Shadows Surround Us

Chapter 2

My mind wandered while the men in the room discussed the recent sighting of shifters in the area. They were brief. Fleeting. Nothing of importance to me but they held a certain problematic nature for my dad who stood behind his desk in the office. The men that filled the room for his most trusted advisors. Some were just high-level hunters while others made up more of a council of elders. All men and all older. I was only allowed to sit in the room because of who I was related to.

My brothers flanked either side of my dad. Marcus, his face showing no emotion, took in all the information given. His eyes flicked from one person to the next as they spoke. Damien sat with his feet propped on the corner of the desk, hands draped behind his head. He was definitely the more relaxed of the two. A carefree expression set on his face as always.

"We can't wait much longer to strike Nolan. The Cardime pack won't wait around for us to make the first move," Gavin stated, his frustration clear. My dad looked over the maps that were thrown haphazardly on his desk. The tension that had left him last night was back in full force.

I studied his face as he weighed what was being told to him. He had aged in recent years. The lines on his face were deeper. His once raven black hair was now sprinkled with grey. A sure sign of the stress that being a leader of a hunter group had caused. He wasn't what you'd call a loving man. He was my father so of course, I loved him but he rarely showed a glimpse of being a loving, doting father. He was all business all the time. I admired him for his dedication but can't help but yearn for more. The dad that teaches his kid to ride a bike and would take care of you when you fell. A dad that would joke around with you and laugh at your shenanigans. I learned at a young age that the type of dads you read about in books and see in movies was far from the man I grew up with. Sometimes I blamed his profession. Other times, I thought it was just his personality. But the older I became, the more it seemed that it was just how he did things.

"The Cardime have been particularly evasive," my dad said looking at the many X's that marked the map of cleared spaces by his men. This would be the third pack that I have been alive to see my father and the rest of the hunters go after. The first one that I'd been able to be involved in. Ever since I was a little girl, I've heard the stories that the men would tell when they thought I couldn't hear. Of monstrous wolves that killed and attacked anyone and everything that wasn't like them. The stories that you'd tell little kids so they didn't venture too far from the house and never in the woods. The group of hunters I had grown up surrounded by were generation upon generation of hunters. Their fathers and grandfathers and great grandfathers all started this. To the point where no one really remembers the exact moment that catapulted all of them together to hunt down shapeshifters. It was just ingrained.

"Psst," I heard come from the doorway of the office. A quick glance in the direction told me that Faye was trying to get my attention. I slowly got up and walked out of the room. The men wouldn't even notice I'm gone and if I was being completely honest, I was happy for the excuse to escape.

"What are you doing?" I asked Faye as I closed the door behind me, effectively cutting off the arguing that I know would eventually ensue.

Faye stared at me with a mischievous smile. Her bright red hair and blue eyes were very different from the brown mop of hair that adorned my hair in a messy bun and hazel eyes. No one in my family had hazel eyes. Even my late mother, who I'm told died right after my birth, had the same dark eyes that my father and brothers did.

"Come and play outside with us," Faye said, bouncing from excitement and anticipation. She was about seven years old. One of the oldest of her generation in the hunter group. Her innocence to the world around her was palpable.

Most of the time, young children were shielded from the horrors of the war and what the adults did around them. Only when they turn sixteen are they introduced into the world of a hunter. She was one of the only girls her age. Much like me, girls were harder to come by in our camp. Outside of the wives of some of the hunters and the few daughters, we were few and far between. Call it a twist of fate or whatever you want. It was just an accepted fact of life here.

"I'd love to but I'm going to be heading out on patrol soon," I said, noticing the time. She frowned and lowered her head. I felt bad for her. This life is hard to grow up in and most of the kids her age were boys. Most are in the phase of shunning girls trying to play with them. I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I promise tomorrow that we'll do something just us girls," I said, causing a smile to erupt on her face. She beamed as she nodded and barreled out the door of my house, no doubt going to plan all the activities we would do.

I quickly gathered my things from their various places and prepared for my shift. Each shift lasted several hours and most of the time, I took the nighttime ones. There was just something about the woods at night that gave me peace. Cyrus was waiting by the front stairs as I pulled on my coat and began my descent.

"Any plans decided on?" he asked as he fell into step next to me on our way through our makeshift village. He was a lower-level hunter so he only heard what was happening back in my dad's office from me or other rumors floating around from house to house. The upper-level leaders held things very close to the chest until absolutely necessary.

"The same as usual. A bunch of finger pointing and back and forth ultimately leading to nowhere," I said with a huff. We had been here on this land for what seemed like forever when in fact it was just six months. Our group moves to take on a new pack only when we get wind of them. We had been up north at the beginning of the year but now here we were. Somewhere close to the Rockies. I was happy for the change of scenery and weather, even if it meant frustration on the part of tracking the Cardime pack.

I had been training the past several months, since turning twenty-one, to be able to finally join my family in their favorite pastime. My dad wouldn't let me join them any earlier. It felt good to belong even though I haven't seen a shifter in the flesh yet.

I felt a twinge of something in the back of my mind. It was faint and there one second, gone the next. I couldn't help but feel like an outsider. Being the only girl my age, it was easy to feel isolated and overlooked. This was my chance to gain my spot. To get my father and brothers to see me as more. I jumped at the chance while most of the women chose to do other things within the group whether they cooked for the hunters or taught the children. I was an anomaly even when trying to fit in.

The golden glow of the sun was just starting to head behind the trees when we reached the edge of the clearing outside of our gates. "See you in a few. Radio me if you spot anything," Cyrus stated waving his radio at me before clipping it securely to his belt and sauntering off towards the north side of the camp. I turned the volume of my radio up slightly and ducked under a tree limb hanging as I entered the thickets.