YOONGI POV:

I feel a pit in me open- gaping, wide and consuming. And in it bubbles and festers are feelings of hatred and bitterness so strong they're nauseating and fiery, making me feel as if my skin is alight and burning. The anger, fear and sheer disgust is corrosive and vile, like the bile that threatens to burn a scorching path up my throat. 

Chul.

Again it's him. Again he's returned and is trying to upturn my life all over again- determined to make a place in my life when all I want, all I wish for is for him to leave, cease to exist- vanish from our lives and stop hurting not only me, but now (Y/N) too. He stole from her the most precious thing she held dear- he stole her mortality, snatched it out of her lax grip after he'd mauled her and left her for dead, face gleaming with sadistic pleasure as he'd vanished into the night.

And he just couldn't leave it there.

From the pictures of the victims, the cases that had begun making our concern stir up long before the incident makes me feel insecure, unsafe all of a sudden. Because it looks like he's had his eyes set on us for some time, that for some unexplained reason he'd had his eyes on (Y/N), on our baby mate before he even knew that she was ours just the way we were hers.

It makes my instincts writhe in rage and fury and screech and howl with how unjust it is, how unfair it is. And how every nerve cell, every fibre of being, every ounce of my existence wants nothing more to rip him from shred to shred, to return every single second of pain he's inflicted and make him suffer just how he made me suffer, how he made (Y/N) suffer and how we've all been silently suffering as a coven.

(Y/N)'s fingers are trembling and shaky as she reaches out for me, tears coursing down her cheeks as she tries to feel that closeness- tries to reassure herself that I'm fine, that I'm in front of her eyes when clearly her mind is still processing the photos, identifying that I'm threatened or hurt.

"I'm okay darling...I'm okay. Look at me        (Y/N)." I urge, getting her attention- feeling my heart shatter at at the way her tearful wide eyes turn trustingly to me, at the way they keep flickering between her original eye colour and red- as if the two sides are warring, in conflict; as if she herself is pulled between them and trying to escape.

"I'm safe. You're safe. We're all safe. And he will not harm you again. I won't let him." I say, words full of promise. Because if it ever came to it, I wouldn't hesitate in becoming the monster that humans feared vampires were, for her- to save her, to protect her I'd gladly become a monster and ruin Chul.

First it had just been me he'd ruined and tormented. 

But when he'd hurt (Y/N), he'd crossed that line.

When I see her in this moment, hurting and suffering I remember cold hands trailing over my bare skin, running across the restraints holding me open and still, and invading every inch of me, violating me. When I see her I remember cold lips brushing against the shell of my ear 'pretty toy playing so nicely, being such a good boy for me' as he'd whisper and shudder and recoil because I never want her to encounter Chul in her life again. I see her and thank every star, thank every deity, thank every thing in existence that she never saw that side to him- she'd become so dangerously close and survived and for that I find myself looking at her and being plagued with horrific 'what ifs'. 

Her eyes burn with determination.

"He won't harm you either. I won't let him. Never again." She vows, sealing her promise, her oath with tears that trickle and splash over our intertwined hands, on the way her lips feverishly kiss our interlaced fingers, head curved over it.

"Jin hyung put those photos away...please." I add, voice breaking as my eyes catch onto the stack of papers in his hands, he nods- complexion ashy and pale and usually composed manner ruffled and shaken as his hands fumble to slide them back into the envelope, sealing them from sight.

"Hyungs...(Y/N) couldn't keep her feed down again. I think it's because of that." Kookie whispers, head tilted towards the envelope in Jin hyung's hand. His eyes are red and distraught and he hasn't shifted away from (Y/N), feeling the instinct to protect his only youngest mate as an overwhelming compelling need. His eyes flicker to her and he silently just shifts himself closer- mumbling an apology against her head.

Hobi moves forward, stirred out of the pale, shocked silence he'd gone into to gently card his fingers through her hair.

"It's okay my love. We'll make a way." He simply says.

"Can we get out of here...please?" Tae asks suddenly, deep voice streaked with sadness and worry and slight hysteria. I shoot a glance at him and see that his arms have wrapped around himself, holding himself as if the moment those arms will move, he'll fall apart. It's within an instance he's held between Joon and Jin hyung- the two shifting to flank him from either side, soft murmurs as they run fingers through his hair, Joonie's fangs scraping gently against the mating mark on his neck.

He sags in their hold, but his eyes remain glued onto (Y/N), on the way she's still silently fretting, shaking, and shuddering as a shiver wracks her frame.

