JIMIN POV:

When we arrive back home, (Y/N) pads off to search for Hobi, murmuring that she was going to help him with his assignments. The light floral scent I'd learnt was her trailing behind her as she walked away, marking a path to her with every step she took down the hallways, treading quietly to avoid waking anyone.

There was something so softly appealing about her scent, something both inviting and safe. A haven, a sanctuary. Something that makes me quite hesitant and unwilling to part from it just yet. So even when I pad to my own room, stepping in and eyes falling fondly on the sight of Joon hyung sleeping, stomach down, hands curved around the pillow and cheek smooshed, I find my mind drifting on someone else. Wondering whether if I snuck away quick enough I'd beat (Y/N) to her room.

I make quick work of getting ready for bed, hands drifting away from the pyjamas rather than tugging them on. Giving in to that building urge to shift, to pad over and make sure (Y/N) slept well, to make curl up beside her and chase after more of that sweet floral scent.

And when I awoke the next day, it was with my mind still pleasantly floating, not yet conscious, not yet fully aware, slipping further and further in that sweet scent that clung to my skin. When I awoke it was my body stretched out over the covers, bare and shuffling, wriggling to search for Joon hyung's body, curving near it and drifting back off, mind full of how instinctually pleased I was. 

Drifting stray thoughts that whilst it had made me restless to no end that (Y/N) hadn't slept despite how exhausted she'd been, despite how heavy her scent had been, dragged down with fatigue. How she'd clung to the papers no matter how much I'd tried to bat them away, one instant away from shredding them with my paws and fangs and discarding them.

Remembered, even as I heard Joon hyung's sleepy murmur as he wriggled closer, an arm plastering across my waist, warm and heavy, how she'd caved in, slumped down and lifted her jumper in invitation, hands resting lightly on me. Remembered slipping out after she'd gone still and had relaxed into the mattress, tugging a blanket over her before worming my way back in to curl against her stomach.

And the next I woke, it's with a smile unconsciously curved against my lips, the haze of that sweetness still clinging, proud because I'd done that. I'd scented away her stress and had coaxed her scent out in sweet, enticing heavy waves.

Lifted my head from somewhere off the pillows to come face to face with Joon hyung's bare torso, sheets rucked up low on his waist and facing me.

Lean to nuzzle against his chest, humming sleepily when he shifts and a hand comes to settle in my hair, voice rough with sleep and low.

"You didn't come to bed." He murmurs, voice a bit slurred.

I blink my eyes open, see his own trained on me, curious and a bit rumpled to have gone to sleep alone.

I smile at him.

"Went to make sure (Y/N) went to sleep. Stayed there." I mumble.

Lips curving up as I remembered padding over, nosing the door open and finding it empty. Remembered relishing in how her scent had seeped into each crevice of the room, warm and gentle. Remembered hopping up and curving up on her pillow where the scent of her was strongest, curled up and waiting for her.

"Is that the sweetness on you?" Joon hyung asks, head rising off the pillow as he shuffles closer, ears perking up as he snuffles at my throat, humming against my skin curiously.

I nod, fingers tickling his ears and smiling when they try to fold over, try to shield themselves against my touch, wriggling around before his head rises, moving away.

"Must've shifted if you slept naked." He says, poking at my hip before getting out of bed.

I stretch out and stand up, preening when his eyes flash as they trail over me, lingering on me.

"Like what you see?" I ask, fluttering my eyes at him.

He growls. A rough timbre to the sound. Thrilling and dangerous.

But when he makes a swipe for me, I dart away, laughing as his fingers graze across my waist but fail to latch on. Watch as his eyes remain focused on me as I tug clothes on.

"Breakfast Joon hyung." I call, head curving over my shoulder to look at him.

And though he grumbles he follows me out the room, back colliding with mine at the heavy cloying syrupy sweet scent in the air. Feet halting at how suddenly it crashes into us the moment the door opens, a sweet thick trail of it pulsing in the hallway.

It's so identifiably (Y/N) but so heavy. So richly her.

And I know that scenting didn't coax out scent in thick enticing rivulets of it. Know that this wasn't scent tugged out by curling up with her in bed. This was something so much more, so much richer.

Something that made my head swim with the intensity, made my fingers curl into the doorway as I breathed it in.

"That's not....that's not (Y/N) is it?" Joon hyung asks almost confused and tentative.

It wasn't her scent threading through the air and piercing through ours was it he was asking. Surely it wasn't, is what he meant.

But it was.

It was hers.

And I turned to follow the trail of scent, tugged by it, hearing Joon hyung at my feet, following me into the other end of the apartment, turning round the corner to come face to face with the sight of Jin hyung in front of her door and a small rumbly growl coming from somewhere, Tae and Hobi hyung sleepy and rumpled and curled together. Tae's stripey tail curved around Hobi hyung's thigh, anchoring him close.

But the second we step close enough, her scent steadily getting stronger with each footstep, it crashes into me. Because we'd walked into the deepest thicket of it. Pulsing out strongly, seeping out and consuming the air particles, clouding every other scent, blanketing it with hers.

An overwhelming amount of sweet, rich fully bloomed flowers that filled my lungs. Crashed into me with wave after wave of dizzying, enticing scent, sticky and syrupy as it slid down my throat, clung to my tongue, made my lungs heavy, weighed down with its potency, with its richness.

"I think (Y/N)'s gone into heat." Jin hyung says, wings flapping restlessly as he turns away from the door, turns to face us. Voice a low background noise as my ears stiffen at the sound of a muted breathless whimper, hear it coming from beyond the door. Coming from (Y/N).

