Over the past week, Cara and I had caught up most days for dinner or coffee with Jimin. When I first heard that she had another mate, and a destined one no less, waves of jealousy and anxiety rolled through my heart and mind. Call me selfish, but I wanted Cara all to myself; I was insecure that if she had another mate, then she might not want me anymore.

Although, upon meeting the Arctic fox hybrid, I couldn't help but like him. Jimin was sweet, kind and funny, and not once had he made me feel unwanted or excluded. Instead, he felt like a friend that I'd known for years; like a brother I never had. The two of us got on extremely well, so well in fact that we decided that we really might actually be platonic mates. Platonic mates were common, especially in mate groups where they were not all connected – like ours was. Although, more time together was needed to see if we were platonic mates, but I had started feel that pull from my end.

It was one of those rare Saturdays where everyone all had the day off on the same day, so we decided to spend it together. Cara worked Monday to Friday, same as Jungkook and Hobi. Until Jackson and Jisoo had begun working in the hospital, Jin had been on call on his days off, but having more doctors working in the hospital meant that he could take his weekends off. Jimin also had managed to get the weekend off, which Cara and I were happy about. Taehyung was recovering well and living with Jin and JK but hadn't started looking for work yet. Bang Chan and Felix also had the day off, so the couple was interested in doing something too.

So, making the most of everyone having the nice summer's day free from work, we decided to spend the day at a strawberry farm that Hobi had heard about from one of his students. The farm apparently had a really good restaurant accompanying it, where they cooked the produce they grew; hence we decided to meet there for brunch to sustain us as we roamed the grounds and picked our own strawberries.

"Hobi and Joon are really looking forward to meeting you. Jinnie said Tae's excited to meet you... well, you know, outside of your work and talking about all the bad stuff he went through," Cara said to Jimin while we were on the road, me behind the wheel of my dark grey Audi A3.

It felt so good to be able to drive again, something I hadn't done for nearly a decade. Getting my driver's license was one of the only good things the 'Owners from Hell' allowed me to do; while living in that dreaded house, I was the one who went to the store to do groceries since I was basically their own personal chef. While I was homeless, I had missed being able to go wherever I wanted in a car; I missed that freedom.

I'd told Cara that I had my driver's license soon after I moved in with her. While she offered for me to use her car since she could carpool to work with Bang Chan, after not driving for nearly 10 years, I did not feel confident to start again when there was snow on the roads. In mid-spring, on our four month anniversary, Cara surprised me with a beautiful dark grey car of my own. I'd tried to convince her to let me pay her back for the brand new vehicle since my album had been raking in decent money, but she insisted that invest that in myself and my music career.

"I hope they like me," the Arctic fox's voice was quiet when it came from the back seat. I could hear, and smell, his nervousness.

"They'll love you, Jiminie," I said, trying to reassure him. It was the first time I had seen Jimin not confident and it felt weird. "Plus, Hobi and Felix are not going to let you be when they find out you can dance too. I guarantee that when they learn there is another person they can dance with, the rest of us won't even register to the pair for a while after that."

Cara laughed, nodding emphatically and saying, "I love Hobi so much, but Hoseok, when he tries to teach me to dance, is scary." I chuckled, agreeing completely with my mate's description of the emperor tamarin when he's in dance mode. Hobi had roped me into dancing with him, but at the end of only an hour, I felt like my legs were about to fall off.

"Also, I can bet you any amount that Bang Chan and JK will be both pleading to go on a run with you," I voiced while making eye-contact with Jimin through the rear-view mirror. "Probably Hobi too since that little monkey has so much energy in the daytime."

"And you'll be curled up in the sun somewhere, hey Kitty," Cara teased, knowing me all too well. I nodded, purring at full volume as her fingers ran through my hair to scratch my ears.

A whine came from the backseat as the Arctic fox hybrid pushed his head between the front seats, angling his ears towards Cara. While they hadn't had their first kiss yet, Jimin had experienced the incredible feelings that only came from ear scratches given by our beautiful mate.

Cara giggled, turning and contorting herself so she could scratch Jimin's rounded white ears while she kept stroking mine too. Soft yips erupted from the hybrid, which made me silently chuckle between purrs.

The rest of the ride was spent with the three of us talking and singing along to the radio. I was so shocked the first time I heard Jimin's angelic voice that I nearly caused an accident when my foot accidently pressed on the brake pedal. That man could sing!

