Chapter Seven
Hollow

About twenty minutes after they’d left her house, the sky was already dark and Jungkook went through the mist she had seen two days ago. There was a blinding light, and she couldn’t discern where they were.

From out of nowhere, the light disappeared and they were not on the main road anymore. Instead, they were in Lethe. She could remember its black marble and gold structures from last time.

“It’s different when we came to last time. . .” She mumbled to herself, remembering that when they first entered Lethe, they were in a vast landscape away from the Palace.

“There’s no set destination when you come through the mist. You’d have to visualize where to go as you’re crossing.” Jungkook said.

When they rounded a corner, a twenty-foot-tall masonry wall materialized. After going under an archway and passing through yet another set of barricades, they came into a courtyard with a fountain in the middle.

To her right, was the beautiful palace of Lethe.

Jungkook parked up front and Moon craned her neck at the palace. Mesmerized.

“I’m going to take care of you. You know that, right?” When she nodded hesitantly, he smiled a little. “You’re going to meet the council. I want you to stick close to me. I don’t want us separated. That clear? You stay with me no matter what happens.”

Reassurance coupled with a command, she thought. This is not going to be fine.

They walked up to a pair of 16 feet-weathered bronze doors and he opened one side. As they’d stepped in, she couldn’t help but gasp.

How. . . magical.

The lobby was a golden color, as unexpected as a garden blooming in a cave. Green malachite columns alternated with ones made of claret marble, the lengths rising up from a multi-hued mosaic floor. The walls were brilliant gold and hung with gold-framed mirrors and crystal-strung scones. The ceiling, three stories up, was a masterpiece of artwork and gold leafing, the scenes depicting heroes and wolves and angels. And up ahead, centered among all the grandeur, was a broad staircase that ascended to a balconied second floor.

It was beautiful. . . the sounds of the place formal and elegant.

From the room on the left, music pumped and deep male voice carried. Pool balls cracked into each other.

“Go long, Tae!”

A football sailed into the foyer and a handsome man came shooting out after it. He leaped up and just had his hands on the thing when another guy with dark brown hair slammed into him. The two of them went down to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs, sliding hard into the wall.

“I got you good,”

“But you don’t have the ball yet, stupid.”

Grunts, laughter, and juicy curses carried up to that ornate ceiling as the men fought for the football, flipping each other over, and sitting on each other’s chests. Two more guys jogged out to check on the action. And the little old man she remembered, Jeddam emerged from the right, carrying a bouquet of fresh flowers in a crystal vase. Jeddam stepped around the wrestling match with an indulgent smile.

Then everything went silent as they all noticed her once.

Jungkook shuffled her behind his body.

“Son of a ,” someone said.

Jungkook spread his stance. “Where’s the King?”

A guy with a brush cut stepped forward to them. Jungkook met him chin-to-chin. “Careful, Youngbae. Don’t come closer.”

“Chill Konstantin,” The man named Youngbae, stated. “I’m not a threat and you know that. I just want to meet your mate.”

Moon glanced behind her. The door was still open. And she contemplated if this was a good idea or not. From the looks of it, all of them look lethal, and if they could, they can snap her neck.

As she backed away, she kept her eyes on him. Until she bumped against something hard.

She wheeled around. Looked up. And lost her voice.

What was blocking her escape had a scarred face, back eyes, and an aura of stone-cold danger.

“! Sehun, really? You come at the wrong time.” Taehyung rolled his eyes.

Jungkook lunged for her, pulling her away, bringing her tight against his body. He spoke harshly. “Don’t make me hurt you, brother.” He snarled at Sehun.

“You gotta calm yourself, female. He can smell your fear and Konstantin is a territorial motherer right now," Youngbae says softly.

Jungkook looked as if he were to lash out when a woman’s voice cut him off.

“Oh, for Gods sake, boys! You’re scaring her.”

Moon glanced around Jungkook’s chest and saw a beautiful woman coming down the stairway. She looked completely lovely: Long black hair, and electrifying blue eyes, she was wearing an off-shoulder emerald dress that showed off her glowing skin. As she marched through the thicket of men, they all got out of her way.

“Jungkook, we are glad you brought your mate. And Jiyong is coming down in a minute.” She then pointed to the room the men had come out of. “The rest of you head back in there. Go on, now. If you’re going to crack some balls, do it on the pool table today. Dinner’s in a half hour. Taehyung, take the football with you, okay?”

She shooed them from the foyer like they weren’t hard-nosed badasses. The only guy who stayed was Sehun.

He was calmer now as he looked at Jungkook. “I’m happy for you, brother.”

Jungkook nodded and clasped Sehun’s shoulder. “Welcome back.”

Sehun then goes into the room where the rest of the men are.

The black-haired woman walked up to Moon, “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay. I’m Nalla, by the way.”

Moon took a deep breath, instinctively trusting the lone feminine outpost in what was a jungle of testosterone.

“Moon. Moon Gwon.” She smiled.

Nalla offered her hand and smiled, then her skin glowed.

Moon felt the floor underneath her shift.

“I think she’s going over,” Nalla shouted while reaching forward. “Jungkook!”

Strong arms came around her waist as her knees buckled.

The last thing she heard before blacking out was Jungkook saying, “I’m taking her up to my room.”

✱✱✱✱

As Jungkook laid Moon out on his bed, he willed on a soft light. He has never wanted to hold someone so much until her.

