Chapter 1— Into the Unknown.

Rea's POV

The air was thick with the sharp stench of antibiotics, iodine, and phenol, the kind that made you think you had just stepped into a hospital or a drugstore, not a rustic cabin where a family of four lived.

Mum sat at the edge of the bed, leaning over Dad's chest as she gently rubbed his chest in slow circles, trying to ease the pain coursing through him.

I sat alone on the two-seater armchair just beside the old wooden bed where Dad lay, while Riley leaned on the framed artwork hung low by the wall, hands clutched tight around her little Barney like that would ease the ache in her heart.

Our eyes were swollen and red-rimmed from too many tears, and our faces were contorted with fear and worry as we both watched the dying man writhe in pain from his illness.

"The wolfsbane...I…" Dad managed to speak in a hoarse whisper before his voice cut off abruptly as if the words cost him blood to form. He took a labored breath and continued, eyes struggling to stay open. "No human survives the Darkclaw pack."

The room fell silent in a dazed hush; everyone seemed to be struggling to piece together what he'd just said. Oh, I mean, I and Riley alone. Mum just rubbed Dad's chest, with no hint of surprise at all, and I couldn't shake off the feeling that the wolfsbane thing was no mistake at all.

Riley drew back from the framed artwork by the wall where she leaned, a puzzled look on her face. "What's a wolfsbane, Dad?" She asked. She had probably never heard of it all her life.

Well, I wouldn't say I didn't have any idea what a wolfsbane was. Because at least I had seen Dad hunt in his early years and still remember those stories he told us about stealing from the wolves and miraculously getting away with it, a story that only sounded fictional...and ridiculous. Like the moral was only meant to entertain; do not dare believe. Dad loved adventures and would often come home with endless ridiculous wild tales that didn't seem to be true.

"Why do you need wolfsbane, Dad?" I interfered, my tone carrying urgency, as I tried to pry why he was asking. Even though I never believed those tales back then, I could tell he was being serious—not his usual wild tales.

Dad's eyes found me through the fog of the fever that pinned him down, and he reached a hand to me slowly. I took it and leaned gently towards him, but before I could even get so close to him, the heat rolling off him due to the fever was fierce enough to burn me too. My skin burned just getting close to him, and that alone made my stomach knot with fear. If such heat radiating from a human body could burn another person's skin, then I wonder how the person bearing the body was feeling. I feared for Dad's life. His gaze stayed on me, though half-lidded, and I knew it cost him so much strength to keep up, but somehow I saw hope through it. In that moment I felt hot tears burn me as they streaked my cheeks, and the whole room transformed into a symphony of sobs.

Mum turned her face away, sobbing loudly like she could no longer hold back those little whimpers she kept suppressing with her winter coat.

I swear I hated that moment.

My eyes were puffy; surely they must have turned crimson under my eyelids because I'd been brushing tears away so I wouldn't look weak in front of the dying man.

"I... I know the extraordinary... healing qualities of a wolfsbane," Dad went on after a brief pause but gagged on another rough cough.

I bolted up from my seat in one single motion and made for him, brushing his chest gently while Riley reached for a glass of water. He gulped, one, two, then continued.

"I'd get back on my feet with just one stem of it, Rea." He paused, and the room held a stunned silence and just two curious gazes. Dad wrapped his hot, burning fingers around mine, trying to sit up but falling back as his grip faltered, his arm dropping on the bed with a weak thud.

"But it's almost impossible to steal from the wolves." A flicker of worry crossed Dad's expression, like he was scared of the next word he was about to say. "But... the problem is, Alpha Damien Remington... Alpha of the Darkclaws pack, is deadly. People who crossed him… don't always... come back."

"So what do we do?" I asked, eyes fixed on Dad.

"You should go, Rea." Mum suddenly turned at me, her stern tone causing a shiver down my spine while her face twisted into something furious and dark, something I hadn't seen before.

"... Mum?" Riley and I chorused, staring at Mum with a sudden, surprised look on our faces.

"Yes, Rea. You should go!" Her voice was raw from crying, and her face kept twisting into something meaner. "He's dying, and I can't leave him now, and Riley's just ten, and so is Rea. You have to go."

I leaned forward for a second, my gaze narrowing to just Mum's face, lips parting to just a shaky gasp. Yes, I'd love to save my father. But Mum had a way of turning things around; Mum had two girls but chose to love one over the other, although I got used to those mean and harsh treatments even though Riley got the softer part of her, but it was just one thing that bothered me the most—the fact that she didn't even care about my safety as well.

The Darkclaw pack was the pack closest to our neighborhood. Their hatred for humans was the reason they chose to live secluded, despite their fortunes.

We needed a solution desperately, but then, if a return wasn't guaranteed, then why do we have to go in the first place?

I felt it deep inside me that Mum's reason for asking me to go get the wolfsbane was more like a punishment than a solution for Dad's health; if not, she'd also think of the risks involved and how to go about it. For a heartbeat, I felt the pains go numb, replaced by strength, faith, and determination.

When reality hit all of a sudden, I realized Mum was still right; she should be left at home to look after Dad, and Riley was just ten, too young at the moment to adventure into such. I think I was the only one fit for this, and I can't let fear consume me.

I gripped Dad's hands immediately. "I can go." I whispered, faking a smile, but those stupid tears came hot again and betrayed me.

"No…" Dad whispered. "Rea. I…I was supposed to make arrangements for this." He paused, too weak, his words barely above a thread. "Get a man... raise awareness... get people who could help volunteer to go..." Desperation laced his fading voice. "I can't send my little girl to the wolves."

"Hey, trust me, I've got this," I whispered again.

"Promise me you'd come..." Dad's voice faltered before he even finished speaking.

"I promise."

"Be careful, Rea." Mum cut in. "You can't keep talking when you already know what to do. You can't stand to see him die like this, right? It's the least you can do." Mum met my gaze dead on. "Go! Steal the blue-black flower in the alpha's garden before dawn. It's the least you could do for him."

I wiped my tears and wasted no more time before vanishing into the cold night. I knew Dad could call me back and stop me from crossing that dangerous threshold if he could. But a dying man had no choice. And according to Mum, "It's the least I can do."