|danger|

The moment I stepped out of the barrier, I felt it.

My every move was being watched.

I turned this way and that way trying to find where they were, I couldn't pinpoint exactly where, but I knew they were here.

I had ran a few minutes away from the pack and found a nearby river. The moonlight's reflection was so clear on it and again, I felt weirdly close to the moon.

I bent down to drink, but I haven't forgotten the heavy eyes I felt on me. From where I was, I tried to locate my watchers, but I couldn't. All I could feel was their protective barriers, allowing their whereabouts to be hidden.

Standing up, I allowed myself the leisure to walk. Walk further away from the pack. I wondered if Ian would come after me. However, I quickly shook that thought away. He had Sierra.

After a while of walking, I decided to run and I quickly realized that whoever was watching me was now following me. I tried to run faster, but they caught up to me.

I focused on my senses, luckily I got a whiff.

There were at least four people following me. Damn it, four against one. It's a sure loss.

So I kept running, but I knew I couldn't run forever. The further I ran from the pack, the chances of running into a rogue increased. Not only would I have four enemies, I could have up to ten.

That's when I felt a sudden jolting pain on the back of my right shoulder, causing me to trip. I grunted in pain, looking back enough to see the glowing green aura mimicking an arrow that shot me. It dissipated into thin air quickly.

Suddenly, I found myself in the centre of four masked people.

The pain was almost unbearable, but thankfully I felt myself healing quickly from the attack.

"Interesting..." one of them muttered.

"Hey, Ina, you went too easy on her!" another scolded.

"I didn't, she just... My arrows are enough to incapacitate a person an hour or two, you know that." a girl said.

"She can't be Panselinos' healer. She doesn't even belong in the pack." another noted, which startled me. I've been in the pack long enough to have my scent mixed with theirs, although I'm not yet officially part of the pack, they should still have a hard time differentiating.

I remained quiet, observing my enemies. To be honest, they looked like they were also around my age, but I could feel strength coming from them. Although they were right in front of me, I could barely feel their presence.

There was no doubting it, they were highly trained assassins.

They were debating among themselves, baffled at how fast I healed. And that's when I saw my opening. I opted for the one in front, on the left side.

It was a tempo success because as soon as I managed to bring one of them down, somebody was already on my back throwing me off violently, making me hit a tree. 

"Hey, lady, easy." the one who threw me off chuckled lightly as he hovered over me and kicked my sides. In that instant, I was taken back to my past as an Omega, being beat up like this. He was going to throw another kick, but I had blocked him with both of my arms and pushed him away.

To my surprise, he was pushed away a few good meters, causing him to fall on his bottoms. He looked stunned and so was I. I didn't even push him that hard, considering that he had hurt my sides quite badly, but I felt myself healing.

One of the four started laughing hard. "Vince, I knew you were weak, but to be that weak—"

"Shut up, Karl!" Vince cried out, his eyes bright hazel, showing his wolf.

"It's her." the only girl of the group said, the one they called Ina. "She's the weird presence I've been having a whiff of."

They all stopped to look at their colleague, thinking for a while and then finally turning their eyes on me.

In that moment of pause, I knew that it was the calm before the storm. I focused myself in the most defensive way and to my surprise, a barrier shew through.

"She's got a barrier, Marvin." Vince pointed out.

I... had a barrier? I made that barrier?

Marvin walked coolly at me, he lifted his hand and his aura shrouded it. With just a touch, the barrier I seemed to work so hard on disappeared.

And then it came. Barrels of punches and steel kicks hit me and it was so darn hard to fight back. Their kicks and punches were mixed with their offensive auras so not only did it hurt physically, I knew that internally, I was bleeding. How could I fight back against four?

Is this... the end for me?

The attacks stopped. Darkness danced in my vision. I coughed and I knew it was blood. I laid in the group staring up above me.

I could almost see my parents between the branches that swayed, the only light being the moonlight that peeked through the leaves. I suppose it was fine dying like this. At least I tried fighting back, right?

'Don't you think like that. I'm taking over.' my wold said. I was too tired to argue. My wolf took over, but I felt that she was tired too. 

'I'm not letting you fight alone.'

'I can handle this.' my wolf said stubbornly, growling at me for taking back control. 

'We'll do this together.' I assured her. My canines grew and my hands shew their claws. I tried to stand up and fortunately was able to do so. It was dark and my attackers were almost camouflaged with the darkness that shrouded the forest but having my senses heightened, I could see them clearly now. 

Three boys and one girl. I was right, they looked like highly trained assassins. 

At the sight of me standing back up again, their eyes widened. 

"What the..." the one called Karl whispered. 

"I'm starting to get pissed at her, can I kill her?" Marvin said impatiently. As soon as he said his words, my wolf took over and attacked.

Unlike me, my wolf was a swift fighter. She was light on her feet, but fast. She managed to pull a fight with Marvin first but of course his peers wouldn't just stand and watch so they all attacked simultaneously. 

For a while, my wolf kept up, but my body had been badly hurt and although I was healing pretty fast, adding up new damage was not the way to go. 

I tried what I could, clawing them, kicking, landing a punch, but only some succeeded. 

'I'm sorry. I'm too tired.' I whispered to my wolf. She felt it because my body fell as Ina stabbed my left thigh with her arrows. It didn't take long before my other thigh was repeatedly stabbed so I was unable to stand up. 

"Don't kill her, she has a weird aura." Ina said, stopping the others from landing their share of attacks.

"Huh?! Why not! She's just a regular weak wolf!" Marvin retaliated.

I felt a kick on my stomach. "You're being so impatient again, Marvin." Vince said as he hovered over me and kicking my stomach repeatedly and making me cough up some blood.

Damn, this kid can kick.

And then the four of them started arguing again. Meanwhile, I focused on my breathing. The pain was unbearable. I tried to keep my eyes open, I tried to focus on their voices, but it was useless. 

My eyelids were heavy and my consciousness was slowly slipping away. 

I thought about my parents once again. I thought about Chári. I thought about Ian. 

What a pity...

As I closed my eyes and slipped into slumber, I felt it.

I felt him.

My mate.