5 Chapter FIVE

[2 YEARS AND 9 MONTHS AGO…]

Amelia crouched low on the ground, trying her best to be silent as she looked around warily. The tall grass tickled her face, causing her to involuntarily scratch at it. She forced herself to stop, hoping that the scratch had not been loud enough to be noticed by any animal that could be nearby.

The only sound that could be heard was of the leaves rustling as the wind blew softly around her surroundings. Woodland creatures voiced out their excitement for the dawn of night as darkness had encompassed most of the forestry area. It was difficult to see, and the moon glowing in the starry night sky was barely helping illuminate the objects in Amelia's path.

Much to the fault of the dense leaves above her.

She had tripped on rocks and already had scratches from fallen branches. To add to that, she had underestimated the autumn air, as it easily snuck into her body in spite of the heavy clothing she had worn.

Having had enough of 'being one with nature', she reached for her bag, unzipping it to grab her flashlight. She winced at the loudness of the zipper, and she almost dropped the flashlight, having not expected the unexpected added weight.

"If the sun set on that side, then that means…" she mumbled to herself, observing her surroundings to figure out the way to go. She also checked her compass to ensure she was venturing toward the right path. It did not help that tall, hardwood coniferous trees were all around her with a countable number of bushes. She couldn't tell them apart because of the darkness of the forest. They all looked alike with little differences that were barely noticeable, making Amelia doubt herself every twenty or so feet she moved.

With a determined look, she set towards her direction. The flashlight helped her see the forest vegetation in her way, making her glad yet anxious to get out of the area. Most of all, she was scared of getting caught. The forest had its rangers, and they would no doubt not overlook a girl with a heavy bag moving through it.

A part of her wondered about what lay out there. She had no idea of where she was going. Was she walking toward a natural reserve? Would she have an encounter with a panther, a bear, a jaguar, a snake, or any other dangerous animal that could be out there? No, what if she caught poachers illegally hunting the forest animals, and then they decide to kill her just to shut her up?

'No, stop it!' she told herself, seeing that her nerves were getting to her. Still, that did not stop her from doubting her actions. What she was doing seemed stupid, especially since she had not planned the whole thing thoroughly, but she decided to do it either way. There was no way she was planning to head back, not after how far she had come.

About an hour later, she seemed to be getting nowhere. In fact, the forest trees seemed to be getting bigger and more numerous every couple of minutes that passed. A part of her even wondered if she was going around in circles; but that was impossible because she had been using the compass.

"You have got to be kidding me," she whispered in disbelief. "How large is this freaking area?"

A low growl on her side made her tense with fright. She slowly turned with her flashlight until she spotted the eyes of an animal staring at her from a bush. She had also aimed the flashlight toward the animal.

She knew it was a wolf because they were the common predatory animals in the area. It had brown eyes, and its fur was a kind of brown. What was peculiar was that it looked taller than the average wolf. Or maybe they were usually that tall.

Amelia did not care to investigate. She bolted away from the scene, which could have been a mistake of its own. The wolf howled out loud before it started pursuing her. Amelia knew that did not sound good.

She angled her flashlight toward the path she had involuntarily chosen. It helped her avoid stones in her paths and the protruded roots of trees, not wanting to trip and immediately become wolf chow, even though it was leading the said wolf towards her.

The wolf's growl seemed to grow louder, alerting her that it was catching up to her. It was close enough for Amelia to hear its weight whenever its feet touched the earth.

'Maybe it wants to play,' she thought, but the snapping of teeth that immediately ensued told her otherwise.

A claw appeared in her vision, having her scream out her fright as she ran toward the side to avoid it.

Amelia was determined not to become the animal's dinner, and so she urged her form to run faster. She thought that, because of her thin frame, she was energetic. She already had enough practice with some people from her school, but she did not know that it was not enough to help her maintain a decent running pace.

Her flashlight shook with her motion. The shading leaves that had fallen from the trees crunched with each step she took. In a panic, she turned to the side, hoping to confuse the animal. But she had failed to see the person in her path.

"Oomph!" she collided onto them, the impact making her lose her footing and fall to the ground. The person looked down at her with a confused expression. Amelia quickly stood and went to run, but the person quickly reached for her arm.

"Let me go!" she screamed at him, looking behind her to see if the wolf had approached them, but the ranger did not release his grip on her. In fact, he tightened it. "You idiot! There is a wolf coming--"

Amelia felt a huge weight hit the side of her head. Pain instantly exploded on the area, and she sagged to the ground with an agonized moan. Her form stirred before lying still, but she struggled to stay alert.

In her peripheral vision, she saw the wolf approaching. If she were not slowly becoming unconscious, her heartbeat would have increased and she would have struggled to get up and get the hell out of there. It did look bigger than a dog, but Amelia realized that it would of course be bigger than a dog. It was just that she felt something was odd with its large size.

Much to her surprise, she witnessed the wolf transform into a human. She heard the crunching of bones as the animal unnaturally stood on its hind legs. Its fur receded into the alabaster skin with its claws transforming into fingers just as its snout turned into a nose.

An ordinary human nose.

Amelia lay on the ground with fright, unable to do anything but watch. Her eyelids seemed shut as she struggled to keep her eyes open, and she was looking at the human, the naked man, staring at her with an amused look on his face.

"Another runaway?" the ranger asked the wolf turned human.

"Yep," the wolf sighed as he moved to face Amelia's seemingly-unconscious form. "They never learn, do they?"

"If only the Alpha could allow us to have some fun with people like her," the ranger sighed. "We could be teaching them a lesson or something, but we can't. What should we do with her?"

"Just the usual. We should find out who her family is..."

It was at that moment that Amelia succumbed to the darkness of her unconsciousness.