But is it a Miracle?

Chapter 8- Marking Territory

Jin-Yeon POV

It was the hardest thing I'd ever done, leaving Marigold's apartment. I could feel her building anxiety, and was well aware it was going to get worse the moment I left her. My need to protect and care for her, since I was all in, was pretty damn overwhelming. I trudged to the top floor apartment next door and found Tae-Yeon slumped on the couch playing some fancy new racing game on our massive TV. I was still committed to my old school PS2 games.

I rolled my eyes. His eyes darted to me, then he smirked.

"Finally got some ass, huh, hyung?" He quipped, as if he didn't know everything there was to know about my very brief s****l history. Despite his comment, he hadn't had many women either. A few more than me, but still single digits. Given our age, that was not much at all. "Marigold did smell pretty damn nice though."

I couldn't help it, I growled. She was mine. He paused the game then turned slowly to me. It was then that he noticed the still-red human teeth marks on my neck, and his eyes got wide before he jumped to his feet. He pointed at the wound, apparently at a loss for words.

"Yes to whatever it is that you are asking me." It was my turn to smirk, satisfied that I'd managed to shock him into silence. The kid was way too glib for his own good. I patted his shoulder and quickly made my way to my room. He followed.

"Hyung, she's human." He said from the doorway. I sighed. "I know you didn't claim her verbally before marking her," he chastised.

"Actually... I said I wanted her to be mine, and she answered yours." I slipped off my shoes and belt. "So technically, I did claim her first."

"Yeah but I doubt she has any idea what you did. After all of your fighting the family, please don't tell me you took a chosen human mate." He was really upset about it. I turned to him. He should know I would never, ever take a chosen, no matter how hot.

"You know better than that, dongsaeng. Of course she's my mate. Why shouldn't I claim her? How do you think I scented her across the damn room?" I felt a wave of anguish that was not my own. Dammit, it was Marigold. I ran a hand through my hair. "I have to go back, but... she's been hurt, Tae."

"What do you mean, hurt?" He looked concerned for his sister-in-law, because after mating and marking her, that's what she had become. I was the alpha of our pack of three (four if I had my way), and while he was also alpha blood, he basically adopted the role of Beta. Of course, cats weren't nearly as strict about hierarchy in general, unless you were from a family like mine. They ran their pack like a chaebol family with a massive conglomerate. I sighed.

"I think her former lover, and perhaps her family, have mistreated her. I reached out to Cha Hyun-su for a full background check, but he's still working on it." Tae groaned.

"Hyung, you went ahead knowing nothing? I mean..." As my mate's pain intensified, I was done talking. I started pacing. I couldn't go back yet, not in human form. Obviously, my massive Siberian tiger Wolgwang, would just scare her. Shifters didn't really share their existence with humans unless it was necessary, but obviously, since Marigold was my mate, that no longer mattered. It wasn't a hard law or anything, more of a practical one. We all knew outing us meant humans being curious.

You did not want humans curious about you, not at all.

The supernatural was best left as fantasy only found in art, books, movies, and the imaginations of creative people.

I shifted into my secondary form, a rather large black tomcat. Tae's eyes bugged out.

Listen Tae, I said through our link, she needs me. She thinks I'm going to hurt her, and it has to be her past holding her back. If anything urgent comes up, link me, but otherwise I'll be next door seeing if I can get my mate to adopt me. He laughed, though you could tell he wanted to protest and had a lot of concerns.

"Fine, fine, hyung, but be careful. You're already bound, even if she didn't realize what she was doing. It could be very dangerous." He huffed out.

I love you too, dongsaeng, I quipped cheekily before he opened the window for me to leap down to the floor even with Marigold's. Our apartment was on the fifth/sixth floor, while her apartment was on the second in the adjacent building. I made my way via the fire escapes and random open windows to her door. I could hear her deep, anguished sobs through the door and feel her pain tearing at me through the bond. s**t.

I felt more than a little desperate, scratching at the door, hoping to catch her attention. After a few minutes, she had dropped to a sniffle and I could hear her moving to the door, her scent wafting already. It had gotten stronger. I thought it was my imagination, but I was sure. What I wasn't sure of, was what it meant. If she were a shifter, then you'd see such a thing right before their first shift. The last full moon had been the week before Christmas, so even if there was something strange going on, the next full moon wasn't till mid-January.

I shook it off. She was human, I was just overthinking things.

