Since my energy was depleted to every last drop, recovering took a little longer than what I expected. I got bored pretty easily since nobody was around to entertain me. Fortunately, when I checked my mobile phone, there’s a signal here. I don’t know how they managed to get some signal inside the mountains but I’m thankful nonetheless.

I fiddled around my phone for quite some time, good thing I have a couple of games installed to keep me company. I browsed a couple of sites on the internet and did some random stuff. Aysha’s mother was kind enough to bring me some lunch. I ate lunch although it’s kind of late for that.

I rolled on the bed afterward, not knowing what to do. It was nice that I have some peace and quiet around but the vision, the expanding mark on my chest that is continuously depleting my energy, and wondering what will happen later, it was hard to relax at this point. I’m also starting to develop some kind of phobia on sleeping, so it was hard to stay awake and not get bored at the same time.

Thankfully, Aysha’s mother was considerate enough to put some medicinal herbs on my lunch. The herbs were very effective and made my recovery faster. After a couple of hours, I finally made a full recovery. I went outside, thanked her once more for helping me, and set out to find Bel.

***

Two hours before the full moon. I went around the mountains and saw some familiar faces around. Though, most of them are hostile towards me. Most of my relatives treat me this way. I don’t really mind though, as time went by, I slowly learned to ignore this kind of remarks. It happens every time and I won’t get anywhere when I got angry every time I hear some mockery or remark about me being a failure.

I passed by the hostile ones and greeted some of the ones that acted normal towards me. The normal ones aren’t really close to me but they don’t discriminate me which is good. There are quite a few that acted normal towards me so I made sure that I greeted them once in a while as thanks.

Now that I think about it, my parents should have arrived here already but I didn’t notice them when I was going around. The only family member that I saw earlier was Lance. They are probably busy doing something else such as preparing their own stuff for the full moon. I have to greet them at least once later to let them know that I got here. Last time I went here but they didn’t saw me, Lance made up some kind of excuse that I didn’t come here and I was heavy reprimanded for it.

What I hated the most is that they believed the lie that Lance made up on the spot instead of a couple of witnesses. Well, no one really wanted to stand up for me and made an enemy of Lance. I’m pretty much sure that they will pick the self-proclaimed second strongest rather than the failure of the family. Bel was the only one that stood up for me. In the end, we didn’t win and I took all the blame so that Bel won’t have to be punished for standing up for me. I’m going to make sure that it won’t happen ever again.

Since I couldn’t find Bel anywhere, I decided to visit my family’s cave. I’ll visit them now so that after the full moon, I can go directly home. I’m not too fond of staying with my family for a long period of time.

I arrived at my family’s cave… or it’s much more appropriate to call it a house. This is nothing like a cave. A bonafide, fully functioning house was erected near the peak of the mountain. I wondered what happened to the other cave that we reside during the last full moons. Anyway, in front of me was a two-story, wooden house. It looked like a wooden cabin mixed with a couple of modern technology. They really went all out to this month's full moon. I bet it'll be a hassle to remove this house after this day ends. They would probably cover this house with some kind of illusion as I see it as impossible to install and reinstall every month.

As I went inside, I was surprised when I noticed that there were electricity and different types of furniture, basically everything that was inside Bel’s cave, but obviously better. At the moment, my phone vibrated and when I looked at it, there was a notification that there’s an open Wi-Fi available. What this? Since when did we get so advanced?

A maid noticed my arrival and greeted me. “Welcome home, young master Kane.” The other maids that are doing some household chores stopped what they are doing when they noticed me and bowed to greet me as well. With the exception of Bel, this scene always made me uncomfortable. For me, they look like robots that are programmed to do these kinds of stuff whenever a family member arrived. It lacked the warmness and sincerity that Bel emit whenever she greets me.

“Would you like me to lead you in your room, young master?” The maid offered. Though the house feels comfortable, I fully knew that staying inside would be the least comfortable experience for me. The main house was much more comfortable than this but I chose to leave that place because of my family. Thus, I cannot see a reason for me to stay at this place either.

