"I do sort of finding it strange that neither of them haven't sending us any threats yet," Jiyong finally said during breakfast a few days later, to break the lingering silence about Noah, and what she was going to do to Seungri. His mate didn't say anything about it after they comes back that day and Jiyong just kind of tired waiting for Seungri to bring up the matters himself. 

Seungri looked up with his eyes stained with dreams, as he put it himself. He won't say it out loud though because he knew that Seungri will never understand what he meant by it. "Come again?" Seungri said but before Jiyong could repeat the question, Seungri waved his hands. "Oh, I think my respond suprise her. So maybe she give up, probably."

Jiyong snorted. "Sometimes I wonder if you're as much as brilliant as you think you are."

"I'm not, Youngbae hyung is," Seungri was reading the newspaper on the table in front of him. Tired of being shut out, Jiyong stood from his chair and walk around the table toward his mate. Suprisingly enough, Seungri shifted so that Jiyong could read over his shoulder. 

Jiyong touched the top of Seungri's shoulder with one wing, and Seungri gave a small, responsive shudder. That gave him the courage to whisper, "I'm afraid that she won't give up just as easy as that. She'll find another way, but that will be a stupid move for her to make."

Seungri nodded slowly. "Well, it would've been if I given up to it. Then, she'll have a perfect slave, and I'm sure that she'll keep me in that place forever. She didn't know I could resist that drug."

Jiyong repressed the quiver of rage that was moving through him for a more productive time. "She better remember that from now on," He let out the quiver of rage, and turned Seungri around on the chair to look at him. "that you have a Veela mate. I was right there, beside you in that room. How could I not sense anything and react to it?"

Seungri gaped at him and Jiyong shook him a little. "I know that our bond is weak, but I'm still your Veela. What was I'm going to do? Just ignore it when you started trembling and convulsing beside me? Say that you're weak enough to give in to it after a little fight? I would still have notice something before that."

"I thought," said Seungri slowly, and he fell silent after that, frowning to himself.

"What?" Jiyong found himself desperate to know the answer to that silence in a way he had rarely been. He leaned in and slide his hands slowly up and down Seungri's arms. "What? Tell me."

******************************* * ** *** **** *****

I'm not going to obey any bloody orders.

The thought was automatic, just a little flick of Seungri's mind of the kind he would made no matter who had said that to him. The bigger part of him was preoccupied with two thoughts that he had held in the back of his mind at the moment, never realized how contradicting they were. 

First, he had accepted that for Jiyong, this bond is real. He might not like the way Seungri didn't act like normal submissive, but he still considered that it was his duty to protect Seungri. That couldn't have been clearer, after the way he throw himself in front of Seungri to block the knife Noah had thrown to him. 

Second, Seungri had decided that Jiyong would never appreciate or want him because he didn't behave like normal submissive. Their bond is weak, and barely breathing if he could phrase it and Jiyong would've let him go if the consequence was not death. He'll go and find more suitable mate to replace Seungri. Seungri couldn't depend on him for the same reason he couldn't depend on anyone else. 

How could both of those things be true at the same time? How could Jiyong protect him and not protect him at the same time? 

He can't...

Seungri stood up and pushed the newspaper back onto the table. He had something else in his mind at the moment. 

"Listen," he began. "We need to talk. Is there any private place we can talk that isn't a library, so I won't get distracted by the books, or your bedroom, so you won't get distracted with the thoughts of the bond?"

Jiyong folded his arms and frowned at him. "I'm not as weak as you think I am." His wings fluffed up behind him like an offended cat. 

"I know," Seungri said. "But I want this to be a neautral room. Without your things, nor mine. There has to be a private place like that in this big manor, right?" He couldn't believe there wasn't.

Jiyong narrowed his eyes towards Seungri but it not hostile. "Yes, there is a room like that." He said, but didn't make any move to lead Seungri to it. "What exactly we need to talk about anyway?"

Seungri met his gaze, and wondered for a moment what he was seeing more of, the human being or the Veela. Then he decided that it doesn't matter. "I think that I was mistaken about the bond," He said. "And you. And I want to find out how this is going to work."

