NICHOLAS WAS IN DANGER

The following days, another rumor spread about Serina and Nicholas. Many students said that she intentionally went to the college department to flirt with Nicholas. Some people say that she flirted with the soccer team to make them act out with her and have Nicholas save her. Not long after, she was told to be capricious and manipulative.

Whenever she heard these things, Serina just raised her eyebrow and looked at everyone in a condescending manner. "Jealous people will have hundreds of mouths to spread rumors. Capricious? Manipulative? Huh! Why don't you ask Nicholas if I have done anything to him? Stop spreading rumors about me. Your grades already suck. At least make up for it with good character. A grade that sucks and a character that sucks. Tsk! Is there anything good left in you?"

Her response shut many people from talking badly about her. She always topped their class and their year level every time there's an exam. And even though many people say bad things about her, no one really witnessed of her doing such things. She never associated herself with others except for her two best friends and now, with an addition of Nicholas.

Nicholas claimed that they're friends but she says they're not. Although she denied it, you'd still see them hanging around together. Unlike other women who are clingy with their male friends, she was different. She still put distance between her and Nicholas.

Later on, because of her words, students stopped gossiping about her. Although she can still hear a few, it wasn't so severe like before.

And just like that another week has passed in their life. Three more weeks and the school year will be over.

***

It's been a while since Nicholas left his home and ever since he left, he only came back home thrice. His sister Yiran was very upset with this but she can't really do anything about it. She even wanted to come with their father to visit their company in the city but their parents refused. Yiran was still a child. Sometimes, she couldn't control her wolf and just transform without warning. They can't risk such thing to happen in the city.

"Don't worry. Your brother said that he'd come back today." Their mother said, consoling her daughter as much as she could. "Daddy was even picking him up in person from his apartment."

"How much time will it take them to come here?"

"No longer than three hours."

"That's too long." Yiran complained and sulked again. "I want to see Niknik soon."

Nicholas did promise to come home. He was afraid that his sister would make a fuss and brought headache to everyone so he decided to come back. In any case, Serina was planning to go back to her house as well. He wouldn't have to worry that she'd be alone in the dorm.

At 10:00 in the morning, her father's car pulled at the garage of his apartment and Nicholas jumped from the window of his room on the second floor to the ground.

"Wow! That's cool!" A kid across the street who was playing with bicycle saw what Nicholas did. He ran towards the apartment where Nicholas stayed and looked at him in awe. "That was incredibly amazingly ridiculously fantastic!"

"Whoa! Easy with those adverbs boy." Nicholas replied and walked to the little guy. He smiled at him, looked into his eyes and touched the kids head gently. "You didn't see anything."

As soon as he let go of him, the little guy blinked his eyes several times and looked towards Nicholas. "Dude, you're leaving?"

"Yeah. My dad is here to come and pick me up. I'll be back on Monday."

"That's great. Have a safe trip. I'll come and visit you next time."

"Sure. Sure." Nicholas waved his hand towards the little kid before opening the car to get inside. "I got a little careless there."

"You should be careful next time. What if you suddenly transform to a wolf in front of someone. That scare the hell out of them."

"I know."

"Everything's with you?"

"Yeah." Nicholas responded and without replying, his father drove out from his apartment. The property that Nicholas was living was actually from one of the werewolves who lived in the city before. Instead of selling the property, they kept it to let other werewolves stay there as long as they can afford to pay the water and electric bill. It was a little far from Royale Academy but it was safer compared to the apartments downtown.

The back of the apartment was actually a mountain that the government owned and it was abundant with trees and bushes. Although he couldn't hut for food there, he could still free himself and transform without anyone knowing. The backyard was his playground to free his wolf from the human form.

Surprisingly, it wasn't traffic on their way back to the village and the usual 2-3 hours trip was accomplished in less than 2 hours. When Nicholas got off the car, a white wolf was running towards him and jumped directly on his chest. He staggered back and plop down on the soft Bermuda grass as he tried to catch her. She licked his face several times before jumping away from him and run around in circle.

"Alright, sweetie. Let's play later. I'll have to change my clothes first. Give me a moment." Nicholas kissed his mother's cheek before running away in haste to get back to his room. He removed his clothes and transformed to his wolf form. He let out a howl and soon, many howls echoed with him.

He leapt through the window and called for his sister as he landed on the ground. Without further delay, the two of them run to the woods not far from their house and soon, many other wolves joined them. His friends and Yiran's friends came along to play with them.

Although it's called playing, it was more like a hunting. Once they get into the deepest part of the forest, they'd start hunting for wild rabbits and other little creatures. Sometimes they'd group up and hunt for a deer or an elk. In one hunting, they can only take two of these animals to balance their ecosystems but they can take a lot of rabbits since they breed a lot of times.

Once they got enough meat, they'd bring them back to the village where everyone will help each other to clean the meat and cook them. They'd usually have it for dinner where everyone in the village get together after a long day of work.

Nicholas and his friends were having fun hunting for other animals when he suddenly heard a loud sound of a gun being fired. It wasn't just him, everyone heard it and they all stopped chasing for the animals.

'Gregory, take everyone back to the village. I'll check on the source of that gun fire.' Nicholas communicated through their mind link.

'Take care of yourself. If it's really dangerous. Get back to the village as fast as you can.'

'I will.' Nicholas looked at his sister and nudged her neck with his nose. 'Yiran, follow Gregory home. I'll be following you guys as soon as I can. Don't look back and just run as fast as you can to the village.'

'Bro, be careful.' Yiran stated and left reluctantly. Every few steps, she'd stop to look at her brother but soon, Gregory nudged her to get going.

Nicholas watched everyone leave the forest before listening to the twigs being snapped and the rustling of bushes. Few seconds later, he turned to the east and followed the scent and the sound coming from the intruders. He hid himself behind a huge rock and looked at the people who were helping each other carry the dead moose using a long and solid stick.

With so much difficulty, they tried their best to get down the mountain where their car was waiting for them.

"We will certainly receive a hefty some for this." One of the hunters stated while pulling the stick up to the truck.

"Make sure you cover it well or the animal protection will place us in jail."

"Right. Right." The removed the stick which they used to tie the moose and threw it away. They covered the dead animal with a huge tarp before their driver started the engine. "Wait! I think I saw something."

Nicholas could sense the danger from these men as one of them pointed the gun to his direction. He knew that he was hidden really well but just like him, one of the hunters relied on instinct. He felt that someone had been staring at them and his gut feeling told him that it's dangerous.

Not really knowing where it came from, he just fired his gun randomly.

"Ah!" Serina clutched her shoulder in pain as if something invisible stabbed her on that body part of her. "It hurts!" she exclaimed while trying to stop her tears from falling.

'What is it?' Brattislava asked when she felt the faint throb on her shoulder. 'Did you hit yourself on something?'

"No, I didn't but, it really hurts. It felt like someone stabbed me on my shoulder."

'How can that be? I don't see any abnormalities with your health.' Her dragon replied because she could perfectly monitor Serina's health and life force from within. 'Wait! Could it be – '