I don’t know how long I’d be able to keep my secret hidden anymore.

Even the other villagers and the hunters already started to have suspicions.

 

I’ll need to lay low for a while I thought but if I can’t control this form permanently, there’s no telling what could happen if they get too close.

 

Suddenly, there was a voice yet again, louder than a while ago.

I stopped and listened.

There was just one voice, but it didn’t sound angry, it just sounded defeated and sad.

My heart nearly stopped when I recognized Sungyeol’s voice.

 

Is he really gonna be the one hunting me down? I wondered Right after he helped me get away from them?

But soon enough, I realized that Sungyeol didn’t know about my little secret.

They probably forced him to help the other hunters find me.

My fur bristled in anger.

How dare they do that to him! I angrily thought.

 

Not long after, the voice came too close for my liking, so I decided to make a run for it, before he caught me, hoping that my black fur would blend in with the darkness of the night.

 

Sungyeol suddenly screamed.

I was prepared to run again, when I noticed he didn’t scream because he saw me, but because of fear.

 

I stealthily made my way back to him and noticed he was being driven in a corner by a huge bear.

That’s strange, there aren’t supposed to be any bears here I thought.

While I was lost in thought, the bear raised its giant paw and prepared to strike my best friend.

Immediately, I jumped in between the bear and my friend.

I could see both were startled at my sudden appearance.

 

The confusion of the bear soon changed to anger because I interrupted his kill.

Oh, yeah? Show me what you’ve got! I challenged him.

 

Not even five minutes later, I had already taken care of that foul creature.

Hmpf, that’s what you get when you mess with me or my friends! I stated as I looked down on the bear’s lifeless body.

 

I turned to Sungyeol, to see if he was fine, to find him looking at me scared and in shock.

I tilted my head slightly, as if asking what’s wrong.

He seemed to get the hint.

“Why did you help me?” he asked with shaking voice.

I just shrugged my shoulders, telling him that it wasn’t a big deal.

 

I noticed he seemed to get over the initial shock and, after knowing he had nothing to fear of me, he slightly smiled.

“Thanks.” he said “It would seem you’re not as bad as everyone thinks you are.”

 

We stayed in silence for a while after that.

Sungyeol was the one to break the ice first.

“Can I tend to your wounds?” he asked.

I shrugged once again and let him do what he needed to do, only helping himself by what he could find around us.

 

After he had treated my wounds, I stayed right next to him, letting the plants do their work.

We spent another couple of hours in content silence, with Sungyeol sometimes reaching out to pat my head or sides.

 

Suddenly, the brambles around us moved, and five hunters appeared.

They approached me and Sungyeol, while blocking every single chance of escaping.

 

“Well, well,” Mr. Kim said.

“Looks like we didn’t find Myungsoo, which is a pity, but we found the very animal responsible for all these recent killings, which is more than I could’ve imagined. But I thought I sent you to find Myungsoo, Sungyeol.”

“As you can see, sir, I haven’t found him yet.” he said.

 

Knowing that they purposely tried to block any chance of escaping we had, I got really angry.

Oh yeah? Just try and catch me! I angrily thought.

Myung? I heard an overly familiar voice call.

I turned to face my best friend, who was looking at me with wide eyes.

You can hear me? I questioned him.

He simply nodded.

 

I sighed.

Even though I never told him, he still figured it out on his own.

Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag now, or wolf in this case. I thought.

 

one of the hunters took out his bow and arrow and shot it right at me.

The arrow hit me in my right side.

Snarling from the pain, I lunged towards the hunter.

The man wasn’t prepared and fell, with me pinning him down.

 

Immediately, Mr. Kim loaded one of his own arrows, one that was dipped in silver, and shot me again.

I tried to dodge it but was too slow because of my previous wounds.

suddenly, a searing pain went through me.

I stumbled forward, trying to get to him, but I couldn’t.

My vision started to blur. No matter how many times I blinked, it wouldn’t go away.

 

Snarling one last time in defeat, I backed away.