Here it comes, the terrible cliffhanger. Chapter 19 will be posted tomorrow!

Your POV

When I wake up, eyes opening slowly to the room completely silent and dark, it takes me a moment to remember where I am.

I'm pretty sure I went with Namjoon and Yoongi to their house to watch movies... and I do remember being slightly overwhelmed when I saw the gigantic mansion for the first time, which was then followed by a tour of the rich and beautiful rooms the pack lives in, but this...

This doesn't feel like we're watching movies.

The scents are a bit hard to adjust to at first, they're so... strong, as if someone sprayed multiple perfumes right beneath my nose at the same time, and of an intensity that I am not used to anymore - not since I left my ex mate and had to endure single-handedly the consequences of breaking the bond.

It feels strange, as if I am having to deal with a newly discovered skill all of a sudden, and the many lungfuls of air that I take completely throw me off until I manage to get a hang of how to separate every scents again.

There is definitely Yoongi's tea scent that I love so much, and while I do recognize Namjoon's earthy petrichor in its richness, the scent is way too clear and vibrant for it to feel the same as usual, but there's no time to ponder why when I can also smell a familiar flower, a soft scent that tickles at my nose as if trying to whisper secrets directly into my soul.

It's like there's a breeze coming directly from a well cared-for garden that gently flows over the crackling of a warm firewood, and though they're new in that gentle intensity, they also make me feel very safe.

My entire being both feels heavy and light at the same time, and there is even a tingling joy that doesn't seem to want to go away despite my confusion at my current situation.

I try to look around me to make sense of what's going on, but right as I tilt my head up expecting to find there Namjoon, I instead find a new face that I have never seen before. The scent of violets definitely comes from him, a thought that is enough to make me understand who this is.

My breath ceases to function when I stare at the handsome man whose cheek is pressed into Namjoon's shoulder, as if I had in front of me the most beautiful artwork ever found.

I never knew someone could be that pretty, but he really makes me believe that he could claim being a god and everyone would think that true - I would be first to believe him if he were to tell me such a thing, him not being one seems more unlikely.

As I get to feel the safest I've ever been made to feel until now in my mates' arms, I take in the long lashes that caress against Taehyung's cheeks, I marvel over the smooth skin that is decorated by pretty little beauty marks here and there, my soul relishing in every details that I notice as his breath hits the air softly, the three alphas asleep just like I was a moment ago.

This is certainly not how I was expecting my first meeting with him to be like. I wanted to be awake and ready to greet him, I wanted to be ready to welcome a new alpha into my life and yet here I am, currently surrounded by sleepy rumbles and snores.

What am I supposed to do now? Namjoon is very comfortable, I won't lie that having my head rest over his chest feels heavenly, but this situation makes me unsettled. Do I wake them up or should I leave them to sleep for a bit longer?

"Are you awake, sweets?" Yoongi's voice suddenly chimes quietly from behind me, and after some effort trying to turn on my other hip so I can look at him without straining my neck, my heart stutters when I find the drowsy alpha already gazing at me like I'm the most precious thing he's ever seen.

His eyes crease into a smile when he observes my shy blinking and blushing, and he raises a hand to cup my warm cheek before inhaling deeply when my scent gains in sweetness.

"How do you feel, little one? Did you sleep well?" he asks again with a rumbly husk to his voice and a purr in his chest, himself simply content to bask in this moment with his mates nearby, but this question is one that I am unsure how to reply to because... how do I feel?

Seeing how Taehyung is already here and cuddling with Namjoon, close enough that I can feel his warmth seeping off of him, it's obvious that the alpha knew I was here when he joined us, but that's not what my mind wants to understand the most right now.

"I'm not sure, Yoongi, there's something strange going on with me. I woke up to every scents smelling... strong. As if my sense of smell turned back to normal, but that shouldn't be possible, right?" I utter with a light frown, and Yoongi pauses before he resumes stroking my cheek softly.

"You can smell every scents? Even the bond's firewood?".

I nod.

"What about Taehyung's violets? His flowers are soft, sweet, can you smell his scent?".

I purse my lips shyly before nodding my head again, and he smiles before humming, eyes ever gentle as he keeps them on me while his thumb draws circles beneath my eye, a gentle touch that dances over skin like a petal dances in the wind.

