Jimin winced a moment later as the knife dug into his flesh. He didn’t pay attention only for a moment, and his reward was a small but somewhat deep cut on the pointer finger of his left hand. The scent of blood sept into the air rapidly and Yoongi was there to take the knife out of his hand, inspecting the wound gently.

“Are you okay?” he asked, wincing as he watched his small mate nod, a pout forming on soft lips.

“It’s just a cut.” the omega muttered quietly, seemingly uncaring as he went back to what he had been doing before.

“Let’s wrap it up at least. Wait here for me, I’ll get something from Seokjin’s hut!” the younger just nodded, clearly a little puzzled (but by what, his alpha wasn’t sure about). Taehyung watched curiously, and took the chance to jump to his friend’s side when Yoongi disappeared from their line of sight.

“Does it hurt?” he asked quietly, even though he knew the answers already.

“You know that it’s nothing,” the older omega muttered, annoyed by the amount of blood that dripped off his finger. He took it into his mouth, cleaning it with a swift swipe of his tongue. He didn’t notice that Yoongi was there already, watching with an emotion he wouldn’t have quite understood anyway.

“I think he doesn’t seem to think so,” Taehyung snorted, and the amusement that flickered in his eyes was adorable. He looked like a pup, hair falling into his eyes as he grinned cutely.

“Just let me clean this for you properly,” Yoongi crouched by his mate and sighed, taking the younger’s hand again. He was surprised by the conversation he had overheard – Jimin spoke differently when he didn’t think that his alpha was watching him, and that made him wonder if the omega didn’t trust him as much as he seemed to. Just the thought hurt his heart – he loved the boy so much already, had for so many years. In the nights, when he comforted him, Jimin was pure and sweet, but by morning, he was shy and almost too quiet. . Now, however, he seemed different again. Which was the true face of the omega? It was hard to tell just yet. Still, the alpha grinned inwardly when the smaller blushed brightly as, after bandaging up the tiny cut, his mate kissed the small cut with a chuckle. “There, all better.” he said.

Jimin stammered out a soft ‘thank you’, reaching for the knife once more. But this time, a larger hand stopped him, worry clear in Yoongi’s eyes.” Let us do it, love. I’m sorry, but I worry too much to see you get hurt again.”

“I won’t.” whispered the omega, and there was an odd tone to his promise – as if he wasn’t referring only to slip-ups like that.

His eyes were sincere, and again, his alpha saw something in him that he had never the chance to glance at before. Confidence danced in dark eyes, and a soft smile curled onto those cute, pouty lips of his.
“I wouldn’t want you to get hurt as well, alpha.” Jimin whispered, and suddenly, he was shy again, staring at the ground. Almost as if some sort of secret of his had been exposed before he glanced at the alpha’s finger. Of course, as they have bonded –even if only by biting, they now bore the wounds of one another. At some point in their relationship, they would lose this ‘ability, or at least learn how to control it – for example, with an omega pregnant, it was too risky and their wolves knew it so well, but for the time being, it important for the bond that was still developing between the two of them.

Still, Yoongi could barely feel the sting. He had been too scared before, worried about the beautiful boy instead of himself. The bleeding had stopped long ago, and his finger was healing already, but it was still there, a mark that despite everything that seemed to be different about the way the two of them had met – they still belonged to one another.

“Thank you for that, my love.” he whispered and finally relaxed, sitting down by the omega. He carefully reached out, watching for any signs of fear before he drew the smaller closer, inhaling his sweet, intoxicating scent.” Is it okay for me to hold you like this, if for a little while?”

“Of course, alpha.” Jimin flushed again, and shot the older a small grin before humming, clearly content. Again, it wasn’t him who initiated the contact – but he seemed happy to receive the attention of the alpha anyway, his eyes closing for a few moments.” You smell good.” he blurted out.

Taehyung’s roaring laughter broke him out his blissed out state, his eyes going wide at what he had just said. Jimin, face red like a tomato, quickly squeezed his nose into Yoongi’s shoulder, effectively trying to hide himself from all the others that were watching them. Another omega had taken over preparing the rabbit and she grinned lightly, chuckling at the adorable sight. As she was a little older than the freshly-mated couple, she knew the struggle of being so embarrassing in front of others – but she still couldn’t help but chuckle as well. She knew about the omega’s past, but it was easy to forget it when he looked so normal save for his skinny body and the bruises that still coloured his pale, pale skin.

“You know, this reminds me of that one time my alpha forgot to wash this, cloak of his for like, a week,” she supplied, and her calming tone was enough to cause the younger omega to glance at her curiously. All the others just shrugged (they have heard of the story, too many times before, really), I ended up wearing it for days, saying how great it was. But then my sister told me how it stank so bad all the others hated to come near me! I loved his scent too much to notice that it wasn’t great.”

Jimin giggled at first, the sound clear and like bells ringing before a tiny snort escaped him – and Yoongi couldn’t help but laugh as well. He knew that the story was a slight exaggeration (it got worse each time it was told, but omegas were big gossipers, so he could understand in a way) but if it made his mate happy, he was going to enjoy it as well.

“Taehyungie once found this… I think it was some sort of coat made of fur or something. We… we were travelling with – them “ here, the omega’s voice got quiet, but he quickly started back up as his friend shot him a glare and attempting to cover his mouth “ and he loved it so much, he kept hiding it under his pillows. I think he still has it!”

“Why did you have to say it? That’s a secret!” the two bickered on for a while, and Yoongi couldn’t help but sigh how normal everything seemed.

He was content, if a little wary. But his wolf scolded him – after all, the alpha knew well that he would need a lot of time until he could relax. He could still barely believe that his Jimin was there with him. Maybe soon, he wouldn’t hate others for even glancing at his mate. But for now he remain silent and hope that his omega didn’t notice the way he was acting.

He didn’t want to scare him off, but he couldn’t help his instincts going haywire, after all!