4

The next morning when she went to visit the new family, the entire homestead was burned to ashes upon the ground. The town reeked of death, terror, and resentment, and there was an unnatural silence that literally made her dizzy and disoriented. 

It was then that she became determined to learn everything she could about male omegas. She enlisted the help of her younger sister by three years, HyunMi, who had studied and trained to become a healer, and together they read everything they could get their hands on about Lycanthropy and their species’ origins. They tried to uncover who was behind the extermination of these special lycans and why. Were male omegas really monsters or was it that insecure wolves were willing to kill anything they didn’t understand or were intimidated by? The more the sisters studied, the more they were convinced it was the latter.

In fact, one of the most interesting things the sisters discovered was that the royal family had a team of advisors led by a single wolf, the Royal Chief Advisor, which was a position that had been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. Much of the work of the advisory team was a mystery, but what was clear was that they were a group of highly educated men, who were given a lot of power and who held a great amount of influence over the laws of the kingdom. These were scholars who devoted all their lives to the study of the ancient manuscripts of their people, and the sisters suspected that it was this advisory team and most especially, the Royal Chief Advisor, who was responsible for the extermination of the male omegas. 

Lee SangHa standing before her now provided the confirmation she had always sought. 

“This is the last time I'm going to ask you, HyunYi-ssi.  Where is the omega?”

She realized she was being unfair to herself, but she couldn’t help but feel responsible for the deaths of that baby and his family so many years ago. If only she knew then what she knew now, she would have done everything in her power to save them. But never again would she sit back idly while another child was killed. This time she was ready.

The look in HyunYi’s eyes made it obvious that she wasn’t going to respond, regardless of SangHa’s threats. 

And just as he took a step toward her, one of his junior advisors knocked on the door before entering. 

“We’ve caught their trail, sir,” was all the advisor said, but that was enough. Everyone in the room knew of whom they spoke. 

SangHa gave a curt nod of acknowledgement and the advisor, quickly assessing the two women in the room, turned and walked out. 

“Seems like your plan to save this monster was all in vain, HyunYi-ssi. It's a pity that such a long life of service to your kingdom would end like this— A traitor. A disgrace. You say I’m despicable…” Sangha spat on the floor by HyunYi’s feet before continuing, “Well I find you worse than despicable. You disgust me…” Straightening his back he looked down his nose at the old woman and in his most bureaucratic voice he addressed her,  

“Min HyunYi, For levying war against your king and country by harboring a male omega, I find you guilty of treason and hereby sentence you to death.” 

Then unsheathing the saber from his waist, he slashed the old woman’s throat with one long powerful stroke of his arm. Her lifeless body fell with a thud upon the cellar floor. MiSun began screaming hysterically once again at the shocking event that had just taken place.

Then turning toward her, he pointed the saber still dripping with the old woman’s blood at MiSun, “You’re next.”

“PLEASE NO! PLEASE! WHAT DID I DO??”

“You saw.” 

The Parks stopped to rest...again. 

SooAh, having just given birth, was unable to keep a fast pace and often needed to stop to change her bandages, or to nurse the baby, or simply to sleep. So far the young family had done exactly as they were told. They made their way into the Black Forest without raising any alarms, and they followed the purple glowing trees without straying. Honestly, being in the woods surrounded by this beautiful light was fascinating to SooAh. Unfortunately the same was not true for JiHoon. He was on high alert, and nothing could distract him from his need to protect his wife and pup. 

Even though it was the dead of night, the forest was awake. The sound of forest mice scurrying around the forest floor and the breeze whipping through the trees kept JiHoon’s senses on high alert. He watched over Sooah and the baby while they slept, the baby curled in a little bundle on SooAh’s chest. 

He spent all of their times of rest watching over their little one, thinking of names for him, and studying all his tiny features, and he had to admit, his baby boy was absolutely adorable. He realized he might be biased, but there was no way around it—  this baby had to be the cutest, most beautiful baby ever born—with big, wide eyes, chubby bright cheeks, and pink lips, his son looked like a sleeping angel. 

With every passing minute, JiHoon loved his son more and more, like there was a powerful force connecting his heart to his son’s. It made him even more desperate to reach safety. 

Just as he was beginning to relax a moment, sitting with his back against a large pine tree, the breeze brought with it a new smell:

Wolves. 

Jihoon’s heart beat out of his chest. He stirred SooAh awake, startling her from her deep sleep,

“SooAh, we need to go!” JiHoon whisper-shouted to his wife. 

He could see SooAh’s expression change from confusion to alarm to terror in a matter of seconds. Wrapping the baby up against her chest, they ran. 

SooAh continued to guide them through the purple glowing trees that led them toward their safe haven. The couple ran as quickly as they could but since SooAh had just given birth, she had no energy to shift, and with each passing second the royal guard closed the gap between them. 

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