Gone (Book Two of the Dark Lycans Series)

Two Months Later

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

"Alpha, we found another group of rogues on the edge of our territory. This one had two females, three males, and a child. All Lycans, and asking to join the pack," one of my head warriors, Jace, informs me.

"Did you put them in the cells?" I ask.

"Yes, they have been asking to see the Alpha," he tells me. I give him a nod and he walks beside me towards the underground cells.

We had built an underground dungeon, made of silver and stone and filled with guards, it was nearly impossible to escape.

Somehow, word had gotten out that we were looking for Lycans, and a few times a week we had rogue Lycans crossing our territory.

If they had something to offer, we took them. Now my pack had nearly 250 members, after only two months of being created.

Jace and I passe through a silver door and made our way down the stairs, to the dungeon. It was a long way down, as it originally was a safe bunker.

We kept our cells clean so they didn't smell of blood or rotting flesh, but it did stink of rogues. I passed the empty cells until we came to two occupied ones.

One held two females and a child, the other held three males.

"Why were you on our territory?" I ask with a hint of a growl.

"We were told that this pack take in rogue Lycans," one woman speaks up. I turn my attention towards her.

"We take in Lycans who have something to give in return, for the safety and care we provide," I tell them.

"We are very good fighters," one of the males says.

"How good do you think you are exactly?" I ask him with a raised eyebrow.

"I have never lost a fight," he shrugs.

"Well then, you can choose from our warriors who you think you can beat, then we will decide if you are worth keeping," I tell him with narrowed eyes.

"What about you two?" I ask the two females. One seems to be about my age, the other almost 30.

"We were in a pack two years ago. I was a nurse, and she was a messenger. She is very fast and has great stamina," the older one tells me.

"Now a nurse, and a messenger, we could use. We need to see how fast and far you can run exactly," I say to the girl. She smiles and nods quickly.

Alpha, your mother and Lily are here. Its urgent, Luke mind links me.

Whats urgent? I ask him.

They said its about Shade, he answers. My eyes go wide and I start to walk out of the room of cells, and towards the stairs.

"What is the matter?" Jace asks me.

"My mother is here," is all I say. He nods and turns to follow me.

"We asked to see the Alpha, where is he?" One of the male Lycans yells through the bars.

I stop and stalk back over to him.

"She, the Alpha is a she," I growl, irritation filling my voice.

"Oh really, and who is she?" He snorts. I feel my eyes turn red and my canines sharpen. Ira was upset at being disrespected.

"You're looking at her," I snarl in my Alpha tone. His eyes go wide and he bows his head in submission.

"Forgive me," he whimpers, and I turn my back on the cells. I run up the stairs, and burst out of the silver doors, into the green forest.

I jog across the clearing, past the newly built buildings.

All of the houses were fixed, and several new ones were rebuilt, along with the pack house, guesthouse, and the house holding the Alphas, Betas, Third in Commands, and the Pack Doctors.

I lived in the massive new house with Hailey and Luke, as I was yet to find a Third in Command. In the center of our territory was a large clearing where we had bonfires every night.

I make it to the clearing to see Luke standing with my mother and Lily.

"Have you heard something about Shade?" I ask. We haven't received any news from her back in two months.

"We just found out she has been missing for the past two months," Lily tells me with worried eyes. My mouth drops open and my eyes turn red.

"Why haven't they mentioned anything?" I growl. My mother shrugs, and I turn to Luke.

"I'm going to her pack to figure this shit out, you are in charge until I return. The Lycans in our cells must be taken care of, I will deal with them at my return," I order. He gives me a nod.

"When do you believe you will return?" He asks.

"I hope within a week, but prepare for longer. I expect updates daily, and notify me if any problems arise," I say as I head to my house.

Luke voices his understanding before returning to his duties. My mother and Lily follow me into my house, and I call for Hailey.

"Yeah?" She asks coming down the stairs. Our bedrooms were on the upper floor, while the other rooms were on the lower floor.

"We are going to my cousins pack for a visit," I tell her.

"May I ask why?"

"Apparently Shade has been missing for two months now, and I'm going to try to find her," I declare. Hailey nods and returns to her bedroom to pack a bag for our trip.

I pack one from my bedroom as well, and lead Hailey, my mother and Lily out of the house.

"When I find Shade, I'm going to kill her."

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

We were on our jet, flying above a forest near Shade's pack. I decided to try a mind link with her, because then I would know if she is near her pack or not.

Shade! I call.

R-Raven is that you? I hear her ask confused. I went to speak again, but we were out of range too soon.

I growled in frustration and stood up from my seat. There were only a dozen people on the jet. Jace had come along with Hailey and Derek, and a few of my other pack warriors.

I paced back and forth along the jet, thinking about what to do about Shade. By the time we landed in her packs territory, I still hadn't figured it out.

We exited the jet and Shade's mate, Blackthorn, is there to greet us.

"Raven? What are you doing here?" He asks in surprise.

"Care to guess?" I reply sarcastically. His face falls in remembrance of his missing mate.

"I'll show you where you can stay," he sighs heavily. He leads us to their guest house and we have a large floor with multiple bedrooms.

Hailey stays in the bedroom with me, as there are two beds. I unpack the bags and put my gun in its holster at my hip.

I looked at the mirror in the bathroom to make sure my hair was covering up most of my scars. I didn't like it when everyone stared at it for very long.

Hailey was sitting in the kitchen talking to Jace.

"I'm going out in the forest, want to come?" I ask.

"Sure, I could stretch my legs after that long flight," Hailey says walking over to me.

"I'll come too, there isn't anything for me to do here anyway," Jace says. I tell the other warriors, and my brother to learn more about the pack, and the area as we make our way outside.

As we walk towards the forest, Hailey turns to me.

"Why do you keep covering your scars?" She asks suddenly.

"I'm tired of all the staring," I sigh.

"You should show it. It makes you seem more deadly, yet in a strange way it adds to your already uncanny beauty," she tells me. I raise an eyebrow at her words.

"That's lovely, maybe you should be a poet, not a doctor," I tease. She glares and shoves me.

We both laugh and follow Jace who has taken the lead. I was looking around, taking in Shades territory, when a far off explosion catches my attention.

Jace and Hailey didn't hear it, as it was fairly faint to me. My eyebrows scrunch in confusion, and suddenly I wonder what Shade has been doing out here for two months.