Third person pov

Taehyung stirred awake from sleep, and the first thing he noticed was the protective arms holding him while the exceedingly strong smell of forest wood filled his senses. 

His limbs were entangled with Jungkook's; he was almost disappearing in the elder's embrace. 

"Why don't you just get the hell out of here?" Jungkook's raspy, deep voice made him flinch lowly. 

He squinted his eyes open and was met with darkness, face stuffed in Jungkook's bare chest. 

"I have something to say. It's urgent." Taehyung found himself breaking away from his alpha's arms to look at Jimin who was standing at the doorway with a frown on his face, looking overwhelmed.  

He was warmly dressed in an oversized shirt--the heat from Jungkook's body enveloping him--and the blanket covering his naked lower half.

"What's wrong?" Taehyung asks, turning around and clearing his throat as his voice was too hoarse due to screaming and moaning last night.

Jungkook securely held his waist and nudged his nose on his nape; his actions were so soft that they made an unconscious smile spread Taehyung's face.

Last night definitely felt great. Taehyung had no idea how many times they did it but remembered the way he begged Jungkook to take him again and again--going through heat--before he passed out.

He wanted to do it without a barrier next time... or maybe when they decide to have puppies. He wanted his alpha's pups.

He'd never, ever, say that out loud. It's so fucking embarrassing. 

But for now, he had other things to focus on. Jimin seemed so desperate and scared that it made fear settle deep within Taehyung. 

The alpha was fiddling with his fingers, restlessly shifting around. His state ended up making the omega anxious before he could even know what has happened. 

He pushed the blanket off of him, glad that Jungkook had cared to keep him up, and got off the bed. 

He didn't care that he wasn't wearing underwear; both the people in the room had seen him naked before anyway. Furthermore, the shirt was long enough to cover him enough. 

He expected Jungkook to get possessive over the fact that he was half-naked before another alpha but that didn't happen.

Jungkook only sat up straight on the bed, groaning because of the loss of touch, missing Taehyung's presence already.

He looked at them with squinting eyes, trying to adjust them to the sudden bright light, seeming to have to problem with him approaching the other alpha with minimalistic clothes on. 

He was so glad that Jungkook wasn't trying to protect him from Jimin and restricting him from doing casual and normal things, restricting him from being himself, before his friend.

He loved how his mate kept respected him and kept completely quiet, not growling even when he walked up to Jimin and hugged him.

It was just so cute and sweet of his boyfriend.

The only time Jungkook had ever done anything possessive was when he told Jimin not to scent him. His actions then were understandable. 

Any mate would hate it when they themselves couldn't scent their mate (in this case, Jungkook didn't have the right to do so because Taehyung was mad at him) but someone else could.

All that didn't matter now. Taehyung pushed out thoughts about Jungkook and focused on Jimin's distressed self. 

Jimin exhaled deeply and hugged him back, hands not having enough strength to even hold Taehyung properly. Taehyung rubbed his back, brows furrowing in worry.

"What happened, Jimin?" Jungkook asks, not sleepy anymore. He had a frown on his face, voice soft as he could see how troubled his cousin looked.

"Jungho..." 

Jungkook's eyes widened. He pushed the sheets off his body and got off the bed instantly, making his way to Jimin.

Taehyung's face turned expressionless as soon as he heard that name. 

"What did he do? Did he say you something?" Jungkook asks, concerned, eyes wide in horror.

 Amidst having a good time with his mate, he had forgotten about his wicked and cruel father. He wondered what the demon wolf had done now. 

"He called me today morning," Jimin said, heart sinking when Taehyung held his elbow tighter. 

He knew how much effect this news would have on Taehyung. After all, Jungho was the reason for all his trauma. Jungkook was in no better state too. 

He tried to study the younger's face and understand what he was feeling but the emotions in his face were undecipherable. Hesitantly, he spoke up again,

"Jungho told me that I'm invited to the new year party which he is organizing at his house and told me to inform Jungkook..."

"Inform what?" Jungkook asks, chest constricting in anxiousness. He had a troubled expression on his face. 

