I'm starting to lose my mind from the pain.
My arms are bloodied and full of bite marks.
The pain lasted longer than my last experience back at the fire dragons territory.
Still I managed to keep myself from crying out though I felt that my sanity is halfway gone.
I continued to bite the rest of my arms that soon, there is no longer a space for me to bite.
My legs seemed tempting enough so I soon began to bite whatever I could reach.
Ahhh...
The pain seems satisfying enough to distract me from the pain on my neck.
Soon, pools of blood are underneath me in which I can hear the pack starting to wake up.
Oh yeah, they are attracted to the smell of blood.
Maybe they will eat me this time since they can smell both my blood and my burned flesh, both of which are intoxicating to the predators, even the non predators as well.
I can hear Lion calling me in a panic in which he immediately ordered the rest of the pack to find me.
I continued to tuck myself deep inside the hole until I felt the wall on my back.
Good.
I'm safe here.
They can't touch me.
The hole is too small even for Lion despite him being the shortest among the pack though I'm much shorter than him.
It feels cosy here.
If they managed to see me, all they can see are my eyes as the hole is too dark for them to see my current situation.
The pain on my neck continued yet I comforted myself by continuing to chew the bite marks on my arms as my legs are too difficult for me to bite into.
Lion kept on calling out my name in a heartbreaking voice while the rest of the pack made all sorts of sorrowful sounds as they continued to investigate the cave.
I heard Alpha howling sadly as he tried sniffing around in which he mentioned to Lion that he can smell my blood and burned flesh that Sly began to cry out my name in desperation.
Sounds of Orm slithering beside the hole made me hold my breath as he is excellent when it comes to tracking as he has a good sense of smell and hearing like Alpha.
Yet, just like Alpha, he couldn't find out where I am hiding.
In a low voice, he began singing the song that we sang together while calling out my name once in a while in a teasing yet sad kind of way.
To my relief, he slithered away in which I can hear Ghost following him, yelling at Lion that he already investigated the cave two times already and he can't find me no matter how hard he looked.
To my dismay, I can hear Lion's footsteps in which he told Ghost that I can't be outside as he placed a spell around the cave in which it will alert him if there's someone going in or out of the cave.
It's so hard to hold my breath but I prefer to faint than to face them.
But to my bad luck, the sounds of sizzling on my neck began to increase in intensity that despite my constant chewing on my wounds for comfort, I started whimpering.
The pack stopped talking immediately in which I can hear all sorts of sniffing sounds.
I continued to whimper as the pain is unbearable now that it requires too much effort to talk.
I want to bite.
I want to hurt myself.
I want to hurt somebody, anything just to free myself from this lunacy.
Still, all I can manage are my arms that looks mangled from my bites.
And so I stopped whimpering and started to enjoy the taste of my wounds in a sick kind of way.
Then to my horror, I heard Lion gasp in which he knelt down and peeked into the hole.
He began crying as he tried to convince me to move closer to him in which due to my lunacy, I began making all sorts of angry noises towards him.
He tried to reach me to no avail as I tried to avoid his hand. His sobs intensified as he tried his best to convince me to come out but I just turned my back towards him and continued to chew my wounds.
I was so engrossed on chewing my wounds that I didn't notice that the sizzling sounds on my neck had stopped already.
Still I concentrated on comforting myself, ignoring Lion's pleas even though hearing his voice made me want to go near him.
Tears continued to fall down on my face yet I wasn't crying.
After several moments of trying to convince me to come out, I soon heard Sly's heartbreaking cries as he tried to convince me too. Despite him saying all sorts of comforting words, I ignored him.
Then Alpha tried but failed. Same with Orm and Ghost.
With a huge sigh, Lion asked for my forgiveness as he is starting to perform some sort of spell in which he told me that he doesn't want to do it but my well being comes first. He said he's willing to face the consequences of his action and that I'm allowed to beat him if I'm angry at him.
Then darkness.
....
It feels warm.
I can feel someone embracing me in which when I concentrated on my hearing, it's Lion who is embracing me tightly as if he's afraid that I might disappear again.
I can't blame him though as I was out of my mind earlier.
As my senses became sharper, I can feel that Lion and I are inside a tub of warm water.
He must be washing my body when I was unconscious.
My eyes felt too heavy to open so I tried to concentrate on listening, hearing Lion's voice as he is on an intense discussion with the rest of the pack.
I can't understand what they are saying but it seems that they are furious about something.
Lion's embrace tightened around me in which I snuggled towards his chest, making him nuzzle my ear, tenderly whispering my name as he tried to ask me if I'm awake.
It felt too exhausting to talk so I simply nodded while continuing to close my eyes.
He placed small kisses on my head as he spoke words of comfort towards me in which I can feel a tear fall down my cheek.
Gently, he wiped away the tear and kissed my forehead while telling me that seeing me in pain breaks his heart.
Soon he began to cry as he told me how hurt he was seeing me suffering silently and how devastated he was seeing me covered with all sorts of wounds due to me being temporary insane because of pain.
He kept on apologizing to me, saying all sorts of stuff like he failed as a mate to me and so on that I slowly opened my eyes and stared at him.
I'm sorry.
I apologized to him profusely in which I began to sob loudly.
