Collision

Chapter 118

Namjoon swung his head away from his daughter, who was wriggling and writhing Emitting little noises from her wolven throat and trying to wag her tail, but Seokjin just kept grooming her despite her protests.

"After the explosion, I realized that I had to get everyone out," Namjoon starts quietly, garnering the attention of everyone. "Jin made a run for it with Dal, and I tried to do a body count, but most of the traditional pack were in their dens in the rock face." He paused. "They died. Almost all of them. Either by the rocks, the fire, or caged in their dens. They are dead."

Yoongi figured that. From his hazy memories, he remembers the sound of the rocks crumbling. The sight of the Head Alpha pinned beneath some of them, and his Omega mate not far behind.

Jeongguk looks away.

"Those that weren't in the dens, just dropped dead. Probably from their mates being killed, or being shot since humans came from the forest. They had this entire thing planned. The fires, the guns, the dynamite. It was a true hunt, like the kind from the past when the animals got to be too overly populated," Namjoon admits quietly, but the anger was hidden within his tone.

"Hyungsoo?" Yoongi snarls, ears pinning back, and teeth bared at the mention of the sheriff.

Namjoon hesitates, the pain in his good eye shining. "Yes. He was the leader. He commissioned it, I am assuming. From the directors board of Daegu."

That makes sense. A hunt at this size and the amount of people would warrant the need for permission to cleanse the mountain. It's rare, but not uncommon. Australia is known for burning their forests as a protection method against fires and whatnot.

It was a similar principle.

"Is Hyungsoo dead?"

Namjoon looks away. "He's dead. I killed him myself."

Yoongi's breath caught in his throat. "Joon-ah..."

Shaking his head, Namjoon met Yoongi's gaze. "It was my right to kill him. I wanted to. He had not only put my pack in danger, but my very race. There was endless slaughter and blood for no reason. He nearly killed my mate, my best friend. He nearly hurt my daughter." The anger returned, red hot and surging as he snarls low. "I am Head Alpha to this pack, and it is my duty to protect what is mine, and this is MINE."

"Joonie," Seokjin whispers, head jerking up and whining low in his throat. Namjoon flinches as Seokjin rubs his nose carefully over his ear in a soothing motion. "It's okay. It's alright. Breath. He can't hurt you anymore."

"How did it happen?" Yoongi asks after a collective moment of silence.

"Hoseok had just- he had just managed to get you away from the humans. Jeongguk was- well, he was in shock after he had killed the Lead Beta and had remained hidden in one of the last remaining caves, but Jimin got to him in time. We managed to get away from the fray as the humans were finishing killing off the traditional pack," Namjoon explained, shifting his weight and licking Dal when she whined too loudly. "It was a bloodbath, but we had made it to the forest. We were trying to go downwind, find the creek, and escape down the mountain before the fires got too big and there would be no way out."

Namjoon's breath caught as he recalled the feeling of seeing Yoongi limp over Hoseok's red fur. The crimson that stained the back of his head from where he had hit the back of a tree. It was Alpha's worst nightmare, he found out, of not knowing if your pack was going to survive.

When everyone had made it into the forest, all in one piece or at least breathing, Namjoon felt as if everything had loosened inside of him. A coil that he hadn't realized had tightened in the first place.