Chapter 4. Helper

“Wake up.”

Followed by a violent shake, Cataleia thought she was experiencing an earthquake. The first thing she heard was the sound of water splashing against the shore. The rays of sunlight were harsh against her, blinding her while casting an unfamiliar shadow above.

The girl could not move. Every breath she took caused her entire body to quiver in pain. She slowly opened her eyes to their fullest and discovered that the burning sensation underneath her was because of the scorching sands.

The only thing keeping her from being burnt was the water splashing on her and the sea breeze, keeping her somewhat cool.

“Ugh…” she groaned in pain as she tried to forcibly straighten her spine to sit straight and assess where in the world had the storm taken her. In her closest inspection, she realized she was in a completely different place.

“I thought I couldn’t make it,” she mumbled while staring at the vast, deep blue sea ahead of her. Did she really survive all that?

“And I thought you would make a great delicacy,” the voice said once again. This time, it came to her attention that the place she was shipwrecked into… was not for the common good.

She had come to the territory of the predators.

She spun her head to the source of the voice and found a half-naked man buttoning his pants. The man stared at her back, halting from his buttoning. Cataleia narrowed her eyes further.

Those irises… they were not human’s.

“Any woman would look away,” he began. “Are you a pervert?”

Cataleia hissed. She had no time to get embarrassed over something like that. There was a greater problem to think about – her injury.

The man leaned down at a boulder where he had his clothes folded. He took them and then wore them before turning his attention to her. Cataleia kept staring, never batting an eye.

“What?”

“I’m sorry, sir… but where are we?”

The male smirked with those sinful red lips and shrugged his shoulders before turning around. Was he going to leave her?

“Sir…” she begged with a squirmish tone, evidently fatigued. “…please lend me a hand. I do not feel so good.”

The man continued to watch her and headed to the boulder to watch her wilt. “I shall wait until you pass away. And perhaps I may get a taste of human flesh that everyone has been raving about.”

“The Law of Territories was taught to us by the age of five, sir. And it is in the first rule that you cannot harm humans.”

“And how old are you?” he raised an eyebrow while giving her a condescending look. “You look like a four-year-old with that body.”

Cataleia’s head was getting fuzzy. “I… have always been like this. Humans… have always been smaller in size than predators.”

“Predators, hm?” he crawled toward her so dangerously close that Cataleia could see the embroidery of the fabric he was wearing.

The male lifted her chin to his level of eyes and smirked, causing her heart to skip a beat. Never had she met such a bold man!

“You are the first of your kind to speak to a werewolf so casually.”

The girl bit her lip when he mentioned ‘werewolf’. With only that word, she knew for sure where she was. The territory she was meant to seek refuge in.

“Do you know it is suicide for a human to stay here?” The man scrutinized her body more and moved her chin a little bit so he could look at her face more clearly. “You do not look like royalty. Only they can set foot in territories and never get eaten.”

“Eaten…?” Cataleia looked at him with frightened but curious eyes. The mysterious werewolf stared back at her, unable to take his eyes off her again.

For some reason… he felt this unusual force pulling him toward her, and he couldn’t figure out why.

“Sir?”

The male shook his head, startled. Did he just zone out in front of her?

Quickly, he removed his hand from her chin and stepped back. He couldn’t possibly let her know he was flustered. “Can you walk?”

“I feel dizzy,” she truthfully replied. “I… think I am going to pass out, sir.”

“Right now?”

The woman’s mangled body wobbled. Her eyes were slowly shutting once more, as if all the rest she had taken unconscious was not enough. Seconds later, the girl fainted back onto the sand and the male looked at her with disbelief.

***

Cataleia woke up once again, never thinking that she could. This time, the sound of the sea waves was no more audible. Instead, the ensemble around her played with kitchen knives and simmering stoves. An aroma seeped into the window of her small room, shrouding her with the feeling of hunger.

How long had it been since she had had her last meal?

She spanned her eyes around the cozy compartment. The room was made of wood and the light around her was a warm orange. She removed the blankets covering her body and realized that she had been clothed differently.

At first, she was relieved, as she had finally gotten rid of the clothing that labeled her as the governor’s concubine. Until it crossed her mind that someone else took the clothes from her.

With a hint of panic on her once-soft face, she stood up and was even more surprised that she could. She walked closer to the small mirror in the corner of her small room and then looked at herself.

