BROKEN DREAMS || JIKOOK ✅

85

JUNGKOOK POV

One thing he had managed
was to get the pack council meeting held on neutral ground.

There'd been some talk of
having it in Border, since they were supposed to be the aggrieved party.

Lincoln, Nebraska held the only non-pack building that met all the regulations to house more than four shifters at once.

Before the council had made the decision to have the packs send a tithe to cover the cost a central building, any meetings that required the presence of all
the Alphas had been held at different pack enclaves, each
one hosting in turn.

Which would have been fine, except it was a huge expense for a poor pack's Alpha to travel all the way across the county when the meeting was far and even more expensive to host it themselves.

Lincoln was pretty central and had been surprisingly easy to work with while having the building built.

Jungkook, Quin, Tae and Joon had come with him.

Quin and Tae because they were intimately involved in how this turned out, Joon because that bratty little omega cousin of Tae's was driving him to drink and pick fights.

Jungkook suppressed a sigh
at that thought.

Jimin had suggested that he
was going through an 'almost adult' stage and being an omega, he'd be expecting to mate soon after.

He'd also added, in a smaller
but no less frustrated voice,
that having Jimin there, only a couple of years older, with four pups already and another on
the way, might be part of the problem.

Jungkook thought he understood some of it now, the different socialization of the omegas.

He'd become more aware of the messages that were sent Seon's way and hobi's and all the Busan park omegas and how they
were different from the ones
that alphas and betas got.

What to do about it though, he didn't quite know but Jimin seemed content to make those decisions and just pass them along to Jungkook to implement and Jungkook was never more grateful for a mate that was willing to shoulder some of his burdens.

Of course after tomorrow, all those responsibilities might change.

They dropped their bags inside put away the food they'd
brought with them and sat
down for a planning session.

"You're certain of Busan park, Padres, Sal Wood and Green Moon? Can Busan Pack even
vote in this?" Tae asked.

Jungkook nodded. "I haven't heard but I'd guess not."

"And I'm certain that Border,
Bay and Perse will vote for what ever they think will hurt me."

"which is our only ace in the hole."

"As for the rest of them, I have my doubts about Winter Moon and Sal Wood, if only because
we haven't had much to do
with them lately."

"White River is definitely on
the fence and I can't get a
straight answer out of Honi."

Joon doodled on a pad of paper, his mind definitely elsewhere.

"Well, unless someone
abstains." Tae said.

"We'll know for sure by the
end of tomorrow."

Quin grunted and stared down
at hands.

Jungkook wondered if he shouldn't have brought Jimin after all, though with Jimin so heavily pregnant.

He wasn't sure if it would be a slap in the face to the other Alphas or a distraction.

But Jimin had a way of soothing tempers in negotiation and finding some solution that
suited everyone involved.

Or at least convinced them that they were suited.

"Okay, so we have tonight to
do a last bit of campaigning."

"Who wants to take a last
lunge at which packs?"

"You don't want to handle them all yourself?" Quin asked with innocently lowered eyelids.

Jungkook scratched at his Jaw and grinned at Quin ruefully.

"Nope. Damn but I'll be glad
to have this over with."

Quin quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I'm hoping you get to keep
your job."

"No you're not."

"You love bossing people around."

Quin shrugged and got up to go mess around in the kitchen.

Over the sound of clanking pots, he said. "Let's eat before we
go do our social duty."

Jungkook kicked Joon under
the table.

"Go give him a hand and stop moping."

"Once we get back, I'll set the Omega Pack on him for you."

Quin barked a laugh from the kitchen. "I dare you to tell
Jimin you call them that."

"You wait until you have your own." Jungkook yelled back
and waited for a response.

Dead silence was what he got and he left the table to go
see what was up with Quin.

Tae and Joon considerately moved over to the barred window and pretended to admire the trees in the yard outside.

"What's up?" Jungkook asked, getting out vegetables to chop while Quin patted a pile of ground beef into patties.

"Let's just drop the mate
thing, okay?"

"I wouldn't be much of one."

"Can't be any worse than me."

"Hmmph." But Quin didn't
seem to get the joke.

If anything, it seemed to
send him off to some other,
unhappier place.

Jungkook put a hand on Quin's shoulder. "You know we can talk any time, right? You don't have to keep whatever it was inside."

Quin laughed but it was a
sour, ugly noise.

"You don't want to hear
about it."

"No need for both of us having nightmares." He threw the first of the patties into the frying pan.

"You want to stick the fries in
the oven for me?"

But the tone of his voice closed the topic of what was bothering him for conversation, at least
for now.

Jungkook obediently loaded a couple of pans with frozen french fries and shoved them into the oven, turning it on to heat up with them in there.

He would have preferred tackling Quin's problems tonight instead of heading out into the uncertainty but Quin's expression had closed down again, so he
set that on the back burner.

Something else to deal with when they got home.

Though he kind of wondered whether this plan of his had been a bad idea, given the stress it was going to place on Quin.

He left Quin to brood in the kitchen and joined Tae and Joon at the window, wishing it was already tomorrow evening.