“I hate that Alpha!” Silvi exclaimed as soon as they were a few meters away from the mansion and started their walk back to the diner.

Calber laughed at her outburst which made her shot him a glare.

“What’s funny about that?”

“I can’t believe it. You were the first person to talk back so much to him. No one has ever done that.”

“First, I’m not scared of alphas anymore. I’ve already experienced far worse with the likes of them from the previous packs I lived in. But I didn’t expect the Alpha of this pack is that unreasonable, childish and stupid who will put you in the dungeon for a very trivial reason!” She exclaimed in frustration.

“Wait…now that I thought about it. I don’t remember receiving any orders from the Alpha. I thought that the food we prepared the other day was for the servants of the mansion.” He snapped his fingers in the air. “Maybe the food in the kitchen got swapped and he ate the wrong meal. That’s why he was so upset. He had his own expert personal chef. And he said that he was really looking forward to it. Maybe that’s what happened.”

Silvi stopped in her tracks. “Wait, you’re right. Argh!!! Now he punished you for no reason at all! Damn that Alpha!”

“Come now…it wasn’t a big of a deal. I know that I’m going to be released sooner. I was supposed to get back in the morning. Guess he forgot about me.” Then Calber laughed.

“Really Sir Calber? You’re laughing the situation you were just in? What if he totally forgot about you? We were really worried you know.” She showed him a face that would make him guilty.

“I’m really sorry. But that was one of the ways in which the Alpha shows his authority. He needs to punish anyone who defies or upsets him. ‘And just between the two of us, Alpha Kallean is sometimes a kid inside, despite his intimidating exterior.’ He whispered.

She chuckled. “I can really see that.”

“Well, it’s a small punishment. I know that kid for a long time now. But he is the one placed with the burden to keep this place peaceful. He needs to maintain his authority to let the other wolves know that he is the Alpha King.”

“But he could always do it in a better way, not in the unreasonable way that he did.” She still thinks that it’s unfair for Calber to experience that.

‘Ugh! I’m really hoping that we’ll never see each other ever again.’

She continued following Calber who was now a few paces far from her. She walked faster to catch up.

“Hey Sir Calber…there’s also another thing I wanted to ask.”

He glanced at her. They were passing by the market through the town where wolf merchants are selling stuffs in their stalls.

“What is it?”

“Uhm…” ‘Wait, what was I supposed to ask him again?’  “Oh my gosh.” She clasped her hand on both side of her head. “It completely disappeared from my mind.”

Calber laughed at her. “Maybe you will remember what it was when we get back at the diner. Come on now, you still need to rest. You’re not fully recovered from your fever yet.”

She pouted her lips. It was something that she really wanted to ask him and she completely forgot about it.

She sighed and followed Calber to the way back to the diner.

-o-o-o-

“We can’t serve our food in the mansion again.” Sir Calber announced after they finished their dinner that evening.

She was not surprised at all.

“Is it because of what happened Dad?” Antares asked.

Sir Calber sighed. “Yes. Apparently, we are not allowed to deliver any sort of food in the mansion.”

“But that’s fine right? I mean, we still have the customers from the diner.” Silvi said.

“Yeah. But a lot of our profits came from our sales for the mansion.” Antares explained in a sad tone.

“Oh…I see.” She lowered her head. She felt a little guilty because this probably wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t get sick. But she can’t say that to them. She already knows that they’re going to say that it wasn’t her fault. And may result to them blaming their selves instead.

Sir Calber clapped twice, taking both of their attentions. “We can’t really do anything about it now that it has happened. We just have to continue with our daily lives.” He turned to her. “Silvi, now that we’re not going to deliver for the mansion anymore. You’ll have a lot more time for yourself. You can spend it however you want.”

“Hmm…Riiight.” She’s not going to cook that many foods from now on. It is disappointing at some point though because she loves hearing the feedback of the servants of the mansion about the foods she make. But since she can’t do anything about it anymore…then she’ll just have to bear with it. “I think that I know what I’m going to do with it.”

-o-o-o-

“Thanks for showing me the way Antares.” Silvi settled the picnic basket and her bag to the ground in front of the river. It was deep within the forest of the pack and she needed a guide to get her there because even though she had lived in the pack for more than three years, she is still not familiar with the other locations.

“Are you sure that this is the place where you wanted to spend that extra time of yours? There are other many ways you could have spent it.”

“I’ve always loved fishing. It’s more relaxing than you thought. Care to join?”

“Uh…No thanks. I don’t want to smell like a fish when I get home. I might lose my points with the ladies.”

“Geez. You and you’re drive with woman. I just hope that you’re not with your ladies once you meet your mate.” She said and laid out the blanket and placed a small chair where she settled herself to ready for fishing. She took her fishing rod, attached to her bag and takes the can of bait: worms.

“Argh! I can’t believe you can touch that thing.”

“It’s just a worm. It won’t bite. Sort of. Here take it.” She threw one at him and he immediately dodged it with a grimace on his face.

