Tiger Lilies in the Snow

13 - Checking out the setting (2)

Jimin again shifted on his seat only that this time he seemed to be uncomfortable for a different reason. Hoseok hesitantly but with a firm voice answered in his place: "Jimin has also encountered a different scent that he found just as alluring."

The omega looked at the alpha. "What did it smell like?"

"Well, it was totally different from the first one. It smelled like soft summer rain falling onto patches of green. It is strong and powerful, like electricity that is lying in the air but at the same time it calms your nerves and sets you at ease without effort. A scent that you cannot forget once you have smelled it. I am sorry, I can't describe it any better, but I can resist it just as little as this sweet and spicy mix of whisky and chocolate." He blushed and looked down at his hands that were playing with Hoseok's fingers. "You must think of me as a greedy person because I am looking for two different scents when I already have a mate that I have claimed. The situation is confusing for me, too. My wolf and I feel this gap in our hearts that is waiting to be filled by somebody and neither of us can make sense of this all. If feels like there is only room for one more person just like Hoseok feels it but I am strongly reacting to two different scents." Hoseok sent him a loving gaze.

To Jimin's surprise Taehyung did not only reject them but he also smiled a wide boxy smile. He looked so happy as if the news that these two wolves in front of him were looking for something that other packs would just label a huge scandal if not a sin was the best piece of news that he could have gotten today. "To me what you are saying makes so much sense and it makes me so happy." Upon the puzzled looks from Jimin that he got he continued with a giggle. "Both scents lead to one and the same person inside our pack limits."

Finally, it also dawned upon the alpha's face what the other was indicating. "Wait! Are you telling me that this one person that you have been talking about could be our missing mate?"

"Hun, I think this is what he is trying to tell us. Our search has finally come to an end." Hoseok smiled his heart-shaped smile at his lover and then excitedly turned back to Taehyung. "So, you say our mate most likely is the wolf-demon living in this pack?"

"That is what I am saying. I know that he is the one you are following," the omega confirmed.

"Does he know?" Jimin hesitantly asked as if he was anxious about the answer.

"Yes, he does."

Hoseok took a deep breath that indicated that he too was tense. "Please, don't misunderstand us. We have wanted to meet him and reveal ourselves but somehow, he was gone when we tried. And today we had the feeling that he was with you before we met you and you stopped us. It feels like he is avoiding us." Suddenly he looked so painfully crestfallen. His shoulders sank down and Taehyung could have sworn that both mates' eyes looked a little wetter that seconds before.

"I am sorry, but he is." Now he was sure, there were tears in the eyes of both men sitting in front of him that made him hastily add: "It is not what you might think. He is not avoiding you because he rejects the idea of two mates or whatever might come to your mind. He had a very bad and abusive childhood the moment his family and his pack found out he was connected to a demon for life. He barely speaks of it, but I know that things got even worse for him when his demon's nature came to light. As I have already told you he came to us when he was only thirteen. He may have healed from whatever they have done to him but in situations like this when he is deeply emotionally involved and him being a wolf-demon might become a problem his old anxiety takes control of him again. He would love to meet you, but he is also hesitant and fearful about it. He is scared that you might be disgusted by his demon and that you would reject him because he is the way he is."

This revelation of so many heartbreaking facts took some time to sink in but then it burst out of Jimin: "How could he think of us like this! We would never reject him! He is well liked so I assume that his demon has a likable character, too. And it doesn't matter to me whether he is or not because I feel drawn to the two of them, and I am sure that Hoseok would also. He has never gotten this scent into his nose, or he would be all over them both just as well."