Almila
A few hours later, a car pulled up in front of the house.
A tall young man stepped out and examined our home and garden with a deep frown. A few members of the pack went to greet him, but his demeanor made it clear he didn't want to be here.
While I watched them from my mother's room upstairs, standing by the window, the young man suddenly met my gaze. When he saw me, his expression grew even angrier.
Even with several meters between us, I could feel the dominance he was trying to exert over me. But it was pointless, none of the alphas I'd encountered had ever managed to impose their dominance on me.
He finally tore his eyes away, and I stepped back from the window. I turned to my mother, who was sitting in the armchair beside the window, then kneeled down.
"Mom… I'm leaving."
I formed my sentence gently and slowly, as if I had no intention of hurting her. Even so, she flinched slightly when she heard my voice. I placed one of my hands on top of hers, which were folded together on her thighs. A bittersweet smile appeared on my face.
"Won't you say goodbye to me?" I asked quietly.
She said nothing, and her expression didn't change at all. I held her hand for a while like that, even though she never met my eyes, I didn't look away from hers. Then I let out a deep breath, slipped my hand away from hers, and stood up.
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon."
After saying that, I walked out of the room with slow steps. I went downstairs and looked at my aunt, who was waiting for me.
There was a sad expression on her face, but I couldn't tell if she was actually sad or upset about me leaving.
As soon as she saw me, she opened her arms to hug me, so I hugged her. Meanwhile, her son came over, carrying my suitcase.
"Take care of yourself, Almila," she said, her voice trembling toward the end of the sentence.
I tried to smile at her, tears had gathered in her eyes. I found it amusing that people who had never shown me affection all this time were suddenly expressing it now that I was leaving.
Because of that, my smile turned crooked.
After taking the suitcase which her son brought, I walked through the front door and stepped outside. A few people accompanied me to see me off.
The moment I stepped outside, I locked eyes again with the unfamiliar young man waiting in front of the car. It was obvious from his appearance that he was from the north. He was much fairer-skinned, almost pale compared to us southerners.
I couldn't help wondering if all of them were this pale.
When he met my gaze, he muttered something under his breath, yanked the car door open harshly, got inside, and then slammed it shut just as hard.
Even this young man, who was clearly much younger than me, must have known that I was the girl who had carried out a massacre in their pack years ago. They were probably struggling to accept that someone they saw as a killer was going to become their bride.
I couldn't care less.
In fact, I think they're shameless, since they seem to ignore the fact that they're the ones who killed the bride's father in the first place.
While I dragged my suitcase behind me, Atia came to my side.
Years ago, when my father was still alive, Atia was a servant who worked for me and my family. After my father died, she stopped being our personal helper and became just another member of the pack. But when she learned I was going to the North as a bride, she insisted on coming with me.
Even though I warned her repeatedly, told her again and again that I was going there to kill those people, she wouldn't listen. So I had no choice but to drag her along with me.
Atia tried to take the suitcase from my hand. I quickly switched it to my other hand.
"Don't exaggerate, Atia. It's not even heavy," I said, trying to stop her with my free hand.
Atia moved to my other side with a speed I couldn't even follow and grabbed one end of the suitcase.
"My lady, if it's light, then let me carry it."
She tried to pull the suitcase toward herself, and I tried not to use too much force against her. Even though she was a Beta, she was strong, and definitely not the most obedient servant.
I parted my lips to say something, but then a familiar voice behind me made me turn around.
"Almila…"
Theron.
His brows were furrowed, and the corners of his mouth were pulled downward. There were dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept properly in days.
It was the first time I'd seen his shoulders so slumped. After our eyes met, I thought I caught a brief glimmer in them, but it disappeared just as quickly.
Without realizing it, I loosened my grip on the suitcase, and Atia took that chance to pull it toward herself. After that, Theron rushed toward me and hugged me tightly, and I couldn't stop him.
His arms wrapped around me tightly, as if he never wanted to let go. I caught that familiar, sweet scent radiating from his body.
Sweet, but also calming, a smell that reminded me of the jasmine-filled garden we used to wander through when we were children. Sweet, yet carrying that wild edge underneath.
I felt him breathe in my scent. His pheromones started to wrap around my entire body, but I didn't do anything to stop it. Since I wouldn't be seeing him for a while, he could at least stay by my side like this for a moment.
One of his hands moved up to my hair, and with his large palm he gently stroked it. He had leaned down slightly to hug me, so I placed my chin on his shoulder and rubbed his back.
Meanwhile, I locked eyes with the young men watching us from inside the car right in front of me. This time, their gaze held not only anger, but also suspicion, and perhaps a hint of curiosity.
After holding me for a while, Theron finally pulled back. He looked into my eyes for a few seconds, then leaned toward my right ear and whispered.
