55 years ago…


“You feel how the bow doesn’t give much? That’s the strength in it. Pull back until you feel that each and every time. Now, don’t release it until I tell you to.”

“Julien, I don’t really think this is the–“

“No, No, Minjung,” the Arctic wolf admonished, shaking his head. “He thinks we don’t trust him, so I’m going to show him that we do.” Julien bent over, plucked the melon from his satchel and placed it on his head. “Now, Minho, I’m not telling you you have to hit your target but if you miss…you know…that’s an arrow through my face. But I trust you. So, come on. Remember everything I taught you and go for it.”

Julien marched to the tree they were standing in front of, turned and stared at Minho like he had testosterone pumping out of his pores. Minho didn’t know if it was sheer terror reflecting in his eyes or sheer stupid confidence.

Minho took one look at him, sighed and lowered the bow. “This is emotional terrorism. I’m not going to shoot at you. Not to prove something as silly as trust. I miss and Minjung is going to flay me alive.”

“Correct! And if you make it, I’m going to flay him alive for thinking this was a good idea,” Minjung said from her perch up on the tree above her mate.

Julien looked up at her, pouting. “You say that as if I have poor decision making skills.”

Minjung frowned. “There’s a melon on your head and you want my brother to shoot an arrow at it. Yeah, Poor decision making skills.”

“That’s says a lot considering I decided to mate with you,” Julien said under his breath. Instinctively, he ducked when she threw a branch at his head.

“Are you two done? Because I promised Kibum I would meet him at the square when I finished.”

Minjung sprung from the tree branch and landed in front of her brother. “Kibum’s going to have to wait, pup. The idea was to bring out here so you could talk freely, not fling projectiles at my mate’s head. So! The three of us are going to sit down and listen to what’s bothering you, and then the three of us are going to come up with a solution.”

Minho fought the temptation to roll his eyes. He lowered the bow Julien given him after he’d won the rabbit hunt a few years back and took a seat on the moss covered ground with a loud sigh. He knew this conversation was going to come up eventually, he just thought he’d be more prepared to avoid it.

“You told Julien that he didn’t trust you. That I don’t trust you. What did you mean by that?” Minjung took a seat and stared at him. “What would make you think that?”

Minho searched around for a lie he could throw at them but he’d never been that great a lying and Minjung was perceptive. So he just went with the truth.

“Ever since I got sick…” Minho paused and tucked his gangly legs under him. He was started to grow, more man than pup, but his body was an awkward collection of sharp angles and long lean limbs. He had long scars from welts across his legs which made him more self-conscious, regardless of the fact they were almost invisible at this point. His “sickness” had caused them.

His sickness. Jungsoo never gave it a name, or told him exactly what it was. Just called it a sickness and gave him some horrible tasting herb to drink once a month. They never told him anything, just handed him his medicine. He hated it.

“You think we’ve been treating you differently,” Minjung stated when he didn’t finish, observant as always.

“Yeah and I want to know why! Why are there all of these whispers and half answered questions? Why every time I walk into a room it goes still? Is it because I’m sick? Is it because I’m not as strong as you? Are you not proud of me anymore?”

Julien made his way over to Minjung and took a knee behind her. His hand came up to her shoulder to massage it. Minho narrowed his gaze at the tender show of affection before he looked away.

“You think I’m not proud of you.” Another statement.

“It’s like you’ve replaced me with him,” Minho mumbled, his eyes still lowered to the ground. He began plucking at the moss, waiting for Julien to laugh at him or for Minjung to call him stupid.

“Minho, look at me.” Slowly he did and was greeted with Minjung’s teary smile.

“You are the most important thing to me. Father knows that. Julien knows that. And I am proud of you. I love you and I want you to never forget that. And yes you are right, I have been treating you differently since you got sick, but you have to understand just how frightened I was when Kibum told me what happened. I was scared to death, Minho. I can’t lose you.”

“It’s not like I’m going anywhere,” Minho muttered, his cheeks feeling warm. “I’m better now. As long as I keep taking my medicine, I’ll keep getting better. You don’t have to baby me.”