“You’re killing me, my star.” He whispered, noting that his heart was still beating faster than usual in his chest. It wasn’t just that either, every nerve of his body felt hyper-aware of her presence.

She looked so right in his big bed, nestled in the mountain of pillows he insisted on sleeping with. He wanted her there tomorrow and the day after and. . .

She stirred, under his gaze and he watched as her eyes opened. Her glittering soft brown eyes stared up at him. He tilted his head forward until his forehead touched hers and he sighed contentedly.

“You’re going to break me,” Moon whispered.

He pulled back from her, his chest throbbing when she uttered those words. He stared at her for a moment and noticed something dancing in her eyes. His clenched expression faded into something tender.

“No, my star. I’m going to love you,” he said, touching his forehead to hers. His eyes glimmered, tiny specks of light shining into the obsidian, like the stars that had become her namesake. “Until you forget what it is to be hurt and then long after that. Until the scars you wear like armor have faded from memory, and only we remain.”

Moon dropped her eyes to his lips, and a surge of awareness flooded through her, the heat of his body sinking into her front. Then, the tears burning her eyes finally fell as the trap of the bond closed around her.

She clung to his shirt and evidently stifled the whimper by biting her lip.

“Moon. . .” He said softly, reaching for her. He gathered her in his arms, and she turned her gaze away from him, looking over at the side of his room through cloudy eyes. Feeling on the verge of a breakdown, she thought of how unfair her life has been. How the people she loved have been taken from her. The trauma, the guilt, the shame. The walls she had built. . . and he shattered it just like that.

She heaved a deep breath to calm her nerves, letting her head thump against his chest. Barely noticing that he was on the bed now, her back against his chest. Instead, she felt his thumb run over her palm, caressing it lightly.

“Talk to me,”

“I’m afraid,” she mumbled, keeping her eyes away from his purposely.

“What could a star be so afraid of?” he asked, the teasing tilt to his voice assured her slightly. He squeezed her hand tighter in his, encouraging her to continue.

“It seems like I’m afraid of many things,” She said, shaking her head as she thought the way she feared Jungkook more than dying.

“And yet you continue on anyway, my brave little star. You burn so bright I sometimes get scared that I’ll hurt you,” he said softly.

Moon tenses at this, her breath hitching.

“Then why stay with me? Surely you want to be as far away from me as possible if you genuinely fear that?”

Jungkook ignored her question, smirking a little as he tuck a lock behind her ear. “What are you afraid of?” he asked again.

She sighed, “I’m scared of a lot of things. Losing people I love, of getting hurt. . .”

“Do you truly believe that I would ever allow anything to harm you? Monster, Human, Gods, they’ll have to go through me to get to you.”

“I don’t understand why you would risk so much for me. You hardly know me,” She whispered, the words hovering between them.

Jungkook’s face shifted, a heavy sigh escaping between his lips. “I don’t feel so alone when I’m with you,” he mumbled. He then dropped his hand to the exposed mark on her neck, causing a shock to roll through her. “I’ve spent my entire life feeling alone, even when I’m surrounded by others. I’ve lived for centuries. I’ve seen what this world does to good things, to beautiful things. I’ve lived without kindness and been betrayed by people I should’ve been able to trust. The world is ugly and it’s filled with brutality.” He paused to smile sadly. “And then came you.”

Something in his expression made her heart flutter in her chest, threatening to cleave her in two.

“Your essence flows down the bond between us, light and good, tainted by my darkness. But at your core, there’s this. . . well beauty that flows from you. I’ve lost hope for most of my life, but I’ve felt what your soul carved at the end, and knowing that; I was trapped, waiting for you to be born. Just waiting for centuries to be able to hold you.”

“Jungkook,” she whispered.

He held her steady, staring down at her as if he needed her to hear the words. “And then I met you, and you were everything I’d ever dreamed you would be and more. I felt you hesitate and doubt our bond. I see in your eyes that you don’t want to be loved and that you hung on to the fear instead of the love I wanted to give you, but you can’t. Because you and I both know what you felt, we both know that you’ll open your heart to me. Because you were born to love me, whether I deserve it or not.”

She studied him for a few moments, trying not to think if the roles were reversed. Couldn’t begin to fathom the idea of him hopelessly waiting for his other soul. The thought of it alone made her depressed. To feel that, and know it was love, over and over again for centuries. She didn’t know if she could survive.

She wanted to love him. . . but she didn’t know how.

She was at loss for words. Jungkook hanged his head forward. The severance of their eye contact. . . hurt, and she hated herself for it. Hated feeling damaged. Hated feeling like she’d never be the woman who could love him back. The kind with scars.

She hated herself and what she had become. Hated Hiro, Dal, and Kyle. Hated cancer.

“I won’t lose you,” He said. “I will follow you because what remains after you’re gone will be a broken shell that will do more harm than good. All I want is to be with you. Tell me how to make that happen, Moon.”

Her eyes were sad, “I don’t know.”

I don’t know how to be with you. I don’t know how to let it all go. She thought.

He nodded as if the answer were exactly what he’d been expecting. Placing a chaste kiss against her forehead, he finally took a step back. “You need to rest. I can feel how tired you are.”

He tuck her in and she watched him shut the door behind him, and Moon couldn’t help but hate herself more.