Heat. (Y/N)'s gone into heat.

I barely hear Jin hyung over the roaring in my ears, barely hear Joon hyung's confused murmur asking what's happened.

Hear nothing except what my blood screams for me to do, instincts howling and urging, snarling and telling me to get closer to the scent, to get to the source of it.

She's gone into heat. She was hurting. She needed me, needed help. She was alone.

And over and over my mind turned it around, trying to rationalise it, trying to figure it out. Whatever coherency it had pushed away with the way her scent called for me, wound around me in a snare and drew me closer. The scent of her shifting, turning heavy with that breeding and mating need. With the need to be taken care of.

Her scent begged for me and unconsciously I moved towards it. Her whimper had been pleading, had been desperate, had been in pain.

Moved towards the scent, drunken staggered steps to get closer to the door, blinking at the way only the door remained in focus, everything and everyone melting away, nothing mattered but getting to the door. Nothing mattered except (Y/N).

I needed her. Needed to fulfil her needs.

So when arms wind around my chest and tug me back, harsh and sudden and strong I growl.

The sound rips itself out my throat, chest reverberating with the force of it, growling as my head turns, fangs snapping at whoever was trying to keep me away from her, trying to keep me from getting to who every part of me screamed and called mate.

"Get off me!" I growl, teeth grinding down painfully, fangs bared as I writhed and twisted, tried to push myself out of the arms caging me, keeping me captive.

Joon hyung's face swims in my vision, eyes dark, strong earthy musk rolling off him.

A competitor my mind screamed. A competitor trying to get to her.

And I twisted, hands pushing at his shirt, growling and screaming to be let go, guttural sounds spilling past my lips, eyes narrowed onto him even as my body twisted, shoved and pulled against him.

Felt his arms falter, strain as they held me to him.

"Jimin no! You can't!" snapped back at me, fangs snapping at my own challenge, voice a deep growl laced with command and authority.

Can't. I despised the word.

Why couldn't I? I had to.

Didn't he know that? Couldn't he see that?

I hiss, eyes turning into narrowed slits as I look at him, pushing at him and twisting.

"She needs me." I snap.

"She needs rest!" is thrown at my face, a harsh loud growl.

I use my hands to shove at his shoulders, taking the small element of surprise to duck and spin away, feet rushing across the carpet, need coursing through my veins as I pushed forward. Rushing towards the door, the chant of her name echoing in my head. 

(Y/N). (Y/N). Almost there.

A frustrated, seething growl tearing out when hands yanked me back, fisted into my shirt and tugged me away, fingers outstretched and being pulled away, the door slipping out of reach.

See as Jin hyung's wings flare, flapping and spanning wide as he catches the slender figure of Jungkook trying to frantically rush for the door, a cry of alarm as he pushes him back, chest heaving and eyes wide and dark. Black obsidian wings arched out protectively, hiding the door from sight, stance broad and rigid even as he keeps a hold of a writhing bunny, ears stiff and perked up, catching the flailing hands and curving them towards his chest, holding him tightly. Lips pressed thin and gaze fiercely firm.

"Hyung please...please I need. Please I need to." Jungkook breathlessly gasps out.

My head nods furiously, trying to pull myself away, neck stiff and arched away.

"Joon I need to. Let me go. Just let me go!" voice spiking with frantic urgency, pulling at the body holding me, it felt too strong to be just one. Staggering forward one step when a black figure leapt into the way, tail curling dangerously and glowing eyes pinning me as the panther growled. Warning and low and rumbly.

Silently slinking to pad next to Jin hyung, nudging at his calf with his nose and moving to flank the door, standing tall and defensively in front of it.

"Hob-ah, help Joon. Get him away from here." a voice barks out. Dripping with strong unbridled authority. Makes my instincts growl with bristling challenge, fangs bared towards the direction of the voice.

Throat rough and hoarse as I pleaded and snapped, pushed at the multiple pair of hands drawing me back, tugging me away. Forcefully removing me from the rich scent that came to settle in my bones. Taking me further and further away from the door.

It was as if my voice fell on deaf ears, relentlessly tugged away even as my voice went raw, filled and drowned out the roaring with my pleas, with my insistence that I had to go, I couldn't leave her.

"Joon get him to breathe in your scent, we need to calm him down." Is said in the background, a violent wrack of my body as my head is turned away from the door and guided firmly to a throat, guided towards the rich foresty scent, mellowed and soothing. My head is held there, coaxed towards that rich scent that both tries to calm and to overwhelm that sobbing plea in my mind.

But the scent crashes against mine, strong and predatory, just as dominating as the urges in my mind were. Pushing and pushing against me until I realise that the scent isn't like earlier, it's softer. Gentler. Giving rather than taking. 

The hand remains even as my fangs harshly nip at skin, pushing at a chest to rise up only to be guided to the scent, drawing in lungfuls of a foresty scent that slowly seeps in, begins to push away the battering flood of rich sweetness, causing it to ebb away slightly, momentarily. I don't know how long it takes to leech away the intoxicating call, how long it takes for my body to not lock up and fight to be freed.

I shudder as I bite down on hyung's neck, hearing the small hiss as I suck, growling against his skin, shutting my eyes away against the wetness that pools there, angry and hurt at the very scent that had first kept me away was now holding me.

I struggled against the arms holding me, shaking even as my teeth tugged at skin.

Hearing the deep shaky exhale.

"Take what you need." The voice urges.

And the words make me snap.

