Aurora ||| Ateez

34

"I have a plan, it's not a good one, but it's our only option."

"Well? We need everything we can get, spit it out." Jongho said as he takes in the surroundings of the forest they're currently hiding in outside of the palace.

Mingi, San and Jongho have split up from everyone else, with half of the group staying with them to find Seonghwa and Wooyoung, and the other half going with Daehyun, Jaimin and Soyeon to find her pride members and any other person who's in need of help. They managed to find a breach in the wall outside of the palace, a gap that's just big enough for a person to slip in through. Half of the group have already gone in, and the other half is currently sitting with Mingi, San and Jongho going over their plan.

It wasn't easy, but they all made the hard decision to make sure that Blue Star must fall. They're too dangerous a pack for there to ever be peace, and even if their plan goes off without a hitch, they'll just come back. Their reign of power must end today.

Mingi takes in a shaky breath as he speaks, "We need to take the Luna of the pack, Seonghwa's mother."

San blinks as Jongho next to him lets his mouth fall open in shook, even the lions behind them that are in their group let out stream of shocked gasp.

"Are you insane?! You really don't want us to go home at all, do you?" San grabs both of Mingi's shoulders as he shakes him back and forth, desperately trying to understand his logic.

"We don't have another option! We are outnumbered, backed into a corner, and unless you have a better idea I would love to hear it!"

San growls under his breathe as Jongho pulls him back, and he crosses his arms as he sits and waits. "Well, tell us your genius plan."

Mingi sighs as he collects his thoughts. "From what little information I've managed to pick up from around the palace, she's a beta, and the only mate to the head alpha, Seonghwa's father. I can make her submit easily, and we can use her to get Wooyoung and Seonghwa both. I've also overheard that his execution is in about three hours, so we have to move fast. I'm going to find her, and once I do, you two will tie her up and we'll go to the site they're trying to hang him from. It's our only shot to save him."

San can feel Jongho tense next to him at the mention of Wooyoung's execution, and he reaches down to grasp his hand and squeeze it in a reassuring manner. We're going to get him home. He's not dying and neither is the pup.

Jongho sends back comforted signals through their bond, and San grins at his mates change of attitude.

"Okay, let's find her. We don't have much time. Did you have an idea of where she is?"

"Last I heard, she was in the garden, and her guard was down. Just follow the smell of flowers."

•••

Yuqi? Can you hear me? Please, give me a sign you're here.

Soyeon curses under her breathe as she quietly runs through the basement of the Blue Star palace, smelling the air to see if she can scent out her mate. Soyeon decided that it was best that she separates from her group to try and find her pride members, while the others work on opening the cells and releasing the prisoners. While the lioness is running through the halls searching, she's unlocking cells and telling people where to find her group, and all she can do is hope that they avoid the few guards that are down here and find Daehyun and Jaimin.

There's hundreds of cells down here, all full of different types of animals and test subjects. She's seen wolves, mountain lions, bears, hell, she's pretty sure she even saw a deer or two, which are extremely rare. For whatever reason they have all these animals down here for, Soyeon has a bad feeling about it.