"I'm glad, real glad. Taehyung got home shortly after you fell asleep, you were exhausted so we didn't want to wake you up. The close proximity between you two made the bond properly secure you as part of the pack, that must be why you can smell everything more clearly now" he explains, allowing me to connect the dots, and I relax when I finally understand what happened to me.

So that's what it is then. Meeting Taehyung not only completed the bond, it also healed me from the impacts of my first broken bond.

I had fully given up on my sense of smell ever since I lost it, ever since I stopped being able to smell the wild flowers outside, so to wake up to it in its proper state again, just like it was before, it feels too good to be true.

"It's not going to go away again, is it?" I let out quietly, a part of me afraid that it would only be momentary, that in a few minutes, maybe hours, it would go back to its reduced state, but Yoongi shakes his head before softly bumping his forehead against my own where he remains.

"It must be a gift from the Moon Goddess, and she doesn't take back what she gives. You're not going to lose your sense of smell again, sweets, never again" he promises, words that make me tear up slightly before I nod against his head, I like that promise a lot.

It's silent and calm for a long while as we remain like this together, with his warm skin against my own and his hand over my cheek, but when the door suddenly opens to allow in a beam of light into the room, I wince at the brightness of it before I can even tell who's there.

It's only when I smell cedarwood, an entire forest of it, that I finally realize who it is, and Yoongi grunts lightly when I immediately leave our soft little cocoon to smile widely at Jimin who grins back at me before coming over while taking in our sleeping arrangements.

"Jimin" I chirp cutely, myself surprised by the tone my voice uses to express my joy to the alpha, and his small giggle is filled with love when my blush coats my cheeks once more, I sounded like a little kid!

"Hey sweetheart, look at you being cuddled like this by our mates, hm? Can I get a hug too before I get jealous? Or is that only reserved for Yoongi and Namjoon?" he teases me as he climbs on the couch to join our group, the sound of his voice loud enough to wake up Namjoon and Taehyung who wince at the bright light that hits them right in the eyes.

I sheepishly pinch my lips together before making a small sound, and Jimin takes that as the victory that it is when his face lights up even brighter, hands helping me to leave my warm prison so that I can fall within his warmth instead, and he doesn't let go once his arms lock around me.

He sighs deeply as he holds me tightly, like years of tension are leaving his body by doing so, his eyes closed to better enjoy this moment because it was only a few days ago when I could barely accept his touch. It makes him so happy to see me getting more comfortable with them.

"I missed you, darling, it feels like ages ago when I last saw you" he eventually murmurs into my neck, voice soft and vulnerable.

The admission shoots an arrow straight to my heart where it grows endless lands of cedar trees in the meadow of my soul, and I can only melt in his arms when his nose grazes against my scent gland, a sweet touch that sends tingles throughout my entire body.

"I missed you too, Jimin" I admit as well, my shyness making me hide in his neck when he tries to pull back to look at me - he releases an endeared chuckle before swaying us side to side slowly, a heartfelt sigh of pure contentment as the others observe with smiles.

"Did you and Taehyung have some time to properly meet each other, or did everything happen out of order again?" the alpha eventually asks after allowing himself a moment longer of hugging to satisfy his soul, and Taehyung's pursed lips answers him before I can say anything.

"She was asleep when he got home, they haven't even spoken a word to each other yet" Yoongi utters with a groan leaving his throat when he sits up next to Namjoon, something the pack alpha confirms, and Jimin gapes at them in shock, he thought we'd at least interacted a little!

"Well out you go, then! Let's give them a moment, you two can get started on dinner while you're downstairs, hm? I'll stay with them to make sure these two don't remain frozen like mute statues once left alone. Go on, get out".

Namjoon complains, Yoongi shuts him up, and together they make way out of the sofa-bed to follow Jimin's directives, because while they would rather stay, they know that they naturally take a lot of attention without needing to do anything, and Taehyung deserves only the best of the best.

In other words - out they go indeed.

"We'll make pastas, that's one meal Namjoon can make without losing his fingers so it'll do for now" Yoongi mumbles after making the pack alpha leave the room first, and the door closes on those words as if to say 'don't come complaining to me later'.

