Reluctant Enemies

Chapter 13

Beth asked again, just to be sure.

"My parents knew? You're sure?"

Taehyung nodded.

"Why have we stopped? You were pointing at the wall just now. Do I need to find some secret door?"

"No, it's already there, you just can't see it. Did my aunt and uncle really believe what was going to happen?" Beth struggled to comprehend how they thought making such a decision was alright. 

Taehyung nodded again.

"Yeah, they did."

"How do you know?" Beth finally asked something that had been bugging her.

Taehyung paused for a beat.

"The lawyer who was in charge of your grandparents will is a friend of mine. He recently told me that all of their children and their spouses were present to read the documents left behind explaining the situation. At that time, your aunt and uncle were already married. If they didn'the believe it at all,  then why come here at all? And they have encountered multiple of Gwen's few loyal subjects, if not Gwen herself. Whether or not they believed before, Gwen would make sure they did.

"The thing with her is she'll stir a pot for the sake of stirring it. She'll take a messy situation and turn it into a massacre for her own amusement. She forced Jimin to take on the endless night before he should have by killing his father and uncle with her own hands in front of him and leaving him as the head of their family. And now she's trying to force us apart because she thinks I belong to her just because I decended from Taeron.

"The only way to end this is the staff. It's never had a name, but everyone, vampire and wolves alike, know about it.

"You see, if the vampires are exterminated by the staff not being present in the full moon's light, we wolves are next."

Beth nodded, slowly and shakily.

"I see."

Her words were simple and blankly spoken, but she fully grasped the situation. In her heart, she fought a losing battle against the pain of betrayal. 

Her parents may have been manipulated, but the fact remained that they had been willing to sacrifice three-quarters of the globe's population.

How many dreams would be erased in that many deaths? How many loves and losses, joys and griefs, even friends and enemies would be wiped from existence with bloody fangs?

Beth could stop it from happening. She clung to that to keep from drowning in the hurt. 

"Let me down so I can lead us in." She tapped his chest lightly, but Taehyung shook his head again.

"Hold your hand out and open the door for us both."

Beth gave a little huff.

"I can walk on my own now Taehyung."

She was strong enough.

His grip tightened slightly, then relaxed as Taehyung forced himself to release some of the tension that had begun to build up. 

"I know... But can I please hold on for a while longer?" There was a glint of green when he spoke, and Beth knew he was asking with all of himself, wolf and man. His gaze locked with hers and she could nearly hear his pleading. 

He wasn't ready to let go of his mate.

Beth was reminded that she didn't have to be alone. Bernard was being rescued, and until then she had Taehyung. Taehyung,  who loved her already, who needed her as much as she needed him. She felt a strange knife of joy at the realization that he would take care of her, and show his affection in his own, unashamed way. Taehyung, who would hold her even after Bernard came back, and after he had to return to his own family.