XVIII

~NOTE: THIS STORY DOES NOT HAVE ABO DYNAMICS! I AM NOT GOOD AT WRITING THOSE XD~

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It has been weeks ever since Alviary left the island and it has been weeks since the three wolves got here through Alviary's portal. Stephen and the gang are at the stable learning how to properly ride stallions then start learning how to train while riding them. It has been a harsh week for them but they are learning. Uran and Laryo are past their youth years so transforming as wolves will not be great for their weakening bodies. Triton is having a hard time controlling himself as he transforms as a wolf and as a human, but he is improvising for Stephen. The other wolves living on the island is helping him get through the transformation pains. Gab, who is one of the Angel Gods, trains Stephen in combats and how to handle a magical sword.

Stephen might be a human but at least he can fight, and that is their goal for the whole remaining weeks before beginning their travel to Biringan. They were halfway is done with the training when another Angel God approaches them. "Diana," Gab calls her as he stabs his sword to the ground. "Gab, hello." She said as she bows to him. He bows back and smiles at her, "What can we do for you?" he asks with confused eyes. "Ah, yes. I am here to train the kid with bows and arrows," she said as she scratches the back of her neck. Gab nods and took his sword then went to Stephen. "Hey, our training stops for now. Diana is here to teach you in using her magical bows and arrows," Gab said as he places his hand on Stephen's shoulder before leaning forward and whispers, "You don't smell imprinted." Then the guy walks away. Stephen frowns at what he heard from Gab but he just shrugs it and asks Triton about it.

He went to Diana and greets her with a smile, "Hello." He said then Diana smiles at him back. "Hi, I am Diana and I am known as one of the Angel Gods of the North. I was also the one they called the Archery Princess," she introduces as she bows with one knee. Stephen blushes at the gesture and looks away. "You don't have to do that," he said as he tries to hide his embarrassment. Diana looks up and sees his ears turning red and smiles to herself before standing up.

"If you say so, Wolf Tamer," she said as she puffs out her chest and her words filled with confidence. "Stephen," Stephen said thinking that it would be clear for her to hear but his voice just came like a whisper. As a result, Diana leans forward to hear him more. "S-Stephen," he said again this time, stuttering. "Y-You can call me Stephen," he said still looking away embarrassed. Diana smiles and hums in response before dragging the kid to the shooting range then teaches him the proper way to handle a bow then the proper way of shooting the arrow.

After hours of training with the other Angel Gods, Stephen flops down beside Triton gasping for air. "How is your training?" Triton asks as he transforms back into his human form. Stephen looks at him with a tired smile. "Exhausting. I need to learn many techniques in combat. I didn't even know there is a lot of them," Stephen said as he laid back on the mattress heaving a heavy sigh. Triton quietly leans down to Stephen's neck and sniffs his scent.

'My scent is wearing off,' Triton thought so he transforms again before snuggling on Stephen's neck leaving his strong scent on him. 'There, he should be smelling like me now,' Triton thought before changing back to his human form then sleeps beside Stephen hugging him. He draws his closer to him then kisses his forehead. Wolves are possessive of what they think that theirs. For Triton, Stephen has been his ever since the day he was called upon to help a kid falling from a cliff not far from where he is playing.

His teacher back in Gliffan said that it was something called imprinting and he was so happy that he imprinted on Stephen and not on anyone else. And he will do everything in his power to save the kid every time he is in danger. That's why he is doing his best in training to accomplish such goals. He smiled through his thought before going to dreamland. Hours had passed then Stephen woke up from his slumber, he felt as if something is holding him tightly so he decided to look up when he noticed that it was Triton who is hugging him.

He sighs a relief knowing that he is not in danger. He squirms a little to alert the wolf but Triton didn't move. He was torn between waking up Triton or just let the wolf snuggles him. He chose none. He chuckles a little knowing that neither will work so he just waits for Triton to wake up, which is actually impossible, knowing that the wolf is a heavy sleeper. He sighs again and tries to move Triton's arm before going to the bathroom to wash up. He even tries to talk to Triton to move his arm since he can't breathe to see if it will work.

Fortunately, it did. He giggles a little then went straight to the bath. He feels a little sticky since he was sweating a lot at training. After his bath, he wore his protective clothes that Alviary made him sew before going outside to see if who is awake. Time is very different here than on the mainland. So, checking the time on his phone will be a waste of time. He told Triton that he will be out and he should sleep more. He went to the stable to look for Uran and Laryo when he passed by Chione and Amihan. He bows at them when they scrunch up their nose as if they smelled something bad. "No offense, kid. But you smell stinky," Amihan spoke.

