The Monster

5

Jungkook thought he had been quiet when he'd stepped into the tent, nosing the door open to poke his head through.

The most delightful smell of bluebells concentrated into this small space was almost enough to drive him further inside.

It wasn't until he heard a small gasp that he realised the man was awake and staring right at him.

He takes a small step forward and sees the man scramble in his bed. He wished he was able to tell him that he wasn't going to hurt him, but his wolf still refused to shift back to human until he was sure the threat was low.

This man could still end Jungkook's life if he caught Jungkook off guard, so Jungkook stopped and lowered his head, the closest his wolf would allow him to submit, after all he was an alpha.

It wasn't until he looked up that Jungkook saw the glint of metal in the man's hand.

Jimin has always slept with a dagger under his pillow, the perks of being royalty, never knowing if or when someone will try to kill you.

He reaches back under his pillow and feels around until his fingers fall on the handle of the blade.

He draws it out slowly feeling the bite of the jewels on the handle in the palm of his hand.

He looks up at the wolf when he hears a light fwump sound and sees the wolf laying with his head on his paws and realizes the noise must have been his back end laying down. Not that he can see it as the wolf hasn't come all the way in.

Jimin realizes then how big the wolf really is because even laying down the wolf would probably come to waist height.

The wolf is still looking intently at Jimin, eyes flicking between his face and the dagger in his hand.

The wolf shakes his head and his whole-body shivers making the tent shake a little.

It soon dawns on Jimin that if the wolf had wanted to hurt him, he could easily have done it by now.

"You don't want to hurt me?" Jimin asks quietly. "Why am I asking that it's not like you can answer me." Jimin laughs nervously.

The wolf slowly shakes his head again and it makes Jimin wonder if this wolf is human as well.

"C-can you understand me?"

The wolf huffs and shuffles closer, his underbelly never leaving the ground.

Jimin places the blade in his hand on the bed and slowly slides off the bed to the floor.

They sit opposite each other and just stare at the other.

The wolfs eyes are a deep red, blood like in colour, the iris is black and Jimin can see zig zags of black cut through the red like lightning strikes.

Jungkook shuffles closer again and brings himself within reach of Jimin's hands that are laying limply by his side.

He's glad the man put the dagger down. It wouldn't have done much damage, but Jungkook would rather not be stabbed thank you very much.

He directs his nose towards one of Jimin's hands and raises his nose a couple of times trying to get the man to understand.

The man eventually raises a hand and holds it out towards Jungkook.

Jimin watches fascinated as the wolf noses his hand and makes snuffling noises while he does.

"Do I smell good?" Jimin asks with a huff of breath.

The wolf whines and noses more insistently at Jimin's hand.

Jimin lets the wolf nose at one hand while he raises the other and reaches to stroke the wolf's cheek.

The wolf stops and stares as Jimin strokes over the soft, black fur and then he leans his head into Jimin's touch.

Jimin, feeling brave, reaches his other hand towards the wolf and pushes his fingers into the fur on the top of his head and scratches at the fur between his ears.

The wolf seems to enjoy this as well, a low groaning type rumble erupts from the wolf, almost like he's trying to purr.

They stay this way for quite a while until Jimin gets up and moves back away from the wolf.

"Come in, I want to see how big you really are."

The wolf raises himself slightly off the floor and brings the rest of his body inside, his tail coming and resting around his hind leg when he lays back down again.

"Wow! You really aren't any ordinary wolf, are you?"

The wolf huffs a quiet bark almost like a laugh as Jimin settles next to him again.

"Can I?" Jimin raises a hand towards the wolf shoulder and waits. When the wolf doesn't move, he takes it as a good sign and gently caresses the slightly longer fur round the wolfs neck and shoulder.

Jimin realises that this wolf is the one from his dreams, dreams that have plagued him every night since he had the first one.

"I-I dreamt of you. I don't know how because I've never seen you before, but I did."

The wolf whines in reply. It's almost like he wants to talk to Jimin.

He whines again and pulls his head away from Jimin's hand to look over his shoulder.

"You're leaving?" Jimin asks.

The wolf turns back and Jimin thinks he can see a sadness in his eyes, before he dips his head once and starts to shuffle his body back towards the tent flaps.

"Wait!" Jimin calls out. "Will I see you again?"

The wolf halts his movements and dips his head again.

Jungkook starts to shuffle a little awkwardly out of the tent. He doesn't want to leave his mate's side, but he can't stay. He needs to tend to the men in his cave and there is a huge part of him that is afraid that his mate will reject him once he finds out all the terrible things Jungkook has done. Jungkook hopes that keeping these current men alive will go some way towards showing his mate that he isn't a complete monster.

"We may need to show him that our other form is an extreme rarely seen."

Jungkook has turned in on himself, wondering how to prove to his mate that he's not the monster that these men expected to find.

It will be easier now that he has found his mate, as long as he doesn't reject him.

Jungkook doesn't think he could cope with the pain of being rejected.