Gone (Book Two of the Dark Lycans Series)

We jump up into the trees with our pack gear. This was all too familiar to me, it reminded me of whrn I was with the Hunters.

But now, we are chasing the Hunters, and I am not alone. Yet, even though I am surrounded by other wolves, I feel so disconnected, especially with Shade.

I stay a little ways back from the rest of the group, observing their actions and their communication signals. I figured out most of their hand signs, and noticed each individuals method of moving between trees.

We came upon a large building, and Shade signaled for us to jump down and lay low. I silently dropped down from the trees and watched as the guards at the entrance were taken care of quickly.

They ran forward and scaled the wall before dashing back into the trees. The building suddenly explodes in a massive blast, sending debris everywhere.

Shade breathed out heavily once they were back in the safety of the forest.

"What is that now? Like 25-32 compounds already in two months?" Shade laughs, laying down in the grass and looking up at the sunny sky.

"I think that's about right," Aiden says beside her. The other two, Like and Camryn nod, and I just sit there staring.

"That many? We all thought you were dead, and you've just been playing around with the Hunters?" I yell at Shade. She just shrugs, nodding, and puts her hands behind her head.

I growl lowly and grumble about how rude she is. Shade pulls out the map and points out where we were going next. Everyone nods and she rolls the map back up, putting it in her backpack.

A fire is made and everyone starts to settle down. I scale a tree, and rest on a lower branch. My eyes are closed, but I am alert.

Everyone else is asleep, and ai hear rustling. I open one eye to see Shade leaving the campsite. I drop down from my branch, and silently follow Shade.

I hear her hiss in pain, and I walk out from behind a tree, pretending to rub the sleep from my eyes.

"What did you do this time?" I ask walking over to sit down.

"I was going to go hunting and got careless," she says wincing in pain and giving a pointed look at the dagger in her hand. I guess she cuts herself somehow.

I took her hand in mine and rolled up the sleeve. My eyes catch on the scar from a bullet wound, and I sigh shaking my head.

"You really haven't changed much with how careless you are," I say with a small smile.

"No, I guess I haven't. You did not just come back here to find me did you?" She asks. I confirm her suspicions and she smiles.

No, I also came to make sure you're okay and to take care of you, I think sadly.

"I want to go back to the way I was, I don't want to kill anyone after we finish this," she says pulling her arm from my grip. She puts her dagger away and stands up.

I get up after and think about what she said. I wish I could be like that, and not kill anybody after this, I think.

You really think that is going to happen? Ira snorts.

No, I don't, I sigh cutting off our mind link.

"I think there are some deer over there, we should hunt," Shade says starting to shift. Fur covers her body and she runs ahead when I nod.

I follow her and she stops to smell the air. I catch sight of the herd, and waits as Shade whines to tell me she found a weak one.

She darts forward and tackles it to the ground. She killed it quickly so it didn't suffer, before shifting back into a human.

She waves me over to join her, and we enjoy the delicious meat. We sat and talked for hours under the stars before falling asleep at our camp.

**************

"I'll sing you a song, the song of darkness.

Open your eyes and block out the light.

Follow the winds into the void.

Listen to the song of the night.

The breath in the wind of which secrets are told.

Call to your soul when you stray from the path," I sing quietly, and start to hum the rest, staring into the fire.

My hand runs through Shade's hair, and she starts to hum along. The fire goes out suddenly, and everything is black.

I feel my canines sharpening and my eyes glow red. Rage overtakes me and I slip into a trance. I feel my body moving, but I have no control.

A bloodcurdling howl fills the night, and I recognize it as my own. I close my eyes and scream, but nothing sounds.

My throat constricts and I can't breathe. I fall to the ground and everything disappears around me.

***********

My eyes snap open, and my body freezes. I listen, and see that no one else is awake.

I close my eyes, taking a deep breath before sitting up slowly. The fire is out, and I see that the sun will not rise for another hour.

I sigh heavily and stand up. Silently, I walk into the forest, and scale a large tree. I sit on the branch and close my eyes.

When will all the fuckjng nightmares end? I growl.

They have always been there, and they always will be, Ira laughs.

You're an evil bitch, I deadpan. She just cackles like a hyena, and I start to wonder if my Lycan is on crack.

I can't stop thinking about the song in my dream though,

I'll sing you a song, the song of darkness.

Open your eyes and block out the light.

Follow the winds into the void.

Listen to the song of the night.

The breath in the wind of which secrets are told.

Call to your soul when you stray from the path.

"Where on earth did I learn that?" I think aloud, my eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

My ear twitches as I catch the sound of waking people. I hop down from the tree and walk back to the campsite.

I sit down next to Shade who is still sleeping. I start to pack up my things, when I hear Shade say something.

She jerks violently, and screams out my name. I grab her shoulders in panic, and try to shake her awake.

"Shade! What is it? What's wrong?" I asked as her eyes fly open. She screams and shoves me away, backing herself into a tree.

Her breathing is ragged, and she takes deep breaths to slow it down. Then she sigh deeply and clutches her chest.

Camryn, Loke, and Aiden were all standing beside me.

"Shadow are you all right?" Like asks. I watch her with worry, and I can't help but think how she had screamed my name before I woke her up.

Her voice had been full of fear, and so were her eyes when she saw me.

"I just had a nightmare, that's all," She says waving it away. Everyone nods and she stands up. She pulls out the map and reminds us of her goal for today.

We voice our understanding and pack up the campsite. They all start to run through the trees. I stay a few meters away and observe as I did before.

Shade is running very fast, and I kept up with her, the trees flying past us. We make it to our goal and set up camp.

