Third Person’s P.O.V.

“Oh! What a delightful surprise!” Lady Ha-yoon spoke rather ironically as she saw Taehyung walk out of his chambers early in the morning, cleanly dressed…definitely quite a change from usually seeing him yelling at Yushik for having a bad hangover and being in a terrible mood first thing in the morning.

“I’m busy Mother-” “I heard” she spoke following behind him as he marched ahead towards the stable to get his horse.

“Yoongi told me you argued with the King and tried to attack him” she saw Taehyung halt midway at those words, their steps suddenly freezing and the long passageway echoed back the silence “be careful, that boy is devious” she warned knowing there wasn’t much she could do anyway.

Taehyung heard the concern in her voice but chose not to answer to that as he began walking again only to hear her yelling at him again.

“Don’t take your anger out on others…it is not the mark of a trueblood to take advantage of your powers to hurt others” she spoke following behind him again.

“Wow…hyung has become a spy for you now eh? Brown-nosing behind my back…” his fists tightened to think Yoongi could tell-tale on him like this, even after knowing how much of a nagger his mother actually was.

“So, you do agree you did hurt-” “Mother I’m not a toddler anymore…you can stop being my mentor now” he grumbled turning around a corner to hastily head towards where Yushik stood ready with his horse. He took the reins, hopping on to turn towards the camp “and whatever I do at the camps, I do as the Commander of an army…there I take the decisions and I do as I see fit, even if it means putting someone down for the good of others.”

They watched him giddy-up his favoured stallion and speed towards the camps leaving both the Lady and Yushik to sigh.

“This is the reason I feel like it’d do him better to have a mate you know” she thought out loud “it’d calm his alpha down…he’s getting more n more reckless over time. I’m worried for him Yushik…his trueblood has been forced to stay down for a long time and the way things seem to be going, I’m afraid he’ll soon give in to the beast within him.”

Taehyung saw the troops had already lined on the field to begin the morning practice as he nudged Zeke, his dear, stallion to halt. His eyes quickly scanning the crowd to see everyone gathered as usual, however only one seemed to be missing. A particular beta to be precise.

Anyways he followed his usual routine as he headed to meet Yoongi first, had a score to settle with the elder as well about how he did not appreciate Yoongi spying on him to report to his mother. But before he could step inside, he realized someone was inside, having a conversation with the elder and he paused by the curtains intending to eavesdrop as the words ‘omega’ and ‘scent blocker potion’ caught his attention.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten the fact that Yoongi could trace his scent and found the conversation abruptly stop.

“Wait a minute” the elder alpha’s voice was stern and Taehyung decided to walk inside now to see Yoongi give him a querulous gaze “mornin’ Taehyung…anything you wanted?”

“I needed to talk to you…but I can see you’re busy” his eyes made a sharp dash towards the beta present there.

It wasn’t the first time he had seen Jin inside Yoongi’s tent, Yoongi had even explained that they often worked together to create medicines but there was still this odd curiosity gnawing at the back of Taehyung’s head.

From the corner of his eyes he saw Jin silently glare at him, before the beta spoke “I will come back later then” and he left without a second glance at them.

“You seem very fond of him…it’s rare to see you allow anyone inside your tent while you’re working” the trueblood’s voice wasn’t a teasing one but as if he had hit upon a novel deduction.

“Fond…isn’t the right word” Yoongi reminisced “I’d say admire. And remember his wound isn’t healed yet when you put him to the test today”. He was about to get back to his work again when Taehyung spoke “are you asking me to go easy on him? Well, that’s definitely new…”

“What did you want to talk about?” Yoongi said trying to deviate from letting the trueblood turn his request to a challenge. “Is it about me saying something to aunt Ha-yoon?” Yoongi smiled shaking his head “I knew she wouldn’t be able to keep quiet” “Well, that and…” he looked around before Yoongi saw his eyes flare a bit “he has put spies at my home hyung”.

Yoongi sighed knowing how the court had their own twisted ways to keep things under their control.

“Did you kill-” “Not yet…but I will if he tries to overstep the boundaries” Taehyung spoke through gritted teeth, fists clenched in building rage. He was aware that Jungkook wasn’t someone who would be playing things fair, however if he couldn’t learn his boundaries the right way…he would have to make him learn the hard way.
And hence teaching a haughty beta his place was a rather miniscule and irrelevant thing compared to the greater plans that now raged in his head.

He waited for Jin in the field, arms crossed over his chest as he saw the other trying hard to look unaffected while the amount of pressure he was in clearly showed on his face making Taehyung smirk, it was only natural for a mere beta to be scared of fighting against him. He was still debating if he should go easy on Jin as Yoongi had requested or make a whooping example out of him.