Despite Lion trying to comfort me, I continued to sob until I have no tears left.
After several moments of Lion comforting me, I soon calmed down and noticed that the rest of the pack were crying silently.
I apologized to everyone in which they exclaimed that I have nothing to apologize for and that seeing me earlier made them determined to get revenge on the creatures who made me suffer.
Then and there, Lion and the rest of the pack made some sort of vow among themselves, speaking in words which I don't understand but seemed to comfort me somehow.
...
The water inside the tub is warm and comforting but soon I wanted to get out of it as Lion continued to embrace me inside the tub while having a conversation with the rest of the pack.
Though I felt awkward with this situation, Lion and the rest of the pack acted like it isn't a big deal to them.
It doesn't help that Lion placed me on his lap while embracing me.
This is so awkward.
For me, though.
Things began to get even more awkward for me as Sly sat beside Lion inside the tub and began to feed me some fruits.
Soon, the rest of the pack joined us as they began to have a lively conversation together, making all sorts of plans while Lion made things complicated for me as he began kissing me gently on the neck while listening on the conversation.
With a huge sigh, I tried to accept the fact that this kind of situation is normal in this world but if I'm doing something like this in my previous world, people will call me all sorts of nasty names. Still, I'm not in my previous world anymore so I decided to accept this weird situation as it seems that it would soon become a normal routine of us.
No wonder that Puma kept guffawing at me back then when I tried to insist that I don't want a harem.
Well, I'm currently eating my own words.
Things happened despite me trying to avoid it.
I enjoyed listening to their conversation, appreciating them trying to include me despite the fact that I can't relate to some of their topics.
They are truly decent and I am blessed that I met them as the way they act isn't typical in this world.
I felt respected, cherished and protected. Being safe with them despite my vulnerability made me adore them even more.
What more could I ask for?
I feel like I'm rich whenever I'm with them.
They are my treasures.
And I want to take care of them until my last breath.
....
Soon I began to feel sleepy in which Lion told me gently to close my eyes and not to worry about anything.
Lion made some sort of spell to make the water a bit warmer that soothed me in which I began to close my eyes and snuggled towards him.
He held me closer to him in which I can hear him sing some sort of song that sounds comforting, telling the others to join him in singing in which they did.
I wanted to hear more but sleep finally won.
....
I know that I'm dreaming since I'm in the middle of what seems to be a desert.
I seemed to be running though I don't know why I'm running.
Then my dream changed into something that I can't understand but I felt like I was being pulled into two.
A desperate voice sounded like it is arguing with someone and trying to plead to stop with the torture.
Why does this dream seemed familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time?
Then a horrifying scenario which I can't recall seemed to happen that I instantly began screaming and fighting towards somebody.
Soon, I can hear Lion's voice trying to soothe me, telling me that I'm having a nightmare in which I started to sob.
I can feel him embracing me and caressing my hair as he continued to whisper words of comfort into my ear.
He told me that he's here and there's nothing for me to be afraid of.
While gently nuzzling my ear, I can hear him calling someone who turned out to be Sly who held my hands as he too tried to reassure me.
Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw Lion looking at me with sadness in his eyes. He asked me what I'm dreaming about in which I told him about everything.
Sly began murmuring something in which he told Lion that he suspected that my dream has something to do with what happened to me in the past.
I can hear Ghost's voice in which he exclaimed that it must have something to do during the time when I was kidnapped though he wasn't sure which one as I have several experiences on being kidnapped.
Sly told Lion that he can't recall me being in a desert as the location of the arena where we tried to rescue Ghost back then can't be considered a real desert and he was with me during that time.
I gave a cry of surprise when I suddenly saw Orm at my feet that made me realized too late that all of us are lying on the rugs.
Oh.
I guess I was half awake.
Orm chuckled then became serious as he began mentioning the places where I've been, none of which is a desert.
Lion looked like he is concentrating on something while Sly began discussing something with Ghost who turned out to be lying down beside him.
Orm told Alpha what they were discussing as it seems Alpha has no idea what they are talking about.
That's true.
Though the first time I saw Alpha was when I was in werewolf form. But he looked different back then. How did we first meet?
And what happened to me before that?
I can recall Subus changing me into a werewolf but after that, nothing. Then the next memory I have is exploring the territory with Alpha in my werewolf form.
My thoughts were interrupted as Lion gave me soft kisses on my face, telling me to go back to sleep as he and the rest of the pack has something to discuss further.
I don't really mind though as my mind is not on good condition for now and immediately went back to sleep.
....
What kind of crazy thing is this??!!!
We are inside the cave of the mountain where the magic stone is definitely located.
I've got a feeling that we are facing another sort of difficult challenge in getting the magic stone in which we are currently staring a huge rune that is embedded on the wall inside a chamber.
Lion performed some kind of spell in which he told us that something is behind the wall. He assured us that it may be the path we are looking for as earlier, we took quite a long time in trying to find the path leading to the magic stone to no avail as all paths except for this one, all lead to dead ends.
He tried to activate the rune in which a huge dark portal appeared, making me apprehensive in approaching it.
Ghost carried me this time in which he reassured me that he would carry me out to safety if there's any danger.
Then one by one, we all went inside the portal.