32 ⋆ Icarus

─── ･｡•̩̩͙˚｡✧: *.☽ .* :✧•̩̩͙･ﾟ｡───

Jimin's POV

It had been a week since Seungjae's death and I had requested personally that he be buried in the clearing where tiger lilies still grew. I visited every day, staying with his gravestone for a while, occasionally taking naps beside it, talking to whatever was above in hopes his voice would echo in my ears just once more.

Walking aimlessly through the forest today, the snow started to pass as spring was coming once more. My fingers picked off the delicate petals of a few lilies in my clasped hand, my eyes focusing on nothing as I walked without direction between trees and shuffling through melting snow.

"Jimin," Jungkook's voice sounded behind me. I turned and looked over my shoulder warily, glancing him up and down as he stared at me wearily with his shoulders sagged. I turned back around and started to walk again.

"Jimin," Jungkook sighed, walking quickly to catch up beside me with slight protest. He gently reached out and touched my shoulder, stopping me and making me turn to look at him.

"Jimin. It's been a week, talk to me. I need you. I'm lost," Jungkook begged softly, placing a delicate hand on my cheek. I blinked a few times but kept my eyes down, Donghae Yang's words ringing in my head at what he had supposedly done.

"Please. I love you. You gotta talk to me at some point," Jungkook tried to reason.

He was right. I sighed softly, looked up at him, making him smile sadly. The thought of Seungjae's deep, empty eye sockets, his cold body lump in my arms, and blood on my hands, flashed through my mind quickly, making me whimper.

"I want to go home," I murmured, dropping the plucked stem of a lily in my hand. Jungkook nodded and pulled me into his arms, pressing me against his strong, pine-smelling chest which I loved and found immense comfort in.

Closing my eyes and allowing myself to enjoy this moment, before he suddenly swept me off my feet and began to walk in the direction of our house.

"Donghae said something else when I saw him," I whispered as I rested the side of my head against his chest, listening for the steady and strong heartbeat.

"What?" Jungkook asked, carefully weaving between trees and such, sloshing through slush every now and then.

"He said you killed his mate and only child," I said after taking a sharp inhale, closing my eyes.

Jungkook's grip under my back and knees tightened a little bit as his face went a bit pale and his lips said nothing.

"Did you?" I asked. My eyes stared up at him, slowly filling with tears at his stern silence.

"There are things you don't understand, Jimin." Jungkook finally said, almost making me flinch at his words.

"Why did you do it?" I pushed, interrogating him.

Jungkook no longer wanted to hold me. He set me down rather roughly, almost making me fall over as he continued to walk.

"Jungkook." I followed behind him as he strode through the melting snow to our house which was now in view.

He turned and glared at me, making me gulp and take a few steps back as he stalked forward angrily. "Miyong wasn't his mate. Narae, my fucking sister was. Ever heard the story of Icarus and the sun? Narae flew too close. She was born human, a thing that rarely happens with two werewolf parents, but fucking human ancestor genes. Donghae said if she shifted, then they could be together forever. So she did it on her twenty-first birthday, and it fucking murdered her, no, he fucking murdered her."

"When Donghae first attacked this pack, long before you were ever here and before I assumed pack Alpha, Donghae attacked with his new 'mate' by his side and his newly shifted daughter on his other. I killed the girl first, and when the mommy 'mate' showed up, I killed her second. Too bad the sick bastard escaped before I could get my hands on him." Jungkook had backed me against a tree, his voice full of anger and rage.

I stared with wide eyes, stunned at him as he described his murderous actions, with no sense of guilt or disgust, almost seemingly proud of what he'd done.

"This isn't the Jungkook I know," I whispered, horrified. His eyes quivered a bit as he looked me over angrily.

I was mated to a murderer. The thought zapped through my mind, echoing off in my skull.

My lip trembled as my eyes prickled with tears. Quickly, I pushed past him and walked to our house, leaving him standing by the tree. The sound of a fist striking wood sounded soon after behind me.

I stood outside of the front door but stopped to look over my shoulder in the direction of the pack Beta's household. Taehyung was here right now. I sniffed and slowly made my trek over, approaching the smaller, but similar looking, hut like house.

Tentatively, I raised my fist and knocked a few times on the wood.

Soon enough, Taehyung's face greeted mine through the open door. His welcoming smile dropped instantly as his eyes nearly doubled in size.

He reached out and grabbed me, hurrying me inside frantically, as if someone was looking for him and he was in hiding.

