An alleyway in the marketplace.
"Kurghhh—!"
"Where," Javrian asked with deadly quiet, his silver eye boring into the terrified man's face, "is your chief?"
One moment everything was normal as guards were talking among themselves.
Javrian was standing twenty feet away; the next he was in the middle of their group.
Maybe half a minute passed, leaving one guard lifted by the throat, his companions already crumpling to the ground with their necks twisted at impossible angles.
The guard's eyes bulged as he clawed uselessly at the iron grip around his throat, the remaining one trembling, seeing the black-cloaked man, thinking they were dealing with someone who had a feud with the Empire. "P-please—we're not—we're not real Imperial soldiers! Don't kill us!"
"What?" The admission made Javrian pause, his grip loosening just enough to let the man speak.
"We're not Imperial guards!" the man gasped, terror making his words tumble over each other. "We work for the gangs! The local boss pays us to wear the uniforms, but we're not—"
His words cut off in a gurgle as Javrian's grip tightened again.
By now, his pack members had caught up, emerging from the crowd to find their leader standing in a circle of corpses, holding a half-dead man by the throat.
They should have stopped him. Should have pulled him back, reminded him about keeping a low profile.
Instead, they simply stood as they were also clearly cold; hearing those words from the guards was enough to remove any resistance among themselves.
"Where," he repeated, each word like a nail being driven into a coffin, "is your chief?"
The guard's face was turning purple, but he managed to choke out an address—a building at the edge of town where the local crime boss held court.
Javrian's eyes narrowed, given how his predatory instinct told him the man was telling the truth.
Then he opened his hand, letting the guard drop to the cobblestones.
"Argh… Haah… Haah… th-thank you—" The man hit the ground hard, gasping and wheezing as he tried to crawl away.
He made it exactly three feet before Javrian's boot came down on his head.
The wet crunch that followed echoed through the suddenly silent marketplace, followed by screams from the few civilians who had been close enough to witness the execution.
Javrian looked down at the spreading pool of blood, then up at his pack members, who were watching him with expressions of grim satisfaction.
None of them moved to stop him. None of them showed the slightest hint of disapproval.
Not only that, but after they had heard the guards' casual discussion of what their "chief" planned to do with Luna and Sally—even if she was a traitor.
"It seems my wife will have to wait a bit," Javrian said simply, stepping over the corpse before his body blurred and, like a crossbow, shot into the air. One after another, behind him, the four shadows moved too, as if thrown by a catapult; their speed was far beyond what human eyes could see as they moved, especially now that they came to know that this town didn't have imperial guards. Their speed had become unrestricted.
"Aaarghhh!"
"St-sto—Kurghh!"
What carried in the way was the sounds of several guards getting their necks snapped one after another, as if like a wave moving in the direction of that particular stronghold or headquarters, like a wave moving while destroying everyone wearing the soldier uniform.
All five of them rushed, unflinched, as blood splattered in their path.
------
Prison cell, arrival after killing hundreds of soldiers and emptying the whole town of the gang whose leader's head had been squashed somewhere in the wall within his office room.
"Listen, wife, I felt relieved when you did that, but from now on, don't endanger yourself, or else... I don't know how many people I will kill."
The words left Javrian's lips with more honesty and firmness than he'd intended.
Standing in that crumbling prison cell, watching Luna's crimson eyes search his face in the dim light, he felt something crack open inside his chest—a realization that he might, at least for some reason, cannot afford to lose her or be separated for long.
Though he cannot explain from where it all started. Either it was from him noticing a woman due to her smell, then due to how fearless she looked, then how she mirrored him, or if how he marked her as his even before anything happened that night.
Every passing moment, she was becoming a choice he didn't seem to regret for a moment.
She even seemed to see through him when he couldn't see his own vulnerability.
And instead of turning away from that wound she'd uncovered, she had stepped forward and... healed something.
'How did she know?' The question echoed through his mind as he studied her face. 'How are you, woman... are you a trap set up to catch me or a hallucination?'
His mind was occupied with those thoughts, even though his outer actions were clearly visible to Luna.
But then, after having a proper conversation with Sally, as he thought to separate her by suggesting how she should sleep.
Even her reply seemed to bother her—something about the way she'd looked at him when she'd mentioned needing a proper bed.
Her exact words replayed in his memory: "I cannot sleep without my bed. I personally prefer high-quality fur or cotton, so I can't sleep."
Javrian's silver eyes narrowed slightly as he processed this.
Luna was intelligent—perhaps the most perceptive person he'd ever encountered. She didn't speak carelessly. Every word was chosen with purpose.
'High-quality fur...'
A strange warmth crept up his neck as understanding dawned, especially given how he, having her in his arms, could feel how her body was clearly trying to be as close as possible.
The coldness of her cheeks on his skin and everything pointed towards a certain conclusion he reached.
'Was she... was she asking to sleep on my wolf form?' The thought should have been absurd, but the way she'd emphasized 'fur' specifically, the subtle glance she'd given him when she'd said it...
'Bold of you,' he thought, a hint of admiration mixing with embarrassment. 'Using such cryptic language to make such a request.'
The idea of her small form curled against his wolf fur, trusting him enough to be that vulnerable... it sent an unexpected shiver through him.
He'd shared his wolf form with packmates during cold nights, of course, but this felt different.
More intimate. More...
"So what do you—" Luna started to speak, but his attention was already somewhere else in his mind. While just looking at her, he didn't notice that Lila had attacked Sally until the moment two sharp slaps landed on his face, causing him to hear what Luna was trying to yell.
"Save her now, Javrian! Lila will kill her!"
And those words were enough for him to instantly move. There was no reason to filter or process it; considering he wasn't in the mood to think anything else, he just vanished, keeping her steady with his left hand and using his right to stop Lila.
Everything happened with muscle memory, battle-honed body reflexes, and a face that was in front of his eyes.
He knew she was a bold woman. Remembering how, when both were engaged in intimacy, he was hesitant to enter her. She pulled him boldly inside her.
Even though it was painful, she hugged him in a way that, if not for his composure masking his facial expression, the tightness and the soft, melting pressure pulling him in might have resulted in him not only breaking down once but falling in more sessions only to lose.
He composed himself at the last moment and relaxed due to his strength.
So he knew she was a bold woman.
But he thought that boldness was limited to the bed only, or was just a result of her being under the effect of that aphrodisiac medicine.
But who knew she was even romantically bold in the casual world too?
"How can you be so bold..." While Luna was ordering, calling him again to stop Lila and was healing Sally and doing everything in front of his eyes, his mind just looked at her in admiration, at the woman who was able to express her romantic approach in such a way boldly in front of everyone, causing him to feel like wanting to improve too.
So he decided for the woman whom he chose and marked as his mate.
"I will definitely try to express my love more boldly... wife."