3

“Should I just leave?” The girl was conflicted. She almost strolled for a mile in the shadows. Her feet badly ached due to the sharp thorns that were buried within her sole.

She finally halted when the energy slowly withered away from her body. “Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to come here.” She muttered as her eyes searched the surroundings around her.

Not a single wolf or a person was in sight.

“Am I lost?” She questioned herself. A wave of dread flashed inside her as she slid down against a huge tree, settling herself on the ground.

Ilaria had heard from the people -- when a wolf passes another pack border, they would instantly get killed or worse get tortured for a lifetime. But she never took those things seriously. She usually thought that people told such information just to scare her away.

And that is exactly why she was here, in an unknown land filled with various huge green colored plants to test her theory out.

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted when her ears perked up at the crunching sound. Ilaria swiftly stood up as her feet backed away.

She could feel someone was close, very close.

The more she retreaded, the more anxiety filled in her gut.

Her body stiffened when she saw a male wolf emerge through the thick bushes. It was large with a smooth light brown fur coat that shined in the sun. Black colored orbs rested on his face which looked incredibly dangerous.

The wolf snarled at her with distaste dripping from the corner of his mouth.

He looked powerful, almost too powerful.

The animal suddenly growled out, loudly. In an instant a group of large wolves emerged from every corner trapping her in a circle.

They had ambushed her without letting her notice.

The only thing circling her mind was that maybe her theory was indeed wrong.

She was definitely about to get killed, for sure.

Her orbs zeroed on every wolf. She could tell, almost all of them were in respectable ranks instead of the wolf who elegantly stood in the front. He appeared to be in a higher rank but bellower than an Alpha.

Ilaria gulped down the lump as she backed away slightly making the wolf hiss in anger and bared his teeth in the most frightening way. “Uh.. I mean no h-harm.” She stuttered, nervously. Her hands flew infront of her for protection. “Trust me.. I was just passing b-by.” Her face tilted a bit to search for any way of escape and to her luck she found one just opposite to the hungry looking wolf.

The mighty wolf stepped forward, his fury paws planting his steps on the soil. As if sensing his movements, the other wolves followed his actions.

She fisted her sweaty palms. It was a game of now or never.

1.. 2...

“I.. I’m sorry.”

3...

Ilaria immediately bolted to the opening. Her whole body was on her fire. The booming howls of the wolves were heard behind her, making her shiver in terror. If they captured she would most likely die. Shaking her head vigorously, she focused on running away with full speed.

An average wolf was a bit slower than her because her blood contained something only the Moon Goddess knew.

“Curses.” She bit her lip as the harsh air collided with her face making her slow down.

The powerful strides of the wolves never died down. The twigs snapped under their paws whilst the atmosphere became more dense than usual.

Her battered legs took her away fastily but everything had a limit and that thought made her quiver.

She turned her head around to see the beasts, to her dread they were nearing her with full speed. Looking back at the front, she increased her speed only to bump into solid rock infront of her. The air left her lungs when her head roughly collided with the ground.

She hissed in pain.

Placing her hand on the rock, she got up with great difficulty. Her gaze instantly blurred as she felt herself getting dizzy with every passing second.

“R-Run.. Common Ria, you can m-make through... this.” She muttered to herself as another throaty whimper left her mouth.

The thick blood from the fresh wound trailed down her jaw but she wasn’t gonna cry over it so without thinking she dashed away once again.

Her body screamed for her stop. It was just a matter of time she collapsed.

Ilaria turned around to the left and saw an abandoned cave. She immediately climbed over the rocks and made her way in it. Her aching body hid behind the rocks.

“Why me?”

The petite girl tilted her head sideways to gaze at the concrete wall that suddenly looked quite interesting whilst steadying her erratic breath but within seconds her body roughly flew to the other side of the cave with a harsh thud knocking everything out of her.

Blood splashed from her mouth in an immense amount.

Her unsteady blurry gaze shifted at the intruder and what she saw made her heart tighten in terror.

There and then she knew she was a goner.