A new day dawned on the village below, leaving behind a rosy hue across the heavens. Warm yellow rays wafted through the window of the small, cozy home and landed on three individuals still sound asleep. The village suddenly came to life as tiny friends of feathers came to visit. Their birdsong was gentle and their melody sweet enough to lull those half-awake back into a deep sleep.

Noah was the first to awaken; he stretched out his limbs. His bright-hazel eyes greeted the ceiling, but he felt numb. His mind was in a state of despondency and he no longer knew how to act. Plastering on an artificial smile, he tried to make light of his trauma. What happened with Axel didn’t affect him as much as he thought it would. A little growl could be heard in response—it seemed to be disagreeing with him, but Noah ignored the disapproval in favor of focusing on the wolf inside him instead.

This caused him to wonder if it was a figment of his imagination, or if it really was his wolf. "Hello," he greeted. Just as fast as it appeared, it disappeared. 'I scared him away.' Disappointed, Noah could only head to the kitchen and grab the leftovers from yesterday that he was unable to eat.

A single bite. Delicious. He didn’t know if it was the atmosphere, but tears began to flood his eyes. What occurred yesterday had left him shaken. Because of that, he ended up not being able to meet with the visiting pack. Would they think badly of him? His mind began to wander off and go back to the areas where Axel had touched him. It caused him to feel like upchucking everything he had just eaten.

He wanted to rub his skin raw. It was early in the morning, so he knew that no one would be bathing in the river. The people in his pack were not early risers when it wasn’t a hunting day.

He thought about bathing all by himself. To be fair, it sounded appealing to him. He wouldn't have to worry about unnecessary comments or Axel any longer, and the incident didn't actually... "Axel didn't actually go through with it..." he said in an attempt to convince himself, and in the end, it worked.

He stood up from his seat after finishing his small breakfast and began packing his needed cleansing items. All he wanted to do at that moment was to wash off the dirty feeling pervading his body. 

He headed to his parents' room, shook them awake and told them his plans. What he wasn’t expecting was a panicked refusal from the both of them.

My mom's eyes were wide, "If you really want to go, let your father walk you there." She reached up to touch his cheek in what Noah felt was her way of reassuring him. He could feel the slight tremors from her hand. I gave a small smile but rejected the offer, "You don’t have to worry about anything, mom. Dad took care of Axel, and it’s early in the morning. Nobody is awake at this time. ’ Her eyes shone with concern. She looked at her husband before they mumbled back to me in confirmation, albeit reluctantly, that they understood.

"If you don’t come back within thirty minutes, we’re going to assume something happened to you." My mother said to me before I left:

The village, contrary to popular belief, was very large. My house was right across from the center. A bunch of houses encircled the center, similar to that of a town square. All the houses looked the same on the outside and inside: wooden and small. The size didn't really matter because everyone was outside most of the time. Outside of the house, the ground and pathways were made out of paved textured stone. 

As you headed west, you would find a clear, wide river used for bathing and cleaning laundry, warm in the morning and cold in the afternoons and at night. Although I myself much prefer warmer water, apparently alphas liked colder water, so over the years of bathing in cold water I developed a tolerance to the cold—although I did get sick a couple of times, in the beginning, it didn't stop me because we wolves had a fast regeneration speed. My fever went away pretty fast and I rejoined my kin. Nothing would stop an unconventional alpha like me.

To the east of his house was the marketplace where merchants and visitors alike would go to sell handcrafted materials or hunter meat. It was rare to have visitors as the entire village is surrounded by thick woods. The hunting team, including myself, would go to the marketplace to turn in our catches of the day. It would be enough to feed the village for a few days. 

To the north was the entrance to our village. The area there was cleared of trees, which allowed visitors to be checked more thoroughly by the guards and protect the villagers. There were no walls erected around our village as we believed to only take as much wood as we needed, in replacement, our soldiers would spend 3-hour intervals guarding the village before switching out with the other guards in protecting the surrounding area and checking the woods for any rogue wolves.

