Hellbound Heart

A few moments ago...

'Snow?!!' Elle could not believe what her eyes saw. The wolf before her looks just like Snow... but why was it that he seemed to have become so much bigger compared to the last time she saw him? Could there be another wolf that is similar to Snow?

Looking behind her, Elle could not sense any other unusual presences. There seemed to be no one else that was chasing her.

She returned her gaze to the large wolf, still not daring to move. The wolf kept his eyes on her. Those eyes that were gleaming with intelligence now looked even more mystifying to her. It did not look like the eyes of a mere animal anymore. And it seemed obvious that he could see her!

But the funny thing was, Elle did not feel any unease or fear towards him despite her new observations. Like always, she felt drawn to him.

"Snow?" she whispered. The wolf took measured steps closer to her in response to her calling.

When he approached, being only three steps away from her, Elle's jaw dropped seeing how large the wolf truly was. W-when did he grow so big?!

"W-what are you doing here?" she stuttered for a bit due to disbelief. Inwardly, she even considered doubting that this was her Snow. But after coming closer, she could pick up the little characteristics that told her he truly was Snow! She just knew it was him! "Are you here to rescue me? I'm trying to run away from this place before my kidnappers capture me again. You know the path towards the nearest town, right?"

The wolf lowered his head, moving it closer to her face. He was careful, as if he was trying his best to not startle her.

Elle could not help but hold her breath because of his sheer size. Though she honestly did not know how it was that she could not feel any fear. It should be normal for her to back off a little and feel fear when an animal this size was this close to her. He could really snap her head effortlessly! And yet, she trusted him.

"What is it?" she asked again in a low whisper. "How about you just walk ahead and I'll follow you?"

Snow moved his head even lower until he halted. His snout stopped inches before her forearm and sniffed.

Elle looked down at the spot that he nudged and her eyes widened at the sight of the small line of blood, only about half an inch long. She got scratched!!! Oh no!!!

Her heartbeat raced. This was a huge problem because she could not just wipe it off. Alicia had told her that her scent will still linger on even if she had wrapped it with a cloth bandage. That was why Alicia had prepared a few special witch's patches that could completely block her scent from escaping.

Frantically searching her pockets, Elle could not find any of the prepared patches on her. Did Zeres take it away? Or did it drop out of her pocket when she was kidnapped?

Gritting her teeth, Elle frantically tried to think of an alternative when Snow stuck his tongue out. Elle thought that he would lick her wound, but the wolf looked up at her first, as though asking her for permission. And Elle did not know what had gotten into her, but she nodded without a doubt.

What happened next had her freezing to the spot.

Snow backed off after licking that small amount of blood and an ashen smoke appeared around him, lifting off his fur as it weaved upwards in a wavy spiral. He made a low growl and then she watched him turn... into a human!

An ash-grey haired male now stood right where Snow had been standing just moments earlier. Her Snow had turned into a... man!??!

"W-werewolf..." she stammered.

He was kneeling on one knee, completely naked as he bowed his head at her. When he looked up, a beautiful face with electric blue eyes and sharp, well-defined jaws had her surprised. But still, she immediately thought that he still somehow resembled Snow even in this human form! He was the perfect human version of Snow!

"I don't have much time to stay in this form, Princess. So forgive me for going straight to the point before explaining." He began before Elle could recover from the surprise at his transformation. "The small amount of blood I've licked off from you is what turned me into my human form for just a few moments. Princess, please come along with me. I will bring you back to the place where you truly belong. I promise we will protect you and explain everything to you once we're there. So please follow me, Princess. Please ..." he gritted his jaws and he only managed to utter "please, come with me" before he transformed back into his wolf form right before her eyes. His back hunched over and white fur sprouted over his skin and it was as though suddenly, he was back as Snow as she knew him.

The entire scenario that played before her eyes had her paralyzed. She heard the sound of bones cracking and low growls emanating from him as the transformation occurred. It was a sight that could have shocked her brains out and should be enough to make any normal human pass out or doubt the reality of life.

Now she truly felt like she was no longer a normal human after all that she was told she had seen. Because the sight of it did not faze her in the slightest. At all.

Snow stared at her before he took a step back. His blue eyes asking her to follow after him. The look in his eyes were so compelling and filled with so much begging that Elle felt her heart softening at it.

And when the wolf turned around, walking away even as his head was looking back at her, Elle found herself voluntarily stepping forward, following after him.

___

To My Dearest Readers,

I would like to say sorry for constantly failing to update lately. I think burnout had long caught up on me. And I felt like I needed to really take a breather for real this time or I'll regret it. It has been really hard for me to even finish a single chapter a day lately. I tried to pressure myself to not miss a day of update because I know lack of updates might make my readers leave and will also definitely affect my income. The truth is the days I've missed before were not because I was resting. I wrote during those days too but I just failed to reach enough wordcounts no matter how I forced myself. I want to say this here because I know some readers might think I am losing interest or something. Please don't think that. Writing is my full time job now and if I don't update, I won't earn. In fact, failing to update stresses me out because I know all the risks. And thats why I kept pushing myself. But I think i've reached my limit lately.

I am not planning to stop or take a long break but I just decided to not pressure myself too much anymore by forcing myself to finish a chapter everyday. I am planning to really rest this time and take my time. I want to write in a way that it's alright if there's a day or two that I only managed to finish 500 words. That it's alright if all I did in one day is scribble very short scripts and ideas on my notebook. I felt that this is going to help me a lot and it is really working. Right now I am starting to feel better. So I would like to ask you guys to be more patient with me. One day for sure, I will be able to go back to my usual schedule. I promise this won't take too long.

So for now, I'm asking you guys to go easy on me (singing Adelle's song lol) if my updates are irregular. Kidding aside, I really really hope that you guys will patiently wait. I really wish and hope that you will continue to support me despite my decreased update.

Thank you and I love ya'll. <3 <3

Kazzen