The Alpha Mate Try To Run Away

In the middle of a forest, Lily stood upright, surrounded by giant trees. Her ginger hair glowed like the twilight at the end of the day in the forest full of green and brown to black colours from the trunks of the trees. She seemed so contrasting.

Lily was in a state of confusion after staring intently at where she was. She looked in all directions in a panic, unable to scream. Lily recognised the place. It wasn't the first time she'd been there. She had run around there many times but never found her way out.

All she remembered clearly about this place was that she was near a tree with a pair of people; both were familiar to her, but she did not recognise them as people she had met before in the real world.

She vividly remembered the two of them telling her to leave immediately, and she reluctantly left cause she was worrying about them.

Yes, she recognised this place from a dream that had come to her repeatedly but felt real even after waking from sleep.

"Where exactly am I?" asked Lily finally, walking carefully after she had been silent with her confusion about the situation she was in.

Where exactly was this forest, somewhere real or somewhere in her dreams? She was beginning to have trouble telling the difference.

Lily approached a tree that she recognised. Lily's eyes focused on the stump in front of her. The tree's rings seemed to be moving in circles. She felt an optical illusion was taking place before her eyes, trying to trick her. Or she had gone further into her dream because she saw impossible things.

Lily closed her eyes, completely lost as to what was going on. Was she in her dream, or was she in the real world? Lily didn't know for sure. What could give her an answer? The girl who was barefoot and wearing her usual nightgown pinched her hand hard, as hard as she could, until she groaned in pain.

To say it was a dream, the pain was too real. Lily could visibly see the skin on her pinched hand turning red. Her current outfit also led her to believe that she was not dreaming. However, Lily was aware that her dreams always felt real because even when she was dreaming, she felt pain all over her body as if it were not a dream.

But what was going on? Why is she alone in this place at this time? Why isn't she running this time, and why is this place so quiet? What is going on? Where exactly were the people who were with her in the dream? Although only two people were clearly remembered, Lily was sure that many people were around them at the time, holding back the other group. Her memories were rather vague, but she was convinced of the existence of the others.

Lily walked through the forest. Leaving a tree she recognised. She moved on through the woods, which were only a fraction of the size of the place she had seen in her dream. The towering large trees seemed to have lived longer than her age, the moss clinging to the wood clearly showing the time.

There was no difference from the ground of that place. The grass that almost covered the entire brown soil there depicted that it was an untouched place. A place that is still beautiful and foreign from human existence. For if it were not, there would at least be signs left behind.

"Matt, where are you?" called Lily. Her last memory was being in the living room with her brother, talking about something that had also confused her.

Then suddenly, she was alone in the woods, whether her memory was cut off this time. Lily didn't know because before, her memory had been cut off so that she couldn't remember certain hours of the day that had passed.

Lily moved her pale white feet carelessly across the green grass, the red-haired girl with the frail body seemingly unafraid of what she might step on and hurt herself. She continued to move forward, then turned her body in all directions, searching for the presence of someone. Realising that she was alone in this place was beginning to scare her.

"Mattheo!" the girl shouted desperately. Lily seemed to be whimpering and begging as her voice trembled uncontrollably.

Her composure vanished, receding as her worries grew into the fear of not knowing exactly how long she would be there. Was this a dream or reality, and why had she found no one else in this place with her?

The girl's breathing sounded heavy, a sob escaping her mouth in fear. Lily quickened her pace, running with her thin legs that seemed to land lightly on the grass embedded in the ground. Lily looked back, her gut feeling not good enough to stay and stand there.

She had to run. She had to get away from this place immediately. Her gut told her so, as if someone was warning her. Her wavy strands of ginger hair moved eagerly with her body. Long, flame-coloured hair in the middle of a forest makes her movement and manifestation easy to see.

How far had she run? Though her legs told her she had gone far enough, her mind and gut told her she had not. She had to run farther and farther to be within safe limits.

How far should she run to meet the end of the woods? How far was it that she could get out and escape? Was there a place inhabited by someone she knew? People she could ask for help to get home? Lily hoped so, clinging to hope with every drop of sweat she shed.

Nothing was behind her, but Lily knew from her intuition that it was only a matter of time before whoever was chasing her would come.

Is it a human? Or something else. Lily never knew what she was running from. What was clear was that there was an order in her head to run.

"Run, Lily, hurry. Leave this place and get as far away as possible. Save yourself and hide, don't get caught and don't stop until you feel safe. Lily, run... Avoid them as best you can." Exclamations kept ringing in her ears, causing her to move her feet as if following orders.

