Two Worlds | JIKOOK ✅

30.

JUNGKOOK POV

We made the journey to
Are's pack, my omega and
I, to beg for help for his life.

I wasn't sure what to expect
but we were immediately led
to her father, the alpha who
was still in charge after all
these years and who expected extreme and archaic signs of respect, some of which I knew and most of which was not
going to happen.

We did not bow down before other people's alphas.

Not our pack.

Jimin's leg was so bad now,
he was pretty much dragging
it behind him and I thought maybe sympathy for his
infirmity might have been
an ice breaker.

At least he didn't have us
killed or locked up.

Joon had sent a message
ahead, one alpha to another,
so we were expected and while they'd made no promises, the
old alpha had us seated—on chairs lower than his but just enough to make the point he
was alpha.

And it wasn't an office but
more like a cave with furniture.

Dang these people were feral.

Jimin didn't seem fazed but
the lines pain was carving in
his face told me furniture and
a dirt floor were not what he
was focused on.

The old man who sat on a
chair just short of a throne
might have answers for us
that could ease that pain.

"And why do you seek us?" he asked, using the royal we.

"You who stole someone
very precious to us."

Jimin straightened his spine
and stood.

I reached for him but he
moved out of my reach and approached the old man.

"I am sorry Ari did not stay
in touch with her family."

"I don't know why because
she never got into it with me
but I'm starting to realize I
didn't know a lot of things
about her." He blinked hard.

"I loved her very much and I hope that what she did to me was out of the same emotion."

"She gave up everything
dear to her for me."

"She did." The old alpha
seemed to have lost some
of the wind from his sails.

"And she married a human."

Accusation hung in his tone.

My omega hadn't quite won
him over.

"And then she tried to make
me something else."

"She really did, didn't she?"

Ari's father shook his head.

"That's not allowed here
either, except under very
rare circumstances."

"And permission is rarely
given."

"Then how did she even know what to do?" he asked, shifting to take weight off his bad leg.

I'd have jumped up to help him but he wouldn't thank me.

He was confronting his past dragons—ones he hadn't even understood were menacing him.

"I don't know but she was
always very smart and we
have an extensive library of arcane knowledge."

Was that in a cave, too?

I was getting so irritated, it
was difficult not to strike out.

But despite his putting all his weight on his good leg, Jimin held his ground and his temper.

"Alpha, unless someone can direct us to the volume and passage relating to what was done to me, I don't know that
I have time to find it."

"My body is rejecting hard,
our healer tells me and I am carrying my alpha's baby."

The old man's eyes narrowed.

"You are a fickle one."

"I believe you birthed a child
With my daughter year ago."

"A child who rightfully should
be a member of this pack."

"Why is he not with you?"

"Because I thought you
would say that and know
that I'd kill anyone who tried
to take my child from me."

"I'm not trading my life or
the life of the child I carry
for the child I already have."

"They are both precious to
me."

"And what if I say I have the remedy but require you to
hand him over or you will
die soon and never live to
bear that baby."

"Then I say you're not kind
and that —"

"And that dalsu is not his
to give."

Even if there was a chance in
hell my omega would go
along with the deal.

"Joon, our alpha has claimed
Jimin, dalsu and the baby,
along with any future children
as members of our pack."

He looked startled.

"Why would he do this?"

I shrugged.

"It was his will."

And nobody needed to
say more than that.

"Then in exchange for sending you to a member of our pack who can help, I ask a favor."

I'd never expected him to
soften so easily but as I
studied the old alpha, I
noticed a mist of moisture
in his eyes.

So I hesitantly asked.

"What favor?"

"I have never met my
grandson."

"Will you convey the
request to your alpha that
arrangements be made so
that I can?"

"My daughter was difficult
and she made some
questionable decisions but
that is not the child's fault."

I nodded, feeling his pain
but leaving the decision to Joon...who would no doubt
see how Joon felt about it.

"I will tell the alpha and he
will send his reply."

The alpha waved and a young wolf shifter appeared from a
dark corner.

Had he been there all along?

We were led to another,
similar cave-room where an elderly woman sat, staring
at the walls.

She turned her eyes which
were pale blue and didn't
seem to see toward us.

"Come forward, omega." She held out her hands and when Jimin approached her, she
closed them around his.

"You are the one my Ari left
us for." Her eyelids fluttered.

"And you're pregnant but you're...you're dying."

He looked at me over his shoulder, panicked but the clawlike fingers clutching his were not releasing him.

"I hope not." He finally said.

"But I understand you can
help?"

"Maybe, It's very painful and difficult and may cost you
the child you're carrying."

I knew at that point he'd
say no, so I stepped up.

"And if he doesn't try the remedy?"

She shrugged.

"He'll be dead in a week."