"He told me to inform you that you need to go too and bring Taehyung along with you," Jimin whispered, heart sinking when the trueblood's shoulders slumped down and face turned blank. 

After all these months, two years, Jungkook had finally found his happiness again. Jimin couldn't imagine how painful it must be for Jungkook to hear that the reason for his happiness is in danger again. 

Taehyung's eyes widened. He snapped his head up at Jimin. "He knew I'm alive?" He asks softly, not scared but shocked.

Jimin nodded at that and looked away sadly. "When I asked him how he knew about it, he said that no one could enter and leave his mansion without him knowing, so he got to know that Jungkook had gone there to save you that night."

Jungkook's eyes drooped down, and he turned to his omega, holding his elbow and slowly pulling him towards himself, bringing him to his embrace to seek some comfort. 

He exhaled shakily, feeling his inner churn when Taehyung hugged him back firmly, tightly. 

It all hurt so much because they knew this day would come.

They had been enjoying all this time by avoiding all their problems while just staying together and living happily.

But now there was no further escape from this. They had to, no matter how bad they didn't like it, face their problems. 

Face Jungho.

Jungkook just wished to leave. He wanted to run away from his problems. Running away meant having Taehyung with him, he'd run away from his problems for the rest of his life. 

He couldn't lose Taehyung after all this. He'd rather be called a coward by running away than letting his mate get into any dangerous situation. 

"Let's go away, Tae. Before the new year, let's go away from here, to our baby girl and live there like a family. I want to forget about Jungho--"

"You can't forget about him by going away, Kookie!" Taehyung said strictly, looking at him with a stern and hard eyes. Jungkook's pupils shook in fear, crestfallen. 

"He wouldn't let you forget about him. Running away isn't a solution!" 

Jungkook shook his head at him, denying that his words were true. Jungho might get tired after searching for them for a while. They could find someplace in the world and live there, away from fear and Jungho. 

"Tae, Jungkook is right. Just leave this place and go away. It'll be safe for you," Jimin said, catching Taehyung's attention. 

"There is no running away from him, hyung. He'll hunt us down. He doesn't need me, but he does need Jungkook. He's been after Jungkook and his trueblood powers since forever, do you think he'll let us live happily?"  

Well, it was true. Jungho stopped at nothing but getting what he desired. He's being patient for so many years just so he could earn Jungkook's trust and manipulate him into giving away his powers to him. 

Why would he let him go away so easily? 

"Why should we lose a great chance to end all our miseries by running away from it?" Taehyung asks, voice not more than a whisper. 

Jungkook and Jimin looked at him with confusion. He bit his lips, eyes hard and determined. 

Taehyung wanted their hesitation to vanish. He had to convince them enough to help him do what he was thinking about; he wanted their complete coordination in this situation.

"What are you talking about?" Jimin asks, the skin between his eyebrows furrowing. 

"I need you to call Hoseok and Yoongi hyung for me first. I'll tell you everything once they're here," Taehyung said, dismissing the conversation. 

Before any one of them could protest, he walked to the closet to grab a few clothes before going off to shower.

"What was that?" Jimin asks, frown deepening. "Do you know what he was talking about?"

Jungkook shook his head, lips pressed together, unamused. He still thought that it was better to leave. They could face the problems some other day but not now.

Not when they had just mated. Not when they had just started their relationship.

But would he be able to freely enjoy their new beginning until the problems were taken care of?

"He sure has something in mind," Jungkook whispered, curious to know what his mate was thinking about.

"Keeping that aside, how was yesterday?" Jimin smiled sadly and guiltily because they had to hear such bad news right after their night. "This room smells disgusting."

Jungkook just grins at him half genuinely and looks away because his heart is too heavy to think of anything other than the safety of his mate. 

He didn't want to make another careless mistake like he did last time. He didn't want Taehyung to be hurt. 

He was just so happy before he knew this, and now...

One thing was for sure: unless and until Jungho is alive, he couldn't be happy for long.

-------

"Hey," Hoseok muttered happily, running into the house and going straight to hug Taehyung.

