Hani was stirred awake gently by Jungkook. Tenderly, he caressed her hair as she mumbled against the make-shift pillow. Eventually, after a lot of complaining, she opened her eyes and turned her head around to look at him. The Alpha was smiling lovingly at her and when her eyes met his, he mouthed a small "good morning" to her, wanting her to have one of those lazy, sweet mornings that she loved so much. Her hand reached out and clutched his sweatshirt, pulling on it so that Jungkook could lay down next to her. His hand grabbed hers that was holding onto him and he delicately guided it to his lips, where he left a small kiss.
"You can stay if you want but I need to go around the area so that I can look for another entrance" His voice was low and silky; he whispered the words gently to her. "I, also, need to prepare some sort of trap. You said you wanted to help but if you are that tired, then stay baby"
Amusedly, Jungkook laughed at the glance his mate threw at him. She mouthed a small "fine", her eyebrows scrunching in annoyance and quickly, she sat up in the bed, gripping onto the sheets that were covering her naked body.
"I can't be in bed rest every time we have sex, anyways"
She grumbled and, skillfully, went over Jungkook that was sitting on the bed. Hani dragged the sheets with her as she navigated through the cabin with Jungkook's eyes never leaving her figure.
"I wouldn't mind. What's best for you is the best for me"
Jungkook replied, half smiling half laughing as he got up from the bed, as well. Although it was already late in the morning, there was still hints of frost in the grass. The sky had gotten grayer and lesser birds came to greet them in the beginning of the day. Instead, as Hani and Jungkook did their usual tasks, the birds left that place, moving to other homes. Winter was harsh, on these parts – Jungkook assumed. They would be more comfortable back at the pack, where winter was kinder to them.
Taking The Alpha by surprise, a white sheet came flying towards him, landing perfectly on the top of his head. Hani's giggles echoed around the cabin, causing him to roll his eyes playfully. He stood still, the sheet covering his body until his knees, and, soon, he felt Hani's hands holding his face. She grabbed his arms and raised them, tauntingly and childishly moving them like a monster in a movie would do. She laughed as she tried to say "boo", pretending Jungkook was some sort of ghost that was haunting the cabin. Swiftly, Jungkook pulled the sheet down and kissed his mate harshly. The girl smiled against the kiss, amused at her flirty mate. Winter was cold and harsh, but with those two around, the coldness was warm and the weather softened for them; bringing the birds back and their singing to create the soundtrack of their adventures.
"We... have... to... go" Hani giggled, in the midst of the repetitive fast and sweet kisses Jungkook was leaving on her lips. "Or ... we won't... get anything done"
Their morning started like that; the way we all wished our mornings would begin – sweet and loving. After that, the duo decided to first check around the cave, since the last time that they had been there, they were running away from it, scared of getting drowned. Climbing the rock-like- stairs, Hani and Jungkook found themselves once more face to face with the engravings on the wall. The story of the pack that once had lived there, the story of the first True Alpha that, somehow, ended with two wolves that resembled like them. When their eyes landed on it, they both stopped. Confusion still swirled in their minds concerning what place they took in all that story. A new generation of True Alphas? Then, how did they know about them. Hani wondered, if her mother had been the one to draw that white wolf on the wall. If she knew her daughter would look like that too, some day.
Jungkook shared the same confusion, the same uncertainty as his mate. He had told her before that those engravings only meant one thing: that they were destined to be together. Yet, he wondered how did they know about them, so many years before they actually met. And if this role was much more than them? Would he want to fulfill it, will he be forced to do it? Nothing mattered to him besides her. He had let go of power, of vengeance, of roles besides the one in which he was her mate and she was is. Whatever those engravings had to offer to him, The Alpha wasn't interested.
The boulder was still there, preventing the water from flowing inside as Jungkook had done. Signaling Hani to step back, Jungkook went for the boulder, however, something caught his attention. The boulder was loose as if someone had moved it out of place. Scrunching his eyebrows in confusion, he pulled the boulder to the side, unblocking the entrance to that place. There was no water on the other side. The Alpha gazed at Hani who was just as confused as him. He reached out his hand for her to take and lead them inside. They walked through the tunnels of the cave until they reached that familiar division. The room where the first True Alpha had been born. They analyzed the place; the rain had ruined the hay nest; the toys were all piled up against the wall. The blood had been washed away. As if nothing had ever died there.
