4. Encounter

This isn't true.

Rainer looked around. He was sure he had turned right in the direction indicated by the directions on his mobile phone. By now, he should have reached the guesthouse as shown on the map. However, as far as his eyes could see, all he found was a vast dark forest. And stupidly, he went in thinking that maybe there was a building inside and these tall trees were just the outside of the building.

Come back! A forest like this is a dangerous place!

Rainer turned around and prepared to leave when he suddenly hear some sounds in the distance. Like something running towards him at high speed.

Damn it! This is still the edge of the forest, but they're already coming!

He ran quickly out of the forest. However, just as his feet touched the tarmac of the street, something pulled his hoodie and threw him away.

Rainer groaned in pain and tried to stand up. But the next second, a sharp pain shot through his calf. He turned his head to find a furry creature with a large body biting his leg.

"S-stop... Please...." He trembled.

But instead of stopping, the creature sunk its fangs further into Rainer's flesh, making him groan in pain.

Several other furry creatures emerged from the depths of the forest. They looked like huge dogs almost two metres tall, just as big as the creature that was biting him.

"Human?" One of the creatures tilted its head. "No, he has the same smell as us. But the creature inside him... died?"

Rainer didn't reply. The pain in his leg kept him from thinking.

"Let him go." Seeing her helplessness, the creature growled, as if giving an order. It looked back at Rainer. "Where is your pack?"

The leg was released and Rainer could see blood oozing out of the wound. Damn, this is going to take a long time to heal! "I-I was alone. I was just passing by, didn't mean to disturb anyone. Please... let me go." His breath seemed to stop the next second he spoke.

From the aura he emitted, Rainer knew that this one was the leader, the Alpha. But he was overwhelmed by the pressure this creature's aura exerted.

"Rogue?" the Alpha suddenly growled.

"Yeah... nn-no! I mean, I don't do things like messing with packs or anything. I've been out of the forest for a long time, so I don't have any ties to rogues on the loose." Rainer shuddered in horror. He could feel the danger around him increasing.

"Is that so?" The Alpha looked incredulous. Its eyes scanned Rainer and then its gaze stopped on Rainer's injured leg. Blood was still flowing from it with no sign of recovery. "Weak."

Although he didn't like its scorn, Rainer decided to compromise and nodded slowly. "Please, let me go. I don't have any intentions. My mobile phone showed there was a guesthouse around here, so I just followed it."

"Besides being weak, you're stupid too." The Alpha snorted in disgust. "But you have entered my territory."

Rainer shook his head in fear as the creature opened its mouth and bared its fangs, preparing to pounce on him.

Damn, he should have been more careful. He should have realised it immediately when he saw the trees along the way here. He should have paid closer attention to the site he opened!

So what now? Would this be the end of his life? After all these years of hiding and running away?

"Who's there?" Just as the creature was about to pounce on him, it heard the sound of footsteps approaching, distracting it.

Rainer heard it too. He turned his head and saw a girl with reddish-black hair approaching with her eyes fixed on him. For some reason, he suddenly felt both comfortable and wary at the sight of the girl.

What now?

***

A month since she left the Crimson Pack, Brianna has wandered the North in frustration. She had searched from pack to pack, hiding her aura and repeatedly running away when a pack didn't accept her. It wasn't that she couldn't fight back, but she didn't want to waste time.

She had already been to the North, with the same mission, to find her mate. That's why when Cashel said she had to go to the North, she felt pessimistic. However, at that time she didn't enter the Philomena Pack territory, and the Philomena Pack was very so difficult to enter. Their border guards were also quite strong.

She had tried to request a meeting with their leader, but the answer she got was to be hunted down. Almost all of Philomena Pack's warriors were mobilised to pursue her.

And so here she was, staring desperately at the human-built road through the forest.

Mate!

Suddenly, her wolf let out a cry of excitement. Brianna smelled something in the air. It smelled like evergreens, so fresh and soothing.

Brianna was surprised; she didn't think Cashel's words were true.

Hurry up! Mate!

Her wolf jumped excitedly, urging her to move towards her mate.

Brianna smiled. She then broke into a sprint, following the scent in the air. Her steps stopped when she saw a pack of wolves surrounding something. At first, she thought her mate was among the wolves. However, her gaze then centred on something the wolves were surrounded by.

That's him! Hurry! I want him!

The wolf jumped with delight. It clawed at Brianna's spirit, wanting to take over her body. However, Brianna growled and ordered it to be quiet. Even though this was a neutral area, the wolfpacks in front of her didn't look like good wolves. It seemed that these wolves claimed this was their territory and wanted to attack her mate. Not a good thing!

Brianna released her aura, making the Alpha turn her head and yell at her. The pack's member began to move back to the Alpha's side, growling at her.

Brianna's attention focused on someone on the ground. His skin was too pale for a man and he had hazel-coloured eyes, green like the leaves of trees.

Her mate.

However, his condition did not look good. His leg was injured, but there were no signs of recovery.

Human?

No, she sensed something else in the man's body. It was just that, that something didn't seem to give any response and was just silent, as if dead.

Brianna frowned. Was this man's wolf already dead? There were cases in the world where some werewolves failed to wake up their wolves because their bodies were too weak, causing their werewolves to weaken as well before disappearing completely.

Such people are almost human-like and become the target of other wolves because besides being physically weak, they are unique. Their heart is excellent for increasing one's strength. If an omega eats it, its strength increases rapidly until it is equivalent to the strength of a beta, and can even match that of an alpha. Because of this, their death cases continue to grow.

However, that happened a long time ago, and werewolves like this are very rare, almost non-existent in the world. Or maybe they don't exist anymore. People started to think that their existence was just a fairy tale made up by their predecessors and started to forget about it. Not many people knew this story. Brianna only heard about it from her grandfather when she was so young. She couldn't remember it clearly.

But it turns out that such creatures do exist.

Her gaze shifted to the Alpha wolf who growled at her. "You can fool him, but not me. This is a neutral area and anyone can pass through." Her eyes turned a fiery red, showing her true identity as an Alpha.

Seeing this, the Alpha wolf was stunned for a moment. It glanced at the man on the ground and Brianna in turn. "Who are you?"

"Alpha of Crimson Pack. Brianna." No longer wanting to hide her true identity, Brianna introduced herself. "You're an Alpha, you should be able to see the difference in our powers. I think these are all members of your pack. If you attack me and I defeat you, what do you think will happen to all these members of your pack?"

Hearing Crimson Pack's words, the Alpha wolf backed away slowly. It still growled, but no longer showed its fangs. "It's surprising that Alpha of Crimson Pack came from the South to here. What do you want?"

Good question. Brianna pointed at the jet-black-haired man on the ground. "Leave him alone."

The Alpha glanced back at the injured man. "Just a weak rogue. Why do you care about him?"

"I have no obligation to answer your question." Brianna sneered.

Growling in exasperation, the Alpha wolf then ordered its pack members to retreat and leave the man behind. "Don't think that you're lucky. The Crimson Pack is notorious for being vicious and cruel to rogues," it said as it caught up with its pack.

The man's pupils are dilated after hearing it.

***