Ivan's POV
Three wolves soon surrounded Yelena's territory. Her chest rising and falling, yet she remained calm; she didn't fidget. She had accepted that her end had come.
"Where did they go?" one of them asked. He had green eyes and green hair; his claws looked like they were almost retiring from ripping hearts out—dirty-looking, with some stains of dried blood on them. The second had black curly hair, his eyes a dark blue. He appeared calm and reserved, but I perceived that he was the most dangerous of them all. His claws appeared even sharper than I could imagine. The third one was a dwarf, stout and rugged, with arms like carved stone. He had a low cut with grey eyes.
"Who?" Yelena asked, her voice rough and shaky. The one with black hair lunged and grabbed her neck. He placed his sharp claws under her jaw.
"I'll slit her throat if you don't show yourself!" His voice, thick and harsh.
"How did he know we were hiding out here?" Yula questioned in a whisper. Her eyes, wider now. Her heart raced. She had warned earlier that they were too strong for us and that we should run, but I refused because I didn't want to leave Yelena to die. As I lunged forward, she grabbed my hand.
"You can't go out there! It's too risky for you, Ivan," she said.
I pressed my palm against her lip as she was about to say more. I peeked again through a small hole. I noticed something: Yelena's old hands were shaking. Then I realized that he didn't just snatch her neck in his hands—he was quietly strangling her to death as she struggled to catch her breath. I rushed out before Yula stopped me.
"Let her go!" I snapped, my eyes burning like flames.
"Hahaha… our so-called hero's been hiding," the dwarf said as the green-haired one joined in the laughter. But the dangerous one didn't even make a laughing sound.
He shoved Yelena to the ground like a log of dried wood, her body hitting the earth with a dull thud. He turned towards me. I felt the tension rise steadily, like the morning sun creeping over the horizon, as the other two went silent.
"Show us what you've got, Ivan," he said as he stepped in front of me. I could barely stand the stench that oozed from his body—a strong smell of blood, pain, and tears of the innocent. I returned my gaze to Yelena, who was lying flat on the ground as though she were dead. My pulse pounded. I faced him again, my eyes darkened. I didn't know what took over me, but I felt strength from nowhere. I fumed. The other wolves behind took two steps backward. Their guts seemed to die down as their lips parted in shock. The black-haired one in front of me melted. His ego calmed. He suddenly became small in my eyes. I was shocked as well by their sudden shift in emotion. It was worth questioning. My cautiousness returned partially, and I looked at myself from my chest down to my feet. It was still me. As I raised my head again, the green-haired wolf and the dwarf had taken to their heels like the wind. I looked behind me when I sensed a figure—Yula was standing there, mouth dropped in shock.
"What's this?" The words unconsciously fell from her mouth.
Then the wolf in front of me fell to his knees, his two hands above his head.
"My Lord," he bowed, his eyes fixed on the ground. He could barely bear my gaze. I looked back at Yula. What's going on here? I inquired within myself, but the question was readable from the expression on my face.
"Please spare my life. I know my father was your biggest enemy and a traitor, but I knew nothing about it. Believe me!" His fingers were trembling above his head. Sweat was running down his face and continuing below his neck.
"I only did what my father asked. Varkos was only jealous of your power. I warned him about his plans, but he wouldn't listen. Spare my life, and I would never return to your land again…"
Faint noises from the empty fields ahead of us started drawing near. Then footsteps. The two wolves who ran away had gone to inform a larger crew, and they would stop at nothing until they captured me.
But what's going on here? Why were they after me? Who am I?
I started to feel my body shrink into a smaller figure. The wolf who was kneeling before me, begging for his life, had jolted to his feet and growled, as if signaling the others that I was here. Nobody needed to tell us to run for our lives. Even if this was a new me, I didn't know how to manage it or anything about it yet. I wasn't even aware of myself.
"He came back! Hurry! Hurry! He's here again!" the wolf said.
Yula rushed and grabbed a leaf. She placed it in my mouth and one in hers. We shut our lips against the leaves to avoid the wind blowing them away. Holding each other's hands, we disappeared into the air, leaving Yelena's lifeless body behind.
At the house, I was patrolling like a man waiting outside a maternity ward to hear the cry of his baby and the voice of his wife in the theatre.
"What happened back there, Yula?"
"I have no idea. If Yelena were awake, she would have told us what that was or perhaps said something about it."
"What exactly?… Did you hear what he called me?" I asked, my brow raised. My right thumb, pointing behind me.
"Ivan, I think there's a special power possessing you. It rose high above you like a large monster when you stood there. The Ivan I knew ten years ago was just a naive boy without any powers."
My heart melted when she said this. The curiosity in my eyes vanished as reality hit me.
"Are you serious, Yula?" The words fell from my lips into my subconsciousness. Anxiety, eating me up like a termite.
"Yes. We have to find out what this means. I have a small book that my grandfather gave to me when I was 12 years old. It read, 'Tomorrow is not yours.' The book says a lot about mysterious things and what we must know about chosen or marked Alphas."
Chills ran down my spine. Marked?… Marked Alphas?
My head kept repeating the words as Yula hurried to her old shelf, sealed mysteriously in brownish, almost worn-out papers—like a thousand pages of forgotten books. She flipped through the pages desperately as she reached for a familiar page. My eyes fixated on the pages like I was about to uncover the biggest secret about who I truly was.