The days continued to fly by.

Soon it had been three months since my first encounter with the wolves. One day during the mating season, Sehunnie dragged me to a field of tall wheat where we escaped from the dominance fight that was going on within the pack. He said that we wouldn’t want to be caught in the middle of that so he just grabbed my wrist and we took off.

The moment we reach the edge of the field, I tripped over a tiny rock lying on the ground and sent the both of us tumbling through the tall grass. By the time we came to a stop, we lay in the field with grass flattened under our weight. I turned my head slightly and met his eyes. Catching the twinkle of amusement in his eyes, I burst out into hearty chortles of laughter. He too burst out laughing. And soon the both of us were tearing and clutching our stomach from laughing way too hard. What was so funny, I sure couldn’t tell. In our excitement, we ended up chasing each other through the field, having fun pouncing and sneaking up on each other.

When we finally calmed down as much as ten-year-old boys could, he sat me down in front of me. His usual playful face turned serious as he stared intently into my eyes.

“You.” He pointed a finger at my chest.

“Me.” He pointed a finger at his own chest.

“Same.”

My heart stopped for a second. Often our brightest flames of gladness were commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. Like this one. I had neither taught him to say that, nor did I stress to him that we were of the same species. He came to that conclusion all by himself.

“Well…” I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Shhh!” He hushed me harshly by pressing his finger over my lips.

“You.” He pointed at my chest again.

“I got it the first time, Sehun a----“

“Shhh!” His finger returned to my lips again before pointing back at my chest as he started again.

“You.”

I waited for him to repeat the other two words again but he didn’t. Instead he stared at me, as if gauging my reaction.

After a long pause, he finally spoke.

Not two words.

One.

“Mine.”

If the first three words were bright flames kindled by sparks, these two were brilliant blazes that lit up every fiber of my being.

~

Two months after the mating session ended, we were all very excited when we got news that the alpha female had safely delivered three healthy wolf pups. The pack was wild with excitement while we made our way to the den to see the pups for the first time. I rode on the silver wolf’s back as the pack raced through the forest trees. The wind blew through my hair and I closed my eyes in appreciation as I felt the rush of the wind against my skin. The den was very near the cliff and pond where I first met the pack. The alpha female came out from the tiny cave to greet us before heading back inside to carry each pup out of the cave to meet the pup.

Wolf pups.

They were the cutest things that I had ever clapped eyes on. Their tiny bodies were not longer than my forearm. Their short legs struggled to keep up with their playful minds. As I lifted one to my arms, it howled, or more like squeaked, to be let down. Laughing, I compelled and placed it back down to the forest floor. The moment its feet touched the ground, the bigger wolves dove in to take a whiff at him. Soon, the pup was whining at my feet for me to bring him up again from the offensive noses of the pack.

That night, when I returned to the village, I headed straight to the butcher’s house. Sitting by his warm fire with a cup of hot cocoa, I shared my excitement with him about three new arrivals to the pack. He listened attentively and excitedly as well as I gushed over how adorable they looked. He begged me for details of the pups which I willingly gave. For the past five months, he had been my closest confidante. I had grown to trust him more and came to enjoy our nightly chat sessions. He seemed genuinely interested in the wolves. Plus sometimes I just needed someone to share my excitement with. Still, I had not breathed a word about Sehunnie to him. Besides, he was interested to know about the wolves and not a boy living with them.

One morning, when he came to send me off, he gave me a pint of his precious supply of milk for the pups. Thanking him, I scaled the fence as I always did and headed straight to the forest, turning back once to wave goodbye to him. Seemed like the wolf pack had not only help me gained friendship in the form Sehunnie but also in the butcher. As I made my way to the den, there was a light skip in my steps.

As I came up to the den, it seemed strangely silent and quiet. I was pretty sure that this was the den but why didn’t I see the alpha female wolf anywhere? Had they moved dens?

Then I heard a familiar sound. A high-pitched squeak. Whining. Whimpering. They hadn’t moved dens. The pups were still in there. Then where was the alpha female? Where was their mom? I slowly made my way nearer to the den when I heard another sound. A sound that made my blood turn cold.

It was a buzzing sound a few feet in front of me, slightly toward the left, from the shadows under the cliff. It was right at the mouth of the den. Immediately, I froze and peered into the dimness. I had one phobia, just one, and that was of snakes. All kinds of snake. Even the smallest of them all. Paralyzed with fear, I couldn’t move. Sweat popped out on my face. It became more difficult to breathe. The muscles in my arms and legs began to quiver. I had every intention to turn on my heels and run in the opposite direction as fast as I could. Then I glanced down at my shaking hands and saw the pint of milk in them.

