Chapter 14

It took every bit of self control that Yoongi possessed to abide by Hoseok's edict regarding texting to make sure the Beta was okay.

After he and Jimin finished up at the clinic ( the Omega had indeed sprained his ankle and was advised to avoid any weight bearing activities for at least a week ) Yoongi hurried them back to the apartment and made sure Jimin was safely wrapped in his mate's arms before starting back to the studio.

He made it as far as the parking garage before giving into the impulse to check up on Hoseok again.  He'd just fastened his seatbelt, put the key in the ignition and pulled his phone from his pocket when he was startled by an incoming call from Jin.

He answered the call on speaker as he started the engine and put the car in gear.

"Jin-hyung!  You never call, you usual..."

Jin interrupted with a frantic,  "Yoongi-ah!  Where are you?!  Are  you okay?!"

Yoongi felt his stomach lurch at the tone in his hyung's voice.

"I'm fine.  I'm just now leaving Joonie's place.  Why?"

"Because I'm one of the officers responding to a report of shots fired outside your friend's dance studio and  I was worried that you guys were still...."

The rest of that sentence was drowned out by the sound of squealing tires.

"Yoongi-ah?!  Are you still there?"

"Yeah.  I'm on my way."

"Yoongi-ah....Is anyone at the studio right now?"

There was a brief pause before Yoongi answered.

"Hob-ah.  I left Hob-ah there by himself.  Fuck!" The bodyguard shouted as he slammed his fist on the steering wheel as if that could somehow make the car move faster.

"Oh, shit... Okay.  Okay.  Don't worry.  I'm only a couple of streets away from there.  I'll call you back as soon as I know something."

"You won't have to.  I'll be there in five."

The trip to the studio should have taken at least ten minutes.

Yoongi made it in three.

The Alpha screeched to a halt, double parking next to Jin's vehicle where he leapt from the car, not even bothering to close the door behind him as he sprinted towards the studio.  A new patrol recruit made the incredibly unwise decision of trying to impede Yoongi's progress but was thankfully pulled out of harm's way at the last second by a senior office who recognized his former co-worker.

The bodyguard stumbled as he approached the building when he spotted a person being zipped into a body bag but thankfully the face hadn't been covered yet and he was able to see that the victim wasn't Hoseok.

This information did little to calm Yoongi however.  If anything, the mere fact that there'd been any sort of fatality in the vicinity only increased the Alpha's anxiety.

He rushed into the studio, eyes darting wildly around until he spotted a person sitting with their back towards him, wearing the jacket he'd left behind with a towel covering their head being checked on by an EMT.

Yoongi flew over and grasped the figure by the shoulder as he panted, "Hob-ah!  Are you okay?  What happened?  Did..."

He stopped short when the person turned to reveal a petrified, unfamiliar face staring back at him.  The bodyguard blinked repeatedly until it dawned on him where he'd seen the face before.

"You?!  What the **** are you doing here?! Why the hell are you wearing that jacket?!"

Yoongi latched onto the Omega's shoulders and began shaking him furiously, roaring into the man's tear streaked face.

"Where is Hosoek-ah?!  I swear if you've done anything to him I will tear you apart limb from ******* limb!"

As the target of the Alpha's fury struggled to speak, two familiar voices rang out behind them.

"Yoongi-ah!  Stop!"

"Hyung!  Let him go!  Please!"

Yoongi whipped around to see a frantic Hoseok and Jin running towards him.

The bodyguard released his victim and rushed to grab hold of the younger of the two Betas, almost knocking the man off his feet in the process.  Yoongi clutched onto him so fiercely the other could hardly breath, the Alpha digging his nose into the scent gland at crook of Hobi's neck, breathing in the sweet smell of tangerines and fresh laundry in an attempt to satisfy himself the Beta was unharmed.

Hoseok wrapped his arms around Yoongi's neck, stroking his hair in an attempt to placate him.

"It's alright.  Hyung.  I'm fine," he whispered.  "Nothing happened to me and none of this was Yooshuk's fault. I promise."

After a long minute, Yoongi stepped back just enough to begin running his hands along Hoseok's sides, checking for injuries. As he fought to get his heart rate under control, a panic-stricken Jungkook and TaeHyung burst into the building.

"Hobi-hyung!  What the hell happened?  Jin-hyung called Tae and I was so scared!"

Hoseok managed to work himself free from Yoongi's arms just enough to reach out and comfort the trembling maknae.

"I'm fine, Kookie.  It actually had nothing to do with us.  The police said a loan shark tracked down some poor soul that had tried to weasel out of paying him back a substantial amount of money.  One of them pulled a gun and there was a struggle that apparently ended quite badly for one of them."

This did little to pacify Yoongi.   If anything it caused the opposite reaction for as the adrenaline coursing through him began to subside it was quickly replaced by anger.  He grabbed Hoseok roughly by the elbow and swung him back around to face him.

“Where the hell is the jacket I gave you?!” the bodyguard erupted in barely contained fury.

“I gave it to Yooshuk.”

“I can see that!  I'm asking why you aren't wearing it?!”

Hoseok took a step away from Yoongi, obviously taken aback by the abrupt shift in the Alpha's demeanor.

“We heard the gunshots outside and the poor little guy almost fainted on me right then and there, so  I shoved him into the changing room and threw the jacket over him.  I had him call the police while I grabbed a mop handle and got ready to defend us if necessary."

"Why the **** would you do that?!  I told you not to let anyone inside!"

"I gave him the jacket because he needed it more than I did!  And you told me not to let anyone I didn't know inside!  It was just Yooshuk.  I know who he is!  Sure, he's not my favorite person in the world but he most certainly isn't a threat to my safety!"

