JIMIN POV:

Hae refuses to settle, sniffly tears that tear past her throat as she wails, twisting fitfully in Tae's arms, trying to tug herself free and scrabble off.

Desperately staring at the door that closes behind us, the sound of (Y/N)'s stifled cries and panic cut off by the house's wards around her art room.

"Mama... dada go mama. Le' go." She insists between sobs, eyes flashing pure red with her own terror and pain of being taken away, fists pushing at Tae's shoulders as she shrieks and cries.

Tae's own eyes flicker back and forth between red and brown, torn, as he looks at me. Heart breaking as he watches our daughter struggle to get away, to break free from him to go back. To run towards the room that undoubtedly has locked behind us.

Sealed us away from her.

"Mama's going to be okay baby... dada promises." I murmur, fingers brushing at wet cheeks, catching spilling tears as she sniffles, ducking away from my touch; flushed cheeks curling to press against Tae's shoulder as she hides away.

It yanks at my heart to see her distraught and thrashing because she'd been the one to find (Y/N) and yet taken away; because her distressed cries were throwing (Y/N) into a frozen loop, pushing her further into that memory of her own parents.

It made anger simmer because the monster that had started these nightmares was gone. But the taint of his doings remained and made it hard for our baby mate to move on, to free herself from it.

"No! Want mama." Hae Kyung insists, nose damp and red, eyes glassy.

In that instant with the blood flushing her cheeks and her lips wobbling as she cries I think how mortal she seems in that moment.

How much like (Y/N) she is.

How much Hae must be like how (Y/N) was as a mortal toddler.

It makes yearning and pain twist and curl around the bond; seeping in with the cold numbness radiating off (Y/N)'s tether and the grief in the hyungs.

And crippling fear because we don't know how she is, what's happening as I gently steer Tae towards the stairs, towards her nursery.

And yet this time... this time the familiar walls and gentle scent of baby powder and milk doesn't soothe her, even if she stops thrashing slightly, peering over Tae's shoulder at her room.

Tears trickling out large doe eyes that burn a painful crimson as she stares at the bed.

"Do you want to lie down Hae Hae?" I ask softly, brushing back brown waves, fingers drifting carefully.

Heart clenched with the painful anticipation of her ducking away again.

She sobs, eyes filled with pain and tiredness.

"Want mama." She insists.

Curling up in Tae's hold as he presses a kiss to her forehead, hand curled around her back as he keeps her steady.

"Mama will be here. She's with dadas." I soothe.

"Mama hurt. Mama cryin'." She sniffles.

Not for the first time I realised just how deeply her bond with (Y/N) was. How fiercely attached and how much she relied on (Y/N)'s closeness and proximity.

She was curious.

Curious and delighted with exploring the house's endless halls and nooks. But she always searched out (Y/N) first in a room. She always settled quicker when having milk on her lap even if she was giggly and willing to be plucked up and whirled by any of us.

(Y/N) was her safe space.

And her safe space was hurting.

For the first time her safe space had been unresponsive to her daughter, lost and trapped in her mind. Flinching from our daughter's cries because it was making it worse, hands clamped over her ears to try muffle the sound, eyes clenched tightly shut.

Because for the first time (Y/N) had been unable to give reassurance.

Hadn't responded to Hae's worried calls and tugs.

And it had made the house feel compelled to let Hae rush out, to scrabble off the steps wobbly and uncoordianted to us. Because the house had sensed both their pain. Because getting (Y/N) and Hae safe and looked after was the house's priority over letting a toddler rush down several flight of stairs.

"Mama's going to be fine. Dadas won't let her hurt." Tae promises, voice low but wavering.

She stares at him.

Head rising to peer at him.

Contemplating as her lips wobble... staring at the flickering eyes before a hand rises up, a tiny pinky held up as she sniffles.

"Promise dada?"

He doesn't hesitate to wrap his finger around hers, pressing kisses to the interlinked fingers, curls brushing against her hand.

"Promise baby."

