Summary: New Year is around the corner and Jonghyun wants to celebrate it with his mate whose missing.
~ Werewolf Au
~Can be read like a spin-off from Traveling With My Heart but doesn't have to be.

When I follow my heart, it leads me to you 

Skyrim is the most rugged region of Tamriel; not only containing five of the highest mountain peaks on the continent, but also a very snowy and cold place. Much of Skyrim is vertical; mountains, cliffs, and deep valleys and it was the home to many people mostly by the Nords. Skyrim was also a place where magic and the supernatural existed and amongst them were werewolves,  people able to shift their form between human and wolf.

Because of this unique ability, they could quite happily live amongst the humans in their settlements while not arousing suspicion about their true selves. However, most werewolves found it to be most comfortable in their wolf form, able to feel the dirt ground beneath their paws, the cool breeze through their soft fur, and they could run free out in the wild as nature intended. 

What used to be an abandoned fort was taken by such a werewolf pack with a forest and a farm in the back where they could live the carefree life without the humans hunting them, getting mingled into their wars, or being attacked by Dragons. 

One of these members was a small, lean, and delicate greyish white omega named Jonghyun whose striking coat patterns were marled with white, black, and various shades of grey with a pale base which made him stand out amongst the others who tended to have darker coats. Like a true wolf, he was athletic with his flexibility and despite his size, he could hold his own in a fight or on a hunt. 

Then there is the pack leader, the alpha Jinki, he was very large, even by werewolf standards, and had a jet black coat which served to make him even more intimidating to look at. also athletic and flexible, his strength was unmatched. Jinki and Jonghyun were a pair and have been together for two years but before this happened, the both of them were lone wolves.

As a pack leader, he had duties and one of his duties was to patrol his territory which he did daily, covering different areas of the forest each day and only hunted with the pack when they required food which protected the balance of life and kept the peace. 

However there was also a fun side to being the pack leader…new years eve was still a new celebration for the wolves as previously they never celebrated it since it was a human tradition, but Jinki had experience with the human world and so brought the celebration to the wolves who now enjoyed welcoming the new year and beginning anew. 

Each year they would gather together on a nearby hill, close to their den, and be with their loved ones while watching the pretty, colorful lights that lit up the sky thanks to the humans down in the nearby village. 

Jonghyun had come to love this tradition of watching the lights while cuddling himself close and securely against Jinki, kissing him when they heard the cry of celebration come from the village as the village clock struck midnight. 

Today began very differently for Jonghyun as he lay in the den he shared with Jinki and woke up at the lack of warmth which was slowly vanishing since his partner had left. His eyes fluttered open and he looked around the den before stretching his legs out in front of him, stretching out his back with a low groan before standing up on all four legs.

He sniffed the air for a moment to see if Jinki was close by but he could only pick up his old scent from spending time in the den and the slightly fresher scent from when Jinki left earlier.

The night would be closing in soon and he wanted to make sure he was with Jinki to welcome the new year together and enjoy a little romance while they were at it. ‘’Jinki?’’ He asked, softly at first, maybe Jinki was just outside enjoying the sun or a nice breeze but when Jonghyun peeked his fluffy head outside their den, he didn’t see the black wolf anywhere nearby. 

‘’Strange, is Jinki still scouting? Normally he would be back by now, I wonder where he is?’’ Jonghyun mumbled and looked around, spotting several other wolves by their den and a few who had changed to their human form standing around by the fort. 

He fully got out of the den and sighed as the sun rays danced on his fur, around this time of year the world was covered in snow and the air was uncomfortably cold, even for werewolves. ‘’Oh hey Jonghyun, done with your nap?’’ A voice greeted him and he looked to his left only to smile at the sight of Taemin, the light brown wolf was gorgeous as ever as the sun rays made his coat glow. 

‘’Hey Taeminnie, how have you been and how is Kai?’’ He asked and strutted up to the other wolf to groom him a bit, Taemin let him and gave him a wolfish grin, ‘’Great! I taught him how to breakdance and he’s tired as hell now.’’ 

Jonghyun grinned back, ‘’Can’t blame him, you’re a dancing machine, just make sure he makes it till tonight to watch the fireworks with you.’’ Taemin nodded, his tail wagging all excited for tonight, ‘’Can’t promise anything, he wants to join the hunting crew later today.’’

