The Moonlit Path

Chapter 4: Waking up

A sweet scent and endless warmth embraced Jeongguk's numb body. The teenager liked this feeling and craved more. He felt safe. He felt at home. When was the last time he felt this peaceful? Was it when he hid in the cave? Or in his hut? It probably was when he was surrounded by all the people he loved. The people that were now gone because of him. He never felt his heart at peace since his parents were gone - much less now that his sister, too, was killed. So, how could he feel safe now? Where was this feeling coming from? Could it be the place he was at? Where even was he? 

Trying to open his eyes, the young wolf struggled a bit. His body felt so weak and he couldn't actually move at all. Finally, he was able to flutter his eyes open and take in his surroundings: He was in a bedroom that he had never seen before. Was he kidnapped? Did the rogues find him? No, why would they keep him alive and put him to bed? That wouldn't make any sense... Unless they wanted to torture him... That was a realistic possibility. Jeongguk was scared now and quickly tried to get up when he suddenly remembered the two men from before. The wolf couldn't possibly be a rogue, could he? With a big sigh, Jeongguk heaved himself up; he needed to know where he was, why he was there, and whether he was in danger or not. 

When he was sitting upright, he felt like his whole body was burning and his head was about to explode. What the fuck was going on? With unsure steps and shaking legs, he slowly made his way over to the door of the room and opened it with a low creak. Peaking his head out, Jeongguk was hit with the sweet, alluring scent full force. He noticed himself taking deep breaths to take as much of it in as possible. What was wrong with him?! It's not like he hasn't smelled an Omega before. He grew up with two Omegas constantly cuddling him, so, why was he reacting to this scent so strongly? He was drawn to it, following it down the stairs into a room that seemed to be a living room. His head was clouded with the scent - he needed more! - so that he didn't notice four people watching him. It felt like he was dazed, a feeling that had never encountered him before. 

Somehow, through the fog that built up in his head, he was able to hear voices and that is when he acknowledged the four strangers. Immediately, he began to panic. He almost forgot that he was probably brought here to be killed because of the unknown Omega's scent. He took a cautious step back in the direction where he came from and then allowed himself to study the strangers: He recognized one of them as being the omega from before; there were also two humans (not the one he saw earlier) and a Beta. Jeongguk tried to make sense of everything (Why are these wolves living with humans? Are they some sort of slaves? I need to run! No, first I need to help them escape! But how? What if they want to make me one of their slaves too?)  but couldn't come to a helpful solution. Instead, he kept staring at the strangers (his kidnappers?) and they kept staring at him. No one uttered a word; it was dead silent until suddenly the door was thrown open and a second Omega, accompanied by the man from before, came running into the living room. 

"Okay, we contacted every pack near this area and no one misses a pup. He definitely doesn't belong to a pack from this region. So, either he got lost and didn't know his way home or he's a rogue.", the second Omega walked over to the first Omega and cuddled up to him after kissing him. All the while Jeongguk stood there, dumbfounded. Did they try to find his pack? Did they want to help him? 

"Babe, why don't you just ask him?", the first Omega asked his partner (mate?) who only then noticed his presence, smiling brightly at him. "Oh, hi! Didn't see you there. Your rut hit you full force, huh? First time? I guess it is, you seem to be pretty young still. Where are you from? Did you get lost? Should we- Ouch! Jimin-ah, what was that for?" "Tae, Baby, look at him. You need to let him breathe." Jeongguk blankly stared in front of him: Rut? What is a rut? Was the rut the reason why his body was feeling so weird? Again getting lost in his head, the young wolf didn't notice the man he saw earlier moving closer to him and then placing one of his hands on Jeongguk's shoulder. That made Jeongguk flinch and jump away from him; he flashed his teeth and growled lowly, which made everyone in the room go silent. 

"Okay, little one. How about we all try to calm down?", the Beta slowly approached him, careful not to trigger anything. When he was directly in front of Jeongguk he carefully took one of his hands in his own and then started to release his pheromones, helping Jeongguk to calm down. "That's right. You're not in danger here, okay? You wanna tell Hyung what happened to you?" 

"Hyung?", Jeongguk had never heard this word before, so with just enough voice for the Beta to hear he shyly asked him. "Yes, pup. That's what you can call older males that are close to you. Since I find you really cute you can call me Hyung, okay?" Jeongguk only nodded. Then he looked at the Beta again and saw that he was expecting him to talk about what happened. But could the teenager actually trust him? Could he trust the rest of the strangers? The Beta seemed to notice his hesitation, smiled, and then slowly pulled him closer to the rest of the group - there was still enough distance between him and the strangers, but now they could look at each other properly. 

"So, let's introduce ourselves, hm? My name is Hoseok, but everyone calls me Hobi. I guess you already noticed this, but I am a Beta from a pack near this area. And this right here", he pulled the man from before closer, "is my lovely boyfriend and mate, Yoongi. He's a human. Cuddled up on the sofa are Taehyung and Jimin. They are both Omegas and mated way before we met. And then we have our human couple: Jin and Namjoon. We all met through randomness but became really close in a short period of time. So, now we are some kind of untraditional pack." Hobi laughed a bit, but Jeongguk was even more confused now than before. 

"You told humans about your true identity?", he asked silently. "Uhm, yeah. Why not?", this time Jimin answered his question. Why not? Is he for real?! Jeongguk felt like bursting: "What if they kill you?! What if they use you to find more of us and then send their partners to finish the job?!" Silence, again, embraced the group of seven. Jeongguk was again being stared at. It would have gone on like this if not for Jeongguk's body cramping up and him losing his balance again. His body felt like burning up again and his head was spinning. The rut? Again? From this point onwards, everything felt far away and wrapped up in a blanket. The voices were muffled, and the touches on his body felt like he was not in his body anymore.

"It's too early.!" 

"How can it be happening now?!" 

"Jimin, Tae, you... out of the room!" 

"His alpha... waking up!" 

"Lock the door!!"