And she sniffles, another sob tearing past her throat, tumbling past her lips at that.

"Mama baby." She insists.

Tae's lips wobble even as he presses another kiss to her temple.

"Mama baby." He confirms and echoes.

Walking over to the bed and sinking down, hands loosely unfurling and setting her down.

We both watch as she curls up, burrowing against the bunny plushie on the bed, nosing at it unconsciously to chase (Y/N)'s scent that lingered in every crevice of the room just as much as Hae's own soft baby scent did.

I join Tae on the bed, brushing back her hair, watching as exhaustion tugs her away from crying, cheeks damp and blotchy by the time she drifts off, curled around the bunny, Kookie's gift to her, and finally... finally our own bond with Hae; curled in fiercely protective cocoon around her settles.

But though she settles, Tae doesn't.

Anxiousness has his body trembling as he sits on the edge of the bed, body cagey and fretting; thrumming with unpent energy.

And I knew he wasn't going to shift, not when every anxiety, every fear and worry was directly tied to our unresponsive mate, when she was hurting and because of it had shut away within herself, had tried to deal with the emotions by clamping down on them and repressing them.

"Tae honey... (Y/N)'s going to be okay... you know the hyungs won't leave her side. Kookie's got her too. She's safe."

But his eyes continue to flash and burn a brighter red; warring with the usual brown, flickering between flared instincts of his covenmate, his blood-bonded, his wife and soul, curling smaller as if to compress those same worries from seeping out and stirring our barely settled daughter, teary sniffles that quieten.

"When we got there... I could feel the emptiness. It hurt because my heart felt hollow." Voice shaking, hand trembling as he grinds his palm across his chest, trying to ease the ache of the memory of the pain.

It was a weak tether right now... thrumming with agony and pain and stifled as if even now... even now (Y/N) was trying to suppress it. Hide it.

Or she was still stuck in her mind, trying to drag herself out slowly.

"She will be okay Tae... I know it." I murmur.

Not able to explain the deeply rooted instinctual knowledge of the words that slip past my lips, simply that they will, she will be okay.

His eyes burn a bright crimson, hand gentle where they continue to gently brush over Hae's side, gently card through her hair and soothe the soft, stirring disquiet with the warm pulse of his protective energy seeping around her. The tension in his neck and shoulders is unmistakeable, the words he's shuddered out drag out memories stifled and locked away.

Reel them out with a poisonous hook that drives deeper to wedge firmly into the pain, to make sure it hurts at what his words remind me of. Of the last time the bond to (Y/N) felt hollow.

Rather... the last time the bond between us just snapped.

Tether disintegrating and bond falling away. But not before it'd transferred across the agony she was going through, the helplessness, the fear, the nauseating emptiness as she bled out in the alley. The night she almost died, hovered over that precipice a little too much for the panic to ever settle, for the nightmare to quieten even now... that night when I'd seen my mate bleed out in an alley because of a monster who'd not only hurt her but had hurt Yoongi hyung too.

It makes the bond between us pulse with a broken ache, a pain that seeps into flesh and bones and melds itself around me, throbs through my veins and makes my unbeating heart feel heavier than ever.

But it's not like that... it's not.

And Tae turns, stricken and grieved, sensing the bond, sensing the weighted misery in it, hand trembling as he whispers a broken apology, fingers entangling tightly to mine, drawing them to trembling lips to press a shaky kiss too.

"Alive. She's alive." He reminds me.

I nod.

I know.

But that doesn't mean I'll ever forget. I don't think any of us will be able to.

And yet Hae Kyung... our daughter is the reminder that time has passed, that time will continue to pass, that we have survived and endured and moved past. And even if it threatens to drag us into its dark recesses again, into the chasms of grief and emptiness—then this time we have a daughter, we have someone who's the coven's lifeforce to be brave and strong for.

And even if one falls weak—there'll be another seven to help support them.

But for now... for now the two of us sit hands entangled, bodies gravitated close and watching over our sleeping daughter. Watch and sense her energy settle, her panic quieten and sleep soothe her tears away.