A guttural keening sound as I push my body down, pinning him to the sofa, hand winding into hair and tugging back, throat arches as my mouth descends, fierce and unrelenting as I bite at skin, tug it between my teeth and harshly suck.

And when hips buck up, trying to push up, I push my body down, growling in warning and keeping him there on the couch, keeping him under me.

"Stay still." I hiss against hyung's neck, nails scratching at his scalp, drifting down to sink at his nape, wind around it and draw him to me, draw his body to mine.

And as I mark hyung's throat up, drawing groan after groan, fighting every slight movement with a fierce one of my own, the scent never fluctuates, never spikes with challenge.

Doesn't flare to fight back. Remains a soft and light. The forest's earth, the scent of petrichor steady and merging with sweet caramel.

"Keep going. Is that all you have to give?" his voice under me asks, breathless and slightly goading.

Challenging.

My fingers curl into the shoulder of his top, yanking it aside so my teeth can sink into the curve of muscle, clamping down and relishing the way hyung goes boneless, hands falling away as he takes and takes. Takes it all.

Takes it all until my mind no longer pulses and throbs with an agonising need and want.

Takes it until I have no more to give. Until the roaring in my veins and throat quieten. 

The crackling burning fire simmering in my veins abating, lessening as flames turn to embers, glowing softly, lightly.

------

I lean away, eyes carefully trailing over the scatter of marks slick and darkening against skin. Look into eyes that are void of threat, unclouded from the very dominance and authority that had flashed in them earlier. Gentle and giving under me.

"Are you back with us Jiminie?"

I don't realise my fangs are still biting down on my lips until he gently tugs my lip away from them. Touches soothing rather than provoking. 

"(Y/N)'s in heat." I say, voice rough and hoarse, throat aching.

"She is." A voice from behind confirms, a body carefully settling down in my line of vision.

Eyes carefully watching me.

"She's in heat. I left her. I was there. I left only when I woke and she wasn't there." I say. Fingers fisting angrily into fabric, knuckles pressed tightly to hyung's chest. Feeling the warmth of his body.

So unlike the floaty heat that had steadily wafted off (Y/N).

I'd left her.

I'd left her in heat.

I wasn't there with her.

I needed to be.

I needed her, needed to be there for her. To look after he, to be the one to help ease her though her heat, provide for her. Give her everything. To satiate that burning instinct.

I don't realise I'm bucking and trying to pull away until a gentle voice draws me down, draws me back.

"She'll be fine Jimin-ah." Hobi hyung reassures.

I shake my head, fingers aching as they unwind from Joon hyung's shirt.

The words aren't enough to stop the pit of need from flaring inside me.

A keening sharp chirp at the mention of her. Mind still floaty with the ghost of her scent, with the sweetness that I wasn't sure would ever leave my memory.

But when I breathe in, trying to gather myself I realise that the air isn't thick anymore, that it didn't hold that sticky sweetness of (Y/N)'s scent. It's cooler too, brushing against me, against heated warm skin. Even if her scent clung to me, it didn't cling to the air, it didn't hover and call.

But still I wanted it, still I wanted to chase after it.

More than that...I needed it.

Needed it even as the agonising pleas for her petered into whimpering devastated snuffles as I held onto Joon hyung.

"I left her. If I'd stayed I'd have known." I insist.

"If you'd have stayed you might've done something you'd live to regret." Hobi hyung corrects, frowning slightly.

Joon hyung remains loose under me, sinking into the couch, hands lightly holding my hips.

"But I need....I need...." I groan, heat simmering in my veins, hips canting forward, rocking into Joon hyung, eyes fluttering at the surprised whine he lets outs.

"You need." Hobi hyung prompts.

My fangs sink into my bottom lip, hissing when it stings, head dropping forward, grounding downwards, a feverish rocking to my body against Joon hyung's.

Feeling strung up and tense.

"Need to dominate?" Joon hyung breathes out, voice shaky.

And eyes coaxing, guiding me down. Telling me it's okay when he shudders under my touch.

I nod, breath hot as I pant against the marks I've left behind.

His voice soft, void of any growl. Breath wet and hot against my ear.

"Then take me."

KOOK POV:

I pull the towel away from my face, stepping out of the bathroom, ears twitching and stiffening at the sounds of yells and commotion from down the hallway, something so rich and sweet that beckoned as I followed the sound, growing thicker and heavier with every step I took.

A dizzying intoxicating rush of something so strong and fresh. Sweet floral, something so enticing about the way it seemed to worm its way inside, merge with every instinct I had and pushed them to rear their head. The very needs that lay dormant usually, that slumbered away under the blanket daily suppressants gave tore through the extremely thin veil, only weak remnants of yesterday's dose thinly cording through me. Too weak that when the scent of her hits me, it slams into me, it compels my instincts to rush to the scent, jerking with surprise when something intercepts me. When a pair of arms catch my body and twist me away from the door no matter how much I thrash against them.

Ears filled with the sound of my breathing, heavy and rushed even as I struggled, a stream of words leaving my lips though I wasn't quite sure what I was asking, can't focus on them, nose twitching as the scent seeps out thick and cloying. Can't think that the hands tugging me away are familiar, that are unrelenting and the voice mumbling in my ear is pleading and soft, promising that it'll be fine. That he'll do whatever I want but we need to get away now.

"Kook-ah listen to me." the voice in my ear pleads, tugging me insistently away from the door no matter how much I twist and writhe, trying to get free, pushing and yanking.

