TWM | MW [✔]

03.

It was the third break in the boundary in less than a month. There'd been no denying the problem they faced after Yugyeom, but Mingyu thought they'd at least bought themselves some time with the reinforcement Hyunseob had put in place after the last full moon. The two-foot gap said it hadn't secured them as much time as they'd hoped. And the traces of magic nearby said someone or something had already taken notice.

Wonwoo lagged behind as they made their way to the center of the pack. Mingyu kept one ear on him, his mind preoccupied with the boundary. They needed it whole, but the magic required was beyond Hyunseob's abilities these days. He couldn't blame the old mage. Hyunseob had been holding the pack together with the magical equivalent of duct tape for far too long. This wasn't his fault. It was theirs. They'd had a responsibility to bring other mages into the pack's fold. That they'd failed miserably at that in the past five years was a shame that weighed heavily on his shoulders. Namjoon's, too. Jinseok still wasn't over Eric, or so Riri had hinted more than once. But the rest of them had no excuse.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. All that had happened before Namjoon became leader had left the pack's reputation in tatters. That, and you couldn't bring back what wasn't there to be found. Mages weren't exactly growing on trees these days.

He stopped outside the main pack house, turning to wait for Wonwoo to catch up.

"Stay here. Don't wander. If I look out, I better be able to see you."

"Look out from where?"

Mingyu glowered.

"Don't be a smartass." He pointed to an old tree trunk that had long ago been carved into a seat. "Sit down and don't move."

"What if I need to stretch my legs?"

"Then do it sitting down."

He crossed his arms and waited Wonwoo out. The mage finally shrugged and stomped over to the trunk, lowering himself to sit cross-legged on it.

"Happy now?"

"Ecstatic," Mingyu said flatly. He nodded for Lee to keep an eye on Wonwoo. Once the wolf had settled down in the long grass nearby, he headed inside.

The temperature dropped a few degrees now that he was out of the sun, but it didn't do much to soothe his frayed temper. He found Namjoon in his office, surrounded by paper. The place always looked like a bomb had hit it.

"The boundary's fucked. A gap out near the otter creek. Something's already found it," he said.

"Something?"

He almost jumped at the sound of Hyunseob's voice and glanced over his shoulder to see the old mage sitting in the chair by the window, his eyes closed.

"Couldn't tell what. Its scent was masked, and it had hidden its tracks."

He only knew it had been there because he knew the boundary like the back of his hand. The trail had been wiped clean, but he could sense the magic that had been used to hide it.

"How wide?" Namjoon asked.

"Two feet."

"Put a guard..."

"Already done."

Namjoon glanced Hyunseob's way, but the mage shook his head. "There's nothing I can do about it now. At the next full moon, maybe..."

That would take too long.

"What about Wonwoo?" Mingyu asked.

"What about him?" Namjoon was still watching Hyunseob, something indecipherable on his face.