Mateless and Home Bound (In Process Of Publication)

Chapter 10: Disappearing Act

"I don't understand," she furrowed her eyebrows. "They were right here."

There was no way that those hunters could have disappeared that easily. And yet, she had spent a week trying to figure out where they had been before. Any scent that she could use to help track them was completely gone. It was as if they hadn't even been there at all.

Was she seeing things?

"Are you sure you saw a group here?" Tyler asked. Ever since she had told him of the group, they had been trying to find them. When he told her the night that she found them that there wasn't anyone there, she kept on trying to retrace her steps. It had taken a long while before she could figure out that it was this small open area that they were in now. It was night at the moment as well, which allowed her to remember the scene much better than in the day time.

"I'm positive," she nodded her response. "They even had a strange scent to them. It wasn't anything I've ever smelt before."

"The only thing that's strange here," Alpha Max looked over the area. "Is that one of these trees are bleeding a bit. Other than that, it seems as though not a soul has touched this part in years."

But she wasn't just seeing things.

"Maybe you were too tired," Tyler said. His brown eyes looked concerned for her. Too many of this pack did. She was grateful for all the help they've given, but she didn't want to be seen as a complete idiot.

She wasn't just a pretty face.

"I wasn't tired," she told him. "I was alert. That was why I didn't want to leave the area until the patrol came."

Yet she followed that order, just like she was supposed to. It was the first time she had to follow an order that went against her better judgement, and now she was paying the price for it. As much as this pack seemed to like her, they didn't respect her enough to trust her gut.

This all made her wish that she was back to being the leader of a small group of misfits. Her group of the Goldshield pack always trusted her. She had led them out of many dangerous situations. She had killed plenty of hunters as well. She wasn't gifted with intelligence of much, but she knew how to battle. It was what she had to do her whole life.

She just wished she could get them to trust her on this. The fact that they just disappeared wasn't good either. It could mean that there was something more dangerous than them. She didn't like it. A couple weeks ago, she could run around here knowing that these trees were safe and full of laughter. Now it just seemed darker and mysterious. The wind blew her hair, not making it dance, but making it run behind her. She didn't like the message that she was getting from it.

"I think she might be onto something," another warrior vouched for her. She looked to see the albino staring off into the same direction that she was. That was where the wind was beckoning them to look.

"What do you mean, Alistair?" Alpha Max asked him. "Did you notice something?"

"Something's not right here," Alistair shook his head. "The forest, she..."

"What is the forest telling you?" The red head raised an eyebrow. She was glad that she had someone else who understood. Or else she would have just been deemed crazy.

"Danger," Jane answered for him.

"You can hear the wind speak too?" The Alpha looked at her with shock.

"I've had to use it plenty of times when I was trying to protect my people," she told him. "Surprisingly enough, it was a human who taught me."

"Really?"