Stephen looks at them dumbfounded before sniffing his clothes and arms off. "I smell great, and I just took a bath," Stephen answers them as he sniffs checks his armpits. "No, not that," Chione said as she waves her hands mimicking a fan. "What do you mean?" Stephen asks curiously not knowing what they were talking about. "Do you perhaps slept with a dog or something?" Amihan asks moving away from him since the "smell" is too strong. "Well, I slept beside Triton," Stephen answers innocently, still not knowing what they were talking about. "Oh, my gods, no wonder," Chione said as the scent grew stronger and stronger. Embarrassed, Stephen just walks away from them then went to see Uran and Laryo to asks about this scent that Amihan and Chione were talking about.

Once he spotted them, he excitedly runs up to them carefully not breaking their backs when he jumps up to them. "Woah there, kiddo," Uran said as he chuckles alongside Laryo at Stephen's antics. "Hey, I've been looking all over for you, guys," Stephen said as he purses his lips forward imitating a child-like behavior. Laryo laughs at his cuteness and Uran just shakes his head. "Did you miss us that much?" Laryo said in a teasing voice as he snickers away. Stephen nods, "Of course, I did. My training regimen is so tiring that I just want to sleep all day." The kid said as he shows Laryo and Uran his scars from earlier.

"Careful when training, kid. Triton will be mad if something bad happened to you," Uran said as he warns Stephen about being careless during training. "Triton? Why would he?" Stephen asks confusedly to the two men. Both Laryo and Uran just chuckles before Laryo answers him, "You do know that, us, wolves were pretty possessive of what we think ours, right?" Stephen nods at the question, "You know the reason how we protect someone that is ours?" Laryo asks directly to Stephen as if he is telling him something very important. Well, it is important but Stephen feels that this might save someone from something.

Stephen shakes his head and looks straight to Laryo. "We scent-mark them," the old man answers then smiles as if reminiscing something that was once his. Stephen looks at Uran, and the other older man just nods. "Scent-mark? What is that?" Stephen asks dumbfoundedly. "It's something that we do when we feel possessive on someone or something," Uran simply explains but the more they talk about it, the more questions Stephen thinks. "How do you do it?" The kid asks dumbly, not caring where this conversation is going, he just wants to know. "He snuggles to that person until we satisfy or until they carry our scent," Laryo said as they walk away from the camp and into a cliff nearby. Stephen always wanted to stargaze so here they are.

"Snuggles?" Stephen asks dumbly again. Laryo just nods and sat down at the grassy part of the cliff. Stephen sat down beside him and looks at the starry sky. He was more than amazed by what he sees. There are not many stars on the mainland, but here, the sky is full of twinkling stars. Laryo leans down to his neck attempting to scent mark the kid before the Angels do it themselves when he smelled Triton's strong musky scent. Laryo chuckles loudly as he claps his hands. Uran and Stephen look at him thinking if he has gone crazy from all of the training that they have been doing these past few days. "Are you okay?" Uran asks looking at Laryo with concern.

"Smell him," Laryo said in between his laugh. Uran curiously sniffs Stephen, making the young man steps backward then Uran laughs with Laryo. "Why are you guys laughing? Do I really smell funny?" Stephen asks with a sad voice and smells his shirt. He is pretty sure that he smells great after taking a bath. "Amihan and Chione told me that I smell stinky. Do I really?" Stephen asks again as he watches the older men laugh with all their might. Uran is the first one to recover from his laughter then followed by Laryo who still snickers as he is wiping his tears away.

"Angels and their sensitive noses," Uran commented as he helps Laryo to recover from the sudden realization that Triton just scent-marked Stephen. "Well, you see, Triton scent marked you and apparently his scent is a bit too strong for the other Angel Gods," Laryo said after he recovers, now, looking at Stephen with a teasing smile. "Wait," Stephen stutters. "So, you mean, that Triton scent marked me because I belonged to him?" Stephen asks the older men. Laryo just raised his brow and Uran just smiles.

"Only Triton could answer that," Laryo said as he nudges Uran and they both looked at the starry sky. Stephen was left looking at the dark space in front of him, thinking about the scent mark and why would Triton do that. He already knows the answer to that but he still wants Triton to tell him instead. Now, looking at the starry night sky, he wishes that everything will go as planned after this training with the people of Phantom Island.