I know that at some point, all of this bubbling out had caused Tae to be torn between the instinctual need to get to (Y/N) and the rising need to shift; extreme emotions and situations tended to push him the quickest to that edge, where he hovered and tried to fight the urges, tried to push away the buzzing feeling, skin thrumming with the itch. He was still pushing them away, still wanting to reassure that (Y/N) was fine before he even considered focusing his attention elsewhere.

I take a look around the room and see the fraught atmosphere- thick and heavy, see the way everyone seems to be pushed on-edge, emotions crashing and merging and bleeding into each other, jumbled, and confused and knotted together. Chul's done this. Chul has caused everyone to be unsettled, panicked, and struggling to fight impulses. Because impulse is telling us to find him and make him pay, but also to help settle our baby mate, to try and restore a fraction of the familiar ease and comfort that usually imbued the bond.

Without even physically being here, he's turned the bond into a frantic panic. And it just makes my eyes burn- with rage, with resentment, with hatred.

That he'd taken his games too far, that he'd toyed with my mates and when he'd done that- he'd started a game that had no rules. It was a fight to win and there was no way he was emerging victorious. I wouldn't settle until I saw him defeated and powerless- until he'd been inflicted just as much pain he'd doled out. And I was going to play viciously and brutally with him.

An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Pain for pain.

(Y/N) POV:

At some point I realise that the walls around us have changed, that somehow we've made it into the nesting room even if I had no recollection of moving, of getting up and walking. It makes me wonder whether I've even been aware of what's going on.

"You're okay petal. We teleported." Jinnie oppa says, voice warm and soft and immediately setting to rest the beginnings of confusion, shifting me to sit on the edge of the bed, kneeling in front of me, eyes warm and loving as he looks up at me.

"You should change. Do you...do you want any of us to stay?" he asks, voice gentle and understanding. Understanding that I felt if I was left alone, I would be pushed over the edge, unable to stop myself from shattering.

I nod.

"Please stay." I murmur, hand reaching out for him. He leans closer, allowing me to cup his cheek- his head turning slightly to press a kiss to the inner skin of my wrist and then up, slow kisses- lips moving to kiss my palm. Soft, gentle, safe, and promising.

"I'll always stay little one." he promises.

And he hands me one of my pyjama sets, turned around to give me privacy as I change and he's there keeping me company in the bathroom as I wash my face and brush my teeth- readying myself for bed.

Jinnie oppa has always been that constant source of comfort, the one who so easily manages to put me at ease, give me that sense of familiarity that allows me to feel settled and safe. I don't know whether that's the effect he has as our eldest mate, or maybe it's part of his abilities- but he just feels like home. That constant warmth that always fans out across my body when he hugs me, or brushes his lips tenderly against mine or peppering chaste kisses across my cheeks. Every single thing he does just feels like he's my sanctuary, my safe space- there for me to hide in, there for me to be myself in.

And the others rush in when the door swings open automatically, shifting to situate themselves on the bed, each one them physically close enough to touch one another.

I'm not surprised, but pleasantly comforted when Kookie immediately takes the space on my right, curling close around me- strong firm arms that wrap me in a band of warmth- a warmth that goes beyond physical, it's one that makes me shift closer, even as my head turns to see Tae, to see his eyes filled with yearning and longing and need- my hand outstretched towards him to bring him close, relaxing when he immediately cuddles in close, plastering himself across my back and head tucked into the crook of my shoulder.

I reach down to touch the hands that band across my waist, two pairs of them and gently find Tae's hand, squeeze it gently.

"If you need to shift Tae, shift. We're right here. I'm right here- not going anywhere." I reassure, meeting his eyes when I turn my head.

"I'm fine." He mumbles.

"Tae...I promise I'll be here if you do." I say, wanting him to know that if he does decide at some point in the night, then I'll stay by him.

But he nods, reassured, and presses a kiss to my cheek before I turn. The others quickly situate themselves onto either side of the two, Minnie shifting to rest immediately next to Tae and Jinnie oppa taking the space behind Kookie, the others behind them. But I feel safe and content.

Feel cocooned by their love and affection and care as well as their bodies. And it's the thought of that that allows me to drift off to sleep.

----

My eyes fly open, chest heaving desperately to get in air- the sound of my breaths harsh and loud and grating in the otherwise silence of the room. 

Fragments of my nightmare still flash through my mind.