Jiyong stared at him, and now he was the one who looked cold and distant as Seungri had been trying to willed himself to be. But after a second, Jiyong nodded and his wings snapped down behind him, folding neatly behind his shoulders. 

"Come on then."

*

Jiyong walked into the business room ahead of Seungri, and turned around, telling himself, along the way to not be too excited. Just because Seungri had realized something doesn't mean they were same things that Jiyong cared. 

But he had to admit, as Seungri shut the door quietly and came forward towards him, was at least, one sign that give him hopes. Seungri was considering Jiyong with a frown on his face. The frown wasn't unusual. 

The focused eyes were. For once, Seungri was thinking about the Veela in front of him, the Veela who wanted to love him, to pamper him, to protect him, instead of his plans, his friends or about his pasts. Jiyong didn't even think it was ever going to be true before. 

"I realized that I was expecting you to protect me," Seungri began, pacing slowly back and forth, and looking at him all the while. 

"You can count me on that," Jiyong interrupted. He had to, as much as he wanted to wait and hear the end of Seungri's sentences. The Veela inside him would tolerate no less. "Really, you can. You're it for me. I can't choose anyone else."

Seungri gave him a smile that looked sad. "I know, but I'm talking about my preception right now. I'm beginning to realize that they're different from reality. Um, can I go on?"

Jiyong blinked, and his wings twitched. He considered the expression on Seungri's face, as if he's thinking hard about something at the moment. He nodded, "Continue." He knew his voice sounded like purr, but Seungri did nothing more than giving him a single long look before he turned around and resume his pacing.

"I expected you to protect me," Seungri continued. "And I was taking that for granted. But I also expected you to give up on me because I'm not what you want." Jiyong cocked his head. There was no self - pity in Seungri's voice however. "This bond isn't strong. If you could have someone else, I assumed you would take it."

"I can't." Jiyong said, and his voice was frozen and brittle. He had thought Seungri understood this, at least. "I can't choose anyone else. Maybe you don't have the instinct and the feelings that go with them and you could make a choice like that, but I do, I have to -- "

"God! I know Jiyong," Seungri turn around, and he was steadfast, a wall, and Jiyong's voice washed over him like a wave. "But knowing that you wanted someone else, something that I couldn't be and won't ever be, didn't give me any faith on you. But at the same time, I had faith in you that you will protect me. Those are contradictions and I have to choose one to believe." Seungri took a deep breath and his face settled into lines that make him look like he had been adult for years. "And I choose to believe that you'll protect me."

Jiyong couldn't hold himself anymore when he hear this. He rose up from where he sits and walks towards Seungri and stands before him. His wings waving back and forth slowly. 

His eyes met Seungri's, wary but unafraid. That could describe a lot of choices and things he had done over the years. Jiyong pulled Seungri into his arms and he ducked his head, nuzzling Seungri's neck beneath his ear. He crooned and Seungri lifted a cautious hand. He placed it on the back of Jiyong's head, running his fingers softly through Jiyong's hairs and he continue when he heard a pleased sigh from Jiyong. 

"I know that I've told you what I won't do," Seungri whispered after a moment. "What I won't be. And you've told me what you can't help being. But what if we acknowledge that there was still -- that we should talk about what we can do? And what we can help? I think that would be lot better."

Jiyong hummed softly, and saw Seungri stared at him as if he had never seen him before. He turn his head to the side, exposing his face in profile, and he spreads his wings around them. Seungri began to rub the behind of his ears again and Jiyong pull them away, but just enough for him to see Seungri's face.

"Thats all I want," he breathed. He thought that he could have flown without his wings, simply borne on the vaulting excess of his love and joy. "All I ever wanted, is a chance, to prove myself to you."

Seungri nodded as if the words make sense to him now, and he asked, "What can you do?"

"I can protect you," said Jiyong. He put his arms back around Seungri. Seungri didn't relax but didn't stand so stiffly either. Jiyong's pulse fluttered in his throat. "I can guard you. I can give you whatever you want that costs money."

Seungri give him an odd smile, so distant and wistful that Jiyong wondered what he was thinking about. But he had the right to ask, so he did. "What are you thinking about?"

