Chapter 1 Strange Man In The Woods

Amanda’s POV “I'm tired. Is the river still far from here?” Elisa grumbled wearily and rested against a tree. She looked exhausted, as if she had journeyed a thousand miles. “The river is just behind that mountain.” I pointed to a mountain a few steps away from us. She grumbled and lazily moved away from the tree. “I told you to come alone. Why must I join you?” She murmured, and I scoffed, rolling my eyes at her. We continued our journey while Elisa trailed behind, but I couldn’t leave her, so I had to walk as slowly as she did. We were almost at the river when our feet halted for what we saw. Standing before the river was a young man who should be in his Early twenties. His back was turned against us, but what we noticed was the knife in his hand. Before we could comprehend what was happening, he stabbed himself right in the chest, and we gasped. He made a low sound of pain and fell to the floor while blood gushed out of his stabbed chest. “Let's leave this place.” Elisa held my hand as she tried to pull me away, but I refused to move, my eyes fixed on the young man who was slowly dying. “We need to help him, Elisa.” I pleaded with my step-sister, and she frowned. “Are you insane? Do you even know what you are saying?” She snapped at me, and I gulped. “What if he is dangerous? As you can see, he was the one who tried to kill himself. Let’s go.” She snapped at me, but her words were brushed aside as I pulled away from her grip and ran towards the young man. When I reached where he was lying, I knelt on the floor and saw his eyes were slightly closed, and his breath was seizing. “Are you okay?” I asked in panic, and as if he heard my voice, he slowly opened his eyes and held my gaze. Goodness, he has the most amazing green eyes I have ever seen on anyone. “Are you okay?” I asked with concern, confused about what to do. He didn’t respond to me; instead, he just closed his eyes, as if he were waiting for death to take him. “No, no, please open your eyes.” I pleaded as fear gripped my entire being. “Let’s go,” Elisa yelled from where she stood, but I ignored her and tore my dress. I took the pieces of my dress and placed them on the bleeding surface, but it was useless. Restlessly, I got up and looked around the wood. I remembered how Granny had told me about a particular type of leaf in the woods that helped sustain an injured person. According to her, if the leaves are squeezed, and the substance from it is applied to the surface of a bleeding wound, the bleeding would stop and sustain the person until medical help is given. I remembered the leaves because Granny had shown me, and I had stored a picture of them in my head. Quickly, I began searching around for it, and luckily, as the goddess would have it, I found it just a few steps away from us. I hurriedly plucked it and ran back to the injured stranger. I rubbed the leaves with both my palms, took off the pieces of my clothes from his wound, and then applied the liquid substance to the wound. “Ahhh…” the injured stranger grunted in pain while I gulped and kept pouring more of the substance into the wound. With expectation, I watched the bleeding wound, waiting for it to stop bleeding, but it didn’t. Instead, more blood was gushing out of it. “What should I do?” I murmured in panic as the fear of him dying gripped me. I didn’t know who this stranger was, but somehow, I felt an uncomfortable feeling in my chest. My eyes were becoming teary, and I wanted to cry. I ran to where Elisa stood. “Please stay here; I will be back. I have to go call someone…” I didn’t allow Elisa to speak before I sped up and began running. I ran as fast as my legs could carry. As I ran, tears fell on my cheeks, and my whole body shook with fear. Despite not knowing him, I was just so scared of losing him. I ran out of the woods and went to the first home I saw. I knocked on the door, and the door opened, revealing Sir Timothy, the pack's famous carpenter. “Hello… Amanda…” “Someone needs your help; he is injured in the woods. Please help.” I pleaded in fear, and he raised a brow at me. “Someone is wounded in the woods?” He asked to be sure he heard me right. “Yes… we met him at the woods injured…” I lied. I didn’t want to tell him that the young man tried taking his life. “Please help!” I pleaded, with tears falling freely on my cheeks. “Let’s go.” Sir Timothy closed his door. “Thank you.” I led the way as I began running back to the woods, and Sir Timothy understood and followed suit. We walked through the trees until we reached the riverbank. Then I noticed that there were three large, strange men with Elisa. "You guys... You couldn't take him!" Elisa stood firmly in front of them with her arms outstretched, trying to stop them from taking the wounded young man. But they only gave Elisa a cold look and began to carry the wounded young man on their shoulders. “We have to help her.” I tried going to meet up with Elisa, but Sir Timothy held me back. “These men are warriors from the Snow Moon pack. Stay here.” He whispered. But I wrenched myself away from Sir Timothy's grasp and ran toward Elisa without hesitation. I had to protect her! If anything had happened to her, my stepmother would torture me. When I got there, the men had already left. "Are you all right? Who the hell were they?" I asked with concern, glancing up and down at Elisa to make sure she wasn't hurt. "I don't know," Alyssa said, frowning. "After you left, they came out of the woods and took the wounded man without hesitation, without any explanation." I nodded, gathered my thoughts, and soon returned home with Elisa, escorted by Sir Timothy. When we opened the door, my stepmother—Elisa's mother—was quietly knitting in the living room. She noticed us walking in, looked up from the knitted skirt she was holding, and stared straight at us. "Why are you covered in blood, Amanda?" she asked, frowning. Elisa approached her and whispered, "Mom, Amanda insisted on saving a strange man and left me alone in the woods." Aunt Ana frowned and locked her eyes sternly on me. "How many times have I told you not to take my daughter to the woods? She's 14, and so are you! What would you have done if you encountered rogues? How could you protect yourselves when you don’t get your own wolf?" She let out an angry roar and then slapped me hard in the face. Caught off guard, I stumbled to the ground, my cheeks burning with pain, tears pouring out uncontrollably and blurring my vision. Just then, the doorbell rang unexpectedly, piercing the cold air in the room. "Get the door, Amanda." she ordered coldly, with an irresistible force in her voice. I took a deep breath and, choking back the pain on my face, struggled to get up from the ground and trudged toward the door. When I got to the door, I grabbed the handle and pulled it back. What I saw took my breath away. It was him!