The wolf pups!

A bite from the snake would kill them in seconds. Their body being so small made them easy prey and the venom would take their lives in an instant. There was no question in my mind that I had to get them out. It was way too late to go get help.

An ominous rattling sound started up again to my left. Then another, and another. As my eyes was trying to adjust to the dim light, I deduced that only a few feet in front of me was a rattler. Or maybe a whole goddamned lair from the sound of them! I fought back a wave of numbing, mindless panic. One wrong move, and I would have three dead wolf pups to my name.

Don’t think. Block out the sounds. The wolf pups were all that matters.

My skin shriveled and I stopped breathing to peer into the darkness. After a moment, I made out a dim shape of a rattler coiled on a jutting lip of stone. The snake was giant. Six feet long or better, and as thick as the butcher’s wrist!

Wolf pups. Wolf pups. Wolf pups.

I kept chanting to myself mentally as I inched my way nearer and nearer to the den. I moved as slowly as I possibly could, not waiting to startle the pups AND the snakes. Lowering my body, I flattened my body to slide into the den. Now more accustomed to the dimness, my eyes could make out three pups huddling together in the furthest corner of the den. Stretching out my hand, I for once wished that I was older and had longer arms. Mine fell short by ten centimeters, hardly even close to reaching the closet pup. I didn’t want to dive into the den any further then I already had as I had hoped to be able to make a fast escape out if the rattler decided to strike.

Then, thankfully, the pups caught my scent and peered up from their huddle to look at me with such trusting and terrified eyes. Tentatively, they moved as one and took a step in my direction before dashing into my arms. I encased them in my arms to my chest, wrapping them in the protective barrier of my own body. “I’ve got you, don’t worry!” I whispered.

Their sudden movement must have triggered something because suddenly I felt something hit my thigh. It felt as if a fist had slammed into me and when I looked down, all my worst nightmare had become reality. A giant rattler I saw earlier had bitten me, and that goddamned thing had its fangs snagged in the thin fabric of my loose pants.

A crawling, thought-robbing hysteria swamped me.

Freeing one hand from the protective stance of the pups, I wrapped my fingers around the huge snake, jerked it loose and threw it away with all my strength. The pain in my leg spread like flames a spill of kerosene, down to my calf, then up my hip. I felt sweat trickling along my jaw. I scrambled out of the den as fast as I could possibly could. The pain took a backseat to my desperation to get the pups and me safely out of this horrible predicament. The buzzing sound never once ceased, scaring the crap out of me as I struggled to my feet.

Pain shot up my leg the moment I placed any weight on my right and I nearly fainted from the excruciating pain. Limping, I desperately tried to put as much distance between the snakes and me. The pups whined in my arms, their tiny paws clinging frantically to my soiled shirt.

I didn’t know how long I limped or how much distance I covered but it felt like an eternity. I wandered until I lost the feeling of one leg. I was hopping on my good leg, dragging the pathetic one behind me. Eventually, the pain took over and I collapsed on the cool forest ground. I tried to imitate the way the pack howled, Sehunnie had tried to teach me, but somehow no sound escaped my mouth. I just lay on the ground with the three pups on my chest and waited for death to take me away from the torture of the pain.

Then I felt the earth beneath me tremble. The wolf pups were lifted off my chest as wet familiar noses prodded me. A pair of human hands touched me.

“Luhan!”

I opened my eyes.

“Snakes,” I croaked. Looking up, I blinked, suddenly so dizzy that I wasn’t sure which of the three boys looking down at me was the real one. I could almost feel the poison coursing through my bloodstream. In my recollection of the books I read in the village library, snakebite symptoms usually came on more slowly, the first hitting after twenty minutes, growing worse after that, taking hours before cumulative effects were fatal.

But not with me.

My heart was already pounding frantically. The beats were coming so rapidly with one upon the other, that my chest felt as if it might explode. My body was drenched in sweat and tingled, as if pins were jabbing me all over. Nausea rolled through my stomach. I was going to die, I was sure.

Feeling weak, I passed a hand over my eyes, wincing at the intensifying ache that throbbed in my temples. I tried to focus my gaze, vaguely aware that Sehun was frantically running his hands over my legs. I had a vague impression of the ground moving beneath me. Then I felt something wet and soft, on my leg.

My last thought was, is that Sehunnie’s mouth?

And I out.