Chapter Three.

Himari’s POV.

-

Jake squats next to my feet, reaching a hand to grab both my ankles with great pressure that has my body wringing from the pain affecting the area. Tears brim in my eyes as I bite my lips, pleading with my gaze as I meet his. He huffs, retracting his hand and standing up. I watch the silent way he rakes his eyes up and down my body and I recoil into myself.

“Will you give it to me, when I tell you what it is I want, shrimp?”

He smirks, a strange coating over his voice that drives nails of paranoia into my muscles as I cower beneath his penetrating stare. He’s going to start playing his stupid games again.

“I want to have you, Himari.”

Surprise defuses over me when those shady words vacate his lips and next I know, he picks me up roughly, gripping my hair tightly and pressing me against his chest forcibly. My wide eyes meet his snickering ones, his rancid minty breath evading my face and poisoning the oxygen between us.

What is he doing, what does he mean by that? I shiver and wince out when his grip fastens tighter on my hair, a warning that I better cough out a response to his ridiculous request.

“What? You’ve never failed to give me what I demand of you, Himari. But I guess they’ve never been this sinister, huh?” He chuckles against my face.

The tears take the moment to ripple and trail down my paling cheeks as I frightfully look into his dreary face. “What do you mean?”

My voice comes out a shell of itself and amusement lit the glints in his eyes as he bears his face down, merely inches away and I try to look away but his grip reminds and scolds me not to.

Jake hums lengthily, using his grip on my hair to manipulate the movement of my head as he tilts my head back and to the side, bringing his disgusting hot breath tracing down the length of my exposed neck.

My anxiety hits the roof, my mind racing faster than my thundering heart as he speaks in a groggy voice, “I want you to be my plaything, Himari”.

Repine hits the back of my throat, spreading crawling disgust throughout my body as I whimper and squirm in his solid grip. He’s insane! Is he asking me to join the collection of girls he frolics and sleeps with?

Energy returns to my limbs and in a bid to free myself from his clutches, I ignore the pain in my head and dive my face down, parting my lips and drawing my canines to bite into his shoulder with as much force as I can.

At once, he lets go of me with a painful growl and I fall to the floor. Jake takes on an angry fit as he glares at the bitten spot that’s giving way to trickles of blood staining his sky-blue shirt and glares down at me.

“You little!” He comes charging at me when the door suddenly slams open and someone’s flashing in and drilling a fist into Jake's face.

“You never listen, do you, you punk?” Vilma’s boiling to a spill as she retracts her hand, not even fazed from any pain as she snaps her head my way and comes helping me up.

“That makes it a third in barely three hours. I’ll have your ass handed to you if you dare bother her again”.

And she’s dragging me out with her while I sob quietly. I’ve always been like this, weak and vulnerable to trouble. My father comes from a renowned family with a prestigious lineage of Gammas and my mother, of Deltas...yet, I turned out to be a lowly Omega.

It’s so obvious that I was meant to be an Omega from birth, I’m such a weakling that can’t even stand up for myself. I only feel so disappointed in myself for maligning my family’s name for turning up with such a constraining title.

~

After dinner with the other Omegas, I drift into the forest lines in search of my little companions. Ever since I was little, I often wandered into the forest despite the warnings from my family to meet my little friends each time I’m in a gloomy mood like right now. The lush greenery, the humid air, and traces of fireflies added to light my path...I inhale with relief. This place is like an elixir for me.

Soon, a rustling of leaves and tiny squeaking noises begin to enter from the background as I draw closer to the riverbank. I avert my attention to the bush in front of me, smiling with anticipation as I watch the intense rustling ensuing in there.

‘He’s sure taking his time tonight’ I giggle into my fist, already feeling the weight over my chest uplifting like a veil.

The rustling ceases and I bend in gentle approach, hands bracing my knees and curious eyes scanning around until a small and sleek long figure darts out, giving me a startle as it instantly wounds its body around my neck to settle over my shoulders.

“Woah! Now, that’s a new one” I let out laughter, bringing my hand to tap over the slender thin fur-coated creature.

Oriel is my pet Weasel since way back, and together with the rest of his many brothers and sisters, we make a family of our own.

