Jungkook stood with Hoseok in his arms for quite a long time. The Alpha wept and sobbed until all of his remaining energy was spent. Jungkook moved over towards the sofa and helped Hoseok collapse onto it.
The Alpha curled onto his side and stared beyond the walls of the cabin. "I can't...She's gone...It's too quiet..."
Many other short spurts of sad statements came from him at varying intervals. Jungkook's heart was breaking as his friend and Alpha mourned. He knelt on the floor beside the sofa and rested on his heels, waiting for the right moment to speak.
But what would that moment look like? Nothing he thought to say seemed like it would be of any comfort to Hoseok. It all either sounded too harsh or too patronizing. And there was never a right time to be either of those things.
Jungkook's chest hurt with repressed grief as he allowed the Alpha time to pour out his heart and come to some semblance of acceptance. Though if he were to be perfectly honest, that acceptance could be days or even weeks away.
Hoseok's eyes had fluttered shut and his breathing was ragged and uneven. Jungkook reached out and pushed a lock of black hair back from Hoseok's damp cheeks. He wasn't sure if the Alpha was even in a state of mind to listen, but he licked his lips and took a deep breath. He needed to say his piece.
"Hyung," he said gently, resting his hands onto his knees. "Your mate was an amazing woman. I'm so sorry she's gone, but you have to wake up and be the father she believed you to be. Her children, your children, are suffering. Your pack is suffering."
Hoseok's dark, puffy eyes slowly opened and locked onto Jungkook.
"I am suffering," murmured Jungkook. He lowered his head and sighed towards the floor.
"We need our Alpha to help us navigate this tragedy. We need you to help guide us on how we avenge her death. Hyung, I know your grief is heavy and suffocating, but you can't slip away from us. We are all waiting for you. We need you. Your kids need their dad to explain to them why their mother isn't tucking them in at night anymore."
Jungkook dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling. He drew in a long breath and slowly lowered his head to look back at Hoseok's piercing gaze. "I'm going to be blunt, Hyung. Your grief isn't just yours. It's the entire packs'. We lost our Luna. We are all grieving that loss. You can't just lay in here and wallow in your own heartache. Let us help you bear that burden, Hyung. We want to help you, and need you to help us."
Hoseok's gaze drifted away to look somewhere beyond Jungkook's kneeling form.
"Also, I won't allow you to banish me from the pack because I felt an insane instinct to protect someone. Luna was gone, there was nothing else we could do for her. Yes, we need a time of mourning, but first we have to protect the ones that remain, Hyung. It's our duty. Luna would have understood that and wanted it. She wouldn't want you to leave your children unguarded. She wouldn't -"
"Enough, Jungkook," said Hoseok, his voice painfully raspy.
Jungkook's mouth clamped shut and he listened for Hoseok to say more.
"I still think you're an ass for leaving Jimin and I to carry Ga-Eun's body home alone," he mumbled, his heavy eyelids fighting to stay open.
"But I know I can't fault you for protecting your own mate."
Jungkook's eyes popped open wide at Hoseok's statement. Everyone seemed to believe Jaci was his mate. And while it was obvious some kind of bond was blooming, Jungkook refused to hold out untethered hope. A fated mate was his greatest dream. If Jaci was indeed his fated mate, the Moon sure had a strange and curious way of bringing them together.
"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?"
Jungkook sniffled and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds reasonable."
"Mmhm, and I am nothing if not reasonable," smirked Taehyung, making Jungkook chuckle.
"That's true," grinned Jungkook, feeling a load lift off his heart. He looked at Taehyung and his smile slowly fell. "Wait, if you and Sunny are here, who's protecting Jaci?"
"She promised she would stay in the cabin. We haven't been away that long. We'll be back home before they even make it up the mountain, if they even try."
Jungkook took assurance from Taehyung, but he still felt an uneasy cloud hanging around in his head. Hopefully, Taehyung would be right, and there would be nothing at all for Jungkook to worry about.
* * *
"Did you really think I wouldn't follow you? Did you think I wouldn't expect you to run up here at the first moment you could? You truly are an idiot, Fenton." Fixer walked further into the house and his eyes slowly moved over to Jaci. His nose crinkled and a darker frown settled onto his face.
"Stop looking at her like that," growled Derrick. "She's none of your concern. She's an innocent bystander."
Fixer's frown broke into a smiling laugh. "Are your senses so dull that you cannot smell it? Can you not smell the werewolf all over her?"
Jaci's blood ran cold. Was she really turning into a werewolf, or did he just smell Jungkook?
"You're an idiot, Fixer," retorted Derrick angrily. "Two vamps and a wolf live here. Of course this girl smells like them! She's been here for days!"
Yun-Hee stepped out from the doorway and cackled as she sauntered towards Jaci. However, she was stopped by the barrel of Derrick's pistol pointing at her chest. Her eyes rolled and she folded her arms across her chest.
"This chick is the one I attacked. I wouldn't be surprised if she was changing."
Fixer and Yun-Hee grinned wickedly and Derrick's eyes quickly glanced over his shoulder before snapping back to Yun-Hee.
"Yeah, and you also told me she was dead. So, do we really want to talk about your truth record?"
"Oh, I really did think she was dead. I didn't expect her to survive that bite. Just how did you survive that bite?" Yun-Hee stared at Jaci curiously, mocking spite was her current expression.
