AN: btw you'll probably see a funky shift in genders for Umi as they're non-binary.
Summary: Nico knew that Nozomi would never reveal any of her secrets and would always offer her support to her. Which included her telling her that the alpha, like Maki, was a sweetheart behind the quiet, serious, rather disattached work attitude, which was the attitude that was almost all that Nico had seen.
"Are you two ready?" Umi's voice hadn't lost an ounce of it's usual politeness despite the outfit change. Which unfortunately for Nico, forced her to stop in her tracks, even if it was from pure shock. After all, to say that seeing Umi in anything but anything resembling a suit was weird to Nico was an understatement. In her defense, the bodyguard hadn't come off as someone that would ever lose the snazzy business suit or at least slacks and a button down and tie, kind of person.
Though she should've known better, after all, her mate was a fashion designer for crying out-loud.
The alpha werewolf smoothed out the hem of her cream colored turtle-neck and dark grey sweater over her black jeggings and looked at the duo over her shoulder out of the corner of her eye. The outfit accented her amber eyes, making the alpha's eyes glow just that little more in the artificial lights of the house.
There was something in Umi's eyes, a sharp intensity that reminded Nico that the blue-haired bodyguard was first and foremost a werewolf, a creature more wolf than human. Not to mention, Nico got a feeling that if the alpha chose to, she could exercise much, much more control over Nico than Nico would've liked.
And the thought was terrifying.
"We really do need to hurry." The alpha's sharp white fangs that naturally poked out from under her upper lip glinted their real length in the light as she spoke.
Nico found herself subconsciously shrinking backward and taking an unwanted step backward.
What was going on?
It was strange, in a frightening way. It felt a little like the incident yesterday evening, with the alpha's sharp voice bouncing painfully around in her head, yet… Umi wasn't speaking to her in any way, she was just looking at her.
Could the alpha really control her like she got the feeling she could? Able to bend her will as easy as she breathed?
Her mind was her own, it… it was a part of her that no one else had access to. It was what made her who she was, and… it was where all of her secrets and her past was kept.
Attack and manipulate her body and how she had her heart open to everyone, but it all would bounce off, because her mind and will was what was hers and hers alone. Her mind had been the only place that was Nico's solstice for so many years, and place of safety and yet… someone could break down those walls with the flick of a finger, regardless of Nico's permission.
Someone could vandalize her mind, take away control of her own body, and break her will without even speaking.
Nico suddenly felt very claustrophobic and trapped.
Fear flickered in Nico's eyes and the mage stiffened, feeling her magic defensively pooling in her fingers and palm, causing the skin there to tingle and burn with the amount of concentrated magic there.
Nobody was going to take her mind. Nobody.
Long fingers briefly brushed her back and the smell of peppermint tickled Nico's nose. Her hackles lowered, some part of her being reassured by the presence she had forgotten about.
Maki.
A part of Nico urged her to trust the skittish werewolf, told her that everything was going to be okay, that she didn't need to worry anymore.
But should she really put all one-hundred percent of her trust in the werewolf who she was still getting to know?
Nico wasn't sure.
"Yes, we're ready, Umi," Maki told the alpha casually, though Nico got the feeling that the werewolf was at least a little tense.
How she knew that, she had no idea.
Umi blinked and turned to face them properly.
It then seemed to dawn on her that Nico was feeling uncomfortable and why, and the alpha's eyes instantly lost the sharp intensity Nico had seen. Her pupils turned a little more round as she broke eye contact, which seemed to instantly break the terrifying amount of control over Nico she had, giving Nico space to breathe.
Thank god.
Nico took a deep breath and felt her entire body loosen and relax by the action.
Her mind was safe.
Umi was still looking at her, but Nico could tell that she wasn't looking her quite in the eye, rather, she was looking at her cheek instead of in the eyes. Which Nico couldn't help but be thankful for.
"My apologies, I'm a little on edge," Umi apologized sincerely. "I apologize, I had not realized that Maki had touched your mind and you are lingering together."
Nico's face felt hot.
What did she just say? Nico glanced over at Maki, only to find that the redhead was avoiding looking at her and her ears were redder than a strawberry while she twirled a lock of her hair around one of her fingers.
"W-what?" Curse embarrassment for messing up her ability to speak.