And as we sit curled together over the hours—eventually the bond slowly begins to lighten too. Bit by bit.

TAE POV:

(Y/N) takes one look at me and lets out a teary sniffle, lips trembling as they curve up, hand stretched out for me to take as she draws me to her. Eyes bright and flickering red, even if they're puffy from tears and her cheeks are tearstained, her smile is genuine. Warm.

Lets out a shaky bubble of laughter, eyes fond as she lets her fingers curl around my wrist.

The tether of her bond much, much lighter.

"The ears are new." She observes, eyes drifting to where the bat ears flicker, registering the faint shakiness to her words, the curl of strength cording through them. Register the soft breaths, lighter and even.

Almost worlds away to the unresponsive mate we'd found.

"What can I say~ they're a side effect. Hopefully Hae gets to see them before they vanish." I smile, drawn closer and closer to her. The gravitational tug of her bond a visceral sensation I feel winding around me from somewhere in my centre and guiding me to her.

Her fingers a gentle guidance drawing me closer before I'm slipping onto the bed beside her and reaching out to draw her alongside me, cradling her close, arms winding around her and pressing my lips to her now-still pulse point.

She doesn't have a beating heart anymore.

But that doesn't mean I've forgotten how it feels, that I've forgotten the wild, thrumming pulse of her heart. I still remember the feel of her pulse against my lips and tongue.

I don't think it's something I'll ever forget. And even in the absence of it, I can still feel the semi-warmth her body's permanently retained, the faint ghost of heat that I press my lips to now, nose nudging against the crook of her throat as I burrow my face there.

Breath in her scent, no longer marred from the poisoned sharpness of her grief.

"I like them... I don't like the fact you held back shifting." She says softly, the light pinch at my arm a brief sting that she soothes away immediately with the pad of her thumb.

"I'll shift later. But I didn't feel like I could. Not when my wife was broadcasting numbness and Hae wouldn't settle." I say, voice quiet and muffled against her.

I know she hears every word clearly.

Curls against me, lips brushing against my earlobe, nuzzling gently at my jaw.

"I'm sorry Tae..." whispers it quietly.

Voice level and soft. The slight waver tugs at my heartstrings.

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad. But I want you to know that I put you first... my family, my coven first. And that's my choice." Fangs gently scraping across the sensitive skin, nuzzling and breathing her in, mouthing more for comfort, for the instinctual reassurance of feeling her skin under me.

"I'm always going to be there for you jagi and for Hae Kyungie too, so if that means both my girls have a bat to cuddle with all night, then oh well." A soft smile pressed to skin, feel her fingers curl loosely around my forearm as she tilts to face me, lips brushing against my cheek.

"I doubt she'll mind... she loves your bat form more than all the toys we've gotten her."

My lips brush gently against her throat, trail up to press below her ear, delighted in the small shiver it elicits as she presses back, the slightest tilt to her head as she bares the slender curve of her throat to me.

"And you?"

Fangs nipping at skin.

"I think I'll welcome the small shifter bat who comes to cuddle."

And as I hold her, as she curls against me, I don't miss how the bond tethering all eight of us, how the bond binding me and her, lightens—ebss with a calmer energy because she's no longer giving off the nauseating numbness.

The bond tingles with warmth seeping through it, silent unconscious comfort transmuted across from the others.

"Your energy still isn't steady." I mumble, content to breathe her in.

To hold her like this.

Vampires don't need to breathe. But (Y/N)'s far too young of a vampire, barely a decade gone, for her to forget human mannerisms, for her to abandon the humaneness that had had her lungs drawing in air, that still has her cheeks flushing prettily; the ghost of the pink they had been, the way she still lives with human habits.

It had been perhaps near decades before Kookie had slowly started processing that breathing wasn't a necessity, it was habit. It took decades for him to even begin easing away because he wanted to.

Hearing her soft breaths, even and fluttery remind me of how human our baby mate is. That despite being changed, my eyes drift silently to the bite... to Yoongi hyung's bite, that she's the most human out of all of us. And that'll stay.