"Jimin! What the fuck are you doing here?" He hissed, looking out the blinds and shutting them. "I thought you were in Germany? How did you get here? Did you follow me? Do you even know where you are? You could be killed!" He warned, staring at me terrified.

I reached up and pulled down the collar of my shirt, revealing the black mark in the shape of a moon on my neck which belonged to Jungkook. Taehyung's eyes went wide as I pushed past him and walked up to his stairs to his bedroom, missing the old days where we would lay together in his room and just talk about everything going on. Taehyung seemed to get the idea as he followed in confusedly, watching as I climbed into his bed silently.

He laid down on the other side, turned his head, and stared at my side profile as my eyes glazed over and no words felt like coming out.

"You never went to Germany, did you?" He asked, piecing things together.

I shook my head and blinked a few times. "I've lied about a lot of things, Taehyung. I was leaving to come here. That night when we were supposed to go to that party in the woods, I stumbled into the pack during a choosing ceremony and... I found my mate apparently." I wiped a tear that spilled out rolling down my cheek.

"Who?" Taehyung asked, reaching out and taking my hand in his.

"Let's just say you're laying in bed with your Luna right now," I told him, chuckled a bit, weakly looking up into his eyes to see them widen a little bit.

"You're mated to Alpha Jungkook?" He reiterated, shocked.

I nodded and bit my lip. "He's murdered people, Taehyung," I murmured.

Taehyung sighed and nodded, "That tends to happen when you're at war and a werewolf." He told me.

I shook my head. "No, I mean, he murdered a woman and child, Taehyung."

Taehyung squeezed my hand a little, making me look up at him. "Jimin. You're mated to the most powerful, aggressive, intimidating, ruthless Alpha in the entire of South Korea, not just Seoul. Whatever sweet side you see from him is extremely rare. He's not wired to be romantic or sweet, his purpose is to protect, kill, and rule. He's murdered more than just them, and that's a fact."

His words ran through my mind as I blinked a few times, a terrible joke running through my head. "Well, he's definitely aggressive in bed." I joked miserably.

"Jimin," Taehyung warned with a slight grin, slapping my arm. I smiled sadly and looked away from his eyes, thinking for a moment on what to say next.

"Why did you never tell me you were one of them?" I asked, looking back up at him. Taehyung sighed and rolled onto his back.

"It's law. We aren't supposed to expose ourselves to humans." He said, looking over at me.

I shrugged and sighed. "I've missed you," I told him honestly.

Taehyung nodded and rolled over, hugging me tightly. "I've missed you, too."

Suddenly, something within me made me grin as I began an attempt to wrestle him, something we used to do all the time back in the day as a spur of the moment idea when one of us was in the dumps.

"Hey, come on!" Taehyung protested as I made a chokehold around his neck and squeezed, making him kick and hit as his face grew increasingly red.

"Fuck!" I cried with a laugh as he elbowed my ribs and pushed us onto the floor with a thud and a bit of pain in my back. Our hands were locked as he hovered over me and tried to make some kind of move, a desperate flay of muscle against muscle.

I quickly reached up and kneed him in the balls, not too hard, but hard enough, making him groan and fall on top of me in pain. I laughed and pinched the side of his ribs. Despite the playfulness, our wrestling started to escalate to the aggressive side.

Taehyung reached back and punched me straight across the face, making me hiss and hold the side of my face.

"Oh shit, Jimin, I'm sorry. The wolf side kinda... took over." He quickly said, crawling off me.

"Wow, apologizing now? What a pussy." I teased, smiling at his words as I cradled my cheek.

He shook his head as we both laughed, holding our sore bodies but loving the feeling.

Out of nowhere, Jungkook burst into the room, spotting Taehyung and I instantly, his eyes scanning the situation.

"I felt pain, are you okay?" He asked, quickly walking forward and squatting down in front of me, noticing the bruise forming under my eye. Jungkook narrowed his eyes and turned to look at Taehyung.

"Jungkook, no. Hey, look at me." I said, holding his face in my hands and making him look at me. His hard eyes looked at the bruise.

"Taehyung and I were just playfighting. We used to do that all the time. It's okay. I'm not hurt." I convinced him.

Jungkook looked me over once more before he nodded and stood, picking me up in his arms. I wiggled and struggled, not wanting to leave my best friend and deal with him just yet but to no avail.

I looked at Taehyung and rolled my eyes, making him laugh.

"Bye, Taehyung. I guess I'll see you soon." I murmured as Jungkook carried me out of the room, down the stairs, and eventually, out of the house.

─── ･｡•̩̩͙˚｡✧: *.☽ .* :✧•̩̩͙･ﾟ｡───