"Jinnie, that neighbourhood is not very good. Do you really have to do this? Or can't you atleast wait for me?"

Taehyung was not trying to listen to Namjoon's conversation but the worried tone of the elder caught his attention.

"Baby, I understand." Taehyung looked at Namjoon to see the elder rubbing his nose bridge with his fingertips. "But I'm worried about you."

Namjoon then looked at the clock which was showing the time as quarter to four. "I have an appointment at four. It will probably go till about 5.00pm."

Taehyung knew what the appointment is about and it was not something that can be rescheduled. Not with a short notice like that. However, it was something that Namjoon can manage alone so maybe, Taehyung could accompany Jin wherever the elder wanted to go.

"Uhh... hyung?" Taehyung tapped the table in front of Namjoon to get his attention. "Uhh.. if it's okay with Jin hyung, I can go with him."

Namjoon was stilled for about a second but then he gave a radiant smile. "Jinnie, you're okay if Taehyung comes with you, right...... okay, baby. I'll let him know the details."

Namjoon cut the line and looked at Taehyung with a happy smile. "He said he'll be delighted. Thank you for this, Tae."

"Don't mention it, hyung." Taehyung waived a hand dismissively. "Now where do I need to go?"

__________________________________

Taehyung reached the location in about 20 minutes and scanned the area for Jin. After driving around for few minutes, he noticed the elder standing in front of a shop, the most decent one in all neighbourhood.

Taehyung rolled down the window and called out. "Jin hyung!!"

A look of relief came on to Jin's face when he noticed the younger. He quickly walked to the car and got on to the passenger side. "Thank god, you're here!"

Taehyung gave a soft smile as a response. Due to the situation being worrisome, Jin seemed to have forgotten his usual nervousness around Taehyung and the younger found it rather endearing.

"So, where are we going?" Taehyung asked in a soft voice and Jin looked up from his phone.

"Just take this road." Jin answered as he looked at the GPS again. "I'll tell you the directions."

Taehyung hummed in agreement and drove as instructed by Jin. Little by little, they were going in to a neighbourhood even worse than the one they were in earlier.

Namjoon didn't say anything other than Jin was going to see the family of one of his students. Jin teaches at a kindergarten and apparently, one of the students had been missing days frequently. When Jin had inquired about it, the boy had told that he needed to stay home to look after his mom.

While the young boy hadn't said anything much, Jin had noticed the warning signs and decided to go see his parents. Which would have been fine, if the said neighbourhood wasn't this bad.

"We're here." Jin suddenly exclaimed and Taehyung stopped the car. "Uhh.. maybe you should wait here, Tae. Let me just see how things are first."

Taehyung was rather reluctant but agreed nevertheless. The house was right next to where he parked the car so he should be able to hear if anything goes wrong.

Taehyung watched as Jin tentatively knocked on the door and was welcomed inside by a weak looking women. He then focused on the voices inside and found that it is a friendly situation. Taehyung relaxes against the car door, eyes closed but senses sharp.

After about 10 minutes, he sensed V getting alert about something. "V?"

""

Taehyung looked at the direction indicated by his wolf and noticed a group of men coming their way. The man walking in the middle looked rather frightened as they all made their way towards the house.

"Werewolves?"

"."

It was difficult to identify a werewolf just by looking but since V is an alpha and a fully awakened one, he can smell them out to some extent.

"Should we get Jin hyung out?"

"."

Taehyung also thought that it might be right and anyway, the group might be going somewhere else. But that thought went out the window when they stopped near the house.

The frightened man walked hesitantly towards the house and opened the door. Taehyung could hear an excited cry - 'papa!' and he realised the man to be the father.

He was inside for about 5 minutes and Taehyung could hear the sounds of arguing all the while. He came out little out of breath and walked towards the group. But then a voice rang through the air and the man stopped.

"Mr Han!!"

Jin ran outside and grabbed on to the man's arm. "What are you doing?!"

Taehyung could see a young boy and the women he saw earlier, most probably the boy's mother, coming out of the house with fearful eyes.

The man, Mr Han, shook Jin's hand off of him, mumbling something about the latter to mind his own business. But Jin wasn't a one to give up that easily either.

"Mr Han, are you really gonna make your wife and son starve to death?!"

Mr Han paled a little more, if that was even possible. He was just about to answer when a guy from the group walked forward.

"Han!! You didn't introduce us to your friend here." The man smirked as he gave a once-over look to Jin. "Who might this beauty be?"

"This is a teacher from my son's school." Mr Han answered in a shaky voice. "Here, I got what you wanted. Now, please, leave us alone."

Mr Han extended his hand and Taehyung could see the few money notes he had in his hand. He could also hear Jin cursing silently and the women crying.

Then, Jin did something that surprised all of them except Taehyung. The latter was not surprised because he knew that Jin was not someone who would stand still in a situation of injustice.

The elder had grabbed and pulled Mr Han's hand back, making the money out of the other man's reach.

"What right do you have to take money from this man?!" Jin's voice was filled with rage as he pulled Mr Han behind him.

The other man was shocked for a second but then he started to laugh loudly. So did the rest of his buddies.

"Ohhh... we got a feisty one here!" The man said in a cooing voice.

He then made a motion to maybe touch Jin but instead, his hand was suddenly stopped mid was by Taehyung's hand.

Taehyung stepped in between Jin and the other man. He looked over his shoulder and gave a soft smile to Jin. "Hyung, go inside please."

He waited for few seconds until he heard the sound of the door closing and assumed that the mother and child when inside too. Even though humans are not affected by werewolves, they didn't need to see this either.

V started to release his dominant hormones in the next second and the man in front of them, plus three from the group immediately stiffed at that. V scoffed as he realised two of them were in fact, Betas.

The two alphas tried to fight back the aura of dominance but Taehyung and V was far more powerful than them both combined. Soon all four wolves were on their knees, unable to keep their heads up.

Taehyung bent to the eye level of the other man and looked straight at him. His eyes started to glow with a blood red colour, indicating that V had taken over.

""

"YES ALPHA!!" All 4 werewolves present chanted in unison, and Taehyung knew for sure that they will not be able to break that oath.

_____________________________________

"We should call him back." Junghyun said in a worried voice as he stared out of his office room window.

"He made his choice. We should respect that." Taemin's voice sounded steady but Junghyun knew his friend was hurting from inside.

"Min-ah, the circumstances have changed now. He will understand."

"Circumstances might have, but his reasons didn't. He wouldn't want us to do this."

Junghyun finally looked away from the window and stared at his friend. Taemin looked absolutely worned out. He had dark circles under his eyes and anyone could see he had lost weight too.

Junghyun couldn't take it any more. They really did honour Taehyung's request all this time. They never tried to find the younger, as both sets of parents didn't want to disrespect his sacrifice.

But now, a time has come for something much more important than Taehyung's decision. And as the head alpha of the pack, it was Junghyun's duty to look after all his members.

"Then I will take full responsibility for whatever the consequences of this." Junghyun said in a determined tone. "But I will not let a mother die, without seeing her son for one last time."