Entering that woodland was like stepping into Sierra’s dream. The longer she walked, the more familiar she felt towards the trees surrounding her.

Occasionally, an urge to yell “JOSH” was washing over her and it was such a struggle to stop her mouth from doing so.

Thank goodness that her cautiousness proved stronger than her impatience. 

Right after leaving the gate of the mansion, her mind had been relentless in warning her that silence was better than revealing her whereabouts to the creatures lurking around that dark and thick woodland.

As carefully and silently as she could, Sierra tirelessly roamed the woodland, until she finally heard a human voice.

Once again, that urge to quickly find Josh wanted to recklessly seek help from whoever it was that had spoken, but the stronger cautious side of her triumphed once again. She had to listen first.

Crouching in the midst of tall grasses and thick bushes, she turned the torch light of her phone off and, as quietly as she could, sneaked closer to the source of that voice, until she could understand every word it was uttering.

“The more you fight, the more it will hurt.”

It was a woman and her voice was cold enough to send chills crawling up Sierra’s spine. And to make things more bizarre than it already was, the woman’s voice sounded awfully familiar. 

Sierra was suddenly overwhelmed by a disturbing sensation that caused her brain a terrible itchiness. She heard it somewhere but could not remember when and where.

“Accept it and everything will be easier for both of us,” the woman went on speaking in her chilling voice.

“No…” that weak growling voice sounded so much like Jin… or Josh…

Sierra inched a little closer to the voices and peeked beneath the tall grasses and thick bushes.

Moonlight passing through the thick leaves of towering trees dimly illuminated that part of the woodland. Thanks to her incredible eyesight, even though it was still a bit dark, she could clearly see everything in front of her. And she was right. The growling voice came from Josh. She was not imagining things back in his room. He really transformed into a giant wolf that looked awfully similar to Jin.

Josh was kneeling on the ground, both hands clutching his right abdomen. Standing in front of him was the woman whose voice sounded distressingly familiar to Sierra. She was tall, slim, and beautiful, but the smile on her thin lips, her black eyes, long black hair, knee-length black dress, and black stiletto radiated terrifying wickedness.

Now, her voice was not the only thing that seemed familiar to Sierra but also the wickedness in her face.

Sierra tried to remember where she had seen that woman but the deeper she probed her memory, the more her head throbbed with pain. 

She had to stop overworking her mind. She could not afford a migraine at that moment. Her top priority should be the scenario in front of her. She had to understand what was happening. She had to hear everything.

“Kill him,” the wicked woman chillingly commanded. “Take his heart and soul out.”

She was talking about the man lying motionless and bloody on the ground, between her and Josh .

Sierra wondered who that wicked woman was and what was her reason for ordering Josh to kill that defenseless man.

Take his heart and soul out? Can Josh do something so repulsive?

Sierra doubted that.

If Josh can take someone else’s heart and soul, all the students that harmed him should be dead by now.

For almost four years that Sierra had known Josh, she had witnessed how he defended himself and beat the hell out of people, but he had never killed anyone. If he did, she would surely hear rumors about it. 

But then... she never heard any rumors about Josh transforming into a giant wolf. 

Sierra sighed in frustration. Knowing so little about unusual situations was extremely annoying. The more she sees, the harder it was for her to absorb and understand anything.

She had never witnessed anything like that. For a few seconds she was sure of it. But the persistent sensation of familiarity was never fading from the corners of her mind. It was incessantly scratching her brain, causing it to itch more annoyingly that she wanted to split her skull open and scratch her brain until the irritation goes away.

“Kill him!” Sierra heard the woman repeated with more authority in her voice.

When Josh still refused to move an inch, the wicked woman gracefully knelt beside him and hastily grabbed his hand.

“Kill him!” she forced his claws against the chest of the bloody man.

Josh tried to pull away but no matter how hard he struggled, the grip of the wicked woman remained firm.

Sierra could not believe that a body twice as small as Josh could remain unmovable. She was like a mountain to Josh.

“Take his heart out!!!” the woman impatiently bellowed.

“No…” Josh weakly resisted as Sierra yelled loudly in her mind, NO!!!

In an instant, Sierra felt everything around her blurred and an invisible force pulled her forward, strong and fast. It lasted in a dizzying heartbeat. When everything around her cleared and her body steadied, she found herself kneeling beside Josh, opposite the wicked woman. Her hands were tightly gripping the furry and muscular arms of Josh, making her locket glow.

Both Josh and the wicked woman were stunned by her sudden appearance, giving her enough time to successfully pull Josh away. He had the body of a giant wolf but his weight was as light as a paper. No wonder he could not pull away from the wicked woman.

The moment Josh realized that he was freed, he grabbed Sierra by her shoulder, but the instant his clawed hand touched her skin, everything around her blurred again as the invisible force pulled her backwards this time but with the same disorienting speed. When everything stopped and her vision cleared, she found herself back to where she was hiding earlier.

Fighting nausea, Sierra quickly got up on her feet and yelled at Josh who was frantically moving his head back and forth, looking for her. “In here!!!”

Josh rushed in her direction, grabbed her hand, and tossed her onto his broad and furry back.

"Hold tight," he growled and Sierra locked her arms around his furry neck and wrapped her legs around his fur-covered torso.

Josh wrapped his furry and muscular arms around her knees before sprinting back to the front yard of the mansion.

He collapsed right after the gate closed behind him, causing Sierra to roll from his furry back onto the cemented ground.

“She cannot enter this place,” Josh breathed with relief and exhaustion. "We're safe here, Sierra."

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