[JIMINIE]
"Looks like you're new to Ming Xiao Zhu, brother. Leave me be. I don't want to talk about anything," Jiminie insisted. He didn't want to change his mind about what could have been right or wrong.
Agust deserved to suffer for the pain he had caused the people of Kiyoto. It did not matter whether he had done it directly or not because no Lycan would have tried to attack a pack without the approval of their king.
That was all that mattered to him. He wanted nothing to do with the Lycan because he knew that this was never going to change. So many things had gone wrong for the both of them and if Jiminie caved, then he wouldn't stand a chance to fight anymore.
He had to be steadfast.
"But Jiminie—" Lee Tang tried.
"I'm tired, Tang-ah. I haven't rested for the past three days. My body aches and I need to rest. If you want to be nice to the devil out there, then sure you do it. I won't stop you. As for me, I'll go to bed and get some deserving rest.
"Let me know if anything changes out there that needs my attention. I don't want to hear shit about Ming Xiao Zhu," Jiminie said as he walked back to the pack house. He wasn't in the mood for this madness truly.
He had gone through enough with the Lycans and he refused to let himself be drowned in just because he was mated to the man with the most unhinged army of wildings. Maybe he was running away from Xiao Zhu.
Maybe he just didn't want to face the fact that he was worried sick about Agust. Maybe he was scared that the first show of care to the man who had made his life a living hell would make it even harder for Jim to move on.
When the attack happened, Jiminie had been in the mind links with Agust, so it was impossible that the man had led the attack against them. He knew that because even after the Lycans attacked, the king hadn't said a word about it.
He was too busy reminding Jiminie just how much he loved him. Maybe that was the perfect distraction for the werewolf alpha, but Jiminie knew better. He had seen Agust in action one too many times.
The man thrived in the spilling of blood and he did it with pride. The man did what he needed to do and whenever. He was a born maniac and no amount of saturation would ever be enough for him.
Jiminie understood that first hand and he hated that he understood the man so damn well.
"Jiminie…" warrior Jae Jun spoke as the alpha walked into the all house. The alpha could already tell that the man would be on the mad king's side, so he didn't need any more of that.
"Not now, Jae Jun," Jiminie sighed.
"We saw Jung Hyuk and Kim So Hee during the attack," Jae Jun said, and Jiminie snickered. He had seen the both of them too so this wasn't supposed to be pressing news for one of his best warriors to be here shoving it in his face.
"You don't understand, alpha… Jung Hyuk was fighting with Kim So Hee. If they were on the same side and if the king had given the order to eliminate Kiyoto, wouldn't they be on the same side then?
"Why did they risk everything to fight against each other when the war was between the Kiyoto wolves and the Helia Lycans?" Jae Jun asked in earnest, and that got Jiminie interested.
He hadn't thought that there would ever be a day the Lycans would fight each other and that too on enemy grounds. It would weaken them and yet the most powerful set of Lycans were at it with each other.
It didn't seem right and Jiminie was sensing the foul. Play already. Maybe Lee Tang was right from the very beginning. Maybe this attack happened without the permission of the Lycan king.
Maybe that was why Agust had come here. But even then, he had already lost almost half his pack to that same Lycans. His people would feel the emptiness soon enough and that wasn't something that Jiminie was even ready for.
It was one thing to expect the enmity between their factions, but it was another to just be ambushed when there was a ceasefire in motion. It just made no sense and Jiminie was pissed about it.
"Our people are dead, Jae Jun. Dead. As in never coming back. They were murdered in the safest place for them and we didn't even have the right preparation. Our families are sliced because of that faction—
"... so, excuse me if their politicking is not something that I'm interested in. We are going to fight back and if that dying bastard is our way out of this then we will get what we want," Jiminie said harshly, his voice getting louder and attracting more attention from the wolves who were still coming to terms with the chaos.
They could see just how angry their alpha was. They could see the determination in his face and frankly, it wasn't the easiest of things for them. The Kiyoto wolves knew of Agust's bond with Jiminy.
They knew their alpha was mated to the devil of Helia and they knew that the man was madly in love with the king. Mate bonds were always cruel but there was none that was harsher than this bond between Jiminie and Agust.
Even in the war, the people of Kiyoto felt terrible for their alpha. But then again, they knew that he was right. They knew that he was doing the right thing for them, but what about him?
What about his heart that was hurting?
Would the alpha keep hiding and running away from that which was seeking him out?
Was this what they had all been reduced to?
"My apologies, alpha. But I think you should talk to him. Only you can get the answers we need. If the Lycans are truly coming after us again. Then we at least need to have a plan. We need to know and be ready for them.
"We can't afford any more ambushes. We were relaxed and didn't think they would be attacking us anymore. We had peace for two years and clearly, that wasn't intended to be fucked over, if the king himself is here.
"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but you can end this. You can give us the direction to go. If we need to fight the Lycans then we will. If we need to prepare for a truce then we will.
"But whatever it is, we need to do it as soon as possible before the Lycans come seeking their king. Because they will. And if they don't, then Jung Hyuk will," Jae Jun said and Jiminie stared at his enforcer like the man had gone bonkers.
There was just no way that this was possible right? It wasn't right that even Jae Jun knew about Jung Hyuk's obsession. With the mad king. It just didn't seem right. But then he was right.
The man was obsessed with the mad king and if Jiminie didn't want the king then Jung Hyuk would come for him.
"Jung Hyuk?"
"They were fighting because he led the attack and because he wanted to bear the King's mating mark."