"Who are you?"
Delilah kept staring at the man as if she was lost on him.
"Hmm?"
"Who are you?"
"Delilah."
He loosened his grip and she fell to the ground.
"Aaah! Why did you do that??"
It was the third time her knees got hurt. She might become cripple soon.
"Just go back from where you came from."
His voice was cold and shook her from the inside.
He turned around and started to walk ahead.
She looked at his back. His mullet didn't reach his shoulder line.
A handsome but scary man!
She stared for some time until he disappeared from her sight.
"What a strange man!" She mumbled. Before she could ask for help, he turned his back to her.
She tried to stand up. She took the support of a tree and stood up slowly. "I am feeling hungry." She cried.
She was starving. She looked back to the way from where she escaped from the wood cutters.
"I should have told the man about this incident. But he is just rude. But wait!"
Something caught her mind.
He was someone who did not get affected by her Omega scent. Thinking about that her eyes brightened up.
All the time she had to run away from other men because everyone chased after her scent, it increased their lust and they wanted to take her.
However that man was young but he looked normal as if nothing could affect him, not even her scent.
She did not think more and started to walk fast in the way he just went.
Her legs started to hurt but she could not stop.
Life was really unfair to her. She was just a normal girl. Why did her fate have to be so cruel to her?
What if her mother was alive? She could have lived like a normal happy girl. What if her father was alive, at least he would not let her step mother think about selling her to other men.
The fresh air and the smell of the ground, the smell of the forest made her relaxed. She wanted to sit somewhere to feel the environment.
However, the fear of getting caught by men made her legs walk ahead.
Her steps halted when she saw an old man coughing. He was sitting under a tree.
When he saw her, his brows furrowed.
He waved at her with his shaking hand. "My child, come here."
Delilah conflicted with herself about whether she should go or not.
She had no other option and the old man who was really old looked modest to her so she stepped toward him.
"Yes?"
"My child, what are you doing here in this dangerous forest?" Had asked but coughed again.
"Do you want to drink some water?"
The old man shook his head. "I am old, it's just my time to go. Water can not stop it."
"Don't say that. You will be fine." Delilah replied. She was a well-mannered girl. She always felt sad for old and poor people. She could feel their pain.
"Answer me, child."
"Grandpa..."
She told him about her situation in her family. She did not forget to tell about the wood cutters who wanted to follow her inside the forest.
"You are really helpless now. Where will you go?" The old man asked her.
"I don't know. But what are you doing here? Haven't you heard about the beast?" She mumbled.
The old man chuckled. "What will he do to this old man? I am aged and useless now."
Delilah lowered her head. She heard him.
"But you have a way."
Delilah looked at him. "A way?"
He nodded. "I have been here for years. I have seen so many people come here with courage but they have never returned because of their foolishness. But you are not like them. Your scent is extraordinary. You are special, my child."
"S-Special?"
The old man nodded and coughed.
He pointed his hand to the left side.
"Walk straight to this path. Don't forget the direction. You have to walk until you see an invisible boundary."
"Invisible boundary?" Delilah was confused.
"Yes, you can recognize that when you will reach there. When you cross the boundary, don't be scared of anything. Just walk ahead there until someone comes to stop you."
"Someone? Who?"
"The one who can save you from the outside world."
Delilah wondered whether she could believe in him or not.
"Grandpa, what are you doing here?"
"My child, I live in the closest village. But this forest is my home. I can understand your confusion but you have no way to go back."
Delilah sighed and nodded at him.
She asked the Moon Goddess to save her and started to walk on the left side.
"Moon Goddess, I hope you will save me. I can't stay in my pack. I have nowhere to go back. Why did you make me an Omega with a strange scent? Now you have to help me. I don't want to die at the same time I don't want to be a plaything of men."
She prayed and kept strolling in the direction where the old man told her to go.
After a long time of walking, she felt tired. She was hungry and thirsty. Any moment she could collapse on the ground.
It was late afternoon and the darkness slowly grabbed the sky.
She came to a way where there were no trees but looked like a border in the middle of the forest, as if the frosest was divided by two parts.
Her eyes widened. She thought, 'So it was the boundary he was talking about?'
She did not waste time and stepped on the other side of the forest, leaving the way from where she came.
Meanwhile,
Under the tree, the old man's black eyes turned green. The wrinkles on his face were removed and his face changed into a young man.
He stood up and looked at the way where he told Delilah to go.
"Sometimes you don't even know where your fate is taking you.
Maybe it will prosper your life or it will be your death."