Safe With You | Yoonmin

Chapter 35: Visitors in the Night

| Yoongi |

YOONGI WAS AN ABSOLUTE MESS. Both his injured shoulder and the wound in his side were healing, but his body still ached and he still felt faint. Despite this, he couldn't bear to lay by the fire anymore. He was going stir crazy, and his wolf was driving him insane.

Because Jimin was nesting.

Jimin was nesting in Yoongi's house.

In his bed of all places.

Our nest -- pronounced his wolf, quite smuggly. It was only logical. The nest was inside their den. So by default the nest should be theirs too.

Not ours -- Yoongi reasoned with the beast, or perhaps he was simply trying to convince himself -- It's Jimin's nest. He... he probably didn't mean anything by it. The bed was just... convenient.

His wolf let out a frustrated huff. Clearly unconvinced.

The little house was quiet now. Shortly after Jimin had begun nesting, Jungkook and Taehyung had left to see their families. But before they left, they had passed along news about the pack.

The Great Hall was still filled with wounded, and healers like Hyun-Joo were working night and day to save every life possible. Hobi and various other shop owners had quickly rallied to donate whatever supplies they could, be it food, cloth for bandages, or pots for boiling water.

Victory over the rogue horde had come at a great cost. Taehyung reported that nearly forty warriors had been killed by rogues in the battle, and at least twice that number had been seriously injured. Add to that the number of villagers who had been injured or burned as they attempted to fight the flames that threatened their homes...

The bright squares of light cast by the windows climbed slowly up the walls as the sun dipped lower on the horizon, turning gold, then orange. Yoongi paced about restlessly in the kitchen, trying to keep his hands busy as he waited for Jimin to wake. He desperately wanted to talk to the omega, to ask what the nest meant, but he knew better than to approach uninvited.

Yes, he had spent many hours, many days with Jimin in Hyun-Joo's cellar. But somehow that had felt quite different. That nest in the cellar had been clumsy, haphazard, built by Hobi, Taehyung and Hyun-Joo in an attempt to help the omega feel safe. Most of the materials had been provided by the healer, and the items added in the days that followed had been donated by Jimin's pack. Hobi, Taehyung, and Yoongi had all alternated sleeping in the nest with Jimin. Even Jungkook, on the days when he was on "guard duty" would sometimes fall asleep leaning against the nest bed from the outside. It had been more of a... pack nest, if such a thing were possible.

But what Jimin had created here today felt much more person, primal, and sacred. Even though it was crafted entirely from Yoongi's clothes and bedding -- drenched in the alpha's scent -- it was without question Jimin's nest.

Not for the first time, Yoongi silently thanked the heavens that Taehyung was no longer here. After discovering the nest, the beta had lept to all kinds of conclusions, and had begun pestering Yoongi incessantly with the most embarrassing questions.

"Wouldn't you heal faster if you rested with Jimin in the nest?"

"Maybe this means that his wolf wants to mate soon?"

"You'll let Jimin stay with you this winter, right Yoongi-hyung? You can mate as soon as the mark fades. Any day now!"

"Why are you still hiding in the kitchen like a shy pup!? Go to him!"

The alpha's face burned hot just thinking about it.

Suddenly it seemed quite likely that the omega really would be staying here all winter. And it wasn't that Yoongi didn't want Jimin to live here with him - of course he wanted that, more than anything. But he had dreamt of courting the omega properly, as he would have courted any other back home in the Min Pack. Over the course of many months he would have gifted the omega with the finest furs, with fresh honeycomb, and wildflowers, and tangerines from his parent's grove. And when Yoongi left for long hunts with the other warriors, Jimin would begin waiting for him on the village outskirts, running into the alpha's arms every time he returned safe and sound. They would go for long walks in the moonlight until they tumbled into the tall grass, kissing under the stars. And then one evening, during the bonfires and dancing, in the presence of the entire pack Yoongi would ask Jimin to be his mate.