Darkness takes over once more, and silence has never been louder as my mind screams that this is already awkward.

Jimin observes Taehyung and I, he takes in how we're already shrinking right where we are with our gaze on our knees, and he sighs before standing from the couch to turn on the lights before we decide to feign being sleepy just to avoid facing our nerves.

Taehyung felt like he could do anything earlier, but that was only his desperation speaking.

He's feeling really shy right now.

The light switches on and a soft, dimmed glow brings warmth to the room this time, gentle enough to avoid hurting the eyes, but still bright enough that we can see each other normally again.

I look up to stare at the alpha out of pure curiosity, his attractiveness a magnet for my eyes even though he seems unconscious of that fact, and I bite on my lips before shuffling ever so slowly in his direction, just to close some of the ridiculous distance between us.

Jimin appears excited by that fact, to see me take action first like a ray of hope in his heart because it shows him just how much I've broken out of my shell already, something he was expecting to take much longer to happen.

"Uh... T-Taehyung, right?" I manage to utter the most obvious in what I hope to be an ice-breaker, and the alpha bites back a small smile before nodding his head.

"Yeah, and you're Y/N".

Another nod of the head, and we're back to square one.

I look over my shoulder to where Jimin is seated with a quirked eyebrow, and my face must speak of my plea well enough because he releases a tiny laugh before coming to the rescue by crawling all the way next to Taehyung and I.

"Goodness, you two have got to be the cutest wolves I've ever seen. Taehyung, you were looking forward to seeing her so much, yet what are you doing right now? Is this how you treat your new omega? No smiles, no hugs, no nothing?".

Taehyung tilts and ducks his head bashfully at Jimin's words, a light pink beginning to coat his cheeks when he feels me staring at him too, he can't help but feel shy right now even though he wishes he could act more confident like the others, he doesn't know how to behave and it's making him so nervous.

The sight of the blushing alpha makes me want to hug him tight to comfort him and oh my gosh, it's my first time meeting such an adorable alpha. He's not intimidating like the others at all like I first thought.

"Well, lucky for you, I've been growing more comfortable with being hugged so... if it's something you want, Taehyung, I- I don't mind hugging you" I blurt out with a fake confidence that is only betrayed by the racing of my heart, and Jimin would hug me again if Taehyung wasn't already perking up at the offer.

"R-really? You really don't mind?" he asks in one short breath, and when I nod my head to confirm the permission that I just granted him, he licks his lips before biting on his bottom lip, one last wave of nerves hitting his system before he closes the remaining distance between us with a slow pace, slow enough that I quickly lose my composure the closer he gets.

His scent of flowers is delicate, a bit like candies but not the sugary kind, it is a wonderful and comforting garden that exists only in him, a secret space that promises to hold you tight and dry your tears for as long as you need, whenever you need it.

It feels so welcoming that I could lose myself in it forever.

We allow each other one last eye contact before his arms gently pull me into his chest, and when my face finds its rightful place in his neck, when my nose rests right against the source of that delightful scent, there is no pulling me out of here anymore.

In a way, it reminds me so much of my mother's scent, and when he rests a hand behind my head while the other squeezes around my back, when I feel a kiss meet my skin with all the love he can gather into it, it immediately takes me back to my early childhood.

I close my eyes, and the next inhale that I take is filled with emotions that are both beautiful and overwhelming, the sting of tears in my eyes the least of my concerns when I nudge deeper into his hold to avoid losing this comfort that I had missed so dearly.

I had forgotten how much I adored the smell of flowers, and the love it makes me feel with every inhale. How did I survive for so long without being able to smell that enchanting smell to that extent anymore?

Jimin and Taehyung both notice when my scent loses a bit of its sweetness to instead become a little more watery, and they don't understand the shift in it, the way that it turns into melancholy, but not sad, rather a joyful one.

They don't understand what happened for me to react that way to his hug, but the alpha is all the more intent on giving me all that I need, so he pushes out more of his scent while laying down against the cushions so we can both be more comfortable.

As much as it confuses him, he cannot ignore the way that he feels like he's cradling a vulnerable child in his arms right now, his protectiveness flaring to life the more I drag my nose against his scent gland, not desperately but more emotional than that, as if it's becoming a life source, a grounding energy that alone keeps me alive.

