Rescued to be Bound?

The alphas were chatted around Jimin, but he couldn't utter a word. he felt like he couldn't hear them even when they addressed him directly. Abruptly the omega stood up and darted up to his room so that he could be alone. The rainstorm outside replicates his inner turmoil. He listened to the rain patter on his window as he lay in bed, still ashamed of himself for what he did in the past. wishing he could be somewhere else or even dead as Sleep rolled her gentle hand over his eyes and he drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up, it's very early morning and he had nothing to do. After twiddling his thumbs for quite some time, he went downstairs because he got really hungry. To his wonder, Jin and Jungkook was already in the kitchen making breakfast which happen to be his favourite, Lasagna. But What surprised Jimin more was the presence of another man in the kitchen. He was much older than the alphas, and by his scent, he could tell that he was a lion shifter. Jimin held back at the door of the kitchen, suddenly scared. He didn't know why he felt so disturbed at the prospect of having a stranger in their midst. He didn't know what the alphas thinking about him abruptly leaving the conversation, maybe they felt disrespected... his train of thought cut short when Jin address him.

"Jimin, you're here." Jin said with a smile. He had no doubt the alpha was thinking about what they'd done earlier and he blushed. "This is Pastor Augustine. He's here to talk about our mating ceremony."

Jimin suddenly felt his stomach turned at the thought of being mated. He felt like running straight back to his room, but the alphas were already eating, and the lasagna on the table smelled amazing to him.

He approached the table cautiously, sliding into the chair he'd sat in since the day he got here. They'd left it empty as if they'd made an unspoken agreement that it was his chair now.

"It's nice to meet you, Jimin," Pastor Augustine said. "I'm here to help you with premating counselling or whatever else you might need."

But since he was a stranger, Jimin couldn't relax a bit with him around. He just wanted to know if there's any other way which was not leading the way to be mated, "You see Mr. Augustine, the thing is, I'm not opposed the ceremony but to me it's very early and it's unsettling."

"The alphas have been filling me in," he said gently. "I understand if you feel like you're too young to take this step."

"I'm not saying I'm too young or didn't expect to be mated. I'm already twenty-one. It's just that mating was not on my radar until a few days ago, and now I'm expected to mate not one but six alphas. This isn't fair." Jimin s in stated one breath.

Jimin knows he sounded like a child— a bratty one, at that at that – as he whined at the end. But he couldn't help it. The pastor was taking the time to listen to him and hear him out. But when he gave him a sympathetic smile, he had a feeling The Pastor wasn't going to do anything to change the situation.

"I'm not here to force you into anything," he said. "It would be illegal by human laws to marry or mate someone without their consent."

Jimin's heart jumped. Was that a ray of hope? Could he get more time to think it through?

"The problem is," he went on, "you won't be mating according to human laws. This mating ceremony is going to be under shifter law, and traditionally speaking, the bride or bridegroom doesn't have to consent in order for the ceremony to take place.

Jimin nearly choked. This was so ancient! He had never even heard of shifters abiding by these rules. It was twenty-first century after-all.

"Listen omega, if me or they wanted to do that kind of thing then I'd definitely not be here convincing you." The pastor quickly said. "But I'd prefer to see you to agree to this. You can take the time to get to know your future mates and get comfortable with them. You can talk to me, either individually or with one or more with them. Because everything in this world has its own deadline and you also have a time limit my boy. You have to hurry up."