Minjung did laugh this time, wiping her tears away. “You’re absolutely right. You’re not baby. Only a strong wolf would have been able to pull on Julien’s bow anyways.”

“That’s a fact, Minho. It only responds to strength and that just certifies that you’re strong as an ox.”

Minho rolled his eyes and chortled. “It’s ‘strong as a wolf’, Julien! ‘Strong as a wolf.”

“Tomato-Tamahta. The point is–“ Julien’s speech cut off mid-sentence and both he and Minjung’s head snapped towards the forest.

Minho frowned and followed their line of sight but all he saw were trees and more trees. “What is–“

Minjung’s finger came to her lip, cutting Minho off. Slowly, Julien stood and furtively moved in front of them. Minho felt their anxiety rolling off them in waves and his eyes began to dart around the forest to try and find what was making them so alert. Nothing. It was silent.

Minjung and Julien must have agreed because they relaxed, shoulders unwinding and pupils’ contracting. Yet Minjung was still frowning.

“That was strange, I swore I heard something.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Minho admitted.

Minjung smiled at him and pointed to his bow. “Didn’t you say you Kibum was waiting for you. I’d rather not hear his mouth so we should get going.”

Minho agreed and as he reached for his bow, a hissing sliced through the still of the forest air, followed by a sickening thud.

Julien’s eyes went wide as he stared down at his leg. “What the–“

“JULIEN!” Minjung shrieked.

Minho’s eyes blinked wide open, staring at the hilt of a knife sticking out of Julien’s thigh. He was frozen to the feet, watching the blood run down his brother in law’s leg.

Minjung heard another hiss and instinctively moved before thinking, covering Minho’s body. He heard her cry out and when he opened his eyes, he saw another small knife sticking out of her forearm.

Quicker than Minho could formulate in his brain, he felt his body being lifted from the forest floor. Injury and all, Julien was speeding through the forest, Minjung trailing behind him and Minho in his arms. He dodged left and hid behind the wide trunk of an oak.

Minjung’s feet skid to a stop in front of her mate. She reached up and she grabbed Minho from Julien so she could set him down.

“Did you see them?” she asked Julien as she searched Minho for injuries.

“Barely, dodging through the trees. I saw the headbands. Blue Crescents.”

Minjung cursed.

“I agree,” Julien said.

Minjung chewed on her lip for a second before Julien stopped her. “Don’t worry. He’s strong. He’ll be alright. “

Minjung crouched in front of Minho, pushing back his hair so she could kiss him on the forehead. “Me and Julien are going to take care of this little problem. Do you know how to get back to Wheph from here?”

Minho grabbed his sister’s hand desperately. “I can fight, Minjung. I swear I can.”

“I know you can, baby. I know. But me and the old man here haven’t had a chance to prove our worth around here in a long time. Especially with you outshining him all the time.” Julien grinned down at him. “What I need for you to do is run home and tell father what happened. Can you do that?”

Minho was shaking but he nodded. Minjung smiled before gritting her teeth and yanking the knife from her forearm. She wiped the blood from it and handed it to him. “Take this. Just in case. Remember all of the places I taught you to strike but only if they get too close. If not, you run and you don’t stop, you hear me?”

Minho nodded again.

“Count to ten and then go.”

Minho opened his mouth to speak but his sister and her mate were gone before he could part his lips.




Minjung hated fighting. She was good at it, excellent actually, her position in the pack called for it but it was never something she considered fun. It was a survival tactic, something you only did when someone threatened you or someone you loved.

That’s exactly why she’d walked away from ten dead wolves with Julien thrown across her back. He was easier to carry in her Lycan form. She wanted to tell him he’d fought very well for a man with a hole in his leg, but he’d passed out from blood loss as soon as the last wolf dropped. She’d talk to him about how fighting like a crazed man will make you bleed more but she suspected he knew and she suspected he didn’t care.

By the time she’d limped into town, past her house and straight to her father’s, she was exhausted. Townspeople were starring, wondering, worrying, and she tried to smile for them through the fatigue. Yunkyum met them at the door and helped usher Julien into Minjung’s old room and onto her bed.

