Destined {𝕄𝕀ℕ𝕊𝕌ℕ𝔾}

Chapter Sixty-Eight

"I can teleport us now, Hyunjin," Seungmin hissed as they all settled within their small camp for the night. It was a rather chilly night, and it had already been two days since they'd left the Crimson Castle; they weren't even halfway back yet.

The wolf shook his head, turning to stare up at the moon. "No, no it's fine, we can run. You've exerted yourself enough."

He didn't know how magic worked, did he? He'd regained all his spent magic after a day of running; they could've been back at the packhouse already. He itched to get back; there were certain things he wished to share with Jisung.

Hyunjin paid no mind to the irritated grumbling that came from the space beside him, instead opting to glance around his camp; two of his wolves were out on patrol, the rest casually sitting around the fire – they were all the strong and silent types, ugh, and then there was that one wolf that sat separate from the rest.

He was a Riverock wolf, wasn't he? His eyes narrowed; he didn't trust him, not one bit. He wanted to get back on his own turf as quickly as possible. He paused; when had he started to think of the Sun pack as his home? The Westwood seemed like such a distant memory flying away like dust in the wind.

As his eyes swept over the camp once more, he realized at the same time as Hyunjin that the two wolves on patrol had been gone for a long time. Too long. Their eyes slowly met, the wolf's brows furrowing, and just then his head snapped up along with every other's wolf's.

Seungmin didn't need their superhuman hearing to know something was wrong. Goddess damn it all, he slowly eased to his feet, magic pulsing through him, resonating within the purple in his eyes. Why can't we catch a break?

The first thing that met them were the growls. They echoed within the dark night, shadowy forms slipping from tree to tree, unseen. The silent way they walked, with the grace of those who knew this forest like the back of their hands, it was easy to tell who they were; a spike of dread shot through him.

He honestly wouldn't have been able to tell who scared him more to face in battle; a handful of vampires or a pack of wolves. He decided it would have to be the latter. Hyunjin stepped in front of him, trapping him between him and the tree.

Seungmin nearly rolled his eyes; why were these wolves always so damn territorial? He knew how to defend himself – he'd done it multiple times. He was still alive, wasn't he?

His silent retorts ended as the moon finally provided enough light for the pack to be illuminated; there were so many of them. Too many. They only had a handful of wolves, plus one wizard, and they had... an entire pack, almost.

Sangchul leapt to his feet, his eyes glowing golden in the night. "Why are you doing this?" His voice was quiet and strong, quivering slightly as his eyes darted to both sides. "Alpha Yejun is dead. You don't have to..." He trailed off as one of the wolves growled at him.

So they were Riverock; he should have known. His head snapped towards the side as two of their men were lunged on by big, burly wolves before they even had enough time to so much as Shift. They went down, and they did not get back up.

Seungmin stared at the corpse with wide eyes, terror leeching the colour from his face. Hyunjin gasped, and he whirled around, eyes shining bright golden as he crouched, huddling Seungmin even closer to the tree. He didn't even have the mind to be angry about it.

More wolves than they'd initially seen streamed out from the woods, and then the fight began. All wolves were Shifted except for Hyunjin, who remained strangely still, eyes darting between all the wolves, as though he was waiting for something, though Seungmin could not even begin to figure it out.