"What should we do now? I can't transform in front of humans."

'Calm down. They are just humans. Let them open the trap first.' 

"Didn't I tell you that we will be in danger if we crossed the territory?"

'Stop fussing. Everything will be okay. Just leave it to me.'

They were coming closer and he could hear their whispering very clearly from the distance. 

"What if it was some vicious animal?"

"Stop being a pussy cat. The animal is already in the trap. What it can do?"

"So you go first then."

"Do you think I don't dare? I am not a coward like you."

"Stop it you two. Let's all go together."

From their voices, he could tell that there were probably three teenage boys. Tendo relaxed his vigilance. He knew they were no match for him. As soon they will open the trap, he will bite the nearest one and will run away.

The boys were hiding near the bushes after putting the trap and were waiting for any animal to come and get caught in it. A few days ago one of them found this bear jaw trap in the storeroom of his house, so they thought of playing with it. Every day they put this trap somewhere in the jungle and wait for any animal to get caught. But for a few days, all they were getting were some rabbits. Then they will kill the rabbit, roast it and have a hearty meal. They were having a lot of fun with this adventure.

But today they were hoping to catch some big animal like deer or even... even a wolf. They've heard many stories circling around in the town about wolves living in these woods. So they were very excited about capturing a wolf. 

 They planned yesterday that they will come here at dawn to put a trap. They were now waiting for an hour. They were almost losing hope that maybe no animal will come at this hour when they heard a yelp and something fell. They became excited that they caught a big fish this time but at the same time afraid that what will happen if it was some dangerous animal.

"Did you see anything?"

"No, all I saw was a white blur before it caught in the trap."

"Yeah me too. It was running so fast. I didn't see it clearly but it can't be a rabbit."

As they were coming closer, Tendo could now see them clearly. They really were some teenage boys having some fun in the wild. 

"What is this? A... a puppy?", a boy with blonde hair exclaimed surprisingly. It was the same boy who previously said to the other guy that he is not a coward. 

"Yes I think so.", a boy with brownish curly hair said after confirming that he was not seeing wrong. 

"But what's this puppy is doing here in the middle of this wilderness?", the third boy with a blue perm said. 

"It can't be lost right?", said the curly-haired guy. 

After confirming that it really was a puppy they became relaxed and came near the trap. 

Tendo was waiting for them to open the trap, he was already getting late. If Asahi woke up and found out that he was missing then he didn't know what will happen. 

He started to whine and yelp like a dog to make them believe that he really was a dog. 

"He is bleeding. Let's quickly take him out."

They crouched down near him. Two of them started opening the trap and the third one was lightly patting him. 

"Easy there. It'll be alright. Just relax."

He didn't like the touch of someone on him besides Haruto and Asahi but he was enduring it. 

He inwardly sneered at the boy for acting saintly as if they were not the ones putting the traps here daily, hurting innocent animals just to have fun. 

He then noticed that the boy with a blue perm who was helping the other guy in opening the trap was keenly observing him. 

"Ben I don't think it's a dog."

"And why do you think that?", the other guy asked at random without believing his word who was busy pressing the side levers to open the trap. 

Tendo's leg hurts so much. It felt like his bone might be broken, he couldn't heal because it was still in the trap. He didn't care what they think he was, he just wanted to get out of here. 

"Because I know every dog breed. It's not an Eskimo, Spitz, or Samoyed, then what do you think it is?"

"Then do you think it's a... a wo..."

At this time the levers at the side of the trap become loose and the trap snapped open. After being freed, Tendo was ready to run when he heard Nevalis.

'The pain really has clouded your mind right? That you forgot that there is a fourth person hiding nearby.'

He could feel the taunt dripping from his words. 

Before the guy could complete the word 'wolf', the fourth person came out of his hiding spot. 

"What are you guys doing?"

It was a middle-aged man wearing a tracksuit. From his appearance, he looked like a middle school math teacher with tight jaw muscles and wearing spectacles showing his strict and scholarly personality. 

He made his appearance look like he was just randomly having a morning walk in the woods when suddenly he encountered these teenagers but Tendo knew that he was hiding there for some time, observing the situation. 

"What is this?", he asked with a frown after pretending that he was analyzing the whole situation just now. 

"Did you guys put a trap in the woods to hurt animals? Don't you people know that these woods are under National Conservation Area and it's illegal to hunt and put traps in these woods and it's against Wildlife Preservation Act to illegally hunt animals and if you guys get caught you'll have to face the imprisonment of three years."

