Returning to the place where Jongin and Baekhyun where was not exactly an easy task, although Chanyeol was strong, dragging the bird like creature behind him was a heck of a job, especially considering that he was constantly stopping to erase any drag mark or particular strong scent of it from beds of grass or bushes in order to prevent an altercation if anyone found out about it.

Adding to that, Sehun wasn’t going to lie and state that it was an easy task to carry Jongdae because it wasn’t; Jongdae was not heavy, not by any means, but he had just spent the whole day running around back and forth, the danced at the festival for a long time and had evaded an attack from something particularly deadly, so pardon him for feeling kind of tired and in need of either a good night of sleep or passing out and knocking himself out of his misery, since he was far away from the river.

He had asked Chanyeol to stop a little, just for him to rest, at least five times before the man finally conceded and stopped in the middle of the clearing, near a small cave that probably belong to some animal. He gently placed Jongdae on the ground, making sure that nothing nearby could hurt him and that he was with his back upwards. Jongdae, for its part, had only whimpered a little but didn’t wake up.

Chanyeol stopped dragging the creature and let its corps rest on the stone wall of the cave, propped up like it was merely resting instead of dead. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down on the floor easily, his dark eyes staring at Sehun.

Sehun was kind of thrown off by his behavior; Chanyeol didn’t seem a bad person, just aloof and like he seriously lacked, sometimes, the concept of socialization but other than that Sehun approved of him, albeit cautiously.

“Thanks for saving us.” Blurted Sehun after some minutes of silence, where the crickets and the faint and far sounds of a party going on, probably the festival, where the only noise they heard. “You didn’t have to and yet you did.”

Chanyeol only nodded, not even bothering to verbally acknowledge the answer that Sehun wanted, more to break the tension between them than anything really.

“I mean…” proceeded Sehun nervously “You were pretty close if you heard us and came to us. Not even my pack could hear us but…”

He suddenly stopped, remembering the words that Jongdae had said to him previously, about nebulosi colored eyes that were spying on them.

“You were watching us!” he stated, looking over the man, eyes round with the realization. “Jongdae saw you; he saw nebulosi eyes. It was you!”

Chanyeol looked over him, his human brown eyes looking soft and yet, so dark that Sehun recoiled physically, making those eyes turn from dark, cold and calculating, to a softer shade, more golden brown than anything, filled with surprise and wonder.

“Are you okay?” asked Chanyeol, his voice rumbling in the clearing.

“I…yes! Yes, I am.”

“You flinched and there was a bitter sense of smell in the air. So I assumed there was a threat nearby.”

The words made Sehun’s jaw drop and stare, quite openly, at the other male. It wasn’t uncommon for wolves to have a sense of smell that was better than most of the creatures out there; they could recognize smells with their eyes closed and, when concentrated, really concentrated, they could distinguish a smell among others, normally someone although it was not a common practice since, well, no one liked to be sniffed and have its soul scrutinized by others, however, Chanyeol, who was at least ten meters away from him, was able to smell his fear among the other smells in the clearing without even making an effort, Sehun was sure that Chanyeol didn’t even try very hard.

“It was nothing of the sorts.” Mumbled Sehun as soon as he regained his voice.

“It was something.” Insisted Chanyeol calmly, eyes poised over Sehun figure. “And I am going to assume it was something that I did because there is no one here, conscious, other than us two.”

“You’re scary!” blurted Sehun without much thinking into his own words, hence the reason he covered his mouth and his eyes widen as soon as he realized what he had said.

The bigger wolf, for its part, didn’t look particularly offended or angry, not even surprised: his face was a mask of calmness and it was almost as if a little smile played upon his lips but Sehun couldn’t quite tell; Chanyeol was hard to read.

“I can assure you that I have no intentions of hurting you or your friend. I am very aware that I am a large wolf, larger than the majority and that I can look scary or nonchalant but I am harmless… to you that is. You helped one of my friends and my brother thinks highly of you, so I’ll follow his lead.”

“Your brother?”

“Jongin is my brother.”

The revelation was a little off putting; Jongin and Chanyeol were nothing alike, one was pale, other was tanned, one had big, almond shaped eyes and the other had smaller with a bigger accentuation on its slanting shape, making him truly like a wolf, even in human form.

