Once A Love Story [kv]❤️✓

Chapter 43

Author's pov

Jungkook's hands trembled as he cupped Taehyung's face, his tears mixing with the sweat on Taehyung's skin. The warmth under his palms, the soft rise and fall of his chest—Taehyung was breathing. Then his hands travelled down to the Omega's swollen belly.

Slow but it was there.

His unborn pups' heartbeats.

They are alive. 

A strangled sob escaped Jungkook's lips as he pressed their foreheads together, his entire body shuddering with relief. "You're here," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "You came back to me."

Taehyung, still weak, his delicate fingers barely finding strength to hold Jungkook's shoulders.

Jungkook only held him tighter. He couldn't bring himself to explain his emotions, not yet. Not now.

Behind them, the temple was deadly silent.

Yoongi had dropped to his knees, his lips slightly parted as he watched his brother, alive once more, in Jungkook's arms. His fists clenched against the marble floor, his entire body trembling. His whole world had shattered when he had seen Taehyung lying dead—and now, now he was back.

Taehyung's father stood frozen, his aged face soaked with silent tears. His son, his beautiful, kind-hearted son, had returned from the dead.

Namjoon's breath came out in shaky exhales. Even as the powerful Head Alpha of the Moonstone Pack, he had never seen anything like this before. The sheer weight of divine intervention, the overwhelming shift of fate itself, was unlike anything he had ever witnessed.

A miracle.

And in the center of it all, Jungkook held Taehyung like he would never let him go again. He had just gotten him back.

Then—

A sharp pain shot through Jungkook's chest.

His body jerked, his hands gripping Taehyung tighter as his heart lurched violently. It felt as if something deep inside him was being torn away, stripped from his very soul.

The price.

His immortality.

A guttural gasp left his lips as his muscles spasmed, his veins burning under his skin. The power that had once flowed endlessly within him, the unnatural strength, the boundless energy—it was all leaving him.

Jungkook's body collapsed against Taehyung's, his forehead pressing against the Omega's collarbone as he clenched his teeth.

"Jungkook!" Taehyung's voice was frantic, panic lacing his tone. His weak hands struggled to hold onto Jungkook as he felt the Alpha's body tremble violently.

Jungkook sucked in a ragged breath. "I'm okay," he choked out, though his vision blurred. "I... I'm just—"

"You're burning up," Taehyung whispered, his voice filled with alarm.

Jungkook gave him a weak, breathless chuckle. "Guess I'm just like everyone else now."

The realization hit like a crashing wave.

Jungkook was no longer immortal. No longer the true-blood Alpha feared by all.

He was mortal now. Just like Taehyung. Just like everyone else.

And yet—

For the first time in his long, cursed existence, he felt light. As if an unbearable weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders.