Chapter Seven

The sunrise and the dew quiver in the edges of leaves of grass and trees.  The sun raying inside a forest cave.  The wildflowers bloom, and the arc of clouds moves.  The birds sing so in the tender grass.  Liam was lying on the top of a huge rock, the river flowing at its finest tranquility and clearness.

He was lying there for almost ten hours and remained unconscious.  The wound in his right leg was terrible. He was helpless and despairing. He chose to remain in his wolf form because he can't endure the pain in his human form, but he wouldn't have the thought that he lost his consciousness last night.

His howl echoed last night asking for help.  But no one from his pack to save and help him. He realizes that no one dared to help him anymore. Who has the nerve to help him with his pity situation, everyone in Wildfang Shadows is scared of Maximo.  If there's no cliff, he was dead by now.  Those hunters are familiar to him.  He senses their filthy soul, their greedy desire.

Gradually his ears have signs of moving, his spirit alert and awake. He opened his eyes slowly. Thanks, he regains his consciousness and little strength. He immediately shifted into his human form because of the thought that someone would see him.  He has no shirt on, with his bare body lying on the top of a huge rock.  His leg was bleeding.  He has nowhere else to go.  He chose to leave their pack. He needs to live alone now.  To protect himself against other packs and ferals.  He's used to being alone since he's forlorn.  He can protect himself.  He's capable of living alone or even in the city.

He tries to stand up but he feels that his strength drained away.  His strength giving out. He gasped.  He gathers all his strength to get up and leave that place.  But he failed. He lay and stared at the serene sky.  He let a sigh and feel the cold breeze.  If it were only night he would stay being a wolf and trying to search for a cave to hide.

He thinks of a stubborn city guy. Why did he expect Keiran to see him in that place?  But he knew Keiran loved to explore and there might be a chance Keiran would go there. What a frivolous thought it was, why he was hoping if he forbid Keiran to not go back to the woods again since it's too dangerous. He was telling him the truth, though. Nothing is left for Liam now, and if there's a thing that he wants to regain that's his full strength and power.

He sat down and looked at the wound on his foot.  It's bleeding so badly.  Liam clenched his teeth trying to touch his wound. Fuck, it was painful.  But he knew his wound was not that deep.  He thought of how to remove the bullet head that sucked his skin to death. He rolled to the left side and fell off to the water.  The part in which he fell was quite deep.  Although he did not have the strength he swam and he let the force of the river carry him off to the edge of the water.

He took a deep breath and tried to crawl.  Slowly but surely, he was determined to leave that place.  He stopped, looking for a sharp stone.  He will endure the pain.  His goal was to remove the bullet inside his wound.

He breathe in and out again ten times and he bravely clenched his legs and pressed the wounded part and he lacerated the head of his wound.  He clenched his fist and wanted to scream out.  The blood trickles endlessly.  He inserted his index finger in his wound searching for the small bullet head.

"Fuck" he mumbled in pain.

He pulled his finger from his wound.  It leaves an intense pain. Stupid to play an alternative act in the middle of nowhere. The place is odd to him, he wasn't been there before.  The crater of his wound became big because he slashed that earlier.  He inserted his index finger for the second time around and winched in pain. He pulled out the head of a bullet. He had a hard time getting it but he endured the pain. Finally, he pulled it out.  He dropped his body to the sand again and looked up at the sky.

His vision seemed to darken and the pain of his wound was still sucking.  He closed his eyes and his tears seeped.  His left hand covered his wound and his palm full of blood but he tried hard to control it.  If only he can leave the place he would find some herbal in the woods to control the flow of his blood from his wound.

He suddenly opened his eyes when suddenly someone stood over his head and he threw a vest onto his body, he covered his front. He can't take off his eyes from the man.

"C'mon, I'll help you stand up.  What's wrong with you.  Your wound is terrible." His voice is full of concern as he bends down and helps him to stand up.

Liam whimpers feeling the pain. Not just from his wound but from his chest. His heart was pounding so fast that and left a sting.

"Where are you from?"

Liam couldn't be able to answer him.  He pressed his lips and just mumbled.  The important person in his life, the person he valued the most now helping him and didn't even recognize Liam.  But Liam remembered every feature of Mr. Fergus, the old man's personality, and how kind he is. Liam knew it was a dismal way of reuniting. Would he let the old man know him?  Would he reveal himself now, for god sake, for a long time he knew that Mr.  Fergus badly suffering from missing Liam.

