Chapter 3

Freya's POV

"Vincent!"

I immediately rushed to Vincent's side when I noticed him slowly regaining consciousness.

He had sustained a serious wound to his chest. Thankfully, the werewolves had allowed me to treat his injury and stop the bleeding. After I finished tending to his wound, they placed an iron collar mixed with silver around his neck to prevent him from shifting.

"Where are we?" he asked once he had fully regained consciousness.

He struggled to sit up, wincing as he fought against the pain coursing through his entire body.

"We're inside a prison carriage, and I believe we're heading to their territory."

I nodded toward the werewolves guarding the entrance of the carriage.

"Shit!" he muttered under his breath.

I could see the grief and anger written all over his face. Most of his pack members had been killed, including their Alpha.

"Only fifteen members of your pack survived, including the two of us. Six managed to escape, so there are only nine of us here."

He didn't respond.

A considerable number of pack warriors had died. I was certain some of them had been his friends. I couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

"I wish you had just let me die!" he said quietly but firmly.

I fell silent for a moment.

"Don't you feel any sense of responsibility toward the others who survived? What will happen to them if you die? They need you."

I paused before continuing.

"Besides, didn't you say you wanted to meet the woman destined for you? Your mate? You haven't even met her yet, and you're already planning to become a widower?"

I said with a sarcastic pout.

We both turned when one of the guards outside the carriage suddenly burst into laughter.

"She's right, Vince. The lovely young lady has a point," he remarked, winking at me.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you part of this conversation?" I asked sarcastically.

He simply laughed at my response.

Instead of entertaining my sarcasm, he turned toward the injured Beta and flashed him a grin.

"Looks like you haven't taught the omegas in your pack the meaning of respect, Vincent," he remarked.

"I'm not an omega. I'm not a werewolf, and I'm certainly not a member of their pack," I corrected him.

His eyebrows rose as he studied me from head to toe.

"You're not a werewolf? Interesting..." he murmured, a peculiar smile playing on his lips.

I noticed Vincent clenching his jaw, clearly displeased by the man's remark, but he didn't say anything.

I decided to remain silent as well.

My gaze drifted toward the sky. Dawn was beginning to break, and judging by our surroundings, we still had a long journey ahead of us.

Nothing but trees stretched across the landscape. I couldn't see any landmarks that might help me determine where we were.

I let out a sigh.

A new pack, a new prison, but my situation remained unchanged.

I had been in this strange place for days, yet I still had no idea how I had ended up here.

Where exactly was I? What kind of place was this? And what had really happened after the plane crash?

Could it be possible that I had actually survived the crash but was now in a coma?

Perhaps everything happening around me was nothing more than a dream.

But if this was a dream, why did everything feel so incredibly real?

I sighed again, suddenly feeling exhausted.

We had been traveling for more than five hours. Even though I was riding in a carriage, I couldn't help feeling tired.

I guess I needed some sleep.

Whatever happened next could wait. Besides, I didn't think they intended to kill us once we reached their pack.

I rested my head against Vincent's shoulder. Somehow, I felt a little safer whenever he was nearby.

I was just about to close my eyes when something caught my attention in the carriage behind us.

It was carrying several valuable belongings and documents, but one particular item immediately caught my eye.

A backpack.

"Does that backpack belong to me?" I suddenly asked Vincent, pointing toward it.

He nodded.

"I found it beside you when I discovered you unconscious near the waterfall."

"Then why didn't you give it back to me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Have you ever heard of a prisoner being allowed to keep her belongings?" he replied, raising an eyebrow of his own.

He had a point, but those belongings were important to me.

Who knows? Perhaps something inside could help me find a way back to Earth.

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"What is that thing?" Vincent asked as he watched me fiddle with my camera.

"It's called a camera. You can use it to take pictures and record videos," I explained while turning it on.

I noticed his forehead crease as though he had just heard some unfamiliar magical term.

I pressed a hand against my forehead.

How was I supposed to explain the wonders of a camera to someone from what seemed like an ancient civilization?

"Err... It's sort of like a collection of memories. You can use it to capture important moments in your life. Whenever you want to relive those memories, you can watch them again using this."

My explanation only seemed to confuse him further.

I decided to turn on the camera and record our surroundings.

Sometimes, demonstrating something was easier than explaining it.

After recording for a while, I played the video so he could see the result.

A smile spread across my face when I noticed his lips curling into one of admiration.

"Remarkable. Do you have any memories stored in there from your world?" he immediately asked.

I nodded and opened the camera's gallery.

I showed him several photographs, most of which featured beautiful landscapes and nature. I had always loved taking pictures of the places I visited.

I even showed him how to press the Next button to move from one photograph to another.