But he tugs me away, manhandling me as he pushes me into our bedroom, murmuring over his shoulder as he tugs me to the bed, pinning me down onto it with his body splayed over mine.

"Hyung...the scent...hyung I need." I say, begging for it, mouth full of it's syrupy sweetness, nose still twitching from the sudden onslaught, body all coiled up and stiff.

"I know what you need bun. But you need to try and calm down." Jin hyung's voice soft and sweet comes close to my ear, hands carefully and easily pinning my wrists to the bed even as he allows me to continue to buck up against him, burning need pulsing through my body.

Soft gentle press of lips that feel too careful, too calm and too slow for the franticness sizzling inside me.

"Tae honey, can you get the windows, we need to air out the scent. There's scent diffusers in the bathroom that we'll have to put up around the house." Jin hyung murmurs, mouth moving away and voice seeming distant.

Calm and still measured for all that he squeezed my wrists, fingers rubbing firmly at the scent glands there to coax out my scent, making it waft out in stronger waves as I trembled under him.

"Hyung...is she going to be okay?" is the tentative worried response that comes back.

And I hear the fondness in hyung's response even as tears begin to cling at my lashes at that bubbling, mindless need to breed. To rut out the arousal that made my body throb and ache.

It felt as if Jin hyung was drawing it out, coaxing out that never ending pit of tension, of want out of me, making me work for it.

"She's going to be fine cub. Jiminie's going to be okay and bun's going to be okay. We're all going to be okay." He promises, and one of his hand lifts away from my wrists, the other still pinning me down as it falls away, raising himself off me slightly.

I watch with fluttering eyes as Tae hyung approaches the bed carefully, hand sliding into hyung's palm, fingers lacing together, eyes drifting to me and a mixture of feelings flitting through them.

"And Kookie...he's really wound up. Are you sure you don't need to help him right now?" he asks, eyes trailing over my face, gesturing to the way Jin hyung was easing away the touches lightly, torturously trailing his body away from mine even as his wings flapped.

"Sometimes Kookie needs this. It'll take the edge off for longer." He murmurs, looking at me through lidded eyes, eyes dark and knowing. Pushing my hips down when they buck up and chase friction, so far gone in that consuming need that I barely feel the weight of Tae hyung's gaze, barely register the way his scent pulses, sweet ripe berries.

"I'll get the scent diffusers. If you need me hyung give me a shout." Tae hyung finally murmurs, hand slipping away and body curving forward to hover over me. Hand gentle as it grazes the side of my ear, pushes away a strand of hair.

"Let Jin hyung take care of you bun." Lips moving distractingly.

Maybe later I'll blame it on a mixture of things. Heat triggered spike in my own pheromones, a rising crescendo of neediness, the distracting way his mouth moves as he speaks, voice soft and low, grounding.

Maybe it's because it's Tae hyung himself. Because he's playful tiger Tae hyung. Because his voice is promising. Because my head arches up, throat tilted and groaning when he dives at the invitation, rubbing his scent over me, mouth hot and almost feverish as he latches on, trailing small kisses.

"Is this okay?" he manages to gasp out against my throat, a small keening low sound when his face suddenly presses closer, tongue flicking against my skin as if to taste my scent, to taste the way his pheromones cling to me.

The mixed sensations of a hand rubbing insistently at my scent glands on my wrists and a tongue at my throat, body pinned and feeling so helplessly confined. But knowing in that hazy fog that was beginning to cloud my mind that no matter how frantic that urge was to breed, to mate, Jin hyung was in control.

He'd take care of me. He'd take the edge off.

So when a teary pleading whine slips free of my throat, the pressure lessens, mouth moving away from my throat and a soft, barely audible low murmur of voices. The sweet berry scent moving away and the sound of the door opening and then closing behind him.

Hands carefully cradle my face, lips harsh and mouth hot against my own, a kiss that pushes and pushes, tongue slipping in and giving up control to me, leaning into me and moaning into my mouth as my own tongue snakes around his, pushes to rove through the inside of his mouth, thrusting in and out, brushing over his.

"Hyung I need... need you." I gasp, mouth slipping away, legs locking around his waist and tugging him down, his hips grounding down against mine, his head slumping against my shoulder, mouthing at my shoulder.

"I know bun. I know." He gasps out as my fingers begin to brush against his wings, running across the sensitive hard edge to them, brushing across feathers in light touches, responding to the touch, wings fluttering and shifting into the touch.

And then he's hastily tugging himself away, soothing my startled whimper of his body leaving mine.

But it's to tug his clothes off hastily, his hands urgent as they urge my hips up so he can slip the waistband of my pyjamas and underwear off. Suddenly he's everywhere.

His body brushing against mine, his hands flitting and drifting over my body, constant touches that keep making me buck into the touch, curving towards it, chasing after him, that need know narrowing to him. Just him.

Instincts winding around me for him, to take care of him, to give in to the urges to breed and pin him.

So when he twists us so he settles against the bed, wings splayed wide.

Vulnerable and trusting and hands urging me close, it doesn't take long to fall headfirst into it, into that burning want and need for him.

And this time it's hyung who cries out, arching into the touch.

-------

I groan, head slumping forward as my hands tighten around Jin hyung's hips, hips still thrusting shallowly, grip loosening now that the burning need isn't as strong anymore. The flames no longer licking and dancing across every inch of skin, abated for now.

My hands begin to rub gentle circles right where my fingers had dug in, had clutched tightly as I'd thrust forward with every roll of his hips back into me, wings trembling slightly as his body curved down, lowering onto the bed as he breathed out.

