'I'm drowning!' Jonea thought as she closed her eyes and held her breath.
She felt a tremendous impact all over her body. The swift currents of water hit every part of the body. Jonea tried to keep herself from getting carried away by the current and shielded her head from the impact.
'I can't swim,' thought Jonea. 'Why can I suddenly not swim?'
Jonea was so panicked when dragged and toyed with by the swift currents.
She thought someone was choking her from behind. Jonea struggled to escape.
'Did the hunters manage to find me here?'
Jonea struggled even more with fear. The person kept dragging her behind. At this point, Jonea forgot to hold her breath. She opened her mouth, and water entered her throat and throat.
Jonea fainted.
"Jonea? Jonea?"
He patted Jonea's cheeks and pressed her chest several times to expel the water trapped in her lungs.
Jonea sleeps on her back with her head slightly tilted to the left. When her chest was pressed several times, Jonea choked and spit out water from her mouth. She coughed and started to open her eyes. The burning feeling in her lungs was excruciating.
Jonea looked around, and there was only darkness. Slowly she blinked a few times.
Only then did she realize she was on land? She looked up at the open sky. The crescent moon and starlight scattered across the sky. The lights were enough to light her up.
"Aland?" Jonea doubted her sight.
Aland looked down and grabbed Jonea. Their bodies were drenched. Aland really hugged Jonea and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm grateful! I saw you fall off a cliff and jump into the water. I thought you would not survive."
Jonea's body began to shiver. Her clothes are wet. Slowly she reached out and stroked Aland's cheek.
"You really are real. I'm not hallucinating or dreaming, am I?"
"I'm real, Jonea." Aland hugged Jonea tightly. "You can stand?"
"I will try." Jonea sat unsteadily. "How did you get here?"
Aland couldn't hold back anymore. He no longer cared about manners or pleasantries. Before Jonea could sit up straight, Aland had already stolen the girl's lips and had them.
Jonea couldn't refuse. She was really waiting for those moments to come into her life. After a year on the run, there wasn't a day Jonea didn't think about Aland. Whenever there was a problem, she always imagined that Aland would appear to save her.
Suddenly, when Aland kissed Jonea possessively, Jonea's hand gripped tightly and pushed Aland's chest.
Aland literally jerked back a few feet. He was surprised by the force of encouragement that Jonea possessed. The girl's strength now felt much more potent than before.
"What is it?" asked Aland, who looked messy and wasn't satisfied touching the girl. "You're still mad at me?"
Jonea pursed her lips tightly. Even though her lips were still throbbing, she tried to control herself so that she would no longer be carried away by the emotions and atmosphere.
"Yes, that day, I did fight with Miller at the pool. And I was the one who pushed Miller off the top of the stairs. It's all I do."
Jonea failed to hold back the tears. Suddenly her cheeks were wet. She quickly wiped it away.
Jonea was just confused and didn't know who to trust. She was afraid of being disappointed again. Even though Jonea had tried to piece together the pieces of the answer she had managed to get, she still couldn't find the gist of the solution.
As Aland was about to crawl to approach Jonea, something attacked him from behind. Aland is relieved. He didn't even notice there was an attack.
Aland immediately transformed into a grey wolf and vigilantly stood on all fours.
"Miller?" Jonea was surprised that Miller came and attacked Aland.
Right now, Jonea can see the difference between the two of them. Miller's body, even in human form, does look weak. However, when he transforms into a lycan, Miller looks much bigger and stronger. Miller's reaction also looks more violent and brutal.
Meanwhile, Aland looked much calmer. His eyes were so alert. He was ready to face Miller, who looked more robust and brutal.
Miller opened his jaw, growled, and was about to run towards Aland.
Jonea immediately got up and stood in the middle.
Aland thought Jonea would be fine without interfering. He could see Jonea was in danger.
"Right now, Miller's changes are still out of control."
Aland immediately pushed Jonea out of the way. Miller's claw hit Aland's left thigh.
Aland hugged Jonea's body, and they rolled on the wet ground beside the shallow river.
Miller gasped and regretted his own actions. He didn't mean to hurt Jonea. He didn't expect Jonea to jump up and feed herself. Miller returned to his human form.
"You…!" Miller shouted at Aland. "Let go of my sister! I won't let you take her away or hurt her."
Aland sat on his knees while holding his torn thigh. He needed quite a long time to recover from the wound.
