Brothers

6

"Don't walk away from me!" Valentine shouted.

Jongho stopped and tensed. He wanted nothing more than to keep going, but he knew he was in enough trouble already.

"It's high time you start getting serious! I will not have you start dragging down this pack." His father growled.

Jongho turned around and faced his father's glare. It had come to his father's attention that he had not been participating in hunts or doing anything to help out he pack.

And why should he? He didn't feel wanted here, so why should he contribute?

"Dragging it down? The pack doesn't even know I exist! You made damn sure of that!" He said, trying to keep his voice under control.

"Are you really that naïve?" Valentine walked forward. "You are my son. You have certain standards you must live up to."

Jongho just scoffed and rolled his eyes. "What standards? The ones that your oh so precious first born has set? Mr 'I'm so perfect let me spend my life sucking up to my father'? Well here's a news flash, I'm not Mingi. And I never will be!"

His father's gaze darkened as his arms started to shake. "You're damn right! You will NEVER be the alpha Mingi is!"

Jongho flinched at his father's dominance and turned his head away as his felt his damaged heart break even more. Hearing the words made it so much worse than just thinking them, "I will have a mate picked out for you by the end of the week."

"What?!" The young alpha's head snapped back to his father. "B-But it's too soon! I'm n-no-"

"You need to learn your place in this world. I don't care if it's early. You will be mated by the end of the week. You will start being responsible. You will start your own pack. And if you fuck it up, then it's your own fault."

The dismissal was clear.

Jongho felt tears come to his eyes, adding to his hatred for the man as he spun on his heels and marched from the room.

"I wish you were more like your brother." His father said just before he left.

As soon as he stepped outside, Jongho ran for the edge of the territory and into the trees. He felt so useless and broken. He was tired of being compared to his brother!

Mingi used to be someone he looked up to. They were so close growing up. But then the favoritism started, or Jongho at least started to recognize what it was, and everything changed. Mingi started to focus more on becoming a better alpha while Jongho was left alone.

He collapsed next to a large tree and bent forward so his head was pressed against his hands not he ground. His entire body shook as he tried to fight the shame rising in him when he realized all he wanted to do was cry.

"Pull yourself together you fucking idiot!" Jongho shouted at the ground.

"Jongho?" A small voice came from behind him. His head snapped up and he saw San standing off to the side peering around a tree, "I'm sorry if I scared you. But I saw you running and I wanted to make sure you're ok." The beta walked forward slowly and sank to his knees in front of Jongho.

"I'm fine." He said, turning his head away.

Then he was surprised when he felt a hand on his cheek. He turned back to lock eyes with San and watched as the older searched his face. "No you're not. Let me help you. Whatever it is, tell me." He whispered. Jongho felt his wolf churn at the contact and his breathing got faster.

San's lips curled in a slight smile. "Then at least let me help you get your mind off it." He grabbed Jongho's hand and pulled him from the ground.