EDEN | Yoonmin

forty-four

forty-four

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ACROSS TOWN, SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WEST HIKING TRAIL. TAEHYUNG WAS RUNNING FOR HIS LIFE. He'd heard about werewolves in folklore and stories from the past. He'd heard about them through Namjoon's teachings when he taught mythology at another university during the late 90s. He'd heard about werewolves from Aurora who had spent four months hiding in the woods with a small pack from a witch hunty party while in Europe. And he'd heard stories from Yoongi — whose last experience had been with an Alpha he'd come across in the woods — and it had not ended well. Taehyung had never personally met one however, and he hadn't planned on it. While Aurora had lucked out when she chanced upon that pack, he'd heard enough horror stories from other vampires over the years who had run across their mythological counterpart, and had decided that the risk wasn't worth it. Vampires typically avoided werewolves, and vice versa.

This once didn't seem to care about keeping it's distance. Once it had spotted him on the trail, it closed in on him.

In all the years that he'd lived in Eden, Taehyung hadn't come across a single wolf in the woods. Neither he, nor Hoseok, or Namjoon or Yoongi had seen one close by in the area in recent times. Yoongi wasn't even sure werewolves had existed in this part, he'd never come across one in the nearly five hundred years that he'd settled here, and if there had been, they were smart enough to keep their distance from his land. Taehyung wondered if this wolf just happened to be passing through the area, and their meeting was just unlucky, or had Taehyung accidentally wandered onto his territory and considered him to be a threat. Whatever the reason was, Taehyung wasn't so sure he wanted to know the answer. He just wanted to get home as quickly as possible, but first, he needed to get off the path.

He took a sharp turn to the left, skidding down the embankment of a hill, narrowly avoiding trees and large boulders on his way down. It reminded him of his time in the war, where he spent countless hours running away from enemies in the woods. He was grateful to have better reflexes now. He was trying to lose him amongst the thicket, but this wolf was just as agile and fast as he was, sliding down the hill after him. Taehyung dared to glance over his shoulder, only to be met with golden eyes hidden amongst brown fur. Taehyung knew werewolves were larger than the average wolf, but this one definitely had the size advantage. He did not want to be trampled by this one. As he skidded to a stop near the base of the hill, and tumbled head first over a fallen branch, he realized — with a sense of fear for the first time that day — that he wasn't being chased by just any werewolf. He was being chased by an Alpha.

He could hear the low growl emitting from its throat as he tore through the woods again, it's heavy paws thudding against the forest floor behind him. A strange feeling washed over him. The wolf's growl sounded almost playful to Taehyung. Like this was a game. Taehyung didn't like this game.

Off in the distance, he could hear the sound of a running river. A river, he remembered, that turned into a waterfall, that drained into the Settlers Pond. Taehyung was almost a hundred percent positive that if he jumped off the edge, the wolf would not follow, and if it did, would be forced to take a different path, giving him enough time to get away. But as Taehyung made another turn, he realized that the woods had gone too silent.

The wolf was no longer following him.

Stupidly, he froze in his spot, glancing abruptly around his surrounding. There was no light where he stood; the canopy of leaves above him were so dense that barely any light from the sun got through. Tree trunks and branches twisted up from the ground, looking rather distorted in the dark forest lighting. He felt like he was in a horror film — the part of the movie where everyone unfortunately gets split up to then be killed off one by one. He felt like he was waiting for his attacker to appear. The final battle perhaps. For the first time in a long time, Taehyung felt afraid. He had no experience dealing with werewolves, let alone an Alpha.