"I can smell the scent of the hyenas," he whispered as the tone of his voice got deeper. "They’re back."
Valerie’s blood ran cold at his words.
Doom was approaching both of them yet again.
She could feel a sudden sharp pain on her shin and looked down to see where it was coming from. Valerie raised the skirt of her tulle gown and gasped when she saw that the entire top half of her right shin was red and oozing with blood.
Valerie and Kai both stared down at the wound together.
“I’m sorry,” Kai whispered through dry lips. His heart sank as he stared at Valerie in the eye. “It must be very painful..."
Closing her eyes, Valerie pursed her lips and tried to will the pain away, but it did not work. Then, exhaling deeply, she realized that it was the reason why the hyenas traced them. They must’ve followed the scent of her blood.
"It is painful," said Valerie as she winced through the pain she was feeling. "But I have to bear with it." She pointed at the hyenas that were already seen by their naked eye, "We have to run first!”
"Run?"
Without any other words spoken, Valerie grabbed Kai's wrist and broke into a sprint. She gritted her teeth, ignoring the burn on her leg as best as she could. Adrenaline from being on the verge of death worked wonders in times like this.
“Let’s go!” she yelled, feeling the gradual tingling in her leg as she ran. “We have to outrun the hyenas."
They kept running, doing whatever they could so that the hyenas wouldn't catch up with them. She could feel the great burst of energy and her heart rate speeding up as the adrenaline in her blood spiked up.
Glancing back, Valerie saw that the hyenas were slowly catching up; no matter how fast she tried, the hyenas were still able to catch up to them.
Valerie read an article of two scientists claiming that a human could outrun a horse in a twenty-six-mile marathon. Supporting articles even claimed that humans could outrun any other animals in a marathon.
That was all a lie. Those scientists hadn’t been racing against animals that were starved for a good meal.
Or maybe Valerie forgot that she was not trained as a runner and just ran on her treadmill back then before she came here and encountered these animals. And besides, she was already injured. So how could she even think that she would outrun three hyenas?
But Valerie never took ‘no’ for an answer. With Kai by her side, she tried to run as fast as she could. Escaping the hyenas was the only thing that her mind was focused on.
Just as she wanted to do so, they ran to a dead end — the valley was very narrow, and the trees were so thick that it formed a blockade. They were both heavily panting as they didn’t even have the chance to catch their breath.
Valerie looked back and saw that the hyenas had caught up with them, surrounding them on all three sides. They were doomed, and Valerie did not know what to do next.
“Any idea on how we might be able to get out of here?” Valerie asked Kai. She was looking at the trees, trying to find something to help them out of this situation.
Kai was gazing at Valerie, knowing that he had to save her. He truly considered the lady as her savior. This time, he wanted to do something to help her — something that would lead them to a small ray of hope.
He was ready to sacrifice himself as needed as he already thought of the lady as someone very important, more than his life. But his animal form was still weak. He hadn’t evolved yet, no more than a pup compared to the adults in his tribe. Compared to the three hyenas that surrounded them, he was just a plaything.
Weak and powerless, he knew that he was no match for them. He mentally berated himself. If only he hadn’t skipped out on his training so often. He should’ve worked harder, pushed himself further, and gained a better rank.
That was the only way he could protect those he held dear to his heart.
"Lady," Kai spoke as he took a few steps forward while extending his arms to the side. His amber eyes expressed determination on his face as he continued. "I will try my best to stop the hyenas from coming after you."
"But, what about you—"
"I’ll be fine." Kai exhaled as he stared at the hyenas, who were now snarling their teeth. "What matters most is that you are safe first."
"But—”
"Run! Now!" Kai signaled as he tried to block the hyenas from coming after Valerie.
Valerie immediately ran off with that signal, leaving Kai trying to stop the hyenas with his human strength. The hyenas tackled him in an attempt to take him down, and it was a successful feat.
The hyenas quickly caught Kai, face first, as they threw him off to the side. He was now lying in the dirt, unable to fight back. Although he was a muscular young man, his strength was no match for three enemies with razor-sharp teeth.
Valerie looked back and saw how Kai was already on the ground. One of the hyenas had left the group and decided to tail her. It was already near. The hyena's teeth and its cheeks started to swell as it looked at her.
She did not know that she would end up becoming the hyena's dinner for tonight. She had gone from one near-death experience to another, all in the span of near hours. Valerie closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.
Witnessing this, Kai knew that he could not just let the lady get eaten by the hyenas. He did not want anyone to touch the lady without any permission.
He was already weak and useless. He was deemed worthless in society as a beastman, a structure that had been in place long before he was born, but it was his first time seeing someone treat him like a human being. Valerie, a human, had treated him with more respect than any other he had ever come across.
There was no way that he would let anyone harm her.
His amber-colored eyes sparkled as he glared at the hyena, and his fluffy ears perked up as he took several deep breaths.
Gathering every ounce of strength left in his system, Kai crawled with all fours and suddenly turned into his animal form and dashed forward. But instead of transforming into a weak wolf pup as his beast form, he became a fully-grown wolf.
The sound of bones cracking and flesh tearing echoed into the night.
Brown fur with silver tips stood straight up. His lips were tight and pulled forward. The color of his coat was brown and gray, and his ears were pointed slightly forward.
Kai's beast form stood in front of Valerie and was frozen on the spot. He snarled at the hyena and tackled it fiercely.
Valerie couldn’t help but fall to her knees. She was so glad to see that she wasn’t eaten yet. She had just been miraculously saved. However, she could not believe her eyes when she saw Kai’s wolf transformation.
Truthfully, a part of her hadn’t believed it when Kai had explained himself as the dog she had grabbed. She thought that she must’ve hit her head from the two falls and lost her sense of hearing. However, witnessing the transformation, she knew that she had been wrong.
Besides, that was definitely no dog like she had previously assumed.
It was a wolf. And once it was done with the hyenas, the large animal turned and trained its steely amber eyes on her.