JUNGKOOK POV
My heart almost cracked in
half when the kid asked his father if he still loved him.
It was the cry of all children
who thought something was wrong with them or different.
They were simply worried
about losing their parents
love.
If they had that then every
thing else would be okay.
"Wolves are the fastest and
the strongest but I bet you are starving to death." I offered, feeling the little one's hunger from across the room.
And also feeling other things
for the man who was his father but that part I wouldn't divulge...yet.
He'd been married to a
woman and so when my wolf perked up at his presence, I
tried to let him down easy.
Nearly impossible.
He was growling and snarling and preening inside me, ready
to take his mate out and
claim him on the spot.
No waiting for the Omega
Moon, no special ceremony
but the joining of two beings who'd been apart their whole
life and were desperate to connect.
The only way I was going to
gain any ground in this battle was to put space between us.
So when Joon ordered me to take Dalsu to Luther so he and his team could see that the
lost child was found in one
piece, I jumped on it.
"I'll go via the kitchen to get
him a sandwich along the way."
"And I'll ask them to send his dad a tray in here." Because I might be leaving the room but my wolf was very concerned about the cub's hunger, of
course but also his mate's.
He is not your mate!
Mate. Mine. Feed.
There was no arguing with him but I did have to face a very protective daddy whose arms were tight around his child.
Under most circumstances,
I'd have suggested he come along but he wasn't in any
shape to go tramping through the woods.
Judging by the boot on his foot he hadn't been to start with.
But I got the protective thing.
My wolf and I were very much concerned about the welfare
of this little wolf who'd had
no inkling such a thing could happen to him.
"Dalsu, Joon wants us to go
show the policemen and everyone that you're okay."
His father, Jimin, Jin had
called him tightened his
grip on his son.
"He's not going anywhere without me."
Yeah, I expected him to say
that.
And I somehow after knowing them for only a few hours,
felt the same.
"You need to rest up."
"I'm going to feed Dalsu and then let the search party get eyes on him and then we'll
be back."
"You haven't fed him?" Jimin
was struggling to get up while still keeping a grip on Dalsu.
"I need to take him home."
"Come on, Son."
"He's hungry again."
I gave him a little push,
flattened my palm on his
chest but it took no more than that to sit him back down.
"Look, we need to deal with
the search party, Dalsu needs
a sandwich, you need a sand-wich and we all need to ask
You to hang around for a bit while we get this figured out."
"You have a concussion, you know and unless you have a roommate willing to watch
you overnight, we're the
best option."
"It's all better, I'm all better."
"Sure." Anyone could tell
that from his ghostly pallor.
"But what if you're not?"
"Isn't it better to stay here with people who understand your son's situation while you
rest a bit longer?"
He panted, struggling to get
up.
I wasn't even pressing into
his chest.
Just not moving my hand
away.
"Can't we just call the
searchers, maybe send a
picture from a phone?"
"We could but Joon thinks it
best that we show them in person he's okay."
"They will all be more comfortable that way."
"And after they worked so
hard to find him, don't they deserve that much?"
"Luther is a member of our
pack but he's also on the
human police force, so he
can make sure things are smoothed over there."
"Why do they need to be smoothed over?"
Panic colored his tones.
My mate not my mate
needed to take a chill pill.
Although I'd gladly maul
whoever had been in charge
of that field trip as a reminder
to be more careful in the future.
"I'll hurry Joon."
"Don't forget we have our
guests arriving soon." I said, trying to remember how soon that was.
We'd discussed Luther's
findings and he was less
worried than I was about the whole thing, which gave me some comfort.
I still wasn't ready to relax
about it, especially with a
human on pack lands.
Even Joon's human grandmother-in-law, if that
was a thing, took vacation
during the Omega Moon and
now we had a human here
who didn't know our ways.
A human I needed to protect.
"Are you questioning me,
beta?" He smiled but it
wasn't a nice smile.
"Of course not."
Because I'm not that stupid.
"Joon, his clothes are out
there somewhere."
"I'll have someone get them."
"You just do what you were
told." Alpha tones even Jimin shut up long enough for me
to take Dalsu's hand and
lead him to the kitchen.
I asked for a sandwich for the road for Dalsu and one for me because I hadn't eaten in a
long time.
"And can you please send a
tray to Joon's office for this young man's father?"
The cook on duty paused with
his head in the refrigerator.
"Nothing for the alpha?"
Or the healer or? I had no idea.
"Maybe make a platter of sandwiches and some chips
or something? Drinks?"
"Good idea."
"We have a lot going on later
but the alpha is never at his
best when he's hungry."
The cook slapped together two thick ham-and-cheese on ryes and wrapped them in paper towels.
"And what is this young
wolf's name?"
"I'm Dalsu." He tipped his
face up to me.
"Have you always known
you were a wolf?"
At least I knew the topic we'd discuss while we searched
out the searchers.
Munching on our snack, we followed the sounds through
the forest and I tried to
answer the questions he
calmly asked me.
This kid was amazing.
His life had just tipped upside down and first shifts were not easy and not without pain.
Yet he never complained.
Never seemed scared.
Never asked if the other
wolves would accept him.
His only concern was his dad.
"So Dad isn't a wolf like me?"
"No, It appears he isn't."
I stopped and listened then
made a slight course correction.
"Then how am I a wolf?"
"Oh wait, someone said Mom was?" He took a big bite and tramped on at my side.
"We think so, yes."
"Then it must not take two
wolf genes to make a wolf."
"You'd think there'd be a lot more around in that case."
He went silent and I didn't
say anything.
His brow furrowed, indicating deep thinking.
"Hey, maybe there are."
"Do you think there are a lot
of wolves who don't know
it yet?"
"Maybe someone in my
class?"
He grinned so broadly, I didn't want to disabuse him of the notion that he wasn't alone.
Wolves rarely mated with humans and if they did, the
kids were probably not wolves.
"I guess we don't know."
"But for now, anything wolfen
is pack business, okay?"
"We only talk about it among ourselves."
"Makes sense." He nodded, peeling the paper towel back
for a bigger bite of sandwich.
"I never knew about wolves,
so probably lots of people
don't."
His wisdom overwhelmed me.
What a shame his dad was human and probably didn't
like my type anyway in a romantic way.
He likes us a lot.
He's ours.
They are both ours.
Keep thinking that.