Fixer flopped down into Taehyung's rocking chair and stretched out his long, thin legs. "Yeah, tell us a story," he sneered.
Jaci's hands blindly gripped at the knob of the Kims' bedroom. "I'm not talking to any of you," she shouted, flinging open the door behind her and sliding in as she slammed it shut, locking it.
Fixer laughed and Yun-Hee doubled over with laughter.
"She is so ridiculous. What is she, five? What is she going to do? Hide under the bed?" Yun-Hee cackled and flopped down onto the twin bed. "My feet hurt," she sighed.
Derrick heard the door lock behind him. That door was no more a barrier than a piece of paper would be. Jaci was in real danger and it was up to him to hold these maniacs off long enough for the cabin residents to return from whatever they were doing.
"Look, Derrick. It's true, she's small game, literally," laughed Fixer darkly. "You know we're after the ones you let escape. Though I must say, if I let that one hiding escape, I'll just have to come back and hunt her down again. You know how much I hate doing repeat hunts."
Derrick was growing angrier by the second. His fear of Jaci being dead and gone was now erased and all of his energy was now being channeled into his hatred for Fixer. He had to admit that Jaci had smelled strange when he had been closer to her. But he really had chalked it up to her being in the home of a vampire and a werewolf. But what if she wasn't turning into a werewolf? How could he allow an innocent person to die? He wasn't going to, that was how.
"You don't even know if she's really changing," he rumbled at Fixer. "For all you know she is still perfectly human and out of our jurisdiction."
Fixer's eyes narrowed shrewdly. "You always find a loophole, don't you? Fine. She can live, but I can't keep everyone from hurting her. I don't even care to."
He smiled over at Yun-Hee who laughed and rolled onto her side, propping her head up to stare at Derrick. Her voice was thick with false admiration.
"Yeah, I really should learn from your example, Mr. Fenton. Don't leave loose ends behind."
* * *
Jaci was now in full panic mode as she scrambled back away from the bedroom door. Her wound was burning and she was shaking in fear. Those people wouldn't be held back by some door. She had to get out of here and do it fast.
There was a window next to the closet and she rushed to it, her trembling hands fumbling with the latch. It seemed to have not been opened in a very long time. It was sticking, and Jaci was growing more frustrated the more she pushed upwards with the window not giving an inch.
A soft presence rolled across her mind and Jaci felt something crawl through her arms like a burning sensation. She frowned and moved to the window once more, this time shoving it upwards with great ease. It creaked and she cringed, hoping the trio of death didn't hear her. She scrambled out the window and the same burning sensation spread down through her legs.
With the smoothness and ease of someone walking through mere fog, she ran through the deep snow in the direction she felt impressed on her mind. Hopefully it was the direction of the werewolf pack grounds. She knew Jungkook would be there.
"Jungkook! If you can hear me, help! Help!" she screamed in her mind.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she charged towards Blood River and to potential safety. She wouldn't be at ease until she was safe with Jungkook. That was the only need she was desperately feeling at that moment.
"Jaci? Is that you? Am I going crazy?"
Jaci's feet halted to a stop and her eyes darted back and forth. That was clearly Jungkook's voice inside of her head. She looked behind her and saw the house growing smaller in the distance. She took off running again, doing her best to focus on contacting Jungkook.
* * *
"Ah, my head," groaned Jungkook, dropping his head into his hands. A zip of electricity had shot through his head and as the pain cleared, he heard someone calling for him.
Looking around, he saw no one but he and Taehyung still standing in the clearing in front of Hoseok's house.
"Did you hear that?" he asked Taehyung.
"Hear what?" Taehyung eyed him curiously and waited for Jungkook to explain.
It took Jungkook only a moment to process the voice he was hearing in his head. "It's Jaci. She's in my head."
"It's the mate bond," mumbled Taehyung, his eyes widening at Jungkook's revelation.
"I don't care what it is right now," said Jungkook, eyes darting around the clearing. "She's in trouble. She's running. Hyung, I need to find her!"
"Jaci, I know it's you. I'm listening! Where are you?"
"I'm running from the cabin. Professor Fenton was there. Then two others. Jungkook, I'm scared!"
"I feel like you're getting closer. Keep running in the direction you're going. I'll come to you. Don't panic. I'll be there as fast as I can."
"Jungkook, I need you to help me. I feel different but I don't know what's going on. The big man that came with Professor Fenton said I smelled weird. Jungkook, I'm so scared."
"Jaci, calm down and keep running. I'm coming. Don't think about them. Just focus on my voice, okay? Yours is getting louder, so we must be getting closer to one another. Focus on me."
Jungkook felt a feral growl building up in his chest, and without so much as a look at Taehyung, he tore through his clothes and shifted.
* * *
Jaci felt a burst of energy as Jungkook continued to talk calmly to her, urging her to keep running. Every time she began to grow weary, his voice would come through and give her a burst of energy. She wasn't even questioning how they were telepathically communicating anymore. She just kept pushing her legs through the snow.
Several minutes passed and then she saw him. He was in wolf form, soaking wet from crossing the river. His chest and legs were caked with snow, but he didn't seem bothered by it. She wanted to cry with joy as she pushed forwards, feeling herself being drawn to him.
"Jungkook!" she shouted, nearly reaching him. But his eyes were flashing and his muzzle pulled back, baring his teeth. She realized he was looking behind her and she stopped and looked over her shoulder.
Dread washed over her like a flood as she found herself once more at the end of a werewolf's claws.