Chapter 31
976 Words
Athena
After dinner in the dining hall, we all hang around casually chatting about nothing in particular until the last few stragglers finally leave. I need this mission to go smoothly and hopefully we can get it done tonight.
We move together quietly in unison, out through the back glass sliding door where a few wolves are lounging around. I nod to each of them and continue into the training hall. I don’t bother turning on the lights as we won’t be here very long.
I open my back pack and hand five GPS trackers with long lanyards over to Eliza.
“What’s this?” She asks curiously.
“Once we all shift, I need you to place a tracker around each of our necks.” I then place an iPad into her outstretched arms. “You will be following the trackers on this and communicating where we all need to go.”
“Times like this really suck not having my wolf yet.” She replies solemnly.
“Everyone understand the assignment?”
They all nod and we begin removing our clothes. We throw them into my now empty bag and Eliza slings it over her shoulders.
“Apollo, you’re with Emmet. Violet with Oliver and Eliza’s with me.” I dictate to them.
“What?” Oliver blurts out. “Why … I mean … why aren’t you going with Emmet?”
Emmet narrows his eyes at Oliver.
“It’s like I told him. This isn’t play time for our wolves, it’s a mission. Stick to the plan and you can all do whatever you want after we find the bunker.” I explain with authority.
“Yes boss.” Apollo drawls and shifts into Levi.
Eliza places the tracker around his neck while his golden eyes stare at me. The rest of our group follows Apollos lead and take off into the trees.
“So should we get going too?” Eliza asks.
“Actually, there is something I wanted to talk to you about first. Is something going on between you and Oliver?” I interrogate her.
“What? Why would you think that?” She feigns ignorance.
“It’s just an observation. He seems overly protective of you and only mates act that way. You know you can tell me anything Eliza, I’m here for you.”
She grips onto my upper arms. “Please, you can’t tell Emmet! He’ll freak out, you know what he’s like. Especially because my mate is Oliver, of all people.”
“You don’t have your wolf yet, how do you know he’s your mate?” I scratch the back of my neck. “I may have already let the cat out of the bag with Emmet.”
She groans in frustration. “Oliver told me that he feels our mate bond. Ugh Emmet is going to kill him.”
“Everything will be fine, I promise. Was it easy to forgive him?” I wonder out loud.
“I guess the past just drifted away once I found out. In a way he was protecting me too, we all just didn’t realise it. My body wants to be near him even though I don’t have my wolf yet. It’s such an odd feeling.”
“I know exactly what you mean.” I smile at her. “Do you love him?”
She ponders my question for a moment. “Yeah I think I do.”
I squeeze her hand in encouragement. “Then that’s all that matters to me.”
“Thanks Athena.” The most genuine smile forms on her beautiful face. “Should we get going?”
I shift into Anika and Eliza places the tracker around my neck. She climbs onto my back expertly as if she has done this many times before. In hindsight, she probably has with Harrick.
Eliza pulls out the iPad and opens the app. “The two groups went north and east. Perhaps we should go west.”
Anika nods her head and moves out of the training hall into a light jog, careful not to displace Eliza on our back. Being unable to mind link her, our journey is rather quiet. Anika sniffs and digs at random parts of the forest, desperate to find the bunker.
“You need to go more to the west, you keep drifting back towards the group next to us.” Eliza instructs.
Anika must be drawn to Zeus. We need to concentrate on the task at hand. I try to clear my thoughts when a mind link comes through.
“I miss you.” Emmet says in my mind.
“It’s only been about half an hour! How’s things over your way?” I link back.
“Boring. Apollo doesn’t wanna chat.” He whines.
“Then maybe you should lead by example Alpha.”
“Ugh fine!” He closes the mind link between us and I miss his voice already.
“You two are so embarrassing.” Anika teases me.
“Focus Anika.” I scold her.
“A little hard with you two talking s**t all the time.”
“What the hell is that?” Eliza’s voice startles me out of my argument with Anika.
I move closer to where she is pointing and lower her to the ground. I shift back to take a closer look. There’s a strange crescent shaped symbol carved into a tree with an animal skull embedded in the bark.
“Take a photo and drop a pin on our location. We’ll search this area again in the daylight.” I instruct and Eliza completes her task in haste.
I shift back into Anika and do a quick sweep of the area before allowing Eliza to climb back up.
I think this is going to be a long night!
- Writer
