Destined {𝕄𝕀ℕ𝕊𝕌ℕ𝔾}

Chapter Forty-Eight

The Riverock was a much bigger pack than he'd anticipated – it might have even been bigger than the Sun pack. It was a wonder how they'd managed to keep them hidden for all this time. Minho trailed behind Jisung, keeping close as his eyes darted between all the wolves that cast him wayward glances.

A pang of guilt flashed through his chest. It must have been terrifying, to be in this place where everyone either hated him or wanted to kill him; he wouldn't have been able to do anything against all these wolves – he was just a human.

Jisung slowed down a touch, nearly causing the human boy to run into him. When he looked up, startled, the wolf shot him a comforting smile. A small smile flitted onto his own lips as they now walked side by side, and none dared look at him while he stood beside their Alpha.

The she-wolf leading the small pack of them through the packhouse chatted animatedly. Jeongin seemed uncomfortable, shrinking in on himself, while Changbin looked plain pissed, his face morphed into a constant expression of stress and irritation.

They were quite the bunch, truly.

He would have chuckled if he did not have to keep himself calm and collected, as Dongwook always had. He knew how wolves worked, and he had to prove to them that he could be respected before he could be friendly. Though, he wasn't making his life any easier by bringing a hybrid and a human into their packhouse.

Changbin fell into step on his other side. "We can't afford to be wasting time like this, Jisung." There was no point in keeping his voice as low as he did considering that all – or, rather, almost all – those present were werewolves, but he did it anyway.

Jisung sighed with a nod, observing the male from the corner of his eye. "I know. But..." He shook his head again, squeezing his eyes closed. As the she-wolf continued to speak, his conversation with Changbin fading, he wanted nothing more than to drop all courtesies and carriages and whatnot and simply leave for the Crimson Castle immediately. But they would never make it without the shortcut the Riverock promised.

He understood Changbin's sentiment, he truly did; if Minho was stuck in that place, he'd go crazy, and they weren't even actually Mated yet; he couldn't imagine how hard it was for him. "We'll get him back, Changbin," he said softly, and the two met eyes. With that glance, they exchanged a promise.

The shorter wolf nodded firmly, lips still pressed into that thin, tight line. They looked away and continued following the woman, though he had to admit that he wasn't listening to a single thing she was saying, even though he should have.

Changbin stopped abruptly, his eyes widening. His knees buckled beneath his weight as he tumbled to the ground, body convulsing, his breath coming out in short, shallow gasps. Panic was written across his face, and his desperate eyes met Jisung's for a moment before they rolled back.

"Changbin!" Minho yelled, falling to his knees beside him, though it was clear that he had no idea what to do in such a situation. Jisung took a deep breath and knelt down, gently lifting the other up, and with one smooth motion, his hand chopped the side of his neck. The wolf fell limp in his arms, and Minho gasped, wide eyes snapping towards him.

"He'll wake up soon," he reassured, standing up with the other still unconscious in his arms, turning towards the girl. "Get that carriage ready, now!" As he looked down at his friend again, a deep, guttural fear settled over his stomach.

Something beyond terrible had happened to Felix for him to react that way. He could only hope that they were not too late.

~#~#~#~#~#~

Hyunsik was often angry.

It was not often, however, that he was absolutely furious.

His fists curled, his eyes glowing bright red as he glared at the high-ranking vampire officials, as well as his King. They all ignored him as they huddled around the injured – dying – wolf.

He was a vampire, and yet the sight made his stomach churn; the sight struck a chord deep within him, unlocked a memory he'd desperately struggled to forget; and yet he could not look away. After several more excruciating moments of the small party staring at the severely injured wolf, they all turned towards him.

Chan had the audacity to smile as though the atrocity before them had not been his own doing. Hyunsik found it hard to breathe, and despite his best efforts he could not seem to keep his rage under check, out of view as he had for countless centuries; his entire body trembled with the effort it took to restrain himself from busting down those cell bars and killing every last one of them.

He'd leave Chan for last; he'd get what was coming to him.

"Don't look at me like that, Hyunsik." He dared look sorrowful. Hyunsik's fists clenched tighter; he had never been this monster's friend, he was nothing more than an experiment, but he had a part to play. "I had to send them a message, now that that fool Alpha is dead and buried. My sources tell me he has a Mate – he will most certainly be on the expedition. This was the quickest way." He smiled, casting a quick look of disgust at the wolf lying on the cold cell floor.

Fury.

"You know this isn't quite so bad after all; besides, one more red-eyed vampire loyal to me isn't that much of a burden." He chuckled softly, and heat flared in Hyunsik's chest. "Maybe he'll be able to kill that damned bastard. Newborns are never quite so resilient to my commands." Something dangerous flashed through his eyes, but Hyunsik could not bother to respond to the obvious jab.

Rage.

A whimper escaped Felix, and Hyunsik's eyes snapped to him for a moment, to the fading gold in his eyes. "Speed up the process, why don't you? Put him out of his misery; the result will be the same either way." A cruel smile toyed at his lips. "It'll give him more time to adapt – maybe this one won't kill his Mate."

Wrath.

Hyunsik was on his feet in an instant, a growl that he could hardly manage anymore tearing out of his throat. If his eyes had ever flashed any brighter, he wasn't sure. He wanted Chan to pay. Pay for what he'd done to him, to Felix, to his brother. Pay for what he'd done to Myungsoo and Jinsun, and the countless other faceless people he had hurt. Because they mattered, too.

Perhaps more than all.

He reigned himself in, reeling away from the cell bars; it was no use exposing his true strength now. He closed his eyes, turning away from the vampires that all silently mocked him; the experiment gone right, that had inevitably gone wrong.

Chan would pay, one day, he knew. He'd pay for all of this.

"You could save him, Hyunsik; all you have to do is say the word, bind your blood to mine and complete my one, single request. A human could be brought in, and he could be saved." The party slowly disappeared into the darkness.

"It all depends on you."

A/N: I know the past few chapters have been kinda slow regarding the main storyline, but bear with me! I'm almost done setting things in place, and then the real shit show starts =)

Q: What's your biggest screw up in the kitchen?

A: Honestly... I wanted to make a dish with the main component of rice. And I forgot to put the rice in it. God, sometimes I wonder what I'm thinking XD

Lots of of love,

~Junnie