* * * * * * * *

He must be paying a lot of attention to me, to know what wasn't right in front of me. Seungri decided after a moment of utter shock. 

And that had cause a strange feeling of joy to sweep through him. Someone was paying attention, and that might mean he could get help he needed and maybe -- keeping in mind that they hasn't begun very well -- just speak like a normal human being too. He answered, "I was just wishing that you could buy me some peace and some space for myself. But I don't think thats likely."

Jiyong moved closer toward him. He didn't feel stiffled, the way he had earlier when Jiyong tried to surround him with wings or hold him close. Maybe it was because he know that he just have to push on those wings and Jiyong would let him go at once. 

"I can't buy a whole world peace, no." Jiyong said, his voice soft. "That would take more money than even my family posess, but, I think I could purchase a special form of peace for you."

"You can?" Seungri asked. "Would you know who to threat? who to beat? Thats something I haven't try because I can't be sure." He also knew that both Youngbae and Daesung would not approve of that. 

Jiyong laughed softly. "You are full of suprises. But no, I wasn't thinking of using violance - yet. But I was thinking of doing everything in my power, to give you a quiet night." His fingers brushed what must be a dark circle under Seungri's eyes. "I know you don't sleep well."

"That doesn't come from nightmares." He said. If Jiyong worried about something nonexistent, Seungri could at least set that at rest. They had enough to be concerned about that was real. 

"I know," said Jiyong. "I thought it probably came from lying awake at night and being unable to stop your mind from racing. Your head is full of thoughts. You need sleep to, Seungri." He tightened his hold on Seungri, pressing his lips on Seungri's shoulder. "You have to sleep."

"How did you know that?" Seungri shook his head, and place a palm on Jiyong's chest, putting a little distance between them. It wasn't that his friends waren't concerned about him, or observant, but they haven't picked up on that exact and particular worry. 

Jiyong paused, and seemed to lose the grace that had entwined him with Seungri at the same moment as he lost certainty. "I don't know," He said, and struggled to draw back. Seungri carefully unpicked a wingtip from his hair with his own struggle not to smile. "I suppose... maybe the bond is working?"

Seungri opened his mouth, then shut it. Jiyong peered intently at him. "What is it? Could you feel it?" 

"No," said Seungri. 

Before, that would've concerned him but this time, he thought it as wonderful. He had viewed this bond as intrusive, a way for Jiyong to spy on him while he couldn't do anything about it. If Seungri couldn't feel the bond from his end and couldn't stop it, then that was just one more thing that make him weaker than Jiyong and his 'dominant' instinct. 

But if this is the way that it worked, then Seungri could honestly see a lot of advantage to it. Jiyong would get enough information to stop him from worrying. Seungri would maybe have someone who understood him sometimes without speaking, which he had secretly wished for all this time. And then, the bond would probably repair itself and not be a concern anymore.

"Yes." Seungri said suddenly, and Jiyong's face light up. He realized his mistake and shook his head irritably. "No, I mean, I couldn't feel the bond working. But I do think its a sign that this bond is working and I agree that you couldn't have got more information anywhere but from my own mind." 

Jiyong laid a hand that trembled just above his eyes. "And you don't care about it anymore? If I can feel you and hear your thoughts, but at the same time you can't hear mine?"

Seungri considered Jiyong. A day ago, he would have said that he didn't care about hearing Jiyong's thoughts. That was true, in a way, but phrasing it like that would needlessly hurt Jiyong. 

Now, it was...

He didn't care about it in the way Jiyong meant, and he would even liked him to. He didn't feel the same desire for the connection and the bond like Jiyong did. 

But it did mean that he didn't mind Jiyong drawing from the bond to get some things Jiyong himself wanted and needed. It didn't make Seungri weaker than Jiyong. No matter what they did, what changed in relation to each other, Seungri wasn't weaker. He wans't submissive, and wouldn't allow himself to be. 

What they both could be, was normal, and maybe, giving and taking. And he would like that. 

"No, I don't mind," he said, and Jiyong's face blazed as bright as his feathers, lit from behind by true interior radiance.

