MARKED BY THE HUNTER

19: TOGETHER

Now I know, I was really too fated to meet this guy in my second life.

"I know I have something in me. Since I hear her voices, talking to me like a guardians. People around me think that I am crazy.. I don't expect that she is real.. and she's a.. white wolf!" I told him.

He just nodded.

"But why now?” I asked. “Why is it like.. waking me up?”

Bryle glanced toward the dark forest beyond the firelight.

“Because something is coming,” he said.

The way he said it made my stomach twist.

“What do you mean… something?”

Before he could answer, a distant sound echoed through the trees.

A low, haunting howl. It wasn’t just one. It was many.

Bryle’s expression hardened instantly. He stood and grabbed a nearby blade, his movements quick and precise.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered.

My body tensed as the howls grew louder, and now it has become closer.

From the shadows of the forest, glowing pair eyes began to appear... one by one. They are watching us, waiting for something.

And deep inside me… something stirred. The same presence I felt in my dream.

The white werewolf. This time, it didn’t feel distant.

It felt awake.

When the growls grew deeper, and vibrating through the ground beneath us. My breath hitched as more glowing eyes emerged from the darkness, circling the faint safety of our fire.

Bryle stepped forward, placing himself between me and the shadows.

“Don’t move,” he said firmly.

But my body was already reacting, not with fear alone, but with something else. Something rising from within me.

A pull. A call.

The same presence from my dream. The white werewolf.

Then the creatures in the dark stepped closer, revealing their forms... lean, feral, their movements sharp and restless. Not ordinary wolves… something twisted, something corrupted in them.

“They’re not here by accident,” Bryle muttered. “They can feel it.”

“Feel what?” I asked, though deep inside, I already knew the answer.

“You.”

A low snarl broke from one of the beasts, and suddenly... everything erupted.

They lunged.

Bryle moved instantly, his blade flashing in the firelight as he met the first attacker head-on. The clash was swift and brutal, his movements precise as he pushed them back.

“Run!” he shouted.

But I couldn’t. My legs refused to move.

The world around me seemed to slow, the sounds of battle fading into a dull echo. My heartbeat grew louder, faster, until it was the only thing I could hear.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Then.. a strange calm washed over me, replacing the panic inside of me. And in that stillness… I felt it.

The white werewolf.

Not as a distant figure this time, but as something alive within me.

Its presence spread through my veins like fire, yet it didn’t burn. It strengthened me, sharpened everything in my sight, my hearing… and my instincts.

Now I could feel them. Every movement. Every breath. Every threat.

“Let me help you…” my voice echoed, not spoken, but felt.

It wasn’t my instinct… it was mine, or… ours. My fingers twitched. My vision cleared completely, the darkness no longer blinding but clear... like I belonged in it.

Another beast leapt toward Bryle from behind.

Without thinking, I moved faster than I ever had before.

“Look out!” I shouted, but I was already there.

I caught the creature mid-air, my grip stronger than it should have been. It struggled, snarling, but I slammed it to the ground with force that shocked even me.

For a second, everything froze.

Bryle stared at me.

I stared at my hands.

The wolves were trembling in my hands… but not from fear, from my power.

“I told you to run,” Bryle said, with heavy eyes, wide with disbelief.

“I… couldn’t,” I replied.

Another growl snapped us back. More werewolves was coming.

Bryle tightened his grip on his weapon. “Then stay close.”

But something inside me resisted that. The presence within me stirred again, not aggressively, not out of control… but confident.

“We can fight this together” I said quietly.

Bryle hesitated, studying me carefully.

“Are you sure what's you talking?” he asked.

I paused. The question lingered… but my answer came clearly. “Yes.”

The next wave charged. This time, I didn’t freeze.

I stepped forward.

The forest seemed to bend around my senses as I moved, every motion instinctive, every strike guided by something deeper than thought.

Beside me, Bryle fought with equal intensity, but now… we were no longer just surviving.

We were pushing back.

Together.

And deep within me, the white werewolf no longer felt like a stranger.

It felt like… home, with me. Cause we are one.