Chapter 1
If he could melt into this bar he would be the vibe, move around as easily as the smoke that clouded the crowded room alas when Park Jimin stepped into the Silver Spoon bar, his arrival did not go unnoticed. He took a step into the shaded room fitted with muted colours of the bottles and the glitter than finds every spark of light.
The click of cues hitting pool balls ceased as their eyes averted from the game and toward the elephant (or should I say alpha) in the room. Joyful chatting and banter turned to murmurs of cowardice as Jimin strutted down, ignoring the stares he received. A single glance sent shivers down people’s backs, their necks craned in submission for the alpha before their eyes.
Jimin sat down on a stool near the bartender who was on his phone until the alpha had tapped the counter, alerting the young woman of his presence. Her phone seemed to act like butter as it suddenly slipped past her fingers, almost landing on the floor. Jimin quickly leaned over and caught it before it could be destroyed, the bartender gasping out of relief as her device was carefully placed down on the counter.
“Thank you, sir,” the bartender said, her speech iterating as stutters. Jimin gave her a nod, his eyes darting between the assortments of gins, whiskeys and beers. He needed something strong; take the edge of his earlier excursions. Looking after a pack took up a lot of his energy despite being an alpha, ever since his father decided to co-exist with humans, the job had become increasingly difficult despite his best intentions.
“I want you to grow in a better world, son,” Jimin’s father had said to him one day. “Running away from mankind will not better the rivalry." Alas, shortly after the deed had been made, Jimin’s father passed away. The pack was in distraught for months on end, refusing to listen to Jimin solely because his father was the leader of the pack. The poor boy was only fourteen when he saw the death of his protector and to say it scarred him would be an understatement.
He had cried for months, clinging onto his father’s dying wish of Jimin being the best alpha he could be. No one listened to him, not a single soul; simply because he wasn’t distributed as an alpha until he turned twenty-one. Throughout his adolescence, Jimin found himself wandering through the woods, his wolf in the driving seat, allowing him to develop his strength more.
However, there was a scent that stayed there and soothed him; it was always so faint and would disappear eventually, but it was so calming for Jimin as he grew. He went to the same spot every day for a year when his insecurities of being next in line and the grief of losing his father got to him. Within minutes of smelling the scent of familiarity, Jimin would be calm. He would lie in the grass and relax, sometimes even whine and cry quietly, but he would never go there as his human form. He didn’t feel safe as a human back then.
So when his only source of comfort faded one day and never came back, neither did Jimin’s anxiety. The moment he was accounted for as an alpha, the scent only became a memory that stung his heart every time he thought about it. It felt like a breakup; every memory of his lifeline was suddenly one that filled him with despair rather than joy.
“So, what will it be, alpha?” The bartender asked as she tucked her phone into her jeans. Jimin ordered a whiskey or two and just sat there basking in his alcoholic desires and silence. He had too much responsibility and despite his younger brother, Jungkook’s, help he still couldn’t let go of the stress that held him down like a pile of bricks upon his shoulders.
His eyes flickered toward the television that was mounted on the wall behind a table with tall stools. They had the news on, an alert of a recent accident that Jimin had been secretly trying to clear up that day. The anchorwoman displayed some videos from the scene of the crime and photographs too what they had gathered from Google as they went into the statistics of how many werewolf attacks there had been within the years of the treaty’s finalisation.
Jimin let an exasperated sigh escape his lips; this was not the world what his father wanted him to grow up or lead-in and it certainly wasn’t one he would want a son or daughter of his own to grow up in. No parent would want to be raising children in a world where there is a constant big red target engraved into their backs everywhere they ventured. But how could one wolf change an entire government of people who were not wolves themselves?
“Is the drink alright, alpha?” The bartender asked, nervousness lacing her voice. No one wanted to disappoint an alpha but despite being at the top of the food chain and with half of Korea being scared of him, the other half was hoping to settle things once and for all.
“It’s fine, thank you,” he responded. The door opened allowing a chill to rush into the room and snake up people’s sleeves. A gruff grunt from the new arrival made everyone except for Jimin, stiffen in fear. Some humans were still feared among their kind just like how some wolves were feared among their kind as well, this person seemed to be one of them.
“Oh great,” the arrival spat sarcastically. “The big bad wolf is here.” Venom dripped from his voice, lacing the insult with poison as they attempted to shoot their shot at the alpha perched on the bar stool upfront. Jimin merely sipped his drink.
“Boss, look,” a much scrawnier male said, nudging the bigger looking figure slightly. The brute before him grunted, moving his arm away hastily before glancing at what the scrawny man wanted to show him. The brute, whose face remained scrunched up in disgust, kept his deadly eyes focused on the television, Jimin now becoming a second priority. When he realised that he had some leverage, the brute, with his pride on his sleeve, strode toward the alpha with a sick smirk plastered to his lips.
“Werewolf attack, huh?” He said, plopping down next to Jimin who didn’t spare him so much as a glance. “Bet that’s gotta be difficult to hear. I know you mutts are all about peace between humans and such, but, deep down I bet your little dog enjoyed it.” He snarled, his atrocious breath hitting Jimin’s enhanced senses like shrapnel.
“Stop it,” Jimin said lowly. But the other male continued to torment the alpha.
“You may be half-man, but you’re still wild animals who will kill anything or anyone just for the thrill of it. I bet you like chasing your prey and slowly killing them. Maybe it was you who did that attack, who knows? If we can’t even trust our own government to keep us safe then how are we supposed to trust those who kill for fun?” Jimin sighed at the brute’s opinion and turned to face him.
“I’m not going to waste my time and energy on someone with such a closed mindset that his brain has shrivelled up into irrelevant facts and racist beliefs.” He replied. “I may only be half-man, but I’m more of a man than you ever will be.” He whispered and patted the brute’s back before leaving, the money for the drinks underneath his empty glass and the brute shaking with fury.
