(Rishan’s POV)

I cleared my throat out of embarrassment.

“Anyway, what are you doing here?”

He fell silent for a bit.

“We planned to find the culprit that attacked our clanmates by tracing their scent.”

His inner werewolf spoke.

Wasn’t inner werewolves were the one to hold their desires? I strangely were able to strike an intelligible conversation with him.

“...How do you do that?”

I asked.

“Hmm...”

He pondered.

Somewhat, I realized my question sounded idiotic. I raised both of my hands and waved a no.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to answer tho-”

“Nevermind, my love.”

I flinched at his sudden affectionate words, though he didn’t seem to realize he blurted out those words and proceeded to stare at a distance.

“We smelled them, of course, by determining hostility in their scent.”

Again, I was amazed by this intelligent wolf. Even though my question sounded stupid, he took his time to elaborate it so I could understand more.

“I see. Determining hostility, huh?”

He nodded.

Then, stretching his arms slightly, he beckoned me to walk by his side as he started strolling through the park. His nose twitched once in awhile, maybe sensing the surrounding scent.

“In a person...”

He started speaking again after a while of silence. I turned back to him after admiring the night scenery of the park.

“Scents can be determined into three types; the good natured one smelled fresh and fragrant, the neutral one possessed their usual scent, while the bad ones have a sickening stench emmitted from their body.”

I cupped my chin.

“Then, do all werewolves have this ability?”

I asked. I might have to be careful around those with masks after this, they might smell my body odor and that is definitely not to my liking.

He chuckled.

“If all werewolves were to have abilities like that, then most of our companies would lean more towards making products that can improve body odor.”

We both giggled.

“This ability to ascertain ones behavior by scent is only possessed by the seekers of the werewolves and the Alpha and Beta of the clan.”

He informed.

The both of us went silent again as we started strolling around the fallen tree leaves that was scattered on the ground. Sometimes, the leaves would float onto the air when the chilly autumn air brushed through them, making it look like a dance.

My nose twitched slightly when I caught a scent of the wilting leaves, and was suddenly reminded of my own scent. I tried to refrain myself from asking him, because it will definitely sound stupid, but my curiosity won over me.

“Uh, Ruado?”

He turned his head to me.

“Uhm..”

I scratched my head and hesitated for a few moments.

“Uh, what, do I smell like, to you?”

He raised an eyebrow. Shortly after that, he softly chuckled while covering his mouth.

“Sorry, it was hard to ascertain your nature, because you always smelled fresh to me...”

He answered.

If there were a cheesy words contest, I bet he’s gonna win those. I inadvertently blushed. He giggled at my reaction and stroke my cheeks before pulling them away and slipping them inside the pocket of his dark brown long coat.

He suddenly went still and again stared towards an indistinct direction.

“Rishan...”

He paused for a brief moment before extending one of his arms to my back. In both of his blue and Viktor’s grey eyes, there were affection reflected in them.

“Mind joining me for a night stroll in the city?”

“This is where their trace ends.”

We both were standing at the end of an alleyway located in the far opposite from the location of the park. Staring at the cold tar ground, my nose suddenly twitched.

“I smelled blood.”

Ruado raised an eyebrow.

“You can smell blood?”

“Well, I’m used to treating critical patients, so my nose has accustomed with the smell of blood.”

I scratched the back of my head.

He smirked. Somehow he looked at me with a proud expression on his face.

“I see... This place is the location where we retrieved Reygar. Seeing his condition breaks my heart...”

His eyes were cast down on the road.

“Reygar?”

“What was his human’s name again? Ah, right. Tanner...”

He cupped his chin, pondering.

Judging from the way he classified the wolves and the humans, I guess every one of their inner wolf has their own name. I followed Ruado when he stared darting his eyes around, probably looking for any evidence or traces.

Suddenly, I heard a growl nearby. I looked at Ruado in panic, thinking that there might be a werewolf in the vicinity. However, Ruado raised an eyebrow as he gazed.

“My love, are you hungry?”

I gasped an immediately covered my mouth in embarrassment while also grabbing my belly.

He chuckled in response.

“I’m sorry...”

I said in a tiny voice.

“It’s okay. I assume you were in your way to buy dinner.”

He glanced at my totebag on my shoulder. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and said between his smirks.

“Then, wanna grab something to eat? My treat.”

For the second time now, I have been dragged to places by Ruado. Not Viktor, it’s Ruado who dragged me here, into this empty, second floor of a bar.

Feels like deja vu.

Why is it, that every time I’m with Viktor, my surroundings would always get empty?

I scratched my head.

“Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Viktor crossed his legs. Despite his other eye still gleamed a blue tinge, Viktor has gained control back to his body.  

“I’m sorry about Ruado’s behaviour. He is the type to get clingy with the human he likes.”

Viktor rubbed his nape.

I let out a soft chuckle and shook my head.

“It’s okay. More importantly, your wolf is amazing, huh? I read in many fictions stating that inner wolves are incapable of speech, yet he is able to speak just fine.”

“About that, every head of a clan’s inner wolf are capable of speech. It’s because of our ancestral blessings that they’re able to speak. Though, intelligible speech are only limited to the head and their Beta.”

I nodded understandingly. I guess there are also some facts regarding werewolves that the books didn’t disclose me about.

While we were talking about some lighthearted topics, the food was served, and I was shocked at how big the portion is. I glanced at Viktor who was pressing his temple. He growled for a bit.

“Excuse me, I guess Ruado asked the chef to cook a big portion for you. Apparently he likes to give people a lot of food.”

He fell in a daze for a few moments, before his growling stopped. Was growling an indication of his inner wolf getting out?

“Eat as much as you can and leave out the rest. I’ll have them after you.”

He leaned against the sofa chair and closed his eyes. I tilted my head slightly while staring at him.

“You won’t eat?”

He glanced at me from his narrowing eyes and shook his head.

“I will eat later.”

My mouth twitched. I feel like a bad person but somehow, I wanna tease him for a little bit. I cut a little piece of the huge steak and lifted my hand as I said playfully,

“Ruado, do you want some?”

He suddenly growled and I could see his body shivering for a brief second. He glared at me between his shining eyes.

“...Please don’t do that.”

I slowly retracted my hand.

“...Okay...”

I don’t think it was a that big deal to just tease him a bit, but he looked like he could pounce to me at any second, judging from his desiring eyes and growls. I started to contemplate my decision of wanting to cut off ties with him.