Note:
Werewolf characters(in case it is hard to remember them & their positions)

Vivaan & Nihal - Half Brothers and Co- Alphas of the pack.

Rehyaa- Vivaan's soulmate and Luna of the pack.

Yara- Nihal's soulmate and Beta of the pack.

Hritika- Nihal's cousin and Gamma of the pack.

★★★★★

"Let's not be too aggressive, they have a child with them," Rehyaa said in a low voice, touching Vivaan's elbow.

Hearing her, Vivaan turned his attention to the kid, who had tilted his head and was looking at them curiously.

"There's something weird with them," Avan whispered to other elements, sensing the wolves inside the human bodies.

"Of course, they are weird. Living in a mansion in the middle of nowhere, they are probably a cult," Ahana whispered back.

"Cult? Seriously!" Yara scoffed, throwing her hands up in the air.

"How the hell did she hear me? I am sure I spoke in the lowest voice possible," Ahana whispered, scratching her head in confusion.

"Must be powers of black magic," Neer said, shuddering at the thought of it.

Vivaan, Yara and Rehyaa stared at the strangers with narrowed eyes and clenched jaws, annoyed by their assumptions.

"What's happening?" Hritika and Nihal asked, not liking the fact that they were being out of loop.

"They think of us as a cult who performs black magic," Vivaan informed the two, who unfortunately didn't have the heightened senses to hear the whispers.

"Damn!" Nihal chuckled at the absurdity.

Hritika laughed too, before saying, "Let them think like that. They will run away faster in that case."

And surely enough, the elements were planning to flee from here.

"Let's hurry out of here, before they turn us into sacrificial lambs," Ahana muttered.

"Yeah, we don't know if their powers are stronger than us," Gyaan agreed.

"Powers?" Rehyaa whispered, her eyebrows touching her hairline in shock with what she heard.

"Come to think of it, their scents did seem a little weird," Yara said, whispering as well.

"You felt that too?" Vivaan asked, as he thought he was the only one being delusional.

"So they aren't humans," Hritika concluded, "but why weren't you three sure about it. It should have been easy to detect that from their scents right?" She asked.

Vivaan eyed the group who was whispering amongst themselves, to keep an eye out if they suddenly planned to attack, while Yara explained to her mate and sister-in-law about the situation.

"We only detected the human scent when we were in the waterfall. However, when they came closer, there was another scent mixed with that. But we let it go thinking we were assuming things as it wasn't too strong," Yara explained.

"Not strong? Then are they humans with non-dominant supernatural genes like Nihal?" Hritika asked.

"No, their powers are dominant. Up close, they are too much to be ignored," Rehyaa answered.

"But Yara just said that it wasn't stronger," Nihal muttered, confused as to what was happening.

"Not strong wasn't the right term to use I guess," Yara muttered sheepishly, "let me explain," she said taking a huge breath, "I said it in terms of their scent, not in terms of their strength. Their human scent is much more than the other one. Like ours is 50% human, 50% wolf; there are like 80-90% human and whatever is left is something I can't detect."

"If they aren't humans, then there's a chance that they aren't lost and have deliberately come here to harm us," Nihal thought out loud.

"Yeah, that's why I don't think we should just let them go. What if they attack as soon as we turn our back to them? The pack might be in danger," Yara said.

"On the contrary, I think letting them leave is more necessary than before," Hritika said, disagreeing with the Beta. "We don't know what they are. With no idea of their powers, their strengths or weaknesses, we might just put everyone in danger by going into an unplanned war."

"Hritika, what you are saying is right, but what Yara is saying is correct too. We don't know what they may do, if we just let them go" Nihal said.

"We are not here to attack," Avan yelled, stopping all the conversations between the two groups.

"Avan, come back its dangerous," Ahana whisper-yelled, screaming internally for not having noticed that Avan had walked further and was too near those scary people.

"No they aren't, none of the group is dangerous," Avan replied, not leaving his place. "They are also worried about our presence, just like we are about them," he informed the elements.

"Shit! They also seem to have heightened senses of hearing," Yara mind-linked Vivaan.

"If not for Hritika and Nihal, we would have mind-linked our entire conversation instead of whispering. And they wouldn't have ever found out what we were thinking," Vivaan said, cursing their situation.

"No, the mind-link wouldn't have worked as well," Avan said, causing the werewolves to gulp and step back in shock.

"What are they?" Yara whispered in fright.

Forget whispered conversations, mind-link too? Even werewolves themselves, weren't strong enough to hear someone else's mind-link. How was the small child able to do that?

"And here we were worrying about scaring the child away with our aggressiveness," Hritika muttered, rubbing her forehead in distress.

"Avan, what are you saying? Just come back here," Gyaan whispered through gritted teeth, while hurriedly trying to pull Avan back.

"There's no use of whispering. They can clearly hear us all," Avan informed in a sing-sang tone. "You shouldn't have casted me out just because I am a kid. My presence is most important in this situation." Avan huffed, looking at Gyaan arrogantly.

"Is this the same cutie we have known? Or someone replaced him mid-way?" Neer questioned, Avan's behaviour seeming more alarming than the strangers in the forest.

"Don't worry, he will get normal once he receives some praises and cuddles," Ahana said with a roll of her eyes. Looking at everyone's raised eyebrows, she informed, "Gyaan hurted his ego and pride a while back, and is reaping the consequences."

"The child seems to have more pride than me," Nihal muttered with a chuckle.

"Shall we sit down?" Hritika asked abruptly, earning everyone's attention. "All this," she said pointing towards the both groups, "is going to take a long time."

"They are still suspicious," Vivaan whisper-yelled.

"There's nothing to worry about. They all are idiots like us, who have been making assumptions and whispering amongst themselves instead of fighting the other party," Hritika said, taunting each and every person standing there, herself included.

"Hey!!" Everyone else yelled, taking full offense at being called idiots.

"What? Am I saying anything wrong? We all are worried about each other's powers thinking the other is harmful, yet none of us has even tried or thought of attacking each other," Hritika muttered.

"Just give her your title," Ahana muttered to Gyaan, "the girl seems to be far smarter than you."

Gyaan sighed, however didn't disagree with Ahana. "Let's just sit down and speak comfortably," he said, trusting Avan's words about them not being dangerous.

"I think we can let go of the suspicion too. Somehow our wolves are feeling a secure and deeper connection with the small child," Vivaan said, looking at Yara and Rehyaa, who nodded and confirmed the feeling.

"But what if the connection is just a manipulation?" Nihal questioned as the thought struck his mind.

"How is that possible? We aren't just regular wolves, we are the strongest ones out there," Yara replied.

"Well if a child had enough powers to tap into your mind-link, this can also be possible," Hritika said, siding with Nihal's claim.

"You were the one who told us to relax," Vivaan said, looking at her with a pinched expression.

"I retract my words," Hritika said with a forced smile, wincing as noticed the death glares from others.

"Guys, get alert. They are getting into a fighting stance," Avan informed the elements with urgency in his voice.

"You just said that they were nice people," Gyaan said, scratching his forehead in confusion.

"They are nice, but they changed their mind about trusting us," Avan answered sheepishly.

"Argh! Changing minds so frequently. What are they? Chameleons?" Ahana groaned, almost stomping her leg on the ground.

Thinking her question to be a genuine one, Avan answered innocently, "No, they are wolves," shocking the hell out of everyone.