He doesn't know why this is happening, but it makes him feel something strong in the depth of his soul, and he wouldn't let anyone take that away from him, no matter what they'd have to say on the matter.

It takes me many long minutes before I can even think of saying anything, but sensing their confusion in the weight their gaze has on me, I know that I should at least explain myself before they begin to worry even more.

"I'm sorry for being so weird Taehyung, Jimin, it's just that... Taehyung's scent reminds me of my mom's. The way you held me and kissed my cheek... it really took me back for a moment, I'd forgotten how it felt back then to be hugged by her until now. I'm really sorry, I don't want to weird you out, I know you're not her and I'm not treating this hug as if you were someone else, I promise, I just-"

Taehyung squeezes his arm around me before shaking his head, pheromones pushing out to reassure me that everything is fine, and I relax against him again.

"Take all the time you need, I... I'm happy to be able to give you this comfort if you need it, I don't mind it at all" he muses with his gentle baritone, and the tears I was keeping in roll down my cheeks at being given permission to lose myself into this moment.

The intimacy of our hug is so precious that Jimin eventually starts to feel like he's intruding in something that doesn't require his presence, but when Taehyung sends him a look that means 'don't leave me alone', he sighs softly before sitting down besides the two of us.

"Your mother... did you love her a lot?".

Jimin's question makes me open my teary eyes slowly, and I nod my head while clenching my lips when I feel a quiver try to reach my chin. It was so long ago when I could last talk about her with someone else like this.

"She was the best mother a young kid could ask for. She did everything she could to raise me on her own, and I never once felt her absence even when she had to work for long periods of time for a job that barely paid her anything. Everything she had went into keeping me warm and fed, always just me.

"Everyday, she made sure to love and cherish me as much as she could, even when she was sick. I was very young but I remember almost everything, up until the day I found her on the bed with a cold, silent heart. Wild flowers, that was her scent. It's not the same, but it's similar, in a good way".

The two of them feel their heart drop at my answer, they weren't expecting such a sad story to decorate the land of my past, but to Jimin, it finally explains my broken purr and why it never fully developed.

While I never lacked a mother's love, I did lack the proper environment a purr needs to become healthy.

Taehyung's arms feel like they're trying to protect me from everything as he uses them to keep me close and safe, and it makes me smile slightly despite the fact that I'm talking about the most tragic day of my life, one that I can never forget, nor do I want to.

"How old were you that day?" the alpha asks gently with his cheek resting on my head, I make a small sound before closing my eyes again as the memory flows back in.

"I must have been around... six, seven? I was found laying at her side by our neighbour a few days later, and then I was sent to my distant aunt for the remainder of my school years. She wasn't warm like my mother, she wanted me to keep my distance whenever possible, so I learned to find comfort in the flowers outside instead. When the broken bond took that away from me, it felt like I'd lost her a second time".

They both remain silent as they try to process my heartbreaking story while I let out a soft breath that carries with it some of the pain that was left in my heart. It feels good to get it out, to have a safe space where I can open up about my past without being afraid of what others might say.

"It must have been hard for you" Jimin murmurs after a moment, his voice weak, sad, but I reach out to hold one of his hands, fingers intertwining to comfort him.

"Not for long. She made sure to teach me how to be strong early on, to not depend on anyone else but myself, so I was sad, sure, but life went on and I did my best to make her proud from wherever she was now resting. It wasn't her fault if we were poor, nor was it her fault that her family sucked, that was just... part of the life we had to live at that time".

Jimin and Taehyung feel their emotions go from unstable to swaying alongside my calm heartbeat, their mind in disbelief that they were given such a strong omega.

I may have been broken and betrayed by my ex-husband, to a point where I felt scared of opening up again to another soul eager to love me as they were, but the foundation that my mother left me is very strong and they have no doubt that it is part of who I truly am inside, fears and pains pushed aside.

It makes them want to believe that all is not lost, that I can become who I was always meant to be again, with the right care, love and encouragements from them. Not being limited by anything anymore ought to help me step out of my shell with confidence one day.

A soft knock on the door echoes in the room at our silence, and it opens to Jin's small smile as he peeks inside.

