Note:
Werewolves of my story 'Half Brothers' are making an entry in this story!! Yippee!!

For the readers who are unaware of werewolf terminologies:

Werewolf: Shifter. A human that can shapeshift into a wolf.

Wolf's presence is always there at the back of a human's mind even if they aren't shifted. Wolves can only talk with others when they are shifted but they can talk with their human whenever they want.

Pack: A group of wolves/ a community that stays under a common leader.

Alpha: Leader. A father figure to the pack. He is the strongest person amd most important person.

Luna: Leader. Alpha's soulmate. A mother figure to the pack.

Beta: Second in command. He/She is the second most important and second strongest person of the pack.

Gamma: Third in command.

Mate: Soulmates. Mates are predestined for werewolves.

Now let's enjoy the chapter.....

★★★★★

After the success of the yet another awareness programme in their pack, the new leaders of the pack were having a small party near the waterfall.

The five of them were busy swimming and splashing water on each other, when suddenly the three werewolves stilled, and glanced at each other with panic.

Hritika and Nihal glanced at the frozen werewolves and then at each other, clueless about their sudden behaviour.

"Sometimes I hate not having heightened senses like them," Hritika, the Gamma said with a sigh, before questioning others, "What's wrong?"

"We detected human scent," Yara, the Beta informed, "and they are speedily walking in this direction."

"This deep inside the forest?" Hritika huffed, already getting tired by imagining the amount of walking they would have done.

"Let's get out of the water first," Nihal suggested, before asking his brother and Co-Alpha, "Should we alert the guards about their presence?"

Vivaan answered as they all got out of the water, "No, there's no need to put an entire pack into frenzy,"  before suggesting, "I think we should try dealing with them ourselves peacefully, before taking any severe action."

Rehyaa nodded, agreeing with his mate, "I think Vivaan is right. They are probably the hikers who lost their way."

"I hope they just turn away before crossing the border of the pack," Hritika muttered, remembering the glares and dangers when she had first stepped into this pack.

"Why? You think you will lose the attention of being the only human of this pack," Vivaan joked, wiggling his eyebrows, making Hritika glare at him.

"I am human too," Nihal piped in, before his cousin pummeled his half-brother to death.

"Although not dominant, you do have werewolf genes inside you. So you aren't completely a human," Yara said, taking her best friend's side.

"See, I was right," Vivaan said, sticking a tongue out at Nihal, while high-fiving Yara.

"You are supposed to be my mate, don't take his side," Nihal grumbled, pulling Yara by her waist to his side.

"Mr. Jelly bean, I will always be yours," Yara said, patting Nihal's chest. Nihal was about to smile widely, but got shocked instantly as Yara punched him lightly on the stomach, before getting out of his hold, "but I will always take my best friend's side," she said, sticking her tongue out to him as well.

Before Nihal could retort, Rehyaa cleared her throat, looking at them like an annoyed mother, "If you all are done having fun, then let's please focus on the fact that humans have already stepped inside the pack border."

"Shit!" They all cursed, before moving behind different trees to change out of their wet clothes into something comfortable, before the humans arrived.

"I am asking the warriors to be alert and ready for our call, just in case something goes wrong," Hritika said in a serious tone, falling back into her Gamma position.

"Good idea," Vivaan agreed.

They all walked ahead, their stance alert to face the humans that had dared to trespass in their home.

★★★★★

"The essence of water is getting stronger," Neer informed everyone with happiness.

"Finally!" Ahana said, whooping her hand in the air with joy.

They all were tired from walking so long. The route was already far, plus they had walked extra because of Gyaan's error. Despite the tiredness, they all started walking at speed, eager to reach their destination. However, midway, Avan came to an abrupt stop.

"Avan, are you tired? Should I pick you up?" Gyaan asked.

"No, I am not tired. I actually felt the wolves' distress, so I stopped," Avan answered.

"Wolves? This must be their water source then," Neer mused.

