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t w e n t y s e v e n

$ t w e n t y s e v e n $

"So I was talking to Hyuna the other day and she told me she and Minseok are thinking about having a baby now that we stopped having a rivalry with the Wolves." Mei Lin started casually as she and her husband had lunch together on the terrace of their bedroom at the Coven's mansion. "We've been married for over three years and I think we should start having children of our own too. Wouldn't that be nice, baobei? A little Han or a little Mei Lin running around the house with their other little cousins?" 

She knew that as a gang family, there would always be rivalries with other packs. But the Wolves had been their sworn enemies for a long time, their biggest enemies. Now that they got along, Mei Lin saw it as a chance for them to do some of the things regular couples their age did. They were young, they had a stable economic standing, they had a family who supported them.

"Hm," Lu Han nodded, but soon added, in his voice was some hesitance. "We'd have to run that by duizhang first. When we separated from the Pack, we kept the same rules so that we wouldn't have to come up with rules of our own. We all signed and agreed that only the leader can have kids." 

Mei Lin immediately scoffed. "I didn't agree to anything like that."

"That was before you joined, baby." He pointed out.

Lu Han had never been particularly fond of the rule because he knew that one day he would want to have children of his own. But that had been over five years prior. He had been twenty one and hadn't thought that far ahead into the future when he signed. He hadn't even gotten married, much less even met Mei Lin. At the time he had only agreed because Baekhyun had suggested it with a very valid point--they needed to protect their two leaders. Now he regretted ever signing that piece of paper.

"Hyuna and Mariel aren't going to be happy when they find out about that rule." Mei Lin said, knowing her friend Hyuna well. She wasn't very close with Mariel yet, but she knew that Mariel was headstrong and would never agree to something like that. Mei Lin wasn't sure if Ciel would have a problem with the rule, since it wouldn't affect her. She and diuzhang were free to have as many children as they wanted. 

"Hyuna knows, and she never signed." Lu Han explained, remembering the near protest she and Hani almost went on when they found out about the rule. Neither of them thought it was fair and they refused to sign it, which technically made them unofficial members of the pack because of it. But the others had turned a blind eye to that. "She said she would rather get in trouble over following that rule." She and Minseok hadn't gotten to have children over circumstance, not because they were trying to follow the rules of their pack.

-

Yifan was at dinner with Ciel and had asked for no one to bother them. They had a table in the house all to themselves, having their food by candle light, and everything was calm and peaceful. That is until Lu Han barged into the room with the phone in hand. "Duizhang," His words were urgent. "You have a very important call." He informed.

The leader of the Coven gave a shake of his head. "I asked you not to bother me when I'm with my Ciel." His Ciel, he called her fondly. He was out most of the day with either Minseok or Lu Han, handling their business, and when he got home he liked to make some time to spend with Ciel before getting in bed for the night. He also tried to have dinner with her every afternoon. "Tell whoever it is to call back in an hour."

Ciel spoke up with a shake of her head. "Maybe you should take the call, duizhang."

He sighed, instantly giving in to her. "Fine."

He took the phone from Lu Han and the second in command left the room after excusing himself with a bow of his head.

"Yes?" Yifan said into the phone impatiently.

Whoever it was, the Coven leader was tempted to tell them to either call back later or go to Hell.

"Tomorrow." The voice said from the other end, not even taking a second to reveal who they were. Yifan could already tell who it was by the sound of his voice. He was Fu Jian. "I need you and your men to do it tomorrow. Her father already signed his money and his businesses over to me as long as I give him a comfortable life as long as he lives."

Yifan felt uncomfortable talking about business at the dinner table, especially when it was something like kidnapping and killing a person, and especially in front of Ciel. He was very discreet and vague about his response, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Yes, tomorrow I'll have everything ready then." He and Jian agreed on a place to meet so that the businessman could pay for the job and the two hung up. 

Ciel instantly noticed something was bothering him. "What's wrong, duizhang?"

"Nothing." He quickly shook his head.

-

On the morning of the kidnapping, Fu Jian had arrived at his house and greeted his beautiful wife with a good morning kiss. She had been startled awake by that, since she hadn't seen him in a long time and jumped slightly when she saw him. Her expression immediately took on a look of hurt and disdain. He had abandoned her and had proven that he clearly didn't love her. Yet now he was acting once again like the loving person she remembered from before. 

It confused Iva and it made her feel uneasy, like something was off that day.

He told her to get dressed and to look pretty because he had a long day planned for them. He was going to take her to breakfast, then to the mall for some new clothes, and last to the bookstore since he knew how much she loved to read. 

She no longer trusted him, but she wanted their relationship to work, so she complied and got ready to go out with her husband. 

The plan was that they would spend the entire day together in order to be seen by everyone as the loving husband. Tao would drive them around all day and they would return home in the afternoon to have dinner together at home. Right in front of the house a van would be waiting for them with the Coven members inside, ready to take Iva Fu hostage. And that had been exactly what happened. The sun was setting over the horizon when Tao pulled up in front of the house.

The Coven's van pulled up behind them and four of the members piled out, leaving duizhang in charge of the escape vehicle. Jongdae and Tao pretended not to know each other and Jongdae pulled a gun on his friend. "Turn the van off and put your hands on the steering wheel." He instructed and Tao did as he was told.

In the back seat, Iva called with concern, "What's going on?"

She got her answer when Minseok, Lu Han, and Yixing went around to the back door of the car and pulled it open. As was also part of the plan, Fu Jian pretended to fight back while Iva began screaming in horror as her husband was hit over the head with the gun and dragged out of the vehicle to be left unconscious on the sidewalk. Lu Han reached for her next and grabbed her arm while she clawed at him to defend herself. 

At the front of the car, Jongdae had gotten Tao to get out of the car peacefully. He stopped pretending to be part of the innocent party when Minseok placed a burlap sack over her head to prevent her from seeing anything.

They half dragged her into the van and threw her in the back, shutting the door after Tao had climbed inside. 

All the while she cried for herself, for her husband, and even for Tao who she thought was also in danger.

-

since most of the drama involving the wolves is practically settled, this book will deal more with the coven. the wolves will still be plenty involved in the story. but just keep in mind that the drama and most of everything will be focused on yifan and his pack.

i hope you're all having a wonderful week and thank you for reading!

i'm going to try to post another update after i drop my sister off at school in a bit. so please stay tuned for that.

-clary