Scarred(A Jikook x OC Werewolf AU)

Chapter 23

Mimi runs through the forest at full speed, her heightened vision and sharper reflexes helping her dodge fallen limbs and avoid branches. Her lungs burned a little with strain and her heart pumped quickly as she pushed herself to go faster. She couldn't afford to slow down now. Spotting a low hanging branch coming up in the distance, she speeds up and when she gets to it; she grabs ahold of it with both hands and swings her body weight forward. She soars through the air for a few seconds at a speed she could only imagine before and lands right next to JK—taking off again before he could even question what happened. After he's over the shock, he catches up quickly and now they're neck and neck. They could see their destination up ahead and neither  wanted to lose.

JK starts to nudge MiMi, almost making her lose her footing and she looks over at him, amused.

"Scared you're gonna lose?" she teases, laughing as he runs so close their arms were touching.

"Nope, cus' I'm not going to," he grins, sticking his tongue out childishly before wrapping his arms around her and taking them both down to the ground.

They both giggle like children as they roll across the ground tangled together, the momentum at which they were running still propelling them forward a few feet. They both pant heavily as they finally stop, sprawled out across each other but now on their backs as they caught their breath.

"You know, Jiminie told me you would be a sore loser," she says, playfully tsking as if she's disappointed.

"How would he know if he never wins?" he asks, raising his brows.

"Well, if you sabotage him the same way you just did me, then how would you know?" she fires back, making him chuckle at the sass in her tone.

"Not knowing is the fun part," he quips with a wink.

He hops up and reaches down to hoist her up onto her feet and they dust their clothes off before making their way towards the large gym hand in hand. Just before they enter, he hesitates, making her look up at him questioningly. Before she could ask what was wrong, he back hugs her, resting his head on her shoulder as he nuzzled her neck. She shivers and giggles, his hair tickling her as he does the other side of her neck too. He lets her go and turns her around, sniffing the air and nodding in a satisfied manner before taking her hand again.

She understands exactly why he covered her in his scent as soon as they make it inside the gym—the scents of male wolves hitting her strongly. She spots a few females with male partners, but none alone. She could see how this place, where all the sweating was amplifying everyone's scents, wouldn't be the best place for an unmated wolf to attend alone. She's grateful that the place is so large because she doesn't know if her sensitive nose would be able to handle all these scents in a smaller space.

Nodding at a few wolves on the way, JK brings her over to the far right corner where there was a long row of benches with weight bars on the racks. Behind those were a plethora of round weights to add to the bars.

"Alright, so I usually do full body workouts when I come. We don't necessarily have to alternate leg day and all that, but since you're half human, I need you to listen to your body today okay? If anything hurts too bad or if you feel like you need a break, please don't hesitate. As fun as competition can be, this isn't one," JK says, setting his backpack down and she nods.

She's curious herself as to what her body can withstand versus what a full blooded alpha's can. It's best that she know and test her limits in the gym rather than in a real life situation.

"Okay, this is a bench press. You lay down here and lift this bar, but first, we're going to put some weight on it. The bar is 45 pounds so I'm going to add....20 pounds to each side to start for you," he says, going over to grab two 20 pound weights to slide onto the bar.