“We don’t look much alike, granted;” Continued Chanyeol “but we are brothers, born with the same parents.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.”

There was silence after that. Sehun felt as if he was digging a hole, deeper and deeper, as he spent more time with the other man. He felt as if everything he said was offensive and quite rude and his mother had taught him better than that.

He wished he could say anything that wasn’t that really offensive but he kept quiet: at least, if he was quiet, he wouldn’t mess things up and he wouldn’t rub Chanyeol the wrong way. Despite the man’s words, he preferred not to be on Chanyeol’s bad side. He was kind of wishing that he asked what those beverages he had contained because he was kind of certain that they had alcohol in it and it was clouding his judgement and that little thing called filter wasn’t really working.

“Why were you so near to us?” asked Sehun suddenly, going back to the previous though on his mind; the very first one. “Is everything okay? Is Jongin okay? Has Baekhyun’s condition worsened somehow?”

Chanyeol, for the first time that Sehun had known him, had a strange a look on his face, a cross of wonder and curiosity.

“There was a smell in the air; a peculiar smell. It caught my attention.”

“A smell? Was it the bird?” asked Sehun pointing with his chin to the creature at Chanyeol’s feet.

“No, not at all. I cannot exactly explain but it was a smell of something sweet and fresh but then it disappeared, or rather, it transformed to something sharper.”

“Well, have you managed to know where it came from?”

“No! I suspect it is from a wolf but I cannot tell whom it was from. I can smell it on you and on your friend; however, you also have the scent of another wolves on you. Even my sense of smell doesn’t allow me to distinguish who was the beholder of that particular smell. I think that some situation must have acted as a cataclysm to allow that smell to be so pungent, as it normally happens for every wolf, but it could be someone from you pack, it could be a rogue wolf passing by… I don’t really have an answer for you.”

Sehun nodded. It was strange to hear that even Chanyeol, who had the best sense of smell ever, or at least Sehun thought so, couldn’t pick up a singular smell but, then again, living as a pack had the annoying fall of mixing scents, which meant that everyone smelled like himself and like other at all times and in order to smell someone properly, as in really feeling someone’s scent you had to sniff her down like a dog and, well, it was a practice that would probably get you kicked in the face: Sehun had seen Tao doing that to an older girl and he got punched in the mouth, which was kind of unfair because Tao had done it when he was around ten years old, he didn’t know better.

He swept a hand through his hair. This was a lot to take in and his mind was waddling from topic to topic, never focusing too much on one of them but never letting his mind going into blank mode, he just kept thinking over and over again about the same things, nonstop. His brain was tired at this point; he had begun by feeling a light pressure on his skull which turned into a hardcore headache by now. He just wished to be inside his hut, beneath his fluffy pile of warm furs and wool blankets and sleep; forget everything and just rest his poor mind.

He sighed deeply and closed his eyes for a second until the silence was broken.

“Are you good to go?” asked Chanyeol suddenly, almost succeeding into making jump in surprise.

“Yeah.” Replied Sehun quietly before standing up and gently picking up Jongdae too, being extra careful so that his friend was comfortable and well secure.

“Sehun!” interrupted Chanyeol, making the smaller look over his shoulder at him. “I know you have a lot of questions, but so do we. Don’t exhaust yourself overthinking everything, okay? We will figure something out! We will get some answers.”

He took the bird again, this time lifting the massive creature and putting it around his shoulders, looking over at Sehun, to check if he was ready, before walking in the direction of the river.

Sehun followed. He was somehow comforted by the fact that Chanyeol took a little time to comfort him, even though he, himself, looked tired and slightly worried if the lines on his forehead were any indication.

As he begin to walk, it became clearer and clearer that he needed to actually be a little more open and trust the trio more; while it might not look, they shared similar worries. He shook his head and looked forward, to Chanyeol’s form. His mind was still very muddled but a little clearer than before. Chanyeol’s pep talk had some effect on him and now, what he had to do, was to follow the giant and, for once, not stress himself over everything and let others help him find the answers he needed.

Just that.

Reaching the small hideout on the other side of the river had been and adventure, to reach the place without anyone discovering them, since the risk was too high and there was much at stake, was though: it was a long way, they had to climb a small hill with people on their back slash arms and then cross the river. Luckily enough, as he heard them come around Jongin had shown himself and with a small gasp he immediately moved forward to help them.