***************

I sit in a tree and watch over the camp. It was early morning, and everyone is waking up. I had another sleepless night, as I have been having since I was young.

I sigh and lean against the tree trunk. Everyone started packing up, and I think about how lucky they are to be able to sleep normally.

I think I was starting to freak out the group, because whenever they woke up, I would be watching them from a tree. Usually I would exercise for a few hours if I woke up from nightmares, but now all I could do was sit and watch over the camp.

I look over and see that Shade is all packed up.

"Okay, everyone finished?" She asks, walling around and grabbing the last of her bullets.

"Good over here," Aiden replies.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I answer, jumping down from the tree. Loke nods to Shade, and she takes out her map.

"Then let's go, and Raven I'll tell you when we are going to go mute. When that happens, stay with Camryn unless she 'tells' you otherwise." I give her a small nod, and turn to the map in her hands.

"Okay, so here is where we are, just after taking out that last small compound. If I am correct, this makes a kind of circle. Then they are, in a way, protecting one major building, the main frame. So my guess is the main building is right here," she says pointing on the map.

I smile, She is right, that is how the Hunters I grew up with had it set up.

"You all brought C4 didn't you?" She asks the group. They all nod and I just stare blankly at Shade.

"These three were the only ones who knew to bring C4," she tells me.

"Oh, so that's what that explosion was from," I say, feeling like an idiot for not realizing it before. Shade nods pulling out a red marker, and circling the area she guessed held the main compound.

She put the map and marker away, and pointed to the forest. We all start running through the forest, Shade at the front.

I stay off a little to the side away from the rest of the group. A scent suddenly hits my nose, and Shade stops as she smells it too.

She looks around and signals for us to get into the trees. I quickly climb a tree, and watch Shade start to climb.

Dark figures suddenly appear and I try to warn her, but too late. Shade yelps as she is pulled back to the ground.

The Hunters surround her, and she growls, slitting one's throat. She turns but her foot is pulled out from beneath her.

I look to see the rest of the group with horror written across their faces. Shade signals for us to move ahead, and the rest of them listen reluctantly.

I stay still, refusing to move. Shade sees that I have not moved, and assumes I didn't see her signal. She gives it again, but I shake my head.

Shade growls and a Hunter slaps his hand over her mouth, and pins her hands behind her back. She swings her feet around and trips the one holding her.

My attention is torn from her when a few Hunters try to get me down from the tree. I snarl and smash my boot into one's face.

He falls from the tree into the others, and I look back to Shade. She is running and jumping into a tree near mine.

She gives me a signal, and I snatch my gun from my hip. I start shooting the Hunters. Shade takes out her guns and starts shooting as well.

The rest of the group hears the shooting and heads back towards us. By the time they reach us, the Hunters all lie on the ground dead.

Shade sighs in relief and pulls out the map and marker again. She marks our position with a red X, I assume meaning an attack.

"Okay, I think the closer we are the more dangerous it is going to get, for all we know another unit could be on their way. Raven we are going mute, use the signals you know to talk, not a word between us. Oh and Raven, when we stop tonight, I have something to tell you, that will be the last time we talk, even then it is risky," Shade informs me, and I see a shadow pass across her face.

"I also have something to tell you," I say and she nods.

We travel as far and fast as we can with the last few hours of sunlight we had left. Shade was right, the closer we got to the main frame, the more patrols we passed.

Eventually we made it to a safe area where we could set up camp. Shade sets up a fire, and motions for me to come beside her.

"Lovely night, huh?" She says shoving her hands into her pockets.

"Yeah, I have never seen it so clear before," I tell her looking up to the sky. Shade nods with a smile.

"Makes me want to stay here forever," she sighs.

"So what did you want to tell me?" I ask her. She shakes her head and gestures to me.

"You go first," she says. I have a feeling she is trying to avoid telling me, but I ignore it.

"Well I have started a new pack, but that's all I'm going to say," I tell her excitedly. She gives me a happy smile.

"That's cool! And you're the Alpha no question," she laughs.

"Yup, I am."

"Hey there is some food over there! Don't know about you but I'm starving. Race ya!" She yells taking off towards the forest. I roll my eyes and run after her.

Shade finds the deer she smelled and slit its throat. I find my own nearby and snap its neck.

"Looks like I win!" Shade says as we drag the deer back to camp.

"No way, I totally won that!" I laugh.

"Whatever floats your boat," Shade teases punching my arm lightly. I roll my eyes as we come into camp.

"We got food," Shade announces quietly. The group smiles and they start talking.

"Oh, remember when we were just starting to take down the compounds, Loke you were so scared you face planted instead of jumping the wall," Aiden says laughing.

The rest start laughing at the memory, and I climb up into a nearby tree. It felt awkward sitting there when I didn't share any of these memories.

"Oh yah? Well remember when you though Camryn was dead? You about took Shade's head off," Loke retorts.

"Well I am just happy I still have my head, thank you very much," she says fake glaring at Aiden. He was on his back laughing.

"Loke, I'm just glad we haven't run into any girls you can hit on," Camryn chimes in.

"Hey, I have a mate you know," he mumbles.

"Oh yah, like when has that ever stopped you?" Shade snorts, laughing. He rolls his eyes, smiling.

"Okay, well I have to go talk to Raven. You guys have fun," I hear Shade say standing up and waving me over.

I hop down from the tree and follow her into the forest. When Shade still doesn't talk, I cross my arms and impatiently tap my foot on the forest floor.

"Well? You said you'd tell me something," I ask starting to get upset at her silence. She takes a deep breath, leaning up against a tree, and looks up to the night sky.

"The truth is, none of us plan to come back from this mission alive."