A Tale of Vampires: RETURN

ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ 17

"Tell me… How did you react when you learned that Niki likes that mortal guy…" 

"I can't remember anymore. Niki didn't really like him in a romantic way at first. Sunoo was his only way out of the sanctuary and he just fell in love eventually. Because of the mark." Heeseung explains.

"Then is it different from us?"

"You mean for wolves?"

"Yeah. Is it different from us?" 

Heeseung looked at him a bit baffled. He was taken aback at how K really wanted to know about the mark thing.

For someone so full of authority and power as him. It's actually adoring that he doesn't know it.

"Are we seriously gonna talk about that here?"

"Come on. I won our bet didn't I? You owe me!" The alpha whines and Heeseung let out a laugh.

"Okay fine! But let's at least talk about it in private! We're done here anyway so let's just ask everyone to leave. You and I can stay here to watch." He said and K suddenly made a 'yes' before he stood up and went to his pack first.

Heeseung sighed and followed him down.

They sent everyone back first and made sure that they're all gone before they continued their conversation.

"Marks are somehow similar and yet slightly different for us."

"It means for us to be bound to the other person once we mark them and a bond forms in between."

"In the vampires' perspectives, when we thirst for blood. Nothing ever satisfies us unless we drink from our mate. It also allows us to heal faster than usual."

"But from the wolves' perspectives… you guys have ruts and heats. If I'm not mistaken, I think that's where the mark usually happens in the middle of mating."

"W-w-wait!!! Mating!? How do you even know about that??!" K exclaimed with a hilariously frantic expression.

"When we first met! I hated you so bad that I wanted to know every little detail to mock you. But in the end all the information is amusing to me. Now, do you still want me to continue your 'love 101 lesson?" Heeseung said playfully and he swore he would've laughed at the alpha's face because he really looks like a total fool when it comes to the topic.

"Mark helps both sides to heal quickly. And like us, it draws you closer to your mate and when it comes to either heats or ruts. Nothing will ever satisfy you either unless it's your mate."

"And in your case. If you mark Ej, you have the ability to heal him within an hour. Because that's how powerful you are."

"But how do I exactly do that? He'll find out! Won't he be weirded out? He keeps asking me why I still have no mates and we have known each other since we were both born. He always knows how to make me admit. What if he finds out that—"

"You're such a coward K. Shouldn't you know better how he'd feel if you continued to lie on his face. How long do you think he'll believe that you're looking for a mate when you already found him?"

"It's not that easy Heeseung. Ej said he wanted to go to Arcadia… The only reason that he can't leave is because of me. Even if I wanted him to go, he didn't wanna leave me nor the pack as part of his duty…"

"But aren't you their leader? You can go if you want to go."

"Yes. So long as I have an heir to leave here in my territory. But I don't! Hell! I don't even date anyone because I'm too busy adoring him like a fool!" 

The two went quiet after that…

Heeseung understands how much it all is for K. He is the leader after all and he must be the best in front of their eyes. 

"If I tell Ej that he's all I wanted, what if he doesn't feel the same way… He might respond positively but what if it's simply just because I am his leader? He might feel that he must accept me just because I hold a higher position than him?" 

"I'm sure he's not like that. You're just being paranoid. You wouldn't really know unless you tell him!"

"And if it goes South? It could affect our relationship."

"It could. But is he not worth the risk?"

"How's he doing?" Sunghoon asked the sooner Jake walked out of Jungwon's room.

"He's out of the trance now. Although he wants to stay alone. He said he's still thirsty." Jake says and beckons everyone to leave with him.

They decided to go to the wine bar which mostly had bottles of white and red wine. Or blood.

"I hope he won't feel distant from us again because of this. He'd never meant to hurt Ej." Ningning sighs as she flops her head on the bar island.

"I hope Ej's okay. He's already injured because of the gunshots."

"He's K's first official! He won't go down that easily." Jay assures them and decides to pick a glass of white wine to serve to Karina and Winter.

"How about you? Are you okay now?" Ningning asks and turns to Winter.

She was really flustered earlier after seeing Jungwon. She just tried to hide it but it still shows.

"Mm. Jungwon was really scary earlier. But it's understandable. I'm human after all." She said and took a sip from her glass of wine.

"I'm really sorry I left you there. I should've just stayed with you." Jake sighs and stands behind the girl. He wrapped his arms gently around her waist and pressed his chin on her shoulder. He swayed her a bit as a gesture of comfort.

"I'm okay. We actually owe Ej. He was protecting me from Jungwon." She says while caressing his arms.

"He really needs to see his mate. His bloodthirst will get worse because he feels like it's been months since they last saw each other. The time works differently in Arcadia so that must be what's triggering him. They can't be there for each other at all." Jay said and took another bottle. This time, blood to pour on the vampire's glasses.

"Heeseung agreed to take him back to your magic friends. He mentioned that they'll try to get in contact with his mate after the fight. We just didn't expect it would turn out like this." Karina explains with a sigh and decides to pull more wine for herself. She thinks Heeseung will feel bad about what happened and worry about many things again.

"Heeseung hyung will figure something out. He always does." Niki says as he pouts.

He then stood up and decided to accompany Jungwon. And maybe share some tips to him since he had been in the same spot before, way before they went back to earth from Arcadia.

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