As I listened to him singing and humming to the music, I thought about how I would love to record his voice. Jungkook and Jin had both leant their voices as background vocals on a couple of songs I'd made. Hobi, Namjoon and I had also recorded a couple of rap songs, but Jimin's voice and range were so beautiful that I needed to get him to lay down vocals for me.

But first, I need to write a song that will fit his tone.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ⋆͛♡⋆͛ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Brunch had been incredible, some of the best food I'd ever tasted. Everything on the menu contained strawberries, however, they weren't all sweet dishes. My chicken breast with red wine and strawberry sauce was so delicious, and I loved the flavours in Cara's choice of crumbed pork rissoles with a garlic strawberry sauce. Of course they had the usual pancakes and French toast options, but all of us decided to step out of our comfort zones and we went for something a little bit different. I made a mental note to try recreating the strawberry and basil relish that went along with Jimin's grilled salmon.

"I don't think I could fit another bite in," my beautiful mate sighed contently, rubbing her stomach over the pretty summer dress we'd worn.

A chorus of agreement went around the table as the other men rubbed their food babies in sated contentment. The call to go pick strawberries was made, each of us standing, stretching and then giggling as we saw everyone else do the same.

Ugh, we're all getting old!

The weather was nice, a pleasantly cooler summer's day. While winters were bitterly cold with lots of snow here in Samta, the summers were more on the milder side with the occasional hot day. Samta was the city of choice for lot of hybrids, particularly those with thicker fur like mine, as well as those from colder habitats like Jimin; the climate here was also perfect for hybrids who didn't want to have to worry all the time about overheating, like JK since Boxers were prone to many health issues if they overheated.

It also meant that a lot of produce grown in Samta has a longer harvesting season; normally strawberries grown in subtropical areas had a short fruiting span of a few months, while here they went from mid-spring right through until early autumn.

I was walking with my mate as our group made our way from the restaurant down to the farm. I loved having Cara's hand intertwined with mine, and from the smile on Jimin's face as he held her other one, I could tell he felt the same.

We each grabbed a basket and set off in search of the best strawberries we could find. Cara and I followed Jimin, who was using his heightened sense of smell to locate the ripest and sweetest fruit.

"How can you tell the difference between Yoongi and the strawberries?" Cara asked, completely in awe as Jimin stopped in front of the green plants creeping on the ground, pops of bright red sprinkled throughout the foliage.

"Well for one, those strawberries," Jimin said with a teasing lilt and smirk as he stalked towards our girl, "don't smell like a tasty strawberry milkshake. And two, they have a vegetal undertone that Yoongi doesn't have."

"You can smell all of that?" she asked. I internally cooed at the sight of Cara's beautiful eyes wide and her lips open in a shocked 'o' shape.

God she looks so fucking cute when she's amazed like that.

The fox hybrid nodded, adding that he could detect and differentiate the aromas of fertiliser, sunlight, the faintest trace of rain that fell a few days ago, even the birds that had been here this morning looking for bugs.

A change swept over Cara's scent; one I knew incredibly well. It was like how I knew that her panties were dampening rapidly as she took in her other mate.

"Kitten, we can both smell you," I teased, walking up behind her and placing my hands on her ample hips. "Your scent is so fucking mouthwatering when you're aroused," I whispered into her ear moments before I took her lobe into my mouth and nibbled softly.

"Yoongi," Jimin murmured low enough that only I would hear it. "As much as I want to bathe in her scent right now, I don't want anyone else to smell how delicious our mate is. Can this wait until we're home?"

I nodded, reluctantly pulling my lips from Cara's skin. This could – no, it would – continue later at home. I sent out a silent prayer that I'd be allowed to watch as Jimin and Cara had their first time together.

Laughter and happy shouts caught my attention. Tae, JK and Hobi were all playing together, the two mates ganging up on the monkey hybrid. "Jimin, Yoongi!" Hobi called out amongst peals of laughter. "Save me!"

I shook my head. I'm not a fan of running around unless I'm in my animal form and only then it's just for short periods of time.

"Jiminie, you can play if you want," Cara coaxed, pushing his back gently as the fox hybrid looked eager to join the others. "Go have fun, Foxy."

He might not be my mate too, but seeing the way the others had welcomed Jimin into our family made my heart swell. The rest of us stopped under the shade of a large cherry tree to watch the other hybrids play. Standing with my mate wrapped in my arms, her back to my chest, I felt a pull as I watched the Arctic fox.

Yeah, Jimin is definitely my platonic mate.

And I'm not mad about it.