The True Alpha: Bad Blood //jjk

48: Present

It wasn't as if Hani was hearing this for the first time, yet, the shock that washed over her made it seem that she was. Her eyes glanced at Jimin that, at the mention of the hunt, sulked in his seat. The scar hovered above Jungkook's head and, at last, following the swirling red flame that often coated his heart, his eyes found their way to the toddler. Fai had fallen asleep against Hani's chest, slowly he took deep breaths, lullabied by the gentle feeling of the girl's hand rubbing his cheeks – a habit so deeply settled in her that, she no longer, noticed that she was doing.

"Hani's blood carries special characteristics necessary to the goddess plan, yet, I'll leave that conversation to the end, since my focus is to the tell you what had happened, before alerting you to what you shall do. The hunt was a massacre, through it, Ulric's father expanded his territory and his power. However, when he least expected it, you, Jungkook, raised up to the role designed for you. Faced with your growth, with the bravery and strength that was numb inside you and that, yet, each day awakened; they decided to kill you. You killed them, first. And, then, you slipped out of their grasp. Leaving them leaderless, pack-less. With nothing. Ulric, bitter, full of revenge, decided to twist the narrative, creating the tale as we know it today. Although it does not conceal the actions you were forced to enact, it hides the reason behind it. Justice requires a reason to be called so, and when it does not have one, we call it murder, slaughter. Without ever laying his hands on you, Ulric hurt you far more than anyone ever could, did he not?" It was not a question; it was an affirmation. The look in Jungkook's eyes said it all and rather weakly, defeated, utterly vulnerable, he nodded his head; at last, accepting in front of them all, the guilt, the pain, that to this day, tainted his chest; caused all his actions to be hesitant, reluctant. "The tale started spreading, you disappeared, Ulric, despite his young age, was able to rebuild his pack with the help of his father's allies and the seer. The hunt initiated once more, even more violently than the first one. There was a point in time in which people believed you were behind it, since the group that showed up in their territory, refused to tell their Alpha's name. Yunhee and I knew that they were after Hani so we did the best that we could to protect her. Hani's role and connection towards you was kept as a secret from Haewon, Alec and everyone else. We both feared of what could happen if you knew. Instead, we kept it just between us and like that, for many years, we were able to hide Hani. In the meantime, Yunhee had convinced me to go and search for you. And I... she was so stubborn, so head strong, she forced me to go on that day. I still... I still wondered if I had arrived sooner, I would have been able to stop them from killing her."

Hani's heart stopped. A part of her knew, a part of her had suspected him from the get go but, she wasn't prepared to hear it. She wasn't prepared to face the truth. Foolishly, she missed when things were simple. When her father's lies were enough to console her naivety. Haewon's eyes were glued to Jinsang, the old friend, which had kept him so much as a secret. So much that, as a mate, as the man she loved, Yunhee chose to hide from him. And, honestly, he didn't know what to think about it. Perhaps, her death, her absence, had melted out the emotions who once were intense and furious. Perhaps, learning the truth, every bit of it, was the closure Haewon had been trying to obtain from revenge. After all, he thought, the truth was all he needed to sleep through the night. And with that realization, came the guilt, the regret of pursuing a revenge, a slaughter; the regret of allowing angry violent emotions that he had, not towards others, but towards his own self, hurt those he loved the most; for never being able to understand what had happened that day, he punished others, instead of his own self. The revolt against his own self, the feeling of uselessness, powerlessness, being utterly lost – that was the emotion he hated. The lack of control, the not being able to move on because, in fact, he didn't know where to go, for he didn't know what he was moving on from.

"They burst inside their house, screaming, demanding to see Hani. At that point in time, we were aware that one day, eventually, they would find her; yet, we hoped, that when that time came, you two would already be together. Yunhee used the bunker, the little basement under Haewon's office, to hide Hani whenever strangers came to the pack. Yunhee put up a fight, things escalated. She ran out of the house, hoping to drive him away from where Hani was, listening to everything, to all the screams and shouts. They were somehow certain that Hani would be there, they brought an army with them. Yunhee didn't have a chance against them... there was... nothing she could have done differently. Hani decided to see what was happening, she followed her mother's footsteps. It was raining heavily, thundering. She found her body, Yunhee died right next to her. That's when I... I found you both." Directly to Hani, Jinsang spoke and his eyes welled up with tears as he relieved those memories in his mind. Hani furiously shook, silent tears ran down her face; for as he talked, at the same time, he awakened the numb, forgotten, memories in her own mind. "It was just the two of you. You were holding your mother's body as you cried. You kept on talking to her, tricking your own self into believing she was still alive. I approached you and when I touched you, you passed out. I believed it was from exhaustion, from shock, yet, you only woke up the next day and you had no recollection whatsoever of what had happened to your mother. Your father and Alec were on their way back, people already knew of Yunhee's passing. Why I kept her murder as a secret? Why I covered her death with a lie? Well... I... I thought it was the safest choice we had, all of us. If by chance Haewon found out that Ulric's men had killed her, surely, he'd go and try to avenge her. Which would only aggravate our situation, since it would expose Hani. It would bring her closer to Ulric. And I had promised Yunhee, I had given her my word, that no matter what, I'd keep you safe. It seemed to work. The hunt stopped, soon after. Ulric's sudden calmness, inertia led me to believe that he had given up. However, one day, he showed up at the pack with your father, he had a deal to make."