Lily never knew where she was going but knew as she listened. She would never stay there to save herself. No one was there, so she could only rely on herself in the middle of this dark, dense forest.

Her footsteps did not stop moving boldly until she caught a wolf's eye. "Agh!" Lily gasped in shock, her feet stopping spontaneously.

Her heart was beating so fast, its rhythm so wild and uncontrollable. Even without holding the part where the heart was, Lily could quickly feel the throbbing, which was quite loud, unlike usual.

What was it? Was she running the wrong way? She had been running not to get caught, not to surrender herself to be seen. She was trying to get away instead of getting into trouble. Which way should she go? Lily wondered to the voice in her head, unfortunately, as her footsteps stopped. The voice also stopped being heard by Lily. Or the voice itself was Lily's belief in what she should do, and now that she had lost her faith, so the voice disappeared.

Lily's fear made her unable to move away from it. Her blood seemed to flow so fast just by being stared at intently by a pair of round, large eyes many times larger than hers. Lily tried to look around her, making small movements as if she were just another tree moving its branches. She looked around for something she could use to defend herself if the wolf attacked.

Her bare hands and bare feet would do nothing to hurt the wolf. Even Lily's teeth, sharp enough to chew flesh, were no match for the wolf's claws.

It was the first time in her life that she had seen a wolf in person. Was a real wolf that big?

Even the giant tree, three floors tall with a size that exceeded the span of her hand, looked like an ordinary tree when the wolf was standing next to it.

Lily grimaced, her whole body paled at the situation she found herself in. Moreover, she saw that the only sizeable twig in her hand was no match for the size of the wolf's legs. It was no use. Lily was like fighting a wild cat with a matchstick when she was only the size of a tiny hamster in a cage.

She was not trained to defend herself against a giant cat. She would be no match to it. The fragile match could not pierce the wild and fearsome big cat. Instead, it would be destroyed in a single blow. If it were up to the big cat, the little hamster would quickly be finished off in one fell swoop.

The poor little hamster would know the end of its life instantly.

Turning her head, Lily saw a cliff on one side and the same forest path on the other. Where should she go? The surrounding trees were a poor choice. She would never even reach a branch she could stand or sit on. It was too high and impossible to climb.

Run? Lily was not prepared to be attacked while running. So her only option was the nearby cliff. Jumping from there would not take long. The wolf would not reach her when she jumped. Maybe it was better to die like that than to be torn apart by a wild animal and become its meal.

Lily prepared herself, moving her feet as she watched the wolf and the cliff alternately.

"Are you going to jump off the cliff?" the wolf asked, moving his feet slowly.

Suddenly, Lily gasped. The shock of the wolf talking to her made her fall and hurt her leg on a rock. Lily sat down on the dew-soaked grass as the unreachable sun made the water couldn't evaporate in no time.

The giant wolf moved forward. Just like she was watching a catwalk, its steps were more beautiful but a thousand times more terrifying.

"Stop right there!" cried Lily, "Y-you can talk?" Lily moved her hand where her palm had been injured when falling earlier. She could not hide her fear. Her raised hand towards it trembled, showing her fear very clearly.

I'm in trouble. Where exactly am I between dream and reality? Lily's thoughts were focused on a huge furry animal, even larger now that the wolf was approaching her. And even scarier, of course.

The wolf didn't move, the one with the light brown fur and blue eyes approaching her with slow but steady steps. "You would rather die from free fall without thinking of another way? Why do you move and think so implausibly? I probably won't hurt you," It said.

How could Lily believe those words? She was not stupid enough to believe the terms of such a horrible-looking creature. Lily was its food. Lily believed that. What kind of good treatment could a hamster get from a big cat that was after it? Don't be silly, Lily couldn't believe it.

"Stay there! Or I'll jump!" threatened Lily confidently.

Lily figured the big cat wouldn't want to lose its meal so it might obey Lily a little. Right now, Lily was having a little trouble getting up, let alone running, so she needed to buy some time to stand up.

Again, the wolf ignored her. It kept walking at the same speed towards Lily. "Will you calm down if I show you my other form?" he asked in a big, heavy voice. Even when he spoke, he sounded terrifying to Lily, who could not be impressed.

Lily couldn't believe it. Her eyes widened, stunned at the apparition before her. What's again? What kind of trick or magic? Lily hoped this dream would be over soon. Because she could not believe it, the huge wolf figure before her transformed into a human.

Human-like, with legs and arms that were also similar to Lily's. And even more surprising, it was someone she recognised.