"I'll come to you. I'll find a way. No matter where you go, I'll find a way to be by your side. If you want to go to hell, I'll find a way to go there too."
After saying goodbye to a few more people, I got into the car that had come to take me north, together with Atia.
The car was a large black jeep, its windows tinted so dark from the outside that you couldn't see in. Because of that, once I got inside, I saw the worry in Theron's eyes grow even deeper.
Even if I waved at him now, he wouldn't be able to see it anymore, so as the car drove far enough that we could no longer see anyone behind us, I chose to just keep my eyes on him.
We had probably reached about halfway through the hour-long journey when I realized that neither the driver nor the man sitting beside him had made a single sound.
The only thing I noticed were the glances they cast at me through the rearview mirror.
By the time night settled in a few hours later, Atia had fallen asleep, her head resting against my shoulder.
As Atia fell asleep on my shoulder, I turned to watch the view outside the car window.
The hours passed, the number of cars and people on the roads dwindled, and the air was clearly growing colder.
I must have spent twelve hours like that... We stopped a few times at different places for breaks and to take care of our needs. After that, I must have fallen asleep.
What woke me was the tapping on the window right beside me. When I opened my eyes, I saw a young woman trying to look inside.
There was a worried expression on her face, and she kept glancing around nervously. Before opening the car door, I looked around and realized that Atia and the others were no longer beside me.
A sudden wave of anxiety seized my heart. My heart began to race, I hurriedly grabbed the embroidered thin blanket that had been placed over me at some point and threw it over my shoulders, then opened the car door.
The first thing I noticed was the scent in the air. The pheromones of several alpha wolves hung thickly, overwhelmingly, like someone had challenged another not too long ago, or they had gone fist to fist in a fight.
I turned to the woman who was looking anxiously at me and her surroundings. Her hair was a mess, and I could smell the lingering alpha scent on her.
"You need to help your friends before it's too late," she said abruptly.
I frowned. Something had definitely happened while I was gone.
"What? Who are you?"
I asked, stepping a little away from her as I pulled the thin blanket tighter around myself. I didn't even know if we had crossed into the northern territory yet, but the weather was freezing.
She flinched slightly when I questioned her identity, then suddenly grabbed my hand and tried to pull me along.
I yanked my hand sharply out of her grip, she burst into tears and, begging, reached for my hand again, leaving me stunned.
"Please! Stop them!"
The strangeness of the situation was starting to worry me even more. And the fact that Atia was nowhere to be seen doubled that worry.
As the young woman dragged me forward, I looked at my surroundings. The ground was covered in a few centimeters of snow, and further ahead, mountains rose on the northern side. The road was completely empty, and there didn't seem to be any lodgings or homes around where people could live.
Following the woman, I realized the scent I'd sensed earlier was growing stronger and more dominant.
A few meters later, I heard the voices carrying from a distance.
"…Do you have any idea what a grave mistake you've made?!"
The men's voices overlapped, some rough with snarls and growls. From the sound of a few of them, I realized some were in their wolf forms.
A few steps later, I could finally see them. Two of them were in wolf form, and three others were standing nose to nose. Of the ones not shifted, two had blood covering their faces, while the third was shouting at them.
After I spotted Atia beside someone lying motionless on the ground, I dropped the woman's hand abruptly and ran toward her.
The multitude of pheromone scents hanging in the air was overwhelming, and as I ran through that thick atmosphere, a dull ache formed in my chest. Pressure built in my ears, a sting flared in my nose.
With each step, I forced my aura outward, overpowering all the pheromones so they couldn't affect me. The moment I did that and ran toward Atia, every pair of eyes turned to me.
"What are you doing here?!"
The one who roared at me was one of the northerners who had come to pick me and Atia up.
Reaching Atia, I realized the motionless person on the ground was the one who had been driving the car.
"Almila!" Atia cried.
The side of her mouth was swollen from a punch, and tears streamed down her face. Her neatly gathered hair was completely disheveled, her clip barely hanging on.
Her dress was torn. She was pressing a torn piece of her dress against the head of the young man lying on the snow. The fabric, her hands, and the snowy ground were all soaked in blood.
My brows furrowed sharply as I swallowed hard.
I turned to the young man who had just shouted at me. "What's going on?!" I demanded, still in utter shock.
The men standing in front of the young northerner, and the other wolves surrounding him, had most likely been the ones who attacked the motionless Northerner on the ground.
The one who wasn't in wolf form held a baseball bat, and blood was dripping from its tip. The wolves in their shifted forms had blood all over their mouths as well.
As I looked at them, I noticed the deep wound on the young man's arm. He must have been bitten by the wolves, yet despite that, he still hadn't shifted.
"The spoils of our hunt have finally arrived."