[JIMINIE]
"Jung Hyuk?" Jiminie asked.
It was almost a whisper, even as the disbelief clouded his face. This was not what he had expected, and it was something that had shocked him to the core. He had expected a lot today, but this was not it.
And yet as Jae Jun stood there, sitting at him like he needed to be at the top of things, Jiminie couldn't help but wonder what the hell had happened back there.
A plan should have been in place, but the enforcer standing there was the reminder that Jiminie needed to remember the ambush. Granted, the ambush had fucked the over just a little, but they had to focus.
"They were fighting because he led the attack and because he wanted to bear the King's mating mark," Jae Jun said defeatedly.
He knew what this meant for Jiminie. He knew how harsh this would be to the ears of the alpha they had all sworn fealty to, but there were just some things that they needed to come to terms with.
This wasn't easy for anyone too, because at the end of the day, they would have to live their lives off the scraps of what had been left by the endless battles they always found themselves in.
It wasn't fair, at least that much was obvious, but life and love had to be repurposed at this point. They had to think like the sun was the one place that they could be headed towards this time.
Perhaps there would come a time for them to have their regrets, but until that day came, they had to wait and see what the fuck would happen this time.
"They were what?" Jiminie asked, as he turned to look in the direction of Agust. He hadn't expected that this was a truth that he would someday be dealing with – and that too in Kiyoto. It made no sense, and at the same time, made so much sense.
Now he understood why the king had come back for him, why Agust had decided to show up regardless of what had happened. This was not just about submission or quelling the chaos, no.
This was about a man who had come to check on his Erasthai. A man who had been betrayed and had come to assess the damage before he went back to accord the right punishments for those who had dared to go against him.
This was about a man who would decide to stay here if that's what his Erasthai willed, or head back home and burn his people to the ground if that was all it would take for Jiminie to be at peace.
It seemed chaotic enough, but it wasn't even close to the chaos in the mad king's mind.
The Lycan King, Agust, had sworn to love Jiminie through hell and high water. He had sworn to protect his Erasthai, and now that the warriors had triggered him, the king knew that the time to play safe was over.
He knew that he had to stand with his Erasthai or against him. He had to pick a side, and whichever side he chose would determine the fate of two factions who had been at war for years on end, thanks to the mad king's obsession.
But would it come to an end this time?
"Go to him, alpha. Only you can get to him without getting hurt. Who knows, maybe he came here because of something else," Lee Tang added, and Jiminie sighed. This was not right; it wasn't what Jiminie had wanted.
For three days, he had tried not to think of Agust, and yet the man had filled his mind with sorts of ideas. He was out there unconscious like an outcast, and yet in Jiminie's mind, Agust was like a wandering spirit that needed a place to settle.
"If this is some sort of game for him, you will no longer be my enforcer or my Beta. Is that agreed?" Jiminie said, and Lee Tang looked at Jae Jun. They knew this was a risk with so many high stakes, but they also knew that Jiminie needed this.
He held his breath for so many days, and he had even refused to heal himself. It was as if Jiminie was punishing himself for not being ready for the ambush, and the only one who could get through to him was out there on the field dying slowly.
"Yes, alpha," Lee Tang said, and Jiminie groaned.
This wasn't what he had planned for, but they were right. He needed to have a chat with Agust. He needed to understand why the fuck he was truly here and why it was so easy for the man to ask for forgiveness.
His words still haunted the fuck out of Jiminie and it wasn't easy for Jiminie. The Alpha wanted to be cold toward his mate, but could he do that when he was a Lycan hybrid too? How could he try to fight the very thing he had given himself up for?
At the end of the day, he was supposed to have been better, and yet he had lost almost half his pack because he wasn't ready for the ambush. He had been busy thinking of the marks on his belly thanks to Jung Hyuk and Agust's sexcapades; what a pity.
That shit pissed Jiminie off and he contemplated going to Agust just to see how long this would last. But then Jae Jun was also right. If the king didn't go back to Helia after today, the Lycans would come for Kiyoto, and there was no telling what they would do.
"Go. We will wait for you," Jae Jun said, and Jiminie sighed.
"Alright," Jiminie caved in before he walked toward Agust. He could see the way his people or string at the body, and when they saw Jiminie, they stepped back to give the alpha space with his mate.
It was the only right thing to do, given they knew that was a complicated mate bond and there were very high chances that they would fight, and then there would be more collateral damage in there. They didn't have the time to lose any more of their people this time.
"What a nuisance," Jiminie groaned when he got to Agust. He could hear the slow heartbeats, and he could sense the pain that the mad king was in. Jiminie didn't understand why the man was in so much pain when he had the healing power of his magic.
Agust could easily have fixed himself, so why the fuck had he strutted into Kiyoto like this? One thing that Jiminie was certain of was that Agust didn't come here to seek pity from the alpha. He was better than the theatrics that could have been paraded for him.
Perhaps there truly was more to this.
Dejectedly, Jiminie used his Lycan magic and began to heal the king. It was the least he could do, though at the back of his mind, he was convincing himself that he was doing this because he wanted to talk to Agust.
Anyone who saw him handle the king with such grace could think that Jiminie didn't want to see his mate hurting anymore. But then the man would never admit it, even if it was the last thing he ever did.
"Xiao Xiao…come back. It's me… your kitten," Jiminie whispered, choking back a soft cry.