Lily was even more shocked by what her eyes saw. Could it be him? Now, her logic, which could think in situations she thought were dreams, was no longer concerned with dreams that could present or create incredible, magical conditions.

Lily Brown! This is a dream. What you are facing is a dream. Don't overthink about it, and find a way to wake up from it. Return immediately to the real world where you live. Such thoughts were no longer in her head as her fear turned to shock.

Lily began to doubt her situation. What she thought was a dream now felt real. She could feel the pain in her injured hand, then her legs, slowly weakening from the shock she was experiencing.

Could this be a dream?

Lily's mind denied it with a conviction she didn't know where it came from as she watched the man in front of her.

"I'm not going to hurt you. That's the only thing I can tell you for sure," the heavy voice said as it approached Lily.

Lily didn't know where the light came from as the giant trees almost blocked the sky with lush foliage. Perhaps small gaps had been created to allow the light from the sun to enter and shine on the wolf that had just taken human form in front of him.

The man knelt, balancing his height with Lily, who was still on the ground. His brown hair shone even brighter in the rare sunlight there. Lily could recognise him by his appearance. He was the one Lily could not look away from every time she saw him, and she kept her focus on that face. She was paying attention to it without even a hint of discomfort.

It was the same face that sat next to Lily's bench at school. It was the same face Lily had met in the café that afternoon. It was the same person she couldn't remember after she parted with him, but everything about him had been remembered when Lily met him.

Even in her dreams, Lily remembers him, which is why those eyes are familiar to her. A pair of bright blue irises captured and drew all attention to them. That beautiful pair of irises was an attention stealer that made Lily sink and lose consciousness.

Lily pulled her shoulders back, trying to avoid the man as he approached. "How did you get here?" asked Lily, her pupils dilating, followed by her trembling eyes, still under her fear.

The man moved his hand, pulling back Lily's hand supporting the girl's body, with a flat expression that had never been seen on that face in the real world. But Lily noticed it in a place where Lily could not yet tell if it was real. "Because you came," he replied calmly.

As Lily's eyes continued to look at him anxiously, the man moved on unconcernedly. Even when he replied to Lily, he only focused on Lily's hand, which he held out, noticing the redness on Lily's hand. "Your hand is hurt. You shouldn't move around so carelessly," he said in a flat voice that sounded anything but friendly.

His demeanour was cold as ice, someone with the same appearance but a different attitude. Or could it be that the wolf had taken on the persona of someone she recognised?

Lily withdrew her hand from the man's palm. The pale skin felt as cold as the stone her feet had touched when she fell, much like the grass she had stood on from before until now. Was he that cold?

The man lifted his gaze, looking at Lily as she pulled herself together while he only looked at the wound on her hand. His eyes moved slowly, then shifted as if he did not care about Lily's reaction. This time, it was Lily's legs that occupied his attention.

The pair of feet, full of scratches on the soles, looked reddish with a few strands of grass attached. The man could smell grass and blood from the open wounds. "Did you come barefoot?" he asked again as he rubbed the soles of Lily's feet to clean them.

Lily did not even know how she was getting there. If she didn't know, could she have prepared? If she had, she would have put on her shoes and worn something more appropriate than her thin nightdress.

Being in a situation where Lily thought she might end up dead kept her from thinking about such questions. "I want to go home..." Lily said.

Believe him? It was hard for Lily. But if she knew this person as the same man who had talked to her this afternoon. Indeed, he would know how to get Lily home.

Just then, the face lifted, and he looked at her. For a moment, he just stood there staring at Lily, his hand still holding Lily's leg. As Lily swallowed the water in her throat, she waited for an answer that could end in one of two ways: either she would be escorted home or end up somewhere else.

"I want to go home," Lily repeated her request. This time, she looked a little more desperate than before, hoping he would sympathise with her.

"How did you get here? That's how you get home," he replied as if he could do nothing to help Lily get back.

How? Was there a way for her to get there? Lily didn't even know. She stammered, turning her head and moving restlessly. "I-I just came. I don't remember, and I arrived in the middle of the woods without knowing how I got here. Suddenly, I was in this place, and then everything happened. I'd been running for a long time, but this forest seemed endless. There was no way out. After the trees, I met more trees. After the cliff, I came to another cliff. Please take me home..." Lily begged softly to the man she thought was the same person.

Lily was desperate. She no longer believed it was just a dream because it had been happening too long. Her legs even confirmed it. She showed that she was tired of running too far, her laboured breathing even adding to the clarity that she was feeling claustrophobic because of the difficulty in breathing.