“Is Julien okay? Are you hurt?” Yunkyum asked hurriedly as he reached for a pitcher of water and a basin. Minjung saw that his hands were shaking, but his voice was calm and assuring. “What happened?” he asked as he handed her a linen shift. He walked to the bed and took a closer look at Julien’s injury.

As he father did, Minjung shifted back to her human form, threw the dress on and took a seat on the bed. “I’m okay. Julien passed out from blood loss. I’ll patch his leg up and he’ll be fine in the morning. ”

Minjung stared at his ripped clothing from his Lycan transformation. “Blue Crescents attacked us in the forest. Minho didn’t tell you?” She dipped a towel in the water, wrung it out, and began to clean her mate’s wounds. “Where is he? He was supposed to come straight here. I don’t see him.”

Yunkyum frowned. “I haven’t seen Minho since he left with you.” Panic registered in his voice. “He’s not with you?”

It only took Minjung a second to comprehend. She dropped the pitcher and darted from the room, her father on her heels. “Minho?!” she called out, looking under tables and behind doors like Minho wasn’t half grown already and could still fit in his favorite hiding places. “Minho?! Where are you?!”

They rounded into the living room and began to run down the hallway.

“Answer me!”

“When was the last time you saw him?” Yunkyum asked, frantic.

“I told him to run straight here! It was the only way I knew how to protect him.” She was searching the kitchen, anxiety making her breath short and her vision blurry, when the front door open with a slow creak. Minho stood in the doorway, covered in blood. The knife he clutched slipped out of his hand and clattered to the floor. Both Minjung and Yunkyum stood there, frozen, staring at him as he stared owlishly back at them.

“I–I killed him.” Minho finally said as he looked down at his hands, slick with blood. “He attacked me and–and I killed him.”

Yunkyum reacted first, pulling Minho further into the house. He walked him into the kitchen, sat him down on a stool and began to check his body for injuries. “Are you hurt?”

Minho shook his head. “This is not my blood, Father.”

Minjung followed them into the kitchen with the knife grasped in her hand. She laid it down on the table. The knife was familiar–trailing point white steel blade, leather wrapped hilt with a dark blue crescent jewel right below the guard. Yunkyum looked at it, disgusted, before turning back to his son.

“What happened, Minho? You can tell me. I won’t be upset.”

“He followed me, like he knew exactly where I would run. I tried to lose him, so many times I tried but every time I turned around he was there. I tripped and he was hovering over me, yelling at me. Then he smiled and lunged at me.” Minho’s eyes fluttered up to his sisters and suddenly his faced crumbled. “I remembered everything you said, but I was so scared. I was so scared and I didn’t stop stabbing until he stopped moving. I didn’t want to hurt him but he wouldn’t stop!”

Minjung rushed her little brother and held him in her arms, cooing at him softly.

“He said,” Minho continued as Minjung rocked him back and forth, “he was here to perform an emundet because I was Danye’s abomination of a son–that they had to kill me to cleanse the pack. What did he mean? Did that mean they wanted to kill me? What did I ever do to them?”

Minjung looked over Minho’s head at her father. He was glaring at the knife.

An emundet. A cleanse.

The ruling line must be clean.
The ruling line must be pure.
The ruling line must be untarnished.

Minjung seethed with fury. How did their uncle find out? Damn this clan and their ridiculous rules! Wasn’t she pure enough for all of them? Hadn’t she mated with the purest of all wolves? Wasn’t her father and her mother untarnished? Weren’t they enough?

“I’m going to end this,” Yunkyum declared. “End this before they do something I won’t be able to forgive. Clan or not.”

Minjung looked down at her brother, who fallen asleep in his exhaustion.

“Show them no mercy.”

________________


Present day…


“How are you doing, buddy?”

Jinki parted an eye open. His head didn’t feel like it was going to explode when he did so he tried the other.
The room was dark save for a row of candles near the back of the tent. He took a cursory look around. The room looked neat, but rearranged. His bed was now on the opposite side of the tent from where it used to be. Minho’s was still in its same place–but empty. The fire–pit was extinguished but he didn’t need much light to see the long gashes in the tent’s hide.

