Gone (Book Two of the Dark Lycans Series)

I have my back to the camp still, and I am staring into the forest. I blocked out all noise, except for what I could hear near the compound.

I was straining my ears, only focusing on the sound of Hunters talking and bustling about, so when Shade calls out, it sounds far off and distant.

"Okay, everyone up, got to go," I hear her whisper yell. I snap out of my trance and hop down from the tree. I start packing up the bullets and some food.

Everyone else gets up and packs as well. When we were all finished, Shade brings out the map again. I see that we are 3 miles from the Main Frame.

Shade marks our current position, before putting the map away and signaling for us to go into the forest. We jump into the trees and start moving.

I watch Shade sign for Camryn to move back, and she motions for me to go up beside her. I give her a confused look, and she waves me up.

I shrug and run next to her. We dart through the forest, and several times I motion to Camryn and Aiden behind me a warning about a clearing in the trees.

I notice Loke was staying right behind Shade, and I couldn't help but feel that there was something off about the way he is acting.

'I think we go right, remember the map?' Shade signs to me. I shake my head and quickly move to the side before I face plant into a tree.

'But that is going to be the most heavily guarded area. We should go in from the back. The building is going to be in the middle of a clearing, and you are going to have about a minute to set up all the explosives,' I sign back.

I thought it was very neat how they had created almost a new language, it was secret too.

"Okay, you take lead, I am trusting you to get us there,' Shade nods to me. I return her nod and take a hard left when a smell hits my nose.

A patrol passes under us and I breathe a sigh in relief. I strain my ears for a sound, and realize that we are very close to the Main Frame.

I signal for the rest of the group to climb to the tops of the trees. I climb up quickly, and wait for them to do the same.

The Main Frame building was only a half mile away, and it towered over the trees. I pointed to a room at the very top.

'That is where the leader should be, that is his office," I motion to Shade. She nods in amazement, and observes the building.

This one was of steel and most likely silver, different from mine. Mine was completely made of silver and iron.

I signal to get back into the lower parts of the trees and keep moving. We swerve and break up several times to avoid patrols and gaps between trees.

When I caught sight of red under the trees, I motion for us to stop. Pointing to fingers at the ground, I sign for us to jump down.

Bloody and torn bodies surround us, Hunter's bodies. Shade turns to me and smiles.

"I only know one wolf that could do this," she says with a smirk, and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, I got a little worked up yesterday after your news," I whisper with a pointed look. Shade just nods sadly, before sighing and shaking her head.

"Did you know how close you were to the Main Frame?" Loke asks me in awe. I nod with a laugh.

"I'll give you a hint, don't get on Raven's bad side or you might just find your head ripped off," Shade laughs quietly.

Camryn and Aiden nod in agreement, and my lips curl nto a smirk.

Shade grabs the explosives from her backpack, and we all get out our guns. Shade had given me a few extra guns and some silencers in case we had trouble.

We run out on foot, staying in the shadows of the concrete wall. We are in the middle of a clearing, and we all start to shoot the Hunters everywhere.

Several shots ring out and all of the Hunters are dead. We have scaled the wall and now hide along it.

"Hey! What are you doing? Get down from there?" I hear someone yell behind me. I spin around and shoot the Hunters running towards us.

I turn back to Shade jumping down from the wall, and running for the building. I use one of the guns to keep the nearby Hunters away from her.

She starts to line the building with explosives, and we jump down from the wall to kill more Hunters. I see her set the timer for two minutes, and she motions for us to get to our positions.

Shade runs back and crashes into me. She hugs me tightly and I hug her back.

"Goodbye, I'm going to miss you," she says in my ear softly. I nod and hug her again before pushing her away.

I give her a sad look before scaling the wall and running back into the forest. I climbed a tree and watched over the building.

I had my gun out, shooting every Hunter that came to close. I hear an explosion, and see Shade run through the hole in the wall.

Soon, wolves start pouring into the clearing, and Camryn and Aiden point them towards me. Hunters are running out of the smoking building, but they are shot and killed quickly.

I take the escaped wolves through the forest to a clearing about a half mile away. It was next to the river I had visited last night. I leave them there to clean themselves and rest, before running back to the building.

I see Camryn running towards me with a little girl in her arms.

"Here take her," she tells me, shoving the girl into my arms. I carry her and lead the rest of the wolves, some were even rogues, to the safe area.

I hand the girl to a random woman before taking off back to the building. It took me a few minutes to make it over the wall to Camryn and Aiden.

"Where is Loke?" I ask them, starting to shoot Hunters as well.

"I haven't seen him since Shade blew the hole," Aiden informs me. I shake my head in confusion.

"Shade?" I ask Camryn. She frowns and points to the building that is now in flames. I growl under my breath and turn to the two of them.

"Get out of hear, this building is going to explode any minute now. I took the wolves to a clearing, a half mile out, it is next to a river," I order them. They both start to shake their heads, and I feel my eyes turn red, Ira angry at their defiance.

"Now!" I snarl. Their eyes widen and they give me a scared nod before running for the forest.

I hear a small crash, and I curse when a small part of the building falls down into flames. I look at all the windows, and see a shadow in the top room, the leader's office.

I recognize Shade's figure and see her run out of the room. I growl before running into the flaming building.

I burst through the hole, and smoke fills my nose, and flames flood my vision. I swallow the stinging pain and dash through the halls.

The metal around me was melting, and most of the wood had already turned to ash. A loud creaking had me running up the stairs as fast as I could.

The supports of the stairs were beginning to collapse, and I knew it would only be minutes before they gave out completely.

I head coughing and look up to Shade laying at the top of the stairs, her eyes flutter once before closing. I run up the stairs to see burns scattered across her body, and her face covered in blood.