“No thanks. I’m all about sanitation and hygiene.” He said as he dusted the dirt off his sleeves. “Okay. I’ll be leaving you here. If you ever wanted to go home, just light up this flare signal so I would know. Okay?” He threw one of the dark pink cylinder stick flare signal. “…Since you don’t have a link with us.”

A link is an ability that each werewolf has in order to communicate with one another. They can send messages using their minds whenever they’re far away from each other. It’s a really convenient tool and she wished she had it, but since she is a human, she’ll have to settle with a flare.

“Okay. Understood.” She puts the flare in her bag.

“Don’t stay up too late. It’s almost winter so it’s colder as the night comes closer. You don’t want to catch another cold or fever.”

She rolled her eyes then chuckled. “Okay sir. I’m not a kid.”

“I know that. But you can’t stop me from worrying.”

“I get it now…Now shoo! Or the fish will go away.”

“Haha. Very funny Silvi.” He said sarcastically. “See you.” He waved and shifted into his wolf, ripping his clothes and ran back into the forest.

She tilted her head and shrugged it off. She goes back into fishing.

Fishing is what she decided to do during her spare time since she was cut off from cooking the foods for the mansion. She thought of catching fresh fish for their menu so that they wouldn’t need to go the market to buy some. Now that a huge portion of their sales where cut of-credits to that stupid alpha with engorged ego- they need to find ways to earn in other ways.

And she is sure that they are a lot of other ways to gain those profits.

She shivered in aversion for that alpha. She began to hate him the moment he put Sir Calber in that dungeon without the right justification.

‘Argh! I better stop thinking about that wolf.’

However, that’s the problem. She can’t seem to take her mind off that wolf since the moment she met him. But she assumed that she is going to forget about him in a little while if since she’s never going to see him ever again.

The autumn passed and her everyday routine went on: helping in the diner, fishing, playing with Antares, and small sight-seeings around the pack. Winter came and her family spent most of the days inside.

Sometimes, they would all go outside to play in the snow. Sometimes Calber and Antares would shift into their wolf forms and she would just have fun playing with them. She always loved the feeling from Diego’s warm furs. And she loves petting him. Then Lucy would join them with her famous hot chocolate.

All of her family members would always make sure that she gets to have fun during the snowy days. And she knows exactly why they are doing that.

She always had bad memories about winter.

-o-o-o-

Her heart was pounding very loud as she hides behind a small snowy bush. She released small heavy breathings, making sure that she was soundless in the sensitive ears of the wolves currently chasing after her.

‘Aack!’ She hissed when she felt the pain on her side. Blood stains were visible on her clothes and to her hand that she used to press in order to create pressure to stop the blood from flowing out. She was clawed earlier by one of the wolves when she was running for her life. Thankfully, she had some strength left to dash herself out. But she didn’t think that the wound would be this annoyingly painful.

“Where is she?!” An angry voice from a male wolf said. “We need to eliminate her before the dawn comes.”

“I can’t smell her. Damn it!” Another unrecognizable voice said.

“She’s not that far. She can’t outrun us.”

“Wait…I think I smell something.”

“Where?”

Her breathing hitched. She covered her mouth to retain any noise. She needs to get out of here before they could finally pounce on her.

“I think there’s something in that bush.”

Her eyes widened in fear. She doesn’t know what bush they are referring at. She could only hope that they were not referring to her location.

A white bunny suddenly appeared in front of her which made her almost yelp in shock. Thank goodness that she held it in. The bunny looked at her in curiosity and its nose twitched in the cutest way possible. She would really like to play with it if she weren’t in a serious situation right now.

The bunny blinked and jumped through the bush.

“Oh…it’s just a rabbit.” One of the men said.

“Tsk. Come on.” The other man said and she heard footsteps away from her.

She waited for a few minutes and made sure that there were no signs of the people before she slightly peeked through a whole she created in the bush. She sighed in relief when the werewolves were no longer in sight.

She thanked the bunny in her head.

She stood up, despite the pain searing all over her body. She pressed harder on her wound and held on tighter unto the piece of cloth that was already torn due to a lot of running through the woods. Then she began her direful journey for her safety.

-o-o-o-

The snow seemed endless. She couldn’t recall how much time has already elapsed since her departure from the East. All she could see is the vast darkness of the sky and the paleness of the snow.

 And to make her struggles worse, a raging storm decided to visit her way.

The piece of cloth was almost no longer of use. But still, she held on to it. Until she could no longer take all of the pain and numbness that her body collapsed on the snow of who knows where.

The Polars fortunately found her when they were assigned for the patrol that night. And they took her even with no knowledge of her identity. She could have been a rouge or a harmful human hunter carrying a wolfsbane, but they still took her willingly. And they tended her until she is back to her full strength.

Since then, she swore to protect the family with everything she has, no matter what.

Spring came and it was a wonderful time of the year. Trees are filled with freshly grown green leaves. The flowers inside and outside the diner are blooming wonderfully. Boasting to the world how beautiful their colors are.

And it was another day where she could fish in the river that was now thawed and ready to be fished again.