“What happened?” He inhaled deeply through his nose. He didn’t smell his mate. “Where’s Minho?”

Jonghyun scratched the back of his head. “He’s staying with Kibum tonight.”

“Over my dead body, he is,” Jinki growled before he tried to sit up. A wave of dizziness hit him and along with Jonghyun’s forearm across his chest, he was forced to lie back down.

“You lost control, Jinki, so trust me when I say you didn’t leave Minho much of a choice.”

Jinki covered his eyes with his arm as he tried to fight off the vertigo. “I don’t remember anything, just a stupid dream I had about my dad.”

Jonghyun shuddered. “I’d call that a nightmare.”

Jonghyun twisted and grabbed a small bowl from the table beside Jinki’s bed. “Taemin said you had to drink this. He said it tasted like but he’d know if you didn’t finish the entire thing.”

Jinki propped himself up as high on his pillows as he could and reached for the bowl. It did smell like , so he was getting very sad thinking about how bad it was going to taste. “Did he say what it was for?”

“It’s a sedative–”

Jinki pushed the bowl away. “Oh, good. I’m sleepy as hell without it so I don’t need that–“

“–for Onew.”

Jinki paused. “You want to say that again?”

“What exactly did you think I meant when I said you lost control? Of your bladder? No, you lost control and Onew paid a visit. And he wasn’t nice about it. He trashed the place and played a game of death tag with Minho, hence the new sleeping arrangements for the night.”

Jinki groaned and drowned the drink. He fought down the urge to gag when it was all said and done with, the extremely salty taste coating his tongue and not leaving no matter how many times he swallowed.

Good boy!” Jonghyun exclaimed as he patted his friend’s head. “Didn’t even have to pinch his nose!”

“Eat a !” Jinki muttered as the threw the bowl away from him.

“I had plans to do that before you went psycho-wolf on us, so I’ll let that be permission to get to that sometime tonight.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

“You know why I liked you so much at first?” Jonghyun pushed on, ignoring the quip. ”Because we had such similar pasts, especially considering our paths to leadership.”

“I don’t consider dominicide a bonding ritual, Jonghyun.”

Jonghyun leaned back in his seat. “It should be. Well for us, it’s natural. Durkhai’s voting / fighting system is just weird and exhausting.”

“I didn’t kill to become Alpha.”

“Yet Alpha you are,” Jonghyun replied quietly. “I often wondered, what it would be liked if it had been different you know? If I had kept control.”

“Don’t.”

“It’s alright. I’m just thinking.”

“You’ve been drinking.”

Jonghyun sighed. “You know how Nichkhun is. If you don’t drink with him at the end of every meeting he will instigate a friendly game of throw you across the room. I didn’t have a choice. Apparently, I’m not good with being in control.”

Jinki knew what was coming next. It always came when Jonghyun drank.

“I didn’t want to become Alpha either, you know. They just… it upon me. The opinions of the village folk and the council elders and that stupid shaman who filled their heads with the bull he saw in his bones and spit. I would have protected Kangin with my life. Too bad he was one of those idiots who believed in bones and spit.”

Jinki knew the story well, had heard it enough times to recite it by heart. Still, he didn’t like the haunted look in Jonghyun’s eyes. It was deep, where he could hide past hurts, where he threw his emotions.

He’d thought about one day telling him to stop, about telling him to move on, to try to heal and accept. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. It would make him a hypocrite.

“The word Lufti means gentle, kind,” Jonghyun said, interrupting Jinki’s thoughts. “I always wondered why my wolf thought it was gentle and kind.”

“Jonghyun. Kangin goaded you into that fight for good reason. He wanted someone stronger to take his place. It’s your tradition.”

“He was like a father to me.” Jonghyun looked away. “He was like a father to me and I ripped his throat out.”

“Jjong…”

Jonghyun was quiet for a long moment; the only sounds that could be heard were the ones from outside the tent. Suddenly he smiled, his whole face brightening as he looked back at Jinki. “I’m going to claim Key.”