* * * *

"You can ask me anything you want," Jiyong said, and he spread his wings a little then he bowed, trying to show how sincere he was. He didn't know if he and Seungri spoke the same language gestures; that was the only thing holding him back from crooning with approval when Seungri asked for more information about Veela. 

Seungri paced back anf forth in front of him. This time, they had moved to the first floor sitting rooms in the Kwons manor where nothing bad had ever happened between them. The books on the shelves were strictly legal ledger pertaining to Kwons business, and Seungri said he wouldn't get distracted by them. Jiyong had no problem retrieving his attention back if he becomes distracted, honestly. This was probably his best chance to make sure that Seungri really understand more about some situations he should ask since the beginning. 

He would ask, if he was a normal mate. Or he wouldn't have to ask because he would already knew. 

Jiyong sighed and reminded himself what Youngbae had told him about Seungri's ignorance of these matters. He shouldn't questioned Seungri on that anymore. 

Maybe I'm no longer a normal Veela than he's a normal mate. If I want to. On the other hand, Jiyong didn't think that a normal Veela could deal with Lee Seungri the way he did. 

"Ask your questions," he finally prompted, when Seungri keep pacing. "Don't worry about phrasing it diplomatically. Throw them at me. I would rather know what you were thinking than anything else in this world."

Seungri turn around and give him a faint smile. "You may come to regret it," He muttered, but he shook his head and finally give in. "Alright, I want to know how often Veela bonds actually happens."

"To normal person?" Jiyong sat down on a stool so that he could stretch his wings more comfortably. He never took his eyes off from Seungri because he's couldn't shake off the feelings that Seungri would bolt away through the door the minute he looked away. "Not often. A lot of Veela finds their mate among their own kind, or even other magical beings." 

Seungri nodded distractedly. "I was wondering if our college were swarmed with them, and I just didn't notice." He come over and sat on the chair in front of Jiyong. 

"How would you notice." Jiyong muttered, feeling tensed on Seungri's behalf, eventhough it was Seungri who critisize himself, not someone else. "You had bigger things to think of. I know back then you were above mere matters of love and romance."

Seungri shrugged. "Perhaps I shouldn't have been trying to be." He tapped his foot on the floor, a fast beat that come to a stop when he saw the way Jiyong stared at it. But he didn't apologize for it, and neither did Jiyong. "What exactly happens with reproducing. I understands if its a female mate, but you got yourself a male mate."

Jiyong paused for a second. He could never predicted the way Seungri's mind was going to leap. He didn't know himself why this particular questions had suprised him so much. "The Veela and the mate do have , regardless of gender because its doesn't matters. But they pour the energy that the raises and pour it into the bond, instead of just using it to please each other --"

"You can do that?"

Jiyong blinked again, and again. He had thought Seungri knew about this, he realized with a dull thump in the back of his mind. The one thing that everyone knew about Veela, surely, was the way they could enchant, the incredible pleasure they could cause with their touch. 

Perhaps I should stop assuming things, he told himself firmly again, and beathe deeply. "Yes." He said. "It would take a bond that worked fully, so you could feel my emotions, and I can make you feel incredibly good during ." He was going to say 'a Veela' could make 'his mate' feel, but he don't want to push Seungri away from the idea. It seems to suprise him, but it didn't upset him.

"Huh," Seungri said. "Well, I suppose that makes more sense why people would regard a Veela bond as such a blessing."

Jiyong held back the instinctive defense he still wanted to give, and he nodded instead. "But I wouldn't do it without your consent," he said. "And like I said, it wouldn't work until we manage to repair our bond." He wouldn't let himself to use 'unless'. Not now, not like this. 

Seungri watched him through heavy lidded eyes for a second, conjuring up all sorts of delightful pictures in Jiyong's mind. Then he shook his head and said, "go back to the explaination about having child."

"They take the energy and pour it into a container they've already prepared," Jiyong said, and was proud of himself for managing to keep his voice dry, a lecture isntead of a form of seduction. "There need something like a basket, or a hallowed out stone. Veela's magic will transform it into an egg -"

"Egg?" Seungri looked baffled for a second but then he settled back. "Nevermind, continue," He said and Jiyong could've guess that this part had suprised his mate but Seungri would just digest it as some Veela's things. 

