"So..." I start lightly, "Um..." all the eyes turn back to me, "What else do we need to discuss?"
The three maknaes are continuing to purr in my lap and I try my hardest not to shift underneath them. "Well..." Jin starts, "We probably want to discuss how we plan to operate as a subclan."
"Subclan?" I ask.
"What a group of dominants and their submissive is called." Yoongi adds next to my ear.
I nod, "Okay... what does that entail?"
Namjoon smiles at me, "Well, first question would be where we wanted to live. Normally, dominants move to wherever the submissive is." His smile drops a bit, as he glances around at the others, "We... well..."
"We were hoping you'd be open to moving to South Korea instead of us moving to the US." Hoseok says, "I know it's entirely uncalled for of us to ask that of you, and you might even be insulted by it. Moving would cause issues for us career-wise. Not that we're saying that you're less important than that..."
He's rambling and I turn to look at Yoongi, brows furrowed. He rolls his eyes discretely, so I turn back to the three at the bottom of the bed, my eyes wide in confusion, "Um... I kinda assumed I was moving to where you guys are. It's not like I have a place of my own here. Besides, kinda hard to be a Kpop artist if you're living in the US." They just stare at me again, so I turn to look at Yoongi, "Was that... not the right assumption to make?" His arms tighten around my stomach, "I just... why would you all move to the US. There's seven of you and one of me. Numbers make it pretty obvious who should be the one accommodating, and it's not like my job has to be done in a specific country."
Jimin shakes his head against my stomach, the only somewhat cognizant one of the three in my lap, "Submissives raised in clans are normally on the spoiled side. It's expected that they'll be catered to because they have the ability to withhold magic if they're mad."
"Sounds like some petty bitches." I mutter and hear Taehyung and Jungkook snort. Yoongi also chuckles behind me. I look across the bed and see the three stunned men, "And you put up with that? I'd smack someone."
Laughter starts again from a lot of them and smiles are now spread on everyone's face that I can see. I burrow further into Yoongi, sighing at how content all the arms layered over me make me feel. It's nice to not have that constant buzzing underneath my skin. It's so nice that I find myself purring again, letting myself just sink into the feeling.
A knock echoes off the door into the room and I immediately hiss. Yoongi's arms keep my wings from expanding, causing me to wiggle in his embrace and start whining. "Hey, hey. We've got you, Aria. We've got you. Nothing bad is going to happen."
Another knock comes from the door, this time with angry murmurs that I can't really make out, but make my hackles raise from the tone alone. I manage to fight my way out of Yoongi's arms, clambering over the bed until I'm pressed up against the wall opposite the door, wings flared with a whine falling from my lips and my body shaking a bit.
There's answering coos from the boys as they quickly get up, surrounding me in a half circle as they try to calm me down, but nothing really breaks through the screaming instincts. Any time that door opens there's pain, and scary men trying to grab at me. The threat from last time of putting me down the next time they get into the room echoing in my head as my ears start ringing.
I hear the door unlock and a scream falls from my lips. All seven of the men are quick to turn towards the door, wings flaring open and growls echoing throughout the room. In my panic I manage to grab Taehyung, pulling him back towards me as the double doors slam open.
Another scream echoes through the room and Tae is quick to wrap his wings around me, hands rubbing up and down my back. My head is burrowed into his chest and he continues to coo at me.
"Great." I hear someone grumble from the door, "The bitch turned the rest of them feral too."
Growls echo from all of them and I hear Jin reply, "We're not feral, we're defensive. An elder should realize the difference. I would caution you against speaking negatively against our submissive in the future or I'll have to challenge you in defense of her honor."
"Your submissive?" I hear someone across the room choke out.
"Yes." Jin continues snarkily, "OUR submissive. Are the elders of this region so incompetent that they didn't even test to see if Aria had already bonded? Her reacting so negatively to possible mates should have been the first clue. Of course a submissive dracken would not go looking for more mates until after she solidified her current bonds with a heat. This ineptitude is ridiculous."
Silence reigns for a while in the room, causing my skin to itch again and I whine at Taehyung. His hands grip my arms tighter, "Shhh, I've got you sweetheart."
