His Baby Daddy [ Taekook ]

Chapter 23

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Jungkook rose before dawn, driven from uneasy sleep by a dream of cracking ice and red-lit pines.
The dream dissolved as soon as he opened his eyes, yet a phantom chill lingered in the roots of his teeth.
He slid the balcony doors wide: the summer air was soft, smelling of mist and garden mint, but beneath it he could almost taste the poisoned breath of the blood-curse far to the north.

> Pack land bleeds, Lixue warned, tail swishing in Jungkook’s mind.
Your Alpha brother hurts.

Jungkook pressed both palms to the railing, bowed his head, and breathed.
Inside his belly the pup turned once, twice—anxious but healthy. He stroked the curve until the kicks stilled, then whispered a steadying promise he scarcely believed:

“We’ll keep them safe. All of them. Somehow.”

Behind him Ami stirred awake and, without a word, draped a shawl over his shoulders.
For a few heartbeats they stood together in silence, watching pale light creep along the eastern towers.

(TAEHYUNG’S POV)

Across the courtyard, Taehyung was already training atop the old garrison wall.
Dual swords traced wet arcs through humid air, silver flashing every time dawn kissed a blade point.
He had not slept; instead he’d spent the blue hours memorising every line of Jungkook’s latest note:

> I won’t run.
Be at the Council tomorrow — sword drawn.

The order—no, the request—lay coiled in his chest like a new heart.
Each swing of steel carved away the night’s doubts, yet could not touch the deeper fear curled beneath: the thing that had stirred behind his ribs yesterday morning.
Not demon. Not vampire.
Something else.
Every time the memory rose, his fingertips tingled as though they might sprout claws.

Listen, Hoseok had said.
But listen to what?
A voice he’d never been allowed to hear?

He sheathed both swords, wiped sweat from his brow, and watched a hawk cut across the pinkening sky, north-bound—toward the cursed border.
The world was twisting faster than he could unsnarl it.

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The Council of Bloodlines gathered under the star-vaulted dome: vampires in garnet robes, witches in slate silk, three shifter delegates invited under Mishil’s new decree, and—seated in a niche half-hidden by ivy banners—Jungkook and Ami.

Mishil opened proceedings with a calm strike of her crystal gavel.
“It is confirmed: a blood-curse desecrates Snow Moon territory, cast by parties still unidentified.”
Her gaze cut toward King Hansol’s empty throne at the opposite end.
“The Crown will hear proposals for defensive aid.”