Got my claws in you

Chapter 34- small baby steps

JIMIN POV:

(Y/N) drifts off, curled up body relaxing finally. For the first moment since she'd stepped into the living room on shaky legs, now she was fully relaxed, not strung up and tense, it had bled out of her posture, uncurling as she sank further against me.

And now I could feel the light puffs of her breath against my neck, making it tingle and shiver as it unfurled, teasing at my skin as she relaxed, head resting on my shoulder, hand clutching at my shirt.

Vulnerable. Soft. But also seeking tactile closeness, comfort.

She'd relaxed more and more as Yoongi hyung had spoken, silently having padded over with a warm drink laden with toppings, making sure she'd began sipping before he'd started kneading at her sore calves, massaging at her muscles, fingers and palms glistening with warmed massage oil, rubbing and squeezing a path further up her legs. Slowly making her legs tremble and jitter before they came to settle on his lap, limp and unmoving, skin shining under his touch as he continued his ministrations.

It hadn't been any small amount of satisfaction, so profound that it'd made my scent burst out in a heavy wave, when I'd seen her be able to sip at the hot chocolate in her hands, when I'd seen her nibble at the chocolate, when I'd seen her not once put it off. And it had been sheer relief that she'd started to drift off, hands going lax and eyes fluttering, tickling against my neck as they brushed over skin, opening and shutting eyes that had settled and rested for longer.

And when she'd finally fallen asleep, Yoongi hyung stopped talking to her, voice and words trailing off, turning smaller and shorter until he'd stopped. Eyes gentle on her and lips tilted at the corners, emotion flickering in his gaze.

"She's fallen asleep." Voice full of wonder and marvel.

As if he hadn't expected it to work. As if he hadn't been sure that she would be able to settle and let go. None of us were blind to the exhaustion that had clung to her frame, had settled in every limb. Had made itself blatantly known in the way she'd been drooping, body caved and slumped, trembling and jittery, hollowed shadowed eyes and a unfocused gaze as she'd melted into the embrace.

Allowing herself to be held, allowing herself to be taken care of when she'd wound herself smaller in my hold, tucked herself up under my chin as if to fold herself against me. The small, relieved sigh had been exhaled against my throat when I'd scooped her up when she'd stepped out of the bathroom, unprotestingly and eyes grateful.

Small and secretive. A tiny moment of weakness and need that was making itself unknown in the small, unconscious gestures.

The way she'd wriggled closer when I'd drawn her onto my lap, legs folding and sagging, limbs losing strength. The way she'd pressed her head against my shoulder, fingers curling into fabric. The way she'd hidden herself away into my embrace, eyes ducking away from everyone's, hiding herself away from the world.

And holding her right now was satisfying every instinctual need that had been neglected, had been denied. Holding her was a feeling that felt hard to process, as if I couldn't truly process that after five endless days of longing of pining and waiting, of trying to get to her, she was here. She was in my arms.

She was safe. She was going to be taken care of.

My instincts had been fretting since she'd stepped out, thrashing and whining with distress at the physical tells at how brutal her heat had been. Glands sore and swollen, red and puffy- still stimulating and secreting a strong pheromone wave, rich and sweet floral seeping of her, heavy with the aftermath of her heat. Unmarked swollen glands that shouldn't be that way but were. Because she hadn't had anyone to tend to her during her heat, she didn't have someone to share that biological instinctual shift of that breeding cycle that set in. She didn't have someone to lay claims to her and merge her fertile rich sweetness with their own.