After being questioned like this the three guys become so scared. 

"No no, we were not. We were just helping this puppy."

"Then who put this trap here? I didn't see anyone besides you three. If you guys were not putting a trap here then what were you doing this early in the woods? Do your family know what you guys are up to?"

The middle-aged man was getting more heaty with his questioning. 

"Let me call the police so they can inform your family.", without giving them any chance to speak, the man immediately took out his mobile phone and was ready to dial a number. 

The three boys became even more scared after seeing the turn of events. They were just enjoying their lives and having some fun in the woods with this new activity. They didn't know the situation would get this serious. 

They were doing all of this secretly and nobody in their homes know what they were up to. If their parents knew their 16 to 17 years old child was going into the woods daily to put traps and capture animals then they will be in big trouble. Even worse would be if the police get involved in this. 

Without thinking anything the three boys left the trap and puppy there and ran in the direction where they come from. 

All this time Tendo was in a dilemma about whether to run away or not. But he could barely lift his foot. He was now sure that his leg was broken. If it was a muscle injury then it would have been healed soon but his bone was badly crushed in the trap-jaw, so it will take time for the bone to heal. 

He was now facing a very difficult situation, he had no idea if the man in front of him was good or bad but he was sure about one thing.

The man was just a normal human being. 

But he couldn't understand why he was hiding and waited until now to come out. What was his purpose?

"Can you tell if he is a bad person?", he asked Nevalis. 

'He doesn't seem like a bad person. Although the aura around him is not the purest it is not giving off bad energy and it's very light, I can barely detect it.'

At this time the man had already come near him. He carefully picked him up in one hand and examined his injury. 

"Those stupid kids hurt you so badly."

Tendo could feel the sadness in his voice. 

"I should also destroy this thing.", he said while picking up a trap with his other hand. 

He then started walking.

"Where is he going?"

He then saw, the man walking towards a certain spot. He then took out a backpack that was hidden under the bushes. He took out a towel from the bag, spread it on the ground, and placed Tendo on top of it. 

"Let me clean your wounds, Ok?"

He extended his hand and tried to pat but Tendo turned his head and avoided the touch. The man chuckled at this action. 

He then took out a bottle of water and cleaned his wound, and removed all the blood and dirt. 

"Your injury looks very bad. Your bone might be broken.", he said while carefully examining his leg. 

Meanwhile, Tendo was having an internal dialogue with Nevalis. 

"How long will it take for my bone to heal? We are already late right? Asahi wakes up at sharp 6.30 a.m. What should we do now? Should we come clean about our adventure?"

'Ask one question at a time.'

'To answer your first question, it's a broken bone, it might take half an hour to heal. But since we've recently absorbed so much energy so it is healing quickly. It's not fully recovered yet but running won't be a problem now. As soon he will look in another direction we will run from the back. 

And about coming clean with Asahi, we can't do that yet. He won't allow us to leave the territory no matter what and that is the only best spot out there to absorb energy and training in our territory also means exposing our identity. We can't afford to expose ourselves so early when we don't have much power. That is also equivalent to gaining more enemies for Alpha and the pack.'

He was immediately reminded of yesterday's event when Asahi was talking with Beta Ren about Sora. He was already a big enemy and a very difficult one to handle. He can't add more burdens to Asahi by getting him more enemies. 

"This looks like a fractured bone."

Tendo's attention was brought back to the man in front of him. 

"After bandaging your leg, I will take you to the vet."

'It will take him a few seconds to take out the bandage. This is our chance.'

Tendo also realized that this is their only chance to escape. 

When the man turned around to take out the bandage from the bag. Tendo ran away at full speed from the back. His leg was still very painful but it wasn't bad as before when he couldn't even move it. He was relying on the half recovery but due to running so fast his already healed tissues were breaking apart again and it was getting more painful but he immediately wanted to reach their territory. Although he knew the person behind him can't catch up with his speed, still he wanted to get to the safe place and that was his territory. 

After reaching their territory, he started running in the other direction. 

"Are you going to hide in Haruto's home?"

Nevalis didn't answer him but he could feel a little smirk forming on his wolf face. 

Behind him, the man didn't take out any bandage from his bag. He just casually turned around and look at the spot where a moment ago there was a little injured animal. 

A small smile was hanging from his lips. 

"I knew it."

He then put a trap in his backpack and closed it. 

He put a bag on his shoulder and started to walk in the other direction.