Jinki resisted the urge to laugh. “You say that like it’s a surprise.” Jinki reached over and punched Jonghyun on the shoulder. Congratulations. About damn time.”

Jonghyun smile beamed in the bright tent.

“I wonder what it’s like being mated with someone who actually wants to be mated with you. Because, looking at you two, it looks blissful.”

“It is. Takes the sting out of not being selected but to tell you the truth, I’m glad. But don’t sound so…dejected. You’ve found someone who is going to keep you on your toes. That’s got to be interesting.”

Jinki rolled his eyes. “So interesting that a wolf that’s been sleep for twenty years decided to make a grand entrance on the first day we share as intended? I don’t think interesting is the correct word.”

“So it was Minho.”

Jinki cocked brow.

“The twins. Well, Taeyeon, actually. She got in his face, accusing him of being the reason that Onew showed himself.”
“I wish she would learn to control herself! Minho outranks her! He’s–he’s–”

“I don’t know if you bumped your head or not during the whole wolf switcheroo, but that vocab has never existed in her head. And your deflecting. How long?”

Jinki scowled but Jonghyun gave him a pointed stare that he couldn’t ignore.

“What? Have I always felt something? No? Maybe? Absolutely not? Who am I kidding? I.Don't.Know. I mean, it’s not like we’re strangers. We’ve known of each other for decades. So, I can’t explain why all of a sudden my body can’t control itself around him. It’s burning through my veins. And it’s not just control I’m looking after. It’s not subjugation. I just want him to…” Jinki sighed. “Did you see him yesterday? He tried three times to get to the Oracles.”

“Yeah, what was that about? Kibum snorted every time he did it. Said something about him being stubborn and stupid.”
Jinki thought for a moment before he shook his head. “Nothing. Help me get up.” Jinki ignored Jonghyun’s sputtering with a wave of his hand. “I’ll be alright. I have something I need to say to him. Tonight. It can’t wait.”

“Deal, but if Taeyeon see me helping you, you handle her.”

Jinki kept silent as his best friend worked to lift him out of the bed to his feet. He tested his balance for a second and tittered on his feet. Jonghyun’s hands quickly wrapped around his middle and guided Jinki’s other hand over his shoulder.

They passed Jongin and Krystal on their way out, who moved to offer help, but Jinki held a hand up. Together they made it out of the Jinki’s tent and across the clearing until they were standing in front of Kibum’s smaller one.

A tall Beta wolf was standing in front of the tent opening. His torso was bare, save for the thick linen vest with a triskelion on the . His arms had wide, thick, sweeping tattoos that ran from his wrist all the way up to his neck. Covering his hands were a pair of spike knuckled gloves that caught the lantern’s light. All together it made him look terrifying.

It was the wide smile across his face that negated all of that terror.

He tilt his head in recognition of Jonghyun and a fist flew to his chest in recognition of Jinki. “Are you here to see Minho, my lord?” Chanyeol asked, his voice coloring with a bit of apprehension , his eyes jutting from Jinki’s weakened form to the tent. Jinki could understand. The last anyone had heard, Jinki was out of control and had attacked his mate.

Perfect. Just ing perfect.

“It’s alright, Chanyeol. I’ll wait out here with you while Jinki is inside.” Jonghyun smiled, clapping the taller shifter on the shoulder. “He can’t take both of us.”

Chanyeol laughed nervously. “Uh, yeah, he can.”

Jonghyun’s smile dropped. “Yeah, but you don’t admit that out loud, now do you? It’ll be fine.”

Chanyeol contemplated it for a moment before he nodded. He turned to Jinki and lowered his head. “I hope you don’t take this as show of disrespect. I respect you greatly, ardently, it just that my orders to protect him come from the council and they are–“

Jinki moved his hand from around Jonghyun’s neck to pat Chanyeol on the shoulder. “I understand pup. And I promise I’m not going to hurt him.”

Chanyeol smile brightened ten-fold. “He’s in there alone. “

Jinki stepped past Chanyeol to stare at the tent.

