Parfait

Chapter Thirty-Five

Time spent in the fever of a heat or a rut passed much like a dream. The euphoria of sex could feel like it lasted for hours even though realistically, with the frenzied way they fucked, it was probably just a few minutes. Sleep brought little relief so there was no way to distinguish between a short doze and a long one. Hana ate when her stomach's demand was louder than her hormones' calling, and despite seeming uninterested at first, Jungkook accepted her offer of gimbap too. He ended up eating two rolls before he was done, and by then Hana was practically dragging him back to the nest for another round. They had no idea how much time had flown by.

Outside, the rest of the pack was painfully aware of the proper passage of time. The clock was one of the few things keeping them structured, in fact. When it was meal time, they ate; when it was bed time, they turned the lights off and piled into the huge living room nest. In between, they could only try to distract themselves. But Hoseok caught Namjoon staring at the same page of his book too long without comprehending it, Taehyung had to ask Jimin if they could watch a familiar movie because he couldn't focus on the new drama they had tried, and Seokjin asked Yoongi if he could take over communicating with the real estate agent that seemed most promising. It was obvious that they could not afford to wait.

The dependence on the clock was how they knew something was off. The smell of musk had been ebbing far earlier than expected, so obvious that Yoongi had commented on it aloud, and Hoseok noted that just over a day had passed. Then they heard the distress call.

Taehyung and Jimin were closest, and burst into Hana's room with wild eyes. "He won't wake up," the omega whined, still trying to shake Jungkook. The young man stirred, an immediate relief for Jimin, but it also meant he had no idea what was wrong. Hana was trembling and panting, still full of need. Jungkook should have woken up to take care of her.

Taehyung groaned long and low in his throat, and Jimin could smell the moment the shift happened. But he could also hear the rest of the alphas crowding around the door. "Yoongi-hyung, don't let Jin-hyung come in here. Hobi-hyung, Namjoon-hyung, I need you to get Jungkook, he's so darn heavy." He really didn't want Namjoon in the room at all, but it had to be risked. Moving the unconscious maknae would take two people, and until all of the other alphas cleared the room, Jimin knew he could not move from his place. This instinct proved correct when Taehyung took a lunge towards the nest. Though his yearmate was smaller, he was also faster, and Jimin blocked him easily. "Wait," he commanded, voice resonating. "You can go to her in just a moment." Taehyung huffed stubbornly, but even with rut upon him he knew better than to start an unnecessary battle that he was likely to lose.

Hana whimpered again when Hoseok hauled Jungkook out of the nest and onto Namjoon's back, and there was a tense moment where the head alpha was visibly shaken. His nostrils flared as he looked at Taehyung, then somehow he recovered and responded to Hoseok's barked order to get moving. As soon as they were outside Jimin stepped aside and let Taehyung race for their omega. He and Hana were already entangled by the time Jimin stepped out and shut the door firmly behind him. He took a deep breath, but regretted it when he got a nose full of caramel-tinged musk.

Yoongi was on the phone when Jimin joined the crowd in the living room, speaking to Dr. Bae by the sound of it. Hobi was kneeling next to a still-sleeping Jungkook, hand pressed to the pulse of his neck. "Heart rate and breathing seems normal, and his fever has obviously broken," Hoseok announced. "He's just sleeping, as far as I can tell."

"Jungkook has shorter ruts than most of us, but I've never seen this before," Seokjin observed. "Is Hana okay?"

"Taehyung is with her, so she's fine," Jimin confirmed. "He's officially in rut, no mistaking it."

"At least he waited until Jungkook cleared out," Namjoon said, rubbing his face as if he were thinking hard. "That seems like a weird coincidence, though."