~
Yunho opened the door to his and his father's house that morning to a small letter on their doorstep. He feels chills throughout his body as he stares down at the letter before bending down and picking it up, taking it back inside. Yunho nibbles on his lip as he sits down at the kitchen table and tears open the letter.
We hereby call out Jeong Kangmin as an alpha of pack Essence to participate in a potential war that is brewing. We can only assume the aggressor to be Bloodbane, who is a great and powerful pack. Due to the prophecy we have received, we are calling upon all alphas and betas to begin preparing themselves for the worst. Tonight, there will be a gathering of all alphas and betas in the west building to discuss our plans moving forward. More information will be disclosed then.
Thank you, my beloved packmates of Essence
Yunho feels his heart drop into his stomach as he reads what the letter has to say. He knows that the head alpha knows about his father's illness, so why is he still getting one of these letters? He can't possibly fight. Sometimes he can hardly get up on his own without Yunho's help.
"Are you okay, Yunho?"
Yunho lifts his head up at his father's voice, not realizing he had tears running down his cheeks. Yunho nods, wiping his face to make to seem like he wasn't clearly just crying, "Yes, yes, father. I'm okay," Yunho closes the letter and shoves it in his pocket as he stands up and goes over to him, "Are you okay? How are you feeling today?" Yunho gives him a hopeful smile since he's walking on his own today.
"I feel good today, Yun. Look at me, I'm all up and about," Kangmin says, but his speech is interrupted by intense coughing as he hunches over, grabbing hold of his stomach.
Yunho wraps his arm around his father and keeps him grounded and held up, "I see you, you're doing so well," He assures him, keeping a bright smile on his face even though he knows the worst possible thing that could happen is sitting right in his pocket.
Kangmin stops coughing and brings himself back up with the help of his son, "I just wanted to come and sit by the window so I can look out at the grounds..." He explains, slowly walking over to the soft chair they have placed in front of the window. Yunho's father has always liked seeing the members of Essence out and about doing their everyday activities, it makes him happy to see all of their happy faces since he's not able to get out of the house anymore.
Yunho helps his father sit down in the chair and he gets his blanket for him and lays it across his lap, "Lots of people are out today," Yunho says as he looks out the window, seeing a few people running around to the different homes. Of course, Yunho knows what's happening. Everyone is a bit frantic about all of the alphas and betas having to get prepared for war and patrolling.
Yunho hums to himself for a few moments, working up the courage to speak, "I'll be gone for a little while this evening, will that be okay, father? I'll have Kyelin come by and check on you."
Kangmin chuckles, "Finally my son is getting out of the house," He says proudly, "You don't have to worry, with Kyelin here, I'll be just fine. Have you met someone?" He looks up at Yunho with a smirk on his pale face, having always wanted his son to find someone since he insisted he and Kyelin weren't going to be a thing.
Yunho feels the tips of his ears turning red at the mention of him and a possible suitor and Yunho quickly shakes his head, "No, nothing like that," He laughs awkwardly, "I'm just going to meet with some friends..." He says, but he knows his lying voice isn't the greatest.
"Ahhh, so that's what they call it these days," Kangmin smiles, turning his head to look back out the window as he lays back in the chair, "Go have fun, Yun. I hate that you feel like you have to keep yourself all cooped up in this house because of me."
Yunho's heart aches at his father's words. It's true. Yunho hasn't spent much time outside of his house ever since his father got sick a few years back and it's caused him to not have much interaction with the world aside from within his pack. Even with his pack, he's kept to himself and everyone has left him alone for the most part. Everyone in the pack knows about his father's illness and how hard Yunho has worked to try and make something to help him.
"I like being with you, father," Yunho kisses the top of his father's head and smiles, "But I know you like Kyelin more," he laughs teasingly.
Kangmin chuckles more, causing him to have a coughing fit, "She's like the daughter I never had, Yun!"
Yunho hums and pats his father's shoulder, "I'll be home later tonight, but hopefully you'll be in bed by then, so I'll see you in the morning. I love you."
"I love you, son."
Yunho turns his back and clenches his fist as the hurt and pain overtakes his chest while he walks back to his bedroom. This evening, he's going to do everything in his power to beg the pack leader to send him instead of his father. He knows Essence will need all of the fighting power they can get, so he will go in his place.
Later that evening, Yunho heads out of his house when Kyelin gets there to look after his father. Yunho didn't tell Kyelin the whole truth of why he had to have her look after him, but she didn't press him. Kyelin had the same suspicions as his father did, and god is he wishing they were both right at this point.
He steps into the building they were told to meet in the letter and all of the heads turn toward him, sensing an omega in the room. Yunho bows his head at them all and boy is it an awkwardly silent walk to the front of the room past all of these alphas and omegas to get to the pack leader.
"Jeong Yunho, what are you doing here?" The pack leader asks as soon as he steps foot in front of him.
"I'm coming in place of my father. You know he is sick and won't be able to fight in this war, so why was a letter sent to him?" He asks, already knowing the answer.
"We need everyone we can, Jeong. He doesn't have to be on the frontlines, but we need him here."
