CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Wounded

 Shouldering a backpack, she moved with quiet and light steps. The night was restless and as she moved through the trees, she noticed strange, hair-raising sounds echoing from the shadows. Occasionally, her gaze would flicker up to the perfect full moon that shone above her – admiring its off-white gleam in a sea of blackness and the way its roundedness dwarfed everything else in its presence. Yet the more she looked, the more foreboding it came to feel, as though its perfect veneer had a sinister tale to tell.

It wasn’t until they began to slow down to conserve their energy that she realised a heavy fog was beginning to settle. She first noticed it spin around her ankles but the further she walked, the higher it crept, almost as though the small movements of her foot had stirred it to life. With brows furrowed, she walked faster, sticking close to Chanyeol who slowed down his pace a little for her.

“You ok?” He turned to ask and she replied with a firm nod. “It’s just a little fog. It’ll clear up soon.” The certainty and calmness in his hoarse voice comforted her a little but unfortunately, Chanyeol was wrong.

The further they walked, the heavier the fog grew until they were completely engulfed in the milky white mist and were forced to hold hands to ensure that they stuck together. The Princes could still see through the fog but both Soojung and Jaehwa could barely see the person they stood beside, let alone the forest. Robbed of her sight, Jaehwa barely knew where she was going and as they walked in a single file across what she presumed to be a narrow path, the fabric of her t-shirt snagged on something.

When she stopped in her steps, Chanyeol pulled her forward and Luhan bumped into her from behind and the sound of her shirt ripping scratched through their silence. She gasped as cold air pricked the side of her bare stomach, sending uncomfortable icy ripples through her whole body. She screwed her eyes shut and bit down on her teeth to help endure the cold air that was slowly beginning to numb her body.

She felt Luhan tighten his hold on her hand but before he could even ask, she whispered, “I’m fine.”

“It was only a bush. Don’t worry.” He tried to reassure her with the fact that he could see through the fog but she was unhinged by the incidence and anxious from the cold.

When her gaze drifted upward again, the moon was as bright as ever but eerily alone – the stars and the clouds had disappeared from the blanket of darkness that hovered above them. There was just the full moon on its lonesome – it’s silver glow piercing through the slightest bit of fog that had drifted up above their heads.

They barely walked for ten minutes when they heard the unmistaken howl of a wolf in the distance – it was a rather meek one but it was definitely a wolf. Jaehwa trembled felt a shiver rip through her as she turned her head to survey the area but it was futile – the fog blocked everything.

She was freezing and the more she walked the more she felt a raw kind of pain settle in her bones. Her eyes were watery from the fog but she pressed on until a second howl was heard moments later. Followed by another, then another – all growing progressively louder and closer.

“.” Chanyeol muttered lowly, “Are we running out of luck or what?”

“How the heck did they even find us in this ing fog?” She heard Suho mutter from in front and as she tried to force out the thought of being cold from her mind, she focused on his question, setting her mind to a task she deemed mundane until the answer clicked inside her head.

“Oh my god.” She hissed, screwing her eyes shut at the realisation.

“What?” Luhan leaned in to ask and she shivered at the warmth of his breath on her ice-cold skin.

“Back there, was that a firethorn bush?” She asked and his eyes widened at her question, the answer immediately registering in his head.

“It was a trap.” Luhan paused for a moment to process the fact that the werewolves had planted firethorn bushes to specifically snag clothing so that the scent of potential prey could appear stronger to their senses. Before he could even think of what to do, amongst the fog, he could see a few wolves coming into sight but all Jaehwa could see were bright yellow eyes piercing through the fog like the still, eerie gaze of the moon.

She swallowed as the fur of their slick coats made strange shapes in the night – she could barely think straight from her drastic drop in temperature.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you.” Chanyeol leaned in to whisper, carefully easing his body in front of her so that he shielded her front.

“We’ve got you.” Luhan corrected as he kept his hold on her hand, moving behind her.

