[AGUST]
"Let's go spar, Agust," Jung Hyuk said, his voice interrupting the king from his chat with his erasthai in the mind link, forcing the king to end communication with Jiminie at that moment.
It was all too sudden and Agust felt like the asshole for letting such a thing happen. He knew that Jung Hyuk was dangerous and that he was the one person who would cause harm to Jiminie.
But then Agust was not going to sit by and watch someone hurt the love of his life.
Of course, he would die first before he stopped defending Jiminie, but right now, he could only hope that Jiminie understood him. It was a cruel thing for him to do, how he was hoping for shit that wouldn't ever make sense.
It was something that he despised but had to do. He had to throw Jiminie's scent off of Ming Chang Zhu, even though he had a feeling this wasn't always going to work.
"I'm not in the mood. Get out," Agust said coldly.
Jung Hyuk stared at him sadly, the emotions raw on his face a reminder of his first rejection from Agust. It was not only shocking for him, but for Agust too, because in all the time they had been having fun together, Agust hadn't ever said no to him.
The man had always indulged his whims so this was so new to him, making him think that this was so unfair, but what the fuck did Jung Hyuk really want?
"Hyung… you… you're kicking me out?" Jung Hyuk asked, calling the king with his 'older brother title' as their culture demanded. He couldn't believe that this was possible but then so much had begun to happen and it was just a matter of time before Jung Hyuk had to accept it.
"This is not the time, Jung Hyuk. Go for anything you want out there. So Hee is back; you can spend time with each other. I just want to have some peace before everything goes to shit.
"Is that too much to ask of you, or do you want me to fuck you senseless again?" Agust asked calmly and Jung Hyuk flinched. He expected this and it was obvious. The hurt on his face was enough to melt Agust's heart the previous times, but not this time.
Agust had someone he loved and lived for; someone he didn't want to be hurt and right now, Jung Hyuk had just ruined the one chance he had to make Jiminie feel like this was not going to be long.
He knew that Jiminie had to have felt the pain from the mate bonds and Agust hated himself for it. He despised himself for what he had done and how he had managed to carelessly break Jiminie's heart in the past two years.
A love that should have been healthy was now reduced to a mirage of what should have been and yet even then it didn't seem right. All of this was chaotic and it was all Agust's fault. He knew that too.
"B… But you never say no to me, Hyung. You never push me away… did I do something wrong?" Jung Hyuk asked in earnest. He wasn't even faking it with Agust this time.
He was so used to being there for the man and the man being her for him that this sudden change was not getting through to him. If anything, it hurt a lot and he wasn't ready to embrace that side of his life.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be.
Not like this… and it broke his little heart.
"I need space. Is that too hard for you to understand? You have an entire palace to explore, and people to talk to. Can't you give me just this space or do you want me to never talk to you?
"I have no use for you if you're going to be a pain in my ass each time. Decide what you want, Jung Hyuk-ah. Whatever you decide, know that I will act out, and it might not be what you want.
"Now… leave," Agust insisted and Jung Hyuk's tears began free-falling down his face. He had never been rejected by Agust and this hurt more than anything he had ever thought possible.
He knew that this had to be because of that wolf that So Hee had been talking about earlier and he hated him. That little shut was the reason why Agust wasn't even looking at him as his tears fell.
It was like the mad king didn't care about anything that Jung Hyuk did, and it shattered the younger man's heart. Hell, the fact that Agust never let him sleep in his real chambers should have been a pointer enough.
No one had ever slept in the mad king's chambers and yet Jung Hyuk had learned that Jiminie had spent days in the king's chamber; the one place that even he, Jung Hyuk, had never been allowed.
He and the king may have fucked one too many times, but it was always in any other spare bed-chamber, and not the king's chambers. It was a truth that was fucking with his head a little too fast.
"I'm sorry," Jung Hyuk sniffled before he pulled out from the king's study. He hated that this was what he had gotten after years and years of lion King Agust, but what part of Agust loving Jiminie was he not understanding?
He had brought this onto himself, not believing that King Agust never cared for anyone other than him.
Oh, but Jung Hyuk wasn't in the mood for anything this time.
'I'm sorry, Jiminie,' Agust said as he tried to tap into the mind link again.
There was nothing there. It was like the blank spaces had been implemented and now all he had left was his subconscious that was determined to haunt the fuck out of him each day.
Oh, this was not going to be as easy as he had imagined.
"This is all your doing," Jung Hyuk growled furiously as he barged into Kim So Hee's chambers.
"Always well-mannered I see. What are you going to threaten me with this time?" So Hee asked boredly as she kept going through the reports. She knew it was just a matter of time before Agust demanded that the troops be ready for an attack and she needed to be ready too.
Now that she was home, the military was in her care and she had to be a good general and see to it that her people didn't lose. It was somewhat maddening that their targets would always be the wolves.
Anyone would think that the mate bond between Agust and Jiminie would make things better but it was like nothing had happened and that made it harder for her to even think straight.
This was not going to be a walk in the park and she had known that from the very beginning. However, right now, as she looked at an openly distraught Jung Hyuk, she couldn't help but think that war was here.
They had stalled for long and the final cards would be in play sooner or later.
The king would have to decide, and this would be the most dangerous of them all.
"I'm going to kill that wolf," Jung Hyuk said with determination.
Kim So Hee snickered.
In the distance, Agust laughed amusedly.