Chapter 7 Seven

• Sophia's POV
• I ended up crying myself to sleep that night. The next morning, my eyes felt heavy and swollen which was obviously due to all that crying.
• “Where should we head next?” I talked to Sasha like she had the ability to respond to me. She simply neighed. We had gone to all the packs around begging them to take me in but I guess, no one wants to take in a supposed thief and traitor.
• “We really need to find a pack that will accept us. Moving in the forest like this is quite dangerous, we're lucky not to have run into any rogue wolves or lone wolves,” I sighed, not knowing whether to be relieved or not.
• I took my bath inside a nearby stream. I needed to reduce the swelling in my eyes and to also cool off myself. Getting out of the water and putting on my clothes, I patted Sasha who had been waiting patiently for me.
• “Sorry for keeping you waiting, let's…” I paused the moment my ears picked up the sound of a twig breaking. Someone or something was here, could my worst nightmare have come true? Had they managed to pick up my scent and realized I was new to this place?
• “Sasha, let's keep moving. I need you to act as a decoy,” I said as if she could understand me. She blinked cluelessly at me.
• “Just run towards that shrub,” I simplified and I believed she understood what I was saying. Sasha turned back and rushed towards the direction I had showed her once I gave her the signal to. I, on the other hand, ran into the forest pursuing whatever it was that was stalking us from a different path.
• It turned out to be a guy my age but he wasn't a werewolf or a rogue or Lycan from his smell. Could he be a human or some other supernatural creatures? Was he a hunter? I have heard about them and how they attacked werewolves who wandered out of their packs. I’ve never met them before since I lived in a pack that was very well protected.
• Not knowing if he was a potential ally or a foe, I chose not to take him down with a dagger; in case he wasn't a bad person. I threw a dagger at him to injure and distract him from my next attack. I then launched myself at him in his panicked and alarmed state, shoving him to the ground, I placed my other dagger by his throat.
• “Why were you following me?” I questioned while sitting down on him.
• “This position is a bit too…” he shifted uncomfortably, his face twisted in pain because of my weight on him.
• “If you want me to slit your throat, then keep on moving,” I threatened and they weren't empty. My dream as a child was to join the army and particularly serve the Alpha directly so I am strong enough to take on a lot of opponents even though I lacked the ability to wolf out.
• “I'm sorry, I will stay still,” he complied.
• “I will ask again, why were you stalking me?” I repeated myself.
• “I swear, I wasn't stalking you. I was moving in search of something when I heard a female's voice and decided to check it out. I saw you talking to your horse after taking a bath and you were simply breathtaking so I remained longer than I had intended,” he spilled.
• “So you watched me take my bath?” I placed the dagger closer to his throat. It caused a shallow cut on his neck which made him panic more.
• “Just say you want to kill me rather than putting words in my mouth. I never said I saw you take a bath!” He yelled in frustration and probably fear.
• “For someone so weak, you talk big. You do know I can kill you right? So begging me to kill you isn't exactly what you'd want to do,” I said, getting to my feet.
• “You're not human right?” He coughed as he sat up.
• “I heard humans were smart but you seem to be an exception,” I folded my arms.
• “You don't have to be so rude,” he muttered.
• “You do know I can hear you clearly, right?” I raised my brows as I stared down at him.
• “Drats! How could you tell I was human?” He dusted himself as he got to his feet.
• “From your smell,”
• “I don't know if I should feel offended now,” he mumbled.
• “There's no need to mumble when I can hear you clearly,” I reminded him.
• “What exactly are you? You look pretty human just that your looks aren't exactly human,” he pointed at my hair color.
• “I'm not obligated to tell you that,” I answered.
• “You're a werewolf, aren't you?” He said in a serious tone.
• “So you aren't as ignorant as I thought. What are you? A spy?” Before he could reply, I got behind him and grabbed one of his arms and placed it behind his back before pressing him against a tree bark. “Or perhaps a hunter?” He did not look like one though and he was not with any weapon. Still, I did not let my guard down.
• “You really must love violence,” he released a pained sighed.
• “Keep saying what I don't want to hear and you'll end up with a broken arm,” I threatened.
• “I'm not a spy and just so you know, most humans don't know of werewolves and out of the few that know, they feel it's nothing but a myth,” he sighed.
• “So how do you know? And how were you sure? I could have been another creature,” I was suspicious of him.
• “And you said I was ignorant,” he rolled his eyes. “ If you were a dragon, you'd be in the mountains or highlands not here, if you were a vampire, you wouldn't be out in the day and if you were a mermaid, you wouldn't have feet. If you did, you'd still be close to the water,” he explained. “ I just eliminated all other possibilities and deduced this, besides, you aren't the first werewolf I'm encountering.”
• “I’m not?” I let go of him.
• “You're not,” he said, rubbing his arm. “ And I think an apology is due for trying to kill me twice,” he demanded.
• “I'm sorry about this time but not the first time. You're a creep for watching a girl,” I gave a half-hearted apology.
• “Now you make me seem like a pervert,” he put his hands on his waist as he sighed.
• “What are you doing here?” I asked randomly.
• “Same question I should ask you. Shouldn't wolves be packs? You don't look like a lone or rogue wolf so why aren't you in your pack?” He was good at analyzing.
• “I got banished. How about you, shouldn't you be with your people?”
• “With your attitude and drive to always resort to violence, I'm not surprised you got kicked out,” he was also annoyingly blunt. I hit him hard on the head.
• “Ouch! You're going to split my head into two,” he complained. “ Anyway, it's my hobby to go into the forest frequently to find new creatures. That was how I encountered a werewolf for the first time a few years back,” he explained.
• “You're weird,”
• “Says the person with white hair,” he retorted and kicked his legs making him fall to the ground.
• “Anyway, you don't seem suspicious so I'll let you go,” I said, taking the other dagger I had thrown at him from the tree it had pierced.
• “Wait! Didn't you say you were banished?” He got up to his feet.
• “Yes, why?”
• “You must have tried to get into other packs but you weren't accepted. Why don't you come to the human world?” He suggested.
• “And I'm supposed to trust someone who I tried to kill twice. How can I be sure you don't just want to kill me?” I looked at him suspiciously.
• “You're the reason for this distrust,” he pointed fingers at me. “Anyway, I don't have a reason to do something like that to you, though, it wouldn't hurt to get back at you eventually,” he smirked just thinking about getting back at me. Cracko.
• “But I'm being serious, you can just come over to the human world with me. You'd blend in pretty well, if we ignore the white hair,” he pointed at my hair.
• “It's silver,” I corrected.
• “Regardless, we can always lie about your origin so it doesn't matter,” he shrugged. “It's your choice to trust me or not but I'm simply trying to help,” he said seriously.
• “Fine but if I think you're going to kill me or get me killed, I won't hesitate to unalive you,” I warned.
• “Yes, ma'am. I'm aware of your violent tendencies,” he raised his hands in surrender. “I'm Troy by the way,” he introduced himself.
• “I'm Sophia.”
• I wasn't sure if I was making the right choice by trusting a human but I had nowhere else to go. Whatever the outcome, I believed this was the best option right now.