After the incident, Sophie saw their wolf cub in a different light. She felt very sorry for Lee for not having a loving mother like her. So, she no longer felt jealous when her mother gave Lee extra food, orbed his fur lovingly.


    She realized her mother''s love was enough for both of them. So, she didn''t have to feel jealous. She and Lee had the best rtionship after that day. She would even share her food with the wolf cub voluntarily or offer tob his fur when she saw her mother busy.


    Seeing Sophie change and show so much love and care for him, the wolf cub repaired her kindness tenfold. He never left her side and would even keep her warm with his warm fur during stormy nights or in the cold winter.


    Two yearster their wolf cub suddenly had a growth spurt and grew so big, and suddenly he disappeared. They never saw it again. After it was gone, Sophie actually cried for days. Her parents couldn''t give her a good exnation on why the wolf that was no longer small suddenly left them.


    Sophie missed Lee from time to time, but she had learned to move on with her life. However, the experience with Lee made her have a soft spot for animal cubs.


    Now that she heard the familiar sound again, Sophie immediately recognized the animal''s cry because she had heard it so many times before in the past. She could tell it was a wolf''s cub cry and before she knew it, her feet were already taking her to where it was.


    It was against her better judgment, but Sophie remembered how scared a wolf cub could be and she wanted to find where it was.


    Sophie finally saw the wolf cub in the forest, it was entangled in what seemed to be thorns and vines. The baby wolf''s legs were stuck and it couldn''t be free.


    "Oh you poor thing," Sophie whispered.


    The wolf cub saw her and bared its teeth at her, but Sophie didn''t pay it any mind because she''d already seen something like this before in the past. Instead, she carefully drew closer to it.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll help you be free." Sophie knelt in front of the thorn bush and started to carefully remove all of the thorns and prickly vines that were sticking to the baby''s fur.


    Finally, the wolf cub was free and released from the nt''s traps.


    "Phew, there we go," Sophie smiled and looked at the wolf cub who was suddenly surprised at how it was suddenly free. It was so cute that Sophie reached out to pat it on the head. "Where''s your mother?"


    The wolf cub looked at her in fear and quickly swiped its ws at Sophie.


    Before Sophie knew it, there was a painful gash on her hand and the wolf cub was growling at her. Nichs who just arrived saw it happen and then threw a re at the cub. "You!"


    The wolf cub saw Nichs and then hurriedly ran off into the forest before the young man could get it. Nichs rushed to Sophie''s side and ripped his shirt to wrap the cloth tightly around her wound.


    "Are you hurt?" Nichs looked at her worriedly and knew that it probably did hurt. He sighed and asked her. "What were you thinking, Sophie? Animals that live in the forest are dangerous."


    Sophie stared at her hand in surprise and while it did hurt… she was more shocked than anything. "I''m sorry, Nichs. I just thought that it would be different…"


    "Different?" Nichs frowned a little. "They''re damn wolves! They are not some dogs you can pet. Gosh… look at your wound. It has so much blood. You need the salve to treat it. Wolves are dangerous creatures."


    Sophie flinched a little but shook her head. "Before I met you, my parents actually had a little wolf cub."


    Nichs sighed. "Are you sure it wasn''t a dog?"


    "No, it really was really a wolf cub." Sophie frowned at him.


    Nichs was the first one to know that one''s memories in childhood were often confusing and sometimes children couldn''t actually tell dreams from reality. So he didn''t argue with Sophie anymore.


    Instead, he picked her up and carried her in his arms. "We''re going home, Sophie. Let''s not stay here any longer, okay?"


    "Huh? What?" Sophie blinked at him and grabbed his shirt. She winced slightly as she used her bad hand but then argued with him. "Why? We''re looking for wolfsbane!"


    "That''s not as important as getting you home so your wound can be treated. There is so much blood. If we don''t treat it properly, you will lose so much blood and… I don''t even want to think about it.," Nichs told her as the man quickly darted through the forest. "I can go look for wolfsbane all by myself, so I really shouldn''t have been dragging you into this in the first ce."


    "I offered to help you," Sophie countered.


    "Yes, I epted it because I wanted to be with you," Nichs said with a bitter smile. "But I would have never said yes if I knew that I was going to get you hurt, Sophie."


    "Nick…"


    "Please don''t argue with me, Sophie," Nichs pleaded. "It''s all my fault that you got hurt and it''s the reason why my mother fears me in the first ce."


    "Huh, that''s—" Sophie found herself hesitant to speak per his request.


    "If I hadn''t gotten this lycanthropy condition then my mother wouldn''t have had to lie to my father. I would have never needed to stay with many different uncles in the countryside to hide my condition. And I wouldn''t make my mother cry whenever she sees me. We''d never have to be here in the first ce!"


    There was an intense look in Nichs'' gaze that struck Sophie speechless for a moment. It was an incredibly dark one that seemed like this incident was really painful and hurting Nichs.


    She had never seen him so incredibly self-loathing and pained before.


    Before Sophie knew it, the two of them finally arrived at her home. The journey took Nichs one hour because he used his lycan speed to take her home.


    The man let Sophie down on the bed and avoided looking into her eyes. His shoulders were hunched together and he was brooding hard.


    "Forgive me for my ugly outburst, Sophie. I''ll go look for the salve you used to give me so you don''t get any scars," he said as he opened the door to her home.


    Sophie gently reached out and cupped his face so she could look him in the eye. "Nichs, you never asked for any of this. It''s not your fault. Please don''t punish yourself for any of it."


    "..." Nichs looked tried to look away, but Sophie insisted. Their eyes locked. The man sighed in frustration. "You will hate me one day because I am a monster…"


    His words wereced with bitterness. How could Sophie ept him? Even he hated himself. She was just being nice.


    She would change. Or.. even if she could ept his condition, she couldn''t love him. Just like his mother. The queen epted him because he was her son, but he could see that his mother could never look at him with that loving gaze as she did when he was little.


    He missed his old mother. He also missed his old self. What was left now was just… a monster.


    A monster who was trying so hard to go back to being human.


    If he couldn''t cure his lycanthropy, perhaps, his mother would finally realize that there was no hope for him and send him away for good.


    .


    .


    ___________________


    Aw... it''s sad that Nichs sees himself as a monster. I am sure youdies would love to tell him that werewolves are HOT and he shouldn''t see his condition as a curse.


    Right?


    PS: Btw, the artist has finished the 3 chibis, but he hasn''t sent me the final results. They still have his SAMPLE stamps. But, you can see them in thement.