Violet
"Yes?" I straightened and looked at her.
"One can’t know for sure, but it’s likely whatever force you are feeling is directing you towards the ancient Lycan ruins. It makes sense, doesn’t it?" Bei looked at with interest.
The possibility sent a thrill through my entire body.
Why had I not thought of that all this ti?
Now that she ntioned it, it made a lot of sense.
Ruins. Actual remnants of places Lycans had lived, worked, and built their lives.
I suddenly felt excited. "I hope we get there soon."
Ana spoke up, "I hope so too, but if no one has been able to find it, particularly the Supre Alphas in their own lands, I don’t think—"
Bei chuckled, shaking her head. "There are uninhabited lands outside known territories. A lot of them are owned extensions, but haven’t been fully searched. They are really far from here though, so it would take quite a while for us to get there at our current pace."
At our current pace.
I couldn’t help but feel sour.
We had mostly been travelling on foot. I could catch up with their wolf form at so point, but it took a lot of energy. Not too much to make exhausted, but enough to make it seem unnecessarily wasteful. And Bei had offered to take on her back once but I had refused.
Maybe I might have to take her up on that offer at this point?
"What if that isn’t what we et?" Ana asked cautiously, breaking my drifting thoughts.
Bei grinned and shrugged. "Even if we don’t find the ruins of Lycan civilisation—which I doubt—at the very least we will find sothing fascinating and have a really interesting story to tell when we get back."
Ana smiled. "Oh, when you put it that way..."
I stared back into the water, my chest tightening with another faint realisation. My plan was to seek out other packs and territories to see how they treated their ogas, not just to go on one lone mission following the pull.
How was I going to bring that up with them following ?
[ - ]
We had set camp the following night.
I sat on my bed roll, exhausted as I downed the water from the sac after eating.
On certain nights like this, we rested right under the moonlight rather than setting up tents. It would be easier that way to notice any intrusions.
It was amazing that after all this ti, we hadn’t co across any dangerous animals or rogue wolves.
After drinking, I started drawing in the dirt with a stick for so reason, and I was too focused on my drawing that I almost didn’t notice it at first.
A small lizard, no bigger than my palm, sat perfectly still on a small rock a short distance away from what I had drawn. Its scales were mottled brown and green, blending almost perfectly with the short grass.
I had noticed the creature, yes. But what unsettled were its eyes.
They were small, black, unblinking, and were fixed directly on .
I stared back, my hand going still.
There was sothing odd about the way it watched . Sothing too focused for a simple forest creature reacting to movent. It didn’t blink. Neither did it shift its weight or flick its tail the way many of the normal lizards we had encountered along the way did.
It just... stared.
A strange sensation prickled at the base of my skull.
I suddenly felt a strange awareness.
Like I was being watched by sothing else.
"What’s wrong with it?" I whispered.
"Hmm?" Bei walked towards and it imdiately scampered off into the trees. She paused and watched it flee. "Oh, those things are apparently here too?"
"It... seed different from the other ones, and it was staring at ."
Bei smiled, waving a hand in the direction the lizard had gone. "I don’t think there is anything to worry about. Most of them just stare. That is literally all they do. You saw it too when we were moving."
"Yes..."
I eyed the path it had taken.
I had wanted to let her know this was different, but thought better against it. It was already gone.
"Their curiosity can be very unnerving at tis. You’ll get used to it don’t worry." Bei walked off.
The explanation made sense. It should have made feel better.
But the feeling lingered.
It was familiar.
Was this what I had been feeling for the past few days now?
I have had the strange feeling we were constantly being watched, but it hadn’t entirely dawned on until now.
I looked around the campsite, my eyes scanning the darkness beyond our small circle. Nothing. Just trees and shadows and the normal sounds of a forest at night.
Nothing that scread danger or surveillance.
"You okay?" Ana asked, following my gaze. Her bed had been unrolled right beside mine. "You look tense."
"I..." I hesitated, not sure how to explain it. "Do you feel like we’re being watched?"
Ana’s expression imdiately grew cautious and she looked around, focusing. Then she closed her eyes, as if trying to pay more attention. Then she frowned, opened them and looked at .
"I don’t sense anything out of the ordinary. Do you think we are being followed?"
Bei remained standing not too far from us. It seed she had been paying attention to survey our surroundings too.
Even Corin sat up from where he was laying down.
"Your instincts are different from ours." Bei glanced at , her eyes alert with a subtle glow. "If you feel uneasy about sothing, we should take it seriously."
I shook my arms, rubbing it. "I’m sorry, I didn’t an to unsettle everyone. I only just—the feeling was gone after the lizard—"
"Moving camp might be a good idea," Bei mumbled.
"I think so too," Ana responded, standing up just as Corin nodded.
I also rose to my feet, but didn’t say a word.
I wasn’t sure moving would solve anything, and I felt hesitant to let them know that feeling had been following us for days now.
Moving to a different area would not change that.
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