It is hard enough for Jungkook to continuously witness his peers finding their mates when he had been waiting for years to have his own. It is even harder when his eyes fall to someone who he may not even be allowed to pay attention to, much less to...
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Once the training is over, Jungkook only feels more lost than ever.
Exhausted and confused, he takes a walk through the woods to find peace and to allow himself to think. Jungkook shakes his head as he trudges slowly between the trees, unable to understand the reason why the Moon Goddess is giving him a male shifter as a mate when he had known for his whole life that he has only ever gotten attracted to females. For as long as he had known everything there is to know about fated mates, he has believed that his mate would be a female, knowing that he is straight.
As he wonders about the situation, he tries to recall ever having any moment in the past, a sign, an indication that he may have gotten attracted to another male shifter, only to find that there are none.
Years ago, he had even experienced something that was akin to what first love might have been. Which had made him even more convinced as to where his preferences in a mating partner lie.
The girl's name was Jihye, a female wolf who was just around his age and lived with her parents not too far from the packhouse. They had grown up together, had always loved playing in the woods with each other as kids, climbing trees and playing chase—the latter was done in both human and wolf forms once they were able to shift. Even if their adventures had always been done together with the other kids joining them, it was Jungkook who she had always chosen to stick with as they ventured into the places that adults had told them not to go to. He had developed a deep crush on the female wolf, and had once imagined the possibility of her becoming his mate in the future since they had gotten so well together. He held on to that hope for a long time, only to have his heart broken the moment she turned eighteen, just two months before he did, and she found her mate among the wolves living in the blacksmiths' area closer to the South border.
Ever since then, Jungkook had been careful about opening his heart and has been focusing on finding—and waiting—for his mate. Even the constant goading that Hoseok has given him about not playing around or dating freely like he has been hasn't managed to change his mind about waiting, though he wouldn't deny that he would often wonder what it would be like if he had played around for a bit. It isn't as if there are no females who haven't been attracted to him, especially since the day he was appointed as Captain. Perhaps if he had let himself loose a little, he would have been able to confirm if he would be pleased to share his bed only with a female.
The thought makes him jerk, and he quickly shakes his head. He silently chastises himself for even wondering about this when he may have truly found his fated pair.
Just like that, his mind wanders back to him again. Min Yoongi. He recalls the training sessions earlier as he observed the fox shifters closely after he asked them to show each of their skills. Yoongi's fox was small, not unlike the others, yet his muscles were prominent, showing that he has more experience in fighting while in his beast' form. The fox shifters he had worked with today had also demonstrated everything that he had learned from the Hollow Pride.