He carefully examined each picture.

"Your homeland must be a beautiful place," he remarked.

I smiled.

"Yup! That's why I couldn't help feeling so out of place when I woke up in this strange world."

I nodded in agreement.

Vincent stopped scrolling when a particular photograph appeared on the screen.

He turned the camera toward me.

"Where was this picture taken?" he asked.

My forehead creased as I recognized the photograph.

Without thinking, I reached for the necklace around my neck.

"Aurora..." I whispered.

In the photograph, I was facing the camera, sitting on the snowy ground while gazing up at the sky.

Standing beside me was a huge white wolf with a distinctive black diamond-shaped marking on its forehead.

It was a simple photograph, but the beautiful aurora dancing across the sky made the scenery breathtaking.

I took the camera from Vincent and played a video.

It was a recording of how I first met Aurora and everything that happened between us until the day we parted ways.

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Flashback

Freya's POV

I smiled at the camera held by my best friend and personal camerawoman, Meily, before striking one pose after another.

Who wouldn't want to take pictures in a place as beautiful as this? It looked like something straight out of a fairy-tale book.

We were in Switzerland for a two-month vacation.

I scooped up some snow and tossed it into the air while Meily continued recording.

However, both of us suddenly froze when a loud gunshot echoed through the area, almost simultaneously with the falling snow.

"Was that a gunshot?" I asked Meily.

"I think so. Should we head back to the van?" she suggested nervously.

Instead of staying at a hotel, we had decided to rent a fairly spacious camper van. That way, we could travel around Switzerland without worrying too much about anything other than finding a parking space.

"No," I refused.

For some reason, the sound of the gunshot made me uneasy. I had a strange feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

Then I heard a howl.

It sounded like an animal crying out in pain.

My heart began pounding. I couldn't explain it, but I felt an inexplicable urge to find the source of the sound.

Without thinking twice, I ran toward the direction of the howl.

"Freya, come back!" Meily shouted.

But I ignored her.

Something inside me insisted that someone-or something-in the forest needed help.

Meily eventually ran after me, still recording everything with her camera.

I stopped when I noticed several drops of blood scattered across the white snow.

My heart pounded harder.

Ignoring my growing fear, I followed the trail of blood while Meily stayed close behind me, continuing to record.

"Oh my gosh! Is that a wolf?" Meily exclaimed when the blood trail led us to an injured wolf.

I gasped as I took in its beauty.

Its fur was as white as the snow surrounding it, except for a distinctive black diamond-shaped marking on its forehead.

Although its beautiful coat was stained with blood, that did little to diminish its appearance.

The wolf growled when it noticed us, but it seemed too injured to stand.

There was a gunshot wound near its shoulder.

"That wolf belongs to us!"

Meily and I turned around simultaneously when a man's voice suddenly spoke behind us, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked.

I immediately raised my hands in surrender.

"Sorry, but no one owns it!" I boldly replied, looking straight into his eyes.

The man merely smirked before pointing his gun at the wounded wolf.

Without hesitation, I stepped between the wolf and the gun, shielding the creature with my own body.

"Freya!" Meily screamed when I stood in front of the gun, keeping the injured wolf behind me.

"If you want to kill it, then you'll have to kill me first," I declared firmly.

The man simply smirked. However, after a few moments, he finally lowered his weapon.

"It's going to die anyway. Shooting it again would just be a waste of bullets," he said before slinging his gun over his shoulder.

With that, he turned his back on us and walked out of the forest.

Meily and I only began to move once the man's figure had completely disappeared from sight.

I cautiously approached the injured wolf.

It let out a low growl, seemingly warning me not to come any closer. But judging by its gunshot wound, it could barely even lift its body.

"Easy, wolfie... We're here to help you," I whispered soothingly as I gently stroked the fur around its neck.

Surprisingly, it began to calm down, as though it understood that we meant no harm.

"Meily, come here. We need to get this wolf into the van," I said.

Meily's eyes widened.

"What? B-but-"

"No buts, Meily! We have a first-aid kit in there. We can use it to try to remove the bullet."

"Okay," she finally agreed before turning off the camera.

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Present Time

Freya's POV

"So, you've always had a habit of using yourself as a shield whenever there's something you want to protect," Vincent remarked, referring to how I had also thrown myself in front of him when he was fighting the Alpha of the rival pack.

"At least it works," I replied with a pout.

Vincent simply shook his head, smiling.

We continued watching the rest of the video.

Most of the remaining footage showed Aurora's gradual recovery and how she eventually began playing with us in the snow.

From being a wary and distrustful creature, she slowly grew comfortable enough to play with us.

Eventually, we managed to earn her trust.