The old man takes off his coat and he let Liam wear it, a coat 'till to his knees, still the old man doesn't recognize him.  "Thanks," he said with a voice that shook with emotions.  He wants to hug the old man and tell him how he misses him.  And he was feeling sorry the day he leaves the old man and chose to stay in the forest and become a member of the Wildfang Shadows pack.

They separated for one decade, even though he had a chance to see Mr.  Fergus every time the old man went out hunting, but the opportunity to talk with him and be with him is the thing Liam misses.  He feels that there's a stable wall between them that separates them.  That wall is his nature and Mr.  Fergus's nature, their difference, but he loves Mr.  Fergus who stands as his father, and the one who saved him and raised him.

He wanted to tell him about life in the woods, his life as a werewolf. He wanted to ask Mr. Fergus about his life in the village, although he often visits the home where the old man raised him, he wanted Mr. Fergus to tell him a story about his life.

He shook his head.  He could no longer control himself and hugged the old man.  The old man's eyes widened in shock.  Liam tightened his hug on the old man.  He silently cries in Mr. Fergus's chest. He remembered that when he was three Mr.  Fergus sing a song that lulls him to sleep, he was sleeping in Mr. Fergus's embrace.  But then when he was seven, Mr.  Fergus rarely sings him a song when he lay in bed, Mr.  Fergus often went out hunting, that was until the day he find his nature and leave his beloved home to live in the forest.

"It's me .. It's me" He cried.

The old man still didn't get it.  Until his dear Liam, the jubilant child that Luna left to him sink into his mind.  "L-Liam?"  He wasn't sure but he feels that it was his dear son.

"Yes, it's me."

"Oh, God, oh!" Mr. Fergus mumbled. "It's you, I have been looking for you for a long time.  You're a big guy now, Liam. "  The old man cried and caressed Liam's back shoulder and he kissed his head.  He missed Liam, badly, and now they were reunited. "It's been a long time, I hope you're okay. You're so. handsome Liam."

"I'm alone now" Liam complain.  He's a child that often complained to Mr.  Fergus whenever his friends back then in the village doesn't include him in their game.  He often tells Mr.  Fergus whenever his playmates bullied him.

"No, you are not, I'll bring you back to the village."  He said and stepped back away from Liam.  "Please Liam, go home with me.  Grindelwald is peaceful and safe. "

He shook his head.

"Why Liam?"  he cried.  "Why?"

"No, that's not what I meant, yes I will go back with you to protect Keiran and Grindelwald."

Mr.  Fergus was stunned.  "W-what do you mean? And, how did you know my nephew?"

"I knew him the day he stepped into the land of Grindelwald and the night he went wandering in the forest.  He often explores the forest, I talked with him and forbid him to go back into the woods again. "  He paused for a breath.  "Alpha Maximo blames you for his loss, he wants you, but when he heard about Keiran, he forgets about you and wants Keiran instead. "

Mr.  Fergus lightly massaged his forehead and gave a long profound sigh.  "Can you take me to Maximo?  I want to explain that it wasn't me who caused the death of his son. I can't do that, God knows. "

"I believe you.  But everybody knows in the pack of Wildfang Shadows how bad and brutal Maximo is, there's a rumor that he was once a feral.  The name of his son is Leonord, heir to the Alpha throne.  He's the only son of Maximo that's why he was crazy over the fate of his son." He holds Mr. Fergus's hands. "I will protect you, the way you protect and save me against the hunters.  I will protect Keiran no matter what it costs. "

Mr.  Fergus cried.  "This is all my fault, I shouldn't leave a killing trap back then."

"Don't blame yourself, you're innocent of it."

"Then, come with me, Liam"

"Yes, I will, but for one condition."

"What condition, son?"

"Lie about my nature. Don't tell Keiran that I'm a werewolf. "

Mr.  Fergus nodded.  "I will tell no one" then he asked about Liam's wound, asking where did he get the wound.

"From the hunters." He sadly said.

"The hunters from the other village," he said with morosity in his eyes.

"I'm feeling okay now with your presence."

"Let's go, shall we?"

"We shall"

He is assisted by Mr.  Fergus to walk.  Sometimes they stopped because Liam's wound was bleeding, and sometimes they rested in the shade of large trees and Mr.  Fergus assisted him crosses the rocky place.  Until a big smile was drawn on Mr. Fergus lips. His eyes met a village where he was grown up.