"I'm sorry for eavesdropping, sweet pup, I was told that you were here so I wanted to greet you but then ended up hearing your story. Can I join you on the couch?" he asks with a sweet but cautious voice, and with the beginning of a pleased rumble resounding in my chest at the alpha's appearance, I nod my head before resting it on Taehyung's shoulder.

"It's alright, Jin, I don't intend for it to be a secret so you can come in" I muse softly, happy to see him again after the amazing day we had together yesterday, both alone and with Hoseok - last night wasn't anyone's fault so I don't want to let that ruin our good memories.

Relieved because he certainly believes the opposite, the eldest alpha walks inside the room before pushing the door so it stays just slightly parted, and then he walks around the back of the couch to kiss our foreheads one at a time in greetings.

Too used to the sound of my own purr to be consciously aware of what its state signifies - the others all seemed fine with it until now after all - I let it flow out freely at the feeling of Jin's plump lips peppering kisses all over my face, and so I don't notice the change in Taehyung's scent when my focus is on the floury vanilla mochi that settles on my skin.

Unbeknownst to me and the others, the brokenness of it makes the young alpha's heart further break as he finally understands what the others meant when they talked about my purr being underdeveloped and unnatural-sounding, that it was heartbreaking to hear from an omega.

Hearing it for the first time when he knows about my past, unlike the others who had a chance to get used to it beforehand, leaves him feeling incredibly upset because he can only see the pain behind it, and the sob that leaves him is enough to get all of our attention on him immediately.

I instinctively freeze when I start to feel droplets of his hot tears coat my skin all of a sudden, my confusion over why he's crying making me look up at him to try and understand what's going on so abruptly, but he doesn't let me when he hides his face in my neck instead to hide from me.

Jimin feels so deeply his mate's upset reaction that he begins to tear up too, and so does Jin who carefully slots himself behind the crying alpha to hold the both of us in his arms with a gentle hush past his lips, pheromones and scents trying hard to calm Taehyung whose sobs keep getting louder and sadder the more he processes that I never got to feel safe again after my mother left me behind.

Unknowing that he's currently crying for me, but fully knowing that he's crying because of me without the why behind it is distressing to a point where I begin to turn completely disorganized as I shift uncomfortably on his lap to get some bearings back.

Confused but anxious to help him, I allow the broken rumbling of my purr to get stronger while scenting him, but when Taehyung's reaction only worsens because of it, head turning away from me and towards Jin as if fleeing my touch, my wolf and I both take it as a failure and a rejection.

My eyes fill with tears in humiliation, hands clenching on my thighs as the meaning of his reaction takes roots within my mind - he doesn't want my help.

Jin and Jimin can't remember a single occurrence where Taehyung ever cried like this before and it's pulling them into terribly unfamiliar grounds, because soothing an omega and soothing an alpha is not the same at all, and they fear that only Namjoon might be able to help at this point.

"I'll go get the pack alpha" Jimin informs us before running out of the room, and when his scent leaves behind a trail of burned wood, it makes my wolf lose the grounding scent that we've been thinking of as the very definition of pack at home thanks to the candles, as if it was suddenly ripped from us by force.

Couldn't help, made things worse, not good enough, those are the thoughts that start to swirl in my mind as I frantically search around me to find a new grounding force but not finding any because everyone is either agitated or distressed, and I begin to believe that if I'm not here anymore, alpha will feel better, even if it hurts.

Taehyung whimpers into Jin's neck with the saddest sobs I have ever heard from another wolf, and his arms that were tightly holding me loosen up, a further confirmation that I am not wanted nor needed anymore by the alpha, I must have done something bad, I did something and now he's crying.

My chest squeezes tightly while my breath begins to suffocate me from the inside, inhales not filling my lungs as they should anymore, and the sight of the slightly ajar door is where my wolf goes for when my eyes settle on it, our panic causing our consciousness to merge just enough to influence my actions.

What happens next happens too fast for Jin to react accordingly, and he gives a shout to warn the others before I get too far and get hurt.

I quickly jump to my feet after fleeing Taehyung's remnants of a grip, too lost in my own pain to see that this is making things worse, and the whine that leaves his throat is all that I hear as I rush down the stairs where I stumble face to face with Namjoon and all the other alphas of the pack.

