Worthless

One loud bark that echoed was enough to make Jian Yu freeze. In a half standing and half kneeling position that could have him cramping if he stayed any longer, but Jian Yu would prefer being able to feel the cramp rather than being dead. 

Those glowing yellow irises that were supposed to be five to seven feets away now were so close to him. Shocked, Jian Yu backed away instinctively, trying to create a distance between them. 

Everytime he backed away, even just a tiny bit, the mother wolf barked at him. Every bark was louder than the previous and the silverette flinched at every one of them. 

There were fangs in the depth of the shut snout and the Beta knew the mother wolf wouldn't hesitate to bite. 

Look. 

Take a goddamn good look at that. 

Look how razor sharp they were. 

How agonizing it would be to feel those embedded inside your flesh. 

Wait.

"..."

"..."

"!!!"

Oh shit! 

CHOMP! 

Jian Yu squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the incoming pain to crawl over his entire body. Yet the pain never came, instead he felt a pull like something was tugging at his coat. 

The silverette carefully opened his eyes, peeking at the mother wolf. It turned out she had chomped full mouth onto his coat and tugged lightly. Thinking that Jian Yu was going to run away again, she tugged even harsher than the one before. 

And yes, she wasn't wrong! Jian Yu also felt like he wanted to flee. What the hell did she want with him anyway? 

When Jian Yu pulled his coat, the wolf also pulled. 

A tug of war was established. 

With her teeth latched on his coat, she pulled with all her might and Jian Yu lost his footing, falling face down onto the ground. 

Once Jian Yu sat his buŧŧ down and settled with sitting cross-legged, the mother wolf released her hold on him and sat prettily across him, head tilted to the side with her bright yellow eyes laughing at him. But that didn't mean the little pups would stop gnawing at the hem of his coat. 

Jian Yu had a feeling that they were going to have a heart to heart talk with how the mother wolf was staring imploringly at him. Perhaps she developed a strong chemistry towards him for sharing a room for a night. 

So could anyone explain to him what this sense of accomplishment was he feeling? 

The Beta sighed. He surrendered himself as a chewy toy to four little devils and was under inspection of the true satan. 

Jian Yu wondered what had gone through the head of the mother wolf as he watched her keep on pointing her snout towards the direction of the injured black wolf beside her. 

The action was done repeatedly. Snout pointing back and forth between him and the black one. Until she realized this human was too dumb to process what she requested of him, she decided to just do the extreme. 

She even rolled her eyes at him! 

Jian Yu blinked innocently at her as he watched the female wolf turn to nuzzle her injured young, ŀɨċkɨnġ its face and grooming its fur, before stepping back from it. 

She shot one look of determination towards Jian Yu before giving out a loud bark and began herding her other pups out of the cave. 

The wounded black one finally squinted his bright golden eyes open, crying out when he noticed his pack, his family, leaving him, yet he didn't have the ability to pick himself up and follow them. 

When she felt the distress pouring out of her litter, she hurried back and gave it one last grooming before leaving for real. 

Jian Yu was shocked, dumbfounded at the turn of events. 

"Hey--" He called out, but the mother wolf had already gone further away with the rest of her pups lingering a few steps behind her, like she had made her decision and nothing would waver her. 

The black one gave a little cry, kicking his paws desperately and Jian Yu hurriedly soothed it. The Beta was stuck in a dilemma. Did his mother just decide to leave her pup to him because she knew she had no capabilities to nurse him back? 

Besides, was he allowed to take any animals inside out of this forest? Jian Yu doubted the organizers and care keepers of the forest would care about one little dysfunctional pup.

Thankfully, being young and absent-minded and easily distracted, the black one promptly forgot the current situation and nuzzled into his hand, accepting the soothing and comfort he was given. 

"There, there, I promise I will get you fixed up," Jian Yu rubbed him behind his ears and the sound of tail thumping against the ground was once again heard. "Then you will have a good healthy leg to run around with, how does that sound, huh?" 

The black one yipped happily. 

"Hmm…? I think I recalled Dr. Liam saying he treated animals before as well… Maybe he can give you a hand." 

"Once we get you back on your feet-- or maybe paws, you can go back to find your mother and play with your brothers and sisters!" Jian Yu rubbed his small head. 

This time, he wrapped the thin blanket that he had folded before around the black little wolf, careful not to jostle the protruding bone. Just looking at it weakened Jian Yu's knee. 

That must have hurt. 

Too much that the wolf was probably numbed from his waist down. 

"Now that you are stuck with me, how should I call you, huh?" Jian Yu booped the wolf on his nose. 

The black wolf twitched his whiskers, scrunching his snout. His tongue then flicked in and out to chase Jian Yu's finger away from the continuous booping abuse inflicted on his snout. 

Jian Yu, in the end, pulled his hand away and leaned on his palm with his elbows on either side of his knees. He took a good look at the black wolf. 

Then his eyes flicked towards the sleeping figure at the other side. 

Then back at the wolf again. 

The similarities were uncanny. 

The corner of Jian Yu's lips curled up and he wanted to rub his hands together and laughed evilly as he thought of such a fabulous idea.