Hear The War Cry

Hopeful

Namjoon leans over the small kitchen table with a furrowed brow, elbows digging into the fake wood. Their numbers are sprawled out in front of him. He makes calculations in his head as he gnaws on his lip.

"When do you think we'll be able to get out of here?" Sehun asks.

"I'm not sure," Namjoon admits honestly. He sighs, finally leaning back and rubbing his forehead. "Finding a bigger place is hard enough as it is, but we have to pay extra for a place that allows wolves. And trying to take care of all thirteen of us is..."

"It's near impossible," Jinki says. Namjoon nods in defeat.

"Maybe it'd be best if..." Minseo runs her hand through her hair before biting the bullet. "Maybe it'd be best if we split up."

"We can't do that." Namjoon doesn't hesitate to shut down that train of thought. "We promised each other we'd stay together. We're stronger that way."

"Stronger how?" Minseo snaps. "We aren't fighting wars anymore Namjoon. We're fighting poverty. You've done everything you can for us, but cities aren't made for packs."

"It'd best if we keep our resources together. None of us would make it alone. We don't know how to."

"We can't stay together forever."

"Even so," Jinki says, "for now we should be."

"What about when one of the omegas goes into heat? Or another alpha goes into a rut like Jungkook? Or we just disagree? We'll tear each other apart in this tiny ass apartment," Sehun says. He loosens his grip on the edge of the table. "We need to be more careful. Jimin could've gotten hurt."

"I know that." Namjoon pulls back the bite in his voice. He loves his mate to death, but Jungkook can lose it during his rut. And Namjoon knows his own cycle isn't far away. When one of the unmated alphas goes into rut, it'll be even worse. They need to figure something out. "I'll... I'll look into it. Find something."

"You can only do so much, Joon," Minseo says. "You've been the leader we need during all of this, but you need to know when to give up."

"I can't give up." Namjoon has too much to lose. Even after everything, he still has so much.

Jimin comes out of the bathroom after scrubbing his skin a hundred times in the shower. He still has Jungkook's scent on him. He doesn't hesitate to sit in Namjoon's lap and look over the papers in front of them even as the others go quiet.

"This the finances from the past two weeks?" Jimin asks.

"Yeah."

"Not doing too bad," the omega says with a optimistic tone. "Might be able to get those suppressant shots soon."

"Thirteen of them?" Jinki asks skeptiptically. "You know those things are, what, sixty thousand won for one month?"

"Seventy thousand actually," Jimin says. "And we don't need thirteen. Jaehyun's a beta and Taehyung isn't having heats again yet. So it's only eleven. And if we cut back on the bills we might have enough."

"How do you plan to do that?" Namjoon asks.

"We'll have to start showering together." Jimin pats Namjoon on the head teasingly. The alpha smiles slightly "No, seriously though. We can make the food last a bit longer. Keep the bills down. It'll add up quick."

"We can't do that forever," Sehun says.

"We won't have to," Jimin replies. Namjoon squeezes Jimin's waist gently. "We'll keep saving. Hopefully find a way to get some better paying jobs."