‘’Always energetic the two of you,’’ Jonghyun smiled then tilted his head in curiosity, ‘’Do you have any idea where Jinki is? I expected him to be back from scouting the vicinity.’’ He asked and Taemin shrugged, ‘’I don’t know, you should ask Minho, I saw him near the entrance to the fort.’’ 

Jonghyun nodded, ‘’Good idea, I’ll see you later alright?’’ Taemin agreed and they went their separate ways. Jonghyun walked through the pack home, greeting other wolves along the way as he made his way to the entrance of the fort. ‘’I hope Jinki is alright…’’ Jonghyun sighed, feeling panic bubble up in his gut, it wasn’t anything like Jinki to stay away for long and before he knew it, he was jogging around the fort 

Suddenly he was stopped in his tracks by a large dark grey wolf with fierce, cold eyes. ‘’Jonghyun, so unusual to see you...alone. how fortunate for me…’’ The Alpha snarled with a lustful hunger that made Jonghyun bare his teeth and lower his head, displaying aggression. 

‘’Aw, come now...don't be that way, I hate to have to get rough with you..." The Alpha flirted teasingly as he walked up close to the smaller wolf and began sniffing around his neck, enjoying Jonghyun’s omega scent but hating the scent of Jinki all over his fur. 

Jonghyun lowly growled as his body became tense in preparation for a fight. He wasn’t looking forward to this since the alpha was ten times bigger and he surely gets his handed to him most likely, didn’t mean Jonghyun wouldn’t try. 

‘’What’s this? I don't think Jinki would be happy with you getting so close to his mate.’’ Came Minho’s stern voice, Jonghyun was never so happy to see Minho walk up to them, the reddish-brown wolf had a threatening aura and a mean glare that even made the other wolf cower for a bit then frown back at him, ‘’He’s not here right? Means his Omega is fair game.’’ The alpha attempted but flinched when Minho suddenly snapped at him with teeth bared.

‘’You know what will happen if Jinki catches you...do you actually think you have the strength to claim Jonghyun? at best, you'd be kicked out...at worst, you'd be killed." Minho warned nastily as the alpha huffed in annoyance and defeat. He had let his alpha male instincts get the better of him but Minho had made him see sense before he did something he couldn't take back. 

With a low groaning growl, the Alpha male turned and walked away slowly with his tail clamped low. Jonghyun relaxed and turned to look at Minho with grateful eyes, ‘’Thanks Minho, I can’t believe that happened.’’ Minho smiled at him, ‘’I let Jinki know so we can watch him, can’t have these disrespectful Alphas around the pack.’’

Jonghyun nodded, ‘’Speaking about Jinki, have you seen him? he wasn’t in the den.’’ Minho sat down and tilted his head to the side, ‘’Don’t worry, he was just held up in the village. The humans needed his help with something but I'm sure he will show up soon.’’

However Minho noticed how his assurances did little to temper Jonghyun's concern, ‘’But he has never taken this long before...what if he's hurt? I'm going down there to look for him.’’ The smaller wolf informed Minho and before he could attempt to persuade Jonghyun to stay, Jonghyun had taken off into the forest and towards the village. ‘’Wait!’’ Minho yelled then stood up on his paws as his protest fell on deaf ears.

‘’, I have to go after him, it's not safe out there.’’ Minho sighed and took off after Jonghyun as fast as he could.

 

Jinki wasn’t in any trouble, after scouting around, he went down to the village to visit his human family. After his werewolf parents were taken cruelly by the Silver Hand, an organization that hunted on werewolves, his human uncle took Jinki in. His aunt found this the most difficult since she had no experience with werewolves before and even his uncle needed time to adjust to a werewolf in their home. 

But after they decided to have children, things had become harder with Jinki around so to make life easier for them, and as an act of repaying their kindness, Jinki left for the forest to live as a lone wolf until the ‘companions’ the warriors guild who were all werewolves took him in. His uncle and aunt still saw him on occasion as Jinki visited them whenever he could but ever since he met Jonghyun, these visits became less since he rather wanted to be with his gorgeous, lovely omega. 

Since tonight was the New Year, Jinki felt like visiting his uncle, aunt, and their children again and it warmed his heart to see how his cousins had grown up. ‘’I can see everything from up here!!’’ squealed Jinki’s eldest cousin, a little girl around 6 years old, from way up high on Jinki’s shoulders as he was