chapter thirty four: plans

    “Mark,” Jin Young’s gaze hardened at the question thrown at him, “I’m not going to let you leave. We’ll figure it out, okay?”

Mark looked away from him and chose not to reply. He knew there wouldn’t be a way to work it out. It was the nature of a wolf. Two Alphas wouldn’t be able to live in the same area without one challenging the other. And he knew Jaebum wasn’t going to be handing him the Alpha title on a silver platter.

Jin Young could tell Mark didn’t believe him but he decided to push the topic aside. They had more important things to cover.

“We need to figure out what to do about the Hunters.” Jin Young spoke again.

Mark’s lips pressed together and he nodded. Jin Young was right. The Hunters had to be their number one priority. Then, Mark could figure out where he had to go.

He shifted his gaze to meet Jin Young’s, “Where are the others?”

“In the living room.” Jin Young replied.

Mark threw the blanket off of him as he flinched in pain as he moved his arms, “Then let’s go.”

----

“She’s in the kitchen with her brother.” YugYeom answered the unasked question that lingered in Mark’s mind.

Mark shot him a grateful look as he looked back to Jaebum. The latter met his gaze with an unreadable expression, his arms crossed tensely across his chest.

“I’m sorry.” Mark muttered, not knowing what else to say to Jaebum. “I didn’t know.”

“I know.” Jaebum replied but his voice wasn’t as easygoing as it always was. He looked away from Mark, leaving elephant in the room to live a little longer. “We need to attack the Hunters before they attack us.”

“How?” Jackson asked. “We don’t even know who they are besides Jae Ah’s crazy ex. And, as much as I’d love to just drop into visit Jinwoo and bite them all, it’s stupid.”

“I didn’t say we’re just going to go in blind.” Jaebum replied with an obvious tone. “We need a plan.”

“We need to stake him out.” Jin Young leaned against the back of the couch Mark was sitting on. “We need to go from the inside and find out who all the Hunters are and then tear them apart.”

“They’ll know who we are.” Jaebum replied. “We know they know who I am, Jin Young is, Mark is… who knows how much else they know?”

“Then it’s not us we send in.” Jin Young slowly said. His gaze lowered to the top of Mark’s head.

Mark saw his friend’s eyes all shift to him and he realized exactly what Jin Young was hinting at. His gaze hardened as he growled, “No.”

“He trusts her.” Jin Young reasoned.

“Not anymore.” Mark snapped. “He attacked your mom because of that, remember?”

“I won’t ever forget.” Jin Young growled back. He stood straight, walking around so he could see Mark’s face, “It’s our only option. Jae Ah can get him to trust her again. She can tell us everything.”

“It’s not safe for her to do that.” Mark argued, snapping his gaze to Jin Young. “He could hurt her.”

“They’ve been friends for years.” Young Jae spoke up. “I don’t think he’d do that.”

Mark shifted his gaze with exasperation, “You don’t know that!”

“I can do it.” A feminine voice interruption the conversation and all 7 boys looked to the girl standing at the doorway of the living room. “I can do it.” Jae Ah’s expression was composed with a slight tinge of determination.

Mark’s lips parted at the sight of her. She was staring at Jin Young though, and he felt his wolf growl in annoyance.

Jin Young met her gaze with a steady expression, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Jae Ah didn’t hesitate to reply. “I owe you this much. Your mom got hurt because of me. Because of Jinwoo. I can do this. I want to help.” Her gaze flitted to Mark and startled at seeing his heated expression. Her eyes quickly dropped, unable to stare at him much longer without feeling emotions surge through her that she desperately wanted to avoid for a bit longer.