Moonlit Shadows

The Voice In Your Head

"I forgive you, Jungkook. Please forgive me," whispered Hoseok, pulling Jungkook out of his thoughts.

Jungkook's eyes burned with tears. Hoseok sounded so weak and pitiful. "I already did, Hyung."

Hoseok slowly nodded his head and his eyes fell closed. "Let me rest a while, then I will go to the kids."

Deep sleep fell over the Alpha immediately and Jungkook smiled as he watched Hoseok's muscles relax and his shoulders slump. Hoseok seemed to be resting much more peacefully than before.

Jungkook felt his own shoulders relax and he rose to his knees and stood, stretching out the stiffness from kneeling for so long. He walked to the door and opened it, surprised to see Jimin, Taehyung, and Sunny standing a few feet from the door.

Sunny spoke first, an empathetic smile on her face. "Kookie," was all she said.

Jungkook crumbled. Something about Sunny always gave him a motherly type of comfort. He staggered down the few cabin steps and fell into her arms, gripping Sunny as if his life depended on her.

Taehyung held his tongue, letting the wolf rely on Sunny's compassionate nature. He glanced at Jimin who returned a small nod and quietly slipped away.

Sunny held Jungkook and let the man cry. "It's okay," she said in soothing tones, slowly rubbing his back.

"Shhh, you'll make yourself sick," she said a few moments later, and Jungkook's shoulders shuddered to a halt.

He slowly leaned away from her and wiped his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me."

Sunny smiled warmly and reached up to pat his dampened cheeks with her hands. "You're probably overwhelmed by a lot of things right now. You're dealing with the loss of your pack Luna, the potential mate sitting in our cabin, and a grieving Alpha. You're allowed to break down."

"Just don't let it happen too frequently," warned Taehyung, unwarranted jealousy filling his eyes.

Sunny was surprised to see it, but she simply smiled and shook her head. "Silly vampire," she mumbled.

Jungkook rested his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. "Alpha is going to rest for a while. He's a mess. He looks completely exhausted."

"I'm sure he is," said Sunny. "Still, we want to pay our respects to Ga-Eun. She was a great help in saving Jaci, and she was the Luna of the pack we share a mountain with. We owe her our respect."

"Yeah, sure. I'll have to get Jimin to take you though. I just got here myself and haven't been to see Luna yet." Jungkook's head dropped and his hands rubbed his face. "I don't know where to start on this whole thing."

Sunny glanced at Taehyung who nodded with a knowing smile. She winked and laid a hand on Jungkook's shoulder. "I'm going to go find Jimin. Stay here with Tae."

She walked away from the clearing and a heavy silence fell between the two men.

"Hyung," whispered Jungkook, "what do I do? How can I deal with all of this at once? I mean, there's Hunters nipping at our heels, my Alpha is on the verge of collapse, and I have to figure out what exactly is going to happen between Jaci and me."

Taehyung moved closer and laid both hands on Jungkook's shoulders. "You deal with each thing as it comes. The mate thing? It can wait. The full moon isn't for a couple of days yet, and we can't be sure about Jaci until then. The Hunters, well, we need to be on the lookout for them, but there's nothing we can do until they show themselves. I suppose the first thing we need to do is get Hoseok out of his grief bubble, and get your Luna returned to the earth. Wouldn't you say?"