The Abandoned Wolf

20. The Mysterious Ball

"Achoo!" Zitao sneezed and Kyungsoo was immediately up on his feet and walking towards the maknae of the MoonStone pack.

"Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell? Perhaps you are sick?" Kyungsoo placed the back of his palm on Zitao's forehead before doing the same to his forehead, trying to check if the maknae has a fever. Zitao softened when he saw that the red-headed male was so worried about him.

Others might find it irritating that he cares and nag too much but Zitao loves it. He loves the fact that Kyungsoo would be worried about him and will take care of him. He just loves the fact that Kyungsoo actually thinks and cares about him. He reached out and gently pulled Kyungsoo's hand down, ignoring the fact that the place where their skin touches are burning but in a good way. "I'm fine."

"Okay then." The doe eyed boy gave an adorable grin before going back to cleaning the living room.

"Hyung! Teach us Chinese!" Sehun and Jongin went to Zitao and the oldest among the three followed them to Sehun's room.

Kyungsoo saw that it was near autumn as the leaves of the trees were turning brown and they were falling off the branches. Taking a rake from the storeroom, he went out to clean the leaves that were already on the ground. Whistling to a random tune, he cleared the leaves. If he was going to stay here for free, he had to do something to help the pack or he will feel guilty.

The red-headed male suddenly stopped when he saw Zitao, Sehun and Jongin in the room. The two maknaes of the DarkMoon pack were listening attentively to their hyung as he explained as words. Kyungsoo shifted his attention to the wushu practiser and smiled when he remembered what happened that day. He was happy that even though Zitao saw what happened in the toilet with Jaehyung and Minwoo, Zitao did not run away. Instead, he went after Kyungsoo. He was thankful that Zitao and the rest cared about him.

Kyungsoo shifted his attention back to the leaves with a smile and that was when he stopped again. His smile turned into a grin when he realised that he has been smiling almost the whole day everyday ever since he encountered Yifan and Jongin. Back at his old town, smiling was a rare thing for Kyungsoo to do unless he scored an A for a test or that something good happened to him. Now, he is smiling like he is paid to do so.

Jongdae just came back from the other town when he went to visit his friend when he saw Kyungsoo at the Halo Lake. It was like that place was the boy's favourite hangout now. Kyungsoo was just smiling to himself while his feet were in the lake like always. "Jongdae hyung." The doe eyed boy grinned when he saw his friend, his lips changing into a heart shape.

"Hey Bambi." Jongdae took a seat beside him. He crossed his legs while Kyungsoo was just swinging his legs around in the water. "What are you doing here alone?"

"The hyungs went back to the office because of a sudden request. Chanyeol and Baekhyun hyungs are sleeping and Zitao are teaching Sehun and Jongin Chinese so I decided to come here my own. I just felt like coming here."

Jongdae nodded before taking off his muffler and wrapping it around Kyungsoo's neck. "The weather is getting colder. Be careful not to catch a cold."

"Thank you, hyung." Kyungsoo smiled before burying his nose into Jongdae's muffler and sniffing his scent. *He smells like coffee.* Kyungsoo giggled a little.

The corner of Jongdae's lips curved up into a smile as he watched Kyungsoo play with his muffler. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath before singing to a song that he recently heard. Kyungsoo closed his eyes, enjoying the unique and sentimental voice of Jongdae's.

++

A howl echoed throughout the forest and the keen ears of the hazel coloured wolf perked up in interest. He howled back, as if communicating to the first wolf before running towards his left. The 10 wolves bowed when they saw the hazel coloured wolf running towards them. Unlike him, they were much smaller and weaker.

*Alpha, it's here.* The first wolf who howled went down into the cave and the hazel coloured wolf followed him. The rest of the wolves went after their leader while glancing behind once in a while, seeing if there are any enemies nearby. They went deep into the cave. The only sound was their paw touching the ground and the dripping of water that came from above.

The alpha smelled water and he started walking faster, anxious to see the thing he was finding for so long. Within minutes, they reached the lake. The water from the lake sparkled, as if there were diamonds in it. *Where is it?* The alpha frantically looked around, trying to search for something.

*Alpha, look at the top.* A wolf barked and shifted his attention upwards. Following his member, the hazel coloured wolf did the same and his eyes sparkled with happiness and excitement. Lying there was a pearl coloured crystal ball.

*Get it.* He ordered and the 10 of them raced to obtain the crystal ball, hoping to please their leader. The hazel coloured wolf shifted back to his human form. Replacing the wolf was a man in his 40s. Despite his age, he was still as strong as when he was 20 years old. He even looked like he hardly aged. The only difference between then and now was that he became stronger and wiser. He was known as Alpha Kim Daeyoung of the BloodCrow pack and he was the one who wanted Kyungsoo when the boy was still in GreyRaven pack.

"Alpha," One of the wolves changed back into his human form and passed the crystal ball to Daeyoung. He took the crystal ball from him and looked at it, fascinated by not how it looks like but what powers actually holds within it. Wrapping a cloth around the ball, he kept it into his side pocket.

"Contact Alpha Lee of GreyRaven pack. Tell him that we have found the crystal ball."

Lee Minsoo of the GreyRaven pack went into the BloodCrow's territory with a few of his men and the members of BloodCrow bowed in respect for the alpha of their alliance pack. One of the shifters went up to them and bowed before leading them to the house their alpha is in. "Our alpha has been waiting for you." He told alpha Lee as he went into a house.

"Minsoo! Hurry here!" Daeyoung called from rooms away the moment he heard his friend step into his house. Minsoo quickened his speed and soon he was in Daeyoung's room while his men were outside guarding the room.

"Daeyoung.. is this..?" Minsoo went towards the table that was in the centre of the room and his eyes widened when he saw the pearl crystal ball lying that was lying on the table.

"It sure is, Minsoo. This is the one and only pearl crystal ball that will tell us whatever we want to know." Daeyoung explained as he watched his friend gingerly picked up the crystal ball, as if it was the most fragile item in the whole world.

"How did you manage to find it?" The alpha of the GreyRaven pack asked as he watched the pearl coloured mist in the crystal ball swirl around randomly. The reason why it was called the pearl crystal ball was because there is this mysterious pearl coloured mist that is in the crystal ball.

"It wasn't easy. I had to go through many connections before learning that the crystal ball was last seen at the Cold Village, which was deserted after many incidents happened. I heard that it is hard for the crystal ball to show us what we want. The only person who managed to do it was centuries of years ago and after that, he hid it up in the mountains. Many people tried to activate it but the crystal ball never seem to show them something. The worse thing is that misfortunate will fall on their town, which was what happened to the Cold Village."

Minsoo snorted and carefully placed the crystal ball on the table before looking at Daeyoung. "That's ridiculous. I bet it is one of those rumours to scare away other people so that no one will go for it."

Daeyoung nodded in agreement and picked up the crystal ball. "We will accomplish our goal no matter what. A rumour will never stop us in finding the demon wolf."