“What happened?” he asked, looking very shocked at the scene which made Chanyeol shot him with an unimpressed look; Jongin, for some reason, just shook his head, making Chanyeol’s eyes widen.

“Jongdae and I were taking a walk around our village and I guess he saw something that caught his eye. “explained Sehun seeing that Chanyeol was too blown over by something to answer, opting for leaving the part that it was the other wolf whom Jongdae had seen. “And that thing attacked us, out of thin air, we tried to escape but that thing was just too intent, too vicious, and it ended up hurting Jongdae.”

Jongin’s eyes turned to look at him and he immediately rushed over once he saw the smaller wolf, who was wounded, in Sehun’s arms. He grabbed the smaller man’s face, studying it intently and frowning at the sight of the pain on the other’s features. Jongdae was in too much pain and even in his unconscious state it was something that bothered him.

As soon as they reached the small secluded spot that was the wolf trio temporary home, Baekhyun wolf form sleeping quietly on one corner of the sheltered space, no signs of discomfort on his face, Jongin and Sehun placed Jongdae on the floor, on a patch of particularly soft grass and covered his legs with a small pelt.

“That harpy did this?” asked Jongin quietly.

“It’s not exactly and harpy.” Replied Chanyeol. “It looks like a harpy but the facial features are too much alike to one of a gorgon. Pretty much like that thing with the wendigo.”

Jongin frown deepened. It was something to worry about. He opted to inspect the creature while Sehun, although fuzzily, he could feel his energies dropping faster and faster by the second, used the medicine available for Baekhyun to treat Jongdae. Although it wasn’t a big wound, length wise, it was deep, the talons of that thing had really embed themselves on the smaller’s back and Sehun had to clean the wounds properly before applying an herb ointment that he had left to Baekhyun, making a mental note that he really needed to make some more; it wasn’t fair of him taking Baekhyun’s medicine like this but it was an emergency.

He tried to be as quick as he could, Jongdae had lost some blood and while wolves did have a faster healing rate than most of the creature living in this world, it wasn’t fast enough to stop him from probably have to suffer for two week with his wounds. He didn’t really have any type of bandages to wrap Jongdae’s back except for his own semi clean robes, which he had to wash in the river, before cutting it into pieces, mourning the loss of the beautiful piece and wincing at the thought on how Seungwan was going to rip him apart for destroying something that she had spent long hours sewing.

Jongin and Chanyeol, the brothers, were busy inspecting the dead creature on the floor, talking in low tones of voices, too low for Sehun’s muddled and tired brain. They turned the creature around, taking notes on its peculiar features, poking and taking in every single detail, as if they wanted them to be engraved on their mind.

When he finished with Jongdae, letting the man peacefully asleep while he sat, completely exhausted against one boulder. As a healer apprentice he knew very well that after a period of intense rush of adrenaline, came the downfall which was his almost, near pass out state; Sehun really knew that he needed the rest desperately, his body was closing off on him. Being a wolf consumed a lot of energy, transforming back and forth even more and Sehun was clearly not ready for almost being creature chow tonight.

“Sehun?” came Jongin’s voice, seemingly from very far away. “Are you okay?”

“No!” he said truthfully making Chanyeol and Jongin turn to him abruptly, worry painting their expressions. “I’m feeling kind of dizzy and really, really, like I am about to pass out.”

In less than a second, Jongin was beside him, holding onto his form, warm eyes staring at him so worriedly that Sehun had to chuckle.

“I’m okay, the adrenaline rush is just gradually leaving my body, I had some questionably drinks to night, possibly ones that left me half drunk.”

Jongin looked at him funnily, as if Sehun was crazy, which he had certainly been far closer to denying.

“Okay…Are you going to pass out or something?” he asked faintly, possibly trying not to make Sehun feel bad, maybe trying not to sound rude.

“I just need to wash my face and possibly rest for a little and I’ll be operational.” He laughed and watching all awkwardness evaporates from Jongin’s face, the other’s face opening in a sincere smile.

Sehun stood up, a little shaky on his feet, and walked forward trying to reach the stream of water and freshen himself up, in hopes that it would do something for his hazy state.