The hour marked it as being one full day since the Blood Moon Festival proclaimed Minho and he as ruling Alphas of Prae. It had been one full day since Minho and Jinki were declared mates. Only one day and so much had happened. And as angry as a he’d been with all of Minho’s infuriating actions, he knew he was better than Onew. That was the whole point of him being in control–he was better.

You can do this.

Jinki set his shoulders and took the plunge, walking through the flaps and into the tent. As he did so, he expected a lot of things–yelling, screaming, things being thrown at his head, a command for Chanyeol to drag him out of there. But there was nothing. Kibum’s fire-pit was roaring in the middle of the tent and the air was warm and lavender scented. He felt the some of the stress leave his bones the longer he stood in there.

Apparently Minho did too.

The taller former Alpha of Wheph was curled up on his bed like a puppy, his arm wrapped around a pillow and the fur bed coverings still folded at his feet.

Suddenly, as he gazed at Minho’s sleeping form, Jinki felt self-conscious. He tried to run his hand through his hair to tidy himself up but stopped when he realized half of it had fallen out of his braid. So he combed his fingers through the plaits until his hair was free and down his back.

He approached the bed and pulled the fur covers from the foot of the bed and up over Minho’s body, watching him snuggle into the warmth with a sleepy sigh. Jinki took a seat, put his hands in his lap and leaned a little closer to Minho’s face.

Dried tear tracks. Jinki felt his headache intensifying.

“I wasn’t going to hurt you, you know. I would never hurt you,” he whispered angrily, not sure who he was directing this irritation at. “It’s just that, you made me really mad, and you’d be mad too if I denied you and told you I didn’t feel anything–” Jinki paused. “Actually, no you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t be mad because you don’t feel the same things I feel. “

Jinki stared up at the ceiling of the tent and exhaled slowly. “I know I didn’t drag you into this, you dragged yourself, but I’m sorry you don’t want to be here and I wish there was something I could do…find a way to let you go. But I can’t...I just can’t. The consequences of even asking for that could ruin the both of us. I could recover, but Wheph? No, people would take that as a sign of weakness from your village–your calm and reasonable, whimsical, delightful village.” Jinki paused. “Plus there is the whole ‘death’ thing.”

A beat of silence. Enough time for a slice of vulnerability to slip through the cracks. “The thought of being by my side can’t be that terrible…right?”

Jinki looked down at his sleeping mate, slowly piecing together what his instinct were telling him to do versus what his mind was reasoning. Time, Jinki. Give him time.

“I’ll tell you all of this again in the morning. I just…I just came to tell you that. Sorry for this morning and sorry you feel this way about me. I’ve seen someone force their…feelings…onto someone else, and I wouldn’t do that to you. So…”

Jinki stood abruptly, his chest tight with an unnamed emotion as he fled the tent. He felt like an over-emotional fool, blabbering away at the mouth like that to a man who couldn’t–didn’t want to–hear him. Bringing up memories that he wanted to bury, stories his mother had told him.

He wanted to sleep until they went away.

______________


70 years ago…


“Jinki, hurry!”

Jinki did as his mother requested, grabbing as many of her items as he could and throwing them into a large bag before hauling it over his shoulder. He reached through the darkness, grabbed her hand and began pulling her towards the back entrance of their house.

He ignored the loud banging on the front door accompanied with shouts from men holding torches. He ignored the deep bellow of the Gjallarhorn announcing that soldiers were on the way. He ignored all of it. The only thing that mattered was getting his mother to safety.

All they had to do was make it to the edge of the forest where someone would be waiting for them. As they ran, he looked back at his mother–strong, fast, keeping up with him lengthy stride after stride–and he admired her strength. Not the physical strength she possessed, or the intellectual and magical forte she was known for, but the fact that she was, as a whole, stronger than all of them.

‘Traditions curve the boulder’ was a saying in Durkhai. Tradition kept them fluid, gave them a sense of direction, a standing, a solid foundation. Traditions were good and they meant a lot of a village like Durkhai. However sometimes tradition were steel bars to the door of your prison. Sometimes tradition was a weed wrapped around your foot as you tried to kick to the surface for air. Sometimes traditions were the flames that at your skin and singed your hair.

