Spending the whole night roaming around the marked out boundaries with his mate and trying to uncover what was going through that complicated head of his, had turned out to be one exhausting task for Sungyeol. No matter what approach he tried, Myungsoo would find one thing or another to distract him with.

It was only when the first morning ray has broken on the horizon of the dark sky that both the mates had returned back to the mansion… Sungyeol wanted to go and meet his friend but Myungsoo had insisted he rest first, thus giving Kyuhyun time to recover. Begrudgingly Sungyeol had agreed but once left alone- since the perks of being a Vampire means you don’t need waste your time sleeping- all the young wolf could think of was his home, his mother, his father… his whole universe had been that castle, his clan and the forest surrounding them. Even if he knew he was still in the same forest but somehow this part of forest wasn’t exactly as appealing as the one back home.

Sungyeol lay on his stomach on the soft mattress with his head perched up on the pillow and his vacant and sad eyes fixed on the small opening in the thick curtains that was letting in the bright rays of sun, just a little bit. Sungyeol was exhausted… he could feel it in every part of his body… but sleeping seemed like a foreign thing right now.

Things have messed up big time… Sungyeol knew he had been in love with Myungsoo even before he had been kidnapped, before he had learned the truth about ‘that sparkling angle’ as Sungyeol used to refer him as… but at that time things had been all happiness and sunshine, Sungyeol had thought he was hopelessly in love but in all honesty he realized now he was hopelessly in love… because of imprinting. He had read several books on the topic and how imprinting had been implied as was simply… beautiful. Now getting a firsthand experience at it, Sungyeol realized this was just a forced love… because without imprinting Sungyeol wouldn’t have batted a single eyelid- no matter how much in love with Myungsoo he was- and ran back to his original home but now even if he try to run his inner wolf would always drag him back to his mate… and loving Myungsoo came as natural as breathing.

Meeting all the Vampires one by one Sungyeol realized that none of them looked at him with disgust or even remote expressions of dislike and Minseok had been ever so kind to inform him that for last two thousand years now none of the Vampires had hurt werewolves because the Kings had forbidden wolf hunt after Myungsoo came in their life… Sungyeol couldn’t help but wonder then why would there be so many conflicts between his clan and Kim Clan, and he felt ashamed to realize that all the advanced must be from his own Clan.

Sungyeol heaved a long sigh before getting off the soft bed because the muffled shouts- that he had been hearing for quite some time now- had become more furious and loud now.

“So much for resting!” Sungyeol scoffed in irritation as his curious soul took measured steps toward the sitting area in the King’s quarter where, judging by the sounds, Myungsoo was again arguing with his parents.

“No Myungsoo, absolutely not! We are still suffering from the consequences of our first time… God only knows what could happen after-” This was the first time Sungyeol had heard Woohyun shouting in so much anger and that made him frown in worry rather than fear once he stood outside the desired room.

“Don’t you want to see me happy?” Myungsoo’s booming voice reached Sungyeol’s ears making him bit on his bottom lip in nervousness as he slowly opened the already ajar door and took a peek in the lavish room.

“We do wanna see you happy… that’s all we have ever wanted.” Woohyun muttered a little dejectedly. “I know okay?? I know it’s my fault!” Woohyun exclaimed and he looked near tears as his bottom lips trembled badly.

“DAD!!” “WOOHYUN!” Myungsoo and Sunggyu exclaimed with horrorstruck expressions.

“I got greedy, I only thought of myself… I repent myself every single day because of that! I shouldn’t have asked her to do that when she already warned me but- but” Woohyun struggled with his words as he sank down on the sofa behind him while clutching his hairs in pure agony and in a flash his mate was beside him in order to providing comfort.

Myungsoo sat down on his knees while placing his hands on his dad’s knees before saying, in a heavy voice like he was about to cry but since Myungsoo’s back was turned toward Sungyeol so he couldn’t really tell. “It isn’t your fault! I never ever- not even for a single second of my life- blamed you for this outcome. You are not greedy nor are you selfish… you gave me a second chance at life.”

“But at what cost??” Woohyun demanded before he raised his face and leaned his hand to place it on his son’s cheek, “I swear Myungsoo if I could go back into past and change just one thing… I would change this! I would never think of scarifying your happiness just to get my own.” Myungsoo kept shaking his head like silently telling his dad to stop thinking about the painful past and blaming himself. “I made a mistake… you know its consequences… I know I ruined your life.”

“Dad please stop blaming yourself!” Myungsoo all but shouted in frustration.

“Please don’t ruin his life like I ruined yours,” Woohyun kept pleading like he couldn’t even hear his son’s words. “You don’t get to dictate his life Myungie… it’s his life, it’s his decision.”

Sungyeol, who couldn’t take anymore, softly called out. “Myungsoo…?”

The said Vampire quickly shot to his feet and snapped his neck toward his mate, at the speed of light, and blinked his moist filled eyes a few times before looking away. Sungyeol wasn’t sure if his mate was angry that he heard their private talk or just embarrassed to show Sungyeol his weak side… but it hurt when Myungsoo turned away from him.

“Oh, Sungyeol…” Sungyeol turned to look at King Sunggyu who had acknowledged his presence before others. “Come here, son.” The King said in a voice as gentle as Woohyun’s while patted the small space on sofa between him and his mate, Woohyun.

Even if they were Vampires- his enemies- they were good to him and would never hurt him- at least that’s what Sungyeol kept telling himself as he came to sit between two of his mortal enemies, but it was hard to convince his inner wolf who gnawed at him, internally.

“It’s good that you came, there is something we need to discuss with you since it’s about you… but don’t feel pressured. If you say no then it’s a no.” Sunggyu started with a rather soothing voice but once his cold hand landed on Sungyeol’s shoulder he couldn’t help but cringe internally and tried his best to not show it on his features. “You look like a good kid, someone with an actual brain… something that your mate obviously lacks,” Sungyeol couldn’t help but smile at the King’s way of lighting the serious situation… but of course, a loud scoff was heard from the offended Vampire. “I hope you can talk some sense into him.”

“I can try,” Sungyeol said in a voice no more than a whisper.

Sunggyu sighed before giving a look to his mate, who was sitting with his head down, and his son, who seemed more interested in the carpet than what his father was saying.

“Myungsoo wants us- actually, he wants to take you to the Great Mother.” Sunggyu’s words rang in Sungyeol’s ears for quite some time, turning it around in his jammed mind to extract its meaning.

“Why?” Sungyeol finally mumbled in confusion. “To find the cure?”

“There is no cure.” Rather than Sunggyu, Woohyun was the one to answer making Sungyeol to turn toward him. “You think we wouldn’t have search for the cure in all these years if there was one?” Woohyun shook his head miserably. “We didn’t search just once but several times… even the Great Mother grew tired because of the number of times we went to her. The Great Mother… well, she is not a pure witch, meaning she is not a good witch… she can only cast destructive spells, something that would cause troubles… her powers are limited, she can’t cast a spell that would do others some good.”

Sungyeol gapped at this new piece of information, feeling like he had always been living under a rock because how come he never knew these things? He never knew there were different types of witches.

“And I am sure; you as much as I, wouldn’t wanna meet that old hag… so please talk some sense into your mate.” Sunggyu said with a snigger which soon turned into a pained hiss when his mate slapped the ba