Gone (Book Two of the Dark Lycans Series)
Chapter Twenty-Nine: New Beginnings

Blood fills my mouth as my teeth sink into the throat of my father. I clamp my teeth down hard, but not hard enough to kill him instantly.

I remove my mouth from his neck and spit out the poisoned blood. I watch as my father smiles with blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.

His evil grin stays present, even as the light fades from his eyes. His blank eyes stare up at me, and I check his body for a pulse.

I needed to make sure he stayed dead this time. When I found none, I checked my injuries.

My shoulder bone was crushed, and dislocated, and my fur was slowly turning red with blood. I found a mirror in a cabinet, and saw I had four slash marks running across the right side of my face.

They were still bleeding badly, but a pained groan dragged my attention away from my face. I turned to see the man in the silver chair, face still screwed up in pain.

I went over him and forced him to look me in the eye.

"Do you have a mate?" I ask him.

"No, but I have a daughter. She was taken here with me," he grunts.

"What does she look like?" I ask as I fumble with his restraints. I only couldn't shift back out of my Lycan though, so it my paws made it difficult.

I am not entirely sure why I tried to unlock them normally, it seems pretty pointless now.

"Long brown hair, blue eyes, and she is eleven years old," he says hopefully. I think back to the cells and nod my head.

"Yes, she is fine. I saw her when I took all of the other Lycans into the forest- Damn it! What the hell is wrong with this thing?" I growl in frustration at the restraints.

He flinches when I growl and yank the restraints. With my good arm, I just decide to snap it with my claws.

"There, now follow me, I'll take you to your daughter," I tell him and help him stand. He is wobbly at first, dizzy from the silver burned into his back.

After I steady him, he takes a few deep breaths and seems to be better. I turn away and put my bag over my good shoulder.

I turned back to my dead father, and grabbed one of his arms. I drag him along as I lead the man out to the forest. Somehow, we didn't run into any guards, and I found out why when we got outside.

There was a line of guards at the treeline, waiting for us. I determined that out of the three dozens guards, half were Lycans from packs, the other half were either rogue Lycans or Hunters.

They immediately had all their guns trained on us, and one was yelling for us to get on the ground.

"I order you to fire and kill the Hunters," I command using my Alpha voice. The Lycans and rogues all freeze for a moment, before turning on the Hunters around them.

I watch as all guns go off at once, and the Hunters drop to the ground, dead. The rogues and Lycans shake their heads and look at me in anger.

"How did you make us do that?" A rogue growled at me. Rogues had no Alpha so they usually couldn't be commanded to do anything, but my Alpha voice is extremely strong so I can command anyone, even other Alphas.

"I believe my father had something to do with it," I say gesturing to his body I was dragging. Their eyes widened at my father being dead, and they look at me questioningly.

"Yes I killed him," I growl. They look between each other before turning back to me. Suddenly, they all kneel down and bare their necks to me.

"You are our Alpha now, we are under your command," I hear one say. A grin crosses my face, and I wince when the claw marks sting from the movement.

"You all are going to help me take the injured Lycans through the forest," I order them. They give me a nod, and we all make our way into the trees.

The Lycans were all waiting in a clearing in the trees, and I noticed that they were mostly sleeping. I drop my bag on the ground, and let my father's arm fall to the dirt.

"I need to learn names," I announce to those still awake. Thanks to my memory, I was able to remember most of the ones from the cells, but the guards I did not know.

"My name is Luke Redwood, I am a Lycan and was in charge of the guards," says a dark haired man. He is very tall and well built. I nod my head in greeting and wait as all of the wolves and Lycans introduce themselves.

I tell them to start waking up everyone so we can start moving. Suddenly, a girl runs up to me, I remember her name was Hailey Morgenstern, and her parents had both been killed in an attempt to escape. I think she told me she was 14.

"What happened to your face? And your shoulder?" She asks softly.

"I got scratched, and my shoulder was dislocated and crushed. That is why I can't shift back, so I am stick in my Lycan form until this heals," I sigh gesturing to my shoulder. She looks at me sympathetically, and I freeze when I feel her arms wrap around my body.

I have only ever been hugged by my family and friends, so I feel strange, but content. Slowly, I hug Hailey back with my good arm.

"Hey, can you do something for me? I need you to make sure everyone is awake and able to move," I tell her. She nods excitedly, and runs off to follow my orders.

I turn to grab my bag, and see Luke take it for me. He gives me a smile, which I return.

"Thank you," I tell him.

"My pleasure Alpha," he replies and walks beside me. I grab my dead fathers arm and start to drag him again. I lead the large group of people through the woods, until we come to a large stream.

Everyone runs to it, downing big handfuls of water and cleaning off the blood from their bodies.

After rehydrating and cleaning themselves, they lay down to rest, and the males with mates set off to find their packs.

I drop my father in the bushes and take a knife into the forest to hunt.

I stalk through the trees and come across a bull elk. I didn't know elk were in this forest, but it is a good thing. I crouch down in the shrubs, and raise my knife.

Lycans have strange paws, that are more like hands, so I was able to hold the knife awkwardly. I aimed, and threw it at the elk.

