Emma's Pov

　　"AVA!" I scream at the top of my lungs, "AVA, WHERE ARE YOU?" My shout echoes through the trees, and I resolve to keep walking in search of the mysterious figure. "AVA, IT'S ME. EMMA! WHERE ARE YOU?" I shout every ten steps I take, going deeper into the forest.

　　The sunlight hides within the forest, causing shadows and a stifling sensation. I'm already sweating as I take off my jacket.

　　I don't know what I saw and what Charlotte said. I would find a friend in the forest; I'm sure that's what she said. With that conviction inside me, I press further into the tense forest.

　　I admit I don't know which way to go from here; I'm more than lost, I'm confused. I stop shouting for Ava after fifteen minutes of wandering through the forest. My body starts to tire from walking on uneven terrain and begs me for some water.

　　I glance at my wristwatch and realize I've been two and a half hours deep into the forest, with no trace of actually seeing my best friend.

　　Even if it wasn't Ava, the person surely heard me. I shouted, damn it! There was no way they couldn't have heard me! What if it was a spirit? A ghost?

　　The doubt sends shivers down my entire body. No, no, I don't believe in ghosts. They don't exist.

　　I shake my head, dismissing the thought. I decide to turn around and try to find my way back to Night Howlers Pack, maybe Charlotte has something more interesting to reveal to me, who knows.

　　The weight of disappointment begins to settle in my heart. I know I saw Ava, but how? Who was that person? Why did Charlotte tell me about the forest? What vision did she have about Ava? About me? So many questions and almost no answers. I rake my hand through my hair, some strands sticking to my forehead and neck. The stifling forest air is starting to envelop me like a very hot oven.

　　The more I walk towards home, or at least what I believe to be the way back, the deeper I feel I'm getting into the forest. The air around me is more tense, as if it were tangible. My body trembles with the sensation.

　　"You're imagining things, Emma. Don't invent new paranoia," I admonish myself.

　　I just need to get back to Night Howlers Pack and...

　　The sentence hangs suspended in my mind. I go back to Night Howlers Pack and then what? Am I ignored by Mattew? Teased by Charlotte? Train with Gaya? Is this my life now? Labeled as my best friend's murderer, rejected by my destined mate and my entire wolf pack?

　　I stop in the middle of the forest, in a small clearing, trees surrounding me with birds chirping overhead. I look up at the sky, blocked by the long tree branches, and ask, "Goddess, what should I do now? Which path should I follow?" My question hangs in the air, my eyes searching for answers that won't literally fall from the sky. "Please, tell me what to do..."

　　As a breeze picks up, lifting the sticky hair from my neck, a memory comes to mind. "Everything will be fine," when I first met Charlotte, that's what she told me. That everything would be fine.

　　"Seriously, is that the answer you're going to give me?" I question the Goddess, squinting at the light filtering through the tree branches. "I was hoping for something more explained, you know?" I grumble irritably. But nothing else comes, nothing else happens. "You know what? Forget it," I mutter finally, ready to continue my walk home.

　　I leave the clearing with firm, heavy steps, annoyed with my current situation. I grumble all the way, just to dispel the silence that inhabits the forest. My feet stumble over some thick tree roots, and I almost fall face-first to the ground.

　　"Damn it, what the hell..." I curse until I look down at the ground, where I tripped. "Fuck!" I stumble forward again, startled by what my feet had encountered.

　　A human arm is exposed on the ground. My heart jumps into my mouth and back in an instant. I fall on my butt, a few inches away from what caused me such a shock. With my eyes still wide, I realize it's a body covered by fallen foliage.

　　"Please don't be dead, please don't be dead," I babble nervously as I brush away some leaves from the face of the unconscious person lying there.

　　It's a man... a handsome man, actually. Long golden blond hair covers half of his face, and I push aside the tousled locks to check his pulse. It's weak, but it's there.

　　"Phew, you're not dead, just... fucked up," I say relieved.

　　When I move more leaves away from the man's body, I realize he's completely naked. His body lies on his stomach, only his back and butt are visible. There are bruises all over his body, deep cuts on his right rib and back stain the pale skin of the guy.

　　I turn the man's heavy body around; his muscles impress me. I try to ignore the fact that he's naked. I make an effort not to see the size of his dick. To maintain some respect for the man in front of me, I untie my jacket from my waist and place it over his hips.

　　"Here, this should be better... well, a little better at least," I comment to myself. With the man now lying on his back, I notice his face is also injured, and his breathing very weak. I searched my bag for the healing potion the doctor from Night Howlers Pack had given me for my neck. "If you're the friend Charlotte said I would find in the forest, I need to teach her the meaning of friendship," I declare as I pour the crystalline liquid into the guy's lips. Even unconscious, the man's lips accept the potion and drink with some difficulty.

　　I lay the man's head in my lap as I watched the healing potion take effect. The cuts and bruises that were also on his chest and defined abdomen began to heal. The golden blond hair falls on my legs, and I delicately run my fingers through the strands.

　　The man's face is very striking; there's a scar on his left eye that goes from his eyebrow to about two centimeters below the lower lashes, with his eyes still closed, I notice that the scar is also on the eyelid. Even with this scar, the man's beauty isn't diminished. A goatee surrounds his lips, the color of the hair darker than that of his head.

　　I stroke the sleeping man's face, worried and curious to understand how he ended up here... in the middle of the forest.

　　"What happened to you?" I whisper before I notice a tremor in his closed eyelids, ready to be awakened.