Chapter 231

The sudden attack caught them completely off guard. Vespera, Kebeora, Jade, and Byron screamed and quickly backed away. Everyone was terrified of the wolf-dog. That big dog lunging at them was sure to either bite them or leave them seriously injured. Even Byron, a young athletic guy, was so startled that he almost pushed Rebecca into the river. Thankfully, Vespera pulled her back in time. Spotting a crooked tree nearby, she yanked Rebecca up and climbed. Byron and Jade jumped down to the riverbank, looking for a place to hide.

The whole scene was chaotic. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to stop them before they were already panicking, running off in all directions. Vespera saw Calvert still standing there, frozen in place. The wolf-dog bared its teeth, getting ready to attack him.

She clung to the tree, her voice cracking with panic. “Calvert, run!”

“Don’t worry, Vespera. It won’t bite me,” Calvert said, smiling despite the situation. He turned toward the barking, snarling wolf-dog, its teeth bared and ready to attack. He said, “Alright, little one, stop barking now.”

The wolf-dog didn’t listen. In fact, it growled even louder, getting ready to leap at him. Calvert took a step forward and “gently” nudged it with his foot. Then, with exaggerated care, he patted the dog’s head. “Stop barking, or I’ll…” The sentence trailed off incomprehensibly.

The wolf-dog let out two low howls, whining softly before losing its fierceness and nuzzling at his feet. Calvert chuckled with satisfaction, crouching down to pet it again. “That’s a good dog.”

Meanwhile, the others, still perched in the tree or hiding by the riverbank, stared at him in disbelief. He called that wolf-dog “little one.” He even threatened it and didn’t care if it understood or not.

Rebecca shakily pointed at the wolf-dog. “You… you raised it?”

Vespera reminded her, “Calvert came with us, didn’t he?”

Rebecca was stunned. “But… why does it only listen to him? I mean, it’s not like dogs can understand human language, or is it scared of what he threatened it with?”

Veera blinked, uncertain. It didn’t seem all that reasonable that threatening the dog would calm it down.

Calvert stood up and waved at the group. The four of them remained hiding. “Alright, you can come down now—and the rest of you, come up. It’s time, the dog won’t hurt you.”

They were afraid that the dog was only friendly toward him. They didn’t have the courage to try threatening it themselves. It felt like that dog was just waiting for the chance to lunge forward and rip their throats out before they even got the chance to scream.

The commotion by the riverbank quickly drew attention from nearby houses. Even people on the other side of the street came out to see what was happening.

Vespera felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment crash over her. She thought, “If I don’t die from a dog bite today, I might as well die of secondhand shame.” And just when she thought being caught clinging to a tree by a crowd of locals was as humiliating as it could get, the universe decided to prove her wrong.

From the house that presumably owned the wolf-dog, three men came walking out. The sound of footsteps grew closer, echoing ominously. Vespera was locked in a tense stare with the massive wolf-dog, not daring to look away for a second. But then, she glanced up for the briefest moment. Then her gaze dropped back to the dog, but her mind caught on something. She couldn’t believe who she had just seen. A hallucination?

She quickly looked back at the man she had glimpsed and felt dizzy. She wondered if the dog’s sudden appearance had frightened her enough to trigger some kind of near-death delusion. Like those stories where a superhero appears right before disaster strikes.

She was in the middle of that chaotic, nonsensical train of thought when a dazed voice came from below. “Vera, did you see that?”

“I don’t know. He’s just wearing his underwear on the outside, so I don’t think so.”

Evening, fellow onlookers; there was still much to which they could respond. Dominic frowned as he stared up at the koala-de-woman wrapped around the tree. He rubbed his temple in exasperation. Then, he casually walked over and gave Calvert a light smack on the back of the head.

Chapter 211

“Hey! Who just hit me—?” Calvert turned around, ready to throw a punch. But when he saw who it was, he froze. “Mr. Reid?”