Sometimes traditions were Yoon.

Yet Isuel was strong enough to see past the traditions she was forced into. To see that if she wanted to live, she needed to run. Jinki was smart enough to know that if he ever wanted to see his mother alive again, he had to help her.

Her hand was still hot from the knife wound where she’d sliced her own palm open, supplying her spell with the living sacrifice it needed. Jinki wanted to stop and take care of it, but the look in his mother’s eyes told him to keep running.

They couldn’t stop. Not when Iseul would be put to death for her crime.

Breaking a bond. She broke her bond with Yoon.

Red magic.

Suddenly Iseul stopped and threw her son behind her. Jinki picked up the scent a moment later, his lips curling behind his teeth as he crouched. Iseul heard his snarls and pushed him back. She reached into a small bag swinging around her wrist and pulled out an ampoule, throwing it on the ground. The vial shattered and red vapors s from the broken glass, creating a thick mist between the two of them. He tried going through it, around it and over it but it formed a wall as hard a stone.

Giving up, he listened, tried to remember anything the twins had taught him about counter spells. Yet, he didn’t have to do either. The red mist settled and he was about to see and hear through it like it was glass.

Yoon appeared, weak and limp on his horse with two other women behind him, standing tall on their own destriers. Jinki began to scream, pounding on the wall between him and his mother. Nobody paid attention to him. It was like they couldn’t hear or see him.

“You surreptitious witch. Reestablish the bond. Now!”

Iseul scoffed. “What? Afraid you’ll die without it? You won’t. Death would be too easy.”

“This isn’t about–“ Yoon stopped to inhale a galloping breath and pulled a forearm across his sweaty brow. “You belong to me. How dare you run off in the middle of the night after what you’ve done?”

“I did what I had to do for my children and I will continue to do what I have to do.”

“By running away? Taemin and Taeyeon need a mother!”

“I’m not abandoning my children and you know that! And what about Jinki?”

Yoon sneered. “He’s used to being discarded. I only care about my own blood.”

The two women behind Yoon dismounted their horses and began to approach Iseul on both sides.

“I don’t want to do this Iseul but you’re leaving me no choice! I can call them off, I can call off the entire army ripping through the village to find you. I can do that, but you have to reestablish the bond and come home!”

“Why?”

“What? What do you mean why? Because you belong to me and no one else!”

Iseul offered a small smile. “I did belong to you once and you used it like a bargaining chip. You’re upset now because you can’t use me anymore.” Iseul’s smile withered away. “Goodbye, Yoon.”

“ISEUL!”

Jinki blinked and suddenly his mother was at his side.

Yoon fell off his horse and crawled–slow and painful–to where Iseul disappeared. “ISEUL! ISEUL, GET BACK HERE, YOU !”

Jinki watched his mother reach out to the red mist wall, her fingers tracing Yoon’s fuming features delicately before her hand dropped to her side. “We’ve got an hour before this dissipates. They will be able to track our scents up until this point but I don’t want to take any chances. Let’s go, son.”

Iseul turned to continue running, but Jinki stopped her. “Are you alright?”

Jinki looked back to where Yoon was struggling with his anger, his rage draining the energy from his body until he went limp. The two women raced to pick him up.

“He’ll heal. He’ll find another mate.” Iseul sighed. ”He’s not all that bad.”

Jinki’s brow dipped, angry. “He beat you within an inch of your life more times than I can count, Mother. Don’t defend him.”

Iseul reached out and ruffled her son’s hair. “I’m not, dear. I’m just thinking of a time before your father was ruled by his ambition. When all that mattered was sneaking a Toleran wolf across territory lines and claiming her. When he wanted to start a family. How he was before he was ever considered for Alpha.”

She looked back one more time. “That’s over now.”

There was a whistle from the forest line and both mother and son looked towards it.

Xiah and his sister, Kahi.