The bodyguard looked rather amused at Nico's lack of eloquence, however, thankfully, she didn't tease her. Though, was Umi even capable of teasing? The thought flashed across Nico's mind, purely out of curiosity with how uptight and professional the bluenette always seemed to be.
"I'm guessing that you just felt like I could control you at any given moment," Umi reasoned, successfully making a perfect guess. "If I had to make a guess on why it happened, I would say that it's because you are mentally linked with Maki at the moment."
Nico's face burned some more. Her mind was still brushing Maki's?! How did she not notice something like that?!
Nico took a step away from Maki and scrambled to search her mind to check if what Umi was saying was true, and sure enough… she could feel Maki's musical mind still pressed against hers. Maki's mind was full of a fuddledd mix of embarrassment and mortification, though Nico didn't blame her. After all, it seemed like neither of them had noticed this arrangement until now.
Nico yanked her consciousness away from Maki's at the same time Maki pulled hers away, her face growing hotter by the second. "Damnit tomatohead!" She cursed at the redhead, "since when did you get an exclusive pass to Nico's great mind?" she rambled, unable to help herself when she was so embarrassed.
"I don't need or want one," Maki rolled her eyes and snapped back at her, "besides, it's not like I'd want one with this kind of attitude, shorty."
"I'm not that short!" Nico snapped back and stepped on the toe of the taller werewolf's shoes, "besides! You should be delighted! Nico's mind is a very exclusive place, you know!"
"Yeah? Well so is mine, I'll have you know," Maki crossed her arms over her chest in a boredly indignant way, though she continued to twirl her hair around a finger, "you just got a look into a genius' mind."
"You may be a genius, but Nico's a star!" Nico huffed, though her face didn't feel quite as hot anymore. Plus… messing with the werewolf was kinda fun, wasn't it? "That makes my mind even more exclusive and special!"
"What? What kind of logic is that-" Maki started to refute the comment, but was cut off.
"Enough! Right now is not the time to be squabbling." Oh, right, Umi was in the room. Welp, Nico had forgotten about her for a minute.
Umi was standing near the door now, a satchel over her shoulder and sunglasses on the top of her head. Nico and Maki's luggage had vanished, and Nico guessed that the alpha had used magic to teleport them to wherever their destination was. Where were they going anyway?
"There's plenty of time for you two to squabble like Honoka and I did as kids-" Wait, who was Honoka? "-on the plane."
Plane?
Oh god, this wasn't going to be fun.
Nico hated planes.
"How come we're taking a plane? Don't you have magic?"
Maki listened silently to Nico's question directed at Umi as the alpha swiped her wallet over the gate sensor, engaging the lock with the faintest click that only werewolves could hear. Maki could guess why they were taking a plane, after all, it wasn't very often that Umi arrived out of nowhere in the early hours of the morning without Kotori.
When it happened it meant that something had happened to Kotori and it was possible, even to some tiny degree, that the pack house could be attacked.
The place was protected by magic, a pool effort between Umi and Kotori, protecting the objects within and the building itself. So someone with ill intent would find a completely bare unused building, all of the objects and belongings inside vanishing into a pocket dimension of Umi's creation, before reappearing in the place they had been before.
But no amount of magic could make two people completely disappear.
Besides, Maki wasn't blind, she had seen the solar eclipse this morning, being exempt from the sun's wisps.
Sun angel magic that kept the world from knowing when unnatural solar eclipses occurred; events caused by an emergency level burst of magic combined with actions of a creature of the moon.
The intense anxiety, fear, and nervousness this afternoon all made sense now.
"-magic reserves. Besides, we're trying to not raise any suspicion." Maki tuned into the conversation at the end of what Umi was saying, but she knew what the alpha had said, even if her mind had been wandering off, wondering what happened. After all, Maki didn't need words to be able to communicate with and understand the alpha.
Her bond with her told Maki that the alpha had just explained that her magic reserves were shot, which was why they were taking a plane rather than teleport. The not raising suspicion thing was mainly just a filler explanation. Maki had had enough of these experiences to know that Umi used teleportation if she could.
Teleportation...
Maki's eyes strayed to Nico on it's own.
