Dawn was breaking outside and the sound of life waking up around the village woke Jongin up. He is normally a heavy sleeper, but they had slept early and Jongin was too agitated. Suho though, unused to as much excitement as the previous day and because of the lingering exhaustion of being Takashi’s captive hardly 3 days ago, was still sound asleep. The omega had rolled over in his sleep and has pressed himself into a tight ball stuck to Jongin’s left. There was a gentle knock on the door just then and on opening found that it was one of the council members.

“We will be starting the trial in a short while. Can you both please be ready by then?”

Jongin bowed and nodded while mumbling a yes before closing the door.

He didn’t have the heart to wake Suho yet. So he first showered and finished getting ready before he woke Suho up. By the time Suho was ready, the council member returned with another. Suho and Jongin said nothing to each other verbally but Jongin could feel Suho’s apprehensions through his bond and tried to keep him calm.

“We will be fine Jun, trust me ok”

Just before they stepped out though, Jongin pulled Suho for a tight hug. He kissed his forehead and pecked his lips before letting him go with the designated council member. Jongin himself was taken to another part of the village where his trial would begin.

The room Suho sat in had 4 members one from the high council and three from the local office. The only curious element was a machine which made a low virring sound that made it impossible for him to keep his bond open.  They asked him questions about how he met Jongin and his life in the pack. They also asked him about his previous life and the fire that destroyed the hospital. Suho hid nothing and just as discussed told the truth about everything.

Then came the tricky part of Jongin and Suho’s courtship. Suho who was generally awkward with the subject of love blushed every time a personal question was asked. Thankfully, the council found it as a sign of shyness than as a sign of lying. Some questions though were things they had never discussed but Suho answered the best he could.

“When did you realize that Jongin was your mate.”

“When he refused to let me wear a mask.”

“What was your first courtship gift?”

“This piece of wood.” Suho showed them the wooden pendent around his neck.

“What was your relationship with Takashi”

“He was supposed to be my mate long ago but he rejected me.”

“Do you regret bonding and mating with your alpha?”

“I don’t regret the bonding, but I do partially regret the mating because Jongin had to break his word to our alpha’s brother when he chose me as his mate.”

“Will you change anything if you get a do over?”

“No, I will still want Jongin as my mate.”

“Alright, now come with us.”

The minute he stepped out of the room, Suho let the bond open. But before could say anything, a sharp pain hit him on the neck before he crumpled to the ground unconscious. Next time he woke up, he was unbearably cold and wet.

Jongin was asked questions similar to Suho, but unlike Suho, Jongin was a lot more confident.

“Why did you take Suho as your mate?”

“Because although I bonded with him to save his life, soon I understood his kind and beautiful nature. He made me a better alpha. I fell in love with him for that.”

“What about his scar?”

“What about it?”

  “You were to be mated to one of your own pack. Why did you change your mind?”

“I loved Kyungsoo, but then I met Jun, I felt that Jun is my soul mate and I chose Jun. That’s all there is to it.”

They continued questioning Jongin on everything from his pack finding Suho near the river to the events involving Takashi. Finally, they led him out to a vehicle and took him far out of the village.  

“This is where your test will begin. Somewhere around here is your mate. You will have to find him, but he is drugged, hence you can’t talk to him through the bond. However, you can feel him and if you are his true mate, that is enough for you to find him. In two hours, the noon tide will rise. If you find him before that, he will be saved. If not, he will perish as punishment for murder and you will be exiled from all wolf communities for aiding in murder.”

The area were Jongin was dropped off was next to the rocky shores of a placid sea. But Jongin knew that it would change very soon. On the other side of the sea were steep cliffs dotted with a labyrinth of caves. Taking a deep breath, Jongin changed to his wolf form and ran towards the cliff. He opened his mind to the bond and stumbled with the force of feeling Suho in his head while in wolf form. Suho’s mind was an agitated mess. Blind panic and pain twisted around his mind so much so that Jongin’s eyes watered.

Jongin tried to pin point where Suho was but he felt a strange echoing effect that made it difficult for him to focus. It was as if their link was bouncing off even before his mind could grasp it. He ran and ran checking each and every cave he thought he felt Suho, but all of them were empty. The sea was rising slowly but surely and Jongin had to change back to human form fearing he would be washed away in the fierce tide.

With no energy to run anymore, Jongin sat on a high rock, panting heavily in the midday Sun. His head hurt from the painful echoes through the bond. The hot Sun was sapping him and a quite panic was seeping into him. For a moment he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the bond despite the pain and then it hit him. He stood up fast and ran away from the cliff and away from the shore. The further he ran, the clearer his mind became, the echoing effects stopped and soon, a single thread of his bond with Suho crystalized in his mind.

Suho’s mind was still in chaos, but it was loud and clear. He ran into the treelines right opposite the shoreline and steadily made his way towards a clearing. At the far end of the clearing, he found a huge tree. He ran to the back of the tree where there was a huge hollow in the wood. He changed mid-air and plunged in.

Yifan had been to several council meetings but never to a trial. He and the rest of his pack who accompanied him sat on chairs around a tiny table. In front of them on a higher platform sat 2 members of the high council and 6 of the local council. Earlier, on arrival, Yifan and his pack members were subjected to interrogation. He was asked if he knew that Jongin broke his engagement with his brother and if Jongin was officially mated to Suho. Yifan replied that he knew about the engagement but Jongin had waited for the third mating gift to be made before he made them official. They had all answered to the best of their knowledge but the interrogators never gave away whether they had all answered consistently or not.

Yixing was jittery and Chen was trying to comfort his mate. They have been told that the trial was in progress and if the pair in question succeeded in their challenge, they will be brought to the council for further proceedings. Kyungsoo sat with Yukimaru at the back as only 3 members of the pack were given space at the front of the trial room. To their right sat a group of men dressed in a strange foreign style, but what attracted all eyes to them were the swords that hung from their waist.

Jongin felt that all of a sudden, the bond in his mind was fading. He let his instincts rule however and went were the embers of the fading bond took him. With hardly a thought, he plunged into the hollow at the centre of the huge tree. It became apparent that the tree was just a front and there ran a tunnel deep under it. A strange gushing sound indicated that from somewhere the tunnel was getting filled up with water. Jongin doubled his efforts and ran headlong until he came to a point where there was a wider hidden lake into which tidal water was flowing in. Water had filled up almost to the brim just below the point where the tunnel Jongin took ended. It was then that Jongin realized that he had not felt Suho in his mind for a while now. Frantically he cast his eyes over the expanse of turquoise mass of water. There at the far end of a rocky outcrop, illuminated by faint sunlight seeping in through the gaps; stuck between two rocks was a pale lifeless hand.