｡꙳☼moon jar｡☽ ｡꙳|| jikook ||

｡꙳☼4｡☽ ｡꙳

Somehow, Jungkook does manage to sleep a little. It was a long journey to get here and he hadn't slept well on the way. Things got much better once he joined up with Yoongi but it was still gruelling. This pack might be fucking weird, he might have made a huge mistake…but at least the tent is warm. At least he's safe. For the first time in weeks. For now.

He suddenly jerks awake to find someone hovering over him and something sharp digging into his ribs.

'What? What the fuck?' He scrambles backwards.

It's one of the younger girls from earlier. She giggles, withdrawing the foot she'd been kicking him with.

'Food is ready. Are you going to come out and join us?' She cocks her head at him.

'Oh. Right.' Jungkook feels kind of disorientated. He sits up a little, the tent is empty and much darker. 'Uh, I’m going to eat with Jimin. He said he would come and get me.'

'It's late. You sure he coming?' the young wolf asks, raising an eyebrow.

'He said so.'

Jungkook hates the way his voice sounds a little unsure, almost a little needy.

He isn't. He doesn't care what Jimin does. He'd just rather eat with him than the pathetic omegas and have to humour their undoubtedly boring meal conversation.

'OK then.' She shrugs.

The little wolf scampers off and leaves Jungkook alone in the quiet, dark tent. He pulls his knees up and hugs them.

He can't believe he's here.

A little knot of something twists and settles in his chest, right above his heart. He reaches up and hits his sternum with the palm of his hand to ease the pressure.

He just has to focus. Stay focussed.

Sitting alone like this is a bad idea, his mind will run away from him.

He gets to his feet, tugging Jimin's deer fur around his shoulders (actually surprisingly grateful for its warmth) and shoves his feet back into his boots.

'Joining us after all, are you?' Junghyuk smirks when Jungkook appears in the entrance to the tent.

'Uh…'

'It seems Alpha Park must be too busy for you.' He laughs.

Nobody else does.

They're all gathered on woven mats under the kitchen awning, bowls of rice and broth on their knees and cupped in their palms. It's cosy. Relaxed. The forest swells around the tents, which are tucked into a clearing, the trees, dark and peaceful around them.

There are a lot more wolves now, ones Jungkook hasn't met yet. He assumes they must be from the other tents.

They make him anxious.

'You know Alpha Park could've been called on for duty,' someone adds, 'don't worry, Jungkook. But do join us if you're hungry.'

Jungkook looks up, the wolf that spoke is the older girl from earlier - Minji. The one that quipped at Junghyuk. Her face is soft and honest, she nods towards the large iron pots over the fires.

'Thank you. But I don't mind waiting.' He nods and then continues to hover awkwardly in the entrance to the tent. He doesn't want to go back inside and sit alone but he also doesn't want to join the others. Particularly not now he's refused to join them twice.

They all go back to their meal, chatting amongst themselves and passing around bowls of food, so Jungkook steps out of the tent, the thick flap of the entrance rolling closed behind him.

Just to have something to do, he wanders around the clearing, getting lost in his thoughts as none of the other wolves pay much attention to him.

He walks past one of the other tents and, after looking over his shoulder to where the others are eating, he pokes his head into the flap of the door.

It looks basically identical to the one he's staying in and it's empty too. He ducks out and keeps nosing around. Between this tent and the next one there are some wooden racks hung with clothes and sheets and some large wooden tubs, tipped up and draining in the grass.

When he approaches the last tent and sticks his head into the door, he nearly jumps out of his skin.

It isn't empty.

The tent is instead occupied by around a dozen hunched shapes, bundled in furs and blankets and silhouetted through the dark.

He's about to go, eager not to wake anybody up, when he realises the shape nearest him isn't human - but wolf.

A wolf, curled on its side on a sleeping mat.

As Jungkook's eyes adjust to the darkness he realises by the shapes that most of them are wolves.

Jungkook doesn't need heightened senses to feel a sense of dread about the tent. He can smell the staleness in the air and feel the thickness of the heavy quietness.

He frowns and starts backing away.

Then yelps when he turns and is immediately confronted by the small girl from earlier.

She looks confused at his reaction.

'I made you jump?' She seems surprised.

'It's nearly dark!' He snaps.

'Your instincts are rubbish, I was hardly quiet.' She grimaces.

Jungkook just scowls at her, not really in the mood for a conversation about suppressants with a literal child. As he walks off to finish his circuit of the clearing, she follows.

If she's going to bug him, he might as well make use of her.

'Why, uh, in the tent, why are they sleeping in their wolf…bodies?' He asks.

'Oh. They're sick. Dying. Do you not do that in the city? Most people die in their wolf forms, right?'

'Yeah. Right.' Jungkook nods, hand flying to his chest, massaging just above his heart.

He did know that.

The first time he ever saw a transformed wolf, before he met Yoongi, was when his mom died. She had shifted a few hours before she passed, without ever waking up again.

He sucks in a breath, trying to block the memory.

'Well, that tent is for the sick. The ones whose families don’t want them anymore. Like the rest of us.’ The girl nods again and then skips ahead of Jungkook, leading the way around the rest of the clearing.

He frowns at her retreating back, trust a child to say something like that so bluntly and then skip.

Evening is falling swiftly and it's quite dark as they end up back by the outside kitchen. A lot of people are still gathered on the mats.

Jungkook surveys them all quietly. The omegas are huddled together in little twos and threes and all of them seem to be touching in one way or another. Some are combing or plaiting each other's hair, others are stroking at the furs they wear. Even Junghyuk is curled up with an older omega, his fingers trailing gently up and down the insides of her arms.

Gentle growls and purrs fill the evening air, soothing amidst the quietness of the forest.

Jungkook fidgets and drops his eyes, he feels uncomfortable.

He hates being touched. It makes his skin crawl.

'You want me to groom you, Jungkook?'

He looks down, the little girl is still hovering by his side.

'Oh. I'm ok. Thanks.' He murmurs. She nods, not seeming to mind his rejection, and moves as if to head over and join the others. 'Uh…could you…take me to Alpha Jimin's?' He asks her.

She spins around, giving him a look, head tilted on the side again.

'Yeah…OK.' She nods. 'Come on.'

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