Safe With You | Yoonmin

Chapter 14: Healing

| Jimin |

WHEN JIMIN FINALLY AWOKE, HE FELT unbearably sweaty and feverish. A familiar, searing ache ebbed and flowed between his hips, almost stealing his breath away. But worst of all was the suffocating scent of pine and wood smoke. It overwhelmed all of his other senses, bringing back the terrible memories, the feeling of the alpha's fangs sinking into his neck, hands on his bare skin.

"No," he whimpered, curling into a ball of misery and refusing to open his eyes, "P-please, no."

A hand brushed Jimin's shoulder and he flinched away violently, trembling with dread. The charred pine scent was so strong.   Had Sejin found him again? No. Please. He was too weak to fight back now.

"S-stay away!"

"It's okay," said a familiar low voice. "Jimin, it's just me, Taehyung. You're safe with me right now, alright?"

Jimin shook his head, still too afraid to look up. How could Taehyung say such things when the air was thick with Sejin's scent?

"He's here... his scent...everywhere," the omega gasped.

"What?" There was a pause, "Jimin, there's no scent apart from you and me. There's only the two of us, I promise."

"He's here," Jimin sobbed. Painful pressure built in his lungs. He couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. "Sejin's here."

He heard Taehyung's sharp intake of breath. "No, Jimin. This must be the mark playing tricks on you. Please, open your eyes and see that it's me?" begged Taehyung.

Seconds stretched into minutes and nothing happened. No one touched him. There were no claws or teeth sinking into his skin. No alpha pheromones forcing him to submit. There was only his shuddering breaths, the painful heat flooding his body and Teahyung's soothing voice. Gradually his heartbeat slowed, his muscles relaxed and his breathing calmed.

Jimin cautiously uncoiled himself and raised his head, blinking owlishly around at the room.

He was curled up on the same cot in the pottery shop, covered only by the thin tunic he wore and a quilt. A single lantern illuminated the space, showing the cold stove, the small crates of provisions and a very tired, shivering Taehyung.

"Tae?" whispered Jimin, his voice hoarse.

The beta knelt on the floor beside the cot, wrapped in the furs which had once been on the bed. He still wore his brightly colored clothes from the festival, though they now appeared wrinkled and worn. His wavy black hair was in disarray and twin smudges beneath his eyes revealed how exhausted out the beta was.

Taehyung gave Jimin a weak smile, "See? You're alright, I promise. And I think your heat is almost over now."

As if to accentuate the beta's point, a sharp pain stabbed at Jimin's abdomen. He groaned, curling into a ball again, panting as the next wave of heat washed over him. Beads of sweat trickled from his brow, stinging his eyes. The damp tunic and bandages clung unpleasantly to his skin. He could feel slick coating his thighs, and a hint of painful arousal.

It was humiliating.

After being taken and used, his body was making a mockery of him, calling for an alpha to come and finish what Sejin had started. But even if Jimin wished for an alpha to come and relieve his pain, it was all futile. No one would ever want a marked, defiled, rogue-born omega.