"Then, the Veela will cast more spells on it, for several days, and that fills the egg with enough power that it reaches a peak, where it can either spill over or has to be used somehow."

Jiyong stops for a moment to see if Seungri is still paying attention and he is, all serious and intent. His eyes measuring Jiyong as though he was thinking about the moment when they could create the egg together. Jiyong smiled at Seungri, reassured. 

"When the egg is full with magic, b with it," Jiyong said softly, "They cast a spells that takes hold of the deepest wishes of their hearts for the child and their wishes blends. Neither parent will get exactly what they want. If one of them want a son, for instance, but wishes mostly that the child would be healthy, then they might have a healthy daughter if the other mate wished for a girl more. Its all about the strength of desire."

"And then they warm the egg? or how?" Seungri asked. "By sitting on it? Does the baby actually did hatch from it?"

Jiyong turned his head in a dignified way. "I assume that you thought Veela resemble birds now, but they aren't. We do not sit on our precious egg, no. We trust charms to keep them warm. And yes, since the container resemble eggs, they will hatch from it. The process were less messy and less painful than a normal human birthing."

Seungri raised his eyebrows and there is a wicked smile playing on his lips. "But I bet there are some Veela who sneak in and cuddle the eggs to their bare chest when their mates isn't looking, right?"

Jiyong felt his mouth drop open. "You -- you couldn't guessed that if you don't know anything about Veela!" he said. "Did you read it in a book or something?"

Seungri snorted. "No. I only know that because Veela seems to be known as sentimental being, and thats what they do. They might be not birds but they resemble them, as someone pointed it out to me just a moment ago." He folded his arms and tipped his chin up. 

"But thats too accurate," said Jiyong, and he stood up and walk over to Seungri, who only watched him come, blinking the way he did when he want to object something Jiyong was doing but didn't have reasons to do it yet. "Did - do you get the image in my head through the bond?"

"How could I?" Seungri slowly stood to face the Veela. He looked around as though he expected to see Seunghyun looming up with lectures in mind. "You know our bond doesn't work, right?"

"But it could be healing," Jiyong said and he couldn't help the excited tone in his voice. "It could be - it could be that our bond would heal over time if we leave it alone, and just spend times with each other and be honest with each other."

"But Seunghyun will say something about it if its true." Seungri frowned as he stared at Jiyong. He don't like the hopeful expression on the Veela's face. 

"Would it be too much to ask for a normal bond?" Jiyong couldn't ask but to ask wistfully. "To be able to trust each other completely? You would always know if I was lying and what my desires are. That was the things that help the bonded couple to create an egg," he added, thinking that Seungri might want to hear that, with his interest in having a child of their own. "Because they can trust each other and see into each other's hearts, they know that neither of them wants something terrible for their child."

He thought Seungri would share some of his emphaty but when he looked at his mate's face, all he see was the image of Seungri, the one that he wears the first time Jiyong told him that he was his mate. Seungri was looking at him through a stranger eyes and the warmness he had felt a second ago, lost , just like it never exist at the first place.

"I don't want a normal Veela bond because that would make me a submissive slave to you. And I'm not going to be one." 

A.N: Whoops.. some drama againn. Whats life without drama right? But the lovey dovey part is awesome right? Do you guys like it? ^^

Anyway, as I mentioned this before, Veela is a magical creatures so they can do some spells and charms. I would want to put the whole reproducing things this way because pregnancy would not be fair for both of them. I don't like to make any of their character had an obvious female role, like getting pregnant and such. I still think mpreg is good but it just not right to go with this plot. So yeah. 

And if talking about Jiyong's patience towards Seungri, its infinity. Because a person who had been in a rough patch for half of their life won't be okay instantly and won't trust anyone just as simple as that. Jiyong had eventually understand that and tried not to lose against that side of Seungri. ^^

Thank you to mkcafe, missboulevard, Icesky, 1victory6, zombzomb and cottonFinland for the upvote and to all the new sbscribers Thank You! and thank you for the comments too. <3