Dalnim, the moon goddess for traditional Koreans, was mysterious. It was possible she could decide to grant my mate a tiger, but certainly I knew better than to bank on it. I'd prayed and prayed to her to escape the arranged marriage my family tried to force me into, and I'd had to take matters into my own hands. Tae-Yeon had chosen to follow me because he too did not want to be forced to mate a female of our parents' choosing.

Just then, my sultry mate opened her door. I could see straight up her robe from this angle, and I could both see and smell that she still wore my essence, making me purr in approval as I zoomed into her tiny apartment. My good girl. She seemed bemused, but pleased. Then, loud and clear, I heard her thoughts, and laughed internally, along with my beast. He already loved her, maybe even more than I did.

Mark her apartment?

Too bad I already scent-marked everything the moment she brought me to her apartment, it just wasn't by peeing or spraying. I'd released a pheremone infused with both my scent and rank as I brushed my hand along the staircase, the hallway, and her door. Her apartment was saturated in it. Most likely, even human males would feel a strong sense of unease even coming near her door.

I gave her all the affection I could as a cat, and was entirely too pleased when she ate it up. It was cute when she made me food, but I could eat anything really, even in cat form. Though I did appreciate the gesture.

Calling me Little Jin was the cutest thing ever, to my mind.

After we ate, she put on Oh My Venus, a Korean drama about a woman that decides to lose weight after her fiancee cheats on her, then falls for her personal trainer. I snuggled up onto her lap, tucked right up under her fantastic breasts as we watched. It was actually a pretty good show. More tolerable than usual. I could see why she was watching.

Oddly, the male lead looked just like my Gamma, Hyun-su.

"Little Jin," she whispered. "I miss him. I miss the man I named you after. One night and he's all I can think about." My heart clenched. I felt the tiniest bit of shame given that she didn't know it was me, but it wasn't going to stop me from comforting her. I rubbed my head against her chin, placing my paws on her chest. One day she was going to be upset that I did such a thing in cat form, but it wasn't like she didn't let me touch her glorious body before, right? Her hand stroked my fur, making me shudder internally.

I bet that you don't hold this form for long, Jin, Wolgwang chuckled darkly. I knew what he wanted. Once she knew what we were, he would want to mate with her using my form. He'd released his knot already, but had been careful not to reveal himself just yet. Do you feel it, Jin? He was way too excited. I rubbed across her abdomen, trying to be subtle.

Ah, I get it.

We'd indeed gotten lucky, despite our human mate's age. An heir. The first of many, I hoped, we'd just have to see if like many human mates, she picked up some of our traits, like longer life and more vigorous health. Her body didn't show any outward signs of change, meaning that she was perfect as she was. Every curvaceous inch of her.

Dammit, now I really wanted to shift and hold her. It was not the right time, though. As much as it pained me, she wasn't ready for the next level in our relationship yet. I was ready to get married the human way, at the courthouse, and move her into my apartment. Today. Wolgwang laughed at my excitement.

"Little Jin, if I tell you my story, will you listen, even if the troubles of humans aren't at all like the troubles of cats?" She implored, her eyes luminous with unshed tears.

She had paused the drama and switched to some baking show. I see, not too quiet, but something she didn't care about missing parts of. I chirped at her, then sat facing her, like a captive audience, as she caressed my soft fur. She giggled, a charming sound that made my heart flip. She took a deep, shaky breath.

"I guess I should start at the beginning, hmm? My parents are your standard middle-class Americans. The only thing at all creative about my mother is her choosing very, well, hippie names for me and my siblings. Oh my goodness, I didn't even introduce myself! I'm Marigold, and I'm named for a flower. I'm the oldest. My younger brother, Sage, was named after the herb. He would tell you it's his name because he's always the smartest in the room." She snorted, her disagreement with his self-assessment clear.

I chirped in agreement. Anyone that says that is usually incorrect. It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt, as the saying goes.

"My youngest sister, Larke, is named after a bird. I wish her personality was as pretty as her name." She sighed, and I pushed my head against her hand. "My parents, Harold and Rosemary, are kind enough to them, but when it comes to me, I'm everything they don't like. Too ugly, too fat, too stupid, too liberal, too kind, too... everything. I don't remember them ever liking a single thing I did. And as much as I'd like to say that I was this tough, strong woman that overcame their negativity, I really haven't."

I once again put my paws on her chest and touched my nose to hers. She hugged me close, rubbing her face in my neck. Wolgwang growled in pleasure in my head.

Stay focused, I told him.

"I was so happy when I went to college. I stayed centered, I studied hard, I graduated top of my class. Still not a word of approval. It left me in a vulnerable place, emotionally."

I braced myself.