"We should be more careful then. Not only are they fierce, but they also work in packs. Even with our powers, we will be severely outnumbered if a fight does occur," Gyaan said, alerting everyone.

"But we have Avan to ask them to leave us alone," Sameera said, not understanding where the problem lied.

"Yeah, but just as Gyaan said, the wolves run in packs. There would be too many wolves to handle. What if Avan can't speak and convince them all at once? And even if does, Avan might exhaust himself completely from using too much of his power," Ahana answered instead.

"Thanks for understanding in one go," Gyaan muttered to Ahana.

"Obviously, or did you think that there's no one else smarter than you?" Ahana questioned, coming near him and looking at him with wide eyes, making Gyaan gulp and take a step back.

Neer cleared his throat, effectively stopping their conversation.

Gyaan thanked Neer internally. His protectiveness came in help to him for the first time.

'Now I can't even talk back to her. Even her taunts are doing something inside me. I need to heal this unknown disease in me which is making me go crazy,' Gyaan thought to himself, getting utterly confused by the changes.

"Then should we not go to the water source?" Sameera questioned, bringing Gyaan out of his thoughts.

"Noooo, not after this much effort," Ahana groaned, throwing a tantrum like a little kid.

"Stop over-reacting," Gyaan forced himself to taunt and roll his eyes at Ahana, while he actually found her actions cute. "I am just saying we need to be alert, and ready to run if something happens."

Ahana huffed at being scolded, but agreed with Gyaan's words. "Let's be ready, so it doesn't take much time between thinking and application of our powers," Ahana said, adding to Gyaan's statement.

"Yeah," Gyaan agreed, before delegating orders, "Sameera be ready for your air bubble. Ahana and Neer, we might need the rainbow. So don't lose sight of each other. Avan, you might have to use all your power to stop the wolves, at least till the time we get on the rainbow or the bubble."

Everyone nodded diligently, understanding the seriousness of the situation.

"But this is just us preparing for the worst. Only if we get into trouble. Maybe, nothing will go wrong and everything will be okay," Gyaan said at last, providing some much needed hope.

"Alright, let's go," Ahana said, and they all resumed their journey.

They all stopped abruptly after a while, when a mansion came into their view. The architecture was a mix of old and new. The style of its making definitely looked like it was done in old ages. The ones with old technology yet the strongest material. However, the maintenance didn't seem too old.

"What the..., the mansion doesn't even look like an old or haunted one. There's clearly people living in it," Ahana cursed, before turning to glare at Gyaan, "You said there would be no humans so deep inside the forest," she said through gritted teeth.

"There shouldn't have been...," Gyaan trailed off. He, himself, was shocked. There wasn't a single mention of any tribe living in the forest. And even if they were, the creation of the mansion itself was absurd.

"Guys, it is not the time to fight among ourselves," Sameera said, rummaging through their make-shift bag to take out the masks, and handling them to everyone.

"Do you think the people living in the middle of nowhere would have the T.V and social media apps to know about us?" Ahana asked, but took the masks from her nonetheless.

"Better safe than sorry," Neer muttered, as he wore the mask, before turning towards Gyaan, "Should we go towards the water source or not?"

Gyaan scratched the back of his head, before answering in an unsure tone, "It should be okay, I guess. I mean, the waterfall is just a few feet away while the mansion is far away. It is just visible to us because of its sheer size."

"You don't sound too sure," Ahana commented, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Because I am not," Gyaan admitted truthfully, "Let's remember what we all had decided before. Although, almost all the strategy was made for wolves, we will have to apply for humans as well. Avan, you will sit this one out."

Avan pouted in anger, before grumbling under his breath, "Pftt, as if, I will help if I see my chance."

"Let's just turn away," Sameera said nervously, "we will find another source. There's too much risk here."

"The lady's right," a female's voice came from the right side.

The elements turned to see five people emerging from the place that would have been their destination.

"We should have run away when he had the chance," Neer muttered with a huff, as they all got into a fighting stance, facing the strangers who had come to a stop, maintaining some distance between two groups.