Jinki often wondered, as this whole plan was hastily hatched, why Xiah, the Alpha of his village, would risk this.

Laws were important in Durkhai and it was up to Xiah to uphold them. Xiah was a stern man. Not unkind but he wanted the best for his village and sometimes it came off as detached. Now, looking in the face of the man who’d come running to him for help, he could see the adoration he had. Not for their village…but for Iseul.

Xiah loved his mother.

Kahi motioned for them and Jinki and Iseul rushed for the forest line. Kahi approached them and untied a bundle tied across her chest. Next, she untied a cloak from around her shoulders.

“Here, put this on. Quickly. It will hid your scent. Jinki, hand me that bag. She can’t take that with her.”
Iseul’s head flew up at Kahi’s words. “W–what do you mean I can’t take them! They are all I have to remind me of my children! My family!”

Xiah stepped up and placed a hand on Iseul’s back. “These items are soaked in your powers. All of your emotions and desires. Yoon has contracted Toleran bounty hunters. They’ll be able to track your magic to you. That’s why you have to go far. Far away from Durkhai, from Prae. Somewhere where they won’t be able to find you.”

“But!–“

“Trust me, Iseul,” Xiah whispered as he pulled her close and laid his forehead against hers. “You’ll see them again. I promise.”

Jinki looked away, embarrassed, like he was seeing something private that his young eyes shouldn’t see.

There had been affection in his mother’s eyes before for her mate. She would look at Yoon with soft gazes and lowered lids; a confirmation of their bond. But it was infinitesimal to the love that reflected in her eyes as she looked at Xiah. This is what real love looked like. There was no control, there were no plans for grandeur, there was nothing but trust and affection. Jinki suddenly felt bad for Xiah. Jinki wasn’t the only one losing here. Xiah was losing someone he loved.

The Durhkai Alpha broke the quiet moment between them to drape the scent-hiding hood over her small frame. “I’ll find you. I swear I will.”

Iseul smiled softly. “I know.”

Iseul turned to Jinki and opened her arms. Jinki, without hesitation, fell into them. “Momma loves you, you know that, right?”

Jinki nodded around knot in his throat.

“You’re going to grow up so big and handsome. Soon you’ll be towering over me.” Tears gathered along Iseul’s bottom lashes and Jinki felt his eyes stinging. “Remember what I’m going to tell you next. Never forget it. Listen to the elders. Hunt for the pack, not for yourself. Honor the LudiFlora. Take care of the twins. Let them know I love them and that one day I will be back for them. “

“I promise.”

“Fall in love, Jinki. Don’t let your father corrupt your sense of compassion. Find a mate who makes you feel like you can do anything, even rule the world. “

Jinki’s bottom lip started to tremble. “I will, Momma.”

“Good boy.” She sniffled. “Good good boy.”

“We have to go. Now,” Kahi hissed. “The soldiers are starting to fan out. It won’t be long until Yoon directs them this way.”

Iseul tied the bundle across her chest, kissed her son on the cheek and turned for the woods.

“I’ll keep him safe, Issie. I’ll make sure he becomes the man he needs to be,” Xiah said as he dropped to a knee and bowed his head. “I’ll keep him safe for you.”

Iseul turned back one last time, bending down to hug Xiah around his neck. She kissed his crown of golden locks while holding back a sob. “I know you will.”

Kahi grabbed Iseul’s hand and began to drag her deeper in to the woods. Not once did Iseul look back. Jinki was glad about that. He didn’t want her to regret.

“It’s for the best, Jinki.” Xiah said from his side as they watched her disappear into the forest.

Jinki wiped the tears that streaming down his face. “I know.”

I know.

_______________________________________

A:N: 'Kay. So. As I mentioned in the last footer notes, Toleran is an ally of Prae and they often use their Omegas as tributes to Prae and vice versa (political alliance thing). Each village (and ally village) has their own ways (of course) and we just found out Durkhai's and Toleran's! Yay! They'll be more about each separate one. I mean, c'mon. We still have to figure out what's going on in Yifan and Nichkhun's head! This is going to be fun!

Questions. You can ask them.