"They probably entered through, here"
Jungkook said, noticing the opening in the ceiling. Hani looked up and all that she could see was the sky, like the first time that she had been there.
"You think so? How did they climb back up?" Hani asked him. "Do you think that this will even lead to some place? That it isn't just a random opening?"
"There's one entrance. The one we used. And it's hidden in the middle of the forest, by that green wall of vegetation and the enter whined branches. Back at where we are at, the cave ceases to have a ceiling but the walls are too tall for someone to climb back up. The boulder was moved, this has to be it" Hani nodded her head at him, agreeing that this was the most rational explanation. "As to how they climbed back up, well" Jungkook said, reaching his arm out to touch the opening. "It's not that tall, plus, they could have brought something with them to climb on"
"Okay, now what?"
"We should check what's outside right?" Jungkook scanned the room. "C'mon I'll hold you up and you peek"
"I don't know if this is a good id-"
A shriek left Hani's lips cutting her voice mid-sentence. Jungkook giggled as he wrapped his arms around her waist lifting her up. Carefully, he walked until he was right under the opening on the ceiling.
"C'mon baby just tell me what you see"
Rolling her eyes, Hani peeked her head through the hole to see where it would lead to. At first, it looked like just another part of the woods, with its dry vegetation and colorless scenery, then, something intrigued her. Not too far from her was a brown structure that stood out. Hani squinted her eyes as she raised her head to take a good look at the thing. It was a cabin. A small cabin. A boring cabin of a boring brown color, with no flowers or decoration, engulfed in the vegetation as if it was part of it. Under her, The Alpha was getting impatient. He was about to ask her what was she seeing until he felt Hani's hands tapping him on his head frenetically. Quickly, he put her down and when their eyes met, Hani's were open wide.
"We need to cover this hole, right now"
Hani said, her voice panicking and breathless. Jungkook threw her a confused look.
"What did you see, Hani?"
"Just f*cking close that, Jungkook!"
She screamed at him, shocking the Alpha that had never seen her reacting like that. Frenetically, he glanced around the room before he found a huge rock that would fit through the hole. He used the big wooden horse as leverage and he slid the boulder through the hole in a vertical position. Then, he carefully positioned it so that it would cover the opening. Hani was against the wall, her hands shakingly covering her face. Jungkook went towards her, and putting his hands on top of hers, he pulled them down so that he could look at her in the eyes.
"Baby, just tell me what you saw"
Hani's eyes were teary, worriedness grew in Jungkook's heart. She took a deep shaky breath and grabbed his arms for some sort of support.
"When I looked I saw a cabin and I just... wanted to take a good look at it and, all of a sudden, this" Hani stopped for a bit, her heart beating furiously in her chest. "This person showed up and they were dragging a body towards that cabin."
"What did they look like?" Jungkook asked panicking, his eyes wide open and shaky. "Hani, what did they look like?"
"I-I couldn't see them properly, they had a black sheet that covered their whole body" The girl's voice was quivering, still replaying what she had seen in her mind. "But they smiled when their eyes locked with mine."
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾
Arne walked into the dimly lit underground room that he was already, and unfortunately, familiar with. The steps that lead to that place were small and squished together, like the walls that seemed to be trapping him as he reached further down. Every time his foot weighted on them, a creaking sound would echo, disrupting the eerie silence. It was dark, utterly dark in that place. The darker it got as he walked further down those stairs.
I think we all had heard that one line: that once you face the thing you fear, it gets easier to live with it as the fear diminishes the more you interact with it. In some cases, perhaps, it was true. Yet, for Arne, that awful place to where he was walking to would never cease to freeze him to the bones. He had been there many times, as a visitor, a passing breeze. It was enough to terrify him. His mind didn't have enough imagination to even slightly picture what would it be like to be taken to that room as a "meal".
