Care For Me

Thirteen

Jungkook's POV

Where was she? Where was she? Where was she?
My poor, frightened, hurt mate.

Where are you, cub?

Though I was trying my hardest to pull myself together and remain collected as to not disturb her in her vulnerable condition, my anxiety and worry were nagging at me relentlessly — more and more with every minute. With every second, actually. I could faintly assume her pain to be around one of her legs but that was as much as this initial one-sided mate bond allowed me to sense. Without mutual recognition and of course the mate mark to finalize the bond, this initial connection didn't offer that many perks yet. Only quite a bit of going crazy at no hope of relief sometime soon. Even once I found Y/N fact remained that she had gotten hurt because of my negligence. I had no idea how to ever forgive myself for that. My guilt had to be put on hold for now though. The most important thing was finding her and getting her to safety. I still couldn't see her so she must've hidden somewhere if she couldn't run anymore. The faint scent of fear lingered around and I kept sniffing the air to find the source. Eventually, I jumped over a fallen tree and tried to concentrate on my hearing, in hopes of Y/N making faint sounds that gave her away, but she didn't. At least I now knew that — if I had lost the fight — the other wolf wouldn't have found her that easily. She was not quite as helpless as I had feared. Not that that made the current situation any better.
*Mate! Over there!*, my wolf called out to me.
Simultaneously, there was a soft howl behind me that instantly claimed my attention as I quickly identified it as Y/N's. I carefully turned around to check it out and see where and how she was. What I saw broke my heart. She was limping upon an unclear injury to her back leg, but what got to me most was her demeanor. Her eyes reflected nothing less than absolute terror as she abruptly took multiple steps back to get as much distance between us as possible. I could tell that she had recognized me, but what I had hoped to be a relief for her was evidently anything but. Her small wolf figure transformed back to her human form and she just silently shook her head with tears streaming down her face. While I was amazed that she had managed to detransform so easily, and relieved that I couldn't spot any severe wounds on her, it was more than obvious that she was hurt on more than just a physical level. Our focus should've rather been on her surroundings than each other though.
Things went downhill in the blink of an eye. Literally.
Y/N had continued walking backwards without looking where she was going and before I could warn her or step in, she tripped over a root, fell down the hill and hardly hit her head on a tree. My heart dropped along with her body. I immediately detransformed and leaped towards her, only to find her unconscious with a bleeding wound by her temple. My eyes were wide, breath stuck in my throat as I frantically scanned over her body in absolute disbelief, shock and terror of what had just happened.
"Y-Y/N?"
I pulled her body up and into mine, gathering her on my lap and securing her in my arms.
"No. Nonononono. Y/N, look at me."
No reaction.
I reached for her cheek to turn her face to me, hoping she would open her eyes upon the movement but they remained shut.
"I said look at me! Please. Or say something. Anything! Just—"
My voice broke and sight blurred at the tears forming in my eyes. The lump in my throat made it even harder to breathe. My heart was racing in panic and my hand was shaking as I stroke it over her messy hair, all hopes of things being alright for nothing. I dragged her limp body further up to have her head rest on my shoulder.
"Wake up! I told you to be safe and sound when I find you. Why don't you ever listen to me? Don't do this to me, I'm begging you...", I sobbed into her neck.
Nothing could soothe me, not even being close to her. Not when she was unconscious and I couldn't estimate the severity of her injuries. I drew back from her, scanning over her body again and noticing slight swelling around her ankle that featured more scratches and initial signs of bruising. My lips started quivering, wet spots on her shirt pointing out the tears falling from my eyes. I sniffled and threw my head back, my gaze immediately drawn to the moon.
"Please, cub— Goddess, please don't do this to me, to her, to us. Make her be okay. I'll do anything, just... Just make her be okay. Make her wake up and be okay."
What else could I do but plead, beg and pray?
There was a howl in the distance. My head whipped up and around as I pulled Y/N further into me. If this was another wolf endangering my mate, I would not be able to hold back. My nerves were overstrained at this point. Another howl echoed through the forest, closer this time. Something in me softened. A familiarity I couldn't yet define.
*Where are you, Jungkook? Can you hear me?*