Destined {𝕄𝕀ℕ𝕊𝕌ℕ𝔾}

Chapter Seventy-Two

Jisung could barely describe the rage he felt as he walked into his council room, Minho quick on his heels. And, despite that deep, boiling rage, he was the epitome of cold fury, his face placid. The calm before the storm, he supposed. The room hushed the moment he stepped foot inside, quiet spreading over them like a thick blanket.

It was almost as though they were holding their breaths. He couldn't hear what they were saying through their mind-link. His eyes met each of his Councillors; they seemed to know his current predicament.

"Has any more information surfaced about the attack?" His voice was steady, firm. It was such a contrast to how he felt that he could have laughed. Their eyes slid passed him, narrowing into a glare on the person standing behind him. The rage within rose.

He reached back and pulled Minho by his waist, tucking him into his side, where he belonged. If his wolf hadn't been dormant, he knew his eyes would have glowed. Their gazes shifted away, though hatred still writhed beneath their expressions. He knew how they felt about vampires – he knew how he felt about vampires – but this was different. This was Minho.

He didn't need his wolf to feel the feelings that accompanied his presence – they'd been ingrained into his conscience, now. He walked further into the room, keeping his Mate close to his side until they'd reached the singular seat at the head of the table. He sat, bringing the vampire along with him.

He didn't know what had changed, but something had; where he'd had inklings of feelings before, they overpowered him now. He wanted them all to know that Minho was his, and that if any of them so much as harmed a hair on his head–

He broke from his stupor when one of his Councillors began to speak, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as he was forced to look at the both of them. Minho leaned into him, and Jisung wrapped his arms around his waist to keep him there.

"Alpha, with all due respect–" he began, swallowed thickly, his eyes glowing subtly gold. "Are you certain it's... safe to disclose such... important information to a..." His voice hardened. "A vampire?" He spat the word with such disgust that even Jisung nearly cringed.

He levelled the Councillor with a gaze that could have frozen Hell over. "I have been betrayed by members of my own pack more often than I've so much as questioned his loyalties. Proceed." There was no room for discussion; it was final. His Councillors exchanged quick glances before nodding.

"As you wish, Alpha." They didn't look happy about it. But they didn't have to be; Minho was their Alpha's Mate – or, well, unofficial Mate –, and they could do nothing but accept it, or leave. And they knew it well.

"We've received word of a large pack travelling towards our territories, sir." They were conflicted. "It's unidentified, not on any of our records; and yet it appeared as though out of thin air." Jisung's eyes closed for a moment; Riverock.

So their entirety had betrayed him, not only their hybrids. He sucked in a tight, discrete breath through his nose. That complicated things – his heart ached; he'd hoped that the hybrids had acted of their own accord, that his original pack was untethered to their actions. His fist clenched subtly at his side, and he didn't meet Minho's concerned eyes as they landed on him.

He would not spare them simply because they were one of his own – just because they were his original family. This is my family now, he thought, and he would stop at nothing to defend them. Regardless of his personal connections, the Riverock had hurt his family – and they would pay dearly.

"It's the Riverock pack." His words cut through the tense, confused atmosphere that had settled over them all. "They've been kept hidden by the Vampire King since their eradication. I defeated their Alpha in combat; they have betrayed me." His Councillors' eyes hardened at that; betrayal was not something werewolves took kindly, no matter the situation. It was almost hard to believe that that was even true, now. "We will not spare them – they have murdered our brothers."