It's something that brings comfort now to feel the measured breaths, to feel the way her chest rises and falls, the way her throat bobs as she swallows when my mouth trails lower to slot over Yoongi hyung's bite. Fangs ghosting along in a light tease where the pinprick marks stay, where fangs had first sank into her with a fierce, blinded need to protect and save this beautifully, wonderful human mate of ours.

"Kookie didn't let go until he was satisfied with it... so it's not all bad." Words light but they come accompanied with a pulse of guilt echoing through the bond. I nip gently.

"You don't need to feel bad jagi. Our mates took care of you. We take care of each other, of our coven." I murmur.

Knowing full well that the reason the bedroom had been empty, that she hadn't had either Kookie or one of the hyungs pressed close to her, unable to deny that protective need to stay close to our youngest was that because they sensed she was okay. That she needed some time to process without overbearing mates. That or the house had likely shut them out, refused them entry.

But I know they're not far. Know that Kookie's probably gone to stay with Jimin and Hae. That undoubtedly the others are somewhere close to.

"I know. But I... I didn't think a storm would trigger something. Guess the house needs to work on sound-proofing." Voice slightly wavery, hitching with the tendrils of distress trying to bind themselves around her again.

What stops them in their tracks, from dragging (Y/N) into the misery once more, red eyes flickering guilitly isn't me. It's the house.

It seems to quietly rumble with echo of her words, in apology as the pillows on either side of us cluster close, blankets dragging up to sandwich us in a soft cocoon. It's the way the floorboards creak in acknowledgment and then the sounds I'd been picking up on; the sounds of our mates around the house seem to vanish.

Quietened.

Tugging a wry smile to her lips as she draws a pillow close, closes her arms around it as she leans against me.

"Peace and quiet for me house? I wonder how long before Jinnie oppa threatens you again." Amusement colouring her voice.

In response the door swings exaggeratedly and comes to shut, the lock turning and the room warming.

The house too has never failed to give (Y/N) the human comforts she needs.

Including the physical warmth and heat when her own body can't generate it the same way.

Her lips brush against my throat softly.

"I bet 2 hours."

I laugh, turning to face her, lips brushing against hers softly.

"You underestimate the bond of the coven head. I give it... 20 minutes."

Drawing her face closer to mine to kiss her properly, lips melding to hers with a familiar ease as she curls closer, hand cupping my jaw.

Lips a hairbreadth apart for a few moments.

"That gives me plenty of time."

Before surging forward to kiss her, to map her lips to mine, to chase the sweet taste of her scent seemingly engrained into the soft plushness that melds to my mouth as she loosens her fingers on the pillow and reaches to tug at my shirt. Fangs sinking into her bottom lip to tug gently, tongue curling to sweep across the seam of her lips. It's easy to fall into the familiairty of us, her lips pressing back with a greater want, with the bond thrumming contentedly as her fingers brush distractingly across my jaw, rubbing slow circles into skin, soft breathy exhale swallowed eagerly by me.

Plenty of time.

Hand curling against her nape and tugging her forward with a groan.

(AND SCENE!! WOW THIS CHAPTER WAS SO, SO OVERDUE AND THANK YOU FOR ANY READERS STICKING BY BB AND GIVING THE COVEN THEIR TIME AND LOVE!! I'M SORRRYYYY IT TOOK FOREVER BUT HOPEFULLY THESE CHAPTERS WILL BE LESS SPACED APART NOW—NOT VANISHING FOR MONTHS AND ALL! HOPE YOU ENJOYED~ TAE WAS DEFINITELY WRONG, IT WAS 16 MINUTES BY THE TIME THE HOUSE LETS JIN IN, AND HE WALKS INTO TWO MATES HALF-ENTANGLED IN BED ;) AND THREATENS THE HOUSE FOR MAKING HIM BE BANISHED FROM HIS TWO MATES ALL SOFT INTIMATE!)

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3