It takes me but a look at them before a whimper wells up from deep within my chest and merges into sobbing, and Jungkook is first to rush to my side, faster than light itself. He pulls me within his strong embrace and turns to the others with a serious frown, the circumstances not at all what he was expecting to come home to when he left work.

"Go take care of him and try to understand what happened, I'll take care of this sweet pup" he says firmly, and everyone except Hoseok nod before going up the stairs to where Taehyung can be heard going through what literally sounds like a heartbreak, much to my despair.

My guilt bursts into ravaging flames that have for goal to destroy me from within, and bad omega, such a bad omega, I did that to him, it's all my fault, my heart breaks in half as those words sink deeper into my bleeding soul, causing the mate bond to suffer because of it.

I shouldn't have come here, shouldn't have met the alpha, now he's hurting because of me and there's nothing I can do to help, rejected, unwanted, and suddenly Jungkook's touch on me feels wrong, too much.

I push him away from me twice before he lets me go and I stand there, gaze on the floor with an agonizing soul that doesn't know what to believe anymore, because what do I do now? Do I really belong here or was I just fooling myself? They showed me love, but what did I do to deserve any of it?

"Y/N" Jungkook utters when I step back, Hoseok standing on guard when his instincts warn him that something's wrong, terribly wrong.

It's dangerously silent for what feels like forever as we remain unmoving, tensed and on edge, and then the sound of a door opening reaches our ears.

"Careful, Taehyung, don't fall" I hear a soft voice murmur from up the stairs, their scents are tired, upset, and I clench my teeth before grabbing my hair tightly from over my shoulder, a self-soothing that can't work when I need it the most - seven alphas are currently unhappy because of me.

I make another step back, away from all of them, and a thrum is felt in the bond, like a finger flicking against a guitar's strings, again and again, it's a level of pain that they all promised themselves would never happen that's befalling everyone at the same time, myself included.

Fat tears gather in my eyes before falling on the floor, and I clench at my heart when it pinches hard, the bows of every red strings starting to get loose with every passing seconds.

Why did I believe that I could have a happy ending with them?

"No, no no no, Y/N no-" Jimin says anxiously as he begins to run down the stairs, "everything's fine, sweetie, please don't make this mistake, let's talk about it, hm? Let's talk, baby" he pleads as he stops in front of me, hands trembling when he finds my own to hold only to feel them fall limply at my sides.

"I don't..." I let out a shaky breath before shaking my head. "I'm not a good mate for you. I thought... maybe I could belong here with all of you, but I don't. I don't belong anywhere. I'm a... a failure, an omega who can't do anything right. I hurt, but I can't help".

Taehyung makes a step to join us downstairs, but his foot slips and he trips and falls all the way to the bottom with a loud groan, the physical pain that he feels already pushed to the back of his mind because his soul is in a worse state, a lot worse, everything is going wrong.

I startle at the loud noise, and even though I really want to help him, my wolf recoils at the simple thought of it when we remember how we were rejected earlier, we can't help anyone.

He refuses every hands trying to help him to his feet as his puffy eyes remain glued on my form, how did things get so wrong so quickly? Why did everything get so scary? The bond was supposed to be strong, unbreakable, and yet he can feel the strings starting to let go with every tears that I shed.

He pushes himself to his feet on his own before limping in my direction, and my instincts break into a war when my need to wait for him clashes with my need to run away from him, the last of my soul begging for the bond to hold on tight while my heart just... begs for everything to be over already.

This is too much, and I don't have the energy to handle all of it anymore. I'm tired, so tired. Maybe it's time I go rest with my mother... I miss her so much right now, I miss her voice, her touch, her warmth, her scent, everything.

What would she have said if she were still alive? What would she have done?

Taehyung opens his mouth to speak, to explain himself, he wants to explain why he cried, he wants to hug me and reassure me that I did nothing wrong, it was all him, only him, but before a sound can greet the silence, I sway, a hand to my head when the pain becomes excruciating and then-

thud

"Y/N! Baby, please, no, anything but this-"

"Jin, call an ambulance right now, tell them it's an emergency. Taehyung, you hold her, don't let go even once. Moon Goddess help us... don't let the bond break, Y/N, I beg of you".

"Oh sweets... don't give up on us now, little one...".