The Scent of Miracles [ Jikook ]

Chapter 18

Whether they truly changed Hoseok's mind or not, his words definitely had an effect in some way. The brown wolf lowered his head, looking ashamed. His voice turned incredibly quiet.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I might have overreacted when seeing them together. It brought up bad memories, some of which I thought I buried a long time ago. You're right, though. You were young. You don't remember what it was like when I dug through dead bodies and tried to find you. You don't know what it's like to think you're at fault for a younger pup's death because you let go of his hand and he slipped away to find his family who were long dead."

At first, nobody dared to say a word. The moment was too fragile, too painful to break it even more.
But then, finally, Taehyung kneeled down in front of the Alpha. He took Hoseok's hands, held them in his own, and looked down on them with a wondrous gaze on his face. As if, after all that, he still couldn't quite believe this was real.
His old pack was still alive.

"Don't worry, Hyung. I'm here now, so you didn't do anything wrong. Even though I'm not part of the pack anymore, I hope we can get to know each other better. And… I hope you'll be able to accept not only me but also my very dear friends."

"You will always be part of our pack." Hobi replied and instantly grabbed the Omega's hands a bit harder. "You're still a brown wolf and nothing will ever change that."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

All in all, that night turned out to be not as bad as Jimin first thought.
Hoseok left with a sad but hopeful and much less aggressive look on his face.
Later on, Namjoon appeared out of nowhere with a bunch of makeshift bags tied to his back and arms, gasping and huffing for Yoongi and Taehyung to slow down, to stop running away.
They all laughed at that moment. It's not a sound that's fueled by amusement but rather relief. The relief to have found each other, to be together once again.

It wasn't until Jungkook suddenly rubbed his eyes and broke into tears that the whole mood once again shifted because, just like the sun would always rise in the morning, everyone was sure to break down as soon as their youngest started to cry.
"I'm so glad everyone is here…" Jungkook whimpered softly. "For a moment, I felt like I lost myself but with all of you, I believe we can get through this. Even if we lost everything… at least we have each other, right?"

Jimin was the first to hug him and nod. His impulsive move was mirrored by a sniffling Taehyung, Namjoon, and even a very naked Yoongi who finally returned to his human form.

"Of course we'll get through this, pup." The latter huffed, looking almost offended by the lack of Jungkook's confidence.
"You better work hard, too, if you don't want me to kick your lazy ass."

"We couldn't do it without our best hunter." Namjoon agreed with a watery smile, though Taehyung instantly cut him off with a yell.
"My stubborn best friend would never give up!"

Despite all the support, Jungkook couldn't help but send a hidden glance towards Jimin, searching for his reaction, good or bad.
However, the fox didn't say a word. He only showed a tentative smile before lowering his head, looking almost shy with those pretty chubby cheeks drowning in pink.

Then, after helping the tired newcomers to build two more shelters, Jimin finally slipped back into their own tiny home where Jungkook was already deep asleep, or so Jimin thought.
"It got stronger. The scent of being mated."
Upon hearing the younger's voice, Jimin flinched in surprise but eventually rolled around to face him, a guarded expression flickering across his face.
"Yes, I noticed it too. Hyung and Tae have been mated for a while. It's normal for their scents to mix and create a new one they share."