“Where’s a father? I need to see him.” Ignoring her question, I asked if my parents are currently inside the building. I’ll just quickly show my face, talk for a little bit and leave afterward. Staying too long and bumping to Lance would trouble me greatly, especially since Aysha isn’t with me at the moment. My parents couldn't care less about me so I'm not too worried about them.

“The Headmaster and the Missus aren’t in the vicinity at the moment. They told us that they were arranging something for outside matters that cannot be left undone. Master Julius, however, is in the headmaster’s room, sorting something for the full moon later. He is also currently in charge of tonight’s full moon.”

The future alpha wolf, my eldest brother, Julius. He is everything an alpha wolf is. Strong, intelligent, prideful, and aggressive. The strongest wolf in the pack. Every trait that the alpha should possess, he had it. It’s the reason why my parents are so proud of him. To them, Julius is their only son and probably looks at us, the younger siblings, like extra baggage.

The only reason that he isn’t the alpha wolf yet, is because my father is still alive. When my father dies, he will automatically become the next alpha that would lead the pack. Currently, my father is training him in terms of business, leadership and other stuff needed to adapt in modern society.

When I imagine the work that he shoulders, I always thank the gods for making me the second son instead. I can’t bear to have so many responsibilities and not to mention the paperwork alone, given my lazy personality. I used to be pretty stupid back then when I’m thinking that I want to catch up to my brother. I idolized him, wanting to be like him. Thinking back, even if I managed to catch up to my brother, my parents would just use me for their own interest and that’s not what I wanted. That’s the kind of people they are.

“I’ll meet with my brother, I’m not staying here too long.” The maid leads the way towards the headmaster’s room. Once we arrived at the door of the room, I told her to leave and not bother us for the time being. After she left, I knocked on the door a few times before hearing my brother's voice.

“Come in, it's open.” Julius’ voice was loud and clear. Just from the way he talks, it shows power and competence. It's the voice of a leader.

“Hey, elder brother.” I greeted him when I saw that he was busy with the paperwork. When he noticed that it was me, he lifted his head up and nodded a few times.

Sitting behind the headmaster's table, was a wolf who's aura was so strong. It almost feels like I'm getting crushed by his aura alone. The way he moves, the way he looks at you and even his unconscious movements makes you feel like your life is constantly in danger.

“So, you came.”

“Yeah, it's one of the rules. I have to go even if I don't want to.” I tried to stand my ground despite the overwhelming pressure he emitted.

“I see. So, what did you come here for?” He asked. I can see that he was kind of irritated by me disrupting his work but I have to do this or else Lance might pull something again. I thought of something else to say other than the fact that I'm just here to avoid any other potential conflicts with my younger brother. That's when I thought of something that might grab his attention.

“I’m not sure if the others already reported this to you but I found another wolf at my school. I think she's not in our family at least.” This is my trump card, Lean. I thought that by revealing Lean's secret to him, he'll deal with it himself. It will be killing two birds with one stone. I’ll get Lean of my back, and I’ll have a reason to come here.

“Oh? I haven't heard of that. If that wolf managed to avoid our intelligence network, the wolf you're talking about may bring potential danger.” Good, I managed to grab his attention at least. It was nice that others haven't found out yet.

“She's a Coleman, I'm sure you've heard of them already. I'm quite surprised myself. If she hasn't sat next to me in class, I wouldn't have noticed.” I told him some of the stuff I knew about her. He went silent and I saw him furrowed his eyebrows. Seemingly deep in thought, I waited for him to get out of this state before leaving. After a good while, he lifted his head and asked another question.

“Did she knew that you're a wolf?”

“I'm sure she has her doubts since she kept pestering me for a while now. I made sure that she won't confirm this doubt. I can't say too much for the future. I'm sure she’s investigating on her own right now.”

“I see. Keep hiding your identity, I'll see what I can do on my side after this event is over.”

I left afterward. As I left the room, the huge pressure weighing upon me suddenly disappeared like it hasn't been there in the first place. I breathe a sigh of relief. Now that I confirm my presence here, I quickly left the house to avoid any further contact in my family. No one will doubt my elder brother's words and he is a pretty honest person so far. I’m sure he won't trouble me for some petty reason. The only thing that is left is the full moon itself. I hope this ominous premonition I’m feeling isn't true.