I know Aunt Lucy wished she could have told him the truth, but she also understood why I didn’t want him to know who or what I really am, and I think if she can get front row seats the day he does find out, she will be there with bells on.
Kobal is clearing trees to my left of any vines or moss that could cover the markings; Cian is doing the same to my right, while Josh and Lynn follow close behind him checking the trees for markings. So far, we haven’t found any of them, and Colton is already looking for a place to rest for the night.
Half an hour after Colton finds a good spot, we finally give it up for today; dinner is ready, and Lynn and Josh are at the end of their rope. Alice and Josy have made us a decent meal, and like the hungry Wolves and Lycans we are, we shovel it down fast.
Josh and Lynn lie down next to me and ask me to tell them about the Pack that used to live in the territory we are searching for. I tell them no one knows what the Pack was called or who the Alphas were.
“There is very little known about the individual members of the Pack; the Alphas gave as little information to the Council as possible.
The Council assumed it had to do with the fact that they hardly ever waited for their fated Mate and didn’t want anyone to interfere with their way of life. Like every other Pack, the Council would visit them from time to time, and all the information that is in the Council’s Archive is mostly from their observations.
With every passing year, the Council-members realized that the Alphas no longer had a strong aura, like you would expect an Alpha to have, and about a hundred years ago, when Council-member Nakoa paid them a visit, he was informed that the last Alpha had died without an heir.
He asked if there was anyone that could take over as Alpha, but every High-ranking member of the Pack had died, and there were only about thirty members left, Warriors and Omegas. They were relocated to other Packs, and the territory has never been claimed by a new Pack; it was the only request the last Alpha had left behind.
There was a will and a letter from the last Alpha, and in the letter he wrote the Pack history in big lines. Just like the Council had suspected, the Pack had grown weaker as every Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta took a chosen Mate instead of waiting for their fated Mate. It was out of necessity they had taken chosen Mates, but he didn’t mention what that necessity was.
I hope that after we settle down there, we will be able to find out why they thought it was necessary to take a chosen Mate, or maybe we will be able to find the Pack’s Archive and find some answers in there.”
By the time I am done, I know both of them have missed the majority of the story, but the others have been listening to me without saying a word.
“Okay, now I really want the night to pass quickly. I want to find those answers too,” Quinn exclaims, and we all chuckle at her comment. Everyone settles down as Colton gives some final instructions to the first watch, and I slide down in between Lynn and Josh.
As I close my eyes, I see Jake’s smiling face, and I slowly drift off to sleep, a sleep filled with Jake’s face and his voice telling me that he loves me.
Lakota
I wake up in Lance’s arms and for a moment I am startled.
“Calm down, you were shivering after Lynn and Josh joined Alice in preparing breakfast,” Lance tells me through the mind-link, just before Lynn shows up to tell us that breakfast is ready.
I listen to Cian as he tells Josh and Lynn what they missed of my story, and I just let the activities around me take my mind off Jake.
I watch and listen to my Pack-members as they prepare to continue our search. “We will get there, we will find our territory and we will learn to live with the memory of Jake,” Lotus says as we both look around our camp.
Dad and Colton have divided us into small groups to make it a little easier to search the trees: one person to clear the trunk while the others check for markings.
Josy is joining me and Lance as we move away from our campsite, and we soon find a good rhythm to work in; Lance clears the trunks while Josy and I check them on all sides.
Quinn has taken three Warriors with her to check the trees closest to the road; one of them keeps an eye on the road while the rest search the trees, and once in a while they switch places.
It is a slow process, and by the time we stop for lunch we are not that far away from our campsite. Normally this might have made me agitated, but not in this case.
It gives me the chance to get a feeling for the area, and it has given me something else to think about.
I expected Josh and Lynn to get bored, but they are very serious in searching every tree trunk that gets cleared by Cian, and he really enjoys having those two in his group.
After lunch we head out again, and we have been searching for about an hour when Lotus starts pushing me forward. Lance and Josy just follow me. Neither one of them says a word, and I don’t ask Lotus what is going on; she never failed me before and I doubt she will start today.
We are walking at a slow pace, and it looks as if she is scanning every tree and shrub we see. Suddenly she stops in front of a huge thick oak tree, and Lance seems to know what she expects him to do. He has only removed a little part of the vines and moss when we see the first signs of markings.
“Dad, we found a marking,” I call out, and everyone quickly rushes towards us in the same line we have been searching.
Cian and Kobal are the next to find a marking, and we slowly find more and more markings, but we have no idea of knowing where the territory starts or ends until we find all the markings.
Alice and Mylana have taken the Pups into the territory; Jazzy is with them to keep them safe and to look for foundations or structures. Colton has put one Warrior near the oak tree for multiple reasons: for one, we need to have a starting point, and two; we need someone as a look-out.
We have uncovered a lot of markings by the time Jazzy links us that dinner is ready, and we all head back to the oak tree to see how far everyone has gotten.
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