"Oh, really?!"  Yoongi snarled, throwing his hands up in frustration.  "So suddenly you can see the future, Nostra-Dumb-***?!  You can now foresee the motivations of those around you?!  What the hell was he even doing here in the first place?!"

A now infuriated Hoseok squared up, clenching his fists at his sides.

"What he wanted to see me for is  none of your damn business, you Belligerent Bite Sized Buffoon!  What the hell is your problem all of a sudden?  I can take care of myself!"

"Oh, yeah, right!  Because that's worked out so ******* well for you lately!"

The room fell into stunned silence and the Beta flinched as if he'd been struck. Having finally had enough, Jin pushed his way between the pair.

"Hold it right there, Yoongi-ah!   I know you're upset but you are way out of line here!"

"Wait-what?!  I - I'm out  of line?!" The Alpha shook his head incredulously at the disapproving looks he was receiving from the group.   "Fine! You know what? I'm done! Done with the whole fucking lot of you!  Go ahead and get yourselves blown to hell!  See if I care!"

The bodyguard spun on his heel and stormed out of the building, leaving an upset and bewildered Hoseok behind to search his friends' faces with a pleading expression.

"What the hell was that all about?"

Jin locked eyes with Tae, the pair engaging in an unspoken conversation until the Omega eventually said,  "To hell with it.  He needs to know.  They both do."

After taking a moment to make sure an officer was available to escort Yooshuk home,  Jin and Tae ushered Hoseok and Jungkook into the office and shut the door behind them.

Jin gestured for everyone to take a seat.  Once everyone was comfortable he took a moment to collect himself before starting to speak.

"Right.  This may not be my place and Yoongi-ah may kill me for doing this but...I think at this point you deserve to hear the whole story."

He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees, his hands clasped.

"When Yoongi-ah was a police officer he used to have a partner...Choi Hyeon Jae. "

The Beta smiled wistfully at the name.

"You have to understand that Hyeon Jae wasn't just his partner on the force, they were his partner in life.  Yoongi-ah doesn’t let many people inside those walls he's built up inside but once you’re in then you are in.  Forever."

He gave Hoseok and Jungkook a long, meaningful look as Tae chimed in.

"He's right - Hyung can’t even fathom the concept of a ‘fair weather friend’, so when he allowed himself to fall for Choi Hyeon Jae it was… well, they were his everything."

Tae sighed deeply and stared at the wall opposite him as he continued the story.

"A few years ago we were all assigned to a special task force.  One day our unit was called in to help bust a human trafficking ring.  We intercepted a ‘shipment’ located in what we thought was an abandoned warehouse and when we opened the container it was jammed full of women and children.  Even a few babies.  We don't know how long they'd been in there but...the smell alone was horrific."

Hoseok and Jungkook both gasped as Tae choked up at the memory.  Jin patted his friends shoulder and took up the tale from there.

"We'd just started unloading everyone when the gang behind the operation showed up and started shooting at us. In an attempt to ensure there wouldn't be any survivors to serve as witnesses, they also tried setting the building on fire, which meant we didn't have any choice.  We couldn't wait for backup.  We had to try and evacuate everyone as quickly as possible while still avoiding being shot."

Even though he knew that his three new friends made it out of the situation alive, Jungkook still whimpered and wrapped his arms tightly around TaeHyung's waist, as if he could somehow protect him retroactively.  The Omega gave him a soft smile before jumping back into the story.

"We each took turns ushering the people in the container to safety.  By the end, the last two members of our unit left inside were Choi Hyeon Jae and Yoongi-hyung.  Hyeon Jae insisted on covering Yoongi-hyung as he tried to get a young mother holding a baby safely out. He did so but when he went back in he found Choi Hyeon Jae had been shot thru the chest.  Died in his arms."

Tae swallowed hard and fought through the emotion in his voice.

"Umm...We...uh... learned later that after running out of ammunition, Hyeon Jae had taken off their bullet proof vest and used it to shield the last of the children left in the container."

"That-that’s awful...." whispered a now emotionally distraught Hoseok.

Jin nodded in agreement.

"Yeah.  Yoongi-ah...he didn't do well afterwards.  He quit the force a couple of weeks later.  He eventually decided to go into private security.  He said that way he could pick and choose his clients.  Said it would make it easier to keep an emotional distance."

The older man paused as he glanced over at Hoseok.

"I don't think it's working for him this time."

There was a brief silence, then Jin leaned back and shrugged.

"So...that's why Yoongi-ah freaked out over you giving away the jacket.  In his mind it was Choi Hyeon Jae all over again."

"I...I didn't know," said Hoseok.

Tae kindly reached out and took the Beta's hand.

"There's no way you would have.  It's not your fault, Hoseok-hyung.  What you did to help that Omega...it was a really brave thing to do.  Once he calms down, Yoongi-hyung will realize that.  But, please...don't judge him too harshly for what he said earlier.  He didn't mean to be cruel.  He was just lashing out in fear.  He really does think very highly of you."

"You think so?" asked a clearly dubious Hoseok.

"I know so." Tae said, giving a definitive nod as he stood up from his chair. "Now if  you'll please excuse us, Kookie and I need to make a quick stop before meeting you all  back at the apartment.  Jin-hyung, can you please make sure Hobi-hyung gets there safely?"

"Sure.  You need any help with this side quest of yours?"

"No.  Kookie and I can handle it.  Thank you."

Without hesitation the Omega grabbed Jungkook by the arm and began dragging him out the door.  The young Alpha remained quiet until they reached the sidewalk, where he tentatively asked, "Hyung?  Where are we going?"

"Where are we going?" echoed Tae, smiling sweetly as they reached Jungkook's car.  "Why..we're going to find Yoongi-hyung so I can beat some sense into his sorry ***.  That's where we're going."

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