Mix and Match ~ TK

95

"Who's Byeonghyun?" Taehyung spoke before he could think.

"Your brother." Bora explained, "I always called him Byeonghyun. I left before your dad saw any of them let alone name them. But when I left him in the North, he had a necklace with his initials on it. A tiny B and H." Taehyung shook. He remembered that necklace well, his dad had always called his brother Baekhyun not knowing that another Baekhyun existed and that it was his son's twin. Bora was still holding herself tightly, but her eyes were cast down, as if she couldn't bear to look at anyone for the moment. Suddenly, another more pressing question found itself on Taehyung's mind which he couldn't refrain from asking.

"I thought alphas couldn't carry children?" This time, it was Jiyong who answered him.

"Very uncommon indeed. But only possible for female alphas." Taehyung nodded absentmindedly. He had so many questions, so many things he wanted to know the answers to that he didn't know where to begin. Luckily for him, Baekhyun did.

"Mom, why didn't you tell me?"

"I was so scared, Baek." She trembled, as if physically scared of the implications she was about to explain. "I wasn't supposed to get pregnant, Daehyun already had a mate who was Luna and had children of her own." She suddenly turned to Taehyung, "your mother knew about our relationship. I think... I think she's the only person who knew. And she accepted it." Bora looked as if she were about to cry but still managed to word out the rest. "Your dad had a lot of responsibility as Head Alpha, one of them was to bear children who would succeed him. We both knew then we couldn't be together. So he married your mother. We tried to stay apart, and considering our families were very far away, for a long time we did manage to separate. It was problems with the Council that got us back together. I was sneaking out of the South to meet with him in the Main House of the mountains. Obviously, he decided to tell your mother at that point that I was back in his life. You see, for fated mates, it almost impossible to stay apart if both parties haven't mated. And I wasn't, so Daehyun had to make a decision, and inform the Luna. When I got pregnant, Lunae was starting to gain more problems with the Council because of the Mountain Rogues. It was getting more difficult to hide our relationship, let alone a pregnancy that should've never happened." She took a deep breath, titling her head up and closing her eyes while they were all listening to her intently. "It was then that I did something extremely cowardly..." Taehyung was burning with anticipation to know the rest that he was almost sure he wasn't breathing. "I ran away. After I gave birth, I took Baekhyun and left Byeonghyun with your dad and disappeared. I went abroad and didn't look back again. He never knew I had twins and that I kept one of them. But when I came back..." this time, tears were filling her eyes at an alarming rate. "When I came back, it was too late. They told me they were all dead, all the family slaughtered... all, except the oldest and the youngest child." She looked at Taehyung again, he almost flinched at the pain he witnessed in her stare. "I thought it was Baekhyun at first, but it was you. You were born after him. For a while, I came and went to the North, if only to catch a glimpse of you. They said you looked like him the most. They didn't lie."

No one said a thing after this. But in that exact moment, Taehyung realized two important things. One, his father had a fated mate who was an alpha. And two, he had another brother.

-

Taehyung and Chanyeol had to go back to training and left the office, albeit begrudgingly. Neither talked about what they learned but they both seemed visibly shaken.

"I have a question, though." Chanyeol said out of the blue. Taehyung hummed, waiting to hear his query. "How come Jimin didn't recognize him? He's been living here for a while." They were now standing in front of the training grounds, the other wolves already in formation.

"That doesn't surprise me. Jimin and I only became friends after my brother died. He wasn't really around before that to remember him." He explained. He decided to refer to his Baekhyun as his "brother" so as to not hurt anyone's feelings. Chanyeol hummed, deep in reflection.

"I'm sorry. For your loss." Taehyung nodded. "This mustn't be easy for you either, I mean to discover your dad had another mate, that you have a brother..." he shook his head and Taehyung was grateful for his words. After all, he was still destabilized by the news and call him a jerk, but he was glad that for once, he had other people sharing the same experience with him.

"Chanyeol! Come join us!" A sudden call from a dark haired wolf grabbed their attention once they reached the training grounds. Chanyeol inclined his head towards Taehyung in farewell before he took off. But Taehyung didn't stay alone for long.

"Ready for the training, Kim?" Jackson was on his heels as soon as Taehyung started walking toward the weights.

"Not sure, Wang." He was looking at the different weights and knew he wasn't going to try his luck at any of them. Taehyung knew he could lift them if he wanted to, but his muscles weren't exactly his strongest asset.

"Oh don't be like that! You know we did great last time with you in the team, you should help us kick Jeon's ass this time. He's still in first place even with a 1 to 5. We need to even it out a bit."

Taehyung wasn't really interested in fighting his mate on the battlefield, even if they were only training. He's seen what the guy can do and Jackson wasn't lying. Jungkook can single handedly knock out five alphas and not get a scratch on him. He supposed that that was the famous True Blood strength he always heard about but rarely saw in work. In any case, Taehyung had a lot on his mind right now, and confronting his mate wasn't very high on his to do list at the moment.

"I'll pass."

"Nonsense." Jackson grabbed him before he could even decide to move away, and brought him along to the station where the said team were warming up. "Hey guys! I brought you our secret weapon. This time, we will definitely kick Jeon's ass."

"Isn't that cheating?" A beautiful curvy girl named Hwasa asked, looking between Taehyung and Jackson. "You're bringing his mate to fight him?"

"I think it can be fun." A blue eyed, black haired wolf named Yugyeom interjected, earning a beaming smile from Jackson.

"See? That's the spirit! Let's get it, baby!"

Taehyung had to admit the overwhelming enthusiasm was a great distraction and definitely an entertaining thing to watch. But before long, he remembered what they wanted him to do and cringed inwardly.
Unfortunately for him, there wasn't time to back up and flee because they were already pushed inside a ring after only a few minutes of warming up. Taehyung didn't remember Jungkook's wolf that well. He only saw him a couple of times and most of those moments were muffled old memories. Seeing him up close like this, Taehyung had to physically plant his feet on the ground to not make a step back.
He was huge. Ginormous. Imposing. Majestic. Taehyung couldn't help but marvel. His eyes were onyx black and his fur was a matching shade that looked so silky to the touch, but probably very few people had the chance to actually rake their hands through that fur and not die the next moment.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted when said eyes looked straight into him at the same time as Jackson ordered for them to change.

"I'm not doing this." Taehyung said, already turning on his heels to leave the ring.

"Hey! Hey! Wait!" Jackson was quick to grab him, but it was Yugyeom's voice which made Taehyung hesitate. They were a few feet further from where the others already turned into their wolves, when the black haired alpha said.

"Look, we know your situation is complicated, but how about you try just for once to prove to yourself why the Moon Goddess chose you as his mate?"

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