"Hi, hyung," Taehyung said, smiling as much as he can. His mate was so distressed and scared that he wasn't even speaking to him properly. 

He was traumatized, Taehyung understood. He was afraid that the past would repeat itself and Jungho might kill him right before his eyes without him being able to do anything. 

If that happens, Jungkook would go completely mad. 

But he couldn't think much about it because his mind couldn't get off the fact that they were trying to get rid of Jungho. He believed that nothing would happen to him or any of his family members. 

Jungho's life will come to an end. It has too; he'll make sure of it. 

"You reek of him," Hoseok said and smirked, winking at the boy. "Must have had a lot of fun--"

"Hyung," Taehyung whined, pouting as he hit his chest with his fist, "stop saying stuff like that."

Yoongi grumbled and grabbed Hoseok's elbow, pulling him off of the omega and glaring at him, telling him to shut up.

"Why? What's wrong?" Hoseok asks, truly clueless. Yoongi looked back in front and Hoseok followed his actions, looking in the same direction he did, heart sinking when he felt the heavy and negative atmosphere. 

Hoseok grimaced when he saw how tensed and anxious Jungkook looked. It made him feel immensely weird to see him like this. 

His ever-present smile vanished from his face, a highly unfamiliar sad expression taking the place of his happy one. 

He was used to seeing an angry, annoyed or quiet Jungkook, but he's only seen him anxious and troubled when he had become mentally ill after Hyejin's death.

He hated how it felt to see his cousin like this.

"What's going on?" He asks a distressed Jimin, voice as soft as a whisper. Taehyung urged them to sit down before settling down himself.

Hoseok's eyes were fixed on Jungkook as he listened to the explanation Taehyung gave him. He found himself scoffing when he heard Jungho's name slide off the omega's lips. 

He hated that man with a strong passion. The number of times he's hurt Jungkook is uncountable; it made him so mad that he was still trying to spoil his own son's life. 

He heaved out a sigh, glancing to the side to observe the reaction his mate was giving him before turning back to look at Jungkook who kept quiet, eyes fixed on the floor as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

"He wouldn't stop," Yoongi said, taking slow frustrated breaths as he pondered over whatever's happening.

Hoseok spoke no word. His usual talkativeness and cheerfulness crumbling down. 

His soft eyes still locked on his scared cousin. He got up hesitantly and walked up to the distressed trueblood and patted his head.

"You okay, gem?" He took the name he used to call him years ago when he was just a stubborn child who refused to speak to him due to fear of getting hit by his stepmother.  

Jungkook's face fell, as he blinked a few times and looked away, tearing up. He was drained emotionally. 

He remembered how Hoseok kept trying to make a conversation with him while he ignored everything he did. 

To lure him into believing that he is a person he could rely on, Hoseok had started calling him a gem, telling him that he was as precious as a gem. Even so, Jungkook refused to talk to him. 

Gem. That was the only praise anyone had given him in his childhood. Surprisingly, it had managed to make Jungkook all soft inside, beginning to trust Hoseok. 

As a child, he loved how Hoseok would come to meet him frequently, ignoring all the threats which Sangmi gave him. 

Listening to that again made him want to cry. Especially the sweet and soft way Hoseok had just called him the name with... 

He gulped down his tears, refusing to cry. 

Hoseok sat down beside him, observing him carefully with his lips pressed into a thin line. He took the trueblood's trembling hand into his own, caressing the back of it. 

The rest just stared at them intently, noticing how affected Jungkook looked by Hoseok's sweet action. Taehyung was taken aback when he saw Jungkook's eyes shining due to tears.

"It's alright, yeah? We'll find a way out of this in the way we got out of every other difficult situation."

Jungkook's lips quivered and he gulped again, feeling his throat clog shut. He forced down the pain which flooded him.

Every time he thought his better days had begun, he would revive a harsh slap across his face from his reality.

He couldn't be happy for long. 

that was just how it was meant to be.  

It was just his fate probably. Getting abused all childhood, being fated to two people, mislead to believe someone else is his mate, and taking so long to love his actual mate... it seemed like the universe didn't want him to smile.

