Still not realizing it, Skylar's eyes turned dark as they adjusted to see further before it got warm, making her see things clearly. She saw humans fighting huge wolves, making her shiver. She narrowed her eyes to make her judgment clear, and she was right; they were vampires and werewolves, fighting each other. She sighed, deciding not to interfere with their world, but when she was about to leave, she sensed a shot directly aimed at her. Luckily, she dodged it and fell perfectly fine on the ground, but was cornered.
"Well, well, what we have here, a human."
"But she's an odd human."
"She doesn't smell like one."
Skylar didn't flinch or make any sudden move. She just stood calmly in her spot, guarded until she sensed one creature, holding a familiar gaze but hiding in the shadows. She sighed, clicking her tongue as she raised her hands.
"You're not the first one who says that, and I hope the man hiding up the oak tree, five feet away behind me, showed up." With a sigh, Skylar coldly said, shocking them.
"How did you know?" One of the werewolf shifters asked, not caring, showing off his well-toned muscles. If any girls saw that, they might faint, but with Skylar, they were nothing compared to her husband, whom she has been dying to have a taste of. However, she must control herself.
"He's responsible for shooting this." Skylar said, showing the arrow from a crossbow before adding, "So, come out now before I return this to you."
"As if you can." One of them shrugged it off and suddenly attacked her.
Skylar, on the other hand, was dodging every attempt the werewolf shifter was making. She moved gracefully and with flexibility, and she managed to tackle the man with force, making him fall on his feet. They were shocked as no human could easily put them down without facing death or fear; however, Skylar was the only one who managed not to get any scratches or sweat from facing one of them.
"Don't try me." Skylar coldly warned, making them flinch because her voice came to them imperiously dangerous. "This mountain woods is my playpen whenever I'm here, but surprisingly, somebody is using it without my knowledge."
"I had never thought that she'll be brought back to life, but…" a familiar voice from a familiar man commented with amusement as he came out from the tree and approached them. "…I never once believed that you died when they spread the news, or you're the one who did it?"
Hearing that voice and feeling that presence, Skylar didn't respond; instead, she vanished before them. They only gasped when she appeared in front of the man and quickly grabbed the man's neck before slamming him to the muddy ground. The man groaned in pain, choking and tapping her hand in surrender.
"Since when do you become sneaky, Ayed?" with her usual cold and intimidating voice, Skylar asked the man that she pinned down easily. Ayed, Skylar's training partner, who she didn't know was a werewolf rogue that she let stay in their properties, but since she got involved with creatures like them, it was not surprising to her anymore.
"When I heard that news," Ayed admitted his sudden change.
"Do you believe them?" She asked with familiarity as she let go of the man and helped him stand up.
"I didn't because only you can defeat me." He honestly answered, making Skylar nod before he added, "But I admit it was shocking and hope you trust me enough to know the truth about why you've done it."
"I think you know the reason why I didn't tell you. The less people know, the more I can move freely against them." She answered before jogging out of the area.
"Have you found them?" Ayed asked as he followed with his three friends.
"Yes, and already in place." She responded.
"Can I join?" he wondered, but Skylar shook her head.
"No, but I want you to stay here and protect this mountain. Prevent those bastards from doing something around here without my authority." With firmness and a commanding tone, Skylar responded, making his three friends shiver at her tone.
"I like that tone. I miss it. I miss you." Ayed chuckled but admitted what he missed.
"I know, and it will be fun." She smirked and doubled up her sprint, forcing them to keep up with her speed.
"Are you seriously a human? You had the vampire speed." One of them curiously wondered while running behind her.
"Ayed asked the same thing." She chuckled and began slowing down before entering the cabin's perimeter, trailed by them.
"You also smelled different, like you're one of us. Wolves." Another one commented, catching Skylar's attention, making her slightly stop in her tracks and frown.
"What do you mean?" she curiously asked, making them flinch and afraid to answer her wrong.
"Human scent had distinguished the scent of morning sun with lemon touch before it smelled different for their mates," Ayed answered as he saved his friends from cowering too much before adding her scent to them. "But you, you don't have that scent. You have fresh and moist woodpine scent with a taint of blood."
"Oh, I see, is that bad news?" Skylar nodded in understanding but still wondered.
"No, not at all, but to us, it seems you were being surrounded by wolves," Ayed answered carefully as he took the glass that Skylar offered to him.
"Well, I'm living in the city…" She shrugged her shoulders, but Ayed shook his head while smiling.
"That's not what I mean. You're living under one roof, in one bed." Ayed cleared his words, making Skylar frown.
"Are you saying my husband is like you?" she guessed, slightly glaring at him, but he just chuckled, raising his hands.
"There's a possibility that you found any odd gestures that a normal human would do to their partners." He gave a point for Skylar to consider.
"Well, if he is, then I've got more reason to be strong." Skylar grinned and started preparing some snacks for everyone. But at the back of her mind, it was a possibility that she forgot to consider, after all, Vincencio had been sniffing and snuggling in her arms whenever they slept. "If that's his secret, I'd better wait for him to clarify it."
***
Ayed decided to stay behind when his friends returned to the mountain. As he stayed behind, he carefully watched Skylar, studying her with admiration. Skylar wasn't creeped out about it, but she did throw a knife on his way, and luckily, he caught the handle and not its blade.