Would Maki be able to use magic too one day? Nico was her soulmate, a magic user, and Maki was a werewolf, the creature that bonded the closest to their soulmate and even adopted some of their behaviors and abilities due to how close they bonded. So… theoretically, Maki could use magic in the future. Though if she was like Umi, who didn't use much of her magic that often, then she could supercharge Nico's magic, right? So maybe that was the better path. Still…
...being able to teleport would be epic.
"Ugh… I hate planes," Nico groaned and Maki hid a smirk at the way the shorter woman had to almost jog to keep up with the long legged Umi.
Maki muffled a laugh, if only Umi was using her human alpha werewolf traits, then Nico would have a bigger struggle trying to keep up with the alpha at six-two instead of five-ten.
"Tough," Umi sounded amused herself at Nico's antics, even as they reached one of the garages and Umi unlocked it with a fingerprint. Maki instantly noticed the well loved blue motorcycle in the driveway beside the particular garage. The motorcycle was Umi's personal vehicle, the vehicle she usually used to get herself and Kotori to the airport, so it was never here if Umi was traveling.
Maki's eyebrows wrinkled slightly.
The alpha must not have had enough magic to even make it to the pack house.
"Wow, I gotta admit," Nico snorted at the pair of cars within the garage, a small dark green sedan and a red hatchback, "I was expecting some fancy car or something." Maki could understand why. Most people had a stereotype regarding people with a lot of money and while many of them were true, Umi Sonoda and Kotori Minami weren't two of them. Hence why there was a distinct lack of sports or fancy cars in their garage.
Umi had preferred to pay for Maki's college fees rather than buy fancy cars, while Kotori, being the warm hearted person she was, donated a lot of money and gave out scholarships with the rest of what she earned.
Though most werewolves didn't own or use cars anyway, being creatures of the wild.
"Cars aren't really a werewolf thing, Nico," Maki shrugged, though the whole staying calm and not being awkward or clumsy was successful purely from Umi's presence.
"Now come on," Umi directed and walked over to a particular car that made Maki smile. It was the red hatchback.
The car was Maki's childhood car, the car she had been in a lot of the time during the whole 'going between Minami Manor and the Sonoda Dojo every week thing' after Umi had gotten her liscense. Umi had even let her choose the car back as a kid and had charmed to keep it running perfectly through the years.
"We really do need to go," Umi unlocked the car and pulled open the driverside door before sliding into the seat. "Pick a seat, it doesn't really matter which one."
"I call shotgun!" Nico smirked at Maki, who blinked and found herself caught off guard by the rather wicker smirk by the ravenette.
Her ears turned red.
Damnit.
Maki hastily, and a bit clumsily, got into the back of the car, if only to avoid Nico and her unfairly attractive smile. Because frankly the redhead was sick of being red in the face all the time. Though she couldn't help but yelp when she jammed her finger in the door.
Nico smelled triumphant, an energetic tint to her usual smell.
Damnit, since when was she this much of a clumsy idiot?
Umi turned on the car, "oh, and Maki, hide your teeth please."
Maki slouched in her seat. She wanted to die…
The mentioning of canine teeth however, reminded her of something and she quickly sat up straight. Hey, how come your canines were so long in the pack house anyway?
Kotori, Umi replied with a snort as she urged the car into motion and got it rolling down the street. You know what overwhelming stress does to her, Maki.
Maki rolled her eyes, you mean 'mated werewolf-syndrome?' Where werewolves dealt with their stress through bonding with their mate, looking for protection and support in the most intimate way possible. Though Kotori suffers from it more than other werewolves.
Well she's under more stress than the average werewolf, Umi pointed out, a point that Maki had heard and seen with her own eyes. After all, she had spent weeks of her life as a child traveling with her parents, under the guise of being Umi's apprentice, which had shown her the unfortunate reality of Kotori and Umi's lives.
So many secrets...
Maki mentally shook her head and cut off the sarcastic tone, but it usually happens when you get hurt, are you okay?
I will be, Umi reassured her, once I get Kotori to a safe place and make sure everything's safe and secure.
Maki narrowed her eyes, the alpha didn't answer her question. Papa, she pulled out a nickname from her childhood that she periodically still used depending on the day and how she was feeling, are you injured?
Yes.
Maki's heart stopped.