The feeling of being trapped, pinned into the ground- that pain as I felt my stomach being torn open, fingers digging in- that feeling of air becoming thin and rare, throat trying to force it into my lungs- and the way the sky had been starless and blank. I stare up at the ceiling, the darkness unsettling and frightening- feeling my mind immediately connect it to the starless sky- to the last thing I'd seen before my eyes couldn't see anymore. Tonight it had been me pinned to the ground and then suddenly as the air had left my lungs, I seemed to leave my body too- looking down at the effortless way Chul had managed to control my writhing screaming body. But when Chul moved back it hadn't been me I was looking at, it was Yoongi oppa with his eyes unseeingly meeting mine, face pale and drained of even the slightest colour and utterly still, Chul's filthy whisper of 'good boy' at his unmoving figure. It had made me scream and twist and try to get to him, fighting an unseen force as I tried to will myself to be under his grip instead, to let it be my getting my skin torn open and not Yoongi oppa who was trapped and unmoving. It had been the sheer feeling of fear so dreadful and consuming it had made my eyes fly open- finally seeing. Finally realising it had been a nightmare.

The darkness is suffocating, trapping, and confining me in the sight of what I'd seen before I'd seen no more and almost as if attuned to my distress and pain, the room is illuminated in a soft yellow glow- suddenly getting rid of that feeling of drowning in that darkness, that never-ending black night.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Minnie asks, voice gruff with sleep, and eyes blearily looking at me, I'd shifted around at some point in the night.

His eyes slowly become alert and focused, taking in the way I seemed to be struggling to get air in.

And it's looking at him that I suddenly realise. I'd gone to sleep with Tae against me, and he's not here right now.

"Tae...Tae." I get out, the words sounding wheezing and raspy.

Minnie's eyes widens before his gaze drops, expression understanding.

And still he doesn't stop in his effort to soothe me, hand gently delving under the fabric of my pyjama top and resting at the base of my back- the touch so familiar and yet so different to the first time he'd done this, to the time I'd awoken to the feeling of being complete, rested.

His hand remains there, splayed across.

"Minnie...Tae." I say again, feeling myself slowly calm down- breathing slightly easier.

"It's okay nae aein." He whispers. His other hand gently comes to slide up the front- not once making contact with my skin but instead brushing against something, said something that shifts and presses directly onto my stomach. Oh. Oh.

Tae's shifted and somehow nestled himself on the inside of my pyjama top, nesting against the soft fabric and Minnie's soft touches had allowed me to feel the small bat curl closer to me, to shift and press near me.

"He's fine. You're fine too. Skin to skin contact helps." Minnie says softly, fingers tracing circles onto my back, helping me relax into the mattress, feel the tension slowly drain away as I feel the warmth and safety he radiates, wounding around my heart in a gentle caress.

And it's seeing Minnie's eyes gentle and loving as he quietly speaks to me, the way his hand comes to rest against my back when my eyes begin to flutter and the feeling of Tae shifting close in bat form to curl up next to the slight warmth of my body is how I fall back asleep. 

Because even through my nightmares they're there to help me, even in the aftermath they help me pick up the pieces of my shattered self. And the heat of their love, of our bond is strong enough to thaw the numbness that Chul has left behind.

(THERE YOU GO! SOME ANGSTY, HEALY FLUFFY MIX OF A CHAPTER! AND PERSONALLY THE IMAGE OF TAE IN BAT FORM, CURLING NEXT TO HER STOMACH WAS JUST SUCH A CUTE IMAGE- I HOPE YOU ALL FOUND IT CUTE TOO. IMAGINE THEIR SURPRISE WHEN THE OTHERS WILL WAKE THE NEXT MORNING, LOOK FOR TAE AND WONDER WHY IS IT (Y/N)'S LIFTING HER TOP UP- ONLY TO REVEAL A SLEEP SNUGGLY BAT! ACK! I MIGHT ACTUALLY ADD THAT SCENE NOW...HMM—DECISIONS, DECISIONS! LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE CHAPTER AND WHETHER YOU FELT THE EMOTIONS COME ACROSS TOO! I HOPE THE CHAPTER ALLOWS YOU ALL TO SEE THAT BONDING THAT COMES WITH BEING EACH OTHER'S SUPPORT AND THAT YOU'LL SEE THE WAY THEY ARE SO DAMN READY TO KILL FOR (Y/N). AND HONESTLY- I HOPE EVERYONE SUPPORTS THEM IN THIS ENDEAVOUR! BELTS ON, WEAPONS READY- RISE THE (Y/N) PROTECTION SQUAD! TAKE CARE AND STAY SAFE!)

P.S nae aein = my sweetheart/my love

We learn from our mistakes, they help us grow as individuals and gain experiences we may otherwise never would've had.

Like me accidentally posting the wrong chapter today- the siren one onto this book! I'm so embarrassed- everyone who caught it was so surprised and thrown off! Ack! Sorry again lovelies~

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3