Safe With You | Yoonmin

Chapter 2: The Outcast

THE BLACK MOUNTAIN PACK'S VILLAGE was situated high in the mountains, in a wide pass where lush green forests contrasted the snowcapped peaks above. A lazy river ran through the pass, feeding into a small lake which in turn spilled over the edge of the mountainside in a series of waterfalls, leading to the valleys and plains below.

The pass and the river ran from east to west, following the path of the sun. And it was beyond the northern riverbank, on the gentle green slopes that curved evermore upward, that the pack's village was situated.

Outside the village walls was a thin band of sparse fields, crops struggling to survive in the high altitude.

Inside the stone walls, on the west side of the slope, lay the living sector. Comfortable wooden homes with green tile roofs nestled snuggly together, wooden floors kept warm by the stone furnaces below. Stone paths wound back and forth, up through the houses until reaching the pack Alpha's palace and the temple which rested almost at the base of the towering mountainside.

On the east side of the village lay the trade district, where buildings were more commonly made of stone, with wooden support beams and tile or thatch roofs. It was here that the barns, pens of livestock, workshops were built.

And it was here, on the far east side of the village, that Jimin and Taehyung's pottery shop was located.

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| Jimin |

Winter was drawing near quickly and the days were becoming shorter. The first light dusting of snow had begun to fall only a few hours ago, turning the rooftops white.

The sun had just set, the last of its golden light reflecting off the rooftops as Jimin and Taehyung stepped out of the pottery shop. The beta turned to secure the door while Jimin pulled a knit cap over his silvery hair and yawned, his breath visible in the cold air.

While they were technically both apprentices to an elderly master potter, Kim Dol Suk, the potter rarely appeared at the shop these days, leaving the running of the business almost entirely to them. Taehyung, a beta wolf, had been an apprentice for five years now and Jimin for almost four, though they had become friends long before that.

As the beta's numb fingers struggled with the door fastenings, Jimin hugged himself tightly, rubbing his arms to stay warm. "Come on, Tae, I'm starving!"

"One more second . . . There." Taehyung gave the door a firm shake to confirm that the rope fastening was holding and then turned to his friend, grinning. "You know one of these days we're going to get a proper lock," he said as they began walking.

Jimin chuckled, "I don't see how, when you broke the heart of our only good blacksmith."

"That's not fair," Taehyung protested, pulling a fur hat out of his pocket and swatting at the omega with it, "I never led him to believe I was interested in courtship. I merely turned down his offer."

Taehyung kicked at a loose rock, adding in a more serious tone, "Besides, you know my father would have never approved the match..."

Jimin cast a sympathetic glance at his friend. While the pack had no laws against mating a wolf of the same gender, the practice was rarely permitted by wealthy or powerful families that wanted their sons and daughters to produce heirs.

The Black Mountain pack consisted of three clans, remnants of three smaller packs that had banded together for survival many generations ago.

The Kim's were the most powerful of all, having more alphas to their name than any other clan.