The hooting of an Owl distilling the night air also retrieves my smile and I turn in time with a large grew and white Owl gliding down in the air. I shriek, mixing my footing and falling back to land on my butt with a wince.

With a faint frown on my face, I regard the large bird perching on my shoulder, “Hey, that’s no friendly greeting at all”.

Am I Snow White from the human fairytales? Not sure.

From a little age, I’ve loved animals to the point where my family often made jokes I must’ve been some animal spirit in a past life or something. And it’s crazy how they consent to such belief too. Just that I’m yet to fulfill my wishful dream of someday having the ability to communicate with them. We still make do, anyway.

“Today was such a tiring school day...” I report my day to them as always, wading branches out my path along my approach to the river.

I’ve never traveled across before, no one knows how wide the span of the wood, it seems to continue for eternity in the Northern and Western parts of the Wisterne continent.

As I sit by the riverbank, staring at the water body that splits this part of the forest from the rest, my mind begins to wander across to those still tall clustered trees ridden with pervasive darkness. It’s only a crescent moon tonight, drawing a diluting trail of white light over the water that flows down to wherever it leads. Twenty meters wide, the river stands as an obstacle to cross over.

Feeling Oriel around my neck and glancing at Talon on my shoulder, something shifts in my line of sight, like a sudden black blur smearing the background that’s not pinpointed. I shift my gaze from Talon, brows meeting tensely as I focus concentration.

What was that just now?

A fuzzy outline of a silhouette surfaces twelve feet away from where I am, disappearing into the forest upon sight and I jump to my feet, giving my friends a startle. Talon takes flight into the night sky and Oriel leads the way with his family as I follow.

All the times I’ve snuck out here, never have I encountered anyone else. Perhaps, could someone else be sharing my sanctuary as well?

As we draw closer, a gush of wind comes swooshing over us strongly, making me cross my arms in front of my face and shut my eyes. The wind is strong and unnatural, with a crippling chill to it that confirms my assumptions and I contend to bring an eye open, feeling the harassing wind mess with my clothes and blow my hair.

In a brief standstill, I see the hazy silhouette appear again, much similar to the form of a tall person, and in an instant, it warps and darts into the sky like a bullet. My wide eyes follow its swift movement and I see, to my throat-drying awe, the silhouette is no longer what it is as it disperses into a pitch-black cloud, swirling strongly and it descends. Crashing into the trees across the river and making them shake turbulently.

“What the...”

The breeze ceases, the night falls still, and amongst the now still trees lining the riverbank across the river, something emerges from the shroud of endless darkness. Piercing pair of glowing crimson eyes and the illuminating right side of a shimmering face.

My breath catches abruptly, infesting me with chesty coughs as I stagger, unwilling to break eye contact with whatever that being must be. Staring at me so intently that my head begins to fill with a strange heaviness.

“Who are...you?” My voice comes out as a strained rattle as my hands clasped over my chest, my rough breathing steadying considerably.

‘Is it...a Demon? A human?’ To have such glowing white skin like a doll’s while the rest of its body remains concealed in the effusive darkness.

I try to call out louder this time, not taking the time to reason that I should be running away from this unknown entity. But just as it had appeared a short while ago, it suddenly vanishes into the dark, leaving me in a puzzled state.

Just what on earth was that?

~~

It’s been several days since that day and I’ve returned to the forest many nights in search of that strange being but to no avail. If only I could cross the river to get to the other side, sigh. We’re forbidden from ever attempting to venture further across the river. Beyond the river as the legends and history books say, lies the human and Demon territories. Like many others of the Pack and the rest of the Wolf kind, we’ve never encountered these creatures before. That’s with an exception of the top ranks of the Packs.

I help Elsa fill up the pantry at the Packhouse, carrying a big basket of which I’m picking out the items and filling the cupboards and refrigerators. Elsa and I take care of preparing breakfast. Over the days I’ve spent living here and adapting to the new environment, I’ve learned the ropes from her, thanks to my amazing assimilating ability.

I wonder if I’ll be less busy tonight so I can go search for that being again with Oriel and Talon. They both haven’t seen that being again after that. Call me crazy, but I do understand my animals to a comprehensible level.

But, for it to have easily crossed between both sides...could it be what I think it is, after all?