A low groan slipping out as I lowered my face towards his neck, trailing kisses down his back, down the space between his wings and to the base of his back, gently splaying my hand there as I pull away.

Head spinning with the jolts of pleasure that made my body shiver, that knot in my stomach unloosened, unravelled. That itch under my skin soothed.

"Better bun?" Jin hyung asks, voice hoarse from crying out, but eyes tender and soft as he tilts to look at me.

"Thank you hyung. Thank you..." I mumble, slipping away from behind him to watch as his wings flap, rising up and making space for me on the bed, settling over me when I curl beside him, noses touching when I lean my head towards his.

"Always for you Kookie." He breathes out, voice wavery slightly and I watch how his fingers uncurl from around sheets and his hand rises to brush my hair away, tapping chidingly at my lip.

"Though it's been quite a while since you've been so rough." He says.

Almost amused.

My ear flops forward and I clutch at it as I hide from sight, groaning into the mattress.

"I kept asking you. But you kept pushing for more too." I complain.

Knowing without looking that he was grinning.

Remembering his sweetly teasing voice as he'd met thrust for thrust, head curved over his shoulder and eyes flashing with challenge.

Is that the best you've got bun? Lost your stamina?

Remember the way he'd cried out, body falling forward and my hands sliding around his torso to tug him up against me.

"It's been a while. Maybe you should stop suppressants every now and then. Get them out of your system." He muses. My ear quirks up, slipping away from my hand as I peer at him.

Nose twitching.

"You want me to be in rut?" I ask.

Body already sore and throbbing. So much pent-up arousal expelled, so much biological need pushing me to rock into Jin hyung more and more.

He gives a small shrug, through his lips tug downwards slightly.

"Maybe it's not healthy to keep them bottled up for so long. Because when it snaps it's worse no?" pushing himself up to twist to face me, feathers tickling at skin as he props himself up on a hand.

His fingers are light as they trail over my shoulder, rubbing back and forth distractedly.

"I don't know hyung. I take them because it's exhausting to want to breed all the time." I sigh.

He nods.

But the worry doesn't flicker out his eyes.

"But any time you feel like it's beginning to build, any time you think that you feel as if it's pushing at you. You take a break. And you let your biology run it's course." He adds.

My lips quirk fondly when I realise what he means, why he's saying it.

He's worried.

"It's fine hyung." I mumble.

He leans in, kissing me softly.

"It's not fine. Have you been repressing your urges?" he asks quietly.

Looking heartbroken at the fact.

I take his hand, pressing kisses to each fingertip.

"No. The sudden pheromones threw me into a rut. But I'm fine. We're more than fine." I say gesturing to him with a tilt of my head, drawing his hand to rest against my neck, silently asking.

And he indulges, even if scent isn't a strong ability for a swan, he still indulges, rubbing back and forth over my gland.

He relishes in it.

On knowing he can turn me into jelly like this. That his biology isn't affected even if his gaze grows dark and hungry, even if he swallows the moans and mewls with his mouth, fingers pressing down firmly into the gland.

And now is no different. Gaze pleased as he rubs his thumb in slow lazy drags on my gland, pressing down to coax out my scent and humming when it makes my eyes flutter, sagging into the bed.

Balance teetering and switching around. Falling back to him.

And I was glad for it.

Biting down on my lip when his thumb presses down, hips twitching and fingers clutching at the sheet.

"We'll work it out together. Because you like this is far too pleasing too." He murmurs.

Kisses chaste as they're peppered across skin for all that his words are laced with desire and his thumb continues to coax out my scent.

And as my eyes shut, breath a bit wavery.

"You looked good as Tae scented you. Confused whether you wanted to breed or whether you wanted to melt." He teases.

I had been torn.

A touch of something purely Tae hyung piercing through that consuming fog, the pressure of his mouth on my throat. I scrunch my eyes shut tighter.

Then I hadn't known what I'd wanted. Whether my instincts had been sure either.

Whether they wanted to mindlessly breed or whether they'd wanted to cave under the touch and melt. At the constantly forming bond between us as pack.

"I wanted you to pin me down." I breathe.

His thumb stills.

"Don't worry bun. There's time for that too." He promises.

Voice lilting and dangerous.

But for now all I want is to chase his warmth, to curl into an embrace. And to float on this haze that he's brought about, he's induced and not one I've been thrown into.

------

Jin hyung is extra cautious as he opens the bedroom door, talking in a low murmur to someone, bending down as he speaks.

Head turning back to face me.

"Kook-ah, her scent's not strong anymore." Hyung calls before I peek out, seeing that his body was bent towards a panther, hand brushing carefully over the back of his ears.

I see the way Yoongi hyung's panther form restlessly moves, pads away from the door, tail curling behind him.

And when we step out, he makes a small rumbly purr as he pads forward flanking us, body between us and the side of where her room is. Splitting us away from it.

Standing on guard even as his watchful eyes follow me in particular. Sees my ears twitch at the weak remaining trails of sweetness that cling.

Somewhere in that consuming haze I remembered his form diving to block and intercept, remembered him slipping behind Jin hyung and becoming another layer of protection.

The two of us moving to getting some food made for everyone, undoubtedly they'd all been thrown off by the sudden wave of pheromones seeping into every corner of the apartment.

Yoongi hyung pads in a few moments after us, paws trekking across the kitchen and making a small rumble in greeting, nosing at the back of our legs as we turn the stove on, reaching for ingredients and beginning to prepare them.

