Book 1. The long dark nights. RE-EDITING

29. Winding down. EDITED

Artos woke up first the next morning. He knew how Maria felt. They both had lost a lot. But they gained each other.

He put his tail on top of hers. He felt good. He killed a Hellhound. He knew that he could protect the ones he loves. He lost a family. He gained another family. He has a girlfriend. He wasn't alone where he started. He was happy. He never wanted this to end.

Maria started to stir. Artos smiled at her. She opened her eyes and looked at him and smiled as well. They were together. They were happy. They had each other if anything were ever to happen. They were in love. They never wanted this to end.

But the morning was there. The time had come for them to rise and do what they had come to Alaska for. Time was something they didn't have much of to find the next Chosen.

Theres a time and a place for everything, so they got up and out and went to catch breakfast. Dinner for two. They then went on looking for the next Chosen.

The search would last for some time. But they knew they would eventually find him. Or her. It was just a matter of time.

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BACK AT THE NEW/OLD BASE

Hinto looked around. They had transferred quite a bit if stuff into the cave. It was huge. The main room was about as big as the gym in the other base. There were other rooms attached to the main room. The layout was almost the same as the other base, actually.

Hinto had got lights and communication equipment installed in the cave. It needed to be like the one they were all used to. They could do just about anything with the setup they had there now.

Hinto was going over the list of items that were left to transfer. The only thing left was the backup generator. Yeah Bolt would be here a lot, but if the power went out while he wasn't here, they wouldn't have any communications.

It probably wasn't too far off though. Aiden created transportation so everything was quiet. If all went well, the rogues wouldn't know anything. The other base was sterile. No sign of shifters of any kind. Hinto had some human friends lined up to take it over so everything looks natural.

The cave wasn't half bad. It was smaller than the complex they had before, but he didn't mind it. Everyone had their own room like before. No windows, but air was naturally circulated through the whole cave.

After they unload the generator they needed to look for the next Chosen. It was critical now. He feared Aiden didn't have too much longer with them. He was old. No disrespect intended toward Aiden.

After an hour, the generator was installed and working properly. The ones that were there all gathered into the conference room of the cave.

Hinto dispatched everyone but Aiden. "Me and Aiden will oversee everything from here. The rest of you, go to your designated search locations."

After everyone left, Aiden still sat at the table. He wanted to be out there helping with the search. He didn't want to bother Hinto right now because he was still working on getting all of the machines back up to working order.

'I guess I could talk to him about it tomorrow.' Aiden thought.

Over the next few days, Aiden never got the chance to talk to him about it. It was about a week after the others before the opportunity for Aiden to talk to Hinto about it presented itself.

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Hinto looked at Aiden. They needed to find the next Chosen fast. But Aiden was old. He couldn't aid in the Search. He needed to save his strength for training the last of the next generation of the Chosen. The control of dark matter was what completed the Chosen. Really, any one of them completed the Chosen. Heck, they can't track somebody when they don't know who they are to track. All they could do is wait for him or her to make a move where they could track em.

"Aiden. You know that the next gen Chosen to use Dark Matter isn't on the radar yet, right?" Hinto asked.

"Yes. Is there anything I can do to help?" Aiden asked.

"No. We need you to save your strength for training him. Or her."

"Hinto." Aiden said, looking into Hinto's eyes. "You and I both know I don't have that long. You can train him or her. I can help find the individual. That wolf is probably having those dreams right now and probably has already shifted and scared."

Hinto sighed. He knew Aiden was right, but he wanted to believe there was enough life in Aiden to train the next Chosen.

"Let me help in the Search."

He hesitated but agreed. "Alright. So far we have Ender searching Alberta, Bolt searching Quebec, Talia searching Manitoba, Yuki searching Ontario, Dasker and Natasha in the Yukon Territory, Artos and Maria in Alaska, and I was thinking about heading out to Yellowstone. I think you should come with me."

"It'd be faster if I search Saskatchewan."

"But what if.."

"Hinto. Its my last wish."

Hinto sighed again. "Okay. But if you need help, mind link. Got it?"

"Yeah." Aiden said then headed out. Hinto wondered if he should go with him. But sometimes its necessary to let a wolf do what wolfs gotta do.

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By the time Hinto reached Yellowstone, it was early morning on the third of June. There was no time to waste in finding the next Chosen. He visited several packs that morning. By mid-day there he decided to take a break. He hadn't stopped for a break since he got there. Hinto stopped at old faithful. This was the first time he saw the old geezer. I mean geyser. He was enjoying the view when he felt a great pain. He knew what it was.

Aiden. The one who was to train the next Chosen was dead. Hinto ran into the woods. Aiden was like a father to him. The whole reason for Aiden to not search was so he could train the next Chosen.

Hinto knew that he had to find the next Chosen fast. Soon the next Chosen would receive the gift. When that happens, if he wasn't found, the individual could be persuaded to join the rogues. Hinto was determined to make sure that doesn't happen. He pushed on, knowing that the closest one to Aiden automatically will go to bring him back to base and give him a proper burial.

He didn't know that the next Chosen was soon going to surface in a place he least expected.

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The End.

Thank you so much for reading the second book in the Chosen series. Book 0 is going to be revised soon. I am also going to finish The Changing before I work on Book 2.
Also check out ThunderKathryn on YouTube. Her movie Wolf Song inspired me to write this book series. It was a great movie and I recommend it. I also recommend @clarkwarner on Wattpad. He is working on a Sonic version of Star Wars.

Until the next book, arrivederci.

J.A.Wolf

Another Edited Chapter