Yunho shakes his head, taking a deep breath to keep his tears at bay before he speaks, "I can go in place of him. I know I'm an omega, but I'll be able to fight."
The pack leader sighs, thinking a moment, cursing under his breath, "I suppose in his state currently, you would be potentially stronger than him, hmm?" He looks at the other alphas and betas around the room and back at Yunho, "Does Kangmin know about this, boy?"
Yunho hesitates, knowing he didn't tell anything about this to his father, so he slowly shakes his head.
The pack leader is about to begin again, but Yunho speaks up, "Please," he begs, "Please let me go instead of him, Sir. I won't let you down," Yunho says, his last sentence with as much confidence as he can muster.
"You better not."
~
The Park family finally arrive at Bloodbane. They arrive to all of the alphas and betas gathered in the entrance of the grounds.
Are they too late?
Seonghwa is standing with an arm around Areum to keep her standing, she looks absolutely exhausted from all of that intense running they just did. Her head is pressed against her brother's chest, closing her eyes to try and rest even just a little bit.
Park Gyungho steps up and walks up to Bloodbane's head alpha, Song Minseok, who is at the center of the pack, "Minseok, what is going on here?" He asks, not bothering with formalities at a time like this.
"There's nothing you can do, Gyungho. We've prepared for this and in a few minutes we're setting off to make our attack. There is no stopping us. We will get rid of those magic users," Minseok says powerfully.
"Yes, magic was the cause of the last war, but there is no sign of magic at Essence. We were just there. Why would you cause another war over this? You know that it isn't worth it, don't you, Minseok?" Gyungho's voice gets deeper the angrier he gets at this situation.
"It's absolutely worth it if it means finally getting rid of magic. We all agreed that it should be forbidden a long time ago," He glared at Seonghwa's father, "Now, I would advise you and your family to go back to Chrysalis so we can handle this. We're not bringing it to any other pack. It's going to be either us or them, and it's not going to be us. There will be no more Essence after this."
Gyungho understands that he's not going to get through to him and his wife Hyejin gently places her hand onto Gyungho's shoulder, hoping to calm him down.
"Come on, my love..." Hyejin whispers to him, "The children are exhausted and you know once Minseok's mind is made up there's no changing it."
Gyungho closes his eyes to ease the rage fuming inside of him, wanting to continue setting a good example for his children. He's not raised them to go off on someone no matter the situation. Chrysalis is a pack of peace and he's going to keep it that way no matter what.
Dohyon looks back at Seonghwa and Areum and goes to them, trying to help Seonghwa hold up their sister, "She's really tired, huh?"
Seonghwa nods with a worried look on his face, "She's ill."
"Let's get her some rest. You want to lay down, Areum?" Dohyon asks her in a soft voice, "Come on, I know Seonghwa got you some medicine while we were in Essence. That should make you feel better," He says, keeping a smile on his face as he and Seonghwa bring her into the home they usually stay in when they're in Bloodbane.
They won't be able to head back to Chrysalis with Areum like this.
~
Mingi sprints at the head of his pack, having been assigned to lead a part of the pack to perform the sneak attack on Essence through the woods just before their grounds. Once they get a mile or so away from the forest, they slow their pace as to keep their footsteps quieter. They need this attack to work.
Yunho is trailing somewhat behind in the pack he was assigned to, being told to just follow in the middle of the pack so he's not at the forefront, but also not at the back to potentially be left behind. The further they creep into the forest by their grounds, the more Yunho becomes on-edge. Something is eating at him and it's not just his father's intense worry and fear when he had to tell him he was going to be in one of the defense packs to patrol the outer forests of Essence. They started this patrol yesterday morning and will continue until either the prophecy comes true, or they get another one that calls them back.
The pack Yunho was put with are all good friends with one another, so they're easy to make conversation with when he's not feeling so uneasy.
The wolf walking next to Yunho nudges into him, causing Yunho to flinch, "Hey, kid. Are you doing alright? You're especially jumpy today."
Yunho hums, keeping his head lowered as they continue walking, "I just feel off... I don't know what it is. Something might be wrong, but I can't say for sure."
Yunho's packmate nods, assuring him that they will stay on high alert during this patrol.
A faint scent of rosemary begins to enter Yunho's nostrils and his wolf, for some reason, becomes more at ease and he doesn't feel the same bad feeling he was feeling before. Maybe things will be alright today after all... But what is this scent...?
The longer they continue patrol, the stronger the rosemary scent is becoming to Yunho and his wolf is getting more and more drawn to it, wanting for Yunho to go to wherever this wonderful smell is coming from.
"Do any of you smell that?" Yunho asks finally, the scent quickly becoming all he's able to concentrate on and he's wondering if his packmates are feeling similarly to him.
"What smell?"
"I don't smell anything, man."
Yunho keeps his head up for once and can't help but look around in search for the distinct rosemary scent within the forest. They really can't smell this? Is it a trap? Yunho's mind is flooded by thoughts and the overwhelming smell, it's almost intoxicating to him.
Yunho finds himself wandering off slightly to the left where it's coming from, and his heart drops when he hears a branch break further in the trees where the scent is originating from.
Something is wrong.
End of Chapter Eleven