"Is everything in control on the other end?" Jin hyung asks, turning to face Yoongi hyung who curls beside the table, stretched out and watching us.

He makes a small purr, head dipping down slightly.

I frown.

"What happened on the other end?" I ask.

"You weren't the only one thrown into rut. Jiminie seemed a lot worse. He was thrashing against Joon and Hobi needed to help get him away from her scent." Jin hyung says, taking the chopping board from me.

"Is hyung okay?" I ask.

And even Yoongi hyung doesn't have a reassuring answer for that.

When Tae hyung enters a while later, it's with a ragged Hobi hyung in tow and Tae hyung makes a beeline for the chairs, sinking beside Yoongi hyung to run fingers over the back of his ears, sighing when he buts his head under his chin to flick his tongue against his throat.

Scenting him and snuffling against his throat.

"That was quite the explosion. I never knew Jimin could snap like that." Hobi hyung sighs as he gives me a small squeeze in passing.

Eyes flicking to examine me. Silently searching me.

"You okay bun?" he asks quietly.

I nod.

Smiling at the peck he gives to my cheek, lips lingering.

"I'm glad. Gave us quite the scare the two of you." he mumbles.

"We'll work something out." I say, echoing Jin hyung.

And Hobi hyung's smile is dazzling and sweet, ears twirling as he nods.

Just as reassuring and promising.

And I find myself grounded by it.

Even if my mind drifts with worry as to how Jiminie hyung was faring.

It had been his growls and sounds of his thrashing that had caused me to walk over after all.

Tugged me to the scene as I'd left the bathroom.

Because I'd walked into a scene of utter chaos and lost myself to it too.

And as Hobi hyung began to help I couldn't help wonder how (Y/N) was faring and just how strenuous it must already be on her. To be consumed by that biological mating need and not having anyone to fulfil it.

I'd felt a blistering bubbling urge to breed, to satiate those instincts that had consumed me, washed away any rationality. Had been consumed by it until that clawing urge under my skin had lessened.

But it wasn't the same for a doe. It wasn't something that could be soothed momentarily.

And I knew however long her heat was going to be for, it was going to take a lot out of her, out of us.

But we had to try our best, to get each other through it.

And make it through to the aftermath.

(Y/N) POV:

The plastic under my hand crinkles, folding under my tight grip.

Empty. The water long drained when I'd taken the medicine, something...anything to dull the burning pit that kept growing stronger inside me.

But it didn't lessen. It grew.

Flames that began to lick across every inch of skin, began to sear me from the inside out, heat spreading through my veins. An inferno that made my skin break out into a sweat, made me feel confined and trapped in the layers I was wearing even as my body shivered with the cold air seeping into the room. That pierced through the thick cloud of my pheromones, lessened the dizzying sensation only slightly, only to curve around me in an icy embrace.

A lonely embrace.

My fingers uncurl from around the bottle, watch it hit the ground and sit there, medicines on the table. I wanted to take them, wanted to take pill after pill to ease the consuming gulf of fire but knew it would only worsen it. Would only exacerbate the heat. Would clash against biology winning over by trying to suppress it with medicine that wasn't designed for me, wasn't taken with my specific biological differences in mind.

That didn't mean my eyes didn't flash to them longingly, that my hands didn't reach out despite themselves before I had to turn away, wrench myself away from the false promise

My body begs and pleads for someone to hold it, instincts whimpering that I was alone, that I had no-one to help me, even as my back bowed, head dropping forward over the mattress, tears silently dripping down to sink into the pillows and sheets, no-one came.

The smallest part of me that was lucid, that was still aware and conscious knew that I was going to be thrown deeper into heat, that every bit of control was going to disintegrate and melt away, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt. Didn't ache that I had no-one to ease the pain, to get rid of this frantic urge to be taken care of, to be looked after, to be bred and held. To be someone's.

My legs trembled as my fingers curled into the sheets, sobs muffled against pillows as my body collapsed, falling forward to sink against the bed, unable to keep myself upright as the fire began to grow hotter, began to burn more. As the knots in my stomach tightened, squeezing tightly, making it churn and toss. It ached. Every limb of my body ached. Begged for relief and respite it wasn't getting.

And my head was a torrent storm. Snippets of memories that merged and flowed together. Crashed with others turbulently. Lucidity reminding me that this was my fault, my own shortcoming, my own failure to remember my suppressants. That being thrown into heat was the consequence of my own doing. That it was going to hurt everyone.

I was going into a heat that wasn't home, a space that wasn't mine. And I felt caged by that, felt confined within the four walls of the room, knowing very well I couldn't cross the barriers, couldn't let my scent reach other parts of the apartment. Felt trapped by my own doing even if I knew that deep down this place was safe.

And as I sunk down, the heat that seemed to roll off me in waves became too much to bear, fingers fumbling as they tugged at my pyjamas, trying to get myself out of them, out of the layers that seemed to trap the heat.

Gasping out when wind brushed against heated skin, the abruptness causing it to pebble, torn and confused whether I wanted the cold or not, leaning back towards it even as my body shuddered, trying to maintain my temperature.

My eyes are hazy as they fall around the room, eyes prickling when I spot the bag Binnie had left for me. Scented blankets and pillows.

Because he'd known. He'd been aware that I was approaching heat stage even if it was to be suppressed. That the tactile need wouldn't lessen, would heighten even as the breeding urges were silenced, pushed down and away from me.

He'd known that suppressed heats left me needing familiarity.

