The metallic tang of blood hung in the air like a phantom, a barely-there scent that only the wolves' sharp noses could detect. As they sniffed at the breeze, their instincts were on high alert, for unspoken danger lurking just beyond the reach of their senses.
Celeste's brow furrowed with worry. Her skin prickled with a sudden chill, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up like sentinels. The scent of blood mingled with another, more familiar scent – their Alpha's scent.
It was clear that the others had also caught the faintest trace of Byron's scent in the wind, as a trace of relief and hope crossed their faces.
Nancy's eyes glittered with excitement as she gazed at Jeremy, and he gave her a small smile that spoke volumes.
Celeste had no doubt that if Nancy were in her wolf form right now, she would be wagging her tail and even yipping with joy at Jeremy. She looked away from them and headed forward.
The wolves remained wary, their senses attuned to any possible dangers that could be hiding in the shadows.
The metallic scent of blood grew stronger, a warning of the perils that lay ahead. The pack fanned out, combing the darkness for any signs of Byron and Sarah.
Sarah's house was also pitch black, just like Byron's. The darkness was impenetrable, swallowing everything in its path. As the wolves searched, their eyes struggled to make out shapes in the inky blackness, and their ears strained to catch the slightest sound. But after a brief search, they did not find the tracks of the two wolves in the house.
Eventually, the pack's noses led them to a short thicket, where the scent of Byron and Sarah was particularly strong. But the thicket seemed innocuous enough in the night – just another unremarkable patch of shrubs.
There were no footprints or scattered leaves on the ground. If the wolf pack did not have a keen sense of scents, they would not have noticed anything unusual about this thicket.
"Is there some kind of secret passage here?" Nancy suggested, her curiosity getting the best of her as she reached into the thick, overgrown bushes. Jeremy instinctively took a step forward, wanting to stop Nancy from recklessly digging around, but before he could say anything, Nancy's nimble fingers had already pushed aside the foliage.
"Oh, so there really is a secret passage," Nancy said in disbelief.
To their surprise, instead of danger, a cleverly hidden entrance was revealed. The entrance was shrouded in darkness and covered by thick underbrush, making it virtually invisible to the untrained eye. If they hadn't stumbled upon this place by accident, perhaps no one would have ever discovered this entrance.
Celeste stared at the entrance, a gaping black hole that led to who knew where.
Celeste furrowed her brow, her mind racing with questions. Why did Sarah's house have a secret entrance? What was it for? And who made it? She couldn't help but feel like she had been living in a bubble, unaware of the secrets just beneath the surface.
Celeste suddenly had a feeling that the peaceful life she had thought she was living was just an illusion she had chosen to believe in. Too many things had happened lately, and it seemed that with each secret that was leaked, this peaceful façade was gradually being destroyed, revealing something deeper and maybe darker at play.
She thought about all the strange events that had been occurring lately. The sudden attack of the rogues, Byron's strange behavior and obvious secrets, the mysterious hunters, and now this hidden passageway... each revelation chipped away at the illusion of safety in this peaceful town.
But the wolves didn't waste time brooding what had happened. Now that they were standing at the entrance, they could smell the heavier scents of Byron and Sarah. They didn't smell anyone else.
"Do we go in?" One of them asked, and Celeste didn't need to turn around to know that the question was referring to Jeremy.
Jeremy fell silent for a few short seconds before nodding his head. "Ben and Emma, you two stay outside and keep watch. The rest of us will go down and take a look. Everyone be careful."
The wolves nodded their heads. No one had any objections to Jeremy's words. He led the rest into the entrance.
Although it was also dark outside the entrance, at least the moonlight could slightly illuminate the surroundings. But now that they entered it, the darkness seemed to completely swallow them, along with their vision. Celeste had to spend a few seconds on her eyes to adjust to this pitch-black darkness.
Jeremy walked in the front with Celeste following closely behind him.
Suddenly, she remembered the scene earlier today when the sun was still in the sky, and they went to Raymond's cabin and entered his basement. Celeste could smell the increasingly heavy scents of Sarah and Byron, along with the more distinct smell of blood. Her heart skipped a beat. The smell of blood reminded her of the dead wolf in Raymond's basement and the two wolves lying in a pool of blood at her own house.
Celeste's chest tightened. She clenched her fists.
Jeremy turned around, and Celeste could see that familiar look of concern in his eyes. She pursed her lips, shook her head slightly, and looked away from Jeremy.
Fortunately, the passage wasn't very deep, so Celeste's head didn't get to torture her for too long.
But her eyes clearly didn't agree, as they landed on a wolf and a human sitting on the ground. In the darkness, Celeste couldn't see too many details, but she could still see the blood on the wolf's body. The wolf was in the person's arms. Both stayed in a corner, motionless.
Celeste felt as though the air in her chest had been sucked out again. This was the third time today that she had been hit hard with this kind of visual shock. She felt like she was going insane.