WS: Heartstrings

IX. The Story

"Hyeri, say something." Hyeri heard Chanyeol mutter as his hand reached for her hands that were placed on her lap. "We broke her!" Baekhyun said out loud. "I knew we shouldn't have shifted." Luhan sighed.

"It was Chen's idea! Blame him!" Tao shouted. "Enough!" Joonmyeon growled and in seconds he was kneeled in front of Hyeri, and was looking up at her as I stared at him.

"Hyeri, everything we just showed you-" He paused and took a deep breath and smiled. "What we just showed to you is our biggest secret, we need to at least know you will keep that secret if you decide to never speak to any of us again." Joonmyeon explained then shifted and looked towards the person sitting beside her. Chanyeol.

"We still haven't told you some things. Right now isn't the perfect timing, but since you have already seen the things we can do-" He paused again and looked to me again then to Chanyeol.

"You know about soulmates?" Joonmyeon asks her, and she just nod in response. Hyeri had too much on her mind to say anything or give any other reaction.

"Good. Well to us it's just mates. It's the same. A bit. But with more meaning. They're the wolf's most cherished possession. For our entire lives most of us search for our mate, some don't even find them." Joonmyeon paused and looked at the others.

"But for the ones that do, we do everything in our power to keep them safe. It is and always will be our strength and weakness." Joonmyeon looked to Chanyeol, then to Hyeri again and sighed with a smile.

"You know, when we first found you Chanyeol was scolding us for always crowding your room or for sitting too close to you." Joonmyeon teased.

"Suho!" Chanyeol shouted and startled Hyeri from the loudness of his voice. "Sorry, Hyeri." He ended up muttering while rubbing her hand with his thumb in a conforting way. It was a lot to take in, so much that Hyeri's head started to hurt again.

Chanyeol's eyes widened when Hyeri's hand snatched away from his own, and he almost thought that she was rejecting him.

Hyeri's hands went to hold her head and she started breathing deeply. In seconds, Chanyeol's wolf was on edge and going crazy. "Hyeri!" He called her name and moved into Joonmyeon's spot.

"Hyeri!" A loud voice that wasn't familiar to the group of boys had shouted from the front door, and Chanyeol's head snapped to the direction of the person.

He looked to be in his late thirties but than they caught scent. The man who had barged into the cabin was a werewolf.

"Chanyeol, move back." Joonmyeon commanded Chanyeol; but he ignored his alpha and stayed close to Hyeri as the man came to bend beside him looking at Hyeri. "Chanyeol, I presume?" He asked and Chanyeol nodded.

"You're her mate?" He asked and again Chanyeol nodded. "I'm her father." He asked then looked to Hyeri. "How long has this been happening?" He asked us and Yixing responded.

"A few days after she arrived at our cabin. Two weeks, I believe." Yixing tells Hyeri's father and the man sighed.

Chanyeol stood beside Hyeri's father as he shook his head and kneeled beside her. "Her mother was like this. The doctors say there isn't much we can do but to make sure she rests well and doesn't stress." He explained then sighed loudly.

"It's why I tried to keep her home and away from everyone outside of our home." Hyeri's father shook his head. "It's a permanent thing that runs in her mothers side of the family but it became worse when she had her accident when she was young." He tells them.

"Accident?" Joonmyeon asked and her father nodded. "My recent wife treated her bad and I was a bad father in the past. I didn't get a background check and just married her, I thought she would be a good mother for my Hyeri." Her father explained to them.

"Instead she treated her bad behind my back and I didn't notice until Hyeri was in the hospital. My Hyeri was in a coma for two years." He said as he patted her head gently. "It took three years for her to regain her strength and walk right again."