“You guys don’-“ She wanted to reassure them that she could fight with them but was cut off.

The howl of the wolf was ear-piercing from close proximity and if Jaehwa hadn’t been freezing to begin with, she would’ve felt goosebumps rise on her smooth skin. Then as if in reply, Jaehwa could hear others in the pack return the Alpha’s cry – a messy overlap of guttural barks followed by a relaying of growls. She winced at the earth-shattering cries, realising that this was a big pack.

All too suddenly, the wolves attacked, jumping from their crouched stances in amidst the Princes who had unsheathed their blades. Jaehwa felt the earth tremble violently beneath her feet, seeing little through the fog but she could feel the waves of heat emanating from the wolves' breaths as they opened their salivating mouths to rip apart anything that came their way. From their body heat, she could detect the savage beasts.

Luhan was a swift and deadly fighter and she could make out his shadow as he made a perfect swing kick that landed straight on the nose of a werewolf. It whimpered as pain seared through the most sensitive part of its body and Luhan took the opportunity to backflip over the recovering wolf as he plunged a danger swiftly into the gut of another that was in the midst of pouncing on him. His quick steps allowed him to dodge the ground shaking impact of the body hitting the floor.

Meanwhile, Chanyeol was far less artistic in his fighting skills – he was a brutal killer but in saying so, Chanyeol never left Jaehwa too far out of his reach. As the wolves lined up to their deaths, Chanyeol was ready for each one – his sword cutting through flesh and bone with ease. Blood soaked the soil and the stench of it clung to the foggy air.

All she heard were the toe-curling cries and howls of the dying wolves – they echoed through the night and resonated within her. Chanyeol had moved a few steps away so that she could only barely make him out in the fog and Luhan, well; she had no idea where he was anymore. Her eyes stayed pinned on Chanyeol’s body until she felt warmth radiate from behind her. She stiffened holding her breath before she heard a wicked growl rumble from the base of the wolf’s throat.

She spun around just as it pounced on her but as she hit the floor, she was quick to pull her legs into her. It growled again when it realised it missed her and hadn’t been able to pin her down. She stared at it - the way it moved towards her with it’s head down, baring its sharp teeth as its bloodshot eyes studied her, unblinking. She could smell the foul, musky stench that its black, gleaming coat gave off.

The wolf seemed unrushed, taking one step at a time until it had her cornered against a tree and he made a triumphant howl into the night – this was their prey, this was the source of the delicious scent that flooded his nostrils. Unfortunately, it had been too quick to act for the moment it lifted its head to howl, Jaehwa was on her feet. She wrapped one arm around its throat as she swung herself onto is back, straddling it as it attempted to shake her off it.

She wasn’t strong enough to suffocate it in her hold and as it broke free from her arm, she clung to the fur behind the ear, dodging its attempts to bite back at her. Her free hand trailed along its spine calmly to find a joint she liked and brought her elbow down into the bone, feeling it give a little under the force. The wolf whimpered under her, its legs bucking under the pain. Her fingers then quickly dug into its back and with all the power she had left in her, she grabbed a hold of the joint and gave a quick tug.

In an instant, the wolf hit the ground, unmoving and she fell to the ground with it – the breath knocked out of her. She didn’t stay for long because she could hear the remnants of an ongoing battle occurring behind her. Rolling off her back and onto her feet, she ran as hard as she could, following the sounds. It didn’t take her long to reach the heart of the battle but stripped of her sight, she could only rely on the clatter of sounds around her.

She waded through the fog cautiously holding her breath in when she felt an arm reach for hers in the darkness. A shrill cry left her lips as she felt herself being hoisted up into a tree, pain shooting through her arms. As soon as she felt her feet come into contact with the sturdy branch of a tree, she was released only momentarily as an icy arm snuck around her waist, pulling her close. She was about to scream when a hand clamped itself over j