I pick her up and turn to see the ceiling come down with a massive crash. The metal and concrete hit the stairs, and in a burst of flames, the floor is gone too.

I curse in frustration, and a window at the wall catches my eye. I head to it and look down.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" I growl angrily. The forest floor was six stories down, and it was my only way out. Flames now cover the walls and I feel my skin starting to burn.

Deciding I have no other choice, I kick the window, and the glass shatters. I quickly arrange myself so that I am sitting on the edge with my legs dangling over empty air, and Shade lays in my arms bridal style.

I take a deep breath before pushing myself off the window. It feels like minutes that we are falling, but it couldn't have been more than seconds.

I hit the ground hard and I stumble forward from the impact. I start to run from the burning building, but then I hear it explode.

The shock wave hits me after and I cry out as I fall to my knees. The sound is deafening and flames lick the sky.

I turn behind me to see debris flying everywhere. I stand back up and try to outrun it, but not fast enough.

I feel something sharp hit my right arm and I grunt in pain. I scale the wall and feel something else hit my left leg as I jump off.

My leg screams in pain with each step, but I grit my teeth and keep running through the forest. I suddenly notice that I can't hear, and realize it must have been from the blast.

There was a constant ringing in my left ear and I shake my head to ris of it. I see the clearing come into view, and I sigh in relief.

Camryn and Aiden spot me, and immediately run over. The ringing finally stops and I can hear again.

"Oh no! Is she alright?" Camryn asks worriedly. I shake my head.

"No, we need to get her back to the hospital. Try to get the others moving as fast as you can, I'm leaving now," I tell them before turning to the direction of the pack.

I run with Shade in my arms bridal style, and the trees fly past me in a blur. Camryn and Aiden are behind me, with a massive trail of wolves following suit.

My arm hurts and each step causes an agonizing pain in my leg, but one look at Shade keeps me running. I feel her body start to stir as we get closer to her pack's territory.

"Shade!" I call. Her eyes flutter open to look at me. My worried eyes search hers for any sign of emotion.

She smiles and lifts up her arms to place them over her stomach, opening up some of her sounds.

She cringes at the burns and her torn, bloody clothing. I frown down at her before looking ahead.

I hear whispers behind me but ignore them, and Shade closes her eyes.

"Hang in there, we are almost to your pack's territory," I whisper to her. She nods and I can smell the border.

A border patrol spots us and runs over. They make me stop and try to take Shade form my arms. I growl forcefully and they back away.

I start running again and I hear Shade whimper in pain. People start to join us as I run for the main clearing.

I see Blackthorn and he quickly comes running. One of the pack doctors rushes over and attempts to take Shade from my arms once again.

I growl furiously at him and turn to Blackthorn. Shade opens her eyes just as I allow Blackthorn to take her. I sigh in relief that she would be safe, and I see Hailey and Derek appear.

They run straight towards me and Hailey crashes into me. I take a step back to steady myself, but with my injured leg. I cry out in pain and fall to the ground with Hailey on top of me.

"Sorry!" She helps quickly getting off of me. She catches sight of my arm and leg and gasps. Derek sees it too and they both quickly help me up.

They help me limp to the guest house, and I fall onto the couch in the living room.

"Why do you always get hurt?" Hailey asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I am a magnet for pain and death, disaster too apparently," I shrug.

"Let me get you some supplies for that," Derek says wincing.

"I just need some disinfectant , a needle and thread, and some bandages," I tell him.

"Nothing to numb it?" He asks in disbelief. I give him a stupid look and he rolls his eyes.

"Whatever," he mutters going off to find it. I turn to my wounds and see a six inch piece of silver sticking completely through my arm.

"Perfect," I snort. I take a hold of the piece, and yank it out of my arm. I drop the metal to the ground and blood begins to pour from the open wound.

Hailey curses and tries to help me stop the bleeding. Blood covers the side of my body, and makes my hands slick.

"Derek hurry up! She's bleeding out!" Hailey yells. I see him run back into the room and drops it at her feet.

"Forget the antiseptic," I tell her. She gives me a quick nod before starting to stitch up the back of my arm.

I use my free hand to keep the front of my arm from bleeding as well. Hailey stitches up the back very quickly and soon moves on to the front portion.

Derek watches Hailey stick the needle through my skin, and I see his face go pale.

"Not in the living room!" I growl at him. He nods before making a run for the bathroom.

I hear him retch and roll my eyes.

"What a baby," I snort. Hailey laughs as she finishes up the rest of my arm.

"You're fast," I tell her, quite impressed. She smirks and turns her attention to my leg.

"Thanks, now can you get your leg? This one is smaller but looks worse," she observes. I take a look to see she is right.

It was also silver but only four inches this time, and it didn't go through my leg completely.

It was sticking out sideways, and I pulled it out quickly. Hailey stitches it up before I lose too much blood.

She cleans up the blood around my wounds and puts bandages around them to help keep away infection.

"You are going to be a great pack doctor," I tell her with a smile.

She grins happily and we leave each other so we can get the blood off of our bodies. Derek comes out of the bathroom as I walk to my bedroom, and I laugh at his sick face.

"Didn't expect you to be squeamish," I tease. He glared at me before turning away.

"Shut up," he mutters and I laugh. I wash off the rest of the blood and change into a clean outfit.

I go back into the living room to see that blood soaks the floor and the couch.

"Now how the hell am I going to deal with this?" I say under my breath. I put the pieces of shrapnel in my room and head outside to find someone to help me with the clean up.

Jace suddenly runs up to me with a panicked face.

"We just got news from the pack!" He tells me. I nod for him to continue.

"From who?"

"Beta Luke. He said there has been an attack," he informs me.

"By whom?" I demand.

"The Silver Bloods Pack."