It just hurt so much.

And Hoseok could tell how pained he was. It was him and Yoongi who had been by his side when he was sad and hurt after all.

"H-hoseok hyung," he gritted his teeth as he hated stuttering. The elder leaned forward, wrapping his arm around his neck and bringing him closer.

The trueblood let himself be comforted. He buried his head in his cousin's shoulder and let his tears fall, knowing well that he wouldn't be judged by Hoseok for crying.

Knowing that it was alright to show his pain to Hoseok. Knowing that his cousin was beside him to protect him through everything. 

"I-it doesn't end, hyung. The pain... It d-doesn't end."

Hoseok shut his eyes close tightly and let out a shaky exhale. The wetness he felt on his shoulder hurt him because he knew that Jungkook had was very sensitive and hurt at the moment. 

He sneaked his other arm around him too, attempting to hide his face from the other's because he knew that Jungkook didn't like crying and showing his vulnerable side to anyone. 

"It's alright, Jungkook. After everything that has happened, we will make sure that this will be the last time you'll feel like this, yeah? It will end. It has to end."

"It will," Taehyung assured, voice desperately soft as he really wished to comfort his mate. "We'll make it end."

His last sentence caught everyone's attention and they snapped his attention to him.

Jungkook was quick to rub his tears off before breaking away from Hoseok and looking at Taehyung. "Y-You have something in mind, don't you?"

"I do," Taehyung confessed. "I'll tell it to you."

They sat up straight, serious eyes locked on his.

"Jiminie hyung, could you please repeat what the demon wolf wants from Jungho and what exactly he had demanded?"

Jimin licked his dry lips before whispering, "He said he would grant Jungho immortality by making him a demon wolf only if Jungho agreed to give him twenty omegas at the end of every decade."

"What else?" Taehyung asks, glancing at Jungkook to make sure he's fine--feeling dejected because his mate was sad--before turning back to Jimin.

"Nothing else," Jimin said, thinking deeply as he wondered whether he had missed some detail. "He just needed untainted omegas."

"Untainted," the omega smiled, stressing on the word. "Untainted."

"What are you thinking about, Tae?" Hoseok asks this time, the smile of the boy confusing him.

"Carefully think about the smallest detail of the demon's demand, hyung," Taehyung says, eyes shining as he already knew what exactly he needed to do.

"He needs untainted omegas," the youngest whispered, eyebrows raising to lay stress on the fact. "If the omegas don't remain virgins..."

They gasped, stunned at his idea. Delight flickered in their eyes, burning for a second with a sharp glory but dying down when they dug deeper into the idea. 

Nervous and confusion took over happiness.

"What you're proposing is easier said than done, sweetheart," Yoongi muttered, rubbing the younger's back. "It isn't as easy as you think it is."

"It isn't. It definitely isn't, but it isn't impossible too. We have to make this happen because after this year, we wouldn't get a chance to do anything to defeat Jungho!"

Hoseok shook his head, laying his back against the couch.

"Tae, there are many things we don't know. Jungho may have many more omegas with him. Getting the omegas out of the mansion without him knowing is impossible."

Jimin nodded at what he said, looking back at his determined friend. He knew there was no way Taehyung was letting himself get discouraged; he could tell just by looking at him.

He could see it in Taehyung's eyes--the will to do the impossible, the need to change the thinking of theirs and convince them to do as he says--and he could already tell that this idea wasn't going to slide this easily.

"It will be difficult to do it ourselves. There are many things unknown to us as we don't stay close to Jungho. We can't go in there and bring the omegas out without that idiot knowing," the omega listed out the several problems they had.

"Just if we had someone who lives with Jungho in his mansion and knows everything about what he does and also agrees to help us out in this situation..." Taehyung muttered, smirking at the clueless others.

"We do have some people like that, don't we?" Taehyung asks, eyes twinkling. 

Jimin scoffed, looking away. "Who? There's no one to help us, baby."

"There is," Taehyung stated firmly. "Namjoon hyung and Jin hyung."

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