“Miller, stop! You misunderstood. Aland didn't come to hurt me, let alone take me away. He's the one who saved me from the river."
Jonea crawled towards Aland.
"Are you all right, Aland? Why didn't your wound close up soon?"
"I added a special potion to the tips of my claws!" Miller said.
"What?" Jonea stood up and slapped Miller.
Miller needs clarification on Jonea's attitude. "Why? Why are you defending and protecting him so much?"
Miller was visibly disappointed that his efforts were misinterpreted by Jonea. He chose to remain silent and took a few steps back.
"You're starting to act irrationally, Jonea!" protested Miller. "B4 is our enemy. Those who have made us suffer all this time. Including Aland Hamilton."
Aland just looked down silently.
"You two, tell me the truth! What were you guys doing in the pool that day? What are you guys arguing about? And you, Aland, why did you push Miller from the top of the stairs?"
Aland and Miller fell silent.
"Miller, don't be quiet!" she shouted. "Tell me something!"
"I fought with Aland in the pool on my first change day. It happened a week before my accident. I fought with Aland because he was the first to notice my transformation. The pool was the only quiet and safe place at that time. I can't control my changes. I went there and turned into a monster. Aland saw it all."
Miller looks very embarrassed to admit all that.
Jonea was shocked and guilty because she had always thought bad things about Aland.
"One of the students accidentally recorded my fight with Miller in the pool. He was arguing with us on his cell phone," said Aland. "I managed to catch up and get the videotape. How stupid I am. Instead of deleting the recording, I saved it on my laptop."
"A week later, the student was acting up," Miller continued. "I led a demonstration at school against DNA alteration surgery. But he said I was a hypocrite. Because I'm not actually human. I think he doesn't know who I am. So, I went after him. I worried he would reveal my identity to everyone at school."
Jonea opened her mouth to say something but closed it again and waited. Jonea tried to listen to explanations from Aland and Miller.
"He was Axel White," Miller said. "He threatened to report to the Director of the Foundation. You know, the Lycans are the common enemy. I hunted and chased him. We had a fight on the third floor by the stairs."
Miller looked down. He recalled arguing with Axel.
"I chased after Axel and tried to prevent him from meeting the Director. However, he remained stubborn. I almost killed him then and there. Aland saw us. He kept me from doing things I would regret. Because I didn't stop my attacks on Axel, Aland pushed me so hard that I fell from the top of the stairs."
Jonea shook her head, not expecting what she heard.
"Supposedly, falling down the stairs wouldn't have killed him. Because he's not human. However, I still regret my actions. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed Miller so hard."
Jonea's legs went limp in an instant. She sank back down to the ground and sat on her knees like a madman. Jonea lowered her head and placed her hands between her exposed thighs pressing against the floor.
"I've misunderstood the whole thing," Jonea muttered.
"It's not your fault, Jonea. I don't dare to tell you the truth." Aland tried to cheer her up.
"It's a good thing I'm losing my mind," Miller said. "If only I hadn't fallen down the stairs that day, maybe things would have been much more chaotic."
Jonea quickly wiped away the tears and folded her arms over her chest to avoid the shiver.
Miller took off his dry shirt and tucked Jonea in. He willingly wore only knee-length shorts.
"How can the statement appear that Miller produced a drug formula that can turn humans into werewolves without surgery?"
"Those are all my compositions," said Aland. "I had to make up that lie to save Miller's life. If people discover that Miller has lycan blood in his body, the Foundation Director will definitely remove him from school."
"I'm just lucky they haven't had the chance to make me the object of research. If they take my blood sample and find I'm a lycan…."
Jonea didn't want to think about it.
"Then, why did you attack Aland? It's obvious he's the one who saved us all."
"Yes, he did save me and you too. But, who knows, he might just be pretending to be nice all along? Didn't he come here with the hunters? Unfortunately, I got rid of them all without a trace." Miller smiled hatefully.
"Hunter?" Aland frowned. "I did come with some of my people. But, not to attack and harm you."
"Why should I believe your story?" Miller sounded so cynical. Miller approached Jonea and helped her to stand up straight. "We'd better get back to camp and check on our parents, Jonea."
"No!" Aland pulled Jonea to his side. "If what you say is true—hunters are chasing you, isn't returning to camp a foolish idea?"