And when my eyes fell to the bag it caused a cry to slip past my lips, mind a haze except for the need to get to the familiar scents, to cover myself with them, to keep myself within them.

Hands tugging at the blankets, sinking into the softness of them, drawing it close to my face to draw ragged breaths in, lungs full of wood and hazelnut, full of it until my breath's calm down, until they're no longer harried and thin.

And my hands move to curve the blankets around the bed, slowly and carefully moving to arrange them around the space I lay in, forming a barrier around me. A wall that was so strongly scented as my packmates', that soothed every instinct and told me I was safe within the nest I'd made. That I was safe, safe, safe.

The word chanted in my mind.

Safe.

Safe. But so horribly alone as I curled up between the blankets, clothes gone and shivering as I drew a blanket close, distantly aware that the heat was making me feel as if my body was molasses, as if my skin was too tight on my body.

Alone as the heat pulsed heavy, pheromones cloying and overwhelming from where they formed a thick potent cloud in the room.

Alone.

That thought hurt just as much the pain that made every limb throb.

And the loud roars and yells in my head, at the warring going on inside me never quietened. Grew louder, became an incomprehensible mass of noise. Became loud growls, deep and rough. Pleas to be free, to be close.

It takes too long for the words to pierce through the sticky heavy air for me to realise that it's not my mind screaming it, it's not me begging and pleading and sobbing.

The sound comes from beyond the door. The cries aren't just one voice but several. A cacophony of sounds, loud and harsh.

Soft and urgent. Quiet and brash.

A clash of scents that seep from under the door, rich and potent and heady.

An enticing wave of them that makes my body tremble in response to them, back instinctively arching as my head drops forward, mind clouded with the dominant pheromones, giving in to the scents, giving in to what they promised.

A whimper slips out at the way something purely dominant, rich and utterly just sharp pheromones seep through the door, along with trails of mint that burns as it goes down my throat, so overwhelming and sharp.

My body loosens, sagging with relief at the voices, with the way the scents sharp and predatory made me feel infinitely small and vulnerable, muscles untensing because my biology knew I was going to be okay, that I wasn't going to be alone. That I'd have someone to help me, someone who was going to be there. The scents soothing rather than making my hackles rise, rather than making me feel stiff and afraid.

But my head turns to sink into a pillow, fingers curling into it as I try to muffle the voices, try to shut them away, a small part of me scared of what was happening on the other end of the door. Scared that the sounds were angry and harsh, were full of resentment, biting down on my lip to stifle the shaky sob that tore out of my throat. I didn't want them to be fighting, didn't want them to be arguing because of something I'd caused.

And I flinch when a guttural scream rips through the air, carnal and vicious, a growl that's pure animal and the sound of a soft thud hitting the door.

I didn't want this. Didn't want this.

Body jittery and shaky even as it relaxed under the pheromones that seeped through, confused whether to tense up at the harshness of the sounds, mind yanked out of that floaty cocoon with alarm, struggling to push myself to form a coherent thought.

Stop. Please stop. 

And as the growls got louder, as the voices rose on the other end of the door, that tiny semblance of comfort I'd felt began to disappear, body aching and needing but head so so full of panic and alarm.

Not sure whether I could let go to, whether I could let my mind float, not when my body was beginning to tense up rather than calm down, rather than give in to the pheromones and let myself float.

And then it snaps. Reaches its crescendo and bursts, the voices fade, retreating.

But so does the scent. The scent gets wrenched away and something soft and citrusy washes over it.

Light but strong enough to almost blanket the other scents.

To cover them and hide them away.

As if all the strings have been cut, my body sinks down, no longer stiff and coiled up, no longer strung up.

And the scent of the citrus is both gentle as it pushes me closer to that first wave of heat, silently urging and encouraging to let go. Gentle even if my instincts make me curl up, knowing that it's a predator's scent, that the sharpness in it is protective and fierce.

And when that need sears across me, I'm helpless to do anything except give in to it.

There's something in me that cracks and splinters as tears spill over my cheeks, pleas muffled into a pillow as my hips rise, pushing back to nothing, chasing friction, chasing anything to get rid of the emptiness. Sobbing pleas for that instinct to be bred, sobbing to be taken care of and looked and after.

Arousal and desire clings to my body, makes it pulse and throb and ache. Shoots through me, electric as it makes me jolt, needing that numbing edge to take it all off, knowing I couldn't satisfy the urges myself. That my body needed someone to mate, to breed. That my body was pushing for it desperately even if I remained alone, the pressure in my stomach mounting, a tight coil that couldn't unleash, wouldn't unravel.

There's a small growl that reaches my ears, pass the pitiful sobs that bubble past my lips and are swallowed up by the pillow.

And my hips arch, pushing back as I try to push myself up on shaky arms, head dropping low at the way the sound makes my body tingle, the way the growl almost feels as if it grazes against skin, lips parting in a silent pant.

Something about the sound that was pure dominance, pure predator, pure safety.

But no-one comes.

No-one.

And I feel pathetic as my sobs fall to the pillow.

Wasn't good enough. Wasn't good enough. Wasn't desirable.

And when those words weigh me down, I let them.

-------

I don't realise I've fallen asleep until I have to peel my eyes open, body sticky and damp, feverish want abated for now, head turning towards the door where I could hear someone knocking. Could hear my voice being called out softly.

"(Y/N).... (Y/N) are you okay?" the voice asks. Gentle and low and concerned.

So unthreatening, so reassuring somehow that a tension I didn't know had made my body lock up bleeds out of me now.

A shaky sigh.