Maki had been almost eerily quiet throughout the car ride from what Nico had noticed, even before the redhead had dozed off a couple minutes ago. She was rather naturally quiet, as Nico had observed throughout the day and how she had silently walked with Nico to each of the mage's college classes earlier this morning. However, the amount of silence from the werewolf through this car trip was almost eerie and it was an eeriness Nico wasn't exactly comfortable in.
Not to say that Umi was all that frightening or anything, Nico just didn't know the alpha all that well as Umi was the person she had spent the least amount of time around.
She glanced over to her left at the alpha driving, who in a way, felt like a complete stranger, even if she knew the alpha wouldn't hurt her.
The others in Maki's pack had almost only good things to say about the reserved and quiet bodyguard, Kotori especially, but Nico hadn't exactly seen much of the behaviors and personality that they had all mentioned or agreed on at different points. The person's opinion she trusted the most, was Nozomi's, as Nico had known her for years, unlike the rest of the pack, even Maki.
She trusted Nozomi with everything, even if the future scryer was periodically a thorn in her side and they didn't get along sometimes, Nico knew that Nozomi would never reveal any of her secrets and would always offer her support to her. Which included her telling her that the alpha, like Maki, was a sweetheart behind the quiet, serious, rather disattached work attitude, which was the attitude that was almost all that Nico had seen.
"Are you alright?" Umi's voice startled Nico out of her thoughts, "you seemed to have been having a bad dream of sorts this morning and I know that this level of constant chaos isn't something you're used to."
"Huh?" Nico took a second to digest the alpha's concern before she snorted with a chuckle, "this kind of stuff reminds me of the chaos back at my mama's, so don't worry, I'm tougher than I look." She settled a bit more comfortably into her seat and continued, "I'm just getting used to werewolves and stuff, since I haven't really had much experience with them."
"Hopefully the adjustment hasn't been too difficult so far," Umi commented and Nico took note of the seemingly more relaxed tone in their voice, "I've been told that the adjustment to werewolves tends to be quicker than expected."
"What do you mean?" Nico questioned, even if she had an inkling of what the alpha was talking about.
"Kotori affectionately calls having a werewolf soulmate as 'soul speed-dating,'" Umi explained calmly, "so as part of that, I've been told that accepting the differences in werewolf culture to someone with a werewolf soulmate is easier than to someone who doesn't."
"Oh, yeah, I guess it is pretty easy to accept." Wait, 'soul speed-dating?' Okay, now Nico was curious.
"What else is in the whole, 'soul speed-dating' thing?" She asked curiously, "did Kotori say anything else about it?"
"Plenty," Umi chuckled, "but it's something I would ask her if I were you, as I'm a werewolf."
"But isn't she part werewolf too?" The words were out before Nico had a chance to really think them through and she winced. There was no way the alpha wasn't going to react badly to that.
Yet, to Nico's surprise, Umi just blinked and gave a light shake of their head like they were a little amused. "Based on that, would I be right to assume that you have seen at least a few of Maki's memories?"
Nico's ears flushed red, "er, yeah…"
"That's an example of Kotori's whole 'soul speed-dating, Nico," Umi threw out casually before they properly answered Nico's question. "However, to answer your question, yes, Kotori is part werewolf, but she's a sun angel and mage hybrid by birth, not to mention to the entire world. She and I were already dating and bonded by the time she became a werewolf."
"Right, so the werewolf thing is a secret, got it," Nico read between the lines, "but how is it even possible for her to be part werewolf? I thought werewolves were a genetic thing."
"Non werewolves bonded to a full alpha leading a pack can adopt a wolf form and speak wolfish, but like you guessed," Umi admitted, "that's not how she's part werewolf. She's part werewolf because sunangels like to break the laws of physics and biology and she was raising a werewolf cub when she was exposed to werewolf venom."
Huh, well, what Nico had seen in Maki's memory made sense now.
"It's not something that can or would happen to you," they reassured, "Kotori's one of the few handful of people in history that it's happened to and Maki's not a full alpha."
"Well that's a relief," Nico chuckled and grinned, "Nico's pretty happy the way she is."
"I'm glad, self-confidence is something that can't be exchanged or replaced," Umi hummed sincerly as the car slowed to a stop.
They were there.