His body weighted a ton, his sight was blurring and even if he blinked and shake his head, it didn’t do anything to spare him from this state. He needed to rest and he felt, perhaps, that he was entering in a state of shock or something. When he reached the margin of the river, he knelt down and scooped a little bit of water, drinking it up, before wetting his face. The vertigo that he felt after that, almost made him fall face first into the water, so he clutched his hands tightly on the ground, before making a low noise, very much like a whine, at the back of his throat.

Sehun tried to stand up but, well, all his strength abandoned him at that moment, it was roughly like when you are truly, truly sick and arrive home very late in the evening and you passed through the door and just collapse because you know that, at that moment, when you done everything you had to do, you are allowed to do so, so that was Sehun did: he just let himself fall into the ground.

There was a brief moment where he felt like someone caught him, he definitely felt someone carrying him from one point to another, depositing him next to a soft body. The warmth that enveloped him felt nice, too nice. He couldn’t really distinguish who it was, his brain wasn’t really working; at this point nothing was, and he let himself follow the message that everything in him sent him: to go to sleep.

Sehun did, he let himself succumb to sleep, peacefully and quickly. His body finally relaxing from the tight pressure that he had been put into all night. His mind went completely dark but it was welcoming. It was restful.

Sehun cuddled into the warmth that he felt next to him and just slept away. Tomorrow, tomorrow everything would be okay, everything would be better and he…they would find an answer.

When Sehun woke up again, the sun was already high in the sky, not late enough for it to be a lost day but late nevertheless, since he had the habit of waking up early in the morning since his job required so: better herbs were caught just as the sun was rising, still a little wet with morning dew but bright as colorful with the morning sun.

He opened his eyes lazily, a pounding headache beating down at his temples, making his skull reverberate along with his heartbeat.

“Holy Mother…” he mumbled while his hands immediately flewto secure his head and a wave of nausea came crashing down on him hard, making him groan loudly.

“You’re okay.” Came a voice right next to him.

Sehun looked left to Chanyeol, who was busy eating something which looked a lot like fruit. His eyes were serene and he looked quite peaceful. While he looked around, he could see Jongdae sprawled on the floor, still sleeping and Baekhyun on the other end of their shelter, in his wolf form, looking peaceful as well, sleeping. Everyone was looking serene in peaceful, except for him and for Jongin, who was not with them.

“Jongin?” he asked looking concernedly around.

“He is at the stream washing up, he is fine.” Commented Chanyeol looking at the other male curiously and a little amused at the concerned male on the floor. “You on the other hand look better, if only slightly, than yesterday. You passed out at the river.”

Sehun groaned; of course he had to pass out. He pulled himself upwards and, for Chanyeol’s surprise, the first thing the younger did was to check on his friend, accessing the male and making sure that he was fine, checking if he had any fever or if it was anything wrong with his wounds or breathing, with his heart beat. Thankfully, Jongdae was just sleeping away, face marred with some dirt lines and some residual pain but fine.

With a great effort, Sehun stood up and walked over to Baekhyun’s laying form to check on the wolf. As soon as he approached the male, he quickly kneeling and doing a simple and quick check up on the other. He nodded in relief noting that the other looked stronger, not bothered by his fever anymore; he was on his path to recovery and Sehun was satisfied, although it only came to reinforce the theory of having a creature, who had been identified as a wendigo, with serpent like teeth, basilisk teeth. That along with the fact that he had a first degree encounter with an identifiable creature that he knew fairly well, pardon him the oxymoron.

When he ran a finger along the sides of the wound, the sides of it a nice shade of pink that let Sehun know it was healing properly, no sight of infection, the only thing that was yet to happen was the crust above it and then scar tissue probably; he wasn’t aware of how powerful Baekhyun’s cell regeneration was. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what kind of wolf Baekhyun was for that matter.

He surely wasn’t expecting for Baekhyun’s eyes to snap open, nebulosi eyes staring back at him with a growl that made him fall back on the ground and scoot back over quickly.

“Baekhyun!” snapped Chanyeol, quickly getting up and slapping the snarling wolf on the muzzle in order to calm him down. “Stop that!”

The wolf snapped at Chanyeol’s fingers and Chanyeol’s eyes narrowed at the action.

“Stop it Baekhyun! Sehun is trying to help you so be nice; if you can’t just stay quiet.”

