a lot more open to werewolves. Not that you were really un-open to him, but you certainly were holding back a lot.
But if you were a mate, why were you training to become a hunter? Unless…
That was why you weren’t really a hunter.
After a beat of silence, his short-circuiting brain came up with, “Y-you…think? What makes you unsure?”
You let out a deep sigh and explained, “I…loved Finn. But I always did. I never felt any different. I never felt that feeling I did like when I first saw you. Y’know, how it just…hits you. But…the feelings are...the same… Same as they were with Finn.”
You started to feel a lump in your throat, and your eyes were watering a little. Maybe it was the alcohol making you emotional, thinking about your feelings toward Finley being the same as the ones you felt toward Chan. Or maybe it was just because you were finally saying it out loud. There was a weight being lifted off your shoulders, a secret finally coming out that you never wanted to admit.
Or maybe both. Basically admitting that you love Chan, but still feeling guilty because you felt like you were moving on from Finley.
Chan also caught what you said. ‘I loved Finn. … The feelings are the same’. Did that mean you love him? He didn’t want to hear you say it to him drunk, but he was still flabbergasted and didn’t know what to do. He felt like he was getting so much information from you all at once and couldn’t process one thing without being bombarded with another. But this was also the first time you were really letting him in so he didn’t want to stop you, either. The poor guy was malfunctioning right beside you and you had no idea.
“_____,” he managed to speak up, clearing his throat, “you don’t have to talk about it right now. Maybe tomorrow, okay?”
“I won’t have the courage to tell you tomorrow,” you sniffled. “Everything is hard to admit. It makes it more real…”
“I know,” he sighed, holding you a little tighter and going back to rubbing your shoulder. “But confronting and accepting your feelings will be better for you. We’ll figure everything out together, yeah? I promise.”
“‘Kay,” you sighed, too and just let yourself rest against his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his body radiate off of him.
There was a comfortable silence for a few moments, and Chan started to wonder if you were falling asleep. He wasn’t sure how long he was supposed to stay. Yes, you said you liked his company, but you were drunk. He couldn’t take your word when you weren’t sober.
“Can you teach me more Korean?” you suddenly asked him.
He let out a quiet chuckle, “Where did that come from?”
“I can tell when Changbin makes comments about me not knowing Korean,” you explained rolling your eyes. "He doesn't exactly hide that he's talking about me."
His eyes closed as he laughed at that, and also hearing Changbin's soft, "Oh, fuck," down the hall.
"I told you!" Jisung whined.
“Alright, alright," he nodded after he composed himself again. "What do you know how to say?”
“I can say hello, goodbye, thank you, introduce myself, and a lot of haggling phrases.”
He let out a loud laugh, “You haggle?”
You sucked in a breath, imitating the way the other people at the market spoke, “No, no, no, that price is too low. This is quality deer meat and sells for much higher than that bullshit price you’re offering. What are you, stupid?”
You went back to your normal talking voice while Chan burst into a fit of laughter, holding his stomach with his free arm and kicking his legs, “Followed by, like, a bunch of swear words and insults. I’m really good at calling people ‘motherfuckers’ and 'fucking idiots'.”
You were pretty sure you could hear loud laughter from down the hallway, but that might’ve just been the rest of the pack sharing the rest of the alcohol.
“Okay,” Chan breathed, still letting out little giggles as he wiped tears from his eyes and cleared his throat to try and calm himself down again, “okay. Yeah. Alright. Well, you clearly know all the fun stuff, so… Wait, okay, I’ve got a good one.”
You sat up straighter and turned to look at Chan, “Lay it on me!”
He sweetly sang a short phrase to you with a smile, and you repeated it back to him in the same tone, making him giggle some more. You noticed Chan was very much a giggler.
“What did I say?” you asked.
“Goodnight!” he sang with a loud laugh. “Remember, it’s bedtime?”
Your eyebrows fell and you gave him the most unamused look you’d probably ever made in your life. All of the alcohol in your system was giving you a second wind that covered up any of the exhaustion you got from being sliced open, so you were less than thrilled about sleeping.
“No,” you stated plainly.
“It’s late, you’re drunk,” he listed as he began to lift the covers to tuck you in, “and you’ll heal better with as much rest as possible.”
You found yourself obeying him anyway, moving to lay down as you let Chan cover you with the blanket, “Are you sleeping in here?”
“...Do you want me to?”
“Duh.”
“Duh,” he imitated you, making a face as he moved to lay down beside you. “Go to bed.”
You rolled over to face him and closed your eyes, “Night.”
“G’night, _____. Sweet dreams,” he smiled down at you fondly.
After a few seconds went by and you didn’t feel him get any closer to you or drape his arm over you like you thought he would, you scooted closer to him, nuzzling into his chest. He just chuckled before lightly putting an arm around you, but you could feel the happy rumble deep in his chest.
Chan was pretty sure that was the quickest you’d ever fallen asleep since being at the house.