The sound of chewing, munching, crunching, gobbling. It was ringing on his ears, blocking all of his senses, weakening all of his strengths. For what it felt like an eternity, Arne was immobile on the stairs just dwelling on the sounds that came from the room at the end of the stairs. Sounds, that once you knew where they came from, would haunt you for as long you live.
With wobbly legs, he walked down the last few pair of steps. Arne closed his eyes, took a deep breath and swallowed the puke that was crawling up his throat. Preparing the best that he could for that sight that was soon to poison his view, Arne hoped he hadn't come at the "worse time". By now, the scent of blood and rotten flesh clouded the room like a fog one gets lost in.
He turned around and opened the heavy steel door. The metal scratched against the floor as he pushed it wide open, disturbing and annoying the Alpha that was inside. The scene in front of him was one that Arne had seen multiple times but never failed to shock him. At the farthest wall from him, four different males were in chains. Ranging from different sizes, different features and body shapes – the only thing in common was the power that swirled in their blood. Crunching down, in front of them, was the Alpha; his back facing the door.
"Sorry to interrupt, Alpha" Arne said with his shaky voice. Only a fool would disrupt the Alpha at a time like this. "I know you're busy but... I have news"
Sighing in annoyance, the Alpha got up, his eyes never leaving the four males. They shook immensely as if they had been hit by thunder. Their eyes were watery and red, splashes of blood painted their bodies. The Alpha turned around to face Arne. His face had a big stain of blood that covered the side of his face where the scar was at. With a nod of his head, Arne rapidly went for the white cloth that was placed on top of the table against the wall. He gave it to the Alpha and he watched, silently, as the Alpha cleaned the blood of his face.
"What is it, Arne?" The Alpha asked, slopping down on the chair as he stared at the cloth. "Is it about our friend?"
"They saw him, Alpha. Him and the girl"
"At that forest?"
"Yeah, exactly, Alpha" Arne then added on. "The pet saw him as he ... uh... hunted"
At the mention of the said "pet", the Alpha smirked, licking the smears of blood that still lingered on his palm. That specific character seemed to lighten up his mood. He leaned forward on the chair as he took a wooden wolf from his pocket.
"Did he pay them a visit?" The Alpha asked lifting up the wooden wolf for Arne to see. "Does he want to play with them?"
"He said..." Arne started by retelling the conversation he had had with that weird character. "He said he found her interesting"
"Tell him, that he will get to play with her if he behaves"
The Alpha had a terrifying smile on his face. A smile? A grimace? He was amused at his own thoughts. At the images his mind was constructing to feed his most inner and twisted desires.
"Play with her? Alpha, wasn't she meant t-"
"I know, I know, I know" The Alpha got up from the chair irritated, rolling his eyes at his stubborn beta. "I'll let him play with her until she's broken. Until she doesn't have any more strength in her to refuse what she is truly meant to do."
Arne looked at his Alpha confused. The Alpha slammed the wooden wolf on the table and marched rapidly and aggressively towards the shaky beta. The boy backed away in fear until his back was against the wall. Swiftly, the Alpha's hands squeezed his neck playfully, a sinister smile in his face.
"She is meant to kill him."
"Why don't you do it yourself?"
"I'll make him relive his worst nightmare all over again. But this time" The Alpha squeezed Arne's neck even harder, his eyes, for seconds, replacing the image with the one he longed for to have under his grasp. "This time, sweet Arne. He won't be able to wake up. And our little friend will be forever, for all time, trapped in that sweet little nightmare. Where he watches everything vanish, everything that he loves leaves him. Where I rip away from his hands the thing, he cherishes the most. And all he can do is stand and watch like the little weakling he will always be. Because you see, the power he has is not his and he has angered something much bigger than him. Something he cannot stop or run away from... not anymore"
The Alpha's eyes grew bigger as he spoke; the grip on Arne's neck became tighter. The words he pronounced, the tone of absolute madness and rage in his voice, the blood thirsty lips that moved – it made the whole room, if not the whole universe, cower in fear. The Alpha laughed dryly and licked his lips in glee, already imagining the taste of revenge in his tongue.
"He cannot escape his destiny. For I, am the one he would always run back to, the one he would always come back crawling to, the one he would always desire to have in his hands. I am Death and not even that boy the moon goddess protects is immune to me"