The angry wolf snapped once more. Chanyeol was getting angrier, not only Baekhyun was acting like a spoilt pup but he actually felt sorry for Sehun who was on the ground muttering ‘sorry’ over and over again.

“Seriously Baekhyun, stop with this right now! You’re acting irrationally.”

The wolf maintained an attacking posture, the fur on him erect and ready to pounce at the tiniest thing. He snapped forward, muzzle inched away from Sehun who covered his face with his arms.

Chanyeol moved forward standing in front of Sehun, protecting the male, and by consequence Jongdae too, who was behind them. He didn’t understand why the other was doing this, what was triggering this but Sehun and Jongdae were to be protected.

“Stop this!”

Baekhyun leaped forward. Chanyeol wasn’t sure what was making Baekhyun reacting like that but what he knew was that the other male was still recovering from a wound, therefore he was far less powerful than he normally was and that was the reason why simply holding his muzzle closed with one hand while the other was firmly placed in the wolf’s chest was more than enough to hold him back.

“What is going on here?” a midnight voice, deep as the ocean, cold as the deepest circle of hell, asked making both man and wolf stop.

Sehun lifted his arms from his face and looked over at Jongin’s figure, still dripping wet from just being at the river. He looked deathly calm but there was something about his presence that commanded attention and, more importantly, commanded respect and obedience, which had to be the reason to why Chanyeol let go of Baekhyun so quickly, as if he had been burned and why Baekhyun dropped to the floor without any more resistance.

“I expect a good reason to justify your behavior.”

Baekhyun, much to everyone’s surprise, shifted back into human shape, looking a little haggard but fine, nonetheless, his blond hair in complete disarray.

“There is a an unfamiliar scent around.” Explained the man, a little rasp to his voice that was a telltale that he didn’t use it that often for the last few days.

“Yes, there is which is not, by any means, a reason for you to forget about common courtesy and attacked them as if you were a rabid wolf. You know better than that Baekhyun.” Chided Jongin coldly.

Baekhyun’s eyes, a soft caramel brown, turned to look at him an undecipherable look on his gaze that made Sehun flinch.

“Baekhyun!” repeated Jongin.

The other wolf switched his gaze from Sehun to Jongin before moving away and backing up, making Sehun uncurl from the little ball he had bended himself into, relaxing a little, Jongin’s presence being comfortable enough for him to feel secure.

“As you can see, the scent you can smell is either Sehun’s friend or the creature over there that attacked them both last night. Chanyeol helped them out.”

“Creature?” asked Baekhyun, his velvety voice gaining a lilt that implied curious.

“Yes, creature!” replied Jongin with a pointed look. “I’ll show you later, once you go and clean yourself a little at the river. In the meantime, try to act like a civilized person and don’t growl at Sehun or at Jongdae. Sehun is the reason why you are alive and Jongdae is hurt.”

Baekhyun looked around, finally finding Jongdae’s still form on the floor, behind Chanyeol defensive stance and Sehun’s semi curled position on the floor.

“What’s he doing here? He was not supposed to bring any friends.”

“They were attacked, it wasn’t planned.” Answered Jongin, his voice returning into a semi normal tone again.

The man crouched next to Sehun, accessing if the male was doing okay which he was, just a little scared by the other wolf.

“Ignore him.” Told him Jongin, voice light and teasing as he helped Sehun up. “He is being grumpy.”

Baekhyun growled once at the words but Jongin sent him a look that immediately got the other man to shut up.

In the meanwhile, no one noticed a pair of warm brown eyes opening up slowly, blinking tiredly, a little heavy with pain, and looking around at the scene: one blonde male opposite of him and three other, one of them Sehun, right in front of his face.

Jongdae sat on the floor, body sore as heck, with not much of recognition of what happened last night, squinting at the extreme light of the day and the group of people in front of him.

He must’ve made some sound because suddenly four pairs of eyes turned to him, to the adorably confused male on the floor, who rubbed slightly at his eyes and then, in a small voice, asked.

“What happened?”

A/N: How have you been doing? One more chapter for you guys! Lay it upon me, what theories do you have, what do you think it is going to happen? Do you noticed the missing element? This chapter is more of a filler for what's coming next, but it did reveal some important details and little clues (as always) that will make a difference in what's yet to come.
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