Prologue

They say everyone who looks into their family secret will find a secret sooner or later, for my case, it was announced the moment I was first brought into this world. I don’t belong in this world, my family don’t belong here.

We are exiled from the place we called home; in short, my ancestors did something wrong that infuriated the guardians of my world. My family is then forced to live in the parallel universe of our old home, Earth.

We belong to the other side of the universe, where mythical creatures exists.

We are not humans, isn’t that obvious?

We are rogues.

What kind of rogues you might ask. We shape shift whenever we want into our other forms. We eat all kinds of meat. We are super fit.

And better yet, we howl when the full moon hangs high up in the dark sky.

So is that obvious enough for you?

I’m a werewolf, a rogue werewolf, and I was born this way.

---

So apparently, every werewolf is supposed to have a mate. For all I know, I might not have one. Seeing that I am not in my so-called world where most of the female werewolves are.

It has been 25 years since my parents are banished here; a good 18 years of living in a noisy city. The noise pollution here is definitely an issue, not to mention the disgustingly strong scent of metal and the stench of chemicals that filled my nostrils. It made my stomach squirm. I have no idea how people can live here so happily, and of course how my parents who managed to survive this hellhole after living most of their lives in our home planet.

My family lived in a forest far away from civilisation; in short, the lovely wooden cabin. The guardians had kindly provided us with so as to ensure that our existence remains a secret.

But look, I am just a student, a ‘regular’ male student who studies in a school.

My parents had told me that humans are complex creatures, which I have to agree. Seeing the math homework the teachers give is like giving me a headache before I can complete it. And there are also the appliances that they made out of metal pieces and plastic. I mean, look at those structures; it puzzles me how they can comprehend it with full understanding. And not to mention, they can just sit in the classrooms and not stare at the illuminated screen without feeling giddy and seeing weird numbers out of nowhere, I can gladly give them a round of applause.

But that is not the point, the reason why the guardians are so desperate on keeping our existence a secret is that once one is found, they know there are bound to be more somewhere.

They did not care about those who live amongst the humans; they care more about their well-being.

They do not wish for us to be discovered by humans as wonderful specimens to be explored and once we passed away, they will look for more of us; simply saying, their peaceful lives will be endangered.

And here's this thing, they know that it’s going to happen someday.

---

A little bird once told me, I only had a year left. A year left for what? 

For me to live here? For me to change? Or for me to go beyond the depths of the earth underneath my footsteps.

I never once got the meaning of that message. 

"Kris! You have a letter!" My mom called out as she began to leave the letters on the dining table before proceeding to cook dinner for our family. My family just consists of me, my father and my mother. I don't have any siblings, like all other werewolf family. We are obliged to only have one offspring per couple as passed down by our ancestors. Even though we are rogues, we still follow tradition.

I hurried down to the dining table from my room, only to find a letter. I gingerly picked up the letter and smelled it. The murkiness of rain water combined with the crisp scent of oak wood. No doubt, it is from the other world.

I hesitantly opened up the letter and read through the contents of it. My mother came towards me with a bowl of chicken salad for tasting. Her eyes fell upon the letter in my hands.

"Kris dear, why are you holding a blank paper?"

I stared her in utter shock. She could not read the letter. Why?

It is only meant for your eyes, little one.

My wolf answered me, more of my subconscious though.

I quickly brushed off her question and made a bee line towards my room; my eyes still glued to the letter, analysing.

---

School reopens in mid-winter, god knows why.

The gust of chilling cold air blew fiercely at the commuters. The heater of my homeroom is not at its best state, but it doesn't really bother me.

Perks of being a werewolf, we are always running a fever. In this case, we make a good heater. 

I dumped my bag into my cold metallic locker and took out my textbooks. As usual, girls flock around me just to catch a glimpse of my face. I was really annoyed by this; their endless chatter and annoying high-pitched giggle hurts my ears; for a moment, I thought I was going to suffer from internal bleeding of the ears due to their loud irritating voices.

I slammed my locker shut and made my way to my classroom. 

He was there early. Who? My human friend or you can say my desk mate. 

He has a pair of dark brown eyes that is murky due to weariness, his hair is usually messy. And also, he is usually late. But today it is slightly different. One, he came early. Two, he doesn't look half dead. And three, he is neatly dressed today.

"Kris-ge!" Lay Zhang Yi Xing greeted him.

I nodded a response to him which he greeted back with a wave of a hand. I sat down next to him and placed my books on my table, finding the degree that can obstruct the teacher's view of my undone homework.

Lay just sat down in his seat and started humming a random tune while browsing the net on his Smartphone.

Seriously, I don't get humans. They are like fine with all the pollution happening around them or to the extent, they are unaware of it. On impulse, I shook my head and started to try and strike a conversation with my inner wolf; which I failed miserably.

There was a moment of silence before I hear something machinery heading towards the front door.

The air is filled with that scent.

That familiar scent of rain and oak wood.

But it is touched by another scent; light bitter with a touch of artificial carnation scent.

The machine came to a halt and there were knocks. 

She came in.

Mate, mine.

Khrysterll Loe, the student councillor of our school. She moved towards me on her wheelchair, her long brown hair flowing gently behind her.

She handed me a book. I immediately flushed red. What remains of my Physics textbook is no more a clean one, but one filled with tonnes of mini notes of love and doodles of my name with another.

"I found this along the corridors just now, I'm sorry for what happened to your book. Thought that you might want it back." She beamed a smile at me. I couldn't help but feel the corners of lips slightly turning up. Her smile is just too contagious.

"Thank you, Khrysterll." I thanked her.

For the rest of the day, I couldn't help but just think about her.

Khrysterll Loe,

My mate.

---

I went back home with a silly smile stuck to my face. My mother looked at me like I was crazy; my father was just shaking his head.

Well, what can I say? That girl does wonders to me. After all, she was in my English and Science classes; I just keep staring at her. Perfection is right before me. But there is something off about her.

I headed back to my room and my hands unconsciously just reached towards the letter on my study table. I re-read it once again, everything is clear now. 

No doubt, I have found her. But, it won't be for long.

For what was given is a year, but there is a time limit on her side.

A ticking time bomb, waiting for the opportunity to explode.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Soojin's note:

This is just the prologue and as you can see, it is from our dear oppa's point of view. After all, I'm a girl, I have no idea what goes in a boy's mind. So this is just something that I think a guy thoughts are like? Bear with me, I am more used to the serious writing style but I want to give this a try so yea, just gonna see how this works out for me! Chapter 1 won't be out for quite a while since I need to revise for the examinations soon, but I will do my best in writing them. :)

So hope you enjoy the prologue for now! :)