Cataleia had blonde hair, almost silver due to its paleness. But now, it was blanched in a dirty apricot. Her eyes remained iridescent as ever, always reminding her of the forests at home.

She turned around and inspected the wound on the back of her left shoulder. She saw gauze pads stacked onto her wound. She lifted the thin piece of fabric and realized it was almost healed. Another question reached her mind.

“How long was I asleep?”

“Longer than what you’ve thought, that’s for sure.”

Cataleia looked behind her and saw the same man from the beach. He smiled at her and then pointed at her mattress. “Enjoyed the bed?”

The girl’s hostility returned almost immediately as she regained her energy. She reached out to her waist trying to look for something with her fingers, but to her horror, she realized it was no longer there.

The man raised her sash to the air with one hand, then smirked. “Is this what you’re looking for?”

“Give it back to me,” the girl growled menacingly.

“I know what is in here, darling. Do not worry,” he smiled. “I can see that you no longer have any plans to remain friends with me after I have treated you in an inn. Is this how humans treat others now?”

Cataleia did not reply back but merely listened while wearing that wary expression of hers.

“I have to say, I am quite interested though. How come a lowborn like you was swept up in the shore and why did you have an arrow on your back? Are you a thief?”

The girl kept her jaw shut. She couldn’t possibly tell them she killed her groom.

“Needless to say, I run this place. I want you out of here.”

Cataleia’s eyes softened a little bit, not calm or begging, but rather confused. “You’re not going to keep me as a prisoner?”

“You look dangerous,” was all he said before throwing her sash on the floor underneath her feet. “I do not know who you are running from, but I can smell danger in your skin. Whoever it was that gave you an arrow on your back will chase after you.”

He shrugged his shoulders and stood up. “You have quite the scent though,” he remarked. “The scent of a potential mate. It is rather disturbing. I can see myself throwing you in bed and making my way toward you, but at the same time, I feel we are not compatible.”

Cataleia never understood a word he said.

“You gave me so much trouble,” he said. “I had to barricade this door and chain every possible entry so the other werewolves wouldn’t get to you.”

“You’ve kidnapped me.”

“No, dear,” he shook his head and chuckled. “I’m trying to keep you alive.”

“Why?” Cataleia gritted her teeth. “Everyone else either wants to sell me or to see me dead. You could’ve thrown me into the sea for all I cared-”

“My, my,” he cut her off and strode slowly toward her. “You begged me, sweetie. I do not know how you do it in your territory, but in the wolves’, we look out for one another. We do not abandon anyone, which is why we are united in packs.”

The male was a few inches closer once again. “You’re conflicted. I pity you. Is this the first time someone has ever helped you?”

“The last time someone helped me, I got him killed,” she answered inaudibly with her head on the floor. “And that was before I even reached this place.”

The man became silent. “I am Escanor, from Brile Blue Fang. And you?”

“Cataleia,” she replied.

“A unique name,” he nodded. “Very well, Cataleia, what do you plan to do now? My apologies if I have to kick you out from my turf, I cannot have a suspicious person running around my area of responsibility. You are human, but you’re no diplomat or government official. I will be in trouble if people accuse me of smuggling you.”

Cataleia zipped her lips.

Now that she was here… what was she going to do?

Escanor took a deep breath and then rubbed the girl’s forehead. “It would appear to me that you’ve had a bad week. It won’t be getting any better by escaping, trust me.”

“Are you saying I should’ve stayed and died?”

“Let me finish,” he replied sassily. “I am only breaking it to you that this was not the best place for you to escape on. The werewolves are no easy people to deal with.”

“I have a direwolf,” she bravely said back. “I know how to live with a wolf.”

“We’re no dogs, sweetheart.” Escanor tucked a strand behind her ear. “I am no dog either. I will be reminding you. Helping you doesn’t mean I have no ill intention toward you.”

“Escanor.” She grabbed his wrist. “If you suggest touching me is one of your plans, you will be wrong. The last time a man laid his hands on me ended up with a vase lodged in his scalp. The very reason why they shot an arrow on my back, too. Do you understand what that means?”

Escanor furrowed his brows.

“I killed a high official, and I am not afraid to do it again.”

Escanor stepped back and pondered for a while with a finger under his chin and nodded slowly. Cataleia stared with murderous eyes.

“Hmm… you’ll do.”

“Pardon?”

“How do you like killing corrupt people for fun?”

Cataleia was even more confused. “It’s not fun to kill someone.”

Escanor smirked and nodded. “The auctioneer might want you.”