"(Y/N) I've got you some food. You should try and eat something, keep your energy up." the voice calls again.

Recognisable. Familiar.

Jin.

I follow the tug of the voice luring me out of bed, legs shaky and stiff when I push myself off the mattress, slowly trekking to the door. Hands fumbling to draw a jumper over me, breathing in the woodsy pine scent of Eunwoo as I made my way forward.

My hands curl around the door handle for longer than necessary, taking several breaths to try and calm down, try to push away the jitteriness, to fight the worry beginning to well up at what he'd say when I opened the door. Whether he'd look at me with disappointment, for forgetting something so simple.

But when I tug the door open, the slightest crack, it's to see it being filled with the sight of someone, eyes trailing over a broad figure.

Eyes hesitantly meeting his.

He smiles at me. Concern and sympathy flashing in them.

"There's no-one else about at the moment, you're fine." He soothes when he notices the door doesn't open further.

I tug it open a bit more, curved behind it, terrified at letting my scent seep out and affect anyone.

"I know it'll be hard but try stay hydrated and eat as much as you can." He urges. Pressing the tray forward to gently nudge the door open a bit more.

Not stepping in but carefully watching me for any hesitance.

"I'm so sorry." I breathe.

He frowns.

"Nothing to be sorry for. Do you take specific medicine for heats? One of us can go get them." He offers.

I nod shakily, head pressing against the wood, blinking at him.

There was something so protective about his wide stance, about the way his wings were flared out wide, blocking the sight of everything else.

Blocking or trying to keep my scent at bay I realised.

"I...it's...the medicine is..." I fumble, words tripping over each other, a sharp pain beginning to flare in my abdomen once more, breathing shallow.

He stiffens, expression flitting with a myriad of expressions.

"Try eat before the next wave hits. Just a bit." Jin urges.

I nod, face crumpling when the next stab of pain has my spine stiffening, locking up. Hips sore and beginning to throb once more.

My hands reach out for the tray, fumbling slightly.

But before I can close the door, desperate to get away before my pheromones pulsed heavy once more, Jin's voice soft and reassuring comes through.

"We'll get you through this (Y/N). Just...take care." He says.

I don't think I nod. Hands fumbling to set the tray down once I close the door.

Clutching at the edges of the table as that need begins to climb once more. Hunched over the side table, stomach churning at the light scent of the food, head turning away from it with a grimace.

I latch onto one of the many water bottles on the tray, hastily drawing large pulls of water, swallowing heavily. Desperate for the coolness of it slipping down my throat, droplets dripping down my chin to slip under the jumper, to trail across heated flesh.

I needed to get the right medication to help with the heat. Needed something to alleviate or dull the gnawing edge.

But knew ultimately it came down to having someone to help me through it.

To have someone physically satisfy the urges that came with my biology demanding to be bred, to be caged in and protected.

Something I couldn't have.

Couldn't ask for.

And when the wave washed over me, control slipping away and mind drugged by that fog of heat, heat, heat, I tried to banish thoughts of something sweet and fresh brushing against my nose, tried to banish the way for one single moment the phantom low drawling timbre of a voice seeped into my ears.

Murmured that it'd be okay.

Eyes scrunching as hot shameful tears trickled down as I thought for an instant of being cocooned in black, sheltered from the world and all its dangers, of a darkness that was warm, was protective.

I didn't have a right.

Didn't have any right.

And I was disgusting to think that way when my body trembled, yearned for a body to press onto mine, to hold me, to pin me down and keep me caged within their heat, within a warmth that was light rather than scorching.

And when I found momentary relief, when my legs parted in silent search for something, the ecstasy was brief and its aftermath prickled and stabbed.

(I AM SO SORRY! I DON'T KNOW AT ALL HOW THIS ENTIRE CHAPTER WILL BE TO READ. DON'T KNOW IF I DID THE RAWNESS OF IT JUSTICE, DON'T KNOW IF ALL THAT PAIN AND NEED AND URGENCY CAME ACROSS PROPERLY OR NOT. BUT PLEASE DO LET ME KNOW HOW YOU FOUND IT! Midiiplier IF THIS DIDN'T MAKE YOUR HEART ACHE, THEN I'M NOT DOING IT RIGHT SO TELL ME!! AND!! THAT WAS THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE HEAT! THERE'S MORE TO COME SO BUCKLE UP! AND AS YOU CAN SEE BABY FAWN IS FEELING A BIT DOWN....SHE'S IN SO MUCH PAIN AND SHE NEEDS AND NEEDS! HER PERSPECTIVE WAS QUITE COHERENT BECAUSE THIS IS THE FIRST STAGE OF HER HEAT, IT WON'T ALWAYS BE THAT WAY AND I DON'T KNOW IF SHE'LL BE COHERENT ENOUGH NEXT CHAPTER HENCE I GAVE IT NOW! AHHHH! SO NERVOUS! BASICALLY...BABY FAWN WILL BE GOING THROUGH HELL BECAUSE SHE HAS NO-ONE TO HELP TAKE CARE OF THAT BREEDING INSTINCT, HENCE THE PAIN, HENCE THE AROUSAL BUT NOTHING SOOTHING IT. HOPE IT MADE SENSE ANYWAYS!! ENJOY, TAKE CARE, STAY SAFE AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU THOUGHT!)

QUESTION....SOMETHING THAT YOU NEVER TRAVEL WITHOUT? Not like the basic essentials but something else!

Mine is....I never travel without a book saved on my phone, earbuds, lip balm/lip gloss and...usually gum.

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3