Highness (Jeongcheol)

Jeonghan

Jeonghan paused midstitch, crochet in hand, listening closely. Ferdy was normally a quiet dog. Jeonghan had hardly ever heard the little mutt bark, other than that one time Ferdy had seen a squirrel on one of their forest runs.

But now the puppy was barking up a storm.

"Ferdy!" Jeonghan yelled, projecting his voice to carry through the bedroom door. "Hush!"

The frantic barking continued.

Jeonghan sighed, stretching his neck to glance at his phone on the bedside table. It was close to seven in the morning. Seungcheol was due to be home. But Ferdy didn't bark in alarm every time Seungcheol got back from work.

Something else was going on.

Jeonghan climbed off the bed, tossing a shirt over his bare chest. He'd been lounging, damn it. "Hush, puppy!" he yelled out once more. It had zero effect.

Jeonghan was down the stairs and at the front door in an instant, shepherding a barking Ferdy off and shutting him into the living room on the way, just in case. He opened the door, ready to laugh at his own paranoia once he saw it was just some forest critter or stray cat sending the dumb dog into a frenzy.

What Jeonghan saw instead made his blood run cold.

Hendrick was standing there, a bruised and bleeding Seungcheol held in front of him.

Literally held.

Seungcheol was dangling almost a foot off the ground, Hendrick keeping him in the air with one hand on the back of his neck. Jeonghan's vamp was out and taking control in an instant, its eyes zeroing in on every detail.

There was Myungho, his crumpled form sprawled to the side of the porch.

Snapped neck, most likely. It was one of the quickest ways to incapacitate one of their kind for a short period of time, especially if one could take them by surprise.

Seungcheol was...not unharmed but alive. There was blood, yes, but most of it seemed to be coming from his nose. Broken, maybe.

Jeonghan scanned his human quickly. No obvious bite marks, no severed arteries. But his right leg was twisted at an odd angle, and his eyes were open at half-mast, the glazed look in them suggesting he was in a high level of pain.

Jeonghan struggled to keep himself calm. He hated seeing Seungcheol looking so helpless. Hated it with a passion that had his blood boiling.

His human was strong. He was brave, no matter what his insecurities said to the contrary. Hendrick didn't have the right to even look in Seungcheol's direction, let alone harm a single hair on his head.

The vampire in Jeonghan wanted to tear, wanted to maim, wanted to rip Hendrick's head off for hurting his mate.

But he couldn't. Not yet. Seungcheol was alive. He was more or less whole. But he wasn't anywhere near out of danger yet.

Hendrick himself barely looked rumpled. No surprise there. One human wouldn't be enough to slow him down, not with Myungho out of the way. And judging from his position, Myungho hadn't been able to put up much of a fight before going down.

Jeonghan turned his focus to the enemy. Hendrick's broad face held a smile, but his dark eyes were flat. Cold. A snake's eyes. He was dressed out of character, in flannel and denim. Clearly an effort to blend in.

It shouldn't have been enough. Jeonghan should have been able to track his scent, if Hendrick had stayed in town. He should have been able to find him before now.

"Apologies," Hendrick said, not sounding sorry at all. "I roughed up your friend a bit here. He doesn't seem to like me very much." He gave Seungcheol a little shake in emphasis, his body swaying in Hendrick's hold.