Bound by Blood

Chapter 136-Falling for you Part 4- flashbacks of the past

JOON POV:

There's a sadness, a melancholy that clings to (Y/N) for a few days, ever since she steps out of a bedroom with both Jiminie and Tae clinging to her, wrapping her up close and the feeling of hurt echoing through the bond. And she doesn't move to part from Jiminie's side for the next few days, plastered to him at every available moment, a small frown and lost look whenever he wasn't in her line of sight, the worry and tight knot of niggling fear easing up through the bond when he stepped through the doorway and when she was tucked against him, clutching at him.

And when Jiminie and Tae had explained she'd heard Jimin's story about how he'd met us, the bond had ached, weighed down with the pain of the past, faces flickering with shadows of memories, haunted expressions before smoothening out. Because he was here. He was safe. He never had to feel that way again and we'd never let him be used.

And her response is understandable, that need to cling, to reassure herself he was fine even if centuries had passed, because for her it was all new and sudden. For her she was trying to get her head around it, process it. And I could see in the flickering glances she gave when he wasn't looking was pain and restlessness.

And for all that she'd fallen asleep with Jimin always on one side and the other space taken by us for the past few nights, her sleep had been restless too. The faint dark circles attested to that. So did the pained, restless whimpers as she shifted in sleep- drawing us from unconscious, a tug that had us rising out of sleep to respond to the distressed sound of our baby mate.

And yet what I don't expect is for her to just vanish.

One moment she's contently curled between Kookie and Jiminie and the next Kookie is padding into my room, a ball of restless nervous energy as he gently rouses me awake, as he whispers that she's just gone. That the space between him and Jiminie was void and the sheets long gone cold and undisturbed.

It takes time to convince him to go back to sleep, to sidle close to Jiminie so that he doesn't feel her physical absence in his sleep and wait until Kookie's trusting worried eyes flutter shut and he tucks himself into Jiminie's arms before I leave. Before I set out to find her, so confidently having reassured Kookie that she's probably wondering in the house or the house has opened up one of the hidden passages to her and she's just gotten lost exploring. Trying not to let the panic my soul was thrumming with seep out and affect him, though the frowned face he'd sported even as he'd obliged made me wonder just how effective it had been.

And I should've known when I turned away from their bedroom door, that Jin hyung would've sensed the shift in the nest, looking at me with flickering red eyes and an unimpressed look.

"Were you even planning on coming to get me Namjoon-ah?" he asks, voice soft and somewhat dangerous in the silence of the house, smooth and gentle and yet I hear the chiding tone, hear the protectiveness flare as he's undoubtedly now aware of our baby mate missing at this time of the night.

I shrivel under his look, feeling abashed and contrite.

"...yes?" I answer.

His brows rise but a flicker of fondness flashes through them.

"You don't sound too sure honey." He replies, stepping close, the air thick and heavy with his presence, the sight of him demanding the attention of every one of my senses, hyperconscious of how he fills the space, how his broad frame exudes strength, centuries of experience and contained power- only a mere glimpse of it shown to the world.

And then his hand comes forward to lace mine with his.

"Let's go find her." he says softly.

I nod, tongue-tied all of a sudden at the close proximity, at the dizzying rush of the intertwined coven scent that radiates off him, warm and heavy- clinging to him and inviting me in.