"If you want me to stop staring, you could have at least said it," Ayed said sarcastically, making Skylar glare.
"I know, but I heard nasty deaths around my mountain. What's going on here?" Skylar asked seriously before taking her wine.
"Based on how you reacted when you saw my friends' shift, I bet you already heard about nasty rogues or fallen rogues, am I right?" Ayed started answering her by making sure she truly knew their existence.
"Yeah, what about them?" With a nod, she wondered.
"They were lurking on the mountain during rainy nights, and crimes were piling up. Some, it was their deeds, but the others, it's human involvement, but I'm not sure how many or what they were up to. However, my friends were guarding it, keeping the mountain crime scene rate from escalating more than a hundred." Ayed answered by explaining the things happening around the mountain lately.
"How many crimes happened around there lately?" She curiously asked, but her tone was firm and colder than before, making Ayed shiver.
"So far, they were just twenty-five. Fifteen dead bodies were disposed of there, and ten were killed, and luckily, it didn't go beyond that number. But after the royals learned my connection to you, my friends were requested to watch the numbers and make sure not to let any humans get entangled with those things." Ayed honestly replied, making Skylar smirk.
"Royals? Is it because of my uncle?" Skylar thought carefully before commenting, "That's why it's living up to its name."
"I hate it, though, but we can't do anything about it." He sighed before melting on the island table, making Skylar chuckle.
"You have to own it, Ayed. Let the mountain live its name so no human would be able to enter the mountain unless they were either testing for courage, fooling around, or…" Skylar suggested before her tone went grim and added, "…if things get serious around the mountain, mafia will be involved too."
There were a few moments of silence before Ayed started smirking.
"Can you be my alpha?" Ayed suddenly wondered, hoping Skylar would agree.
"I'm always the alpha, but why did you ask me?" Skylar sinisterly asked, making Ayed gulp as he shivered, and he knew that feeling well; Skylar was indeed an alpha to him and his friends; they felt it.
"I had been feeling that ever since we've met." He answered, smiling at his friend.
"So, that's why you're loyal to me." She chuckled while nodding before answering, "Well, I don't mind having to betas, and we've been together since we were teenagers."
"True." He laughed.
"And I still can't believe you're a werewolf shifter." She admitted.
"And I'm happy to be just your beta and not your mate." He teasingly said, making Skylar frown.
"I'm offended." She scoffed, and Ayed laughed.
"Not that you're not attractive, but if you're my mate, I won't be able to control myself if somebody tries to get you or hurt you." He refuted defensively before adding, "Werewolves were short-tempered, possessive, and territorial whenever it comes to their mates."
"Vincencio…is somehow like that…maybe even more? Well, like I care. I'm also the same." Skylar thought, comparing Vincencio's gestures around her before responding. "After learning about your existence, I know you would. But anyway, keep watching the mountain and keep me posted."
"When are you leaving?" With a nod, Ayed changed the subject and asked.
"By dawn." She answered, finishing her wine.
"Do you want to train till we collapse?" With an annoying grin, Ayed asked Skylar, who narrowed her eyes before smirking.
"I thought you never asked." Skylar chuckled and led the way to the basement, where the combat training ground was.
***
The training ground basement was filled with exercise equipment on the right, combat gear and weaponry on the left, but in the center of the huge basement, there was a combat arena. Ayed was warming up while Skylar prepared a song to play in the background.
"What are you doing?" Ayed asked as he stepped onto the arena, touching its ground like he was paying respect to it.
"Hyping us." Skylar answered while selecting something on her playlist before asking, "What song do you prefer?"
"Hm, how about Arise by I-dle or maybe a song from Breaking Benjamin, what do you think?" Ayed suggested, making Skylar think about it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.
"Let's try this then," Skylar smirked as she began clicking a Japanese song from the soundtrack of Solo Leveling called The Reawaker by Lisa feat Felix of Stray Kids.
"Why did I feel that you won't even try what I suggested?" Ayed chuckled, shaking his head, and the song began playing in the background.
"I'm the boss," Skylar smirked as she stepped into the arena, not caring if she warmed up or not since she had already been doing her training for three days, and this was the last thing she needed to check her training.
"Right, alpha." He chuckled but could not argue anymore and took his stunt, ready. "Ready?"
"Don't ask." She replied and began giving Ayed a little hard time to react.
Ayed quickly stumbled and almost lost his balance when Skylar appeared, giving him a hard punch on the face, which he blocked, apart from the kick to his stomach. He groaned but managed to fight him head-on. Both fists and kicks were equally matched, but it was not the end, because the more they exchanged blows, Ayed began to feel numbness over his body. He was not sure what had been happening since Skylar's fighting stunts were all the same and her powers were all the same, but something was different. The more they fought lethally, the more Ayed went numb internally, and he had no idea what was happening to his body.
"Hold up, Alpha…something is wrong…" Ayed raised his hand, admitting the strange feeling spreading through his body, making Skylar frown, but stopped.
"What's wrong?" Skylar asked and carefully approached Ayed, and before he could respond, his knees weakened and he fell down. She appeared beside him and asked. "Woah, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but my body felt numbed." Ayed answered, lying down on the arena beside Skylar before asking, "Can you tell me what happened to you in the city?"
"Why?" she frowned.