𝐎𝐦𝐞𝐠𝐚'𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝 [𝗄𝗈𝗈𝗄𝗏]

Chapter Forty one

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Days had passed since that night—since a stranger's warning had unsettled Jeongguk, since the elders had reluctantly accepted him as their leader, at least for now.

Being a leader meant being prepared for both the worst and the best. It meant standing firm even when doubt gnawed at the edges of his mind, even when the weight of responsibility threatened to crush him.

But no amount of preparation could ease the lingering tension that had settled in his bones. Something was coming. He didn't know what, but his instincts screamed at him to be ready.

Right now, though, Jeongguk pushed those thoughts away, focusing on the present—the warmth of their home, the familiar scent of pinewood and faint embers lingering in the air.

He stood in the kitchen, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as he moved with practiced ease, cooking breakfast for Taehyung. A simple task, yet one that grounded him.

The sizzle of eggs in the pan, the scent of freshly brewed coffee, the rhythmic chop of vegetables beneath his knife—it was all a quiet ritual, a way to start the morning with something steady, something certain.

Taehyung was still asleep, lost in the depths of exhaustion, and Jeongguk knew exactly why.

Last night had been... intense.

Jeongguk could still feel the phantom echoes of Taehyung's touch, the heat of his skin against his own, the way he had come undone beneath him—over and over until his voice was hoarse, until he was trembling, boneless in Jeongguk's arms.

He had been insatiable, had needed to feel Taehyung in every way possible, to lose himself in him, to let their love and need bleed into one another until nothing else existed.

And Taehyung had let him—had met him with equal fervor, pulling him in, holding him close, whispering his name like a sacred promise.

Jeongguk exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face, a slow smirk tugging at his lips.

Even now, the memory sent heat curling in his stomach, made his body ache with the desire to crawl back into bed, to wrap himself around Taehyung and pull him into another slow, lazy round of pleasure.

But as tempting as that was, he knew Taehyung needed his rest.

Still, the absence of him beside Jeongguk made something inside him itch, made him restless in a way he didn't know how to describe.

It had been like this for a while now—this constant, gnawing need to have Taehyung close, to touch him, to reassure himself that he was still there, still his.

If someone had told him months ago that he would feel this way, that he would fall so recklessly and irreversibly in love with Taehyung, he would have laughed. Would have dismissed the thought entirely, perhaps even scoffed at the idea.

But now?

Now, the mere idea of being apart from Taehyung, of a life without him, felt unthinkable. It wasn't just love—it was something deeper, something raw and all-consuming.

Taehyung was in every breath Jeongguk took, in every beat of his heart.

He had always been there.

Perhaps Jeongguk had been too stubborn, too blind to see it before.

But now, he saw nothing else.

And he would do anything—tear apart the world itself if he had to—to keep him safe. To keep him his.

Because Taehyung wasn't just the reason Jeongguk's heart beat.

He was the reason Jeongguk lived.

And nothing—not fate, not the ghosts of the past, not even the darkness looming over them—could ever change that.