“You’re late” he spoke watching Jin take his position as the beta faced him with a bold face.

“What’s a match without an audience?” Jin smirked back to see the trueblood give him a grin, loving the challenge already.

“I like your grit…but pity it’ll be only a short amusement for the others” he spoke glancing at the people gathering to watch “why don’t you start with picking up your sword eh?” He teased Jin knowing how he couldn’t even handle the heavy weight of a long sword and yet dared to be so flamboyant.

Jin scowled at him knowing well that the alpha was teasing him, nonetheless he had decided he’d fight till the end today…he was as good as dead anyway if he was going to be trapped in Kleon forever. He wasn’t going to bow down easily, he knew he was at a huge disadvantage with no scope to use his powers but then the plus was the trueblood couldn’t use his pheromones to get him to give in to him either.

“A true soldier never draws arms against an unarmed man…an ancient rule, I believe as a Commander you should have known this” Jin spoke waiting for the other to get his sword too, he had forever believed in equality and there was no way he’d let the other make excuses about being unarmed while he attacked him.

Taehyung watched him with unwavering eyes, the words piercing into his mind as his face lost the playfulness and became stiff with seriousness. The taunt was a hard hit but the weird thing was Jin didn’t look like he was teasing or showing off but simply notifying, stern in his words that he wouldn’t fight to take an advantage…a commendable belief indeed and yet what caught his attention was something else.

A beta taught in the ancient rules was an unprecedented event. The ancient rules were taught specifically to royals and heirs of a kingdom who are meant to rule.

“Very well” he spoke gesturing Sehun to get his sword and saw Jin pull out the sleek sharp katana holding it ready to strike.

“Come at me when you feel ready” the trueblood taunted twirling his sword in his hand as he eyed the other and Jin took his stance, alert and ready, remembering his masters’ warnings about never underestimating an alpha’s strengths and use his agility and skills to the best.

Jin was the one who struck first, his katana slashing through air aiming to jibe at the other’s shoulder and Taehyung shook his head judging the straightforward attack as a novice move, smugly putting his sword up to block the attack but realised a bit too late what the beta was planning when he saw his left hand swiftly moving to pull out another katana and this one aimed straight at his side.

Taehyung flinched back with a groan feeling the blade cut through his right hip, his eyes wide as he saw Jin without a halt aim the next at his left arm and intercepted him this time. The blades clanked loudly and a deafening silence hung in the air for as exhilarating as the match was no one dared to cheer for the beta in front of their Commander.

“Looks like it’ll be a short match indeed…you’re going to bleed out before I’m even done showing you how good I am” Jin heaved eyes blazing with unbridled fury, he could feel the spur of adrenaline run through him, absolutely loving the way it ran like liquid magic through his veins.

“I was going easy on you beta…I guess you want to test the real me” Taehyung growled pushing against the blades Jin held “let’s hope you survive this”

And Jin realized he had really been going easy on him when he pushed him back with the sheer strength in him, eyes flickering to red as he heaved and Jin could swear he saw him grit his teeth, as if struggling to keep his canines from growing out.

The next few seconds Jin realized why an alpha in rage was considered dangerous…and to think Taehyung was a trueblood was even scarier as he tried to dodge the heavy punches aimed at him, groaning out more than once as he took some hits to the body and painfully wailed when he felt knuckles almost crush his jaw. He felt blood pooling into his mouth but could see that the trueblood was only trying to scare him, Taehyung would not use the sword on him.

However, spitting out the blood Jin charged back at him, blades held up front as he raised one to aim at his shoulder which Taehyung blocked again and took this chance to jab the other at the trueblood’s leg this time, earning a loud growl in return. But before he could even catch a breath he found a cruel grip clasp at his neck, he closed his eyes and cried out in pain spiralling up his back as Taehyung pinned him to the ground.

When Jin opened his eyes he could see the trueblood  holding a blade inches away from his eye.

His gaze slowly moved to the heaving figure over him, those blazing red alpha eyes sent a chill through him. Blood had soaked through Taehyung’s clothes to appear in crimson patches and yet it didn’t look like he was in too much pain, his fingers still stiffly holding Jin to the ground, lips pulled back into a snarl as he breathed through flaring nostrils. Fearsome…that would be the word Jin would choose to define the trueblood right now.

For a moment he felt all his defence spill out as his insides cowered in fear and yet he denied to show any sign of weakness. He fought his omega that kept whining, needing to look away and surrender to the sheer power and dominance that burned in the trueblood’s eyes right now.

He felt a drop of blood drip onto his lip and it was only then did he realize that he still had his katana pressed against Taehyung’s neck.

