Chapter 6 A Deadly Hunter

I managed to find an adequate location where I could clean and bandage Holly’s injuries. I was able to locate a secure hiding place where Holly and I could take a nap and wait for the medication to take effect.

I have put enough distance between the lycan territory and me. From what I recall, this part of the forest is almost at the borders of human territory. No wolf who has no guts would dare to venture here. 

Resting is the main reason why I have stopped, but recalling my conversation with Maxwell, I just have a lot of difficulty in finding the time to relax. How could I after Max threatened me with the life of my father?

Could I have made a mistake? Should I have not helped the little girl? She may be a kid, but she is still human. She’s not of my kind.

The sun has just barely surfaced when I realize that I have been awake the entire night. A little movement to my side catches my attention, and I turn to see that Holly is beginning to stir awake.

“Lady?” She blinks drowsily.

Looking at her weakened state, all my doubts seem to disappear when my consciousness chooses to just do the best that I can in this situation. “Good morning. Are you feeling better?”

After my question, she started to cry. I am frozen to my spot because I am unable to digest the situation. What am I supposed to do? How should I comfort a crying child?

“I was so-so scared! The-The bad wolves want to kill me.” She keeps crying. 

I always have a soft spot when it comes to kids, but it’s not like I have any experience caring for them. Most of my interactions with children are them waving at me before their mothers would slap their hands away and tell them not to interact with me. They are afraid that the kids would inherit my weird wolf form. 

I take her hand in mine because it is the first thing that I can think of. “Don’t worry. The wolves won’t bother you anymore. We’ll head back to your parents' place soon. Stay with me until we get there, and I promise you that you will be safe.” I meet Holly’s gaze and see her pause. I feel her hand closing on mine as her tears silently falls from her cheeks.

“Really?” It hurts me to hear her voice filled with doubt.

“Really.” I promised her. “As soon as you are feeling better, we can start moving and head to your father’s place. Now, rest up so you can have more energy when we start moving again.” 

Holly nods again and soon drifts off to sleep.

Her hands became a little loose and I was able to pull my hand free from hers. I am pretty sure that she’d be safe in this little cave that I found, so until she wakes up, I should go and look for adequate food for us. I cover Holly with my coat to keep her warm. It also has the scent of the lycans, so I doubt that any wild animals would dare attack her while I am gone. In this forest, the lycans are at the top of the food chain.

I got out of the cave and paused after a few steps until I heard a distant movement somewhere. It doesn’t seem like it’s a wolf, so I believe that it might be one of the hunters. I don’t know how I should approach this situation. Should I kill him? But that would ruin my plan of coming to their territory in peace. Maybe I should approach them carefully and see what they will do. 

That’s the plan that I had in mind, but before I could approach the lone hunter hiding in the woods, he had leapt up and was ready to charge at me with a curved dagger.

I barely managed to block it with the knife on my belt to parry him. Our blades collided, sending me and him back a few paces. 

This is impossible. He is human, isn’t he? How could he be able to push me back? Whoever he is, his strength is not normal. Initially, I thought that it was a fluke because he got the upper hand by surprising me, but as our blades collided again, I knew that it wasn’t.

This hunter is strong. Insanely strong.

“You beast. What did you do with the young lady?!” He demands and starts charging again, swinging his sword in a way that I would have missed if I was not paying attention to his movements. He’s not only strong, but he is also skillful with the blade; a deadly combo.

There’s no way that I could catch his blade with with my knife without losing a finger, so I was left with no other choice but to move back and dodge.

This man is a danger to my pack. I should kill him right now. He has adequate skills that are on par with mine. If any of the lycans faced him, they would instantly be annihilated. It is only thanks to my wolf’s speed that I am able to keep up with him.

This man needs to die. I will just have to get rid of his body before Holly wakes up.

I fixed my stance, glaring at the man before me with the intention of killing him. I meet his gaze and see him fixing me with the same killer intent.

I rush towards him first, feeling the ground beneath my feet break as I rush forward. He managed to parry my first blow, not knowing that it was just a distraction from me to aim at his legs. He falls back, buying me enough time to raise my dagger and aim for his throat. The man moves his body flexibly to kick my wrist and make me miss my target. He then twisted his body until he got back on his feet again. He raises his curve dagger and strikes me, but I roll out of the way and just at an adequate distance to kick his stomach.

The man staggers back, but then quickly recovers his breath, quickly enough that he caught me by surprise. How did he manage to get up so quickly?! This is impossible!

He and I were going to clash one more time until a voice made us both pause before our blades would meet. 

“She’s my friend! Don’t hurt her, Ajax!” Holly yells, making us both freeze. 

“Holly?” He breathes out, holding his position while looking at the little girl standing at the mouth of the cave with an alarmed look in her eyes.

“She saved me. She’s a human. She’s a hunter!” Holly cries out while staring at our frozen form. 

My knife is on his chest and his curved dagger is on my throat.

“You heard her.” I tell him. “Stand down.” 

“You first, stranger.”

“I trust you the same way I trust a snake.”

“Same here, beast.” He narrows his eyes at me.

“Ajax, get away from her!” Holly yells again, making me grin cockily at him.

“You heard her. Get the fuck away from my face.” My smile diminishes when I say the last sentence.

The man, Ajax, grits his teeth and glares at me before taking a step back. “Consider yourself lucky that Lady Holly ask me to spare you.” He keeps his gaze at me carefully even as he is walking to where Holly stands.

I put away my knife and stared at him with as much animosity as he was showing me.

I wonder. If Holly had not yelled for us to stop at that time, I can’t help but wonder who would have won.

Would it have been me killing him or him killing me?