I began to head west before I heard an unfamiliar voice call out. I turned around to see a beautiful young lady about the same height as my mother, at 5'3. She had bright blue eyes, a sharp nose, and pink lips. Her skin could rival mine in paleness, and she had blonde hair. Behind her, I saw six others, and all of them were equally as beautiful as the girl before me. Two of them had strawberry blonde hair, the former’s was a bit darker and the latter one’s was a bit lighter. One with brown eyes and the other with green. They were tan and wore some unfamiliar clothing. Both were female; one looked to be 5'9 and the other I thought to be 5'5. I noticed a short, pale female with short black hair. She was very cute and wore the same outfit as the others. Her height looked to be 5'0. The last two were males. One had ginger hair like my father, with green eyes and fair skin. He looked like he was 5'6. The other one had short dreads, brown eyes, and was darker skinned. He looked to be 5'8. I believed I was the tallest at 5'11, but I inherited some of my dad's height, recalling that he was almost 6'3.

'Are they the ones from the visiting pack?' As they had never met, Noah had no idea how to greet them, and so he awkwardly waited until they reached him. They all looked like they came straight out of a painting. He averted his gaze, afraid of being called out for staring for too long.

"Hi there! Are you the one we didn't get to meet yesterday? We heard that an emergency happened, so you couldn't come. " The blonde girl said, her voice was light and airy like a wind instrument. It was very pleasant and calming to listen to.

"Yes, well, something dire had come up at the time and I couldn't really..." I answered vaguely, not really willing to elaborate with complete strangers. Flashes of the incident popped into his mind, and he shook his head to get rid of the intrusive thoughts.

"Oh no... Well, I’m glad to know you're doing better seeing as you’re outside now. Perdon my manners. Let me introduce myself and my friends. I'm Reina. The girl with strawberry red hair and green eyes is Remy. The one with brown eyes is Dara. The cute Asian girl is Holly, and those two boys over there are Oliver and Benjamin. Oliver is the redhead, and Benjamin—I call him Benji—is the one with the short dreads. They wave at Noah, smiles of various sizes on their faces.

I smiled back at them. "Glad to meet you all. My name is Noah. " They stared at my face for a long time. 'Did I have food stuck on my face?' I touched my lips just in case to find nothing. I could only brush it off.

"We were hoping you could direct us to the bathing area. We kind of got lost..." Reina began to laugh out of embarrassment. She avoided looking at the others, already knowing what they were about to say.

"We wouldn't have gotten lost if you hadn't run off last night when the chief was giving us directions on where everything was located. Your brother made us search for you at night without any sort of please or thank you. I swear that man lacks common courtesy for anyone that isn't you. " Dara said, eyebrows narrowed and lips pursed in a thin line.

"It was just that I saw a bug on the ground that I've never seen before. I got a bit excited because I didn’t have that specific one in my collection. " Reina explained, twisting her hair into little spirals.

"You’re such a nerd." Oliver heaved.

'It seemed as though they wanted to go to the bathing area. Well then, I guess my plans for today no longer mattered. Though I must admit that their group is smaller than I had expected. ' I looked at the items they were carrying. They had been getting tired from holding them up. I shouldn’t waste any more of their time; they are guests, after all.

"Ok." I said. "I was already on my way to the bathing area. If you follow me, I will take you there directly," I say as I begin walking.

"Um, Noah! Could you please wait a bit longer? My brother is coming. " She said apologetically.

"Gael is coming? Here I thought I could finally have time to spend time with my friends..." Holly said dejectedly.

"I thought so too. This is such a disappointment. Even if your brother is hot-" At that, Reina begins to sputter, "and good at fighting, our pack trained us so that we could do self-defense in case anything did happen." Benjamin said.

"Yeah, but my brother doesn't want to see us get hurt. He's kind like that." Reina defended her brother. "We've all been together since childhood. You guys should know his personality by now! " She pouted.

"Kind? That guy, right? Don't make me laugh! " Dara started before someone placed their hand on her head, clenching it tightly. She lifted her head slowly in fear and, just as she expected, ended up seeing Gael.

"Who are you talking about?" Gael said in a cold tone, his voice deep and smooth like velvet.

She began to sweat heavily and said nothing.