“I’ll n-not remove my b-blade if you don’t” Jin spoke, breaths sputtering as he felt the wild thrill still thrumming through him, but it was really odd to see Taehyung frozen as he kept gazing into his eyes as if he had lost his senses and words for some reason. Jin guessed that probably the trueblood did not like the idea of letting him live after he had dared to challenge him and hurt him and was probably going to drive the blade through him any moment now.

His eyes fluttered taking in the blade waiting like death right above him and he looked at Taehyung again to see him still glaring at him just as wordlessly but there was an odd question in his eyes which Jin was not sure how to answer. The fingers loosened from around his neck and he felt Taehyung’s thumb against his mouth, gently rubbing the blood away. He felt him drag his thumb towards his aching jaw, the numbing pain picking up as the other seemed to scrutinize the damage he had done.

“Y-You’re…” Taehyung’s voice was deep but very low…almost incoherent “quite stupid”.

And Jin was more confused now, watching the other with wide brown eyes as he tried to understand what he meant while the other denied to budge from hovering above him. 

“I’d say it’s tie…that is if you don’t intend to kill each other” a calm voice tore through the standing silence about the pair.

Jin began struggling the moment Taehyung looked up to see Yoongi rolling his eyes at them.

“Remove your blades…that’s enough bloodshed for a day” he ordered eyeing at their wounds. 

Jin tried to sit up but was frozen in place again to see those red eyes gazing back into his soul again “you have a way with blades” the deep voice teased “it’s quite impressive”.

All the bystanders watched with open-mouthed wonder as their Commander helped the beta to stand up, they were so sure that this was probably the last day on earth for Jin and was almost saying their prayers for his last rites. They had never thought it would end up with their Commander accepting that the match was a tie.

Taehyung watched Jin wobble to stand up, the edges of his mouth still bloody but it was when he caught Yoongi’s coming in front to check his wounds that everyone shuddered at the odd change in their Commander as enraged pheromones of the trueblood palled in the air. Yoongi had touched Jin’s jaw to check the discoloured skin there turning purple and had merely suggested to take him to his tent but stopped midway to see Taehyung glaring at him demonically.

The crowd soon began distancing themselves sensing the angry pheromones, and it was only poor unaware Jin who was still trying to ask Yoongi if he could give him some of those healing balms because the wound on his arm seemed to have opened again and was bleeding profusely but was stopped midway as he felt a heavy steps coming up right behind him.

“Are you okay?” Yoongi stepped in front barring Taehyung, he could sense that something was definitely off about the trueblood suddenly, who seemed to be confused and angry.

Taehyung watched Yoongi with a blank face, eyes jumping from the elder to Jin standing right behind. There was a weird voice in his head clawing fervently as he tried to reason with his growing concerns.

No, it wasn’t the beta being highly skilled in combat that troubled him, neither was it Jin’s agility or sly techniques in using twin blades…but it was the way Jin’s eyes flared as he fought against him that got his head all confused. Even though it was a blink of a second but he could see that those were the same fiery brown eyes he had seen a few days ago…and very truthfully and undeniably, there was only one person he knew who had the guts to hold a blade against his throat like that.

He couldn’t believe that Jin could be that omega who was being hunted by Jungkook…who had been hiding away from everyone yet in plain sight…the omega he had been craving to find.

“Jin…go wash up” Yoongi’s voice was an order as he still denied to move from blocking Taehyung’s way “hurry! Your wounds need to get cleaned before they get infected”.

Jin didn’t argue, he could tell something was amiss since Taehyung still watched him with eager eyes, not even blinking as he glared at him.

“Come with me…your wounds need-” “What have you not been telling me hyung?” Taehyung couldn’t care less about the wounds Yoongi offered to treat and glowered at the other.

Yoongi however revealed nothing to him, denying again and again any knowledge about Jin having any other hidden identity no matter how hard Taehyung pressed him to answer. Their conversation was paused midway when a missive from the King came for Yoongi calling him to court for some urgent cause. So, Taehyung decided to check on his own.

His alpha was growing restless with the blurred thoughts running wild inside his head, the dots slowly aligning themselves as he thought back on all the incidents.

An unknown beta appearing at the camps the day after he had met the fugitive omega…the beta being completely unaware of Kleon’s ways…a beta being learned in ancient rules, preparing healing medicines and yet skilled in combat…a beta daring to pick up a fight against alphas…it was on Jin he had traced that scent of night jasmine…and weirdest one was his hyung being overly protective of the beta…!

Taehyung did not even realize when he had walked into the tent where betas stayed and thankfully people were busy with lunch which ensured no one was present there. He began going through the beta’s stuff, hastily rummaging to look for the scent blocker since all the while the words ‘scent blockers’ and ‘omega prince’ had been blaring in his head and when he finally found the cask of purple fluid, his vision turned red with annoyance to think that his hyung could betray him in this manner.

