The ck wolf, Nih, looked in the direction of Joyce. And this time, her eyes looked like she had finally found someone to depend on.


    She gave a puppy-eyed look to Joyce and whined softly as if she was trying to say something to her cousin.


    "Nih!" the voice echoed again, this time a little closer. It was Fenris'' voice again.


    Joyce finally reached where Nih was bound to the ground. And she immediately gave a warm and loving hug to the scared little wolf. "Oh, Nih! I didn''t know it was you," she whispered to her cousin again.


    Nih rested her head on Joyce''s shoulder and kept on whimpering.


    Joyce ruffled Nih''s soft fur andforted her, "Nih, it''s okay. You are going to be fine. I can hear Uncle Fenris'' voice. Don''t worry. He''ll be here soon. And we can go home together."


    Nih softly rubbed her head against Joyce''s cheek as if to agree with what Joyce had just said.


    Joyce then looked at Nih''s eyes and said, "Until hees here, let me check your body. I hit you down pretty bad, didn''t I?"


    Nih looked down at the right side of her stomach as if to say that she was hurt there.


    Joyce crouched down and tried to see where Nih was hurt. But the fur was making it difficult to see anything. The good thing was that she didn''t find any blood on Nih''s body.


    Even though Joyce couldn''t pinpoint the area where Nih was hurt, she ced her palm on her stomach and began chanting the healing spell to heal her whole body.


    The shrubs and bushes around the two of them began to wither and die. Their sacrifice didn''t go to waste because Nih gradually felt better.


    When Joyce was healing Nih, Nih turned her head and looked in a particr direction. She looked like she was in a dazed state for a few seconds and after a while, she began to wag her tail.


    "What is it, Nih? Do you hear Uncle Fenris?" Joyce asked.


    Nih shook her head but she kept on wagging her tail. She had received a message telepathically. And she knew that more help was arriving.


    After a while, the wood was covered with the sound of several wolves running at their super speed.


    Nih wagged her tail and couldn''t help but howl to the moon.


    Soon after, the whole wood was covered with howls of other werewolves.


    Nih''s eyes were eager to see the other wolves.


    After a while, a grey and white wolf with a pair of red eyes appeared in her view. A little behind him, a majestic white wolf was also running at a full speed.


    "Father! Mother!" Nih shouted in her mind after recognizing her parents.


    "Oh, our sweet baby!" Nih heard her mother''s voice in her head.


    Her mother''s voice brought such sce to her heart that she felt like crying.


    Never in her wildest dream had Nih thought that she would inherit the werewolf curse, leave alone turn into one at such a young age.


    When she was wandering around the wood a while ago, she was scared like never before. She had thought that she was going to get killed tonight; if not by that drunkard then by someone else.


    But with all the loving people surrounding her, she felt relieved. She was reminded of how loved she was.


    Joyce had more or less finished her healing spell. And seeing several blurs approaching them, she thought that she better give some space to the werewolves. So she quickly got up and removed the leashes that she had used to tie Nih up.


    She went over to check on the man whom she had brutally smashed against the tree earlier. She didn''t exactly want to save that man for trying to kill Nih. But she knew that anyone would have done the same if a wolf attacked them.


    Nih, on the other hand, immediately ran in the direction of her parents. She gave happy little howls on her way.


    Telepathically, she was saying to her parents, "Father! Mother! You all came for me…"


    "Why wouldn''t we?" Nigel replied.


    Nigel and Rhea slowed themselves down when they were close to Nih.


    And Nih jumped in between her parents.


    Nigel and Rhea started to rub their heads against Nih and lick her fur.


    "We were so worried about you, honey," Rhea said to their daughter.


    "But we are d that we found you," Nigel looked at Nih''s beautiful ck fur and further said, "You look so beautiful."


    Soon, Fenris also joined them. He was happy to see his niece happily jumping around her parents.


    All the other wolves were also happy to see that their alpha''s daughter transformed at such a young age.


    They weremunicating among themselves.


    "As expected of our alpha''s daughter. She is also going to be a great leader like her father one day."


    "Yes. And look at her! She looks so magnificent."


    "Let''s hope that Ramon will also transform soon."


    "Of course, he will. He is Nih''s twin after all."


    While the others were busy celebrating, Joyce was busy healing that drunkard. He had broken a rib bone after getting hit earlier.


    Fenris came to her but he couldn''t transform back to his human form since he wasn''t wearing the adaptable clothes. So he just kept on standing there as though he was standing her guard.


    After healing that man, Joyce looked at Fenris and briefed how Nih and that man were about to kill each other and how she prevented it.


    But she deliberately left out the part of how she ended up in this wood, in the middle of the night, on purpose. She didn''t want this werewolf search party to start looking for Ariel and Damien next.


    She took a deep breath in and looked in the direction of the Ethereal River. And she thought to herself, "I hope the two of them finished ying in the river. I hope they are already back in the Pce by now. If anyone discovers that they are not in the Pce then…"