“Haru-yah! Come back here!”

I could hear the chanting and feel the rumble of footsteps of the crowd before I even neared the temple.

As I neared, the smoke and blazing fire in the distance became visible to me. “Hongki…” They were going to burn him to death.

Shaking my head, I ran to the doors of the temple, to find them locked. They must’ve locked it earlier on, in fear that Hongki would escape. How could he? He was in so much pain and they were keeping him in a cage of silver.

In the distance, I heard a low growl, and as I spun around, a dark shadow with gleaming eyes darted around in the forests, unsettling the trees. Gulping, I cautiously jumped up to grab the ledge of the brick wall.

The black wolf was coming for the village, for us.

I could see the thick crowd of villagers, men, all torches lit with fire. Some even had their swords drawn.

Rushing there, I grabbed at a random villager, “It’s not him! He didn’t kill my sister!”

The boy’s eyes widened, and I recognized him as Nana’s brother. “Haru? You’re awake? Good, you can see us burn the werewolf to death!”

I shook my head and ran deeper into the crowd. None of the people I talked to seem to be listening to what I had to say. I felt like I was still a ghost. I made out the figure of a wolf behind the circle of monks, but I didn’t have time to look. I needed to get help.

“Haru-yah!” Someone grabbed my arm.

“Seunghyun-oppa!”

“You’re here? How?”

I shook my head, “Oppa! Now is not the time! You have to help me! Help me save Hongki! Jebal!”

“Haru-yah, calm down! Who is Hongki?”

I jabbed a finger at the brown wolf in the cage, “He’s Hongki! He didn’t kill Haneul-unnie or Nana! And he was only trying to help me! The black wolf! He’s the murderer! The black wolf! He’s coming for the village! I saw him before!”

Seunghyun-oppa frowned, but before he could say anything, I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the front to the monks.

I pushed past the monks, knocking some over in astonishment and ran to the cage. “Hongki!”

He looked up and his golden eyes gleamed at the sight of me.

The monks and villagers in the background all gasped in surprise, yelling out, “Who is the girl? What is she doing here? Isn’t that Haru? Get her out of the way! We need to kill the werewolf!”

I spun around and yelled out, “STOP!” They all stared at me in surprise. I panted, heavily. “It’s not him! The black wolf! He’s the murderer! He’s coming! You can’t kill Hongki!”

The crowd of villagers murmured amongst themselves, before the head monk stepped forward, frowning, and said, “Young girl, move. Even if this wolf is not the murderer of your sister, he is still a young, wild and reckless werewolf. We need to kill him, for the sake of the lives he’ll take.”

I shook my head, “You don’t understand! He’s Hongki! He’ll never hurt a single soul! The black wolf is coming! I saw him!”

The monk ignored me and turned around, “Stop with the lies. Guards, take the girl away!”

Hongki growled, from the cage. Guards came, and grabbed me, but I struggled, “Stop! Listen to me!”

“Haru! Come on! I’ll take you home!” Seunghyun-oppa said. He reached out to take me from the guards, but froze, just like everyone else, when a low growl was heard.

In a split second, everything was crazy. The black wolf jumped out of nowhere, attacking a small boy who happened to be in the crowd.

The men drew their swords, attempting to fight the wolf off. The guards at my side rushed to help, and some monks started crawling away in fear whilst others continued to chant.

Ignoring everything else, I rushed to the cage. Grabbing the lock, I attempted to pull it free, but it wouldn’t budge. My fearful eyes met with Hongki’s desperate ones.

I looked around, desperate and found a rock on the ground. After picking it up, I used all my strength to smash it onto the lock. It created a dent, so I continued to smash it, until it eroded to pieces. Opening the door of the cage, I ran inside and embraced Hongki. I dug my face into his soft brown fur and he nuzzled against me.

This was meant to be the first time I hugged him as a wolf… but for some reason the hug felt familiar… Like I’ve hugged him before.

It was a short hug, as I knew any more time in the cage meant more pain for Hongki, so I helped him out.

He collapsed with a thud on the ground, but as soon as he saw the black wolf, he growled.

The black wolf saw him too, and flung the villager he was mauling into the other direction, before growling at Hongki.