It was borderline absurd to think Yoongi could lie to him to protect an enemy who had fooled him! Even after he had told him he intended to find that omega and make him pay! This was unacceptable…and he realized it was time he took things on his own hands now. He would just wait for the perfect opportunity to strike and one slip on the omegas part was all he needed to prove his derivations. Till then he wasn't going to let Jin out of his sight.

He decidedly walked into the lean grassy path towards the freshwater stream nearby, knowing Jin would be there but his steps stilled as he watched the scene in front of him, a tiny hint of concern taking over him which he fought to keep down as he watched Jin coughing up blood and heaving as Chen cleaned the wounds on him. He could hear them telling him to relax and not fidget so much.

“Will you stop pulling away?!” Chen complained as Jin denied to let them get his sweat-drenched and soiled shirt off of him.

“It’s ok…I can do it myself…” Jin clutched harder at the tattered remains of his shirt.

Taehyung slowly walked nearer…he could tell his alpha was desperate for something and in turn it agitated him more. Jin’s back was turned to him and at places where the fabric had torn off he could see how pale the other was because the wounds he had received were beginning to turn into dark red blotches that stood starkly against the smooth ivory skin.

Chen having seen him there abruptly stood up “C-Commander he…I was-“ “You may leave” and that was all that was needed for Chen to walk away, leaving Jin to sit there frozen in fear to think what the alpha wanted from him now.

Taehyung watched silently to see Jin sit by the edge of the water with his eyes pressed close and bottom lip clenched tightly between his teeth as he held a drenched cloth pressed over the wound on his arm which had probably opened due to over-exertion during the fight and was heavily bleeding.

For a moment he stood there debating if he should threaten Jin to tell him the truth…he definitely had thought of a few particular ways to scare this trickster into confiding to him but figured it would be better if he took that up after making sure Jin would survive. So, he knelt beside him, checking the wound before grabbing at the cloth Jin had been cleaning it with.

“You’re too brazen for your own good” even he could feel that his voice had gone calmer than before, the anger against the other suddenly diffusing and yet Jin still denied to look at him as he sat there unmoving and mute.

“I’ll tell Sehun to arrange an armour for you…wear it well when you join the troops at the coastline tomorrow” he instantly saw Jin’s head turn to face him, eyes surprised as well as delighted to hear him agree to let him join the troops.

He wasn’t sure about this actually, his alpha being completely disturbed with the idea of having Jin in the middle of such a difficult scenario where he could get hurt any moment but it was also the only way he could make sure to keep an eye on him.

“However…do not go astray…overconfidence kills, an enemy is-” “I’ll keep that in mind...I'll follow the rules” Jin instantly voiced, tone light and cheery at the realization that he was finally going to get a chance to try and escape from his predicament.

Taehyung wanted to tell him not to get his hopes up because this wasn’t a great situation for him but a really tough one actually. However, planned to pop his bubble when the time came.

He smiled inwardly before voicing another reprimand “rule number one...I do not like to be interrupted while I’m talking” and saw the other lower his gaze with a short nod.

Truthfully, as thrilling as Jin’s sprightful and audacious side was Taehyung couldn’t deny that it was this meeker side that made him want to grab and claim the omega right now. His alpha didn’t seem to be fond of the idea of letting Jin out of his sight now, let alone accept the idea of having Jin spend a night among all the alphas and betas in the camp and sleeping among dozens of betas in that tent where he usually slept was definitely a no-no...

He gently tied the clean cloth on the wound after applying the balm and being absolutely sure about what he wanted he gave the next command.

“You are to sleep in my tent tonight” Taehyung spoke making Jin’s head snap up, those terrified eyes made him surer of how much he wanted it.

“N-No-I-” “It is not a suggestion anyway” Taehyung spoke checking the wound on his jaw now “this is going to get uglier tomorrow morning” he spoke almost to himself “unless you have some of that miracle medicine stashed somewhere” he teased being aware by now that was another lie Yoongi must have told him, and that Jin’s super healing must be another one of his many beguiling tricks.

He stood up, pulling the unsure and slightly wobbling Jin up along and suddenly for some reason he did not like the thought at all that Jin would be facing everyone in the tattered remains of his shirt.

“Here” he spoke quickly unbuttoning his jacket to put it on the other making Jin jump in surprise “your shirt is ruined.”

Jin gawked at him with troubled eyes, questions piling in his head about what had happened to that arrogant beastly alpha and more terrifying was the question that why was he suddenly so concerned about him?!

á na márië

[A\N] would you believe me if I said I edited this chapter 6 times n still I'm not sure if it's actually worth a read 😬

Borahae 💜