I whine again and hear a couple of the members growl around me. "Why don't we move to a conference room to discuss things?" Namjoon asks, diplomatically.
--
Moving to a different room had been a... difficult affair. I refused to move unless I was surrounded by the seven of them. In fact, one of the guards had tried to force the issue and gotten a deep gash down his arm from one of my talons.
The elders had not been amused at another guard ending up in the hospital due to the venom on my talons, but it had been worth it to have Jimin and Hoseok both cooing over what a "vicious little submissive" they had.
Namjoon is pinching the bridge of his nose. Jin has his arms crossed and looks entirely unamused. Yoongi is smirking from where he's sandwiched between Taehyung and Jungkook. Me? I was purring away as two of my dominants continued to praise my defensive instincts.
"Next time you gut any of those mean people who try to touch you. Our lovely little submissive." Jimin continues to coo next to me.
"So vicious" I hear Hoseok laugh next to me.
"Can you stop trying to encourage our submissive to murder others before we get her diplomatic immunity?" Namjoon growls out.
"But Joon..." Hoseok whines.
Jin shakes his head, "Honestly darling, wonderful form, but try to insure there's no witnesses next time."
I start giggling, which turns into full blow laughter at the shocked expressions on the faces of the dominants sitting across from us.
"You're... You're ENCOURAGING HER?!" Elder Michael yells.
Jin rolls his eyes, "Of course we're going to encourage our submissive to defend herself. What kind of ridiculous question is that?!"
I laugh as the elder sits back into his chair, obviously stunned. I resist the urge to stick my tongue out at him, but just barely. Instead, I turn to Namjoon, "So... what are we doing here?"
One of the other men, one I've never met before says, "Well you're verbal again. That's a good sign at least." He completely disregards me and turns to the others, "So, how did you get a witch to finally behave?"
I roll my eyes and shake my head, turning to fully face Jimin, because if they're not even going to pretend to listen to me, why should I do them the same courtesy. "Here we go again..." I mutter as Jimin pulls me towards him, growling at the other side of the table.
Jin turns away from them, looking at Namjoon as he says, "Aria's right, absolute idiots. "Behave" like she's some kind of pet? Ridiculous." Jin stares back at them, "We did not get out submissive to "Behave" as you so put it. We responded to her distress call for her mates. Did you not think to check if she already had bonds after she reacted so negatively to the candidates you were presenting to her?"
"Well..." One of them says and trails off.
Elder Michael starts talking again, glaring at me, "Why would we? She's a witch, no one expects them to act civilly."
I hiss again, and can feel my magic crackling underneath my skin. Jimin leans over and starts pressing kisses against the side of my neck. I sigh at the feel of my magic crackling and leaping across my skin to his.
The others all start growling at the open hostility and Namjoon stands up, "That's it. We will not continue to expose our submissive to this. We're taking her home with us. Your actions have been deplorable. Your lack of research into the situation is negligent at best, abusive at worse. Expect to have an inquiry coming your way from the other conclaves. Honestly, how you have gotten away with it for this long is beyond me."
I'm moved into the center of the group, still clinging to Jimin who doesn't seem opposed to the current arrangement. We're met at the door by a group of bodyguards, and for a minute, I tense up, expecting a fight. Instead, our group is surrounded on all sides and one of the larger men at the front leans over to start whispering in Namjoon's ear. Namjoon responds as we start walking out of the building. The man nods once, smile turning feral as he breaks off from the group and I turn my head to watch him make his way back to the building.
I guess Namjoon had watched me because he murmurs just loud enough for me to hear, "That's Sejin. He's going to go handle getting all of your stuff transferred over to the South Korean Seoul Conclave. Don't worry, he'll take care of everything."
"He looked... excited to do it...?" I say, questioningly.
Hoseok laughs next to me, "Oh. He's gonna rip them a new one." I glance at Hoseok, a brow raised.
Yoongi is the one to actually respond, "His sister is a witch. Let's just say he probably has some pent-up aggression related to the treatment of witches in general that he'll be able to get out."