It hit its neck, and I cursed quietly. I had aimed for the head, but I suppose the neck is pretty good for throwing with my paw/hand.

I dash out of the bushes, and drag the knife across its neck so it dies quickly. I call out for Luke, who comes running immediately.

"What is it? Is something wrong- oh, nice kill," he says when he sees the elk. I give him a side smile so I don't hurt my scratches again.

"Thanks, can you help me get it back? I could but my shoulder is really bothering me and making it awkward," I ask. He chuckles and grabs the animal's front legs.

I grab the back legs with my right hand and we drag it back to the stream where everyone was waiting. Luke had made a large fire, and most were sitting around it, drying off their clothes from the stream.

By the time we have the animal cleaned and cooking over the fire, night has fallen. The moon is full and the stars shine brightly.

I stare up and watch the sky as the Lycans lay on the ground to sleep, or eat the elk meat Luke is passing out. Hailey appeared beside me, and hands me a piece of meat.

"Thanks, did you eat some?" I ask her. She nods her head, so I take a bite of the juicy flesh. It was cooked nearly rare, but it was delicious.

Blood fills my mouth and I swallow the rest of the meat whole. I sit down in front of the fire, and Hailey sits down on my right side.

"I wish I could shift back, I don't like being in my Lycan form for too long," I sigh. Hailey looks at me, before leaning against my body.

"Why?" I look down at her, and I realize how strong she is. She lost both of her parents but she doesn't show any sign of it.

"My Lycan is trouble. She was born out of anger and rage, her name is Ira," I tell her. I hear her laugh a little.

"Ira means anger and rage in Latin," she says. I nod, surprised that she would know that.

"Yes it does, and I am afraid that she will take control and that rage will be unleashed."

"I don't think you will lose control. You're the Alpha, you are the strongest there is," she says looking up at me. I smile down at her and run my paw softly over her head.

"I hope your right," I say. She stands up and stretches for a moment.

"I'm always right, that's what my parent used to say," she sighs before walking to the stream for a drink. I lay on my side and close my eyes.

A few moments later, my eyes snap open when I feel something touch my stomach. I look to see Hailey laying on my side, and feel my heart swell with awe.

I lay my head back down and curl my furry body around the girl. She sighs in content as I close my eyes and I drift off into darkness.

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

A pounding noise makes me jerk awake, and I look around for the source of the sound. I see the Lycans starting to stir at the sound of footsteps as well.

I uncurl my body and Hailey is immediately standing. I pull myself up and walk towards the thundering sound.

It sounds very familiar, and when I see gold, my eyes widen in recognition.

"Statur!" I tell holding one arm out. The giant lion comes to a sliding stop inches from my outstretched paw.

The click of a gun's safety has me turn around in panic.

"No! Do not shoot," I order the Lycan guard who held up a gun. I stroke the lion's head, and I realize my mother must have sent him.

I lead him over to my father's body, ignoring the shocked and frightened looks of the Lycans.

"Madox, capient earn matrem meam," I order him. He chuffs and picks up my father's body in his massive mouth.

I scratch his neck and he growls happily before taking off back to my mother. I wonder what she will think when Madox brings her my father's body.

I turn to the Lycans that are staring at me in shock still.

"That is a genetically modified lion that is connected to me through our DNA. He will follow my every command and can only understand Latin," I say quickly. Most of them nod their head sin understanding, others just look more confused than before.

"Where are we going?" Hailey asks me as I take my bag and get everyone prepared to travel again. The elk is completely gone by the time we are ready to move.

"I'm going to start my own pack, a pack of Lycans. Where we don't have to hide our Lycans forms, and where I can teach others how to control their unruly Lycans," I tell Hailey with a smile.

She grins and hugs me in excitement. I laugh and start to lead the Lycans through the forest once again.

"I love the sound of that! Who will be the Betas and Thirds? Obviously you are the Alpha, but we still need the others," she points out. I think for a moment before answering.

"I want to make Luke my Beta, what do you think?" I ask her.

"That's a great idea! He is a fit leader and seems to enjoy being under your command," she beams. I nod and look around to see where we are.

I see a familiar line of trees in the distance, and smile. We made it, I think.

Well it wasn't exactly that hard, Ira snorts. I growl at her in irritation, and lead the Lycans through the trees.

On the other side, is a large clearing, where houses are scattered, some destroyed and burned, others in perfect condition.

I wait until everyone is in the clearing, before facing them.

"Today is a new beginning for all of us, we will rebuild our lives, and form new families. This is your new home, we will make a pack of Lycans, and become the strongest band of warriors there is," I announce.

I hear cheers come from the group.

"Finally a place where we don't have to worry about being killed!" I hear someone shout.

"Exactly, we will practice control of our Lycans, and we will be safe from diversity. No other packs will be safe with how strong we can become, they have underestimated the strength of Lycans, but no longer. Everyone thought Lycans were just stories, but we will show them we are real," I declare.

Everyone shouts agreement, and I see Hailey beaming beside me. She turns to me, a smile on her face.

"What is the name of our pack?" She asks. Everyone turns to me, wondering the same thing. I face them with a grin.

"We are the Dark Forest Pack."

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