Some bushes separated her from what she hoped would be the salvation. Crossing them, she finds it, as well as a problem.

Five wolves stood in a triangular formation with an experienced gray wolf leading the way. In front, five panthers crouched and ready to attack at the slightest opportunity.

From the nearby bushes emerges Lyaria, breaking the deadlock between the two groups. The panthers know they are at a disadvantage, but before they can react, three of their own kind emerge from the same spot as the her.

Within seconds, Lyaria communicates all the information to the alpha. Small body expressions are enough to communicate with each other in such a way that it seems telepathic, an almost imperceptible movement of the tail, the body, the ears and especially the eyes, is all they need to coordinate in a short time.

Lyaria jumps to the side as claws slice through the air where she was moments ago. This is the trigger that broke the tension causing both groups to pounce on each other.

The panthers extend their claws in the air while some wolves dodge them, while the more confident and experienced ones, take the opportunity to fight back.

Some of the monstrous claws, which serve both to pierce rock and tear flesh, find their target by shooting blood into the air, and others fail miserably, gaining only pain for their mistake.

Lyaria was in the most detrimental position facing alone against three enemies who only had eyes for her. When the grasses can't stand the elusive heavy footsteps, the dust from the ground begins to fill the air and make it difficult to see.

For inexperienced eyes this was a barbaric fight between beasts, but the reality was that each movement was designed to suffer the least possible damage and deal the most to the enemy, just like two people do when facing each other with swords.

The fight continues to drag on and seeing this, the alpha's body doubles in size causing his killing aura to do the same. His speed increases exponentially and before the two panthers in front of him notice it, they fall headless to the ground.

Three panthers run away without hesitation, but strangely the other three that were chasing Lyria continue to attack her relentlessly. With her body exhausted and injured, she makes a mistake causing claws to tear her back and the bag she was carrying falls to the ground scattering all the items it contained.

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The wolf pack reacts instantly and decimates the panthers by scattering their blood on the ground. Peace returns to the place, but the smell of blood persists. Lyaria watches the pack and bows the head offering her thanks.

One by one the wolves return to their human form, three men and two women completely naked, undeterred in the least by their appearance.

Lyaria also becomes human again and begins to collect the scattered objects in the bag, finds the wooden box and suppresses her nervousness at seeing it without its contents.

“You should treat your wounds first.” Says the man who moments ago was the alpha wolf.

With gray eyes just like his fur and a serious look that almost never left his face. He appeared to be in his early thirties, though Lyaria knew he was much younger.

“Now I understand why they say that nobody likes to bite a green panther... that moss that covers it tastes horrible.” Lyaria was about to answer, but is saved before by a young man who was in his teens.

"Alpha, couldn't you have been serious from the beginning? If you had, I wouldn't have these scratches.” A woman, also in her teens, complains with a voice that shows her discontent.

"Experience is important, and those scratches are worth getting. Anyway, I didn't expect these three to behave so irrationally.” His voice is flat and emotionless, at least to those who don't know him.

"It's my fault, I killed one of them and they probably held a grudge for it." Lyaria responds while being treated by the remaining woman of the group who did her work without saying a word.

"Or maybe they wanted to get back what was stolen from them." He extends his hand and a flower appears in his palm.

Lyaria pales not only at being discovered, but she also when she sees that half of the petals have transformed into shards and disappeared.

“It's mine, I need it.” Lyaria hardens her voice.

“The same as us. We all volunteered to search for it and save Yhia.” His gaze never leaves Lyaria's eyes for a moment.

"Yhia!? Do not tell me...?” It wasn't hard to put the threads together and understand what he meant.

“Whatever is in her body… she has six months and needs this flower. I'm sure it's much more useful now than leaving it in storage so…” He knew Lyaria, and knew that when he explained the situation to her, she would give up that precious flower.

“I need it.” His whisper was barely heard.

“What?” He had heard perfectly, but didn't believe what she said.

“I need it!” Lyaria moves quickly and takes back what was hers.

“Who needs it more than Yhia!? There is no one in the village who does, I would know.” His voice wasn't flat this time, fury could be heard.

"I promise to find another, even if it costs me my life." She runs off in her wolf form leaving those words behind.

“Ahhh.... It was always like that since she was a child. It is something that has to change if wants to survive in these lands.” He diverts his attention, but never forgets that Lyaria has a secret. It is his task to find out if that could pose a danger to the family. He has to if wants to learn how to lead the village and his kind.

When she finally reached the entrance of the cave, Lyaria feels all the weariness oppressing her and it seems like weeks have passed since she left this place. Upon entering, looks for some light clothes, puts them on and collapses into a wooden chair to rest for a few minutes.