Destined {𝕄𝕀ℕ𝕊𝕌ℕ𝔾}

Chapter Forty-Six

Hyunjin took a deep breath, his jaw clenching as he stared at the mass of angry wolves before him. It had already been over two days since Jisung and his team had left, and he'd managed to keep it under wraps until now.

Now, the entire pack was yelling angrily, demanding to know where their alpha was. He stood there, trying to get their attention, but they all continued to yell at the curtained windows of Jisung's study, as though he'd been hiding up there the entire time.

"The alpha is gone!" He finally managed to yell over the crowd, and they all fell silent. Finally. "He has taken a team with him on a rescue mission, and kept it quiet for as long as he could. While he is away, I will act as Alpha in his stead."

The pack went into another uproar again; he winced. They hadn't been quite the same since Alpha Dongwook had died – many had lost their lives in the fight, and those that were left were devastated. His fists clenched at his sides; it really was the worst time for Jisung to be gone, but they couldn't just leave Felix there.

"Listen." The majority of them piped down, apart from the exceptionally angry ones that still cursed and yelled at him. He took a deep breath.

"Their mission had a higher chance of success if they remained undiscovered for as long as possible." He surveyed the crowd. "He only took three people with him; only the bare minimum, because of that very reason. It's not that he didn't trust you, it's just that he knew what was better in the long-run." He tried not to wince.

"He is your Alpha, and he would never do anything to harm any of you; right now, he's risking his own neck to save one of our brothers, just as he would if it were any of you." A lump formed in his throat. "All we can do right now, to help him, is to pretend he hasn't left in the first place; the stealthier they are by the time they get to the Castle, the better."

Murmurs of agreement ran through the crowd, though he could still see the loathing in some of his packmates' eyes; he knew it wasn't directed at him. A chill ran down his spine. Jisung had been right – of course he had been – there were still some who did not believe him to be worthy.

As his eyes caught onto a particularly hateful pair of eyes, he returned it with a hard look of his own until the wolf backed down and looked away.

As all the wolves dispersed, he was left standing there, body completely tense.

He had to be very careful; those wolves that didn't believe Jisung was a worthy Alpha – even after all he'd done for them – would be a major threat. He would not let what happened to Alpha Dongwook happen to Jisung. Never.

~#~#~#~#~#~

A headache settled against Felix's temples. He let out a loud, heavy breath, his frustration leaking out through his curled fists and clenched jaw. He'd been trying – goddess, he'd been trying – to reach Changbin for what felt like hours now; days.

Hyunsik wasn't looking any better, and, quite frankly, he doubted he did either. He didn't even have the strength to link his thoughts to Changbin's anymore. Tears welled in his eyes; it felt like he hadn't heard his Mate's voice in ages, and despite what Hyunsik had told him would most likely happen if they ever came to rescue him, he was starting to hope they would.

He rubbed the backs of his dirty hands against his eyes to clear them, but it did little to ease the pain in his chest or the thoughts in his head. He wanted Changbin; he wanted to wrap his arms around him like he used to each night, steal kisses whenever he could, just feel him there.

Now all he felt when he thought of his Mate was static – that damned static that was slowly crushing his morale.

He bet that's what they wanted; to weaken him enough that when his friends did come for him – they were wolves, of course they would come – he would be too weak to fight alongside them; too weak to even go to them.

It was working.

He'd tried to stand and do a bit of exercise as Hyunsik had told him to do the moment he'd been thrown in this cell. For the first couple of days, he'd been able to. The fire had not yet died within him; he feared it had now.

"You have to stay strong, Felix." Hyunsik's voice was soft, though it was not weak, even though they starved him much more than they starved the wolf. "You'll never get out of here if you give in to them." His face curled in a grimace. "They'll break you, and you'll never be the same." His voice cracked.

Felix's eyebrows furrowed slightly as Hyunsik leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes; his breathing was slightly ragged, and he seemed to have a hard time swallowing.

"They broke me, once." Felix's eyes slowly raised to meet Hyunsik's which were now red. His expression was angry, hateful, strong, even. He did not look like the kind, weakened man he'd seen mere moments before. "They took what was most precious from me. When I am weak, I think of them, of what I lost. And I get angry." His eyes hardened, conveying a message to Felix – one he could not understand quite yet.

"What... what did they take?" Felix held his breath; he was not sure if that was the right question to ask, but it slipped out before he could so much as stop it.

Hyunsik's eyes faded until they were brown again. "My wife, my daughter." Felix's eyes widened; vampires barely ever had children of their own – it was too difficult for a vampiric fetus to form. "I was a wolf, once, long ago." He chuckled and shook his head while the wolf's eyes widened.

"I was rather strong as a wolf – perhaps that's why I now have red eyes as a vampire. That and I'm quite old, you know." He chuckled again, though his face was sad. "My daughter was three years old when Chan captured me and turned me. Her name was Misun." A soft, sad smile played at his lips.

"I made the mistake of returning to my pack afterwards. I never should have returned; I thought, naively, that they'd accept me. After all, I'd been in their pack since my birth. But I was no longer a wolf – I was a vampire, an experiment. They cast me out, and my family was mistreated because of it. For generations, they were mistreated, beaten and starved, even though some of them had never known me. I watched out for them; my grand-children, and their grand-children, and theirs after that."

A lump formed in Felix's throat. "One day, the abuse stopped." He smiled again. "You once asked me why I decided to help Jisung, why I'm letting myself be starved in this cold cell rather than simply killing him. He made the abuse stop. One of my descendants – very far down the line, really – was one of the few to know me as her ancestor. Kim Jinsun – or, well, now he is Han Jisung – saved her."

"I was never able to repay him while he was alive – so I am repaying him now." Felix looked down; tears glistened in his eyes, but now he felt angry, too.

"If you let them, Felix," Hyunsik continued, his voice softer now, "theywill take away everything you love. They will find a way to rip it away fromyou, and then you'll be too far gone to help anyone. If anything... hang on foryour Mate. He'll need you to be strong if it's true that they're coming. If yougive in... it'll be over for all of them."

A/N: We've reached the 60k word mark, boos! This one's gonna be... long, if you couldn't tell already-

Sorry I didn't update yesterday, but I think I burned myself out from writing so much and so often, so I kinda just took a break. But, I think I'm refreshed and ready to write now because I wrote 1,000 words of my novel in an hour, so that's good :>

Q: If you could be any age for a week, what would it be?

A: Tbh, I think I'd go back to being 10. Back when things were simple and all I did was play with my dolls with my friends and watch superhero movies with my dad whilst daydreaming about how great being a teenager will be.

Lots of love,

~Junnie