The Tail Of Taekook

19 - The Power Of Gold

(A/n: Double for y'all because I feel like it and I'm still on holiday.)

Taehyung's POV

I lower my head, as everyone else swims towards Yoongi, Hoseok, and the mystery merman who appeared out of nowhere. To my surprise, however, Jungkook doesn't do the same. Instead, he turns round to check on me.

"You alright, hyung?" he asks gently, releasing my hand and placing his arm round my shoulder and bringing me closer, "I know that this sorta level of dominance isn't good for you. I'll stick with you, okay? You'll be fine, I promise. I won't let them control you."

"Get your filthy hands off of me," Yoongi snaps, and the power in his voice comes as a surprise to us all, even him. "My mate will rip you to shreds if you're not careful."
"His friends will help him," Namjoon adds, the deep timbre of his voice even deeper than usual, sort of rumbling like thunder due to his anger. "We don't accept this sort of behaviour towards any of our group."

The merman scoffs, tightening his grip on Yoongi's arm, and Hoseok is there in seconds, his hand reaching out and smacking him rather aggressively, across the neck, causing it to click to the side. The merman releases Yoongi and moves his hand to the area of impact, causing the submissive to quickly swim out of the way, towards Kookie and I.

"I won't say this again," Hoseok basically snarls, and I properly cower this time at the power in his voice, hiding my face in Jungkook's muscled chest, "don't touch my mate. Or any of my friends either. Just fuck off."

The merman shrugs, an unpleasant smirk on his face. "You can't do a thing to stop me," he taunts, "I'm more dominant than you. No matter how hard you try, you're powerless against me. So don't bother stopping me. I'm only doing what I am allowed to do, given my higher status."

Jungkook freezes, looking down at me for a moment with an almost apologetic expression, as if he's asking for permission to get involved, and I nod slightly. "Just make sure you're holding me, and I'll be okay," I whisper, my voice barely audible. His eyes flash gold at the instinctual submission in my voice, but he forces himself to ignore it and nod in understanding.

"I won't let you go," he promises, and I smile up at him, sneaking a kiss without warning.

He then glances over at the merman, who's waiting for Hoseok's reply. Our little exchange only takes a few seconds, so it doesn't affect the situation at all. His gills dilate once and then return to normal, the indication of our equivalent of a deep breath. His eyes go a proper gold, and I know that my own have gone purple in response, causing the colour of his to deepen and strengthen. They're beautiful, I've already decided that. I want to see it all the time. Even if he has to be in this headspace for them to look like that.

"He may not be able to control you, but I can," Jungkook booms, his voice effortlessly loud, the timbre strangely different from before. It's not deeper, but there's an almost angry quality to it, and it seems to have got rougher, the speech sort of straining and turning to gravel in his larynx. I suddenly can't move, can't do anything at all, and I see the other submissives' eyes go the respective colours of their tails, instinctually. I know I'm the most affected, though. "Do not test us, stranger. Get out, or suffer the consequence of angering four dominants who aren't scared to make you regret it."

The merman's eyes widen, and he looks down at Jungkook's tail, at the golden colour of it, at my purple tail. A sort of fear builds in his face, and he flicks his dark orange tail harshly, trying to get away from us as quickly as possible. "Fuck this, I ain't gonna win against this kid," he mutters under his breath, and both Hoseok and Yoongi relax once he's far enough away to no longer be a threat.