[JIMINIE]
"How many?" Jiminie asked Jae Jun, his best warrior, and Lee Tang his enforcer.
They were staring at the mess that had been left out there by the Lycans of Helia. The attack had been calculated and Jiminie knew that this was not shit that happened without the approval of King Agust.
He had known that Agust would eventually come after him, but he had expected that he would do that on the same day they were chatting in the mind links. This was the kind of betrayal that Jiminie hadn't expected.
And he blamed himself for it.
He should have been wise enough to keep in mind the fact that the Lycans didn't even know that he was mated to their king. The fact that Agust had never been open about what they had wanted, and frankly, this was the proof of it all.
Jiminie had seen Jung Hyuk and So Hee in the fights and he knew there and then that there was nothing simple about the mate bond with Agust. He had tried to reach out to the man. He had tried to let him know that they were under attack.
Jiminie had tried to do his best to keep his people safe and yet right now, nothing mattered as always. The wolves had gotten hurt again in the end, again.
They had been betrayed by an alliance that was supposed to make sure the rest of them were not hurt and had been the same one that brought them to their knees.
"Too many, alpha. Too many. The numbers are coming in but there are so many losses today," Lee Tang said, the disbelief still written all over his face. He still couldn't understand why the fuck it was so easy for Agust to do this to Jiminie.
Even if he hadn't acknowledged the mate bond, the least he could have done was reject the man first before coming after his pack, right? But then what was the point of all this when the man didn't even think it was important to come to the battlefield with his people?
"Take the count and let me know. I'm going to fix myself up," Jiminie said as he dragged himself on the ground and struggled to head toward the pack house. His entire body hurt and he was sick of the battle.
He had never thought that this was a possibility, but then here they were. This was a statement and Jiminie hated that he understood it a little too well. He hated that whatever had happened here was because they had let their guards down.
They shouldn't have.
It was a lesson that Jiminie had learned the hard way. Jiminie had long transitioned into Lycan and he had been able to hold his own very well.
But he hadn't matured enough to know how to use his Lycan magic against the Lycans who had come after his people and that pissed him off. He was powerful and yet he was helpless at the same time.
"Alpha… let us help you back," Jae Jun said as he gave the alpha his hand to hold onto, but Jiminie didn't feel like getting any support today.
Perhaps because he was planning on going on a long self-loathing journey and his mate bonds were so fucked up even for him. He shouldn't have trusted them and yet he had dared to. He had tried and had failed.
And this right here was the result of it all.
"I'm fine, get the injured to the infirmary. The other able-bodied warriors should remain at the borders and make sure to keep them safe. I will be done soon and come back out. That is an order, warrior," Jiminie said.
Jae Jun sighed.
He knew that this was not easy for any of them and he was angry too. He hated that they had been so relaxed and had been attacked by the same creatures that had been hurting them from the very beginning.
He knew that this wasn't what his alpha had expected and perhaps why it hurt more than anything. Their lives had been fucked over and no one was saying anything.
"But…" Jae Jun tried.
"Listen to the alpha Jun. We have to make things better for people out here. Alpha will surely join us later. He never breaks his word," Le Tang said and Jae Jin looked at the Beta, hating that he had to leave the alpha, but what other option was there?
"In case of anything, let me know," Jiminie said right before a portal opened and the wolves had to stay alert again. They had been wounded and many were still hurting, but they were more than afraid to fight for their home.
Kiyoto had been the last pack standing for a reason.
"Fucking cunts just won't stop attacking us," Lee Tang sighed as he pointed his sword at the portal that had just opened. He was angry because of the people they had lost and the innocents he hadn't been able to fight.
He hated what the Lycans had done and he was right to do so.
They had been bested and it wasn't in the prettiest of ways. This was not what they had signed up for, but at the same time, they had known that the pack would always be a target of the Lycans until the very end.
"Jiminie…" the Lycan king's voice came through and Jiminie stiffened. This was not what he needed right now, and not when his people had gotten hurt by the Lycans. He didn't need any bullshit from Agust and honestly, he wasn't in the mood.
"Absolutely not. You don't get to send in your people to come here and then walk through a damn portal calling my name. Get the fuck out of Kiyoto, Agust. I don't want to see your face for a better part of whatever future awaits me.
"Don't even think of coming back here," Jiminie said and the people around him stilled, making the alpha wonder what the fuck was going on. He was in so much trouble it was messing with his mind.
But he didn't want to have to deal with Agust again.
He had had enough, honestly.
This was not the time for the man to come back to him saying all sorts of sweet things just to get Jimmy's attention. This wouldn't work for the both of them and Jiminie was determined to make sure Agust knew that.
"Alpha," this time, it was Lee Tang who spoke and Jiminie gathered all the remaining strength he had, to lift his head and look at his Beta. He sure hoped that Agust hadn't done shit to his people again because honestly, Jiminie was over that shit.
"Not now, Tang-ah. We have to focus on our people first," Jiminie said as he looked at his best friend's face which was blank. And that got Jiminie curious because they all definitely hated the Lycan king with the same intensity by now.
"What is it?" Jiminie asked.
Lee Tang stared at his alpha, before looking at the Lycan king before them.
"Well, well, well. Look what the war dragged in," Jiminie said as he took in the sight of the Lycan king, his fated mate, and the man whose race had just tried to obliterate his very own people.
"You look like shit," Jiminie added.
"Forgive me, my soul," a bloodied Agust said before he fell, unconscious.