“These children,” Jihoo laughed, “they really think I’m that stupid?”

“Apparently,” replied the person on the other end of the phone call, “or else they wouldn’t be doing what they are doing.”

“These children think they can win this war,” Jihoo sighed, “it’s so…..pathetic. They can’t hope to win with what’s coming for them.”

“No,” the other, a man, laughed, “they’ll be dead before we take our first city.”

“Here’s a question,” someone asked on Jihoo’s end of the phone conversation and the shifter put his phone on speaker, “how have those children managed to live for so long. After everything we’ve done, all the attacks, they still live.”

“The first attack was on that dragon, Kris,” Jihoo explained, “and the goal was to only injure him. Not kill.”

“What about the girls?” the second unnamed person, a woman, asked, “and the building? How did no one die? Luck?”

“Maybe,” the unnamed man said, probably nodding on his end of the phone.

“Yuri was lucky,” Jihoo said, leaning back in his chair, “she had a fae with her, one who can heal. She would have died otherwise. The building was also luck. I’ll admit, even I am at a loss of how no one died in that attack.”

“And the shifter girl?” the woman asked, “Was that luck? Or did you pull some strings so that she would live?”

“I’m offended,” Jihoo drew back in mock surprise, “how could you accuse me of such a thing?”

“Because you want her,” the man laughed, “I’ll admit, even I wouldn’t mind taking her. She’s so strong, whatever children she gives birth to will probably be just as strong. Think of what you could do with that kind of power.”

“Ah, Yongsun,” Jihoo laughed, “you truly would love a strong child to mold in your image. Aren’t your sons enough?”

“No,” the man, Yongsun, scoffed, “those two will never do. The older is strong, maybe even stronger then myself, but I could never mold him to be what I wish. The younger……he’ll never amount to much. He’s too weak in mind and body.”

“So cold,” the woman giggled, “be careful that they don’t hear you say that. It will hurt their feelings.”

“Who cares?” Yongsun asked, probably rolling his eyes, “they should know by now I hold no love in my heart for either.”

“So cold,” Jihoo laughed, “but that’s why I like you.”

“Now about the shifter girl,” the woman returned to the original topic, “why do you want her?”

“Sori is strong, yes,” Jihoo nodded, “but not just in body. In mind as well.”

“You want to break her,” Yongsun summarized, a nasty smirk appearing on his face, “you want to shatter her.”

“Exactly,” Jihoo nodded, “that is my goal with Sori. I will break her spirit, her soul, and leave her nothing but an empty shell. From there, I’ll build her back up in my image. She’ll become the perfect mate for someone of my stature.”

“You’re so twisted,” the woman giggled, “to say such things with that look on your face. You have horrible things planned for that girl, don’t you?”

“No more horrible then what I subjected my mother and father too,” Jihoo smirked, “I’ll admit, killing her was the originally plan. She would be dead if that boy with the weird pattern hadn’t stepped in. but he just secured her fate as my plaything.”

“He’ll be so upset when he realizes that he should have let her die,” Yongsun laughed, “it would have been a kinder end then what you have planned for her.”

“What of our next move?” Jihoo asked, returning everyone’s attention to business, “are we on schedule?”

“By the looks of things so far,” Yongsun nodded, “right now the ball is in the court of that blood er. I think he has most of the council on his side, but council man Kim isn’t in his pocket.”

“Kim,” Jihoo tried to remember the name, “he’s the one with the son at Dark Lake, correct?”

“Yes,” the woman nodded, looking over some of her papers, “Kim’s son rooms with your oldest, Yongsun.”

“I’ll see what I can do, then,” Yongsun replied, “I might be able to use that tie to my advantage.”

“Our advantage,” Jihoo reminded the werewolf, “ours.”

“Right,” Yongsun paused before lowering his voice, “someone’s coming. I’ll let you know what I have in a few days.”

“Things are going rather well,” Jihoo smirked, taking a sip from the glass of wine the woman offered as she sat in his lap.

“As you said, those children are fools,” she said, taking a sip from the glass as well, “are you truly going to mate with that girl?”

“Yes,” he nodded, “but being mated with someone doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.”

“Good,” she smirked before allowing Jihoo to kiss her, “because if mating her would kill our relationship…..I’m afraid I would have to kill that stupid girl.”

“You know she’d kill you first,” Jihoo laughed, “so let me break her first. All I need is to shatter her and make her my toy. After that, you can torment her over and over. Just so long as she can still give my children, I don’t care what you do.”

“I can’t wait,” the woman laughed along with him.

--

Chen bit back a growl as he listened into his father’s phone call. He hadn’t heard everything, but enough to get a pretty good idea of what his father was doing. He wished that he could be surprised that his father was working with the enemy, but he wasn’t. his father was evil, a true son of a , and nothing evil that he did would ever surprise Chen.

“Right,” Yongsun paused before lowering his voice, “someone’s coming. I’ll let you know what I have in a few days.”

Chen cursed, glancing over at Kai as he made his way down the hall. Kai looked at Chen, a little surprised to see him there. Chen raised a finger to his lips before pointing to himself, signaling that Kai had to keep quiet about him before there, before taking off down the hall as silently as possible.

“Jongin,” their father called, “what are you doing standing outside my office?”

“I wanted to see you, father,” Kai said, entering the room, “I wanted to ask if I could come with you to the next council meeting.”

“No,” Yongsun scoffed, “what would you even do while there?”

“I could learn about how the council runs,” Kai replied, “knowing how they do things is important, right?”

“To those who will sit on the council, yes,” Yongsun nodded, “but you are not going to be doing that. Jongdae will be taking over my place when I step down, both because he is older and because he is stronger. You? You’re not strong enough to even think of having a seat on the werewolf council.”

“I’ve been training,” Kai said, “I’ve gotten stronger since the last time you saw me fight.”

“I don’t care,” Yongsun snapped, “I’ve made my decision. Respect my word or get out.”

“Yes, father,” Kai nodded before leaving, trying not to cry.

He knew his father was evil, but it was still his father. He wanted the older werewolf to love him, to do fatherly things with him. But all he ever got was yelled at and insults. In a way, Chen was lucky. Their father didn’t insult and belittle him the same way he did Kai.

“Don’t worry,” Chen said as Kai dropped onto the elder’s bed, “he’s not someone you want praise from anyway.”

“He’s our dad,” Kai sighed, “he should give us praise and love.”

“He also shouldn’t be in on the plans to kill Sori, Yuri, and our classmates,” Chen scoffed, “and yet he is.”

“What?” Kai looked up, shocked beyond words.

“We have to call Kris,” Chen said, “later, when we go out for a run. Away from anyone who can hear.”

Kai nodded. The others would be happy to know what Chen had learned.

A/N: poor Kai and Chen. I would hate to have a dad like that. Both ‘cuz, you know, he’s evil and ‘cuz he treats his kids like crap.